[Music] I this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting has been provided to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on January 5th 2024 and was presented on foror Paul website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of bor4 221 South 5th Avenue on Highland Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law fire exit are to my right and left of council chambers Craig can you lead us in the pledge rels excuse me you Pledge of [Applause] Allegiance Pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation God indivisible and justice for all mayor Foster here councilwoman can here Council yes here councilman H here council president H here a full councilwoman Kim Johan here councilman ponic here B Tony Shaw here special Council bman here B administrator H here and tonight I have a uh a proclamation and this is going to go to midex County Ark recognizing there's 75 years of service and it reads whereas develop developmentally and and intellectually disabled disability manifest during the formative years of life before the age of 20 to and our lifelong and our lifelong in in its duration resulting in continuing needs for a variety of services designed to support the full inclusion into Community Life whereas it is estimated that approximately 2% of the United States population has an intellectually or developmentally disability which translate to approximately 178,000 children and adults in New Jersey and the Ark of midex County alone serves 33 333 individuals and their families and whereas the Arc of MedEx county has worked collaboratively with individual with development and intellectual disabilities and their families organizations coalitions state and local agencies and whereas the art Middlesex County has valued and promoted effective partnership between Community Partners volunteer staff leadership and at all levels and whereas the Arc of M county is guided in his belief that all people with intellectual and and developmental disabilties are defined by their own strength ability and ability and inherit values not by their disabilities and are entitled to respect dignity Safety and Security according to the members of the of our society with equal with each is equal before the law whereas mlex County art has articulated a positive vision for the future for people with dis dis development or intellectual disabilities and has C and has categorized publicly that private support in the realization of this Vision by its own unwavering commitment to individuals and families Community leader leadership staff and volunteer and whereas in the 75 years of midex County AR middle County Ark has led the era of providing support care and opportunity with integrity and accountability that reflects quality and excellence in its work now therefore be it resolved by the borrow Council of the borrow of Highland Park that midle middlex County state of New Jersey does therefore recognize midx County Ark for its 75 years of outstanding dedication and contribution of caring and we have a proclamation that we will representing to them my voice is a little low tonight Scrat okay um then we move to approval minutes I have a motion to approve the following minutes as distributed March 12 2024 Redevelopment and regular executive session March 19th 2024 regular meeting March 26 2024 work session meeting April 2nd 2024 regular meeting roll second councilwoman can yes councilman George yes to all councilman ha yes council president H yes councilwoman K soan and councilman konic yes now we move to council report council member K [Music] Johan still things but I do have um a few announcements so tonight we're introducing the budget um this administrator we'll give more details on that a little bit later and the rent control board is scheduled to meet next Thursday April 16 5:30 here in council chambers as of now I don't think they have any hearings but um all welcome to Comon it will be um on Zoom as well and that's my thank you counc member here hi my name is Matt Hill I chair the economic development committee and a not itself to bring my glasses for next time close I think it'll be okay but thank you um uh so I wanted toh start off by saying that May 5th is the 5K Street Fair um coming up so always a big event for for Highland Park um so come out and uh and run and and play in the street fair it's a great event I wanted to congrats to all of Highland Park um uh but particularly to the restaurants we're just listed um in nj.com um as as a town you may not know about but we have fantastic restaurants and so they they listed pretty much every restaurant we had in Highland Park but they certainly did patari and Bridge and mayay and Mr pies so there's a whole bunch of restaurants that were listed um as a a small town sandwiched between Brunswick and and and piscat which I didn't like but I like the fact that we have the best restaurants um for town sandwich I guess so um uh so that's exciting it's that's that's great to see um uh in addition to to the budget which you'll hear tonight from um Road Minister H we're also introducing Main Street budget and I just wanted to make a quick note um that that we have a number of years ago we had had not given um increases um rth Riz increases um in the Main Street budget for a number of years and we've decided to to try and have incremental uh increases over time um so there's not a big increase all at once um this year actually the increase we're proposing for bid taxes about 5% um uh which anyone who has gone out for a gallon of milk knows is really just keeping up with inflation um but uh We've also done some allocations for more burrow revenues um to to Main Street and some matching programs to come from the NPP um the goal of uh funding for Main Street and or increase Main Street um attention um are really designed to Target and support main streets ability to give support to existing downtown businesses um they're going to do things um like create more funding for signage facade grants small business grants coupons and gift cards um things that are really paying attention to businesses that are in town um uh to do all they can to make sure that um that that they can can Thrive um and then in addition we're also looking at at ways uh that some of the things that Main Street has been doing um sort of before the and throughout the pandemic um things like uh uh vouchers at the at the farmers market um some things with the 5K that maybe the burough is going to be able to to focus um on so that Main Street can focus on primarily on business support retention of existing businesses and then also attracting new ones so it's a a little bit of a shift in Focus um and we wanted the budget to to match that as well so um also uh just a quick update on the MPP Grant as uh many of you know it's a state Grant we're in our third year of it um we're waiting for approval um for our our budget from uh from the county um we've done so far a number of different things um flower planting snowflakes up on Woodbridge Avenue a number of facade grants and improvements um when we get the approval from the county for for the the next year um we're going to uh we have budgeted things like a car show um that we're hoping to bring um since they're Woodbridge has a number of car uh operators about a car show might be a very uh fun thing to bring people into town um another of other things that uh including Port tramps for people who live in the the area um for helping up fix the the upgrades on on their their porches um and then also we're working with a company called Beyond main which creates digital presence for small um uh local businesses and so those are all things that we expect to to be able to start um moving ahe with the MPP um we are uh in the process of looking for a a Economic Development assistant um that will help with this a staff member um uh so that'll be exciting when that when that happens um and then uh you're going to hear tonight about um some exciting news about track a I'll let Joe bman go into the details of it but it's a great um opportunity for the burough um great opportunity for a number of businesses in town um uh to really move track a forward in the development um and so uh I think it's an exciting um opportunity and Joe and Terry have done a fantastic job of sort of making this process uh work well um and then uh lastly as as we said we we are hoping again that that to have a a public meeting um with track c um in the near future I don't have a date for that specifically um but as the mayor stated again and again this is something that um we're very committed to have an open meeting um where we'll show the plans of of track ta as it comes forward so there's a lot of exciting things going on in the future um a lot of things exciting things going on now um so get out and support your businesses up and down Main Street and Rarity that's all I have Council thank you mayor taraa chair of the health and un Services committee the Board of Health wants you to be aware that due to the milder and wet winter weather mosquito season starts earlier so protect yourself your family and your pets the commission for universal access met with the special education pent Advisory Group to work together for inclusion for all residents look for them to be sharing a table at the 5K street fair and Earth Day event the community food pantry is open the 2 and 4th Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and again 6:00 p.m. to 7: p.m. and the Saturday following the Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. the Highland Park gives a food pantry is every Tuesday at the St 6 um teen center from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. like I've said in the past unfortunately both programs have seen an increase in families needing their services the human relations commission will have their next meeting tomorrow via Zoom the information is on the bar website you can also find leaves for the Gratitude tree at local businesses and borrow offices to add your leaves to the the tree the Mental Health commission wants you to know that it is Stress Awareness Month everyone has stress and learning to cope with our stress and finding healthy ways to deal with these situations can go a long way in living a healthy and positive life summaries include guided adiation practice deep breathing and maintaining physical exercise and good nutrition lastly the 988 Lifeline provides 247 free and confidential support for people in distress and prevention and crisis resources for you and your loved ones please call if you or a loved one is in need that's the end of my report thank you mayor thank you oun council member George thank you mayor I'm Phil George I'm a liaison between the Bal Council and our Public Safety entities but first a little off the public safety I'd like to give some recognition uh to Reverend Seth the for Church's housing Corporation great feature article on NPR being broadcast nationally tonight with regard to their affordable housing program which is operated with uh largely without Government funding privacy and right here in Highland Park um Highland Park Public Library At the trustees meeting last night we got an update from Mr tonight to make sure that we finally vote on the roof tonight uh on uh uh we got an update on the library work most of the furniture is in now except for the larger items such as the circulation desk some of the other installations uh tonight we award hopefully uh the roofing contract to Frank Cyrus uh for the roofing project that's a re-roofing uh of the entire membrane system and repairs and updates to the hbac system which sometimes gives rise to the leaks the work remains on schedule we still anticipate a reopening sometime in June most of the replacement Furniture already in place U but the user volume is U still on uh with online services is still continues and if you look around um see places in town or you um look online there activities almost every day still continuing with the library uh and online uses of usage is up the Highland Park Police Department the consent agenda has a resolution tonight which authorizes the burough Police Department to accept the donation of a trailer and three police vehicles from uh the pba's nonprofit organization this is part of the implementation of the kusher Grant and the department will put the new vehicles to use and save on the Burrow's Capital funds for other improvements which we've studied for years uh this is a onetime break but it certainly helps us with our Capital Acquisitions um The High Park uh police department is also very active with local organizations this spring and in the month of May they will be conducting a pack a patrol car event for the Edison Municipal animal shelter from May 1st to May 31st you can drop off donations for the animal shelter which will be donated to help support their work the department will be posting the advertisement with QR code to access the Amazon wish list for items with which the shelter needs to continue its work there'll also be information uh online on the website on the Facebook page for the police department with the QR code um and the details you can make arrangements to drop off at the lobby um and at the end of the event we're literally will pack a police car and take everything over um assuming that there's space for the driver um the uh police department is also a partner for the Community Food Distribution program partners are the middle sex County prosecutor's office Goya Foods the Highland Park food pantry and the New Jersey lgbtq Law Enforcement liaison they'll be Distributing non- perishable and canned goods on April 25th from 9:00 a.m. to 1M at the food pantry the partners are assisting in the distribution but all of the food is being donated in kind by Goya Foods it's a great program and a great gift from Boa in addition that same LG btq law enforcement liaison provided training for the burrow um last Friday which the um Police Department's supervisors and some line officers participated in uh the consent agenda also has a resolution tonight for the Highland Park fire department uh to authorize the uh fire department to accept the donation of the new engine from the volunteer fire department which is nonprofit again this is implementing the kusher grant um and then um the new engine which is almost ready to go on the road still hasn't been approved by uh New Jersey the state of New Jersey yet but um uh Chief Gerson told me tonight that he and Norm thought that it would be on the road very shortly uh but that's the last step and this is the official recognition and acceptance of the Grant and that's my report mayor thank you thank you council member P thank you mayor good evening everyone I'm Council Jason stelck I chair the recreation and arts committee um within that isomass the Department of community services and all the programs that they offer um so first off I'd like to just mention a quick reminder that the uh Department of Community Services offers grocery Transportation online food shopping assistance while we are still without a grocery store and no we count down to these for that to be over um but if you need assistance in the meantime please reach out to the S Community Center at 7 2 819 0052 um and then some programming highlights of the community center today we held the spring lunch uh we had over a 100 people and entertainment was provided by HB own drama drama club and the next lunch event will be on May 13th and then tomorrow Wednesday April 17th a very auspicious day at 1M at the community center um there's the matter of balance program which is a program for older adults that is designed to reduce the fear of falling which can cause people restrict their activities so this helps trust that Fe continue on with their activities um they also wanted me to mention as the counseling program announc there's the middle sex County's 90th 90s birthday B celebration it's not birthdays from people in the 90s is people who are 90 years orator any Highland Park resident is invited to celebrate uh this middlex County Birthday Bash uh it is on Friday May 3r scway senior center from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. uh and then some other Rec programming highight reles uh just wanted to not to piggy back on Matt hail's report that the recreation department um will be facilitating this year's kids races at the annual HP 5K on Sunday May so please come out and support those kids'll be out there running um and rec department will also be having a table at the street fair later that day with info on their programs and their summer danamp and then speaking of their programming just you know I always announce that there's just a number and I I counted them up this time and it's yeah currently 16 adult and youth sport art exercise and theater programs it's a small town but we are delivering a lot and I am very thankful for all the hard work they do there at the community center um and then lastly I just had an Arts commission update tomorrow uh Wednesday 17 uh there will be another book art Workshop uh WR by the Arts commission uh it'll be from 6:30 p.m. to 900m at the community center uh this Workshop will be uh an accordion flag book so and all materials we provided but you may bring collage elements to populate the book um if you'd like to attend I think there's still time sign up in advance by emailing the instructor at a p l139 gmail.com again a p l139 atgmailcom and that is my report for tonight I'm sorry this is my second meeting back and I didn't know that we were stating our name and what committee we chair last time I left out was council president H thing so I share uh Finance so everyone can know I just noticed everyone sorry Cil president you and I'm loving that cup and the and the sleeve I think that's a Highland Park specific cup sleeve too on the a cup over there which is really cool it's those types of like flourishes that local businesses can do to really make us feel good about shopping there they make them you know feel like they're that they're really invested in the community so little little stuff like that I love um so obviously May 5th is a big date uh coming up around here and I'm going to add to that uh and did did you know that May 5th is also Earth Day well Earth Day is every day uh typically Earth day is April 22nd everywhere else but Highland Park we celebrate it daily and we're celebrating at our street fair um uh the whole Community is coming together at the annual Highland Park uh 5K race and Spring Street Fair and Earth Day Fair on May 5th so in addition to everything that you heard from councilman hail and councilman pelic um the Spring Street Fair activities up and down ran Avenue uh sustainable Howland Park has assembled also a terrific Earth Day uh program music food environmental activities and education uh all conveniently located during the street fair on North Third Avenue between W and and Dennison uh find the full Earth Day performance list at sustainable Highland park.org but just an overview we'll have amandala uh the the the Acappella group from the h par High School local local favorites Magnolia Street String Band uh Anthony Walker RIS caravanas and vegan food by Chef Meredith and there will also be 20 booths with Environmental Education and interactive exhibits and if that weren't enough free native plants come on out be there it's going to be beautiful May the weather's going to be gorgeous uh uh so um and then in in conjunction with Earth Day uh you know this is a whole program so Craig and the environmental commission uh is is here so please come celebrate Earth Day early uh with a guided tour of The Meadows Trail on Saturday this Saturday April 20th 20124 between 11: and 1 pm there's no rain date because it's nature and no registration is necessary uh the just a little background of The Meadows Trail uh and thank you for Craigs for this is the largest burough owned Natural Area in h Park it's 18 Acres include forested areas Wetlands open streams and important flood plan areas along the ridan river uh and it this will be a leisurely uh comfortable stroll but please bring shoes and water uh please bring comfortable shoes and water uh and obviously areas can be particularly muddy too so please be prepared for that um you meet we we're going to be meeting at the trail entrance at the base of South fth Avenue uh uh at um at the park at the DPW garage at 444 uh Valentine's Street and all ages are welcome uh in addition to seeing things pop up in addition to new signs and stores that that that's Super Fresh Fresh Martin and giddes and all that uh we're also seeing new trees popping up as well uh and we're setting an ambitious tree planting uh scheduled this spring as part of the burough biannual tree planting program uh 72 new trees have been added to our tree canopy uh keeping up with new plantings uh as many trees age out is really important and you might have noticed that a lot of our trees are aging out at the same time because many of them are roughly the same age as they were planted when many of the homes were built in many neighborhoods Outten around the same time uh but how do we care for our new trees uh this is going to be really important so obviously we have a watering contract that that that we're uh that we're authorizing tonight and under the close supervision of the shade tree advisory committee the administration and mayor Foster um uh we're going to make sure that these trees stay vibrant and resilient we can really grow into the shade trees that we need them to be uh you know in in in the very long term however tomorrow April 17th from 700 to 800m uh you can find out from experts on the shade Tre advisory committee uh to learn more and I am going to return to you because I don't have the URL right in front of me which I uh it's uh this this is on Zoom if you go to www.hpb.com and just click on the calendar you'll find a link to uh to to this uh uh teric program where you can learn more about our green spaces uh and um and and how to better support trees air air air and water quality and support noise reduction and shade uh just a bulk pickup uh is is about to be underway uh bulk pickup bulk garbage pickup is by appointment only uh pickups are can be scheduled on Wednesdays during April now May June September and October to make an appointment please call public works at 732 247 9379 and each household May request up to two collections per year also keep in mind that uh um right after the townwide garage sale uh Tuesday September 17th and Thursday September 19th there will be automatic both pickups that you do not need to register for uh material should be placed curbside no sooner than one hour before Sundown of the day prior to schedule pickup materials not properly secured or bundled uh and unacceptable items uh will not be collected for a list of acceptable and unacceptable items please visit www.hpb.com and by the way my name is Matthew h Public Public Works Committee in case you're wondering why thank you uh um so Public Works uh is is busy this spring obviously and are going to be out there you might have noticed um also springing up are some of our old friends the PO holes uh and um you know it's that time of year when the uh roads begin to thaw and the reveals the uh the the the the pock marks that sometimes manifest themselves in our roadways so our crews are going to be out tomorrow weather depending but it should be a nice day tomorrow uh to fill a lot of those potholes um however if you they they don't get filled automatic magically so if you see you while we're always surveying for for potholes if you see one um you can also report it at www.hpb.com report it first and then put it on Facebook that's the key uh Highland Park Housing Authority had its reorganization meeting last week uh congratulations to Ruby Hope on returning his chair and kaisa Martinez who was selected as Vice chair um I just wanted to give a quick uh acknowledgement of the solar eclipse uh it was a really great to kind of feel that bond with the community uh as we all celebrate science which is really important uh and thanks to the Highland Park PTO for supplying the kids protective eyewear uh so we could all enjoy the eclipse uh uh safely and securely and I think most of us were able to get pretty much so that's my rep uh B administrator as you'll be hearing from me Duram a budget I'll spare you a report now thanks B attorney nothing okay maybe now I just I have a very brief report and I want to start off by echoing something that council member George said last Friday we had training by the lgbtq plus um uh training here and I want to thank our police chief Rick Abrams for helping us to coordinate that with the county um task force to to get us that training in place and we had all our employees and others that came in and I believe that we all got a really good education and we learned a lot I I must say I learned a lot I learned a lot more than what I thought it was so it was it was very good it was very educational and this is a part of the seminar that I put together since I became mayor where we bring in different communities and have conversations and I it's not so much a conversation as education or re-education what we thought we knew about certain communities is to have these conversations where we're being informed we're given proper educational information and and how we work with and Within These communities so more to follow um we're hoping to do the Asian Community next and we'll keep you updated as that happens with that said um I was we're talking about a lot about Main Street and about Economic Development and development of our towns and our and our and our town getting highlighted in New Jersey food magazine which is awesome and I'm really happy for that but I also want to share with you that last week Fresh Mark the new uh the new market that we have in town we um where uh 7-Eleven used to be they quick check I'm sorry Quick Check used to be not 7 where quick Che used to be they had a little problem with their signage and they wrote to me and say we're having this problem we need help we don't know what to do we want to be good STS in our in in town we want to be received well and we want to support the town and you know our our signage Des sign that we have is a little bit bigger than what they normally that what we normally conformed to and quickly I turn it over to Terry and Scott in code enforcement and in no time they were able to solve this issue with the signage and if you drive by you can see that they're there they have a big beautiful sign that fits in although the property sets back quite a lot you can still see the sign and I was happy that these are some of the things that all of us collectively do the B staff correctly to do to help business succeed here in town because we want them to come we want to say we wanted to have a smooth transition into Highland Park and with that I want to say welcome and um that's my reward and so now we're going to have our first public participation attorney attorney yes please um good evening everyone um I'm sure if you've seen some of our prev meetings we have a new policy as far as ground rules go um the mayor runs the meeting so if you have if you come up to the podium and you give your name and your address all questions have to be directed to the mayor and then the mayor will direct either she'll respond or she'll direct someone else to respond to the question um when all the questions have been asked and this goes through both of the public portions we're going to close the public portion and then at that point no one from the public can engage in the DI diog and that's the opportunity for any of the professionals that we have up here uh the mayor or any the council people for the employees to respond to the questions so uh thank you very much and I hope you have a great meeting thank you for attorney okay public participation 3 minutes total 21 minutes total I'm sorry 3 minutes for speaker limited to items on this agenda comments can be from members of the public attend in person which which will be held first followed by those attending on soon and with that said is there any member of the public I to comment please go to the microphone please good evening mayor and Council I'm Craig Amro I uh Curr live in New Brunswick I've been a thiry year resident of of Park and very involved in the Meadows Forest U that was something I was very excited about with Steve Barnes and and and your friend Alan here and we take great pride in what we do in in the forest and we also greatly appreciate the Leons that are able to come from the council and give us assistance and not only assistance sometimes they actually want to get their hands dirty and dig in the dirt and do all kinds of things and one of our recently aon's noon but he he was kind enough to do many things in addition to just being the support that we need for our organization and uh George wood shop participated uh the signage at the is is a benefit of that pH was able to carve a beautiful sign location of this anyway so the so the wanted to do something in public say we really appreciate Bill and everything he done for us in addition to very generous donations to us and we decided we want to embarrass you a little bit and give you you know just something to to to recognize how much we appreciated being with us so with that [Music] [Music] [Applause] not telling you you got you got open your for t-shirt over 15 years well deserved well deserved Tak a while con [Applause] that is so sweet thank you for doing that bill Bill's a man of many talents and he works he really he really talks a lot about his work over there because he truly enjoys what he does I've mentioned to some officials down at Eng the fact that our Meadows Forest which we are calling it was a dum it's one of the few Legacy dumps or landfills as they call it from the deep when it was uh first formed in 1976 this was I think the second Legacy Landfill closed by them and it was it was a landfill and now it is it is grown into a real forest with a river that runs through it um and I I would have to confess to one thing that um when we have to bring supplies in sometimes it's much easier to kind of run my pickup truck through then to use the Gators which don't know start that we got donated but than I really appreciate it and I thank the bur for putting in its its efforts to to to make this work and to and to support the work for over 30 years this has been organized and moving forward thank you all K Crowley 218 harison Avenue I have three questions relating to the agenda tonight um all development related so the first is related to track C on the agenda it 14 G so uh has the do provided a response to the burrow regarding the closure of South Third Avenue there has been a response could you provide some color as what the status is second question um now pivoting to uh the track a I get new news um I was um intended to come to the Redevelopment entity meeting last week it got cancelled um and I'll note since I've been tracking the Redevelopment entity I think only four of the last nine meetings have happened so that Forum seems to be very spotty so now the council is going to vote on an agreement tonight relating to track a is tonight's vote a kind of a tandem of the Reel entities review and approval Plus for the council um or does it need to happen stepwise um I'm not coming at this saying there's anything wrong but I just you know there's the r development entity there's the council and I'm wondering just for clarity how that's find in terms of tonight's uh you know review of that agreement thank you um and finally again related to track a just um I was curious that there's a Redevelopment steering committee I may not have exactly the right term but I think Mr H know knows it most it's kind of this ad hoc Advisory Group so I'm curious of the Redevelopment steering or Rehabilitation Redevelopment steering committee has had a chance to revie this new plan for track Aid and um yeah is there's any detail that you can provide on that initial kind of you know review of of stakeholders that would be great thank you there's a person looks like uh we do have someone at home uh phone number 4445 please state your name and address please hi Lois leing North 2 Avenue you can hear me yes okay thank you for that all right I won't mention anything about track day I see there's a public hearing but I too am interested thank you council members for saying your names before giving your report most helpful I'm sorry I could not understand the two uh inhouse residents or the New Brunswick man I could hear every other word it's just garbled it's it must be the microphones although their vo is coming across loudly okay um I see there's I have to ask something about the uh ordinance 242084 oh that's that's the one that doesn't have okay could you explain I think I read 1.5 million something about um the burrow versus 1.15 million from the developer redeveloper person oh the grocery store is the one that has the um hearing public hearing and further down on 4-24-1 24 resol resolution for the Main Street budget I just don't understand 2005 minutes from mayor and council meeting May 3rd 2005 at the bottom of the page um they asked resident asked about the Community Development Economic Development $100,000 and2 2004 50,000 in 2005 administrator trante explained represent contribution to Main Street for undertaking the Burrow's Economic Development functions 2004 included $50,000 seed money for redevelopment which should be returned to the burrow from developers once Redevelopment occurs um then we talk about salary and transferring the functions of Main Street represents a huge saving since Main Street was able to do this for less and then I have my flyer from 2004 or five support Main Street all about Main Street shiny onepage flyer economic restructuring team is part part of their four teams is it not functioning our economic restructuring Team Works to support diversify and grow business district this committee attracts new businesses hosts business oh 30 seconds new networking events does outreach for local and help sharpen the competitiveness of business enter Enterprises okay I don't see that happening um as especially if we have to get a grants Rider why isn't it Main Street and um I think traxi will you talk about that at all is that TW block 2202 with those lots why why is that back there again thank you mayor there's more hands raised and for the record there were six attendees pleas are at home no more hands rais no okay now we're going to close this section of public comment and um motion to close this section of public comment so move second can yes Council Geor yes Council H yes council president H yes Council kiman yes Council yes um track seat questions was asked about track seat and I don't know if I should turn it over to you orne okay I'm going to ask our our administrator who is also in charge of Ed to answer the question sure uh regarding the question I think was It was kind of track seed but really the question was about any status on the closure of uh or our opening I have to remember our parot and any of South Third and our permit effort with do um we have had some good promising meetings with them we don't have our permit yet but it's seeming to boil down to uh lighting at the intersection and we've actually ordered put it in order with PSG to upgrade the lights at the South Third intersection to LED because we believe that will address the Dot's concern regarding lighting they're basically looking at everything you know because we want to make a change they're using it as an opportunity to make other upgrades in the intersection so we're um I don't even want to say it out loud but I'm going to say it they said they were going to try to do it this week so hopefully if it looks a little brighter at South Third that means we've made some progress then we go back to dot with a new lighting analysis and then it was represented to us that if we do that we should be able to move forward on the on the rest of the permit possibly get a conditional permit with the little bit of tidbits that we have to figure out from there so I'm feeling very optimistic but again I don't have it in writing so it ain't over till it's over so but I think we're really down to the minutia from what I can tell and then um you want to respond to uh track a I was gonna okay coun Bowman yes thank you very much so the n clature Redevelopment entity is comes right out of the statute and the municipality can choose to be the Redevelopment entity or they can choose to delegate that authority to a Redevelopment agency which is an independent entity or an improvement Authority Island Park some years ago decided to bring it inh housee from its agency and then take it control as the Redevelopment entity they are always the Redevelopment entity you never not Redevelopment enti they chose early on to allocate their work stream to a separate meeting when they're acting as Redevelopment or basically handling Redevelopment work versus when they're handling everything else that was just the ease of organizing work not necessarily changing who they are in any location so for tonight for example we will take votes as a Redevelopment entity um the votes on both the um the two orces one on the pilot for the grocery store and we're on the track day both of those votes will be as the I think going forward there's some discussions about being more uh doing Redevelopment work more often in this room as the agency as we have more coming so I think you're going to see us doing this more and more in this room as this group is exposed to a single Redevelopment entity meeting but for legal purposes whenever we're up here we could be a Redevelopment entity that was just the way they allocated the worksh so no other votes to your question about the Redevelopment entity what are we do here we are Redevelopment enti I believe that answers um both track C and track a questions uh council member H would you like to add anything to the discussion sure I um just the question on the advisory committee um and and real quick there have been times where the Redevelopment entity has met regularly and constantly so that just it it's where we are in the process right now we expect that that will be creeping up and there'll be more um Redevelopment entity meetings as well um uh in terms of the advis me the the idea behind that was that if someone was was interested in developing it could be a house it could be a building it could be anything if they wanted to sort of take the temperature of of um people on the planning board and the zoning board and Main Street if they wanted to get an idea of like is this something that you've seen done before is this something that um sort of an informal advice about um about whether or not what you're proposing is something that um is likely to be approved or or you know is likely to be supported by the buau um they can ask for a meeting like that and so what we do is we convene that when um the person developing whatever the property is is is is trying to do something that is is is might be different they might need a variance they might be and they can get this sort of informal advice um ahead of time in terms of track a they didn't not they didn't ask they didn't ask us to to do that um so we didn't do so um it's really just an attempt to try and provide development and developers um with a kind of sounding board um if they if they're trying to do something question was asked about the community block development Grant about five years ago the formula for the community block development Grant was changed there was a time when you could use it in all in certain areas of town that has been we've gotten a huge cut from the federal government the grant is much more restrictive and it's only being used now in certain areas of town and it's areas that they that they de in need of upgrades so that's pretty much on the Woodbridge Avenue Corridor so that's where that Grant is going to be used that where it has been used I believe for the past four years that's where the grant has currently been used the federal government has not expanded their reach and extending the grant to any other area so that's why it has not been used in entire town of Park the entire downtown of Highland Park it's only being used up on Woodbridge avenon area so because of the the cuts that we received from the federal government so I hope that answers that question and now we're going to move to ordinances ordinances that require a second reading CL can you report on ordinance number 24 that's 2083 ordinance approving the application for long-term tax exemp exemption and authorizing the execution of a financial agreement with DL urban renewal grocery store has been duly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and Affidavit of publication are on file it's time for public hearing on this ordinance if you would like to speak on the ordinance please come up and speak into the microphone or press the raise hand button on sure aable kley 28 Harrison Avenue I guess that is louder um yes so the uh yes this is the Super Fresh um financial side of things so I had asked some of the representatives by email um a question around what kind of formal budget analysis has been done to make sure that the the pilot uh the payment in L of taxes is something that the the bough can absorb um and I'd asked this question I think twice by email just to kind of make sure that you know I'm not coming up here lightly um and um you know I would rather it been answered but um you know $50,000 I think it's roughly the amount of tax we're giving up with ours giving up um I know that's maybe not the biggest number in the world but I think for good you know fiscal responsibility one should at least look well do we have to fill that Gap from elsewhere does it maybe affect taxes in the future um I don't know but I would like to think that before this gets approved on any pilot there would be a formal budget analysis now I've seen in the agreement there's an interesting section I'm going to find it so I don't miss speak um oh here we go benefit of project versus costs interesting section page four um it only mentions the benefits doesn't mention the costs so that's not really a rigorous analysis in my mind Mr ha is a professor I Believe by day I think if one of your students did that as an analysis and only site the benefits and not the cost be a deal or something um so it SES you know it's good for re revitalizing the town it fulfills the Redevelopment plan it's beneficial to the community improve quality of life y agreed um it's going to create more jobs jobs full-time part-time positions and $680,000 in sales hats but that's all great but I don't know that those benefits fill the Gap in taxes for the burrow maybe an analysis would show I'm wrong but my question is has there been or should there be a formal budget analysis to figure out where we make up this $50,000 hold in tanks thank you oh well we still have more questions reverted to I'm sorry is there anybody else with questions on this I do have a hand up on I only look to the AI yes uh Lois Ling I that you you want to just confirm and state your name for the record all right Lois for Second Avenue okay on the grocery store we see that they're spending millions and millions and redoing Meat Locker or meat freezer and and all tremendous amount of of new stuff will there be new public restrooms Stop and Shop allowed people to go way in the back down rows in the dark to use their bathroom is there a restroom mentioned in the renovation and as far as I think I read a statement 35 full-time employees I find that very highly doubtful since most um retail is pushing for part- timers I think those are my two questions on the forthcoming grocery store thank you that was the okay so now we have a motion to close motion to public discussion on particular coordinates yes Council George yes councilman H yes council president yes counc K yes Council yes or administrative would you like to answer the first part of the question and then we can turn it over again about the analysis I I I we didn't you we did some basic calculations um and just to put into perspective um the $50,000 and this will kind of tie into my budget presentation in a minute or two uh but essentially Works into about 9% of the total amount to be raised by taxes in the world um which comes to about $11 per year for the average residential assessment so you asked what how do we fill that Gap well the rest of the taxpayers will fill that Gap that's that's how we meet the budget requirement and that boils down to the average residential assessment to about 1150 I guess I would add in hindsight to that discussion of costs and benefits um the cost of not having having a large vacant store and not having a grocery store what that can do to property values in the long run what that can mean to Economic Development and what having a store coming open so quickly can mean for us as we try to attract all these other developments downtown I don't have an exact dollar value that I can assign to that but I I strongly believe that that this outweighs that and if anything it's going to help us in the long run so um I don't know if that specifically answers what you me cost benefit but um we this was a pretty straightforward thing um Joe is there no I it was simply that $11 a year to the average homeowner would that be a visible amount to maintain the grocery store which you know we were told year ago and I think everyone agrees it's a critical Community amenity is the wrong word but asset that um and so the collector wisdom was that was a small price play but ultimately taxpayers up the short and then we we move on to about restrooms and employees I don't know how many employees they will be hiring um I know they gutted the entire facility and if they gutted the entire fac facility I would I'm going to go at MIM and assume that they're going to put new bathrooms in because if everything is ripped out it would make common sense that there would be bathrooms in place we will find out what numbers um employee will be at some point but I have not heard that number of 35 employees so as time comes around when they start their hiring process we'll find out how many full-time and parttime and now school after school students that will be hard to fill these spots that I know that when our Stop and Shop left there was a huge gap that was L especially with our high school student that depends so much on this money to take care of their needs and help out with their families so and they have assured me that they will be hiring high school students again so that's a good thing um stay tuned we'll find out as we move along we'll find out how many employees and how many bathrooms will be in place and then um um now we're going to move on and may I may I have a motion to approve or reject ordinance number 242084 authorizing publication as required by law to set here oh oh I jumped ahead [Music] wrong uh okay uh clerk can you please no where am I oh I got cut up okay now the public hearing is Clos may have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 24-28 3 so move second roll call councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman house yes council president H yes councilwoman K Chan yes councilman St yes I don't vote but I'm Overjoyed ordinance first re requiring a first first Reading cler Please report on an introduction of ordinance number 242084 ordinance authorizing the execution of an assignment and assumption agreement with ran Redevelopment LLC pursuing to njsa 482 A-1 at set related to Redevelopment of track a has been duly introduced by the economic development planning committee for consideration of passage on first reading by title may I have a motion to adopt or reject motion to adopt second second public hearing for May 7 2024 councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes Council kiman yes Council yes and now we're going to go to resolution required separate reading which is 138 d424 d123 and we're also so no I'll leave that one there first okay CL please report and report an introduction of 2024 Municipal budget Municipal budget the Burl highand Park County of midet for fiscal year 2024 be it resolved that the following statements of revenues and appropriation shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2024 be it further resoled that say budget be published in the home News Tribune in the issue of April 21st 2024 the governing body of the burough F Park does hereby approve the following as the budget for the year 2024 notice hereby given that the budget and tax resolution was approved by council members of the burough of Highland Park on April 16th a hearing on the budget will be held at burough Hall on May 21st at 7M at which time in place object objections to said budget and tax resolution may be presented by taxpayers and other interested parties and now it's time for the bud budget presentation for our administrator hi thank you mayor I am going to share my screen to get started and uh forgive me I'm going to sit here because I've got my mic here and if all goes well we'll all be able to see my presentation on the screen over to the right and also the folks at home can can watch as well we will make the slides available on the website along with the budget document uh before I jump in I want to acknowledge Nara Champion she's in the front row and she's our CFO and she is the partner in crime so to speak on getting this document complete especially there's a lot of um state required I I work on the the spending but she has to figure out how to make the budget document come together the way the state wants it through the through the the various local Finance requirements so thanks for staying and thank you for your help getting us to this point so with that I am going to share my screen and let's CFA to cooperate um let me just move a couple things around and I'll get get started and for anybody who happen to tune in to the work session in March um this is a very similar presentation although the the numbers have been updated uh based on kind of final tweaks we made to the Budget prior to introduction um so sorry if this is uh slightly familiar and apologize to the council members that are here who've already said through this one time um so I will jump right in um hold on I just need to minimize this so I can see my own screen um so just to kind of jump in uh this pie chart represents uh the total tax levy that the burrow is going to try to raise which is 55 million 1881 572 and2 um and how that gets distributed and I'll do I have a couple ways I'll slice and dices uh 60% of that goes towards our Public Schools Irving ble the middle school the high school 26% goes to municipal government the work that we're doing every day here police fire garbage all the stuff you've heard in the the reports uh earlier um 12% goes to middle sex County it's really 133% one 12% goes to General uh supports from the county parks roads the sheriffs things like that a 1% of that be being the county open space uh tax that goes towards open space uh um expenditures within the county for example the recent Award of money towards our felt and Tot Lot that's an example of that uh open space and Recreation tax fund coming back to the B so just give you some ideas um and then 1% of this pie chart is the library's statutory minimum the state establishes based on your assess value with the appropriate uh contributions towards the public library would be our statutory requirement is 634 th000 in change however um as we have done historically and will continue to do this year the total Library funding from the burough is closer 1.85 um uh that's just always been our our approach is to fund more than than it's required so basically um the municipal government which we have some control over uh is responsible for 26% of the overall property tax bill that any any entity in in town um and so just another way to look at it if the average property tax bill is $1,353 56 um which I'll have another breakout of that you know that's about $1,000 a month that basically goes towards your school all the things that that we come to expect schools Town County uh and and Library and so Municipal that's about $270 a month goes towards all of our services and I'll talk more about that so just a quick snapshot uh the total amount to be raised from taxes this year 2024 has compared to 2023 is up by about 1.57 million um the total assess value uh if you recall we had our uh Ral take effect last year uh this is just some fine-tuning subsequent to that uh so our our value went down slightly to 100 by 172,00 uh and so essentially you take your to calculate the tax rate you essentially take the amount to be raised and divide it by your assess value and that's how you get your rate uh so ours for 2024 is estimated based on the numbers uh and I should have mentioned this earlier I'm using numbers from the school that was provided by the school based on their current and pretty firm budget uh the county was an estimated about 2% over last year so that number may may move I show you so the property tax weight uh that we're looking at uh is about 2.57 one uh up by 0073 over last year and I think the number most people care the most about what does that mean for the average property owner in town uh residential I should say property owner in town um the the bill would go up according to into this budget by uh $365 129 uh for the entire year um so over the course of the 12 month period uh that's about 3% uh over last year um but what I wanted to point out was dur as we a lot of us experienced during the reval um the the way the numbers balanced out um property many people's property taxes were either flat or went down uh so when I compared this budget and the cost to the average assessed property tax bill um it's actually between 22 and 24 a decrease of 8669 over 22 so while it's up from 223 since since the reval in 2022 we're still below where we were there so I hope that makes sense the way I worded it uh but I think it's an important thing to keep in mind see oh I thought I was going so I'm going to kind of drill down at this point um and looking more specifically at the numbers that were responsible for the municipal portion of the property taxes total Appropriations in the budget that's being introduced uh for 2024 uh was uh 20, 348,000 um 2846 which is a a change of 930,000 uh uh over last year uh the amount to be raised by taxes for municipal purposes uh is 14, 424 uh uh which is an increase of about 300,000 over the last year um we already talked about that total assess value that's the same number um so the average Municipal portion of the tax bill uh is up by about $71 over last year from 3 157 to 3221 um but again just wanted to that's 2.27% increase uh but if you look at it compared 22 to 24 as opposed to that's overall a decrease uh over 2022 of 10918 so this is just those numbers kind of settling out from the reval as well as um so I just I wanted to put that into some context so where does this where do these Appropriations go 20 million 348 28406 um within the largest sector of our spending is in public safety that's police dispatch fire Municipal Court all of that uh that does not include um contributions to pensions that's handled under statutory uh area um 177% goes to Public Works the garbage the recycling buildings and grounds and Roads 17 % also goes to General services and administration covering my department Finance Recreation legal planning fees Economic Development uh all all in uh 21% goes towards statutory uh and insurance costs I combine two of our categories in the pine charge just in case you're wondering uh but that's pension payments uh which go up uh this year I think just for an example um you know we had pension for uh police and fire going up by about 880,000 and for the rest of the uh staff about uh 67,000 so those are can be large increases from year to year and liability insurance we had an increase of over $120,000 which is becoming very very common in the state and you may have heard articles uh actually the state actually this year allows you an exemption from caps if you're if it's related to liability insurance because the costs are going up across a lot of municipalities um Capital Improvements in debt 9% of the budget that's uh the capital the borrowing that we do to support the capital projects uh in town uh and the repayment of that debt uh 9% and then the public library when we're including both the statutory and our amount over statutory makes up 6% of the municipal budget and and about 3% of the budget is Grants I should point out we're at about $555,000 in Grants now but that's what we have secured as of right today uh there are likely like the MPP grant that uh councilman Hill mentioned is not included because we haven't gotten our our agreement yet from the state but we're poised to do so perhaps even by the time we go to adopt um but there's a mechanism for inserting that money into the budget at a later date so that gives you the over view of where the money is allocated and where the the key spending areas are and so that is that is the municipal budget snapshot so maybe I'll pause there in case Mary is there any point you wanted me to um uh make or follow up on before I go into the utility budget and not from my perspective can any council members have any questions no May thank you okay so Switching gears uh gonna just take a look at the municipal utility budget um and I no pie charts on this one in part because it's a pretty straightforward budget uh 39% of our spending is to purchase the water that we all drink and bit in and water our Gardens with um unless we have rain barrels uh and there's a large anticipated increase uh in about $400,000 due to a rate increase uh that's being reviewed right now by the Board of Public Utilities so we have to and we anticipate up to a 16% increase in purchase water prices so we need to uh anticipate more spending in our budget and while I um uh because to accommodate that uh the mcua that's the middle sex County Utilities Authority that's the entity that processes our sewage uh that's 27% of our budget goes toward the fees that we are assessed for that uh so we're looking at an increase of about a little over $250,000 this year so those two items alone make up the lest share of our budget um and both of those items are going up and so I'm going to I mentioned this during the work session so I'll take the opportunity to mention it here um we will be recommending a uh rate CH increase to address these increase in costs um we believe it's going to have to come in in a about 10% uh because we're having to utilize a significant amount of surplus to close our budget this year and we need to make sure we regenerate some of that Surplus to be healthy and sustainable in the long run so that's something we likely have to have take effect for the second quarter so that's coming up very soon so but this Paints the picture we have these are fixed costs we do have some opportunity to address uh sewer service charges we're working very hard on uh addressing inflow and infiltration throughout the system uh but it's going to take several years to stabilize um the uh the last um other kind of largest prog is operations and maintenance that includes our 10 the uh ongoing contract we have middle sex Waters subsidiary usahp to do the day-to-day management of the system um and uh that's a fixed cost we have a slack we do anticipate a little additional funding required to keep on top of repairs and ongoing maintenance um and lastly there's that capital and Debt Service cost about 70% so this in a a nutshell it makes up the municipal budget that's before you I mean not utility budget that's before you um and uh you know this is it's pretty straightforward uh hope so with that if there's no questions on the utility budget at this time I could move into just a quick overview of the capital Improvement plan uh in our budget is a six Capital Improvement plan just any questions on the yes just I think you mentioned it Terry but the the rate increase that you're proposing when should residents when when was that probably effective for second quarter we just did the first quarter okay just want to make sure that clear that will have to be introduced by or have sure thanks okay we can move on so last but probably the most fun in some ways is the capital Improvement plan um this is basically a a longer ter longer Range View there's a six-year Capital Improvement plan and I focus on here are from year 2024 Capital Improvements that are on the hopefully this year's Horizon subject to council's approval for specific authorization of funds for all of these items but we have a number of building upgrades already underway some of which were are through a agreement with redeveloper with the school on Cleveland Avenue the community center the flooring we got funding from the state for the roof replacement and bathroom renovation so we're work moving ahead with that um we're going to need to look at uh roof replacement at the Environmental Center um and some fire alarm upgrades in various B buildings um the mly ra Park uh we already have Felton underway um and hopefully we'll be you know up and running before middle of the year however we know mly gra Park uh is in need of some improvements and uh through the NPP program as well as some other resources we're looking to bring uh some additional Capal and over there um Public Works uh as we've talked about quite a bit uh we we are in getting very desperate need of a garbage and recycling vehicle we have some requests in for that funding but if they if we don't get funded we're going to have to make the money available from our capit budget uh to support that um as well as other replacement vehicles for all of our departments um with respect to the utility budget we're focusing a lot on sewer system lining where we can because it's a cost effective way to arrest that employment infiltration and we're prioritizing BAS on uh the category four and five which are the the worst segments of our Ro our our sewer system uh we did that townwide evaluation and we're using that report to guide our investments as well as where we have ongoing road projects is where we we focus on and vehicles more generally passenger vehicles for the community services folks for for in town rides as well as for um the sh um so I think I already alluded to we have some projects already underway that were in last year's capital budget the Felson Avenue Tot Lot we have the conclusion phases of the bur on meter replacement program fortunately this is an example on councilman George mentioned earlier the new fire truck that was uh we were able to get for the burrow through the pishner estate that was an item in our last year's capital budget that now we don't have to fund through borrowing because that was donated to us so so that that's an example of something that will help us in the long run and and the library flat roof replacement which was awarded earlier uh this evening or did we get that not yet we will is on the agenda for this evening excuse me uh moving that project along the money's already been secured and we're moving forward so that's kind of the 2024 uh outlook for some of the capital projects there they're outlined in the budget documents which are on file at the cler's office as well as will the up on the website uh following the meeting so that's all I have mayor any other questions from see that there's none may I have a motion to adopt or reject Municipal Budget on first reading by title and scheduled public hearing for May 21st 2024 second R councilwoman K yes thank you for all your hard work on this counc George yes councilman H yes council president H yes and I just wanted to refer to uh we had a very robust public conversation about the budget Terry on March 26 our work session so if he wants to also see more substantive kind of free discussion questions and answers among the council and the administration uh I suggest you tune in to YouTube and watch that yes thank you kiman yes and I'd like to thank the finance that and everyone that worked on us as well thank you councilman P yes uh 13 B-24 d124 resolution authorizing introduction of the 2024 Main Street budget by title and set of public meeting from May 21st 24 by the buau Council of the B of Highland Park the following statements of Revenue and appropriation shall constitute the Main Street Highland Park budget for the year 2024 said budget shall be published in the hom Tribune in the issue of April 21st 2024 the governing body of The Bu of H Park this yearby approve M Street Park budget for year 2024 notice this yearby given the Main Street par budget resolution was by the mayor council at this meeting on April 16th a hearing on the Main Street budget business Improvement District budget will be held on Tuesday May 21st in burough Hall 221 South fth Avenue at which time in place objections to said budget and resolution for the year 2024 may be presented motion to adopt or reject motion to adopt second roll call councilwoman can yes Council George yes councilman Hill yes council president H yes counc yes councilman yes now it's time for the consent agenda but before we do so I would like to table 14k D 24-135 and that's a um to go into executive session for litigation so I'm going to rable that one as we move to the consent agenda may I have a motion to adopt or reject uh 14a through 14us 13 to 14 L so moveel here's your roof he's happy he's smiling councilwoman can yes counc I'm teasing Michael about but we have waited so long to improve the problem it's literally over 11 years that we have this problem yes councilman h yesc president H yesc Kenan yes and I just want to comment for the library too I've used it a lot while I was out on maternity leave and they really using that small space to the to the as their best to their ability so yes Council I also like to extend a kudos to the team at the Park Library Express good experience there all the time I vote Yes I too would be remiss ified didn't say a resounding yes yes yes yes yes and now we move on to appointments um appointment sustainable Highland Park Lisa noise motion to confirm so move second councilwoman Cana yes councilman George definitely yes councilman H yes council president H uh Lisa nus has been actively involved with sustainable Highland pars for a while now know um she's really stepped up and handled her Communications efforts and uh you know increase their online um presence and C Council obviously you know valuable she is the Comm so absolutely yes and a park is always looking for new volunteers yes councilwoman kiman yes Council M yes now it's time for the second public participation 3 minutes per speaker on any topic subject to 900 p.m conclusion prior to work session comments from members of the public attending in person will be heard first followed by those attending byes to speak if not we'll move on to zoom I don't have any hands raised now okay at this time I'm going to we're going to have a motion to move to executive session but before we do so we're going to have a motion to adjourn this part of the meeting motion to adj all in favor the next meeting will be May 21st see you then we're moving to um ex I'm sorry next meeting with May 7 um May of clarification didn't did we table executive session and no I tabled it to bring it back that's what I just did I tabled it before and then I just said most we're going to have a motion to move to exec session so I close this part of the meeting and then we're moving into executive session now we just had a slight change oh okay all in favor to close public discussion Now we move to exact session