Mar would you like to begin yes please good afternoon and Happy New Year's this is the meeting of the burough Highlands mayor and council reorganization meeting on Monday January 1st 2024 to notice requirements provided for in the open public public meetings act have been satisfied notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Asar Park Press and the two River times and by posting at the bur of Highlands municipal building and filing with for clerk all on January 1st 2023 and October 18 2023 items listed on the agenda are subject to change please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pled allegiance to FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we're going to have a Blessing by the Reverend Pastor mcgrail good morning God bless you can all sit relax please God bless you and happy blessed New Year to each and every one of you year the mayor has asked me to come today to offer prayer uh for the new year and uh in this very historic Community uh Highlands it's the birthplace of my great-grandparents my grandparents my parents and myself uh 75 years ago nearly 75 years ago so it's a blessing to be with every one of you today I'll tell you right now you got to thank God that you're alive to go into that 2024 with everything that's going on we're really blessed whether we know it or not and so it is written in the book of Jeremiah one of my very favorite I learned it as a child for my grandmother on Second Street and uh they always said you're never going to amount to everything and my grandmother taught me this God knows the plans that he has for you the plans that are for good they're not for bad plans that will always give you a future and plans that will give you a hope and how appropriate for our bur and the people that are here today it's a new beginning for every single one of us in so many different ways holistically it's a new season for possibilities new open doors for every one of us there's new opportunities if you just open your eyes and your mind there's new relationships I think that all of us need new visions and new plans I certainly pray that over our mayor and counsel and the leaders in our community we come together as neighbors people from all different walks of life we all have different gifts different talents people who care about one another or we wouldn't be here today people who really care about the community of Highlands each one of us has something very unique that lives in each one of us that we can offer one another today community members who car deeply about the citizens of Highlands where they would have never ran or taken these positions Gather in this little room that we call a courtroom in harmony to offer our selfless service and our historic Barrow as each is sworn to uphold the responsibilities that have been entrusted to each one of us we pray wisdom strength Integrity passion vision and protection over every single one of you my brothers and sisters I believe the community that prays together with all of my heart it's a community that will prosper together in many many different ways and after all whether it be a blessing or if you're not a Believer and just wishing each other well we really all do whether we like it or not we need Divine favor and we saw that during Hurricane Sandy so brothers and sisters just allow me the opportunity to pray over each one of us just for a moment so father we look to you this day the first day of 2024 and we ask your blessing over our mayor and our councel over the police and the First Responders over each worker and all that are entrusted in the burrow of islands their families and every every one of their neighbors as we begin this new year with new hopes and dreams we turn to you trusting that every single promise and blessing in your word will come to be our constant companion and may we always leave our doors and our hearts open to you my father and never forget that you are the God and the creator of new beginnings each and every morning of Our Lives we thank you my father for blessing us with people who really care about people and in your Holy Name we lift our burrow up to you with sincere thanks and gratitude for this brand new beginning 2024 in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit may God always be with you and please remember me and my family in your prayers God bless you mayor and councel thanks for having me today God bless you Pastor thank you I will now do a rot call council member sponsor here counc member here counc here counc president here mayor bruan here next we have o of office I was to Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of State New Jersy and constition of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and to the same to the and to the government and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this and in under the authority of the people the authority of the and that I fa and I will and and justly perform and justly perform all the DU of M all the duties of the office of councel to the best of to the best of so [Music] I I she this way foll is where that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and the government and the government established in the United States established in the United States and and State under the authority of the people under the authority of the people Faithfully Faithfully partially and partially and justly perform justly perform all the duties of the office of council member all the duties of the office of council member according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability [Applause] so Mr [Music] J [Music] that I will support the Constitution of the United States I support United States and the constitution of the state New Jersey state JY I will bear true faith aliance EST United States the United States and this state in this state under the authority of the people the authority of the people all office of fire chief office of fire chief according to the best of myability that's my so help you go so helpy [Applause] [Music] godbody [Music] [Music] repat after me I I warren j Jr to swear to swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and the governments and the government establish in the United States establish in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people on the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform justly perform all of the duties of the office of firstman Chief all of the duties of the office of EMS Chief according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so we so we [Applause] con aome thank you joh [Music] to I will support the con of the United States support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey I will bear true faith and Allegiance I bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and the governments and the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of and that I think and that I think partially and Par and justly and perform all the duties of the office of special officer class perform all the duties of special offic according to the ability according to [Applause] ability [Applause] thank you congratulations congratulations next we have approval of minutes December 20th 2023 meeting minutes all I'll second council member santes yes counc M yes M yeses yes mayine yes motion carries to approve December 20th 2023 meeting minutes next we have December 20th 202 executive session minutes second council member santes yes CCAC yes M yes yes mayor bran yes motion carries to approve December 20th 2023 executive session minutes next we have introduction of proposed ordinances 02401 amending chapter 21 zoning and land use regulations part seven flood damage prevention article 24 flood damage prevention section 21-1 111.1 flood plane administrator designation uh before I offer this ordinance I just want to clarify that we are doing this ordinance because we finally have our building department back and with that yes huzzah mayor Yes we finally have our building department back and uh with that we will have our flood plane administrator and so we needed to clarify y our ordinance and that's what this ordinance is uh is doing and with that I will offer it second Council mes yes counc yesc melck yes council president chesy yes mayor bran yes motion carries to pass ordinance 02401 on first reading with a public hearing to be held on January 17 2024 next we have consent agenda mayor would you like me to read the resolutions by title yes please r2401 electing council president for the year TW a calendar year 2024 r242 authorizing the burough to enter into an employment agreement with Michaels Milla effective January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2025 governing the terms and conditions of his employment as FAL administrator R 23003 appoints a municipal attorney for the calendar year 2024 and authorizing the award of a fair and open contract professional legal services r2400 four appointing a burough engineer for the calendar year 2024 and authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for the professional Engineering Services R 24005 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services Municipal auditor r246 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services as a burrow Bond attorney r247 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for the Professional Services for the B Highland Information Technology Services r248 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services as B labor Council R 24009 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services as burough planner R2 2410 authorizing municipal prosecutor and authorizing the word of Affair and open contract R 24011 appoints a municip municipal public defender in authorizing the award of a fair and open contract r24012 authorizing the award of fair and open contract for Professional Services as VI development attorney R2 2413 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for professional legal counsel for tax appeal and tax foreclosure matters R 24014 authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for Professional Services affordable housing attorney r245 authorizing the word of a non-fair and open contract for Professional Services risk management R 2406 authorized the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services Consulting engineer r2407 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract Professional Services administrative agents R 24018 authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for Professional Services conflict attorney R 24019 appointing Council of liaison for one year ending 1231 2024 R 24020 appointing Communications committee members r 2421 appointing members of the environmental advisory commission R 24022 appointing green team members R 2423 appointing open space committee members R 2424 appointing shade tree commission members R 2425 appointing land use board members R 2426 appointing Economic Development review board members R 24027 appointing community community development representative r 2428 appointing a clean communities coordinator R 2429 appointing fire police r430 appointing trional officer R 2431 appointing special police officers R 2432 designating a public agency compliance officer Taco R 2433 appointing a public officer R 2434 appointing the 24 2024 recycling coordinator r 2435 appointing a deputy municipal clerk R 2436 appointing a chewy commissioner R2 2437 appointing a land use boort secretary R2 2438 appointing a tax search and assessment search officer R2 2439 appointing uh approving 2024 events on various borrow properties R 24040 approving the 2024 temporary budget r24 041 authorizing a cash management plan R 24042 setting the schedule for the meetings of the mayor and Council of the Bor of Highlands for the calendar year 2024 R 24043 designating official newspapers of the Bor of Highlands R 2444 authorizing execution of Municipal Services agreement with Hilltop at Highlands Condominium Association R 2445 authorizing execution of Municipal Services agreement with East Manor Square Condominium Association R 24046 authorizing execution of Municipal Services agreement with rle Point Condominium Association R 2447 authorizing the execution of Municipal Services agreement with Hilltop terrorist Condominium Association R2 2448 authorizing execution of Municipal Services agreement with sand Piper Condominium Association R 2449 authorizing payment of bills well done yes I will ask for the consent agenda I'll second council member Sant yes Council yes counc Mel yes Council peski yes mayor bran yes motion carries to adopt resolutions r241 through R2 2449 next we have mayor's report um I'm going to do a brief uh just a December review and then a year in review um because some of these things coincide um one of uh of the most amazing and and really a big feat for our Police Department was that our uh police chief Robert Burton was uh voted as the 84th president of the mamama county Chiefs Association wow it's a really big deal and it is the first time that a Highland's chief of police has ever been given this welcome Chief I know he's off with his uh young special to celebrating right now but uh hopefully I'll give him the minute marker so he'll he can hear this but I think it's a really huge well done for him and for Highlands and uh it's just yet another thing that sets us apart from any other par um dovetailing right on that is the the commissioning coin I don't know if all of you are aware but um the uh the Navy has uh graciously for the third time in the Navy's existence since 1775 um has honored the state of New Jersey with the USS New Jersey it is a submarine that will be stationed at Earl and when they do the commissioning ceremony in April they have something that they call the commissioning coin and the artwork is done by the Navy but there is a open competition for the flip side the B side of the coin and the person that won that is Highland's own Russell Cashman this was just announced uh last month and uh Russell was a junior at Mass on Sandy Hook he is a Cadet chief petty officer at the New Jersey Roc um and he won he won the bside uh there's a lot of detail that goes into it and I'll be uh giving Russell a proclamation at the January 17th council meeting so be sure to tune in to that um and just it's a another Well Done you make Highlands very proud we live in a very special T um as I said earlier um we're getting our bill building department back if you haven't heard um our construction officials started on uh December 1 he's been working with our CRS coordinator Kathy Shaw who's trying to hide in the back seat there but uh she's done great work uh to get us CRS certified um Kathy's done more in the last three months than probably has ever been done in the last 30 years uh so we thank her for that we thank Steve winter we thank uh everyone the technical assistant all the way down to zoning and and all of the sub coats uh also not only are we getting our building department back we're getting our Municipal Court back yes one more shair services so um our first court date here in this building is going to be January 16th it'll will be the same judge the same prosecutors the same um uh public defender uh but they'll be here uh also for uh the Green Team sustainable Jersey we received uh our bronze certification and we're looking to get um we get to Silver in the next if not the next year the year after that and councilman Melnick is going to help me work uh with the green team to attain that goal um the water witch Pump Station that's only been on the docket since 2013 that has been completed this year in December huge um I know it's it's painful for everyone the sanitary sewer project but uh they've completed most of the uh sewer work we still have Paving to do I understand it's a thrown in everyone's side it will get done when you're replacing a 100-year-old sewer system it takes time and it takes patience um there's just a couple of sections of Bay Avenue that have yet to uh be done and a section of uh lyen a from the school up to 36 once all that's done and spring comes and the asphalt plant opens up again then we'll be able to pave the roads uh Veterans Park is I wouldn't say substantially complete yet but it's getting there we still will have to place the um the solar picnic tables and uh a little chest uh table in there as well uh the Garden Club was very happy with how the work came out taking out some of those planting beds it was just getting too much for them to handle um other updates are are being pushed to the new year like Bayside Drive and Marie Jones Creek we had a resubmit for a c of permit um but we're looking ahead of things that we're going to be doing in the next year which is uh creating Overlook Park which is that empty stretch on 36 um we are looking we were awarded the cddg cdbg grant to do The Other Side Marine place that's the the SE drift side for the raise the platform so you could actually see over the seaw wall um and also um to update Frank Hall Park including uh Bachi Court uh we gave everything to our super duper um Grant Riders and they are applying for a Green Acres Grant to pay for all of those yeah um uh so um let me see don't want to duplicate our thingss here so now going into the yearly we've got if someone can let Miss cat in um just a little state of the burrow at the end of 2023 uh residents staff businesses charitable organization and the clergy all worked really hard together to help our neighbors uh who were and continue to be in new in need of assistance food clothing toy drives um really showed how amazing and resilient our community is is and continues to remain uh the municipal tax rate was lowered for the fourth consecutive year um and this one's a real huge number uh the combined valuation of all properties in the bur increased to over $ 1.1 billion um the increase in valuation was an incredible 200 $4 million over last year it's just incredible growth um I I don't know how long this is last year and this is the largest increase ever seen in Highlands and this comes after last year it increased over $124 million and that was the largest increase ever seen so it's it's it's good to have valuable property absolutely um oh one other thing that I forgot to mention for uh Mr Russell and the commissioning point is there was um I said that it was a competitive competition but his design was chosen from over 300 other people looking to get that commissioning coin design and uh it went to our guy which I'm very proud of um we had a new business open up and that was the beastro Iberia uh that took over from um I was going to say AO but that was the place before but um gianis J so uh they're new to town I'm coming down the pike there's there's going to be so many places opening um Big Mike's big red store he's taking over 128 Bay uh there's there's like three or four places that are looking to open before March of uh of this year uh the crazy number that I wanted to touch upon is Grants and other funding sources so in it's just an incredible number so for this year 20 for last year rather 2023 um grants and other Awards was5 milon 631 and 589 which is crazy um the largest number out of you know you could I could spat numbers all day long but that largest number was for the highlands and mammouth Hills flood mitigation and green infrastructure project uh and just to explain a little bit about the grants and exactly how competitive it was uh fima received 803 applications totally in more than uh 4.6 billion dollar from 55 States territories and the District of Columbia uh through the national competition FEMA selected only 124 competitive projects based on the highest composite score until the funding amount that was available had been reached and these projects are across all 10 of FEMA regions in 115 communities including one tribe in 38 States and territories in Washington DC those 38 States and territories selected 23 States or 60% of all the states will be first time recipients for this competitive brick funding and brick stands for building resilient infrastructure and communities um state of New Jersey had 34 applications and 15 projects were awarded our town was the third largest selection in the state state with a total of 12,193 it's [Music] incredible that dollar amount was also the highest Award of any single municipality in New Jersey um the other two was like a a for the state of New Jersey water supply and for the Katee May County so those were the only ones that were higher than ours uh which is just an incredible incredible um it's just I I couldn't even believe it when the engineers told me that we got the grant um and it is a grant it is a reimbursable grant this is not a loan this is not low interest anything this is a grant it's over a $16 million project it's going to fix a 127 year old problem and it's really something that we should be proud of um of all in within the national competition of those 124 selected 64 um included nature based solutions from 18 states and eight regions and ours is one of them um and just in closing we're just very thankful to all levels of uh federal state county Municipal governments we had a lot of letters of support uh in getting this grant and uh I can't say enough about the grant riding team at Colliers and particular uh Kelsey Howard for helping make this opportunity available to [Music] ours um I I might be doubling myself but some of these things uh just need to be said things that we actually got done in this year completed the building department completed this building 12 years after Sandy time have bu um getting our building department back getting the municipal uh Court back uh that grant that I just talked about getting that is just huge completing the water pump station that we bonded for and had been paying Debt Service since 2013 on done check mark um um continually uh chipping away at that all of the storm water projects from the 2021 flood mitigation resiliency plan uh we completed uh the landscape architect design for a holistic approach for all of the resilient fa for all burrow properties that's going to be on the website soon completed the skate park the basketball and Tennis Courts SN hard completed G updates to ger edal par um completed the majority of the sewer pipe replacement for phase one of the sanitary uh sewer project and completed the installation of the EV charging station at 171 bayf um and the goals for 24 I mean so far we have to finish the sanitary project which should be happening in the spring we are going to complete the Reconstruction of uh Bayside Drive and Marie um complete the updates to uh Frank Hall Park including the Bachi Court which will be very well received I'm sure uh complete the passive park at Overlook on Route 36 complete the Marine Place elevated walkway and uh a new grant that we just got uh again courtesy of Kelsey and the team and that is for a sure Drive pedestrian safety uh the grant was from um the Department of Transportation for $284,000 and that is for building sidewalks from water witch to the end of Willow to the end of town where there's sple sometimes there's sidewalks sometimes there's not it's going to make sure that there's sidewalks for the whole stru so people aren't walking in the streets especially and that's my wrapup of the Year well done Mar Council couldn't do it without you so I thank you all very much for your support and for coming out today I don't know if the council has anything that they'd like to add to that I would there you go yes I would like to congratulate Carolyn I know you know her from the outside and what you hear and whatever but we know her and we know that she has this amazing mind that holds on to gigabytes of information and just is on it any of these things she'll tell you the finest detail about because she loses sleep making sure that these things get done and I just love working with you and I think I probably [Applause] speak Ju Just adding to that couldn't say it any better than Joanne uh love being part of this team love having the team we've assembled over the past few years with Mike Spencer obviously the chief and and every every one of our Professionals in the building and outside of the building including our rec department with Jackie Kane all of this comes together and has a positive multiplier effect so can't wait to see what we do for the next three years here absolutely it takes it takes passion and dedication uh you still my hero I love you and this song makes a lot of positive noise because of you so thank you and I'd like to say just working as a team uh being reasonable Common Sense what's best for the town and working together not fighting personalities just wanting the town to be better and the mayor has been a great leader in closing I just that I was just talking to my sister about on um Christmas Eve uh in the past there's been you know and even currently in everyday life there's a lot of infighting for no reason other than your left and your right or your whatever and at the end of the day nobody wins because you're too busy fighting if you just stop fighting and you come to a common goal like we all everyone here is from a very different Walk of Life but it doesn't matter because our common goal is to do what's best for this town and that's when everybody wins so all of that other stuff can just slide away because what we are charged with is to do our very best for everyone here and that's what we are firmly concentrated on doing so with that message I say Happy New Year to you all the best health and happiness and have a great year see you soon make a motion whatever one likees to come up and say couple of the uh microphone is right [Music] there nobody nobody wants to say anything on New Year's Day I yeah yeah exactly the microphone they would just say reinforcements of what you okay then thank you congratulations conratulations [Music] oh wait n's gonna have to read the statement read the statement who are you don't want to steal that from me Nancy I know you love the public portion statement Business Partnership um I know the fire department in first dat left but the board director wanted to make a donation to those take it down to the fire very good thank you so much thanks thank you for supporting our emergency services and see no other public comments I will make a motion to adress close public portion and then I will make a motion to you second okay all favor thank you meeting a jo at 12:42 thank you everyone