mayor would you like to begin yes please good evening this is the meeting of the bur of Highlands mayor council regular meeting on Wednesday December 20th 2023 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 ASB Park Press in the Two River times and by posting at the burough of Highland municipal building and filing with the burough clerk all on January 1st 2023 and October 18 2023 items listed on the agenda are to change please stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance United States America the for stand na indivisible liy and justice for all I will now do V call council member santes here council member chak here Council mik here council president meski here mayor buan here first we have approval of minutes December 6 2023 meeting minutes par second council member santes yes Council M yes C melck yes Council peski yes may bruan yes motion carries to approve December 6 2023 meeting minutes next we have December 6th 2023 executive session minutes all offer I'll second council member svantes yes counc yes counc melck yes counc pres chesy yes mayor ban yes motion carries to approve December 6 2023 executive session minutes next we have consent agenda mayor would you like me to read the resolutions by title yes please R 23240 confirming permanent appointment of pman patrolman R23 241 supporting the State House Commission pre-application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for Snug Harbor Park minor div diversion R23 242 authorizing appointment on Steve Winters as subcode official inspector R 23243 awarding bid to CBR Service Center LLC for auto and truck repairs R23 244 awarding a non-fair and open contract for professional Engineering Services for the phase one sanitary sewer Improvement project R23 245 acknowledging receipt and review of the land use board consistency letter for ordinance 02322 R23 246 authorizing window contracts R23 247 authorizing refund of tax overpayment R23 248 authorizing payment of bills R23 249 adopting corrective action plan for the 2022 Municipal audit R23 250 appointing special police officer R23 251 authorizing an execution of a transportation agreement with the county of mmed for the special citizens area transportation system AKA scat does anyone have any questions on the consent agenda I I do on number four um no not that's for the pump station um supporting the State pre application yeah I I just wasn't quite sure what that was that's all I just wanted a little bit more it's the pump station and that's it um let me just right here because it's on Parkland it's on Parkland so we need to uh have Green Acres uh approve it because it's Green Acres it's on the Green Acres list because it's a park Improvement that was made with using State funds as well as burough funds okay okay um so that's why we have to do this process all right so it's that whole diversion and putting in um the uh the Box holder at Bay um taking in all of those uh right now they're just little 4inch uh pipes that's why it gets overloaded so much and it backs up into um okay Channel you don't have to go further I just I I wasn't quite sure what it was that was the only one I had the question on okay right then I offer the consent Agenda One More just clarify 12 the corrective action plan that has no corrective action but we still have to adopt a corrective action plan even though our auditor found uh absolutely no defects in our audit fantastic so it's a a matter of formality perfect and with that I'll offer the consent second council member spones yes Council yes Council yes council president chesi yes mayor Gan yes motion carries to adopt resolutions r232 40 through R23 251 next we have public hearing on proposed ordinances 02322 amending chapter 21 article 14 establishment districts um establishment of districts by adding new section 21- 81a privately owned salt storage and amending section 21- 81 outdoor storage of the revised General ordinances of the burough Highlands County of Mammoth and state of New Jersey is are there any questions from the public regarding this uh assault storage ordinance no then I'll close public portion I offer this ordinance off second council member santes yes Council CH yes melck yes council president shes yes mayor bran yes motion carries ordinance 0232 2 pass on second and final reading next we have 0 2323 designating restricted parking in front of residents occupied by person with disabilities is there any public comment regarding this uh disabled parking spots okay then I will close a public portion and offer this ordinance as well I'll second council member santes yes Council yes ccel yes ccy yes mayor bran yes motion carries ordinance 0 2323 pass on second and final reading next we have reports any reports just quick quick updates uh one from Communications uh just for folks who are subscribed to the burrow emails uh We've By Request shifted that to a delivery of Saturday at 10: a.m. as opposed to Friday at 10: a.m. that is due to the fact that we publish our updates on the uh sewer work uh on every Friday and this way it'll get swept up in that email so that began last week and so hopefully folks are subscrib you'll start getting those as well always feel free to check the B website for updates as well um just want to call out uh great contributions uh from our Communications committee from Kurt Martin and Company uh putting together some guidelines for members who would join Communications in subsequent years uh just it's hard to jump in uh to some of these committees without having you know quick reference guide uh so over the course of the year the committee had worked hard on putting one together and uh so we'll be using that starting uh January next year uh no change to the bylaws no change to anything other than just being helpful for new people joining and then lastly just want to Comm commend the uh open space committee for working hard to put together a map of all the different Open Spaces we're going to actually uh incorporate that into the website as well and we'll find ways to make uh that as a handout for maybe Earth Day or whatever else um because uh a little highlight on our Open Spaces within the community uh which makes Highlands Great uh that's it for from my side okay anything you want to add all good you read the public portion statements public portion individuals wishing to address the council shall be recognized by the presiding officer and shall give their name address and the group that I need they represent although the council encourages public participation and reserves the right through its presiding officer to terminate remarks to and or by any individual not in keeping with the conduct of a proper and efficient meeting if any individual refuses to conduct themselves on no proper Mana they will be removed from the meeting the council will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointment termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or discipline of any specific or perspective for current employee there's a 3-minute time limit for your comments here it's two years since Tre down street project um a couple questions um regarding that and I guess one of the first questions I have be how the establishment of we are almost complete um all of our we've done all of our today was the last resolution for the um the Fire official we now have uh all of our other inspectors and uh the zoning department will be back here as well and they'll be working uh with uh Mr brunt and code enforcement and we're also going to be looking at before um probably by February or or March a d is requiring us to uh change our ordinance regarding trees and the removal of trees um so we are going to be looking at that uh to be at least introduced in the beginning of uh or I should say at the end of the first quarter to make sure that this never happens again and also not having our own officers here really uh in the building department not being here on site really hurt us as well abely information to sit down and discuss you know the particulars to the what's happening there or not right that would be great um I I appreciate that because um you know it's affecting my property and we all know that I don't want to go into the details but I do have I do have particular questions regarding the right way that exists between me and that property I got some communication with Mr on that um I just have a further question um under what circumstances could a right away right away that exists behind my house could that be vacated circumstance yeah so there is a street vacation provision in the burrow code um which applies to regular streets as well as you know unimproved rights of we any Resident can make an application for it it would have to be in the case of a RightWay that's not necessary for any public use um but residents adjacent to any unused rights of white can make that application the procedures in the code and we can certainly provide that section to you I don't remember it off the top of my head but there is a process [Music] established it's not allow chain that can structure retain because you can't put the retain on that right way is unable to put in and have it feed properly he was intending to encase that in that retain so possibility that he might want to ask forication that right way so then question is what are mys asj property so he would then be required to give notice to any adjac and property owners of any effective portion of the rights of way and then there's a a public hearing much like an ordinance adoption where you would have the ability to voice any support or objection for that vacation same does get say puts in a request next decision 50% is 50% so yeah ordinarily that is the case and ordinarily you know without knowing the specifics of the origination of the right away assuming that it was formed in that manner then you would take to the center line of that right of way he would take to the opposing Center Line of the right of way you would each get half so he would still need permission from me to use that right way is that correct if he's if it's then split and he needs to access through your property yes you would need eement of some sort I just wanted to clar so this is where part of part of the problem project is regard that but it's much more than that that's just only one aspect what's what what's holding this who pres engineer thate so there a d I believe his application was deemed incomplete still is okay yeah I so I suggest that we uh Steve is our construction official he has already started Steve Winters um our zoning official is not going to be starting until uh January 2nd so I don't know if you would want to meet with the construction official or do you want to wait for the zoning official um also Z I understand he's taking two non LS two Ls MH one slow the wased and his int is to build two houses there right and you can still build probably solve everybody's problem and because he's he's having slow circumstan so I'm going to talk with Mike and we're we can put to together some days that we can exactly know just want to reiterate my concerns I'll finish two months ago I said I was concerned he wasand and this can go off for more a few more years and nobody's benit so i' like for us to try to find some of solutions of rest so that's all thank you than you app hello do you have any public comment sure okay you can just give us your name and address for the record sure does this 23 Central Avenue so the fence that surround the skateboard park um what's the next step installing a sound barrier or visual barrier yes and then in the spring um we talking about planting Ares or we can't right um you know it's like probably like April or so yeah now would they be like fully grown not like you know I don't know we get the gigantic on fo that think ones here that we planted here they've already grown at least 2 or three feet they grow like the wind no are varities they are very narrow and ever greens but they go really tall I know like pops but they're not pops um see no others for public comments close this portion and uh make a motion to enter into executive session second can I read it first sure executive session executive session will be held following the regular council meeting prior to each executive session the feral Council will convene an open session at which time a resolution will be adopted in accordance with njsa 10 col 4-3 no formal action will be taken during the executive session resolution to enter executive session be it resolve that the fin portion of this meeting shall not be open to the public be it further resolve that the public that private consideration is deemed required and is permitted by because of the following no section set for in the ACT attorney client privilege affordable housing the further resolved that it 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 will make that motion I'll second member yes yes yes president yes mayor yes motion carries to enter executive session at 7:19 thank you Joe okay I'll make a motion to uh end the the meeting I'll second all in favor thank you meeting adern at 756