City Council

BOROUGH OF BARRINGTON MINUTES OF MONTHLY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 12, 2021, 6:00PM, VIRTUAL MEETING HELD VIA ZOOM A regular monthly Council Meeting of the Borough of Barrington was held with Mayor Harris presiding. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Harris called the meeting to order via Zoom at 6:00pm with the Sunshine Statement announcement and with the special notice pursuant to the Executive Orders and guidance issued by the State of New Jersey due to the Corona virus state of emergency. She explained that the public will be muted until the open public portion. At that time, the public can ask a question or make a comment by raising their virtual hand and they will be unmuted. Public comment will be limited to five minutes in the aggregate per person. Anyone being abusive or unprofessional will be removed from the meeting. Mayor Harris then led everyone on the Zoom meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL The Municipal Clerk called roll of Council with the following in attendance: Council President Beach, Councilman Cerrito, Councilman Drumm, Councilman Hanson and Councilman Robenolt. Councilman Ludwig was absent. Mayor Harris, Municipal Clerk Terry Shannon and Timothy Higgins, Esq were also on the zoom meeting along with Department Heads and members of the public. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Harris reported that council was provided with the minutes of the December 1, 2020, caucus meeting and the December 8, 2020, council meeting and asked if there were any corrections or abstentions. On a motion by Hanson second by Robenolt the minutes were approved by all members of Council present. COMMITTEE REPORTS The Municipal Clerk read a summary of the December 2020 monthly reports from the following departments: Police included year-end report, EMS/Ambulance, Regional Fire Alliance, Tax & Sewer Collector and year-end report, Court Administrator report for November, Construction, and Trash and Recycling. The Mayor asked for a clarification on the Police report regarding the number of summonses issued and Deputy Chief Minardi responded it was a mistake—it was actually 243. On a motion by Cerrito, second by Robenolt the monthly reports were approved as submitted by all members of Council present. ORDINANCES FOR INTRODUCTION ON FIRST READING The Clerk read the following ordinances by title: Ord. 1131 Amending Article IX of Chapter 104, Stormwater Management, in the Borough Code Ord. 1132 Amending Chapter 95, Property Maintenance, Fees, in the Borough Code Mayor Harris stated these ordinances will be considered for adoption following proper notice and a public hearing to be held during the February 9, 2021, council meeting. On a motion by Hanson, second by Beach, the first reading of the ordinances was approved with the following poll vote: Beach-yes, Cerrito-yes, Drumm-yes, Hanson-yes, Robenolt-yes. RESOLUTION CONSENT AGENDA The Clerk read the following resolutions to be approved by consent agenda: 1-2021-20 Adding 2020 Tax Exemptions 1-2021-21 Authorizing the Tax Assessor to File, Stipulate and Settle Both Regular and Added/Omitted Tax Appeals and Roll Back Tax Complaints for Barrington 1-2021-22 Authorizing Participation in the Camden County Contract for Trash Disposal 1-2021-23 Authorizing Fire Alliance to Issue Refunds to the State of New Jersey for Life Hazard inspections in Magnolia 1-2021-24 Authorizing Agreement with Gloucester Twp for Provision of Brine 1-2021-25 Change Order No. 2-Final for the Tax Office Security Wall 1-2021-26 Approving the January Bill List for a Total of: $987,919.37 1-2021-27 Authorizing Refund of a Fee Paid for a Planning Board Application On a motion by Hanson, second by Beach, the resolution consent agenda was approved with the following poll vote: Beach-yes, Cerrito-yes, Drumm-yes, Hanson-yes, Robenolt-yes. PUBLIC PORTION: On a motion by Drumm, second by Robenolt, the public portion of the meeting was opened. Mayor Harris advised that if you have comments or questions to raise your hand and you will be unmuted. Please and state your name for the record. Public comment is limited to five minutes in the aggregate per person. Seeing no comments from the public, on a motion by Hanson, second by Cerrito, the public portion of the meeting was closed COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY MAYOR HARRIS –at this time we have 297 positive Covid cases and 7 deaths since March 2020. Just since December 9, 2020, Barrington has had almost 100 positive Covid cases. We are not through the holiday positives and we will probably see more. Vaccines are available for Fire, Police, Health Care Workers and EMS. Camden County College has a site being run by the County so if you fit the criteria you can sign up. It is 1A and first responders at this time, they will be there six days a week. Log on to the County website to sign up. Hopefully we will be moving into 1B and be able to vaccinate as many people as possible. We have decided not to mandate vaccines for Borough employees but it will be strongly recommended, encouraged and suggested and we will provide information and opportunity to be vaccinated when it is open to the departments. There are no solicitation badges being given at this time while we are in the state of emergency; no one will be issued solicitation permits. If someone does come to your door please call the police. Congratulations to former resident Troy Koff as he was sworn in today to be a Philadelphia Fireman. We are very proud of those who go on to do great things from our town! COUNCILMAN DRUMM – went over the numbers from 2019 to 2020 for the Fire Alliance and surprisingly the figures are pretty similar, approximately $10,000; but due to Covid and the fact that one town did leave us that’s a pretty good number so thanks to Jim Arpino, I’m proud of the Fire Alliance Department. With Project Save, the final totals for the year were 202 municipal referrals with is 49 people enrolled in services under Project Save. Our Police Department gave out 153 of the Project Save cards for people to receive help and I thank them for all they do for that. It’s good that people are getting the help that they need. Mayor Harris noted that of all the Municipalities, other than larger Townships, Barrington was the highest for giving out referrals. We are very proud of Chief Uron and the Department take that so seriously. When the project came to light they attended the classes and informational sessions and really hit it out of the park with these referrals. It is a testament to how you feel and how your department feels about addiction. Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN HANSON – Police contract was settled and we approved the resolution. We are not having any events yet. O ur food pantry is open and we are giving out non- perishable food and we are receiving donations; we had some Borough employees donate so thank you all very much. Email me if you need any food or know of anyone who needs assistance. COUNCILMAN CERRITO–not too much to report. Chick-Fil-A has resumed construction; they generally don’t take too long, maybe April or the next few months it will open up. I saw a sold sign on the 500 Clements Bridge property so it’s exciting and we look forward another business in town. Have a good night. Mayor advised that they did speak with Eli from Tonewood and they are anticipating an August opening at this time. Chick-Fil-A and Central Pro Services, a company owned by resident Dan Webb, is a kitchen and bath company and the dance studio Next Stage moved to a location near Slice and a new fitness center is scheduled to open down there also. Lots that Vince and the Construction Department officials are following up on. It’s exciting to see people opening up even during Covid. COUNCILMAN ROBENOLT – following up on the businesses he spoke with Dan from Central Pro and he may even have someone interested in the front of the building as a tenant as he does not need the entire building. So we have another potential new business. Chief Baus is on quarantine, he has another possible exposure issue so contact him by phone or email. If you need to see someone in person contact Deputy Chief Preen or myself and we will make sure that we get someone over to see you. Thanks to Rowan and Riverside Medical for their speed in getting all the Firefighters who just became eligible last week and getting them vaccinated by the end of this week. Hopefully it will carry through as the other phases kick in. Thank you. COUNCIL PRESIDENT BEACH – been a while but just to reiterate all senior events are shut down as is the use of the senior bus for the foreseeable future. Public Works will begin their split shift on Wednesday--two shifts working three days a week with ten hour days so we will have coverage six days a week. This will split the working crews in case there are any incidents or exposure issues with one crew, we still have coverage with the other. Terry Shannon, Municipal Clerk, advised that as Barrington is a member of Kiwanis of the Haddons and they are collecting food and pajamas on Martin Luther King Day. Food will go to the Barrington Food Pantry and pajamas will go to a variety of organizations. Please drop off new PJ’s with tags, all sizes, in the bin inside the doors of the Borough Hall. With no further business to be transacted, on a motion by Cerrito, second by Beach, the meeting was adjourned at 6:27 pm. APPROVED: Terry Shannon Terry Shannon, Municipal Clerk