Boonton council waives residency requirement so police and volunteer firefighters can enroll children in summer camp

The Boonton mayor and town council on a voice and roll-call vote approved Resolution 25-70, waiving the town's residency requirement so children of town police officers and volunteer firefighters may enroll in the municipal summer camp.

The measure was presented for separate discussion after the consent agenda; Council member Divanizia said she supported the idea in principle but wanted data showing a demonstrated need before creating an exception. "I have no problem with waiving the residency requirement, but I would like data to see if this particular resolution is even necessary," Divanizia said.

Administrator Neil Henry described the proposal as a courtesy to emergency responders and said the town had not collected precise enrollment requests. "There are a couple of police officers who have indicated that they'd be interested in taking that up," Henry said, adding that the town extended the waiver "in exchange for the service of the fire department and the police department" and that he did not have hard numbers to justify or oppose the exception.

After discussion, a motion to adopt the resolution was moved and seconded and a roll-call vote recorded affirmative votes from council members present; the chair announced the measure passed.

The council did not attach specific eligibility limits or a deadline in the discussion; Henry said staff could follow up if members requested additional data. The action changes town policy by authorizing the temporary waiver for the summer camp program; details about any administrative implementation or caps were not specified during the meeting.

Next steps: the council moved on to other agenda items; there was no additional public hearing or modification to the resolution on the record.