okay our meeting will come to order Madam clerk please read the adequate notice compliance statement adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the city clerk's office in the preparation of the Council annual meeting notice dated December 18th 2023 which was properly distributed and posted per statutory requirements please be advised the fire exits are to my right your left and at the back of the room the city has a listening system to assist the hearing impaired if anyone needs hearing assistance please obtain the system at theas and return it thereafter roll call please Mr berer here M Hamlet here Mr migar here Mr palowski here Mr Smallwood here Mr vtan president president Allen here okay Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Madame clerk please read the explanatory notices regarding close session hearings and comments a Clos session meeting as authorized by state statute was announced and held prior to the start of this meeting and the known items for discussion were listed on the published close session agenda please be advised that Council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channel 36 and Verizon channel 30 and rebroadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays on httv on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33 when invited to speak please come to the lecturn clearly state your name and address spell your last name and speak into the podium microphone so that your comments can be understood by understood by all and properly recorded whenever an audience or council member reads from a prepared statement please give her email a copy to the city clerk's office at city clerk cityofsummit.org to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers are asked to limit their comments to approximately 3 minutes or so in length unless you were using an electronic device to file the meeting agenda or needed for professional emergency contact purposes please turn it off thank you okay thank you um approval of minutes do I hear a motion to approve the regular and close session meeting minutes um council president we talked about deferring them till the next meeting because they were not that's correct completed yet um so should I say that we're going to defer them we're going to defer them okay to the next okay um then we're going to move on to reports Madame mayor thank you um so earlier today the Department of Community programs hosted its first ever Black History Month celebration at the community center it was a vibrant and educational event that showcased the rich cultural heritage and entrepreneurial Spirit of our black community alongside some of our seniors teens and youth I enjoyed listening to summit's own Tony Ellis who will be joining us this evening thank you to the staff for creating a day filled with learning and appreciation for the contributions of black individuals and businesses in our community the Department of Community programs is very has been very busy um we're also planning they're also planning a um women's day March 8th at 4M at the community center and your deadline to order t-shirts is this Friday uh February 23rd the Westfield Regional Health Department is hosting two free covid-19 vaccination clinics anyone can attend regardless of insurance status the clinic on February 23rd is for children 6 month 6 months through 11 years and the clinic on Friday on February 29th is for individuals 12 years and older the Westfield Regional Health Department is located at 425 East Broad Street in Westfield through the state New Jersey I'm sorry for through the New Jersey state League of municipalities I have the privilege of sharing a scholarship opportunity for high school juniors and seniors in Summit three $1,000 scholarships are being offered through the Lewis Bay second future Municipal leaders scholarship competition a Statewide competition that centers on the theme what my municipal government does best and seeks to highlight elected officials hard work and encourage future Municipal leaders the deadline to apply is March 7th the competition is open to all high school juniors and seniors that reside in Summit go to cityofsummit.org scholarship for more information and to view application details lastly I want to address some commentary that has been occurring on social media and around town about the possibility of Lights at tatlock I want to be clear that this is the beginning of the community engagement piece of this process there has been at least one meeting with the Department of Community program staff and committee members and some of the tatlock neighbors and there will be additional meetings in the future to specifically address this topic in addition we're looking to get a parks and recreation community Forum on the calendar sometime in April to engage the entire Community about the future of all parks and playgrounds throughout our town we're also looking to host a separate Community Forum on safety sometime in April please keep an eye out for more detail on both of these events which are intended to provide information on related initiatives and offer opportunities for our residents to give input and ask questions about these two very important topics thank you thank you mayor administrator Rogers thank you council president good evening everyone um I just wanted to give a an update about the uh 2024 Municipal budget uh City department heads and elected officials uh have been working diligently on creating an annual financial plan that sufficiently balances operational needs with prudent stewardship of our of public monies um since the beginning of the year the finance committee has been meeting weekly with department heads uh to review their respective operating budgets while also eval evaluating city capital uh project requests during our budget discussions uh we are all exceedingly aware of the many challenges before us in establishing a strong operational plan that provides essential public services in the most cost-efficient manner uh in any G in any given budget year uh and municipality is always concerned about three particular cost drivers Municipal debt service healthcare insurance premiums and pension obligations that can NE neg negatively impact its budget condition last year the city was confronted with a combined $2.4 million increase for these three major expenses fortunately in 2024 these the combined increase for these three expenses will be approximately $360,000 not an insignificant increase but much more man ible to absorb in our Municipal budget however the city's general liability and Workers Compensation Insurance which we typically only see annual increases under 2% will be increasing by 18% this year or 210,000 the city's recycling collection service contract will be expiring at the end of June uh and we will need to solicit bids again soon we are reasonably budgeting uh an increase for this contract Service cost but it is still undetermined at this time unfortunately the city as well as most other municipalities in New Jersey have ex experienced very sizable increases for the service over the last 5 years but we'll see hope we're remain somewhat hopeful on that uh on the revenue side of the budget the city's fund balance uh or Surplus at the end of 2023 is 11.67 million which is an increase of six of 1.6 million above the previous year this is the highest amount um that I've been able to go back and and uh and just look back at 15 years that's the highest amount it's been um budget Revenue other than property tax revenue uh is stable and will be around the same amount anticipated in last year's budget uh and also really great news uh the city's property tax base grew last year by nearly $82 million um that will generate over 700,000 of new Municipal tax revenue and as always the city's goal is to ensure any Municipal property tax revenue increase needed to balance the budget will be limited to around 2% regarding the capital budget plan mayor Fagan council president Allen finance committee chair Minar capital projects committee chair Hamlet have collaborated to put together a sensible capital budget plan that is mindful of its strategic debt management practices and commitment to fund necessary Capital Improvements that maintain and enhance quality of life in Summit indeed when the 2024 preliminary budget was presented last December the initial capital budget including the sewer and parking utilities was was 12.6 million at this time the 2024 capital budget has been reduced by almost 50% in total it has been a tough deliberated process with all department heads and elected officials to decide which projects get funded this year and ones that will have to be pushed to Future years uh there's no shortage of important projects to be done but we must manage our future Debt Service obligations at the same time we will continue to work on comp uh completing the municipal budget over the next several weeks I anticipate pres presenting the city Municipal budget at the April 2nd council meeting and then just one additional uh item uh the summit free market will open uh later this week on Friday February 23rd from 12: to 2: p.m. at the transfer station visitors are limited to 60 Minutes at uh each Summit free market event residents must have a permit to access the transfer station to attend uh permits can be purchased online through the city of Summit parking services uh agency at cityofsummit.org parking and that's all have for this evening council president thank you thank you Mr Rogers okay I just want to let everybody know in the back there's some seating up front if anybody wants to come in squeeze together chairs oh and there's some Summit chairs also on the other side of the chair yeah okay um okay so I just wanted to give a brief report if you have not already done so please sign up for the City website to receive emergency alerts from the city of summit the city has transitioned to the Rave mobile safety smart 911 emergency alert system and citizens are required to opt in to the new system at smart911.com to continue receiving alerts during this last snowstorm the city utilized the new smart 911 system and it was an effective way to quickly distribute road safety and weather related information we will continue to use it more as a notification tool so please register uh enrollment is also open for the 2024 Hometown Heroes program the deadline is to apply to apply is March 31st and this is going to be the seventh year for the successful program that displays banners with the names images and dates of service of active military members and Veterans throughout the city from miday through mid August the program is funded through private donations with no fee to participate information is on the um an information on application requirements and how to apply is available at cityofsummit.org Hometown Heroes um thank you to all our veterans um who are out there the city will once again be host hosting its paid summer internship program which I know councilman ban is going to be very excited about um we're going to host its our paid summer internship program for college students that take place during the month of June applications will be accepted from students who are Summit residents beginning on March 1st through March 22nd with interviews being scheduled in late March and early April this is a wonderful program and an opportunity for college students to learn about Municipal operations and gain valuable work experience more information will be available on the city website at cityofsummit.org and it was a huge success last year so um be on the lookout for that okay I would like to um next business is historical minute I would like to invite a special guest who is an author and former resident uh Summit resident uh Anthony Ellis who is an author and former resident um councilman Boyer I know you know him personally so would you like to say something okay would you mind absolutely I was waiting for a a councilman Ki to to do his Summit minute and then swing it on over here to me you know but uh maybe next time um you know the 90s and Summit invoked a sense of nostalgia you at that time the Summit pool still had a high dive uh the Y had only one pool and an indoor track my graduating class in 1996 comprised of 160 students investors field was called tadlock uh it had grass which was maintained by our dedicated city employees and Thompson Sporting Goods was on the opposite side of the street where the antique shop is now Anthony Ellis excuse me Anthony Ellis grew up during that time my my my apologies here we go Anthony Ellis grew up during that era attending Jefferson School Middle School and ultimately graduating from Summit High School later in life he pend a memoir titled climbing the summit chronicling his upbringing Summit his story illustrates how Summit supportive Community not only helped him climb the summit but also conquer mountains throughout life his narrative not only inspires but also sheds light on the challenges faced by some black Americans unfairly labeled as Oreos or deemed to be acting white due to different differing beliefs friendships appearances viewpoints or interests Ellis's Memoir is a testament to embracing one's true self akin to my own experience as we honor Black History Month and reflect on the historical minute I am proud to introduce Anthony Tony Ellis the sole author depicting the experiences of a black individual growing up in Summit New [Applause] Jersey thank you thank you Council for having me this is Extreme pleasure and uh thank you also for inviting me to the event earlier this afternoon where I was able to expand on this why am I here I'm proud to be from Summit it's left its mark on me indelible Mark it's where my identity began as Jamal was pointing out it's also where we Define ourselves it's where my dreams began I grew up at my grandparents house just down the hill on the other side of town with my older brothers Corey and tyone my mother Evelyn my grandparents Dad wasn't around but we were a village of Aunts Uncles and cousins at my house family was our wealth my grandparents brought our family from the south up the summit for a better life my brother's cousins and I played around the yard sipping crisp clean air with sun rays upon us as fancy cars drove by my grandma said black people deserve just as much as white people we just have to work harder for it not too unlike MLK's dream for the pursuit of happiness for all I took it a step further I saw what this town had in front of me and I wanted it from the mansions and luxury cars to the families of moms and dads with love I chose to embrace it I was immersed in it fell in love with some of its people and what it's shown me why don't I deserve this so I pursued it in spite of what others may have defined me as it made me feel like I wasn't who I was supposed to be but I laid my own path the journey took me through laughter with my friends and cries with my mother I think as a child you don't realize how much your parents are doing for you until later when you're a parent yourself I took breaths around this world and it brought me here I'm now living part of the dreams that that I saw on Summit the visions of family of Love of a home and now I pass this dream down to my children our part of me feels indebted to Summit the people who helped me along the way including my family that's why I'm here and for some of you who have read the book and want to know what happens next I can't wait to tell you thank you I appreciate your [Applause] time Anthony what is the name of your book climbing the all right thank you so much thank you I just didn't know how Esther Ellis is related oh yeah Esther Esther and I went to school together hi Esther she's in the book okay and that's why you're extraordinary all right council president just wanted to present to a gift from Council um he's also a lacrosse player everybody okay okay can I say something of course thank you uh thank you Anthony for coming to speak with us this evening it was a pleasure to read your book even though you left us on that incredible Cliff Hanger uh uh we both went to Jefferson uh and I also spent a summer working as a bus boy uh in an Italian restaurant uh Marco Polo's rival losteria for me uh I noticed I noticed you wrote about uh experiences when you were treated differently by the police because of the color over your skin I think it's important to acknowledge that history I'm thankful for the chief of police and the Interfaith council's anti-racism committee working together regularly to address bias and policing uh but it's also I think important to acknowledge the contrast between this meeting and the last tonight we're celebrating your story and black history in Summit while last council meeting we passed an ordinance over the objection of the Interfaith Council and the black community so my point is this the decisions we make here impact individual people's lives every day and we need to take that responsibility seriously and if we want to celebrate a part of our community we should also make sure we hear their voices thank you very [Applause] much I just actually want to say something as well um I grew up in Colorado and often times people say why did you move to New Jersey and there was a time that I was going to move back to Colorado I drugged my husband who was one of five and we went to Colorado in Fort colins and we looked around and one thing I noticed that was drastically different than Summit and that is that this is a walking town uh when we first moved here I would cross the street I would go to Franklin and I would see all the moms and dads and Guardians standing by the door waiting for their children to come out and people are walking down the street they're walking dogs and they're connecting with each other when I was back in Colorado there was not a single soul in the street I don't know where they were it's an outdoor living maybe they were on the trails but when we got back home I said to my husband Summit is where the community is it's where my children need to grow up it's a place where people are accepting and where we really Embrace each other so so I want to thank you Anthony for coming tonight and sharing your story and I look forward to reading your book so thank you all right anybody else okay all right we are going to move on to presentations um we're g to uh Matt delori oh come on okay uh it's our 2023 affordable housing annual status report by Matt delore delori our DCS assistant director and Municipal housing leison need anything from us Matt uh if I can't turn this on Madam clerk will help me with the presentation but good evening council president mayor and councel colleagues and those people uh in the hall here tonight and watching at home my name is Matthew delore I'm the assistant direct one of the assistant directors in the Department of community services and Council appointed me as the municipal housing liaison in a sense I act as a point of contact for the city's uh Mount Laurel obligation every municipality New Jersey is required ired to participate in activities as a constitutional obligation to fulfill its role in providing affordable housing and every year we produce a report that I share with the committee that we formed and then also come to council and to the public to share that report and the report is basically the activities that we carry out throughout the year to fulfill Our obligation uh we are in what's called round three of affordable housing uh and we are going into round four round three spans the year years of 2015 to 2025 and round four will begin uh 2025 and Beyond so what I do in the report and by the way all of this is listed online as is my contact information and for those of you that reach out to my office you know that I make myself available to anyone anytime they have any questions because this is a bit of an algorithm in regards to how it's executed in New Jersey it's a very unique way the state does this and the concept uh can be difficult this report is listed online I'm not going to go through the entire report because you can consume it on your own but I have highlighted a few yellow sections uh and I can just um talk you through them it's broke excuse me broken down by quarter so if you could go to that first yellow um section thank you Rosie um so in a sense when the the three main prongs of an affordable housing program is to develop actual units the second is to spend money to rehabilitate existing units and the third is to provide a affordability assistance uh for people uh with regards to down payments or HOA fees so one of the things that we looked at this year was what's called a marketable to Affordable um study this is where we take money from our trust fund and by the way the funds that we use for affordable housing are not tax dollars we have an ordinance for when development occurs in the city a developer pays into the trust fund a fee and that fee is used to fund the activities and in a sense of the methods that you can use uh to develop units is to take a unit that is market rate and use trust fund money to supplement and either purchase or purchase down the cost to make it affordable Summit is an affluent community so uh that is a very difficult task and the cost is high but we're constantly monitoring the market to see if trust fund money can be used to supplement the cost of a rental unit that might become affordable for use um another thing I'll point out as you scroll down uh to the next piece is um the city updated its operating manual people have a lot of questions about well how does somebody get qualified it's this is a very specific method the operating manual basically outlines the methodology that's used to select people amongst a host of other things that it does um but I can tell you that there are very specific um qualifications that you have to meet and we can talk a little bit later when we look at the website and how people at home uh if you feel that you are in need of affordable housing can get information on how to pre-qualify for a unit in the city but the operating manual includes a lot of details on how people get uh qualified for the units in the city uh a lot of people don't know what's available uh so we said well why don't we put a flyer together uh so that people can actually take a look at uh what their options are the city of summit's website uh cityofsummit.org for affordable housing is something we're really proud of we put together a lot of resources for people who are looking for affordable housing and when we're done with the report I'll just have Rosie bring up the website and we can kind of just look quickly at it but we did develop a flyer to let people know that there are options for you if you're interested and we did share it with the Interfaith Council and um we'll be sharing with a number of other uh members in the community to make sure that they're aware that there are a lot of resources for you um we skipped over one I don't know if you did that on purpose but if you go back it is Broad Street West and last year the council did decide that that after hearing from the public that there were other ways to develop and certainly a component of that was affordable housing it should be made very clear that the council continues to look at ways to provide a affordable housing although that mechanism at that time wasn't appropriate so uh we do put that in the report because it's important for people to know the history of um the development of Broad Street West Etc um many of you are aware that Morris habitat um did complete its project they are going through an issue with qualifying people but once they get through that there will be um people living there but they are finished and in December they did have a ribbon cutting we got to meet a lot of the families it was very moving and it's always important to see the humanity of uh the work that we do that's sometimes mechanical but the real lives that are impacted when you get to wake up every morning in a safe and stable place that can really set the foundation for a very meaningful life that we take for granted so we're happy that they were able to do that here and they concluded their work um part of a legal agreement was that on the other side of the fence uh from Morris habitat there is a city property on which uh our plan describes the possibility for two units nothing has been decided there that just continues to be explored um but uh there had been a rumor that we had made decisions or anything had happened but nothing has been decided there yet that that continues to be um looked at um we'll go to the website in a minute uh but we'll skip to the Bristol Meyer squib um when commercial entities not only is it that when residential buildings take place where a new home is built that a developer pays into the trust fund but there's also a state non-residential development fee and in this case Bristol Meer squib ended up adding volume to a building which would then trigger the fee that coincided with um years of um tax evaluations that in the end calculated a very large fee of $4,625 plus thousand um that currently is under protest so that um which is a right of Bristol Meyer squib um to look at the taxation methodology so that money's been put at an escrow and that's currently being heard by a court but if that does go through that would be a huge opportunity for the city to continue to invest in affordable housing opportunities um so that's an example of a very large non-residential development fee that's fairly uncommon and then last year Council amended the ordinance for affordable housing and did a couple things one that the ordinance existed in lots of different places within the city ordinances so we brought all into the development regulation ordinances so it's sort of Consolidated so that if you're developing in the city you don't have to wander through the ordinances they're in one place the other thing it did while aligning it with a lot of legal documents and State uh regulations is it closed a little bit of a loophole um where people were knocking down a house but leaving one wall in the basement and saying I put an addition on the basement wall which is technically building an entire new home uh and saying oh well I I really didn't I I left the basement wall there so there's a def definition for building a new house which was much needed because there were people taking advantage of that loophole and then the other thing is that um the the the regulations allow us to charge 1% for affordable housing fee uh the state allows you up to 1.5 we looked at 15 other towns and we were one of only four that was charging 1% so we did move up uh to 1.5 which is very um customed for developers to be paying in our area so that was the fee um The Summit Housing Authority is working on uh funding for rehabilitation which the city could participate in Council last year did a resolution of support for that and as they examine their own funding mechanisms it's very possible that they will be able to rehabilitate a lot of their units which the city might be able to use as part of its plan so we look forward to working with them and supporting them on that and then I will just very briefly note note that surprisingly in 2023 um the state decided to try to pass after no legislation for 15 years on this matter a bill through the lame duck session fortunately there were a lot of parties that stepped up and said this really in this day and age is not the way we should be passing important legislation like this and the second they moved back into regular session continued to press the bill forward there are a lot of voices letting them know that there's a lot of changes that have to happen to this bill unfortunately it um definitely will leave municipalities in a very difficult position where we will probably very much continue to be sued or to be challenged in a way that immunity from Builders remedy um will always be the carrot dangling before us and that puts the stakeholders uh and residents and municipalities in a very difficult position so we do hope the legislature will come to its senses and um listen to municipalities and the people that they serve serve to make sure that that law represents a very fair and Equitable way to legislate uh affordable housing I will um proceed down here to see this is a kind of a famous chart we have a lot of goals that we have to complete in 20125 up through 2025 we have the balance of an unmet need of 702 which over the course of the plan is brought down to 638 at the moment and then our legal plan had this little carve out for new units um and we are at 25 of 50 for those new units this is on the website and you can learn about how we got here and why and how these different um projects participate in these numbers but this is currently what we're facing I'll point out that the new legislation will dictate new numbers for the city of summit and these will not reset they will be in addition to what will be coming down the pipeline I'm happy to say there are a lot of members of council are taking this very seriously and we do hope to um make it so that the city is um both continuing what has been a very good historic track record for maintaining its obligation and at the same time isn't um unqua challenged in a way where building becomes such that the fabric of the community is lost and again that's very important to all of us so uh we'll keep an eye on that if we scroll down a little further uh one of the things that we have to do as part of our plan is to make sure that we let people know what's available so we get a lot of we get phone inquiries and we get web signups so these first two I ask the admin agent to start to track these kinds of things and you can see our web signups are continuing to maintain in the 30s on average unfortunately the very last column is how many units became available in 2023 and you will see one in January and zeros straight through when somebody is in a unit they normally do not move out of it and that's why increasing the number of units in the city is one of the things that we really are trying to do again while honoring the fabric and the Integrity of the community uh as it develops and then we're we're obligated to report the financials what I did was took the December Bank wreck and show you that the current balance is 1.9 million in our affordable housing trust fund and then I went a step further and used our financial software to break down both what we earned in fees month by month as well as what we earned in our banking account with interest month by month so that you can get a sense of the income that we're earning uh with our development and if you scroll down a little bit you'll see that I'm just reporting that yay we met this year and we're plugging forward and if I could just real quick have you just visit the website so people could see that Rosie I appreciate that and then if there are questions and then I'll be out of your hair so when you land on the web page you'll see you have two options if you scroll down on this page this is where people uh who are looking for affordable housing and resources can find them and before you scroll down Rosie on the left if you want to learn about the plan and contact information and the logistics of the mechanisms of what we do in City Hall to fulfill this plan you would click on the left but if you don't mind we'll just take you through real quick what residents will find and if you scroll down you'll see this is the um flyer so housing assistant options you have a list you can get on you have Home Improvement assistance and a affordability assistance those are those three buckets and you can visit the site to learn how you can take advantage of those the next is what kind of income you have to make and the number of people in your household to qualify and so this is a little chart that will show you um how to qualify for and what the salaries are for what you would need to do in order to to to qualify for affordable housing unit and if you keep scrolling down there's like a maybe six seven eight field questionnaire this is just to get on the list and by the way most of us have nieces or nephews that are just starting out in the world of work that need affordable housing and that's really what this is for and so you should encourage those people to sign up we want to teach young people I know I was dying to get out of my house and at my age I could afford to find an apartment but that is not likely nowadays but the lessons I learned by living on my own and picking through laundry that I wasn't willing to wash but I eventually did um was a huge life lesson on how to on how to take care of myself so please encourage people to sign up and they can fill that out next is Rehabilitation assistance if you earn a certain income and you need a roof an air conditioner unit uh I can explore that with you if you have interest or you think somebody in Summit might qualify for that if you keep scrolling down I think this is one thing we're really proud of a lot of people call our office and say oh my God I need my friend is really desperate need of Housing and as you can see with only one unit becoming available this isn't a solution for emergent housing but we did really put together a very comprehensive list of resources Union County the DCA graceon town there are just a ton of resources that people can use to supplement their costs from energy and Rental and other kinds of assistance that people can be taking advantage of and these exist throughout the county and Beyond and there's a huge list here so I could go on about this but um I appreciate your time and having me share this report with you and the public and if there are questions I'd be happy to take them but as well for sake of time I'm I'm available and people can reach out anytime if they have further questions right we'll take count we're gonna take questions from Council I just um I want to and we'll take some questions also after council's done with from the public sure I just want to say that um thank you for a great presentation you've done an excellent job really managing this through the city it is not easy and you are absolutely right that Summit is always done an excellent job on affordable housing and this is a very impassioned topic um so I just wanted to say as we talk about it on Council and questions come up from the public that we are all you know we treat each other with respect um and that last year was really about conflating I think what happened was Broad Street West got conflated in some aspects with affordable housing so just putting that out there that this is about affordable housing and um we can have a bigger discussion about Market rates with a tiny bit of affordable housing but tonight for your purpose I'd like to take questions from the council sure Council thank you Matt you're always so eloquent and articulate in the way you speak and I think I I think I call you more now than director Sher so I'm not sure if that's that's a win for the night or administrator Rogers yes um but I just want to thank you I watched your last presentation and all the questions from the residents uh the other day again and spoke with you I have a couple of questions regarding the rehabilitation numbers has Summit Housing Authority given an update on their relationship continuing it or not with orbo and have do you know if they've made any progress with their housing director and maybe I should um ask you councilman uh Boer if we'll be getting an update on that process yes so right now the uh Housing Authority is looking for an executive director so uh the job description is been posted um the contract with orbac is has not been uh resigned so essentially you have to go through the process again and it's uh honest is very unfortunate um cuz now the residents would have to wait you know another year or so but I know that the Housing Authority is working diligently to get the ball rolling though and to be clear and so the public knows the Summit Housing Authority is a separate entity to which Council appoints people but it's federally funded our local Mount Laurel is funded through those development uh fees that we collect so that's a local effort but we don't connect with each other other than obviously we try to participate and help each other where we can but we would still get credit for those rehab the rehabilitation of those We Believe yes would participate in our program we have a 1.3 million obligation that's 131 rehabilitated units at approximately 10,000 a piece and we've spent approximately 700,000 of those funds on Rehabilitation I think it's really important to point this out and and one of the reasons is because these Aspire credits are going to be expiring at some point I correct me if I'm wrong um so I think it's really important that the community has these discussions um because our own Summit resident Summit Housing Authority residents um deserve to have these units rehabilitated and they will count towards our credit so I think it's an urgent conversation um that we all need to have as a community uh and hopefully we can find a director as soon as possible uh the second question was can you just walk me through the interest paid numbers either tonight or at another point it just it wasn't making sense to me because is it all in a checking account and does it have to stay in a checking account or are there rules around that yeah I would defer to the CFO on the maintenance of the funds certainly but I don't know if she wants to comment but be happy to share everything is um question councilman Hamlet you kind of answered your own question it does need to remain in a bank account the interest is able to be spent on affordable housing efforts but it has to be maintained separately from all other banking but is that number right 53,000 paid interest to date I would assume so I'd have to look up the bank I mean we've written we rewrote a 1.4 million doll check to Habitat so that account has gone all over the map that's we can but that's the interest okay it acrs yep thank you yeah thank you councilwoman HMA is that it okay any other comments yes so so just to be clear uh our current status is we have 25 out of 50 right um and the 638 is the balance now you did mention that uh when fair share comes back I think round four they will add to the 638 will it be an additional there will definitely be additional units added somehow will it be an additional three figure number well the last round was determined through litigation people were sued by fair share housing after Co was disbanded what the legislature is trying to do now is create a formula and re um invigorate a standardized State uh across the state way in which municipality through what's called The Jacobson ruling um come up with a calculated number that you will owe and so they're right now formulating what that obligation will be which is why it's contentious because what number you use and how you formulate that can be can dramatically inflate or impact the number of what you owe agreed um and so the number will not be going down no realistically just where we stand right now uh if we needed to add 638 units in Summit which is dense is that even the the number isn't intended to the number is um aspirational in that uh the economy could tank tomorrow you you could build nothing we've been in a very good economy lately so there's been a lot of building but that's how um and there was there was a lot of methodology but how it was determined what Summits unmet need was what we as a community owed um so no you wouldn't go out and build 63 38 units tomorrow but that is what was determined legally as what summit's obligation was if we were to participate in the building of affordable housing across the Statewide effort to do so and frankly a lot of communities um twofold one um we see around us a lot of building so we do see a press for density most of us have as Mr Ellis shared and you've shared about growing up is that communities have sort of stayed the same for a very long time and a page is turning partly because municipalities I'm happy to say Summit not being one of them but did fail to meet their obligation to some degree I know places where they've built 250 units and there's not a single affordable one and that's really not too long ago so there have been M municipalities over time that have not built properly uh at the same time um yeah there's there's there's a change about how we're developing and what's happening and I think that's why as a community and a lot of communities are struggling with wanting to meet their obligation but at the same time realizing there is only a certain capacity after which we begin to completely change uh what we are as a community and we're we're right there and just to be clear uh affordable affordable housing doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to improve diversity in the town correct well restrictive zoning was definitely rooted in racism there was a lot of Zoning for a long period of time that was exclusionary nature I'm not talking specific to Summit I'm talking through the history of zoning laws was sort of rooted in an exclusionary uh way people wanted to make it so that well you can't really afford to build here so you'll have to go somewhere else no I understand that I I understand the the past history of Red Line and and exclusionary zones I'm talking about right now right so we build affordable housing is are we telling the community that our community will be more diverse or are we just is adding units right there there's affordable housing is not aligned with diversity though per se right it's more aligned with socioeconomic status right how much money you have to afford the obligations and the qualifications you meet are not related to your race they're related to your income thank you yeah um before I go to the public I just want to say we introduced the resolution for the Mount Laurel committee did you want to just touch briefly on that absolutely so there's a couple groups working on this there's the affordable housing committee that by our legal agreement meets once a year we met uh actually two or three times when we introduced our new administrative Etc we are now going into round four and there will be a confidential nature to the work we do um governing bodies have a right and often can uh and permissible by law be in confidence because in a sense when when we negotiate on behalf of the public if we all got in a room and said we're going to offer this everyone is listening so there are there is a need to have confidentiality uh it's been made very clear that the Mount Laurel committee will be working on the tying up of round three and the planning for round four but that it will only be for recommendations the the the committee itself will make no decisions any decision that would be made would be made in the public eye by Common Council it's just that there will be a confidential nature to some of the work that we'll be doing to prepare and it was advised by myself and our affordable housing attorney that stakeholders from our planning board our zoning board common counsil Etc participate in that group while other groups are formed to continue to figure how we meet Our obligation so that that's what that Mount Laurel subcommittee is thank you I'm going to open I just do a quick thing uh just from what you said um in your uh report thank you first of all um and thank you for ensuring our compliance thank you for uh making it much easier to understand this incredibly complex process but I just want to make sure one thing you said did not get lost which is that individual people who already live in Summit if they qualify by their income can get improvements to their home through the $1.3 million that we have right so people that already live here correct qu maybe they brought their house 30 years ago right but now their income qualifies yes they need a new roof they can talk to you they need an air conditioner hot water heater yes they are allowed to get improvements in their want make sure everybody heard that very thank you yep thank you councilman Maran councilman council president just um Matt thank you very much for your presentation I really appreciate it um so in in order to qualify for affordable housing it's based on my understanding the median income of the municipality no no no it's the income of the person there's a we live in what's called Region 2 if if you want you can take a look at that income chart that I showed on the um the website at the very bottom there's a link that um you can click to open up for the entire State Summit lives within region 2 so Union moris a number of other counties anyone living in those counties based on how much income you make then allows you to be uh eligible for affordable housing when a unit comes up in Region 2 you in a sense could participate in getting that unit and it's based on your income and I don't want to get too into like low very low moderate income but it's based on how much you earn in the number of people in your household but but if a developer came into town and developed say 10 units or 20 units of whatever right a certain percentage 15% of that has if it's an apartment 15% needs to be designated for affordable housing correct yeah that is called our multif family set aside ordinance so anytime you build more five or more and it's rental 15% have to be uh affordable and if it's for purchase 20% have to be so yeah I'm and and is there a I guess I'm I'm probably missing something I I read something about the median income of the municipality is that where they determine how much the of the individual rent would be y so if they if the normal rent would be for a two-bedroom apartment $5,000 how do they determine what that rent would be for affordable housing it's dictated by income and there's math to be done and you're qualified by approving income status Etc okay yeah so even if you built um complex of 10 units and each unit was going for 1.2 million or Etc or the rents were very high there there would be a set aside that would allow for those to be affordable and the people that would be qualified of them would pay be paying based on their income so if a teacher making $60,000 could theoretically be in one one of those $1.2 million yeah absolutely and what happens is uh and that's why we have the sign up is we encourage people the The Summit Housing Authority had traditionally been and this is changing Geographic preference and all these things you had to live in Summit is beginning to change because of funding and I don't want to speak too much about their program because not an I'm not an expert in it but the way the city's Mount Laurel program works it's like a I don't want to say the word L but it's a random selection process so you could have been one of those 30 people that signed up a year ago and your name never gets drawn and you could have literally signed up yesterday and you come come available and you get pulled out and if you qualify it's yours which you could argue that there's pros and cons to both methods but at the end of the day I find the random selection to be hopeful because when you're looking for housing the fact that you could be pulled at any time is kind of exciting the the questionnaire on the city's website is for Summit only there are two other companies I listed on the website by signing up with them you're signing up for 40 50 municipalities at one time cgp and and the company begins with the p penoni I'm sorry I forgot the name of it but um so pza P yeah pza yep um where you're signing up for a bunch so I always tell people if you want to catch a fish and you have 30 fishing poles in the water you're more likely to get one than just one so you should be signing up at Summit site but you should also be signing up on all of those sites because you live in region two and you'd be qualifying to live in a number of towns okay thank you yes sir thank you councilman Smallwood I'd like to go to the public but before before I do councilman flasky councilman minegar either of you okay I'm going to ask the public if anybody wants to come up and speak please say your name your address and I'm going to ask with a show of hands who is here for affordable housing just I want to make sure we manage our time is this only for only for affordable housing for right now yep um I will sit down okay I'm just going to ask it's all yours I'm just going to say if you could please keep it to three minutes is that would be wonderful probably one minute Council princi AB thank you um I'm a third Dennis and harriel U 140 Broad Street I'm at Pastor Wallace Chapel church I don't have a question I just want to make a statement I'm a 34 year resident of summit and U I probably am uh dating myself because I've liveed long enough to go start with uh encycloped uh world Book Encyclopedia um uh britanica now Google and Wikipedia and uh I just want to say to the council and to the audience gathered here this evening that I am a passionate advocate for affordable housing based upon my three principles is there a need is it doable is it the right thing to do and uh I just want to commend uh the City for bringing on board Matt delari because in my 34 years this gentleman is a walking walking encyclopedia Google uh knowledgeable passionate and committed to this job and I I I think the city and Council mayor is commended to bringing him on board and keeping him here for the job witness tonight that I have been witnessing him doing since he has been here so I just want to stand and say we owe him a a debt of gratitude and uh performing his job in an area that even the governor and legislators don't know that much about even though they profess to so I personally and he didn't pay me to say this so I want you to know thank you Matt for doing what you're doing thank you thank you Reverend harriel hi good evening um my name is Ellen boand b o y l a n I reside at 137 Tulip Street in Summit hi Matt good to see you um good evening mayor Fagen uh council person person um Allan and the other members of the council um I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of a group that's formed in Summit At Home in Summit is our name and we are a um bipartisan group of summit volunteers who have come together to advocate for affordable housing in our town for the obvious reasons that we've heard about there's a tremendous need um for affordable housing we've witnessed our neighbors being displaced from their homes because of rent increases or property sales long-term families who have been in Summit have been forced to move out the school district reports that for this year um 23 24 there are 12 homeless families right now and that's compared to um six in the last school year and five the year before that so it's an accelerating crisis that we're seeing um similarly the Interfaith Council report set for the summit W warm Hearts program 20 of the 43 people they're serving this winter who are homeless we renting in Summit prior to becoming homeless so what we're seeing is there are no affordable um housing options for people if they run into any trouble there's a bump in the road they're homeless or they have nowhere to go and they have to look for housing outside of summit and for families that means uprooting your children leaving the school district losing your support um networks another reason we want to see Summit um support affordable housing is to support our Workforce there are people who work in this town who provide services we all enjoy who simply can cannot afford to live here um having affordable housing options for the workforce would strengthen our community by building ties between people who work here and live here and would also bolster our economy by providing stable quality housing um to the workforce it's also as as other people have mentioned it's in our history it's in our character to want to support affordable housing there have been numerous incident uh times over the past 60 years where business common Council nonprofits um have come together and we've done a fantastic job of building hundreds of units of affordable housing and giving families opportunity now you have before you and by you I mean the city has before you now a proposal um from the summit affordable housing corporation which we at home in Summit urge you to support um um the corporation consists of summit residents who are volunteers it's a bipartisan board um they have expertise in real estate and finance and they have put together an awesome proposal for 42 affordable units um on the firehouse site it makes a ton of sense for Summit it's financed chiefly through Federal and State dollars with a contribution from the summit affordable Housing Trust Fund which is funded as Matt pointed out by developers not by taxpayers we think it is a very sensible project um and it's the right thing to do at the end of the day affordable housing is really about opportunity it's about giving opportunity to families and children there are many hardworking families out there I'm so sorry just I'm wrapping up thank you um there are many hardworking families out there who belong in Summit as much as any of us do they just can't be here because they can't pay the rent and they can't pay the house prices and we want to see more opportunity given to these families thank you Miss Miss Bo can you can I have that for Excuse Me Miss Bo Miss boand Miss Bo just quick quick question for you sure um the the 42 unit uh is that on a website or how can I oh I'm so glad you said that um we do have a website aom andumm it.org um and we do reference the um corporation's project for the uh 42 units all the all the information's there um so you can find it there and please visit our website thank you so much um Miss boan for your comments and obviously your passion for such an important issue um it doesn't have to be tonight but if you could just follow up with the clerk um regarding the summit affordable housing Corporation when that that was established just so we have some history I just wasn't sure when that was established or it was restarted and established at a different year um if we could just get specifics on that sure I do I do know that it was started um when the first um habitat um development was so that's like 18 years ago 2010 2010 thank you Reverend harriel um and then it was um it was dormant for many years but it is now revived because people see the need for it and they are you know our local experts who are willing to do this as volunteers and keep the interest of summit front and center as they do it thank you much and then there's no relation between the Summit Housing um Summit affordable housing Corporation and the Summit Housing Authority as a pass through or anything just so I I just want to make sure to I'm probably not the right person to to answer that question just curious if there was any relation between those two that's all okay Ellen said said that there was something submitted to us to the city who did you submit to I didn't submit anything it's the you said no I said the affordable housing Corporation has presented a plan to the city oh so when who who was involved in that it was presented to Matt delori and um other people can we make sure Council get a briefing on that as soon as possible yeah we we the the intention was to have the Mount Laurel subcommittee just review it peripherally but that would definitely be something that would be shared with Council absolutely y councilman Smallwood yes I just want I don't know if it would be appropriate to in a public form but maybe you know Miss Borland if you could maybe provide the names or how we could contact those 12 families that are homeless um to either the clerk or to council president Allen to see if there's something that we can do um in the meantime to help those 12 families yeah it's not I don't have that information I think that's protected Privacy Information from the school district you could reach out to the district um and see if there's any way to help those families but I wouldn't know the names of them okay because it would be helpful so we could we could if obviously if we know who the families are we we can certainly try and help them sure on on an immediate basis okay thank you thank you thank you and just mechanically so everyone knows as the municipal housing layers and my job is to be a point of contact so it's very common that I may be approached by someone where I'll spend just a a brief time vetting or understanding some of the mechanics of it in this case because we formed the Mount Laurel subcommittee The Next Step would be to bring it to that group after which it would come to council so just so everyone was aware of the mechanics and timing of everything yeah I think too um it's an interesting thing so this is all affordable housing but there are also regular developers and investors that come to the city and I think historically they'll reach out to anybody the mayor the administrator um City Hall you um so even getting arms around how do we handle that process so because in the past it's been very loose and their investors there businesses there individuals who come and say I want to be a part of summit but I think we need to get our arms around the process so that um different for non for affordable housing and regular investors for private property but I still think we need some clarification and guidelines and historically um there are many paths in which a developer can come to the city and request or discuss certain things um but you're right I think in today's day and age where you really do want transparency and where the public has really said we want to participate and make sure we understand it that having a very clear process would give both the the the public comfort and as well make sure everyone understood that if somebody were to be approached that they would know that there's a path forward so I happen to agree and under your leadership I think we'll be able to accomplish that so thank you that's a good idea yep all right okay so I'm just going to reiterate name at address in 3 minutes anybody thanks hi I'm uh antonet Leia l a ve CC uh 34 Broad Street um mayor and councel thank you for having us um this is about affordable housing right yes it is well it's a it's a a story I guess um so 17 years ago my family and I opened a store downtown you know at my daily store closing I would come back home um while I was somewhat connected to the community it wasn't until I moved to Summit almost 7 years ago that I can really say that I engaged and became excuse me a true Hill topper even only as a transfer as of today I sit on several boards and committees alongside many of you on Council and in the audience um I also offer up our store for collections schools Grace Junior League and many other nonprofits in our area and honestly I wouldn't want it any other way being part of s of the Summit Community is something that gives me immense sense of Pride and belonging and the reason I'm sharing this information is that I wholeheartedly stand behind at home in Summit giving more people who work in the town the opportunity to possibly move into town and make an impact in their own way how great would it be to engage more business owners or retail employees or teachers or law enforcement or fire or government employees to have the chance to put in for affordable housing and Summit and wouldn't it be amazing for those same people to become as involved as I have been since I've moved to town working and living in the same City offers several advantages such as a shorter commute which is Awesome by the way um increased work life balance and the opportunity to build stronger connections within the local community it could also lead to a better understanding of the local culture and amenities fostering a sense of belonging and investment in our community I'm hopeful that the council will take the opportunity to work with At Home in Summit and get more affordable housing units in the near future thank you for your time thank [Applause] you hi hi good evening Claire to T at 11 Sunset Drive and first um Matt I want to Echo what he said about how how reachable he is he's spent the past you're listening to a lot of my crazy ideas uh very patiently I did have a couple of questions for you that if I could ask them all and then dump them on your lap there aren't that many um you your your chart you know we've seen it this year last year shows 25 of our 50 units coming online of the the the 50 that are due in 18 months um but of those 25 two are on Ashwood Court which your report lists is still up in the air the city's still trying to figure out what to do and then six or seven are um the Morris Avenue development that is still in the permitting process so my question is sort of like how far down the line do these units have to be for them to count when the Day of Reckoning comes and I guess it's really 17 months um my second question this is the last one given the size of the check that Bristol Meers squib wrote um to the trust fund could are are we expecting another sizable check from Onyx thank you sure um thank you so uh first and for the the first question um Claire Claire just real quick the first answer your first question is the legal agreement allows for two units so in a sense the city is made an effort and so in a sense they are counted in the plan um so that's definitely a part of the plan and then the second uh was which Tron tonnell same thing the once the board passed the resolution that it became real it becomes realized in the plan yep um the I should make note that the $4 million um there's a process by which you can protest and what that does is it requires the city to put the money in an uh interest bearing estro Crown separate so we don't spend it until that um ruling is said and done so in a sense that's when that we'll know and hopefully it'll be soon if our tax evaluation did calculate properly to make the 4.6 million the money that they actually owe us what Claire is talking about is another large complex within the city in which they're going to be demolishing and and doing a lot of work what triggers the Nevel non-residential development fee is the adding of volume so I don't know if you know when you're passing Kings on the left there was like an old gas station on the right just as you're around the corner there and they came before the the planning board and he was going to just bump out the attic maybe like 10 or 15 square feet the second he added volume to the building that would that then triggered the non-residential development fee so Onyx depending on what they're building and what they're demolishing would through this algorithm dictate whether or not the addition of volume would trigger the fee and that's being worked out currently how quick do we have to spend the fee is there a statutory no no well they they become part of the trust and we are forward so again it's so as we collect a fee oh yeah you don't have to hold it for any period of time no exactly nope exactly good okay is there any other public question on affordable housing I I would like if there isn't any I would just like to make a plea if you know anyone who owns an apartment and would like to think about deed restricting uh as I had mentioned and this is part by the way what we're going to be doing potentially this year is the city had to pass a lead law where we have to inspect for lead and rental units and in a sense uh with that mailing list we were considering the idea of letting people know listen if you have a rental unit and you want a deed restricted the trust fund money can be used by you to rehabilitate that unit um it's a deed restriction for 30 years so that's what causes the control and allows us to count the unit but if there's an altruistic person out there or somebody who wants to participate but maintain ownership of their home there are opportunities and we'll start to get into that as we meet and continue to um come up with ideas on how to get additional units of which we have a bunch perfect yeah thank you thanks all I appreciate your time I'm sorry oh there's one more come on out yeah yeah come up about affordable housing right yes yes yes uh so my name is Harriet truchi I'm at 125 Hillcrest in Summit um so this resolution has has been written in direct opposition to the revisionist uh watered down resolution that was passed last week um Summit residents hope that Council will pass this updated resolution to better clarify summit's intent to meet affordable housing obligations um as we commemorate Black History Month following the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr Day The Summit Community recognizes the long history of discrimination and exclusionary policies at the federal state and local levels as a community we are committed to recognizing our past and working together to achieve Dr Martin Luther King Jr's dream of bringing people together and addressing past wrongs as such we commend the greater Summit Community for instituting the mayor's Forum on diversity the summit Interfaith Council anti-racism committee and the summit police group we look favorably upon the city of summit's efforts to train employees in both anti harassment and anti-discrimination we the undersigned encourage the city of summit to commit to fulfilling its obligations and to be a more inclusive community by addressing the legal and moral need for affordable housing by issuing the attached Pro Proclamation as well as pledging to do the same whereas February is Black History Month whereas January 15th 2024 was the 40th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr day whereas Dr Martin Luther King Jr day is a day for action and service and is not simply about speeches whereas Dr Martin Luther King Jr fought against discrimination and for fair housing opportunities for all whereas beginning in the 1680s leaders of the New Jersey Colony provided 150 acres of land to each white settling family and granted them an additional 150 acres for each enslaved black person brought into the colony whereas by the early 1800s New Jersey held over 2third of all enslaved black people in the north whereas in 1830 New Jersey was the first Northern State to legally disenfranchise black residents by restricting the right to vote to white men whereas the New Jersey state legislature opposed the emancipa sorry the Emancipation Proclamation and was the last Northern State to abolish slavery whereas redlining the exclusion of black veterans from GI benefits for home purchases and econom ically exclusionary zoning policies continued well into the 20th century in New Jersey whereas the state of New Jersey has a long history of discrimination which the New Jersey Supreme Court found in the South Burlington NAACP versus Mount Laurel Township whereas the state of New Jersey has been working on redressing this this history through increased affordable housing opportunities in each M municipality whereas each municipality including the city of summit has an obligation to be be part of this solution and we the mayor and common Council Proclaim that the city of summit will construct or ensure the construction of the 50 new affordable housing units set forth in the city's fair share housing settlement by July 1st 2025 um so this um is a petition that was signed by many uh Summit residents um and we hope that um you will consider passing it as a resolution thank you can we take that can you give that it will be sent okay um yes council president thank you yes Council you know I just want to be clear about this um because I don't want to conflate two different things so again Matt um affordable housing so we have 50 units theoretically uh there could be no black people that move into those 50 units of affordable housing is that correct it based on income it's based on income qualified based on your income okay cuz you know I don't want people to seem to think that just because we call it affordable that it's somehow linked to housing for black people and I see that conflation sometimes now listen don't get me wrong um what the resident just came up here and said hey I'm you know I I have no objection against that what I'm saying is we can't come with a mind state that this is somehow related to housing for black people this is housing for social economic status right okay I just want to be clear because I think because its roots are in some level of bias to some degree that the two live in similar realms but to your point the qualification of units is based on people's income okay okay thank you okay I'm going to close the I'm not I'm not okay I will make a concession for you you can come the first time I made a statement this time it's a question this my first all right and then we'll only for you Reverend Ariel only for you thank you council president uh my question uh my question is that at the uh is the council going to be considering this proposal by at home and Summit soon and the reason I asked that is because if when you get it you will see that there's a lot of money that's uh in the project financing of this that has to be spent by the end of December so I would encourage you to move expeditiously because this is a win-win situation I would I would just add that the council was elected in December and took office in January in January we met in which point there was um the Mount Laural subcommittee formed amongst other activities and February is the very first meeting so there is a sense of urgency about from the council about meeting this obligation for sure and having heard about the mechanic and some of the funding that will expire it is definitely a top agenda item for the Mount Laurel subcommittee to consider and then for the larger group to consume yes sir yeah and and we have to bring it back out once um the Mount Laurel committee meets the community is going to know you know we bring something to the community at some point so I don't have timing but um we understand the urgency because third round is coming to an end soon so absolutely okay I'm offici off closing out the presentation and I am opening it to public um comments you can go Mt if you want absolutely Sak out before anybody else um I'm going to ask for public comments name address and please keep it to three minutes if possible thank you and it's for anything not on the agenda okay now um oh you know what give everybody just a minute just so we can hear you thank you everybody bye bye bye EST bye Anthony you lost half your crowd was it me is that something I said didn't say anything okay almost there okay yeah okay I think we're good oh wait where where go who's not here oh we miss we're missing someone is that your he's we're GNA have to hold oh he went to the restroom okay all right um Diego can you shut the door so the noise isn't thank you okay the floor is yours name address and um three minutes okay good evening my name is Jill Lazar I was a resident of summit for over 20 years I now live at 17 Franklin Terrace in South Orange I am an attorney who has practiced Municipal law for many years and I have been a public defender in Rosel Park Garwood and Fanwood where I am currently the public defender I here because as a public defender I very concerned about the added section 316 entitled resident protection that the council recently passed as a legal matter the section is invalid because it is preempted by state law in 1982 New Jersey's criminal code was amended to eliminate inconsistencies ambiguities and overlapping and redundant Provisions between state law and the separate laws of over 500 municipalities throughout New Jersey the case of State V Persia 356 NJ super 461 is precisely on point for the rule that state law preempts Municipal ordinances such as the added section 316 I stand before you as a public defender but also because state ferio was actually my first reported case as an attorney that's how I'm so intimately familiar with it in this case prera the municipality of West Orange tried to do exactly what Summit is trying to do and it was overturned the that case went to the Appel Division and the court there held that in order to be preempted the municipal ordinance did not have to be the same as the state stat statute but only had to be directed at substantially the same conduct here the criminal conduct which is the subject of the added section 316 is directly addressed in multiple State statutes including I'm going to name them but I'm sure it's going to be what 2C 18-3 2 C20 d1.1 2C 5-1 and 2c1 18-2 and 3 further like here West Orange believed that the ordinance was permissible because it did not require purposeful activity as the state statute does but the Court held that that did not resolve the facial conflict indeed the appell court citing the earlier case of statey Felder stated that the inconsistency between the culpability standards in the statutes and the ordinance only underscored the point that the code in the local ordinance dealing with the same Criminal cond cont and it did so in a different Manner and consequently the ordinance was preempted by state law as this one is I've read through both the um the recent ordinance I understand the purpose for it a lot of towns are dealing with the same issues of of auto theft and house invasions and I I I feel for the the need to do something ultimately however if the city of summit does not revoke the section the city could have to spend significant costs in litigation based anything on the case based on the section that you passed and you're sure to lose it's already settled law that's all thank you for your time and good [Applause] night oh did you have any questionss are you cross-examining me I'm sorry did you want to ask any qu oh I have the case can I may I hand it up yeah that would be wonderful thank you so that you can look at and I am available um actually your city clerk knows how to find me I'm sure thank you be happy to answer any questions and help anywhere I can I am sorry I know you're no no no thank you no I appreciate it thank you okay thank you anyone else okay good evening I'm Diego ho n court on February 6th this Council passed a resolution to influence legislation in Trenton thus creating a precedent for addressing higher legislatures on topics that affect Summit residents lowering taxes for Summit residents requires the courage to speak truth to power to Democrats and Republicans alike who control higher legislatures the so-called Trump tax cuts increased taxes for most Summit residents because the salt deduction became limited to $10,000 on this double taxation of his constituents Congressman Keen has been all talk and no action I understand that tomorrow around noon Congressman Keen is hosting a $11,000 per plate fundraiser for speaker Johnson in Springfield as you did two weeks ago I asked that tonight you pass a resolution from the floor demanding that our congressional representative leverage any tool at his disposal to ensure that the US House of Representatives increases the state and local tax deduction after all we have seen how the speaker buckles when the hard right plays hard ball and threatens the speakership in her book oath and honor representative Liz chain reminds us that quote all those who hold office must make a choice of how they will serve and what they will try to achieve for our country end quote page 283 a self-inflicted UR of rank partisanship will arise over the Republican majority of this body should our Republican Congressman receive a free pass on the self deduction while the council adopts resolutions to chastise the Democratic controlled State Legislature is that simple and in case since it is tomorrow I did take the liberty of writing a draft resolution in case you want to make copies and debate it uh as the legislative process allows um I'm going to give you copies of it and you can decide what to do thank you thank you we can share we can share okay um okay is there any other public comment welcome back good evening once again still CLA to at 11 Sunset Drive um last month I requested that the Maple Street seasonal closure go to committee for um I think it's D um thank you for taking that step Council woman woman Hamlet tonight I want to talk a little little bit about why it's so important to me and to focus on next steps I've lived in Summit for 28 years now so I'm a relative newcomer but I know how lucky I am to have been able to raise my children in such a warm loving Community the years we had as they were growing up we spending time at the library at the why and the connection at our church and at school events they were a precious time in our lives now that the young adults living on their own the time we spend together is a lot less con concentrated than it used to be but it's no less special so when my kids come back for a visit we still like to go out and do things in our community but instead of story time at the library we might hear some live music on the street go out to dinner in town and during covid one of our favorite things to do was to have dinner out on Maple Street under the string lights that I was proud to have had aart in purchasing when I was on the board of SDI um and it was amazing way for us to connect with each other as a family we were supporting our community seeing old friends having great meals under the stars and then maybe even doing a little after dinner shopping we had live music twinkling lights good food Happy People some it became a real destination those Summers and I know that many friends feel the same way about that experience I also know that many of our retail business owners did well during the Maple Street outdoor dining period even better than they're doing now they added nighttime hours they gained a new set of customers and that disappeared over last year for some of them so my question for you is where are we with the Maple Street opportunity I fear that there might be too much paralysis by analysis and not enough let's figure out a way to make this happen there are plenty of other towns who have outdoor dining even us for a few great years so we know we can do this and I have a suggestion while the convers ation and committee continues why not send a letter to the state with Our intention to close Maple Street this summer and get the ball rolling then when you make a decision and if it's the decision I hope it is you've already got the approval to move forward so let's be proactive not reactive let's get this done for our community and our businesses here's your chance to bring Summit together on Maple Street thank you thank you okay I so it's for um anything not on the agenda are the lights at tatlock on the agenda no they not okay you got me on that one um my name is Kelly iavelli I live at 151 Colonial Road um I grew up here in town and I have lived here with my husband and children for the last 20 years um I believe there is discussion about proposing lights at upper tatlock as well as investors um I have been involved with many sports teams in town and we are very lucky that we have so many opportunities for our young people to participate in a variety of opportunities but we are desperately in need of more fields and this constraint has been something all sports teams have been dealing with for many years given we can't create new Fields right now the opportunity to extend the hours of use at investors would greatly help all sports teams there are many occasions where Sports practices and games have to be cancelled because they were supposed to take place on grass fields having investors in Upper tatlock which are both Turf available would keep our programs continuing even when grass fields are closed it would also allow us to hold practices later in the day which is also beneficial to working parents who are primarily the coaches for these youth programs in addition investors track is used by many individuals as a safe place to walk or run and with many working parents having the opportunity to do these activities in the evening would be a great benefit um I do believe there are new lights that would light the field but not illuminate the entire neighborhood like back years ago so I would strongly encourage um moving forward with this opportunity thank you do you want to leave your statement with um the clerk or or email it okay thank you Monique Taylor 167 paic Avenue t y l r so it's not perfect but we are moving forward according to council person Hamlet the same person who cruy wanted to table a vote to have summit's participation in the Continuum of Care Roundtable discussions which affects some of summit's most vulnerable but this not perfect ordinance resident protection which will largely affect innocent black and brown folks was voted into law with the agreement two weeks ago from Council president Lisa Allen that we would have conversations regarding the problematic language of said ordinance that was two weeks ago and we have yet to hear back about amending the language so council president Allan how long do we have to wait well we're having the hearing next week so we're going to take our time to go through the language we have we'll have to set up a meeting with you we're having the hearing next week yeah you past or the oh oh oh I'm sorry sorry sorry I was thinking the other one um we'll be out we'll be in touch we Council and where we have a meeting this this Wednesday no we don't that's that's a different meaning that has nothing to do with this ordinance okay so Miss Taylor we'll we're going to be in touch yes we'll see in two weeks well I mean I I wouldn't make it seem like we haven't been in contact um maybe not with you but um me and we're talking about the ordinance right the the resident protection ordinance yeah I mean we we have exchange emails we've spoken um I had breakfast with Reverend Vernon I mean we're we're in conversations about it it's not like does that have to do withing language so Miss Taylor if you can come to the microphone because everybody else is listening so this langu what does that have to do with amending the language you having breakfast with rean Williams has nothing to do with amending the language which you all said that we would do between last week and now and no conversations have been had we said that we would be in touch to amend the language not in two weeks we first this is a very important ordinance you're absolutely right we want to make sure that the language is fine and good with the the community and so we will be in touch to to set up a meeting when we'll be in touch Miss Taylor Reverend Vernon Williams uh one6 singl inside Avenue uh councilman B yes we did have breakfast great breakfast it was uh great conversation uh but was not over amending the language you know and so we we look forward to hearing you know uh on on how we can get together and talk about amending the language thank you yeah absolutely I'm sorry maybe I'm mistaken I thought we had a uh a meeting schedule on Wednesday it's on they have another so we are going to your event tomorrow night thank you for the invitation will be there so thanks hi um Dr Carol Pang Summit uh sorry at 2:34 Summit Avenue um so at the last meeting I I'm going to share just some quotes things that I heard uh what I saw and then what I felt um what I heard were the phrase way overblown in respect to many of of the people who spoke at the podium last uh two weeks ago I also heard from um Bob palowski that I quote I really don't see any downside um I also heard another Resident say uh no one said racist no one did say racist no one did say that um I I heard from folks like um Reverend Brenan Williams uh concerns like quote unintended consequences quote not belonging quote seen as an outsider um and another thing that I heard was uh Mr Voyer say that he's lived in Sumit all his life and nothing's happened to him so pass pass it and change it quote um to me passing an ordinance after so so many people and every single person of color came to this microphone and said that this makes us feel less safe and still despite this and despite acknowledging the fact that many of you said that the language is broad that the language should be fixed that you would contact us to fix this language none of us has been contacted as we just reviewed just now um I heard you you all say that it is imperative that we do something about the safety yes it absolutely is I have three young children in this town I live on Summit Avenue I'm concerned about my safety too however not at the cost of people in color in this town feeling less safe I just looked at the demographics on census.gov 68% of people in this town are white that means the other 32% are nonwe white and every leader I I forgot to mention this last week I'm the founder of um Summit aapi Asian-American Pacific Islanders um as I said the other week I started the festival that is now going to hopefully um you know be passed and supported despite uh some concerns I heard about the budget coming up this year but um 32% of summit residents uh identify as non-white every leader of color in this town spoke up so what did that so what did I see that's what I saw that every person of color in this town spoke up and you passed it anyway is this the governance that we're going to expect from this Council that you acknowledge say promise that you will speak with us in two within the two week's time to make amendments as you acknowledge need to be made however we were not none of us were contacted I surely was not um and you can easily find any of us um we did hear you you didn't hear us but we did hear you we heard that you will pass things despite concerns from the public uh president Lisa Allen said that quote it was unfortunate that we just had a meeting today with the Interfaith Council it's been two weeks you said that you have to rush passing something for our safety however you did not rush to speak to us so I hope that within the next two weeks time that meetings will be made amendments will be drawn apparently um legally we are put in danger and financially we are put in danger that honestly I would urge you to revoke as the lawyer said this ordinance maybe try to fix the language um and then actually listen to the community and show us because the tone that was reflected and the things that were done two weeks ago sends a clear message to people of color in this town it is clear that our voices are not being heard thank you council president I just had a quick quick comment quick question after you're done yeah so safety has been top of mine in this community and unfortunately we are responding to the state's inability to address How concerned people feel feel around safety in their own homes and the municipalities as you heard from Miss Lazar are put into this position she understands why we are doing this because we're not the only town there are other towns that have done it and it was not unfortunate that I spoke with the anti-racism committee what I was saying was that it was unfortunate that we only had met the day before so it was my honor to meet with you guys um and to be clear I apologize that it's been two weeks it wasn't my intention not to meet with you it just has been two weeks so I didn't if I said I was going to meet with you within two weeks that I I apologize if that's that I misled you so we do intend to to be in touch I take this very very seriously um because there are lots of sides to this and it means something to me to make sure that we make the right decision and when we sit down I don't want to rush I don't want to feel like oh we're just going to do this to make you feel better and make you know check the box I want to sit down with you when you know that we have the time to think about it and that we can really work through what your concerns are what our community's concerns are that are afraid in their homes and make the best possible decision that really that's what it means to me we're all in a really precarious spot and I want you to feel welcome at all times there's I'm this this chamber is for everybody it is not for one type of person or another so I apologize that I put an unex you know an unrealistic expectation in everybody's mind that it was only two weeks that was not my intention I am going to go see my son this week for the first time in at college so you will hear from me next week um and I promise you you have my word that we are going to do this right and that we will be in touch and I can't wait to see you tomorrow night and by the way Reverend Williams I have a very very early morning on Thursday so I might leave little hair early so I hope that you accept that apology for the misunderstanding and we will take the right time okay okay yep and then and then councilwoman Hamlet thank you Council uh woman Allan uh I think several things have happened here and uh listening uh very carefully I think that uh the first thing that uh has has happened is that often times I I think in your honest assessment of of conditions in the city and your intentions to do the right thing by everyone you often fail to uh consult or talk with persons who may have more knowledge about something that you are in intending to introduce uh then if you had you may have held it longer or not introduced it at all I think that I learned this evening from the uh attorney Lazar that many other municipalities had passed this similar type ordinance and it was rejected I mean you know it's illegal or what have you I I think that's what she said correct me if I'm wrong if you had known that in advance I am certain based upon your intelligence you would not have gone forward with it therefore that means that you did not know it having heard that it's imperative that you do one thing if it's illegal and it's been declared illegal by the court system New Jersey courts that you revoke it and because all of us are concerned about safety and if this ordinance is not going to do anything Standalone to promote uh more concerned about safety and it's been declared illegal it should be revoked second thing is that uh often times the Interfaith Council or the antira antiracism committee are consulted to do damage control after something has been P I would suggest that you you know uh proactively talk with us in advance way in advance to let us know what you're planning to do so that we can give our input in terms of what our opinion is how it will affect not only uh persons of color because you know I'm a person of color but I'm the most the tallest and the most handsome man in this room and that should you know we should you should do things proactively because I respect your trying to do the right thing for for some it I really do I I never question that but often times once you get in a position and as a pastor I know that you you you can be low to sleep thinking that you have arrived to a position of power and you know what is best you know like the TV series sometime some years ago father know best sometimes father don't know best mother knows best whoever so I just think that based upon what the attorney said this evening that I heard for the first time that this is something that uh could have been thought out more uh longer and didn't have to be introduced and if it's illegal now and and you have you know you know that revoke it and we're still going to strive with the police and everything to make Summit the safest place that it can be thank you thank you uh just Rend haral Jesse we did consult with our lawyers and the chief so I just I want to put it out there that I know that Miss Lazar came and and said what she said um but it is important to note that we definitely did not do it in a vacuum but I appreciate what you're saying yeah thank you hi Dory gagnan 27 Bedford Road um I have a couple things I have an announcement um I work for the Kinder smile Foundation we provide free oral health care for probably all throughout the state of New Jersey for children and adults now in Trenton but we partner with Grace's uh pantry and this Thursday we have an Outreach we usually are with them uh once a month but it is give kids a smile day uh actually give kids a smile month but we're doing a give kids a smile day on Thursday so I just want to make an announcement to um any children who are uninsured or low income or need a dental checkup uh we're going to be at the Summit Community Center on Thursday and we will be there from two times so 11: to 1 and 4: to 7 um so if anybody in Summit or even you know if they're within the surrounding Community but if they're really Grace's family and they need a checkup for a child under the age of 18 um they can come to uh 100 Morris Avenue that's at the Summit Community Center will'll be there and I'm also collecting donations so anybody who has toothbrushes toothpaste floss alcohol-free mouthwash um there's a donation bin right at the community center so um please spread the word because I'd like to provide all oral hygiene products for Grace's family for a whole year so I'm trying to do that collection and keep going um and then if you know anybody who needs uh Oral healthc Care after tomorrow um what after Thursday um then you can contact uh uh Miss Allen or even mayor Fagan they can reach me and then you can come to the Bloomfield office that's where Kinder smile is or even the Trent Trenton office uh we see adults so if you know any adult who's loow income or who needs help they can come so Interfaith Council you guys can reach me um they can come down to Trenton and they can seek help with Kinder smile we just don't see adults um uh at the Bloomfield office but they can get free dental health uh ages 0 to 13 they can get a free dental exam free dental cleaning fluoride and uh x-rays as well so that's just one quick announcement the other thing um I have known Tony Ellis since we were kids we grew up together um and so I I just want to say Mr Varan you stole his Thunder he was here to receive an award and um he had like five minutes and to speak about last week's ordinance you could have spoken later today but you know like that was like a great moment for him and I just want everyone to understand he was here to speak about his book and that was that book was A Memoir of some really personal stuff okay we grew up together we graduated together he was a he's a great friend I was the only one to here for him tonight so I just want you to understand we got to keep politics out of politics and sometimes just appreciate the people who are here for who they are and I think we're getting involved and the right and the left all the time here and the lady who spoke the attorney as she's leaving she is talking to people that she knows in the audience so like when we're introducing ordinances and we're doing stuff to protect the public and we're bringing people to speak on behalf of whoever it's getting a little complicated here and I think we all need to remember that okay because as I'm sitting down there and watching and people are speaking and they're getting angry we forget the Republicans and the Democrat rats we're here to help the people the summit that's it so thank [Applause] you Reverend Rod Williams 116 F uh Glenside Avenue Fountain Baptist Church uh it's always interesting to hear that matters that are considered life or death are a partisan issue that in essence we certainly appreciated what the brother who wrote the book had to say and we look forward to working with you on correct language because Martin Luther King did say the time is always right to do what is right and so the main thing that I said so we do look forward to working with you but I do have a problem Brother Boer when you seem to go out of your way when you're discussing the issue around affordable housing to assuage the idea that as a as was noted in the resolution about how much redlining how much racism has gone on in the practice of housing but you made two attempts to to to effectively assure folks that there would be no thought of reversing any of those wrongs that it had to be sincerely and purely a socioeconomic issue and so I repeat to you what Dr King said the time is always right to do what is right and if what is right means addressing some of those wrongs then don't take the time to try to propagate more of the same thank you do I don't even understand that um so wait wait wait wait no no wait wait wait a second wait one one second um the the reason why I said what I said was because often times when we think of affordable housing and um one of the residents came up and it's it's it's prompted as um a race issue right like we need more diversity redlining um things that happened in the past and everything I wanted to make the point that um you know if that affordable housing and the wrongs that were perpetrated against black people are too separate things because just because you have affordable housing does not mean that we're now going to have diversity with black people that move to Summit and I think those two things get conflated and I just wanted to point that out because you know we're talking about um income disparities but we're not talking about having black people um given opportunities in general specifically to move to Summit so I just wanted to point out the conflation there that that's that that's the only thing that I was doing thanks thank you councilman Boyer uh councilwoman ham uh yes I just have a question for Mr Rogers uh there was a comment by um one of the um a lady that came up here before about canceling the aapi parade due to budgets do you have any plans on taking any of the parades or festivities or days of out of the budget because we don't have the budget for these things I I don't know no that's not a our plan in the budget discussion okay thank you three council president yes Council was there a change over in the funding of the the events this year is a different funding method and is that method guaranteed the grant that we're trying to get is it like 100% guaranteed I'm sorry which which specific event are you referring to like the City events in general is there any change in the funding most of that those events come out of DCP some of those are funded by uh trust monies but we've never had a discussion about changing any event funding well I think we're applying for another Grant this year yeah we we apply for Grants all the time and it was because one the other one uh I think has expired okay okay I just made make that clear is this something council member migar you've been talking about in your committee that we'd have to cancel I I wasn't sure wasn't aware of that through you council president yes uh no we're applying for a new Grant because the other one is is expiring for all programs or just certain programs many including City events um I I would actually you council president I wondering if maybe we could bring up Mark yeah or David or I just wasn't aware of this so it's a really big deal I just want to make sure that I know I agree I'm Sorry by no means has there been any discussion about cancelling these events by in any conversations so that should be very clear um I think the distinction is that we're losing money from Citizens Bank that money's been cut drastically they've been sponsoring the concerts for geez at least 12 14 years and BMS that funding is also debatable whether they're going to continue to support the 4th of July because they're shifting their mission in any conversation that I have had with any Planning Group for any event I have said this year fundraising is Paramount whatever we do at any event is going to depend on the money that we can raise so any M comment that has been made has been directed towards that to conflate it as canceling the events is totally wrong and inaccurate um and to mention the grant it's not that it was cancelled it's not that we didn't reapply the summit Foundation accepts one Grant per cycle this year we submitted that for maybe playground so that Grant was submitted for maybe playground which was a much larger project than the events in the past we do plan on securing any funds that we can get for the events because as administrator Rogers mentioned it does all come from the trust fund or sponsorships there's actually historically and this is important to note no City budget money ever in the past as long as I've been here for events there is no budget line for events there has never been in my time so there's no budget money to take away right thank you for the clarification because you usually help raise those sponsorships correct yeah I mean you've done a great job been a huge part of job when I first started that was one of my S responsibilities okay all right thank you thankk um okay is there any other comments from this is actually public comment so is there any more comments okay um all right because we there one Helena right hel um show of hands who's here for the lacrosse I just need to know because there are people here for the LaCrosse wall I want to be mindful of time okay okay go ahead go ahead no no go ahead all right Helena Levis 24 Plain Street um I'm talking about the resolution that was passed two weeks ago and let's say everybody meant well and I'm all for Public Safety and everything like that but if if it goes south rest assured that the persons involved will probably be people of color that's just the way it is and it's very easy for things to go south I've lived with my partner for 30 years is African-American he's black uh just a month ago we were stopped in New York because he had his phone in his hand and we happened to stop at a light which was right in front of a police station so there was several policemen out there and it was they came to the window you have your phone on uh so they asked for his driver's license all of that but he gave him a PBA card that he got from his cousin and usually if you give a PBA card if it's not a big offense they just let you go they're and while they're looking at the PBA card and his license uh uh he starts shmooing a little bit saying oh you know I I took the test um uh was it for Transit Authority or police whatever he took the test many years ago and he said if he was smart you know he could have been you know already a policeman blah blah blah they Mard him and for some reason the policeman thought he said that he was on the job not not his cousin was on the job so now it's get out of the car why get out of the car now it's you're impersonating an [Music] officer and I'm like you misheard him and of course he looks at me because one more time he doesn't want the white woman trying to get him out of trouble I mean it's a real big problem and they took took him into the police station and why is he here and the death Sergeant was you brought him in because he was on his phone and that was it he was brought into the police station given a desk warrant that he had to come back and pay because he was on his phone I don't think anybody else here in this room has ever been brought into a police station because you were on your cell phone and he wasn't was even on it it was on in his hand but that doesn't make any difference so I went into the police station I said he never said he was an officer and it was okay because of my color it was oh all right but they already you know put his name down everything so he has to get a bench bar so it's a fine line sometimes that you have to walk to make sure that you know the person you're with is not emasculated you know the white woman coming to the defense of the black man I'm believed he's not and um we try to keep a sense of humor about it you know we always say when the revolution comes I'll be the first to go but um I'm sorry about you I'm sorry that happened I'm sorry okay but what happens is let's not call it racism let's call it Prejudice that sounds a little better it's easier for people to take and the man came up and said how insulted he was that people would think that anybody here is racist or Prejudice meanwhile there have been many times people have come to my house passed by my husband and come to me and say uh is the owner of the house home and yeah you just passed them and that has happened on many occasions so it's not that we're racist but in In Living in Summit the majority of people are white the majority of homeowners are white and it's just you've been conditioned to feel this way and think this way and you know there are many things that we do that we don't recognize that are prejudice you know couple of black men pass you by you close your you lock your car door thank you you know you hold your purse a little closer you know all these things they all add up to um a lifetime of being conditioned of being a Prejudice person thank you thank you for sharing your story oh and the other thing is yeah I'm sorry we have to wrap up okay sorry uh you were talking about in the resolution uh punishment and if people are punished if there are consequences but you have to catch them first right thank you that's a important point of yeah that's an actually important Point okay um I am I'm going to make an announcement and I just want to make sure uh clerkly ktis that you're you're okay with this so once we wrap up public comment um when we get to resolutions I am going to bump up the community programs and Parking Services resolutions first because I think that's what everybody's here for so clerk litis is that going to be okay yeah that's fine okay all right so any more comments for public comment please I'm asking you name address and three minutes okay thanks Peter sabillo 11 Greenfield Avenue in Summit resident for 75 years in the same house um regarding the resolution that was passed um lawyer says it's invalid or illegal my uh my suggestion is to avoid that resolution now before we get into a court and have to pay the taxpayers end up paying for lawsuits kill it now be done with it thank you and then readdress it okay thank you council president I have a quick question when he sure okay show of hands is there anyone after Mr Bassman that needs public comment I just want to make sure I know okay Henry you're the last one I guess I'm to wrap up huh yes you are you're the final show the Final Act um my name's Henry Bassman I live at 18 Harley Road in Summit I moved here in 19 74 in 10 days I will have lived here for 10 for 50 years uh when I moved into my neighborhood uh near tatlock field canberg Parkway in Harley Road it was a quiet middle class neighborhood mostly three and four bedroom homes modest homes the last 10 years or so things have changed a lot of those homes have been torn down and replaced by homes that were two three four times their cost in 1974 when I moved here hoe Anderson was still at the high school at tatlock we had six football games Summit relays and the high school graduation in 20023 2004 there was a move to turf tatlock field the lower the and put lights on the lower field and build the upper field for the lacrosse uh group Washington area Association was formed because people became alarmed um after lots of discussion and many meetings with folks from all over the affected area an agreement was made that that lights would not be installed on tatlock field since then neighborhood residents have accommodated the change brought about by the turf field um you of both Fields has increased significantly games most Saturdays and Sundays in good weather uh there's blaring loudspeakers traffic parking and controlled intersections no push back from the nearby neighbors anecdotal personally I like to take a nap on Saturday afternoons because I do my shift at fets for warriors and I work late into the night it's hard to sleep on game days even though I have double pain glass on my windows because of the noise from the loudspeakers the traffic and all the attendant business I haven't complained I thought about it but I haven't done it Friday Night Lights were initiated nobody complained practice lights were installed on upper tatlock field nobody complained now the installation of game lights with an attended increase in events will will create a hardship for everybody who lives in that area and I'm talking about people in W one districts 8 9 10 and 11 the process there are excuse me the proposal for $1.6 million for lights is incomplete no study of costs impact on quality of life has been conducted the process for reaching a decision has been backward $1.6 million is being asked for based on a rough estimate more than a year old no discussion with in with affected neighbors was made no research of ongoing costs for maintenance operation and repair no traffic impact studies or noise studies no anticipation that tatlock lights might motivate oratory or can play schools or the golf course to be lighted all of which are in our neighborhood there's been no discussion about whether it's appropriate for schoolage children to be up with a athletic activities until 10:00 at night on school nights no usage guidelines are in place for example will summmer teams only or people from out of town be allowed to use the fields and if there are regulations made to that extent how will they be enforced if a pro private public partnership were created as some have uh suggested um what would be their responsibility will they be a one-time payer and then the city would take over the maintenance and the repairs and the ongoing expenses or would the one public private partnership take that on in perpetuity and if they forfeit it what would we do about it Mr Bassman all of these unknowns I'm just going to have you need to become known okay before money is allocated for this project and there is no way that it can be decided by the time this year's capital budget is approved you don't ask for money and then ask and then decide how to spend it you don't appropriate money and then make a plan on how you're going to spend it my my final my final thought okay the $1.6 million request ought to be removed from the capital expense budget until this matter has been fully studied and agreements have been made between the city the smch organizations and the residents in the neighborhood that's the only fair and proper process that this Council should follow thank you thank you thank you do you want to give your statement to Clark uh councilwoman Hammer uh final thoughts yep wait till Mr B I believe we have believe we have I I want to make one one thing very clear um Mr Bosman thank you for your comments and obviously some very good points I want to make one thing very clear here tonight last year I was in charge of that committee the year before that it was this guy in charge of that committee the year before that it was none of these people up here they are all inheriting this conversation and I want to be very clear around that there will be studies there will be public engagement M but the last Council and the last committee chairs were responsible for seeing this through the studies the public engagement and our director and our assistant director have done a wonderful job we've made it very clear that we are going to continue to engage the community that's clear thank you for your comments thank you councilwoman Hamlet um did you want to come have for public comment okay not for the Pat lock wall right no public comment okay I just uh Joe gony 85 Oak Ridge Avenue and Summit um I just figured I'd speak I think you raised a lot of very valid questions um and I'm sure you know they're going to be explored um but I would just say I'd love them to be explored because I think having the lights would be great I don't want to address what Miss Arelli talked about in terms of practice fields because I think they're needed I agree with that 100% um I also like Summit having more control of its own destiny because I know other fields we use are controlled by other towns so I'm very much in favor of this um but one thing I wanted to say was sort of a point that the council president raised earlier and this is a community and we we have to be concerned about the whole community so these issues have to be addressed I do think there's been some great advancements and lighting from what I understand to hopefully minimize that aspect obviously the hours of oper there's lots of things to consider and I'm sure you guys will do all that but I wanted to mention I guess just an emotional piece for me is is the Friday Night Lights piece like I would just like to see I you know in in this town one of the things that Drew us to this town my wife and I was the schools the sports programs they're well known and I think it's a huge draw even though one of one person who moved to Summit in the past year and change to be a part of the football program from another nearby town because of how good our football program is and they wanted to be here um and I think that the sense what you were talking about earlier and just like walking around and you know our sense of community I see that all the time with all the sports I've gone to wrestling matches I've gone to ba basketball games my kids don't play either those Sports friends of mine have come to their football games their baseball games and I and I love that and Friday Night Lights I'd love to see I have one kid who's uh still playing football sophomore in high school and I'd love him to get a chance to play Friday Night Lights in Summit not four other towns that we played Friday Night Lights in not the two um I went to two Friday Night Lights in Maryland this year two different towns in Maryland I went to Lacrosse Friday Night Lights at Don Bosco I think it's I I can't even believe we don't have it to be honest with you I would love to see the kids be able to play I'm not saying I understand it has to be balanced it can't be every night you know there have there have to be limitations we have to recognize the community but I think I I just can't believe like I said the town I grew up in that's one of the teams we played this year Colonia raway these all have Friday Night Lights so I would love my kid to have an opportunity to play on his home field at least once when he's in high school um so that's all just in support of it and again I agree that there a lot that needs to be done before it could be a reality but I'd love the council to you know move forward and analyze this thank you thank you council president do do you mind if I I make a comment because I think this is probably I wrote some comments down that I think would address a lot of issues and questions that the rest of the people may have yep um you well you already came up so for for public comment um um councilman Smallwood first and then I'll have you are you speaking on something else no I just want to uh I just heard something that councilwoman Hamlet said and I think that there is a clarification needs to be made okay um Diego I'm gonna go to councilman Smallwood first thank you there's been a lot of discussions in social media regarding lights at tlock field specifically I've heard that Council has already decided to put up lights at tatlock the lights will be on until 10 p.m. 7 a week 3 365 days a year there will be Friday Night Lights every week the city tax dollars will fund the project to the tune of $1.6 million this is not quite accurate and let me explain on December 13th 2023 the city had its annual preliminary budget presentation this meeting was open to the public as in this case every year each City Department presents its wish list of items and requests for funding for the fiscal year July 21 2024 through June 20th 2025 the list of the Department of Community programs included lights for upper and lower tatlock as in this case with many items in the preliminary budget lights for tatlock may not be included in the actual budget for this coming fiscal year unless it is approved why is it why is it in the preliminary budget because after years of prep preparation the Department of Community programs created a tatlock lighting subcommittee in 2018 that has been working on this on this project for over 5 years the DCP was finally ready for these next steps why it may not be included in the actual budget for the coming year because a there is much work to be done before we can make decisions as to whether to put up lights B we hope to fund any project at least in part outside of the city budget and there is much work to be done before we are able to fully vet funding options before I go to four before I go to the four-step process which you can all find in the FAQs posted by the Department of Community programs Facebook page I want to give a little more background on the tatlock lighting subcommittee the purpose of the subcommittee is to implement a focused approach to help the city obtain input from Key stakeholders within the community the city staff and to help Drive consensus and prioritization to help generate recommendations to identify funding methods sources as well as obtain possible sponsorship for this project and this Council will see to it that the subcommittee fulfills its mission of finding the solution best for the community driven by Community input what we have learned from the Broad Street West project is that Council needs to have an inclusive approach that is transparent gathers valuable input to help us from frame opportunities and not hatch potential Solutions in a vacuum again our approach is is to be transparent and inclusive to that extent that this project requires city funding I believe we can establish a plan that aligns with the city budget process aligns with upcoming debt to be retired and reflects the most pressing recreation facility needs within Summit as for the four steps we have taken uh as for the four steps have tasked by the subcommittee first we meet with IND industry professionals engineers years and other development and other develop and others to develop a general plan which has been completed second once a general plan is developed present it to Key stakeholders for feedback which is currently in progress two weeks ago we held a SM meeting with seven residents from Butler Parkway Aubrey and Lewis that was the first step we are just at se we are just at the second step there's four steps to this process we're currently at number two third based on the feedback that we received in the second step of engaging with stakeholders the third step is edit those plans based on the feedback received from Key stakeholders and present revised plans to the larger Community for additional feedback we're not there yet fourth further refine plans and present to the council for approval again we are not there yet we are currently in the second step of this four-step process as I mentioned in the meeting that I had with a small group of residents two weeks ago it was myself Mark ozoroski David Guida two members from the lighting subcommittee and the mayor at the end of the meeting I promised them that this is the first of many meetings to come again we are at the second step process we have not decided whether we're going to put lights on there or not this is a continuation of a committee that was be that began in 2018 that not only included myself as of this year a whole month and a half into it but it included my PR predecessor Andy councilman Anie miger councilman dilia Hamlet and councilman Daniel Sullivan so this is not something that has just been conjured together in the last month and a half or since December this has been a process for five years and we will continue to hold small community meetings and what I tried to do is start with the intimate neighborhood that is surrounding tatlock and then bring it out to the third process again let me repeat edit plans based on feedback received from the key stake stakeholders in the neighborhood and present a revised plan to the larger Community for additional feedback I've tried to be as extremely transparent about this as much as possible I don't know how much I could have done any further so let me repeat this is the second step of the step four-step process so I hope that answers some of your questions and I will continue to hold meetings over the next several weeks and I believe mayor Fagan mentioned that we're going to have a larger Community engagement about an entire recreational whether included tatlock lights as well as fields and playgrounds and sometime in I believe in early April so I hope I hope that answers a lot of your questions regarding tatlock lights thank you Ben Council Miss Smallwood mayor do you do you want to add anything else no I just want to make sure that people um continue to engage and obviously ly we want to hear feedback um and please do um keep an eye out for the date for the playgrounds and parks and wreck uh conversation in April hopefully in April that's the plan at the moment excellent okay can I say something really quickly yes and I just want to tell Diego something I am not going to take um under the advisement of the clerk we don't do two times up at um at the Lecter in public comment so email your comments and if you want in two weeks come back but only because it's in response to comment made by the council person you should probably just email your concerns so that they can she can respond I will remind you the number of times M dagn or Mr M spoke multip no Miss Dagnon did not speak twice during public comment not today they did not I I will just remind that I would appreciate you respecting that decision thank you um councilman bartan sure so I Kevin I thought that was excellent excellent explanation thank you for that I think it's extremely helpful I just want to point out I think the issue is some people are hearing very clearly right we're on step two of the four-step process other people have been led to believe I don't know why but they have been led to believe right these are happening lights are happening they're coming we're going to have them by the fall right so so it it's either that there's a misconception out there or people in the city are speaking out out of both sides of their mouth and that's a problem that we need to that we need to address right so so the community does I agree with you need to have a very clear sense of what this process is going to look like and I just want to make the suggestion because having sat here a while now I have a relatively good sense of what is likely to become controversial right so so what as the chair of the administrative policies and Community Relations Committee I would love to have been informed that we had an FAQ and a whole explainer that was ready to go right and I think that we could have uh coordinated a little bit better on on rolling that out um and then the third thing that I would suggest is if we're planning more things if we're planning more meetings if we're planning more engagement if we have a potential public private partnership lined up you know we need to we need to get ourselves a plan as to how we're going to discuss these things because obviously this is a topic that is extremely important to people so that's that's all I want to say about it thank you vinegar council president sorry go listen well obviously being the Council leaz on to the Department of Community programs I if I'm speaking out outside both signs of my mouth I laid it out I I laid out very clearly what the plan is okay and the potential of having a partner public private a private public partnership is the fact that would reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars allocated to this if Council decides to do this so there's been no discussions in terms of going to private donations and asking for private donations this is a plan we're not even there yet we are at the step where we are taking Community engagement and that's the reason why I set up a meeting with local residents to meet with them to get their input to find out what their concerns are and I also mentioned at the meeting that at one point when we come to that decision whether it's for lights or whether we approve lights or not approve lights there is going to be a group of people who are absolutely against lighting and there are going to be a group of people who are absolutely for lighting so whatever decision that we end up making here on Council there's going to be a group of people who are unhappy about one thing or the other my goal here is to meet with the residents specifically those that I wanted to start with those are specifically around tatlock field to find out what what kind of consensus could we come to that would be acceptable is it the lights itself is it parking is it uh traffic is it the safety the lighting around Butler Parkway itself I'm trying to gather that information because ultimately it would be my committee to bring it to council for a vote and I promised them that I would not bring this to council for a vote until we got a community consensus on something that we could all we're both both groups are going to have to agree on something right and whether we approve it or not we're trying to engage the community at a small smaller level get that input and then bring it to a larger Community I think that makes sense I think that makes sense yeah right thank you Michelle Michelle cinon 67 Butler Parkway I'm sorry I don't have a written statement because I didn't actually plan to address this tonight um I wanted to say a few things one we fully fully support annual Friday Night Lights we would love to have that back we would we would love that on B Parkway secondly with I mean councilman Smallwood is saying we're on the second step and the frustration for the people who live in tatlock neighborhood is how do you think we feel when you say we're only on the Second Step but we get booster meeting minute notes where we see the athletic director saying go to the meetings when it comes up at Council it's not a 0% chance for 2024 strong likelihood they will be in by 2025 and how do you think we feel to see that when no one's even talked to us and I don't know if you know that he's saying that but it's so upsetting for us to feel like the Sports Community knows what's happening in our neighborhood more than we do that's fair thank you that's fair thank you Mich I um I I did not know that so thank you for pointing that out I really appreciate that um you I I didn't know what was put out into that flyer um so thank you for pointing that out I I'll certainly speak to uh athletic director Healey about that as well okay mayor may I um if if you have those minutes I'd love to see them if you could send them my way I'd be curious because I didn't hear that either thank you Julie yeah come on sorry I just need to my is broader uh to Sunset Drive and Summit I just want to address the last person that spoke um I'm the president of the boosters so I know what's been discussed at the the minute in the meetings and there's never been anything in the minutes um reflecting that that uh athletic director Healey has said that this is a definite go ahead and we haven't really even spoken about it at any of the booster meetings so I just wanted to clarify that thank you hi Joseline Modesto 61 Butler Parkway I also was not planning on speaking um but yes it was definitely in the booster meeting minutes that came out from the January meeting where Mr Healey said that there would be there wasn't a 0% likelihood for 2024 most likely by 2025 so when not I think it said not if when it goes to council come and show your support so that that was direct quotes from the booster meeting minutes and um I mean all my kids play sports too very supportive of the boosters um and I think since confete is the word of the meeting I think it's been confet between Friday Night Lights and the stadium permanent Stadium lighting especially because there is someone who has assigned saying Summit strong Friday Night Lights like the stadium and we on Butler Parkway are not opposed to Friday Night Lights we always love that event but it is perfectly feasible as you all say with technology coming a long way with lights to do Friday Night Lights and give our football team the experience of playing under the lights at home with temporary lighting and um councilman Smallwood you were saying how we were throwing out 10 p.m. 7 nights a week 365 uh days a year that is direct irly from Mr ozarowski and our meeting and the only reason that meeting came about was because a group of concerned citizens started asking questions which Mr ozarowski referred to us to another neighbor as a rumor mail which we didn't appreciate when we were just trying to gather information so that the only reason why we are even at included in step two you guys may have been at step two having meetings with important stakeholders but it wasn't the neighbors or the people that would be impacted every day by this so we just ask for a little courtesy and respect and understand that you guys would bring your kids to the field I get to go home to your nice dark neighborhoods and we would be stuck with uh heavily trafficked whistleblowing um car doors slamming you know people parked on our street at night that we don't know whose car they are and we be stuck with that every night and I have three bedrooms that face the front of the house that pace the field that Overlook it perfect view of it I don't want a light bomb across the street and when I had asked about the cumulative effect of lighting the upper field the lower field the tennis courts the walkways the new parking lot lighting I was told that that wasn't even considered so just those are my comments sorry I don't have anything written I was not planning on getting up today so thank you so much thank you the irony of this conversation is we spent I've almost spent a year and a half on this dis listening to conversation about development traffic lights noise pollution um so I think it's it's an interesting conversation when we talk about de developing this year and making our community denser and higher population um these are all things that we have to think about how you balance that out with the quality of life so just wanted to put that out there nobody's voice was silence Diego okay okay so if anyone is listening and wants to come and talk about Community programs and Parking Services resolutions you have five minutes to get here because we are going to move on to ordinances for introduction and then we are going to bump up the community programs and Parking Services resolutions so give me one second moving on to introduction okay um is anybody leaving so I just want to give it a minute so about the 12 folks the the unhoused folks um I think councilman Smallwood I I am working with one of those families so who should I call in regards to that she can send an email to me and I will direct okay great thank you thank you and I I obviously we want to keep that confidential so we so council president you're not you're not doing law on labor next is that um is we are we're going to do the ordinances for introduction first and then when we get to resolutions I'm bumping up um the community programs and Parking Services first we're going to go through all of them I just wanted to because I know there are people here to talk about the wall the the Gazebo wall at tabok I want to be mindful of everybody's time um okay okay so we're going to do ordinances first um give me one second okay Madame clerk please read the first ordinance ID number 11037 and ordinance amending chapter 2 Administration section 2-15 Department of police of the code of the city of summit to add a new section 2-1 15.15 entitled custodian of Records councilman palowski so this resolution or I'm sorry this ordinance amends and supplements chapter 2 Administration of the code of the city of summit to add a new section entitled custodian of Records which will establish a record's custodian for Police Department Records uh the main impetus for this is Oprah requests um and there are many open records act requests for Police Department Records police did their own handled their own Oprah requests and Productions until 2019 19 and um to put it short um we're racking up a lot of legal fees uh last year we had 1400 Oprah requests which cost $76,000 in legal fees not to mention all the time that the city clerk had um had to spend on it um so this resolution will cut down on the time the city clerk's office needs to um need to spend on these requests it will cut down on the legal fees and it will put um the production of police records in the hands of those best qualified to analyze and produce police records okay so I move to introduce this ordinance second than you Kevin Okay Kevin Went to the restroom okay okay so the hearing date is going to be up on March 5th are there any Council comments okay um hearing none All In favor no no no roll call oh roll call sorry roll call vote Madam cler Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet Miss Hamlet oh you got we have to wait for Kevin to come back councilman Smallwood please little pep in your step just bring him up to speed what we just we are voting on uh law and Labor uh ordinance 1104 the Oprah yes one oh sorry we're taking a vote now do you need a second you miss your opportun Council Boer you missed the second we just want your vote I if you wanted to vote I no I didn't get to him yet okay I'm I'm still I'm still running can I start over yes okay okay are there any council member comments no roll call vote Madam clerk Mr Boer I miss Hamlet hi Mr migar hi Mr palowski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr Varan I president Allen I okay the hearing will be on March 5th Madam clerk please read the second ordinance ID number 1154 an ordinance amending the code chapter 2 Administration section 2-43 rent commission subsection 2- 43.3 appointment of members and term okay councilman palowski so this the purpose of this ordinance is to amend chapter 2 Administration section section 43 the code entitled rent commission to add two alternate members to the rent commission the rent commission is one of many uh committees that we have in Summit it was established by ordinance in 1979 and the rent commission hears complaints in landlord tenant relationships educates uh landlords and tenants about laws affecting them and recommends methods of settling disputes um suggesting and suggests appropriate action to Council currently there are five seats um and it would require a a um there are five there are five full members who vote on matters we've had issues with Quorum uh in in the recent past um if if you lose a couple members you can't do the business of that uh of the rent Commission on a given night so what we're are proposing here is to add two alternate positions uh so that when uh full members cannot make it alternates can uh can sub in and vote and they can get their business done this is done in other uh other Town committees as well and Boards so I move uh to introduce this ordinance Council second okay are there any Council comments all right hearing none um Madam clerk roll call please Mr Boer I miss Hamlet I Mr migar hi Mr palaski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr ban hi president Allen I all right thank you the hearing will be on March 5th okay so we're going to move on to resolutions and we are going to skip down to community programs and Parking Services councilman Smallwood thank you council president uh this resolution ID 10931 to accept the donation for the LaCrosse wall in gazebo at tlock field the res the resolution the original resolution ID number 4279 as introduced by councilman migar uh and was unanimous unanimously passed at the May 3rd 2022 council meeting to authorize use of public property at tlock field as the site of a new bus of a new LaCrosse wall in gazebo this project provided at no cost to the city and includes a LaCrosse wall and an enclosed field space where you can practice lacrosse shots the other side of the wall the Gazebo side is an open roof covered space which can be used for viewing sporting events at investors field and as a general meeting space protected from the reain available for use by the entire Summit Community this project and this project and its maintenance will be funded by Summit Lacross 50th Anniversary planning committee through contributions to the summit foundation and I move to adopt this resolution to accept the donation of the LaCrosse wall and gazebo and I second okay um Council comments I three council president absolutely just have a few questions for I believe mark But if you uh okay so three quick ones and these are based directly on questions I got in email which I want to make sure are answered before we do anything with this um so can you tell me there's there's electric being run to the wall wanted to know what that was for can you give us an idea of how this impacts the sledding hill in that same area at all if at all and will they have to level that area to build this uh LaCrosse wall Ando so through you council president um so question number one the lights um there's no intention of having this thing lit for um children to practice their skills um the Gazebo portion yes there will be some lights that are underneath the uh roof just some soft lighting um for occasions if it gets dark that's it but not enough light to uh be able to play um your second question was the sledding hill so I was actually over there today to take a look at the sledding hill and um basically this wall will not interfere with anything um regarding sledding um when I was there there was actually a saucer and there were some jumps that the kids made and that that was from the ticket if you're familiar with the area that was from the ticket Booth down to the field that's the steepest part um of that whole area and that Hill will continue to stay there and the kids can sled every time it snows um as far as leveling the entire area where the wall is going to be built there'll be some leveling yes but the I mean that area for the most part is somewhat level but um there will be some work there does that answer your question thank you yes y we also have uh just in the audience we have Chris Badgley and Leo pis who were part of the um committee so if you have any questions you know they can come up here as well and discuss the project as a whole thank you director ozoroski on other Council comments we were going to see if we could pull it up on the um website just to see um if it's possible to see see the actual area but um but while we do that any other Council comments oh okay um okay yeah Google Earth that's google.com yeah okay I'm going to throw it out to the public would anybody like to come and speak public comments I just have a couple questions I'm gonna have Diego speak first yeah um I'm looking at the rules that this Council enacted in January about public comments and says quote all comments from any member of the public addressing council members shall be directed through the council president I had no intention to interpolate anybody directly I was just going to address somebody else but the fact is that despite the way that these rules are written in plain English very clear I was told to not speak Mr Ho already made a public public comment did he not yeah we were saying you couldn't come up for a second public comment all comments from any member of the public implicit in that is that you can make one two you said you were responding to uh yeah I was making I I was going to make a public comment in response to something that councilwoman has said but I would but the way the way is written it says all comments it doesn't say all comments limited to one so the language is very clear you should have accepted all comments I suggested that you respond you give council member Hamlet the opportunity to respond to you instead of just doing it here because that would become an exchange that's not a public comment that's perhaps in response to something she may have said um that was not the int I did not have any intention to have an exchange with a councilwoman and um respectfully there was no way you could have known what I was about to say you did say that you were wanting to comment a comment I was going to make a public comment in response to something that she said I did not okay yep because we we have people here that have been waiting a long time to talk so would you like to talk about tatlock um gazebo yes please come up Diego please do not talk from the Peter 11 Greenfield Avenue uh the only question I have is I'm sorry Mr hock I mean we have a we we have a resident talking and you're and you're speaking I mean can you just respectfully I know I been respectful I was the authority by the government to shut up that right now the the the resident has the the resident has the floor you have the floor sir okay the only question well one question I have uh just speak into the microphone so they can hear you at home okay um the in order if they put the wall in in order to support that slab or they going to have to drill down and put any uh supporting structure under that because down below that is probably still some of the cinder from the original track the track actually extended up into that portion of the field I'll have um director oosi please come to the microphone answer as much as I know Chris I don't know if you guys or Leo you can talk about it um we did have uh presco come out and do some soil B borings over there um so we've already tested the area we're you know it okay does that help you okay all right thank you are there any other public comments no public comments okay all right hearing none um let's take a you want to go to oh yeah you have a couple comments go ahead um councilwoman H what am I Googling director Sher through your council president director Sher we were talking about this earlier can you point out in the drro for us whether or not this has to go to the planning board and what the process would be just so we're clear some of these questions are regarding yes through you council president um it's not in the Dr it's part of the ml land use law I can't quote it specifically now but historically projects of this nature would go to the planning board as a courtesy review uh and residents would be notified and be presented before the board okay is that what's going to happen well that's what I'm asking is a guidance from uh what's the next steps here we we're approving this award but in the last 99 times we've done this how often does it go to the planning board not this specifically but a capital Improvement to one of our Municipal a project especially with facilities and this one in April 2022 to it was conveyed and I believe they're fully aware that it will go to the board but but typically on your public spaces Village Green Memorial Field they go to the planning board for review okay and then through you council president I guess I I wasn't involved on Council when this was originally but was that something that we thought about back when we approved the award the first time I don't know if anybody knows whether or not it was planning on going to the planning board I don't I didn't see any language in that I don't know I don't know are you talking no I'm just talking to the the council that was on okay so it sounds reasonable that if this had to go to the planning board we're if we we're voting on this tonight but if it has to go to the planning board then it has to go to the planning board correct and who will determine that right well which it which way is it I mean we need somebody to explain right whether it's planning board first and then we I think it's definitely the we can approve the award correct okay all right the award okay ex dud council president go ahead I mean this this was actually approved in May of 2022 so we're just now this resolution is just simply uh accepting the award that has been privately raised by the lacrosse Community right the contract oh come to the microphone uh leop pis py t 164 Beachwood Road um so this is they were gifting this y we have our contractor Brisco who gets approved um and we have the funds within our budget to pay for this so you guys don't have to pay anything okay is that cool all right good um so the plans though need to go to to get the permits so that may or may not trigger a planning board approval so it's really when once those plans get submitted and the permits get out there whether or not planning board has to see it that's my understanding yes that's what I was looking for but we we can't give them a solid estimate yes it's going to happen or no it's not right it has to go through the permitting process correct yeah but that's what I'm saying they they look at permits ahead of time all the time don't we Aaron and we know right whether it's going to go to the planning board need to go to the planning board or we don't right Ian we we have an email of April 2022 say would have to go to the board okay there's your answer right so okay great uh Leo could you point on the um map do you mind just kind of circling where the is this a pointer oh maybe I don't know no I don't think no that's that's a clicker um you know go to one of the screens and just um and if anybody in the back room can um put a camera on Leo that would be great where would the wall be so the wall is going to be uh right in this location you have to duck while you're doing it so we can see yeah I this angle in this location right here so it's going to be pushed back from the the field so it'll be tucked back into the trees back in this area and U the size of it is basically sorry you can't hear yeah well the the T at home they can't hear you it really is going to be further further further back so the grassy area that's around that track area in front of it will will be open in Grass area the wall will be back in tucked in that small area okay right great any questions is it fenced in uh behind the behind the wall will be fenced in yeah where the kids are throwing the ball back in for it just so that they don't go astray so Leo my kid um uh Trevor used to play lacrosse so when you walk in he still does no he's in he's at Indiana University now okay I know um so when you walk in to the right you walk into the fenced in area will that wall in any way affect the kids playing in that grassy area so when we set up a um a temporary um Snack Shack type of thing you know they set up a tent and then there's kids playing everywhere is that going to affect that entire activity no at all it won't it won't so that activity will still be available okay and in fact with the Pavilion uh that food service could be actually utili underneath a pavilion as well okay so there's that optionality as well okay okay great that's important thank you hi I Katie sovich uh do you need the spelling of my last name uh yes full name and address IA k oov i uh 51 Butler Parkway and I think my house will be the closest to the LaCrosse wall um and I just you know you mentioned transparency and I just wanted to point out that but you know this has this has gone pretty far and we just found out about it at that meeting that was completely about something else and you know we weren't like my neither I nor the people who we bought our home from two years ago were informed that this was going to happen before essentially it's already happening so I just want to clear um in April I think it was April 19th 20122 they um the gentleman came to council and they gave a full presentation and the coun at the time um said they were looking forward to moving forward they wanted to accept a donation so on May 3rd 2022 we voted on the resolution um to actually install the wall and so tonight is just for all the resolution for tonight is to um accept the funding understood and so for tonight um it sounds as though that if we when we vote tonight um it then gets triggered to go to the planning board um director shreer I just want to make sure I'm right so the planning board will then um what's the process at the planning board actually the process at the planning board it's just a courtesy review okay that's what it is okay so it was almost two years ago right and I asked about this and that was around the time that we moved in and and nobody came to ask us personally about it like it was up to us to figure out that this was going to happen across the street right when we moved in with a newborn so um like you know we're talking about transparency we're talking about setting up these meetings with with the local community this isn't that meeting got set up regarding the tatlock lights after it was kind of initiated by the the by the concerned citizens and I'm just the point I want to make is past behavior is the best predictor of future Behavior so it would have been nice to have been informed personally rather than to try and figure it out on my own since we were the the residents like many residents will be impacted by this but our residence is literally the closest one to it and we weren't w't even like consulted this is the first that that I found out about it was on an unrelated topic okay I just want to be clear there are two separate issues that have been discussed tonight there's the um the wall the LaCrosse wall that has already been passed and voted on other than tonight we're going to deal with the the money um the lights have not that's a whole separate totally understand just want to make sure we're clear totally understand it also speaks to density and things like that so we're we're we're already putting it a wall and now we're also talking about lights these things they become connected as a result of that got it thank you council president yes councilman thank thank you for your comments and I I know that you requested that meeting and that's the reason why I made it a point to make sure that we had that meeting so that we could be open and transparent that was the very first meeting that we talked about tatlot lights where this actually came up and we Mark ozoroski made it a point to bring so that we could talk about the entire possible projects that were going on in tatlock field brought this the the rendering of the LaCrosse wall so you know to talk about transparency you requested a meeting and you were the very first people that we met with so and again I mentioned this is the very first time of many so I try to be as extremely transparent as possible and explain everything as much as I knew being in this position for a month and a half so I will continue to be transparent and meet with as many residents as possible to continue this dialogue because the only way that this is going to be worked out is by listening to the residents um and continuing a dialogue so that we can come to some sort of consensus whether it it's done or not right so I'm my door is completely open you can call me email me I'm happy to talk to you further go into more detail and as I get through this I'm learning a lot more about the detail of these projects so uh I will continue to meet with these with with the residents of tatlock Lewis and Aubrey and those that are in the surrounding area of tatlock so I I I I'm just my frustration is I I don't want to be accused of not being transparent when the only thing I'm trying to do is be transparent and to meet with with as many residents that are affected by this as possible okay thank you I'm Hal Dylan uh 269 Ashlin Road d l l o n just a just a couple comments on the wall I think from a uh just to even walk through what it is it the intent is um a space for the boys and girls of summit to literally throw a ball against the wall today they do that all over summer they do that at the high school which is an active driveway essentially which is arguably dangerous they do it at the elementary schools and uh as the president of the Lacrosse Club I hear about all things lacrosse and and one of those things is where the kids are playing wall ball and uh this is a great option that's going to cost the town nothing um to go in and be very additive to T lock I don't think for the people that live there it's going to be a huge density issue I think you're going to have the same number of kids that are at tatlock already and they're just going to be thrown against that wall and in fact it's probably going to be a little bit easier during the during those big sporting events when those kids are there that there aren't balls flying all over the place it's going to be very contained uh and and it's it's even from a you know we talked a lot about affordability tonight kids that can just go hit the wall is a much better option than spending $100 an hour on a private trainer this this is what we're telling our we end every practice with go hit the wall that's going to make you a better lacrosse player and I know this meeting is not about lacrosse we've talked about some very serious topics so I'm not trying to make light of that but I I don't I think this is going to be very additive to the community and it's I I really sincerely don't believe it's going to cause additional density issues at tatlock I think it's actually going to be a way to contain what's already going on so thank you thank you are there any further public comments okay um you already spoke wait but on a separate issue on a separate issue yeah okay sorry still we're talking about the resolution right now are you still talking about the resolution yes yes we already spoke I mean your call I'm sorry did you already speak on the tatlock wall resolution or the tatlock Lights On The Lights she spoke on the okay sorry sorry sorry no that's okay got J Modesto 61 Butler Parkway um and I think I think one of the main concerns that we had um about not being consulted was not even so much the density issue but more the noise that I mean we already hear the pickle ball from the tennis courts you can hear that very clearly in our backyards um so now hearing who knows how many lacrosse balls just slamming against the wall you know and if lights go in till 10:00 at night like that could potentially be um a nuisance to the people that live on the street and then um just a question about the lights going in when that goes to the planning board is that a question for them to address about lighting th this is not tlock lights are you talking ligh on the Gazebo why it would be necessary to encourage kids to hang out there after dark yeah go ahead councilwoman Hamlet did you want to uh sure so I'm sorry so your question is on regarding the lights for tatlock the planning board or the gazebo gazebo um so what I will tell you is in the planning board we will go over all of that information um I'm not sure Aaron dor through you council president ding a courtesy review do we are we able to set conditions in that I'm on the planning board so I can you you'll be coming to those meetings I'm sure the bo through council president the board is is afforded the opportunity to give non-binding recommendations as a courtesy review okay um but what I will tell you is there's there's all sorts of things that we can work with the neighborhood as far as um noise control and we already have things currently in our ordinances for noise um we can establish light ordinances there's a lot we can do to protect you in your neighborhood um from a lot of these things and we'll work together to make sure we get that right thank you I appreciate that thank you and just to be clear uh director shrier the planning board we don't it doesn't come back to us to revote on it that's just it's them saying they're good with it and that's it that's correct yes okay okay thank you hello Jim Davidson uh 209 Kemp Place Boulevard uh I'm also the uh head lacrosse coach boys coach at uh the high school and entering my I believe it's my 26th year so um I understand everyone's concern um especially potentially about noise and where the wall is and what have you but I will tell you over my 26 years the amount of kids that were throwing the ball up against the Fieldhouse and balls going into the parking lot and uh those things uh I think this will help contain that uh I also do agree with what Hal Dylan was saying that uh you know I don't think you're going to see any more traffic or those things the amount of kids that are there uh whether it's practice or before games uh they're always uh taking time to go up and throw up against the the Fieldhouse and what have you and hopefully we can eliminate those things so um I think it's a good thing I understand your concerns and I think as a coach too we always try to make sure that we can do a better job of containing things and doing a better job of having our kids uh you know uh get better and then also do it the right way so anyway I also want to thank uh Leo and Chris Badgley for all their efforts on this thing it's been a long long process and uh I really appreciate what they're doing and um you know that's it so anyway thank you thank you yeah thank you okay good evening uh my name is Kevin gner I live at 199 Kent Place Boulevard and I was asked just to stop by and offer some thoughts uh on the LaCrosse wall I haven't been actively involved in the project but uh I just add a little historical perspective to it um as Mr Bassman mentioned earlier tonight uh the effort to Turf tatlock in the other fieldson Summit was uh was a u an interesting process there was a lot of Spirited debate um some would call it um and and a lot of the concerns were voiced by the butler Parkway residents and others in the area and and their concerns were fair and they were legitimate but I think that in the end after almost 3 years we came to a good resolution uh and I think is now 23 years later we have had the opportunity perhaps to see and you've heard some comments tonight about the benefits of turfing the field and and frankly even the need for more fields and uh won't address that and I won't address the lights but I will say that the the proposal to to install the wall uh will address a lot of safety concerns uh kids throwing a ball in parking lots and such and I also think it'll be helpful for the community in terms of getting kids uh out individually not necessarily in an organized uh organized team sport but you know wall ball is is an individual effort and having children from around the city uh spend some time together and bond perhaps with kids from other school make those friendships that we want them to make will be a positive step and so this is the type of venue I think that will uh U benefit Summit and all the values that uh you hope to bring to the city so thank you for your efforts and thank you for your attention thank you okay are there any further comments um director ozoroski you don't want to do any final comments you're good okay okay well hearing no other comments on Council councilman can I just do three quick things yeah of course they're all thank you so they're really quick number one is thank you to the folks who live in the neighborhood for writing in because I had no idea until this afternoon the kids were sledding in that area so that's I I didn't know that uh number two is thank you to mark for for assuring us that that can certainly continue after approval um and then number three would be uh Leo and Chris thank you for your incredible generosity and for uh everybody else who donated to the project you know this is incredible thank you yeah EXC thank you anybody else no just a quick round of thanks and appreciation and and again we'll we'll get this right for the residents and um I think we can all do this together so thank you okay um councilman miger do you want to say anything could you you introduced the resolution many years ago uh no I I agree with it it's definitely a safety uh thing it's also a I've seen I've seen some lacrosse players playing up against the high school wall which I don't think was allowed so so I I'm glad that this is going to be um in place and um I look forward to seeing it excellent okay thank you yeah I'm looking forward to it as well all right it looks excellent all right I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight also um all right so hearing no other public comments um I'd like to take a vote all in favor any opposed motion carries okay uh councilman Smallwood your resolution your second resolution okay thank you council president this resolution ID 11042 to authorized submission of a Grant application to the njdca local Recreation Improvement Grant programed not to exceed $100,000 to carry out a project to make improvements to tatlock playground uh apparently this is the night of tatlock uh so I uh enthusiastically mve to endo adopt this resolution and I second wonderful Council comments I had one thing for this which was my question was why and it was answered over the weekend I'm just telling people uh my question was why weren't we applying for maybe and the answer was we already did apply for maybe so you know in my in my mind it's like finish a playground project right funding first before we start others but we've Tapped Out we've maxed our potential for maybe through this grant program so this is being applied to tatlock which would be the next playground that is on our list of priorities so that was my question that was answered thank you for that David Mark excellent okay other council members okay um public comment hearing none I will take a vote um all those in favor hi hi any opposed motion motion carries okay uh councilman Smallwood resolution number three thank you council president this resolution ID number 11048 whereas the Department of Community programs is applying for a grant through the New Jersey Department of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Jake law program for the maybe playground Improvement project part of the application requires the mayor and chair of the planning board to certify that the recreation open space inventory list is up to date the last inventory was made in 2007 and I adopt to uh I I move to adopt this resolution I second excellent Council comments uh I just have one um one comment sorry Kevin I didn't get a chance to talk to you about this today we were going back and forth on I think I talked you about it briefly but um for the for the for the recreation open space inventory list um this is going to need to be signed as you're probably well aware by the planning board after this so I spoke with our city planner tonight um because our next planning board is next week and I believe the grant is due shortly thereafter so this is definitely something that the planning board is going to have to opine on and then potentially just make sure it's 100% right for the the inventory list and uh I believe David maybe can probably speak to this more I believe we've already done the inventory right so we have um explored obviously what is our current City properties and there's a whole outline of what properties to include and what properties not to include in the um the Rossi of recreation open space inventory and um basically we went through all the City properties um that are owned by the city and this is what we this is we find it true to be the same properties that were done in 2007 since then the city has not acquired or sold any properties so it's remained consistent um just for clarification when it does say um Martins Brook Park cuz I know that that was also a question that was brought up that includes the entirety of um tatlock field and all of those portions that are owned by the city doesn't include the portion that's owned by the school because we don't own it um and a question that I had when it went to the state um went back and forth with Bruce from the D was do we include the Constantine play um parcel no because it's not its primary use is not for recreation or conservation it's on obviously that station there and yeah I think that was it thank you and the only other last thing I would say is that's a good example for the Constantine Constantine Pump Station although we don't have to include it for this specific Grant and the rosi inventory it's something that the planning board certainly needs to Aline on for that reason excellent okay I hope the planning board wouldn't have the opinion that a pump station constitutes Recreation or open space but I think it's Recreation for some well no there's actually there's there's like a lot of different um so there can be like Wetlands it's this isn't all about Recreation so there can be um I think it's like flood I Aon you probably know more about it but there's a lot of different categories that this may open up something for the planning board that we had initially we just hadn't looked at it since 2007 apparently so Y and you told me I had to be funny so that's three in a row now that we've talked about tatlock so so we got to keep that going got to keep going all right thank you thank you Council coms are good tonight all right are there any other comments uh from Council and from the public okay hearing none um all those in favor I hi any opposed motion carries okay so we are going to go back up to safety and health which was our initially our first resolution um councilman Boer this is this is ID number 11052 authorizing uh fire department promotions uh one for battalion chief Brian horid and fire Lieutenant Brian Tavis uh both the mayor and I sat in an interview with both of them uh they are amazing uh leaders in their own rights uh and I think the fire department will will be um uh benefited greatly with them with both of them uh at the helm um and secondly to mention the other individuals that we interviewed too were were amazing I think the fire department uh has a uh um just a Litany of good talent and I I'm truly happy truly happy about um what they're do what Chief ever's uh has in his in his Arsenal also so I move this uh I'd like to motion to move this resolution to vote second excellent uh Council comments council president just a very quick congratulations to both of them but especially uh Lieutenant stent to be uh Brian Tavis we worked together at the Y when we were younger uh and whenever there was an emergency was that five years ago whenever set me up for that one yeah whenever there was an emergency I really hoped he got there first and and uh and that so just to say congratulations that it's excellent thank you councilman absolutely congratulations to both of them okay uh public comments okay hearing none all those in favor I any opposed motion carries okay councilman palowski law and labor this is resolution ID number 1 030 to authorize extended sick leave with pay for one of our public employees um per our close session discussion we are approving a request for extended sick leave following surgery of a p uh division of Public Works employee I move uh that we pass this resolution second okay excellent any Council comments all right public comments all right hearing none all those in favor I any opposed motion carries okay capital projects and Community Service uh councilwoman Hamlet uh thank you council president this is resolution number 110002 which will reject bids and abandon project for the 2024 2025 snow and ice removal for parking lots and decks the snow and ice removal services for Summits parking lots and decks were put out to bid twice the first time there were no respondents uh on 11923 the second time the bid was too high as the estimate for the potential total contract amount based on the unit pricing in the bid would have exceeded the budgeted amount we are rejecting we're rejecting this bid for the record njsa 40 a Col 11-13 2B substantially exceeding the appropriation as a result has been the recommendation of the department and Community Services director to abandon the project at this time I would like to adopt this resolution I second great Council comments public comments hearing none all those in favor I um opposed motion carries okay Council Hamlet council president can I bum bundle the next four as they're very similar nature almost identical just with different firms yes you may thank you uh this is resolution 10910 10908 11043 11044 whereas the city of summit has a need to acquire professional Engineering Services to assist on capital projects as needed as a fair and open contract pursuant to the provisions of njsa 19 1944 a-205 the anticipated terms of these contracts is from January 1st through December 31st 2024 Boswell engineering not to exceed $100,000 Stonefield engineering not to exceed $65,000 Remington engineering not to exceed $250,000 and on engineering not to exceed $100,000 these have all been submitted as a proposal in response to a public request for qualifications for these services with said cost estimated by the DCS director not to exceed what I mentioned earlier specific project invoice Project Specific invoices will be provided by the vendor upon assignment of individual projects to be determined during the term of the 2024 contract and funds will be certified against the appropriate Capital ordinance I'd like to move this resolution these resolutions is second excellent Council comments public comments okay hearing none all those in favor any opposed motion carries okay Council mhamad number this is resolution number 109 85 this resolution declares a vacancy for the Department of Community Services pursuant to Personnel policy number 5.1 employment procedure that a vacancy vacancy is hereby declared in the code enforcement division of the Department of Community Services for the position of a zoning officer I would like to move I would like to adopt this resolution I second okay excellent Council comments just very quickly I don't think there's any single person who's had more to do with development in Summit than Christa uh so she's been involved in every application every permit uh and this is a huge huge huge role so we need to start recruiting uh immediately so if you have friends family loved ones that are zoning officers we're we're going to be hiring so and congratulations CHR and I agree and congratulations to Christa she's certainly been an instrumental uh leader in this town and and we're obviously going to miss her and we're going to try to spend as much time with her and gather all her knowledge for the next couple of months yeah good luck all right all right public comments hold on do we vote oh oh wait no no not but is there any other com Council comments losing it public comments okay uh councilman miger do you want to say anything about Crystal okay all right all those in favor hi any opposed motion carries all right we are moving on to the consent agenda at this time does anybody want to pull anything out of the consent agenda be before we start so I need to recuse myself from item number number two under Finance uh acting city solicitor what's the best way for me to do that um you can vote on everything else but I've seen from number two okay okay does uh so I don't need to leave the room or anything well if we're going to discuss it then I assist you leave the room there no discussion okay okay we'll pull it out does anyone want to discuss item number two under Finance before we okay um what's that so we're you go I'm just I just want to be very very clear if he needs to recuse himself he should leave the room correct we're pull we're pulling out just this one okay if we're pulling then you can leave the room that's we're voting on the whole thing and you're just going to refuse yourself number two yeah look procedurally whatever you think um if there leave the room I would leave the room pull out you leave the uh just to be clear that's 10975 10975 and we will vote on that first and then have him come into the room and then vote on the rest of the consent agenda okay um is there so I'm going to do that because I don't know if anybody's pulling out anything else so I want him to be back in the room for that okay so um public comment on number two on the resolution number I'm sorry resolution number 10 975 10975 okay hearing none is there something you're going to say okay sorry you always look like you're ready to say something um all right all those in favor anybody from the comments from the public oh yeah they said no oh okay okay um all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries who who motioned sorry all right what do I do okay sorry call for a motion okay so moved thank you second do I have a second second thank you any Council comments any public comments hearing none all those in favor I any opposed motion carries thank you all right could somebody let Bob [Music] in it's these pulling out of the consent agenda I'm still working on the technique council president what do we what do we have next because so we're going to uh if there once um rest of the consent agenda we're going to consider the rest of the consent agenda maybe just like yeah I'm [Music] gonna oh wait okay that's fine we're going to take a pause um restroom break as as quickly as [Music] possible said do we need we're almost done so close oh here he comes killing us just make sure nobody gets stuck out there talking did you did you just where are we s agenda by the way did anyone know it's um Rosemary clerk Li's 33rd anniversary on intermission we should say thank you so much so we like congratulations life events last time it was your birthday twoo we got you flowers yeah oh thank you did we really David we forgot to tell tell everybody that the senior citizen you know what while we're waiting you might as well can I have him just say where the flowers came from of course did should come talk about where the flowers came from so today um as mayor Fagan mentioned during her opening comments um we held our first annual black history month or first inaugural was educated on that first inaugural Black History Month event and we had um a Showcase of some great black talents within our community um bunch of blackowned businesses and talents from town and our seniors made floral decorations along with the kids too but these are from two of our seniors so it's really nice yeah thank you for sharing them with us David can you go check on councilman Boer please guys no more bathroom breaks for the rest of everybody would like to go home I know Amendment to the council rules what do you thinks councilman Boer if you can hear us I me we have a quorum okay may I yes you you have a quum okay um be that guy no I really yeah we could lose two or three more we on the hop on the Hop come on boy that's okay p in the step p in the step excellent all right okay um do I have a motion for the consent agenda so moved thank you any Council comments public comments hearing none all those in favor I any opposed motion carries okay we're moving on um motion to adjourn no no not yet we have they're going to regret putting me as president we'll be here till midnight if it kills me I'm only kidding uh I'm kidding you have to vote on it right no now if there's no second there was no second there's no second no second on um council member comments we're moving on to new business and council member comments you council president absolutely Council um so last meeting I voted against the resolution because it was rushed uh the public received zero notice of it it wasn't on the agenda wasn't on the website and was not mentioned to Residents about until about midnight um I pointed this out I made some suggestions uh council president Allen and council member palowski agreed with me um and there may be more as well that we needed to notify the public of these situations I expect we will have a resolution on the next agenda with some changes to the rules that will help fix us um after I made this observation and suggested changes I got some angry responses from people which was surprising uh I wanted to make sure the community was aware of what we were doing when we were voting on something and that was met with with messages and emails calling for my calling me dishonest uh I was accused of grandstanding my text messages were opra I was accused of doing zilch zilch and I was accused of dividing the community uh it's okay to embrace the ideas that you hear that are good even if it comes from somebody who you may not have voted for I represent all of w one um so again these changes will ensure the community is fully aware of what we voting on we have agreement up here on the council many of us and that is a very good thing so thank you uh council president I'm sorry did I did did I miss something um the authorized the change order uh the appointment of the crossing guard did we they were all under voted Al okay so we just went through them good okay thank you may I just like to make a comment and councilman mimer I'm sorry that I don't know what all these comments and were from text messages and emails but you know I would like to make the point that um the city clerk I I would request that perhaps the city clerk through the city administrator we put out some sort of memo because I just wanted to make it very clear that our city clerk did nothing wrong that evening um in fact in past we had never put um the paperwork out in the front of the building um her only requirement was to notify uh the council and the city administrators through uh email correspondents from what I understand so I just really wanted to um and Andy I think your questions were good how do we notify the public just I think it's you know we're only getting better from here um and our also our city Communications officer um had a death in her family and a a Gravely ill um parent so I just wanted to make sure for the staff that this was certainly not representative of of what we thought um we're just all working through something that's never been done before and um to um councilman minegar's point I think it'll be positive change going forward forward so thank you other Council comments yeah I mean just just to follow up on uh Andy's comments so the public knows this resolution was finalized the day of the meeting um and honestly nobody thought of it until uh it was too late to put something out so um what we've done is we've we've looked back at the rules and we we've put a rule in place that I think is going to primarily keep the council members um cognizant of these types of situations and any one of us could have put something out uh if and when we had thought of it um and it's a shame that we didn't but um at the end of the day I think uh I think we got the resolution right and I don't think it could have waited until the next council meeting so but the uh we're always looking to improve and if we need to make rule changes uh along the way to do that we'll do it Council um and just for anybody listening that um what was passed in Trenton um just a week or so ago is is very concerning for this the city of summit uh this municipality specifically uh and Mr plasy and I were on the phone most of the weekend talking about how we are going to Advocate and push the league of municipalities to have a stronger stance uh which we really do believe needed to happen uh obviously got in the assembly but we're hoping that the Senate um put some precautions in place as this would seriously impact Summit so thank you council president just very quickly yeah um so I agree that the legislation in Trenton directly impacts Summit I think uh there is a number there are a number of other issues that are being discussed in Trenton uh that are being discussed in Washington that directly impact residents of summit so I will commit as the administrative policy chair to flag those items uh hopefully with more notice and uh we can address those things that we think uh will be beneficial to our constituents thank you thank you other Council comments yeah i' just like to say a couple of things uh I think tonight um you know since since being on a dis and running for Council my my whole point has been to unify people and I know race is a very tough subject you know it has many different tentacles it's not just one thing you know racism and whatever it's a very I mean it's a very deep um topic and it is my fundamental belief that we cannot progress if we are all not in agreement of the right way you know it can't be one particular group saying you know one thing and using uh racism or bigotry or something like that to force people to go a certain way we are all Americans we are all residents of summit we all have the capacity just to do the right thing I think that we all want affordable housing but does it have to be always you know couched in a way that um oh what about you know red lining and this and that and no you know what we all actually want it we all want to see you know affordable housing being built in Summit how do we get there how many you know yeah that's that's debatable but it necessarily doesn't have to be a racial thing right safety in our town right we all want to be safe nobody wants uh to be burglarized nobody wants their car stolen right and so we try to do the right thing to pass a ordinance to protect residents had nothing to do with whether you're white black Hispanic everybody wants protection black people want protection too but I think we can move together as a collective when we start thinking um how to move forward together and you know I had uh Tony Ellis come up here tonight and he gave a very emotional speech and that turned into as Mrs gagnan said something political and actually I was sitting up here and I was I was sad for him as well I mean I saw his face and he was happy he had his aunt here he was joyous it was his moment and it turned into something else um and the reason why I had him up here is for uh you know for him to to say like yeah you know what I had a I had a I had a great experience in this all way Town actually you know it wasn't it wasn't bad you know it actually uh helped me become um a better person these experiences and and that has been you know my goal throughout this whole thing and I and I'm G to continue to to raise the flag on Unity and and not division so I'm sorry I gave a long contar speech but uh I just felt compelled to do that thank you thank you not contrarian councilman Smallwood motion to aurn no no I haven't said what I want to say oh sorry um are there any other Council comments before I say the last statement um I just wanted to address councilman minegar um your sentiment around what was said about you bringing up um the resolution about A4 the resolution for A4 so a couple things one I acknowledged on the Das in that moment that you were right like maybe I should have done X Y and Z I have no problem um learning on this de I mean this is sort of a learn on the job type of thing and good government actually is adaptable and and it listens and sometimes you just have to make different decisions so I could have taken ownership of that and I appreciate that um and I recognized it in the moment so you know we've had we've known each other now for a couple years I've been by myself um then I had dilia I know how it feels to not always be in the majority and so to sit down with you at breakfast engage with you I really want you to feel and I've said this to both you and councilman Vartan is that you know for especially councilman Vartan who was in his last year that I we're all here to make a difference I don't want you to feel as though this year is just an uphill battle and it's a waste of your time you're volunteering your time just like everyone else and I value that so I don't I didn't say anything I don't know what those comments were I will tell you we've all been opra and it is not a fun feeling it's um I think it feels targeted often um for all of us it happens as elected officials um so I'm sorry that you feel that someone said something I'm I don't know if it was on the dis or if it was from um the public for the record it was not on the Das okay no that's that's important to me because I really want to build a Synergy with this group and I know in a sense that it's not team because we're elected officials but I want to get there as close as we can because we are here to serve the public first foremost and last so um imperfectly as it might be I want you to know that I appreciate all of us all all of us all of you okay all right any final comments all right motion to adjourn second second SEC wonderful okay that's it no motion so moved yeah oh so moved oh sorry yeah thank you and second I'm gonna take yeah sorry I thought you talked at the same time that's why I thought so moov and second was at the same time I apologize that's said it together no huh we got a vote oh all in favor any opposed motion carries sorry they talk together and then I can't