##VIDEO ID:KyMQREqFRcU## good evening everybody thank you welcome glad you're all here it's October 14th 2024 and this is a meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey we will start off with our meeting statement please adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings Act including the time date and location of this meeting in addition the agenda and all related materials were posted electronically and made available to the public on Princeton's meeting portal in advance of the meeting thank you Leon you have the land acknowledgement thank you mayor uh in addition to reading the land acknowledgement I will have just a small addition uh this evening thank you we gather today on the land of the Lenny lapi as members of the Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for All Peoples and our environment we honor the denap and other indigenous caretakers of these lands and Waters the elders who lived here before the indigenous today and the generations to come I just want to say a little word about today being uh indigenous people's day here in America the history of America's indigenous peoples is marked by person perseverance survival and a deep commitment to and pride in their Heritage right to self-governance and ways of life since time in Memorial indigenous peoples have built and sustained powerful tribal Nations cultivated Rich cultures and established vibrant communities and their discoveries and knowledge still benefit us today so I just want to thank everyone for being here and take time to acknowledge that this indeed is indigenous people's day thank you thank you Leon can we have the roll call please miss Peron lambrose here miss neerg here Mr Cohen here miss Sachs Miss Fraga here Mr nulan here mayor Frida here you have quum okay in a second I'm going to ask everybody to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance the police Color Guard will come in and they will start us off on the Pledge of Allegiance so if everyone could please stand for for flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay please be seated thank you to members of the color guard and thank you to all the members of the Princeton Police Department that are here this evening pretty impressive seeing so many of you here to join us for our ceremony here tonight uh which is which is great to see how we were able to transfer from one Chief to another and it's nice to see the two two of our past Chiefs are here with us tonight uh so let me first start this off by reading the uh a bio on Chief Christopher Tash and then we're g to swearing Chris and you can all follow what's going to happen next it'll be pretty easy Chief Christopher Tash began his law enforcement career in 1997 as a state investigator with the New Jersey attorney general en's office Chief Tash joined the former Princeton burough Police Department in January 2000 where he took on several key roles throughout his time there he served as a field training officer detective juvenile officer member of the safe neighborhood Bureau and a patrol Sergeant after the consolidation of the Princeton Police Department chief Tash continued his leadership holding positions such as Patrol Sergeant safe neighborhood Bureau sergeant and detective sergeant in 2017 he was promoted to Lieutenant where he commanded the investigation division which included the detective Bureau safe neighborhood Bureau Traffic Safety Bureau and Records Bureau by 2022 he rose to the rank of Captain serving as the Department's executive officer on August 1 2024 Chief Tash was appointed chief of Princeton police following the retirement of Chief Jonathan Bucher Chief Tash holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Stockton University and a master's degree in administrative science from Fairley Dickinson University he resides in Hamilton New Jersey with his wife Michelle and their children Megan Ryan and Colin okay if you'd repeat after me I Christopher t i Christopher Tash do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith in allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the office of chief of police all the duties of the office of chief of police according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability thank you chief [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'm sorry why don't we wait we're going to wait till all four are sworn in and then we'll come down as a group and Shake everybody's hand so we don't make this last three hours sorry makes sense okay thank you um next up is um Captain Matthew salv Captain salv began his law enforcement career with the Princeton Township Police Department in January of 2005 he initially served in the patrol Bureau until being assigned to the traffic safety Bureau in 2010 in 2011 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal and reassigned to the patrol Bureau in January 2014 Captain C Sal helped establish the prin Princeton police K9 program and later became the first K9 Handler in the newly Consolidated Police Department he was selected as the class speaker for his graduation ceremony for the New Jersey State Police Canine Academy captain salv and his partner K9 Harris served the Princeton Police Department in a variety of capacities as well as members of the New Jersey detect render safe task force in January of 2016 Captain salv was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and would spend the next 5 years as a supervisor in the patrol Bureau in 2020 Captain salv was promoted to a lieutenant he would go on to command the Operations Division and the investigation division Captain salv also served as the Department's field training and evaluation Commander training coordinator and accreditation manager Captain salv holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from seaten Hall University and a master's degree in administrative science from Fairley Dickinson University he was also recently accepted into the 294th session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and he will attend starting in March 2025 Captain salv resides in Chesterfield New Jersey with his wife Katherine and his two sons Charlie and Cameron upon his promotion Captain salv will serve as the executive officer of the police department Captain Z please come up to be uh sworn in [Applause] I Matthew r solv i Matthew R do solemnly swear do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of police captain of the office of police captain according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability thank you [Applause] sir okay next up is uh Lieutenant Leonard Thomas lieutenant Thomas or as we like to call him buddy was born and raised in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School in 2001 buddy earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from JW University in 2005 where he was a member of the men's basketball team for four years two of which he was elected team captain buddy received a master's degree in administrative science from Fairley Dickinson University and later completed the Cornell University diversity equity and inclusion program in 2006 buddy graduated from the Cap May Police Academy that then began working as a patrolman in the former Princeton burough Police Department buddy served in the Patrol Division and the community service unit until 2012 and then was assigned to the detective Bureau after a year in the detective Bureau buddy was reassigned to the safe neighborhoods Bureau when the former burrow police department and former Township police departments Consolidated in 2013 in 2017 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal and in 2019 he was promoted to Sergeant after four years serving as a supervisor in the Patrol Division in January 2023 buddy was made detective Sergeant buddy has served as a field training officer for new police officers and he's a certified CPR instructor Buddy's earned in New Jersey Division of highway traffic safety's Top Gun DUI enforcement and he's received the Mothers Against Drunk Driving distinguished service award multiple times lieutenant Thomas you want to come up with your family to be sworn in tcia [Applause] I Leonard Thomas I Leonard Thomas do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the St of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the United States and in the state in the United States and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all duties of the office of police Lieutenant perform all duties of the office of police Lieutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God [Applause] congratulations okay the next promotion is for lieutenant Christopher Craven Lieutenant Christopher Craven began his his career in law enforcement with the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department as a special law enforcement 2 in May of 20 2007 a year later in May 2008 he was hired as a police officer with the Princeton burough Police Department Lieutenant Craven has spent a majority of his career assigned to the patrol Bureau as a patrol officer he has served as a field training officer and an officer in charge he was also the recipient of the mother Mothers Against Drunk Driving distinguished service award after spending the first nine years of his career as a patrol officer Lieutenant Craven was assigned to the detective Bureau in 2017 in October 2020 Lieutenant Craven was promoted to the rank of Sergeant as sergeant he was assigned to the patrol Bureau where he supervised Patrol squads over the course of four years during his time as Patrol sergeant lieutenant Craven became one of our Department's domestic violence Liaisons Lieutenant Craven holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Rowan University Lieutenant Craven resides in Freehold Township New Jersey with his wife Lauren his two daughters Alexander en Reese and Sun Cole upon his promotion Lieutenant Craven will serve as the patrol Commander Lieutenant Craven come on up [Applause] okay repeat after me I Christopher craen I Christopher craen do solemnly swear you Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and aliance to the same and to the governments established in the United States the government established in United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of police Lieutenant the office of police Lieutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my abilties so help me God so help me God congratulations than [Applause] this [Applause] congratulations before I I get started I just wanted to um again congratulate Matt buddy and uh Chris on this well-deserved promotion for the three of you it's very comforting for me um knowing with these three and Lieutenant lag Merino that the the leadership in the police department is going to be strong for many years to come so thank you for that um mayor councel um with TCR Police Commissioner uh Bernie has doic our administrator thank you for allowing us to have some time in the meeting tonight for this swearing in it's always very important to us um to be able to have these events and also thank you very much for your trust and your confidence in me um to be the police chief of uh the Princeton Police Department I want to thank my family my friends my friends at are family um that are all here um your support through all the years has been um very much appreciated by me I really uh can't say much about how much I appreciate all the support that I've gotten especially want to thank my wife Michelle and my children Megan Ryan and Colin um your your uh encouragement and patience has really been like a Pillar of Strength for me so thank you I'm up I'm standing up here because of the for of view so thank you very much um I want to thank the retired officers that are here tonight when John buer became Chief we made it a uh point that we wanted to involve our retired officers more in the police department event so to see you all here tonight um is very rewarding thank you all for coming and taking time out of your day um I especially want to thank um some retired Chiefs that are here Chief John Bucher Chief Nick Sutter soya and uh Chief Chuck Deval go Ospreys um thank you for coming you're all you all mentors to me friends for me and I really appreciate everything that you've all done for me I want to acknowledge that the residents of Princeton why I'm here um I want you to know that your voice matters that I'm here to listen that the police department's here to listen and we want feedback from you all and the only way to build trust and to continue building trust with the community is to have that feedback and that's very important to us and very essential in this day and age with policing to have that trust um lastly I want to thank the men and women at the Princeton Police Department um we get recognized yearly as one of the Premier agencies in the state and it's because of all the hard work dedication professionalism that you all put in day and day out we all really appreciate it very much uh and and thank you you're the reason why we get that honor every year and uh just as I I I want to finish I want to um reaffirm my commitment to the community to our officers and to the values that guide our profession together we'll continue to make Princeton a safe and welcoming place for all this is an incredible opportunity for me to serve as your chief of police thank you [Music] thank you to Chief Chris Tesh I stand here today with a deep sense of Honor Pride responsibility this promotion is not just a personal milestone for myself but a testament to the trust placed in Me by many of the people that are here tonight firstly to the women and men of the Princeton Police Department the rank of Captain is a privilege but it's also a reflection of all the incredible teamwork dedication and the commitment that we all share as a cohesive unit without all of you I certainly would not be here as your captain I promise to lead by example to always listen and to ensure that our bond of trust grows stronger as we move forward the chief Tash Mr hovic Mayor Freda and members of council thank you for the confidence that you've placed in me I understand the weight of this role the immense responsibility it brings and the expectations that you have for this tremendous police agency I look forward to working closely with you every single day not only to enhance safety in our town but also to continue to strengthen the bond between law enforcement and this great community to the great Community you are the reason why we wear this badge every decision every action we take is done with your safety in mind I recognize the need for transparency understanding and open communication between the police and those who who we serve and finally to my loving family thank you to my parents who came up here from Florida just got out uh thank you for teaching me hard work dedication and compassion to all my other family members and close friends who are here thank you for always being there for me and my family and most importantly thank you to my wife Katie who I love dearly and my two boys Charlie and Cameron you have been my rock throughout this incredible journey your unwavering support your love and your sacrifice have made it possible for me to stand here thank you for being my greatest strength again thank you all for this great honor [Applause] again thank you all thank you all right everybody that came here for the promotions this is your Quee if you want to I know you want to stay for the rest of the meeting but feel free bail out while you can agendas no paper's not in nope it's another agenda or it's part of the agenda let me get one too let me get one too don't move of course you kiding me it's a great town it is many people absolutely course hi right Michelle is starting a sorry Melle isting okay I'm just going to shut I'm going to get those CS name does that me I can't speak okay A little better with the door shut Michelle I think you're leading us off on the proclamation I am all righty okay Proclamation Office of the mayor Municipality of Princeton Proclamation for October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month whereas breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed form of cancer for women in the United States expected to be detected in 31,725 and whereas breast cancer Remains the second leading cause of cancer death among American women it is projected that it will claim 42,2 women in the United States in 2024 and whereas although men are not as susceptible to developing this form of cancer as women 2800 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and whereas while survival rates for men and women with breast cancer are similar at parallel stages men report symptoms less frequently and are therefore at a greater risk of developing an advanced case of breast cancer before detection and whereas death rates from breast cancer have been declining and this change is believed to be the result of earlier detection and improved treatment and whereas mamography and x-ray of the breast is recognized as the single most effective method of detecting breast cancer that may be cancer long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt and whereas researchers scientists numerous nonprofit organizations and breast cancer survivors are dedicated to discovering the cure for breast cancer during the month of October we acknowledge the extraordinary commitment and effort invested in this cause and support those who are working toward a cure and whereas we recognize the breast cancer survivors Among Us and honor their faith and courage over 2 and a half million American breast cancer survivors today give us hope of a better future for those affec ected by breast cancer and whereas breast cancer remains a significant Health concern for women across our nation and it is vital to raise awareness and promote education regarding its impact and whereas in Mercer County the incidence of breast cancer is reported at 132.5 cases per 100,000 females with a total of 1,510 cases identified between 26 in 2020 and whereas the breast cancer mortality rate in Mercer County stands at 22.5 per 100,000 females for the period of 2018 to 20 and 20 and whereas whereas the municipality of Princeton the estimated breast cancer death rate reached 41.5 per 100,000 females in 2021 underscoring the urgent need for continued awareness and support and whereas it is essential to foster a community that encourages early detention access to care and support for those affected by breast cancer and whereas we recognize the courage and resilience of those battling breast cancer and honor the memory of those who have lost their lives to this disease and whereas we encourage all residents to engage in regular Health screenings and to support initiatives that promote breast cancer research and awareness now therefore be it proclaimed I Mark Freda mayor of the municipality of Princeton and the Council of Princeton County of Mercer state of New Jersey do hereby Proclaim October 2024 as breast cancer awareness month and encourage all Americans to learn the facts about breast cancer invest in a healthy future by exercising regly maintaining a healthy diet and obtaining regular breast cancer screenings thank you mayor so uh tonight's Proclamation and observance of breast cancer awareness month is so meaningful to many those who work to educate and provide support to those battling breast cancer the survivors and friends and family uh of those who continue to honor the memory of of uh loved ones who have lost their lives to this disease tonight it is my honor to rec recognize move over breast cancer an organization that has made a profound impact in our community throughout through their unwavering commitment and tireless effort they have brought hope and support to many individuals and families facing the challenges of breast cancer we extend our heartfelt gratitude to Paula Flory the founder of this remarkable organization Paula's passion and dedication to conducting Outreach and providing invaluable support have touched countless lives her leadership and vision have not only raised awareness but have also created a compassionate Network for those in need Paula thank you for your Relentless pursuit of making a difference on behalf of Mayor and counsel it is a privilege to present you with uh Award of recognition as a small token of our appreciation for your extraordinary work let us continue to support these vital efforts in the fight against breast cancer together [Applause] congratulations we love another picture thank you you mayor and councel this is a great honor I am a 25 plus year resident of Princeton and again my name is Paula Flory and I'm the founder and executive director of move over breast cancer and I'm also a 13 plus year stage three breast cancer survivor I found my own breast cancer in 2011 when I was in the best shape of my life I was in my 40s and did not expect this of course the information hit me like a high-speed train and during one of the most vulnerable and difficult moments during the course of my long treatment my chemotherapy and surgeries I had a very difficult moment when I found myself running out of my house having a temper tantrum because I was afraid and I felt alone even though I had every available resource to me I had had the best medical team I had medical insurance I had a amazing husband I had young children a family a community that surrounded me I still felt alone and frightened and so in that moment I had this temper tantrum and I ran out of my house with my bald head and my bare feet and I stood in the grass in my beautiful Princeton yard and I tipped my face to the Sun and I had this Moment of clarity when I realized that maybe I was supposed to be experiencing this the ups and downs and twists and turns that I was to experience it and learn from it so that I could do what I was born to do which was to serve and help others and from that moment on I took myself out to the grass with my bare feet many times but it was the beginning of this journey for me to serve other people and to help others through this very difficult challenge to help people see that the challenge could be an opportunity so I began two years to the day of my diagnosis working for another breast cancer organization I learned so much from the thousands of women that I worked with and the medical community I learned how to run and not to run a nonprofit and I decided why not do more so I got my own 501c3 in 2020 and I thought that it was a very difficult time for people to have to go and get resources from a place they a a a brick and mortar place so why not take the show on the road and I created this one-of-a-kind mobile resource lounge and Salon that could deliver non-clinical support and resources directly to the doorsteps of the most vulnerable and needy um individuals throughout New Jersey and that's what I did I designed it I raised the funds the van's outside I bring a ray of light but also as I said these people tell me every day you saved my life I do nothing Medical but I am there to Mentor people to help them navigate this very difficult journey to help them ask the right questions of their medical team to help them talk to their children and to their spouses and to their significant others to their parents because there are so many young women who are facing this and I encourage people and educate people about early detection which is your best protection how to do self- exam which helped me to save my own life where to get mammograms we provide free mamography through Princeton radiology and provide Outreach and education and we do this all in this amazing van and we do it throughout New Jersey but we have also begun to build a very robust community of breast cancer survivors and thrivers where we are doing things to help people prevent recurrence of breast cancer and all cancer we walk together weekly we have support groups we do dance we have Fitness classes we hike we take Retreats outside of the state we're going to Utah this year to um Zion National Park and we do all of this 100% free of charge and I am very very proud and very very privileged and honored to be a part of the journeys of so many breast cancer survivors and thrivers throughout this state so thank you for this award it means the world to me it validates all of the work that I am doing and that I want to continue to do with passion dedication compassion professionalism humor and just bringing it to the people in the way way that it should be brought every single day with a lot of love and understanding so thank [Applause] you going down for e okay how about announcements and reports from members of council any council members with anything Eve uh just briefly thank you thank you mayor um the environmental commission held its Greenhouse tours u a few weeks ago which uh six houses that highlighted sustainability and green features were open uh for tours and this coming Saturday at the public library 10 to 12 there will be some videos and a discussion of uh things that you can do to make your house more sustainable and also just to learn about uh green energy and infrastructure that uh could be applied to other houses in the community so uh please join us at the library at 10: a.m. on Saturday thank you other council members with any announcements or reports okay um our CFO is here to go over our best practices inventory report Sandy thank you mayor um I'll start by saying giving a just a a brief history on this we've been doing this uh best practices inventory for 14 years now um the the object here is to come up with as many of affirmative answers or not applicable if um some of the questions did not apply to us and what they're trying to do is they're trying to assess our compliance with various laws and evaluate the implementation of physical and operational best practices you can see from the list um it's grown every year it seems to get we seem to have more and more questions not less unfortunately um but there are 11 new questions this year and they cover the gamut from ethics Personnel budget uh Financial Administration Redevelopment and in this best practices inventory I'm happy to say once again that we have achieved our the O well over the minimum score which if we did not score 35 or above uh we have uh the opportunity or maybe not opportunity is the right word where we would lose some of our state aid and so as you can see in this list of best practice questions there's a lot of unscored um questions on here what we have found in the p T is that on this group of unscored questions that they may be unscored this year but they usually make their way into an actual best practice question in an upcoming inventory that's um that's done so my goal for tonight is to just cover the scored questions that we did not answer yes to luckily there's only four of them so I won't uh take too much time up um the first question is uh question number 23 and this question this is this is a question that has been on here before it's whether we have a formal policy to uh purchase hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles we do not have a formal policy although Bernie and I spoke about this this afternoon it's probably something we could uh could lean on sustainable Princeton to help us work through if you know Council felt that we needed to move forward with the uh with a formal policy um the next question that we answered no to was number 42 and number 42 again this is one that was on here last year we answered no to this last year as well it's whether our Personnel manual has been updated in the last three years um we know that it's on you know it's on Bernie's uh Bernie's radar and we're hoping to have this to cancel if if not before the end of this year then certainly early next year and hopefully if this question will remain for next year we'll get another uh another yes answer there uh the next one is number 59 this is a new question and this this one caused a lot of concern for some of the CFOs it's whether all of our labor Agreements are on our website we're not quite sure where this question came from it's the first time that it's been on this inventory but we do not provide any of our um labor agreements on our website it's certainly something we can do about and again Bernie and I have spoken about this a little bit so if that remains and it's it's all about transparency um from the state so it's possible that we will get them up on our website but for right now we do not include them on our website and the last question is number 61 talks about whether we do a cost uh impact associated with our contracts this again was one from last year we answered no last year as well um I think that the reason this has come up is because this is a new requirement of perk and we have not had any new labor contracts although we just Council just approved asme recently so we're hoping that when this gets submitted when the labor agreement gets submitted to perk that they will then in turn provide us the information that they're looking for on the cost impact and then we'll be able to answer this as a as a yes question in the future but that's that's uh that's it for the no questions and our score was 42.5 which is is really good considering that you needed over a 35 to not lose any of your state aid so unless there's questions I think uh that's it I don't have an official uh question but I always look forward to this Sandy um it's kind of interesting some of the the questions are on things that I'm very familiar with and others are really outside my realm of responsibility but it's really just shows the vast array of rules and regulations that we need to be compliant with and and aware of and I'm sure this is a lot of work and a lot of research so thank you for all your hard work on that and to other staff who participated and seems to me just an ad hoc comment that number um 61 which is uh requires a summary of the cost impact is clearly intended to keep cost down but on the other hand publishing the details of a labor contract it's just going to inspire another group to say hey they got this and we should get that too so they seem to be working in conflict with each other so we'll have to figure that one out uh going forward so thank you thank you I U missed the 923 uh meeting so if we could and remove that and move the rest everybody [Music] I okay next up is public comments for items not on the agenda again it's something that's not on the your name your add got sign so far it's really been an impressive evening and uh uh the police department has always worked well and I the police department has always worked well with all the residents I'm a resident at 299 Hamilton Avenue in Harry's Brook and I appreciate the work of the engineering department and its staff and helping to support the concerns we have and obviously David Cohen who's always been there um my I I made a summary of my presentation and I would U give that to uh to you and have it like to have it recorded not on the agenda my bad sorry I misunderstood you we'll call you back up in just a little bit it's been a pleasure [Laughter] we're friends um uh Wilma Solomon 41 uh TR place um I missed the very beginning but I understand Leighton did address indigenous people's day today but that's not on the agenda right so I can talk to it okay all right um so I just really want to acknowledge the council for a number of years ago for being an early Municipality designator of that day indigenous people's day and um so and that resolution that you passed encouraged the creation of programming to educate and enrich our community's appreciation for the diversity of indigenous cultures in our town our state our country around the globe um I'm here as an individual but I'm also representing notar Town's truth and transformation uh committee and also I took a look at some data and I was surprised uh that from 202 two it seems like there were about 300 Princeton residents who um see themselves consider themselves in some way Alaskan natives or American Indian and I want to thank the Arts Council for recently bringing an artist in Residence Nathan Jackson a Native Alaskan of the Tlingit tribe which I'm probably not pronouncing correctly uh who did carve a gorgeous totem pole and it can be seen in the lobby of the building I encourage everyone to do that I thank you services and the cares committee for all the program they did during Hispanic Heritage Month um I am aware uh that there have been and continuing to be programs through Princeton universities uh Native American and Indigenous studies initiative mcarter theater has done work in the past uh I'm sure I just don't know for sure but prin I'm sure princ and Public Library our schools have hopefully increased their uh emphasis empis and focus on indigenous peoples this year has been particularly demanding of our attention uh given our upcoming election uh Global conflicts particularly in the Middle East that have affected us personally here uh in Princeton but I'm hoping though that we all can continue to expand our focus in the coming months and by the way I didn't realize this but no November is um Native American Heritage Month uh that we can increase our opportunities for education and cultural experiences related to our Lenny lenapi nanot tribal Nations as well as other New Jersey indigenous peoples throughout our uh State country and Beyond and we urge this Council um to particularly support our P our cares committee uh to see this as a role with uh Community Partners thank you thank you woman is there anyone else in the room that has an item to bring up it's not on the agenda okay uh is there anyone on Zoom that has an item not on the agenda all right seeing none I'm going to close that part of the meeting and next up is a presentation on storm water so we'll have the presentation first and then we'll have comments and questions too so while while we're set up here um just to set the stage for you uh with us tonight are two representatives of our Consulting team Princeton Hydro wsp we have Elizabeth Treadway and um Jamie Feinstein are here to First give a recap of where we are in terms of the storm water utility feasibility study um as a reminder we started this journey back in April of 2022 when we when Council approved the first professional service contract with the team to undertake phase one of the study um we presented at the October 2023 council meeting the results of the phase one study phase and um Council then uh instructed that we could move ahead with Phase 2 so this is set up as a four phase study um we are approaching we're we're at least halfway through phase two we we anticipate um that we will wrap this phase up I think in about March next year yep okay all right so with that I will turn over to Elizabeth and Jamie to do more recap and then um give you you uh more information about where we are in the study at this point terrific thank you for the introduction and to Mayor and councel it's a privilege to be here tonight such great celebrations uh it's inspiring to come in to such a wonderful evening of recognition so um let's start with we see how we work together running this technology ju we're going to do just a really brief background on the utility concept itself because it has been a year since we have been before you and the public seeing this topic back up again we thought it would be good to to at least take a bit of a step back to remind the public of what the utility and the utility study is all about then we're going to shift to what is some important content work that we are in the midst of and let you you know where we are how we're proceeding forward in obtaining the critical information that would establish the foundation for the purpose of the utility and the potential cost of a program of services and then we're going to finish up with a reminder of our public engagement Outreach that's going to kick off on the 30th of this month and will'll be ongoing over the next several months to gain feedback and to introduce Concepts in much further detail so we've already reminded you who we are you obviously know who your staff are but they're wonderful to work with uh it's been a pleasure putting this study together so let's just take a minute or two and talk about let F folks remember what it is this thing we call a storm water utility it is uh a practice for find financing storm water infrastructure programs that started over 50 years in this country so there is a lot of uh precedence and foundation in other areas it basically is a focus around being able to stabilize a permanent funding source for a major infrastructure it's dedicated and transparent in process as a utility ought to be it is in New Jersey however very specific in the sense of how it is to be structured and how it's to be established so in 2019 March of 2019 legislation was passed that actually set forth the rules and conditions of how a storm waterer utility can be established and operated within the state and so there's some very important foundational information it is indeed for someone and I have done this work for 30 5 years you have one of the most effective legislative structures that I've ever worked with you should be very proud of the work that was put together because it is permissive it's not mandatory and it gives tremendous flexibility that allows a local government to establish a utility that meets your needs not mandated to be a specific in product and so that does require that we do a lot of work uh because it should be about Princeton it should not be about what another Community has done and so it um Not Unusual to find that as utilities are established around the country folks in one Community look to another as kind of a we need to look like that or we shouldn't be any different from and and that's not the philosophy we take when we we go in to do this work this is about Princeton this is not about some other community and it really needs to reflect that so what is it that you can do Under This Authority it really gives you that structure that empowers you to make it work for you so does it require that there be a separate organization with its own governing body it is permissive and allows that but it doesn't require that and that's important in how you administer the function of a utility and so we are working with staff we're working with Community representatives to make sure that the permissive terms of the legislation meet what you're looking for as we go forward we understand that there are Universal kinds of benefits of putting a major infrastructure into a utility organization operation funding structure because it allows for you to build long range plans it allows for you to have a cohesive method to move an issue into a funding analysis as to how your rate structure needs to exist what kind of Revenue you need to generate what is it that the community will be paying for and so the benefits of the general concept of utility really focus around that flexibility again it allows there to be a dedicated resource that's predictable that allows for long range planning that the community can be aware of and understand what they're paying for and what benefits they're receiving in return so we really do focus on it and the concept of then you know how does it work well under the legislation the concept of the billing unit the thing you are measuring in order to pay and charge to Property Owners is a is the presence of hardened surfaces things that interrupt Nature's ability to manage runoff if we would all just pack up and move and allow nature to take control again they wouldn't need a utility so we've changed the way in which land functions and that change is driven by the amount of hardened surfaces streets buildings that exist within your community that change the Dynamics of how nature knows how to handle runoff and control the water itself and so we've certainly seen and experienced I actually live in Northeast Tennessee and we have been battling now for 2 weeks the destruction that happened with a massive amount of rain that fell I can tell you that a utility will certainly help plan for those things but I will not promise you that you will never be impacted by a storm of that magnitude we have storm water utilities in my community and there's no way that we could ever manage the amount of rainfall that happened in a short 20 for hour period we were devastated we can't promise you that you will never hear us promise you that that could never happen to Princeton because it can and it probably will but what it does allow us to do is allocate out a program of services and we're going to talk about how we achieve those in a very reasonable manner so what is charged in a rate is basically a function of how much revenue you need how much impervious service exists within the community the formula in the screen is very simplified it's a lot more complicated Sandy can tell you how much I bug her about I need to know what policy to use here and what policy to use there because the formula really is much more complex but the concept is we need a certain amount of Revenue we have a certain amount of impervious area to distri distributed it amongst and that's how we set up the rates going forward and you're going to learn a awful lot about that when we come back to you with all of our findings as as we go through this but most importantly then what can we spend the money on and it's anything storm water that is the simplest answer it is anything storm water it's planning it's permitting it's your water quality permit it's infr structure it's operations it's maintenance it's equipment it's people it is a functioning operation to support all things storm water within your community it's public education it's engagement with the public so there is a lot of opportunity and we have inventoried what it is that constitutes storm water so phase one just to remind you was a focus around the who what when where how why what is storm water in Princeton so we inventory that from a service perspective we inventory that from what you currently spend we inventory that from all of the organizational activities and organizational units that touch storm water and it's broadly distributed as rain is itself so are the services that are executed through the municipality it involves planning it involves engineering it involves General operations maintenance there's a broad list of your organizational units that touch storm water at some point and so we inventoried all of that in order to understand then how it gets treated as a business today and how does it need to be and so in phase two we really focus around taking that base knowledge what did we learn we learned that you need more money really simply that's you you cannot achieve all of the outcomes that are needed not outcomes that are desirable but outcomes that are needed need more resources and in addition to that of course we understand that the concept of the utility can provide you the flexibility of how you recoup those resources from the community and that's what a utility creates is that flexibility to do so we've moved into phase two where we're taking the the content of what we learned into extreme detail and Analysis in order to build a program of services for the future we are now into the analysis of what is the goal of each of the operational areas what are the things to be achieved ultimately as outcomes what are the benefits to be achieved and what is it going to cost to achieve those outcomes so we're building a very robust financial model that will allow you to do scenario analysis and then be able to understand what is the financial burden that you want to invest in and distribute out to the community so these are four four important areas we're working on right now there are lots of details under this it's always hard to do one of these updates without getting into the weeds and we're really good at getting into the weeds uh but we wanted to focus on some of the primary issue areas that we're working on right now we are working through these with staff and with our Advisory Group uh to get the kind of Engagement of the public of organizations individuals who are going to be impacted should this decision go forward to implement the utility we have a meeting with our focus group tomorrow night dealing with these very issues so it's important to recognize that we are now at the stage of defining the operating plan we describe it as a level of service simple concept level of service how frequently do we do things what will it take to get them done what resources in people equipment supplies materials Investments contracts we we build a very detailed financial model of what it will take to go forward in doing so we use a pretty simple schematic to remind ourselves so we start with the top Circle what is basically the service identity what should it be what should it cost what does it currently cost what's not getting done what are the priorities of what's not getting done how do we feed that then into additional service concept what it will that cost what is its outcome what is its priority that feedback loop allows us then to adjust over time if and and create then a predictable visual representation that this is an example this is not where we are we are not recommending this kind of strategy but you'll see us visually represent the way that we take the level of service apart Define where it would be in the first year of investment where it can change over time how long will it take to be fully operational on any element and we are analyzing about 52 different program elements so you can see we're really taking a deep dive at this point this is an example of what it looks like when we do this analysis so on the leftand column we define basically in in this case fairly simple terms for the administrative function of the utility what are its goals not at all a surprise to see that accountability is all over those goals we want to make sure we've established functioning operational policies policies that fit within your financial system policies that work within your employment structure policies that will ultimately lead to effective utility execution so we're wanting to build then an administrative structure that is accountable both to the public to the state for your permit but most importantly to the community and yourselves as representatives of the community that you know what that money is about how it's being managed what it's being spent on what priorities are so once we've established the level that we're working towards we then do that resource analysis so in the center column it's about what potential changes may need to occur what resources may need to be added what outside resources may need to be put in place with again a long-term outcome goal stated in the column on the far right so we're taking the entire program apart this way we have another example that we can share with you this is basically maintenance and operations again what is it that's the primary goal of your maintenance and operation program you absolutely want to make sure that your drainage system capacity is maintained so that requires you to have certain kinds of resources to be able to do that we want to make sure that the executable portion of your water quality permit that impacts the way the system is managed the physical system is managed is in full compliance as well we want to make sure that you're investing in the resources that your maintenance operation needs whether it's equipment or Personnel because the long term outcome we want to see in this particular effort is that you will be able to see a measurable diff difference in the way storm water is channeled distributed disposed of or reused around the community so think of the complexity of 50 plus topical service areas that we're running through a resource analysis like this that translates ultimately then into a set of policies goal statements and a financial model that will tell you what it would take with feedback from the community feedback from yourselves before you take the ultimate decision to go to establishing a utility so our goal at the end of phase two is to bring you those kinds of recommendations which we again Target to have back to you within 6 months and the major step that we're undertaking now and Jamie's going to step in and talk about this is how we're going to engage the public in this conversation as well thanks Elizabeth and thanks everyone for for having us here tonight um so the public Outreach which has been oh yeah on but got to get a little closer that better that's too better um so the public Outreach component of this uh process has been going on throughout phase one and will continue uh as part of phase two and when I say public Outreach I'm really talking about this multi-prong process um here that is we're talking about in phase two so um we're going to have two public open meetings the first is coming up on October 30th you might know that is the day before Halloween uh at 6 p.m. in the main meeting room here um we've been continuing to work with the focus group uh I believe we are having meeting number four tomorrow night um where we'll be talking again about some of these level of service uh conversations um and these folks have been just great you know they've been coming to every meeting really being the the kind of the spokes people and giving a kind of a gut check of you know what these policies and discussions what kind of reaction they're going to have in the community um we've continued to have meetings with the steering committee which is Diana and Jim and Sandy and others as pulled in as necessary um we're here tonight with you um and there's also eight targeted stakeholder meetings that will be happening through November and December and these groups are the the the big the big groups in Princeton so the religious communities uh schools um Princeton University would be part of that we really want to talk to these groups because they are some of the people who have more impervious surface and we want to hear what their concerns are what their reactions are um and really get feedback from people across the board and make sure that these conversations are being had in a very um sequential way and you know there's no surprises and it remains transparent um and then you'll see on here there's a council Workshop so you know we do anticipate um having um more FaceTime with all of you to really work through what what we've come up with what we've heard uh to make sure that your feedback and concerns are addressed in this process um so just to give you a little bit more of an overview of the whole the whole picture um moving into 2025 we're we're now at the blue arrow in October and many things are happening we have the the public meeting we're here tonight we have the focus group tomorrow uh moving into the fall and the holiday season we'll be meeting with those eight kind of Amalgamated groups uh of stakeholders will be really digging into the credits and incentives policy that is a requirement of a storm water utility um and moving into December we'll be looking at ordinances continuing to meet with the focus group um and then sometime in January we'll actually be looking to finalize the rate model incorporating all the feedback the level of service conversation what what can the community tolerate what does the community want um values are a huge part of this conversation and the values in Princeton um have been made pretty clear um which is a great thing um and then we'll be continuing with another open public meeting anyone can come and you know ask questions have discussion um there'll be significant Outreach for this meeting um information posted on the website for the the Princeton municipality website um and as we kind of come to the end of the study with the last focus group meeting we'll be looking at some comparative rate analysis and making another summary memo of the findings of phase 2 ultimately to come back to you for the decision whether or not to move into phase three um so that's our story um at this time if there's any questions or if anyone has anything they'd like to share with our team David so whenever I talk to people about the storm water utility uh they say to me so that means our taxes are going to go down right because because they're going to be paying for the storm water through this other mechanism and I always tell them well you know taxes never go down but um I do think there's a certain point at which we'll want to have something really quantifiable I assume that's the end of phase two where we're going to be able to say we've been spending this amount to provide this level of service we're proposing spending this amount to provide this higher level of service and here's how that's going to get apportioned in other words if nothing else were happening your taxes would go down by x amount because this fee has come online and I guess the question is is that a fair expectation to have that that'll be part of the phase two uh conclusions absolutely uh I talked to about all the policies that we're working through one of those policies is is indeed in your court and that is how do you address the issue of creating a different Revenue stream for storm water so one of the rate models that we're working on is one in which the current resources that are provided through the general fund remain in the general fund and remain in storm water that is an option a utility does not require you to move everything into the utility so when I talked about these various options of level of service one of them is a critical decision that again will be on your table to decide whether that kind of a shift to fully fund everything currently funded through the utility leaving the general fund that's a policy we don't get to make policy for you we get to give you the options and get the feedback on how to handle that and so that's one of the options in fact that that Dean and Jim and our team looked at uh and to understand what would happen financially by not moving everything out of the general fund I hope you and only funding new services or new requirements under your permit for example I mean I I hope we'll um get some advice on on the pros and cons I'm happy to make the decision but I'd like to understand the implications better of doing what you just suggested because that had never occurred to me honestly of keeping some storm water services in the general fund yeah um there were several slides which one which was titled um the middle column was admin resources it mentioned program administer administrator public education Outreach specialist engineering Tech uh and then there was a on the subsequent slide there were some other uh thank you Mark uh there were some other uh operation and maintenance options I see uh dedicated crew for drainage system maintenance truck driver maintenance worker equipment operators to supervisors senior maintenance staff Etc are you proposing that we hire all of this new staff I hope not no no what we're showing you is options that's why it says options of how you could deliver these services in a different way so we're look looking and analyzing all of these as to impacts costs what would it mean what happens for example if you created a a new crew in your Public Works operation side what are they not getting done now what would freeing up existing resources provide for operations and maintenance of other pieces of your infrastructure structure so we're trying to look at this as broadly as possible this is not a recommendation okay this is simply basically it's the wider program that you're proposing and and I'm a strong proponent of I have been of of moving forward with the storm water utility but I am acutely aware of how much it costs even to to hire one new staff person to do you know so when I see something like this I'm just wondering to what extent so it may not be a recommendation but you know at a certain point we're going to need to know all of these wonderful things that we would love to do how contingent are they on you know hiring even a fraction of all of these positions that you've recommended because I just don't want us to get too excited about all the wonderful things we could be doing about with storm water um and and then realize that you know the cost is just beyond what we can sustain and and just to that point I I just as committed as I am to moving forward with this and I and as excited as I am I also really want to reiterate what I've said from the beginning I'm very concerned that the burden doesn't fall upon we have uh we have in Princeton a very a much higher um Alice in index asset limited income constrained population um otherwise known as house poor um in in uh you know older individuals and and uh people in Princeton who are barely managing to survive and we don't want this to be the thing that pushes them out and I I think we in terms of how we um allocate the burden of cost we need to be particularly sensitive to that and we've certainly heard that there's no question we've heard it from the public we've heard it from your staff I want to be very clear to anyone hearing this we are not recommending what you see on that we are analyzing all the options that you have available to you against the benefits and outcomes that can be achieved the decision always is going to be driven by you staff with their guidance what should ultimately be a recommended structure or a series of options we're doing I can't remember eight or nine different models at this point that we've looked at just like this past month this is not a recommendation we're very cautious about the words that we wanted to put up on the screen these are options these are things that we are looking at for you but you absolutely are in the drivy to the ultimate outcome that you need to achieve but we want to be be sure that we give you the broadest View and to understand what you can achieve with different resources the decision will always be yours as to how you want to proceed with it we will not predetermine anything Leon yeah thank thanks mayor and and thank you for this presentation my my question is and I'm just a little fuzzy on the the correlation or the difference between a general fund versus a Utility Fund and what if any impact that would have on an increase in taxes or or could you have a hybrid situation where you would pull from both funds if the impact would be less on those that are uh lower income or moderate income homeowners you can again the utility law that was passed is very permissive it does not require that everything be funded one particular way or another and so one of the things that again one of the options that we are looking at is maintaining a balance between those things uh and so again it will be driven by your policies as to what you ultimately want to achieve and how you ultimately want to fund it which translates then to who's paying for what thank you did that answer your question yes you did thank you okay thank you be yeah I'm sorry but um yeah I have just as a followup what Leighton was asking um in our sewer utility we've actually passed some rules um giving a discount for instance to affordable housing projects uh on their sewer fee that they're paying and so I guess that would be a more specific way of asking leighton's question is do we have latitude to adjust the rates that certain um property owners are paying based on C uh considerations that nature the legislation does not speak to that issue at all it it does not call out affordability as a factor uh it certainly is again your control I believe unless unless your Council says not council with an i but with an E whether your legal councel would would have a different interpretation we don't we're not lawyers and we don't attempt to interpret the legal nature of the statute we read the words just in black and white and what it says it does not speak to that issue sounds like an assignment for trishka it it speaks to the flexibility where private investment has occurred on private property where you must accommodate a reduction in charges where private property meets certain criteria it's the credit policy concept that Jamie referenced so that is mandatory but it does not speak at all to the concept of affordability thank you uh thanks uh an interesting uh presentation um so I have some basic questions and then some comments so where is Princeton relevant uh relative to any other municipality in the state are we I don't at the time this last came to us I think there were no other municipalities that were actively working on this no oh no no there there are quite a few that are in development okay there is one that has actually been enacted and that's New Brunswick okay it was effective uh July 1 of this year okay they have not begun the billing process they are developing now the utility operating structure okay but they did enact the legislation as of July 1 they are the only one okay that has actually taken uh the steps to create a utility okay um obviously my information is behind the times um and are we or are I don't know if you're working with them but I assume we'll be looking at other municipalities that are are working on this to see what types of structures or no we're not doing that not part of the assignment okay well and it it's difficult to do because I mean we could with permission of our other clients tell you as as long as they were comfortable us having that conversation but for other communities and and there are handful of us less than five actually as consultants who do storm waterer utility work all across the country right we're all working in the state of New Jersey okay we all know each other well okay um but we would have to have permission from other jurisdictions to share their story right I'm not not asking for specific details but I'm just hoping we're not you spoke a lot about how this is very Princeton specific and I hear that but I also we should not necessarily be Reinventing the wheel if there are things that we could draw from other communities that are specific to the New Jersey law that I hope we will be benefiting from that even if you're not reporting to us directly you know New Brunswick is doing this and Hoboken is doing that but but just okay um I'm I'm disappointed frankly I understand that there are all kinds of reasons why something more Regional uh is not being put into place but um it is so typical of New Jersey that we are doing this that each of our you know 500 and whatever municipalities is going to or or some fraction of them is going to come up with our our own particular way of doing things in our own plan and this is just not the most coste effective way this is just a a complaint nothing to do with your work but a general complaint about the the state of New Jersey that we cannot work successfully across Municipal boundaries in order to get more bang for our buck so that that's just uh for the record um so just following up a little bit on on Mia's uh comment comments uh two things so I had thought um that a lot of the the dollars that we would spend would go on physical infrastructure and uh the I know this is just one option it seems like a lot of it is going to uh salaries for new staff or salaries for staff and I'm just wondering just drawing uh in general from other work that you've done like let's say you raise $100 how much of that goes to pay additional staff versus how much of it goes to actually physically paying for reinforcement of you know dams or uh making you know higher uh quality more resilient infrastructure just out of curiosity in fact it typically is much more heavily on on the infrastructure side okay as I believe yours would be okay uh but we evaluate then with existing staff what does it take to execute that right right so one of the things we've talked about with Jim and the engineering side really is if you are investing significantly in capital projects that has to be done in a world where accountability takes place so you have typically outside resources doing the design work you have construction companies building things that oversight takes resources your staff today is not sitting around waiting for this utility to begin for them to do something so you have a fully staffed group of folks who are extremely busy if you're going going to move your Capital program along you have to think about how do we oversee that how do we make sure contracts are are well managed that construction occurs on time that inspections are happening that your designs are what you want them to be so there is an administrative burden to be able to accomplish what is the majority of the effort financially that would be spent on the INF structure okay there's no question okay thank you um but there will be staff resources that that have to be dedicated just that that was not the Imp that was the impression I had coming in and then the presentation led me to think differently so that that's uh just gives me a better picture of what's going on a couple of other questions and then I'll let uh my other colleagues weigh in so um the level of service will there ultimately be will you be presenting like a menu of levels of service like we could do X Y or Z or you'll be presenting a single option that has been developed through the process that you've outlined well as as I said we've now working on like eight or nine different ones but we're taking all of your services through that same analysis so what we provide back to you are the options their costs uh time frame how would you implement we usually do a 10-year projection over time what goals can be achieved that way we reflect a big mirror back to you to say this is what can be achieved it's clearly driven importantly by staff it's driven importantly by the community's values ultimately you make those decisions but we flesh out about as many reasonable options that are doable in a time frame that you can achieve them that's our end objective is to give you those um options of how you invest and what you invest in and the basic premises built around our annual storm water permit the ms4 permit and understanding what pieces of that are not currently being completed by staff that we have now and so as we've worked on this Matrix it started out what 50 lines and you've condensed it but it was basically going through every component of our ms4 permit and first getting a benchmark on where we are in compliance and then setting up that the basic level of Serv service is just compliance and then going from there as to what do you want to achieve over and above just compliance okay thank you that's helpful um is there any impact on insurance rates either flood insurance or just general insurance for communities that have storm water utilities there can be absolutely and it comes through the national flood insurance program where you have certain standards that you have to meet that the lower you can go in your in your rating the cheaper the insurance is to the private property owner so the more effectively you're delivering against those criteria absolutely there is a direct benefit and so we have we have clearly seen seen that in locations that had uh consistent and routine significant flooding in which the um emergency process was triggered at the federal level and therefore we've worked with communities to get that insurance rating down as low as as they are um willing to invest because it takes money to do it okay that that that's good to know and uh final question um we've talked a little bit about equity in terms of the cost of the program I just want to make sure that we always keep and I know this is not so much directed at you but at staff and and my colleagues that we keep equity and focus as we plan what we're going to do because we we all know that many of our uh less well off areas of town have less Greenery and less uh porous uh surface to to absorb uh storm water so I want to make sure that's always uh kept in mind and then personally I'm sorry for the uh the tragedy that your community is going through I know it's been a really rough time and you know we've all been watching with you know our hearts uh and so just want to convey that to you so thank you and in terms of equity Eve um remember that there there is only one group that is Exempted out of paying a fee for in a storm water utility and that's an agricultural use so it it by definition it is more Equitable in that your schools your universities your churches us as Jim is saying um are are on the hook to pay a fee for our impervious surface and that's not the case if look at it I was actually talking taking out of the tax base I was talking about the spending rather than the the fee structure but Point well taken and and always one of the most important things about a storm water utility is that everybody including certain large nonprofits in town that we won name have to contribute thank you Michelle okay so um just to summarize so I I understand and I I'll Reserve uh you know judgment in terms of what the ability of the utility will be um to hopefully offset some of the you know tax burden uh I understand the utility could be used in the general fund or it could be used separately I know we have a long laundry list of projects I it is phenomenal what our engineering infrastructure Department can accomplish um but I think this is really a worthwhile uh Pursuit and I I hope we'll be able to figure out um how we can pay for more um what I my question is you see targeted stakeholder meetings and I just wanted to kind of understand the stakeholders that are being targeted uh who's going to be um voicing and inputting into this process um because how we'll pay for it um you know is really important I you know had originally thought it was just for new construction new development but it sounds like it's broader than that so I just want to clarify that that area please your um so we haven't finalized the the total list yet it's way past my bedtime guys um yeah we haven't finalized the complete list yet but we're talking about schools um you know not to name names but um you know the Hun School the private schools um the K through 12 schools that are private public schools I guess have they're part of the group too um their own group um who else is on our list churches business churches so some that are not on the tax role but they pay into use fees because it's a utility gotta okay I just wanted to clarify that because you touched on it before I just wanted to understand that a little bit better and within the focus group we do have a wide crosssection of we do have um representatives from those groups at our focus groups uh the stakeholder meetings will just give us a a more targeted conversation with these different groups to really present more of what we've spoken about tonight and the benefits and the costs to those communities okay thank you I I look forward to the next phase meetings and uh thank you okay any other Council questions or comments David yeah I just um wanted to make a little suggestion if you're going to be using this presentation again uh on the sheet on the page where you talk about benefits of a storm water utility you you didn't touch on the equity piece you touch on it later in the presentation but I think it's an important one that you know the burden is apportioned to different properties based on how they're contributing storm water to the system and there's it's really interesting listening to this conversation how many senses of the word Equity are being you know um shared but I think that for me that's a really important one is that the amount that you pay has to do with how much storm water is Flowing off your property and then the other one which you did not mention at all is the fact that this can through the credit system incentivize storm water improvements on private property that are not redeveloping or develop or having new development and that is crucial because you know so much of Princeton is already developed and so um trying to manage all of our storm water just on those properties that are seeing new development um you know it's uh it's like an ant trying to push a boulder and if we can get other property owners um to invest in their own storm water management on their own property um because they have this financial incentive that's a big advantage to me so I would love to see you you know include both of those advantages in your presentations as you go into these public meetings thank you okay are we done up here because we have at least one member of the public that wants to talk about this come on up just reintroduce yourself and then you have your glorious three minutes thank you very much mayor and counsel the engineering staff and the Consultants um it's really an eyeopener to see what's going on in Tennessee and North Carolina and um I welcome the thoughts that were put forward about how no guarantees excuse me can you speak into the microone no guarantees uh was mentioned earlier by the Consultants I put forward a um a little summary before I came here uh and I gave it out I'm not sure I who I missed but did I make one available to the mayor uh sure okay they'll pass it up really for the record um I was one of two I was one of two people who were assigned the task back in 76 in the Depp and Division of Water Resources to uh manage the sewer bands throughout the state Princeton was one of those because it had a combined sewer system at that time and if in fact Princeton had not risen to the occasion you'd still be under a sewer ban no hookups so the consequences of not addressing some of these issues has to be thought through not just how much the taxes are but sometimes you're includ including uh uh the effects of new development or continued development so it's very important uh likewise the water quality component of that the is not fully appreciated yet uh is very important because of the millstone and Stony Brook lead into the ritton which is a water supply for Princeton so the issues of water quality and storm water are interrelated they've been interrelated for a long long time and to some extent uh it was unbeknownst to me until I moved on to Harry's Brook Watershed and there both the combined sewer impacts the legacy of the overflows as well as the downtown storm water from downtown Princeton is uh first has its first effect on the property owners in Harry's Brook Watershed so we were all concerned with that it's not an overwhelming concern we we've learned how to manage some of that um I think lastly the issues that were raised about uh Equity are very important and I believe after attending the storm water committee meetings thank you David uh and Jim and Deanna uh that the Consultants are addressing and listening to these uh stakeholders private and public um and that's a good sign not sure that I want to say anymore thank you thank you thank you is there anyone else in the room that wants to make a comment or ask a question okay Adam do we have anybody on Zoom that wanted to ask a question or make a comment Adam's the guy in the back room I'm not talking to an imaginary friend just so you know that uh no one on Zoom all right no thank you all right thank you very much great presentation very helpful does anybody need a break let's take a take a couple minutes sorry we're g take a real quick break could I just get a a show of hands how many people are here for the public hearing and how many people are here for the meter bag work session if you're on for the public hearing on the Westminster choir College thing could you just all right anybody here for the meter bag discussion okay thanks we might just change the order so people that are here for that can get out tonight not tomorrow morning so we're just taking a couple minutes and then we'll jump on to the public hearing yes yeah yeah all good no problem thank you just we want to keep it now let's go all over the well we'll see you can't go by the ti tag e e e about but EX e [Music] okay e e okay it looks like we got everybody back in the room up here so we will we're going to jump to uh number 13 on the agenda which is the public hearing on ordinance in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating $50 million therefore in authorizing the issuance of 49,500 th000 bonds or notes of Princeton to finance part of the cost there thereof and the public hearing is tonight so could we have somebody move this first thank you Michelle is there second Laticia has got the second and let's start with discussion up here and then we'll jump to public discussion I'm sorry actually Steve you are going to do your magic and explain a lot not so much this is this is the second in connection with the acquisition of property uh the council will remember can you hear me now got to speak right into there we go there you go the council will remember that they had previously adopted uh resolution uh 20243 authorizing the acquisition of the property this is now the public public hearing on the bond ordinance to authorize the funding through the issuance of bonds uh last week the local Finance board held their meeting uh that that was needed for this and unanimously approved this going forward and and we're very welcoming to the project uh tonight is just about the bond ordinance the acquisition again has been has been completed in Prior uh at prior meetings uh so I'm happy to answer any questions that any members of the council or the public have thank you thank you Steve any questions up here I I just want to make sure that uh the public is not Mis understanding you said that the you just said that the acquisition has already been completed I'm sorry the authorization to thank you David the authorization that Council needed to make to proceed to negotiate with the property owner or to acquire the property via eminent domain that authorization via resolution and then also via ordinance has been completed that step thank you thank you and then I think another common question that the public would be interested in uh Bernie and Sandy our CFO I believe the two of you have spent significant time looking at Future tax impacts if this were to happen and that you have uh if questions come up but you can share with everybody at the appropriate time what that impact will be and how long the bonds will be etc etc correct thank you very much okay just um Eve C can I just follow up on that uh a bit which is I I have heard some concerns from the general public about the the impact this makes H will have on Princeton's ability to respond to other needs other uh things that we might want to do and I think if I remember correctly uh Sandy had some time ago said that you know because of our AAA rating we could theor ically bond for up to 200 million is that the the right number and maybe you could just comment on that and that this will we are not this action doesn't endanger the municipality's future in any way I can I can cover this uh so our bonding capacity is almost $331 million we currently have a little over $22 million available to us uh this number presents represents 15% of our total capacity and about 25% of our remaining capacity so there is still plenty of capacity available to us after this purchase so I would just I would just make one comment thank you for the very correct answer as to what our capacity is and what we could do but I would just want the public to be reassured we are not looking to run out and use up our bonding capacity because there would be an impact on everybody and so we're well aware of that and we look at this and we look at other projects coming up we will be looking at all of them in total and we will not be looking at things without considering the impact of everything together that we hope to be doing over the next several years I just want to for everybody listening and people that will watch this after the fact I just want to make sure we say that and make it clear that we're not running off and throwing money around all over the place thank you any other questions up here I'll open up to the public if not anybody in the audience in the room that has anything to say okay nobody in the room anybody on Zoom that has a comment or question on this uh on this item all right I see a hand up Adam can you bring in the uh first person and as usual if you introduce yourself your address and the three minute limitation uh is in effect Josh hello uh can you hear me yes sir okay Josh was zinder I live at 142 Mo Street um I'm sorry I missed part of what you were saying a second ago cuz it blinked out on my computer so if I'm I'm repeating something that that was of issue um please forgive me but um so I I live about a block away or so from Westminster my children as you know previously have taken part in music classes Opera performed many different um times in the halls and numerous other activities including sledding on the Hills every winter um you know I I guess my biggest issue is as I mentioned before is that I do not know what the town exactly has planned for Westminster choir college but as I stated um it should it should be in the hands of responsible parties and stakeholders um which I believe the school district has demonstrated over and over that they are not good stewards of our properties and the buildings they manage like Valley Road school um Westminster represents a huge opportunity for our community um whomever's hands it is in um I hope it's used for the benefit of the greater Princeton Community uh through housing entertainment Community nonprofits open space and clearly portions preserved for a historic Legacy I don't know that this acquisition is the right thing to do but I'm optimistic for its potential um and I'm fearful the school district gets it that um that more of Princeton's architectural Legacy will be squandered um so that's my general statement and then I am curious um how floating a a bond for a million do $50 million if this does go through impacts our our taxes right so Josh we had we had just talked somewhat about that but uh Bernie do you want to give a little more detail on what we believe the tax impact could be so over the course of a 30-year Bond the uh average household will pay $329 uh per year for the $50 million Bond okay thank you all right is there anyone else on Zoom that has a comment or question I'm sorry just with respect to the number that was given I want to I wanted to be understood that it's a worst case scenario with no other revenues coming in to offset you know from the property just to make the full picture yeah thank you and I think we it is very much a worst case scenario we we don't anticipate that that's what will actually be the case but we always have to be hope for the best and prepare for the worst so okay all right I don't see any other hands up on Zoom there's nobody else in the room that wishes to comment on this at this point we'll close the public hearing and a roll call vote please miss Peron lambrose yes Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Sachs yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you very much thank you all for attending this evening have a great evening okay let's jump back to our work session regarding metered parking reservation meter bag regulations the excitement is unbelievable just remember I have to I got to go somewhere right I appreciate your excitement on this topic thank you there you go I'll try to keep you amused at this late hour okay all right so joining me up here tonight is Lisa Maddox Esquire um we've been working together on um this topic in addition to how it correlates to our um special events ordinance and um the RightWay occupancy permits so just diving into the history here prior to consolidation uh the former buau created a program to reserve paid parking spaces using meter bags and codified it in an ordinance um as you see on the screen those seeking to reserve parking spaces would provide a $50 deposit to the engineering department and would receive a meter bag they'd also be charged $15 a day for the privilege of reserving their parking space um deposit would be given back Upon returning the meter bag um at the time and throughout this process some allowances were made to allow different groups to purchase their own meter bags and to reserve spaces as they needed without um coordination with Princeton and um this practice rce still continues with a few different entities and it will be something that we will be looking to end with a new ordinance when it comes to council um so when we changed the parking system in 2018 uh we introduced a combination system of both meters and pay stations so the old method of the meter bag reservation system became more complicated because with pay stations we don't have um space numbers we don't have delineated parking spaces so it's it's a different reservation system where our staff is actually going out and putting signs and Cones out or working um with the person or with the group that wants to reserve spaces for them to help facilitate that um in ter terms of the meters our staff now put the meter bags in place rather than having it be um a deposit system where we had to rely on um the person to bring the bags back um and again in 2018 we raised the rates for parking so if you look at our daily rental rate in the 3-hour parking Zone $15 is not sufficient to even cover the the meter rate in that area so we need to update that as well um the original ordinance did not establish any criteria as well for who could get the meter bag um you know the fun example I have when I told my husband this he's like okay so if I wanted to come to Princeton on Saturday have you know coffee do some shopping stay for lunch you know maybe go to marter do whatever I just would apply for a $15 meter bag and and I could have my Reserve spot exactly where I want it it's like yep right now we don't really have regulations on that so um we really need to build in some checks into the system um and it really it's you know not an equitable system people in the know who um understand how the system works they can go and buy these Mater bags for convenience um whether it's a business owner a visitor a contractor um so what we're looking at going forward um is working in combination with the special events permit or ordinance that has been a councel and goal and priority for this year um to build it into that system so if there is a special event within our metered parking area um we can constrain the purchase of the meter bags under that umbrella the other idea is uh related to the um ride of occupant permits that we currently administer that if there's construction going on in a certain area of metered parking we can evaluate whether a meter bag would be something of convenience for the contractor or if it's truly necessary because his tools and equipment are on that vehicle and it has to be in close proximity to the job site so these are both opportunities we see to really put some constraints on how the parking reservation program is done um the only exception that we see where a a parking reservation will be made directly to the parking Department would be in the case of a moving van so if you have a tenant in the metered parking areas that has to move out uh that would be a case where you need the van there it's not necessarily a special event we can issue a a parking reservation for that situation um so what we're looking at Lisa's been working di diligently we do have a we think final draft of an ordinance Amendment uh that we would like to bring to council um we would be looking at increasing the fee um our idea at this point is $25 per day per space reserved uh we will not approve reservations on the weekends uh that way we can ensure that the maximum number of parking spaces are available for the general public um and then also on holidays we would not be issuing any meter bags on those days whether it's because it's you know staff is working or it's also because those are free parking days so um questions so one question is um would funerals you know fall under special events the way that they're defined in our ordinance because I know that's a frequent use of the bags is at churches um when they have that sort of event yes I think Lisa we can build that in correct and I have a copy of the draft special events ordinance it's it's it's it's pretty broad the way it's it's drafted and it's intended to treat um everyone the same so if someone's having an event on private property and there is a need for um if if it if it you know there's a need for the sidewalk to be used or even a portion of parking then in that instance it would fit under under the um the special events ordinance and then then that triggers the the requirement for the meter bags but I guess this might be a change in that there would be a fee um and right now the way that the ordinance is drafted special events it is that there's no limit on how often someone can request and we'll be talking about special events more at a later date but that could also change in the future if you know those are the types of of um items that you may decide to change later on but the way that it's currently drafted there wouldn't be any limitations on the the frequency that uh a member of the public could request a a meter bag for a special EV or a church or a church but it treats every I guess the big idea here is to ensure that everyone is treated the same and all similarly situated groups are are treated equitably and fairly and according to the same rules and that everyone's aware The public's aware of what what the rules are okay so we're g to Michelle had her hand up then Eve had her hand up then I got some comments and then we'll see who else has comments but Michelle why don't you um well that's good that a funerals could come under special events because that was one of my questions with the churches and the funeral homes that do do bags um but funerals happen on the weekends and so do special events uh and you know the holidays were not it is free but it's not reserved and by getting the bag there it may be something that overlaps like an event you know I think if it's going to be under the guise of special events which I think is an interesting idea um you know you might want to reconsider definitely reconsider the weekends but even the holidays because it's paying a fee for the convenience of the bag and the reserve spot as opposed to whether or not we're getting Revenue because those free days you can't find a spot anywhere in town so um the other thing is I was just going to say I think $25 seems pretty reasonable I mean it's 12 hours of meters Buck 75 an hour so that that you know that makes sense and you're paying a little bit more because it's a convenience so um yeah I think that I think it makes sense and there's no separate there's no separate application fee so that's sort of the administration is rolled into that fee it's it's only a few extra dollars but everything's inclusive in that fee and then are we rolling in if you have if it's a kiosk area and not a me meter area um are we rolling in that there would be cones or something and that same fee would apply to putting cones it would yes the while the parking the cost of the parking space is less our administrative fee is higher because of the cones and the signage and just the labor that's needed to get there in time to reserve those spaces before Parkers come okay thanks good so so far thank you so obviously the devil is in the details here as it as it often is and I know you don't seem to want to talk about what special events are um right now but I I think that would be really important to you know nail down I mean Michelle mentioned or I think David mentioned funerals you know weddings birthday parties whatever I mean when you used the term special event I was thinking of something like Palmer square is having a special event and not I'm having a party and I want to provide parking to the people that are attending so I really would like to have uh before the ordinance comes up I'd like to hear what the thinking is about what special events are what are the categories I I think it could be um problematic not to have uh limits but maybe that's something where we see if there are issues and then we you know if I like want to just Reserve every you know Friday the two spots in front of my house because I have friends who come over all the time and money is No Object um so I'm a little cautious about that um I guess my biggest con concern is um whether the organization that is buying the the bag or the spot is a for-profit or not for profit and I know you said that everybody is treated equitably but I do think there is um a difference between you know a church having an event and needing available parking um and I understand that you know we we allow uh that there is free parking until one on Sunday so that most church services that are in areas where there are our parking meters will will be covered but you know whatever there's a wedding or there's a funeral or or something like that um does the church then just pass those fees on to the the person I'm I'm really uncomfortable with potentially charging a a church or you know other religious entity for in particular a funeral but also a celebration so I wonder if there might be some value in thinking about some kind of tiered system based on you know I know a funeral discount or or nonprofit versus for-profit go into being a funeral for um because I'm just a little I don't know how many spots for example a church normally reserves for a funeral but if it's like you know 10 or 12 spots and that's a few hundred dollar like who who covered I I I am not a funeral director so I don't know the the details but um I I I'm a little leery of uh interfering especially with funerals but also with some celebrations as opposed to a you know a commercial entity is doing something where they expect to be bringing in money because of they're providing parking to a vendor who's going to be doing something in their property so you could definitely do a tiered system where not nonprofits um potentially pay a a a lower amount but then you get and then the commercial entities would be treated the same but I believe the some of the funeral um the funeral homes are uh for profit for excuse me for profit I'm not talking so much about the funeral homes as like a you know a religious and entity the okay the funeral home but that's not what I'm talking about the church the churches would be nonprofit but then it would have to the I guess the rule would have to apply equally to all nonprofits in the municipality who would want to reserve this the spaces if you wanted to give them um a discount so so you could we've seen that in other towns okay that would just include Princeton University just to make it clear well let's so I mean we're not deciding tonight but I think it' be good to hear all let's hear all our questions and comments and we can take that into consideration as to where we're going in the future I'd like to just jump in and then I know Mia does and we'll get we we'll get back to you Michelle so my comments are yes we need criteria so it just can't be hey Mark Freda wants to have a meter because meter bag because it's cheaper than feed in the meter which I shouldn't do anyway uh and the obviously the fee adjustment makes a lot of sense we shouldn't be letting the meter bag go for less than what it cost to use the the parking space otherwise um and what really irks me today is the fact that people people get a meter bag and it sits there forever so you see spaces 6 Seven 8 n spaces in the CBD taken up by meter bags over weekends at night early mornings when nobody's using it makes absolutely no sense personally I would not feel comfortable moving on this ordinance unless we had the special events ordinance at the same time because I think they're too related they're they overlap too much so to do one without the other for me personally would be hard to do um and I'm very concerned about the long-standing practice decades and decades and Decades of the funeral homes and churches some of the churches houses of worship using spaces in the houses of worship I think it's well the ones that we had kind of agreed to are the former burrow had agreed to a very long time ago was pretty much for people that needed to park close by because today would be for Ada spaces back then they didn't quite have that terminology um in the funeral homes one has had meter bags since we started meter bags but I think had the practice of using those spaces even before the meters were there the other Funeral Home has the practice of marking off a section of the street and has done that they've both done it for I would say 40 or 50 years but I could be corrected on that so I'm just very concerned about how we handle that going forward and I think it needs a lot of thought um I didn't understand the thing on weekends because I I see the one thing in the slide that says hey we're not going to do it on holiday weekends but but then Deanna I lost you are we not doing it on any weekend is that the suggestion that was a suggestion was to avoid meter bags on weekends unless obviously if it's tied to a special event over the weekend okay no thank you yeah I totally agree we should really try to not do it on weekends the only other comment I heard was hey we might want to tie the meter bags to you're using a meter close to the job site I'd actually offer an incentive to park further away from the job site so in other words if I'm working on Nassau Street I'll give you a break in cost to go take five meter bags on University Place because I'd rather not take up the spaces on Nassau I don't know how hard that would be to administer and maybe it's just too hard to do it but I anyway those are my comments that's good Mia Michelle and then whoever else I agree with all all all of Mark's comments um and just um to the uh description of the the funeral homes and yes it it it has been forever you know as at least as long as I've been alive which I'm not going to say how long that is um but uh I guess my question is like what is the legal definition of a special event because speaking of funerals I mean you know there's nothing you know death and taxes it's you know it's pretty pretty uh routine weddings are routine um um I mean what what how is there some definition in in the law or in New Jersey state law I mean because I think a lot of what we're describing are really not they're they're actually annual events or or weekly events or so how are we even what what just what is the foundational you know con uh you know definition of of what is a special event as opposed to a regular event this illustrates the chicken and egg debate that we had in scheduling this meter bag discussion today um we we were going back and forth of should we have had the special events first and then talk about meter bags or vice versa we anticipate coming on uh at the next council meeting to give a whole work session on the special events um ordinance and and where we're at in that in terms of but I also I can say that that the way that the draft ordinance that you'll be seeing in a couple of weeks uh defin special event it it doesn't we get into the details in the ordinance but it doesn't mean it has to be special all it really means is that member of the private Community wants to utilize public space for a private event that's really how it's defined it's it's the focus is on the potentially exclusive use of of public area for for private purpose that's really important because and I I think the ordinance should maybe be changed to be clear about what this is It's a use of public Space by a private entity which makes it not available for the public you know which is different than a special event which seems a bit more benign than you know know um commandeering public space for private use not that we can't you know there are extenuating circumstances but it does come at a cost to the public to whom those roads and those spaces belong and so you know speaking for myself I think that the criteria should be you know um should really be extenda circumstances and and should be quite uh uh rigorous I think maybe we should get rid of the term special event because that is just really uh confusing confusing thank you Mia and I think maybe really what we're talking about is a a rental a a short-term rental of of public space maybe that kind of language would would make it um clear um I'm not sure I agree with Mia about extenuating circumstan ances um but uh anyway I I just want to say again we're not deciding this tonight so I think all we need to do is give an opinion we don't need to try to resolve the specific points with all due respect Mia were you done Michelle had her hand up next and then David is the just then David okay yeah thank just a couple quick considerations one is obviously uh we should reach out especially to the ones that would be most affected those funeral homes uh in a couple of churches and I think one of the churches actually does something where they have meals on a certain day of the week and they're using those bags so I just want to make sure that we reach out and understand their uses uh before we move forward and I just I think that defining too as you're doing definitions the length of time and the days so like construction would never be on a weekend or holiday that's an easy one to just say no to um I agree those meter bags sometimes sit there for weeks on end and take up space uh moving should be maybe be a one day you know issue it should be um and then uh maybe special events also you define the number of days I mean special events don't last you know for a week you usually they're defined as you know a couple of days so um anyway I just wanted to mention those things thanks thanks Michelle Laticia and then David yep thanks so I for the most part I I think this is very reasonable and definitely on increasing and clarifying uh what um what the qualifications are for as far as who can park and what the fee is going to be and when we're when we're talking about whether it's special events or just the general events but mainly from what I heard is use of public Space by private property yeah private and uh you know what came to mind to me was uh the farmers market which is when it's uh in place it's uh on a regular basis every Thursday I'm not sure if right now they're are they paying to park or just an agreement that they would park they have free space in the garage on the street but also on the on the street so that's something that I was wanting to clarify how that space is going to be used and if there's going to be a fee you know it should be Equitable for anyone that's using that space the policy I mean thanks David was next yeah so I also liked all of Mark's comments with the possible exception of worrying about how long the funeral homes have been getting their parking for free um I think that you know and and and also to Eve's concern about you know charging for funerals this is one of the most expensive events that happens in the life of any family and the cost for the meter bags is negligible compared to the cost of rental of the funeral home and you know the preparation services and the coffin and all that kind of stuff so I really don't think that we should be letting uh the cost of a meter bag Drive the decision about exempting um that kind of use I think that the uh the idea of going away from the terminology special event doesn't really solve anything because you know calling it a short-term rental doesn't help identify the criteria for deciding when to allow a user to have a bag and so there's got to be some uh category you know that some some uh some criteria that separates people who are allowed to get user bags from people who aren't allowed to get the meter bags I think that you know the farmers market is great example It's weekly but it's still a special event because it's a it's a weekly it's not an everyday need for the parking spaces it's it's special in the sense that it isn't daily um so I I you know I don't think the frequency of recur recurrence is something that we should necessarily um Target as a as as something to rule um rule these events out and and Sly Mia um you know you say that death is a part of life but it's a very special event in the the of the family way I phrased it so you know um yeah so I think connecting it to our special events ordinance is a is a clever way of trying to get at um what the criteria are and I'll save more Reflections until a couple weeks from now when we're going to talk about the special events ordinance um but I uh I you know I like a lot of what I've heard from my colleagues uh in terms of the specifics of this I just want to push back a little bit David which was and I'm not pushing back but when you said okay so once a week is is a special event because it's once a week but you know every day is not so then what about every third day and you know and and so if it's not every day but it's every other day is that I mean I do think yeah and and Mark's going to say let's you know we're we're getting too into the weeds but obviously there's a lot of work that needs to be done but I I do feel very strongly that we need to um have a name that best characterizes um for the general public what this is which is the use of public Space by a private entity so okay Leon you know I would just say the ordinance is really needed I think the bags are much overused I think uh that should be a pretty steep criteria to get a bag and to use it uh and I think the cost should should be rather prohibitive I think that would reduce the use and and the asks that's that's all I got and I would trust our staff to make the decision on If there really is a need rather than try to build it all around our ordinance that just seems to me to be like we'll be here till Christmas okay I think we've oh oh go ahead Eve I just have one more question sorry about the ad administration of this would this be something you'd apply for online you're envisioning and and what might the turnaround be or yes the meter B the meter bag alone currently is an online application and it would be um I think we are working to add it into the right of way occupancy permit application which is online special events is not online yet but we are looking as part of the ordinance update so that it would be built into that as well and then the one for moving would be a really quick turnaround because the parking operations Personnel said say that it's it's very fast for them they they get the application and they turn it around within day they work a very long day yeah so yeah thank you okay I think we've exhausted this one okay great moving on we have ordinance introductions the first one is ordinance 202 24-36 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton concerning Solid Waste and Recycling and amending chapters 15 and 21 of the code of the burrow of Princeton New Jersey 1974 public hearing October 28th 2024 is there a motion thank you Mia is there a second thank you Michelle roll call vote M Peron lambrose yes M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 202 24-37 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regulating loading zones and parking on Palmer Square East and amending the code of the burough of Princeton New Jersey 1974 public hearing October 28th 2024 is there a motion thank you Michelle thank you Leighton for the second roll call vote M Pon lambrose yes M NE G yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Sachs yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 2024 38 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regulating parking for Princeton High School students faculty and staff and amending chapter 19 of the code of the burough of Princeton New Jersey 1974 public hearing October 28th 2024 thank you Mia for the motion thank you David for the second roll call vote Miss Peron lambrose yes Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes Carri thank you I'd like to suggest that resolutions numbers one through 7 which are 24- 291 through 24297 be moved in Block they're all the same they affect different entities but it's all the uh Amendment to the term of Professional Services agreements EXC Eve that's a motion thank you and leighton's got the second all in favor please say I I okay there we go uh the eighth one 24 298 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing release of inspection fees in the amount of $324,000 for Princeton University residential colleges major site development block 45.0 one lot 1.01 zone E-1 Thank You Leon SAR a second thank you Mia all in favor please say I I had a question was that a question I thought that was a my bad sorry so I I'm not sure Dan or Jim if she'll be able to answer this I did email with Dan about it um Dan Weissman um it's a very large refund um and I asked him what was the original or what was the total amount of the escrow account for the inspections and the email I received back said it was $324,000 which doesn't seem right to me in the sense that that would mean that either no inspection whatsoever occurred or we didn't charge the university for the inspections and so I I have some concern about that I don't I don't know if you can enlighten me the answer is no we did not build the university for the inspection it was a walkth through that I did as the assistant Municipal engineer I was no longer the land use engineer at the time um and uh I guess it's an oversight okay um probably should have char that it's a a small oversight or or not all right so as the bottom line of this just the amount is or so the amount of the inspection could not have been the fee could not have been much no it would have just been a few hours of my time okay so is this something that we can pass and say that fee will be adjusted or do we need to just put this off until we know the correct amount just pass and any attorney or and next time David bring it up so before it comes to the meeting well I I did try to no he did that he sent a question but didn't get an Trish just jump in I think you could approve the return of the inspection escrow less whatever the charges for J's walkth through yeah it's pretty pretty insignificant amount of money okay so why don't we just just to be clear the motion should be we're making this refund minus the time for two of our staff people that have made an inspection if that's acceptable to who moved this originally but we already we already I think we already voted on it no we didn't we were about to when David said he had a question okay I forget who made the motion I'm I think oh okay a second but that's okay we can vote again is that all right Lon if we adjust that motion to that adjust a motion as we just spoke about with regard to okay Mia that's still you did the second okay any other questions on this all in favor say I that's what I get for trying to do them quick sorry mayor I just wanted to point out the way the text is written in the resolution is that we're recommending the release of the inspection fees less fees incurred for inspection costs perfect so thank you that already provides us that provision to um see you should have answered the legal question I know I just wasn't quick enough I'm sorry Deanna as long as you and Raina have it have it right that was that was great thank you very much the next item I believe we're going to not act on this is the uh this is to allow the uh auctioning off of a fire Tru that we no longer need but there is a possibility due to the uh recent hurricanes that there are a number of fire departments in the southern part of the country that may be in dire need of equipment and our fire chief is looking into that and has asked that we don't act on this until he knows for certain whether there might be a need to uh to donate equipment to fire departments that were wiped out so if it's all right if we just not act on this tonight I I agree but I I would also like to get the ball rolling if possible on researching from a um you know Municipal regulations standpoint whether we can donate um some something of this value with you know without didn't we give something to to Trenton someone suggested we donate it to Trenton but some group of people did not agree with that but so I want I'm not saying anything but on this whether we could donate or sell it for a dollar I think would either would be yeah I think so I mean it's I know it's been done can I sit here and give you a legal opinion no but I know it's been done it's routinely done so it's as long as you give us some sort of blessing that we can do it if the fire chief comes back and says hey there's a need absolutely that would address yeah okay so that one's on hold good uh 24-30 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing site license agreements with crown castle fiber LLC for nine locations across from 526 Great Road 235 Cherry Hill Road Ro 325 Cherry Hill Road 644 Cherry Hill Road 75 North Road uh 282 Snowden Lane 960 Stewart Road 99 ridg viiew road and 284 Dodge Lane thank you Eve leighton's got the second any questions or comments Eve I just want to express my incredible gratitude to Jim in particular but Dean as well for just moving this along um I've already been in touch with a couple of uh cons consents who have been bitterly complaining about self service and I know we don't know when this will come into place but when they are if you could uh let us know that would be great and just I know it's really been a priority for you and it is for our residents so I really appreciate both of you thank you any other comments or questions all right all in favor please say I I thank you Jim 24 4301 resolution of the mayor and Council authorizing the award of a bid contract to LGB Mechanical Inc for energy and HVAC system improvements at the Princeton municipal building for $2,483 2016 is there thank you Leighton Eve's got the second questions or comments Michelle P andg gonna help us out on this one Deana yes we have um submitted an application to psng under their custom measures incentive program um and that we are eligible for a rebate for the new equipment we're still uh waiting to see what the incentive amount is it has not been finalized um getting this contract awarded was needed before we could finalize that process um the initial bid that we had put out included energy effic efficiency upgrades to the lights as well uh that typically drives incentives more than what we're doing with the uh the chillers that will be coming in a separate bid package we didn't have enough money to go forward with that um and so in the 2025 capital budget we will be including that lighting upgrade work and that will include psng and Ives as well great thank you thank you any other questions or comments all in favor please say I I hi 24302 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton appointing the Deputy Administrator of infrastructure and operations as authorized representative for purposes of filing applications with the New Jersey Department Environmental Protection and the infrastructure bank for the municipality of Princeton's minis system number 36 sanitary sewer Rehabilitation project thank you Mia Michelle's got the second questions or comments all in favor please say I I 24303 resolution of the mayor and Council the municipality of Princeton affordable housing Home Improvement program loan application for 417 Brickhouse Road thank you David thank you Leighton for the second questions or comments all in favor please say I I I 24304 resolution of the mayor and Council of the muncipality of Princeton affordable housing Home Improvement program loan application for 52a Lee Avenue thank you Leticia leighton's got the second questions or comments all in favor please say I I I 24305 resolution of the mayor and Council appr Prince and authorizing change order number two to the contract with Eastern Surplus and Equipment company for the purchase of one high water rescue truck for an extension of the contract time resulting in a new contract completion date of December 2nd 2024 uh ltis has got the motion Eve's got the second questions or comments David yeah I just um usually when these come from engine ing as we saw earlier in the agenda there there's also a statement that the contract amount has not changed it's just an extension of time Bernie do you know if that's the case here yes that is the case here uh this was an uh one of their subcontractors was affected by a hurricane uh in Texas uh delayed them 20 days so we've given them from like November 1st to December 2nd now uh for that there is no change in dollar amount it's just simply time thanks I I think we did uh increase a small amount to add some additional equipment a few meetings ago but that didn't have this this had to do with the supply chain issue thanks y great any other questions okay all in favor please say I I I I would someone like there's three items on the consent agenda assuming nobody needs them pulled off Eve's going to move the consent agenda is there a second Thank You Leon all in favor say I I David move to return is there a second thank you B all in favor say I I you're done good night goodbye