Borough Council - Regular Meeting

quite in all honesty we made the batch yesterday so but I haven't you anticipated a Yep. Good we good Anthony good to go we're almost on it says direct YouTube and now because there's a thing on top says it's being recorded and live streamed. There's just a delay so I just have to get that off of my screen otherwise you'll get a little fat. Okay, we are good. We're good now. Okay, I will call the meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mayor Kenos here. Mr. Rivero here. Mr. Ruse here. Mr. Here. Mr. Trainer here. Miss here. Mr. Zazerino

here. Notice of this meeting was provided to the Burnersville News and Courier News filed with the municipal clerk and posted on the municipal bulletin board on December 4th, 2025. Wait a minute. I've got the flag. I got a flag. So we can do the pledge of allegiance. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States United States of America of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation nation under God indivisible indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay.

Now we're getting bright again. Uh, welcome to the January 26, 2026 meeting of the Barnesville Burough Council. Members of the public will be allowed to speak during the open sessions and during formal public hearings on the agenda. Comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker, which will be monitored and enforced by the borrow clerk. Failure of the governing body to provide a live broadcast of this meeting or technological problems encountered during the course of the meeting that affect remote viewing and or participation will not invalidate this meeting or any action taken including but not limited to the adoption of any ordinance, resolution or motion. We do not have any presentations. We were going to be doing our uh police um was it sergeant? No.

Yeah, the sergeant promotion. That's right. But considering the weather, we will put that off till February. Uh we do have minutes to approve from December 15th, 18th, and the 22nd. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? I'll second. All in favor? I I Okay.

Um, we have an open session for anything not listed for a public hearing. Anybody? I assume that's Charlie Zavalik there. That's and there's no other public. So, I will close the public hearing. Uh we do not have any ordinances for public hearings, but we do have ordinances to introduce. Um so I'll follow my screen. I'll start with Charlie. If you would move the introduction of that ordinance. Second, mayor move to introduce ordinance uh I move that ordinance 26 uh 20 2026 2036 concerning sewer connection fees and sewer user rates and allocation and amending chapter uh 16 of the burough code entitled sewer regulations be introduced by title pass and first reading published according law and that a public hearing be scheduled for the mayor for a meeting beginning 7 p.m. Monday February 23rd. Second.

Any discussion? I think we talked about this last week. So, uh, all in favor? I I I Any opposed? Okay. Uh, which way am I going? Ross, would you introduce the next one? I move that ordinance 2026-2037, an ordinance removing kennel fees from the burough code so they can be set by resolution and amending chapter 5 of the bureau code entitled animal control be introduced by title, passed on first reading, published according to law, and that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 700 p.m. on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Second. Thank you.

Great. All in favor? I I and any opposed? No, there's one little typo in that one, but okay. It's in the paragraph right after the whereas there's an at sign and it's supposed to be end quote, but everything else looks I'll fix that. Thanks. Okay, great. Uh, which have I got? Al,

I move that ordinance 2026-2038 concerning council meeting procedures and supplementing the amending supplementing and amending chapter 2 of the burough code entitled administration be introduced by title passed on first reading published according to law and a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Second. Okay. Thank you, uh, Jack for shortening my intro. [laughter] All right. Um, all in favor? I I I.

Any opposed? Okay. Um, where am I going next? Rich, I move that ordinance 2026-2039 calendar year 2026 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank pursuant to NJSA 48-40-45.14 be introduced by title passed on first reading published according to law and that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Have a second. I'll second. Okay. [snorts] All in favor? I I I I. Any opposed?

Okay. Uh Jeff, I I'm actually unready to read this. If you could go to somebody else first try. Uh Christine, um this one is the 2026-2040, right? Yeah. This is one of the downtown ones cuz in the package um it's missing the top part. Oh yeah, I I c that's the way Jessica prepared them. I circulated one that was formatted earlier today. One is a little weird, but okay. So yeah, that all of those that Jessica prepared were just the the body of the ordinance.

Yeah, they were late. Okay. So, I move that ordinance 2026-2040 downtown zones affordable housing be introduced by title, pass on first reading, published according to law, and that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, February 23rd, 2026. I second. [snorts] Okay. And I hope everybody read the changes that were made. Thank you, uh, Rich and Charlie for working with Jack and Jessica to kind of update those. Thank you to Jack and Jessica for the quick turn on and I'm ready for the next one if you understand. Okay. Um, did I do we get a motion in a second? Didn't get a second. Second.

We did. I thought we didn't vote though. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Take it away. One or any of these we wait for next month, right? Yes. I'm going to just email my change. Yeah, we have a public hearing next month, not till the February 20s something. Okay. All right, Jeff, you're up.

All right. I move that ordinance 2026 2041 65 Claremont affordable housing zone AHO-8 be introduced by title passed on first reading, published according to law, and that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Do I have a second? Second,

before before you vote, I suggest that we combine these next three and we adopt them by title only. I'm working on formatting them. So, the title will be an ordinance adopting zoning regulations necessary to implement the burough's fourth round settlement agreement with Fair Share Housing Center and supplementing and amending various sections of the Burough Land Development Code. And that way, we'll have all three just in one ordinance to make it easier to uh That's smart. Can I just Can I just say I move so moved? Yes. So that'll be the next the the 65 Claris and Bernard's A. Right. That takes That's correct. That takes care of all three of them. And will they all be 2041 then? Yes.

Okay. And that will simplify public hearing so we're not opening closing comments back. Exact. Exactly. And it make Anthony serving notices easier as well. That's true. Okay. So, we introduce We got a second and all in favor. I Any opposed? All right. Moving on to resolutions. Yeah. Um, so [clears throat] the transfer didn't go through the liquor transfer because you have that table.

That's right. Yeah, they they're going to table that to February, so we'll we'll not adopt that one. Okay. Um there was one on here. Oh, the pool management was actually less than we thought it was, right? What was it? 235 instead of 240. Yeah, I said 240, but in their bid, they had um said 235. So, we're going to go with the 235. [clears throat] Great. All right. What are the bids we're soliciting on 43?

Um, that is I mean it's really just the authorization for Rippled Waters to do that survey and start the process. The actual um public hearing and approval to um apply will be on February 23rd after the survey time is finished. Got it. But this is just to, you know, officially get the ball rolling even though kind of already started. Yeah. All right. Um so I think we're back to Charlie. I just want um 46. 46. Did we talk about that one at the work session?

We did. Um Tim um Tim Richard asked that we put that on. You already approved this in a capital ordinance last year. This That's I was going to ask. I thought we did, but I just wasn't sure. Okay. Since we just lost a vehicle, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was total. What h What happened? He got t-boned. Oh, this was the one on Anderson Hill, I think. Yeah, right. Boy, somebody went through the stop sign. Everybody okay? Yeah, it's okay. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. No, thankfully.

So, we do these one by ones, right? No, just the Well, 26 27 through 2646. That's what I thought. Okay. So, I except for 30. Except for 30. Except for 30, right? liquor license. Yeah, the liquor license. I move to pass resolutions uh 2627 through 2646 with the exclusion of resolution 2630. I'll second. Roll call, please. Can I ask a question about 35

Sure. Okay. Last time we saw it had a different amount. So the amount that's in there is 120k and that's the right one, right? Um yeah, because what had happened is when we did this the first time, we hired them in September. So it was for 40,000 from se for September through December of that year and it was just in the resolution. So it got repeated, but that was only for Yeah. You know, the third of the year. Yeah. No, that was the right amount. Okay, good catch. Okay, roll call. All right, roll call. Mr. River, yes. Mr. Ruse, yes. Mr. Zam, yes. Mr. Trainer, yes. Missra,

yes. Mr. Zazino, yes. All right, mayor's update. Um, December 17th, I did my 28th wedding. Um, and I also there was a magical concert at the library. They do this every year. You've probably done it, Ross, right? Um it's just it's a wonderful chance next year. Um they you just they're they're so good.

Anyway, um we had the burrow holiday party on the 19th. Thank you, Nancy, for putting that together. And I think so I know Al was there. Uh Rich was there. Is that it? Yeah. But it was it was really nice. I think much appreciated. Um, and right after that, Nancy and I met with uh who will be is now our new assemblyman, Andrew McCertie. Very uh amendable to answering requests. So, we'll see how far that goes, but I know Nancy gave him a list. [laughter] So, awesome. Yeah. Thank goodness.

Uh, and that same day, we also had the Cub Scouts tour Burl Hall. So um I gave them an overview of how our local government works and then they went we went down to the police department and they got to make do their fingerprints. It was very fun. Thing they liked best was sitting on the deis. That was their favorite thing. Um yeah. Uh Nancy Charlie and I had a demonstration for gov on January 7th. So, that was one of, I think, two or three that we're going to look at for that communication with our residents back and forth. Um, on [snorts] the 10th, we had to clean up the wreaths that we put out for wreaths across America. So, we got that done. Um, I attended the Somerset County Stigmafree Committee, which I'm a member of. Uh, we had Oh, this was so cool. Um, Nancy and I did a a demo with Jessica Palino, who is I forget her title, but she is kind of the redevelopment person for the county. And I think I mentioned before they have this new uh program, this city events or city data that is like Placer AI, but it they only do government entities. And what they did I don't have I was going to share it when if we were in person but we asked her to just um for an example get the information on the holiday parade and what it does is it can look up how many people were actually at the parade you know with that certain time frame where they came from where they went after um even you know ethnicity

age groups. It's amazing the amount of data that they can glean. So, um we we got kind of a login so that we can do some of that ourselves, but it's very cool and I think it'll be really helpful um for our merchants. Even the store owners can do their own store to know if they're having a special sale, how many people came, where they came from. Um, it's it's just very cool. Does it say where they parked or if they walked? No. No, I don't think it said that. So, mayor, that's what I was going to ask. We can share that data with the businesses. I think that'd be great.

Yes. For them. That's great. Absolutely. So, it's still, you know, they're still kind of working it out and learning about it, but um the county purchased it because it's it's I'm sure very expensive for each town to try and buy it, but they're allowing us to have access. Um so, what we need to do is submit the things that we want tracked. So things like the farmers market um you know uh Kowanas Park uh the polo ground I think they have the polo grounds there already but you know each business we can put in so once it's in the system then we can track it so it's really

and and is it by event or is it by location or kind of doesn't matter uh you can do it I think just by location like if you would you say you know Saturday December whatever. How many people came to my store? Yeah. Cool. You know. Yeah, that's awesome. Um, so yeah, we're very impressed with that. On the 15th, I did weddings 29 and 30 back to back. [laughter] Wow.

Yeah. I had a conference of mayors board meeting. And then um Friday we had a meet the mayors. is the Somerset County Business Partnership is creating a smaller group just for the Somerset Hills. So, they want to do more events on this end of the county, which I think is great because it's kind of hard to get to some of the places. Um, so it was Bernard Township mayor, the Peep Gladstone mayor, Watch Mayor, and myself. And it was an opportunity to just say all the great things about Bernardsville. So it was a really nice event. And then Saturday I went to Frank Ferrant's wake. of anybody knows um that says Chuck Feranti who was the chief fire chief last year. It was his dad and yeah so um it was the place was packed and they had the fire trucks and then they did kind of a parade of fire trucks past his house and then back to the firehouse where they had a uh a little repast. So yeah, and I think that's everything for me. I also believe he himself was was chief as well.

Uh yeah, he was he joined the fire company in 1967. Wow. Frank. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They've been Fantesies are a big family in Bernardsville. I mean, a lot of history with the Fanties. They've contributed a lot to the town. Um Nancy, you have a report. [clears throat] I do. I have a short report. Um the big event of course is the snowstorm um over the weekend. Snowtorm.

Um so I want to thank the residents because they're very cooperative and staying off the road and not parking on the street for the most part. Um I want to thank the T uh TPW. They started [clears throat] working at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday and they went home uh 3:30 this afternoon. So, they were there for a really long time. Um, and they'll be back tomorrow morning. Uh, they will continue cleaning up um little pl, you know, little bits here and there like, uh, just making our lots cleaner and and, you know, sidewalks, making sure all the sidewalks are clear. Um, so I did want to ask though, uh, because Kevin asked me to ask you, um, on Route 202, you know, it's a state highway, so the state plows and they plow everything to the sides that goes up towards the sidewalks. And so there are basically anywhere between two and six feet wide, two to three feet high, you know, banks of snow. And in the past, it's our understanding because this is the biggest storm, you know, since I've been here. Um, it's our understanding that DPW comes in at night and removes all that. And so Kevin estimated it would take two to three nights of all the guys and it would be overtime. And I don't have the exact amount. Um, I wasn't able to get that today, but um, you know, it's an expensive undertaking. So, uh, before I give the go ahead, I just wanted to see what you all thought.

Where do they put it, Nancy? I don't know. Oh, I thought you didn't hear me. I don't know where they put it. Is it all 202 like from [snorts] No, it's pretty much down downtown. So, from like, you know, train station area. Um both sides I guess uh or there's a sidewalk I would assume. Yeah, probably around the corner, you know, all cut square. So he estimates two to three nights hopefully too. But um it's an expensive undertaking

in this house. This would be in the driveways in the driveway openings blocking the driveway openings or you're saying no sidewalks. I'm sorry. Mostly they impede on the sidewalks. Oh, sidewalk. I'm sorry. Okay. Christine, you had a question. No, you're okay. I thought you said they used to you knew where they went with it. No, they used to put it across from Burl Hall in the empty lot where the Oh, that's right. Yes, you're right. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's not happening. So, I'm guessing they probably put it in like the Kuanas lot because people aren't playing baseball right now.

My only thought I know it is a expensive undertaking, but I'm just thinking about the restaurants, you know, Bernardon as a hotel. Um, access for a lot of those and if it's that high, you know, I'm sure business owners couldn't do it themselves. So, I'm a little bit like I wouldn't I don't think that's be everything, but I just want to think about is it necessary to do like from um you know the library area straight to the train station and that's just on the 202 corridor. I I I also don't know how bad it is right now. How much it got sprayed in from the from the

from the trucks. Everything looked kind of walkable down by the shopping center today where I work. Um, yeah, I know. I went to work and yeah, we had a little bit of a bank there in the morning just kind of dry. That was the what I noticed mostly was at the driveway openings, but it had been my, you know, I'd kind of gone out to lunch and then, you know, when I left, I kind of thought it things were looking dug out down there. So, I kind of, you know, I agree with Al. Well, I think with um the stretch from the light down. Should I go around? Isn't that um do they put it in the parking spots? I mean, is it can you not park there now because of these piles?

He didn't say that. I think you can park there. Um I think they probably cleared the spots and that's and so they push it up over the curb. So then it's it's I'm only thinking since it's been a day of have businesses already begun to dug that dig that stuff out just out of necessity just because it's already been I don't think they would dig that out. I mean they have to you know they have to shovel their sidewalks. That's right. But I don't think it would be it'd be a lot to you know two to six feet wide two to three feet high he said. So I don't think they would be doing we're not talking about the sidewalks. We're talking about the parking spots then.

No, we're talking about the area right along the curb, right? So off the road, but on the curb in between like the sidewalk and the street. So like the rightway kind of would normally be green green strip. Yeah. Which then is blocking visibility as well, right? That's true. Um like if somebody's trying to cross Nancy, we've typically done this, right, in years past.

So, so this is the first really big snowstorm since I've been here and since Kevin's been here, but he talked to some of the guys who have been here longer and he said they typically do it. They used to use contractors as well, which is another expense. Um, so no matter who does it, it's a cost. Would we be using um DPW personnel for this instead of contractors? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think it's worth doing just cuz it's the downtown. But yeah, I would agree just where there's a sidewalk and it could, you know, and then people are going to try and cut through and knock it over and it'll, you know, it just

I mean, I could tell him to use his judgment. I Yeah, that's what I would do. Or maybe prioritize prioritize the driveways on the sidewalk next to it for so people, you know, visibility, the crosswalks. Yeah. And by the crosswalks. Yeah. Yeah. Would be a good idea. Required to clean those crosswalks. I hear you. Yeah. Probably did those. I'm thinking they did those already, but I went through one today. Oh, no. Okay. Were they clear, Christine? I mean, it was kind of early this afternoon, so maybe by now they Yeah. Yeah,

I didn't notice the crosswalks, just that the sidewalks looked okay. Yeah, I I I mean I would recommend that they get it done just because it's, you know, and it's supposed to snow again like next weekend and then it just gets piled on top of piles and it's you never get ahead of it and it's not going to melt anytime soon. No, that's what I also just asked for. Yeah, maybe. I think there's investment in keeping our businesses which already have challenges with the construction and the parking lot at the train station. Let's keep access open to downtown and let's make things safe. Yes, agreed. Did you have anything else, Nancy?

Um, I just want to say that um we did have some mechanical issues. Uh we have kind of an aging fleet. Some plows broke, some some parts broke, but um they managed to get through. They are going to continue. You probably if you drove by, you know that the train station um lot still needs some work. Um but I also talked to New Jersey American Water today and they're going to help out. So um to actually pick up and remove um the snow. there's a lot of snow particularly in those spots um on 202 uh right and um so they uh are going to um help out and remove that. I don't know where they're going to remove it to um but they are going to remove that in conjunction with the DPW. So uh if people could just you know be patient, they're going to keep cleaning up um as the week goes on. Um and so about the train station and New Jersey American water that project is progressing. Um they hope that uh you know this weather will not delay it much more than a day or two. Uh I noticed mayor brought to my attention there were some people complaining about work that was being done around uh Weston Center um by New Jersey American Water and people said they didn't get noticed um but they did get noticed back in October. So this is not a new project. This is the same project that is just taking a long time. So what they're doing now is connecting people's laterals and there are still some um of those lead galvanized pipes that are being replaced that you know there was a notice about I think going back to last summer.

Um so also the contractor knocks on people's doors. So there's possible somebody wasn't home and they did knock on their door. But this is still the same work that started around October. Um and they he believes they only have um a couple days left of that. Um a couple streets left West and Bernards and Center and Bernard and then Mount Ary they work on at night from 7:00 p.m. to 500 a.m. which is all done except they need to cut and cap the main on Mount area Mount Ary. So that'll be one more night and they will also notify those residents as well.

Followup reminder to them be okay. So um could I Nancy, could you just pass on our thanks from all of us to DPW personnel for working so hard over the last 24 36 hours? They did a great job. Really? So thank you. [clears throat] um monthly reports. There an awful lot of animal control things. It's like the longest report they've ever had. Um so can somebody make a motion to accept the monthly reports? So a motion. I'll second. All in favor? I I

um items of business correspondence. We don't have any, I don't believe. No. Uh, unfinished business. Um, I did ask you just going back to the goals. I sent everybody a little list and I'm sorry I meant to not put um the SID as an it was supposed to just be something to do with downtown um what do you call or were we calling it? Um economic vitality or something like that. So, um, consider it that and not not in particular a SID, just something to spark, uh, the economy downtown.

Um, that's helpful, Mayor. Any new business? Health did not meet today. We were going to have our uh reorganization around 6:30 at the library, but they did cancel that. Yeah. Um, we have another open session if anyone I thought I saw Oh, Fran is here. Yeah. How's the library doing with all this crazy stuff? Oh, we can't hear you. Can't hear you.

It's okay. You're unmuted, but we we for some reason we can't hear you. I don't know why you need to put your volume up. You might have to log out and log back in. Yeah, nothing. Do you have a different mic plugged in? If you go to the bottom right of your uh not even Zoom, but of your computer, do you have like a AirPods plugged in or something somewhere. Sorry. I'm sorry about that.

Um I'm in the docking station. I had to yank it out and now it's working. Sorry. Um, now I just I have the same news as last week that um we are excited to have mini golf in the end of the month on the 21st and we have a great book talk uh with a purple heart tie-in on February 5th and hope that uh you or your friends or your neighbors can make it. Um we sent over Nancy our actuals from the year that you requested. So, we're eager to talk about budget for 2026. And um if you have the the room in your agenda, we'd love to present what the library did in 2025 at one of your meetings. Yeah, I think we talked about maybe February. [clears throat]

Yeah, I I asked for that, but um let me know when you know. I know it's a ways away yet. Yeah, that's all. Yeah, we know. We'd love to hear from you. And I know that you you guys were closed yesterday and today. Yeah, I love I love what you put on Facebook about, you know, all our resources are still available even though we're closed. That was a great post. Yeah, it's always a big time for ebooks. Yeah, [laughter] that's true. All right, thank you. Uh I think you're the only visitor, so I will close the public session. Um do we have a uh executive? I have none.

Nothing. All right. Mayor, the animal report was annual. That's why there was so many. Oh, okay. I didn't notice that. There's only three for December. So, so that was the the end of the year. I was saying, boy, there was a lot of bats, raccoons, and [laughter] cats. Yeah. Jeez. Supposed to be hibernating. Yeah. I liked when they used to they used to do a report where they described the whole incident. Now they just we just get the which was fun to read. Now you just get the animal and the person. So they're not as much fun. All right. Uh I think that's it then. Do I have a motion to adjurnn?

Move to adjurnn. I will second. All in favor? I. All right. Well, enjoy the evening.