mayor would you like to proceed yes please good evening this is the meeting of the Burough Highlands Mayor and Council regular meeting on Wednesday April 2nd 2025 the notice requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Aspberry Park Press
in the Two River Times and by posting at the Burough Highlands Municipal Building and filing with the Bureau for all on January 1st 2025 items listed in the agenda are subject to change please stand for the pledge of allegiance i 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 and justice for all i will now do roll call council member Svantes council member Chel here
councelor Malnik here council President here mayor Bulan here thank you first we have approval minutes March 19 2025 meeting minutes i'll offer a second council member Tac yes council Melnik
yes council President Schesky yes mayor Bulan yes motion carries to approve May March 19 2025 meeting minutes next we have March 19 2025 executive session minutes i'll
second council member Tekk yes council Melnik yes council President Jesy yes mayor Bulan yes motion carries to approve March 19 2025 executive session minutes next we have public hearing on proposed ordinances
02503 designating restricted parking in front of residents occupied by persons with disabilities hello from the public session does anyone have uh any comments regarding this handicap parking spot to be located at uh 121 Water Witch A unit
C6 seeing uh no one coming up to speak I will close the public portion public hearing rather um any comments from the table no okay then uh I will offer this ordinance second
council member Chuck yes council Melnik yes council President Chesky yes mayor Brillan yes motion carries 02503 pass on second and final reading next we have 02504 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriations limit and to
establish a cap bank okay i will open the hearing for the cap bank do we have any questions regarding this ordinance seeing none I will close the
hearing and I will offer this ordinance i'll second it council member Schlack yes council me yes council President Chesky yes mayor Burlan yes motion carries 024 Oh I'm sorry 025-04 pass on second and final reading
next we have resolution R25088 authorizing the execution of a right of way and hold harmless agreement related to block 35 blocks 10 through 12 i will make that offering i'll
second council member yes council Melnik yes council President Chesky yes mayor Bulan yes motion carries to adopt resolution R25088 next we have R25089 authorizing amendment to the 2025
temporary budget um this amendment was um um asked for by the CFO and I uh I would like to offer it i'll second council member Chilac yes
councilor Melnick yes council President Chesky yes mayor Berline yes motion carries to adopt resolution R25089 next we have consent agenda before you do read them out I do want to uh make a motion i realized sorry I
realized this late but there's a typo for item number nine in which it says uh uh 2024 where it should say 2025 right yes so I would like to um offer that i would like to offer the
consent agenda with that amendment go ahead i think we want to recommend our 256 okay so resolution
base not the older exactly oh we'll pull it then so we're going to pull it or we're going to amend it okay so then I will revise my offering to offer the correction i offered the
consent agenda with the correction to item number nine and the removal for separate consideration of item number 13 do I have a second i second that all in favor i thank
you you should probably abstain okay so do we want to do So let's go right to um 2596 awarding a fair and open contract for the Washington Avenue improvement
project that includes just the base bid okay then I will make that offer second all in favor i It has to be separate oh that's right sorry i have to abstain
okay um Council Member Chellac abstained council member Melnik yes council President yes mayor Bulan yes thank you so that's for the amendment now we're adopting it or Yes um
yes does anyone want to offer the cons agenda as amended just that one oh 96 we just did we just amended 96 okay so then who's going to offer that that's
Mr melmick i'll second it council member Tac so this is for abstain again i'm saying okay abstain council member Melnik yes council Professor Oeski yes mayor Brun yes thank you our motion carries to
adopt resolution R250 96 next we have consent agenda with um R25092 amending to April 6th
um 12 2025 but mayor would you like me to read the resolutions by title yes please r25090 recognizing Arbor Day for April 12th 2025 r25091 recognizing the month of April 2025 as alcohol awareness month
r25092 recognizing New Jersey Local Government Week April 6 to 12 2025 and encouraging all citizens to support the celebration and corresponding activities r25093 formal recognition of partnership with artists and local organizations in
the community r25094 awarding a fair and open contract for the Shore Drive pedestrian improvements project r25095 authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for professional construction administration and inspection services in connection
with the Shore Drive pedestrian improvements project r25097 authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for professional construction administration and inspection services in connection with the Washington Avenue Improvements Project
r25098 approving change order number one for Portland Road Drainage and Road Improvements Project r25099 authorizing payment of bills stain on first okay I'll second oh Joanne will second
do I have to abandain council member Ch or you can just abstain for the whole consent okay I have to abstain for it all this is one I'm Washington so abstain challain okay abstain council member Melnik yes council President Sheski yes mayor Bulan yes motion
carries to adopt resolutions R25090 through R25099 except for R25096 next we have mayor's report okay speaking of local government's week
um we are going to have our open house here at Burough Hall at 6:30 p.m on Monday April 7th and we invite all to attend to meet with staff with us and uh if you have any questions about how
local government works and what we're what we do what staff does uh we welcome those and we'd love to see everyone um some updates of uh things that were going on in March uh for shuttle the
redeveloper is looking at uh some designs and is preparing for um a DEP pre-application meeting um Captain Scove the prospective developer has expressed interest but has not submitted any plans yet uh for Bay Avenue
um a conditional redeveloper for 289 Bay is in negotiations for his developers agreement for emergency services the following calls were answered first aid had uh 27 fire 12 police
759 for code enforcement there were 13 summons issues five warnings or 17 reports 21 inspections 17 permits and two OPER requests fulfilled and in the building department they did 64
inspections of which uh 53 passed five failed three were not ready and uh 29 uh permits were issued from that department um the Portland Road drainage project um
we have New Jersey natural gas and American water uh that work is completed and the installation of storm pipe and um spot repairs are going on uh hopefully weather permitting we'll be able to wrap this one up in
May um the asset active act activation grant uh that is for the James T white clan plant uh we got a grant of $50,000 for planning upgrades to the plant uh the planner is working on that now
what's due on April 18th and uh we had a public discussion here uh at the February 5th meeting and other business and we also have uh an online survey that's out there you can find the link to that on the burough website for projects planned for this
year as you have heard we have a a millon pave of Washington A uh that's been hanging around for 13 years or so so we're going to get that done in the next couple of uh months uh also the shore drive pedestrian improvements
which is sidewalks from Water Witch to Willow where no sidewalks are to have a safe way to get to the ferry on foot instead of walking in the street with the cars um that uh was just approved today so we'll be looking to get that done as
soon as possible hopefully those two projects uh we're going to shoot for but again everything's wedding weather permitting uh to have those done before Memorial Day uh other things that we are looking uh to get done this year is the other
side of Marine Place to have that um elevated platform done uh we are looking to um get that is for May if I'm not mistaken right that we're looking to the latest
yeah to get that awarded if not the next meeting okay that's good um and then the other uh couple of things we're looking at is uh we are still in environmental review for Frank Hall Park and uh we are construction docks are nearly
finished for Overlook Park with uh so we're hoping to get those uh all buttoned up and those get those out to bid we're going to bid them together um hopefully that will give us some cost savings for the contractor to do both at the same time and then uh dredging for Jones
Creek we went out and got some solicited some bids because the county went and doubled their bid uh that they gave us last year so um looks like we are going to be able to start dredging uh by the um by where the outfall is not the
entire uh the entirety but at the very least we'll have um where the outfall is so that could naturally help some of that drainage you know some of that stuff get out of there um just trying to see if there's any
projects that we have uh we don't really have any updates on uh grants one and the projects that are to be permitted and awarded um and waiting to hear back the only update I have is that the
hometown uh T-Mobile grant which is a $50,000 grant for this um for the installation and uh creation of a bronze statue of Captain Joshua Huie local American Revolutionary War hero uh the
proposed installation will be located at Honey Park and uh we should hear back by the end of May June in that area so that we could get working on that now using some New Jersey artists to cast in bronze and um everyone's really excited
about this because we want this to be completed and installed before the 250th anniversary of our nation um the other only other thing is the uh walkway over Route 36 at Water Witch A
to go to Kujan Field we did not get the uh federal uh US DOT grant so what we're looking to do is to partner with um both the state and the county and the county park system to see if they'd be interested to help us get that
accomplished um and the the last thing is the community ra rating system update and we're just uh you know continue to help our uh our property owners build resil resiliently in the flood zone once we uh
get to have our meeting with FEMA the results would be that we would have lower flood insurance for both residents and businesses and the burough buildings as well that are in the flood zone so we're
excited to get to that step but it's a little um unsettled in Washington these days so we'll we'll see when we hear from FEMA and that is my report for the month of March may I give an update sure absolutely yes
okay so I had the opportunity this morning to meet with Dr jarlock who is the principal at the Highlands Elementary School and I wanted to talk to him because I've been working with the daughters or we've been working with the daughters of the American Revolution who want to highlight some of the
Revolutionary War uh incidences and adventures that took place here in Highlands one of them was the Battle of Navinc which many residents of Highlands know nothing about that took place roughly a block and a half to the right
of the Highland Elementary School it was the home of uh Isart who was the grandson of Richard the original Hartzorn here and he gave his house to the militia during the war
because of the strategic location they could see everything and of course Staten Island and Sammy Cook were British so uh unfortunately they got their butts kicked early on it was only I think 7 months or so after the
Declaration of Independence that the Brits snuck up on them there they had gone because a British ship had gone brown and they got notice of that and they went and it was a supply ship so they went to get all the goodies off it that they could but that attracted
attention and the word got to to Staten Island where there was a British army force and as well as some of the militia who were British on Syri and they snuck up on on the house from both sides at
5:00 in the morning 72 men were taken to the city to the horrible prisons that existed there uh three that we know of were killed and another I think 30 just kind of got themselves away so he's
excited about that he I told him also that the D will do the same thing in in terms of creating these two by 3 foot signs i know you've seen them they're up by the lighthouse are they're kind of tilted so you can read them and they're perfectly weatherized so they can stay
out there all year so I said Joshua Hoodie was he a spy and I said other things exactly Joshua Hood wasn't everything so that was exciting and he was very excited because he had taught history back in the day he was excited
that this would be right here that kids can go outside start there you know it's not the best story but start there to start to see how significant islands are and it's still so great uh you also want
to get involved with any of the planning that's done for any of these events that will take place here uh last night I attended a publicformational meeting of the state's planning commission to discuss the upcoming redevelopment plan update taking place across the state
which is seeking cross exceptions from municipalities across the state that's a mouthful the purpose of the meeting was to offer suggestions and to discuss the process for getting um getting ideas to the
state for inclusion so Kathleen Shaw who who is works wonderfully with Highlands came along and offered a really wellaccepted concept of strategic planning for the development of a coastal planning area all the
municipalities that are on the coast don't have the same issues and yet we're all included so that was very well received um the common issues um others offered information which ties this was kind of
sad Mammoth County with disproportionately high flood risks our climate risk area and extreme precipitation are among the highest in the country uh other ideas offered were making the garden state a garden again by getting rid of the grass on the highways and planting indigenous plants
um we have inappropriately developed areas around the estuaries that's not a good thing installing more solid solar plumbing on grounds and buildings the state owns dealing with microlastics that are in our brains there's a
teaspoon of microlastics in those days that's what my problem that's why I have a sinus there you go the most interesting idea I'll say this quick there was a gentleman there who lives in the area that he works in the city and there's something called Rethink New
York City where there's the the railroads that come in from New Jersey they can't get into New York because of different power uses the the railroads in the city the railroads on Long Island the railroads in Westchester are kind of operating in their own little spheres
and don't cooperate in any way so you have train cars sitting around all day on train yards where he said what if a train could go from New Jersey in the morning drop its load in the city go out to Long Island pick up a you know trains
that just keep moving all day which apparently is what they do in California and London and whatever and uh he said "Imagine what that would do for for people living further out too it wouldn't be such a hassle to get anywhere to go." So I thought that was
interesting that would make that would mean a an agency of of the whole metropolitan area a real NCA then you have a New Jersey Transfer van and and uh
interesting imagine if they all thought you know planned together and had one gigantic system yeah no very good okay that means you have something you want to add yeah I'll talk a little bit about the uh Highlands
business partnership i hope everybody had a good time at the uh St patrick's Day parade this year what do we have about 12,000 people beautiful weather it was really really great um the uh Highlands Business Partnership is
working very hard on uh the next events which is the uh Cinco deio or I always say that wrong it's not Cinco de Mayo but it's like Cinco de Highlands thank you cinco de Highlands early May and then there's the boat races uh which
will be very very exciting this year they're going to be on two days on Saturday there will be a um the smaller boat races the skiffs and there'll be a um a park like a a festival at Veterans Park for that and then on Sunday are the
uh serious boat races and there will be cash prizes this year so it's going to make it even more exciting and we may even have more entrance into it um and also uh the HP is working uh
for what else for next year Carol you were there uh I guess that's it for now yeah yeah and there aren't I'm sorry there's also the Taste of Highlands which it comes in uh I believe June June right and there's
the craft festival uh Memorial Day weekend there will also be the Frank Thomas uh memorial flute tournament on Father's Day weekend as well so So lots of things to look forward to yeah yeah with the warmer weather coming yeah very
good yeah that's it for me okay don do you have anything you want to add no you're all good all right then uh can we have the public portion statement public portion individuals wishing to address the council shall be recognized by the
presiding officer and shall give their name address and the group if any they represent although the council encourages public participation and reserves the right through its presiding officer to terminate remarks to and or by any individual not in keeping with the conduct of a proper and efficient meeting if any individual refuses to
conduct themselves in a proper manner they will be removed from the meeting the council will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointments termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or discipline of any specific
or prospective or current employee there's a threeminut time limit for your comments does anyone want to just uh please state your name and your address for the record washington um so the signs parking signs
are up and I have a question um I think I think when the old signs were up because there was a curve so you have to use a bulkhead and then there's an area that's probably like 5 6 ft deep that's a sidewalk i don't know
what it is and I was told when they were doing construction that nobody should park on because it's really not strong enough to hold the weight of vehicles and even just today I got pictures so now that there's no parking signs they're parking around the parking sign
yeah I noticed that too on that area mhm and in the summertime you get all these big Ford trucks heavy trucks and I'm just worried what's this is it stable enough to hold those trucks i don't know if they're supposed to park
there well that area I believe is is private property where the curb was is where the burrow's property is and I believe with the uh with the paving there's going to be like a I guess it's going to be like an asphalt that's going Yeah there now
in some places right it's going to be built up when we do the work uh but that's actually his the owner's property so that's not part of the Washington Avenue that that Right right right so is that safe or not
i mean I believe that's why there's no parking signs because people are Yeah anyway there's a couple of people today are these residents that are parking there i don't know i saw maybe somebody was fishing but I didn't see anybody you know at the Yeah at the
Yeah there was a big white van did you see that so they're going they're paying attention on the street and now they're going on that area which I was told was not stable to hold vehicles so that's what I'm worried about is you're probably right with that around yeah we
saw how that was filled in mhm it's not It's not a concrete roof i'll touch base with the police chief and have them do patrols over there if they see anybody I'll have them ticket it or tell them to move could we also see if we can get DPW or to get a snow fence or something up
there to have it zip tied to it so that they cannot go onto that earth path mhm i wouldn't park my car there um and second question that I think I talked to you a long time ago about that
um that uh pedal on place east and west when they painted it blue and about 4 days later it what's going on with that no it's it's ongoing I mean I don't know what we can discuss right in litigation right now yes
okay especially if they're going to improve feast Y thank you hello condos first of all I just want to congratulate you in your efforts to present and preserve our history of this
very exciting sitting here and listening to them about statues of signage statue all of it as well as the lovely pictures in the hallway here and the culture ever all very much appreciated
the main main reason I'm here is because I wanted to address the March 22nd order at night okay you know at 8:15 I got a note on my phone to fill up
a bucket of water because the water was going on at 8:17 2 minute water 200 bushes for 8:17 the water reservoir followed by 11 hours
of I mean you need five water to drink it it's not like cold dehydrated couldn't even flush your toilet for 11 hours that's clearly unsanitary and unsatisfactory
so I know construction happens my point is where was the notice shouldn't the town were sent out water probably going to turn off or the water company send it out the water's
going to be turned off approximate how long you know we were there in the dark that night anything so I just wanted to address that if there was any mechanism that you could share or give
me prevent this from happening we uh it didn't just affect Wenor this water shut off affected the entirety of Highlands the entirety of Sebrite and portions of Middletown i've we've spoken with uh we had a
meeting with the water company about how this can never happen again with no notice um they should have been as they do with any water main break they should have brought um gallons and gallons of water to everybody um but first off it
should have been noticed and second of all they should have made an accommodation for all the residents that did not have water um which was all of our residents and all of Sebright's residents and a section of Naven didn't have any water either and
nobody knew anything in advance um so as I said they've been spoken to i made the uh the the commissioners aware the county commissioners aware so that they could put some heat on them as well and I'm and also um our state
representatives and the governor's office i mean I I can go as far up the food chain but I'm you know we're just one little m municipality in the entire thing and you know they're the utility that they don't listen to anybody so we've made noise i will continue to make
noise and uh they know we are very displeased with their service and I consider understand construction it's necessary right but if you don't even understand your own infrastructure that you know if you do this one valve it's going to cut off three towns and
you don't give anybody any notice that's completely unacceptable so the best of your knowledge would come to tell anyone to do that no only a few people on Portland Road got a a telephone that note on your phone but
the entire rest of the burrow and the burrow of CBR and the township of Miltown had zero notice okay all right well thank you appreciate your efforts absolutely hope that that never happens again yes for sure absolutely
does anybody else want to make a question comment okay then we'll close public portion and uh the executive session statement please executive session executive session will be held following the regular council meeting prior to
each executive session the burough council will convene an open session at which time a resolution will be adopted in accordance with NJSA 104-13 no formal action will be taken during executive session resolution to enter executive session be it resolved that the following portion of this meeting
shall not be open to the public be it further resolved that the file on that private consideration is deemed required and is permitted because of the following noted exceptions set forth in the act litigation be it further result that is anticipated that the matters to be considered in private may be disclosed to the public at a later date
when the need for privacy no longer exists i will make that motion i'll second all in favor i Thank you um executive session starts at 3 7:34 all in favor
i will make a motion to end the public meeting i'll second all in favor thank you meeting adjourned at 7:44 is happening so