##VIDEO ID:M0ubEy-y1ng## good evening ladies and gentlemen and Welcome to our February 3rd denell andboro council meeting our first order of business is a call to order and arise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty Justice for All next up on the agenda is item number two Sunshine statement and roll call by our municipal clerk Mrs Lauren stats this meeting of the Dell andboro council is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of February 3rd 2025 was included in a list of meetings that was advertised in The Courier on January 9th 2025 and as teleconference was noticed on the official dellan website on January 31st 2025 and on the public bulletin board on North Avenue on January 3st 2025 and has remained continuously posted as the required notice mayor sento present council president Sigman here Mrs Albertson here Mrs Lance here Mrs Rios here Mr Scott here and Mr vanderark here next up is item number three presentations we have a presentation tonight by uh Dr liskin and his students for synthesizing historic cultural preservation and economic opportunity denell and uh perspectives by blowstein School of Public planning and public policy so Dr liskin a good friend of denell welcome back oh boy and counil and govern for allowing just Tower we work with topic look at historic presentation look at it everybody yeah the topic is the star preservation and economic development and how they can mutually support one another and again this is a studio so this is a student work effort uh done by students in the blousing school the ruus blousing school of planning and and public policy where they do a studio uh they work with a a client on on the topic U this past term we only had a few students but I told them you like the Marines on you know the few but proud okay but we will hopefully do the best we can and I they really I I'd like to share with you some of their work okay what I'd like to do tonight is very briefly give you an executive summary because let's face it it's like what let's jump into what is more important and then I will cover some of these other subjects I make you resources we found on the historic frame and the evolution of of D how historic preservation can connect with with economic development uh thean is really almost unique in that there are a lot of surveys done of the community I know really of of very few other communities when there's a topic of interest that that that the community itself has surveyed so was done here and we'll I'll report on the findings what are some of the tools from historic preservation that could be use to encourage investment specifically tax credits okay uh an interesting related topic it's like there there are various ways to remember and preserve a community and one way is by doing oral histories and I'll I'll share that with you executive summary I'm not going to read because that's deadly and I'm going to be covering this subject there's a lot of of history and fabric to to preserve in in the and and you all realize that why do we do historic preservation well you know there are cultural historic aesthetic reasons but sort of the theme of this studio is that it's it's really connected too and can support Economic Development just two examples of that the Main Street program which has a historic preservation theme uh it it's been implemented nationally similarly they've done a hundred billion dollar worth of investment and the federal historic tax credit uh has been applied to $200 billion doll of of Rehabilitation and I'll go into that in some more detail shortly we surveyed um again thank you Dum uh residents and historic preservation was supported why well we want to preserve tell our story Etc also many U ban resident said you we might support a local estar commission that's not the only way that that that that you can do Hisar preservation okay again because of the theme of Economic Development and and preservation very key is a Federal historic tax credit so that's a 20% credit if you rehabilitate an historic and identified historic property and in appropriate fashion so if you do a million dollars worth of aaric rehab your taxes are reduced by by $200,000 it's been used throughout New Jersey at roughly about 200 projects have used this Federal historic tax credit about $1.7 billion of investment there and and that gave their the people involv with those projects $350 million of tax credits so that reduced the federal taxes and it's been a long fight but New New Jersey as of two years ago has added an additional stateus star TRX credit so that's piggyback over and above the the FED CR I know the community has been interested in the special improvement district and and and how can that connect with preservation and using Main Street as an example many of the Main Street programs in New Jersey also have a business special improvement district or business now some further facets including oral histories I don't think that would be the first thing you would think about about preservation but it's really a nice opportunity for a community this is more visual rather than Professor talking too much so with without too much effort you were able to find some nice um historic resources fabric sharing the community over time of course you you you have people in town very interested in this you know going back to a map from 1868 uh of course the evolution of the uh our color printing Factory uh at one to J and other New Jersey communities had had trolleys well this is a a post card from that um and again we speak for themselves new Mar Road and know Avenue how how it looked way back when coming from to start po the high school it really hasn't changed all that much um the train station okay you see behind the trees an early View and and of course today North Avenue then and now we also said what would be a visual way to to to look at the evolution of a community so there's something called sandboard Maps what were they these were maps and information put together by insurance companies because because they were insuring properties okay and they did this for many decades where they where they identified all the properties in a town over time and you different color cating is what types of properties they did that across the United States so I thought well wouldn't it be interesting let's look at the sandborn maps for dellan to see how the community look way back when and then side by side with the Google Earth and that's basically what we do again these are to the left sandboard map as of 1919 and you know see how much more development we has have as of today Washington Park again not surprisingly bunch of development over time Columbia Park there wasn't that many buildings yet 199 is today so I thought you know that and and and I'm really impressed with how much El is doing to develop redevelop and there's an appreciation of the community so as well as he have to pay the bills so so you know how does this all connect with with economic development well what do we do with s pres what is the star pres then you know you're identifying evaluating and you're trying to foret that your historic and cultural PR why are you doing it for numerous reasons you know aesthetic reasons cultural reasons envir mental reasons you know you're saving energy if you can reuse existing property but given the theme of of the studio there there were very significant economic benefits from from preservation the job income creation Etc on that and just could be a f that so there's a national trustar preservation and they have a Main Street program in in in thousands of communities nationally and really uh Economic Development uh emphasizing the the original character of the downtown so it it embodies preservation these numbers speak for themselves the C Ro since 1980 in in the all these Main Street communities you know 102 billion dollar worth of investment and you know jobs Etc just in 2022 over six billion dollars Etc on that so I I think it's one facet of preservation that's not fully appreciated you know it can forcely and support Economic Development uh the federal assar tax credit well it's been Ching along uh since the late 1970s and ctively so again that's the 20% credit you do a start rehab a million dollars you get $200,000 off few federal taxes so cumulatively that's been almost $200 billion do and that has supported you know 3 million jobs and lots of income and G Etc just in 2022 there was $8 billion worth worth of that investment in that so what does the community think about all this well again capitalizing on D Allan's willingness and ability to survey its residents on on different topics that's very unusual they're working at the community uh we developed a survey actually these questions for the most part parallel questions that the National Trust had surveyed all right so what what so how important is the star preservation to you well you know overwhelmingly 95% of the respondents thought it's either very important 60% or somewhat important 34% which almost almost in a miror fashion uh reflects what the national survey was so the community is saying you know what this is important why why do we do this so these responses by the way are parallel to to the National Trust survey so what were the top reasons why people would support a star preservation in in theelen okay preserve neighborhood parer tell our story history to save the communities Treasures to preserve a sense of community but as you can see that there were many reasons given by the uh respondents to the uh survey now we asked what's your assessment of the following topics you know with with one being not not important and five being the most important so interesting safety in the town area was was ranked as the purpal most as most important reliable train service and after that pretty much at the same level was historic preservation and and and affordable housing okay now there are many ways to go about uh historic preservation one way is to establish a local commission you don't have to do this so we we ask uh should a commission be establish okay and roughly 2third said said yes okay at the same time okay you can see about a quarter said no so so again there isn't uniform support but but you can see some support they establish in your commission and this is where you get not much more difference of the thing all right when you establish a commission it it could be just advisory it could be more regulatory with oversight so it's like well what type of commission would you want to see this this was the question posed in the survey okay and it was and it was mixed so you know advisory was 38% and others felt differently on that so I'm really not not surprised and also it's hard in a survey because there are a lot of nuances to this but I think what we're saying is you know the feedback from from the thean survey is Preservation is important you know for some core reasons uh Etc kind of would be nice to have some entity like maybe a commission to further this and we're not exactly sure um you know the purview of that we also ask how important our rural histories and as you can see many it was it was important all that okay um since this topic is Preservation and economic development and supporting it uh let's look briefly at that all right so there's a federal historic tax credit that's the 20% credit it's uncapped a lot of credits are capped this is totally uncapped um two years ago New Jersey added a state of star tax credit over and above the Federal Credit and there were some other programs that are often are used in conjunction you don't have to use it with thear tax credit but commonly I use lower from housing tax credit New Market Tax Credit Opportunity zones I'll explain those in a moment now most key is a federal star tax credit it's a 20% credit it's uncapped again so like if you had a billion dollar project you would get2 200 million do worth of reduction on your federal on your federal taxes you take that over five years okay the the property has to be identified as a star like for instance on the national or state Register not they want to see a significant investment uh they want to see that the rehabilitation is compatible with with the historic Fabric and there actually you can layer other real estate benefits with this on that okay but 20% credit speaks for itself as far as a major benef now you look at in in in New Jersey we've been using the federal AAR tax credit about $1.7 billion of rehab has used this Federal historic tax credit uh giving the developers about $350 million of of federal tax credits on it so it it has it it has been used and it's been used significantly across the United States as well now just to give you a flavor uh th this was I just this was the H department store in New Yark it was the department store where New York was in its days the place where you went to shop it closed it was abandoned and it was recently brought back in a just a stunning a stunning adaptive reuse in the star in the star preservation so they they have a supermarket they have offices they have a housing uh Etc using using many subsidies including the federal star tax credit now the state of star tax credit actually New Jersey came late to this uh until two years ago U New Jersey didn't have this additional state of star tax credit and if it passed it can be quite a significant tax credit the states and blue are the states that that have state historic tax credit which is over and above the federal historic tax credit all right so I use I'm I'm I'm using this as an example because this could look like a property on the main Street of of Theon so this was a a drugstore that was rehabilitated it used the federal historic tax credit and if this was in South Carolina on the state historic tax credit so the federal and state historic tax credit this was a $3.8 million project um total about 1.3 million which was the size of the bank loan so so you see how significant that the credit can be okay this is this the it always takes time to get the paperwork and and to have all all the facets of IT program so the state of star Tas credit was just two years ago that it was authorized this is one of the first projects so this was a an office building in in Atlantic City that used the state ofar tax creditor I would assume used the fedal historic tax PRS well here are some other again this is not per se historic Lo housing tax credit is a a 40 to 90% credit over 10 years if do affordable housing New Market tax credits is for economic development it's a 39% credit over seven years opportunity zones uh you either defer reduce or eliminate capital gains if you invest in an opportunity so all that okay now uh so not surprisingly you have of course the in New Jersey across the United States where they now layer besides the federal estar tax credit and sometimes the state star tax credit but but these other credits so this this was a project in Louisiana it was in that reuse of the Surplus school for housing and it us the the low-income housing tax credit okay there's a source called policy map that's not always right okay but it spatially Maps various types of data including where have different programs be used and and are where's the eligibility for the F now uh dellan is not eligible for that new market tax credits you know because that's slotted for communities more in economic distress similarly not eligible for the opportunities that you can use a low-income housing tax credit yeah that that's not identified to an area it's just that if you you meet the criteria one can get this for 40 or 90% credit over 10 years okay and as far as we can tell the aaric tax credit has has not been used yet in vanilla that could be wrong because you know this is a Ming thing but clearly it hasn't been much that they start tax all right so how would you use the historic tax CR well you have to identify a resource as historic okay the state has um this is State preservation office they now do things nicely with GIS and they spatially map it so they map where are the historic resources in New Jersey okay this is in the source called Lucy okay and again some of this can be sort of a little behind the signs uh when you look at when you look at the Lucy data for Z melon there is some historic identification an eligible historic district an eligible individ ual property Etc but a lot more can be identified and just to give you again it's not an A to B comparison you see other communities have identified more you know in terms of districts and individual properties which then allow you to use the federal staric tax credit and and the state historic tax credit okay um well I'm talking about historic preservation thean is you've been thinking about a improvement district and the answer is the two can connect and and support one another okay so with we looking at 25 Main Street programs that's the historic preservation theme uh uh program uh 16 have a bid and Sid because they're mutually supportive the bid and Sid raises some monies which allow you to do some you know preservation in the downtown and improve the downtown and and and the and the tra with interesting again just mouin as an example some similarity clearly to N Allen with with with oo they they adopted a a have a sid they have a Main Street program um mouin had a great American Main Street where we you've been winning a lot of awards lately you know on Smart growth and and and downtowns you know go you and again in the touching the the the combination maybe you know preservation and Main Street and and SIDS uh have had a material effect so if you look at you know property values o o over time of course there are many forces that that that influence okay all right so what's another way to preserve all right and the thought here is you know what uh you you may want to not consider what else in know commission identifying properties uh Hing the potential of the federal state star tax credit in the downtown and other areas of of the but independent of that um oral history what's an oral history basically that people interview other people okay they often they interview long-term resident seniors Etc who who does the interviewing entities trained in this actually a nice way of doing it is to have the community do it you know have have students do it you know make it part of of of a school project so oh hist story Corp they they've been they've been doing oral history since the early 2000s they done almost 650,000 interviews so you if you want to say how would I go about doing an oral history well those this is one entity that um you know can be contacted and collabor reled with uh many communities in New Jersey have done all histories you know on different facets of of of of the history in in new gun like that Gordon story core okay and they did about 12 or 14 of these oral histories it's now memorialized in the new Bruni library on that and again because you know older people are not always around the memory of the community the way it was changes Etc so it's sort of nice to do this Etc and I thought in a helpful way what's another way that canel may want to consider doing um oral history as well um recors has something called the recors oral history Arch and they've done like 1300 or histories and it's all digitized and you can and you can put in a keyword and it spits out you know you know 10 20 30 Histories on that so I mentioned to them about our work in dellan I said is there any way you could help and the answer is they said yes you know they said you know they could supervise it or conduct it I think the nice thing would be since they've done it and they know what they're doing this sort of say all right if you if theel and wanted to do oral histories all right show us a way and and and and help launch it Etc so this could be uh a nice support um and it works both ways you know rers want wants to show that it's connected to uh to local communities and so um besides other aspects of preservation you know tax credits and what have you I I think all histories is something to to to to to consider you know maybe with the school district maybe collaborating with story core or R Etc okay I'm just going to end with this uh some one of the students here was a designed concentration so what do you think they focus on yes okay the short story is and I I give the community credit dellan has been giving a lot of thought to enhanced design you know here uh this is where design is spoken about and this is just a partial list in in various now in studies and documents um you going pin server you know that's like a go-to um and you ask people well what do you think of a versus B and you've seen this before so you really have the foundation to then go from this prior work and the visual pressing survey to how to enhance uh design especially in you're downtown okay and I'm not going to spend too much time here uh we said well let's look at two areas in vanilla let's look at it currently the the student who's not here they do their design idea and you can see you kind to make it a little safer with more crosswalks what have you uh additional lighting Etc uh of course your Main Street you don't have full regulation on it let's face it okay and again some thoughts here um and and the community you you you've given this thought you know on how to enhance design so this is um just some further thoughts from the student okay sidewalks we can always enhanced in sent that you control the sidewalks uh Etc okay so these These are their on thought all right so so bottom line we appreciate the opportunity to have done the studio here okay uh I'd like to think we have um introduced you to these two topics that really connect you know preservation and economic development okay in part and and there have been Savvy people investing in town but there may be other opportunities to use the historic tax credit as an example maybe with a star tax credit loone com has in tax crit even though you know they don't have to be uh linked etc etc especially with the new status tax credit we people are trying to figure out exactly how it works uh it's a nice resource when many resources are are limited okay and also this oral history you know fine you know you have commission you don't have state Start Tax tax rate yes yes and maybe that's you know a community or or or a school project on that and uh maybe working with story core may maybe working with ruter ruers said they're willing to help you know I I would take advantage of of that okay so thank you I'm sure I've gone way over my uh my a lot of time okay that's Professor stuff okay all right so thank you and I'm willing any thoughts questions I'm happy to to do I have a question yes in light of the federal government yes know that government looking at cutting out okay so I that's an astute observation given what going on we don't know where we are with a lot of programs I remember I was involved in 2017 when they pass the Tas cuts and jobs act where they wanted to get rid of the federal star Tas credit except I remember we went down to DC we explain some of the benefits Etc actually we we do an annual study for the Park Service con who knows about the future but there is a lot of support across the Spectrum we being historic tax and it's it's been successfully used you know for many decades now you in the late 1970s so you don't know about the future but um I'd like to think it work and maybe see can you do it just with the stateus direct tax credit it's harder it's harder but you see in in a time of there were just limited resources and and see what's what's different with with the with the historic tax credit the the state historic tax credit is C the federal is totally UNCA almost every other tax credit is capped it's competitive you just have so much low income housing tax credits you have so much New Market tax FL so you got to complete the the federal T tax f is UNCA both on how much each year and on the size of a project and it's been used for decades so it's pretty clear you know how you go about doing it so you get the better that doesn't answer May mayor change in the future yes am May that's I love the ring any other studies well okay I've been searching I've been searching more attention needs to be paid you see when when you think about a landmarks oh my God you know it's Mount Vernon it's not it's really not that it's a it's a very broad spectrum of History persons architecture cultural achievement uh Etc on that and I have no doubt that dellan with along with other communities has been underidentified in terms of what might be eligible for the let's start with the Federalist tax credit which by the way does not then regulate the private property right of the that's a misn people think oh you on the national you on the national register we're going to regulate you no that's just if there's a federal undertaking that affect the proper you have to go through riew PR um i i s a start preservation and I look at you know a lot of this application I mean I was walking down vanill it's nice there are a lot of faes U that that drugstore example that I showed you I think it was South Carolina that looks like a lot of your toties on that now it has to be you have to have some you have to have the fabric it wasn't totally changed Etc uh there's usually an age cut off of 50 years but lots of things in 50 years old Etc and you know often what happens is you develop wanting to use the star tax credit then you know brings in a preservation consultant who then you know does the paperwork which then get the property on the registered which then then qualifies the property for for for the taxpayer um again there's a lot of fabric in in in beran that's intact and attractive and again it's not it's not Washington slept here and it's not the the penultimate architectural achievement of Montello with Jefferson it's not that it's not that your downtown is is in aaric downtown any other questions Dr lisin without hearing any thank you thank you went well over a lot of time it's all good we're always happy to hear from you dris thank you we appreciate the opportunity I told the students this is really disapp you should understood yeah thank you thank you well thank you to Ruckers University Edwards uh blin School planning and public policy Dr David lisin and his students for this presentation tonight um we've worked with the blous school over the years for many different surveys and studies and I'm grateful for our ongoing collaboration and uh it will continue my friend correct hopefully right good thank you okay item number four on the agenda is uh mayor's appointments to board committees and commissions tonight we have one appointment of D Tara Dugen uh to the mayor's Canabis task force and to the denell downtown management organization so thank you to Tara for stepping up to the late uh she is not here this evening and uh thank you again uh David thank you again get home safe we'll talk soon enough item number five on the agenda is proclamations uh this evening we uh have a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month and tonight we are going to invite up Tom Murray uh he is a denel business owner and Resident uh we want thank him for joining us this evening to read the official Proclamation recognizing February's Black History Month in the burough of dellan Tom is the owner of smack and rolls food truck which is frequently spotted at the Nell andboro events and makes a variety of unique and delicious egg rolls from scratch and uh so welcome Tom and at this time uh we ask that you join us and to read the proclamation see your thank you cuz I forgot my glasses not m I will now read Proclamation recognizing Black History Month whereas Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African-Americans and a time for recognizing their Central role in US history and whereas Black History Month was preceded by the establishment of negro history week by Carter G Woodson and the association for the study of African-American life and history in 1926 whereas the 2025 theme for Black History Month focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds free and unfree skilled and unskilled vocational and voluntary intersect with the collective experiences of black people and whereas the burough of dellan recognizes the contributions of African-Americans to our burrow County State and country and reinforces our commitment to be a community of opportunity and hope for every citizen and whereas the borrow of dellan separates its Rich cultural and ethnic diversity respecting each of our neighbor Neighbors friends family members and business owners based on content of their character and whereas our community is better because of the diversity of our population now therefore be it resolved that's you that I mayor Jason F salent from thebo Council okay recognized February as Black History Month in the burrow of dellan and encourag residents to join us in celebrating and honoring the history and culture of the African-American Community throughout this month signed on the third day of February 2025 mayor Jason F Cento than you thank you again to Mr Murray a longtime resident business owner and if uh you haven't tried his smack and rolls certainly give them a shot they're very very good so and congratulations on the business and the growth that it's seen over the past several well the past couple years right not even okay so within a year so God bless you and continue the good work my friend okay uh next up is item number six on the agenda the approval of our meeting minutes from the January 21st council meeting can I have a motion a second please move it sigment second Albertson uh any comments or additions or uh edits to the meeting minutes as they currently stand without hearing any can we take a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes item number two on the agenda is the introduction of ordinances we have two this evening 202-429-2244 be aware of how the process works on ordinances uh mayor and Council can introduce an ordinance or ordinances um they are uh basically introduced to the public and uh they're not really just uh debated on just yet um but if they're approved to move forward at the next council meeting they would be publicly heard and possibly adopted after uh the public has an opportunity to have a say on them and mayor and Council have an opportunity to debate on them should we want to make further amendments or changes um after tonight's meeting you can then pick up the ordinances for your reading uh at the municipal clerk's office if you want a hard copy or you can find them online so first up can I have a motion and second on 202-4311 General regulations Section 37 sewer rates move it Sigma second Lance uh just to summarize this really quick um every year we have to do this statutorily so the tax collector can issue the sewer utility bills um but in recent years The Bu of denel has completed several necessary sewer main upgrades as part of our commitment to maintaining improving the infrastructure of our community and to ensure reliable Wastewater service for our residents and businesses um and and to ensure as I stated this work has covered approximately 1, 1300 ft of sewer remains throughout the buau including the repair of bypass line on Grove Street to South Madison Avenue uh Railroad Avenue palaski Street Grove Street Jackson Avenue and Klein Place since 2020 the burough has taken a very proactive approach to maintaining our aging sewer infrastructure uh utilizing Camera and Video inspections to monitor the conditions of the systems allowing us to better plan for replacement and lining rather than more costly repairs in the event in the event of a sewer break uh as a direct result of these efforts we were able to line 1,180 feet of the 3100 feet of sewer M underneath Second Street a process that extends the longevity of sewer Remains by 30 to 40 years um and at a fraction of the cost of emergency repairs um so most importantly to take note from this this summary is to to help cover the cost of these critical improvements the burough will be implementing a slight sewer tax rate adjustment with an increase of $15 in 20 25 so that brings it from 350 to 365 should mayor and Council move this forward um this will help offset the cost of these improvements while easing the financial impact on the tax rate payers um it is important to note that the Bureau of dellan has not seen a sewer tax increase since 2017 despite the rising costs in infrastructure maintenance being passed on to the burrow by the planfield Area Regional Sewer Authority commonly known as parsa and of course General inflation um so in nearly a decade we've not seen an increase and so we're going to possibly see a $15 increase so from 350 to 365 should that be the decision of the council um but costs are rising we have to cover them okay so with that take a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes can I have a motion and second on 202-0580 th000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 76,000 bonds or notes of the burrow to finance part of the cost move it sigment second to summarize this is a facility assessment for um our building we're currently in as well as other buildings um one being a part of a conditional Redevelopment agreement that we entered into um to basically assess what improvements need to be done so we can actually function at the 21st century level and providing quality Municipal Services as well as ensuring that we are able to provide Public Safety the way it should be able to be provided in facilities so um this is uh that's what that is is we're funding the feasibility studies okay we'll take a roll call Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes item number item item number eight on the agenda is the adoption of ordinances we have three this evening 20251 can have a motion and second on that it's an ordinance to amend ordinance 202 24-32 repealing and replacing chapter 2 202 parking meters of the burrow code in its entirety second Albertson okay thank you at this moment in time we'll open the floor to the public solely on 202-1011 without hearing any discussion can we have a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes can I have a motion in second on 2025 d02 in ordinance to amend and supplement the general legislation of the burough denell chapter 202 move it sigment second Albertson um Mrs stat just for clarification before we open open up to the public this was a clerical error correct that we had to correct correct also fixing 2025 d01 with the chapter number okay thank you we'll open the floor to the public so only on 2025-the -02 without hearing any we'll take a roll call Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes right can I have a motion in second on 2025 d03 a bond ordinance amending section 3G oh right g g description of the project in the bond ordinance of 2024 D21 I might need new contacts move it seg second Albert okay just so the public is aware this is the uh amending of the description of the project uh um to read as follows installation of flashing Beacon signs at various locations including but not limited to Madison Avenue and Washington Avenue intersections with First Street and dellan Avenue South Washington Avenue and Orange Street intersections and New Market Road and grow Street intersections and further including all working materials necessary there there for an incidental uh there too um so mainly those raping Beacon lights you see on Lincoln Avenue on other locations that are heavy trafficked um uh so open the floor to the public on 2025 -03 we ask that you please state your name and address and discuss solely this item without hearing any we'll close that portion and we'll open the floor to mayor council on 2025 d03 okay without further discussion we'll take a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr Vander yes item number nine on the agenda is our resolutions we have resolutions 82 through 89 uh Mrs stats if you can read them out and just give mayor and councel an opportunity to discuss them if we so choose resolution number 82 is to pay the bills move it sigment second Lance Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr Vander yes resolution number 83 is authorizing DMR Architects to prepare the Redevelopment plan for Block 85 lot 3 mov it sigment second Albertson as Council may remember this is the properties behind the uh kavanian project um well famously known it's an N station project they're currently warehouses uh last was it last year we did an area need of Redevelopment study it was deemed appropriate for development so the developer being kavanian again is coming to the table to present um tow houses for sale tow houses um the initial project um was discussed as apartments and we did push back on that for the area and so um that is what they're going to be proposing at the given time but in order to get there we have to have DMR present a Redevelopment plan for that area okay I'll take a roll Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark resolution number 84 is authorizing the filing and settlement of tax appeals move it Albertson second S Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr Vin Mark yes resolution number 85 is to hire summer art camp teachers for the Jan Arts inclusion and culture commission summer art camp move it Albertson second Sigma sure just want to clarify that so people know that people that are hiring British are being paid from the recreation from the recreation money that's there's a separate trust account for the denal Arts incl correct make sure hand that way it's not addition char No yeah we get grants from middle County Yep they're paid per hour in the position without benefits and they'll be paid through purchase order and most most programs actually all programs that we do through Recreation and the Arts commission is self- sustaining just ask okay hope we give them some reassurances councel than thank you you're welcome any other questions okay Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 86 is to award a contract to Well Fargo for the clerk's office and police department copy machines move it sigment second Lance Mrs Alberton yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vandar yes resolution number 87 is to authorize Professional Services for General engineering to CME Associates for the preparation of a sage Grant application move it Sig second Alberton Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 88 is to transfer appropriation reserves for the 20124 operating accounts move it sment second re Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 89 is 20 adopt the 2025 temporary capital budget R second Sig R Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr Vander Mark yes item number 10 on the agenda is the now you have a motion second on 90 through 93 unless there's a specific resolution council members would like to pull out we just ask each second Rios Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Scott yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes up is I have number 11 on the agenda Council reports um council member Albertson anything to report this evening not this evening thank you wow council member Rios anything to report yes I just said wow because nor she has a very thank sorry counselor uh Board of Education parent engagement sessions the school district is hosting a series of parent engagement sessions the first session took place tonight at 6:30 p.m. focusing on social media safety understanding harassment intimidation and bullying HIV the next session is scheduled for Tuesday February 18th at 6:30 pm. and the topic how to be a trusted adult ESL parent classes Board of Ed is now in the second year of their ESL classes the winter session is being taught by Janell and high school teacher Mario manav Vargas and has been has seen a strong attendance H for more information about these classes please contact Pablo Ortiz uh employment opportunities for the Board of Ed uh they are looking for substitute nurses substitute teachers and custodians if interested please reach out to miss leiner for more information uh next Board of Ed meeting will be on February 25th at 7M buildings and ground it update at Burrow Hall and police department over the past few past past few months several it processes have been updated to enhance efficiency security at both burrow Hall and police department Burl Hall set up new lapop pc and the tax assessors and court and the firehouse uh supported the installation of a new phone system at Burl Hall Police Department on DPW provided monthly monitoring maintenance of servers and PCs troubleshooted and resolve day-to-day technical issues Police Department Department collaborated with vendors to install the new front door cameras door access access system set up and installed multiple mobile computers in uh police vehicles diagnosed and resolved communic communication issues in car 502 created new officer accounts migrated data uh Services retired and old PD server left by a previous IT provider these updates these update support and continued reliability and Security in our it infrastructure across departments in now public library stay up to dat with our latest events by visiting our Facebook page and website we're excited to introduce our new Museum well they're not new but they we've been we've gotten more so our museum pass program sponsored by the friends of the library to check out and use the Museum passes you must have a valid dellan public library card um our available pass Museum passes include the Museum of M of the Newark Museum of Art American Museum Natural History ggen High Museum turtleback Zoo Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum storm king art center Montclair Art Museum be sure to contact us or visit the library to check P to check pass availability before planning your visit and Green Brook flood commission the upcoming uh upcoming meeting will be held via zoom on Wednesday at uh February 5th that's all depart issu 32 be yes so from the dellan Arts inclusion and culture commission um recently was discussed over the month of January about um putting together some kind of art show something that would um feature um and exemplify Black History Month and so last month the commission sponsored a black history art show contest in partnership with denell and high schools art program led by Mr Larry Roy ball um dellan High School along with the dellan Arts and inclusion culture commission has announced the winners of the Black History Month art contest Janine Adrien won first place for her painting of artist Jean mishel bat um Hunter Mulligan took second place with a painting depicting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jor embracing modern recording artist Kendrick Lamar the mayor and Council look forward to acknowledging a black history month with a recognition event for the contest winners which will take place on February 18th the artwork will be displayed at the high school from February 1st to February 18th after which it will move to the dellan library an exhibition of all submitted acrylic paintings can be found at um a link that maybe we can share through the denalan Arts inclusion and culture commission um and we want to thank everyone for their participation you should really check it out the work is beautiful absolutely beautiful um and so I'm sorry the commission has also been in preparation for spring into Wellness which is set for May 4th coinciding with the Open Air Market and featuring Health Focus performances um we have they have a Unity day scheduled and um um they're already planning for the warmer weather with um the summer art program and music and plays in the park so there's more information to come I also have a report from Recreation Department um dellan Recreation was pleased to host its annual senior citizen holiday luncheon on Saturday January 25th at the newly restored Firehouse it was a wonderful turnout of 50 seniors who enjoyed a delicious dinner and games along with musical entertainment and singalongs led by car Carl Gyer on the piano the recreation department is very grateful for the support from mayor sento and all the council members we are especially thankful to the denell and fire department for the use of the hall along with all those who help serve the seniors throughout the event including Recreation Commission members Jim Brennan and Kathy Wilson mayor salento salento sorry uh council members um GES Lance Trina Rios and Hal vanderark we're also thankful for volunteers Kate rusy Tyler mayor and sulliman Khan for their assistance in making this an enjoyable event registration is now open for spring programs such as baseball softball and Tennis baseball is offered to children ages 4 through eight softball is offered to children grades one first through 8th and Tennis is available for children ages 6 through 17 the registration deadline for baseball and softball is March 10th and the registration deadline for tennis is April 1st so to avoid late fees don't wait to register danella Recreation is also pleased to offer spring Open soccer a free program for dellan residents in order to make this program available they need support from volunteer coaches depending on how many volunteer coaches they have that will determine how many children they can admit into the program so if your child is interested and you're available we encourage you to step off the sidelines and into the field this program is low commitment and run strictly by volunteers so if you're interested in being a volunteer coach please contact Rec program coordinator Kelly Cedar at kedar at denen bor.com and although it's still winter it's never too early to start prepping for the summer dull's rec summer camp is available for children ages 5 through 12 and begins on Monday June 16th it's a 9-week program that last from 8:00 a.m. through 300 p.m. daily with a late pickup option until 5:00 p.m. children will be engaged throughout the program with fun activities including different sports outdoor recreation crafts field trips scavenger hunts walking trips and more register by Friday February 14th and receive the early bird special discount space is limit limited so register early and that is all okay thank you that was a great senior holiday party and uh Homer was in the audience giving you two thumbs up so um homeo was happy with it too council member Sigman uh yes thank you um so I had the pleasure of joining the shade tree commission's first meeting of the Year where officers were elected and I believe Ken Boden distl who is the chair has over 20 Rings um of service and uh thank you to all of the volunteers for dedicating their time and effort to our town I'm looking forward to a booming or blooming season uh and the rele of our tree inventory um I also want to uh give a special thanks to Enrique one of the members for helping me identify the trees in front of my house and giving me tips to have better apples from my trees uh so thank You Enrique and the shade tree commission okay that's it thank you councilman council member Scott I can't top that report so for DPW they continue to routinely clean the downtown in the Parks and properties uh they finished pick up the Christmas trees around the burrow remov dead trees one on Prospect one on Walnut Street trim multiple trees on denell andev updated the various bilingual signs in the DPW Yard and they began the yearly process of inspecting and cleaning each of the catch basins in the burrow this process will continue over the next few months and I believe there's over 700 catch Basin it's a long process mechanic division God bless they service the police Fe Fleet as they're due for maintenance or as breakdowns arise service of DPW equipment and fleet vehicles for maintenance as for maintenance and breakdowns as they arise and they repaired the plows and the STW equipment after the last storm and that's my report okay thank you not as interesting well they did a great job after the last snowstorm curb to curve always going to do a good job um so uh in terms of DPW and the signs for downtown when will the no parking overnight be placed if it's not been placed already okay see the 15minute parking in certain locations okay so we looking towards the end of the month or okay thank you um so my report this evening um actually fairly quick uh just reporting out from the engineers C Associates uh the Washington Avenue street lighting uh project the project has been awarded and CME is coordinating the approval of the award with the New Jersey Department transportation local Aid and the required Construction contract so more to report over time um Second Street phase one the Project's been awarded and CME is coordinating the approvals with the NJ doot local Aid and again the required construction contracts that go along with it um the railroad AB CT project uh CME and the buau administrator met with representatives from the Army Corps and D to discussed the status of the improvements and whether or not they have uh improved tail water conditions in the baget brook uh CME shared their analysis with them and they agreed to review them and get back to us later so more to report uh hopefully in the coming weeks uh strip joint or known as 635 boundbrook Road uh Demolition and Remediation bid documents have been prepared and are under final review CME anticipates transmitting them to the buau next week uh CME has discussed the street Li lighting conversion cost with Mike Coyle psng as directed by Frank lucazi uh Mr Coyle uh contacted Bob Hugh of psng regarding the Burrow's concern um and PSG maintains that costs are going to be required we're trying to push back on them that uh it's not just the implementation C beyond the implementation cost they've increased the amount in which we'd be paying monthly and uh we're pushing back uh because uh they're LEDs so they should not be more expensive over month over month than what they current currently are underneath their current uh status uh the M house uh a walkth through the building was conducted and the assessment is underway uh CME will continue to monitor the work being performed by Comcast um and CME is reviewing the grant requirements for 500 Mount View bike path and preparing budget figures for the bureau's use so a lot going on um and uh yeah so that's that from me uh item number 11 is Council discussion I there's nothing on that this part of the meeting this evening item number 13 is department head reports okay um I'm G to ask legal to report back on a question that was presented at last council meeting so if you wouldn't mind discussing yes mayor at the last meeting there's a question raised by councilman vanderark with regard to the licensing of specifically it was a beauty power license the question was about limiting the number of those type of establishments uh with the idea of encouraging other types of retail in the downtown district uh my opinion at that time uh was confirmed I did look into the issue uh my concern about that issue was it would violate equal protection uh uh restrictions and rights and there were a number of cases that I found uh that would indicate unless there's a rational basis for that type of classification uh that that type of ordinance would be fori equal protection uh rights uh there are number handful of uh situations historically gas stations have had some kind of uh distance regulations but even those now are being called into question uh so based upon the research I did uh my conclusion was that that type of ordinance would not be sustained unless there was some very compelling rational basis for the FIS okay thank you anything else on the legal no no other FL okay so the legal opinion is consistent what we've been told from reg uh Municipal Council in the past as well as from our Redevelopment Council so um now it's again duly noted on the rec thank you uh municipal clerk little early but just a reminder that the primary election has been changed from Tuesday June 3r Tuesday June 10th yes and just so we not it on record here um last year based upon the request from the school district um it was the last year we'll be doing elections in the school so we are assessing other locations um through the counties for an elction on uh whether they'll be good to go you've discussed with the department heads on those okay so um the County Board of election is going to assess the library uh as well as the firehouse and of course uh we'll hope to maintain the senior center so we're looking at keeping two or three voting polling stations so okay okay Administration it okay o yes something's going on do I have to go out and play the lottery between the two of you no report we're joking we appreciate everything you do Homer uh police department nothing how's parking authority back there we're working you're working enforcing Rescue Squad okay thank you do uh next on the agenda is item number 14 public comments uh we're going to open the floor to those and change ERS first then we'll go to online and then we'll do a general blanket we ask for those in Chambers please state your name and address and the microphone is right up front uh good evening Council um I'm Angelo Fon to manella uh address to yes 634 Bound Brook Road um so this is perhaps tangentially related to the the ordinance on pedestrian lights on Lincoln Avenue uh I want to raise concern over the emergency light overlooking North Avenue and Lincoln Avenue um I think it poses a concern to all pedestrians but especially students walking to in from school um since from my observation uh drivers seem to mistake it for a green a normal intersection with the green light um which gives them the impression they have the right of way and I've seen many pedestrian incidents of drivers going through an intersection with students currently in it um or other close calls like that so I would personally like to see it turned off or even better have a some pedestrian crossing lights on either side just like up the road okay well thank you for that concern I'll address po um being that the rescue squad is no longer there it was there to let people know that you can drive past the rescue squad and turn red when the rescue squad had to come out right um can we check on the status of turning it off well the removal but if not the removable at least turning it off for now okay thank you speaking of the rapid Beacon lights that you're speaking of um aside from Madison Avenue on uh first and dellan and Washington Avenue dellan and first um as well as South Washington Avenue and orange going into Colum Columbia Street and New Market and Grove um those are one project um the one at Grove and New Market and Washington and orange are actually being funded by Grant we got the other two we are funding by Capital now getting to the downtown there is going to be those rapid Beacon lights at Key intersection boundbrook Road and Sanford Lincoln Avenue and uh North Avenue Prospect AV and North a and Jackson ab and North a and so that's going to be we got the funding for those through Redevelopment agreements where we negotiated Community benefits from the developers um so there is good things get from developers um so they're funding a lot of pedestrian safety measures in the downtown um we were able to convince the dot they're coming through they've been saying since 2020 when I first became mayor they were going to improve all the ad and compliant ramps and then it got postponed and postponed and postponed but you'll probably see they're starting to get the areas prepped at the at the crosswalks so we're able to convince them to coordinate the installation of them alongside of when those crosswalks were getting uh implemented so they were actually supposed to be implemented earlier the crosswalks but there was a delay because we we pushed to get the the beacon lights as part of the project so you'll see the crosswalks going and then hopefully by the end of this year you'll see the beacon lights okay great so your mind's in the right place thank you thank you thank you any other members of the public we ask that you please state your name and address hello David ainstein 247 Penfield uh president Rescue Squad uh with the comment prior with the emergency lights uh on uh Route 28 I know there was a lot um of time that took to get those lights there uh it's a good idea to move them and in the process of moving them we already know our new location so maybe instead of just uh removing them and putting them away we can have them you know two things at once get them into the new location properly it'll all depend upon what the current mutcd standards are so if there is everything else they update everything and so I figured it' be great to put them over there but in the meantime we'll we'll try to get us Alex will talk to the dot about if we can do that there might be up updates that we have to do to code or whatever the state statute is um and then if not we're going to at least look to address the concern of how do we at least turn them off for the time being sure because that's a good point okay thank you David any other members of the public please state your name and address that are in Chambers not will move to online how's the uh the rehab of bubs booba getting there slowly but surely oh great oh sooner I was hearing like April but I'm happy to hear it's closer so great great how's business over at East Coast iron good okay we'll open the floor to members of the public who are joining us virtually please state your name and address without hearing any of from the public virtually we'll open the floor generally just so we cover our bases please state your name and address all members of the public both iners and virtual okay without hearing any we'll close that portion of the meeting we have no executive uh meeting this evening so the next up is item number 15 adjournment uh before we do that I will say the next mayor and council meeting will be held on Tuesday February uary 18th 2025 clearly at 7 p.m. in these Chambers you can join in person or virtually so without further Ado can I have a motion and second on item number 94 adjournment move it segment second Scott all in favor I any n I'm waiting