Is
We didn't talk
How are you?
Is that
twice?
Yeah.
Adequate notice of this meeting is
required by the open public meetings act
was provided through the posting,
mailing and filing of the annual notice
of regularly scheduled meetings of the
town council on December 10th, 2025. The
notice was on that date posted on the
bulletin board of the municipal building
provided to the Westfield leader and the
star ledger and filed with the clerk of
the town of Westfield. Miss Lowshi, may
I have a roll call?
>> Mayor Burman
>> here. Council members Gilman
>> here. Tom McGall
>> here. Per
>> here. Keeper
>> Saunders
>> here.
>> Atlar
>> here.
>> Armentoto
>> here.
>> Victor Ramen
>> please rise for the invocation which
will be given by Councilman Saunders and
then remain standing for the salute to
the flag.
>> We gather to make decisions for our
community. We may may we use only our
best skills in judgment, keeping
ourselves impartial and neutral as we
consider the merits and pitfalls of each
matter that is placed before us and
always act in accordance with what is
best for our community and our fellow
citizens.
» I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the stands one
nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
Mr. Gai,
>> thank you. Uh I just had a quick uh
comment for tonight, mayor. Um to advise
the council and the community. Um the
this week, probably as early as
tomorrow, likely um we will be posting
on our website the read it properly
because it's a long title, but the
Tamacquas Park design plan community
engagement summary report. It's a
mouthful just to remind you and the
public. So last year we started the
Tomakquis uh park design plan with a
consultant Dresnner Robin. We started
with steering committee uh community
engagement with various stakeholder
groups uh public meetings in this room
in the community community room uh more
state uh steering committee meetings. So
what Dresd and Robin we've asked them to
do is put together a summary of the
public engagement report everything
they've learned through the process from
the the public from the stakeholder
groups uh from the steering committee
and put that in a report which will be
posted on our website this week. Uh and
then basically we'll get feedback from
the public after that and then the next
steps in the process are to continue
with this and then that those uh the
feedback they receive will now inform
them uh to begin putting together a
concept or concepts for the council to
look at uh and ultimately the steering
committee to make recommendations with
the recreation commission together to
start looking at what concepts are
appropriate uh what the public feedback
is and ultimately what will be the first
phase to be implemented in Toacquis
Park. still a while to go, but I wanted
to make sure the public knew that was
happening this week. The council have
it. It's a very comprehensive, very
detailed report. So, I think that it's a really good job your Robin did
and then that'll lead to the next steps
of the process. So, thank you.
>> Thank you, Jim.
>> Uh, good evening everyone and welcome to
the first regular meeting of the town
council for 2026. Thanks to everyone who
is joining tonight, both here in person
and via liveream on the town's YouTube
channel. As always, the replay of this
meeting will be available afterwards on
Facebook, YouTube, TV36, and public
comment will be accepted in person only.
We have a fairly short agenda this
evening, and I'll just make a few brief
remarks before we begin. First and
foremost, I'd like to address the recent
increase in car thefts in certain areas
of town over the last 6 weeks, which has
included both thefts of cars and
driveways and less frequently,
residential burglaries to obtain keys to
steal high-end vehicles. I want to be
very clear. We are taking the situation
seriously and we are treating it these
incidences with the urgency they
deserve. I'd like to thank Michael Ring
for his comments at the January 6th
organizational meeting and also for
speaking in tonight's 7:30 conference
session. I've spoken to several
residents about their experiences and
concerns and have been kept fully
apprised of all activity by Chief
Baloro. I acknowledge the fear and anger
that some of our residents are feeling.
For those who have been directly
impacted, I am truly sorry for what
you've experienced. On a local level,
please be assured that the Westfield
Police Department is working
aggressively to address this issue,
which is impacting many towns across the
region. We are grateful for the work of
the Westfield PD and making two recent
arrests. One related to the incident on
Senica and one on Coolage. I'm going to
ask administrator town administrator Jim
Gildet to speak in more detail about the
department's ongoing efforts to combat
this problem.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, and as you said,
we talked a little about this in the um,
conference session before the meeting
and we also had a public safety
committee meeting tonight uh, where the
committee obviously talked a lot about
this with Chief Baloro, professional
staff and uh, what we're doing. Um, so
just a couple things to remind the
council and the public about um, you
know, a couple things. First, uh, the
police department is continues to be and
is at high highest level of staffing. So
resources are adequate um, and actually
in abundance with the police department.
Um and uh I want to thank Chief Balora
and the entire police department staff
because this is a constant issue. This
is a top priority of the department. Uh
has been and will continue to be going
forward. Um you know, property crime,
which is I've lived in town since 1979.
My house where my parents still live
today was broken into uh in 1985. I
still remember it. So these are not
things you forget lightly. This is a
violation of your personal space. And so
we understand that. Um, but we have
highest levels of staffing, highest
levels of resources given to the police
department. It's important for the
public to know that we also have
invested in technology, which we've
talked about some time. It just bears
repeating a little bit. Um, we have
license plate readers. Um, it sounds
simple, but we have 25 license plate
readers. We are the uh, I guess the
third largest license plate reader um,
town in the county behind Elizabeth and
Lyndon or Rawway, excuse me. Um, and we
have 25 and they're positioned at
different parts of town. Why is that
important? License plate readers will
pick up license plates of cars that are
stolen and alert the police immediately
of when cars are in the town. And
because of where our license plate
readers are located, the police can help
triangulate where those cars are. And
our goal is to intercept them, drive
them out, or apprehend them when
possible and obviously prevent the crime
that's about to take place possibly. Um,
we've actually had some things. We've
had these 25 uh breeders, license plate
readers for some time, but we're moving
them around now to be more in strategic
locations. So, for example, someone
coming in on Central Avenue, passing
down Central into like Virginia Street
area, we'll pass one there and then we
can if they don't hit another one for
the street, we know they're in a certain
neighborhood. The police can go out and
fan out and get that thing. So, we've
been successful uh these have really
helped us be successful not only in
helping to prevent the actual thefts or
crimes, but also sometimes the attempts.
and our goal is to push them out of our
boundaries. Um, crime like this does not
know municipal boundaries. It will
happens everywhere. It's happening all
the towns around us. We're no exception
and at 85 um it's been happening for
decades and will not stop.
Unfortunately, we have a lot of things
in this town people want. Um, but our
police department does a phenomenal job
pushing the crime out of the town. In
addition to that, just technology wise,
we also have um an officer on staff and
a few we have drones that we use. So
when officers are out on patrols, extra
patrols, they do use drones. That helps
us obviously aerally see what's going
on. It helps us actually um uh locate
these vehicles where he puts them out.
Last thing just to mention about this,
um I think Mr. Ring had, you know,
comments last meeting. Um I want to
continue that conversation. And so one
of the comments he brought up was could
we have additional patrols or additional
supplemented staff at different times?
And I want to let the public know we do
that. Um so for example in the cooler
street area uh where we knew there was
being targeted there for a while you
might not have seen us there and that's
by design. uh police department has
undercover patrols um that happen in
areas that are targeted and sometimes
it's coolage it's two years ago it was
Hillside Avenue it can be anywhere in
town and we actually will have have
supplemental patrols overnight
undercover uh and we found that that
works but even when we're doing that one
of the lights were on coolage undercover
we had an incident on Senica different
side of town so it's never perfectly
predicted where this is going to happen
but we do do that we will continue to do
that uh as long as we continue to be
successful and some of those undercover
patrols have yielded what mayor mayor
Burman actually said before um sorry
still getting used to it um mayor Burman
said before of arrests place we had an
arrest connected to that we had an
arrest for coolage and they're working
on other possible arrests going forward
so our staff and police department is
doing a phenomenal job but this is a
constant problem it's county statewide
uh and Union County is unique in the
sense that we are very close to
Elizabeth to uh other towns that are
close to the ports of Newark. So, the
towns in the periphery of that are ones
that are targets, but it's easy to get
cars out to the porch, shipped out, and
so forth. So, um again, I just, you
know, thank you, mayor, for letting me
say a few words about that and the
police department, but we have some
things that are happening. We do take
this very seriously. It's a top priority
at all times, and we will continue to do
those things. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Jim. Uh and thank you to the
police department for their ongoing
diligence. Um as we all know, the
legislative component of this issue, as
we just discussed in conference, is
equally important. I've already reached
out to our two newly elected assembly
members, Andrew Mccertie and Vincent
Carney about the urgency uh for state
level action, which I will also be
communicating to Governor Elect Cheryl's
office. Our officers will continue to
work diligently to investigate, make
these arrests, and secure our community.
And as Jim mentioned, uh, the public
safety, transportation, and parking
committee of the town council, chaired
by councilwoman Gilman, and joined by
council members Adoir, Dmagal, and
Saunders met this evening, uh, for an
hour and a half, uh, for the first time
this year, and we'll continue to make
this issue a top priority for our
community. Um, so moving on to upcoming
events over the next two weeks. The MLK
Association of Westfield will host its
annual commemoration events on Monday,
[clears throat] January 19th, in honor
of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The march
will begin at 12:15 at the MLK monument
at the South Avenue circle with the
interfaith service to follow at 1:00 at
the First Congregational Church of
Westfield on uh Elmer Street. I look
forward to joining members of our
community to gather and honor this
meaningful day. And also don't miss the
4th annual Build Westfield in Lego event
to be held on January 24th. Our special
America 250 edition will include
national landmarks like Independence
Hall and Mount Vernon along with over 50
beloved local buildings. Please register
through the civic wreck and join your
neighbors as well as General Washington
as we kick off the nation's 250th in
this fun familyfriendly afternoon. Uh
many thanks to the historic preservation
commission uh of the recreation
department for bringing this unique uh
event to Westfield. Tonight's agenda is
very straightforward. I would like to
briefly highlight two ordinances on
first reading as they pertain to
recently settled labor negotiations with
uh for town employees. The first relates
to the Communication Workers of America,
the CWA local 1040, which represents
approximately 35 town employees who work
in various support CA capacities
effective January 1 of this year through
December 31st, 2029. The second relates
to the firemen's mutual bene benevolent
association, the FMBA branch 30 that
includes 38 employees from the Westfield
Fire Department effective January 1 this
year through December 31st of 2030. Both
ordinances implement the salary ranges
and guides for various employees in the
bargaining unit for the term of the
respective contract. Once the ordinance
is adopted in a few weeks, it will be
followed by a resolution outlining the
specific salaries for each employee
effective for 2026 and that will be
retroactive to January 1st, 2026. Let's
begin tonight's agenda.
May I have a motion to accept the
following appointment uh for the
recreation commission Andrew Bronin as
chair uh term expiring December 31,
2026.
>> So moved
>> by Councilwoman Gilman. Second
>> second.
>> Seconded by Councilman Armento. Any
discussion?
All in favor?
>> Yes.
>> Opposed? The motion is carried. May I
have a motion to approve the minutes
from the town council conference
executive and regular meetings of
December 9th, 2025 and the town council
reorganization meeting of January 6th,
2026.
>> Move moved by uh Councilman Dagala.
Second
>> second.
>> Seconded by Councilman Saunders. Any
discussion? All in favor?
>> Yes. Opposed? The motion is carried. Uh
now it's time for open discussion by
citizens. Anyone may come up to the
microphone and speak to the council on
any subject on which this council has
jurisdiction. Please state your name and
address for the record and limit your
comments to five minutes.
Mayor, council. Uh, good evening. My
name is Sean Keegan Foley and I am a
former councilman and operate a mental
health practice here in uh Westfield. Um
I am currently visiting municipalities
across Union County as part of a
regional effort to address algorithmic
rent pricing by building support through
municipal resolutions. I have shared a
resolution with the full governing body
through the town clerk earlier this
week. This resolution is about affirming
that housing markets be fair,
transparent, and competitive. I hope you
all have a chance to review the
resolution at some point and consider
supporting it on the record. Thank you
for your time.
Thank you, Sean.
We have received that communication and
we'll take a look at that.
Any others?
Hearing none, I close this portion of
the meeting and move to bills and
claims. Councilman Pcker.
>> Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to move bills
and claims in the amount of 1,260,446.
» May I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Councilwoman Adoir. Any
discussion?
All in favor?
>> Yes.
Opposed? The motion is carried. Uh,
next on the agenda is reports of
standing committees, beginning with the
finance policy committee, Councilman
Pcker. Thank you, [clears throat] Mayor.
I have 11 resolutions I would like to
move as a package. Number one,
resolution authorizing the chief
financial ad officer to draw warrant for
dog licenses for December 2025. Number
two, resolution authorizing the chief
financial officer to draw a warrant to
treasur state of New Jersey for 2025
fourth quarter marriage civil marriage
and civil union license fees. Number
three, resolution authorizing the chief
financial officer to refund street
opening cash bond. Number four,
resolution authorizing the chief
financial officer to refund dumpster
security payment. Number five,
resolution authorizing the chief
financial officer to refund recreation
department fees. Number six, resolution
authorizing the chief financial officer
to draw a warrant for board of
adjustment escrow monies. Number seven,
resolution authorizing the chief
financial officer to prepare warrants
for postage payment in connection with
tax assessment notices. Number eight,
authorizing the chief financial officer
to draw warrant for fourth quarter
construction official state permit fees.
Number nine, resolution to appoint
building and mechanical inspector.
Number 10, resolution authorizing an
affordability assistance grant pursuant
to the town of Westfield's affordable
assistance program for a tenant in an
affordable housing unit at 440 North
Avenue East, apartment 1A. 11,
resolution authorizing an affordability
assistant grant pursuant to the town of
Westfield's affordability assistance
program for a tenant of an affordable
housing unit at 3101 Echolane, Unit
3101.
>> May I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Councilman Daggala. All in
favor?
>> Yes.
opposed.
The motion is carried.
>> Next, I would like to move general
ordinance number 2026-01
on first reading, an ordinance to amend
the code of the town of Westfield,
chapter 2, administration, article 2,
town officers and employees, division 3,
personnel positions and salary schedule
sec2-12.28
schedule.
>> May I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Councilman Saunders. Any
discussion?
Please call the role.
>> Council members Gilman,
>> yes.
>> Domin,
>> yes.
>> Pecker,
>> yes.
>> Saunders,
>> yes.
>> Armentoto,
>> yes.
>> Mayor Burman,
>> yes. This motion is carried.
>> I would also like to move general
ordinance number 2026-02
on first reading, an ordinance to amend
the general ordinance number 2022-16
entitled an ordinance fixing the
salaries of certain employees of the
police and fire departments in the town
of Westfield and various amendments
there, too.
>> May I have a second? Second.
>> Second.
by Councilman Armentoto. Uh, any
discussion?
>> Please call the role.
>> Council member Gilman.
>> Yes.
>> Domo.
>> Yes.
>> Tucker.
>> Yes.
>> Saunders.
>> Yes.
>> Armentoto.
>> Yes.
>> Mayor Burman.
>> Yes. The motion has carried.
Next is public safety, transportation,
and parking committee. Councilwoman
Gilman.
>> Thank you, mayor. I have two resolutions
I would like to move as a package. One,
resolution to appoint fire official.
Two, resolution to appoint special law
enforcement officers.
>> May I have a second?
>> Second.
Councilwoman Adoir. Any
discussion?
>> All in favor?
>> Yes.
>> Opposed? The motion is carried. Uh, last
is the public works committee.
Councilwoman Adoir.
>> Thank you, mayor. I would like to move a
resolution authorizing an award of
contract for the disposal the disposal
of recyclable material.
>> May I have a second?
>> Second. Seconded by Councilwoman Gilman.
Any discussion?
All in favor?
>> Yes.
Uh opposed. The motion is carried.
>> May I have a motion to adjurnn? So
moved.
>> Motion by Councilman Saunders. Second.
>> Second.
by Councilwoman Adoir.
>> All in favor?
>> Yes.
>> Opposed.
>> The motion is carried. The meeting is
adjourned. Thank you every Thank you
everyone for coming.