e e e e e e the notice requirement stipulated in the open public meeting law has been satisfied notice was properly given said notice having been transmitted to the cura news on Tuesday January 16th 2024 as well as posted on the city's website clerk may we have a roll call council members Briggs Jones president councilwoman Cherry present councilman McCrae present councilwoman sesum present councilman Wyatt present vice president Graham present and council president hak Day present we have all members present and a quorum please rise for this Pledge of Allegiance remain standing for the invocation United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all humbly we ask God The Giver of peace and the lover of Charity to give the entire family of nation's true agreement with his will and to Grant the light of his Spirit on all those who work for justice and who work for peace amen thank you may have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of April 8th 2024 motion second all in favor say I I any opposition or abstentions okay uh minutes are approved uh we'll start with presentations we already see some special guests coming in uh we that's awesome uh um we'll start with the National Gun Violence Awareness Month resolution presented by councilwoman bricks Jones Council pres I we're not ready for that presentation at this point so can we go out of order and start with the uh water safety M absolutely thank you okay presentation for water safety M who's here for that water safety yes yes yep come on you have the FL and Mr President I have some remarks okay no I'll do it from right here thank you all and thank you mayor the mayor will be the proclamation May is National saf and as you know in the city of pl we have three locations and six schols which we are very proud of uh and this will be the 56th opening of the pl Avenue pool this year and if you need the history of you know that it was born out of the unrest of 1967 and out of segregation we to keep seated Waters open because black and brown people drown at higher rate than others so it's important for in this community that we take our water so everyone can learn how to swim and in the city of we all work together so here represented all the is the Aquatic family in playing I have the varsity coach for girls [Applause] director for the city ofield Valentine and our M [Applause] fin one of our LIF guards here who is a arising Junior at NJIT yes yes [Applause] other partners is the Shabad family and out of tragedy they started many many years ago so first of all it's my classmate and uh I was for to have her daughter one of my students in school but out tragedy they started learn swim programs that's operating for a number of years with YCA and City just so happy to have with us to count as part of our unique family that keeps the pools open to make sure Plan F residents have access recreational water to learn how to swim and if you I know we only have a few minutes but I'll ask the leaders to come say something about that good evening everyone on behalf of Rashid shabaz irck team Rashid Shabad learn to swim program we want to thank the city for recognizing us this evening this is rashid's Mom he was three years old when he tragically drowned in our backyard and we started the learn to swim Clinic to teach kids children and the Y partnered with us the city of plf partnered with us news2 New Jersey came out and we're continuing that to keep our children learning to swim in my family alone we lost my uncle at 23 in Lakewood New Jersey two years after that we lost another Uncle who was 32 with his two boys one was nine and one was 10 in the same Lake and then we lost my grandson wow so we're a family who've lost five members to drownings and it is important to put our children in the water but more important because it's a lot of adults that don't know how to swim as well so we need to teach them young and if you're an adult and you don't know how to swim find the program and get in there yourself thank you hello I'm coach sh Sears I'm the head boy swim coach at playful High School along as you were introduced I have some of my amazing athletes that are here with me today we are fortunate enough to be able to have a boys and girls swim program at our high school which we were able to effectively teach our students at the high school how to learn how to swim they don't have to know how to swim when they come in we make sure that they're able to swim when they leave out though so we also are part of the city of Playfield and making sure that we continue to rotate our swimmers to become lifeguards to become honorable members of our community so we are thankful to be here [Applause] today to play for high school because the uh women's Coach and the men's coach both product of PL graduate play for high school swam on a planful high school team both women of color and I don't know it's an Olympic year so it's a great year to trib new sport and this year the Olympic swimming coaches Anthony nesty first man of color ever to coach an Olympics swiy head coaches the [Applause] olyp so I'll leave you this um you know out this is July 20th 1968 play for avenue pool open was the first in ground pool the other two pools were above ground and uh while I was born out of segregation we fight keeps open so people can learn how to swim so at that time this year on Saturday July 20th we're going to do a little reception at the pool it will be open everyone will be invited because there are two or three people still living some of our elders still living in this community one is s Ryan's husband uh Mr jins jins was on theity coun at the time who make sure that funding came here so we can open that for the other was Mr card who was at the time president young stand AC to get those funds and urban Coalition and the leadership V the town before to get back here so our last plug is we have Community pass in the department of Parts Recreation that is your pass for the fund sign up get your free pool pass and come summer thank you so much and thank you for this opportunity to talk about the importance of swimming and again everybody has a dring story we want that to end we want that to end so you don't how to swim please learn how to swim it's important that's the so please any thank you all so much oh coming well yes but I'll just give I'll just give some very brief remarks before we and and so I want to say to everyone in attendance that we are so serious about swimming and the programs that we will offer here in the city of planfield that with the support of the governing body we have invested lately about $7 million in transforming the Rushmore recreational complex where we're building a new competition siiz pool a splash park water sports as well as a new facility with locker rooms and bleachers so we are serious about this sport of swimming and we want to encourage as you said um Miss Taylor everyone to try to learn how to swim but you will have the support of my Administration of members of the governing body because it's important to all of us and we're looking forward to reopening that facility in the fall and the spring of next year so that the experience can be an even more rewarding experience so thanks to all of you for the roles that you play and playing field is serious about swimming [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] baby shark sharkar thank you [Applause] much appreciated which one would we like to go to next the presentation from the board of Taxation for Elizabeth art okay okay we're going to do the presentation from the Union County Board of Taxation to the family of former Council Elizabeth her they're waiting for one more person but I believe councilwoman Brigs Jones is is ready so they ready yeah we'll go we'll go to yours yep councilwoman bricks Jones you have the floor I don't know if you know she we all ready break One n I'm great okay good evening everyone um good evening planfield glad to see you here tonight um again we have my group here with us and I call them my group because now I feel like I'm a part of them and this is Mom's the man's action and every year of course we recognize well they recognize but every year they recognize and they also come with stats about gun violence and um gun violence week takes place in June correct right and takes place in June every year so um mom's the man's action is you it's a chapter and listen they takeing memories if you you all want to join I just wanted to put that plug in there tonight mom's Man action has a chapter in every state within those chapters and I'm going to let Kathleen Dolan go into it but I just want to say that this particular group is near and dear to me because uh I had my brother I lost him from gun violence he was actually um shot 1993 when he was in Virginia visiting my dad so this is near and dear to me so I'm so passionate about this and also just recently um a friend of ours that used to go to church with us her daughter was just murdered almost two weeks ago 25 years old has so much ahead of her I can't speak in depth about a lot of the facts right now because they always say innocent to proven guilty but you know they think that it's behind domestic violence but just want to leave that there you know for certain reasons and so with that being said what I'm going to do is I'm going to have Kathleen to come up and say a few remarks I'm going to also just read a couple lines of the resolution and um we'll just take it from there thank you councilwoman um I'm Kathleen Dolan I am part of the Union County Moms Demand Action Group uh V Larin over here is the lead of the group and we have Leah Caldwell who lives here in planfield and she works with us as well um we are a community organization that is just focused on trying to reduce gun violence it's about gun safety and uh that's our Focus so uh we would encourage everybody to come out on June 1st there's going to be a walk here in planfield uh we're all going to meet at the Art Center um at 8:4 4 and then we're going to walk to City Hall together and it's going to be uh an amazing event we've done this uh before here in planfield and we'd love for the entire Community to join us and walk in solidarity to help prevent gun violence um we orange is um on behalf of hadia Pendleton who was part of the inauguration of Barack Obama in his first Administration and two weeks later when she met went back to Chicago uh she was shot and killed in a park near her house and so her friends got together and asked that there be something to remember her by her favorite color was orange um and they started this movement which is now a national movement all over the country there are these kinds of events going on just to raise awareness of gun violence and uh so it's the first Friday in June of every year and we're here and very grateful to councilwoman uh Terry Briggs Jones for supporting this activity in Playing Field and we know that uh together we can make a difference thank you thank you I would also um just like to say also in um in conjunction with the walk I'm asking everyone if you don't have any anything to do that morning please come out and join us um we will be walking as she said to City Hall and we'll be actually led by our own planfield high school band they're going to lead us and um they're going to play for us so they were generous to come out and support this um so I just wanted to make sure that I put that plug in there because that was important to me and I said you know what it's nothing like inviting the band and having our very own plane fi to be right here with us to lead us recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Month whereas the city of planfield upholds a dedication to the safety and Welfare of its inhabitants acknowledging the profound toll of gun violence on individuals families and communities whereas June is designated national gun violence Awareness Month serving as an opportunity to raise Consciousness regarding the issue of gun violence commemorate those impacted by it and endorse Endeavors aimed at preventing future instances regarding instances of violence and whereas gun violence remains an urgent concern for public health safety inflicting immeasurable surfing anguish and Trauma on victims and their K kin folk Across the Nation whereas it is imperative to Foster responsible gun ownership bolster effective G gun safy safety protocols and advocate for sensible policies geared towards mitigating gun violence and ensuring the well-being of all residents whereas National Gun Violence Awareness Month offers a platform for communities to unite Foster discourse and take concerted action to tackle the underlying causes of gun lies and pursue Solutions prior prizing prior public Tongue Tied yeah Public Safety now therefore be it resolved by the pl throw city council that we formally recognize and endorse National Gun Violence Awareness Month being further resoled that we encourage all residents to engage in activities and events that promote awareness about gun violence advocate for responsible gun ownership and support policies aimed at preventing such violence be it further and I'm going to go to the end be it further resolve that we urge community members to promptly report any suspicious or potentially hazardous activities Environ Firearms to the appropriate authorities and advocate for community-driven initiatives aimed at fostering safe neighborhoods so um it's on behalf of myself but also include my Council colleagues also um as well so again thank you all for listening and um again we urge you to come out and you know and support this efforts of this because this is very very important and I know I can't speak to facts but I do know and from what I I seen that gun violence is down in plan fill so we thank God for that so that's that's so Kudos Kudos doctor my man Dr director ABY thank you thank you and he will be speaking too thank you for thank you thank you [Applause] are we ready for the county bard of Taxation is every Everybody present [Applause] so good evening everyone good evening we are members of the Union County Board of Taxation and tonight first let me say Thank you Mr Mayor thank you Council C president thank you counselors for giving us the moment this moment to honor a legendary member of the playing field community tonight we want to present a proclamation on behalf of Liz urkhart Liz has been a legendary warrior in planfield and in Union County and she served many years on the Union County Board of Taxation and it is in honor that the members are have put together put together this Proclamation on her behalf good evening ladies and gentlemen I'm Peter lejoy I've had the honor of serving for 20 plus years with Liz on the board of Taxation uh as the vice president she served as president for those 20 years and uh I just can't can't say enough about her um but I can tell you one thing um we were never too serious we worked hard and there was always a smile so I'd just like to read this whereas the Union County Board of Taxation wishes to express its sincere condolences to the friends and family of Elizabeth a art who passed away on November 9th 2023 and whereas Elizabeth a art was first appointed to the board by then Governor James E McGreevy on January 14 2013 and whereas Elizabeth a art served with distinction as a commissioner and president of the Union County Board of Taxation from 2003 until her passing in 2023 uh Elizabeth and whereas Elizabeth a ort served the city of planfield for 32 years with with 16 of them as councilwoman and council president and whereas Elizabeth a urart has been recognized by the city of planfield for her years of service service by naming of the library at City Hall in her honor and whereas it is the wishes of this board that the city of planfield incorporate this resolution for display in the Elizabeth a art library at City Hall in recognition of Elizabeth's many contributions not only to the residents of city of Playfield but to those of Union County as a whole in her role at the board and her many other volunteer activities I have to add over the past 20 years now therefore be it resolved that the Union County Board of Taxation extends its deepest condolences to the friends and family of Elizabeth a ortt and be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution shall be presented to the family and displayed in the library at City Hall in Playfield as a remember an and token of the board's esteem and best wishes uh signed by John Del sorty Jr president Amelia Matt member Kevin O'Brien member myself Moren McClair Moren member and George wagenhoffer member and our ad administrator Christopher dur so thank you for allowing us to make this presentation thank you so much and thank you to the family we have with [Music] us this is Li's sister wima thank you to the family maybe we can have them all come up for a photo opportunity two one [Applause] if the family wants to say any words then feel free um good good evening um mayor and the council good evening all playing for for the library um people um I love my mom and I watched her when she worked for the tax commission and many times we went down to tax assessor's office office and down to the convention for five years I took her down there so she can learn the different um approaches of of doing tax assessment but I want to thank the uh board for doing that because they've been very um nice to me and concerned and mom really loved the Tax Commission she really gave her her heart she was a very hard worker and I S on the sides and watch watched her as she did what she had to do and plain was her heart and I me to cry but I love my mom and I watched her work and she loved the Playfield I mean she gave everything there no phone call no she would ignore you she gave everything her love her time her energy and she passed it on to me as a nurse and when she was sick I was right there I said Mom you paid for my education but you have you benefited from it cuz during those times I was there for her but I I love Playfield I was born and raised here I graduated from planfield high school in 1968 but my mom loved you and thank you so much for allowing me to speak [Applause] okay we have our presentation of Economic Development parking system okay go right ahead FL is yours so presenting the presentation on the parking system management study is going to be Jim Zulo with th Consulting okay U thank you very much for being here it's a after all this wonderful stuff it's really tough to talk about parking right now um uh we were uh our firm I'm the president of th Consulting uh we are a nationally recognized parking consulting firm specializes in doing studies of this nature for municipalities uh I want to thank Zenobia Fields her staff the parking utility J cun and his staff for helping us gather a lot of data so we've worked for the last 68 months on looking at ways to help improve the city's uh parking system given its significant vibrant activity so next slide please I'm going to move fast so so just very quickly um these are goals really as we know parking management is a key component to the economic development of your city and uh you've got a great uh group of folks here that are focused on it and our job was just to look at you know best practices and other things that we could do to help enhance the system so looking at operations strategies important of the start was to get community feedback we had two public meetings to get feedback from the community from the residents from some of the business owners downtown uh and then look at the uh ways we can incorporate their recommendations and observations into our study as well and looking at where we can change ordinances obviously you have a lot of development in in town which is great and but they have impacts and ways that we could look at those and help address some of those issues and lastly just talking about implementation every study the importance of a study is not just to make the recommendations but to really Implement so we want to work you know outline a plan to do that so next slide so we looked at uh four different study areas I'll just briefly the Central West neighborhood Central West neighborhood commercial area Central neighborhood commercial area the downtown and then the Netherwood area so this were four areas we didn't Focus obviously on the entire uh City but on these specific areas next slide please so just quickly um we are going to go through some of the recommendations and some of the dates you'll see on when they can be implemented most of them over the next 2 to 3 years hopefully uh obviously with the growth and some of the impacts in the neighborhood in the downtown uh parking enforcement is a key component to every par every parking system and it isn't about just writing parking tickets it's really help enforce compliance protecting residential quality of life making sure Downtown parking is turning over appropriately as per your time limits and basically end life safety issues making sure as you see more and more you know traffic and impacts to a growing down town that those areas are still safe for pedestrians and that type of thing uh the last thing we want to talk about is just event parking management obviously you have a lot of events here in uh in downtown and the idea is having a very you know organized system to help make those a real pleasurable experience for all your visitors and patients coming to the downtown next slide please so again uh you have a very committed staff of people here focusing on parking but we just look at ways to help every year to analyze what they're doing how they can maybe do it better looking at standard operating procedures tracking different Trends and I think that's really important you've got new pay stations you have new technology and a lot of data and some of the recommendations that we've made with technology will give you more information to help inform future decisions about parking policies and that um so again too just talking about some of the enforcement is always a big issue as your town becomes and is more vibrant it's very important to maybe look at extending hours of enforcement into the evening and on weekends again you know some people think enforcement is a bad thing but is really the backbone of any parking uh management system because you have start having conflicts with residents from you know people at different times so it's really important to make sure that those types of things are very well coordinated and really again not about uh punitive actions but really about compliance so uh next slide please I'm sorry I'm moving kind of fast I told my time was short you got a lot of stuff to do here so um again we are looking at the different areas that um we wanted to see some of the development that's taking place and some of the impact of things like new development on adjacent neighborhoods and take the train station as an example as well we know that in a lot of in that area Netherwood station a lot of the uh commuters don't want to pay the fee in the lot so they impact the residential neighborhoods so that's one of the things that we're looking at is helping to address that issue uh the other things that we see are some of the larger businesses with uh a lot of daytime parking adjacent to it residential neighborhoods that we want to obviously provide uh areas for those folks to park but we don't want to do it in a way that it negatively impacts you know residents in the neighborhood so um we talked about increasing loading zones in the downtown the one important thing is over the last 10 years downtown curb activity everywhere has really increased there's more Ubers there more lifts there's more delivery of V of things there's people picking up food and dropping offload as result of Co so it's really important that you provide commercial vehicles or local Merchants areas for that do their business with the creation of loading zones and things like that we also looked up in uh areas in the residential areas we could add more off street parking we uh on uh Second Street South Second Street there was a lot there the city owned that could be turned into a uh a little pocket lot for that community for that area to get provide more convenient parking for residents next slide please and the other thing too in the downtown you'll notice and this happens majority of downtowns where people tend to park employees and things like that right in front of their stores and the idea is that space that could accommodate three four five mer uh patrons during the day you want to turn that over so there is available parking that's usually the biggest complaint in the downtown is that the convenient on street parking is not available unfortunately it's locked up a lot of times by merchants or their employees so we want to look at a way of incentivizing people to use some of your off Street Lots where you do have a lot of capacity on the fringes and by either offering very low or affordable permit rates that employees can use and not have to feed meters and get a ticket potentially for overtime parking uh next slide so equipment and technology is really really important it changes all the time in the parking World you've the city has recently bought installed and utilize a lot of pay stations but there's and and the the key to that is about convenience if you make parking convenient to pay for there's less concern about you know ticketing and things like that so in addition to the steps you've already PL taken uh we've worked with the city to uh engage with par mobile that is a pay by app that you've seen throughout the state throughout the country and uh the city is already in negotiates as the contract to implement that the good news about that it's at no cost to the city they come in they put the signs up they do all of the necessary stickers on the stuff to advise people how to use the system so it's a great no cost uh effort and adds more convenience to your patrons downtown um the other things we've talked about you may have seen adjacent communities are there are these safety sticks that can be something like this that's put at a crosswalk or a fire hydrant and things like that that will actually use uh license plate technology where it reads the plate if you're in violation it'll take a picture and then your Police Department or parking enforcement can send a ticket to somebody and it's usually used in an area to promote safety and concerns where uh that is a major issue the other thing that you may see a picture in the lower right there as you develop some of your surface parking lot for other type of development which is really a smart move because it's surface parking is not the highest and best use of very valuable land downtown you'll want to incorporate technology because these projects will have some public parking component but it's important that people know how much parking is available and there are systems that can really make it more convenient for users to find available parking reduce the amount of driving they're doing around town uh so that's really important as well uh next slide please uh signage very important you'll see in a lot of downtowns not only New Jersey but where they have very uh well planned signage and wayfinding to get to public parking again the purpose there is to reduce cruising around town and make it more convenient for visitors and the other thing that it can do is create a brand for planing field if you look at the upper right hand picture that is in Somerville where they created a a kind of a distinct signage package and that's something that would be really beneficial to planfield as well lastly some of your surface lots are you know in the kind of behind the downtown area they're a little tough to both get to in vehicles but also in pedestrian ways so you have a couple of alleyways or passageways that could be enhanced through lighting Landscaping uh public art that type of thing that would really make that you know passageway from the surface lots to the downtown a little more enjoyable uh next slide uh the other thing is really Communications parking is a problem and you know every Community wrestles with what's often a bad situation and the ideas are turning it into a positive one so having a robust community Communications program about what are the parking rules why do you do enforcement for safety for parking turnover where can people Park and this can all be done today through social media websites real real time information if you have events telling people where to park for those so that just makes the overall experience and coming to the downtown or or other areas more enjoyable uh next slide please so talking about residential parking because of you know not only the growth of the areas the train stations and things like that and businesses again some of the residential neighborhoods are impacted and so there are areas within the city that we have recommended for residential permit parking that means that you know residents would get a parking permit and this can all be done today online you register online you upload whatever um residency documents you need to show so that there's no having to come downtown to or to City Hall to get a permit that type of thing very convenient but what it does is it you know really kind of reserves the curb space on on these specific areas for residents uh and their visitors obviously when visitors come there's an accommodation there as well and that's obviously not for everybody or or every area it's just where there's a conflict with major generators and people trying to avoid parking fees in some locations and or you know there may be other generators that are not parking where they're supposed to be so they try to use residential streets um next slide please so pricing there's no real recommendation at this point in time but what is very important is that your parking system wants to be self- sustaining it wants to generate adequate Revenue to provide for the the Staffing for the equipment the the technology that you utilize all to make it a more convenient system so obviously rates are something that need to be evaluated periodically to make sure you're charging appropriate rates not only to meet your cost but also again to help manage your parking there's strategies where we would recommend where you have very high utilization to increase those rates potentially and again this is nothing we're recommending now but in the future where you high demand but maybe in the lower are areas like in the surface Lots I mentioned you make them you know keep the prices the same or maybe even potentially lower them again the intent here is to kind of redistribute parking demand to uh underutilized areas next slide I think that's it so I hope I didn't go too fast I know you have a busy agenda um I want to thank you for the time and I don't if there's questions or any questions from council members yeah just just uh this this this report is based off Community feedback am I correct yeah we well we had two Community meetings as well as a lot of field work that we did as well right and I guess once this is implemented uh should something be tweaked would would that be part of your services like if we have to tweak something it wouldn't cost the taxpayers any extra dollars so this was to do a comprehensive assessment and it's for the parking utility to implement this if we need additional understood thank you thank you councilman white uh yes thank you for the presentation uh my question is will you come back and present to the council specific recommendations because this seemed like it was a overview U speaking on I know on the agenda tonight is Park Mobile which is something great but something specific that says this area here will allow permits this area here for downtown people will park here will you come back with the presentation and such um we will ort okay yeah I I I I I didn't want to Dive In Too Deep here I know your time is limited so but as she said the the report has a lot of specific recommendations for specific areas as well okay all right thank you I look forward to it um you will have the different features for as far as the language is concerned you know because of course we have a big population of Spanish and we want to make sure that they understand when they get ready to park that um they'll be able to comprehend what they need to do yeah I mean that's a great point that a lot of the communications you know need to be bilingual and and a lot of towns and cities are doing that as well so okay thank you can you go back to that slide that had the four I want to say was like the four areas within planfield and talk a little bit more about that part the second that's it yes yeah did you have a specific question yeah so what is the plan what was the recommendations provided in those areas well they're all kind of a different they're you know I would say for the downtown you'll see well first of all for all the areas parking enforcement is critical you know and some of them more red residential oriented areas it was about what they were seeing in the early evenings and you know inundated with parking uh by you know maybe people didn't live there so in one of the you know recommendation related to that is there is a vacancy or or so in the uh in the utility for parking enforcement uh secondly would be to extend the hours uh depending on those areas in the downtown is an example too um and key to this is turnover of time limit parking right now people aren't supposed to park Beyond 2 hours but doing that uh time limit parking enforcement manualing is very challenging um so what the recommendation is there's two type technology which is called license plate recognition where you may have seen Vehicles mounted with cameras and what they're able to do is then drive down city streets or down downtown lots to make sure one if people are permitted they're there appropriately and two if you extend beyond the time limit it's a much more efficient manner to capture that so the idea is to turn that parking over in the downtown versus allowing it to be manip uh you know kind of taken over by few users so that I know in the U Central neighborhood commercial again and in Netherwood there was an impact of well Netherwood you have train station and we have pictures that show the train station on a weekday completely empty the but the adjacent streets are busy because people are parking there to avoid the fee so with that you would Institute the residential permit parking so those or time limit parking that wouldn't allow commuters going to New York for 10 or 12 hours to park there all day um in uh one of the streets as well I mean areas I'm sorry you have some very large businesses that are accommodating all of the on street parking and negatively impacting resid and so we and a lot of these businesses have their own off street parking that they can utilize but they choose to take up take on the street so there again it's a matter of enforcement um a couple of the technology things that are specific is one the LPR and then a um a permitting system where it's it's a digitally based that a lot of municipalities throughout New Jersey are using or residents and just go online or in your downtown where you sell permits it's it's a it's a totally um you know it's not a manual process anymore just efficiency related so and my next question is how many residents participated in the study um well I would say the first meeting was probably 40 to 50 participants and maybe a you know maybe 35 to 40 in the second one thank you any other questions well I certainly welcome Park Mobile I know many of us have used it throughout the state it's a familiar app many people have it on their phone already so definitely uh looking forward to that convenience uh of using that app uh throughout the city so thank you and appreciate your presentation have a great [Applause] night hey parking gets claps too huh it's awesome okay uh the floor is now open for a public hearing on the calendar year 2024 playing field introduced budget uh so if there are any comments regarding the budget specifically uh please come up give your name and address for the record and speak about the budget yeah Nancy p 1129 Merle Avenue I tried to link on the agenda and didn't show up but I found it on my phone so I was able to look very quickly so I just have a couple quick questions first of all some of the lines are stabilized which I appreciate and I also appreciate the fact that it's early but um one of the questions I have I saw in one of the payment and L taxes that there was a school listed is the school paying the taxes or is it um the developer paying the taxes that's number one number two how much is our taxes going to increase and um are all the raises or the line items that show some raises are they all pretty much the same percentages across the board and um has a contract been negotiated with our police and fire thank you okay did you get those questions and we can answer those later in the meeting uh yeah now it's fine sure but first let me let me get all the questions first and then um is there anybody else that's going to speak on the budget on the budget specifically all right uh motion to close public hearing on the do you want are you gonna speak to on the budget okay no problem sorry I didn't know she no it's okay thank you name and address for the record and go ahead Di and a member of the Quaker planfield Quaker Meeting 225 Wasing street now here so I'm here just because the same thing we were looking at the budget we were not clear if about the taxes if the developers are going to are going to contribute to the schools taxes or not that is one question and another thing is we were not able to identify if you are in this budget you are planed how you're going to be educate or doing a study about the new housing law so we want to make sure how's going to the public know about the new law and about the affordable housing they just passed in April so we want to make counc president speaker is out of order does not pertain to the budget so we want to make I think she's talking about the budget okay I yes I'm talking about the budget if if you are if you if in the budget you have a portion to do a study about how it's going to determine it the affordable housing the new rule about affordable housing for planfield it's for New Jersey but each Town need to do the study to see how it's going to be the how it's going to be implemented the affordable housing okay thank you anyone else public comment regarding the budget okay I'll make a motion to uh I'll accept a motion to close public comment on the budget second all in favor say I I any opposition or abstentions okay public hearing on the budget is now closed you may adjust uh the the questions that we ask uh director yes you can yeah oh show all right I think you can hear me now so for the payment in lie of taxes question it does get paid by the developer the payment in Le of taxes is based on their annual service charge so basically what they're making off of what is built and then the other question I believe was related to an affordable housing um under planning and we also stay current with the policies that are there for affordable housing so we will be looking into that study even though it's not included we attend several of the state we webinars so it will be ongoing and we will incorporate it into our update of our zoning ordinance as well as our master plan okay I will speak on the increase and RBA will address the salary raises the increase is approximately $155 per household okay go ahead you can finish the remainder okay I can speak on the contract so the budget that you're looking at has compounded increases for the unions that settled over the past 12 months so in some cases it might look like 10% it's because it's the four the 3 and 1/2 and the 2 and 1/2 all in one and to answer your questions on the unions we have contracts settled for everybody except the PBA and the S SOA all right thank you for those questions uh we now move to We Now move to consideration of public hearing second reading and final passage we have ordinances MC 20249 through mc22 24-23 which are scheduled for public hearing and final passage for the regular meeting as advertised council president can I can I ask for a motion to suspend the regular order of business um I'd like to indefinitely table MC 202 24-22 okay uh I can I have a uh Motion in a second to all those in favor say I I I okay uh that is indefinitely tabled okay council president if I just may address that the now that the the specific ordinance has been tabled there can be no public comment on the matter until the final public comment of the evening not in the first public comment can must to be at the end of the meeting thank you council president also procedurally we did a motion to uh suspend the regular order of business now we have to do a motion to table it okay can we have a motion to table so council president I make a motion that we table MC 2024 d22 indefinitely second okay a roll call clerk maybe have a roll call council members bricks Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hogay yes MC 2024-25 has been tabled indefinitely okay thank you [Applause] may I have a motion to return council president can we have order in the in the room please can you ask for order please thank you may we have can we have a motion to return the regular order of business so move second okay uh all those in favor say I I any opposition or extensions okay we're now returned to the regular order of business uh we'll move to the legislative body items to 172 24 through 22224 uh do we have a consensus to add these items to the voting meeting so move second all those in favor say I I I any opposition or abstentions okay uh we'll now move to the business administrator items please present those okay thank you council president we have five items for your consideration tonight the first one are appointments to the cultural and Heritage commission the second one is an appointment of firefighter Anthony pan as the new plane field Fire official um he's been here for over 9 years he has all of the requirements and uh there's some retirements that are are jumbling up that that need we have the resolution for water safety month which we presented on we have a resolution designating the week of May 19th to 25th as Emergency Medical Services week and i' i' like to take that opportunity to recognize the planfield rescue squad for their 70 years of service I've been talking to many different agencies over the past year and it's really unusual for a city as large as planfield to survive with a volunteer squad for 70 years so kudos to them for surviving for that long it's it's pretty incredible um and I also wanted to take this time to give some stats about uh our current providers from June two June 1st 2023 to current to March 31st 2024 sorry uh there have been 6,5 911 calls and the average response time for those calls has been 6 minutes and 15 seconds those have been handled all by JFK in the county with 7% being handled by South planfield who's our mutual Aid provider um and then finally I have a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into aou with the planfield community outreach program for our summer program this is to allow 150 City kids age um ages 8 through 60 uh K through 8 K through 8 all residents to uh participate in the camp that we're going to sponsor okay questions from Council Members regarding uh the business administration's items I had a question for our 224 d24 is this a promotion or is it a dual role it's a dual it's a dual role it's just it's for him to serve in that capacity so instead of being 100% as a firefighter he'll be serving in this role instead it's not a it's kind of lateral thank you other questions Council M uh yes just one quick question I was trying to pull up the resolution but for the EMS week what are some of the events that will take place and how will we celebrate those so I'm I've been talking to JFK about doing something but it probably won't be in the month of May they're very busy and they would want to attend so just like how we had to coordinate the check with them we're going to coordinate this with them as well okay all right thank you okay do we have a consensus to add these items to the voting meeting yes uh can I have a second second second all in favor say I I any opposition or abstentions okay those items are on the voting meeting all right uh Corporation councel please proceed with your item thank you council president uh one item for uh consideration this evening a uh settlement of uh juny Hart versus the city of planfield this matter was discussed in closed session I ask that to be added to the agenda okay any questions can I have a motion to add this to the voting meeting so so moved second please second all right all in favor say I I any opposition or abstentions okay that shall be added to the voting meeting thank you coun thank you all right with the Department of Finance present their items thank you council president I have four resolutions for your consideration um resolution 229-242 4 planfield Municipal operating budget resolution 230-4 resolution adopting the 2024 municipal budget in uh which was introduced on 4824 resolution 231-244 items of Revenue and appropriation and finally resolution number 23224 resolution authorizing the issue of tax refunds in the amount of $732 a28 okay okay looking for questions for my Council colleagues council president I have a question please go ahead uh regarding 23124 I looked at the list of the four items that were listed as revenue and one of them referenc an additional 35,000 for emergency housing is that in addition to the 35,000 that was listed in the budget book now making that $70,000 available for emergency housing okay cuz the revenue listed it as additional further questions councilwoman okay any other questions um uh not a question Council presid quick comment sure yes I just would like to uh thank those who participated in the cback committee uh I know that the process was very short uh but you guys were very thorough with your questions with your recommendations and also a thankless job so I just wanted to take the opportunity and on behalf of everybody that appointed someone and just say thank you that's it abolutely all right do we have consensus to add these items to the voting meeting yes yes okay I heard two yes that's a motion in a second all those in favor say I any opposition or abstentions okay this is add to the vote presid I just want to note that uh the resolution amending the budget and the resolution adopting the budget have to be voted on uh by voice uh you want a roll call a roll call vote let's have a roll at the time at the time oh at that time yes okay all right sure all right great okay would the department of where are we depart the police department present your items director hello there we go can you hear me yep M check yes I think so I I thought I did can you hear me I'm pushing you can get up accept to you thank you so much you can you can hear me now absolutely all right good evening council president good good evening I have four resolutions for your um for you to consider on this evening resolution R2 33-24 is a resolution authorizing the city of planfield police department to participate in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office 1033 program that's the FED program that we use if we get any uh government uh Surplus equipment that's what that's about 234 is to enter into a one-year renewal contract with sound thinking that's the new name for shotspotter and an amount not to exceed $168,800 resolution authorized in the planfield police department to donate three unserviceable used bulletproof vests to the worldy Grenada police force and R 23624 is a resolution to apply and accept New Jersey department of highway traffic safety clicket or ticket 2024 Statewide seat belt mobilization Grant okay any questions from Council colleagues regarding these items okay I'll take a motion in a second to add it to the voting meeting second okay all those in favor say I I I any opposition or abstentions okay these are added to the voting meeting uh with the Department of Public Works present their items good evening Mr council president members of the council Department of Public Works has three resolution to uh present resolution R 23724 resolution authorized the order of a contract AC cross RS Paving Company for the milon pavement of AA place and linman place in a total amount of $339,950 resolution 23824 resolution authorizes empty building security for the board and secur and of following properties 715 to 23 Arlington 701 71 Kensington and 501 West 7 Street if needed on emergency basis not to exceed $80,000 and resolution r232 4 resolution of clean the lean of 10 properties totaling $6,950 54 that concludes my resolution uh president okay for 23824 uh are we able to Bill them for that yes this is for clean and Le yes it is this is for lean lean on the properties yes for to recover all cost yes any other questions from Council Members council president were you asking about 23 238 23824 the securing of that building right that 80,000 I was wondering if that was reimbursable or we can place leans on the on the property owners correct correct okay thank you and your response was yes yes yes okay for everything yes and my my my question to that was um do we know of other municipalities that have utilized this this Con this service provider yes uh some of the major cities yes uh yes they have thank you anyone else yes question uh the same resolution R 38-24 uh so as far as I know we spent 80,000 to secure of the building is there anything in the contract that says if people somehow get back into the building that they will be responsible for it that who will be responsible I'm sorry company that secured the building for responsible come back and secure them again that's what they would do yes to make sure they stay secure that's what they would do okay and is not to exceed $80,000 this is more a rental agreement so we may never get to number $80,000 so just we rent into the equipment that they use the board of the buildings that's what you so thank you okay we have someone checking up to make sure that no one is re-entering the building every day every day yes okay all right thank you council president I have a question for R2 38-24 have we used this vendor to secure another building within the city sorry sorry have we used the have we build for this with another property has there been another property that was like abandoned that we have to do this yeah if if if not to this magnitude no this is the first with this yes okay thank you anyone else okay do we have consensus to add these to the voting meeting so move second all in those in favor say I I any opposition or abstentions okay we'll move to economic development director four is yours good evening council president I have resolutions 240 through 20-21 through 249 D 24 for your consideration I'm requesting to pull resolution 25-24 okay uh can we have a motion in a second to poll 250 so move second okay all those in favor say I I I any opposition or abstentions okay that one is pulled from the agenda uh can we have uh questions from Council colleagues regarding the remainder I'm going to present that oh yeah I'm sorry sorry yeah right a little too fast go ahead present please resolution 24024 this is a resolution to approve um service provided for artist Muer service this is for Alonzo commission Alonzo Adams to develop a mural for our pedestrian Plaza or North Avenue not to exceed 150,000 the next resolution is for the city of planfield to submit an application and to potentially accept a grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Administration for not to exceed $3 million for for the purpose of a local property acquisition program this is to purchase two properties adjacent to one of our parking lot for the purpose of building a parking deck the next resolution is to enter into a no cost service agreement with Park mobile this is for a transaction service for the app as well as any signage and maintenance that is needed the next resolution is to submit to the Urban Enterprise Zone authority to authorize the funds for the purchase of six Emergency Management vehicles and one trailer this will be used by the office of emergency manag for the purpose of evacuation during severe weather events the next two resolutions is are to conduct studies for redevelopment properties the first one is along West Front Street this is look at a neighborhood commercial the next one is to look at 61 to 73 Rock Avenue for the purpose of study and then the next three resolutions are to designate developers the first one is for 1203 to 121 South Avenue the the next resolution that will be a total of 71 units it will be a fivestory building that will also have 750 ft square fet of retail space and 73 parking spaces the next designation is for 512 WatchON Avenue also known as the old YMCA building this is designating a developer for the center of excellence to construct a multiphase project it will include the public recreation facility for the center of excellence as well as a multifam housing that will consist of approximately affordable 100% affordable units as well as to develop a parking garage the next designation is for 768 to 900 North Avenue this is also a multiphase effort the first phase is going to be an industrial Warehouse the second phase is going to be a sports facility and restaurant the warehouse is going to be approximately 118,000 Square ft the sports facility and restaurant is going to be approximately 990,000 Square ft that would include uh restaurant a sports facility Dome that would include pickle ball basketball courts soccer courts and other recreational facilities including parking for both facilities the next resolution is to direct the planning board to reexamine to in North Avenue Redevelopment plan this will allow the planning board to consider changing the accessory uses of recreation and entertainment to principal uses in the area okay that concludes my presentation okay thank you with that a lot of items there um a lot of really exciting activity especially the recreational opportunities that uh might be on the horizon uh that's good um also just to note you know um for the mural uh that that that we are uh looking at um Alonzo Adams is a very uh renowned artist I know I'm probably preaching to the choir in terms of his notoriety here in Playfield but he's one of our own and it for as large as a mural as he's going to do I think it remind me of the size of the mural but it it'll be 20 feet by 60 feet okay so you know his his paintings you know go for you know pretty penny so that's going to be a really large uh piece that uh is the property of the city so I'm I'm excited about that as well and being a part of the the beautification of the city um wondering if uh any of my Council colleagues have any questions or comments regarding these items on a question director you spoke about the m is it um Alonzo Adam going to be able to utilize any of our local students to participate in this Alonzo will be enlisting the help of young artists from the decree school planfield high school as well as the planfield performing art school council president I have a question go right ahead for our Center of Excellence you mentioned affordable housing how are we defining affordable housing so affordable housing is defined as the average median income that will range from anywhere from 30% to 120% so meaning that if the median income in plan fill is 70,000 it's based on what they can afford with that so we are going to see rents that are going to range from anyone from $600 for a studio to up to 2200 for a three bedroom that's that will be affordable thank you further questions yes uh regarding the um item number 24224 the uh Park Mobile um the demand parking app um do we who sets the time limit for that app so it goes typically by our time limit that for the meter parking so we have the discretion meaning that you can choose to have it Go by hour and we can choose where we want zones that could go up to 8 hours sure in the I guess the areas that are nearest toour train stations such as Garfield Netherwood and Watson um I'm assuming that uh there'll be parking meters there there there will be Park Mobile zones identified yes and that brings me to my next question do we have the option to allow for one side of the street to be resident parking only okay we do so um as our parking consultant mentioned that we are going to look to implement a residential parking permit program that means that people that are current residents They will receive placards at no cost because of their living in the area sure thank you those are my questions council president anyone else yes okay go ahead Council second all right the first one r246 d24 can you just go over you said it was 71 units are we're going to be there okay and how much commercial space um a minimum of 70 750 square ft 750 square ft and is there a pilot on this property this is just to designate the property the financial negotiations haven't happened yet okay um okay so I'll wait for the for it to come back to us the second I'm sorry um councilman I did not mention there are seven affordable units here I don't know if I mentioned that it would be 10% so 10% seven affordable units right okay the next one going down uh was the center of excellence so I know we spoke about this during the budget heing so you said there was going to be 200 affordable units approximately 240 that number is expected to go up okay and just for clarification the city is not going to be going to Business of Being a landlord correct no that will be for the developer so it'll be a public private partnership where the city will own the center of excellence and then the multif family residential development will be owned by the developer okay and uh just the last question on this one the cost you said we estimated it to be about $30 million for the center of excellence between 25 and 30 minutes 25 and 30 okay and as we're negotiating with the developer are we um are they setting aside anything for the community benefits to help offset the cost there will be Community benefits a part of it so there Community benefits that will be associated with this project not only with this developer with other developers we've already designated um 400,000 in community benefits from another development and with with the last development that is associated with the North Avenue that's another Community benefit that could be associated with this project okay all right and just the last two r247 d24 and r248 d24 um are we do you have any agreements as far as Pilots with these two properties so we designate first and then we negotiate the financial agreement for the pilots the only thing that's identified during the uh Redevelopment the Redevelopment designation agreement is the community benefit okay so that's the only thing that's negotiated when you bring it to us as far as designating does it Community benefit right so right now with the r248 d24 it's 100,000 Community Development benefit and did you ask for am I looking at the wrong one excuse me I think you meant two the North Avenue is that what you're talking about the North Avenue one right now that's a $500,000 Community benefit and what's the other one you're asking me about I'm a little out of order here another apartment okay I believe you answered that when I was a 71 units yes that one was 100,000 100,000 okay all right thank you okay do we have consensus to add this item to the voting meeting yes have a second second all those in favor say I I any opposition or abstentions okay your items are added Department of Health and Social Services please good evening uh council president I have four items uh tonight the first one is a resolution uh awarding a contract not to AC seek uh $30,000 for the provision of housing rehabilitation services for which is through our community block grant and that pays for the service uh resolution 25224 is a resolution authorizing the mayor and the city to enter into an agreement with title shot LLC for animal control services in the amount of $18,800 uh from May through December 31st 2024 resolution 25324 is a resolution recognized in May 2024 is mental health Awareness Month resolution 25424 is a resolution recognized in Community Action 60th anniversary and Community Action month those are my resolutions council president thank you director uh any questions from my Council colleagues I have a question Council r254 d24 I know our mayor did a public plea for anyone to provide any type of feedback wondering if anyone provided any feedback to the administration and also how are the services right now so uh we had two I met with two residents we had a very robust conversation and in that conversation they gave us some ideas uh to possibly incorporate uh some of them I explained we could not do because we're a municipality but some of them we certainly working on uh one of them is making sure that we have the most upto-date chip reader uh at the police department which which we do uh we checked uh they did give us a couple of Articles and we are look into them one is working through the city of Trenton which uh the city has taken on those Services animal control services so we have we've reached out to that City to find out what they're doing and how they're doing it uh to see if it's something that see if something we can look into uh not necessarily do um and certainly soon as I get the information we'll bring it back what I do know about that Services is more inclined to a county initiative and when I say County really means about all the counties participating uh and giving money for this one Animal Service so that uh we can all be part of that process and that's one of the one of the models that we talked about uh finally how are they doing I think they're doing good they've had some bumps along the way uh we certainly have worked with them along the way um they've done something that we did not expect which was when planfield uh residents have lost their animals and they need to reclaim them theyve taking them taking those animals back and returned them to the residents uh they delivered them essentially to to their homes we've never had that service I'm not sure I want everyone to get comfortable with that cuz I'm sure that's an increased cost at some point but certainly they are very committed to doing what they're doing as a small company and certainly uh they're excited with working with the city as well thank you so much for that feedback anyone else okay question oh good yes director sh Brown uh quick question so I see that we're locking in from May 1st through December 31st would it impact the contract the price of the contract if we broke it up quarterly just to check in with them yeah we we would so there's a couple things I planted we would definitely want to do it for the year and lock them in for the year because the service the the demand for this service is great so we have a lot of municipalities trying to Vive for this particular service and it's best that we lock it in now as opposed to doing it courtly okay but can we ensure that we still do you know quarterly checkups just to make sure that everything is going well and report back sure we'll probably do more one than quarterly I mean that that's what we've been doing so far so we certainly we do that okay thank you you're welcome all right thank you uh do we have consens to add these to the voting meeting yes okay I have a second than all those in favor say I I any opposition or extensions okay added to the voting meeting Department of technology and Communications who's hand on thank you council president um we have one resolution for your for the council's consideration this evening which is authorizing the city of planfield to enter into a service agreement with JCT solutions to upgrade the obsolute Vesta 911 system not to exceed $538,000 7986 okay any questions from Council Members all right do we have consensus to add this to the voting meeting so mov second okay all those in favor say I I any opposition or extensions all right thank you add it to the voting meeting all right would the business administrator please present the ordinances on first reading I will we have 10 ordinances on first reading for your consideration this evening the first ordinance is an ordinance which I'm going to call the pooper scooper ordinance and this is um regarding proper disposal of pest of pets Solid Waste this is outlining what the owner's responsibilities are for cleaning up after their pets and establishing fines for not doing so we have an ordinance the next ordinance is um amending chapter 16 this is specifically related to trucks over 4 tons we're changing the fines so that if trucks over 4 tons are found traveling on threeways on streets they're not allowed like like Woodland a for example uh the fine will be up to $2,500 which is the statutory limit uh then we have an ordinance for a four-way stop and um for four-way stops and three-way stops these are areas that have been deemed by the police department to require additional traffic calming measures we have four ordinances that are amending previously approved Redevelopment plans um the first one is the to South Redevelopment plan and that's uh to allow for three bedrooms in that in that plan so that they can qualify for affordable housing the second one is the West End industrial Redevelopment plan uh they're adding two blocks and lots to that the third is the West Front Street and Clinton a Redevelopment plan adding a lot to that and then finally the 197 scattered sites Redevelopment plan they're adding three developments into that plan um then we have an ordinance to amend the uh licenses for film permits this is creating the standards for filming what we want to see in planfield now that we have so much filming happening here and we're including updated permit fees and filming fees and then finally we have an ordinance for our off-duty cop ordinance we have an amendment to our off-duty cop ordinance and we're just clarifying that state county and schools are not exempt from submitting their fees for their projects um that they do also have to pay for the cost of off-duty cops Manning their projects okay thank you um I know regarding MC 2024 uh 24 residents have been asking for that a lot especially as you walk the neighborhoods and uh residents are very concerned that make sure other residents know to clean up after themselves or to curb your your your pets uh something simple but it it Bears repeating uh to make sure that we have a a a clean sanitary Community all right so I appreciate that that's on there as well as these other ordinances getting the business of the city done any councilmen uh or Council women have any questions on these yes um I just want to make a comment also on um MC 2024 d24 that um I'm glad to see this ordinance in place but also we need to make sure and reassure that we put up signs everywhere um so that way the residents know those signs definitely have to go up because when we were out doing Queen clean the queen it was a lot of waste that was out there and if we put those notices out there they'll they'll say you know what I better not do this I'm want to get a fine so we need to make sure that that's out there also as SW those signs thank you anybody else yes uh regarding the same ordinance so uh what does enforcement look like so obviously you you'd have to see somebody not picking up after their pet um right now there's a lot of ring camera footage of that sometimes residents will email me with the ring cam footage um and so that's you know that's one way to help the cops enforce that um but yet you would have to you know we get we get calls all the time about about this kind of thing and so you know taking the ring camera footage or calling when somebody does that then we then we can you know get over there CU obviously we're not everywhere all the time when people are walking their pets there's also people who they have a chronic issue on their lawn I get calls from their neighbors and so that that's another way that you would report it and it would be enforced so some sort of video footage video footage would be helpful if we're not you know if it's not happening there but also when there's a chronic situation we tend to know about it because it's on the lawn it's in front of the law it's in front of the curb we we have we know some offenders as is sure sure okay yeah I just kind of want to know what that looked like because if you call the police and there's no footage there's very little that they can do because they didn't see it happen of course okay okay anyone else go right councilman W uh yes on mc2 202 24-27 so you said that we are changing that one to include three bedrooms okay so how does that um I know we did a study in the past and we were saying that because it was a 30-year pilot and none of the money went to the school system I just goes to the county and to the city and it was stated that uh one and two bedrooms are recommended because there will be a zero impact to the school district now you're adding three bedrooms which will means that it probably children will be living there so will we revisit the pilot in the way that we have it set up or it's going to stay as is so it's not a new pil this is not a new pilot what this is looking for in order to be eligible for certain funding from the Eda from FM hmfa you you have to have three bedrooms so to be eligible for affordable funding like lowincome housing tax credit or Aspire funding you have to have three bedrooms no I understand that but it was told to us before that they were building one bedroom units and two bedroom units because people wen't frankly not having kids that's what they said the study showed if I'm not wrong more broadly so I I just want to be clear this is a Redevelopment plan not for a specific pilot so if there were pilots in the past they still don't have two bedrooms this is to impact a specific project and pilot so we're looking for the center of excellence why that decision was made for affordable housing it does not go back and impact other Pilots okay so going forward okay thank you um Mr council president if I can expand on that slightly um in terms of the pilots there is this notion that the school doesn't get anything and that the KY gets something but under pilot agreement the city of planfield collects more taxes than it would under a conventional tax situation now why does the county get 5% and the school doesn't the reason the county gets 5% is that the county no longer gets any any conventional taxes and if the county was collecting $60,000 in the past and it's no longer collecting that 60,000 it means that the county in order to balance its budget must now spread that 60,000 amongst the other 20 municipalities in Union County and that's not fair because those other 20 municipalities are not benefiting from the pilot that is in planfield why doesn't the school get um anything because the school is getting its full allotment for its budget it's getting a combination of the property taxes that is a part of its budget as well as the rest of the money comes from the state every single year now the reason why it makes sense for none for none to go to the school district is because if the city is retaining that let's assume $100,000 went to the school district on a conventional tax situ situation and the city is now retaining that $100,000 that would normally go to the school district if we wrote a check to the school district for 100,000 it means that we have to tax the rest of the property owners in planfield $100,000 in order to balance our budget so the reason reason why only the county gets 5% is because there are different people paying the taxes there are 20 other municipalities that would have to fill that Gap that is not the case in the city of planfield so the school district doesn't lose a DME the school district gets every penny that it needs to operate on an annual basis a combination of the state aid and the $25 $30 million that it collects in property taxes from the resident so a misnomer and it is based on a misunderstanding of the mechanics of how property taxes work and the impact on other communities that are a part of the County versus the city of planfield so I just wanted to share that okay thank you one more comment go go ahead I know this is probably the fourth time that we debated this top this topic here and uh working in a tax assessor's office for over 12 years I would have to respectfully disagree uh with your stand on it and we'll just stay on different sides of it thank you okay do we have consensus to add this to the voting me I add one more question oh go ahead goad regarding um MC 2024 d32 I guess the only reason you would need a permit is if you're doing commercial filming in the city uh 202 24-32 um the film permit does that only apply to commercial filming on public streets or sorry yes that would apply to commercial filming and if you're going to utilize um any public spaces uh for film makers who come here and they want to enter into contracts with homeowners privately that is separate this only has to do with as it affects um public spaces and also for the city permit filming fee sure thank you you're welcome okay thank you all right do we have consensus to add these items to the voting meeting so second okay all those in favor say I I any opposition or extensions all right these are added to the voting meeting all right we will now uh I'll take a motion for a 5 minute re come back second all those in favor I all okay we'll recess for 5 minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay we now move to consideration of public hearing second reading and final passage Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-19 by title and further certified that it is complied with all statutory publication requirements MC 20249 is an ordinance of the city of planfield County of Union New Jersey adopting the East Third Street Entertainment District Redevelopment plan dated April 4th 2024 it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on April 10th 2024 okay the floor is now open for anyone uh who who would like to speak regarding MC 2024-the and fight on passage and if adopted shall be published as required so both second clerk may we have a roll call council members bricks Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes SES yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hock yes ordance to been adopted on second reading and final passage Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-20 by title and certifi that has complied with all statutory publication requirements MC 202 420 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 16a article 16a section 2 schedule 2 no parking certain hours on both sides of Street for entire block of Weston Avenue from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on April 10th 2024 okay do we have members of the public that would like to speak regarding mc22 24-20 name and address for the record thank you okay seeing none and hearing none on online I'll entertain a motion to close public hearing on this so second second okay may I have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading and move second okay clerk may we have a roll call roll call MC 202 2420 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president gaham yes council president hackk day yes this ordinance has been adopted on second reading our final passage thank you Madame Deputy please read MC 2024-25 that is complied with the law MC 2024 21 is an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cat Bank njsa 48 col 4- 4514 it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on April 10th 2024 okay any members of the public wish to speak regarding MC 202 24-21 seeing none and hearing none online I'll entertain a motion and second to close public comment so move second okay and I'll now have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading follow final passage and if adopted shall be published as required by law shall move second okay clerk we have a roll call roll call MC 202 2421 council members Briggs Jones yes yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Grim yes council president HCK yes that is unanimous this ordinance to been adopted on second reading and final passage okay thank you Madame Deputy please read MC 2024-25 by title and further certified that it is complied with all statutory publication requirements MC 2024-25 is an ordinance to amend title 8 health code of the code of the city of planfield to establish chapter 8 colon 6-1 entitled lead based paint inspections to require the inspection of certain residential rental dwellings for lead based paint hazards it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on April 10th 2024 okay do we have any members of the public or any Realtors that might want to speak on this uh ordinance name and address for the record s corano 1284 East Front Street uh just a technical question what is the certain residential rental dwellings specifically mean p78 one family two family multif family apartment buildings what exactly does that mean thank you I I'll close public comment first and then you can answer I have a motion to close public hearing on this ordinance so move second second okay director you can answer answer he saide he said pre-1970s oh yeah I'm sorry forgive so be rental two family it could one family okay thank you question apartment build bu7 um okay mostly the new apartment building those generally will meet the code the new high code or Le not having lead so they tend not to be part of this this is really old homes that will tend to have those kind of materials built we have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading and final passage move second okay clerk may we have a roll call roll call MC 202 2423 council members Briggs Jones yes Cher yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Grim yes council president HCK yes this ordance to been adopted on second reading and final passage thank you okay a total of 30 minutes has been allocated for public comments limited to resolutions and ordinances being considered this evening each speaker will be given three minutes uh if you'd like to call in then dial the number that's on the uh City website please state your name address and identify the resolution or ordinance that that you are speaking about uh floor is now [Music] open good evening good evening Maria and S watch Avenue um R 247 death 24 the YMCA building um questions are the redevelopers connected at all to the original purchaser repurchaser buyback from the city and secondly when we discussed housing last year I remember being told there would not be housing but it was not pull 200 units a number of them contain paining three bedroomroom that's that's a lot of units for down there um parking garage or no parking garage and maybe we need to stop calling it the center for excellence if it's really just another Housing Development um the next one are two uh 52 2-24 regarding the renewal with title shot um the advantage with title shot that facility in Rockway had not been used so in fact it is being used it's an older unit it's a small unit but the plus uh is that PL field is the only contract there I would be concerned if they took other contracts I think we'd have a problem um I would love to keep the communication open I think it's been uh fairly positive so far and uh I point out there are other costs in involved in addition to the 108 for the months remaining there are additional costs in that um contract but uh let's see what else oh Humane education there's a reference in the contract that there will be educational programs but it's bag I would like to see them more clearly defined and I do believe that the ACO the Animal control officer is open to that thank you oh perfect timing thank you ncy P 1129 M Avenue introduction of ordinances on first reading MC 20 24-24 I just looked at it real quickly on my phone about the proper disposal a waste the section talks about in a municipal can the the the issue in in my neighborhood um and I've seen it on Facebook is that people are putting the waste in the bags they're either leaving it on somebody else's property or if I put my leaf bags out they put them in my leaf bags and I've had to put a sign by my leaf bag saying these are my leaf bags don't put your animal waste in my leaf bags and if there's nothing specific in that part of the ordinance people are also then dropping their dog waste in people's black hands if they don't remove them right away and a lot of people have been complaining about that so technically they're abiding by the ordinance but they're putting it in the wrong they're not putting it in their own cans or putting in somebody else's cans and I've had to remove weight bed out of my own can properly dispose of it so the garbage man didn't have to put his hand in there to take out the bag so you might want to word Smith it a little bit better that one section of that law thank you s Carano again 1284 East Front Street 22-24 um I appreciate the openness of the city listening and to some suggestions uh as I said the last time we're in a pickle there's only one I have a technical question on the resolution authorizing the mayor of the city of planfield to enter into an agreement is there a legal reason that the city is not entering into a legal agreement as opposed to maybe the mayor has the authority to kill the contract or the agreement quicker yep that I'm a lawyer but I'm going to let the one that we pay to answer the question uh after we close public comment I don't see see no one else so uh take a motion and a second to close public comment second all right go right ahead uh yes that's a legal requirement uh under our form of government Council approves the contracts mayor executes the contracts so it's just a it's just a requirement under our Charter and City code okay thank you all right uh Mr clerk would you please announce the consent agenda yes council president consent agenda items have been identified as resolutions 21724 through 22824 and resolutions 23124 through 25524 uh resolutions 229 and 230 have been removed from the consent agenda and resolution 2502 for uh has been removed by the administration okay may we have a roll call uh motion and a second on the consent agenda so move second okay roll call please roll call on the consent agenda it items council members Briggs Jones yes one second excuse resolution 159 okay thank you Mr CFO so we'll vote separately on resolution 231 thank all right let's uh start again with a roll call roll call on the consent agenda items council members bricks Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes the consent agenda items have been approved okay uh will you please proceed with the remaining resolutions resolution 22924 authorizing approval to amend the 2024 planfield Municipal operating budget 229 okay can I have a motion and second okay can we have a roll call council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Grim yes council president Hoak yes that is unanimous the budget has been amended and resolution 23024 authorizing the adoption of the 2024 playing field Municipal operating budget so move second have a roll call council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president haak yes as unanimous the budget has been adopted in resolution 23124 authorizing approval to amend the Cy 2024 budget by inserting four items of Revenue and appropriation have a motion a second so move second roll call please council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes MCC yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president haak yes that is unanimous those items have been approved that concludes the resolution items okay we now come to ordinances on first reading uh Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-24 by title MC 2024 24 is an ordinance of the city of planfield and the county of Union amending and supplementing chapter 5 Animals specifically article 7 rules and regulations concerning animals requiring the proper disposal of pet Solid Waste I'll now entertain a motion to adopt this on first reading so move second I have a roll call clerk roll call MC 20242 24 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president council president hak yes ordinance has been adopted on first reading Madame Deputy will you read mc 2024-25 mc 20242 is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 16 vehicles in traffic Article 5 limiting the use of streets to certain class of vehicles subsection 16 colon 5-1 trucks over 4 tons excluded from certain streets I'll now entertain a motion in a second second okay clerk can have a roll call roll call MC 202 2425 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry McCrae yes sesum Wyatt vice president griam yes council president hak yes has been adopted on first reading okay thank you Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-26 MC 202 2426 is an ordinance for a four-way stop intersection at Stanley place and westf Street and threeway stop at Charlotte Road and Mayfair way to amend and supplement chapter 16 vehicles in traffic article 7 through streets stop intersections stop and yield intersections designating certain four-way stop and three-way stop intersections okay can I have a motion in a second so move second clerk roll call roll call MC 202 2426 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hakai yes that's unanimous this order has been adopted on first reading okay Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-27 MC 2024 27 is an ordinance of the city of planfield in the county of Union adopting the Todd South Redevelopment plan Amendment dated May 2nd 2024 can I have a motion in a second so move second roll call please it's roll call on MC 202 2427 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president yes council president hak yes it's unanimous this ordinance been adopted on first reading thank you Madame clerk please MC 2024 28 is an ordinance of the city of planfield County of Union New Jersey adopting the West End industrial Corridor Redevelopment plan Amendment dated May 2nd 2024 Motion in a second please so move second roll call roll call on MC 2024 28 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes cesims yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president HCK yes ordance to been adopted on first reading Madame Deputy MC 2024 29 is an ordinance of the city of clean field in the county of Union adopting the West Front Street and Clinton Avenue Redevelopment plan Amendment dated May 2nd 2024 I entertain a motion in a second so move SE roll call please roll call MC 202 2429 council members brid Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Grim yes council president Hockaday yes ordinance put adopted on first reading thank you madam Deputy MC 20243 is an ordinance of the city of planfield County of Union New Jersey adopting the Ninth Amendment to the 197 scattered sites Redevelopment plan dated May 2nd 2024 so move second roll call roll call mc22 2430 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes order to adop on our first reading Madame Deputy MC 202 2431 is an ordinance of the city of planfield County of Union New Jersey amending chapter 17 the land use ordinance Article 13 section 17 colon 13 deposits and SC payments to Professionals for review of subdivision site plan and variance applications before the planning board and Zoning Board of adjustments so move second roll call roll call MC 202 2431 council members brick Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sass yes Wyatt yes president Graham yes council president HCK yes SP adop on the first reading thank you Madame Deputy MC 2024 32 is an ordinance to amend chapter 9 licenses permits and regulating activities creating article 16 film permit required so move second roll call roll call MC 22432 council members brick Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president Hoak yes this ordinance has been introduced on first reading thank you Madame Deputy MC 2024 33 is an ordinance of the city of planfield in the county of Union amending article 12 department of public affairs and safety police chapter 12 colon 12-9 assignment for off-duty private or quasi public functions so move second roll call please roll call MC 202 2433 council members bricks Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes this ordinance has been introduced on first reading that concludes ordinances for this evening thank you total of 30 minutes has been allocated for all public comments uh each speaker will be given 3 minutes uh if anybody wants to call in then uh the information is on the city website um please state your name and address and the floor is now yours thank you name and address and what name and address that's it oh thank you Jamie Lawson 16551 1659 Prospect Avenue thank you planfield New Jersey Floor is yours thank you thank you all um I would like to request that the sanitary uh I would like to have a sanitary sewer system placed for my property I have my property to have access to the sewer system um as a diligent taxpayer I I request to be put on the city of planfield sewer system for proper sewage flow and prevent home backups and yard flooding and to have the C the cost cancelled for me to be taken up by the city because I do play city taxes um as well as the laterals because I um I came to Playfield in 2022 when I was working but now I am on a fixed income I'm on disability I was in a bad car accident that wasn't my fault so not only is it a financial hardship it is also a mental stress hardship because when I look you know um every time I look up I have to assess more credit card debt which I I know that's not that's not unique to me but to pay for um sewer removal that I can have through the city of planfield as a taxpayer you know um I'm coming out of necessity and I'm coming here out of need and I did the someone did come by the house today um I thank the city of Plainfield for that cuz I actually had simply made an inquiry last week the gentleman came out and he looked around and he told me that the sewer line um that is in the area that I live in which is a dead end at the bottom of Sleepy Hollow and the sewer line is 500 feet away so he said that would be costly um so this is why I'm bringing this to the city of plan Phil to ask that I don't know if the res if it's called resolution or something where the cost can be picked up by the city of planing field because I am a taxpayer and I think my taxes are like 10 because I'm disabled um they probably be like 12 and that's a whole lot of money already so I feel like I should have I don't know the right to that as a taxpayer um let me see if I wrote anything else down with my memory let me see yes so I'm at uh Prospect Avenue in the 1655 and I made a note of it uh 1630 1630 that's approximately the 500 feet where the where they would have to attach me to a public sour system thank you very much for your time thank you sorry it's me again in 225 Washington Avenue and Diana Mia with wi of the spirit so H we would like to insist in the a in affordable housing law because with this new law planfield has the opportunity to expand affordable housing options for those community members with lowest income yes I just hear we just hear the about 200 units of affordable housing we don't know it has to do with the new law of not um we are concerned about this just solid of units um if the city of planfield choose to make this bill is a welfare for developers it will be um contining to her community members we would like to know what will you do to ensure the developers pay the fair share and actually build the low incal housing that we need in planfield so that is a question and and we would like to know what is the plan thank you thank you for your comments and your input hello my name is Andre ceser address 1362 d64 for Martin Avenue uh the reason I'm coming here tonight is to bring awareness to the city council and City Administration about a different way of voting in elections I am involved with an organization a nonprofit organization here in New Jersey that's uh the only purpose of this organization is to implement a new way of voting which is called ranked Choice voting or RCV for short and I would like to have like a very brief presentation right now to yourself about it and if possible to establish a a link and start discussions of how this could be implemented in Playfield so pretty much in a normal election if there are only two candidates it's pretty simple one of the two gets the most votes and wins but if you have three or four candidates for the same position what happens in the current way of voting the candidate that has not a majority but the most votes wins which means there is a possibility that the majority of Voters actually don't want that candidate so RCV or rank Choice voting result solve this issue by allowing voters to rank all the candidates in the order of their preference and in such a way that in the end the person who actually wins the election has the support of a majority of Voters uh as of now uh rank Choice voting is implemented in a few States Alaska and Maine New York City implemented for local elections and here in New Jersey the organization that I'm involved with has introduced uh two bills in the New Jersey legislature to allow rank Choice voting in New Jersey because as of now the law doesn't allow it now what we're like what we try to do is implement it initially just for local elections so for city council and School Board elections and this is why I'm coming here in front of you to ask you to consider this and maybe again start a discussion and see if this could be implemented here in Playfield thank you thank you good evening name and address for the record my name is Robert Edwards I live at 510a was for Street planfield New Jersey uh the landlord is the housing authority of planfield I've been to the emergency room three times in the last 6 weeks primarily because they came into the apartment without my approval or knowledge and they splashed his European product under the bathroom sink which is completely not only toxic but it's also cogenic I reached out first of all to the Housing Authority said listen there's a problem here they completely ignored me uh I reached out to two public officials who I won't name them but um contacted the Housing Authority um they actually came to the department and saw this and saw this and saw this picture well the Housing Authority did respond they took out the whole sink but the uh business that took the sink out did not remove the toxins that are splashed all over the apartment in fact it has splashed all over the apartment so much that periodically I have to get up and I have to sleep outside either in the back of the apartment or in the front of the apartment I brought this matter again to the housing authority on the weekend to the chairman they totally ignored everything that I've said prior to that I got electrocuted on the 325 just by touching the phone which relates back to when I was talking about the excessive electrical malfunction not only in my apartment but in the entire complex because the it's still tripping the um the fire alarm almost two or three times a week no attention has been paid to any of this the toxins I believe are not only in my apartment but it's spreading all over this clearly needs to be looked at and last but not least they have manipulated releasing toxins both under the apartment and in the apartment because at times I've been sleep and the toxin has awakened me in fact it awaken me one night and almost passed out trying to get out of the apartment this is not only a a safety issue it's a criminal issue and I need the city to help uh try to resolve this because I although other tenants are not speaking of I am not the only one that's been affected by this thank you if there's any other City me anybody in the city that experiences similar issues speak up good evening everyone Sarah Virgo 920 Sherman AV uh I serve as a commissioner for the planfield board of education but my opinions are not uh I do not represent the planfield Board of Ed or the planfield public school district um I first want to say congratulations to the parks and recck Department I think that they do a tremendous job of and with the work that they do my boys are both signed up to become lifeguards in June and we all have enjoyed their offerings as a family um so kudos to them um I stand before you representing myself and hundreds of clean field residents in strong opposition to ordinance mc2 2422 I am glad that it has been tabled um but I'm concerned that the phrase indefinitely was used and not permanently so indefinitely is just an unspecified period of time and I'm not sure the rationale as to why it was tabled or pulled but um on the heels of an election I hope that it's not brought back uh in the summer months um so I had statistics prepared to discuss you know the the very well documented issues that arise with late night alcohol consumption but um since it was tabled and again I'm glad that it was I'll speak to the opportunity for us to be proactive considering these things in the future um I understand the argument that extending bar hours uh may bring in additional revenue for our city but ordinance like ordinances like these are presented and again I'm in no way um in favor of this but before they're presented we need to conduct extensive assessments to ensure that one we can handle this and that to our city benefits from things like this um I've heard a lot of comparisons being made to Elizabeth in lynon um I bought a home in planfield I did not buy a home in Elizabeth or lynon and what we are not mentioning when we're having these discussions is the fee structure and the regulation requirements in place in cities like those and several others across the state and the country so in those areas someone obtaining a liquor license with the intent to remain open beyond 2 a.m. is required to pay a significant amount of money into the city for this privilege and they're required to provide enhanced security and enforcement to monitor consumption uh most of the time the money is spent on downtown beautification or augmented salaries for police so again I'm not in favor of this whatsoever in a city like planfield but if we are going to consider it now or in the future uh we have to really consider all aspects of this issue from a pragmatic perspective to protect play Fields um I do think we have the potential to attract visitors and businesses without resorting to late night drinking as the draw um I think it's also worth noting that while we discuss extending bar hours um our Rescue Squad was dismantled and our PBA is still without a contract for 3 years and our downtown area remains underdeveloped so in my perspective we need to prioritize those issues before considering measures that could potentially harm our community for years to come um I'd like to just thank Council persons cherry and sesum for their prior no votes on this measure um and I really urge the administration to table this permanently um it's something that I fear will permanently change our city with very little benefit thank you thank [Music] [Applause] you uh NP over 1129 mtle Avenue um I would hope that it was be tabled permanently um some of you received an email from me I was once subpoenaed by the city to testify against a bar and I wonder you know now why even bothered but I also want to bring another aspect to this you hear about right to life but you never hear about the right to a better life why would the city consider adding an additional 9 hours to risk behavior how is that in the public interest and to whose benefit fetal alcohol Spectrum disorders impacts children it impacts up to one to 5% of the school AG children if you have not experienced a child with the impacts of alcohol Andor drugs and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum disorders it is quite trying and at times frightening if the behavior is aggressive love isn't enough um a family member of mine had a stepchild who had that disorder and I can tell you it's right a child does not ask for fetal alcohol Spectrum disorders it is a life sentence adults participating in risk behaviors add a burden to unborn children at adding nine additional hours of alcohol drinking just how many future children will be impacted or would be impacted it is a risk that I would not want to make if I had a vote on that subject thank you thank you sou corano 1284 East Front Street again uh a few things positive and negative the ceiling tile is about to fall so be careful on this side of the table please um please look into the maintenance of it um I was honored to be asked to be a part of cback with the budget this year I was under No Illusion that any of our or my recommendations would be enacted um I appreciate your considerations uh a little bit critique here um some of the members of CC couldn't participate and didn't participate because of the time frames that were selected and dictated to them that is unfair by the time we had our first first meeting which was within a week week and a half of getting the book um we had 4 days before the first meeting with three different department heads that's not necessarily fair if you all as I have heard in the past value our input collectively it should be reasonable that we give or be given a reasonable amount of time some already have made their arrangements for vacations some already had they have families they have other obligations so to put that burden on them some were just asked and I had the benefit of being a member in the past so I had some idea of the process a lot of the idea of the process since I was a past chairman but a lot of the newies who I absolutely protect and want them to be a part of the future of playing field a lot of them had no idea they were just asked and then left to flounder not to understand what the process was or not to be given any instructions please next year do better thank you [Applause] good evening my name is John camwell I reside at 1404 Highland Avenue and this great City to Mr President other members of the council to the staff uh it is a pleasure to be here to uh to see how you conduct your meetings and you did a very good job first I like to thank uh Mrs Cherry and Mrs uh sesum for voting in the negative on the ordinance number 22 I forgot the first two numbers and I don't have the but you know the one that I'm talking about and I want to the want I want to want you to know I hope that this is you not plan on hoodwinking the public and bringing this ordinance back on July and uh my question is will it have to go through another voting first and second reading or you just would if you brought it back would it just be done on second read and I I I know I wait for my answer later uh the other my other concern is that I would like to thank you for the proposed resolution for the service that brother Harold Mitchell the late Harold Mitchell has brought to this great City and also the proclamation that was given to uh this herart they very they serve this city very diligently and and there a lot of longevity just at the time that the city was going through a transition from from the whites to the black and Browns and uh I don't know what your process is for reaching out and recognizing these uh these great people that did a lot of of of good for the city but uh one one gentleman that I would like to recommend is Mr Harvey jins Mr Harvey jins is uh just celebrated his 100th birthday and I think he may be the longest living councilman in the city of planfield or out of planfield so uh and he has render a Services a third generation of of ownership of his small business that uh takes good care of the when you when you getting ready to Coast out of here so whatever your process is I would like to ask you to please consider Mr Harvard Judkins as one of your recipients for the resolution of a resolution that of the great service that he provided through his business and through his service on the city council thank you and have a good evening [Applause] good evening Wilma Campbell 1404 Highland Avenue planfield good evening good evening August body of our city of planfield thank you for your work thank you for your diligence and listening to the concerns of the residents I was just sort of reviewing the meeting from tonight and a lot of quality of life issues were brought up and I thought it was very interesting and I was pleased that you did pull the ordinance off about bars being opened until 4:00 a.m. in the morning I was very happy that you pleased it off but took it off pulled it off the agenda but I thought we're talking about some of the problems we have with parking we're talking about one of the most important elements of the city and that is our policemen who don't have a contract yet and we're talking about opening bars until 4:00 a.m. in the morning yes I'm happy you pulled it off the agenda I hope that in definitely means indefinitely no time soon not after the primary not after any I hope it never comes back I hope that the decision is that this is not good for the quality of life in planfield bottom line is vehicular accidents occur when we have people drunk driving this bar being opened until 4:00 a.m. in the morning encourages the kind of violence sexual violence domestic violence that we don't need in this city this is mental health month so to even consider having an ordinance like that considered this month is just not the right time so again I reiterate let indefinite mean no time soon never would be even better thank you [Applause] good evening Council uh my name is Sebastian Torres I live at 31 Compton Avenue um I couldn't help but notice that at the beginning of the of the council meeting there seemed to be a common theme and there was a theme of U issues within our communities right talking about um people drowning unfortunately talking about gun violence um and I couldn't help but think that um alcohol related deaths and injuries is just as terrible as those issues um and it just seemed a little ironic that there was something that was going to be discussed regarding extending bar hours um so to me that just struck me as a little bit odd now I wanted to share uh my own uh law story uh because I I I lost a very dear friend um to a drunk driver here in planfield now his name was minor Peña this happened on um November 7th 2015 if I'm not mistaken he was coming home from a a long shift um at work it was around midnight and he stopped at the white star um on West Front um and he was killed by a drunk driver now the peculiar aspect of this case was that the lawyer was able to obtain security footage that showed that this drunk driver had been at two different locations and I'm not going to name them but there were two different locations here in planfield and the man showed signs of inebriation while he was in those locations and he was still being served now this was at around midnight and now we're talking about extending hours until 4 in the morning that just seems a little bit out of whack to me now I'm not here to make a a moral argument against it I like having my drinks I know I saw mayor map the other day at Mamu you know we all like having our drinks we all enjoy our drinks it's not an issue but um we do have to take under consideration that we are talking about the quality of life of people in the town and I understand there are economic interests involved in all of this but um I I believe that the safety of the public should take um you know precedent over the economic interest of whatever businesses um which like I mentioned sometimes are involved in behaviors that that are just not conducive to a good living environment um so just thank you very much much okay you're welcome saying no more I don't think there's any questions to be responded uh to we do have one person public I mean virtual oh wonderful unmute them uh name and address for the record you should be now unmuted the person online go right ahead caller you're still muted name and address for the record please they still have't muted themselves so I'm not sure what how you like to proceed all right I'll entertain a motion and a second to close public comment second oh oh did you want to sit all right you just made it I know my name is Man Taylor Davis 112 Berkley Terrace I just wanted to first um say thank you all for being here tonight and um also thank you to my council person for nominating me for the cback committee um and I just wanted to underscore some of the statements by my fellow CAC member it would be nice to have a greater amount of time to prepare and review the budget book as people that have full-time jobs we were working very hard we took the um appointment very seriously but it was very taxing personally and even professionally because you're up very late at night trying to get through all of this information so just please consider next year maybe involving the members with the dates so that they can fully participate because as he said people were on vacation and couldn't fully participate in the process um they did do their best to try to send questions and you know participate as much as they could but it was challenging and you also may want to consider having a zoom line that stays open longer than 30 minutes I was able to provide the zoom for the committee because I have one that I pay for but the first night we got cut off because it only lasted for 30 minutes thank you hi name and address for the record hi my name is Christa lawrenson and I live at 308 West 8 Street um I also just wanted to come and say that I'm happy that this was uh the bars being open until 4 a.m was tabled indefinitely but I also hope to see that it is tabled permanently I think this is really a step in the wrong direction for planfield um we should be rehabilitating our reputation and um I think this is doing we'll be doing the opposite I know Seaside Heights New Jersey they're open till 4:00 a.m. they're working really hard now to undo all of the damage that's been done uh their code enforcer was quoted recently as saying that nothing good happens after 12 a.m. and that alcohol makes good people do bad things um I don't think we want to put ourselves in a position where we're having to work hard in future years to undo the damage uh that being open till 4:00 a.m. would cause uh we don't want to be a mecca for drunk drivers in our area we don't have public transportation here like somewhere uh like New York City does where people can get home safely there will be a lot more drunk drivers on the road if we open our bars till 4: a.m. because we're not a place with good public transportation thank you thank you okay a motion and a second to close public comment motion second all right public comment is now closed I'll entertain a motion in a second to adjourn the meeting can we respond oh did you want to respond oh okay oh yeah sorry oh no you good yeah okay meeting ad Jour meeting a j wait I you want to say something yeah did you want to say something it's too late now would you want to respond