The LIA Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 8 a.m., and will be an in-person meeting at the Linden Public Library, 31 E. Henry Street, Linden, NJ 07036. Our guest speaker will be Brian E. Gorton, President and Chief Operating Officer, Consolidated Rail Corporation, who will be discussing Conrail and its New Jersey operations.
Linden Industrial Association
MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE
LINDEN INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION
A meeting of the Linden Industrial Association was held on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 8:00 a.m., at the Linden Public Library, pursuant to written notice thereof duly sent to all members in accordance with the provisions of the Bylaws of the Association. The following were present:
Honorable Mayor Derek Armstead City of Linden
Paul Abramson SolarKal
Tracy Bara Provident Bank
Lois Bass LIA Trustee
Kevin Brady Linden Fire Department
Chris Beriont Pennoni
Peter Brown PBG Solutions, LLC
Kathleen Burke A&M Industrial
Maria Castanheira Northfield Bank
Azariah Clifton Infineum
Wayne Cromwell General Magnaplate
James K. Estabrook, Esq. Lindabury McCormick Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.
Christopher Guenther Linden Police Department
Chief David Hart Linden Police Department
Rebecca Kerins-Tattoli Office of the Mayor
June Lazaro Primerica
Alex Lospinoso LEDC, City of Linden
Ed Majeski Linden Roselle Sewer Authority
Janet Miller Cox Printers
Guy Rivera Linden Generating Station
Yumarie Santillan Compliance Assistance Specialist, OSHA, Guest Speaker
Robert Sobol RPS Consulting
Jared Stadlin Linden Warehouse & Distribution
Mark Szollar Commercial Realty Partners
Jeffrey Williams Linden Roselle Sewerage Authority
Austin Zatorski TotalEnergies Marketing & Services
Our special thanks to Harry Combe and Hose Heaven, Inc., for their continued support of the Linden Industrial Association in sponsoring today’s meeting. A motion was duly made and seconded to approve the minutes of the membership meeting held on January 16, 2024. The motion was unanimously passed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
President’s Report. President, Kathleen Burke distributed a reminder for the members to nominate an employee of their business who had made a contribution to the City of Linden or improved their business operations. The Memorandum referred to by President Burke is attached hereto. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, March 28, 2024 and the President is in hopes that there will be multiple nominees.
Program. President, Kathleen Burke, was pleased to introduce guest speaker, Yumarie Santillan, MS, Compliance Assistance Specialist, at OSHA to provide a presentation on OSHA regulations and latest enforcement updates.
Ms. Santillan stated that at OSHA, the safety and health of all workers is a core value which is enforced equitably, so that every worker is treated the same. New Jersey is part of Region II of OSHA. There are over 5,000 employees in OSHA across the country. The agency takes a balanced approach across all of its mandates of enforcement, compliance assistance, training, and cooperative programs. It’s general standard of care is assuring the general health and safety of all workers and making sure that they work in a safe environment. It also has specific standards related to the construction field and maritime field.
OSHA just recently released its Top 10 most cited violations for 2023. The number one violation was lack of fall protection. Under its enforcement mandate, OSHA has both unprogrammed and programmed inspections. Both of which can result in penalties and strict requirements for correction. Currently, OSHA at the national level, is focused on developing a set of regulations to deal with indoor and outdoor heat exposure for workers. In September 2023, they issued proposed regulations. Nationally, OSHA is also focused on warehousing and distribution centers and are looking at comprehensive safety inspection protocols for these industries.
OSHA has increased tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses and most reports now need to be filed electronically. There was a final rule to amend record keeping requirements effective as of July, 21, 2023. In Region II, the emphasis is largely on the construction arena, refuse, trees and landscaping, and the healthcare industry. Two industries that have dropped out of Region II’s high inspection rate are the dairy industry and heavy highway construction work.
If you are subject of either a programmed or unprogrammed inspection, the process is still largely the same. The OSHA inspector is required to present their credentials; there will be an opening conference between the inspector and principals of the business; there will be a walk around and site inspection; and a closing conference. From there, there will be written results provided to the employer with a right of appeal. Employers need to know that violations can be cited incident by incident and are not just one large group violation with one final penalty. Each incident is separately analyzed and assessed its own penalty. Ms. Santillan then reviewed several specific regulatory requirements that OSHA has including hazard communication, PPE, and respiratory protection.
Environmental Health and Safety. With the absence of Chairman Joe Barbanel, there was no report.
Government and Community Relations. Alex Lospinoso, LEDC, provided an update as to the current developments in the City of Linden. Specifically, at St. Georges Ave and Dewitt Avenue, there will be a new development incorporating 21 apartment units with retail on the first floor. The developer is providing 37 parking spaces, which is tremendously helpful. Across the street from that location, the long-standing bar and grill known as Dee’s Dugout has been demolished and there are 17 apartment units going up on that site. Phillips 66 has announced it is selling property to a company called Blue Water which will utilize it for warehousing of approximately 940,000 square feet. Several new stores are going into Legacy Square including Blue Sunday Bar and Grill and Tropical Smoothie Café. At the Parcs Plastics site, development continues with 650 tons of dirt having been removed due to contamination.
Rebecca Kerins-Tattoli reported that the Mayor’s Youth Commission is holding a fundraiser at the high school with a medium. The cost is $35 per person, April 19th, from 7-8:30pm. Mayor Armstead reported that RNG Energies broke ground for its new operations which it hopes to have completed and operational by 2026. It already has several contracts with the City of New York. Its business operations are to turn food waste into natural gas and a type of peat moss by-product.
Linden Police Department. Chief David Hart, Linden Police Department, reported that the Youth Academy is open for enrollment. It will be starting on July 15th with 35 students participating. The National Night Out is scheduled for August 16th, and its Award Luncheon is scheduled for May 1st. The City is attempting to obtain 10 more plate readers to complement the 20 already located and in use across the City. They are working with PSE&G in order to mount those new plate readers within various locations throughout the City. On March 15th, a law enforcement job fair will be held at Kean University. The L.E.A.D. program, (Law Enforcement Against Drugs), was a complete success and there was a recent graduation. Due to the rampant theft of catalytic converters, the City held an etching event where 15-20 cars had their catalytic converters etched with identifying numbers. In conjunction with the Fire Department, the Police Department handled a railcar derailment associated with Conrail. A series of tanker cars carrying ethanol came off the rails. There was no spillage, however. The Chief also reviewed his statistics for the calendar year 2023.
Linden Fire Department. In the absence of Chief William Hasko, Kevin Brady, of the Linden Fire Department, provided a report. The 2023 statistics noted they had over 10,000 events for the second year in a row and he does not believe there will be any reduction in the future. To follow up on the report by Chief Hart, there was a derailment at Tremley Point of 8 railcars: 2 of them had fallen onto their sides which required 4 cranes per car to load them back up on the rails. They were pleased however that there were no leaks and no spills with regard to the accident. Union County HAZMAT was on site but it took a full 20 hours to rectify the problems.
The Linden Fire Department’s EMS division increased revenue into the City to well over $1 million. EMS hired a new medical director who will be a welcomed addition. The Fire Department has 4 new recruits at the Fire Academy which will bring the Fire Department to a full compliment of 117 members. Members of the EMS are completing their refresher courses in 2023 and earlier 2024. The Junior Fire Academy, which hosts 25-30 children will be from June 24th to June 28th.
Membership. No Report.
There being no further matters, the meeting was adjourned. The next membership meeting will be held on March 19, 2024 at the Linden Public Library.
Copyright © 2019 Linden Industrial Association - All Rights Reserved.