uh good evening everyone uh Welcome to our common council meeting uh for this Wednesday a little odd but uh because of the President's Day weekend uh we uh we're having it this Wednesday rather than our normal Tuesday um but we're here nonetheless uh
so at this time um Madame clerk would you please read the adequate notice of compliance statement yes 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 the 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
Theus and return it thereafter thank you so much um all right a roll call please Mr Boer pres Miss Hamlet here miss cinon here Mr palaski Mr Smallwood here miss to here council president turn
presid all right at this time um I'd like to ask Reverend Tanner to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you rob all right um at this time Madam clerk will you please read the explanatory note regarding closed session and hearings and comments a Clos
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 clo uh uh published close session agenda please be advised that Council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channel 36
and 34 and Verizon channels 30 and 33 and rebroadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays on httv on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33 when invited to speak please come to the lecturn 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 a or email a copy to the city clerk's office at city clerk cityofsummit.org to help
facilitate an orderly meeting and permit all to be heard speakers are shall limit their comments to 3 minutes unless you are using electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or needed for professional emergency contact purposes please turn it off thank you right thank you so much um all right at this time do
I have a motion to approve the minutes of regular and close session for February 4th 2025 so move second all right um all in favor I
opposed motion carries all right um we're on to the report section of our meeting um as always uh Madame mayor could you take us out please thank you council president good evening everyone it has been a busy few weeks in Summit and I wanted to take a moment to share a
few updates um I had the privilege of speaking with the to the Old Guard yesterday about where we are as a city and where we're headed and I'm happy to report we had about 100 participants who asked some terrific questions I also met with uh our Suburban Chamber of Commerce last Friday and gave an
update on what's happening in Summit along with the mayor of New Providence and a council member from Berkeley Heights it was a great opportunity to strengthen our regional ties and work together on local initiatives and learn uh from one another on Thursday February
27th the Department of Community programs will host a Black History Month celebration at the Summit Community Center there will be two separate programs for adults and children workshops will take take place from 5:30 to 7:30 Rashad writes will present a
workshop on Slam poetry and songwriting and morice Chestnut will also present a workshop on the history of African-American dance there will be light Refreshments served as well and there is no pre- registration required as always please make sure you're following us on social media and
sign up for notifications through our website so you can stay updated especially with winter weather notices quick reminder to move your car off of the streets when it's snows um remember we have the tier and Broad Street garages for overnight parking if needed in an impending storm so that we can
clear the roads um and please if you do use those garages to be sure to move your uh cars by 8: a.m. the next day I have an update from New Jersey Transit for commuters using the Summit Train Station asking about when the stairway will be repaired uh design drawings are
ready for the state historic preservation office to review and that review can take about a month or at least a month um and anticipated construction is planned to start second quarter of this year depending on the state historic preservation office review and board
approval um I am often out in the community and hear about potholes and other issues that people spot and we do rely on your eyes and ears to help us stay on top of things so please use the C click fix app to report any concerns you come across it is a free app and you
can download it from the App Store alternatively you can use the report a concern button on our City website was a great way for us to help keep Summit running smoothly and I know director shreer will be grateful for any uh input into C Cliff fix um finally as you may
have ascertained from the agenda our police chief chief zagorski has announced his retirement Chief zagorski has served Summit for 36 years the last three as Chief we are incredibly grateful for his service his dedication and his leadership of course we will
miss him and we wish him well in his next chapter but I am confident that as a result of his guidance our police department will continue to thrive upon his retirement as a result of Chief zori's announcement we have begun the process of identifying his successor
thank you that's all I have all right thank you very much Madame mayor all right we're on to our city administrator report Miss Baldwin thank you council president good evening everyone uh first Please be aware that Union County has has issued a Code Blue Alert from
February 18th through February 23rd due to severe weather and below freezing temperatures if you or someone you know needs emergency shelter please contact 211 or visit New Jersey 211.org back/
New Jersey Code Blue for assistance also Summit is now participating in a countywide textile recycling program through helsy this initiative allows residents to drop off unwanted clothing and accessories at designated bins
throughout the city helping reduce the waste and support sustainability more details are available on the Union County website the summit free market will be open this Friday February 28th from 12: to 2 p.m. so please stop by to
recycle or find something new and finally we are in the process of finalizing the city's budget for introduction and we will be sending out a budget snapshot to all residents in the coming months and this will show you where your tax dollars are going and it
will highlight any rate changes and provide a breakdown of expenses so look forward to that thank you great thank you very much all right uh for my Council president's report I just have one thing I I do want to just thank um
director shreer and all his guys who uh do work tires tirelessly particularly this time of year um Aaron sends out not notices on when people are getting deployed and stuff and this is at like 2: in the morning or you know they've
worked all overnight brining or or plowing or what have you and it's uh it's a Herculean task and they do a great job keeping our City's uh Street streets plowed and safe for for us to move around so thank you for that and I would say um Jenny Hoff has put on a
great video If you haven't seen it I would suggest you check out it's on our Facebook page is that right I think someone told me that um and uh it's a it's a ride along in one of the uh the plow trucks and it's pretty cool um so you can you
can see the people the uh one of our our dedicated workers who's driving it it tells talks about what what he does and things like that and it it's really pretty cool so I think it's a great tribute to all the hard work that our DPW guys do so thank you so much um and that's my
report all right uh let's let's move along uh we've got a pinch hitter we're going to the bullpen for a historical minute uh councilman Boyer thank you council president uh for this historic minute as we all know it's a black
history month and it is time to recognize the trell Blazers whose contributions have shaped our communities our institutions and our future tonight I have the privilege of
honoring one one such leader a man whose service mentorship and steadfast commitment to Summit left a lasting impact Gerald Jerry Holmes was more than an officer he was a pillar of our community a mentor to many
and a force for a positive change Jerry came to Summit in 1964 after serving in the US military he joined the summit Police Department in 1973 where he was promoted to detective
in 1980 and dedicated 25 years to protecting and serving his community before retiring in 1995 but his influence extended far beyond the badge he paved the way for future Generations by fostering trust
between law enforcement and the people they serve he he understood that Public Safety was not just about enforcing laws it was about building relationships investing in young people and leading by example Jerry played an instrumental
role in shaping youth programs that still impact Summit today he was actively involved in the boys and girls club and police explorers he helped launch summit's dare program even dressing up as McGruff the crime
dog to make a difference in kids' lives most notably he mentored six Young young people guiding them in the creation of summit neighborhood Council which later evolved into the summit Youth Center in
1973 Jerry's dedication service to the community was recognized when he was named the new Province United Way citizen of the year a testament to his leadership generosity and heart Jerry
was not only a devoted public servant but was a remarkable father and Mentor he lovingly raised five children of his own while also extending his home wisdom and support to many others in need his
selfishness and generosity knew no bounds he was a steady hand and a Guiding Light for so many his legacy lives on in the officers he trained the young lives he he touched and the community he strengthened
Summit was not just where he worked it was his home his heart and his purpose and I'm happy to say that Jerry was my Uncle M darl Stevens father-in-law uh so this acknowledgement
means a lot to me so um happy Black History Month detective Holmes thank you council president thank you that was well spoken uh awesome um all right uh we've got a couple of
presentations uh uh this evening the first one is from our capital projects and community service we're happy to have Nancy Holmes our affordable housing Council here who's going to give our 2024 affordable housing annual status
report so thank you for being here absolutely uh good evening everyone um the affordable housing committee um met last night um and held its annual update meeting uh this is held in accordance with the
city's Court approved settlement agreement with fair share housing center uh which requires that an Ann annual meeting be held with notice to fair share housing center and local clergy where the city can report on its affordable housing efforts from the past year and provide time for public comment
and questions uh we had a great meeting last night I believe uh there were about 40 people that attended by Zoom um full of great questions from the public um and I'm actually adding some information um based on those questions tonight um
into this report um there will be a revised report published hopefully within the next week as long as um I'm make sure that everything's reflected uh that was asked last night and um and some changes that we knew we had to make
before the meeting so um um I'm not going to read the entire report to you because um that would be tedious um this is already such exciting uh subject matter to begin with um so I'm going to add um a few things uh
under the first quarter um it the common Council adopted a resolution of need supporting the Summit Housing Authority's efforts to apply for hmfa State funding for a large scale res renovations to The Summit Housing Authority buildings and units uh
ultimately they did not pursue that funding um but that did that did occur in the first quarter of of uh last year um the municipal housing Le on uh Matt delori uh met with the Civic Summit Civic Foundation to uh to request that
their 24 privately owned affordable units uh that are that they keep affordable to households um be deed restricted so that we can use them as credits um toward uh the Mount Laurel program um and they they um but they
declined that um in February of 2024 the council created the Mount Laurel subcommittee uh this is to work on uh the legal components of round three and round four uh it meets regularly um and is meeting a lot very soon since we have
a deadline of June 30th to create our new affordable housing plan um also in um in February 2024 we held the 2023 annual updated meeting uh that was properly noticed um and in conformance
with the court approved settlement agreement with fair share housing center um and then we also provided the update at the council meeting uh which is also required by that uh by that agreement um if anyone in the public is looking for any prior annual update reports they're
all online at cityofsummit.org um and this one will be a revised version of this report will be published there as well um The Summit affordable housing Corporation presented a 42 unit 100% affordable housing project on The Old
Firehouse site at a council meeting um during the public comment period that was that proposal was immediately uh forwarded to the mat Laural subcommittee for review um and you'll see at the bottom
of uh the first quarter where it says that there were meetings scheduled with special needs housing groups Overlook hospital and other entities uh for possible affordable housing projects um if there is anyone in the public or on
the council who knows of a church or another um another entity that's looking that has property or would like to further their mission of their Church uh to create affordable units please let us know um we're always looking for new
opportunities um in the second quarter uh the M members of the M Laural subcommittee met with um The Summit affordable housing Corporation um about the 42 unit project uh the subcommittee reviewed all of the
plans um and all of the options and presented recommendations to council um Council ultimately um decided to pass on the project and uh create an overlay zone for the larger area um that
included several other uh several other lots that that overlay has a minimum number of seven affordable units that have that can be uh constructed on that site it can obviously include more um there was also a mailing asking landlords if they
would uh wish to deed restrict their units in exchange for a subsidy um to create affordable units out of market rate units uh so far there's been no interest um meetings in the second and third quarter were held with our house
Summit Housing Authority Rose house which is a supportive and special needs provider uh St Teresa's Pilgrim Baptist Church and the United Method Methodist Church about possible affordable housing projects um all of those um uh all of those entities are in
various stages of uh whether they're considering affordable housing projects uh Pilgrim Pilgrim Baptist Church decided to go another route um in the third quarter Stephanie suos was appointed Municipal housing housing leaz
on um and I wanted to give her a large amount of credit she did a fantastic job in putting all of the all of the city's unit data and trust fund data into the new affordable housing monitoring system she and Mark leckington did a fantastic
job and it was a huge effort um so and they they met the February 15th deadline that just passed um and everything is in now to the DCA which is a huge task because they had Stephanie had to input
every line item from the trust fund since the city started collecting funds so it's that was a big deal so she did a fantastic job and I wanted to give her a lot of credit for that um in the third quarter uh an offer was made to our house to destrict one of their existing
four-bedroom group homes um which was accepted and in the fourth quarter uh the city executed an agreement with our house um provided a subsidy and the deed restriction was recorded so it will remain um there will be four bedrooms uh
deed restricted for 30 years for special needs individuals in the city of summit they are also actively looking as part of that agreement for a another four-bedroom group home uh within the city so if anyone has any ideas they're looking for property um they do have
specific requirements um and they are looking for our house does own uh Condominiums throughout the city um and there are several special needs individuals who are getting older and need more of a group home environment rather than living on their
own one of them I think everyone knows is Andy and he they would like to keep him in Summit and so this is something that I think Summit citizens can get get behind um the state really is very very
low on supportive and special needs units uh it's really actually quite a crisis so um if everyone can work together that would be great to um to see if our house can build another uh Group Home in town uh in the fourth quarter I'm sorry
third quarter the council also passed a resolution Divi defining a clear process for developers when they're approaching the city uh with uh projects that include affordable units um we the M Laural sub committee has used this process uh several times to meet with
developers over the past year um in the fourth quarter um the Habitat for Humanity project on 146 Morris Avenue began um began closing on units they're still in the process of that um housing
affordability service is the state run administrative agent and they're the ones that process all of the applications qualify the households and um execute the closing so we're wait we're hoping that either this quarter or the next quarter that project is
completely full so um so that would be great to have all of those units filled um in October of 2024 the DCA released the round four numbers in accordance with the new um the new statute that c
that was um adopted and signed into law in March of 2024 uh and the city's round four numbers are um a 59 unit Rehabilitation obligation and a uh new construction obligation of
345 and as I said before the meeting was held last last night um and it was a great turnout um I did want to um note there were some questions about the trust fund balance on page believe it's page three
um that is just as of December 31st of 2024 it's not meant to be um an accounting at all it's just to show what the balance is what some what the expenditures were in December um it's there basically to show the current
balance uh in the trust fund um as I mentioned Stephanie um has input all of the trust fund data into the state system um and I did confirm with Mark leckington our administrative agent that everything
is in the unit monitoring and the trust fund data is in it's not clear when the public site will be available um on the dca's website to to check that information um but that should be fairly
soon we hope so um when that's available I will make it part of my affordable housing update that I do every month and bring it uh to everyone's attention and I could ask the public just to check the website we'll put um put that monitoring
data up as soon as we can um I did want to I made a few new charts um that is the old one but I think I sent to new ones did they give
you those that's all I have no okay um no problem um so that the chart that's in the report now uh needs to be updated we actually had some um some projects fall out in
the last few weeks and some new projects uh come to fruition so um I'm just going to review those really quickly um and this is related to the 50 new unit obligation so you can kind of see it um
okay so we have um and also I've added some information that um members of the public had asked for uh last night um just to um help them understand uh what type of units we have and what the status of those units are so we have one
unit at 412 Morris that is a family unit and it is current it is constructed and occupied uh 146 Morris is Habitat for Humanity as I uh just spoke about that is fully constructed and they are filling the units as we speak um 123 to
127 Summit Avenue um there are three units there they are family units and they are constructed and occupied uh Ashwood Court is part of the settlement with Habitat for Humanity uh that agreement states that up to two units could could be built there um they would
be in accordance with our settlement agreement if that's uh how those units get built uh they would be family units because we have an obligation of at least 25 of those units to be family units um that that is still still pending um it's it's not clear how many
units can be uh built on that site um 557 to 565 Morris uh is an approved project of seven family units uh the Morris and Broad overlay Zone um it has a minimum number of affordable units of
seven those will be family units and uh my understanding is that the bidding process will begin soon uh in the next couple of months um our house as I discussed uh is a group home that exist that is constructed and occupied it is
now deed restricted for 30 years uh that's for credits um the credits for group homes are based on the bedroom uh so there it's a four-bedroom unit so therefore it's four credits uh Brandy Wine assisted living facility uh is
constructed and occupied they fall under a requirement uh by the state that at least 10% of their beds be available to Medicaid recipients so 10% of their uh of their facility gives us 10 senior
units which are constructed and occupied I believe it was constructed in 2021 um and within the last week uh we had a final um a final unit confirmation of 12 units for a 100% senior uh
affordable senior project with Bergen County United Way um that's still being finalized as far as um legal things and uh um a developers agreement um and those things so uh as soon hopefully we
can add uh more information very quickly um so that gives us a total of 62 out of 50 uh 50 units toward the 50 new units by June by July 1st of
2025 um and I did want to uh explain as I did at the last uh at the meeting last night um everyone is focused on the 50 units always and that's okay um but I did point out last
night that the city did have another obligation which is called The Realistic development potential and that happens uh you get your number from on high and then you adjust it based on how much vacant land that you have and Summit had
a combined realistic development potential which is you know in in my jargon called an RDP um of 36 units uh the city fully satisfied that with a 13 unit Surplus um
so not only has the city now facilitated the construction of 62 out of the 50 that were um that were um in the in our settlement agreement but we also have 49
credits from our realistic develop vment potential um and those are all constructed and occupied so um I know everyone was focused on the 50 but though but I wanted everyone to ackn
also acknowledge that Summit has created affordable units and a and a significant amount based on the lack of vacant land that it does have so um those were those were clarifications that we discussed last night so I just wanted to bring that to the Public's attention as well
so do you have any questions all right great um thank you so much Nancy um I think at this time I'm gonna ask if anyone in the public would like to uh maybe ask a question of Nancy while she's here and then we'll open it up for Council questions anyone from the public
is it just questions or is a comment as well comments you can answer yeah oh you can make a comment too if you'd like sure if you're commenting keep it to 3 minutes sure will thank you yeah good evening everyone my name is Ellen boand
I live at 137 Tulip Street and I'm a member of at home and Summit um I first want to just start by recognizing and acknowledging that this Council and mayor inherited this problem of getting over the Finish Line um four four months
from now um and uh and I appreciate what you've been doing to try to get us over the Finish Line um and even though you didn't create the problem I do think you have a responsibility to fix it and do what you can I I'm at I feel like I'm at a great
disadvantage and I said this last night at the meeting because we don't really have a report that has concrete data and hearing Miss home to say today what they've done haven't done what's family what's not family it's not helpful I need to see numbers in front of me
otherwise I can't really analyze it um I've looked at the data that is available and I have two concerns about where we are right well I have three concerns actually but one is uh 50% of the units under round three are supposed to be
family units so that's 25 family units and I have counted um 14 for sure and possibly four more at 557 565 moris Avenue which is short of the 25 and also
133% % of the 50 are supposed to be very lwi income units that's seven units and I've only counted um one that's done and one that's in the pipeline so that's deficient by five units at least so
that's you know part of the problem is we don't have concrete data things to look at and analyze and the other part is from what I put together there are deficits and I also have to note that um the recent efforts that you been putting into getting us over the Finish Line
have involved units for single individuals the um the project that's proposed by um United Way that's listed here the r our house group homes we desperately need special needs housing
and housing for seniors but we really need housing for families too and I don't how we're going to get there if we're just going to do peace meal um little developments and I just want to also bring your attention the main concern that I have right now is with
round four um the city's working on the plan right now that I'm sure that Consultants planners are working on the fair share plan and housing element that's got to be done in 4 and a half months um and part of that as you know is the city's been given the number of
345 I'm sure that number is going to be reduced and part of that is a vacant land analysis and I feel it's really um not serious if the city is selling the property at Broad Street West while this
process is in place you're going to come to a conclusion there's no vacant land when there is land that's buildable and if you're serious about affordable housing I urge you to hold on to that land at least part of it to build housing thank you thank you very much
for your comments um just to clarify 35 of the 50 units are family units in the in that please come on Dennis white 137 tulip thank you um I mean you know I
spent a lot of time looking at these affordable housing issues I think you all know and you know tonight we got a report um that is totally inadequate really doesn't let us look at it this is a report that was distributed by the city clerk on Friday and then last night
we saw a completely different report and now tonight we're seeing another report so it's kind of frustrating to come before the group here and try to make some you know analysis of what's going on and I think if you can turn to the uh trust fund numbers I mean this is a
trust fund right and the city has an obligation to report on the money that comes in and the money that goes out and how that was deployed and yet we just get this very inadequate uh balance for the year and you know the city had a year to do this so I mean if you could
turn to that page with the trust fund balance I mean that's not an accounting of a trust fund for an annual an annual report so you know I would just urge the council to try to do a better job in preparing this information again we don't know the composition of the units
that are coming up you know we're the best we can do is look at the look at them and think you know what how much are affordable how much are low income how much are family but the information is not being provided so I think you know this Commit This Council has talked about transparency
and we're not getting that uh and I I just would urge you to provide the information and just one last comment I think you heard is that as we go into round four the firehouse site is the one remaining site where the city can really make a real impact on affordable housing
and yet I think the mayor last night and Miss Holm just just re just said they're they're kind of running to get rid of that property you know kind of get want to get rid of before the June 30th deadline and I think if this group was really committed they would hold that and put it into the round four
discussion to develop affordable housing in town thank you thank you other comments comments all right uh okay we'll move on then to comments from Council any comments from Council or questions for
Nancy councilwoman Hamlet um I have to say thank you all for your comments um I think this is a meaningful day for us because we have spent a lot of time and energy and just trying um to facilitate getting to 50 um and obviously we've we've made progress towards that but I
don't think it ends there I think um to everybody's point we have to continue to work together in this progress and it's really important for all of us to get family units as well um we have another call I think tomorrow with our house um I'm your planning board liaison so uh I
know Steve spur is is very much uh aligned with with our Vision especially of providing U public input in the fair share housing element plan uh and making sure that uh the desires of the community such as family units is is heard and you're a part of that so um
thank you for coming and thank you for caring um appreciate it and we'll get you those trust fund numbers I promise and I think Mark luckington I think he actually did them Rosie what the it's it's all finished it's all fin we'll get this week like I said it's a new system
and I asked him today to figure out how to print out for 2024 um the trust fund data he's trying to work on it it's a brand new system um that DCA had about a couple months to figure out they're
still working out the the bugs there there's a lot of actually municipalities that still can't even log into the system so it's been it's been quite a process but um oh hopefully soon um based on what what Mark said that
hopefully in the next next month or so that there'll be a public interface that um on this on the dca's website so that that information is readily available to everyone so thank you other comments from Council
Members yes uh councilman Smallwood please thank you council president um you obviously this is an extremely complicated issue and for a lot of people to really digest everything that is required what is talked about in our agreement with fair share housing
um including myself right so it's extremely difficult to completely understand so for round three how many affordable units did we provide okay so for for round three um we had the realistic
development potential which is when you take all the vacant land in the city and decide what is suitable for inclusionary development um at a presumptive density and then you come up with this number so
you presume a 20% set aside so I I will try very hard not to put everyone to sleep um so you take all the land and let's say there is 10 acres and your minimum density is 10 units an acre right so then you calculate it's that
many units and then you take 20% of that and that's your that's how you get your RDP so so um so the our number is 36 um we had 40 um 40 actual
units um four of which were group home eight of which were seniors and the remainder are all family units um that so that and then there's a rental bonus that you're allowed um on
any uh to incentivize the construction of family rental units uh which we satisfied which you have a maximum number of nine so we had a total of 49 credits toward our 36 so we had a 13 unit Surplus um so that gets applied um to
the overall number uh once once your number is adjusted down there's this thing called the unmet need and the unmet need is your number minus your RDP so that you um try to find areas that will develop and redevelop so that you can capture affordable housing we have a
mandatory set aside ordinance to capture that we have overlay zones um we also have developers come in who want to propose projects uh different places so um we also have uh what's called a regional contribution agreement with
elizab with the um city of Elizabeth uh where we paid for the construction of uh 26 affordable units that is no longer a mechanism that's allowed they uh they removed that uh by the legislature removed that so then um after that we um
so our unmet need just to backtrack a little bit is 702 for round three we have the 36 RDP and then we have the unmet need of 702 with the RCA the Surplus and the
credits toward the 50 new unit goal our unmet need balance is now 601 so we brought brought it down 100 units okay so so but in in round three we were required to or it's the the 50 number
unit right how many did we create um we the so the requirement is to facilitate the construction of and obviously we can't force a developer to to construct anything um so we as of today uh have facilitated the construction of 62 out
of 50 that doesn't mean there all constructed yet that means that they're in various stages of either we're getting a um developers agreement finalized for the senior project um con there are some that are constructed and occupied and then
there's others that are uh still in process so so a total of 61 two 62 yeah 62 out of 50 but only 16 have been Crea so honestly sorry so
that is not true but anyway according to fairshare housing they're recognizing 62 um we're we're still working with fairshare housing on on getting them all the all the information but they were they were on the uh uh the meeting last night they they didn't comment or
anything but they were there so okay so they they have all the information okay thank you great other questions or comments from Council no I'll just wrap up then uh ncy I just want to thank you I know you've been working really really hard here and
it doesn't help when the state changes their reporting software in the year that they changed the rules for round four um but there you have it uh so I know you've been under a tremendous burden to get a lot of this
stuff done and I know you're working really really hard and I know you will continue to work very very hard as we get to uh the end of June um so thank you for that um yeah so I I think the feedback from the public was was good I
I also see that we do seem to have done over 50% of family units here based off these numbers but I do think it would be great if we had a category for the very low income ones on here too so that we could see that would be great um the the
only other thought thing I have is you know as you mentioned we had an obligation to facilitate uh up to 50 units so um so we have been obviously trying very very hard to facilitate that and uh it's
happy to see that it looks like these units have been facilitated which is great um because I know you know Summit has a very long history of promoting affordable housing and continues to do so question I have though is you know some of this stuff um as we've just
heard is is being uh is in the planning stages and obviously plants change so how does this work when plants change like say say the moris broad overlay we're putting the
seven in there as a minimum M um I think all our hopes are uh whoever does develop the site will have more than that does that mean that if say that number eventually comes out to 14 units for instance which I think would have
been the number if the original bid uh or the original um Redevelopment plan if it was a 70 or 80 unit uh apartment building that was originally
thought to be uh on that space would have provided say we get something like that where does those extra units go do those go to round four or do they get still stuck in round three because it do does it follow the property or does it follow how many units get created so the
new statute requires that municipalities go back and look at their round three plan and if uh like you said plans change uh I have several municipalities where developers have walked away from projects and so you have to go back and
fill a gap in your plan first and then you take your credits um that you have and you apply them either to your round four plan or to holes in your um holes in your round three plan so it's a long
convoluted explanation but we're going the Mount Laurel subcommittee is going to look at every single credit you know beat beat down the bushes to find some things that may have been overlooked um and take all of our credits and make sure that they get first applied to
round three and then um applied to round four uh once we do the vacant land analysis okay great all right thank you that's all I have um all right with that uh Nancy thank you very very much appreciate it you thanks everyone all right um we've got a double
header in presentations uh tonight which is great um so our second presentation is from Community programs and Parking Services uh David Guida our assistant director is going to give a presentation on the tatlock playground thank you council president
very excited to be presenting these hot off the press designs tonight um so this is what um what you're seeing right there is uh what is hopefully coming to tatlock playground by and I
keep saying this if we put this good energy out in the air it will happen by the end of this year um turn it on did you turn nope I didn't I always have an issue with this I should know this by now thanks n thank you okay so just a little bit of
background on how this design was created so so um we've been talking about Playgrounds for a while now um in June 2022 Suburban Consulting delivered a full playground assessment to us with a $1.3 million estimate for the tatlock
playground um and looking at all of our playgrounds in town knowing very well that pretty much all of them need a decent amount of work we kind of took the analysis and said hey each playground needs to have a unique feature that makes it special makes
gives everybody a destination to go to and Summit so our tatlock playground we decided on the theme of nature so everything natural over there at tatlock um in the spring of 24 um along with mayor Fagan working with the ideas
classes at all of the elementary schools we solicited feedback from all of the students in those classes and they gave us some really amazing ideas um in the fall of this past year we sent out a survey including many many many of the
top elements that the students were requesting um in a survey and the survey was sent out also by the Washington school PTO to solicit further feedback on what parents would like to see for their children within all of the playgrounds November December of this
past year met with a couple different playground providers to gain information and different ideas compman kind of rose to the top and we ended up with some pretty cool designs to address a couple questions that have been raised throughout this process at um um tatlock
playground there is about 20% of it that is owned by the Board of Education um we are working on with the board of education on these plans however playgrounds apparently at the schools are also becoming a hot button topic right now um the board of EDS plan is to
renovate Jefferson School this year they then plan on moving on to hopefully pending grant funding redoing the playground at the Brighton back top blacktop in fiscal year 6 currently there are no plans for them to redo the
Franklin or Lincoln playgrounds again those are board ofed properties but just for the completeness of this presentation thought it was important to mention that because that has become a topic of conversation within these discussions purchasing because I have a feeling that this question would come up
all of the playground equipment is itself on state contracts so we'll be able to buy it through the state contract and compman also works with an installer who is on the Bergen County Co-op so we can have the installation and Equipment removal all done through the co-op which makes everything easy
don't have to go out to bid um because they are on these contracts so kind of just putting up some more images the playground will have the same existing footprint same entrances that currently exists we'll have the area for the 5 to 12 year olds the area for the 2 to 5y
olds and the real highlights of the playground are the Owl's Nest the owl uh the tree structures and um the there's two tree structures there and also a nature exploration area for the younger
children so just kind of ooh and awe everybody can look at oh that looks so great um all of these renderings will be available online as of tomorrow pending a affirmative action that we're good to
go with this design um tentatively to begin some fundraising campaigns so that's the exploration area for the little ones the tree structure lots of great elements within the playground and you can see that even with the swings
and everything we're going for that very natural wood look um which is really cool I think bird's eye view of what the playground will look like I'm biased I think it looks great um so now the real fun part to talk about is there is an option a and an option b option A comes
in at 1.3 million option b is just over a million uh the two options uh basically work off of each other option b obviously take some things out just kind of includeed at the bottom of what would be removed and what would be replaced within the playground so the
thought process basically why I'm here tonight is to ask Council to say I know it's not a formal um formal action but to kind of say hey yeah have at it with the fundraising So currently we do have
852 th000 in funding pending $500,000 in this upcoming budget cycle that has not been approved yet but I know that that has been part of the discussion process so assuming that that's approved we have the $852,000 clear distinction there because
it hasn't been approved yet so I apologize for jumping the gun saying that um but assuming we get that we would have a fundraising goal of $191,000 for playground a um to get the full shebang we would have a fundraising goal of $463,000
uh compman has also said that they have other ways that they can reduce the price especially as we see how the fundraising campaign goes uh so we can obviously cross those bridges when we get there uh playground timeline March through July and again the maybe
playground project I think we can all agree has really taken a life of its own has moved at a snail's pace so when we put this on paper and really see how this is going to go we see that fundraising it's not going to be a long drawn out fundraising campaign we're going to do some real distinct events
where we try to raise some funds for it um a stinct um fundraising campaign with bricks and also working with local nonprofits the Elks have expressed a great deal of interest in working with us they said typically they can get about $100,000 in fundraising from an
event um so that's kind of what has been thrown out there in may we would look to probably go out based on how the fundraising is going and at least commit to The Owl and the tree play structure because these items do need a seven-month lead time so once the budget
is hopefully adopted we'll be able to go out sign a contract basically to say begin constructing these play structures for us September is when we would need to have all the fundraising done by SL that's why say in July give us a little wiggle room by September we would have
the full contract and then by November December we could see some construction on the site um so that's it on um catlock just I have a feeling that these questions would come up so just real quickly to Breeze through it maybe playground we're getting there hopefully
by the summer right now we just have an outstanding um soil permit um once we get that we're going to send everything down to the D the pr has already been sent for approval um but then the bit specs go down after we get that done hopefully in March April we'll be
getting the bids out and then awarded in April to begin construction as soon as possible following that and because playgrounds are the hot button topic and it gets a little convoluted because we have three projects going on at the same time essentially we've now started
applying for grants for the memorial playground so I'll go back to the pretty looking picture cuz that's that's where we make friends when people see the nice stuff so that's that's it so basically what I'm here to ask for is just to say
hey these designs look great good luck fundraising thank you David um are there any uh questions or comments from the public on our playground plan none okay let's move on to council
any Council comments or questions Madame mayor usually don't do this but um so a couple questions one is I know that part of the reason we're having this conversation is because we got to a point with our 20 and 25y old playgrounds where we couldn't replace
things could so guess one of my questions is what's warranty situation for of this stuff and then sort of with that you mentioned wood which outdoors in New Jersey feels like a sort of scary
concept for something that's going to live outdoors so it's not all wood it's it looks like wood it's this recycled plastic material so it's not the aluminum that you look at on most playgrounds and um what was the first part of the question just a warranty oh the warranty there's a full warranty
page in a presentation that I can circulate to everybody on the main play structures it's like a it's there is a lifetime warranty that exists and then there's exactly but then there's a bunch of tiers there's certain things that are 5 years 10 years 15 years um and I think
there's a 25y year one as well so I can circulate that around everybody thank you of course other comments coun uh just one question so I'd like to remain optimistic uh but if we appropriate $500,000 and we don't come up with the
fundraising money what happens then we'll just have to scale the project back a little bit but a playground will be installed by the end of this year the okay that's the goal okay all right uh all right other comments or questions
from Council council president yes uh councilman small uh I'll be really quick uh David great job and I would like to give David credit for recognizing the fact that tatlock uh mascot is the owl and a lot of these renderings or I
guess the final rendering came from the students of tatlock uh I I love the idea of was I'm sorry Washington school elementary school um so I love the idea of you know reaching out to the kids who actually use use this and uh hopefully
you know at least the second third fourth graders will be able to use this next spring and fifth graders yes so thank you other comments are council president I just have to point out that I am ashamed as a Washington owl I did
not pick up on that so it's funny for about a week I was walking around in the office saying this owl this owl's so cool and everybody was just looking at me what is he on about with this owl and I finally had to say it's the Washington owls was it's pretty cool so I just have
one question what what do you do on the owl I mean do you climb it like I mean what is it there's act like it's you can climb it and then there's a rock wall there's different platforms that you can climb up and down on it so there's there
like a so the rock walls on the the two sides like those back wings or what wow and then I'm pretty sure that there's actually even a a small slide on the back of it as well the I when I post the uh renderings Tomorrow there's so many pictures of
everything uh you can see the whole the whole owl very cool good one Rie couldn't resist all right with that thank you very much David all
right all right um so that's it for our presentation part of our meeting we're we now we have one two three ordinances for hearing and for final uh consideration so um our first one Madam clerk will you please read uh our
ordinance the first ordinance for hearing from safety and health yes uh ordinance number 25-33 31 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-19 midblock crosswalks thank you very much uh
councilman Boer thank you council president uh this is ordinance that our esteemed clerk just read uh 25- 3331 which was introduced at our last meeting and is now before us for a final
adoption this ordinance formalizes the existing midblock crosswalk at Norwood Avenue and removes a previous approved previously excuse me approved but unconstructed crosswalk at one springful
Avenue uh the for this adoption enhances pedestrian safety maintains uh accurate and upto-date city ordinances supports efficient city government uh this ordinance has been
reviewed and approved by the Caps committee and Safety Committee and has undergone undergone excuse me the proper instruction geez I'm am off tonight the proper introduction and
public hearing process at this time I respectfully move for the final adoption of this ordinance open the hearing open the hearing open the hearing do I have a second second all right I'm going to declare the hearing open uh at this point uh in time does any member of the
public wish to speak on this ordinance all right I'm going to close public comments for this ordinance and move along to council person comments all right uh we're going to close the um hearing on safety and health ordinance number one um moving right along Madam
clerk will you please read the ordinance from the community programs and Parking Services ordinance number 25- 3332 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-25 regulations for the movement and the parking of traffic on
Municipal property and Board of Education property subsection 7-20 5.2 Municipal parking lot areas uh thank you so much um councilman Smallwood thank you council president this is uh
ID ordinance ID number 25 3332 this is to amend the current ordinance to allow the resident communs to to be able to park in the tier garage currently there are on average over 50 available spaces each day in the tear garage it would give us approximately a
net increase in Resident community parking between the Broad Street East parking lot and the tier garage I move to open this ordinance for hearing do I have second I'll okay awesome um all right I'm going to declare the hearing open at
this time would anyone from the public like to speak uh about this ordinance all right I'm going to close public comments uh Council comments I a yes Council woman uh Hamlet please may a question that you're all going to laugh at me for but is there a reason why when
we do a hearing for an ordinance that we just can't we don't get public comment afterwards so why can't we just vote on it afterwards because we have to close the hearing right once we close the hearing why can't we just go back in and vote on this because I feel like we talk about it and then we do a couple things then
we go back and we do it again it's just because um the way our uh agenda is want it's it's done in sections so we have ordinances for hearing then we ordinance of final consideration and sometimes we'll have ordinances for introduction
okay so it's just we bundle the type of um activity that we're we're talking about it council president may I Madam clerk knows a lot more about this than me I'm just curious only because I've I've heard this before from other council members that it kind of gives
you a second to digest what you've just heard in this case there are no hearing there are no comments but you know you close the comments and then before vote you've had a moment to think about it and that's really what it is I was just curious thank you thank you uh other
comments from Council all right I I would just say it's I think it's great that um Community programs and parking they're always thinking about utilizing numbers we are going through a period where uh with working from home ride share uh you
know we're going to be dealing with automatic driving cars at some stage in the future they're already doing it in San Francisco for cabs for instance um these if we're not always looking at how our parking uh assets are being utilized
then we're going to miss the boat so I I commend um Nicole and everyone to and the committee for for doing this so thank you all right any other comments all right I'm going to close the hearing on this ordinance and moving right along to our third ordinance for hearing Madam
clerk will you please read the capital projects and Community Services ordinance yes number 25-33 33 an ordinance amending the code chapter 2 Administration Article 4 departments created section 2-14 Department of Community
Services uh thank you so much uh councilwoman Hamlet uh thank you council president this is ordinance 25-33 33 this ordinance amends section 2-14 of the city code to memorialize changes in the organizational structure of the Department of Community Services
specifically this ordinance provides that the department shall be divided into three divisions the divisions of ear sorry the division of engineering and Public Works the Construction Division and the land use division this ordinance specifies the functions of each division and provides that in the absence of a director of community
services the head of division of engineering and Public Works shall be the director of engineering and Public Works the head of the land use division so shall be the head of the land use manager and the head of the Construction Division shall be the construction ction official so essentially uh the new
department will have three uh division heads reporting directly to the city administrator I'd like to introduce this ordinance open the hearing sorry open the hearing do I have a second second all right I'm going to declare this hearing open at this time any uh
comments from the public on this ordinance no okay um close that section of the hearing and we'll go to council comment uh or questions on this no very good uh seeing none all right I'm going to close the hearing uh
and that uh has us finishing up our hearings uh portion of our meeting and now we're going on to the our ordinances for final consideration which will be the same three ordinances um Madam clerk will you please read the uh ordinance for final
consideration from safety and health ordinance number 25-3 3331 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-19 midblock crosswalks thank you so much uh councilman Boer thank you council
president having just closed the hearing I respectfully move for the final adoption of ordinance 25- 3331 second thank you all right roll call please Mr Boyer I miss Hamlet I
miss cinon I Mr small Smallwood I miss to I president McAn I motion carries all right um Madam clerk will you please read the uh ordinance for final consideration from Community programs
and Parking Services number 25-3 332 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-25 regulations for the movement and the parking of traffic on Municipal property and Board of Education property subsection 7-25 .2
Municipal parking lot areas thank you so much councilman Smallwood thank you council president having just closing having just closed this hearing on ordinance number ID 25332 I move to open the uh ordinance for final
consideration second thank you all right uh roll call please Mr Boyer I miss Hamlet hi Miss kinson hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr to miss to I president McAn I motion carries all
right our last one Madam clerk will you please read the ordinance for final consideration from capital projects and Community Services ordinance number 25-3 333 an ordinance amending the code chapter 2 Administration Article 4 departments created section 2-14
Department of Community Services thank you so much councilwoman Hamlet thank you council president uh as we we just closed the hearing for ordinance 25- 333 uh I would like to open this ordinance for final consideration so
moved is that a second second all right um roll call please Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet hi Miss cinon hi Mr Smallwood hi Miss to hi president McAn
hi motion carries all right thank you everyone um as we move right along uh to our resolution section of our meeting this evening first up is uh there's a couple from Finance uh councilwoman to finance number one please okay thank you
council president this is ID number 11789 authorizing tempor emergency temporary Appropriations to the m Municipal operating budget the explanation for this resolution and the immediately following one are essentially the same um until we pass
the 2025 bud the city is operating under the temporary Municipal operating budget the council passed on January 7th and that budget allows the city to spend 26.25 per of the 24 2024 budget line
item by line item and in the real world expenses don't flow evenly throughout the year much less throughout a quarter so Summit spends more at the beginning of the year on some of the some of the budget items and the only way to authorize this needed spending is via
this resolution we're required to call it an emergency but it's standard operating procedure I move to adopt this resolution second thank you very much um do I have any comments from the public on this
resolution comments from Council all right I believe we have to have a roll call on this yes Mr Boer hi Miss Hamlet hi Miss cson hi Mr Smallwood hi Miss toad I president McAn I motion carries all right on to finance number
two councilwoman to thank you council president this is ID 11773 authorizing emergency temporary Appropriations to the Sewer utility budget this is the same situation as with the immediately preceding resolution on the M on the municipal
operating budget I move to adopt this resolution second thank you uh comments from the public comments from councel all right roll call on this one as well please Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet
hi Miss cson I Mr Smallwood I miss to I president McAn I motion carries all right Finance number three councilwoman to okay thank you council president this is ID number 11767 authorizing the city to approve
the documentation needed for Capital Improvements to the Joint meeting this and the immediately following resolution cover the same situation so I'll explain them together The Joint meeting is essentially a co-op sewage treatment facility of which Summit is part owner
it's existed for about a 100 years is very well-run and is even more costeffective part of what keeps it so well-run is that the joint meeting has a biannual Capital Improvement project and for a variety of reasons the 2019 Capital Improvements were not completed
they're happening this year and the The Joint meeting is issuing bonds with the New Jersey infrastructure Bank to fund them ibank loans tend to be very low cost and Summit share is $720,000 this resolution authorizes Summit to
enter into into the agreements necessary to issue its share of the overall bonds and the next resolution authorizes the issuance of the bonds themselves I move to adopt this resolution second uh comments from the public
comments from Council the um I just have one comment again um this is something I I think councilwoman tote said it we pay a share of the uh expenses from The Joint meeting we are an equity holder um the
way they allocate our share is based off of our our what we send there so without getting too into the weeds um it's the flow that goes in there uh one of the things I know uh director shager has worked very very hard on is our storm
water management system um it's to keep rainwater out of our sewer system because if it gets in there we get charged for it it it's it becomes flow so we've done a really really good job I know uh over the last uh several years
decade really I know Aaron you focused on this and and it pays real dividends because it means our of all these expenses goes down which is awesome so thank you for that okay um any other comments all right uh roll call please
Mr Boer hi Miss Hamlet hi Miss cson hi Mr Smallwood hi Miss to I president mcer I okay motion carries let's go to finance uh number four councilwoman to okay thank you council president this is ID number
11765 authorizing the city to issue up to $720,000 worth of bonds to fund The Joint meeting Capital Improvements as explained above I move to adopt this resolution second thank you uh comments from the
public comments from Council okay another roll call I believe Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet hi Miss cinon hi Mr Smallwood i m to I president mcer I thank you okay uh moving along Finance
number five councilwoman to okay thank you council president this is ID number 11765 authorizing the city to extend the deadlines for the municipal budget the default date for introducing the budget is February 28th and that's as a
practical matter unworkable the budget can't be Reed for submission until after the prior Year's books are closed and the municipal annual financial statement is prepared that whole process take several weeks and there just isn't
enough time to do it all so with absent the state legisl amending the statute to comport with reality each year the division of local government services extends the various deadlines and this year the extended deadlines are March 7th for submitting last year's annual
financial statement March 31st for submitting the 2025 budget and April 30th for adopting it and given the Myriad of rules and regulations governing Municipal budgets we need this extra time I move to adopt the
resolution second thank you uh comments from the public please comments from Council all right uh all in favor I opposed motion carries uh last Finance
number six councilwoman to okay thank you council president this is ID number 11770 authoring us to authorizing us to request bids for IT services um for some years Summit has sh has had a shared services agreement with Madison with one
person working for both municipalities effective July 1st that person will work for Madison full-time we need a new contract in place with sufficient time for the transition this resolution author authorizes us to to
advertise for the IT services I move to adopt this resolution second all right uh any comments from the public comments from Council Council councilwoman H first sure uh thank you council president um as councilwoman to
just mentioned uh we will be severing the relationship with the shared services with Madison um I think as we depart this relationship we should uh have some discussions around whether or not we want to pursue another shared services with another municipality um I think in the meantime we have an
incredibly talented group of residents on the information technology committee uh councilwoman to and I hopefully by the end of this week we've been super busy we'll have our first uh technology meeting in the next week or two uh historically this committee hasn't met very often um but I think we really just
have to think about you know what does it mean um to have a digital strategy for Summit what do the residents want um what do we have today what are inclusive of the services what are the roadblocks uh ultimately what is the bigger strategy and I spoke with um our city administrator today and it sounds like
uh those wheels are already in motion she's uh taking a deep dive into all of the services seeing what the redundancies are um speaking with all the technology speaking with all the department heads um and I think ultimately we may find some redundancies and that's a good thing right it'll
ultimately save taxpayer dollars and we have a ton of residents who can streamline this process so I think it's a really exciting time to evaluate all of our systems and and streamline the processes great thank you councilman Boer thank you council president uh in
addition to what uh councilwoman Hamlet had said uh we actually had a meeting uh this morning to talk about something that's dear and near to me which is uh cyber security and our cyber security posture and inclusive of you know it
services and I'm in agreement that we need to look at this holistically uh there have been other municipalities in recent news you know ransomware is a really serious thing uh and we need to look at whether shared services is
something that Summit wants to do or uh if Summit needs uh some in-house uh security uh posture um especially these days that can also provide IT services for ecovery and different things so uh I
think uh I just want to thank uh our business administrator and our mayor for taking these matters very seriously uh sometimes especially in the corporate world uh cyber security is kind of the last thing that gets funded until
something happens so I'm I'm very happy that we are doing this right now and I think uh at the end of the day we'll leave Summit in a very secure situation so thank you thank you uh other
comments all right uh all in favor I hi opposed motion carries all right all right we're moving along to safety and health uh resolution number one councilman Boer thank you council president this is resolution ID
11782 uh this authorizes the purchase and installment of a new surveillance camera system at City Hall this resolution is brought forward to replace the existing surveillance system which is nearing the end of its operational life and is no longer under
warranty the new system will not only improve security at City Hall but also provide the tech or technological Foundation to expand the city surveillance Network into key areas including parking garages the central
business district and additional Municipal locations as needed this project is fully funded through uh the previous capital accounts um
and with this I move this resolution uh for adoption second thank you uh comments from the public welcome I don't know how I did this for six years it's uh don't start my clock
yet it's amazing commitment with all of you are doing it's um before I left tonight I was just calculating with my wife a year term on Council is about 200 minimum mandatory meetings that you need to go to for uh six years is 400 so do
the math and there's about a couple hundred more after that so I do thank you for all this and I've only been back here I think twice this being my second time so um now you can start my clock name and address don't forget yeah I
will uh my name is Pat Hurley my address is 192 ashin Road Summit New Jersey um so just a couple comments on this and and I I do thank councilman Boer for spending a lot of time listening uh to me because this is something that's near and dear to me because I've been
involved with security um security technology um security assessments Security Programs complex assessments all over the world for the last um uh collectively about 20 25 years uh especially with um artificial intelligence and you know AI Etc video
analytics and everything that we're looking to lay the foundation for and this being the first step in it um I think this resolution with the resolution I really do applaud the vision and the city's um efforts to update the existing security infrastructure here and establish the uh
you know the foundation um as implied in the documents what councilman Boer just said for the integrated video system powered by Advanced AI in the downtown um but that's a significant undertaking and uh I think that must be carefully planned and designed the the
specific resolution I uh that you're voting on tonight I only see an invoice asking for Council to approve about $110,000 on security cameras nothing more The Proposal from the vendor it's although it's fairly typical from the industry is sloppy it's kind of fraught
with project uh and Technology risk I think for the city for example I see a reference to a firewall but I don't see any references to existing or required new switching to power the cameras or the necessary bandwidth uh for the data
second I see the common industry disclaimer on cabling which forces the city to assume the project risk in additional expense of running new cables should the existing ones be incompatible this analysis should have been completed before the job was quoted not added as a
disclaimer to the invoice third there is no camera schedule or map depicting what types of cameras will be deployed and where or why a particular camera was selected for each location and how it is expected to perform versus manufacturers published
specifications additionally there is no power or storage budget presented to demonstrate the criteria used by the vendor to select the devices determine the required network configuration cable type and cable runs I could go on but in the interest of time I uh I won't I
think a vigilon cameras are um fantastic but I think this proposal is sloppy and it's not clear if the city is getting the best possible Ben benefit for the taxpayer dollars being sent spent additionally this proposal does not demonstrate how the project is laying the foundation for the proposed future
expansions but it does highlight a more important issue Council has done some great things in public safety along with the police the mayor and everybody over the last year but this idea of expanded um security infrastructure throughout the city you know it is the next logical
and the most intelligence step going forward it's extremely important the city develops a detailed plan and establish clear requirements for the selection and integration of the new Public Safety uh infrastructure can I have 20 more seconds got to wrap okay
most importantly we should learn from our joint joint Dispatch Center effort which is clearly a disappointment with founding participating municipalities including Sumit looking for Alternatives after less than 10 years in operation and a basically a 1 million uh dollar
Grant frustrate uh wasted and I will stop with that thank thank you uh former councilman Hurley and thank you for all your service on the council in the past your comments Mr President all right thanks everybody uh other comments from the public council president if he has a
statement oh um uh Mr Hurley if you have if that's a written statement uh could you please forward it to the clerk when you get I can't PR thank you very much thank you
um other comments from the public all right comments from Council uh councilwoman Hamlet um thank you council president I have to say I called councilman Boer today and my comments
were um it's $100,000 so contract why is the labor so high why is the labor not detailed out and the other couple of questions and this all goes back into it right as a council person you're not exactly supposed to know what a 15, Port is but when you see two of them on
your bill list in the same week and you see $100,000 worth of cameras you start to ask some questions and just just so that you understand what you're actually voting for and my question today was you know is is it okay to do a purchase order for this and of course it was okay because it was a state contract but I
was struggling and I'm just and Jamal this is I was just struggling with not having the big picture around you know where exactly are these cameras going and you know are we getting why are we paying so much for labor Jamal explained it to me well we're taking all these cameras down but I think going forward
if if the Departments could give a a better clearer understanding and just truly walk us through exactly where the cameras are going and and this also goes back into I think having our technology committee or person who's handling that just take a look at this because to Mr
Hurley's point a lot of these cloud-based Services could be shared they could be overlapping you know are the two ports here tonight that we're spending you know $28,000 on are they going to be able to support all of this equipment so um I would have liked a
little more information but I am comfortable that the I'm sure the department did their work but I was struggling with the invoice as well I just thought there wasn't enough I looked them up all day today that it's um ctmb I was I literally looked them up in the Cooperative purchasing because I
I thought I thought the purchase order or the um receipt whatever you call it was was I agree it wasn't enough detail thank you other comments council president yes councilman boy first I want to thank uh former councilman
Hurley for uh all of his advice um we've had multiple different conversations about drones and everything else and uh and cameras and uh the councilman is a subject matter expert I mean it knows
more about cameras and um you know ports and uh I mean it is it it's it's really outstanding and I enjoy our conversations and it actually really equips me to go back to the police department and follow up on these
matters um first uh the summit police department will do a camera master plan and this year and lay this all out what our future posture will be for our AI cameras this is amazing technology uh
when I was down at the league of municipalities uh I saw a demo on what these cameras can do and it is absolutely U astonishing and this will certainly equipped our Police Department with Next Level uh um type response
surveillance evidence collection all types of things um uh secondly with this uh funding this came from several years ago for from a capital expense um
I don't know if the business administrator would like to opine on that um but this was in a previous capital budget and it was coming to the end where we needed to actually make
this purchase um and start this process so this initial purchase will be replacing the cameras so the cameras that are up they will be replacing them so we could put a diagram where the cameras are now which I don't think we
should make public anyway um by the way also um the technology that's involved uh we could lay that out right I think you would probably need several manuals to read even to understand the schematics of it if we want to get into
the granular detail uh this company that the city of summit use is one of the same companies that uh was involved in our lprs we we are we we know them we we trust them they actually came to City Hall they looked at all of our
infrastructure they looked at the cables and everything so uh I feel comfortable with that um but I think what's really important though and the former councilman pointed this out is that we do need a we do need a plan we can't
just put up cameras say hey and in the parking garage or the park line and would just put them up no we we actually have to do what makes sense we have to plan this out strategically uh because these cameras can be used in a very strategic way but
they have to be in the right places so this year we will the police department will be taking their time like how we do a master plan for the city we're going to be doing a master plan for our cameras and um I
personally uh will be seeking some advice from some of our subject matter experts I won't name who they are uh but I'm sure that we'll be in conversation so that this city is left with the with the best
strategic uh AI posture that uh can be incorporated and just one one next thing last thing we have a new Firehouse right um just think about a future where all of this technology leads into one Hub
where our um where our e mergency management uh um Hub is right so you have your Police Department your fire department you have your mayor there and we're there's a storm and we're looking at all these cameras what about morrs
Avenue what's going on in Springfield what's and it's all populated and you can fou things you can type things in hey there was a car that's missing right we don't know it got blown off the side you type it in the camera follows the car something I mean this is like next
level stuff it really I mean it really is so but we want to make sure everything feeds in the right area um and and and do it right so uh I'll I'll leave it at that though but I'm fully in support of this initial plan to start
thank you other comments councilman Smallwood thank you council president um obviously coun councilman boy I'm certainly going to defer to you and uh councilwoman cson since this is your committee um but I just have to I have
to ask for my own personal you mentioned a master plan and uh former councilman Hurley's uh comments um is this something that we should hold off on till we do the master plan or is this the beginning of the
master plan I'm just thinking would it be more cost effective to put the master plan together and then purchase the cameras so the problem with that is that the existing cameras that we have right now
are there there no warranty on them uh and they're expiring they have they're operating life has ended so if we don't replace these cameras I think that um that would impact our current security posture so we need to move forward and
also I believe these are capital funds from several years ago um and I can defer it to our business administrator if we don't use these funds I believe they have to go back or um but but I think the main goal is that we need to really replace our cameras and why not
replace them with the next level technology right okay I don't know um you council president yes please M um I I don't recall exactly it was either 22 or 23 when this was uh first brought up by the
police department um that we were coming to the end of life on the current system um so it took some time for them to obviously V out what was the best way to go um here we are the funds won't expire um however the cameras will as we can
see they're nearing the end of their life this was a a suggestion and recommendation by the police department um these cameras uh if I recall I can remember them talking about it because it was interesting but this is the first step in being able to get cameras into
other locations within the city getting them into our parking garages for example getting them into the park line so this is just the beginning um the master plan of cameras is coming but this step needs to be taken so that we
can evolve and grow the system if you will thank you councilwoman Hamlet my only ask would be um if we could table it for one more meeting would it be would it would it be that um would it be a tragedy I I've looked into the the
price of the cameras and and received advice from a few people that the the price of the cameras is very high and I'm not sure if that's correct or not but I guess my question is just because we have a state contract that may not be the best price I mean that that truly just because it's state contract doesn't
mean that we're getting the lowest price it's just not true C council president right well let me just opine real quick so please councilman Bo there was a vendor that initially gave us a quote for these cameras and it was way
overpriced and a j who's our it um Our IT personnel looked at it right and then we went with a second vendor which is the vendor that we're we're with right now and the price was substantially uh lowered um so if table
in it tonight means that um you're going to effectively go out and try to find another vendor to get these cameras um I think the vendor that we have right now and the the cameras that we have right
now and the um the leg work that the police department has already put in is sufficient I I I I would defer back to councilwoman Hamlet I mean if you believe that tabling it now and uh
taking the time to go out and doing um some other league work with someone else you know other than the police department that's already done it um I I guess I don't know my question is you know when were the other so we
didn't bid it out right it was just we got another quote from another state contract vendor is that how it works I'm just not privy to that information so I don't know through you council president I don't know where the first quote came in uh but we were able to find and directed to the state
contract if you want to go out to bid we have to prepare bid specs this is over the 44,000 so if you don't use a state contract you do have to go out to bid you do have to prepare the bid specs for it you do have to leave it up you have 60 days to award so we're we're probably
looking at a few months before we can I don't know what the impact of that would be on the system currently running but you're definitely looking at a few months before you could award if you're going in a different direction or even looking into it and accepting bids and then throwing them out it's still a
lengthier process uh respectfully I've had a long 2hour conversation with Captain Peters about this and um I trust his judgment that we had a vendor the price wasn't good we went to another
vendor and um he had searched a market for these cameras so um at this point respectfully I would be voting against tbling this so I just want to there is no motion to to table yet just pointing out what what my vote would be yeah um
okay uh other comments from Council I'd like to make a motion to table to table yeah all right there's there's a motion to table do I have a second okay so hearing no second we're going to move along um I have I have just a couple of comments one one's a
question so I I think the F Well I have two questions the first one I think has been answered so this these cameras are just replacing existing cameras we're not adding any cameras and and
we're replacing on a one forone basis all the cameras that we have now now that's that's correct council president okay great um great second question is um this this Cable coaxil cable issue
that uh former councilman hurle brought up if it's not compatible do we have funds available to change out the cables council president I was told by
the police Department by Captain Peters that they came in and they actually looked at the cords and they that was my question to Captain Peters um and that uh the equipment is um compatible with what's going to go in and he actually
also reassured me that this vendor quote unquote doesn't do any funny business you know they they they say what they say and they they do what they do so um I think if there is an issue somewhere down the road where they come in and say
uh this is not this this cable is not compatible um I think we have [Music] some other business that we would be maybe possibly not doing with them in the future so
uh yeah okay fair enough um yeah um dealing with you know approved vendors you know a lot of the leg work in vetting is has been done and again I I I I share councilwoman Hamlet's uh
desire to get the best price on things absolutely so I I'm as an aside I've seen no one dig into numbers like you do so thank you for keeping to do that um but uh I I do trust Captain
Peters uh for really uh doing the work on this and and this is um I guess it could always be better uh that being said um I know this is a replacement and I'm happy to hear that there's going to be a master plan although the little
part of me that self-identifies as a Libertarian is a little worried about this stuff we have cameras that watch us as we walk around uh in the community I know that's reality but it still kind of freaks me out a little bit um that I'm
always being watched um but I do know it's an important part of keeping Community safe and the technology um is changing and getting more amazing every day so um I I do support this so okay uh
other comments I have yes Council so where's the warranty information on this maybe the chief can answer the questions because the one um the one reason for suggesting that we change these cameras out uh is that the warranty was up so I was wondering if maybe the chief could speak to that because I don't see the
warranty information in here I just want to know if it includes the warranty cu the quote doesn't include a warranty I don't think I don't see the warranty for the cameras the the warranty on the expired cameras or the new C no the new cameras because one of the reasons that the the
memo says the there are no longer warranties on our camera but I don't see a warranty plan for the current cameras that the vendor is recommending Chief the replacement they're not replacing them because the warranty is out the warranty is out on the that we have they're replacing them
because I think we're at maybe 60% working um that's that's the reason not not not that we're anticipating them going down they are down a good portion of the cameras that we that we presently have I guess one of the questions that
councilwoman ham had though was these new cameras are under some sort of warranty uh is your understanding oh yeah of course okay but we just don't know whether it's two years three years whatever what's that I can um is this proper no not really the
evil well theil on equipment is a two-year warranty which is one of the lower ones in the industry but they're also some of the best cameras in the industry so it's kind of a trade-off um my only so that I think that answers your question I just did a huge project on this so I know out in um in Ohio um
the issue is that as soon as you buy the cameras which is tonight that clock may start ticking and you got to be very careful about that because I've had cameras sitting on the shelf for a year a year and a half and the client gets them and they're mad because they only have six years so but that answer is the
warranty questions two years he should have put that in like your point thank you okay other comments from Council and I will charge you for that all right um all in favor well we have a motion to
table I have a motion to table I know but we didn't have a second oh we didn't have a second no second right so the motion didn't pass um all right all in favor I I opposed I all right motion
carries all right uh councilman Boyer safety and health I understand you might want to bundle two and three yes so thank you council president I'm going to BND resolutions
11757 and 11759 uh which formerly declares six vacancies if you bundle them together within the police department due to the upcoming retirement of our esteem Chief uh Steven
zagorski on April 30th 2025 and the subsequent promotions uh that will follow in addition to the retirement of one police officer so that would make it six uh I would like
to uh move this resolution for adoption second two resolutions uh yeah they're both those both of resolutions these resolutions excellent okay uh comments from the public comments from Council yes council
president uh just want to make one statement um when I read the the chief of police uh retirement letter uh I got to tell you I was moved um and I called him right away it is when when you when
you serve for uh over three decades it's leaving a job is uh is tough um I'm sure the chief as as a detective solv many of crimes save lives uh his Devotion to the
city has been tremendous and it is uh it is it is heartwarming um and I just want to uh thank the chief for his service and we
will be recognizing him fully at a later date absolutely uh but thank you Chief I appreciate you yes madame mayor Chief you missed what I said earlier so I'll send you a note No thank you for for your service
and and obviously um it will be a void but we are in good hands you have made sure of that so thank you great thank you other comments from Council councilwoman H just like to say thank you chief for all all your hard work your dedication your services
Summit um you you work and and lead the department in such a respectable way um we're honored to to have you for so many years and uh just thank you for your service sorry I voted no against your cameras tonight um but thank you very much other comments from
Council I would just say dit to that I know we're going to uh have a larger uh uh retrospect of your career and all your service to uh to Summit Chief but um I know on today we're announcing it and and I want to say thank you as well
for everything you've done for our community okay um all right uh all in favor I I opposed motion carries all right uh safety and health number four councilman Boer thank you council president uh I move to adopt
resolution ID number 11758 which authorizes the appointment and promotion of detective Kathleen muli to the rank of Sergeant effective February 20th 2025 uh this resolution
um excuse me uh detective muli is one is it sorry council president I got my uh my notes we bundled things up here uh detective muli has demonstrated the necessary qualification skills and
experience to effectively assume the responsibilities of the position her promotion will ensure that the department maintains its current Staffing levels within the rank of Sergeant uh the rationale for this adoption
promoting detective muli ensures that the police department maintains adequate supervision and Leadership within its ranks uh I want to be clear about this this is a merit based
promotion detective muli has undergone rigorous testing evaluation and has proven her performance and experience and I have to say I've interviewed for my in corporate and even
in the city I've interviewed you know dozens of people and during uh detective M juli's interview she blew me away uh she is the most most qualified
for this role uh that personally i' I've ever seen um I I am actually honored uh to be reading this and I'm honored to be a council member to promote uh the
first female uh that will be the highest ranking um uh police officer in summit's history and that is an honor to be reading this
so um with enthusiasm and respect for detective muli I move this for a final adoption second comments from the public comments from Council yes please Madame mayor thank
you um I am also very honored to be a part of this uh I'm excited to uh to swear Kathy in off um officer muli in tomorrow at 4 p.m. that is the schedule we weren't allowed to talk about that until um well we as long as everybody
approves of this guess I'm jumping the gun sorry Rosie um but uh 4:00 tomorrow as long as everyone approves um we will be swearing Cathy in as the most senior ranking female in the history of the summit Police Department so that feels really great for our city thank you
really does thank you other comments yes councilman Smallwood thank you council president uh I've I've known um Kathy for a very long time uh working on the uh the palal and you know not
only does she do her paid job as an officer extremely well but she also came to all of our pal meetings every month and which is not paid time that's all her volunteer time and I don't know if I
should share this information or not but one of the most important jobs that she did on the palal was she was the Easter Bunny I was gonna say that and there are pictures right so I hope uh I hope she'll still cons I
don't know if she still is I haven't been on the PA she was awesome so I hope so um Kathy I hope that you'll be able to choose your successor and as the the palal uh bunny for um uh for that
group and I want to thank you very much for all of your your volunteerism that you you've done for the palal and support and I look forward to to being at your uh confirmation swearing in for tomorrow thank you councilman Smallwood
other comments all right uh hearing none um all in favor I I opposed motion carries all right uh moving along to capital projects and Community Services uh resolution number one councilwoman Hamlet uh thank you
council president this is resolution 1178 whereas the director of the Department of Community Services advises the Kent Place school has expressed the desire to have the city install a rapid rectangular flashing Beacon at the existing midblock crosswalk at Norwood Avenue that connects Oak that connects I
think we have uh Oak nol in here but that might be a scrier there we've already corrected okay uh that connects uh Kent Place School par parking lot as well as the intersection of Norwood and Sherman uh these flashing beacons do not currently exist at these
locations and I would like to move this resolution uh second for approval I hear comments from the public comments from Council uh just one comment yes please councilman Boer these uh rapid rectangular flashing beacons
will be donated by the K play school correct yes yes sorry I should have point that out yes so that is a great thing absolutely uh so um other comments
from just wanted to one question um are so are these going to be installed in the the uh the new crosswalk that we just approved today as the that's what my understanding is Right y okay so that's great wow the city's efficient
you approve it and then we get the the beacons in which is awesome so couldn't have worked out better that's great I was actually thinking why we didn't bundle it I was all right any other comments my only other comment was I think that and we've talked about this a ton but I love I would love to see safety take on all of
the cross crossing rapid flashing beacons um this one's okay CU we can kind of explain it but I think it's important for going forward if you could do these it's helpful because then we actually know why we're putting them in and what for the safety if if we can possibly do that but I'm happy to do them but great I have to spend two days
asking you why we are doing it but this one is an easy one so and and council president yes uh just to a comment on councilwoman Hamlet's uh comment I should have read this you know I so um
next time I'll read it so I can correct my grammar word Smith it um but thank you thanks for the comment I I agree with you it should go to say yeah all right great um all right all in favor I I opposed motion carries uh capital
projects and community service number two councilwoman Hamlet yes sorry I'm just pulling this up here apologize yes this is resolution ID 11778 uh which is
authorizing uh sorry authorizing the execution of a sanit sanitary sewer easement agreement on 71 Pine Grove Avenue the owner of 71 Pine Grove Avenue submitted an application to the City Zoning Board of adjustment during this process it was discovered that an existing city sewer sanitary sewer line
traversed the property but that no formal sewer easen exists as such the department requested one to be created and this is included in memorializing the resolution for the project I would like to move this resolution to the council second thank
you uh comments from the public comments from Council all right seeing none um all in favor I I opposed motion carries all right uh capital projects and Community Services number three councilwoman
Hamlet yes uh sorry I had a question in my mind but I'm just going to move ahead um Aaron doesn't kill me this is ID 11774 authorizing the state contract purchase of facial data logic sdl through Dell Marketing in the purchase price of
54,9 um for those of you who don't know this is the um Aaron could probably explain it better but our system that handles basically it's the brain of DCs and Engineering um for all permits and uh important data within the city that
we use all day every day so I'd like to move this resolution second comments from the public comments from Council all right all in favor I I opposed motion carries uh capital
projects number four councilwoman Hamlet uh thank you council president this is ID 11745 as discussed in Clos session which will declare a vacancy in the Department of Community Services Division of Public Works roads unit lead Foreman I'd like to move this
resolution here a second second comments from the public comments from Council all in favor I I I opposed motion carries and then uh capital projects number five councilwoman Hamlet
uh yes thank you council president this is ID 11792 declaring a vacancy in the Department of Community Services land use division land use assistant Planning and Zoning Board secretary I'd like to move this resolution do I hear a second second thank you uh
comments from the public comments from Council all in favor I I opposed motion carries all right uh councilwoman to you're doing double duty tonight I know I'm back all right uh law and labor
number one please okay thank you council president this is ID number 1780 amending the Professional Services agreement with our special councel and in the first part of 2024 the attorneys representing the city in the Broad
Street West litigation emailed bill for $1,831 68 to the former city administrator and that bill was never forwarded for payment um it sort of disappeared Into The Ether the law firm only followed up on it this year we owe
the money and therefore we need to amend the agreement so I move to adopt this resolution second second oh sorry all right uh comments from the public comments from Council so um councilwoman Hamlet so
councilman to so this is going to this is changing the not to exceed but it was an old bill is that right right okay it was an old bill that was never paid so that because that's what I was wondering so that's why we have to change his not to exceed for this year correct well
it's for last year we're still fixing 2024 okay if we could just get maybe during budget season just a total cost of I guess um the litigation costs it doesn't have to be now but ju just curious we don't have to do it now but some at some point when you catch up your breath Tammy it's not
urgent no next week is fine but thank you for explaining that yeah well it just got $188,000 more expensive so yeah um any other comments from Council all right uh all in favor I I
opposed motion carries okay all right law on labor number two councilwoman to okay thank you council president this is ID number 11154 uh per the Clos session discussion this resolution excuse me confirms the
mayor's appointment of a municipal municipal court judge and I will let the mayor take it from here thank you councilwoman to um so Judge John damasi has been our municipal court judge for several terms um it's a three-year
appointment and I I am going to we re I recommend that we reappoint judge deasi okay and thank you mayor I move to adopt this resolution second comments from the
public comments from Council just uh one comment just uh I think you said this this is a reappointment so this is how many years uh would three years so the the appointments for three and uh judge
damasi served as our municipal judge since when I can't remember I think this might be his fourth three-year term so the last it's either his third or his fourth I think it's his third his third so this so he's been the municipal judge for the last six years that's correct good okay thank
you other comments all right uh all in favor I I opposed motion carries all right uh we are now at the consent agenda portion of our meeting uh do I
have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so moved do I hear a second second all right um do I have any uh member of the public who wishes to comment on the consent
agenda any comments from Council council president just one comment uh this bill here for the shared Dispatch Center uh this 1 million uh 1.4 I'll round off um I just want to let the public know that
the Safety Committee is working working hard on finding a solution to our um our dispatch for the future so I know uh this seems like a high dollar amount um
but we are I I think that we are all um have a um it's it's a promising future that we can get this number down uh big time so we're working on that our fire department our police department and our business administrator and even with
combined with the city of Milburn we're all looking at it to uh to reduce this cost thank you other comments from Council all right uh all in favor I opposed okay the consent agenda passes
all right uh we are now at the public comment section of our meeting if there are any members of the public who'd like to comment on anything that wasn't on oh and Mr Sher you may leave thank you um thank you for uh coming and staying um
if uh any member of the public would like to comment on something that's not was not on the agenda now is your opportunity pass feel okay I'm going to close public comment uh section of our hearing um we're on to
council members comments and new business any council member like to say anything comment I'll be quick councilwoman Hamlet I promise I'll be quick uh I just wanted to update the community um we have a meeting with Bristol Meers squib on Friday with the mayor I think um council member camelon
may be attending as well um we've been hearing some complaints recently from the residents around uh Bristol Meers squib U so I've been speaking with them for the last few weeks some of the issues down there are um a humming from the air conditioning systems and there's also been some complaints about uh the
backup noise alarms and snowplows so there's been a bunch of residents who've been looking into uh OSHA compliant uh Broadband noise level uh for backup alarms um which I think is interesting I've been working with the D uh noise control Council to get further guidance
on on not only that issue uh but Bedrock drilling up in uh up near Oakridge um and and they've been really really helpful um spoke with Michelle fil uh who's on the noise Council and they've been they they've even we've even been discussing the gun range so we've been hearing uh a lot of uh residents um
complaining about those and I found the noise Council to be really valuable and um never really thought I'd be into a noise Council but they are some of my new favorite people so I'm looking forward to reporting back to the community um Bristol Myers squib has been kind of enough to to have us uh so looking forward to doing that couple
quick updates uh Ashlin uh the survey Ashen sidewalk the survey was recently uh received it's my understanding that concept plans will be developed by the end of March beginning of April um we will also be scheduling another meeting with the residents of canu Brook hopefully in March uh there are some
funds for 2025 for sidewalks in the amount of about $150,000 um and then the last thing I would say is I think that it's important um council president I'm just looking for some guidance for you uh from you regarding the saltbrook um I think that having a conversation as a a line item
in the budget um is not the best way to handle I think we should put it on the council's agenda um I've had it in committee still a little stuck on what to do and I think it's an important enough Topic in the community and I I'd like to hear what um my colleagues how they would like to address it um outside
of the budget so I was just looking for guidance from you on that um as you know we've engaged with the lobby in DC we've received a proposal um to have them Advocate uh for us and New Providence in Berkeley Heights um or we can also you know potentially but this issue stems
all the way up from Memorial Field I've been in in those residents homes um and I think that taking up director sher's time on this is probably um too much to handle so I'm just looking for some guidance on how we can talk about it as colleagues up here okay well let's talk and we can
brainstorm thank you uh other comments council president yes councilman Boer the salt Brook currently is in the budget as a line item for I think $50,000 to build a retaining wall um I agree with councilwoman Hamlet I
think it's in our committee I think we we we just we take it out of our committee and ask council president to put it on the agenda right and I think we do it that way so yeah well it's a capital item right so we'd have to
be part of the capital budget yeah I think I think we should I think we should talk about that for $50,000 as a capital item as opposed to yeah other comments councilman Smallwood i' like to
make a motion to ajour hold on we haven't haven't asked everyone if they had stuff to speak yet uh I did have something I wanted to say but now you've completely cleared my mind about it U maybe it wasn't maybe it wasn't all that important um what I want
to say uh any other comments from Council while I think no no no uh all right then I'm going to not hold us up there um we had a motion to adjourn do I hear second second all in favor I I opposed all
right we are adjourned have a good evening everyone