[Music] this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home Tribune the star Leisure and the Highland Park planet on January 5th 2024 and was posted on Bor website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board borrow Hall 221 South 5th Avenue Island Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required byw fire exits are to my right and left of council chambers officer dud can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the for stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Foster here councilwoman can here Council here Council here counc president here counc Council here B attorney Shaw here and B administrator H here now we're going to swearing in of Officer Trey Wilson Highland Park police officer and then we have promotions of Officer Sean garley sergeant garley and SE Sean M oh my God sorry I'm not starting off well okay I'll just I'll do the first one first and I'll come back and do the other how about that I'm going to have a our Public Safety ch us as well I'm retired okay [Music] Wilson hi Wilson swear swear Solly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of office of of the office of Highland Park police officer of the office of Highland Park police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability I do further solemnly swear I do further swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me go so help me God so almost everyone in the room either works for or is affiliated with h Park but real quick officer Wilson came to us in September of last year from New Jersey Transit where he was been also there for two years before that two years of State Corrections uh he actually spent some time growing up in Highland Park and with the kindergarten at barle right perect serving um and uh and he had family in town forever so it's it's always great for us when we can have a new hire that has ties to the town that knows the town and their heart is here so we're really excited for Trey to be here and uh he's goingon to do great things thank you Public Safety chair and now we're going to have this saring in promotion of Sean McGrath to Sergeant [Music] you guys yeah okay I Sean I sh MRA do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of the office of Highland par Sergeant Highland Park Sergeant according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities I do first F solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and under under the authority of the people and under the authority of the people so help me that so help me got thank [Applause] you mcra has been with our department since 20111 um he has been a detective since 2015 and he now um he runs our detective Bureau he is our detective Sergeant uh it's a difficult job he's imens overworked immensely understaffed but he gets it done every day and uh we rely on him heavily so thank you Sean [Laughter] got hold it there you go everybody right I Alo i al peo do solemnly swear do Solly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of the office of The Office Highland Park sergeant of Highland Park Sergeant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey I will bear truth I will bear truth and allegiance of the same allegiance of the same and the government established and government established in the united states in the United States and this and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God congratulations thank [Applause] you Sergeant PCO was the first officer hired uh along with Dean they were they were sworn in the same day that uh I was promoted to Chief um he was I say he's the first cop that I hired um so this is this is pretty cool for me he pretty proud he came with from Ruckers he had four years of Ruckers just under just under four years of Rucker PD before he came down up in uh up in Newark um he grew up in perthamboy has ties to this County um he's been a great asset to our department he worked in the detective Bureau up until they got promoted to Sergeant and I sent him back to midnight Patrol that's it all my guys are back there thank you for coming out so um I'm excited to have Serge Peko uh run a squad for me at night he runs a good shift and uh again like everybody else I expect greatness thank you everyone I'm just going to have a quick five minute break so every there's uh C there's cake and refreshment in out in the hallway please help yourselves and you're [Laughter] welome really [Music] [Music] we're GNA go back into session uh Council council member George thank you mayor first of all i' like to thank the crow that and the people on the DI for all their uh help and support while they've been out recovering from surgery and several hospitalizations for knee injury since the Christmas holidays um your help and support and just the occasional text message or um a call really helped in during the recovery and since today is the first day I was allowed to actually drive I decided the first place to go besides my office would be here for the meeting this is Black History Month and we encourage everyone to participate in some of the events that are occurring throughout middle sex County and in New Jersey in particular one I went to early on the middle sex County College library has an exhibit of African-Americans in the Y their focuses on African-Americans in in the Arts and particular in our area it's definitely worth a visit to the campus and the library a bit of new black history occurred recently when Alan Lee was named as the first black president of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital which forms an important part of the fabric of our Town's place and role in the heart of middle sex County he's already moved a number of minority support organizations forward in the Robert Wood Johnson Universe since becoming president and there were events and activities weekly there in regard to the police department tonight we welcomed our new officer Trey Wilson he is a new hire for the Highland Park Police Department he's been working with us since last fall we also congratulate Sergeant Sean mcra Sergeant Alberto Pacho on their promotions they are excellent supervisory officers with skill and dedication to our policy of community policing and they come up through our ranks and under the under the chief's guidance um with our our policies and procedures that the chief has put in place and they uh these valuable officers also fill in vacancies left to left due to retirement and promotion o so they have minimal impact on our budget in the fire department we all know about the fire which destroyed two of our established businesses here in Highland Park and displaced the number of tenants last week we all all to the smell of smoke around 11:30 and fire operations cons continued in the early morning some of the statistics I got from the fire department we had nine paid firefighters and called volunteers from our department respond our Police Department was also o on scene and our OEM were on scene assisting the residents additional responding fire departments included East Brunswick North Stelton New Brunswick South Plainfield middle sex Boro and North Brunswick the incident is still under investigation by our Highland Park detective Bureau preliminary investigations are pending but according to the Highland Park police it is being considered as unfounded which means right now there is no manger suspicion of any intentional deliberate ask but we won't know more until the detectives complete their investigation finally Chief Gerson of volunteer fire department reports that our new engine with request of The Pusher estate to the Highland Park fire department is at the firehouse thr equipment outfitting it is really awesome and as head of Public Safety I get to drive it too pending a formal dedication of Park fire department expresses our thanks to the estate for its benefices and thoughtfulness and there will be more formalization for the estate in the future Highland Park Public Library I miss represented myself to the council before I got here I stopped by at library and is the work is really going well um Mike boit the executive director tells me they're restocking now uh bringing over their Holdings uh part of the collections are being moved out of storage as we know the burrow is going forward with a comprehensive Ro roof replacement program which will commence as the weather permits I understand the big bid specs for the roof work were released today in addition the work for the upgrades through the request of the kusher estate will be taking place at the same time the Board of Trustees met last night uh and the completion of this work is still anticipated to be complete by the beginning of June um they feel that they're on track in the meantime the remote site is still open and doing events in the burrow and online um in particular one of the popular events has been the um the books at penos on Thursday I believe it's Tuesday nights um it's been successful I went to one of them uh back over the holidays very enjoyable evening and electronic blending and continues to increase even though the majority of our actual Holdings are still in storage thank you mayor thank you council member post thank you mayor good evening everyone I'll start with a brief reminder about how the department community services at the burough has grocery transportation and online food shopping assistance please reach out to the staff Community Center at 732 819 0052 um also just like to announce that there is free tax prep available at the community center um there are appointments available every uh Tuesday from now through March 26 you can get your tax prepared by IRS certified volunteers um note the program is limited to individuals with incomes up to $70,000 um appointments are required to make onean call the community center at 732 819 0052 um and then some wreck uh well one wreck highlight I had was um the summer camp registration will open up on March 1st we're gonna have a DAT Camp Sports Camp a leaders and training camp two theater camps one um the you Theater Camp which will be doing uh Lion King J and 18 Camp which will be do in the mean girls high school edition um the giv hoot scholarship application is now available online the deadline to submit it is March 15 um interviews of returning Camp staff are ongoing we're on track to have more than 50% um Camp staff returning um and this Thursday February 22nd there will be a summer camp job fair at the high school and last my report is an Arts commission update um the Arts commission real art Club for kids will be hosting a March's art together event at the zimmerly Museum uh on the Ruckers campus in new benwick on March 10th from 1 pm to 3M families are free to pop in and out during this time period and work on art projects that are be based on a few pieces of artwork from Zim's collection uh for more information please reach out to the gorilla Art Club at Highland Park GAC gmail.com that's Park GAC no dos no space no nothing just p park GAC gmail.com and may that is my report for this evening thank you council member hail than you madam mayor um I wanted to to say thank you and congratulations to officer Wilson and Sergeant mzeo we're very very lucky to have them the park great officers also congrats to them um I also wanted to to welcome back um my colleague Phil um just to point out that May 5th is the 5K so we expect it to be ready by then um to you know take it take part of the the the the 5K by I have already chosen my spectator spot fantastic be right next from the of the fire engine um uh before that though Main Street is is the winter markets are opening up at Main Street these are Friday afternoons from 11: to 4: they opened up last week and they'll be open um uh through April for our winter markets they're a little bit smaller than the the summer fmer markets but still filled with great stuff um so please uh check that out and you can go to mainstreet.org um uh for that um uh if uh the the neighborhood preservation program is kicking off our our third year um we are currently looking for volunteers um who live in the district or work in the district around Woodbridge Avenue um to be a part of our stakeholder committee um uh it's a great opportunity to get involved uh with uh some some really good work uh that we've been doing up on on Woodbridge Avenue uh to to sort of help businesses and and residents out there so if you are interested um you can email me at male hpb.com uh if you are interested in that and live up in Woodbridge District um so Phil mentioned a bit about this and and with deep sadness we're uh morning the L Jus some pizza and China Lee um in the fire luckily no one was hurt um in this but these are sort of two institutions that are sort of foundational to to Highland Park they've been around forever I was in a was in a meeting today and and someone who went to to Ruckers um 20 years ago uh saying oh I used to go to Jerusalem Pizza all the time so it's just this is something that's sort of always been here and so we certainly hope that shom gets back on his feet as as as fast as you can um we wanted to express that as as well um um and then lastly um you'll notice that one of the reasons that that I gave my email for the MPP and the reason for that um is we are losing um our our assistant U bro administrator Emma Von dun who is um uh moving on um to the evil empire of one of the Brunswick I'm not sure which one North um but but but um they will forever be the evil empire to me because they stole himmo away from us so um it's a great opportunity for her it's absolutely the best thing that she can do but she has been fantastic in so many different ways um particularly I worked really closely with her with the MPP program I mean she literally just calm head makes things happen um and and and she will surely surely be missed but um uh she's been a great great H we've very lucky and thank you Council M thank you Board of Health would like to remind everybody to keep up to date on your vaccinations and boosters while the numbers for respiratory diseases are at a low in Middle sex County right now they are still with us they would also like me to point out that it was the board the Department of Health that advised the closing of Irving not the Board of Health the commission for universal access would like to share a new program in New Jersey all parents of newborns can use a little extra support from a nurse and now New Jersey families have wel welcomed any New Jersey family who has welcomed a new board into their lives whether through birth adoption or as a resource parent or Kens Shi caregiver can receive support that they need as to navigate the challenges Joys and adjustments for Parenthood whether this is your first child or one of many every parent can always use a little extra support and family connects New Jersey is ready and willing to serve everybody family connect is being phased in Statewide and may not be available in All Counties yet but it is available in middlex County their mission is to support the well-being of All Families by delivering care from specially trained registered nurses in the comfort of the family's home during the family connects New Jersey visit nurses assess the health of both the parents and the newborn and offer valuable information during this important trans transition covered areas can include feeding and sleeping tips connecting parents to helpful resources in their Community or assisting families recovering from the tragedy of a still birth you can find more information at www. Family connect connect nj.org the community food pantry is open on the 2D and 4th Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and again from 6:00 pm. to 700 p.m. and also on Saturday following Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 10: a.m. um the Highland Park giv a hoot food pantry is open every Tuesday at the Zone 16 center from 10: a.m. to 11:00 a.m. both programs have seen a sharp increase in people in need the human relations commission meeting will be held tomorrow by Zoom you can find the link on the bar website page the Mental Health commission is still looking for new members interested if you are interested you can reach out to me at T Cana that's t a c a n sorry v e r a at hpb.com and lastly no se County will will be holding a SE SE annual resource Fair it will be held April 19th at 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the middle sex County courthouse at 65 fa Street in New Brunswick and it will be a great chance for you to be able to get information about the different resources available in our County thank you mayor thank you uh council president H thank you mayor good evening everybody my name is Matthew ver the Public Works committee uh just a few updates um so we got a big snow uh this weekend uh and I think surprising I was looking at the news reports and uh it looks like that Central Jersey was in a band of really deep snow I mean everybody else around us got four five six inches and we we clocked an 11.2 over in Brun so really considerable very fluffy uh and um I really just wanted to commend the Department of Public Works M Mike was orowitz a great job with the snow removal over 31 miles of roadway the H Police Department for being out there and keeping everything under under control and orderly um it was a you was a big to-do particularly After the Storm uh that preceded it that left uh a lot more ice and more traditional uh um uh wintry stuff on the ground um so um that was great to see the next day and I hope everybody was able to get out there and enjoy the uh uh the fluffy snow just a couple reminders if you live on a designated no parking snow covered Street please make sure your vehicle is parked on the proper side of the street when snow is in the forecast and by the way everything I'm saying is available at www.hpb.com uh sidewalk clearing in order to have the most successful snow removal efforts and including living up to our reputation as a walkable Community um residents and commercial property owners are required to shovel their sidewalks and walkways once there's a measurable amount of snow so please do so uh help a neighbor out if you you know if you can uh but but it's really important to keep those sidewalks clear if you notice a sidewalk that's not been cleared the following day you can report a concern at www.hpb.com if you if you are a neighbor needs assistance and clearing walkways the Highland Park Department of Public of community services compiles and distributes a list every year of people who have expressed interest in helping others with snow removal and again that list can be found at www.hbo.com and if you don't get updates or any of these any of this information sign up for nixel please sign up for for for nixel burough alerts uh again at the burrow website it's easy you can get text updates you can get email updates and it'll really keep you in the loop uh sustainable Highland Park has had a busy uh uh couple of weeks uh so first uh just you know putting out volunteer opportunities um uh sustainable Highland Park in conjunction with uh the Highland Park ology and E an environmental group uh conducts regular trash pickups glove bags and other supplies are are provided uh they need volunteers sometimes sometimes they get one person sometimes they get 50 people so it really just depends the next cleanup will take place from 10:00 a.m. to noon on Sunday March 17th location to be determined uh but it will be available as the date approaches cleanups are typically scheduled for the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month and I'm going to give a website www sustainable Highland park.org you can visit there follow them on Facebook also to get more information about cleanups take place um also on may also on May 5th uh is not not only the the five the 5K but the street fair and at the street fair um um Highland Park will be back conducting this Earth Day Festival and so uh last year it was it was on North 3D uh and we are going we're going to do a similar uh typ demonstration with u with EVS other crafts information about about about sustainable living information about how you can protect the environment from from from from your own home uh and we held a kickoff organizing meeting last week on February 15th and if you're interested in helping a plan our Earth Day celebration um uh please reach out to Highland Parks sustainable gmail.com uh cleanups uh we talked about that adopted drain is another program that's uh that's run through sustainable C Jersey s island par uh storm drains collect storm water from streets and they transport it to local underground waterways runoff can carry litter debris and other pollutants to the drains a storm water sewer system that eventually runs into our waterways litter and debris can also C drains flooding local streets residents can adopt one or more storm drains in their neighborhood and periodically check when needed remove litter when when needed to remove litter from the top of the drain learn more and sign up at www. sustainable Highland park.org uh also through sustainable we have been so sustainable Highland Park is you know this was born from uh our partnership with sustainable Jersey sustainable Jersey you might see you know we get we get certifications from sustainable Jersey uh that indicates our commitment and our actions our actual firm actions toward creating more environmentally sustainable uh uh environment and uh that includes all types of things the types of materials that we use um uh not using rock salt when we're you know not not allowing for for for rock salt on our on our sidewalks uh you know for during s removal um uh and and and other things part of it is Communications that's really important so part of what uh we're working on in the sustainable H Park is reaching out to our apartment complexes to reach our Rental Community which is 60% of uh in order to make sure that the that that that that their buildings are getting the notices that they need for everybody to to to benefit from so to make sure that we find those public spaces to to to important Community notice post post postings make sure that management is aware to notify U uh residents of signing up for an notification so so resents can be you know up to speed on what's going on in the burrow um news of the burrow things like you know U when the new grocery store was come you know you this is important really important stuff that is not and we we know that in a perfect world you can't reach everybody but this is a really good effort to to to try and make sure that our apartment conferences are routinely kept in the loop and and can create kind of an institutionalized mechanism for for reach out not only for good news but also emergencies um meter and I'm sorry I know this is a little long uh the burough meter replacement program continues with 2,246 meter exchanges completed and 75 meter exchanges scheduled through the end of this month there are roughly 600 meters remaining to be exchanged and a total of 92 Sabbath meter appointments have been scheduled to date a total of 262 Savers have installed to date um tonight on the agenda you'll see a resolution uh requesting funds from the county open space Recreation farmland and historic trust fund fund uh $85,500 for Fon Avenue Tot Lot this is a matching fund uh that will go toward U making improvements on top um in line with commit reestablishing our pocket Parks which are you know really important to the fabric of our neighborhoods and making sure that everybody has place to to you know have have passive Recreation opportunties uh and then finally uh many congratulations to officer Wilson Sergeant McGrath sergeant on their on their welld deserved promotions or appointments uh we really look forward to working with them Chief uh I can't believe your first day your first hires were were were and Dean yeah that's a good that's a good start a good start that's my report man thank you m mayor can I one thing that councilman H mentioned um the the DPW and the snow remov was fantastic but I also wanted to mentioned someone who I had no idea plowed the entire part of Fourth Avenue North forth and all the way around to Madison they picked up a snowblower we woke up in the morning and someone had plowed all the sidewalks for us so that was whoever that is thank you very very much really really appreciate it out of nowhere everything both sides of the streets clouded um by some Anonymous volunteer so that's you so [Music] thanks that was great send that person to over to my house next time I've just reminded our council president um there was a question that was asked and he has the answer he just forgot to I do apologize um yes um well out end the suspense per our so per our ordinance we me I mentioned rock salt in my report but per our ordinance per our ordinance Rock because we we got we did get a question at the last council meeting about whether whether we are able to use rockol or not so per our ordinance you are not rock salt is prohibited on sidewalks uh the rock salt that we purchase is for the roadways but you can find our uh you can find our ordinance on on the website www.o.com uh the story have plenty of pet friendly uh environmentally friendly uh snow melt that you can use and in fact a lot of it already is so I you know stay away from the Rocka uh it damages not only the sidewalk but it damages plantings dog dogs feed know po pets when they got to go out um and uh and it leaves a mess so and and the run off is uh is pretty dreadful for for thank you for turnning sh thank you report administrator Jer yeah just very briefly mayor I wanted to point out a resolution 12f on consent um the resolution authorizing termination of participation in the state health benefits plan item it sounds like a serious resolution it is a serious resolution um and just to update everyone um we have been looking at alternatives to the state plan since since early last year because we had two very significant rate hikes in a row exceeding 24% um we got a proposal we were close last year uh we do have a strong proposal from What's called the Central Jersey Health Insurance Fund um they offer Etna uh which now the state plan is once again offering Etna as well um and so I've asked that you to consider this resolution tonight because I think we have a good proposal and and the state requires a 60-day uh termination notification we still have a few questions that need to be uh resolved to all of our satisfaction um and so what I'm asking that we do is if you're willing to pass a resolution we will hold it not send it down to the state until the Staff uh and myself have had a a meeting with the the hiff to answer a few questions as well as um resolve any of these outstanding questions so um I just wanted to give you all that background I apologize we didn't have a work session in advance of this meeting where I could have explained this in a little more detail um it's it's about a 5% savings I would have liked to see more but it is a savings um and they offer uh quite a track record of stable uh rate increases so for all those reasons and you know I I'm inclined to go in this direction provided we have all of our questions answered to our satisfaction thank you for the clarity okay now it's time for me to give a brief report there is a there is a delightful story in the star Leisure and it's about 11-year-old girl who had a great idea for government and government institution that she took very seriously siia malort of Livingston New Jersey she saw a little library in the air report in Anchorage Alaska and she brought her idea back to Newark and to say would this be possible for newor to have a free library too well her mom encouraged her to continue writing letters to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey she even assisted her in writing these letters c has sent her emails and she made many phone calls initially but no one responded at some point she reached Christina Kelly of Westfield a customer service experience layers on who helped her with her idea the children Library the children lending library at Nork International Airport in Termino a is now open and it opened this week and it was all because of a little girl had a great idea she saw someplace else and she decided that her home state should have a free lending library as well and these books these children B can be taken onto the flight with kids and they can have the book while they're in Flight what a great idea I want to encourage Highland Parkers that if they come up with great ideas that they can share with us and these are Highland Park residents of all ages to share their great ideas with us and we can take their ideas and prepare try if they come with their idea and with a budget we want to hear it we want to see how we can improve our little town Highland Park small town with a huge heart so bring your ideas to us should you have them that being said the Bor of Highland Park Park partner Grant is now approaching we are accepting applications until Monday March 5th Park Partners Grant except proposal proposals in five categories the environment art culture or diversity safe safety or universal access or health and wellness or Highland Park High School students in classes SL club projects the Grant application applicants are asked to participate in an exhibit of applications on Sun On Sunday afternoon this will be Sunday March 17th where the residents will vote on the Top Choice in each category the winning applic application in each category will be awarded $2,000 for their complete proposal you can find Park Partners Grant application on the Bor website or for more information on Park Partners Grant please send an email to our public information officer Harry Glazer at H Glazer HP bor.com one of my constant goal is to bring more services to our residents and in that Spirit I'm pleased to recognize the effort of the office of assemblyman Robert cariban which worked with my office and the community service center to bring New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission mobile unit to our community center Parkland starting on Monday March 5th through Monday through Friday March 8th hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 2 PM and the NBC staff will help residents to obtain their real ID or car registration if you have any questions please call the community center and that's my report and thank you all for listening um catch okay now it's time for our first public discussion total time I noticed that there was an approval minutes and think we there's nothing there's nothing okay just want to make sure I was on the agenda so make I see that you're paying attention thank you now it's time for a first of two public discussion total time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes maximum per speaker comments are limited to items on the agenda if you want to speak to an item that is not listed please do so at the second public comment session later in the meeting the Bor clerk will Monitor and time indicate when 3 minutes have lasts she will give a warning when there is 30 seconds remaining I may interrupt warn or terminate the participant statement if it does not ad to the 3 minutes provided or if the statement is abusive obscene or irrelevant comments from members of the public attending the meeting in person will be heard first followed by those on Zoom if you're interested in speaking please step up to the microphone or if you're on Zoom please use the race button and press star on on your home phone keypad by select or select your race hand button and for anyone in the audience if you wish to speak please come up and let us know tell us your first and last name and your address see that here's now anyone on zo yes ma we have uh one hand up and we have nine attendees uh phone number ending 4445 five he's hi it's Lois on North 2 Avenue okay I agree that rock salt is not safe as was decided years ago but here's a news flash dogs cross the street they don't stay on the sidewalk with the owner they often cross and walk into the rock salt that the guys put down and yes the snow removal was amazing this tertiary stre Street on Dennison de end is was cleared I think by 5:30 6:00 and it was by the burrow not by the apartment complex so that was terrific I had questions on the two grants two- 24-85 resolution will the Tot Lot on Felton Avenue have your restoring it but is there any G toy to play with if if a child is in the wheel F chair will it be accessible even if they can roll there they don't want to just watch someone swing my first question the other one is about the psng uh what is the capacity building Grant on 2 d2487 thank you hey Lois how are you Council presid would you like address thank you mayor uh um Lois thank you for the question and um and and to your point about roxell thank you for raising that at the last at the last meeting uh we wanted to get you an answer and I think that there is more work to do when we when when it com looking into uh the types of snow more effort that we that we employ uh the uh the the um improvements of the uh F out top lot would will include new equipment and of course the commission for universal access we'll we'll review any plans and we will have uh we will have equipment that is that that is that is universally AC accessible uh as as well as additional walkways um electrical um new seating so it'll be you know it's a tiny space but um we think that those improvements will make a big big difference but thank you for vision and more more to come on the you know the complete design as we move forward as well so the public will be able to see what this plan there and then regarding uh resolution 22487 the authorizing application Jersey for PSG capacity building Grant uh again you know we talk about what we do locally to get certification from from sustainable Jersey what that certification what I left out in my report what that certification provides us with is access to Grants uh technical assistance and funding uh for things like this uh which will be used to further develop the sustainable Jersey website uh so this this capacity building brand is in line with that so so the uh the website needs some work um it's and we just want to make sure that it's functioning as well as this is a good opportunity to to clean up online thank you thank you apologies I do see another hand Dr Stern cardal please say your name and address for the record hi uh Dan Stern Cardel sorry using my my uh work Zoom here um I just uh wanted to say thank you for the work that's gone on for the Tot Lot I'm really excited to see that moving forward I know it's been you know in the works for a few years and um just great to see progress on that really excited to see the uh you know the finished space when it's done and all the improvements thank you you're welcome that appears to be all okay and now we move on to ordinance requires second reasoning please report calendar year ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank njsa 44-454 has been duly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and Affidavit of publication are on file public hearing it's not time for public hearing on this ordinance if you wish to speak please uh come up the microphone or if you're in Zoom put your raise hand here's someone online okay Lois I believe it's you please confirm you're up hi again Lois North Second okay so how much are you exceeding it by and on what yes please so Lois if I could try to clarify what this ordinance does is allows us to exceed by up to 1% um by basically Bank using the bank of unused Appropriations for prior year it's very hard concept even for me who I've been studying this for a bit to get my heads around we pass this ordinance every year um as basically U kind of an insurance should we have some unexpected increases in costs that are within caps because the state puts certain items within the cap limits and certain items without so an example of things that are in are Health Insurance liability insurance although I think they've given a maybe a one-year reprieve on that uh pension payments things like that that we don't control so for example when we had a huge health insurance increase last year or the year before I think um we were able to dip into our cap Bank to basically offset that the budget has hasn't been introduced yet so we don't even know if we're going to need to utilize this C Bank it just gives us that opportunity to do so in the future and we'll be discussing our Municipal budget using you know the work session and and people having opportunity to uh see that as it unfolds so this is basically authorizing and the increase over cap should we need it and also authorizing us the bank it if we don't if that makes sense um thank you that's good any I don't see any other hands raised may I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 23-20 A2 motion ad second R councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman hail yes council president H yes councilman Pon yes now it's time for the consent agenda resolution may I have a motion to adopt or reject the following incent agenda items a12 through G to 12g motion to adopt bro councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman hail yes council president her yes councilman Pon I just want to quickly add that I too I'm really excited to see the movements at the f n Out I vote Yes I just signed off on making sure it happens okay emergency manage uh Now we move on to appointments Emer Emergency Management Council I'm appointing Nancy wolf for CRT member motion to confirm okay person Miss second roll Council councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes yes now it's time for a second public discussion session time allotted is 21 minutes 3 minutes maximum per speaker the B clerk will monitor the time and indicate when 3 minutes has last she will give you a warning of 30 seconds remaining I may interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement or if it does not ad to the three minutes provided or if the statement is abusive obscene or irrelevant comments from members of the public attendant in person will be heard first followed by those who are on zoomed to speak please come up to the microphone and announce your name and address those who are on Zoom you can hit the raise hand button and uh and star seeks to unmute yourself yes it is said you think you can handle 21 minutes maybe um I have I have two sets of different questions I have one set about the library and one set um about the Redevelopment plans in the town um and I can I can just go through the book or can say one sit down come back whatever um the library I have no complaints I love the library um I always work the book sale I think they do a great job but um one thing that I thought was really interesting was it posted online um the timeline for the things that the you know how the U um renovation has gone and like spring 2021 there was the $474,000 of one-on-one match then October 23 lighting uh September through December new wiring and cable January 24th uh carpet and February 24th and I thought it was really interesting that uh the the roof wasn't fixed before you do all this what are you gonna do if the roof Leakes if it rains when uh after you bring in the books I guess you're bring books are coming in uh carpeting is going down down um I I don't understand and I and I saw in the um the January 16 2024 meeting that um the the the paperwork shows that the um person that you've hired the architect that you've hired uh to help get bids for the roof that his letter was July 2023 I don't understand what the timeline on this is how do you I mean with my house if my house was leaking I would fix my roof before I did all kinds of new relegations so what is the story here how did you and we where's I guess you're going to do a bond ordinance um for repairing the gr but why is this backwards why is this so foolishly arranged okay well let's answer the first question the library question first council member George you want to answer that I'll try and Council knows in both uh open meetings and in various subcommittee meetings uh we've had this discussion for uh probably pushing three years um but the long and the short of it is when we put in the to go back to the grant you talked about the shared Grant with State Library building bonding fund we did not get get that the first round which was 2021 we did get the second round in 2022 the buau for a proposal of 960,000 which was changed a little bit from the first to the second did not include the roof but it included major overhauling at that time and for several years before that we had been looking at the roof problem we had at least three major repairs done Each of which was said we would that would probably resolve um we'll talk about that in one second we finally the State Library Bond program began which is the major Renovations downstairs we had a meeting during the summer where the burrow finally said no more repairs it's a problem it's been a problem for too long we have to go and put in the new roof we must do it but at the same time we had to spend down the bond for the improvements uh to the library because we're on that grant program we had followed so we did start the architect put in his proposal for the repairs for the bond and we finally the buau authorized moving forward with it do architect then prepared the plans and this is a complete um membrane replacement a problem that we always had was the way that the hbac vents on the roof meet up to go into the building and what we've called and we've heard it over and over again the dog houses those Dormer shape build structures from the ground look like Dormers upstairs on the roof they are where the hbac vents access the building the vents were low to the ground the seals around them were not well done in the first place the repairs tried to do the best we could with them they were found to be prime the major sources of weaks they would clear up in one area and they would start at another what finally put it over the over the top to the arest was when the construction think of the construction under the Bond as one project and the roof as another when we stripped out the inside under the bond program we found a lot more of the Le areas because we were staring at the actual underside of the roof not the the the tiles and therefore we were able to identify them some of the leakage that had occurred we found during the demo for the bond had been damaged by water damage so there's some more replacement not on the B but now the board and the burrow made the decision that because of the timing we had to go ahead with with the insides but that we would not open the library and not complete it you know complete the insides until we got the roof done so the roof is coming as hopefully as soon as we get the responses in uh the burrow Awards the bid for the for the roofing we should be in the roofing season can't do flat roof Roofing right now because of the weather the possibility of snow there needs to be a certain amount of time dry time before and then during the project so that that's I don't like the timing I never did I the few times that I've ever raised my voice to council have been about the library roof to be very honest with you over the years we've just literally it goes back over a decade with the problems but that is that is a problem it is not a very good solution um in a proper building manner but that's what we're stuck with and uh we think it will work was discussed last night briefly with the trustees had a longer meeting on it in the December meeting um then hopefully the the roofing project will beting begin very shortly what happens if it leaks before that um if it leaks before that we're it may that's a possibility uh but right now it seems that everything's been reasonably controlled uh from the interim repairs um we were able to do a little bit more um you know dpw's also worked on it because um the building was basically you know stripped out and empty they were able it looks like they did a few drips but nothing major compy the ones that did the repairs the ones that so the original one doesn't exist anymore and part of part of the problem uh that we've had is that is some of the companies have over the years have disappeared um um the new roof will come with the appropriate full warranties and guarantees the performance bond and the maintenance bond that are are required uh they will be in place this time um and so we're hoping that we're hoping that the new system to be installed will also addresses the issue of the HB events that are mounted on racks right on the ground on roof um and the dogghouse accesses as well and I know Lois um asked questions about um underneath the hbac um that it wasn't properly before so it was leaking underneath that I don't know that it wasn't handled properly the last couple repairs that we had at least to my hearing um and talking with Mike and and the other um our GTW Crews that were on the roof looking at the pictures and taking a look at it um I don't know that they weren't done right it's at the system was very difficult to deal with with those hdac units mounted directly you know on racks on the roof without removing them you just you can't get under them so the best that we can do is is to catch around okay well thank you appreciate that I'm sorry it's not the best answer in the world but it's it's the one that we have and um I'm almost inclined to say maybe the library opening should be on the roof of the celebration um you want me to sit down and come back can you you can continue with the next question yes okay um I'm I'm uh I'm concerned about all the Redevelopment that you are doing you now have nine Redevelopment areas including the your second um and I I I find it very concerning um I'd like to know what the status of track C is I listened to the planning board uh meeting uh where apparently the LR um um uh um what is it um LR lrk whatever whatever the uh planning board U people are were hired to a um report on the inclusion of seven new different properties um and I I found the whole thing kind ofs surge because the seven properties are not owned by the developer um or not not all of them I know he does own some of them but the developer owns I believe all of the almost all of the houses on riton Avenue and that was not included in this report that you hired lrk to um to write a report on it seemed like an incredible waste of time and money um to do that and I then realized that um I I presume the I presume that the developer is actually paying for that and paying I was told and you told us that um once you have a developer the developer will pay the BR costs um that um have something to do with the development that that developer's working on um I I don't understand why that report was done when it didn't include things that the developer owns and it most likely you know most likely will include as part of that plan um so sort of like an explanation um of that the other and to me that was when I listened to the planning board meeting that to me was one of the elephants in the gr why are you including property in a study that he doesn't own um including a house on Magnolia um who I I don't know whether they want to sell it about but I think was four members of the planning board voted that it should not be included in the plan um and it also didn't include the possible impact of closing South Third and I'd like to know what this status of closing South Third is I mean I I know that um I guess you know whether you know it or not I don't really care but um I'm really opposed to closing that road and I also have said um a number of times when I've been here that I would like you to get the garbage off North forth it looks terrible in fact today all of the garbage truck all of the garbage cans were lined up outside no one sits there I live there I drive past it probably every single day and nobody sits outside at penos they are in the back parking lot and I just think it looks terrible it's very unattractive it's also very dangerous because there is no place for trucks that are delivering you know Goods toos and park the double park right there you turn the corner it's very easy um to rear end um a truck plus there are people coming in the other direction I think it's very dangerous and I think it's ugly it's unused um and I think um so I'd like to know what the status of Clos I know you must be closing in on you said there was a 90day period you must be closing in on that my final question is sort of um I I saw on the burough website that there is something called The Rehabilitation and Redevelopment steering committee or screening committee um I'd like to know who's on it and and um what what they are supposed to do since they have no authority to do anything and I don't know that you all listen very clearly when people say they don't want the Street closed they don't like the you know the the U region plans that you're coming up with and i' also like to see I know you've got ABC and d and Stop and Shop but you do not you have not posted um plans for uh W Avenue Lon Cleveland Avenue were now um 8 810 second that's that's a lot of information that people I think would like to have I think that's it thank you very much thank you very much administrator you want to take a aab at some I did take notes yes I did too um give it a St track SE we'll start with that you mentioned the uh basically the the the sounds like you reviewed the meeting where they were gling over the planning planner study of the area need of Redevelopment designation for the additional seven Lots around track C the reason there were some in the middle that weren't included is because these were those were already studied back when we adopted the 2005 Redevelopment plan so they're already designated areas in need of Redevelopment so the the only ones included in the study as an economical measure as was the ones that hadn't been previously stud and so those are ones that were included this is I'm just giving you the the back the backstory there um the where the statuses we have now uh the planning board has agreed uh to the designation the B Council will have to take action on that designation but what the mayor has been pushing for and we've mentioned at several previous meetings is a community meeting sort of show the plans for traxxy in more detail as well as identify any amendments that may be required to uate that plan because the plan that's been presented um includes lots that weren't initially in our Redevelopment year so there's going to be more discussion and and visuals and presentations on track C before the council takes action uh and that's something we've we've said it several times previously um South Third Avenue uh you're right we're we're in the last month of a back and forth with doot so we are hoping we hear back in the in the first week in March and we'll know what that status is and the mayor and I have been discussing strategies with regard to that um uh I'm assuming you were referring to the parklets on North Fourth and I think we've heard we have difference in opinion on Council on that one so I'm not going to go there um and you mentioned the rehab and Redevelopment screening committee that was initially put together and I don't have the composition we'll have to get back to you I don't know the specific members right now the top in my head but essentially they come together more it's kind of like a technical Review Committee that other towns have where a potential redeveloper or developer who has an interest in a specific property might present an idea to this committee to get feedback on it and that's what that that's what that generally was intended to do um and then you mentioned and I should mention mayor we do have three hands up on on the L so just keep that in mind Mary um the last point you've mentioned what about Woodbridge plan I'm not sure what you're referring to we don't have a reel plan for Woodbridge Avenue um and then Cleveland Avenue the plan hasn't been drafted yet um upper Ron we're very close to having a draft plan and we will be presenting that as soon as we can so as soon as we have drafts that are ready to go they will be made available before they're introduced in do let me justy just I just wanted to add um I want to give someone who's on Zoom an opportunity to see they can up just one other thing about the screening committee is that the the developers who come in who are unsure about exactly what they want to do make requests to the screening committee so the screening committee doesn't meet unless there's a specific developer who comes in and wants to have sort of some guidance about um about what they're thinking or what they're planning so it's it's not that it meets on a regular basis and that there's it it meets when uh when a developer or someone with a piece of property requests um a consultation of that thank you so much counc member yes we have three Ms up um we to eight attendees looks like Abby Stern cardal you're next hi um this is Abby Stern cardal I'm on Harper Street um I wanted to ask um for some clar ification on resolution it was on the consent agenda 22483 the um safe roots to school I I know I've heard about this over you know several years and it says it's from 2018 can you um and it's probably written in some of these details but um it's a bit confusing um when can we expect to actually see this uh happen and I know there's several kind of um rounds of safe safe roots to school can you give an update on you know I'm seeing a lot of money allocated but when when will we actually see something occur and what is that specifically uh so you're right it's you've seen it a long time it is very frustrating to me how long these these projects we have a 2016 and a 2018 safe roots to schol Brand uh they're basically for Ada um um accessibility crosswalks intersection improvements things of that nature both projects look very similar um just in different parts of town um and the the I'll just I'm gonna have to throw dot a little bit under the bus on this one uh it is extremely cumbersome administratively because the funding they get for that program is better and so it adds a layer of uh I can't even believe begin to tell you to a lot of this decisions uh you have to have you public information committee meetings on Draft plans final plans for basically work that we would normally do as part of a roadway Improvement project with with pretty much move it forward so it's a lesson learn in terms of how I would use this program in the future what I can tell you it's very encouraging that we've gotten to this point and now our two projects because we had a similar resolution on at the last meeting are coming closer together so one of my it's probably overly optimistic hopes is now that we're entering into final engineering on these various improvements they could kind of come together so when it comes time to actually implementing the program and bidding it out while they'll probably have to be separate from a financial standpoint that may be administratively and in implementation wise they'll come together but we are looking I think if I'm being real with you for that 2016 and the 2018 their 2025 implementation I just got to be real based on where I am right now I could be pleasantly surprised and maybe this fall but I'm I'm done being optimistic on on on that over uh I'm sorry to say so that's that's why these are long-standing projects they are really important and I think we actually were the better for these projects because some of the consultation we got on especially the 2018 round of road we got some really good input and there'll be better projects for it but it's taking a while so we just got the Ed Aid agreement from the state which allows us to basically hire the consultant to do the final engineering so all this just takes a lot of time I hope that answer the question CC president thank you mayor thank you so much Terry I know it's been it's been an administrative headache and uh Abby we've we've been asking the same questions and waiting and waiting and waiting um uh like like ter said this is federal these are federal dollars and it may change the way that we kind of see funding for these types of projects moving forward but uh nevertheless it is really exciting because we did we did we did two public we did two rounds of public information um seminars those I think those are those are available on the um on the website under definitely I don't they weren't all somewhere in person so we don't have them reported but the the results of the the sessions are available okay thank you I know one of them was yeah um and they're worth watching because we we We examined an enormous amount of I mean dozens and dozens and dozens and all make a lot of sense and if you have an intersection in mind that's been a problem strong chance that that was on there interest so updates to come thank you sorry that was cathartic okay okay next I do have two other hands let me know okay I'm GNA go back to great all right it looks like uh Lois you're up again I Lois North Second okay um let's start with what I heard Mary talk about I was lingering in the mini Library a few weeks ago and lo and behold there is an Highland Park code book that I had fun flipping through I don't know how updated it is but if anybody looks at [Music] 34-3 permitting conditions for sidewalk cafes letter e there must be clear straight unobstructed passage at least 5 feet wide at all times which I don't see on North forth H old furniture not to exceed 36 in in length width or diameter which is not there that's much larger and letter i no furniture visible no furniture out from October 15th to April 15th hello that's three violations if that is still current okay let's go to Grants I had mentioned I don't know a few weeks ago that your September 23rd newsletter has the photos of the news from Woodbridge Avenue neighborhood preservation program facade grants before before and the after money spent but the measurement for the door is 34 in not 36 there's a step and a half up so no one with a wheelchair in this 21st century could get there we get in um okay about a year before I was going through the uh mayor and council meeting minutes from July 1977 and Council David Schwarz if you remember and assemblyman but back then councilman got four new grants for the buau authorizing authorized by the middlex county freeloaders a was a grant for two bus shelters to be installed at the triangle Woodbridge Avenue and riton and then something B transportation for people with disabilities to work and then a few others for Paving and and housing rehab so I'm asking again could new bus shelters be placed replaced with because I think I'm sure the county gets money and I've seen the uh flow and it comes from the feds to the States what was that 30 seconds okay guess what I'm gonna need more time okay so grants I hope we we move into the 21st century some way somehow um sidewalks I won't go into detail till another meeting but the federal Ada talks about uh code 36-27 places of public accommodation if they're located in private residences residences are excluded from any adips but if unless a part of the uh public accommodation is located in a private residents the exterior has to be accessible getting back to that building on the brid Avenue interior exterior available used any part used by customers or clients including restrooms Century people there are lots of people in wheelchairs okay here's another state law law against discrimination njsa 10 colon 5-5 letter V public facility means any place of public accommodation any Street Highway side walk sidewalk walkway public building any other place structure blah blah blah we have been known to give out grants along Woodbridge Avenue and when Joy Norsworthy pulled that together in 2005 it was for open for business so that discrimination would end in this burrow in this century and they all bought awnings and I was sitting next to her when she was going to have a heart attack so I I think we have to do a little bit better no removal I won't get into that right now I'm going to ask you is the burough still does anyone know inspecting one or two family homes with an inspector for 100 or whatever give or take whatever the money is when owner occupied when selling anybody know okay you said a lot um you gave us a lot of codes um for us to look at we don't have that information right off hand we would have to go back and take a look and get back to you you mentioned about the ntp grant uh you mentioned about bus shelters you mentioned something two 2 1977 or something like that um we don't have answers to that yeah and then you talked about bu shelters I know since I've been around new shelters were put in place and then your next question is about codee enforcement if people are going to do cosos when people move out or to do inspections and um one or two family homes that's the question I didn't last that is if you're asking if our we're up to code in our code inspectors are doing the job of inspecting home when um and when it's the homes are vacant and it's being turned over yes it's been done yes yes okay here is here's fire code enforcement from Department of Community Affairs bulletin 2010- two oh look at that February 22nd 2010 in the middle it says njac 5 colon 70-3 101.3 one States all building structures premises within the state in dark print with the exception of owner occupied one and two family dwellings used exclusively for dwelling purposes and then you jump down a little bit it says exclusively by again oh property who who lives there one or two title persons holding the title you cannot do fire inspections they have to have which you had a paperwork down in the basement during the pandemic and it's and even in Middle sex County said we have we're asking for certificates matou in does c certificates Piscataway does certificates you cannot go into an owner occupied if you read the US Constitution we're having a lot of discussion about on the news about Constitution and it the Fourth Amendment you cannot what is it uh search and seizure okay the British were doing that you can't do that on owner occupied one and two I think I'll stop there I have lots more but hopefully there's more time somewhere sometime but yeah why don't you reread your code about the uh Street permit permitting about the furniture not there you shouldn't be we shouldn't be seeing it October through the 15th October 15 through uh April thank you thank you thank you um just to confirm as I said if the property is vacant there has to be a c before it turns over to a new owner just want to be very clear on that about the street Furniture we will look into that and get back to our next council meeting thank you next do have another up one other question asked I could address oh about NT yeah just um uh the 106 W Avenue is the one you're talking about um Lois um uh it's not a change of use and therefore doesn't require an ADA to be installed um uh and in addition it was CBG CB you got cdb dbg funds not MPP funds that were used in uh in in the updated app because Woodbridge Avenue qualifies for C BG funds as well so that was the the funny mechanism um that that project but it's not a change of uses so it does not have to have the Ada um uh installed so just to clarify that next person um Diane belman you're next just please say your name and address when you get hooked up and ready I am Diane Feldman 49 North forth Avenue and I'm raised my hand about one issue but now I've got a few um one is um in terms of enforcing limits on speakers during public comment I would I think it would be worthwhile for you to re commit to enforcing these limits um another question I have Rel well that was a comment but a question I have in related to public comment um I always understood that if people rais their hand for public comment that people who had not had spoken would be taken before people coming up a sec time I don't know if there's an issue about first public comment versus second but I guess i' like some clarification on the order of appearance for anyone who has raised their hands on the the third issue I have is really a question about a comment that council president H made about the Tot Lot where he said of course we will have the commission for Universal right re review the plans for the top L and as a member of the commission I'd like to know when we could expect to receive these plans and what kind of turnaround um you would need we only meet once a month so if you need kind of faster turn around the sooner we've got some notification of that the better um just example the playgrounds that put in by the county in Donaldson Park are wonderful and accessible but I don't believe because they were C right that there was any discussion with Highland Park as the closest town to the parks about that I think what they did was fantastic um but if we're using that as a model for of course the commission will be involved that didn't happen there and the last comment I have is that I'd like to take this opportunity just as a teachable mo moment that someone who uses a wheelchair is not in a wheelchair you use a wheelchair like you use a cane like you wear a glass glasses and that you would be in the library in school in the hospital and those are just some ways to think could have terminology to describe people with disabilities that's it thank you very much thank you um as it pertains to um raising up the hands I'm not sure if it shows up in what order people who are attending on Zoom if it shows up say it's person number one or person number two does it show up anything like that on zo for sometimes they bounce around a little I'll be honest sometime and I don't think it's specified in our bylaws so to speak or our Rules of Order we could double check I can try it's sometimes difficult difficult I get I get some days I'm a little more flustered and I'm worried I'm going to skip over someone and not go back to them but we could certainly discuss that further if there's a change you'd like me to try to make When I Call On people it's challenging um they do generally Stack Up in order to answer okay all right uh con president h thank you thank you Diane for for the question and for it's good to hear you um all I can really say is is is really defer of the process that that that this goes through obviously our our our engineer is going to provide some you know kind of Baseline sketches uh our Public Works and um uh Rec departments will uh work on identifying potential equipment obviously is very small uh and then I'll work with councilwoman canava as the Lea to the commission on universal access where presumably she will present that uh information with with uh with the commission um uh and um and then it obviously goes through the Public Works committee uh before going to the full Council once again so um not really a timeline but that's just the process by which uh we operate so uh obviously you know this this this project has been has been in the works for shocking it's been three years uh and it just takes a long time uh but we do hope uh to see some some real progress uh this spring so if that answers your question I would say within the next two or three months thank you now I have two people Why Us they've both spoken already right and now we can go back to our first attendant in person if they've spoken already back okay well I'm back on track c a little bit here um I think that the report that was done for the planning board was very misleading I did not know that um that riton Avenue the houses on riton Avenue were part of a 2005 plan haven't memorized every single plan bur has done so it was misleading to do that report where it did not appear that any of those buildings were going to be part of it anybody else who looked at it I mean I talked to someone about it they said I said you know I know that the um the developer owns some of those properties and I can't imagine he would own them if he's not going to put them into this plan and they they didn't know what the story on that was either um I'd like to know when that lrk report is going to be posted online um and my my one other thing is that um I do listen to these meetings on line sometimes and particularly with the planning board I kind of know who you people are and I kind of know where you sit I don't know who the members of the planning board are because their names aren't posted online nor are the names of the uh zoning board and I think we should be able to know who I don't know that you pay attention to much about what the planning board says about these things but I um I think that we should know who is on the planning board um and I also think we should be able to read their names so that we know who is speaking um and I get that and the one other thing about the rehab and Redevelopment screening committee it seems to me that that was what used to exist when uh when non-elected officials were part of a Redevelopment Authority or whatever it was called before it was resolved by the council so that male you would be both the mayor and councel and the developers in this town and there would be no other voices um to be heard about this I mean who else who else has anything to say about the Redevelopment even though many people are not happy about this and I know I know people I know two people on Cleveland Avenue who are not happy so um anyway so that's that's I have nothing else to say today so thank you very much thank you Mary mayor I could just the planning board I can certainly talk with the planning board I sit at every planning board meeting all of the planning board members have name tags that are out in front of them but I I can certainly make sure I can certainly make sure that we do a better job of making sure that the planning board names um are are are part of the discussion that's not coming clear but I do know that there are name tags that that are available for every planning board number I know there are name tags but you can't read them and um it would be appropriate if as someone speaks I'm sorry I know the name tags exist but um you can't read them and the um the picture is very fuzzy it's almost even hard to tell who was there who was speaking um and it would be very helpful if when someone is speaking who's on the planning board or the zoning board Council too but um if uh the the uh picture would would go to them and you could see what their name is uh because it's it's important for people in town to know you know who is who is taking positions on different things nobody anyone else uh yes I see two more hands uh next is Lois hi speaker oh you have more to add do I have more to add yes I I heard someone I think president H say Woodbridge Avenue property was not a change of views you're quoting the old New Jersey Code the Ada was supposed to let's see what did what did President Bush say in 1992 when he signed the ad that's actually council member H but go ahead thank you okay Council me member H let the shameful walls of exclusion finally come tumbling down the deadline for commercial was January 1993 all all buildings across the state Pizza par every barber shop everywhere 1995 were all governments the deadline for the Ada so we won't even go into the state it's end of discrimination it's very simple okay um the um there's a script going around that is badmouthing this public entity that the entity that is Redevelopment I have had three people come up to me two of them start up with why is this burrow in the real estate business nothing is going to happen the were Redevelopment has been on the book since the 70s now those were players from the 199 90s have repeated this to me and I tell them no it's going forward read the minutes look at the tracks it's going forward you want to keep it secret we don't want the details you should put it out there that Highland Park is coming back better than whatever you want to say you are hurting yourself because these people from the 90s are busy telling non- truths and it's going forward and forward and and so have you any of you heard about this that there's no Redevelopment it's not going it's not going to work people always have comments to make be it true or untr people always oftentimes have comments to make On Any Given subject we have we have a job to do and that's our main primary focus is to get our town moving forward if it stays like this town but but you're not I don't know how you're getting it out maybe if you have press conference I don't know you put it on the gossip page on the electronic thing I don't know okay so I'm telling you there's a counter movement and I wondered is that why have you decided that you're against using the vacant surface parking lot that used to be Charlie Browns or is still the old Charlie Browns that that cannot be the farm market or third I think there's a lot into that I don't follow but we are moving um just to be clear Lois we are moving with r development we are moving on on a lot of different things um you heard the conversation about the closing of South Third or the opening of South Third and place for the new Farmers Market we're looking at a a post of different things as it pertains to Redevelopment of the downtown um wonderful you you you mentioned that um we we're not the best of communicating what it is that we're doing and unfortunately that's something that all government like because people get their news sources from so many different areas long go as our our radios and newspapers so we have to be creative and getting information out to folks however we will hopefully next month we will be having in a townwide discussion and with the plans and doing a shed at the hopefully at the high school that people can come in and they can see what the the development or the Redevelopment plans are and as soon as we have every the details all hammered out we will advertise it as much as we can to get as much public participation and Community awareness out so stay tuned so um hopefully you continue to these meetings and you can share with your friends or colleagues or naysayers or what it is that we're going to do next when we have that opportunity to share with the town yeah acquaintances I wouldn't say friends okay I think last question is it true the sonoko owner has purchased three of hland Park's apartment complexes hland Highland Montgomery Park Town House and Orchard Gardens I have anybody I don't know I just want to point out that we are past 21 minutes for public participation and so okay all righty thank you Lois thank you bye good night um administrator uh there are still some hands on mayor U so we have a a a stop drop dead stop time at 900 PM so so we've got two hands up um have they spoken already they have spoken before yes we'll go ahead with these two and then we are going to give another five minutes on this and then we're closing out uh okay um next up is adern card now hi um I'll it's Abby Stern Cardel again I'll try to be quick I know short on time um I I did want to make a comment about the Tot Lot and the timeline um I do appreciate the the process that it takes and the various steps that have to that it has to go through I am a little concerned that we're now talking about adding steps that maybe weren't there before I don't know whether you know everything is necessary this is a very small you know small neighborhood Tot Lot that doesn't actually have much equipment and from the plan that is in the um the minute or the agenda here it it's great it you know I I'm very excited about it but it's not some big extensive playground that you know I I'm concerned about adding extra steps and as I've said before this is for kids who you know these are covid kids who haven't been haven't had a lot of things in you know haven't been able to go in places things have been closed you know it it all compounds the library is closed all for good reason which I understand but it's just taken some of these things have taken a very very long time again I understand it moves slowly but I I really hope that we're not now talking about adding extra steps um you know of course let's do what's necessary and let's make sure that it's safe and accessible for all um but if that has been covered I I would hope that we're not you know adding an additional checks that have already you know been covered so that's all I'll say thank you so much thank you Abby next uh looks like Diane fman has her hand up Dian please just confirmed you are on the line Diane Feldman again um I just want to go back to the comments earli about I'm trying to figure out who's who where they're sitting in the day on various boards and committees and I've attended Zoom meetings where there's a practice that I think would be worthwhile here where everybody who starts to talk introduces themselves so that um this not only helps people who can't wait time but it's also o helps people who can't see it all this way they can hear the person's name in their own voice and follow them as they keep talking and also sometimes give a visual description of what they look like so that everybody participating is sort of on the same the same footing in terms of being able to put thems in the space I just think introductions and you don't have to worry about thousand thanks thanks Diane um I try my best to identify all the council member before they speak uh we can have pass that information along to Other Board commissions who are on Zoom to encourage the the the chair of that committee to identify the members when they before they speak okay but Elie that was not probably suggesting know you're trying to do that but I'm suggesting that the council members introduce themselves so that somebody who's listening but cannot see can recognize the name and the voice together thank you thanks that looks like our final um that ends our public discussion um and now uh we're not going to do a recess I'm going to move for an adjournment of our meeting second motion to adjourn move in favor our next schedule meeting will be on March 5th at 700 p.m thank you all for attending on zoom and thank you all for attending in person have a good night