##VIDEO ID:CwvZafiCCNo## this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act a notice of this meeting was provided to the home news trib The Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on April 18 2024 and was posted on ball website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of borrow Hall 221 South fth Avenue H Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law the F exit are to my left and right of council chambers Chief can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America stands Nation God indivisible with libery and justice for all mayor Foster here councilwoman Cana coun uh councilman George here councilman H here council president H at the same conference councilwoman Kim Chan councilman pel here B attorney Shaw here B administrator H here we have a a pass um The Arc of the Arc of M County had gotten a recognition from us for the week of September 8 to the 14th just want to acknowledge that we'll be sending a proclamation over uh approval of minut may have a motion to approve minutes as distributed for September 3rd 2024 and regular session second I have to wase councilman H yes councilman ponic yes so um attorney what you do no we just put it on for the next we table it for the next one because we don't have a forum I hope that is these Ministry tables and now I'm going to move on to council reports I'm going to start off with council member H excuse me um my name is Matt hail and a chair Economic Development uh committee and um I do have a a couple of announcements um first of all a big huge shout out to Rebecca H and the entire team at Main Street Highland Park um for arts in the park and Then followed immediately by the townwide garage sale having two bigue events um right back to back um is especially taxing um both were a big success and Rebecca and her team deserve a great amount of credit for that so um thank you to to both of that um tonight we're going to have a public hearing on a Redevelopment plan for 810 north2 um we'll we'll talk more about that at the public hearing but I did want to report that the planning board um reviewed it and in terminology that only planners can love they found it not inconsistent with master plan which means that it is consistent with the master plan um and in particular that it meets many of the goals um specified the master plan including flexible design options um and strategic info it's a small project but in comparison to other but I I do believe it's a good one um I also wanted to to let people know um that uh under the leadership of Mayor Foster and the economic development team um the councils and and and staff have been reaching out to many new different um options um and and uh opportunities to try and improve Business Development part um in particular we've been attending various conferences and workshops throughout M SE County and the state um to try and raise the profile of Holland Park council president H and councilwoman can actually at one end in Atlantic City right now that Focus us on both housing and economic development issues um I recently attended a number of different um conferences and meetings um just a few are are one about incubating uh ways you can encourage incubating of startup companies another one that Orthodox Jewish business Round Table um and we have upcoming scheduled for Middle sex County Business Development some the chw New Jersey quarterly meeting and a Woodbridge Regional economic uh development conference the goal again is to try and attract more businesses to HP um so I wanted to thank uh Terry and and the mayor very much for sort of encouraging and pushing those Outreach efforts I think they're G to hopefully bear some fruit um in the in the near future um lastly uh we're all very excited about the long waited opening of Super Fresh this Friday um it really was a team effort to move all the levels of government um to get the supermarket as fast as possible um and and I wanted to particularly thank the community center staff and food pantry along with main H Park um and even some of our existing businesses like Park deli and CLA 27 who stepped in for the fill the void um during uh the time that we were Supermarket list um particularly with seniors and those most in need so um uh it was a great effort by a lot of people to make sure that we we did what we could um until a superet Market uh came one is coming on Friday um I also wanted to to just say to people that every new business is going to face Kings and hurdles as they open it's just the the nature of the Beast um I'm very confident that Super Fresh is going to be an the best Supermarket Highland Park has ever seen um it is a new business however so let's give it some slack and give it a lot of shopping dollars um as we kick off so um uh I I I I am uh sad and unfortunately that uh that family obligations out of state are going to prevent me from attending um this Friday's ribbon company uh cutting um but I'm excited to go shopping as soon as I get back right as soon as I get back like literally off the plane as I get back please go shop at Super go to super fres shop shop big um uh let's make this a great opening for H park that's all I have here thank you council member George thank you mayor I'm Phil George safety committee report for today September 17th I just want to say echoing ha's remarks it was a great yard sale Saturday the weather couldn't have been any more perfect it always that to me and my family it's always the Autumn kickoff because you know autum is coming uh it was just delightful the volume was great made some money got rid of a lot of stuff everybody did the same thing and as councilman H would have said if he was here uh we're in the middle of both up as a result which we always do after Arts I be running all we also Arts of the park was another Perfect Day the crowded event which shows the diverse activities that Highland Park has sered by served by the and enjoyed by the diverse audience that we have here in Highland Park um with the Super Fresh opening I just want to say that another tradition that um I I think all members of council have enjoyed over the years which is the Isle 7 conversation seems that we always buttheads and have conversations with members of the public or each other in aisle 7 so I'm looking forward to that as well the library report there's another great opening the library is reopening the temporary headquarters at 901 riton which is at the corner of 10th across from the ice cream shop uh will be shut down as of next Wednesday September 25th for transition of facil ities Holdings and staff for something of a retraining on the new facilities um including the new Polaris computer system at the main library so we were looking forward to a soft reopening at some time in mid October I spoke with the executive director today board on Monday appears that that is not quite certain because we have seen um number one when the roof is complete and number two when the STA um is fully back in service we're looking at somewhere right now about the middle of October for Sal opening there will be a formal opening and red rededication in November and there'll be more DET details on that right now the roofing contractor is finalizing the duckboard because they will be refabricating new duckboard for the hbac on the roof the architect has gone over the plans there um hoping to have that next week and start the installation letter permitting the public safety report our Public Safety facility facilities Services had a short memorial for the 911 Fallen emergency responders on the morning of September 11th last week it was a morning exactly like 911 in 2001 bright sunny quiet a little pinch of autumn in the air um and we have the ceremony concluding at the same time is the first plane strike at 8:46 a.m. again we thank all our First Responders for their services the police department will have speakers for discussion of firearm safety and storage tomorrow night in conjunction with the human Relations Committee uh and some of the other towns are invited as well at the community center from 7: to 8:00 pm program will look at safe practices for gun safety discussion of the risks and consequences of ignoring the simple home procedures to maintain safe gun possession and use hopefully it won't be a discussion of any type of political issues with G safety especially with events of the past month uh or of horror stories but concentrating on what people can do to make their homes their children and their family safe in response to questions over safe overnight Lighting in the Triangle the police started observation of conditions throughout the triangle at night and gathering information about the actual lighting there this project is ongoing and our department will be coing and then reporting unexisting conditions and any conclusions and recommendations to come out of the study um on slack the safe walking and cycling committee this Friday September 20th is another event uh you may be lining up for the opening of Super Fresh but it's also National Parking day and swack will be having a parket set up at the former Bergen AO which is now the lower R and watersheds boat building school parking day is a one-day Global event where people across the world temporarily repurchase repurpose street parking spaces that convert them to tiny tiny parks and places for art play and activism you may have seen them before in towns where flat head trailers are set up like sidewalk CES and we have versions here on South Third and North Fourth pars are a growing part of downtown Redevelopment in renovation so please load up your groceries drive down from Super Fresh and come and enjoy reusing the street skate on all of our parket and learning what slack has been advocating as part of our renovation of our town thank you mayor thank you thank you mayor good night everyone um so I am Jason stck I share the recreation Arts committee uh within that umbrella we have a number of exciting events and programs coming up uh first of there will be a senior health and fitness walk that's presented by middlex County it'll be held at Rosevelt Park in Edison and is on Wednesday September 25th um after that the Department of Aging is hosting a trip to Atlantic City which will be on Monday September 30th um and a little later we'll be hosting a blot clinic on Wednesday October 9th from 10 a.m. to 11: a. which will be at the community center uh this clinic is open to all High Park residents uh and for any of those three events I just spoke about please contact community centers at 732 819 0052 for more details um also there are a couple of uh stud new Department of recreation programs that uh registration just open up for uh some bu programs like men's basketball women's basketball um Ault soccer and adult volleyball a lot of fun sign up at Highland par.com um and then lastly just an art commission update they will be hosting a poetry Festival on Sunday October 6 from 4: to 9: at penos wine seller at 13 North 4th Avenue although I'm pretty sure everyone knows where penos is but just in case um so come see poets from town and around the state there will be featur performers and a poetry competition and then I just want to Echo a couple things that my Este colleague coun Hill mentioned just want to say Echo that uh the uh arts in the park and garage weekend we just fantastic I want to give a special shout out to the Arts commission hisorical commission for all the time that they put out on uh the Arts in the park uh Street Festival they were there all day engaging folks and showing them cool art projects selling cool t-shirts or telling them and showing some pictures of some interesting hisorical photos and items um and then just to also Echo everyone like please go to Super Fresh often and frequently I know I will probably be there almost every day so and that was my report for thank you thank you council member Kim Chan yes mayor I just wanted to again uh remind everyone that the SCH water bill that you have received in your mailbox this past week that is um reflecting the new rate increase that was passed on uh due to Middle sex water company increasing their price of for the burrow to purchase water and also midle County Utility Authority increased their uh rate as well to support ongoing rates and capital upgrades so um that increase was just passed along to the residents and um if you have any um concerns you can always email myself of a bur attorney as well I mean not attorney administrator not the attorney administrator and uh the the anchor benefit is back again if you have any changes or if you went from renter to homeowner uh you can update your status at nj.gov treasury taxation anchor and I also want to um the success of the townwide uh garage sale I also participated for two days it was nice to see some of the residents as we swap out our stuff and um I look forward to participate in again next year that's my report thank you more administrator's report just real briefly the leading regarding the townwide yard sale I just thought I'd remind folks about especially in the absence of the council president H about the uh the B pick up this week um North Side I guess was today and probably spilling into tomorrow as needed and then Southside will be on Dennis Thursday Thursday thank you um so just remember these are bulk items so any remainders from your yard sale we'd ask if it fits in your toer you're looking to get rid of it uh please put it in your to or bag it up so it's easier for the the crews to collect uh so we get through all the waste that needs to be collected and as a reminder there will be no recycling this week to allow us the time we need to do that for colle thank you um I'm gon to just before the B um attorney's report I'm just going to give a reminder that please that mayor and Council to follow the quum of the meeting the B attorney will also address how our Rules of Order and our decorum will be handled going forward and I'm just going to say foror report can I just can I just for for the for the north side since today we had that tree triming I did um Tex councilman hell so there was no like starting of the B pick up today too that was from PNG I guess with their L yeah PNG is out doing tree trimming yes yes yes so there season yes and it's not going to be any recycable and recycles this week it's just the boat that we have left over from our garage sale report thank you man good evening everyone um want to go through some rules we've implemented since February on how we conduct our Council meetings so um if we turn to our agenda as you can notice there's three opportunities in which the public who can participate the first part is going to be after the mayor's report and during that time period the procedure is going to be that we open up to the public they have a limited time to speak we take all the questions and comments in and then we make a motion to close the public portion after we have closed the public portion the mayor uh who runs the meeting is basically going to respond to the questions or direct any the directors or any other council members to speak to those inquiries or comments second part is you notice on the agenda there's an ordinance requiring a second rating um and my apologies but as the the public first public portion um can only speak as to the um resolutions and ordinances that are on the agenda um for the second part of the ordinance requiring a second reading again the public can come up they can make a comment or have a question we will then close the public portion and then the mayor will either respond to the inquiry or the comment or direct either me uh any of the uh members of the governing body or um even a director to respond um then the third part is it follows the consent agenda and during the consent after the consent agenda we open it up in members of public can ask a question about anything um once they have the that opportunity um we're going to close the public portion again and then the mayor again is going to either respond or direct any members of the governing body or director to respond during all the three opportunities in which the public can speak and then once it's closed the public cannot speak once the public portion is closed thank you so much and mayor I have nothing else to report thank you uh now it's time for my report and I too want to Echo that the street fair was the Art Park was an amazing success we had a huge turnout and I was so happy to be there and to by a perfect it felt like a perfect summmer day and everyone was out and it felt really good to be around each and every one of us and all the Highland Park folks that I ran into and friends from out of town at that event we also had the public information committee president and we were doing a survey and we wanted to see how can we effectively communicate with all residents and as we all are aware we get our use our news sources from many many different places these days it is not the typical via newspaper get your news or listen to One radio station matter of fact radio stations are seem to be dying on quickly too so we need to know how do we communicate with all sectors of our community and to do so we are the public information committee took time out to put a survey together to access the survey you can go to https tinyurl.com and back3 C5 HR 52 HR so we will have this information on our website so please go to the website you can scan the QR code to get the survey on your phone or fill the survey out there and just let us know how we can more effectively communicate with each and every one of you and for completing the survey there is a gift card that is available so please go to um and fill that out let us know how we can better and much more effectively communicate with each and every one of you because we do want to hear your concern and we do we do appreciate you interacting with us that said I had the opportunity this this past weekend to attend two wonderful events and one is the Lower riton River Watershed and seawa they were here in town and these are people who are protecting our waterways and making sure that we have clean fresh drinking water and as you may be aware that there is a water issue globally and if we don't start looking at ways of how to protect and to have clean fresh water we will be having some issues in the not too distant future so these folks about a 100 volunteers are volunteered themselves to make sure that our waterways are are safe it's clean and we have good fresh drinking water they're going to be doing a lot of surveys around town so if you see them and they they may stop and ask questions of you please help them fill out that survey as well because drinking water is something that we all need um and the last no one more the Chinese this is Chinese autn Moon Festival so Chinese aut Moon Festival has started I went to the Highland Park Chinese Association event they had in Donaldson Park this year if you remember last year they had a full event um in the Farmers Market lot this year they scale back but they're gearing up for a full event next year so beond the lookout they'll be back next year um I want to wish everyone from our Chinese Community a wonderful Autumn Moon Festival and um speaking of Festival if if you notice as you were coming in the front door or if you went to the community center you see the beautiful for decoration that's out and I want to thank Kim and all the helpers that the community center for making Bor at the community center look much more like fall and much more welcoming um a new program that we have started this is a new initiative and it's bringing government to the people often times people don't have time to come to Council meetings or maybe they questions when they watch the videos they the questions leave unanswered and what what a new program that I've started is bringing government to the community so we want to go to different districts and to be able to set up and have Council meetings and have Q&A Community forums so the first one will be on October 8th that will be on Maryland Street and we will have members from police fire first aid OEM insert and council members presid including myself and we'll be there to ask and get questions that you may have wanted to ask from us and to get more information and to better to communicate with you much more effectively so that's the goal is to provide more information to the people and to have better and much more effective communication tools um last but that's it oh that's my final report um I will be sending out more information on the community meeting bringing government to your community information will be posted on the website and we'll be disseminated information in that in those neighborhoods we plan to go to all hen Park is made up of 13 districts we plan to go to all 13 within the next this year and the next coming year thank you and that's my report okay now we go to public participation total time alloted total time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes for speakers limited to items on this agenda comments from members of the public attended in person will be heard first followed by those attended bya Zoom anyone from the public who wishes to speak please approach the microphone and your name my name is Tyler um at 142 North 6 Avenue and I've been a resident here for nearly 40 years our my my husband and I son was born and raised went through the whole school system here so I have a lot of experience and connection um first of all I want to also um compliment the council and and the mayor for all their accomplishments on behalf of of our town including the recreation program H Park is Pantry team center community center with Senor programming all the Arts stairs and festivals and music events farmers market and accessib accessibility efforts with three improvements and these are only some of things and I think they Ro Council really deserves a v of thanks for all those things um leads me to why I'm here tonight and this is concerning um resolution 22377 which is the approval for um letter of resolution for the New Jersey Canabis Regulatory Commission um with an annual operating in our town um all these one programs obvious that the coun have a lot of interest in in supporting the town and residents making the best possible which my question why this interest in promoting the um dispensaries as many as six are pered to actually take a shop here and it's a big while to me because I I don't see the benefit to to in any way websites they talk about the wellness of their various Enterprises and I think it needs to be made clear that these are not health food stores these is nothing about having to do with Wellness this has to do with businesses that are selling to adults 30 seconds okay um my altering substances and other substances there are going to be as many as six in our town what is the effect going to be on our population and in particular youth of our to think it's going be a negative consequence and I urge the council to really think about the long-term effects of having six Cannabis shops in our town regarding resolution number 9 24229 counil support CRC for please v no for folks who may not be aware Council has orded for six marijuana stores to sell very potent THC Recreation marijuana products none of which are approved by the FDA Castle has also ordin for marijuana consumption loues and an unlimited number of marijuana dispatch offices none of these locations has any buffer from our schools Parks playgrounds houses of worship for anyone's home coun has given permission to people for years that have benefited from everything that p park has had to offer but now it's very disappointing some of those folks such as s raspa of raspa Jewelers and Teddy Paro who was a former Highland Park police officer they have business together to sell recreational marijuana products on riton right across the street from the dojo where children go to uh practice is every day after school D mler son stepen is another example of who Council approved to be involved in selling marijuana in Highland har at a location right near Cary Park at a block and a half from Irving School for those of you who share our concerns please feel free to contact me at m b o t t e o n at verizon.net also please be aware that all three judges in the New Jersey state pellet division agreed with us that our lawsuit on these matters should go forward so that is what is happening and we are very grateful for that and again please vote no on resolution 924 229 thank you so much hi Second Avenue May's report sale terrific perfect weather fabulous turnout we don't need masks we need to do this more often I hit two of the council people's sales that would fun but two new items for me and and I wish really this is Recycling and its very best even though the trash has to go out the next day it's going to go out anyhow so instead of mattresses sitting through months and months even though they're supposed to make an appartment I know but you don't need a map if you do this three times a year I had Maps I was giving a map to people they didn't know they were at Century 21 he just D you get lost I got lost I mean I said somewhere turning left right you just look for this stuff but you people don't do this so you don't know um you want to communicate with residents before computers in the probably the early 90s maybe not late 80s this town put out a booklet a list of all businesses I had asked twice to have mine taken off but it was out for years and years it was free I don't remember how it was given out here there or report it was a printed booklet and it had every business and then this building could communicate and tell the businesses to please obey the stap LA and price every article for sale I haven't been back to freshmart or whatever is the new one where quick Che was in LD Avenue nothing was priced in July I'd like to hear from any of you who shot there if theyve actually put price tags on so that's another way mayor excuse me to communicate with residents the Chinese festival when it was at the farmers market last year I went I could read some Dynasty names and symbols but I can't read the food truck that I want to buy Chinese food but it's not in English so I don't know maybe you guys can read that and and what was it effective you're having a Q&A oober 8th where it's going to be in Marland right by irvan school school thank you and don't forget you must someone must order the Beautiful Moments every day thank you for now no hands up seeing there's no further questions may I have a motion to close the public session Council George yes Council H yes yes yes now we're going to move on to ordinances um ordinance requiring a second reading CL can you please report an ordinance number 24292 an ordinance of the Council of the bough final Park County of middlex New Jersey authorizing the adoption of A10 North 2 Avenue Redevelopment plan pursuing to the local Redevelopment and Housing law njsa 4A form2 A-1 at has been toly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and affidavit to publication are on file now it's time for a public for public hearing on this ordinance if anyone would like to speak on this particular ORD please come to the microphone if you're on Zoom please raise your hands no one on Zoom let me just mention for the record I see seven attendees see see that there's no may I have in motion to close public hearing and ordinance number 24 that's 2092 George yes councilman H yes Council Kenan yes councilman yes may I have a motion to adopt or ordinance number 24292 motion to adopt second this shows that a Redevelopment plan doesn't have to be a gigantic massive program involving lots and blots lots and lots to show that the town could move ahead with Redevelopment and go to resounding yes yeah just added I I wholly support this um the flexibility of it too sort of another thing that I I think our our staff and our professionals came up with a variety of ways to make this work and so I just wanted to compliment them on that as well um so again a wholehearted yes to this yes Council just yes ordinance requir a first Reading cler Please report and the introduction of ordinance number 24-20 94 ordinance amending and supplementing part one administrative legislation chapter 7 traffic schedule 10 stop intersections within the bur of final par Cleveland Avenue at medicine has been introduced by the Public Safety Committee for consideration of passage on first reading by tit may I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 24209 4 or rizing publication as required by a law and set by this public hearing for October 1st 2024 so move second yes Council H yes Council kiman yes yes please report an intruction oford number 24295 ordinance amending and supplementing part two general legislation chapter 278 17 parking on on Street accessible parking spaces within the bur of p park has been introduced by the Public Safety Committee for consideration of passage on first reading by title may have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 24295 authorized public authorized publication as required by law and set a public hearing for October 1st 2024 so move second roll Council George just as an update we'll discuss it more but this is the ongoing efforts of the administration and the police department to reallocate accessible parking spaces when the need arises or when the need no longer exists vote Yes yes counc yes Council yes consent now it's time for the consent agenda item may I ask that council members if they have any questions at this time to come item on this agenda if you would like them to be P or separated may you do so now that there's not may have may I have a motion to adopt or reject the following consent agenda items 13 a through 13 yes counc H yes counc yes Council yes okay and now it's time for appointments tonight we're going to be appointing the crossing guard that was mistaken off the agenda I in August um crossing guard the following Karen Aaron Jennifer car Catherine C I'm not going to miss this name of CIA uh carlen G Carol Gordon Will William just Christopher Lopez Lucille Morris Jen P Fox ride jaff Ry Deborah R Smith Chantel white and there's no for appointments okay um mayor te advisory committee Ethan Chen and madine Maddie here sustainable Park Sho and motion to confirm so move councilman George yes councilman H yes Council Shan yes councilman P yes now it's time for the second public participation three minutes per speaker on any topic subject to conclude at 900 p.m comments from the members of the public attended person will be heard first followed by those attended on Zoom those attended on Zoom hi our Second Avenue and this the opening session is Sarah alive and well I haven't seen her for months and months and months fa vacation she was here last week last meeting last meeting good parking here tonight along South Fifth along Irving School they have the cones that sign say till 300 p.m. it was after almost 4 when I picked up this agenda the coms were there and they're there now I don't see trees needing to be cut so I'd like an answer about that and driving around getting lost for the weekend turn left right left right left right Felton Park I see there's a little whatever some Machinery blocking and no one can use it yet of course pavers should have never been allowed because that's anti- accessible but who cares but um the accessible parking on the street will that be in 1992 councilwoman Joy Norsworthy with her Pig wheelchair requested handicap parking on every block either the east side or the West Side you need it if you want people with access with disabilities to here so that would be helpful I didn't read the ordinance to see what's the later plan is and and getting back to that business booklet I think it must have been the Burrow's Economic Development Committee commission that put it out printed it out they were in charge of filling stores seeing that the town was clean and and Christmas light holiday lights are up thank you I just want to talk I continue what I was saying when I had to stop at three minutes the the people who are in this town look to the council as their and the and the um mayor as the representatives of the people of the town and the wishes of the town and such have great faith that they that you all will do things that are appropriate to make High Park safe and to keep it a great Community as it is the I I was never um given an opportunity to vote on whether or not five or six um Canabis shots are appropriate for our town I think if there a referendum tomorrow many people would probably not even know that this is an existence and this plan is happening um so I think it's really it's not a unanimous decision in town un's cour just comes from the council and the mayor and um I would like to thinkk that the town the people of the town the voting people of the Town deserve better hi my name is bapst I live on meran Avenue um interrup sorry s um I saw the crfting guards were appointed uh I would just like some clarification on for what period of time they are appointed for uh it wasn't listed in the agenda and I'm not sure if that was in the original uh resolution that this one was amending so I would like some clarification on that thank you my name is Michelle South in um and I just want to talk about the um against privatizing our crossing guards um so I want to read something from Insider nj.com from April of this year um a new study analizing official government data has identified the states where pedestrians are most at risk of being killed in car crashes with New Jersey topping the list New Jersey emerged as a state with the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities out of 30,30 total traffic deaths recorded in the state 916 were pedestrian this means that 30% of all traffic fatalities in New Jersey involve pedestrians the highest percentage in the nation um so I think that pedestrian safety should be a high priority for this Council um our town people love it because it's walkable we want people to feel safe when they're walking around town and I don't think that this town should Outsource our responsibility to a private company that is not based in New Jersey that has had been sued in the past um and these are all things you can find out through a simple Google search because Edison the town right next door to us consider this exact same thing in 2023 only to completely change their minds and increase the hour pay and keep their guards in house also if you look at the hourly pay for Edison and East Bron is $26 an hour and they have a minimum hourly guarantee for every shift that they work here in Highland Park our guards are paid $20 an hour and they do not have an hourly minimum guarantee they could show up and work for 45 minutes and get sent home which I have heard does happen sometimes and so when you think about what what are the quality I first of all I think we have some great guards um but when you think about why are we having a problem filling those chips and retaining people you may just want to look at some basic Common Sense math happening here and one and you can see why someone might actually go work in Edison or east brunwick instead of coming here first um and I would also uh just like for everyone on the councils the council each council member and the mayor to please I would like to know where do you stand on the issue of privatization and I'd like to know if the town is going to consider other options besid I know you're exploring it but are you going to explore other options besides privatization um such as increasing the hourly rate and look at these look at all these other options alongside of privation as well to see if there are maybe better options on the table thank you hi I'm Luc Mar resent of Highland Park I have a question to uh the restructurer of Highland Park but since I've lived here the school zone there's no signs or no lights nothing in the street that say we're in a school zone not even a traffic um to take St out the speed and lately it's just been terrible with the uh running of the stop signs and people not yielding to pedestrians and and stopping and asking us which way is the school there's no identification yet stating that you're in a school zone hi my name is I want to speak to um I guess the consideration that's happening in terms of seeing privatizing here in town as well and I have some remarks but just Piggy what just was just said um it struck me that that really underscores just how important those jobs are right like you're in terms of like how dangerous it can sometimes be and so you know I'm speaking from the perspective of somebody who has three kids in the schools right now middle high school so you know we have 11 years that our kids have been um you know going to these schools another at least another nine years to go um and so you know among the three of them our kids are probably used every intersection and every Crossing that exists here in town and that is currently you know uh getting uh where the cross all the crossing guards were here in town and so we've gotten to know uh many of them over the years from just warm highs and uh goodbyes uh to short chats um and you know really you know crossing guards are like fabric of this school Community right just as much as the teachers and the staff the students and so on um and then needless to say um they provide an extremely important service right in keeping our kids safe and everybody kids safe here in the community uh going to school and I've watched them do their work countless times and it's not easy um you know every intersection of procing provides its own challenges and I continue to be amazed by how well uh the crossing guards do their work just dealing with all of these things and getting our kids you know across the streets into two schools uh in a safe way um we also go above and beyond um just one example uh one time a crossing guard um helped one of our daughters get in touch with us when there was a mixup about school pickup and it otherwise would have been hard for her to get a hold of us um so you know just again just a commitment to the work that they they do and to our kids um and so all of this is to say you know these cost and guards deserve good jobs decent PID and stability ands I think there just countless examples of privatization is movement in exactly the opposite direction of all of that right um because a private company doesn't know the community doesn't belong to the community um really for them it's just about the bottom line and it's just their bottom line at our bottom line care about right and you know privatization I think inevitably uh you know the costs are always higher in the end um right likely monetarily but also in terms of quality and of service so I really urge you to not consider privatization Second Avenue how how many times mayor when you go to fill up assuming you have a petrol vehicle does the amount when you just say Phil up come to an even number $31 $55 how come our new G oil meters I'm pardon me our new water meters I'm thinking how the oil delivery is always an odd four digigit number suddenly my new water meter ends in all zeros 800 gallons so 800 gallons this last time is exactly one cubic gallon over the first level of price how did they figure that if I used 800 exactly 800 gallons and the and the reading from whatever it was April was 310 and now it's 39 Z previously was never Z Zer so either I'm scamming you and not paying enough or you're scamming me because it's impossible to constantly have Z zero numbers on meter impossible I don't know who I this is I guess an no sex water company you have nothing to do with it but you hire them so I want to know I would like to have literature on this meters that end precisely z z umil I guess you'll answer me I guess oh planning board I was there in August in person I Miss September I wasn't that interesting I was in person I could speak I could ask questions or or comments someone or more than one person called in and and the videographers asked at what point the people on Zoom ask a question and the answer is sorry no questions you have to attend in person which is contrary to the planning board agenda which at one point says public session like this says so either there has to be some kind of warning that if you're on electronic devices we can't talk talk to you but you can talk to us or perhaps that has to be changed so it's similar to these meetings thank you anyone on Zoom no see that there's no further questions may I have a motion to close public participation so move second councilman George yes counc H yes yes um just want to follow with a few questions that was ask um I don't know why the counts are still at Bargo um know why they're still for some reasons they still have them out they would have to discuss that with the school both Tara and Matt and council president H is not here tonight because they are at a housing conference and at a housing conference that was noted at the top of the meeting and they are looking at ways to improve quality of life for people at H Park while they're at this conference the to lot is continuing to get fixed it will once once all the repairs and updates have been done on the top lot then it will be open but not before and as to the town booklet in the way of the internet when the internet came and people could access information online that's where it is um I know there was a question several questions that came up about the Cannabis the Cannabis uh renewal of their licenses the Cannabis situation that was a referendum that was put out by the state of New Jersey under Governor Murphy 70% of people in Highland Park voted to have cannabis shops in town so that was done then as it retains to the crossing guard that's still being explored no decision has been made um when there is a decision that's made on that we'll be happy once it goes to into the Public Safety Committee comes out of Public Safety Committee and that comes before the governing body in our work session it will be discussed in its entirety and some some kind of decision has will be made but there's no decision that has been made on any of the crossing guard situation nothing has come before the Public Safety Committee and once and once they have done their due diligence in that committee and make a decision they will advise the council we will discuss it l and then a final decision will be made but nothing has been done as of yet as it pertains to water meter you're more than welcome to bring your bill to the water department have them take a look I don't know anything about water meters at 0000 um as it pertains to planning board their meeting is public of when and how they will conduct their meeting we decided how we were going to conduct our Zoom meeting and we allow people to interact with us via Zoom I think I've answered all the questions there was one question um the question about the appointments for Crossing scho SCH the crossing guards are appointed for the the full school year term just be very clear question that I asked excuse me um no comments from the public at this time the public session has been Clos um so whatever question that was asked I have taken note we had to do research and we'll get back to you um there is no need for a recess so I am going to move for an adjournment of the council meeting so move all favor I need a second a second second all in favor our next meeting is scheduled for October 1st at 7M thank you all for coming