[5:51] I like to call this February 9th council
meeting to order. Everybody, please
[5:57] stand for a moment of silence.
[6:08] Please salute the flag
to the flag of the United States of
[6:13] America and to the republic for it
stands. One nation under God,
[6:19] indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
[6:26] » Mr. Roll call, please.
>> Mr. Peasant [clears throat]
[6:29] » here.
>> Miss Cullen
[6:31] » here. Miss Rodriguez,
uh, she just text me say she has heater
[6:37] problems at home. Uh, Mr. Cousins
>> here.
[6:42] » Miss Figerero
>> here.
[6:44] » Mr. Johnson
>> here.
[6:45] » Mr. Krochi here.
>> Mr. Teachers here.
[6:51] » Okay. Uh, I don't think we have anybody
in the public again tonight, so there
[6:55] will be no public participation.
So, we do have uh, Mr. Pezy here tonight
[7:03] to do a presentation on uh a program
that we've been discussing with him and
[7:10] he agreed to carry a ball with this
which we appreciate. So why don't you uh
[7:17] do whatever you want to do and do you
need that board from outside or does
[7:22] Matt have it on TV?
>> He has it on TV.
[7:25] » He has it on TV.
>> Yeah.
[7:26] » I'm going to turn around so I can see
it.
[7:30] Well, good evening. Uh, it's good to be
here again. I appreciate appreciate the
[7:34] time and it it really won't be long. Um,
>> Raph and I have talked for a while about
[7:41] the best way to communicate with the
public that to to give them a more
[7:45] indepth understanding of various things
that the bureau does. Okay? Uh, you guys
[7:50] vote on something, you might talk about
it for five minutes or so at the council
[7:53] meeting to explain what the motion's
about. And sometimes citizens might like
[7:58] more information. And uh so we we we
talked about that and we talked about a
[8:03] newsletter, but I think we're living in
an age where people prefer to see and
[8:08] hear things rather than uh rather than
read them. Maybe that's unfortunate, but
[8:11] I think it's the reality. So uh we came
up with the idea of
[8:17] having creating we actually we created a
a logo called uh the burrow in brief and
[8:25] what it's intended to do is provide
maybe 10 minute 8 8 minutes to 15
[8:30] minutes no certainly no more than that
uh short explanations zeroing in on a
[8:36] specific thing you're doing. All right
so let me let me just play this for you
[8:39] and uh you'll get a better idea.
[8:44] Welcome to the burrow in brief, a new
program designed to keep residents
[8:48] informed and connected to what's
happening in our burrow. I'm Bill Peza,
[8:53] and along with burrow officials and
other community leaders, I'll be sharing
[8:57] updates on the initiatives, projects,
and decisions shaping our community.
[9:02] Each episode focuses on one topic and
breaks down the what, the why, and the
[9:08] impact, all in about 10 minutes. It's
clear, it's focused, and it respects
[9:14] your time. No nonsense, no partisanship,
just useful, straightforward information
[9:20] connecting residents to their
government. You'll find the Burrow in
[9:24] brief on the Burrow channel, the Burrow
website, and across social media.
[9:35] See, Kurt, that wasn't 45.
Uh, so that's it. That's the little
[9:40] promo we have to roll out to explain to
the to the residents what we will be
[9:44] doing. Uh that will loop on the burrow
channel for a while so they they get a
[9:50] feel for that. And then um I've already
I've already had a session with Brian
[9:55] Johnson on recreation, specifically
recreational basketball because it's
[9:59] basketball season. Uh, I also spent we
we did one the other day with Jim
[10:04] Pokeriak on u the RFP that the burrows
be going to be entertaining for Elman
[10:11] Chestnut which you got a little we got a
little bit more in depth with that one
[10:14] because it's a more complicated concept
but that's the kind of things we'll be
[10:18] doing uh as you tell me what you want to
have covered that's what we'll develop.
[10:23] Uh the uh the tapings are done by uh
1681 digital media and uh that's it. I'd
[10:32] rather answer your questions. Oh, and
it'll be shown on on the burrow channel
[10:37] and then they'll be housed or or
archived on the burrow website and uh
[10:43] people can then look at past episodes or
whatever topic they want.
[10:48] Right.
>> So, what I think we spoke about, we're
[10:51] trying to to put out there is there's so
many things in town that is being
[10:57] accomplished and like Brian runs a
basketball program. It's outstanding
[11:02] program, 160 kids involved and by him
just saying coming here talking about it
[11:09] once in a you don't get the impact on
what's really what he's doing. I mean,
[11:14] how hard he's working for this program
and how much time he's putting into this
[11:18] program. And it's like that with
everybody when I'm trying to push things
[11:24] into like Greg Lorraine, you know,
Louis, everybody's got a job up here to
[11:28] do and I think they're doing and when I
approached Bill, he said, I don't even
[11:34] want anything. I mean, it's we I really
appreciate you doing this for nothing
[11:38] because I know how much time it's going
to take. It's not just you see a six or
[11:42] eight minute video. it's setting it up
and meeting with the people and
[11:46] interviewing people. So again, you know,
thank you very much for putting the time
[11:52] into this and I think it's going to be a
great way to, you know, move forward and
[11:57] [clears throat] like you said, people
watch this stuff on social media.
[12:01] » Yeah. So,
>> and and uh
[12:04] » and I also we talked about I think that
this will be shown with no comments
[12:10] because the sad part is as hard as he's
working you know somebody's going to
[12:14] have something to say. So, it's better
just put your message out there and
[12:19] again if somebody has something to say
we're here every month. You don't never
[12:22] see anybody in the audience that come
here and say anything. things.
[12:26] » Well, there's plenty of outlets for
people to express themselves, but but on
[12:30] this one, we just want it to be
standalone. Here's the content
[12:34] » and take from it what you would.
>> I think Ralph was alluding to a little
[12:37] bit of what I was going to ask you. Um,
what is it not? So, I, you know, I'm
[12:41] sure there's going to be a lot of people
that see this and see the traction that
[12:45] it gets and may want to utilize it. So,
what who what will it be and what won't
[12:50] it be? What it will be is specific
information about specific burrow
[12:55] programs. That's that's for sure. And
then there are some that are certainly I
[13:00] think when historic crystal day is
coming I can see having u you know the
[13:04] women the people who [clears throat] are
running the day on for a short interview
[13:08] to highlight all the things but that's
that's what it will be. And uh we can
[13:12] huddle up now and then decide if we want
to expand it. Uh but we do one guest at
[13:18] a time. There's reasons for that. The
biggest reason is so that we can capture
[13:22] it on the film the way we want to
capture it. Maybe once in a while
[13:26] there'll be a situation where we'll have
more than one guest and we have to work
[13:29] out the logistics of that
>> and we're hoping it can run every two
[13:34] maybe 3 weeks a new
a new show.
[13:38] » Yeah. We prefer to say periodic rather
than lock ourselves into a particular
[13:44] because might not happen that way.
>> Right. I tell you what you see Brian
[13:49] Johnson on camera. It's just, you know,
he just he just we discovered what his
[13:53] real talent is, you know,
did a good job. It was fun.
[13:58] » Any questions for Bill?
>> No, but this sounds wonderful. Thank you
[14:02] for doing
>> Who made the logo?
[14:04] » Pardon me.
>> Who made the logo? It's nice.
[14:07] » Uh, I do.
>> With some help from a guy named Al.
[14:12] [laughter]
>> Um,
[14:16] yeah. Uh, so
it'll be I think it's going to improve
[14:20] as it goes along. You see the first one
and then you get the kinks out, you do
[14:23] the second one, a couple more kinks and
each one is going to get better. Um, but
[14:27] again, you give me the topics and I'll
do them. Unless I don't want to, then I
[14:32] won't do that.
>> Thanks. All right. Thank you very much.
[14:35] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[14:36] » Thank you.
So, so with that, and we were we talked
[14:41] a little bit earlier, is that we're very
close to unveiling a whole new program
[14:46] throughout town for a lot of different
projects. Uh Kurt, maybe a week or two,
[14:52] we should be ready. We've been working
on this for almost two years, so I think
[14:56] we're very close. This will give you an
overview of different projects, uh
[15:03] things that we talked about we want to
accomplish moving forward. So, it's
[15:07] going to be a nice program. We're going
to invite the public. Anybody public
[15:11] comment? We'll get a date. Uh
trying to think. I don't know if we can
[15:17] get it
this month. It's only the 9th.
[15:24] Think we might be able to hit the last
week or how about the first week of
[15:28] March?
>> Should work.
[15:32] » All right.
All right. We'll get the word out
[15:35] someway.
we meet March 2nd.
[15:40] So maybe we can meet that,
you know, the 5th or something like
[15:45] that.
But I think council it's going to be a
[15:50] really nice presentation.
Okay. Jeff, you want to talk about
[15:56] executive session? The council met in
executive session for approximately 45
[16:00] minutes today uh to discuss primarily
the negotiations with the police on a
[16:06] new collective bargaining agreement. We
are very very close. So hopefully with
[16:10] some few tweaks we'll be ready in the
near future to approve a new police
[16:14] contract for 5 years. Other than that,
that was the extent of our conversation.
[16:20] » Okay.
Uh Lorraine, you have anything? I just
[16:24] want to thank again the burough crew for
their tireless efforts
[16:29] um and going out and continuing to move
snow and uh with the help and some help
[16:37] from my brother-in-law as well, Fred
Cullen. So, I really appreciate it.
[16:42] That's all I have.
>> Great.
[16:43] » I just want to say uh first of all,
thank you, Mr. Dylan, for being so
[16:46] responsive. Um, the Scarrow is usually a
very good organization and um, for the
[16:51] most part, I think overall we're pretty
happy with them. Um, but there are pe a
[16:56] few people around town, particularly
this last um, this last trash cycle uh,
[17:00] Monroe Street, uh, who were not picked
up and um, unfortunately Lorraine and I
[17:05] were having a tough time communicating
with those residents because we weren't
[17:09] getting answers from Mascara. Mr. Dylan
was certainly trying his best. Um, and
[17:14] so I just want to say to the people of
Monroe Street, we are as uh frustrated
[17:18] and annoyed with that situation as you
are. Uh, as it stands right now, the
[17:22] plan is to pick up the trash tomorrow.
Uh, if you are on Monroe Street and you
[17:27] notice [cough and laughter] that the
trash has not been picked up um by the
[17:30] by, you know, maybe an hour or two after
when it usually is, please feel free to
[17:35] reach out to us or Mr. Dylan to let us
know so we can figure out why that route
[17:40] was getting missed and why we weren't
getting answers as to why it wasn't
[17:42] picked up. That's all.
>> I mean, if your trash hasn't been picked
[17:47] up on any street, you should notify the
bur as soon as possible. Don't wait
[17:52] until after we're out of here and then
we can't do anything. If you can call us
[17:57] early enough, we they Mascara has a
supervisor
[18:02] in town all day long while they're
picking up trash to respond to any kind
[18:06] of complaints. Something had to happen
unfortunate today
[18:11] » because they emergency.
>> Am I right, Jim?
[18:15] » No matter when you call this guy, we all
have his cell phone. He answers. So, who
[18:20] knows what could
>> could have happened. So, let's give him
[18:24] the benefit of the doubt. But like Greg
said, if it's not picked up tomorrow, we
[18:30] really need to know as soon as possible.
>> Brian, you have anything?
[18:34] » Uh, I just want to say for like the
residents in like the North or around
[18:38] town, just be patient with Pico. Like
they were out like I think it was Friday
[18:42] night and they worked all night and I
heard them. They were right behind my
[18:46] house. But with the events that happen
like at Silver Lake, just be patient
[18:51] with them.
[18:55] Um, actually I just want to um
thank the burrow guys for all their uh
[19:04] hard work in removing the snow. Um,
>> and that's it.
[19:11] » Louie, I just want to make mention of
this. I kind of almost hate to do it,
[19:16] but I want to People are putting their
chairs and their lawn furniture and
[19:21] whatever else out on the streets. It's
not allowable. And it's at one point at
[19:28] some point we're going to have to either
go around and pick them up and dispose
[19:32] of them or throw them in somebody's
yard. But it's not it's not a good
[19:37] thing. It's not fair to anybody else on
the block. I know when you dig yourself
[19:41] out, you feel that that's your space,
but
[19:46] for that space to have to sit empty all
day long while you're at work. That's
[19:50] not fair to the rest of the rest of
people [clears throat] on that block.
[19:53] And actually, I saw one of them get hit
by a a snow plow. It was a projectile
[19:58] gone down Rackless Street. Luckily, it
didn't hit anybody's car. Um, so please
[20:04] have a little, you know, little courtesy
and I I know it's a tough situation.
[20:09] It's the only time I've ever argued with
a neighbor is over parking in the snow
[20:16] and and I regret it, [clears throat] you
know, cuz it didn't do anybody any good.
[20:21] So, please, let's let's take this stuff
off the street. Plus, the burough guys
[20:25] can actually start to move some of these
bigger chunks that are along the side if
[20:31] if the cars aren't there. So
everybody be patient because it doesn't
[20:37] look like it's going to warm up for
another week yet. So but that's all I
[20:42] have. Thank you.
>> Um same thing. Um just uh to the
[20:48] residents of of of the town. Um, I know
we all appreciate the patience with snow
[20:55] removal and parking and pico and all
that and and and it takes it takes
[21:01] community to come together to to just
get through this and just in in mind thy
[21:06] neighbor um in terms of the plowing and
the the the shoveling out of spots and
[21:12] things of that nature. just just be
mindful of each other and just just
[21:16] remember who we are and and um exercise
patience and that's all I had.
[21:23] » Right.
>> Uh just a question for Mr. Garton if you
[21:28] could check. Is [clears throat] there
any provision in the code for the
[21:32] burough manager to take administrative
action against a member of the police
[21:36] department without first consulting with
the mayor?
[21:39] Um, I don't know. I'd be happy to
discuss it in private since it's a
[21:43] personal issue.
>> Okay. I will inquire, but Mr. Mayor,
[21:48] what's your phone number? And I'll be
happy to call you.
[21:51] » Okay, I'll give it to you.
>> Okay, that works.
[21:54] » Well, is there any I'd rather answer
that.
[21:57] » I mean, I don't know. I want to get a
little more detail first. know
[22:01] administrative action would not be
something within the perview of the
[22:05] manager because obviously if it's
disciplinarian uh it would come through
[22:10] the burrow eventually but it would not
be unowed by the man I know what we're
[22:14] talking about so I don't want to be
presump
[22:16] » so once we find out we could publicly
address that
[22:20] » yeah we'll find out
>> okay
[22:22] » I don't think I know what we're talking
about either
[22:25] » what's that Jim
>> I don't think I know what we're talking
[22:28] about either to any action against the
police officers. Is that what I heard?
[22:34] » Yeah, I'd be happy to discuss with you
in private since it's personnel issue.
[22:39] » Well, do you want to call recess?
>> We finish the meeting and we'll talk
[22:44] after the meeting after this meeting.
>> You sure?
[22:47] » Yeah.
>> All right, Chief.
[22:51] » I don't have
the motion.
[22:54] » Hey, Jay.
[clears throat and cough]
[22:57] » Yeah, I have a couple things. Um, I
spoke last week about fire hydrants
[23:00] being shoveled out. Fire department's
still actively working on it. Uh, if you
[23:06] have a hydrant on your block and it is
buried, please help us help you by
[23:10] digging it out. The other night we had a
call and our firefighters need to hook
[23:14] up to a hydrant and they were hitting
the ice and snow with shovels and
[23:18] sledgehammers trying to dig the hydrant
out. If that would have been a structure
[23:22] fire, we would have had at least a
10-minute delay in getting uh hooked up
[23:28] to the hirement. So, if you could help
us out, it would be much appreciated.
[23:32] Our guys have been out six, seven times.
They're trying to get as many as
[23:36] possible, but uh if you can help us, uh
please help us. Uh the fire department
[23:42] responded to a gas leak incident today
on Swain Street. Um we worked together
[23:48] with the police department was there. We
ended up evacuating nine houses. Um,
[23:54] they were sheltered in Google Hos's uh,
Regency room while we could mitigate the
[23:59] issue. Um,
no injuries or any of that, but we were
[24:03] there for about 3 hours this afternoon.
Uh, and I'm working with Ray from L and
[24:09] I uh, on a couple of things behind the
scenes. That's all I have.
[24:14] » Thank you.
I know my street had a gas leak. They
[24:20] dug it up, finally fixed it, repaved the
street. Then Aqua come in. They had a
[24:26] water problem. So they dug up the whole
street. They just [snorts] repaved it.
[24:31] And now two days ago, Pico's out there
with the gas coming. They're digging it
[24:35] up again. So the street's going to be
paved three times. And it's it's
[24:39] ridiculous. But what do you want to do?
>> Uh Jim, you have anything?
[24:44] » No.
>> Jeff, anything else?
[24:46] » I've already discussed it.
>> All right. so we can get into our
[24:51] regular meetings. So, number two on the
agenda. [clears throat]
[24:55] » President, I'd like to make a motion to
accept the council meeting minutes for
[24:57] December 15th, 2025, January 5th, 2026,
and January 12th, 2026. Uh to accept the
[25:04] treasures report for December of 2025,
to accept the police chief report for
[25:08] January of 2026. to accept the fire
chief report for January of 2026. To
[25:13] accept the inspection report for January
of 2026. To accept the public works
[25:17] report for January of 2026. To accept
the hard report for January of 2026. To
[25:22] accept Gilmore report dated February
2026 for January 2026 work. And to
[25:28] accept 1927 Ahern's Fox Restoration
Committee annual report to Bristol
[25:33] Barrel Council ending in 2025.
>> Second by Miss Colin. Questions or
[25:39] comments? All those in favor?
>> I oppose. Number three.
[25:43] » Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion
to approve granting an honorable
[25:46] disability discharge to Dean Johnson
pursuant to section 21 of the police
[25:51] tenure act 3PS section 8121 in the
burough's uniform pension plan.
[25:58] » Second by Mr. Contro. Any questions or
comments? All right,
[26:03] Joe.
I just want to take a second to thank
[26:06] Officer Johnson for his 19 years of
service here in Bristol Burrow and wish
[26:10] him and his family well moving forward.
Um,
[26:16] that's all.
>> Thank you.
[26:18] » Anybody else?
>> Mr. President, can I comment on that?
[26:20] » Sure.
>> I'm just with with the the unfortunate
[26:25] uh loss of uh Officer Johnson, that's
going to put us below below
[26:31] [clears throat] the 10 uh man power
minimum of the contract. Is there any
[26:35] consideration to bringing back uh our
furled officer, Officer Depalo, who was
[26:42] uh one of the most active officers at
the time when he was furo
[26:50] was not furled. He was laid off. There's
a distinction.
[26:53] » Okay. Now, so we're involved now in the
midst of a new collective bargain
[26:57] agreement. So the 108 the 10 man minimum
may not be applicable going forward.
[27:03] Okay. Thank you.
[27:07] » Excuse me as Cole keeps coming back. Any
other questions or comments? All those
[27:13] in favor
[27:17] number four.
>> Number five. I'm sorry.
[27:26] » Mr. Mr. President, I'd like to make a
motion to terminate the heart and lung
[27:28] benefit payment to Dean Johnson for the
reasons noted in the prior motion.
[27:33] » Second by Miss Colum. Questions or
comments?
[27:36] » All those in favor? I
>> number five.
[27:40] » Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion
in the hiring of Brian Mars as Burough's
[27:44] part-time recreation director at $30 per
hour.
[27:48] » Second by Mr. Secretroy. Questions or
comments? Uh, I would just like to um
[27:52] say that uh Brian's excited to get to
work. Um, and he will be starting on
[27:56] Friday. Um,
>> he'll be starting on Friday. And um, you
[28:02] know, what we're talking about generally
is going to be about $240 a week for
[28:07] someone that's very qualified to do the
job. So, I think we're we're lucky to
[28:10] have him and excited to get get to work.
>> Any other questions or comments?
[28:17] » All those in favor?
>> Oppos? to make a motion to second my