City Council

BOROUGH OF BARRINGTON MINUTES OF MONTHLY COUNCIL MEETING AUGUST 10, 2021, 6:00PM, BARRINGTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING A regular monthly Council Meeting of the Borough of Barrington was held at 6:00pm with Mayor Harris presiding. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Harris called the meeting to order with the following statement: "This meeting is held in compliance with Chapter 231 of the open public meetings act of 1975 and appropriate notice has been given. Notice of this meeting was filed with the Retrospect and Courier Post and has also posted in on the bulletin board in Borough Hall where notices are primarily kept. She then led everyone 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 Hanson, Councilman Ludwig and Councilman Robenolt. Mayor Harris, Municipal Clerk Terry Shannon and Solicitor David Capozzi, Esq., were also on the dais. Councilman Drumm was absent with prior notice. OATH OF OFFICE: Mayor Harris announced that we are appointing a new Special Officer to the Police Department. She administered the Oath of Office to new Class II Special Officer Tyler Selby, in the Police Department. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Harris reported that council was provided with the minutes of the July 6, 2021, caucus meeting and the July 13, 2021, council meeting and asked if there were any corrections or abstentions. On a motion by Robenolt, second by Ludwig, the minutes were approved by all members of Council present. COMMITTEE REPORTS The Municipal Clerk read a summary of the July 2021 monthly reports from the following departments: Police, Fire, EMS/Ambulance, Regional Fire Alliance, Tax & Sewer Collector, Court Administrator report for June, Construction, and Trash and Recycling. On a motion by Ludwig, second by Hanson, the monthly reports were approved as submitted by all members of Council present. ORDINANCES FOR INTRODUCTION ON FIRST READING: Ord. 1147 Adding Chapter 103, Smoking in Public Places, to the Borough Code On a motion by Beach, second by Cerrito, the ordinance was approved with the following poll vote: Beach-yes; Cerrito-yes, Hanson-yes, Ludwig-yes, Robenolt-yes. Mayor Harris announced that this ordinance will be considered for adoption following proper notice and a public hearing to held during the September 14, 2021, council meeting. RESOLUTION CONSENT AGENDA The Clerk read the following resolutions to be approved by consent agenda: 8-2021-91 Awarding a Contract to Charles Marandino, LLC, for Construction of an A.D.A. Accessible Ramp at the VFW Senior Ctr (partially funded through the CDBG Year 2020 Program) 8-2021-92 Emergency Change Order No. 1, South Jersey Sanitation (Seaside Waste) Solid Waste Collection Contract Extension 8-2021-93 Authorizing a Shared Service Agreement with Haddonfield for Oak Avenue Project 8-2021-94 Awarding a Contract to Asphalt Paving Services for 9/11 Memorial Improvements 8-2021-95 Adding 2021 Tax Exemptions 8-2021-96 Deleting 2021 Tax Exemptions 8-2021-97 Requesting Approval of Items of Revenue and Expense for Grants Received 8-2021-98 Appointing Tyler Selby as a Class II Special Police Officer 8-2021-99 Cancelling Taxes Due to Incorrect Assessment 8-2021-100 Approving the August Bill List in the Total Amount of: $5,100,391.10 On a motion by Ludwig, second by Hanson, the resolution consent agenda was approved with the following poll vote: Beach-yes; Cerrito-yes, Hanson-yes, Ludwig-yes, Robenolt-yes PUBLIC PORTION On a motion by Ludwig, second by Beach, 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 state your name for the record. Public comment is limited to five minutes in the aggregate per person. Jay Houck of Lawrence Avenue is having issues with juveniles coming from the softball fields and knocking on his door or ringing the doorbell between 9:30 – 10:30 pm and running away. Can motion lights be put up at the softball field? The kids have been heard at the ball field at 3am. Mayor advised that she is aware; curfew is midnight on weekends and 11 pm on weekdays so they will be told not to be in the park, but they will not be told to go home. Out past curfew is not an offense, they can only be taken home to their parents and ask the parents to talk with their kids. It’s too expensive to put lights up but we can beef up police patrols. Mr. Houck said possibly a motion detector light. Council President Beach said they can look into some motion sensor lights, possibly solar, to install at the park. The police have been patrolling and they will also post about this problem of “ding, dong, ditch”. Mayor advised that the lights could be a deterrent but may not stop the kids and Police will make sure the gates are locked. Mike Ciocco, Barrington DPW Superintendent advised that the recycling report was not a fee this time but revenue of $4,999.44. He also said perhaps PSE&G can put up a streetlight at the playground, it would just be a monthly fee Diane Schreyer of S. Nassau Drive welcomed Tyler Selby to the Police Department and Borough of Barrington. Seeing no further comments from the public, on a motion by Hanson, second by Ludwig, the public portion of the meeting was closed. COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY COUNCILMAN HANSON – welcomed Officer Selby and wished him luck. The Police’s National Night Out was a success and all had fun. Family Movie Night is this Thursday at 8:30 pm at the softball field; start arriving at 7:30 pm, and free to all. Free popcorn and glow sticks--bring a blanket to sit on. Wednesday, August 25th is Summer Nights at the basketball courts, again free to all. There is a speed study on Davis Road, results not yet available. Mayor Harris suggested that Movie Night and Summer Nights will be a great time for the Police to speak with the kids about ringing doorbells and running away and to be respectful to people in town. COUNCILMAN LUDWIG – welcomed Officer Selby. Advised all to watch out for kids, with school starting soon, be aware of them coming and going to school. Good job on National Night Out, the Councilman could not attend but heard it was a good time. He also reminded all that the Eagles have a game Thursday night! COUNCIL PRESIDENT BEACH – welcomed Officer Selby to Barrington. The Council President was at a meeting about the trash, the company has enough employees and vehicles for pick up but will come on Saturday if it should become necessary; the only issue could possibly be the Labor Day collection. The Council President will look into possibility of three solar motion sensor lights at the three locations at the park and softball field as a deterrent to the kids. COUNCILMAN CERRITO – welcome Tyler. Glad to have you and look forward to working with you and getting to know you. Good day today working on the 911 Memorial. Bricklayer Union, Local 5 volunteered to do work at the memorial, and we are very grateful; now we are working on the steel marker. As for trash, thanks DPW for your daily work and with the memorial and concrete work. National Night Out was a blast, all had fun, looking forward to the next event. COUNCILMAN ROBENOLT – thanks all for coming out tonight. Congratulations Tyler and welcome. The Fire Company roof is coming along, all materials are now onsite. Chief Kate Bowen still has job openings for the Ambulance if you know anyone looking for employment. The Fire Company is always looking for volunteers; we are in the process of reviewing applications for a full-time fire fighter; we have numerous good candidates. On October 10th the Fire Company will have a car show fundraiser in the parking lot of the Post Office and they are looking for sponsors; please see the Fire Company website. MAYOR HARRIS – welcome Tyler, we are a great town, the best town, and we are very fortunate to have such great officers and we are proud of our Police Department. About the park issue complaint, this is a good time to speak with your kids about manners and being respectful to our residents, especially at a time when people are nervous, frustrated and stressed out. Hopefully talking about it and bringing it up through the Police will help resolve the issue. Councilman Drumm will be the boroughs Covid 19 liaison; he will deal directly with the Health Department and County keeping us up to date and sharing information through the website and Facebook as we begin to have some numbers climbing again in the county and in town. Communication is important, if you have any issues come talk about it and notify us. Facebook is not the way to go, we don’t check it daily. Your complaint is not going to be taken seriously when you are on a page that no one is really monitoring. You can email any of us, call Eileen Holcombe or come to a meeting, we will get you a response. Police do not patrol Facebook; any problems call them and file a report. Thanks for National Night Out, it was a good time, nice to see Police, kids and all out enjoying themselves. The Wish Park was dedicated to the three girls who had the idea to update the park, Angelina Szabo, Angelina DeMartinez, and Macey Johnston. School will start with masks, and we hope to get through quickly and not see more closures. With no further business to be transacted, on a motion by Hanson, second by Ludwig, the meeting was adjourned at 6:35 pm. APPROVED: Terry Shannon Terry Shannon, Municipal Clerk