Agenda
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[0:02]
Uh, roll call, please.
[0:03]
Mr. Lerner.
[0:04]
Here.
[0:04]
Ms. Dolan.
[0:05]
Here.
[0:05]
Mrs. Jeffrey.
[0:06]
Here.
[0:07]
Mayor Morgan.
[0:07]
Here.
[0:08]
Mr. Kamisky.
[0:09]
Here.
[0:10]
Mrs. McKnight.
[0:11]
Here.
[0:11]
Mr. Gardner.
[0:12]
Here.
[0:13]
Let's salute the flag.
[0:14]
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
[0:20]
and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
[0:26]
liberty and justice for all.
[0:28]
This is a public meeting of the Borough Council of New Providence, County of Union,
[0:31]
State of New Jersey, and proper notice has been given in accordance with P.L.
[0:35]
1975, Chapter 231, with the annual notice of revision to the act.
[0:41]
Okay.
[0:44]
We have a presentation from Chief Sidner Bell about amending ordinances.
[0:53]
All right. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Mayor and Council.
[0:55]
Thank you for having me tonight. It is a wet one out there, and it has been quite a
[1:00]
day.
[1:02]
It has.
[1:02]
But so tonight I'm here to present a presentation regarding
[1:08]
our ordinance revision proposal for Chapter 51 and 155, which I'll
[1:14]
explain in some detail here. So I have a few slides to go through.
[1:18]
Please, if you have any questions, feel free to stop me.
[1:20]
I'm happy to answer whenever I can. So without further ado, I'll go right into it.
[1:26]
Just a little bit of background on why I'm here and why we're proposing this.
[1:29]
So, this has kind of been a multi-year journey.
[1:33]
It started under my predecessor before I became chief, with the fire officers at
[1:38]
the time. We had a recognition that we needed to start to evaluate and put
[1:44]
together some type of plan for the sustainability of our volunteer fire department
[1:49]
for the future years to come. Traditional recruiting campaigns
[1:54]
are steady but slow. It is getting more difficult. This is a national problem.
[1:59]
This is not a New Providence problem.
[2:00]
Volunteerism is on the decline, and it is harder in all agencies
[2:07]
to have that pipeline that once was.
[2:09]
So we started to evaluate different options that departments have looked at or have
[2:14]
implemented both in New Jersey and nationally.
[2:19]
And we kind of found certain ones check certain boxes, other ones check others, but
[2:23]
nothing was really our fit. And we finally found it in a department close by
[2:29]
that had successfully implemented a plan with similar challenges that we did.
[2:33]
They were probably six to seven years into their journey at that point.
[2:38]
And this plan, once we met with them, we quickly discovered that it checked all our
[2:42]
boxes. So we pursued it more, we researched more, we met with them
[2:47]
further, and then we started to design it around New Providence.
[2:52]
I don't want to say it was perfectly plug and play.
[2:54]
Every plan has its differences that fit us the best.
[2:58]
But like I said, this checked all the boxes, and then we began to design it and
[3:03]
present it to the Public Safety Committee as we saw best fit for the borough.
[3:07]
So fast-forward from 2025 to 2026, we've gone through multiple revisions, multiple
[3:12]
research, multiple presentations with public safety to get it in a good place where
[3:17]
we feel comfortable with our proposal to the greater council here tonight on these
[3:21]
proposed changes in a way to sustain the fire department for the future.
[3:27]
So a little bit of background for the fire department, and I've paralleled on the
[3:31]
slides. I could have made it bigger, I admit but under the Fire Department and
[3:35]
Bureau of Fire Prevention coinciding to the ordinance changes.
[3:38]
So you have Chapter 51 and you have Chapter 155 are the two ordinance proposed
[3:42]
changes in front of you. On the operations side, that is what everybody probably
[3:48]
knows and recognizes with the fire department.
[3:51]
That is our 100% volunteer fire department providing 24/7 fire and rescue services
[3:57]
to the borough and neighboring communities. We have all hazards capability.
[4:01]
We have a team of fire officers and dedicated volunteer personnel that dedicate an
[4:06]
incredible amount of time and effort to making sure that the community is safe.
[4:10]
And we cover all those in the final bullet there under operations.
[4:13]
We cover all those areas. What's lesser known is under Chapter 155, which
[4:19]
governs the Bureau of Fire Prevention, which is a bureau within the fire
[4:22]
department. So these are related to code enforcement and enforcing that code from
[4:28]
the uniform fire code within New Jersey as well as the borough ordinances that we
[4:32]
have. So that code basically covers all occupancies other than one or two-family,
[4:38]
owner-occupied, single-family dwellings.
[4:42]
So anything else is covered and enforced within that bureau.
[4:47]
As well as public education, and you'll hear me say community risk reduction a lot
[4:51]
tonight. That is another major piece that this bureau is intention on doing.
[4:58]
So why are we here? Why are we here and going back to the slide I just presented,
[5:03]
keep both of those areas in mind as I start to get into our current and emerging
[5:07]
challenges within the fire department because a lot of the high-level topics are
[5:13]
applied to both areas. So it's no secret that the borough has increased
[5:18]
development. We're seeing increased multiple housing dwellings, multiple housing
[5:23]
units come aboard here in New Providence. We know we have plans for more.
[5:27]
And with that, there's just general growing demand.
[5:30]
Not only are these developments coming into New Providence, but they are more
[5:34]
complex developments. We have multi-story apartment buildings.
[5:38]
We have healthcare facilities, and quite frankly, we have healthcare facilities
[5:41]
within multiple story apartment buildings.
[5:44]
Any area of the code that can be covered is certainly seen in the developments
[5:48]
we've seen in the past 10, 15 years.
[5:51]
So once again, that comes to our growing demand and increasing requirements both on
[5:55]
the Bureau of Fire Prevention and the Fire Department side.
[5:58]
It takes 325 to 350 hours to get a volunteer through the door through basic fire
[6:03]
one and two at this point. It's an incredible amount of time it takes just to get
[6:08]
to that point. And then you have fire officer requirements that are coming through
[6:12]
the state. You have continuing education courses that are now required on both the
[6:17]
bureau and the fire department side. So there's more training.
[6:20]
All the challenges that are pretty well documented nationally on the fire service
[6:26]
we're feeling very much. So with all of these current and emerging challenges, we
[6:32]
basically have the same volunteer fire department, more or less, that we've had for
[6:36]
the past 125 years.
[6:39]
Fire prevention resources, very similar.
[6:42]
They have operated under the same bandwidth of personnel for probably the past 20
[6:47]
to 25 years. So our supply is what it
[6:52]
is, and our demand continues to grow year after year.
[6:57]
And that was our recognition that it's just not sustainable.
[7:01]
You have two arrows going in opposite directions, it becomes unsustainable after a
[7:04]
time. So we're looking, and that's why we evaluated from a proactive posture, an
[7:10]
option to preserve our volunteer fire department.
[7:15]
So like I said, we have a strong foundation, but it becomes difficult to sustain.
[7:20]
I have an incredible core group of volunteers here that are giving it their all.
[7:25]
They are giving every moment they have away from their jobs and their families and
[7:29]
all that life throws at us in the current age to this department.
[7:33]
But like I said, they reach a ceiling and the demand continues to exceed it.
[7:38]
So again, we're trying to mitigate against both our current and future demands and
[7:43]
a future crisis by putting a proactive solution in place.
[7:49]
Choosing to not do a proactive solution is certainly an option, but the reactive
[7:53]
options, as you could imagine, become disruptive to the community and frankly much
[7:58]
more expensive and cost prohibitive than the plan we have proposed through these
[8:04]
ordinances. So that is something that needs to be known.
[8:09]
That reactive is a different choice.
[8:14]
And this is all about just putting in a bullet there, responsible and proactive
[8:18]
investment to preserve the volunteer fire department.
[8:21]
I think if there's one key takeaway, it's that we want to preserve what we have.
[8:25]
We just need to augment it a little bit with some strategic investment.
[8:32]
Okay, so fire off more challenges.
[8:34]
I've talked about some of these, but I do want to go into a few of them.
[8:37]
Fire officer succession challenges.
[8:40]
So what does that mean in the bandwidth for administrative responsibilities?
[8:43]
I kind of touched on that earlier, that the administrative responsibilities when it
[8:47]
comes to reporting and plan reviews and all the things that we're required as fire
[8:53]
officers to accomplish for the operations of the fire department is increasing.
[8:58]
And to get someone now through training, so get a volunteer in the door now, get
[9:04]
them through training, now get them experienced after a few years.
[9:08]
Now ask them to take on more as a volunteer from a fire officer perspective.
[9:13]
Teach them that, get them experience in that.
[9:16]
It takes many years, and our succession challenges are becoming very apparent to us
[9:21]
as our officers continue to meet and discuss and evaluate these options.
[9:26]
And incident volume with broader incident types.
[9:28]
I talked about being that all hazard agency.
[9:32]
It's no secret, we're going to floods, we're going to fires, we're going to gas
[9:37]
leaks. Everything is increasing, and when you need help, most of the time
[9:43]
it's falling to the fire department, frankly, when you think about some of those
[9:47]
non-mundane calls. So,
[9:51]
our daytime volume is specifically our weekday daytime volume is our busiest time.
[9:57]
So, I do have a metric about that. I looked at incidents per weekly hour.
[10:03]
So basically, what I did was I took, you think about your 9:00 to 5:00, 40-hour
[10:07]
workweek. You look at that block of time, and then you look at all others, nights
[10:12]
and weekends. And you say, how many incidents in the past four or five years have
[10:16]
we done in those two blocks of time?
[10:18]
And what it has yielded is we're doing about 21 incidents per weekly hour in our
[10:23]
9:00 to 5:00 period, if you will, and we're doing about 13 incidents per hour in
[10:28]
the nights and weekends period block of time.
[10:31]
So that metric is directly showing us that we are busiest during our most
[10:37]
challenging manpower periods of weekday daytime.
[10:41]
And then general call volume. For 10-year period, we're up 59% from 2015 to
[10:46]
2025. That is significant, and it was approximately 12% in the 10-year period from
[10:52]
2005 to 2015. So, it is no secret that we are a busier department,
[10:58]
and it used to be the volunteer fire department does, oh, a call a day, seven calls
[11:03]
a week, or something like that. I mean, we've just did four today alone, and we're
[11:08]
on September 1st. So, we are a busier department, and we are busier during our
[11:13]
challenging times. So parallel to that, what about the Fire Prevention Bureau?
[11:18]
Where are their deficiencies? It's the same thing. It's their nature of their work.
[11:24]
They have an increased workload because of these complex occupancies.
[11:27]
There's more code to enforce. They're bigger buildings.
[11:29]
There's more people living in there.
[11:31]
There are higher life hazards,
[11:34]
and yet they're operating basically with the same staffing over the past 25 years.
[11:39]
And, I talked about community risk reduction.
[11:43]
I would speak a little bit in detail on that.
[11:46]
We've had to suspend or reevaluate some public safety programs.
[11:50]
We used to help older adults with fire prevention reviews and emergency planning of
[11:56]
their homes. One of my elementary school memories is the fire department
[12:02]
coming and doing fire prevention week.
[12:05]
We've had to scale that back to just doing a weekend open house for people to come
[12:08]
to us because the bandwidth has gotten incredibly hard, and the people that were
[12:12]
once involved and had maybe some of that bandwidth to do that have moved on.
[12:18]
And so, that community outreach is important to us.
[12:20]
We value ourselves as a community partner, and when we have to come short or
[12:24]
augment that in different ways, it becomes challenging.
[12:29]
And I think most importantly, the third bullet here, lacking ability to pre-plan.
[12:34]
Complex environments that I've talked about and complex occupancies, we need to
[12:39]
know from fire department perspective how to go in and manage an incident in those
[12:44]
areas. If there's a fire on the seventh floor, the fifth floor, the underground
[12:47]
parking garage below grade, whatever the incident may be, maybe it's not a fire,
[12:51]
maybe it's some type of medical assist or gas leak or anything, that all hazards
[12:56]
approach. That requires pre-planning.
[12:58]
And that takes an incredible amount of bandwidth and something that makes the
[13:02]
community safer and the fire department safer, our volunteers safer.
[13:05]
And, we're struggling to do that, and we want to do that for all of the reasons
[13:11]
I just discussed. And I talked about the increasing training responsibility on the
[13:15]
previous slide, with the hours and continuing education.
[13:21]
So, I've outlined the challenges. Now it's the how. What is our proposed plan?
[13:25]
So like I said, we want to preserve the volunteer fire department by investing in
[13:29]
administrative bandwidth to just catch up to where we're falling short and then
[13:34]
become proactive in our operations.
[13:37]
So, the investment in the Fire Prevention Bureau is to expand the workforce, to add
[13:42]
hours and inspectors, to be able to accomplish all of the things that I've talked
[13:47]
about that were in areas that were falling short for that bureau.
[13:52]
And then synergizing that bureau back to the fire department.
[13:58]
We want those fire prevention inspectors that are volunteers of our volunteer fire
[14:03]
department to be working in New Providence doing fire prevention inspection
[14:07]
activities. And when there is a call during the weekday in our challenging time, we
[14:12]
want them to be able to drop and go volunteer with us.
[14:16]
We want to synergize these two departments to make it safer and improve public
[14:20]
safety. So, this allows us a new operational foundation.
[14:26]
If we're able to synergize these two pieces, we start fresh, and we're able to
[14:30]
scale. And I think that is another extremely important part of this, is that our
[14:36]
community will continue to grow. It will continue to get complex in different ways.
[14:40]
We hear from you at various meetings about planning board applications and what's
[14:45]
coming and how things will change.
[14:46]
Like every one of those applications and approvals, they affect the fire
[14:50]
department. They affect all of public safety in some way, shape, or form.
[14:54]
So as we continue with this plan in place, as we continue to see that, we will
[14:58]
scale to that. We will be able to adopt this plan to scale to those challenges and
[15:02]
those changes. So, what is our investment, and how are we doing this?
[15:07]
So, we're combining investment responsibilities for revenue generation to minimize
[15:12]
our taxpayer impact on this plan. And then we have the investment measures.
[15:16]
So, I'll talk a little bit about the left side of the slide in revenue to support
[15:20]
the investment. So, easy low-hanging fruit, we're going to update our inspection
[15:25]
fees. We did some research on surrounding municipalities that have updated their
[15:30]
inspection fees in recent years, and we have a benchmark, and we're looking to
[15:34]
bring our inspection fees up to that benchmark.
[15:37]
And we're expanding our inspections with a multiple unit dwelling program.
[15:42]
And when I say multiple unit dwelling, I mean apartment-style complexes,
[15:48]
where we're going to do a more thorough inspection within these units and within
[15:52]
these complexes, so we ensure that these
[15:57]
complexes are compliant to code and that we're doing it thoroughly for the safety
[16:02]
of the residents within and the volunteers that may be called to answer an incident
[16:08]
there. And on the fire department side, the billing, we have various billing
[16:14]
options as part of this plan. So, insurance billing for motor vehicle accidents.
[16:20]
And I'm going to kind of group one and two because the reason for billing, and even
[16:24]
three, the reason for billing under the first three, so motor vehicle accidents,
[16:28]
hazardous material incidents, and other large-scale cost recovery.
[16:32]
Hazardous incidents, car accidents, they require a decent amount of manpower,
[16:36]
resources, and equipment. There's a price to that for us to bring that back and
[16:42]
restore that once we return from a call from both a personnel and equipment
[16:47]
standpoint. So, we're looking to start, which is not uncommon within Union County
[16:52]
and the state of New Jersey,
[16:55]
billing insurance companies just like the tow company would bill an insurance
[17:00]
company, just like various other agencies will bill for the cost of doing service
[17:05]
to an incident. ... hazardous material even greater, right? It requires resources.
[17:10]
They're usually larger incidents or longer duration events, and that would be a
[17:16]
cost recovery option for us to generate some revenue as well.
[17:20]
And large incident, that could be something more of a commercial basis.
[17:24]
They're kind of synonymous, typically to hazardous material incidents, but it is a
[17:27]
catch-all for other things, again, using bandwidth resource, both personnel,
[17:32]
equipment, and some of our consumables as well.
[17:36]
And reoccurring nuisance alarm billing.
[17:39]
There needs to be accountability for property owners that neglect systems,
[17:45]
that if we're going back to an address for the same issue, that could easily be
[17:50]
fixed by just addressing that issue. That's a burden on our volunteers.
[17:54]
It's a burden on the bureau and the taxpayer.
[17:57]
Going out every time that fire truck rolls out the door, there's a cost to that,
[18:00]
right? So, under certain conditions, nuisance alarms will be enforced by the code,
[18:05]
and we will be able to bill in cost recovery to that.
[18:09]
What I want to make sure is clear on the billing side is that this is not turning
[18:15]
into a
[18:16]
billing service for residents. We are not going to start going out to single-family
[18:21]
dwellings for fire alarms or for fires or any incidents for people in our community
[18:26]
and hand them an invoice two days later. That is not what this is about.
[18:30]
This is strategic revenue-generating activity that we feel is best suited to
[18:36]
offset some of the investments that we want to make.
[18:39]
So, what are the investment measures, right?
[18:41]
So there's three main components to this.
[18:43]
One and two have to do with the Bureau of Fire Prevention, right?
[18:46]
Like I spoke about, increase the amount of fire inspectors and their hours to
[18:50]
address our personnel challenges and our fire prevention challenges, right?
[18:54]
By having these fire prevention inspectors within the bureau and having the fire
[18:58]
official the bandwidth to implement components of this proposed plan and the
[19:03]
revenue generation components of this proposed plan, we now have more volunteers
[19:08]
available to handle incidents during our most challenging times, because the
[19:12]
working hours for fire prevention inspectors are going to be during those times.
[19:17]
And then the appointment of a full-time chief of department is the third investment
[19:21]
measure that we would take as part of these proposed ordinances.
[19:24]
And this addresses basically everything that I've talked about in challenges,
[19:29]
right? It's personnel. It's another volunteer that's here to answer the call during
[19:33]
weekday hours. It's taking all of that administrative responsibility that is
[19:38]
currently spread among all the fire officers, and it's bringing it up to that
[19:42]
appointed full-time chief of department to handle, and it allows the other fire
[19:46]
officers to focus on training our members and training themselves to make a more
[19:51]
efficient and safer fire department, right?
[19:54]
All of my officers, we get so caught up in the administrative duties just to keep
[19:59]
up, that sometimes you neglect the things that you shouldn't, right?
[20:01]
Just to keep up with deadlines and things that you have to.
[20:05]
We want to reorganize that, and we want to be able to put our people in a good
[20:09]
position with that.
[20:12]
Just a-
[20:13]
Yeah.
[20:14]
Under the,
[20:17]
you talk about expanding inspections within multi-unit dwellings.
[20:20]
Mm-hmm.
[20:21]
I believe there is a state mandate on those inspections. Is there like a minimum...
[20:26]
Sorry, Alan.
[20:28]
You talked about
[20:31]
expanding inspections for multi-unit dwellings, right?
[20:33]
Mm-hmm.
[20:33]
Is there a state mandate? Is there a minimum amount of inspections?
[20:39]
And if the answer is yes to that, just expand a little bit on what you mean by
[20:44]
expanding those inspections.
[20:45]
Sure. So right now within the fire code, the enforcing agency, the
[20:51]
local enforcing agency, which is our Bureau of Fire Prevention, under that code,
[20:56]
they should be going into the apartments.
[20:59]
The code encourages that they review all of the dwelling units within that
[21:04]
apartment complex. Right? Now, under our current state, there's no way that our
[21:10]
current bandwidth and labor force within the Bureau of Fire Prevention could cover
[21:14]
that in addition to all the other needs, right?
[21:16]
We've already talked about stuff that they've had to scale back, never mind trying
[21:19]
to cover that. So it does allow that, and we want to bring that back to allow for
[21:24]
the hours to be there for the increase in inspectors.
[21:28]
And then part of the ordinance proposal is actually creating that cyclical time,
[21:33]
right? So I think we set it at, for multiple unit dwellings specifically, it would
[21:38]
be every 24 months. Right? So our ordinance sets the frequency, and that's part of
[21:44]
the proposal within that. I think that hopefully that answered your question.
[21:47]
I think what you're really saying is that there is so much high
[21:52]
density going to be built in the next five years,
[21:57]
we don't have the capacity to do all this unless we make these changes.
[22:02]
And I do want to be proactive in this, because we're seeing it, I've seen it time
[22:07]
and time again. Things aren't done until it becomes a problem.
[22:13]
I want to get ahead of a problem. And we look right at where the Boyd property is.
[22:19]
There's 192 extra units right there.
[22:25]
And I don't know how long it takes for an inspection, but I got to think it's about
[22:31]
a half hour.
[22:32]
Yeah. And I'm glad that you actually brought that complex up because, we haven't
[22:37]
even taken that complex on, right?
[22:39]
Right.
[22:39]
They just started occupying this year.
[22:41]
But next year, that now falls to the other side of the code book.
[22:45]
That's going to fall to the Bureau of Fire Prevention to handle.
[22:47]
So right off the bat, 192 units that they now need to support, Bureau of Fire
[22:52]
Prevention now needs to support.
[22:53]
And I was just notified today that
[22:58]
121 Chanlin over there and up on 100 Mountain,
[23:03]
that they're looking to start construction, so-
[23:09]
Mm-hmm. Now it's-
[23:12]
We've had this discussion.
[23:13]
Yeah. No, it's the reality. And that-
[23:16]
And we,
[23:17]
I understand we have to do something, and I think that your plan that you
[23:23]
stole from Scotch Plains is probably the best one.
[23:27]
Collaborated.
[23:28]
Collaborated. Thank you.
[23:30]
You know what? You don't have to
[23:34]
remake the wheel.
[23:35]
We created it.
[23:36]
And
[23:38]
now I know John, you and Vinnie have been looking throughout the country, looking
[23:43]
for hybrids.
[23:44]
Mm-hmm.
[23:44]
And, we're trying to find the most cost-effective way to do it and
[23:50]
still maintain service.
[23:53]
How long has Scotch Plains been implementing this new program?
[23:57]
I would say they're probably coming up on eight or nine years at this point.
[24:01]
Have you spoken to them about any sort of hiccups or bumps in the road from this?
[24:06]
Yeah. So when we initially met with them on their journey through this, which is
[24:10]
not exactly the same as our journey, but like I said, it's parallel enough that it
[24:15]
checked all our boxes. We actually questioned them on what we
[24:20]
anticipated were maybe some hiccups, right?
[24:22]
Like how will a property owner react to a multiple dwelling program like that?
[24:28]
We would assume that there's a cost incurred to that, that probably no one likes
[24:33]
increased costs, right? And honestly, they came back and said in some cases they
[24:39]
actually prefer it because you're offsetting CCOs and there's a whole science to
[24:43]
that, that is a little bit beyond the scope of this discussion right now.
[24:47]
But they're used to it in other municipalities, right?
[24:50]
This is not something that is just done there.
[24:53]
It's done in typically larger city or urban environments already, that they may
[24:58]
have properties in that they're used to, and they have a way of working within
[25:01]
that, that they're already used to. So they say, "Oh, okay.
[25:05]
That's similar to our other property in another municipality."
[25:08]
So it's a win-win for everybody.
[25:09]
Yeah.
[25:09]
What I also like is that you're bringing up the insurance companies.
[25:13]
Everybody else is billing.
[25:14]
Mm-hmm.
[25:15]
They're charging the insurance companies for the labor that you have to provide.
[25:21]
I know rescue squads do it all the time.
[25:23]
Mm-hmm.
[25:24]
If you're not, New Providence Rescue Squad doesn't charge anything, but everybody
[25:30]
else does, and they take a certain rate.
[25:33]
So, unfortunately, it's a cost of doing
[25:39]
business. And my main focus has to be the
[25:44]
safety of our people in town.
[25:48]
Mm-hmm.
[25:48]
And these inspections have to be done in a timely manner.
[25:52]
And it's not something that you can just shy away.
[25:55]
And the mandates that come down are so much greater than they were 20
[26:01]
years ago. So I really appreciate you going out there and doing your due diligence.
[26:08]
And looking at all the options.
[26:10]
Mm-hmm.
[26:11]
John, have you thought about how many fire inspectors
[26:17]
you would need?
[26:17]
Yeah. So
[26:19]
as part of the proposal, we've started to look at how would we... Oh, sorry.
[26:24]
No, I'm sorry. Microphone.
[26:26]
I was going to just so that Alan can hear me.
[26:29]
Oh, sure.
[26:30]
I asked about how many fire inspectors we would need.
[26:33]
Yeah. No, that's a great question.
[26:34]
So what we've started to do as part of the workforce plan, and that would be built
[26:38]
into the implementation of this proposal, is take a look at how many hours we're
[26:44]
doing now, right? And then kind of, all right, where's that bridge, right?
[26:47]
And I do want to say that there's ramp-up time to this.
[26:50]
If we do decide to move forward with this plan as a governing body, you decide to
[26:54]
move forward with this plan as a governing body, it's not going to happen at the
[26:58]
click of a finger. We expect a 12 to 18-month implementation time, right, for fee
[27:03]
cycling and to get more inspectors trained and up.
[27:07]
It's going to take time, but we believe we can phase in those hours, right?
[27:12]
And it's more about the total hours as kind of a pot that we have, that we can then
[27:17]
look at what workforce we're able to hire, right?
[27:20]
So we may have a tier of an inspector may
[27:26]
be employed to do an eight-hour a week tier, or a 16-hour a week tier, or a
[27:30]
four-hour a week tier. And we're still kind of figuring out those details, but
[27:33]
that's where we feel that the workforce plan is heading to be able to, again,
[27:37]
accomplish the goals of fire prevention in their increased scope, but also
[27:42]
volunteer.
[27:43]
Mm-hmm. And is this position something that sort of already
[27:49]
exists, or is it something that's going to be kind of created?
[27:52]
Because it sounds-
[27:52]
The fire prevention inspector?
[27:53]
Yeah, it sounds like-
[27:54]
No
[27:54]
... it's part inspector, part firefighter, part admin, part-
[27:58]
No. The fire inspector is a current role that the bureau currently has.
[28:02]
And they do all of these things?
[28:04]
Yeah. They are currently inspectors of the bureau enforcing the code.
[28:07]
They have an inspection schedule.
[28:09]
They're under the auspice of the fire official, right, who's the administrative
[28:14]
oversight and authority, which is also a position currently in the Bureau of Fire
[28:19]
Prevention that oversees them. And they go out, and they enforce the code currently
[28:23]
in our business. It is operating under that now.
[28:26]
We're just increasing that, and we want to increase that with volunteers of the
[28:29]
department so they're able to answer calls.
[28:30]
And add the billing aspect.
[28:32]
What was that?
[28:33]
And add the billing aspect too.
[28:34]
Yeah, the billing, a lot of the billing I spoke to with the motor vehicle accident
[28:38]
stuff, that's really more on the fire department side, right?
[28:42]
Billing for motor vehicle accidents is not found in the fire code.
[28:44]
That is something of a revenue-generating activity that we're looking to, again,
[28:49]
augment the investment options of this plan, rather than passing that burden onto
[28:54]
the taxpayer in a certain fashion.
[28:56]
John, did you say, what is our current number of inspectors that we have now?
[29:00]
We currently have one fire official and two fire inspectors.
[29:04]
And that's a lot considering all those units.
[29:06]
Yeah.
[29:06]
Yeah. And in addition to, we were just talking about the 192 units, that doesn't
[29:12]
include the common areas you also have to inspect.
[29:15]
That's correct.
[29:15]
So it's all the units. So think about the two big apartment buildings that are up
[29:19]
at Bard. You have to do all those units in there, plus the common area.
[29:23]
And there's a lot of common area for those big buildings.
[29:25]
Under this proposed plan, yes, that would be-
[29:27]
It's a lot
[29:27]
... it would be both. And right now, the bandwidth allows for them to do the common
[29:31]
areas, which is obviously one of the most important parts, right?
[29:34]
Yeah.
[29:34]
Yeah, that's where I was going with the-
[29:35]
Exactly
[29:36]
... when you mentioned you were expanding it, that's where I was going was kind of-
[29:39]
The multiple unit dwelling part is the expansion.
[29:42]
The common areas is really what they're accomplishing now.
[29:44]
Right. And if you could, I'm just kind of looking ahead a little bit and-
[29:48]
Sure
[29:48]
... I'm sure you were going to touch on this, but just want to mention,
[29:53]
what's the difference between going fully paid versus
[29:59]
staying volunteer, and what would be the ramifications of staying volunteer
[30:05]
in our existing state? So those are two of the things that we could kind of touch
[30:09]
on. And again, I know you kind of have some benefits at the end here, but.
[30:14]
Yeah. So if I understand your question, it's more of where would we get to if we-
[30:20]
So let's start with this.
[30:20]
Yeah.
[30:21]
What is the difference if we had to go, and I know you know this, so don't answer.
[30:27]
I'd like them to answer for me. What's the difference of going to a paid
[30:33]
system, right?
[30:33]
From a financial perspective?
[30:35]
Yeah. He knows the answer because you're talking.
[30:37]
Are you talking about the fire chief specifically?
[30:40]
No, no. So-
[30:41]
You're talking about fire department.
[30:43]
We can start, let's back up a second.
[30:45]
Yeah.
[30:45]
Okay. Let's talk about currently we're in a volunteer state.
[30:48]
Mm-hmm.
[30:49]
Fully.
[30:49]
Mm-hmm.
[30:50]
And if we stay in this volunteer state, okay, you're foreseeing a lot of
[30:56]
issues with the department and being able to do that. So I want to touch on that.
[31:01]
Mm-hmm.
[31:01]
And from that,
[31:03]
switching to this hybrid, which is what we're talking about now.
[31:06]
Mm-hmm.
[31:07]
And then compare to if we don't, and if we can't stay as a volunteer, and we have
[31:11]
to go fully paid department-wide.
[31:15]
Mm-hmm.
[31:15]
Right? What does that mean? So I just want to make sure that that's something that
[31:18]
we touch on. So I know Al's talked about this, we've talked about this from an
[31:23]
administrative perspective, but I really think it's important to mention those
[31:26]
things.
[31:27]
Yeah. So, if we choose to stay fully volunteer and maybe not
[31:33]
implement this plan, right, I think that our challenges will continue to diminish
[31:39]
the integrity of the volunteer fire department, right?
[31:41]
The burnout that we're feeling at the officer level and at the volunteer level, and
[31:47]
the call volume will continue to go up.
[31:48]
That all those challenges that I've outlined are just going to keep layering on
[31:53]
each other and exponentially compound to where we're in a reactive state where the
[31:58]
bureau will need to make a decision, right? So now jumping to the next one, right?
[32:02]
Going to this plan, we stop, we make strategic investment on this plan.
[32:08]
We recreate our foundation with our volunteer fire department, right?
[32:12]
We just augment them to feel less burned out by taking some of that administrative
[32:16]
off. We create a way to do it while increasing public safety, right, with all the
[32:21]
measures of the bureau, and we do it at a very cost-efficient,
[32:26]
revenue-generating to offset vehicle.
[32:30]
Mm-hmm.
[32:31]
Fully paid, right, or more of a paid option is a seven-figure number probably.
[32:38]
So that is something that would be a taxpayer burden.
[32:43]
That's what it would be.
[32:46]
You're going to be hiring a numerous amount of firefighters for a numerous amount
[32:50]
of shifts.
[32:50]
Mm-hmm.
[32:51]
And the administrative personnel anyway to implement that plan.
[32:58]
But that price tag is-
[33:00]
Exponentially higher
[33:02]
... exponentially higher. Yeah.
[33:04]
Perfect. Thank you.
[33:05]
So could you give us that number again, the percentage for call volume increase
[33:10]
over the last 10 years?
[33:12]
59%.
[33:12]
59%. So, this is
[33:17]
in response to an incredible increase in call volume.
[33:21]
Mm-hmm.
[33:21]
It is the fiscally responsible thing to do. It is the proactive thing to do.
[33:25]
But the thing that, and one of your chiefs mentioned this to me, and that I can't
[33:30]
get away from, is the people who volunteer for this department, they want to
[33:34]
volunteer to help people. These are people who volunteer to run into burning
[33:39]
buildings, right? They don't volunteer for the administrative overhead.
[33:43]
So what I love about this plan is that it puts the administrative tasks on paid
[33:49]
staff, and it lets the volunteers do what they signed up to do.
[33:53]
Exactly. Exactly. Very well said.
[33:57]
John, you want to add?
[33:58]
I think it shut down on me. Yeah.
[34:01]
You shut it down?
[34:02]
Yeah. It shut down.
[34:02]
We got the gist.
[34:05]
That was the final slide. It was up there in the slide.
[34:07]
That's what.
[34:09]
Actually, my final slide was thank you, and I was going to use my 10, 15 minutes of
[34:13]
fame. I had the NPFD recruiting email address, and that we are accepting
[34:18]
applications for volunteers. So that was actually my final slide.
[34:21]
I was going to use my moment of fame for-
[34:23]
NPFDrecruiting@gmail.com.
[34:25]
That is it, yes.
[34:26]
Yep.
[34:28]
Everybody's been wondering, we had a serious fire today.
[34:32]
We did.
[34:34]
Can you just give us a little background on what happened?
[34:37]
Sure.
[34:38]
Because I know they have questions.
[34:41]
Yeah, sure. So earlier today at around 9:30, I don't remember the exact time off my
[34:46]
head, it's been quite a day. I'll say around 9:30 AM this morning, we were alerted
[34:51]
for a commercial structure fire at a downtown business.
[34:56]
Myself and Deputy Chief Naso were on scene within the first four minutes, confirmed
[35:00]
a working fire, and transmitted what we call a second alarm, which brings in
[35:04]
numerous neighboring communities.
[35:06]
We had a heavy smoke condition on the first and second floor of that building.
[35:10]
Our volunteers during the weekday went in, stretched a line, and knocked the fire
[35:14]
down and contained it to the general area of origin.
[35:18]
And with the augmented help of neighboring communities such as Summit and Berkeley
[35:21]
Heights and Chatham Township and Springfield and Scotch Plains,
[35:27]
I think I got almost all of them that.
[35:29]
We were able to complete the phases of the fire, knocking down the fire, doing
[35:33]
searches, ventilation, investigative, and that was our morning this morning.
[35:39]
That's amazing.
[35:39]
There were no-
[35:40]
Talk about mutual aid, right?
[35:41]
Yeah.
[35:41]
Yes. Every department needs it. Every department-
[35:44]
Yeah
[35:44]
... has it in place, and we were fortunate there was no injuries to civilians or
[35:49]
firefighters.
[35:50]
Well, thank you, John.
[35:52]
Thank you.
[35:52]
And I want to thank all the firefighters here. You do an incredible job.
[35:57]
Sure do.
[35:58]
Like I said, when it comes to public safety, I trust myself and my family with all
[36:03]
of you. So thank you so much.
[36:05]
Thank you. Well, I appreciate it.
[36:06]
Great job today.
[36:07]
Thank you.
[36:08]
Thank you. Thank you for that.
[36:08]
Thanks, John.
[36:10]
I want to say thank you as well. As a matter of fact, just to add a little personal
[36:13]
story, last week,
[36:17]
the fire department was at my house at 4:00 in the morning.
[36:21]
Nice.
[36:21]
I had woken up to smoke in the house, and we had a steam generator that just went
[36:27]
off in the middle of the night, and
[36:30]
thank God we were home and my wife smelled it, because if we weren't, the house
[36:33]
probably would've burned down. But we called 911.
[36:35]
They were there right away, very professional.
[36:38]
We found the issue, researched the issue, and it wasn't like, "Ah, it's just this.
[36:43]
You guys, you're fine. Let's go home." No, it was, "Let's open up the steam
[36:48]
generator. Let's look in the wall.
[36:49]
Let's make sure there's no issues." And they're just very thorough.
[36:53]
And here's the thing that people just don't understand.
[36:57]
It's 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday. I'm exhausted.
[37:01]
I'm like, "Gonna get up and go to work." These guys got to get up and go to work,
[37:05]
too, right? So, to your point, Al, I trust them with my life because I've had to
[37:11]
use them on multiple occasions, unfortunately, when a car crashed in my house a
[37:14]
couple years ago, right? I see Cap back there. He's one of the first guys on scene.
[37:19]
And he went away and went up 50%.
[37:21]
Yeah.
[37:22]
Yeah.
[37:22]
He's like, "I'm not driving. I just live there."
[37:25]
He was at Mrs. Kominsky's house.
[37:27]
But these guys, he's a teacher in town, and-
[37:31]
He is, yeah
[37:31]
... he's at my house at 2:00 in the morning.
[37:32]
So, I couldn't appreciate you guys more than anything in the world, and I do want
[37:36]
to thank you for everything you've done for my family, for sure. So, appreciate it.
[37:42]
Well, that's part of the trick, right?
[37:43]
Not only is the call volume up, but the technical complexity of what they have to
[37:47]
deal with-
[37:48]
Right
[37:48]
... is just huge. I think you said the other day, back in 1985, there were 18-ish
[37:53]
different types of calls, and now there's 120-some-odd types of calls.
[37:57]
Just in terms of types of things that they have to deal with, it's just crazy, the
[38:02]
technical complexity.
[38:02]
They don't even want to tell you about hazmat.
[38:05]
No.
[38:06]
That's a whole thing in itself.
[38:07]
Yeah.
[38:08]
So.
[38:09]
John, quick question around the training that you guys go through.
[38:13]
You talk about,
[38:15]
is it a year one, year two, or level one, level two, something like that?
[38:20]
Yeah.
[38:20]
Is that overseen at the state level, or are those federal firefighter requirements?
[38:25]
The short answer is it's overseen at the state level, right?
[38:29]
The state division of fire safety sets training and certification requirements, and
[38:34]
then those are passed down through curriculum to the county fire academies, which
[38:37]
is predominantly where we go, various county fire academies, to actually execute
[38:43]
the training for our members.
[38:44]
Mm-hmm. And has the number of hours required to complete these training programs
[38:50]
increased over the years as well?
[38:51]
Yes, significantly. Like I said, basic Firefighter 1, which is Firefighter 101 for
[38:57]
lack of a better term, is up to, I believe, around 200 and something hours now.
[39:03]
I feel like when I did it, it was 100 something. So, it is pretty expansive.
[39:07]
And again, it goes to Brian's point.
[39:09]
There's more in the curriculum because there's more to accomplish, and there's more
[39:12]
to respond to now.
[39:14]
Right.
[39:14]
Different safety measures, building construction, different types of construction
[39:18]
materials, synthetic material that, all these safety and thinking things and
[39:22]
incident command structures that are now built into the curriculum.
[39:27]
It adds up very quickly from an hours perspective.
[39:29]
Sure. Yeah, so anybody who's considering volunteering, it's making a big
[39:33]
commitment. Not only a personal commitment to promoting
[39:39]
public safety on their behalf, but also the time and effort to get trained in-
[39:45]
Yeah
[39:45]
... the business of firefighting.
[39:45]
I equate it to basically going back to college for a semester, right?
[39:49]
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Okay.
[39:50]
That's pretty much what it equates to.
[39:52]
So, it's very important when you've made that investment to get the training that
[39:56]
you find a way to retain these employees.
[39:59]
Yes. Exactly, because they've invested a lot in us, and we've invested a lot in
[40:02]
them, and retention is probably one of, that's a future challenge that we want to,
[40:06]
again, have that operational foundation as part of this plan to address those
[40:10]
challenges, whatever they may be in the future.
[40:13]
But recruitment and retention, which were once seen as the same, are now very
[40:18]
different, complex challenges.
[40:20]
Mm-hmm. And you mentioned that you've kind of touched on this idea within the
[40:25]
department-
[40:26]
Mm-hmm
[40:27]
... and it's being favorably received?
[40:29]
Yes, it was favorably received. We did bring this to the department prior.
[40:33]
Okay.
[40:33]
Mm-hmm.
[40:34]
Thank you. Good job.
[40:35]
Thank you.
[40:35]
You said something about a tax credit for some of the volunteers.
[40:40]
Yeah, there are some tax credit things in different states.
[40:43]
It's not so much seen in the state of New Jersey.
[40:45]
I would say New York State has a program towards that.
[40:50]
I believe they're actually looking to refine it.
[40:52]
I don't know the specifics off the top of my head related to what they're looking
[40:55]
to bring it to, but there are different credits and stipend.
[41:01]
There are tons of different ways that different-- People have gotten creative,
[41:04]
right? Because-
[41:05]
Yeah
[41:05]
... there's an open book on this. There is no pre-plan, if you will, to the right
[41:09]
answer. So, numerous departments around the country-
[41:12]
We're one of the first ones who adopt the LOSAT program.
[41:15]
Yeah, LOSAT is-
[41:17]
For you in the rescue squad.
[41:18]
Mm-hmm.
[41:18]
John, at some point, no jury duty.
[41:21]
No jury duty, for example.
[41:24]
That's a big one.
[41:24]
It's one of the only benefits left on the list.
[41:25]
LErecruiting@gmail.com.
[41:28]
Thank you.
[41:29]
Thank you, John.
[41:30]
Thank you.
[41:30]
Thank you, John. Well done.
[41:36]
Okay.
[41:36]
Good job, Brian.
[41:38]
We have ordinance 2610. Please read the title.
[41:43]
An ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 257 of the code of the Borough of
[41:48]
New Providence, entitled Vehicles and Traffic.
[41:52]
What this is, is
[41:54]
adopting more handicap parking down by Oakwood Park, by the playground.
[42:00]
And
[42:02]
I think we need it. We saw all the people there wheelie-cutty today.
[42:05]
It was unbelievable. So,
[42:08]
anybody wishing to address council on this ordinance, this ordinance only.
[42:14]
Seeing no-one, I declare the public hearing closed. Roll call, please.
[42:19]
I just get a motion, too.
[42:21]
So moved.
[42:22]
I'll second.
[42:25]
Mr. Lerner?
[42:26]
Aye.
[42:26]
Ms. Dolan?
[42:27]
Yes.
[42:28]
Mrs. Jeffrey? Mr. Kominsky?
[42:30]
Aye.
[42:30]
Mrs. McKnight?
[42:31]
Yes.
[42:32]
Mr. Gardner?
[42:32]
Yes.
[42:34]
Okay, need approval of minutes of August 11th, please.
[42:38]
So moved.
[42:39]
Second.
[42:41]
Al, can I just ask one question? About the temporary parking restrictions that
[42:45]
were, I guess, on Park Place in Oakwood. Are those signs going to be removed?
[42:50]
They're not temporary.
[42:51]
Not temporary.
[42:51]
So, well, it says you can't park on Saturdays, so that will remain?
[42:57]
Okay.
[42:58]
Yeah, just to give you-
[43:00]
We'll get Dr. Kominsky
[43:00]
... Well, just to give you feedback.
[43:02]
We used to have exit on Passaic for our DPW, but Union County came in and said no
[43:08]
more exiting there. So now all of our DPW, anybody in and out, has to go through
[43:13]
Park Place. So, the street's not wide enough.
[43:16]
Okay.
[43:17]
I know where you're going. I still have the same thing.
[43:19]
It's like we have a beautiful park.
[43:21]
It's going to be very, very crowded, especially on Saturday mornings.
[43:26]
I'm talking Oakwood.
[43:27]
It's
[43:29]
an inclusive park.
[43:32]
And we've made parking only for playground at that section.
[43:38]
There's like seven spots, believe, there.
[43:39]
Plus now this-
[43:41]
Sure
[43:41]
... spot. So hopefully people that aren't using the fields won't park there, right?
[43:45]
They'll leave that open for the playgrounds. But yeah, it's tough.
[43:49]
And I was kind of fighting that one as well originally because it's going to be a
[43:54]
crowded park, which we hope, right?
[43:56]
Mm-hmm.
[43:57]
But at the end of the day, if you drive on that street, if you park on the street
[44:01]
and are driving down the street, you can't get out.
[44:04]
Mm-hmm.
[44:04]
So I kind of had to let that one go.
[44:06]
Yeah.
[44:08]
Okay.
[44:10]
Correspondence from Assemblyman Alex Saucy.
[44:16]
I have another one for New Jersey League of Municipalities, a audit report.
[44:21]
A fire department resignation for Grayson Budish.
[44:25]
Board of Adjustment hearing for 18 Porter Place.
[44:29]
New Jersey Transportation Safe Routes to Schools, and Providence Fire
[44:35]
Department
[44:37]
resignation letter for Hunter Riley.
[44:41]
About this time of the year, a lot of the juniors that were in there, they
[44:47]
put in resignations-
[44:48]
They're gone
[44:48]
... to go back to college.
[44:52]
Any comments?
[44:53]
No.
[44:54]
Seeing none. We'll go to council business. Nadine.
[44:57]
Thank you, Mayor. Administration, so Resolution 2026-294
[45:03]
is a resolution approving requisition R2601790 for
[45:09]
KC Sign & Awnings in an amount not to exceed
[45:13]
$8,395
[45:17]
for municipal annex sign, through the co-op. Number 24, 25 through 38.
[45:23]
So if anybody was here last meeting, we had this resolution on for the
[45:29]
sign, which we had discussed, and we were not comfortable with the price.
[45:33]
So thankfully, our administration and our building department got back together and
[45:39]
came up with this alternative. We're not losing any value on the sign, but we got a
[45:44]
much better price for it. So again, we're very responsible with the budget and
[45:49]
trying to make sure that we handle this budget like it's our own.
[45:53]
So thank you to the administration and the building department for that.
[45:58]
Okay. Affordable housing, Nadine.
[46:01]
Okey-dokey. Resolution 2026-295 is a resolution of the Borough of New
[46:07]
Providence, County of Union, State of New Jersey, endorsing the amended Housing
[46:12]
Element and Fair Share Plan. So this resolution is a formal approval
[46:17]
endorsement of the latest version of the borough's affordable housing plan that
[46:22]
preserves the borough's ability to revise it if the final court or settlement
[46:27]
determination reduces the borough's 201 unit obligation.
[46:32]
So just something that we need to do to continue the process of round four.
[46:37]
Okay. Community activities, Matt.
[46:44]
Resolution 296 is a resolution appointing Ingrid Rowe as part-time program
[46:49]
coordinator for the Community Activities Department for the Borough of New
[46:51]
Providence. So we are hiring Ingrid as a part-time coordinator, and she's a
[46:56]
replacement for a recent retiree.
[47:00]
So we want to welcome Ingrid to one of the best recreation departments in
[47:06]
all of Union County, if not New Jersey.
[47:11]
Number two and three, we have an authorization to solicit proposals for basketball
[47:16]
instruction services and an authorization to solicit proposals for bus
[47:21]
transportation services.
[47:27]
Our basketball program is actually very, very good. It sells out every time.
[47:33]
And of course, we need our bus transportation for all of our
[47:39]
team venture camps and other activities and things of that nature.
[47:42]
So
[47:44]
good luck to Allison with those.
[47:47]
You might as well keep on going with engineering.
[47:50]
Okay. Engineering is an authorization to bid NJDOT Maple Street
[47:56]
Phase 2 improvement project. As you know, the Maple Street project we've been
[48:01]
discussing for quite some time. We received a grant from NJDOT
[48:08]
to improve Maple Street from
[48:12]
Mountain Avenue to Central Avenue, and
[48:17]
we have designed
[48:21]
some improvements on that road over the last couple of years.
[48:25]
We've worked with residents to make those improvements
[48:30]
as best we can in terms of their impact.
[48:36]
And our plans have been approved by NJDOT, so now we are able to go out to bid.
[48:43]
And that
[48:45]
grant was required, just so everyone's aware, to be
[48:50]
bid by the end of October of 2026, and that is after two six-month
[48:55]
extensions. So the timeline on that will be this authorization
[49:01]
will probably go out to bid in early October for approval mid-October.
[49:09]
Okay. Resolution 297 is a resolution approving requisition
[49:14]
R2601894 for Argent Contracting Company for HVAC
[49:20]
replacement at the municipal annex in an amount not to exceed
[49:23]
$18,708.91. And the
[49:30]
police moved into the annex. I went over there as they were moving in, and their
[49:34]
windows and doors were open, and I was like, "You guys have all these windows and
[49:38]
doors open as you're moving in because you didn't feel like opening them and
[49:40]
closing them? It's hot in here." And they said, "No, the AC broke." So this is a
[49:46]
replacement for that.
[49:49]
And that's it.
[49:50]
Okay. Finance, Lisa.
[49:53]
Thank you, Mayor. We have Resolution 298.
[49:56]
It's a resolution providing for the insertion of any special item of revenue in the
[50:02]
2026 budget pursuant of NJSA 48-4-87,
[50:08]
Chapter 159, PL 1948. This is the National Opioid Settlement.
[50:14]
As you know, we've been getting
[50:19]
small stipends from this settlement through the course of the year.
[50:23]
So this is an additional one for $2,819.86.
[50:29]
We have Resolution 299, which is the resolution authorizing payments of the
[50:34]
attached bills payable list. The total amount is
[50:37]
$7,502,296.31. Some of the more
[50:43]
significant items are Union County for
[50:46]
$3,825,248 for the third
[50:52]
quarter 2026 purpose tax and open space.
[50:58]
We have the New Providence Board of Education for $1,589,392.
[51:04]
This is the September school tax levy.
[51:08]
Ben Shafer for $565,060. That's for Oakwood Park.
[51:14]
Horizon Healthcare, $170,133 is our August healthcare bill.
[51:21]
The New Providence Library for $119,967.
[51:25]
That is their September appropriation.
[51:28]
We have CRT Contracting for $53,225, and that is for the
[51:34]
EMS roof repairs, and then Suburban Disposal for $50,500,
[51:40]
and that is our July garbage bill.
[51:43]
Okay.
[51:44]
Just because you mentioned Oakwood, the $500,000 sounds like a lot for Oakwood, but
[51:47]
that was grant money.
[51:48]
Grant money, yeah.
[51:49]
And we're getting that check-
[51:51]
We have to pay it out to get it back.
[51:52]
We have to pay it, and then we get it back.
[51:53]
In and out, but that was Oakwood Park definitely got a lot of
[51:59]
grant funding, for sure.
[52:01]
Yep.
[52:01]
Yeah. Okay. Resolution 300 is appointing crossing
[52:07]
guards at a rate of $25 per hour starting September 1st
[52:12]
to December 31st.
[52:17]
Ordinance 11 and 12 are repealing the
[52:25]
Chapter 51 of the fire code, and the other one is Chapter 155, which we just all
[52:31]
went over. So
[52:35]
we'll go to
[52:38]
committee reports.
[52:41]
Just want to say that the police department made a great
[52:46]
move. The roll-in,
[52:50]
still a few boxes to unpack. It'll take them a while, but there was no disruption
[52:56]
in service, and they seem pretty happy over there right now.
[53:01]
So I was very happy about that, and I want everybody to realize
[53:07]
that Academy Street now will be one way from Elkwood
[53:13]
Avenue to Springfield Avenue
[53:17]
So, I saw a couple people turning in and then turning around today, but
[53:24]
the police are monitoring it, and they just want to educate people
[53:29]
first. But they couldn't start today because of the threat of rain, so they'll be
[53:35]
doing it when they get a dry day. So that's there.
[53:40]
On stormwater, I just want to tell everybody that the pipes
[53:46]
over at Maple Street have been cleaned up by New Jersey Transit, and that they're
[53:51]
expected to... Did they put the grates in yet?
[53:54]
Not yet.
[53:54]
I didn't think so, because it's too wet.
[53:58]
But they're putting up the grates, and with the grates there, it'll be a lot easier
[54:05]
to clean. So hopefully that'll take care of a lot of that.
[54:09]
Paul Hughes is still going around and mapping out pipes, and
[54:15]
so far, so good. With the rain that's come through, we haven't had any major
[54:21]
flooding. So close. Yeah, that one, that was pretty close.
[54:26]
But I take a look at the other part of the county and the state.
[54:31]
They're getting hammered. I mean, Linden and Elizabeth, and
[54:37]
Hoboken and all of that. It was funny,
[54:42]
Bernadette shot me an article. There's 21 towns,
[54:49]
cities in New Jersey that have combined sanitary sewer
[54:55]
and stormwater sewer. So when those towns flood, when they get
[55:01]
a backup, they're getting sewage water now.
[55:04]
Ugh.
[55:07]
Yeah. So when we get a backup like that, it's
[55:13]
rainwater. But they're getting sewage water, Elizabeth, Linden, all them.
[55:19]
So, I
[55:22]
don't know how they get away with that, how DEP lets them get away with that, but I
[55:27]
thought it was an interesting article.
[55:29]
And the other thing is with all this high-density housing coming in,
[55:35]
it's going to be a lot worse. So-
[55:38]
So is it safe to say
[55:41]
that we're not done with our improvements-
[55:47]
No
[55:47]
... but the improvements that we have done and the focus that we have put on it
[55:52]
over the last year have made improvements?
[55:55]
Yes.
[55:57]
Okay, good.
[55:57]
You really don't know until you get that rain where you get-
[56:02]
We've had a lot of rain
[56:02]
... six inches of water
[56:06]
in, what, two hours? I don't think anything's going to hold back.
[56:11]
And I think that's what we're seeing all through the state.
[56:13]
So-
[56:14]
That way, it doesn't-
[56:15]
It's been a tough summer.
[56:17]
We've got a lot of rain, but I don't think we've had rain like we had-
[56:19]
No
[56:19]
... last year in July.
[56:21]
We've been very lucky.
[56:22]
Yes, we have.
[56:22]
Because we're getting, like tonight, we got some heavy rain, but then
[56:28]
it went through fast.
[56:29]
It subsides fast.
[56:30]
So once it stops, the water recedes very quickly.
[56:35]
So,
[56:37]
yeah. But I know surrounding municipalities have been flooded out.
[56:42]
Yeah.
[56:43]
So hopefully that the work that we've done so far has at least
[56:49]
made a difference.
[56:50]
Yeah. A lot of good progress. More to go, but a lot of good progress.
[56:53]
Well, I said it. It's going to take 20 years.
[56:55]
Yeah.
[56:55]
Yeah.
[56:56]
So, okay.
[56:57]
It's a project.
[56:58]
Alan?
[57:00]
Well, we're wrapping up the summer, so not really too much.
[57:04]
We have our Board of Health meeting tomorrow.
[57:06]
I guess the most exciting thing is Recycle Fall for
[57:12]
2026 is September 27th. That'll be in the community pool parking lot from 9:00 to
[57:17]
2:00, last drop-off is 12:00. And that's really all I have.
[57:22]
I did want to say, school is going to be starting on Thursday, so be
[57:27]
mindful. There's going to be a lot more precious cargo on the road, and good luck
[57:33]
to everyone with their new year of school.
[57:35]
Yeah.
[57:36]
Eveline.
[57:38]
Thank you, Mayor. The Diversity Committee had pretty much a hiatus this summer.
[57:44]
Part of that was due to the departure of our co-chairs.
[57:47]
We had two co-chairs, who one of them
[57:51]
actually moved out of New Providence, and the other one has a family issue.
[57:55]
But we are going to persevere. We have a good core group.
[58:00]
And we'll just be regrouping and supporting local events through the remainder of
[58:04]
the year. If you're interested in joining the Diversity Committee, of course, we're
[58:08]
always looking for volunteers. So you can just go to the website, newprov.us, and
[58:13]
search volunteer advisory committees, and you'll find a link to the volunteer
[58:17]
application there. So we definitely encourage you to do that if you're interested.
[58:22]
The New Providence Municipal Alliance is starting back up after they basically keep
[58:27]
in sync with their meetings with the school year.
[58:30]
Their first meeting will be Wednesday, September 9th at 7:00 PM in the Lincoln Room
[58:34]
here in the Municipal Building. Again, this is a good volunteer opportunity.
[58:39]
This group focuses on supporting substance use and abuse education and awareness
[58:46]
activities throughout the school year.
[58:48]
New Providence Community Pool,
[58:51]
happy to say, I think they had a wonderful summer.
[58:53]
They had an increase in membership from the previous year.
[58:58]
And the weather cooperated. It was a very nice, warm, hot summer,
[59:04]
encouraging people to go to the pool.
[59:06]
So I want to thank the pool board and their summer help for making this a
[59:09]
successful year.
[59:12]
The Historical Society just celebrated its 60th anniversary in August.
[59:17]
They do need a new treasurer, so
[59:21]
it's probably not such a difficult job right now with all the apps that are out
[59:26]
there to manage the budget. But if that's something that you would be interested in
[59:31]
supporting, they could definitely use your help.
[59:33]
So again, you can go to their website or their Facebook page, New Providence
[59:39]
Historical Society, to connect with them.
[59:42]
We have initiated negotiations for contract renewals for both the DPW and the
[59:47]
police department.
[59:49]
So we expect that to move ahead as anticipated.
[59:55]
And then just in terms of the Stormwater Task Force, just to emphasize that it is
[1:00:00]
important as now leaves are starting to fall a little bit and people are
[1:00:05]
doing their fall cleanup, just make sure that the storm drain
[1:00:11]
that's near your house is cleared of any debris,
[1:00:15]
and get it up off of the street. Because these kinds of rains, they come down
[1:00:19]
heavy, and the debris starts to move pretty quickly towards the storm drains.
[1:00:24]
And it's
[1:00:27]
just an easy five-minute thing for you to go and check that before we have storms
[1:00:30]
like this. That's it. Thank you.
[1:00:34]
Thank you.
[1:00:34]
Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Pretty much the same.
[1:00:36]
A lot of the committees are going to be teeing back up now that the school year is
[1:00:39]
teeing up. One of which is the Mental Health Committee.
[1:00:43]
So we are on September the 1st today, and September is Suicide Prevention Awareness
[1:00:49]
Month. We don't have anything planned as a committee.
[1:00:53]
But we will be participating or encouraging people to participate in
[1:00:59]
Berkeley Heights. They are doing the Kimberly and Wilson 5K.
[1:01:05]
The Wilson Foundation has been very instrumental in our Mental Health Awareness
[1:01:08]
Month. They're the ones who purchased the big banners that go across this, Lead the
[1:01:13]
Way. So I know the committee will be participating in that, and we encourage
[1:01:17]
residents to as well. We'll put a flyer up with the video.
[1:01:21]
It's on September 20th at 9:30 AM at Veterans Memorial Park.
[1:01:27]
And it's really just a good time to be mindful of your
[1:01:33]
mental health. It's always something important that we need to take care of, and
[1:01:36]
this Suicide Prevention Month,
[1:01:39]
we should just take a step back and evaluate and look around
[1:01:45]
at our loved ones and make sure that everybody's doing okay.
[1:01:48]
So we'll put the flyer out for that walk, and we encourage everyone to support.
[1:01:53]
So more to come about mental health as we're going to be starting our meetings
[1:01:56]
again. And pretty much the same with the other committees as well.
[1:02:00]
So that's it for me today.
[1:02:01]
Okay. John, while you're sitting there, when is Open House Fire?
[1:02:07]
October 11th?
[1:02:08]
Saturday, October 10th.
[1:02:10]
10th.
[1:02:10]
12:00 to 3:00 PM.
[1:02:12]
Okay.
[1:02:15]
Matt?
[1:02:17]
Okay, so I'd like to start by just saying welcome back to Lamar.
[1:02:22]
It's really nice to have you back behind the camera there.
[1:02:30]
So, in regards to the PBA DPW negotiations, we did
[1:02:36]
receive their first offer, and we threw it away. No, I'm kidding.
[1:02:41]
We received their offer. We are reviewing.
[1:02:46]
I'm new to the process here, but it was actually very interesting to sit with them
[1:02:51]
and discuss,
[1:02:55]
not discuss, but to go over the labor contracts that we have.
[1:03:00]
And the reason why I mention it is, we just wanted to say the relationship that we
[1:03:05]
do have with our PBA and our DPW is incredible.
[1:03:09]
We have just great guys on our force and our DPW.
[1:03:15]
And they've been working with us over the last couple of negotiations that I've
[1:03:20]
been here. This is the first time I'm actually sitting at the table, but they have
[1:03:24]
been very good. They have a great understanding of
[1:03:30]
what it's like to live and work and play in a beautiful town like in Providence.
[1:03:35]
And they do care about us, and they do care about the town.
[1:03:39]
So,
[1:03:41]
more to come on that. As the
[1:03:48]
next sessions occur over the next couple of weeks, hopefully we can put this to bed
[1:03:53]
and move forward. Ribbon cutting at Oakwood Park today.
[1:03:57]
We had a really great, unbelievable turnout. It was over 100 kids, I believe.
[1:04:03]
Mm-hmm.
[1:04:05]
First kids to go and play on the park, and it was really neat to just walk around
[1:04:09]
the park and see all the different types of slides, and the
[1:04:15]
really most impressive thing is it's an inclusive park, right?
[1:04:18]
So, kids in wheelchairs can access, and there's a merry-go-round that's in the
[1:04:24]
ground. So,
[1:04:26]
if you're in a wheelchair, you can
[1:04:29]
wheel your wheelchair onto the merry-go-round, which is pretty neat.
[1:04:32]
I was very surprised, to be honest, at how fast the thing turns.
[1:04:36]
But,
[1:04:38]
I was watching the kids on it, and the thing was flying.
[1:04:41]
But, no, just-
[1:04:42]
Me and Amy were talking about the old school ones where-
[1:04:45]
Yeah
[1:04:46]
... they've just like, I don't know, they just grease like crazy and see how long
[1:04:49]
you can hold on for.
[1:04:50]
Centrifugal force is crazy.
[1:04:52]
Yeah.
[1:04:52]
Hold on for dear life.
[1:04:53]
Yeah.
[1:04:53]
Yeah, the park is beautiful. Yeah, I just wanted to mention it's open.
[1:04:58]
It's open for business, so go enjoy.
[1:04:59]
Hopefully,
[1:05:02]
it's played on by thousands of kids for many years.
[1:05:05]
And then just, Oakwood Park in general, I just want to say.
[1:05:09]
We moved here 20 years ago, and Oakwood Park was just grass, and there was field
[1:05:15]
goal posts and a backstop.
[1:05:19]
We've come a long way in all of our parks and fields in town, and
[1:05:24]
this council and councils previous have spent enormous time
[1:05:30]
and effort-
[1:05:31]
Mm-hmm
[1:05:31]
... with our borough officials, our recreation, and I believe that we have some of
[1:05:35]
the best parks in Union County. When I coached all the
[1:05:41]
kids that came to play, whether it was baseball or lacrosse,
[1:05:46]
all the other coaches were always just like, "Wow, these
[1:05:50]
fields are amazing. You guys really have great fields here." So, I'm really proud
[1:05:53]
of that. And I just want to thank Allison, our director of recreation, as well as
[1:05:58]
our previous recreation employees, our previous borough administrators,
[1:06:04]
Bernadette and all her staff, this council, and all the previous councils who, like
[1:06:09]
I said, over the last 10, 12 years, have really made a major effort in making our
[1:06:14]
playgrounds some of the best in class.
[1:06:16]
So, this playground is really just cherry on top.
[1:06:20]
For sure.
[1:06:22]
The police building. So, as we've been talking about, the police majority annex.
[1:06:27]
So,
[1:06:29]
the plans for the new police building are kind of tightening up.
[1:06:33]
We're getting down to really
[1:06:36]
what I was told, counting the number of outlets, so-
[1:06:42]
Mm.
[1:06:42]
It's getting
[1:06:44]
good. Just want to remind everybody that there's a target completion for that
[1:06:48]
building. It's 2028. So it's not going to be any time next year, or in eight
[1:06:53]
months, or a year. It's a process. It's a brand-new building.
[1:06:57]
So, it's going to take a couple of years.
[1:07:02]
In regards to the academy one-way, I did want to just mention that
[1:07:07]
I came out of
[1:07:12]
Stop & Shop, and made a right and a left, and I didn't even think about it.
[1:07:16]
Not today, but a lot of the police were moving in, and I just made this turn, and I
[1:07:19]
looked, and I saw the police moving into the building, and I thought to myself,
[1:07:21]
"Holy cow. I just made a left turn. I didn't even think about it." I literally
[1:07:25]
didn't think about it. I just did it.
[1:07:27]
And I realized how it's going to be
[1:07:31]
important that people understand that that's a one-way now and you can't do that.
[1:07:36]
And I'm not more concerned about people who are on Facebook or people who are on
[1:07:41]
our borough website that can see the information that we've been putting out there.
[1:07:45]
I'm really concerned about the kids.
[1:07:47]
The 17, 18-year-old, and 19-year-old kids who aren't, or aren't paying attention.
[1:07:52]
So I really, if you're hearing this message, talk to your kids.
[1:07:56]
Mm-hmm.
[1:07:57]
Make sure you let your kids know that you can't make that left turn, because like I
[1:08:02]
said, we're going to do everything that we can to make sure visually that people
[1:08:07]
don't do that. But, in the short term, just want to make sure we get that word out
[1:08:12]
to those that aren't maybe seeing it on Facebook and on our website.
[1:08:17]
And that's all I have. Yeah.
[1:08:20]
Lisa.
[1:08:20]
Am I the only one that comes from the other side of town that would be making a
[1:08:23]
left onto the academy to get here tonight?
[1:08:25]
Yeah, because I almost turned, and then I quickly swerved and went down Jane.
[1:08:30]
But you're right, Matt, it's like an auto reflex.
[1:08:33]
Easy to remember.
[1:08:34]
Something that we're going to have to make an effort to remember.
[1:08:39]
So,
[1:08:41]
I just want to add about Oakwood Park, that even if you don't have kids or
[1:08:45]
grandkids, just go check it out. It
[1:08:48]
is so cool. It's so impressive, it really is.
[1:08:52]
And the amount of kids that were there at 2:00 today waiting for the opening bell
[1:08:57]
was amazing. It was just a fun thing to watch them whoosh-
[1:09:02]
It was a stampede.
[1:09:03]
Stampede into the park. It was so cool.
[1:09:06]
So, just something that we should be really proud of, and we are.
[1:09:10]
Other than that, I really have nothing because all of my committees and boards have
[1:09:14]
been on summer hiatus.
[1:09:17]
Nice.
[1:09:17]
But, the work now begins again. So, stay tuned, as we say.
[1:09:23]
Good. Brian.
[1:09:24]
Well, no need for me to repeat what's already been said, so operation's normal.
[1:09:30]
Oh, okay.
[1:09:31]
Okay. Bernadette.
[1:09:33]
Thank you, Mayor. Just a few things. Paving is complete for the 2026 season.
[1:09:39]
We're still waiting on the stripers to come and do the stop bars, any markings that
[1:09:44]
were in the street previous to paving, so they'll be probably in the borough in the
[1:09:48]
next week or so. The rain is not helping.
[1:09:52]
We're waiting on a timeline for the contractor for sidewalk replacement.
[1:09:55]
The purchase order is in. We're just waiting for him to fit us into his schedule.
[1:10:00]
The tree contractors are also in town taking down borough-owned dead trees around
[1:10:05]
the culverts, parks, and neighborhoods.
[1:10:07]
And last but not least, the borough invites the community to join us on Friday,
[1:10:12]
September 11th, for a memorial service honoring and remembering the lives lost on
[1:10:16]
September 11th. The service will begin at 6:00 PM in Centennial Park.
[1:10:21]
That's all I have.
[1:10:22]
Okay. At this time, we have public comments.
[1:10:25]
Anybody wishing to address council, is there anyone to address?
[1:10:29]
Yes,
[1:10:30]
Alan.
[1:10:39]
Alan Swanson, 47 Overhill Road.
[1:10:43]
For anyone in the room who's not aware, didn't know that on the 28th of
[1:10:49]
August, which was just last Friday, the Trump administration said that they would
[1:10:54]
be filing an appeal against the June 29th ruling by the US District
[1:11:00]
Court Judge Jeannette Vargas, that the
[1:11:05]
President and the Department of Transportation can never remove-
[1:11:11]
Can you speak louder, please?
[1:11:12]
Can never-
[1:11:13]
Just closer to the mic, Alan, please.
[1:11:16]
Can never... I didn't hear who was talking to me.
[1:11:21]
The ruling was a clarification of the Vargas ruling that
[1:11:27]
became necessary with the repeated efforts of the administration to remove the
[1:11:31]
funding and, as the President said, terminate the
[1:11:37]
project. And without going through a lot of other information about
[1:11:43]
that. I really believe it's time for the council to stand up for the citizens of
[1:11:48]
New Providence and be another voice to tell the
[1:11:54]
administration to drop the continuing effort
[1:11:58]
to, as Trump said, terminate the largest, most important infrastructure project in
[1:12:04]
the nation.
[1:12:06]
So
[1:12:08]
I think it's a simple thing.
[1:12:11]
I would ask that you just pass a resolution that
[1:12:15]
states that you're in support of the Gateway Tunnel project,
[1:12:22]
and that you would hope that the administration would discontinue their
[1:12:27]
efforts to, again, as Trump has made it clear, that he wants
[1:12:33]
to terminate this project.
[1:12:40]
So that's basically what-- And
[1:12:44]
for those who bring up that it's not a political issue, or it is a political issue,
[1:12:49]
it's not a political issue. There are plenty of Republicans who
[1:12:55]
live along all of the New Jersey Transit lines that depend on the
[1:13:01]
tunnel, and we know what happens when the tunnel is out.
[1:13:08]
Sandy is the best example of that some time ago.
[1:13:12]
And there have been recently a lot of troubles with the electrical systems related
[1:13:17]
to New Jersey Transit. It's a separate issue, but it points to
[1:13:22]
how really disruptive
[1:13:26]
it can be to the economy of our state and the people
[1:13:32]
here that live in this town and other towns along the routes when these
[1:13:37]
disruptions occur. And so honestly,
[1:13:42]
I don't get it, the notion that we need to terminate, and it is unfortunate that
[1:13:48]
it appears that
[1:13:51]
there are political reasons that there's been that effort.
[1:13:55]
But I just would like to think that this is one issue that you could go
[1:14:01]
ahead and take a stand for the citizens of the town who really
[1:14:07]
rely on New Jersey Transit and are going to rely on that tunnel, and
[1:14:12]
disruptions in its construction aren't going to help anything.
[1:14:15]
It's not scheduled to be finished till 2035.
[1:14:20]
So I'm just asking if you would just go ahead and consider that, and I would even
[1:14:26]
help you write it.
[1:14:27]
Thank you for your comments.
[1:14:30]
Anyone else?
[1:14:32]
So how would I-- No one's responding, you're just-- So then I would just note that-
[1:14:37]
Well, I-
[1:14:38]
... when asked, the council would not respond to a request to support
[1:14:44]
the continuation of the tunnel.
[1:14:46]
I, myself, am not getting into
[1:14:49]
issues with Donald Trump or Washington.
[1:14:52]
I'm just talking about doing it, Alan, and I know you-
[1:14:55]
This is-
[1:14:55]
... bring this stuff up all the time.
[1:14:57]
I'm worried about paving our roads, getting playgrounds open.
[1:15:02]
I'm worried about stormwater.
[1:15:03]
So you're not worried about the tunnel not being completed?
[1:15:07]
You said 2035, it's supposed to be completed.
[1:15:12]
If the construction stops tomorrow, it will not be completed, ever.
[1:15:17]
The construction's still underway. The construction has not stopped.
[1:15:20]
There's not a stoppage in the construction. It's going.
[1:15:22]
There is a point.
[1:15:23]
But we're not going to-
[1:15:24]
The point is that there is an appeal that is being filed by the
[1:15:29]
administration to discontinue the funding.
[1:15:35]
Okay.
[1:15:36]
After it's discontinued, you're-
[1:15:38]
Where's the appeal that says?
[1:15:39]
We'll see how that goes. The construction is underway. Thank you.
[1:15:45]
Yes,
[1:15:45]
Rosemary.
[1:15:51]
Rosemary Barnett. I prefer not to give my address, if that's okay.
[1:15:55]
You can come to me after.
[1:15:56]
I'm really sorry, but Alan, I don't even understand what that was about.
[1:16:02]
We could sit here and go back and forth regarding any national issue, and I could
[1:16:08]
ask the council how they feel about those issues.
[1:16:11]
So I don't even see what the point- It's not a national issue.
[1:16:14]
But this is-- Rosemary, you have to address the chair.
[1:16:18]
Alan, sit down, please.
[1:16:20]
I don't see the point of why these things are brought up to the council.
[1:16:25]
Your job is to take care of our town.
[1:16:29]
I don't give a crap about what's going on nationally.
[1:16:32]
Your job is to take care of the town.
[1:16:35]
It's an issue that affects- That is all we are interested in ...
[1:16:37]
residents of the town. Oh, okay. But the residents of the town need to be
[1:16:40]
interested in the town. They are not in control of what's going on with the federal
[1:16:45]
government. How could they control that? That's not in their control.
[1:16:49]
It's not a question of control. It's a question of making our voices heard.
[1:16:52]
So should I sit here and ask each of you how you feel about issues that I know
[1:16:57]
concern me? I'd be happy to chat about it. But that's ridiculous.
[1:17:00]
That's not your job. Happy to chat with you. Your job is to take care of the town.
[1:17:04]
Perfect.
[1:17:05]
It's a non-issue.
[1:17:07]
This is a public meeting and-
[1:17:08]
You're making issues, but you're making issues out of things that aren't an issue.
[1:17:11]
Why would you have people coming up here to put them on the spot about national
[1:17:17]
issues that have absolutely nothing to do with them?
[1:17:20]
People can say whatever they like.
[1:17:21]
It's a public meeting.
[1:17:22]
They can say whatever they want.
[1:17:24]
Amy said thank you for your comments.
[1:17:26]
That's right.
[1:17:27]
And that's it.
[1:17:28]
It's ludicrous. It's a waste of time.
[1:17:31]
Yes, we can address it.
[1:17:32]
I'm sitting here listening, I'm like, "Wow, what a waste of time."
[1:17:35]
Okay.
[1:17:35]
It's ludicrous. It's insulting.
[1:17:38]
Sorry. That's it.
[1:17:39]
That's okay, Rosemary. Thank you.
[1:17:41]
Anyone else? Yes, Brian.
[1:17:47]
So to the woman behind me, I don't know her name.
[1:17:49]
Name and address, please.
[1:17:50]
Brian Haas, 49 Bradford Street.
[1:17:54]
Thank you.
[1:17:54]
She complained that it was a waste of time, but one could say that her standing up
[1:17:59]
and speaking was also a waste of time.
[1:18:02]
So it's kind of the same thing, and it's kind of hypocritical.
[1:18:07]
Yes, it is a national issue, but it does affect people in New Providence, and there
[1:18:11]
are many people that feel that things that affect the residents of New Providence,
[1:18:17]
that the people that represent New Providence might want to
[1:18:21]
weigh in on those things.
[1:18:23]
I understand what you're saying, but you have to understand, there's a lot of
[1:18:27]
people in New Providence that don't feel the same way.
[1:18:30]
Mm-hmm.
[1:18:31]
And when we sit up here, it's a balancing act, and for us to get
[1:18:36]
entangled in national issues like this, it doesn't benefit the town for
[1:18:42]
us to get involved.
[1:18:45]
Right.
[1:18:45]
And we represent the entire community.
[1:18:49]
I understand.
[1:18:50]
Not just a handful that come up and don't like what Donald Trump wants.
[1:18:55]
Right. A week from Friday will be the 25th anniversary-
[1:19:00]
Yes
[1:19:00]
... of 9/11. That was a national tragedy.
[1:19:04]
I think we all agree on that,
[1:19:06]
and it affected New Providence.
[1:19:08]
Yes, it did.
[1:19:09]
And I think-
[1:19:10]
We lost six people.
[1:19:12]
Right. So these national things do affect our town.
[1:19:15]
But that impacted this town directly.
[1:19:21]
And I think this would impact our town directly, too, if this funding was to be
[1:19:26]
delayed.
[1:19:27]
But you're missing the point. Not everybody feels that way in town.
[1:19:31]
Right.
[1:19:33]
There's probably not everybody in town feels the same way about anything, right?
[1:19:37]
There may be people that didn't like the playground, right?
[1:19:40]
Well.
[1:19:41]
That's not true.
[1:19:43]
And there's no comparing 9/11 to New Jersey Transit. There's a very big difference.
[1:19:49]
Yes, there is a big difference.
[1:19:50]
Yeah.
[1:19:50]
But it was a national tragedy, and it impacted New Providence.
[1:19:54]
Directly.
[1:19:56]
And if that tunnel doesn't get built, that will affect New Providence directly.
[1:20:01]
And the construction's underway. Thank you.
[1:20:08]
Anyone else?
[1:20:11]
Seeing no one, I declare the public hearing closed, and let's go to formal action,
[1:20:17]
items one through 12.
[1:20:19]
So moved.
[1:20:20]
Second, sorry. Second.
[1:20:23]
Roll call, please.
[1:20:26]
Mr. Lerner?
[1:20:27]
Aye.
[1:20:27]
Ms. Dolan?
[1:20:28]
Yes.
[1:20:28]
Mrs. Jeffrey?
[1:20:29]
Yes.
[1:20:30]
Mr. Kamisky?
[1:20:31]
Aye.
[1:20:32]
Mrs. McKnight?
[1:20:33]
Yes.
[1:20:34]
Mr. Gardner?
[1:20:34]
Yes.
[1:20:37]
Motion approved.
[1:20:38]
So moved, second.
[1:20:39]
Any favor?
[1:20:40]
Yes.
[1:20:41]
So said.