good evening everyone thanks for joining us it is March 14th 2024 this is a meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey if we could start with the meeting statement please adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act including the time date and location of the meeting in addition the agenda and all related materials were posted electronically and made available to the public on Princeton's meeting portal in advance of the meeting thank you Michelle is going to do the land acknowledgement for us we gather today on the land of the Lenny Lenape as members of the Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for All Peoples and our environment we honor the lape and other indigenous caretakers of these lands and Waters the elders who live here before the indigenous today and the generations to come thank you we have roll call please miss Peron lambrose here miss Negan is excused Mr Cohen is can we I'm sorry hey Adam in the back can you just check to see if David is is Liz Cohen possibly David he's transitioning sorry he's transitioning yeah yeah yeah let's yeah Adam let's grab Liz Cohen and see if it's David all right I don't I don't see a reply let's just we could just go with the rest of roll call and if David David can text one of us if he's trying to come in remotely okay uh Miss sax here miss froga here Mr Nan here mayor Frida here you have Quorum um okay thank you sorry if you'd like to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you okay we are going to start with announcements and reports from the council members council members with latisia thank you I just have uh two brief announcements uh one uh well they're both on on behalf of uh Human Services Department one uh is the Summer Youth Employment Program it's uh application proc it's open now for uh for the uh this year Summer Youth Employment Program which is an 8-week program for youth between the ages of 14 and 18 who live in Princeton and attend Princeton schools uh the program offers entry-level work experience job Readiness training and career development uh I mentioned already applicant must be arrested in the Princeton between the ages of 14 and 18 and they must be able to participate in the entire 8-week program and attend mandatory meetings and uh also as part of Eligibility the family income must not exceed 400% of the 2023 Federal poverty level anyone interested in uh in uh the process there's actually going to be an interest meeting on Wednesday April 3rd from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Princeton Public Library to learn more uh about the Summer Youth Employment Program uh and it's going to be on the in the tower room at the second floor I also wanted to announce uh the Laria which is a Mexican Bingo event a community building event will be this Saturday from 2: to 5:00 p.m. at Art on hellfish it's hosted by the uh University Art Museum in collaboration with uh Human Services and also the center for modern aging the new name yes uh we are going expecting excited to have uh some of our police officers are going to join us as celebrity callers and uh on behalf of Human Services want to thank uh the police department and also the PBA who donated two children's bikes uh that are going to be given the way as prices that's it thank you very much other Council announcements or reports okay and I just want to note for people that uh councilman Cohen has joined us remotely so he's able to hear us and he can chat when he when he needs to um okay if there's no other any staff announcements or reports at this point no okay how about the uh experienced Princeton report and Isaac krimer the executive director is here to join us tonight good evening your honor and thank you uh for that reminder Isaac Kramer uh executive director experience Princeton uh so with that four things we worked on in the last 30 days four we're working on in the next 30 days and one big item you need to know about to start off um we've had further discussion around allowable uses we especially want to thank the mayor and the council for continuing to engage with us on this important issue uh we're looking into getting additional professional guidance uh to assist with helping to make the needed changes second uh we've completed a successful Restaurant Week promotion with 44 participating businesses this year our gift card sales have exceeded $50,605 59 gifts that have been bought uh and we've seen of those uh total redemp ions of 9,768 45 banners have been designed and they're installed in support of the bloom local campaign uh special member uh special thank you to the council members who were supportive and involved in planning this initiative which celebrates all things spring but also kindness uh and how we relate with each other and how we keep our public places our storefronts uh looking their best so expect to hear a lot more about that soon um and this week we uh completed training with Donna and Harris with Heritage Consulting Inc uh so our board uh took several hours uh to find ways that we can be even more effective as a board uh working together and moving forward uh so we can serve our stakeholders and uh Be an Effective partner uh also so what are we working on in the next 30 days uh very pleased to share our next experience Princeton Meetup will be Thursday March 28th at Princeton Pizza Star now you may know that is Nino's Pizza Star uh but it's under new ownership and at this Meetup it's also the first time we're going to do a ribbon cutting and a Meetup together uh so it should be a lot of fun uh we have a work plan and budgeting process that's beginning uh as we're anticipating the start of our next fiscal year July 1st I expect to hear more about that soon too uh we're looking into options for public restrooms in Princeton this has been an ongoing item I imagine it'll continue to be uh as we look at this important issue um and we're finally exploring partnership opportunities with morvin uh Princeton Symphony Orchestra uh the battlefield and others around preparations for the 250th anniversary in 2026 but we really need to be starting working on that today yesterday even right uh so the big item uh that I'd like to wrap up and tell you about is today I was honored uh along with council member uh Michelle Peron lambrose to give testimony before the assembly subcommittee on Community Development and women uh they had a special hearing uh dealing with special Improvement districts of which we're one um and we were able to tell the story of how the program here got started um but also give some input our friend who might be there uh about wow you say state government um uh give input to our friends in state government about ways that Improvement districts uh can be an even more effective Tool uh to help achieve community revitalization and supporting small businesses so I think it really was a remarkable moment for an organization 15 months old uh to be alongside Newark uh and uh other uh leading uh communities throughout the state uh that were present so with that that's my report thank you um Michelle Isaac I on the agenda tonight is a resolution uh supporting your the Main Street application can you just give uh counsel and the public a little bit of background on that and your expertise sure um so in addition to being an improvement district that there's a designation called Main Street New Jersey uh this is a program that dat dates to 1980 it was established by The National Trust for historic preservation and it's all about a community-led Grassroots approach to make towns better um so we apply a lot of that Main Street thinking already with our work with experience Princeton what this resolution does though is it tells our friends in state government in this case the Department of Community Affairs that we'd also like to be recognized as a Main Street New Jersey community so many of the benefits that come from it uh probably first and foremost is funding since 2019 4.9 million of Grants have been awarded uh to Main Street New Jersey communities uh in fact there was a recent Grant cycle of $150,000 per Community uh so that can begin to become a significant amount of money uh for an organ organization our size uh and with the number of the members that we have to serve um so we are seeking this designation and this would put us in a really Elite group of communities in New Jersey there's presently 25 Main Street New Jersey communities they're able to accept five in this application cycle and the last time the application cycle was open uh was three years ago so uh so we're going to give it our best shot and we certainly appreciate your consideration and hopeful support of the resolution before you tonight thank you thanks any other questions for Isaac I just I just want to say that all good initiatives lead good need good leadership and you have brought that uh I think on the quick look back we made a real good decision to do an SID so hats off uh Michelle lambrose and uh you know let's continue to move forward Bloom local uh I would encourage everyone within the sound of my voice to support Bloom local it is a refreshing if you will no pun intended idea uh to get behind our businesses our Parks but most of all and foremost are the people the individuals who care for our parks and our open spaces and keep our community clean and safe so everyone please give some thought to getting behind Bloom local and congratulations Isaac on all you're doing and also congratulations on a very successful restaurant week thank you thank you sorry okay anything else for Isaac thank you Isaac thank you sir I'm sorry one second yep absolutely okay sorry so next up we have a special award of recognition for uh small world coffee Jessica is in the audience so I think what we're going to do is maybe just take a paragraph each Michelle will start and we're just going to work our way right on down and see how this goes that'd be great it's all about you and yeah and before we start I just want to say um Jessica this is this is the first I hope in in many and you you know you you've got the 30 years anniversary that was a catalyst but this is something we really um need to to start to do is really recognize the contributions of our businesses um in our community so with that uh we'll start shall I start yeah you start I'll start we'll just go down the line and David David will jump into at some point yeah okay I'll I'll read the first two paragraphs and then turn it over so small world coffee here is an award of recognition on behalf of the mayor and the entire Council I am honored to present this distinguished award to Jessica durry and brtt Kaboom co-owners of small world coffee today we celebrate not just a business anniversary but a milestone of 30 years of their unwavering leadership and significant impact within the Princeton Community small world is known as a shining thread in the tapestry of our business community over the years it has become the central meeting place downtown for Community groups students and Friends small world has set an example of how local businesses can foster an inclusive atmosphere and Forge connections within Princeton through cultural initiatives like their monthly Art exped EX exped exhibitions sorry uh showcasing local talent and their commitment to supporting fellow Princeton businesses and purchasing and vendor selection small world significantly enriches the cultural vibrancy and economic resiliency of Princeton commemorating the 30th Anniversary they collaborated with the Arts Council of Princeton to design a mural on Spring Street that symbolized the themes of unity and connection that small World represents in explaining the mural's significance small world offered a beautiful message this mural stands as a vibrant portrayal of the delightful experiences that await Us in Princeton as we come together with our friends and family it reminds us that our community is here around us ready to be embraced and built upon so lovely this is precisely what makes small world coffee special they remind us that our community is here around us ready to be embraced and built upon I got we extend our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to their staff and families whose unwavering support and commitment have been pivotal to Small World coffee's success please join us in honoring Jessica Dury and Brant caboom the co-owners of small world coffee with this well-deserved Award of recognition sorry we cut you out David anyway Jessica [Applause] it's St off it [Applause] count I'd like to get a I'd like to get a photo with Jessica sure David my apologies David okay we're g to do a photo let's all good all walk down here one night the night I'm wearing I guess I am okay okay next next up is a uh short short I think is the key word short presentation on our 2024 annual goals an up an update an update thank you mayor uh so Jeff and I both will be doing a very short presentation of uh the 2024 goals I'll be starting off um so just to remind the public the engineering and infrastructure operations Department which I oversee uh we typically shorten to e and IO is comprised of sewer Public Works engineering parking buildings and grounds Fleet Urban forest and open space divisions we are responsible to execute more than 75% of the capital budget as calculated from the 20123 capital ordinance we have an identified 53 three goals and priorities for 2024 which will satisfy the council's themes of resilience and climate action social Equity Transit streetcape and parking affordability good governance and land use planning these goals are grouped on our list as Mobility infrastructure projects environmental projects facilities projects and miscellaneous the 2024 goals and priorities are not a comprehensive listing of all of the day-to-day activities that our department manages much of our work goals and priorities are not exclusive to one year and so they may span multiple years due to the planning design and financing steps involved so to highlight some of the goals that are on the list for 2024 under Mobility infrastructure goals uh we're looking to complete a trans it Mobility study and expansion of the mun bus service Corridor Improvement projects on Harrison Street Hamilton Avenue and trun Road implementation of the bicycle master plan improvements on roads impacted by the psng gas main replacement projects as well as Princeton's annual resurfacing program that this will amount to about 10% of Princeton's roads that could be benefited due to the volume of work that psng has done to date um also included is completion of the withers Spin Street Corridor improvements uh Nassau streetcape improvements Cherry Hill Road shared use path extension moving on to the environmental goals grouping we have the sanitary sewer pump station Replacements uh sewer trunk line improvements which are partially funded by voluntary contri utions from the University Storm drainage CT Replacements in six locations as well as a stream Bank restoration project on the Stony Brook continuation of the storm water utility feasibility study tree canopy inventory Mountain Lakes restoration or reforestation a microforest planting project and the environmental in resource inventory also clate action plan initiatives to broaden access to Energy Efficiency programs for residential commercial and low and moderate income Residential Properties and this is an initiative that sustainable Princeton and health and Community Services will also be contributing on um wrapping up with the last couple of groupings we have the facilities goals and priorities these include consolidating Municipal staff except DPW at 400 Witherspoon Street creating a public works facility at 298 River Road for DPW which will allow us to open up three other Municipal properties for uh planning of other uses improving Community Park South and Grover Park and updating Hines Plaza uh the more mundane goals fall under the miscellaneous these include Municipal Code updates including the outdoor dining code which will'll have the public hearing on tonight consideration of stricter gas powerered leaf blower regulations and Community discussions on regulation of personal electric vehicles such as E Scooters and ebikes so in closing 53 goals are identified for 2024 and we know this is ambitious however it actually does not fully Encompass all of the work that we are you know is typically underway in our department uh so if there are any questions about our goals I can answer them at this time thanks thank you Diana I just want to stress to everybody that the goals are overarching and the things that your department and everybody associated with your world get pulled into or multiple multiples of the the items you listed so I mean I think we we understand that for for everybody on staff uh Jeff did you want to sure thanks mayor uh thanks Deana uh just to get a little bit into the process the goal setting has come a long way in recent years uh Diana's departments and our departments in health and Community Services uh have a overarch and shared document that we can see each other's goals and the progress and we regularly check in on those goals and then make sure they align with council's overarching uh priorities and and strategies um under health and community Services uh that includes Health which also includes animal control and Rental housing uh Human Services Recreation and affordable housing departments um we've put comprehensive goals together for this year we don't have as many as IO I think we're at around 26 but uh some of our goals were actually six or nine month long projects so we Tred to be um as uh I guess as cautious as we could with setting those goals um the majority of our goals look at Social Equity affordability good governance and land use planning uh and for the built environment which are those overarching priorities for mayor and Council um the majority of them also look at Outreach prevention and integration of services to address uh Community needs effectively so looking at the high level goals uh under the Health Department's purview the first half of 2024 uh is looking at National Public Health accreditation re accreditation uh this is the first time we've gone through the process it's a 5-year process um for the health department so that will be due by by the end of June so for the first 6 months that's really where a lot of the focus is going we're also actively working on the mayor's Wellness campaign uh which is integrated with many Community Partners and stakeholders and this year we're looking at harm reduction and overdose prevention and awareness and lastly we're looking to complete all required rental lead inspections by the July 2024 deadline uh and those efforts are obviously continuing to safeguard uh our V most vulnerable populations from the harmful effects of lead Human Services has focused their effort on homelessness prevention uh in collaboration with the newly acquired Community partner and contractor Catholic Charities and by joining forces with Catholic Charities they seek to provide an array of resources such as rapid rehousing Fe food distribution and connecting the community social programming and furthermore they're looking at the expansion of uh youth programming under Human Services that will be geared towards Workforce Development and empowerment for our youth population in Princeton uh Recreation Endeavors Encompass the Improvement of the an expansion of recreational facilities specifically Community Park South uh which we're heavily integrated with also uh deana's departments uh and the promotion of inclusive programming to ensure Equitable access to all recreational activities affordable housing uh their Department's goals revolve around fostering development or engagement streamlining housing Contracting processes uh additionally continuing from 2023 they're working on expanding the existing Home Improvement program program while streamlining and formalizing the municipality Community Development block grant program and these initiatives are geared towards creating a more diverse and inclusive housing landscape uh responsive to the needs of the community uh including our Workforce and then we also put together overarching and cross collaborative goals from all of the Departments these are Department departmental goals that we have a lot of uh overlap with obviously the one of those is the Community Park South redesign uh also support for Community Center planning and service provision uh support for aeromat build and uh complete integration of Catholic Charities Behavioral Health and Community Services into uh Municipal operations model and just a little bit more about that uh now that we're a few months into that new contract um their facility in Princeton under Catholic Charities will be known as Princeton integrated Behavioral Health uh this partnership has already shown a positive trend in accepting new clients uh this month alone we've seen um more Princeton uh clients come through the door than we've seen uh in the previous few months which has been fantastic a lot of this is attributed to their model which is considered a certified community behavioral health clinic which provides flexibility and mental health delivery uh in the ever evolving landscape of Behavioral Health um the communication with their staff has been fantastic uh and their eagerness to help out uh is developing a strong collaborative partnership already um and the goal for this year is to continue to to support their efforts uh to provide these services to Princeton's diverse population while ensuring they're being provided in a fiscally responsible way um overall these goals demonstrate a responsiveness to the emerging Community needs uh and continually refining and expanding services to better serve the residents uh we strive for a holistic approach through the meeting of these departments and the overlapping of goals via cross collaboration Innovation and proactive measures to enhance the quality of life uh for all residents in Princeton and as Deana mentioned um you know these goals are really we try to keep them more so from equality versus quantity perspective so staffers know what those goals are for that year because as Deana mentioned every day is is different and when we get tasked with an emergency or a situation that we've got to drop everything for um the goals act kind of as the finish line for where we hope to get by the end of the year um so again lastly that's where things are and we'll continue to update uh the goal progress quarterly and I'm sure whenever mayor and Council would like we're happy to come back and give a status update thank you yeah I think it would be important to do a quarterly update so we keep track of where we are and I just want to re-emphasize too that um and thank the three of you uh for making sure that the department heads are well aware of the goals and I know that this is the goals are referred to at all your department head meetings as in conjunction with what is everybody doing so that's uh that's appreciated and obviously pretty important if we're taking the time to set the goals to make sure everybody in the organization knows what they are and tries to work towards them do we have any Council comments or questions no okay just you know just another a big thank you I this is really important that we do goal setting on a regular basis and I do think we've come a long way in the past four or five years in terms of how we're doing it so I just thank you for your leadership and and helping um put this together and I think doing quarterly updates would be really helpful so I appreciate it and I don't know when you have time to sleep but uh thank you for all the hard work appreciate it thank you Michelle okay thank you very much next up on the agenda public comments for items not on the agenda so if anyone in the room or somebody on Zoom wants to talk about something that is not on the agenda um we're going to start within the room you just come up you say your name and address and the timer hopefully goes on and you have three minutes and welcome good evening everybody uh my name is Lisa Lisa W uh I I at 2 300 Emerald first of all I want to thank um councilman Newan come to our building discuss the uh commercial uh bus the stop to set up I first of all I want to know how long has been for other buildings that has a stop and I want to see how long we've been discriminated against I was told hold the resident in the neighborhood against first of all they own their property but they don't own the city city belong to everybody just because it's inconvenient or they don't like it that's why they have been against it I hope that we can have that stop as soon as possible because we have two building that there's 155 units that's a lot of Resident a lot of people they don't have a own vehicle so they rely on public transportation especially during the winter time it's very difficult for them to even go out shop and I think that is at least Princeton City can do for the resident so I'm begging uh this with the because I saw read Circle they have a stop long long time ago I don't remember but I guess I can get the data uh I don't know which department in the town that I can get that information about the you know the about the route the bus right so our engineering department we have oh engineer okay uh can I go visit them tomorrow morning to get the maybe you want to give them more than overnight to prepare for the question but maybe give them a couple days maybe um Monday is that okay Jim purcel is the one that has been working most recently on the transit and he is out of the office I think he'll be back on Tuesday How about if we connect I'll connect with you tomorrow and we'll set something up for when he gets back okay I thought he's a director of PCH I know she he's also engineering okay he is okay that's fine can I leave my contact number I think I have it already thank you thank you thank you so much sure and um I want to wish you your reelection this year thank you very much and thank you everybody thank you Lisa thank you Miss Woo is there anyone else in the room that has a comment sure just come up again say your name and address and hi my name is William marrow William could you just flip the microphone up since you're a little taller than Lisa yeah thank you my name is William Morrow and I'm a local business owner here in Princeton I run a marketing agency and I am working with local businesses and uh I'm also a videographer and so uh one of the things that I do in order to travel around the town is I ride an electric skateboard and uh I find it kind of difficult to get around um and so one of the things that I'm uh looking to do is set up an event where I could get people that are also riding electric bikes and and skateboards and and scooters uh to come together and kind of talk about you know the challenges around you know traveling around on on an electric uh vehicle um and so uh and also just Network and that sort of thing and um so I'm looking to get more involved with the community uh and also figure out ways to uh improve ways to get around town and um and uh uh Leighton actually invited me here to you know to experience this for the first time I've never been to a council meeting before uh so this is my first time speaking and and and understanding what's going on here um so I'm I'm really interested in getting involved with the community and and figuring out how I can assist and and be a part of the community so yeah that's all I got to say okay I appreciate that so I think off the top of my head that we do have a pedestrian and and bike Safety Committee which is probably one that you maybe attend one of their meetings the other thing not to put sustainable Princeton on but um sustainable Princeton usually has an event where they have electric vehicles of multiple types um and I don't know I forget when that might be happening this year but September and you met with my colleague Alana today I did yeah I met I met with them okay so those are two Avenues I can think of off right the top of my my head but if does Leon have your contact information or yeah yeah okay so we can so we have a way to to reach out to you maybe what we can do Leighton is uh we can do an email and just connect you with enough of us U that would be great and we can just exchange ideas and figure out how to help you along with that awesome thank you so much thank you all right anybody else in the room okay uh Adam do we have anybody on Zoom that has a hand up for public comments not on the agenda uh okay I don't see anybody on Zoom with a hand up so we'll close that portion of the meeting and we'll go to the next item which is approval of minutes there are seven sets of minuts so if anyone has exceptions or corrections to any of those why don't you either Point them out or ask for them to be held to you have a chance to talk to the clerk But whichever um M yeah I just would like to hold December 11th there a few um things that need to be be modified that I didn't catch so if we we say January which one I think December 11th uh December uh 18th or 19th or 28th um January 11th maybe it was let me just go one second all right well Mia's G to take a look did you have a comment well yeah I mean we're not all we didn't all uh attend all the meetings so you want to do them I don't know if we can do them in a block yeah maybe it just easier to do them one at a time and we can do people that weren't at each one and okay so it is if December 18th is okay I'll move that but I'm waiting for David are you second I am seconding it okay sorry all right so let's just let's just pause a second because I don't want to yeah yeah I'm I'm sorry we can all think nice thoughts about what's the the the bloom Princeton Bloom uh what's the bloom local what's the bloom thing we're doing Bloom local Bloom local thank you think good thoughts nice thoughts and how pretty it's going to look it say December 11th what about Bloom local having some nice thoughts about oh spring Bloom okay so here here's the I'm sorry so in the agenda package wait this is tonight's meeting right yeah oh this is last this is last month's okay I say the jury will disregard me as prior comments okay so we have a motion on December 18th minutes it it's been moved by Michelle seconded by David does anybody have any comments questions or anything on that set of minutes okay and this is what I'm going to do for all all seven sets those that agree those that disagree are approved nay and abstentions so just so you know that's what I'm going to do all right so everybody that approved say I I I any Nays any abstentions all right that was all eyes for December 18th December 19th do we have a motion I'll move it thank you David and Leon's got the second any questions comments anything on those all right seeing none all in favor say I I hi any Nays I don't see any and no abstentions okay great December 28th is there someone want to move those Laticia thank you leighton's got the second any questions comments on those all in favor say I I hi hi any Nays any abstentions I abstain okay so Michelle abstains from December 28 the rest were eyes thank you January 3rd somebody want to move those thank you Leighton letisia has got the second questions or comments on January 3rd i' see none all in favor say I I I any Nays any extensions okay January 8th would somebody move those thank you Leon is there a second thank you Michelle questions or comments see none all in favor say I I I any Nays any extensions January 11th would someone move those thank you Michelle Leighton Scott II any questions or comments okay all in favor say I I I any Nays any extensions all right January 16th would somebody move those so David's got the motion Michelle's got the second questions or comments all right all in favor say I I I any Nays any extensions okay cool thank you very much all right next up is this little thing called a budget so our CFO is here Sandy do you want to chitchat with us I certainly do I wait for this every year there we go um I know David is on as well and he's going to do part of the PowerPoint and I'm going to do part of the PowerPoint so we can do the PowerPoint first um and then we can go through the ordinance and the resolutions if that's okay yes okay so David I think you can take it away great so um whoever is projecting it you can go right ahead and uh past the cover sheet and on to slide number two which is the budget overview and uh can everybody see that we don't yeah on the screen they can okay yeah there we go I'm sorry if uh if it's not showing up on the video monitors on the on the Das but yeah it just popped up we're good okay great so uh basically the expenditures this year are slated to increase by uh just over a million dollars which is a 1.45% increase um breaking that down um is uh salary and wage and wages are up 932k but and other expenses are up only 134k but I do want to point out that those numbers are a little bit um they're not the full picture because um the salary and wages are up quite a bit because of bringing police dispatch inhouse I believe the number number is about $770,000 uh that is not new employees nor is it new expense in fact we have a an offsetting savings on the administrative side of about a million dollars U realized by bringing that inhouse so I just wanted to make that point but you can see uh on the slide a few other uh uh Staffing changes which are are more straightforward in increasing um the salary wage number by a bit and of course salary increases due to cost of living adjustments um are also part of that picture and then under the uh other expenses I you can see that uh the this other expense number was reduced by 1.71 7 million uh and and a lot of that is because like I say that same number of the police dispatchers but there's some other ones as well you know we've been really effective uh staff and and and Sandy have been really effective at um raining in those expenses so but some there are still some drivers there um that are making a challenge um the garbage and trash collection uh number went up by about $350,000 that's largely around the um recycling program that's run by the the county and uh the group liability and workers compensation we saw less of Rise than last year but still uh about a $500,000 uh increase on on that line item next slide okay so so in summary uh you can see here that basically it's just a recap in table form of what I just talked about the breakdown of the budget increases and then the next slide which are the revenue drivers so so far I've been talking just mostly about um uh expenditures but Reven the where we where we're getting our money from is um a very important factor this year and the very top item there the ARP funding that's the American Rescue plan we lost uh almost $3 million this year um that we had been seeing for the last few years through the the pandemic relief that was coming from the Federal federal government and so you know that's always the uh you know the hidden downside of getting these uh um boosts to your budget is when they when they end you have to uh have to compensate for them so underneath you can see Revenue increases um we were lucky last year and had a significant increase in the Surplus we we saw more revenues than anticipated so we were able to bring 2 million over from Surplus Without Really negatively impacting our our balance uh on that line item because we saw that increase last year and then these other ones I'm not going to touch on every one of them uh but I want to say generally speaking these are very conservative numbers these increases that we're budgeting for are based on increases that we saw last year so for instance the interest rate in the country meant that our funds that are invested in interest um earning uh instruments saw this $400,000 uh bump in the income that we were getting just an increase on those funds that were in the bank um I also want to mention the Avalon Bay that's important one that's the first pilot payment um for the Avalon project on thanet Circle almost $600,000 that did come in this year hotel motel tax that 990,000 increase is um just from recovery from the pandemic that that that's uh the the Nassau in seeing increase business we're hoping this coming year that that will actually go up quite a bit more because the gra uate Hotel will be coming online but we haven't you know we haven't counted those chickens before they hatch um so yeah I think uh and then of course the B the bottom line is the amount to be raised by taxation which is once we've you know seen all of the revenue all of the expenditures that we're needing to make this year and all the sources of revenues uh the amount to be raised by taxation is what we um we need to do to uh to to balance the budget oh and I I did want to touch on one other thing just because people might be questioning it the Princeton University increase in revenue of $250,000 people may be wondering hey what's up with that because we you know just completed this fantastic new agreement uh with the university but that's that's kicking in this year so um expect to see that number increase in in coming years we also we did see the university move some of their properties from the tax roles but they're making us whole um with an increased contribution we're not counting that as a revenue increase this year because it's just coming under a different line item uh it's the the revenues are the same so those are the first three slides I'll turn it over to Sandy at this point okay uh thank you David so we talked a little bit and I think David hit on some of these with the budget expenditure drivers um you know you can see the list in front of you but just a couple that that I will hit on the police other expense budget is up this year by about 236,000 um we've provided some or a continuation of the police vehicles that they always budget for every year but during the pandemic you know they were not able to get vehicles right now we're still waiting for the vehicles from 2022 to come in so we still have money in 23 and uh moving forward this will put them back in the you know the correct cycle of their of their uh acquisition of police vehicles Human Services we saw an increase in their budget um for uh Staffing and also for an agreement that we have with Catholic Charities to provide um some of the some of the resource uh resources that were being done by by Corner House so you'll see um there's also a significant decrease in the appropriation for Corner House um David hit on some of these other things the group Insurance um the recycling from the county and then pensions is one of the ones that we see every year um you know that comes comes through our budget and you know it goes up every year so we wanted to just do a quick chart and show you where we are right now and let me start by saying when we first started this process back about you know two months ago we were at an 8 cent tax increase um we knew that there was a lot that we could do to this budget and with the administration and with May the mayor and with David we went through all these budgets and we were able to bring a lot of them down because of their Trends in spending so they're not spending the money yet they're asking for the same amounts every year so we really took a Hardline look at the last couple of years to see where their spending Trends were and so with that in mind we were able to bring the municipal tax rate down to a 2.2 Cent increase um which will cost about $191 for a residential property assessed about $853,000 if we add that with the uh Library which is you know part part of our budget as well that rises to about $218 uh and so these were all the budgets that I just mentioned that we went through and we looked at some of their spending we looked at some of the trends um and I'll point out a couple of them um it they took a hard look at their software maintenance I think they've changed a lot since uh Phil's been here and they were able to bring that budget down by 190,000 we looked at OEM fire and fire inspection again based on their usage we were able to bring their budgets down um we did the same thing with vehicle maintenance and buildings and grounds in the health department budget we were able to reduce that um by $20,000 because there were two um inter interlocal service agreements we had with Montgomery one was for health education Jeff was able to you know one of one of his staff members took that uh task on and so that's being done in house and then also Animal Control we had a backup for the ACO officer and we were able to um to have one of our one of our Recreation employees now fills in when the Animal control officer is not around so we had a little bit of savings there um and then of course the significant one that we talked about was Corner House I mean that budget came out and that was about $670,000 that was the municipal share so that was what we were contributing in addition to that um we also saw a savings you know four of 500,000 but that was offset with grants that we were getting so I put it in here just to mention that you could see overall how much that Corner House dropped but significantly was the municipal share um of that and then also sewer operating again based on their usage and their spending habits we were able to reduce that budget so although the budget is going up had we not made a lot of these changes it would have been going up a significantly um higher amount and so I just wanted to touch on Surplus because this is something that David mentioned at the end of uh 22 we had about $18.5 million of surplus and we used about 8 million of that this year or when we ended 23 the Surplus was up you know almost a little over $3 million and because we lost the ARP funding um you know we said well let's just take you know we're in so much better Financial shape let's take another 2 million of surplus to keep the tax rate at something that we were comfortable with um parking again you know we're using a little bit more than we used the prior year but that has rebounded and I think it will continue to you know we'll see a lot of a lot of uh realized Revenue there in the parking because of uh you know after the pandemic we saw really low numbers in parking and that that's really rebounded nicely and and we continue to take 1.8 million out of the parking and uh turn it over to the current fund as a revenue which was something during the pandemic we were not able to do so you know I'm really happy with the way things have rebounded there and so just to kind of recap these are some of the things that we changed to sort of mitigate a little bit of the tax increase I mentioned the Surplus the reductions by Administration David um mentioned the Investments um and deposits the interest that we get we saw a significant amount of uh the way we changed investing at the you know in in our finance office for a long time we had not invested in New Jersey Cash management their rates were really low what we saw at the end of the year was they were closer to 5% so we jumped on that and we made a significant amount of money and just looking at the first couple of mon mons of this year I know we're going to exceed the amount that we've anticipated but again that'll help us to replenish the additional Surplus that we're going to use so we you know we feel really comfortable with that um I think next week or the next council meeting we discussed this with the finance committee we know we're going to see significant increases in sewer we know the debt service is going to go up a lot so we're going to bring a sewer um ordinance rate increase before Council for next year to start that process process of uh increasing sewer I know David goldar and Andrew did a presentation last year before you and said how that's going to Plateau before it kind of levels out a little bit and then I'm going to mention the assessment fund balance because a number of years ago Council decided not to um Bill for sidewalk assessments anymore however because they're paid back over 10 years we're still continuing to collect on some of those older ones so we've got a healthy Surplus sitting in the assessment fun balance and it's a perfect you know time for us to bring that Revenue in again to offset some of the uh some of the tax increase again I feel like I'm beating a dead horse on some of these but it's the insurances these are the things that we don't control insurances the utilities the pensions Stony Brook and our debt service I mean that's almost $31 million it's 41% of our budget that we have no control over so we just thought that you know that that's always worth mentioning um and that's it so thank you that's a great presentation Sandy thank you so thank you to you and your staff and the finance committee for working on the on all of that great job Council questions or any comments great presentation thank you very much thank you and David too and oh yeah that guy thank you um I'm really enjoying collect cabor with Sandy on that stuff I have to say Okay so let's go into uh the budget section of the uh of the agenda and first there is an ordinance 2024-the in would be April 29th 2024 so is there a motion on that thank you David I think David should get since he's the fighting chair and Leticia has got the got the second can we have a roll call vote on that Miss Ambrose yes Miss Neer gangs is Accused Mr Cohen yes Miss Sachs yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you next up is 2477 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton approving local budget Examination for the 2024 Municipal budget Sandy what does that mean so every third year our budget is reviewed by the division of local government services we were lucky enough to be in that select pool last year so this year and then you'll see this again next year um I get to self-examine so it's my recommendation that we don't have them uh review our budget and we're allowed by law to uh be self- examined thank you very much okay is there a motion thank you David Michelle's got the second any questions or comments all in favor please say I I I okay that's everybody 2478 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing compliance with the United States equal employment opportunity commission's enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records and employment decisions under title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 okay what does that mean to us again this kind of crazy that this is part of the budget process but this is one of requirements of the state that um Council signs a group affidavit that our hiring practices are in Conformity with the statute so thank you if I can just sorry David well I was GNA make an additional comment but might have making the same comment so oh go or were you just moving it I was just moving yeahia just moved it yeah so just a little bit more detail about that there's a requirement now that uh on employment application forms you're no longer allowed to have a box where people have to right up front say that they have a criminal background that is allowed to come out during the interview process but not in the first screening process so that's that's the rule that we're supposed to be complying with uh under this resolution and if if I can add to that actually a few years years back the Civil Rights Commission uh was advocating for us to to follow this bandab box initiative okay so that's moved by Leticia and there's was there a second Thank You Leon all in favor please say I I hi hi okay it's everybody 2479 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton in introduction so wait a minute is this actually a resolution the budget is always a resolution but we're having a public hearing but it is a resolution yes budg budg is a resolution yeah this is just for the introduction so we have a formal resolution that's done okay let me just start over then 2479 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton introduction of the municipal budget for 2024 the public hearing on that will be April 29th 2024 wa Michelle's got the motion Mia's got the second roll call vote Miss Peron Lambert yes Mr Cohen yes Miss saxs yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you next up it says budget introductions support materials is that everything we already did that's basically everything we did it also includes the parking budget the affordable housing and I think I think that was it the revenues and Appropriations okay so that was already all presented thank you you okay so now we have uh Sandy thank you very much again thank you all right so we have public hearing on two ordinances first up is ordinance 20249 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton repealing existing chapter 29 sidewalk cafes of the code of the burrow of Princeton New Jersey 1974 and replacing it with a new chapter 29 entitled outdoor dining is there a motion on that thank you Michelle is there a second Leighton has the second questions and comments by Council I I have some comments and I know David does as well my comment is simply to say I really appreciate uh the work that experience princ in the business committee um uh the economic development committee team uh work together with our staff with deian and Jim and staff uh to resolve uh a lot of the outstanding issues um so I think we've really arrived a a solid ordinance um but I know my colleague David Cohen has um one comment on that so uh with that I just wanted to um open anything yeah okay go ahead thank you go ahead David was there anybody else on Council before we jump to staff to help us understand what we're about to do Mark I do have oh David sorry thanks I'm not used to looking at the screen for Council folks yeah no worries um yeah I mean I want to say I I am 100% in support of 99% of this ordinance but I do have one concern which I did raise at our work session um and which I uh want to share with my colleagues and with the the public and that has to do with uh partitions inclosing um the areas that would be uh you know used for this outdoor dining um I have always had you know the I guess the example that I want to refer to is PJ's uh Pancake House which has for years had an outdoor dining um area in front of their location with partitions surrounding it and I always have felt really uncomfortable using a sidewalk there because essentially you feel like you're walking through the restaurant you're walking through private space um when you when you go there and so I would really much prefer not to see the dining areas enclosed but rather see tables chairs you know benches and whatnot but without without an enclosure for that reason for that psychological Comfort reason um and then my other concern is aesthetic which is that right now the um ordinance doesn't make any requirements in terms of I mean it it does say they can be taller than three feet but they have to be transparent above the three foot level uh I am dreading people coming in with plexiglass partitions you know to to meet that requirement I don't see any reason why they should be over 3T under any circumstances and I do think that they should be consistent just like our other Street Furniture I mean we've been spending a lot having uh arterial do design for us on Nassau Street um choosing you know consistent aesthetically pleasing Street furnishings and I think that you know if we're going to allow the partitions and obviously I'd like to hear how my con colleagues feel about this but if we're going to allow them I would like to see some kind of standard for um what they're going to look like instead of allowing each Merchant to make decisions on their own so that's my that's my concern thank you DAV other Council comments and okay uh so I I appreciate the um the comments David and you know I agree I think that the idea of having some kind of design standards like we do with furniture for the partitions will keep it from looking like a mish mash um so I think that you know hopefully is something that we can move forward with um and do uh but I do think that there is a I think it's if it's within the dining Zone uh I don't have a problem with partitions I'm not sure I really love the idea of plexiglass either so maybe just 3 ft and stop and that's enough would be good um but I'd like to hear you know what my colleagues think um about those two those two issues okay other Council comments especially on that specific thing what where in the ordinance specifically is that do we know what section it is yes it's on page 10 of the ordinance um okay it's item M and I don't know that I see anything allowing more than 3 feet in height for those barriers right the barrier shall not exceed 3 ft in height and shall allow pedestrian traffic from the curb to The Pedestrian passageway yeah you're right I don't see that either it maybe somewhere else then or it may have been changed since but I know that there was something somewhere that said if the partitions exceed 3 feet that they have to be transparent okay so it sounds like the height may be addressed in here but there's no I don't see a standard for the so David's concerned about the standard appears that that is something that we may want to take note of uh okay other let me are there any other I'm sorry L you know I I would just say that I do understand uh the psychology of what David is speaking about when you walk by PJs it is a little different does seem like that belongs to them and and I guess you know if if you have a partition around it it does and I would only ask I think PJs we kind of used to that but what would it feel and be like if every place that served food on the sidewalk decided to do exactly what PJs has done that would be something very different than what we have now aesthetically so something to think about okay I'm sure I I would just like to make a clarification PJs does actually own about six foot of the sidewalk in front of their um the facade of the building so it is somewhat of a different use case in that it is their private property um and that that area while this ordinance is only for municipal roadways um our ordinance would not apply to uh private property where site plan approval is needed through the planning board thank you MH thanks Deana are there other areas of of concern uh kind of sounds like the vast majority of this is acceptable to folks was there um Deana were you gonna have trishka elaborate on there were apparently some questions about signage and and and conflicts with our code and is there was basically what we're trying to do is address a policy call that's been made in terms of wanting to allow these establishments to have some kind of identifier on their own outdoor Furnishings like the name or the logo um sorry I don't know what's going on with my voice when this first came up we were trying to figure out how to address it how to enable it to happen yes in an Ideal World do it through the sign ordinance but we're still in the process of trying to harmonize it revamp it that was going to take quite some time and we were trying not to in the meantime prevent this from moving forward so there's a very narrow carve out in this ordinance that just basically says if you have your own name or your logo on your umbrellas your their outdoor Furnishings we're not going to treat that as a sign but it's strictly for the purposes of outdoor dining and I think going forward once we do revamp the whole sign ordinance that is an issue that we should be looking at in that context but in the meantime given the strong desire to allow this to happen we were trying to figure out you know how to get you there in a way that I'm frankly comfortable with legally and just can you refining in the future totally makes sense was that the issue Tiana that was the issue right so there there was another issue relating to sandwich signs but I think that's really a non-issue especially the way Michelle responded to it right you know basically what the regulations say is that the sandwich signs the have to be within what this ordinance calls the Furnishing Zone adjacent I mean it's not a Furnishing Zone it's the Zone adjacent to the building and so I think Josh was expressing some concern that there was a conflict but I think the rules are clear if you want to have a sandwich sign you know it can't obstruct the the walk walk areas so if you don't have enough sidewalk width to you know to have your seating and your sandwich sign then you you have to not have the sandwich thing so let me let me just jump thank you David let me just jump back to the prior discussion and the it's section p on the same page page 10 um for purposes of this chapter only the display of the L's name Andor logo on its outdoor Furnishings which EG retractable awnings umbrellas partitions Etc shall not be considered a sign the area of such display shall not exceed 2 square ft per Valance in the case of awnings or umbrellas or per panel in the case of partitions so retractable awnings what's the different so I understand what an umbrella is but a retractable awning to me is something that's already on the facade of a building and that would come under the sign ordinance but now we're saying this doesn't so I'm trying to understand what is this awning versus an awning that's already on the front of a building exactly that that's exactly this would be an awning it's an overhead covering for the dining area that could be attached to the facade of the building I think just for outdoor dining purposes that's where we're trying to make a distinction to allow this until we get the sign ordinance updated so theoretically someone could get a sign application denied and then turn around and say oh this is a retractable awning over food area and I can put my signage on here I think that's something we'd want to look at because I I agree in terms of the ambiguity in that in that particular term um we can do a couple of things we can not adopt tonight and we can refine that language you could adopt the ordinance and then we come back with a refinement but I think either way that is an ambiguity that ought to be clarified I would agree I mean my only concerns are with M&P m is the partitions and P is this thing about what is or what is not signage but no and I think you the intent is not for instance to allow a restaurant to then just have an awning that is basically there permanently under the guise of it's covering an outdoor dining area mind you the Furnishings for the outdoor dining areas can only be up during certain part parts of the year however I agree that it's still there is an ambiguity and a potential conflict there that should be cleaned up right Michelle can I make a suggestion I I think that originally we really were talking about the table umbrellas correct could we strike the awnings part and leave the table umbrellas because I don't think that would be substantive and quite frankly I don't I think the awning is really more the issue here MH could we do that that I'm comfortable with so I can make a motion then with that amendment to strike the retractable awnings from the um section it makes it much cleaner legally that really that really does the trick I'm sorry that makes it much cleaner legally that does the trick I think that makes especially because it's it's that term is explaining me the base intent is not changing which is allowing it on the outdoor Furnishings the retractable lawning is there as an example of so I think removing it is fine exactly that really wasn't I I don't think that was the discussion um and then while we're making amendments could we then adjust the what do we call them the partitions to then have to be approved in some way or have some design guidelines is there something we could do that's non-substantive to include that I well if all you're adding is a requirement that there be some design guidelines that's borderline especially because then it's okay then now who creates them who adopts them what's the process if you're actually going to try to build in some basic guidelines yeah that I think is something that you would need to put back out to the public for comment before adopting to add design guidelines tonight not that we have them but theoretically if we did would be a significant significant change yeah okay so let me let me just hey can I put you on the spot for a second what what is your reaction to us playing with the partition section as as so let's say we could go from one extreme to the other the one extreme is just leave it as is the Other Extreme is take partitions out of the ordinance for tonight and come back when we have some kind of guidelines you've been involved in this uh thank you your honor uh I've deployed over a million dollars of outdoor dining equipment stuff I can tell you in my 20-year career I've had exactly one sidewalk partition uh that I've done uh sidewalk partitions are not created alike um I work with a company and I'm not promoting them but it's called select space partitions um that has very tasteful panels uh which can be laser engraved with the name of the business or the name of the district you can put planter boxes in the corners of it you can even have a partition all of Planters um there's so many ways to approach it I think it's a rich topic where the of discussion um um but from my experience that if we want to uh go through the process of coming up with a standard if we want to say this not that I think it's a worthwhile exercise though if it prevents us from uh getting approval uh of this ordinance as we're right on the verge of the outdoor dining season beginning uh I think that could uh potentially be problematic thank you yeah no thank you exactly what I wanted wanted to hear so I'm just wondering um trishka if section M were to be deleted is that a significant change or is that one that would allow us to vote on the rest of the ordance along with the other change that Michelle had moved I will tell you in soon as I get back to subsection yes page 10 of page 82 of the agenda page 10 of the yeah no I have it in front of me so that would just be taking it out all together let me just read the words the fact that I'm sitting here trying to figure out what the import would be of removing it tells me that that so it's probably too significant a change to drop um so we might want to just uh between Isaac and Michelle because you guys have a lot of contacts in the business Community we might just want to make it clear to people that we're going to come back and do some sort of standards for the partitions and if anybody were to buy partitions they're doing so at their own risk and they should be very about doing that yeah Mark Mark if I can just jump in first of all I want to make the comment that if Isaac has only done one partition you know in his 20 or 30 years of doing this stuff I'm not sure that enabling partitions is an important feature of this ordinance you know I I really agreed with Leon's point and I also think we should hear from the public to see how people feel about well we will right now we're having our our discussion yeah but I would I would like to you know I would like to strike section M for now I'm TR like to do what not I would like to strike section M David the problem with striking it is is that then we wouldn't you know it it delays the we're concerned about we're going right into dining season and trishka has but I think it only delays for two weeks fisha correct me if I'm wrong but we don't have to come back with a new introduction that's correct what you would we can reintroduce tonight with that change and vote on a final form in two weeks and that's not to me that's not such a big delay yeah David's correct what you would do is you would intro introduce that change tonight and then continue the public hearing until two weeks from now and then you're holding the public hearing so on that amendment I we call it reintroduction you're not scrapping the ordinance and starting over as my point but that assumes that within two weeks we're actually going to come to no no it doesn't it just says that until we come back with spef people can't get partitions so that would be one option it's not a great option because we I mean I was outside today I think a lot of people were outside today we're like in Spring I mean it you know so I I just want to ask Dean um in terms of the partition piece I mean what if we move this forward now and bring back an amended ordinance in a few weeks I mean how how essentially if we're not really we need to start taking applications we need to have something in place so tell us in terms of process how this would work in scenario A or B whether we postpone entirely or whether we bring this back and do an amended ordinance in a few weeks to strike M or change M so if this is approved tonight without modification to partitions uh that would enable businesses to apply for a permit including partitions um it it is a permissive statement in the ordinance and that they may have par itions that doesn't mean that every applicant will include partitions with their application um if we do not pass tonight we delay I think the public hearing probably would not be until April 8th is that correct Raina yes um and the application period is 15 you have when the after the application is made you have up to 15 days to say yes or no so you have to add so I'm just saying we're adding a lot of time corre it's mid-march now if if I own a place and I want to put outdoor dining in front of my place I'm I'm up against the gun at this point right right so the other option then is that it passes tonight we come back on the 25th with an ordinance that would remove the partitions and or apply standards excuse me or apply standards so we could pass the the one option is stand pass it with the one minor change that Michelle made just a little while ago and then we come back and tweak M at at a future date yeah correct I'm just getting concerned about how long it's going to take people to get their approvals for this if we don't pass this tonight I totally I totally agree real worried I I I do just want to point out that if we pass it like this tonight and people come in with applications quickly which have partitions even if we change it in three weeks to say no partitions everybody who came in with the partition before we change it will be allowed to have partitions right we can't it's not going to be retroactive um it's going to be time of application that's going to determine what rules apply to the application good point time of application by the way would not apply here this isn't a Land Development ordinance it's not she said it's not a development ordinance David so would there's no time of application role that would so we can we can retroactively yes take away the per yes you could you could get business owners squawking potentially that they've expended money but yes this could have retroactive effect if you wanted it to there's no prohibition so somebody applies and says they want to have a partition staff could point out to them hey wait a minute they're about to apply standards you really shouldn't do this especially if it's an ugly partition yeah so okay so Leon mayor just just one more question we also have a hard stop at 12: midnight and I'm just thinking uh there are times when across nasaw street people are going to want to be out much past 12 at reunions and different things like football games is there a way we can put a cavy I didn't he that on some occasions it may go to 1: p.m. 1:00 a.m. well some flexibility I think it's a balance right now is trying to draw a balance between the businesses on the ground floor and the people that live upstairs you'd also have to define those circumstances it couldn't be discretionary I mean you'd have to State specifically when it is that they're allowed to be open leader well that's a question of enforcement as well I yeah well I think that's something we could my gut reaction to that lead is maybe we should just let this flow and see what happens sure I'm sure and see how many times people came to us and said gez I really wish I could have done this past midnight and how many other people that live near them near that business said Jesus glad you didn't do that yeah there are residents excuse my language be fair to both okay yeah okay so let me let me I think we've had pretty much our comments so we can dial the public in all right so first of all anybody in the room that wants to talk to this ordinance and any of the discussion is is Mayor point of order Michelle made a motion so you either need to Second it someone needs to Second it or strike it s second it and what or strike it I second I second it yeah thank you I thought it was was before okay sorry Isaac thank you br good evening your honor exciting night so uh I would be remiss if I didn't mention to our colleagues uh within municipal government uh who really were exceptional uh throughout this process uh multiple meetings memorandums and there was really a spirited and I'd say a healthy back and forth uh where as experienced Princeton we were able to bring forward data um benchmarking of other communities uh and also some of our concerns you know in earlier versions and I'm very proud uh of the work product that's been brought forth uh before you tonight I think as some of the back and forth has shown that it's not perfect uh but I also want to remind you and the public that uh the last time this body did this was 50 years ago um so I think 2024 is a very good time uh for a new ordinance uh and there's many things in there that we find admirable uh so on behalf of experienced Princeton our board of directors our volunteers uh we'd urge your prompt approval of this ordinance thank you thank you Isaac anybody else in the room okay I see one hand up on Zoom Adam can we bring uh allow Karen to talk so we could hear her comments and Karen just once you get added into here just state your name and address and there's a three minute limit uh there you go Karen you should be able to talk now okay great um I just want to bring up um an issue I'm sorry Karen could you just just for the sake of the minutes could you just state your name and address or business or whatever yeah sorry yes I'm Karen oconnell I live at 17 hibbon Road in Princeton and um I'd like to bring up the food waste aspect of this outdoor dining ordinance um I'm a big proponent of outdoor dining and I'm happy this is going forward but we need to have the issue of waste fully addressed trust I've read that the proposed ordinance requires submission of a written description of the applicants program including a description of the establishment's waste collection program and while this is a start the requirement should go a step further and be for an approved description and importantly the storage of any waste must be in a secured lided container in recent e years while food waste was proliferating on nasau Street poison rat bait stations were becoming more and more ubiquitous with some of the rat bait stations right next to tables where people dined you can't walk very far into town without seeing one these stations point to the fact that rats are enjoying the food We Leave Behind as New York City can attest poison rat bait stations aren't the solution I won't go into details tonight but without a real solution rats will continue to proliferate while our Wildlife suffers New York City has spent millions of dollars studying rat control and the conclusion they have come to is to stop feeding them today all food related businesses in New York City must use official secured trash containers and starting this fall residential buildings will be required to do so as well uh so let's make sure this otherwise welcome ordinance doesn't have the unintended consequence of increasing the rat population in town thank you thank you very much okay can I just so that's all part of the application process the detail on how the trash is being handled not the business trash but the trash generated from the the dining area yes it is and it's subject to our review and approval okay so our expectation I mean we're well aware of the problems just discussed so okay I just want to make sure and is there a requirement that it be sealed there is not currently but I think our existing ordinance for uh Solid Waste in the central business district does require that it is containerized yeah so so it's reasonable to conclude that we will be looking for sealed containers and we will also be looking for businesses to empty trash and not allow the trash to suddenly Go in all the public receptacles and overflow and then it's then supposedly it's on us as opposed to the people generating it correct so these are all things we'll be looking at yeah really important I mean and when this is posted it would be great to have some additional language that sort of fleshes out beyond the the the skeleton of the ordinance some of these additional um you know specifics that we want applicants to be aware of and comply with yeah I okay I was just going to comment that I you know I totally agree this was one of the big um pieces that we wanted to solve uh throughout the dining district is is the trash um being you know taken care of by the business owners themselves and I just want to add that we are working now on the next step in terms of garbage pickup uh together the town with experience Princeton and the business owners along the corridors um so that we can eliminate um having trash cans um that line the streets uh all hours of the day and night so that's that's step two uh outside of the scope of this but uh thank you Karen for your comments thank you okay is there anyone else on Zoom uh that wants to talk to this if so just raise raise your virtual hand okay nobody else in the room nobody else on Zoom all right we'll close the public hearing so the ordinance would be as presented with the exception in section p on page 10 the uh retractable awnings those that phrase two words whichever you want to how you want to describe that would be removed so that's what we're that's what we're voting on yes okay and that is a roll call vote please yes Miss Peron lambrose yes Mr Cohen yes Miss saxs yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you thank you all this a good discussion uh next up is ordinance 2024-the of the township of Princeton New Jersey 1968 and Michelle's got the motion leticia's got the second and what exactly are we doing here what no you said what are we doing here sorry you want an explanation what are we doing here yeah what is yeah what are we about toot sure I can explain it you want me to one of you R sure I basically under State Law hotel motel uh licenses they're they are plenary retail consumption license like any other however they're not subject to the normal population cap and in this case The Graduate Hotel we're anticipating is going to be requesting one um even though they're exempt under state law from the population cap municipalities still have the ability to limit them so obviously that's not the intent here so the purpose of this these little tweaks are a to make it clear that they're also exempt from your local cap on the number of consumption licenses and then to clarify as well they're subject to the same fee as any other retail consumption license uh a subject near and dear to my heart is adding more uh liquor licenses so anyway if short of Reform uh this is one way to go about it so glad glad to so this is one thing a hotel is able to take advantage of that a regular restaurant would not be able to do something similar I'll toast to that there you go very nice okay any Council comments or questions on then I'll jump to public okay anybody in the room that wants to talk to this one anybody on Zoom that wants to talk to this one all right seeing no one on either we'll close the public uh hearing part and roll call vote please miss Peron lambros yes Mr Cohen he said yes with it he was muted okay Miss sax yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried okay we have two ordinances to introduce ordinance 2024-25 on the tax map of the municipality of Princeton as block 10001 Lots 1 2 and 14 located at 725 herent toown Road 823 herent toown Road and 915 Mount Lucas road pursuant to njsa 42-1 public hear hearing April 8th 2024 is there a motion thank you Michelle is there David's got the second roll call um I'm sorry mayor I actually want to introduce it with a really minor modification so we don't come up against the same kind of timing issue I think trishka will agree that it's minor um there's a section which deals with who will be providing the funding for this um I don't have it right in front of me so maybe somebody else can find that but it enumerates the municipality Green Acres funding and the county and no other parties and I wanted to add a brief phrase saying and other private Partners as um pledges are secured or as contributions are secured okay so this is the whereas at the bottom of page one is anticipated the cost of acquiring the property will be funded by the trust together with NJ D Green Acres and Mercer County open space funds and local Bond financing for amount not covered by the above mentioned sources and I'm sorry so David you can make any changes you want to the Preamble because it's not actually part of the regulatory aspect of the ordinance it's explanatory material okay so you can make it now you can make it later yeah all right well I mean does anybody object to making that no language change that I suggested um anybody no that's fine with me great okay okay so for the catch Raina and David can work on the make sure I have it just exactly right okay uh roll call vote Miss Peron lambrose yes Mr Cohen yes Miss saxs yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 202 24-13 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regulating one-way streets and specifically traffic movement on Chamber Street and amending the code of the Bureau of Princeton New Jersey 1974 the public hearing will be April 8th 2024 thank you Michelle ltis has got the second roll call vote Miss Peron lambrose yes Mr Cohen David you said yes right yes yes sorry I didn't hear you miss sa yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you and just a remind folks when we do ordinance introductions there's really not discussion on them because there's a public hearing down the road so you don't want to get into the public hearing before the public hearing which was advertised actually starts so that's why that on the ordinance introductions we go right to the roll call vote all right resolutions we have a number of them 24-8 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authoriz in a contract with Waste Management of New Jersey Inc for municipal Solid Waste and Recycling dumpster services for an amount not to exceed $70,000 utilizing quotes in New Jersey state contract T 2665 for solid waste collection Statewide is there a motion thank you Leighton M's got the second all in FA I'm sorry questions or comments all in favor please say I hi hi hi thank you I think there was let me just do that again all in favor say I I I okay no nay everybody said I sorry I just I just want to make sure 2481 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton rejecting proposals for home energy assessments for residential units is there a motion on that thank you Leighton is there a second thank you Michelle any questions or comments all in favor please say I I I I I okay 2482 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the second extension of license agreement 2024 season in the amount of $29,100 for the operation of the canoe and kayaks concession extension by Sten Stefan anasa Co sorry DBA griggstown canoe and kayak rental is there a motion on that one Mia thank you Michelle's got the second questions or comments seeing none all in favor please say I I I I 2483 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the award of a contract to a land ATC tactical Inc for Safari Land holsters and Sig sour firearms for $ 47,1 12822 utilizing quotes and New Jersey state contract t109 17- Fleet d00 787 for law enforcement equipment and supplies the TC has got the motion leighton's got the second questions or comments all in favor please say I I hi 2484 resolution of the Council of Princeton authorizing an increase of $39,375 for the Professional Services agreement with Princeton Hydro for phase one of the storm water utility feasibility study resulting in a final contract amount not to exceed $ 137,138 Mia's got the motion is there a second thank you Leighton all in sorry any questions or comments all in favor please say I I I 2485 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing an increase of $39,500 to the Professional Services agreement with Princeton Hydro for phase two of the storm water utility feasibility study resulting in a new contract amount not to exceed $189,300 is there thank you Mia's got the motion is there a second thank you Lon questions or comments right seeing none all in favor please say I I I 24 86 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the award of a Professional Services agreement to Green bomb Rose Smith and Davis LLP for an amount not to exceed $40,000 for Legal Services as special Redevelopment Council to Princeton is there a motion thank you uh Mia's got the motion Michelle's got the second questions or comments all in favor please say I I I so we have a screen here in front of us that I look at so I can see like who's raising their hands and what happens is the screen reverses people so in my brain I'm going well wait a minute Michelle is there and not here on the screen and so I get confused as to who's where so I'm just explaining sometimes why I pause and get your nam's wrong but I love you all so thank you 2487 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing an increase of $75,000 to the not to exceed amount for a new not to exceed amount of 150,000 for the Professional Services agreement with scar scarin Caren thank you and Holland Beck LLC for special environmental Litigation Services question is somebody thank you Mia and David's got the second questions or comments can I ask so this is just ongoing litigation to get the insurance company to have we yeah so just keeps going on and on chasing chub he keeps spending money episode three season one okay uh all in favor please say I I I I think it SE three episode one yeah you're probably right David you're probably right thank you 2488 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing experience Princeton to apply for designation as a Main Street New Jersey Community from the Department of Community Affairs Michelle has the motion is there a second David has the second questions or comments seeing none all in favor please say I I I I okay next up is the consent agenda and if no one has anything that needs to be pulled out of the consent agenda for discussion Leticia moving the consent agenda consent agenda is moved is there a second Leighton thank you all in favor please say I I hi David do you have a motion actually can I make a comment before he makes that motion so now that we have a date for the Princeton half marathon November 10th 2024 plenty of time for my colleagues and staff who to start training if may want to join me this year putting it out there we're all running this year in the just want to join problem for moral support just wait for us don't start it I ride my electric scooter yeah I'm going to give it a try all right David made a motion to journ the meeting is there a second thank you Michelle all in favor say I I thank you all for being here tonight thanks to everybody on Zoom also everybody have a good evening