##VIDEO ID:JQ7vhYGYeMk## EX [Music] six to one I think what is it all right oh all right good evening everybody the Mets are up seven to two I understand and what inning is that councilman oh top of the night providing updates oh we got a Phillies fan here exactly so uh anyway for all of you that are watching at home good evening um adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meetings Act was provided through the posting mailing and filing of the annual notice of regularly scheduled meetings at the Town Council on December 12 2023 the notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board of the municipal building provided to the Westfield leader in the Star Ledger and filled with the clerk filed with the clerk of the town of Westfield Miss ly may have a roll call Mayor brindle here council members havg good here dardia here dagala here kefir here Saunders here armento here contract here hey here please rise for invocation given by Council armento and remain standing for the salute we meet to serve our community to use our resources wisely and well to represent all members of our community fairly and to make decisions that promote the common good we recognize our responsibility to the past and the future and the rights and needs of both individuals and community as trusted servants we seek we we seek support on our deliberations and on our efforts here today may we act wisely and well Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all so before we get into Jim's comments we have a proclamation for Arc of County and I'm going to invite uh Terry mcgucken up from uh argam County for that so come on up thank you for being here okay so we are celebrating acknowledging the 75th Anniversary which is amazing of Ark of Union County whereas in 1949 a group of inspired parents of children with disabilities founded the Ark of Union County driven by their commitment of ensuring that their children had a place that would serve and advocate for them and whereas for 75 years the Ark of Union County has dedicated their efforts to enriching the lives of individuals of all ages and providing assistance to members of the community with intellectual and developmental disabilities and whereas the Arc of Union County a nonprofit Oran organization has continuously demonstrated their commitment to serving over 1,000 children and adults through comprehensive programs that include educational residential vocational and recreational services that Foster inclusivity empowerment and support for clients and their families throughout all stages of their lives and whereas the Arc of Union County embodies a set of enduring values that include accountability competence affection courtesy flexibility service transparency and professionalism epitomizing the highest standards of integrity and compassion in its service to the community and whereas the vision of the Arc of Union County is to have a socially just accessible and inclusive environment where human rights and diversity of all people with disabilities are recognized respected and celebrated for their achievements now therefore be it proclaimed that I mayor Shelley brindle on behalf of the town Town Council and citizens of Westfield join together in celebrating 75 years of the Ark of Union County and extend our deepest gratitude to their dedicated staff volunteers and supporters for their invaluable contributions to our community by enhancing the well-being and quality of life for individuals and families through their unwavering service and advocacy so thank you and congratulations and I do um in Westfield I just want to say um you know we have an incredible partnership with Ark of Union County and we are particularly proud of the residential communities and so forth that we've created in our town and we look forward to continuing that partnership with you so I don't know if you want to say anything are you good just lgm let's oh yeah yeah there we go all let's do a quick picture sorry [Applause] thank you mayor uh a couple quick updates um uh first uh Lea collection um so Le collection normally we've been doing uh past few years uh collection starting first week of November through mid December with uh Saturdays being worked to get you know speed up the collection process uh this year we're going to make a slight change to the program um leaves are falling earlier we've had a very dry summer so a couple things that people can expect the brochures will be sent out early next week and should hit houses hopefully by next week from this Saturday and we're going to start collection two weeks earlier than normal the first week will be the week of October 21st and we've identified six areas in town three on the North side three on the south side that already have heavy leaves down um and we want to try to get those up before any storm water issues might be uh caused by them so the week of the 21st of October will be heavy areas on both sides of town we'll have information on our website about those areas and the Nixels will still be part of what we do sending out nixel the night before and uh so you know we're coming and you can get cars off the road uh the week of the 28th of October we'll begin our normal sequential pickup we're going to start in zones two and in zone seven this year we normally start in one and six we're going to start in two and seven uh we found over the years that the heavier Vols volumes start in those areas uh and then we'll have the sequence follow as usual um you know seven eight n 10 and then um uh you know two through um five and then back to one so that will start 28th which is a week earlier other major change we're going to have this year is normally when Lea collection is over we follow leaf collection with street sweepers and sweep the entire town uh we're going to make a change we're going to have Street supers be with the leaf Crews so after every day or every other day we'll Street the areas we've just collected we found over the years that when we have wet leaves particularly even though we clean up it's hard to get the wet leaves off the street uh and it doesn't look like we've been there so we want to make sure that we we correct that problem so um lastly uh with leaf collection the free Leaf Bags will be given out again we've received our shipment so starting October 15th uh we'll have Leaf Bags available at the center and the center will open to the public to drop off leaves also the 15th of October which is really three weeks earlier than we normally do um so we're trying to you know get leaves off the street as soon as possible and again reminder if you're not signed up for nixel please sign up uh those alerts will go out to you um to let you know where we're going to be the morning after uh the nixel goes out so you can move your cars and and help our crews get things picked up and I just want to thank uh Craig Gibson and Rich Eubanks from Public Works um this is a you know same program we've had with some new changes hopefully some enhancements and uh they to get it underway and they're excited about it so um so that's some changes in leaf collection uh Recreation just an update on some projects the Tomos Park tennis courts uh have been fully resurfaced along with painting of new pickleball courts on those uh on some of those courts allowing for more pickle ball play than we had before with temporary Nets um so thanks to Megan Schaefer and the recreation department to get that project finished uh Memorial Park playground is underway we have about probably two to three weeks left of the installation of the if you haven't been by there take a look it looks pretty amazing already in it's unfinished State um but it's being very exciting hopefully by the end of this month and not sooner we'll have a brand new playground Memorial which is another heavily used Park and uh beautiful new playground there uh and we'll get back to you on that but that's moving along at a good Pace um and lastly we're actually expecting to take uh bids on our pool filtration replacement next week so that's another big job has to be done over the winter so it's done and finished by the time the season opens so I know it's only October but we're thinking about next summer already so bids come in next week and hopefully they come in well next council meeting we expect to do an award of contract um for uh the pool filtration bids which is great uh and lastly just a couple things about Paving a lot of Paving has been done this year as everyone's seen around town um just to reminder that Elizabeth toown gas had 49 roads they were going to touch either full roads or sections of road where they were required to come in and pave those sections after they did the utility work as of today 33 of those 49 roads have been completed and in the later this month and early November they're expecting to do 11 more roads um one of them is the grid we have of raway a section of raway by West Broad to the high school all of Waterson Street and all of Trinity Place uh we're expecting to get that done the first we of November later in the week when schools are scheduled to be closed for a holiday so we don't disrupt the major traffic in those areas and then the other grid we're expecting to do late October early November as well not we but Elizabeth Town Gas is expecting to do is the area including Fair Acres Harding Salter fourth marcelus Castleman St Marks and sherbrook that finishes up that whole grid uh the first half of that grid that was worked on earlier this year which included coolage Sherman sherbs in those areas Stevens Cranford that was all done I think it's late spring uh summer and um and now we're going to finish up that grid this year so they'll ultimately Liz toown gas was supposed to touch 49 roads and complete them it looks like they'll probably end up having about uh 43 three of those 49 roads done six of them will be transferred to 2025 because they have not started the infrastructure work yet and on the town side we have 40 roads or sections of road that were were supposed to actually get done this year as of right now uh 37 are completed uh the last three that are out there which is clover Francis Terrace and a section of Elm Street from Dudley to Broad uh those are all state aid funded projects and we can't really do much until the state gives his approval so right now we've submitted the documents to the state through the town engineer and uh we're waiting for State approval which will allow us to go out to bid hire a contractor so worst case those three roads will be done in the spring of 2025 um and just want to say Mike Bell Our Town engineer this is really his first Paving season with us um he started here almost a year ago last November as our full-time engineer and uh he's really done a great job he's realized how much work we do in town and how busy the town engineer can be but uh credit to him and his staff for really being out there inspecting these jobs not only Town jobs but also seeing how EtG is progressing making sure they're coordinating so a lot of rows to be done over 80 plus rows were actually touched or or um sections of roow touched this year which is pretty remarkable so um that's my update I also just want to do a quick introduction uh where is he drew oh there he is Drew Erman is here just to give a little plug for his annual visit to the council uh just to give a plug for the race for children so I'll let let Drew say a few words uh and it'll be in my comments thanks good evening thank you for letting me stop by this is the seventh time that I've come over the last uh seven years I'm on the board I'm a life I've been in Westfield almost 50 years I graduated Westfield High class of 79 proud resident of Westfield I'm on the board of a nonprofit that raises money to pay for some of the psychological counseling and services that the kids need who come to the Union County Child Advocacy Center I don't know if you know much about the Advocacy Center but it's one of the crown jewels of Union County it's a facility that's been around 30 years it's located in Elizabeth and all children who are suspected of physical or sexual abuse are brought to the center to get help and the county helps children in all 21 municipalities in Union County including Westfield on average uh the number of kids that come through the center over the course of a year could be 7800 it's spiked much higher than that during covid but we exist to pay for costs that that the families can't uh come up with the money so we do this race it's in Warren enko Park it's on Sunday October 20th it's a TW mile walk or a 5K run we have great food great music um and we always have some nice speakers to talk about the impact the center has uh and and what it does to help the kids of Union County so if you're free and can do it I've never asked Jim how I could put the information maybe up on the town's website Union County has advertised and we try our best to get the the word out but we could certainly use some help in letting people know about the 20 just make sure that Jim has the flyer and I'll I'll put it in my mayor's update which um has a goes out weekly and has a lot of traction we'll make sure we put it on our social media as well thank you you're welcome really appreciate we're not a big nonprofit but the money gets spent very well no what a worthy cause thank you so much for being here can I make a comment sure Mr Urban hold on I was going to comment on the Child Advocacy Center uh before the child advocacy building on West Jersey Street in Elizabeth uh was put into place uh young children had to go into these uh the prosecutor's office and it was kind of intimidating uh that that is to say a child who was making a complaint or somehow a complaint got made about child abuse uh sometimes sexual abuse uh and and so the prosecut ution office decided let's see if we can put this Child Advocacy Center together and it's been very successful uh and uh as a judge I I handle a lot of those cases and I just want to point out that Mr urman is one of I think three brothers am I right and uh his mother was was a secretary at the courthouse when I first started out practicing law and maryan urman was an Angel and uh to and she put three kids as a widow through college the best colleges in the country and uh she did this all while working for a really difficult judge who whose name I won't mention because uh he was from Westfield anyway uh but she she soldiered through and obviously raised a nice nice family well thank you very very much for your service absolutely thank you for being here and Terry I just want to tell you you more than welcome to leave if you like we won't be insulted or you can stay here if you choose oh oh for terrific only yeah that makes one of us okay just thank you um okay I just had a few comments uh before we get into um the the agenda for night I just do want to reiterate some comments I made on social media I just think it's important that we acknowledge the importance and significance of October 7th um and remember the nearly 1,00 people who were murdered um on that day a year ago by the uh terrorist group Hamas and I just want to say we continue to pray for the return of the hostages that are still held in captivity and for lasting peace and stability in the region and I also want to take this date as an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that every resident in our community feels safe and protected and reassure our Jewish friends and neighbors that anti-Semitism of any kind will not be tolerated um we must continue to come together as a community and reject bias in all of its forms including any acts of hate towards our Jewish Arab Muslim and Palestinian neighbors and I just want to say on this very important week to our Jewish Community we wish you all a blessed yam kipor and an easy fast um on changing Switching gears a little bit there are some uh big developments happening downtown it seems like every week There's new things to report uh if you any of you saw uh a hot dog riding around town last week it was 1950s Originals um they opened their second location at 13 Elm Street which is right across from Ferraro um they have amazing hot dogs fries I heard best fries ever um and prices are great so uh and also of course many of us have heard about the opening of maze coaching and Cocktails in the train station you can get reservations on the resi app they are in the midst of their soft opening and their full menu and operational hours to begin uh officially on Tuesday October 15th um and there's lots of events if you have just noticing I was walking downtown tonight um hats off to DPW it between us the sun and the the ghost lights and everything else downtown just looks I said very bewitching um everything with Adams Fest between Wicked Windows downtown um there's a great bewitch selfie stop now on North Avenue you can go and pose on a broomstick um and get your um I'm sure we' have lots of fun with that with me on there um cast your vote in the upcoming Haunter House contest and family fun day which is always really popular with bands and everything else is going to be on October 20th um on quinby street and again this year's Art Exhibit called be witched is Charles Adams and other incantations it's opening this Friday featuring original Charles Adams work and that is going to be in it's on Elm Street in the in the no venos location um they've taken that over for the month you can check everything at Adams vest.com um also the very very popular Brightwood Park The Jackal lanard Trail and Trunk or Treat is going to be on October 26th it seems to get bigger every year um incredibly popular the recreation department uh Works in collaboration with friends of Brightwood Park to bring this really amazing um event you do have to register so make sure the details and registrations are available on the town website so be sure and register in advance um and again the police department along with um Recreation and the Optimus Club hosting their very popular trick- or treat Halloween event on October 27th um cops and goblins festivities from 12:00 to 2 open to everyone Halloween parade um and that does require registration again on the police department website and there's also something very important happening and that is a big election on November 5th I had gifts in the mail today I my all three members of my family all got their voter mail by ma vote by mail ballots in the mail today so very exciting day and I just want to tell everybody if you get that yellow envelope in your mailbox some people throw it away by accident thinking it's a a practice ballot it's the actual real thing so look for those yellow me yellow envelopes they went out starting this week um and it's still not too late if you will be away on Election Day or if you have a college student that's away maybe I'm living away from home you can apply for a vote by mail application until Tuesday October 29th um as long as they are postmarked or returned to a secured Dropbox hope you know this case WEP typically use the one on North Avenue by 8:00 pm on Election Day that vote will be counted so you can go on the Union County votes website it's very thorough to find out how to apply for a mail and ballot um there's also early voting in early in-person voting which people have found to be very popular it's over at Union County College everybody I know that's done it says it's great it's easy there has never been along line um you can do that beginning Saturday October 26 through Sunday November 3rd um there there are many sites in Union County but un Union County College in Cranford seems to be the one that is closer and most convenient for everyone here and again the general election if you want to go that day is on Tuesday November 5th and polls are open from 6:00 to 8:00 pm so all of that information um you can go to uncount votes.com and find out everything you need to know but um please vote um and just on the agenda tonight um there's a resolution from Public Safety Transportation marking committee to provide support for a grant application to be submitted to Union count by Union County to the njtpa for traffic sa safety enhancements which I think are long overdue at the intersection of Tuttle Parkway and North Avenue it's all know it's a county-owned roadway so this has to be something that's done uh by them um the town has long requested that the county Analyze This intersection um due to the number and type of accidents in recent years um and it they have agreed it is a good candidate for a new traffic signal um so we also so we're tonight's just the resolution allowing us to actually uh begin that process uh we also have a resolution authorizing our annual agreement for our long-standing leaf collection shared services with the township of Scotch Plains and before we get to those items I'll be making some mayoral appointments appointments to fill the vacancies left by former councilman Macky um which include Vice chair of the code review and town property committee chair of the Public Works committee and acting mayor so with that we'll get to the agenda at hand um so for appointments I propose the acting and Alternate acting mayor appointments for the remainder of 2024 acting mayor council Linda hapgood alternate acting Mayor Michael dardia may I have a motion to accept these appointments some move so move by councilman contract second second second by councilman AR any discussion all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried and thank you to both of you for your agreeing to serve um and the council committees for the remainder of 2024 are the are the following Finance policy committee Linda hap good chair David contract Vice chair Michael domagala and David keeper code review in town property committee David contract chair James Healey Vice chair Mike ormento and David keeper Public Safety transportation and parking committee Michael dardia chair Linda hap good Vice chair Michael dagala and Todd Saunders Public Works committee James Healey chair Michael dardia Vice chair Todd Saunders and Michael armento um and again all of these will be reviewed once again in our reorg meeting in early January um so may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the Town Council conference and regular meetings of September 24th 2024 so moved sove move by councilman hapg good second second by councilman dagala any discussion all in favor opposed that this motion is carried now it's time for open discussion by citizens anyone may come up to the microphone and speak to the Council on any subject on which we have jurisdiction please state your name and address for the record and please limit your comments to five minutes since I recognize everybody in here I think it's safe to say hearing none or no further comments I close this portion of the meeting and move to bills and claims Council and have good thank you mayor um I'd like to move bills and claims in the amount of $48,700 61 I have a second second second by councilman Donal um any discussion all in favor yes oh so usually they yell on the microphone oh you do yeah uh councilman hapgood is moving that uh we spent $48,750 it's a very precise number and the reason I'm making this comment is uh in last week we've had the whole virtually the whole administration of the New York city mayor uh get indicted or resigned there's a myth that all politics all politicians are out to get something and they're dishonest and this day is living proof that that's completely a myth this group of people have run for office for us for no salary and give up their nights and countless hours to serve the community regardless of which party they're on the goal is how can I help Advance the community and how can I make sure that the town Administration is uh acting appropriately and so this is down to the penny that we're every tiny expenditure has to be approved by uh essentially nine Watchdogs which is what we are we're sort of Trustees if you will but if you think about it all we have more than 500 municipalities in New Jersey you have at least 300 if not more of Education all those people serve for nothing some of the some of the public official from elected officials and some of the other municipalities do get paid Westfield has kept the tradition of not being paid and it seems to work uh because we got people running against each other like it was uh there was no tomorrow but I understand how hard it is to run for public office and I commend anybody that does it we used to have two-year terms by the way and now it's four thank God so you don't have to run again if you if you don't want to and then by because it was two-year terms virtually nobody served more than two terms they run once and said okay I got reelected okay I'm done uh so this is actually this was proposed by Rich bagger in the middle of the night I might have uh and he he made it so that he was a state senator at the time he made it so that it would be on the offe elections uh meaning non the presidential Years anyway I I just want to say those things because now that I've re-entered formal Politics on the on the legislative side people say oh all politics are crooked how can you do that and it's just totally false my experience uh for more than a decade on this Council showed me Republican Democrat every single one of those people and I could go through all the mayors that I served with and every single one of them was an upstanding decent person that I'd call friend thank you thank you for that uh all in favor yes oppos this motion is carried uh next on the agenda is reports of standing committees beginning with the finance policy committee Council and hapcut thank you again mayor I have four resolutions I'd like to move as a package the first a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for dog licenses for September 2024 second a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for the recreation department refunds third a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant to the treasur state of New Jersey for marriage civil union licenses fees and fourth a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant to replenish the bulk mail permit yeah I have a second second by councilman contract any discussion all in favor opposed this motion has carried councilman Daria please uh the T move the public safety Transportation parking committee resolution thank you mayor I would like to move a resolution supporting a Grant application by Union County for improvements to the intersection of North Avenue and Tuttle Parkway may I have a second second second Council have good any discussion all in favor yes yes opposed this motion has carried next is Public Works committee councilman Healey uh I'm going to move a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an interlocal agreement for Lea collection service with the Township of Scotch Plains may I have a second second second by councilman armento any discussion all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried may I have a resolution motion to adjourn so moved by councilman D is second by Council contract all in favor yes yes oppos this motion is carried and this meeting is adjourned thank you everybody thank you that