[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this me is this Mee is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on January 4th 2023 and was posted on ball website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of borrow Hall 221 South 5th Avenue in Highland Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by laa in addition notice of this meeting via Zoom was emailed to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger the Highland C planet on January 12th 2023 and was posted at Bor H website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of borrow Hall 221 South fth Avenue Island Park on May 12 2023 and has remained continuously posted as required by law fire exit are to my right and left of council chambers Michael can you lead us in the pledge of [Music] allegion to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all mayor Foster here counc Cana councilman George here councilman Hil here council president H here councilwoman Kim Chan councilman P here F attorney shme here administrator H here council members do you have any questions on the agenda no mayor no mayor council reports uh council member George thank you mayor I just have a very very brief report but first of all I'd like to wish uh although it's very very difficult to wish peace and happiness in this current time wish everyone in town um a blessed and and safe Hanukkah starting on Thursday um the chief asked you to warn everybody about porch Pirates now that we are into our uh ordering at home frenzy also remind you if you have a Simply Safe or a ring or other re reping doorbell and you see something happening at your house please immediately send that um to the address on on the Police website and the burrow website so that we can look into that right away um other than that mayor I note that um um both U the library is planning now that we have the grant um I spoke to miss the executive director today he will be with us next weekend uh but we've started the planning for the uh uh for the grant portion which is the um upgraded media room which should be really outstanding um and that's by thank you council member Pon thank you mayor good evening everyone um so in my portfolio is arts and Recreation so cover the topics there I I'm also currently covering for uh my colleague Stephanie who is out of maternity but I have no her portfolio is financed but there's no updates there um so without further ado let me kick it off like I do every night just a brief reminder that the burough offers grocery store Transportation online food shopping assistance available to the Department of community services and that's more critical right now while we're without a supermarket thanks to the hard work ELC and the team here at the burrow um we're counted down the number of days where we're without a supermarket um uh so for more information on the services available with the community uh Center please call them at 732 819 0052 um just like to announce a couple of community center programming highlights many of which I mentioned at the last uh council meeting first up there's a holiday lunch in Tuesday December 12th from 11:30 A.M to 2 PM with featur included from parari and entertainment by Gordon James we have a holiday part Party co-sponsored by the Lions Club on Saturday December 16th starting at 11:30 a.m. at the community center we have a winter wonderland dance performance sub Community Center Tuesday December 19th at 11:30 a.m. and a Winter concert uh Friday December 29th starting at 11: a.m. again at the community center um so bustling uh programming uh over air for the holiday season so we're looking forward to that uh quick wreck updates we have a number of winter programs uh available for registration including youth basketball indoor soccer Rovers Youth Winter track uh wreck dance classes brand new table tennis uh adult Fitness including taichi and fitness for all programs adult men's women's basketball adult indoor soccer and adult volleyball and last but not least uh we update in the Arts world uh the art commission is sponsoring a book art Workshop where you can create um art out of books that's on Monday December 11th from 6:30 to 900m at the community center all materials will be provided and sign up by emailing Amy poic at a l l a139 gmail.com again k p l l a k139 gmail.com and just to Echo my colle Council George wishing everyone a happy Hanukkah um and I know my colleague Matt hail will be announcing the uh Minal lighting uh this Thursday and I will see you there that's my report miror thank you council member H sorry thank you mayor um uh so first of all of course I want to say thank you so much to the mayor and to Terry and to the council um and to everybody who uh had a hand in helping to to get us a new Supermarket um I'm really really looking forward to the day where Jason doesn't have to make that announcement anymore as all of us are um as I'm sure the mayor will talk about Super Fresh is coming to HP um I I've gone to a couple of their stores to to take a look and I I really do think it's going to be a great fit for for h park it seems just like us so I think that's uh that's exciting um you know there there's a a fair a bit of work that they have to do to to work on the building um they have a kind of an aggressive timeline but we're hoping that in 2024 um we're certainly going to uh make that happen so again just a huge thank you to the mayor and and Terry and everybody for focusing on this I think it's really important that we we made it happen so that's uh that's great um so uh tonight we have uh the second reading of two ordinances um uh that are adjustments to our code um and before we get to the public hearing on that I thought it might be helpful this of have a brief explanation of both um and what our goals for them um obviously we have public hearing on them and so we can certainly talk more about it but I thought maybe a a brief explanation might might be helpful particularly to people who are at home so um ordinance 23279 um is is really designed to help um uh folks who own odd shape and non-conforming lots um we have a lot of those in Highland Park um and the goal is to to to make it a little bit easier for new construction on the on those properties um under the the the current code um if you have an empty non-conforming lot um and you want to build something on it and even if you what you want to do is 100% compliant with every other Rule and regulation you still have to come to the zoning board for a variance um simply because you're on a non-conforming lot if you own a conforming lot um and you want to build essentially the exact same thing again 100% compliant with all the other rules and regulations you don't have to go to the zoning board um to get a variance um so the same project on conforming and non-conforming lot actually is treated differently under our current code so this uh a long time ago we sort of updated this to construction on conforming and non-conforming lots this expands it to new construction on conforming and non-conforming lots um the the the the goal is to sort of uh uh make both of those um follow the same rules conforming and non-conforming L um the idea being that it makes it a little bit easier for non-conforming Lots um to to have something new be built on um which I think is important obviously if what is proposed doesn't meet um other things whether it's conforming or not conforming um it does have to go for a variance so all this does is change um uh the rules for a non-conforming lot in new construction so um I think that's uh that's our goal um it's a sort of small tweak but um one that could could help some folks uh the second ordinance is ordinance 23 uh 20880 um so this is uh designed to encourage um and enable the building of some additional housing along R and Avenue in the central business district um right now there is a a host of sort of odd language um and floor space percentages um about uh the buildings in the central business district which is essentially right along RAR navity um about the amount of housing that we can have um it's it's a 33% of square footage above the first floor um is sort of the rule which is is odd so it's it's it's very difficult um uh to add additional housing or have housing um in the central business district um under our current plan um so uh uh what we're hoping is that that essentially what this ordinance does is take out those percentages so you still are required to have retail or commercial space on the bottom floor but on the upper floors you can have have um have howed and and um this sort of is in line with some of the things that we've been advocating for in Redevelopment um the idea that there would be more housing on raran Avenue um uh uh this is an attempt to do that with um existing buildings on R it doesn't change height requirements it doesn't change you know parking requirements all of those are still in force all of those are still um uh uh that a building would have to meet all of those um so that that doesn't change all it does is it makes um housing a little bit easier for uh for for a developer someone who owns a a property to have say a restaurant or business on the first floor um and then have housing above it um and we've actually had some people who are interested in in in doing things like that um so they are important ordinances they are but they are small tweaks um uh and and I think they are sort of helpful um in our goal of of of trying to increase the number of people living downtown um for that one and just to make it a little bit easier for people to to update and or rebuild on their proper so um so I think those are important um okay um then um also just real quick um uh on the consent agenda um there are two resolutions um that are extending the conditioner conditional developer agreements with garden homes and the Tamp felco folks um just to refresh everybody's memory um traditional develop Agreements are where we enter into an exclusive negotiation process um with specific developers um they put up money that uh in into an account that helps def Fray Our our Professional Services costs for planers and Engineers um extending these is is is very typical we've extended both um previously um uh and and it's a good sign to show that um we're making good steady progress um uh uh with the various developers track a and track c um uh we had at one point I think uh had hoped that maybe we would have a public meeting before the end of the year it doesn't look like we're quite going to be ready for that but we would uh again remain confident that early in 2024 um we'll have things to share um uh on the initial design plans for for track seat so um just to to point out that we're extending uh the condition of Developers for both of those um because we're making good and solid progress um along those those lines um so um then um couple things uh that are going on as always our Farmers Market is is the last Farmers Market of the year is December 15th uh there's one on December 8th um and then December 15th so there just uh today's the 5th right so it's two day two left so um uh uh and then we'll shut down for a little bit and hopefully start up again um but Farmers Market on December 8th and December 15 um uh also just to let folks know that that R R&J Farm Fresh is selling Christmas trees um uh at 212 raran Avenue um downtown um they're going to be there on uh December 2nd the 3D the 8th the 9th the 10th and the 15th um uh selling Christmas trees so if you are uh in need of a Christmas tree um shop local for your Christmas trees um night ow markets again another thing going on uh those are December 9th and December 10th um and I saved the best for last because I know it's important for everybody but especially for Jason so is Thursday December 7th from 5:30 to 6:30 um is the downtown Hanukkah monora light um so it is a chance to come out and and light up the monora um uh spin some grel get some Bel um but most importantly to my mind eat some Su because those are really really healthy and really really important um that you have as many donnuts as possible at this event um so please come and eat all of the donuts that you possibly can at the downtown Manor lighting um it is a interesting and difficult time right now um for uh for Hanukkah um and and um and one that's gonna be quite meaningful for folks so um I do please encourage everyone to come down um December 7th from 5:30 to 6:30 um uh at the walk wood um and I think that's all I have thank you mayor council president thank you mayor uh good evening my name is Matthew pers I sh the publics committee uh and this is my report just a few items um coming up next Wednesday December 13th uh downstairs at the community center at 6:30 p.m. we'll be having our Highland Park River Greenway community meeting what is the Highland Park River Greenway well a few years ago we received a grant from the state for $250,000 to conduct a feasibility study uh to explore the possibility of doing a connector Trail between Donaldson Park and uh Johnson Parks which would be incredibly exciting and a huge undertaking as an infrastructure project you might imagine so uh we are working with etm Associates uh the project landscape architect and at the meeting uh they'll give a presentation and that will be followed by breakout discussions run by members of the river Greenway committee uh and hopefully uh we'll be able to answer uh all questions that come up as well as any questions that we can answer take back to so this is um a really important uh uh project and Incredibly exciting and I one I know that gentan hail's very excited about that and it just opens up a whole world of possibilities for our community done done successfully so um and we can really truly you know create that identity of being a liiver town uh and done done right it can be environmentally sensitive as well it will have to be um speaking of environmental Sensitivity I did just want to give a shout out to sustainable Highland Park on Facebook we have a new volunteer uh on the committee who is uh who who's who's contributing Communications of their page so please follow them uh Facebook uh sustainable HP uh there you'll see uh they're answering some questions about recycling U what materials are recycled uh and you know all things that you can find on the burough website too but sometimes it's really important to have an agency or committee that is there to answer questions and kind of help people navigate during these difficult environmental times um it's just a small sample of the valuable everyday information uh that's out there um that's available to reduce our carbon footprint and make the future brighter for our children why is this important and I not not to get too preachy but uh I read the Washington Post today as I do uh and um uh I was reading about the climate uh Summit going on right now and U more than two thou more than 2400 people with tis and the fossil fuel industry are registered to attend cop 28 uh according this is quote according to a review of un data by an advocacy Coalition the fossil fuel representation is rising even faster than overall attendance which is also surge this year as global temperatures hit records more companies financiers world leaders and activists see Rising Stakes at the end uh so you know we act locally and we can act regionally we can act as a state as a governor has has has has acted on on on on on the administration's energy master plan as well as and I hope they stay Resolute on on developing wind energy um and there we see industry pulling out of of a really important effort that would help all new jerseyans and frankly would help the east coast and the world uh so we just have to stay at it so um following syville Highland Park at Facebook is easiest thing that you can do to make sure that you are an environmental Steward uh Road Improvement so we we are um excuse me on the agenda tonight there is a uh we're doing a um uh excuse me a first reading of uh of of an ordinance for Road recruitments to North forth uh Dennison Street Harper Street uh uh appropriating 69,000 $69,000 980 and this this These funds come from that do state aid that we always talk about uh specifically the gas tax that you pay when you hit the pump uh uh which we'll have to refigure out once everybody goes electric uh hopefully sooner rather than later but this is an incredible um investment from the state thank you to Terry for for for navigating that that typical process and that 69,000 is just a slice of the road projects that we have in store for 2024 so these Pro the what you're seeing on the agenda tonight we anticipate that those will that those will be underway in the second half the environmental commission will meet tomorrow night uh December 6 at 800m on Zoom go to www.hpb.com for more information and for in that's thank thanks council president for reminding everyone that we can all can act locally and it has a global impact um with that said umme report no report Madam mayor B administrator J uh no report mayor thank you okay well I have um a very small report and yeah we have a super fresh Supermarket coming in I told you I was going to shout from the Raptors I am very excited that we're getting our supermarket and I they are they have been working and they were there today again continuing to do their job and doing the gutting and fixing and replacing stuff on the inside and we're hoping up opening date within 5 to six months so that I'm really excited about but I will keep you posted I will give you progress report now that they're here I'll continue to give you progress reports and um Jason will continue to share all the resources that we have here until our supermarkets get back into place so I'm super excited Super Fresh as hair yes super super um you know I council member Hill um touched on this a little bit in his report about I had promised this year that we were going to do a shed with the downtown with the work that's good to development that's coming in our downtown he touched on it unfortunately I was not able to live up to having that done this year as promise however early next year we will be having our downtown and uh display where we will have it over the the high school cafeteria more than likely and everyone will have an opportunity to make comments to see what it is that we're proposing we want our town to be involved we want our town to be engaged so you will have an opportunity in the coming year to see what it is that the developers are working on what we have been reviewing and everyone we'll give ample notice so everyone will be able to attend to make comments add stickies onto stuff and everything else so we want our town to be engaged we want our town to be a part of the development and to our way forward so we will definitely keep you posted I just want to take a moment to say thank you to the amazing staff at the community center if you look around the borrow you see how beautiful it's decorated for the holidays and I just want to say thank you to uh Kim and the team over there for doing that extra mile and making the the atmosphere Lovelier around here and um as we go through our holiday season I want to wish everyone peace which is really important right now and keep in mind those who are less fortunate than us at this particular time of year thank [Music] you oh now it's it's now time for first of two public discussion total time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes maximum per speaker comments are limited to item on the agenda if you want to speak on an item that is not listed please do so at the second public comment later on in the meeting the Bor clerk will monitor the time and indicate when 3 minutes have lapsed she will give you a warning when there is 30 seconds remaining I may warn or terminate a participant statement or if it does not adhere to the three minutes provided or if the state statement is abusive obscene or irrelevant comments from members of the public attending in person will be heard first followed by those attended via Zoom if you are interested in speaking please step up to the microphone or those who in Zoom press the on the zoom button foress star n on your phone and or the rais hand button on your kead application now uh first C in in-house comments please step up to the microphone and give us your name and address hi my name is Franchesca moresca 216 South Third Avenue and I'm assuming this question is related to the agenda since I do see um the resolution authorizing the extension of our garden homes entity as the conditional developer so way back in August I asked a question about the pilot funds that were we were anticipating um anticipating from the pilot agreement for the um from the Frederick and I'm curious to know when the Burl will make their promised annual contributions to the Highland Park Public Schools from the annual service charge they're collecting from the Frederick and how will that amount be determined second question uh when will the burrow pass a resolution that ensures it will make contributions annually from the Frederick pilot and any possible potential future pilot agreements that we may enter into as we pursue the Redevelopment of our downtown uh we'll be happy to answer their questions but we're going to answer it in stage and I'm going to ask Terry because her and I had a conversation about this today and Terry could you provide the breakdown yes I just had met and I was updating the mayor on uh status of essentially the format that our attorney has advise us we need to use in order to give the funds to the schools on an annual basis so we have a draft agreement and provided it meets is acceptable to the governing body as drafted and I don't have a reason to think it won't be will taking action on it at our next council meeting um one of the issues and this kind of in the weeds but the timing is we basically collect it you know quarterly and so we haven't even gotten our last payment from them for 2023 so the way we're thinking about it now although this is subject to final version will be we will approve it this year it gets budgeted in the temporary budget uh next year calendar year and paid out in the first quarter 2023 is payment will come out of the will be paid in the first quarter of 2024 all of that is subject to final approval from the governing body which we intend to do as far as I know at the next Council so we're going to be retroactive for 2023 will there be any retroactive payments for 2022 there was let me finish just before you 2022 we didn't have a full year so we have to talk internally that's a question we have not resolved uh so we can take that we can I don't want to answer it now because we haven't discussed it and then part two was the um a resolution that ensures that we will have our annual contribution or is that all based on this formula that we are discussing right now that will be based on further discussions we we have the council have not we haven't had an opportunity to share all of this information with the council once we do so at the December 19th meeting then we'll make a decision then we will share with the public how we perceive that the payments would be made or payments future payments will be made do we have an idea of the the percentage is it going to be basically reflective of what um the percentage would be from so for instance we know approximately 60% of our Township um tax taxes that we pay do go to our public schools are we using 60% as a potential model for the payment for this model it will be the 60% that's what we had made a commitment to but we will look at other models going forward hopefully not less than 60% I just I just want to clarify because I think you grouped two things in in one of your questions one was regarding Frederick and what I just discussed was related to the Frederick our attorneys advis us we should take each pilot separ separate they're all going to be unique and have different considerations and so we will have to discuss what the school the commitment of the schools will or won't be as we go with each one and we are nowhere near that discussion for the projects that we're we're looking at I think I passed my three minutes so I'll go sit down thank you anyone else in the audience my name is Jacob mofet I live at 4C w a um and I've just started a mCP over atud I've been a little more interested inpl politics recently um I was curious about the conditional developer agreement with Carden that's the one that's track C and that's the one that's taking place at where the market is yes um so I remember a number of Council meetings ago you guys have mentioned that um the negotiation strategy of the bur was remaining conal um was that correct is that still how you are proceeding is to to keep the sort of negotiation strategy Under Wraps negotiations right negotiations with the developer um around things such as affordability or sustainability requirements there will be Al ter answer because she's she's jumped into I'm sorry I I I I just I want to clarify the way you phrased the question um the the the negotiations are confidential so that we don't share our discussions with the developer so we meet in executive session to talk about track C related matters or track a or any other they're not there either and part of it is so that we can speak ourselves and not reveal our cards prematurely and also to to the outside developable world so that's just to clarify it's it's not int it's not just it's not to be secretive from the general public it's also to be have our ability to have discussions about what the proposals and things we negotiating with the developer confidential from them um okay sorry okay so yeah I remember at at I think that's same same council meeting we had mentioned that there were possibly other developers in town that were essentially interested in the property and that that's part of the reason why um you don't want to reveal the strategy um I did want to question why um you know or at least bring up the idea that if there is uh open requirements that the The Bu is bringing forth about what the developer would need to have if they are to purchase a property um that if there are other developers in town as well um presumably they'll be required to compete and offer the best possible offer for the space um rather than negotiating with a single developer who already from my understanding owns a large amount of the properties around the traffic if I'm I think Sor I'm just I I think I understand your point just to be clear and this may predate your interest we didn't request for proposals a competitive one to solicit the proposals we entered into this conditional agreement which is being continued tonight so that a they post escro to pay for all of our due diligence work and that it gives them some security that if they're putting up that money and working with us toward this Vision which is outlined in the Redevelopment plan so a lot of what we've asked them to do is already in that plan so the public can look at that to have a good idea of at least the starting point in the negotiations and then um certainly we can when we get into the further once we're out of this conditional and if there there's going to be Financial agreements potentially there'll certainly be a redeveloper agreement all of which will be subject to public review and discussion and certainly in our I know we've discussed in our community meeting when that happens uh we would certainly be open to hearing some of those types of input well before we've entered into those contracts and just to to add on that as mayor said just a minute ago we we've made a commitment that once we are to a particular level that we will have these open meetings where people will be able to see various aspects of the plan we'll be able to talk about various we'll say this is we like this we don't like this all that kind of stuff and so we made that commit we were originally hoping that we're going to be able to do that this this month um but as the mayor said we we believe that we're going to be able to to get there um in in a very short period of time in the beginning of 2022 okay thank you um my very last thing was about the Department of Transportation application that I think the B had put forth to um talked about I think thir um closing that off permanently as BR an update on on the progress of that is that is looking likely I there has been progress they requested a number of reports they sent and that has been completed and was submitted um we have a few things that our engineer engineer is working on to that they requested and I have been and Terry have been in contact with them on a constant I think mine is twice a week and I'm course sure Terry is maybe once or twice a week too with them so we're really pushing hard in trying to get this done thanks so much anyone on Zoom yes I see a hand raised um and there are 13 attendees uh Gerald pomper your hand is up you could just let us know confirm it to you your name and address Mr pomper you may have to unmute yourself um on the Zoom app there you go you hear me now yes yes I'm at 348 South Third Avenue I'm delighted to hear about the uh moving ahead on the Redevelopment and the supermarket uh and I look forward to a formal announcement my question is about a different aspect of Redevelopment uh back in May I think it was uh the May then a candidate for office said that we had an agreement to reopen pizza and nothing is happening on that side uh what's going on with there I did have a conversation with do the owner and they are working on the inside portion of stuff they told me that they're they are working on it they're continuing to do the inside work they're they ripped out most of the inside and what they they have to do their ducking their heating system their ovens uh items such as those so they did say that they are continuing to do the inside work and they want to open up again it's been postponed but to next year I'm looking forward to seeing Highland Park Pizza open again as many of you are let me just say may I drive by many people do that site and it doesn't seem to be any activity at all there are no trucks there are no dumpsters there no lights on in the building so I don't know what's going on how they're reconstructing it without any signs of activity I can only go by what the owner of the property tells me so I'm I'm keeping in good faith that um what he's sharing with me is what's going to be done I know they have their permits and everything else to get the work done he said that he had people in there doing various types of work with ovens with electrical with gas so I I have to believe I'm taking it at taking him at his word that what he's shared with me is going to happen for next year well I hope that's true but perhaps a visit uh to the site would be uh persuasive that there should be some more activity I will take that under advisement thank you okay thank you a uh looks like like phone number ending 4445 is up uh please just state your name and address to confirm hi Lois here North Second Avenue um on the agenda you have uh um consent agenda 14c which is 12-23 d260 the shared services okay I see it's free hold with it Services is there any chance there'll be shared services for clerk typus to keep up with the planning board minutes I haven't checked recently but they were nearly one year behind also on the consent agenda 14k and actually um L but 1 12-23 268 extending the designation of tract a and then track C could you ex the Define extending are you extending the land area or are you extending time wise what is being extended designation sounds like land um you know that um act well the first question you have is um is for planning board and they're behind on we we have we filled the the vacant position and we're catching up so you should see those minutes soon and then the next question 14k and 14l um those two it's we're doing an extension of both of those Terry explained earlier why the extension needs to be done Terry you want to just refres the agreement the status of conditional redeveloper an additional I believe six months or about to June 30th I should say to the middle of next year so it's extension of the time frame not related to the track size okay that makes it clearer thank you okay I think that's all for now [Music] I don't see any other hands raised mayor now we're going to move into ordinance required second reading I please report an ordinance number 23-20 79 an ordinance by the bur of f Park middlex County New Jersey amending chapter 330 plan development concerning new construction of non forming single and two family residential lots has been duly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and Affidavit of publication are on file public now it's it time for a public uh hearing if you would like to speak on this ordinance please come up to the microphone and do so or raise your hand on your Zoom link mayor I don't have any hands raised on Zoom okay may I have a motion to adopt reject 20 23279 motion to adop Second roll call councilman George yes councilman Hill yes council president H yes councilman paston yes CL please report an ordinance number 23-28 an ordinance by the bur of Highland Park middlex County New Jersey amending chapter 230 Land Development concerning residential density in central business district has been duly advertised for consider ation of passage on Final reading by title and Affidavit of publication are on file now it's time for public hearing um if you would like to make a comment on this please come up to the microphone or anyone on Zoom please raise your hands sorry I don't have any hands up okay may I have a motion to adopt or reject to to adopt second roll call councilman George yes councilman ha yes council president h yes Council M yes ordinance required first reading clerk please report an introduction of ordinance number 23208 Capital ordinance providing for improvements to North 4th Avenue dunnison street and Harper Street project in the county of MEC state of New Jersey appropriating $69,950 from the Department of Transportation Municipal aid program to pay the cost thereof has been duly introduced by the finance committee for consideration of Capac M on first reading by title may have a motion to adopt or reject or publication as required by law public hearing for December 19th we have a first and a second yeah roll call councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes and find out why Highland Park will have the best roads in injur yes Now we move on to the consent agenda may I have a motion to adopt or reject the sorry oh we want to table 14k and 14l no we want to take them out and vote on them separately I I don't know about that I had something minor to mention sorry mayor I was on a I apologize no there was just a typo on the salary resolution I wanted to point that out uh it should have been for uh the library position uh 37972 there there's a transposition and I just wanted the record to reflected so the clerk would the CH okay sorry for ruining the FL now I got to start my whole flow all over again I'm sorry no it's a good catch it's a good catch know there are other things out consent to gender resolution may I have a motion to adopt or reject the following consent agenda 14a through 14n so move second roll call councilman George yes councilman hail yes council president H yes councilman ponic yes now it's time for the second public discussion total time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes maximum per speaker the B clerk will monitor the time and indicate when three minutes have lasts she will also give you a warning of 30 seconds remaining I may interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement if it does not adhere to the 3 minutes provided or if the statement is abusive obscene or irrelevant comment from members of the public attending in person will be heard first followed by those members on Zoom to speak on to speak those who are on Zoom please star nine or raise hand buttons um and then we'll reach out to you star six to unmute yourself people attending in person can speak first go ahead please state your name and address is on yes it is now was Oni from North here in park um I want to thank the uh the borrow of the the mayor and the council I got my uh annual esro report from the bank and actually my gone down due to the reevaluation of our house so actually on the other direction first time ever so I want to thank you for evaluation and let's keep it down working hard it thank you now um something that came to my attention this evening that Thursday evening between 5:30 and 6:30 as councilman Hill mentioned in his report will be the annual hanuka uh lighting at the welwood civilian but then I saw an email that if not now an organization that the ADL characterizes anti-israel Jewish group they released a statement blame the Israel United States for provoking Palestinians into the attacks on October 7th saying their blood the civilians on the hands of the Israeli government US Government which resp excuses their recklessness will be having their own party at the same exact spot 30 minutes later 7 o' this is worrisome to me have to see what's going on all over the United States with these rallies held by organizations like if not now when especially what happened in Philadelphia this week when they uh attacked I know if was that organization a different organization when they attacked a Jewish owned Falafel store and almost had a riot there and almost broke his windows down because it's owned by a Jew and they blamed him for genocide and what have you and to have our children our women our children and our families there in the same spot with a 30 minute differential between when they can come early I think is a danger to our community I think this is something that's absolutely wrong I don't know who scheduled this and especially in a Pilan name for sus wel was with that very chair in in 2019 was calling these people anti-semites the way they were talking I think this is a serious issue a serious issue regarding Thursday night and I I have no assurance that there's going to be any safety there more than the usual coverage and and I'm going to bring it up to the rabbis of the town tonight to discuss whether we should even attemp attend Thea candle lighting on Thursday night if this is going to be following that event I think this is putting a lot of people in danger you know I think thank God the the events held by the pro-israel community especially in this town High all been peaceful but I have no assurances especially with something else going on that night at the camp college campus at Ruckers that this one's going to be peaceful and that makes me nervous and makes a lot of people nervous I like to know what I should be telling the RAB and this meeting tonight uh to discuss whether or not the community should be attending the camp wedding at 5:30 to 6:30 the the Hanukkah candle light service is sponsored by Main Street Highland Park a part of the Highland Park borrow a sanction event I just saw that notice maybe 30 minutes before I came into this meeting tonight it's not organized by anyone on the burrow Council or the governing body of the the borrow and it's not sponsored by any of the borrow entities here in town I was surprised to see that as well that is right after the event that's sponsored by Main Street Highland Park which we have been having very peaceful um engagements and Ries and support I was surprised to see that that that was put out there I would say to you um and our community do not let anyone bully you into being afraid and not coming out and supporting borrow sanction events that we should use our voice but we should use our voice peacefully and we should not cover away from doing what we know is right and is supported by this governing body and by the government we will have um officers available at our event and I'm not I am not expecting any kind of Uprising I can't guarantee anything but I'm quite sure Chief Abrams and he will have uh officers available for our event our event starts at 5:30 ends at 6:30 and if um officers will be there to make sure that they will they to ensure that there will not be any interruptions but we can't guarantee that there will not be interruptions correct which is why I have to tell the Rapp they have to make the decision that if this is going to be the same overlap 2 hours later or another evening which what should have been done after this one was already SED and the poliz have you they shouldn't even be there that night but if they are going to be there and it's going to be within the same hour that we have to make a decision we're talking about little children coming we're not talking about adults were able to defend themselves and I didn't want to go I'm thinking in my head right now but I think this is something that really requires Ser thinking I don't know who sanction this if not that it it's not sanctioned by our Chanel let me be very clear on that I received the email just as you did I received the email from one of my councel colleague that says he heard about this and he shared it with us and so we are trying to be as proactive as possible and to protect the members of our town we don't know this group I'm trying to get more information I ask the chief to look into it and he's going to be looking more into this and see you know what's behind it and you know um our our primary function and purpose is to keep our town safe and that we can have events that benefit the members of our town who want to have a a peaceful event not to have disruptors come in and disrupt a p event Chief would you like to add anything yeah we just found out about this today Chief could you step down here so the rest of the uh persons on zoom and attending can hear so we found out about this uh event today um I director Mike K to look into microphone mhone what the group is uh who they are what they stand for just we have an idea what's going on it's not sanctioned by the burrow but you know people are allowed to come out in public and stand for their beliefs whether we agree with them or not so we can't turn around and tell them you can't do this we could just be prepared for everybody to do what they need to do public so and to keep people safe right we're going to be there I'll have officers there we'll make sure everything is as safe as it can be like the mayor said there's no guarantees in life I can't guarantee people won't disrupt your vent I can't guarantee people won't disrupt their vent it's our job as police to make sure that stay safe regardless so that's that's the plan I I would just add that that as soon as we found out about this event we jumped into action saying we need to figure out exactly what it is we need to figure out exactly how it happened we need to figure out exactly what our response and and what the needs of the police offices might be at this particular thing so for for for for what it's worth as soon as we discovered this we took it very very seriously and recognized that there is a potential for conflict um and what is our best options to make sure that we mitigate that conflict and stop that conflict so it may be not a lot a lot of Solace but but I do want to assure you that this Council the mayor the chief everyone takes this potential conflict very very seriously just to me it looks like it's a provocation they knew this event was was on the calendar they could have done it eight nights of Han they could have done any one of the seven other nights besides the one that the rest of the town is going to be at they do have a a record of of their of what their feelings are what their thoughts are what you know who they're blaming for octob 7th which wasn't the people that perpetrated the crime and I'm just very nervous on behalf of the community I'm again I hear what you say I appreciate what the chief said and what the mayor said what you're saying that and but I'm going to have to rep back to you know to theal leaders here in the community to see if this is something where they are going to again this space not what happened here doesn't happen here than so far and hopefully never does but Bas what's going on in other places not far from here based on these rallies and what the the end result is it's a nerve-wracking thing and I I'm very nervous about it these people should be told to move their night to another night this way there's no overlap and there's no problems everybody can say they want to say if they're not willing to move it then I understand that they have other alter alter motives whatever they might be which won't find out get thank you you any other public uh um that that was all news to me um I'll just say we just got it before we walked in the email was sent to us literally that and I'm quite sure not everyone on the council knew that this was was happening because we just got it halfen before we sat out yeah I still plan on attending just putting that out there it's worth I'm very much planning on attend in myself that event is one of the best things that this town does uh the manur lighting uh and you know thanks to thanks to mores for sping each other the donuts and it really is TR and I'm looking forward to getting my guilt so yes I'm planning attend it is absolutely fesive event and I will say I remember like 15 years ago maybe it was one of the first monoral Tings I was I was at when when when that when the monora then was made of PVC pipe and we use road flares to actually like so this is best I will I would Echo Council ha coun Bon to not be scared to participate in public events we just can't we can't give fear we cannot have people bully us just can't uh with that said your name and address there my name is j it um and I'm not affiliated with this group could you lift up your mic a little bit so we can hear you clearer thanks sure I I'm not affiliated by any means with if not now but from what I do know is that they are a Jewish Le organization calling for a Perman yes I'm I am aware that they are Jewish organization I did a little bit of research of my phone thank you um any other public comment I see a hand raised sure uh I remin if you could just state your name and address for the record please yeah Ira mince 143 North fth Avenue Highland Park I apologize um because I just came on the meeting about three minutes ago and um I Heard the end of somebody speaking who is raising a question about the if not now Honda Hanukkah candle lighting ceasefire candle lighting and if the council has any questions since I have some information about that I'd be happy to answer any questions but I again I apologize because I wasn't on the meeting so I don't know what was said but it's let me just say it was scheduled after the Main Street event um which is posted and scheduled for 5:30 to 6:30 the not now candle lighting is not scheduled to begin until 7 so there is no a overlap not meant to interfere with the Main Street event and do you have a permit for that event I don't why would we need a permit to have an event on public property council member him uh M you asked if there were questions from the council I have a question would you mind or would you be able to move that to a different day you do it on the eth could you do it on the nth could you do it on any of the other days of Hanukkah and I'm not making judgments about your organization I'm not making judgments um on on either way I do think that there is a very real potential for conflict and one ways of of of negating that conflict would be if your organization which scheduled the event after the Main Street event would choose to use it to move it to a different day so I have a question if if that's possible if that's something that you um have the ability to do I'd like to ask you to do that um I don't know the answer to to your question as to whether or not it can be moved but I'm very disturbed because I know that if not now and has absolutely no intention of creating any conflict so if you're worried about conflict where would that be coming from from from other I guess my my point is is it doesn't matter where the conflict comes from it matter and and I'm not making a judgment about where the conflict might come from all I'm asking is that I think it's pretty obvious that there could be conflict either on on one side or the other and in the name of safety and the name of the ability to to to have a safe event I just think that it might be better I'm not saying who the conflict would start with all I'm saying is that if you moved it to a different day I would think that the conf the potential for conflict is decreased and I think that's a good thing for our town I'm find it very concerning that you think that the people who would be opposed to what we are doing would be prone to conflict or to um attacking us for calling for a ceas fire that's what I'm inferring from what you're saying but it's terms of whether or not the date can be changed the date was selected because it's the first night of Hanukkah and if not now is having these kind of Hanukkah ceasefire candle lightings all around the country on that date that's why the date was selected whether or not it can be changed is is something that I am not in a position to answer I can certainly raise the question with the organization but I'm not in a position um on my own to change a date if you could raise that I would appreciate it thank you very much any other questions for me any coun any no would appreciate you looking into if it's possible to change a date so they're you know stay away from any conflict and and let people who are concerned and that their children are going to be out enjoin the event that they will not be in incidents and I think that's the concern that people have they want to feel that when they bring their children out they're bringing them into a safe environment free of any potential conflict well let me make it perfectly clear nobody from the group that I'm 30 seconds you know having this um event with nobody on in our group has any intention of causing any problems for anyone so if there's a concern um on the side of the people who would be opposed to a ceasefire that's a concern that the burrow should take up with them and not necessarily um try to to uh stifle our Free Speech but I do understand your request and in good faith I will communicate that but I do think if nobody should be worried that we're going to interfere with any children or any cause any problems it's not us but I will also say that the Main Street event is scheduled to end at 6:30 and we're not scheduled to gather until 7 so there shouldn't be any overlap I'm happy to hear that and but please do have a conversation there you can change it to another date avoid any possible conflict or anything as my grandma used to say the road to hell is built on Good Intentions so it's best that we avoid any kind of possible cont well yeah that's fine I will pass that on but I do think I appreciate that thank you so much it's time anyone else I do see another hand rais just give me one moment Abby Stern Cardell you're up next hi this is Abby Stern Cardell I live on Harper Street um I I'm just reacting to everything that I've heard tonight about this Hanukkah event multiple Hanukkah events um I I'm really kind of upset by what I'm hearing from every everybody and and how instead of talking and and having Cal conversations about what everyone's intentions are there's assumptions of again conflict on whatever side um you know there's assumptions by everybody being made here and it's being made publicly and I don't really think that this is um the way that we should encourage our community to go to an event it's an event I'm very excited about and I go every year I bring my kids um I hope if there's no overlap then that's the case but the intention for everybody it sounds like and I sure hope as the case is to celebrate Hanukkah and if there is um you know the the the Hanukkah event that I understand that's scheduled by the town is not a political event it's not intended to um to make any kind of political statement I hope that's not the case because I believe that there will be a lot of people who have different political opinions who attend that event um both political opinions about Highland Park New Jersey Israel everything and I really hope one that the event itself doesn't become political because that is something that I've never seen before and it's really about the community coming together to celebrate Hanukkah and be joyous and eat some donuts and you know let kids run around as we said and say you know say the prayers for the first night of Hanukkah um I I'm really concerned that now there's going to be this overcast from everybody about one group versus another group I I hope people can um can talk and determine that there's it sounds like I'm glad to hear there's no overlap in the time um it's two separate Hanukkah events and I just feel like the the tension um is really making me question whether I should go and and it's it's concerning to me that this is being done um you know and and being addressed so publicly and and anyone who is paying attention is going to now think that there's going to be this big conflict which I sure hope that there isn't um and I would like to take everyone at their word that that's not the intention and that everybody can just be together and have a nice time so um you know this is really going to cast a shadow on it for me and I I hope that we can all um have a celebration like we do every year thank you thanks Abby as I started by saying that um we have been and as Matt says for the past 15 years we've been having this event free of any political Conflict Free of conflict and that's the way we intend for the event to be tomorrow that families and friends can come out and children can come out and really enjoy the Hanukkah celebration and that's what we're hoping for we wanted to be free of any kind of conflict and people should not be afraid to come out into their town and for a town celebration and truly enjoy what is going to be offering tomorrow so I hope you and your families and everyone listening at home do come out tomorrow and enjoy the the wonderful holla celebration coun person thank you Mar I just wanted to add uh was th Thursday right th I mean Thursday sorry um and I did just want I wanted to just repeat that it's we have no anticipation of any conflict of any violence of any threat of danger obviously the Highland Park Police Department inform us immediately and they are very very plugged in to watching signs for violence anti-Semitism really tracking the things that happen in our community there is no indication of that so I would just say that the more that we kind of sew that fear doubt and uncertainty into what's going on the more it it repels people and and and it and and it persuades people to stay at home so I would just be really careful that you know based on nothing we have no evidence that there was going to be any true any you know disturbance or anything is it unfortunate time timing if I were making the event Mr mens I would not have done it at that time at that place but that's that's it's a public space and you do not need a permit um but it's just we really have to be really careful especially now especially right now we cannot go down that radical things are crazy in the world right now absolutely and it affects our community directly completely directly I mean when we families families living in Highland Park who have families in Israel are fearful they they fear for their families they fear for their families lives they fear for the future they fear for and and they fear for losing a place called home for many people here so we just have to be really sensitive to that we cannot walk blindly into fear thank you I just want to respond to say very clearly the community that will be going to the first part of is going to celebrate a holiday that took place 2,000 years ago we came we're coming come like you said for 15 the past 15 years we had a great time but now don't be from our community from the Jewish community that I know at least from the community that attends these events as any intention of making this a political event the only politics we're talking about is whether we like our donut stuff with jelly or we like our donuts with chocolates but the second event is called a ceasefire event I don't believe they're talking about a ceasefire at the time of the mccabes 2,000 years ago because if they had a ceasefire they wouldn't have found the oil they wouldn't have had 8 days of P they wouldn't have defeated the enemy 2,000 years old but it's it's it's been now and and that's what bothers me to a certain extent why are you politicizing a holiday you going politicize Russ next Ander next and Passover next say oh the Jew should have left Egypt Egypt come on I mean let's let's be real this is a religious holiday celebrated as a religious holiday and if somebody else wants to do something political about the religious holiday don't do it 30 minutes after the first party don't think people going come early late we don't know maybe nothing will happen but we've seen what's going on in these rallies over the last 7 to 10 weeks and stuff has happened and it puts a little bit of Doubt into our and fear into US it shouldn't happen at theath with children and kids so make your day a different day make your ceasefire H party like like councilman hell said like the mayor there's seven other days you don't have to do it this day we don't want to go there with fear in our in our hearts we want to go there to enjoy an event that's what that's what the community wants so if if anything they should just say okay we hear you we understand you and we'll try to move it to another day I mean it was just announced a half hour or an hour ago that's plenty of time to reschedule it before Thursday that's all I want to say thank you we did just find [Music] out I don't have any hands up at all right um that that was enough said hope every everyone will show up on Thursday and have um their donuts and everything else it'll be a calm peaceful event and with that I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn our meeting so move second all in favor I our next meeting will be December 19th at 700 PM see you all then thanks good night