23 mayor sento pres council president R here Mrs Albertson here Dr dun here Mr Paul joh here Mr Sigman here Mr here [Music] next item on the agenda is item number three old Business Council Members we have any old business to discuss without hearing hearing anything we will close that por of the meeting item number four is new Business Council discussion anything to discuss this evening without hearing any we'll close that for of the meeting item number five is the approval of our meeting minutes uh the only meeting we have on here is our regular meeting of December 4th 2023 I have a motion and second move second alberon are there any comments or additions to the meeting minutes as they currently stand without hearing any we'll take a roll call Mrs Albertson yes Dr dun yes Mr Fon yes R yes Mr Sigman yes Mr yes item number six this evening we have two presentations first up is the mayor's cannabis task force uh they've been working over the past two years regarding the uh cannabis law and they have worked towards making a recommendation to the mayor and Council so without further Ado council member alberon do you want to make the introduction um as mayor said c Force worked very hard for the past about year and a half to make sure that we were making a an informed recommendation to the council and to protect the community and so um tonight we'd like to give you our recommendation and explain to you how we reach that and uh Dr No Jano is going to uh speak for us as we the PowerPoint which she so graciously put together with the help of uh T the best way to do this like that yep okay go okay that works so good evening Mr mayor council members those in attend joining good evening again my name is Dr is isas no andrano um I'm part of the dill cous task force try not to see my back I'll move around to share um tonight I'm going to go through a couple of slides um to talk through um what we've done on the Canabis task force and ultimately where we led to um in our recommendation so first to start the members of our task force Miss Albertson Miss Carlin uh so thees Albertson Mara Carlin Roger dor Tara Dugen uh detective Nick Goldman Melanie TPAC um Harold vmark shondo Shimp as well as mayor sento as an ex official member so not to just jump in but to give you a little bit of background first to see where we started so on February 2 so February 22nd 2021 Governor Murphy signed into law a bill basically establishing the legal status of regulated cannabis in New Jersey for folks or individuals 21 years of age or older the state had empowered local municipalities to determine their own regulations and zoning ordinances governing the number type and operations of cannabis businesses within their borders the CRC cannabis Regulatory Commission would not issue a license to any candidus related business that would be in violation of any local ordinance or regulation so the the buck stops are is really rest main part of it rests with this and thean has taken had taken the initial step of oping out and not allowing any canabus related businesses until a full assessment could be done of the public opinion as well as potential regulations and and other factors so that's why the mayor mayor sento created the task force and the task force comprised uh is comprised of Municipal and school officials U business owners residents Civic organization leaders as well as law enforcement with the purpose to assist in reviewing the available information regarding having a cannabis business in town and evaluating the potential impact a cannabis business may have on the burrow of denalan following slides um the following slides will summarize what the task force has come to understand and culminates in our recommendation to council you all with me so far okay just make okay all right so what efforts with things has the task force done to takeen to evaluate so high level we track state track state regulations reviewed other ordinances from other municipalities we talk with folks that are in the Cannabis business right uh and gathered data from available sources that were available sources that are available to us as well as collected um comments from the public so really know drilling into some more detail we sat in uh we are folks members sat in on state canus regulatory CC meetings reviewed ordinances again from other municipalities who had opted in right monitored cannabis businesses that have opened spoke with interviewed people who work in that industry um I believe the mayor and council members attended a cannabis session at the league of M municipalities event not too long ago followed litigation related to cannabis businesses in both inst State and out of state and engag the community on the topic of having a cannabis business in Den millon we did that via community survey which occurred during the summer of 2022 during Town Hall meetings on the 12th of October 2022 as well as 29 November 2023 we hosted a booth at a recent denell and harvest fest uh back in October and then also through periodic Council periodic Council reports so we did we went through this uh some time ago at one of the town halls but the kind of put us or bring us back to where where we were we did a townwide survey this is just a recap of that survey and for those that are interested the the full um presentation of the survey is appended to the back of this presentation so when we put the presentation together we put these slides as well as those slides together so it's one package that everyone can look at if you wanted to post it it's easy to post um so to recap from our dellan townwide survey the dellan residents respons to the New Jersey state referendum on cannabis related businesses was about 2:1 basically favoring 2 to1 cannabis related businesses in town however in the response to the current Town survey on the Cannabis related businesses in town the response was about one to one neither for nor against so more or less even split so other dellan residents who indicated support for Canabis related businesses in town support was based on anticipated Revenue 93% Economic Development 79% as well as health factors 58% for denan residents who favored Canabis related businesses in town support appeared to be heavily dependent on revenue for denan and economic ADV giving us an economic advantageous stance if we chose to go down that route but from the survey we noted that it should not come this is information that came from the survey that that should not come at the expense of quality of life um in town as there was a strong Community response to maintain the family oriented atmosphere that currently exists in villan so this graphic kind of just gives it a high level where we kind of saw this right risks vers versus benefits when you're making an assessment you look at the pros and cons you're looking at risks and benefits so on the left side of the scale risks safety traffic quality of life litigation parking um mandatory 5year opin as well as Market saturation um we saw those as as factors on the benefit side 2% tax on sales convenience to the Community Health Equity as well as social justice so you know the big bucket here that we're talking about the drill down a little bit more in terms of benefits that 2% revenue on sales from Cannabis business and economic development for example that would be for every million dollars that would be brought in in Revenue by a business $20,000 would go come would come in as Revenue um also Health Equity social justice as we as we mentioned and con convenience of having cannabis business in town we saw these as being the primary benefits that we would get if we had a cannabist business in town risks though seemed a little bit heavier in the sense that um mandatory five years so we opt to we've op we're opt out right now but if we've opted in we would have to be committed to five years uh doing this we wouldn't be able to opt out or get out would' be stuck for five years in that point um saturation so with increasing number of businesses Statewide and more importantly locally for example Greenbrook M sex and planfield already having cannabis related businesses there may be some saturation um already happening here but demand is not increasing right proportionally which would then be diminishing revenue for each business litigation big one here Ming in our in the work that we or the things that we've been reviewing you noted that matachin Keyport and Flemington are currently engag and litigation with business owners over how licenses are being issued as well as other issues so there that's a pretty big flag there safety traffic Park traffic parking quality of life that was voiced very loudly in a townwide surve townwide survey uh and costs to the burrow not so much a risk per se but something to make sure we keep a a track of be aware of set up infrastructure in fact you'd need to probably hire new employees to support for example example additional police off offers tax assessors Etc other folks that would be needed to support a business like that in town so get for the recommendation after putting all the evidence together a recommendation to council from the task force is to continue to opt out but having a cannabis business in D denan at this time and we can gather from the information that we've seen um we could discern the perceived risks based on the information gathered outweigh the anticipated benefits that Canabis business might provide if new data become available at a later date perhaps a new effort could be used or could be taken on to evaluate and see if you want to try this again and I think yeah that was my last slide questions yeah thank you um so I do have one question I see uh the litigation you're saying uh so other towns are in litigation based on um I guess how they're given out uh can you explain a little bit what that litigation is about specifically or if it ties into any social justice sure I I'll be happy to start the response and I'll ask as well as CH as well from what we can understand we're understanding or gathering is that that litigation is more about the way like each municipality has to create its own set of you know ruls right the ordinances right and how the license are given out and the CRC kind of has to you know they they they're not the ones setting the rules we're the ones that set the rules and I as I understand it what's coming what's generating or the Catalyst for this location is unfair rules so for example um ter please check me on this for example I think there is a what is it what's the word I'm looking for is it a favoritism or a preference for for um I think it's Veterans as well as those that are I'm sorry I guess so some of the issues in being able to say hey this is not fair is is what's driving some of that litigation I don't know Terry ter part of that is that um the three groups that they are setting a preference on they stay in the front of the line so if there's let's say two people that fit in those categories and they're in line and then there's three other people behind them them who aren't in those categories and now another person comes in that category they skip ahead of the three people that are not in those categories so it can become very difficult for anybody not in the categories to get that the other thing is the CRC has not provided any information templates or anything else on how to write your application so we are all reaching out in the dark trying to figure out how to do this in a way that will be um Equitable and will be able to please everybody and be unbiased about the whole thing so this is one of the things that really worries us is it's not like right now we can say well here's a a a template that we can use and we know that one's not under litigation so many of these are are being questioned not not just here in New Jersey but in other states as well and when this happens and a lot of this more detail is in the written report um when this happens in a lot of cases that stops any applications from being approved in that Community thank you I um I guess my question just sort of leads to um just trying to see if my view is correct that there is sort of a social justice aspect to the risk and theit yeah can I just ask a follow question just to make sure I understood um with the CRC so they determine those preferential categories yes then how are then I guess I don't understand that the CRC has determined those preferential categories how that results in litigation to the individual municipality although the CRC does that the book of everything when you read all the stuff from the CRC and from the state Falls on the municipality and so the people who are filing this litigation are filing it against the municipality who has turned down their application we're kind of it's like a catch 21 you know you're kind of caught between the two things but the state as much as they have all these rules and regulations that we expected to follow those a lot of this other Stu deciding whether or not you want what kind of business you want what kind of application you want to have all that F on municipalities so I my sorry to it so my understanding is even though the CRC set up the structure I think that's the aspect of social justice yes um is basically even municipalities and municipalities have no real guideline to go off based upon the crc's application process this is being challenged within the courts regardless of whether those guidelines set that type of structure that's because they're claiming unfair process right okay sorry she are see is saying these are the rules so you can go it's up to town to go ahead and make those ordin and when litigation is happening now is somebody goes for a license whether there were let's say number five on the list somebody now has come in that has a prior gr renting and they can move up that list so they're deing unfair practice so that would be one type of litigation that could come up okay we don't know all the litigations that are coming up because they are ation and the town can't talk about that so we don't know we just know what fil so do we do we do are we aware of any of the towns that are public in the sense they're going to court on this issue do we know when they'll be in the court I'm assuming most towns are going to sit here on the fence like us see which one is successful because then that's in the application process we're we're going to any town probably go through if they're going to continue with a cannabis related business the last I read from ke is that there is Stills away from going to court right months away from months away so it's basically that I guess the easiest way to explain this would be because the application is to the municipality and municipality is the one that is turning down the application even though we're following the process of the CRC we're the ones that are getting would be getting the litigation I have a feeling CRC happen watch whatever Town becomes Victory that's to be the templ with CRC that's happen they're letting the courts I think uh figure it out figure out what the template's going to be and I think sorry it just came to mind you said is there social justice or criminal justice aspect to even if we don't do it the answer would be yes in my argument that you can still constitutionally consume it on your property so that's that's the social justice instead of now put behind bars specifically those where minorities were incarcerated a higher rate so I think that regardless there's still a social J open up the delivery part of it it can be delivered right to your house we can't stop that we can't we can't stop a company from coming and delivering it to somebody's house we can just not have a business in our town dash for canas yeah we we have to put the LLC in a different town we'll talk later check no yeah I mean I think for me the the biggest issue right now seems to be the litigation right so I think we're all sort of pinging on on that um and maybe to follow on that point first right so you said if new data become available I mean what is the trigger point for for the red discussion are we waiting for it to be litigated in the courts before we sort of open up that discussion again presumably there are some municipalities that have done this successfully but I think as long as this litigation issue is still an issue right like I think that's where we all are sitting right that it's G be is that the trigger point for it would be one the other would be as the state itself keep changing rules so if they change something that would affect it differently then that would be the trigger you know because it might if they come up with here here's a litigation free application you can use that would be different you know it would kind of feel safer if something like that came up but for now we're just concerned about that that relegation part coming into the meeting I did pose the question to the task force is there a task force that go wory going into the new year as just as you indicated you know maybe a couple months down the line something happens they can reevaluate it and then get another consensus and um they from my understanding that is of Interest maybe they meet on a quarterly basis or something you've been bu your plus monthly on give yourself a three month break I think the only point I wanted to make and I think I said this at um this hel Hall where this was talked about um was the know you might appreciate what I'm about to say is that um neither uh referendums nor surveys that we blindly send out to the public are sort of scientific measurements of of actually what the f of the community is so I just want to make sort of that point that neither the two to one or one: one is actually the accurate or that something changed in terms of the community's stance on something the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of so I just want to be careful about how we communicate that because I I don't know if you said this explicitly or if it's how I inferred what you were saying no but it almost like people change their opinions and I'm not NE and I guess my point is that may not be true it may just be this different pulse that you got at the the time and the different people that we collected the information right I mean to be completely transparent I mean in the backup slides but we the survey itself was what 300 for this yeah you know so we're dealing with small sample or small sample data andbe not representative we didn't think I asked that you guys for that sort of information on who was the information collecting from was not captured so yeah so I I guess you can look at it from the perspective is it didn't seem to be a very clear signal for you know for positivity or negativity per se and in the absence of a really clear signal can we really put a lot of I mean yeah and more was in terms of how we communicate what these surveys or the of the referendum actually mean was and moving in terms of how we move forward right there's another survey that's done in a year from now once there's new litigation how we interpret those surveys how we use them in our decision just kind of piggyback on that one of the interesting things that we did at harvestfest was we had a board I mean granted it's very unsign but just do simple dot voting for those that came to visit that came by you know we put yes no red green I'm red green color blind so I'm going to go with everyone telling me that split roughly or right down the middle but it just seemed like okay that's another data point that tells us we're kind of on the T you know um if you to your earlier point about um you know what would be the trigger I think moving forward one of the things we could consider is like what are are what would be like a hesitate to use kpi but something like that what's the metric what's the thing that we what are the thing or things that we'd want to measure or look at or to understand to say hey do we reopen this or do we like maybe that's the next sort of thing that the task force does is identify what those triggers might be because it's much better to be proactive and therefore you're making active decisions again you know like this idea of kpi right so that you're presetting what your triggers might be and that way you're not just being reactive you're being more proactive so thank you for recommending that for your task force great idea our task force we share but for those that may not be aware KP kpis are key performance indices that you kind of like you you expect set of data and when data kind of fall outside that you kind of raise a flag to say hey maybe we need to go check that out or do something that's that's what the concept of kpis are um one point that I would also like to just underscore as well I thought was really interesting for me at least was the whole um the revenue aspect so the survey that we that we took and I I tried to put that's live data so I I tried to put a little more stock into that um but then I look at this and the numbers were come back to it here oops wrong away okay and so this these are for folks that were Pro Canabis right and why are we doing this money Revenue 93% Economic Development develop our town 79% I'm still personally it's not sold on that whole 2% thing like 2% of what right so 2% of a million is 20,000 what are what are businesses making we don't necessarily have accurate numbers on what what some of these places are making in terms of Revenue right in addition to that if there are more places and that that are coming up and the base isn't really Rising proportionally the amount that you're getting of that 2% gets less and less with every opening business so it makes the argument to me at least personally I'm not speaking for the task force this one this is in my view less desirable because your your Revenue stream is lower and lower every time a new business opens up you're not going to have like you you at the rate that the businesses are open you can have that many more people wanting to to buy cannabis I mean this jersey but still you know um anyhow any other question I think it's like the uh you know when you set up the booth at the Harvest Fest or anything to draw more support to like surveys and get more public opinion probably just madebe f with some brownies out there or you vote you get a brownie get more involv because it is low numbers on the survey You' like to get more feedback back that's a small you know oh agreed finding that you got with the age group too you'd rather get you know a little bit more input from the community to see their sense at the back here I don't know what percentage it is but it's pretty low on this 6400 whatever mean we did run it for a couple of months in the summer so we you know kept it as open as long as we felt that it just online only and and we also had paper ones as well had various like was was it other Senior Center events Library there were other [Music] other that been nice that you know a little more involvement and higher to get a better reading you know you know as a numbers guy like more more numbers are better it's an interesting one because the surveys that we normally do with BL intervie and the community preference Sur they usually bring between 300 and like 400 and change so I'm very curious on why this one has such a low turnout everybody was too buzzed oh cannabis oh man they be able to trace my IP okay I do think it's promising just looking ahead we do have the communication strategy that we have te working on so it will hopefully lead to uh better engagement and more participation in the so that's um Council before we open up to the public at May me questions are limited for time in terms of presentation so um members of the public just please state your name and address and you can ask the task force a question Mr czecho always a pleasure to see you Che um did you the course of your study did you look at the effects of Canabis in other states on traffic accidents in particular did you I think we kind of kept it local but I don't remember what were the other we did we did beginning we did look at some of that yeah but um you know in some cases it's really hard to comp comp to where we are because you look at a state that is less um Urban than we are it's it's a whole different amount you know traffic and stuff like that so we did look at it all I mean we did check everything out we we a tremendous amount of articles that we've read and we we stored so we could all share them and stuff like that so we did look at all of that and again traffic I mean you look at say um Keyport which has is trying to put a dispensary on the main a main uh Highway with a larger open area and there's more space for parking in denan you can't compare those two because we don't have a a main Highway we have a main streets we don't have a lot of parking so in some cases we have we look and we compare but it it's not in a comparative way to what we have it really is you know difficult to go compare it in any way in terms of just I'm trying to remember conversations that I wasn't part of um we did compare where the locations of these work in terms of most of them are on highways which are more busy thorough and not a highway like Route 28 that is a state higher we're talking like route 2062 higher volume bigger lot Parcels um so that you guys you guys did look at okay in terms of like traffic patterns and numbers I is that where you were trying to get at yeah I'm gonna give them benefit of they're not Engineers so we Al we also were limited with the amount of zoning and stuff like that so we've only only had so many areas that we can make this possibly happening so we had to take that into consideration also with parking things like that so that will came to play with the yeah where we do you got schols you got Parks you can't have near that so that also came into concerned stor get more experience with you right they're finding more health effects than they thought they were going right is the last town hall on YouTube is that on the social I'm assuming it's social media on our YouTube channel denounce social media there was a town hall on the 29th and there was an individual mayor Carlin from uh Wellness spring Alliance which which is a prevention organization um she discussed about the health impact so that has been part of the conversation as the task force has discussed this uh before we close the presentation any other members of the public would you care if I Circle back uh to the other half of your question while we couldn't compare the state of New Jersey with State Colorado and some of the where the terrain and the population is different we did in the beginning go over the report from tripa and triaa does show a rise in accidents and the rate of car insurance in states that do have canid could we couldn't narate more than that so [Music] um without hearing any further comments from the public or Council on this presentation I want to applaud the mayor's cannabis task force for the work you have done in your presentation this evening um I am glad to hear that you are interested in continue serving continue evaluating this and um in a legal standpoint because the N is currently opted out if Council were to continue to support these recommendations we were just need status quo ordinance correct so we went in touch it and um so Council 2024 you can you can decide to make that your recommendation or not if not we'll continue to have the task force and uh give you Applause it's not an easy topic to talk about so thank you for you know tackling it so good job so we get but you you have to consume them off site offsite thank you so much and thank you for coming yes I do apologize we should recognize parents around are here this evening and they're also part of the task force I think Maron virtual okay next up is our presentation from ruus blowstein school of planning and public policy they are going to be presenting on the Main Street program in D streets of downtown um they are the fall Studio 2023 school and they're led by their fearless leader Dr David lkin who become a great friend [Music] Den while we're waiting to set up which won't take long so first good evening everyone and we appreciate the opportunity uh to present to the town to share our findings if if I can give you the context um I teach in the blasting School of planning and public policy it's and we have a two-year Masters in urban planning and there's a requirement in the second year of that two-year program that the students do a studio that's a group project for a client okay and uh I guess fortuitously two three years ago we just happened to do a studio in dellan and we learned a lot and hopefully contributed some so we appreciate you opening the door I could be presenting our findings but I want the students to present all right so if I can tell you we have roughly about a 20 minute PowerPoint okay we presented at the mayor old town meeting on Thursday a 10-minute PowerPoint we will be sharing this 20 minute PowerPoint there's also a a much longer PowerPoint and there's a there's a written portion of the report so all of those materials will be forwarded to dellan and tonight we'll hear the the 20 minute PowerPoint so without further Ado let me just mention there were 10 students in the studio they worked well together I'm really proud of their product so it's it's time to share now welcome thank you hi my name is B um I'm Sak Mist student and my research focus on housing affordability and Community Development hi my name is rja I'm also second year mcrp student I'm concentrating in Housing and Community Development I'm also doing the urban Redevelopment certificate uh I'm Leia as of tonight I am a mcrp graduate SM [Music] um and I concentrated in community development and health and I hope you don't mind I'm going to take some pictures at times all right hi everyone um so we're going to be talking about um the ministry program and um we're going to be you know speak up okay we're going to beasting um the future of d l um I did this with a group with my class as well some of them are not here so we're all going to be presenting in their St these are the participant and um our professors um we had like we had three um we grouped our work into three major divisions part one is going to talk about our major Studio findings um then we're going to explain what the Main Street program isans and what um Main Street program should look like in D we're going to have case studies we're going to compare um successful Main Street programs and then we're going to like learn one or two from Main Street programs we have so the first is going to talk about National Main Street program New Jersey Main Street program local perspectives case studies and complimentary programs so this is this is just a summary of what we found um the funding the reinvestment statistics um the concept of revitalizing down downtown and um economic development in in and contextual meaning of Downtown Development um we also talked about opportunities for dine we talked about the main um dine communi of takeways we administered surveys to members of um to community members here in dine and then we took um we we've got takeaways from what the community members have to say some of them want to you know see more addition to see additional grocery store options also want to see Brewery and family friendly entertainment we're going to touch B on um these takeaways as we progress in our slides um they also want to see community events art and music festivals as well so we believe um these opportunities we believe these things are going to like bring more people into the m and also CA more food traffic activities event and um new businesses as well this is going to at the end of the day we believe this is going to Rize the community and bring about Economic Development um so I'm going to talk about National Main Street program and also New Jersey Main Street program um the national Main Street Center was created in 1980 to encourage the concept of um downt Downtown Development and um and an economic um Development Across cities in the United States um we have more than 2,000 communities that have that have active actively participated in the concept in concept of Main Street America and um downtown revitalization um so this is the main stream reinvestment statistics um from 1980 to 2002 that's last year we saw um an amount of 101 billion which is a lot of money that was reinvest reinvested in um the Main Street program and um we saw an annual investment benefit of about 6.2 6.25 billion so this is the amount we get across donation um for reinvestment every year we we about 10,000 buildings were rehabilitated um and most of these bu these buildings that were rehabilitated were like in downtown communi so we found out that at the end of The Rehabilitation of these buildings they brought about um economic development in um in the downtowns we had about 7,000 net gaining businesses and we have about 29,000 net gain in jobs um this is New Jersey Main Street program um the concept of New Jersey Main Street program was um established in 1989 after seeing the progress of the Main Street um it was brought to New Jersey in 18 in 1989 to you know to increase and to support downt revitalization efforts um it was forly was formerly administered in the Environmental Protection development um Environmental Protection Agency for experience an administrative change and then mve to Department of Community Affairs ever since um ever since de procurement of downtown revitalization in in New Jersey we have seen a profound amount of economic benefits in all in like the Main Street programs so this is an example of one of the most successful Main Street program in um in New Jersey which is the main um down vitalization we captured um this picture so you know to just project the scenario of what downturn revitalization is supposed to look like so fun fact about met is the one they currently are the recipient of you know the best downtown revitalization in um in in United States um so we have 25 Main Street programs so we did a map we had a sensor truct like derive all the Main Street programs if you would zoom into you could you're going to see um the land use and the landf in each of the maps we have 18 programs established after 2000 so from 2000 to this um to this extent we have about 18 programs we have 16 programs coexisting as as a bead and um and see as well um so programs can additionally realize funding through Municipal donations fundraising and transformation grants so while we have transformation grants from um from DCA from Department of Comm Community affs we also have personel we also have private funding from non-governmental organizations and from um you know private people as well um so these are some of the reinvestment benefits of the Main Street New Jersey program here in New Jersey so right from just in 2022 we have 555 fulltime jobs we have 463 parttime jobs we have 179 new businesses created across the 20 Main Street pro programs we have 11 million public investment um we have $20 million private investment and we have about 60,000 average organization budget so these are the numbers we see in Main Street in across the main streets in New Jersey and we believe these are like the kind of numbers we believe when we like bring um revitalization into delling County this is going to increase the number of um reinvestment statistics we we have as well um so we have 78 Rehabilitation project we have 12 Improvement this project and we have 16,8 183 volunteer hours so the concept of the volunteer hours contributed is that we understand that um Main Street like Main Street program usually get most of their labor from volunteers so um that's the concept of the volunteer act contributed including 15 number of programs um build um so this is an example of just like I said earlier we should you know review met Trend because one of like the most successful Main Street programs we have and it is in New Jersey so that's that's an added um Advantage so the me downtown and Alliance was established in 2016 um it had it had a market a market value of um of parcels in 20 in 2006 and was adjusted in 2022 due to you know inflation currently they have about 12 129 million um dollars um invested um the market value for all downtown district Fels now is about 262 million and these are very these are very good numbers for um for for for M chain for a town in New Jersey these are extremely good numbers and these are the numbers we are trying to replicate here in D as well and we have about 103% increase in value in six years so the land um the land market value of D ofin County increased by 103% in six years so we believe if we like um bring Ministry to um to delling count to delling as well um the land the market value is going to see an exponential increase um I'm going to hand over okay um okay so I'm also going to talk about National um Main Street um the trains and to responses so what we did was we administered questioners to um to recipients in in the National and the Main Street programs and we did see we didn't see much because so many people didn't get back to us but we got a couple of responses um this was compiled by Alex who's not here today but I'll be explaining um some of like the responses we got um so for Main Street um America we had 39 four survey responses and which which which is a very good number actually and it was conducted by brast blow and then we have um for the um for New Jersey survey we had about nine survey responses so um just to be clear the white section of um the presentation is going to like address um the analysis we made for the national Min Street and then the BL section of the um presentation is going to talk about the analysis we made for New Jersey um so for the national Main Street we had we we invested about 62% um for New Jersey it was 44.4% and um for 500 for 500,000 and more um for $500,000 reinvestment and more we had about 11.1% respon and um for the national we had about 7% um so we uh for New Jersey for New Jersey Ministry the mul the main source of funding was from beid and state funding so they had they had like they had most of their fun from from the state and from b as well they had a little bit of fun from Grant and from like transformation Grant programs they had some from um event and Festival I think one of them asked one of them is like Highland Park which has so Highland Park organizes a sort of um Street c program and these are part of places that make revenue from um 0% for residential giving and then we had donations from um from people we have donation from Banks we have donations from Corporation and um from non-governmental organizations as well um we had some Main Street programs also organized annual investment and supporter program they organized um um they organized donation programs and then they got you know funding from this as well there were no there wasn't any amount go from membership deed and local funding was about 30 33% um for for new New Jersey state um for the national um Main Street program most most of the funding came from okay uh we had 100% we had the mean of 50% mean of 2% for State sorry for State funding donations is 5% Beed and um festival and event as well so what are the recommendations we made for fostering Community Support in Main Street program so we think that it is important to you know to have a clear communication with the public we think that we feel that it is very important to um to incorporate Community participation to incorporate um um to incorporate public approval in every of the projects we do we feel that the go the public and um the community members have to like you know agree and have to be in sync with every of our development because these are the people who are Prov providing um the Main Street programs for and these are the people who want to you know use many of these programs so it will be very important for us to have um the community members in sync with every of our projects so to like to maximize the full potential and benefits uh we expect diversity in events and festivals so we we we think that the concept of providing diversity event and and festivals will bring about not just one um set of people but different set of people as well you know we expect that the moment to provide diversity our events and festivals different sets of people come around with different um with different generation and income sources so we also expect you know Main Street program should work closely with elected officials and local business owners because if we're going to be talking about downtown revitalization if we're going to be um if we're going to be economically developing uh businesses we should also ensure that the local business owners are in syn with what we um proposing um National the New Jersey Main Street stud so in our studio we conducted three case studies uh we did bread bang Putin and mouin and today presenting for you mouin we tried to find different downtowns that had similar demographics to den Island just so we could see what a potential Main Street would look like in Den so matachin has uh roughly 15,000 residents the median income is 141,000 it's in middlex County um the train station is on their Northeast Corridor line uh and their mainstream program started fairly recently in 2016 and as wor pointed out they were the 2023 recipient of the Great American Main Street award so why did matou and Explorer Main Street program that's a question you should be asking yourselves about dellan as well um so in the 20th century they were experiencing suburbanization and malling mall going in and um losing customers in their downtown they had an extremely high vacancy rate of 22% and low business retention um so it was a very deterior downtown and they wanted to revitalize they do have a full-time executive director that's not particularly um common for Main Street programs some have hard time and others are strictly volunteer run um but they are supported by volunteers um and their activities and improvements are funded through S um and their T tax rate is 0.24% and you can see through the total revenue of the SIDS they accumulate your nearly $372,400 that is for 2023 so what is the revitalization looks like in the kutchen more uh flood traffic small business support and family uh friendly events so just a small example of Redevelopment in muten um the Woodmont Metro station was constructed the same year as their downtown program started it was a former Community parking lot um and now it houses retail and 300 housing units 50% of those are affordable and created the Town Plaza public space it also created The Hub which is a mixed use development and has 80 Apartments so they're looking forward to more Redevelopment in matachin um they're looking to expand into Arts culture and history they want to redevelop their theater they want to look more into mixed uses outdoor dining performance spaces historic preservation Gallery spaces and live work units and Studios so they do claim a lot of successes in the touin um 144 new jobs since to start in 2016 104 buildings rehabilitated 168 million in reinvestment and 387 new downtown apartments so that brought their vacancy from 22% to 4% so they saw a lot of expus and activities events and pride of place the Ed of their downtown did say that they did have some challenges uh they attracting new volunteers can be hard especially when you're not going to paid to do a bunch of hard work can be hard to keep volunteers um doing long hours expanding their downtown district they said was hard uh attracting more variety of business businesses and reestablishing core Main Street aspects so they did have some advice they want to know and understand their challenges consult with other mainstream programs seek support from the Main Street NJ office which is supported by the DCA form a steering committee and build and sustain political and public school so we also looked into local perspectiv through the community survey and the local business questionnaire um hopefully these things will look familiar to you guys so we did conduct a community survey this was emailed to the community list serve posted on the burough website and Facebook page it was 22 questions and we got 241 responses so we wanted to start with more general questions we wanted to know what the attraction for a general downtown would be um 78% of people said restaurant are bar they also said community events and shopping and then we asked what attract you to Dellin specifically they said Community atmosphere housing availability and cost and public transit access we asked what desired businesses they wanted to see uh 50% setad of Brewery close after was kids entertainment and then hobby store bookstore pet store and coffee shop I do have to say that these were the um options given to them they could also write in other and a lot of people said dispensory and the other nails though right what's that they didn't say nail plac no they did not they said they specifically said no more Nails no more hair um we also wanted to know how people were getting to downtown also getting to work and around dellen um we asked about public transit specifically 83.3 respondents reported utilizing public transportation not often or not at all uh this definitely surprises being that this is a Transit Hub um so we were definitely surprised by that um 87% of people say they use their personal vehicle to get downtown and 54 4% said W that was surprise that was a good surprise um Den Allan attractions people said that they're attracted to denan for a community atmosphere we went through this housing and public transit access so we were a little surprised for that little discrepancy that 83% of people report not using public transit at all and 21% said that they were attracted to den den Island for public transit access so we wanted to see what people wanted downtown not just new businesses but other amenities um 58% said additional grocery store options 57% said improved infrastructure they also want to see more additional public art and more benches um desired community events live music street fairs and more frequent farmers markets we also conducted a business questionnaire we went uh door Todo on October 28th uh we got nine responses and then any businesses that we visited we and they couldn't speak right away we got their emails we got their phone numbers and we didn't get any additional responses from them um but were very lucky to get the responses that we did um so we wanted to understand their perspective on um a main street because they would be the most heavily affected by any Main Street program so they saw the strengths and all strengths as diversity strong community and that it's a hi traffic area they saw the weaknesses as parking lack of diversity in businesses um when asked if they thought a mry program was something that was important something that should be implemented they said yes if it helps community business es and when asked about a bid or said they were pretty split um they believe it could be useful but some didn't see the point in [Music] it so I'll be discussing some complimentary programs that go along with uh Main Street initiative and so we see that there are these various other programs related to design arts and culture sustainability Transit uh that actually form an integral uh part of uh the Main Street and uh fortify uh the effects further uh so when we look at Transit we see like traffic caling measures streetcape pedestrian safety accessibility in sustainability we have Street design green features adaptive reuse people oriented designs and in arts and culture we have youth participation murals you know uh placemaking initiative uh and the community theater in design we have uh sign colorful signages banners uh faat Improvement programs Etc so starting with arts and culture uh first we'll look at uh murals uh these are some other complimentary programs from uh the uh NJ main streets in New Jersey and Nationwide that we have taken inspiration for and looked at how it could potentially enhance the D downtown so uh this example is from Westville New Jersey uh which Ed the Main Street New Jersey Grant uh uh to enhance uh uh its uh downtown with murals uh and uh the second example is of Farmington uh who used the ARP Community challenge brand and on the DI we see uh a visual of of uh uh the uh below the transit station uh and how it could uh be enhanced for so uh murals and youth participation programs this is something that is ongoing in uh denalan and uh we got to spoke with the hearts committee office and got to learn about it uh how the youth and the senior uh citizens uh together are working on uh these m program uh and Community Theater so uh the the example from uh metan New Jersey is a prominent one that we saw earlier in the case study and uh there's also uh you get grants for like facade improvements uh for rehabilitation and renovation of the theater so moving on to design and we see uh the case that uh the case of su Main Street here a before and after visual uh of how it was before the Main Street and after it was a walkable pedestrian friendly uh neighborhood and it changed the whole face of the neighborhood drastically uh one of the important considerations is signages so uh studying mettin uh they had a lot of uh success uh uh and uh getting grant for like uh the signages and it has helped uh enhance the downtown significantly and the second is of uh Ren in New Mexico and uh you get the T-Mobile Hometown grants uh for these uh uh signages uh putting up the signage as well and on the right you see how we can enhance uh uh denin by uh making it more welcoming for visitors who are visiting here so another important consideration is accessibility uh we see uh the Lebanon Indiana example here where they used the grant to provide uh Wheelchairs and other uh necessary equipment for senior citizens to visit events in the downtown and on top you see a meten where they transform the parklet into uh near the senior center into a seating space with more benches so that people of all ages could uh come uh to the downtown and enjoy so another consideration is walkability uh and uh two examples are from Montclair and carb and here you see this prom prominent Junction of Washington and nor where uh we could uh increase like the by Road widening or providing cross better crosswalks uh that are zebra Crossing uh for uh people to be able to walk safely so uh the next aspect would be sustainability this visual is from uh Hendersonville where they celebrated Earth Day on their main street so uh electronical vehicle charging stations EVS are getting more popular and uh getting these uh uh sort of facilities will attract uh the uh these cantel to uh downtown uh and you know run errands while like charging their uh cars so two of the case studies that we did was from Somerville and Cambridge where they had uh uh located this uh on their Main Street then we have B stations uh so the two case studies are from Woodbridge and Zan Force where they uh provided like alternative uh modes of uh transport for people who are traveling to the main street and we see the visual uh again from the Washington nor have a junction uh of how it could be implemented potentially in the so uh shading sidewalks is also another important grant that goes along with the main street so uh in the Atlantic City example they have uh around 800,000 dollars of grant that has gone into uh putting green features green streets and free plantations along the Atlantic Avenue just to decrease their carbon footprint and on the right we see potential d uh shading features that could be done with Native uh plants so another consideration uh is Transit so Transit friendly streets uh we are already on our way like with the complete streets uh programs and we have two case studies here from Red Bank borrow uh and Washington DC where uh Red Bank actually got like a safe Street uh uh program and it also won an award for uh walkable streets so uh this is the complete Street which is already on uh like with the transit Hub study in dunan it's already in progress and these are the two case studies one is from the city of P NJ and second is from Russellville uh that have uh worked on uh complete streets in their uh Main Street program so and the last one uh and but not the least is Safe Streets which a lot of people in the community survey and also the business owners were talking about while uh mentioning the traffic uh along the uh Main Street uh in danan and two of the case studies uh that are there were from West Orange and Auburn So yeah thank you for the listening to our presentation and uh a special thank you to the mayor and Miss Julie Gro for giving us this opportunity thank you great work professions like to talk okay all right the the the short version you're already doing a bunch of these things like murals and you can do these things not necessarily being part of of Main Street okay what's Main Street well it's really a multi- deade established brand that brings together um economic development in the downtown with with historic preservation and cultural preservation which I think it's very important to a community like like Dell um how do you fund it well which of course is an important question all right you decide how much you want to fund it you know some of these things are done on a Sho string you know there are programs in the 50 to 100,000 and then you have multi 100,000 some are done with bids downtown improvement district bids some are not on I think it's particularly opportune for dellan to consider a main street because hey you network with other communities where stuff is happening and a lot of that stuff in terms of the downtown also involves Redevelopment you know which there's a lot going on at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs they have a revitalized New Jersey Main Street program on that so I think the timing is good um there's a lot more information that we making available to the community and and with that you know we'd like to hear you know your questions thoughts and comments we'll open the floor just for timing uh to the general public and Council so if it's the public andoun question I just ask you state your name the so FL is generally the next couple minutes follow on the last point that you made appreciate sort of jumped right into the Main Street program without actually talking about want to become a Main Street what are the require obligations talk a little bit about the benefits but really think sort of step back in terms of requirement obligations what do you have to do all right you have to have people who want to do it you have to have volunteers because when you look at the Main Street programs they barely have P there they can't afford it so I I think it's a matter of is there a community of Interest here that you think people would volunteer Etc and I think maybe connect with things you're doing already on what I like about Main Street there also like different levels you can be like an associate member it's like dip your toe in the water before you become a full member and the scale of it is is for you to decide and nothing would make the Main Street New Jersey at ECA office happier than inquiries from a community like now may have some interest and we want to know X Y and Z for the second half of that what are the obligations if you are a member if you are a member you're asked to collect that data the reinvestment statistics that's where they each they ask each Community to collect that data what is that data how much Rehabilitation how many jobs Etc I I think it's uneven how much attention is paid to the veracity of the day now sometimes it's hard to figure out how much jobs but I think it gives you an ongoing monitoring of stuff going on in the downtown I think and that respect it's useful any other question again there's a we're deliv we are making available to the town a lot more information let me compliment theel and I know of no town that surveys its residents like the and and again it's it's it's it you saw it before you know with with with cannabis and I think I think it was important to survey the local businesses and also you know what are residents visions and desires for the downtown you know whether whether you do it to a main street or not I think that was useful one for me thank you Dr lisin thank thank you to your class great presentation this will be made available on the website as well once the entire yes all all of this will be made available thank you okay thank thank you Dr Dr L as I always note you can use the nelon for any case study that you ever need or any class okay Dr list again as I've always said you can use the known for any clap you ever need okay okay we'll keep this conversation going have a good one happy holidays and happy New Year everyone okay next up on our agenda is item number seven resolutions uh Mr Stafford Deputy cler is going to go through them and uh the Flor is yours that resolution number one is to pay the bill sment second alberon yes Dr D yes Mr yes R yes Mr yes yes resolution number two is our Grant application approval to the NJ for mapping the bur storm system briefly to touch on this this is a Grant application for the DP uh that shiron R and Alex Miller have been working on to get ,000 uh basically what states is to map our have a better GIS either way it's the G GIS so Mr alberon yes Dr dun yes Mr F yes Mr Rio yes Mr Sigman yes Mr Vore yes resolution number three is to approve two street fairs for the D Fire Company in 2024 R [Music] second Mrs Albertson yes Dr dun yes Mr Pon yes R yes Mr Sig yes Mr V yes resolution number four is to appoint Warren St aspal clerk in local registar effective January 1st 2024 second Al I'll speak to Mrs st's of capabilities and experience she's highly qualified she's been outperforming in her Deputy Clerk and reg our role and uh this comes a strong recommendation not just for myself but I know Mr Miller in shiron down street for this promotion for Mrs St so that's alberon yes Dr dun yes Mr PA yes R yes yes Mr V yes resolution number five is to hire Kelly Cedar as Recreation program coordinator second s I'll speak to this again miss Cedar has extensive experience and knowledge of the recreation department and many activities and programs that she helped create and the metrics that go along with it are significant uh the summer camp was revitalized by her at the tennis camp um I know Mr Miller and the commission have a strong recommendation of Miss Cedar to fulfill this position and um I also give my endorsement I know if Mr Miller wants to speak or maybe the rep committee yeah so uh as mayor was talking about um over Year Kelly has helped run multiple programs and they've done a good job F of the programs um and and even in the detail of the operation um communication with the parents and whether summer camp Staffing Staffing members that could be a tough uh cookie to to roll with summer camp there a lot of moving parts of that you know so did a great job with it and the recommission I think the only other thing I'll add is that um I think there were two candidates that were ultimately brought in for interviews and I think the overwhelming sense from the the commission was it was night and day between what Kelly brings to the table versus the other applicant and just to Echo what what Alex and Jason have said that she is extremely over qualified probably to to be in this role so welcome her on on yes Dr D yes Mr yes R yes Mr Sigman yes Mr V yes resolution number six is to hire Connie aralo as administrative support specialist Mo it s second Albertson from my understand Mrs AR has extensive experience and administrative support inali she's coming to us with that experience uh there is a significant need between bur Administration and clerk's office for support staff and the benefit for that office is that Mrs um arell sorry uh is bilingual so front facing to the public that'll be beneficial because I know I paid witness unfortunately Mr stat has been circumstances not being able to communicate so this will briefly assist uh town but also for constituent services and provide support staff so there's two departments that are going to drastically additional support Mrs Alberton yes Dr G yes Mr yes R yes Mr s yes Mr vandar yes I I probably should with the retirement of Mr Dr Robins we will have that ability to cover the as we just we're all aware going to be impact away so that resolution number seven is extending the conditional designation of the St at North LLC for Block 55 one and block 50 two um this is 51 North a garage negotiations continue between the developer and the state for Ingress egress this is because it's taken so long through state of New Jersey bureaucrat red tape at spest um they now at the end they met the end of their initial conditional rol agreement so this is just exess so they have they're afforded more time to continue their discussions with the Mrs Albertson yes Dr Don yes Mr Fon yes Mr R yes Mr s yes Mr vandar yes resolution number eight is to approve the amended dellan Personnel policies and proceder handbook for the fal employes or volunteers s Mr Miller can you speak to this just have a summarization of it yeah so the past um six months myself and and the STA we've uh went through the Personnel policy just some things that that we noticed that we needed to change and we worked with Shon with this and went through um you know multiple changes that you know we had an update in the uh the handbook so I know it's just got you guys uh recently but was just procedures that we needed to get line up in order for for the for our policy and for the for the chip no I I I I did not get a chance to look at this in great detail so I mean I noticed some of the the when I was trying to look through it quickly before the meeting that there were just a lot of it was sort of minor are there really substantive um changes in the policy because a lot of them seem just like minor tweaks of the wording mostly minor tweaks to be honest which is not it's not nothing major overall of of what's in the hambur was just it was just a minor tweak but I think there's a lot of PES to it so you know a little bit here and there I know one of the changes is is the amendment to the health insurance in retirement which basically approve two I know some languages terms of um canas yeah and the level THC that you can have on the work site I know there's language language change for Parental needs such as from breastfeeding to feeding because not just know children um so you know it was stuff like that yeah lot you Alberton yes Dr D yes Mr yes Mr Rio yes Mr Sigman yes Mr V yes resolution number nine is to transfer Appropriations for the 20203 operating account Mo second alberon yes Dr D yes Mr PA yes Mr Rio yes Mr Sigman yes Mr yes resolution number 10 is to approve a Redevelopment agreement buying between the Burl dellan and 337 Front Street Associates LLC move it s this is pertaining to the project that is on front street where the um the property in which the Parking Authorities once owned balani real purch was developing it uh they presented this to us several months ago so this Redevelopment agreement is a product of that presentation after Council discussion negotiates with the attorneys and planners um other advisers to ensure that what they're presenting is what we discussed and solidifying it before it goes to plan forward that before you this evening Mrs Alberton yes Dr D yes Mr paon yes yes sign yes everything that is next is on the consent agenda which will take one Motion in second to be pulled move it m alerson yes Dr dun yes Mr yes R yes Mr [Music] yes next up on our agenda is Council reports council member Al anything to report this evening yes I'd like to thank the uh the n Fire Department for safely delivering Santa to our um I'd also like to thank Greg and Patrick Myers for organizing the visit from the fire truck on Saturday and for supporting the C Sor event and to the uh fellow fire officers that did come and join us uh tonight our last meeting for 2023 and I'd like to thank councilwoman dun for all she's done for the community and her two terms on Council I've enjoyed working with you and although we will not be working together on Council I know we will continue to work together to support you know and our volunteer efforts I'd like to wish everyone in denalan a very happy and healthy holiday season I hope you enjoy time with family and it's not public portion sir sorry sorry after Council uh reports we'll get to public com there's an agenda right up front if you like CC president R uh the General Public Library closed today to by the every Wind and Rain to theid response of the DPW we expect to be open for our normal normal hours of 10 through 800m Tuesday September 20th the snow do craft snow do craft for children previously scheduled for this afternoon will be rescheduled for a further day regular programs will continue throughout the week including the special holiday dance party musical story time for young children children and their caregivers at Thursday to30 the library will be closed Monday December 25th in the OBS service of the Christmas holiday for more information follow us on social media or visit the library in person the Board of Education next meeting for the the last meeting of the year will be December 19th at 7 pm half the day of school December 22nd starting off their winter break till January 2nd [Music] vandar for HB many spits for the second floor bur Hall in the tax office Lights Under the railroad bridge on Prospect Avenue and Madison Avenue Bridges will start next week uh person I'd like to say happy holidays to everybody and we like to thank done for her service here on the council it's been a pleasure thank you council member done yes Recreation um annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony we finally after two missed opportunities we're finally able to get it in on Friday at 6 p.m at Washington Memorial Park I was not able to attend but everybody that did said it was a wonderful event so it's always a special night here is and it took so many wonderful people to make this beautiful happen thank you everybody for their perseverance and getting it done um and thank you to the mayor and Council for always supporting the program Recreation committee and Julie gra Recreation program manager thank you for all your help with the event and special thanks to everybody involved specifically mayor dento for the ceremony countdown and the tree lighting um Carl guer and fif choir did a wonderful job um dellan Green Girl Scouts unit number 62 did the tree decoration and Bal dist and the Beautiful luminaries in the park uh the Imperial Brass Band and to the den Allen EMS fire department rescue squad o search team and the police department thank you all and to Mike lman thank you all so very much for your help um Sant around town another denan classic tradition on Christmas Eve Sunday our incredible fire department will escort Santa around town this year Santa will start on the north side of town starting around 10: a.m. uh and the denial fire department we've been told will have their Santa Tracker set up later this week um the annual senior citizens holiday party will occur on Saturday January 6th at noon at St John's any senior interested in joining can call the recreation department the recommendation the recreation department as always would love to have the mayor and Council join us at this party um the doging club is growing we are now meeting every Sunday so join us when you were able um we are next one is Sunday December 24th yes I said that correctly great opportunity to get your run in before your holiday butt meet and at 8: a.m. so we will be done before Santa starts around town um register we meet in Washington Park um registration is required but the program is free um sh tree commission as always if you're interested having a tree planted um please contact with an N shade tree commission um and finally I just wanted to say a few words as my 10e serving as the council woman comes to an end um serving this wonderful Community for the past six years has been a tremendous honor and privilege um as reflect on this journey and filled with gratitude for the trust and support that the people of zelan have placed to me serving on the council has an incredibly rewarding experience and I am humbled by the opportunity to have been part of the positive changes that we've achieved together um during my time in office I've witnessed the strength of our community a community that cares deeply for one another that comes together in times of need and that strives for progress in unity together we have faced a lot of challenges from co co to it today's flooding into our Firehouse disaster um we've also come together to celebrate our community Through various events and accolades which are just too many to name and I think we've all worked together to making G know even better place to live work and raise a family um I want to express my sincere thanks to my fellow elected members in these council chambers both past and present for their dedication and collaboration all of us who have served know how difficult it is times to be in the public eye but we are all here because we care about our community um while we may not have always seen eye to eyes it is through productive discourse and challenging each other that we've been able to make a difference in the lives of our residents um to the hardworking burough of Staff volunteers and Community organizations who allten go unrecognized thank you for your tireless commitment to the Bur Ferman of dellan um most of our communities don't see all that you do but I think those of us in these council chambers know that you guys are really the driving force behind what happens here um your passion and education have truly made a lasting impact and I'm so grateful for the positive impact you've had on me both on my role in Council as well as the resident there are so many of you that I never would have met if I wasn't in this SE so thank you for all that you do um to my family and friends near and far who have stood by me throughout this journey providing support and encouragement I'm forever grateful serving D would not have been possible without your love and understanding um well my time as a council woman may be coming to an end my commitment to den remains strong uh as long as you will tell me I will continue to be an advocate and volunteer for this community thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve uh thank you um the DPW uh as usual is routinely clearing its catch basins uh and doing stream inspections uh the curbside Leaf bag pickup throughout the burrow continue the leak cleanup is done at all the burrow properties and Parks uh they ran multiple rolloff loads to the dump they repaired poth holes throughout the burrow repaired a section of the walkway to the senior center and they performed maintenance on truck number 25 they installed the Salter number 40 uh service the snowblowers and service the hot box which is the pot hole repair trailer um also uh as uh we are coming to an end of the year I also want to uh recognize council members on U for six years of this it's uh it takes a lot of time and effort and there are changes that sometimes disrupt Our Lives I know this meeting is typically at 7 we found out somewhat recently it's now at 6 and we're going on uh close to an hour and 40 minutes so it's a lot of time and effort and dedication um so thank you thank you council member PA yes on my report I just wanted to say thank you to the police department and chief as well as the N resue squad for putting up with me as a chair for both of those committees this past year uh I want to thank them for their service and appreciate what they do so thank you to them and just on the short note as everyone else to mention uh to counc mun thank you for what you've done for the town and uh your time on the council I know you're going to be still an active particip and you should be so your voice involved in what's best for this town uh and on that note I just wanted to wish everyone else a merry Christmas happy holidays and cheers happy and healthy new year as timey Tim put to best God bless us everyone um really quick New Jersey American Water we've been advised that the new water service connections are anticipated to be completed by uh this Wednesday December 20th uh then they'll be back in the spring mum pave North Washington Avenue from first stre to norav in addition in 2024 a resolution will come before Council to support a dou yell line along the entirety of North Washington Avenue that will be sent Milton County to issue approval of this striping uh client please CME is working uh with the contract to address deficiencies in the Assurance certificates submitted for the project uh we are anticipating conducting a preconstruction meeing for the project in early January Lincoln Avenue um we understand that the replacement of the R RSD which is the rapid flights equipment is still a few weeks out that is the only work item left and then they'll close in and we can get our money back from the state the station project um CME Associates continues to coordinate prism Capital relative to the completion of all work and final cosos that are being issued uh provided updated punch list to the redeveloper for off-site sewer improvements um we are coordinating conditional acceptance issues with Redevelopment Council I drafted the remedial work plan for the strip joint location aka the new Rescue Squad location has been submitted for veral review um Washington Avenue street lighting uh project we are submit uh C has submitted the required documentation to psng lighting lease agreement meeting is being scheduled with them to site review the final details regarding Electric Services again we're going through the soft light more LED looking ones uh the plans and specifications for the project have been submitted to the do with a request for authorization to bid the project I am going to note um because I think you need to admit when things have failed and then pledge you're going to do better I apologize for any breakdown and communication that may have occurred today related to flooding around toell and and Street closers um ministra Le I will take the buff that I'm the mayor I take responsibility and we will do better during the next situation I apologize and those discussions did occur internally today um so the buck stops with me point the figure towards me okay and on a special note council member dun um out of everybody up here I have had the pleasure of serving with you the longest in fact right where Mr Sigman is sitting I was sitting when you came along and um I do believe we became Pals right away working closely uh disregarding any political differences because I believe we both had the Allen at the Forefront and at for mind because local politics is not Republican versus Democrat it's about the town in which you service so I commend you for your service I understand public service is not easy on yourself in the sacrifice you know public servants get to thank you but honestly it's your children and your family that's to thank you too and the sacrifice they' had with their mother not being at home because your serving communities as well so you are a role model to them you're a role model to others in town I thank you for your service it's been a great pleasure to serve on the side of you and yes you will always have a seat at the table here okay thank you for your um on that note I will close out our last meeting with happy holidays as we conclude the year I'd like to wish all the residents of dellan a happy and pleasant holiday season whether you celebrate Christmas Hanukkah K Quanza all the above Festivus for the rest of us um I hope you're able to enjoy a little time with your family and friends I hope you're able to move into the new year with optimism and good faith for what what work may lay ahead 2024 I'll becoming a parent along with my wife so that's something for my household to look forward to again don't forget about Santa around town on Christmas Eve as he is escorted around town by the Dell's fire department be sure to follow him on the tracker that can be found on the fire department's Facebook page please remember to join us on January 1st at noon for a reorganization meeting assemblywoman Michelle mudas of legislative district 21 will be present to SAR haland deark Cal am Lance and H and myself into our respective offices um we're also swearing volunteers who are appointed to committees commissions or boards and authorities excuse me we'll also be recognizing our lifetime achievement and volunteer citizens of the Year recipients uh more information how to join the meeting uh will be available soon I always look forward to this day to address the burough about what our accomplishments we in 2023 and the look ahead to our 2024 agenda so without further Ado uh that concludes my part of the report um I will open the your department heads if there's anything um I hope there's not because we want to be heading to the Cho concert now yes uh Homer Mosley uh director Office of rity Management on February the 10th 2023 from 8:30 a to 12:30 pm the the dellan office of emergency 24 I'm sorry the delling office of emergency management will be hosting ing the senior official workshop for all Hazard preparedness course management course MGT 312 a Department of Homeland Security FEMA funded course the instructors will be flying in from Texas A&M National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center a customized tabletop exercise involving a major fire at the nail development will be part of the work shop class size at the senior center Senior Center is limited to 25 participants the workshop is usually six hours with lunch but they will cut the time down to four hours participants upon successful completion of the workshop receive CE credits and a certificate of completion participants have to register for a FEMA student ID number and on the TX that's that is is the Texas A&M website OEM is expecting a representative from each of our emergency response departments DBW the business administrator and all of the burrow Council to participate because this is a a a um Town specific Workshop so far there are 12 person register some of which are not from dellan councilman Sigman Co Cole Co singman is the first council member to have registered thank you councilman Cole the registration information will be reset out again this week that's my report okay thank you Homer any other department head without further Ado we will open up the floor to the public uh please state your name and address and ask your question or make your comment Che W I would just like to wish all the members here a very happy holiday [Music] appreciate my name is 423rd Street um and I'm just wondering as my some pump is running in my basement now um is anything being done with the flooding for the north side of town mean is there anything with the brook being cleaned out or anything or something happening to prevent the flooding or the flooding go away um we just persists you know year after year we get up to 30 inches of water in the basement um right now well we clean out all the storm water catch basins annually on a regular basis um but in terms of any infrastructure Improvement projects uh the federal government approved 4 I believe $95 million to build the flight flood gates not Gates walls and levies around the green Brooks so it can prevent from flooding the north side um in I if you're curious about the south side too there's a project that we're working on that we just got approvals for uh after being delayed from property owners in the area commercial property owners which is going to open up CER open up cers so water can a little bit easier so is that in the works I mean the fundings in place um the greenb flood commission is working with our Congressional representatives and all the the njd and the federal SEMA um and everything's in the process they're saying within fiveyear time frame my understanding is it should start okay okay well thank so I mean I I can just tell you that denen should try to do those part as fast as possible um as mayor was talking about it for the last four years we've serviced and cleaned up every catch Bas down it takes place every just since like Hurricane Sandy and everything just I to totally yeah keep going and we keep pumping out the basement and pumping out the basement pumping out this past year we clean out all our Culver which some of them probably have never been cleaned ever so infastructure wise they were full so we cleaned them all out we assessed them and we were surprised at those findings I can tell you that much what will be big help is when the flood commission comes through and puts the levies the wall so it's going to go middle SE and they'll do the all and then they'll go you know on the plane that will definitely help out you know unfortunately everybody says the building is doing it and they're cleaning denell and it's I would argue Dell's already been Dell's Almost 100% already built it's' been that way for the past I would say 70 years it's not us I don't believe in fact our we're the first town to pass a climate resiliency plan that all these development projects actually have to manage and retain their storm water but the point I'm making is because we're in a valley and you're seeing the hill being developed the way it's being developed I think you're seeing a lot of that water come off the hill run through my backyard and I'm not blaming what kind of process is happening with you know things are in the works or something yes and for your situation the the flood control project would be the best solution um with the walls or the levies be built just be prepared that they might be coming from your backyard I'd be more than happy I'm there's a ton of people that will be lining up I'm sure um and I apologize it's I your fault it's raining it's just not the best answer but unfortunately it's happen Green Brook in mid I mean the whole I'm getting all day from all different DPW in oem's about flooding here we actually had to send our water truck rescue truck to Middle sec to help pull out a couple people today you know so it's unfortunate but once they get working on the the brook again thank um I can also the website for The Green Brook Flood Control Commission is gfc.org tcc.org and they have all the minutes from the past meetings um and as they get closer um I believe the Liaisons to that commission which was me uh and CC Trina um as it gets closer we'll be able to provide updates on when we can actually expect things to happen right now it is just a lot of waiting for the project to reach us and praying to God that Congress doesn't reappropriate any fing praying to it stops raining or 15 years had very strong support well thank you very much I appreciate thank you for your patience anything else from the public please take your name and address without hearing any we'll close that portion we have no further business of the Council of 2023 and um and I have a motion a second to gather one last time in 23 to second all in favor any [Music] needes this conference is no longer being recorded I I was almost going to throw it in mine just to say am