even everyone uh this meeting has already been called to order we had a closed session we are now back in Open session like to welcome everybody we're going to begin this evening with advising for the colle of Allegiance and then we're going to remain standing for a moment of silence in support of all those families who suffer really the tremendous strain of mental health disorders thank you good evening everybody it's nice to see so many people here tonight welcome um promis to be an interesting meeting um I Chang the agenda around just a little bit this evening so that we can can uh kind of uh work through some of the some of the challenges kind of at the beginning of the meeting or some of the conf beginning of the meeting in case people didn't want to stay necessarily toire anything so um what we're going to do we typically start off with the the public uh comment session I'm just going to take a few minutes here to speak uh about s water and uh the grant process that we are currently live a lot of feasibility stud um and then we'll move into um the public comment um a couple just a couple of reminders a lot of new faces here tonight uh we do ask that uh you refrain from conversation in the meeting if you want to speak to somebody if you get just step outside that would be important so that everybody else could hear what's going on in the meeting um and then when it's time for public comment uh unless you have mobility issues we'll ask you to step to the podium state your name and your address uh you'll have three minutes of uninterrupted time for for your comments or questions Lindsay will give you a 30 second warning we really feel like to try and keep to to these protocols and these processes uh just keeps the meetings uh moving well and uh for kind connect as well um so I wanted to talk a little bit about the the feasibility set kind before public before the public comment uh people who may not be familiar with kind of the background of it um and then we'll we'll move on um so so the city had applied for two feasibility studies conduct a star utility feasibility study we applied both with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and with New Jersey conservation voters those uh those applications uh were both reviewed by DP respectively award both grants um and uh in the end I thought it would be my preference to go with the New Jersey League of conservation vo Grant and my reasoning for that was really twofold one would allow the D to offer another municipality uh that grant that we were not going to be using um and two it would allow us to work on a timeline that I preferred uh the be Grant was going to be spread out over a much longer time period um and so I thought that the new J conservation voters with whom I've already had some you know good relationship then with with them and kind of inur the Futures uh a lot of good have a lot of conversations and um so we move forward with that grant that Council approved it unanimously fall um and just a couple of words where we are the the uh the grant a war was 63,000 $63,000 um so so that's funding the uh being that's F the utility study um since the study started we've generated a summary of lille's current storm water management program had held three focus group meetings and one public meeting all this information is available uh everything that we've done is available on the city website you go to the resident Tab and then to storm water management you'll be able to see every video from the three focus group meetings uh as well as all the slide decks and uh um the summary of the the current storm water management program so all the information is there available for the public we've been put we've been putting up thanks to Lindsay uh and Cindy making sure that it goes up as the day after the meeting and a particular meeting so all the resources about the study uh are there and of course I'm always available for uh questions uh should should anybody help them about the study itself uh we'll not the study is yet to be completed so there's still some elements of the study that have not been completed um Princeton Hydro uh will present the council in public on June 20th uh that uh that will present a future needs memo on a Coss rate workbook uh that will include projecting direct operational expenses and capital costs for a period of 10 years so we worked very closely with Princeton hydro and wsp to generate all this data and again I have to thank City e for their tireless efforts of s digging uh into storm water cost for the last 20 years um uh and really helping us to find not just what we've done historically in terms of projects but what we do uh what we've done this year and also you know helping me formulate kind of the the projected cost for services in years ahead um so all that information is still yet to come and uh I'm looking forward to sharing that with uh with with the public and and the council um as part of that Grant agreement I have had check in meetings with the New Jersey League of conservation voters uh I've offered up updates uh uh about the timeline and activities they've offered to do some educational Outreach here in lamberville mailer was discussed and I told them back in April that I didn't think this was a good idea for lamberville uh was surprised by its arrival and disappoint disappointed not to have been notified the City attorney reviewed the issue and advised me that there was no breach of agreement in this matter I spoke to um the executive director and uh New Jersey the contion voters on Monday AVS my concerns um these mailers are have been sent out I think to everybody in the city and uh they are part of the educational arm of the New Jersey conservation commers um I want to say that despite you know this this incident I remain grateful to the conservation voters for the $63,000 in grant funding that allow to generate really an impressive level of data and public dialogue for stor Water Management on St Water Management phone so I'm going to stop there um we're going to move into public comment uh as we always do with public comment or as we recently started to do the council will have the opportunity um so public the comment will happen you'll have your your time the council doesn't really respond until the public comment period is closed and we may or may not respond Council may or may not respond to specifics or in general about anyone or all of the comments um but we'll make sure that everybody has plenty of opportunity to do that once we fin uh the public comment period we will move in looking at um the resolution number I think it's 88 20-24 um we will consider that resolution and following that resolution we will have further discussion which is not on the agenda this evening but think this is a really good juncture to hear um the the uh the voices uh the thoughts from the council members uh about the process and uh the future of this of this of this project so um that's that's what we're going to how we're going to proceed um so uh and one last uh we typically allow public comment in the room first and then we see uh Who's online um can I just get maybe get a show hands about how many people wish who wish to speak and you can can change your mind on this I just want to see it everybody wanted to speak uh that would be good to know now so please uh step up to the podium as you will and name and address three Jeff TI 33 R Street just want to mention that I've been working on app for over 50 years and on Obama Sandy task force and I want you know in town I just wanted to mention that because I think I've had a enough of a criteria being considered an expert and I have been at times and hearings of that um the reason I'm here is that one I think that what else you was shameful as someone who ran a nonprofit I would have never done anything like that um if you we did not we don't take government money we don't handle grants but we do not get involved in issue to do both like that and that to me that was just beyond the P for nonprofit you're you're managing a grant and then you're putting out a mailer that I can tell you is about as fair and balance is Fox News it was basically did not mention that you're setting up a whole new government entity that going to be cost to the to the taxpayers and in a whole range of other things uh secondly based on going to the meetings and listening on the Tes this is no longer about um order run off from your property because at the last meeting you talked about it's going to be a equivalent residential unit this meaning it's going to go by the size of your lot not by your run opening your perious cover there a property tax no matter how you slice it and how you try to get around the 2% cap that we have in the state um secondly one of the things that was very disturbing was that at the meeting talked about that there'd be no work on a flood project for the first five years that's what this is all about stor water utilities are really about water quality and not flooding we have a flooding problem we do have issues with water quality but the water quality piece can only handle a one one and a qu inches of rain over a twoh hour period that's it so it's not going to do anything to protect anybody from flooding secondly this whole process has been we get three minutes the other side gets private meetings and hours and hours and they put up these pointless uh power points that really don't say anything at the end of the day we don't know how this thing is going to work we don't know it's going to cost and how much going to cost the average homeor uh and that is a serious problem when we do have serious flood problems that we should be doing instead of going off on a tangent dealing with the stormw utility is going to set up a bureaucracy and left a lot of money just to set it up we should be going grants King we just got a $4 million Grant we got nothing lamberville got a one I mean excuse me Flemington got a$ 1.25 million Grant we've missed three Grant Cycles we should be going after the money we should be working together as a community and come up with a shared vision of how we're going to deal with with flooding coming down the mountain and coming from the river but stormw utility does not do that because it's only in one town and meanwhile West am well we're going to get a lot of our water from in fact we've got havan coming in here with 200 units today so if they build you know we may only these snorkel who live down on south end of town so there are big issues facing this town when it comes to overdevelopment and flooding we cannot manage it alone we have to work with the state and federal government we have to go after the funding we have to work with the county and the communities around us stor word utility to me is just another government bureaucracy whose purpose is to keep expanding the bureaucracy and hire more staff and H have bigger salaries the issues of storm water and flooding are so serious that it should be left with the elected officials not some appointed group of bureaucrats thank you again that we you know part I mentioned I should have mentioned that clapping is not is disruptive I think and I would prefer that that I I find that clapping or vers of uh passion uh can be devices actually uh because what you're saying is that you know I support this so much that you know I don't know iure please uht me remain uh remain quiet during science U all stens 3940 Street I live on Swan free so aware of the fact sorry I live on street I live on Creek and I'm keenly aware of the fact we need to revitalize the storm Water Management Systems around here and I know it's going to cost money right one way or the other so um but what I want to know for examp well I'm confused and I have gone to the PO Forum I've gone back and I've re Ed videos of all the focus groups and uh looked at presentations and so for example tonight right now you just said that we got the grant we got from the Le the leag was $63,000 the resolution said it was $70,000 and so now you know the grant to Princeton Hydro was $3,400 and you're asking for $10,000 more because they didn't put the cost in well you know what the resolution uh specified that cross C had to be in there for the um the lead resolution you know uh when it came time to do the pron Hydro thing somehow apparently the cost got lost when the contract went out even though people on the board want on the council wanted to help W uh call The Proposal all right somehow we didn't get any cost the other thing that was talked about early on in the planning stage for this feasibility study was there were going to be options about how we could do things you know and the only option that's been looked at was the storm water and utility so I don't even see that Bel in going ahead and going with the cost now even though you know would like to know what it is it was supposed to have been done already we should take that $10,000 that you $10,500 you want that you're taking from another Grant I think U which I believe Grant we have for $775,000 You' talked about let's start doing something now let's go ahead and go and start cleaning out the the sewer drains and do whatever it is we need to do you know there aren't any major projects that are going to come out of this utility in the first five years um in fact what you what I heard said at the uh last focus group was well the first 5 years we're going to go out and uh get a handle on our sewer system here we're going to map it all and we're going to understand how much water will go through it and clean it out and put in a a cleaning system this is just what you have to do for ms4 that can be done now for the city government funding the work to be done there's no need for another bureaucracy for as for that that went out you know it comes to the public meetings of these meetings the public meetings on ask finish all right I'll come back in other public session Judy GLE 86 North Union Street I think there's a lot of concern among many people in town about the flyer that was just mentioned because it seemed to have all the answers in a way that was well why what's the issue here this is great this is easy it's low cost and it's going to work fine so I was deeply Disturbed that that fire went around and and although I saw that the mayor's uh Liber matters noted that the city didn't send the FL flyer it still sent out information that was incorrect because was incomplete and incomplete information is the worst kind um but as to the storm water utility I thought a lot about this because I didn't want to have any jerk reaction it's not for our town our size our construction our layout the way our buildings are although for another type of town that has a different layout it's can be a good idea regionally at sometime in the future maybe it would be worth revisiting don't I don't I don't argue that but even Spotlight New Jersey which did us a piece on this right when the legislature was considering it a few years ago noted in reviewing the pluses and minuses and particularly when it got to cost if you have a setup like ours we're small we're very similar in property size and behaviors sub say in other words there's the same type of runoff the same type of stuff we don't have the big parking lots all over the place we don't have the big factories we don't have and they said this would not be worth it this would be way too much money that wouldn't be wouldn't get it back so this was said right before the legislature passed the ability to do this so please please don't be carried away by saying well yeah but $10,000 we can find out no if we start here which is not a good idea for us what happens after that what would it have cost if it was a good idea but we don't have to do that and as Paul just said if we have $10,000 let's do something to have send cameras through all of the storm water things and find out where we need to start repairing things let's look at a possible shared agreement with the MUA let's use the money and do something because none of us want to be standing here on a rainy day saying gez I wish we would have moved at this so thank you D 255 r Avenue here in leld uh a lot of people have talked about this document this isn't uh a document that got issued by accident this was issued on purpose and was incomplete what I know and what I've been told okay is whatever the storb authority could do right utility of authority could do you folks can do today and there are things that you can do now all right beyond what the authority could do so I we and I've said this before okay it's time that we we the people want something done now and now can be done by you I the the original protection or the original commitment of the funding agency and everyone else and may the council pushed to make sure that all the pricing was going to be in there the projects the cost of the projects Etc now we're months down the road and we're not getting done I I think it's time to pick up you know pick ourselves up and say we looked at it and no other municipality in the state of New Jersey some 600 have gone this true how do we why do we have to keep you know trying something that doesn't make sense it's only on a cost it's going to set up an authority that people are not going to be voted and it's going to and will not have responsibility to the taxpayer and this is an additional task time to make a move thank you my name is Mar carmelli I'm here on behalf of Maxwell assets also known as Canal properties 278 North Union Street we submitted a letter to the mayor and Council um that was joined we were joined by a local Business Development Group including e Lumber ragoarts Lambertville Center lace works and Riverwalk we do not support the use of grant money from the GDP to continue to study the stor utility we think that that money is better spent used other purposes the plan purposes that we already discussed here today to build on the existing administrative structure that the city has and will continue to need these are not obligations that can just be transferred to a stor water excuse me the storm water utilities we also don't support after study and meetings and reading we don't support the formation of the storm waterer utility because we think that the city can continue to do this job in a way that will be effective we'll need more resources not resources more are needed but to just build on what we have and not create another unit that will need to be further coordination and duplicative services thank you others in the room Gail would you like to go ahead hi um I'm Gail carabine I'm at 255 North Maine um I didn't get a flyer by the way in the mail or anything but um I just wanted to say that in my neighborhood we were I've been in lamori for 40 years and we were you know anyway I'm in four at storm water utility but you know we we need more people to be able to um monitor things or to check on the catch basins of Lambert Hills and and things and we need to you know this new development that's coming up we need more people um we have a limited number of people working so if we have a sar utility with a bureaucracy or whether it's a department in the city we still need to acknowledge that um things are changing and we need to um we're all affected by floods when we live in the city down in the in the valley so um so it's it's interesting the other people's views that it should be a different organization but it's just that something um needs to change so that we have time to clean out things or um check on things that seem that are in the beginning stages of needing repair because everything's old in our city and we need to maintain it so um I I don't have objections to bureaucracies but a city Department would be okay but I I think it's too much for the for the current we only have you know so many people working for the city so we need more people to do that to take care of that's song that um and also it would be nice to um it was a good point to re to um you know work with you like with with Stan hunon County or the state would be good if if it happens but we have to I don't think we can wait for that thanks thank have a motion to clst the public comary please move second there please say I [Music] hi I could sorry thank you I'll for I prepared something because I didn't want I want to make sure that um I present it in a way that is positive not negative so uh during my tenure on councel I have always listened to the concerns of residents and appli those concerns to my Approach in making decisions and thank you all for your emails if you're those online or those here that seem to us because it was uh great information and Bre sharing storm order management is essential to minimize the effects of flash flooding I also have concerns about the recent Outreach campaign we all received by mail that was orchestrated by the same organization we received a grant from to perhaps frighten our citizens and pressure me and other council members to Lobby us to approve the utility that they paid us to study in addition I believe that spending any additional dollars for a phantom utility to determine the cost of an invisible plan with unapproved Citywide metrics that would burden the taxpayers of our city we all know that water does not run uphill something that I've said since I have uh but we have become the retention Basin for the surrounding communities a regional County plan must be implemented as well Ida uncovered many flaws in our storm water system that have been studied and resolved thank you mayor for your stewardship and working with FEMA the do and other state and local organizations to get all that work completed in a very quick timely fashion and thank you for taking it on yourself to identify where all the storm drain locations are so now we have a a a good start a good platform to build off and in my calls with the mayor after the recent uh storm water uh problems we' have the system is working better in pres in helping to to prevent a repeat of Ida okay uh in my view what we need to do now is start a plan the way start a plan is to scope and examine the existing storm water management system it's old and it's not hasn't been clean it hasn't been flushed out it hasn't really been repaired and the and the repairs that we made because of Ida showed the fragile Gess of the system and those systems fail um we do have the legislative Authority and can take this action without creating a utility we need to take this first step in order to identify the problems and figure out what they are how to solve them and how best to pay for them perhaps a shared agreement with the LMU they have experience in scoping their system and maybe we can save a conversation about creating a utility for another time and another day we need to act now thank you okay um I I have to say um I am uh I am supportive of the comments that I'm hearing this evening I have a lot of concerns about implementation of a storm water utility uh not the least of which is it would be five years anticipated projected five years before you put a shovel in the ground on a pro project I would like to see us move much quicker than that I think we have the energy in the community we have people who are knowledgeable who can help us get connected to Grants we have the opportunity for shared services with our County um and and um neighboring municipalities to work on a regional solution because if lamberville ask in isolation we will address issues within our specific Community but if the water is coming from places outside of our city limits that doesn't help us and I have a concern about waiting when we could be acting now um I would like to also comment that I was very dismayed to with the mailing um M it I thought it was um I thought it politicized an issue that's far too important to this community everyone in this room believes that we need to act on storm water management it's a matter of how I'm I'm disappointed that a feasibility study which the ones I used to do when I worked you know in my corporate life meant you identified multiple realistic options you presented them to your clients with the pros and the cons and you talk through what the best approach would be it is um disheartening that we are not even looking at other opportunities such as regionalization shared services in this study I find that upsetting to be honest um and I have to say this mailing was not the first attempt um at communicating for the purposes of influencing uh this Council and I'm I'm starting to question the uh the motives of the people running this project because we've had multiple instances of this more than one okay we've had more than one occurrence and um they don't seem to I they don't seem to take us um I believe as Equitable Partners it's almost like they're I feel this is my my opinion only that perhaps they think you know yeah we'll just you know don't worry we we'll we'll we'll lead you in the right direction and and that's what these mailings and and this these communications that's the message I'm getting from them so I support storm water management sooner projects sooner rather than later and I think that's where we should be focusing our energies go uh first I want to thank the mayor for the time he spent on the storm water utility project uh this is a very serious problem for the city of lamberville and I appreciate you spent a lot of time uh on our behalf attending seminars uh talking to professionals and um you know really trying to become an expert in St M management uh so we could have this very important discussion um not only the time that you spent but also the time that our staff our city staff Cindy uh pated all this information so we had you know enough information for the study um I also want to recognize all the time that numbers of the community have spent uh going to the focus groups listening to the presentations uh sending emails um you know the best thing today that I see is that everyone showed up and um you know the hardest thing about you on Council sometimes we had these Council meetings and we have two people here and it's it's wonderful that everyone has shown up it shows how important this is uh when we agreed to accept the storm water grant I told the mayor two things one I was not convinced that a storm water utility was appropriate for lamberville due to our geography and size and two I would go into this with an open mind I've been objective throughout process I've attended all the presentations and discussions either in person or via Zoom so that I can make sure I had the benefit of all the information there are certainly pros and cons on both sides here and my job is to weigh them objectively without bias to come to a decision that I think is best for the city of though I do not think we are ready to move forward with enacting the utility at this time there are too many unknowns um I don't believe we should enact our own utility to we rule out opportunities uh for help from the county or even our neighbors in West well to try to do this regionally I'm not convinced that spending another $10,500 is worth it uh right now there's no data for from New Jersey for us to review I'm not aware of any similar sample size to lamberville where Storm utility has been enacted with our you know essential geography being at the base of the Hill uh what I think we need to do first is uh start coming up with some storm water management projects um I think there's a lot we can do um I know uh you know I look forward to discussions um I'm concerned about creating utility before we have the projects that's put in the carpet for the horse um we need to know uh what these projects are what they what the costs are so we can determine down the road possibly if we need a the real benefit of the utility is only spreading the fees to include the few entities that might not pay already one of them is the school which we fund anyway through our taxes so that's like taking a dollar out of one pocket and put it in the other well we all after we look at all this we may decide down the road that utility is the way to go but I don't think we're there that I also have to say that I now have to question whether some of the information we've been provided is good information in light of the mailer Fiasco I was upset by the May by this mailer as I think the mayor has tried very hard to give good information to the residents and this mailer for was really as SC tactic I for one in particularly offended the message that the only way to address flooding was through a storm water utility that's so ridiculous of a message I find it insulting the mailer says that it's time for lamb to pursue evidence-based solutions to reduce flooding respectfully that's complete garbage this has never been about our desire or need to do storm water management the utility has always been how do we pay for it if we would we received a flood of emails after shadfest and I couldn't figure out why any of the people were not larable residents because there was a tent and people were going up from out of town and going to a QR code and sending us emails these people from Sterling Titusville you Township nobody from Lor many of them didn't even know what they signed I reh out to one person who said you didn't even know when you use the QR code on the mailer most of the information is about the dangers of storm War well we are well aware of the dangers it's the last two paragraphs that attempt to state that the only way to do this e league is through the utility I'm sorry is it Equitable for lville pay for West anwell storm water management by sending this mailer the Leu conservation voter showed its bias and it's made me question their [Music] inventions I want to thank everyone for coming and for their emails and for their input and I want to thank mayor for all the work you've done on storm water and you know follow that you inherited all the damage from Ida and did a lot of work to you know restore the community um but here we kind of find us ourselves in a different position and and probably not to kind of beat some of the dead horse dead horse but um I think it is time for us to act we're not you know we're um certainly we're concerned with flooding we're concerned with storm water but I do feel and I felt for since the term that I've been here that the time is now to do things um I I the the the concept of utility worthy of study but I we're rushing it and I don't understand the concept of charging you all money and we don't even know how much or or what that rate would be and keep collecting it and collecting it when when we don't have a plan and we don't really as my kids would say you don't have your act together here and and but we have to know what we're doing before we charge ahead we have great city government here and city government is like it's like a pay as you go situation right so when we have a project and we feel that something is important we bring it to you and we tell you what the cost is we talk about it here we have a thorough vetting and then maybe we have to increase taxes for it maybe not but you know we're GNA pay as you go we're not and and I feel that that's the most responsive when you have a plan to to to behave in in that way to say that because we're going to collect money from you every time and and a new tax on you that that's going to stop something or prevent something no we're just going to be barding money for for no reason when we need a plan of action so I just want to say one thing about the mailing that everyone's been talking about I think the reason why so you all understand why we're disappointed is that when we signed a grant agreement with leite conservation voters it specifically said that the use of the funds couldn't be used for propaganda couldn't be used to that prohibited campaign intervention right so and I do appreciate that we realize that our grant money wasn't used to the used for this but we were circumvented and their pack or their voter education fund then send us this mailer which you know to me doesn't really pass the smell test so to understand why we're you know I don't mind getting I welcome input from the community but not when you know kind of our good intentions were kind of circumvented um so and I and so I guess we we can talk a little bit about what $10,000 you know could be used for um but you know we were supposed to get some more cost information in the original Grant and we we didn't get it um and I find that a little disappointing right now the more money that they're asking for it's $3,000 just to have a a public meeting I mean I think that's a waste of our resources I you know we can conduct a meeting without having to pay experts to come here it would cost $2,000 to apply one of the folks here from Tennessee to come if we wanted or if we don't want her then it won't be $112,000 but and and I and I also think too that the the scope that they proposed in this you know have some issues with it because you know I know the way that I think that we need to talk about the cost of this the cost is how much are we going to be assessed as individuals like per square foot what is the assess assessment mechanism going to be so I know and you know and everyone knows in this room what it's going to cost them to in this assessment and and we keep you know they keep talking about oh well maybe the tax Lev Levy will be this or this will be that it's like no I think we need to be to take some time it's a very long exercise to understand that I think we need to take some time to to to study that understand that is and understand what it would cost that you know have this run this department out of it right now we can hire city employees if we need more employees we need more to do through our city budget and and if we have if we are going to increase taxes we have a great discussion about it so I would rather do it upfront here than start charging folks for something that we don't know it's going to happen I think we're it's it's just were kind of bringing the car before the horse so having said that and gone on way too long what I have been doing for the past couple months and I'm a licensed professional planner by trade I've worked at the D as the Deputy Commissioner there that worked in government so I kind of get government so I get a little cheat sheet in in into this I I put together a flood protection plan like we keep talking about having a plan and what are we going to do do and I just like to run through like nice little document I worked on it but some of the steps that you know my 12 steps that program that I think is a plan of action for us rather than studying some more and the first thing that we talked about that councilman segment has brought up and everyone's brought up is to begin immediately a maintenance program regular maintenance program we can put line item funding in our budget for the cleaning and maintaining the strong DRS we do a great job now sometimes on and off but we always talk about we don't have regular money to do that so let's do that let's scope the system right we have that's our what's scoping the system you put a camera down and you look at what's going on underground to find out you know what's clogged what's too small you know is where's the drainage going is it going in the wrong in the you know in the wrong direction as some citizens have come here and said GE you don't want it rains water comes here and it goes to the wrong place but we got to scope the system then we'll see where we need to repair it then we'll know how much it costs and what the projects are so then we can as a city government put together projects put together our plan and put together a timeline to do those things yeah we have to look at our see where we need to add people to do those things um we talked about a regional approach having you know the county there's a lot of things called shared services uh where you can cooperate with your own Municipal uality Authority and through the county and that we can work together so we share some costs it's a little bit cheaper and you know at least the county is very is expressed interest in helping us in working together um they have a grant program that the mayor was you know Wise enough we're going to you know apply to to get some equipment you know I think planning planning planning is great but we need to start doing some concrete things we have to look at our land use ordinances which we've begun to include increased storm water protection in our land use so we can't continue to build on every postage they have lot in town and overbuild on them because remember the more impervious surface the more storm weather so let's change that you know let's make the folks who are building in our community they want to come here you know we have what they want you know more responsible in what what they're building and that they take care of their storm water on site and that it doesn't overb our system um I think we have to take a a look at the um the former Village Apartment site right now it's in a Redevelopment Zone but without a plan so we have to know what we want to have happen there or not happen there but we have to spend some time looking at that with some planning I need to decide as a community in a community discussion what we want to have happen there not have someone come in and tell us what they want um and I also think as a as a city we have to set up a group with our maybe the MUA again like work with the MUA and with engineers and take a look at how we can tackle or are there things that we can tackle and some of the things that I know that the mayor's been working on at Swan Creer alol con Creek look at why we didn't get that permit you know look at some of these things that of maybe our roadway patterns and where the drainage is and do we have to change them but you know we can do these things now and you know achieve and have a lot of discussion about it and we have a lot of ability here on this Council even as committees to be able to do that you know I've drowned on a long time and I apologize but what I wanted to be able to convey to you is that well I don't think that we should move ahead with this money for the storm water utility right now in this rush I do think that we need to go ahead and that I want to assure people that we have a plan and we have thoughts and we have steps of where we can go and I'd like to pursue those things and kind of straighten out this planning data exercise and take some time on it but this is what we need to do now I would rather scope the system and understand what's going on our drain so the next time it rain that you know we're that we're we're prepared and we will try to be prepared but um I think those are the things we need to do um we're going to move on to the resolution and then we're going to have a little bit more discussion and we're going toes the meeting so hang tight this is uh this is exciting stuff and uh we're glad that you're here um yes so what I'm gonna do at the moment and uh I'm G to do this first and then we'll and then we'll sort of uh so I'm G to offer for the council's consideration resolution number 88- 2024 it's the resolution to authorize the amendment of the contract with Princeton Hydro for the storm water utility Fe ility study to include the storm water utility estimate rate to scope the work in an amount not to exceed $110,500 think we've already had enough conversation about this uh I'm going to make a motion to uh to adopt this resolution and uh I up there's a second okay hearing none the motion fails um so uh thank you uh for that um just a couple of thoughts for me and then I'm going to ask the council a question uh and I think that this is a good time to ask the council a question um and to get some further thoughts and direction from Council uh I do have do have a couple of things to say about um council's reflection and the the public comments first of all I'm very grateful for everybody who shows up and who writes and who is is here um I my notes Here so since the meeting on April 23 I've received 38 emails on the subject uh of the feasibility study um and I've entered all of them but four which I'm just fill my inbox uh and I want to compliment the members of this community for their thoughtful approach regardless of what your position is uh I have answered every email and copy the Council on every email I find that uh I I put that announcement in I I did my Lal matters last week I I wanted to hear from the from the public and I heard from the public and that that created a great deal of work for me um but a great deal of satisfaction so I I answer every letter and I do it in a way that I hope is always respectful mindful of people positions while also saving my position um and uh it that's great value and nothing makes me happier than to see this many people here I mean I don't want you to show up in every meeting because uh you know I like to go to bed at 9:30 11:30 we had some legendary Council meetings in the past when before I was mayor went for a long long time and I do my best to say three minutes and you're out um so uh but but seriously I I have a lot of gratitude for the conversation here um and you know I will note this is not there were a lot of no I'm not going to I'm not going to actually I have the numbers written down here who's favor who's not I'm not going to talk about that but but I am going to say that that it's important that you participate the prises I've knowed are all ours to share and U I'm grateful to this Council for their wisdom for their thoughtfulness for their consideration for the time it took to to do this work uh to have these conversations um but I do I do want to offer a couple of Reflections this uh this idea that we're waiting to act after to call out as is not true um this year certainly this year uh we we we've completed a lot of good things we're doing a lot of things right now so we've got several capital projects underway um we're doing this we have a storm clean up base of ther Street the Lester is doing which is a major cleanup that goes back 20 years um we are doing we're going to be putting labels what we have many requirements as a part of the New ms4 Year permit we're going to be labeling all of the inlets in the city this summer with lab but haven't been labeled uh we've already completed all the mapping this year of all of our inlets and outfalls and major accomplishment um you know we do we are in the middle of a $450,000 Grant funded Pro Federal Appropriations funded project for St Water Management behind the firehouse uh we we are working constantly with do to uh to to deal with issues in their system uh the idea that we're not the idea that we're not working hard enough right now now is not true uh I spend a lot of time we spend a lot of time constantly handing the DPW to be out there in the rain before the rain checking our systems uh and uh and they F not only our obligations are obligations with the state uh but to make sure that we're keeping our neighborhoods safe and that I'm addressing problems in real time which I do so um I don't want to get on any kind of P horse here but the idea that we're not acting or or that we're not doing enough now is not true um and I think it's important to point that out we are acting and we're doing we're doing a pretty good job and I applaud the council for taking a proactive St for this my goal as I've said long along public education you know who wants to be talking about storm I'm sure that everybody here would rather be at home doing something else than talking about storm water and I'm sure that's true of all of us right I mean but this is a duty it's a responsibility and we all take it seriously so um so we are working a lot uh I will be sending a letter to the County Commissioners requesting and this is you know part of the part of the reason why this study I think has been helpful uh is that it does provide us with information it does get us going right this is this we're having these very vibrant conversations and we're talking about things that we've never talked about nobody in the last two years I've been mayor nobody's talked about videoing the system until until recently right now everybody's like we got video the system the first time we ever did it was last year when there was a problem with the construction site and video the video the tape the pipe and the whole thing is shot right and it's probably been shot for years and we didn't know about it right so I'm like maybe we should be doing this so I will be writing to the county uh and asking them for probably 85 or $9,000 to purchase a truck we've already identified kind of what that cost is that will have video equipment and I said time and time again to other mayor in Stockton and Frenchtown you know these ms4 TR permits are borous and if if a city like landord difficulty that the regulations and the funding of imagine what Stockton is doing with a part-time Clerk and you know no DPW curve right I mean it's a question of scale of course but I'm very interested in working with other municipalities I I think that is very important and we will be working with other municipalities and when the process is finished uh uh you know we will form a committee we will do Outreach we have to do it uh anding well so uh I'm on top of that one of couple just other points and then then we move on um I do want to stress that I don't believe I ever said that a St Mar utility would solve our major flooding issues it w right I said to a number of people who wrote letters this week your house is at an elevation that I cannot do anything about right the city cannot you know if you're Liv in a 100e flood plane and you're elevation is lower than the river there's a pretty good fence that you one you already know it two you've already flooded and three you know moving massive amounts of water out through through through through through Culver isn't going to do it at the time that there's a flood right so there are limitations to what a a storm water utility can do there are limitations to what our current system in be but I do believe I'm sure that the current predictions about rainfall intensity you know our system is not there are parts of our system that are not functioning well enough the capacity it's not there any longer but the kind of heavy rain is interesting in very short period of time um and uh you know we will have some cross projections so meeting on the 20th uh the council will be presented with what I think and the data here is what is what what we've made it right so Cindy and I have worked to pull out data facts facts facts from projects from engineering reports from budgets so the data you know whatever you think about the study itself the is super valuable to us we not a single person could have guessed 6 months ago how much we spent in storm water management this year I couldn't have guessed now we now $109,000 this year approximately so you know we're learning a lot and that's good that's that's all very very good so we will have some cost projections my fiveyear plan does include you know scoping 20% of the system yearly and making assessments you know I don't want to overburden us in terms of cost um but you know we go along things are going to come up right so we can make allowances and the complicated but the most complicated part of the study is that without knowing what the policies are going to be about infrastructure or need you know it's hard to hard to come up with a rate you don't have if you don't have your what Your denominator your numerator I don't know you need to have more information than we're able to kind of provide my husband's laughing because I'm such a terrible mathematician anyway so that's all I have to say uh for the moment I might have another thing or two in a couple minutes but I think I'm I think I'm done um and I guess the question that I would ask the council members now and if you if you have more things to say this is the time to do it but I think the question that if you're comfortable answering this question I would like you to ask it I would like you to answer it now and the question is will you support a referendum that ask author of lamber whether and if you're comfortable answering that question it would help guide me and and I think would help guide us um are you talking about for November no I'm talking yeah well so so we we we would have to introduce an ordinance uh to to put a question of of referendum on on the ballot in June so you know it would be helpful to know what the Comfort level is with this now um knowing what you do knowing what you don't know knowing that there's still information coming um but I also want to be mindful of resources and people's viewpoints and you know if there's a majority of the council that is sure in their mind and in their heart that this is uh that they have the answer to that question I would like to know that well we'll start in the same order I'm lucky to go go first um we as a city have put referendums non-binding referendums out before we spend money in most cases in most cases sometimes not but most case and um I don't think that there's enough information to put into an ordinance first and then take that ordinance and then put it into a referendum I I just uh remember things that I said at the at at the first meeting uh the kickoff meeting I didn't even know when that was six eight months ago and I asked that question question well I made that's the same statement I made here to you and I don't see that information being forthcoming so I will not support an ordinance or support putting that document up for uh resolution in November um when I spoke earlier I neglected to thank you mayor and City staff that have worked very hard as well as members of the community that have given their time to this project and um I'm sorry I overlooked that earlier I I ition anyway um but I also think um I think your comments now were very telling in a good way you just made a case why we don't need storm water utility because we're doing stuff now and that's I disagree with you back to that that's okay but that's I mean I wholeheartedly support the work that you just described and I think it shows that we have have the um energy and the impetus to get things done um it may be that someday we do decide we need a storm water utility maybe there will be a regional storm water utility that we will participate in but um I agree with uh my fellow council member uh that we don't I don't think we're there yet and I would not support an ordinance for rec thank you uh so we had our budget meetings uh with the budget consultant I actually asked Michael drwes what the referendum was going to C us we said it was about 25 or $30,000 that we would have to spend to put that question on that can between five and seven, okay it anything it costs money right and um I think in order for us to put it off to a referendum I think we need to know more information and I just don't think we have enough information now I think that although I think it was commendable uh for what we've done to bring this to you know uh everyone's Forefront talk about it um I I think that we're moving very fast on this and we just don't have enough information and so I will not support it for this yeah I I yeah I don't I think that a couple things about a stor more utility before I preface that because you know it gets offered up in and we go back to the mail piece but it gets offer up in planning circles and I'm planner um as the pania but can I say this there are no rules right now in the state of New Jersey of how to even have a store moral utility no municipality has the has one right and and municipalities that are looking at it have taken a really long time in looking at it they've spent a lot of time a lot of money and like trying to find out exactly what it costs and what it's going to do um so to hurry up and do this and have a referendum in November I'm not in favor um I I think it and you know I would it's just we're not we're not ready for that um there's not enough information for that and wouldn't make put it on a referendum because I don't know what it's going to cost each one you I don't know what it's going to cost the city and and I don't want to vote to put the residents in a position where they're going to be assess after year and be paying into something and and we don't know how much you know like to me that's a wrong you know we can't be doing a referendum that because the cost is too high this isn't just buying the V can of property you're buying something uh a land use resource this is a cost that you're going to ur every year for you know for years and way and we're going to decide we're going to operate differently like I said before I like doing it through the budget it's a transparent process you all know who to come to we come here and talk about it we have to do these projects I think it's the way to go what I'd like to see us do is commit to like 12 concrete steps that we're going to do inide a schedule cor and and and and be able to tell y'all that that's what we're doing for in not that it's going to like pop up you know that's what I would like us to do is to commit to a plan and a time table of of just these concrete stuffs now like I want to meet with the county L some groundw at doing that what can we do together let's meet and do it I'd rather do that worry about a referend and you know leave the conservation voters um right now I'd like to see that some thank you uh again thank you for your careful consideration the only thing I the only remark I'll just make on this is that um uh I like the idea of a utility for a lot of reasons I'm not gonna we're not going to talk about this for more than a minute or two um and I'm going to continue to kind of explore um this question for me it's not a question that is uh Dead uh I think that I think we've made enormous progress here uh over over the last year or two in looking at this and uh I guess on a personal level my only reflection uh is that uh perhaps you know my timing on this may have been too ambitious um and so you know I I I I've said time and time again that if I feel as though I don't want anyone to feel rushed that's a bad place to be right we're g we're going to work through our problems and we're going to do it together and uh recognizing all of the expertise on ad deas and in the room and with our professionals um so you know I don't want this to feel and I want the data to be sound I want people to make decisions based on solid data critical thinking careful analysis Etc so you know with that in my pull this from the the June um meet June meeting schedule um the Bron Hydra will present to the Council on June 20th um the the uh the rest of the information um I will continue to have conversations with people about this um I don't want people to you know there's sometimes there's a sense in politics that if you're trying to put forward an idea or trying to look at something in a different way that that you're being I don't know too forceful let's just say that's not my goal my goal is to look at problems and sometimes as the mayor person who sets the agenda has to take these risks and has to take these ideas and has to work through them and when this is all said and done this has been a great exercise for us um proud of the work that's been done and I think the day is going to be really helpful I could have thrown out that $85,000 number for a for a van with a machine we hav't done this study and now it's like a million other things at the top of my mind I know a lot and you know a lot more than we did six months or even a year ago so again thank you to everybody uh for being a part of this we're going to move on because uh it's Su um but thanks my agenda and lastly I say special thanks to the people who were on the um the focus group we had a great group of people across the board U I'm just going to read the names because I think these people are represented there was some you there was some thoughtful criticism of but I want to read these names and for those of you who lived here a long time I wanted to ask yourself are these people people who are going to be asking good questions about fmar utility so Mark and Bruce Curry from E Lumber they were the first people I asked the most impervious service probably of anybody Brendan pelu who's a North Union Street resident Jim Harris who's an Elm Street resident and engineer Chris Oberlin who lives in woodrest and whose family has lived in curly Lan for 100 years uh Pete golden who's the VP of director and operations for Sher representing lamberville station Brown was here Lester Meers Janine McGregor who lives on Swan Street she works with the D she's on the LMU board Dan Cony who was an amazing asset lives in Grant Valley knew more about snorm water than probably anybody in this room just because he lives it because of where his hous is Bob clero who's the former city engineer and lard Rock Creek with Vince Yule who is just like a god of engineering hydrologists geologist Bob mcaffry representing St John's Catholic Church Bob Jordan who lives across the street who a civil engineer also serving on the planning board Matt Lin Lambertville resident we invited T sudo Rend of South Region School District Mar Thurber who lives on l l a very engaged resident Joe Caprio who is a property owner here in the city who Lo qu a l property Jennifer Davis who lives on Church Street his house has been flooded a couple of times in these Nuance floods and we get uh Julia Taylor former president Monique bcel who lives on North Union Street the pier he lives on Elm Street a chair of the commission environmental commission Maran Borge president of the Woodcraft HOA and the par Rec chairperson and Danny and Margaret carmelli representing Maxwell assets large commercial property owning here in the city lot of good feedback from them and a lot of that went into the study and a lot of that data will come out and a lot of reporing will be available to the public so thank you to those people who spent a lot of great even uh reading things all participat right agenda back minutes yes all right uh I would ask unless the council EIC the minutes uh thank you for your Corrections and changes as always coun president if there are no questions or about minutes I would ask motion to them as listed on the meeting agenda so move second all in favor please say I I proove of the administrative report a chance to look at the administr reports yeah I you do as I often do just a quick quick call outs here uh was noted in Lille last week that last year uh we had two cand shop we took in almost $6,000 in new Revenue um this month we took in $15,000 in hotel tax $2,000 parking needed Revenue we had 9,963 Park Mobile transactions that's a lot of parking um Public Works has been out pranking crosswalks cleaning benches things um and so unless any other questions about the administrative re may have a motion please sorry thank you um in in in the P Construction office has been really U helpful in sending the council reports on what resolutions were approved at at both meeting we would get a summary of what was done those meetings that it were very short time frame I know we like two months sorry um so I it in discussions with other Council folks uh uh I just wanted to bring that forward that it's it's a good reference that tells us what uh or informs us of the decisions both the planning and the zoning board are making uh and granting approvement for and if there was a way that we could be included somehow to at least uh get the resolutions in our hand after they're approved it it would be helpful it it seems to be that we get permit we know what the permit are for that's great we get those every month all right let me ask S question is that question of getting the minut sent for them or is it asking to do a separate report now it would be a different report I mean zoning board I believe at the end of every year so you could ably get it in January does a monthly an annual review and that report you should get in January but for her to go through and send you actions of the planning board probably would be best for her to send you the minutes once they're approved and we can put them in the folder so I'll leave it to the council to side because it's extra worth for CH to generate a if we're well we can discuss alll but getting the past resolution will be just good because we know what the outcome okay rather than the minute sure okay right and that's prepared already should do just have to send it out yes but just understand that you're going to get that sometimes like they vote and they approve and then the next month they vote on the resolution so there's going to be a delay that's fine at least at least we can see if that's helpful we just capture that for me C thank you very much questions about to approve Proclamation mental health mon um I would ask for a motion to improve the proclamation mental health second all those in favor please say hi hi thank you resolution consent agenda the following resolutions on the consent agenda are considered routine should enacted by one motion anybody has any question from the councel pleas invited you now we'll pull that out and discuss it separately so this is looking for currently council person wants to pull something out motion to adopt resolutions number 81 through 2024 through 887-2241 into the consent agenda motion carries bills list who would like to pay the bill all right may I have a motion to pay the bills please in favor hi hi thank you check for coming uh ordinance first reading ordinance number 10224 this is an ordinance to amend Lambertville city code 2014 chapter 7 traffic section 7- 4.4 parking time limited on certain Street amending Elm and Perry and North Main from North M to North Union and North Main between Elm and Perry change times yeah the title there I mean um missing a street from the title button would is that is that a problem it's in the title we can fix that because you're introducing okay so sorry it's in the body yeah it's in the body I just I didn't see it in the in the title so make sure that we were okay with that yep um so so this uh ordinance is to adjust the street sweeping times the school construction is almost complete uh school will be back in session in September and because school day starts I think at 10 minutes after 8 because we're now going to have parents driving their children to school publicly for West Amil we decided I coordinated with the street sweeper and the Department of Public Works to allow uh Elm Street Buttonwood and Perry Street uh to start the street sweeping a little bit later so that street sweeping will start there at 8:30 so that people can come and drop their children out without fear of getting a ticket um and uh we still have enough time had kind schedule is a tricky thing at the street sweeper um but they told me that they're absolutely fine starting 8:30 uh on those streets on those days so that will allow parents to park uh to drop their children off walk them into school and then not have to worry about tickets so that's what this is about it it's a first reading so it's a first reading yes so there will there will be uh if it's uh we introduce it there will be a second uh reading public hearing uh in June there any questions from the council H this that's good idea okay uh motion please to introduce this ordinance some move a second second all favor please say I motion carries uh this ordin uh how public hearing second reading on June 20th 2024 all right uh next one is ordinance number 11224 this is an ordinance of the city of Lambertville County of hundon State New Jersey further amending the Redevelopment plan for lamberville high school Redevelopment Mar block 1073 L 135 6 7 8 9 10 11 32 33 and 3301 block 1090 blocks four and five and block 1091 blocks 1 and 1 one1 um so this is an ordinance uh uh that will uh that will uh amend the Redevelopment plan on the lber high school Redevelopment area um and we're not going to get into it too much tonight the plan will be posted to the city website tomorrow morning um I have arranged a special public meeting on May 30th Mark calendar here 7 o' we will have the city professionals here we will have the uh representative from KOB kab Nan here and we will basically have an open public meeting to discuss the project and answer questions from the public um I think it's a really really obviously it's a super ENT meeting to have we will have the second reading and public hearing and goes you know through through Norm through normal course of events on June 20th so there will be additional time for the public to ask questions uh and speak but I really want to make sure that you know we make all the space and time you need to have this conversation so I would encourage people one to look at the Redevelopment plan that will be posted to the website tomorrow and two to come to the meeting on the 30th with your questions um and I'm just going to take two minutes to kind of talk about this so I was sworn in on January 4th of 2022 January 6th two days later I met with judge Miller and fair share housing and if you remember the meeting uh on December 16th in the in the elementary school when the Redevelopment plan for the police station was tabled uh I I went I went from swearing into the hot seat in two days um I had met with judge Miller and fair share about our affordable housing out of compliance still because of the police station Redevelopment even out of compliance once that not forward I have met with judge Miller and Fa share on 2022 on January 6 February 1st February 24th June 20th Ju ju 11 July 27th October 18th December 6th 2023 I met with them in February 7th April 19th May 11th June 16 June 28 October 4th and we've met um uh once in January of this year we had 15 meetings with the court and fair share housing about affordable housing Lille and this project is the result of all of those conversations I I in May March 4th of 2022 two months after I was sworn in uh I was contacted the city was contacted by kaban and we had a meeting in March to begin to talk about the high school High School site we have in I have in my email box 152 email chains relating to that to to that project to those discussions those those are email chains many of those chains have 20 or 30 emails off them there have been hundreds and hundreds of emails uh since uh since we had our first inperson meeting on March 25th we had we've had a total of 12 closed sessions from 20122 to now the council um there were three in 2022 s in 2023 and two in 2024 all to discuss this project um so so I want the public to know it's important to know that this conversation that you're just now this is a big big announcement a big project this is going to be a lot there going to be a lot of conversation about this um the city council and I have been working on this for more than two years um and uh the plan's gone through iterations um and uh other than that unless the council has anything that they want to add at this time I'm going to reserve any kind of further comments or questions until we actually have a chance to for you to digest the look at the information uh and comes with meeting I will also say that for those people who are interested I will meet with anybody anytime you can call me everybody's got my phone number is on the city website if you want to have a conversation about this you let me know and we'll have a conversation before the meeting and I'll walk you through everything to the best of my ability and I'm not going to be able to answer every question I will say that from the first meeting to the last meeting I said storm water in every meeting at least five times right something we talk so I know that this is going to be a huge component of that I understand believe me I feel like somebody have already lived through this a little bit and now we're going to live through it together so I'm here for you I'm here to answer questions I'm here to take your comments um and uh and and that's that's kind of what I want to say this evening about that I I just to add I'm hoping that um our planner or our work we have the attorney may also be present to brief us on uh just so we understand our so you went through the history of our affortable housing plan you know we had had reposed lost repos but came L the you know so we're we still then got ourselves into the St how the numbers add up of what they're providing the protection they give us and what it looks like going into the second round what our number would be and how this would account for it I think it's important for all of us we all talk about you know our housing plan and it's it's a living breathing thing it it almost doesn't really work on the on the internet so you know you can post but we need to someone to walk through that with us to see the benefits that we are getting yeah absolutely and I I had said back in I think November or December that I would hold a a public meeting about our affordable housing obligations in January or February I did not do that uh and part of that reason was because we thought that this was going to be brought to the you know to the council before then and I would I would actually be able to talk about what this means to to our affordable housing plan just one last thing about this this this project is is is coming in as a two-phase project for for kab Manan uh part of the site is um the is part of the old landfill uh area um and we've negotiated that uh we will get the full complement of affordable housing even if the second phase does not get built so so we are getting you know we will be getting 40 affordable housing units out of this which is I think an amazing accomplishment and uh you know it's a we we talking more about just leave it at that for the moment um so I'd like to ask for a motion to introduce ordinance number 11224 on first reading the public hearing scheduled for June 20 2024 do a this sure councilwoman Kaminsky yeah councilman live yes councilman Stegman yes council president lamber yes mayor no yes uh the most important question is at all those meetings that you went to with the judge did you bring coffee and Don we're all virtual yeah it's a lot of meetings the most i' ever had J appear of than I had um it's fascinating to learn about and uh you know there there have been many elements about this job on which I had to come to speed pretty quickly uh and that was certainly one of them really two days in I was like super nervous but I comported myself well and uh and everything we have I think we have a pretty good relationship um so ordinance's second reading the ordinance the storm water Control Ordinance um we are still looking at that we had a meeting on Wednesday evening um to discuss that um I have have what I think is a pretty good idea that I ran by the the City attorney this evening I needed to get back to uh we need to sort of solidify that idea but we're fairly close to that and uh I'm not sure I don't know yet whether we're going to it I'll decide very soon whether we're going to bring it to the planning board on June 5th um rather do it right and H right um so we're going to continue work Su 06 2020 C yes correct B that's what they do a motion to continue with the next meeting we they have not open the public here none of that we're going to carry it to the yes yes so we need a motion that have motion to carry have a motion to carry to June 20th all in favor please say I okay ordinance number 20 06 2024 is carried to June 20th correspondence there's here from town gas uh notice of public hearing for infrastructure investment program and Associated recovery mechanism for all of those members matters uh board appointments uh I want to thank um Paul Co and Council woman Comm volunteer Municipal second negotiation committee with County thank you thank you thank you so glad motion to I thank you um just one last thing that we need to quickly discuss and is um the exterior pin p for the library so we have bonded money through and there is a an RFP out to remove the lead paint from the library which is a good thing I'll be a little late let's um and T the library uh the uh the colors that were chosen some years ago um uh the uh the the um the application or the permit has expired with the state so we need to go through the process again uh to shoot colors for the pain of the library so what I would propose uh is to appoint two people from the library board two people from the council two people from the uh the historic preservation commission and Michael Burns the city architect pick the colors I'd love to have an attorney here in case we have to go to mediation and Council Council M do do it yeah okay absolutely that would be great so I have two people on the library board already I need to contact the U sort preservation commission um and we do need to go back through the state sort preservation office it's a fairly straightforward application and we may need to go back to the DNR Canal commission um so uh stay tuned for that uh Convenience Center hours are as noted Saturday May 4th and May 18th from 9 to noon Wednesday May 15th from 3: to 5: FR grade Saturday morning uh 10: a.m. to 1: p.m. a start Council will be here except for coun live if you can my sonth birthday C so okay we'll miss you all right uh you can wear you can wear your special hat where you're going I certain from 11 stop all right we're gonna continue on I'm gonna open this uh to the public the second public participation session uh and uh same rules apply about three minutes uh please U and S name and address thank you R Chef totle 33 Wilson Street I just want to say that I was a founding member of the Coalition of affordable housing and the environment I've worked on affordable housing issues um for over 40 years in fact the town of Renwood um was the first town to be a regional share of Mount Laur the town was environmental sensitive didn't have infrastructure like subers um to facilitate growth so it's an issue I've been very close to in fact the town of ring I wrote their plan when the council tried to Bringing condos on top of a mound were able to get the judge to accept group homes and affordable senior housing and rehabing the all in a community that lives in basically ectric type of conditions um reason I'm mentioning that is because you know this this has to do with our fair share plan and I just wanted to give a little history um in 2018 the town had a plan that was accepted by the court and it was a good until 2025 um then the previous mayor decided to reopen that plan and remove the WX site aut part site CVS and C farm from down the street for me was the W site which I thought was been perfect it's in town and it's walkable to have at least two units and and eight um Portables M of same thing or building they built four luxury they could have done four in one down by me they could have done sorry talk a little down by me done fact I so and because of that she reopens everything and CBS site would have been good say an overlay own F get redeveloped of a part of the property that's along Main Street and the plus form you could have clustered five units in the back or something like that and not not and not interfered with the view and then she came up because she reopened the can of wors to do the police station which caused a tremendous amount of outry because there was no place to move into some said CL and FS some STW from flood zone over by where the marijuana place is going in and and that's created this kind War I'm saying this public understands that cons you know elections and things have consequences and I feel bad this Council to have deal with because it was not making je um not one of you are on the council we on the council at that time some may have supported the moving to the police station and put half building there which by the way was next to a SE stream under power lines in an area that's contaminated so now we have a site that's be highly complex highly challenging because you have contamination there and you're above Swan Creek so what happens on the site is critical had we been able to have the old plan Implement that would would be a lot better shape so I just want to you know say well now the balls in your court you're going to have to figure this whole thing out thank you hello F1 e Court I just want to get a couple comments regarding um storm water management Sho and the one great thing about all this is that it had I think it's really heightened the impact the side it the discussion of the fact that storm water management has to be managed and it has to be paid for so whether you at some point St more utility in the future or not I'm just hoping and encouraging Council to make sure that you are transparent with the community regarding how it's going to be funded so even with your 12o plan which I commend Council for really being engaged like there everything is a cost um we have I appreciate the mayor or unpaid mayor taking all that time but it takes time to manage storm water and so and it takes the budget so I'm hoping as kind of deal with this issue and deal with the funding and the cost that will'll be transparent with the taxpayers regarding how it will might affect their property taxes so that's clear um also the other thing is just to also keep in mind regarding the fact of like impervious cover in the city and the fact that commercial properties religious institutions have an impr proportionate on the fact that ground is covered and going on her Cur so I know that swart utilities did provide at least a mechanism to have everyone that impacts to the degree that they impact possibly pay their care Share so I would keep that in mind to make sure that at least the commercial property owners Etc have to do something with all these parking lots with the ground cover to manage storm water in some way whether it's green infrastructure or something else and that it just be trans arent and that's it thank you Paul St 394 you just want to follow up uh earlier I was very uh glad to hear the council and the mayor talk about the fact that they were almost as outraged as I probably was about getting that flyer the thing that got me the most about it is somebody that does come to this meetings and participate I really resent the fact that they put in that automatic mailing where you can sit there and just find it spend it not even looking into it anymore than the bias stuff that they put out I'm so glad to hear your responding thank you anyone online motion com per so move second favor um no okay did anybody have anything they want to respond to just point out one thing there with the uh the police station affordable house and I know Jeff was talking about that um I think that only allowed for five affordable housing meetings in this new project was 40 so um you and it both Ben and I were on Council like that I think for the U for the police station but I think Jeff Wasing oh yeah yeah we were not okay I just have two quick things um actually three quick things um thank you for for that history ja I think it's valuable um I know that each of us probably I don't really feel like I speak for the council very often or never really but I think that it's fair to say that each of us uh came to our positions knowing that there were going to be issues and we're always ready to face every issue that comes before us right you can imagine what it felt like to be the mayor four months after I you okay we're doing and right so uh I appreciate the recognition there that there's that there was a past uh problem that there's that's having a consequence today but I think we're we're we're in good we're in good game shape for this um two other things you know I think to Shel point I do think that uh I would love us to break out our storm water costs every year now you know now that we know it cost $39,000 last year to pay for storm water I would like to break it out every year I would like to to I would like the public to know exactly how much money we need for Staffing what are you know my one concern about about doing it through the budget is the budget is a process and it's and you do not have the opportunity to be proactive so this storm pipe on Delan street that we've been that we know has been damag now for I don't know six 8 10 months and water's just literally running into the ground underneath people's houses you know it takes a long time for the city government to say okay how is this going to get paid for the very first question Cindy higgy said to me when I started as mayor you ask yourself every single day how am I going to pay for this you cannot do you cannot ask a single question in this without asking how am I going to pay for this so you know we're going to be proactive but you know and and I do want to see this amount identified every year right this conversation is very quickly going to move from academic to real world and next year when we talk about the budget and we talk about what it's going to cish storm water management we're all going to have this conversation and um uh I'm sure we're probably going to remember this hopefully fondly as a night when we uh when things academic not real um and then um just lastly um you know I'm just just GNA add one thought about these um these mailers and I could just I could just pass very easily sorry the the mailers have one thought about this I did hear from one resident who said that she talked to a number of her neighbors who were grateful for the mailers and I did get two residents from lamberville use the mailers to write to me I don't know if they go to the council I have the emails youing the form and I have to say sometimes in life when you're busy you know maybe you don't send personalized letter but maybe something comes across your desk and you say I do want more information right so you know I think that that the maners are problematic and and uh I think that for some people maybe they're not that's all I'm saying and and I just want to be you back off there's a number of ways to look at do things um all right and at this point I would ask the motion to a journ at whatever time that they thank you thank you very much for coming I really appreciate seeing you all