Thank you. This meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act. Notice of this meeting was provided to the home news tribune the star ledger and on the high on the Highland Park planet on June 1st 2025 and was posted
on borrow website at www.hpbro.com and on the bulletin board of Bor Hall 221 South 5th Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law. fire exit to my right and left
of council chambers. Former council member Morris, would you like to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Mayor Co. Yes. Council member George. Council member Hail.
Council member Hail. Sorry. Yes. Here. Council member Hir here. Council President Kim Chan here. Council member Stan here. Council member Vargas here. Borrow attorney Renault present. And borrow administrator here.
honors and award tonight. We have two of our newest Highland Parks finest being sworn in and I'm going to do that. But right after the swearing in, we're going to take a 5 to 10 minute break and so we can have a conversation with them. Then we'll come back into council chambers.
So I'll do that at this point. Sorry. Yeah. solemnly swear that I will faithfully and justly and impartially and justly, I'm sorry, perform all the duties
of the office of the Highland Park Police Officer. Highland Park Police Officer according to the best of my ability. I do further solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution I
will support of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will bear truth that I will bear truth and a faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established to the
government in the United States the United States and in this state in this state under the authority of the people. That's all we got. Okay. All right. Yeah, please. It's okay.
I, Tyler J. Morris, I, Tyler J. Morris, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of the office of the office of Highland Park Police
Officer of Highland Park Police Officer according to the best of my abilities. according to the best of my abilities. I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true true faith and 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 in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the
authority of the people. So, At this time, we're going to take a quick 10-minute recess. Okay, now that we're back, celebration is over. We're going to move to the approval of
minutes and um motion to approve minutes as distributed March 13, 2025 meeting uh May 13 May 13,
2025 meeting of May 20th, 2025. Second roll call. Council member Hail. Yes. Council member Hirs. Yes, council president. Yes. Council member Ponic. Yes. Council member War. Yes. And now I'm going to start off with
council report. I'm going to start off with council member Pson. Thank you mayor. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Jason Stom. I chair the health and human services committee of the council. Um so just keeping with the light meeting tonight. I have a pretty brief report. I just wanted to highlight
that Human Relations Commission's annual flag raising events kicked off earlier this evening with the Caribbean American Heritage flag raising uh which which was a lovely little event. And coming up next, we'll have on Wednesday, June 11th, the Pride Month flag um raising
which will be from 6 PM to 6:45. And on Thursday, June 19th, there will be the Junth flag raising from 5 to 5:45. And uh both of those will be taking place outside of the community center. Uh so please mark your calendars and join in in the fun. For anyone who may be
interested in organizing and planning events like these or any others that aim to bring our community together, please submit volunteer application. Become a member of the human relations commission. There are still a few vacancies on the commission and the application can be um accessed on the burough website at hpb.com
um and submitted to our municipal clerk Jennifer Sant. Uh that was my report for tonight. Mayor, thank you council member. Thank you mayor. Um hello everybody. My name is Lay Vargas and I serve as the council lean for arts and recreation. Um
I will also make it brief tonight um with a focus on fireworks in the park which is quickly approaching. Um the community and recreational center staff has been busy working on this event. We're excited to share a sneak peek of the incredible food and fun planned for this year's fireworks um celebration.
This year's event will feature a wide variety of vendors offering delicious cuisine and treats from many different cultures and tastes perfect for dinner, snacks, and just or just indulging in something fun. We encourage all residents to come down early, enjoy a meal, explore the options, and take part
in the excitement. While the park officially opens at 6 p.m., vendors will be ready to serve starting at 5:30 p.m. So, you can beat the rush and enjoy dinner before the festivities begin. In addition to food, this year's event will include a balloon artist and still workers providing interactive
entertainment, free face painting, a bounce house slide course for kids, a gaming truck with fun for all ages, community tableling with fun interactive class craft projects and games free for all vendors with unique novelty items and more for purchase. And of course,
the night will conclude with our spectacular fireworks display launching around 9:15 p.m. Mark your calendars and join us for an unforgettable evening of food, fun, and fireworks. And um that is my report, but I do want to thank the Human Relations Commission for the great
event. Um as I am from Puerto Rico, I did enjoy the event um that highlighted all the different Caribbean cultures. So I do appreciate that they um organized the event. Thank you, Council Member H. Thank you, Madam Mayor. My name is Matt
Hail and I chair the economic development um committee. Uh just congrats to officer Baralta and officer Morris. Um welcome to the family. We're very very happy to to have you. Um please also remember that the farmers market is uh live and kicking um Friday
afternoons. Um it's really kicking into high gear now that summer is is actually here. Um, real quick, I just I I wanted to quickly apologize to uh to the public, but also to my council colleagues and the mayor um for not catching the the um conflict with the
Shabuos holiday. Um, and I just wanted to say thank you to both of them for understanding and flexibility um for moving this. Again, I I missed it and uh but I I thank you both. Thank everybody for um being able to move it. Um, and the fact that we made that change is, I
think, just another example of how our town respects and cares for people of all faith, traditions, races, and genders. And that tolerance, kindness, and understanding is not a zero- sum game. Um, and the more that we express express those values, the more that we do know flag racing, the more that we talk about different communities, I
think it's it's better. Unfortunately, in the rest of the world, we're seeing lots of acts of intolerance. Most simply, the terrorist attack on a peaceful protest in Boulder, Colorado. Um, I wish I could say it was a tragedy that won't happen again, but sadly it likely will, but I'm hoping that if we
continue to work together like we do in Highland Park, um, maybe we can make a difference. Um, by thinking that, um, we're all in this together. So, that's just my short note. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member H. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Mill. Thinking about
what you said. I'm not ready to start yet. Excuse me. Uh, that was really No, that was really nice. I think that, you know, I mean, thank you. Um, my name is Matthew Hersh. Uh, I chair the public arts and public utilities committee. Uh, and I do
have a brief report as well. I did want to just start um by um acknowledging Pride Month. Wishing everybody a happy pride month. Uh, let's celebrate together so folks can feel safe and loved. uh to my friends and family in the LGBTQ community. Um know that no barrier is insurmountable and that we
are here to advocate as best as we can as tirelessly as we can for a community where everyone is safe, welcome and heard. Um uh so please you know please please please uh uh uh uh accept our uh
Pride Month is for celebration. It's for celebrating inclusivity. institutions for celebrating and promoting safe spaces and to make sure that all of our neighbors can call Highland Park a safe and friendly place uh to to to have a home. Uh so just wanted toh start with that. I look forward to the flag
raising. Um these flag raisings are among my favorite uh events, mayor. Uh and the Caribbean flag raising is no exception. It's really great to see the Caribbean flag community center. Uh um and thanks to all who were involved. Uh just a few
notices. Uh bulk pickup by appointment uh only is underway still. Just a reminder that bulk waste collection will be by appointment. Uh pickups are scheduled on Wednesdays during the months of April, May, June, September, and October. So to make an appointment, please call public works at
732-2247-9379. Uh and any every residents may request up to two collections per year. Uh and just a note, the week after the townwide garage sale, uh there will be a bulk pickup. Um, and that's Tuesday, October 21st and Thursday, October 23rd. Those those are
the pickup dates. No appointment is necessary for those. Uh, and just a note, recycling will not be collected during the week of October 20th to October 24th. Uh, materials may be placed at curbside no sooner than 1 hour before sundown of the day prior to the scheduled pickup. Materials not properly
secured, bundled, and unacceptable items will not be collected. materials put out for collection without a scheduled appointment or on the wrong date also will not be collected. So, please make sure you reach out. It is a very easy process. For more information um on the book pickup program, you can go to
www.hpro.com. Uh many thanks to um the safe walking and cycling committee. U Councilman George isn't here, but uh many thanks to them. Keep Middle Edex moving um uh and the High Police Department for putting on a successful bike rodeo last Thursday. So much fun. my Bartle kid and I were there and uh
rode a few courses uh uh got some chachkas uh and you know all in the name of bike safety. So it was really great to see so many and it was really crowded. It was great. It was great to see so many folks out there and mayor was there. Thank you for for uh for for
being there. Um uh and it was a very cool event. Uh uh and you know bike safety is paramount. So, please make sure that you're taking all the precautions as we work hard to improve uh pedestrian and cycling safety uh in the bro. Uh the environmental commission
will meet tonight uh at 8:00m on Zoom. So, if you are interested in skipping out of this meeting and go to that one, uh you can go to www.hbro.com for the link. Um Sustainable Highland Park uh is always busy and they have a few um and they
have a few really great events coming up on June 7th. the spring 2025 clean and green weekend uh will will be underway and so you can please join us for a weekend of native plant giveaways, a neighborhood cleanup, and a tour of the
Meadows Trail uh near Donaldson Park. Um uh and they start at 9:00 a.m. The the the 2025 clean and green weekend starts at 9:00 a.m. uh at Malamont Grath Park. Uh and then on June 7th, another community cleanup um uh will take place
uh uh at also at GR Park, formerly Carsey Park. Uh we're going to come together to clean up our community. Uh gloves, buckets, and other supplies will be provided. Uh many thanks to sustainable uh for for organizing that.
Speaking of Sustainable Highland Park, I did just want to take a moment to acknowledge uh the passing of our beloved Tina Weiss House, who chaired Sustainable Highland Park for many years. uh since 2018 and actually succeeded our own Terry Hova on on sustainable farm.
Um there's a lot to be said about Tina. Um there was there was an incredible ceremony. Uh uh her funeral was was was just touching poant and really showed the type of person that she was to commit her life
to justice and environmental stewardship. Uh and it takes a very very special person uh to really drive that mission forward uh her entire life. And anybody who worked with Tina, anybody who knew her knew that she, you know, would come would would come to us, you know, in the in in the spirit of
environmental stewardship, not confrontational, but looking to work with us and really looking to make everybody better. Um and that's a rare characteristic, I think, is is you know, when when when folks actually make you a better person, uh and make you do what you do better. Uh, and that's not
something that I think we say about too many people. And for at least for me, Tina was that person. Um, uh, uh, she helped form the Highland Park green team and served as the chair of sustainable Highland Park for eight years. Uh, Tina,
just a few things. Tina managed a years a year-long effort, educational campaign to voluntarily reduce reliance on people who use plastic bags in Highland Park. And in February 2019, that work culminated when Highland Park Council passed ordinance number 199 1980, which
was the bring your own bag ordinance with with support from a $10,000 sustainable Jersey grant funded by the PS&G Foundation. Sustainable Highlands Park educated residents and merchants about the maintenance of reducing the use of single plastic single-use plastic bags. And this multifaceted campaign
included the purchase and distribution of 200 reusable bags along with the installation of signage and other ed educational materials in downtown. And as we all know that effort, those local efforts like that developed into a statewide um prohibition on plastic. And
for decades, you know, Tina has been a fixture at climate rallies, council meetings, and kitchen table organizing sessions. Uh anybody who is involved in the immigrant justice uh uh space knows Tina knows her work with uh with with with labor uh um uh and uh you know
according to my neighbor and I'm going to read actually this was a a quote that sustainable Jersey put out because Tina was named the two June 2025 sustainable hero. uh she knew that she was going to get this honor uh and um uh and and of
course this uh this her her passing on May 28th um you know really um uh uh puts a strong exclamation on this you know on this tribute. So Melanie McDermad who's a resident here in Highland Park uh and who chairs the our
shade tree advisory committee works closely uh you know with sustainable Highland Park and worked closely with Tina and she says uh that Tina was a fierce and un fierce and unwavering in her principles yet never judgmental. She was deeply caring and embodied the rare virtue of equinimity. A progressive
force and tireless advocate for cutting edge environmental causes. She fought passionately for what she believed in and earned the respect of allies and her friends alike. I couldn't have said it better. So, we remember Tina. We remember the uh the impact that she uh had and will continue to have on
Highland Park. Um and we are thinking about her family and sending as much love and comfort and peace as we can muster. So, please join me just house Mayor, that's my report. Thank you.
Thank you, Council President. Kim Johan. Thank you, Mayor. Hi, my name is Stephanie Kim Chan and I chair finance. Um, tonight on the agenda um on the consent agenda, we do have an extension for the grace period for the third
quarter um property taxes that is to um line up with our certification of the budget. So use it wisely but don't forget. Um and um I um also want to wish our community a happy pride month as
well. Um to our residents that will be celebrating and to our allies. Um please try to educate yourself. Um take your children, take the whole family and um really stand side by side with our
neighbors. Also, um I had a chance to attend the New Jersey um DCA shared services webinar that they held on um Tuesday. It was um a great seminar, well attended. Thank
you DCA for putting this together. They talked about everything from um Atlantic County is doing the regional court system to save money. Um, as you know, here in Highland Park as well, um, we've been it the goals in my head is for
revenues to meet with expenses, but that's been a challenge for us here as we're not, um, trying to have our municipal court be a cash cow. So, um that's an option that I know even when Councilman Fine was here trying to do a
shared courts um agreement with another joint town and it's something that has been working with other towns. There's um shared services on the county levels that other counties are doing. Um you hear people talking about regional high
schools that I kind of, you know, you take what you want and leave what you don't. But um anywhere from EMS it was it was a twohour um seminar and um I look forward to attending more and also DC DCA have um grants for onetime
upfront costs as this council know we have done with some of our shared services that we currently have. So, um, very informative and, um, I also wanted to remind everyone of a few dates. Um,
June 10th is we have a prime, um, a primary election. Right now, currently is early voting from June 3rd to June 8th. If you do need a ride to the polls, you can call 732-9063680 and someone will be able to
ex assist you. And since we won't be meeting again until the end of the month, I did want to wish everyone a happy father's day as much as I made a big deal of Mother's Day last. So, I didn't want to forget that because my colleagues will remind me that I didn't
wish them. And also happy Junth and that's my report mayor. Thank you for returning report. Sure. Good evening everybody. Um again my name is Aaron Reon. I just want to take a
moment and kind of give my my standard spiel as to what the next phase of this meeting looks like in terms of public participation. Um for those of you who have not been here before, there are several opportunities for the public to speak. Uh the first one is at uh paragraph 10. Uh the public is afforded
three minutes to speak on uh any item on the agenda. That's your resolutions uh and ordinances on first reading although there are none tonight. Uh later on uh there'll be a second public participation that's paragraph 13 that allows the members of the public to speak on any topic that they wish not
agenda related. Um the third option would uh and we don't have one tonight would be if there was an ordinance on second reading. Obviously that's not going to come into effect tonight. So uh and these are done just to help the meeting move along and to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to speak. There is no back and forth. Once the
participation is done, the council will make any comments that they deem necessary. Thank you. Thank you. I did not forget to further go. Thank you, mayor. I just had a quick announcement uh just to let folks know
um we've been discussing the preparation of our affordable housing plans to be in compliance with the state deadline which approaches very quickly uh June 30th. Um so the uh fourth round housing element and fair share plan as well as our
spending plan are now drafted. uh they've been shared with the planning board. We'll have a hearing on June 12th to review the plan and hopefully uh adopt the plan uh in accordance with uh the proper procedures and then it'll
come to the council uh on June 24th following their review uh for endorsement. Uh but it is available now up on the website. If you go to our uh homepage, go to government and then go to affordable housing, you'll find it listed there. um if anybody would like
to review um and if anybody has any questions they can reach out to me and I'd be happy to walk you through it. Thank you mayor. Thank you. And now it's time for my very brief report but before I go into my report I too want to say that we have lost a treasure of Highland
Park and that is Dino Weiss House and I'm going to ask for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. Uh, this month is a very busy month. We have a lot going on. Today we kicked off Caribbean Heritage Month. We have Pride Month, um, Pride Month as
well and Junth. So, today was Caribbean Heritage Month. Next week we'll have Pride, the Pride flag raising, and then we'll have Junth. So, I hope you can all come out and support these activities that we're having. Um, it was interesting that this even at the flag
raising, the Caribbean flag raising, I met someone that says he's lived in town for 43 years. It was the first time that he participated in anything in town and um I was really surprised that he that was the first time he came to our community center and he's looking
forward to more events and he was very encouraged by tonight event. and he said he's looking forward to bring him his family and spread the word and as we come together I believe I'm a bit prejudice so I'm going to say only like we do in Highland Park because we embrace all our diversity and religion
culture people we I think we're a very tolerant town and embrace all the diversity that makes up our wonderful town and makes us so unique so thank you for everyone that that came out this evening I have another Highland our
treasure that I I that is here with us tonight and that's Diane Felman and Diane Diane was awarded last week the excellence in cultural access award. I had the opportunity to go to Ground for Sculpture and to see Diane receive this
award and it made us all very very proud that we have from our little our town in Highland Park that we have someone here that provides insight not only to about um cultural access and how people can
get um how to encourage towns, businesses, art museum places where people go and enjoy what we take for granted to make sure that those who are disabled or those who are not abled that
they she creates spaces for them to have a voice them to enjoy the everyday activities. I was very proud when they they talked about the role that she played from when we go to a movie theater, able-bodied person, we take it for granted that the seats are there and
we just go and and Diane was very instrumental in making sure that they were seats that were uh handicapped accessible and it started out with one then it went to two and I believe it but it's now up to five. And I think that that's a her that's a hero right there
that who can go out and advocate for not just herself but for many many others who are in that same space. And then she took it a step further and she um in the state plan she also incorporated her thoughts and ideas and I think that's going to go through. So I just want to
say kudos to you Diane. We are fortunate and blessed to have you here in Highland Park to offer this advice but not just to us but to the entire state. Thank you. I also was at Pete Middle Sex Moving Bike Rodeo over in Barber School.
But one of the things that I'm most most proud of is that they have bells for bicycles. I know years and years ago we were trying to see if manufacturers would put bells on bicycles because when seniors are riding in are driving in or walking in town riding there is on their
scooters there's often times bikes that pass them and have no bells. So to see that there are bells now that's accessible for bicycles that's that's a big one with me. So I was really happy to see keep middle sex moving putting belts on those those bicycles that those kids not only helmet but they were doing
the bicycle. So kudos to us. And that is my report. Now it's time for public participation. 21 minutes total. 3 minutes per speaker limited to items on this agenda. Comments from members of the public attending in person will be
heard first, followed by those attending on Zoom. Uh Terry, do we have anyone on Zoom? There's one person on Zoom by hand raised. Okay, we have no no one in the audience. So, seeing there's none, may I have a motion to close public
participation? So, move second. Roll call. Council member H. Yes. Council member Hir. Yes. Council President Kel. Yes. Council member Ponic. Yes. Council member Vargas. Yes.
Now we move on to the consent agend agenda. Um ask members of the public if there's members of the council if there's anything that they would like to pull from the consent agenda for a separate. Seeing none, may I have a motion to
adopt or reject the following consent agenda items 11 A through 11E. Second. Roll call. Council member Hail, yes. Council member Herd, yes. Council President Kimchan, yes. Council member
Sonic, yes. Council member Vargas, yes. Now it's time for the second public participation. Three minutes for speaker on any topic subject to conclude at 9:00 p.m. Comments from members of the public attending in person will be heard first,
followed by those attending on Zoom. Anyone? No hands up on seeing none. May I have a motion to close public participation? Second. Council member Hail, yes. Council member
Hirs, yes. Council President Kim Johan, yes. Council member Felic, yes. Council member Vargas, yes. May I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. All in favor? Hi, good night and have a safe summer everyone and hopefully see
you at the various events that we have planned. Thank you.