[Music] it's seven this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home new to run the Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on January 5th 2024 and was posted on ball website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulle board of B Hall 221 South 5th Avenue Island Park New Jersey and has remained Contin posted as required by law our exits are to my right and left of council chambers Phil with your back turn to everyone so they can see who you are can you lead us in the plge of Allegiance and salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice see it's okay I acknowledge that what's Phil mayor Foster yeah Council here Council George here here counc president here counc kiman Council here attorney sha here and B administrator here tonight we are in our work session meeting and while that phone is being turned off just want to say we're in work session the items that we're going to discuss it's pretty much um our budget on our agenda and um we're going to discuss the budgets the budgets I should say um and you will see it's it's kind of a new format but not because this is the format that we worked on a while back so we have changed up the format a little bit but there's no formal action that will be taken it's just our work session that we'll be working in and with that um we can move into the 24 2024 Municipal budget and I'm going to turn it over to Terry and as usual she every year she gives a PowerPoint presentation it'll be in the same format so we can follow along and and I'm I'm going to I'm to use our Tech hopefully with success I did practice earlier I'm going to share my screen uh so the folks also at home can see what uh we're talking about um and you guys have a print outs so if you want to take notes as we go when you do so um as we usually do I will make these slides available on the burough website you know for others to look at keep in mind this is our work session about the budget um some of these numbers may change based on the discussions or last minute tweaks before introduction uction um however I I suspect based on some of the feedback I've gotten so far these are for kind of the general broad Strokes we're we're pretty close to where we'll likely end up um with the with the budget I'm saying that more for the folks who may listen from home um so with that I will jump right in and again um apologies if the format looks familiar but I figure it's easier to kind of use the same format um from year to year and I I usually start with the kind of the property tax snapshot of okay when we compare 23 to 24 and it's an estimate because we haven't finalized our budget yet you know what what what's changing um the total amount to be raised by property taxes and and just to let you know as we go through this we'll look at how this breaks out a little further from the h top level as well as within the municipal budget for specifically so just bear with me as I kind of roll through so the amount to be raised by taxes going up by about 1.5 million um the total assessed value of the bureau now that we've gone through our reval it's it's a minor change because these are the the typical tweaks that happen during the course of the Year between taxes and the number usually changes a little bit looks like it went down by about 1725 um and then we're looking at roughly a rate of 2571 which is up by 074 over last year and I'm going quickly because we're going to talk about it again um we're looking at for the average Property Tax Bill the average assessment being 48,49 in Highland Park um that the change uh is up by uh $366 55 for the entire year okay um so that's about a 3% increase you sh yes that is a typo thank you for catching it you can speak up don't just de side things uh this happens and I will make a note so yes in the 2024 estimate total assess value did not go by down by a million a billion or whatever that is however many comments it should be 2146 2927 apology so to change columns correct the uh typo is in the first number so I'll make a change that's why it's a work session uh so we're looking at an average uh Bill increase of 3% oh and I meant sorry mayor I meant to apologize on behalf of Mara Champion our CFO she was not feeling well today she was coughing and I just said thanks but no thanks she was going to be here I figured you would all agree uh but she's she had some sick kids at home last week and I suspect she's now fighting it off herself um so she will be here for intro and if there are any questions related to her area specifically revenues in particular I'm happy to try to feel them or we'll come back to you with answers if there's stuff I need dur to get back to on so I I promised her I would apologize for her absence but anyway so back to so we're looking at for the average assessment which is 48,49 in Highland Park we're looking at an increase of $366 55 um and this would be just as a reminder this covers all services schools County Municipal and Library all in uh and then we'll we'll talk about each of them a little more individually and here's everybody's favorite pie chart uh which breaks down now I have the problem of looking up and looking down uh basically the way way the property tax the total 2024 tax levy is 55,1 187,188 uh going to County open space fund which is tax kind of me separate tax and then 1% is the library statutory minimum uh so again the burrow share of this pie chart is 26% of that total total Levy um what I will say is I based my county numbers on a 2% increase because I don't have their number yet it could go down slightly or up slightly I I just don't have those figures and then the school gave me their uh estimate that they've submitted to to the state so it's I think it's not official official but those are pretty tight numbers as I understand it um just as a reminder the the library there's a statutory amount that the town must based on our our overall assessed value um and but the burrow exceeds that and we have a track record of exceeding that every year so you can see total Library funding is 1.1 85467 um and again we'll talk about that when we get to the municipal breakdown um let's see here uh just again another way to look at it if that average uh property tax bill is 12, 35482 or 1,29 or I'll just say $130 a month um 6 $17 of that is going to the schools that monthly amount you know roughly 270 that is going to the municipality each month and and so forth and so on you can kind of see how it breaks down here so it's just another way to kind of get your head under like how this plays out to the taxpayer so pivoting to what we have more control over the municipal portion of this uh of the of the property tax um and I should have done that I'm thinking about for my next time uh sorry sorry uh we're looking at a total appropriation increase of 870,000 from 23 to 24 total amount to be raised up by about 308,000 between 23 and 24 and again I will fix the total assess value column on the year 2024 uh but about a decrease of 1725 um just making a note on my sheet too um with the average the municipal share of the tax bill the the bigger tax bill that we talked about before being uh up by about $73 um in 20 in this with the budget numbers we're about to go through uh what I will point out uh is we did do our reval last year it was the first year we had it and so a bunch of folks saw and I I what I was telling myself is I should have done this point for the prior slide as well and I didn't but we when you look at 23 to 24 we're looking at an increase in the average uh assessed value of 7266 however if you look at the change between 22 to 24 that is it's it's actually still a net decrease so I just not to say we we don't like seeing the number go up but it does tend to go up but if you compare it to 2022 pre reval versus now uh I mean that's we're still in a a positive position relative to that so I just wanted to put that into some perspective uh for you all because it was something that I was questioning myself um and just to go into the pie chart a little bit more our biggest uh budget line is Public Safety 27% of the budget U going towards police dispatch fire Municipal coure um I will mention that um this does not include the statutory items and such as PFS that's in its own category uh at 21% of total so this is strictly salary OE expenses related to uh the public safety function um I point out with dispatch this year is a change we're now doing that through a shared Service uh through Ruckers um so but but these proportions I will say are generally similar to what we looked at last year everything's pretty much in keeping uh with that um uh next two biggest categories are before you hop on to the next one yeah we I know we we are working with Rutgers with the dispatch system the numbers are going to stay the same this this year but they're maybe a decrease next year with dispat yeah and I thought maybe we talk about that but I can mention it now just so folks know year one of the uh Records um includes one time on one towards updating upgrading our systems through them through their uh their Dispatch Center it's about $100,000 those were expenses we were going to have anyway because if you recall we were going to have to upgrade our 911 to meet the current standards which was about $100,000 so in that number this year uh that 27% includes this one time only so we will see um that go away in 2025 uh you can't tell that from this pie chart because that's a little granular but these are the things in general though it was 20 probably 27% last year is about 27% of the overall picture the next two largest categories are Public Works which we probably all see and feel the most garbage recycling maintenance of buildings and grounds roads exclusive of kind of the larger road projects which are capital and Grant funded uh General Services Administration is pretty much every other department that I didn't previously mention like my department administration wreck aging Legal Services planning Services some of these are done through contracts some of the are done as uh staff positions Finance you name it everything else is there uh 21% of our budget goes towards statutory costs like pension un employment uh FICA uh with you know our our T you know payroll taxes Etc um and then general liability and health insurance so that's it's a large chunk of our budget and it's an area where while we have uh limited control where we made some strides we this year as you know are moving toward for health insurance we're leaving the state plan and we're moving to a a health insurance fund the Central Jersey Health Insurance Fund which will save us 5% % over where the state is now and I'm I've been hearing the word on the street as they're looking at another potential double digit increase in State Health Plan uh premiums for next year so I think you know hopefully this was a wise move for us for the for the future here for both the employees and the municipality so where we can find savings we do um and uh general liability is our liability insurance uh we're up for Renewal so we will certainly be shopping around this year uh both getting as good a quote from our current insurer as we can but also seeing what other uh joint Insurance funds are out there that we might want to consider um 9% going towards Capital Improvement and debt repayment uh so those are those road projects I mentioned uh Bond ordinances that we're paying back which might include building upgrade uh Redevelopment costs things like that but again these are kind of debt that was authorized by Council and that we're paying back uh Library makes up 6% over the overall budget at that uh the at the 1 Point whatever million that I can't call off the top of my head uh we currently are spending 550,000 there's Revenue offset by expenditures there um so it's kind of an In-N-Out we will likely for example what's not in that number much to uh councilman H's Chagrin is the NPP even though it's like 99.9% sure we're getting that 125,000 we haven't gotten the executed grants so it doesn't go into the budget until we get that confirmation so there are more grants very actively on the pipeline I I just got an email that we got our recycling Tage Grant uh about $15,000 we got NPP right on the cost we will update that line in the budget up until introduction so anything that we get confirmed by introduction but again that shouldn't impact those the the property tax numbers that I shared with you because again that's revenues off setting those expenses so the amount to be raised from taxes for those expenses are non-existent sometimes it a small match we have to do um but just so you know that number is a moving Target every year and so some years we we're front loaded some years we get grants that comeing towards after the budget stop um oh so I'll stop there uh any questions I was going to save a little time to go through any questions folks had once we're done with the presentation uh to talk about I have the budget memo and some of those highlights I was going to kind of gloss over those so we'll talk about those after the PowerPoint um but are there any questions about this pie chart and kind of the broad Strokes before I jump into the utility budget all right um thanks so uh the 202020 2020 2024 sorry the 2024 utility budget snapshot I didn't do a bunch of high charts because to put it real plain there's not a lot it's it's not that many moving parts we essentially 39% of the budget goes to purchasing water and we have a contract a long-term contract with M sex water company we buy our water from their uh cja plant which is right next door in Edison uh the next big chunk is processing our SE storage uh through the mcua 27% of our budget goes towards those expenses um operations and maintenance the other 27% and in that number includes uh emergency repairs as well as the operations and maintenance contract we have with middle sex water company uh to do that 10year contract we entered into a number of years ago to do the year after year and that's about $670,000 a year roughly just to you some idea and then the last main category is capital and Debt Service at about 7% and so just to go through those Trends uh you see a big change in the purchase of water costs and that's because we were uh we were informed that there was a six 15% potential increase coming from the purchase of water that that we have the budget for um we were able to close the budget Gap with Surplus but we had to use a lot of surplus to do that and we need to remake some of that and so that's why we are recommending between the increase in cost in purchase of water and the mcua we're going to need to do a 10% rate increase on the on the um rates we charge the uh customers of the utility the water uh so I don't say that easily we did our last increase I believe was a similar 15% and it was now I think we're almost at three years ago just to give you I'll get you more precise number to bring that with me uh Terry yeah um just so I'm sorry I have my glasses on so I can't see my my but essentially the cost of water and cost of the ncu those are statutory formulas or are those well mcua so so they both have a process for getting their budgets both the mcua and the middle sex water company middle sex water companies regulated the purchase of water not our operations and maintenance right this is actually a subsidiary USA Highland Park which you see driving around in the trucks in town the purchase of water is regulated by the Board of Public Utilities and they have a rate uh uh case being being reviewed right now we received a letter saying there there's this kind of inter intermediary rate being imposed um and so I feel to be on the safe side we need to assume it's going to go forward not to give us too much hope but I did hear that it may Highland Park may be not 16% but until I know otherwise it's my strong advice that we assume the worst because the reality is we have unexpected costs throughout the year or some years we don't you know are our are you are are we have to buy a certain amount of water every year and sometimes we just don't have that much consumption and we're still paying that bill so this assumes a 16% increase I think I should know certainly by the time of adoption where that stands and but we would pretty much need to come in for the for second quarter have a a rate increase to comp essentially it's the BPU that says this is what you will pay have to make a case essentially yeah we don't we're not a part of a we're not negotiating with that so I just want to make sure I'm sorry IED your point I know may understand I just want to make sure the public understand so we we we don't um we are notified when they're making these rate cases but they're built on very complicated um uh structures in part looking at their Capital expenses what they can rationalize towards the BPU there are a lot of regulatory um typ in up which we're experiencing as our own in our own way in our small utility that the larger utilities also have to keep up with and and we we want clean drinking water me and that means if if the standards increase for what's acceptable particulates then they have to make the enhancements to their systems so they have been doing a lot to get uh the plant that we buy from kind of you know geared up and ready for that so yes and then mcua similarly uh they they base it on estimates and flows and we do have increases due to what's called inflow and infiltration and that's a high priority for the um uh our operations team we're prioritizing uh sewer lining in particular with our Capital expenditures to try to because infiltration is basically water that either comes down from the sky as rain or leaks out of a water pipe enters up in in this so clean water is ending up in the sewer which is nobody wants to pay for that so so that's a area of priority for the utility um and identifying and we've got kind of we did that TV inspection a while ago and that's the guidelines that we're following and also as we do road projects we are upgrading the sewer as we find it to try to arrest these costs so over time we won't maybe our middle sex water company I mean our middle the middle sex County Utility Authority money if we can arrest some of our costs there because that is based a lot on our flows um as I understand it um the the purchase of water is based on other factors that the utility has to make to the Board of Public Utilities I have a question Terry for clarification um we have been having tental downpour since last year why would not why would not that have an impact in lowering the cost of water because you can't drink the rain water I know it has to be clean but that's a valid question to people like we have so much water why is the cost of water going up and I think okay you know with the explanation that you give and and to answer that question it would help a lot of people understand that yes we have rains and yes the reservoirs are overflowing but not they they're not even calculating I maybe they do deep in their their rate case um drought conditions for example I'm sure that plays a factor especially for depending on our water comes out of the canal so there's there's a pretty uh abundance Supply so that's rarely the issue sometimes actually excessive rainfall can cause cost to go up as I understand it because if it brings uh more debris into the water system that's more they have to clean out so of the canal for example or or at the plant so those are those that can cost more but essentially and it could cost more like I just said if there's infiltration into the sewer system because our their water table's High that's costing us uh as well which is why we got to kind of seal up those older pipes and get them um working as well as we can um so those are I would say the purchase of water we have less control over I think mcua there are some ways where we can really be strategic in the next five years to make investments in our our sewer lines to to arrest some of the sewer processing costs that we're experiencing purchase of water is a challenge because we don't own water no you answer the question I think everybody out there would I know what I was asking so I just wanted to make sure I I we were able to present a budget that closes meaning we have enough Revenue to cover expenses but that really would is depleting quite a bit of our Surplus that is not healthy to do because we may need some next year so that's why we're proposing a 10% uh rate increase effective Quarter Two because we've already got a quarter under our belt um so um yeah do you have an EST an estimated number for Surplus pre passage of this [Music] project number I don't have it in front yes n has all those have been the Nara questions the revenue um I want to say 1.5 million in that ballp and we're using if I let me look at my budget sheet um we are using or remember was 1.6 we're using 1.1 so you get the idea um and we can have n send that sheet around for anybody I can send those around and certainly uh add that in okay um I mean that the uh one thing that I think might be helpful is is a 10% increase what does that mean for an average water bill like the similarly way that we did it for I can do that I we've done that in the past and I'm happy I don't have that here yeah no I I didn't expect to have it here I just think that's a good that would be beneficial but essentially take take your bill and add 10% but for those of you listening at home but I can do that like we do with like we do somewhere between it's probably somewhere between 25 and and 30 a quarter on an average bill oh additional yes yeah maybe I don't want to even confir have that that's a monthly that's quarterly yeah correct and so that's that's important to remember as well um all right so that those are the broad Strokes I wanted to cover on the utility front and I did put a slide together to just overview some of the capital Improvement plan highlights keep in mind it's they call it a plan it's it's it's very aspirational that you must put one together um I just put in some broad Strokes just to give you and the public kind of just an overview the types of things that we put in our Capital Improvement plan again before any of these projects were to move forward the council would have to authorize the borrowing that would have to go into making these projects happen so there's a lot of process subsequent to the adoption of the plan but essentially uh I've listed the community center here again only because um we we we do have grant funding from the state to cover the uh roof replacement and bathroom renovation the floorings happening as part of the uh contributions from the school that's being built on Cleveland Avenue but I am not 100% confident that the money we got on the grant is going to cover the full cost of the bathroom renovation so I'm leaving it in in case we need to authorize additional debt to cover those costs we for example the Environmental Center if anybody's gone by there the roof has a CHP on it we need to do the roof over there uh fire alarm upgrades and know several our building needs to happen this is just a flavor I'm just giving you a flavor Parks we've targeted we did Felton last year as you can see in the projects underway uh which not in the ground but it's fully authorized and the money's in hand so I'm not putting it in the capital plan because we've got all that sorted uh but my M graph Cary Street uh is our high priority for both the MVP program so it's likely we'll need some burrow dollars to help uh leverage some other funds uh Public Works we need to get a garbage truck it has to happen uh it's if you've experienced uh strange pickup Tendencies on your street because you know they were tipping in one arm stuff you know our equipments being shuffled around compensating for a really old uh piece of equipment this would be a recycling garbage a rear rear loader that we need to prioritize and some replacement vehicles for for Public Works uh the utility I mentioned the sewer system lining program where might need to authorize additional uh Capital expenditures to uh Advance some of those projects that I mentioned earlier um uh and Community Services the passenger vehicle we use for in town and short distance rides as well as we really do need to be looking towards the shuttle bus replacement uh for the larger 17 person bus we've it's you know it's it's working but it's been getting a lot of use thanks to uh Kim and the team at the community center um and so it's it's one of those things we're going to have to keep an eye on um and we've been we've applied for a couple grants unsuccessfully to do that so I think it's time to start putting it in the plan so that's what we did this year okay um projects underway I mentioned the Felton Avenue Tot Lot we're looking at we're waiting on our contractor to give us a when they're going to come in and remove and pour in place the surface and the structure uh I don't have a date yet um the but we're targeting as we're pushing as hard as we can a burough owned meter replacement program as everybody knows we're now in the we're in the like home stretch of that program uh so that's a project that isn't currently in the plan but we're finishing up uh the new fire truck I wanted to point out this was one that was in the capital plan last year that got to come out thanks to that wonderful State donation from the cusher family so that was a huge help to the buroughs about $800,000 of of capital expenditure that we were spared thanks to that really generous donation and again you guys know this was well and Phil I don't have to tell you the library fly room rep placement was a capital project we authorized previously so I'm just trying to give you a sense of the flow of how these projects move from year to year and some we plan on them for this year and they end up being next year you know we do our best uh to anticipate when when they're going to happen so that was my broad brush uh view of the municipal budget and utility budget and the capital Improvement plan um do and and then from there I was thinking we could discuss um any questions or thoughts on the individual Council bucket areas um and I can walk through some of the highlights of changes from this year's budget if that's that would why don't you start with council member posting it all right I'm gonna stop the share on the screen right so that way uh people were seeing us but they're you and then this will be shared again uh on the website so the the slides will be corrected and then shared on the website um and then um uh just I should have said this at the top uh we're tracking for the uh August 16 council meeting for introduction uh so bu April April different a months sorry thank you God where's my head um so the just so you know we have a little time to kind of tighten up these numbers any questions that come up n and I have already caught some minor minor numbers I got in each twet but nothing that affects the bottom line so I'll I'll share those separately um but just to review some of the highlights of the budget sheets and then uh I guess Jason I don't know mayor wanted you to go first uh but did did you want to he had some questions I always have some questions um I am excited to see the improvements to the community center I'm curious if we have like what's the latest information on the timing of implementing some of those July we had a meeting with the developer this is for the let me clarify for the the flooring the pantry improvements and painting the bathrooms and roof are on a separate track that the burrow has to drive but we had a meeting and we're going to do those in July that's the plan so just so you know the community center will be during that time while we do the floors and so that gives Kim plenty of time to focus on outdoor programming and not be doing in in the building stuff during that time big tent in other words yeah we'll need to figure out something I'm sure we can find alternate spaces location most of the program is outside yeah no there's a big tent and you have it outside everybody can it's also going to be 90 degrees so I'm not sure how popular that'll be I think we can just look at a you know essential programming well of course we'll figure out ways to keep it going but um where we have some discretion we're going to have to take it back and right is uh do we have a good sense of how long the uh projects will take to complete just those interior Renovations no more than the month of July that's okay that's the plan you know I know the developer wants in and- out you know so it's demo put it in paint you know be great that's fantastic that's the plan that that's what we talked about so for we be we he thought he could be actually less than a month but we thought to be on the safe side clear the decks for the month of July it's it's a little bit quieter because we have Fourth of July things that are already outside underway and in the planning stages so um yes the as for we got to get a proposal from an architect that Ro bathroom and then we have to bid it out you know same old story so that's going to be on a different time right great uh the only other thing I would mention is I know that I saw some increase in the funding for um special events for the Arts and I know it's a relatively small amount we're just talking about a few thousand dollars increased funding and both of those uh uh buckets but just you know I think it's a tremendous worthwhile a tremendously worthwhile investment that few extra thousand dollars could just make a really meaningful contribution to the quality of life won town so I'm very happy about that and appreciative the work that you and the mayor and the team here Ray and all have done to make that happen great and just to build off what you said we we basically put a little more in celebration of public events uh because we're also doing at popular demand we're g to test test out the year end I mean summer end party uh before Labor Day uh not with fireworks but there will it does need a little budget and we're you know we're designing a special program for that and by we I me and Kim and the team over there at the commun CER uh and so so you know we're trying to to Really enhance what we're offering at very reasonable to your point you know we're not talking huge we're talking under $5,000 yeah and it's great Fourth of July event is always like huge and you know we get tremendous turnout but that's a lot of people from out of town but I feel like that end of summer celebration was more GE towards Highland Park residents and and people loved it I got so much positive feedback so I think doing it again so we're excited about that yeah and and not doing with fireworks you know try to have its own Vibe right a little more you know probably a little more stuff for kids and stuff like that sparklers much so is this does this budget change um uh for Arts include the the the um public event no so that's a separate line I forget where it is uh some under like Recreation it's under yeah the the the Arts commission and Jason might be able to speak more to any specific go to the there's a line in the budget under um that's how I'm used to it um under Reon Arts uh there celebration of public events Oe it's up uh from 6,500 to 10,000 by $3,500 that's what I was referring to for the for the public events specifically larger and it's just coincidental and so the Arts commission uh also put in for an increase um and based on their performance last year um you know it seemed like you know they're they're getting projects done they're doing lots of events and the public art displays and other things so they're showing you know there have been prior years where they got big increases and they spent 2,000 last year they got a big increase they spent it so let's see if they can keep the momentum going um I will be on top of to do that your responsibility Mir so um so yeah because there's a lot of real um uh physical evidence of a lot of the work they're doing throughout town which is great Council George yeah I I have a question um that I've had several people ask me to and um I think for explanation it's probably a one-time thing but um the some of the the Kushner Grant material went for upgrades that would be outside the purchase like the library is getting substantial improvements that are not part of any budget line on the other hand some places like uh the fire department um has had a capital plan for replacement of an engine for some time uh deferred deferred deferred uh vehicle replacement in the police department which is pretty routine because we routinely lease new vehicles uh they are next to DPW yeah and we can't get them but uh routinely they they they next to DPW they get the worst wear U so people are asking um and I'd like to understand are this onetime Grant from Kushner does that roll into the budget or does that stand aside from it in other words if we're buying if we're getting three police vehicles through the grant is that cost coming out of the budget we're reducing that or is it um allowing the budget to then use that money elsewhere to offset salary and wages or operating in expenses so you kind of hinted at it so I think you know the answer but I'll answer the we budget for vehicles through our basically Capital expenditures passenger vehicles are their own thing they're not capital in the same way that a heavy duty garbage truck is but essentially that debt service line in the P chart that I showed that's where that would be so where we have savings where it will save us money is if we were planning to authorize three new police vehicles this year that would be debt probably we would have to start paying back next year that would show up in next year's budget so it is saving us money in our budget but not in the same calendar year because now that's three uh and I think my understanding is the vehicles that were purchased for the police through the PBA uh 501c3 are going to be the kinds that work really well for off duty and vehicles that we Supply um and also kind of some like a pickup truck so they can carry cones around and really set up for traffic control and things like that so those would have been things you Council would had to authorize me to borrow money to go either through the mcia has a program we use for the leasing program the leasing Loan program that's where we usually borrow the money or and we would have to pay that back over time so by that's three vehicles now we're not going to have to pay for to we don't have to pay debt back on um so it does help it's just kind of in the longer run similar to the answer to the fir Tru while you can't see wow why is the why isn't the budget down $750,000 because we were going to borrow the money and pay it back over 30 years or whatever the life east of the life of a fire engine would be so it does save us money just not it's not a quid pro Co like and so the budget's going down not immediate you know um but if it was something more routine like you know maybe it would show but these are larger Capital Improvements that are by and larg getting funded through um this cusher which is is helping R out because odds are for example using the library we'd be looking at these Library bathrooms going we can't leave them like that with this brand new library inside and you guys would be contemplating should we help out and borrow the money and and authorize the debt to fix those bathrooms up now we don't have to do that because we got the cush we would have gone up more than the 3% oh yeah I just have a short maybe next year no but I'm saying for this year if we had put all these things in play and just a short question on the financing in the library the improvements that we're doing now minus the roof and minus Kushner uh is that is the State Library bond that we lost first round but gain second round and that's a match and so we borrowed we we are borrow that's money that is on our payback schedule here so we had to borrow for the full amount the half for the half that's what I wanted to clarify so the other half is coming from the state so we didn't have to finance that that's saving us that debt service over time okay thank [Music] you okay member uh I had a bunch of questions K Terry answered them um the one thing I thought we might clarify a little bit is that that part of the economic development budget is for an increased staff for economic development maybe just sort of broad Strokes uh about what you're anticipating or thinking um as the the the the economic development I don't know assistant or we're calling it it the Reas it shows up as a 371 per increase because it went from zero to nothing yeah so anytime there's that type of increase I think it's important I appreciate you raising it yes the this is something that the mayor and myself have been talking about and I I basically was like let's see how the budget comes together put it in the budget make sure everybody is comfortable with the numbers but essentially the title The Working title is economic development coordinator and coordinator is kind of a position title we have in other areas of the buau um imagining this person doing a lot of assistance to myself and the mayor uh business assistance like reaching out to local businesses going after grants Grant Management this person will be the NPP coordinator for the Woodbridge Avenue project uh it just because kind of was coincident we were working on this job position before Emma gave us her notice and Emma was the a very capable MPP coordinator but it makes sense to put that in their portfolio it's going to help us um really kind of Leverage a little more um time also help me keep Communications going on the Redevelopment front because our projects are starting to pick up we're going to have to organize Community meetings do and this person can be a assistant a coordinator to help us keep this activity because economic development is one of the primary things that we're looking at going forward so it makes sense to a dedicated person to pay attention to those details and stay on top of things I it's needed it's needed it absolutely is needed um just to also just to because you brought up Emma right like Emma and the she was an assistant to the burough administrator and there's a that's a separate position that's a separate position so I don't want people to think that the economic development coordinator is also going to be the replacement of Emma there will be an assistant burrow administrator or possibly assistant to however that works out but then there will be the economic development Bo those are two separate positions so that's the vision the the economic development coordinator idea was well underway well before I even heard of times of town so I hope uh so the that was my focus I it said to me now I used to hear it uh so but the the reality is that um I still think both positions are essential and I we are if we really want to see all of our projects through to the Finish Line at the level that we want them to be in terms of quality and then and Community engagement we just needed more capacity to get it done I agree so I just thought it was thank you that's a good one to point out you want to talk anything about your other budget buckets well main Street's on the next main stre there's a there's a um talking about commissions that are doing more um the human relations commission has been doing a lot more and I was kind of hoping that they could have an increase in their budget and it hasn't increased they didn't put a request in this is what everybody else asked and given as as request okay so um there's time to make tweets with the mayor and the rest of your colleagues permission um but we want to know what what the needs are usually the commissions do is put a little blurb together 300 for events you know not nothing super fanc yeah I know I I'll talk so the numbers just since you raised it the the the only number that we dialed back actually was the Arts commission the original request was like 17 something and so we said we'll go with 15 make it a nice even number because that was a big jump um they seemed very happy with that so don't feel bad um and the rest were as as requested everybody else St okay and then um the other ones are more questions that don't really have to do with the budget per se but for when the library I mean when the rec center is closed what's going to happen in July for the food pantry we we will make sure that there's no disruption we I the pantry area can be handled separately and we can time it to be you know what it need there will be a disruption so it's a good question I don't I haven't had those conversations but I guarantee you kins would thinking about it and the other thing is just a reminder for any upgrades to the parks that they're assessible for all our children of course I even want to see bra yeah that would be awesome the bra me the most stressed just because I don't know who to been on about bra it's going to happen I actually looked at the Braille Trail at the freeling ho in arum recently they have a braille Trail centrally located near the parking lot for the native plant Sanctuary maybe as our River Trail project pulls up that's a good and at The League last year they had um the drill the the Braille playground equipment everything had Braille on it because I I made sure I went to look because I've been saying Braille I'll also there's somebody on the commission for universal access who might have some insight into that because he's working with a lot of organizations getting B into them so I'll him to reach out to you did I appoint that dis oh yes yes McKenna yeah yes yes yeah because he's the director for that whole area yes so we do have someone in town that could that serves on one of the boards and commission that could help okay anything El that's it okay councel press um thank you mayor uh thank you Terry this is great uh nothing major compared to what um anybody has has asked I had a question about the water uh mcua just uh can you just can you just characterize the over the the the uh the overages um so they do it they they give us our estimates every year so what we budget is an estimate for the calendar year 2024 but in the first quarter of this year we get the the difference between what they estimated and what was actual so that's a real number that's I don't have it just showed it to me I don't have it in front of me um 30 uh 6,000 just about was over their estimate so we have to pay that in 20 we budget for that in 2024 for the prior year overage so that's a real number and that's I believe likely due to ini and and because we've had a lot of water yeah okay that's the best that's what our team is thank you for that no no no um clarify what I said yes no thank you and then and then in public works uh just in in that portfolio uh you know uh those you know sustainable shade tree they all benefit heavily from administer support and that's what future emmo will be back I mean this portfolio I think more than anything you know you know really really relies heavily on Staffing so those numbers so I mean if people are seeing you know the investment in shade tree or sustainable uh the investment is is is far above and beyond that uh outside that that that number I would just ask not not that I have a objection but um can you just there was a slight decree like $50 decrease in sustainable that was what they submitted they submitted that that was not editorial license on my part I would not bother I was surprised so if you want to just verify that that was intentional I think yeah I I'll I'll I'll make sure but I think that we also trust our ourant you know getting capabilities too um uh and that's it and then you know with with big in I I love the investment in the Arts um I think that's I think if a budget speaks priorities you know then that's really you know public art is is is such a huge priority um uh you know I'd like to probably like to see more of the fruit of that of the of that allocation you know visibly you mean like on the bridge just you know beyond just programming but like you mural mural and Benes you know sorry I'm with you we've been around too long for that we're the ones who are gonna be pinned to that wall 20 not meus me yeah I say and I know that they spent every penny of it and I know that it's an amazing group I mean I'm not I'm not they contri to a lot of cultural events as well AB programming for the kids through the gorilla Arts Club yeah they're doing a lot and but I'm with you so that's definitely neural definitely been something that I've been pushing for y and yeah hope to see a lot of that with this money and the human relations commission has an idea for a mural all right also if you look at the libraries activities they don't come on the same radar but they very much match what's going on that's true uh you know they're doing the the book making project the other art projects at the library uh they're offsite a lot and actually that's going to stay that's going to stay in place once the library opens uh the of the offside activities there's a book reading of penos once a month in the evening for adults there's a lot going on the bookmaking projects the other art projects um they're they're working hand inand um and and the list that you see um on the Burrow's calendar you don't necessarily see on the libraryies calendar unless you unless you're you know a library fanatic or you know or a bookwork but there's really good email it's actually really yeah really good emails the U but hand if you put those hand in hand You' be amazed at the the Arts the broad umbrella of Arts speaking Arts Visual Arts reading Arts uh you know the performance art the plastic Arts uh there's so much more than than you would believe leave by combining all of the the menus uh and looking at those activities and what you just mentioned penos can you make a consorted effort to spread the love around when you're doing events to all the businesses in town because they all need to make a little bit of money so if we you know we go to different venues and you know have different events it helps all the businesses instead of just one concentrated area well we'll give we'll give the Arts commission credit for the lenon that it was really and I knew what atlon mean now I did not know Coliseum yeah it me it means Coliseum because in the ascian Greek world people used to get together in the Coliseum and talk about everything and that's what that word means did not know that either I was educated so it was well worth it if mayor if you if if we're done with that I I did want to hit on some big changes that are boring they are probably the source of most of the increases in in the budget that they don't really fall in any of your buckets it's really administrations it's really our bucket there but essentially just Top Line where we had some jumps was liability insurance up by 121,000 again that's is what it is we have been taking and the this last year in particular and we're continuing forward a lot of steps on you know tightening up our operation both in terms of safety at the workplace because this this liability insurance covers workers comp but it also covers uh Tor claims that may be filed against the burrow um lawsuits that we have to defend if there's monetary you know damages things like that so we really have been doing the training doing our employee safety meetings really trying to work hand inand with the insurance fund where we can kind of tighten up our own operation and and they gave us some good feedback that they they thought that they really want interrupt you for one minute and also we mayor and Council have a role to play in reducing that please take those courses online they're critical they help a lot right so thank you and we'll be sending you reminders about trainings but in any case so that's that's one area that went went up um uh pension got to put my glasses back on uh went up per pension for uh uh PS 67 up 67 11 or almost 12% % pfrs went up at 7 and a half% 79,2 um and those are just dictated costs that we have to pay to M do our obligations by our employees um so I just wanted to make sure there these kind of broad stroke trends that we just have to keep up with um uh and and those were kind of big big ticket items that we we just we had to over budget um just look at my notse I forgot I think okay oh we're good we talked about utilities and everything else so um so again just to recap the the goal is to introduce uh on the 16th and then the public hearing will be at the May meeting and the vote on May meeting I believe it's the 7th but double check the calendar um and uh we're on track and then I guess uh that covers the budget over oops I got fell off track here for minut you need your agenda yeah I know give you mine I'll save you oh Bo shouldn't have got into the weeds of the budget um okay we talked about that Terry did her council member H Main Street yeah um uh so be pretty quick overall I think um just a little background um five seven years ago um we sort of discovered that Main Street um had not had annual increases on a regular basis and there was a big jump all at once and since then we've tried to do incremental increases over time so that there's not sort of a big jump um that normally is in the 2 to 3% range um uh this year we they asking for a little bit bigger increase of about a 5% increase in the bid bid tax and then also um some additional allocations from the burough um on top of that um uh uh we we normally have an allocation from the burough but we an economic development line that we have an allocation for um and then also some additional money from the NPP project is going to go or or hopefully go over to to to Main Street um so the budget has increased for Main Street um uh and and there's a couple reasons and I just sort of thought it was important to explain why um sort of making that that argument um uh uh obviously every year um you know costs go up like for all of us the you know our budget goes up and and and so there's certainly some of that there's some you know legitimate um increases in cost and Staffing costs and and all of that um but what we've tried to do with the budget increase and what we've asked Main Street to do is really focus all of the budget increases on helping existing downtown businesses that that that the the money that we are contributing and the ask and the additional increase in the bid um is really to focus on the things that are um targeted at our our this in business there's a mini grant program that's going to be expanded there's advertising coupon mailers gift card programs um things that that that we we've done in the past but the goal is to try and and give a little bit more ump to those um you know Main Street is is is wonderful at doing events and all that but we we think that a more important Focus at this particular point is is is pushing to to really helping those existing businesses helping Outreach to to try and bring existing businesses in um uh and and and these allocations are going to help them do that in a in a better way so that they can they can Target our our existing businesses and do some greater Outreach to try and let people know about Highland Park and and and come to Highland Park um and and it with all of the development Redevelopment that's going on with the new places are going this is a good opportune time to say um you know we're we're going to have these different um developments coming online and as a result we're going to you know have these in the next couple years ideally um and so it's a great story for for Main Street to be able to tell and so part of what this budget does is give them some of the additional resources to be able to tell that story um about our businesses and also to help um uh uh the businesses um the other sort of component of that is that um we're working to to to try take some of the things that maybe Main Street stepped up to do particularly during covid um and the one I'm particularly thinking about is the voucher program that happens at the the farmers market which is a very successful program and important program that we don't want to lose but it's also something that sort of takes an enormous amount of staff time the morous amount of of of of Main Streets time to to do that and so over the next year the goal is to sort of transition that um to to to some extent um to sort of allow for more of the the Main Street time to be able to again to return and and and H us and focus on on on businesses um uh We've also talked and and this year I know that they're the the rec department Jason is is is stepping up and helping out more with the 5K and doing more of um you know they have the capacity to help with some of that um event planning and things like that that we can sort of um our existing staff can sort of step in again to sort of help Main Street be able to have the resources and time to be able to focus on um on our exting businesses um and and and going out and getting new um other businesses um uh the last thing I I i' I mentioned briefly um well two things uh the economic development coordinator you know is again someone that we're hoping to that's that is in in concert with Main Street to do this Outreach um effort for businesses and existing businesses um uh and that would also be someone who would work really closely with Main Street on on on on that project um we're seeing a lot of sort of ability for the MPP Grant to sort of do some crossover promotion with and crossover help um that is is is useful the the one I'll mention is that the MPP this year is um will be uh granting with a company called Beyond main which um helps really small businesses like ours um and really small main streets um increase their web sales and web presence and and and out that um and and that that'll start up at the Woodbridge Avenue but the way that we structured is that it can move down to to the businesses that want it um down into the to the Avenue and that's sort of a nice little little partnership um and again sort of as you saw there's some transfer from nppp money towards that um so you know Main Street is is is is chugging along Main Street is you know doing what they're doing but we're sort of using and helping them um really sort of um narrow or or or refocus or focus on you know our businesses and and bringing more businesses um maybe a little less on the event side of things and sort of help transfer some of the event side of things um into to to other areas and other places um so that they can be you know the the business advocate for uh for for our ex you know existing bu and that um so yeah I think that's that's the biggest takeaway I'm happy to to go with some questions yes the so the 5K race is going to continue with Main Street this year but it's going to go back to the community center next year so the the what we've talked about is the 5K races is is what in a month or something and yes yes so it stays this year but next year it goes back to the original place where it lived before so the goal is to make sure that we can transition the 5K race back to there over into the next year that would be the goal that we're working for that's what we're trying to do is have that transition um uh so yes that's that's the goal um uh but it's a lot of work to put that on it's a lot of things and we want to make sure we have the resources wherever they are um that might be a partnership over time um between the rec center and and Main Street but again the idea is to move that so that there's assistance for Main Street so they can refocus their efforts in the other area and so so I just want to double check that the events such as 5K race the vulture program the snap program the the shared 10% food programs that they they jumped in to help with during our pandemic season during our lack of Supermarket once we just the supermarket all those will go back to the community center for them to handle those programs that they have been for a number of years so again what I want to make sure yes that's where we're headed that's where we would like to go that's where but I I I I would like to to that's the transition that's where we're headed that's where we want to go I I'm a little nervous to say that'll happen by this particular time in this particular way because understood as long as there's but I think the plan clear that it's it's going to transition back to where it used to a plan that the goal is to move those the where Main Street stepped up um to sort of take that burden off of them and so they can focus on doing Main Street things we we we we don't we we I think it's important to recognize it we don't want to dump this on uh absolutely not we would make sure they have the resources to handle those kind of activities um another thing you mentioned NPP and the NPP area is designated for certain for the for certain neighborhoods in town and you talk about the um the story the website to to build to help Main Street bill I want to make sure that although there will be a shared in the NPP services to our downtown richer community that the designated poor community that the NPP was put in place to help and to get them to that same growth area that those resources will not be although they want to help but it it'll not be taken away from the community that it's really designated for so excellent question and the answer is of course yes the NPP Zone will out never be nothing from the people in the NP Zone will be taken away to have something in the downtown business District zone um the way that the Beyond main your example structures is that if you have between and I can't remember the numbers if you have between 100 and 200 businesses it's one fee if you have between 200 and 300 businesses and all of our businesses fit within the same fee wherever they are so it's there's no additional cost to um to to do the downtown businesses but the priority will be in Woodbridge Avenue the priority will be the businesses up there they'll get first crack ated it they'll be able to test it they be able to work at it and then um after that is successful then it'll move down to the to the downtown park so okay I'm really happy to hear that because Woodbridge avenon has been a blighted a as long as I've lived in town and I want to make sure that as the everything Rises with downtown that they are not left out yeah and I I would say that the last two years are proofed that there are it's it's different in the last two years than it has been in the last 20 I would argue so yes you're 100% um ter no no fail yet you had your hand up before me um uh just so residents understand and so I understand um the five basically what I hear is that the Min is looking at a 5% as opposed to a two or three big p this year um a lot of the financing though is not generally General Revenue from taxpayers it's targeted in the business improvement district yeah the 5% increase is just the business it's just the business okay the contribution from the from the municipality though that's not part of not part of the bid not County as the bid that's not counted as the bid that's a that's an economic development line um which is again to the mayor's Point our you know our priority is is helping out in Economic Development and so that's a a budget line within economic devel do you have an idea of the percentage of the budget or or the dollar amount because we don't have we don't have a Main Street sheet so that's why I was just clarify but it doesn't have a comparison it certainly certainly get the comparison for that's fine 100% that's good thank you it's har my question was um even though the businesses on Woodbridge Avenue are not technically on the Main Street Main Street does still help them with advertising and things like that like could they like could one of those businesses apply for a mainstream PR the ones up on on Woodbridge or or if there's in the designated bid area yeah the the the Main Street um uh so so it's a couple things um one of the examples um is Main Street used to get um cdbg funds because Main Street used to be qualify for those Main Street doesn't get those anymore because they they they reach the the income threshold but Woodbridge does and so Woodbridge is now you know receiving those so that that's a transfer sort of that way um in terms of the businesses of Woodbridge applying to Main Street Grants um we're doing some things like um the signs and the facade grants and the um the you know the the snowflakes so Main Street has moved Main Street is paying for the snowflakes to head down um there the shared cost so Main Street and mppp are paying for the snowflakes to move down um as a way um but because Woodbridge is not in the particular bid because the bid is funded by the landlords of the bid um they they generally don't sort of do the same sort of Grant yeah I just wasn't sure of how no there's some parts of Woodbridge that is in the bid and some AR it goes all the way up to like 11 that's why it was to clarify that Main Street does have the ability to do stuff certain area in their District because there again it's a special assessment for the from those Property Owners so they have to be careful yeah I just was curious yeah no and and that's a important point it goes I go back to the question that I asked earlier that we're not allocating NPP money to Main Street and vice versa so I want to make sure that those lines are not being blur okay thank you yeah just I um when when Main Street was putting their budget together was there any uh emphasis on um did the board indicate any emphasis on advertising or you know and I say that only because uh you know we're Highland Park is a story that I think needs to be told uh and I just you know sometimes it's like when we see those signs at the train station the Billboards or anything it's never about half par so the second list of the things that they would like to spend it's in their budget and promotion and economic revitalization number two is advertising so um if that uh you know yes um is is the short answer um so there was a discussion their help on Okay um I met I met with someone from um Chamber of Commerce and they uh she applied for this grant doing covid and um when we met she this grant will be able to us would give us the opportunity to advertise our downtown and programs that's happening on billboards from Princeton all the way the entire Northeast Corridor we'll have our Highland Park what's so special about us a story of Highland Park where people should come so Lena and I and Terry have been working on this to do this whole promotional thing to promote hman Park so that's something that we Main Street we need a story we need a message so we can get that advertisement out there so people know that we're here and there's a reason to come to Highland Park um another part of the the conversation that I have been having Terry and I have been having is with uh Johnson and Johnson because Mr Johnson lived here um Phil may have known this that when we were on Council we used to get those flower pots put up every year by Johnson Johnson that has gone away I think before covid they went away and I have yeah because since since Terry came they went away I the sorry so um luckily this woman Lena was a good find for me when I ran into her uh she connected me with someone that does buildings and ground at J&J we had a meeting and they're gonna he's going to do some followup for us and yeah yeah yeah I love Lena okay she's great she's great she's great so so um Lena is great so you broke my Jour s but anyway J and J&J is gonna we're gonna work on them three things that I I the request is for to start the flower pot to Do seasonal so it could be if it's the fourth of July we can do Flags or whatever is going on and to get those snowflake that's from have it start from the Albany Street Bridge coming into town so it's one continuance the other thing is to have them work out relationship with them to keep the bridge clean so we can work on something to keep that bridge clean which is one of the vean of our existent because we hear it constantly so while they're doing the pots and they're watering the flowers and all that kind of stuff they can just like have the Oompa lus machine clean the bridge and keep that going and I I push the envelope a bit further to say why not do some plantings as you you come off the bridge you see beautiful J&J but we are your gateway so because we're the gateway to J&J they should do planting on our side as well so so so there's a great saying it's it's it's OPM other people's money we're very happy to use other people's money to help in in the beautification attempt so I think those are great options and great I help Johnson Johnson Rich so he can get back that's how I see it we're here for the lawn certainly on the you know that that the messaging and the advertising you know that again I that's Main Street priority for this next year and S combining that advertising I think is a an important narrative to stay I think we're generally very good Main Street is very good at telling the story to people in Main Street where expand people within Highland Park people within I met people within Highland Park I think expanding that to people outside of Highland Park is is and that's the goal of this brand um to run these ads on the entire Northeast card or to let people know what's in Highland Park I also push the envelope a bit further because I like to push envelope while he was here and I said you know um I know you have a museum inside of Johnson Johnson nothing to do with the zly their own private Museum how about a possibility of bringing that museum to Highland Park and that could be a thing where people want to come and see the science museum have it a popup or something like that here in town so we would be a destination people who are really curious and that kind of thing to come to Highland Park and we have the Band-Aid bench already which we already told them you know and so we can go get that big bang thing from down sou Jersey and sticker here as well and we are the destination I I mean this entire Council has said so many times how much important economic development is and and that's why I'm working so hard to get people at the table and wanting to come here it's been great so just to this was the this is all stuff that we're working on to improve our downtown improve the entire improve Highland Park now there's a lot of moving parts and if we can get all of this in play I think that will drive more foot traffic to Highland Park it would drive more Economic Development to Highland Park so I will continue to work with everybody I meet just you know I keep I kept saying last year that if I met someone who was clearing the garbage and I would ask him hey you know somebody want to bring a supermarket to Island Park I was going to do it that's what I do every day doesn't matter who you are where you are there's always something I'm thinking about Highland Park and somebody would say oh yeah I know so and so so and so twice removed but somebody will reach out and give a call and that's how we we got to continue to sell our town to make sure that the economic development we want to see becomes a reality yeah I've been working to try and get kids clothing store to come to town it's a good one um any other questions on the main street but there's there's good than you about about your increase and okay so we did say the 5% increase to the B to provide more services okay that's it that's all I have good all right there we go thank you no this this pales in in comparison the excitement that but the community energy plan so this is a uh something that started when when when Phil was the on to public works but um I'm gonna let Terry really get into the you know into the nuts and bolts about it but uh this was a uh the result of a grant uh from sustainable Jersey uh uh that basically outlines you know it's a it's a comprehensive look at our at our at our it would codify our existing environmental practices and it would also set the stage for some longer term things it's not binding uh but it's definitely a guide uh and um this satisfied uh some of our you know one of one of our requirements through the uh through sustainable Jersey and um we're really excited to uh to kind of present this this report that will be available to the public whatever the public is uh on website but Terry I thought maybe um and oh this was reviewed by the public works committee um Jason I don't think you remember anymore but um uh councilman hail and and councilman George uh uh discussed it so we were comfortable bringing this to uh to the council for a work session all right I pulled together a couple of slides um just to mostly to keep myself on track and because there is a lot of substance picked into um the plan um so I pulled this off of the everybody turned to look the drafts oh sorry spoil uh the draft um that we're we're currently basically formatting so we have the the committee's reviewed the word version and we're trying to make it look a little nicer pull it all together because we have some Grand funding to do that so I'll explain so in brief uh this plan came about thanks to uh the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities their clean energy program Community energy planning Grant uh one of their technical advisors sustainable Jersey really encouraged us to participate in this program uh and one of the reasons both myself and Emma were a little reluctant was we felt like we were kind of knew this stuff we're already doing it you know or we know about it because we're very involved in sustainable Jersey but they said look it's a grant it'll help you kind of put some of these thoughts together uh we were through the grant we were able to secure support from a then student at the blous school and also a BPU energy fellow at the Ruckers Center for Urban policy research tun uh so he took he did the lon share of the Assembly of this uh report for us um and then we did pull together and I called it an adoc Review Committee because that's really what it was it's not a formal committee but essentially uh we pulled together members of the Board of Health sustainable Highland Park and the environmental commission to give us kind of early feedback on it and they're going to be really integral in terms of implementation down the line uh they haven't been involved in in a lot of the day-to-day on the report but they you know we met with them and theyve we felt like we had at least picked the right actions and we're kind of heading on the right track so that's kind of how we got here um and as you all know we're no we're not beginners in sustainability we're also this is specific to energy and that's also I'm can't remember what my next slide is so why Community energy plan uh but essentially the grant program was established to help Advance New Jersey's energy master plan one of the big goals is generating 100% of the state's energy through renewable sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% of 2006 Levels by 2050 there's a lot to do to get there and so this program was targeted at municipalities what can they do to help move the dial in in that goal um the other reason to do this is we have our own sustainability goals and we have a long-term track record and we and this can help us another lens to like establish priorities think about which projects we want to do um and also if we want to since we've been so and meshed in the sustainable Jersey certification program and we've been at Silver for a while they do have gold certification in specific areas and energy is one of those areas so a lot of these actions will advance us toward energy gold if that's something we want to do um not all want but that's that's kind of longer range what we'd like to do um and last but certainly not least if you have an adopted energy plan you can apply for other grants from the Board of Public Utilities so there's also that uh to incentivize us to participate um and I'll preface that I mean so much of what we do when it comes to these actions or this master plan really open open the door to other other funding opportunities and and also puts us on a policy track to get there but feeds into recognizing the state that you're doing the sustainability programs well so the plan has broken up by core strategies there's an intro section which I'm not going to go into that gives an overview and sustainable Jersey was really helpful in that they've packaged a lot of data for all the towns to use in these plans so tun took that and in the draft you'll see online um you know gave us a community profile around energy vehicle miles travel uh solar Readiness things like that uh in general we we we doing pretty well uh and we have but we still have a lot of opportunity the the other thing sustainable Jersey did to make this process really easy uh for towns is they came up with a set of strategies and initiatives that towns should just consider and literally I think there's 38 of them and you can go through the book and I I forgot my draft so I can't even pull it out to show you um I it's on my desk but essentially we have a bunch of strategy areas 1 through S five is left intentionally blank because the sustainable Jersey guidance document does not have a strategy five I'm not sure that it's on my list to ask about at some point uh but essentially and within each and I'm going to walk you through kind of the initiatives that we both uh Emma and myself to a large degree with the input from that ad hoc committee and this the Public Works committee felt were either things we were doing and of course we want to continue or things that were doable um given the right time or res resources so the core strategies are reducing energy consumption and emissions from the Transportation sector accelerating deployment of renewable energy and distributed energy resources maximizing Energy Efficiency and conservation and reducing Peak demand reducing energy consumption and emissions from the building sector five mystery strategy we'll find out more about that in a later date six uh supporting Community energy planning and action with an emphasis on encouraging and supporting participation of low and moderate income that's what LMI stands for sorry for the shorthand and environmental justice communities um and seventh being advancing clean energy Innovation economy these are strategies that were established by sustainable Jersey and concert with the Board of Public Utilities that were intended to form this the basis of all the town's print so that's what we used as our basis so strategy number one reducing energy consumption and emiss from the Transportation sector some they have a set of initiatives um that tuck in right under that um adopt the first one being adopt supportive zoning and regulation for the EV electric vehicle infrastructure and there is a Statewide ordinance uh Statewide regulation on EV uh infrastructure however there are things that municipalities can do to make their ordinances more more supportive or less onerous I I'm I put this one in because I think it's not a terribly huge lift for us because I don't think we have a laborious permitting process if you want an EV charger an Island Park however by making it more supportive you're making it easier for people to understand how to go ahead and Implement uh these improvements uh should they want to um so with this action we're recommending we pursue it what we need to do is have probably planner advise us kind of like he did on our forthcoming uh ordinance for um uh uh signage ordinance that we've been working on we've talked about that where we bring them in to kind of work with key stakeholders to go through the state law go through Highland Parks ordinances and figure out how to make amendments if necessary to our zoning so we thought this was a reasonable action for us to undertake uh and that may be something we could apply for uh a grant to help us pay for those costs to to be bringing the expertise in there's a number of actions that um relate to our zoning ordinances and things so I'm I'm kind of imagining a bundle of that I will take a step back to one of the reasons I'm going to walk through all of these is as part of our grant I'm supposed to present all of these strategies in a public way so I apologize for the boring looking PowerPoint but I am trying to be as transparent as possible with what we're trying to accomplish in the plan that uh will be available prior to adoption so uh just wanted to make that clear in case you're wondering why I'm reading through all these things uh the second initiative uh that we and I'm going to put 1.2 and 1.3 together uh is basically training on safety around EVs and EV uh charging infrastructure uh it's important our code enforcement folks but also more importantly probably our First Responders if there's an accident with EV what does the fire department need to do differently than maybe they would if it was a traditional gas car there's training available it's not going to cost a lot of money to bring it to the burrow but we have to be mindful and do that so we think this is an important action for us to do and actually not a particularly hard lift so that's one that is recommended that we're gonna what's an evsd sorry e electric vehicle something something I don't remember I'm sorry can I R to my desk can I one minute to get myat she go ahead get your cheat sheet sorry I left my folder one minute break something extra EV service service something I was thinking Electric Vehicle Safety something service station Supply equipment supply Supply equipment evv what's the SE Service Supply equipment oh oh you cheated I did cheat I had a computerated cheated he cheated Charing station yeah for the Char hold on straining he says Supply equipment he said cheated yeah thank you it's a term it's it is definitely an industry term and I apologize and I will I will not rely on these I I pulled it right out of the plan so I apologize uh it's basically related um infrastructure as I understand it uh so essentially as people are installing charging stations or we have public charging stations or more electric vehicles you know the idea is that our our code enforcement will do a better job if they understand kind of the nature of these and what the issues are as well as more in my mind more importantly First Responders because it helps protect them and also the people they're trying to help if they know how what what precautions to take um so these those seem like relatively light lifts especially given that there are available resources out there you may have to pay something to bring them in but they're it's not like I'm going have to invent the train um 1.4 and 1.5 and 1.6 are kind of in our book as our plan as ongoing because while we're we have been trying to purchase alternative fuel vehicles as we as we we replace our traditional gas power vehicles so that's already a strategy and we have a track record of doing that uh we have had some challenges with finding electric vehicles uh at least in the more recent history or in particular electric vehicles that work for patrol Vehicles because there's specific upfitting that needs to be able to be accommodated in the electric vehicles that we use um improving our Municipal Fleet efficiency one of the act subactions in that are something we're already doing we track every year our mileage and our gas consumption in all our vehicles and we track that but what this action would have us take it another step further and come up with kind of a three to fiveyear replacement plan for the gas vehicles so that we're maximizing our fuel efficiency but also the lowering our emissions basically um and then installing public Ed charging infrastructure we do have our public stations that we put in with a d Grant a number of years ago they are pretty popular and we do think it's probably time to look at another at least a set of level two Chargers those the ones we have are designed to be able to be expanded so that we could have more than two um but also High something we'd really like to see although it's more expensive and we're trying to figure out uh how to do it um is a a fast charger a level three something downtown that would kind of hey let me stop charge up for 20 minutes and do some shopping uh you know something like that so these are all things that we've been talking about for a while we've applied for Grants unfortunately did not get the grant for that level three uh we put a lot of work into that with the help of uh through our microgrid project which I'll talk about in a little bit but um they're ongoing but there are specific steps we could take to try to take our ongoing initiatives to the next level um so moving to strategy two I did anybody have a question on strategy one just in general as long as we're going to get Go Star I'm good well on our sustain eventually we'll get there I I really would love to do that um so the second strategy is accelerating deployment of renewable energy and distributed energy resources there's a lot of initiatives in the program not all of them are listed here as you can see because it kind of hops around we we picked the ones that we thought were best fits for the burrow in the back of the um plan is going to be the worksheets that we use to go through all of the sustainable Jersey actions so anything we didn't include there's a little bit of a rationale for why but given the time I'm focusing on the ones that we think are good fits again this idea of supportive zoning and permitting for private solar just trying to make it as easy as possible for residents and businesses who want to adopt solar to get through the buau again I don't say that in a way that I'm saying that the bureau has a really onerous process but there are guidelines and best practices for how to make it easier and so as as simple as a checklist you know like how to go solar one two three get a permit get an electrician you know whatever uh so one and two are kind of two sides of the same coin in my mind again 2.4 and 2.5 similar to the EV previous uh training this is also what kind of special training do First Responders need for solar infrastructure some solar have inverters and batteries attached to them which can present challenges in a first responder situation similarly the more our um non-emergency staff understand how these systems work the better so there's training that's available and we would suggest kind of pack packaging these the two strategy one and strategy 2 trainings as kind of a package for our our emergency responding teams and our non-emergency staff uh installation of on-site Municipal solar generation we already have uh some solar on burall we have solar on uh uh at the across the street at the public safety complex with the the the covered parking area but we would like to expand so for example we're doing our community center roof let's see what's possible over there maybe the DPW roof maybe we have to do some solar assessments to see what the viability is but to try to take to take on the next round one of the things I'm really curious our solar on this building might be going on 20 years soon the technology is different yes so it could be it's time to replace what's there and get more bang for that or there's more roof out there for some reason we only did it on one side because it was expensive it might have been expensive now that there's these power perform purchase agreements and things like that so there's a lot of tools we can use so again I think it's not a leap to say we're doing it and we want to keep on doing it um and so here's some steps we can take um buying renewable energy for municipal facilities can I just go back the public safety piece of it is really important because as I see fires that are going on around the state last week it was Three Fires that I saw on the news and they had the solar panel on and they say it made it more challenging for First Responders to do what they needed to do the panels were in the way so there better panels that's being offered or better training that's going to be offered training so but basically as these I mean I can imagine in a situation like that there may be accessibility issues with solar panels exactly they were say you know where where should we target you know what have you so the more just like anything else the more familiar you are this goes for First Responders if they've gone into a couple trainings it won't be the first time they ever thought about what am I going to do when I encounter a fire that relates to that has solar involved um so that's I agree I think it's important especially because I believe the training is out there it's just a matter of bringing it to the staff that need to have it great um so the buying renewable energy for municipal facilities there are ways that we could go out to the market to see if we could just like we're going to do with renewable government energy aggregation for the town which I'll talk about next the municipality could look at joining a Consortium or going out to bid for its own buildings they don't advise that we go into the rgea because apparently commercial buildings get better rates than residential do so that's why we wouldn't just jump on to that so that's something I think is a good idea but it's something that I would say maybe a two-year out you know we've got a lot on our deck as you'll see when we go through this with the um RGA which is the renewable government energy aggregation we are in the process of reviewing the agreements that we would need to enter into with a contractor if we were going to go forward we're going to go out to bid soon to see if we can get enhanced renewable energy content for residents at a price that's comparable to what PG is currently charging so we're going to get more renewable for the same price basically so we're doing that already which is taking decent amount of bandwidth and I think it's a humongous it's a bigger bang for our energy um our our effort OB because we could opt in all residences in Highland Park versus just the municipal buildings which is a small piece of what's out there um and then Community solar 2.11 that's also as you know underway we're in the process of uh getting bids in from qualified contractors and we just had our uh meeting kind of pre- application meeting with contractors and there was they've gotten interest from quite a few so that's good but it's a project that's already underway and highly encouraged in this program that was the we did that was ation yeah exactly so that was something that we're already in the process of it's not even ongoing it's new and we're doing it um assuming we find the right partners and we're successful with our application to the Board of Public Utilities um I would also mention because it comes in later when we talk about lower moderated income emphasis our proposed project is going to benefit 100% lower moderate income members in Island par which comes in later so I just mention and last um is support community solariz outreach coordinator I look at this as kind of a back burner right now because we don't know how we're going to Faire we're in the middle of a cons Community solar project but if it doesn't succeed and or even if it does There's an opportunity for us and I think this is a good Ro for sustainable Highland Park in part is to um amplify the availability of community solar through exist online tools not necessarily the Burrow's project but there's more but we need to see how this Falls to I I'm hesitant to go out on the Outreach coordinator while we're in the middle of establishing our own Community solar program I think the messaging could get a little confusing so let's see how the one plays out we'll know pretty soon we're submitting in June so that was probably a 2025 you know energy effort uh I keep using energy which is kind of silly we all about energy we're ready to go on that piece it's it's you know it's it's it's Communications essentially uh but I just think it makes sense to see where the community solar project shs out strategy three maximizing Energy Efficiency conservation and and conservation and reducing Peak demand uh 3.1 a big push that they have are having towns uh come in for the direct install program is one of big programs for energy upgrades the burough has actually participated in that program twice over the last 15 years uh most recently just about three years ago uh but it's again the Technologies changed the programs changed so it is probably worth talking to psng um and the Board of Public Utilities just to see if there's a reason we should do an audit again and see about um can we do some more upgrades because there's always or for example hbac gets old and then maybe there's an opportunity to replace some equipment so that's something that is probably a 25 or 26 just because we just did the program but it's good to keep it on our radar and revisit the incentives that are out there to get our buildings more energy efficient uh and then the 3.3 is Commercial Energy Efficiency Outreach campaign this is something we've been talking with sustainable Highland Park about um there are similar incentive programs for commercial property owners and for residences but we did a big push on residences so we thought maybe let's focus on the commercial properties uh and making them aware of available programs and doing as we're reaching out to say some of these apartment complexes making sure they're aware of some of these things that they might be able to take advantage of as they do projects um in town so that's an again a Communications program which I that's something we have to coordinate with sustainable based on their priorities but we thought was something that we could uh support in the next and I should have mentioned at the top this plan is for the next three to five years you know of activi so it's not like we have to do everything in one strategy for reducing energy consumption and emissions from the building sector um and this was something that our ad hoc committee was very interested in is the green development checklist especially with our Redevelopment projects coming online um it wouldn't necessarily mandate A+ pluses but it would at least require them to fill it out and give us the opportunity to have the conversation about what what would what what you could what would it would take to get you to go the extra distance with uh various um you know easy things are like energy star appliances and things which a lot of these uh developers probably would do but it could be like doing the reflective roof or a green roof or there's all sorts of um green infrastructure that can be built into new development and so this would be a we have to create a checklist and then um we would then have to by Council action establish it as you must complete it we're not necessarily going to say you have to get a A++ but at least it opens up that conversation especially as we're negotiating in Redevelopment is that something huh is that something they have or something we have to create like there are templates we would have to adapt it and again this would I would fall in that kind of getting our planner Chris to kind of get a proposal from them and see if we can get funding to actually kind of package all these policy kind of items up to have someone to help us draft what those might be but sustainable Jersey offers some some examples to work for just a quick question do we have a green building and development um zoning ordinance you mean the the master plan element leads no in in the zoning I thought we green we leads I thought we have the older older leads yeah but old one I I I'm not sure what you're talking about so I'll have to get back to you on that um I don't I am unaware I am not aware of that but it's not to say it's not possible but what this action would do is basically say here are all the good things a new development might be able to accomplish with sustainability how's your what are you doing in your project and then let's have a conversation in in the master plan there are he said zoning that's whyel development plan and the master plan there's a bunch of checklists up but we don't actually have a checklist we have as a good idea to do points things like you know that would be something that help this would give us kind of a more standardized framework for having those kind of conversations um and there are templates but again it would take some work and and we have to want the planning board to to be a part because they also approve projects that the Redevelopment the governing body doesn't see or a new house that might get built exactly you know as of right fill it out you know is there I don't you probably don't but one thing there's there's a bill in the state legislature about accessory dwellings that might be something but that's I would that's not a green development checklist or it might be I don't know that's I was wondering it there might be a green development check I don't think I've seen that on the samples I've looked at but I could I could make a case I mean for why it could be you know the debate is the debate on that is ongoing yes I think it'll be interesting watch that one there's money in the budget though uh the governor uh put some money in the budget for pilot for 8 Pilots oh interesting which is which is uh yeah $10 million which at the cost of your coverage talking about at the cost of your impervious coverage which Bel is the other state mandate for storm water management that's right so so the legislation that would would would would kind of guide municipalities on how to adopt but there's it's it's it's look considerable R put it that way but stuff like that I mean certainly and the nice thing about a checklist is it can be adapted over time so let's say our policy on adus changes and we we want to know but I would you know argue that if you're building an Adu it's a brand new one you got to do the checklist to tell us like did you put an energy star you know Appliance but the problem is that you can mandate a checklist all of which is optional all this is optional the reason has a little more teeth in the Redevelopment process because we're in a negotiation or maybe at the zoning board if someone comes in and says well but I'll do all these other things okay maybe that offsets some of what you're asking for your variance um but it's it's best pract it's how you promulgate best practices so I I think it's it's not it's like it's not going to be it's too not too heavy of a lift and since we it is something I've been hearing I know we've heard about it in the course of the Redevelopment discussions I think it warrants if we can find the resources to build the checklist to our satisfaction it would be worth doing um I think so engaging and Outreach and targeting new construction projects within our community I view this as kind of the other side of 4.3 which is now you have your checklist let's make sure the new construction in town knows that they should do the checklist so that's how I've been you know I'm sure there's other ways one could go that action early on exactly like oh you're you have a you have a lot you're going to build a house well you come to construction well you better you're going to have to fill checklist as part of your your forthcoming application should be a package right so they're kind of related in my mind um so that's strategy four strategy five I'm skipping past because there was no guidance on strategy I don't know what it is strategies I mean literally check skips you want me to wait appreciate it okay two minute recess okay yeah sorry we have two chunky items today yeah it's true it's his bill but that allocation it hasn't it's not clear of how I mean it hasn't passed yet but yeah there's a seems to be a commitment from the state to really exp because you remember a while back we did that tentative yeah approval of of accessory dwellings you can't have pluming or you know it's like we did the home the home office home office the home gym the home right and so we have that on the book that allows yeah no separate bedroom there's no separate bedrooms there's no heat there's no G plumbing and things like that main issue is you can't do sewer out there you can't do sewer that's I think you can even have a sink but you can't do sewer yeah um but if if there's if there's guidance money and movement might be worth well I think it's going to be optional um yeah yeah but but the issue is the conflict between between the two right seriously competing issues because you you're going to kill your imperious coverage and increase your storm water management issu your sheetings but the reason that they're Pro they're pushing the idea is because we are not able to break it up that's another thank problem that's the problem we cannot build enough affordable houses right and then the other issue though is that would would that even count because it's so hard to deep restrict adus on somebody's property you know yeah I converted my [Music] garage okay Terry all right Flor how would I do that it's 849 everybody yeah so uh it's not quarter to eight that's that CL fixed no I'm looking I'm like Oh my I told I told to do all so funny I was like Brad you got to change the clocks in the in the break room because I keep freaking myself out but I forgot about that clock I never use it sorry mayor I'll get it on we almost have all of them uh by by the next time change it'll be six seems to be at some point you just go let's just wait uh mons yeah exactly uh strategy six uh supporting Community energy planning and action with an emphasis on encouraging and supporting particip IP ation by low and moderate income uh residents and environmental justice communities um so this is a big priority within sustainable Jersey within the state of New Jersey and I was arguing in Island Park um fostering inclusive community energy planning um a lot of the AC the subactions within that initiative are things we already do putting our materials like our agendas online it's kind of like 101 transparency type stuff so that's why I indicated it was ongoing but I think there's always more one can do and more intentionality to be inclusive and think about times that work and meeting formats that work so that everybody can participate in the planning and and decision- making that go on in town Beyond Just Energy planning I think it's just good policy all around so we suggested including it because it's it's as it's it's stuff we're already doing and there's always more you can do uh 6.2 conduct Energy Efficiency Outreach to low and moderate income residents um this is something that uh sustainable Jersey has a lot of materials and and assistance that they can provide but does require just time and energy to do uh because there are programs that PSG has and the state have that residents can Avail themselves of and particularly low and moderate income residents to help save themselves money on their utility bills through Energy Efficiency and uh uh upgrades um so I think it's a worthy effort I will say it's probably not it's probably at 25 26 it's it could be depending on where we maybe we have a little more Staffing or if it's becomes something that sustainable wants to take on you know we can we can prioritize it but I think it's worthy of keeping it in our plan because I think it's it's out there the resources are there and to the extent that we can do a some mini campaigns to try to make sure all residents know but particularly those who have income uh challenges is that there's ways that they could save money on the bills and so Community solar is one of those ways that we're doing that but there are other programs that we could be putting out there uh 6.3 uh support shared Mobility programs um I would i' I've made the case in our plan uh that a lot of our our transportation programs that we currently offer the community center I think are important in particularly because a lot of the folks who utilize them are either on limited incomes be there be because they're retired or of lower moderate income so we have those core programs that we've actually enhanced uh because of our needs around the trans the grocery store closure and other things so I think it's something we've been doing I also think actually our theoc scooter program is a micr Mobility uh program and a shared Mobility Program uh they do offer a um reduced price for lower moderate income folks you have to show if you're if you're eligible for free and reduce or any of the standard kind of uh SNAP benefits or what have you you can submit that and be eligible for reduced uh costs so I think we could do better at getting the word out about that um and so that's so that's why I wanted to put it in here as much for me as for anybody is you know make sure folks know everybody should be able to participate in this program uh who wants to um I don't have information on exactly what the reduction is but they offer it to the New Brunswick and Highland Park markets um 6.4 support and moderate income Community solar subscriptions uh it's this is the what what I mentioned earlier we're going after a 100% Community solar program so before we went full hog on Advertising other people's Community solar projects with the lower modate we want to make sure we get them in our project so we're going to see how we shake out on the community solar application to the Board of Public Utilities we should know before the end of the year and certainly if we're not selected for any ridiculous reason uh we will uh absolutely um work toward advancing the communications because there's a a tool that you can use to look up available programs there's a lot of readymade materials out there but again we want to opt our residents into our program if we have one so I I would suggest we hold off on that targeted Outreach until we know the outcome uh conducting and the last item here conducting Energy Efficiency Outreach to community serving institutions again it's making awar raising awareness with uh for example either houses of worship or other nonprofit organizations in town about the already existing energy saving program out there so that they can get the words out to their congregations and their constituents that they serve so uh again I don't think it's it's a hard action as much as it's a Time action and need needs some energy and and and uh and care so that's something that probably be a next year kind of in in line with some of the other similar action um one of the synagog did a project to do solar in their parking l so they might be an out in reaching out to others or they might they might be able to help with absolutely and especially in this action is there's an special focus on Lower moderate income so to the extent that they have a sense for who in their congregations May particularly benefit and pushing out that that messaging to them but absolutely and they've been good ambassadors for different programs for sustainable High over the years for sure when we've done other programs who is this man I didn't hear you I'm sorry oh okay cool yeah they did the in their cover on I kind of remember when they were going through that process I was um and the last but certainly not the least strategy uh advancing the clean energy Innovation economy uh and the big action that's in there that we tend to lose sight of every now and again because it's been such a slow burn for a while is our local micro project we are still in the middle of phase two of our grant which was a generous Grant from the Board of Public Utilities where we're working on kind of the refined feasibility and what would it really cost and take to implement a microG grade which essentially is a grid that goes up when psng goes down due to any kind of emergency situation our microgrid is focused on the burrow complex here along and the spine on Fifth Avenue the the bigger view of it would be they could cross Ritt and Avenue and connect over to the library and to the high school where we could keep those buildings on in emergencies to be shelters and other important uh places uh so that's the vision we're there's still a lot of regulatory challenge to that uh because even though the Board of Public Utility sponsoring these projects the irony is they're not allowed under a current local like regulatory you know allowing these feasibility studies but the biggest thing that we have to overcome is you know power generation across property lines is not currently allowed and so we would basically be utilizing existing uh generators that we have the solar F all project down by the old uh landfill as well as um maybe some new generation that we'd have to do to make it all work um but we've got to get the regulatory but we're going to finish our project that's the only thing that needs to happen then we know what our next thing is so that's a big uh uh project that we're it's ongoing and underway um so let me see if I had any other slides so what are the next steps uh we're in the process of making this plan look nice and we have a a person doing that for us now so this is a preview although I'm going to try to find something that looks more like Highland Park this says um windmills which I'm not sure maybe you never know but it doesn't uh uh but but essentially laying it out making it look like something that we want to pull down every year um so but the next step is for Council to adopt the plan and I'm hopeful that you'll consider doing so in April 2nd because we really need to close this grant out you have a deadline and um so and it's a good Grant a good Grant and then there's an opportunity to apply in May for some implementation so I'll be back to you with kind of a packaging of some of these initiatives that I think we could kind of go into the BPU with uh a a request um so we'd really like to get this grant closed out it was derailed for a variety of reasons so this is one of Emma's babies that I really want to see through to the the end um uh and and apply for those funds um and I think as a kind of an just longer term next steps I think it would be advisable to bring our ad hoc committee and any others that makes them together on an annual basis to review to make sure hey why didn't we do that you know probably because we forgot let's get back to it and just make this part of our kind of annual reorganizing um uh for uh especially um there's some overlap with the Board of Health with sustainable Highland Park and environmental commission and they all have interests in this in different ways um so that is my long presentation thank you for for listening we were backlog lot so I would have normally stretched this out to a different meeting but we really had to get it some um so uh so that's all I add if you don't have any questions uh I have this draft on it be on website we'll have this distributed so everybody can review certainly before the the council meeting you'll have the updated draft okay before you vote on yeah you see yeah no but I mean the pretty yes the beautiful one all right no no questions from Council okay now we have uh uh open public comments each speaker will it be alloted three minutes total of 21 minutes people were intending in person will speak first and followed by Z those on Zoom will speak after okay um we have to use this microphone because on set it in forget it mode as I said so we don't have our camera person but they are on camera there so if there's anybody here who wants to speak please go please utilize the microphone do your name and address for the record and just for the record we have three attendees at home and the handout sorry for the back and just to inform um let me just quickly say this that during the P we'll all the questions we taken with and then um we'll close public comments and then we'll answer the questions right I was loing North Second Avenue okay I'm going to start backwards for those of us who sat in this room 22 years ago and heard the wonders of Main Street we used to have an economic development department and it was a big budget department and it was dissolved because Main Street was the Chamber of Commerce and it was going to fix everything it was going to take over Economic Development they were charged with doing that department and we were sing Buu books and it's in the minutes black and white her free from the new Bruner camera apparently owned the camera Place lived in Island Park and he drilled I think Nick TR the treasurer then or counsilman noan and we were promised that's our chamber of prise Economic Development main street is the Wonder and they're going to fix everything okay didn't happen um please every time you speak in public somewhere somehow mention that the library flat roof is gone I'm still being asked by residents to please make sure the flat roof disappears um so just mention what you've accomplished Robert Oppenheimer Robert J Oppenheimer used to disappear from his stress and come over here on Cleveland Avenue fireman George broley was his friend I helped liquidate the contents and there was a steamer trunk that said Robert J Oppenheimer and the nephew that took George broley from Cleveland to live with the nephew wrote a little note to me that said yes that is the Robert J oper who would just distress here and and be with other people instead of his um nuclear friends um and you know that General Johnson of J and Johnson in insisted that his automobiles had every ID tag removed because he was not going to advertise for Chevy or for or Dodge I guess back then or VI for free okay so um R County Sewer Authority have they expanded their facilities so that they can process the town this town and other Town sewage with all this Redevelopment I know in the past I've asked and you guys did what you could cleaning the sewer seconds Etc okay that's one question and uh oh the big reveal the Redevelopment big reveal is that still going to be this month at the high school thank you do you want to go through the any at home questions first yes yes your three minutes is over yes okay I'm going to go to the per please at home now okay if you speak loudly I can hear your answer I'll try my best all right we have uh someone we're gonna take someone at from home now uh it looks like uh Abby Stern Cardel we're up next let me just for some reason oh I know why do supposed to give me one second sorry I had to make myself a co-host so I can call on people at home it's so much fun okay all right Abby uh stiring Cardell you're up next hi um yes Abby St Cardell I live on Harper Street um thank you this was a lot of really good information um I just wanted to mention about hearing that the community center might be closed around July which sounds like very necessary and important you know updates um I just wanted to mention that the timing is slightly concerning um because I don't know if the library will be open yet and I would really ask that if there are multiple public spaces that need to be closed they get staggered um I know that they're different entities but we really have a a lack of uh kind of open public spaces right now and I know we'll get more which is great but um I would just ask you know things continue to get delayed and it's understandable we don't know exactly when the library would be open but for things that will need to be displaced um and just for various Community uh you know needs to make sure that the library is open before the community center closes um something like a code red I don't know where that will be housed um you know again it's different different areas but just making sure that we're staggering any uh Community spaces that are closed would be great thank you so much all right that was our right um Library roof um council member George you want to discuss that I can Library oh I'm sorry motion to close public session so move second second all in favor I very good council member her um George I'm going to go to two questions the library roof and um the library opening can you please address those two with regard to the library roof um the the project is designed around replacing the entire flat roof system the Reconstruction of a roof was found to be uh not feasible to to uh put in a pitch roof and reinstall the entire HVAC system on the ground and wall mount it however the plan is to the plan redesigned the hbac venting which is on the roof and accesses through the pitched roof sections so that they are raised off the ground as opposed to being set on the roof which caused most of the problems during the the the installation on the ground with the bracketing caused a lot of leaks because it was more prone to movement and then cracking number two the repairs um of that kind of system were not calculated a they were not done well or B they U would would be more prone to awar point um and so the it system was redesigned to elevate the duct work off the ground using a canal think not a a cal lever system which raises them up off the ground and therefore a there is less penetration of the membrane B there's less movement of the membrane around fixtures that are fixing the venting so it's HED that this system will be substantial and C we will guarantee that we have the 10-year performance bond in case there is an issue which was not done in the past um and resulted in us having to do all the we've actually paid for a new roof twice over in repairs over the last 13 years so uh that is it second the coordination of the um Library completion with the community center beginning should work out but it will be coordinated right now the library is On Target to open in June with both the roof and the interior State Library Bond completed the plan is to we will be going out to bid on the Kushner improvements but it's treated as a coordinated second project so we're going to get the work done we're going out on Kushner now because it it is partially um I don't want to call it cosmetic because it's substantial but it it's not it's not roof it's not toilet it's not drainage it's not electric um um and coordinate them uh to get them all done I think if we see we're beginning to see what the contract time is um I think obviously we have to comp if there would be a competition you would say that you'd have to finish the library first you can't stop the library now you don't have that open and start the community center because now you don't have that open uh obviously there'd be a coordination but right now it does not look like there will be a conflict um it might even be possible that once the library opens we could take smaller events and run them in the community room while the community center small event smaller events smaller Gatherings are taking place and I would speak to the executive director on that I'm sure that there would be no problem in coordinating that thank you we're responsible enough not to overlap projects so people are out of resources here in town um uh St expansion and extension with middle sex County I am not sure about that but we can look into if there's any uh movement to expand our sewer system to merge with middle sex um with a County sewer system so I don't know anything about that but may I think I took her question to be something else you might have MCA increas if we redevelop is there enough capacity for the last we looked into it I believe the answer was yes I am confident we looked into water supply uh but I I need to double check on mcua so so all right so I'm gonna put Terry but that's something that our operations uh folks could help us and get a good answer all right so we can put that in our frequent ask questions and so everybody can share that for just to respond back yeah okay great uh downtown sheret we were hoping to have had the sheret ready I think we're closer than we're we're very close we wanted us to have it this month obvious that's not going to happen but it's not like we do not want to see this happen we want to we really want to roll out the red carpet on this and have everyone come in and have their go at it there been a there has been a few hiccups but as soon as we work through them we will roll it out so everyone can see this is a promise I have made I I intend with every fiber of my body to keep that promise so the shet is coming I don't want to lock myself again into a deadline and then something happens somewhere down the line with somebody somewhere and then it's not happening but it is coming and I will be letting everyone know when the shed is going to happen you will see it on social media we'll advertise everywhere so as many persons as possible who can fit into the high school building can come in and get bring their little notepads their pens and pencils and let us and let us hear what you think um the other thing was the offenheim trunk do you still have it if you do you should Lear this to us if you be a part of our library when we work with J&J and that's that one thank you uh mayor I see no other hand we close public we close public comment and now I move for an adjournment so move second all in favor thank you all see you at next meeting he