##VIDEO ID:Fg7ef6MzcHY## [Music] [Music] think mayor at 7 o'clock section open public meetings act chapter 231 P 1975 notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board designed for that purpose a notice was transmitted to the official newspapers provided by resolution adopted January 6 2024 meeting notice is also been continuously posted on the bar website I have a roll call yes mayor council president Morgan here councilwoman Phillips here councilman oton councilwoman Russo is absent but excused councilman ban is absent but excuse councilwoman Haren thank you mayor thank you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to flag States it stands Nation please remain standing for a moment of silence thank you please be seated uh we'll now open it up for public comment on agenda items only that's agenda items only if you'd like to make a comment regarding anything on the agenda please step up to the microphone and state your name and address for the record not seeing any public comment we'll close that public comment portion we'll move into the caucus work session and not seeing any items on the caucus work session we will recess from the caucus work session and move into the recognition of service of councilman Kate Russo um I asked that Council be um all right with it that we table the official recognition until a January meeting where we can have Council mon ruso join us to presenter with um the plaque I just I feel for the three years that she Kate has served on this on this Council and this team she has been an incredibly vital asset and I think it's uh would only be appropriate if we recognize her yes I think she should be here I'll get her to agree she's watching YouTube she one of the finest female Council we've ever had taking shots at you there that's oh I noticed um but I agree next we'll um we'll I'll have I'll ask for a motion to approve the minutes of the December 3rd 2024 work session I have a motion please motion by councilman Addison I have a second seconded by council president Morgan all those in favor I any oppose or obain thank you next we have the approval of the executive session minutes of the November 18th 2024 business meeting and I have a motion for those executive session minutes please Phillips have moved motion by councilman Phillips have a second second by councilman Haron all those in favor I the opposed or obain exstension by council president Morgan next may have a motion to approve the executive session minutes of the December 3rd 2024 work session so moved motion by councilman Phillips may I have a second second by council president Morgan all those in favor any opposed or abstained right thank you next we have council member reports um thank you to our police Library caner SC will be joining us again thank you councilwoman Council Addison okay um thanks to H for Saturday on the sh hon but I spoke to his wife beginning of the month and she said he wasn't able to attend he thought be able to also that's nice and set thank you Julie fore list put [Music] door we had three beautiful dogood froma SED great and then on the on the environmental commission the m679 [Music] so can [Music] start we' also had a suggestion that put cycl cans on Station Avenue before they said that they trash we should try EV your wife send something from we also have collection for plastic that aren on the project of information and with and the DPW to try to line up power and have aut also have station so we should have a presentation in January all the information also be [Music] subtain on the construction side in November we did 9,433 counc president Morgan no report this morning than thank you councilwoman Phillips thank you mayor um I want to thank uh councilwoman Haron for all of her efforts with the holiday parade um there's a ton of work that goes into that and um it was it was fantastic I think everybody enjoyed it and I'm sure that the manora lighting will be just as great and thank you to Public Safety Chief hailes and the fire department um thank you chief for the PD and the great work that they did and always do we love our PD and FD and they do a great job um with respect to the parade and with everything in town which leads me to uh Chief hail's great job with transporting Santa around town um both Haden Heights and barington this past Saturday um he visited our house and we got candy canes and the little guys in my house were very excited about that well the eight-month-old has no idea but the six-year-old was definitely happy um so thank you for that he was actually picking up dinner at the time so he missed the entire thing yes classic right um so great things uh thank you again Chief Hales thank you Chief Schneider um Redevelopment is moving along we actually have a couple resolution on for tonight um we have the final adoption of um the ordinance approving the financial agreement for um the station Avenue Lofts which is the corner of the white White Horse Pike in station AV which is really our first uh Redevelopment project to go through I believe they anticipate breaking ground right after the New Year um that Financial agreement will be a great asset to the town uh pursuant to the long-term pilot over the next 30 years we estim to me to bring in about $2.6 million in revenue for the town whereas uh the taxes we would get over the next 30 years for the underdeveloped property as it exists now would only be about 250,000 um so thank you to Aaron Simone for all your efforts on the financial agreement and the entire Redevelopment which leads me to the next project that is underway also um on for approval of a resolution today to authorize the execution of a Redevelopment agreement um for 322 324 white horse Pike Chris marinski um that's the Jefferson Bank property which we are very um excited to see that become something other than what it is right now we appreciate you preserving the buildings largely um and not the glass connector of those buildings um so your efforts there are appreciated and we look forward to that Redevelopment project as well um and thank you to Erin again for your efforts on that and to um Emily given as well um so good things happening I'll try to say something thank you we appreciate you too Howard but you're not involved with the read thank you councilman Phillips uh mayor oh wait I forgot we didn't do the report the monthly report you left it to me and I almost forgot shouldn't have left it to me uh that's okay um unless people are tired of hearing me talk which is completely understandable um so the police report for November 2024 um the stats are 82,6 57 total mileage 902 calls for service 17 arrests and charges 14 accidents and 156 motor vehicle summonses issued and then also for the fire report for November 2024 um we had 17 calls in Heights 22 calls in Arington five calls to Mutual Aid seven calls to the highway for a total of 51 calls five firefighters per call 16 career staff calls um and also we have the nope I don't have the EMS report in front of me but um great work as always so thank you thank you Council Phillips uh mayor's report so uh want to Echo the earlier statements that the H Day Parade was quite the success this year uh once again so um had as often my appreciation to councilman Haron uh count councilman Pagan for his assistance too once again with the uh the DJing uh want to highlight the FD and again the most important job this time of year is escorting Santa around for all the kids to see um and some of those adults uh they love the big eyes so we cannot thank you enough um not an easy task um and so again we appreciate everything that you've done um this holiday season like everybody I want to um uh reinforce the um and encourage um our residents to shop local we do have quite a number of great businesses here on our downtown we continue to grow and add a few um and it's a great opportunity whether it's picking up a gift card or something something small at one of our local shops but more importantly I want to um ask everyone to think about donating local that's one really really amazing thing about hat and Heights is and I Champion three um three very specific organizations um Haden Heights Good Neighbors which does a lot of great work right here for the residents of Haden Heights um the other one being Interfaith caregivers of Haden which Services Haden field and Haden Heights um and and the final one being right down here on 7th a the Methodist Church in their food pantry which provides a number of meals for uh families right here hat Heights and our surrounding community so um these are two great great um char that you can donate to and I encourage people this holiday season don't forget to make a donation uh finally I um I do we did not um we didn't have uh councilwoman Russo here to join us tonight um to recognize her but I do want to recognize councilman Addison's efforts um which began back in 2020 when you and I joined Council uh you began the quest to to work towards remediating those devonette fields and it has been a long and tiresome road but you have gotten us to this finish and I know there's still some work to be G plenty of work to be done but I cannot applaud you enough that you are your resiliency to persevere through changing uh uh Professionals in the process to navigating the thousands of questions and bureaucracy that comes with doing anything with state government you are uh you ion for that project and I applaud you that was that was an incredible feat and so uh great job great job uh and that is it for the mayor's report um moving into unfinished business uh we have public hearing and final adoption of ordinance 2024 1563 an ordinance of the bar of Haden Heights approving the application and financial agreement a long-term tax exemption with Station Avenue lofs urban renewal LLC for Block 25 lot 16 and 17.01 on the official Barrow tax map may have uh a motion to open the public hearing portion of ordinance 2024 1564 correction 1563 my apologies so moves thank you motion by councilwoman Phillips second second by uh council president Morgan all those in favor I opposed you're abstained thank you the public hearing portion now for ordinance 2024 1563 is now open if you'd like to make a comment specifically for this ordinance please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record not seeing any public comment may I have a motion to close the public hearing portion of ordinance 2024 1563 motion by council president Morgan I have a second seconded by councilwoman Haron all those in favor I oppose or obain thank you next may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 1563 an ordinance of the bar of Haden Heights approving the application of financial agreement for long-term tax exemption with Station Avenue laws urban renewal LLC for Block 25 lot 16 17.01 on the official Barrow tax did I yeah did I I said in the beginning I said may I have a may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 1563 you guys s me a little worried there so there they separate they're two separate ordinances right are we doing 6 63 first yeah that's what I'm yeah that's what I just read again oh I thought you read 64 no I read 63 I misstated I misstated 64 on the first no that's yeah I'm sorry that's why I got you guys all confused your second in all right Howard all right all right so let me restate this just for clarity for purposes I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 1563 an ordinance of the barreau of Haden Heights proving the application of financial agreement for a long long-term tax exemption with Station Avenue L's urban renewal LLC for blocks 25 Lots 16 and 17.01 on the official Barrow tax and I will make that motion May motion by councilwoman Phillips seconded by council president Morgan may have a roll call please yes mayor council president Morgan yes councilwoman Phillips yes councilman aison yes councilwoman Haron yes thank you thank you now we have public hearing and final adoption of ordinance 2024 1564 and ordinance amending certain provisions of the code of barad heights section 75 entitled establishment membership of the Haden Heights Police Department I have a motion to open the public hearing portion of ordinance 2024 1564 a motion by councilwoman Haron may have a second second by councilman odison all those in favor any oppose or abstain thank you the public hearing portion of ordinance 2024 1564 is now open please step up to the microphone state your name and town for the record our chief and requesting that these changes be made it's like a little EAS in terms of management and appropriate fees for services they provide not seeing any oh good this is just like random topic just this just this ordinance I'll have yeah I'll have a public comment at the very end for anything yep yeah sorry there's a lot tonight that's not seeing any public comment on this ordinance I have a motion to close the public hearing of ordinance 2024 1564 motion by council president Morgan may have a second second seconded by councilman Phillips they have a motion now to to adopt ordinance 2024 1564 an ordinance amending certain provisions of the code of bar Haden height section 75 entitled establishment membership of the Haden Heights Police Department so moved motion by councilman Phillips may have a second second by councilman Haron I have a roll call vote please yes Council uh I'm sorry council president Morgan yes councilwoman Phillips yes councilman oison yes councilwoman Haren thank you thank you next we move into new business we have resolutions 2024 231 resolution approving tax exemption for a disabled veteran and refund of taxes the bonus resolution 2024 232 resolution approving tax exemption for a disabled veteran and refund of taxes wait resolution 2024 233 resolution bra hat Heights cam County authorizing the exec execution of a Redevelopment agreement 322 324 White Horse Pike resolution 324 resolution 2024 234 resolution authorizing budget appropriation transfers during the last two months of the fiscal year the bar had in Heights Canon County New Jersey resolution 2024 235 resolution authorizing hiring of a zoning code enforcement official resolution 2024 236 a resolution authorizing a refund of partial cabin rental fee Hollis resolution 2024 237 a resolution Rising payment of bills and claims for the second half of December and resolution 2024 238 a resolution providing for a meeting not open to the public in accordance with the provisions of the new New Jersey open public meetings Act njsa 10 colon 4-21 contract matter related to Shared service agreement with the B of alond for Public Works service two negotiations related to the International Association of firefighters local three uh 3249 local discussion is expected uh expect to be a half hour IND duration formal action may be taken on the foregoing matters following executive session may have a motion for those resolutions please second by Council motion by councilman Aon to adopt uh second by councilwoman Haron I have a roll call vote please council president Morgan yes councilwoman Phillips yes councilman aison councilwoman Haren thank you thank you um now we open it up for public comment on any items at all this is public comment on anything doesn't have to be on the agenda thank you Ain thanks Aaron hi my name is Karen Tustin I reside at 101 Highland Avenue um I guess my I'm here just to talk about um pet registration and Licensing it's been kind of a big Hot Topic um just as a background I've worked at fer in NX stock market for 30 years so I'm a big ation geek and I don't oppose getting dogs tagged um I think the issue is on your website you say that if your dog becomes lost the bur of Haden Heights Animal control officer um will take your let's see if your dog becomes lost the burrow of Haden Heights Animal control officer can trace your pet using the licensed tag number dogs without licensed tags cannot be returned to the owner and will be transported to the Vorhees animal or where cause may be incurred um it's my understanding that collinswood Police Department actually has a wand and will wand the dogs and it seems kind of excessive just to shove your dog or your cat over to a place where they're overcrowded I mean especially like with cats they have Breakaway colors they're not necessarily going to be able to be identified that way but they can be wanded by the police um so that was my first criticism um the second criticism was the whole implementation just seems to have been bad for instance my brother got cited twice with court citations if he doesn't get his pets registered um two of the pets were his daughters who routinely just Dro their dogs off because they're busy and they don't live in the burrow um he he resolved it the first time and he just recently got another citation with the possible court dates that if he doesn't get it resolved it happens another Resident got um something talking about her pets from 20 9 don't appear to have been re-registered and they're all dead at this point I mean she has other ones and she does have to get them registered but it just seems like the implementation of this whole thing has been really subpar um so I guess I'm asking more so if the Haden Heights Police could actually wand their wand our pets you do okay that sounds good yeah because I mean according to this policy it's just like you're going to ship them right off to no they typically they don't I mean if Heights happenings the PD okay yeah we see it on the Facebook page sometimes pictures of them okay then that's fine but as far as I mean seriously my brother got cited twice with court one actually had a set of court date and he's got the pets registered and it just seems like a lot of people are grumbling about why are we getting cited again why am I getting cited for 2009 pets that are dead so I'm not sure where the disconnect is so they wouldn't be getting cited for any animals from 2009 so probably what was Happ basically just said hey we haven't we noticed you got site you notice you registered your pets in 2009 uh we haven't seen any current registrations if you have these pets please register them right so what's happening is because you know the licensing was in the system before we um our Animal Control Officers are conducting an animal census again as you know right and uh so they're getting the notices and they're going door too um and there's you know been a little bit of hiccups here and there with people whose animals have passed away they call us we of course let them know that you know there is no issue with obviously having to get a license for an animal you no longer have right um but you know I know I know people are a little bit upset about about this but you know it is state law and it's something that we are trying to implement I agree with that I totally again I have a regulation yeah I think I think it's um I don't um and I'd be curious to see like like where if there were errors along the way I'm sure my brother actually called up today and said look yeah I I've resolved this yes I didn't have him registered promptly I did it a couple months ago and now you're again citing me with possible court dates okay yeah so we go back and forth um we do our best to try to communicate with um with the animal control company with checking our list against their list sometimes there was a disconnect in a time frame in which it's not getting updated right this has happened so this is something we'll have to we'll have to work on with our professional and and make sure that they're they're communicating with us before they're sighting perhaps citing any residents yeah they really so there's been no summonses issued as of yet they are going through the town one more time um and that won't you know any summonses that might be issued would not be happening until January Ary um but uh they've been conducting this census and they've been through the town once already I believe um so they're they're we asked them to go through again before anybody actually would you know get a summons issued to them um and so that's what they're doing right now they're going through a second time um and so there you know there are some situations in which an animal has passed away um or there's you know just a a glitch in the information that we're you know communicating about back and forth with New Jersey animal control so okay so as far as this whole we're going to send your website says we're going to send your dogs directly to the shelter period And I when I registered my cats and now I have a puppy that I don't have to register until six months um I talked to the person I said Are you seriously going to send just random dogs that you find and he said yeah I mean the guy who was taking my fee said it didn't mention anything about you know being able to WAND the dogs he said that's the that's the policy we're going to take your pet to the okay so that's a disconnect with with the professional and you know we'll speak to them and communicate to them exactly what gets done with our Police Department okay maybe adjust your website because it and I was gonna say well I think I think what he's referring to is like if he's if he reports out to a location which people call animal control for they they respond out for raccoons they respond out for a number of issues a lot of times our PD is on location first if our PD gets there first if they're going to take possession of the animal if they can do so safely right and they they reside here for a little bit as the chief at meain so I think it's I think that disconnect is is they have they are a private entity that we that we work with and so they're going to have their own policies and rules that they have to follow because it's their protocol and so there's a balancing act here but again I would venture to bet 99% of the time RPD is going to handle the situation before anybody else yeah I mean that's awesome yeah we have a Humane officer too don't we take our time well then maybe you could just clarify your website because it's specific I'm reading from your website that you're going to you would be reading an ordinance which we adop to stay because at some point if they're not playing they do have to go to the shelter but I know that many police departments including here make an opportunity to attempt to locate theer before they consider doing that because if we ultimately have to do that it costs a down money so then you're comfortable with the website say if your dog becomes lost the bro does it's just so we know where you're reading from it's it's called the 2024 are you looking at the code take we're just going to take our pets to the shelter regardless yeah that might have come from okay well we can take we that we take a and modified so that it reads a little bit more friendly yeah I think the the idea the goal would be is we just we want people to understand that we we can only hold on we can house pets here in the bar hall for right for days or you know they're gonna and but as always like with everything that Haden Heights does we try we know we're a community first and so the PD does they're going to go above and beyond to try to locate the residents whose pets they are and return them that's fine and thankfully from a community effort and the help of social media usually we very rarely Chief right do we ever have to to engage Animal Control we also have enforcement off officer Humane um an law enforcement officer specifically designated for that purpose okay no that's fine I just I mean yeah I mean people love their pets I mean there was a dog that ran off an highland and I was stopping traffic and people are chasing it through barington so the fact that somebody and our correct me if I'm wrong the H the animal control doesn't Patrol our our community like on a regular basis no we have to engage them and call them well that's what I meant like right to there it's not of like the um what I think with some people pictures like the dog catcher patrolling the neighborhood searching for these these Rogue dogs um that they don't it's pretty much the PD has to engage them to have them come out okay that's fine all right well thank you very much they're like our stuff thank you thank you so much other public comment I'm sorry I just um well actually you want to close public comment and then I just wanted to introduce Brian Kelly yep not seeing any other public comment close the public comment portion and one up thanks for having me of course thank you for joining our team yeah thank you I didn't know if I was there yet so I figured let me come and just introduce myself so I'll give you a little background about myself this way you're a little more comfortable and Howard we work together in Belmar a little bit so I have a full-time job I work from home but it gives me ample amount of time to get out and I support barington with code enforcement and Zoning I support runam with code enforcement I was helping out in haddenfield helping out in Belmar so what I do Community First oh she left um I do not write citations that's the last resort I tried to do so when I do code enforcement I'm going out knocking on doors and having conversations with the community it typically gets completed people get done what what I ask them to get done there's other times where I get a little bit more of a door hanger or something that gives them a little reminder so point being um I'm here to introduce myself for the position not necessarily saying that I need the position uh but I'm happy to take the position if you're still looking for someone for code looking for someone for zoning I have the background and happy to help so I'll open it up to a couple questions if you have any so we talked about that a lot so um the good thing is I'm probably out every day at least two hours a day uh whether that's going to be a mix between runam me barington and here um I'm stopping in the office for Zoning for barington so I would say at least two to three hours a day belmare was a little bit more difficult on the code uh that became a little bit more of a a full-time job but that's my my promise to you guys once I get into this role if there's n if I'm into this for 90 days and I and and I can't handle it or I'm not putting the time in that I promis we're gonna have a conversation first and I'm gonna back off of it or I'm at least going to let you know that this is my limitation this is what I'm seeing and then we'll have enough time to bring somebody else in or whatever it may be but so far so good I think I'm able to handle another town uh I haven't seen I rode around town a little bit already so I haven't seen a lot of issues that are yeah that are that are visible uh that was the thing I learned in haddenfield by the way the trees and the Shady commission I had to learn that's the other thing I I introduced myself to the engineers I in introduced myself to the the chief of police and and so I'll work with them closely enough to where I have their phone and my phone so I'll make those calls eliminating some additional work for you guys applications I I did not I did not get into that so I'd have to see what your what you're referring to what I do now is code whether it's yeah like basically I'm saying any kind of application that comes I'll be the first I'll be the first instance for the application part so I'll go through the zoning I'll understand the setbacks I'll understand the rules I'll understand all that I haven't gotten into sitting in a planning board and going through those engineer reports or any of those things and and typically we I say we don't really we haven't really relied on between our engineer and our solicitor for planning board yeah both of them cover really well yeah just the first but you would but you would mark up and comment on I'm calling them too if there's something out of the ordinary yeah uh I have a I have a pretty good relationship with the with the Engineers so point being if it's if it's easy enough I'm the first application sign off if it's something that seems a little bit out of the ordinary I give them a call but I will not be doing the engineering uh review or anything and [Music] thank you so much for coming than for we appreciate it yep you're welcome thank you oh yeah you don't have yep yeah we're uh we're good we're gonna actually recess an executive session so we're gonna need to the room yeah same to you thank you so much Craig I think we're good for the night so I appreciate it thank you Joey we're good thank you got he's got to think about his HBC recycling do we can find okay because e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e have a motion to come out of executive session motion by council president Morgan may have a second second by councilman Haron all those in favor opposed or abstained all right thank you council do we have anything to act on we do um the first item of business would be a resolution authorizing a shared services agreement between the water Bond and the B had Heights for Public Work services for a term of three years subject to uh conditional review by the um CFO and by [Music] persp tomorrow purp I and Neil all right may I have a res a motion to adopt that resolution which would be 20249 motion by council president Morgan may have a second second second by councilman Phillips have a roll call Vote Yes mayor council president Morgan yes councilwoman Phillips yes councilman oton yes councilwoman Haron thank you next we do have another action to take mayor which you would not be familiar with um and mated council president could call for the motion second on this because of your situation and refusing refusing I appreciate you doing that this would be a resolution authorizing a collective bargaining agreement uh between the bur of P High and the International Association of Fire Fighters loal 3249 conditioned upon will review Okay resolution 2024 240 yes sir can I get a motion to approve that resolution motion yes council president Morgan yes councilwoman Phillips yes councilman oison yes councilwoman Haron thank you that was it all right thank you not seeing any other business to act on may have a motion to adjourn motion by council president Mor may have a second seconded by Council or councilman oison sorry I'm all over the place here uh all those in favor any opposed or obain all right thank you meetings adjourned