and since this is already connected why don't they just good evening everyone and welcome to the meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey it is April 8th 2024 thanks for joining us and we will start with our meeting statement 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 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 LTI will do the land acknowledgement tonight thank you we gather today on the land of the Lenny Lenape as members of the Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for All Peoples and our environment we honor the laap 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 a roll call please miss peon lambrose is Excuse miss Neer gang here Mr Cohen here miss Sax's Excuse miss froga here Mr nulan here mayor Freda here you have quum if you'd like to stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice thank you okay we are going to start this evening with a uh presentation and a resolution the resolution is 24113 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton declaring the municipality of Princeton to be a book sanctuary and commending and supporting the Princeton Public Library Board of Trustees for declaring the Princeton Public Library of book Sanctuary is there a motion on that thank you Eve is there a second thank you Leighton and Eve would you like to start us off I would thank you so much mayor uh thank you for being here tonight for uh this important resolution this week is National Library week and today April 8th is Right to Read day it is therefore particularly appropriate that Princeton mark this day by becoming a book Sanctuary taking a stand against book Banning and censorship and firmly in favor of everyone's right to determine what they and their minor children read although we are by no means the first in New Jersey to take such a step thank you Hoboken for leading the way and for Chicago for taking the lead Nationwide we feel compelled to act because of the vast increase in attempts many successful to control what titles are in public libraries and public schools last year 4,240 unique book titles were challenged Nationwide a 92% increase over 2022 according to the American Library Association a very high percentage of attempted book bands are targeted at books written by and about lgbtq plus persons people of color and people from marginalized backgrounds and seek to impose restrictions based not on the quality or value of the books but rather on the political ideological or cultural preferences of those advocating for the Bands the freedom to read is a fundamental American right the first amendment put into practice the Princeton public libraries Board of Trustees passed a resolution to declare the library a book Sanctuary last month and council is proud to support and Echo this commitment a book Sanctuary upholds the First Amendment rights of all citizens and supports institutions in which book challenges must follow follow a specific formalized procedure as is done in our library and this is as it should be the Librarians at the Princeton Public Library are the best people to consider and make decisions about whether a book should be on the library shelves we can all acknowledge that not every published book deserves a place in every library but acquisition decisions should continue to be made by Professionals in the in the field state senator Andrews wicker who is here with us tonight and will speak shortly has introduced the freedom to read act to protect the First Amendment rights of all new jerseyans I thank the senator for joining this tonight at this important moment Senator would you like to come up and make a statement excuse me thank you mayor thank you to all the members of the council I'm not sure what to say after such a wonderful summary of both the First Amendment issue that is in front of us and our response uh first I want to Echo what we just heard which is to give my gratitude to the library to the Board of Trustees at the library to the staff of the library and to each of you who are following up with this resolution the fact that there are four thousand plus books as you outlined uh the statistics are approximately 40% of those books that are challenged now H are with lgbtq protagonist another 40% have a protagonist who's a member a person of color and uh sometimes it's both is just astounding that we're in 2024 and that we have to declare ourselves a book Sanctuary still boggles my mind I want to share with everybody who's here today and uh who's listening the fact that I was inspired to introduce the New Jersey freedom to read acts last year when I heard a presentation by a librarian by the name of Martha Hixon Martha said no to the bullies Martha said no to the people who came in with political purposes with the idea that they wanted to as you just said control what people were reading based upon their particular ideology uh the response to Martha saying no was pretty horrific the amount of abuse that she has received online and in person at at Board of Education meetings is just unfathomable and she's not alone Librarians across this state Librarians across our country now who are trained in choosing books as you pointed out trained in uring that the books that are in front of us open up our our brains our young people to new places new adventures new ideas are under attack as is the freedom to read and so this legislation which is in front of us and which we are working on which tonight is so critically important to help us build political momentum to get this done because let's be clear the other side while small in number is loud very loud in their voice and very loud in their misinformation and they are stirring up fears of parents because they know that that's what is going to work so the legislation that is in front of us will do a couple of things and I'll be very brief here which is number one standardize what the Princeton Public Library is already doing and others are doing which is that it's okay to challenge a book that's fine but we're going to standardize that process and we're going to ensure that you have to have a vested interest if you're going to challenge a book so what does that mean it means that if you live in this town and you want to challenge a book in that Library that's on the screen right now that's fine but if you're coming from another town another state that's not okay that if you want to challenge a book that's in a school library you need to live in that school district you need to have a child in that school district you need to work for that school district you need to be a member of that community so we're going to standardize it we're going to make sure that we can start to reduce the political part that's happening right now that's one two we are going to protect Librarians because no librarian ever signed up for this type of abuse that they're receiving we are fortunate in New Jersey that we have some of the stronger laws against discrimination at the state level and we're going to use those laws to protect Librarians and highlight that that's what's happening as well so to do all of that the bill is out there we're building political momentum we the normal line is contact your local state representative but he's presenting right now so that doesn't quite work but I do want to give you the bill numbers which are in the Senate it is 2421 uh sponsored by myself and Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz and in the assembly is a 3446 sponsored by another ld16 legislator uh newest member of our our delegation in the 16th assembly woman Melle drulis we need for you know not just to hear from you who live here in Princeton but in your networks to share this with people who don't live in Princeton who live in any Town whether that's in the 16th District or anywhere else to again reach out to their local legislature because I can tell you that when I talk to my colleagues in the Senate there is confusion about what this bill does and there's confusion about what's going on but as you said any parent has the right to have autonomy over their child and what they choose to read but no parent should have the right to say what I can read and my children can read or what you and your children can read and that's what the New Jersey freedom to read Act is so thank you for a few minutes thank you as I said to the library to the trustees to the council and to the staff here because this momentum is building from town to town and putting upward pressure to make sure that we get this done and it is just so incredibly important on as you pointed out today the national right to read day so thank you so much thank you [Applause] sen I believe we're going to hear from our library director thank you I want to just say thank you on behalf of the library to Mayor and Council for joining Princeton Public Library trustees in declaring Princeton a book Sanctuary City I'm extremely proud of this community for coming together to protect the right to read for all Princeton residents thank you to senator zwicker who I know is a frequent visitor to our library for being here with us to kick off National Library week which started yesterday it is more important than ever that we stand up to every individual ual's right to decide what they would like to read in addition libraries shouldn't be punished for serving their communities as we see happening in other parts of the country library staff should be celebrated for their commitment to providing free access to materials that represent a diverse variety of viewpoints as a matter of fact tomorrow April 9th is National Library workers day I hope you will join others in Princeton in letting our staff know how much they mean to our community every day thank you thank you Jennifer do we have any Council comments before we ask for other comments from the public mayor I I can pull this up real quick yes first I want to acknowledge Craig dinwoody our communications director and thank him for uh what I'm about to read this after this evening um you know we have our Bloom local campaign and uh we're very proud of what we do here in Princeton in the springtime and he's done a extraordinary job of gathering people together to put us on the map about being kind to each other uh beautifying our town and to recognizing our Department of Public Works people and other people in and around Princeton for various and random acts of kindness so um here we go the bloom local campaign is happening now during during the month of April and May Leon Leon we're still on the library the book Sanctuary oh sorry I didn't mean to jump to the rest of the council presentations yet just on the sorry sorry all right uh David yeah I just wanted to um say that I think this is so important and it's not just important for causes that are dear to our liberal hearts in Princeton but it's also important that conservative voices also can be represented um in our libraries and so um I think that might almost be more of a risk in Princeton sometimes that those voices would be suppressed and I'm glad um that this is Being Framed in a way that really protects all points of view thank you okay do we have other comments from the public or anyone else from the library board or anybody else I just want to thank you all for what you do come on so yeah sorry come on up to the microphone just say your name so we have it for the minutes my name is Bob Ginsburg I'm president of the Board of Trustees uh of the library we just want to thank you for everything you're doing for supporting uh our library in general but for supporting this movement as well thank you thank you Bob hi Chris Van Beren I'm the vice president of the library Board of Trustees I too want to thank you for what you've done tonight you know as a parent as a reader as a parent whose kids spend a lot of time at the library it's a safe space and I think that this thought leadership brings us to the Forefront of this conversation I appreciate your conversation about having both sides be represented here I think that's very important because of the discourse that can that can generate so I'm always proud when we step out and do something that I can be I can get behind and I think is is great for the community uh so thank you very much for doing so uh really appreciate it thank you Chris hi I'm Jeffrey Le I'm the treasur of the board of of the prin Public Library I'd like to thank Council like to thank senator zuker for all they're doing on this issue and agreeing with everything that Bob and Chris have just said as well as Eve and David and other council members have said um it is the national day where people celebrate the right to read but the right to read is Central to our democracy so this issue is not just about books it's about freedom of thought and uh with that in mind um I especially like David's comment which is this is not about uh progressives and liberals versus conservatives this is not about Republicans versus Democrats this is about all of us as Americans having the Democratic right to read for own opinions and it's just so important for our democratic system that this freedom to read is preserved so again I thank Council I think sen Zer and everyone and this F for your hard work on this issue thank you anyone else here in the room that wishes to speak to this wait yes sorry for losing my place a little bit earlier there but I do just want to recognize the work that the Princeton Public Library does I want to give uh Kim Dorman a shout out as a community engagement coordinator she is an extraordinary example of advocacy uh does her homework and completely gives all that she possibly can to build community in Princeton so uh thank you Princeton Public Library uh board and everybody who works there for all you give uh to us a very grateful Community thank you thank you Le yeah I'd just like to throw in real briefly to me this is a no-brainer in the fact that we need as the senator said the fact that we even need to worry about doing this is just unbelievable so thank you to the library board for bringing this up and asking us to join in also and thank you Eve for spearheading it with us okay any other comments questions if not all in favor of the resolution please say say I I I okay thank you very much next up sorry oh we're doing a photo real quick sorry photo op Senator come on up front here somewhere and we're all going to to thank you very much okay next up is the library annual report okay thank you all so much thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about my very favorite topic oh I'm sorry go I jumped right ahead sorry sorry Bob I just want to say a few things introduce Jennifer um good evening um I'm Bob Ginsburg as I said before and I wanted to introduce our trustees but you've met them um we want to thank you for approving the book Sanctuary resolution earlier this evening we also want to thank you for allowing us to share some thoughts with you about the library I've been in Princeton since 198 8 and retired in 20 uh 22 after 33 years with the uh Princeton public schools and at the time I was the board of EDS representative to the school board uh to the LI libraries Board of Trustees so I've been on the libraries Board of Trustees since February of 19 uh 98 so I think I'm probably the longest serving member of a commission or board or anything like that and I appreciate that the mayor and you all have approved me for another term um this is my first time trying to do something off my phone so bear with me um I've been with the library as I said for a long time and I was with it when we were first on Witherspoon Street then when we moved to the temporary headquarters at the uh the shopping center and then back to the uh site that we are now in the heart of our community on Weatherspoon Street which was uh an intentional move on our part because we wanted to be uh downtown where everybody could come and just as an aside um our current um average daily attendance is 1,700 people coming into the library and that only includes people come actually into the library not people walking from the parking lot through the library to Witherspoon street so that shows the the use and the love that people have for our library um uh before before I introduce Jennifer um our executive director I wanted to uh remind everybody uh some of what you've heard that uh this is National Library week uh today is Right to Read day tomorrow is national library workers day and a week from tomorrow is national Li librarian day um and so we hope that everybody will acknowledge um the work that our Librarians and our workers do not just on those days but all the way through the year um the library wouldn't be the institution that it is if it wasn't for the people who actually work in the library um so we thank them and it's those people who've made our library um the five star library that it is the national um Library Journal has rated us five stars they've did done that uh six years in a row we're the only Library Public Library in New Jersey to receive that recog nition much less for 6 years in a row and I should also point out that they acknowledged us as being the top in the whole country um library in our budgetary um category in terms of the way we manage our budget so we can assure you that um our our employees wisely and well use the money that you allocate to us and with that I'd like to introduce Jennifer padowski our executive director thank you B where was I yes my favorite topic the library um so you know it's an interesting exercise condensing the impact of our work in 2023 into one single 10-minute presentation um as a public library some aspects of our work are more obvious and others but this evening I hope to highlight some of the achievements from 2023 that we're most proud of the library is an integral part of supporting building and connecting everyone in our community in addition to serving the individuals in our town we amplify our work and expand our reach by serving our business and nonprofit communities okay by the numbers I love this slide I do I love looking at looking at the numbers because I think they just present so much impact uh in 2023 622,000 people per day and the library offered 1,821 programs last year which represented a 26% increase over 2022 given that Staffing levels have remained flat year-over-year the significant growth is indicative of the library's staff working tirelessly to provide the programs services and spaces that our diverse Community wants and needs on a daily basis Princeton Public Library is doing all of these things removing barriers to educate connect and Empower our community Bridging the digital divide over and over again year after year as that is still an issue promoting early literacy and enhancing educational opportunities for all children being a partner for municipal programs and Community nonprofits being a resource for employment Seekers and local businesses removing barriers to educate connect and everyone and Empower everyone in our community we're dedicated to dismantling link systems and processes that create inequity we're open 72 hours a week more than any other public building in town the library Works to address barriers faced by members of our community on a daily basis we provide Partnerships programming and a community events that educate connect and Empower people to break through these barriers for example our staff Works closely with the human Serv Prince Human Services to provide compassion and support to community's most vulnerable members we host immigration fairs offer citizenship classes and resources for English language Learners housing was a major Focus for the library in 2023 with our year-long housing Justice initiative we provided information on all aspects of housing Justice and assistance for patrons with housing issues via expert panels action fairs and resource guides the public library is also a partner for public health programs and education PPL offered Spanish language assistance to elll students at Princeton High School to help them apply for healthc care coverage under the Medicare expansion program cover all kids we're Bridging the digital divide one of the issues that emerged during the pandemic was that some members of our community have limited access to computer equipment and digital resources the library of things enables us to provide free Equitable and flexible access to technology items often with high cost barriers that people can use in an environment that suits their needs you may be surprised to learn that 327 mobile hotspots and mobile internet C kits were checked out in 2023 we've also seen a huge increase in the demand for ebooks and we are working to ensure that we can meet the needs of our community given the rise in cost of the digital materials digital materials cost three times the amount of a print book and they have an expiration which people are surprised to learn so while a print book may stay on the shelf and you can borrow it as many times as you want because you've purchased it an ebook expires after a certain amount of abuses so um it's it's definitely a big challenge this is all critical to ensuring that we can provide Equitable access to materials for community members who may not be able to physically travel to the library we are promoting early literacy and enhancing educational opportunities for all children we're removing barriers and we know that early literacy improves long-term outcomes for children the library supports learning and literacy with Collections and programming for children of all ages we have Partnerships with local Nursery schools as well as the Princeton public school system to raise awareness and increase access to Library resources there are special programs for ESL teachers and English language Learners including Library visits and tours conducted in English Spanish and Mandarin thanks to a generous Grant from Princeton University youth materials can now be checked out of the library with no fines or fees no fines or fees say that over and over tell everyone tell everyone you know librar fees can serve as we we do know this already and Studies have shown that Library fees serve as an economic barrier that impede access to library materials and services for the financially disadvantaged within our communities blocking access to those who need our library Services the most Princeton Public Library is a partner for municipal programs and Community nonprofits we serve our community best when we collaborate and share resources in 2023 564 of our 1,821 programs were conducted in collaboration with other organizations some highlights include a community discussion about juneth in partnership with the Civil Rights Commission Festival cultural Latino hosted in collaboration with 12 other organizations 33 events in support of the mayor's Wellness campaign our meet the community partner program provides monthly tabling opportunities to raise the profile of these organizations within the community the library is a resource for employment Seekers and local businesses the library is a popular destination in downtown Princeton bringing foot traffic to local businesses and alongside this this the library offers a variety of programs and services to our business community and those seeking employment or are in transition we offer lowcost Tech ready meeting space that can be rented by private businesses or Community nonprofits we work with Professional Services of merer County to provide to provide weekly educational programming Information Services and networking opportunities for job Seekers we partner with score to provide mentorship and support to entrepreneurs our adult services staff offers individual career support appointments aiding with resume development job applications and navigating career resources we also offer in-person training in our Technology Center for those who wish to learn new skills or brush up on existing ones looking head now we're all about looking ahead right so in 2024 we will focus on carrying out the goals of our strategic plan in the areas of accessibility innovation and infrastructure all of these initiatives aim to reduce the barriers that community members May face when utilizing our library Services some of those projects and initiatives include in the area of accessibility continuing to explore ways to eliminate fi the fines and fees that make Library use inequitable to the most vulnerable in our community instituting new features to make access to collections Equitable such as Auto renewals this new feature was just launched if you don't know um this will help patrons avoid uring late fines on materials if they're eligible for Renewal we're working to ensure that every student in our community has a library card we're expanding services to the Spanish speaking community in the area of innovation the library will begin expansion of a meeting room on the third floor to build the steam Studio a space that will make regular access to steam learning accessible and Equitable for the entire Community we are also looking to expand our library of things a collection of non-traditional circulating items that support our mission to engage Inspire educate and unite we will be continuing with projects to in the area of infrastructure we're going to be continuing with projects to enhance the community room and other Library meeting spaces these upgrades will make attending a program or event at the library a better experience whether it's in person or virtual finally but not the end because there's a lot more than this I just picked out a few highlights the library will be replacing most of the public furniture on the third floor due to significant wear and tear as most of that furniture is original to the opening of the sanss library building in 2004 believe it or not 20 years ago with this refresh the library took the opportunity to determine new programming needs for the space and provide furniture that accommodates current and future needs and speaking of the s's Library building we hope that you will all join us on April 24th 2024 as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Sans Library building thank you all thank you Jen any qu Eve I'll be quick uh thank you Jennifer for that uh chore and I especially appreciate and we've talked about this on numerous occasions how much the library does to ensure access to people who who don't always have it uh programs like getting rid of fines uh Outreach in Spanish all those kinds of things that we do to ensure that the library is for everybody so um I really appreciate that appreciate everything you and your staff do so thank you thank you thank you for that wonderful Pres presentation I I also want to say I truly appreciate uh the library not just for being such a wonderful Community partner uh but also you know just uh personally for my family uh my kids who since they were toddlers you know we that was their favorite place to go now they're in college but now it's my grandkids that get to enjoy that and it's just it's uh last time we went uh and something I didn't even know was available uh they found uh some kids to make bracelets so every time they go they find something new uh and it's just uh for them going to the library it's an exciting Adventure that I'm sure it's not just for my family but many in our community and I truly appreciate it everything that you do thank you thank you yeah I just want to say ditto to everything that was said and I'll see on April 15th cuz I have an appointment to come down and see the tax people to help me with my taxes so thank you something for everyone okay Jennifer any questions you were hoping we would ask you that we didn't ask or anything I don't I think you no just come to the library there we go we'll answer him there there you go thank you very much thank you all for being here thank you all right next up Drew Dyson CE o of the center for modern aging Princeton has a presentation you know let me just move that okay I okay that's okay okay I can wait I'm Joan ggas uh I'm the current chair of the board of the center for uh all right all right is that better yes anybody that way the the people remotely can hear you okay so again I am Joan ggas I'm the current chair of the board of uh the center for um sorry modern aging Princeton with known as cmap at least around our building and in general I think increasingly in the community I do still we both acknowledge that we are the Princeton Senior Resource Center and we if you if you write to the uh Princeton Senior Resource Center it will get flipped over to cmap I want to start just by uh thanking the council for 50 years of partnership this is this coming year is our 50th Anniversary uh which is an amazing run and through that entire period of time it has been in partnership with the council uh it couldn't it would we wouldn't exist without you just it's really that simple I particularly want to acknowledge Eve Neer gang who has been a just wonderful and remarkable liaison we have been very fortunate in our uh liaison she has um I don't know if taken under her Wing is the right is the right way to say it but she has certainly been an amazing partner as was David Cod before her uh and so we look forward to the next iteration um we are fans of the entire Council um the partnership that we have with the municipality is an unusual one because it's a it's a public nonprofit partnership and there aren't other uh there aren't other Partnerships of that kind very often and there are no other Partnerships of that kind in New Jersey uh in involving municipalities and senior centers so we are a very special relationship uh it enables us to uh serve the all the older adults in our community with remarkable programs of All Sorts um and we want to acknowledge as we celebrate and we are going to celebrate All of You Comm and part with us our 50th Anniversary we want to acknowledge the partnership with Incredible at uh gratitude and with a sense of looking forward of what's to come thank you thank you Joe all right mayor Freda and Council thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about uh the center for modern aging Princeton this evening and some of the things that we have been uh doing over the course of the past year it was September 1974 when when Joselyn Helm had a vision for uh serving the older adult of Princeton and at Spruce Circle an organization called tenant Services was formed uh to serve the residents of spruce Circle and that was the initial foundation of the Princeton Senior Resource Center That Was Then incorporated as the Princeton Senior Resource Center in 1978 began doing business in 2011 as psrc and then in January of 2024 as the center for modern aging Princeton uh our uh new name the center for modern aging Princeton that is a DBA uh because our corporate identity Remains the Princeton Senior Resource Center uh but that uh affirms several things it affirms first our commitment to uh the community of Princeton uh born here and continue to operate uh in support of the residents of the municipality of Princeton it incorporates our commitment to serving four different generations of older adults uh we have at any given time uh people from 55 to 103 and as you can imagine one of the uh few organizations like the library in our community that serves vast uh number of uh people across generations and many of our 55 to 70 year olds don't consider themselves seniors uh and so the the name change helps us to look uh forward to a new generation and connecting uh with all of the older adults in our community and reflects our in inovative and technological uh approach to the way we do our work our mission quite simply is to help older adults Thrive and that has not changed from the beginning uh in 1974 we offer support and guidance to older adults and their families we provide vital human connections compassionate Social Services Dynamic lifelong learning and meaningful volunteer opportunities for those in our community from 55 and above our strategic plan in 20 22 uh through 2027 had four key areas of growth the first one was diversity equity and inclusion we knew that we wanted to reach more diverse constituents younger constituents to increasingly reflect the diversity of our community more intentional connection with those in the transition years to retirement from 55 to 70 we wanted to expand our reach both locally expanding our presence in underserved communities such such as our our commitment in our affordable housing communities connecting with more homebound individuals but also connecting broader with people who either once had a connection with Princeton and then moved to a new location and were made connected to their friends or otherwise so expanding our reach expanding our visibility and our Communications through our rebranding renaming our new website and expanding our organizational capacity in two short years of this strategic plan uh the numbers here just tell a little bit of that story of where we've grown the bottom line number is in fiscal year 22 which ended in June uh of 2022 we had connected that year with 4,500 older adults roughly uh to date in fiscal year 24 which still has one quarter to go we've had 5,700 unique people participate in our uh program in our services and representing 25% growth just through the first three quarters of this fiscal year so we anticipate that uh continuing to grow even further but each uh number up here in that total represents a unique individual so many people participate across many of these different things whether it's in our social service groups or uh clients who are receiving case management or participating in uh a support group or our ongoing programs uh so there's been significant amounts of progress over the last year uh and I want to highlight just a few of those uh tonight the first area is in our Communications our renaming our rebranding our new website uh has been a major effort over the course of a year and a half and it continues to be an effort as we unfold that in the community as we share that renaming and rebranding uh broadly we've received incredible uh uh support and encouragement for uh the renaming and rebranding refreshing uh the look of what we do but also reflecting uh the The Innovation that we try to uh embody in the work that we do uh so the communications work has been a significant Mark of progress the thing that I'm most excited about is our work with the non-english-speaking community and so that those programs that I uh mentioned there in Russian Spanish and French are not bilingual programs but they programs offered in Russian programs offered in French programs offered uh in Spanish and uh portions of our newsletter offered that way in our Communications on our web page you can select the language that you'd like to view our web page in and you can translate the entire web page at the click of a button so that it's accessible to more people in our community we've had extraordinary uh connection with these groups uh just a few days ago we had our a Russians speaking tea uh and there were about 18 people that were gathered in the Nancy S Class Center uh I went to greet them and learned a few words in Russian but didn't understand uh a whole lot but it was more The Joy on their faces of having a community that they're connected with our Spanish book club when we first started it was a bilingual book club and we had a lot of um uh European English speakers who were intrigued and so we said well this isn't really what we're trying to to do so we said let's do a Spanish book and have the the the book club in Spanish in entirety and not a bilingual program and people began to come and people were drawn to the opportunity to speak their native tongue to engage in uh dialogue in new ways and so those uh programs as well as our bilingual Spanish English programing uh has been a significant area of growth for us we've added several new support groups in the last last few years aging gayy is a group of lgbtq older adults uh and it is a a significant and growing group in our community looking forward to celebrating Pride day we've partnered with both uh High Toops and the Beed Russen Center for different uh programs and work but to see these older adults come together and be able to be authentically themselves and feel welcomed in our space has been an incredible uh work that we've uh seen over the last few years uh additionally Forever Young is a new program for our 55 to 70 year olds Forget Me Not is a program for uh caregivers who are caring for a loved one with Dementia or early stage memory loss and the loved one that they're caring for so they come together for some shared programming they have separate programming and that has been uh significantly increasing over the last few months we've expanded our on-site services and our affordable housing communities as you know with the partnership with uh Pearl and now Conifer and seeing the work grow there uh but also expanding our hours at Spruce Circle and reading Circle our connection with Princeton Housing Authority uh and the work that's been done there we've carried out a Federal grant program for vaccine Health uh through the National Council on Aging uh in large uh part in partnership with the Princeton health department and we've seen significant progress in overall vaccine Health uh for over adults before we undertook the that uh Grant work uh there was a small percentage of New Jersey older adults who had received their covid booster shots and that was really the the goal we had a high very high percentage receiving initial boosters but then to boost the the boosters uh if you will or the new shots now that are coming out annually uh we've seen uh an increase in our uh board and staff diversity reflecting the richness of our Community new community connections through things like uh onstage seniors which is providing a venue for uh older adults to do dramatic Productions or Community Without Walls which provides Community to community peer-to-peer uh support we've expanded our intergenerational programming we've expanded our technology lab and we serve uh over a thousand older adults uh older adult clients every year with Technology support I know one of the things that I appreciate about the library is the commitment to uh Bridging the digital divide and that divide is even uh it's it's ratcheted up with older adults because the frustration with the technology let alone the access and so we provide the the the ability to work with people we've had a an iPad uh class where we have taught uh older adults how to use the iPad we have uh gone through several it's an eight-part course at the end of the course uh members of our affordable housing communities can apply and receive their iPad for free at the end so it's a grant program that they got the training and then got the iPad to keep and and take with them and so it's had significant uh impact through uh technology all of these things are significant signs of progress uh there's three quick stories that I want to share one is in our little brick School through our grandp Pal's program that I know many of you are familiar with for 25 years nearly every kindergarten student in Princeton has had a grandp pal an older adult reader uh several people on our board their children had grandp Pals and that's how they got connected with us Ella who's our coordinator of grandp Pals uh noticed a student next to one of the children's name at Littlebrook noticed a note next to one of the students name and it said Albert only speaks Russian uh so as a native Russian speaker herself Ella offered the librarian and the teacher to help with Albert and so she became Albert's grandpa but within a few uh short weeks uh she was able to recruit a grandpow from one of our affordable housing communities that speaks Russian and a native Russian speaker and Albert have been doing bilingual reading for the remainder of the Year our ESL class that we launched uh this past year 13 Spanish-speaking and russian-speaking students together with three different instructors learning a language uh that is new to many of them Yuri and Odessa are a couple that came here in February of uh 2022 fleeing their home in Ukraine and their plan was to only stay with their children for a brief time they've been here uh since then and they found a community at the center for modern aging Princeton and they found support through our ESL uh program and so that's been a significant work as well and then there's Maria from bogot Columbia who came to our first bilingual Bingo program and now connects weekly with the Spanish book club and with our Global conversations group and Maria told Anna who's our coordinator for uh Dei a few weeks ago uh she said Anna I was isolated and I was missing my home but now thanks to you I found a community and I found friends and so this is also uh the work that we've done so significant growth in uh the the efforts that we've made to reflect our community and to reach our community in significant ways in thanks in large part to the encouragement and the challenge of the council to do so uh and so we thank you for uh that I just want to close by a few things that are uh possibilities that we're looking forward to in year 50 as Joan said our 50th Anniversary uh that will celebrate beginning in September of 2024 and Beyond so we look forward to to branding the center for modern aging Princeton online a fully virtual Senior Center to provide uh the things that we provide but also to provide them uh through virtual capability so to be able to have uh lifelong learning program social service support uh technology education and be able to participate that in that fully virtually we look forward to launching uh in the years ahead in the next year uh third act a purposeful retirement uh focused on transition to retirement helping people with all the different aspects as they think about not only the the Practical aspects of transitioning to retirement what are the the financial implications the tax implications the housing implications but also helping people with the emotional and psychological implications of transferring transitioning to retirement one of the things we hear all the time uh from people who are newly retired is I went from having 300 emails a week in my inbox to 200 of them but now 198 of them are junk mail and because it's my personal email and so the idea of how do I feel useful in my retirement years uh is an important question we also intend to launch the older adult volunteer Corp our commitment as Center for modern aging Princeton is not only to serving our uh constituents but also the broader community and so we've worked uh with several other nonprofit Partners on an older adult volunteer Corp to help connect the older adults that we work with who have time wisdom expertise and experience with the needs not only that we have at Center for modern aging but also more broadly in the nonprofit community so the the concept behind this older adult volunteer Corp is that we would be a clearing house for older adults who want to serve and that we would continue to to expand our relationships with the other uh nonprofits and Community organizations to be able to to deploy volunteers so one of the things I've heard from my colleagues and other nonprofits is their difficulty in recruiting volunteers well we have the connections with the people who have the time in the experience and so if we can be a vehicle to help connect people that will not only uh boost our work but also the broader work of the entire nonprofit community and in the spring of 2025 we look for forward to launching uh a symposium on agism uh in the community and so we're bringing in National Speakers for that Symposium and to reflect together as a community on how agism is impacting our society and how it's impacting us here in Princeton and in Mercer County and to reflect on some of the research and some of the possibilities for what that can lead us to in the future and lastly let me say a word about our work in advocacy one of the things that we are committed to doing is being an advocate for the older adults in our community and in particular uh one of the the programs in New Jersey that's coming to an end this year is the affordable connectivity program two years ago we worked really hard going door too in all of our affordable housing communities to register people for the affordable connectivity program which gave them access in their homes to internet and that was an important thing and it gave them that for free as part of of the the program well now as that program is about to Sunset they're going to begin to get bills for that work and as you know one of the things that we're working to do is find ways to advocate for the affordable connectivity program to be built into uh our budget be built into our commitments as a state uh because that type of program when that goes away and when that access goes away it also creates isolation and it will lead to we know that isolation for older adults uh is a significant Health detriment to the same tune research shows as smoking a pack of a day of cigarettes uh that's how impactful social isolation for older adults can be so if we take away the digital connection that people have come to rely on in this post-pandemic world and whatever the future holds then we will do uh certain uh harm to the older adults that we all want to serve so that's something that we hope you will join us in advocating for the continuation of uh a program like ACP thank you very much and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you all have thank you very much questions comments Eve I'll just say uh briefly uh Joan and Drew thank you thank you for the work you do and I I I think you kind of saw yourself short in a way when you talk about what you do as the center for modern aging because as you have said so many of your programs are intergenerational I was just reading the the newsletter um you know you're hosting Coco for you know grandparents I assume to to bring their kids uh the grandp Pal's program you know a lot of other programs that you have that are reaching people far beyond just the designated uh age group um and I just want to say personally uh recently a friend uh contacted me because of a new caregiving responsibilities that she had and I was like oh I know where to tell you to go you there's a group you can go to at cmap there are social workers that you can meet with to help you and it was it was fabulous to know where to send them and knowing that they would get good help there and not every Community has that so thank you both of you and uh the staff of course for all the work that you do other Council comments or questions wait yeah Drew I told you on the way in this morning how excited I was about you coming here I read your presentation I just want to say we had two great presentations this today the first one by the library shows that Princeton is a great place to grow up and the second one by uh udw shows that it's a great place to grow old so uh good job for Princeton all around thank you thank you drew I'd like to just say thank you to you your staff and your board it is amazing that all you guys do so thank you very much thank you okay thank you all right we'll move on to announcements and reports any Council announcements or reports Lon do you have anything on uh is it the right time now yeah okay I'm going to get it right this time thank you everyone just want to talk a little bit about our spring campaign Bloom local and give Craig Den Woody who I believe left a shout out for the work he and our clerk Raina and our entire staff is doing the bloom local campaign is happening now during the month of April and May check out experience Princeton's website for local events happening in Princeton let's step into spring with A Renewed Energy and spirit celebrating this time of community and connection there are plenty of volunteer events taking place throughout Princeton such as stream and park cleanups that are a great opportunity to come together talk and ensure our town stays beautiful and clean the Spring photo contest is also happening now you can learn more about it on the homepage of the municipal website thank you thank you Le any other Council announcements sir e i I just have uh something brief on that uh for uh the center for modern aging Princeton uh they are hosting a spring concert on Thursday April 18th at the Stonehill church it's a fundraiser for the organization uh they have uh the Amazing Grace and glb Who present everything from Jazz to pop rock to R&B Funk to and following the concert there is a dessert reception so hope you they'll join them thank you any other Council announcements or reports okay let's go to public comments for items not on the agenda if anyone in the room or on Zoom has uh anything they want to bring up that's not on the agenda this would be the time to do it all right see nobody in the room and no hands up on Zoom we will close that part of the meeting and now we'll go to our public hearings we have eight ordinances for public hearing first up is ordinance 2024-25 negotiated purchase of property identified on the tax map of the municipality of Princeton as block 10001 Lots 1 2 and 14 located at 725 herent toown Road 823 herent toown Road and 915 Mount Lucas road pursuant to njsa 48121 and tonight is the public hearing so could we have a motion on this for this evening thank you Eve Leighton has the second Council questions comments de uh I do have a comment oddly enough um in December of 2021 Council approved the purchase of 153 acre trative land the largest parcel of undeveloped forested land in Princeton preserving that land added to our Green Space maintained native habitat for local flora and fauna allowed thousands upon thousands of trees to continue taking up carbon built resiliency against flooding and took a concrete step towards completing the emerald necklace initiative which envisions the ability to walk the entire perimeter of our community on public or publicly accessible land since that time council president miax and I have been working along with our indispensable Partners the friends of Princeton open space the ru Conservancy the New Jersey conservation foundation and the Watershed Institute to preserve the second largest tract of undeveloped land in our community tonight those efforts come to fruition this purchase would not have been possible without the expertise and hard work and the funding of our Consortium partners and I thank all of them for the countless hours spent on this project I also want to recognize our administrator Bernie husovic who is sick but I I see that he's on the on the zoom meeting so thank you Bernie without whose leadership and preservation this effort would not have succeeded uh Bernie has been absolutely critical uh to this effort and finally a shout out to our first and former open space manager Cindy Taylor who contributed to these efforts and our current open space manager who's here tonight with us uh ingga Reich I also want to note that although this purchase and the following bond is for 9.1 million State Green Acres funding County funding a special thank you to County Executive Dan Benson who went above and beyond the usual cap and private fundraising means that Princeton share will be around 2 million both those funds and the payment on The Debt Service for this purchase will come from Princeton's open space trust fund which is supported by a separate Levy approved by the voters of Princeton specifically for the purpose of preserving open space and those funds must be used for this Purpose with this purchase we move our Focus From the acquisition phrase to the critical priority of building Trails placing signs Ag and making these and other Open Spaces accessible to all including those in our community living in affordable housing and in the center of our town environmental justice has been and will continue to be a critical element of our Focus going forward thank you Eve other Council comments or questions public comment if anyone wants to come up and make a comment just come on up to the podium state your name and address and our three minute timer might come up but there is no danger of three minute timer because Eve has said everything important but um I am here tonight Wendy Meer 459 Cherry Hill Road uh on behalf of friends at princeon open space um I want to Echo the thanks to Municipal staff and to our uh nonprofit Partners on the municipality for uh bringing this project to fruition um and it's not just something that was turned to um you know after the success of 2021 I was looking at some of my notes about this property and uh they go back at least to 2012 and it's been in the um master plan as an important part soul to preserve for a long time um and I'll just say one other thing about its environmental significance um which is uh really going back to the 1980s and and the municipality has been working to preserve land on the ridge for a long time um you know Professor Henry Horn of Princeton University pointed out that um a really critical element is the this continuity and not fragmenting uh this environmental asset that is providing services to us such as Eve mentioned in terms of gathering storm water that otherwise turns into floods but providing us the mental and physical opportunities to really enjoy living in Princeton so thank you um I'm very very happy to be here for this occasion thank you hello I'm Christopher bar from 211 Ridgeview Road I'm uh speaking as the executive director of Ridgeview Conservancy one of the Consortium partners and uh I too want to express our deep gratitude to the council and particularly to Eve and to Mia as well as Bernie hos hostovich um for the leadership that you all have shown um as well as to our our Consortium Partners you know as Eve mentioned this has been a process that's been underway for several years um you know this was a a property that's been identified in Princeton's master plan um for well over a decade and uh as the largest uh remaining for for that's not yet under protection in Princeton um it's really critical uh that this property be protected uh it's I think very significant that it's contiguous with Autumn Hill uh preserve and uh virtually adjacent to Haron woods and so in a sense preserving you know this 90 Acres will um greatly enhance I think the the use and the environmental Valu and certainly the habitat connectivity associated with those two properties and I think more generally conserving these properties even on the periphery of Princeton it's the green infrastructure that Princeton needs to support the smart growth that's concentrated downtown and elsewhere um this property is significant for it's uh for supporting climate resilience for its uh the streams that run through it for the wetlands which support a mega population of of uh amphibians uh in the area it provides habitat for uh critical and endangered species the wood turtle uh the Red shouldered Hawk and I think in terms of equity and environmental justice a point that's often been overlooked is that it's immediately adjacent to affordable housing which is just down slope of where the where the um the 20 9 homes that have been uh proposed for the site would be and so it's easy to imagine that the construction of those homes would would uh you know contribute to flooding um you know just Downstream um and so we're really enthus is a critical part of Princeton's Emerald necklace initiative as as Eve pointed out and uh I think you know this is one more step where our generation of uh Princeton residents and uh organizations is really trying to secure the future for for future residents both in Princeton and and uh in in the area so thanks very much thank you good evening Sophie gloa 68 Drakes Corner Road I'm here this evening representing the Watershed Institute I want to Echo the thanks of everyone to the council members particularly even Mia to the staff uh to our nonprofit partners Jay Watson who is one of the co-directors of New Jersey conservation Foundation referred to this group as a dream team and I think that's that's really true and I'm just so glad to have been a part of it at the Watershed as you all know our mission is to keep water clean safe and healthy and preserving this piece of open space is directly relevant to that goal these Parcels are identified as the highest priority lands for water quality protection as identified by the New Jersey conservation blueprint this is a Statewide map that identifies lands that are important for water and Water Resources including Wetlands flood Plaines and land areas surrounding small Headwater streams as an employee of the Watershed I hear frequently from community members who are negatively impacted by the flooding that is the result of these extreme precipitation events that we know are going to increase because of climate change and preserving this piece of open space will avoid a significant increase in the volume of polluted storm water runoff that would have been generated by the additional impervious surfaces associated with these PL uh development and as stated before preserving this property also means that this large Old Forest will continue to provide the entire Community with many benefits including taking up storm water sequestering carbon and providing habitat I would just say to councilman uh nulan not with his acquisition not only is it going to be a great place to go to the library and Grow Up and Grow old but this open space is going to help us all to remain healthier both mentally and physically um hopefully for generations to come so thank you very much thank you am I supposed to write my name down no it's okay all right thank you mayor uh my name is Rob tangin and uh 66 Shady Brook Lane in Princeton um I'm not here representing anyone uh I just like to walk in the woods and uh uh for the last couple years I've been out doing that a lot I got new hips a couple years ago and I've been out loving uh living here um exploring off the beaten path a little bit trying to find my own I didn't know it was called an emerald necklace at the time but I was so I've been down that undeveloped stretch of herent toown road that adjacent to this right now dozens and dozens of times and I've always as a kid you know just brings out the little boy in me that says oh look at those woods over there I wonder what's over there and and to know that uh thanks to your work I'm going to get to go walk around in there now and find out I'm just ecstatic so uh I won't I won't belabor the point but uh one thing you know I like to find secret paths and I've I found a way to go basically from my house uh down five houses to Carnegie Lake and along the shore through a series of connected pths this will connect me even further I can get to this I can get to this stretch of woods with walking on A4 mile of Street and I can three miles of Woodland um easy so you know like I say connecting to to the community and making it easy to get people it's just awesome so thank you thank you very much anyone else in the room all right Adam do we have anybody on Zoom with a hand up oh I'm sorry one more in the room thank you I I'd appreciate if the clerk would not turn the count on I find it very distracting to stare at 4 foot high numbers flashing as I speak I think it's really quite disrespectful to the citizen I'm sorry to be quer you can say that but you still have Bruce I I was shocked to see that Mark I got to tell you I've never seen such a thing in any public meeting first of all as we ask everyone if you would state your name and address and then you have a three minutes to I don't mind three minutes but I was asked by Council M need again to brief you on what we had done in this case 3 minutes are not as fine but I have to tell you it shocked me to walk in here and see that thing you can get a small CEST so everyone can sees it I have been in court no Mark listen I amazed to see that all right you're not seeing numbers flashing as you speak we see it right in front of us we have screens in front not four feet high I was utterly amazed to see that Mark I'm not trying to be disrespectful to you but I think it's disrespectful to the citizen okay all right it turns what we have to say here or people have to say here into numbers it's not right I've never been in any public meeting anywhere where that is done okay with respect I'm going to decline to speak Bruce I'd really like to give you your full three minutes to say what you need to say fine well then note my objection I hope you will consider getting rid of that it is really wrong for the citizen to have to look at I'm amazed mark my name for the record is Bruce AF I'm at 10 BR Burn Drive uh council member n gang asked me to come and briefly uh describe the nature of what is being preserved and I had some medical procedure earlier today so I'm a little hard to speak it's a little hard to speak this is a very unique project and there are three things in particular that people don't quite realize about this project one is its history uh council member nulan has spoken to me on some occasions about this now we knew there was an African-American orphanage historically off the site of this property but what we learned in our research is that this property was the farm that supported the orphanage and so although we Mo in the modern day we have you know Parcels that are divided and this parcel no longer is on the same parcel where the physical orphanage was it was all one integrated element so the site first of all has historical importance the African-American orphanage was a major public project that benefited a very severely repressed minority community in most of the state but in Princeton there was even early on a different attitude so this property is indicative of that history and this is something we learned as we researched it so to put 39 units of Housing and make a plateau across this and dump thousands of tons of rubble is really antithetical to an important part of its history the second point is that this is not only a recovering wood Woodland in 1870 and this is part of our research the US Geological Survey ident identified existing Woodland on this site and we know where those were based on their Maps which means probably by 1820 that section of the property had been left intact and was never developed again so we're looking at Woodlands that are probably more than 200 years old comprising part of that property this is an extremely rare element in any wooded area in New Jersey this is something hadn't really come out in the hearings yet because we were at this for 5 years Mr Cohen knows but we hadn't really got to the expert testimony from the objective side this was something that would be brought up but I think it's important for the public to know we're looking at a piece of property that has Woodlands literally 200 years old the third element is that this is a fundamental part of the Vernal habitat in the community in addition to what Chris may have referred to about the emerald necklace or others have done too which closes that Gap this particular property is Vernal habitat registered by D and there are several areas of known vernal pools on this site now when Stonehill church was built and that serves a great Community function it did Cut Off part of the water supply to those veral pools what we pointed out and would have done more is that by building this Plateau we would have cut off the water supply and those vernal pools would have lost probably 30% of the natural water so clustering actually has some negatives which we would have pointed out I want to just say this is an extremely rare piece of property it is a recovering wood part of it as I said is virtually virgin wood the farmed area was last farmed 30 years ago it is already in what you can call a mids seral stage of recovery so it's a recovering Woodland it is a very large property it has diversity with vernal pools Highlands it has multiple areas of different herbaceous and Woody plants we identified I think 70 moth species which is a high indicator so in in substance for those who don't know about it and obviously there are always ways to spend money in different areas uh council member nigan asked me to come here and explain the importance of this site and I do want to compliment uh the Thompson family because lwin from the beginning had said it wanted to preserve it Bruce I need to ask you to WP that's fair enough uh but and they really did want to preserve it and you know although it's it's a high price in some ways um everyone came together from all ends so thank you thanks Bruce any other comments in the room thank you all we're just really grateful for the transformational leadership you show we could just again start with your name sorry Shanley at 211 Ridgeview we moved here from the Brazilian Amazon in Indonesia where we work on Forest conservation and where we see up close what happens when you lose Forest it degrades not only the land it really degrades the community and the people and so when we got here we saw green we were like Yay there's been these amazing people that have already done it and then we learned that the last two older growth unfragmented forests might be cut down and so it's been a long haul and it took a lot of education and work but we're thrilled locally it's important because a lot of these species that are rare and endangered need like 200 to 600 acres of intact unfragmented Forest they don't have enough to eat if it's not that large so that's critical it's also critical for human health as has been pointed out you know our community will be so better off when we can make linkages from downtown to these forests so we're not done yet and globally it's critical because without these forests Princeton would not have been able to get to 30 by 30 Global scientific consensus 190 countries have signed on to save 30% of the an earth land and Waters by 2030 and it should be 50% actually however for Prince to get to 30 we needed to get these and we've done it it's a legacy for the Youth the youth are really excited you're showing them an example and along with all of those in the room I'd like to thank to the herent toown Lane um neighborhood association that has been doing this research with Bruce afron an Matthews and her entire group did this way before any of us arrived they've been looking at this and working really hard so we thank them as well and um uh the ridu turtles are here in spirit they're really really grateful and we're glad that the emerald necklace will be happening thanks to all of you thank you thank you Trisha anybody up come on just really briefly um in 293 South Harrison Street I just want to say thank you very much to everyone who made this possible the first time I heard about the property was when I was reviewing the development application when I was with the Princeton environmental commission and it made me really sad to think about this wonderful place being developed so thank you and I'm looking forward to hopefully improving and making this wonderful place accessible thank you there's only one or two people left in the room you sure you don't have anything to come up and say okay I think we do have somebody uh yeah we do have someone on on Zoom Adam can you bring Jay in Jay hi good evening mayor yeah we how are you can you hear me okay yeah one second Jay hey Adam can we just turn the volume up a little bit Jay go ahead yes mayor thank you thank you so much for having me this evening uh I'm Jay Watson I'm co-executive director at New Jersey conservation Foundation New Jersey Foundation conservation Foundation I just wanted to join tonight just to thank you all for putting this ordinance forth to preserve these lands along the Princeton Ridge this evening um as you know we will not see many other opportunities to preserve tracks of land in Princeton of the size and importance uh this is a really Forward Thinking project that many future generations of people flora and fauna will enjoy and um as has been said earlier accomplishing projects of this magnitude like this have a lot of moving parts and complications along the way I know many of you have been at this project for a very long time and as has been said earlier they also required the assemblage of many partners to convene to ensure their success as Council uh woman near gang and Sophie mentioned earlier and I really do believe that a dream team dream team has convened to get these projects done in Princeton along the Princeton Ridge and this Emerald necklace and we thank all of the Princeton team for for getting this important getting us to this important point and we're really grateful that you brought New Jersey conservation found into this project and into this work as a funding partner and a technical partner so thank you and congratulations to everybody involved in this project thank you Jay anyone else on Zoom okay I think we've exhausted everyone that had a comment we will close the uh let me just make sure there were no other Council comments or questions okay we will close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Owen yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes Carri there we go success thank you next up is ordinance 2024-the appropriating $9,100 th000 therefore and authoring the issu issuance of $9,100 th000 bonds or notes of Princeton to finance part of the cost thereof and tonight is the public hearing is there a motion thank you Eve Leon's got the second any Council comments or questions see none any public comment or questions all right nobody in the room no one on Zoom all right we'll close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote please miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes Carri thank you now we're fully done on that ordinance 2024-the traffic movement on Chamber Street and amending the code of the burrow of Princeton New Jersey 1974 is there thank you Leticia is there a second thank you Leighton move and seconded any Council questions or comments any public questions or comments on the uh ordinance to address Chamber Street yes I'm sorry I just wanted to um double check with Jim uh I know that the uh the preamble to the ordinance indicates the construction will be done by May 16th um do you feel comfortable that even if construction is not done at that time that um this ordinance will enable us to reopen the two-way traffic and um the hotel folks will just have to work with us to uh finish up their construction after that date if if need be yes I feel comfortable that we will be able to work with the uh construction team at The Graduate hotel to uh to get the project done without serious impact to traffic thanks they'll be done okay any other questions or comments from Council any public questions or comments on this one all right seeing none we'll close the public hearing roll call vote M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes M Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 20244 Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements in and by Princeton in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating $16 m175 therefore and authorizing the issuance of$ 15,31 11,625 bonds or notes of Princeton to finance part of the cost thereof is there a motion thank you Leticia leighton's got the second are you are we presenting anything on this or I can okay yeah I I I have a uh PowerPoint to go through each of the ordinances yeah that would be great just have to have Adam FOC us up here all right hey Adam's our Tech guy in the back so I'm just not talking to some random person hey Adam in the back we need the uh presentation for Sandy there we go okay so this ordinance is a multi-purpose ordinance that's 16 million excuse me it provides $800,000 as a down payment if you remember when we introduced the budget we had a million dollars set aside for down payments for all these capital projects so we're under that number a little bit um and it's kind of hard to read these ordinances because of the way that they're put together by Bond Council based on the useful life of the particular project so I'm going to go through them kind of quickly um but the first section that we have is police and the uh one of the major um items for them is the sirens and lights for the police vehicles the police vehicles are not bondable through Capital they're an operating expense but we have to pay for the lights and sirens and that is bondable um you can read through the other you know the other items that are on here they always put in for the ballistic vests they have some uh firearm repairs and some uh uh upgrades to the Dispatch Center under it um and and let me also mention a a few other things we did meet with all of the Departments um we had a committee that went through all of their Capital budgets and what we looked at when we went through these Capital budgets was how much that they had already on the books that was not spent for a lot of these projects so the number on of all of these ordinances for tonight is close to 40 million but it was upward closer to 50 million so we were able to make a lot of reductions um on a lot of these uh request that we have um not really anything crazy here on uh it again this is one of the pro one of the Departments that um you know we did look at what they had provided um for some requests that they had made and we were able to make some some big reductions here as well um on Recreation the majority of their projects they have a lot of small projects on here um we were again able to remove some of their projects we have some grant funding that we were able to use for some of the wreck but for their biggest project right now is Community Park South I know they've done a couple presentations the survey work was done um and the RFP for Design Services is already underway um the library they were you know just here a a short time ago and they always talk about their furniture and their equipment replacement takes a wear and tear on a lot of the um foot traffic that they get there and so their requests were not they're sizable amounts but only three projects um engineering again you can go through the list but mostly their projects their big project for this year is the nasol streetscape we've had pieces of this project over the last couple of years but this is by far the design and construction is the majority of the work that's going to be done um they have various roadways uh throughout this project list and they they've identified various streets that they're going to um to take care of uh this upcoming year under the Public Works uh streets and Roads budget mostly equipment mostly uh Vehicles again we hold on to our vehicles you can see there's uh a 2011 that's being replaced a 2012 so we hold on to these vehicles well past their their uh useful life and so um you know it's it's time to make some of these Replacements um buildings and grounds is mostly the buildings um you know both here Monument the firehouses it includes a fire suppression system that we postponed from doing last year the HVAC system that's on here is again a project that we've kind of PEC Meed money over the last couple of years and this is the final piece that they will need to make that replacement um and then a generator for the firehouse and a floor replacement in this building it's hard to believe that it's $180,000 but we have a lot of lot of tiles and a lot of carpeting in this building um fire and you're going to see OEM which is next on the slide again there's not a lot of projects because they had a lot of money sitting on the books so we were able to make a lot of reductions on the capital projects for both fire and emergency services and that wraps it up for the multi-purpose one thank you Sandy any questions or comments for our CFO okay any public comment on this all right see no public comment we will close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 20245 Bond ordinance providing for various improvements to the parking utility in and by Princeton in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating $511,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 51,000 bonds or notes or Princeton uh to finance part of the cost thereof is there a motion thank you Leighton is there a second David so for the parking uh utility this is its own uh self-liquidating utility so so the down payment there's not a down payment required these are projects that we will raise in the operating budget for parking so that I I do not have to issue Debt Service it'll save us um you know Oodles of money down the road by uh handling these projects the way we have been so that's parking thank you very much any Council questions or comments I I just want to know is oodles the technical term Financial term come on financial term I haven't heard that one before but thank you Sandy any public comment or questions no one in the room no one on Zoom we'll close the public hearing roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 202 24-16 Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements for open space purposes in and by Princeton in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating $540,000 thereof and authorizing the issuance of 513,000 bonds or notes of Princeton to finance part of the cost therefore is there a motion thank you David he's got the second Sandy and this is for open space um last year was one of the first years that we decided to break out this open space even though we're going to finance this and we will pay for it as ' mentioned before through open space dollars that are raised through taxation but we also broke it out so that the down payment is coming from the open space so this Pro these projects that are listed in here which are are some work down at Mountain Lakes and also the Parkland diversion um that we are going to be on the hook for um and so that's these are just going to be funded for and paid for out of open space thank you Council questions or comments David yeah I'm sorry but I'm actually going back to the previous ordinance because I think there was a typo uh it read uh bonds or notes or Princeton to finance and on all these other ordinances we're saying bonds or notes of Princeton so yeah I don't think the or or the of is of any substance I I think it should be corrected yeah yeah yeah no thank you for noting it but I just meant we don't need to go back again we we don't need to go back to vote on it again thank goodness okay any Council questions or comments Eve on this one uh Jim and I had a brief conversation about this before so Jim could I invite you to uh talk a little bit about this one thank you um I I think the brief conversation was the mountain lake CP North restoration project I think it's important for Council and the public to understand that um we do take uh make a lot of effort to uh have things offset um the the CP North restoration project is going to be done under a national uh climate Solutions Grant um and we have a grant of $542,000 to uh to do that work the $50,000 in here is uh a small portion of that work that we have to use tax uh dollars for thank you Jun other Council questions or comments I see none any public comment questions none in the room none on Zoom roll call vote please miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried ordinance 202 24-7 Bond ordinance providing for various sewer improvements in and by Princeton in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating 13,550 th000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 13,550 th000 bonds or notes of Princeton to Finance part of the cost thereof is there a motion thank you Leighton Eve's got the second Council questions or comments I'm going to get to Sandy in a minute sorry go ahead I I just want to thank uh Andrew philippy our sewer engineer and Dominic iy our sewer operations manager um we've really in recent years turned around our attention to this hidden infrastructure and and focused on bringing it up to speed uh and and cutting costs through uh reducing infill and infiltration reducing the amount of clean water that ends up at our sewer operating plant so we could not have done it without the hard work of uh these two members of our staff so I just wanted to thank them thank you s and the uh these projects are sewer Improvement uh they're broken out because we're going to seek ibank financing for um the total of this ordinance can you just tell people what that means when you say I bank finance so we're going to borrow money from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection um one of the biggest benefits with financing through ibank we don't ever know as we're going in we don't know until the end of the process but a lot of times the projects there's a couple things either there some of the some of it can be at 0% interest or some of it can be um at 75% interest 75% off of on the interest rate if we pay them back within a certain period of time thank you very important detail and wise to take advantage of okay any other Council questions or comments any public comment or questions nobody in the room nobody on Zoom will declare the public hearing closed roll call vote M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 20248 ordinance appropriating $121,000 from the sewer trust fund to provide for miscellaneous facility repairs and improvements in in by Princeton in the county of Mercer New Jersey is there a motion thank you David leighton's got the second Sandy uh this one is uh funded by the sewer connection fees so um there is not a down payment that's required it's it's going to be paid for completely out of the connection fees and it's only for facility repairs um at the River Road facility thank you any Council questions or comments any public questions or comments Sandy I would just like to say thank you very much for being here and describing each and every Bond ordinance that we've just talked about because I think it's important to make sure hey we under we remember what we agreed to before but also for the public to hear what's what's happening so it's extremely useful thank you uh okay I'm sorry one more shot no other Council questions or comments just thank you thank you okay I'm going to cleare the public hearing closed roll call vote M ner gank yes Mr Cohen yes M froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you very much now we have a series of ordinance introductions and on ordinance introductions we don't discuss them because the public hearing is later on and if we start discussing them that defeats the whole idea of having a public hearing so ordinance 202 24-20 by Bond ordinance amending Bond ordinance number 2019-21 of Princeton in the county of Mercer New Jersey finally adopted May 6 2019 the public hearing will be April 29th 2024 is there a motion thank you David is there a second thank you Leighton roll call vote M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes M froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 24 20 24-21 ordinance by the municipality of Princeton concerning probationary terms and Pro Promotions within the Princeton police department and amending chapter 26 of the code of the burough of Princeton New Jersey 1974 the public hearing will be April 29th 2024 Leticia has the motion is there a second Eve thank you uh roll call vote M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 202 24-22 in ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regulating loading zones and parking on Chamber Street and amending the code of the burough of Princeton New Jersey 1964 the public hearing will be April 29th 2024 thank you Leticia is there a second thank you Leighton roll call vote M nerang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 2024 23 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regulating motor vehicle and traffic and specifically the exclusion of trucks over 4 tons from certain streets and amending the code of the burough of Princeton New Jersey 1974 is there a motion thank you Leticia leighton's got the second roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance Inc and farity clothing for Block 20.06 lot 87.0 Princeton tax map pursuant to njsa 42-1 is there a blatant thank you ltis has got the second roll call vote M Nang yes Mr Cohen yes M froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 2024-25 an ordinance of the municipality of Princeton accepting a conservation easement on Port on aort portion of block 2802 lot 1.01 Princeton tax map and authorizing the execution of a banked parking agreement with Mount Lucas Properties Inc pursuant to njsa 4A 12-4 is there a motion on that thank you David 's got the second roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you now we go to resolutions 24-14 resolution of the mayor and Council of authorizing an increase of $454 se9 to the not to exceed amount for the Professional Services agreement with Johnson Marian and Thompson Inc for construction inspections for the psng gas Services mod modernization program gsmp t-304 2023 for a new not to exceed amount of is there a second Thank You Leon and Jim go ahead and tell us the good news on this money coming from no this is uh for the inspection of our roadways after they get backfilled by the pscg uh contractor um psng has already reimbursed us for the $4,475 and uh had already reimbursed us for the uh has reimbursed us for the entire total already thank you Jim any Council questions or comments all right all in favor please say I I 2415 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the award of Professional Services agreement to Mueller and B PC to provide legal services in connection with the review of development applications to be paid exclusively by escrow funds for an amount not to exceed $162,500 thank you Leighton is there a second David's got the second questions or comments just point I'll point out that since this comes from uh escro account this is also not coming this is not the municipal dime or your tax dollars correct thank you for pointing that out any other questions or comments right seeing none all in favor please say I hi hi 24116 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the purchase of police vehicles utilizing New Jersey state contracts in the amount not to exceed $386,000 subject to the availability and appropriation of sufficient funds thank you Leticia David's got the second questions or comments we are hoping to have better luck this year than we did last year since all the uh all the Avenues to purchase Vehicles when they opened them they closed almost immediately so hopefully we catch up on buying police vehicles which we have not been able to do for like four years now uh okay any other questions or comments all in favor please say I I 24117 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing site license agreements with crown castle fiber LL LC for 18 locations thank you Leticia David's got the second any questions or comments leave uh just a quick question uh for Jim so most of these are T-Mobile and AT&T I mean the good thing I think Jim these are I think you said are going in on already existing infrastructure is that correct that's correct these are uh upgrades to existing uh um equipment on existing utility poles okay and the second question is Verizon also going to be doing making similar efforts to upgrade its uh infrastructure throughout the community um you will see that some of these actually do carry Verizon antennas um if you want I do have a few slides to present um to show you the improvements that we're getting sure okay Adam can I uh have table two please what's up on your screen is the map uh associated with these 18 antenna Replacements that are on the existing poles wait one second Jim oh sorry no we just got there we go that just came up okay good um so this is the map that actually accompanied uh what's in the uh agenda packet this evening um again these are existing crown castle uh facilities they are replacing antennas to improve and enhance the service that those antennas provide some of them are AT&T some are T-Mobile some are combined some also have Verizon on them um you have already approved a number of them so this new map also shows prior approvals and some of those prior approvals and most of those prior approvals were are actually Verizon antennas so they're already enhancing some of the um some of the uh cell service uh in these areas um I want to show you uh this is uh the Verizon site license agreements that you have recently approved as well um these are U mostly new antennas uh on new poles so uh what you see on your screen now are U new facilities going into areas that have poor coverage this is a cell network cover map um the green is good a very good excellent um cell coverage Service uh down to the different areas down to Red which is extremely poor service so I thought this was interesting this is in February this uh information is collected by signal detection modems within police cars so um they don't cover the entire municipality because the police that week may not have been in a particular area area to pick up signal coverage um I've overlaid um some of the more important um just I this is this is a an edited version of all of the antennas and showing the new antennas going in particularly in those areas of poor um cell service so you'll notice up on the ridge on Bogart Co Court uh over by um 29 fet for example we have new antennas that will be going in that will once uh activated provide better service in those areas of town um this is all because of council's insistence on meeting with Verizon and crown castle last year in May to um let them know how poor service is in town and they they took it to heart and they're working together with crown castle and individually to enhance the cell service in town Jim thank you also for all the work that you and others in your in your world have put into this I know it's been very timec consuming Eve uh Jim thanks I want to Echo what Mark said I know this has been your baby and you've worked really hard on it so thanks from us and from you know everybody in town who's going to benefit um that's a great visual I know that was similar to the one we saw at our meeting last May um I'd love to once these new towers are all installed and ready to go love to have you come back with like a before and after maybe that's something we can also if it seems appropriate share through our newsletter because this is been a complaint that I think all of us have gotten you know repeatedly for years and years so it is great to see that we're making progress here and and thank you no problem any other Council comments or questions all right see none all in favor please say I I hi 24118 resolution of the mayor and Council ofon authorizing the award of an agreement for extraordinary unspecifiable services with Princeton Senior Resource Center Center for modern aging Princeton for an amount not to exceed $66,900 as number 111 0- z-54 Princeton open space acquisition Eve has the motion is there a second thank you Leighton questions or comments on the motion seeing none all in favor please say I I next up is the consent agenda somebody want to move we pay our bills thank you Leticia David has the second all in favor say I I I and David do you have a motion I move the weer thank you is there a second thank you Eve all in favor say I hi I we're done thank you all for being here and staying to the end thank you