oh here we go Okay everybody good evening Welcome to the meeting of the mayor and council of Princeton New Jersey It is April 28th 2025 Madame Clerk could we have the meeting statement please notice of this meeting was provided in
accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act and state regulations governing public meetings including the time date and location of the meeting and clear and concise instructions to the public for accessing the meeting and making comments 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 David will do the land acknowledgement for us tonight We gather to today on the land of the Lenny Lape As members of the Princeton
community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for all peoples and our environment We honor the Lape 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 We have roll call please Mr McDonald here Miss Peron Lamrose here Mr Cohen here Miss Miss Saxs here Miss Frog is not in Mr Nulan here Mayor Freda here
Okay If you're able and want to please uh stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all Thank
you All right Uh announcements Council members any announcements or reports this evening leon I have one mayor Thank you Good evening colleagues staff members of the public Tonight I'm proud to announce that the CARES Committee the Committee
on Affordable Housing Racial Economic Social Equity and Services will be launching a community needs assessment this summer While we conducted a needs assessment with stakeholders during the height of the pandemic this will be the first comprehensive effort since 2014
where we reach directly to the heart of our community to the end users to hear their voices and better understand the critical areas of need among our most vulnerable neighbors our lowincome families seniors working families and those facing daily struggles that too
often go unseen Through this survey we will cover essential areas like housing health care mental health child care food security and more Our goal is simple but urgent to be the best we can be for our constituents in need We
cannot and should not do this alone Tonight I and Leticia Frag extend a call to action to all of our community partners our nonprofits our houses of worship our advocacy groups our service providers our healthcare leaders our
educators Invest your time your resources and your talents in this critical initiative Help us listen help us learn help us act We plan to conduct the survey during the summer months compile and analyze the data in early fall and deliver a full report and set
of recommendations by November Together we can build a stronger more just and more compassionate Princeton but only if we listen first Help us do this very important work Thank you Thanks Le Other council members with announcements or
reports yes Uh I know there were some uh problems from uh accessing the agenda and we're using a new software system and so Don do you want to so if you had my understanding is if you had something
bookmarked the previous link bookmarked that would take you not to what you needed for tonight but Don who is on top of this is going to explain So our new agenda software platform is called Legisar Uh we switched over to it
and went live on Friday Um if you go on the government tab on the main page of our website you'll see uh government resources From there you go to council agendas and packets and you'll click on
that and it'll bring you to the new platform You can bookmark that page Um the meeting link is available there and it is on the calendar So just to recap in case people didn't hear government resources
council agendas and packets and then um you should be able to find what you need Yeah Okay Great Thank you Other council announcements or reports brian Uh yes I just wanted to express my gratitude to the arts council and also
to Sustainable Princeton for putting on two outstanding events this weekend where I got to see many of you Um between PorchFest and uh the uh Sustainable Princeton event at Morvin it really was a great opportunity to see members of the community out and about
uh with overcast skies on Saturday and high winds on Sunday Um but we we made it out there and I just wanted to extend my thanks to those two organizations and all the the residents and the vendors and the members of our staff who um
helped make parts of it happen Thank you Other council announcements or reports okay Um Mr Kmer executive director of
experience Princeton I'm not even I'll just thank you for the introduction I hope folks can hear me There you go That was my filibuster There you go All right Thank you Uh
Isaac Kramer executive director of Experience Princeton Good to be here tonight again Um as usual four things that we did last month four things we're working on this month and one big item you should know about So uh we'll we'll get started Uh so last month our eblast we were really pleased went out to 4,830
people with 2684 opens That's a 59% open rate So uh clearly we found our audience and they're uh listening and looking and reading and paying attention which is great Uh we organized the ribbon cutting for Tropical Smoothie at the Princeton Shopping Center Uh great entrepreneurial
family that opened that Uh and I want to thank you uh Councilwoman Peron Lamrose and Councilman Nulan uh for participating in that event Um also I attended the Main Street Now conference in Philadelphia I was joined by a volunteer Elizabeth Romano Um and four
of the highlights of that uh it was a really big three days Um but four highlights are um they launched a national policy agenda for Main Streets Um so we're going to be very actively involved with that They're expanding their small business support initiatives
for the 175,000 small businesses in Main Street communities So this is a new initiative from an over 40-year-old organization Uh very exciting Um and also the governor of Pennsylvania uh committed $20 million to his main street communities in the next year So if any
of you know the governor uh here in New Jersey uh make sure you point that fact out um because that kind of support really is best in the country Um uh I don't think any other states rival it Um and the last thing we did last month was the virtual meetup on April 24th that
focused on our gift card program which has now exceeded over $121,000 in gift card sales Um and we shared successful examples Uh for anyone who missed it but wants to see uh what we presented search for Experience Princeton gift card on YouTube and there's a nice little 12minute
presentation there Um so four things we're working on this month Um our teams are finalizing their work plan uh and budget for approval Uh so the board's going to look at that next week and we'll have it to you uh next month Um and we're on track uh hopefully for
approval before the end of the fiscal year which is great Um we're finalizing the logo for Princeton 250 This was paid for by a grant uh from Mercer County and we're working with a local designer uh to put it together Uh I think it's turned out really nice uh and we're just
sharing it with a few few people before it goes public uh in the weeks ahead Um also starting this week we have a new volunteer working 12 hours a week on something called the Booms Tracker uh to help us monitor occupancy and vacancy uh in Princeton but this is part of a
national initiative through Main Street America too So that's going to be a really valuable tool and it's great to have that regular volunteer support each week too Um and last but not least our Bloom Bloom local promotion uh is highlighting businesses that excel at
beautifification uh and have attractive sidewalks and storefronts So this little card here which I know no one can see uh was attached to flowers that were given out by the garden club to businesses that have really excelled We're doing similar things with vaseful uh here
along Witherspoon and at the shopping center with Blue Bears just to offer that gift And the card says "Please accept this small thank you for helping Princeton bloom this spring with your beautiful storefront It's small touches like these that make Princeton truly
memorable." Um so that's that Uh and the last item uh for you uh that I want everyone to be aware of is on May 8th uh we're going to have national staff from Main Street America visiting for an assessment Um and they'll have meetings throughout the day with board members business leaders and elected officials
In the afternoon their findings will be shared with the experienced Princeton board at a special meeting at four o'clock at the Nassau Inn Uh and this is a necessary step as we seek to achieve accreditation uh as a Main Street community What that means is uh we're seeking to follow the highest standards
nationally when it comes to commercial district revitalization Uh with that that's my report Thank you Isaac Any questions for Isaac uh yeah Isaac thank you for that report Um so you mentioned that Governor Shapiro uh put aside 20
million for the Main Street program How does that compare with New Jersey do you know off hand yeah I do actually Since 2019 uh the state's committed $6.3 million uh to the 25 Main Street uh excuse me 29 Main Street communities in the state Um in the current budget uh
before the um legislature there's uh only $750,000 appropriated which is less than half of the current fiscal year So it's really urgent that we get to all of our elected officials uh and make the case that this money this support for Main
Street is also support for small businesses for community vitality um for creating the kind of places that we're proud about Um and certainly Princeton is among that as one of the 29 main street communities in the state Thank you Thanks for sharing that It's question a small it's a small amount in
comparison Isaac is is is are the funds geared for startups or are they for merchandising and marketing and public relations um so a lot of it goes towards the local programs that have discretion how they use it So um we could direct it
to businesses and to startups if that was one of our priorities here in Princeton Um what I find Councilman is that um programs through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority are better established rather than a locally run program like our own So it's
probably better for us to link and leverage uh with EDA which we do regularly and I can follow up and actually give you a list of all the EDA resources we've helped uh businesses in Princeton including startup businesses to access Thank you Y
I just want to say I'm sorry I didn't uh wasn't able to attend the ribbon cutting for the smoothie place but I am doing my part at least once a day sometimes twice a day and I highly recommend the detox island green Oh excellent Well they'll have to name that the MIA uh from now on
Uh but thanks for that And I do want to highlight behind every one of those business openings that there's some people with some really rich stories So I'd encourage you as you're available to go meet and talk with the owners the staff of these new businesses And I'll tell you especi especially for Tropical
Smoothie that he is committed uh to giving back and being committ connected to the Princeton community Um so if that um is important to anyone you work with make sure that you get to know him uh and uh and everyone else in Princeton uh
gets in there too Um because it's really when we have this uh connection between the businesses and the residents and we come together uh that we're so much stronger as a result Okay any other comments or questions isaac thank you very much Thank you
Isaac Next up public comments for items not on the agenda Anybody in the room have a public comment no Anybody on Zoom have a comment that's for something not on the agenda all right no hands are up We'll close that part of the agenda We have
resolutions First one is resolution 25-159 resolution of the mayor and council of Princeton authorizing an amendment to the term of the professional services agreement with H2M Associates Inc for engineering design contract administration and reporting services in connection with the cleaning
and televising of sanitary sewer trunk lines with no change to the contract total And the date change goes from May 31st to July 31st David's got the motion Brian's got the second Questions or comments all in favor please say I I
Uh resolution 25160 Resolution of the mayor and council authorizing the award of a bid contract to Zone Striping Inc for the 2025 2026 traffic striping and pavement markings contract for an amount not to exceed
233,133.77 Michelle has the motion Brian has the second Questions or comments david yeah I don't I know Diana and Jim aren't here so I'm not sure if anyone will know the answer but I'm assuming that the striping associated with
repaving that is being done by PSEG is not included in this contract but do you know that would be my assumption but I don't know that Okay I am pretty sure that you are right I am 99% sure that you are correct Okay I did I didn't ask them
that question but I I looked at the list and it's not the same as the list that you know we we um we reviewed at the U PBAC meeting which was going to have bike lane markings and things like that So okay
great Any other questions not just sorry just uh one of the interesting the and things in this line item that I read was like at the bottom uh $7.75 for one of the stripings uh was
the lowest bid in that area and it saved us something like $163,000 on that one line item So I just want to give a shout out to you know our our staff for uh saving us a lot of money in this situation Yeah there's quite a range between the low bid and
the high bit Crazy All right All in favor please say I I I Resolution 25162 resolution of the mayor and council of municipality of Princeton authorizing and amending Princeton affordable housing home improvement program loans Is there a motion on that thank you
Brian Is there a second thank you Leon Questions or comments all right All in favor please say "I." I I Resolution 25163 resolution of the mayor and council of Princeton authorizing a shared services agreement for health officer services between the
township of East Windsor and the Municipality of Princeton Sith has the motion Michelle has the second Questions or comments okay All in favor please say I I I Resolution 25164 resolution of the mayor and
council of Princeton authorizing the lease of public property by submission of sealed bids for a wireless telecommunications facility at the Princeton Public Library David has the motion Brian has the second Questions or comments david yeah I just wanted to
comment um express gratitude both to um our former colleague Eve Negang who um really um got the engineering department to work closely with the
library um to make sure that the design was something that was um very compatible with the existing library building And also thank um Jim and Diana for their
uh almost infinite patience as we work through the design issues Uh they needed infinite patience um the way this process went But the outcome is really good So thanks to to those people for helping out Thanks David Any other
questions or comments all in favor please say I I Next up is the consent agenda Uh we can move that in block unless someone has a reason to pull one of the items out All right Brian moving it in block Thank you Michelle has the second All in favor
please say I I I That passes David do you have a resol motion yes I move that we adjourn Thank you Is there a second thank you Brian All in favor say I I I We are done I was thinking of abstaining but I I
decided to