Borough Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, we should do this.

Bless you. Bless you.

This meeting is called order in accordance with the open public meetings law in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided. This meeting of August 3rd, 2026 was provided to the Curry news and star ledger and placed on the borough's website. Also placed on the bulletin board of our hall. A copy of this notice is available to the public and a copy of this statement shall be included in the minutes of this meeting. Mayor Brian Gallagher. Here. Council members, Teresa Bonner is excused this evening. Andrew Conte. Here. Glenn Denis. Here. Randy Pitts. Here. Gina Stravik. Here. Roger Verm.

Here. Please stand for the salute to the flag. Okay, we have no departmental reports or notices. However, we do have a, these are always good nights. We have resolution number 260803-233, approving the hiring of Eric A. Melendez as police officer effective August 4th, 2026. Do we have a motion?

So moved.

Second. Discussion? Roll call, please.

Council members, Andrew Conte. Yes. Glenn Denny? Yes. Randy Pitts? Yes. Gina Stravick? Yes. Roger Verum?

Yes. All right. Mr. Melendez, come on down. oh you know what you know what if mom's here we're going to hold if she's not here we're going to hold off a few minutes absolutely mom's got to be here all right so we're going to defer that that's all right not a problem not a problem at all no no mom holds the gavel that's all right um let's go into committee reports then andrew

Historic Advisory Committee hasn't met yet this month, but we look forward to discussing a few items at the end of the month and specifically potential for our artifacts and museum items to be more on display. in the town and also continue mapping out the historic places in town and putting them on our map that we actually have up. So if anybody's interested in looking at historic sites in town, you can check out the Historic Advisory Commission's website. We have a map, a Google map that'll take you everywhere you want to go.

Great. Thank you.

Gina.

September 27th, the Board of Health will be at the farmer's market doing some Board of Health stuff. So I thought that was a great partnership and a great opportunity for the Board of Health to work with the community. The Rescue Squad continues their good work. I do not have a full report, but know that they are there for you.

All right, Glenn. Great, thank you. The Fire Department responded to 74 service calls in the month of July, so they've continued their busy streak for this year. And then the Environmental Commission met on July 14th. Two new pet waste stations were installed along the Greenway, and that was with a partnership with the New Jersey Water Supply Authority and their Water Ambassadors Program and a little bit of help from our DPW, so we thank them. On September 9th, a member of our green team, David Dvorin, will host a talk on how to fight high energy bills. And then finally, volunteering days are coming really soon. There's a number of them, so you can check out some details on our social media or website. but we will be continuing our work on the Peters Brook Habitat Restoration Project. The dates right now are August 22nd, September 16th, September 27th, and October 1st, so hopefully you can come out during one of those days to help us out with that. There will be more details and sign-ups available. environmental commission will see you at national night out tomorrow uh with some energy saving tips and more at the tent so come on out and see them and all the other great community groups that will be there and then uh also you can come out on next tuesday on the 11th of august for the monthly environmental commission meeting at seven o'clock right here okay great busy busy excellent thank you thanks ready he stole my thunder there's plenty to say there's plenty of groups

Tomorrow is National Night Out Day. Come out and meet our entire force, fire department, rescue squad. This year's event features live performances by Elite Dance Center, School of Rock, Black Belt World, plus a dunk take. Maybe the mayor.

That could be. And maybe on the agenda.

provided by Somerville Recreation. Free hot dogs, drinks, and snacks will be provided by the community partners. Meet your neighbors, connect with our local police officers, our beautiful and great police officers.

We even have the chief here tonight.

I want to give him a shout out. He's my guy. We hope to see you there tomorrow. That's all I have.

All right. Great. Thank you, Roger. Uh, from recreation, the Somerville YMCA will be offering free classes to Somerville residents at Michael Lepp pool park, which is the one on park avenue on August 10th, 12th and 14th. The program is designed to help young children become more comfortable and confident in and around the water while learning essential water safety skills in a fun and supportive environment. There are two sessions for young children. Um, they will be run at 11 to 1130, which is going to be safety around the water. It's a parent in me class for preschool aged children, ages three to five. And then from 1130 to 12 on those days, it'll be safety around the water. Uh, children only, uh, ages five years old, I guess an up. So space is limited. Uh, please register now on the community pass a website under summer programs. And that's what I have.

Okay. All right. We're going to jump and do ordinances for public hearing and adoption. Ordinance number 28 0 7 is a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $850,000 for the design. and resurfacing of South middle street and Washington place for, and by the borough of Somerville in the county of summer owners.

Like what prompted this?

Uh, what, what prompted this is it's the time is, so as you know, there is a cannabis. Well, maybe you don't know there's a cannabis location further. West on Route 22, or actually 202, 206. We're making it so the cannabis facility that's located on 22 could compete hour-wise with that. So it matches their time only, it actually matches their time only Friday to Saturday. They may be appearing in the future to match their time on Sunday, but at this point, this is just basically Monday through Saturday, the change.

So they requested it.

Uh, yes, it, it came about, um, as you know, we do get, um, transfer tax from that. So the revenue, if they open early, obviously the anticipation is the revenue would be, um, um, better during those morning hours.

Okay. Roll call.

Council members, Andrew Conti? Yes. Glenn Denis? Yes. Randy Pitts? Yes. Gina Stravik? Yes.

Roger Verum? Yes. All right. Is mom here? Is she? All right. All right. Let's go back to item number six, which is the oath of office for police officer Eric A. Melendez. Eric, if you'd come forward. That's your cue, Mom.

You can put your left hand on the Bible, and you can raise your right hand or a key after me. I state your name. I, Eric Melendez. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. And the state of New Jersey.

And the state of New Jersey.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. and to the governments established in the United States and in this state, under the authority of the people. And I will faithfully, impartially, and justly perform all the duties of police officer for the borough of Somerville, according to the best of my ability. So help me God. Congratulations.

Thank you. Chief? All right, so, Officer Melendez, he's already a police officer, so we had an opening, and we've had an opening for a while,

We had a process where people apply and we interviewed several trained police officers. He came out number one on our process and after a thorough background, he's ready to go. But having police experience is a giant benefit to us here in town and he's got a good support group. He'll be put with a training officer for a while, about three months I guess, two, three months, so he can learn how we do things our way here That's it, he's ready to go. We were told that he has a very tight, close family, and that's obvious by the amount of people that are here. I do want to thank you guys, thank the council for doing this and working with us. We just have a good working relationship, and we have to keep that going. But thank you guys.

Chief, thank you. Thank you, Chief. So just a couple of comments. I always love these days. I think it's wonderful. It's another officer joining the ranks of our community, and when you look around you and you see these lines of blue, these are the folks that the men and women who keep our community what it is. We live in a very special community. We have very engaged citizens, and it's wonderful. So remember this day, because it's a good day, it's a happy day. They're not all good and happy, but think back to, you know, this day when you're having that tough day. And make sure you wave. to the citizens and go after the bad guys with a vengeance. All right? So thank you and congratulations. Thank you. Chief, I know you've got a couple of other things you'd like to do.

Yeah, we have some awards we'd like to give out to some of the folks here. And we'll start with, I got to tell you, my mom is going to come up. Do you have the forms? What I'd like to do first is the Chief's Achievement Award. And I'm going to actually, usually, you guys have known me a long time. I don't read anything in general. We just talk. But Lieutenant De Palma put some nice fancy stuff together, so I'm gonna try to stay on course here. Anyway, Officer Spadea, could you come down please? So Officer Spadea and Detective Fullmore, Detective Fullmore is not here tonight, but we wanna give him the Chief's Award. What Lieutenant De Palma came up with was to be awarded for an outstanding act of achievement, moving into the new building, will have the dedication, professionalism, and unwavering commitment of officers today in Detective Fulmer, which you guys know this is true. Big lift. On behalf of the entire department, thank you for your countless hours, your commitment to excellence, and your steadfast dedication to the organization. Your work has left a permanent mark on the department and every person who walks through the doors of the building. work, effort, and problem-solving that went into getting us in there was difficult and amazing, and we'll let it go with that. Can I just say you didn't mention the headaches with this guy? I'm trying to keep him out of it. All right, and if we could have Officer Kelleher and Officer Shahak come up. So these two are getting the Medal of Valor. And what I'm going to do is, I am going to read this because it really does lay it out pretty nicely as to what happened. August 15th of last year, at about 3.45 in the afternoon, Mandel PD was searching for a male suspected of being in possession of a firearm. possibly fleeing by the train. Surrounding agencies were advised to check a train station, which we have a train station, and these guys went up and did that. Officer Kelliher responded, along with members from the prosecutor's office. Upon checking the platform, the actor was actually located. And if any of this is off, you can correct me, but blame him. The actor became immediately agitated and argumentative with the officers on scene. The actor then tried to walk away and began reaching into his waistband. towards what the officers believed to be was a firearm. And every police officer here knows, and you guys probably do too, the things that get you hurt are hands. We do a lot of hands. So when he's sticking his hand somewhere, it makes you nervous. A physical confrontation ensued. Officer Shahad arrived unseen as well. The actors started shouting, kill me, shoot me, I'm not going back. Also, during a length of time trying to take control of his hands, he was refusing to remove his left hand from holding The actor was then handcuffed and secured as more officers arrived on the scene and the weapon was secured. Officer Kelleher hurt her hand. As I'm reading this, I think I'm not supposed to talk about injuries, but you broke your finger. And the actor actually spit on Officer Shahat in the face and mouth. Officer Kelleher and Officer Shahat, some of you probably can recognize both of your acts of extraordinary heroism. that were displayed during your actions on that day. While responding to a subject with a firearm, your immediate actions displayed that day are an example of how you're willing to place the welfare of others above yourselves. This exemplifies the essence of the Valor Award. Congratulations on the award.

And I was up there too. I watched what was going on.

They had him on the ground by the time I got there. It was not a good situation. They were also honored by the 200 Club of Somerset County for their actions. So congratulations. Okay, Officer Black, come on up here please. And this is a good one, this is a real good one too. He's also getting the Medal of Valor. So again, I'm gonna read it. because I think he did a good job. September 6 of 2025, at 2.17 in the morning. So you know there's a little different environment going on, right? While investigating an unrelated incident, a report from dispatch came in that a male was on a street in town with a gun, threatening people. Upon arrival, Officer Black confronted the subject, who was in the area, and gave him clear verbal commands not to move. At that point, the actor then started running and ran away from Officer Black, who started running after him and caught him. Officer Black immediately, without any hesitation, chased the subject for approximately 30 yards and was able to stop him and place him under arrest. The actor was in possession of a loaded magazine and ammo in his pocket. In addition, a firearm was also found near where the actor was arrested, indicating that he had the gun on him, and when he tackled him, it came out of his pocket. The Summer Police Department would like to recognize you for your act of extraordinary heroism that was displayed during this altercation. The professionalism, confidence, and quick action that was displayed at night while responding gave to someone who had a gun, even though the result was imminent personal hazard to yourself, was a selfless act of bravery. Due to these actions, you will be receiving a medal of valor. Thank you guys for allowing this tonight and participating with us. Thank you very much.

Chief, thank you. Thank you. Thank all of your officers, those that are here and those that are not here. You know, I just find it fascinating. So more and more. Our police officers are called on to do different things. Everything from what you heard about tonight to marriage counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, you name it, across the board. And it's not an easy job. It's a passion that our officers have. and we have a difference. I think we have an extremely well-trained force led by an administrative team that is second to none. I'll put our officers up against any officers in the county. I think they're top notch. They're always out there. They're always waving. At least they're waving at me. That or they're telling me to get out of the way. I don't know. But I want to thank every one of you for what you do every single day because it's It's not just these items that you heard about today. It's the everyday. And it's not easy. It's a challenge. It's a challenging job. You do it well. You keep our community safe. Thank you. God bless all of you. Thank you. All right, you can go. And family, you can go too. All right, we'll continue on. Before we get to the meeting open to the public for public comment, because I know there will be public comment on the library issue. I just kind of want to cycle back a little bit and talk a little bit about that because it's become a strong issue for our entire community. And I think everybody's goal is exactly the same. It's that we want to have a premier, a good, fantastic library in our community. And I also believe that the long-term goal of trying to build something bigger and better is also good. And I think I share the same sentiment of council, that we'd like to see that. The challenge is we have this goal that's out here, and we have now, which is over here. And obviously recently, uh, the Somerset County County library commission has taken steps to, um, close the Somerville branch, um, citing a number of issues. Uh, one of which was, uh, mold issues, uh, health concerns of their employees. We take that very seriously. Um, once that was made, I ordered the testing of the area immediately. And I'm going to back up a second because there was mold testing and remediation done about a year ago, and that was in the downstairs level, the basement level of the library. Remediated, brought back to standard. Fast forward to this year, we received a letter and it said we were closing, citing those concerns. Again, so testing was ordered immediately. When the initial testing came back for the upstairs, that testing showed no elevated mold. The area was okay. I had ordered immediate testing of the downstairs again just to ensure that the remediation we did last year held. And that has come back now. And that also shows no elevation of mold. So that presents a challenge. It doesn't negate, you know, the idea that somebody may feel ill. So we've taken an extra step, and I've ordered that we bring in an environmental engineer slash industrial hygienist to do further testing to ensure that the air and the quality in the library, both upstairs and downstairs, is satisfactory. Once that's done and they come back to us with those results, one of two things will happen. Either the results show that there are no issues or they will show that there are issues. They will be mitigated. And we will also implement best practices that they show we should. I think that's going over and above what the cited reasons were for closing the library. And I think it's a good practice for us. And I would even take it a step further and say that we would conduct further testing as the years go on, or as the year goes on, just to ensure. Let's monitor, monitor testing. The challenge we have is that while the mold issue seemed to be the impetus for this other issues now have come up in that the space isn't suitable. The space is not big enough. Uh, and these are some reasons that we've been given for, uh, for the, uh, county to close the library. Um, I don't believe that's right. Um, this, is a small branch library it doesn't mean that we can't grow but what it does mean is that between the time that we grow into something else and now we have to maintain that service to our constituents in 2010 I brought our library to the county because our library was not in good financial shape And the library embraced us. The county system embraced us. They wanted us to be a part of it. And 15 years later, I'm questioning some of that. So it is a challenge. I think there's an opportunity for partnership there to achieve this, but you can't eliminate what we have in order to achieve this. I almost look at it as if we're kind of the first pin in this process. What is next? I don't know the answer to that, but what is next? You know, it's a very challenging situation. And I've been in meetings and I said, part of my job is to try not to get, try to not get people into their corners. Sometimes it's very difficult to do because people feel that they're right. And I think tonight we went into corners. And I believe, and I think the council believes, rightfully so at this time, that we did go into our corners. Our goals are the same. They are the same. I haven't met one person that says, I don't want a library. I haven't met one person who says, I don't want a nicer library. I firmly believe I raised five kids in this town. That was my wife's salvation. Three in the triple stroller, one on her back and one walking. That was her salvation. Now my granddaughter loves to go on Saturdays to pick up my paperwork and hop over to the library and do something cool. So this is not a pleasant situation. And I know there's people who have a lot of different feelings out there. There's a lot of different emotions out there. My goal, our goal as a council, is to ensure that we have those services. There's been talk about renting space somewhere downtown, renting space somewhere in the borough to achieve those services. If we have a space that's clean, certified, it's okay. Is it an old building? Yeah, it is an old building. But it's Somerville's building. And it still serves its purpose well. And if we can show that it's certified clean and we can keep that level, I don't see why we can't reoccupy from this time forward to the new beginning of whatever that library is. One of the challenges in creating something is you have to define what you want. Now, we all have opinions on what we want, but what does the public want? What does the public need? We don't have that. We know it's technology, kids' library. You know, we had floated the idea of, well, why don't we make the counties, the regions most special children's library in our space? and allow the other libraries, Hillsborough and Bridgewater to absorb the adult. I don't know whether that's right or wrong, but it's a concept. And I think that's where you have to start with these concepts. And I know the commission has talked about going out and doing these types of, of surveys. Um, but I think it's premature to begin that process without knowing what are our asks? What are we doing? Where are we going? So the borough has committed that that space is going to be occupied. We'll know in a week or two what the results of all of that are. And we'll either have a timeline for remediation or we'll have an all clear and let's get back to work. I've asked the commission if they are willing to work towards a goal of reoccupying that space. And it was a qualified yes if it expanded. Well, we're not expanding right now because we don't know what we're expanding into. The goal is to reoccupy that space. Excuse me. Excuse me. You are out of order. You are out of order. You will have your five minutes during public session. That's probably only the fourth time I've ever gaveled in my life. I don't gavel people. So let's have a little decorum here. So at this point, you know, sometimes you do have to go into your corners. And, uh, what I will do is ask the council for a motion to authorize the attorney to begin drawing up, uh, papers, uh, to ensure that the library commission, uh, follows the terms of our agreement. That's been established.

Regrettably. I make that motion second discussion roll call.

Council members Andrew Conti. Yes. Glendon E. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Gina Stravick. Yes.

Roger Firm.

Yes.

Okay. All right. At this point, I will ask for a motion to open the meeting to the public. So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call.

Council members Andrew Conti. Yes. Glendon E. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Gina Stravick. Yes. Roger Firm.

Yes. Okay. Public session is now open. Please state your name and address for the record and please address your comments to me.

Peter Bromberg, my address is 121 Agnes Place in Boundbrook. I am the director of the Somerset County Library System. I am not a politician. I'm a librarian. It is my life's work. It has been a privilege to bring library services to the people of different communities across this state and across this country. I was invited here tonight. I say invited in quotes because I was asked to, might I be willing to come tonight?

Peter, could you just...

Sure. Yeah, sure. I would also ask if you would just put the microphone back, please. I'm going to hold the microphone. No, I'm going to ask you to put the microphone. I'm going to hold the microphone. Peter, please just put the microphone back.

Why?

Because it's a piece of borough property. Please put the microphone back. Well, I'm not going to throw it at anybody. I know you're not. I know you're not.

No, this is just like bullshit control. Like, oh, no, he's telling me what to do. No, no, no, I'm going to hold the microphone. So we were invited tonight. You are addressing your comments. We were brought into this room. You are addressing your comments to me. We were brought into this room with no agenda. I was asked to hold this night available. Came in, never got a confirmation. I had to confirm and say, well, I was asked to hold this night available. Are we coming? So we show up. I was asked, are you here to tell us that you're going to move back into the library? I said, am I here to tell you? You invited us here. You tell us what you want to talk about. Well, the question is, are you going to move back into that library after we remediate? I said, well, I didn't say expand. I said if and when that space is made suitable for library services, including for our staff, because our staff have no workspace there. There's no private space. They don't have a private bathroom anymore to use. They were told they can't flush solids. They have to put waste paper in a wastebasket instead of flushing it. It's not suitable. We've been there for a year. And last summer when we closed the lower level and we brought everything upstairs, We got the all clear, right, that everything was going to be fine. Well, since that time, staff have continued to have health issues. I have reports here from eight different staff members about their health issues. This is going back through last summer. Your comments are to me. I'm sorry, yes, I apologize. Yes, yes, absolutely. Through the winter, through the fall, headaches, hives, persistent sore throat, severe nasal drip, neurological pain and symptoms, pressure headaches, tracking closely with office occupancy and sinus congestion. I can go on and on, and eczema, headaches. This is eight different people experiencing these symptoms, on and off, depending a little bit on the weather, but persistent and consistent. And when they leave the building for two days, they get better. When they come back, they feel worse. Now, there has been a lot of misinformation, but when we made the difficult decision, first we were looking at this and saying, we probably need to find a new location by the end of the year or by the end of the summer. I communicated this with the borough. This was communicated immediately. When staff were having some spikes of issues, probably due to water and humidity and weather, and we sat down and said, looking at this, like looking at all this in totality and what's happening, what's happening with the staff health, do we have a high level of confidence that there's a significant issue, and can we send them back in in good faith? And me and my leadership team said no. Our level of confidence is high, it would be unethical, immoral, and also take on liabilities for the organization to send staff back in there. As soon as that conversation was had, I reached out to the borough, and I communicated this. Okay, fine. I was told the commission was read in on this, or the council was read in on it, and that while the timeline for July 31st closure was quick, no questions, we'll talk about it at the lab meeting. The lab meeting where you sat here and said, we're gonna work together, and we're gonna, and I didn't get returns from phone calls, I didn't get return from emails. The next day, I said, let's put out a joint statement to assure everyone that we're working together, No response to that. And everything you said here today, if we had had this conversation that you're up here at the dais in that room, I want the people here to know that you have not been showing up in good faith to work. That's what I want to do. I want to work in good faith. And if you're willing to do that, all of you on this dais, well, let's do that. We owe it to them. We're on their dime. We are public servants. This is my life, trying to get library services to people. And I am so, I will repeat, deeply, deeply disappointed in the way you treated us, the disconnect between what you say publicly and what you say privately, the disconnect between saying, oh, we all want to work together and come up with a plan, and not returning phone calls, not engaging. I mean, it is shocking to me. And I'm not naive. But it's certainly disappointing. It is so disappointing. I am here. Our commission chair is here. We are ready to work hand in glove to come up with solutions. Do we need a temporary solution between now and when we have built some grand building, three, five, seven years? I don't know when it'll be. Yeah, we need a temporary solution, but a temporary solution that is not making people sick, not making people sick day after day. That's all we're asking for, and we will pay the bill. We will find a place, and we will pay the bill, and in the meantime, we will continue to do programming through partner locations, which we've been doing all year. We will continue to do story times and book clubs and outreach. And residents of Somerville will continue to check out materials at other locations. Over the last 180 days, more people are checking out materials in Bridgewater by two to one than they're checking out here. So already, because you're part of a large county multi-branch system, residents have options to go to other locations for robust collections of programming and services and spaces to study. That's the benefit of being in the system. Now, if you all decide that you want to pull out of the system, because it might take us a couple months to find a temporary location, that's your decision. And you can hold your people behind me can decide whether you want to hold these people accountable or not.

You're just about out of time.

Okay. But what I'm asking for is honesty. What I'm asking for is consistency and congruency between what you say to them publicly and how you behave when you leave the dais. And let's work on their behalf. Let's work together on their behalf. It is our responsibility to do that.

You're about done.

I am done. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments, sir. I apologize earlier for my passionate comment.

Thank you. Yeah. Any other public comment?

I won't grab the microphone. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm Jonathan Lee from the borough of Rocky Hill, 10 Toth Lane, Rocky Hill. I'm also a councilman in the borough of Rocky Hill and chair of the library committee. It seems very suspicious that you have a mold problem in your library. We've gone through a tremendously difficult problem regarding our library and it has nothing to do with mold. It has to do with the fact that the Somerset County Library System decided to no longer support our library. We were the first branch of the Somerset County Library System. We had a unique situation because we were the beneficiaries of an endowment provided by a lawyer from Philadelphia to honor his wife. His name was Harold Jacobs and his wife's name was Mary. They are both buried in Rocky Hill Cemetery. Because it was a public-private agreement, Somerset County Library System became uncomfortable with it over the years. Eventually Montgomery created a new town hall and they established a branch of the Somerset County Library System in their town. Previously the citizens of Montgomery had shared our library for approximately 50 years. There was a short-term agreement where we continued to run our library with their support. And then there was a period when we were supposed to determine what the future of the library is. They were not too conducive to doing that. They said that they were running out of money, and they told us they were going to close down. So instead of closing down, I believe it was, In May of 2024, they closed down the previous August because they said they had a mold issue. Now, tests were run. And I will tell you now that the mold inside the building was lower than that which was outside in the ambient air, which is the control. So this seems somewhat like a modus operandi to me. I would tend to fight for your library. We spent three years, eventually, The foundation that ran the endowment that was given for our library decided they no longer wanted to run a library. And we went into a lawsuit with them. It took three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, but we won that lawsuit. There is now a new board of trustees being constituted, and the town is now getting control of the building so that we don't have an issue again. We will probably, I don't know what the future brings as far as what kind of library it will be, whether we join the Somerset County Library System. They apparently are not interested in joining us, or us joining them, even though we were the first branch. But we will have a library. We have a significant endowment. I could get into details about some of their underhanded dealings during that lawsuit where they became amicus curiae and basically presented facts that didn't hold water as far as I'm concerned, trying to prove that we could not financially run a library. We proved otherwise, we won the lawsuit. Suspiciously, they were third in line to receive the assets if the endowment failed, if the borough couldn't run the library. So my question is, who are we dealing with here? Um, so I figured I would come tonight. I just read an article today about this, and I thought it would be good for you folks to hear some of the background that we've been dealing with.

We appreciate your comments. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comments, sir? No, anything.

My name is Daniel Pantonio. I live in 101 Eastern Ave, Somerville. First thing about the library, I'm curious, is there a county library, Somerset County Library?

Yeah, it's not a Q&A, but yes, there is. It's a whole system. There's a number of different libraries. I didn't know that. Just curious. It's a comment period.

Okay. So the reason I'm here today is we were in the process of buying a home on 69 Fairmont Ave, which is right down the street from you. When we went through this process, what we found out through the inspections is that this particular house. Had a chimney that had about 30,000 dollars worth of damage. So, my whole thinking was coming from where I came from where he's New Jersey and South Jersey. Down there, when you go through inspections, the township is required to do a CEO. And they do not let you in that house if you're missing sidewalk. you're missing. If you have a crack in your fireplace, any kind of damage you have in that fireplace, they will not let you move in because it's a hazard. What I found out when I called the township here, because it was an argument with this guy, that the township doesn't care about a CO, that you don't need a CO to move into an older house, and all they care about is carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. Now, with that said, this town, if you take out the new townhomes and the condos, homes are about roughly about 80 years old in this town. You did a great job at refurbishing this town. Like I'm not from here. I love this downtown. Right. And I lived down the street and I watched the house and I watched the firemen and I watched the, the police run into a house where a girl died and that hit home. I'm urging you to change your laws. You need to have a CO. You need to inspect fireplaces. The guy that owns that house, what did he do to fix it? He tried to sue me for my 80 grand down deposit. What he did to fix it is he brought in a guy to paint the chimney, and he's back selling it again. And God forbid, if somebody buys that house, I do plan on giving my level two inspection to whoever buys that house. Because there's multiple hazards. There's multiple conditions. There's cracks in it. You burn a fire in there, there's no vents. Carbon monoxide will leak throughout the house. And God forbid if there's kids in that house, those kids will die or they will get ill. So my urgent to you, change the laws in the town. I don't care if you have to, whoever buys a house, they have to pay $150 fee. You're already paying $650 for a home inspection. Pay a fee. Pay it to the township to come in there. You need a CO to get into this house. You need a CO. You need to have full inspection, fireplace. And you can't have sidewalks missing like this guy was going to sell me. Not until I backed out did he finally go in there and replace the sidewalks. I just am a firm believer that safety is first. And this town, I've only been here five or six years. My future in-laws have lived here while they lived here their whole lives until they moved to Branchburg. I love this town. And that's why we're looking to move back into this town. So I just urge you to really take a look at the laws.

Thank you. If you stay for the meeting, I just ask you to get your name and telephone number to Mr. Sluka. Sure. And we'll make a connection.

Sure. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comment?

Thank you mayor. And thank you council. And thank you. Some of it built Somerset County library system. You've got a problem here. I was a property manager for a while and I know once you have mold in any building, it always seems to stay. And I understand that problem on both sides of it. And I understand the mitigation you can do, but people say, Oh, it has mold. Maybe I'm sick. So it's a hard problem you're gonna have to solve that. I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying it's a hard problem. And it's a hard problem for you because you have that behind you. You weren't here when that was going on, but unfortunately you have it now. But I'm here for a different reason. Jim Somerville was our town historian for many, many years. We have a Jim Somerville room. It's full of history, full of history of this town, this area. I haven't heard it mentioned at all. I'm really concerned about that. And you know why. I'm a historian type. My wife and I ran four symposiums about the Rev War. We're really concerned about that. And I hope in your thinking of what you're going to do, where you're going to live, We don't lose that room and we don't lose that material because it gets abandoned for a while. And that's what I wanted to say. Thank you.

Agreed. Thank you. Any other public comment, sir.

Justin Kaiser, North Clark Avenue. I'm here tonight on behalf of SBI. I'm currently a board member. I just want to take a moment to thank you, Mayor Gallagher, the council, for passing the new ball field going in the Carroll-Padre ballpark. I grew up playing on ball fields. I feel it shaped me as a man, building lifelong friendships, teamwork, discipline. It's just a wonderful thing. You guys are making an investment in not only a ball field, but in the kids, the parents, the town. So I just want to say thank you very much. It's really appreciated. And that wasn't a small undertaking.

Thank you. Thank you for coming out and saying that. Thank you. Any other public comment?

Good evening. Roberta carpet at 66 Fairview Avenue. And I'm also the chairman of the Somerset County library commission. I would just like to say, mayor, I respect what you're saying. I think an issue that we're encountering is we are not seeking to close the library. We wish to provide 21st century library service to our patrons and it in a healthy, safe environment. Right now, the mold is an issue and we do appreciate what you're doing to remediate it. But I stopped down in the library on Friday And it's not just mold, as Peter indicated. The stores are a problem. The emergency exit door in the children's room, there's a big sign downstairs in the basement. There's a sign on it that says alarm, door locked. The door's ajar. Can't close it. It's ajar. That's a safety issue. You've had reports over the years through the HACC that there are other issues with regard to water. The windows are moldy. If you look at the windows, they're moldy. You have chunks of insulation where pipes are, chunks ripped out of that insulation. There are issues there that make it untenable for us to continue to provide service. Upstairs, we've had concerns from parents. They don't like that we have glass walls in the children's room. That's a concern for them. They're concerned about the emergency exit. I took a look at that. It's totally rusted. And yes, Mayor, they did repair the bottom step by putting two by fours on it. That's not a safety situation. So we do want to work with you, but that wasn't the question that was asked of Peter and I when we were in the executive session. We cannot address a hypothetical. If something occurs which we don't know what it might be, will we do this? If the question is can we work together, yes, absolutely. I started my political career working to save the Somerville Public Library. And I spent most a good part of my time doing that. And Mayor, we work together to join the county association or the county commission. Why would we wanna change that? But we do need to work together. And I'm hoping perhaps the governing body and the commission, we can all take a deep breath and say, let's start again, maybe have another discussion. But one where the question is, how can we work together? Not, will you do this? If your answer isn't yes, please leave the room. Thank you.

Any other public comment?

Yeah. Hi, my name is Kate Ambrose. I live at 204 East Cliff Street. And I just wanted to say the library has been, and will always be extremely important to my family and I, we use the library a lot. Um, we, my daughter loves to go pick out books. We, my husband just gave a book reading there a couple of weeks ago and it was great turnout. And, um, so that's where I'm coming from. I. the librarians and other staff members at the library are also many of them are also our community members and we care about each other deeply in this town and i really care that they are getting sick as someone who suffers from migraines i really have heard what peter was saying before about their symptoms and the mold testing was a good start. I'm really happy to hear that, did you say it was an industrial hygienist?

Yes.

Is doing the testing. That's exactly who needs to be doing the testing. I'm not an expert, but I have talked to one about this very issue. And there are many, apparently many other things in the air that could be making people sick, not just mold. There's other particles, fibers that could be in the air that makes somebody sick. People who are susceptible, people who have asthma. people who have allergies, people who suffer from migraines, people who are on chemo, all different people that are susceptible could be affected by these other things that aren't necessarily toxic mold. So I'm really glad and the public will be anxious to hear those results. It's not okay that this relationship has soured. And I'm sure it's not OK with any of the people in this room. This relationship needs to mend for the good of the community. We need to get back to communication and problem solving. I think that it's true that that space although the staff members have done a tremendous job working with what they were given, that space was not working as just somebody visiting the library, and I'm sure many parents would agree. It's not the same since they needed to move out of the children's section downstairs. So I'm asking everybody just to take a minute and get themselves together and get back to what's important, which is problem solving for this community and get back to a working relationship. We expect it and we demand it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Any other public comment?

My name is Edward O'Dowd. I work at a facility on Main Street called Freedom Trail, which is collaborative services of New Jersey, a company that's been in existence since the 80s. We serve some of Summerville's most vulnerable. And Lorraine, my partner, and I have been at it for the last four months. We wanted to just generate some awareness about what we're doing and who we are because we feel like nobody really knows us.

um that was all great what i would suggest is get your contact information to mr sluga and uh um website any literature you might have and uh you know i'd be interested in finding out more about you okay thank you thank you thank you any other public comments

Good evening. Brian Healy, 70 Veterans Memorial Drive, right here in Somerville. That's H-E-A-L-E-Y, and Brian, just like the mayor. Spelled the right way. That's right. I come to you for something very, very simple. I live on one of the apartment buildings on Veterans Memorial, and I want to know, I've lived there about eight years now, and Veterans Memorial Drive East and West has been basically a test on your suspension since I've lived there. And I know it's on a state or a county road, so I know when is public works or the borough going to resurface that road? I know PSE&G has ripped it up 50,000 times doing utility work here and there, but it's just, it's been a mess since I've lived there. And it's, I know other roads have been done, and I was wondering if it was possible, because it's a very busy road, it's a very major road, people traveling on it all the time. I'm just curious as to when it will be done. done or when public works, we'll put that on their agenda.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. I will in a moment. Any other public comment?

Good evening. As many of you know, my name is Mallory Craig Karam. I'm a mom and I live at 41 Ross Street. I am here about our library but also about something more fundamental namely our town deserves to be a partner in decisions made about Somerville's library rather than an afterthought informed by the county only after decisions have already been made. So this is about process. This is not about anything more. Tonight I'm asking our council to confirm whether the required processes were followed and whether it will be the case going forward. Somerville's library has served local residents not only as a place for reading but also as an information hub with computer access and trained librarians, a study center for students, a designated cooling center where our elderly residents cool off in sweltering weather like today, and a center where our families and community groups can gather. Yet our library branch was permanently closed, at least for this time, by the county library system last Friday with very little notice given to the public. Looking into this decision, I'm presented with more questions than answers, namely about the process and questions that include the following. First, section two of Somerville's contract with the county library system requires borough approval before any closure of our branch. I checked with our borough clerk who confirmed that formal approval was never sought nor given. So I'm asking the council and our mayor tonight just factually to be aware, did the borough council authorize the county to close our library? And if so, can you tell us when you authorized it and what led to your decision? Separately, public records suggest that Somerset County's Library Commission, which is the board that governs the county library system, never formally authorized Somerville's library closure. The Library Commission doesn't meet in July or August, so I can't go ask them directly, but I'm wondering if the council knows whether the Library Commission had approved our library's closure before their summer break. Note, however, that even if the commission had separately approved of the closure, this should not circumvent the county's obligations to Somerville under section two of our agreement with the county. Third, one reason given for the closure, again, just one, was the suspected presence of mold To his credit, when that issue was first presented and reported to him, Mayor Gallagher quickly ordered testing to determine whether mold was a health threat to the library's employees and others. As we've discussed, preliminary samples from the occupied floors of the building found that mold levels there were not elevated. And the county library director, who we heard from tonight, indicated that the decision to close the Somerville library was not actually caused by the test results and would not sway the decision to close the library. It is true that the age of the facility and the reductions in the usable space within it were less than ideal. But the question arises, why the sudden closure of the entire facility, including its usable spaces, before an approved replacement plan had been developed and shared in partnership with our borough? Put plainly, our library's closure appears to have been a decision in which Somerville's legal right to input was bypassed. and I understand that that input is a right that we have as part of the process. When the closure was recently announced, we drafted a petition confirming community support for making Somerville's library a priority. This modest effort to build awareness has already resulted in hundreds of local signatures, which I've provided to all of you tonight, and I can also provide digital copies. We warmly recognize the very important work that you do as our elected leaders to ensure that we have a library that serves our community's needs. And the response to our petition confirms that the library should indeed be one of your priorities for Somerville. I have personally written to the county library director expressing the concern that our library branch was closed without a viable plan being shared to replace it. And perhaps, I'm really looking forward to answers tonight, without that process being followed. Those of us who love Somerville and believe that our truly great town deserves a vibrant library now count on you as our leaders to ensure that local library services be restored fully and quickly in some central Somerville location as promised by the county library system. And fundamentally, I ask that you ensure and continue to ensure that Somerville's rights under our agreement will be honored. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Hearing none, I'll ask for a motion to close. so moved second discussion roll call council members and andrew conti yes lindsay yes randy pitts yes gina stravic yes roger firm yes all right public session is now closed um the easy one first veterans memorial drive the paving Where is he? There he is. I believe we're coming to a close very soon on a grant that we had received which would pave veterans.

The bids on that project are due August 12th. Okay. Once the bids are received, it's not as simple as our normal process because it's federally funded. two things have to happen is it goes to the state DOT who then communicates with the federal government to ensure that the bids were satisfactory and meet their requirements. In addition to that is the federal government does require a full-time construction inspector on the job, that RFP is waiting for approval to be issued. So listen, I know we also use that road for one of the state's largest turkey trots, right? So that's the goal to try to get it. But right now, unfortunately, because of the level that has to go through, but the bids are coming back on August 12th, which is...

So we can say probably late fall, early spring? Is that a reasonable time frame?

Yeah, I've said that before. Unfortunately, you know, for us, yeah, that's certainly our goal is to push that envelope.

Yeah, okay. As far as all the questions relating to the library, and there's some good questions, and look, I appreciate everybody's passion on this, and we share that. I said at the outset of this, everybody's goal is exactly the same. And it's unfortunate that we've been pushed to our corners for a whole lot of reasons. And I don't like being pushed to corners. I sat on our library commission here, our committee. I've sat on the county, well, I was the liaison as a freeholder. I was the liaison to the county library system. I know how it works. I've been around it a long time, 25 years. I know the process. We have rights under our agreement. I'll agree with Roberta. We do need to talk. We do need to come to an agreement, and part of that is first ensuring that that building, our building, is clean and safe. That's my primary concern right now. Once that's done, and I said this at our meeting last Thursday, I said when we can show that that building is clean and ready to go and ready to occupy, That's when we can have that discussion. And I'm pointing at Kevin. I'm pointing at Peter, because Peter was sitting there last week. But that's when we can have that discussion. We have to do our diligence to ensure that that's safe. At the same time, we also have to, as a municipality, preserve our rights under our agreement. And that's what our attorney will do. It's going to be a little bit of a process. I would agree if they could outsource some at this point while we go through that, great. And I had intimated to that last week that we would help in that process. We can. But when that building is clean, well, when we have the results back, and again, the mold was brought up again, that there's mold. There is no mold. There's no more mold inside than there is outside. That's what the testing is showing. And we keep coming back to this mold issue. And the mold issue was the impetus for this entire discussion. And we now have proof that that's not the case. So I think we have to kind of work through some of those issues as to what the reasons are. And I would agree with you as well, Mallory. You took this on, and I give you kudos for that. You took this on, and you brought it to the forefront of a discussion, and I think that's good. I was around for Rocky Hill. I was a freeholder when Rocky Hill was going through, and I actually helped the discussions in keeping Rocky Hill open at that time. I sat with their mayor. So I'm very familiar with all this that's going on, Um, but my goal is to keep our library in town and this building will be certified and it'll be ready to be reoccupied in the short term. Then we can work on the longterm because we all want the same thing out of that longterm. We all do. It makes sense. So, um, all right. Resolutions, we have consent resolutions. Any to be pulled off for further discussion? All right, hearing none. 234 is authorizing the sale of surplus equipment to the Flagtown Fire Department in the amount of $750. 235 is approving Chapter 159 from the Governor's Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse for 26th Municipal Alliance Grant Program. 236, amending approving the release of the performance bond for Shantana LLC as noted. Two 37 is authorizing the donation of surplus municipal equipment to the Hillsborough township department of public works. Two 38 is amending resolution as noted to authorize and direct the planning board of the borough of Somerville to include block 67 lot one, which is to park avenue as shown on the official tax map of the borough in its examination of whether certain properties should be determined to be an area in need of redevelopment, specifically a non condemnation redevelopment area. pursuant to the local redevelopment housing law as noted and considered for inclusion in the East central business district redevelopment area. Two 39 is approving the hiring of Kyle DeMonte as full-time labor effective August 24th at a rate of 2250 per hour. 240 is approving a six-month door-to-door solicitor license for power home remodeling for those noted 241 is authorizing the award of a contract to Millennium communication group for access control cameras panic buttons message boards and software licenses for the emergency services facility police department through the interlocal purchasing system authorizing the 242 is authorizing the award of a contract and execution of a master service agreement with language line services for on-demand telephone and video interpretation services. 243 is approving Chapter 159 from the National Opioid Settlement Trust. 244 is issuing a refund of uncollectible taxes, address known as 444 Catherine Street. 245 is approving Chapter 159 for State of New Jersey 26 Recycling Tonnage Grant. Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call.

Council members, Andrew Conti. Yes. Glenn Denny. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Gina Stravick. Yes. Roger Firm.

Yes. All right. Bills and vouchers. Roger. I make a motion to pay bills and vouchers in the amount of $1,512,098.80. Second. Discussion? Roll call.

Council members, Andrew Conti. Yes. Glenn Denny. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Gina Stravick. Yes. Roger Firm. Yes.

All right. Mr. Denny, I will ask for a motion for adjournment.

I would like to make a motion to adjourn.

Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? This meeting is adjourned.