##VIDEO ID:muK3wY0Tljc## e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome to the township of Springfield County of union state of New Jersey meeting for September 24th 2024 this meeting is being held in accordance with the public laws of 1975 chapter 231 and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a notice sent to the start Ledger the local source and posted in the main lobby of the municipal building and on the township website we are joined by Vice Commander Carl Asgard Jr from the American Legion Post 2228 please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America to the stands indivis and justice for all please remain standing for a moment of silence for soldiers overseas and at home thank you roll call Mayor Weber here Deputy Mayor laer present committee man capes here committee man Yuber see committee Kaiser here all right Springfield residents 55 and older October 24 calendar is out same thing is uh the last few months every day is filled we've got everything from uh pickle ball Bingo exercise shape up with Liz puzzles poker dominoes a lot of good things please pick up your calendar over at uh the township website or at the Chism Center you can find them mobile shredding event Saturday October 5th 9 to1 Springfield Municipal Pool 44 Mar Road bring your papers if you want them shredded there is a limit though warning we had somebody who showed up with um boxes of papers I think at one point and they they put a squash that they weren't okay so bring your own personal stuff if you are a company or you're trying to get rid of other stuff like that you will be stopped and they will not allow to shredd it fall festival and car show October 6th 11: to5 r main date October 20th free admission live music food truck beer guard and much more they are still looking for cars and motorcycles for the car show um several shows are are are clashing around Union County and around the state so we're looking for some cars and some motorcycles Union County Board of commissioner presents mobile flu clinics for information regarding locations or to pre-register please call 9089 965 3868 or 908 965 3627 Recreation Department's Halloween Spooktacular Sunday October 27th Chism Park from 1 to 2:30 details of registration on community pass all of this information you will find online if you need it now we have um Proclamation for the Ark of Union County this is going to be presented by to Sam abdalah yes sir yes it is all right excellent let me read this [Music] Proclamation whereas the Ark of Union County was founded in 1949 by parents of children with disabilities to ensure their children had a place that would serve and advocate of them and whereas the Ark of Union County Incorporated is a nonprofit 501c3 organization headquartered in Springfield is dedicated into enriching the lives of individuals all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities and services more than 1,000 adults and children throughout Union County and surrounded counties and whereas the mission of the Ark of the Union County is to empower and support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families to ensure that all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are associated with the organization realize a full productive and Enhanced Life and whereas the vision of the Arc of Union County is to have a socially just acceptable and inclusive environment where the human rights and diversity of all people with disabilities are recognized respect Ed and celebrated for their achievements and whereas the values of the Arc of Union County are accountability being responsible credible and trustworthy competence being productive efficient and skillful affection being passionate loving and caring courtesy being respectful considerate and polite flexibility being adaptable and able to change service being supportive aiding and assisting transparency being open responsible and responsive to individuals and family concerns with efforts to support and serve individuals and families and to have them be included in the process and whereas the Arc of Union County operates with an active volunteer board of directors and a professional management team that assures their success and that their mission is achieved now therefore I Chris Weber mayor of the township of Springfield on behalf of the township committee do hereby congratulate the Ark of Union County on their 75th anniversary and do by hereby recognize and thank them for their invaluable services that they provide not only to the township of Springfield but also to the surrounding communities thank you now we're going to present this to Sam do you want to say speak a few words if if you don't mind afterwards I I think your hair your hair's blown Chris your hair's not in place I can say you hold it or walk around it no I'm good um I want to thank the town of Springfield for being a great host to the AR Union County on behalf of our CEO and executive director Edwin nuda um we we greatly appreciate the support we get from all the services within Springfield and supporting our individuals we have a number of locations across the county but our headquarters is located here as well as our day programs right behind the wonderful auto land and um we we've utilized many of the Town services and you guys have been very gracious with supporting us during that the unique part about the arc Union County not only is it 75 years old it's also the largest Ark in the state of New Jersey where we serve over 1,000 individuals literally from two months old until the time that they pass away we provide them services from inhome day program supportive employment working within the town itself and then guiding them through their senior their senior time with us all the way up until death probably the most unique part of this organization and uh I worked with the state for over 20 years and I actually ran DDD for a while the AR Union County has been very well known for their involvement in taking care of family members as well so we know a lot of our individuals have been with us for over 40 years so now you could imagine their parents are not spring chickens right they're in their 70s 80s and '90s and some of our individuals are in their 50s 60s and 70s so their family members can't really do much for them so we try to support their parents their Guardians as well as taking care of their loved ones our services are not just Monday through Friday 9 to 5 88 to 4 they're literally 247 we have individuals that reside in one family style homes across the county and have staff that is supervising 24/7 we would like to invite the town and we will send to you guys the the invitation for our 75th Anniversary uh Gathering get together it's going to be a casino night theme um and of course it's for the good cause of making sure that we provide further services for people here and if anyone here has a family friend or someone that is in need of services you're not sure where to go you could always call us we'll be more than happy to guide you even if you don't get Services through the AR Union County we want to make sure to support people with disabilities across the whole state so thank you again appreciate this and hope to see you guys soon thank you Sam um this world doesn't function without people like you and your organization there there's a lot of people that need help and um it's it's appreciated more than you know thank you your support's even more appreciated everyone here really supp we look forward to the invitation thank you all right excellent by all right Sam we're going to talk about some exciting stuff here like sanitation stuff you don't want to hang out enjoy your night all right let's go straight on to public comment on agenda items only if there's any public comment on agenda items only step on up we have no emails that were mailed to me on anything no all right seeing no public comment on agenda items only we're going to move on to our administrator's Report with Mr John bico thank you Mr Mayor couple items I wanted to touch on we we met with PS this week about restoration of our roads but we come up with we kind of swapped some footage of cuz some of the streets they only have to pave from curb to midline we didn't want to do that so we kind of took some that we were going to pave and gave them Vice we end up with the same footage it didn't didn't cost us anything it's just where we put the footage so for instance we got pscg is going to pay full curb to curb on woodrest Circle Garden oval 1500 feet on Green Hill 900 feet on high point and 600 on Vista Way we took full pavement on Johan way and Kane's Street Far Hills there's 60 ft Treetop there's 800 and Skylar there's 550 so again if you look at the total footage that was there we just kind of split it up differently so we made sure that what they were Paving was full we wanted curb to to curb uh we had a bunch of preconstruction meetings also for Paving coming up this fall we're trying to get done Sur Lane with inlets which was completed actually by roadside assistance hen shw Avenue uh from the park to baltera Christy Lane Pit Road and miltown and Smithfield miltown is going to be a little bit touchy because there we've got a main road so PD will be out we've got signs we're going to have to do a detour there so it's going to be a little bit of an inconvenience but they're going to keep one lane open obviously they're not going to close both so we're just going to have to work around that a little bit and we'll notify everybody what the start date actually is as soon as we get from them when they're going to be in town uh we also completed our preconstruction meeting on Johanna way storm station now if you remember that station hasn't been touched basically in 40 years we're looking at close to a million dollars and the biggest hold up quite frankly is the pumps and the U Motors we're looking at at least 40 weeks for the lead time but we had to commit because we had the money that was that was granted to us by the government and there was a date on that that we didn't have it encumbered by we would end up losing it and that was Diane December 31st 2024 so that's why we wanted to push ahead and make sure that the money was encumbered so that we're short of being able to use it for our sewers I know it's not very exciting but they need to be done couple other items I wanted to touch on is I think everybody has seen the Gomes project continues to move along we've held several meetings this past week they're ready to start Center Street we're just trying to get the details because we want a guaranteed schedule and we want a performance bond so if they they don't meet the date there's 100,000 performance bond that we will tap into so we're working on that we're hoping to have that put the bed in the next week and then they'll start on that so that that's moving along actually I did want to mention that I know all of I think everybody's aware we've been talking about the Scotty's Redevelopment there the next meeting we're going to myself and our planner will present the development for Scotties we'll have some pictures etc etc for everybody to look at so we're we're excited about that I think it's going to be a beautiful building it's at the far end of town so it's kind of like a uh a Gateway entrance so I I think you guys are going to be very impressed and very happy it's 55 and older so we have no negative impact on the school system so we're uh we're excited to bring that to you I think that's the when's our next meeting of October 8th so the eth will bring that to the committee other than that if there are any other questions or comments I'd be happy to answer I got one on Go's project yes I know they're using fire Hy you know it's it's got a meter on it and they they pay for it okay so because I I thought I saw it on over the weekend and then about it okay yes is that hurting that W hurt you at all right that W hurt the fire yeah so it has a metering device on it so every time they open that hydron up to use water for that site they get charged for that and then if we need to access that fire hydrant we just quickly disconnect that Mir device and put our appliances to it it'll have no effect on our operations thank you uh I had a couple um Route 22 the cars that were affected when they were doing uh the resurfacing that on arai is there uh can we make that information public for people who want to uh get their cars on the website can we like rebump it we put it toar we put that on Facebook everything right I like I've gotten a few calls on it so if we can if we can renew that push that would be do tomor that would be very much appreciated whoa uh that would be very much appreciated and uh the uh second thing has escaped my mind I will get to it later all right department head thank you thank you John department heads monthly reports is emailed no minutes at all new business ordinances second reading none first reading none all right we're just going to go on to straight to resolutions I'll read them off approval by consent agenda if anybody wants anything pulled just say the word I will pull it to the side and we'll do it afterwards all right resolution 20 20 24- 224 2024 d225 hold this 2024 d226 2024 d227 20 24- 228 2024 d229 202 24-230 20 24- 231 20 24- 232 we don't have to pull that we talked about that one this is this is the equipment uh yeah pull that one 20 24- 233 and 2024 d234 can I get a motion please motion to uh for Resolutions you you pulled which one did you pull I pulled 225 225 all right um 2024 224 20 24 226 to 20 24 231 and then 20 24 233 and 234 second committe committee man Uber yes Deputy Mayor laer yes commit man capes yes commit man Kaiser yes mayor Weber yes resolution 2024 225 this resolution amends the adopted budget for additional item of Revenue and offsetting appr appropriation chapter 159 for cdbg senior citizens public Serv service Transportation program grant for the year 50 year 50 um make a motion to adopt resolution 2024-25 as read by Madame clerk second discussion uh yeah I wanted to touch on this real quick I mean as as I try and do with every uh cdbg resolution uh this is one of the programs that we work on uh with the county of Union as part of a uh joint uh effort among the the sub 70,000 communities um and we pull money together and it helps us for several programmatic things like senior like senior citizens public transportation service and it allows programs that the township uh does and programs in the township puts on um to function so this is this is a a a great example of government doing what it has to do and operating at a multi-level basis uh to get stuff vital stuff done for our community thank you committee man Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man capes yes committee man Yuber yes mayor yes resolution 2024 232 this resolution authorizes the purchase of firefighting turnout gear from Skylands Area Fire Equipment and Training LLC safety safety is part of the approved vendor list and under New Jersey state contract t790 motion motion to accept resolution 2022 202 4- 232 is read by Adam clerk second can we get a little clarification on it please absolutely so um our turnout gear only has a shelf life about 10 years uh then has to be decommissioned so what happened was during uh covid times the um state of New Jersey passed a grant uh the American Rescue plan grant that allows us to apply for funding for due turnout gear so we applied for this funding last year we received about $30,000 and we applied for funding for 2024 and we received approximately I believe $40,000 so right now we are over our threshold with this one vendor for our turnout gear so um I believe this was the reason why we to do it Diane okay um just to give you a quick background our turnout gear cost about $4,300 a set so every time we have to replace that um it's every 10 years if it doesn't get ripped or tear or burnt up before that you know we're spending you know just over $4,000 hours so it's expensive so these grants are are great to have we apply for them and and we got them I hope hopefully they'll have this grant next year also but this is two years in a row now we um got funding from the uh state of New Jersey for this Absolut thank you I I why I wanted the clarification on it so everybody knows that um you're applying for them and we're getting approved for them are you guys doing your own grants other you Runing your own grants or do we have Grant no we we did this one so for this grant that we just received money on I was able to do this grant okay so we got awarded this Grant and it's it's a great Grant to have it really is because especially when um comes time to budget the extra the extra 40K coming in is is uh is is this federal or state money so this is done by New Jersey stage This was um Governor Murphy approved this state money okay committee man Yuber yes committee man Kaiser yes committeeman capes yes Deputy Mayor laer yes mayor Weber yes okay move on to discussion and action items yes I move to approve a request from the New York Blood Center New Jersey Blood Services to hold a blood drive at Schism community center on Monday December 30th 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. hold harmless and Certificate of Insurance attached and on file all in favor I I okay sorry donation of Snack Shack building at Chism Park from Springfield girl soall Incorporated second and this is uh everybody says that we favor the girls this is tournaments that they've run and they've collected money I know it's been a couple years I used to argue you know they should be paying but I full donation from them yes and it's all donated from them and this feeder program is what enabled us to have uh Union County Softball Champions 2024 so um favor the girls I just say it's about time that they get their due and uh the program has grown from 70 girls when my daughter was in it to 180 at this point right now I know one of the largest in Union County this is crossing this is crossing any Town nothing correct Engineers time and things like that correct and JC JC pnl is doing the electric on us for free I think right yes y very nice can I get an all in favor I I my apologies didn't say I I oh there course gu cheerleader for softball we will move on to finance pay some bills with Kiser I'll make a motion to adopt payroll invoices from the period of September 11th 2024 through September 24th 2024 in the amount of 6,2 $2,866 191 second committee M Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes capes yesman Yuber yes mayor Weber yes and everyone has received and it will be filed away accordingly the August budget report the August pool budget report the August revenue report and the August pool revenue report okay zero correspondence and now we're going to go on to public comment on any governmental issue come on up say your name your address and public comment on any governmental issue has the potential to be complicated Matthew Haber 31 Glen View Drive good evening everybody uh first I would like to take take the time to thank each and every one of you uh for all the jobs you do whether you were elected or an employee of the town uh you make this town a safe and great place to live and I just want to let you know how much I appreciate each and every one of you I also feel the majority of the Town citizens feel in the same sentiment feel share the same sentiment mayor Weber the last time I saw you we were in a room dedicated to former Town council member Margaret Bowski a person who contributed and continues to contribute to the betterment of this town tonight we sit in a room dedicated to another individual who served on this Council and help shape the town for what it is Ken Fagen bound memori memorializing great influential leaders is one of the things I love about this town now when I first met you when you were running with Alex for the first term you told me you were not the typical Democrat that we were seeing at the time during your tenure I found that to be more than true over the last few years I've watched you and this Council listen to and help everyone anyone and everyone regardless of ideology in my opinion I feel both you and your F fellow committeemen have been Mindful and fair in your decision- making most of all you have shown great patience and perseverance in the most difficult challenges of Co and Beyond it's for these Reasons I'm here to make the first suggestion of what the new park on Mountain Avenue should be called and I hope this suggestion is taken into serious consideration which is the Christopher Weber patients park though if you're too humble to memorialize your name I feel that patient Park is a fitting name as you and your count and your fellow councilmen have shown great patience not only with this project but with all projects you inherited from the past as well as the diverse opinions of the citizens of Springfield again thank you for your time and best of luck to you both you mayor Weber and committee M Kaiser in your upcoming election um thank you for that um Matt uh I just have to address one thing in in the history of Springfield right now uh uh I am a like I am a pin drop this guy's this guy's been he's he's a he's half a century already in the township I I thank you um I I am am more than flattered um but uh I got a long way to go I appreciate it but I I am thankful that I'm able to help people and we're all able to help people and that's what we're here for app everyone you know we're not here to glorify our name or anything like that we're here because we I I can speak for everybody up here the Five Guys I'm with we're here because we love this town I know I mean as you know I've been around a long time and I've seen a lot so but everyone of these Alex and I didn't meet Alex until he he came out to run Chris haris I've known you forever yeah well basketball exactly we're here because we love it I mean my wife might like all the hours we and people don't realize the hours that we all put in I mean I'm I work in New York and I get calls all day long over anything the garbage came was out in the street you know things like that but we help if we can help you we will thank you for recognizing that that that's that means a lot that uh a lot of people could say they didn't play any games when they were up here not a lot and I can I can I can take it to the Grave that we we we did that any other public comment on any governmental issue at all Alexa Martinez 18 Oakland AV formerly known as the Kaiser residents um I just would like to say that I look forward to as your neighbor sharing 15 feet of property line on the can you speak up a little bit um excuse me I will come closer to the mic as your neighbor sharing 15t of property line on the potential Mountain Avenue par Park I look forward to working with you on this project okay thank you how's that and let's name it Pas Park while we're at it any any other comment on uh public comment on any governmental issue but there's a name and address please Dominic seuda uh 97 cfax how you doing so I got a question um there's a camera sorry camera system being put in on Short Hills Avenue the county was telling me this they're using very thick gray sheath and fiber optic I asked them what's it for is this C Verizon Comcast like no it's for the camera system for Union County I'm like what camera system I never read about the camera system so I want to know if you knew about the camera system was it going over a light it's over telephone poles real heavy the telephone poles are bulking on they're they're bending over on Short Hills Avenue running from the sonoko station all the way back to the corner no idea yeah it's this thick yeah the sheath is this thick and it's for a camera system I think that's their like telecommunication system they piggy back off utility poles and things like that you said this was new yeah I I didn't know you guys we'll find we'll find out for I believe that's what it is cu through work we've gotten similar comments INE is it like for video cameras yeah it's for video cameras and uh telecommunications for like 911 and stuff like that okay all right um dustcloud in the park update this is for you so the uh the cinder track I spoke to Vicky uh the director over at the county and I went worked my way up and talk to Danny and Vicky Vicky didn't know about it she's only been in the in this position for a year or a year and a half whatever I told her about it and uh she say she'll look into it you know but nothing else is going on when Cranford played when Cranford played over here at the JV or at the soccer game here when they brought their bus in dustcloud you know with carcinogen went over the field and eight-year-olds were coughing and hacking on the field you know that's a carcinogen so you know they really need to consider getting that paved okay I would I'm I normally don't try to address questions as they go on you will not find one person up here who's arguing that point M we're calling the County call the county also yeah I did I I'm trying my best we we we have had meetings with Commissioners we've had meetings with anybody and everybody who wants to hear about the driveway okay but we are in agreement for the last 10 years that this thing need to be done okay I know I got short time just a couple more things short um the permits for the track and count County field here the county field they're giving away free permits to the high school um found this out my daughter and I were running September 5th we were told if we don't get off the track we're going to be arrested so yeah I was threatened with arrest by by the site administrator who was governing the JV team for J for Jonathan Dayton this happened September 5th me and my daughter my 16-year-old daughter were running on the track like I've been doing for 20 years they said get off the track Mr C we're going to call the cops and have you arrested so I called the county cops I called told them they came down I said you can't tell them that I said well where's your permit they didn't have a permit September 9th comes they show me a list of permits I'm not kidding it must have been 60 line items of permits they had from September 9th because I called principal Dr Francis they called they got their permits but they're disenfranchising the community because they have that field to themselves now from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. every day basically for two months and there's tons of citizens trying to run on the track old young all different you know people and I think it's I think you know it's a little egregious you know to to have it for that long 60 days you know and it gets dark you know it gets cold so I'm just letting you know that's going on right now I I went to the soccer games there and I saw what happened is some they were playing soccer somebody was running around the track and a ball hit one with persons and then they threaten to Sue and all that and that's why the Union County is giving the permit to the school that's what I was talk I questioned it also yeah and they give it including a track because if you get hurt Jonathan Dayton's responsible if they're playing soccer or baseball or you know football and that's why they put a teacher and they just ask the people I I was there and I heard they asked some people will leave that was all I heard yeah I'm just saying it's going to become a hot button issue because there's people trying to run on there I mean here's my guess you got one teacher one class or whatever yeah an enormous amount of people from Union County coming there this teacher cannot police a park that that's that's silly yeah that that happened they have that soccer field behind the high school they should fix that you know that they haven't done anything with that field when my kids went they now it's a perfect opportunity you know perfect opportunity okay so also sorry dominoes no seating in dominoes anymore here right it's been there since the 1980s I asked the manager I going how come I can't sit down and get my pizza they like well we had to take it out because we had the the the marijuana smell from all the people coming from the stores they they it was upsetting the customers and the employees so they took out all the seating so there you so there you have have marijuana on MAR you got the other store what's what's the other one legal Leaf legal Leaf right he's not allowed to sell and he doesn't sell marijuana there because we we've W okay well anyway we've they took had to here's a store here's a company that's had its business there with seating since 1980s they had to take it out because of this because of the smell I'm like are you kidding me I can't have any sitting while I'm going so anyway that that that's going on electrical study the electrical study for the um goms project has there been an electrical study estimate for the amount of air conditioner use that's going to happen to see if it maxes out that it's not going to affect the electrical conduits in our area when that thing goes full full bore when it goes Transformer everything will be on that proper that went they went over that with jcpnl okay so there won't be any detrimental effect to the community on that if they all if every air conditioner went up got enough power okay good good um cover on the pool we we bought a cover for the pool right when's it going to go on I thought they had put it on I'll have to check with our rec director okay yeah they were instructed to get out there and put that on so I'm surprised it's not yeah that was last week we talked about okay and the land is treated for the geese now right yeah good and the uh the free pet shots is there going to be free pet shots this year pet Veterinary usually we have it in October November I didn't see a that's Board of Health I can I can find out planning it yeah they're planning it okay good and um that's uh that's uh all I got thank you you thank you when's the last time you've smoked marijuana I'm just out of curiosity your name again Alexa Martinez 18 oav you how are we to say that there is no THC sold at legal e it is quite literally behind the counter in by the pound by weight for sale it's Delta 9 THC it was allowed they have about three locations of which they have a brand standard that they do sell THC products confirmed when in and purchased some so how are we gonna sit up here and lie about that just out of curiosity I was GNA say nobody sitting here and lying about it it is not considered a dispensary I it doesn't have to be considered a dispensary you can legally purchase a t product okay so we're we're claiming that you can who we're not claiming anything where is the proof that it smells like anything you somebody comes up here and says something first off Domino has the seating was removed there's no there's no restrooms for Domino I don't care about I'm concerned that you guys are passing this off that THC isn't for sale excuse me all go ahead I'm I'm just curious why are we passing this off that THC is not for sale I'm all for it for for the record like I don't really care but it just it's disingenuous to sit up there and say THC is THC is not for sale it's for sale in terms of State dispensaries is not does not qualify a dispensary nor does it register is one we have one dispensary approved that is on 22 that is not open yet whatever they sell there from what our understanding is is legal and and able to be sold without dispensary requirements all marijuana in the state of without dispensary requirements okay but so an 18-year-old from Jonathan Dayton can walk into legal Lea and purchase THC I'm speaking not supposed to be is it 19 who cares I don't know okay good but just confirm THC products are sold at that store we will for the record for the town okay okay anybody else with any other public comment on any governmental issue no okay that said I need a motion for executive session uh resolution 92 424 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 Personnel whereas the matters to be discussed in close session are to remain in the strictest of confidence by all Township committee members and furtherance of their fiduciary duties to the township now therefore be it resolved matters discussed at this meeting will be released to the public the reasons for discussing and acting upon them in Clos session no longer exist motion so moved second all right there will be no action taken um 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 motion to adjourn all in favor I