mayor would you like to proceed yes please good evening this is the meeting of the burough of Highlands mayor and Council regular meeting on Wednesday May 1st 2024 the notice requirements provided for in the open public meeting act have been satisfied notice of this meeting was proberbly given by transmission to the ASB Park Press and the two River times and by posting at the burough of Highlands municipal building and filing with the burough Clark all on January 1st 20124 items listed on the agenda are subject to change please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I will now do vo call council member svantes here council member CH here Council melck here council president meski here mayor buan here sorry um first we're going to do approval of minutes April 17th 2024 meeting minutes all off of them second council member svantes yes council member shellack yep councelor melik yes council president meski yes mayor bran yes motion carries to approve April 17 2024 meeting minutes next we have April 17 2024 executive session minutes I'll offer I'll second Council memb santes yes council member chac yes Council melik yes Council peski yes mayor bran yes motion carries to approve April 17 2024 executive session minutes next we have introduction of proposed ordinance 024 um 07 amending chapter 3 General police regulations Section 3-7a 2.1 brush and Branch pickup and section 3-7a 2.2 leaf pickup and adding section 3-7 a. 7 commercial recycling um this came about because um a currently a this this was actually changed uh back a few years ago uh for a reason that I'm not aware uh where it used to be that businesses along with residents were allowed to use the Recycling yard at some point the Recycling yard uh came off the table for businesses but they you you could still pick up at the curb um also for a number of residents who um have contractors um most you know that they they can't uh the contractor can't haul away the brush and bring it to the yard uh so we made changes to make it more um Equitable for everyone uh so now if uh somebody hires a a uh a firm like a a landscaping firm to clip their their grass or you know trim their branches that that firm uh once there's a letter has been a form rather has been secured at no cost to the resident um that that uh contractor can bring the brush on the resident's behalf and a number of uh older residents um have brought this to my attention and so that's why I thought again let's be more Equitable where everybody's paying the taxes so the services should be the same any questions I I just have one sure and a thank you from from a lot of people who are happy about it um so uh in one line it says that that um brush has to be if you're at an intersection the brush has to be 25 ft from the intersection if you're leaving it to be picked up okay well if that's kind of impossible but that's not something that's changing no it's not changing I just want to clarify um I I would assume that it would be okay for that person to maybe pile them on her yard if if she put in the street on her neighbor's property because her driveway is they can't take it away from private property it has to be on the street so she has to get permission from her neighbor for the okay that's I'm sure conable yes thank you uh I will offer this ordinance I'll second council member santes yes Council M CH yes CC M yes Council peski yes mayor bruan yes motion carries 02 2407 um motion carries to pass ordinance 2407 on first reading with a public hearing to be held on May 15 2024 next we have resolutions public hearing on on the 2024 Municipal budget and um before I just want to note that we have um Mr Pat Cole on phone conferencing with us he's with um h2m that's for executive yeah all right do you want me to call you back when we're on the executive all right thank you appreciate M thank you he's no longer with us okay I will open up for um any comments on the uh on the budget and before we get started with public comments I do just want to Note One minor correction um originally when it was introduced the budget on the page that was titled the 2024 Municipal data sheet had the incorrect terms the incorrect years for the terms of council president of shefsky and council member m those have been corrected in this one so that typo is no longer an issue it's clearly not a substantive change to the budget itself just correcting that paperwork for this thank you are there any questions regarding the budget seeing none I will close the hearing and I will auor the 2024 budget a second Council memberes yes counc yes yes Council preski yes mayor buan yes motion cares to adopt resolution R 24106 next we have consent agenda mayor would you like me to read the resolutions by title yes please R 24107 authorizing the appointments of Michael peruso as electrical subcode official inspector R 24108 authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for professional advisory Services regarding the Burrow's medical and prescription insurance plans R 24109 approving and supporting the Roar on the River Event hosted by the highlands Business Partnership Incorporated R 24110 authorizing shared services agreement between the bur of Highlands and the county of Mammoth for the use of Mammoth County's open public records search system records information management module R 24111 authorizing execution of a settlement agreement and release between the bur of O Highlands and John cuso r24 1112 authorizing payment of bills do I have an offer um I have just something I wanted to discuss or ask about um with the insurance uh advisor I noted that um employee group group health insurance has increased over 177% over last year and I know that it's terrible with the business that we own it's the same thing but I was wondering if it's possible uh do do the towns U get together to share you know because if you have more people in the plan insurance company will uh you know lower the rates is it we used to be in there's multiple joint Insurance funds uh we used to be in the M County Joint Insurance Fund but we left I want to say in 2019 or 2020 went into the state health benefits fund state health benefits fund is a lot bigger um okay so there is more buying power the problem is is that especially with the it was a 22% increase the year before they didn't charge that to the state employees they made the municipal and the County Employees pick up the entire increase um the resolution is for Brown and Brown and they act as like an intermediate intermediary for us um that's been the same price for the last three or four years that hasn't increased okay right thank you anyone else have any questions on the cons agenda I'll offer it second okay council member santes yes Council yes Mel yes Council paski yes council president peski mayor bran yes motion carries to adopt resolutions R 24107 through r24 4 112 next we have actually before that um I want to note that um Mr DeBlasio um left at 7:08 so next we have other business state cross acceptance committee we actually did have a um couple of emails today and uh with with the county and basically I had mentioned to him that well he had mentioned that the business administrator would probably wind up being the actual person to be the to be our representative which I told him that's probably what's going to happen so uh if you have uh if the council and the mayor are good with it I'll just act as that AB person okay thanks for volunteering and and what is that going to do exactly I me State planning just that's like how we're going to be doing the master plan reexamination next year so it's sort of the same thing but it's on the county level micro level all right do we have a committee any no he the the last email I traded with him was I guess they just wanted to get one person at the administrators from all the towns in the county to to start with and I guess it's going to be something that ramps up so then if you could let them know that it would be maybe it's you and Spencer in case you're out or you know can't take a meeting or something like that next we have mayor's report um okay I don't have a full report because I'm waiting on a couple of the emergency service and code enforcement to weigh in but I will give you what I've got uh but first let's start off with some uh Highlands Elementary news uh they're looking forward to getting a new roof installed over spring break um and also very important is the uh pto's Tricky Tray is this Friday May 3rd uh doors open at 5:30 over at the grammar school um in hhrs New Spring Sports have started for both middle and high school sports include uh baseball softball track and field tennis and girls flag football uh so go out to a game group for our Admirals um uh for emergency services I have uh first a has responded to 38 calls uh for the building department there have been 122 inspections in the month of April yeah 68 passed 44 failed eight not ready and 36 new permits uh building permits have been issued bur events we just mentioned the roar in the river um so check check out our uh Recreation page on the burough website and also Highlands nj.com for uh HBP sponsored events sanitary sewer project Ral and Williams streets were paved on 411 so the first of the paving has actually happened I know many people are going to be very excited about that uh the remaining work on the county portion of Bay Avenue is to finish from Atlantic to North Street and then the small portions near Veterans Park and bars um um we are working on a schedule for uh Paving with the county we should know more about that later this month so planned for May are uh manholes Mains and laterals um on Bay between Atlantic and North the upgrades to uh Veterans Park um those are coming along really nicely I don't know if anyone's been down there lately but the Belgium Block looks great the concrete work has been finished um um we are looking to now add some picnic tables and solar lighting and redo the basketball courts the work at Bayside Drive and Marie Street um has been largely completed by April um April 24th excuse me we're just working through punch list items now and there's no oh let me go down to the commuting rating system the coordinator continues to um update elevations certificate information to ensure that the building department upgrades are probably logged in the flood plane and building department tracking software uh she's currently working on removing non-compliant properties from the national non-compliant properties list this is one of the first steps to becoming CRS certified and enjoying lower flood rates for all properties in the flood zone and that's my report I really have nothing further to add after the report I try to be comprehensive okay and with that could uh we have the public portion statement please individuals wish oh sure go ahead I just like to throw School said I had the pleasure of going to watch the little guys do Frozen a miniature Frozen and it was one the and the the uh the schools in general I would I wish there were a lot of people here because I think I would like for all who hear this to know that on Monday uh there will be a meeting at the high school about the budget I believe it's at 7:00 yes check that sometimes they have their meetings at 6 and the budget coming forward will be the first uh budget for regionalized district um and they are in anticipating over $19 million in taxes and they are anticipating sending uh close to $25 million next year so we're only talking about 750 some kids so I think it would be interesting for everyone to go and ask the questions that they may have andn exactly have to G to the portion it's at the elementary school at the high school at 6 o' I'm I'm checking it right now it would be helpful if it was on their website question it comes out to approximately by their numbers uh I believe $28,000 per child um [Music] $27,600 pm. six it is put it on all sure sure [Music] in the ceterum in the cafetorium wonderful sound system mhm okay um anyone else have anything they'd like to add Leo you've had a couple of nothing satday uh P of the Highlands a lot of fun for um maybe rain did yes maybe not uh well we're just talking about uh a lot of events in May but right now you know I'm kind of concerned about the rain yes yeah even though last year we had people coming with know plastic bags and everything that was exciting other than that nothing just waiting for the the weather to be you know good for us sure today yes today what is let's see did you want to talk about the River Event at all um yeah I'm sorry um yeah it it's all coming together um there were some issues with having enough boats in the war that's all been not the boats that are racing but boats that need to be there just to satisfy the um Coast Guard that's all being taken care of and I expect that uh there'll be a lot of um promotion now by the various uh businesses inolved as well as for HBP sending out you know blasts on um Instagram and the social social media so okay yeah that's it if no one has anyone else anything else okay now can we have the public portion statement individuals wishing to address the council shall be recognized by the presiding officer and shall give their name address and the group if any they represent although the council encourages public participation it reserves the right through his presiding officer to terminate remarks to and or by any individuals not in keeping with the conduct of a proper and efficient meeting if any individual refuses to conduct themselves in a proper manner they will be removed from the meeting the council will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointments termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment the evaluation of the performance of promotion or discipline of any specific or perspective or current employee there's a 3 minute time limit for your comments richen uh one comment and then one question one comment is that uh this is the first meeting I'm actually coming to and then that I'm coming to live I do watch the recordings at home on YouTube so thank you for putting it up I want comment just please talk microphone so we can actually hear what you're saying uh when you are talking because it doesn't come through uh on video the number two is the V I think I appreciate your update on the uh on the sewer and the trage and all that St when is the anticipated end dat on all the work has being done um and then follow that we we still see a lot of the same work being pulled up on the streets over and over is what is going on why are we seeing same working multiple times and when do we see that project will come to completion I don't know I you can go through that but I don't know about the same things happening what happened in your area was that we did we pulled a lot of the deep Wells that were in there we just did that recently so there's I think it's 's the street that comes down L lon l even today we saw the entire Street was blocked off and the entire entire Street was being ripped up again um which least I walk past there every single morning so I know that has been ripped up multiple times and so I'm just curious why is it getting ripped up multiple times maybe when we're finishing the work once we don't have to continue to keep going back doing it over and over again if we're doing it the correct way my assumption is that no we keep digging it up over and over and so I'm not sure I I can't speak to it I can speak to what I see so my question is why what are we finding that we have to continue to keep digging up over and over and again are you talking about water witch or are you talking about London because if you're talking about water witch the sanitary sewer is done there but then they went back to do the storm drain which is completely different storm drain is the water that goes out into the bay the sanitary sewer is what is being replaced from 1925 I saying it's two it's two separate things my question is then oh we get that at the same time instead ofing you can't get it done at the same time because you can't have water infiltrate into the sanitary sewer system and you can't have sanitary sewer going into the bay um the other part is when we see it com to completion because I think it's been you guys know way better than I do how long it's been and so when do we see that coming to completion and what Ro and challenges you see that are preventing us from getting that completion date well that's a loaded question right there um if you want to take because you just had a meeting with them today that I was not in yeah there's um there's a couple of conflicts on Bay Avenue towards bars with um water company water mains that were trying to get that straightened out between our contractor and New Jersey American Water that's pretty much the holdup right now for finish in that we're trying we're actively pushing the county since lynon and Bay are County Roads to pave that portion that's finished which um guess 36 from lynon down to Bay towards right before Atlantic we're really pushing them to pave that since that's their Road um the other roads uh Central Beach we're pushing I can't promise but we're really trying to get that done um by the middle to the end of June to get those roads reconstructed and paved the engineering firm is supposed to have all the plans finalized by the end of this week sir you want to add as well uh no there's you you asked about challenges there's been a number of them were we expecting to find a full Hulk head over 100 years old in the middle of Bay Avenue no no one was expecting that because it was Timber covered with priot and that doesn't that doesn't uh come up when you uh when you search for pipes um The Crossing of water Ms and Sewer lines we had no idea that that was going to be underneath there because we're dealing with clay and it's sometimes again it's not going to come up when you're searching for metal objects and so think that just to expand on a little bit were we not do we not have the plan in place first the project as far as doing surveys that the engineering team to do some of work um well on specifically like the central Bay Beach area there after the work was done when they looked at the initial plans we had switched Engineers as of January 1 from from this and when they the new Engineers looked at it they weren't happy with the way the road would drain after that they didn't want anything draining back onto people's properties wanted instead of you know rushing it and doing it wrong and then having to come back potentially and fix it they wanted to re-shoot all their surveys and that's what took an extra couple of weeks so that is supposed to be done by the end of this week okay so anticipated end dat is infinite if all goes according to plan hopefully before Labor Day I can't promise because these are they're entities we can't control we can't control the if a gas line is going through a sewer Lane we can't control that we've got to get New Jersey natural gas out there when there's issues with the water company we've got to wait for the water company to come and we're completely at their Mercy y so completely understand that I know that you all are just probably as frustrated as the entire rest of the town is so I'm probably not saying anything that's new I think that for the entire town What would probably prefer is maybe a little bit more communication as what maybe some of the challenges are that you're experiencing I know that we have this public forum here basis but start my my question name was that talk to hear sometimes and then getting notice from the town is a little bit more difficult so if if I have more s coming out of this would be a little bit more uh proactive communication as to what the challenges are so that we can curve some of the frustrations on side we um actually myself and hm Engineers uh had a a meeting with the central Beach area residents back at the end of March and we had told them when the plans were finished which should be the end of this week we're going to schedule another meeting to go over everything so I'll make that available to everybody just follow when you were speaking were just at one point time we have everything April I know again that's the reason why I'm here today thank you yeah thank you no paty no I will close public portion executive session executive session will be held following the regular council meeting prior to each executive session the burough Council will convene an open session at which time a resolution will be adopted in accordance with njsa 10 13 10 col 4-13 no formal action will be taken during executive session resolution to enter executive session be it resolved that the following portion of this meeting shall not be open to the public be it further resolved that private consideration is Dees required and is permitted because of the following not exceptions set forth in the ACT attorney client privilege disposition of property be a further resolved that is anticipated that the matters to be considered in private may be disclosed to the public at a later date when the need for privacy no longer exists I offer it second all in favor thank you executive session entered in at 728 p.m. everyone please exit and go uh motion to adjourn I'll second yeah all in favor I thank you meeting at 78 thank you everyone