e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay welcome everybody if I could ask everybody to please stand for a moment of silence and while I apologize for while we um have that moment of silence if you could please keep Congressman Donald Payne's family in your thoughts of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice 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 p 1975 roll call please miss Cameron mayor blumen here councilwoman Bodo here councilman Foley here councilman lero here councilwoman ndi here councilwoman salmon here council president Corney here a roll call of staff and professionals please John Arthur burrow administrator here Adam Abramson burrow attorney here Sandy Brun CFO Treasurer here Warren Ki burrow auditor Doug stoer chief of police thank you um at this time I would like to read a proclamation honoring the late Congressman Donald Payne Jr um I was privileged to have met Congressman Payne when he became our Congressman when we were redistricted into district 10 um and uh I have to say I found him to be uh just he was a quiet soul but he he loved the work he really did and he was very helpful with Garwood um he helped us with New Jersey transit to actually gain some of those stops that we uh extra stops on uh the rail line uh to come through Garwood last year uh he was very instrumental in helping us uh meeting with New Jersey Transit and convincing them to move along with that so in his short time as Congressman he really did make an impact for Garwood so I'd like to read this now whereas Donald Payne Jr Congressman for the 10th just District of New Jersey passed away on April 24th 2024 at the age of 65 whereas Congressman Payne in 2012 stepped in to fill the vacancy left by his father Congressman Donald Payne senior uh after his passing and embracing his father's Heritage as New Jersey's first black Congressman but also setting out to blaze his own trail whereas Congressman Payne fought to prevent gun violence protect voting rights and promote equal pay for women co-sponsoring the violence against women reauthorization act of two 2013 as well as the paycheck Fairness Act whereas Congressman Payne a former C former councilman in north New Jersey wrote and passed the test for lead act requiring States for to test School drinking water for lead contamination and he was instrumental in the fight to prioritize lead removal from pipes in low income cities including the city of New York of norc whereas Congressman pay was key to the Past ing of the recent historical infrastructure act which which secured record funding for rail upgrades across the Northeast including the train tunnel under the Hudson river between New Jersey and New York whereas Congressman Payne as the chairman of the subcommittee on railroads pipelines and hazardous materials in the house committee on transportation and infrastructure was the key mediator that brokered a deal to avoid a national freight rail shutdown in late 2022 that would have devastating repercussions where is Congressman Payne who will for forever be known for his generous spirit and his quiet strength leaves behind his wife beus and their triplets Donald III Jack and Yvonne now therefore be it resolved I mayor Jen blumenstock on behalf of the B of G Garwood send them my condolences and honor the legacy of their husband and father and the groundbreaking work he did for our district our state and our country and this Proclamation will be given to his family uh and uh just so you know we did have our our flag uh was recently returned to us our Garwood flag was used in a ceremony honoring uh Congressman pay along with the other towns in Union County their Flags so um it's a sad day for New Jersey he did a lot of work for us um and uh there are elections coming up to fill his seat but today is about honoring his his memory so thank you for that all right I would like to request a motion to suspend the regular order of business to hold the public hearing on resolution number 24- 086 for the adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget as advertised in the Union County Hawk on April 18 2024 can I have a motion to suspend the regular order of business so moved second second all in favor I opposed okay um miss Cameron can you list the correspondence received concerning the 2024 budget yes Bruce Patterson citizen regarding letter to Mayor and councel okay um we will do our public uh sorry we will do our public hearing and then I know there will be some discussion from the council including our finance committee so does anyone present wish to be heard concerning the 2024 Municipal budget Mr Patterson Mr Patterson good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen the Council of Bruce Patterson 325 Row Avenue new uh first I'd like to thank everybody who was involved in their finances and constructing the budget uh in particular Sandy Bruns because I did have some questions and she actually answered them so thank you very much on that uh I sent a letter obviously you all should have a copy of of what I sent to review see I I think the problem and I'm seeing this over the years the financial committee really doesn't look at comps so I put together some comps for you guys I did that to the county uh yesterday and even the Board of Ed the day before and I just want to talk about the comps first the uh if you look at line one you know I have the line numbers on the left if you look at line one the budget the budget went up in one year 6% in two years it went up 15% I I had asked that you guys are spending like crazy you said no but I'm looking at a 15% increase in two years so that's telling me something uh line two is the equalized value and you know that's that's that's something that the finance people and the government love to talk about because it's it's actually the housing values uh that are increasing that's what it creates the equalized value but unfortunately this is an ill liquid asset to the residents you know they have to pay the taxes so I mean it's great to know your home is worth more but it does nothing for the people that are still living in the home however it does a lot for the government for their for their budget for their borrowing because right below that is the debt ratio number three and with the equalized value going up the debt ratio goes down however the debt is still going up so I mean it doesn't it really doesn't help the residents out here but but the county likes to lean on it and so do all the financial people uh what I believe in is line four that's the debt to the budget percentage and right there if you look at it this year it's actually 7.85 uh you're planning to borrow another million dollars possibly this year $2 million in the next year that seven that almost 8% will probably approach 10% of the budget in in the borrowing cost and the servicing of of the bonding uh yeah let's let's talk about debt which is line seven you know we're looking at we're looking at 6 million n 6,989 ,000 that's almost $7 million and if you look the debt in one year went up to % but in two years our debt went up 8% and yet you're still going to be borrowing another million possibly this year and two million next year that's oh God anyway The Debt Service went The Debt Service one year went up 15% two years it went up 50% in two years it went up 50% That's The Debt Service that money is is being sucked out of the budget to pay down the debt and it could be used for a lot better programs etc for the residents but instead we're servicing debt uh moving down uh salaries and wages line 10 if you look it was nice that it only went up 2.6% this year uh from last year but actually went up 9% in the last two years um you know we're we're hiring people it's going to cost money obviously and and I looks like we're still hiring people by looking at the agenda going down to line 20 the pilot money this is actually I mean not to use a negative term but this pisses me off the pilot money we got is $610,000 increase in over one year and yet you just sucked it up into the budget and you even increased the taxes which I I don't somewhere the line item I have taxes but anyway it's like when I when I'm saying you're spending like crazy you're spending like crazy you can marginalize it all you want but you're spending like crazy line 24 is the taxes and there you're looking at it went up 5% this year almost 12% in two years which is amazing and I'm not too happy that you kept all that pilot money by the way and gave only 50 Grand kept it flat to the Board of Ed I I push for you to be doing a lot more anything else on this uh nah I'm done with that let me just one question here on the uh this is the regular budget sheets I know you handed out the friendly budget uh on page 3B now this is interest cap on the right hand side cap Bank utilized $24,885 see that's another mythical number all that's doing is saying hey we we did pretty good the other year let's increase taxes on the residents this year so I guess could some somebody please explain what the cap Bank utilized is I did ask the mayor she says it's a tool that's wonderful but uh maybe Warren can explain it in depth through you mayor I'll put you on the hot seat um anything else no you're spending like crazy debts going up thank you Mr Patterson your five minutes is up let me ask your five minutes is up Mr P the county I was the only one I was the only one Mr Patterson please have a SE all right well I hope other people up thank you very much is there anybody else in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and Council miss Cameron can you read the comments that were emailed over yes mayor comments and questions from Michelle capab biano 404 Myrtle Avenue questions data processing appropriation line went from $ 53,3 in 2023 to 93,6 35 an increase of over 40K what exactly makes up this increase and if it's for additional new items please explain exactly what it's for is it for back office admin how exactly will it benefit taxpayers also is this increase in ongoing increase in each future budget year or just a one-time 2024 budget increase question number two police other expenses appropriation line went from $125,600 550 please break down the cost of each added item and will these items be ongoing in future year budgets or are they one-time purchases increases in the 2024 budget number number three what is the municipal portion percentage of the total Garwood taxpayer Bill comments every Municipal budget dollar allocated must reflect the priorities and needs of all the people you serve while I appreciate the complexity of budgeting decisions I ask you to PRI prioritize transparency accountability and fairness in this process I don't believe in shrugging of shoulders saying that it that a non-discretionary expense that we have no control of this is not accurate or transparent or a transparent statement you are ultimately responsible for discretionary and non-discretionary expenses all of you have full control of making decisions for taking on new debt and the crazy interest amounts that we are paying now and that will impact the burrow budget for many future years you also decide on adding headcount benefits pensions to the budget continually raising taxes and implementing additional fees on taxpayers is not the answer especially when we have more Revenue than ever coming in this is no way gar with taxpayers should have a municipal in Municipal tax increase of $172 this year in times of economic uncertainty prudent financial management becomes even more critical I urge you to exercise financial responsibility Institute proper planning and avoid unnecessary expenditures and wasteful practices okay um can I have a motion to close our public hearing so moved second all in favor I opposed okay um do you want a motion to adopt before discussion no I'd like to have some discussion sorry there OB was just looking through the I think there's yes that's fine um um I would just before we answer all of those questions um from Miss Kappa biano Mr Patterson uh and we will I just want to thank uh Miss Bruns for all of her work Mr kki for all of his work um you provide an invaluable service to Garwood and year after year I've seen uh all of the time that you've put in and I appreciate it and that also goes uh out to the finance committee I thank you for all of the time that you've put into this budget um having sat there obviously myself for many years I can speak to the many many hours the many discussions and all of the emails back and forth and I appreciate all of your hard work councilman Foley I threw you uh right off the cliff this year um and I do think that you have done a fantastic job but I I appreciate you going into this new and for the former uh the other Council people for helping you along the way of course um you had you had a good team um but I will turn it over to you councilman if there's any discussion you wanted anything you wanted to say before we answer some questions good evening council members and residents of Garwood as the finance chair I want to acknowledge the hard work the committee has put in over this past year while we always aim to deliver a budget with minimal impact there were numerous forces at play that influenced our decisions despite despite these challenges I believe we have positioned Garwood well for this year and believe these steps will also benefit us next year which is crucial for our Town's long-term Outlook when I stepped into this role as a new councilman my top priority was safety ensuring the well-being of our residents gued all of our financial decisions it was imperative to me that we funded essential services and safety measures adequately for example the investments into our police force help Ensure Town safety and investments into our Recreation Department also ensure psychological safety and prevention for our children I'm confident that decisions made this year have set a solid solid foundation for garwood's future thank you to our CFO Sandy brunes who has been a rock star um and had to step up as a temporary ba and just just did it just effortlessly just was excellent uh councilman Lazaro and councilwoman salmon for helping with this budget and working many hours and many days and getting this budget done and being good mentors and guides and thank you Garwood for your continued support and Trust thank you um I would like to at this point answer some of those outstanding questions um first of all um let's Miss Kappa bianco's questions about the data processing line the increase of 40,000 um councilman Foley do you want so um our computerized data processing line um we had to um include the annual contract with Lifeline for their monthly maintenance we also included uh our usual software contracts with the addition of the sdl code enforcement of 10,000s $10,000 and Edmund sewer module for 10,000 uh the new equipment also we got new five five new desktops for the office um office staff here at Burrow hall for our previous Ba's assessment of office needs thus why the increase thank you okay yeah and I just want to point out for the um Public's benefit be the SD we haven't really talked about it up here yet but I know you didn't Finance um the sdl portals they really are uh tools that will allow residents to pay for things certain things online um and some some zoning things um uh if if and when sore fees come about we it will allow us to do that online um and I do think that some of those things I personally think some of those things are are much needed uh we have to sort of get ourselves up online in more places to make things a little bit easier um some of those fees are not there is obviously a fee for each thing each year but the act the the chunk of the money for those sdl Porters are the initial installation and training so that will not carry over each year so I hope that answers and I want to add that I know uh parents work really hard moms and dads um and it's tough for them to get here at Bureau Hall to pay for these things and so I think our buau is in need of an upgrade to ensure a way to streamline and have more efficient services for our residents um and this was a really important thing I think and I think all residents will will find this beneficial for them and I I do I think we're getting there and I hope that over the next couple years we can add possibly even more but I think we're we have a good start in getting us up to date and into 2024 uh online so um the next question the police uh appropr expense appropriation line um do you want to I see your you want to explain that councilman um sure so I it it took me minute reading that because it said other expenses total I yeah I believe it's the control number for operating expenses so that's the question I'm going to answer hopefully uh that's the right one um so just a line by line review of the police's operating budget uh there were a couple of lines where we had reductions uh the main one was the police overtime line uh where the reduction was $50,000 and uh that was thanks to some uh proactive new approaches by Chief stoer uh in his first year um increases uh I see 20,000 on the parking enforcement line uh that was just to increase parking enforcement to uh supplement the various new parking regulations and uh be able to uh to pay for the increased hours on that part-time position uh under equipment maintenance uh there's two new Patrol vehicles coming to the fleet and two older ones will be removed uh there's a slight increase on the du's line that was due to us having a new Chief who had to uh attend some new Chief uh meetings and training um there's an increase to the meeting seminar and school line and uh we just promoted a number of folks uh there's two new sergeants uh again this is uh administrative training for for them and also uh for the Department's uh seeking of uh accreditation um under the computer maintenance line there was technically a reduction but it kind of got over overwhelmed by other things that had to happen uh so they were able to recover a little bit by eliminating the outside storage that we were paying for because of the new um CL um forgot what the the climate CL it's a climate controlled uh storage I forget what it's called um so we were able to move all of our uh Records that the police are required to keep because of various uh state laws uh there and we're able to recover that uh however there are several increases below that uh for new licensing and accreditation uh that includes law soft which is the new computerated dispatch program uh there was an increase on power DMS which is something that uh law enforcement throughout the state uses to maintain its uh operating like standard operating procedures and uh communicate uh to the staff uh axon uh there's an auto tagging service that was added on uh lexip pole training and um again a lot of this has to do with the new licensing requirements from the state through the police training commission uh and I see the chief is standing up he probably wants to add some color commentary so that yeah that was the implementation charge that they let us split over three years and that's one of the reasons why you chose them okay um the other main increase in here is under new new equipment um there were uh new administr ative vehicles uh replacing some very old vehicles uh upfitting of the new Patrol vehicles that are coming in uh the patrol Vehicles here are leased and there was a slight increase on the leasing price um and we also funded uh two additional vehicles for jobs for blue so those are vehicles that are used uh when you see the officers out doing traffic at uh road construction and we've had quite a bit of it uh in Garwood and in the surrounding area um with the jobs for blue program there are vehicle fees that are attached to this so when an officer takes one of these jobs in addition to the percentage that the burrow gets for the officer working uh there's a a a fee which the chief could probably explain in Greater detail by the vendor and two admins are bu administra that will be moved down the new cars will not be side cars will be rot yeah yeah the the the fees um I I see this at my at my day job too that the vehicle fee is a very good Revenue source and uh it is actually it's not passed on to anybody other than the vendor who's doing the work uh and it is accounting for its significant wear and tear on these cars when they sit there idling uh running their emergency lights for 8 10 12 hours it's a lot of gas it's a lot of wear on the engine so it's an in as the chief said it's it's an investment that will pay for itself and then in future years it will pay dividends um couple other minor minor decreases uh a little bit of money came off the uniform line little bit of money came off the ammunition line um you know the chief really put together as tight a budget as he could and I know that the finance committee also worked it over uh councilman folded did I miss anything on the police side or I think you so I just had two questions about the police side so you said increased hours for the part-time position I was under the impression that this budget was adding an entirely new part-time position for parking enforcement it's not a i i you're going to be using some of the dispatching so we're not adding another parking enforcement that's hopefully class one day probably a class but but we did budget for that that's in the budget correct it's in the budget and for another position well it's right now it's adding hours and then to hit well for us on the paperwork it was broken down new position it's changed right now because it so would you say yeah so just out of curiosity so is that so we are obviously increasing the number of hours so the budget is still the it's really it's basically the money is devoted originally we thought it was voted to two different positions but right now you're saying it's going to voted to one plus you're adding the dispatchers so essentially the money that we're spending is the same okay um and the use of the paid parking will as we move into next year start to offset that so it's the same as if we added the second position there's no Financial change and then just a question about the cars because you just said the cars are for jobs for blue but the cars would from what I understood was two new police patrol cars a car for the captain and a car for the detective correct so it's not for jobs for blow so then other cars are getting shifted down okay I just want to be transparent yeah okay thank you Chief um the municipal portion percentage of the total Garwood taxpayer bill um Miss Bruns I'm not sure if we could have that yet yeah historically the the split is about of the total tax bill 34% is the municipal portion about 20% is the county and then the 45% is the school I do not have the school or County tax levies yet for 2024 so I can't do anything but estimate those percentages okay thank you okay um Mr Patterson um there was a couple of things in there that I think are really kind of gross mischaracterizations uh including the the debt of 1 million um obviously when you look at our even this today our bond ordinance for uh road work is being offset um I have that number this $463,000 Grand thank you too many papers thank you so and is that correct 463 all right thank you so um when you look at that whole number actually that is being offset by that amount and so when you kind of take it in it's it's not a million dollars I also kind of um want to say claiming that we're going to put in $2 million worth of debt next year is kind of crazy to just say uh an ounce because that has nowhere near been discussed next year we we gave a capital forecast as we always do about what's being requested um but as you know not everything gets uh approved that was requested um so that two million number is just a lot of um a lot of talk um in terms of hiring we're actually we're not hiring a crazy amount again a nice mischaracterization of of things um I know we've talked about the number of employees went down this year and I do you have that number off hand on yes so um 36 to 33 employees uh we had a retirement in the administrator's office Court Administrator is now a shared service with Fanwood and turn over in the police department right so we're at 33 is that what we did now right so regardless whatever the number is it's a it's a decrease um so it's fun to get up and say we're hiring like crazy but just not the truth um the pilot money is being used as a revenue source to help offset increases um we went over a bunch of very heavy increases this year um and that's you know the best use of it at this point uh given inflation and some of those extra increases such as insurance and rvsa um so even though your tax impact is going up without that pilot money your tax impact would be even further increased um so it is a real help um and it's interesting I um I did catch Mr Patterson's comments last night at the board of ed meeting uh about their budget and uh the impact is essentially the same I think they're at 168 um and there wasn't a whole lot of talk about how crazy their spending is so um I just think it's interesting to see the the dynamic when we're comparing things um and of course yes education and I think we have a lot of teachers and parents up here who are quite willing to to put in the money into into the uh Boe budget but um when you're looking at it in terms of their of the impact from the Board of Ed from the impact of the municipality and they're very similar um and a resident who last night got up and did not say some of these things did not ify the the board of ed for spending spending spending but comes here it's just very telling to me um it's very seems very personal and I wish it was I wish it was more um numbers to numbers but that's that's it Mr Patterson I'd ask you to please stop yelling out from the audience thank you um the cat bank I we've gone over that again Mr KY you can if you'd like to explain it I doesn't like my explanation okay the bank is just you're under a spending limitation under state budget law you can only increase your appropriation side of the budget by two and a half% unless you passed the ordinance which you did to three and a half and if you don't go up to the entire amount of the three and a half over the previous year whatever balance is left in in the 23 budget there was 24,000 left of appropriation capacity and you didn't utilize it so you can carry that forward two years if you have higher Appropriations in the next succeeding years so this year we're using the bank from the 23 budget we're using it in 24 and it's creating a bigger bank for 25 okay it's just the spending capacity not really appropriating anything just the ability to do it yeah it's not raising anybody's taxes you're not raising any taxes thank you okay okay all right can I now have a motion to adopt resolution 24- 086 so moved second uh roll call please Cameron councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman samon no council president Carney I okay um um moving along uh well no sorry I have to resume can I have a motion to resume the regular session so moved second all in favor I opposed thank you again Mr Ki appreciate your your time we will move along to our report from our bur attorney um I actually will report today you wanted a short meeting too no and I'm sure this will um Raise Some Heads so as you all know there is an additional resolution on the agenda regarding the hiring of the seasonal and I was reached out by the burough administrator on this and I had thought that as burough administrator he had the power to hire this type of employee and to check your code your code does say that your administrator could hire certain people but it doesn't say who those certain people are so it's probably best that you come together as a group and Define who those certain people are so that there is no issue in the future and then we don't have to worry about a last minute resolution and it could be done if you go into the code there are people that the administrator could terminate so you may want to use that as a guide but I'm just putting it out there so so can I just ask are you speaking of 24092 but we did have a resolution 24 going to be okay so 092 is O is still is going to be deleted or no um 093 is the one that's going to be under the deleted 092 is staying as is we're staying as is we don't need to take it off okay okay what's the difference like why is this a Personnel thing that we can speak about or yeah you for purposes of it's just the power of the administrator essentially so that he doesn't have to go through the process of getting resolutions passed to hire for instance seasonals that if there's need of a seasonal he can just hire them without having to wait for a council meeting to then pass a resolution to then hire that person that's needed basically cuts out part of the process would you currently allow for the administrator to terminate these type of employees um so my recommendation subject to your guys's decision would be to allow the administrator to hire these type of employees as well because the code isn't clear the code says that he can hire certain people but it doesn't tell you who those certain people are okay but then it has an ambiguous sentence with I'm still unclear then why we can't vote on no saying can vote I'm saying for purposes of the future to avoid this to avoid this is to clear make your code clear as to what power he has in the hiring who are those certain people that he can hire without going through the without going through the process of putting a resolution before Council to avoid essentially to avoid delay yes okay okay just because it's not the best written portion of the code so we should have we should look at the code and rewrite it is essentially what you're saying one sentence yes thank you yeah two questions Mr Abramson uh the first is just Which chapter of the code are we referring to we are referring to chapter hold on let's see uh I believe five right section 51 I believe 22 or 23 right 5-5 1.23 there you go and I didn't ask Adam to try to you know get me more power he actually did look you just got here and you're trying to get he actually did I just immediately wrote back I think you have the power in the code just look at the code and then I got back um well the code specifically says I can hire just certain people but we don't know who those certain people are okay so so I'm sorry my my second question was just for for clarification is um this wouldn't authorize the burrow administrator to exceed what the council had already set out in salaries and wages correct correct it'll have to be within that yes okay okay any other questions I have a question yeah so um real quick the um the the power that does exist to fire what are those positions are they listed yeah they're listed it's um uh seasonals Temporaries non-union people who work in the administrator's office yeah so I'm remembering it correctly that sounds like we should ask them ask right so if I can direct I don't know which of your committees these calls so I yeah we really don't have like one that would spec I guess Finance would would be the closest with Personnel so um if um Mr Arthur if you want to send over to the finance committee uh that portion with uh sort of a marked up possible change and then Finance can decide if they're okay with going ahead with that and then recommend it to the rest of the council thank you okay all right report from our burrow administrator Mr Arthur hello everyone um since the last meeting we've had a lot of committee meetings uh Finance DPW Community engagement just to name a few I think there might have been a couple other in there others in there too um the good news about that is we talked through some of our grant monies that have already been awarded to the burough and how we want to spend them mostly from the kids Recreation trust Grant uh some of the projects that we're planning to do are a video camera security upgrade at the Athletic Field Complex potentially something with Hartman Park I'm working on on that as well um communication boards at both the Athletic Field Complex and Hartman Park making some repairs and we're also soliciting quotes for shade structures um these are more of the shade structures similar to like that are at Hartman park right now they're not as expensive as a you know wooden you know shade structure um some concrete work and addition additional picnic tables that we hope to replace the botch Court a athletic field context which complex which is um I believe has not been used in a very long time so we have submitted to the county um a change of scope to that Grant and we're just awaiting their approval and upon that approval we will start getting going forward with these projects so thank you all for having multiple discussions about how to spend those monies um and we hope it's of a great benefit to the community obviously uh we're also discussing future uses of those Grant funds uh whether we want to apply for more funds uh which I believe will be coming up in a month or two so we'll keep the discussion going and try to come up with the best projects that will impact the most people the most positively um we also have some grant funding available for tree plantings and we're getting some quotes with that that money has also already been awarded and we are getting quotes from some nurseries for for those tree plantings as well uh we were awarded at an infrastructure Grant as well and we've SK we have some uh quotes for flooring already for this building but I've got one vendor coming tomorrow to give us a quote he it's a state contract vendor and then I have another one that may also come and give us a quote as well um we're also looking at some potential sidewalk work but we're looking at a couple different areas where that may be in town and lastly um with Council approval we've had a lot of questions about this there were some slate removed on Central and if the council approves it being put on munici bids tonight then tomorrow we will post it on munici bids so anyone who's interested you'll be able to bid on the Slate starting tomorrow I think I have it set for 11:00 a.m. but let's call it noon basically um I think we're going to keep the bid bidding open for I think 14 days so and um we're going to sell it as a whole lot you have to buy all of the Slate if you want to buy the Slate so you like I said lot of calls about that so please give me a call if you're interested and and we'll we'll put the link on the quick links on our food.org website as well okay thank you terrific okay thank you all right I have a report for the public okay so this week um I had the honor of providing a proclamation to Maryann severage for her 65 years of service with the Garwood fire department Ladies Auxiliary uh in addition to the amazing feat of 65 years with the organization uh Mrs severage has been a longtime volunteer elsewhere in the burrow including the library board and St an's so thank you Mrs severage for all you have given aarwood uh the meeting of the ran Valley Line May's align was rescheduled to the 22nd so we will be meeting with the regional plan Association uh and New Jersey Transit representative so I will have an update for everyone at that uh at the next meeting the green team did a fantastic job this past weekend in Yami Park they addressed a road in the park by creating a wood chip path from the Twin Oaks Bridge To The Ball Fields uh and this was an enormous task as you might imagine but they finished the whole thing uh as well as planting some seedlings through at the park so hats off to the green team for a job well done uh and in keeping with the topic of sustainability Union County is now announcing an expansion of the reusable bag recycling program uh we know that sometimes you forget your bags and you end up having to buy another one at the store or maybe you have Surplus due to the grocery store delivery services uh so now you can drop them off at the Westfield Conservation Center uh and they will be cleaned and sanitized and actually distributed to local food pantries who need them to distribute groceries to their clients uh we also have a food drive here each year uh and I know they're always looking for reusable bag so of course we can all hold on to a few of them for that uh but this provides another Avenue to those that have just been piling them up um so there's information uh that will be up on the borrows social media soon and don't forget Garwood rocks is coming up on June 2nd it's the 10th anniversary of the street fair uh so you know it's going to be a good one come out to enjoy the food vendors kids games and great bands uh and we will also have a number of burrow groups with booths out there as well so we will move on to comments from the council councilwoman Bodo no comments today thank you mayor councilman Foley I just want to wish a happy Mother's Day to councilman ndi uh councilman Bodo mayor blumenstock and councilman salmon uh CFO Sandy runes and all the other moms in Garwood um and especially to my favorite Garwood resident my wife uh who we're expecting our first few months love you very much Happy Mother's Day thank you young love Cil Lazaro no comment councilwoman ndi nothing for me tonight mayor councilwoman salmon no comments council president Carney uh just a quick thank you to our CFO Sandy Bruns uh and the finance committee uh for all their hard work on this year's budget uh the CFO has really gone above and beyond this year uh wearing a second hat as the acting burrow administrator for the busiest part of budget season uh and also going out of her way to directly and personally address resident questions so Sandy it doesn't go unnoticed up here thank you okay uh minutes miss Cameron yes minutes of the regular meeting of the mayor and Council held on April 23rd 20124 can I have a motion to accept the regular me meeting minutes as presented some move second uh all in favor I I opposed okay Communications miss Cameron yes New Jersey League of municipalities received and filed rway Val Su sewage Authority regarding minutes received and filed gwood planning board regarding minutes received and filed regarding letter to Mayor and councel received and filed okay miss Cameron can you read uh ordinance 24-13 by title only for introduction yes an ordinance amending the burrow code of the burrow of Garwood by amending chapter 52 entitled alcoholic beverages article one sale and distribution subsection 52-3 licenses and fees uh can I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 24-13 some moved second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president crony I uh miss Cameron can you read Bond ordinance 24-14 by title only yes Bond ordinance to authorize the 2024 Road Improvement project in buing for the burrow of Garwood in the county of union state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $678,000 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate a state Grant to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds can I have a motion to in uce Bond ordinance 24-14 some moved second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman fley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president Carney I okay Council standing committee reports Finance councilman Foley thank you mayor bluman stock uh the finance committee met on Tuesday April 30th and May 6 to discuss the Union County kids Grant and we evaluated serious evaluated various matching strategies to effectively utilize funds and maximize Community impact since this is a matching Grant we also discussed aligning Staffing with departmental goals for optimal efficiency continued talks about Staffing and Grant fund availability will occur in the days ahead that's all thank you thank you uh fire councilman Lazaro thank you mayor in the month of April there were 20 total incidences consisting of 11 day calls and night nine night calls that included alarm activations medical assists Animal Control assisting and odor investigations among other incidents our department provided eight hours of mutual Aid Service 924 total hours were logged in for house duties cleanups extra Duty trainings work details and community service on tonight's agenda we have a resolution number 24- 088 approving a proposal for repairs on the Spartan ladders firetruck that is uh pretty much all covered by our insurance minus the premium um and uh that's something that the council will be voting on tonight as part of the consent agenda for the light tower on the Pierce fire engine we are awaiting updates on quotes before we can make a final decision for that repair once we get that information I will report on this on that uh item at uh the next meeting that's all for my report thank you councilman Community Development councilwoman salmon thank you mayor the mayor and I have a meeting this coming Tuesday with garden homes I am hoping that we will finally see some plans and I will update at the next meeting uh Public Works councilwoman Boda thank you mayor I will have a full report of the dpw's activities at the next meeting but I do have some um updates on some other items I would like to share the dpw's plan for coverage of gwood rocks on Sunday June 2nd given two of our employees are on workm compensation there was discussion with the DPW superintendent ver administrator and myself regarding coverage after Consulting with the foreman it was decided by the superintendent informant that the four full-time employees and one or two seasonals are enough to provide appropriate coverage we trust and respect the recommendation of the DPW and hoped residents will too I also have an update on the street sweeper while doing maintenance the sensor to the pump that supplies DF fluid was going off which could mean the pump needs to be replaced DF or diesel exhaust fluid I have to look it up has to do with the emissions on the street sweeper if the sweeper runs while the part is broken the exhaust could explode the truck was taken to the repair shop this afternoon to be checked and it needs to be determined whether that part is really readily available or if it needs to be ordered which is why at this moment we do not have an exact timeline when services will begin with with regards to found wood shared services they provided sweeping for a brief time a few years ago when we did not have a street sweeper once we find out how long repairs will take we can determine that what steps to take I will obviously share more information as I receive it lastly milling and Paving on the 300 block of locz and fifth Avenues will resume within the next couple of weeks there are some miscellaneous items that the contractor is finishing with sidewalks and Sewer residents will be notified before the actual mealing and pavement begins and they are welcome to park on the street until they receive the new notice with a Paving date that's all for my report thank you thank you um I just want to add since uh I was there when we were going through it with the Fanwood shared service agreement um with the street sweeper um we can look at obviously once we have a better timeline and know what's going on with this part we can look towards next steps in terms of uh Fanwood um just want to remind everyone when we did have that shared agreement it was predicated on the the schedule of Fanwood so they do use their sweeper quite often and so we would have to use it when they don't use it um and so it was it was a good stop Gap sort of situation uh at the time until we were able to purchase the new sweeper um but it wasn't it wasn't the idea deal because we didn't have uh the ability to notify residents that far in advance if any time in advance so it would have to go around some Park cars and things like that um again if we need to look at it for a stop Gap measure given who knows with this part uh we can um but yes it's smarter to wait and see um hopefully it's uh the parts available and this is a quick fix but we will see um police and Public Safety Council president uh thank you mayor I have the police chief's report for the month of April 2024 where the Garwood Police Department recorded 1,833 CAD entries uh these calls include 133 motor vehicle stops 46 parking complaints 64 fixed traffic posts radar stop sign and dist uh distracted driving uh 18 motor vehicle crash investigations 209 building and property check 31 medical assists 76 community policing posts 45 walking posts and 22 criminal investigations uh Garwood has experienced a recent uptick in crimes and suspicious activity related to homes and vehicles the Garwood Police Department would like to remind residents if they see something that is out of the ordinary especially cars uh quote creeping around or parked or stopped in in unusual areas to contact Police Headquarters and report it uh also please report any unusual activity that you may come across on your security camera systems even if it is hours or days uh after the fact this information can help establish patterns and develop suspects in open investigations uh shifting gears uh just to the topic of paid parking for a minute uh I received several questions from residents I know the mayor did as well uh I also saw some online discussion so uh just a few notes on the paid parking uh parking in the business district was previously uh time limited uh with the new system it's possible to pay to stay longer uh up to the time limit depending on the specific zone so time can be paid for an increments of one hour so if you need to VI visit a business for longer you can do that up front uh or add more time if uh you see it's about to expire the park mobile app actually sends you a notification or a text message if you authorize it to telling you that you were you know your meter is about to expire uh there are other areas like the lot at Willow and Center will have longer time frames uh and that's just uh that was just by Design um there are some spaces in the burrow Hall lot that are set aside for visitors and people conducting business which do not require a fee uh the entire issue why we started this discussion last year is it was brought to us by our local business owners uh and at our two Town Halls about this the attendees were very much in favor of going to metered parking uh so it is going to be an adjustment for everyone but uh just as we do in the other towns I'm confident Garwood will be able to figure this out uh there will be a full roll out uh on social media and with Flyers the street signage will also have all the relevant information on it uh and the police will of course be leading with warnings and education before going right to summonses uh and that's all for my report thank you yes I I think it is important to point out this is Center Street um in the business district uh some spots on South Avenue as well and then over on West um by on the side of vermel to and surgents um and yeah it's going to be an adjustment we we know that and um but I we have to remember time was also always limited uh these spots were uh I believe one hour parking and so it's it this is actually going to help I think if you're they're there you're going to get the notification that you're your hours up and if you're still doing something you can put in some more uh you can type it tap it in and add your your hours um whereas you don't have to worry about getting a ticket I spoke to most of the business owners on Center Street and and all of them referenced like the spaces do not turn over that often they often see the same cars there um I don't know if that's other business's employees or residents parking there for whatever reason but a turnover or spurring turnover turnover was one of the things that business owners asked for help with yeah okay um thank you community engagement councilwoman ndi yes thank you mayor I just have a couple of uh announcements uh Recreation programs uh the summer camp so far we have 85 uh kids registered for camp and I want to encourage everyone to uh take advantage of the early bird pricing which ends on May 24th uh we're starting a new initiative um this June from it'll run from June 1st to June 30th it's called Step Into Summer walking challenge um this info will be posted tomorrow on social media with a link to sign up for the challenge this will be open to adults where we can track and report your steps receive health tips each week and be eligible for raffle prizes um there's also an adult Ceramics class taking place on Wednesday May 22nd at 7 pm registration is open on uh Garwood w.com we have a townwide event coming up which is our Memorial Day remembrance service and luncheon which will be held at the Nights of Columbus on May 27th at noon so put that on your calendars everyone that's all my for my report thank you thank you uh and I know uh the an invitation to um parade uh in cranford's Memorial parade was sent out to the council I just want to remind everybody I'd love to have everybody come out and and walk with us to a parade that's always very fun so and bring families and friends um libraryies representative councilman Lazaro thank you mayor just a few events to report on on this month um in uh this the month of May the Garwood Library will be starting a small seed Library a seed Library collects and stores seeds and shares them with members of the community for free the collection will start with packets of store bought seeds residents may take up to two packets of seeds per week no checkout required if your plant grows successfully consider collecting the seeds and donating them back to the seed library and please label and packet the seeds before returning them from May 1st through May 15th the library's annual bookmark contest is taking place linkoln students are encouraged to create a bookmark design encompassing this year's summer reading theme adventure begins at uh your library all participants will receive a small gift for participating winners will be chosen from each grade and their bookmarks will be laminated and distributed to their grade the application for the contest was sent home in the Friday folder and is available at the library on May 21st at 3 p.m. there'll be a virtual adult craft you can pick up your craft supplies and instructions from the library registration is required for craft kits and is limited to 10 participants sign up on the library's website events calendar on or by phone and finally on May 31st at 9 9:00 a.m. there will be an author visit local author Laura sassy will read her book good night Arc and provide a craft for the Lincoln School kindergarten classes at the library that's all for my report thank yeah School Board liaison council president Carney the Garwood Board of Education held a special meeting for the purpose of adopting their annual budget this past Tuesday May 7th uh the district's business administrator Mrs Pinto provided a full presentation and broke down the budget in detail uh as I reported in March there are a few items of note in the budget uh the school district is dealing with many of the same challenges which affect our municipal government budgeting uh including increased costs due to Rising salaries and health benefits the need for technology and facility upgrades and the loss of covid era F Federal funding sources uh with the adoption of the proposed budget this year's tax impact for the School portion of our local taxes stands at $168 uh at the median and using the most recent average assessed home value uh May blumenstock and I had our monthly meeting with the superintendent and board President yesterday afternoon uh we worked on some housekeeping items together and also discussed collaboration in two areas uh video camera coverage at Hartman Park uh and the use of the school building by the summer Recreation program in the event of inclement weather uh the board's next regular meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday May 21st and that's all for this report thank you um I have our senior citizen report uh at last week's senior club meeting Mr Arthur stopped by to introduce himself to the members also on hand was Captain Roco officer hers and detective zacharowski who were there to speak to the members about the new park mobile parking meter app that will be launching uh in the downtown district as we spoke of before uh they spoke about how to sign up and with and without a smartphone answered questions and then also helped some of the seniors get the app on their phone so that they're ready to go so thank you to the officers for their help with that uh we also had a special guest Michael bow from the he who is the president of the New Jersey Veterans network uh and he stopped in to speak about the various services that the network provides to local veterans on top of donations they also focus on mental health problems and PTSD that our veterans may experience so a big thank you to him for coming and for what he does to help that Community our next meeting is May 16th at 1200m at the Nights of Columbus a small business advisory council president Carney thank you mayor the gsba board is putting the final touches on the taste of Garwood which is ready to kick off on Friday May 17th and uh we'll run through the following Friday May 2 4 uh the current list of participating venues is up on [Music] garwood.nj should keep an eye on the menu at Alonzo's Cafe on May 17th and that's all for this report okay uh Board of Health liais on councilman Foley uh nothing to report at this time but I realized uh our clerk was in our blind spot before and I didn't wish her a happy Mother's Day so I apologize that was very nice planning board leaz on councilwoman salmon thank you mayor the planning board held their April meeting and adopted two resolutions the meeting consisted of discussion items um such as the developers assistance package possible ordinance changes to come with the 2023 master plan reexamination the next regular scheduled meeting of the planning board is May 22nd which may be canceled as there are no filed applications as of the April meeting that's all for my report thank you um and councilwoman samon knows they did send us a letter about um some of the uh areas that they would like to that the council needs to approve for different things for the master plan um it has to go I I think Public Works would be the best uh committee about that so that letter to the mayor and Council um needs to be examined and we need to look at um adhering to to the master plan with that it's long and in depth so after we'll we'll talk and then you can present it all right uh officers reports um uh miss Cameron sorry yes uh zoning Enforcement Officers reports for April 20124 Property Maintenance officer report for April 2024 uh can I have a motion to accept the officer's reports so moved second uh all in favor I oos osed okay um public comment if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and Council please step to the microphone and state your full name and address please limit your comments to five minutes John E Pritchard 410 Bruce Garwood ladies and gentlemen I'm sorry through missed the burough council meeting for last month and I'd like to apologize [Music] first off we need to back our police officers and firefighters and rescue squad personnel as well as the DP bman Public Works uh people they're out there for us 24 hours a day s days a week and especially with the fire B we need we need that ladder truck repaired as soon as possible the sooner that's done the better off will be let me say this abolishing police departments abolishing fire departments abolishing rescue squads is not the answer and Mark well what I just say ladies and gentlemen should never be the answer so we must back them up in every way because they're there for us they're the people who are who have the all be their NE your fear kind of attitude that they need to do their duties and do their jobs especially our police officers and firefighters they're out there 24 hours a day seven days a week and we need to back them up and the same thing with our army navy Marine Corp Coast Guard and Air Force we need to back them up too because they're defending our freedom some of some of our Gard sons are serving in our military services we failed to back them up during war in Vietnam and during that time R of garwood's sons were lost fighting for our country they loved us so every day in aund ways they told us so in honesty and affection they told us so they love the show every day in aund ways they showed us so with loyalty and bravery they showed us so there are Defenders and they kept us free they took an oath to guard us and fought for Liberty they loved us so and we should [Music] know for we love them so and finally ladies and gentlemen we need to pressure the state legislature to force the reopening of some closed hospitals such as Mu andberg because what if a911 attack occurs we'll need those hospitals we need them very very very badly because we don't want another Pearl Har in our hands the sooner we activate mberg and other closed hospitals the better off we all will be do I make myself clear thank you thank you Mr petrick is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and counsel evening Bill near said 320 Hickory Avenue I'm going to be all over the place on this so I'll be jumping first of all mayor thank you very much for mentioning the Green Team uh yes we did connect Westfield and Garwood be a path so um I I think it's terrific and thank you for bringing that up we'll see articles in the papers this week um I'm sorry next week um Mr Arthur mentioned about uh getting together on a few things and he mentioned shayries uh yes uh he was um uh we knew that there was money in The Greening Union count grants and so Mr Arthur and um our CFO were able to uh figure out uh exactly what what it was and so I look forward to additional purchases of of trees um I have mentioned about planting trees for the road reconstruction projects um I have finished discussions with the um Road contractors and the nurseries I sincerely hope that they will start within the next two weeks and at the next meeting I can say they started um mentioned tonight just in passing about the sidewalk uh projects uh I would hope that the council would consider um something that former councilwoman Heth and I have discussed which is um actually assessing the commercial property owners who um do not have sidewalks in front of their properties we still do not have a continuous pedestrian um safe walking um within our burrow particularly on North and South Avenues so I don't know the last time was that the burrow actually assessed commerci property owners for a sidewalk but I would appreciate if you would consider it this year um uh one of my favorites not everyone's but skip the stuff you'll be happy to know that um Senate President I'm sorry Senate uh Senator Bob Smith has introduced that in the state legislature okay for actual Statewide passage and um uh you know guard was number two in the state for uh passing that or adopting that uh ordinance uh hopefully it will become a statute soon so it will be in the books um okay uh you know I know we talk about parking meters and I say this all the time okay you can get out from par paying parking meters if you walk or hey take a bike but along with take a bike I'm going to implore each of you and I'm looking at each of you you know bike rcks maybe we can include that in some purchase uh somewhere in that budget okay um would be nice if we're going going to charge people for parking maybe they won't take the car maybe they'll take a bike and putting a bike rack out it be great last comment is I always get a kick out of um when we talk about the budget and debt debt oh my God we're in debt I don't think there are many of us who in this room or in this burrow who would be living in their houses today they didn't go into debt every one of us I'm sure has some kind of mortgage and I think that was money well spent on our house I'm sure with money well spent on your houses so um even having a PID a Debt Service on that mortgage I think was money well spent so I take these and I I urge a counsel as long as you're spending money wisely uh debt Services part of the part of the program and so uh don't hold the fact that oh my God we're in debt you know to be something that forbid you or prevent you from buying something that's necessary for this burrow that's it thank you very much thank you is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and councel good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue um I'm very disappointed at the at the quality of your leadership mayor that you know after the budget hearing you started talking about the Board of Ed budget and my comments over there and to tell you the truth you have no idea what the Board of Ed budget is about the only person probably in this room is Bill nearad because he sat on the board of ed and that was 30 years ago so so who knows what the budget was back then but anyway comp comparing the budgets two different animals so and and you also don't know what I did on that side did I comment like I commented here no they offered two sitd downs with me to explain numbers I sent out a letter with a lot of questions so I could understand what it's about Ian I I don't have to defend myself to you your comment was frivolous and not called for it all so there I don't know you know I'll tell you right now and you're talking about spending and I'll talk about debt in a moment but you're talking about spending in two years taxes are up 12% and you're saying and you're saying say when I say spending is out of control well it is it's a fact so I don't know why you're saying that salaries and wages went up 9% in 2 years tell me that's not an issue so I I mean your statements continually I don't know I can't even come up with the word as to debt I do agree with Bill we all had debt on our houses but you know what we pay it off but here you know in government yes we keep rolling the debt rolling the debt and I I know this the scheme that you guys do on all levels of government if something comes due you got a three million debt say you're paying off so you're G to borrow three million just to keep that number basically equal or even a little bit more so I mean you know that's that's deployer debt and I'm sure none of you will disagree what I just said so but anyway but thatt yes for something required I'm not going to argue about it but I'll tell you I gave you the format the XL format I think all of you guys should look at it carefully and moving forward add another year in add another year in so you can actually see a trend it's all about Trends you guys obviously Finance over the years just for that year but you don't really look at the year before and the year before that well I put together an XL format for you to understand just what the trends are so I hope I hope you actually looked at it all too thank you very much is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and Council John bck 231 Hemlock Avenue uh I asked the question during the budget meeting and and I think it should be a no-brainer uh but I keep hearing two different stories how did we go from 36 full-time employees in 2023 to 33 this year I was told at first uh we had a uh retirement Clerks Office office not going to be replaced good that uh correlates We've outsourced the court administrator that's two at a special meeting I believe it was and again tonight we were told turnover in the police department turnover does not result in a reduction in FTE I have an email from councilman Foley with an a different answer that says we had a full-time code enforcement officer in the budget in 2023 we decided to bifurcate or even uh split three or four ways that position so we eliminated that that's the third position so which is it I believe it's the ladder that we chose not to fill that position which by the way was a great thing I I don't think I've ever said that here but that was a really smart thing to do it it trying to cram too much into one job splitting it cross I thought was a a very uh constructive thing to do but this should be very straightforward and we rely on accurate information when we ask questions and when we hear presentations about the budget this is a Precision business so could you please for once and for all reassure me that we're going to have 17 sworn officers in a chief in the police department and that the third position that we've gone down is related to not hiring a full-time uh uh code enforcement officer and just an editorial comment three people tonight have mentioned metered parking in Garwood as far as I'm aware unless something has drastically changed we're not going to have a single parking meter or kiosk we're going to have paid parking and that's very different so if I'm wrong again please correct me but I don't think we're going to have metered parking here in Garwood thanks that's all I've Got Tonight Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and counsel miss Cameron um can you please read correspondence that was sent uh yes mayor correspondence from Michelle Kaa Bianco 404 Myrtle Avenue for resolution number 24-8 emergency contract for repairs to light ladder fir Tru in the amount of 93,587 is this the final and total damage amount or does there still need to be a further INSP inection during repair to assess any further damages number two is the transportation cost to and from the vendor for repairs included in the above 93 51566 or will there be extra fees for that and if so who will pay the fees insurance or the burrow who will pay the fees insurance or the burrow number three how will this large Insurance claim affect the borrows insurance rates go going forward okay okay can I have a motion to close public comment so moved second all in favor I opposed okay um Mr net um assessing commercial units without sidewalks um I will send that over to could really go to let's send it over to um Public Works um sorry poor councila um so we can just take a look and examine it and and start the discussion and let's see where where it lands um and in terms of bike racks yeah um looks like we might get certified by sustainable Jersey again this year and they do offer grants so just putting that out there um Mr Patterson um I do stand by what I say I I think I think a lot of your comments towards us and and especially tonight with the B with the budget do go they are very leaning very personal and I and mayor mayor if you don't mind I just something I do want to address that Mr Patterson said you know so we do look at five years worth of data for not only just the overall budget but literally for every single line item so you know the work that we do is extremely precise and diligent and requires a lot of work so um you know I appreciate you putting all those numbers together but we have the numbers from our CFO has been working in this borrow for many many years and that data is what we are presented and we use that data to make decisions and sometimes we decide on something as simple as reducing $100 for small little items so we make decisions on every single thing and we look at five years worth of data so and we will continue to do that as long as I am on this Council we'll continue to do that and we measured Trends in those five years and we want and which each item through that fiveyear span we get questions we get information that helps guide us to best move forward for the 2024 budget year it is a as as councilman Lazaro said it is precise it is it is each line item what's happened in the past why if it's changed why is it changed now and what can we do about that to benefit the taxpayer as best as we can um and I also want to clarify that um I know Miss Bruns has sat down with you multiple times and is if not has not sent you back questions your answers to your emails is in the process of doing it so I just want to clarify that because I know you mentioned the Board of Ed did it but we do that as well our CFO who does it's it's an additional added you know time to her day but she does take the time to do that and so we appreciate it um do Mr Bart's question with the part- Tim if or the the okay I what I got here and uh if CFO Sandy you can help me here so the difference between 2023 and 2024 is that of the full-time quarterman is now sh shared service the full-time clerk stenographer is now part-time and the code enforcement is actually part-time projected to be so that's more I think right yeah yeah in had I think the answers were were there it's just yeah in 2023 the intention was to hire a full-time code enforcement officer and it ended up being part-time so that is the third change from the 23 user friendly budget to the 24 user friendly budget thank you thank you um and you are right we get caught talking about meter parking it just flows out a lot easier because we're used to it so apologies it is paid parking it is not meters but I understand your point because there are people out there who will go hey I'm expecting meters out there um but it is not meters um doing meters in a town this small is not very cost efficient uh and in fact most towns are actually moving away from that if you've noticed especially in surrounding areas they're removing a lot of their meters because it's very costly to maintain them and it's a lot more cost efficient to use this app but it is paid parking I will do my best not to say meter parking anymore you have my word on that um and Miss Kappa bianos uh questions about the fire truck um Mr Arthur do you want to take I know you've been dealing with this a lot sure so her first question with regard to is this the final and total damage amount or does there need to be further inspection during repair to assess any further damages uh this was appraised by the insurance company the appraiser also you know saw the vendors quote um and that is the final amount uh hypothetically while they're working on it could they find something else wrong with the truck and suggest to us that we do a repair yes but any mechanic could do that with any work that they're doing and that would be separate from this repair that would be another thing that they'd be suggesting um transportation cost to or from the vendor is included in that amount the transportation cost to um they have to actually bring the the cab on the back with a tractor basically because we can't drive it there but getting it back we're actually going to pick it up ourselves from Monroe and drive it back up to save costs so someone will be going down there to pick it up and drive it back um so there will be no extra fees because it's included in that quote and then as to how will this large Insurance claim affect the Burrow's insurance rates going forward that's unknown at this time we would need more information from the insurance company so yeah okay thank you [Music] um I you know what I actually want to clarify one more thing before it something is taken out of context um I want to clarify my comments on the board of ed budget were not about the board of Ed's budget I actually think it was a really well-presented budget last night my comments were about the reaction to the different budgets from a resident um okay so we will move to the consent agenda do anybody need anything to be removed do I have to remove 24- 086 did we already vote on that yeah and it's still I did we voted on it so it's um so we can just say okay delete it for now okay so I want to delete 24- 086 24092 and 24- 093 okay can you repeat that one more time for me sure 24 -86 24- 092 and 24- 093 okay yes we um 24- 093 is not actually on the consent agenda as so we will um we will vote on that separately because it it and we'll read it out since it's not on the consent agenda so we're just we're going to remove 24- 086 and 24- 092 and can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended so moved second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman NY hi councilwoman Salon hi council president Carney hi okay um we are we have deleted we've already voted on 086 we have resolution number 24- 092 can I have a motion to adopt some moved second roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi hi councilwoman salmon no council president Corney I okay um miss Cameron we have another resolution not on the consent agenda can you please read out resolution number 24093 since it is not on the agenda itself yes mayor be it resolved by the Council of the burrow of Garwood County of union state of New Jersey hereby hires Michael Brandon as part-time seasonal labor in the Department of Public Works effective May 13 2024 at a salary of $20 per hour thank you and just for the Public's benefit it just came in too late for to be printed on the agenda so mayor didn't ask for discussion on the deleted items you just went right to roll call I apologize would you like to discuss we could discuss it now so how many seasonals does this bring us up to brings us up to four um which will change in the next month or two as people exit and then are are some are rehired and what are their hours the 25 hours a week and are they allotted per day do they have a set schedule it'll be 5 hours a day um um and the schedules may be a very early morning shift such as 6:30 to 11:30 or potentially a 10 to 3 shift is anybody that is hired in these four seasonal working the 10 to three shift they've indicated that they'd be interested in it but we're going to work on the scheduling with them okay so this brings us to four seasonal and four full-time correct and one part-time permanent one part time okay as of today yeah and are there any additional interviews coming Yes actually there was one late today that's separate from this and then there's one I'm in the works with is there a thought of moving forward with those two more additional seasonal we'd have to see what the interviews bear but um we don't know yet with those fulltime when they are returning um some of these seasonals are just summer they're college kids in Just summer so they'll be gone and at that point we might have our two full times returning and so we don't need to rehire seasonals at that point so it's flexible okay so three seasonal just to be transparent what was it Miss Bruns $78,000 a year for three seasonals that's what's in the budget for this year for just for three okay thank you uh and and just to note I know that that is it when we spoke about this last week my reasoning wasn't really about money there was other reasons I felt going forward with seasonals was appropriate um we when we spoke about those right contract contract negotiations yeah we're going to weaponize the contract it's not about money I'm glad that that's clear thank you that's all it's not weaponizing anything when you go into a contract negotiation you really wouldn't I don't think it's advisable for the Barrow to hire somebody literally right before you go into did we put the PD on a hiring freeze while they were negotiating were not hiring anybody at that moment we didn't hire anybody the entire year that they were negotiating their contract not the month before we go into we're looking we're not the month before we've discussed this I'm gonna move on uh can I have a yeah because like that's what we're gonna do we're gonna do the work so can I have a motion to so to adopt uh 24- 093 I make that motion yeah um second second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman NY i councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I okay um payment uh any no new business any new business okay payment of claims uh miss Cameron yes be it resolved that the following claims as approved being the same are hereby ordered paid when properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls is listed is hereby confirmed and ratified do I have a motion to adopt payment of claims so moved roll call please councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley I councilman Lazaro I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon I council president Cory I all right uh the regular meeting of the mayor and Council will be held on Thursday May 23rd at 2024 at 7M in council chambers information for meetings is posted on the barel website can I have a motion to adjourn some move second second all in favor I I opposed okay thank you everybody have a good night now two minutes old uh think