##VIDEO ID:d5bJSdWtiiE## e e e e e e e e e e e this meeting is being called to order uh in accordance with public laws 1975 chapter 231 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a notice sent to the Star Ledger the local source and posted in the main lobby the municipal building and the township website uh can committeeman Rich Huber please say lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States of America indiv and justice for all please remain standing for a moment of silence for our members of service at home and abroad be seated Madam clerk can we please have a roll call present here here before we start can I just say one thing commitment you I've been um absent the last month or so and people have me on my deathbed I'm not dying even though a lot of people would like to see that no uh did have an operation um right now in uh physical therapy and I'm here to stay so thank you for all your you know good best wishes and things like that but I think I'm all right thank you I for one I'm very glad you're here and we'll be here continuing moving on to proclamations and announcements Springfield residents 55 and older the January 2025 calendar is available and uh the mayor puts it best there is never a empty day um everything is filled except for probably you know Christmas I mean except for for you know New Year's but you know it is what it is all municipal offices will be closed Wednesday December 25th and January 1st the monora lighting will be held on Thursday December 26th at 5:00 p.m. at Veterans Park open to the community drinks food and much more leaf collection ends on Tuesday December 31 and right after leaf collection our Township's reorganization meeting is scheduled for Wednesday January 1 at 9 noon regular committee meeting will be held Tuesday January 14th at 700 p.m. the township would like to thank St James for donating the new Flags in Veterans Park and the American flag state flag and P flag were also all replaced free rabies clinic is scheduled for Saturday January 11th from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. at the Chisum Community Center General assistants please call 98851 857 residents who have recycling picked up on Wednesdays will have a change in the schedule for December 25th and January 1st the new recycling day will be collected on Friday December 27th and Friday January 3rd and without further Ado I will pass it over uh to Mayor Christopher Weber J that was a heck of an entrance thank you I should be if there was any form of traffic in New Jersey I hit it today every single block please be careful while driving it is pouring rain outside and it is pretty gross we're at the recycling schedule okay we'll be changed as of January 25th I'm sorry as of January 2025 all residents who had a scheduled pickup on Monday or Tuesday new recycle day will be Thursday all complexes will remain with Friday recycling pickup I do know geod Dano sent uh Flyers to everybody do not throw them out Wednesdays you you're staying the same nothing has changed Monday and Tuesday has been condensed into Thursday that's the only thing that has changed uh public hearing Community block development Grant with Brendan O'Reilly and our ba Mr John basico We Ready may I please have a motion to open the public hearing second okay sounding good Alex all right thank you thank you Rich thanks you Alex for for not coming in sick I think you um all in we all in favor all in favor I I hello for those of you who don't know me my name is Brenan O'Reilly and I'm here today to present the year 51 Community Development block curant application which we use for our senior citizens transportation service in recent years the county has awarded us approximately $11,000 this money is used to pay a portion of our bus driver salaries allowing our program to grow and expand These funds help our senior citizen program by providing transportation for our seniors to go wherever they may need to go on a daily basis for example this service is used by seniors to go to doctor's appointments the gym post office grocery stores hair points any other daily errands they may have to go to as long as it's in Springfield this transportation service is a free service for all Springfield senior citizens and is available to them 5 days a week Monday through Friday and they can reserve a ride up to a week in advance our department also takes seniors on monthly bus trips to farmers markets Mall trips casinos theaters among other things for example the seniors are going on bus trip to Woodbridge mall tomorrow Springfield has multiple senior housing complexes so it's essential that we provide this service to our senior population our drivers service around 130 seniors annually the recreation department finds this grant extremely beneficial to the town because it helps us continue our commitment to benefiting our senior citizens any way that we can thank you for your time thank you the other part um this year we're recommending pavement improvements on Midville drive and North View Terrace a Draft application has been prepared as well as the engineering estimate uh and a project location map if you look in the past we've done Pit Road was in 24 we got a grant for Cottage Lane was 23 Glen viw Drive and Waverly we 22 uh all the streets are encompassed in one eligible area that where we're allowed to do this the only remaining non-count jurisdiction roadway is Fieldstone Drive which we're going to apply in 26 we're requesting 191,000 and uh we'll submit that shortly and we usually get a nice chunk of money yes we do enough generally to offset most of the cost of the milling and the paving this year was about 120ish I think it was a little more actually and when we get this grant this we'll cover how many what's the max you think this thing can cover well we're going to what we're going to do with that is we're going to do two roads because there's only a couple left see we're restricted to an area we've paid every we've paved everything but three roads now so we're going to do two this year 25 and then there's one left for 26 you can also use it for you know curb Cuts 88 yeah but again I think it has to be in that area that's eligible I'm not sure about I'm not sure particularly but we're not to that like that that goes in front of the committee that I sit on so like I get to hear the glory that is those applications so we we're usually successful on getting on those does anyone from the public wish to comment before we close this yes it is uh we didn't even get to that we didn't even get the public oh no that was just on a public comment on the Block rant on the committee block rant all right May anything on that motion to Clos second okay thank you thank you all in favor all in favor I all right now we will move on to public comment on agenda items only if there's anything on this agenda and you've got a comment on it come on up uh state your name address and comment I do not have any um emails on agenda items I do have an email that we will take care of later um but seeing nothing on agenda items only we are going to move on to reports to our administrator Report with Mr John P thank you Mr Mayor all right we're on leaf collection we're currently on our fourth pass of the entire Township followed by the street sweeper make sure you get your leaves out to the curb as soon as possible because as we said December 31st is it any leave put at the curb after the 31st will not be picked up uh we have removed over 7,000 cubic yards this year of leaves just to kind of give you an idea Christmas tree collection residents will begin placing their Christmas trees at the curb after the first no need to call for a pickup as DPW will be canvasing the entire town on a regular basis all trees are recycled therefore they must be stripped clean of all decorations including plastic bags tin pcil anything like that's got to be taken off storm basins I don't know if anyone has noticed but we're out cleaning storm basins so you'll see the you'll see the sewer truck out we're just cleaning everything out we got approximately 900 basins in town that we'll be going through and making any necessary repairs to ensure that they are functioning properly recycling we discussed the new recycling schedule there was a change in 25 the Flyers have been sent out and it was mentioned so if there's any questions you can certainly call the town hall or you can call DPW um Mr Mary one thing I wanted to you did bring up last time about the crosswalks we did get some pricing on those for the two crosswalks to light them the chief was going to go out and look at how dark those crosswalks are but I just wanted to give you this we're going to need as we do our budget meetings we're going to have to put some money aside the ones that we pulled up quickly I'll show these I think this is kind of what you were looking for for correct these are the ones we can get with Lighting on it so it'll actually light the crosswalk itself it has the bar on it to Blink uh we're looking at about 20,000 a crosswalk now again this was the first swipe on it so you know we're going to do some more investigating that's installed that's everything souped to nuts I'm not sure what else we're going to be able to do to maybe bring some of that down but I think what we should look at is determine how many crosswalks we want to do let's in the budget cycle try to put that money aside if we can do it cheaper or we change our mind it it doesn't hurt but at least we've got the money set aside so we choose to do it we're capable of doing it then uh a couple other things I I know we were we've talked many times about the American um Recovery Fund that we got we did marrying we got the pumps we had a little bit of money left we did some engineering that has to be done to put the pumps in so all of that money every penny of it that we've received has been encumbered because if not you have to send it back so I promise you that wasn't happening so we made sure that all that money now has been encumbered uh a couple other just small things American water is still working out on Route 22 that's going to continue for a while so if you're if you're on 22 don't expect anytime soon for that to end they're continuing to do replacement on Route 22 uh Alex if if he was here I thought he might wanted to discuss about rway River I did see that there is a further note that the US Army Corps of Engineers uh has agreed to do the feasibility study and move ahead with a bipartisan Water Resource development Act of 2024 that next goes to the president for Signature by end of year uh I don't know if Mr Kaiser wants to add anything to that I don't know if we know anything further yet at this point you could hear you you got anything on the raway river uh [Music] Contin sobody comi and made abundant going get cut in New administ willward for the time being I'll touch just a little bit on Redevelopment also um we did view the other day we did a walk through through the Gomes property to look at the apartments look at where they were actually they're making good progress they're probably going to be I think they're going to be done and ready to go with within the year um Mr Mayor you had a chance also to walk through with us we do have some concerns the sidewalk on Center is not done we have a meeting scheduled for Monday but that was cancelled we're now looking at might be the 8th I think they want to have a meeting so we're waiting to see when we're going to get together with with that side we did have a concern about communication from the basement when we were down in the parking garage uh Police radios did not work our cell phones were very very spotty so there needs to be equipment down there so that we've got communication that's a that to me that's a huge concern somebody gets hurt down there they can't reach anyone so this isn't the first time I spoke to the chief both Chief cook and Captain mron this isn't something that hasn't happened elsewhere so we're aware of what needs to be done we just have to make sure and I spoke to our construction official no Co will be issued until that is fixed so I can guarantee you that that building is not open until we're sure that everyone is safe uh if anybody went past Patriot way down at the end of church mall they continue to make great progress I saw some of the people there the other day they were in they're they're rolling right along garden homes doesn't doesn't drag their feet so you're going to see that up and running rising out of the ground very quickly we have um some more information for the committee tonight on our 55 and older at Scotty's and also we've got some more info on the old Bank of America building which we will touch on later other than that I don't think there's anything new on Redevelopment at the moment if anybody has any questions or comments I would be happy to answer um no I I don't I think we've we've covered it all now great I think for the end of the year at this point right now we're good thank you very you're welcome move on to minutes please see got it or you want me to take it may I have a second second thank you all in favor I thank you oh no this I'm surrounded now I got this guy on my right coughing right now bro you better guzzle some of this IG clean or whatever the is I am not getting sick thanks Alex now Harris is coughing I think it went through the phone oh good so does that mean you're coming on coming over Alex oh man I got POS for you to sign we're going to move on to new business uh ordinances second reading second reading ordinance 2024 23 this ordinance amends the township code to add Provisions prohibiting parking on residential Lawns uh Madame clerk I would like to uh introduce uh and move ordinance 2024 23 with publication in the local Source on Thursday December mber 26th 2024 yeah okay we got a second by committee meiser we have a going to a public hearing uh if anybody here wishes to speak on ordinance 20 24-23 um which prohibits parking on residential Lawns I can tell you that we hear everything about everything and there hasn't been one person who's talked about this in two months oh I can know I got two residents really who called me today on this ordinance saying how they were happy that it finally got done happy happy yes very happy I I I would say there was I I've had no negative no nothing negative they were jumping up and down over the phone let me ask a question yes when baltera has a big golf at him are we going to do are we going to wave it if they come that is something that can be done procedurally it would be by ordinance since it's an ordinance that would be suspended um so take Mee but that can be done as parking purposes during the last major event okay okay so yes Alex uh the question was in case anybody didn't hear it during large events such as balol which is notorious for allowing people to park on lawns the um the TC up here can do a resolution suspending it or temporary halting halting it as long as it um you know as long as needed so with that said nobody's got anything with that let's go to roll call please Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man Kaiser yes committee men capes yes committee men Yuber yes mayor Weber yes okay ordinance 202 2424 this ordinance amends chapter 4 General licensing of the township code to create a business insurance registry in accordance with PL 2022 c92 madam clerk I would like to move ordinance 2024 24 with publication in the local Source Thursday December 26 2024 uh public hearing on this I don't see anybody coming up to comment on it we talked about it last um meeting I think you gave a breakdown on it or 23 actually I think it was the last meeting Yep this is a uh this is actually already the law it creates a registry within the township um it also establishes um a modest fee as well the register which are statut minimum penalty okay okay uh I've got nothing else roll call vote Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man Kaiser committee Min capes yes committee man Yuber yes mayor Weber yes first reading seeing none resolutions mayor yes um we are pulling resolution 2024 293 from the agenda holding it completely yes yep okay there was an email on it okay yes yes okay all right 20 resolution 2024 d270 202 24-27 202 24-27 20 24-27 20 24- 274 20 24- 275 2024 d276 20 24- 277 2024 -2 78 2024 d279 2024 d280 we pull this P okay we're going to 280 20 24- 281 20 24- 282 20 24- 283 20 24- 284 uh 20 24- 285 20 24- 286 20 24- 287 20 20 24- 288 20 24- 289 202 24-290 pull this one 202 24-29 2024 Dash 292 motion Mr Mayor I would like to move resolutions 2024 270 through resolutions 2024 279 as well as resolutions 2024 281 through resolution 289 and finally resolutions 2024 291 and 292 Deputy Mayor laer yes committee men Yuber yes committee men capes yes committee men Kaiser yes mayor Weber yes Okay resolution 2024 280 this resolution is to enter into a payment in lie of tax agreement with Community Action for Independent Living Inc for the years 2025 2026 and 2027 s uh I'll second it uh I did have a question um what property was this for oh the the seniors in Bri by Bryant Park okay thank you good to yeah we're good committee Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man capes yes committee man Huber yes mayor Weber yes resolution 2024 290 this resolution assigns officer Adam par as an investigator within the investigative division of the police department I'll move it uh I just had another question do we do we have the rank of investigator or is that like a designation it's in we do have that it is listed in um the ordinance St okay because when I think of investigator I think of like how the Sheriff's Office does it and it's different right yeah it's it's an assignment to okay I just wanted to make sure it wasn't just it's not a promotion it's an assignment I okay I just wanted to make sure it was different than that process yeah okay Deputy Mayor laer yes commit manber committee man capes yes committee man Kaiser mayor Weber yes um I would like to make a motion to accept the resignation of Scott wishner as an alter alternate two member of the planning board effective December 31st 2024 okay um I believe this can be an all in favor correct all in all in favor I thank you okay we're going to move on to finance um Alex you want me spare you and make Caris do this one all right come on into finance and pay some bills with us please second committee M Kaiser Deputy Mayor laer yes commean capades yes committee man Huber yes mayor Weber yes budget report the November revenue report and the November pool revenue report yes yes yes um okay I'm sorry see one second all right move on to correspondence burough of Mountainside planning board notice hearing of property location 1123 Mountain Avenue Mountainside Thursday December 19th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. and now we're going to move on to public comment on any governmental issue come on up need uh speak into the mic name and address and let us know your public comment on any governmental issue may I hand sure thank you hi my name is Larry Cohen I live at 24 mclenon place in Fanwood um I'm here to follow up on an email that I sent uh previously to the council with this resolution attached to it um I don't know how many of you were here in 2017 when my colleagues and I came before the council to talk to them about excuse me this problem of really cruel puppy mills out in the Midwest and them s sending their dogs to pet stores in New Jersey and other states but this Council was a Pioneer in Union County and being one of the first to adopt an ordinance to prevent that practice in Springfield despite the fact that you had no pet store that sold dogs well several things have happened since then first 149 towns in New Jersey have now passed that same ordinance wow yeah so this notion of these puppy mills um that do really cruel things to dogs and this notion of this partnership with New Jersey stores and these puppy mills is pretty widely known now I mean there really is no more disputing the fact that that this is a real problem and it happens it has spread nationally in fact eight states have now made this state law New York's law just went into effect this past Sunday today M which makes my presence here even more urgent New Jersey has a bill in Trenton it was introduced by Senator Brian stack it has 36 co-sponsors in the assembly it has 10 co-sponsors in the Senate and it's being discussed right now there was an assembly committee meeting on it two days ago um we feel it's incredibly important to to go back out and urge towns especially towns that have already passed their own ordinance to pass a simple resolution in support of the state's efforts to pass a state bill that's why I'm here basically um 11 Union County towns passed an ordinance last night or Monday night five passed this resolution so we're up to nine Union County towns having passed this resolution already the reason we feel Union County is important um and by the way I I I I'd like to mention that your two Assembly women Matt cudas and Munoz are co-sponsors of this legislation in the assembly um but as you know Senator scutari who's my senator in District 22 in Fanwood is also a major player among Union County Democrats and we feel that it's important that he know that the towns in Union County support this so I'm here with a very simple request West this resolution that I've given you is one that westw passed on its own before we were doing this they passed an ordinance and then since they knew that this bill was being discussed in Trenton they said you know what we should pass a resolution in support of the bill in Trenton as well we thought it was such a good idea we took it as an example and and and I'm now going around to Union County Texas so i' I'd respectfully like to ask you to consider doing this obviously in January at this point um um and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have otherwise I'd like to thank you very much y well I got to tell you I I I have ordinance 2017-12 in front of me which you are the Genesis of I guess at this point now um that did pass this and very very uh very rarely do we actually get somebody up here who is again the origin of something like this so um thank you for this because this is um um well was should have been done and and gladly done um I'm looking at the resolution I don't have a problem with this this is this is fantastic I don't know if anybody else up here does yeah abolutely I work on this for my day job Chief of Staff to Raj MC yeah so uh J January we can absolutely okay we're good with that than thank you for your efforts because you know what they can't speak for themselves I know you know what I'm saying so and unfortunately the problem is not getting better right so we thank you for that and um if you if you want to come back next meeting we'll get it done by next meeting great so uh January 14th January 14th right come on back thank you all right thank you thank you thank you for coming and bring some media if you want cuz we'll take pictures and do the whole with you yeah bring some dogs and everything yeah we're going to go on any other public comment if there is uh anybody has any public comment on any governmental issue I do have an email um to read so I don't see anybody else coming up with any public comment on any governmental issue so I'm going to go straight to the emails first email is from Michael Bartos 77 T to court as the township of Springfield met its affordable housing quota retire uh required by the state of New Jersey and the answer is absolutely not we have met we're good up to the third round we're in the fourth round it's never ending we have a projected 285 units that were owed at the end of all of this um we if I'm safe to say this we got a list and you know what yeah I can say this we we got a list from the state of land that they consider developable well this entire list consisted of land owned by the Department of Transportation the Board of Ed and the golf course wait they want us to develop on the golf course this this list had let let's just say this list had uh 50 identifiable properties on this list most of them were Department of Transportation roads such as 78 and so on and I I I do not make this up um the other ones were Board of Ed Fields like the football field and the soccer field M and the others with the golf course gol so um we have lawyers working on this and our planner of course and our planner and that's all I have to say do you want to add anything to this or I think you're seeing somewhat of a of a change though also I think there's going to be further discussions on how this actually shakes out in the long run the whole idea the formula may change so I think right now we're kind of in a little bit of a holding pattern as we refute their numbers and we we'll see what we end up with okay yeah I mean what they presented with us to us from the state is absolutely 100% undevelopable unless you do not want to a roads anymore and and other things Mr Mayor excuse me but I think they were saying that they could build on the grass meeting between the lanes not on the road itself yeah that was one of the identifiable processes properties was was the median got it I I I'm going toce like a nice like Galley style apartment EAS ease for traveling yeah totally I'm going to assume that this was done on Google Earth or something and nobody knew it was going I I don't know how it was done but whatever um so we are Mr Bartos we are current on its affordable h on our affordable housing quota but we do not have any answers for you going around for for round four because we are trying to um fight it and um we're trying to show that we are fairly maxed out in our in our land on what is developable next question with all the new construction in the township sorry next question also from Michael Bartos 772 recort with all new construction in the township is our Police Department up to quota or do more officers need to be hired um I'm going to let the chief answer this and then I'm going to throw my two cents in here whether they like it or not so Chief is our Police Department up to quota or do more officers need to be hired I don't like the word quotas go ahead the police departments but um as far as the police department Staffing in relationship to the Redevelopment uh we are we're well we're we're minus one right now due to the officer that passed away um for which we are in a process of trying to um have a new hire for that that would bring us back to where we have been um we had planned we we all work together myself and the committee to up our table of organization to increase the number of officers in anticipation of when the Redevelopment is finished and becomes occupied um and we came up with that number and we have yet to have any Redevelopment be completed so we haven't had that need so right now we are where we have been um we're not short due to the Redevelopment because that has not taken place yet I mean it's in the process but we have we did prepare ahead of time so when that time comes um then I'll address that with you and I'm sure we can work something out okay now before I give my answer does anybody want anything up here um all right my answer which is probably not going to be liked a lot by the police department right now now but I'm not really concerned because they can talk about it the next day like they do with everything else it is not cheap to hire a police officer right now the average salary average from top to bottom of a officer in the township of Springfield is $146,000 776 I'm sorry 100,000 $146,700 right now the average for fire 9,880 um we did an audit I don't think anybody is is is in the dark about that right now we did an audit on the police department the fire department OEM and everything else now I'm going to speak for myself I am not speaking for any other person that is up here besides except for me um I have some concerns about a word that is um fairly unmentionable and and I'm very well versed on what I can say and what I canot say uh in terms of productivity and quotas and so on but I do have con some concern right now about um the bang for the buck that we get on certain times with patrolling downtime on patrol Etc and the chief and the TC and the ba had all agreed that we would like to see the police department get up to 50 officers as these developments came around we have been more than accommodating and more than supportive up here for the police department and the fire department um with that said I again have some questions on bang for the buck and what is actually happening and we are doing some restructuring of certain things around and we will by the time we are done we will end up seeing where this all lands by the time schedule changes are done tour changes are done or whatever has to be accomplished to get maximum coverage uh for the township of Springfield with the most amount of um work handled and yet um productivity for the residents here that so they can see a a high return on their investment on uh a job such as that um so with that said we are still looking at it Mr Bartos but that's where we're at right now um we will be replacing one immediate medely and uh we will let you know about the rest but I think 2025 is is um going to see some things so I'll leave it with that I do want to piggyback on one more thing that would kind of tie into that question we had a meeting with um that uh the superintendent attended of the schools and we asked what the impact of the metrop alitan was so far on Springfield schools and I believe her answer was two students at this point she had two special didn't she right so we had two students at this point that were um that are in in the metropolitan so um we are unsure until all of these things are completed all right so that is the end of that and public comment on governmental any governmental issue so without seeing anything more on that um I'm going to close out public comment on any governmental issue and I just have a few things to say before we go to Executive session um go ahead yeah please go ahead I have four quick things that I'd like to just bring up yep uh number one he obviously alluded to it at the beginning of the meeting but I would like to welcome Rich back committee M Huber it's great to see you up here I missed you um I think we missed you and it's good to see you again and thank you for uh doing what you do for us year after year uh second I'd like to uh extend my thanks to Police Department fire department auxiliary police uh for their yearly participation again last Saturday uh in our uh Santa visiting Springfield uh it was a little cold this year but I think it was uh well received Again by the residents uh it is a big day it's a long day and I appreciate the coordination the response the setting up um also we cannot forget our Santa and our elves who helped out as well and uh appreciate the well-coordinated effort and uh bringing some smiles to everybody's face in Springfield it's a great day and I appreciate your help and support um I have two more I don't know which I want to do first um I guess I I would like to wish everyone whatever you celebrate a very very happy holiday season um I think that it's important at this time to think about what we're appreciative what we're thankful for uh if you have the time to visit with family and friends uh on this special time of year I think it's important not only to remember perhaps you know the good times we've had this year but also perhaps family members and friends that we don't get to see for one reason or another and uh hope that those F friends and families that you don't see um hold a special place in your heart this year and I want to extend my greetings for a very happy and healthy holiday season and New Year and speaking of the new year and you obviously we do this every year and there's a change over but I just my last comment is I just like to acknowledge the incredible job that our mayor has done this year um I think if you look at the totality of the circumstances of this year and draw upon everything that we've done this year through Mari Weber's leader leadership I think uh and I think he might have alluded to it in his last mayor's letter in the Patriot um I encourage you to take a look at that list of things I'm going read it we we've accomplished and I don't mean to steal your thunder keep going cuz thank you I'm but but to just think about you know everybody you know you talk about you know the service to the community you talk about you know what what we do up here you know a lot of the stuff you see but most of the stuff you don't the coordinated effort that it takes to sit in that middle seat um sometimes it's a thankless job and for under his leadership to to to do the things that we've done and to accomplish the things that we've done under his leadership it's a great resume and I want to thank you for your leadership for your cander for your um just collaborative effort you've done this year in leading our Township in a very positive and productive manner thank you go ahead May uh I want to acknowledge uh we also we had a tree lighting uh props to Jonathan Dayton high school students PD DPW uh fire obviously um Tay McQueen performed it was bitterly cold but a great time was had by all um also I want to acknowledge Springfield once again particip ipated in REITs Across America I had the uh had the honor of reading the proclamation designating uh wreath day as wreath day um so that was that was a a very nice ceremony uh obviously I want to acknowledge the mayor uh it was a pleasure thank you um and uh I wish everybody uh happy holiday merry Christmas happy Hanukkah or enjoy the time off from work if you have the time off from work thank you I just like to um I've been up here longest as everybody knows and uh we haven't agreed on everything all of us you know everybody thinks we have no we haven't and back of that room yeah there a lot of argument that goes on yeah um spirited discussion spirited that's that's spirited discussions a nice to put it it's good the mayor has had a tough job uh he's kep Us in toe as I saw what I like to thank him he's to me he's done good and police and fire I think the police and fire do a good job but they know that I argue with the chief knows I argue with him a lot I call him up I say it I come here and I just want the people of this town to realize it's a hard job up here I mean you have to think what you think is right for this town not what I think is right for me but uh I really want to thank the mayor I mean he had a tough time to year so it was a lot thank you for that though thank you you hold on Alex hold on hold on M up all powerful there you go be quick and save most of my remarks for the first uh but uh first off just merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to everybody uh uh enjoy the holiday season uh it's it's such a privilege to be up here uh I love every single minute of it it's it's why I'm calling in while uh uh uh fighting of cold because I take it seriously and and and the input and I look forward to serving another three years uh and and being reelected with the mayor uh so being up here six years already it's it's been uh an incredible honor and I I love it every single day and look forward to the first uh of the year of getting sworn and again uh a huge thank you to Mayor Chris Weber and and and to Deputy Mayor Harris la off and uh thank you for their steadfast leadership and and continuing to lead us forward and and I'm glad that all of us get to continue this serving together uh for at least at least another year so thank you thank you thank you B thank you um boy so this is my final meeting right now for 2024 and I'm going to go on my phone you guys know I complain about the phone but um I'm going to go on the phone this is the 2024 list in case you didn't read it this is just this year alone for our little town uh two large development projects nearing completion with the start of a third which is moving along very nicely resurfacing of the township pool lighting for myel field is finally installed we are waiting for completion with the electric and everything else but we we've we've pushed and and fought and we got lighting for the field there'll be no more generator lights there we are still working on the driveway Billboards were removed from the center of town on Mountain Avenue it's going to bring a green space for that that land our high school and travel sports teams brought home championships and trophies in multiple Sports um our Recreation team has more programs than they've ever done before um Alvin Park full renovation has started a full renovation that Park is going to be gorgeous when it's done hen tennis courts have been resurfaced um new Jitney bus was acquired for the commuters who for everybody who's going to the train and for the seniors also and for anybody who who you know uses a Springfield Jitney new fire truck was delivered to the fire department we on a roll brother uh the Police Department was accredited for the fourth time and and all of these things uh I I I appreciate the words from everybody um it's a lot of work it's it's a lot of work for all of us and um none of this is done without my other four up here you guys are like you know I'm telling you anybody who complains has no idea how much work is put up here if you want to get things accomplished they have no idea how much Linda puts in how much John puts in how much Craig puts in how much Chief cook puts in how much Captain mron puts in uh Robbie beter from from DPW Adam Lee um I am they just don't have any they they they they have no idea how much people have to care and how much work they have to do to make all of these things happen I have a text message on my phone and I'm not going to read who it's from but um unfortunately sometimes what happens is that I I have a lot of people to get back to I think one of the things that's that's been good for me and and has has helped me you know succeed here in town is that no matter what the time is or or what I'm doing I try to help people and and everybody up here does and I'm playing tag and and and somebody what you know this has been going on for a while and um unfortunately you know they couldn't get to me today cuz they had school you know work and I said well you know if you got to get to me today today Friday it doesn't matter Thursday no she's you know the person responds I didn't want to bother you at night unless you know you can talk now let me know you know you know this is a job that happen that's it's almost 24 hours a day it is not it is it is not um 1980 and I and I hate to pick that but I just picked that year because there was no social media there was no internet there was no email there was no cell phones there was no tagging anybody on countless forums um there was no having to deal with with enormous amounts of contact you know I'm going to assume what it was like back then was you called the township and hopefully they got a message through to whoever they tried to get through to otherwise that was it where you send a letter in the mail with a stamp on it not now now there are times that we are each tagged probably two three four times sometimes a day or 10 times a week with just concerns and I think what what makes us a successful team up here is um we acknowledge our strong points we acknowledge what we do we let each other do what we have to do in in certain times and and like you know rich said there's a lot of Spirited discussions you know we we are an interesting mix behind closed doors because uh there is some there is some fighting that goes on no doubt there are some heavy differences of opinion on on how things are achieved um there are certainly more times than not that each one of us has to just back down and say all right you know what I don't have the vote for this you know if I don't have the three votes I just look and go all right well you guys figure it out hopefully it works out and you know what you do is you get on board you support it even if you don't like it all right and and not to get into National things but that is what is needed across this country from everybody at this point right now even if you don't support somebody the worst thing you can do is wish for your town your city your county your state or your country to do poorly because you don't approve of who's there all right and um there were more than enough times that that there were certain things here that I you didn't like I didn't like or whatever but we sat there and said all right listen I don't have the votes for it but you know what if you guys feel this strongly about it I'll get behind it and we're going to make this work somehow and that's why we're successful up here um office you know you guys you guys are crush it every day if you can't you know see the meeting what what's going on is I'm looking at Linda and John right now and and our ba and our Township Clerk uh absolutely the best around and I I thank everybody for uh for making me look good that's what it comes down to so uh the list is long we are nowhere near done I'm going to drop this one on you I would like to ready I would like to close off Oakland make it a cuac and I would like to extend that Park all the way through and um there will be a Township meeting coming in 2026 no 2025 I'm a year ahead already in 20 25 um welcoming everybody here in the township opinion same as we did with Ruby Park on what their thoughts are if we're creating a Mess by by you know turning Oakland into a cuac if we're doing something better by you know getting rid of that intersection and extending it all to Green Space it's something that we want to hear from and and and it's it's it's a project that I think we um I think it could be the first project of the year I think we're already got you know the irons and the fire on that one and I think if we if we hustle up we can get that done before Springtime or so on or somewhere in that area for the township so we'll have to you know keep going on that um sides for that thank you for a uh fantastic 2024 successful successful 2024 and um there's still work to do January 1st we have the reorg is that is that not yet yeah all right so January 1st um we have the reorg now I have had the privilege and so has Chris and so has Alex no no wrong you were here with Rich as a mayor Chris was Alex haris and myself were not we have not been here with Rich as a mayor our Tom Brady of Springfield um rich is the only one in on on this entire day who can uh tell us why something happened you know 10 years ago how they came to this how the road was traveled why it worked why it didn't work that is not easily replaced so uh there there is there is my this is what I want to say there are some hits and misses about our form of Township government and while we had a wildly successful year and and everybody feels the same way you know when they're up here you're you're doing your thing you you finally hit a stride at a certain point and um you would like to continue the sometimes it it benefits sometimes it doesn't the plus side to our form of government is that you are usually not um stuck with one the same person's um direction or agenda for the entire you know term which would be you know in most cases four years it it gives a different perspective and I didn't really understand that at first and I I completely understand that now uh it is very important to have different views different takes and different leadership so things don't become stale things don't um become forgotten about and new ideas are put forward so with that said because I I know that January 1st is going to there's going to going to be a lot happening and I've been able to witness um fantastic leadership under Erica Deb boy Chris capis Alex Kaiser um and now I get to see it under Rich Huber so uh I I'm excited for what 2025 brings I am excited for the phone calls that are going to happen when they want to know why is Rich busting my chops about certain things because he is definitely the mo the the the stickler up here for certain things and and he doesn't let things slide and and that is fantastic and I'm excited for what's going to happen I'm I'm I've had two Deputy Mayors Alex Kaiser and Harris laer and um both have been exceptional as my second there and you're going to be exceptional for rich and I look forward to 2025 and thank you all for a successful 2024 and thank you to my wife and my kids my family who let me come up here and take all this time out and and you know I have a friend sitting here in the audience right now who will try to call me at times and and what people don't realize is that by 11:00 in the morning I've already been on the phone sometimes two three 4 hours and I just I don't even have the bandwidth to pick it up cuz I'm on to the next thing so thank you to everybody who understands that that uh there's only so many hours in the day for for us up here but um it's not that we don't care it's just that we only have so much time so thank you to our families that um that led us do this it it's big and congratulations to vice principal Chris ciis this has been a good year I'm going to stay up here all year Jonathan Dayton softball team Union County champions for the first time in the history of Springfield congratulations and um we're going to get another one in 2025 watch I'm done have a great day executive yep okay resolution 12824 whereas article six of the open public meetings act provides that a public body May hold a closed session and whereas the township committee will during this meeting enter into discussion of the following matters attorney client privilege and person attorney client privilege contract negotiations Redevelopment whereas the matters to be discussed in close session are to remain in the strictest of confidence by all committee members in furtherance of their fiduciary duties to the township now therefore be resolved matters discussed at this meeting will be released to the public when reasons for discussing and acting upon them post session no longer exists motion second all in favor hi hi hi no action will be taken no action e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e