Council - Regular Meeting

[applause] I'd like to call this January 12th council meeting to order. Everybody, please stand for a moment of silence and let's remember all of those who pass away during the month. Please salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Dillian do roll call, please. Mr. Peasant. Miss Cullen here. Miss here. Mr. Cousins, M. Bigger, Mr. Johnson here,

Mr. Kochi here, Mr. Chazi here. So, just for the record, the three council people that aren't here didn't know we were meeting again tonight because we had our meeting. They thought it'd be February and they made uh arrangements to be somewhere else. I'm just not that I'm defending him. I just they told me to please explain it to everybody. [snorts] All right. So, uh, welcome to new mayor to our meeting. Just so you know, Frank, what we do is we go around come to you. Anytime you want to speak, just let us know. Even if I go to you and you think of something later, you're always more than welcome to tell me you want to speak again.

Thank you. The other thing is, Mr. Dylan, I'm going to ask that starting next month that we see if the fire chief could start attending our meetings again if he's feeling better. Uh, I think it's important that if he could come here, I know why he wasn't here. Hopefully, I think he's doing a lot better. All right. So, Chief, you have anything? [clears throat] Oh, I'm sorry. Jose's Yeah, Mr. Jose. Jose, you want to come up, please? [snorts] Daddy, take your mic with you.

Number one, crossing guard. What's up, buddy? This is the [clears throat] last one. I even like the shirt. I know. explain. Got it.

Okay. Um, we're going to give you a proclamation of the Burrow of Bristol, County of Bucks County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We recognize Mr. Jose Rosado. Uh, Rosado, I'm sorry. That's cuz I saw Jose there. See, we'll do you next if you want. Jose Asdo on his retirement after nine years of service. Whereas the limits and well-being of a community are not in its land or location, but on how those who live and work in the burrow live their lives. And whereas Jose Aso has hired as a burrow employee on September 26, 2016. And whereas Jose Asavedo his employment as a crossing guard with the Bristol Burrow served with dedication and dignity. And whereas Bristol Burrow thanks Mr. Oavdo for his efforts being an important part of always keeping Bristol Borrow children safe. And whereas Hay Asdo's last day of employment was December 8th, 2025. And now therefore be it proclaimed by Burough Council and the residents of Bristol Burrow who join in honoring and thanking Jose Asavdo for his extraordinary and faithful nine years of service. And furthermore, Burough Council residents wish Jose Asavdo the best of luck in your retirement. Duly proclaim this 12th day of January, 2020. [applause]

[cheering] want to say anything? Yeah,

I just uh first I want to explain the uh the t-shirt. The t-shirt is from one of my students. Um I've been crossing her from first grade to sixth grade. And uh Lani and your mom, Angel, thanks for t-shirts. Cool shirt. So uh so we just want to say thank you. I've got a lot of great kids. It's not something that I wanted to do, but this weather's really affecting me. So, I just decided to to end it. So, but I miss it. I miss the kids. I miss the parents and all that that goes with it. But and I also want to thank uh Chief Morris uh for everything you do for us, giving us the equipment we need to uh keep us safe uh and warm also and uh for all you do for stopping by the corner to make sure everything's okay. You ride by a lot of times saying everything's okay, everything's good, you need anything. I think we all appreciate that. So, uh so thanks again. Um, I wanted to get to like Bill Frankie. He's like 85 years old. That's how I want to do it. I wanted to get to that age and keep doing it, but wasn't meant to be, but it was enjoyable and I thank for the opportunity.

Thank you. Thank you. Did you get a picture? No pictures. No pictures, please. Of course. You know, you're always welcome to come back part time. I know. Spring. In the spring. Thank you for protecting our children.

All right, Chief. First, I just want to express all the gratitude in the world of Jose. Since I've been the chief, I've been out there. He's on that corner at Buckley and Beaver. Every day, that's a tough corner. All the crossing guards have tough corners, but I just want everybody to know Jose had three intersections and the children crossing from three different locations

and they don't always go slow in them school zones along Beaver Street and uh Pon. We all know that. So, his dedication is noted and I appreciate everything that you did uh for us, Jose. Thank you so much. Secondly, I just wanted to thank the officers from the Bristol Bough Police Department, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, and the United States Marshall Service for their exceptional teamwork and dedication. Just so that anybody that doesn't know, their efforts were instrumental in safely apprehending two violent offenders and protecting our community this past week. So, [clears throat] thank you to that relationship that we built with our officers, our department, with the district attorney's office and the United States Marshals Department and Service, uh Rob Clark. This wasn't the first time that they've assisted us. uh they usually come right in when we call them. They had a difficult time with this subject um but eventually their diligence brought her to justice and apprehended her. So thank you to them. [clears throat] And then on a personal note, I'd like to address council this evening. [clears throat] I want to address something that occurred last Monday night during the swearing in ceremony. It was a meaningful and well attended event, one where families were present and the focus should have been on celebration and unity. During [clears throat] the me during the ceremony, Mayor Pronto was sworn in and then Jo then chose to take time to publicly single me out and criticize me for not wearing a white shirt. This is not a new topic between us. We have discussed this previously and I explained that I to him that I am a working chief, a role that I have proudly served for in just about the past four years since assuming this position. [snorts]

While I hold the title of chief and carry the responsibility of running the police department, I also believe in strongly serving alongside the men and women of this department. I am visible in the community, on the streets, and at every burough event. Not standing apart, but working with and for the people we serve. The mayor has spoken about wanting to work collaboratively with me and the department. However, choosing to publicly attempt to embarrass me over a shirt at his first official event is not how constructive working relationships are built. nor is it how people get off on the right foot. For clarity moving forward, if the mayor feels compelled to raise this issue again, I ask that he first do his due diligence. My uniform requirements are clearly outlined in my contract under section C, which states that I am not required to wear a white shirt. I know he has a copy of the contract as he requested it before being sworn in. And finally, I want everybody in this council chamber and everybody that's watching on TV tonight to [clears throat] know that my focus remains doing my job, supporting this police department, and serving this community with professionalism and integrity. Thank you. Okay. Anything else, Chief? I do not have anything else. Anybody have anything for the chief? You've actually council.

I don't have any spoke with you about senior center. Senior center Brian. Uh that's uh wreck basketball program.

Uh our rec basketball program is opening up on opening day is Saturday the 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30. We have about 150 kids in the program playing. It goes from kindergarten through sixth grade. We have kindergarten playing by themselves, first and second playing together, third and fourth playing together, fifth and sixth playing together. And uh if you have time, please come out and see these kids play. They all been putting in work and getting better at the game. And after this weekend on the 17th, the games going forward will be on Fridays at 6 and 7 p.m. and then Saturdays from 9 to 12.

Sounds good, buddy. Brian at St. Marks, uh, Bristol at one night at [snorts] apologize, Jose, did you have anything? No, Rosado. [laughter] I didn't go to public comment so I didn't know. You're good. But Jose, you're welcome. This whatever you want to say too. Got two here tonight.

I just forgot to mention one thing is uh the last couple years the drivers were some of the drivers are really aggressive. Uh I just wait just take their time. Pretend it's their kids that we're crossing. Uh we've had drivers go around us while we're still in the intersection. uh or they don't come to a complete stop. They keep creeping at you before you have to talk. And we're not supposed to engage with the drivers. We're supposed to report everything to the police department. But uh I also looked up um how many crossing guards are killed on the job. And from uh 1993 to the year 2008, which is 15 across this 15 years across this country, 120 crossing guards were killed doing their job.

Wow. Which comes out to eight eight crossing guards a year. And most of that's from distracted drivers, aggressive driving. So I just just for the drivers just uh pretends they're your kids that the crossing guards are crossing. Uh just to keep everybody safe and that was it. Thank you. Thank you, Jose.

Yes, I mentioned this last month, last week, but I wanted to mention it again. At Lower Bucks Hospital recently expanded and upgraded their intensive care units to include an additional 12 beds. Each room has been refreshed with a bright modern environment and equipped with a state-of-the-art monitoring technology. This enhanced system allows clinical teams to visualize patients cardiac rhythms throughout the entire hospital, strengthening their ability to respond quickly and safely. In addition, a new nurse call bell system was installed to further enhance patient safety and communications. These upgrades provide the uh the critical um the critical explosion after Silver Lake uh problem during which Lower Bucks Hospital processed more than 120 individuals to their doors by 12:30 that 12:30 a.m. that morning. uh team successfully triaged all patients and ensured uh efficient throughput with a final patients safely transferred to the partnering nursing facility. They were cared for both residents and staff members from Silver Lake who were presented at viring degrees of injury that night. During this event, Lower Bucks served as a central command site, coordinating the patient flow and dispersing care throughout their lobby and in clinical area clinical areas. The dedication, preparedness and cooperation of the staff exemplifies the mission and reinforces the importance of continued

investment in the facility to meet the needs of our community both doing routine care and in times of crisis. So again, I want to thank all done. [clears throat]

Yeah. Um I just want to um going forward have the tree light lighting kept on till January 6 every year and the holiday the epiphany year and it's really important to especially to the Puerto Rican community and the Catholic community. So I'd like to see that happen every year. Um also on Green Street there is a pole that was replaced but the light itself was never put on the pole. And before it starts getting warm out and kids start hanging out. I'd like to see that replaced. Um it's right across the garages. And then I also want to send um a get well to Mike Levitzki who was injured uh a couple weeks ago in a domestic disputes dispute in Bristol and um you know he was injured and we just want to wish him well and can't wait till he feels better and comes back. It's really [clears throat] important to us when our people get hurt. And also would like to have Mr. Dylan send Ellen Canella a letter because I know there was an email. She wants to discuss the future of the parade. The date that she chose is not feasible. Um but if we can get together and meet with her and discuss the date and establish different dates, I would like to Yeah. I want to meet Yes. with her committee too. Yeah. and the committee. I would like Ellen Scansella and the committee so we can all try to work this all out and that's it.

Okay. Do you have anything? Okay. Nothing we will discuss when we get to the point where you're considering the ordinances. Okay. And the executive session we discussed we had a brief executive session on some real estate matters and some personnel related matters. No action will be taken at the public meeting. Okay.

So, couple things. One, I just want to let the public know and council know that we've been successful, Amanda, and receiving $1.5 million to expand the boat docks down at the river. [applause] We applied We applied for that grant. Thanks to Kurt, Amanda, Mr. Dylan. They worked very hard and uh we uh received a letter saying that we received That's the Max, right? Amanda, you want to say anything? And welcome back. Is Amanda just had another child?

Yeah. Thank you. Um this is through the boating infrastructure grant. It's through the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Uh, so it is a federal grant that's administered through the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Um, so yeah, $1.5 million was the maximum we were allowed to ask for and we were awarded uh the maximum amount. So that's wonderful. There's a quite a bit of leg work that goes into this application. So we've been working with um Pennsylvania boat for probably about six to 10 months now, somewhere in that time frame. Um, but yeah, we were successful. So congratulations. That's good news for you tomorrow. Yes, it is.

Uh it's all right. It'll be it'll be one um dock that we have proposed at this point. Um coming off the opposite side of the pier, the fixed pier that's there now. Um so obviously we have to go through engineering and permitting and there's, you know, a lot involved with putting anything out in the Delaware River, but um that's the current plan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Question. Sure. Will that resolve that issue about the size of the boat that are done? Same same grant. [laughter] Sorry about that. No, you're good. Uh, this is the same grant funding source that we had for the original boat docks. Uh, so it is unfortunately the same sizing restrictions.

No way of getting a waiver or something like that. No, we have um we have discussed it with um fish and boat and with um the US Fish and Wildlife Service. not interested in granting a waiver at this point. Um there might be an opportunity for future conversations, but at this point um the the restriction holds from the previous grant and for this future one. Thank you. So just so everybody knows, we have a [clears throat] another grant that we're applying for for another million dollars for that project. Just stay up there. We're letting all the secrets out.

Yeah. Yeah. We had um we had already applied previously for a local uh share account grant. It's called that's the name of the grant program. Uh and that's through the state through DCD. So um that grant program takes about a year to u make a decision on. So we're expecting that to come in probably around November uh those announcements. So yeah, that might be another million dollars if we if we're successful with that one.

Thank you. I think what what I don't want to give our secrets away, but I think we're on top of our game and I think they see when these grants are put in, we're ready to go. And I think that means a lot. So, but I know how hard you guys work and the manager and Angie with the financial stuff and the secretary trying to get this stuff done to submit because there's deadlines you need to meet and we're very successful in doing that. AJ, where you at, buddy? I'm sorry I skipped you. Nothing this month.

Nothing this month. No pores, no nothing. Good. Okay, so we're done with our one part. We can go right to our meeting. So again, any public participation that ends public participation and we'll go to number two on the agenda.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion uh for the treasures report for September, October, November 2025, police chief report for December 2025, buyer chief report for the for December 2025, inspection report for December 2025, the public works report for December 2025, the HARB report for December 2029. 29 I mean December 29th, 2025 and Gilmore's report dated January 2026 for December 2025 work.

A second by Mr. Katroi. Questions or comments? All those in favor? I oppose. Number four. Mr. President, number three. Three. [snorts] I'd like to make a motion [clears throat] to approve the ordinance to amend section 15-406 of the motor vehicle and traffic code to allow 15minute parking in front of Bristol Wellness Pharmacy located at 247 North Street. Second by Mr. Cro. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? I oppose.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion for the approval of an ordinance adding part 7 to chapter 2, animals regulating the presence of wild or andor exotic animals at burough sponsored and burough permitted events. Second, Miss Rodri has questions or comments.

I'd like to speak on this. Um, I was told that that somebody was bringing a boa constrictor to our events and the woman's very frightened of snakes and there are some other animals also that people bring and I think it's dangerous to could be dangerous to uh some of the people of our town. That's why I uh wanted this ordinance put in. That's it. Any other comments? All those in favor? Number five.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to accept a three-year audit proposal from Lopez, Teodosio, and Larkin LLC dated January 8th, 2026 to audit burrow 2025 financial records and filed Department of Community and Economic Development Report. Cost per year is $16,000.

Second by Miss Colum. Questions or comments? The only thing I'd like to say with this, Mr. Dylan interviewed uh several people. It It's very hard. Our auditor retired and we were recommended uh we use Bristol Township auditor, but I guess he's so busy, right, Jen? Well, that firm was then bought out by another firm and it was very difficult the past year or so. Uh so uh so we were really dealing uh remotely at times uh with an auditor in Boston. So this is a local auditing firm uh that the burrow dealt with many many years ago.

Right. Plus they also audit I believe lower joint municipal authority and other local municipalities. So I think it's good they will come into the burrow. It'll be a lot easier for everybody, especially Angie. They can put them in the back room and she can give them all their documents that they need. So, so highly recommend this for Okay. All those in favor? I

Mr. President like to make a motion for the approval of Burough Council Vice Chairman Betty Rodriguez and Burough Secretary Treasurer Joseph Larissy to sign contracts with the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority to accept funding for the following projects. Bristol Burough Public Works Backo $165,741. Bristol Burough Fire Department hoses and equipment $77,65. Bristolboro emergency UTV, $74,573. Bristol Burough Police patrol vehicle, $72,000. Bristol Burough Police Department bodywn cameras and incar cameras, $49,31. Public Safety Street Lighting Improvements Mill and Radcliffe Street 66,723. Bristolboro area active adult center roof renovation $75,000.

Second by Mr. Petro. Questions or comments? I'd like to make a comment. I'm sorry. Um, I just want to say that there's the total municipal grants awarded from the RDA for this uh for 2026 is $580,43. I think that's pretty awesome. Yeah, [applause] it is. I'm sorry, Chief.

I'd just like to take this time to thank the RDA and to let council know that the two police cars sitting out there in the back of the parking lot were from the RDA grant from last year. They're all upfitted and equipped. Uh Lieutenant Sodto just put the rest of the stuff in today, the fire extinguisher, the river saving equipment that we have and the rest of the equipment, and they will be going into service within the next day or so. Great. So, thank you to the RDA. Appreciate them very much. [clears throat]

The only thing I want to say is that going through all these grants and I first thing me and the mayor agreed on tonight. He said about putting money in throwing money into a building that's really inhabitable. We have that building across the street needs a lot of work. So, I think it's something that I agree [cough]

uh [clears throat] with the mayor that we need to really look at another location for them because the building is in dire need of repairs. So, the the chimney I think we had a price for $45,000 to fix the chimney on the building. Uh if that goes bad, so the RDA grant I abstain I don't know. I think I have stained over there, right? from the RDA because I'm the chairman of that board. But the RDA doesn't want to put money into a building either that can't sustain itself. So, we really need to sit down with I ask the question

the people over there and try to come up with a plan because the roof's leaking, the windows are shot, the heater shot, the chimney shot, it needs electrical work, the building needs to be painted. So, and I like Frank said to me tonight, he said, "I don't I it might be a bad move." So, we really need to figure this out with that. If we got another building, would you be able to use that money for that? The RDA would do something. Yeah. Okay. You know, it's something that they would consider. Okay. I'm not saying it's guaranteed. I can't speak for them. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to know if we could go back and have looked at again.

Right. All right. Uh, all in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. I didn't have to abstain from that, right? No, you don't. Okay. [laughter] Motion to adjurnn. Betty's a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, which I don't know. Second by Liby. Meeting a journ. There might be a party.