Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this June 8th council work session and regular meeting to order. Everybody please rise for a moment of silence. And let's keep Kevin Everett in our prayers. He's going through some tough times right now, our public works director. Hopefully he can make a speed head recovery. And also I got some good news before we came out. Councilwoman Lorraine Cullen was home from the hospital tonight around 7. time, so she's recovering from heart surgery and hopefully maybe we'll see her in July. Please salute the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible,

Okay, so at this time I'm going to open up public participation. Anybody on this side of the room want to speak on anything, go to the podium and state your name and address.

Good evening, Bill Pessah, Pond Street. First, I want to wish the Council President a happy birthday. And I'm just going to be a second to say that, as I said before in my visit here, we are marketing this legacy book for the borough. We have scores of entries already, and I just want to encourage everyone. At first, you know, it was my fault. Actually, have it in tomorrow, have it in next week. it takes time for people to reach out to their relatives decide what they want to write and then actually write it right maria so we know that we're working with a lot of different people there's there's literally well over another 100 people out there that have already said i want to submit so i just want to encourage you don't let the process deter you okay if you want to have a two-page entry into the book 500 words with a photo or six hundred words without and you're not quite sure how to do it just message me Facebook whatever and we'll get somebody to help you directly okay answer a question for anyone this is a fundraiser that goes for to raising the bar it takes the place of a $10,000 raffle we used to do and that's what the money goes for but this is going to be a treasure for people it's really going to be nice what are you smiling about Ralph I called Monica today to remind her to get her. I know. Okay. All right. Have a good night. Thank you. Thanks, sir. Thank you.

And happy birthday to Ralph and to Lee.

Pardon me?

here I'm here to talk about how long is this presentation at least five minutes all right we didn't know we didn't know I didn't know you were doing this tonight so I like to breathe yeah we need to be prepared when we're doing things but if it's not going to be long that's fine okay

Yeah, so I saw in Levittown now that you're going after vehicle noise, you know, with the motorcycles and cars and everything like that. So I'm all for that. And I figured, well, let's bring in the train noise, which is the loudest of all the noises here in Bristol. And one little note to They shut down the noise. So you might want to talk to them about how they're doing that. Okay, so I'm here to talk about the train noise that's coming from Dow Chemical. They're transporting their goods and stuff between Bristol and Croydon. So there's the one at 413, the one at State Street, and the one at River Road. In order to do a quiet zone, you have to have gates and lights and a median strip dividing traffic. So that can be done pretty inexpensively at 413 and State because the light's already there. So the power and the signaling is all there because of the lights. The River Road, that's an expensive upgrade because it doesn't have either of those. So I looked into, well, what if we got rid of it? Because, oh, that's just that. So here's kind of another view of it. So you can see where River Road branches off from State there near the top. By the way, the property that this reroute road would go through is owned by Bristol Township, which that's going to be the bulk of the costs from Bristol Township because all these crossings are in Bristol Township. So that's the proposed reroute. So you just wait a bit and then you branch off and get connected down to the current river road so that avoids the railroad. So turns out that to get funding normally it's 70% but if you do crossing removal among other things the federal and state will give you 80% funding and it turns out that the cost of the road and upgrading that crossing with lights and power and signaling and all that because it's got nothing What do they call it? Yeah, there's nothing there but a white cross on the road and a sign so there's no lights. Then I turned on the wetlands overlay and this just touches that wetlands. But if you can, limit your crossing of the wetlands to under 0.1 acres, it really does not have much impact. So we can carve out about 0.04 acres and still have the road go through. So that doesn't impede this process. The first step to doing a process is hiring a surveyor to survey this wetlands overlay to see if it's accurate and to mark it. Now, the big fear is that it would grow. Well, the top part is utility. There's power lines going through this. I don't think it would grow that way. It could grow towards the east a bit, but like I said, we can go to 0.1 acre and still be safe. We're at 0.04 right now. So why is this... project good for getting a grant. Well, like I said before, complete removal of crossing is huge on the list and it puts us at the top. We would be a joint municipal participation with Township and Borough and potentially Dow Chemical because Dow would love to have that third crossing removed. It would just make everything easier for them. So they may be able to chip in some. We're leveraging the existing signal infrastructure, like I said, so that helps with cost. Yeah, and these are just reasons why Dow might want to do it. Obviously, the risk and liability, crew safety. If the horn's loud for us, it's loud for those guys pulling the chain in the engine. So I'm sure they would like to work silently at one, two, three, four in the morning. And they've done other safety things. They have a training center just down the road, literally like a quarter mile down the road. So other reasons why this guarantees a grant is if we could improve Dow, that would be another great thing. Leveraging the signal. Oh, and we can maintain a 40-foot setback from the track, which means that CSX, who operates the train, doesn't have to get involved, and we don't have to put a $73,000 concrete border if we're closer than 25 feet. And because Township owns the land that this road would be on, the value of that land can be put towards the cost of the construction. Google Gemini, by the way, it's, wow. They estimated at $50,000 towards that. Their cost, you can see there at the end, for a township is $148,000. And also, like I mentioned before, we're under a 0.1 acre of the wetlands footprint that we would be impinging on. So that's also a good thing. The Federal Railroad Association grant process likes to have shovel ready, and this doesn't change that. This is just a road map of all the steps. The first step is to do a delineation survey of that wetlands to see exactly where it's at, hopefully. These are all the agencies involved. I'll have to print out of this so you can read it offline. So here's the total cost I'm sure you've all been waiting for. The total cost is just under $1.1 million. The grants will take that down to $800,068. Of that, Township does $217,000 and Borough only does $18,500. Now, I think it's worth more than $18,500. Oh, plus, so yeah, here's why it's down to $48,000, because they can cash in the $50,000 for the value of the land. So what if Bristol chips in more? Well, if they basically double it to $40,000 and Dow chips in, then Township goes down to less than $100,000. Now, I figure, well, that sounds good. What if they're wrong? So I've tried all this with ChatGTP. And they reported 1.2 million instead of the 744,000 for the road construction, which is the big ask here. So I asked Google, why is ChatDB? And it basically exists because they don't look at the individual site. They just take averages of the whole area of road construction and don't really drill down. So hopefully they're accurate. But that's a little checking. So, like I said, the first step is to do a delineation survey. That costs between $5,000 and $6,000. I'd say borough and township split it. The one important thing is the distance from the track. It's important to measure the center of the track. They may not use the railroad measurements. They may do the rail edge or the tie edge or the gravel edge, but it's right from the center, so that gives us a few feet there. And that's it. I know you put a lot of time into this. Yeah, have it all here.

We really appreciate, you know, but our experience with Dow and dealing with, you know, rails and stuff like that, it's not successful. We have a lot of problems on all 13. We wanted to take the abandoned rail out. They will never do it. They said because 100 years from now, they may need it. So they're not ever going to take, they won't take rails out. I mean, our engineers here, we had several meetings about bridges. In theory, everything you're saying is great. I don't know if this would ever happen, but we'll have our engineer, who's also the engineer for Bristol Township. So I'll let her bring that packet and try to get some answers.

I mean, has anybody tried deleting that river crossing? Pardon me? Has anybody tried deleting the river crossing?

No, I don't.

Because that gets us to 80%, and Dow, you can't deny that Dow would love that.

I don't think, Dow has nothing to do with the rail.

Well, CSX, they would love it because it's one less crossing to worry about.

But that's how we think.

And it may speed the trip back and forth for Dow, too.

That's how, just like in Harriman, that's, you know, the noise, the trains running, and they got a place in Marsville that they could switch tracks they don't want to. to in the center track you live right behind me so I hear the same noise so I complained to Amtrak about that so you guys should too alright well Amanda will look into that that's our engineer you can give her the packet she's sitting right raise your hand right there thank you okay anybody else on this side of the room want to speak on anything anybody on this side of the room want to speak on anything Go ahead and state your name and address.

Good evening. I'm Amy Daly, 16753 Riverview Circle. I'm here also as a community member and also one of the school nurses for the borough. I'm here tonight to share some information about an upcoming event, National Night Out, as a member of the planning committee. National Night Out is a community building campaign that strengthens police community partnerships and builds neighborhood camaraderie. This event is held annually on the first Tuesday in August. This will be our fifth year celebrating National Night Out, and each year the event has grown in impact and participation. The goal of this event is simple. It's to make neighborhoods safer and more connected. Together, we are making this happen, and on August 4th, Bristol Borough will join over 38 million neighbors across 16,000 communities from the United States, its territories, and military bases worldwide. The Bristol Cares Coalition, in partnership with Bristol Borough Police Department, is hosting the event on the grounds of Snyder Girardi Elementary School on Tuesday, August 4th, from 5.30 to 8 p.m., This location will give us a central family-friendly space where our community can gather and connect in an area that's familiar with our families. To make this year's event a success, we are inviting the community to support in several ways. Local organizations, small businesses, and community partners are welcome to host tables and engage with families and vendors. As vendors, we are also looking for volunteers from the community to help with setup, activities, and general support throughout the evening. Financial contributions are also welcome to help keep the event free, accessible, and at a high quality. One of the other things that we're doing at this event is that we collect school supplies for Bristol Borough students. So the drive also helps to ensure that every child starts the year prepared and confident, and it's one of the most appreciated parts of this event. Residents can expect a fun family-friendly evening with activities for all ages, including resource tables with organizations, opportunities to meet neighbors, and meaningful interactions with our police officers and community partners. It's a chance to strengthen our relationships, build trust, and celebrate the pride of Bristol Borough. As we enter our fifth year, we're asking for your continued support in spreading the word, encouraging participation, and helping us make this event another success. So I would like to leave some flyers for posting. Send a digital copy, if I can, to help post on social media and the borough websites. And then if anyone has any questions or is interested in helping out as a vendor, sponsor, or volunteer, you can send an email to BristolCaresCoalition at gmail.com. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to seeing you on August 4th to help us celebrate.

Amy, I'll have Joe, Chief CRAT, I'll put it on our website and our screen TV and all that stuff.

Okay.

So, Joe, you'll work with Matt, right? Yes. And thank you. I know how hard you work. You've got to get Jerry to start working. Right, Jerry? All right. Anybody else on this side of the room want to speak on anything? I don't know if he's coming for public participation or not. Any public participation? No? Okay. That ends public participation. So... I'll start tonight since we have a lot going on. Let's talk, Amanda, while you're here. Want to go to the podium? I just want to give everybody an update on the Otter Street fields. so right now the borough council has awarded the contract to musco lighting right for the lights that we're hoping to have installed for soccer season in september we're working on releasing the construction for the press box correct yeah the concession stand building up construction concession stand we're also trying to get the otter street parking lot done but Where are we at with that?

So that requires a permit through DEP, so we are planning to submit to DEP shortly. We have the plans prepared for that, but that will take some time.

So we're waiting on DEP to release that, which is really ridiculous because it's a parking lot now. Right, right. And the last thing is the playground there, right?

Right.

So the playground equipment can, I don't know how many, what's their lead time?

That one might have been six to eight weeks, I think, last time we checked with them.

Pardon me?

Six to eight weeks, I think, was the playground.

So we're shooting for around September to start seeing a lot of this destruction and lights and everything being... going up and try to get done.

Right. And just to clarify, Musco is the supplier of the field lighting for the actual soccer field. So those have been released. That's what I said. Right. There will also be lights at the playground and then across the street in the parking lot, too. So they're not done by Musco, but they'll be handled by a separate contractor. All right.

And we're trying to use everybody that's CoStar approved so that we could just award these contracts and the material so we can move these projects quicker. Right. So all the playground equipment, everything that we talked about at that presentation, just trying to give people an update that we are working on everything. We're just waiting for things to happen.

Right. Yep. Right. And Otter Street will be hopefully that the first one that's kind of under construction there. And there are those four pieces just to reiterate the field lighting, the concession stand building, the playground, and then the parking lot across the street. That's great. Right.

Thank you. Any questions for Amanda? Okay. Thanks, Amanda.

responsibility even though it's a state road.

Yeah it would be my pleasure to describe the situation. Now PennDOT has taken a position I'd say back in the 90s or so that any stormwater utility pipe under a state road is the borough's responsibility to maintain and replace if necessary. So You know, that's not a Bristol issue. That's any borough essentially throughout the state. There are quite a few state roads in this town. So we've talked to them extensively about Mill Street. We've had questions about Green Lane. And I did some research and went through some of their case law that they've cited, and it does not appear that there's a whole lot of concrete evidence for them to stand on this policy that they've, you know, are now upholding. So I think we are bringing the solicitor into, or we're asking council to bring the solicitor into the conversation at this point to see what can be done, because it is really a difficult undertaking for a small borough to maintain the entire stormwater infrastructure, not only on your own local roads, but also on the state roads. There's aging infrastructure. Those pipes were probably put in decades and decades ago. And it is really just such an effort to try to then replace, essentially, a large portion of piping under. specifically Mill Street and Green Lane. So we'll see where this gets us.

Thank you.

Thanks, Amanda. The other thing I'd just like to mention, sad news, but Bristol girls softball lost a tough game today, three to two. They would have been playing for the state championship, but they got beat tonight, three to two. Just wanted to pass that along. Question for the solicitor and the chief is everybody knows about that, heard about the kid that got hit on Green Lane on a e-bike or something, a five-year-old kid. They don't know if he's going to make it. Our prayers go out to him and the family. But I asked the question, what is the speed limit on a street in Bristol that's not posted? Is it 25? Is it 30, 35? Nobody really has the answer. So what I like to do is have our solicitor prepare an ordinance for July as fast as possible to say every street in Bristol, I'm talking side streets, that the speed limit is 15 miles an hour, just like a school zone. So every street in town, whether it's Lafayette, Washington, Darn, Spruce, Race, you name a street, you know, Cleveland, Jackson, anywhere in town, that street speed limit should be 15 miles an hour. Now on Jefferson, Pond, Beaver, and Farragut, 25 seems appropriate. But 25 means 25, not 30 or 35. So I don't know how to chief how you feel about it, but... I know you've been preaching about safety with these kids and schools getting out. And I don't know if we, you know, how do we stop this if we don't really know what the speed limit is?

Well, school is letting out. This is the last week of school and we've been, it's been a challenge with the scooters and the e-bikes. We've been trying to educate the kids for the past year. We've worked with the schools. We've been handing out the micro mobility laws for the state of Pennsylvania. while the guys are on, the officers are out on patrol. Um, we've seen a difference with the amount of e bikes and scooters out there. It has lowered in the past few weeks, but we're still seeing them out there. So we're asking the parents, the scooters that you stand on are completely illegal except for private property. And we've posted on our laws on our website, on the borough website, The issue is we can't be everywhere all the time. The kids are crossing the street. They're not looking. 25 miles an hour is way too fast on our side streets. I'm in full agreement with lowering the speed limit down to 15 if we can do that with an ordinance. As far as the e-bikes, that's also been a challenge. We've been pulling the e-bikes over. There's special laws. You got to be 16. They have to have lights. You have to be 16 with a helmet. They're not allowed on the sidewalk. In certain areas, they're not allowed on the street. And the dirt bikes, the electric dirt bikes, the electric e-bikes that look like the motorcycles, the off-road motorcycles, they are completely illegal. We have been enforcing that and seizing them and finding citations out to the people that are riding them. As far as the speeding in town, uh, without looking at the thing, I think we wrote over 200 some tickets last month in town, stop signs speeding, um, up on 13 a week and a half ago with the help of public works. I was out there with another officer. We repainted the white lines on green lane, uh, Radcliffe at Washington Farragut and Harrison and up on old 13. So we are addressing the speeding on the main roads in town as best as we can.

And the reason I bring this up is I live on the path. So I see kids flying up and down every day. And the other night a car was coming down my street. Didn't know the kid was coming. The kid came right across. on didn't even hear a car and just kept going like nothing happened so i'm trying to avoid an issue if we can if you look online i think it says if it's not marked it's 25 i i think we really need to pass jeff if you can get that done and council approves at least it gives your guys

I'm not an accident investigator, but I can tell you at 25 miles an hour, when one of them scooters comes off the sidewalk or the corner, you're not going to have enough time to stop. I almost hit one myself out here by all fresh. The juvenile was coming down the sidewalk so fast, heading towards Mill Street, passing all fresh. He almost ran into the side of my police car. So, them things are doing 25, 30 miles an hour, and these are little kids on some of them. And sometimes you see a child with another child, like I had today, after Snyder was letting out early today, a child came to pick up his brother and was riding that the stand-up scooter that does 25, 30 miles an hour. So we've been asking the parents to help us on this. It was an unfortunate tragedy over the weekend, not far from here, and I really don't want that to happen here. So we are out there enforcing it. At one point, very soon, we're going to start seizing the scooters. They're completely legal unless you own private property. And I really, I don't want to... occupy our time with that, but I feel that it's very important, and we're going to initiate that in the near future before a tragedy happens here.

Well, and I look at the report you sent every month, and I think there was 153 tickets written, 30 by the full-time police officers, and 123 by part-time police officers, if I'm correct. i'm not saying that full-timers aren't doing their job but our timers are out there doing what they have to do they're doing an outstanding job and the other one there was traffic stops there was 202 stops 13 by full time 209 by part-time so i think our system's working and the other reason i think it's working because we paid $59,000, $31,000 in overtime. And since March, we only paid $5,900. April was zero. May was $644. So you're looking at the replacement?

Yes. Well, the reason that is, is because once the collective bargaining agreement was signed in the beginning of March, If you're looking at the same thing where it went from 31 and some change to 59, the collective bargaining agreement was signed in the beginning of March, which allowed us to use the part-timers as replacement.

And I know part-time salary, we're paying more than part-time help, which that's fine. And I don't begrudge anybody making money, but the overtime has, it's working. The system now is working. When you have April zero,

i don't think in 25 years i've been here that we paid zero overtime in a month so just to give you an example last year we were at 307 688 as of the end of may we're at 67 100 67 000 yeah as opposed to 300 and some thousand all right so you look at these numbers i think it's working uh

The other thing is the courts over on Jefferson Avenue have been fixed. Our public works was out there and they did a good job fixing all the backboards and also the kids can start using them courts. I don't see anything happening this year over there. We're close to coming up with some final decisions on the courts, the guard and all firehouse, but that's another issue. The last thing I want to just mention is I know school's done this week and I just want to say a little, give you a little plug because you don't get it. I've been here 25 years and I had Arnie Porter as a chief, I had Chief Henry as a chief, and now you. I have never seen a guy put the amount of time in that you put in for every event that takes place in this town you're here for school you're here for functions you're here for no matter what happens baseball games you go to the football games and you know how much you get for that nothing not one dime extra you get paid so this town owes you a great deal of gratitude because we never had a chief that put the time in that you put in. And that's why you're so well liked and the kids respect you in this town, because they see you in the school, they see you on the street. So we're very lucky to have you. And I can tell you that right now, because I know we paid a ton of overtime to other chiefs that work in this borough.

I appreciate that. Thank you. It's a team effort on all of us. I know. Everybody involved. To start, you've got to have a leader somewhere.

Your guys respect you and you do a good job. And the town respects you.

Thank you. If I could just add one more thing while we're on the traffic situation. That's fine. So like you said, school was letting out this weekend. There's a unit that works for the borough here that is very dear to my heart and very important to me. I'm not saying that they go overlooked, but they're out there when it's raining. the storms when it's freezing cold when it's snowing in the worst of the worst weather and that's our crossing yes they are the best crossing guards in the county as far as I'm concerned they work so hard for us out there and for those of you that drive through town we tried to make it safer for them because we appreciate them you'll see our police cars up at st. Mark's you'll see them around Snyder Girardi at when the kids are going into school and when the kids are leaving school to try to slow the traffic down. Because we all know that the traffic problem is coming through the borough because of what's going on up at 13 in Green Lane. It's jersey tags. It's people just flying through town. So with Wednesday being the last day of school, I just want to thank the crossing guards for everything that they do. And I just want to especially thank Bill Frake. After 15 years of service here at Pond and Mulberry Street, he's retiring after Wednesday. So I want to send out a special thank you to Bill and his wife for allowing him to continue to work for us all these years. So thank you so much, Bill.

Well, I think we need to reevaluate them because they're underpaid. And we need to sit down before his school year starts again and come up with a better salary for them. The other thing is this. See, I got my cheat sheet here. On June 27 at 10 a.m. to 12 noon, it's 20 years since the Harriet Tubman monument was put in. I remember my first meeting about that with Deal Wright and Conti Patel, who used to be the engineer. He was trying to explain to me about the granite, and I had no idea what he was talking about granite. And after a while, I understood Connie after a while. But they're celebrating 20 years of that monument and being nice to stop by and let Deal and everybody know how much we appreciate everything they did. The Borough Council played a major part in getting that project finished. It's a beautiful monument. And I know everybody's upset about it. I thought I had a lot. Everybody's upset about Aqua and all the roads being torn up in town. And I get it. You can't go down the street that you don't know what's going on. But today I get a phone call from one of my tenants on Jefferson Avenue. She came home to four inches of water in her basement. They hit a water line and just blew out water coming into the homes on Jefferson Avenue. So It's frustrating, but there's nothing we really can do about it. I mean, they have to get this infrastructure done, but we're all frustrated with it, I can tell you that. So I feel for everybody what's going on, but it'll be over soon. All right, Brian, you have anything?

the spring um basketball program that me and greg have been running um the 11 12 and 13 year olds will have uh the games tomorrow at 6 p.m it will be outside um at the grundy basketball courts and the younger kids aren't aren't on tomorrow they're canceled for tomorrow it's just the older kids that are going to be outside

All right, thank you for all you do for the kids. Lori, you have anything?

No, I just want to mention, I think Betty's going to be bringing it up about the, her and I attended the BRT Saturday. They had an awesome performance there, which again,

Mr. Dillon across the street from Golden Eagle Diner is starting to look really ugly again. All the weeds coming out of the sidewalk. And I wanted to see if somebody can get in touch, whoever they do get in touch with, see if they'll clean it up. Yes, me and Maria attended the theater this Saturday and we saw the show, Real Women Have Curves. Yeah, at first you don't even know what it's about, but it was a great play. We had the opportunity to introduce ourselves as Latina women from Bristol Borough, and the show is based on Latin women. But it was really good. It was about what's going on in this world with people and their green cards. But if you have the opportunity to go see it, you definitely should go see it. It's hard to understand if you really don't know Spanish. It's in English, but sometimes they throw out words that are in Spanish. And I heard some women behind me saying, well, I don't know what they're saying. And I wanted to say, well, let me tell you what they're saying. But I didn't. But it was a nice show. We had a nice turnout. And Maria was able to honor Nareda, who was part of the Puerto Rican Culture Association and helped bring diversity into the theater. for Latin people in this town. And then I was able to introduce myself also and give a little story about us. But if you have the chance, go see it. And the theater's doing a lot of great things, and I think it's great that they're being so diverse.

Mr. Frank, do you have anything?

I have a couple of .

OK. You do?

All right. They're usually on the agenda, so I don't know. That's fine. I usually do it in the beginning. Yes.

All right. These proclamations are – I initially had four of them. Two of the officers that were supposed to come, Sergeant Frake at the last minute contacted me. He got the opportunity to play in a golf outing out in Westchester, and I don't stand in the way of a guy that wants to play golf while he's on retirement. And the other one is Sergeant Chuck Palmer, and I would definitely not stand in his way because he had a Bible study group tonight, so Jesus is a higher authority than I. So these are in recognition of an event that happened back on September 7th of 2025, where one of our longtime residents, Jim Lutz, went into cardiac arrest at the corner of Mill Street and Wood Street, and We were fortunate in these types of situations, timing is of the essence. And we were fortunate that when the call came out, there was a volunteer fireman there who initiated CPR right away. The officers responded quickly. If they hadn't all responded when they did, we might have had a problem because they attempted to use the AED that they had initially on scene. And it didn't function properly. So Sergeant Palmer luckily got there in time to use his unit. And as you know, Mr. Lutz is alive and well. And he was told by the doctor that had he been in his shop and not walked out into the street, I believe he was going over to the Elks Club at the time, if he had been in his shop, that we wouldn't be talking about a happy situation. So I have two people come up here. Elijah Widman, who's the volunteer fireman from Third District Fire Company, and Officer O'Donnell. I will read the proclamation. Proclamation of the Borough of Bristol County of Bucks Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to honor Jack O'Donnell and Elijah Whitman, Sergeant Faith and Sergeant Chuck Palmer for life-saving efforts on September 7th, 2025. Whereas the limits and well-being of community are not in its land or its location, but in how those who live their lives. And whereas Officer O'Donnell uh fire uh fireman whitman sergeant fate and sergeant palmer provided critical intervention for jim lutz a long time fellow resident who suffered cardiac arrest at the corner of millingwood streets in bristol borough and whereas all these officers and the firemen demonstrated quick action in cpr and life-saving aid and help to successfully resuscitate Jim Lutz on Sunday, September 7th, 2025. Whereas the officers and the firemen are an outstanding example of someone who continues to serve others in their time of need. Now, therefore, great for me, I'm the Mayor of Historic Crystal Grove and the Borough Council, that the residents of Historic Crystal Grove join in celebrating these officers and this fireman for the outstanding achievement.

Anybody want to say anything, Jack?

Listen, I've been doing this for a very long time.

You want the mic?

Give me an opportunity to do. Jack.

Oh, sorry. That's OK.

This man over here.

Is it on?

This gentleman here, Will Morris, had faith in me. He hired me. We've known each other for a very long time. I will say this. I don't care what anybody says behind my back. I love Bristol Borough, and I love this job, and I'm so glad to be just part of the police department. I'm hurt right now, but I will tell you this. This is why I do what I'm doing. This would be standing in this place right here, right now, and this show. I would just say that, ladies and gentlemen, this police department is one of the best police departments in the state, if not the country, and I'm very proud to say that I'm a Bristol Borough Police Officer.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Sorry I made you wait. I would have known I would have did it first. You should tell me before leaving.

Sorry. Do you have anything else? No, I'm good. Thanks. Okay.

Number two on the agenda.

Mr. President, I would like to make a motion to accept council meeting minutes for May 4th, 2026 and May 11th, 2026. Accept treasurer's report for April 2026. Chief report for May 2026 except fire chief report for May 2026 except inspection report for May 2026 except public works report for May 2026 except the herb report for May 2026 except the glimmer glim

more report dated june 2026 for may and for may 2026 work second my miss rodriguez questions or comments all those in favor aye opposed number three mr president i can make a motion to authorize designating november 2nd of each year as father dennis mooney day yeah yeah

questions or comments. The only comment I like to say is that I brought this up last week. We had to pick a day. Was it the day he became a priest? Was it the day he came to Bristol? Was it his retirement day? So we decided with the help of our tax collector and a couple people to determine November 2nd, which is Father Mooney's birthday. So everybody will always know on November 2nd, it's not only his day in Bristol, it's also his birthday.

Can I make a comment on that?

Sure.

All right. So Father Mooney, Father Mooney gave me a chance And that man's a good man. He's a great man. Yes, he is. He could have said no. He said yes. So for that reason, that day in my heart, November 2nd, yeah, I'm doing that. All right. All those in favor? Aye. Those? Number four. Mr. President. I'd like to make a motion to authorize the borough solicitor to investigate and, if appropriate, prepare and complain against PennDOT for damage to Mill Street.

Seconded by Ms. Rodriguez. Questions or comments? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Number five.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to authorize the hiring of Peter F. Ray Excuse me, as assistant barrel manager effective August 1st, 2020.

2nd, by Mr Johnson questions or comments. The only comment I like to make is that it's been going back and forth for a while. Mr. Dylan knows Peter because he started in false township with Jim. Many, many, many years ago and. I think him and Jim will be able to work together and move this town in the direction we want to go in. And at some point, hopefully, in a few years from now, he'll be taking over Jim's position, if that's the case. But he's been a manager a long time. Right now, he's in New Hope. He knows what he's doing, and he brings a lot of experience to the table. So we're fortunate to bring him here. And I thank Mr. Dillon for getting him here and doing everything we needed to bring an assistant manager into Bristol. Thank you. Any comments? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Mr. President, I would like to make a note that the council was in executive session for approximately 20 minutes before the meeting. Discussing personnel matters and wishing well for colleague our formula rain color Okay So can I get a baby anything?

Yeah, sorry.

I'm just gonna ask Amanda to bring counts off the date that We've been working on a project for a couple of years trying to get a grant emergency gates underneath the tunnels on Green Lane across the finish line, I believe, get those gates open.

Sure. Yeah, and this kind of, I guess, goes along with the one agenda item regarding storm piping on PennDOT roads. But really, it's probably the main driver is that that pipe under the road, the stormwater pipe, needs to be replaced. That's what is kind of the primary cause of all that flooding as soon as it rains, really, at any amount. So the temporary solution until we can figure out how to get that storm pipe replaced is to at least put up floodgates that are manual and they'll be closed, you know, by an actual borough employee, whether it's public works or police. But again, we were looking for grant funding for that. We have since obtained it as of last week, and we already had contractor on board ready to go so we were really just waiting for this one last piece to fall into place and I'll check their schedule but last I spoke with them they were ready to mobilize so we should be seeing that underway shortly we do have we have the gates in hand already too so we have everything ready to go I'm sure my son will be very happy after a few years to get this done yeah I know he helped a lot of this effort too

AJ, you have anything? So we can adjourn?

We can adjourn.

Motion by Betty, second by Maria. All in favor? Aye.

Meeting adjourned.