mayor would you like to proceed yes please good evening this is the meeting of the burough of Highlands mayor and Council regular meeting on Wednesday February 19th 2025 the notice requirements provided for the open public meetings act have been satisfied notice that this meeting was probably
given by transmission to the ASB Park Press in the Two River times and by posting at the bur of Highlands municipal building and filing with B clerk all on January 1st 2025 items listed on the agenda are subject to change please can for the pledge of Le to the flag of the United States of
America to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I will now do a vot call council member santes here Council M here Council melik here council president shy
here mayor bran here first we have the approval of minutes February 5th 2025 meeting minutes I will offer them I'll second council member santes yes Council M yes Council mik council president
sheski yes mayor bran yes motion carries to approve February 5th 2025 meeting minutes next we have introduction of proposed ordinance 0252 amending schedule a of the B of Highland salary ordinance um I see that uh council
member chillac has some notes there so would you like to speak to to sure this ordinance um as we know inflation has been uh up to 20% in the last 4 years and this is simply realigning the uh the
salary structure to reflect that uh we can't expect people to make the same salaries that they do uh they did four or five years ago because the price of everything has gone up so much so since 1920 2021
1921 uh so I I we I own a business with my husband and we have kept up the people that work for us uh inflation raises as well too so I fully support this also um we uh have contracts that
uh list what people's increases are we have to have our ordinance be in line uh with what our contracts are are with the staff so that's another reason why we're doing this as well um go ahead I I was just going to offer it absolutely do I
have a second I'll second council member santes yes Council yes counc melik yes council president sheski yes mayor bran yes motion Carries On First reading um
with a public hearing on March 5th 2025 next we have resolution r2506 authorizing Amendment to the 2020 5 temporary budget H
second council member santes yes Council M yes counc M yes council president sheski yes mayor Bine yes motion carries to adopt r2506 next we have consent agenda mayor would you like me to read the resolutions by titles yes please
r261 support publishing legal notices on official government websites r262 Highlands participating in the New Jersey closer Coalition njcc automated flood alert application R 25063 approving request for waiver of alcohol
ban for Community Center rental r264 authorizing payment of bills r265 amending resolution number 25045 adopted on January 1st 2025 authorizing the B of Highlands through the burrow of Highlands Police
Department to participate in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office 1033 program to enable the burough of Highlands Police Department to request and acquire exess Department of Defense equipment R 25066 appointing
a deputy municipal clerk I will offer the consent agenda I'll second it council member santes yes Council M CH yes C Mel yes council president sheski yes
mayor ban yes motion carries to adopt resolutions r250 61 through R 25066 next we have reports um okay for the month of
January uh utilities uh the administration that with New Jersey American water on January 30th to dis uh discuss upgrades to our infrastructure and future upgrades and we also provided um some information on problem areas
around town that included um locations that had standing water and uh also like a meter pits uh that were leaking water um for the shadow lawn area in need of Redevelopment the conditional redeveloper signed an interm agreement
and provided escoro on January 6th uh Captain Cove uh Redevelopment the luse board of hearing on possible condemnation was postponed for now Bay Avenue area in need of Redevelopment um we have 151 separate
properties in this area so depending on the type of use uh we do uh name conditional redevelopers um so we appointed um the property owner of 289 Bay as the
conditional redeveloper on January 15th Emergency Services um calls answered for stage Squad was 38 fire 15 and police 619 for code enforcement summons for six
warnings six reports 10 inspections 22 permits 8 and Oprah 4 and finally the building department inspections 64 with uh 47 passed eight failed and two not ready and 36 new
permits were issued uh for current project upgra uh updates uh the Portland Road uh drainage improvements uh New Jersey uh NJ natural gas is uh recoding that relocation of lines should
be completed at some point in this month and we should be completed April May weather permitting for the asset activation James T white clam plant um that we have to submit this by uh
April 18th so we still have plenty of time we had our public discussion last meeting which was very informative and uh a lot of people participated um I'm working with the planners to uh get all of their notes together my notes
together um and we might have another um steering committee meeting just to to wrap up everything that we need to do for um for the public uh also if you can uh uh we have both paper questionnaires and
an online survey that I encourage everyone to take to get your opinions and that is at uh surveymonkey.com backr Clan plant all one word um for the planned projects uh we
have Marine place and that bid opening is happening uh next Thursday on 227 for Washington Avenue Paving and for Shore Drive and movements which is sidewalks um those are going to go to
bid uh this Friday and we'll have those come back mid-march uh Frank Hall up uh Frank Hall Park updates that is going to bid soon we just have to approve the design that I sent to you guys earlier this afternoon we'll have some uh discussion
on that so if you have any comments please just let me know what they are so we can uh update our friends at Colliers uh same for Overlook Park although that's not as uh near the Finish Line as um as Frank Hall is but it is very close
and we want to put those two parks out to bid together so that we could hopefully get better pricing from the contractor that wins the pig um no real updates on any of these other things
um for grants that we waiting to hear back on the American firefighters grant for the pump truck we are we submitted that on December 20th and we're still waiting to hear back on that uh the T-Mobile Hometown Grant
um this uh will be submitted before the end of the first quarter and uh what we are proposing is a sculpting and installation of a statue honoring Captain Joshua huie a local American Revolutionary War hero the proposed
installation will be located at huie Park in Highlands just 150 ft I did measure it from where Captain uh huie was hanged in 1872 wow sorry 1782 I just scrambled into my head for fun um and we should
hear uh back on that uh Grant at the end of May so very exciting so that's uh in a nut in a nutshell what's been going on in January where's the the the point where he was hanged it's where Jen Jen's house on the
corner on the other side it's diagonally across diagonally okay wow there all this controversy on whether he was hang from the tree or whether it's a tri so I was taking around in Canada and they came up with the fact that living cot
really plan the hanging his grandson drew a picture of the Hanging Tree I'm trying to get a copy of it wow that's awesome okay anyone else have anything else they'd like to report I just like to say Sunday is the
chili contest so get your recipes ready uh oh um I have a uh oh don't know please don't miss it it'll be be nice yeah and it's at Salt Water social starts at what 3:00 believe yeah
3:00 anyone else have anything to report from their committees I would say things are kind of on hold with the schools in terms of regionalization um hopefully the Supreme Court will make up its mind if they're going to hear this hear the case or not
and um that that should be bo I think the board that's in place now um is more likely to move forward um to do what they need to do okay excellent Don anything you want to
add no okay then uh it is time for the public portion statements public portion individuals wishing to address the council shall be recognized by the presiding officer and shall give the name address and the group of any they represent although the
council encourages public participation reserves the right through his 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 appointment termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or discipline of any specific or perspective or current employee there's a 3 minute time limit for your
comments any comments okay then I'll close public portion and the executive session statement 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 10 col 4-13 no formal action will be taken during the executive session resolution to enter executive session be it resolved that the following this meeting shall not be open to the public he
further resolved that private consideration is deemed required and is permitted because of the following not exceptions set forth in the ACT litigation and attorney client privilege for sign ordinance be it further result that it's anticipated that manage 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 offer I'll second all in favor I thank you um um executive session begins at
7:14 uh I would like to make a motion to adjourn the public meeting I will second all in favor I I thank you meeting adjourned at 7:38 okay