Good evening everyone. I'm excited. We're all excited to see so many people here today. We've got a lot of really happy things going on and after a tough few days, I think we could all use that. Um so, Matt, let's kick us off. Um,
madame clerk, would you please read the adequate notice of compliance statement? >> Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the city clerk's office in preparation of the council annual meeting notice dated December 17th, 2025, which was properly distributed and
posted per statutory requirements. Please be advised that fire exits are to my right, your left, 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 deis and return it thereafter.
>> Thank you. Um would madam clerk, would you please read the roll call? >> Mr. Ber >> present. >> Mr. Chris Foley >> here. >> Miss Cmonson >> here. >> Miss Landman >> here. >> Mrs. Sarosina >> here. >> President Toad >> here. Um I had asked Chief Evers uh you
are here. there's [laughter] to lead us all in the pledge of allegiance. And I think you brought your your own honor guard [laughter] >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. >> Okay. Madame clerk, would you please read the notices regarding the closed session and hearings and comments? A close 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 meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channel 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 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 prepared statement, please give or email to the a copy to the city clerk's office at city clerk@c cityofsummit.org. to help facilitate an orderly meeting and permit all to be heard, please limit your comments to no more than three
minutes. Unless you are using an electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or need it for professional emergency contact purposes, 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. If you're seated in the first two rows, um please remain silent. Anything you say can be picked up by the recording microphones and it makes it difficult to hear the official proceedings. The three minute limit on
public comments corresponds to a bit less than a single printed page. So if you're leaving your written remarks, please put your name on them and place them in the box near the lect turn when you're done. Um, and we we are going to rearrange our
agenda just a little because I know people are really waiting for our swearings in. Um, let's not keep you waiting. And let's begin with our brand new council member, Andrew Smith. Um, I think it's over to you then, madame
mayor. >> The only problem is just we're missing a piece of paper. It's okay. We're gonna wing this. Thank you. >> We've never We've never winged it before. I, Andrew Smith, >> I, Andrew Smith, >> do solemnly swear
>> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New and that I will bear true faith and allegiance >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same
>> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in the United States >> in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people >> I do solemnly swear >> I do solemnly swear >> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially
>> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all the duties of council member Ward one >> all the duties of council member Ward one. >> According to the best of my ability. >> According to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God.
>> Congratulations. [applause] [applause] Okay. And Council Member Smith, please join us in the DAS. Thank you. Um and now we're going to move on to our fire department um swearings in. We're going to keep our
mayor busy here. beginning with our brand new fire chief who's had an extraordinarily easy few days of it. Our our I was going to say um yes, Chief
Haroy, please join us. >> First, I'm going to read your bio so we can learn a little bit about our new chief. Fire Chief Brian Haro has served the Summit Fire Department for over 22 years. Brian began in Summit in October
2004 as a volunteer firefighter assigned to the Union Hose Company. He started his career here as a part-time dispatcher, moving to the role of firefighter in July of 2007. He has been passionate about firefighting and serving others throughout his life, and he has spent his career training in
various aspects of leadership and safety. Brian worked his way through the ranks and was promoted to ba battalion chief in February of 2024. He holds a bachelor's degree from Satanal University. In addition, he is a fire instructor, drill ground instructor,
fire inspector, and fire investigator, and a certified EMT. Brian served as the department's training officer for the last 5 years, revamping the department's program to include more hands-on training. Brian completed the command and control series and the new fire chief program at the National Fire
Academy. He is currently working towards his executive fire officer designation with an expected graduation date in the spring of 2027. He brings a focus on cancer risk reduction, mental health initiatives for first responders, and community risk reduction. He has served as a volunteer for the National Fallen
Firefighters Foundation's Memorial Weekend at the National Fire Academy for the past 18 years. I'm not even old enough to have been there for 18 years. [laughter] Brian received two Chiefs Chiefs awards for life-saving efforts in 2010 and 2022. Brian lives in Chadam with his
wife Megan and his daughter Becca and his son Colin. Please congratulate Brian on his trial by fire promotion to fire chief. [applause] [applause] So repeat after me. >> I, Brian Harox, >> I, Brian Harox, >> do solemnly swear
>> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the [clears throat] United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and I will bear true faith >> and allegiance >> and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same >> and to the governments established
>> and to the governments established >> in the United States >> in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. I do solemnly swear >> I do solemnly swear >> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all the duties >> all the duties >> of fire chief
>> of fire chief >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. [applause] [applause] Okay. Yeah. And we should be all be grateful that after the last few days, Chief Haro
agreed to be sworn in. [laughter] >> Next, we have >> He did call me and say he wasn't coming tonight. >> Next, we have a brand new battalion commander, um, Matthew Lemons. Will you please join us with your family?
Hello. How are you? >> Great. >> Hi, guys. I love your dress. All right. So, Matthew Lemons started with the Summit Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter in chemical engine company number one in February of 2013,
was hired as a career firefighter in May of 2015, and was promoted to lieutenant in September of 2023. Matt graduated from New Jersey City Union University. Why was that hard? With a ba with a bachelor's in fire science in 2022. In
February of 2026, Matt was accepted into the National Fire Academyy's executive fire officer program. Matt has 16 years of experience in emergency services at the local, county, and state levels, including 11 years of full-time professional firefighting with the Summit Fire Department. Matt was
recently appointed as the city's fire official. In addition to serving sum in summit, Matt has served as the chief of the Chadam Township Volunteer Fire Department, a level two fire instructor at the Union County Fire Academy, an active shooter incident management instructor for the New Jersey State
Police and New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, is a lieutenant with the Union County Fire Investigation Task Force, and since 2019, he has participated in the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's Memorial Weekend with Team Summit. Matt holds three professional
credentials from the Center of Public Safety Excellence, including fire officer, fire marshal, and chief training officer. Matt holds certifications in the following areas: fire officer 2, incident management level three, EMT, fire instructor level two, fire official, fire investigator.
Hold please. Division of fire safety rapid intervention instructor, ice rescue technician, swift water operations. Matt resides in Berkeley Heights with his wife of seven years, Jacqueline, and their two children, Matthew and Kinley. Please congratulate Matt on his
promotion to bodies. [applause] I, Matthew Lemons, >> I, Matthew Lemons, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith
>> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance >> and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same >> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in the United States >> in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. I do solemnly swear >> I do solemnly swear
>> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly >> and justly >> perform all the duties >> perform all the duties >> of battalion chief >> of battalion chief >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability [applause] [applause] Pretty
[laughter] exciting. So excited for you. >> Congratulations. >> Okay. Okay. Then moving right along, we also have a new lieutenant in our fire
department. Um, yeah. No. and and this would be James Hints. >> All right. James Hints began his fire service journey at the age of 16 when he joined the Berkeley Heights Fire Department where he continues to serve as a volunteer today. Driven by his
passion for the fire service, James earned a bachelor of science in fire science with a concentration in fire administration from the University of New Haven. He furthered his professional education by obtaining certifications including firefighter 2, fire official, fire officer 2, incident management
level three, hazardous material materials technician, and swiftwater rescue technician. In July 2019, James expanded his commitment to serving others by joining the Summit Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter and was later appointed to the career division in January 2022. Today, James
resides in Berkeley Heights with his wife Amalia. Please join us in congratulating Lieutenant James Hans on his achievement. [applause] >> Repeat after me. >> Right hand right. >> Yeah. [laughter] I, Jimmy Hint, >> I, Jimmy Hint, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear
>> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance >> and allegiance >> to the same >> to the same >> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established
>> in the United States >> in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. I do solemnly swear >> I do solemnly swear >> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly >> and justly >> perform all the duties >> perform all the duties >> of fire lieutenant
>> a fire lieutenant >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability >> so help me guide >> so help me GUIDE [applause] [applause] CONGRATULATIONS. >> CONGRATULATIONS, JIMMY. And finally, this also means we get to appoint a brand new probationary
firefighter, Christopher Jackson, the whole whole family. All right. So, Christopher Jackson grew up in Brick, New Jersey, where he lived until moving to Berkeley Heights and attended college in 2021. He graduated from New Jersey City University in May 2025 with two
bachelor degrees, a Bachelor of Science in Fire Science and a Bachelor of Science in National Security Studies. During his time at the university, he earned Dean Deans list honors while continuing to build upon his years of public safety experience. Chris began his fire service journey with the Point
Pleasant Burough Fire Department as a junior firefighter in 2018. In 2021, at just 18 years old, he completed the fire academy and earned his firefighter one and two certifications, officially launching his firefighting career. During his time with station 75, he
served as an engineer and was appointed assistant water rescue captain. He also volunteered with the Point Pleasant Burough First Aid Squad as an emergency medical responder, responding to 911 medical emergencies and assisting with patient care and transport. In 2025, Chris joined Summit volunteer ranks in
Chemical Engine Company 1. In addition to his fire service, Chris previously served as a class one special police officer with Tom's River Township Police Department and has worked in both the construction and carpentry trades, developing a strong work ethic and hands-on problem solving skills. Chris
has earned numerous advanced fire service certifications, including hazardous materials operations, incident command system certifications, surface water rescue operations, fast awareness and operations, advanced fire behavior, and basic vehicle extraction. He's
grateful for the opportunity to join the Summit Fire Department and looks forward to building a long and rewarding career serving the residents and visitors of the city of Summit. Let's congratulate Chris on becoming a career fire veteran. [applause] >> [applause] >> Yes. Repeat after me. I, Christopher Jackson,
>> I, Christopher Jackson, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance >> and allegiance >> to the same
>> to the same >> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in the United States >> in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. I do solemnly swear >> I do solemnly swear >> that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly
>> and justly >> perform all the duties >> perform all the duties >> of probationary firefighter >> a probationary firefighter >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. [applause] [applause] Congratulations, [laughter]
please. >> Okay. Yes. You want? Yes. >> Okay. Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um I know the the vast majority of
you here are anxious to to repair to the Elks and and celebrate. We do have a couple of more things you you should hang out for for just a moment. First, um, because we've just sworn everybody in, we should
memorialize this with the resolution. Um, and I get to turn the floor over to our brand new council member Smith. [laughter] >> Inospicious start. >> All right. Thank you, council president. this resolution ID 12629
to appoint a new fire chief, battalion chief, lieutenant, and probationary uh firefighter per closed session. I move to adopt this resolution. >> Second. >> Um are there any comments from members of the public?
Any comments from members of council? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? You're all appointed. >> [applause] >> Um, second, Chief Honor had asked for a couple of moments.
Through council president, I just want to take this opportunity to thank the mayor and members of council for their continued support of the fire department. I'm deeply honored and humbled to accept the role of fire chief for the city of Summit. It's a two a true p privilege to lead such a dedicated group of professionals who
serve this community so selflessly. My commitment is to work tirelessly to protect our community, support our firefighters, ensure our department continues to provide the highest levels of service. I would also like to express my gratitude to Chief Evers and Deputy Chief and Bimbo for their support and their leadership. As Chief Evers
retires, I look forward to building on his legacy and as we continue to serve our residents with pride, professionalism, and integrity. Thank you again. I look forward to working with all of you. Thank you. [applause] [applause] Thank you, Chief. You've already demonstrated the working tirelessly
part. Um, and finally, um, our assembly member, Andrew McCertie, is here this evening, and he's got a few words to say about our retiring Chief Evers. Andrew, >> thank you, Council President. Uh, just wanted to present
>> um, excuse me. Would if you speak into the microphone, it'll get that. Um, yeah, you can just grab that then everyone at home can hear. >> You'll need to flick it on. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Andrew McCertie from the state assembly. Just
wanted to uh present Chief Evers with a resolution from the New Jersey State Legislature commemorating your 38 years of dedicated service um in this role uh to the fire department and commemorating your unwavering commitment to keeping
the people of Summit safe for all those years. Thank you for all your service and congratulations. >> Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Mayor Council. Appreciate it. Just want to take the opportunity to thank all the previous council members and mayors uh for all their great work
for the fire department. They always supported me, but also they supported the men and women summit fire departments. Appreciate it. keep supporting these men and women. They out there every day 247 doing their jobs for the city of the summit. So appreciate the support. Thank you. And it's been an honor being your chief for all these years. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] [applause]
Okay, thank you so much. [applause] Yes. Um, we welcome everyone to stay for the entire meeting. We know you'll want to hear about our audit of from n from last year. Um, but I suspect you may have
other items planned for this evening. So, thank you all for attending. [applause] They're so stupid. >> Thanks. >> After we're done. Thanks for coming.
You know what? You'll get used to >> Thank you. Thank you. I'll see you in the event, right? Yes. Okay. I love how they
tattoo. >> Yep. Okay. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Okay. Once Marina gets back. Okay. >> Okay. Um shall we return to the official
order of business? Um, so we're going to move on to the minutes for approval. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of the regular and closed sessions for June 3rd and June 16th, 2026? >> So moved. Second.
>> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Abstensions. >> Abstained. >> Thank you. Um, on to reports. Um, madame mayor, I >> feel like a microphone hog tonight. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being
here. Um, first I want to just I know Chief Evers has left the room, but I wanted to say thank you to him for his service. And I know that he's so humble. I know he didn't want tonight to be about him, but I'm very very grateful to Assemblyman Mccertie for um for recognizing his his 38 years of service.
So, we're very lucky in this town to have such wonderful um first responders. Uh, and we have a fabulous police department. I know that um Chief Haro's big shoes to fill, but um we he Chief Evers left us in in a good spot. So, um
[snorts] so on with the important things. I know everybody wants to talk more about the storm. Um so, want to thank everyone for your continued patience as we continue storm restoration efforts. I know it's been really difficult for residents. I know there are people that are still without
power and I have been in contact with JCPNL multiple times a day for the past four days. Um I actually missed a call tonight. They did a mayor's call each night. Um unfortunately was not able to be there because I was in close session. Um but the our our rep um very kindly
said that if there was anything relevant to summit, he would certainly give me a call later. So um I haven't heard from him. So, I'm hoping that uh things are business as usual and they're working around the clock. Um there are crews from Michigan, from Wisconsin. Uh they've brought in crews from all over
the place to um to have restoration efforts. Um we have been sharing daily updates since la since Friday. Um we did post one this afternoon. Again, most of the large um outages in town have been restored. The remaining outages are very
labor intensive unfortunately and will require some time for repairs. Um the ones that are on the smaller side if people uh if you look at the Jersey uh the JCPNL website for outages if you're showing if your address is showing that you're less than 20 um less than 20
customers are impacted you're likely not to be restored until end of day Thursday. That's sort of the outside. Um any outages affecting 20 or more customers should be restored by tomorrow, end of day. Um so just hang tight. That that's what they're
promising. Hopefully they'll over uh underpromise and overd deliver. Um and we know this has been a long and pro difficult process for everyone. Um and we're hopeful that JCPNL can really finish up and get out of get it get out of town. And then I've actually asked
also for kind of a poststorm debrief if there are places in town where we know that there were current issues [snorts] with storms. I've been asked by some residents that you know they are people that always are the last people to be restored in a storm. They always lose power. Um so I've sort of highlighted a couple of those areas. Um if there's
anybody that knows that they are in that area or in one of those areas in town, please let me know because I will share that with JCPNL so maybe they can um look forward and and address the infrastructure there. Um, lastly on JCPNL and storms, um, you can text stat
sat to 544487 to receive restoration updates from JCPNL if you haven't already. And again, their website um has outage update information as well. Uh, the community center will be open as a charging center through Thursday, uh, 79, which is, uh,
July 9th, from 3:30 to 9:30 each day. Fun stuff. I invite you to join us on the village green this summer for our hot summer nights concert series which is on Mondays this year which is a change from tradition. Um so don't show up on Tuesdays. It now is on Mondays and screen on the green stays on Thursdays.
So um movies on the on the green on Thursdays. Weather permitting. We will host our second movie on the green Thursday July 9th along with food trucks and a family dance party that starts at 7:15 with the movie shown at dark. All of these events are free and open to the public and please bring a chair or a
blanket um and check our website for full schedule and of events this summer. And last, next Monday is community night on the village green which begins at 6:30. This annual event is an opportunity for summit nonprofits to promote their work to the community and a great chance for residents to find out
more about local organizations. Nonprofits should contact the department of community programs to sign up as a participating or organization. and at seven we will have our hot summer nights concert. I hope to see you there. That's all. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, city administrator
Baldwin. >> Thank you, Council President. I'm going to begin quickly with a few reports. Um, very brief, but I wanted everybody to uh know what was going on in terms of the storm uh with DPW, fire department, and
police department. So from DPW at approximately 900 p.m. on Friday night, July 3rd, Department of Public Works crews were called out in response to the storm related incidents involving multiple trees down in the roadway throughout the city. At the time of the initial response, seven city trees were
reported down and obstructing roadways. DPW crews were dispatched to address these immediate hazards. DPW continues to respond to and address additional storm related work today um as they are received. At approximately 10 pm that same evening, an additional DPW crew was
called in to [snorts] respond to power outages affecting traffic signals at various intersections. They remain engaged in posttorm cleanup efforts and continue to monitor and respond to incoming service requests related to that event. The fire department answered 157 calls
for service since the beginning of the storm on Friday night. Notable incidents were the seven tree were seven trees on structures, one of which was deemed unsafe by the construction official. FD members handled a structure fire in town and provided mutual aid to a neighboring
community for a structure fire. FD personnel handled several CO incidents due to generators being too close to the residents. Uh lastly from our police department. Immediately following the storm, members of the police department responded throughout the city to assess damage and
secure areas impacted by down trees, utility poles, and electrical wires. Officers worked quickly to identify hazardous conditions, deploy barricades, establish road closures, and detours, and ensure the safety of residents and motorists. Throughout the response, the police department maintained constant
coordination with dispatch, the Summit Fire Department, and the dep department of community programs, public works to prioritize areas of concern and ensure that all reported hazards were communicated to the appropriate utility providers. Additionally, police administration coordinated with the
city's communications specialists to ensure updated information on road closures and access to resources was disseminated accordingly to the public. The police department handled 355 calls for service from Friday 8:00 p.m. to Monday 9:00 a.m. Uh, approximately 120
of those were directly related to the storm. I shared all of that because I wanted to preface my comments about the storm and that was that I wanted to thank our police, fire, and DPW for their efforts during our ongoing storm restoration process. I know it's been
difficult for everyone. Uh, but all three of these departments have been working tirelessly to clear the roads, to maintain safety for residents, and it really has been a group effort. We were on several calls over the weekends, and I just want to thank everyone for their continued professionalism and their
dedication to our community there. [applause] So, with that, there are still several downed wires and fallen trees that are causing road closures throughout the city. I'm sure you run into them here and there. Please use caution while traveling so that you're all safe. We do
have that information posted on the city website and our social media pages. So, stay in touch with that. And as Mayor Fagan stated, we do thank you for your continued patience throughout this lengthy and difficult process. We're hoping that the last remaining power outages are restored quickly. Uh on a
little happier note, the Summit Free Market uh July events will be held on Saturday, July 11th from 8 to 3 and Friday, July 24th from 12 to 2 at the transfer station. Summit residents with a parking disposal permit can attend. Browse donated items and take what they
want for free. Please review the donation guidelines on our website at cityofsummit.orgfreearket before bringing any items to donate. And that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um I'm I'm going to keep this brief because we do have a lot
this evening. And of course I want to add my thanks to our first responders and the DPW. I keep saying the DPW crews are the unsung heroes in Summit. Um because there were everybody's work was nothing short of heroic. Um, and I also
want want to give a shout out to Council Member Calmanson who seemed to be everywhere over the weekend taking photos and sending updates. [clears throat] Added to the city's adding to the city's official communications. She was the one saying you cannot communicate too much
even if there's nothing new to add. Um, so I hope everybody appreciated that effort. Um, and finally, I'm going my Monday office hours this month will be um every Monday for the rest of the month, 3 to 5:00 pm in C in the council
conference room just outside of chambers. Um, and with that, let us go back to our presentations. Council member Lucer Cena. >> Thank you, Council President. Oh, sorry. Uh, so it is my great pleasure to get to
make some brief remarks about an amazing group of young people we have here in town, Teens Tackle Homelessness. So I'm going to brag on you all for a little bit and then I'll ask you to come up to take a photo with Mayor Fagan and our council president. So Teens Tackle
Homelessness is a youthled organization. and they're a volunteer group that operates under bridges here in town dedicated to supporting individuals who are experiencing homelessness. You all are the best of us. You are
values in action. You work with creativity and tenacity and an unwavering commitment to helping those in need with dignity and respect. In just one academic year, this amazing
group of young people raised over $30,000 and packed [applause] uh and packed over 9,800 lunches while you all are going to school and have other commitments. And I don't know how you find the time, but it's really it's a remarkable
achievement what you have already contributed to our community and those in need. Um even uh just in in your few short years here with us. Uh it's fitting that you all are here, I think, in our first meeting after our 250th celebration of America's founding. Um
every morning my favorite founding father, Benjamin Franklin, asked, "What good shall I do this day?" And at the end of each day, he asked, "What good have I done today?" And I think you all are carrying on that tradition of service to the community. Your work with
teens tackle homelessness is is the good that you are doing for the benefit of all of us and we are so grateful that that you are doing that work. Uh America continues to be an experiment, right? And to borrow from the American classic film Mighty Ducks 2, uh America is kind
of a teenager, right? Like you [laughter] all. And I have a lot of hope um as you all are coming up in your servant leadership for the chapters that are to come because I know that our future is entrusted to amazing young people like you. Uh so we have I believe
Teddy, Abby, Jack, Jenna, Lauren, Sydney, and Leila. And I should also say if you'd like to learn more about this remarkable group of young people supporting individuals who are experiencing homelessness, um check out their website which they have created and which they also maintain. Uh if you
Google search or your search engine of choice, uh teens hack tackle homelessness summit bridges. Um it will take you to their their wonderfully informative website. Um so with that uh I would love to have you all come up with Rich Unk. Thank you for being here, the the director of bridges. And we'd
love to have you all take a photo with Mayor Fagan and Council President Toaus. [cough] >> I'll jump in. >> Let's get Great. Thank you. [applause] >> [snorts] >> Okay, thank you all. Let's keep the good
feelings going with our historic minute. Council member Lanman. >> Uh, thank you, Council President. Tonight, in honor of our country's 250th, we invited Henry Bassman and Jim Bennett to speak. They are representatives of the American Legion Lindsay Street Post 322, which supports
and honors members of the Summit community who served in America's conflicts and those who are now serving. Unfortunately, Henry is absent tonight due to a health issue, but we are proceeding at his request. So, I'll invite Jim Bennett up to the podium. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Landman, and good evening, Mayor Fagan, Council President Toe, members of council staff, and uh fellow summit residents. Thank you for this invitation to speak. uh former Henry uh count commander Henry
Bassman and I represent the American Legion and note that America's 250th birthday 3 days ago. Uh America was born out of conflict and the Lindsay Street Post 322
honors members of the Summit community who served in America's conflicts as well as those who are now serving. Henry unfortunately is under the weather and I that's a shame because I wish he could co-present with me because he'd be terrific. He's forgotten more about the
Legion than I'll ever know. Um let's start with the Revolutionary War uh first con America's first conflict. Even though there was no summit then the war was already underway when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
The area that is now Summit was strategically vital. George Washington's headquarters lay protected in Marstown behind the Wong Mountains. The Hobart Gap Pass, which is now Route 24, was the
main conduit between Elizabeth Town and Marstown and had to be protected. Towards the war's end, British General Clinton heard that a French fleet was bringing 8,000 men to reinforce the Americans. Clinton wanted to destroy
Washington before that happened, but he was down south in Charleston. So, he dispatched his Hessen General Kiphousen to finish off Washington. Fortunately, Washington had constructed 23 signal stations to alert him to oncoming
British forces, including number 10 at our Turkey Hill. And uh thank you very much and Rosemary for putting this together. Um we're come uh the station had a clear view of New York Harbor and
it boasted what most likely was a log pyramid beacon, which I think is the previous slide. want to try going there. There we go. Um, and uh, it smoked by day and it blazed by night.
And the, uh, signal station also had, and, if we go to the next slide, a carriageless cannon hauled from Princeton, affectionately known as Old Sao because it wallowed in the soil like a mother pig. Now, if we go to the next slide, on
Hobart Avenue near the intersection of Beacon Road, there's a plaque commemorating the site where the Beacon and the Cannon likely once stood. The Beacon and the Cannon worked twice. General Canausen and 6,000 men made
their first move on Washington on June 6th, 1780. The entire countryside responded to the alarm gun and beacon signal at uh signal station 10 and the militia kept adding to the ranks of the Americans.
Under the cover of driving storm, can pausen finally withdrew to Staten Island. General Clinton returned and the British tried again 17 days later. Once again, the Beacon fires and the old SA did
their job and the British finally retreated after after the Battle of Springfield, which was probably the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. The attack marked the last of the British attempts to invade New Jersey.
But if we go to the next slide, we'll see that Summit's role in the Revolutionary War wasn't finished. The following summer, George Washington convinced British General Clinton that Washington was still in New York when in
fact Washington was marching south to join General Roshan Buu to defeat General Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia. Roshan Buu had large brick bake ovens constructed where our municipal golf
course now stands, simulating a permanent encampment. The ovens baked 3,000 loaves of bread a day. Now, although Hambo was French, baguette and quason had not yet been invented and did not come out of the
oven. But more importantly, the deception worked. Sorry about the hat. This is when you try to put a normal hat on a Bennett head and just ask my daughter-in-law [laughter] about what I passed on to her my grandchildren. So going back to the matter at hand,
Clinton held back many of his forces in New York and Washington won the Revolutionary War in Yorktown. Since the Revolutionary War, Summit has had a tradition of supporting service to our country. And if we go to the next slide, when the Civil War ended, there
was still no Summit, but there were plenty of veterans by the time Summit separated from New Providence in 1869. and became a township. Many of those veterans were still there when Summit became an incorporated city in 1899.
And we count 59 from an 1890 document and five from a family named Swain. And you'll see that document at the Summit Historical Society. Now, if we go to the next slide, you'll see that Summit had two Medal of Honor
recipients for the same act of bravery in the same unit in World War I. Corporal Thomas O'Shea and Sergeant Allen Edgars. And the fact that it was uh the same act of bravery in the same unit made this unique for World War I
and probably many others. We have an O'Shea Lane and an Edgar's Court and Summit. And we have O'Shea's Medal of Honor and three other medals at the Summit Historical Society. And you'll see those on the slide. Now, if we go to
the next slide, you'll see pictured in front of the Summit Train Station, the 107th Machine Gun Company known as the Summit Gunners. This was Corporal O'Shea's and Sergeant Edgar's unit. Now, for years, there had only been a World
War I memorial on the Summit Village Green, where Summit lost 15 of its people. But in the next slide, we'll see that in 2022, um, the American Legion and the Elks dedicated a renovation to include a memorial to World War II, where Summit
lost 72 of its people, Korea, where Summit lost 16, and Viet six, excuse me, and Vietnam, where Summit lost 13. And they also dedicated a memorial to the war on terror. Now, to wrap it up, I
want to make several pitches uh for the American Legion. We have challenge coins to send to those serving on active duty. And if you know someone, please reach out to our post commander, Mitchell Horn. That's mhorn 80@gmail.com. If you're a veteran and would
[clears throat] like to join us, we meet monthly at the Elks Club at 700 PM on the second Wednesday of each month. And we have a monthly breakfast at the Broadway Diner at 9:30 a.m. on the third Monday of each month.
We put up a 325 Hometown Hero banners throughout the town last count. So, let Mitchell know if you have someone you would like to add. And finally, uh, if you have someone in an ROC program, we want to hear from you, too. Contact
Mitchell again, mhorn 80gmail.com. So, thank you all again for the opportunity to address council and the summit community. [applause] [applause] Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Can't hear enough of some of those stories,
can we? Um, now now to the meat of our meeting. Um, beginning with ordinances for hearing. Um, madame clerk, would you please read ordinance for hearing number 26-3391? >> Repeal and replace chapter 5, filming
controls and amend chapter A, schedule of fees, appendix section A-27, filming permits, and section A-28, filming parking fees of the general code of the city of Summit, County of Union, New Jersey.
>> Thank you, Madame Clerk. Council member Boyer. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh once again, I'd like to uh defer to my colleague uh Councilman Christopher Foley who uh did a wonderful job on this ordinance that we have for hearing. >> Very generous of you, Council Member
Chris. >> Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Councilman Ber. Uh, ordinance 26-3391 would modify Summit's existing ordinance governing governing film and video productions as part of a partnership with the New Jersey Economic Development
Authority to make Summit film ready. New Jerseys film industry is the fastest growing in the US as our state's history and natural beauty along with a dose of tax incentives is attracting more productions here. One problem has been that New Jersey's 564 municipalities
each had its own rules for filming, requiring long and costly negotiations with each town for production. The proposed ordinance, the proposed ordinance is a model recommended by New Jersey EDA to make the rules and process more uniform. 65 municipalities are
already film ready and Summit will hopefully join their ranks. The ordinance includes provisions for someone to turn down or take a break from productions if the bur burden becomes too great. I move to open the hearing. >> Second.
>> Thank you. Do we have any comments on this ordinance from members of the public? >> Hello everybody. Welcome Andy. >> Thank you. >> Um Dory Gagnon 27 Bedford. Um, I have a couple questions on this just in regards to traffic downtown. Um, I know you guys
wanted to close Maple Street and those four corners of Maple Street are under construction. Um, which was out of the blue for me since that wasn't brought up during Maple Street. But disregarding that, um, how is this going to be handled if we
shut down the middle of downtown because that's probably where filming is going to occur. And if it's during the school year, people getting across town to go to middle school, to elementary schools, to the train station. I think the public people have asked me um specifically,
you know, if this ordinance gets passed, how is this going to h how like affect the traffic and the incoming apartments that are going down in towards the Washington school area? Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um before as as we typically do, we get all the
comments before addressing any of the questions. So, are there any other comments from members of the public? No. Um, how about comments from members of council? >> Council President. >> Yes, Council Member Ber. Uh although I
can't um answer the question about traffic uh at this moment, but this ordinance uh really codifies um the the police department uh the fire department gets pretty much
everyone together. So I'm sure that the police will do a good job with traffic, but uh I will get more information about that. Uh but uh what I would like to say is that this ordinance was common sense
>> with a camera. Um we open our doors with a little movie magic and the studios pay their own way and cover their own risk and Summit pockets the difference. That's a good deal for the folks who actually live here and I hope to one day
meet Jason Baitman. And if you actually uh Dan, if if Dan if you're getting like heads up on stuff like let me know. So [laughter] um I support [clears throat] this ordinance and once again Miss Gagnon I'll get back to you about traffic. >> Okay. >> Council member Chrisouli.
>> Thank you council president. Just to address concerns, I think the toughest customer to build the case for this ordinance was our city clerk, Rosie, [laughter] who bears the burden of the the entire process, including the safety, the
police, the fire, the insurance provisions, and um between Rosie and our city administrator, Miss Baldwin's diligence in researching and speaking with other towns that have undertaken uh this ordinance or put in place the
the same provisions. Uh they seem to have had a positive experience and that the impacts are manageable and we do have the ability to turn down a production. >> Any other comments? >> Just >> yes,
>> one one more quick thing. And uh the police actually um can control what's going on and it doesn't come out of the city's budget. the applicant has to pay for it. So, if there's a traffic issue, then uh Chief Peters can order a couple
of people that needs to maintain traffic and the taxpayers don't have to pay for it. The applicant has to Netflix got to pay for it. So, um your fees may go up, but you know, it's all good. Thank you, >> Council Member Lazarena.
>> I just quickly want to express gratitude to Council Member Chrisy. um he has spearheaded this effort and in my view it's a great as the second on the finance committee um just to put it in cold hard terms I feel like this is an important uh building block in helping to protect the economic vitality of our
community and we can as a side benefit uh you know show uh everyone what we know to be true that summit is a really special place and and uh kind of put that on display so I'm I'm very excited to see this go forward >> anything else
ah mayor madam mayor not not super additive, but um this was uh mentioned they had a whole um panel about this at the league last November and I was very intrigued. So I was really excited when um Councilman Chrisy came and sort of
pioneered this. I know Rosie was hesitant. I know Tammy was hesitant. I was a little hesitant because I've seen what Rosie went through in the last year about um trying to get some of the film crews situated to to do some quick films. Um, so I know that there were
some hurdles, but so I'm appreciative to our city staff for doing the diligence to um to make this happen. >> Yeah. Thank you. And I can only add, I know in the past year we've had filming at Fiorino and at uh the train station. It seems not to have shut down the city
in either case. My understanding is that much of the filming is exterior of private homes. And if you think you have the next home alone house, >> [laughter] >> um this is your chance to shine. Um with
that, I'm going to close this hearing. Um and we can move on to ordinances for final consideration. So, madame clerk, would you please read the title of ordinance number 26-3391? Repeal and replace chapter 5 filming controls and amend chapter A schedule of
fees appendix section A-27 filming permits and section A-28 film filming parking fees of the general code of the city of Summit County, New Jersey. >> Um, thank you. Um,
maybe be [snorts] sorry, Council Member Ber. I know I confused you on this one because I referred to Dan and everything, but after >> No, no, it's it's I lost my place in my script. I I would never confuse you, council.
>> After after just uh having a um after just having a hearing on this, I move this for uh final adoption. >> Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Ber, >> I. >> Mr. Fully.
>> Hi. >> Miss Kson. Hi. Miss Landman >> I, >> Mrs. Saroscino >> I. >> Mr. Smith >> I. >> President Toes >> I. Motion carries. Um, moving on to ordinances for introduction. Um, first
we are pulling ordinance ID 12628 at the request of our engineering staff. Much of this institution follows directly from state regulation and those state regulations were recently suspended and
are being reconsidered. Um and so our engineers determined that we should wait until we have final or at least more final state regulations enacted um before we go about passing our own counterparts. Um and so then this leads
us to ordinance for introduction ID number 12631. Um madame clerk, would you please read the in introduction? An ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-11 through streets, stops,
intersections, and yield intersections subsection 7-11.2 stop intersections designated. >> Thank you, Madame Clerk. Uh, Council Member Smith. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh, this
ordinance ID uh number 12631. Uh, and this is an ordinance that will add stop signs to the following intersections. Canoe Brook Parkway and Beverly Road, Colt Road and Pemrook Road, Maple Street and Lynden Place,
Portland Road and Warwick Road, Tulip Street and Lynen Place, Tulip Street and Oakland Place, Wade Drive and Hartley Road, Wade Drive and Karen Way. Uh with a hearing date of uh July 28th, 2026, I
move to introduce this ordinance. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Okay. Um Madam Clerk, roll call, please. >> Mr. Ber, >> I. >> Mr. Christopher, >> I. >> Miss Calmanson, >> I. >> Miss Lman, >> I. >> Mrs. Sarosina, >> I. >> Mr. Smith, >> I. >> President To
>> I. Um, okay. Madame Clerk, would you please read ordinance for introduction ID number 12633? Ordinance of the city of Summit County of Union, New Jersey, amending and supplementing chapter 35 of the city code entitled development regulations
subsection 35-9.2 prohibited uses. >> Okay. Council member Chrisouli. >> Thank you, Council President. Ordinance ID 12633 would revise the ordinance banning data centers that was approved at our last council meeting on June 16th
with the intention to further tighten Summit's defenses against this undesirable land use. Summit is fortunate to have many committed and knowledgeable residents who shared their ideas at council listening sessions last month and during the council meeting on
June 16th. Following the council meeting, we requested the input of Burgess and Associates, a leading firm serving New Jersey towns on issues of land use planning and regulation, who has advised our own city government and planning board for many years. Joe
Burgess is with us tonight and his colleagues developed a background memo and a revised ordinance based on the direct input from residents and Burgess Associates own experience in many other towns. I then requested comments on the
Burgess memo from the planning board on which I serve as liaison uh at the planning board's June 29th meeting last Monday. The Burgess memo is now available on the planning board website. We have been working quickly and after
the planning board meeting on Monday, there was a very tight time window to finalize the ordinance by Wednesday's deadline last week. So we work collaboratively. So and that version from last Wednesday is the one that you
see in the packet. We worked collaboratively as council with professionals over the holiday weekend and early this week to develop a slightly revised text and we agreed on one change to add a new section 2A to
tighten the definition of accessory data processing facilities requiring that the floor devoted the floor area devoted to such use does not exceed 20% of the gross floor area of the principal building or 1,000 square feet, whichever
is less. That's 1,000 square feet or less. Um, for purposes of this subsection, the 100 the 1,000 square foot cap shall apply in the aggregate across all buildings on continuous parcels that comprise a development.
While our professionals tell me this ordinance is very strong, we will even with this additional language, we will continue to monitor developments and strengthen it as needed. I move to or to introduce the ordinance with the change I just mentioned.
>> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. And although we do not have comments on ordinances as in at at introduction, um I think it's appropriate before we take the vote to ask Mr. Burgess if there's anything he
would like to add um to Mr. Chrysafouli's introduction. >> Uh thank you for the opportunity. The only thing I would note is that you know we worked cooperatively with Mr. Christophley, Mr. Ber, the Miss Alvarez,
the chair of the planning board. Um there had been some modifications since I had met with the planning board. This is a a very strongly worded ordinance which will basically prohibit data centers throughout the municipality and um I gather the next step would be to
refer this back to the planning board for their statutory 35day review period and then I guess I would be sitting with the planning board to prepare their response to this revision. >> Thank you very much. Um madame clerk
would you call the role please? >> Sorry. So, >> um I'm Yes. Council member Lyn, >> I'm not sure if we're all allowed to ask Mr. Burgess questions on the revised language that we've just heard or >> we should. >> Yeah, I don't know. >> Fine. Yes.
>> Okay. I just have a couple. Um so, mostly for the benefit of the public. Um, can you just explain a little bit about how we arrived at this number for the 1,000 square ft or 20% whichever is smaller and why you're recommending a square footage threshold
be added. >> Okay. Um essentially the thousand square feet came from dialogue with the people I had just mentioned and it was because it uh relates solely to an accessory data uh
data center not a principal use. Uh the accessory use has to be considered a very modest percentage of the entire square footage of a building. Uh we had originally talked about 3500 square f feet um but in the end we settled on a
th00and square feet given the dimensions of that um and that was the basic rationale to make sure it was a modest component of any accessory structure. One of the revisions, however,
effectively ensures that data centers are prohibited, whether it be a principal permitted use or a computer center with an AI component, which is now also prohibited. >> So, just I'm just trying to understand a little bit better about what the issue
is that we're trying to solve for by adding the square footage language. I think it's important for the >> at this point it is somewhat superfluous because with the other modification that the group had um resolved to include
over to exclude over the weekend. Um the ordinance now prohibits AI even as an accessory use to a principal permitted use allowed as of right. >> Right. Okay. Um, >> so >> sorry, just if I could ask just one or
two more questions. So, um, we've also heard from the public and we've talked about this in council that this type of ordinance will need rigorous review and oversight as the tech develops. >> Did you say that? I didn't hear that. I was just saying we've talked about the
fact that this will need rigorous monitoring as the technology develops and components of the ordinance as it's written now might need to be modified in the future. And I'm curious if this would be included in the um uh master
plan re-exam that's planned to happen for later this year. >> U not with the master plan re-examination report. separate and distinct from that, the planning board has reviewed the DRRO in its entirety to make certain modifications and that is
an ongoing process. Beyond that, the planning board is going to commence work on a comprehensive master plan presumably later this year and that's where the issue will again be revisited to see if there's need for
change. I think there's a recognition on the part of everybody that this is a continually evolving um area of concern and the technology is also evolving significantly and rapidly.
So I know with the planning board I'll be constantly monitoring that and reporting back to them for any modifications as necessary. >> That's great. And I I there was one other thing we understood um but I think it's again just important for the public to understand the way this new version
is drafted. Um there's no specific language about noise included now and we've been given that explanation but if you wouldn't mind that was a major concern of residents. So if you could just explain that. >> Well with this ordinance the way it is now written the use is prohibited.
So the comments in my prior my initial planning report to you where I mentioned not only noise issues but other issues as well vibration and the like. Um that became moot because the ordinance is simply prohibiting the use.
>> Okay. And we I think have all committed also to making some revisions to the noise provisions in our regs anyway. But I just wanted to >> and that will probably um come out of the anal the further analysis of the DRL.
>> Right. Okay. Great. >> Okay. Council member Boyer. >> Thank you, Council President. Um first I want to thank Dan and Shantel. uh late night conversations back and forth and um I think we we all kind of figured it
out a little bit and uh with your conversation today with me, Dan uh and Andy, welcome to the team. Right. Um came in like a rockstar, right? Here you go. Uh I I just want to go through the the cap and the reason for the cap. I
know we spoke about it, but I want the public to understand. uh I gave the scenario that uh if you don't have a cap then someone can come in and argue well this is an accessory dwelling that's not an AI center we do um we are a a
research um facility that does computing right and and kind of wiggle their way around the definitions and everything and guess what BMS not to pick on Bristol Myers squid but it's 90 acres
and um our facility is only uh 8% of that, right? Which is like 90,000 square feet. So we we want to prohibit all of that. And one way to do it is to put a 1,000 square foot cap as an aggregate so
that you can't argue against that. And and that was one of my examples that I had posed to you um Mr. Burgess. Yeah. And if I could follow up on that and the benefit of having a cap, even if you're
not pro permitting this use as the moment is that if someone were to seek a use variance, for example, to to allow this um there is that provision in the ordinance that would make it
greater difficulty for an applicant to overcome the ordinance provision. >> Okay. >> And limitation. And lastly, where where we've come from with the 20 megawws, uh I just want to say that my colleague uh
Shantel Lamman uh doesn't want AI centers anywhere, not even tablets, like computers or any [laughter] so um but but thank you and um I support the way that it's written right now. My my one question and my one concern that
we discussed was the electrical capacity uh that you had put in your memo and reason being that I personally wanted it in here as chips get smaller right well maybe we can fit something in a a
thousand square foot um facility because I know we had 3500 first but that's the size of my house right and we were like h I don't know about that right um but something that still uh has the capacity to to uh require more power than a
thousand homes. So with the electrical the critical electrical capacity, I hope I'm saying it right. Um that scales with technology and I like that piece right because it it kind of merges with the square foot and and with that uh it it
further protects the city. But you know, nothing's perfect and I think we're in a good place. Um but I'd like to see the planning board discuss that further though. >> Yeah. And we had discussed that today and we I will pursue that. Uh one of the difficulties
with any ordinance regulation is how does one how does the zoning official determine whether somebody complies or not. And you know our firm represents close to 50 municipalities throughout the state. We spoke to a number of
zoning officials and to a person they all said that's a little difficult to understand how to do that. So, I'm going to continue that analysis to see, you know, where where we can control that in that fashion, but it may be beyond the
scope of what a zoning official does, a zoning officer does, excuse me, because basically their focus is on the the building itself, you know, in terms of setbacks, coverages, height, and that sort of thing. and this is well beyond
their expertise, but we'll look to see if there's another way to get around that issue. >> Thank you, Council President. >> Okay, with that, u may we have a roll call, please? Madam Cler, >> Mr. Ber,
>> I. >> Mr. Christopher Foley, >> I. >> Miss Calmanson, >> I. >> Miss Lman, >> I. >> Mrs. Sarosino, >> I. >> Mr. Smith, >> I. >> President, >> I. Okay, motion carries. Moving on to resolutions. Council member Landman.
>> Hi everyone. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. Yes. I'm so sorry. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh, resolution ID 12592. So, municipalities go through a pretty strict audit every year and auditors are
instructed to find deficiencies. An audit is not an affirmation of our financial position, just that we've reported our results accurately. The audit of our 2025 finances was squeaky clean with two very minor findings related to the shared services in our court system. Um, and I'd like to take a
moment to say thank you to our director of finance Kabiska and our CFO and administrator Baldwin for a job well done. And with that, I move to adopt this resolution. Second. >> Do we have any comments from members of the public?
>> Do we have any comments from members of council? Okay. Um then um I'm I'm sorry. All in favor? >> I opposed. No. Back to you, Council Member Landman. >> Thank you, Council President. Resolution
12615. Um as I just mentioned, the auditors had these two minor findings. And in short, we need to work with our court to improve the reporting procedures and ensure that receipts are attached with our daily deposits. These are easy fixes. We will work with the court to get this done. I move to adopt this
resolution. >> Second. >> Any comments from members of the public, from members of council? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Back to you, Council Member Landman. >> Thank you, Council President. Resolution
number 12622. Um, in case of an emergency, wouldn't know what that's like. uh like when critical equipment goes down over the weekend, we have a uh protocol for um who can authorize emergency spending and this resolution updates that hierarchy
of approvals to reflect the current structure of the finance department. I move to adopt this resolution. >> Second. >> Any comments from members of the public? Any comments from members of council? All in favor?
>> I >> opposed. Motion carries. One more time, Council Member Landman. >> Thank you, Council President. Resolution number 12623. Um, at the June 16th council meeting, we had an update on the city's participation in the Garden State
Community Energy Cooperative, including that participating Summit uh households have collectively saved more than $48,000 during the program's first few months. This resolution allows the municipality to continue to participate in this energy co-op to help residents see cost savings in their energy bills.
I move to adopt this resolution. >> Second. >> Any comments from members of the public? >> Any comments from members of council? I'll only note that there is the ability to opt out of this if a resident chooses
not to participate and likes paying higher energy prices. Um, all in favor? >> I. >> Any any opposed? Motion carries. Um, Council Member Chrisouli. >> Thank you, Council President. Resolution
ID 12428 uh would award the bid for the repair and preventative maintenance of the tier parking garage structure in the amount of approximately $3.3 million. 10 bids were received and opened on Thursday,
April 16th of this year in council chambers. Eight of the bids were determined to be responsive. this the submitted lowest responsive bidder was selected. The award is now being made due to the availability of funds. Um
and I move >> you move to adopt the resolution. Thank you, >> Mr. President. >> Second. >> Do we have any comments from members of the public? >> Do we have any comments from members of council? All in favor?
>> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Um, back to you, Council Member Chrisouli. Maybe you want to bundle the next two. >> I would very much like to. Thank you. Uh resolution ID 12630 and 12640
are to respectively appoint a building subcode official and to declare vacancy for the former position of the of that official uh in the department of community services as a full-time building inspector. I move to adopt
these two resolutions. >> Second. >> Any comments from members of the public? Do we have comments from members of council? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? No. Um, one more for you,
Council Member Chrisy. >> Thank you, Council President. Resolution ID12612 would appoint a new member to the Recycling Advisory Committee. I move to adopt this resolution. >> Second.
>> Any comments from members of the public? from members of council. Now, um I'll only note we've had an an opening for a student member of the recycling advisory committee for some time and this young man wrote me a letter with a proposal for sports
equipment recycling. Um so I convinced him to apply for the job. All in favor? >> I >> I think council president you should mention who it is. >> His yes, his name is Hayden Lee. um and and he attends Delbertton, but he's a
summit resident and I really appreciated um the initiative he took. Um okay, all in f I did I say oppos? Okay, this motion carries on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to um approve the consent agenda? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Do we have any comments from members of the public on the consent agenda? Okay. Um, Council Member Smith, I know there was something you wanted to say. >> Uh, yes. So, uh, we have, um, a kind of
a unique opportunity, uh, that was brought forward by a sergeant Rudy uh, Gada from Gereda from the Summit Police Department. I think it's a really interesting thing that uh
he really took um to a head and and that is to authorize the use of city hall as uh essentially a um counselor service for the uh Costa Rican community here in
Summit where individuals can come use city hall to uh have passport uh you know deal with passports or any other issues. issues like that, different paperwork that they might need to do uh without having to go into New York City
to the consulate there. Um and kind of like you know when the the the mobile DMV or right department of of of motor vehicles. So, I think that um this is really unique opportunity that that he really took the the lead on and
[clears throat] is kind of a no-brainer is, you know, using this facility that's, you know, open to doing. It's it's a one day kind of thing that can really help members of the community and so I give a shout out to him for that. >> Okay. Do we have any other comments from members of council?
>> Council President. >> Yes, Council Member Boyer. Uh I really like the idea about making the aquatic center a cooling station. >> So kudos uh to that. And on on that same note, uh I'd like to thank Grace and
David Guida. Uh I had posed a a question when I was a kid about one in 10 of us had pool passes and were able to go to camp. So we just knuckleheads all day. Like parents didn't know where we were. They were at work. And so I posed the question to someone on on uh a friend of
mine on Glenwood. I said, "Do kids still not have anything to do? Do they still try to sneak into the pool or you know it's hard to sneak into the pool today because they have your picture, right?" So uh and and that was still the case. So I you know I said, "Well, can the
city just pay for it?" And it's like, "Ah, I don't know." Um and the next day David called me. David Guido called me. and he said, "Uh, well, we got a donation for Grace. How many kids do uh need a pool pass or or camp, and by the
way, you got like eight hours to get me that information?" Because the person that's giving us the money is leaving for like the summer. So, I'm like, "All right, okay, that's great." So me and a couple of people, Wanda Fortune and um Arthur Stewart and Charlie Stewart and a
couple other people on Dennis Place calling everybody getting names of kids and uh at the end of the day we have 48 kids that either got camp, pool or both. And the parents were so happy. So now
the parents are at work and they know where the kids are. They're at pool and they're playing with other kids, right? and meeting other kids and getting ready for the school year is such a good a good thing and this is one of the reasons why I love this town, you know,
like that was a beautiful thing. Uh secondly, uh the cooling center. I was thinking this weekend when folks didn't have power, you know, wouldn't it have been great uh to allow them to go during the day for free, you know, as opposed to five five o'lock and beyond? Maybe
that's something that we could think about. Um because that would have been a good a good move. So, I know there there may be some concerns with that, but for Summit residents, I I thought that would have been a good uh um approve. So, uh that's it. Thank you, Council President.
>> Okay. Thank you for your hard work and get getting that job done. Council member Boyer, any other comments from members of council? >> Council member Cal um on on consent agenda. >> We're still on the consent agenda. We're still on the consent agenda
>> response, but I'll hold that for my council comments. >> Okay. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion passes. So, now we're going to move on to public comments. Um, and as we begin public comment, we ask that
residents of Summit step forward to speak first. And we value input from everyone. Certainly, any member of the public is welcome to speak. Um, and we ask for your courtesy in allowing our local neighbors to lead the public discussion. Um, and thank you members of
city staff as you head out the door. [laughter] >> Yes. Kick us off. >> Uh, thank you, Council President. Uh, welcome back. Welcome, Andy. Uh, couple comments, uh, on tonight's agenda. Number one,
>> just your name and address. I know everyone else knows. >> Sure. Dileia Hamlet, 59 New England. Is my clock starting now? Thank you. Um, welcome Andy. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Um, couple comments tonight. One, on the storm water uh, management ordinance. I think a red line should be
included in the next council packet. It's it's just complicated. There's a lot of details. So, I think a red line would be easier for the public to see. Uh, number two, it would be nice for the public to actually see the audit. I don't think we've done it in the past as as even when I sat in that seat. So, it's not a fingerpointing. I just Tammy
knows I'm crazy and I like to see it. I I used to be able to go. It's on the website. There you go. Okay. Thank you. I used to go get my copy. Um what I'm really disappointed in tonight and listen, you're all new and I'm this is not a fingerpointing session. In fact, I almost texted Claire tonight and said, "Claire, please don't pass. Please don't
introduce this ordinance." There's a lot of reasons why. As a member of the planning board, we asked, we wanted to help you guys. We wanted to say, "Listen, let's tee up our professionals. Let's look at this ordinance." And what you guys did was you took the memo, you didn't publicize it, you didn't show
Joe's comments publicly, right? And then you took the most important piece out. It's not transparent. And this is not a fingerpointing session. Trust me, I do not miss the work you guys do up there. I still like it, but I recognize it's a
lot of work. But understand that when you ask our professionals for advice, you got to show the public what he did. And what he did was he put 12,000 or 12,500 foot for a reason because a th00and square foot to Chantel's question is not going to be legally
defensible. It's not sound planning. My god, you could take Oakn Null or Kent Place. It's going to exceed a thousand. We asked for his help for a reason. And honestly, Dan was at the planning board. He he agrees.
Trust the professionals. They write these memos. They do this for a living. And I am I am probably the most I ask the most questions. That's okay. Ask the most questions up here. I'm Jamal. I tried to talk you out of voting for this thing tonight all day. And so as a
Republican, I'm aggravated because I didn't think you should vote for it. >> And I disagree with you. >> Okay. Well, that's fine. But that just goes to show you it's not a Republican or Democrat thing. But listen, this is this is really important stuff. And it's okay to say slow down, right? It's okay to say, "Let's do it at the next meeting." Claire, I almost texted you. I
just say, "Claire, bag it." It's not ready. It's just not. It's too important for the community. And by the way, the noise ordinance, and correct me if I'm wrong, Augusta is not here anymore. And Chief, you could probably you have a provision in the noise ordinance. I believe the last noise ordinance
was in 2008. I know you've made some provisions, but the level that you're talking about, Chantel, the DBC, was not even adopted from D until 2010. So, if that's the case, we got a lot of work to do because the people at Bristol Myers
Squib, they're not hearing sirens, they're hearing humming, they're hearing things that we're not even talking about right now. >> So, my last comment is I have a whole ordinance written out for the noise ordinance. I'll pass it another day. But take your time with this stuff. It's okay to say you're not ready. We've done
it a million times up here. Just don't rush it because you know what? We're spending too much money on professionals. We have to redo it and it's going to take more time. >> Thank you. Thank you for your comments. >> Good evening. Penny Bar 79 Tango Drive in Summit for over 50 years. Andy,
welcome back. It's good to see you back on the uh DAS. Uh, I have a couple questions. One is about the DPW. Everyone's done a great job with this horrible storm. Uh, what is the stance on the trees that are now out or the
limbs that are out on the street? Are the people responsible or is the town going to pick that up? I just want to put that out there. As far as the branches and the trees, is that I don't know who's going to handle that, but it's horrible all over. My other concern
is as living in this town for over 50 years, hearing about the filming. We'd love to film Summit. It's a gorgeous place. I've lived here. I've loved it. I am so appalled about the streets in our town. It is like a third world country
town. Other towns, you go to Chadam, you go to Madison, they rip the streets up, they come back, they asphalt them. Why are ours? We get a little bit here, a little bit there. Down by Little Kings, down by the middle school. It's like they do half a street.
I don't know what the answer is. Uh I've called and talked tried to talk to Aaron. Uh he never called me back. Venus is wonderful. She has gotten back to me, but I just don't want to. I just Why do we keep ripping up these streets? I hear
high streets being ripped up again. And you know, we keep ripping up and not replacing. Pine Grove has been horrible. I don't know where everybody lives. It goes back and forth, but the streets are horrible. Uh I know I live on Tangle Wood Drive, as I said. Uh thanks to um
calling probably once a week to um the gas people, we got Tanglewood Drive paved, Dale and um Joanna. But Oakidge was pulled up at the same time. How many years later? It's still terrible. So, I
beseech the people here sitting here to not let any more ripping up either whether it's water, gas, I don't care what it is, until we get paved streets. And please don't let people film in this town because they'll think we're in some other strange place. Thank you. Thank
you. Any other comments? Yeah. Hi, I'm Paulie Thomas, 22 Laurel Avenue. I'm express and this is totally different. Good. [laughter] >> I just want to express my concern um
about the new proposed regulations for federal grant funding OM 202634 and how these new regulations might affect Summit and New Jersey. Perhaps you have heard about this from the National Association of Counties and
Cities. All federal grants are threatened by these proposed OM rules published May 29th. Comments are requested and due by July 13th. So that's my real message to the to the city. Scientists at New Jersey Medical
School, where I work, are very worried, but cities, counties, and states that receive federal funds should also object. These rules allow the administration in Washington to easily deny and end grants, actions that have so far been blocked by federal courts.
One major aspect of the proposal is that peer review will be under undermined. Experts and professional staff from US departments will no longer make the decisions about grants to localities for public services or for grants to nonprofit organizations. Billions in
federal funds are sent to New Jersey and then distributed to cities including summits. The new regulation requires that instead of a peerreview score, a political appointee will make decisions about who gets funded. The stated goal is to assure consistency with federal
priorities whether or not localities agree. A second major concern is that funding could now be terminated without prior notification or cause. The political appointee can determine whether or not the receiving institution or its affiliations are considered
anti-American and that's in quotes and choose not to fun not to fund them. All grants would need to align with the administration's vision. We are all asked to submit public comments by July 13th. You can go to regulations.gov and
search for a docket for docket OM 202634. I'm also hoping many of us in summit will let our legislators know that these rule changes are not well thought out. Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
>> Yes. If if you've got if excuse me >> with your written statement. Yes. If >> I send I mean >> you send if if you if you've emailed it, that's fine. >> I send this is a short version. >> Okay. Do we have any other comments from
members of the public? my my air time tonight. >> Um Dory Gagnon, uh first I am uh really grateful of the students who are helping the homeless. And I think it's great that you guys all stood and applauded, but last year when uh DA Hamlet uh was
recognized for her homelessness task force that she put on herself and went to California, >> I apologize. >> That's okay. You can restart it now, Rosie. Um, only a couple people applauded her. And I think looking back at Mayor Glatt's letter that said this divisiveness
that's happening in town, you should all be grateful. We're all doing great work, right? Mayor Fagan, I saw your videos. You were out there this weekend, storm cleanup. I'm sure a lot of you were. And it shouldn't just be one or the other. I think we should all just be saying thank
you. Jamal is saying thank you. People need to work together because, you know, we're helping people here in town and we don't know their political status, right? They're just kids and they're doing a good job. Um, that's one thing. Second thing, you've amended two
ordinances this year and I've watched almost every council meeting and I have no idea what the heck is going on. Uh, Mr. Chrisulloy couldn't tell you what you said. I don't even know what the ordinance was to what it was amended to and I'm just sitting I'm public person
out here trying to follow along and I am so lost and then you guys all have conversations uh with Mr. Burgess and I watched the planning board meeting and I'm still lost and I think it was a time when you amend an ordinance to have people like me ask a question because I
don't know what just happened. So, you're all deliberating up here having conversations. You have your side conversations on the phone and people like us don't even know what's going on. So, um that's the second one you've done. The Maple Street one, I couldn't even follow you. I was lost and confused
on that. So I think um when you're amending ordinances state the ordin that in ordinance that's for introduction and then state what you're amending um and why the change is happening so we have a clear understanding of what actually is
going on. I don't even know what the thousand what is the thousand square foot data center you're allowing or not allowing or is it megawws? I I couldn't tell you. So, um, from now on, that's a suggestion from me, and I know a lot of other people are kind of confused as
well, and I'm sure it's just going to escalate tonight. So, if you could do that, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Do we have any other comments? Okay, then let us move on to council member comments. Do we have anyone with a comment?
>> Um, I have a comment as as the new guy here. Um, and you know, obviously kind of the big thing here tonight was the data centers, I can say, you know, as as person who's now new to council was not here when you had the
whole public comments and people up in arms, I wasn't up here on the DS. Um but I can tell you having been here now um for the past couple of weeks getting involved in these issues that everyone on this DAS I think is is on this issue
on the same page in that we want to make an ordinance the best ordinance that we can make that's going to limit uh the use of data centers in summit to the best degree and there was I I think uniform
uh support for the new ordinance that was introduced tonight uh across the board except there was one provision and that was the provision that was discussed about adding the square footage and there was a lot of
discussion among council about that particular issue um and I think that it's an important issue my understanding and again I am the new guy here um but is that this isn't you know that there's gonna be hearing on this particular
ordinance. I was a little bit surprised tonight about the 1000 because we had talked about other things and there was sort of a back and forth and I personally I think and I've talked to Dan, I talked to Jamal and I talked to other members as well about this and I think the 12,000 square foot
uh provision that was in there initially that was the one that that I was behind. Um, but the reality is is that the the ordinance that was introduced, even as it's written exactly as it as it was here today, is better than the one that
we had before. It's more restrictive than the one we had before. Um, and I think this is something that everybody's working with. And and and to your point about understanding it, I think there was a misunderstanding the last time from what I can understand
about what council's trying to do. And you know, I'm an attorney and I I it's part of my job. I review statutes and things of that nature and I can tell you things get confusing and reading ordinances get confusing. But the provision that we're talking about so
everybody understands is that there is a definition for a computer center and that computer centers are essentially like a server room of a of a company that already has um you know dedicated
uh equipment to store data for their own IT needs. You're talking about Overlook Hospital, banks and other institutions, uh, Bristol Meyer, Squib, they have the need to have certain storage of data. Um, that's what's being excluded from
what is really an overall rejection of data centers in Summit, certainly AI data centers in Summit. Um, but you're we're carving that provision out for computer centers so that there are there
is the ability for businesses to have part of their property, part of what they're doing for the storage of computer data. And in order to qualify for that, they have to meet certain criteria. And that criteria is listed
out. And so when you're talking about different things, it has to be it can't be a primary use of the facility is for the storage of of data like the data center. So there's a there's I think several things A to D or E or whatever
it is that criteria that you have to meet. And so what we were discussing whether to remove or to have it 12,000 square feet or 1,000 square feet whatever it is is an additional measure that even if so so in the event that
some company comes in and tries to get around everything that we put in this ordinance to to do a data center that nobody wants and I can tell you nobody up here wants it. I [clears throat] think most of the people you know in in summit or vast majority of them don't
want it. If some company wants to come in and go around that, then they've got to meet these certain criteria, but if they meet all of the criteria B to E, they still have to deal with A.
And that is so even if you can somehow, you know, create a situation where you meet all the other criteria to make yourself a computer center so therefore you can operate. There is a provision that allows
uh for for example you're talking about a 90 acre Bristol meer squib you know Bristol Myers Squib could come in and say well obviously we're a pharmaceutical but we're going to take 90,000 square feet and make it into our you know server room quote unquote where it's a computer center it's not our
primary purpose and and you know not that that would necessarily meet all you I still got to jump through all those hoops but now all of a sudden you're saying okay wait a um 90,000 ft² or 50,000 feet or 12,000 square 15,000 feet. It doesn't meet the
ordinance. Um 12,000 square feet I think is something that we talked about. It is def is defensible for a couple of different reasons including that there are some existing um you know server rooms of that of that size. But at the
end of the day, if you want to look at what this particular ordinance is doing and why we're debating this particular thing, it is to make it more restrictive, to make it more difficult for data centers to be in summit and and
all the issues associated that with energy and noise um and and things of that nature that people object to. That's the purpose of it. Um, you know, we're going to have a lot more discussions, I think, on this issue between now and when it comes back up on
on the 28th, but I did I did want to say, you know, try and then hopefully what I said was was helpful to some people to maybe understand it a little bit more, but also to say that, you know, as like I said, as a new guy coming in, I'm a Republican. I got one
other Republican here and there's five Democrats. Everyone on this is not a partisan issue. everyone on the stage is going towards the same goal. We all want the same thing. We all want this to be restrictive. We're working together. We're trying to get it done in the best manner possible. And um that's why, you
know, I voted to to bring this forward. And and like I said, we'll have more discussion on this issue between now and when it comes back up on the 28th. But um you know the purpose of that is to try to have the best ordinate
possible to prevent uh what we all want to prevent from coming into summit. And the last thing I'll just say is um you know there's a lot of different hoops that have to be jumped through to get from you know an idea of putting a data
center in summit and this ordinance too. it's got to go through planning board, zoning board, etc. So, um there's a lot of different machinations here, but the but the overall goal is to limit these data centers and some >> Thank you. Any other council member? >> President.
>> Yes, council member Ber. >> So, let me see if I can do this in like plain. >> Okay. So, let me see if I can do this in like plainly just talking we talking right. So, okay. Where do we come from?
We had Wow, something's going on. I don't know. I gotta um uh So, we started at 20 megawws, right, as our as our ceiling. So, a couple of weeks ago, we
passed an ordinance that said 20 megawws was allowable. And we heard from the public. The public got it. The public came out on social media. They came out here um and they said basically to council, "What are you doing?" Right?
You we we can't have 20 megawws. That's way too big. That powers um you know 15,000 homes, right? You we can't have that. So what did this council do? We went back. We took out the 20 megawws.
And I'm not going to go and relitigate what happened. That's not because we did a good job here. We took out the 20 megawws. We sent it over to the planning board. The planning board discussed it. They said, "Okay, um, we we're going to write this. We're going to try to write
this ordinance for the council because they want to prevent AI data centers in Summit." Okay. So, they gave it back to us and in that language was 12,000 square feet. Now, your council members,
some of us had a conversation about that because 12,000 square feet is actually like I live in a two family house, so it's like, you know, four of them, right? Like I that is way too big. So
now we're back to 20 megawws again. So what are we doing? We can't go back to to the 20 megawws. It's like the same thing, right? So imagine a home, right? Imagine the so four of them
12,000 square feet and putting computers in there that processes data, right? So we're doing the same thing. So we took that out and said, "Well, how much do you really need?" Right? 1,000 square feet um powers our regular
businesses, our normal businesses. So we are in sense went above and beyond protecting the city against anyone coming in here putting a a data center in here an AI data center and the one
thing I want to point out is preexisting nonconformance which what that means is whatever's here is grandfathered right so we're not removing what Bristol Meyers Squib has we're not saying hey you got to get rid of that because now we got a thousand
square feet. We're not doing that, right? We're saying that pre-exists here. We're going to keep that here. But what we're going to prevent is someone else coming here and in the next five years calling it something that it's not. Like I said in my example, oh,
we're doing um you know, research. We own a research company and it just so happens that you know, we're going to use the 12,000 square feet to put all of our our AI data processing things there. But we're not a we're not a data center, right? We're doing research. We don't
want to deal with all of that. So 1,00 square feet is is enough and it prevents that. So I think that was a good move. Now just to move on from that, um I want to congratulate the uh the chief, the
deputy chief and lieutenant. I think uh they did a good job um uh this weekend. Uh I I didn't know I'm not on the safety committee anymore and I want to thank Michelle for putting out um all of those
uh those posts and everything because now you're on the safety committee. You get all of those briefings and stuff. So good job. When I was on it, I was doing crime every week. So I'm glad I'm not doing that, you know. So this is a good transformation. But when uh our city administrator
gave us all of the stats, I mean, wow, the police and fire have been busy this weekend. And our our folks, DPW, police and fire have done a good job, right? But and not but
to dismiss them. They did a good job. But what I you know I drove around this weekend especially with the mayor and I I can't help but feel heartbroken for people like to go without electricity for 4 days now right is
heartbreaking. People have animals. It's hot. There's trees still in the middle of the road. You know I get it. People are saying everyone's doing a good job. Everyone's trying their hardest. Yeah, I know. I know. But people still don't
have power, right? Like that, man, that's heartbreaking. So, if we could get JCPNL in here, right, do a presentation. We normally have the the utilities come in. PSCG came in once
before. American Water came in once before to to Penny's point telling us how many roads they're going to rip up and stuff. Um, JCPNL could come in here, right? And I think when storms happen like this, you know, they should have a someone boots on the ground that people
can talk to so at least they're heard, right? And they're not staring at the website that says, you know, look at these look at these bubbles of power outages, right? You know, because we don't have the answers. So, we can we can do better with communication. Once
again, our police and fire, they're on it. They do this stuff, right? But the utility, we need more answers from them. You know, people don't have power. So, I think we could do a better job. I get pictures. Well, the [snorts] utility can
do a better job. I'm getting pictures of, you know, trees still on the road and everything. It's not like the fire department go pick I mean, you got wires and we we should have the utility company and and explain their processes to the
to the people. Um, last last but not uh least, uh, the teens that tackle homelessness, that was just impressive because, you know, they're doing all these great things and they still have school and I
know some of them um are are um uh go to the camp and have jobs and stuff, so you know, that's that's good stuff. Um, and man, I had one more thing to say, but uh, this AI stuff is still in my
brain. I'm like, I just want to say a thousand square feet for some reason. Uh, all right. I'm good. Thank you, Council President. >> Thank you, Council Member Berer. Yes, Council Member Landman. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, first I want to say welcome to Andy. I've
officially changed you in my cell phone from Matt's dad to Andy [laughter] Smith. >> Thank you. It actually popped up as Matt's dad on my phone the other day when he called me. So I was like, "Oh, we got to fix this." Um, uh, so now you have to suffer through my nerdy finance committee updates. Um, so first I just want to
give a big shout out to our finance team. Um, and under Tammy's amazing leadership. Um, and this is boring stuff, so hopefully you'll stay with me here, but we had a really successful bond sale. Um, following the June 16th meeting, we sold $22.3 million in bonds
and a bond anticipation note for 1.4 4 million. We got 12 bids on the bond sale which is exceptionally high and that's all due to the fact that we have three um excuse me all of our rating agencies have rated us AAA and that is a tremendous amount of work that goes
behind the scenes to get the AAA ratings from all the agencies and it's really paid off. It's a tremendous amount of work as I said but it pays off for taxpayers. So, I just want to say thank you um uh for that. And as a reminder, these bonds were sold to fund capital projects that we've already discussed
here in council. Um a few less exciting um but important work happening at the finance committee. Um we're beginning to look a little bit at sewer billing and potentially change how we think about sewer bills calculated for local residents and uh uh businesses to be
more usage based. We're starting on work documenting the financial commitments that we've made through last year's affordable housing plan. Uh we're tracking revenue and expenses as we've talked about here multiple times. We're seeing surge pricing for fuel and of course again we doubled down on overtime
pay for um city staff especially DPW employees. Um so we're keeping an eye on that. Um pivoting a little bit to affordable housing. Um we've been having conversations with neighbors uh in the Shunpike Ivy neighborhood. Um and Wilson
Park neighborhoods. Those are continuing. Um you know, residents have spoken to us plainly. Um they want the plan to go through more strategic review, especially on the properties where, you know, the city is in control. Um and they're frustrated. They don't
want us blaming Trenton. That's not getting us anywhere. And we've been listening. We're going to harness this enthusiasm from our residents. um and the great ideas that they've been bringing to us in the round four task force which we unfortunately didn't get to finalize in close session today but
we were making a lot of progress there's still an opportunity to apply um if you're interested in joining that um and you know look I I I continue to say this to residents I'm optimistic um there's a better path forward for some of the plan components and we have a lot of good
work to do so please please join us um and then finally I just wanted to end on some [clears throat] good news out of Trenton that impacts Summit residents and relates to topics that we talked about tonight. Uh last week the Senate, state senate passed the end tax credits for data centers act uh with bipartisan
and almost unanimous support. This bill actually was led by Summit own Summit's own uh Andrew McCarthy. Um McCertie McCertie >> McCertie, sorry. >> Sorry. Um and will save taxpayers over [clears throat] $250 million. Um so that
was previously earmarked as tax credits for AI data centers to be built in in New Jersey and now uh that that that those credits have been cancelled. Um and then I also want to highlight that the legislature established some incentive programs for solar energy generation and storage. um that will
also help reduce energy costs for all of us. So, more to come on that. Uh Andrew Mccertie is holding an open house on Thursday night from 5:00 to 7:00 here in Summit at 86 Summit Avenue in his offices. And I encourage you to attend and learn more and ask questions about this or anything else on your mind. And that's it for me. Thank you.
>> Thank you, [clears throat] Council Member Landman, Council Member Calmanson. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, I had some words that I really would have loved to share when the firefighters were still here, but they were so eager to go and of course we didn't want to hold them up for for celebrating. So, I
hope that um so I hope that they'll see this. Um, thank you to our retiring Chief Evers for your dedication and service to the city of Summit. We are forever grateful to you and wish you the best for this new chapter in your life. Enjoy your family, your grandkids, and as many woodworking projects as you can
handle. [laughter] And of course, congratulations to our newly promoted firefighters. Um, Chief Haroys, Battalion Chief Lemons, Lieutenant Lieutenant Heights, and Firefighter Jackson. This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for you, the fire department, and the city of Summit. We
are honored that you choose to continue to step up and serve the residents of Summit. And a big thank you to your families as well for sharing you with us. Uh, welcome to our new council member, Smith. We are excited to have you here and have a full council again. I'm excited to work with you for the
rest of the year on the safety committee and I can tell we're going to have some good laughs in between all of the very serious um serious issues that we discuss and tackle in safety. Uh I have some updates from DCP. The opening for maybe playground has been delayed among
other things. The basketball courts need to cure be lined and have backboards installed and tables need to be um secured. Work should be wrapping up this week. We are planning a grand opening ceremony within the next week or two for stadium lighting at Tatlock. Musco has
come out and completed the light readings. All of them were as expected. We are still waiting the final report with the recorded numbers from Musco um for the speakers and cameras. Target installation date is September. And Jamal mentioned this um a little bit
earlier. Sorry, Councilman Ber. Um about um Grace and their contributions and how they supported some members of our community. Um so thank you to Grace. They provided um pool memberships to 13 families. 30 individual memberships and
26 campers have been rolled in the summer wreck camp um through through those grace donations. And um also we did um I did speak with David about um the pool as a as a cooling station on the 4th of July because we would have
loved to do that and in a perfect world we could have done that. But, you know, safety is our first priority. And with all of the Fourth of July festivities being cancelled, it was very hot. We We just It would not have been safe for us
to open it, you know, for us to open it as a cooling center to the entire town. So, safety always has to come first. We did, you know, we did have the um community center open as a cooling station if people really did need to cool down. Um and I think that's it for
me. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Calmanson. Council member Chrisouli. >> Thank you, Council President. I would also really like to welcome uh Council Member Smith. It's been great working with you, uh getting to know your
working style on several issues beyond the the data center ordinance on which we we collaborated. Um you're hitting the ground running. Um and uh your experience that you you bring from your profession already is adding value. Um I
>> thanks um so I would like to comment on the data center ordinance. It's a very complex issue. It's hard for all of us to understand right for um none of us is a planning professional here on the council although we have varying degrees
of experience and we're gaining more of that experience as we go along. I requested Mr. Burgess's memo and his draft ordinance and I requested the feedback from the planning board. I thank planning board chairwoman Alvarez and all the planning board members for
their diligent input. They gave a excellent technical review which I believe was a very high quality. Um and at the planning board I requested the staff post that report online and it's now on the planning board website. Um
although it did take the staff a little time to get there. They're short staffed right now. Uh my next sta my next task was that I set for myself was to get unanimous support from all council members. Uh and to do so we had to
tighten up the ordinance that was discussed uh at the planning board. Uh the council has different interests than the purely technical. We listened to resident input at the council meeting on June 16th at the listening sessions the
feedback that we saw online and what we heard is that summit didn't want data centers and so we tightened up the language considerably from the planning version the planning board version and we worked to get everybody on board
and everybody worked together toward that goal and I thank everybody uh It certainly wasn't my accomplishment. It's something that everybody pitched in and wanted to get to. So, I just wanted to clarify that it is technical. It's hard to describe. It's hard, frankly, for me
to describe. So, I apologize if I haven't done that in the clearest manner. I think uh Council Member Smith probably did a better job than I did. Uh and you [laughter] know, um but there we go. We are responding to residents very
clear desire that we heard that they wanted to ban all data centers and that's what we have attempted to do. I believe we have done it. We will continue to monitor as necessary. Thank you. >> Thank thank you council member Gresoulie. Council member Lera Cena.
>> Thank you council president. uh want to first thank we had several residents come to the most recent council meeting uh who live in the Bristol Meyer Squib neighborhood to express their their concerns, their frustration with the noise as a result of the existing usage
of what's going on in Bristol Meyer Squib. now concerns about and of the the constant or the near [clears throat] constant noise and hum that emanates out of the production facilities and and other parts of the the campus which is a lifestyle disruption. It can cause
fatigue and other issues. Um so we have reached out to uh the government affairs office of Bristol Myers. are in conversation um to we which has been an ongoing conversation over many years but we are re-engaging in earnest to see what can be done uh in partnership if
anything um to try to address those issues. So again thank you very much to the our neighbors who came out to share those concerns and we will provide updates as those conversations continue. Uh also wanted to double click a bit on affordable housing. Uh and also thank those we had a great discussion at the
most recent council listening session in June. So thank everyone for coming out on a Monday evening in the summer to talk with us about parking and signage. Um but we spent the bulk of the time talking about affordable housing. Uh we continue to hear and and appreciate the
questions and the concerns about overdevelopment, the strain on our schools and infrastructure and the impact to the taxpayers, right? The cost of it all. Uh, as Councilwoman Landman mentioned on the cost side, um, just as a quick reminder, and this information
is publicly available on the city's web page, uh, we're anticipating about 530 total new apartments, condos, houses to 530 total new units, um, as they will be comprised over the next 10 years um,
coming out of the prior council's round four affordable housing development plan. Uh, work continues on the cost side. what is the impact to the taxpayer? Uh that work continues again, but again, my back of the envelope math is that it would be approximately $20
million over 10 years and of a worst case scenario if all of the costs fell to the summit taxpayer and we're not able to access any county, state, federal, or or private funding. As has been said, we want to make affordable
housing work better both for affordable housing and for Summit. This requires long-term strategic planning and solid financial planning. To that end, we have recently brought on a new member of of the Burgess firm. Mr. Burgess was here. They are our long-erving external city
planner. Um, they have an additional expert in kind of suburban development who will help us take a broad view uh across the whole community, right? not focusing on any individual proposed site or mechanism but looking across the
whole municipality um to again think about that strain on infrastructure on our first responders on traffic impact to the schools the character of the community etc. So, we're we're grateful to have that new team member on board. Um I have joined the um Mount Laurel at
least in the interim uh filling former council member Palowski's seat. So, we'll we'll continue to do the work there. Uh have enjoyed getting to work with Councilman Smith on uh law and labor. Wanted to provide a quick update on uh city litigation. Uh we understand
of course and we know everyone appreciates there's of course sensitivities around lawsuits. Um but we also have heard time and time again that the community wants to know more. Um and we understand because this is litigation against the community, right? It impacts
all of us. Um so uh in brief there there have been uh two lawsuits unfortunately that have recently been brought against the city. Um I understand that some of the materials are are floating around on social media. Um so wanted to just provide some basic information. Uh there
was one lawsuit that was filed by Beacon Church uh in connection with proceedings before the zoning board. Uh the city is technically a named party to that litigation. Um but it is it this was a zoning board matter. Um so any any
questions and further comment, I would defer to the zoning board. Uh there was a separate lawsuit that was filed by K&K or Garden Homes. Um they were the contract purchaser. We've previously shared that they unfortunately withdrew
from uh that contract. Um they have now filed suit against the city. Um they uh I we will the bottom line is we will strenuously defend the city's position and we will work as hard as we
can to protect the city's position and interests. um K&K is alleging breach of contract with respect to the the purchase and sale agreement for the old firehouse site. Right. So the the sale was approved by the prior council in
December of 2025. Uh the contract was then signed on behalf of the city uh at the end of last year, December 31st, 2025. Uh so then work continued uh between the parties trying to you know get through those early phases of um the
the purchase and sale moving forward. Uh there was then separately the issue of a 2001 agreement that the city entered into with St. Teresa's um which we have also made brief mention of previously uh which in part dealt with certain parking
and access rights that were granted by the city to um St. Teresa's. Uh so we have the purchase and sale agreement for the old firehouse site that was entered into in December of 2025. Uh and then relatedly a 2001 agreement that was
entered into between the city and St. Teresa's. um in brief and this is is very early stage all all alleged um but K&K's position is that and I'll I'll just quote um the city intentionally misrepresented and concealed a material
fact um by not disclosing the St. Teresa's parking lot agreement from June of 2001. Um those are allegations and again the city will strenuously defend our position and interests and we will provide additional information as
it becomes available. And with that I am done. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um >> council president. >> Yes. Quickly. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Um Andy welcome. Like I I you know I
>> thank you. >> Me I tell you man I should have welcomed you. Um uh secondly, um talking about litigations, uh I know Councilwoman Lucaris knows in the in the legal uh committee and everything. Um
but you know, I'm always told like, oh, you can't speak about litigations and everything. So, um, if the city solicitor maybe next time you can give us some guidance about what to talk
about and what not to talk about. Uh, because I like to give the public a rundown from my perspective on all of it. So, um, you know, if we're doing that, let's do it. You know, like that, >> uh, through the council president, if
something is written in a publicly filed complaint, the council woman can read it into the record. It's already public. >> Okay. >> Um any comments further than that I would not recommend.
>> And we shouldn't we shouldn't encourage that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Anything else? >> Nope. I'm good. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Um I just want to add one procedure procedural um note
about the AI data ordinance um as as we developed it over the last few weeks. Um and I'll I I'll own most of this with the extra week between council meetings. Um I I certainly took advantage of the
ability to get a little bit of travel in. Um, I wasn't alone, but I found creative ways to be totally unavailable and inaccessible to my fellow council members. Um, so there ended up being a lot of fits and starts and trying to work things in at odd moments. Um, and I
am particularly grateful to our city clerk for tolerating all of it with good grace. Um, because I think I think we were giving everybody fits on that. Um, I'll be around for the next I'll be around between now and the next council
meeting. So, so, so have at me. Um, and I just want to read an email that I received during this meeting. Um, and it sort of goes to cleanup and and some of that it from one of our residents. Um,
credit where credit is due. I called DPW today about a huge tree branch that crashed into the street on Friday from in from from a from a tree in front of our house. At some point on Saturday or Sunday, some entity lifted the branch
from the street and placed it on my neighbor's front lawn. It was massive and took up the entire lawn. Within two hours of my call today, DPW sent a crew and they did a great job of taking the tree, raking, and cleaning up. Such a wonderful service from our excellent
city employees. I'm grateful. Um, yes, [applause] you're here. Um, and with that, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make it. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Any opposed? We stand adjourned. Thank you.