##VIDEO ID:ZiaCeCazsGc## e e e e exactly absolutely Washington yes exactly Mike all right is David keeper here all right we will get we'll get hey Mike Mike that is David kefir coming do you know okay all right okay [Music] oh how are you we'll chat for a minute after exactly um all right well we we'll get going let he's not being hi good evening everybody um welcome to the reorg meeting of the Westfield Town Council of January 7th 2025 at 6 o'clock pm for the purpose of organizing for the year 2025 and transacting such other businesses May properly come before the mayor and Town Council on December 17 2024 notice of this meeting was provided to the Westfield leader and Star Ledger post posted on the municipal building bulletin board and filed in accordance with the open public meetings act uh please rise for the invocation which will be given by Father Anthony Randazzo of Holy Trinity Church and remain standing for the salute to the flag let us pray generous presence of God always within our midst and always with within us bless this assembly of leadership for the town of Westfield help all those who guide us and lead us to be governed by a compassionate intention for the common good help us always to recognize the values of Justice making fairness and equality may we always follow the presence of Love wherever it may be found we and invoke the divine presence into 2025 amen amen Al to the flag of the United States of America to stand Nation God indivisible liy andice for all so I want to thank everyone for being here this evening I do want to especially thank Senator John we're here in attendance John do you want to say anything or hello or anything so that's a way to keep a f a group happy right short and sweet so thank you for being here and for your support um we all have uh uh a big I want to thank Father Anthony Randazzo for being here as always um such a great uh participant in everything that we do um it's a privilege to be here alongside my fellow council members as we serve this one Wonder ful Community uh before we begin tonight I would like to hold a moment of silence for sa singla she was an eighth grade student at Edon school who tragically died on Sunday after a long battle with brain brain tumor our hearts and prayers are with her family and friends as they endure this tragic loss thank you in terms of tonight's meeting I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to gather here to reflect briefly on what we accomplished in 2024 share our goals and priorities for 2025 and appoint the many volunteers to our various boards and commissions and reorganize the council for the exciting work that lies ahead but first I do want to thank the members of the Town Council including finance committee chair Linda hapgood Public Works committee chair Jim Healey Public Safety Committee chair Mike Daria uh code review committee chair David contract Council persons Todd Saunders Mike armento Mike dagala and David kefir who are no longer rookies anymore um as well as former councilman Don Mackey for their leadership and contributions this past year every single one of these individuals contributed to our 2024 success and very meaningful ways and I'm very grateful for the spirit of collaboration and willingness to work together to move Westfield forward and I think we can all agree that last year was a great um Spirit of collaboration amongst all of us as we reflect on the success of last year and the tremendous opportunities that Leia had this year none of it would be possible without the incredible efforts and dedication of our town employees who serve our residents 365 days a year led by Town Administrator Jim gild day his steadfast and skilled leadership is not only widely recognized throughout the state but is also reflected every day in the culture of collaboration and professionalism he has instilled among our employees and I have the benefit of seeing it in context and talking to mayor around the state and I can assure you Westfield is an Exemplar model of incredible management thanks to Jim's leadership and while there are too many to name I'd like to take the time to thank the department heads leading these highly talented and dedicated teams of professionals who excel in their fields so on behalf of the entire Council I do want to thank police chief Chris battalora Fire Fire Chief Michael dels Public Works director Craig Gibson CFO Scott Olen town clerk Morin Loi assistant Town Administrator Heather Ray Fara Town attorney and former mayors I'd like to remind people Tom Jardin Town planner Don samit Recreation director Megan Schaffer Town engineer Mike mcnell construction official Frank voso Library director Alan McGinley dwc executive director Samantha horning public information officer Kim Ford tax assessor Neil Rubenstein tax collector Henry Wang and Court ad administrator Vanessa Tovar and Regional Health director Megan Avalon we are grateful for the breadth of expertise and unwavering commitment each of them brings to the roles in serving the community so I'd like to give [Applause] around as we appoint the 2025 boards and commissions this evening I'd also like to extent my deep gratitude to all of our volunteers past and present who have stepped up to lend their talent and time for the share shared goal of improving our community since I took office in 2018 I'm reminded each year just how lucky we are to have eager and informed residents who participate in the many aspects of Civic engagement and lastly many thanks to our families I think we can all recognize the sacrifices they make as we spend our time here uh away nights and weekends away from them so I want to thank them for their ongoing support of our service none of us I think would agree could serve without them um so let us now move on to tonight's business and appointments and I'll follow with additional remarks in my state of the Town address so I now call the meeting to order Miss ly may I have a roll call Mayor Bendle here council members have good here Daria here dagala here kefir here Saunders here contract here key here I will now propose the acting and Alternate acting mayor appointments for the year 2025 acting mayor Linda hapgood alternate acting Mayor Michael dardia may I have a motion to accept these appointments so move by councilman contract second second second by councilman armento any discussion all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried I will now name Council appointments all of the following appointments will be through December 31st of the stated year planning board liais on Michael dardia class 3 December 31st 2025 Board of adjustment Samuel ryzen 2028 Sasha Nisbet alternate number one 20126 special Improvement District board Jacqueline svens owner director 2027 Ben Montes operator director 2027 Patrice Chapman operator director 2027 Jonathan adwar resident director filling an unexpired term 2025 Linda hapgood Council design 2025 Craig Gibson EX officio for the administrators design 2025 and Liz Jeffrey ex aicio the mayor's designated 2025 may I have a motion to accept Council appointments so move by councilman contract second second second by Council and hapg good any discussion yes uh I'd like to comment on the special improvement district uh Westfield has long struggled to try to keep it downtown area uh viable and we have been pretty successful in doing that and those efforts will continue uh the special improvement district known as the downtown Westfield corporation uh was founded under mayor Booth when I was on the Town Council in I'm going to say the early 90s I don't remember was the 80s or 90s um but it was a big step forward it was rather controversial like any change any positive move forward uh generates uh some level of skepticism this this provided that the downtown Property Owners would actually be taxed at at a special rate uh hopefully with those amounts to go to improving the downtown directly to the downtown area and we've seen some tremendous improvements as a result of those little things you know sometimes it's just something as sh small as you know artwork spruced up you know wherever you go in New Jersey and perhaps around the United States if you say you're from Westfield people just say that's a nice town and part of that nice town is the fact that the downtown has been made viable I think the mayor made a comment recently that the downtown vacancy rate now is extremely low we all know times we've been through times when it wasn't low and there was concerns and believe me even though uh you know residents like myself who live out in the hinderland you know a couple blocks out of downtown somehow we feel a possession of the downtown it's a private it's a private Enterprise but we all want that downtown to be viable and we hopefully we're going to continue on that path and I'm glad to see uh Jackie svens known as Jackie D in my high school years with her uh to go on the the board as an owner director thank you thank you all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried the following our proposed employes appointments resolution to appoint a municipal property through Pro prosecutor through 2025 and resolution to appoint public defender through 2025 may I have a motion to accept employee appointments so moved so moved by councilman armento there isn't a discuss there isn't discussion on this not yet not yet second second by Council on ha good any discussion we're talking about the municipal appointments correct the prosecutor and the yes um it is the um um the I'm blanking on so the prosecutor has been Howard egenberg Howard uh for at least a number of years now and the uh Defender is Bob Bood and just a reminder these are um positions like some other things they will be entertained later tonight that come through a public RFP RFQ process and they are they are incumbents right now y they've been serving for like four years um all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried I will now propose board appointments Board of Health Lawrence Budnick MD 2028 Steve gell uh 2028 Maggie Brady alternate number two 2026 Council liaison Michael armento 2025 Recreation Commission Nicholas Melone 2027 Jeffrey Russo 2027 Joseph schaer alternate number two 2027 Council liaison David kefir 2025 historic preservation commission Jennifer jelski Class B 2028 Meredith Bridge Class C 2028 Matt shaer alternate number two 2026 Council liaison Mike dagala 2025 tree preservation commission Council leaz on David Keir 2025 Memorial Library board Michelle 2029 VI Moran filling an unexpired term through 2027 Council liaison Mike dagala 2025 Westfield Housing Commission John O'Brien all of these are through 2025 John O'Brien Sasha Nisbet Paul Marco Tulio Tulio Tulio caros s Garage cero Don samit ex aicio member and Frank voso ex aicio member public Arts commission Cali C class 5 resident 2026 John Cassidy class class 3 Town historian design 2025 Christine Harts class 5 resident 2026 Kiana Lawrence Class 2 mayor design 2025 Council Le on Linda hapgood 2025 human relations advisory commission Jill fellow Jill F follows 2027 Eileen money 2027 Dana Rosen Perez 202 27 Gregory Simpson 2027 James he council is on James Healey 2025 mental health Council Caroline Angel 2026 Teresa Brown 2026 Rona kadakia alternate number one 2026 Council liaison Michael armento 2025 the bicycle board all of these are through 2025 step Steven Arison Jay gold ring Carrie Hansen Paul pi and the Council leaz on is Michael dardia I have a motion to accept these board appointments so move so moved by councilman dagala second second second by councilman armento any discussion all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried I will R Now read mayoral appointments and Council liaison planning board Michael Ash class 4 2028 Brian caps class 4 2028 Alexandra Carreras alter number one 2026 I'll be the mayor's design class 1 2025 and Michael dels Class 2 2025 Solid Waste Advisory Board Jeff brick 2025 Union County transportation Advisory Board Brendan money 2025 and Gregory Simpson alternate 2025 Union County air traffic advisory board Jerome feter 2025 and Daniel Lorenzo alternate 2025 Union County community development Revenue sharing committee Peter Beck 2025 and Lauren holitter 2025 Chamber of Commerce Lis on councilman Todd Saunders Union County League of municipalities that's myself Board of Education leis on that's myself and the Westfield senior housing Corporation Lance councilman James Healey um and I'd like to if there any of these Volunteers in the audience tonight could you stand up so you could be recognized so thank you all [Applause] we app really greatly appreciate everybody's service to the town um uh the council committees are the following Finance policy committee Linda hap good chairwoman David contract Vice chair Michael domagala and David kefir code review and town property committee David contract chairman James Healey Vice chair Michael armento and David keeper Public Safety transportation and parking committee Michael dardia chairman Linda hapgood Vice chair Michael dagala and Todd Saunders Public Works committee James hey chair Michael dardia Vice chair Todd Saunders and Michael armento so that was a lot of work done in a short amount of time so um uh I now have the pleasure to deliver this 2025 state of the Town address and I'll apologize in advance but I have a lot to share so um and we're adding some uh visuals to it tonight to break it up a little bit so you can follow along uh so first and foremost I'm very very proud to report that Westfield is stronger than ever achieving unprecedented success across every metric and positioning us for sustainable long-term Prosperity our strength stems from significant accomplishments over the past several years with 2024 being one of the most productive of my seven years in office many thanks to everybody on this on this day is here this has been a large part to our F due to our fiscal stewardship which enabled a 0% Municipal property tax increase a record $15 million surplus record high property values and increased investments in capital projects and Personnel in critical areas to better serve you it's important to reflect on these achievements especially now to remind ourselves of the importance of effective local governance as at a time when our attention seems focused on National Politics the real work and progress happens in our own communities as we've experienced here in Westfield whether it's making our streets safer fostering a business friendly environment implementing climate friendly policies unied our community Through events like Adams Fest or working to keep Westfield affordable proactive and effective local government has made a meaningful difference in our residents daily lives these successes are due to the the work done by the local leaders on this day tonight and by those who came before us our exceptional Municipal staff the numerous volunteers were appointing to boards and commissions this evening and the many others who contribute their time and talents and ways seen and unseen I extend my gratitude to all of you for your partnership and commitment to ensuring that Westfield remains one of the best places to live and I mean that sincerely so as we look to 2025 I just we just sent our 24 accomplishments out last week so that was looking backwards I'm going to spend most of this address looking forward our key objectives continue to be those that have served as our foundation since I've been in office maintain exceptional fiscal oversight prioritize Public Safety enhance Parks and Recreation offerings Champion quality of life issues Foster resident engagement and inclusivity manage affordable housing obligations and advanced downtown revitalization initiatives welcome councilman aors come on don't worry come on up we won't tell you the things we appointed you to in your absence take his paycheck back exactly yeah give us that dollar back would you happy happy New Year so in the first objective maintaining exceptional fiscal oversight our goal is to seek new continue as we've always done to seek new Revenue sources and operating efficiencies to reduce Reliant Reliance on residential property taxpayers to deliver on public priorities to manage our debt levels to enable investments in capital projects that deliver public benefits and support new development while maintaining sufficient Surplus levels to uphold our AAA Bond rating and leverage Revenue growth and expanding ratables our ratables that are an all-time high to accelerate Town capital projects and ultimately support long-term School District priorities without further taxing residents secondly prioritizing Public Safety our investments and police Staffing equipment have paid off I think on this day as last year we announced that we're immediately adding nine new lprs and we have seen in 2024 a 70% reduction in Auto thefts which is quite remarkable congratulations Chief balora and your team and a 12% increase in traffic stops to deter speeding but we will continue to stay vigilant on these fronts and also Implement additional traffic traffic mitigation measures increase enforcement and Crackdown on ebike and scooters at flout regulations and I think that's what a lot of us have been hearing about certainly this past year identify opportunities for pedestrian safety improvements including enhanced signage and additional Allway stops were appropriate beyond the four that we installed last year initiate public input for the safe roads for all public safety plan you may recall that we received a $100,000 US do Grant incorporating a vision zero component to eliminate pedestrian accidents the federal government operates a little slowly but we plan on beginning the process to incorporate feedback and move that forward sustain historic high levels of police department Staffing as you all well know the police department is staffed as highest level in history and the fire department the highest in 17 years Advanced plans for a new modernized main firehouse on Central Avenue following the AC istion of the adjacent property enabling the purchase of modern apparatus and implementation of best practice safety protocols to better serve the community and our fire department and finally a very popular um uh project one of my favorites is to complete the replacement of every street sign in town with higher visibility signage auction the old sign to support public art installations that will be created by the public Arts commission we've already gotten a lot of positive feedback which has been great thirdly enhanced Town Parks and Recreation offerings and I know this is something that councilman Kefir is leading as his leaz on to the Recreation Commission but Begin by condu we're going to be conducting a public engagement process beginning in the first quarter and led by this design firm that we selected last year to finalize the design plan for tamaka Park potentially including amenities such additional parking a new entrance and exit off of Lamberts Mill Road pickle ball courts an ice rank funded through a public private partnership a lighted turf field a dog park renovated basketball courts and Senior Wellness equipment this will obviously all be uh finalized after we get input from the public and everyone else but very very exciting future for tacos Park we want to finalize the improvements to the holahan sidf Field Complex with an expected Q3 construction start date which will include additional parking restroom security lighting and ADA compliance finally bathrooms at sidf hulahan it only took years and years leverage the dpw's newly expanded dedicated parks and Fields division to eventually assume maintenance of all School District Fields beginning with one field in 2025 aiming to upgrade all town and school fields and Achieve savings through economies of scale we'll also continue our partnership with the Board of Education to further enhance the school systems Fleet Management and very importantly I hear a lot about this as I'm sure we all do accommodate the growing popularity of pickle Ball by reigning the tennis courts Memorial Park and ensuring Standalone pickle ball courts are included in the T tamacas Park redesign plan that's very popular thing I think fourth Champion quality of life issues and I think Paving is one that we can all be super super proud of um this year we anticipate Paving approximately 11 miles of Road this year as part of our Innovative Paving program and I think the expected roads to be paved for 2025 are already on our website what's remarkable is that by the end of 2026 we will have repaved 100% of the roads town since 2018 that's an unprecedented accomplishment by any municipality it also means every Road in town will be under um uh we will not be allowed to touch any of those roads that all be under moratorium which is incredible so that 2019 Paving ordinance requiring utilities um to pave what they tear up covering it has covered 50% of their sa pavings cost and has saved will have saved taxpayers nearly $20 million that is remarkable also another very important one after we approved some parking technology enhancements this past year we plan to implement those year those this year and improve and automate the processes for parking permitting and enforcing by midye to provide a better and fairer user experience while maximizing current car parking capacity which will including enabling the online purchasing of daily permits eliminating the need for commuters to meet parking officers before 7 a.m. they can do it online no longer has to show up and then go home and fight for tickets expanding and adapting the number of daily permits based on usage and day of the week and adding daily permits for the Waton lot which currently doesn't exist our parking permit CH H CH habits have not changed since covid commuter habits have changed so we are looking to create a flexible solution that allow us to maximize um um capacity of the Lots by adapting to changing commuter habits um we're all going to enable online purchasing of all and the renewal of all commuter employee and residential permits they no longer have to come to the police department to do that um and it'll enable us to increase enforcement of two-hour street parking limits around the train station and able to apply add additional patrol car license plate readers which is great we also want to accommodate encourage biking by adding safety measures and installing additional bike racks a key down Town locations and the train station we're going to expand sustainability initiatives including storm water improvements recycling efforts and climate actions and we're going to oversee completion of the new public paa which we've been waiting for being constructed as part part of the Westfield Crossing development on South Avenue which is being funded by the developer and it'll be serving as a beautiful East Gateway into Westfield and we hope that will be completed by the end of the year and Fin and I think some our historians are here we plan on finalizing our downtown historic preservation plan and consider the designation of additional Town landmarks in collaboration with HPC on the fifth uh priority continuing to Foster resident engagement and a culture of inclusivity we expand the visibility of the human relations advisory commission and the mental health Council to promote inclusivity Foster empathy and understanding celebrate diversity and denounce racis racism and anti-Semitism islamophobia and hate of any kind we want to continue to support and expand initiatives and events that celebrate and unite our community including the popular Adams Fest March New Yorktown day the 150th anniversary of the fire department public art inst installations and downtown Westville Corporation events such as sweet sounds open Quimby holiday holiday events and more and very exciting we're going to initiate the planning for America's 200 50th anniversary on July 4 2026 what you're seeing up here is the new logo which we'll talk about in just a second Westfield we be will be participating in the America 250 initiative it's an opportunity to celebrate our unique and Rich history as part of a broader national celebration it's being led by Julie Dell of the Washington Rambo revolutionary route New Jersey I want to thank Julie I'm going to ask her to come up with her comrade in just a minute um uh and I'm thrilled to unveil the winning logo tonight for our participation in America 250 designed by local artist Jen Willer Wilner who's also here more information will be coming shortly about the formation of a planning committee and opportunities for Community participation so I'm going to take a brief break I'm going to ask them to come up and we'll take it bring bring where's my his there's my J there's my boyfriend come on Chan Washington [Music] come on up General come on Julie and kind of forgot about that again Washington do you think of the digal cameras well for those that don't Julie had me at hello for those that don't I'm from Yorktown Virginia I actually attended the bicentennial celebration um with President Reagan back in 1981 when you're celebrating the victory in New Yorktown so this is all home week for me it gives me such I I get very excited for to see you all here so exactly congratulations and my mom was a dosent in Colonial Williamsburg I know councilman Sor in councilman haa went to William and Mary so we have we have some historic con Colonial connections up here um so okay so Manny so on to more probably more sober things um lastly and our goals and most significantly our sixth uh objective is to manage our affordable housing obligations and Advance our downtown revitalization so resolving our fourth round of affordable housing obligations by the state's June 30th deadline is probably the most significant action this governing body will undertake this year our objective is to proactively shape outcomes that prevent potential Builder remedy limit limit litigation Safeguard the predominantly single family zoning that characterizes our suburban community and fulfill our moral duty to contribute to solving New Jersey's housing crisis as your elected officials we are committed to negotiating an agreement with the state that secures the most favorable results for our residents this includes ensuring that Our obligation is fair and realistic that any new affordable housing developments are strategically located to offer economic benefits to our community are accessible to public transit to alleviate traffic con congestion and are designed to minimize impacts on schools and infrastructure these principles guided our decision when approving projects like the American Legion Redevelopment plan set set to commence construction this year I think an unofficial groundbreaking is next week um and provide 22 affordable housing units for atrisk Veterans as well as one Westfield place which will deliver 33 affordable housing units and provide housing primarily for residents 55 and over to avoid straining our schools and if not for that approved Redevelopment plan already in place the luren Taylor site would be subject to potentially much higher density requirements as part of our fourth round of affordable housing obligations and it brings me the status of this transformative downtown Redevelopment project which I get asked about frequently just a little background upon taking office in 2018 my team including three of whom are on this deis with me tonight pledge to tackle the complex challenge of identifying comprehensive long-term solutions to support our local businesses by EXT expanding and diversifying our downtown economy at that time our downtown faced a double digit vacancy rate with numerous for rent signs and even a spirit of Halloween popup store occupying a prominent storefront a very alarming indicator of decline I was frequently asked why downtown Westfield couldn't emulate the success of neighboring towns like Cranford or Summit with their many new businesses and parking structures to support sensible growth so here we are today having embarked on rede Redevelopment efforts similar to those our neighboring towns initiated decades ago with our downtown vacancy rate reduced to approximately 3% excluding Lord and Taylor ironically it was the closing of that beloved store that set in motion the subsequent approv for One Westfield place and that development is now the reason why so many new businesses have chosen to open in Westfield while we have publicly committed to this future investment it obviously hasn't happened yet and speaking to new store owners particularly eateries and you'll notice in town there's a lot of new ones it becomes apparent that we simply don't have enough residents to sustain the growing number of these establishments to ensure their success and avoid the boom and bus Cycles historic experienced by our downtown we must attract and accommodate downtown employers whose employees will P patronize these businesses remembering that we've lost 2,000 employees since 2015 we also need more residents living downtown to support our businesses throughout the we week which is precisely the aim of One Westfield place and unfortunately the longer the seven acre Lord and Taylor site remains vacant the greater the opportunity costs for our businesses and residents and as we all know I get asked a lot but the primary reason for the delay in starting One Westfield place is the ongoing litigation by the Westfield advocates for responsible development although a judge's decision definitively ruled against all of their initial claims they filed an appeal which is pending and just last week filed an additional lawsuit alleging that the newly amended and scaled down one Westfield Place Redevelopment plan which addressed many of their concerns is also inconsistent with the town's master plan but despite the delays I'm often reminded by the many supporters of this project that the loudest voices do not necessarily represent the majority and that a great many of us remain focused on the economic potential and vibrancy of a forward-looking vision for our downtown and in terms of next steps with the recent approval of the amended Redevelopment plan the Town Council will vote to move on the amended Redevelopment agreement and related financial documents once the finance policy committee has reviewed them we are hopeful that our Council colleagues will support these amendments and once adopted the planning board will then review the site plan application likely later this year with hopeful construction beginning on the Lord and tellor site in late 26 but there are also additional downtown things happening that are very exciting um open Quimby has proven to be enormously popular for any of those that have been to sweet sounds on a Tuesday night or eaten outside on a Friday or Saturday evening but it has created some parking and operational challenges for existing quinby businesses because the inability to adapt the space to when people are there most frequently so we had hoped to accelerate the quinby street Renovations last year as part of the One Westfield Place public improvements but in light of those delays and the popularity of this initiative we aim to move the open Quimby project forward as part of the town's capital budget Pro process pending the finance policies committee review and hopeful approval with a targeted completion date of June 2026 and just as a reminder the plann quinby street improvements will significantly enhance the street Scapes and an Aesthetics while addressing the business owners's concerns by creating a permanent create a permanent one-way flexible street so that setup that happens during the summer will be permanent so there'll still be cars able to come through but they'll be able to put parking restore the parking back there when it's not in use for big events um so we're going to have electronic was proposed electronic Ballers that can open and close e easily an expanded brick paved pedestrian experience it really feels like a festival Street and again most importantly for our businesses fully restore the on street parking in between events which they've said is really important and then furthering our downtown beautification efforts thanks to the efforts of this Council and a grant that we awarded by the Eda we intend to initiate the design plan for the soon to be acquired former good loot good Loop property at the corner of South and Central we got the grant we hopefully close on it in the next few weeks in addition to beautification this project will include pedestrian safety enhancements and potential traffic flow improvements and lastly and another question I get quite a bit quite get asked about quite a bit we anticipate an exciting Announcement by the Board of Trustees of the center for creativity at the alto revealing their long-term plans for this iconic Landmark to serve as an anchor for a downtown Arts District as you may recall the Town Council designated this building as an area in of Redevelopment in 2020 to retain control over its future and ensure it would not be demolished and replaced with an apartment building since then a group of volunteer residents purchased the building a $5 million donation for the center for creativity was secured in 2023 and I have personally been actively advocating with leaders at New Jersey's Economic Development Authority for potential significant grant funding meanwhile Center for creativity volunteers have been engaging community members as well as arts and fundraising professionals to develop a plan that will Revitalize this aging building while supporting our downtown Economic Development efforts so we look forward to the Public Presentation of their strategic plan I'm hoping that they can come to a future council meeting and presented in this forum and remain committed to collaborating with the Rialto board and the community to restore and rejuvenate this community treasure and in closing I believe I speak for this entire Town Council when I reiterate our commitment to working together to accomplish great things for our cherished Town inspired by the engagement of our residence and the genuine love of Westfield shared by all of us and our entire community so tonight I am proud to affirm the strength and vitality of Westfield made possible by neighbors volunteers employees and elected officials working together to make it so so God bless our great community and Country and may 2025 bring health happiness and good fortune to you and your families happy New Year everybody thank you we are indeed so fortunate and I hope everybody recognizes that I do every single day so 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 limit your comments to five minutes thanks you R shenan 239 Avon Road Westfield 35e resident of town I just want to take a minute to thank dat of contract only aison the mayor the Town Council the administration the police and fire department for their amazing support of our seniors um lifelong Westfield just finished our seventh year um dearra my wonderful co-chair who's here tonight also um this is something near and dear to all of our hearts and the support we've gotten from you guys is amazing so I just wanted on behalf of lifelong Westfield senior advisory Council thank you guys we anticipated amazing 2025 and thank you for all the support that we get from thank you Brad anded your J and and we are officially appointing You by resolution shortly and you're not allowed to go anywhere so just really grateful it's I said these these committees and volunteer apps uh efforts are only as good as the people who choose to lead them and you and deerra emulate the best of what we could actually hope in our chairs so really thank you it's incredible what you've done with that with the seniors so thank you so much anyone else can I just add just my own personal thank you to the whole lifelong Westville team but really Brad and dear you've made it something and you've made it so valuable for our community I know the seniors really really uh cherish it and for the other seniors in town that aren't part of lifelong Westfield please join we have events programs and it's really a wonderful way to build community in Westfield so thank you to the two of you I do think it's worth noting Brad was honored by Senator Cain as one of the uh I don't know the official award you won but as uh as a member of the community supporting seniors and that was in Q4 so congratulations Brad absolutely so um hearing none I close this portion of the meeting and move to reports to the standing committees beginning with the finance policy committee Council and ha good thank you so much mayor and good evening everyone um I have 24 resolutions tonight um way to kick off the New Year 22 of which I'd like to move as a package um the first is a resolution to approve our cash management plan the second a resolution to approve the 2025 petty cash accounts the third a resolution to approve thirdparty provider for payroll services the fourth a resolution to approve Municipal finance and compliance officer the fifth a resolution to appoint the public agency comp liance officer six a resolution designating the Westfield leader and the Star Ledger as our official newspapers seven a resolution to appoint the Green Team consisting of the following members Jeff brick Brian caps John Cassidy jayen chaus Umstead Katherine chowri Arya Deon Katie Doyle Peter Goldberg Walter kmaker who will serve as chair Lois Krauss who will serve as Vice chair Steven mccab ammer MAA VI morgon David seagler who will also be a vice chair Valentina s Karina arbe and Audrey zavitz are they here oh I'm sorry I there stand up so a Steve thank you representing sorry I see you back and big Applause for the whole Green Team yes exactly jeez um eight a resolution to approve the retail Advisory Board consisting of the following members Jeff Greenhouse Darren Mass Maddie Bowen Kesha Bradford Michael Esposito Lauren Hal holer L Kimble Stephanie man Megan pizani David plumer Julie a salana Anthony tesor Tina torus and Deborah Valencia and I think Anthony you stand anybody else who else is here not Anthony um Michael he's here Mike anybody else here from the retail Advisory Board I just and I don't know if people know what the retail Advisory Board does it's quite amazing it's really amazing Professionals in our community that had very incredible jobs of all from all different sectors who work uh who become kind of Business Consultants for local businesses in downtown that re seek out and ask for it they they reach a they work with the downtown Westfield Corporation if there's a business that might be having a specific business challenge whether it be social media or I know Revenue shortages or whatever and these great group of professionals works with them and it's like a really amazing free consultancy uh by Volunteers in our town so thank you Mike for serving and and and uh Darren mass is the leader for this so anyway it's a pretty cool thing that we do here in Westfield great nine a resolution to appoint the Westfield senior advisory Council better known as lifelong Westfield consisting of the following members Brad chenan co-chair dear to Jalene co-chair who are both here tonight Peter Beck Monica Bergen Harvey Davidson Kathy Dulan Michelle Martin Jerry rthf Emily root Bob Roth Valentina s Pearl Weiner and Audrey zavitz anyone else here from that committee so it's official Brad de back exactly thank you thank you again 10 a resolution to appoint the auditor 11 a resolution to appoint the town attorney 12 a resolution to obtain Professional Services from the town attorney 12 a resolution to appoint the labor attorney 14 a resol resolution to obtain Professional Services from the labor attorney 15 a resolution to appoint the special affordable housing Council 16 a resolution to appoint Bond counsel 17 a resolution to appoint our Redevelopment attorney 18 a resolution to appoint the Redevelopment plan 19 a resolution to appoint rede Redevelopment Bond Council 20 a resolution to appoint Redevelopment owners representative 21 resolution to appoint Health Insurance Consultant brokerage services and Risk Management Services and 22 a resolution authorized an agreement with the community grants planning housing for affordable housing Administration may I have a second second second by Council dagala any discussion have a discussion mayor you are thanks um last year at this time when we had this resolution to appoint the town attorney Tom jardim um I did oppose it and um I did so for reasons I had before I became a councilman um since then I've worked with Tom very closely uh particularly on the code committee um and I have uh found him to be diligent and responsive and he's earned my respect so I just want to say I feel like I owe it to him to let them know I'm not going to oppose it this year um and and thank you for your work and thank you councilman that's that's a really a really great gesture appreciate that so comment on that also are you going to I don't I don't know I don't know okay sure I'm kidding I want to commend Council and keeper for saying what he just said uh these things can easily break down on a bars basis and if you look down the road to 2025 change on the council and new people will be appointed but the spirit of cooperation is what we're seeking regardless of the party and uh look we've had both administrations over the last 25 years and all have worked pretty well for benefit of the town and there's no single person that you can say well that's person's responsible for XYZ it's a group effort and both parties have participated in good faith uh for as long as I've been alive thank you you're welcome and I think that's true I think that we figured out a way and I'm really proud of actually how we've all come together and I think what the work we accomplished last year absolutely demonstrates your words right there I think you get on here and you realize most of what we do is really just making sure the lights are on so um just make one quick comment I just want to first of all thank every volunteer you know for willingness to support our town it takes a lot of time and effort obviously we put more time and effort in but you all put in really really critical effort too and I just wanted to say thank you to the green team in advance they have really they really busted their butts to really Drive sustainability in this town I think winning the sustainable Jersey silver certification our first time out and renewing it multiple times since is a testament to their hard work and I know none of them are here tonight but I just want you all to know how important they their role is in this town to really accomplish something that really matters which is protecting our environment so thank you thank you okay um may I have a sec we did disc discussion all in favor yes oppos this motion is carried and next I'd like to move a resolution to approve the 2025 temporary budget may I have a second second second by councilman Saunders any discussion please call the role council members yes yes yes yes yes yes contract yes key yes may yes this motion has carried and for my last act tonight I'd like to also move a resolution to approve the 2025 temporary swim pool utility budget may I have a second second my councilman dardia any discussion please call the role Council memb yes dardia yesal yes keeper yes yes yes contract yes yes may yes this motion has carried next is the public safety Transportation parking committee councilman dardia thank you mayor and and happy New Year everyone uh I have three resolutions I would like to move as a package number one resolution to appoint on call Traffic consultant two resolution to appoint Redevelopment traffic consultant three resolution to appoint Redevelopment parking consultant may I have a second second by Council contract any discussion yeah can we sure absolutely uh I'm just going to say that this is Maybe of the I'll say most pertinent things that we have kind of in in town as a group that we work on um everybody thinks that it works perfectly smoothly or that the process can be easy for getting stop signs or changing kind of the way we move about our town um but I have to say the group worked incredibly well with all of the officers as well the the Chiefs um it's very satisfying to see it working properly the four-way stops that some were reticent about getting I've gotten plenty of emails saying thank you so much we feel the corners are safer um and this is all something that we had a strong interest in in doing and I think there are more improvements to be had as time goes by but um yeah it's incredibly satisfying to see this work and be a part of it every single day because we travel in town and you get an appreciation for how hard it is right there so many decisions to be made taking a look at everything from speed limits to the interactions of people Crossing at different crosswalks um any of the residents noticing particular patterns um I know that the bicycle work that you're going to be doing will be taking a part in playing in uh everything that we have as far as town planning goes so uh it's an incredible piece of work as a whole and you understand now when people ask you why don't you just put stop signs everywhere you can't just you just can't plant them everywhere and then there are County Roads and our town roads there are a lot of rules to follow list you sound like You' been on the council for a year it is is very interesting yes and I appreciate the work we I just want to ask a more fundamental question and forgive me if I should know this uh Redevelopment traffic consultant and Redevelopment parking consultant does that mean they're particularly geared towards the One Westfield Place impacts to traffic parking and if and if so what's their scope what's their mandate what what's going on sure if you don't mind I'll respond to that um so the three resolutions under this section of the agenda the first one is what councilman D mgal is talking about that's our local um traffic engineer consultant and uh that firm and Joe Fishinger is a representative he consults the Public Safety Committee recommending best practices County state regulations etc for local things the other two um and again that that not to exceed price this year is 177,000 so that's the below the bid threshold not required to be publicly advertised and we want to keep consistency for us the other two uh vendors um are specifically tied to Redevelopment work um and that can be it's mostly been one W place but it can be any Redevelopment project it has been other projects in the past so that comes through the RFP RFQ project process uh in this case both th and wsp are incumbent vendors um and they'll do work on uh and and they're considered on call for a reason uh in all of these resolutions you see tonight including these two there's a not to exceed price uh we don't necessarily spend that money if we had to spend beyond what the not to exceed price is we have to come back to you and increase that price if if the council authorizes it but it's set up initially but last year for example um both these vendors there was not a lot of work going on we had delays so we spent very little to nothing in either of those two cases but there's signed for redevelopment work um wsp for example both of these vendors are the town's representatives to trust uh to trust the information verify and peer-review information of the developer so if they're presenting us information on DOT requirements for North and South Avenue or County Road or our local fine give it to us we have our professional look at and they report back to the Committees internally and we report back to you ultimately to make sure that they're doing the right thing complying with the state regulation that goes for parking garage design uh parking technology uh road diet the list goes on and on so so presumably if the developer was giving us certain representations about traffic flow or traffic patterns yes have our own person to verify yeah most recent example of that is uh and it's been at this di not too long ago um where kimley horn is the representative for one West Shield place for example that's their traffic engineering and traffic consultant they will produce what's called a tis traffic uh you know um traffic selling I can't think of the what the term sandor but TI um and our wsp will actually review that make comments make sure things are compliant with either state regulations or otherwise and then come back and Report here and and they'll also testify here to the council to the public on our behalf it's it's traffic impact study right and um is it true that a lot of municipalities don't have their own Consultants I've talked they end up just having to take the word of the developer and so it's a really it's a great uh sus belon suspender thing for us that we can double we we don't have to take their word for it yeah and it's last thing I'll say just just to Echo that so um this was decided you know a long time ago that we should have our own team even back and I've been here a long time not as long as councilman healing um but uh back in the 2003 four days when parking was discussed then there was a referendum back then we also had pieces of the team we have now um and just a reminder that if if you're working on Redevelopment plans that we are assigning you to while we are awarding the contract because they work for us their bills are paid for by the developer uh that's part of the agreements and uh so the team we have is unusual but of course this the projects we have are also uh you know voluminous so we want to make sure we have the professional staff we have great people on staff but they have other work to do on a daily basis so okay great great Jim can I add one one thing just your list of what they do besides verifying I want I think the public should know they advocate for us right so I mean we the people more directly involved are advocating for our interests to make sure that is part of the ultimate plan so it's not just taking what they give and checking off on it it's actually advocating very forcefully for what we want yeah and what we believe is in the town's best interests so I think that's important yeah just a piece of that on a small scale if if something wouldn't even a Redevelopment project would go back to the Public Safety Committee as you mentioned before and you know for example a road diet if if if the suggestion is for two lanes versus three lanes uh does that comply does that what you want and if it is okay then wsp for example goes back advocates for us not only with the developers consultant but with the the state do or the county and then you know we have to comply with laws but David is right there's a lot of advocation on behalf of the Town it was your use of the word road diet I had South Avenue in my mind because that's definitely a concern of word three um okay uh um all in favor yes yes oppose this motion is carried next is the code review in town property committee councilman contracts um I would like to move a resolution to appoint a municipal housing lays on I have a second second uh second by councilman hap could any discussion all in favor yes oppos this motion is carried and last is the Public Works committee councilman Healey okay this is quite a heavy lift I'm gonna proposed two resolutions uh one is to appoint a member to the rway valley sewage Authority and the other is to a resolution support a C3 sewer operator may I have a second second my counsman armento any discussion who who are the people um the J so uh two things the C3 SE operator is a a firm um that we've been hiring for a while you every town must have a C3 licens sewer operator so we go through we get uh uh um quotes quotes on that so um I want to say MC5 is the company Matt calone is our representative works very well Mr Gibson his firm has been doing it for many years for us the raway valley sew Authority uh representative is a named by a person by the name of Ed gaco um quick history I don't want to take councilman hey Thunder here for a moment but but um we've been the town of West has been very very fortunate um for I think 30 plus years we've had three Representatives on rvsa 20 plus years was a former mayor Alan Shin who served us on rvsa for 20 plus years Allan chin was also an engineer in his own right um and he was an amazing servant up until the time of his death God bless you uh we then had a person by name Marty rothfelder who was actually a utility expert uh who served for I think a three-year term uh excellent uh vendor excellent representative for us and then lastly Ed gaco is our current member and this is a reappointment for another five years Ed was the former Town Administrator for Westfield and the former Town Town engineer and uh knows the sewers here like nobody else so uh again this is our only three Representatives serving on the town's behalf they sit on the rvsa board every member of the rvsa has one member assigned uh representing their interests and then reports back to me and then ultimately back to the town as necessary so uh very fortunate to have uh these Representatives thank you I'm sure you do let's hear it spoke for all that time U you know we we discussed earlier the thank you David we discussed earlier the concept of perhaps a new new addition or expansion of tamaka Park uh at the turn of the 20th century meaning into the from from the 1800s to the 1900s uh on the counil I I was not on the council but my father was alive and the sewers and we hear a lot about the sewer going down to tamaka park that used to be an open sewer and it went to not tamaka park but what was then in tamaka park called the sewer farm so open sewage was just you know floated down with all the accoutrements and then you know turned into the theoretical fertilizer and when we think about why is life expectancy uh uh expanded over the course of the 20th century so dramatically it's because we uh cleaned up how we treated sewage so the rway valley sewage Authority is a critical thing to maintaining public health and so that the sewer that now runs down through tamacas Park is is a rain sewer uh it used to be open in front of uh councilman keir's house when I was a child we used to play in the brook is that and then it was and he he got that fixed uh actually councilman calor no this would be even before that uh but anyway it's it's it's but it's not close far enough apparently for some residents and we'll we'll be hearing from them and we have been hearing from them on lwood terrrace and uh behind Edison Etc uh but the rway valley sewage Authority and a Nifty Nifty little uh shift Jim administrator day will remember this that um we used to pay the town would pay the rway salary valy sewage Authority tax so it would come out of your property tax bill and it was a little what do why I call it a little shift in strategy we'll let the residents pay for the Roy Valley sewage Authority so it doesn't hurt us from meeting the cap uh that that are on the property taxes and that was done uh and I don't think there was any opposition so that's the way it was done but it uh it's one of the things that allows us uh mayor brindle to uh claim that our taxes are so low well uh you're not allowed you're not allowed to speak anymore by the way I can't I can't believe I'm I can't believe I'm bailing the mayor out on this but as a member of the finance committee I think I should point out that and residents should know and we've tried to educate them that we actually subsidize about 50% of the the the sewage fee that comes to them know yeah so half it gets paid through through taxes um and so people should know that I know there was a lot of angst about that going up this year so that the fees have gone up through the through the sewage Authority which makes it all the more important to have a good representative there U because we can't control that so that's right a little history just just to make sure the record is clear but it's important council mfer is right we have continually um subsidize 50% or more of the fee since 2012 when the fee went into place just to be clear um the fee was not put in place to avoid taxes or caps the fee was put in place to save jobs um it was during the procession years and we had a layoff plan for police fire and Public Works the council at the time had to decide did it want to have 50% roughly 50% of the fee paid by residents still saving 50% of the fee or lose multiple fire police and and uh Public Works employees so that's what actually happened and the Town Council at that time chose to save the employees and charge the residents half the fee roughly which is still roughly where it is today so and more than many many munici don't subsidize it at all anymore and many towns around us um and around the state um either charge the full Freight uh which obviously is something we we were considering but also many utilities rvsa does not do this many utilities actually send out the bill on their own for the full Freight plus fees uh there's many ways to to to look at this but um it's important that the Town Council at that time save jobs rather than actually cutting staff Public Safety staff and public work staff so it's probably worth mentioning if residents would like to see this fee go down don't use as much water right flush your toilets less take a one minute shorter shower because ultimately it's the water consumption in your house that's driving the sewage and our flows that's the term keep going up right EXA drives the fees up and to to your point councilman um we've really been trying to manage increases in that fee and still keep our taxes loow we can thank you we thank you and Shell's first slide or the first Slide the numbers are worth worth repeating I think I wrote them down right our average Municipal tax increase since 2018 I'm proud of this because I've been on the finance committee for six out of the last seven years 1.2% inflation's 3.7 it's remarkable it's really a great record of fiscal management it is on that note uh all in favor yes opposed this motion is carried and I'm proud to say this or meeting for 20125 is over um thank you all once again for a su look forward to a great year um may I have a motion to adjourn move by councilman dagala uh second any all in favor yes it's