[Music] this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home youth Tribune the star Leisure and the Highland Park planet on January 5th 20424 and was posted on the borrow Hall website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of borrow Hall 221 southf avenon Highland Park New Jersey 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 Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to flag of the United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation indice before we jump all the way into um our business tonight you see a new person a new face onas and our new Bor attorney sap n shha and she's with the law firm of Ron coflin and Mello you will hear more about her um when we pass the resolution later on tonight with that said um clerk roll call please mayor Foster here councilwoman can councilman George councilman hail here council president H here councilwoman Kim Chan councilman pastelic here bur attorney Shaw here bur administrator H here and I just want to note that council member George is still out after some surgery so that's why he's not here and everyone knows about Stephan okay um approval of minutes motion to approve minutes as distributed from January 2nd 2020 for the reort councilman H yes council president H yes Council yes now we're going to move on to council report council member Hill thank you madam mayor just a brief one today um so uh earlier today I was very fortunate to attend an event at Rucker's Hill well um with councilman bik and uh council president of pers as well um with representatives of the Attorney General's office the Israeli consulate um and numerous elected officials from around the state the topic was the growing rise of anti-Semitism an Semitic violence going on in and around New Jersey um according to the speakers well the Jewish population makes up 2.4% of the people in New Jersey 60% of all biased crimes um in the last two years are against Jews so let's that sink in for a little bit the headed uh of the Attorney General civil rights division also noted a dramatic increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents at college and universities but the biggest rise notice was in K through 12 schools um today schools are the number one place for reported bias incidents that's also very troubling indeed there was not a lot of new strategies discuss to combat this uh age-old scourge um but there was a plea from the law enforcement and legislative folks um at the event to please please report incidents of hate or bias um no matter the form to the police they promised again and again to investigate thoroughly and when appropriate prosecute to the full extent of laot um but this can only happen if people report any incidents obviously you can um and and should feel free to report incidents to the Highland Park Police Department um but you can also report directly to the Attorney General's office uh there's a biased crime unit telephone number is 60996 984 6500 there's an 800 toll-free number 800 277 bias that's 2427 so uh um it was it was a sad event but it was also a uh one where there are places and please please do report um if incidents like this any incidents of bias um are out there please do report um on a decidedly happier note um I wanted to give a shout out to Mike duberman um and cyber Knight Computing who celebrated 25 years in Highland PR um I also wanted to thank the mayor and council president hirh um who were able to attend the party for Mike this weekend um uh for Mike and cyber knight uh the mayor presented Mike with the key to the city um and it's very very well deserved for those of you who don't know Mike and his family RZ Jonah Sydney and Isaac um they're amazing and wonderful people and they're the first to pitch in to help with anything and they're always the last to Le um so I just wanted to say thank you to Mike and to all the be into cyber Knight for making HP your home for these last 25 years um and that's my report man thank you council member posting it mayor can I just add to that real quick sure so all that stuff that Chief we want those at home to hear I just want to reiterate what councilman H just te it I just want to re reiterate what councilman H said about reporting um there are links on the Burrow's website from the police department to all the bu reported both Highland Park and to the AG's office so you can go right to that website and from there it has all the directions uh it's in other languages in English and it tells you everything you need to do to report any kind of bias whether you want to do it to us directly if you're comfortable with that if not you want to go right to the AG's office all the information is there on our website so everybody should know that I I've been saying it for years please please as soon as it happens tell us knowing it happened three days ago when a clothing description doesn't help us find the person who did an awful thing we need to know right away as fast as possible thank you thank you g thank you council member [Music] po thank you mayor uh I also have a brief report tonight uh so good evening everyone um just want to start with a brief reminder like we us should provide the B has grocery Transportation online food shopping assistance while we this shorter period without a supermarket uh please reach out to the staff of the community center at 732 [Music] 8952 assist that you may need um and then just have a couple of community center programming highlights uh today at the community center they hosted a Lunar New Year celebration um Community Center members enjoy an afternoon of music and performances featuring dragon and Li dances uh thank you to Kim and the team over the center for another successful event um coming up we have Valentine's Day lunch in next Monday February 12 12m at Community Center featuring musical perform musical performance by the simaron um and currently at the community center we have some free covid tests available while supplies last so stopping by or get a call if you're interested in seeing if you can require any of those and then lastly just some Rec programming highlights I'd like to mention um we have a ton of programming going on right now and starting to already gear up for upcoming spring programming which will include flag football youth Teall baseball and softball youth basketball C Spring Track and Field Highland Park youth um theater program Recreation dance youth youth art class adult Fitness adult basketball adult soccer adult adult volleyball adult pickle ball which is new and we're very excited to see that come here um so yeah you know we are a small town but we are Mighty when it comes to rec programming and so many other ways uh just the one little last note is that our summer camp programming uh planning is uh preparations are underway for the next summer camp season we're already interviewing returning Camp staff and summer camp positions will be open to the public later this month and there will be a summer camp job fair at the high school on February 22nd and again just gearing up for you know Broadway programming the summer camps is going to include a day camp a sports camp a leaders and training camp and a couple of theater camps so we've got a lot to offer so please check it out at the my website and mayor that is my report for tonight thank you council president thank you mayor uh I don't know how they do it Council that you that's an amazing team over it really is they do so much and I am not just saying that to Pat ourselves on the back it really is just phenomenal how many services are are provided there and so well attended too um not much of a report tonight just a few calendar items coming up uh I did want to remind folks uh that uh there's an environmental commit my name is Matt h i chair the Public Works committee which includes the environmental commission uh the environmental commission is meeting tomorrow February 7th on Zoom at 8:00 pm uh those meetings are really well run 8 to 9:30 uh for me the time works so it's a uh it's grating so please tune in uh the uh in councilwoman car's absence I just want to say that the Board of Health will meet uh tomorrow February 8 uh I'm sorry Thursday February 8th at 7M on Zoom uh and um just a uh just a note to get the word at the um on um Monday January 29th um uh in the Triangle section the uh one of our garbage trucks uh broke down uh during during collection and so collection for parts of the triangle was related until Tuesday uh thanks to our DPW M Borowitz uh for for for addressing that repair need and for getting the uh and for getting Ander the services collected if you um you know if you if you do see A disruption in service please give a call uh and uh likely you'll you'll look at a look get a very quick and Swift response um and um uh you'll see the actually on the agenda tonight there is a lot of administrative activity and there is a there's a there's a resolution forgen to that garbage truck and we are looking in the long term for additional Investments uh for DW and uh just to just just for some personal privilege mayor I uh because I'm um second chair of the finance committee and with um councilwoman Kim Chohan on on on leave I was able to um Bas onto our our new rent control board and I just wanted to first thank the members of the board uh for uh you know really being truly thoughtful and deliberative uh you know and what was actually someone who works in housing and tenant advocacy uh this was a pretty unique case uh and uh um but the the needs of the tenants the needs of the the property owners who are local not not an at large LLC were taken seriously and we feel that the resolution of the outcome was uh was to all parties happy Terry over thank you so much for the administrative support there um it's a new thing uh and it's one of my favorite uh aspects of policies when we're able to not only identify a problem but then put it in an infrastructure where we can set those guard rails to really identify the extent of the issue and other things that we need to look out for like tweaks to the ordinance if that's necessary or other areas that we need to be told focusing on so uh it was really exciting uh may you put together a great board and um it was really an honor to be on and watch this great new board uh you know work take the work really seriously which is awesome that's my report now thank you thank you uh B administrator report I don't have one this evening thanks our newly minted B joury report I don't have a report but I just want to say to everybody thank you for having me and I look forward to working everybody and now it's my report and I today I also attended um the Luna New Year um Festival activities and this year is the year of the dragon at the community center and it was spectacular they had a great Dragon Dance and the people who in attendance had a great time and it was so lovely that matachin Asian Club came out to do the performance and I just want to say thank you so much again for coming out and this Thurs day at our High School Highland Park High from 5: to 8:00 p.m. will be a Lunar New Year our very own Lunar New Year festivity and that's put on by the Asian Club at the high school so if you have a moment and you have some time you want to have great food and some craft and dance and and dancing come on out to um the high school on Thursday the 5th from 5 to 7 p.m. um little bit of more update uh we had our first Supermarket advisory council meeting a week ago almost and um it was great uh we're still looking for people who want to get engaged to come out and share their thoughts and comments and um we will be meeting one more time one or two more times to collect all the data because I I received some emails today that people said that they wanted to attend but they weren't aware aware so tomorrow che check with Harry are in public information officer or look at our our take five or go to the Bor website to see when the meetings are going to be held so you can be a part of it your concerns comments and opinion can be looked at and see and see how we can possibly insert or add or make you be aware of what's coming in the new Supermarket because we're really super excited about having Super Fresh so with that said uh this month on a very serious note this this month we celebrate on honor black history month and I will share with you an overview of a celebrated 21st century African-American intellectual who has made his home here in Highland Park and that's Dr Ivan V Sertima who was born in British Guyana in South America he attended London University and Rutgers graduate school and had a degree in African studies and anthropology he spent much of his career as a professor of African studies at Rutgers University Dr Van Sera is perhaps best known for they came before Columbus that's the book he wrote they came before Columbus and the African-American presence in Asian America published by Random House Press in 1977 the book has TW has been printed 29 times and was awarded the Clarence Hol Prize Dr V CA wrote Ro early America Revisited and formed it and served and Ed he found Dr vinera wrote early America Revisited he founded and served as the editor of the Journal of africanamerican civilization and edited many books such as African presence in early America and the great African thinkers and the great black thinkers ancient and and modern Dr V CA lectured at more than 100 university in the United States Canada the Caribbean South America and in Europe he also served as a visiting professor at Prince at Princeton University in 1991 he was presented to speak at the spian spian in Washington and about his controversial thesis about African presence in Pre Colombian America which the Swit stonan published in 1994 the race Discord and the origin of the America a new worldview of 1492 do CA has chose was chosen by the Nobel priest prize committee and he had the opportunity at the Academy to interview and nominate persons going on on to be selected for the Nobel Peace Prize he served in this as a lecturer in this area from 197 6 to 1980 he was also invited to join the UNESCO International commission for rewriting the scientific and cultural history of humankind Dr vgea passed away in May 2009 leaving behind his wife Jacqueline and two daughters a conference celebrating The Life and Legacy of Dr vura was held by the panafrican studies department at the University of Kentucky in January of 2010 I had the opportunity to have met Dr vanera worked on various projects for Black History Month with him in Highland Park and I also had opportunity to present him with the NAACP humanitarian award in in anthropology he was a great person and a great American we all learned a lot from him that's my report now it's time for our first of two public discussion total time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes maximum per speaker comments are limited to items on the agenda if you want to speak on an item that is not listed please do so at the second public comment session later on in the meeting the borrow clerk will monitor the time and indicate when 3 minutes minutes have laps she will give you a warning of 30 seconds remaining I may interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement if it does not adhere to the three minutes provided or if the statement is abusive obscene or irrelevant comments from members of members of the public attended in person will be heard first followed by those on Zoom those on Zoom who are interested to speak you can use the raise hand button or Star nine on your phone on your phone keypad please begin for those in the meeting in person please come to the microphone and share your name and address and see we have none uh anyone on Zoom I do see a hand raised mayor and we have seven people uh watching from home okay uh looks like phone number ending 4445 can you state your name to and address please hi Lois leing North 2 Avenue um okay on the agenda two questions 2-24 67 talking about Professional Services Redevelopment for 810 North 2 Avenue is that that old block building that had Hilltop um Laboratories years ago and then I think Honeywell decades before that where is 810 yes just one second okay can I okay is it I'm trying to see oh yes um council member H yes A10 is is that old laboratory building up on second okay thank you and and the other Christian and though I have a comment on what was just a part of a report um 224-7629 animals usually cross over one way and then to get home so why are we suddenly going to rock salt which is well it breaks cement but it also Burns feet uh Lois I don't have an answer for that question um but we can look into it and see what type of rock salt will be used um okay before my time is up I have to say mayor I could hear you beautifully clearly specifically every word um I Heard a little bit about the Attorney General's office and keys to the city for someone who's here 25 years I sure hope you'll breathe 66 some years 60 that I know my father talked about I I don't know what kind of award yri has gotten and I'm going to say mayor the rest of the council was very very very difficult to hear I could pict hear one or every five words but if you I don't speak as clearly and and close to the mic as you do then we don't hear what's what they're doing but thank you I'll I'll talk to you again later thank you noted council members please speak into the microphone okay anyone else any other hands okay ordinance required second reading can you please report an ordinance number 23- 2801 providing for improvements to North 4th Avenue Denison Street and Harper Street projects in the county of M state of New Jersey appropriating 69,99 th000 from the Department of Transportation Municipal aid program therefore to pay the cost thereof has been duly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and Affidavit of publication or on file and now it's public hearing now it's time for public hearing on this ordinance if you wish to speak on the ordinance please come to the microphone or use your raised hand button on your phone mayor I do see a hand rais um it looks like it's Lois leing I believe if you could just hold on confirm it's you and do you have a comment on this ordinance in particular please okay she said I unmuted like a robot thank you thank you thank you it's long overdue Dennison Street is a horrible pothole I can't remember North forth and Harper but does that include sidewalks if they're required uh I not sidewalks outside of any of the um Corners where we would do um what is necessary to bring them up to Ada curb standards so uh Corners are typically included um as we do our uh road projects okay all right thank you again you're welcome anyone else no other hands up ma'am okay may I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 23208 so move second roll call councilman H yes council president H uh yes and just to Echo what what uh Lo just said uh these streets are are badly need of repair uh and um Harper Street welcome to the neighborhood of smooth roads you were the missing link uh and now you're there that's one of those uh eight you know that's one of those um uh non asphalt concrete roads that are that were a Hallmark in in p park that is now being SED over so good news absolutely councilman bonic yes please report introduction of ordinance number 23282 calendar year ordinance to exceed the municipal budget budget appropriation limits and to establish a c bank njsa 48 44514 has been duly introduced by the finance committee for consideration of passage on first reading by title may have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 23208 authorizing publication as revised by law and public hearing for February 20th 2024 motion councilman H yes council president H yes councilman P yes may I have a motion to adopt or reject the following consent agenda items 13A through 13 ah second councilman H yes council president H yes councilman yes may I have a motion to adopt no yes resolution requiring a separate reading 14 a-2 d24 d82 resolution to amend 2024 Municipal temporary budget motion second councilman H yes council president her yes counc yes appointments to Boards of boards of Jennifer par p b motions confirm move can I sorry cilman ha yes council president H yes councilman pelik yes relations commission Brian Fitzgerald from Highland Park Police Department as a representative and Caitlyn Dean Highland Park Police Department second Representative no confirmation needed so now it's time for a second public discussion session time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes maximum per speaker the Bor clerk will monitor the time and indicate when 3 minutes have lasts she will give you a warning when there is 30 seconds remaining I may interrupt war or terminate the participant statement if it does not adere to the three minutes provided for if the statement is abusive obscene or irrelevant comments from member of the public attended in person will be heard first followed by those on Zoom do we have anyone in the public who wish to speak not at this time now do we have anyone on Zoom I you see a hand rais uh Lois Ling you could just confirm it to you and it's yours okay thank you Lois here North Second Avenue okay um last July when I spoke with the mayor in her office we talked about price tags some of them missing in burrow Stores um against the state law violation I wonder and the thrift shop specifically has told me they refused to do wasn't the manager was a worker very nice refused to do even a price a general price list I don't know if that's moving forward and just as an aside since we have no grocery store yet the shop rights in Edison and Piscataway also often have no price tag for all you people who know in the Frozen department and some prices have gone from $299 to 429 3.99 for the same vegetable so is there any movement on whoever took our Chamber of Commerce type place um to who is working on seeing that prices are items are tagged with price tags well okay thank you Lois there's a Department of Consumer Affairs in middlex county that you can call and they will send an investigator out to investigate those stores who do not have price tag listed on their items yeah I went through that once it wasn't fun but okay okay um and I wonder do the enforement yes yes and it lasts for a short time but okay um have any we had one uh PL shovel a snow one snowfall have any tickets or has this been resolved that the residential homes are in New Jersey are not owner occupied not if they're rented owner occupied residential homes do not have to maintain repair remove anything from the public RightWay the sidewalks that border their property the perimeter could you repeat that you're saying that if um could you repeat that I'm not sure I understand you correctly okay how many tickets have been given out for residential sidewalks there are statutes that clearly state that owner occupied homes one and two family homes do not owe any repairs or snow removal to the public Only commercial which also includes in the state law the schools churches and of course the stores and offices so the right of way can be explained clearly by CME Bruce cotch anybody who is familiar with this but we are not supposed to be ticketed for snow removal as has been done in the past five 10 years ago when we got snow so has this year have any snow tickets been handed out to owner occupied one and two family homes I don't know but I can ask my police chief I'm not sure he has the answer sitting with him at this point to say yes or no but I am not aware of any tickets that was issued to any household for not following our our our ordinance of cleaning the sidewalk with within 24 hours of the snow coming down we have not had that kind of snow in a while either so the answer to your question is I can check and get back to you but I am not aware of any tickets being issued okay well that's good to know because just because our ordinances is incorrect doesn't mean we have to follow it but I think more importantly I would hope you can look into the Rock so um ordinance that prohibited businesses the what's the bank that just left on um South forth um next to the post office they they've got in trouble years ago for continuing to use the rock salt so I find it surprising that's all that the burrow is is using that instead of calcium's calide or sodium calide but whatever is more gentle and yet still works so I don't know if there is anything because they both have the burning sodium calcium chloride better we look into that and get back to you thank you okay I'll let you go right welcome thank you uh council president thank you mayor um thank you Lois for bringing for bringing up the issue of uh of residential sidewalk removal I do just want to say that it is um it is required that residents do remove snow from their side uh uh according to and that is enforcable uh obviously we don't want to you know be Draconian when it comes to that but there are instances where you may have you know resident who uh has you know is uh is vision impaired uh can't maneuver the uh the the sidewalks you know effectively uh is you know pushing a scroller um maybe in a wheelchair so there are a number of reasons why uh having clear uh sidewalks is important and that it's enforceable however I will say that if uh there is a concern or if you have a neighbor uh or you see an uncleared sidewalk you know 20 12 hours 24 hours after the after the secession snowfall uh to please call and report it to to the Department of Public Works uh and they will work with the property they they reach out to the property owners without being punitive but we'll instruct uh of of what our policy is uh and to at least assist in making sure that the not not not actually remove snow but provide a list of uh vendors volunteer and otherwise that we have who are available for snow removal so there are so many options uh and that's one of many ways to participate in a safe and walkable Community is to make sure that our sidewalks are clear during now even more rare instances of measurable snow so thanks for bring that up thank you anyone else okay see that there's none may I have a motion to motion toj all in favor second I need a second second second all in favor good night all our next schedule meeting will be February 20th at 7 pm have a good night have a great week