##VIDEO ID:VepeDfFnJmc## mayor would you like to proceed can come up and sit in the front seat too mayor would you like to proceed yes please good afternoon and happy New Year this is the meeting of the burough Highlands May and council reorganization meeting on Wednesday January 1st 2025 the notice requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the as Park Press in the Two River times and by posting it at The Bu of Highland Municipal builing and filing with the B Clark all on January 1st 2024 items listing in the agenda are subject to change please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 jce for all I would ask that everyone please remain standing um in order to honor our former President Carter passed away at the age of 100 and also to honor those uh those poor victims of that terrorist attack and warnings last night very sad thank you all first we have o of offices or Oaths of office oath of office [Music] [Music] is Russ coming to Russ Russ do the h no you did got it wait there you go okay please state your name Taren shock do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state teachers that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties of the office of council member all of the duties of the office of council member according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me go so help me congratulations go go easy on you some go easy on you okay I'll go slow Don't Be Afraid yes please repeat after I I Le you Solly Solly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution the United States contion of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will do true Faith true Fai and allegiance to the Saint to the Saint and the government and the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this state in this state under the authority of under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly for justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of office of council member of office of council member according to the best of my ability according to the best ability sorry so help me so help me go [Applause] [Music] con and chief willinger [Music] repeat after name I state your name I Warr Jas J do you Solly swear do you solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully imp personally unforunately and justly performed and justly performed all of the duties of the office of EMS Chief all of the duties of office of EMS Chief according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me gu so help me gu congratulations Mr Wells Chief wells in house [Music] do the honors [Music] awesome please repeat after me I state your name I Charles Wells do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I'm I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully I will Faithfully partially and partially and justly perform justly performed all of the duties of the office of Fire Department chief all the duties of Fire Department chief according to the profess of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me gu so help me gu [Applause] congratulations um and now Sergeant Ryan Clark no okay we'll do that later for him that over there and toy happy New Year happy year Happ here and I'm looking for Tommy snow but I do not see him okay no worries I'll put that there and [Music] Antonio Flores I I st Anon swear and Solly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and the governments and the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this St and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of the office of OEM coordinator of the office of Oban coordinator according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me gu so help me guide congratulations [Applause] I will do now I will now do roll call Council memb santes here council member Chas here Council M here council president meski here mayor bran here thank you first we have the approval minutes December 18 2024 meeting minutes I'll second council member svant Iain council member chac yes Council main council president sheski yes mayor bran yes thank you motion to carries to approve December 18 2024 meeting minutes next we have content agenda mayor would you like me to read the resolutions by title yes please r251 electing a council president for the calendar year 2025 r252 appointing Municipal attorney for the calendar year 2025 and authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for professional legal services r25 003 appointing a burough engineer for the calendar year 2025 and authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for professional Engineering Services r254 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services Municipal auditor R 25005 authorizing the award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services as burrow Bond attorney R 25006 awarding A authorizing Award of a fair and open contract Professional Services for the burough of Highlands Information Technology Services R 25007 authorizing Award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services at B laborhood Council R 25008 authorizing the Bo of a fair and open contract Professional Services as Municipal planner r259 appoint a municipal court judge R 25110 um 010 appointing Municipal public defender and authorizing the award of a fair and open contract R 25011 appoints municipal prosecutor and authorizing the word of aair and open contract R 25012 authorizing Award of a fair and open contract professional legal Council for tax appeal and tax foreclosure matters R 25013 authorizing word of a fair and open contract for Professional Services affordable housing attorney r2504 authorizing the award of Affair and open contract for Professional Services as Redevelopment attorney R 25015 authorizing Award of a fair and open contract for Professional Services risk management r2506 authorizing a word of a fair and open contract Professional Services conflict attorney r2507 authorizing a word of a fair and open contract for Professional Services Consulting engineer r258 a warning a fair and open contract for downtown Network company for the community rating systems coordinator r259 appointing Council liaison R 25020 appointing Communications committee members R 25021 appointing members of the environmental ADV advisory Commission r25 22 appointing green team members R 25023 appointing sha tree commission commission members r224 appointing a tree commissioner R 25025 appointing open space committee members R 25026 appointing lands board members R 25027 appointing Community Development Representatives R 25028 appointing Economic Development review board members R 25029 appointing special of police officers R 25030 appointing juvenile officer R 25031 appointing fire police R 25032 designating a public and agency compliance officer R 25033 appointing a public officer R 25034 appointing the 25 2025 recycling coordinator R 25036 appointing a clean communities coordinator R 25036 appointing Anton Flores to the position of office of emergency management coordinator R 25037 appointing Deputy Emergency Management coordinators r238 appointing a land use board secretary R 25039 appointing tax search and assessment search officer R 25040 approving 2025 events on various referral properties r241 approving the 2025 temporary budget R 25042 authorizing a cash management plan R 25043 sending the schedule for meetings of the mayor and Council of the burough Highlands for the calendar year 2025 R 25044 designating official newspapers of the burough of Highlands r245 authorizing the bur of Highlands through the burrow of Highlands Police Department to participate in the defense logistic agency law enforcement Support Office 133 program to enable the burrow Highland Police Department to request and acquire excess Department defense equipment and with all of that I will offer the consent agenda I'll second council member santes yes council member chac yes Council Mel yes council president chesi yes mayor bran yes motion carries to adopt resolutions R 25001 through R 25045 next we have reports uh my report for December is um not complete because I still have uh yet to receive um the department reports it was an odd way of um between how the holidays fell and people taking time off so I don't have those numbers I will have those numbers uh next week so that uh report will be updated and uh on the website but I will say uh for December and looking back uh we had a really great presentation from our tax assessor our assessments went up um an incredible uh $250 million uh in just last year that's an upwards bounce of over 23% which means that people's homes and property are a lot uh more uh their their value was greater you could uh the house sales have been absolutely crazy through this year and which just means that your investment in your property is now higher so this is a good thing it's not a bad thing um so when assessments go up then the tax rate goes down so this does not necessarily mean you're going to get an increase in your taxes um but we haven't uh struck the budget yet this is something that we work on um in the first quarter and then we put it out there in the second quarter so you'll know exactly what the rate's going to be um I A lot of people are talking about Captain's Cove and we are uh doing a land use board hearing on January 9th um that is going to be in a couple of weeks and that is uh whether to um go forward with possible condemnation of that property as uh it's been an issue for quite some time um also in uh what happened in December is uh shadon we have finally uh had a contract purchaser so we uh appointed uh the developer a conditional redeveloper on December 18th so hopefully that will move forward uh they seem very anxious to get things going so hopefully um that is something to look forward to in the new year um also for Grants we again have been very successful this year and we have received over $1.9 million in Grants to uh help rebuild our Parks rebuild our infrastructure and uh every dollar we get in Grants is a dollar that we do not have to raise in taxes so this is very good news um just an update on some current projects we've had um some movement on Portland Road uh the Portland Road drainage system we've had to have the gas company come in and move some gas Mains because they're too they're either too high and they need to be buried lower or they're too close to um sidewalks and the edge of the road so the gas company has been coming in at their expense no tax dollars have been spent on this at all and they are coming in and uh repositioning those gas Ms um so that should uh as it's outside work and there's no no other infrastructure other than the gas lines that should just go throughout the winter and be done by the spring um the uh living Shoreline that we're looking to do at Veterans Park that um all of that uh design and permitting that we got the Grant from the Department of Defense that has all been completed it has been approved by D and it is now with the Army Corps for their approval so uh hopefully we can get uh looking to submit a grant for the actual imple implementation of that project which includ UD not only uh a living Shoreline but also bulkheading uh better bulkheading at Veterans Park um next up is the act the asset activation grants that is for a planning Grant uh over at the James T white clam plant um I'm just started uh getting a steering committee together so we could uh take a look at what upgrades we could can do including new bulkheads uh either Revitalize or create an entirely new building um we have a couple of clammers that are on board uh for the steering committee which is essential um as well as numerous other folks around around town so we're very excited about this planning Grant and the this is from the uh Economic Development ass Authority and what's good about this grant is that once we get forward um after the planning Grant phase and do the planning study that we could go back to them and look for an implementation Grant uh very similar to the vets project so that they could help uh with actually doing all of this work um just looking over some other things um we've been quite busy in the planning stages but there's going to be an implementation phase for a great number of projects that are going to be going on starting this spring and that is um we are going out to bid this winter for Overlook and Frank Hall Park together because they are literally around the corner from each other so we are anticipating some cost savings by uh having uh those areas could stage at the same time and be worked certain things can be worked on at the same time we are also uh looking to get Jones Creek dredged there's quite a lot of uh fill in there but we have to work within the county confines because they take all of the dredging materials and bring them over to Freehold and uh have a dewatering process uh also on to is the uh other side of Ming Place uh where we will have the elevated platform and railings and bike racks and all that other great stuff um another one that we are going out to bid this winter is uh the Shore Drive pedestrian safety program which is pretty much uh new sidewalks where there are no sidewalks at all from uh water the corner of water witch and Shore all the way to the end of Willow um and then the last thing that we have these are all approved projects that we already approved this year for implementation next year is uh the milling and Paving of Washington AV for marine uh place to cherful place um other than that um our our CRS coordinator has uh continuing uh to get us up to speed for our FEMA meeting a community meeting that's going to happen where they're going to look at Old Pro properties with repetitive loss uh that have been since either lifted or otherwise rectified um and also working with new development that's coming in that uh needs to know that you have to build there are certain building standards that have been implemented by ordinance from the d uh back in 2022 um so it's working hard with the building department to make sure that everybody understands exactly how you need to build in the flood zone it's very important half of our burrow is in the flood zone the other half has to deal with slump block and steep slopes so we have our challenges but we will prevail that is my report for what has gone on in December I'm looking forward to a very very good year this year there's a lot of projects and uh businesses that are looking to open in 2025 and I am very excited uh for all of it to happen and to be part of it and with that said I would like to encourage my council members to if you have any thoughts that you would like to share now is a perfect time for just happy New Year to everybody thanks for all coming out as usual good to see everybody uh participating in municipal government and good to see you and look forward to seeing you throughout the year I'll say did yes regarding head in 20125 to prepare for all the great things that can happen in Highlands in 2026 with the anniversary of the American Revolution so much happened here that a lot of people don't know about and we're going to do a ton of stuff um to get all that out there so and we'll be looking for participants too absolutely coming for you I'd like to wish everybody a Happy New Year as well too very optimistic for the town uh it's going to be a great year um the highlands business Castle has a bunch of stuff going on this year uh and we're just going to proceed as mayor pointed out um things are things are looking up and Linton Avenue was finally paid as his day avue I'm sure everybody's happy about that so onward and upward for 20 25 uh Fel naad Happy New Year to all um I always talk about the land of opportunity to me Highlands nothing but the land of opportunity uh became part of the family I love my team over here with unbelievable mayor you're the best thing that ever happened to this town um and uh what a beautiful thing being part of this beautiful community so I want to thank you all [Music] um I will leave you with uh I know everyone uh enjoys the burrow calendar uh so much and I will leave you with this is that uh for 2025 the entire calendar is dedicated to Gerard Edy and her historic swim and for 2026 which we're already working on the entire calendar is working for all of the history of this town and the Revolutionary War for the 250th anniversary so we're not just looking at tomorrow we're looking at the tomorrows and the tomorrows and the tomorrows and you need to plan and uh that's what this team has done so cohesively together and we hope that we have brought to you a better Highland than when we started and so I thank you Happy New Year be safe and be well and with that uh publiction portion yeah I just said public portion individuals wishing to address the council shall be recognized by the presiding officer shall give their name address and the group of they represent although the council encourages public participation and reserves the right through his presiding officer to terminate remarks to and or by any individual not in keeping with the conduct of a proper and efficient meeting if any individual refuses to conduct themselves in a proper manner they will be removed from the meeting the council will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving Employments appointments termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance promotion or discipl of any specific or perspec perspective or current employee there's a three minute time limit for your comments good afternoon everyone uh my name is Ed Johnson Brookdale Community College I guess my address is by convenient locations I'm very glad to be here today happy New Year uh and to celebrate with you and your reorganization and to bring a message from our president Dr DAV of happy New Year uh we look forward to working together with you uh on several different projects our history project coming up uh pale plans to be a a complete partner in that so we look forward to touching this you about that uh and then also mayor uh we look forward to inviting you to our campus in April when we're going to invite all the mayors of M County together to celebrate Community College month and also local government week to have a sty and to talk about how we can create educational uh education high education and human absolutely I'm so happy that you're here I've reached out to um Tracy Abby white regarding the clam plants and the educational component that we would like to uh move forward with so I I'm so very happy that you're in attendance today to uh to further that goal because it's important and I think we need to Foster education more than we have in the past absolutely does anyone else have any questions or comments okay with that I'll close public portion and I will uh motion to adjourn I'll second all in favor thank you meeting a Jour at 12:31 happy New Year everyone