Good evening, everybody. Um, the meeting will come to order. Thank you for coming out this evening. Hope we all enjoyed the next few weeks between meetings. Um, Madam Clerk, would you please read the adequate notice of compliance statement. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the City Clerk's office in
preparation of the Council annual meeting notice dated December 17th, 2025, which was properly distributed and posted per statutory requirements. Please be advised that fire exits are to my right, your left, and at the back of the room. The city has a listening
system to assist the hearing impaired. If anyone needs hearing assistance, please obtain the system at the dais and return it thereafter. Okay. Uh, thank you. May we have the roll call, please? Mr. Boyer? Present. >> Mr. Crisafulli? Here. Ms. Callahan? Here. Ms. Lanman? Here. Ms. Laracina?
Here. Mr. Polaski? Here. >> President Toothe? Here. Thank you. And I would like to call on our historical minute presenters to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Madam Clerk, uh, would you please read the notices regarding the closed session and hearings and comments. A closed session meeting is authorized
by state statute was announced and held prior to the start of this meeting, and the known items for discussion were listed on the published closed session agenda. Please be advised that Council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channels 34 and 36 and Verizon channel 30, and rebroadcast on Thursdays and
Saturdays on HTTV on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33. When invited to speak, please come to the lectern, clear uh, where am I here? 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 her email a copy to the city clerk at cityclerk@cityofsummit.org. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard, please limit your comments to no more than 3
minutes in length. Unless you are using an electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or needed for professional emergency contact purposes, please turn it off. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to expand a bit on the city clerk's note about hearings and comments. Um, this will facilitate a
smoother process, particularly for those watching remotely. If you are seated in the first two rows, anything you say to your neighbor, um, can will be picked up by the recording microphones and make it difficult for others to hear the official proceedings, so please be
quiet. The 3-minute limit on public comments corresponds to a bit less than a single typewritten page. If you're leaving written remarks, please put your name on them and place them in the box near the lectern when you're done. And with that, let's move on to the
city's business. Um, starting with minutes for approval. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of the regular and closed session meetings of March 17th, 2026? So moved. Second. Um, all in favor? I. Any opposed?
Okay, do I hear motion to approve the minutes of the regular and closed session meeting of March 23rd, 2026? So moved. Second. Um, all in favor? I. Opposed? I abstain. The motion carries.
I abstain, too. You Okay. Thank you. Um, on to reports. Madam Mayor. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to take a moment to highlight some of our upcoming community events that we hope everyone will enjoy. First, in recognition of local
government week, the city will host the second annual Summit Showcase on Tuesday, April 15th from No, not Tuesday, April 15th, Wednesday, April 15th from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at [snorts] the Summit Firehouse, which is at 281 Broad Street. Um, this is a fun interactive
event where residents can meet representatives from city departments all in one place and learn about the work they do every day to keep Summit running. There will be city vehicles for the kids and for the kids at heart, that's me, um, to explore along with customized coloring pages, swag, and
other activities. It's a great opportunity to connect with the community, and I hope many residents will stop by. And a few days later, on Friday, April 18th No, Saturday, April 18th. Somebody's playing a joke on me. Um, [laughter] we will continue our
celebration of both Summit's history and our nation's history with Revolutionary Trail Day, one of our key events marking America's 250th anniversary. >> [snorts] >> The day will begin in the morning at Twin Maples with a presentation on women and the revolution, and then from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. on the Village Green,
residents can enjoy a wide range of colonial-inspired activities. We'll have fifes and drums, craft stations, revolutionary pirates and songs, a demonstration on spies during the revolution, not pies, that was on me. Um, plays written by our fourth-grade
IDEAS students, and a reading of a personalized letter drafted by a historian on Summit's role in the war. After the Village Green event, residents are invited to head to the Summit Free Public Library for a lecture focused specifically on Summit history. We hope
many of you will come out and join us. And then also on April 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., residents are invited to participate in Earth Day cleanup at Martin's Brook Park and Bryant Park. Walk-ins are welcome, so if you're able, please come lend a hand to help beautify our community. Hope to see
residents at these these events, and we encourage everyone to visit cityofsummit.org for more information. Thank you. Thank you. And now on to our city administrator, Tammy Baldwin, for her report. Thank you, Council President. Good evening, everyone. Um, first of
all, the Summit Free Market. The April events for the Free Market will be Saturday, April 11th from 8:00 to 3:00 p.m. and Friday, April 24th from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the transfer station. Summit residents with a parking disposal permit can attend, browse
donated items, and take what they want for free. And you can also donate. You can review the donation guidelines on our website at cityofsummit.org/freemarket. Uh, please do that before bringing any items to donate. Spring curbside leaf collection. Curbside leaf collection is ongoing now
through Friday, April 24th. The leaves should be placed at the curb in paper biodegradable bags for pickup on your trash collection day. Twigs, branches, and other yard debris should not be included with the leaves. Please note, it may take up to 2 weeks after placing
bags at the curb before they are collected. More information on this is available at cityofsummit.org/leafcollection. We also have a photo contest for local government week. It's back for 2026. You can send in a maximum of three photos by
May 15th and share the beauty, uniqueness, and community spirit of Summit through your eyes. The contest is open to Summit residents of all ages, and we have guidelines and submission info posted on our website at cityofsummit.org/photocontest.
Uh, we have received some really wonderful entries the last couple of years, uh, while we've been running this program, so we're looking forward to seeing what you can send in this year. And that concludes my comments. Thank you. Thank you very much, city administrator. And I'll just pick up on the fact that next week is local
government week. It's always a good time to thank our hardworking, talented city employees, um, but next week especially, please make an effort to do so because they give us 150% every day. Um, Council held one of its listening
sessions last night. I want to thank those who attended. We had a great conversation. If you weren't able to join us, please mark your calendar for Monday, May April 27th, excuse me, from 7:00 to 9:00 at the community center for our next one. Um,
if you were in town last week, you may have seen the abandoned railroad bridges across Ashwood Avenue and Russell Place come down. The process went smoothly, and particularly on Russell Place, it really opens up the street. Take a drive
and just see what a difference it makes. Um, finally, our recycling committee is putting out a series of videos about everything you can recycle at the transfer station. They're great. There's a lot to learn. If you haven't seen them yet, you can find these on the city's
social media pages. Um, so I highly recommend that to everyone. Let's move on to our historical minute. Council member Polaski. Thank you. Um, so a lot of people, when they think of Summit, they think of it as a big sports town, which of course it is, but we also
have a, uh, tremendous and robust arts program in town, uh, starting in the in the lower schools and going right on up to the high school. I encourage everybody to try and catch a show next year. Uh, they're very well done. They're very well attended, so you might actually have to buy those tickets in
advance, but tonight for our historical uh, minute, we have two of our thespians, singers, here to present a history of drama at
Summit High School. First we have Anna Przibilko, who's a senior in the drama club president, and senior Ben Strauss. Who had I guess you had the lead in Big Fish, right? Co-lead. Yeah. All right. Well, you were
very good. You were both very good. So. The Summit High School theater program has been telling stories for over a hundred years. Summit High School was first established in 1888, but we weren't able to find any information about the theater program until 1923.
When Summit High School moved to the building which is currently Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School. Browsing through past yearbooks, we learned that plays and musicals have been produced by Summit High School thespians ever since. Summit High School theater graduates have been accepted into the top
prestigious acting and musical theater programs such as Carnegie Mellon, Ithaca, Boston Conservatory, North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Michigan, and NYU Tisch among others. Our alums have appeared on Broadway, national touring companies, regional
theater companies, and community theaters. Summit High School currently offers beginning and advanced theater classes. Our advanced class is currently working on our annual director showcase, an evening of one-acts directed by us.
>> [laughter] >> So, come see our work April 29th in the Summit High School auditorium. We thought we would take you on a quick journey through the decades listing some of our notable productions. Each year the drama program has an average of two
shows, a fall play and a spring musical typically. In 1923, the first year in the beautiful auditorium where we both performed as middle schoolers, the drama club produced the famous restoration comedy She Stoops to
Conquer, in addition to a junior class play. The two productions in 1930 were the senior play, Captain Applejack, and the musical show, The Girl in Blue Gingham. >> [laughter] >> And the 1940 saw the beginning of the
government organization. Sponsored plays, or as some of you may remember, the GO shows that were produced through the 1980s. In 1952, the GO show was the entertaining but very challenging Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Gondoliers.
1963 saw the opening of the new high school, the building we are currently in. Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma christened our new state. Oklahoma was the first musical performed after the most recent auditorium renovation in 2012.
In 1967, the Guys and the Skies Club presented two plays, The Madwoman of Chaillot and Teach Me How to Cry, and the musical The Pajama Game. Which was notable because it starred Nick Wyman, who graduated from Harvard and became a
very successful Broadway actor starring in several musicals, including playing Thénardier in Les Mis for five years in the early 2000s. Oh, and don't forget, he played the terrorist in the classic film Die Hard with Vengeance.
>> [laughter] >> Nick also served as the president of Actors' Equity from 2010 to 2015, and he is still a working actor. Nick Wyman is not the only professional to come out of Summit High School theater program. There are currently
several actors appearing on community and professional stages around the country, including Sean McManus, class of 2017, who appeared on Broadway in Beetlejuice. In 1976, The Music Man burst onto our stage, and it returned again in 2009.
The drama program continued to produce quality theater in the 1980s, including West Side Story in 1984, a long way from Captain Applejack. In 1996, the Paper Mill Playhouse created the Rising Star Awards. Based on
Broadway's Tony Awards, the Rising Star Awards recognize excellence in New Jersey High School theater and musicals. Similar to the Tonys, Rising Star categories include performing, design, and outstanding overall production. Every year over a hundred schools enter
this prestigious competition. The first year, Summit's production of Into the Woods received two nominations. Summit has entered Rising Star every year, but since 2006, Summit High School has been nominated for outstanding overall musical, the top seven musicals
in a class of over a hundred schools, 17 times, garnering over 351 nominations and 43 final awards. We have won best musical four times, including last year for our production of The Prom.
>> [laughter] >> Nominations for the spring musical Big Fish come out mid-May. >> [laughter] >> We also participate in the Montclair Theater Night Awards that recognize excellence in plays and musicals. Since that awards program began in 2008, our
productions have received 225 final nominations, including best overall production, and we have won for best play and best musical. In addition to performing on the Summit High School stage, we have participated in the International Edinburgh Festival
Fringe every four years since 2008. The Fringe is the largest performing arts festival in the world, featuring over 4,000 shows during the month of August from countries all over the world. We were fortunate to go to the Fringe in 2024, where we spent two weeks
performing the musical Urinetown and attending a variety of plays, improv shows, musicals. Think I saw somewhere like 20 shows within that two [laughter] weeks. Same. It was so exciting to walk the streets of Edinburgh seeing artists from all walks of life coming together to
celebrate theater and performance. It was a really special experience, and I'm so grateful that we received the opportunity to attend. As you can see, Summit High School has a very active and successful theater program. But what we love most about our program
is that we are a community of artists who tell stories about what it's like to be a human. As my good friend and one of the pit musicians in our spring musical Big Fish, Gavin Ladenburger, said, this stuff is hard, but that's what makes it fun. There's something about doing the hard
stuff with the people you love. Doing what you love exhausted, it's just the best feeling ever. We all feel the same way. Like the lead character Edward Bloom in Big Fish, who told his son,
my character, I tell stories. That's who I am. And that's who we are. And who we have always been in Summit High School theater. Storytellers. So, with that, we'll leave you with the main message from our beautiful spring
musical Big Fish. Be the hero of your story. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you. That was wonderful. You have a hard act to follow, Administrator >> [laughter] because we're going from that to the 2026 budget presentation. [laughter] Can
I just make a quick request? Next time you do Shakespeare, could we get Much Ado About Nothing, please? >> [laughter] >> Thank you for coming. Bravo. >> [laughter] >> Okay. So, last year I recall um the room was packed. We had a very
um an ordinance that was of great interest to the community. There was even some I think some cameras here from some of the news stations. That was by far the biggest crowd I've ever had to introduce the budget, 24 years of doing [laughter] this. Um I thank you all for being here
tonight for this. Um I will try to get through this quickly and and point out the interesting pieces of the budget. Um first I just want to tell everybody we're going to quick go through um the process and the timeline, the challenges
that we face for 2026, what our financial totals come to, um the general fund budget summary points, tax base evaluation. Some people, budget nerds like me, we love that stuff. Um the property taxes, which everybody's always interested in, the impact of the
budget, um quick go over the general fund revenues and appropriations, our debt position, which is important, and um our capital budget. We did go over this briefly uh in our capital workshop back in December, but um well, actually we went over it in depth there. We'll go over it
briefly this evening. So, it probably seems to many people like this budget just all of a sudden we're talking about the budget. Well, the budget starts in September. Um formally starts in September. We're kind of working on it all year and you'll see
that as we go through, but we commence the process with all the department heads in September. Department budget budgets are submitted to the CFO and the finance director in October and between October and December we're making revisions,
going back and forth with that and then in December we have the capital budget request. Capital budget is important because while it's separate and it is a plan until you adopt the ordinances, the amount of money that you need for the
down payment has to be in your operating budget. So, we have to get that. Oh, thank you. Actually, I wonder if I could do this so I could be hands-free. Can everybody hear me better with this? Is that okay? No? [clears throat] Yes. Yes. Okay.
All right, thank you. I thought I was loud enough. I apologize. Um Okay. So, then in January and February we go over the operating budgets in the finance committee. So, our finance chair
um Chantel Landman uh I want to say Landman and then I see your email that says Garcia. Um and Jacqueline Saracino, Claire Toth and uh our mayor Elizabeth Fagan are all on the finance committee and and we meet
with all of the department heads and we go through the budgets uh during that time frame. And then we come here and here we are April 7th introducing. There are timelines, there are statutory dates that we have to follow. So, this is the latest that we
can introduce our budget. And then you have a 28-day period between introduction and adoption. We'll have the public hearing on May 5th and that's what everybody can ask questions um and you'll have some information up on the website tomorrow if you want to take an in-depth look and uh that may prompt
some questions from folks. So, this is the 2026 municipal municipal budget overview. Um These are the challenges. So, uh just a quick synopsis of it. We did have a loss in what we realized on interest and
investments. So, we had to budget $350,000 less this year. Um so, that's a little hit to our revenue. Um we also had an issue with the Atlantic Health System. There's a hospital bed tax that was new legislation that came in in 2022,
I believe, and we had to go back and pay the county of Union their 5%. We tried to negotiate something um and we were unsuccessful and so we had to take a loss this year and pay them the $81,940. So, that's a little bit less money for
the municipality this year. Um on the appropriation side we had a pretty big increase in our municipal operation expenses, 7.6%. Um 245,000 of that was in salaries and wages and uh over just about 1.5 million
was in all of the other operating expenses across the various departments. Some of the bigger uh pieces of that 1.4 was a $100,000 increase in our legal and professional contract costs. Um a $170,000 increase
in utility costs. As you can imagine, that's all going up. It's going up for us at home. It's going up for us here in the city. And then an $808,000 increase in our health care insurance premiums. Uh that is also happening across the state
uh and across the country. So, hopefully at some some juncture we'll be able to get something done to try to control that. Uh with all of that and all of those challenges, this is our financial summary total uh in the general fund.
The municipal budget in 2025 as adopted, you can see it was 59,769,000 and change. 63,427,000 and change for 2026. That's a 6.1% increase. The capital budget is up 1.6%
um at 5,340,000. So, the financial summary total includes both the operating budget and the capital budget and for 2026 that is 68,767,000 and change. That's a 5.8% increase with
the capital and the uh operating municipal budget. Uh to break it down for the sewer utility and the parking utility, which are outside of our general budget, um they are self-liquidating. They fund themselves. So, the revenues raised within those utilities offset all the
costs in those utilities and uh there's nothing in the general budget that pays for for those utilities. In fact, the utilities do contribute uh some to the general fund that helps to offset taxes. Um so, in the sewer utility for 2026
we are at with the operations and the capital we are at 8.7 million. That's a 2.9% change. And with the parking utility we are at 6.2 million, which is a 2.4% increase. Um bringing the total
financial budgets with the general, with the sewer and with the parking to 83,760,000 and change. I think it's important to note and and we'll see it in the end, but um the last several years uh and and during my tenure with the city since 2019 the
parking utility budgets have been very small. I mean, sometimes nothing, sometimes 55,000. But last year and this year we are working to fund improvements at our Tier Garage, which is in need of renovation. So, that's why you see uh larger numbers um in in the parking
capital budget. Just a quick comparison, it's up 5.2% if you take the financial totals, 79 million versus 83 million. And this is the tax base valuation breakdown. Um we went from
I think it's on the next slide, 3.380 to 3.4 million. So, we had an increase of uh oh, sorry, billion. We had an increase of 30 million in the net assessed value valuation. Um if you're not familiar with it, it does reduce
the impact on the property taxes because whatever the net assessed valuation goes up, it it automatically generates uh additional revenue, additional tax dollars. So, it offsets what you'd have to increase to the already existing base. And this breaks it down uh if
anybody's interested and it'll be up on online tomorrow, but it breaks it down between our residential, commercial, industrial, apartment, vacant land, etc. >> [snorts] >> This is a chart that just shows you a quick glance of the tax base growth talking about net assessed valuation. Um
in 2023 it went up $81 million. That was fantastic. So, that was super helpful. Uh but we've had, you know, between 25 and 35 million increase a year in the net assessed valuation. Uh you can take a kind of in-depth This is represented
by um billions over there on the left. So, as I said, when the net valuation increases, there's an automatic increase in tax revenue um before hitting any existing properties. So, in total tax revenue increase it's 1.42 million based on
that. For the municipal portion of the tax, it's about 298,000 for 2026. So, it's about a .009 cent tax base growth impact just with the net assessed valuation. This is a chart that shows you I think
everybody likes this chart, it's pretty interesting. This is the property tax rates from 2021 to 2026. Um you can see that uh it breaks everything down and gives you the total. This is estimated, we're still waiting for some final numbers.
Um but the municipal tax rate for 2026 is .97 up from .943 in 2025. You can see all the way to the right the percent change between 25 and 26. It's a 2.9% change. Uh we have the
school district, the county along with the open space for the county, um the local school debt service and the library. So, in 2025 the total tax rate um as certified by the county was 4.471
and this year as estimated it is 4.636. So, overall that's a uh combined 3.7% increase. I love this slide. This slide just gives you the breakdown. You look at your dollar and you see what percent of your dollar goes to what portion of taxes.
So, um the school district pretty typical. The school district is 49.33%. They're usually around that 50% mark of any municipalities taxes um where you do have a school system and not a regional. Um county and open space is 23.81%
of your tax dollar. The municipal portion of your taxes is 21 cents of that dollar. Uh school debt service 3.6% um and the library 2.3. If you've heard me do this before and I
say this every year because I really mean it, 21 cents of your dollar goes to your municipal uh services. So, everything that you deal with and get on a daily basis, your garbage pickup, your public safety, all
of that is in that 21 cents. >> [snorts] >> Just reiterating that for every property tax dollar billed and collected, the the city only retains 21 cents of that to fund all of the municipal budget needs. So, this is a slide that shows you the
total property tax bill comparison. So, if you look at the average residential home assessment valued at 445,000 and change in Summit, this is what your tax bill would be. In 2025, this is what it was at the municipal level, it was
$4,155 of your tax bill. Uh this year it's 4 4,317. So, it's a $162 difference in the municipal taxes, again on the average assessed home. Um and
that breaks down to about $13 and change, 1350, I think, um a month for your municipal services. Um again, uh the library is $35 additional, uh the local school debt service is 193, the county open space
estimated at 102, and the local school district um at 441. So, if you live in a home that has the average assessed value of 445,000, if that's your assessment, your property tax bill would go up by $933
uh for 2026 based on these numbers. This slide shows you the municipal tax rate over 10 years from 2016 to 2026. Um I think it's gone up 13 I thought I calculated this yesterday. I think it's 13.4
um percent, so about 1.3% a year on average um is what the the tax rate has changed by. And then a little bit into um some detail around this. Uh these are the general fund revenues. Um you can see
there's 26 compared to 2025 and and what that uh resulting change was. For 26, we're using $100,000 more of our fund balance. Uh we are still leaving behind 20% of the fund balance. I think I show that in
another slide coming up. Um but I do have a uh surplus fund balance policy that helps us with our bond rating, and we always want to make sure that we are around the 15 to 20% retaining, and that really helps us get those good rates uh
when we go out to bond. So, we're still uh not jeopardizing that policy that we created ourselves and and try strictly to adhere to. Um local revenues are down, we talked about that. Um we we lost money um with our interest on investments. Um that was the
a big hit there. Um state aid is up slightly. Um don't be deceived though, because the state aid for the municipality never goes up, it stays the same for so many years. Um that $46,000 increase is an increase in the state aid um to offset
the schools' debt, not the municipalities. So, cuz I kind of looked at that and was like, wait a minute, what? It never goes up. It doesn't, and it didn't. Um Grants are up, this is interesting. Um we finished the year with just over 2 million in grants in 2025, but
um we started the year as budgeted with 608,000. It's really all in the timing with grants. We were just lucky this year that um $1.4 million in grants came in before we were ready to introduce the budget. That doesn't always happen.
Um if you watch these meetings, you see a lot of chapter 159s, and that's adding grants to the budget after we've adopted. Uh but we got a lot of these up front this year. Um we're down a little bit in our enterprise enterprise contributions. Um
Prior tax receipts prior year tax receipts were down 5,000. Um the municipal tax levy is up by 1.2 million. Um and the school district's uh debt is up 1.49,
almost 1.5 million. Uh and the library's tax levy is up by 276,000. Um Worth noting, uh and the percentages of the revenues are are right next to each one, so you know um how the budget is funded. Um but the
library is the rate that they get is is determined by it's called a third of a mill calculation, and the state decides what that is based on population. And so, we don't have an option to change that. It
is what it is, and and that's how the library is determined. Um and you can see here that uh the municipal tax levy represents 52% of all of the revenue that we take in um to support the operating budget.
So, this is this is the slide I was talking about. So, we ended December 31st, 2025 with 10.6 million in fund balance, and we are using 8.5 of that in the 20 I was supposed to say 2026, I missed that. We're using 8.5 of
that in the 2026 budget, uh which leaves behind just about 20% there, the 2.1 million. Some people have asked me in years past, why don't you just use it all to offset the taxes? The problem is that you need to regenerate that tax
that that growth in those funds. So, if I took it all, we would start out with a structural imbalance right away in 2027, and uh I hope to be here doing another budget for you, and that is not how I would like to start the year. So, trying to be fiscally responsible.
Uh we have two levy caps in the state of New Jersey. Uh the first one is the property tax levy, everybody hears about that 2% property tax levy cap. We are actually $476,000 under the maximum tax levy amount that
we could go to. Um so, that is good. We there's another um cap levy that we'll get to in a second. Um This is the appropriation side of the budget. We just talked about the revenue side, and um this breaks down the total
budget of 63,427,000 into the municipal operations and the other appropriations. Um so, 38 just about 39 million dollars of the budget covers salaries, wages, and other expenses for all of the departments. It
covers all of our utilities, it covers all of our insurances. Um that's health, that's workers comp, that's liability, that's cyber security insurance that we have now, um and all of our statutory expenses, pension, social security.
Uh the other appropriations, 19,449, that is the library levy, our grants, our capital improvements, uh the down payment for those, the municipal and the local school debt service, and the deferred charges and reserves. And then
we have a reserve for uncollected taxes. Um people ask me about that a lot, too. Because we have such a great tax collection rate, um we usually collect about um 99.7, which is fantastic. Um and a lot of credit goes to our tax
collector for that. Uh the reserve for uncollected taxes is to cover what if you don't? What if something happens and you're not able to collect, you know, somebody's taxes or several people's taxes, or uh somebody becomes exempt from paying
taxes. So, the reserve for uncollected taxes helps make sure that the municipality is fully funded and can continue to operate and take care of paying for all of the expenses if taxes go uncollected, any portion of. Um I'm usually right around here, we do a calculation for this. I'm usually
right around the 5 million mark. Uh if that is not used and we don't have to dip into that, that falls to fund balance, again helping us for the next year. This is a breakdown, much like the revenues, of the appropriations.
Um you can see what percentage of the appropriations each category makes up. Um Public safety tops charts, 19% of the budget. Um community services is 13 and a half percent of the budget, followed
up by our insurances and our pension and social social security, which both come in at almost 9% each of the budget. Um you can see that what the increases are. Our insurances overall went up by 846,000.
Um the health insurance actually would have gone up much more. It ends up being like a 25% increase, but we had a 34 and a half percent increase. Uh we were able to work with a broker, and we were able
to uh motivate folks, especially younger folks who work for the city, who, you know, they're young, and maybe they're not married, maybe they don't have families, to go into plans that cost less for them, because the increase hits every municipal
employee in the pocket that has health insurance, and it hits the municipality. So, it's on both sides. So, um some folks were motivated by that big increase to take a different kind of plan that cost them less out of their paycheck, and it also helped the city
instead of going up 34.5% we only went up about 25%, um which is still a lot. I don't I don't say only lightly, but uh 34.5 was pretty terrifying. So, um we're in a better place than we were. Uh this rounds out the rest of the
appropriations. Um the library, the grants, um municipal debt service is the largest in this category at 10%, um and school debt service follows right behind at 9.1%. Um
we actually went down in our municipal debt service this year by 362,000. That's just by virtue of the schedules for our repayment of bonds. Um we will be going out to bonds. You'll see all that on the agendas coming up um
in June. We'll be probably be going out. I think I mature in July. So, we'll be going out for a bond sale. Um and what we what I do try to do is to make sure that our debt service repayment schedules are as even as I can make them. So, when we have a dip like this,
this is when it's a good time if the market is good for it. Um if we have uh enough, and we do, that makes it worthwhile because there are costs to going out to bonding. So, you just have to be really smart about your timing and about um the amount that you're going out for to make it worth it. So, it'll
kind of it should fall in and then even out. So, it might go up next year because we'll take on, you know, we'll take on permanent bonding instead of just notes, but we try to keep the schedule pretty even. This is the other cap, the
appropriations cap, which um a lot of people say, the CFOs, we all talk about it all the time, it doesn't really make sense anymore um because you have the 2% property tax levy cap, so having an appropriations cap where you have to keep your appropriations that
are within cap under 3.5%, um so we're under that by 1.2 million. You know, how much sense does it make when there are costs outside of cap like part of the health insurance and different things that are allowed to go up anyway. So,
it's here, it's a part of the budget. I put the slide up, but I don't know how much value it really has anymore. Um a closer look at salaries and wages in the general budget, which covers all of the municipal employees except for
some that are attributed to the sewer utility and those who work um for parking services, and then those in the UCC office. So, in um the general portion of the budget, which is most of our employees, salaries are up by 245,000 and change. It's about a
1.3% increase. Um in the sewer utility, we did move a couple of salaries over where people are doing more work in the sewer utility than for the general fund, so that's why you see a little bit of an increase there. Um and then parking services went up by
28,000 uh because it's a much smaller salary budget, it looks big at a 5% increase, but um it's just less employees in that division. And then the uh uniform construction code, UCC office, that is what we call a dedicated trust fund. It
doesn't impact um any residents or or uh commercial anybody's taxes, property taxes. Um they're funded by their fees. So, if you need to use them and pay for a permit or whatever uh you may need to deal with with them, that covers everything. It's a dedicated
by trust. We don't take any money in from them as a city um into our budget, and uh they're able to um operate. That's up [snorts] 2.1%. So, overall, uh it's $373,000
in um salary increases and overall 1.8%. Um keep in mind, there are three collective bargaining units in there. We have um the Teamsters, which is DPW. We have our police, and we have our fire,
and then the rest of the city staff is um not They're They're non-union. They're called non-union, so there's no collective bargaining agreement for those folks. Okay, the current debt position. Um we are required to do an annual debt statement. You can find that up in the
finance section, the reports of the finance section of the website. Um and our statutory equalized valuation, um it's three the average of 3 years, the last 3 years, so it's um as of
December 31st, 2025, it's 10 million and change. Um we are allowed to borrow um up to 2.5% of that, so that's 352,000 and change. Uh I'm sorry, 352 million and change.
Yeah. Um so right now our outstanding statutory debt is 63 million and change. Um we could actually borrow another 289 million um and still be within the guidelines um and the statutory
requirements of the state. Uh but I'm happy to say that we are under 1%. We're not even close to that 2.5 at a 0.625%. This is just a quick glance at our debt, our past capital budgets. So, it just shows you from 2017 through 2026 what
we're paying in um bond principal each year, uh and what our capital budget is for that year. And we're just talking about general, we're not talking about parking utilities budget or sewer utilities budget. If you um take a deeper look at this, and and you might 2019 might jump
out at you, but uh we bonded for a firehouse. So, that's the only year where you see a pretty large number in the capital budget. And then a quick dive into um our city departments and their capital budgets. Uh as I mentioned,
the general fund budget is at 5,340, parking services at 2,593, the bulk of that being uh the second half of the renovations, um raising the second half of the money for the renovations for the Tier Garage, and the sewer utility, various projects around town um at
2,250. Uh this is the change from year to year between uh you have fire, the reason why it's up 935,000 this year is because there is um a fire engine this year in that capital budget. Um police is just
looking at cars this year. Um that's up 135,000. Community services is down by 35. Community programs, we've done a lot a lot of work recently, as everybody knows, and and we funded a lot of projects. They're down by 700,000.
Um and we don't have anything uh we did some renovations in administration and clerk, and we don't have any of that going on right now, so that's down. So, overall, we're up in the capital budget by 82,000 dollars this year. This is a quick glance at your parking
services and your sewer and what those budgets are. Um you can see sewer's up by 105, parking's down by 132. Um nothing crazy there. Fire department again, they're looking at an engine replacement, turnout gear, small equipment, fire hose replacement,
and rescue equipment. I mean, other than the engine replacement, this is all uh pretty standard on an annual basis for the fire department uh to operate safely. Police department did have some other requests, but they shaved it down. The
chief was super helpful in shaving down our capital budget a bit, and um we are looking at vehicle replacements, and we're going to try to find some creative ways to get some of the other um items that uh he's looking to do. Maybe we can find some grants, so we're going to look at that. Um
Department of community services almost 2 million in infrastructure projects. That includes road improvement projects on Beekman, Michigan, Orchard, Pine Grove, to name a few. Um the micro paving program, the public works does a paving program.
Um stream scouring and stabilish stabilization, um Ascot Way stream dredging, and maintenance projects related to storm water. Uh and traffic and safety projects with um uh rapid flashing beacon installations,
um pedestrian safety improvement, pedestrian safety improvement projects, and sidewalk infrastructure projects, uh which we do every year. Also vehicles and equipment um coming to a total of 740,000. The biggest of those is the street
sweeper, they cost $350,000. Um it's expensive to keep our streets clean, uh and a rear packer garbage truck, which is 175 and a couple other pieces of equipment. In terms of our buildings, we have 125,000 budgeted in the capital
uh program for building upgrades, improvements, masonry and wall repairs at city hall. And we have another $50,000 um in building upgrades for Cornog Field House. Department of community programs, as I said, they're down by 700,000, but they
do have a $680,000 capital budget. It includes $200,000 for playgrounds at Memorial Field and any Summit playground for baseball and softball fields at Memorial. At the slide repair repairs
and replacements at the Aquatic Center. Phase two of the Tatlock playground. The Memorial Field tennis court replacement and park furnishings. Sewer utility requests in capital 2.25. There's $980,000 for infrastructure and
sewer TV. That's inspection and cleaning, the GIS mapping updates, the Chatham Road building, which is where our DPW and sewer headquarters are, and parking lot upgrades. There's $700,000 allocated for the Broad Street trunk line for sewer replacements
at Woodmeer Drive and Woodmeer Pond, Lorraine Road and Place, and Sharman Ave and general repairs and system upgrades. There's another $320,000 for equipment and vehicles, a tractor with plow, trailer, backhoe, mobile lifts for the
garage, and $250,000 for sewer pump stations. There's upgrades needed at Constantine Place, Glen Avenue River Road pump stations, and then general pump upgrades and grinder replacement program. Parking services $2.5 million for the
Tier Garage rehab project. That adds to the 2.4 from last year. And then the parking lot improvements of 93,000. We're just about done. Key highlights. So, at the end of 2025,
recall we had a general fund balance of 10.62 million. We are using 8.5 of that in 2026 to offset property taxes. Um, we used 71% of our fund balance last year. We're using 80% of it. Again,
we're still within that um the surplus policy that we set forth. So, I'm not concerned about that just based on what happened with some of the revenues. It was it was worth taking in an additional 100,000 there.
The overall municipal tax levy increased to balance the budget 1,217,000. Again, $30 million in new property value growth due to the increase in the net assessed valuation. That brings $298,000
into the municipal tax revenue. Overall, the 2026 municipal budget is going to require a municipal tax increase 0.027 of every $100 of assessed property valuation, which will generate approximately $920,000
in additional revenue to deal with the increases that the city is seeing in terms of hourly wages and operating. So, $162 of that 933 total tax bill increase related to the municipal tax rate, which is what we can
control here. That's the municipal portion, and that's what we're able to control. So, based on the 445 average assessed home, that's the increase that you'd be looking at $162 for the municipal portion.
So, when I said at the beginning this is the last slide, but the budget gets introduced tonight. You have to have 28 days between introduction and adoption. And we have a hearing scheduled for our May 5th meeting when people can ask
questions and and we can dive into this deeper if anybody would like to. And please do look at everything on the website, but just because the budget is introduced and it's adopted and it feels like it's over, behind the scenes we've been talking
extensively in the Finance Committee and in various other committees about things that we could do in the future. What can we do to help because you're not really finding new revenues in local government. It's very hard to generate any new revenues.
So, we have to think about what can we do to to help in the future. So, some of the ideas that we're going to be looking into in various committees and vetting out one is exploring in-house recycling alternatives. Can we bring that in-house? Does it achieve any savings
for us? Determine any cost savings if we change don't throw anything at me, but if we change for curbside pickup instead of >> [clears throat] >> rear yard pickup. Just looking at what that costs. What could we save? Is is it worth it? Investigating maybe police off-duty platforms to determine if there's
potential savings there. Continuing to review city contracts for any price efficiencies. That's something we do constantly and we will continue to do. We're also researching some options for moving our telephone system to a computer-based system.
We've gotten some feedback that that could save us well over $100,000. So, that would be amazing. We are looking into that. And if we're able to do anything some of these are take a little longer, but like something like the phones, if we're able to do that this year, that
will just be savings. If we don't spend it, it'll go into surplus and it'll help us next year. Also, we have begun to do some work in various departments on the fee ordinances. We're going to study that further and just research customary fees in neighboring towns. You know, we found
in some cases the UCC was looking and they found that we were charging I think it's $20 for some type of permit and the going average was $100. We said, "Well, why don't we make it 25?" I mean, that's you know, a little bit of something, right?
And then a cost analysis to see if bringing a health insurance waiver used to be something that I did in other municipalities and lots of municipalities across the state still do that where you have a waiver for somebody who doesn't who opts not to
take insurance. Maybe they take their health insurance through their spouse. And so, they waive insurance with the city. With the cost of insurance now, you know, some of these plans are 38,000, 45,000, 46,000. Um,
paying a $5,000 waiver may be well worth it. But we have to we have to vet that out because there are people who already waive and don't get anything. So, it's a it's an analysis. But these are just uh some of the ideas that we tossed around and try to think about how we could and there's I'm sure many more will come out
of our various committees in ways that we can either um reduce expenditures, ways that we could raise revenues, and try to offset property taxes for the future. So, the job isn't done.
And that is it. Thank you for sitting through that and hope it was a little bit interesting. >> [applause] >> Thank you very much. I'm confident there will be many questions for you, but give her a couple of days to catch up on her sleep because I don't think Tammy has
slept yet in 2026. >> [laughter] >> Um, but have >> [snorts] >> having in having introduced the budget, we now have a couple of resolutions to go along with that. Um, so
let's see. Council member Landman, would you please Sure. >> lead us into into the finance resolutions. >> Thank you, Council President. This is resolution number 12477. This resolution introduces the 2026 budget for the city and the parking and
sewer utilities. We will have a hearing and vote on this budget on May 5th. I move to adopt this resolution by roll call vote. Second. Thank you. Do we have any comments from members of the public?
Do we have any comments from members of council? Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll? Mr. Boyer. Aye. Mr. Chrisafulli. Aye. Ms. Commins. Aye. Ms. Landman. Aye. Ms. Sciarrillo. Aye. Mr. Polowy. Aye. President Toothe. Aye. Thank you. Back
to you, Council member [clears throat] Landman. Thank you. This is resolution ID number 12467, which introduces the 2026 budget for Summit Downtown Inc., which covers our special improvement district. We will have a hearing and vote on this budget as well on May 25th. I move to adopt
this resolution by roll call vote. Second. Okay, thank you. And we'll also have the presentation on that May 5th. So, any comments from members of the public? Comments from council? Council? Madam Clerk, would you please call the
roll? Mr. Boyer. Aye. Mr. Chrisafulli. Aye. Ms. Commins. Aye. Ms. Landman. Aye. Ms. Sciarrillo. Aye. Mr. Polowy. Aye. President Toothe. Aye. Okay, let's move on to ordinances for introduction. And uh Madam Clerk, >> [cough and clears throat]
>> would you please read the ordinance for introduction number 12451. An ordinance to amend the general code of the City of Summit, Chapter 18, Streets and Sidewalks, Section 18-3, Excavation of Streets. Thank you, Council member Chrisafulli.
Thank you, Council President. Ordinance ID number 12451 would amend the city code regarding excavation of streets. Residents throughout Summit have complained about the quality, timeliness, and predictability of the work currently being undertaken by utilities in Summit. The proposed
ordinance is intended to provide better oversight and quality of work being done by these utilities including changes to the road opening moratorium from 5 to 10 years, requiring authorization that paving be completed curb to curb
and other measures for inspection and consultation and the ability of the city to issue summons and fines for violations of the ordinance. I move to open the hearing on this ordinance. >> I believe you're introducing it.
Oh, I'm sorry. I would like to introduce this ordinance. Second. Thank you. So, let's see. Roll call? Mr. Boyer? Hi. Mr. Chrisafulli? Hi. Ms. Kallaminson? Hi. Ms. Landman? Hi.
>> Ms. Lazzaracina? Hi. Mr. Palewski? Hi. >> President Toth? Hi. Okay, [clears throat] then Madam Clerk, would you please read ordinance for introduction number 12473? An ordinance amending the general code of the city of Summit 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, Council Member Kallaminson.
Thank you, Council President. This is ordinance ID 12473 and it authorizes a change in current daily parking rate rates and prepayments. With operational and maintenance costs steadily increasing, adjusting the daily and prepaid parking fees will help ensure the city can
continue to properly maintain the parking lots and garages. Permit parking rate rates will change as follows. Daily rate will go from $4 to $5, monthly prepayment from $80 to $100, quarterly prepayments from $228 to $285
and annual prepayments from $864 to $1080. With a hearing date of April 21st, I move to introduce this ordinance. Second. Thank you. Madam Clerk? Mr. Boyer? Hi. Mr. Chrisafulli? Hi. Ms.
Kallaminson? Hi. Ms. Landman? Hi. Ms. Lazzaracina? >> [clears throat] >> Hi. Mr. Palewski? Hi. >> President Toth? Hi. Thank you. Madam Clerk, would you please read the ordinance for introduction number 12474? An ordinance to amend the general code
of the city of Summit chapter 7 traffic section 7-21 speed limits. Thank you, Council Member Palewski. Thank you. This is ordinance number 12474 to amend the general code regarding
speed limits on two streets. The first one is Orchard. It's going to >> [snorts] >> drop from 40 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. And Springfield Avenue between this corner right here and the end
towards New Providence from 35 to 25. I move to introduce this ordinance. Second, but I I I think Springfield is actually by Team Car Wash headed to um had had it to
>> about Bryant Pond, right? Yes, correct. Oh. Right. I stand corrected. >> All good. Yes, second. Thank you. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll? Mr. Boyer? Hi. >> Mr. Chrisafulli? Hi. >> Ms. Kallaminson? Hi. Ms. Landman? Hi. Ms. Lazzaracina? Hi.
>> Mr. Palewski? Hi. >> President Toth? Hi. Thank you. And as Ms. Council Member Kallaminson noted, these ordinances will be heard on the regular schedule at the next meeting on the 21st. So, now we can go back to more
resolutions. Um and so this is to you Council sorry, Council Member Ms. Lazzaracina. Thank you, Council President. Our resolution ID 12490 with respect to a parking agreement with St. Teresa's Church. We're actually
going to delay any action on this particular item. We have had productive meetings with St. Teresa's to resolve the parking issues that they have raised with respect to the MBC zone. So, we will continue work on that. We do not yet have a final agreement for
public review and approval. So, we will be moving on from resolution ID 12490. Moving on to resolution ID 12502. This is to confirm the mayor's appointee to Rent Commission. There is a wonderful
candidate the mayor has brought forth, Angela Grant. She is a long-time Summit resident and has a strong record of service to the community. So, I move that we adopt this resolution. Second. Okay, do we have any public comments on
this resolution? Do we have any comments from members of Council? Council President. Thank you. Yes, Council Member Boyer. >> Just a couple of words about Mrs. Grant. I've known Angela Grant for all my life, I think. You know, 8, 9
years old. She her family and they have been pillars of this community for almost like 100 years. She knows almost every property here in town. She knows all of the
residents here in town. She's actually been involved in a lot of different committees. I was talking to her today on June 10th. She always lets me know when there's issues on Dennis Place, lights are out and everything else. She's like the the Dennis Place captain.
She's very vocal. She is going to be an excellent member of this committee and I think this is falls more in line with really getting um s- everyone involved in committees. I mean,
we have so many different types of people that are involved in committees now from all over town and I'm really happy to see that that there's representation throughout the town. So, I am in full support of Ms. Grant joining this committee. Thank you. Thank
you. Any other comments? Okay, all in favor? Hi. Any opposed? Motion carries. Then, let's move over to Council Member Chrisafulli. Thank you, Council
President. Thank you. Resolution ID 12427 would authorize engineering services in amount not to exceed $150,000 for rehab of the Tier Garage which our city administrator discussed in her budget presentation.
The total cost to rehab the Tier Garage is estimated >> Um excuse me, I thought we were going to pull this resolution. The professional services? Yes. The I'm I'm sorry to stand on your lines. The the package isn't complete.
I'm sorry. I had sent out an email earlier today that explained that we hadn't received the original pay-to-play forms, which is a state requirement by law and therefore we had to pull it. Okay. >> I'm I'm I'm I'm sorry. I And I was
talking to the city engineer and focused on his input and I overlooked that. >> My apologies. That's okay. I I You you have plenty with which with which to entertain us tonight. So. I get excited about the Tier Garage infrastructure. >> do.
Well, the next one is going to be even more more fun. Um Thank you, Council President. Resolution ID number 12491 would authorize installation of temporary pop-up dog parks at locations to be determined. There was an amendment
to the resolution which our city clerk issued today. Um This amendment will allow final determination of the locations to be set by the Capital Projects or the CAPS Committee without delaying the implementation of this, I would say, important
initiative that brings neighbors together. I move to adopt this resolution. Second. Do we have any comments from members of the public? >> [clears throat] >> I I I didn't realize last night that Oh, Henry Bassman, 18 Hotley Road. When I
when I mentioned this my feeling about this last night at the listening session, which was incidentally terrific. I think it's a great opportunity to have a conversation with your city leaders and I would encourage people to come to it if they've got
something they want to talk with the city leaders about. But what I mentioned last night was our our city green, the Village Green is a precious precious thing in this community. And it
differentiates us from a lot of other communities in the state of New Jersey. We need to be very careful to preserve the integrity of the Village Green and not to chop it up by adding a little
this and a little of that and pretty soon have it built and diminished. Um I know the idea is to have these pop-up parks be temporary but in my experience, temporary often becomes permanent.
And when humans see an open space, it's an invitation for development. It's just our nature as human beings and we need to preserve that open space and I would encourage you to find other suitable locations for the
dog parks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other comments? Do we have comments from members of council? Council president. Yes, Council member Boy. Uh, so the dog park is is a is a
very personal thing for me because uh, maybe a year ago, year and a half ago, I was out walking my dog. Well, first I I was pushing for um, uh, waste doggy waste dispensers on corners. That didn't work over, you know, well, and we were in the majority.
They were like, "No." So, um, the next thing I was walking my dog with my wife and I just asked a random resident. I said, "Hey, how would you feel about a a dog park here in Summit?" And not only did she was she ecstatic about it, she was like, "Call me and I'll help you like um,
design it." I was like, "Wow." Uh, came back, talked to our city engineer about it. He said, "Well, we have all the material already. Let's, you know, let's let's try it out." And the council agreed and and we did that. And it was an absolute hit. I
think 1,100 people responded and uh, Mr. Bassman, you don't have to worry about it. 80% of them said Memorial Field. So, >> [laughter] >> so I think you're in good shape, buddy. But, you know, that brings me to uh, to my my second point. I know we're going
to talk about the budget. Uh, but you know, we we went through this whole pilot thing last year, right? We did it. We asked the residents to come out, give their opinions and they did. And they overwhelmingly said, "We want to do this."
Um, 65% of respondents said that they would use the park daily. That is amazing. That is amazing. So, that means people are going to be out walking their dog. They're not in the house. The kids are not on their phones. They're throwing
the ball. I mean, you know, there are certain things that, you know, the municipality really needs to listen to and do. And one of those things is bringing the community together. And the last estimate I heard was $50,000.
$50,000. I think the budget was 68 million, maybe more than that. I'm sorry. Um, but we also have a surplus that we carry over year year a year. $10 million. I know we need a a rainy day fund. I get it, right? But that's $10 million.
50 grand? Out of 10 million? I mean, we could get that done. So, you know, I I I know we're going to go back and we're going to talk about budget things and everything, right? And I know the people who don't have dogs
um, may not understand that uh, they're family members. Like, my dog is like my son. I feel that way. He's my kid. I take him everywhere on planes and everywhere I go. Um, but I I want I want the council to reconsider. Like, let's
let's start this process and not and not wait again. So, um, thank you, Council president. Do we have other comments? Okay, I'll I'll just Oh, I'm sorry. I You're so quiet, Council member
Calman-Levy. Too polite. Uh, uh, thank you, Council president. Um, uh, something one one of the concerns I had about a dog park, and I shared this last night at the listening session, is that maybe playground is going to be opening soon. So, we have our first fully inclusive playground that should
be welcoming children, neurodivergent, neurotypical. This playground should be welcoming to every child. And if putting a dog park here would deter anyone from coming, then we shouldn't do it. We we we need to make sure that maybe
playground continues or it has isn't yet, but it will be a playground for everyone to feel welcome and to come enjoy. Um, so that is my concern about it going at Village Green. Um, there's some talk about maybe maybe a different quadrants or something like that. Um, so
I just wanted to share that, you know, that's something that I've been talking to council about. Uh, thank you. Thank you. Council president, just And and you know what? I I absolutely agree. Let's not put it on the Village Green, right? And let's just move forward with
a permanent one on Memorial Field. And everybody is and everybody is happy because I also have that same concern about the new uh, playground that we we constructed on the Village Green. So, why do the, you know, the uh,
uh, the temporary parks? I mean, let's go for it and let's let's build one Memorial Field where 85% of the residents said they would like it to have it. So, I think that solves all problems. Thank you. Council member Palewski. Thank you. Um, I don't necessarily agree, but um, I definitely
would like to learn more about it. Um, I spent a lot of time at the dog park this summer and uh, every time I was there I asked residents, some of them were here, you know, what they thought of it, um, where they'd like to see it, how they
how they could see it being improved. And one of the things we talked about was should we put turf down, should we put gravel down? And overwhelmingly, uh, they said no, right? And I would say no, too, because as Mr. Bassman pointed out,
we need to preserve our green spaces. One of the ideas, and I I like the idea of the pop-up dog park because it's mobile, right? But it's not the greatest looking fencing of all time and um, maybe there's a way to do better. And some residents came up with some ideas
about, I guess I'll call it a um, permanent temporary dog park so that you can get real fencing, you can put footings in at various places in town and kind of move it around. Uh, so different people can enjoy enjoy the
park, the dog park at different times a year. Uh, one of the problems with Memorial Field was come summertime it was very hot and there's no trees there. Um, but there is shade in other places. So, I can think of a number of locations, several at maybe, unless we
don't want to do that. Um, uh, across Elm Street on the Village Green, across Broad Street by the train station where we no longer have the um, Louie. Um, Jackie's favorite. Um, and Memorial Field, both sides of
Memorial Field. That'll also help preserve the grass and kind of share the wealth so different people can walk from different places in town at different times a year. So, um, I I think we should keep looking at it, but in the meantime I'm I'm very happy
that we were able to do the temporary pop-up dog parks. Um, and I'm glad that and thank you guys. I've been kind of pressing to get this on an agenda because springtime's here and and I thank the CAPS committee for uh, making it happen uh, for this
meeting. Okay. I'll just add um, or to amplify what what Council member Chrisafulli suggested that the Keep you Many of you have great ideas as well. We want to hear them and direct
direct your dog park ideas, particularly locations, to Council member Chrisafulli because he runs the CAPS committee. Council president, if I may. I really appreciate this discussion. This is a a topic that really brings most people in
Summit together. Not everybody has a dog, but people recognize the value of of community in bringing neighbors together. I think we can find uh, at least two spots that we can agree on and and we can get this moving forward. I want to listen to everybody's thoughts
on this and we can come to agreement. Okay, thank you. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Back to you, Council member Chrisafulli. Thank you, Council president. Uh, resolution ID number 12492
would authorize a one-year contract extension for curbside collection and marketing of recycling. Again, a comment from Tammy's budget discussion, we're looking at creative ways to save money here. And instead of going out to
market, the current provider was able to give us an extension with no cost increase, uh, in contrast to significant increases that other towns are experiencing when they go out to bid. Uh, so over the next year we will be exploring ways to improve performance on
this activity. I move to adopt the resolution. Second. Do we have any comments from members of the public? Any comments from members of council? Okay, all in favor of this resolution? Aye. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Council member Chrisafulli. Thank you, Council president. Resolution ID number 12485 would authorize submission of requests for federal funding of the park line and associated sidewalks around Morris and Broad Streets in the amount of
approximately $3 million. No matching funds are required for this grant, meaning the city wouldn't have to pay any additional amounts. I move to adopt this resolution. Second. Okay, do we have comments from members of the public?
Do we have comments from members of council? Council president. Yes, Council member Boy. So, I I I chair the park line uh, improvement project and there wasn't a chair uh, before me. We passed a resolution last year because it was stagnant.
Wasn't it wasn't moving. Um, and what a great decision that has been. And I just want to And they they weren't having meetings and at all. Um, and I just want to applaud the residents who are on that committee. They have done a fantastic job showing
up, getting the details, taking it back to the residents on their street. And now we are and we've been pushing. And so so now we've got the removal of the bridges and they're they're the
EIC group. Um It is up there removing all of the all of the clutter and everything and we got the DOT approvals. I mean, it is really moving and I'm excited about that. And
and that's And some of these committees that we have, we we should be really looking at them and if they're stagnant, we're all pretty good at like sharing things. And we got to you know, we should step in and say, you know what, it's not really moving that well. We need to we need to
do something about it and this is a perfect example. Thank you. Other comments from members of council? Um Okay. I I just want to add that while
this is talk this this um the I'm losing it. Grant application is says it's about the park line. We were told that for federal grants we should go big. Um so that this is wrapping
in addition to parkline this is wrapping in sidewalks. This is wrapping in the pedestrian bridge that would cross Broad Street and connect the parkline um to the Salerno Dwayne side of Broad Street. So this is about more than just the
parkline. This is about significant improvements to that part of town and unfortunately our city engineer is on vacation this week, but he thinks that he's put together a robust enough grant proposal that the feds will sit up and
take notice and hopefully fund it. Um so with that, um all in favor? >> and hopefully they won't listen to your comments tonight. >> [laughter] >> All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. One more for you, Council member Chris Faley. Thank you,
Council President. Resolution ID 12499 would authorize the appointment of an acting building subcode official, an important function of city government. And to fill this critical vacancy, an existing staff member will be named to this acting position while a permanent
official is recruited. I move to adopt the resolution. Second. Do we have any comments from members of the public? Comments from members of council? Okay, all in favor? I. Any opposed? Resolution carries. Um
over to you, Council member Polowsky. Thank you. This is resolution ID number 12484 to authorize the submission to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety >> [snorts] >> state and community highway safety grant
application and to execute a grant agreement. We're going to be applying for $15,000. This grant is used for things like controlling impaired driving, increasing seatbelt usage rates, promoting the
proper use of child passenger restraint system systems, increasing traffic law enforcement and a bevy of other initiatives that we may choose to implement. I move to adopt this resolution. Second.
Okay, do we have any comments from members of the public? Comments from members of council? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Resolution carries. Back to you, Council member Polowsky. Thank you. This is resolution ID number
12469 to declare two vacancies in the fire department. One is for lieutenant who's re is retiring and the second is for a probationary fire fighter. Fighter.
I move to adopt this resolution. Second. Do we have any any comments from members of the public? Any comments from members of council? All in favor? I. Any opposed? No. Resolution carries. Um one more for you, Council member
Polowsky. Thank you very much. Uh this is resolution ID number 12495 to authorize fire department promotion to those two vacancies. One's to lieutenant and one's to appoint a probationary fire fighter. I should
have said on the last one, uh thank you to Lieutenant Darko for his service over the years and and we wish you the best in your retirement. But in this one, I'd like to congratulate Thomas Penn for his promotion to lieutenant and Andrew
Mullen who is whose father was a long time fire department and he's following in his dad's footsteps. I move to adopt this resolution. Second. Do we have any comments from members of the public? Any comments from members of council?
Okay, all in favor? I. Any opposed? Resolution carries. Let's see. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Okay, any member any
comments from members of the public on the consent agenda? Any comments from members of council? Council President. Yes, Council member Lisa Cino. Thank you. Just wanted to lift up in brief the four annual license agreements that are listed under law and
labor. This is ordinary course action and also a legal requirement for the four restaurants that have applied to have sidewalk dining. Because they are liquor license holders, we are required to enter into a license agreement with them. They are carry insurance requirements for benefit of the city and
they also pay an annual fee which is $485 per seat. Um so again, this is an ordinary course matter and and also a legal requirement. Okay, thank you. Any other comments? All in favor? I.
Any opposed? Okay. Resolution The consent agenda is adopted and thank you to our city staff who've been with us this evening. Um of course you're welcome to stay, but but please feel free to leave. Um
We're going to move on to the public comment section of our meeting. And as we begin public comment, we ask that residents of Summit step forward to speak first. We value input from everyone and any member of the public is welcome to speak. We
simply ask for your courtesy in allowing our neighbors to lead the public discussion if they're prepared to speak first. And again, um if anyone does have a comment, I remind you of [music] of our 3-minute um time
frame and to leave written comments in the box. And I don't see people rushing to the lecture. My name is Henry Bassman, 18 Hartley Road. Uh I've been ruminating about something for months.
And when I found out that the budget presentation was going to be today, I figured this was the appropriate time to make this recommendation. And I have some specifics here, but this is really a conceptual recommendation.
And it's based upon the premise that people tend to be more careful when they have to pay for something than if they have a blanket permission to use something without usage fees.
And so I'm recommending that every entity that uses a the lighted fields at Tatlock should pay a fee for each usage. The fee should include the cost of electricity, cleanup, off-duty police
officers, and reimbursement for wear and tear. Any damage to the field should be charged back to the entity that used the field. And if the scheduled usage is canceled and no practice takes place, then the fee should not be charged. The fee should apply to practice
sessions and games by community programs, private sports clubs, and more than one high school varsity game of each sport. The changes the charges to private clubs should be in addition to the annual fee already levied since the
current annual fee covers the unlighted usage of the fields. And every Summit resident should not be required to bear the burden for the added expenses arising from the activities of a few. The fee should include an appropriate
amount for long-term maintenance in addition to operating costs. The maintenance portion should be recorded in a separate budget line and accrue from year to year to help defray the cost of major maintenance needs such as
replacing turf or changing light bulbs. There's a precedence for this. Uh community serve uh community programs activities that you enroll your children in, you need to pay for. Uh you want to use the golf course, you need to pay for it. You want to use the
aquatic center, you need to pay for it. These things are self-sustaining because they apply to only a portion of the uh residents of Summit, not to the entire community, and they're not necessary uh
fees, not necessary activities, but uh things that are enrichment. So, um I'd I'd like to like you to consider that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. >> a copy here for you. Okay. Um in the box? Can I put it in?
>> Oh, oh, sorry. Thank you for modeling that behavior. >> [laughter] >> I said, "Thank you for modeling that behavior." Do we have any other comments? No? Moving on to comments from council members.
Uh okay, Council Member Polowsky. Thank you. Uh first, I'd like to thank Ben and Anna for a great presentation on the history of the drama program in our Summit schools. I think when I introduced them, I said, "Our program is
robust and tremendous," but I should have also said distinguished because they've not only uh been nominated for a slew of awards, but they've also won a whole bunch. Um so, congratulations to them for that. Uh second, I just wanted to report that
our boys lacrosse team is 5 and 0, and they had a big win today against Seton Hall Prep. In overtime, Quinn Hines got the game winner. Um we're also we also beat the number one public school, Radnor, uh in our opening game. So, they're off
to a great start, and the girls lacrosse team is 2 and 0 as well. I expect they'll keep winning, too. Uh then, I was going to comment on the consent agenda, but I didn't get my hand up in time. One of the items that we had on there were to grant permission and
set forth conditions for uh some events that Summit Downtown Inc. is going to be uh putting on uh in the coming weeks and months. So, Family Fun Night is June 4th. When want to mark your calendar, there's a World Cup watch party. I think that's
for the opening game on July 19th, which is my wife's birthday, so maybe I'll take her to that. And Arts and Cars will be on September 20th. Thank Thank you, Council Member Polowsky. Anybody Council Member Cristofuli? Thank you, Council
President. Just wanted to follow up on my earlier comments. Dog parks are great, but the meat and potatoes of the city's work is not always as fun or glamorous, for heaven's sake. I should know. I'm on the board of the joint meeting, which is our sewer utility.
Important work, uh but nobody would claim it's glamorous. Um the real work of Summit, for the most part, is done by a very talented and dedicated staff that make our city work. And one example that I'd like to shine a light on this week
is Summit's division of land use, led by Augusto Dalmau, so uh in zoning enforcement. One recent enforcement action involved an unregistered business operating on a site strewn with debris, with
unpermitted structures and electrical connections, an unsightly danger to our community. Other recent zone recent zoning enforcement actions included a fine and removal of invasive bamboo. It looks great, but it really takes over.
Uh and they also uh fined and closed down an unregistered business. Uh the enforcement team is now focusing on stormwater discharge violations, an issue that we're hearing about we heard about it at last night's listening session, and we're hearing about it all
across town, where neighbors are sending their water onto neighboring properties against the code. Uh so, these activities help our town work better, help our town be more neighborly, and also, in some cases, provide
revenue. Uh we're looking for those pennies, nickels, and dimes in the couch this year for fee income, and this is a yet another way where our town and staff is working to make that happen. So, stay tuned. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Cristofuli.
Anybody else? Council Member Kalmanson. Thank you, Council President. Um first, I wanted to start by thanking our CFO, Tammy Baldwin, our um Director of Finance, Jen Kabuska, and council members. >> [applause] >> Thank you for all of your hard work on
the budget. This was not an easy task to start out with, and with the delay in the sale of the firehouse property, I know that added [laughter] a very challenging layer to an already challenging situation. So, thank you again. I hope you can get some sleep now. Um also, I wanted to give a playgrounds update. Um Tatlock
playground is going to be removed soon, likely at the beginning of next week, and Maby playground is still under construction, not ready to open. So, that does mean we're going to be without two city playgrounds during um the spring, but looking forward, um come
Memorial Day, Tatlock should be ready to go. It should be open, and we have a tentative date for um Maby playground for opening June 8th. So, we're really excited to have two new city playgrounds this summer. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.
Council Member Landman. Thank you, Council President. Um before I make my planned remarks, I just want to um address something that's come up over the past 24 hours. Um I know we've been elected to deal with things like potholes and dog parks and parking,
uh but we also have a responsibility to recognize and respond to our residents' concerns. Over the past 24 hours, I've heard from residents about the importance of the words that elected officials use at all levels of government, from the dais here
in Summit to our president. And um you know, the rhetoric today from the top of our government was nothing short of appalling. Um but I want to say that I am grateful to serve this community tonight in my capacity as a council
member, with my colleagues on this dais who respect and uphold the Constitution. So, I just wanted to say that. Um on to my other comments, I also wanted to thank Tammy, Jen, and all of the department heads, um as well as my fellow elected officials, for being measured and
rational and responsible in delivering a budget that we can stand behind. We are going to feel the squeeze this year, as Tammy mentioned, um but I'm confident that this team can make it work. Um you know, as Tammy mentioned, as a finance committee, we met 12 times this
quarter for over 25 hours in total. Um but most importantly, the city staff across every single department spent much more time than that to draft, revise, and refine uh the budget. And as she also mentioned, our work is not done. Uh we are exploring a number of
opportunities to make changes to the way the city structures is structured, how we provide services, revenue streams, and appropriations to make sure we set ourselves on a course uh to weather the storms in the future. So, that is our next focus, and we always welcome resident input and
suggestions. Um and then, lastly, um as I look forward to attending the GRACE Gala on Friday night, I wanted to put a call out to our residents. Each week, GRACE delivers uh food to over 800 families in
the Summit community. I volunteer with GRACE most weeks, twice a week, um and have earned uh a title I'm quite proud of, which is the bag lady, um >> [laughter] >> because I play a role in collecting, sorting, counting, and storing uh bags
to help us deliver groceries to families in need. Um so, my ask is we are in desperate need right now for you reusable grocery bags. Um so, please open up that kitchen cabinet in the bottom and dig out those extra reusable bags. Uh you can deliver them
to There's a GRACE storage bin in the back of the community center, and if for any reason you can't get them there yourself, I am happy to come collect them from you. So, just send me an email, and the bag lady will appear. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Um let's see. Mr.
Council Member Boyer, we haven't heard from you yet. See, uh you know, all I got to do is lean in, and Claire's like, "Yeah." >> [laughter] >> Thank you Thank you, Council President. Um this weekend, I watched nearly 2,000
young athletes descend on I'm going to call it Tatlock, but Investors Bank Field. Um these kids weren't out there for a participation trophy. I mean, they were out there to find out what they were
made of. I mean, you talk about like cheering [snorts] somebody on, it was a wonderful sight. I saw kids were running, and there was another kid running alongside of him, "Come on, Jim." You know, and and Jim was like
three laps behind, right? And but it it was just it was amazing to see. Um so, I like kids doing activities. That is great. More More importantly, though, what I what I noticed is that the volunteers,
the parents, like these things wouldn't happen without all of the parents there. The the you know the the what do you call it? The snack shop? What is it called? Concession stand. Yeah, I've been in Alabama too long. So like I you know >> [clears throat] >> my accent is coming out. Yeah, the
concession stand. Um cheers to the parents. I mean they they they deserve like a round of applause. They make this city um work, you know, so uh shoutout to them. Um secondly
This was a weekend of Good Friday, some call it Resurrection Sunday, Easter, uh Passover uh and before that I reached out to a lot of family members that I have that I haven't talked to in a long time.
And it got me thinking about loneliness and how a phone call can make somebody's day. I mean I spent I spent hours talking to one of my aunts and you know at the end of the the call and I didn't realize the effect but at
the end of the call she said "Thank you for calling me. I really appreciated this. Not only did you make my day but you made my month." So I you know I I asked folks and I said it to my family on Sunday when we all got together, you know,
give people a call. There's always somebody that you're thinking about that you say I'm going to call them tomorrow. Right? We all have at least 5 minutes but if it's with me you need an hour, right? Like so make sure make sure you give yourself some
time. Uh but you know I wanted to say that and to uh Shantel's point about comments, you know, from the federal government, from
political officials in general I share that opinion. You know, I listen there's a way to talk, right? I mean you know, I'm not talking about policies and stuff, right? But I you know, I I generally had to say what what?
And so you know, I agree. There is a certain decorum that you respect from your political officials. And and you know, we can't control what other people do.
We can control how we conduct ourselves and I hope that you all are are happy that I'm not running off saying crazy stuff like that either but um but yeah, I I totally agree. And you know what? And it starts here with us and I
think we've been pretty good about it this year. Um That is I know I forgot to say something but that's all I got. [snorts] Thank you. Okay, thank you. Um I Yes, Council member Luceracena. Sorry, thank you Council President and I apologize. I I forgot my timer but I
will try to keep my comments brief. April is Autism Awareness Month. Uh so we are standing with our sons and daughters with autism and others who have other neuro divergence. We have a save the date for Tuesday,
April 28th. There is a wellness symposium at our Summit High School, 6:30 p.m. There will be resources available on uh local mental health supports as well as activities for skills building to invest further in the
mental health of our children. Um so again that's Tuesday, April 28th at 6:30 in the Summit High School. Uh on what is is happening outside of Summit, uh I agree sometimes it's important to just say the thing
and threatening an entire civilization including innocent civilians is despicable and scary. Calling brave young men and women into war when both the purpose and the exit strategy are unclear is terrible and
scary. Taking innocent children and holding them in deplorable conditions in detention centers is terrible and scary. There are more things we could add to that list but I will leave it there for now and if anyone else is feeling scared
or angry or sad, please know that you are not alone in that. Uh to close we got some very wise words from outer space uh just a few days ago to help us through from NASA astronaut Victor Glover on the Artemis 2 mission.
Uh he said in part, "I can really see Earth as one thing. You're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe together." As we go into Easter Sunday thinking about all the cultures around the world,
whether you celebrate the holiday or not, whether you believe in God or not this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are who we are and that we are the same thing and that we've got to get through this
together. Thank you. Thank you, Council member. Um ah >> [applause] >> our mayor has something to say. I do. I have to correct Councilman Palewski, unfortunately. Um the World Cup I don't know, man. It's
a rough day for you, Bob. Um the World Cup uh opening game actually is June 11th and STI is putting on a watch party on June 11th as well as the one mentioned prior on July 18th? 19th. 19th. Okay. Um so I just
wanted to make that correction so that everybody knows. So two Thursdays in a row downtown there will be a buzz in the Bank Street Beachwood area. One for family fun night on the 4th and then one for June for the World Cup on the 11th. Don't get them confused. It would be
really weird. >> [laughter] >> They're going to be slightly different experiences for sure. Um and then um one more other thing uh Mr. Basman, I appreciate your comments. Um I don't know if you're aware but there is a field user fee that every single
participant in any field sport in Summit um does pay already. So that is and that actually started I believe when the turf went in at Tatlock investors. Um and it's been it's the intended purpose is to use that um those funds
for um you know, renovation and maintenance of of the field spaces. So um so it it does exist. Um and lastly this is a little bit off script but um I know that the YMCA it's this is a near and dear event to my
heart um and uh it's a special needs prom that the YMCA puts on every year um and that is May 14th and they're looking for volunteers. Um there are about 65 or so participants. Um it really is an awesome event. It takes place at the Berkeley Heights Y um and if you're
interested in volunteering uh every every prom um guest gets a has a buddy. So we need adults and and high school kids and college kids if they're home from school um to come and be a buddy. It's a really really really heartwarming. There are videos on the Y
website too so you can check it out. Thank you. Thank you. Um and I'm just going to >> Council Council President I'm Sorry, I I I just remembered. [laughter] Um and and I would I would get in trouble >> to cut down on the double dipping. >> but I get I get in a lot of trouble if I don't say this. Um so I know we're
talking about the budget, right? I have spoken to many of crossing guards. They're looking for some type of increase in pay and we if we haven't looked at that, why not?
Um we should be looking at that. These are people that are out there in the in the cold, 10 degrees, right? 20 degrees, walking your kids across the street. Um they have They haven't had a raise in a in a in a while and you know, a lot of these folks
are you know, retired, well retired, right? Um We should look at it. I mean at least look at it. You can't say that we're not even going to look at it. That that's unacceptable, right? So when you go back and you're looking at the
finances and everything, just remember that these folks take good care of our children, right? And we should take good care of them because again, we do have a surplus. So you're talking about you know, an extra you know, $100,000. I don't know. I'm
just throwing it out there, right? When you got a $8 million surplus kind of hard to defend, right? So please take a look at it. Um the the last thing is uh you brought the astronaut. That was cool. Uh you know
they they asked him, "How do you feel being the first black man going in you know, to to the moon?" His comment was great, you know. His comment was um you know, this is a an an an astonishing
thing for humanity. You know, this is a great thing for humanity, for people. And and that's the way that we should be looking at it. This is historic for human beings, you know, not a particular race cuz he wants to be seen like
everyone else and he's a really accomplished man. Um so that was a good response. So uh thank you. Okay, thank you. Um I'm going to wrap it up and looking at my prepared remarks, I'm basically just putting a bow on what
everyone said um because now we we have gotten through the first quarter of 2026 which is a really good time to say what have we done, where are we? Um last year Council did reach the court-ordered settlement
setting Summit's affordable housing obligation through June 30th, 2035. So this quarter we passed the ordinances and resolutions to implement it um with transparency front and center. We hosted a long public meeting here in this
chamber so residents could question our attorney and our planner. We posted detailed maps, unit counts by development, timelines on the city website, and we've held additional informal listening sessions to dig into additional concerns.
Um meanwhile, the highlight of this evening, the Finance Committee with CFO Baldwin and um Chief of Finance Kobliska um has been laser-focused on this budget and you've heard those details. Residents have been asking for more
access, more transparency, so Council has already we held two listening sessions in February, one last night, another one later this month. Um I launched Council President office hours 3:00 to 5:00 on Mondays in the Council
conference room right over there. So stop by at any of these, share ideas, ask questions, get to know us. So in short, first quarter was about getting the city's house in order, planning the year and improving communications. In the second quarter, as you've heard,
Council is going to focus on bringing neighbors together with the outdoor events um and dining, pop-up the pop-up dog parks, playgrounds, watch parties, and more. So please stay tuned. Um and do I hear a motion to
adjourn? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We stand adjourned. I thought like what did I miss? Oh, okay.
Maybe you could talk to him about that.