e ju just a heads up before we begin I'm going to ask the scouts uh right when we open to come forward and lead us in the pledge all right just so you know we're live we're live now this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meetings law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided this meeting of April 15 2024 was published in the ker news and Star Ledger and placed on the Burrow's website notice of this meeting was also placed on the bulletin board at Burrow Hall a cop copy of this notice is available to the public and a copy of this statement shall be included in the minutes of this meeting mayor Brian Gallagher here council members Teresa boner here Glen Den is excused this evening Tom Mitchell here Randy pittz here Gus traic here Roger verm here all right uh we have with us tonight uh a whole group of uh Boy Scouts and I'd like to ask them to please come forward and help uh lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance 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 thank you gentlemen okay can I have a motion for the approval of the minutes of February 20 2024 and April 1 2024 so moved second uh any discussion roll call council members Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes jusic yes Roger vroom yes all right uh Kevin we have received some uh uh uh emails and and some concern over some delays we've had uh in putting out some of our minutes uh it's uh it's an not that delayed but there is has been a little bit of delay can you can you talk a little bit about that just so people are aware sure sure and know one one set you're voting on tonight that was February 20 so that's probably the latest one you've seen the I I will tell you we've had some technical issues and we also we also utilize the cameras for the benefit of drafting the minutes um so what happened was on the 20th of February while it did the video there was no audio so we had to reconstruct those minutes by notes that we've had and other people have had um in order to reconstruct those minutes on March 18th which you'll have for the next meeting that particular video that particular technology if you recall it shut off in the middle it was a date of our budget presentation and picked up again um last week we had that on the agenda but what happened was was there was a gap and and it you'll be you'll get at that Revisited Gap in in next week's meeting so so it was really March 18th and and February 20th the only other prior time that you had it more than two weeks was the person that does the minutes was on vacation for a week um other than that I I will tell you I don't know 10 years you usually actually get them the very next meeting our goal is to keep them in the same month yes but we've been pretty good at keeping in the same meeting it's unfortunate that we had kind of multiple issues within a with a five or six meeting period but that's that's the extent of it and I think we're beginning to have some multip some issues again so so Mike uh was working on it is what what's happening there is is that the server room is overheating um and we had a fan installed on Friday uh and uh so right now we're just trying to keep the temperature down on that server in order for that to uh not to over my concern is that we're I I don't know if YouTube is still broadcasting because it keeps blinking in and out right now uh it is we're still broadcasting yeah I see it may be also blinking on the YouTube um because it's delayed so I can't I mean I'll be able to tell you right now right um but but you would just have the blink on the YouTube um but it it is it is still yeah my my big concern is is making sure that we have the audio Yeah okay all right uh so thank you for that explanation so so obviously we've had some uh growing pains with technology uh it's a new facility that we're in and uh um as the technology uh expands uh it helps us in certain areas and it's a learning curve in others so we ask that you be patient and we'll uh we'll attempt to work those uh those bugs out departmental reports and notices are as listed uh committee reports uh let's start over here to my right uh Teresa uh well sorry uh unfortunately the municipal Alliance and Youth Services Commission meeting was cancelled this month so I don't have anything to report uh from there and the next uh Library Board of Trustees meeting is on April 25th at 6:30 p.m. and I will be attending that so hopefully I'll have a report for you the next meeting great okay thank you readyy yes Ste this in DSA news Restaurant Week starts this weekend Sunday April 21st and will go through Saturday April 27th this event will feature dining deals shopping discounts and special events following up after Restaurant Week is the return of the much anticipated girls night out Thursday May 16th 5: to 900 p.m. this year's event theme is 80s versus 90s with events related to that theme participants are asked to dress up in their best 80 or 90s styles sponsorship opportunities are still available for this event thank you thank you uh Gina the um Health Department uh the Health commission uh will be represented uh at the green Fair on April 20th that's Saturday um regarding my report from the Somerville Rescue Squad um they continue to be actively answering calls the uh latest news from them is that their fund Drive is starting um so you can donate at w ww. 54 rescue.org so I ask you to be generous um the squad goes out and and takes care of our community and and uh they could use your help um I'm also reporting today for Glenn uh daise on the environmental commission uh very busy month because uh April is Arbor Day Earth Day um and a couple other uh environmental days in between um but there will be a the annual cleanup on uh Saturday meeting at the high school at 9 o'clock so if everyone can come out Scouts you're welcome to show up um and uh take an area of town and and clean up we'll provide everything then at 11 o'clock from 11: to 2 the environmental commission will be uh hosting a fair a green Fair uh on Division Street so this is something new um they have a lot of insights and energy and um there'll be several displays and uh plantings and Girl Scouts will be there allowing people to plant and just a whole bunch of different activities so um we welcome you to to The Division Street for the green Fair on um on Saturday at 11: from 11: to 2 also going on is um uh tree planting um we have an over um abundance of requests for Street trees more than we have a budget for so perhaps we'll be looking for funding for that um there so so if you need a street tree or you're on the list you may have to wait until fall or next year um then the uh Brook planting we've got uh about 100 over 140 trees that we're going to be planting through a grant that we received uh with the state um that's scheduled to take place in the next two weeks so we're excited to be replacing uh a lot of the old trees that have gone down uh along the brook and also the purpose is duel because it also um absorb a lot of the moisture that we get from our flooding so that's another piece uh the community garden committee also met Saturday morning uh I was down there Saturday um and they uh have expanded the garden uh they they got some donations they're going to put four more beds in which will bring them up to 16 beds but get this they have 40 applications for community garden beds so there will be a lottery to decide who gets the 16 and um we look forward to expansion of that program um I think apartment living is is impacting the need for it uh and then the last thing is that on Saturday uh uh this past Saturday after I went to the community garden I came here because uh Somerville hosted the New Jersey environmental commission um workshops and uh it was very engaging uh people from all over the state representing their environmental commission with um creative ideas um concerns about the environment um and it was educational and network involved as well so it was uh really something great uh one new new thing that I learned was that um there's a lot of caution now with turf field and the Plastics that are in turf fields so um do your research if you're concerned but uh very busy time from the environmental commission sorry Glenn wasn't here to give you that but um I think I did ad Justice that you did very thank good Jina Tom yes last week the fire Museum was visited by six classes of second graders from Vander school they asked perceptive questions and learned about the operation of the hand pumper and steamer as well as as fire prevention and safety many thanks to Rich O'Neal Ron chowski Tom calibri Bobby Lynn and Ashley Bowden who led the uh program also thanks to Rick St Pierre for donating plastic fire helmets that's it okay thank you Roger this past week uh the fire department had the opportunity to walk through the new Emergency Services building that is going up on Gaston uh Gaston Avenue and it's uh it's quite a a quite a sight to see for sure um we know that um it's it's going to be growing pains as we move in there uh both for the fire department and for the police department um but uh it is deceivingly larger on the inside than it looks on the outside um but it was really a cool experience to walk through and see it as it's going up in construction um the fire department is continuing its training um that it's committed to to help the membership and they're offering an IC 200 class uh tomorrow night Wednesday night and Saturday during the day uh to get all of its members up to speed on the new state regulations um and there's just a lot going on uh in with with the department they went out uh after the earthquake the other day and went through all the schools to ensure that everything was working with the buildings um and and keeping things moving so we appreciate the work of the volunteers and uh tonight we have three of our volunteers that are going to be moving up in rank um in a ceremony in a few moments so we thank them for their their hard work and their time away from their families and we thank their families for being here tonight awesome all right great thank you uh and then just two quick points um on this past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a ribbon cutting for a home on Grove Street uh it's a RAR Valley Habitat for Humanity home and it's what they called an honor build and it was a home that was built specifically for a veteran uh a veteran who might not otherwise be able to afford a home uh on on their own so um they uh they gather funds and they look for donations and then they put uh Blood Sweat and Tears into building a home uh nice young man who uh who actually works for Somerset County in their uh I believe in their health department uh he's an army veteran and uh he closed on the home today so he's now proud homeowner in Somerville and uh it was just a very very nice event um beautiful home and uh a welcome addition to uh to Somerville and then also we had uh SBI Somerville baseball had their uh uh opening day uh for uh for both baseball and softball and I got to tell you Carol pager Park was absolutely filled with uh with young kids and uh it was great to see um they've done something a little bit different it's almost a travel team where they have um uh teams from a number of different municipalities but they're all part of this league so they play uh against each other um not only in Somerville but in other towns as well and uh they had opening day here in Somerville and uh literally hundreds and hundreds of people and uh kids just having a blast and and looking forward to playing learning and obviously snacks at the shack after the games because that's the best part of it so um and that's all I have um at this point we are going to have the oath of offices for uh for uh three of our fir Fighters and uh this is always a uh a welcome time um these are men who uh have dedicated the better part of their lives to uh to making sure that all of us are safe um they do it morning noon and night they take time from their families they take time from their work uh they take time from their uh their their their own personal Leisure Time and when that alarm Bell Rings uh these are the uh the men and women you want knocking down your door to make sure that you're safe so days like this um uh evenings like this are welcome their families are here with them uh I think it's very important that our community understand that uh that our fire department uh remains all volunteer I don't think people understand that uh until they have the need and uh when that Bell Rings no matter what emergency you're in you want somebody racing to you and our emergency services are second to none our fire department is is the Envy of departments uh all over the county and uh these These Fine men uh carry on a longstanding tradition how many years rich now for the fire department 1835 1835 and there's a lot of the same names from 1835 still today so um I think it's just a wonderful thing um the council is proud of of all of you of the department and of of the three of you um and uh and your town is proud of you so with that um the first oath of office will be to Chief Joseph P styley and I'd like to ask uh Chief stitle or soon to be Chief stitle to please come up uh with his family I Joseph stly 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 state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and the government's established in the United States and in this state and to the governments established in the United States and in the state the 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 inally and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of fire chief all the duties of fire chief for the burrow of Sommerville for the burrow of Somerville according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] congratulations Chief conat okay next up um and I had a conversation with him over this is uh deputy chief Jose Rodriguez otherwise known as Joe Rod because that's how everybody knows him and I'd like to ask his family to come up with him as well okay you going to repeat after me I state your name I Jose Rodriguez do solemnly swear do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey will bear true faith and allegiance to the same bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and in this state the Govern the governments established in this state and the United States under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear fly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of Deputy fire chief all the duties of Deputy fire chief for the bur of Somerville Su according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] okay and next up we have assistant chief Brian saponas with his family ra your right hand repeat to me please I state your name I Brian's opponents 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 state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the samei and to the governments established in the United States and in this state to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further 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 assistance fire chief all the duties of assistant fire chief for the burough of Somerville for the burough of Somerville according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] so so these are uh fantastic memories you're creating not only for yourselves and and your family but I think in particular for your children and I think it was uh wonderful that you brought your uh your children here so they can see exactly uh what it is and how their parents make a commitment to a community I think that's very important so I want to thank you very much every one of the uh the new the newly sworn in Chiefs um you're at a pivotal time in uh in somerville's future uh we have a new building coming online and uh you will be those officers that uh that handle the transition and uh and begin the implementation of uh the uh the combined Somerville fire department so thank you you don't have to stay you're welcome to leave because we're going to be doing budgets now was was that Kenny Bowden said he wanted to stay okay all right that's always a nice event um item number eight on the agenda is the public hearing for the 2024 Municipal budget uh do we want to have some discussion or overview on that first um anybody wna no okay so so well I very briefly what I will tell you is that um uh we're we're looking at it's it's about a half percent page uh half percent increase and on the average home uh the average homeowner it means a $14 uh increase um I know uh your uh budget right yeah I I know budget worked extremely hard along with uh um Roger along with Paige and Kevin uh crunch the numbers as as uh as they did and uh they came in with a very uh sharpened budget and uh Paige was here uh I think about a month ago uh giving the overview of the uh the budget so uh you know obviously the goal is to maintain or enhance Services while keeping the line uh as best we can on Municipal Taxes and uh and I think you've uh you you've achieved that so so thank you for the hard work um and at this point I will entertain a motion for uh the uh amending the municipal budget well F first we have to do so this is a little complicated this year mayor okay um when I say complicated because we're we're doing an amendment but we have to have the public hearing on the budget that was presented and then we have to do a resolution amending the municipal budget so I've got to flip it okay all right so correct right all right so we're okay so it's the public hearing then it's the amendment then it's the final correct got it okay so uh I'll entertain a motion to open up the public hearing for the uh 2024 Municipal budget so moved second discussion roll call council members is Teresa bonor yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gina straic yes Roger vro yes all right public hearing is now open hearing no public comment I'll ask for a motion to uh to close the public session so move second discussion roll call council members terresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gina straic yes Roger V yes okay just one thing I'd like to point out mayor the $14 is that's the municipal portion of the budget only does not include School tax increase or County tax that's correct um all right so now we have the amendment uh to the to the budget so let's uh let's get it on the table first uh can we have a motion for the resolution to amend the budget so moved second uh discussion roll call council member Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Jus traic yes Roger vro yes okay so can you give a brief explanation of what these amendments mean so a little bit of housekeeping from the state they wanted us to move where we have matching FS currently actually if you could sorry just so so the microphone can pick you up you're gonna have to hit that microphone on to your page it's got to be a red light yeah okay can you hear me yes okay so um the the amendment is just housekeeping it was moving one line where the matching grants were inside the cap to outside the cap that's that was one of the things to when they reviewed our budget they wanted us to do the other um thing that was amended was uh the parking Revenue we had we had parking deck fees but we were putting all of the fees in one miscellaneous category so they wanted us just to move that it's just housekeeping it it didn't change any numbers in the budget it was just moving it from one line to another so budget the overall budget didn't change it was just the the where in the line where in the lines certain monies were appropriated that's correct okay all right so it doesn't change the bottom line figures that's correct okay great okay thank you any further discussion so the total General Appropriations remain 30, 17,28 430 that's correct okay roll call Council memb Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gina straic yes Roger V yes okay item number 10 is the uh Municipal budget and userfriendly budget adoption do we have a motion so moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy Pitts yes Gus traic yes Roger ver yes okay uh that's it that's it that's it yeah all right good job thank you thanks for the good work all right item number 11 um we have a presentation from an active current life Scout who is in the Quest for his Eagle Scout so we have uh young Mr O'Neal uh so why don't you come on up and uh talk to us a little bit about what uh what you'd like to do your yeah that's great all right so my friend here is handing out a presentation I put together first of all I want to thank you mayor Gallagher and the council for having me speak today I really appreciate it thank you so my project will be John Schwab Park uh if you don't know where that is it is right off of Cliff Street and you can get to it by High Street as well it's right next to the apartment buildings and uh it's very uh quintessential to our troop we spent a lot of meetings there outdoor meetings during the summer we would go build a fire in a little pit work on our skills that we could do outside and uh recently since Ida it was destroyed and we haven't really been able to go there there's not much to do there and like it kind of just like with John Schwab like we want to honor him with this with this park and he he was quintessential to our troop in building this troop and uh just like he really brought this troop together and really what it is now is because of him and that Memorial there we really stand by it to our troop and we kind of think of it as our park to maintain and we kind of failed it but uh as you can see on the first picture right there on the bottom I took pictures yesterday is what it currently looks like and in the picture above you could sort of see what it looked like before very luscious bushes around it the the pavers weren't as weeded and the stone was much cleaner I don't think anybody knew there were pavers there no no one knew there were pavers there and then on the next on the next little uh paper is kind of the importance of it I kind of went over like how like how much Joshua means to us and like how important he is to this troop and how we like a to like kind of rehon him with this project but what I'm going to be doing is I'm going to be uh digging out all the weeds in between the paper Stones putting new sand in between the paper stones and uh placing uh new Shrubbery around the flag kind of like a a half circle around the flag and that's going to be a waterproof not waterproof but uh she told me not to say waterprof just because it's in the flood plane like bushes that'll be able to like suck up water and be able to like survive and thrive in that water area and I I chose Evergreen uh boxwoods I'm not sure if you know much about them but they're they'll stay green throughout the winter they're not much hassle just a little bit of cleaning up uh and then I was going to install a solar power light on top of the flag there is no flag there right now but we would install a flag and install light on top of it so it would always Shine Down it would meet the requirements that it would it's able to fly during the night and and uh I also troop 83 has like a little thing of adding like a bench to each project and I decided to spice it up a little bit and add two ader deck chairs just because it also adds like joh love that John Schwab like his idea of like like how much he means Us boy scouting and like you think camping you think camping chair can't really put a camping chair there adic chair is closest thing that's a great idea I love that and so I was going to put two and uh have them cemented down and I talked to Mr Hadley about about it and how that would work and he recommended the cement footing there and then on the next slide kind of my little sketch of the vision of what it might look like you could see the uh it would be adonic chairs on both sides I would also we would also power wash a plaque clean it up shine it up because it's also very dirty right now and uh the sword power light on the top new rope for the flag I looked at it yesterday it's pretty worn and uh that's the that's the goal of what it's going to look like and then the nuts and bolts of it just like the the main stuff of the project I just included a picture of what the light would look like on top of the flag the adonic chair idea my uncle is actually making me a plan and I'm going to build it myself we're not using a kit and uh that's the uh boxwood Evergreen that we're planning on using any questions about it that's fantastic all right and I think the idea of ader adarac chairs there that's pretty cool that's uh that's very creative and and and I think it's a really nice addition it's going to be a very nice look for that part of the park um and and I love the idea that you're kind of resurrecting it because it after Ida it um well it was overgrown it it it uh it was it was very very overgrown and Ida took care of that yeah um but uh you know I think I think uh regenerating it and bringing it back to uh you know to to how it was envisioned to be originally and then adding your uh your what did you say your spice yeah spice it up spice it up a little bit I think that's awesome thank you so I think it's a fantastic project anybody anything from Council I just want to mention that John sha he he was scout master of troop 83 for 47 years and he put in some additional years as Assistant Scout Master so he so he served the community for over 50 years and uh I just think that that is a remarkable survey that's great uh so you're working with Mr Hadley yeah I I have to go back get a signature I talked to them before about like the project and before I came here I want to make sure that he thought I was okay yes and he gave me the the go ahead to come here and I'm going to go back talk with him again get a signature on it Sean maybe you could spice it up one more way and put a little wood burning in there TR 83 or something like that yeah uh we actually plan on adopting the park after I'm done with it so they'll always come back clean it up make sure it stays in shape so you don't have to worry about about it over growing again awesome yeah that's great good stuff thank you I think it's a great project um I wish you success uh if you need anything else from uh from from us or from the burrow uh just reach out let us know you know where to find me thank you yeah thank you thank you every good stuff you great job okay um item number 12 now Scouts you don't have to stay I think actually I think you do have to stay right you don't have a choice we got you um it's part of a a badge you're working on is that awesome all right good pay attention there's G to be a test afterwards all right um next up is uh discussion we received a uh a communication from the historic advisory committee um requesting that uh we create the an ordinance authorizing the the the uh historic advisory committee as a standing committee of the buau really not changing who they are or what they are but really formalizing that they are a standing committee uh of the uh of the burrow um I don't know if everybody's had a chance to read the uh the proposed ordinance that they put forward I read through it other than a couple of uh typos and slight word changes I had no issue with it and and uh you know I I think it probably should be you know the history of the burough has taken on a big prominence um that uh that that warrants you know an active participation by historic uh with uh with not only the council but the planning board as well and uh does anybody else have any any issues any I just want to say frankly that uh you I've been leaon to the historic advisory committee for as long as I've been on the council and I only recently found out excuse me I only recently found out that it was wasn't a standing committee theyve been reestablished every year do excellent work for the town uh they they were very instrumental in getting bur Hall listed on the national register of historic places they were very helpful in getting the uh uh listing for the fire mum as well and uh uh they run events every every year uh we have our weekend Journey event in October uh and occasional events at Wallace house and Old Judge parsonage and they do a lot they do a lot they do a lot we have we have uh uh we we have a member of the committee here I don't know if he wants to speak to us uh Jim if you go up to the microphone Jim I just state your name and address for the record please Jim Somerville 270 Garson Road Bridgewater uh echoing what Tom said um the historic advisory committee is instrumental in keeping the history of sville alive ever ever Evergreen so that uh the town's people can be more mindful of it and this is an association also with Somerville public library and uh the New Jersey room there so um I I certainly agree with uh to and you mayor so I say yes go go go for it and I think we will I just have two questions so just in terms of structure it's not the committee isn't State mandated uh no no and then what's its current status it's just an ad yeah and to be quite honest I didn't even realize that it was ad hoc it because it was just one of those that you would always just it it it needed to be there so this just formalizes it by ordinance in case some somebody Rogue in the future decides they don't want it this way they uh it's there yeah certainly have my support yep thank you um all right so Kevin let's put that on the agenda for uh ordinance introduction at the next meeting I'll just get might just a couple of typos nothing nothing of substance all right at this point we'll open up the meeting to the public um can I have a motion please so moved second uh roll call council members Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell Randy pittz yes Jus traic yes Roger ver yes okay uh public session is now open please state your name and address for the record and please address your comments to me yes please step up to the microphone it uh yes yeah you can sit if you need to very appreciated thank you the red light is on on the mic um it appears to be yes it's on okay uh my name is Seline Greaves um I am a resident of Somerville at 97 East Spring Street and um I appreciate you letting me speak and your patience with my nerves um okay I have a couple of questions uh this is a comment period a comment period I'm soorry it's a comment period where would then when would I have public questions this is comments on the this is public comment period you were allowed to make public comments um and and you can State those however you wish okay um so is there is there a question period at the end of the meeting excuse me is there a question period at the end of the meeting is no Q&A this is an ability for the public to come and comment on the policies of the governing body okay all right um let me do this the best I can then thank you um I would like to make a comment um pointing out that there has not been um public mention at meetings um that there is an appeal um multiple appeals that have been made um about the um different aspects of um the gun store before it was opened um in town and since it has opened um I would like to make a public comment that I see that um Mr John melli is um being given a payment today and my understanding is that he has left there has not been any um mention of who is going to either be um the new zoning officer or who is going to be acting in the capacity that the zoning officer um in in which they work and if someone's going to be taking over some of those um some of those jobs that he does that in what capacity are they going to be acting is it going to be um what role that is there's been some concerns and confusion about that there's additionally um there is not a standard and clear procedure for making appeals or doing anything like that on the um burrow website available to any um residents who ask for that information um you know there's um there are um regulations but there is not um the paperwork does not exist the paperwork to make those appeals has been um created ad hoc um and so the entire process to um do that there's no standardization and there's no transparency with um residents for people to be able to do that um my other observation is that there seems to be um a variety in how long it takes some stores to open and uh my observation is that that there was a tremendous haste with this particular gun store and um I think everything else at this moment is can't be put into anything other than a question so I appreciate your time thank you appreciate that any other public comment I have thank you Megan Andrews 12 Walnut Street um I wanted to thank you mayor for calling me back last night and I'm sorry I wasn't available to talk then or at six o'clock this morning I'm a single busy Mom I'm sure you understand I do um I do need to comment that it does appear that the Rules of Order change on a whim in these Council meetings I have witnessed questions and answers back and forth sometimes sometimes not so I believe my neighbor uh who just spoke had reason to believe that answers could be provided so I I I worked for a number of educational leadership organizations and we can't figure out what rules of order these meetings follow uh you know there's Daniels there's a few different ones but it's to if you want the uh public to um excuse me be involved I'm not seeing any consistency and the transparency doesn't seem to be there um the fact is that since December of 2023 uh you other board members uh were talked to uh residents did speak to you guys about their concerns and at no point from then through the lawsuit did anybody ever mention to the residents oh there was an appeal process there is an appeal process all we were told was nothing can be done and again as somebody who taught a lot of student leaders I was really disappointed in hearing how you presented that it it really kind of you say you want people to come and talk but then before anybody said anything you're like nothing we can do nothing we can do when in fact there was an appeal process um it does appear that this gun store happened like that it felt Shady the first time I was here and spoke I said when I looked stuff online about it it looks suspicious nothing has changed it's just gotten more bizarre um including this um Sporting Goods zoning when it's clear the only sport they're interested in is hunting humans um there are so many residents who want to be here there are so many residents who wanted to put their name on the lawsuit they were too afraid because of who were against because those are the people with guns and I'm not saying all people with guns are bad none of this was ever about people owning guns it was the specific location of the store had your interest in what so many of the community members members felt been anywhere similar to The Dispensary you clearly despise we would have felt okay we just we would have been fine if it was opened on 22 it was the location but again I want to stress so many residents including many business owners are very uncomfortable with this and we feel and they're afraid to speak up they're afraid for their name to be here and I hope everybody here really understands that as far as the minutes go again as a teacher I'm sorry and this is nothing against you Mr sluka at all he shouldn't have to be running Tech while doing his other job here can we get an intern I mean this is and it's been we've only had one set of minutes published since January 16th the February 5th aren't published the February 20th aren't P how do you expect sorry no questions I don't know how you can expect residents to stay involved and know what's going on when we have no access when the meetings don't always have sound don't always have video and then we don't even have minutes I cannot understand how minutes could be approved why it would take two weeks to get up it's literally like unless it's something different I would love to know and I have tried to find the answer to that and nobody's answered exactly what is the problem here I hear some of the delay was the audio I've transcribed these meetings myself I just don't see why it's taking so long and I think the way Mr sla's job uh what his tasks are need to be looked at and again it's nothing against him but it just it doesn't make sense to me um this is a beautiful new space but from where we are if we're not here in the building it's like we're in 1997 is how much communication we're getting out there um I was very glad to see that the no stopping and standing sign between uh the entrance exit on uh Williams Street to the gun store strip mall has been put back up there because that was such a hazard not having it there however there used to be an exit sign at that opening to the lot the entrance being on North Bridge that sign came down during covid I assume because the delivery guys didn't like having to drive around but it's still narrow it should not be an entrance and an exit and it needs to be to be looked at um I guess my only other comment is I'm disappointed I put a lot of money into my house last year and I was going to continue to do so because this is where I wanted to die in many years my family lives into their 90s um and now I'm questioning that because we don't feel hurt uh we don't feel listened to we feel blown off and meanwhile a lot of us are scared about our safety because in any group there's a couple nuts unfortunately with this specific group those nuts have guns thank you for your time thank you any other public comment sure if you step up to the microphone please I'm gonna sit so I don't break the string right uh damp puga 67 dport Street uh I got two things I want to say I don't know if any of you guys have been by the middle school at drop off in the morning on Davenport Street somebody there is going to get killed and people are stop heading Northbound they're stopping letting kids out cars are going around them it's not good I've seen my road turn into two lanes Northbound with 10 cars backed up at the intersection of High Street it's Cliff Street sorry wrongway so that's one problem issue uh the other one is I guess it's a question but I don't know how else to frame it or I guess I can uh we need to have Davenport between cliff and High Street made into residential Park parking only there's you 10 years ago somebody dropped a church on us and we were basically prisoners in our house you couldn't leave you come home on Saturday morning with a car full of groceries all the spots in front of your house are taken up now you're schlepping from two blocks away and now in the month or two we're starting with the Farmers Market on Saturdays it's going to be the same problem we had discussions years years ago with I guess various people around the town about it and we basic to oh it's a destination thing like we can't do it but you know it's a destination for some people but there's people that pay property taxes and a lot of it based on our square footage that are basically held hostage yesterday like Saturday nights now Friday nights Sunday mornings Saturday mornings for brunch it's a crap shoot if you leave your house that you'll come home and like came home a couple weeks ago with like 10 bags of mulch in the car and had Park a block away because that was the only thing that was the only spot so I don't know who this got to get routed to but like something's got to be done before people start getting angry I guess the best way to put it there frustration levels the whole street are going through the roof thank you that's it appreciate it thank you any other public comment hearing none I'll ask for a motion to close public session so move second uh roll call council members Teresa bonor yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gus traic yes Roger verm yes all right so there was a whole lot that went on over the course of the last three I'm going to start with uh the gentleman first um so Davenport Street yes I agree it's it's a problem um I know the the church St Thomas has an arrangement with the Board of Ed where they can park their parishioners can park uh yeah I I know I know so so um I believe they're gone now um so that should create a little bit of a a buffer um I do understand that the farmers market May create an impact uh as well and that's something we're going to have to monitor what I am doing is is I have a uh pedestrian uh I call it a Safety Committee being formed and and I'm going to put that on the list of things for them to tackle um I'm not adverse to residential parking on that street um I think it's something we can look at uh I think it's something that uh you know because nobody has driveways on that stretch of Davenport nobody and uh you know I jog by there and I I see the problems it's it's bumper to bumper It's uh it's tight it's tough so I think that's something we can take a look at um I'm going to address very just just very broadly some of the statements that were made uh by the previous two uh uh folks um you know I you say there's no transparency uh I would disagree and I think everybody up at this table would absolutely disagree with that um the transparency that this governing body has is Extreme um my I came in January 1 and Mr sluka will bear this out uh my Mantra is I don't believe in customer service I believe in over customer service and and that means bending over backwards for the public um sometimes when folks don't get the answers that they like they feel that uh that they're not getting the answers that they should and that may not necessarily be in your case uh but that is that's the reality of it sometimes um coming in on January 1 one uh faced with a number of challenges this issue being one of them I was very transparent about how we're going to perceive forward um this governing body and the planning board were delayed probably by about a month and a half uh otherwise we'd probably have this issue uh done at least in terms of uh of taking a look at the zoning uh how that's going to pan out I can't tell you but uh because that's that's really up up ultimately to the governing body and the planning board to make a recommendation but uh the delays uh were not due to the governing body it was due to a uh a civil action being filed in court and that is what delayed um so well you you your your comment period is over um I'm trying to address them from our perspective and uh and let you know where we're at um Mr sluka uh has bent over backwards to try to provide information um he keeps me apprised of of everything that comes in um and uh uh and and he has made attempts to tr probably gave uh he has made attempts to comply with everything that has been put before him uh and I know that he works extremely hard he's extremely diligent and he does his job very very well um and uh uh he's stretched thin at times um and that's because right now uh we're being faced with uh an onslaught of oah requests which are fine uh we'll comply with all of those op requests and and that's okay um but you know his his time gets stretch thin and uh in in fact we're actually hiring somebody whose part of their Duty will be to uh help comply with those uh Oprah requests um and that's fine um sometimes it does take just a a quick reach out to to get some answers you sent me an email last night at about 6:30 and I think within 30 seconds of getting that email uh I was on the phone uh to you and and tried to make contact to give you some answers that uh um that I had at that time uh that didn't work out I believe Mr sluka did respond with uh with some additional answers so you know we we do uh absolutely try to uh to be completely transparent uh and we will continue to do so uh whether it's this issue or any other issue um that's what we do um in terms of the minutes uh Mr sluka just explained we did have some hiccups from a technology standpoint you're right it's frustrating uh for me as well um you know we we really have not had an issue with with uh delay of minutes and uh and we are because we're in a new space it's a brand new space we were in the old space probably for about 40 years and there's a pattern of how you get things done and that pattern has now changed and we've had some technology issues the tech folks were in here probably for about an hour just before you came into this building and and we're in trying to uh to resolve some of those issues and you can see we're still having them um I can tell you that after this meeting um we're going to have a quick sit down and and we're going to get that fixed because it is frustrating it's frustrating I know for for you as the public uh whoever is watching uh on on YouTube right now uh and and it's frustrating for the governing body as well it it seems like it's something so simple but sometimes those simple things are not so simple uh we have been very very thorough in our ability to get minutes done on a very timely basis and that will continue um as far as the Rules of Order changing uh I've been doing this for over 20 years and I can tell you the Rules of Order have not changed anybody can come up they can they can uh make any statement they want in the form they want but it is a comment period it is not a period to engage in back and forth it's an ability for the public to come in and let us know how you feel that's what the public comment period is it's not an interrogation it's not a why did you do this why did you that um it's it's an ability for you to express frustration uh to Express gratitude to express support to express whatever you feel on any issue as it as it affects you as a taxpayer in Somerville uh you as a resident um and and that's okay um the what I don't stand for uh what I don't like is that when folks say to the burrow counsil you don't know what you're doing when they say to the planning board you don't know what you're doing when you say to the zoning board you don't know what you're doing these are volunteers who are appointed by this government body or elected to uh these seats and it's it's a little disheartening when you know you have good people who volunteer all of their time all of their energy uh to make this town uh the best it can be and we have an issue that has come to the surface where we have folks now castigating folks in these positions and whether that's at Burrow hall because I've heard people go after people at Burrow Hall um this is when I start to to step in and I start to take offense at that I can take the shots I'm a big boy I've been doing this a long time um but when when folks come after uh the employees in burall I got a problem with that when they start coming after the council members here I got a problem with that when they come after the planning board members I got a problem with that when they come after the zoning board members I got a problem with that and then when on social media when they start coming after your families I got a big problem with that so you know I I would just ask every everybody whether it's this issue or any other issue take a step back um you'll find that this is an Engaged crowd here um we listen we try to do what's right you may not always agree with what we do or how we do it but all of those boards all of those bodies and all of burrow Hall are trying to do the best we can um I think I'm done so uh with that let's go on to consent resolutions we have two additions uh which we will add on at the back end it's 136 and 137 are there any that anybody would like to have pulled off uh 36 and 37 will take as separate because they are Walk-Ons all right uh number 129 is awarding a contract to SNL contractors for North Aon Avenue reconstruction and drainage improvements project 130 is authorizing the sale or disposition of burrow owned books in accordance with uh statute as noted 131 approving change order number two to a contract with American Asphalt and trucking for 2022 Road Improvement program for $65,900 payment for the time accumulated for John melli in the amount of $ 53312 133 is authorizing the placement of a handicap parking space on camon Place 134 is approving the hiring of Wayne Paley as a part-time building subcode official building inspector effective April 22nd 2024 135 is awarding a contract with AA burms for 2022 cdbg curb ramps for the burrow of Somerville Somerset County New Jersey in the total amount of $93,700 do we have a motion so moved roll call council members terresa boner yes Tom Mitchell Randy pittz yes Gus travic yes Roger ver yes all right resolution uh 136 is supporting Senate uh bill number 725 concerning unlawful occupancy of dwellings and supplementing title 2C of the New Jersey statutes of the state of New Jersey I don't know that we have this problem as of yet but it is a growing problem uh within the state in many municipalities and uh there uh this the the legislature is looking to uh uh put some uh teeth behind some new legislation which will curtail that uh do we have a motion for moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa bonor yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gus traic yes Roger ver yes all right 137 is authorizing the Grant application to New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for $100,000 for athletic courts Improvement project uh this is a walk-on uh Jason crasa the uh the chair of the rec committee brought this to our attention uh the uh the application is due I believe tomorrow so we needed to get this on uh tonight uh do we have a motion so moved second discussion roll call council members Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Jus traic yes Roger FM yes all right bills and vouchers I make a motion to uh approve bills and vouchers in the amount of 1,8 33666 second okay council members Teresa boner I'm sorry discussion roll call sorry council members Teresa boner yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Jus traic yes Roger FM yes okay motion for adjournment Tom so so move second all in favor I opposed this meeting is adjured