##VIDEO ID:bBWE_BUGTW4## we recording THB welcome everybody if I could have everybody stand for a moment of silence and salute to the flag I against United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with lice for all adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk advertised on January 4th 2024 notification was sent to the Star Ledger and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public bulletin board and filed in the office of the municipal clerk informing the public of the time and place according to the provisions of the open public meeting Law chapter 231 pl1 1975 roll call please Miss Perry mayor blumenstock here councilwoman Bodo here councilman Foley here councilman Lazaro here councilwoman NY here councilwoman sammon here council president Carney here uh roll call of staff and professionals Please Mr Arthur here Mr abenson here Chief stoer here okay we will start off with our report from our B attorney Mr Abramson uh nothing new to report thank you I a report from our board administrator Mr Arthur yes thank you so on tonight's agenda you'll see an introduction of an ordinance for lead based paint inspections I just want let every know this is a state requirement um a code enforcement officer has completed HUD visual assessment course which uh allows him to conduct the visual lead paint inspections um if a property fails the visual assessment the landlord would be responsible for hiring a lead safe contractor to remediate and then we would reinspect the property um if there was something like a dust wipe sampling or any the form of testing needed that would the owner would then have to hire a a company to do that um a burrow approved contractor so um you know thank you to our code enforcement officer who went through the training and together the first draft of this and really got us up to speed with this um we also have a resolution seeking approval to apply to a TD Bank charitable Foundation Grant the down of 12,500 so this is for arts and music classes for children um these are grants I've actually worked on previous jobs they don't require a match um you know so it's not much of an obligation for the burrow other than a little bit of Staff time uh obviously if we get it we can add a lot of programs and classes that we might not otherwise be able to add for for the families in town um and we're aiming a little high with this one um but thankfully if you know if we don't get it this time you can reapply next next cycle um so thanks to our Recreation director for coming up with the plan with this for this application the security camera installation project that the Athletic Field Complex has been completed and um our chief of police has reported that it's working well um so uh I don't know Chief just updating everybody took a little while to get the and had move a couple of cameras we had a power issue over there but all in all from where we were to where we are now um quality of the cameras is night and day difference but the biggest the biggest Improvement is how we search for PL and how we RW and we could differentiate like movements and stuff so we're looking for a person walking it's not going to pick up the leaves blowing or cars pulling in really narrow it down and say we save so much time just try to Ru some fo the definely been a big helpful us and you think the coverage now is the coverage we have flexibility uh there's a couple of pantilt Zoom so depending on time of year like we're more activity we could adjust them as you know as we meet them and this also included the ones over at Hartman or those still just this is just that yeah okay I know you had been talking with the school a little bit about placement of different things over there is there um still working yeah I think saw some time on that okay okay all right terrific does anybody have any questions about the camera project from the chief okay well sorry to inter no it's okay I I set set myself up um one last thing the the tentative start date for the flooring project hearing bur Hall is December 2nd may change by a couple days depending on when the um contractor is available but I did send them a schedule of like everything we've got going on in this room and they have assured that we work around that um you know get try to get everything done in advance of all the different meetings we have in here um we may have to close the clerk's office and admin offices for a day or two I'll let everybody know if that happens we'll still be working I'm not sure maybe we'll if this room's done or something maybe we'll sit in here maybe we'll figure that out um so I'll let everybody know as much as I know as soon as it happens and including the public as well because you know might Impact Services a little bit we're trying to minimize that to the absolute extent possible thank you thank you um Mr Disco isn't here so we I'm sure have some stuff for us in December but we will move to my report uh but I just wanted to start off by thanking you Mr Arthur for finding and pursuing um that recreational Grant um so even if we don't get it this time this is the type of thing though it's small it could really help our residents here I know I was talking uh with you and katti about it and it could offset even if in addition to adding classes it could offset the cost of some of the ones that we have now so if somebody finds they're a little expensive some of the science programs and things like that this could uh go towards reducing those costs so um it's a really good thing and yes if we don't get it we'll keep we'll keep working on it um but when we separated the clerk and burrow administrative positions a few years ago was because of things like this um the reasoning that was that it would allow the bur administrator to devote some time to looking for efficiencies and the way we do things and also uh some time to look outside the box for some funding so this is just an example of that so thank you and thank you to miss lysac um we have had a lot going on the past few weeks and next month is only getting busier but I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge some of the activities going on uh and the people making them happen we had a very successful food drive here in Garwood last week and I want to thank all the volunteers who helped out uh especially those who headed it up Jen baloro and Tanny Tammy clan um I know there were a lot of a lot of people involved throughout the weekend as well as the block ambassadors who collected the bags um it was really a stellar performance by all so and thank you to those who donated of course as well many families in Garwood will be helped this holiday season because of you uh and of course that's really what this season is all about so great job uh thank you to the volunteers on the historical committee who put together the rededication to the JFK Memorial at JFK Plaza this past weekend um I was honored to speak to talk about President JFK's Legacy and how his commitment to service still resonates today thank you to all who participated and told their stories and thank you to our police officers who attended to share in the remembrance two of our Girl Scout groups have once again reached out to help decorate burrow hall for the holidays uh and we are looking to decorate council chambers uh in the Christmas tree and here on December 8th this is always a fun time with the girls so I thank them for bringing that holiday cheer inside to our offices once once again um and I'd like to invite all of the elected officials and their families to join us once again that day uh it will be at 12: p.m. and along the lines of holiday decorations thank you to our DPW who will be busy getting the holiday decorations up uh around town it's no small task as we know and it always requires a bit of juggling so thank you to them um the recreation committee has put together a great list of holiday events and activities uh I know councilwoman n will go through them a little later but I just want to encourage everyone to check out the details on the recreation committee social media pages and to stop by the celebrations there always a good time here in Garwood um moving on to com comments from the council councilwoman Boda thank you mayor um I wanted to discuss uh support for the Humane pet store bill um I don't see without py but I know we received it the email um I hope everybody got a chance to see it um it's a copy of the world Westwood uh resolution supporting a Statewide ban of the sell of dogs and cats from puppy and kitten nails and pet stores puppies sold at pet stores often have serious health or psychological problems buyers are often faced with high vet bills or even the death of their animals the bill also now includes rabbits I strongly believe this is an important bill as a dog owner and as someone with friends who continues to save puppies and adult dogs from overpopulated Shel Alters this is a cause close to my heart the bill aims to protect animals from commercial breeding and prevents New Jersey from becoming a Haven for unscrupulous breeders it is my understanding garet was one of the first municipalities to adopt this in 2018 it is already part of our code if you like to see it uh you can look it up the Chapter 58 Article 5 Section 58-37 again I hope that you will support resolution in support of this bill and that godwood can also be part of this ban in New Jersey thanks thank you I'm glad you brought this up I did uh receive that email with the bill that is looking to uh go into um the legislature soon and I I remember being a part of the council when we first put that through uh I was very proud to have that here in Garwood um so I am in full support of doing um a supportive resolution uh for something like this I don't know if everybody got a chance to look through but if they could let me know if I supported that though 2018 and I'm definitely in support of the legislator putting into into practice so uh yeah I'm 100% behind it second that I agree yeah um I'm I remember sitting in the audience when you guys did that and the woman who came and uh and spoke so uh it would be awesome if they took the lead and uh made it a state law instead of relying on a patchwork of ordinances so I'm glad to see it sometimes government's good right um so I guess Mr Arthur if you want to work with Mr Arthur on looking at that sample resolution and creating it for Garwood I saw it as well so yeah we can talk about it and then Miss Perry will add it to a future agenda it to the list okay thank you thank you councilman Foley uh just uh the finance committee uh talked about um the lead B uh lead based paint program um and the fees uh align with that and we made a recommendation so that's it um councilman laar nothing for me okay councilwoman ndi oh yes so I do have something um so the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs uh which is a division of local government services uh recently announced that applications are now being accepted for the local Recreation Improvement grant program so we have um a potential uh 20 was $20 million um for the for the that has been allocated by the state uh for the support Improvement and repair of public Recreation facilities including local parks Municipal recreation centers and local stadiums for um New Jersey counties municipalities and school districts the community engagement uh committee met last week to discuss applying for this Grant to help offset the cost of replacing the artificial turf at the recreation center while we considered other smaller projects we decided that the most pressing and expensive project is the replacement of the artificial turf uh the maximum amount that can be requested is 100,000 and if granted this amount would Reduce by onethird the overall cost of the replacement of the turf the committee agrees that it is important to maintain this field as it both serves our community and many other surrounding communities and will need to be replaced within 2 to 5 years the application is due in January and I would like to expand the discussion to the council at this time to gauge support for a resolution for this application okay open it up so I just have a quick question in regards to um the timeline so does the grant if we were if we got rewarded the grant does it require a specific time in which you have to use that money my understanding is that it would have to be spent by 2025 yeah it's it's a fiscal year 2025 Grand so I'd assume that would be uh July 1st 25 until June 30th 26 and do you think that that timeline is aligned with when we would most likely need to replace the turfield like would that still align generally I you said two to five years but so the turfield is the the official length of its life is would need to be replaced within two to five years I think uh the analysis that we have of our tur field is that it's potentially at a at the slower end of that um number of years because of the U amount of flooding that it has endured um and so I think that it it may just work out quite perfectly um and it would certainly offset the cost of replacing the turf because we had to replace the turf um and bond for the entire um you know for you know we would have to bond for 200,000 and instead we would be bonding for 100,000 which is quite quite a a a difference so um and I just want to point out we do have the recreational trust with that's 100 the whole point was to use as we get fees and everything like that to use it for things like this so we could use some of it for that but certainly a grant offset would be nice do we have an estimate of the cost of the turf replacement yeah we estimate of about 300 to 350,000 so where are we getting 200,000 so 100 from the grant 100 from the trust and then we would have to match another 100ish so it' be 100 from the taxpayer you have to bond for I'm happy we're finally looking into it I've been talking about it for three years um now who did did we go out for bid what did we do to get this estimated cost of 300,000 this was just based on the cost per square footage from surrounding towns when they do their Turf they there's a cost per square footage I talked to them about it so it's it's a it's a rough estimate but we wen't ready to go out the bid because we're not ready to actually do the work so right so and how much is in the AFC account4 114 that's the last I check because we a little bit more and the finance committee and the council at that point will have to figure out how much they want to use of that we can't take it all you know I guess I mean that would be up to every body but you have to pay the bills right right right there's also no guarantee that we'll get just because we application that's all we're supporting now is an application yeah it was just it was an opportunity to potentially defay a cost we know is coming and uh the other thought too obviously is when we do get close to that time period we can also apply for kids Recreation trust fund which is a matching Grant which could help reduce those costs in addition so I mean listen you know anytime we have an opportunity to reduce the cost for taxpayers and get money from the state or get money from a grant is obviously you know something that I think everybody this Council support so you know obviously Let's cross our fingers and let's hope that we can get this this grant because obviously that' be very very helpful and and we've never applied for this particular Grant before as as best I could determine I don't know if it's a new Grant or is it I've never seen it to be honest I've never seen there but I was so in in the library for never heard this never heard this particular one until I think we all got the same like a new thing that they put together which sure the criteria for how they decide who gets the grants is how much of a match you're providing so I think the fact that we essentially be saying we're providing a two or even 2.5 to one match in you know in favor of um we're spending more than the amount we'd be getting actually gives us more chance of getting the $100,000 there a lot of other factors too yeah um I think even if we look even if we don't get this one we're going to have to start looking at this now that it's within that fiveyear range and that we will have to start deciding whether we want to start looking at the county W grants as part of it they have been coming down a little bit we're kind of used to using them and holding them and and tucking them away for use to get get together and they are coming down a little bit on that so I don't know how long they'll give us grace period with with that but it's something to think about as we move to next year possibly if we're going to if we get this or not get this if we're going to move ahead I do think we have a good case uh even trying to escalate with the county for a little bit more um just because the amount of service that field provides to the whole to the whole area it's not just a guard one only thing yeah okay okay anything else councilwoman no okay uh councilwoman salmon no comments uh council president KY uh thank you mayor and welcome back to councilman Lazaro um were you yeah you know what the meeting there was such a short time in between Fair cut uh I do have a quick update uh from the police committee uh I will also have a separate uh police committee report tonight uh but this is just to update the rest of the council and the public on a couple things uh that we've been working on in committee uh I was hoping to have a bunch of them up for ordinance introdu introductions tonight um however with our compressed meeting schedule in November due to the holidays uh all the committee work is still in progress so uh I'm hopeful that we'll have approval from the State Department of Transportation for uh North Avenue before our next meeting so we can Implement that group of ordinances that are necessary for the uh next step of the paid parking plan uh and that way we can get it in before the end of the year uh I much less optimistic that we're going to be able to move the other code updates I've spoken about uh in committee as they're all going to require review by the burough attorney uh and likely another round of revisions after that so um anything that we haven't completed I will carry forward for next year's Council uh to address in the first quarter of 2025 uh with one of my top priorities is the code verion for dog licensing but we have a bunch of other stuff too uh and that's all for me thank you uh minutes Miss Perry minutes of the regular meeting of the mayor and Council held on November 7th 2024 thank you do I have a motion to accept the regular meeting minutes soov second second all in favor I I opposed okay Communications Miss Perry Township of Cranford adopted ordinances and the Humane pet store Bill Associated Humane Societies received and filed okay moving to our ordinances we have a couple up for INT uh one up for introduction uh Miss per can you read ordinance 24-34 by title only an ordinance by the Council of the Bureau of gwood amending the Bureau of garwood's code of ordinances chapter 138 shade trees and creating new article five four five pre- removal and replacement okay um as these are it's my fault I didn't catch as these are introductions we will do our discussion at the following meeting um so I will ask for a motion to introduce this ordinance uh I'll make that motion second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley hi councilman Lazaro hi councilwoman NY hi councilwoman salmon I council president Carney I okay we have one more introduction um Miss Perry can you read ordinance 24-35 by title only an ordinance amending chapter 6 7 entitled buildings and structures of the bur code of the Barrow of gwood by creating new article 9 entitled lead based paint inspection program okay uh and once again we will have our public meeting at the next uh the next council meeting if I could have a motion to introduce ordinance 24-35 second second a roll call please councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley councilman Lazar hi councilwoman ndi hi councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney hi okay moving along to council standing committee reports Finance councilman FY so I realize now um during Council comments I spoke and gave the the finance thought I had to change the poopiest diaper right before I got here so I apologize for that I'm still kind of um so uh real quick um uh for finance tonight we uh we made a recommendation regarding fees for the red Bas be program not all thank you I'd like that we had put it back in the record fire councilman Lazaro um I just have a announcement at the special meeting held on October 28th the membership of Liberty Hose Company number one car fire department accepted the membership application from Nicholas kugman uh 71 774th Avenue in Westfield he's passed all the physical and background requirements and his name has been forward to the mayor and Council for their approval to be added to their active roster under the usual one-year pration period so congratulations uh Nick on your appointment and we wish you the best of Lu in the fire department thank you uh Community Development councilwoman salmon thank you mayor I don't have a report at this time I'll report on everything during my planning board report uh Public Works councilwoman bodha thank you mayor uh very short today uh the in addition to the reiring activities uh watered moms and shade trees the family cleanup provided assistance for the SAT electronics recycling that's all my thank you police uh council president Carney uh thank you mayor as police commissioner this year I've provided summaries of the Garwood Police Department's activity from the computerated dispatch system uh in addition to the monthly CAD summaries uh Chief stoer provides more granular and specific information in his required monthly report to the council uh which appears on our agendas under officers reports um traffic and safety issues often arise before the council and have been a topic in nearly every committee meeting this year uh I believe our police have made significant strides in this area over the last two years which has borne out by the data provided in the monthly reports showing increases in both the total number of traffic stops made and the total number of summons is being issued by garwood's officers uh including over 200 motor vehicle stops in October uh while the increases by the Numbers alone are noteworthy um placing them in the context of a steady volume of day-to-day work uh increased community policing efforts staff turnover and the increased training in administrative mandates that have been placed on all agencies by the State's new police licensing law this increase in proactive enforcement by our officers is really to me quite impressive uh while gp's efforts in this area are commendable our committee understands that more work is needed uh so I do want to reiterate Chief stofers uh the Garwood police departments and this governing body's commitment to enhancing traffic and pedestrian safety as we seek to make this a more walkable and bikable community in 2025 and Beyond thank you um yeah I'm glad you brought this up tonight because um obviously this is something I think all of us probably get from residents on a weekly daily basis you know trying to talk to them about um where they talk to us about what they're seeing out there in terms of speeding and things like that and there certainly are always room for improvement and I think you know the council works on their end in terms of equipment and um you know safety items and we talk about road diet bike lanes and all the things we want to do and Implement um and obviously the real way to curtail this is enforcement though as well and I think um it's always a hard thing to quantify for for a resident um you know everything's very subjective and everybody lives on a different street and everybody sees what they see um and it's going to be very varied on the whole this is not just obviously a Garwood issue I talk to Mayors all the time about how to we've work on the speeding issue because you know we all live in the in the community together what happens in one goes into the other and so people coming from Westfield or Cranford cutting you know going through Garwood and similarly Garwood going into the the other towns uh we're all experiencing something I think that's a little different postco and you know we kind of sit around and talk about why and what we can do it's it's a hard thing to pinpoint as to why I think there is just a a feeling of that it's increase of speeding at the very least even um but I think we are seeing an increase bearing these numbers but the as you say the numbers increasing that's really a method that we can use to work with our Police Department as to how this enforcement is going so it's a really important measure to look at and I do encourage um residents when I do talk to them we do talk about these sort of things so that they can see it is something that has been steadily increasing and I think especially in the past few months we have you know a lot of new officers on and I I have seen the increase in the number of summonses and that's a really important thing and it's a good thing and I hope it helps reinforce to the residents that were taking it seriously and that hopefully they can feel a little safer so long rant anecdotal but I saw an officer pull somebody over in Garwood on my way home from work tonight I'm seeing it a lot more too I've seen them m a lot uh recently and uh it's just this is something I heard a lot out on the street over the last couple of months I mean I was probably on almost every street in this town at some point and it's a very it's the same story no matter which block you're on yeah and you see it while you're out you do see the Cs absolutely doing what our residents are saying so but it's important that we're able to measure a little bit of how we're we're doing with that so um okay Community engagement probably a long one councilwoman n okay thank you I'm going to start with historical committee uh the historical committee held the rededication of JFK Plaza on Saturday November 16th at 12:30 I'd like to extend a special thank you to the Garwood Police Department for their support with the event as well as the mayor for her speech about the importance of remembering JFK attendees learned about his leadership in the civil rights movement and the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as his commitment to the Space Program uh all are part of his enduring Legacy thank you all of the volunteers on the historical committee for their work in making the rededication ceremony both informative and enjoyable the Garwood partnership for arts and culture is continuing to present its uh fall art show colored this season with creativity art will be on display throughout November for a full description of the art and locations please see the link to the event on the burrow website gek also held its regularly scheduled meeting on November 11th to plan future programs and we will have more details on upcoming events in December uh for recreation we have 41 registered for youth basketball and um we are still taking registrations so practice starts on Wednesday so anybody who hasn't signed up yet there's still time uh this is for grades 1 through eight there's a couple of adult events that are still uh pending for The Fall season we have adult Ceramics uh December 11th at 700 p.m. and adult acrylic painting on canvas Workshop which is December 4th at 7 pm so our big events coming up in this month uh we have the holiday tree lighting on Saturday November 30th from 3:30 to 5:30 on hand will be food trucks uh with food for purchase free ice cream provided by its delicious ice cream free donuts and hot chocolate thanks to Dunkin Donuts for donating fun activities Music Arts and Crafts the Lincoln School Middle School choir will perform special guest of course Santa Claus the Garwood police department and the Garwood uh Girl Scout troop is collecting Toys for Tots so you can bring your um I believe you can bring them right here to burrow hall right the the gifts uh family skate night is Saturday November 30th uh which is actually the same night as the tree exciting so uh for for the whole family this is a full a full evening of activities from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. uh so this is over at waren Eno you um can attend it for free it's if you have your own skates but if you need to um uh rent your skates you can rent them there you have to pre-register by visiting Garwood w.com the holiday house decorating is taking place from no December 9th to the 19th you have to register um on the link on social media Santa's Workshop Garwood children are again invited to drop a letter into Santa's mailbox this year by December 20th for a reply by Christmas Santa's mailbox will be located at the Garwood library located at 4113r Avenue starting on December 1st uh also save the date for the manora lighting Saturday December 28th at 6:30 there will be music laser light show free donuts and cider and art and crafts I hope to see everyone there and that's all for my report okay thank you Library mayor's representative councilman Lazar thank you mayor so the upcoming events at the library from December 2nd through December 20th there's the send a letter to Santa children can write a letter to Santa and drop it in the mailbox located at the gar Library be sure to include your child's first name last name a return envelope with a stamp and delivery address and this is sponsored by the gar bck committee uh December 2nd through December 20th there's also a holiday photo station come take your holiday picture at the do-it-yourself holiday photo station complete with a festive backdrop and a carboard Santa goodie bags for kids will be available by supplies last on December 5th at 7 pm there's a holiday cookie contest get in the spirit of the Season by entering your holiday cookie the holiday cookie contest come to live with three dozen of your favorite cookies one variety only on Thursday December 5th at 7 p.m. contestants and bystanders can taste and vote for their favorite cookie a first place second place and crowd favored prize will be awarded registration is required to complete adult contestants only limit of 10 contestants December second sorry December 10th at 3M for kids and December 17th at 3 P.M for adults there's a grab and go craft pick up supplies and instructions for a seasonal craft registration is required for craft kits and is limited to 15 participants sign up on the libraryies website calendar or by phone and finally on December 20th at 11: a is the countdown to Moon program which is from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. bringing New Year at Garwood Library enjoy Sweet Treats crafts and a whole lot of fun with a noon ball drop celebration for children in second grade and younger registration is required just reminder the library will close at 4:30 on November 27th and the library will be closed Monday November 28th and Tuesday November 29th for the Thanksgiving holiday sorry that's wrong closed on when the Thursday and Friday is what it should say Thursday and Friday of November 20th and 29th for Thanksgiving that's all for my report thank you School Board council president Carney the car Board of educations next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday November 19th um also uh mayor bloomstock and I have uh continued our discussions with superintendent Kenny and board president April Farrell uh regarding a longer term agreement uh on pilot payments to the district uh with we're also looking to continue and uh in some cases enhance our collaboration with the board in several areas as we move into 202 thank you um as senior citizens just to let everyone know our holiday party will be on December 5th at the Westwood at 12m so looking forward to enjoying the holidays with the senior Club small business advisory council president karney I no report tonight okay Board of healthy aison councilman Foley I'm do do you want to welcome councilman Lear councilwoman Sam thank you mayor so everybody did receive a copy of what was reviewed at the November 13th planning board meeting you'll see it in the back of your packets so the planning board met on November 13th Mr Mista from Harbor consult was in attendance at that meeting he reviewed with the board the process in which was used by the DCA for a fourth round obligation for affordable housing this process includes many deadlines with a deadline to adopt a plan for appropriate zoning by June 30th of 20125 the entire board was tasked with reviewing the deadlines which you all now have as well as thinking of potential locations within the burrow for possible Redevelopment the next meeting of the planning board is scheduled to be held on December 11th at this meeting the board will continue to discuss Redevelopment and our fourth down fourth round obligation and hopefully discuss some potential sites this is a big decision that we're being taxed with within the next couple of months I do also urge residents to get involved more development will be extremely impactful to our burrow thank you yes I know um a number of you have watched the meeting or you were there um so definitely I recommend going back again now that you have these memos and you can see you can kind of go through what Mike Musta laid out uh in you know and you can see it in print in front of you and I think it'll be a little even easier having that um it is something come January actually we are going to as a council have to make a decision whether or not we are in agreement with the DCA on this number and we have to send them um send them an agreement and then as we move through the months we say you know Mike says it at the meeting he said June but really we have to have this kind of completed by April because of the time it takes to um create the um plan and get it over to them it can't be a day late or we open ourselves up um to problems with uh Builder uh remedies so Mike is working um to come up with a sort of recommendation with list of areas that you know I have provided other other planning board members have provided things that we've spoken about in our meetings with him um but he of course is always looking for feedback you're the council who will have to vote on this anyway so um it's something that you should be thinking about and um either going through one of us or contacting them um with some of your thoughts on it as he puts together his recommendations for a plan for us so yeah when you read through the packet he really did do a great job of breaking everything down and putting all the information just kind of together because it is really it's confusing and it's all over the place so I mean I hope you guys look through it he's he's super open to conversation I've never called him and and not be ready and willing to talk so this is a really big a big thing it's a lot we will have us a lot we can have him and will have him in front of the council come January I thought it was best to go before the planning at this point get everything get all the information to everybody while he's thinking we're thinking and then we can come together um after that it's a lot but we'll do it we'll get there um okay um moving along no officers reports today uh so we will move to public comment if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and councel please step to the microphone and state your full name and address please limit your comments to five minutes hi my name is Larry Cohen I live in Fanwood um it's great to see some of you again I'm sorry could you spell your last name c hen oh sorry and your address 24 mclenon place in Fanwood I sent the email about the resolution and I worked with some of the people here on the ordinance back in 20 18 um I can't tell you how gratified I was to hear you speak before I even came up here um that's not always the case when you go to councils sometimes you're just not sure um what kind of reception you're G to get I had a really good feeling here though um I just want to um kind of fill you in on where this state bill is in the assembly um it has 36 co-sponsors which is awesome um in the Senate it has about 10 now your two Assembly women uh matakas and Munoz are co-sponsors in the assembly Senator bramnick is not a co-sponsor for for reasons you know I don't know it may not be anything in particular but he's currently not a co-sponsor um we have seemed to face a little more um I don't know if opposition's the word but it seems to be a little more of an uphill climb in the Senate than than in the assembly and that's why I have taken this on to go out to um really all Union County towns to try and get this resolution passed um but particularly uh my district which is um represented by Senator scar who's also obviously the Senate President so um it may seem like a little thing but it's really important that um they know that the people in their own backyard are very much in favor this so I appreciate it more than you more than I can say and uh I mean anybody have any other questions you seem to be have a pretty good grasp of of the whole thing okay well I look forward to hearing about its passage thank you so much thank you anybody else wish to address the mayor and counsel I can help with the tense um this is Jill right of 543rd Avenue um first I just wanted to remind everyone that the toy drive um the toys for touch Drive is currently going on this is something that Captain Roco spearheads every year so there's a ton of sales right now between Amazon Walmart everywhere like you can get like really good things for like $5 so yeah that's already begun so get on that um I'm glad that the state is looking at the pet store bill I I've been involved in rescue my entire um adult life and puppy mills and backyard breeders as you guys know are so disgusting and most people have zero idea that that's where the cute puppies um that they see in the pet store window are coming from um so thank you for being on board with that on Saturday um the Aliva Foundation held a community event at Hansen Park in Cranford so there's now an outdoor AED enclosure there um we started the Aliva foundation in January as you guys know and I really can't believe um something's so cool and everybody says like I was talking to my dad about this over the weekend that like there's like you want to leave like some sort of a legacy in your life right and this is going to make me start crying but by the end of the year um 11 months basically we'll be directly responsible for over a hundred of these all- weather climate control tamperproof AED enclosures being installed in public Recreation spaces so ensuring that lives can be saved 247 365 which is really a big deal um you'll start to see the 80 of the yellow enclosures in the 36 Union County Parks um in December they're starting to put them in now and the remainder of this year we're reaching out to every town we've worked with asking them to budget for additional bundles in other Parks um and we're scheduling Community Community Education events for 2025 we're also contacting every County in New Jersey Pennsylvania New York and California and asking them to budget um for 2025 in their parks and we're currently in our year end fundraising campaign and obviously welcome donations of any amount as every dollar is going directly to purchasing life-saving equipment um our vendor AED team has offered to match all donations up to $10,000 the week of December 8th which is really cool so if anybody's interested to help us get there um you guys know as soon as we have $2,500 in the bank we spend it and we donate um we're trying to partner with some more local businesses um and so if anybody's interested in that uh please reach out our local businesses here rais about $1,000 in October so that's hot works Crossroads sugaring it's delicious um Rush bowls and we're also talking with all of them especially hot works about additional educational programming for their members which is super cool um we're excited to work with linkoln school again in 2025 and I definitely want to chat with all of you guys um in the beginning of the year about getting some Community programming in in 2025 so really exciting stuff and yeah I'm just so grateful to just see how everybody's kind of embraced this so thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and Council come on out good evening Bayer ladies and gentleman of the council Bruce Patterson 325 will Avenue um the food drive thank you very much for bringing that up um who actually was a co-director was Denise Palo so she needs to be uh mentioned also for the record uh uh on one of the ordinances uh for intro what is the lead Hazard control assistance fund so I guess if somebody could just explain what that fund is going to be used for uh how many uh Downtown parking tickets I've been asking that question you know how many uh Downtown parking tickets maybe the chief could explain what that is uh resolution 24-180 which is a a county grant for the kids Recreation trust fund and for Greening un County I'm just wondering are they both matching grants or is it just one matching Grant where we have to put out the same amount of money and also the historical committee thank you very much for bringing up the JFK event that we had just this past week and uh I also I also have to mention there's a meeting Tuesday that Carol Lombardo myself uh the VA and the mayor actually attended and I appreciate the VA stepping forward to to bring to a close the grant that we've been doing for this year um he has the experience for transcribing so some we were kind of like fumbling around with that so thank you very much that you had experience and that you're going to bring it to a close thanks very much uh however now just to bring up uh that I'm not a happy camper and I'm not speaking for the committee but I mean in that same meeting there with a bombshell that that we're supposed to be getting all of our um artifacts and and materials that we've been collecting for years and and I guess digital items for many years we're supposed to get it to the uh to the burough Hall I guess to VA AR a in a month now it's a lot of stuff to go through I don't think we're going to be able to do that and in addition we really need a uh policy and procedure for the arable items and artifacts that we would be turning over so I mean if you could work on something of that you know then maybe we could feel comfortable in relinquishing all the stuff that that the committee has collected um I mean it's it's a lot of items and we actually refer to it a lot so I'd like to see what that policy procedure is going to be about uh we actually were sitting on a lot of the artifacts and we were saving it for when the aolon uh who who's over there garden homes has a meeting room opened up for the public and that's we going to be putting all this stuff right now you want it somewhere I don't know where you going put it uh and also you know a lot of a lot of the items is our work products and so we're very concerned about uh this capturing of of all our items that I think additional discussions really got to come about as to what this is all about why is this being done right here in the last month right in the middle of all the holidays and and and chisen oldi is our liaison and she was involved in that eail chain you know was going back and forth this is between the committee but anyway and as a leison I'll tell you you haven't stepped forward and actually said anything to us about that trying to smooth things over there there's a lot of heated discussion that we were having and you didn't step forward and even you were at the JFK event you at least you could have maybe pulled Carol aside and talked about it but uh I really think a lot of this back and forth between the burrow and and the historical committee really should be going through our liais on coun woman NOS thank you very much thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and Council okay can I have a motion to close public comment so moved second all in favor by opposed okay uh thank you Mr Cohen I'm glad that we were able to um those who hadn't met him before from the last time around were able to put the name with the face um and I encourage everybody to give a call to our Senator to encourage him to sponsor this bill uh Miss Paul it sounds the the the numbers are kind of Staggering how many aeds are out there so I appreciate um all the work uh that is going on we look forward to continuing education in Garwood over this um I will thank for the record Miss pusio for helping with the food drive I was not aware she was uh also a co-leader on that so thank you Miss pelio um the lead fund uh Mr Arthur do you want to speak I'm not sure what he exactly I just quickly looked it up I don't know if this is 100% correct but it looks like it's a statutory created fund that the money goes towards funding loans grants and public education in the prevention of lead poisoning that goes to the state not to us right yes yeah so that that fee that you see in the ordinance we collect it but then we just send it along to the state yeah we don't have a choice it looks it looks like it's a statutory created thing okay that's my Google Search right now so that's that statutory fee that we talked about that has to okay um Downtown parking ticket you're welcome to talk with the chief I doubt he has the numbers right now in front of him um the recreation Grant and The Greening County Grant are matching grants um moving on to the relinquishing I think it's probably best if you discuss this with Mr Arthur um or councilwoman ndi I know that councilwoman ndi has been talking to the historical committee about archival of these items for a for a number of months I can respond to that because so since I've been um you know present at the Historical meetings um for the last I'm you know I'm going on this is my completing my second year um it became incre increasingly clear to me that um the majority of the collection is not organized um The Collection that's at the library um you you know I I was able to go through that there are envelopes that have uh labels and there's no no contents inside the envelopes uh folders that are empty folders that are bulging um it's it's in disarray and so um you know Carol Ardo and I just discussed this and we made a decision to have our meetings now at the library so that we can begin going through the collection and cataloging it taking pictures of items um making sure that the items are being carefully taken care of because certain um things are uh you know like particularly paper textiles anything like that is is if it's not in an archival um uh container you're going to be degrading the item and then eventually the item will no longer be any item it won't be historical or or anything it'll just be dust so um you know anything that is of real value that is um in the possession of anyone you know uh on the historical committee it really should uh come together to be archived to be cataloged to be um examined for its um you know Val value to the history of Garwood and then it needs to become available to the public because um historical documents aren't valuable or if if the public can't doesn't have access to it it's only um you know it's only valuable in that the public can learn from it and um if it's in somebody's um living room or basement it's not part of it's not it doesn't belong to the town it doesn't belong to the people who can learn from it so I think that's really where um this this the need to collect it all together and so that we can begin to go through it is a project that I would like to um I would like to continue to work with so that's the answer to that question enjing that meeting um the members did agree to bring everything to the burrow so that we can begin that process because it's very hard to do that process if it's at somebody's house and just we don't even know what what is there and what um what it's comprised of so the easiest thing is to bring it to B Hall Mr Arthur did uh offer us help he has a background in archiving so um this is right up his alley and we will have to bring in volunteers to do it as well but right now it's kind of all SEP separated from the burrow um and so it's not it's not in a sense U something that's going to happen quickly no it's going to be something that's going to take really quite some time and it's a process that you we're going to have to really go through the entire collection and make some sense of it because right now uh there's really um it's you you wouldn't be able to really make sense of it and and we do the it was discussed at the meeting just to answer your question where we would put it it was discussed that we would put what the committee wanted um open to the public at this point in the library and then we also have a storage facility which is temperature controlled so anything older that we don't want in the immediate exhibits or um storage at the library can be in there Mr abson C because we were talking about this can you tell me about the case that you just went through because this was interesting and it just kind of confirmed why we don't want borrow historical prop houses really quick they had another town who also had a similar situation where somebody who worked at their Museum was taking all of the artifacts home and leaving it in their home as if it was their own personal property and then they obviously passed away and then there was a fight between their estate and the town as whose property it was and um issues with who's going to pay for what so I don't think there's any reason why anyone on the historical committee here should be um holding anything Ransom to the town or demanding that we provide them any sort of policy as to how something is going to be held or archived before we receive it back so yeah I I just found that and interesting that the town was then forced to negotiate for those items back financially their Museum yeah so okay you wanted to I just I was just gonna add that you know hearing the the discussion here I've I've been a member of community engagement I've never shared it but I've been on it uh every year I've served on the council and I know it's come up for discussion before having even photographs available and having an index on our website of what's available and that's never really come to fruition so I I would definitely support seeing that and I mean this is a burrow committee right so that's I think speaking to Mr abramson's point that that's anything that's associated with that committee it reverts back to the B administrator thank you um okay we are going to move along to consent agenda does anybody have anything they wish to re remove okay um can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda second any discussion okay roll call please Council boo councilwoman Boda hi councilman Foley councilman Lazaro I councilwoman NY hi councilwoman salmon hi council president carage hi okay um moving to payment of claims Miss Perry you resolve that the following claims as approved being the same are hereby ordered paid when properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls as listed is hereby confirmed and ratified do I have a motion to adopt payment of claims so rooved second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman NY hi councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney hi okay the regular meeting of the mayor and Council will be held on Thursday December 5th 2024 at 7M in council chambers information for meetings is posted on the barel website can I have a motion to adjourn so second all in favor opposed okay thank you everybody when we went over to the just thrown in there we have to go through and see what's in there that the whole point is that it's been sitting there we've been asking