The Bloomfield Council started its meeting by honoring Demarest Elementary School with a resolution commending the school for placing first in the 2012 Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star National Building Competition, “Battle of the Buildings.” Read more about that on Barista Kids here.
Also honored at last night’s council meeting were DPW Director Anthony Nesto and his team of DPW employees who search out Canada Geese eggs and oil them to prevent hatching, a process called “addling.” Bloomfield has participated in this program in partnership with Essex County and a nonprofit charitable organization called GeesePeace, which provides free training through the NJ Fish & Wildlife Department to teach addling techniques to those who are trying to reduce the number of Canadian Geese in a humane way.
In other business, the Council passed a resolution settling litigation between former Police Chief (now Captain) Mark Leonard and his wife Angela vs. the Township of Bloomfield, which stemmed from the appointment of current Police Chief Christopher Goul in January of 2011. Despite having scored marginally lower than Goul on the civil service exam, Leonard had originally been appointed Chief in 2009 by a council majority, a move opposed by Mayor McCarthy. Leonard was later demoted to “officer in charge of the department” prior to being replaced altogether by Goul. According to Bloomfield Life, Leonard will retire and accept a $100,000 settlement (half of which will be covered by the township’s insurance) as part of the agreement with the township.
The council also passed, on first reading, an amendment to the Phase I and Phase II center redevelopment ordinance that will require major developers to open an escrow account to provide funding for the township to use to conduct any studies needed during the approval process.
The next meeting will be a conference meeting to be held on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, at 7 p.m. in the second floor conference room in the Law Enforcement Building. (Monday, May 27, is Memorial Day).
Chief Leonard was robbed.
NO NO NO There is NO SUCH Bird as a Canadian Goose. They are CANADA GEESE (Branta canadensis)!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Goose
My bad! The resolution actually says “Canada Geese.” I will correct it!
Oh my, Pat! The outrage over calling the geese Canadian. How about some outrage over addling the eggs which deprives the embryo of oxygen and kills it? Humane?
More information about egg addling here. Participants in the program undergo training in the technique, which is to be done at the earliest stage of development, not when a chick is already developed in the egg. https://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/wild_neighbors/goose-egg-addling-flyer.pdf