##VIDEO ID:nP5XpieaHTY## 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 welcome to the township of Springfield County of union state of New Jersey meeting for October 22nd 2024 this meeting is being held in accordance with the public laws of 1975 chapter 231 inadequate notice of this meeting has been provided by notice sent to the Star Ledger the local source and posted in the main lobby of the municipal building and on the township website please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance led by call Carl ostergard Vice Commander American Legion Post 228 flag United States stand na indivisible andice please remain standing for a moment of silence for our soldiers overseas at home and for Springfield police officer John Paul Patrick thank you roll call mayor Weber here Deputy Mayor laer here committee man capes is absent committee man Yuber here committee man Kaiser pres all right we're going to go to proclamations and announcements Springfield residence 55 plus November calendar 2024 is out you have full days on every day except for two Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving there is an activity on every single day so pick up your calendar over at the Chism Center or online got plenty of them a Halloween Spooktacular Sunday October 27th from 1 to 2:30 at Chism Park costume contest winner announced at 2:15 rain location will be the Chisum Community Center Gym will change to indoors same thing take a look at uh the website you can get all the details on it and pick up a flyer all municipal offices will be closed on November 5th for election day and Monday November 11th in observance of Veterans Day um actually got a request to clean out the ballot box at Chisum it's clean it's emptied every day okay that's what I figured but emptied every day by a bipartisan team from the county of Union I I figured that I'm just relaying the message somebody seemed to think it was not well I put my ballot in Sunday and it was received like as of yesterday or early this morning because I looked it up fantastic okay then everybody anybody's lisening it is closed it is uh cleared out every day polling locations will be open from 6:00 to 8: on election day Tuesday November 5th Veterans Day ceremony is Monday November 11th 11:00 a.m. Veterans Park rain location it will be the Jonathan Dayton High School auditorium Springfield clean Community Day Sunday November 3rd 11 to2 Laurel Park Smithfield Park Washington Park student community service hours are offered gloves and bags will be provided uh I just had the environmental commission meeting yesterday yesterday I sat with them they are in desperate need of volunteers if anybody is watching this they need volunteers if your kid needs hours to graduate high school send them over they need to get it done um you know it's the same 10 people we need more flu clinic registration November 6th from 4: to 6:00 p.m. at Chisum community center registration not required please call 908 8518 507 for additional information that is also on our website Chisum Community Center if you're looking for the fluke Conan information Township extends its condolences to committeemen current committee men and and former mayor uh Richard Huber and his wife Jenny on the passing of Jenny's sister Kathy Caffrey on October 15th um sorry Rich if if there's anything you know the family needs you know you have our support thank you okay we are going to switch over to public comment on agenda items only public comment on agenda items only if anybody has anything public comment agenda items only come on up mic is open receive no emails no nope okay skip on to that we're going to go right to the reports with our administrator's report from Mr John bigo thank you Mr Mayor couple of items I'd like to bring up for tonight we had a sewer back up on Riverside Drive on October 16th it affected two streets and several homes this again has been a backup from a blockage from people putting wipes again what street this was Riverside Drive that and we had two streets Robbie didn't say which other two he just had Riverside Drive it affected two streets and several homes the point though again is I want to remind everybody these wipes are not flushable I know they say on the package they are they do not break up like unfortunately like toilet paper does what happens is they catch in the system and they end up lumping together and we end up with a backup and then we have to go out and try to break them up so you're you're not only what's interesting is that most of the time the person that's flushing them it doesn't happen at their house it happens at their neighbors because it goes Downstream somewhere so please refrain from that we've had this issue many times and it's still continuing uh we had a pre-construction meeting on October 16th to do some manhole Rehabilitation throughout the town what this is is that we're trying to stop water from going into the manholes because we pay to have that water treated so this is um this is a way of sealing those manholes so we don't get that so we did that on Wednesday October 16th and that will be started shortly leaf collection I want to go over that again leaf collection begins November 1st we're already seeing people putting brush out mixed in with the leaves now I understand if you rake the lawn you get a few pieces of you know little sticks in there that's not a problem but people are putting brush out with the leaves it will not be picked up and the reason is is that when we take it to the recycling center they will reject the load then we have to bring it back dump it out and we have to go through it by hand and separate it we can't be doing that so if you mix the two what we're going to do is that our DPW director and our supervisors they're going to go through the town if they spot that they're going to leave a a letter in the door that it's not going to be picked up so you've got a chance to separate it then leaves will be picked up but it's not that we're being mean we just can't get rid of it can I can I add something real quick yes sir the the the pool has specific dump The Dumping area for leaves brush debris it actually says sticks brush Etc leaves grass it it is broken down you cannot get it into any simpler form than that Rush under 2 in is acceptable at the recycling center at 44 Marson road so you can take it up there anytime uh Paving projects the work on myel by pscg is expected to last another two to three weeks psse and just Mill Garin oval Garden oval Vista Way Fernhill Greenhill and highp point those four streets are scheduled to be paved tomorrow uh we are doing Johanna and Kain they're scheduled to be milled on Thursday and Paving on Friday weather permitting this is part of the swap that we did with and so those streets will be done in the next week or so um other ongoing road projects cement work has begun on miltown and Smithfield the curb work and any um handicap ramps all the markouts are done on pit and Christie and the upper end of Henshaw work on those streets is expected to start very shortly our goms project up the street they poured the basement to the other day and they did the ramps coming out of the basement the wall walls they were inspected and they both passed I don't know if anybody's noticed Center Street but they we took a bond from them to get Center Street done in a specific time frame the curbing is already finished the fence has been removed the chain link fence has been put up the barriers have been moved back the street is got is now striped so it's two-way and they're making great progress the only thing that's left is there's a little bit of drainage from the entrance to the project down to Hannah they hooking up one piece of piping there and that should be done in the next couple of days we're in the process of putting a bid together to order the pumps for Maran station because we've got that money left that we were granted by the government we've got to get that encumbered by the end of the year so we're looking to replace the pumps there and next year they will be installed we're looking at 40 some weeks in order to get the pumps so we just need to get them ordered uh if there's any other questions or comments I would would be happy to answer yeah I just I need some clarity myelle was just paved a year and change ago that's correct they're digging this thing up again anything that was paved that's in the moratory must be then repaved curb to curb not to the center line they're not going okay all right but but that is coming under psg's dime not ours that is correct okay so they will Mill everything that they have torn up anything that is again out outside the moratorium is is half anything inside must be paved curb to curb I got one on Golems I'd like somebody to be able to go Friday or something like that they leave doors open somebody gets hurt in there be a lawsuit pet peeve of mine I want you well there's a lot of section of the buildings that don't even have doors on it but if the doors there let's lock them I want to lock and you're going to say they put a fence up I can move that fence in 2 minutes you can just lift it up and and move it so I think for the safety you know how kids are I make sure they're safe all right we'll we'll check them okay uh the also the the glass for the retail on the bottom floor is in and the it's not put in yet it is arrived and so has the frames So within the next couple of weeks the rest of the glass should also be in I can tell you that uh our bid is already going through the building yep um talking to people about possible rentals on the place already so yeah they're already in in in gear on getting that and did anybody notice the front they've put up deadness Center where the there's a couple of balconies in the front there's now a an extension there's a roof with a frame around it like out of stone on the building it actually looks very nice so the building is actually starting to shape up so we're getting there uh can I get a a little bit more of a concrete timetable on Pit Road I've had four people ask when they're going to uh Pit Road let me see just so they know in terms of a major thoroughfare yes well again Pit Road they will get noticed in the in the mail before anything is done let me see where Pit Road is if I don't have it if you give me a few minutes I will get it for you you can have as much time as you need John I'll get you Pit Road very shortly what is the I'm going to complicate things even more now um what is the process to make sure that we do not do anything um in terms of Paving that PS is going is is there any is there any preventive net that you know we go and pave it and they tear it up a week later nobody's talking to anybody no no we did we had a meeting with pscg we went over all the roads who's Paving what there's a moratorium they have to come in for Road opening permits so anything that's on the moratorium they have to come to his first anyhow before they do anything so our engineer would would research that and know right away all right so so they will go through engineering at this point for anything that we're we're potentially going to resurface or do yep okay and again we did have a a meeting with them and we went over all the streets that they've torn up who's responsible for which ones and when are going to be done okay anything else anybody else anything NOP okay thank you we'll move on to minutes seeing none and then we'll go straight to new business ordinance second reading seeing none we will go on to First reading of ordinances ordinance 202 2420 this ordinance amends the Township's storm water control regulations in accordance with updated regulations from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Mr Mayor ordinance 20 2420 it's read by Madame clerk publication of local Source October 31st 20 uh 20 24 with final hearing November 12th 2024 second okay any discussion on this at all um this is pretty much State ordered we're just following their um their amendments to this is for both uh residential and business I mean yeah residential and Commercial yeah residential and Commercial Mike disc go handle this our engineer so [Music] yep okay so seeing no discussion on it roll call committee man Yuber yes committeeman Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes mayor Weber yes ordinance 22421 this ordinance amends the land use provisions of the Township Code with respect to the waiver of development application fees for qualifying nonprofit organizations Mr Mayor is read by Madam clerk ordinance 20 24-21 publication local Source October 31st uh 2024 with final hearing November 12th 2024 second okay any discussion on this trying to liit this is this is just going into can you give me a breakdown on this correct yes sure this is um so the town for certain pursuant to statute for certain types of entities 501c3 um entities they the township routinely waves fees for certain types of Redevelopment or development applications and this puts an annual limit on those fee waivers um with the exception of the Board of Education which by statute is entitled to waiver fees all year okay so we still so these organizations still have to come to us for a fee waiver correct it's okay yeah it's not an it's not like an automatic waiver that was my question yeah it has to be applied and we have a cap at $1,000 put an annual aggregate limit on it yes all right roll call committee man Uber yes deputy mayor laer yes commit M Kaiser yes mayor Weber yes ordinance 20 2422 this ordinance amends the township code to adopt updated regulations governing tree removal and replacement in accordance with guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance 2024-25 as read by Madam clerk with publication in the local Source on October 31st 2024 with a final hearing on November 12th 2024 all right discussion um I see this one is pretty lengthy uh Alex yeah no I I'll kick it off why does everyone assume the environment is me um no hey you know I might go into more detail on when we do our final public hearing but just a really quick thanks to uh uh uh uh to our business administrator to Keith our Forester to uh Robbie our DPW director and to Craig who we all kind of sat down and made sure that we were making the right moves to ensure that our tree canopy is is is protected and to to meet the uh the uh the desired goal of trying to limit uh uh individuals from privious frivolously removing trees that otherwise uh a capture carbon but more importantly for our community uh uh the older trees make sure that they retain uh storm water and and and water in general that uh could with the elimination that or further degradation of our tree canopy would potentially make flooding uh uh uh uh worse in our community so uh this guidance while we had a tree ordinance for the last few years years uh recently the Department of Environmental Protection at the state came out with uh guidelines instructing all communities to uh adopt a certain tree regulation and we made sure that oursa just a little further uh than the state to ensure that we're at the Forefront of making sure uh that we're protecting that canopy and while still maintaining that individuals who are on who who have trees that are diseased or dying are able to take down a tree without penalty so I I really truly thank you everybody in the administration who we work together and I think we ultimately got uh an ordinance that is in line with all the communities around us Craig this thing's pretty lengthy can you give us a cliff notes version of it or what what do you yeah well so this this ordinance was actually a version of this ordinance was introduced earlier in the spring and Forester came in at that point and spoke about some of the highlights um it's not it's not significantly different it covers basically all the same topics that the existing tree ordinance does what it does though it does give um the definition of tree sort of the threshold for when you need to get a permit to remove a tree was actually increased from 4 Ines in diameter to 8 inches in diameter um but and and there also were some like reductions in fees for replacement tree costs um um there was a a substantial provision that was put in was a a tree removal contractor registration requirement um which helps ensure that when individuals are getting someone to give them advice and guidance um that those folks are registered and licensed and so that the the Township's residents are protected um and that they're insured and everything else um I mean those are the those are the highlights um the it's pretty detailed ordinance so um certainly would you encourage folks we're interested to take a look at it after after first reading it it'ss adopted okay excellent thank you roll call committee man Kaiser yes committee man Yuber yes Deputy Mayor laer yes mayor Weber yes Mr may can I give yes low for an answer on Pit Road right now we went out and marked the trees to be removed this morning so we're waiting for the tree company they should probably be out there next day or so then ajm who's doing the actual work on the road they haven't given us a time yet Robbie's going to reach out to them tomorrow we'll get a time from them and I'll get back to you and we can put that out yeah we just want to make sure it doesn't you know interfere with any holidays or anything like that and and and the contractor always notifies all of the residents with a letter exactly when they're doing what no I hear that yep okay we're going to go on to resolutions we'll approve them through consent agenda if you want something pulled just say it as I read it and we'll pull it resolution 2024 239 2024 240 2024 241 2024 242 P 242 um 2024 243 2024 244 2024 245 2024 246 that's it right Mr Mayor resolution 2024 239 240 and 241 um 20 24 243 20 24 245 46 that's it second okay yes committee men Yuber yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committee men Kaiser yes mayor Weber uh yes yeah resolution 2024 242 this resolution certifies the 2023 annual audit I'll make a motion to pull resolution I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 202 24-24 as read by Madam clerk second um just wanted to pull to just acknowledge the hard work that goes in was LE on that yeah no it go it it's a picture of the tire Township's Financial standpoint and so everyone every department is pretty much a part of that it was clean that's what I was uh uh driving home about and can you repeat that in the mic I didn't hear that one I'm sorry I know the audience has to hear that please uh there were no dings that we got it was totally clean we've had in the past where there was recommendations of things that we've that weren't done EX exactly right the past one oh this is going back when was the last time we got one that we had a a note on four years ago this is the third clean audit so four years ago four years ago so we haven't had one since okay excellent thank you I think it's time for a change roll call vote committee M Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man Yuber yes mayor Weber yes yes resolution 20 24244 this resolution establishes a fair and open process for the awarding of certain contracts for the 2025 calendar year I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2024-25 as read by Madam clerk I'll second it uh with that uh I mean I know as a committee individually we've been talking about adding a couple things to the list things that we're going of the things that we're going to go out to bid um and I was just wondering if it would be prudent to table this so we can get a full list couldn't we amend it tonight yeah it can be amended now and we because I mean this has to go out and you know then it had we have to get these back and they have to be reviewed um Moren and I did look at the calendar and you know you have Thanksgiving coming up you have the uh it's usually this meeting no I I know that but it gets tight but the next meeting is the 12th the 9th isn't it the next meeting isn't until the I guess my next question is could we approve it tonight and then add others at another meeting I don't see why we couldn't if you're at we go out for bid you can go out for bid again can you I mean you can you can so like like why don't we approve because there were there's one in particular that I'm really thinking of that we need to add um so I don't want to hold up the process I I genuinely don't uh it's just uh can we just add that proactively next meeting and just process-wise Craig is that allowed yes it is and for my question done it if you do that those whichever ones are added might be might only be out for a shorter period of slightly shorter period of time but at least the bulk of them will be out for whatever the then I withdraw my motion to table and and I'm good excellent roll call vote please committee M Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committee man Uber mayor Weber yes all right recess oh yeah you're right yeah you're right uh let's move on to discussion and action items [Music] please motion for the depression and bipolar support Alliance the dbsa to request and hold bimonthly meetings at the Chisum Community Center in 2024 2025 hold harmless and certificate insurance is provided MO [Music] second all in favor I I okay um mayor one second all right we're going to go on to finance and pay some bills with committee when Kaiser all right uh I'll make it to adopt payroll and invoices for the period of October 9th 2024 through October 22nd 2024 in the amount of 4,745 64866 second committee M Kaiser yes Deputy Mayor laer yes M man Uber mayor Weber yes um Everybody received the September budget September pool budget uh September Revenue September pool revenue and best practices everyone can file accordingly okay um okay we're going to take a pause to the standard uh Township items and we are going to go to back to a resolution that um was pending and we're going to go to Township resolution 2024 -247 okay whereas officer John Paul Patrick has been employed as a police officer within the township of Springfield beginning May of 2007 and whereas officer Patrick had been assigned as an investigator within the investigative division of the police department from January of 2018 through December of 2021 whereas investigator Patrick excelled in investigation involving all forms of cyber crime and fraud having achieved the status of certified fraud examiner on his personal time and whereas during this time in the investigative division investigator Patrick was assigned on loan to the Union County prosecutor's office high tech crimes unit for several months between 2018 in 2019 whereas while on active duty on October 6th 2024 officer Patrick suffered a medical episode which ultimately led to his untimely passing on October 21st and whereas police chief John Cook in accordance with Section 2-41 col 11 of the Township Code entitled detectives within investigative decision has recommended for the township committee that officer John Paul Patrick be possably promoted to the rank of detective now there be resolved by the township committee Township of Springfield County of union state of New Jersey that officer John Paul Patrick is hereby bately promoted to the rank of detective within the investigative deis division of the police department effective as of October 22nd 2024 a motion please make motion uh yeah I will with a heavy heart second that motion second committee man Yuber yes Deputy Mayor laer yes committe Kaiser yes mayor weer yes [Music] at this point we will be presenting the detective badge to his widow and her family and I'll be presenting our resolution to [Music] you for let me make sure this mic is on all right um Chief cook would like to say a few [Music] words I mean stuff like this happens every day somewhere in the country in the world um it's the first time in my career that I've had to deal with an issue like this um I appreciate the township committee working with us to be able to get this done tonight I know it's a short notice and we really don't it's nothing very ceremonial about it um we apologize for that but it's it's something that we did want to get done tonight um so again sorry if it's not really a big ceremony me we do want to to celebrate John's life and what John is to our department so um usually I'm not out a loss for words as most people here know but I do appreciate Christine being here and Gabriella and Vanessa not sure who's who Vanessa and Gabriella I have daughters too you guys are beautiful um just want to thank everyone the family that's here uh and for allowing us to be a part of your family for which you forever are um anything that's ever needed you have all our contacts we're always here for you to help in any way that you may need um John's a big part of our family uh and I was been going through his file which I usually don't have to go through files too often but I I've seen a lot of things that I forgot about and I was putting together things for you know to possibly speak at his service later um so we don't have a lot prepared now but I did see a lot of funny things um I was Pro not his first sergeant but I know he when I first became a sergeant he was assigned to me and I know he's he's always done a great job which is why you know he was then put into the detective Bureau that's not necessarily rotational thing it's something that's earned and by telling the stories the past couple days at the hospital I mean you guys know how quirky he is and we we thought maybe it was just us but the stories we heard from you guys obviously it's that's just John so um that's always going to last around here and stories are always told and they'll be told for decades to come about this guy or that guy and John will always be there as well um I'm not sure what more to say uh again this is this is tough right now again it happens unfortunately every day um in the police world and but when it hits home it's it's it's something else we we're all at a loss um the Brotherhood and Sisterhood came together at the hospital the past few days it was great to see and that's something that won't go away um so we're here you got lovely young ladies you know they got a lot of a lot of family members Big Brothers here to look out for them um anything they need when they start dating I don't want to put that in their heads yet but uh they're going to have a they're going to have a lot of guys looking out for him so um again I'm I'm not sure sure if anybody else wants to say anything but uh I do have one thing Chief yes sir Mrs Patrick and and the family we've been on the phone with when things like this happen there's a lot of details all right um our ba our chief whatever you need we we will sort through everything and and get you through this as um as easy as possible in terms of our ends of everything so even if you're not in a position to talk or whatever if the family needs to make a phone call or whatever we're here and and and we will help make all of this happen Okay thank you mayor yeah [Music] certainly I just want to thank Chief cook our staff the committee um I mourned last year and I mourn again I grieve um with our family here you guys you're our family um just amazing Chief stood by all our sides we we haven't left each other and we won't we're always going to be here so thank you Chief brother um just I won't keep you much longer but um John and and we've been telling stories again and John is just and I went through some of his evaluations just to get little things to talk about and he had I didn't I wasn't in charge of the department when he got hired but he certainly had the qualities that I look for now when I hire people he's very compassionate guy I mean he's always felt for people um a lot of the calls and and commendations he got were for going above and beyond on on calls dealing with people and being there for them um when they needed someone and he sat through some situations that were I don't know I don't know how he did it um I wasn't able to handle it for more than 30 seconds and he was in there for 45 minutes so anyway God bless him God bless all of you I know his spirit's in a good place and we want to celebrate his life ladies you have a great dad I know you know that all right so thank you everyone for being here and putting up with me not being able to communicate as much as I usually used to be able to okay thank you [Music] with that I'm going to call does anybody have anything or good for recess yeah all right with that I'm going to call a 5 minute recess and um thank you for being here and we're sorry e e e e e e e ready all right tell me when we're on we on okay uh we only have a little bit left of the meeting um I'm we just went into a short break um the family of Officer Patrick has has left the chambers um to to you know the the chief said it um and his widow said it uh there'll be a uh formal ceremony funeral where everybody will get to say their their goodbyes uh I just want to say one thing before I move on to the officers that off Patrick worked with he's got young daughters you've got a lot of stories from working with him for the past uh you know 17 years um make sure that his daughters know the stories correspondents seeing none h comment on any governmental issue if anybody has any comment on public on any governmental issue come on up I had gotten no emails on anything and I have nobody coming up uh for the mic with that said we're going to go into executive session a resolution 1022 24 whereas article 6 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 contract negotiation Redevelopment attorney client privilege and contract negotiation Redevelopment whereas the matters to be discussed in closed session are to remain in the strictest of confidence by all Township committee members in furtherance of their fiduciary dut to the township now therefore be it resolved matters discussed at this meeting will be released to the public when the reasons for discussing and acting upon them in close session no longer exists I move the resolution okay uh and no action no action will be taken no I I want to make a comment oh make a com let's make a comment please oh we'll be back okay okay 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 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 V for German second motion for adjournment second uh motion second Huber laer I'm glad everyone listens motion adjourned uh meeting adjourned for