WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=FXFDc627zf0

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: FXFDc627zf0):
- 00:21:02: Meeting Call to Order, Notices and Pledge
- 00:24:38: Approval of Minutes, Mayor's Weekend Event Recap
- 00:29:31: City Administrator Report: Milling, Climate, Voter Registration
- 00:31:45: Council Update, Proclamation for Mental Health Awareness
- 00:37:47: Student Presentation on Franklin School's History
- 00:47:34: Recap of Budget, Public Hearing Opens, Council Comments
- 01:04:20: Summit Downtown Inc Budget Highlights, Hearing Opens
- 01:09:06: Resolution 12496: Municipal Budget Vote and Adoption
- 01:09:52: Resolution 12516: SDI Budget Vote and Adoption
- 01:10:46: Ordinance 26-3380: Closing Maple Street; Hearing Opens
- 01:11:37: Comments from Chief Peters Regarding Maple Street Closure
- 01:17:29: Comments from Chief Evers Regarding Maple Street Closure
- 01:19:06: Comments from Summit First Aid Regarding Maple Street Closure
- 01:20:10: Description of State Law for Street Closures
- 01:21:53: Public Comment: Stacey Allen's Emergency Situation
- 01:27:25: Public Comment: Katherine Mars re: Closure & Cameras
- 01:31:02: Public Comment: Lori Comus' Concerns about Maple Street
- 01:34:21: Public Comment: Tom Salszer Supports Closure Idea
- 01:35:14: Public Comment: Davin Shakuski Expresses Concerns
- 01:38:58: Public Comment: Irene Loard Opposes Maple Street Closure
- 01:42:03: Public Comment: Dileia Hamlet Seeks Additional Information
- 01:44:49: Public Comment: Sue Roberts and Chris Foley Donation
- 01:48:10: Public Comment: Dylan Baker Supports and Defends Donations
- 01:50:36: Public Comment: Rosemary Zadi Survey Authenticity Questioned
- 01:52:30: Public Comment: Nora Raidist Supports and Recalls Success
- 01:54:49: Public Comment: Greg Vartan Addresses Manufactured Fear
- 01:57:18: Public Comment: Jim Bennett Tabled OpEd and Short Recount
- 01:57:58: Public Comment: Emmy Havis Supports but Acknowledges Retail Problems
- 02:01:26: Public Comment: Janie Racklin, Concern, and General Parking
- 02:03:25: Public Comment: Retailer Concerns, Safety and Logistics
- 02:04:22: Public Comment: Maple Street Closure Drawbacks, Alternatives
- 02:07:35: Public Comment: Community Building Versus Inconvenience
- 02:10:34: Public Comment: Questioning Financial Gain from Public Streets
- 02:13:39: Public Comment: Supporting Community Gathering, More Than Dining
- 02:16:16: Public Comment: Historic Planning and Traffic Flow Concerns
- 02:19:57: Public Comment: Outside Dining Creates a Destination
- 02:23:25: Public Comment: Summit Children Living Like Throwback Community
- 02:25:24: Public Comment: Traffic Study Minimal Impact on Volume
- 02:28:49: Public Comment: Documentary Against the Council Majority
- 02:32:16: Council Member Comments Begin: Inaccurate Statute, Transparency
- 02:43:51: Fire Chief Concerns, Collector Streets, Planning Board Review
- 02:54:02: Council Member Comments: Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Calming
- 02:58:10: Council Member Comments: Security, Liability Concerns and Executive Power
- 03:07:20: Council Member Comments: Compromise During Slowest Times of Year
- 03:09:51: Director's Experience Leaving and Tactics of Campaign
- 03:17:30: Council Member Comments: Anonymized Small Business Support
- 03:19:19: Council Member Comments: Legalities, Executive Approval Missing
- 03:22:19: Council Member Comments: Alternatives, No Pedestrian Conflict Analysis
- 03:31:44: Moving Forward With Closure, Pop-Up Shops, Benefits Addressed
- 03:33:22: Reading The Ordinance, Moving to Final Adoption
- 03:34:52: Motion to Bundle Every Resolution For A Vote
- 03:43:53: Public Speaks Again About Recent Decisions Made
- 03:47:09: Audience Member Asks About Status of Firehouse Property
- 03:47:28: Taking Back the Motion From Last Moment Due to Error
- 03:48:29: Council Member Comments: Tatlock Lights and Misinformation
- 03:50:55: Council Comments: Soul Proms, Donations, Success
- 03:51:44: Fall Operation Lights and Appreciation for The Class
- 03:52:17: Public Safety Forum Discussed: Theft in The Town


Part: 1

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Y >> good evening. Um, I'm going to call the meeting to order and happy Cinco deio. Um, you're all here instead. We're so grateful. Um, madame clerk, would you please read the adequate notice of of compliance statement? Adequate notice of

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this meeting has been provided by the city clerk's office in preparation of the council annual meeting notice stated December 17th, 2025, which was properly distributed and posted per statutory requirements. Please be advised that fire exits are to my right, your left,

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and at the back of the room. The city has a listening system to assist the hearing impaired. If anyone needs hearing assistance, please obtain the system at the DAS and return it thereafter. >> Thank you. Would you please call the role? >> Mr. Ber, >> present. >> Mr. Chris Foley >> here. >> Miss Calmanson >> here.

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>> Miss Landman >> here. >> Miss Laroscina >> here. >> Mr. Pilowski >> here. >> President Hope present. Thank you. Um, okay. Mrs. Albanese would you and your students please lead us in the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of

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America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Um, so Madame Clerk, excuse me, let's

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get a little closer. Madame Clerk, would you please read the notices regarding closed session and hearings and comments? >> A closed session meeting is authorized by state statute, was announced and held prior to the start of this meeting, and the known items for discussion were listed on the published close session agenda. Please be advised that council

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meetings are broadcast live on Comcast [clears throat] channels 34 and 36 and Verizon channel 30 and rebroadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays on HTTV on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33. When invited to speak, please come to the lectern

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clearly state your name and address. Spell your last name and speak into the podium microphone so that your comments can be understood by all and properly recorded. Whenever an audience or council member reads from a prepare a prepared statement, please give or email a copy to the city clerk's office at

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city clerk@c cityofsummit.org. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and permit permit all to be heard, please limit your comments to no more than three minutes in length. Unless you are using an electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or need it for professional emergency contact purposes,

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please turn it off. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm going to expand a bit on the city clerk's note about hearings and comments. Um, this will facilitate a smoother process, particularly for those watching remotely. Um, if you are seated in the first two rows, please remain

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silent. Anything you say will be picked up by the recording microphones and it makes it difficult to hear the official proceedings. Um, the three minute limit on public comment corresponds to a little less than a single printed page. And if you're leaving your written

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remarks, please be sure your name is on them and place them in the box near the lectturn when you're done. And with that, let's move on to the city's business. Um, beginning with the minutes for approval. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of the regular and

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closed session of April 21st, 2026? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. On to reports. Madame Mayor, >> thank you. Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here tonight. Um, sorry

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you're not having a margarita instead, but um, so we had a busy weekend here in Summit last past weekend starting with our mental health awareness month kickoff event on the village green on Friday night. It was a wonderful event of connection and support and was part

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of the paint the town green campaign that we're participating in with 14 neighboring towns to raise awareness and end the stigma surrounding mental health. The green ribbons and signs that you see around town serve as a reminder that any one who may be struggling with their mental health should reach out for

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support to a friend, a family member, or maybe even a professional. And asking for help is a sign of strength and you are not alone. Please visit our website at cityossummit.org/mentalhealth for more information and resources. And thank you to Annette Dwire for and David

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Guida for um spearheading our event on the on Friday on the green. Um, we also had our an annual AAPI celebration and I got to wear some Holy Colors home which was very exciting. Uh, and the PLA fishing derby this weekend which are

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always wonderful events. I really did have a great time and I love seeing so many residents out enjoying these events together. I invite you to join us next weekend at the PLA Pet Show on Saturday, May 9th on the Village Green. It's free admission for all pets, not just dogs.

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And registration starts at 1:00 and judging begins at 1:30. I hope to see you there. Speaking of dogs, our temporary dog park pop-ups are back. The first location is open now in the Village Green across from the post office, and it will move to Memorial Field next. These pop-up dog parks are

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part of the city's effort to gather resident input on potential new locations for a future permanent dog park. We currently have a permanent dog park at the transfer station, but we're exploring additional options that may better serve residents in other parts of town. We encourage you to visit and

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share your thoughts by completing a brief survey at cityofsummit.org/dogpark survey. And one last animal related notice. The deadline to renew dog and cat licenses is June 1st. If you've previously registered your dog or cat with our health department, you should

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have received a renewal notice in the mail or via email if you've provided your email address to the health department. Renewal information is also and if it's a new license is also available on the city website at cityofsummit.org/anallic. Next, I have an update from New Jersey

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Transit about the stairs at the Summit train station which have been closed and are awaiting repair. And they've been closed for quite some time. And I hear a lot about this. Um, the replacement stairs are currently being fabricated offsite. Demolition of the old stairs and installation of the new stairs will

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happen after July 4th, but hopefully will be done by the end of the summer. Thank you to Assemblyman McCertie and his staff for continuing the conversation with New Jersey Transit. And now I want to say a few words about our summit board of education since this is the time of year when appointments

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are typically made. As mayor, it's both my responsibility and a real privilege to make those appointments when terms expire or when a seat becomes vacant. Over the past few months, I've had the chance to meet with and interview about 10 residents for three open positions. These conversations are always

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meaningful to me because our public schools are such an important part of what makes Summit special. They're not only among top rated in the state, but they're also at the heart of why so many people choose to call Summit home. And most importantly, they shape the everyday experiences and futures of our

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children. Since taking office, I have had the opportunity to fill six board of education seats, one of those twice due due to an early resignation of a member. Three of my selections were reappoints of individuals originally se selected by my predecessor. With every appointment,

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I'm looking for people who are ready to give their time, represent our diverse community, bring sound judgment, and genuinely care about our students, families, teachers, and staff. At its core, this process is about finding people who will show up, listen, and serve our community with thoughtfulness

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and integrity. I'm happy to share that my newest appointees bring a range of experiences and perspectives along with a strong commitment to our schools. They will help ensure that our board of education remains transparent, communicative, responsive, analytical, and a responsible steward of one of our

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community's greatest assets. Thank you. Okay. And now over to city administrator Baldwin for her report. >> Thank you, Council President. I think we should have students at every meeting. That was a robust pledge of allegiance. I loved it. Um, on to milling and

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paving. Please be advised that PSEG and New Jersey American Water have scheduled milling and paving projects on several streets in Summit beginning next Monday, May 11th. The tenative schedule that we receive from the utility companies is posted in the news section on the homepage of our website. Uh please do

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note that these schedules are subject to change. They are weather dependent as we receive any updated information and schedules from the utility companies. We will post those to the website as well. Our department of community services has partnered with the New Jersey D and

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Ruckers University to develop a climate change related hazard vulnerability assessment for the city. This assessment helps municipalities identify potential land use and zoning strategies to increase resilience to climate related hazards. A public

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engagement session will be held upstairs in the Whitman community room on Thursday, May 14th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. We invite you to join us to share your input and review findings from the draft assessment. There's also an online questionnaire that you can

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fill out if you're unable to attend the session. And more information about this is also available on the city's website. Um May 12th, the city's clerk's office will be open until 900 p.m. for voter registration. That is the last day to register to vote

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for the June primary. May 26 is also the start of early voting and the last day to apply by mail for a mail-in ballot for the primary uh in person at the city clerk's office for the primary June 1.

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Uh lastly, the May events for the Summit Free Market will be held on Saturday, May 9th from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Friday, May 22nd from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the transfer station. Summit residents with a parking disposal permit can attend, browse donated items, and

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take what they want for free. Please review the donation guidelines on our website at cityofsummit.orgfreearket before you bring any items to donate. And that concludes my report. >> Well, thank thank you, city administrator, and um I I was planning

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on talking a about a couple of those things. We don't coordinate, so I'll just fill in a few blanks. I am not able to attend the climate meeting next week. I filled out the survey. It's really easy. Um, not a problem. And for voter registration,

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17 year olds who will be 18 by the general election in November are able to register now and vote in the primary. So, if you have high school seniors or juniors who are 17, this is a great way to begin their hands-on civic

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engagement. Um, and be because the first Tuesday in June is the primary election, this council meeting will be held Wednesday, June 3rd, instead of Tuesday, June 2nd. So, mark your calendars. I know you'll all

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want to be there. Um, that's is what I have and I believe we have an a mayoral proclamation. So, back to you, Madame Mayor. >> We did. Thank you. Um, David Guida, I don't Is he here? I don't see him. No. Okay. Okay. And Annette, please come up.

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Somebody else wants to take pictures. >> All right. [sighs] So, whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being. And whereas everyone experiences difficult times of stress

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and anxiety and should feel comfortable seeking help and support to assist with managing those times. And whereas early identification and early intervention are effective ways of improving mental and overall wellness. And whereas mental wellness leads to higher productivity,

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better education experiences, and improved quality of life. And whereas a greater understanding of the science and research of stress and adverse childhood experiences is essential to preventing the over representation of mental illness within the criminal justice system. And whereas the city of summit

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supports reducing the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health diagnosis by instilling hope and providing access to health care and social services to assist individuals to live a healthy dignified life. And whereas each business, school, government, healthc care provider,

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organization, and citizen has a responsibility to report mental wellness, sorry, support mental wellness. And whereas we proudly support the ongoing work of the New Jersey Cross Town Mental Health Coalition, whose collaboration across our communities reflects the power of partnership in

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promoting mental health awareness, education, and advocacy. And whereas through shared initiatives such as the Paint the Town Green campaign, we visibly demonstrate our collective commitment to reducing stigma and supporting those impacted by mental health challenges. And whereas alongside

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many other cities and towns, the city of Summit is committed to creating a safe and nurturing community with accessible health services and education to promote well-being for all people. Now therefore, I, Elizabeth Fagan, mayor of the city of Summit, do hereby proclaim May as mental health awareness month in

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the city of Summit and hereby encourage all citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses, and schools to support their local communities efforts to increase awareness and understanding of mental health and the steps to take to protect their mental health and well-being. In

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witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and caused the seal of the city of Summit to be affixed this fifth day of May in the year 2026. And I [applause] and I I want on a personal note again to thank Annette because Annette and David

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Guida created this incredible um event on the village green in a 21minute meeting. It was legendary according to Annette. Um but but even more importantly to me and that s spent a lot of hours with the other 13 towns that we

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worked with um and in coordinating a really amazing month of May. And if you look at our city website, please do because there's um links to all things not just in summit but really in the 14 surrounding 14 communities that

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participated. there are events all all month and I really encourage people to get out and and be a part of it um because it's a really important cause and also not only did she spend lots of hours in meetings minus the 21minute meeting she also tied a lot of green

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ribbons around town and placed a lot of signs around town so Annette thank you so much for all you do for this community and for mental health awareness [applause] Thank you so much, Mayor Fagan, for your leadership on this topic that transcends

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um people, politics, communities, and so forth. If without that leadership, Summit would not have been able to host the 14 towns. So, I would like to give back thanks to you for the ability to do that and to David Guida Jr. who was the architect of that 21minute meeting. And

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for our businesses, um Kristen from Cannibal and Company is here. There are other businesses who are participating. And for Megan Trindell and the press office who really played a big role in getting the awareness um message out. So um without further ado, I'll just say thank you and looking forward to

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participating. Um again, thank you. [applause] Okay. Okay. Now for the best part of any council meeting. Um, council member Palowski, would you introduce the historical minute?

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>> I I will. Um, so a couple of months ago we did the read across the read across America campaign throughout the schools and all the council members and the mayor were invited to different schools. I had the pleasure of going to Franklin school and I was supposed to read to

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their fifth grade class but we never got to that. They just wanted to talk about local government >> and it was a lot of fun and towards the end of it we started talking about the history of summit >> and I asked if they would be interested in coming in and and giving a historical

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minute. So tonight five of those students are here from Mrs. Albanesey's fifth grade class. Ianclar Harper Alexander Wy Hair Reed Block and Bobby Kennedy. And who's Bobby Kennedy?

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>> [laughter] >> All right. So, uh, I I'll have you know that my dad wanted to name me, Bobby, Robert Kennedy Powski. [laughter] My mom said, "How about Robert Francis?" You know, um, and I I'll share with you

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my favorite quote from Bobby Kennedy, which was, "People say I'm ruthless. I am not ruthless. And when I find out who said that, I will destroy them." >> [laughter] >> So come on up. Let's have your presentation on the history of Franklin

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School. [applause] >> Yeah. >> Can [snorts] they use the steering wheel here? >> They're super techy. Who's going first? >> So, do you know how to just scroll down and press the down button? >> Do you want to do that? Okay, cool.

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>> Don't do my job. Don't do my [laughter] >> Just don't do it. >> Special effects. [laughter] >> I'll take care of it. >> Okay. >> Um, >> or do you need to read for this? It's also on the TV. >> Oh yeah. Okay. Um, celebrating 100 years

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of Franklin Falcons by me, Ianclar, >> Bobby Kennedy, Harper Alexander, Reed Block, Wy Hair. >> Okay. Um, who's >> in 1927, Franklin Elementary School was

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built. Since then, it has grown from a little school into a great learning facility. In honor of the 100th year anniversary of Franklin, we have come to this meeting today to give some facts about Franklin history. We hope you enjoy the presentation. Franklin goes all the way back to the n

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to the 1800s when the Franklin Schoolhouse was built in 1837, 90 years before the present. Franco Elementary School opened. This was not built in the same area as Franklin School today, but it was most likely

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inspire inspired the name. The current location today is on Blackburn Farm is on Blackburn Road where Blackburn Farm once stood. Franklin Elementary School was founded in 1927 during Summit's largest population spike where the

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population went from about 10,000 people to about 14,000. The original Franken only had two classrooms and close to $60,000 to build. There was about 50 students in each class and only two

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teachers. The first principal was Clara Aria. >> In the early days of the school, specials such as Spanish art and music were all in a cart. Teachers would put materials for activities on these wagons and push them to different classrooms to

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teach them. Around 1950 to 60, the tradition of field day started where activities were set up on the field and classes came out to participate in them. In 1973, an extension was added to Franklin, creating a library and learning workshop classrooms.

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Um, in 1996, five classrooms were added, which is now the fifth grade wing. At one point, Franklin had grades K to six and around 600 students before the sixth grade moved to the middle school in 1990 and the kindergarten moved to Wilson Primary

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Center in 1997. In 1999, the school was struck by lightning causing the need for many roof repairs. Today, there is an exhibit in the library where you can see artifacts from this event. In the early 2000s, the library

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experienced a massive renovation where many walls were knocked down, creating a more bright open space. At one point in the early 2010s, there were so many students that we needed a trailer outside as a classroom. In 2015 to 16, a

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huge point p portion of the school was added, including an elevator and four regular classrooms, as well as four small classrooms for speech and learning workshop. This area minus the elevator became a portion of the first, second, and third levels. Along with the new

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extension, Franklin got a new playground. Yay. Um, in 2021, the principal at the time, dog loving Janice Tierney, introduced the Read to the Dog program. Um, this program has helped with our reading

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comprehension skills. Um, shortly after, um, we upgraded our outdoor space yet again and we got new benches, new awning, and a Gaga pit. Um, in 2023, the SCF gave Franklin a grant

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to turn an um an unused computer room into immersive steam lab. Last year in 2025, the gym was repainted with brand new wall-to-wall mats. In the present, Franklin holds 364 students and close to 70 staff members.

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The grades go from one f from first to fifth grade. Now, in addition to paper and pencil, we each have our own computers called Chromebooks. And in almost CLA in in almost every classroom, there is a Smartboard instead of traditional blackboards. It is a

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thriving learning community where where students take in information and socialize. According to the last census, the population of Summit is 22,700. That growth is over nine decades since

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Franklin Elementary was built. Franklin did not always have a mascot. The Franklin Fair used to be entirely operated by parents. A lot of things happened in 1927, including Babe Ruse hit a record-breaking 60 home runs in a

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season. Holland and the Holland tunnel opened. The Franklin Schoolhouse was at 709 Springfield Avenue, which is now a townhouse. This building closed in 1872. >> From 1927 to 2026, Franklin School

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evolved from a small two- room space two room school to a thriving community with many resources and lots of space. It has come so far thanks to the SCF who funded the steam lab, innovative programs and so much more. Another big group, the PTO deserves credit because they have

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incorporated so many more so many fun activities and other experience that became a part of Franklin culture like author visits in our annual musical. We'd also like to express gratitude toward Mrs. Mills. >> Mhm. [clears throat] >> Our librarian because we would have not

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been able to make the slideshow without her. And to our teacher, Miss Alvinise, [laughter] who went out of her way to ensure that this was successful. We hope that this has been enriching and that you have enjoyed the presentation. Thank you.

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[applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> Thanks to all of you. That was wonderful. Um, and I'm confident you would all love to stay here for the budget hearing. Um, but my guess is your parents would prefer that you got a good

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night's sleep. Um, so so do not do not feel compelled to stay. [laughter] >> Thank you for coming. >> Thank you for coming. Mrs. Mills, [applause] Mrs. Albanese, and everybody. [applause] Um, before we move to the hearing, uh,

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we'll let let's we'll let these folks leave. Yes. Okay. And then folks who are standing can come forward. We now have have more seating available. Um

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we're going to move to the hearing for the 2026 budget. Um be before just before we do that, before we open it, um I'd like to ask city administrator Baldwin to give a very brief recap um of

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how we're going to spend our money this year. >> Thank you, Council President. I think I can do this well under three minutes. Um and I appreciate the the chance to give a quick recap of the 2026 budget. We actually just received approval today to

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go ahead with our hearing tonight on the budget. Uh provided great relief to me today and cause for celebration um as we potentially adopt this budget this evening. Finance Director Jennifer Kobisa and I have been addressing the comments from the state since they delivered to them them to us last

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Wednesday afternoon. So that is what we have been doing uh for the last four days. Um we did introduce the city's budget on April 7th uh at that meeting. You can find it online if you're interested in the detailed version of the introduction. I stood at the podium,

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gave a great presentation with some slides. I did talk to some folks who thought it was informative and easy to understand. So feel free to check that out and and the presentation itself uh in the way of the slides is also online. Um we will post the adopted version if

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it goes through this evening tomorrow as well. This was a pretty tough year for municipalities across the state. my colleagues, other CFOs across the state were all struggling uh with vast increases in all kinds of different

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expenses that municipalities run into. Uh it was very challenging. I have some colleagues who are looking at between five and 8% increases. We were not immune to that, although we did fare much better thankfully. Um health insurance costs for both the city and

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the employees here rose dramatically about 34%. Um, and about 800,000 of that is picked up by the city. Our municipal operations increased by 1.6 million and change. 245,000 of that was in salaries

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and 1.429 million in other expenses. Our pension costs increased as did insurance and utility costs. The finance committee worked tirelessly over several months to develop a responsible budget for the city with all

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of these challenges and it was no easy feat. Uh there were difficult choices to be made with regard to infrastructure improvements and prioritizing the overall budget. Department heads were tasked to reduce their budgets while keeping services at current levels which again is no easy feat but we were

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successful in that. So I do thank everyone for their cooperation in that. The 2026 budget is 63,427,236, which is an increase of three and a half% budgetto budget, which equates to $2,116,000

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above 2025. Uh don't be alarmed. The tax rate did not go up 3.5. We'll get there. [snorts] The average home assessment in 2026 is $445,000. If that is the assessed value of your home, you pay about $20,634

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in taxes. This represents a 27 increase or $162 increase in the property tax bill for the municipal portion of your bill. the tax base increased by um to $30.7

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million which resulted in an additional I'm sorry by $30.7 million which resulted in an additional 298,000 in municipal tax revenue gain which reduces the municipal tax uh impact to everybody else by that amount.

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If you received the 2026 I hope everyone did the municipal budget snapshot which gets delivered to you at home. It's quite colorful. You can't miss it. Um, you might have noticed that the municipal tax levy in total is 33.1 million, which is up from 31.8 in 2025.

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And this accounts for just about 21 cents for every tax dollar that you spend, which comes to the municipality to support all of the services that you all as residents, businesses receive here. The municipal tax rate increase is 2.9%.

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Uh we started out at about 5.3 and it was quite challenging to get down to the 2.9 uh but we did get there and while it's we would love it to be lower in order to keep the services that we have now that this is where we landed. In

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good news our net debt is at 63 million which is 63% of our uh the equation that we have to do is a three-year average of our equalized value. uh we are allowed to go as high as 3.5%. So I'm very proud of the work that councils have done

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prior years while I've been here and currently to keep that uh net debt down. Um and we are still AAA rated by all three rating agencies. So that is the overall highlevel uh

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finer points. Um again there's materials on the website that everyone can look at if they're interested. Feel free to email me if you have any questions and I'm hoping that we adopt a budget tonight and [laughter] we can move on in finance. Thank you. >> Thank you, city administrator Baldwin,

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Council Member Landman. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, and thank you again to Administrator Baldwin, Director Kablisa, every single city department head, all of the council members, the mayor for all of your hard work in developing the budget for 2026.

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all of us compromised in one way or another to make this budget work uh in a very difficult fiscal year. So well done. I'm grateful for your teamwork all of you. Um given we've spent a lot of time explaining the process and the numbers to the public, I would like us to use our time tonight for this hearing

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to hear your feedback. So with that, I move to open the hearing on the 2026 municipal operating budget. >> Second. >> Okay. Um, any members of the public who would like to make comments on the municipal operating budget?

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Don't all rush up. Any comments from members of council? Council member Lucer Cena. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh, I would just like to to again echo gratitude in particular for our city administrator, Miss Baldwin, our director of finance, Jen Kabisa, and the

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partnership of all of our department heads, several of whom are here tonight. Uh, again, these are these are very difficult decision decisions. Everyone came to the process acknowledging that these taxpayer dollars belong to the community and we treat every dollar as

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though it is our own. Um we we know that it's one of our most sacred obligations to be excellent stewards of the taxpayer funds and I feel confident with the rigorous process that our excellent finance team and our finance chair councilman councilwoman Landman led um

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that we have stricken the right balance between fiscal responsibility and investing in critical infrastructure and government services. So um a lot of gratitude for the team that came together for this this budget. I I'm very pleased with where we've landed.

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>> Okay. Anyone else? >> Yes, Council Member Powski. >> Uh, thank you. I support this budget and I only wish that we could do more. Um, one of the reasons that I ran for

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council was because I saw the deterioration of our infrastructure and assets, including in particular city streets, Anderson Fieldhouse at Tatlock and Cornog Fieldhouse at Memorial. And as I look back at prior budgets, there's

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a long string of budgets that were under 2%. So, while I'm not a fan of paying taxes or increasing taxes or anything like that, I hope that we can continue to plan ahead for the future so that we

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don't have big problems later on if we could address smaller problems along the way. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Boyer. >> Council President, thank you. Um, I'm going to try to push my way through the night if anybody struggles with

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allergies. you know, it's a it's a terrible thing. Um, but I want to start off uh by thanking uh the council and councilwoman Lamman and uh our administrator uh my council president

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and our mayor. Uh I I too support this budget. Uh but I have a couple of points. Um, I want to also start out by saying, um, publicly thanking the Summit Police Department for an absolutely

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outstanding job this past weekend. I don't know if you've heard, but last Friday at about 3:00 a.m., an out ofstate suspect uh, with an active warrant took a sledgehammer to one of our local businesses on Springfield Avenue and

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stole a high-end bike. But thanks to the tireless work of our detective and patrol bureau, they tracked down this suspect across multiple jurisdictions and made a phenomenal arrest in just 27 hours. Uh we asked them to protect

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Summit and they deliver. Now, a safe city does not Well, let me back up for a second. Our police were able to track down the suspect only because a private business owner happened to have exterior facing

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cameras that captured the street. If that store only had interior cameras, our police probably would have found them, but it would have been a lot harder. Uh they would have been a little bit more blinded to where this suspect went um and what happened in our own

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public streets. So, a safe city does not outsource its street level security to private citizens. Being one of the safest cities in New Jersey is not by accident. It is a manufactured condition and it comes at a

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cost. You do not stop investing in the shield just because it successfully is blocking the arrows. When you lay off the gas on public safety, you lose it. Now, I know uh we've been told that the

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city had to find money for raising for health care costs and utility bills and mandated library funding and all of that. I get it. Uh but improving and maintaining this city never stops. And next year, I guarantee we will be told

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that we still can't afford to provide cameras in our downtown district, which is absolutely ridiculous. um because uh we have to spend a million dollars to move our dispatch center to the fire department.

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Now, rising costs is an issue, but this city is one of the safest cities in New Jersey because we made an investment and it paid off. Our chief just gave a

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phenomenal report about burglaries and break-ins the other day. Uh a couple years ago, there was a group of young girls who were 11 years old and some guy pulled a knife on them in our downtown district. Had it not been for the camera at Lululemon,

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we would had we would had no video surveillance. And now in a little while we're going to be talking about opening Maple Street and having additional people come to our town and still we don't have any cameras in our downtown district. This was on the

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budget and it was taken off and you know cooler heads should have prevailed here and you know we should have kept this on the budget because this is needed. your safety is a concern. And this is one of the major points that while we're all up

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here now, I I I again take my hat off to the phenomenal job that the council uh and the mayor and the business administrator did with the the budget this year, but you cannot let your foot off the gas. You just can't. There's certain services

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that we need and we have to pay for it. There's a premium to live in this town. and you all enjoy it and you enjoy your safety. So, I hope that this council um can reconsider and find some money to start this process and stop delaying the

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inevitable. Thank you, council president. >> Thank you. Um yes, Madame Mayor, >> I'll be brief. I just want to shout out I know that people have already said it, but I think it it's worth repeating. um our CFO, city administrator and our

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director of finance Tammy Baldwin and Jen Kis Kabalisa worked tirelessly and when I tell you Tyler tirelessly it was every day not no weekends no holidays off every day for hours and hours and hours um until it was right until it was

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done. So I just really think that um everybody should appreciate um the people that we have working for us um and and trying to get it right. So thank you I can only echo that. >> Okay. Council member Calmanson. >> Thank you, Council President. Um I

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wanted to thank city administrator Baldwin and um Director Kubliska and um our um council members Lerina and I'm sorry, Laserina and Lamman for all of their hard work. As you know, we started out with a very challenging budget year and then when the firehouse didn't close

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on time, it became even more challenging and the cuts were already painful and they had to make further painful cuts. So I I really applaud them for that. Um you know it's like we have to strike things from the budget every year and it's not pleasant and you know I mean

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there it's it there's there's always you know there's there's always several things that we would like to include. You know we would have liked to included all of the maintenance in the slides in the aquatic center and the back stop at Memorial um needs replaced. there's always things that we have to cut and

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you know everybody we don't enjoy that but that's just what we have to do. Um so thank you again to everyone that worked really hard on this. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Ah Council Member Chrisy. Yes. >> Thank you Council President. Um I

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support this budget fully. I recognize the intense teamwork that it took to get this to happen. Um, my interest in Summit is the boring stuff. Making the trains run on time, making sure the clocks keep working. We

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have, and we'll come to this later in the meeting as well, we have heroic city staff, some of whom have spent decades here, incredible professionals that have dedicated their careers to making sure our town works so that most people don't have to think about it, right? They

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don't think about the infrastructure. But over time, I believe we need to invest in the systems that make us work better, smarter, and over time perhaps more cost effect cost effectively. But I want to make room in next year's budget for the systems, the computing, you

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know, updating some of the software and taking a look at how the city's working under the hood. And um so I want to see room in next year's budget for that when we have more time to plan ahead for those kind of expenditures and hopefully less uh health care cost expenses to

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worry about too. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Would you like to call the role please? Ma madam clerk. >> Are we are we closing closing the hearing first and then we're going to do resations later.

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>> Yeah. Oh, thank you. I am back getting this backwards. [laughter] Back to you, Council Member Landman. >> Well, I was just going to say we'll go ahead and close the hearing then for the municipal budget and we can invite >> um >> um

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>> Mr. Rob and Mr. Merritt from um SDI to present on the SDI budget. >> [snorts] >> Well, we're not going to do as well as the Franklin school kids. We have no PowerPoint and we're definitely not as cute. Um, hi everyone. Uh, for those

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that don't don't know me, I'm Bill Rob, uh, chairman of the board of Summit Downtown, Inc., this is Ray Merritt, our treasurer. I finally got somebody to take the treasur job, which I used to hold. Um, Summit Downtown, Inc., um, for those of you that aren't super familiar,

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is a specialty improvement district. uh SID um in accordance with NJ NJSAI 4056-65 uh to 89 allowing for designate designation of a pedestrian mall or special improvement district and for the collection of assessments from

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properties within the SID that are then turned over to SDI for operations. Uh you guys may know us um from some of our exciting events. Uh the farmers market brings 3 to 4,000 people to town each week on Sunday from April through November. Um, we are having uh two World

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Cup watch parties this summer. Uh, summit welcomes the world. Uh, mark your calendars June 11th and July 19th. Um, family fun night where I didn't write down the date. Um, street sounds which is uh almost a weekly event. You know, some of the performers around town that

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you get to enjoy um and listen to. Um, Arts and Cars in in um partnership with Potts Auto Body um and Spa in the fall. and um two horse and carriages during the holiday season. Um as well as um

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other interesting things which drive traffic to downtown like a gift card program. We sold over $30,000 of gift cards um for use only in in Summit um last year. And I probably have missed something, but um we've got a wonderful

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staff, two full-time staff. our executive director, Nancy Adams, assistant director, Windam Rothblat. Um Robin Cobran, who does marketing part-time, and then um Marin Mixon, who um basically uh helps run the the farmers market. Um I'm not sure if

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everybody has had a chance to look at our budget. Uh we have a balanced budget. Um income of $518,957. uh equal expenses. The majority of the revenue is um farmers market and the previously mentioned assessments. Um

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expenses include putting on the wonderful events and also um our uh tireless staff who accomplishes a lot on uh very few heads. Um so we are here to field questions about SDI, introduce

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ourselves and and um >> I think I've I've said enough. Do you want to add anything? >> I concur. Perfect. >> Okay. Council member Lambman. >> Thank you, Bill Rob and Ray Merritt from the Some Summit Downtown Inc. for your budget highlights. I've had the pleasure of sitting on the SDI board as a council

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liaison and therefore I've had time to review the budget in detail. Uh you have my support. Uh with that, I move to open the hearing on the 2026 special improvement district budget. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Do we have >> second? >> Oh, we do. Yes. >> Second.

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>> Okay. Thank you. Sorry, [laughter] >> I'm so anxious to hear any public comment on the Summit Downtown, Inc. budget. >> No, >> they all concur. [laughter] >> Are there any comments from members of council?

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>> Council President. >> Yes, Council Member Boyer. >> I would like to thank these two gentlemen uh here. And by the way, problem solved. SDI's got a half a million dollars for the cameras so we can all like uh No, but thank you and thank you for your commitment to summit.

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Appreciate it. >> Anybody else? Um, okay. I I I wanted to stress how critical a thriving downtown is for every Summit resident. We call it one of our three crown jewels, and it was the

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first thing that HGTV mentioned recently when it named Summit one of the 20th, hottest suburbs in the US. Hope everyone saw that. A vibrant downtown supports our home values, the most important asset many of us have. And in recent years, our downtown has

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encouraged many significant business movement into or near downtown. From Boston Consulting Group to JP Morgan and PPAC Private to Bolan Branch just outside downtown. So I'm very grateful to SDI for its hard work enhancing our

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downtown and benefiting all of us. Any other me? Okay. Should we now close this hearing? So, thank you gentlemen. >> Can move on to resolutions. [applause] >> Council member Landman.

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>> Thank you, Council President. This is resolution 12496. Thank you uh everyone on council for your comments both at the last uh council meeting from our residents and then this evening from council. Having just closed the hearing on the 2026 municipal budget, I move to adopt this

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resolution by roll call vote. >> Second. >> Do we need more comments? >> I'm sorry. >> Do we need more comments? >> Uh no, you've already opened Okay, you can open it up to everyone if you wish. And then >> do I need to? >> No. >> Okay, let's just proceed to the roll

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call then. We've got a busy night. >> Mr. Byer >> I >> Mr. Chris Foley >> I >> Miss Calmanson >> I >> Miss Landman >> I >> Mr. Laroscina >> I >> Mr. Palowski >> I >> President Toth >> I [clears throat] back to you council member Landman. >> Thank you council president. This is

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resolution 12516. Having just closed the hearing on the 2026 budget for Summit Downtown Inc. I move to adopt this resolution by roll call vote. >> Second. >> Okay. Back to you madam clerk. >> Mr. Ber >> I. >> Mr. Chris Foley

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>> I >> Miss Cmanson >> I >> Miss Landman >> I >> Mr. Sarasuna >> I >> Mr. Palowski >> I >> President To >> I Okay, thank you. Um okay,

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>> we have an we have a adopted budget. >> We have an adopted budget. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] >> [applause] >> OKAY, we're going to move on to ordinances for hearing. Madame clerk, would you please read ordinance for hearing number 26-3380?

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>> An ordinance [clears throat] authorizing the temporary closure of Maple Street pursuant to NJSA467-16.9 in the city of Summit, County of Union, New Jersey. >> Okay. Council member Chrisouli. Thank you, Council President. Ordinance

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26-3380 would create a pedestrian area on Maple Street in downtown Summit for outdoor dining, tables for takeout dining, kids games, and pop-up retail during our summer school vacation this year. I move to open the hearing on this ordinance.

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>> Second. >> Okay. Before we get to the public comment portion, um we have some preparatory matters and I'd like to ask our first responders to comment on how they handle their their tasks when the streets are closed. Um so let's begin

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with Chief Peters. >> Good evening, council president. Good evening, council through you. Um so there's been discussions obviously amongst uh all of us both at the safety committee level um and uh various other committees as well regarding our concerns as public safety officials with

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the uh forthcoming Maple Street closure if approved. Um obviously this is a multi-layered um issue um especially for public safety. Um so reviewing a lot of the um resident feedback that we've gotten via email that's been shared through our city clerk as well as the discussion items that have been shared through the safety committee. I do have

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five areas that I want to focus on. Not to say that that's all the areas, but the five most um I would say critical areas in which I would want to respond to some of these comments on. Uh so first and foremost, received various emails regarding the response time for uh the area north of the central

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business district. Um so the Summit Police Department is a little bit more unique than the Summit Fire Department, the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad, uh as we do not respond from a fixed location. Um so obviously I don't want to give away our operational posture or our operational readiness but what I can tell you um is the city is divided up

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into a variety of different sectors and within those sectors officers are assigned to patrol those areas during their course of their duty. So that being said on any given moment with the exception of you know a blaring emergency that would require an entire duty shift to respond. We typically have

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at least one if not several officers that are driving around operating within the area north of the central business district. So response times for me at least for a primary and secondary unit are not much of a concern um for calls of service north of the central business district. Um number two response time

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within the closure of Maple Street. Obviously um you close a street. It's going to um limit our response via vehicle motor um police car. So any calls for service will require officers to park at the closest location to the closure and approach on foot. So for me

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what that looks like anywhere between Union Place and Springfield Avenue. say there was a a call for service at let's say the Elks or Fiorinas. Um our officers will have to park at the corner and respond on foot, which I anticipate anywhere between a 30 and 60 second delay in response. Um number three,

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detouring vehicles to already troubled intersections. Statistical data does support that pedestrian collisions are most common in and around our central business district. While the most recent traffic study conducted in April of 2026 indicated Springfield Avenue and Beachwood Road would experience the most

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significant change to operations, operations could be improved by providing alternate variable timing to the traffic lights to ensure a more responsive and operational uh responsive operation to traffic volumes. Additionally, a bigger concern for me would be the unsalized intersection of

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Summit Avenue where Union Place and Franklin Place meet, which according to the most recent traffic study, currently experiences failing levels of service under the existing conditions. According to the traffic safety study, the proposed road closure will detour traffic to this intersection, among

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others, and therefore potentially exacerbate this existing failing condition. That being said, according to the most recent traffic study, the increase in traffic volume to this intersection is anticipated to be minimal due to the time of year. Therefore, any mitigation that is developed to improve the existing

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condition is likely to accommodate the change in traffic volumes associated with this closure. Uh, also, it is my understanding, and I've just received an updated um copy of it, the city engineer has developed a uh a plan in an effort to mitigate these issues at that intersection. Uh number

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four uh the method in which the roadway will be blocked. Um there are a variety of different methods in which we can block a roadway whether it be plastic barricades, concrete or ballards uh etc. According to the manual on uniform traffic control device standards, a type three barricade is required for for a

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full road closure. So I would like to see those. Uh, additionally, barricades on the southern and northernmost locations on Maple Street should be what's called MASH certified manual for assessing safety and hardware to a TL3, which tests against vehicles traveling

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at the speed of 62 mph. Um, if DOT permits, I would say barricades bordering Springfield Avenue may be TL2, which tests vehicles against traveling speeds at 44 miles an hour because anybody coming in from Springfield Avenue would be turning. um that is imperative to ensure the safety of those

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within the closure against a driver suffering from a medical emergency, impaired drivers, and/or those who have nefarious intent. If the city utilizes plastic barriers filled with water, as they did in the past, then I would recommend a daily inspection to ensure their stability. And lastly, under NJSA

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331-40, the Summit Police Department serves as an extension to the alcohol beverage control. We complete background investigations for licensed applicants. We conduct routine inspections of license prevance to ensure compliance. We execute enforcement for violations of ABC laws and local ordinance. And

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lastly, we ensure extension of premise compliance which would be required for any uh liquor license establishment that serves alcohol outside their primary locations. So, for example, any of the restaurants that would benefit um extending their premise onto the sidewalk or into Maple Street would have to apply through the ABC for an

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extension of premise permit. Um that permit would then get reviewed by myself and the city clerk. we would choose to endorse or not um that extension and then from there the ABC does a final review for approval. Um so again as I uh prefaced my comment with the fact that this is a multi-layered approach. It

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doesn't just involve public safety. Um I figured that these were the five most imperative areas which I would like to express my comments on. And that's all I have. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Council Ber. >> Thank you Chief Peters. Chief Evers. Yeah, Chief Evers.

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>> Good evening. Just real quickly about the Maple Street closure. Um, fire department deal with L instructions on a daily basis around town. Part of our training is to recognize these situations and have incident commanders act accordingly. Um,

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a pre-planned approach and any area in town that is obstructed, we have pre-plans in place to mitigate any kind of problems. um in areas that there were slight um delay in our response, many of them in town. We have operate procedures in place that deal with areas that are that can have a little bit of challenge of firemen fighting fires uh done on a

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daily basis. There many places in town that have those and we're really not too concerned about operational procedures in there. Um in summary, you know, fire department is ready for any kind of issues in that area. We don't we don't pit anything. We are trained to fight these kind of fires and to address them and we have plenty of act access in the

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area. So, we're kind of in in line with our normal training. We train for these kind of events. So, we're kind of ready to do it. And we, like I said, we deal with um the trucks every day in the fire service. We have procedures in place, pre-plans to deal with these. So, we're kind of um in area, so we can definitely deal with it. So, as far as delays go,

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we deal with delays all the way in town. We have different response we put in place every morning. We have briefings and we conduct into the commanders any hazards in town, any kind of delays. So, we can kind of get ahead of the game and not have any kind of issues with it. So, plan closure a little bit advantage. We know it's closed. you can adapt our our

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responses and operate procedures accordingly. So, and that is all I have. >> Okay. Thank you, Chief Evers. Um, we also received written comment from the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad. I'm going to read it. Um, as you're aware, Summit EMS is a nonprofit all volunteer

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organization that provides prehosp emergency care and ambulance transport to sick and injured community members and visitors to the city of Summit. Our organization has been in continuous operation since 1962 and essential to

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our mission is a commitment that the organization remained politically neutral. We've been asked by members of council to provide comments on the proposed closure of Maple Street. Our organization does not conduct traffic or emergency response studies and we have not been asked to participate in any

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such study that would allow us to offer an apolitical opinion on the subject. Therefore, the sole official position of Summit EMS is as follows. Summit EMS has and will continue to respond to any and all dispatched calls for medical service

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based on one, road conditions that exist and two, the best possible access available at the time of an emergency to provide patient care. Um, next I'd ask I'd like to ask our city solicitor, Marina Brown, to

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describe the state law on street closures upon which the draft ordinance relies. >> Yes. Thank you, Council President. Uh the state law is NJSA 4067-16.9

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which requires the city council to adopt an ordinance um that would authorize the street closure um by the mayor or other chief executive officer in the city of

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Summit. The mayor is the chief executive officer. Further, for any street closures that exceed 48 hours, um they require approval by the NJ DOT and a certification from the city engineer

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>> and the standards the mayor uses. The standard in the statute states that the governing body of any municipality may

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by ordinance authorize the mayor to provide by regulation for the closing of any street or portion thereof to motor vehicle traffic on any day or days during specified hours on any days or days. when he or she finds that such closing is necessary for the

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preservation of the public safety, health or welfare. >> Okay, thank you. Um, so now we'll we'll open the public portion of the hearing. As you come forward to speak, please address any questions to me. We'll we'll we'll respond to them after all members

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of the public have spoken. Also, please adhere to the three minute limit on public comments and be sure um that if you leave any written comment in the box that you have your name written on it. So, let's begin. >> Council president is city engineer is

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not coming to this hearing. >> The city engineer is not here this evening. That's correct. Council, council president, >> uh, don't you think that that is a problem that the council cannot ask the

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city engineer technical questions about how this whole thing is going to be set up tonight? Like why why isn't the city engineer here tonight? Is there a reason? Is it can we ask the business administrator? I mean, this is a really important ordinance. Why is Aaron not

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here? through you, council president. >> Go right ahead. >> There is a resolution that is coming forth on the latter part of the agenda that I think explains um a bit and Aaron has requested this evening not to be in

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attendance and so he is not here this evening >> and that the city engineer has provided um documentation previously. It was part of the it's part of the packet laying out >> what what it would look like and that's been available on

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>> understood that I I know what the the resolution is but he's still a paid employee. the city is paying him as an engineer to be here and this is an important um I mean he could have delegated someone that could um uh

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provide you know information in his in hisstead like why I'm not understanding we have we have more than one person that can um answer questions from the council about the engineering and and

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and the aspect of closing down the That is all the answer I have this evening. I'm sorry. Council member Boyer, >> the traffic engineer coming. >> No. Um, let's move forward. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh, my

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name is Stacy Allen. I live at Plymouth Road. I um I loved outdoor dining um during the pandemic. I think having outdoor dining and the closed pedestrian road made Summit very festive and social. At the time of the pandemic, I

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didn't think about the safety ramifications of closing Maple Street. I have since realized why closing Maple Street is a horrible idea. This past Friday night was a nightmare for our family. My 17-year-old daughter, who's here tonight, was eating at Anie Ramen

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with her friends while I was attending an event at Twin Maples. I rushed to the area and I had to drive around the block twice near Anie Ramen, including Maple Street, in order to get to her. Once I did, she took an EpiPen

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and then we rushed to the hospital. We got to overlook and probably six minutes. It's just a guest. I did not uh time it. I couldn't even think straight. It seemed like much longer than six minutes. I don't want to think about what could have happened if we were

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located any further from the hospital or if I could have driven if I couldn't have driven on Maple Street to circle around the block to find her. Maple Street being closed would have obviously increased traffic congestion as well as we were trying to get to the hospital. This was a life ordeath allergic

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reaction and it was the worst one we have experienced. My daughter needed three epipens, oxygen, and breathing medication in order to save her life. Looking back today as we discussed it, she tells me she really thought she was about to die

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in Overlook Hospital. Anyone listening to me might suggest that we should have called an ambulance in this situation, but we have done that in the past and it takes much longer to get help than it does for us to drive directly to the hospital ourselves.

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Not nothing is wrong. We love our EMS, but it does take a long time for them to get to us and sometimes the police come or the fire comes before the EMS comes because we have done it a lot. We feel so lucky that we have picked Summit as our home because with three

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kids um that all have uh food allergies and asthma, we have rushed to overlook no fewer than 20 times for anaphylactic food reactions and asthma attacks. For any emergency in town, a heart attack, a stroke, or even a fire, Maple Street being closed will obviously increase

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congestion around town and cut off a main artery for EMS, police, and firefighters, or for people like myself just trying to drive through town. Please halt any plans to close Maple Street. It is frivolous and dangerous and should not be approved. The benefits

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of closing the street do not outweigh the risks. I beg you council members, all of you to realize that safety is your biggest responsibility to the citizens of Summit. If Maple Street was

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closed this past Friday night, it's possible that our family and the town of Summit would have lost a very special girl. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Katherine Mars. I live at nine Pearl Street. Um I want

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to talk about the closure this post closure of >> right into the microphone please. >> Closure wanted to um address the closure of Maple Street. But before I do that, I just wanted to very briefly respond to council member Ber's comment in regards

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to more people um coming here during um the street closure and how that could uh how it brings more people into into town and would um be more of a risk to our community. Right. you brought the uh the cameras. You brought the cameras up

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um when you spoke earlier during the um during the budget meetings uh the budget um comments and the last thing that I want in town is a camera at every corner. I feel like well first of all this is the safest town probably that I've ever lived in. I've moved around

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quite a bit. It's a very very safe town thanks to uh you know the police department. Um we already have a lot of cameras in town. I've I've seen it and had an opportunity to visit. Um there are lots of cameras um in the downtown area and I find I already live in an

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1984. I do not need cameras at every corner. That doesn't make me feel any safer. That makes me feel watched. Right. So, um I just wanted to briefly address this. I would not be in favor of cameras

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at every corner of town. Um, now the closure of Maple Street. Well, it's extremely unfortunate what happened to your family. >> Speak to your daughter. Sorry, just wanted to address the the lady who spoke before me. Um, I think it's an anecdotal

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um incident, right? Um, it's it's unfortunate other towns have streets closed. I think we need to rely on the police chief, the fire chief, maybe the city engineer, other experts who can really judge

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on whether there is an increased risk for our community or not. What a closure of Maple Street will bring is the community together, right? People gather, people come out. During the summer month, the streets of Summit are it's a little bit of a ghost town, I

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find, right? um when kids when when the kids are out of school, people travel. Um people, you know, spend time at the shore, wherever, there's not all that much going on in town for those to stay here. So, I find

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that it brings a community together. Um you know, in in addition with the uh with a dog park that I love. I love the idea. I also understand it's a little bit it's inconvenient for maybe the people who live on that street, right? We also expect people around Tatlock to

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be inconvenienced, right, during game time when the lights are on, right? And I think on in both situations, the closure of Maple Street as well as Tatlock, it's for the greater benefit of our community, right? In both cases, I support the closure of Maple Street. I

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support the lights at Tatlock. So, I just wanted to make this clear. I also think >> finish up. >> Oh, okay. Can I just one last sentence? It's not just a benefit for the businesses that local to that are local to um to Maple Street, but all the

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surrounding businesses will also benefit from a closure and just bring more foot traffic to downtown. >> Thank you again. >> Okay. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um my name is Lori Comus and I am a

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lifelong resident of Summit. I was also a business owner on Maple Street for 15 years and now I am a property owner of Maple Street and I am also a resident of Maple Street. I live at 44 Maple Street right in downtown Summit.

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It's very unfortunate that no one asked my husband or myself about the closing of Maple Street for outdoor dining this time. I can understand why Maple Street was closed during COVID. It made perfect sense. However, it makes no sense now.

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We believe that it only benefits the four most expensive restaurants in Summit. Put yourself in my position. I am an eyewitness. I am the camera on Maple Street. I look out my window and I see

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what's going on. Especially when the restaurants are closed late at night. There are people that come and sit at the tables. They bring alcohol. They leave garbage. I have found cigarette butts and half empty cans of beer on my

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stoop. It is not safe. It is very dangerous. No one cleans up the mess. And it looks like a mess with the plastic tables and the plastic chairs and the orange barricades and the orange

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cones. And on hot days and rainy days, the tables are empty. Delivery trucks think that Maple Street is under construction and never deliver our packages. Uber drivers and big delivery

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trucks get confused. We believe that the closing of Maple Street is dangerous. It's a liability. And if there were any kind of emergency like this lovely woman just told us, uh it would be very difficult I believe for

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EMS or the fire department to reach the person in need. I have actually seen the ambulance on our street on several occasions. I totally get it that good that you are trying to promote goodwill in our town and to bring other people

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from other towns, but there are many other options that you could consider that would benefit all of the restaurants in all of the shops in downtown Summit. I would encourage all of you to please consider the business and property owners on the street and

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take into consideration that this is only benefiting three out of the six shops who want it and four restaurants on Maple Street and not the rest of the stores and the rest of the towns in some and the rest the rest of the stores and

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the rest of the restaurants in Summit. It's just not fair. Unfortunately, if this passes, my husband and I feel that we have we we feel and we have decided that we will retain counsel

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um if we have to. >> Thank you. >> And that's what I want to say. Thank you very much. >> Would you like to leave your statement, Miss Cobas? >> Do you want to leave your statement there? >> Oh,

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>> no. I don't think you can use it. >> You can email it to me. You want to clean it up? >> I will email it to you. Yeah. >> Thank you, >> Madam President. My name's Tom Salszer. I live at Six Irving Place. Um I think it's a great great idea. It brings uh

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people out of their houses. We get to enjoy the city. I think it gives our town a nice cool vibe. It suggests that we are a happening place. During the summer, there's very little traffic. Most people are not in the town. I think

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it's a terrific idea. If you do it, I will try to get my wife and son to come dine at Summit. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Uh is it possible to take a uh

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>> No. ask the people to stand up if they're for one. >> Your your comments get directed to to council. >> Um Davin Shakuski um 34 Maple Street. Um uh Robot Revolution. >> Um I love Summit. Uh my business has

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been in Summit for 15 years. I think we have a really good relationship. Um the closure of Maple Street um can be good, but this whole proposal is extraordinarily rushed as it usually is

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and doesn't address a lot of the issues that we had last time we closed the street. This should be something that goes on over six months a year with other public comment. Um other business owners like me have given many

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suggestions in the past. Um the current ordinance is still extraordinarily vague and rushed uh and represents the voices of very few businesses on that street. Um you can't approve this ordinance without explicitly addressing these issues. Uh last closure the entire space

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was dominated by restaurants, some of which already have significant outdoor cafe space. Uh the restaurant table stretched edge to edge on the street which prevented pedestrian movement. uh a table you that you would walk by, you

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would need to walk straight by it while someone was eating. They still are edgetoedge on the current proposed plan. Some of these restaurants only use the tables for three or four days during the week. Huge tents covered the entire

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area, reducing storefront visibility and discouraging pedestrian movement further. Patrons left messes on the sidewalks and in front of businesses. Who was responsible for cleaning up? The morning businesses were responsible for cleaning up everything, the entire mess.

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There was open smoking and throwing of cigarette butts in the entire area. Rodents were seen regularly at those little tiny decorative plantings. For other businesses in the town, it makes it difficult to walk down Maple Street and it doesn't attract customers.

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Increasing downtown traffic doesn't help customers. Blocking businesses from moving equipment both in other areas of town and on Maple Street doesn't help anyone. This ordinance needs to be rejected. Any future ordinances need to

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publish guidelines for how any business in town can apply for usage of the outdoor space. Is it only for some restaurants? We need rules for maintaining ade adequate pedestrian walkways and penalties for non-compliance.

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The concept plan does not show any sidewalk traffic and the uh tables butt straight up against the sidewalk. It also makes things worse by providing even more recreational seating than was there before in [clears throat] front of

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other businesses such as number 18 boutique and Lob Lolly. Go look at the plan. Concept plan also has no room for restaurant busing or hospitality. So it'll occur on the street. Um >> thank you.

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>> Okay. I will provide this. It also says that to provide for services including extra policing that is walking you need to increase the fees. I included the schedule for New York City. >> Thank you.

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Hi, my name is Irene Loard. I'm a resident on Lennox. um I came to um express my opposition to closing Maple Street, but in hearing various things, I wanted to point out that there was a lot

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of talk about the budget today. And I don't know if anyone heard the presentation or listened to the presentation about um Franklin School and how today there are 300 students and 70 administrators. And when the school

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first opened, it was 50 students and two teachers. That sounds like a lot. I wonder where our money is going. Um, additionally, with regards to the budget, I imagine that Maple Street is going to cost extra money. Um, and given

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that we are cutting things, where are we finding extra money for Maple Street and for the closure or for the cleanup or whatever it is? Um, I concur with everything that the previous gentleman said. I thought that it was a major inconvenience. Additionally, I drove by

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many times the last time it was open and it sat empty Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday afternoons kind of when the weather was rainy, which was often. Um, and for those reasons, I don't think that the residents should be

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inconvenienced. Additionally, I think that there are four named people in a lawsuit against the city over the lights at Tatlock and [snorts] somehow they were able to dictate that Tatlock would have to have cameras. Um, I am against

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Maple Street, but if you have to have Maple Street and if this goes through, there is no way that Maple Street should go forward if there are no lights. And I imagine that there are probably four residents in town who could put together a lawsuit um to make that happen as well. Um

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it seems only fair if you have to have lights at Tatlock, you should have them in town in a place where you expect people to be drinking outside um and after hours. So that's what I have to say. >> Thank you. Next. >> Oh, sorry. I forgot something. Um, what

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I wanted to say was is that I think two years ago the city engineer did not approve this closure and would not approve this closure and um, I'm disappointed that he's not here. Um, because I think that we need to hear

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what he has to say. Um, I also think I was under the impression that he was not that that that his decision of this was being farmed out to a third party or something like that. Um, anyway, I think the city engineer needs to be here and

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explain maybe why he opposed it two years ago but doesn't oppose it now if that is the case. Thank you. Uh Dileia Hamlet, uh New England Avenue. Uh good evening. Uh thanks so much for uh bringing up the Maple Street

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ordinance. I want to I came here because I'd like to defend city engineer Director Shreger. Um the one thing you can say about Director Shreger is he's been consistent on his stance and that has nothing to do with him not being here. Um however, uh March 5th of 2024,

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he would not indeed. He sat in that chair and he would not after many hours of questions by me, he would not sign uh that paperwork and and there is a reason uh he did not want to put his professional seal on it. He did not want to sign it. Um and I would imagine if we

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were to ask Director Shreger, I guarantee you Director Shreger would have loved Dynamic Traffic to have been sitting here tonight. And council president, if I were you, that's exactly what I have would have done tonight to protect Director Shreger because he has been absolutely consistent in his

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stance. Michael Rogers was consistent. The second question or the second point that I would have to make uh is to our city solicitor. Uh my question would be, did you advise that this would be uh the correct statute to close the street? >> Oh, excuse me.

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>> Always keeping interesting. Um, so I'd like to know if this was this was directed by you, if this is the correct I think that that the community and the council members deserve that this was this statute was advised by you. Um, you're the professional and at the end of the day, they rely on on your guidance.

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>> All count all questions to me, please. >> They're they're definitely to you, but I will look at the city solicitor. I can look at whoever I would like. Um, and finally, I guess my other question is, uh, Council President Toth and and Jamal and Bob and Michelle, in the last three

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years, we didn't spend a lot of time talking about alternatives to closing and I include myself 100%. We didn't spend a lot of time talk a lot of time talking about placemaking. This is the purview of the planning board. They are responsible for the master plan, the

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master plan re-examination, and that's really where your talent lies for these issues. So, I would just encourage you to punt this to the planning board for a consistency review. Try to get it right. Let's work. We have a lot of smart members in the community that can get this right. And we have the time and the

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resources to do it right. So, I know how hard y'all work. Um, but ultimately, the guidance is from our city solicitor that yes, this was the correct statute. So that god forbid any any business owners or residents sue us, you've been given the advice from the city solicitor that this is the correct statute. And you all

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deserve that that proper guidance. So, thank you very much. >> Hi, Sue Roberts, 48 Oakland Place. I'd first like to start by saying happy early Mother's Day to all the moms on the deis in the chambers.

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I don't believe that council's ready to vote on Maple Street ordinance this evening and I'm asking you to table the vote until a few things can be addressed. I'm very grateful that you had uh Chief Peters and Chief Chief Evers address a lot of the questions

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that I had had. I think as a followup to those two, uh, I would request that whatever barriers and all that all the numbers and technical language that Chief Peters threw out that you really consider those barriers. And also my other question is he spoke about

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alcohol. I'm curious to know who's monitoring alcohol use on the tables that are not associated with any restaurants. Um, I think I'll add in the city engineer is not here and it sounds like

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that seems to be a pretty crucial piece to the puzzle. So, I'd ask you to table this vote until we can hear from him or he can speak to the community. I think we should survey the community. It's obviously a polarizing issue and I think that's a fair ask at this point. And I

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also would like transparency on what this is actually costing us. I know that restaurants are paying a fee to use it, but there's a lot of other costs that the restaurants aren't paying, like the barriers, signage, the tables that no restaurants are specifically owning. And then I have one other issue I'd like

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to talk about. Last week, I emailed Councilman Chrisully to ask if we could speak via phone regarding a large campaign donation made to his campaign from two partners that were involved that are involved in one

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of the restaurants that's going to greatly benefit from this closure. I asked if we could speak in person because there was a lot of conjecture floating around and I'd like to try to decipher all the noise. He responded via email and said there was nothing to

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decipher that the campaign that he campaigned with a promise to open a section of Maple Street and that his supporters agreed with his positions and that frankly he thought most people in summit did. I think based on all the feeding at this meeting and the last

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meeting that's quite debatable. While I have no doubt that Mr. Chrysuli supporters agree as an elected council member you all now represent all the residents of Summit not just your constituents. I asked Coun if I asked Councilman

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Chrisully again if we could speak via phone and I never received a response. Had we had the opportunity to speak via phone, I would have asked the following. While I'm sure the donations were completely legal, two of the partners associated with this restaurant donated

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the maximum amount for a total of $11,000 to Councilman Chris's campaign and that represents over 50% of the total he received. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I'm asking you to abstain from the vote,

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please. Thank you. Well, my name is Dylan Baker. I um am the owner of Summit House Restaurant, Barbco Restaurant at 10 Maple Street and 395 Springfield Avenue. I would I would like to address the

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previous comment. Um my business partners made that donation to Christopher's campaign. They support Democratic causes. Full stop. support democratic causes. There's other members on this day who they've donated to.

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They've donated in mayor races. This is not a thing. Believe me, we're we're not here to try and make money off of Maple Street. I live it every day. I see thousands of people, a thousand plus

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people a week uh through Summit House and Barbcoa. We've done surveys. We've handed out cards. We have a 99% community approval. If you put this on a ballot in November, you would see a

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sweeping majority approve this and they would approve it for much longer than the 10 weeks that are being uh proposed. Uh it's it's actually quite hurtful that you think that we are here to give 11 grand to try and work our asses off to

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try and make this community better. People in the town want it. We are on the front line of it. We hear it all the time. The 10 people in the room who are against it. And forgive me, the medical emergency. I do feel for your daughter, but um this is

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this is not an issue, a traffic pattern, a disturbance, an orange barricade. We have the votes for this. If you put this on the ballot in November, it will win by a landslide. an absolute landslide

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and for much longer. Much, much longer. Close it in May. Open it back up in October. That's what the people really want. The people, a majority of the people, not 10 people in a room yelling at you, council. So, not yelling. Everyone's been very kind and gracious,

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I'm sure. But sorry, that hurt. when you accuse when you accuse my partners of trying to fix something, they were literally literally supporting Dan. And um that's as far as

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it goes. It's a Democratic cause. I do not know how this got politicized. I quite honestly don't. Um but this was going to happen years ago. It should have happened years ago. I'm glad it's being brought up now. And I thank you

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for your time. Hi, Rosemary Zadi, Shampike Road. We keep hearing about surveys and studies that were conducted claiming 80% or more of Summit residents want outdoor dining on Maple Street. How, when, and where

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were all those surveys and studies taken? Was the opportunity to take the survey on the city of Summit's website? How did the council notify summit residents that there was a survey available to get their input?

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Was a survey sent to a representative sample of Summit residents, meaning age groups, income groups, gender groups, the area of Summit where they live. If not, it's not a valid survey and you cannot claim this is what Summit

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residents want since some groups were likely under reppresented or not represented at all. I'm a lifelong resident of Summit. I did not receive or hear about any survey regarding Maple Street's closure. None of my family,

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neighbors, or friends did either. You should probably stop quoting that 80% or more of Summit residents want outdoor dining on Maple Street. Also, it's interesting that council is concerned about pedestrian safety and

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traffic calming at Tadlock Field, but not safety and traffic in the middle of town. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Uh my name is Nora Raidist and I live at

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18 Blackburn Police and I want to thank you all for all your hard work. So to every single one of you, uh one of the only one of the few positive outcomes of the pandemic was the increased sense of community in town. from volunteering to purchase food

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from our local restaurants to bring to the healthcare workers at Overlook, raising money to support our Summit merchants during the lockdown, ordering takeout as often as possible, and being able to gather for a meal at the Maple Street dining area. I cannot tell you

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the vast number of residents who thanked me and council for providing the outdoor dining space, not only during the pandemic, but also thereafter. In 2024, many, many people approached me and asked if the Maple Street outdoor dining would continue. But as I was no longer

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mayor, I could not give them an answer. Not once during these years when property taxes decreased one year and increased only slightly in two others did any resident thank me for the zero to low tax increases.

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And some residents care about their taxes and they pay attention, but they weren't. they were more h they were more it was more important to them that they have this opportunity together. I firmly believe that our residents want these opportunities to bring people together

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and to get away from staring at their screens. In talking with many merchants, I know that foot traffic has decreased in the last year or so. Outdoor dining on Maple Street brings people to town. I know that not everyone is in favor of

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this, but a large number of our residents are in favor. One of the bedrocks of our democracy is the concept that elected officials govern for the benefit of the greater good, not for the few. I know there are certain things to work out, kinks, operational

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discussions, so forth. But I do believe it will be important to this community. It will help ensure vibrancy in the town. And I do support the opening of Maple Street for outdoor dining. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'll email this to you, Mrs. Lies.

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>> Good evening, [clears throat] council president, mayor, members of council. Greg Vartan, 14 Russell Place. I'm a former council president and current chair of the summit democrats. People donate to council candidates because they believe those candidates have the

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skills, experience, and vision to move this city in the right direction. Five out of five all Democrats running in the last two years campaigned in one because of their many concrete ideas to improve this community. Ideas with broad

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appeal across the political spectrum. Ideas like restoring Maple Street as a pedestrian plaza. Some of those who have spoken against the Maple Street closure have given money to the council members who oppose the Maple Street pedestrian plaza. Among donors to the summit

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Republicans and their candidates are a property owner on Maple Street, a developer in Hoboken, and a former chair of the New Jersey Republican State Committee, just as examples. Campaign issues draw donors. Last year, the Republican mayor and members of council

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sought to make the Tatlock Lights proposal a central campaign issue. It is another topic with broad bipartisan appeal. However, they did that while hundreds of thousands of dollars were accepted anonymously as donations toward

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the project. The first time anything like that has happened in modern Summit history. It pains me tremendously to see attacks on our neighbors, volunteers, and business owners. Our community is

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being ripped apart by lies, manufactured fear, and distractions that are being supercharged by unlimited campaign money. This must stop. In his 1981 inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan said, "It's time for us to

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realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams." Fellow Hill Toppers, I submit to you now, Summit is too great a city to limit ourselves to small dreams. I believe in this council majority. I thank you for the way you ran, the way you are leading

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with your values, and the way you are governing. I hope you know that what you are doing, and how you are doing it will help us heal and dream big. Thank you. Al, >> thank you. >> Thank you.

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Good evening, Mayor Fagan, Council President Toth, members of council and staff. I'm Jim Bennett, BNET, 38 Fair View Avenue. I'll make this one very short. I will submit on the OpEd that was published May 3rd in TAP

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titled, "Council has more homework to do before closing Maple Street." And to make that part of the record, I will uh place it here in the box. Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> I'm Emmy Havis and I'm the owner of

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Paperfolio at for Beachwood Road. I've been in business in town for 42 years. So I kind of have a little bit of history on the street in the retail sense. I remember back in 1993 when Baltistus role was uh hosting the US

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Open and I was chairman of SDI. I served on the SDI board for 27 years and we begged council at that time to allow us to have outdoor dining and it was a fight royale I have to tell you and they finally conceded and actually I think

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part of this ordinance that you have that I took off the computer today was partly written by the SDI and the chamber of commerce. So we were cuz council said to us fine but help us out with this and we did help them. Um when

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CO came around I was right in with everybody. I was on uh conference calls with or Zoom calls with Mayor Radist and other people and we were all in on keeping the restaurants open any way we could to bring people to

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town. Everybody was. There was no question. Do I love outside dining? I adore outside dining. It's one of the nicest things on a night like this that you can walk into town or drive into town and sit outside and enjoy a leisurely meal. We have approximately 53

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restaurants. I don't want to say restaurants, but places that put tables out on the street where you can sit and eat either what you bought inside or order. Excuse me. As I roughly went through the list of

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SDI's um restaurants on their website, 23 of them right now offer outside dining. So, you can dine and out outside in Summit. And to think that we have to close a street to allow that to happen

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is just a little bit beyond the pale. It is a disruption in town. I can tell you I'm here in my store 5 days a week. I'm usually here on my day off or on Sunday. It does make traffic difficult. You are taking parking spaces away. It may bring

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people to town, but there's a difference between bringing people to town and people coming to town to spend money in the retail stores and in the other restaurants. Now the other restaurants that have dining outside are going to benefit to some extent. But to say that

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we don't have outside dining in Summit really is not true. I really think there's more homework that has to be done on this. I agree with everybody who said you've got to get out and talk to the retail people. You have to. Nobody talks to us about anything. SDI should be doing it and I'm on their case about

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that. But you really have to hear from the other people in town and how it affects our businesses. Um, and I'm not saying they'll come back to you and say yes, yes, yes, as we all did in CO. But you have to do that. You have to include them because I know there's a lot of unrest out there that nobody asks me

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anything. So that would help you out if you did that. Thank you. >> Hi. >> Hello. >> Um, Janie Racklin. I own 29 Maple Street. I love Summit. My family has had a

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presence in this town since 1906. It's regrettable that I have to speak before the council on the same subject time after time. And it seems regrettable to me that most of you have already made up your minds to vote for Maple Street closure before you listen

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to our concerns. According to your surveys, which I have not received one since co, many people like the idea, but that does not mean that they will partake of it. It may appear to be charming to dine in the

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streets, but appearances are not all they seem to be. By closing Maple Street, you're placing undue inconveniences on us and Summit Avenue. Summit Avenue is already seriously congested. The block between Union Place

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and Springfield Avenue has, I believe, seven food establishments, making it difficult to park and/or pick up food. And that will just get worse. Now, you want to add a potential plethora of emergency vehicles who

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previously would share the burden with Maple Street. Losing one of only two thoroughares makes no sense. My main concern is the safety of downtown and its traffic, meaning emergency vehicles,

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delivery access, contractor access, and parking, mainly handicap access parking. When one considers the loss of the Chestnut Street parking lot and the temporary loss of the tiered lot, not to mention the loss of revenue because of

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that, do you really want to add to the congestion? I have a couple of quick questions. Um, what is a popup retail? Is that an outside >> retail or somebody that's already on the street?

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>> Anybody? >> We'll answer all question. We'll answer questions after all the public members of the public. >> Then quickly, um, will retailers on Maple Street be invited to set up on the street? Who will be cleaning and

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maintaining the nonrest seating areas? Will there be portaotties on the streets? Because our businesses are not going to become public restrooms. And what fees will the restaurants be paying? And who receives that money, the

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town SDI or who? And will there be a curfew on the street? Um because there are people who live on Maple Street. Thank you. Thank you. >> Bruce Starkov. Uh I own 26 Maple Street.

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Um I've been in front of the council I guess what is this the third or fourth time that uh we're discussing closing uh Maple Street. I can remember when it was closed originally. that was closed, I guess, through the end of October or into November. This gentleman was

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talking about that he should extended into October and and looking down the street in those those months, those cold months, seeing one chair sitting in the middle of the street with closing a damn street. Does that make any sense? I mean,

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the the Maple Street is one of two north south arteries. It's important that it stays open. you and Summit Avenue, you get a water mane break and then you get a fire and the and the uh uh the fire trucks have to come down Maple Street.

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They're going to get the uh they won't get slowed up in the in the process of getting to the fire. How many times have you heard that minutes, seconds make a difference uh in saving lives? you

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people, the green, why with the green uh the village green, why can't something be set up over there for outdoor dining? Let all the restaurants uh participate in it. They can buy food trucks. They can set themselves up to deliver meals

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uh and and could be and you have entertainment over there. Why do you have to close a street? I pay my insurance went up 25% last year. I don't know if this is going to affect my insurance rates. You're going to have more loitering people down around. You have to have more safety. You have to

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have police around. Nobody's cleaning up the Believe me, I had to sweep the streets uh almost every week when you had the uh street closed for dining and it looked like a mess. And what about the propane tanks? A fire hazard. They used to be lined up in the alley. Are

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you going to allow propane tanks again? Somebody's got to answer these questions. I mean, it's a fight. All these buildings on Maple Street are over hundred years old. You get one fire on on a building in Maple Street that gets going, the whole block can go.

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The whole block. And who's going to be liable for it? The council passed it. You know, I hope you guys have a lot of liability insurance. Uh you talk about rodents. Union Place and down that area has been noted for rodents all the time. Now, you want to

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even bring more rodents down to Maple Street and have the owners have to uh uh pay for the the the people to come and take care of it. It doesn't make sense. Uh this thing has not been really digested, thought about, and and all the

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consequences brought together. I don't know why we're sitting here year after year and bringing this up. And Maple Street, why isn't Summit Avenue closed? Why isn't Union Avenue closed? Give all the restaurants in town an

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opportunity. If you're going to close a street, close one street this year. Close another street next year. Another street the year after. >> I think you should table the uh uh the ordinance. Don't take a vote tonight before you start thinking about what all these other people have said. Thank you.

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Thank you. Hi. Uh, my name is Robert Lee. I live on Pearl Street. And, um, I'm seeing a repetitive theme here in my mind. Um, it seems like the things that bring people

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together, the dog park, the lights, Maple Street, or some outdoor dining, um, brings opposition in forms of the need for safety and and inconvenience. And I think, you know, we can't

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legislate safety. We can make things we can create opportunities for people to come together. And that's really what makes a community. That's what makes us um so great. The ways in which we can come together and giving people those

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opportunities. I met so many people at the dog park last year um in town and it was probably more than I met in the last six years since we moved here all at once. Like so many people in in in the span of just a few weeks. And um I just

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love creating these opportunities. Um actually sitting at the last Maple Street closure, Councilman Boyer talked me into doing something very unsafe. Um he talked me into letting my

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kids play football for Summit and um [laughter] and obviously my older one has graduated now. He's playing football somewhere else at Franklin Marshall. But the point is both my boys broke their collar bones in

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the last 6 months. [laughter] Very unsafe. And at the same time, I wouldn't want to miss the joys that we've had by being able to come together with other people in the community, with the football parents, with the dog people sitting out

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at Maple Street back then with Councilman Ber. And um all these opportunities to come together are for us as human beings I think the most important things where we can live together. We can like our chiefs both

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chiefs have stated we can work around the problems and work around the the challenges of the logistics that all comes with that. So, let's work on making this a great community and doing every we everything we can to come

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together as often as possible. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Daniel Jackson, 28 Morris Avenue. When COVID hit, there was a national finance emergency and there was a national health

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emergency. So, people were doing regular and irregular things, abnormal things. And one of them was the road closures. You couldn't serve people inside. So, everybody everybody pulled together.

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sacrifice whatever we had to do to get past that post fast forward postco [clears throat] we don't have the roads are owned by everybody there's no special interest private

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individual or restaurant restaurant or non-rest I want to co-opt this public street for my financial gain You can't do that. Belongs to all of us. That's why when I hear this majority minority, what does a survey show that a

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majority fe would favor? I don't know if a majority maybe a majority of summit residents would be against it. I don't know. But I don't see the relevance when you're talking about public streets anymore. Earth, you're talking about public parks or public buildings

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that belongs to all of us. And of course, I hear this, well, it's not just not just to to help out. It's not just to help out special interests, which I suspect it seems to be, but it's it's to help the whole business community. Watch

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the December 6th, 2022 council meeting where SDI's hired consultant talks to everybody about his report. want I want

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to know if there was any any empirical evidence that he presented any that the business community was somehow going to be going to it was going to improve the the business district there was none not one piece it was there was assertions by

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him oh yeah of course it brings people together but what empir surveys anything what we call them empirical I'll call empirical nothing you also have businesses that tell you that they lost as far as this again this majority

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minority viewpoint. If Summit Avenue is closed and there's seven there's an accident on Summit Avenue and there's an emergency on Maple Street or Maple Street is closed or um

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you come home and somebody says, "Oh, by the way, uh by the way, um our neighbors down the street was was hurt and they they felt if Maple Street had been open there would have been a better response time or maybe there was a fire that maybe there would have been a a response

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to time. What are you going to say? Are you going to say, "Gee, that's too bad, but isn't democracy great?" No. The roads belong to all of us. Vote no. Not just for a few, but for all of us.

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>> All summit residents. >> Hi, my name is Henry Bassman. I live at 18 Hartley Road. Uh I'm in favor of closing Maple Street. I'm looking forward to it. Uh the design or the parameters that were written into the

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description that I read uh on the uh packet for the agenda uh show me that there'll be opportunity for more than just uh commercial dining. Be a place where people can get together. They can sit and people watch where kids who are

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not in uh summer camps the way summer camp can hang out a little bit in the evening where it's open and safe. Uh where old folks like myself can go and do some people watching. Uh

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so the two other things that kind of concern me are the closure of Maple Street as I understand it has to be reapplied for each year. So what you're proposing here is for this year. If it

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works great if it doesn't won't happen again. The other thing is uh a lot of concerns have been raised and they'll be addressed I'm sure in implementation.

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Uh the final thing is I hear a lot about there are only two thoroughfairs to get from northern part of downtown to the southern part of downtown. And everybody who complains about closing Maple

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Street, leaving only one access north and south, forgets about Mars Avenue and Broad Street, which are broad large thoroughares that that take you very quickly from the north side of the business district to

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the south side of the business district. It's it's going to be it's going to be fine. And I I think I think it's going to add to the quality of life in summit. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Council Mayor

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>> Rosie >> Tony. >> Um I'm gonna read something from Millie Cooper, who unfortunately couldn't be here tonight. Um, she's ill. >> What's his name? >> And um, >> excuse me, council president. What was the name of this speaker? >> It's Tony Meliona. >> Thank you.

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>> Apologize. >> Anthony Meliona, multiple property owner on Maple Street. >> That helps. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um, from Millie Cooper, I've asked Tony Meliona to read this for me to be entered into the minutes of the May 5th, 2026

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common council meeting. I am Millie Cooper, former councilman at large, 1990 to 1996, city of Summit. I live at 1 Uklid Avenue in Summit. 65 year Summit resident. I'm writing to oppose the closing of Maple

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Street for three months, June, July, August. At the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th 20th century, our wonderful town was carefully being planned on the top of a ridge of small hills. The streets were laid out in an

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orderly and safe manner. At the turn of the century, as the automobile came into being the city's father's common council worked and discussed many hours, the street organization for the new community. With beauty and safety at stake, they made the decision to depress

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the railroad tracks. Yes, one day the railroad actually ran above ground to make traffic more free flowing and natural. The railroad station and the village green were designated as the natural gathering place. This configurate this configuration remains

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today with Summit Avenue and Maple Street flanking Beachwood Road and Union Place with the railroad station at the center. It remains that way today. Our citizens and shopkeepers are expecting that natural flow they speak of and ease

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of our town. Please do not interfere with the ease of travel to our houses of worship, our schools, ball fields, the wisearmacies, retail, retail shops, and so forth. Beach, Beachwood Road is the natural place for action, music, singing,

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dancing, and lovely entertainment. It is wider, more openlooking, and it spills over asking for more fun. Maple Street does not. Its job in life is to carry traffic and have sidewalks for retail. Do not make

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all of us detour around using our gas for few restaurants to serve us in the street. Just doesn't make sense. Thank you for listening and the time you give the community appreciated. Millie Cooper, who is one of the Grand Dams. I see only have 30 seconds. Um, a little

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bit of uh facts here as far as uh property owners on Maple Street. The west side of Maple Street, which the Finn restaurant is on, uh, five of six property owners are not in favor of this, including

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the property owner of Finn restaurant. On the Elk side, six of the 10 property owners are not in front of this, nor are their businesses, nor are their residents, and nor are their offices above and below. Three of those properties are on the

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sidelines. Quote, as they've told me, Summit House and the one building that I mentioned on the west side of Maple Street, which houses Nando Jewelers and Love Story are owned by the same Walter Trust estate.

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So there it is. Five out of six on one side, six out of 10 on the other side. Is anybody listening to us? We pay plenty of t plenty of taxes. And uh I've been here before. You know my mantra and one of my risks and

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rewards that I quoted uh two weeks ago was um if and when this passes and I think it will um prepare for a lawsuit. Thank you. >> Okay. Council President, council members, my

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name is Ray Merritt. I lived in town very short period of time, 23 years. So I can't compete with the people that are lifers, but I have a vast experience in the restaurant business, in eating and enjoying the outside dining all over the

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world. I will tell you that one of the problems I have with summit is that you are adamantly opposed to any change. The way the world is going, we need change. We saw it in COVID. We ate outside. They bent the rules everywhere to give

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opportunities to eat outside. I've been working constantly to go find places to eat outside. Summit has great outdoor dining. Yes. Sitting on a curb looking at the car headlights pull up every time you take a bite of food. not my idea of great dining. I know I don't no no cast

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dispersion to any restaurants in town. It's nice to sit outside, but it would be nice to have a town where you could go to a place few months a year in an environment, friendly environment. Yes, it only there's a few restaurants, but you can go public tables, public chairs,

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some restaurants that had outdoor dining and have a nice meal. I have a huge family. I have a lot of friends from out of town. It brings people here. We use it all the time. It makes it an It makes it a destination. And I will tell you, we have a farmers market that brings three to four thousand people in here a

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week that are not from Summit. It brings business into town. I believe in my heart of hearts that having the restaurant space and the outdoor space for a couple months here when a lot of residents are not here and the idea of the traffic being problem. We have the experts here, the professionals, police

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and fire telling us it won't be a problem. I feel for the property owners. It's the old not in my backyard problem. So, there's not going to be anywhere anywhere in the town or the city that we're going to have to have that we could do this that someone's not going to have a problem with it. If you put in a park, the people live next to the park

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and have a problem. If you live by a school, you have to deal with school buses. If you live by a tatlock, you have to deal with lights. It's going to inconvenience someone if you do anything. And the I'm sick of hearing I've been here 23 years, the number one topping in someone is parking. Okay? We have gigantic parking lots in the back.

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I drive by them every day. They're empty. So, people have to learn they can't park in front of the store they might want to go to or the hairdresser or or the deli they want to go to. They can park and walk a little bit. We have to change the way we do business if we want to thrive and have a community

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where it's interesting to be in. And I'm not going to worry that I'm I can pull up in front of Starbucks, run inside and get my drink and run back out to my car. We I I agree. Somebody said we should close every street in town. I would love to close every street in town. This should be a pedestrian town. Park all

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the cars out of town like Boulder. You know, lots of towns. Those all goes [applause] entire town. Then you wouldn't have any worries about getting in and out of town, getting parking spots, 15-man spots, getting parking tickets, people double parking in the crosswalks. It's a nightmare. Please,

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Chief. No offense. >> But I'll tell you, we have to change the way. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Hello, my name is Molly Sbert. I live on Woodland Avenue. I wasn't anticipating speaking tonight, so sorry if I sound nervous. I'm don't really love speaking

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publicly, but I'm speaking on behalf of myself is only two years here, so I know I'm new. Um, and my brother and sister-in-law who moved here from the city and our neighbors who I talked to about this who did live here during CO and said coming up and dining outdoors

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was magical and they would love to have that again and I just I really I understand there are a lot of different issues and I feel for people who have businesses and the safety issues. So I thank everyone who would make it possible if this is so and maybe it's

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not Maple Street, maybe it's somewhere else. I just know being here now, I have a sixth grader and she loves walking to town with her friends. And I feel like my kids are almost living like a little bit of a throwback in this community where it's safe for them to walk around

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and they can come into town and they can meet with friends and I love the idea of more places for them in the summer. We don't have a shore house, so we're not going away. And it's just I think it's a lovely thing and I love this community and I just think more things like this

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are fabulous. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Is that it? >> Um, council president, mayor. Hi, I'll keep the new resident trend going. Um, my name is Peter Corso. I live uh 83 Union

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Place, so right on the corner of Union and Maple. My last name C O RSO. Uh, I've been a Summit resident, I think four months to the day. Uh, so very excited to be I definitely picked an interesting council meeting uh as my first. So, I I really appreciate the discourse that's been that's been heard

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today and and appreciate the passionate, active civic community that Summit is. It was a big draw uh to the town as was the downtown itself. Uh downtown Summit was a massive draw. I appreciate being able to walk uh pretty much everywhere except the grocery store and the gas

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station, though you can walk to a gas station from downtown. Um but I I'd like to focus on a couple pieces uh of the debate that this evening uh especially around traffic um and and some other things. So I had a chance to read the uh NJ DOT traffic study that was completed

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at the end of March. I found it really interesting. I thought it was they did a very thorough job. Um, and I think the biggest takeaway for me, which the police chief echoed, was that there will be minimal increase in traffic volume to the Sum uh, Summit Union Franklin intersection as a result of the closure

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that other relevant intersections will operate at similar levels during the closure to how they operate now uh, with Maple Street open. And one suggestion actually from the study um I believe that the chief thank you again uh mentioned was that um mitigating

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signalized intersections by just kind of varying them and seeing how the traffic flow goes. Being able to mitigate that process as it goes along could help uh improve the traffic flow for any detriment that there is. So I encourage the council to implement that as you go along if if the closure goes along. Uh

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separately from the study, uh it's my understanding uh that there will be space for neutral seating. Um whether that's space for yoga mats or someplace to to set up uh tables for for neutral dining, I guess is the is the term. Uh I

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think this a fantastic way to involve other businesses in the area and and uh encourage um provide additional community space for residents to enjoy the closure. Uh, and I'd like to again encourage the council to consider allowing other businesses in the area to

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I think somebody else mentioned put up some pop-up shops. Uh, again, it gets other businesses in the area involved. Kind of spreads the wealth a little bit as it were. Um, with the perception that it may may only favor a couple of businesses. Uh, and my my bottom line is kind of a point of personal privilege,

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um, is that this scenario, whether Maple Street closes or some other outdoor space can be converted into a pedestrian area, uh, it does more than provide outside dining. It incentivizes community engagement. And I understand that that outlook can be kind of deemed

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trivial, uh, just looking for ambiance, but I believe it's more than that. I came to Summit, I saw the active downtown and the walkable downtown. Um, and I believe that with continued attention and mitigation, this will uh eventually be for the city's welfare. So, I appreciate the council's time. I

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look forward to hearing the responses to the questions and thank you all very much. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. anonymous. It's only three minutes. Uh but I'm against against this whole council majority.

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So I'm doing a documentary and I'm going to highlight my attendance in summit and my documentary will also explain why I'm against this final adoption and why I'm against this council majority in general. So sort of Jacqueline, smile.

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You're on camera. or not. Michelle, smile. You're on camera. >> There we go. We got a giggle. All right. Wasn't hard, was it? Bob, smile. You're on camera. Bob was always good to me.

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Gave me He always was willing to take criticism. Claire, you're on camera. Smile. Come on. Come on. Thought we were going to still do the discriminatory tear status of a [snorts]

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non-residents speaking last. Mayor Fagan, ever since I came here, you always said you always waved to me. You always smile. You always mel made me feel welcome. This discriminatory tear status of non-resident speaking last is not a way to welcome people. And it

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doesn't align with your political uh values to be quite frank. It's the kind of mentality back when slavery existed, back when women couldn't vote. Jamal, smile on camera. >> I'm a little I'm a little under the weather with allergies, but you know, I'm trying to do

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>> always was gave him a lot of lot of crap and was always professional. Always professional. That's what a public official should be. Shantel, smile. You're on camera. All right, [snorts] Dan, smile. You're on camera.

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Okay. >> Yeah. So, it doesn't matter what I say anyway. You guys don't care. This council majority doesn't care. Um, so I'll just overlay some comments about my experience of each one of you and I'll turn my three minute public comment into like a 15inute video and I'll give my

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analysis, why I'm against this final adoption, why I'm against this council majority, you know. So, let's just get a couple shots that I'll need for my documentary. wanted in this. >> You want to be part of the documentary?

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>> My permission release before you take my picture. >> I need a release for that. >> It's not the way that Don't you want to be part of the documentary? I guess >> I don't want to be part of your >> Then maybe you shouldn't be quiet. You know, >> they're nervous. Some people jump in front of the camera for

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No, you'll be part of it now. There's no expectation of priv privacy in public >> really. >> Yeah. This is how you show this is how you show people who was who were in the meeting. >> Show the public the general public other than you guys you know who came to the

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meeting. >> All right. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. Then the public comment portion of the hearing is closed. We can move on to council member comments.

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Council member Belowki, lead us off. >> Okay. So, when I was thinking about this hearing [clears throat] and what I was going to say, I thought it would be appropriate if Rod Serling could be here to

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introduce me. And I think he might say there's a fifth dimension beyond which is known to man. This is the dimension of imagination, an area we call the twilight zone.

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So um here we are talking about an ordinance that in my opinion is inaccurate. Right? The ordinance the ordinance says the very first line whereas NJSA467-16.9

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authorizes the governing body of the city of Summit to provide by regulation for the closing of any street or portion thereof to motor vehicle traffic etc. That's not what the statute says. What the statute says, as our city solicitor

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made clear before, was that it authorizes the council to authorize the mayor or other chief executive of the municipality. But the mayor is our chief executive to authorize the closure of a street

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when she finds it necessary for the preservation of the public safety, health or welfare. So, one of the problems that I have with this and the whole way that it was unveiled to the public is transparency.

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Right? We had a version of this ordinance that actually said what the statute said. And right before the introduction, we replaced it with another one that says something that the statute does not

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say. Um, so that's I have a problem with that from a transparency perspective. We also as a council got the traffic report from dynamic traffic the evening uh before or the afternoon before the ordinance was

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introduced. It wasn't attached to the packet and it wasn't published by the city for like over a week after after we had the initial introduction. That's not transparent either. Um, and you know,

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everybody up here always preaches transparency and process and it's like, what are we doing? We're switching out ordinances. And anyway, um, so, as I've heard tonight, people who spoke

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out in favor of this introduction say things like, "It's cool. It's a great vibe. It's wonderful. It's magical. People love it. We can meet people. We can do yoga on asphalt." I have that one. Um, you know, some have suggested that we should bend the rules to make it

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happen. Um, what I've heard from people who are against it are or are uncertain about it. Um, are more legitimate safety concerns.

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uh questions about whether we've thought this through, whether we've really done the due diligence that's necessary before making a decision like this. And just to touch on that, I have a whole lot more. So, um but there are two two

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fundamental questions here, right? Beyond the fact of whether we like it, whether we love it, and every you know, most people like outdoor dining, outdoor dining is great. Um, but under the state law, under the traffic code,

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any street closure for more than 48 hours has to be certified by the city engineer who's not here. And one of the things that he has to certify to is that closing the street is in the expedition of traffic on our city streets.

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Expedition means that it's going to speed it up. It's going to make it easier to get around. And I think this traffic port report says the opposite. Um, if anybody's read it. And the second question is under this statute that we're relying on

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to close the street or may be relying on to close the street that the closure is necessary for the preservation of the public safety, health or welfare. I've asked these questions to my fellow council members repeatedly.

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And I've never gotten an answer. I've also never gotten an answer to the question of why does it have to be Maple Street. I think they, you know, have said that that's where the best restaurants are. And there's very good restaurants on Maple Street. There's

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very good restaurants elsewhere. And I will say, Dylan, my favorite bite of food in this town has got to be the Baja Taco at Barbcoa. Um, but I don't think that's a reason to close Maple Street. So, um, one of the questions that I

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asked months ago was, are we talking to the property owners and are we talking to the business owners to see what they have to think? And I I suggested that we talk to all of them, right? We don't want to just pick winners and losers on one street or another, but what I've

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heard from here tonight is that a lot of the property owners on Maple Street were never approached. Lori Comios wasn't asked. And Michelle, I sent you an email about two months ago when I was told that you were the one that was in charge of speaking to all

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these people and doing your survey, however scientific or unscientific it was. I asked you to let me know who you talking to, what have they said so far, who do you have left to talk to, what's the feedback been? Never got an answer. Um and we now hear that, you know, 11

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out of 16 building owners on just that one block of Maple Street are against this. Um that would have been useful information to have prior to uh ruling on this and I don't know if any of the other um council members were aware of

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that. Um so some other um issues that I have is that the engineer's not here. Couple of years ago, uh, Deie Hamlet, as she said when she was in here before, asked as asked,

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uh, Director Shreger point blank, "Can you certify that this is in the expedition of traffic on our city streets?" And he said, "No." And I had a whole bunch of questions that I would have asked uh, Director Shreger or even dynamic traffic if they were here, and they

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should be here, right? I mean, this is an important hearing, and you know, people are saying, "Trust the experts. Trust the experts." where are they? You know, why why can't we test their theories? And and I don't even think that there's anything in this traffic report that would support that uh

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closure of Maple Streets in the expedition of traffic or necessary for the public health and safety. Um some of the questions I would that I would have asked Director Shreger is uh do you still have to certify that the closure is in the interest of the expedition of

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traffic on our streets? And he would have said yes. He'd have to say yes because that's the state law. How does the traffic study support this notion? Well, it really doesn't. Um, it says that it will slow it down a little bit. And maybe it's just a little bit, but that's not expedition.

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Um, what's changed in the last few years? I don't know what he would have said to that. Um, I don't even know if he's going to certify to this. Um, I think he's put in his uh resignation and I don't know when his last day is going to be. I don't know when the certification's going to come. It's my

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understanding that uh emails and documents have been exchanged with the DOT already and this goes back weeks. I've asked for them. Nobody's given them to me. Um uh another question that I would ask is

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did the dynamic traffic study account for the fact that the tier garage or portions of it are going to be closed uh over the exact same time that Maple Street's closed? I don't think that they did. They don't say anything about it in there. And I don't know how many there's two, three,

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400 parking spaces in there. You know, people are going to come to Summit thinking that they can park there like they usually do to go enjoy uh uh uh a meal on Maple Street and they're going to find that there's nowhere to park. Isn't that going to be more cars driving

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around just because of that unique circumstance that the parking garage happens to be closed this summer? Is that something that we should be thinking about? Maybe this isn't the right year to do a test run as um Mr. Bassman uh noted that this has to be renewed year after year. Maybe next

493
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year's the right year to do a test run. Um did the dynamic traffic uh experts account for the fact that although our public schools were in session, our three private high schools were away on

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spring break. Did they account for that? I don't know. I don't think so. Doesn't say anything about that. Um, another question that I would have asked him is why why isn't this study, which is I don't even know if it's a study,

495
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it's it says it's a memorandum. Um, it's dated April 14th, 2026, it's not sealed by the engineer. Um, it's my understanding that engineers when they give a formal opinion that someone's supposed to rely on, they're supposed to

496
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fix their official seal. Um, I would have asked him that. I don't know what the answer to that would be. Um, the next question that I would ask him is, Director Shriger, your concept plan does have your official seal and and it was

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sealed on March 31st, two weeks before we received the dynamic traffic report. Did you consider the dynamic traffic report when you did your concept plan? Shouldn't you have? Would it have been any different? Would we have needed to

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make changes before we attached it to this ordinance and asked the council to approve it? Um, let's see. Um, you know, I've always thought this was a foregone conclusion, uh, that this

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council would do everything in their power to pass this, but I at least thought that we were going to do the due diligence necessary uh, to give the council a reasonable basis not only to vote on this, but to pass it.

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And unfortunately, um, you know, we didn't we didn't do that due diligence. I had sent Councilwoman Laroscina an email with 33 things that I thought we ought to do, uh, so that we could make an informed decision. One of those was,

501
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as Madi said, um, a real survey, right? Not like a survey that says, "Hey, if you like eating steak on Maple Street, click yes here." Right? like a survey after we do the due diligence that says

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we're considering closing Maple Street. There are pros and there are cons and here they are. So that when people say whether they want to close Maple Street for outdoor dining, do they know that it's going to be closed 24/7 for 3 months on rainy days when nobody's

503
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eating out there? Do they know that it's going to inhibit their ability to get across town? And yes, Morris Aav does go across town, Henry, but not really. I mean, you really have to go out of the way. And I had a conversation with our fire chief who is in a different

504
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situation in his responding to calls because well, first of all, they used the old firehouse was I mean, if you look at a map of Summit, it is a bullseye in the dead center of town. It's not there anymore. Um, it's also my

505
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understanding, uh, I, my wife told me she met somebody who did this, worked on this master plan as a professional and gave a little bit of the history that when they designed Broad Street and Maple Street, they made it extra wide so fire trucks could turn down there to get to the north side of

506
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town. So, I asked uh our fire chief, "If there's a fire on Hawthorne Place, which of course is where our mayor lives, um how would you get there?" And he said, "Well, we would come up Broad Street to Summit A

507
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and we take Summit A." I said, "Okay, and if it's rush hour and there's a whole lot of traffic there, what do you do?" It's usually not a problem. He said, "We fire up the sirens, we fire up the lights, and people get out of the way." Okay, fair enough. But what if there's an accident? That's

508
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the number one place where pedestrians are hit in this town. And we had an increase in that in the first quarter this year. Closing Maple Street's going to divert more cars there. What if there's an accident there? And his answer was, well,

509
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and and and I take Maple Street. Okay. And if Maple Street's closed, what would you do? Well, I would drive all the way down Broad Street, all the way around City Hall, and then I'd make my way there from I'd make my way to Hawthorne Place from there.

510
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I think that is [snorts] necessarily going to be a delay. As we saw in the last meeting, seconds matter when you're doing an emergency response. The the fire trucks don't have the ability to go under the the train track bridge at Park Avenue, so they can't go around there.

511
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My next question was, "How would you get to Argyle Court, which is where my uh former esteemed opponent Diego lives?" And um even though that fire department is probably less than a quarter mile away from Argal Court as the crow flies, you'd have to drive like I don't know

512
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how far it is, a mile, two miles out of the way uh in order to get there. That's going to cause a delay. And while I'm talking about uh emergency delays, I have another anecdote. Uh, but I think it's an important one that was emailed

513
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to the council this week and it has to do with an incident that happened in Milbour before they made the decision to no longer close Main Street. My name is Sue Valet Vales and I have been requested to make a statement regarding your proposal to

514
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close a street in Summit for outdoor dining. The reason for this request is because I live in Milbourne and my late husband Armando was a victim of such an occurrence. You see, on July 1st, 2023, Armando suffered a heart attack. And the Milbourne First Aid Squad, as wonderful

515
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as they are, had such difficulty navigating through the streets due to Main Street being closed for outdoor dining and fun. During this harrowing ordeal of twists and turns in a town full of people and the added time it took to get him to the hospital, Armando

516
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suffered another heart attack. No one knows what this is like until you've experienced it, of which I hope no one ever has to. Luckily, he survived, but with consequences. He had to be hooked up to a life vest, external defibrillator, and cease his cancer meds, of which he was on for years to

517
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control his cancer from spreading. He was doing well prior to the incident. Unfortunately, after this incident, my husband had to stop his cancer meds for some time, and every time he restarted, it put a strain on him due to damage from the heart attacks and had to stop.

518
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He just passed in December, the saddest day of our lives. I firmly believe the urgency of getting him to the hospital may have prevented additional damage and he could possibly still be here with us. This we will never know. And she says some other things and I'll give this to Rosie to put in the minutes if anybody

519
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else cares to read the balance of it. But these are real concerns and they are things that could come to pass. So, I have some more questions that aren't wouldn't have been for the engineer that I have also asked my

520
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fellow council members. Um, and I still haven't gotten any answers from them. Um, and I and I mentioned this before. Why does it have to be Maple Street? Right? Outdoor dining is great. Okay, people love outdoor dining, but the only answer that I've gotten again is that

521
02:48:56.080 --> 02:49:10.720
that's where the restaurants that they want to go to are. Um, are there any other options? I know Mayor Fagan, and she may speak about this, has made other options. Our master plan suggests other options. They thought about this back in

522
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2000, and as Millie Cooper statement said, Beachwood was the road that they came up with. It's not quite the through street that Maple Street is. You could close uh Beachwood between Bank Street and Springfield A, have a nice outdoor

523
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pedestrian plaza, still allow traffic to flow around and and not lose the parking at the Bank Street lot. The master plan suggests some other things as well. Um it talks about our traffic circulation and talks about

524
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different kinds of roads and Maple Street is what's known as a collector street where um traffic from main streets go when they can't get through those main streets. Uh it's vital to our infrastructure and our master plan says

525
02:50:00.080 --> 02:50:17.439
quote that such or says that such collector streets should quote be safeguarded from overuse and intrusive development. Isn't the closure of a collector road the ultimate intrusion? I don't even think that's debatable. I

526
02:50:17.439 --> 02:50:37.200
mean, um, it definitely is. Aren't we, as the governing body, the ones charged with safeguarding Maple Street and other collector streets from such intrusions like outdoor dining? I think we are.

527
02:50:37.200 --> 02:50:52.479
Will this ordinance go to the planning board for a consistency review? I don't know. Maybe somebody up here can answer that. I think it should. Um, you know, they are the experts on this. They're the ones that created our

528
02:50:52.479 --> 02:51:13.359
traffic circulation plan. They're the ones that can give us a good opinion on what the impact will be. Someone uh again, and I mentioned this before, but somebody somebody mentioned that, you know, the not of my backyard

529
02:51:13.359 --> 02:51:28.640
uh concern and that, you know, people are always going to be against something. I think we should at least ask. When we did the Tatlock review, Councilman Smallwood and I spent countless hours speaking to residents in open dialogue to get their opinions and

530
02:51:28.640 --> 02:51:44.960
to thoughtfully inform what we decided to do there. That has not happened here. It just hasn't. Again, you know, 11 out of 16 building owners on one block of Maple Street, and we don't know about the other one, are against it. Uh, a

531
02:51:44.960 --> 02:52:01.920
number of business owners came out here tonight and said that they were against it, that it hurt their business. Um, at the last time that we talked about this, someone came in and said that they rely heavily on people driving by and something in their windows catching their eyes. They can't do that when the

532
02:52:01.920 --> 02:52:17.760
streets closed. So, you know, and and then what about the winners and losers, right? I mean, again, someone came in and somebody asked tonight, are we going to allow other businesses from other areas of town? I think Tony Melchion uh

533
02:52:17.760 --> 02:52:33.279
asked at the last meeting, you know, this is a public street, right? It belongs to the entire city. Should there be an open bidding process on the tables? What if somebody does? What if Mr. Chi wants to come and set up and serve hot dogs at one of those tables,

534
02:52:33.279 --> 02:52:55.374
right? Should he have the opportunity to do that? To the let's close every street comment, I'll quote Dave Chappelle. I wish I had more hands so I could give that four thumbs down. Um, [snorts]

535
02:52:59.680 --> 02:53:14.240
the last one, and this is a little out of order because I I wrote it late on the upper side here, but again, we've heard people say tonight, you can read the traffic study. I think one of the chiefs said it tonight, that this will

536
02:53:14.240 --> 02:53:29.600
have minimal increases in delays. And that's according to dynamic traffic's unsealed possibly a study memorandum. How is that the expedition of traffic?

537
02:53:29.600 --> 02:53:46.399
So, we have two major legal hurdles and I'd love to hear from any of my fellow council members about how closing the street will expedite traffic on our city streets and about why it's necessary to for the preservation of the public safety and health. And if nobody can

538
02:53:46.399 --> 02:54:02.640
answer that question with a good answer and evidence and data to support it, I don't see how we could possibly vote to approve this ordinance. That's all I have for now. Thank you, >> Council President. >> Thank you, >> Council Member Boy.

539
02:54:02.640 --> 02:54:19.920
>> I'm not going to be 20 minutes. >> Oh, thank you. >> That's right. I'm so sorry. Um, Council Member Lera Cena has a family issue and needs to leave, so I want to give her the time. >> Yeah, no problem. >> Thank you. >> I do apologize, Council Member, and I

540
02:54:19.920 --> 02:54:34.880
apologize to everyone. My wonderful parents are at home with my two small children who are probably up way too late and I need to get home and get them into bed. Uh so uh in on the pedestrian safety issue um the expedition of traffic as councilman Palowski has

541
02:54:34.880 --> 02:54:51.600
raised Councilman Palowski kindly shared with me in advance of this meeting the number of uh police recorded pedestrian incidents along Summit A in the last five years. There were 12 uh and as many of us drive Summit A regularly, you have six, seven, eight, nine pedestrian

542
02:54:51.600 --> 02:55:06.960
crosswalks in rapid succession on Summit A, right? Creating a pedestrian zone is a generally accepted pedestrian safety and traffic calming measure. If we are able to draw pedestrians over to the

543
02:55:06.960 --> 02:55:23.920
pedestrian zone in on Maple Street, if this is to pass, then there will be fewer pedestrians crossing at those various crosswalks on Summit A and it will then serve the expedition of traffic while also protecting our pedestrians. Public safety questions were the

544
02:55:23.920 --> 02:55:40.640
priority throughout the consideration of this proposal over the last several months. As I've said before, protecting the physical safety of our community is our most important responsibility. On the response time of our first responders, I have lived this. I went

545
02:55:40.640 --> 02:55:56.080
into cardiac arrest on Bank Street 18 months ago. I am only here because of the grace of God and the remarkable response time of our Summit Police Department who happened to be on a nearby call. I didn't choose to put my

546
02:55:56.080 --> 02:56:11.439
life in their hands, but if I could, I would choose them every day because we are blessed with the best. When we have important questions such as those regarding public safety, we ask

547
02:56:11.439 --> 02:56:28.399
our experts. and I put my trust in our career public safety professionals. If the risk of temporary road closure to pedestrians were intolerable, we wouldn't allow any discretionary road closures. Right? We wouldn't allow arts

548
02:56:28.399 --> 02:56:46.160
and cars, the Halloween parade, the charity run such as the one we had for the Y this past weekend, popup closures for neighborhood block parties. But we do allow this because we've decided as a community that the potential benefit is real and we can effectively manage the

549
02:56:46.160 --> 02:57:02.240
potential risk. Yes, the duration is different certainly, but the nature and magnitude of the potential risk is the same. In addition, on the public health and welfare, it's more than vibes and

550
02:57:02.240 --> 02:57:18.560
scientific studies support this. Community gathering and outdoor activities have a real measurable positive impact on public health and welfare. I have several recent studies that I can cite. If you're interested in them, please email me. I'm happy to

551
02:57:18.560 --> 02:57:35.840
share them with you. We have Jackson and Stevenson at all from 2021. We have Condosa at all from 2023. And we have Win Blair and Pike from 2024 amidst others. This is real. bringing the community in a healthful way. Summit is

552
02:57:35.840 --> 02:57:52.080
not immune to divisiveness. You may have observed some of this if you were on local social media pages over the last several weeks. We are a community in my view that could use some healing and some coming together. So, I am supportive of this temporary closure for

553
02:57:52.080 --> 02:58:10.479
several weeks. Thank you. And with that, I unfortunately have to go. >> Thank you. >> Thank Thank you, Councilman. >> Okay. I'm sorry. Back to you, Council Member Ber. Thank you for yielding the floor. >> No, no worries. Um, Jacqueline, I hope everything's okay. Um, so first, let me

554
02:58:10.479 --> 02:58:26.960
just some house housekeeping stuff. Uh, Dylan Baker, Mr. Baker, um, is a good man. Uh, I we don't have a lot of time, but I still remember the first day that I met him. I wasn't a councilman. I was just somebody that was looking for a

555
02:58:26.960 --> 02:58:42.000
place to eat. His restaurant was packed and I was with a group of friends, my wife, and I didn't even know he was the owner. He was like, "Come on in. I got a spot for you." I mean, that was, you know, that that was great. And I always will think of him that way. His wife is

556
02:58:42.000 --> 02:58:57.439
is is an amazing person. His son I coached in football. I like who I like. They're good people. Um, and if you see my Democratic friends here, you know, that always come in here, they're my friends, too. they come in here and uh

557
02:58:57.439 --> 02:59:14.160
boy or this, boy or that. So, um you know, a little bit of signaling. I get it. Uh this is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Like, like stop, right? And the lights aren't either.

558
02:59:14.160 --> 02:59:32.160
Certain people come up and make it that way, but it's not. It It's just not. And uh I'm I'm going to keep it kind of short, but my thing is always security up here. Um I have 20 30 years of keeping environment safe

559
02:59:32.160 --> 02:59:47.359
and you know I provide that guidance to uh the council. Um so as your councilman again my primary duty is to ensure our local government operates fairly, safely and strictly within the bounds of law.

560
02:59:47.359 --> 03:00:03.359
Um, I want to be clear. I am a strong supporter of outdoor dining. However, uh, I am not a supporter of bypassing our form of government or exposing our taxpayers to massive liability.

561
03:00:03.359 --> 03:00:20.319
Uh, here's why this ordinance is flawed. Separation of powers in our city charter and summit. Our government relies on a strict separation of powers. The city council is the legislative body. We do make laws.

562
03:00:20.319 --> 03:00:39.520
Um, sometimes Robert throws me off, man. [laughter] We do make laws and the mayor is the chief executive. Uh, the state statute being used to justify this closure explicitly grants the authority to close the street to the mayor or chief

563
03:00:39.520 --> 03:00:57.040
executive, not the council. And as a vigilant resident recently pointed out in an email to council, we cannot simply write an ordinance that usurps the mayor's executive authority. Furthermore, uh this statute requires a

564
03:00:57.040 --> 03:01:12.479
finding that this closure is necessary for public safety, health, or welfare. So before we move forward, I must ask the mayor directly on record. Mayor Fagan, do you find that the

565
03:01:12.479 --> 03:01:30.240
closing of Maple Street is strictly necessary to preserve the safety and health of Summit residents? >> I had planned to speak to this a little bit later, but I will take the opportunity now. Um,

566
03:01:30.240 --> 03:01:47.520
I think it would be very So I thought about this and I thought about the definition of necessary and I was fairly certain I had a good understanding of what the word necessary meant. But to confirm, I looked it up in

567
03:01:47.520 --> 03:02:02.560
Webster's dictionary and this is what I got. Absolutely needed or essential. Something that cannot be done without. Obligatory or compulsory. Required by law, authority or condition, inevitable

568
03:02:02.560 --> 03:02:18.960
or inescapable, determined by a previous condition or sure to happen. Okay, got it. Still required, necessary, pretty simple. Um, to preserve the public safety, health or

569
03:02:18.960 --> 03:02:37.279
welfare of the community. No, can't say that. can't say it. I mean, could could somebody convince me that it's necessary for public safety to close a road if there was a giant sinkhole in it?

570
03:02:37.279 --> 03:02:56.800
Maybe. Um, would it be is it necessary for the health of the community if there were a giant sinkhole in it? If there was a building falling down in it? Yeah, I could see that. Um, welfare

571
03:02:56.800 --> 03:03:13.680
being what it is, also Webster, help me out here. State of doing well, specifically regarding health, happiness, and prosper or prosperity or well-being. Heard what uh, Councilwoman Lesarena said, understanding that mental

572
03:03:13.680 --> 03:03:31.279
health is incredibly important. Mentioned that at the beginning of the meeting several hours ago. Um, and as a physician, I understand that mental health is and and welfare in that regard is very important. But is the closing of

573
03:03:31.279 --> 03:03:47.439
Maple Street necessary for the the welfare of this community? I can't say that I can that I can confirm that. Absolutely not. Um, I think that there are ways to accomplish

574
03:03:47.439 --> 03:04:04.800
the mental health and wellness and the public safety and the health. There's a way to support those things elsewhere. The the goals uh that are stated of this ordinance and the idea behind this is

575
03:04:04.800 --> 03:04:20.080
beautiful. Bring the community together. I'm all for that. Outdoor dining. I love outdoor dining. These are not this is not the question I'm being asked. The question I'm being asked is is the this specific street closing necessary for

576
03:04:20.080 --> 03:04:35.200
the public safety, health and w or welfare and the answer is no. >> Thank you. And so I'm sorry for putting you on the spot because I know you was was definitely not rehearsed. Um so if the executive branch cannot

577
03:04:35.200 --> 03:04:52.160
unequivocally make the statutory finding, we have no legal basis as a council to proceed. The danger to the taxpayers understanding title 59. We talk about municipal liability. We talk about title

578
03:04:52.160 --> 03:05:08.080
59. This is New Jerseys tort claims act which generally provides cities with immunity from certain lawsuits. However, Title 59 immunities can be completely voided if a municipality takes actions that are deemed palable, unreasonable.

579
03:05:08.080 --> 03:05:23.200
When we deliberately place barricades in public roadways or alter traffic patterns, we risk slowing down emergency vehicles and response times uh to abundant properties. If an emergency response is delayed due to these

580
03:05:23.200 --> 03:05:39.520
closures and tragedy occurs, maybe our Title 59 protections could vanish. Some of taxpayers would be left holding the bag. So, I will not vote to gamble with [clears throat] public safety or public funds. And, you know,

581
03:05:39.520 --> 03:05:54.640
I'm up here. I'm I'm a I'm a volunteer, right? You know, I have a I have a family. And my first job up here is safety. My second job up here is to protect my family from liability.

582
03:05:54.640 --> 03:06:10.640
And you know, I didn't take this job for something to happen to somebody. And I'm sitting in court and my wife don't want me to do this anyway. And I'm sitting in court, you know, with legal fees and stuff that, you know, I can't

583
03:06:10.640 --> 03:06:27.920
afford or whatever. And, you know, I I'm we there's a better way to do this. And I want this council to go back, look at it again, just like in the last two years what I was told. Not ready for prime time. Um, but it works. I'm safer.

584
03:06:27.920 --> 03:06:45.520
Thank Chief. Um, but go back and and and look at this again because our mayor said, you know, she she's not bored. So if we vote for it, we are usurping the mayor's power and authority.

585
03:06:45.520 --> 03:07:01.359
We had a resident just came up and said that she was going to get together with a group of people and file a lawsuit. Aren't we tired of lawsuits? There could be a better way to do it. I'm not against outdoor dining, but I'm against the way that this ordinance is written.

586
03:07:01.359 --> 03:07:20.960
This ordinance is not written correctly. And if we pass this, um, we open the city up to liability. And I'm not for that. And for those reasons, I am against this. Thank you, Council President. >> Okay. Anyone else?

587
03:07:20.960 --> 03:07:36.720
>> Yes, Council Member Calvinson. >> Um, thank you, Council President. Um, I I wanted to respond quickly to something that um, Councilman Palowski said, and I we've been in the same safety meetings. And regarding the state statute, it

588
03:07:36.720 --> 03:07:53.520
changed. It's changed since 2024. and you've asked Director Shreger if he could certify it and when he said yes, you threatened his license. Okay. So, yes, >> that's patently false. >> No.

589
03:07:53.520 --> 03:08:10.720
>> No. And I think it's a shame that you wanted to do that here tonight. So, what I wanted to say about Maple Street is that with Maple Street, we have a rare situation where we can truly compromise. Some people would like to see it closed right now in the spring. Some people

590
03:08:10.720 --> 03:08:27.600
don't want it closed at all. So, we have a compromise to close it during the slowest time of the year during summer vacation. Now, I understand people's concerns about favoring certain businesses over others, but that is not the goal. Our goal is to elevate the entire downtown by creating buzz and

591
03:08:27.600 --> 03:08:44.560
encouraging our residents to come out and support local businesses. I've been speaking to local shop owners and they're telling me that shopping habits have changed. People are shopping online and they don't see the same support from our local community that they used to. Now, I have a letter from a business

592
03:08:44.560 --> 03:09:00.800
owner in town talking about how fantastic it was. And I'm actually not going to read it because I don't want to make this person a target. And that's a shame because this person was targeted in the past with threaten threatened for

593
03:09:00.800 --> 03:09:17.760
losing business. So I I'm not going to read it but I will say that you know there are some people who don't like it. Um they feel that maybe their business suffered and I would say I hope that that you have a different experience this time should this pass. You know it

594
03:09:17.760 --> 03:09:33.760
was funny times in COVID and shopping habits have changed and I just really want to see our entire downtown um succeed. So I support this. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone

595
03:09:33.760 --> 03:09:51.279
else? >> You want to have a go, Bob? >> Sure. Thank you. Uh Michelle, what you just said is completely false. >> Yes, it is. And since we're talking about uh close session, I asked director, >> you just said it was.

596
03:09:51.279 --> 03:10:06.080
>> You said committee meeting. >> It's a safety meeting. >> Safety committ. >> Okay. in the since we're talking about safety committee meetings. What I asked Director Shrager was could he certify that this closure would expedite traffic

597
03:10:06.080 --> 03:10:22.520
and his response was well it won't be that much worse than it is and that's enough. He never answered my question and I said you're willing to put your seal on that? That is not threatening his license. Okay. So,

598
03:10:24.880 --> 03:10:40.240
So, council president, >> yes, >> I will say one result is that uh our chief city chief engineer is quitting his job. So some interaction did take place and uh I've spoken with him and his

599
03:10:40.240 --> 03:10:56.160
presentation our our esteemed former well he's still with us for now but um he's putting a very positive spin on it that he's going on to uh wonderful new opportunities but he's had a difficult experience here and we've observed it

600
03:10:56.160 --> 03:11:13.040
and I've observed it as well and so I think we need to treat our city employees with respect that they deserve. Aaron has been here 18 years serving Republican and Democratic administrations and suddenly now he has to leave and I

601
03:11:13.040 --> 03:11:30.880
wonder why. Um and so so I will say that I will also say Bob I agree with you 100%. The Baja tacos are the best and I wish frankly we could all be over

602
03:11:30.880 --> 03:11:47.680
at Barbcoa or the Elks or some other great place celebrating Cinco de Mayo and u so we're all here. I appreciate everybody coming out. We all care about Summit. Everybody, let me say everybody from Summit that was here tonight cares

603
03:11:47.680 --> 03:12:04.000
about Summit and you're passionate about Summit. We don't have the same perhaps vision for summit. We've heard people that want it to be more convivial. Uh gimmutishkite is a word but I promised I would not use tonight. It uh is an

604
03:12:04.000 --> 03:12:19.439
Austrian term that means like well-being community good spirits and that's what I want for summit. I think that uh outdoor pedestrian areas in town are one good

605
03:12:19.439 --> 03:12:36.560
way that can achieve that. Uh the dog parks, the one that opened yesterday, uh is another great way to do to bring people together. I support Tatlock Lights and I sure as hell am working collaboratively so that they can be on for the fall sports season. All of those

606
03:12:36.560 --> 03:12:51.840
are things that bring people together. And what I don't like is the tactics, the dirty tactics, the dirty politics of last year's campaign seeping back into our discourse in recent days. Some of

607
03:12:51.840 --> 03:13:09.040
those same attacks, underhanded, dirty, unfounded, and untruthful and partial facts have been coming back and those reflexes are damaging to Summit. We heard tonight somebody making insinuations about my supporters, all of

608
03:13:09.040 --> 03:13:26.479
whom I'm proud of. None of the supporters for our campaigns last year jointly were more than a small percentage of our total contributions. I'm not going to talk about the practices on the other side. You can look at those for yourself. Um economic

609
03:13:26.479 --> 03:13:43.520
benefits. I also sit as one of my 16 committees, commissions, and boards on which I serve. I just got one added last week. One of those is the economic development advisory council. On that, I learned that the city has

610
03:13:43.520 --> 03:13:58.720
been working with Boston Consulting Group, a world-class global consulting firm that has an office here in town. They've kindly agreed to do a pro bono study for Summit to address risks to Summit's economy.

611
03:13:58.720 --> 03:14:14.800
BMS is selling its facility. They're shedding jobs. Uh Ken View across town is being acquired. Our town is at risk. We see a beautiful downtown. the resident the the store owners particularly the small locallyowned

612
03:14:14.800 --> 03:14:32.000
stores and restaurants are telling us that they're at risk and we've had different views on how they appreciate this particular project but the facts are there in the traffic studies I'm sorry the foot traffic studies done by

613
03:14:32.000 --> 03:14:47.439
SDI over recent years show declining foot traffic in Summit downtown if we just pretend pretend that we have to live in the 1950s and nothing changes in Summit, we are putting ourselves at

614
03:14:47.439 --> 03:15:05.279
risk. Summit downtown was the top factor as council president mentioned, cited by HGTV and ranking us as a top suburb across the whole country. [clears throat] Right? The first thing they mentioned was our vibrant downtown. That is at severe risk for changing

615
03:15:05.279 --> 03:15:21.040
shopping habits. We've all seen those mountains of Amazon packages at and I'm certainly guilty of that myself. At the same time, people are new residents are coming to Summit and as they come, we

616
03:15:21.040 --> 03:15:35.680
need to get them trained into coming downtown, having experiences, having a night out as a couple, uh, bringing their kids, playing games. We have tables for folks or we will have hopefully tables if council and the

617
03:15:35.680 --> 03:15:52.399
mayor are on board that will allow families that can't afford one of the more expensive restaurants to bring their own takeout and play games and have a cheap cheap night out on the town. It's a nice vacation. This is for all of Summit. Um, I myself can't

618
03:15:52.399 --> 03:16:08.239
necessarily afford to go to Europe this year, but I go downtown, I blink, and I think I'm in in a sidewalk cafe in some exotic destination. It makes me happy. That's my little bit of gimmutish kite, if you will. So, um, the economic

619
03:16:08.239 --> 03:16:25.279
benefits, the risks to our economic vibrancy that we cannot ignore. We can't play pretend that they're going to go away. Amazon is not going away. Uh local businesses are at risk. The economy is in a very weird place right now. A lot

620
03:16:25.279 --> 03:16:42.000
of people uh consumer confidence is at, you know, multi-deade lows. People are very careful in how they spend. We need to give people a reason to come out and sum it, a reason to spend their money here instead of somewhere else and to come together as a community. So those

621
03:16:42.000 --> 03:16:57.359
are my views. I've haven't taken as much time as some others here tonight, but I feel very passionately about this and I'd be willing to follow up with anybody uh in conversation in honest conversation, not gotchas where they want to tape you and then manipulate

622
03:16:57.359 --> 03:17:13.040
your image and your voice, which has happened to me during the campaign. So, we are all volunteers up here. I'm working my bunda off with all these committees and I extend the benefit of the doubt to my fellow council members.

623
03:17:13.040 --> 03:17:30.000
I'm not questioning Bob's ethics or his motives and I would appreciate the same treatment from from others. Thank you. Before we go further, let's please keep this focused on Maple Street and not on

624
03:17:30.000 --> 03:17:46.080
each other or pointing fingers at anybody. >> Thank you, Council President. >> Council member Landman. >> Okay, I'll keep it's 10:30. [clears throat] I'll keep this super short. Uh mostly because my colleagues have already shared the reasons why they are

625
03:17:46.080 --> 03:18:02.000
supportive, which are in line with my views. Um I love Summit. We have a vibrant downtown. I am a patron of the small businesses in town all the time. Running a small business is a tremendous hustle,

626
03:18:02.000 --> 03:18:17.040
and I'm happy to do my part to help our small businesses survive. Recently, over the past few weeks, I've walked Springfield Avenue, Maple Street, Union Place, speaking with small business owners. And I'm going to

627
03:18:17.040 --> 03:18:32.720
anonymize them, too, for similar reasons to what Michelle described. From jewelers to wine stores, businesses selling shoes to toys, the overwhelming majority of business owners I spoke with want us to proceed with a seasonal closure of Maple Street to pedestrian

628
03:18:32.720 --> 03:18:47.920
traffic only. They need the foot traffic. I heard it over and over again. I have complete confidence in our first responders to keep the public safe, as they did, by the way, for three summers when it was closed previously, and as they do every

629
03:18:47.920 --> 03:19:02.000
day now. Yes, residents will be inconvenienced when they need to take a different route through town. Just like residents at Memorial Field, Wilson neighborhood where I live and Tatlock are inconvenienced when there are games that

630
03:19:02.000 --> 03:19:19.040
clog up the traffic on our streets. That's a compromise that we ask of all residents for the good of the broader community. And for those reasons and for the welfare of the broader community, I am supportive of this ordinance. Thank you, Council President. Thank you,

631
03:19:19.040 --> 03:19:33.760
>> Council President. >> Is there something that hasn't been said? >> Yes. Def most definitely. Um, so you know about the rhetoric and the backbiting and all this other stuff. Um, if you

632
03:19:33.760 --> 03:19:51.520
stop talking about it, then maybe it'll go away. I mean, I I could sit up here and talk about all the the [snorts] racist and bigoted comments that happened to me in the last two years. Um, you can go on Facebook and and and look at it. Stop talking about

633
03:19:51.520 --> 03:20:08.000
it. I don't complain about it. But what I haven't heard tonight though from any council person except for Bob probably is the legalities of the ordinance. Hey, this is this is going to be fun. This is going to be great. It's exciting. Bring the community together.

634
03:20:08.000 --> 03:20:24.080
Yeah, that's great, right? But that's not what you're up here and what your responsibility is. your responsibility and maybe you know some of you are are are newly elected. I get it. So I gotta be the you know the dad up here, right? The the responsibility though is to the

635
03:20:24.080 --> 03:20:40.160
liability excuse me. The responsibility is to the liability of the city of Summit and the health and safety of its residents, not whether or not who can do the limbo and dance and eat and stuff like that. I mean that's great. I'm

636
03:20:40.160 --> 03:20:56.479
excited for that too, right? But we have to address the legalities of this. So you're going to pass an ordinance that the mayor is saying that she doesn't approve, the executive officer. Is that what we're doing as a legis the legislative branch?

637
03:20:56.479 --> 03:21:13.200
Is that what we're going to do? Speak to that. Thank you, council president. >> So could I just have a followup to that? The legal standard here that we heard earlier uh relates to health, safety and

638
03:21:13.200 --> 03:21:31.600
welfare. Um and if you apply that same standard, we would have no road closures because none of them are actually increasing safety, right? So no more block parties if we're if we're going to consistent in our treatment. Uh you have to do it across the board, right? And so

639
03:21:31.600 --> 03:21:47.120
the term welfare accounts for all that stuff I talked about. It's the economic benefits. It's bringing the community together. That's the benefit here. And we're seeing that some at risk and

640
03:21:47.120 --> 03:22:03.760
necessary. I think that's a that's a judgment call, but it's more that the safety we've heard over and over again has been addressed and it's down to the benefits for our community. It doesn't matter what you think though. That's the thing. It it's it's the

641
03:22:03.760 --> 03:22:19.680
executive. >> Council member Boyer. Yes. >> Yes, Mayor. >> Um in response to U Councilman Chris's uh comment about block parties and things

642
03:22:19.680 --> 03:22:36.239
like that. I is this um statute this refers to road closures over a certain duration. Is that correct? City. >> So the requirement for the certification of the engineer um is for road closures

643
03:22:36.239 --> 03:22:53.120
over 48 hours and same thing with the um DOT approval. >> Okay. So it's a different conversation. Just wanted to be clear. And I also have some other things to say. So if I may, you >> I will try to not say the same thing over and over again. >> Thank you.

644
03:22:53.120 --> 03:23:09.359
But I do want to say that I have suggested alternatives um that wouldn't require closing a mainare to achieve the stated goals which I think we can all agree are wonderful. Bring people together, drive foot traffic to

645
03:23:09.359 --> 03:23:25.920
downtown, create a vibe. I'm all about a vibe. I'm like I like partying. I whatever I I I want to be out there. I'm very pe I'm a people person. So, I loved sitting on Maple Street when it was closed, but we're in a different time

646
03:23:25.920 --> 03:23:44.319
now and I have suggested Councilman Chrisy, we had coffee a couple weeks ago and I said, I have some other ideas about what how we could accomplish this without we could eliminate all of the conversations that we had tonight for the last three hours about safety by entertaining

647
03:23:44.319 --> 03:23:59.840
alternatives. I said this to C council president a year ago. What there are ways to do this, ways to create this cool, you know, place that like maybe other towns would look at and say, "Wow,

648
03:23:59.840 --> 03:24:15.439
I'd like to emulate that. It's so cool." Um, and none of my suggestions were ever considered. In fact, I would argue they were ignored. So, I I kind of feel like if we're if you It's just and and to Bob's point, why Maple Street? Why does

649
03:24:15.439 --> 03:24:29.760
it have to be Maple Street? Why can't it be somewhere else? Why couldn't it be the Bank Street parking lot Friday, Saturday, Sunday? And I I have some ideas. I have some ideas. I've shared them with Miss uh Councilman Chrisy, shared them with uh the safety committee

650
03:24:29.760 --> 03:24:47.359
actually um in brief. Uh I and I'm happy to share them with anybody else who'd care to listen. So, I will not do that because it's 10:40 and I don't want to do that to everybody, but I do have some ideas. Um, I think that um and then so I I think this or ordinance is problematic

651
03:24:47.359 --> 03:25:02.800
for a lot of reasons and I I've tried to make it work by asking about fixing the intersection at Summit Franklin and Union Place. We've been talking about that intersection for two years in the safety committee. You know how you know what the engineer two days ago gave us

652
03:25:02.800 --> 03:25:18.800
an idea? an idea that would have to be approved by the committee, approved by the county, and it might not solve all the problems. And by the way, we won't have been able to try it out before June to say that it made a difference or not. Um I,

653
03:25:18.800 --> 03:25:33.840
you know, and I'd rather not assume that it's going to [music] work. I'd rather see that it's implemented and and see the effects. I'm a scientist. Um, and I do think we I do think we need more work on on

654
03:25:33.840 --> 03:25:50.160
traffic flow and the and addressing what the possibilities the possible impacts are to pedestrians because I heard what Councilwoman Lassar Hannah said about, oh, if we draw all the pedestrians to Maple Street, nobody will cross at Summit Union in Franklin. But see, the

655
03:25:50.160 --> 03:26:07.359
problem is there's a train station there and a parking garage there. So, there are still going to be people that part that cross there. And so, I'm just saying it's a problem intersection. Um, and we've known it for two years, at least two years. Um, there I wanted I

656
03:26:07.359 --> 03:26:21.359
wish the traffic engineer was here because I would have asked. There's something called a pedestrian conflict analysis, which chat GPT told me about. I don't know what that even means except for that it suggests that um instead of looking at traffic flow of vehicular

657
03:26:21.359 --> 03:26:38.319
traffic, it looks at impacts on how the traffic the diversion of traffic would impact near misses and pedestrian safety. And I hear a lot about pedestrian safety. I spend a lot of hours talking to people about pedestrian safety and I feel a lot of concerns from

658
03:26:38.319 --> 03:26:52.640
the community about pedestrian safety. And so I think that that is something that we haven't heard addressed and I don't think that it's really something that we should it's trial and error. It's we should have better data about

659
03:26:52.640 --> 03:27:08.479
this. Um, I haven't seen anything and and so I'll go back to can we deem this necessary? And I I would argue I would love to see the studies that um Councilwoman Lera Sena uh noted, but

660
03:27:08.479 --> 03:27:25.279
again, I'm not sure that it's necessary to preserve mental health and wellness because I've already stated that. I will not repeat myself there, but our public safety officials haven't given anything in writing to say, "Yeah, this all looks

661
03:27:25.279 --> 03:27:40.399
great. Perfect. I sign off on this and and yay, it's going to be awesome and and everybody's going to be safer and they won't say that. They won't say it's safer." Um, they say they can do their jobs because that's what they do. They work in a dynamic environment. I've heard it. I understand that. But I I

662
03:27:40.399 --> 03:27:55.600
just I think we're putting our our we're putting our residents in in a place that's not necessary. Um and I like look again if council has data if public safety officials have data to say that

663
03:27:55.600 --> 03:28:12.080
this is necessary for our um the public safety, health and welfare of our community. I'm open to listening. I want to hear it. I want to see it, but I haven't seen it. Um, and uh, I I really wish that council would table this ordinance and revisit the conversation

664
03:28:12.080 --> 03:28:28.080
to see how we could accommodate the desire for outdoor dining and open gathering space uptown. You're welcome, Bob. Legally and safely. Um, and I also would like to echo um, former councilwoman Hamlet's comment about um,

665
03:28:28.080 --> 03:28:44.239
having the planning board opine as we go into the master plan um, skinny re-exam or re-exam or redo the master plan. I think placemaking should be a part of this and I think that um, that's a great opportunity to get public feedback and public comment because that's what we

666
03:28:44.239 --> 03:29:00.880
did last time we did the master plan. Um, and then I want to mention because somebody mentioned it to me and I didn't I wasn't aware of this, but in 2022 while Maple Street was closed, there was unplanned utility work on Beachwood and Summit A traffic was a mess and it did

667
03:29:00.880 --> 03:29:18.880
delay ambulances getting across town. Um, and then I know somebody mentioned the irony of insisting on cameras for kids playing sports, but under adult supervision, but not for adults drinking alcohol outdoors. Sort of hard to ignore. Um, and then I will just there

668
03:29:18.880 --> 03:29:33.279
are two more points and then I will let everybody I'll let I'll I'll yield the floor. But I have said this many times. Um, just because people want something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Okay? We need to do things legally and safely.

669
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That's our charge as elected officials. And parenting is hard. Sometimes you have to say no even though you want to do the thing. Okay? So, I have done this many times. I got four kids. I've said no a lot of times even though I wanted to do the thing. Um, I just think we

670
03:29:50.560 --> 03:30:06.640
have to keep people safe. We have to do things legally and and I don't think that we've done enough homework. I don't think enough homework has been done around this. And I would hate to put the city at risk by barreling forward without the necessary supporting studies and documentation. And it sounds as if

671
03:30:06.640 --> 03:30:22.239
there will be lawsuits if it passes. So, um, and then lastly, I just want to make sure that, um, oh, two things. One, on the record, I want to say I want to understand if this does go through and somehow you guys figure out a way to go

672
03:30:22.239 --> 03:30:39.200
around me and whatever, or not even go around me, but just get it done. um what happens to the non-rest tables and who's enforcing how do we enforce alcohol or non-alco not allow alcohol there because they don't have alcohol license and you

673
03:30:39.200 --> 03:30:55.920
can't drink in public. Um something that needs to be addressed. Um, and then lastly, I've said this to almost everybody sitting on this deis, and I think it's really, really important to me that if we do this, if this street gets closed um, this season, because

674
03:30:55.920 --> 03:31:12.239
we're talking just about this summer and I heard that and I appreciate that, um, I go back to my scientist background and I will say outcomes are important and I've said it to each of you. I implore you to have this conversation now before the first table goes out there. What are

675
03:31:12.239 --> 03:31:29.200
we measuring? Are we measuring pedestrian safety? And how? Are we measuring successful in businesses? How? Are we measuring foot traffic? How? Tell me how we're going to evaluate this road closure. And honestly, tell the people

676
03:31:29.200 --> 03:31:44.080
next year when we have the same conversation that this was a success. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I'm >> two seconds. >> Um I'll time it. All right, [laughter] 60 seconds.

677
03:31:44.080 --> 03:31:59.040
>> I I just want to I just want to thank Dan for clearing the record and letting everybody know he wasn't trying to impugn my character because when he seemed to accuse me of making Aaron quit and then in the next breath uh accused

678
03:31:59.040 --> 03:32:16.239
Republicans of taking payoffs to stop outdoor dining. I wasn't sure, but thank you for clearing the record on that. >> That's we're we're we're done. I I >> Thanks. Um there was a there there was a question that wasn't from from a member of the

679
03:32:16.239 --> 03:32:33.040
public that wasn't addressed about um the pop-up shops and I know a number of stores that are not on Maple Street have expressed an interest and that is something certainly um we'd like to bring into it. I also very briefly I'm

680
03:32:33.040 --> 03:32:47.120
sorry want to add we're blessed with three years of data and history of successful Maple Street closures and that includes at least one year with unsuccessful closures elsewhere in

681
03:32:47.120 --> 03:33:05.600
downtown. Um I know as banks they there was an attempt to to do something similar on the Bank Street parking lot and nobody came. Um there is it's very difficult for restaurants [clears throat] to serve

682
03:33:05.600 --> 03:33:22.000
more than a few feet beyond their doors. It's tough on the kitchen. It's tough on the weight staff and nobody was using it there. Um >> I have ideas. >> Okay. Well, >> um but with all of that, I'm going to close this hearing and let's call the

683
03:33:22.000 --> 03:33:41.359
role. >> I'm sorry. I I apologize. I'm closing the hearing and it's back to council member Christopho. >> Are Yeah, Matt. >> I have to read the ordinance. >> Would you please read the title of the ordinance? I'm I'm losing it. It's late. >> So, are we [laughter]

684
03:33:41.359 --> 03:34:00.640
okay? Ordinance number 26-3380, an ordinance authorizing the temporary closure of Maple Street pursuant to NJSA4067-16.9 in the city of Summit County of Union, New Jersey. Thank you, Council Member Christopher. >> Thank you, Council President. Having

685
03:34:00.640 --> 03:34:18.239
closed the hearing on ordinance 263380 just moments ago, I move this ordinance for final adoption. >> Second. >> Okay. Now, Madame Clerk, would you read the RO? >> Mr. Ber, >> clear separation of of duties and powers

686
03:34:18.239 --> 03:34:34.239
um opens the city to liability. You all know it. We've all been counseledled by our legal counsel and I am against this. Nay >> Mr. Christophley >> I >> Miss Celmanson

687
03:34:34.239 --> 03:34:52.560
>> I >> Miss Lman >> I >> Mr. Palowski >> nay. Council President Toth >> I >> 4 to2.

688
03:34:52.560 --> 03:43:01.680
>> Yes. Um and I know it's late. Um but and we still have some business to go, but unlike my predecessor, I can't sit here for five hours. I need to call a fivem minute break. [laughter] We we actually Okay. Can we get back to this? And we're

689
03:43:01.680 --> 03:43:17.279
going to we're going to see [clears throat] um we're we're going to see if we can set a new road test record. Um C city solicitor informs me um that if a council member makes a motion, we can

690
03:43:17.279 --> 03:43:35.840
bundle every single resolution together unless somebody wants one pulled out. >> So moved. >> Second. [laughter] >> Okay, look at us all agreeing. >> We agree on almost everything. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I

691
03:43:35.840 --> 03:43:53.120
>> I Any opposed? Okay. Um, that means it is time for P. >> Okay. Council President, >> you should have probably given the opportunity. >> Yes. Okay. I am so sorry. Yes. The public. Is there anyone um who would

692
03:43:53.120 --> 03:44:11.199
have said something about one of the resolutions? I'm so sorry. >> I am so sorry. >> Morris and Rotary Drive. Now going through here, a lot of these were based on close session discussions or closed session discussions.

693
03:44:11.199 --> 03:44:27.439
>> Can we get a little more background on what exactly has just happened with >> let's see like HPC? Um okay. Um >> I can speak to the finance. >> Can can one of us just give a

694
03:44:27.439 --> 03:44:43.359
>> Yeah, I mean I I I can I can do go through this. HPC. Um, we had the opening on HPC. Um, and Kristen Pekka, who is an architect who has been on the rent commission, applied to move over to

695
03:44:43.359 --> 03:44:59.520
HPC. So, she's been moved over as second alternate and the others have moved up. >> Okay. Um, what about the parking lot for St. Teresa's as well as the funeral home? >> I can speak to that if you don't mind.

696
03:44:59.520 --> 03:45:16.560
the there is an agreement um with the funeral home lot. There was a a lot land swap um that was previously that previously occurred related to the firehouse property. Um and this agreement is to clear up language as to

697
03:45:16.560 --> 03:45:33.279
the use of those spots um for the funeral home during construction and a lot line just clarification. >> Um with respect to St. Teresa's same thing. Um, there was a prior agreement uh with St. Teresa's regarding part uh

698
03:45:33.279 --> 03:45:50.160
the loading area on the I forget the name of the Chestnut Street lot that's now closed. Um, and same thing based on the MBC zone, there are some preserved um loading spaces that have to be

699
03:45:50.160 --> 03:46:04.960
dedicated to St. Teresa's and that's what this agreement was was about. >> Okay. and the technical review subcommittee uh appointing members are those members public knowledge or can they be

700
03:46:04.960 --> 03:46:20.800
>> so this is also related to the NBC zone ordinance there's a requirement that any development in that zone has to go through this special subcommittee created by the council it's basically all the members of a regular planning board technical review committee um plus

701
03:46:20.800 --> 03:46:36.960
the mayor councilwoman laserina Um, and there's a going to be a citizen architect that was appointed and I think that's >> Mhm. >> Yeah. [clears throat] Everyone else is standard TRC members.

702
03:46:36.960 --> 03:46:53.600
>> Okay. >> Okay. I don't see any >> Yeah. Yeah. All of these will be attached to the minutes, but I can appreciate you're not wanting to wait >> for a couple weeks. >> Yes. Yes, we know. >> Till after the next meeting. Okay. >> No, great. Well, you're making sure we actually know what we're we're talk

703
03:46:53.600 --> 03:47:09.600
we're voting on and we appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Oh, Mr. Bennett. >> Yeah. [clears throat] Jim Bennett, 38 Fair View Avenue. Um, is it premature to ask on the what the status is on the

704
03:47:09.600 --> 03:47:25.560
closing of the sale of the firehouse property? Uh, I could just say that we're still in negotiations with the contract purchaser and there's been continued discussion and progress. >> Thank you. >> Yep.

705
03:47:28.319 --> 03:47:44.239
>> Okay. Well, good. Then I guess we get to move on to public comment. >> I don't think we voted in favor or >> Oh, did we? Okay. But then we go back to the vote on and actually um

706
03:47:44.239 --> 03:48:00.319
>> can we just do another motion? >> Yes. Yes. Let us [laughter] do another motion and act and and and technically I suppose I should ask that we pull the agreement with St. Teresa's because I should not be voting on that. >> Uh you technically well when we vote you'll say you abstain to that one.

707
03:48:00.319 --> 03:48:14.000
>> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So can we get the motion again? We're getting a little punchy here. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Okay. >> Second. Okay, we've had Do we have any council member comments?

708
03:48:14.000 --> 03:48:29.760
Okay. Um, let's try again. All in favor? >> I >> except any opposed. >> Okay. And I did abstain on the St. Teresa's one. So, the consent agenda passes. Yay. Now, we're on public

709
03:48:29.760 --> 03:48:48.880
comment. And you all win awards for still being here. No. Okay. Do we have council member comments? >> I do. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Council President. >> Um, this will be quick. I just wanted to

710
03:48:48.880 --> 03:49:03.680
address some of the social media activity over the past two weeks. It pretty much spiraled out of control and got weird. Uh, misinformation was spreading like wildfire, especially about Tatlock lights. My favorite are the posts calling for us to turn on the

711
03:49:03.680 --> 03:49:19.279
lights. And so I want to clarify this on the record in case anyone is unclear. A bipartisan council majority is working towards just that. If we could turn on the lights, we would, but there is no electricity running to them yet. And as

712
03:49:19.279 --> 03:49:36.319
of today, I do not know when JCPNL will make that happen. We are putting city resources on this effort. The contractors working on the electrical, the police are working on the cameras, the city attorneys are working on the litigation. It is a group effort and we are working towards that. And to get

713
03:49:36.319 --> 03:49:52.560
ahead of the next round of social media chatter, if the electricity isn't turned on before Memorial Day, the lights won't be used until almost Labor Day per last year's council's ordinance passed in December. So, while I don't know for sure,

714
03:49:52.560 --> 03:50:08.319
realistically, we are probably not using the Tatlock lights until the fall sports season. So, I just want to be on the record so that we all have that information. If you hear a rumor or you are confused and

715
03:50:08.319 --> 03:50:23.680
you want the facts, please just ask us. If you're upset about something, please just let us know. You can email any one of us. It's our first initial, last name at city ofsummit.org. So, now that we've cleared that up, hopefully, um, I do want to confirm some

716
03:50:23.680 --> 03:50:39.120
other rumors. Um, as you heard earlier, the t uh the dog park, the pop-up dog park is back on the village green. The next phase of the Tatlock playground renovation is happening right now, and we expect it to be done in time for Memorial Day weekend. Parking issues near Manley

717
03:50:39.120 --> 03:50:55.920
Court Apartments are being discussed in a staff meet, a city staff meeting to, excuse me, a meeting with city staff tomorrow. Tulip is scheduled to be repaved this year. We are getting a new firetruck and new police patrol vehicles this year, and there's much more great stuff coming soon. Thank you.

718
03:50:55.920 --> 03:51:10.319
>> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> council president, real quick. Um, >> okay. >> I I uh thank you to everyone who donated and sponsored for the soul prom. I thought it was absolutely amazing. I

719
03:51:10.319 --> 03:51:25.600
didn't go because it was all all women. But I dropped some people off though. Um, shout out to my wife for going into town and getting donations from like Square Pizza and um the Silver Lining

720
03:51:25.600 --> 03:51:44.239
and what is Donna's Sweet Nothings. Um, Shante did a good job. Uh, yeah, it was it was great. Brought together various different people. They had a blast. Um, and I just wanted to say that. Thank you, Council President. >> Okay. Thank you, Council Member Peloski.

721
03:51:44.239 --> 03:51:59.760
Yeah, Shantel hit two of the three. So, um, but I I'm I was never very confident that we would get these lights uh operational in the spring, but I always was confident that we'd have them up by the fall, and I still think that we will

722
03:51:59.760 --> 03:52:17.040
or operational by the fall and in use. And then I just wanted to thank Zan's fifth grade class. It was the highlight of the night. [laughter] >> Absolutely. Thank you. Anybody else? >> Yes, Council Member Tailman.

723
03:52:17.040 --> 03:52:31.520
>> Thank you, Council President. Um, I just wanted to mention there is a public safety forum hosted by Assemblyman Andrew McCertie. Um, it's regarding autotheft and it's um Tuesday, May 12th, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Westfield Town

724
03:52:31.520 --> 03:52:49.760
Hall. And um the City of Summit will put this on their website um if people want to sign up. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Anybody else? I will just add one little thing. I was so excited on the consent agenda that

725
03:52:49.760 --> 03:53:05.920
the Rotary Club will be hosting monthly blood drives at the um fire department starting this month, I believe. Um it'll be the first time it's everyone should give blood if they if if they're if they're able to and it's a great excuse

726
03:53:05.920 --> 03:53:21.520
to go visit the firehouse. So, I hope everyone will turn out. Um and with that I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. >> Second. [laughter] >> All in favor?

727
03:53:21.520 --> 03:53:51.319
>> I >> oppose. >> Thank you. >> We made it. >> Thank you for the help. Reuse, reuse, >> recycle,