All right. Um, welcome everyone uh to our second meeting of September. Uh, it sounds looks like we have a very festive crowd here, which is is always great to see. Uh, and I apologize for uh running a little bit late uh for our meeting uh
uh today. Um, at at this time, uh, Madame Clerk, will 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 16th,
2024, 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 very much. Uh, roll call, please. Mr. Boyer, present. Miss Hamlet, here. Miss Calmanson, here. Mr. Palowski, here. Mr. Smallwood, here. Miss Toth, here. President McTurn, present. Um, all right. At this time,
I'd like to actually ask our esteemed madame mayor to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you, Mayor Fagan. All right. Um, at this time, uh, Madame Clerk, will you please read the explanatory note regarding 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 36 and 34, 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 a copy to the city clerk at city clerk@c cityofsummit.org. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard, speaker shall limit their comments to three minutes. Unless you are using an
electronic device to follow the meeting meeting agenda or need it for professional emergency contact purposes, please turn it off. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh at this time, do I have a motion to approve the minutes for regular and close session of September 3rd, 2025?
So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Um at this time, normally we we do our reports. We're actually gonna re just skip them and come back to them after
this. I it was appropriate particularly as we're running a little late uh to do our first ceremonial award. Um our award is the chief's life-saving award. It's going to be uh presented by our Chief Ryan Peters to Detective Sergeant Ruddy
Gorita and Detective Darren Sliker. Good evening. Thank you, sir. Fuzzier than usual. Um, good evening through you, Council President. On August 29th, 2025, at approximately 2:58 p.m., while on duty in the South Ward of Nor, New Jersey, Detective Sergeant Rudy
Gerita and Detective Darren Sliker were actively canvasing the area for a stolen BMW reported out of Summit the previous day. During their patrol on South 19th Street, both officers observed thick, dark smoke billowing from the second story of a nearby residence, a site that
demanded immediate and decisive action. Without hesitation, Detective Sergeant Gerita alerted all available units and immediately contacted dispatch to request a response from the New York Fire Department. As he approached the residence, he observed a female screaming for help through a
smoke-filled air from a second story rear window. With no time to spare and with total disregard for his own safety, Detective Sergeant Karita retrieved a contractor's ladder from a neighbor's property, scaled it swiftly, and I mean swiftly. If anybody saw the video,
I'm sure you saw the video because he conveniently placed his vest on the ground with the video facing the ladder prior to the rescue and heroically rescued the toddler from the window, bringing him safely down to the ground and away from danger. The
woman then exited the v window and climbed to safety with the assistance of officers on the ground. At the same time this was happening, Detective Sliker, accompanied by onduty NORC police officers, entered the home through the front door in an urgent effort to evacuate any remaining occupants. As
Detective Sliker and a North police officer ascended to the second floor, they encountered a locked door which they forcefully breached. Despite being met with thick black smoke that severely limited their visibility, Detective Sliker and the NORC officers remained inside the residence and continued to
shout loudly through the darkness to ensure no uh nobody was trapped, ultimately confirming all occupants had exited the house before retreating themselves. Their actions, Detective Sergeant Gerita and Detective Sliker, were nothing short of heroic. Their courage, swift
decision-making, and unwavering dedic dedication to preserving life under extreme pressure reflect the highest standards of law enforcement. Without regard for their personal safety, they relied on their training, instincts, and commitment to duty to perform life-saving measures in a rapidly
deteriorating and dangerous situation. for their valor, composure, and life-saving intervention. I proudly present Detective Sergeant Rudy Gerita as well as Detective Darren Sliker each with a life-saving award as well as a distinguished service award. Please join me in congratulating both officers on
this well-deserved honor. [Applause] [Applause] If I could also briefly, the um the
municipal council of North recognized both officers at a meeting. So, they sent us a letter today. It'll go in their file. So, I appreciate that as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Congratulations, Officer. Right. That was great to get to that first.
Very impressive. Um, all right. Uh, we're switching back then to uh back to page three to our uh report. And as always, we're going to start off with the our mayor's report. Mayor Fagan. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Congratulations, gentlemen. Um, we have
a lot of great events coming up, so I wanted to make sure everybody's aware of them. Um, this Friday, September 19th, at 6 PM, we'll be celebrating Fiesta Latina on the Village Green. It's always a wonderful evening of music, food, and community spirit. So, I hope to see many of you there. Um, the next day,
Saturday, September 20th, we have our annual doggy dip at the Family Aquatic Center. It's a fun way for our four-legged friends to enjoy the pool before it officially closes for the season. Uh the next day on Sunday, September 21st at 1 p.m., come out and check out
our new bike depot. New being, it's not really new. It's been there for a year and a half, and everybody keeps asking when it's open. It is open, but we're going to have a ribbon cutting on Sunday, September 21st. This um amenity allows for commuters to ride their bikes or scooters to the train station and
keep them in a secure and weatherproof location for a monthly membership fee. Ribbon cutting coincides with Arts and Cars downtown, so it's a perfect opportunity to enjoy Summit, take in the festivities, and check out this great new amenity for commuters. On the topic of biking, our ebike safety video is
posted online, and there will be a live Q&A with Officer Coutiga and an ebike safety expert on October 1st at 7 p.m. If you're considering buying an ebike or have one already, please tune in to get critical safety information. Also, we'll be putting up new signs
downtown reminding everyone that bikes, both traditional and electric, are not allowed on sidewalks in the central business district. This is import an important step in keeping our sidewalk safe and comfortable for pedestrians. Um, speaking of safety, I actually uh we
have committed to quarterly reports, quarterly updates from our chief of police. Um, and I've gotten several uh quarterly updates on crime statistics and and things going on in Summit. Um, so and I've gotten several inquiries in the past week or so about specifics on
crime statistics. So I've asked Chief Peters to be prepared to uh participate in my report. [Music] Did you turn the TVs on? They're on, Rosie. Look at that. Thank God.
Touch the cord. Thank you for you, Council President. Um, thank you, mayor. So, I did want to uh just highlight a few statistics that uh we generally report to the FBI, the UCR, uniform crime uh reporting statistics, as well as some other statistics that I feel are more specific to the city of Summit. Um
I did a four-year comparison. I went back to uh 2022 uh an annual statistics. I probably go back a little bit further, but this kind of gives us a snapshot of where we are today. One thing I do want to highlight regarding uniform crime statistics, um I'm new to this position,
okay? it didn't come with a handbook on how to uh generate stats. So, um um I'm doing everything I can to make sure they're as accurate as possible. That being said, UCR statistics aren't perfect. If you look up the uh Federal Bureau of Investigation, they say it right on their website. Um it's not a
perfect snapshot for every municipality. There are variety of elements that go into public safety, but this is the best that they can do um to kind of compare apples to apples when we look across the board. Uh that being said, I'll go through the stats and then I'll kind of talk about um how some of them could be a little bit skewed, but again, we're
we're doing pretty good. Uh so, right out of the gate, we have violent crime. Um that's made up of four different categories. We have robbery. We have I don't think I can make it any Can I make it any bigger? There you go. How's that? Look at that. 43 years old. I still got
it. um violent crime, uh robbery, aggravated assault, uh rape slash attempted rape, um and um homicide. So, um obviously we haven't any any homicides in town. You guys would know about that. What we trend typically trend uh at this point
in the game is usually anywhere between one to two robberies uh one to two maybe a little bit more aggravated assaults and the same with rape and attempted rape. Thank god we haven't dealt with the other category. Uh that being said, in analyzing this um this violent crime category on the actual UCR report, I am
seeing quite a bit of an uptake in the attempted rape category. Um everything else seems to kind of fall in line with previous stats. Uh that being said, um in doing an additional analysis, it looks as if six out of out of the eight incidents came from facilities in town that have a duty to report sexual
assault allegations. Um, the reason I say that is because I just want to give people a piece of mind to say that although our attempted rate numbers are up, it's not like we have a serial rapist. Everybody's running around town sexually assaulting people. These are these happen in a confined area. And then we'll talk about the statistics as well when I go over the the the issues I
see with UCR stats. Uh, that being said, assaults, which is a simple assault, aggravated assault is included in violent crime, um, are trending downwards, but in comparison to 2022, we're kind of on par with that. uh burglaries. These are burglaries to homes and businesses. Um again trending
a little bit downwards uh but kind of on par with 2022. We have seen an ongoing decrease in lararseny which is theft and then motor vehicle theft as well which I am encouraged about. The one thing I do want to highlight as well on the motor vehicle theft is five of those thefts out of the nine were actually from dealerships. So they weren't from
residences, they weren't from houses and um we have to date had nine arrests on those 11 motor vehicle thefts. So our detective bureau is doing a great job. I couldn't speak. Give them more accolades. They're doing a phenomenal job. Actually, I walked by the deck. I'm a little jealous. They're back there having a great time. All that these guys
look like all great friends. They do a really good job. They motivate each other. Uh burglaries and attempted burglaries to motor vehicles. As we can see, that's been progressively uh trending downwards, which I think is a a positive uh statistic to highlight. Calls for service. Um, I was actually
pretty blown away the fact that between uh 2023 and 2025 year to date, I mean, we tend to do 45 to 50,000 calls for service, we're only off by three to date for those two years. But, uh, again, busier than we were historically. If you look back, we do document more things now. Uh, documentation is key. All right? There's no if if you check a
school at 11:00 and then again at 2 and then the next and then you don't document it and then the next morning we have criminal mischief or somebody spray paints it. Again, we try to document everything. So, this way we have uh somewhat of a trail. God forbid something happens. And then traffic enforcement. As you can see, uh we're out there. Uh I know this is probably
not the most popular statistic when it comes to uh community outreach, but we are writing tickets, uh moving and parking, and we're stopping a lot more cars. Um you know, we're going to get into it when we talk about u the Tatlock neighborhood. But it comes down to education, enforcement, and engineering.
Um not all of our stops, as you can see, 5,610 motor vehicle stops resulted in 1,271. So we're not writing everyone tickets. For the most part, we're we're educating people. We're pulling them over, advising them of their violations, and um you know, as long as their driving history looks good, their record looks good, they're pretty much cut
loose. That being said, there are situations that involve pedestrians, cell phones, some things we just can't overlook, and uh and tickets do need to be written. Um it's it's an unfortunate situation. It's one of the parts of the job that I never like doing. Um but it's something that needs to get done to make sure that people are are abiding by the uh the laws of the road. But I am
encouraged by these numbers because it shows that our officers are out there. They're doing their job and uh they're trying to keep doing everything they can to keep everyone safe. Um so circling back around to the UCR statistics like I said before um it's an imperfect snapshot of a moment in time. Few reasons that is okay so we have what's
called CFS code. So when somebody calls the police department speaks to dispatch say for example they have a noise complaint at a neighbor's house. The dispatch will take that call as a noise complaint. They'll enter a CFS code for a noise complaint. We then go and investigate. We may get there and that noise complaint may actually be a domestic disturbance that results in an
arrest for an assault and a a temporary restraining order and everything else that goes with that. It is then at the you know the the responsibility of the the reporting officer who does the report to change that CFS code from the initial noise complaint and close it out to the domestic violence complaint in which we finalize that report. That can
be done almost immediately which happens a lot of times with calls that patrol take on a daily basis like a noise complaint that resulted into a domestic. But sometimes those CFS codes could change a month later, 3 months later based on the carrying out of the investigation from our detective bureau.
So something that might be generate a statistic on the UCR today might not necessarily be the same statistic two months from now. Um in addition um we often encounter initial allegations with no further cooperation from victims which results in the case being closed with what we call
exceptional means. Um the FBI takes victim statements as their word from the initial report even if they don't follow up with the investigation or cooperate with us for another statement. Um so again that could skew our UCR data because we could get an allegation of an attempted rape and then we reach out to
the victim. The victim does not want to cooperate for whatever reason. Um there are no charges that are being filed because we don't have an you know cooperating victim and then ultimately that will get closed out as an attempted rape without a complete investigation. So, that's one of the things that also could kind of skew these numbers. In
addition, we've seen this before actually at my midyear numbers. I got called out by a resident because my motor vehicle thefts were not 100% accurate. Again, I'm new to this. They don't give you a UCR reporting class when you get chief. It's not something like Chief Zagorski called me and was like, "Here, let me teach you everything you need to know the next 48 hours
before I retire." So, um, the UCR stats, the way it works is if we have a stolen car from a residence, which we've had, uh, but also that was tied to a burglary to that residence to get the key fobs, that that case is going to get closed out at the most severe charge, which would be the burglary. So, when I run the UCR stat and it shows me motor
vehicle thefts, which it does on this report, and I could submit to you, Rosie, for the record, it'll show less amount of motor vehicle thefts because two of them were actually home burglaries that resulted in motor vehicle thefts. So, they actually get closed out as burglaries, not motor vehicle thefts. So that it's incumbent on us and the detective bureau to keep
act have accurate recordkeeping inside our own management system separate from the UCR management system. Uh in addition we again we we see this a lot with sexual assault allegations. Um there's a delay in reporting. Um you know we understand that you know a lot
of these events are you know traumatic. Oftent times they involve juveniles and they're not reported for years later which could skew the stats. an assault can occur in 2020 2021 and it's reported in 2025 and that's when the stat gets recorded. Uh and lastly, um Summit Police Department did 48,952
calls for service. While the men and women of the police department that were just in here do a very good job at making sure the CFS codes are as accurate as possible. I'm I would be um you know, I wouldn't be 100% truthful if I said we were perfect all the time out of the 49,000 calls roughly. There are a
few cases and it used to drive the old captains crazy if the CFOs CFS code wasn't right. Um, we have checks and balances, but there are a few that every once in a while at the end of the year you might have a small percentage a margin of error where the CFS code might not be 100% accurate because it just wasn't closed out properly. Um, so
that's the story and I'm sticking to it unless anybody has any questions. Open to questions, analysis, council president. Anything else? Yes, please work. So, uh, chief, we have the hospital, we have, uh, Fair Oaks,
uh, you know, some other facilities in town. Uh, how many of these violent crimes and assaults occurred there? Aggravated assaults to date we're looking at, I don't think any of the aggravated assaults, I think, actually, well, no, I'm will be mistaken. So again today uh
the uh the violent crime we are at 16. Um of that we have zero homicides. We had seven attempted rape allegations. Uh we had two robberies. I think you're intimately familiar with one of those. And we had two aggravated assaults to
date. Uh I believe one of those aggravated assaults did occur at a uh at one of the facilities in town. And there's two separate categories, right? violent crime and simple assaults. So the simple assaults now how many of those a lot of those are actually tied to um
domestic disturbances which is why we don't do so again when we talk about notifications to the public we deal with a lot of issues uh with the police department um we go into people's houses um sometimes we see the worst of the worst. Um so there are certain statistics that while we do
try to be as transparent as possible we also need to take into account the privacy of someone's home. Um, you know, we've seen an uptick in mental I talked about this um when the previous stats were put out. We have seen an uptick in mental health issues. We've seen an uptick in domestic violence. Um, and
unfortunately, we've actually seen an uptick this year in suicide. Um, and uh, that's what, you know, our guys see on a daily ba, our guys and gals, they see, they're on the front lines, they see this stuff. It is traumatic. Um, but you know, oftentimes I get inquiries from people in the neighborhood. Hey, what's going on in my neighbor's house? There's three or four police cars. And sometimes
it's just unfortunately it's not really anybody's business. Um I can tell you if there is a threat to the public, if we're looking for someone, if there's something that the public needs to know, the information is going out. Um I was on my way to we talked about this in the safety meeting. I was on my way to Wegman's last Sunday um to go food
shopping and uh we had a missing juvenile that went out. You know, within a matter of seconds, I'm on the phone with the supervisor. We're getting that information out and it was on social media and Nixls were out almost immediately and I live in Mammoth County. Um so and there's checks and balances. I'm the primary. We have alternates. Um we have several lines of
communication to make sure that the frontline supervisors who are often dealing with the problems at hand in front of them, right? So their primary responsibility is to handle the problem. It's right in front of them, but also make notification to us in case we need the public's help um in finding someone who's missing or in case we need the
public's help in just locating a suspect or just advising them, hey, this is what we just had. We just had a criminal attempt to a motor vehicle. Everybody be vigilant. Everybody keep your eyes on your Ring cameras. keep your eyes on your vehicles, lock your cars. Um, and we're doing it. Um, but I do want to be mindful of people's privacy. Do want to
be mindful that some of these statistics are a reflection of domestic violence. They are a reflection of stuff that happens at the privacy of people's homes. And we try to respect that as best we can. Thank you, Chief. And last question, cuz, you know, I'd like the residents to to really understand this. When we look at violent crimes and assaults, um, they
are not typically happening on our streets. Our streets are safe. Uh there is no proactive way to stop domestic violence or assaults that happen in hospitals or um or facilities uh uh that
have people with mental health issues. Uh but our streets are safe. These statistics do not reflect what's happening. And that's exactly what it says actually on the FBI's website when you go to the uniform crime reporting that these
statistics are imperfect. However, they're the best we got at the time. Um, because you do have to consider other factors. Um, you know, I don't want to talk about any other municipalities, but there's municipalities that might have a shopping mall in there. You're going to see an increase in thefts in those municipalities because that's a direct reflection of what happens to shopping
malls. Um, and to your point, we have all all different types of facilities in town that could drive numbers one way or another. So, parents, it's okay if you still send your kids to the to town to get candy and stuff and sweet nothings. It's all good. All right. Okay. I don't know if the dentist would
approve of that, but any other comments or questions for the chief councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. Uh Chief, thank you very much for your your report. Again, could you just go over the just maybe even just some of the major categories of violent crime? Yeah. So, it's homicide, uh robbery,
aggravated assault, and rape/atted rape. So, those are the four categories that go into violent crime. And like I said, the the the anomaly, I saw the number go up and I was I was intrigued. Um, and the number that's typ I see at least for 2025 that's driving this number higher
than usual is the attempted rape. And those 16 that we have so far, are those typically within the home? Well, like I said, with the uh with allegations of rape, six out of eight came from institutions in town that have a requ.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Chief. I know we're all happy to see the numbers of car thefts and attempted car thefts and all that going down. I know um the department has been involved for some time with countywide task forces.
Um is this are we seeing this throughout the area? Yes, I believe so. I believe the I think the coordinated effort um among not only you know local stakeholders but county, state, federal authorities coming together. Information sharing is huge. Technology is huge. um you know with the
license plate readers um the state police got on board and now we have access to you know license plate information from all different jurisdictions. So the fact that we're sharing information, we're working together, there's regional task force, we participate in those task force. Anytime anybody reaches out for an officer to participate in a task force,
we send them um we do what we can uh because at the end of the day we've had we've benefited from that. Uh, I think the first deployment for the Union County Task Force for major crimes was in Summit because we were in the midst of a a major stolen car theft ring. So, um, um, but yeah, to your point, I I do
feel as if crime statistics across the board are trending in that direction. Um, and it's encouraging. Yeah, I I really I do think it's encouraging and I think technology plays a big part. I think information sharing plays a big part. I think boots on the ground. I think there's a variety of factors that go into that. Thank you.
Other comments? Councilman Palowski? So, how many how many of the stolen cars did we retrieve? Uh, almost all of them, I think. I'd have to pull that. I'd have to pull the spreadsheet, which I don't have on this computer, but I'd say the vast majority. I mean, you just saw the two guys that
got the awards for down in New Orle. That's not something we take lightly. the vehicles taken from a residence or even a dealership here in town. Uh you know, the full force of the detective bureau is usually in the areas we where we tend to find these vehicles whether they're getting cooled off or they're staged or um you know, waiting to go on
a container overseas. Um so we do recover the vast majority of them. Um to date, I I don't know out of the 11, if I had to take a guess, I'd say eight were recovered. Again, we had nine arrests. So um you know, they're out there. One of the things and and we we do the same thing with criminal mischief. Somebody spray
paints the side of a building, we get it cleaned up the next day. It's the broken windows theory. If if every time you come to Summit, not only are you met with police resistance because our notifications through the technology we we've invested in, but you steal a car and the next day that car is back on the flatbed and it's back up at Summit eventually. Again, we're not solving the
world's problems here. And I certainly don't want to invite crime into any other jurisdiction, but they're going to stop coming to Summit if every time they steal a car, it gets scooped back up. What benefit did they get? They're they're they're running a possible second or third degree charge for 12 hours and then the car's gone. So, we don't take that lightly. I do know there are other police departments that don't
go down to these areas in Essex County due to, you know, we've had officers encounter life-threatening experiences while processing in a car in Essex County. Um, so it's and we just had two officers nearly die in a fire. I mean, we're we're out there. We're not we're not going to sit back and just let this
happen. So, every time a car does get stolen, we're actively looking for it. We're actively tracking. We are dealing with a criminal element that knows how to remove these trackers. They know where to hide it. So, it is a little bit bit of a game of cat and mouse. Um, we were on the we were on the uh the tail of that BMW when they when they came
across the uh the houseire that afternoon uh which has since been recovered by the way. So, um I would thank you for empowering our officers to go and do that even though not every municipality does. Uh and in addition to officers Gerita and
Psyker, um that empowerment, you know, allowed them to save a woman and her child. So, well done. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Now, one other thing I do want you to speak to if if we have time, um
sorry. Um is I had the over under at 10 o'clock. I think I'll lose. Oh, boy. um is just uh the measures that you guys have implemented around the Tatlock neighborhood because I've gotten some good feedback um about the foot the
home first home football game this past weekend and I just wanted to kind of air. Yeah. So that was um that was interesting getting sworn in as the new chief like the week of our lacrosse game making the finals and a complete chaos down at the I wouldn't call it chaos but you know controlled chaos down
at Tatlockfield in the spring. So, um, we've heard the residents. Um, we understand that there are some safety concerns, um, from residents, whether it be the size of the roadway, whether it be the the parking, the crosswalks, stop signs. Um, so we're approaching it the same way we approach most traffic problems. The three E, right? Education,
enforcement, and engineering, right? So, education. We've been putting out um a lot of messaging. I'm sure you guys follow us on social media. You get the Nixl the other day. Uh, working with the board of education and Allison Flockheart. She's been great. um put notifications out to parents, putting notifications out to opposing jurisdictions and high schools to let
them know that the police will be out. We are enforcing parking, zero discretion. Um in addition to that, um you know that that messaging, um I sat down with Allison and Lieutenant Daly of our traffic safety bureau and we came up with a plan for drop off pickup for the buses that we feel is safe. Um and then
in the interim, we're posting no park temporary no parking spines specifically in the areas that um have drew some concern from the residents. you know, within 25 ft of a crosswalk, within 50 ft of a stop sign on roads that are narrow. So, I do apologize on behalf of the police department, uh, that some of
these no parking signs are still out there. Uh, they're only a temporary fix. Um, you know, on the safety committee, we're looking for permanent solutions because at the end of the day, putting no parking signs up, taking them back, putting them out, that's those are temporary solutions, right? So, we're looking for permanent solutions. But in the interim, we understand that these
are safety concerns. So, we're leaving them out there for now. Um, so I would expect to see the temporary no parking signs. Like I said on the enforcement aspect, we are out there uh officers are working in security. We have other officers patrolling the neighborhoods writing parking tickets. I think on Saturday's game, I don't want to, you know, over overdo it, but I think we
wrote north of 22 25 tickets. And uh again, that's not what we want to do. We don't want a parent or a family to be leaving a game where their child just had the game of their life and show up to the parking ticket on their windshield, you know, compliments of the
SA Police Department. Do not want to do that. Um but at the end of the day, these residents have the right to have a safe neighborhood and uh we need to make sure that that that's enforced. And then again, we'll continue to work with um the engineering department to make sure that the measurements on the roads are safe and that um certain signage or or
maybe um you know, restriping of the roads can accommodate or at least paint a clearer picture on where you can and cannot park. And then once those permanent solutions are put into place, we can remove all those ugly no parking signs and kind of hopefully get back to business as usual. Um, but I'm always
open to suggestions. Again, um, you know, I don't consider myself an expert on anything, but um, I do, um, like to put the work in and I'm I'm happy to hear people's recommendations and again being as transparent as possible. We're trying to present these ideas to the residents to make sure that they're okay with them before we implement anything.
And again, we're working with engineering on that as well. Right, Chief? Thank you. Yes, Councilman Boyer. Last thing, because I think the taxpayers want to know this because uh, we just got two new officers. Right. Um well, we have bunch of we have a bunch
of new officers. We have two last year, right? And we're in the process of hiring two more. Can you just a talk about the new officers that we just hired throughout the year because there I think there's five or six new officers. We have quite a few officers. Yes. And then and then the impact of the two
new positions that um that you have on your force. So again, um we have some flexibility now that we have the additional staffing. Um you know, an old school mentality might be just to put them into patrol, more rubber on the road. Um we are patrolling north of 80 miles of roadway at any given time,
believe it or not, even though we're six square miles, 80 miles of roadway. Um I'd rather not go public with how many officers are on the road at any given time, but we are looking to create new positions. We did one already. It's a hybrid position. Um you know, the officer lives in town, so he has access to all different types of uniforms. So the hybrid position essentially can back
fill patrol if we need it for overtime. Uh if not, he can assist the community policing unit, the detective bureau, and if all else fails and every everything's kind of running smoothly, we put the hybrid officer in the central business district and uh we make sure that pedestrian safety and and parking and everything else is being enforced. So we're looking to expand upon that that
unit and do another hybrid officer and then also add a second officer into the uh traffic bureau because uh traffic is obviously one of our main concerns. Councilman Benowski, uh, one followup on the parking down at Tatlock during football games. In the
past, we have asked Matt Defonso, who does all the announcing, I think he still does. I think they did that this past game. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, they did. Yep. That's part of communication. So, we're doing that as well. And so, he knew what I was going to say, but what I was going to say was that we make announcements during the game. If
you're illegally parked, please go move your car. You will be ticketed. And you forgot to mention the mobile billboard on the Oh, yeah. The mobile billboard that's on the the corner um of Butler and Morris U, which possibly working with the board of vet, maybe getting a permanent sign there. Great. Great. Councilwoman Camelson.
Thank you. Um thank you, Chief Peters, um for all of your work. Um I've definitely seen an improvement. So, thank you. We appreciate it. Um I just wanted to expand on something a little bit. You said, um you know, that you've heard the residents and they deserve a safe neighborhood, and I agree with
that. It's not just the residents that live there, though. It's also the spectators and their safety because residents identify that it's not it's not just the people who live there. Um we see who's who's walking in the middle of the street, who's trying to cross the
street. We witness cars almost, you know, um run into each other headon when the when um cars are parked on the both sides. So, I just wanted to point out that it's also it's in the best interest of everyone, including the spectators. Um, and that's, you know, it's concern
for residents and for spectators. Thank you. Just one final question, Councilwoman Hamlet. Uh, thanks, Council President. Um, in regards to the buses, do we have a formal memo put out to the board of ed that they are to direct the buses to go a certain route? Allison Flockheart
generated uh instructional um guidance to all opposing schools that are coming in on what the current process is which is an a loading and unloading zone on Butler where we've coned off areas. Um one of the issues with that from what was relayed to me
was the buses would drop off on Butler Parkway. they would then go stage either at the high school or Washington school and when they came back those parking spots were then since filled because it was it was a parking area and that you know then teams were tended to be loading on the buses while the bus was idle in the middle of the road. So um
again a temporary fix for now we're working on permanent solutions was to just cone off an area big enough for two or three buses bus drop off pickup only they're doing the same thing they're dropping off they're going up to the high school and that's the instructions that she's giving all the opposing schools that come into town. So yeah, I have access to that. I can send it to council so you guys can take a look at
it. But Allison did a great job on on putting that out there and she also reiterated the fact that we will be enforcing with very little discretion. So cool. Uh one quick comment. Uh so chief from uh what you guys have learned from this. Are there any things that you are
planning to tweak for the next home game? So for the next home game, one of the things that we didn't do this past time was we didn't reinforce current no parking signs. Um, there are no parking signs between the entrance to Tatlock and the little turnaround at Washington School before Morris Avenue. They're there. Uh, I don't know why people don't
see them, but uh, I talked to Sergeant Betto in real time on on Saturday and he's like, "Hey, we're out here. We're moving cars and more cars are parking." So, we're going to double down. I think on Aubrey as well, there's some no parking signs that probably could use some extra reinforcement. But again, when we talk about the 3E, we'll work with engineering to to make sure that whatever signs are up there, I know one
of the signs needs to be either replaced or repainted. So, um, you know, we'll be doing that as well. Um, and then I think, uh, if the first game went okay, we'll continue as on course and go from there. Great. Thank you. Appreciate you guys. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chief. Okay. Thank you, Chief. Um, and before I close
out my comments, sorry that I'm usually don't speak this much, but um, I just wanted to thank everybody who came to the 911 um, memorial at the firehouse. Um, as always, it's a tough day and we remember all that we lost, but I
especially remember how um unified our community was. Um, this is sort of a poignant reminder of that. And we've always been a compassionate, respectful community, helps one another. And, um, Summit is an example, a beacon if you
will, um, to surrounding neighborhoods and other communities in so many ways. And you know, it's because we work together and we support one another. And I just want to take this opportunity to remind everyone, to remind me, to remind all of us that kindness and
neighborliness should always come above all else. And we can disagree, but we need to do so respectfully. And just remember that this is what makes Summit special. We're neighbors. We're friends. And again, I don't agree with everything
my best friend thinks or says, but we can always have a dialogue that's kind and compassionate and respectful. Thank you. Thank you. Good comments. Uh, all right. Boy, sorry.
We're still on reports. Um, uh, city administrator, do you have a report this evening? I do. Thank you, council president. Not nearly as fun as the previous records, but the dog park, the temporary dog park will remain at the Village Green until
October 6. I think many of you have been enjoying it, and we thank the hundreds of people who have given their feedback about a new dog park location. The survey is still open at cityofsummit.orgdoc dogpark survey. So, please continue to
provide your feedback if you will. Um and public service uh energy and gas milling and paving um seems like they are everywhere. Uh be advised that they are performing milling and paving throughout summit this week. The schedule is available on the homepage of
the city website and at cityofsummit.org/construction. Earlier this afternoon, we received a new schedule for the rest of the week. So the website has been updated with that new information. So you can check that out. Tomorrow on Wednesday, September 17th, they will be paving
portions of Sunset Drive, Blackburn Road, and T Twwambbley Drive. And on Thursday, September 18th, they will finish up Twambley Drive and also work on Knobill Drive and Edgemont Avenue. PSCG is scheduling this work on roads where the trench back fill has had
sufficient time to settle. And there are many other streets around town that they still need to pave. Please note this work is being done by PSDG and we will continue to share the schedules that they provide to us on our website and social media pages. And that's it. Thank you.
Thank you very much. All right. Uh council president's report. I wanted to give the community an update on where we stand for uh our round four uh Mount Laurel process. As I mentioned at the last meeting, uh we we closed out our
challenge period uh at the end of August and the city did receive three challenges. I think there might be some confusion amongst the public on whether they're lawsuits or challenges. I'm not a lawyer, but we pay our lawyer a lot of money. U and they're called challenges.
Um I would suggest don't take legal advice from people on Facebook. It's not a good idea. Um but we we are being challenged. We're being challenged by uh two developers as I mentioned that uh we did not allow to join our plan. One
developer wanted to uh put um uh a project down on River Road that was vetted at the planning board for uh 200 units. Ultimately the the city said that was not consistent with our current zoning and so it was rejected. The
second developer uh we didn't even bother to send to the planning board because it was so out of scope with our community. Uh he proposed an eightstory uh apartment building on the corner of Broad Street and Summit Avenue where the
KICO station is. 300 units, eight stories. Let that sink in a little bit. Um, the only way not to have those two developers not challenge us would have been to say, "Okay, they were going to challenge us." This is part of the
process. So, for people who are like, "Oh my gosh, you're being challenged." The alternative is we're we they'd be doing design plans right now for an eight-story building uh with 300 units. Um, so the again, we're going to work
through the process. Fair Share also challenged us. Uh they challenged 400 odd communities. Uh and we'll deal with that going forward, which is the important part. Um the city has a mediation schedule uh with an
adjudicator that was assigned uh to us and many other cities for September 29th. Uh the the goal of this mediation center, mediation meeting according to what's laid out in the legislation is for us to try and come to some
agreements with the challengers um and and whether or not to include part or or some part of them in their plan and then we would agree uh um to to move forward uh with augmenting our
plan. The city also has the ability to say we're good where we go and um regardless uh after the mediation meeting uh the program the adjudicator would then advise what is called a
program judge who is a retired judge part of this process uh would then make recommendations or would make decisions on what aspects of these challenges would be needed to be included in in our plan.
Those um recommendations would then go to a uh an initial trial court which is again part of the process that we would have a real back and forth um with if there's any other outstanding issues to finally be settled. Um there is an
appeal process after that uh that that would happen as well. Uh we are uh in the next before our mediation center we are going to file our objections to the challenges uh with the mediator
because there are many things in the challenges we just think are factually incorrect and we're and we will push back on those. Um we're also planning to uh file a motion to determine
what 25% means in in the rule. what is going to be our actual uh realistic development um number. Uh the the language in the legislation is unclear. Uh it if if you believe fair share
housing, they think we have to build 345 units. Our vacant land analysis, which we've used for the last three rounds, says we should be doing eight. Um and nobody knows, you know, this will have to get adjudicated in court and we'll
figure that out. So there's a lot going on. Uh stay tuned. Um if you have questions, please reach out. Happy to uh to talk to anybody about those things. Um okay. Secondly, uh I just wanted to
uh follow along with the end of um uh Mayor Fagan's comments. Uh last week uh you know there were we had 911 but also Wednesday. I wanted to comment on this. There was an assassination, a political
assassination of Charlie Kirk. Uh it was shocking. It was sad. It was um lots of different adjectives. Um and certainly I was very uh depressed
afterwards to see this happening in our nation. Now I truly I understand this is not the f first political assassination. There have been elected officials on both sides of the aisle who have suffered this heinous uh
end. We've had our you know current president two assassination attempts on his life. Um you know in our nation we value freedom, free speech, dialogue. every single American should be uh be be
abhorrent at what happened here. Um what particularly makes me sad and disgusted is some of the reactions to this happening online where people are cheering this are happy about it say he deserved it.
Nobody deserves this. Nobody for speaking their convictions. You may not agree with them. They have the right to to do that. I think what struck a chord for many, certainly for me, is
he was assassinated while exercising what we should all try to emulate, which is dialogue with people we don't agree with. He had strong opinions. Some completely disagree with them. That's great. You
don't have to agree with everything. I tell my students all the time, if we agreed with if everyone agreed with me about everything I believe in, life would be really boring. It would stink. We should have different perspectives, but we should be able to talk them
through. Um, and worst case, your own conviction will be fortified because you you had it uh challenged in rigorous debate or just maybe if you go into it with an
open mind, maybe you're willing to learn something. And that's what this guy was all about. And again, you don't have to agree with everything that he said, but I think that's what's so shocking uh that that happened because we have a foundation for that in our country. I'm
hoping that um you know this could could open people's minds to to do that and and certainly locally like I I think you know we're in as I mentioned it's kind of the silly season of political uh back and forth. That's fine. We have elections. People should be challenged back and forth. It's about ideas
exchanged, but let's do it in a way where there's no name calling. You know, online is a cesspool and and you know, let's try and be better. We we all deserve that for each other. Um I had a tough day on Thursday
because Thursday was also 911. I still struggle to think about that day. Um, but I I talked to my students about that and uh what happened to Charlie Kirk and what Elizabeth mentioned is sort of my
big takeaway from 911. I lived in Manhattan uh while that happened and I was I worked right across the street from the World Trade Center, so I saw a lot that day. um lost a lot of friends. But for the 3 months after 9/11,
New York is a city of 8 million people. It was like living in a village through that shared grief and and shared experience. You walked down the street in New York, people said hi to you. They
looked you in the eye. They said, "How are you?" And they really meant it. It was the most amazing thing. And while that was a horrible tragedy, I took away a sense of hope in our DNA.
We have that ability to act that way with our neighbors. We do. I saw it firsthand amongst 8 million total strangers. That gives me hope. Particularly in our
community, we're not total strangers. Our kids go to the same schools. They play on the same sports teams. They're in the same plays. We go to church together. We should be able to have that sense of community. It's so important. And that
is ultimately what I hope that tragedy that happened on Wednesday brings about, that we can look at each other differently and say, "I don't agree with you, but let's talk about it rather than call each other names or get someone to say something nasty in a comment section
on Facebook about the person." So, that is my long-winded uh council president statement. All right. Okie do. Uh, let's move along. We have a proclamation this week, don't we, Madame Mayor? We do indeed. Is anybody here from
De'Arra? Yes. Oh, good. How are you guys? Thanks for being here. Thank you. Okay. But we don't have it here tonight. It's not until tomorrow that it starts anyway. So you're right.
Okay. Um whereas September 17th, 2025 marks the 238th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention. And whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document
and its memorable memorable anniversary and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion. And whereas public law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the president of the United States of America, designating September 17th through September 23rd as Constitution
Week. During this week, we celebrate our Constitution and the rights of citizenship that together we enjoy as the people of this proud nation. Now therefore, I, Elizabeth Fagan, mayor of the city of Summit, do hereby proclaim September 17th to September 23rd, 2025
as Constitution Week, and ask all citizens to reaffirm the ideals the framers of the Constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained. In witness
whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Summit to be affixed the 16th day of September in the year 2025. Thank you. [Applause] I just want to thank you for helping us
to bring this to everyone's attention that this is this is a wonderful and listening to the the things that have been going on in the meeting. every one of them that is because the constitution lets us do all these things. So thank you. Thank you.
Great. [Applause] Sure you don't. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, that was awesome. Um, yeah, I'm wearing my uh my American flag tie. I'm excited about Constitution Day
tomorrow. Um, and I was tasked with the historical minute this week. Councilman Palowski has been globe trotting, eating a lot of really good food and such and didn't have time to put this together, but he just flew back just for this meeting, which is an
amazing thing to his dedication. I think I would have stayed and ate pasta for an extra day or two in Italy, but um uh I've got the task of create doing the uh historical minute today. So um it's going to be a follow-up about uh the declar uh the constitutional convention.
So bear with me as I read this. Tomorrow is Constitution Day, which celebrates its signing by the de the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention that drafted it in the summer of 1787. New Jersey played an important role in the creation of a truly revolutionary
idea about government, framing the relationship between people and government that exists to this day. The Constitution was not the first governing document the young United States of America had. During the revolution, the second continental congress drafted the
Articles of Confederation, a quote league of friendship as it was called. It was designed by the new states to create a weak central government. This was on purpose. The main fear of the Congress at that time was replacing one
tyranny with another. The new government couldn't tax or regulate foreign trade. not um uh it did not have an executive or judicial branch. While the new government successfully steered the
young nation to victory during the revolution, it struggled mightily afterwards in keeping the peace. Squables between states, economic hardships due to monetary and trade issues, and a rebellion by disgruntled farmers triggered a call for a meeting
in Philadelphia to revise the articles. The New Jersey delegation played a key role in the negotiations that created our current constitution. In response to the Virginia plan, William Patterson, Patterson, New Jersey is named after, introduced the New
Jersey plan featuring a unicameal legislature arguing in favor of equal representation for all states, which would favor small states like ours. This eventually led to the great compromise, creating two legislative
houses with Patterson's ideas preserved in our current day Senate. Other New Jersey delegates figured prominently in other debates. David Brerley, who served as Chief Justice on New Jersey Supreme Court, led the
convention committee that created the electoral college system, another key compromise for electing the president. William Livingston, Livingston's named after them, uh chaired the committee that negotiated one of the most controversial
uh arguments plaguing the convention, creating the so-called three-fifth compromise, which counted enslaved people as a fraction of a person for numbering representation in the new House of Representatives. While
justifiably reviled by many, this compromise allowed the fragile new nation to begin a new on its journey towards a quote a more perfect union. That journey would include replacing the contentious clause after the civil war with the passage of the 14th amendment
which changed the language to counting the quote whole person. Our Constitution, which opens with the famous preamles of quote, "we the people," unquote, serves as a reminder to the power of compromise.
New Jersey led the way during that fateful summer by listening to diverse viewpoints and forging consensus out of those disparit voices. A lesson worthy of remembrance. Excellent. Thank you. All right, we're finally on to the
business portion of our meeting and it's only nine o'clock. Um u we have a few ordinances for hearing this evening. Um Madame Clerk, will you please read uh law and labor number 25-3354?
Council President. Yes. Before we begin, can I I I just I just want to um thank Lois for coming in. Um, she is my friend and I'm I'm happy that she is here at council today. Thank you.
Thank you. Sorry. May I? Yes. Okay. Uh, ordinance number 25-3354, an ordinance authorizing the city of Summit to exchange certain real property for other lands desired for public use pursuant to the local lands and
buildings law NJSA4A12-16. Thank you, Councilman Palowski. Thank you. This is ordinance number 25-3354. We introduced this ordinance at our last council meeting and it authorizes the city of summit to exchange certain real
property for other lands desired for public use. More specifically, the city seeks to acquire a portion of real property at the old firehouse site currently owned by uh 299 Morris Aav Associates.
And uh as consideration for this acquisition, the city will convey a portion of real property it owns having an address nearby along with the sum of $175,000. Basically, the city owns several parcels
of property at the old firehouse site, but they're not contiguous. This acquisition will allow the sale of contiguous lots, which we believe will allow for its sale at a higher price. I move to adopt this
ordinance. Open a hearing perhaps. I move to open a hearing on this ordinance. Second. Great. All right. I'm then declare the hearing open. Um, at this time, would any members of the public like to comment on this ordinance?
Okay, seeing none, I'm going to close the public comment portion of our hearing. Would any uh members of council like to comment on this ordinance? No. All right. The only thing I would say is um I appreciate uh law and labor working on this. Um, also appreciate
Matt your help and and your firm's help for negotiating uh this contract. I think as Councilman Palowski said, this is a one of the steps, a necessary step to get this property ready for sale now that we own we will own a continuous
piece. It will make it much more desirable for whoever wants to bid on on the land. Uh, so uh, thank you everybody. All right. Um, I'm going to without further ado, I'm going to close the hearing on this one and then move on. Uh, madame clerk, would you please read
the uh community programs and parking services ordinance number 25-3355? An ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-8 parking subsection 7-8.5 parking time limited on certain streets
and subsection 7-25.2 two municipal parking lot areas. Thank you so much, Councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. This is uh ordinance number 25-3355 as introduced on se the last meeting in
September 3rd. Um most of you uh know that the top tier garage is uh currently closed uh due to repairs that need to be made uh immediately. Uh so with this ordinance, we are amending the we're amending this ordinance to allow for
Broad Street garage, which is at the corner of Broad Street and Summit Avenue. Uh the fir to designate the first 84 spaces in the open top section lot level as resident and downtown employee parking permit per park per park per park per park per park per park per park per park per park per park
pering permit parking. Uh thank you. uh changes and we're also going to change eight of the on street parking from 90-minute spaces on Forest Avenue to employee permit parking to help uh accommodate those res those employees
who work on the west side of town. Um you know, one of the things that uh you know we have to do as uh council members and elected officials is when we introduce an ordinance uh it takes two meetings. Uh the first is to
introduce it. The second gives you an opportunity for us to an opportunity to hear from residents. We heard from quite a few shop owners, employees um with the original. And so we decided we
went back to our parking director and uh went with another option that is a little bit more beneficial because we need to prioritize our residents, our taxpayers. That's our number one priority. Our number two
priority are shoppers and employees. And then the third is nonresident commuter non-resident commuter um uh parkers. Now non-resident commuter parkers pay the most and they generate the most revenue.
However, we need to prioritize our employee our residents, our employees and our shoppers first. So, unfortunately, we will be reducing the number of non-resident parking in the Broad Street garage to accommodate for our employees. And on that, I would like
to move this ordinance for hearing. Do I have a second? Second. All right. I'm going to declare the hearing open. Uh, at this time, would any member of the public would like to comment on this particular ordinance, please? Hi, Dory Gagnon. Um, so I
address Oh, hi. Uh why do you have freedom of speech? But um I have to ask I I do have to thank him for that. I have to say but uh 20 27 Bedford Road. So I have um emailed a couple times about the Forest Avenue. Uh real
concerns because we can't change CVS parking. Everyone in Summit knows people park there. They go to New York City. They probably leave there all day and do whatever. But we can change the city of Summit's parking. So, I know that we're changing to Forest Avenue and making that employee all day, I guess. So, I
don't know if there's going to be bags over the meters on Forest. The other day, I saw a man in crutches. He might have had CP or some some medical issue. He had to park in the lot across the street, the DeForest lot, and walk all
the way over to CVS because there was no parking on the street or in CVS. So I led I stopped so he could he could walk in front of me to go to CVS. Now there's no handicap parking except in the CVS lot which was taken and there's nothing
on the street for him. So here this man is taking maybe 20 minutes to cross the street to go get his probably his prescriptions or something maybe at the store. There has to be more handicap parking downtown and there has to be something on the street for him to be able to park. You know, I made a I sent
an email saying that my son had surgery and we needed to run in and there's no parking. So, people who are utilizing CVS for their prescriptions need to have more parking nearby. Maybe maybe we can have like 30 minute parking and it could be also employee parking. I don't know
if Nicole, if we can do that. Um, but some justification for our residents and our employees to be able to use that, uh, to be able to utilize CVS because everyone knows we don't like the CVS parking lot, but we utilize the prescriptions in the pharmacy there. Um,
so we have to come to uh, you know, this new let them theory by Mel Robbins. They can do what they want with their parking lot, but we as residents still need to use the pharmacy. and for people who have special needs need to be able to get there as well and there's no handicap parking that's easily
accessible for them. So, thank you. Those are my comments. Thank you. Nice comments. Thank you. Kevin McGoi 113 Willlet Avenue. Um I have a question about the parking. When the previous council decided to move the
firehouse to its current the new firehouse to its current location, the city lost 180 commuting parking spots. Um, and they I think said we would get back 30
something when the firehouse is was completed. And I'm just curious if because I think we were going to lose 140 to 145 spots permanently that we've lost 180 originally. Have we gotten that back? Um and is that also part of the
problem? Because I know then what the city had to do was give away I think the top floor of the parking garage to commuters to make up for that. Um and it worked when people weren't returning home. I mean, returning to office, but
now that people are returning to office, I think that's probably causing a problem. So, I'm just curious, have we got back those spots? And do we have any plans to find new parking places? I mean, maybe some of the property that we own around Broad Street West, could that
be a parking garage or or what? Thanks. Thank you. Other comments from the public? No. Okay. I'm going to declare the hearing closed or the or not the public portion of the hearing closed. Um, comments from council.
Councilwoman To. Okay. Thank you, Council President. I support this ordinance and I'm only sorry it took three times to introduce a proposal that should work. Um, but I do have one additional suggestion to increase parking. As somebody who worked and parked downtown for 20 years, the
parking spaces on Morris Avenue next to the Central Presbyterian Church used to be bagged for employee parking. And when you'd go out to lunch and couldn't find a parking spot in any of the parking lots or the tiered garage, you could
always find a parking spot by Central Presbyterian Church. Um, but they're those spots are no longer bagged for employee parking. And if we need additional parking spaces to accommodate resident commuters or downtown employees, I think we should consider
rebagging those spaces. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments, uh, Councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. Um, Miss Gagnon, I I I agree with you. I wish there were more parking spaces for for
CVS. I I've actually witnessed someone uh literally park in CVS and walk to the train station. Uh I don't think they actually even monitor their own parking lot. So that's un that's an unfortunate thing. Um which obviously limits their
parking spaces. So, uh, you know, it with it being a pharmacy, you know, that's maybe something that, uh, you know, we can work in the parking committee to see if there's a possibility to add a, uh, a handicap spot that's the closest to um the CVS
and maybe that that could be a possibility as well. Uh, Mr. Mr. McGoey, uh you're absolutely right. When we lost uh 180 spaces uh due to the uh construction of the new firehouse, uh we
did retain uh 30 what? Once it was completed, we did retain 32 spaces. Uh so those those lots uh parking spaces are now open in the Broad Street East or parking lot. Um, apparently, you know, it's just unfortunately it's it's still
just not enough. Uh, you know, we had to make the hard decision and of, you know, do you do you from this standpoint, you know, Claire, unfortunately, it took three meetings to do this. Um, but I think
it's also important the fact that we took resident feedback, shop owners feedback, and adjusted. Uh unfortunately that wasn't done with Broad Street West uh soon enough. Uh maybe we wouldn't be in the situation we are are in now. Um
so you know in terms of the you know the parking again one of the things that you know we we have to prioritize first are our residents and two our employees and shoppers. Um and unfortunately the revenue portion of that of the non-resident commuters suffers for right
now. So until we can uh you know we need to make sure that we maintain our infrastructure throughout the years so that we don't get to this point uh by letting our our tier garage deteriorate decades after decades. you know, this is
something I believe that probably regular maintenance could have really taken care of. And unfortunately, we're at this point um that we had to shut it down and we are currently working on we received a report back from ONS uh the engineer that provided us the report
back earlier this year that would be fixing it. Um and we're going to try and repair that as quickly as possible um with the most permanent solutions that we possibly can.
Thank you. Other comments from councel? Councilman Palowski. Thank you. Uh on CVS, it's a problem and it's not just uh it's a particularly bad
problem on Sundays when we have the farmers market because people go and park there to go to the farmers market and pe others can't go and get their prescriptions. I believe we have in the past asked CVS to try and do something about that and they didn't seem too
interested, but we should talk at our next uh parking meeting about asking them again. Maybe even asking if they could put up a sign that says no farmers market parking strictly enforced. You
will be towed, whatever. Even if they don't intend to follow through on it, that might act as a deterrent. With regard to other parking options, we've also been discussing the possibility of
using our parking lot at the firehouse and whether that's feasible, at least until we sell that property. There are 29 lined spots there that are not being used currently. Also, there's no parking on Broad Street right there because once
upon a time, the fire trucks had to be able to get in and out of the fire station. That's no longer an issue. So, we might be able to get another 8 to 10 spots on Broad Street, and we're going to try to do something about that. So, thank you. Thank you. Other comments.
Yeah. Oh, Councilwoman Hamlet, I would just like to say um if if we could just keep track of these stats, I think it's going to be important to track daily um because if there are empty spaces in the garage that we just took out and and we're noticing that.
Not sure how quickly we can get those stats, but I think it's important that we keep our keep our finger on the pulse of of what this data actually means because I do think it's valuable to be losing the uh non-resident commuter. I get it. Um but I went in the garage on
Friday. I know Friday is a light day, but it was half empty. Um, I just I can only work with data and I just I would just ask that for the next couple weeks we're really really diligent in monitoring this and and making sure that that this is the right decision. Um, I I
believe it is right now. Um, but I think we should just come back with some stats so we can evaluate and make a make a decision again. Thank you. Any other comments? Yeah, I I would just end it by saying, you know, parking um I
mean, I've said this before, show me a town that does that doesn't have a parking problem, and I'll show you a town that's in trouble. Um it's it's one of those problems that, you know, it's a it's a good thing people want to come and and come to your town, but you have
to obviously address it. Uh, I kept hoping naively that by now, 10 years ago, I thought by now we maybe we'd be all driving self-driving cars and we wouldn't need parking. You just uh call it on an app and it would come. Uh, but that still seems to be several years
away. So, we do have to address this. U I would also um you know, parking patterns are changing rapidly. uh you know we businesses are pushing very very hard now to get people to come back to work. I know that this is a pretty dynamic
situation. So um I concur with Councilwoman Hamlet. We we do have to keep our eye on this. You know last year we might have been able to get away with really not doing really much of anything um or not because there were excess
spots around. that's really not as much the case now um because people are beginning to go back to work in larger numbers and and that if that trend continues, we may have to do more drastic things um as uh in the future um
if if necessary. So um thank you uh Councilwoman Hamlet for pointing that out. All right. Um any other comments? All right, I'm going to declare this uh hearing closed. um capital projects and
community services uh 22-3356. This has been pushed. We never got this back from the planning board. Uh so, um we're going to push this to uh October 7th uh for the hearing after the planning board looks at it.
Uh capital projects and community service 25-3357. Same thing. Planning board uh didn't get us a recommendation back. So, this is going the hearing is going to be deferred to October 7th as well. All right. At this stage, we're uh into the
ordinances for final consideration. Madame clerk, will you please read law and labor 25-3354? An ordinance authorizing the city of Summit to exchange certain real property for other lands desired for p public use pursuant to the local lands and
buildings law. NJSA4A12-16. Thank you so much, Councilman Palowski. Thank you. This is ordinance number 253354. Having completed the hearing on this ordinance, I move to adopt it.
Do I have a second? Oh, second. Sorry. All right. Uh, roll call, please. Mr. Ber, I. Miss Hamlet, I. Miss Camson, I. Mr. Pilaski, I. Mr. Smallwood, I. Miss Toth, I. President McTurn, I. Motion carries. All right, madam
clerk, uh this time would you please read um ordinance from community programs and parking services number 25-3355? An ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-8 parking subsection 7-8.5 parking time limited on certain
streets and subsection 7-25.2 municipal parking lot areas. Thank you so much, Councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. Having just heard the hearing, I move to have uh I move this ordinance for adoption. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Ber,
I. Miss Hamlet, I. Miss Celmanson, I. Mr. Pilowski, I. Mr. Smallwood, I. Miss Toath, I. President McTurn, I. Motion carries. Okay. Uh, the other two were pushed. Um, so we're now on to
our ordinances for introduction. Um, madame clerk, will you please read capital projects and community services ordinance number 12063, an ordinance amending the code of the city of Summit, chapter 35, development regulation ordinance, article 7,
terminology, various subsections of article 9, general zoning provisions, article 14, design and performance requirements, and relocating the development design guidelines from attachment one to part two zoning.
Thank you so much, Councilwoman Hamlet. Sorry, I was just making sure which meeting this was at. The last planning board. Do you remember? I'm sorry. Which meeting was this for the um planning board? Um it'll be referred to the planning board as soon as we introduce it.
Right. Right. Right. So, we have to go back. Okay. Sorry. I was thinking it was in the last one, but because it goes around three times. Uh, thank you, Council President. This is ID2063, an ordinance amending the code of the city of Summit, uh, development regulations ordinance, article 7,
various subsections of article 9, general zoning provisions, uh, design and performance requirements. Um, essentially, the city of Summit adopted a new chapter 35 development regulations ordinance or the DRRO as we refer it to of the city code in 2020. The DRRO is a
living document which is intended to be updated from time to time as deemed to be necessary for the purposes of refinement, adjust adjust policy decisions and address emerging land use issues. The DRRO amendments contained herein are based on the planning board's recommendation derived from a periodic
review of the ordinance. Um so essentially the planning board goes and looks at um any regulations that they think they need to change uh in the DRRO. They spend all year looking at applications and making recommendations to changes. So, um I just want to give
credit to the planning uh board for doing that. They work really hard and I think they've made some some great recommendations. So, I'd like to move this uh ordinance. Second. All right. Uh roll call, please. Mr. Boyer, I. Miss Hamlet, I. Miss Celson, I.
Mr. Pilowski, I. Mr. Smallwood, I. Miss Toth, I. President Mcnan, I. All right. Motion carries. All right. Uh we're on to our resolution section of our meeting and we have a few to get through. First our finance. Uh Councilwoman Toth, you want to do
finance number one? Yes. Thank you, Council President. Um I am actually very excited to introduce resolution 12100 um which certifies the city's 2024 audit. Municipalities undergo a stricter audit than most other entities with
additional requirements imposed by the government accounting office and auditors are instructed that they should find deficiencies. A clean audit should be an outlier rather than a routine event. Well, Summit's 2024 audit was clean with zero deficiencies and we
should acknowledge the hard work of CFO Baldwin, Finance Director Kobisa, and their staff for achieving this result. It's really remarkable. Um, an audit is not an affirmation of our financial position. It doesn't say we're doing a good job or that we're not. It merely
says that we reported our results correctly. So, our financial position at the end of 2024 deterior deteriorated slightly from that at the end of 2023. Um, assets and account balances are down
a bit. Debts and expenses are up. Our surplus is also down. None of this says that we're in trouble because we aren't. However, the situation does bear watching and we should be making adjustments sooner rather than later. With all that, I move
to adopt this resolution. I second that with a thank you to our CFO for doing a great job. All right. Um, does any member of the public wish to comment on this first resolution? just uh I'm not surprised
name and address. Oh, sorry. Diego Hoyal Court. Sorry, Mike. I'm not surprised. Tammy, that we have a good reporting. Um I have a simple clarifying question. Where on the website can we find the audited um financial statements
for you, council president? Uh I will get it up on the website tomorrow. It's been a lot of activity. I apologize. It will be there. The unudited is there, but I will get the audited up tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Other comments from the public? All right. Comments from council.
Council president. Yes. Uh Councilman Smalllet. I just would like to reiterate the the hard work that um our business administrator, Miss Baldwin, does throughout this entire process. uh you know from our our our budget process for
the for the following year actually really starts now working with the department heads and uh you know we're we're in end of September of 2025 and she's already working on and putting together the 2026 budget. So she really
has no break and um so you you do a fantastic job and I really appreciate that. Thank you. Other comments? Yeah, I would just um echo uh that sentiment. Um city administrator Bowwin,
thank you so much. Um thank you for have with that conversation we had when you would consider actually becoming the city administrator uh and and you've done a wonderful job and uh with maintaining the hat as CFO. Uh
I don't ever remember getting a completely certainly my old time on council there was always one or two things the auditor would say oh you got to do this usually small just to make sure that uh you re recognized you were paying them for something. Um so it's incredibly rare to
get a completely 100% they were no you're doing everything right. That's rare. Um, and I just want to say that but it's it I'm not surprised at that because of the amazing job um that you do and your attention to detail and such. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Um, we're in in great hands. Um, okay. Other comments. All right. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Finance number two, Councilwoman Toth. Thank you, Council President. Um, this
is resolution ID 12160. And on July 29th, council adopted a series of ordinances authorizing the city to issue bonds and notes to fund the 2025 capital projects for the city, the sewer utility, the joint meeting, and the
parking utility. Passing resolution 12160 will begin the issuance process. I move to adopt this resolution. I second. Uh, at this time, any member of the public would like to comment on this resolution.
All right, members of council. Okay. Um, I believe we need a roll call for this resolution. Yes. Mr. Ber, I. Miss Hamlet, I. Miss Calmanson, I. Mr. Powski, I. Mr. Smallwood, I. Miss Toth, I. President McTurn,
I. Motion carries. All righty. Finance number three. Counciloman Toth. Okay. Thank you, Council President. Um, Lieutenant Michael Burn is retiring from the Summit Police Department effective October 1st, 2025. He's been the lieutenant heading up the community
services branch. Resolution 12162 authorizes the city to pay Lieutenant Burn his terminal leave in accordance with the city personnel and procedures manual. I move to adopt this resolution. Second. Comments from the public.
Comments from council. Council president. Yes, Councilman Boyer. Uh the only comment that I would like to make is to thank Lieutenant Burn for his uh exceptional service to this city. Uh and uh we're going to miss him on the force. I know the transition for uh
police officers retiring um is is is pretty tough and we wish him the best. May he go uh fishing on a boat in Florida. Thank you, Councilman Boyer. Good, good points. Uh, other comments.
All right. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Last finance number four, Councilwoman Toth. Thank you, Council President. Summit's assistant treasurer recently resigned and resolution 12169 declares a vacancy
so that we can be begin the search for a replacement. I move to adopt this resolution. Second comments from the public, comments from council. All in favor? I opposed. All right. Motion carries. Okay. We're
on to Capital Projects and Community Services. Uh Councilwoman Hamlet. Thank you, Council President. This is resolution 12163. Uh appointing member for the Veterans Affordable Housing Project Task Force. Uh the member that has been chosen is
Andy Smith from the American Legion. Um, one of the things that we are pursuing is a veterans affordable housing project. Um, so we have I should say the council president has established a committee and the great thing about the committee is it's it's typically people who are on opposite sides of the table
on discussions which I think is is really exciting um to include people from uh different views, different backgrounds and u I just credit uh council president for putting that group together. We had a really productive meeting this week and I'm looking forward to having more meetings. So,
like to introduce this resolution. Second. All righty. Uh, comments from the public comes from council. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to cut you off before you jumped.
Sorry. Can we go again? Um, I just one question. I know that like we have a lot of lowincome housing in Summit right now. 195 units of our own which isn't counted towards our affordable housing u stock from a state perspective if we
did some and I think it's because we give summit residents the right of first refusal. I mean it's ironic because you're talking about low income not affordable housing. Um, but I'm just curious, I don't know, is if we allocate
a portion to veterans, will that run a foul of any obligations or not allow that to then also be counted if we did affordable housing that was for veterans? And as an army brat whose father is buried in Arlington, I'm all for the veterans. So, thank you. Thank
you. Good question. Other comments from the public? All right. Um, I'll just make a comment just to address uh, Mr. Begoi. This would be a new the goal of this task force is to create our our stated goal
is to create a a new affordable housing project that would um house up to our goal is 20 uh, veterans. We're still discussing whether that would be some combination of disabled veterans,
veterans with families andor possibly um homeless veterans. Um so this is really exciting. As Councilwoman Hamlet said, uh we're we have a very diverse group of people who are kind of all pulling in the same direction for this, which is
really nice to see. Um this we're we're in discussions right now you know how feasible this project will be as everybody knows there's not a lot of land in summit so u where this would go we're still uh discussing and
but there are some possible promising possibilities that um you know I don't want to get everyone over excited but we're we're looking at uh if this were to come to fruition this would be an additive thing so um we would amend our
our plan to look to include this. Um we're having these discussions with our planners whether we're going to amend the plan regardless because we're doing this. But um these are all questions. So this is very early in the planning stages, but it it wouldn't the veterans
qualify uh as uh affordable housing and and you may know better than me. I think you get bonus credits for housing for veterans. So they count more than once, which is a so it's it's great for veterans as as you mentioned. I think that a lot of
people um were excited about a project like that. And from a numbers perspective for this process, which I'm less excited about, um it would mean we'd get extra credits for that. So I hope that answers
your question. Yes, Councilman. I think one of the one of the projects that uh I think Soldier on is working on right now is in Tinton Falls. Correct. Is that the one? There's there's a couple of different uh in neighboring towns. Yeah.
Yeah. Um I think that's all. All right. Any other comments? All right. All in favor? I opposed. All right. Motion carries. All right. We have a few community programs and parking services or uh resolutions. Uh,
Councilman Smallwood number one, please. Thank you, Council President. This is resolution resolution ID number 12170, and I'm very proud to actually rescend this resolution and reauthorize the execution of the grant agreement. Uh, the previously approved resolution did
not reflect the price reduction of $58,790, bringing the total down from 1.6 million to 1.6,4 1.6 6,49,956 to 1.5,91,166. Again, a savings of $58,790,
which uh I attribute to the success I attribute the success to both director uh Azeroski and Mark um Mark Azeroski and David Guida at the Department of Community Programs uh for working on this. Uh, this revised resolution will
authorize the signature of the Greenacres agreement in which this project is fully funded through grants, donations, and previous city capital budgets. I anticipate this council will award the project to two vendors uh using the state contractor at our October 7th council meeting, and I move
to approve this resolution. Second. Comments from the public. Comments from council. All right. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Uh, community programs number two, Councilman Smallwood.
Uh, Council President, I would like to um combine resolution ID number 121 12150 and 12151 as they are both uh grants and very similar in nature. Perfect. Yeah. So, we're bundling number
two and three on your agenda. Correct. Following along. Perfect. Yep. The resolution ID 12150 is the heart grant program through the Union County uh office of cultural and heritage affairs provides support for
community-based projects in the arts, history, and education. The program aims to expand public access to cultural enrichment across Union County. In 2026, the Department of Community Programs will add a Founders Day event to the city's lineup in conjunction with a much
larger plan to celebrate the 255th 250th anniversary of America. I move to Hold on. Hold on. Uh, and then resolution ID 12151 is the Union County History Grant Program supports projects that promote
the research, preservation, and descentment of local history. The city of Summit played a vital role in the American Revolution being located along the 700 mile route to Yorktown, Virginia. Uh with that, I move to uh approve both of these resolutions.
Second. Thank you. Uh any comments from the public on these resolutions? Comments from council? Just Councilman Boyer. Just one real quick. Um I you know with the the second grant uh the historic
grant um Summit played a a vital role in in our um revolution. I mean uh we have the the beacon hill where they had the light. Um and I I I am excited to see that you know these traditions come to
light and that kids can learn from this and be a part of it. Um because our history is is very important especially the vital role that summit played in our community. So thank you. Thank you. Other comments? All in favor?
I opposed. Motion carries. All right, we're on to community programs and parking services number four. Councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. This is resolution ID number 12152 to authorize a grant application submission for
recreational opportunities for individuals with disabilities uh for the 2526 grant program and authorize execution of the grant agreement. The ROD grant is applied for applied for annually to include people with disabilities in our municipality
recreation and leisure services. Everyone has the right to participate with their fellow citizens and their local recreation programs. There is 20% local match to state funds awarded. City of Summit matching funds are generated through collaboration fees with other
towns and program registration fees. The grant helps to maintain the programs as affordable as affordable for as affordable for all participants such as the triam program is a great resource that resource that provides the opportunities for individuals with disabilities and mentorship
opportunities for summits youth. This grant will build on Trirican's previous successes. I move to approve this resolution. Second. Comments from the public. Comments from council.
All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Motion carries. All right. Uh last one for community programs. Uh number five, Councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. This is resolution ID number 12171 to declare a vacancy in Department of Community
Programs program aid. I said it before and I'm going to say it again. When Nollie left, I told you he was irreplaceable. Uh so we now have another uh vacancy. Um this resolution will allow the department of community programs to hire new program aid after a
recent resignation. This position plays an integral role in the operational of the department as assisting in quality program delivery department communications and customer service for the city's recreational needs. Uh this role ensures consistency of staff levels
within the department. I move to uh approve this resolution. Do I have a second? Second. All right. Comments from the public, comments from council. All in favor? I opposed.
All right. Motion carries. All right. Moving right along. Administrative policies and community services. Councilwoman Camelson. Thank you, Council President. This is resolution ID 12145, which establishes the Summit 250 planning committee and
appoints members. The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States of America. The Summit 250 planning committee will plan meaningful programs, events, and commemorations leading up to and during the year 2026. Members
appointed to the Summit 250 planning committee are Jenny Hoff, chief communications officer and co-chair, Megan Trenell, assistant to chief communications officer, David Guida Jr., Community Programs Department representative and co-chair Patty Miola,
historical society representative, Lisa Kant, Summit Junior Fort Knightly Club representative, Amy Bear Shields, Summit Public Library representative, Dr. Elizabeth Fagan, mayor, and Council President Mike McTurnan, council liaison. I move to adopt this
resolution. Do I hear a second, Julia? Second. Sorry. All right. Uh, comments from the public. Comments from council. Council president. Councilman Boyer. Uh only comment I'll make is uh I was on
the admin last year and uh we briefly talked about this. I was also excited about it. I'm glad to see it's moving forward. I'm glad to see that uh we have uh folks on the committee. Uh once again, like the grant that I mentioned
before, uh this is really important stuff and one thing that this city can come together and enjoy. So, thank you. Thank you. Other comments, Councilwoman Hamlet. Uh I would just say that I give credit to uh Commissioner Tom Arnon down in Mammoth County. So, Michelle, I would
say as I've advised in committee, uh we've got the playbook for the 250. We may not be able to do everything uh like Mammoth County, but it's really impressive what that group in Mammoth County has uh has done for the 250. And so I would hope that we can uh continue to do really great things with this
grant money and and hopefully we'll see a plan and admin really soon and I'll be happy to help you with that. Thank you. Other comments? Yeah, I just have one comment or question. I mean, are we liaisoning
going to be leaisoning with the the schools at all? I know the schools are doing that. Is that a purpose of this uh committee to coordinate things that they're going to be doing as well? Yes. Yes. Um I mean there we're going to
have some subcommittees too that break out and there's going to be a lot of opportunity for people to volunteer, but yes um citywide every opportunity available to celebrate Awesome. Thank you. Also, um we partnered with the ideas
programs in the elementary schools um to get the kids thinking about ideas um around this celebration. And then so that was this past spring and then this coming spring they or this coming academic year they will um
sort of solidify some of the suggestions that came through the last last year's um efforts. Oh, exciting. Looking forward to see them. That's great. Um, yes, Councilman Palowski. So, to that end, some folks in town may have noticed that
down at Washington School, there's an electrical box that's painted with an owl on it. There are also electrical boxes all over town that don't look so hot. Maybe we could enlist some of our young artists at the schools to do
something with the 250th themed. uh you know, bolster our patriotism, spruce up these boxes. Yeah, I'll ask Elizabeth because she's on the uh board of ed JCP and all might have something to say about it, but yeah,
well, they let us do the one. Um Councilwoman Camelson, thank you, Council President. Um yes, the one in Washington is not quite finished yet. Um, we spoke Erin and I spoke a lot about, you know, how we would love to see the utility boxes, you
know, be more cheerful and pleasant. Um, so that's not finished yet, but when it's finished, um, I believe we were going to try to start a pilot program. Um, and yes, so hopefully we could see other people volunteer and, um, you know, uh, beautify the utility boxes all
over town. Red, white, and blue. There you go. Um, all right. Any other comments? All right. All right. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Moving right along. Law and labor. Councilman Palowski. Thank you. This is resolution ID number
12159. We pass the ordinance authorizing the land swap at the old firehouse site earlier tonight. This resolution authorizes execution of the contract necessary to make it happen. I move to pass this resolution. Second.
Comments from the public. Comments from councel. All right. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. All right. We have one safety and health today. Uh, Councilman Ber
through you, Council President. Uh, Councilwoman Thomas, do you want to read this in? If not, I can do it. Um, animal control. I can do it. Yeah. Do you No. Yeah. No worries. No worries. Um,
you were on a roll today, so I was like, you know, um, thank you, Council President. This is resolution ID number 12103. This resolution authorizes a 2-year extension of our contract with Animal Control
Solutions LLC for Essential Animal Control Services running from January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2027. Not to not to exceed the amount $73,000. $73,500
per contract year. Uh this continues our our proven partnership um that delivers uh effective and efficient services and this was recommended by our health officer and purchasing agent. Um I move
this for adoption. Second. Have any comments from the public on this resolution? Comments from council. Council president. Yes. Councilman Boyer, the one thing I will say is that um this was kind of the only ticket in town
and uh if anyone out there is watching, I know that there's other animal um control places in New Jersey. Um I would I would say, hey, submit a submit a bid, right? Um you know, we're looking for
more companies to um to come out. We want to be the city wants some competitive rates, right? So, um, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um, other comments from council.
I I would just say, I would I would agree with Jamal. I spent more time on animal control today than I care to admit to. Um, but when you look at the contract, you know, we are getting we pay a monthly amount and then we're getting charged for extra cats and extra dogs and it it does add
up. So, uh, I think we're going to pass this tonight, but I still think we should critically think about if there's any other solutions, um, down the road that, you know, I even called, uh, former mayor Jordan Glatt this morning and looked into whether any municipalities were doing any shared services for this. Um, you know, didn't
sound like that was an option, but um, I think we should still keep thinking about this one. It's a high number. Not crazy about it. I'm going to vote for it. Thank you. Other comments. Councilwoman Camelson. Thank you, Council President. Um, we've discussed this a lot um at the board of
health and they're the only people that respond. They're the only people that um respond to our RFP and it is a high number, but we do need to have animal control and they I I think it was another town, possibly Planefield. They
just didn't have any animal control. We have to have animal control and they're the only ones responding. So, yes, we would love more competitive bids. Um but at the moment, we we don't have one. Thank you, Councilman Smallwood. I mean, I know that, you know, we're
we're limited in terms of number of uh providers, but is is there a way to I mean, this is a you know, do we pay them on a per job basis? Is this a salary? Like, is are they guaranteed up to $73,500? What has happened in the past couple of
years where have we gone below the amount that we've authorized? Um I I I'm just I I I I also feel like this is a very high number. How many cases happen on an average each year? Is this I mean is there is there a way for us to negotiate say hey you know what there
was only 10 cases last year. Um you know is there any we can reduce the number? Can we can negotiate on a per by per case by case basis? Mr. Baldwin do you have Yes. through you council president. Um I talked a lot about this today too with
several people. Um this contract was originally done for um 24 and 25 with the providing a 2-year extension for 26 and 27 at no increase for the monthly amount. So uh don't quote me I think
it's 5,31 or 5,131 um per month for the services and they are not increasing that for 2627 because we are um with this if this resolution passes we are taking uh that option to
exercise the 2-year extension. Um they do also charge separately for um like a cat disposal. I was reading through all the different things that they charge for cat disposal, uh, uh,
stray stayover, things like that. Um, so I do think that there could be an opportunity in the future to look and see if there are other solutions. I know that, um, all of the CFOs in Union County, we talk about this all the time. It feels a little bit like garbage,
like, hey, this is the only one out there and this is the one you have to take. Um, but again, there's no increase this year. And to your question, Mr. Smallwood, about the um about the not to exceed, the not to exceed is a little bit higher than what
the contract amount is. Um and we did not I looked at last year, we didn't hit it. We have not hit it yet this year. Um as we often do with contracts, we just put a little buffer in there so that we don't have to keep coming back with every additional, you know, if it's $230
a cat and I have to come back and go through a whole resolution for that. Um, but we haven't exceeded that in any contract year that I'm aware of. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments? All right. All in favor? Opposed?
Motion carries. Okay. Uh, we're on to our consent agenda. Do I have a motion uh to approve the consent agenda as presented? So move. Oh, have a second. I want to pull pull some things out.
Yeah. Okay. I don't have a second. Okay. Um um we Who would like to go first to pull something? Councilwoman Toe. Um yeah, I would like to pull the first item under finance 12115. Okay. Discuss that one separately.
Fine. And Councilwoman Hamlet, I'd like to pull both sidewalk projects advertisements. Uh that's the Mount Vernon A and Canbrook. Okay. All right. All right. So, let's do
this. Um, let's vote on the consent agenda. Sorry, one more. Another one. Yeah. Sorry. Um, 12140. Uh, is that a finance one? Okay. That's the the cancel the property taxes and
refund overpayment. Yes. Okay. All right. So, let's uh we're going to vote on all the ones that are not pulled. So, we're pulling capital projects number two, number three, finance number one, and finance number
11. We'll talk about those separately. Uh do I have a motion to uh app actually at at this time? Oh, do I have a motion to approve the consent? No. You asked for a motion already. I already did. Yeah. Okay. Second. I need a second.
Second. Okay. At this time, are there any members of the public who would like to comment on those uh consent agenda items that that we're that we're bundling? Any comments from council?
Yes. You're asking for comments? I'm asking for comments on not the pulled items, the ones that are just bundled together. Okay. Yeah. Uh Okay. Seeing none. Any comments from council on those items that are bundled together? All right. All right.
All in favor? I opposed. All right. So, those consent agenda items pass. Now, we're going to move to these individual ones. Um, excuse me, council. May I ask just for a five minute break? We've been at this for a while.
We're so close. Uh, we're not as close as you think we are. Makes me sad. Can we just individually go to the bathroom? All right. Now, we'll we'll do a quick five minute break. Okay. Uh, five minutes. Thank you.
All right, I'm going to uh call our meeting back to order. Thanks for uh uh being on time for five minutes. All right. So, we do have three pulled uh one, two, three,
four pulled resolutions. Um, let's go. We'll just go them down the page. Uh, so, Councilwoman Hamlet, uh, why don't you read the, uh, capital projects, community services on the consent agenda number two.
Sorry. Is this Mount Vernon or maybe it's you Mount Vernon? Mount Vernon. Can I just give a little description of why I wanted to pull these first? You're introducing it. You can say whatever you want. So, just to give everybody a little bit of history,
when I first joined Common Council, one of my biggest um gripes was that a project suddenly just vanished from the agenda. Didn't know where it went. And I I remember I emailed then council member
Jamie Lavine. This was uh in April of 23. And I said, "Hi, Jamie. can you please provide a recap on why the project is off the table when you have time, nothing urgent. And she responds, significant resident opposition. And for some of you who've been paying attention
for years, this is probably triggering your memory. I couldn't figure out where the Mount Vernon project went. Just we planned for the grant, we got public feedback, never heard about it again. So I went back and forth with Lisa Allen and I said, "We have to tighten this up. We have to tighten this process up.
We're going through resident feedback. were going for grants. We're talking to residents. They're coming to meetings and then poof, it was gone. And now here we are, ironically, talking about Mount Vernon sidewalks, which was, I think, a proposed in 22 and
suddenly disappeared, and Cano Brook Parkway sidewalks. They went for the grant, but there wasn't a ton of resident feedback at the time. What we've done is our our engineer has gone back and asked for a ton of resident
meetings, a ton of resident feedback. Uh if you live on Kubrook Parkway, I see many of you here, many of you on Mount Vernon. There's a lot of kids on Mount Vernon. There's I was shocked at how many kids there were on Mount Vernon. Um there was
there was some significant resident opposition from the Mount Vernon project because of an intersection. Director Shreger, which one? And it was the New Providence uh intersection. Correct. Back to you, Council President. With New Providence, where Ken Place means Mount Vernon and New Providence.
But you know, it it takes a lot to get these projects moving forward. And you're you're never going to satisfy 100% of the people. And as a council member, your job is your responsibility is to think about the safety of an entire town, right? It's it's not just because one resident doesn't want a
sidewalk and one does. You know, I'd love to just pick and choose projects. Um, but the reality is there was a lot of work put in by by this team and the facts are that I questioned this back in 23 when it came off of the
agenda. And so I want to I want to pull these separately because I want the residents have to have an opportunity to come up and and tell us their thoughts. Um, and so with that, I will move on to introducing these resolutions.
Just introducing number two right now. Number Okay. Okay. Do we have a sec? Do we have a second? Did you make a motion? You make a motion to introduce it. Would like to make a motion. I'd like to make a motion to introduce this resolution. All right. Do I hear a second?
Second. All right. Do I have comments from the council or not from the council? From the public, please. All right. Comments from council. Well, I would just say that there proves my point that it was canceled in 23 because of significant resident opposition. When I walked Mount Vernon,
even last night, everybody wanted the sidewalk. Absolutely, everybody. They were begging. There might be one person who's not here that doesn't want the sidewalk. But for little Henry that lives on the corner and Penny who lives in the brand new renovated house, there's probably 10
kids within that area. So again, these projects take a lot of work. proud that we brought this one back. Um, this has taken years and and that is a very very busy street. Excuse me. I think I missed my opportunity. We're talking about park.
No, this is Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon. Yeah. Um, okay. Any other? We will get to that. Is this for This is for comment on Mount Vernon. Okay. I know this has been confusing. I'll allow you to comment. Yeah, come on up.
Yeah, Eric Moberg, I live live at five Harvey Court. It's M O E erg. Uh with regard to that that sidewalk and that entire area encompassing the Harvey Court, Harvey Drive area, uh it does
have uh some assistance needed for pedestrian accessibility to the downtown region. So whether it's the sidewalks along Mount Vernon to Kent Place and also potentially
a crosswalk at Payic Avenue uh where it meets uh Harvey Drive. So uh just to help everyone picture it in their mind, if you're driving southbound on Payic
Avenue, uh you're heading towards the the Kings. So, Bristol Meyer Squib would be behind you. You'd be passing the cemetery on your right heading up towards the light. At that junction
where Harvey Drive comes out, uh there's a lot of pedestrian traffic that crosses over Pay to get to Kent Place Boulevard. uh the the vehicles they're have a good amount of momentum coming around that
bend and coming up that hill passing the cemetery on the right. So uh between a a sidewalk Mount Vernon to to uh Kent Place and then a crosswalk uh allowing
all those residents in the the Harvey Court Harvey Drive area to get across the road. Another little interesting fun fact is in that neighborhood there's 23 dogs. So you have a lot of dog walkers who are looking to get into to downtown.
So it would be welcomed by all of those people. And then furthermore there are students that are also crossing at that junction across Pay. So I think it would be well received uh by everyone in that area. Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your comments. Other comments from the public on that second consent agenda resolution about Mount Vernon? No. Okay. Any other comments from council? Oh, you have a comment. I'm sorry.
El Rampador, Hudson County. Uh, I like what that man said about the um the sidewalks and the crosswalks. I would also ask that these uh all this stuff be uh handicap accessible. Also, with the signage for stop for pedestrians uh in Hudson County, I have to fight for uh
for traffic access for a blind person because there's uh there's no there's no traffic light at an intersection. And we also need talking traffic lights for blind people. People don't talk people don't know about this stuff because we don't talk about it enough. But we need more accessibility.
uh please put the the last first when you when you put all this stuff in and uh I have more comments later about this. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments from the public. Okay. Comments from council. Just one final one.
Yes, Councilwoman Ham. Uh just one final one. The residents on Harvey are putting together a petition uh for that crosswalk and I've been speaking with Director Shreger about that. So, I'm hopeful that you guys can rally um because it's it's a it's a
tough road there and I I see exactly what you guys are saying. So, hopefully this will help in the meantime as you get that petition together and rally rally the neighborhood up. Thank you. Other comments. All right. All in favor? I opposed.
Motion carries. Okay. Um capital projects number three for the people keeping score at home. This is on the Canoe Brook Parkway improvement project. Uh, Councilwoman Hamlet. Uh, thank you, Council President. So,
this one was a little bit of a different story. The previous council, I think I was probably I think I was at the tail end of the initial vote for this grant uh for Can Brook Parkway. So, I don't think anybody up here was here when when the last council went for this grant for
Canbrook Parkway, which puts everybody up here in sort of a tough position because the city went for a grant and nobody really understands what the residents feedback was until most recently until we had a lot of resident meetings. Um, we did have a bunch of
resident meetings and there are a lot of people who were for the sidewalks, against the sidewalks. Um, it didn't seem like anybody wanted to narrow the road. Uh there was overwhelming opposition to the roundabout. Um we did change after resident feedback after looking at all the statistics from the
sidewalks being on both sides to the sidewalks not being on um the sides where it was most impacted by utility. Um, but the overwhelming majority of of residents were in favor of sidewalks on at least this. We we finally got at least I know there's probably a few here
who are not happy at all. And I we'll we'll speak to that as well, but um this was a lengthy process and I hope that you feel that your your voices were heard and I've been out to speak to a lot of you and um this was this was a long long process here. So with that, I
will introduce uh resolution 12155. Uh is that right? Uh so this is engineering uh go out for bid ad for Kubrick Parkway improvement project. This will include upgraded draining structures, inspection of repairs of sewers, curbing repairs,
ADA sidewalk ramps, crosswalk installation, four-way stops. Uh anticipated duration of the project is 12 to 16 weeks. Uh this is funded by a local transportation project fund from NJTO NJ DOT grant in the amount of a million dollars. And then there's uh
some capital money as well. I'd like to introduce this resolution. Second. All right. Um do we have any comments from the public on this resolution? I will defer to this gentleman. Yeah. Hello. Uh my name is Kavon Mercedes. I
live at 248 Woodland Avenue. That's right at the intersection of Woodland and Cano Brook. Uh here to speak about the Canbrook uh improvement project. First, I'd like to thank the council and the city engineers um for taking the time to be thoughtful about improving
our community. I know it's not easy. My two daughters, my wife and I live directly at the intersection of Cano Brook and Woodland. While we support much of the plans that have been presented by uh Council um uh Councilwoman Hamlet, uh we strongly
oppose the plans for this intersection specifically. Currently, at this intersection, there are two stop signs. Uh the proposed plans are calling for six stops. Um, I'm here to go on the record that my family and I, as well as our neighbors on the intersection directly, are strongly opposed to
converting our intersection to one with six stop signs. Instead, we would like to see a simple four-way stop. Four-way stop is simple. Drivers and pedestrians navigate four-way stops all over town every day. Anything more complicated
endanger endangers drivers, kids, and pedestrians. Importantly, a four-way stop is also consistent with the character of this residential neighborhood that we live in. A six-way stop is not. We've been advocating for several months to have the plans be adjusted to include
a four-way stop. We have met with the council as well as the city engineer. We've now been given assurances that a four-way stop will be considered and that the changes at this intersection will not proceed until the families living directly on the intersection have their input reflected in the design of
this intersection. Woodland Avenue and Cano Brook Parkway do not meet at right angles. This is not straightforward. However, I fully trust that the city engineering team can find a solution that the neighbors directly under intersection support. My family and I are supportive of the Canoe Brook
improvement project if and only if we can expect an amendment later on to reflect our input on the design of this intersection. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Other comments from the public?
Hi, Stephen Peterson, 63 Cano Brook Parkway, P Teo N. Um, I actually came I I would beg to differ about overwhelming opposition to the
traffic circle. Uh, I was one of, I think, two people who thought it was a good idea. uh give at the time we were told that a four-way stop was not possible at this intersection. When I then read or learned a few days
ago that we were moving ahead with a four-way stop that was very easy for me to reconcile myself to. Four-way stop is simple. And I actually came simply to ask what happened to make the four-way
stop possible. Um, our neighbors, uh, we're one house removed from that corner, but we're pretty darn close. Um, our neighbors actually showed me the plan just now for the sixway stop, and I
I would like to, um, concur that it looks needlessly complicated, and I had I'm a little concerned about the aesthetics. Uh the comment that the gentleman made about uh consistency with
the residential neighborhood uh I think is spoton. I the what is happening at the corner that's closest to our house just looks like a whole mess of concrete and signage and crosswalks that wouldn't
really need to be there. So, I would like to concur that a simpler plan for a normal four-way stop would be completely acceptable. Uh, I understand as far as traffic circles go, um, that in places where
people are used to them, they are enormously more efficient uh, and safe. Um, and that the objection, which I heard again tonight, that people simply don't know how to drive in them, I I find kind of lame,
but uh, four-way stop would be fine as an alternative. Thank you. Comments. Other comments from the public? Hi, my name is Megan Lee. Uh, I live at 184 Woodland Avenue. Um, and I was most recently in the accident on Friday on
the corner of uh Woodland and Canubber Parkway. Um, while I don't I just saw the plans for the first time when I went to the the neighbor's house whose yard the other car ended up on. Um, and he shared with me that this was even kind of like a thing in the neighborhood. And
I've lived on Wade and Woodland for the past 16 years. And so obviously I've made it through that stop sign um, multiple times. I would just encourage kind of to Dillia's point, um, something needs to be done and we can't have like another three years go by with us not
making like a a decision. And um while I don't think we'll probably all ever agree on like a a the best looking P spot, I think at at some point we have to trust in in engineers that we've hired and paid to do the best um
assessment to and and if we don't like that, maybe get another one. But I think we we have to we can't let it just drop off and and not do anything else with it. Thank you for your comments. Thank you. Other comments.
Hi, Dory Gagnon, 27 Bedford. While I'm not on Canbrook, I am at the top of Canbrook. And so, um, I have been advocating for sidewalks for 20 years. The first administration some god knows how long ago that was said no. Uh, while
my children had to walk down Morris Avenue because I didn't want to walk down Cano Brook. We walked down Morris down to our school. Um, now the topic of sidewalks is coming up and my children are now in college. So I do have a dog and I walk down Canoe Brook every single day. So Mr. Shreger did not include me
on these emails, but I insisted that I be a part of it because I do walk Canoe Brook and I walked to Washington every single day now. Uh, the roundabout was an awful idea and I am so glad that Miss Hamlet pushed and pushed and listened to me and many of the other residents and
advocated for us. And Mr. Mr. Shger, I'm glad you listened to us and are going to put this four-way stop. Now, I understand that it kind of looks like the intersection here at Springfield and City Hall. I think it would behoove the whole audience if we actually put the plans up here so people understood what
we were talking about. Um, so maybe in the future when we have something like this, we can put them up here so people know what we are talking about. Um, I don't think that this intersection right here is bad. You get used to making that right. you get used to stopping at the light and then stopping and making the
right-hand turn. Um, anything is better than a roundabout because now that we're going to make the no left on Iris, I believe, didn't we put that in? So, everyone's going to be making a left onto Woodland coming off of River Road. So, if we put that roundabout in and then everybody's now figuring out how to
do a U-turn because they missed the Short Hills Mall, um I think that would be a big uh oh and then traffic would be diverted and then everyone's trying to figure out how to get back to the Short Hills Mall because you know that's why everyone was doing U-turns on Iris, right? And that's why you made the no
left. I know you did. Um so I agree and I think if are we also putting four-way stops on up further on Cano Brook? Okay, so there's two MA three uh four-way stops going to be on Canver, which is great. It's going to slow traffic down and the sidewalks are going to be an
added benefit. So again, thank you for listening to us. Thank you for listening to us finally after 20 years. I appreciate you and um thank you for taking the time. Thank you for your comments. All right, other comments from the public. Good. Don't want anyone to miss out.
All right. Um, any comments from the council on this resolution? Councilman Smallwood. Beat you. Uh, thank you, Council President. Uh, Miss Lee, I did hear about the the accident and I'm very sorry and I'm I'm
hoping everything was was okay afterwards. So, um, it's an unfortunate incident. So, um I I am totally in favor of a four-way stop there. Um you know, with
Aaron, our engineer, is very talented, and I'm sure there's a way that we can square off that intersection some way. I know that in downtown we have bumpouts. Um, there's got to be a way that we can look at this from an engineering
standpoint to uh square the the intersection off. And I know if you're going I believe northeast northeast away towards uh Route 24, you know, it does kind of the property on the right hand side of Cano Brook at from Canoe Brook to Woodland. Um that area is just
not really squared off. There's got to be be a way that we can somehow square that off so that it can actually be just a four-way stop. Um, again, this intersection over here, is it fine? Yes. Does it work well? But it doesn't fit into the charact. It's a downtown. Doesn't fit a six-way stop.
Doesn't fit into the character of Cano Brook, uh, and Woodland. Uh, in my opinion, uh, I'm very happy about the sidewalks because I'm very, you know, I always be in favor of safety first. Uh, one of the things that I really want to
stress is that I believe this a grant, this grant was originally uh, to really help the uh, storm water management and as we deal with the sidewalks and the four-way stops.
I think I don't want that to be lost in in this in this project. uh we already have an issue with storm water management. So I I want to make sure this doesn't get lost in that project as well. Um and then
the number of trees that will necessar will need to be taken out if there's any way that we can do a bumpout go around them. Uh I would also like to limit the number of trees that are actually going to be be cut. Other than that, I'm in totally favor of
this. Other comments from council? Councilman Palowski. Thank you. Uh Councilman Small Smallwood uh took a couple of my points, but I've been to some of these meetings and the
familiar refrain from me has been I just want to make sure that we're taking care of the drainage, especially in light of the trees that are going to come down, which do uh help with that a good bit. One question that I have is the current plan has a six-way stop. We can amend
that after it goes out to bid through through you, council president. So I I think we're using I mean a six-way stop would imply it's like a six-point intersection. So what's being proposed is really to square up the intersection is essentially a dedicated right turn lane. So it will have a
separate Can you speak into the microphone? Sure. Um I'll just lean forward. Um, no. So, a six-way stop is is really when six roads meet, but this is still a four-way stop. But, uh, on the two legs of Cano Brook,
because of their um angle of the approach, we are proposing a right turn uh lane. Uh, in two-dimensional plans, yes, I think this intersection here uh is a good comparison, middle and broad,
but what I've referred some people to, it's more like Hillrest and Summit. It's a small little triangle made out of granite block. Uh some residents requested we add plants in there. We can. It can't be tall plants. It's just something that one we'd have to maintain, but it just has to be lower just because you'd be obstructing view.
So that's something we could do to to soften it. Um we do have blatant stop painted in the intersections. That's not required. It does help. We do it sometimes. If that's overly offensive, that's something we could tone it down
with that a little bit. um as well and I did promise that we we would look just to see if there is some adjustments to the radi. I can share that it's probably easier coming from the service road to remove that triangle. Um but I will say
what that does is it lengthens the crosswalks because the triangle does provide safe passage for the crosswalk. So I think it would be easier on that side. Uh could we change it after? Yes, as a change order, but we do have a pretty strict deadline to award this project by November 17th. Uh, so we do
want to take action. So I think doing anything drastic after we go out to bid would be a little more challenging. Um, some minor tweaks could be investigated and looked at and I think those should go back to caps andor safety. Uh, and if we want to do them, we could proceed at that time. So So in short, yes, there
are some tweaks that that could happen. So great. Thank you. Other comments from council? Councilwoman Hamlet, uh, the one thing that Director Shreger and I talked about extensively today was, um, one of the reasons that we didn't put the trees in this bid
advertisement, um, as Director Shreger so eloquently said today, do you really want the people who are doing sidewalks and roads to be putting in your trees? So, um, we or he at least has advised that, um, we can do that as a separate bid advertisement or perhaps we can get
the, uh, the shade tree committee, the environmental commission involved and come up with a plan to, you know, we want this neighborhood to look like it does now with these beautiful trees. And we're going to do everything we can to to make it uh, look like that. There's nothing more that I would rather have
than just a plain old four-way stop, but um I didn't get my engineering degree. So, I'm going to rely on this professional to get us to the right solution. And I I know that Aaron, if he can, he will try to make some tweaks and work with the community. I've been down there the last couple of days. Um and I do understand your concerns with the
dedicated right-hand turn. But, as I said, I'm not an engineer, so I just have to trust that Director Shreger is going to do his homework and and he'll try to go back to the drawing board. But if he can't then uh it's it's because of safety. So, thank you. Other comments from council?
Councilman Palowski. Yeah, I just wanted to add one thing. I just wanted to thank Councilwoman Hamlet for all of her work on this. We have had meetings. We've received emails. Some people are in favor. Some people are are not. But she took it upon herself to go
doortodoor and really try to hear from absolutely everybody. and after speaking with her, I do think this is the right thing to do and I'll be voting for it. Other comments, council, council president, the only thing that uh that I would add is uh Mr.
Peterson, um you and I both actually like roundabouts. Um no one else does. I'm sorry. I I do. And Aaron, right? That was my first proposal. Put a roundabout there. But it must be a Jersey thing because we have
difficulty with that. we do. Um, but I am so happy to see this project actually uh moving forward. Um, you know, it's always difficult when you have that length of road with those many homes and those many trees,
as Mrs. Lee said, to get everybody on the same page. It just it just doesn't happen, right? Um, but I think we got to a point where uh most people are on the same page. And I want to thank uh Council Councilwoman Hamlet and the mayor for actually going doortodoor
because that was my recommendation, but I was like ain't my neck of the woods. But uh you know um but thank you though. I get it. So Erin, I mean with the four-way the sixeight stop thing, it sounds sounds confusing, but I know
you'll figure it out and you know maybe another conversation with the uh the residents would be would be a good thing. So thank you. Thank you very much. Other comments from council. Ah, uh, Director Shreger. Yes, Council President. Just a few
things to share that that might help with with your vote, but I know I did receive an email this week that said it's a rare day to see 10 people walking on the street. Um, we had staff out on the second day of school, which in a 40-minute period, we counted 95 at the
intersection of Hartley and Cano Brook. So, that was a rare day to see 10 because likely you probably see a couple hundred in a day. Um, broken down, it was 36 children, 23 walkers, 24 parents, uh, five bike riders, and eight dogs, which could mean eight additional uh,
mammals walking. Uh, we did not count them. So, that was that part. Overall for the sidewalk itself, for the documented uh you know comments we received through our meetings and emails, it was overwhelmingly um it exceeded the 66% of people in favor of
sidewalks. So uh that's one thing to keep in mind. In regards to trees, I've been using example of Tulip Street. When we did the upper or the southern part a few years ago, the plans did call for 11 tree removals and we removed none. So even if you see on the plans uh one it's
to get it in the contract in case we do and there might be some we just can't and we don't want to but once we have a contractor we go out with the forester and we do try to say save each and everyone we can if it's a 6 in you know 4ft tree it's it's just not worth the
effort. So, um, but we will have some play when we go out there. Um, and then we will put many back as as many as willing or as many as people are willing to accept because, uh, we do have some funding and we'd like to restore the canopy, um, wherever we can. So, just a
couple little facts, um, before we thank you for those comments. Other comments from council? I'll just wrap it up. I I'd also just like to thank Councilwoman Hamlet and Director Shrager. I know they did a lot of community outreach on this um meetings,
uh presentations, etc. And um you know, this is one of those things we're not not everyone's going to agree on the perfect plan. Uh but um you want to listen and everyone has different opinions. Um I kind of like roundabouts, too, but I lived in England for a little
while and they're everywhere, so you kind of get used to it. But um but I do understand that most people don't. But um so I I want to just congratulate the process as well as the product and thank you everybody. Okay. Um all in favor
opposed. Okie do. That passes. All right. We're on to the first pulled finance ordinance or finance resolution. I'm sorry. Um this is uh finance number one. Councilwoman Toth. Okay. Thank you, Council President. This
is um resolution 12115. And by way of background on July 29th, council passed a resolution agreeing to permit um basically a fundraising campaign for lights at Lower Tatlock Field to be
funneled through um the the Summit Foundation. Um and I I I I was I do remain disturbed by the process surrounding this contribution. Um contributions to city projects have
historically been small and incremental. For example, um 25 individuals have contributed about $13,000 to the Washington Tatlock playground over the past several months since that campaign got going. And it took the
Summit Lacrosse Club two years to raise the money for the lacrosse wall that's that's being constructed on lower Tatlock. Um here in a matter of weeks we have don donations totaling half a million dollars for lights on total on lower Tatlock field. And that suggests
not so much a fundraising campaign as an orchestrated arrangement. Um and because the contributions are going through the Summit Foundation, the donors are not made public. We don't know who they are. Second, as former council member Pat
Hurley stood and suggested a few weeks ago, the consequences of this is that an unelected anonymous group of well-healed individuals can determine what happens in a neighborhood. Um, this isn't just about tatlock lights. What happens if a group of anonymous donors decide they
want to change the character of Memorial Field or the Village Green or the Arboritum? Um, anonymous donations lack accountability and can erode public trust in our government. And that's why state law prohibits anonymous campaign donations of $200 or more. There are no
similar guard rails regarding contributions to a governmental entity. So, what has happened here is absolutely lawful, at least for now. And this does leave me no choice but to vote to accept the donation and to work to change si the city's policies to require
transparency for any future donations. Um and I guess with that I'm moving to adopt the resolution. Do I hear a second? Second. All right. Uh comments from the public. Shantel Landman, Beakman Road. I am a
summit sports mom and I support lights on Tatlock Field. I want to make sure we're doing this project in the right way to avoid unforced errors. In the past, whether it's the community center, fire station, or a number of other projects, including this city hall,
almost all of the donors were named. For those projects, people donated to the city directly. In this case, the Summit Foundation is serving as a pass through entity for donors to fund lighting on lower Tatlock Field. Here, not a single donor's name is known to the public yet, and we are using a convoluted process of
using a secondary entity for collecting and accepting funds. Why the secrecy? Why are we using this approach? Residents expect transparency in how the city does its business. If we don't know who is donating, how can we be sure those funds don't come with hidden
influence? Contributions of this magnitude might empower a small number of individuals or special interests to shape city priorities without the public ever knowing who's behind them. While I understand the desire to accept these very generous donations, I believe the
city has a responsibility to mitigate the risks with this approach. So, I'd respectfully ask the council to clarify. Why hasn't the list of donors and amounts been released to the public like we have in the past? What safeguards are in place to ensure these anonymous donations are ethical and legal and will
not create any real or perceived conflicts of interest? How will you balance the needs of the Tatlock community with the interests of these anonymous donors? At the end of the day, Summit residents expect to see clearly how council decisions are made.
I urge the council to reconsider the approach for funding lights and put strong accountability measures in place before moving forward to preserve public trust. Let's not fumble this important aspect of the project. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Other
comments, PJ Angler, 16 High Street. Um, first off, thank you to the council for continuing to move this project forward. This is clearly something the town wants and needs going back several months.
Just as a reminder for everyone, I as well as several other residents started a petition to push this project forward. In two weeks, we got over 2,000 signatures and now there there's been a fundraising effort put in. We've raised half a million dollars. This is not nefarious.
We're keeping these D donors anonymous because specific people asked to be kept anonymous for very specific reasons. Some of them because they've been harassed by a couple people who are against this project. I would also share if you're worried about it, I'll come
clean. I'm one of the donors. I've also helped with the fundraising. There's nothing nefarious here. There's nothing no ties this other than move this project forward and light these fields. The sheer fact that we got the 2,000 signatures in two weeks and we've raised half a million dollars, you know, in
short time should tell you the town wants this and needs this. This isn't from some, you know, random or not, you know, nefarious group that's trying to push an agenda here. This is from the citizens of summit. We want this. We need this. Our kids need this. So, I
urge you to move this forward. So, thank you. Thank you for your comments. Other comments? My name is Megan Lee. come from 184 Woodland Avenue. I had no idea I was going to speak on this topic, but um I am a a staunch supporter of the lights. I love the lights. I think it is what
Summit needs. It need We need that community. We need life. We need energy in our neighborhoods where children can enjoy and it can be a place where families are. I do worry that the money is is largely coming through um this
way. And while I don't think it's nefarious, I think I I grew up here. I've lived in Summit my entire life. We all know that there are certain people in sports and summit who have a greater influence what happens on our fields and who gets to practice where. So I don't
think we should be blind to the fact that we know that this does come with with something and that um taking councilwoman toss and the previous woman's uh suggestions on really making sure that it doesn't become any more um influential in um who gets priority and
who's playing when and who's not allowed to play. Thank you. Thank you. Love the enthusiasm, too. Thanks. Other comments from the public. Hi, Dory Gagnon. I have a question. Did the Summit Foundation donate to Maybe
Playground? They did. Correct. I believe so. Yeah. So, the Summit Foundation takes donations from all of us in Summit. That's what's so wonderful. I donated the Summit Foundation. So what they do is people donate to the summit
foundation and they donate your money as they see fit. So are you questioning this toen? What that money to maybe playground was that a nefarious act on their part because
nobody ever did then. Now there are a lot of influential people in this town. Maybe they don't want their names associated with Tatlock. Maybe they want their kid treated just like everybody else. So maybe Summit Foundation said,
"You know what? I am going to collect the money and I will donate it as we see fit so everybody is treated the same." How about that? What a brilliant idea. Stop playing politics when it comes to
our kids. We need playgrounds. We need sidewalks. If the town wants lights, put in lights. Put in restrictions. Put in no parking around your your your your house. That doesn't mean you sue the city because
you don't get what you want. You want civility. Everyone says to be calm and civil. You put out press releases. You say this stuff here. Well, the Summit Ed, the Summit Foundation has
done more for this town than anybody up here has done. So, I will say something right now. you're not going to go after them, but I will stand up for them and say they've done a lot for this town and everyone should respect them.
And I'll leave it at that. Thank you for your comments. Kevin, go again. Woodland Avenue. I I was not going to comment on really anything until Boa comment, but um what Claire just said really grosses me
out. Um, there's this narrative. Originally, when this came, I actually wasn't for the lights because I thought they would be those really bright lights and I thought it would totally change the environment. And I didn't think it was fair. Um, and it wasn't until the technology and everything that I was like, "Oh, okay. Well, that's mitigated it." And then I was like, "What are the
other concerns?" The traffic, yeah, that happens now and that needs to be fixed. Totally agree. But, um, so whatever. Um, I'm not going to live here when they go up. But originally there was concerns and talk about from people. this is a waste of taxpayers
money. There's better places for taxpayers money to go and da da da. So they found a way to do this without taxpayers money. And then it became then all of a sudden now I'm hearing all this well it's rich people dictating onto
what the city does and like what basis do you have that on? And it's just really ugly. It's like you said you needed you wanted donations people to pay for this not taxpayers. They did that. I mean, if we're really honest about this, there's a the group that started this was Michelle Calmanson, her
neighbor, I think Modesto, um, and then another one. They started this. They live in multi-million dollar houses right across the street from the football field, right? They don't want more activity from I get it, but it's a city asset. So what you have is some
rich people, very few, who want to dictate to everybody else because they don't want it impacting them. And I understand that. I understand not wanting the lights there. But be honest about it. And then, you know, I heard
while you were running, one of the people told me, "Well, you know, we're going to sue." And I'm like, "Sue about what?" And the lights, Michelle, I have this all you you've seen it. And then it's like, what are you gonna sue for? Oh, we'll find an endangered bat or something. That was
before the meeting where everything was about endangered bats. I mean, it's unbelievable. So, the narrative of all this is just gross. It's like, we get it. Small group of people don't want it. Totally understand. And you have that right. But then to pull in that like
rich people are forcing this upon, it's not. There's a small group of people that really don't want this right across the street from one. The one was telling me her realer sold her a bill of goods, didn't tell her how active the field would be. She didn't get the proper discount on her house. I mean, it was
ridiculous when you hear this stuff. It's about the honesty of it. And I think that accusing people of doing what you're saying, political influence and everything else. It's just it's gross. It's just stop. It's summit. People said
we don't want taxpayer money in this. Okay, we can raise the money. They raised the money. Now you're not happy with it. Anyway, thank you. Thank you for your comments. Hi, I'm Mindy McInnness. I live at 46 Glenside. Again, I didn't know I was going to speak on this topic, but I felt
compelled to. Um, I'm curious. This is more of a question than a statement. If there were to be something nefarious in there, do we not have an audit ability? You know, is it just claims? I'm just curious like
what prevents like we're talking real problems. How would you know? That that is a question like what are the steps? Um I feel like just banning it anonymous donors is probably not the right answer and I don't think people should have to put their name in. I can see both sides.
I'm just curious if there was something nefarious, how would you know? Do you have any recourse? That's it. Uh, hi Irwin Miller, five knobill drive. Um, I'm just curious. I know that people are oppos who live around they're opposed to the lights. I'm wondering do
they do those same people ever derive any benefit from living next to the Tlock field because I hear hear a lot about the they're complaining about the downsides of living next to the field, but they never talk about the benefits that they get from living next to it. So, I'm just curious if they ever um
consider both sides. Um, also I would uh I know everyone's upset at Claire and maybe Shantel and everything about bringing up the uh the payments, but they do need to find a way to differentiate themselves because at the end of the day they agree with the success that together for Summit is
doing for the town. So they have to find a way to differentiate themselves and so they bring up these non-issues. Thanks. Thank you for your comments. Hi. Um Tom Zeber, 768 Springfield Avenue. Um just a couple of short
thoughts. Um you know, some of these process arguments that are being made on this situation, they feel like, and this is more an opinion, I guess, than anything else, but they feel like they're just ways to delay and obstruct this project. Um it feels like if it
wasn't a process argument that someone was making, it would be something else. Um, there will be endless ways to delay this by people who simply don't want the lights to happen. Um, I don't know why I'm not sure I agree with or understand why the anonymity of donors for
something like this really matters all that much. Um, and with due respect to Councilwoman Tote's um, you know, analogy earlier, I mean, it seems to me that to compare it to donations, like campaign related donations, I think there's a pretty obvious difference
there because limits on anonymous campaign donations are usually in place to prevent corruption. These are donations to light a sports field. It feels like it's very obviously different. Um, I think that's kind of a mixed bag of thoughts, but that's all I
got. Thanks. Thank you for your comments. Other comments from the public. No, no, just you just at once. Sorry. Thank you, though. If you want to talk to us afterwards, that's fine. Okay. Um,
no. All right. Uh, comments from council on this. Council President. Councilman Boyd, where do I start? Um, well, first, uh, I could understand why people want to donate money anonymously
in this town. Um, because in this town, uh, you know, people get shamed, they get they get picked on, right? They get ostracized. Um, it happens. It's real. Uh, people
use that list to go after people. I mean, uh, being in this seat for the last year and a half, um, I've seen it happen. You know, it's a real thing. Um the other thing is um to uh Councilwoman
Toe Toot um the easiest way to solve this right would be um for um elected officials to make decisions where people can't influence certain things.
Unless you are saying that the nefarious attempt is actually us taking money, which I'm actually like insulted by, man. Like I I just I can't believe that is even
like that was even out there, you know? Um it I mean that is like a a a kind of a dangerous leap, right, to say to me you insinuated that somehow um
that money anonymously could some way trickle down to some of us as a payoff. Like what what are we want to thank the residents for taking the initiative um to donate money. It shows that this
is what you want to do, right? Um you know, don't get upset that, you know, $500,000 was raised in two weeks. It just shows that this town wanted it. I mean, you know, if it was a playground, nobody wouldn't be having
this conversation. It's just that this is political, right? So, that's all I got to say. But again, the the insinuation about the nefarious stuff is just I I think that's that that's just not right, you know? So, I think we're
all all up here as volunteers deserve a little better than that. So, thank you. Thank you. Other comments from council? Councilwoman Council, thank you. Um, I have a prepared statement, but I I also take issue with
people regularly defaming online, making statements that they know aren't true, that they've been told aren't true and continue to do so. And that needs to stop. And we all need to agree that that is not appropriate, and it needs to stop. Um, as far as harassment goes, I
don't know who in support of the lights has been harassed, but I know that someone who is opposed to the lights has been harassed with her daughter in the car. Both of them were very shaken after a light supporter stopped and screamed at
them. Okay, I'm going to move on to my prepared statement. We should not accept these funds. First of all, we are currently in litigation and need to resolve the complaint before moving forward with accepting any funds
or awarding any contracts. It is irresponsible to take money when we don't know if and when we will be able to use it. Second, neighborhood concerns have not been addressed. Residents have expressed the same concern for almost two years and nothing has been done.
They've expressed concerns that community programs noted in meetings that lights would be on until 10 p.m. No details have been given on when the lights would be used. The neighborhood should know when the stadium lights will be on and how many evening events will take place before the city proceeds with
the project. They've expressed concerns about noise pollution until late hours of the evening, light pollution, unknown cumulative effect of the lighting from the upper field, lower field, tennis courts, parking lot, and pathways combined. No details have been worked out on what
it will take to hold practices after dark, aside from putting light poles in the ground. They've expressed concerns that there are serious safety issues with holding night practices and events in a quiet residential neighborhood. The lack of sidewalks on the field side of
Butler Parkway. Sorry, I lost my space. Um extending towards River Road forces spectators to walk in the middle of the street. Finally, they've expressed concerns that 80oot stadium lights and a constant rotation of sports practices will change the character of the neighborhood. Nothing has been done to
alleviate those concerns other than the platitude, trust us. A former council member shared his perspective, noting that accepting private anonymous funds sets a dangerous precedent, a precedent where a handful of wealthy individuals can impose their will on a neighborhood.
That's what's happening here. This is not a grassroots effort. This is a small number of wealthy donors funding their pet project at the expense of residents and with the blessing of the council majority. It might not be your neighborhood today, but it might be tomorrow. The intent to move this
through with the least amount of public dialogue is disappointing. The original resolution to support private funding was introduced in the middle of the summer when no one was paying attention. Now, the resolution to accept these funds was buried in the consent agenda.
This is not transparency. For all of those reasons, I will be voting no on this resolution. Thank you. Other comments, Councilwoman Hamlet. Uh just just a quick question. Um if I can ask the city clerk a question. When when you're preparing the agenda, Rosie,
um who determines whether or not something goes in the consent agenda? How does that process work? Well, there's normally resolutions. The type of resolution it is automatically dictates where it'll go on the agenda. Uh, amending a budget usually goes under consent.
So, anybody on this council, did anybody give guidance to specifically put this in the consent agenda? No. So, so Councilwoman Camelson, I guess my first question to you is if anybody buried in the consent agenda, it was our our nice and honorable city
clerk and she clearly didn't do that. So unless you don't understand how the process works, we don't just put, in fact, today I put something that was in the consent agenda, a bid advertisement, and I pulled it out specifically because it no one's bearing anything. You know
that you're in all these meetings. No one on council is burying anything in a consent agenda. Anybody has the ability to pull it out. I'm sorry, we did. And it's Calmanson. Thank you. Other comments from council.
Councilman Palowski. When we built the rec center, where did that money come from? Tammy through you council president. That was just prior to my arrival. But I can see I can tell you I was there.
There are there is a grant from summit foundation was one of them. um and some found and I think there were various other um grants and fundraising efforts and there was um capital ordinances. So it was a combination that that was a public private
partnership where I think the city kicked in 60 or 70% and as a stretch to make it the amazing place it is. Uh we asked the residents to do that because it was a big basketball crowd who wanted new courts and we challenged them if you
want them let's see how much do you really want them and they went out and they raised the money. The Summit Foundation was involved in that. They did the exact same thing that they're doing here. They collected money from
people who wanted to donate to that. I don't know if what the percent of was anonymous but and they donated to the city. This is not new. We've done it before. Summit Foundation has done this countless times. Um I I
would just add, you know, words have meaning. They have power. throwing out a term like nefarious. I hate to say it. We'll see it in Facebook chat rooms all over the place.
We'll get people talking about it. It matters to choose your words wisely. The Summit Foundation is made up of some of the most respected professional people in our community. Look at that board. They're amazing
people. They know who's donating the money. If you think it's nefarious, you're accusing them of being in on it. All of them. That's incredible to actually make that kind of suggestion. They've done this
constantly. They work their butts off to make our community better. I look at this, you know, there was this thing that this is just being jammed through by a few select individuals and and the the ideas that, you know, they're controlling the
money. They had a petition where 2,000 people supported this. Have we just forgotten about that? That the opposition to Broad Street West, I think, got 1,200 signatures.
Put that in perspective. And the fact that they were able to raise the money in such a short period of time tells me that people really want this, it's not nefarious. It's a signal that the community is very excited about making this happen and
recognizes the incredible need for it. And and I'm not going to discount the issues that, you know, the neighborhood has that are being worked on. chief just gave a comment this at the beginning of the council about all the
changes they made to for the football field or not the football field the football game the first home game the other day. People are being listened to and you just can't ignore that and say like it hasn't happened. It has.
So look, as I said, I think we should think about choosing our worlds w our words wisely because they do have meaning and let's not disparage people. I don't even want to get to where uh Councilman Boyer's gotten to because that'll make
steam come out of my ear. Um but but again, like this is this is a good thing. It's a good thing. I can't believe we're debating a a half a million dollar donation.
We must have a lot of problems if or no no other problems if this is what we're going to debate. Um and again, I'm not I'm not downsizing that, you know, that there are neighbors who are concerned about it, but we are we're working to address those uh concerns and they will
be addressed. They will be addressed. Is it still my turn? Oh, sorry. I jumped in. Uh um as for the incident that uh Councilwoman Calmanson mentioned,
I I wonder if she heard both sides of this story. There's always two sides of a story. Next, I agree people shouldn't be making statements that they know are not true. Uh I had quite a day on Facebook if anybody was following. Um, there was a
lot of that going around. Also, some name calling. Um, someone called me Barney Rubble today. Now, I know I'm short, but I'm not that short. I don't think I'm almost 5'6. Um, and uh, I thought to myself, I
always kind of like Barney Rebel. So, I looked him up and the experts at Flintstonesfandom.com describe Mr. for in several ways, including respectful, noble, encouraging, reasonable, responsible,
understanding, big-hearted, and extroverted. So, I thank that resident for the incredible compliment that she gave me today. Really made my day. Um, I'm in favor of the lights. Uh, I think probably I'm the only one sitting up
here who said it when they were campaigning. I I did that in a Q&A uh with TAP and I I haven't wavered from that, but I've
done a lot of listening on this subject and to say that there was a lack of public dialogue. I mean, God bless Councilman Smallwood because I didn't go to every single one of those meetings, but I went to a lot of them and I even
held a meeting myself. I spoke to the folks at David Guida and Marco Zaraski about all the other options that we looked at to fix our field space issues. And I remained convinced that lights were the
way to go. I used to be a lacrosse scheduler and it's difficult. It's difficult and those those uh those practices and games are really packed in there. So, um I support this and you
know if if if I won the lottery and I offered the city a million dollars to do something, would that be a problem? I don't think so. People do that all the time. So, I thank the folks who raised this money earlier this year. We did
approve taxpayer dollars to put lights on Upper Tatlock Field, and that was a safety issue for our football players who probably were practicing without enough light tonight. So, I'm glad this is going forward. I'm glad that
residents took it upon themselves to make it happen. And I'm going to vote for this. Thank you. Other comments, Councilwoman Commelon? Um, thank you. Um, I one additional point about like listening to the
neighborhood. The only issues that have been addressed are traffic issues, safety issues. I mean, it would be negligent not to address those. Those have been addressed and that's good. But beyond that, nothing has been addressed.
Councilwoman Hamlet. Yeah, I I reject that, Michelle. I absolutely reject that. Our city staff is working really hard. In fact, we have asked our parks, our recreation director to work with Musco to look at other towns field
usage policies. That is in the works. We are doing that. We are absolutely doing that. So to say we are not looking at a field lighting usage policy that we've only looked at safety is absurd. We are working very very
hard. So, in fact, I think I I may have yelled at Councilman Smallwood today because I said I need the field usage policy for the planning board meeting. I need it before you do because I sit on the planning board. I'm begging for it, right? So, let's just get it done. We're working really hard with safety with the
residents with the board of ed, right? Let's get the board of ed involved because that's who's sending buses down your neighborhood, not the city. It's the board of ed. Have you met with Scott Huff about it? Finally, I'm I'm in full support of the lights and I think we you know in
a few weeks ago Jack Cooper who was the president of the Summit Foundation died. So the fact that we are accusing anyone in the Summit Foundation, some of the most wellrespected leaders of nefarious donations is is unbelievable. You know, these children need to be
outside. That's the bottom line. Other comments? Councilman Smallwood. Thank you, Council President. Um, well, a lot uh I swear Jamal saw my notes because you said exactly what I just wrote down. Um,
but I I just I I need to echo a couple of things, but first thing I I I want to do is thank um PJ and the group that you worked with to help raise this amount of money in such a short
period of time. Now, because you're fundraised and raised a large amount of money in such a short period of time doesn't mean it wasn't a grassroots effort. In terms of those who want to remain
anonymous, would we seriously be having this discussion if someone donated $1.5 million for maybe playground to be the first ADA fully accessible playground and summit? No, we would not be we would not people
would not be asking who was that donor? Whoever we would be saying whoever that donor is, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, PJ. Thank you to your team. And thank you for all those donors who donated to make this project
work. Not only did they donate their own private money to make this a private public pro uh project, it's also going in their tax dollars. We approved a $650,000 budget line for the up for upper lights. So $650,000
they're going to be paying taxes on. and also donated $500,000. and Councilwoman uh Calmison and and and Councilwoman Toth, you know, I I'm really disappointed in the fact
that you're going to be voting against one Councilwoman Calmanson's own amended resolution from July 29th, which she voted for. We had a resolution. She brought her own
amended resolution without sharing it with anyone else prior to the to the meeting and voted yes for it in support of this exact donation as well did as well did you. In fact, I believe I'm going to paraphrase, I would
always accept money, a donation or grant to the city to address some of the concerns from the uh the five meetings that we held with just the Tatlock neighbors.
Michelle, if addressing safety and traffic and parking issues isn't the number one thing to to address, I I don't know what is. And that's been taken care of. We just heard from our police of our chief of police.
I took a video of Butler Parkway this this on Saturday because I wanted to make sure that the implementation of no parking on one side of the street was being done. However, I did see one car on that side of the
street. Three years ago during sporting events, there were cars parked on both sides of the street and the buses, the traveling buses, the traveling team buses were parked directly in front of your house.
We've addressed that. If that's not the most important thing, I don't know what else is. Yes. Do our DPW and the BOE board of education need to work together on picking up the trash quicker after an event? 100%.
But unfortunately, safety and traffic and parking came first. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. This project has been going on since prior to 2018, which is when the actual present first
presentation when Councilman McTurnney was on on council. And I remember distinctly because I went back and watched that meeting. He was sitting right over there where Miss or where Bob is and he said, "Have you met with the residents?"
And they said, "No." I was elected in 2023, installed in January of 2024, and on February 7th, we had our first meeting with the Tatlock neighborhood regarding lights just simply because it was on the preliminary
budget. Wasn't adopted budget, but it was on the preliminary budget. And then we had five four subsequent meetings after that. We have hundreds of questions, hundreds of concerns that we will be addressing, but clearly the
safety parking needed to be addressed first. And I want to thank the chief of police for doing such a great job as as well as working with parking services on on making that situation a little bit better. Unfortunately, we don't have more land to build more parking spaces,
right? Maybe there's a way that we can expand the Tatlock parking lot um in some way, but other than that, we've addressed the major concerns and those concerns needed to be addressed
whether lights were installed or not. Councilwoman Hamlet, to your question, and I know you might need a more in-depth answer, but the lights will be utilized at night. Uh, sorry that was I was trying to be light-hearted.
Um, there is a a great initiative uh that was started by a group of moms from the Franklin School. It's called Wait till 8th and I think this is a great segue into
that program because their initiative is to get our kids off screens and stop using social media on their phones. Let's get our kids out playing. We have a lot of residents who like to walk. Wouldn't you like to have a nice
space for them, a well-lit space track for them to walk on? I do. This narrative of the lights being on till 10 p.m. 365 days of the year. I'm gonna tell you exactly where that happened. February 7th
in the cafeteria, myself, the mayor, Mark, and David Guido were there from the department of community programs along with Michelle and several other ma uh neighbors.
The question was asked, well, could the lights be on till 10 p.m. 365 days of the year? Mark Ozaroski answered that question and he answered it, "Well, yeah, I guess they could be."
We don't know. We haven't got to that part yet because we haven't ordered a contract. We haven't determined that we actually have lice yet. We don't have the money until we actually accept it tonight. So yes, we are going to put an ordinance
in place that will have distinct rules around these lights and how they can be used, how long they can be used, and it certainly won't be until 10 p.m. 365 days a year. So I really wish that
the United for Tatlock Facebook group would stop pushing that narrative. And I've seen some of those screenshots. By the way, I'm still waiting for my per my acceptance into that group. Uh it's been over a year and a half since uh I requested it uh to create more
transparency. I was very transparent in having those five meetings, but yet I wasn't able to join your which it was your group that you started. But I've seen the screenshots. I've seen what you call uh let's have more
civility. I've seen my names mentioned several times. Fortunately, I'm not in there, but I do have friends that are. Um, sorry, I'm very passionate about this.
I think that's all I had. Council President, thank you. Uh, Councilman Palowski, can we let Can we let Director Shger go home? No, we're still in our business agenda. Councilman Palowski, I just have a quick add-on to a comment
that Councilman Smallwood made. Pulled everything just in case anybody is worried. Uh, one of the concerns that came up were people using the field who were not our
youth sports. And one of the concerns with that was if you leave the lights on for the track, people are going to come and just use the field. So, Councilman Smallwood made sure that as we contemplated these plans
that these towers will have separate lights that are much lower that will not light the field, but will only light the track. So that on nights when we don't need to light the field for a practice or for a game, people will still be able to use the track and it will be dark on the field.
That's it. Other comments? Madame Mayor Quiet. I Well, not the first hour of the meeting, but um I I just would like to um say a couple of things. One, and much of it I'm just echoing, but I I still
think it's important that I say it. Um, the first thing I would say is it would be really hard for the city of Summit to say no to a generous donation from pretty much anyone. I feel as though, you know, if a donation is
offered um and particularly offered to support something that the residents are clearly motivated to support and are are endeavoring to to have happen. Um, I think it would be irresponsible of elected officials to to
not accept a donation. Um, and to that point about residents being motivated, it it is really impressive the time frame under which um, these residents got together and had a petition signed and also raised this much money. Tammy and I joke all the time about the money
tree and and if we still haven't found it, but this is this is about as close as you can get to a money tree um for something that really is an initiative that you know seemingly is supported by so many in this town. And um I really do think that this is this is for the good
of the community. It's really something that is a need. Um and it's been a need. It's been requested by our professionals. um it's been requested by the Department of Community Programs for for almost a decade. Um and lastly, I just want to go back to um the sort of
the addressing the concerns about safety um and traffic and to Kevin's point, Councilman Small's point about these these issues have existed for decades. This is not new to the neighborhood that there are problems with parking and traffic on on days where there are
events. Um it's not going to go away. I actually think that the conversation around lights has highlighted this and has drawn the proper attention to it and now it's being addressed for the first time ever and I think that should be noted. Um and then lastly on that I will
just say um the safety issues have been addressed but they're not going to stop being addressed. This isn't a final answer. Chief Peters and I talk about a lot of things all the time over and over again, but um in particular safety
um and traffic flow and parking and making sure that we get it right and and I'm committed to that. So I just that's all I have. Those are great comments. Thanks, Madam Mayor. Yeah, I would just echo that. You know, I think part of this process, we created
this Tatlock neighborhood committee to address a lot of the issues that they had there because so much of the interaction with the neighbors, um it was clear that they had concerns about lights, but all the complaints they had they had complaints when there are no
lights there around traffic and safety and, you know, out of control parking and all that kind of stuff. um including, you know, other concerns specifically associated with the lights. And that committee was created to start
to tackle that. And and I want to thank Michelle um and Bob who worked on that committee because they they did things. They actually did made stuff happen. That's awesome. Those complaints were going on
for years and years and years and nobody did a single thing about it. Nobody. And so I get, you know, there was concern about these lights. Um, but this is a great ancillary benefit that that
happened and and we should congratulate, you know, Michelle and Bob and and the hard work of that committee for actually making stuff change. and uh chief's worked hard with them. The board of ed's gotten involved on this parking um that's a great accomplishment. We should
be proud of. Let's not sweep it under the rug and say, "Wow, there's other stuff." I get it. There is always other stuff. This is the first time people have addressed that thing literally in in since I've been in Summit going to football games. That's a good thing. So, I'm super happy that have happened and
thank you for uh bringing that up, Madame Mayor. Um so, good things can come out of these things. They really can and that's what good government can be about and and working together which is awesome. All right. Any other comments on this
particular resolution? Okie do. Uh all in favor? Uh I Excuse me. Oh, wait. Uh Council President, I would actually like to call for roll call vote. Second. Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. Uh Madame Clerk. Mr. Ber,
I. Miss Hamlet, I. Miss Calmanson, nay. Mr. Palowski, I. Mr. Smallwood, I. Miss To I. Council President McTurn. I motion carries. Okay, we're on to our last one. Thank
you public for staying. Um uh this is for those following at home. This is uh consent agenda finance resolution number 11. that got pulled. And uh
Councilwoman Toth, would you like to introduce this, please? Okay. Thank you, Council President. Uh resolution 1214. Um city of Summit grants property tax exemption to disabled veter vet
veterans. Um and this resolution authorizes program refund for property taxes paid to two of them. I I move to adopt this resolution. Do I hear a second? Second. All right. Comments from the
public. No, we're not there yet. We got one more to go. I know. Comments. This is resolution number 11 on the consent agenda. Uh finance number 11. It's 12140. No money. Let's go.
Uh, do I All right. Hearing known. Uh, do I have any comments from the council? Councilwoman Hamlet, I'll be a minute. Um, the reason why I brought this one up for public comment is because I I drive the city tax
assessor crazy um, when ask. I'm a veteran and so I take this very seriously when I see a veteran, especially a disabled veteran with property taxes. Um, and sometimes I find some really interesting stories, you know, and and we're not here to, you know, that's really it's a tax assessor thing. We're not here to say whether or
not they, you know, can get their taxes. You know, they obviously deserve to get exemptions from their taxes. Um, what I will say is in in a city like Summit, um, we've had a ton recently and I think that it would be helpful to advocate to the state for some of these, uh, funds
to come back to the municipality. um from the state. You know, I don't know if we'll ever get there, but I think it is important as they add up. Um the the cost burden does go to the other taxpayers. So, fully supportive of the disabled veterans um property tax exemptions and obviously thank them for their service, but I I would like to
push uh the state to reimburse us for some of these uh funds. And I think there's some legislation on the table. I reached out to a senator today um just to see if if we could advocate for that. So, just that's all I wanted to mention. Thank you. Other comments from council?
All right. Uh, all in favor? I I opposed. All right. All right. That is uh that's it for official business. I guess it's what everyone's been waiting for. We're now moving on to our public comment section of our meeting. I would just
remind people of what our esteemed clerk said at the beginning. If you're going to have comment, come up, give your name and address, and please keep your comments uh to three minutes or less to facilitate everyone getting a chance to speak. Thank you. Hello, I'm Mindy McInness. I live at 46
Glennside. Um I really appreciate Council Member Hamlet bringing up uh conversations about projects that seem to disappear. I'd like to bring up mine, which is the Glenside Avenue drainage project. I have a letter from a year ago. Kevin Smallwood came to my house. I
really appreciate it. So did uh Bartan when he was um on the council. Um just so you know, I've spent $25,000 in water mitigation from water that comes off of the street and into my driveway and goes into my neighbor's yards. I feel like I am supplementing
the city's inaction. I feel like this is a special tax that only Glennside residents and also Hugh Street have to pay. People behind me have spent four times as much for water mitigation. This was going to be solved with the sidewalk project, also with a water project in a combo. We were very excited when we
received these letters a year ago. We also received a letter about Bolster Place traffic, which was also very important to us. People have run into a house. I think they're drunk numerous times. This is a really bad street. Um, recently the gas company was working on
that street and they had some dirt on the ground and they started to spray it off and it started going right into my driveway. And the guy's like, "Wait, there's not a drainage on the street?" And I said, "No, it's actually down the street and to the left and over another block." He's like, "How can that be?" I'm like, "You know, that's a really
good question." And then the water and the mud came down to my driveway and they cleaned it up. And they were like, "I'm so sorry that's happened." I said, "That's more than what Summit has ever said to me." I So, long story short, I'm curious what happened to the project. I'm tired of spending money on water mitigation that's coming off of the street. I
understand it's a county road and I understand there was a plan at one point and I've not heard anything since. I want to thank you for your time. I thank you for coming to my house and walking that distance. Thank you to Vartan who also did it. I encourage all of you to come. I'll give you a cup of coffee. Just want to thank you for your time.
When I look at the summit beacon ahead of me, I think you know, wow, that's the water coming down Glennside into my garage. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Good evening. Uh, Rosalyn Kandelan, 36 Laurel Avenue. Um, Council President
McTurnin, Mayor Fagan, and Council Leison to the Summit Housing Board, Summit Housing Authority Board, B Boyer. Um, I am the uh, commissioner on the Summit Housing Authority Board and I serve as the chair of the board this year. Um, summit provide summit housing
authority provides housing for 70 families and 120 seniors. I did not attend the council meeting on September 3rd, but I did watch the video recording of the meeting. And this evening, I would like to address the main thrust of Councilman Ber's remarks that he made at
the council meeting on September 3rd concerning the Summit Housing Authority. Um he said that some of the tenants had complaints about the condition of Summit Housing Authority units such as leaky faucets and about the administrative
procedures such as rent collections or workmen arriving unannounced. In addition, Councilwoman Dillia also said that she receives three calls a month from tenants who have complaints about the SHA.
And of course, tenants have the right to speak at council meetings and to speak to council members or to any of the seven Summit Housing Authority Commissioners about their concerns. However, neither council members nor even the SHA commissioners can resolve
these issues. The place for tenants issues to be resolved is with the SHA's office staff, staffed by the executive director, Jacqueline Gray, and her employees who follow HUD regulations. Therefore, tenants who make complaints to council members or commissioners need
to be directed to Miss Gray and her staff. This is where the action can be taken. The rent calculation can be revised. Arrangements can be made for that leaky faucet to be repaired or workmen can be rescheduled. Councilman Ber also said that tenants
are intimidated and harassed by SHA staff about lease and rent issues. Each tenant signs a lease for his or her unit which contains the rights and responsibilities of the tenant and the SHA. For example, if a tenant fails to
pay rent or violates another term of the lease, he or she is held accountable and can be served a notice to cease or a complaint for non-payment of rent. And this is not staff in in intimidation or harassment. This is the staff requiring
the tenant to comply with the lease which is critically important for the well-being of the s alla tenants and for the protection of SHA property and for the financial soundness of SHA. I have confidence in Miss Gray and her staff to
treat the tenants uh respectfully and fairly in this regard. Of course, tenants who are dissatisfied have options. First, a tenant is welcome to speak at the monthly SHA board meetings during the public comment meeting and
those issues are followed up by the staff. In addition, the SHA has monthly wrap it up, please. Okay. Okay. I have two more seconds. Resident committee meetings for tenants to discuss issues and again these are provided to the staff. Finally, HUD regulations require leases to contain a
grievance procedure and the tenants can find an just, effective, efficient settlement for grievances against the SHA. And notwithstanding this process, I think council uh commissioners and myself are willing to speak to u tenants and we have done that in the past and I
do do plan to do that in the future. And to conclude, uh we're the board is responsible for overseeing all of the operations of the SHA and we um want want um to know that if you have any concerns that please talk to the
commissioners. Um and also it's important for us to work together to have a cooperative relationship to better serve the SHA. Tried to wrap it up fast. And I I appreciate your important message to the residents of the uh the Summit Housing Authority. So, thank you for your comments.
Yes, you Thank you. Um, Miss Kendall, can you just leave your statement? Uh, I tell you, I made so many corrections to my notes. I can give it to you later when it's corrected. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good evening. Adriana Alerhan, Springfield Avenue, Saltbrook,
exclamation point, question mark. Broken County Pike exclamation point. Mark question mark Army Corps of Engineers exclamation point question mark. I passed uh 712 Springfield a contact which seemed like
a viable option to get equipment down to Sulra. If 710 property is the contact needed I cannot provide any contact info since it's affordable housing units. Previously discussed September was the planned start of the project. We can't
afford another long lull in the momentum we finally gained on this issue. Thank you for your time. I'll email my statement. Thank you for your comments. Oh, good evening, Mayor Fagan, Council President McTurnan, uh members of council and staff. I'm Jim Bennett,
Bennet, 38 Fairview Avenue. President McTurnin's comments about the importance of the school budget uh prompted some thoughts of mine about uh making the city and the school district work better together. And I'd like to
suggest uh these ideas to the liaison to the board of education. Uh the first idea came to me from a member of council who believes that the city maintains too many capital assets for the school district. The leading
example is the Anderson Fieldhouse. The school district uses it, but the city owns and maintains it. It would be healthier to have the school district, the entity that uses the asset, own and maintain it.
Uh the larger point is that there should be a review of all the assets that the city owns, maintains or funds for the school district to consider transfer to the school district. Summit residents would be better served if these assets
came under the school district's ownership and responsibility. But there's a condition. If the city transfers assets to the school district, the school district must have a more transparent budgeting process.
There, the city's budget process can serve as a model. The city and the school district appear to have different fiscal years, but both entities finalize their budgets at about the same time.
One thought would be to have a combined capital budget workshop. Uh the city has a capital budget workshop on December of each year. Another idea would be to include the school budget snapshot with the city
budget snapshot mailer that goes out each year before the city's May budget hearing. Now, just imagine a school budget mailer would draw in residents who do not normally attend board of education meetings.
Finally, I was impressed with the response that school district business manager Derek Jess gave me when I attended a school board meeting last Thursday regarding its management of tangible, real, and personal property,
including capital assets. The school district appears to have learned the lessons since the near collapse of the Wilson gym. I would like to uh commend Mr. Jess to the city as a resource. Thank you.
Thank you for your suggestions. Jacquellyn Laserosina L. I'm a resident of Summit. Good evening. I would also like to talk about the school budget. Bottom line up front, I ask that we please budget better for our children and our teachers. I just came
from back to school night. Well, now it's it's been several hours. I was at back to school night earlier. Uh our teachers are doing amazing things and yet our median summit teacher makes $10,000 less than the state median. $10,000 less. Our teachers deserve
better. We have classrooms here in Summit with requests for basic classroom supplies on Donor's Choose, a nonprofit website that connects charitable donors to quote teachers in need. Glue sticks, Play-Doh, lab equipment for the high
school. Why in Summit do we have classrooms asking for donations of basic school supplies? I believe our children deserve better. Now, at the same time, I just learned this evening that every kindergartener has their own Chromebook,
their own computer, rather than there being one set that could be shared across the different classes. So, every kindergartener has their own Chromebook, but we're underpaying our teachers, and we're not covering the cost of basic classroom supplies.
I can't make this make sense. We're not funding the right things in our schools. The bottom line is not the only thing that matters in a budget. We need to fund the right things. We need prioritiesbased budgeting, a budget that
supports the strategic priorities of our school district. Anything else is guesswork, and we're seeing the disappointing results. Last spring, we heard from the operations committee of the board of ed about using zerobased budgeting for our schools. Let's be very
clear that is an austerity measure for our summit schools. I find that unacceptable. We need to protect our schools. We need to protect the excellence of our public education program. As a friendly reminder, the board of ed
is appointed by the mayor. They are not directly accountable to the community. This body is directly accountable to the community. and three of the five members of the budgeting school group are here at the deis. So rather than trying to send us down the road to the board of
ed, I respectfully ask that you please commit to doing better for our children. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. My name is Scalzo. SO my contact information is at scalzopo.com. I wasn't actually planning on speaking
today, but I had a quick strange interaction with uh uh Dan Chriselli earlier and only reason why I'm talking about him is because I understand he's a candidate for the council. That's the only reason I'm bringing it up. So, I walk in and I go to sit down and the
chief welcomed me in and I sit next to him and then Dan takes out a camera and takes a picture of me which is fine. We're all on camera. But what he's trying to do, he's trying to set up the scenario that people are harassing him and intimidating him. And then the chief
saw that I I literally sat down at a random chair. I was not trying to intimidate Dan uh Chriselli, just for the record. I want to put that on the record because he's he's filing false police reports allegedly and making these accusations against the gentleman that's going to speak next. Um so I just
want to put that on the record. Um and uh thank you. Thank you for your comments. Good evening, mayor. Good evening, council. I will be remaining anonymous. Uh council president, mayor, city clerk.
Uh can largely be a thankless job and I thank you all for uh the jobs that you're doing. Um I would like to speak a little bit about the history of uh you know my coming into summit. I've been here for about 8 months and uh when I first got here I was challenging a lot
of the Republican leadership team because you guys are the council majority. Um it was met with professionalism and uh I called every one of you out in particularly at one point or another. Um except for Councilwoman Michelle I say
your last name wrong and also Councilwoman um to never called you guys out particularly. And then um I started focusing on the Democrats. I'm an advocate for government transparency and accountability. So as I started I there
was some residents and they were feeding me all this information. Look at this. Look at that. Look at this. I can't wait to meet you. Your videos are great. I'm so glad you're in town. All this stuff. Second I started looking at the Democrats. Um these same people now start and after what happened with Mr.
Chriselli with him saying that I threatened, harassed him, followed him out to his car. I found out about this article cuz he privately messaged and sent it to me with a message that said, "Hi, Mikey. Let us know how we can help." I'm reading this article and I'm
just like, "What the hell is this shit?" Like, you know, just Yeah, I didn't even mean to. Um, like bizarre, bizarre, you know? So, um, I thought that was really interesting. All I did was ask him questions. The man didn't know it was on camera. He tried to advance his own political opportunity and gain at not
only my expense but all of the residents all of the residents expense is what he tried to do. So I think that's shameful. That's absolutely disgusting. And he said I was a supporter or a follower of Kevin Smallwood. I had never publicly or even privately said I support Kevin
Smallwood, but now I do. Now I do. Yeah, you better believe it. You know, um I think that's people who are inferior cower in the shadow of real leadership. And the reason why I was challenged in the leadership team is because they have
leadership, you know, and I will hold anyone accountable. That's what I do. That's what keeps me well. I don't care if you're a Democrat. I don't care if you're a Republican, you know. Um it's important for me. And uh in the spirit of uh Charlie Kirk,
I want to say um everybody's got to say what they're needing to say just as soon as they're needing to say it. The freedom to speak to be a freak or the freedom to say that you hate it and have
a big old conversation. I saw laughing and I saw glee. It could have been you. It could have been me. I would like to have an opportunity if
you allow me to in the spirit of our American values over party politics and identity give everybody an opportunity to accept an American flag. If I could start with Mr. Jacob, who I've had a history with, as a way to as a symbolic
way to think of our values, our core values over party politics. If I could start there and then go to the left and give everybody an opportunity to take a flag. That'd be fine. And then we'll we'll move on. Okay. Thank you so much for your comments. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
I hope they don't put this on my Jeep. Thank you. Thank you. Nice surprise. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a big difference. Huge. Please begin.
Um, before my time starts, can I get more time? No. Three minutes. Three minutes. Yep. All right. We've we've heard you guys for the past I don't know four hours. I know. Three minutes. I know. I know. So, all right. So, good evening. I'm Garden State Accountability. You can find me on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. I'm
here tonight to support Bong Holio and ask for a moment a silence for Charlie Kirk, who was tragically murdered. Whatever your view of him uh may be, Charlie stood for free speech and it's something that we should all value. So,
I'm going to give 30 seconds. Charlie Kirk once said, "Freedom of speech is not about protecting the speech you agree with. It's about protecting those speech you disagree with. So, we come to these meetings to be heard. You may you may not like what we have to
say, but every verse voice deserves respect. Retaliation against people for their speech is wrong. Uh and yet Chris uh Dan Chriselli uh filed a false police report against Bong Holio. The allegations were not true and
it was on video. Now ask yourselves, is he really scared of a man with a camera? And the fact that he's so childish to whip out a phone and record us, that's not leadership. It's weakness. You cannot vote for this man for council in
November. He lied on a on a police report. He doesn't answer questions, and he has no credibility. Uh I asked this council and the people of Summit to stand up for free speech, honesty, and stand up for accountability. And if you guys have a tip about corruption in your community,
you can email me at alertgsaowgmail.com. Um, yeah. So, let's let's get the speaking time up. I mean, this is this is crazy. We we definitely heard you guys for I don't know, four hours. I've been here since 6:00. The meeting was supposed to start at uh 7:20. It started at 8. There's 40 minutes right there. I
mean, the least you guys can do is give the people a little bit more time because we hear a lot from you. And I've been watching these meetings for the past, I don't know, what is it, eight months you've been coming here. Um, you know, some people get cut off. People have speeches. She she even read something for someone some woman on a
laptop. That's extra time. That's that's something, you know, we should give that courtesy to other people, not just some. You know what I mean? So, let's get that speaking time to at least at least five minutes and you guys can vote on that
tonight or put forth an ordinance to to make the speaking time 5 minutes at least for the courtesy of the people here in summit that don't want to be cut off. That's all I got. Thank you for your comments. My name is Dave Hoffman. I live at one
New England Avenue. I wanted to be delivering a very non-political message, but unfortunately um I have to respond to what I've heard. My mom was a Holocaust survivor and she
said before she died, "Never think it couldn't happen here." And I'm afraid I'm beginning to see it is happening here where my patriotism is being questioned. I resent that. Anyway, now for my non-political
message. Um, the other weekend I was walking around saying, "What is there to do in Summit? something fun, something different, something artistic, something cultural. And once again, I'm going to raise the
idea of using the firehouse, the old firehouse for a place that could be enjoyed by the community for cultural events. I would love to see a summit performing arts center in some uh form at that location. And I know that uh
you're thinking about um housing, but as part of that housing, there could be a cultural arts center. Madison has it as part of their housing, and it's used 365 days. It's amazing for uh recital,
dance, uh the Summit Film Society shows her films in Madison because there's no place in Summit. Isn't that a shame? Anyway, um I'm going to be working on this idea and hopefully speaking with you about uh creating a summit
performing art performance arts center. You know, I'm a school teacher and I'm not nervous in front of classes, but boy am I nervous in front of you people. Wow. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Good evening.
My name is David Snow with the exposure report and I'm here in solidarity with my fellow freedom enforcer and tyranny response team member on holding. I want to thank the chief for um you have people coming up to him trying to upset about our us exercising our first amendment rights and I I seen him
telling him they have the right to speak and say what they want to say especially during constitution week. I think it's very important. So thank you to the chief. Recently as an independent journalist, Barolo here asked questions in this here very public building.
That's not harassment. That's democracy. That's the job of a free press. However, Dan Cruselli couldn't handle it. He didn't just leave the room. He left reality. He went to the police and filed a false police report. He claimed the journalist
harassed him and followed him to his car. Except the facts don't match his fantasy. The journalists never left the building after him. This wasn't a misunderstanding. This was a fabrication. And a fabrication tells us more about Dan than the truth ever could. Because here's the psychology.
When he feels pressure, he doesn't stand up to it. He rewrites it. When he feels cornered, he doesn't answer. He invents. When accountability knocks, he doesn't open the door. He calls the cops and plays the victim. That's not leadership. That's pathology. And when that when that lie started to look too thin to
stand on, he added another. He he added another. He branded the journalist as political, trying to tie him to his opponent's party. That's projection. That's paranoia. That's the authoritarian instinct to turn every critic into an enemy of the state. Let's psycho psychoanalyze this for what it
is. We're not just looking at one false report. We're looking at fragility. A man who collapses under scrutiny. We're looking at manipulation. a man who weaponizes the police to cover his fear. We're looking at narcissism, a man who must always be the victim. And we're looking at dishonesty, a man who
rewrites reality anytime the truth doesn't fit his ego. Now ask yourself, if he'll lie about being followed to his car, what else will he lie about? If he'll weaponize law enforcement to silence a journalist, will he weaponize the city hall to silence residents? If he sees accountability as harassment,
how will he treat democracy when it demands transparency? Summit doesn't need actors playing the part of public servant. You don't need fabricators. You don't need men so fragile that a question feels like an attack. We need leaders who could stand in the light
light. Let there be light without flinching. Leaders who could take questions without calling them crimes. Leaders who could answer the people without rewriting the script. Dan Cruselli has shown us who he is. And when when someone shows you who they are, believe him the first time. He's not strong. He's not honest. He's not
fit for office. So, let me close with this. A man who can't handle questions has no business handling power. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Leroy Truth of Leroy Truth Investigations. Please subscribe to me on YouTube and Facebook. You can
investigate me now, too. I'm laughing because as this gentleman was speaking the coward of summit Dan suck of I don't please address the the council. I'm going to address every anything I want. This is first amendment. Remember
you you had a beautiful speech about it. I'm going to look here. I'm going to look here. You did a great job. You got some really wonderful powerful speakers in summit. I'm really loving this place. Now, one thing that really concerns me though is the three minutes. And that is not
enough time. And I know you gave this very nice woman, is she still here? I don't see her. You gave her over four minutes. Now, that would not be content neutral if you stopped me at three. And so, I hope you will honor that. Now, as far as the three minutes, I've heard
some people said, "Well, it's a process to change that," which it should be six minutes. That's reasonable. So with a show of hands, how many of you right now would be willing to change from three minutes to six minutes? Show of hands. So the people can speak freely.
Nobody. Not a single Republican or Democrat. You have all gone on and on and on all evening. You'd love to hear yourself speak, but I came from New England to be here to support this gentleman here who that Dan Sakafouchi.
I I just can't get his name right. I don't know, but he lied about this man here. And you had something you said which was disappointing as well. And that is Mike McTurnan. And it was council president Mike McTurnan. This is in the tap into.net. Terrible, terrible
newspaper here. While I cannot comment on an ongoing police investigation, I have full confidence that the summit police department, I love the chief too by the way. He's awesome. Will conduct a thorough and professional follow-up i.e. investigation. he said, emphasizing that all residents deserve
to feel safe in their community. Well, a man who asks questions should never be investigated criminally. That's a problem. You should not support that. He's got to do what he's told to do in regards to that. And of course, he will find nothing. But I support this man
here. You should all support it because especially you blathering on about the First Amendment. But when a a journalist is asking questions, relevant questions to a candidate running who has a lot of responsibility up here and I get I get vibes of a lot of professionalism,
professionalism, vibes of some infighting, vibes of caring for the residents from different ones and vibes of not not caring for them. And I'm hoping that you support free journalism and you will condemn Dan
sucker bell. If I come again, I will I promise to practice the name. I promise. But the first amendment is sacred and it only kicks in if my speech offends you or his speech offends you. Otherwise,
the first amendment is completely unnecessary. And lastly, Dan, whatever his last name is, he ran out like a coward. Mr. Truth, I'm going to give you the same courtesy I give that one. Just wrap it up, please. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
And that this gentleman as he was speaking, Dan, the guy running for council here, he ran away. And each of you seem to have pretty thick skins, and I I appreciate that. I think everyone else does as well. and you do listen to us
when we speak. Whether you act upon it or not, that's a different story. So, I appreciate spending some time here today and God bless you all to come here peacefully. God bless the chief. I really like him a lot if you have a major fight with him. So, thank you. Thank you.
Other public comments. Good evening. I'm Diego Hoy Harel Court. Um, first of all, one of the things that Jim Bennett just mentioned about scheduling things together, using assets together, perhaps that could be applied
to field usage as well. Um, but that's not what I came to talk about. Um, I am a taxpayer. I'm the father to three Summit Public School students. I'm concerned about the impact of the school budget cuts on the education of my children.
We came to Summit from an expedit assignment overseas. My oldest child spoke Spanish better in English. Excuse me, I'm speaking. Um, his English as a second language teachers helped him advance from an A reading level to an L level in mere months. This council voted
not to hire an ESL teacher. Another one of my kids emerged from the COVID lockdowns with difficulty processing his emotions. Thanks to his outstanding counselor on teachers, he now thrives. What a paradox. As everyone running for office parrots concerns about the mental
health of our children, you cut a counseling position and the district's mental health clinician, our middle school students now have to waste time standing in line for Chromebook support because four technology coach positions were eliminated.
Finally, how can how can our school fulfill our mission to quote prepare all students to thrive in an evolving world? End quote. When you chose not to hire a new computer science teacher and cut teacher training and access to information like textbooks and
subscriptions pennywallies, that pound foolish. My biggest concern that is that these cuts may be merely the tip of an iceberg. None of Mayor Fagan's three BOE appointments will have kids in our
public schools next year. They can cut next year's budget without affecting their loved ones. Who will speak for our students? I also wonder about the push to gain total oversight over what grants are funded by the SEF, a beloved
institution that has contributed over $12 million to our schools. I worry about a possible hidden agenda. In this sense, it's noteworthy that this weekend council Palowski wrote how he truly feels about our schools. And I quote, "For far too long, our teachers have
indoctrinated our students with their own ideas and agendas." End quote. I could not disagree with with you more on this, Bob. Our teachers are tops. In contrast to this, prior administrations made strategic investments in the last
few years. AC was finally installed in our middle school while the athletic field, drama spaces, and science labs were upgraded. The Together for Summit team was voted into office to solve our affordable housing obligation without overdevelopment.
Summit residents did not give you a mandate to radically reform our schools. Our public schools are the crown jewel of Summit. They're the key driver of our property values and more importantly, the future of our children. So, thank you. And Kevin, I also was not
allowed to join a private Facebook group when I was running. Thank you for your comments. Thank you. Other public comments. Hi, Dory Gagnon. I am making my own motion to have Miss Calvinson
uh recuse herself from anything further for Tat. I find it appalling that she's actually able to vote on the lights or having discussion about the lights when I believe Mr. Palowski has to recuse himself when anything comes to Broad
Street West. So I I look to you, Mr. Gio, as she lives directly across the street and I believe her husband is probably involved in this lawsuit. by um not saying he is, but I believe he is because he is the face of the United for
Tatlaw group making comments like, "Hey everyone, I'd like you to encourage all of you to put out lawn signs for Dan Chrisphoy and Jackie Laserina who are running against Kevin Adelia. The current council is intent on forcing
these lights on us without addressing any of our concerns. Kevin has proven Kevin has proven time again that he doesn't care about our neighborhood and sees us as an obstacle and Dileia has
held meetings with a few of us but done nothing to go along with whatever her party wants. Electing Dan and Jackie is the best chance we have at having a council majority. Council majority because that's a great idea that cares
all about summit. Those are in bold letters. DM me your address if you're interested in lawn signs and they'll be delivered to you. Miles P.S. Dan and Jackie have expressed interest in meeting with our neighborhood to discuss the lights, playgrounds, and overdevelopment or anything else you mind. Stay tuned for
details. # Kevin doesn't care. # Where's Dileia? # She needs to recuse herself. Just like the fact that David Audent recuse himself when it came to Broad Street West,
I find it fitting that she's sitting over here making decisions when there's a lawsuit out and she was the one that started this group and she's on council now. Why does she have any say as to what's going on with the lights and this whole group?
Maybe she's not involved, but her husband's really active and her neighbors are. So, I make a motion. I move the motion. I want her removed from it. Thank you. Thank you.
El Rampador, Hudson County. Um, here to talk about the abbleism here in Summit. I'm in a lot of pain right now. I shouldn't be here. I should be home on a Zoom meeting. And for 19 months, you gave us Zoom access. You gave disabled people all the things they were asking for for years, like online church,
online school, online uh uh everything, online work. I mean, and for 19 months, disabled people were along for the ride. My friend Jeff took part from his deathbed in meetings, stage four cancer. people in wheelchairs all over the state
were taking part in these meetings and then all of a sudden you took it away. And why'd you take it away? Why'd you take away Zoom access for the disabled for sick and dying people? You have schools in in Summit without
proper wheelchair access where children are fire hazards because the access is is bad and you got a kid on the other side of the building where there's no ramp. They're a fire hazard. children. The children. We forget about the children. We forget about the vets. We take photo ops with
vets, but we forget about the vets. You have uh all over New Jersey, you have urban enterprise zones where you get tax breaks, but if you're in a wheelchair, you can't access the same tax breaks as able body people. And you see that all over. We have police
stations around New Jersey without wheelchair access. Post offices around New Jersey with no wheelchair access. And it's bipartisan. It's a bipartisan issue. I saw Jack Chidarelli a couple weeks ago in Dover and I tried to talk to him about wheelchair access to police stations and post offices and he refused
to even engage with it. And it's bipartisan because you talk about the the cannabis regulatory commission here in New Jersey where cannabis patients, this industry was built, this cannabis industry was built on sick, dying, and disabled patients. You would think the CRC would have a resolution or a an
ordinance to have wheelchair access to dispensaries, but there are dispensaries all over New Jersey without wheelchair access. South Orange, Jersey City, Maplewood, Cam, Camden. They take the photo ops with disabled
vets, but they don't care. And I've seen it all over. And it's bipartisan. It's not just Republicans. It's not just Democrats. It's our government and you have failed at the disabled again. We're asking for Zoom access. Can we have Zoom access back? It
wouldn't take too much. But I hear the excuses now. Oh, we don't have the technology. You have the technology for 19 months to have Zoom access. Oh, we don't have the the people to do it. You have the people to do it for 19 months. All the excuses I've heard. We recently got to go back to in-person uh to Zoom
meetings. Except that they banned the in-person meetings. You can't have meetings in person, but you can. It was It's crazy what's going on in Dover. So, I would ask that you put the last first. You think about disabled vets because you wouldn't even have this council if it wasn't for disabled vets
fighting for your right to be ignorant and abbleist. And if you're ignorant and abbleist, that's on you. I'm not saying you are, but maybe you need to look at yourselves and find out why your schools don't have proper access. A lot of issues. Mr. Rampidor, could you wrap it up, please?
Thank you. Uh, and that's all I have. Uh, they shall grow not old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not worry them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. [Applause] Kevin McGow Avenue again. Um the um All right. So the one thing that like bothered me
throughout Broad Street West when I first got involved and tried to help those people was um they tended to misrepresent the truth, give information that was halftruths and um and it really
was the purpose of dividing people so that you know you couldn't really see what they were doing or whatever. Um, and Broad Street West I realized was just it was a product of this problem of people acting in very dishonest ways.
Um, and then you know in doing so they would get everybody pitted against each other. So that hasn't stopped at all. That continues. Um the the three candidates for Democratic council put out a statement titled council
incompetence puts Summit at risk of overdevelopment. There's a lot of stuff about affordable housing that you addressed that refutes it. But then they had this one they had this one section at the bottom. Day one, we will protect Summit from overdevelopment and commit the following changes in the way council serves the public. One, share the
information as soon as we are able. That's why we're alerting the community to these lawsuits now. No hiding the truth or backroom deals. Two, engage with residents throughout the process to gather feedback, understand the sentiment, and make the
decision that best represents all of Summit residents. It was signed by Dan Chris, Jacqueline, Lucerina, and Chhatel Landman, and liked by Claire Tooff. Claire, you like this post, so you're aware of it. Um, and then this kind of dovetales into questions that I had
asked you, Michelle, via email because you don't want to discuss anything on social media and that's fine, but you've never answered. Um and they were um was the council legal a legally able to publicly discuss the developer proposals
um with the public before they did with respect to the affordable housing plan that was done because you have given this impression on Facebook and now they're doing it as well saying that like the council hid something in backdoor deals. I was under the
impression that council and I this is what I've asked you. Could you have discussed it with the public beforehand? Claire, could you have discussed anything about that beforehand? And I said, what did you as a council member assume you knew about the project before it went public to make the process
better? And why didn't you tell the residents about it as soon as you knew if you were allowed? Have you explained the process and constraints put on council and the planning board to the residents in the area? Did you explain the critical nature of council approving the plan and
the ramifications they had not? Are you telling us that you would have um you have had had the plan rejected by council and the city and having the city lose its immunity from builder's remedy lawsuits? Can I get four minutes? Just wrap start wrapping it up, please. All right. Can you please explain to all
this? Whatever. Claire, you've talked about a fiscal responsibility, prudent, the the city's responsibility, but everybody's worried about the schools and everything else. And you and Jacqueline Larcina have publicly voiced
your support for the at home and summit proposal. Again, I've asked you all these questions. I've asked all of you or I asked people who supported. I asked you if you could answer these and you have not responded. when council at the time that they moved the firehouse
when they approved that budget of I think it was $15.8 million at the time. I think it grew a little bit since then. David Nadu and Greg Bartan stated that the only reason why they felt comfortable with such a large number was because the sale proceeds and tax
revenues or payments in le tax would help pay for pay for that. Okay. So, I've asked you um have you done a cost analysis of what the at home and summit project was? What's the value difference of what they would pay versus what we get property um that a developer would
pay? Could you please break down the cost associated with the services to the residents? Most significantly be the cost of education. Have you have I I know I asked Dennis White this and Dennis White told me it wasn't his problem. Mr. McGo, giving you tons of time. Go ahead. So, I'm just wondering, have you
looked at the costs associated with that and could you explain them? And I guess Jackie could do the same since she also supports it. Thank you. All right. Other public comments. Okay. Uh, all right. I'm going to close
the public comment section of the meeting and we're now on to council member comments and new business. Anyone on council like to speak? Council Councilman Smallwood, you already lose the overb. Uh I I um I I know this is extremely
late and I I I'm not going to apologize this apologize for this because this is extremely important and kind of goes off of your comments. Mr. Rampador. Rampidor. Rapidor. Sorry. Um, so I I I have to share some unfortunate
news. Um, there was a tragic event that affected the biggest one of the biggest stars of our Summit volleyball community. A few a few weeks ago, Jonathan Leang was in California enjoying his summer break before going to study before going to study engineering at Lehigh University.
As a freshman, he decided to take a surf lesson at Lagona Beach. He had a great time in being the athlete that he is. Got up on the board, surfed the beach. After his lesson, he felt tired and had some lower back pain that progressed in into severe pain and spasms. Jonathan
has been diagnosed with surfers myop myalopei myopathy. Myopathy. Thank you, doctor. Um, which is an extremely rare condition that affects firsttime and novice surfers. There are less than 80
documented cases worldwide and I am sad to report that Jonathan cannot walk at this point. Had has no feeling below his waist and is bound to a wheelchair as a result of it. Jonath Jonathan was flown back to New Jersey last week and is currently undergoing some occupational
therapy at Kesler Rehabilitation in West Orange. Uh I received news today that fortunately he will um assuming everything goes well will be returning home tomorrow here in summit.
Uh this is extremely heartbreaking and his family is in dire straits of help uh and is there is a um a web page called help and I will put this on my my council page as well and as anywhere
else I can on the social media. It is helpopelive.orgcampa26256 uh if you'd like to donate. But not only are they in need of uh some funds uh because not all of their medical expenses are covered by insurance, but also looking for uh possible some pro
proono or discounted rates on home construction to help um outfit their their home uh so that it makes it a lot more convenient for Jonathan. Uh as well as legal services and also medical accounting. So if there's anything that you can do um it would be greatly
appreciated. That's all I have. Thank you very much. Good message. Other comments from council, Councilman Palowski. So, I have a bunch, Bob. Um,
go back to Italy. Yeah. first um the at home pro affordable 100% affordable project was discussed at the debate and there were some omissions
that I wanted to point out. So, um there's there's three important aspects of the athome uh 100% affordable project at the old firehouse site that
people should be aware of and why I think the majority of this council would not support it. The first is it would deplete our affordable housing trust. We have about $2 million in that trust
and as a part of that project to make it work we would have to donate every penny. Now that money is used to help facilitate affordable housing in Summit. There's no
there's never been a requirement that a municipality pay for affordable housing or donate land or anything like that. We have to facilitate it by relaxing zoning. So, a builder picks out a piece of property where they would like to uh
make a building, but it's not zoned for what they want to do. So, they come to the city and they say, "Hey, we'd like to be a part of your affordable housing plan. Please um please help us with some zoning and in exchange we'll give you x
number of units, whatever that may be." And so the athome project would not only require us to deplete our affordable housing trust, which we use for things like helping our house create special needs affordable housing, which I
understand is uh one of the uh most lacking affordable housing that we have in New Jersey. Um, we uh um we use it for things like assisting the United Methodist Church in creating 15
affordable units for our seniors, and we wouldn't be able to do any of that when those opportunities come about. The second is that it would require the city to donate the firehouse property. Now, I don't know what it's going to sell for. I've seen estimates
it's millions of dollars and that's essentially some taxpayers donating millions of dollars which of course we're not required to do under the affordable housing um laws and which you know based on the whole reason that we moved the
firehouse. We need that money to replenish uh money that we have money that we um have spent on that which are taxpayer dollars. So, we should be trying to get as much as we can for that. The third prong that people should
be aware of is that the city would be on the hook for any overages. And the plan that I saw was not fully baked. And um and we would um the city would
likely have to pay more taxpayer dollars in order to make that project come to fruition. And as Councilwoman Hamlet just reminded me, it would generate little or no tax revenue for the city unlike what a builder might put there.
So that's at home. Um second uh my friend Diego uh mentioned uh that the together for summit team was elected to help solve the affordable housing
problems without overdevelopment. Now, if anybody remembers when we were going through the whole Broad Street West saga, we were told repeatedly by the folks on council, I remember Marjgery Fox saying that we
can't satisfy our round three obligations unless we do this Broad Street West project, which would have had unprecedented density. I think it was 50 units per acre. 88 units per acre. Okay. 88 units per
acre. Yeah, that's at home is 50. Broad Street West was 88 units per acre. And you know, we got elected and we rolled up our sleeves and not only did we successfully get out of round three without having to build Broad Street West, we actually have a surplus of
units. Um, and it just took a little hard work, but it obviously could be done, and I'm really proud of what we did to accomplish that. Um, next, uh, public comment time. I'd be willing to up it to four and a half
minutes. Um, with a a warning at four and a hard stop. It's just 30 seconds. Please, please. With with a hard stop. uh at the end of that that 30 seconds. And I also spoke to the city solicitor earlier um about
you know depending on how packed the house is if we can extend that time um on certain nights. Here we are. It's after midnight. It's already tomorrow. But um you know on a lighter night if we want to give somebody a little more time as long as we give everybody that additional time we could do that within
our discretion. So I would support that. Um, Mike, I'm hoping that you'll explain um how the school budget works and that this council didn't cut anything uh when it when it gets to you. Um,
my friend Diego also mentioned that I accused our summit teachers of indoctrinating our students. Now, I know he read every one of the 70s something comments on the Summit Democrat the SMDC
page today and every one of the I don't know 60s something comments on my Charlie Kirk post and um former Councilman Miner asked me to clarify whether I was talking about Summit's
teachers in my post and I said no. uh I wasn't and uh perhaps a better word that I could have used instead of teacher was professors. But if you read my post uh within its scope, it I
thought it was pretty clear uh what I was talking about. So um the dog park overwhelming success. People love the dog park. But I was also troubled by something I heard at the debate. One of the candidates said that a dog park
would be frivolous. And I couldn't disagree more. I I I have been trying to go to the dog park as much as possible. I get there maybe three times a week and I go up to everybody. I introduce myself. I ask them what they think of the dog park. They all love it. And one
of the things that they keep telling me is, "I'm meeting all kinds of new friends. Um, you know, could the city set up an app so that I know when my dog's favorite dogs are going to be there? Um, so we are going to try to make the dog park permanent. Um, as for
whether it's frivolous to spend taxpayer dollars on it, one of one of the well, we didn't spend any money on the temporary dog park, but if we wanted to make it permanent, that would cost money. the dog park down at the dump, which I always question the wisdom of, uh,
because the dump's not open on Sunday. Every other Saturday, you can't use the dog park there because the free market is there. And when the free market's open, the dog park's closed. And it closes at 3:45 every day. So, when do most people want to go to the dog park?
After work, on Sunday, on Saturday. It just didn't make a lot of sense. But that dog park costs $50,000. So with, you know, government approved contractors and government approved vendors, it can add up. But the good news is that a bunch of residents are
going to have told me that they want to start a GoFundMe page so that they can help defay the cost, if not pay for the whole thing. I do believe GoFundMe allows you to donate anonymously. So hopefully that won't be a problem. Um, and then finally on the first amendment,
I just want to remind everybody the first amendment comes first because it's the most important one. Um, open debate is the foundation of our free society and we should not chill speech. We should silence no one. And um, to do so,
and I know some people in town who are really working really hard to influence the electorate, black people Um, the SMDC blocks people and if you don't believe me, go on their page and there's a letter from them explaining
that they block people. So, um, and look, to me, blocking anybody on social media, especially when you're trying to influence the opinions of other people, it does a profound disservice to all of us. So, I would ask that if you're going to participate, you know, if you're
going to come to the playground, um, don't block anybody, you know, uh, let let everybody see what you have to say and let them respond. That's it. Thank you. Other comments from Council President, Councilman Ber. Well, first I uh I want
to apologize to all the residents and the the council because uh now I know how it feels um with me taking so long to speak. Um Councilman Palowski just killed me.
Um, first, uh, you know, I I I I speak my mind and I and I couldn't help but um, you know, see Dan back there and, um, very uncomfortable. And I think I think I can say this out of everybody up here. Um,
you know, I've been called incompetent, a clown, the devil. Um, you should have seen what the LA Times wrote about me. It was terrible. Um, I've had a whole entire church show up
here. Um, the camping ban ordinance, uh, that's where I met a couple of these guys. Um, there was about a hundred people here. The resident protection ordinance, there was, you know, 50 60 people here. I mean, all all to yell at
me. Um, you know, I I feel bad for Dan. Um, because um, you know, I get it. It's tough. It
it you know, it it it sucks, right? Um, but it comes with the job, you know. I'm like almost feeling emotional here, right? Because, you know, I went through it. It is tough
walking in here with a hundred people ready to like rip your head off verbally maybe. I don't know. You know, but it's a tough thing, you know. It's tough sitting up here. But you didn't run. You didn't run. Of course. Well, of course not. I'm
built differently. But um but and the reason why though, you know, it's not normal. I can look at the police chief over there. It's like, you know, hey man, I've I've, you know, I was a detective, right? I'm used to like those environments. No, I not
everybody's used to that. So, I feel bad for him, man. Um, so, you know, I'll I'll I'll say that. Um, so the next thing is uh I saw on Facebook someone said um this current
Republican majority uh hasn't handled affordable housing as well as 10 years ago with the with the uh majority Republican council Murphy as a governor and all the policies that
they passed um from 2018 up until 2025, there was about 13 different executive orders and policies passed.
These policies enacted under that Democratic control have collectively mandated 300,000 affordable units statewide. And the only reason why I'm bringing this up is because during this campaign all I hear is that, you know, the
Democrats say, um, you know, the Republicans are for overdevelopment. We're for underdevelopment. I'm like, man, what the is so hypocritical, man. You guys passed all these laws and that's why we're here. So, you know,
I just hope people see the hypocrisy in that. Um the the uh the last thing that I will say is um Charlie Kirk's death was absolutely you
know horrible. You know as a father and as a husband um and my heart went out for that for that man's wife and children. you know, those those kids will never be able to talk to their father and uh she will never be able to
spend the rest of her life with a man that she was devoted to raising children with and growing old with. So, all for what? For words. Um I I read this uh John Stewart Mill 1859. I thought this
was perfect. So, I'm going to read this and I'll be quiet. Um the particular evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race. Those
who desent from the opinion still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth. If wrong, they lose. What is
almost as great a benefit the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error. Thank you. Council President, can I ask a question? Thank you. No, it's
there are no comments allowed on YouTube on there. Councilwoman Hamlet. Uh thank you, Council President. Thank you for everybody who stayed. I haven't seen this many residents the next day of a meeting uh in a long time. Um, couple things I wanted to clear up um, from some of the comments tonight. Uh,
Glennside is certainly still a priority. I know we're continuing to seek more grant funding. I have to get an update from Congressman Kane's office as far as the grant um, that we originally went for. I think all of us are would be supportive of that project continuing. It's certainly nobody took that off the
table. Um, the second one that the woman mentioned was uh, is it Baltra? Oh, sorry. Uh yes, Baltimore, that's on the list. That's on our priority. But um I'll certainly huddle up with the city administrator and the director um to to
get a couple of those comments answered. Uh in addition, Saltbrook, I know we can get the information regarding who owns 10 because it's in our affordable housing plan. Uh so that shouldn't be too hard. I wanted to clear up. There was some things that I've seen recently
online and it didn't hit me until I asked Rosie for our committee minutes um for our council and there was there were some rumblings that the Republican council um
we we took off or we we ended the this organization or this committee called Silver Summit. the Republicans don't like seniors and they they stopped the Silver Summit uh committee helping seniors. We don't help seniors. And I
thought to myself, you know, I I got to go back to the minutes because I am pretty sure that I did some research on this and I I think it was uh Michelle's idea in the committee to remove
the uh the committee. And so I I did a little bit of research. church. I read our committee minutes and so Michelle I would ask that we take a look at this in admin. Um so I sent a note to you council president and Rosie and I said uh this the silver summit senior
citizens advisory board on 310 Councilwoman Michelle Camelson and Mayor Fagan met with Sage and the previous director. They were advised that Sage was looking to increase its outreach and interact with more seniors. Sage is a nonprofit group in our town. They do
amazing things. Um, discussion regarding whether to consider dissolving the Silver Summit Senior Board or find someone to drive it. Consensus of administrative policies to have Camelson solicit feedback from members of the committee to determine whether or not this board should be disbanded. While
the board had great intentions, it was never able to execute more recently. After meeting with Sage, consensus was that they can better serve our seniors by connecting the Department of Community Programs uh with SAGE. Administrative policies felt the city should have a council liaison assigned
to SAGE to maintain collaboration between SAGE and other senior citizengeeared organizations. So I would ask that our next uh council meeting we put that liaison to SAGE as originally intended um from those meetings. Um, so
I just wanted to dispel the rumors that, um, the Republicans don't want to help the seniors. And when I went back into my notes, uh, I remembered that we had all of those conversations and we just have to arrange for a council liaison to sage, which I don't think we ever did.
Um, that was that. Other comments? Oh, sorry. Just I'll be quick. I know it's late. I just had two more things. Um, I have asked New Jersey Transit to powerwash the front of the train station. It looked horrendous and I wanted to thank
New Jersey Transit uh for getting that accomplished. I took some before and afters, but um I think it's something that we can, you know, meet with them and on a regular basis get that power-washed. And the dog park is great. Just clean up after your dogs.
We have we have bags there. Um, just try to be diligent around picking up after your dogs and thank you everybody uh for coming tonight and for the city staff for working so hard. Thank you. Other comments from council? Councilwoman Toth. Oh, yeah. I'll try to be brief and I may
have to repeat it in a few weeks, but first I want to thank you, Council Member Smallwood, for for telling Jonathan Leang's story. They're my neighbors. They're trying to raise $250,000 and they're a bit under 70,000. So,
anyone who is feeling particularly generous, that that's a really good thing. Um, but I'm really here with my finance hat back on. Um, and as it's been mentioned, although we've just taken steps to fund this year's capital budget, we're already look working on
next year's. So mark your calendars for the cal capital budget workshop which will be here in council chambers on December 10th. And turning to next year's operating budget, the city is going to face significant challenges with health insurance premiums. Um
residents may be aware that the state health benefits plan to which Summit has belonged is in a death spiral. premium. Our premiums have increased more than 51% in the past three years and we're looking at a 37% increase next year.
That translates to almost an additional $1.9 million in insurance premiums. Um so Megan Champquelate, our human resources manager, has been working diligently to source alternatives and we
don't have great ones. This isn't an action item for us on council quite yet, but it does mean that next year's budget season is going to be rough, and I don't want anyone to be surprised about that. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Toth. Uh,
Councilwoman Conlson. Thank you, Council President. Um, yes, about Silver Summit, I don't know about any rumblings that were online. um if there were any and I didn't see I didn't see them but I do know that it came up at um at the forum and what I heard um
Jacqueline Laser Cena say was that this council disbanded it and that's true um we we I talked about it with the mayor I talked about it with council president you were on admin committee with me it came up that we had lost a lot of people on that committee that they just weren't
able to do it anymore they weren't interested um so we were looking at you know different outreach Sage. Um I've been reached out to Sage a few times um since then and I've been having a problem um connecting with her. But what
I love about the statement about Silver Summit is Jackie didn't bother to see who was on the committee who disbanded it. She disagreed with it. She says I have a better plan. I haven't heard her plan. I would love to hear her plan and I really like her independence that she
doesn't care for some from the same party or not. she will um she has disagreed with me and she's disagreed with Claire. Um and I do have an announcement to make on an upcoming event. Um on Friday, September 26, Summit Public Art will host its 23rd
annual fundraiser, an evening of anonymous art at Twin Maples on Springfield Avenue from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. To purchase tickets and get information, um go to summitpublicart.com. This will be a unique event featuring 100 artworks donated by artists at all
levels of their careers, from the famous to the newcomers. Artists names will be revealed after purchases are made. Each piece is $100. For those who are unaware, Summit Public Art is a 501c3 that operates fully on private donations and grants with the mission to bring
public art to Summit, enriching both our downtown and our neighborhoods. Thank you. Thank you very much. Other comments from Council President? Yes, Councilman Ber because I have to address uh the chair of the uh Summit Housing
Authority. I almost forgot about this. Um so, have you have you ever been in a situation where you're not being heard like like where you're just not heard? Like where
you you talk and talk and talk, you complain, you you do whatever, but you're not you're like invisible. What what the chairman just came up and did was disappointing. Like
you're not listening to the residents there. They're not being heard. You just you're you're saying the same thing over and over again. Go to the office and report what Yeah, they've been doing that. Then you just person
just came up two weeks ago and cried up here. I just went to the summit housing authority at at at the senior building and and talked to a bunch of people and then and it's like you come up and
you double down on it's it's just like I just don't get it. I mean if you you join a committee that interacts with people that are vulnerable elders, you know, living in lowincome housing, you got to meet them
where they are. You got to listen to them. Listen to them. I mean, that that's the failure of this. You're not hearing them. And I'm disappointed with what I heard today.
Thank you, Council President. I needed to say that because I know some of those folks are watching. Thank you very much, Councilman Palowski. Super quick. Um, I have a recollection that Silver Summit was created to
address issues exacerbated by COVID and various groups like Sage and Shield and whomever else assist the seniors in summit created it so that they could coordinate and I know they did a lot of really great work delivering um groceries and stuff like that to our
seniors. And I also have a recollection that the reason it was disbanded was because in addition to a lack of interest um that that emer the co emergency was over. So um look, if there's an appetite to do it and we can
help our seniors more, I'm all for it. But um just to give a little bit of the history, at least as I recalled it, um and I can't remember if that was from a close session or if we even maybe said it from the deis. If anybody else remembers, let us know. But that's it.
Thank you. Other comments? All right, I'm gonna wrap up. I'll try and be brief. Um, first off, um, I wanted to, uh, just I've been thinking a lot. There's obviously the last several months,
probably several years, you know, uh, we have been dealing with a lot more drainage issues all throughout our community. And you can name it on you can blame it on overdevelopment, you can blame it on uh more violent storms,
combination of them. Uh but the the the fact of the matter is we were hearing a lot of this and and we have to get a a handle on on all of that. And my suggestion would be like this this can't be a little spot project. We have a
master plan review coming up probably next year that the planning board's going to have to to jump on. And my suggestion would be that we uh create a subcommittee on that master plan. I know some people have been involved in the master plans in the past. I know Kevin,
you are you were intimately involved in the last one. um where we really look at drainage holistically in town, where we look at our development codes, our um lot coverage area or you know impervious surface rules um where we look at where
we can invest in infrastructure and things like that. We we really have to take a really comprehensive look at that and the master plan is the perfect place to really begin to have that discussion. Um, so I I hope that we can do something
with that for next year. Uh, second thing is, um, Councilman Palowski mentioned I should mention it. Um, I did hear some comments today about talking to us about the school budget. I thought maybe I had just fallen asleep
because it was late and I was dreaming. Um, because we don't do the school budget here. We just don't. We do the municipal budget. That's 20% of your tax bill. School budget is done by the board of ed. If you want to come up and
campaign for your great ideas, uh do it at the board of ed. That's who creates the uh the school budgets. And we have an oversight responsibility. Uh three the mayor, two members of council sit with two members of the board of ed on
the board of school estimates that concurs their budget. they and but they don't make it. And this year is being brought up again. I'd just like to thank uh the mayor and Kevin and Dileia for pushing back on a
budget that was just had no basis in the reality of what our residents are going through around um cost of living increases. A 9% tax hike on the school budget that's on they're on planet Mars. So they should have pushed back but they
pushed back in a way you need to sharpen your pencils. That is the exact message that they should have given to the school board. And if you want to have it them do something different go to the board of ed and talk about how the budget should be done there because we
don't do it here. I don't know how many times I have to say that to people. That's the board of ed's job. Um uh let's see. Uh, third point, um, Councilman Smallwood
has been leading the charge. I'm going to pass it over to you before I make my fourth fourth point. We have an event on the 29th. Yes. Uh, thank you, Council President. Um, the Summit PL uh has always had a golf outing. this the largest fundraiser to uh provide funding for all of their
events that they do throughout the year such as the Easter egg hunt, uh the dog show, the the pet show, uh and also the uh fishing derby. And this year the golf outing uh is on Monday, September 29th
at Wong Golf Club, Wong Valley Golf Club. Uh and their PLA citizen of the year uh is being awarded to Jim Davidson. uh for his 27 years uh of uh being Summit's coach, probably one of the most successful coaches in the
country, uh is also part of the New Jersey Hall of Fame uh coaches and uh it's I couldn't think of anyone who was more welld deserving uh than Jim to receive the PAL citizen of the year. Fortunately,
because Jim is so successful and has uh coached so many students, student athletes that uh the golf outing is actually sold out. Uh however, the dinner uh dinner and reception and award ceremony is still available and it's on
the PLA uh summit pal.org website if you'd like to uh join us uh for for dinner and the uh the award ceremony for Jim. Thank you. All right. So, my last point, and I know it's super super late, and I want to thank the chief, Tammy, and you
in particular, Rosie, uh, um, but all of you for for staying, and everyone in the audience as well. Um, before I wrap up, uh, last last meeting, after last meeting, I got a phone call from Councilwoman Toth,
um, who was very upset, uh, which is fine, about the some of the comments at the end of the meeting and, uh, said, you know, it was it was more like a Republican rally than a council meeting.
And I take my role as council president very very seriously. It's an honor to be council president uh to serve summit and to be supported by all the people on the dis to do that role. Um and and so I I and I take it
seriously. So I said, you know what, I'm going to I'm going to relook at all the tapes. I hear your concern and I'm going to uh and I'll listen and if I need to talk to Councilman Palowski, I will do so and I'll call you back tomorrow.
And so I did. Councilman Palaskowski, you do talk a lot. Um but so uh so I looked at it and I wanted to respond to Claire and uh so I called back. But between there and then, Clara had put out a Facebook post,
you know, saying I should have stopped things and um you know, that I let it become a Republican rally, etc. And I'm like, well, I thought we were going to talk about that, but um I don't know why that happened, but regardless, I just
want to comment on on what I watched. So, I have had a conversation with uh our clerk who's seen it seen it all. And one of the things I've become very cognizant about is speaking
for the city for policy when there's no consensus on what that policy should be. Because I'm only one person. We're all just one vote. We can't speak about policy until a
majority of council people vote on it. Then it becomes city policy. Okay. So, um I think you know there was some talk about you know I know Dia was being honored and I completely agree with everything that the mayor said that
you've done on the uh on the task force and that seemed to kick things off. I don't know why we can't be gracious and say nice things about each other without it becoming political. We should be able to do that. Um I don't
know why you can't give a little golf clap at a minimum when we do nice things for people. I guess it might be because you know everything gets viewed in a political lens and that's kind of sad to me. I I'm not angry about it. I'm just
disappointed I guess that it's gotten to that. we should be able to um say things now specifically about Councilwoman Palowski stuff. He mentioned the your summit together team in response to a
Facebook post, but then he went on to talk about all these accomplishments that the majority had instituted. Now, you could look at that and think, "Oh, he's talking about Republicans." if you want to.
But the reality is almost every single one of the things that he spoke about were passed unanimously. They weren't passed by a Republican majority. They were passed by a council majority,
including everybody up here. And that's kind of how I look at things. That's how we should look at it. We all work together as a team and we have our differences and you know there can be some spirited debates. There were definitely a few tonight. We don't agree
on everything but when we vote I keep a I jot it all down. I could go back the last year. We agree on 99% of everything we we vote on. That's the council majority. That's
the thing that I care about. And when Councilman Palowski speaks about it, you can either look at it and say, "He's not including me." But you remember that you voted for it. He is including you and you should be proud of the things that
we've done. I certainly am. And we've all been part of it. And until we start to think that way, we have to end this tribalism. We're all doing this together. And that's what's super super important.
You know, I've I've said Claire does a great job with finance many many times, but if you listen to the, you know, the echo chambers out there, they, you know, they hate what we've done with the budget.
Claire's led the budget. I will I will thank her again if it if it means that she gets a few more votes in a few years. You can use my my comment to to to promote you. we should be doing that. She did a great job
and we need to do more of that and we have to think that way. So, so that is kind of the way I'm thinking and I get it. Some people may view it differently and everyone has the are entitled to their opinion, but if we all are in it together and as I said, we almost vote
on everything unanimously. Let's all own it. If we're all up here doing the what's right for summit in our own way and doesn't mean again we agree on everything but we agree on most things which I think is pretty special and that is the end of my comment.
I'd like to make a motion to adjourn for that. All right. Uh all in favor I we are m