##VIDEO ID:mmkrzKagNH8## what probably that Sim wait do cut of close oh that's good for so be there tomorrow the um where should I me where T me where okay Insurance whatever I don't care what it's a new it's a new mic saw your messages so good thank you hello I'm this is nice to meet you welcome aboard thank you everybody good okay very quiet okay welcome everybody if I could please ask everybody to stand for a moment of silence and salute to the flag IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the na indivisible Li 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 uh I just want to take a second to welcome uh Miss Perry nette Perry thank welcome to Garwood uh look forward to our our meetings together if you could please do a roll call Mayor here councilman Bodo here councilman Coy councilwoman NY here councilwoman salmon here council president Carney here uh and councilman Lazo for the Public's notice is excused tonight he is under the weather um and roll call of staff and professionals please Miss Perry John Arthur here Adam abon here and chief stoer so at this point um we have a very special occasion tonight we are swearing in our new police officer officer Eric Miller uh officer Miller hails from Pompton Lakes and has had a career in service that long pre dates his arrival here in Garwood he began his career as a volunteer EMT and firefighter in Pompton Lakes in 2010 and then as an EMT for the University Hospital in norc and a dispatcher in Verona it was then that officer Miller moved into law enforcement he worked for the norc police department and he attended the Essex County Police Academy then after working in nor for one year officer Miller transferred to the Hamburg Police Department where he has spent the last three and a half years before coming here to Garwood so aside from his EMT and firefighter one training officer Miller brings many additional skills to the department that will greatly benefit our burrow he is a child passenger safety seat technician for car seats uh and an Alco test operator and he is also trained in standardized field sobriety testing so today officer Miller celebrates with his parents Wayne and Jean his brother and sister-in-law his very adorable nephew nieces uh and unfortunately his girlfriend faith is not here tonight she's a little under the weather herself but I know she is celebrating with you from afar so officer Miller welcome to Garwood if you would come forward repeat after me I Eric Miller I Eric Miller do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will uphold the constitution of the unit United States that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersy that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government's established until the governments established in the united states in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially partially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties of police officer all the duties of police officer for the B of Garwood for the bur of G according to the best of my ab according to the best of my ability congratulations thank you congratulations thank you very much picturesbody I'd like to get one with that's fine fine any any rotation that you would like [Music] thank you officer congratulations thank you okay we are going back to business uh report from our burrow attorney Mr Abramson uh nothing new to report okay a report of our bur administrator M Mr Arthur yes uh first I'd also like to welcome nette Perry as our as our clerk um and officer Miller so welcome to both um we have six ordinances up for adoption tonight but I am recommending that after we hold the public hearing ings on all six we table numbers 24-28 24-30 and 24-31 as these all Impact North Avenue which is a state road and we're awaiting technical approval on some changes from the New Jersey Department of Transportation we also have two resolutions one proving the purchase of a new garbage truck for the Department of Public Works which we bonded for a couple months ago and another amending last the the agreement we approved at last council meeting uh there was just a little bit of a typo it said a three-year agreement it was actually a 5-year agreement which we referenced uh when we were discussing it the plan is uh one fifth of the Town sewer lines to be cleaned and built for on on an annual basis for five years uh we also have placed orders for the shade structure at the Athletic Field Complex and flooring at Burrow Hall we don't have dates on one of those projects will begin yet but we may have to close part of B Hall as that's happening we'll try to do it in in phases as much as possible we also held a meeting to discuss street sweeping which was discussed at the last council meeting um based on the these discussions um my recommendation is to basically remove October from the schedule changing the schedule to May through September uh you know the superintendent talked about how a lot of rare antenna on the vehicle a lot of fuel usage um you know just scheduling so so that's my recommendation but we would continue to sweep the streets throughout the entire year as weather permits so it's not that we wouldn't be sweeping during those other months it's just it wouldn't be officially on these days at these times it would be when we see it needs to be swept you know if weather allows uh the goal is to obviously keep the streets clean without any unnecessary burden on our equipment um but we would also want to evaluate next year re-evaluate it see how it's doing on a slightly different schedule and decide from there whether we want to bring it back to where it was this year or potentially you know make some other alterations again in order to maintain our equipment while also maintaining the roads uh quality of cleanliness all right that's pretty much it uh just really quickly um for the ordinances that you're seeking to table I wouldn't have the public hearing on them because you would obviously have to have it at the point of the um when it's going to go forward right so we're going to you're not G have the public hearing on the ones that were taking off the agenda correct um Miss Perry you don't have to close it you can you have to have the public hearing because it was advertised that the public would be able to speak on those ordin but it's not being voted on tonight it's being essentially removed and waited until we get clearance from the state still public hearing and then close it and then you can table it to a date certain but it's up to you guys I just wouldn't have the hearing and then vote on it say a month from now when everyone forgets what you're voting on that's just me just to make sure it's clear okay but it's whatever you guys want either way I think is fine you can obviously file you know you could still have another public hearing at that time right it' just be duplicative so okay um all right we can we can hold the public hearing then till then the next time that we bring it forward if we table it sound good okay might as well not be duplicative then okay um oh so any questions from Mr Arthur or comments street sweeping anything like that we're going to go forward with that recommendation yep um we did meet with the superintendent and and yes um because the wear was one of the highest um concerns taken away October was something that we agreed on um again I want to reiterate that if there's need to sweep they will come out and sweep if the weather is good they will come out and sweep thanks okay okay um I have a small report okay uh just a couple of upcoming events in Garwood the Garwood pta's annual trick-or trunk is on October 26 from 4 to from 4: to 5:30 in front of Lincoln School the recreation committee and the green team will have tables there so please stop by with the kids and also on Halloween the Lions Club will have their annual Hall uh Halloween parade and costume contest this year they are partnering with the recreation Committee just to make this an even better night um the parade starts at 700 p.m. at Barrow Hall and continues to Lincoln School where we will have the costume contest there will be prizes for the winners but all participants will get a full-size candy bar so happy Halloween and then Switching gears yesterday along with our B this was two days ago now right two days ago now with our uh along with my with our bur administrator I attended the first meeting of the Safe Streets for all action plan advisory committee so the purpose of this meeting was to introduce Union County stakeholders to the safer streets for all Grant or you'll hear it called the ss4a grant that the county was awarded to enable us to develop a countywide comprehensive Safety Action Plan so the goal of this action plan is to eliminate roadway fatalities and serious injuries and improve safety and Mobility uh for the County's residents so while the grant will focus on the county roads the recommendations however that they provide can be utilized by municipalities for roads throughout our towns uh it's important to note that this is just a planning Grant however by creating this plan uh it will allow the county to then apply for an implementation Grant uh which can then go towards making the actual infrastructure changes that this plan recommends uh the plan of action to do is to do multiple data analyses over the next few months identifying crash Trends contributing factors uh as well as demographics and then do multiple popups throughout the counties municipalities to get GA one-on-one feedback from the residents there will be various focus group meetings and the plan advisory committee the committee that uh I am now a part of will meet three more times over the next year to go after the data and feedback as well as provide our our feedback from our personal town so by the end of summer of 2025 there will then be concrete recommendations laid out for the county I was able to speak with the groups involved with the planning about what we have already done in Garwood uh they in particular noted the EDG lines along Center Street um as well as our pedestrian signals as being big game changers and those Edge lines are the the the lines going down Center Street that sort of cut off the Alleyways for the parking um so they did note them as big game changers for a town like ours and so I also talked about our plans to incorporate bike lanes and curb bump outs uh which were also mentioned by the planners as uh really necessary components for any Town looking to decrease speeding so this was a productive meeting I'm looking forward to participating over the next year and seeing the recommendations for South Avenue that are produced not only for our stretch here in Garwood but along the whole Corridor uh and I will continue to keep everyone up to date as this progresses over the next months moving along to uh comments from the council councilwoman Bodo thank you mayor just quickly welcome to Miss Perry and congratulations to officer Miller thank you councilman Foley welcome Miss Perry and uh congrats again to officer Miller and that's all for tonight councilwoman ndi just echoing my colleagues thank you that's all from councilwoman salmon no comments council president Carney uh ditto welcome to officer Miller and uh welcome aboard Miss Perry nice and quick okay minute uh Miss Perry can you read the minutes please minutes at the regular meeting of the mayor and Council held on September 26 2024 can I have a motion to accept the regular meeting minutes as presented second all in favor I opposed okay uh any Communications Miss Perry I see none none to date okay okay then moving along to our ordinances uh we have um a bunch up for adoption though I I looks like we'll be tbling a few but miss peric uh can you read ordinance number 24-27 by title only- 27 an ordinance of the bar oh sorry by amending chapter 99 entitled health and sanitation Article 4 littering section 99- 26 hand bills okay uh I noticed we have one uh correspondence from uh resident Bruce Patterson did we have anything further no okay uh at this point we will open it up to the public does anyone present wish to be heard concerning ordinance 24-27 please step to the microphone and please keep your comments to five minutes able to hear me start all right good evening uh mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue obviously you got my letter hopefully you read it because uh in that letter I was going to I was saying I'm going to be asking these questions and I'd like to hear answers towards this this uh circular advertising bill that you want to pass um it's under you know it's under hand bills but it's the circular advertisers that are thrown on the driveways for free and obviously they're under the target so the questions uh that need to be answered I'd like to hear why is this not a zoning issue since the government now is a set a fixed delivery area at homes uh please expl PL the 3ot distance selected in a why not 4T 5ot or even twoot uh if finds are to be imposed but who will be the one to trespass on private property to measure this three- foot distance uh if not trespassing then who's to stand on the right away approximately 17 feet from the mailbox and argue whether it looks like the circular is six feet away so let's impose a fine how does one determine whether some rambun rambunctious child or person kick a circular like a soccer ball out into the street what is the mechanism for enforcement of these fines why push it off if that is your direction you're planning to do instead of a sledgehammer approach how about education and Outreach first would you have ideas for these delivery persons since you are now making it more onerous on them to achieve a three-foot landing zone is the alterior motive to stop these circular deliveries altogether because of the plastic bags they are wrapped in because it that could possibly be the easiest route of the main delivery advertising company for Garwin just to stop it did you study how many residents this would disadvantage if it goes that route uh final question if or is it really to stop the circulars from landing on the street as litter if that is your motive then just revise the ordinance for the delivery people are sure not to throw it on the streets uh we ask you to table this ordinance along with all those other ones you listed uh for further deliberation on the findings uh one suggestion is a less owner's delivery Target would just have the circular Target pass the Burrow's 8 foot right away to the property and please take this is my letter also please take into consideration as to who are these delivery people we would probably find they are working two to three jobs just to live in this high cost State the the public doesn't really like gaslighting uh just because you guys have the final comment about this in the past meeting I noted your actions not only hinder Commerce but also hurt the little guy and to which you the mayor stated we are actually helping the little guy this statement is nonsensical since this ordinance is now making the delivery system less efficient more prolonging having to track who is opting in or opting out while delivering the deliverer is forced now to either walk to burrow with deliveries or if driving deliver the materials over a 28t distance to the house and failing that would then be F 100 200 $500 per infraction so I would like to hear a lot of these answers they were in your possession for a couple of days so hopefully uh you do have answers for the public thank you very much thank you does anybody else wish to address the mayor and Council sure why not um Jill Paul 54 thir Avenue um so when I was a kid my brother and I decided we wanted money you know a whole like $5 a week um delivering Penny Savers and so my dad ended up being the penny saer delivery man so he would drive us around and he would actually Chuck the penny Savers from the car window wherever they went I think my brother did it I probably did it probably zero um and they went wherever they went and it was a disaster but you know what at the end of the day we got to split our $5 a week um I can't really see people probably making that much more doing this so obviously you're going to do what you do to get that five bucks right which obviously it's more now um personally I love this three foot rule most of you know um Mary Kay Burns who is my 95y old neighbor and walks with two canes down the sidewalks um you know sometimes it's slippery sometimes it's not sometimes it's an obstacle course and I will tell you with those bags everywhere A lot of the times it's an obstacle course I'm more than able to navigate she doesn't see very well she walks three miles a day I don't think anybody here does that right um and so I love that um I know people who absolutely love these circulars love when they come y'all know me I hate stuff I have AED enclosures um in my house I have aeds in my house I don't have any more room there for any of this stuff so I think it's really important you know that it's really easy to figure out how to opt out but I know a ton of people aren't because they actually look forward to those so I think that maybe the community needs to stop seeing this as a bad thing and seeing that three-foot rule as a really good thing however the one thing I want you to look into is at my building because the mailboxes are actually inside the outside doors so what does that mean for us because I can tell you the way that they are now some of them Chuck them from the street so they're like everywhere there some of them just put a ton of them on our steps in the middle of the steps which Amazon does too which is a whole other thing you open the door you can see like I can see Mary Kay can't see but nothing is off to the side so I think that that's something to figure out is with the buildings what that actually looks like um but yeah I think this is a very positive thing this is one of those things like ketchup it's really not killing anybody here so maybe we need to rethink this as a community thank you thank you does anybody else wish to address the mayor and councel okay can I have a motion to close public hearing on ordinance 24-27 second uh all in favor I okay um thank you both uh yes of course we did read the letter um Mr Patterson when I said I think we are helping the little guy I think you misinterpreted it I meant it as Garwood residents um the company that that delivers this is not particularly my concern Our concern up here is for the residents of uh the burrow that's what we're looking to um make quality of life a little bit better with each thing that we do um and so making it a closer to where they receive their mail uh is helpful for them it's also helpful um for the environment that it does keep the plastic bags from going into the drain when they're on the edge of the driveway or the sidewalk um and don't get picked up um and your concern for how they deliver it they are if people uh you know some people opt in or opt out but the fact of the matter is is that they already do that um some people already opt out we're we're kind of Lucky at least I think townwide this um the one that's delivered to my house has the number on it so um we don't need to enforce it on that company that company is actually already doing it which is great um it's if any other companies do come in that that is the point of this is that it will allow it will enforce this for anybody else that comes in uh in the future that they have to have the opt out number on um and so they already need to keep record of who is and who isn't as they go around delivering so nothing really changes with that um three feet I think is a good uh measurement we were also looking at ordinances in other towns as to what they do um it's as arbitrary as your four or six feet suppose but it keeps it closer to the resident coming out to get it um and I yeah I think it's it's it's hitting very much like the the catch-up packet ordinance where you're trying I think you're kind of stretching to try and find some things wrong with it when I think it's actually an overall good thing um Mr Arthur if you could um give the company a call so that we can disc discuss them placing it in a proper area for the apartment buildings such as Stephanie Gardens um to eliminate the issue over there um anybody else wan to Hype in mayor I just want to add that uh when I was a kid a buddy of mine had a paper route and uh I helped him with it a couple times and uh he was a lot better at tossing the papers than me because he did it uh every day and I swear he could hit the target from the street he would it would land literally right in front of their door um so it's possible to do these things more efficiently with a little bit more effort or if the person has to get out of their car I mean again the delivery companies um trials and tribulations are not those of our residents and that is who we represent here anybody else good okay um can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 24-27 I'll make that motion second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley I councilwoman NY i councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I okay Miss Perry can you read ordinance 24-28 by title only sure ordinance 24-28 an ordinance amending the Barrow code of the burrow of Garwood by amending chapter 21 section 21- 8.2 entitled 15minute parking okay um at this point I will ask uh if somebody would like to make a motion to table this ordinance to do so at this point before we move on I'll make a motion to table it second uh roll call please Miss Perry sure councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley hi councilwoman NY i councilwoman salmon I council president Carney hi moving on Miss Perry can you read 24-29 by title only ordinance 24-29 an ordinance amending the barel code of the Barrow of Garwood by amending chapter one 21 excuse me section 8.7 entitled on Street business and burrow employee permit parking okay once uh oh no do we have any other correspondence uh concerning this ordinance Miss Perry no does anyone present wish to be heard concerning this ordinance okay can I have a motion to close public hearing on ordinance 24-29 some moves second um any discussion so I've heard some feedback from the businesses on North Avenue that they aren't particularly very fond of what we're doing over here at all in like a collective unit of like a good amount of businesses right there it's interesting because I've heard the opposite but okay um this one is actually about burrow employee permits right um allowing them to lease some spots in JFK Plaza which um some businesses here have chosen to do on Willow so it's not mandatory M it just gives them weating three spots for so permits at no cost to Garwood employees so they would park all the way over there and then walk over here no the any employee that's up on North Side so we have some we have some of these already over here that some employees some business of from businesses over and in fact one of the we had a couple of owners at the Town Hall that were in favor of paid parking over there so okay it's fine um but I'm talking particularly about this permit one has is not about paid parking okay okay anybody else okay um can I have a motion to adopt this ordinance so moved second uh roll call please councilman Bodo I councilman Foley I Council woman NY i councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I uh Miss Perry can you read ordinance 24-30 by title only ordinance 24-30 an ordinance of the barel code of the Bureau of Garwood by amending chapter 21 entitled vehicles and traffic article I traffic and parking section 21-8 point8 paid parking zones uh uh do we have any other correspondence regarding regarding this we do oh and then um at this point I will ask if anybody wants to put this up to a motion to table I'll make that motion second okay roll call please Miss Perry councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley I councilwoman NY hi councilwoman so salmon hi council president Carney I okay can we miss Perry can you read 24-31 by title only ordinance 24-31 an ordinance of the Barrow code of the Barrow of Garwood by amending chapter 21 entitled vehicles and traffic article I traffic and parking section 21-8 2hour parking okay and we have we had any further correspondence no we have not okay uh at this point if there's anybody who would like to put a motion up to table this I'll make that motion okay second okay roll call please Miss Perry councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley hi councilwoman NY hi councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney hi okay and finally um Miss Perry can you read ordinance 24-32 by title only ordinance 24-32 an ordinance of the barel code of the Barrow of Garwood by amending chapter 21 entitled vehicles and traffic article I traffic and parking section 21-1 parking prohibited okay um have we had any cor other correspondents no okay does anybody present wish to be heard concerning this ordinance I just have a Qui question about this this Second Avenue I'd like to know if the res second beened to this change or we're going to be blindsided like we were um is there anybody else who wishes to be heard okay can I have a motion to close public hearing on this ordinance so moved second uh roll call oh sorry discussion um to just answer your question this is actually the portion of the road in front of Hartman Park um it actually is right now no parking we are going to be removing that um prohibited area and allowing parking and it will be it will fall under the same rules as the rest of the street so um I don't think it really affects the residents on the other side in in any sort of way um I think it will help a lot during during the day when it's um you have a lot of teachers there and a lot you know um we we know that it's gotten tough did you want to yeah if I may mayor this uh was recommended to the police committee by the chief of police for that specific reason to uh aleviate some traffic and parking concerns on that street during the school day uh as was previously reported okay any other discussion okay can I have a motion to adopt this ordinance so second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo hi councilman Foley hi councilwoman no I councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney I moving along to council standing reports uh councilman Foley Finance nothing to report tonight thank you okay um does anybody have anything from fire right not t nightmare okay uh Community Development councilwoman salmon thank you mayor um we are expecting to hear about our fourth round obligation for fair share housing by October 20th so hopefully I will have update at the next meeting okay um Public Works councilwoman Bodo thank you mayor in addition to the recurring duties the DPW employees cleaned up the common areas around the municipal complex and the fire department performed street sweeping prun sh trees continue to assemble picnic tables cleaned up Municipal parking lots moved go on Turf for field hockey weed did AA Kennedy Plaza that's all thank you mayor uh police council president Carney uh thank you mayor the police committee met last week to continue discussion on a number of items uh including police Staffing and recruitment challenges uh police accreditation which I'm pleased to report the work is nearly 75% complete uh Center Street Bike lanes and curb bump outs uh and a number of code updates which are being recommended by the chief uh along with the dog licensing code that we already had in committee I'll have more to report on the code changes when the work in committee is further along uh I also have the monthly police report the Garwood police department has recorded 1,895 CAD entries during the month of September 2024 uh these calls include 122 motor vehicle stops 65 parking complaints 56 fixed traffic posts which are radar stop sign or distracted driving uh 16 motor vehicle crash investigations 159 building and property checks 40 medical assists 85 community policing posts 26 walking posts 23 investigated suspicious person or vehicle complaints and 20 criminal investigations and that's all for this report okay uh Community engagement councilwoman ndi thank you mayor the gar partner parip for arts and culture will be holding its fall art show entitled color the season with creativity this fall we will be exploring the theme of creativity Garwood artists of all ages are welcome to choose a recent piece that that best expresses the creative ideas and mediums they've been exploring lately we are accepting small sculptures framed watercolors pastels oil paintings photographs or mixed media works please send a photo of your work with the dimensions to myself seen at garwood.nj programs that are coming up this fall um starting on October uh 21st stem Odyssey which is a program provided by mad science for ages 5 to 12 we'll be meeting on Mondays from 5 to to 6:00 p.m this program is um for cure ious kids for diving into the wonders of science through electrifying Adventures Crayola world of design this program is provided by Crayola imagine arts academy and mad science together uh this is for ages 5 to 12 from Mondays on Mondays from 6:00 to 7: also beginning on October 21st uh this one is described as take a journey to the farthest reaches of the imagination while learning about the Arctic the rainforest Mars and futuristic city um we also have uh teen Friday Night Lights kickball games Friday October 18th at 7 pm open to ages 13 to 177 all skill levels youth walking challenge will begin at the end of October this is for ages 8 to 17 you'll be tracking your steps and winning prizes youth basketball is open the program starts the end of November and runs through Fe uary 2025 this is for grades 1 through 8 and it is $90 for residents or $100 for non-residents there are also some interesting adult programs uh to um to highlight we have adult basketball uh open play um every Wednesday from 6:30 to 9: at the Lincoln school gymnasium this is pre- program and pre-registration is required adult Ceramics there are two two evenings left this fall November 13th and December 11th um this these workshops are held at the Garwood recck Center adult Friday Night Lights kickball game is Friday October 25th at 7 pm um also at the rec center adult acrylic painting on canvas Workshop will also be held at the Garwood rec center on December 4th at 7 p.m. adult Tai Chi will begin in November on Tuesdays from 7:00 to8 8 also held at the rec center um adult yoga as well on Thursdays from 6:30 to 7:30 also at the Garwood Sports and recck complex we also have a number of um exciting events that are coming up um as the mayor mentioned the um Halloween parade and costume contest this year will be presented by the Lions Club in collaboration with the recreation committee on October 31st at 700 p.m. the parade starts at bro Hall and ends at Lincoln School with the costume contest taking place in the school gym uh we also um would like everyone to enter the Halloween decorating contest entries will be due by October 26th the tree lighting uh annual tree lighting from 4: to 6: PM uh will be taking place on Saturday November 30th we will also be having the ice skating at waren enko Park uh from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. that same evening Holiday House decorating will be taking place from December 9th to December 19th and the manura lighting has a tentative date of Saturday December 28th and that is all for my report thank you um does anybody have a libraries report correct okay um School Board liaison council president Carney the Garwood Board of Education next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday October 15th uh I was unable to attend our October meeting with the district for the uh District advisory committee meeting the uh first one of the year uh due to work commitments but uh mayor blumenstock was able to attend both in my absence uh I'll be following up with the mayor and the superintendent next week and I will report anything relevant at our next meeting that's all I have uh I have a short senior liaison report our meeting on October 2nd was a fun one with of course a pizza lunch and bingo um President George deers discussed the possibility of switching up some of the shopping trip locations that our senior bus takes uh he will be discussing it further with the members and then with the senior director our next meeting is on October 17th at 12m at the Nights of Columbus small business advisory council president Carney thank you mayor no official report tonight uh but we should have a few more grand openings to announce before the end of this year uh everyone please keep an eye out for Jess Bak shop which is on nor North Avenue by Lincoln Avenue and uh sweat house which is an infrared sauna and cold plunge Wellness business at vermella both uh coming soon it's a big new thing um Board of Health leaz on councilman Foley uh no report tonight planning board leaz on councilman salmon councilwoman sammon sorry thank you mayor the next planning board meeting on October 9th has been cancelled and the next meeting will be held on October 23rd thank you um Miss Perry can you read officer reports please uh zoning enforcement officers report for September 2024 sorry I got you I don't know if she gave them to oh you just have to read it off we just read them into the rec title yeah oh okay all right htpp oh you can just read the titles you don't have to read the website we just read the um zoning yeah the head into the record oh okay zoning off officers zoning Enforcement Officers report for sep September 2024 code enforcement Property Maintenance officers report for September 2024 chief of police monthly reports for September 2024 um and do you have the CFO one yes was the title yeah this was done earlier CFO tax collector report for September 2024 thank you um can I have a motion to accept the officer's report some moved second uh all in favor I opposed okay at public comment if there's anyone to who wishes to address the mayor and councel please step to the microphone State your full name and address and please limit your comment to five minutes John a Richard 410 Bruce AV Garwood this past Sunday I watched the uh Garwood Fire Department in action as they responded to a mutual Aid alarm helping the raw way raw WD fighting a fire that proves to me that our firefighters all volunteers as well as our police officers and rescue squad Personnel they're out there serving us day by day day and night they're the ones you can count on they have the attitude of we I'll be there in NE of fear which serves us well we need to back up police officers and firefighters and rescue squad personnel and 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 that that also applies to our military personnel our Armed Forces some of whom are serving from Garwood they're in our army navy Marine Corps Coast Guard and Air Force there are investment in Freedom they defend the freedoms that we enjoy today both at home and abroad we must back them up in every way we failed to do so during the war in Vietnam n in which we lost three of garwood's sons to the war they loved us so every day in aund ways they told us so in honesty and affection they told us so they loved the so every day in aund ways they showed us so with loyalty and bravery they showed us so excuse me they were our Defenders and they kept us free they took an oath to guard us and fought for Liberty they loved us so and we should know we and lastly we need to pressure the state legislature to reopen some closed hital such as mberg because we'll need them badly if another n attack occurs we need them badly the sooner activate mberg and other closed hospitals the better off we all will be your prayer thank you ladies and gentlemen thank you Mr pitri is there anybody else who wishes to address the May and Council hi Jill Paul 54 Third Avenue please start your clock um so a bunch of things um first of all welcome Miss Perry with your official little placard that's awesome and congratulations to officer Miller um he was at our building a couple of weeks ago so I had the opportunity to meet him um I know we all know about the speeding and the stop sign issues um I live on the North side um yesterday on Oak and second um I almost got smashed into from somebody just blowing through a stop sign and tonight um Walnut and second so both vehicles actually had Garwood stickers I think that's important to note because a lot of times we talk about cross through traffic not usually the case from what I'm seeing um and it just stinks because you know I'm going down where I have the right away going like 11 miles an hour because I know this is going to happen and somebody's really going to get hurt so I was asked by um this was actually before these two incidents I was asked about a speed bump or something on Oak um someone mentioned in all way stop but we know people either don't know how those work which is baffling um or they choose to ignore how they work so I don't think that that's the answer I think it's actually more dangerous but there are kids on both the 100 blocks of um of second and on um third that their parents will never ever let them walk to school so if we're doing any sort of surveying they're never going to be counted in that count um and so what I'm interested in knowing is um when the apartments go up at paperboard one day will there be a light at Oak North to maybe help a little bit from that direction you know just with the speeding obviously there's no stop sign there um and then I wanted to just talk about the Aliva foundation so we all know sudden cardiac R awareness month is right now um we are doing a lot of community events with EMS um doing the CPR and a interactive demos last week we did one with Berkeley Heights last night we did one um at Fanwood where we donated an outdoor a enclosure and device and Chico Rush um the former NHL goalie who did a great CPR video for us actually came out to that um he was hanging out with Emma willix and um everybody there and that was pretty cool um I worked with the Board of Ed president April Farrell who was absolutely incredible um to help shape the days activities some of you might know some of you might not know we met with um the superintendent and the principal and next Wednesday we are doing a full day of activities um for restarter heart day at Lincoln School I know I mentioned at the last meeting meeting so it's going to be a full day of fun light-hearted um age appropriate activities with each grade um we're doing this with the first aid Squad Lu and Kim will be there and CPR instructors that we work with for the Middle School um Stephanie willix some of the police officers Chief if you're in back of me and you want to come and read to and do a craft activity with the little kids in the morning you're more than welcome to come with me wink wink um we are going to be donating three young kids Cardiology books to the garw library is he laughing because I see you laughing um and then Crossroads and um hot works are selling hearts for donation to be displayed so please head over to both businesses um I'm just checking my text I can't tell you yet but we have some really really really exciting news um will be announcing very soon Chief knows about it um but I don't want to announce it before I have confirmation from that person um but yeah that's it thank you thank you anybody else wish to address the mayor and councel please step to the mic I'm here to talk again um I wasn't here for a few months so I didn't realize what was happening um I saw from the notes from the minutes of August 8th that counc Carney um stated that he's heard our concerns and he simply visit Reed with the inconveniences of the residential CL parking um he says Common Sense tells me that establishing an island of free parking within a block or two of the businesses along South Avenue and Center Street will disrupt the cave parking plane we feel that our quality of life is more important than your paid parking agend and we don't understand why if you have a barwood mall of free parking which is even closer than our block why would consider this common sense in addition if you're going to put PID parking on North Avenue directly across from gar Plaza which is also free parking not only is that going to be an issue for businesses and for customers trying to get across the street but it's also a safety issue because they're not going to pay for parking if they could have fre um Council councilman po you sit on the the police committee with councilman Carney councilwoman no you wrote an article called action not words in the county Haw on September 12th you said authentic leadership means facing challenges head on not shying from them when a block of residents signed a petition I didn't just read it and move on I met with every single person to hear their concerns and work towards a solution what have you done because we're sitting here now looking at another year of living with this if you fail to lead the committee in moving towards what we ask I appreciate your vote but there was no action taken the signs are still on the street and people are still very upset thank you thank is anybody else wish to address the mayor and councel Mr Patterson if you would like to please come up uh good evening mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 will Avenue uh just following on um Mr pritchard's statement that the guard fire department right now is in their fundraising uh phase so keep that in mind and give generously of course uh the mayor use the term stretching you know looking for things wrong but you know what I was looking for details and I would assume stretching means you really don't want to uh face any inconvenience of of the details and the questions that I actually listed so you just want to go along to get along just do what everybody else does and like in my letter mentioned you may have a flawed law you just continue on with it you know who cares about thinking about it all the way through so but it's passed and uh well it is what it is and we'll see what happens I'm not going to follow through with a a six time asking a question you know what question I was probably it's the one with the r of the sa uh the breakout and I'm not going to ask the status because you know obviously I'm not going to get an answer but I just I would just like to know uh two months ago you tasked uh ba Arthur to look into the various high density projects that have the pilot financial agreement as to whether the fees could be uh imposed on them and you know here it is two months later I would just uh like to hear what some indicators were that he found out um you know I asked these questions I get a runaround little bit of gaslighting because now it's in the attorney's lap or something but let's hear some indicators on that because actually I did some research myself and I do have an answer but I'm not going to bring it up right now but I do know exactly the answer to the question that I have been asking so but I would like to hear whatever the indicators were that VA Arthur had had looked into with this uh identity pilot thee arrang thank you very much thank you anybody else wish to address the mayor and counsel okay can I have a motion to close so moved second all in favor I opposed okay um Miss Paul about the light at Oak North I believe during the development plan phase with the planning board that that was a part of it we asked them to go to the do and I believe the do rejected that um I can double check that I have my facts correct because it was many years ago but I do believe that that was the end result was that um paperboard company did pursue it and was told no um I will say uh I am working with the chief uh about crossing guards in the area for the school time and we are looking to do some different things over there um but it's still in the work so I don't want to you know get into the various uh specifics but we are working on it um but that is the the actual in terms of the traffic light I believe that is what what happened um it's very hard with with do I will say it's it's not something we we haven't come up against before um but that that was what went on there um Miss mey um you uh in terms I will let Miss Mr I will let sorry council president Carney and councilman Foley respond if they would like to um I will let you know I the just uh as a as a sort of fact check that to let uh that I hope eliminates one of your concerns over on North Avenue JFK Plaza um part of the ordinance they would be a part of the paid parking so there it would be along North Avenue with the businesses and also in JFK Plaza so it there isn't free parking that they would go to instead over there and the Garwood Mall um obviously as you know is privately owned so we really don't have control over what you know they choose to do with their parking scenario so you are welcome to respond if you would like you don't need to I um I did meet with everyone for a few nights on Myrtle after I read the petition and I know I had you over over at my apartment building and had other residents there you know I had to get information to understand what the issue was and with that information bring it to my Council colleagues and the mayor to to have a better chance of removing the permit restriction the uh parking permits without doing that I'm not really moving the needle so I worked very hard talking to my Council colleagues I worked hard trying to to meet everyone where they're at to get more information and work on the behalf of you no it didn't work out the way I hoped um and that's on me but I do know I did put in the work and getting that information on everyone on Myrtle move the needle more than if I didn't and I knew that I had a better chance of getting your getting that support from my Council colleagues and from the mayor if I met every one of them and so that's what I did um so look if I was you know a local King I could just one vote I could have done it but I'm not I'm one of six um and I did the best I could but at the end of the day if I fell short I own that thank you I I will say in in councilman Foley's defense he's right he is a body um and it is a representative body that that makes the decisions but I think one of the reasons we had so much discussion about it was because councilman Foley pushed that issue so um thank you Marin I I would follow on along with that the amount of time that we spent um Rel Rel litigating this issue after the prior year of work that went into it was because of councilman Foley's advocacy uh specifically in our committee and and to me personally and I heard him out and as I I said and it's on the record and it's on video I just don't agree um the reason why I don't agree is uh you know can be painted as oh this one thinks he knows better this one particular lock as a part of a kind of a tapestry of of parking plans that we put in place after Consulting with the chief of police and it was something that was in the police committee over multiple councils I was actually handed this project as the new police commissioner from the last Police Commissioner who was uh former council president Graham um you my concern and continued to be my concern and I was able to convince enough of my colleagues to vote the same way is that removing this one area uh it was shortsighted in that it was a inconvenience to some residents on that block and I do say some because I was out several nights with councilman Foley and I spoke to people who had a different opinion who lived on that block not a majority but there's definitely people there the people on this body up here represent all of Garwood not one block not one business um not one Department as much as we all tend to advocate for the ones that we happen to chair in any given year um there was a lot of consideration given to this uh and it just did not make sense it wouldn't work it would have led to in my opinion that becoming a parking issue that the police would then have to deal with where residents would not be able to park coming home from work on that block which was one of the things we were trying to address with the extension of the permit hours in the first place so I'll just say that this is democracy we're free to disagree the vote carried up here and uh I'm frankly proud of the work that was done and I'm proud of councilman Foley for really standing up to us and and standing as ground thank you thank you um Mr Patterson um the Miss Miss I I do know Mr Arthur and the Ator uh and Mr Abramson are still looking at various things and I know they've been talking and I know there's been discussions I don't know at what point it's the discussion is ready to move but Mr Arthur you're welcome to update if you would like I mean there's still you're still as I thought in discussion with Mr Abramson yeah we're gonna we're gonna we actually we're just talking about how we to schedule some time to get together with both things that we found and kind of talk it through so so we're we're working on it thanks and um I love how you ask the question without asking the question all right moving on consent agenda is there anything anybody would like to remove sure I would like to remove resolution number 24- 173 okay all right anything out anybody else okay can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended mov second roll call please uh councilman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilwoman NY hi councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney hi okay second I'm sorry did you second uh councilwoman N N I wasn't sure um resolution 24- 173 can I have a motion to adopt I'll make that motion M second second uh discussion so it's more of just a comment when we originally adopted this at the last meeting it's just ironic to me to see this go through on a Thursday at 7:00 at night and then pars say in our town at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning like it's already scheduled it's scripted ready to go it gave zero room for anybody if they had anything to say or if there was an error they literally started at 9:00 am on Friday morning so first of all it did pass the last time so what the only thing that's changing here was the typo with the number I'm talking about last time so we approved it at the council meeting Thursday 7 o'clock and they started the next day no has not they were looking they have started the actual store sore cleaning hasn't started yet but they're here looking the next day if they're not hired why would they be here looking honestly because they have a good relationship with our DPW superintendent and they were able to call if if it had not passed we would have just said don't don't start I kind of think it's good that you get a stles right away it's very rare it's scripted okay it's sore cleaning I don't know how controversial that it's not controversial considering half of us weren't educated on what it exactly even was I guess when you want to educate yourself you can I was the one that said it wasn't scoping it was Mark and Sean that weren't aware that it wasn't scoping that it was just washing I appreciate your comments no problem you're welcome can I have uh payment of claims read Miss Perry oh sorry we didn't do the roll call roll call please councilwoman Botto I councilman Foley I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon no council president Carney I okay Miss Perry can you please read payment of claims be it resolved that the following claims as approved be and the same are hereby ordered paid when properly signed and verified and the payment of payrolls as listed is hereby confirmed and ratified can I have a motion to adopt so moved second uh roll call please councilwoman Bodo I councilman Foley I councilwoman ndi I councilwoman salmon hi council president Carney hi okay the regular meeting of the mayor and Council will be held on Thursday October 24th at 7M in council chambers information for meetings is posted on the burrow website can I have a motion to adjourn so moved second uh all in favor I opposed all right thank you everybody for coming bre