##VIDEO ID:kjoIC-RMjKI## important say so Michael it's like a light turnout I mean I think e e e good evening and in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board designed for that purpose a notice was transmitted to the official newspapers provided by resolution adopted January 6 2024 meeting notice has also been continually posted on the bar website may I have a roll call yes mayor council president Morgan is absent but excused councilwoman Phillips here councilman oison here councilwoman Russo is absent but excused councilman pagam here councilwoman Howen here and mayor thank you thank you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge ALG to the flag the United States of America republ for it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all please remain standing just for a moment of silence thank you please be seated we'll begin with our counts correction we will begin with public comment on agenda items only that's public comment on the agenda items only you'd like to make a comment please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record not seeing any public comment we'll close the public comment portion and we'll move right into our caucus work session and first up tonight we have uh David Bross joining us from he's the vice president of the Jewish community relations Council Mr Ross I am actually ping inspector chairs of jccc's government relations Council committee he himself is a former demra councilman in your neighbor apolog for not here tonight thanks also to Kelly Santo for kind assistance um I'm going to read a statement to you primarily and if there's time entertain any questions might have about here uh so I'm a 46 year resident of Cam County I currently live in shery Hill I also a longtime member and current vice president of the board of directors of the Jewish community relations Council known as the jcrc and I'm authorized to speak on behalf of the jcrc as many of you know the jcrc focuses on among other things combating hate in all its forms in just a few weeks our jcrc through the Rob gur and Holocaust Museum and education center will once again hold our annual March of Remembrance in Sherry Hill at that March of remembrance hundreds possi thousands of local residents Jewish and non-jewish will March and will rally to show our Collective commitment identity and anti-Semitism perhaps some of you will join us that day I'm here tonight however to urge you the head highboro Council to approve a resolution to adopt the international Holocaust remembrance alliance definition of anti-semitism we call it the IRA IU in a nutshell this action will put in place a critical metric for the township and its citizens to measure what Acts constitute all these forms of hatred a simple definition of anti-semitism is a hostility to or prejudice against the Jewish people it sounds simple the Jew hatred is only anti-Semitism is an Ever morphing form of hatred it is a set of conspiracy theories built on negative stereotypes perceptions and unsubstantiated claims about Jews you probably heard some quote unquote the Holocaust is a myth quote unquote the Jews orchestrated 911 where the Jews control the media and the banks it is not okay to say this this is not from speech this is anti-Semitism I'm sure that you are aware incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise globally and locally here in the US where Jews constitute perhaps 2% of the population hate crimes against Jews make up over 65% of religiously motivating hate cries the Anti-Defamation League reports that there are 10 anti-semitic incidents posted daily and that 10 was written more than a year ago clearly it's more now to my own heart even with the vigilance of the state of New Jersey with our County cam County we have not not Escape The Scourge in Sher Hill a high school student was denied admittance to her school's Middle East Club because she wanted to represent Israel she was told that that's too controversial any glance at a map will show you that Israel is in the Middle East yet bringing an Israel perspective to a middle east club was denied she was further humiliated by the school's Administration which attempted to make her feel that she was causing unnecessary drama and that the incident did not really happen that is not free speech that is anti-Semitism a student from C and Catholic High School sent a text message to a Jewish neighbor using a Nazi reference of Jewish Annihilation an image of the zcon B gas the gas that was used at aits where inent my own mother-in-law was impr this is not free speech this is anti-Semitism I'm ashamed to say that my own Al Mo rugs has been a hot de of anti-Semitism for many years but particularly after October 7 things got even worse we are very fortunate that the cam County Board of Commissioners un manim passed the IRA definition in September 2023 one year ago you may also know that the glosser County Board of Commissioners has also passed the IRA resolution this was just this past July to date 25 of 27 EU member states have passed it 36 US states have passed it and New Jersey will be next I assure you and roughly 90 cities and Counties have adopted the IR definition including big cities like Los Angeles and Washington but also small towns like your neighbor aabon and 18 other New Jersey municipalities and County anyway we're here in the hope that that number will grow we also want to make you aware if you don't already know that the US House of Representatives has passed the anti-Semitism awareness act which will codify and law the Department of Education use of the IRA definition by the way you already had I believe exactly what that definition is it lays out specific examples of antism so I'm not going to spend time repeating it it's somewhat L I also handed out handed out to you a Q&A fact sheet from the ADL which answers some of the common questions about what the IR definition is and some of the questions that people have about it the whole idea of the definition is to have a standard by which to measure what constitutes an anti-s anti-semitic action which we had not had until now the IRA definition is that metric and it should be universally adopted it's non-legally and that's important it's not a legally binding definition it's a GU but it offers guidelines and examples of what it is and what is not an anti-emetic action it can be used by law enforcement it can be used by Educators there is no downside to adopting a resolution adopting the definition in short Jew hatred has no home in headen Heights or anywhere else in the state we thank you for your leadership and your vision and we hope that you will adopt this resolution you have a sample from your neighbor Aon which I suggest would be a very good one to use there are others there bless you and if you have any questions I'm than Council any questions or thoughts Mr Bros no thank you very much we appreciate it yeah no again I think thank you so much um before we move on I will say uh Council so we circulated uh a draft resolution um and if everyone is prepared to tonight we'll introduce this as a resolution 20243 to adopt the um the IRA uh definition thank you of course no and we're thrilled I mean we're thrilled to have you here tonight uh representing the Jewish Community um at large but um you know it was early in my my tenure with Haden Heights as mayor um members of the Jewish Community here right here and Haden Heights reached out to us um asking for a manur lighting you know and this is something I was I was just such a simple gesture um and I was amazed at how how many uh people from our community and the surrounding communities came out um to enjoy that evening and it's just again something we can do for our community um that was a smaller Jewish community here in Haden Heights it's nonetheless uh really really important to our community and again thank you so much for representing them as well as the uh the atlarge Jewish Community thank you moving next into the general election discussion Kell so mayor I just wanted you know obviously pretty much everyone is aware of the general election um Tuesday November 5th um the deadline to Reg register to vote is October 15th um just you know basically mentioning that um all polling locations within the burrow will will be contacted and we're doing everything we need to make sure that we have successful election here in hen Heights wonderful um anything else comments on that Council obviously we the most important thing I posted the other day for my mayor's social media account is we do have uh a little bit larger of a ballot for Haden Heights we have a referendum question on the back as well as School Board elections are also on the back if you get a mail-in ballot um but that'll also be the case I think with the new camon County voting right they paper ballots that they scan in the machine so you'll have a you'll have to flip that ballot over and vote which is always uh seems to be a greater a greater challenge to it a greater challenge than You' think it would be but nonetheless um just remind people and next we have le of municipalities which is Tuesday November 19th uh to the 21st in down Atlantic City Kell anything else yeah I just I just wanted to throw it out there to council again that you know if anybody is interested in attending mayor I know I've uh We've registered you thank you that if anyone else is interested in um attending please let us know so we can register you um to make you this year and it's you know it's it's always the same week um and I think we do we have the date think we Chang the meeting date right in November so the meeting we changed to that Monday uh since you know the mayor may be there I'll certainly be there it's our education conference so okay perfect yep November y all right next um that's it for caua session next we have the two approval of the minutes which we're going to actually um table those because we did we had a little issue circulating the minutes in time for the meeting so they'll be tabled until our next meeting and we'll now commence with the bar Engineers report GRE and lastly the improvements at the lake stre pum station they'll be wrapping up okay Council any questions for Craig everything wonderful thank you thank you may y go ahead want to mention this earlier so um many of you may have noticed we had um rfps out for a submission for today yep one of them was for uh grounds Management program uh for an irrigation system management program and for lawn care services for all of our Fields um and and our B buildings Etc so I did circulate that to everybody everybody has a copy of them um we do have a successful biders in the lowest um so Mike will be reaching out I think most of you are aware it's going to be a cost share uh even including the high school as well uh with the uh sporting organizations with the burrow and um and and with the high school so he's going to get all of those agreements in place and we're hoping to award these uh at the October 15th meeting thank you wonderful following up on Kelly if I may um I talk to Mike about that today be doing a shared service agreement between the four organizations including us being one of them in the high school and athletic association with respect to an allocation of responsibility for the cost incurred in these bids even though we're the lead agency there's going to be contributions given by the others that mik be working out I'm working with him on that and I'll make sure I send it to the school for their comments and we hope to have that on at the next meeting as well wonderful Sor bear with me here um just tying into that Engineers report I know you're not directly working on Kings Highway but um the County's Kings Highway project is obviously underway uh they broke ground uh last week I think M Tuesday Tuesday I think well Monday they were stripping lines but by Tuesday they they actually broke using um what would be what would be the proper terminology for that for that device road grader it was a well it was did more than it was yeah it did but it it um pulverizer pulverizer that's they were complaining about the hous shaking but it changed the timeline from that being a project that would span four weeks of pulverizing that road down to about three days I think it was done all said and done um again the challenge is obviously with the the the vibrations either way with it with a very um robust Road in the sense of being solid slabs of concrete one way or another there was going to be shaking and and banging whether there was jackhammers and so for that to be done in three days you know was probably a it's the lesser of two evils I would say but happy to see that project underway still going to be about a year timeline um and it's gonna be good for the community so it's wonderful uh moving into unfinished business we have public hearing and Final adop of ordinance 20245 54 ordinance of the bar of Haden Heights County of Camden in the state of New Jersey amending supplementing and replacing chapter 397 entitled storm waterer management article 3 section 379-1990 d22 entitled storm water management of the Land Development ordinance of the code of the bar of Haden Heights I think that first section Artic three is 3971 to 39722 I say it says 379 oh yeah should be 397 can we just verify yeah I was goingon to set check look at that yes verify great job she said yes say 397 excellent right I knew that was going to come back to me uh can I have a motion to open the public hearing portion of ordinance 2024 1554 so moved motion by councilman Pagan I have a second Philip second seconded by councilman Phillips all those in favor I any opposed or abstain thank you the public hearing portion ordinance 2024 1554 is now open if you'd like to make a comment please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record not seeing any public comment may I have a motion to close the public comment portion so moved motion by councilman Pagan may I have a second second seconded by councilman Haron all those in favor I any oppose or abstain thank you next may have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 1554 oison motion motion by councilman Addison second second by councilman Pagan may have a roll call vote please yes mayor council I'm sorry councilwoman Phillips yes councilman aison yes councilman ban yes councilwoman Haron yes thank you thank you next we have public hearing and final adoption of ordinance 2024 1555 an ordinance of the bar of Haden Heights County of Camden adopting a Redevelopment plan for certain properties within the baradan heights that has been designated an area in need of Redevelopment 322 and 324 White Horse Pike I have a motion to introd to open the public hearing portion of this so moved ordinance thank you uh motion by Council Pagan may have a second Philip second seconded by councilman Phillips all those in F favor I stumbling thank you any opposed or abstained all right public hearing portion for ordinance 2024 1555 is now open if you'd like to make a comment please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record that's see any public comment may have a motion to close the public comment portion of ordinance 2024 1555 so moved motion by councilman Pagan may have a second second seconded by councilman Phillips all those in favor hi any opposed to obain thank you next may have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 1555 in ordinance bar of Haden Heights County of can adopting a Redevelopment plan for certain properties within the bar of p and Heights that have been designated an area of need of Redevelopment so mov motion by councilman Pagan I have a second second seconded by councilman oton may I have a roll call vote please yes mayor councilwoman Phillips yes councilman atison yes councilman Bon yes councilwoman Haren yes thank you thank you next we have new business and an introduction of ordinance 2024 1556 a bond ordinance authorizing the completion of various Capital Improvements in the bur of Haden Heights County of Camden New Jersey appropriating the sum of 1 million 1, 68,7 therefore authorizing the issuance of General obligation Bond Bond anticipation notes the bar of Van Heights County of Camden New Jersey in the agre principal amount up to 1,1 15,264 making certain determin ations and Covenants and authorizing certain related actions in connection with the forgoing I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2024 1556 R so moved motion by councilman Pagan may I have a second second seconded by councilman Haron may have a roll call vote please yes councilwoman Phillips yes councilman aison yes councilman pagam yes councilwoman Haring yes thank you thank you public hearing and final adoption of ordinance 2024 1556 is scheduled for Tuesday October 15 2024 approximately 7:00 p.m. in the municipal building located at 625 station avad Heights New Jersey next we have resolution 2024 182 resolution reappointing Julie uaz to the position of local register for a three-year term pursuant to njsa 26 col A- 111-113 resolutions 2024 183 resolution amending resolution 2024 31 resolution concerning appointments resolution 2024 1884 resolution authorizing a refund of a sewer fee payment resolution 2024 1885 resolution authorizing a partial refund of a community center rental fee resolution 2024 186 resolution to close escrow accounts to authorize refund of planning board escrow balance oconnell resolution 2024 187 resolution to close escrow accounts to authorize a refund of planning board escrow balance lanman resolution 2024 188 a resolution to close escrow accounts and authorized refund of planning board escrow balance Kenny resolution 2024 189 a resolution setting curfew and trick-or-treating hours for Halloween resolution 20241 190 a resolution authorizing an award of contract to Deer carcass removal services LLC for the provisions of deer carcass removal services as on an as needed basis under the Camden County cooperative pricing system ID 57 CC ccps bid a-35 2022 third year option we are tabling resolution 2024 191 resolution to cancel a receivable and Appropriations balanced in the grant fund and we are continuing with resolution 2024 192 a resolution authorizing payment of bills and claims for the first half of September and finally uh as we agreed upon earlier resolution 2024 193 resolution recognizing the international Holocaust remembrance alliance definition of anti-semitism have a motion to approve those resolutions please so moved motion by councilman Pagan second may have a second thank you councilwoman Phillips may have a roll call vote please yes mayor councilwoman Phillips yes councilman aison yes councilman pan yes councilwoman Haring yes thank you thank you now open it up for public comment that's public comment on anything at all please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record record do you guys have public comment at all yeah now would be the time yep yeah yeah sorry it's all right that's next thing is adjournment you know what I tell it's funny I tell people all the time if you watch the best way to learn what you're gonna have to do at a meeting is now watch us on YouTube and that gives you like a precursor to when what what meetings look like so work yeah yeah use this as the model 64 stationen wonderful so um we are here to ask for the bu's assistance and guidance um as it pertains to down various organizations and residents and businesses reach out to us all the time to fix it clean it maintain it what have you um after new members came in and we cleaned it and other businesses that paid have repaired um it came to our attention that it isn't TA of their property ised through the I came yesterday Anders with Kelly about this who also with Mike we're asking that the burrow um kind of take lead on keeping it maintained um with you know some future plans so that when it's dirty when it's broken down Etc it can be repaired it's not within our real house to continually as a volunteer organization fund the the care of it um or to even clean it it's just not we're you know should do is our understanding that in the past when it was donated many many years ago DPW was taking care of it um they maintained it they cleaned it I know A lot's changed with the merging of Aon and had Heights um and so things have changed but at the same time it is the focal point of our town um it is never in full operational use whether that's due due to vandalism um or just not being maintained by you know a professional which is we are so we're asking for assistance concerned say I Scott has taken a he's a new volunteer in town here and he's taken it upon himself with some other members to clean it out and sort of winterize it the center of it is broken right yeah entire Tower right so it it looks like um the parts that were I guess salvaged before are destroyed so you're looking at um multiple tiers they have to be level for it to be right you know appealing to look at so as stand now if you put it together it's going to look like a tap together mess yep um so I've been getting multiple quotes for pretty much getting a hold so there's options for that but um looking at it there's no repairing what's currently right we had this spin the beginning of the year uh when hip wanted to to to do a repair replacement and we had a discussion about turning it potentially into a planter and eliminating the fountain and then there was a push back nobody wanted to do it so then uh our discussion was that there were hip was considering helping to fund a new Fountain which they wanted to do and try different pumps and then you know it's been it's been all over the place um yeah I've talked to have and they've been um interested they are not interested in maintaining right yeah I think the uh the burrow DPW in the shered surfice agreement in our discussion said that they would open and close it but they wouldn't maintain it during the year either so the CH the challenge we Face obviously during the year is that it's the trees over T where the fountain was put in those trees are quite extensive and the leaf fall that goes into the fountain clogs the pump the pump shorts out yeah and then this is so this is like a reoccurring mess that we deal with the fountain probably is like and again I'm not an expert on it by no means um but from hearing from several of the D dpws they'll go out they'll make they'll swap the pump out they'll make a repair in reality it's like it's just this never ending game that they can't like it almost needs a person there full time it's not an appropriate fountain for that location is the bottom line probably needed to be like either something more robust or in a or not there have a better screening system to keep this stuff out right that's great make sure that's on the record just and we appreciate the donation it's not that we're critical of that the the current one's been rebuilt because it's been knocked over and they just kind of completely theyve tried different ones but I think it can be rebuilt just with that in mind that been broken in the past I think it could be main if it's rebuilt properly you're saying okay well it also sounds like you're saying the trees are an issue you know overhang so what can we do about that U I'm not I'm not going to propose that we cut the tree down well I think it's it's pretty hard to do that to get it away from there it sounds like if the pump is correct though we wouldn't have to move I think you still have to two things happen the water evaporates so you have to add water and you have to you really do have to probably every two weeks or so you have to go in there clean somebody's got to do it I didn't say anything I was not aware that so are you saying that you don't feel that the fountain there as it exists currently is Operation did you say you thought it could be rebuilt or so that was just brought up like what what parts are there currently and kind it just be rebuil no it's pretty I think the tub okay but you need corre the Basin yeah the B the main Basin is fine the fountain Parts the last time it was stood up looked atrocious um it um it looked like something when I broke a a figurine in my mom's house and we tried to patch it together like that's how bad it looked like I mean the other op because it's been it's been vandalized occasion but but I guess what I was getting at is if we are going to keep that or whatever I mean I did speak to Mike Mike certainly feels that this is something that the burrow would be able to maintain whether it's going to be a new fountain or not I mean that sounds like it's you know I'm not sure but I think that overall I mean Tracy you and I spoke yesterday we do think that we'd be able you know to absorb that cost it should not be a problem but again I'm not sure what we would be maintaining so we can speak to Mike I mean we can re bridge this you know this there's been a couple discussions throughout the year on this um like I said the LA the the the pitch that we kind of had originally settled on back in the spring was see how it ran at once it was opened um and then if it was a failure there was a pitch from I think I said like what hip at the time said turn it into a a large planter well we said agree all agreed on a planter and then nobody wanted that they wanted to keep the found so we reversed that disced disced it's just our and take it or leave it I I don't we don't love that idea I don't think the people that dedicated to would love that idea and I don't think the town in general would love that idea it is problematic that it's continually vandalized that one is tree you know overhang is a slight issue the right pipe P rather is definitely an issue having someone maintain it on a regular Bas professional knows what they're doing is also important we're certainly happy to you know where we cruise down there not in the winter months but in the summer months we Cruise out every single week now we have a very robust volunteer base that's downtown cleaning up and weeding we have no problem taking out minor things and and filling it with water we can dedicate ourselves so maybe if there is that if there we can create a partnership I mean the challenge obviously is like from it you think about it and this is this is not because DPW Consolidated I mean like at the end of the day like DPW say to put somebody there literally once a week has to leave it no no no yeah every opport but but I think that's I think you're you're hitting the nail on the head with the Sens we can create collaboration here right and we have somebody who can consult with DBW and say these are the types of pumps you need if we have the ability as a burrow to invest in it and then there's somebody there to do just daily like that's the other catch I mean the the amount of leaf fall if you put any amount of leaf fall that's significant enough to clog that strainer even if you have a strainer it's not going to get sucked in but it's going to run the pump dry which means it overheats and then you still end up with the same situation the pump fried you know I mean it's um so I think that's it there's like a lot of little moving Parts here that we would have to put a few people in the room and have agreed upon collaboration that's going to work because it'sing that the down the center of our town people drive they don't know who owns it who's responsible for it and it all comes back to the bar they look at the bar as a whole and they think it's you know I your fault but I mean you know it right that's our town and so whether the land is owned by doesn't matter it it does offer a sanctuary for families to go and sit unfortunate the the kids are ridiculous um know we that problem don't we need a camera too was there a camera there at one time chiefa there's a camera there again you know that neighbors is trying to put cameras downtown for the police station to monitor because that's the only real fair thing that we shouldn't have a private um business owners monitoring the cameras and picking and choosing who they talkg I just don't think that's right it's just like right yeah I just wanted to hear your perspective could Poss I this was just my observation ever since those bushes were trimmed around there's been a [Music] lot the bushes around the be down probably I think yeah the only thing I have to look at is I don't even know if there are bushes that's the only C they are they're they're conr okay that's the other complicating so it's like that's the issue that's not really about all of that anything that sits in that is all technically conrail's property it's their easement actually the building I mean the two structures there and that the two people lease The Rail Club and it's an art studio they're Conrail owns and con so how is it that Fountain predates it was a donation from a business owner that owned used to have a men shop I worked at um is that hen Heights neighbors was involved with it but it was because they I think were involved with purchase of it the donation came from the family of the business multi- business owner on Station Avenue and then they were involved in either working with the burrow I have never seen any type of agreement and and probably with Conrail because there were also vs there that are dedicated that are not just to clar like barington tried to put a gazebo in in like the same space that arazo sits and they were told no by Conrail they said I mean they were raising money and everything conrail's not like not the easiest people to deal with I mean it is took us I think 20 years to get the bridge painted at you know the overpass so the challenge is there is no real very clear record I'm sure it was probably people knew each other there was an agreement somebody said yep sure go ahead put it there I don't have to maintain it it'll be on you there's no written the issue we have is that there's no record of like any of this the end of the day how does that weigh into moving forward to possibly I think it's kind of one of those things it's like um if we're like leaving the Basin and everything and we're just continuing to do repairs on the inside we're not necessarily dealing with Conrail but I think if we were to go in and have to do engineering and do work that would be I think we just put a new uh creat big base and put a new Fountain base is that possible put a new Fountain base in it and then have a plan moving forward on who's GNA do what when everybody knows and DPW said they would open and close it so we got that base covered the in between that actually works so maybe maybe you can give us some proposals uh because you said you were looking at the okay if you wouldn't mind yes they came through an email i' like to get official CL it's but looking at can we introduce how about we introduce you to Mike man store for our CFO and who would be able to be help coordinate that with you and then give you some guidance and kind of give you a ballpark and then if you want to liais on that a little bit we could probably yeah I I spoke to him yesterday and he said that he was going to reach out to you know he's pretty good with that and such so interested see yeah and just to give you like overvie how the fountain is now closed it's covered from Amy the group went out there one day disgusted by it hand cleaned it out God knows they didn't even know what was under there it could have been glass could have been anything and just you know had enough of looking at the mon everything and cleaned it all out which which was great we weren't happy at the end of the day that they did that just because just because anybody could have been injured doing it they didn't have you know they're not train to do it we don't the rate equipment whatever I just don't want to see i' love to see a maintenance company come out a couple times a year and make sure it's running properly and do a th cleaning and we can do you know bi-weekly sort of thing and also to address you talking about leads and being a maintenance problem you know maybe we close it up and wrap it up for a longer period during the year than people having to requ I mean I think there are things we can consider that might make this project not as much of a headache for people in general yeah wait till spring season's over I think everything I mean we're welcome to the idea like I said this is it's been one of those things everybody agrees that the found is beloved you know um area here in the community the challenge has just been like we've thrown different like people have put ideas in play um hip which is always getting you know gets involved in a lot of downtown activities was a big advocate for it and even they kind of like at one point kind of just Ence threw in the tow on this so um I appreciate the passion and on top of that I mean your group makes station a look beautiful yeah appreciate you so much and the planners continue to be I mean something that we want to continue invest in um so I we appreciate your information and your thoughts on this and what I like to do like I said we'll connect you with Mike Manor our CFO uh you can work with him to get some to put the recommendations in motion and then we'll have a bigger collaboration we'll probably invite you to the table to just figure out between DPW Heights grow um and um anybody else that has to be at the table Mike and a few others to say all right what's going to be the plan how are we going to make this work true what's it look like that's all we really want to [Music] join perfect thank you thank you you very muches thank you no it looks great listen it's one of the cool I think it's one of the greatest things about our community is like it literally you mobilize a ton of volunteers that come out and from you know the I see little kids out there to um retirees that's awesome that's wonderful yep thank you guys thank thank you thank you any other public comment all right not seeing any may I have a motion to adjourn motion by councilman Pagan a second by councilman Addison all those in favor I any oppose obain all right thank you guys he wants to somebody from block