##VIDEO ID:AHvMOig0Mo0## good morning unfortunately uh Shiloh Pentecostal church choir will not be uh available today to begin our services um uh member has fallen ill and uh they just could not uh could not get here this morning uh but uh we wish them well and and we thank them for future commit MS MR Town CER please come forward here ye here ye by my tin tabulations please draw near and give kind attention as we after July the 4th will celebrate the 249th year of our independence it is my great pleasure to begin and announce the start of the burrow of Somerville reorganization meeting please stand for the national anthem oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we held at the Twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight all the ramp parts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rocket red glare the BMS bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh shade of that star spangled bner yet wave for the land of the free and the home of the Bri [Music] I'd like to call up Sergeant First Class retired United States Army Andrea Adair a 21-year veteran and also the uh commander of the American Legion Post 12 to uh lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all putting on a different hat I'd like to ask Reverend Deacon David Lang uh to present our invocation Almighty and eternal God as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need for your presence and your guidance as we Face the future we each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us but you alone know what it holds for us and only you can give us the strength and the wisdom we need to meet its challenges in the midst of life's uncertainties in the midst of life's inevitable disappointments in the midst of life's Temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will help us to humbly put our hands into your hand and to trust you and to seek your will for our lives help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in your sight we pray for our nation our state and especially our burrow of Somerville bless guide and protect our leaders during this Joy filled and even difficult times we pray especially for the protection of all those who serve in our Armed Forces law enforcement firefighters and First Responders and we thank you for their commitment to defend our freedoms preserve our laws and protect our lives even at the cost of their own lives be with their families also and assure them of your love and concern for them as we look back over this past year we thank you for your goodness to us far beyond what we have deserved may we never presume on your past goodness or forget all your mercy to us may they instead lead us to repentance and to a new commitment to make you the foundation and center of our year and so oh Father we thank you for the promise and hope of this new year and we look forward to it with expect expectancy and Faith this I ask in the name of our Lord and savior who by his death and Resurrection has given us both help of this world and in the world to come amen amen please please be seated uh first order of business we will have the oath of office for uh councilman Randy pittz uh holding the Bible will be his wife Joan and on stage with him uh will be his son Ray and the oath will be administered by county clerk Steve Peter repeat after me I Randall Randy Pitts I Rand Randy Pitts do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the office of the office of burrow councilman for the burrow of Somerville burrow councilman for the burrow of Summerville to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so helpful God retro next order of business is the O oath of office for Andrew Ki holding the Bible will be his wife Gabriela Fernandez and on stage joining him will be his sons Alberto and Rio and The Oath will again be administered by county clerk Steve Peter all righte after me sure I Ander Conti I Ander con do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the office of the office of burrow councilman for the burough of Somerville bur councilman for the Bureau of Somerville according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me that so help me that Mr sluka this reorganization meeting is the open meeting in accordance to chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 adequate notice meeting has been provided this meeting of January 1st 2025 was published in the CER news and star lger and placed on the B's website and the same notice of this meeting was also placed on the B board at B Hall a copy of this notice is available to the public and a copy of the statement shall be included in the minutes of this meeting uh roll call for 2025 mayor and Council please mayor Brian here councilwoman Teresa here Council Andre Council here Council councilwoman Gina is excused this afternoon Council Roger here okay at this point I'll uh entertain a motion for the election of the 2025 council president I make a motion Roger council president second discussion roll call please Council Teresa yes Council Andrew yes councilman yes councilman Randy pit yes councilman Roger yes congratulations look forward to working with you again thank you all right so at this point so so this is always an interesting Endeavor because one the person typically has no idea that uh that they are going to receive the citizen of the year um and two trying to keep it a secret it's a closely guarded secret uh between Uh Kevin and myself and I know Kevin runs a contest each year in Bur Hall to see if they can guess who uh who who who it is um the interesting thing about this is when we put the write up together for this plaque the engraver called us back and said you got too much it's going to take two plaques in order to uh to put all the information on here that uh that's needed so um and this is an interesting year because it's actually a Duo uh there's two so uh but I only see one of them here today so I'd ask like to ask Jason CR could I please come forward J Jason's going to represent not only himself but his wife as well because this is presented to Jason and Jamie crasa just if I would have known you addressed perfect so now mind you this is only some of what Jason and Jamie do uh burough of Somerville 2024 citizen of the year it is with grateful appreciation that I present the 24 citizen of the Year award to Jason and Jamie crasa for their outstanding volunteerism and public service to the residents of the burough of Somerville Jason and Jamie crasa have exemplified the highest standards of volunteer public service through their contributions to the community and and their passion of helping others in Somerville burrow Jason has served on the Somerville Recreation committee for over a decade and the founder of the Somerville 5 cage Turkey Trot since 2018 Jason has served on the Somerville planning board responsible for the review and planning of mixed use Redevelopment projects creating a vibrant award-winning downtown district Jason is also the coordinator for the Somerville office of emergency management Jason's volunteer service stretches far beyond government serving on the Drew mlin Memorial fund raising funds to support local programs scholarships for Somerville high school students and holding events to raising funds and awareness about brain cancer he and his wife Jamie founded the Somerset County Farmers Market which completed a tremendous initial year at the Somerville middle school jimie and Jason are a dynamic duo Jaimie has been a teacher in Perth Amboy since 2007 she not only finds time to support Jason's efforts but equally demonstrates her exceptional volunteer leadership and passion through her her work with the Somerville Alliance for food education fostering awareness and access to healthy foods Jamie and Jason along with the team from safe host a Thanksgiving event annually and this past year served over 175 meals that were prepared at the people care center of which Jason serves on their nonprofit board jimie is also an elected board member of the Board of Education ensuring the highest quality of education for our children the combined volunteer efforts of of Jason and Jamie have strengthened Somerville burrow they are an inspiration to others whether it's organizing a community cleanup responding to an emergency raising funds or being a champion for our children their commitment to the betterment of Somerville is undeniable jimie and Jason have found the time to make a tremendous difference in Somerville while raising their daughter Nora who is a rising Gymnastic star and often found volunteering with her parents as well Somerville expresses our gratit tun in appreciation to Jason and jimie for their tireless efforts and dedication to the community it is my distinct honor and privilege as mayor that I present to Jason and Jamie crasa this most distinguished and worthy award um I I I apologize if I knew I would have dressed apart I I I did not pick myself in the pool either so um but but it is an honor um but all of those things that the marriages mentioned none of them were done by just me or my wife or the two of us there's teams volunteers the public the council the administration a lot of people do a lot of work to make all those things a reality so um I I thank everybody for this and and Marland Council thank you very much I I do appreciate it I'm honored again that that's only half of of what we had submitted for the plaque citizens honored guests burrow employees fire department rescue squad police Personnel Somerville burrow Council friends and family good afternoon and happy New Year the state of our burrow continues to be strong promising and the talk of New Jersey on how to create success real economic social and cultural growth doesn't take place in the halls of Trenton or the streets of DC it takes place in our small towns across this great country of ours and Somerville will continue to lead that charge here in New Jersey it's amazing the success this burough has seen in the faces of Statewide and National Economic challenges somerville's soaring housing values have provided a Strategic investment and Economic Opportunity for many who choose to call Somerville home or to locate their business in our Main Street continues to thrive our schools continue to provide the most wonderful diverse education for all and our neighborhoods are seeing significant reinvestment in people's homes this did not happen by accident Vision determination hard work and good people making smart decisions for the right reasons have created ated opportunity and that opportunity extends into our schools our arts and entertainment our Recreation our historic and environmental efforts and the list goes on we have prepared a foundation that will continue to benefit our burrow for decades to come I've tried to make a priority of bringing people and ideas together in an open and public forum and a willingness to work with each other regardless of party for the betterment of Somerville this approach has been embraced by past councils and I thank them for that we have proven that government can be accomplished in a civil fashion as ladies and gentlemen with character and dignity we have separated politics from decision-making and good governing for the betterment of Somerville and I anticipate that continuing this past year saw many significant events for our burrow with more on the horizon we will continue the work set out last year as our blueprint as we look forward to 25 the Somerville Emergency Services facilities building is complete and will be moved into in the first quarter of 25 decades in the making it will house the Police Department fire department rescue squad and the office of Emergency Management I thank the people and the hard work of the emergency services facility committee which organized developed designed and implemented this building for the future undertaking there were many on this committee over the years and your hard work now complete will have lasting effects on Emergency Services in the burrow please stand if you were involved in this uh undertaking after many months of us fighting back against the state which we do fairly often to help them understand and revise the rules to reflect somerville's needs the community solar program for the landfill has finally been approved this will provide discounted electric power to low and moderate income households with within Somerville this project will also allow the burrow through the developer to finally cap the landfill areas that need to be remediated to complete this capping the burrow has also negotiated over $10 million in Grants from State agencies to do this this community solar program will bring cost savings to many families in the burrow and it will be at no cost to the taxpayer construction should commence around the summer of 201 the burrow has always shouldered their responsibility very well for affordable housing whether that was implementing the Section 8 housing program one of the few in Somerset County building the senior citizen building on Mountain Avenue or understanding the rental rates in Somerville and monitoring their affordability the next huge and historic step forward in our affordable housing has just been implemented I began discussions with two developers this past year and while their projects were already approved my discussion centered on helping them understand their larger Community responsibility despite having their site plan already approved they both agreed willingly and Somerset development has made a financial contribution to the newly established Housing Trust Fund additionally DGM properties the storms family have contributed six rental units to become somerville's first dedicated affordable units in the burrow these are very significant and historic steps for Somerville in addition any new proposed Redevelopment will have an affordable housing requirement our full affordable housing plan will be approved this year in the state mandated time frames our Public Safety Committee has been reestablished and I've asked Teresa boner to be the council liaison to this very important committee I look forward to working with these civic-minded folks to review and make recommendations to Council on ways to improve our overall burrow safety the burough saw the farmers market come to town every Sunday yes and every Sunday you'd see uh Jason and Kevin out there and and directing traffic in their uh in their vests um but what an awesome success an absolutely awesome success our Redevelopment committee will see the addition of former mayor Dennis Sullivan to it joining former mayor Mike Kerwin who both add significant experience forward vision and historic perspective to the committee I firmly believe that the experience of those that have served in the mayor seat is a great benefit to the Burrow's future we will continue to work with the owners of the properties damaged or impacted by the West Main Street fire this is a very important corner and any further delays in addressing their building is having a detrimental effect on other businesses and our downtown and this will not stand with the police department moving the property will be opening up the burough can now take steps to ident identify the best end use for this property long and abandoned property the former color technology property on Cor Cornell Boulevard is finally seeing movement current investigation of the site will now include a grant for the demolition of all structures on the site prior to cleanup and we will continue working with the D and the Eda to apply for and acquire grants for the continued environmental invest instigation and the final remediation of that site while our volunteer services are Second To None the challenge we have today is engaging people to be an active part of their community and social media commentary is not what I'm talking about we need folks to put down their phones stop focusing on what they think everyone else should be doing or what they think is being done wrong and step up and do something right for your community stop the keyboard Warrior comments and be a part of your community I will work with our fire Squad and OEM to create a recruitment campaign to engage recruit and retain members for their departments their value is not fully recognized until you need them or you don't have them Somerville was Paul robson's home and this space we are in is where he went to school and the church across the street is where his father was pastor and these were his formative years I will establish a Paul Robson Memorial committee to raise awareness necessary funds select an appropriate site and provide for a fitting Monument for all of his accomplishments a couple of thank you Mike a couple of special thank yous to Bernie Nevada Bernie provided a steady hand as the chair of the planning board for decades whether you know it or not his thumb print is on every corner of this burrow and every project in Somerset County the burrow will miss you burn journey and I will miss a good friend and a big thank you to people like and now I'm going to leave some of you out but people like Arta dare Richie O'Neal Frank mevy Roy gunselman Dave vaugh Kenny McCormick the master of the 1our meeting Kenny I know I know I've left some out uh but these folks these are folks who have spent over 50 years of service to our burrow they are what has made Somerville what it is you have other folks Mike Kerwin Rich wman Tom Mitchell Rick St Pierre Dennis Sullivan the entire Bigalow family it's our job to continue this level of commitment that these folks and folks like them have to our Somerville so we thank all of you we have a volunteer fire department and rescue squad that is second to none and when the chips are down these are the men and women you want bursting through your front door our Police Department are intelligent well-trained great men and women and the department is flourishing under Chief Manning our volunteer committees commissions and Boards make this burrow what it is they are dedicated people who want to make a difference in where they live there is no better job in the world than being a mayor or a council person of this burrow and only those that have served truly understand what I speak of it's an inordinate amount of time taken away from you personally and from your family Ames but the rewards of helping to build a great Community are returned 10-fold as much as things change around us Somerville remains this constant that lends stability to this entire region which other municipalities try to emulate we have this wonderful shared experience in our 2 and a half square miles of awesome and we all call it Somerville you see we all chose to live in a burrow that is filled with opportunity and optimism we live in a burrow that has the best schools the best Housing Opportunity for all walks of life the best volunteer Spirit anywhere in the state we choose to live in a place where where children grow up with a slice of America every nationality every income bracket every color religion and ethnic group we choose to live in a place where politics takes a backseat to good decision making we live in a town that's pretty much a Norman Rockwell painting and I love every minute of it those before us in these seats have set the groundwork for what we have and it is our responsibility to continue that great work and help all of our citizens realize the optimistic opportunity and shared responsibility we all have to our burrow so do I have an optimistic Outlook absolutely and I don't have any other way to look at our burrow nor should you to the burrow Council I say thank you as your time serving our burrow is never fully recognized I ask that all of your decisions be based on neighbors helping neighbors and working together to better this burrow and when all else fails and I've said this a number of times before go have a beer with a firefighter they have a way of shedding light on issues that is clear concise and sometimes in very plain and direct language but it's language that's always in the best interest of Somerville we live in a very special place Somerville has this mix of people personalities economics and culture it's a place that holds the Cool vibe of an urban city but with the safety warrant and security of a small town it's a mix of moms and dads kids grandkids grandparents and a mix of arts and Lifestyles best of all it's a mix of volunteer Spirit responsibility to our neighbor and that is what keeps Our Town thriving and a place where families want to live and people want to visit the mix we have here in Somerville is absolutely Magic so as we enter 2025 I wish great prosperity for all the good people of our burrow in this beautiful place we all call home God bless our troops God bless our country and God bless our Somerville thank you was that 12 minutes uh this is something I started a while ago um and I think it's very important and I do this at a number of different functions uh it's it's recognition of those that are currently serving or those that have served in our armed forces and uh and I think it's important for community members to understand who their neighbors are uh so if you have if you are currently serving or you have served and are a veteran uh please stand and be recognized okay next up is the oath of office for the first aid and rescue squad Chief would Mike Bigalow please come forward holding the Bible will be Sylvia and sha Bigalow his parents with the oath administered by county clerk Steve Peter now I've known Mike Michael since he was I don't know three 2 three 4 somewhere around there and it's just it's a very gratifying thing to see the Next Generation taking over um he was uh LED and educated by two wonderful parents who uh who understood what it means to be a part of a community so they should be very proud all right May right hand repeat after commit I Michael Bigalow I Michael Bigalow do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the office of the office of chief of the summer Somerville first aid and rescue squad chief of the Sommerville first aen Rescue Squad to the according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Applause] and Mike is taking over from uh from Jim Barry I don't know if Jim's here are you here Jim no he may not be but uh uh kudos to Jim he's served probably in in every capacity in the squad uh that that's known and unknown and uh we owe a Deb of gratitude to Jim as well uh next up is the oath of office for the first uh first aid and rescue squad officers uh would Alice condo deputy chief Justin Bigalow deputy chief uh please come forward with your oath administered by county clerk Steve Peter have you rais your right hand repeat after me I state your name Justin pigalo do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the con of the United States I'll support the Constitution of United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey the constitution of the Jers and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the saying bear true Faith algi to the and to the governments established to the government establishment in the united states in the United States and in this state and the state under the authority of the people the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do Sol Solly swear that I will Faithfully fa facially impartially impartially and justly performed and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the office of this office of deputy chief for the Somerville first aid and rescue spot deputy chief for the first a to the best of my ability and understanding to the best of my ability and understanding me okay item number 16 is the appointment of the standing committees which I will make uh item number 17 are the council liaison positions for 25 I will also make those uh number 18 is the appointment of the planning board members uh uh Larry Cleveland and Chris addex I will make those appointments as well uh the Committees uh appointed by the mayor seniors and veterans committee Public Safety Committee emergency services facility management committee Green Team and cannabis class 5 committee I will make those appointments as well uh item number 24 is appointment of the planning board members by the council do we have a motion second uh discussion roll call councilwoman tereson yes councilman Andrew yes Council yes couny yes counc yes okay appointment of the Zoning Board of adjustment by the council do we have a motion for those listed so moved second discuss roll call coun yes coun andoun yes councilman ryit yes council president Roger yes and the Board of Health uh uh positions uh for those listed do we have a motion second discussion roll call yes coun Andre yes coun yes councilman Randy P yes council president Roger yes uh for the next items on pages 5 through 8 uh I will make all of those appointments uh with the uh the consent of council I'll ask for a motion for consent second discussion roll call counc yes councilman and cofy yes councilman yes counc Ry P yes council president Roger yes okay at this point I will ask for a motion to open the meeting to the public so moved discussion roll call councilwoman yes councilman Andy yes counc yes Council Randy yes council president Roger yes meeting is open to the public hearing none I'll ask for a motion to close so moved second discussion roll call councilwoman Teresa yes councilman Andrew yes counc yes couny yes council president Roger yes okay we have consent resolutions uh items number 001 through 036 which is essentially housekeeping and preparation for the coming year do we have a motion so move second roll call Council yes counil and yes counil yes Council Randy yes council president R yes okay and before we go into our uh our benediction I just want to recognize a few folks uh I just please hold your applause and there are no particular particular order uh we have County Commissioner Sarah SOI County Clerk Steve Peter who held an active role in today's events uh former mayor Dennis Sullivan former mayor Mike Kerwin uh former councilman Gran Brady uh former councilman and board of adjustment chair Arta d uh former Council and former fire chief Richie O'Neal uh former counsel Roberto carpes uh former counsel Margaret Weinberger also the Somerville Democratic chair uh former Council Phil Decker and former councilman Tom Mitchell the rock star uh we have a former chair of the uh former what was the Downtown Association Rich wman uh and the former Republican chair as well uh our employees we have uh Kevin sluka Zena Van Ness Rodney Hadley paig elster Kathy Gert from Recreation Colin driver our director of Redevelopment Michael Cole our planner and engineer [Music] uh Jason krasa yes as well thank you uh the squad we have Steve weinman uh Fred pilio uh Mike lapatki and we had a whole uh uh group of of squad folks here earlier uh Fire Chiefs uh Frank maaly uh Greg SAS and we do have a couple of uh former firefighters uh and active firefighters here in the audience as well um planning board member Barry Van Horn also a firefighter uh planning board we have Jason crasa environmental commission we have Geraldine disapio Sandy bencer uh planning board Andrea dare historic advisory March Sullivan uh Barry cultural in Heritage Linda bar uh Greg Jin from the fire police John prente from the Board of Health uh Kenny McCormack one hour can I'm closing in on it uh Rick St Pierre from the DSA and the regional center uh Denise Van Horn from the Board of Ed and uh Eric Alvarez from the zoning board um we have uh with us rod hirch from tap into and Mike deak from uh my Central Jersey and uh a big thank you to David Lang our our town crier uh as well and uh our Somerville Police Department we have an officer present here today as well um and then just a quick shout out to uh my wonderful wife who encouraged uh me to get back in this game again because she wanted she wanted me out of the house uh my my kids Brian Annie Ian Brendan and Mora um my granddaughter Danny Lynn uh and my my college friend and his son Josh who don't talk to Randy he's got all my secrets from when I was 20 years old so don't raise your hand Randy um and a big thank you uh once again to uh to to Kevin and Zena uh for organizing today uh it's not an easy task it takes uh the day after Thanksgiving is when they begin planning uh for this this uh reorganization and it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort and uh and we appreciate that very much um after uh this event ends we will have some light Refreshments in the cafeteria you would just go out this door or that door walk down the uh Hall and either make a left or a right and it'll lead you right into the cafeteria we'll have some some refreshments and a little bit of food for you as well so um with that I will ask for uh the benediction please bow your heads dear Lord we ask your blessing on all those here assembled and all those who have been invoked during these proceedings you know our many needs hear us and help us Amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen thank you thank you Mr Mayor thank you I'll ask Council for a motion for adjournment second uh all in favor I opposed this meeting is adjourned thank you