##VIDEO ID:3eOOl7rKT_Q## good evening everybody thanks for being here it is January 27th 2025 this is a meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey uh can we have the meeting statement first please yes adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act including the time date and location of the meeting in addition the agenda and all related materials were posted electronically and made available to the public on Princeton's meeting portal in advance of the meeting thank you very much Michelle is going to do the land acknowledgement this evening we gathered today on the land of the Len laap as members of the Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for All Peoples and our environment we honor the Lenape and other indigenous caretakers of these lands and Waters the elders who lived here before the indigenous today and the generations to come thank you very much can we have roll call please Mr McDonald here miss prone lambrose here Mr Cohen is excused Miss sax is excused Miss Fraga here Mr nulan here mayor Freda here you have Quorum thank you very much if you're able and want to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand I PL allegiance to the flag of the United States of America am and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you okay announcements and reports council members with announcements or reports this evening Leticia yes uh actually because because uh some of us receive uh some um questions from the public regarding some vehicle that were seen in the neighborhood uhhuh uh uh several police and official cars that uh from different jurisdictions and I just want to assure everyone that this was actually part of a training that uh that the police is actually the county training is conducting uh that Princeton is hosting and uh it's defensive tactics training which is required by the AG uh but nothing to be concerned about it's going to be taking place is it a week or two do you recall I think it's two weeks we have um we have at the former Hook and Ladder firehouse on Harrison Street a setup for virtual training which is super cool but anyway the other departments are taking advantage of us having this capability and so it'll be happening every day and I think there's two sessions a day so at some points during the day day a couple times a day there'll be a number of police vehicles either entering or exiting Breton but as you said no big deal right and and I'm just wanted to point it out because we did receive uh calls from concerned citizens wondering if something was taking place and just to assure you it's just training right in today's uh yeah I get it okay other um other I'm sorry Michelle thank you um I just want to mention this uh very exciting uh news I'm very um proud to to mention um that our executive director of the recreation department Evan Morehead um has recently gained a c certification as the certified Parks and Recreation executive which is the highest certification available at the national level with the national Recreations and Parks Association and he's only one of 11 in the State who has earned this so I just want to congratulate Evan and let everyone know um that you know we know that we have a really special department and a great leader um so I just wanted to commend him for that thank you thank you it's good to let make sure everybody knows other Council yes Bon yes mayor thank you this I'm going to try to read through this quickly but this is an important announcement I'd like to make tell somebody bring somebody do not come alone come out and don't even think about not being at the Arts Council of Princeton on Sunday February 2nd 2025 from 2: p.m. to 4 p.m. the Arts Council and the Witherspoon Jackson historical and Cultural Society will host a launch party and book signing on Sunday February 2nd from 2: to 4: the event is free and will include readings from Reverend Gregory Smith and a number of featured subjects as well as light refreshments and Community conversations so please come out uh that is Sunday February the 2nd from 2: to 4:00 p.m. for a uh good reflection on the Witherspoon Jackson Community and the um Reverend Gregory Smith was a book of poetry thank you thank you Leon any other Council announcements or reports okay anything down there at the staff table I I'm right last time I didn't think to ask so I'm making sure okay okay um next up executive director of experience Princeton Isaac evening your honor uh as usual I'm happy to report four things we accomplished last month four that we're working on this month and one big item before I dive in I do want to offer a welcome to uh Bri McDonald uh great to see you on the B be my first meeting I know you've had a couple so good to have you here uh so with that uh last month our Prince of monthly e blast had 4,297 cents 2,234 opens that's a 58% open rate it's the most open that we've sent out of the last 27 um we have three upcoming grants see that's usually my job to make sure that things on all right you're all good excellent sorry about that for the people at home uh so next up we have three upcoming grant opportunities from T-Mobile ARP liberal communities of Main Street New Jersey collectively representing over $200,000 of funding we're hoping to secure uh we have a kickoff uh we had a kickoff meeting for Restaurant Week for sponsors are rolling in and new this year we're going to have $25,000 of matching funds when people buy gift cards hey there it is uh but they have to spend the matching funds by the end of March um so we're hoping that'll drive $75,000 of spending uh we have a good chance to achieve that um and last but not least I did attend the lateen listen session the first one of the year and we heard the comment about the disparity study um and subsequent to the meeting we did an analysis of all the experience spending of experience Princeton since our founding and I'm pleased to report that 14.8% uh has gone to either a minority or women owned business uh which is nearly three times the average uh or the required amount uh at the state level so we're really proud to report out that accomplishment and we're going to keep going um additionally uh our our partners with Mercer County there 0% interest loans that they gave out 36% of which uh in Princeton uh went to underrepresented businesses too so Mercer County clearly uh has heard the message and is doing a good job with that so four things we're working on this month we have a launch party uh for restaurant week coming up on February 18th uh invites will be going out uh to all the restaurant sponsors Media Partners and VIPs I hear it might be after an executive session uh so little little note there uh for people who follow those things uh next up we have a virtual Meetup uh which will be returning Thursday February 27th at 10 uh the founder of New Frontier storefront will be talking about the website assistance grant from the NG njeda where they basically pay for a new website and already lilipi and Homestead have benefited uh from that program so we hope to get many many more to sign up um and third we're sharing our work on allowable uses with the municipality for your review and a special thank you to everyone we've talked and worked with it's been a highly collaborative process and as a result I think the work product is quite strong uh but we're looking forward to your feedback on that uh and last but not least uh we completed our first storefront Grant for the center barber shop at the Princeton shopping center looks great they're very happy uh all we have to do is deliver the check uh and we have several more in the pipeline our goal is to complete 10 storefront updates by June 30th uh and we're on on our way but we may need a little help to get over the line so last but not least uh the one big item is the main street now conference uh the largest gathering of downtown professionals each year is coming to Philadelphia uh from April 7th to 9th uh there is a Civic Le ERS rate which all of you are eligible for um and it would be great to see more people from Princeton attend this conference um it's so nice this year we don't have to pay extra to fly uh to go to some far off place um So currently I'll be attending along with Helena May Marina Rina and Elizabeth romano and we hope to add several names to that list with that that's my report thank you questions for Isaac Isaac do we talk to you about that conference or how do we sign for that um either way uh it we have the line item for it and the membership ID so it would be easy for us to register okay yeah just let me know I think there's a deadline on the 31st to get the lowest rate okay good to know all right well thank you very much oh I'm sorry Leon yeah I just want to thank Isaac for mentioning the fact that he actually did come to a laten's listens and I want to appreciate you for coming tell you how much I appreciate you for coming uh how much I appreciated you for uh listening and also just on a special note how much I appreciated you for intervening the way you did I'll just kind of leave that out there but you know uh Lon listens invites any and everybody on Wednesdays from 11: to 12:30 on this particular Wednesday there were three or four people there and a discussion quite frankly got a little heated and there were many variances of opinions and uh Isaac on his own saw problems and provided intervention that created a situation at the end of of four or five people sitting around uh Tipple and Rose in the back drinking tea and having a discussion left with everybody on the same page even though it didn't start out that way so I just want to thank you man because uh you you really created some magic on a Wednesday when I very least expected it so thanks for coming out and I hope to see you there again yeah my pleasure thank you okay thanks Isaac take care okay next up we have two sets of minutes to approve the November 25th 2024 regular meeting and the November 26 2024 closed session uh Laticia is moving that Michelle's going to second that any questions or comments seeing none all in favor please say I I Iain okay that's everybody all right next up is public comments for items not on the agenda if somebody on the room wants to talk about something that's not on the agenda this would be the time to come forward for that uh and if there's nobody in the room if there's anybody on Zoom that has a comment for something not on the agenda Dan did you want to talk about something not on the agenda yeah come on up and just let me give you the you're probably used to this but I'll give you the Spiel anyway just stay your name and address and you have three minutes to tell us what you want to tell us I'm Dan raport 300 bun drive if anyone has read tap into Princeton you would have seen a letter that I wrote about the passing of Mike subber and um I was trying to make the case that um since he was the first um person who was in charge of the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee um that I would like there to be some way of honoring him since bicycling is much more important in our lives now than it was in the 1980s and then I started thinking well why not anyone in Princeton who was the first person to chair a volunteer committee to some way be honored is is that practical thank you very much thanks Dan thank you Dan we'll we'll figure out how practical it is and you're now going to test our recordkeeping but we'll see what we can do thank you thank you and we can we can put that on the agenda we can ask Lori for the pbac uh we can talk about that maybe there's something the committee can do thank you anybody else in the room with public comment for something not on the agenda all right nobody in the room how about anybody on Zoom all right see no hands up and nobody else in the room I'll close that part of the meeting and now we have a uh public hearing on ordinance 2025-the the acquisition of a public access construction and maintenance easement for the mountain lak's Red Trail Footbridge the public hearing will be oh the public hearing is now can we can we do something on our pet our agenda and not yeah because I get confused and I start reading the fact that the public hearing is like right now thank you so anyway uh is there a motion thank you Michelle is there a second thank you late okay let's start with Council comments or questions if anybody has any all right seeing none how about anybody in the public either in the room or on Zoom that has a question or comment okay no questions comments this is a fairly easy one um all right could we have a roll call vote Please Mr McDonald yes Miss Peron lambrose yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you very much now we have a set of resolutions we have about nine resolutions 2544 resolution of the mayor and Council of the municipality of Princeton renewing lease agreement between Princeton and Princeton tennis program in connection with Community Park South tennis facility for additional one-year term Michelle has the motion Leighton has the second questions or comments Michelle uh just to say that um Princeton tennis program has been you for decades now a great Community partner with the recreation department uh so just like to thank them and the rec department um for continued collaboration on this program thank you any other comment comments or questions I seen oh sorry l yeah I I just want to add that you know over over the long haul this organization has done a good job of of Dei equity and making sure that they scan and include uh people of color from the neighborhood and do a good job of outreaching to make sure that there is uh Equitable uh Outreach in everything that they do in these programs and we appreciate that and we continue to monitor it and you know just want to let the overall public know that they do a good job all around in tennis lessons and you know keep a diversity uh at the top of their list thank you thank you very much any other Council comments all right I see a hand up Adam Adam's the guy in the back room controlling our technology Adam can we bring Felicia in I'm assuming she wants to talk on this topic Felicia if you could just state your name and address and then sure felici Fitz um five hasset Avenue I don't want to speak on this topic but I put a question in the Q&A that hasn't been answered and I just want to make sure that you saw it because I do want to speak but about something on the consent agenda okay when we get through these resolutions I always ask if people have anything on the consent agenda they want to talk about thank you yep thank you okay back to 2544 all in favor please say I I I 2545 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the third year of a 5-year contract with Interstate Waste Services of New Jersey Inc for solid waste and bulk waste collection utilizing contractor supplied 64 gallon carts for an amount not to exceed 1,412 634 Michelle's got the motion letisia has got the second questions or comments um yeah I was just going to um ask maybe uh Deana could just tell us kind of where we are with this um in terms of you know it's really important I mean we moveed to this new program um in the hopes that that would you know bring down the amount of waste and thus the amount of costs because uh waste management is becoming so expensive uh for all municipalities so I just wanted to ask if you want to give us any any more details sure sure um so the contract that uh Princeton is under is a 5-year contract and we have been tracking the tonnage that we have been seeing put out under this contract um in the first year we were at about 5500 tons uh it dropped quite a bit in 2023 and um 2024 is similar to the 2020 three amount of about 5,000 tons of solid waste that are being collected this puts us fairly close to the the levels we were seeing back in 2019 um we had an all-time high during Co of about 6,000 tons so this is definitely a a nice direction to be going in to uh get back to the preco levels that we were at um and we'll continue to work with sustainable Princeton to help educate the public about the benefits of um whether it's composting your food scraps on site or utilizing our food scraps recycling drop off program um all of those efforts really go along way to help um reduce the tonnage that we're putting out because food products in and of themselves I think take up about 25% of the weight that is in our um trash carts so if we can drop that number then we can really drop the the cost that is coming out of our taxpayers dollars great thank you thank you any other I'm sorry okay yeah uh de Jim the whole engineering department depart I I just want to say thank you because if you really take a A graned or look at these numbers it's clear that uh during covid we were way up and now because of food waste things that we are doing as a municipality that are chipping away at at the amount of money that we have to pay for Waste Management it's clear to me that if we use our Communications committee and and through our newsletter and get more people interested in the food scrap program that we can reduce our monies that we pay to waste management significantly and you know help us with sustainability so not to Communications committee which I and letia are on we're going to go to work on you know maybe creating more information for the people so in the town so that more people use our food scrap program to help us all around in a win-win situation make sense yep and that we appreciate that because we will have three new locations coming online for the food scrap program one uh General Johnson Road uh one by Littlebrook and one by Riverside Elementary we've gotten the new bins in and um we're just getting those set up to deploy and so when we send out our new waste mailer the information on those new sites are is included in that okay thanks TI thanks mayam okay any other questions or comments all right all in favor please say I I I I okay 2546 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the award of a Professional Services agreement to kg Law Group LLC to serve as municipal prosecutor in 2025 for an amount not to exceed $78,000 thank you letia is there a second thank you Michelle questions or comments all right see none all in favor please say I I I I 2547 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing an increase of $4,200 to the not to exceed amount for the 2024 Professional Services agreement with Cal sorus or maybe and uh Golson LLC to serve as municipal prosecutor for new not to exceed amount of $82,400 thank you Leticia Leon's got the second questions or comments all right all in favor please say I I I 2548 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the award of a Professional Services agreement to Shaw and Rubenstein LLC to serve as tax appeal Council in 2025 for an amount not to exceed $125,000 thank you Leighton for the motion letisia has got the second questions or comments all right all in favor please say I I 2549 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the award of an extraordinary unspecifiable Services agreement to Whitman for insurance claim assistance for an amount not to exceed $ 46,9 6250 Leighton has the motion SAR a second thank you Michelle questions or comments I see none all in favor please say I hi I 2550 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton for the appointment of authorized representative for purposes of filing applications with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the infrastructure bank for the municipality of Princeton's Hamilton Avenue sewer Rehabilitation project leighton's got the motion Michelle's got the second questions or comments um I just I'd like to just thank Dean and her team um we continue to take advantage of these great you know opportunities for financing through ibank um that you know are very competitive and you know it's hard to be competitive in when you have AAA ratings but they um not only have low or no interest rates uh sometimes they have loan forgiveness um as mentioned in this memo so um thank you I I don't know if you have any more to add but um you know I think it's really uh great that we have these opportunities um for different resources and grants so thank you okay thanks any other questions or comments all in favor please say I I I I 25 5 51 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton committing to dca's fourth round affordable housing present need and prospective need numbers latisia has got the motion Michelle's got the second questions or comments it's a good thing we do all right all in favor please say I I 2552 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing a supplemental funding request from Green Acres is there a motion on that thank you Michelle Brian's got the second questions or comments I see none all in favor please say I I I next up is the consent agenda there are six items on the consent agenda if anyone wants to pull one please L yes I would like to pull uh resolution 2554 there's some questions have come up that need to be resolved okay so are you um pulling it uh it table it or no we we I don't think we need a separate motion to pull anything off the consent agenda we just if somebody ask we just do that so are you asking that we move that for um for discussion are you asking to table that to a future date or what just I I for now table it to a future date because I'm not sure if it needs to be pulled completely or or if uh there's just some questions that need to be resolved can I okay so that would okay do you want me to you want if you want to move to table that that would be in order okay I'll I'll will move to table it for now okay is there a second second okay there's no no discussion on a motion to table so all in favor please say I I I'm sorry I just want to you have something were you able to catch who said I is all did everybody say I I I didn't but I'll say I I guess okay Brian did you say okay all right so that's that's tabled all right anything else on here that we need to you okay well I'm sorry I don't know if it's going to be moved but there was another one 2556 2556 oh no I'm sorry I'm sorry confusion the one that I wanted to table was 2556 not 54 54 I'm actually if anybody wanted to move it forward I I was just going to abstain I okay I'm sorry I know I'm apologies for the confusion we get confusion happens it's so it was 2556 that I wanted to table okay and the other one I don't know okay so that is all I think at this time there's public I don't know okay so hang on hang on just once something's tabled it's tabled I believe now can we vote to resend a table okay yes you can put it back on the table so if my bad if Leticia did not mean to table 2554 which is number two on the consent agenda and no one else is about if we resend it I'm just hoping nobody else then says that they want to table it so as long as nobody else wants to table number two okay we'll take a vote to untable number two Leon I just want to be clear at this time we are simply uning uh 25 5 56 is oh uning no we're uning I'm sorry yeah 54 yeah number two on the consent agenda we we are possibly doing that unless someone is going to make the same motion right after this then we're not going to untable it right so if we don't want to vote on that tonight we can table it to a future meeting okay can I amend I'm I'm asking that we table both 54 okay so we're going to leave the table for number 2 2554 in place yes now we're going to jump to number four on the consent agenda 2556 and you're making a motion to table that one is there a second on that one are you cabling 2556 appointment of Emergency Management Council that's the motion your no we're asking I I made the motion to table both 2554 the one is already T yes so now the new motion is simply to table number four which is 2556 correct I second that okay there's no discussion on that unfortunately so all in favor say I or say I I I I I think apologies for my confusion no no don't worry about it we're good all right so we tabled two of the six that leaves four others if there's no other anything on the other four somebody can move the four remaining items Michelle's moving the other four I'll move them and just mention the Felicia's hands up okay I'll get to that but okay there's no discussion on a tabled motion by us or the public but that's fine I'm sorry so you just move the other four Ive Brian seconded all in favor of the other items on the consent agenda I I okay the consent agenda is passed um Felicia I'm going to ask them to bring you in but there is no discussion allowed on a motion to table an item so I think we're preempting whatever it is you might want to say so I feel that was a little bit of a catch 22 Felicia spits five Haslet Avenue um when I first raised my hand it was not um the public comment section was for items not on the agenda so I would have made those comments then had it been tabled prior right but the the public comment earlier was for items not on the agenda and you wanted to speak to something on the agenda which is one of the ones we just tabled I believe right okay so when do I speak about 2554 when it comes back to council at a future meeting thank you yes sorry okay that's the entire agenda David's not here and he's usually the one that moves to adjourn but Michelle is stepping up to move to adjourn Brian is seconding it in record speed all in favor that wej the meeting say I I we are done and I would just like to say to the council members we have a group of four students right here that are came here to study public participation at uh open uh meetings and they might want a picture opportunity so don't disappear and they might have some questions anyway the meeting's over thank you all for being here have a great night