you see what I say well I pushed the wrong button and I wound up hi Christie good evening everyone good to see you all thanks uh we were previously in closed
session we're now back in open session uh again welcome to everybody um we're going to start off this evening with the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence our moment of silence will be in remembrance of Eron McManus Keys tonight erin served the community in many different capacities she remembered for
her endless energy her beautiful smile and her love for her family erin followed her father's footsteps and served as a commissioner on the Lambert Lambertville board of fire commissioners and our deepest sympathy goes out to her family and all her friends so please
remain standing after yeah let's keep our kids and our help and our family and our prayer allegiance thank you please be seated approval of the minutes members have 10 minutes and any suggested changes or
amendments or edits all done all done okay hearing none I would like to have a motion to approve the following minutes as submitted and as amended march 2025 close session minutes march 2025
meeting minutes March 3rd 2025 meeting minutes and March 3rd 2025 close session minutes april I'm sorry April 3rd oh I'm sorry april excuse me April 3rd all
I need to speak i'll have live joining us online tonight um so motion pass um and um the administrative reports everybody a chance to look at the administrative reports
okay um may I have a motion to approve the administrative course please second all those in favor of approving the administrative report please say I i motion carried um the budget have to discuss the budget
this evening um We do this every year we uh some had an actual separate meeting for the budget uh in addition to the two required meetings in which we introduce the budget and uh and then have a second reading and public hearing um we always like to make sure that everybody's
having time to take a look at the budget and uh we're going to give a little space tonight to see if anybody has any specific questions about vot we have Michael Dul here he is our budget consultant we also have Christy Erit online she is our uh CFO and our QPA so welcome to you both good to have you
with us this evening and also representing the city tonight Bill that's not Bill over there this is Jess Alm who also works with Bill she'll be here representing the city um so I'm going to read the first
page of the budget and then I'll open this up to public comment for questions so it's with pleasure that I propose the 2025 introduced budget with a total expenditure for municipal purposes of 8,15,330 supported by a municipal budget of
4,523,950 and 3,581,380 in other revenues the budget will fund city operations deliver statutoily required essential services expand local programs meet inflationary pressures and permits for permits for a capital improvement and the city's
infrastructure property and equipment the budget meets city obligations through reasonable revenue projections reflective of strong economic conditions that build fund balance foster a balanced approach to the use and restoration of reserves it takes a conservative approach on spending for operational expenses while staying
within the statemandated appropriation and levy caps as it relates to budget revenues the 2025 levy is derived in part from an increase in the estimated tax rate for municipal purposes by 0.009 on Ballook's strong real estate
market increasing the city's total assessed value by 73,322,500 uh two I'm sorry $995,947919 in effect for every $100,000 of assessed property value there is an increase of $8.81 per year to the to your local tax
bill the average residential assessment for 2025 is characterized as $448,738 making the average tax bill increase $3953 per year or simply put the average local tax bill will increase less than
$10 a quarter lambertville's ongoing economic prosperity and attractiveness to visitors have generated more than $400,000 in new of the revenues over 2024 to the city in support of governmental service activities as it relates to budget
appropriations some of the largest components such as overall employee salary and wage stay below the projected 2% cost of living increase and payment for debt service have began a downward trend with 7% reduction in 2025 the rising cost of insurance and
pension caused an increase of more than $185,000 and this budget will continue the city's efforts to meet near-term future obligations strengthening the city's reserve position for cost related to accumulated absences by $55,000 in
pending litigation by $91,000 both the city of Lambertville and the bureau of Frenchtown continue to receive financial benefit in the sharing of services for construction code and zoning officials through our interlocal agreement this budget provides a financial plan for the hiring of a
muchneeded shared business administrator to take on important leadership role service to our communities at a fraction of the cost to our taxpayers i hope that you'll agree that the budget highlights show the city of Ramville is on strong economic footing in addition to this message they find an accomp accompanying
in-depth analysis to the April 8th introduced budget print copies may be requested through the clerk's office at city hall so this is a bing message website uh yesterday and uh it's available for for viewing by everybody
hopefully it breaks things down into um into a kind of a more approachable narrative for for people who are not finance u don't have background in finance um so uh with that I'm I would invite anybody from the public who has a question or a comment about budget to
please step up and say your name and address and um Michael and I and Christy will be happy to answer any questions uh you might have anybody um well that's great did you have a question yes we're from the senior citizens of
Labor Delaware Valley and at one time we were a line item on the budget few years maybe I think how long 10 probably we have not been and we did get donation of
$500 and we are the only senior club in Hunter County that does not receive money from the city or the county and we were just wondering ing what you could do for us because we don't have a very big budget and if the
money that we have is gone then the senior group will be gone and we don't want that to happen so we just thought you know we came to see what what can you do for the seniors or can you do anything for the
seniors um we've talked about this a little bit i think in uh a couple of years ago Cindy we had talked about this there was a point at which there was I think Yes you and I talked about it you and Phyllis and I we talked about it right yes yeah and I think that part of
it was that the the the senior group was not specifically Lambertville uh residents is that correct but it's still a valley so okay it's always been that way it's always been people from other places not
specifically Lambertville right i'm think that we should support this group this has been an ongoing you know um group that's been active in the community they
group since 1947 and and I think we need to support them so we go to county meetings phyllis does i'm sorry phyllis goes to county
meetings they have ones every month and she they sits there and people tell her how much money they get from the city from the county or not from the county from the township and they ask us how much do we get and we say nothing
okay well I'm certainly happy to commit $5 for the for the group um as uh as long as uh you know it's going to residents and area residents and and I think that we should inter talk
and in face and find out you know how we can you know support you otherwise and what things you're talking about and a lot and partner together because we're all right now like in May or May we have our anniversary lunch and we
have to pay for it and that takes money away from us then we have to somehow try to raise money so that we don't go broke commit to I'll be happy personally commit to $500 this year and council woman if
you'd like to work through right now thank you okay thank you any other questions or comments Judy Gleason 86 North Union Street i
just have what what is the increase in the budget this year for we have an increase what for what's important what are we getting what are we spending money on this year
that we didn't spend money on before so that it's only however amount you said but what is that only however you said four well some some of the new appropriations include increases to uh student health care benefits um
certainly we uh are going to increase our litigate we have litigation fees this year of $9 to $1,000 if you've included in the budget that's a new expense um a potential salary for an administrator we we've put in place of
$50,000 for that michael what else do we have here just a bunch of things i'm sorry you said for an administrator do we have We do not no okay mayor I'm glad to jump in if you like thank you please regarding the administrator so the the
budget provides $50,000 if an administrator were to be hired through shared service agreement so the appropriation is in there necessary spent most items in the budget are appropriations to spend as as you know um the there's been as mayor
mentioned the salary wages go up as doc increases um we did he did mention it was under 2% but there's still an increase um there's been some reorganization of positions within the city that has helped to reduce the total increase of salary and wages um the big
expense change in items under the cap were as mentioned $91,000 uh reserved for item table and then there's an increase this year of approximately $30,000 reserved for accumulated absences and that will be to
pay out contractual obligations for benefit time that's due based on the contract as well as future retirements when that money becomes due we reserve it so we have um other other excuse me we reserve it
every year though don't we so it's increased this year we do but we have something like $600,000 in total accumulated assets that we need to account for so we are building a reserve of that fund so that as we go along so that in five years or 10 years when we start to see significant retirements in
particular categories namely the police department that we're able to kind of meet those payouts that are going to be required as a result of contract police contract the the calculated target has always been $55,000 and you're right in that previous year budgets this year we're
able to get to that $55,000 number and by getting to that number we are also able to pay out current year based on current year rates on these contracts um and 55,000 is a projection that we can stay there and that would that will get
us where we need to be in years ahead other areas to consider we're able to reserve this year almost $34,000 into our capital improve bond so putting that money into that fund makes it available as we make those improvements so not necessarily we're spending it but just
committing it to the fund um so all but these both these items whether it's accumulated absence or whether it's moving to capital improvement fund you're building your fund balance so by having some provisions in budget it improves our total savings and that's why the city continues to see an
improvement as credit so when you said we're able to add this you meant with an increase we're able to add this with a with an increase that we talked about already which is you know what it is we're able to do these things
because we're increasing our taxes in part the part we're increasing the amount of revenue we're bringing in through the uh fees and and other other revenues that come in from cannabis sale for example so not only are we relying
on a tax rate for a modest increase I use the term modestly it's a relative term that I understand um but the the most of the incoming revenue is from drawing in from activities related to
other revenues like sales parking etc so thank you I'm Trina Vargas i live on 143 George Street my name is David i'm from 148 George yes
um there okay um so today we um received a copy of an article about the pest crisis no sorry this is just about budget I'll comment just a couple of minutes so if you have a specific question about the budget budget sorry so um related to that we
were wondering if there can be some tests that can be done in the houses in George and our neighborhood to make sure that um there's no uh bad chemicals in our water so we were wondering if that can be put in the budget for some testing budget for the water there was
some grants or something like that you have water through the so public water so your water is does not need to be tested it's tested regularly by the company who provides the water to to its customers so so when we talk about contamination we talk about contamination private wells in the city
so not on city water um so there's no testing required for your water if you live downtown okay is it ever tested though at um I can't I couldn't I couldn't tell you the specifics of how often or what kind of testing um is
doing but obviously it's a it's a public utility so it's uh they're rigorous testing um protocols absolutely absolutely thank you i believe it's just a point information if you go to Viola's Violia's website they should they do
have the testing result they do post their testing results yeah and you can I'm not sure what the interval is um so I'm not recommending it but it's worth taking a look and then if you have any questions you know come come back all right thank you thank
you okay all right anything else about budget okay please well we had two we had two we lost them already all right well thank you for being here remember you
are um thank you yes john Hancock Street uh so quick question i know New Jersey State is a little fishy with their budget they'll pull funds out of different things and put in other shortfall areas does
Lambertville City do that first question second question have we looked at a way to diminish the tax burden on people by say putting additional fees on parking tickets or say speeding tickets within
the town i know the state does that um I don't know if Lambertville could look at doing that as a budget surplus of sorts but certainly something we could look at to diminish the amount of taxes that are
going to be going up yes certainly uh I think that we take an approach where we are always looking for ways to improve the revenue and and doing that kind of across the board so one of the things that we'll do tonight is we're going to introduce an ordinance that will
increase a very modest amount um construction related permitting fees things from like $38 to $40 right uh la I think it was last year or the year before we increased the parking uh meter fee by 25 cents an hour which brought in I don't remember the exact number but
brought in a considerable amount of money uh over the course of the year so we are looking at different ways all the time in which we can um offset the taxable by increases in the revenue um and uh you know we do that regularly so at least once or twice a year I think we've looked at uh fees for everything
from landlord registration to um we have a for those people who have um uh who live in a separate business district and have a parking permit you know there's an automatic increase every year in those fees so we do look at this uh regularly but ways in which we can
lessen the tax burden by increasing our revenue in other ways we'll also tonight for example consider an ordinance which will extend hours for one of the um possibly one of the cannabis businesses in the central business district uh if that ordinance is adopted and they're open later we'll be generating more
revenue through the taxes gain through their through through sales later in the evening that kind of thing so so we we do uh we do consistently and continually look at ways in which uh we can uh improve our our revenue stream um so so
yes and then in terms of your first question you know there are very rigorous um standards for us in terms of how we spend our money um everything is backed up by resolutions and ordinances we have auditors that come in every year
to audit all the all all the the um the municipal finances so um there are rigorous protocols and and protections in place in terms of So just to clarify unless there is a council vote on say oh
we've got 40,000 50 $100,000 in this one account but want to spend it on this that has to go through budget committee and every single penny that's spent in the city is approved by the council so tonight we will uh we will put forward the bills list uh the council has looked
at every single bill that every single check that I just signed today uh it was like 130 checks totaling I don't know a great deal of money because we paid the county today hundreds of thousand dollars right so nothing happens without a council vote on every single penny
that gets spent anything to add there Michael sure sure um so we are New Jerseyy's shopper very unique state and the the way municipalities do their budget is on a
financial basis everything's on cash basis in this document so there really is it's it seems pretty deep but if you take time to go through it you'll see it's it's all there i guess what I was looking for clarification and I believe
I got it was we're not following trends different they have a different accounting methodology good and that's all I cared about in November and it'll come back the meeting of November you may see the budget transfers so as we get through
the year if we find that something didn't happen we thought was going to happen and something vice versa this council will make a decision to do those transfers again so it's very public process and to your question about the revenues u a lot of analysis is done on
this governing body is always passing more ordinances to make sure that properly recouping the fees and the cost associated with services so this budget brings in almost $150,000 more than the previous year just in those categories got it all
right very good thank you anything else um I would ask for a motion to close the public hearing please move all second all in favor please say I i i thank you motion carries and now
we'll move on to uh our public participation constituent concern so this is the time when members of the public uh unless you've got mobility issues you may step up to the microphone we have to state your name address um yeah
Michael right glad to stay so I'm going to hold out just a second so Michael can tell you hey Chissy thank you for being here we appreciate it we'll see you on May 1st for the secondary thank you have a nice night everyone
thank you michael do you have any spare change you want to leave got rid of all the stuff in the couch cushions for a visitor check the chat thank so 3 minutes to make your comment after
your question uh Lindsay will give you a 30 second warning and we ask that you kindly stick to that 3 minute time period if you can hear from you like speak to 33 Wilson Street um I wanted to ask some questions or about the uh line
item or the resolution tonight for the hiring of experts for PAS and in looking at what I see it raises concerns with me it seems as if we're hiring an attorney and an engineer um more protected town than to actually
deal with some of the issues that we're facing like the people on planet Hill who have had to file torque claims because and of course the city is named in it because of all the different pollution that they're finding in their well up to 71 and that number is going
to probably 180 more between the two towns with time or over and so the concern I have is that if we're going to be looking to hire experts to deal with PAS then they also should have to work with the community of their and their
issues two um we need if we're going to have any chance of winning the case against Khob Mania we cannot dump the issue of PES on that hill that that groundwater is contaminated in order for them up there
they're going to have to find a way of remediating if they can if it's unlined and uh un you know cap landfill but we don't know how big it is i do know that a house across the street from the landfill which is 100 ft past where they
were going to be building houses up there they found a car and garbage when they built the house on the other side of Corel and if you go up on Corel they're going to the first 100 people coming up on Corell is where they want to put 35 so how big is it what's the contamination the POS is the highest
there it's at 140 parts per trillion at that high spot by the house across from there plus we have a dealing with the factory and everything else so if we're going to be getting engineers it shouldn't be about defending the city against the residents up there it should be working with the residents up there
and using what we find there for uh helping in the litigation of the Indian and fair share uh also we should be looking at joining a class action suit against uh the manufacturers and we can find out very easily who they are but more
importantly what we should be doing is using our professional staff that we're hiring to to petition D to have that area declared an area of immediate environmental concern so that D can bring in resources to help secondly and
most importantly is we should be petitioning D to make to to make a spill act directive so D can take over that site and actually be able to get onto the hill property on on on Wilson's property to be able to do proper testing
of soil and water and all over that site because besides the landfill besides the factory that that was used for electronics there's also an old orchard there's ball fields from the 50s that may have used arsenic there's been illegal dumping all over the place we
need to get a handle on it we need to get D in there to do the job this may be a good step tonight i don't know i'll wait for when you discuss it but you got to do a lot more this is a dangerous situation there's a crisis up there there are people with cancer children
with cancer there are people with colitis pas doesn't go away you know D is now promoting regulations on dealing with sephos i don't know how you can build residential housing on top of a pile of toxic water that can kill people
and it's it's a forever chemical that bioaccumulates in people so whether it's in the soil or in the water that is not a place for any development whether it's portable or any and my final point is this is an environmental justice issue we do not put our people on top of toxic mountains thank you
hello John Towns again Hancock Street so I got some kind of disturbing information uh one of the residents of the Hill had reached out to the court spoke with clerks and uh one of the things that was brought up was the judge
was not aware of the environmental concerns up on the hill well I think my city council should take offense as much offense to that as I do that our lawyer and whoever else went up there to speak with the judge didn't
bring that up by the way let's just clarify folks the POS is not just in the water it's in the ground now since I spoke to you guys back I don't know what August of last year I said that was
the city dump everybody gave me a dumbfounded go no no it's not there's no record in our files why hasn't anyone contacted the county they have the records or at least somebody from the
city should be going up there looking now folks I brought this up last time I came up here last month i said "Listen I'm not having a real warm fuzzy feeling about city leaders because once again Cognit Hill is getting dumped
on." Back in the 50s when we had 55 flood all the garbage from downtown was brought up to Lambertville dump when uh Lambert Lane uh what was it the uh Riverside restaurant burnt down where all that garbage go right up in
that dump in the middle of the 70s and it was closed sometime in that region now if I not being a smart person and you guys obviously being the smarter ones could find that out on my own why aren't we
investigating now if all you want to get together some money and buy a bunch of houses up there on that hill I'll take 500 for mine you can have it but all my neighbors are very very very frustrated with the glacial movement of
this committee of this council it's on you guys again if you want me to go do the the work I will you all read the article that came out today so now it's getting out there can
you guys please do something notify the court contaminated ground and ground water identify where that dump was and whoever owned it please thank you can you respond
council doesn't have to respond i'll have a brief statement uh and uh in a little while we're not obliged to respond uh we often do but uh I'll take it it's uh sometimes we like to hear everything we'll respond sometimes we don't have all the answers uh in order
to respond in in a way that somebody might like so um please go ahead and Marcia Tucker 19 Douglas Street um the Pass issue is more widespread than Bill it's all over Douglas i have high levels
please not please just one person speaking at a time so that everyone can hear the speaker thank you so I really would encourage the council to reach out to the state get it get the dump really treated and cleaned up because I've
heard there are 50 gallon barrels up there god only knows what um now there's more kinds of peas than just what is necessarily tested in the reservoir i don't know if they do the full spectrum but that's something I would be very
concerned about because each kind of peas has a different way of dealing with the human body so thank you for anything you can do to clean that up good evening members of the city council and thank you for the opportunity to
speak i'm here to express my concern sorry Sarah manip 62 fairy I'm here to express my concern about the closure of Kavala Park which is disproportionately impacting families particularly on the south side of
Landerville cavalo Park was an essential space for children and its closure has created a gap in recreational opportunities in addition to the closure of the park I must also address the unfortunate timing of the ongoing library renovation while I fully support
improvements to our community spaces the timing of this project with both the park and the library out of commission simultaneously has compounded the difficulty for many families the library is a crucial resource for education community connection and support and its
temporary closure further limits the opportunities available to residents in this part of the town i urge the city council to prioritizing finding solutions that ensure all neighborhoods are served equitably i would like to offer two potential solutions to help alleviate
the impact on families in the south side of Lambertville during this period first I want to bring to the council's attention an opportunity for funding that could help us enhance our recre recreational spaces the Hunter County Commissioner Board is offering a grant program in 2025 to support the
improvement and enhancement of recreational spaces the deadline for application is August 29th and I strongly encourage the city to consider applying for this grant to support the renovation of Kala Park playground second I proposed the consideration of a
temporary playground space in the Lambertville Station parking lot specifically where the construction area used to be this area is already an established resource frequently used for community events such as Shadfest and it could serve as a viable location for a
temporary playground by utilizing this space we could create a safe and accessible play area for children while construction is ongoing at Cabala Park both of these s solutions would be meaningful steps towards mitigating the impacts of these closures i believe they
are practical cost-effective options that will support the well-being of our families and ensure they continue to have access to muchneeded public resources thank you for your time and attention i look forward to hearing how the council will respond to these concerns and work to improve the
situation for all of our residents especially the families who rely on these essential community spaces thank you thanks Sarah responding to all of those things um thank you uh for for speaking uh the timing of the library isn't you know unfortunately you didn't
control the timing i mean the library has had paid on it for 50 years now and you know it's taken three three years to sort of come up with funding a plan um so you know all I can say is that in a couple of months the library is going to be fantastic it's going to be repainted
the interior is being repainted new carpeting um and they still do have programming we have a lot of people coming to the conference room in city hall but they've got a pop-up library they have some book time here in uh what's it which days is it wednesday Tuesdays tuesdays for like five or six
hours so you know they're trying to do the best to provide additional uh services while the library is undergoing this really I think a critical renovation um it's a it's a great project i'm finally able to kind of uh get it done um in in terms of the park
obviously we talked about this at the council level this is a problem that uh is has been uh you know we've been trying to sort through for years um and park is closed for the foreseeable future we don't have the timeline that there were some um folks down there
today from BSTI collecting soil samples um all I can say about the park is that I will continue to keep everybody uh updated in my weekly newsletter about timelines and what um we can expect we have um the city has bonded capital funds for uh any work that needs to be
done at the park including potential remediation of soils so um and and the timing is just going to be what the timing is unfortunately you know a lot of entities involved here question LSRP but the state is involved the DP uh the
city so I'm doing my best to move things forward weekly we're also having to move things forward in a structured organized way because Green Acres funding is tied into this project as well um so I think all I can tell you is I'm doing my best to keep on top of it uh every week
asking for updates to be sent to the DP and um uh really trying to move it along as as quickly but as safely and as efficiently as possible um the county parks grant I believe we have somebody working on that grant so one of our big
projects for 2026 will be to start u a community garden at the Hulcom Park so uh environmental commission working with the parks and rec commission is working on a the 14-month time frame with deliverables in terms of getting uh that up and running as a community garden so
we're hoping that we're going to be able to make that space uh accessible um ADA accessible to the best of our ability and certainly the county grant will help us uh with that so somebody is working on that i'm happy to reach out to the Lamberfield station um it's obviously
private property um so I can certainly ask um the only thing I would note is that um the playground at uh St andrews uh is expanding i just walked by today they were working on it and that will be open to the public uh during the
renovation not not during the school i don't know if we can get that to you but they're expanding the the access to that smaller park uh on York Street uh for families who are affected by the the the closure of Kala Park um I'm certainly more than willing to entertain any other
ideas or suggestions you have uh a group has started up in town called the Lamville Explorers uh fantastic they're getting kids out you know at least twice a month on hikes and things in the city and other things so you know there's some other opportunities kind of coming up here uh as the summer approaches you
know children uh benefit from activities so uh you should feel free to call me directly if you have any other questions i'm happy to happy to help coordinate uh and if you want to write to me I will follow up with or or send me your phone number i'll follow the field station as well yeah and um the recre parks and
recreation commission is taking a look at Elely Field to put in some things for younger students as well so yeah so there's some additional um some additional equipment that they're looking at putting in over there um we need to get the permission from the DNR
Canal Commission uh nothing is ever straightforward or like like that um so we're working through that it's a very devoted commission um with people who really really want to make sure that they you know we've done a lot in the last couple of years so uh so that was a
good point cindy is there something we could offer the community just in terms of open play space uh at the Colossian property behind Fisherman's Mark since we own that property certainly it's a I mean it's a park and
we encourage people to go up there and been uh convenient table better than nothing right it's just wondering right the the toys are for us for the parents right all right there is a park
up hill that's right there's that park um which has just gotten some some much needed upgrades we planted some trees we moved some newer picking tables up there thanks John um All right uh anyone else in the room dave Bird 255 Brunswick Avenue in
Lambertville uh just a followup comment consideration if it's not already been done but uh if has LPS been contacted to see if the what what we used to call kindergarten uh playground uh could be made available to the residents during
off hours so but that's just another thought um following up on Mr tiddle's comment and resolutions 78205 and 79 2025 for PIFA environmental consulting and legal assistance i would
ask that during the consideration of this resolution because this is the only time we can bring up the questions all right is uh to detail the purpose and expected outcome from the expenditure and also talk about uh the partnership
alignment with Westwell Township uh the neighbors uh to our this municipality to see if there is a consideration of working together and saving the money and you know spreading the resource uh
the other thing that I and and um is the historic preservation uh commission uh ordinance that's going to come up tonight uh I just want to make sure I got it right at the last meeting is the authority is only in the uh uh what's it
what's it what's CBD CBD all right but they're available as a consider you know as consultant for the rest of the city thank you thank you Um all right i'm gonna have a very brief statement when we get to the resolutions
about the two that are that are being mentioned here um and I'll talk a little bit about the the HPC orders when we get there as well um anyone else comments or questions how about our single person
online we have two no other interest in the public participation period i'll make a motion to close it may I have a second second all in favor please say I i i i i
just wanted to um say a couple things um about what is uh about what we were talking about just to please you know I um I I want to say I hear you about um
uh putting a robust defense on when we're talking about our housing issues um the environmental issues are very very concerning and it is incumbent upon us to be able to retain if we need an
additional consultant to prepare that material to present to the court um and and that should be part of our act ongoing activity i I and probably that you don't want to
hear my spiel about what you know the environmental issues there the environmental issues we all covered more recently and and and look how it has mushroomed into such you know one home after another after another after
another so it's incumbent upon us to also get that assistance as well um and I also think it's incumbent upon us to present a more uh clarified picture of what's going on with the department we've talked about that before in close
session as well i feel um you know it's we need to advocate for you and and be able to paint this picture of where this D um issue is going and what their vision is and and and how this is going
to progress and and where's the testing going next in being able to provide that and I we talked about um a way to do that of working with touchup attorney i'll be happy to work with her as well
to be able to provide that and then if you have another question we'll take it back because everybody deserves the answers and the information and and it's a it's a complicated issue it's a puzzling issue and it's a horrible issue
if you don't want to drink the water that's coming out of your faucet and you have to go through all of those machinations just to be able to you know feel good about you know taking a drink so that's my comment on those issues
the letter to the general I'm sorry public comments um Mr towns made a really important point I think in that we also have to make sure that our fair share of attorney um
is I don't know what the word is but you know kind of making sure that the critical issue in this case is the contamination and we have to make sure that our attorney presents that um
forcefully to the to the court so that the judge is aware of the concerns because you know you hear things like oh well the water's the wells are contaminant we'll just give them city we'll just give them municipal water that that'll solve the problem it you
know when it's in your when it's in everything it's not such an easy answer so I think um you know for me this whole issue pin it it it pivoted on the
contamination aspect of it you know I went from somewhat supportive to uh no no support because of that particular issue and I think we have to mayor we have to find we have to make sure that our
attorney understands that that's really a key it's the lynch pin of our defense in this case but I'm not aware okay um just a couple of followup thoughts so Councilwoman Kaminsky has
agreed to serve as a liaison with me between me and the city attorney to work with the D to uh to really take a more proactive stance um and get more information certainly my communication with them has been I think they've been
responsive um but I look forward to working with councilwoman uh in terms of kind of improving and building on some of the some of the work that D is planning to do and being uh you know given the timelines clarified and that kind of thing so uh we'll we'll we'll be
in touch um on that point um and you know I wouldn't I think that's all I'm going to say at the moment um and for for um um See Marsha I think we talked about
this at the last meeting and I put a note in math just to clarify so the D is going to be testing wells on Cottage Hill another 20 or 20 wells on Cottage Hill and 20 20 more wells on Kana Hill um they have provided me a list of the addresses which I can't share publicly
but it's a range uh to radius on on Cottage Hill so um they'll be reaching out they should I think the letters were I I haven't had confirmation from them that the letters have been sent but they will be testing on both both those
hills more extensively um and um that's all I want to say here um so I'm going to we close the comment period i'm going to move on to proclamations um so we have two proclamations uh this evening one is for
Arbor Day um we do this every year i think did we not close it i thought Yeah I did okay it got in under the wire um all right so everybody read the proclamation for our day i could read it
this evening but every year and this year um council president will be planting a tree with the tree commission uh or baptizing a tree and uh you know another skill watch you're
right to say that um there's no motion to adopt second All in favor of um proclamation do you say I i thank you motion carries uh now we have a youth week proclamation
jenna Clark is here she's the example of the Lodge number 1070 uh she and I have been talking about ways in which the city can work with the youth in our communities to uh increase and improve their civic understanding uh of how government works and how we operate so
um she's been a great advocate for this looking forward to having a bunch of students in uh city hall for a couple of days hopefully um talking about all the things that we have to do like all the things that we've been talking about tonight in terms of budget and uh you know permits and all that stuff so um
and I and uh she will also be working with Lieutenant Brown and the police department to have some interface over there um so that uh so that student level students will will understand how the police department has worked and how incredibly wonderful they are in
supporting our community so um welcome Jenna and uh are there any questions from the the council about this proclamation okay may I have a motion to adopt please so move second all in favor please say I
i i thank you jenna thanks for being here and uh we're here for you so you just let me know when you're ready to start loading loading us up with students yes um next on the agenda is the consent agenda resolutions on the consent agenda
are considered routine and shall be enacted by one motion should any member of the city council see exception of any item that I shall be removed and discussed separately um I just wanted to uh to talk very briefly about resolution
number 80-2025 and resolution number 81-2025 these would be appointments for uh the first one would be a company called Integral for technical assessment a preliminary data assessment uh for POSETs to review kind of the existing
data um reports that available publicly uh and so forth to give us kind of a baseline it's really an initial phase of understanding kind of um technically what uh what the challenges are the city face and residents face in in in the POS
contamination um the second uh resolution 81-20225 it's a resolution to appoint uh Jeremy Don Jillia Bulber Sagala um and this is uh because as it was noted by um
Mr till u the city has u more than 31 tort claims have been filed against the city for peas contamination 95 potential claimants um in this matter and so um this firm will be representing the city in terms of uh
you know looking at that and and potentially assisting us with the defense uh when things come to us so um was there anything else that the council had uh in terms of the consent agenda questions okay um hearing none I would
ask for someone to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda these are um motions number 76 20225 through 86-2025 so move second it all in favor please say I i thank
you approval of bills list we talked about earlier sign all the checks today cindy signs them lieutenant Brown is a cosigner council president's a co-signer so all the checks in the city are signed except for there's payroll checks that are signed by two people everything else
is signed by three people so uh it takes a long time it can always take sign on Thursdays the council meetings along me and Cindy and other tech um so I assume the council kind of look at the bills listings to someone to make a motion to pay the bill so move second all in favor
please say I i pay the bills um we have some ordinances to consider tonight uh first reading the first one is ordinance number 7-2025 this is an ordinance to amend the
Lambertville city code 2014 chapter 10 uniform construction code enforcing agency to amend the fee schedule so uh we talked again about kind of ways in which we try to keep current with um you know not just price inflation in terms of appropriation but
also in revenues right so we need to be mindful of of that um this ordinance is I think a very mild approach to raising some of our fees um in um in the construction office does anyone council have any to say about it
um not about this particular ordinance but in general I would seem to remember I don't know if it was a year or 18 months back we um we lowered fees for amusement and devices vending machines
and we looked at them pretty significantly um is that not an opportunity to at least bring them back up to where they were and you know and I mean in terms of like being able to provide you know increase revenue um you know we I'm not
sure why we I don't remember why we lowered them but it seemed like we cut them back pretty significantly i think that we lowered them to support uh an arcade an arcade because we thought it was a an important social environment
for teenagers and adults um so that was that was the reason behind that we want to encourage that social many I believe too we were talking about there aren't as many you know cigarette machines or you know there's not as much
of that uh here so and that so really focused on on that and we were giving them a little you know um encouragement in in terms of well plus plus the many of those fees were in place
since you know the 40s or you know they went that quite a bit when there were pool table yeah i'm just I'm just trying to figure if we can strike a balance that's all between the people who you know are levy
who's you know with their taxes their property taxes and you know there's an opportunity but you know well I think that we can put that as a conversation for the May 1 meeting i'm always uh willing to talk about opportunities um that like we don't have to overcharge
but like maybe we could nudge them up a little just like we're nudging you up a little bit because I don't think it's a good I don't think it's a good idea to to just like you know I I don't remember what the decrease was but say it was like a 50% decrease i don't think it's a good idea
to just you know prop it back up to that but maybe I don't know 10% i don't know you know it helps a little bit sure and it's really about the community as a whole as well hopefully you know with the the little bit of help that that has given the business you know they might
be in a position to be a little more and there's always possibility to as we had done with other other projects is is build in an increase over a certain amount of years so the business knows what's happening yeah as well in the
city and we've done that with the parking sticker we have and uh honestly all I live here i think they should be doing it with parking meters parking meters are still much less expensive than new home um and if you want to talk
about reducing the burden on the tax bill of the taxpayer um you know I understand that people coming to the city and that's increasing the burden on visitors but you know everything is a everything is a choice right so um yeah it's a give and take right
all right um I forgot where we were that's okay so so were there any questions then I would ask for a motion to introduce number 072025 of the public hearing schedule for May 15 2025
second all in say I i next is ordinance number 08205 this is an ordinance to amend the landfill land use lease ordinances article 9 historic preservation commission land development review section
900 um so we had anformational session about this ordinance at our last meeting a lot of great conversation we I see we have a couple of people here from the historic preservation commission this evening thanks for for being here and again thanks for all your work that you've done on this um currently our
current ordinance is only pertains to the central business district this ordinance would u allow possibility of an expansion but that's a very complic it's a very layered process with a lot of public input and a lot of um council
uh action may be required so it's just it's in there but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen um so um we'll have uh did we put all the resources online we put uh the highlighted yeah so no actually because
we don't do it until it's introduced okay oh it is already okay so uh so the ordinance is available to take a look at online um and as we do when we're amending ordinances we highlight the new sections so that it
really can be clear about what's new and what's uh original in the ordinance um so pending introduction of this ordinance tonight or following introduction of potential introduction of this ordinance tonight this would go to the um planning board for their
review and recommendation on um May to the council for second reading public hearing on May so any questions no I I was just uh thinking in spirit of uh what we were talking about when the
um good folks from the historic preservation commission came um the last time of that um since the CBD is really or or historic preservation you know area that it might be really neat to get
uh to start collecting perhaps some pictures of you know of how it's grown and changed and you know particular particularly maybe along Corel Street i know um because you know there's a lot of talk about all of those buildings and
we may be seeing a lot of activity there and I think we need to um as Lisa was saying and it was just an outstanding preservationist about understanding the features of these buildings some of the
things we may want to look into the next step of preserving and and and asking for and to see how these buildings have evolved because when you look at a building now um it's not what it looked like you know in 1910 or in 19 you know
there's p porches that are missing or verticose over it and it would be really nice to see because it would add to the experience and also our appreciation the historic values of these buildings as we
you know like kind of look ahead to the future or see you know the future building or whatever so I really I Lisa isn't here but or but but you are sorry I forget your name but
you know we could do that i think it would be kind of a neat exercise and um we really do uh we have some really incredible um you know buildings there and that and they've changed over the years and it's really neat to see how they started out
and how it's evolved so that's thanks for that reminds me of of a couple things um one Han County is are now undergoing an inventory here as part of their um their resource inventory so a bunch of us have volunteered to do the training for that and to come into the
city and u you know do an inventory of historic buildings in the city so I'm looking forward to that i'm actually hoping that we're going to schedule a training with the county up at the Hulcom House um and if anybody's interested in being part of that training let me know um secondly the Historic Preservation Commission several
years ago did create a book um with a lot of wonderful photos of uh vernacular architectural styles here in Emberville and one of the things I'm going to ask for in my capital budget my capital uh bond ordinance next month is a small amount of money for the historic
preservation commission to get that book up and printed right so that it can become a resource and also can be offered for sale to residents who are interested in it and possibly even expanded on the some of the things that you're talking about um so um I'm I I love I'm very happy with this
conversation that we're having about historic preservation and our goals and establishing them and and keeping to them and you know expanding them but also being you know mindful that things evolve in the historic town right so um so much for not talking to me too
much today that's it i'm going to be on the quieter side um so I would like unless there's any other uh questions to have somebody um make a motion to introduce ordinance number 08-2025 of the public hearing scheduled
for May 15 so second all in favor please say I i thank you all right the next ordinance uh for consideration introduction to L ordinance number 10-2025 this is an ordinance to amend the
revised general ordinances of the city landing 9 zoning 406 central business district section zoning 406.13 conditions for cannabis retailer we've talked about this several times here uh in public meetings um this bill would
allow for um any business any cannabis retail business with a good record of 12 months uh or longer to expand their uh the current their current hours under the ordinance um so there's been broad support for the the existing cannabis
retail uh operation in the central business district on Church Street baked by the river and uh this is a way that we're able to kind of accommodate an extension of ours in the central business district zone only will not impact the other retailers uh of campus
in other districts of the city um so council good motion move Second i'll second all in favor please say I question sorry um is there anything in here
uh in this modification that would give the city um you know the ability to resend the hours extension for some purpose you know I don't know for do we need to have
that in here do you think um and you can correct me if I'm wrong i don't know if Jess is going to know the answer to this and we can certainly get that question the licenses have to be renewed every year and that's contingent on the city council okay not not
approving them but there are there are So before we actually do this we go through a review and we look to see how many complaints we work with the police department um before we actually do a a renewal right we want to be able to
encourage you know good behavior you know for lack of a better term so um so we do go through that process i don't think the cannabis licenses come before you like the ABC do but we do a cursory review we start at the beginning of May
um their licenses run July 1 to June 30th just like the agency licenses okay thank you and and I would just say you know in the spirit of you know a small town right i I think that this business in particular we have a great relationship with them the city
has great relationship with them they've been very helpful and upfront accommodating and um you know I know the loss of law but I think that we we have a great relationship and we can use that if there's if if an issue comes up um so well the the ordinance lays it out an
ordinance will take it out right if if it's not if it's not performing the way that right the neighborhood feels so it's not a forever approval it's an approval to do it i think this is the third time the mentor can ordinance
since it was enacted in 2021 or whatever that was yeah yeah so um well it was always it I was involved with Councilman Sanders on this it was always a uh a uh
ordinance that we knew that we would be amending somehow as time goes through so this is just one of you know one of the another amendment we made to have uh to to uh help business in the CBD but it it
it's also uh worded in such a way where it's where if it acts negatively on the community we will take those to heart and work with the purveyor whichever one of the two it is to make sure
that our permission that we're giving them to stay open later is not um a negative uh does doesn't leave a negative taste with the surrounding residential uh area
so yeah okay um was there there was a motion okay so do we make the motion to nasty so Councilman Ste made the motion you seconded thank you and so now we just
need a vote noting that Councilwoman Trinsky always So uh all in favor please say I i thank you Councilman
um that's Yes that's right good so we're moving on to second reading ordinances the first ordinance this evening for second reading is ordinance number 04-2025 it's an ordinance to amend the
Lambertville city code uh 2014 chapter 7 traffic to install two handicap parking spaces so this would create two uh different handicap parking spaces in front of 138 South Main Street and on the north side of York Street in front of
65 so this is the second reading public hearing i've asked any members of the public who wish to speak to this ordinance to step up to the mic i'll state your name and address and question or concern anyone who would like to speak to this ordinance all right I'll make a motion
to close the public comment period on this ordinance second second all in favor please say I i i this is a fairly routine matter so I will just ask for a motion to adopt on second reading granting final approval of the ordinance number 4-2025
i'll second all in favor please say I i i carries uh next is ordinance number 05-2025 the salary and wage ordinance was established shelter city employees uh as you may note if you looked at the
uh the agenda there are the changes are made in yellow we've removed some obsolete um ranges for employees that positions that no longer exist um and um that's pretty straightforward we'll as I mentioned I think at the last time we uh
we're going to move to a different process for this we're going to do it yearly for the entire uh for all the employee city rather than bump them up when they're going up against the 2% increase uh it's less confusing for us in terms of internal processes and
finance and HR are there anybody online i'll make a motion to close the public comment period for ordinance number 5-15 second please second or second all those in favor please say I
thank you motion carries ordinance number 6-2025 this ordinance of city of laminville county new jersey would approve an affordable housing deed restriction for the accessory department owned by the city and located at 6 lily street mayor we closed the public
hearing but did we vote on it we did so I just had that you closed the public hearing but I don't have the vote okay um so let's let's do this again i'm pretty sure that we did it anyway um so I I said I'll make a motion to Oh
you that was that one motion passes okay thank you i'm sorry we'll just you know let's just do it one more time all in favor please say I hi hi thank you all right um I didn't hear I didn't hear Evan evan
did you say I I did yes oh I think I did thank you thanks so but we're now talking about ordinance number six the the deed restriction on the accessory farm owned by the city kind of
six mill street um this will be uh added for a affordable housing our our fourth round and for a 30-year period of time um it's a wonderful apartment and uh I think it's a nice it's a nice nice thing for the city to have um uh I'll open to
the public for comment or questions all right anyone online okay could you share the amount of the lease how what is what is the cost to rent that a month 700 a month 700 a month okay okay all right may I please
So we have to make have a motion to close the public thank you we have a motion to close the public comment period so moved second all those in favor please say I i public comment period is closed um and
you may have a motion to approve uh to adopt ordinance number six final approval second all right all those in favor please say I i that's great thank you no respondence um just a couple of notes
about ongoing projects we talked about the library already um the work is going quickly the lead remediation they're expecting to have it done in the next couple of weeks uh the building we've got the the painters all lined up for the exterior uh once the lead remediation is complete and the building
is prime um the uh the rits will be Oh my gosh repointed thank you very much sure you want to get us back early at the end of the month a few days um so the library
is moving really really well um two other things I wanted to note um so we worked pretty hard on getting uh a structure in place to create a farm market on Sundays in the library parking lot um had a a few applications and I'm going to pull this project until next
year we have a couple of volunteers who are really one of them is really an expert in farm markets she's been participating in a farm market for many years she started farm markets and uh I think we need just a little bit more time i came in a little bit if if we could please refrain from talking I'd
appreciate it thanks just it's hard for other people to hear um um and then I lose my train of thought um market there is a person yes so we we we've have a couple of great volunteers anyway I'm gonna I'm gonna put this off
until the fall we've got the structure in place we've got interested but given kind of the late way we started um you know we're having some problems getting you farms so in October we'll be talking about this again um we then uh just in
terms of announcements I have one announcement um Cindy Diggy is uh noticing a meeting that's going to be held on Thursday May 8th uh John Connors of Brickstone Realy and Ron Gordeski the president of refined hospitality will
hold an informal meeting here in the justice center it will not be a city meeting but these are the folks who have purchased the Cory Street properties um and they are inviting the public to a conversation they want to show um kind of what their thoughts are what their proposed plans are answer questions hear
concerns and have a general conversation so that meeting is being noticed um and the reason why it's being noticed is because all the council and planning board members may wish to attend there will be no action taken at that meeting it's not a city meeting it's just a meeting in which uh property owners and
developers can meet with the residents and have conversation uh it's my understanding that we'll have some slides and and visuals for for people to take a look at so that will be noticed we'll probably put in landful matters obviously it's an an area of interest for for many people here in the city
it's Thursday May 8th 7 p.m here did you have a question no that was my question okay what yeah may 7 p.m um website uh just a reminder to check out the website of the landing page for
all news we also post on Facebook we post many uh news about matters every week if you're not registered or if you're not uh registered for that please sign up i'm happy that I'm helping anybody with that uh city offices are closed tomorrow Good Friday in observation of the
holiday chat fest is scheduled for next weekend April 26 and 27 sparkle week um we've already started to kind of put this out there um Monday April 28th through May 2nd will be in zones in zones three and four zones are your
trash zones and Monday May 5th through that Friday May 9th will be uh zones one and two um and that's on the website it's on the website we'll be putting in Land Matters probably weekly maybe or we could put it in weekly since
um next meeting as well um please prime parade is Saturday May 17th and um we will have the annual Memorial Day parade as well on that Monday i think it's May 26th may 26 so thought about that as well all right i would now open this up
to the second public participation um period same uh guidelines as before we ask you mobility issues to step to the microphone the name address you have three minutes of uninterrupted time let's see about 30 second anybody have anything to
say okay anybody have one have a motion to close until move i'll second it all in favor i I I Thank you thank you everybody for coming uh we
appreciate as always in my residents here taking an interest in everything that's going on in the city and on that note I wish everybody a nice weekend and ask for a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor you said
I'm dead