Good evening everyone. Welcome to our 1st of December common council meeting. Um happy holidays to everyone. I hope everyone had a very wonderful Thanksgiving. Um and we're going to get right down to business uh this evening.
So, Madame Clerk, would you please read the adequate notice of compliance statement? Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the city clerk's office in preparation of the council annual meeting notice dated December 16th, 2024, which was properly distri 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 near needs the hearing assistance, please obtain the system at the Dis and return it thereafter.
>> Thank you so much. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mr. Buyer >> present. >> Miss Hamlet, >> Miss Cson here, >> Mr. Powski >> here. >> Mr. Smallwood >> here. >> Miss Toth >> here. >> President Mcan >> present. All right. At this time, I'd like to call on our esteemed mayor,
Elizabeth Fagan, 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.
>> All right. Thank you so much. Um, all right. Um, at this time, Madam Clerk, would you kindly please read the explanatory note regarding close session hearings and comments? A close session meeting as authorized by state statute statute was announced and held prior to the start of this meeting and the known
items for discussion were listed on the published close session agenda. Please be advised that council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channel 34 and 36 and Verizon channel 30 and rebroadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays on HTTV on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33.
When invited to speak, please come to the lectern. Clearly state your name and address. Spell your last name and speak into the podium microphone so that your comments can be understood by all and properly recorded. Whenever an audience or council member reads from a prepared statement, please give or email a copy to the city clerk at city
clerk@cityofsummit.org. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard, speakers shall limit their comments to three minutes. Unless you are using an electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or need it for professional emergency contact purposes, please turn it off. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Um All right. At this time, do I have a motion to approve the regular and close session uh minutes for meetings of November 17th, 2025? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. All right,
we're on to our report section of our meeting. Uh, Madame Mayor, do you have a report for us uh, today? >> Always. I wouldn't disappoint you, Mike. >> Um, okay. Good evening, everyone. And, uh, first I wanted to I've heard a lot
from residents over the last probably two years, but mo more recently. So, um, about dogs running off leash at Memorial Park at Memorial Field and Tatlock Field and other kind of public areas. And I just want to remind everybody, we do
have a leash law in Summit that requires dogs to be on a leash at all times unless they're on your private property or at a designated dog park. And while I am a massive dog lover, um I know that dogs off leash can cause distress to
other animals, other dogs and children and adults who don't know or are fearful. So, please follow the law so that everybody can be safe and enjoy our park safely. Um, and yesterday, Chief Brian Peters shared a statement about an uptick in burglary and car theft
activity in surrounding towns. And we go through a report every Monday, um, reports every Monday, and we've sort of started seeing, um, some surrounding towns with activity. Um, so we just wanted to remind everyone that packages left on your front steps are inviting to
um, porch pirates. Um, so make sure that you know when they're being delivered. Make sure that if you're away that you have somebody remove those or move them into a a more secure location. Make sure you lock your house. Make sure you lock your car doors. Make sure if you have a garage and you're able to park your car
in the garage, do so. Keeps you warm. Anyway, um take your key fobs inside and use motion lights um or cameras if you have them. And if you see anything, please call the police immediately. um on some more fun things. Um we had a
wonderful turnout on November 28th for our annual tree lighting on the village green and I want to thank um our DCP for organizing in our PAL for organizing an amazing event. We had a record number of attendees and there were tons of activities for kids and families to
enjoy and I think that the PL gave out um over 500 cups of hot chocolate that day because it was a bit cold. So um it was great. So, thanks to everybody for making that a wonderful event. And then coming up on December 14th, we'll hold our annual Manura lighting, which is
open to the public and is always a very special community event. And I hope to see many of you there. And finally, um, as many of us are out shopping and enjoying our downtown this season, please pay extra attention while driving and walking. Drivers, please slow down and watch for pedestrians. and
pedestrians, please use the flashing beacons when they're available and make sure drivers see you before your cross. We just want everybody to be safe and to be able to enjoy summit and what we have to offer here. So, thank you. And lastly, um, congratulations to Officer John Sers for his on his retirement. Um,
he is riding off into the sunset with his wife who is also recently retired. So, congratulations to him and thank you and I wish everybody a happy holiday season and be safe. >> Thank you very much. Great report as always. Um, Miss Baldwin, do you have a
city administrator report this evening? >> I do. Thank you, council president. Good evening, everyone. A few quick reminders about upcoming city events and services. First of all, our capital budget workshop will be held Wednesday, December 10th, a week from tomorrow, at 6:30 p.m. in the Janet Women Room
upstairs. This is a really good opportunity to learn more about our long-term planning and our major projects that are coming up. and we do encourage residents to attend. We also have the summit free market on Saturday, December 13th from 8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m.
at the transfer station. This is a great time to clear out toys or household items you no longer use that could be useful to someone else. And while you're there, you could pick up a few new to you items as well. Uh please do note that this is the only summit free market event in December. There is no Friday
event this month. Finally, the good news. The rooftop level of the tier garage has been reviewed by an outside engineering firm and is open for resident and employee permit parking again. Um, so that's great news. Come downtown. There's places to park, shop.
Um, thanks so much and we look forward to seeing everybody at the upcoming events. >> It's awesome. Thank you very, very much. That's great news about the parking deck. Just in time for shopping season. >> Um, all right. Uh, I have a couple of things just to report. Um, as I've been
doing uh the last three months, just to give people an update on where we are with our round four, uh, we continue to meet with uh, developers and have as well as with fair share housing. I will say the meetings have been generally pretty productive. Uh, they're going
well. Um, but they're not over. We we had a mediation session yesterday with one developer and um laid things out and we'll we'll have a followup and that's this is just part of the process. Um there are deadlines that are in place uh
for the end of the year. So at some stage we do need to you know come to agreements or agree to disagree and this would then end up going to court. Um but like I said we are making progress so we're hopeful. um that we can come to
agreements and have a you know we like our plan we'll probably have some adjustments to it um and it'll be a good plan for summit uh to be proud of over the next 10 years. Um in addition update on uh the firehouse uh if you were
paying attention to our last meeting we made an announcement that we're marketing it and we are going out uh to uh to sell it um next week. Uh, I believe it's on Thursday the 8th. Is is that right, Miss Baldwin?
>> The 11th. >> The 11th. I'm sorry. The 11th. Uh, bids are due. Uh, we have a sealed bid uh competitive auction process in place. Our our broker is Jones Langum Lasell. You can find them uh on the internet.
You can look also look on our uh website for information if you're interested. Uh so far, uh through our broker, we have seen several people interested in the site. So, we're super super excited about this. This has been on the the docket to sell this property for several
years. Uh we've adjusted the zoning. Um this we are out of the redevelopment business. We are going to sell this and then a developer will use the zoning and put up what they can put up. And uh and as Miss Baldwin has mentioned on several
occasions, um you know, we will use the money in reserve. Um we need the funds. Um it'll help offset debt payments and things like that. Um going all the way back to the fire station. So, this is an important piece of business for the
city. We're super excited uh to see what happens and um I'll be able to update everybody uh at our next meeting in December on on how it goes. Uh, and that is my uh council president report. Okay. Um, at this time we have our
historical minute. I believe Councilman Plowski, we have a special guest. >> We do >> uh minute speaker. >> We do. Um, so tonight for our historic minute, we have a very handsome young man who looks just like his dad, and um
he he's a junior at Summit High School, plays lacrosse, loves pizza, and he's going to tell us about pizza in Summit. Sam Palowski. >> Hi, my name is Sam. Uh SA's always had great pizza from Rosa's bar to Marco
Polo to village, Antonia's to Zapias, uh square to village Tateria, pizza vita to brick oven, everywhere in between, and every time past and present, pizza is good and summit. Today, Young Hill Toppers are blessed with four spots uptown to grab a slice. But it hasn't
always been that way. In the early mid 1980s, kids adventuring uptown could go to Luigi's, which was located across the street from St. Teresa's Memorial Hall on the same side of Morris A. Uh with standup video games, it was a hot spot for the youth and great pizza, too. They
could also stop at Sam's Pizza on Summit A near the corner of Bank Street. That too was a great place filled with children who had walked, biked, and skateboarded uptown to grab a slice and have a snack with friends. Uh sadly Luigi's closed shop in mid1 1985 and
later that year Sam's closed as well reopening as a more upscale ery on the bank street called Randazzos. Randazzo only sold whole pies. So where was a kid supposed to get a slice of pizza um to buy and to buy baseball cards and at
Garden State News and Cats News stand or to preserve vinyls at Scotty's Records. Not to worry, the Graci family saved the day. Uh, sorry. When they opened Dory's Pizzas on Springfield A in 1986, the
their singular version was or their singular vision was to serve real pizza just like they had in Italy. Nearly 40 years later, Dorius has built a long-standing reputation as serving one of the best pizzas in New Jersey. and it is the longest standing pizza place and one of the longest standing restaurants
for that matter in Summit New Jersey. Um the New York Times once featured them in the culinary section commenting at last pizza with the right with the right crunch. I think we could all agree on that. Um and his son has told my dad just the other night, "Mr. Graci loved to serve our kids. For decades, the
establishment had a bar seating in the window so our kids could wave passers by as they enjoyed. Dorius still makes great pizza today with just the right crunch and has won three loyalty or three generations of loyalty in my family. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much.
>> So, so may I council president? >> Yes, please. >> Little known fact that my parents owned a pizza place in Summit >> called Anony's >> on Springfield Avenue across from the Little Kings for many years. And I used to sling some pizza slices myself.
That's >> that was back in 1979. >> I'm getting hungry. >> Yeah, nice. Nice job, Sam. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Sam. >> I want to know if Sam was named after Sam's pizza. I
>> know. Seem to have an affinity for it. >> And did what did he do to get and volunte? That's my other I said what did he do to get volunte? >> He fought it a little bit, but >> it was it was very good. These are very good. All right. Um All right. We're
getting down into the business section of our meeting. We have a couple of ordinances for introduction uh this evening. Uh two from law and labor and one from safety and health. Um at this time, madame clerk, will you please read law and labor number 12294?
Ordinance amending the code chapter 12 parks public areas recreational facilities to add a new section 12-7 Tatlock sports complex athletic facilities. >> Thank you so much. Uh Councilman Palowski.
>> Thank you. Uh this is ordinance number 12294. Um it's a long awaited ordinance. We have spent uh lots of time uh speaking with residents in various settings,
group meetings, town halls, council meetings, planning board meetings to try to come up with the best lighting usage plan for uh the lights that we're going to be the field lights that we're going to be putting up uh at the Tatlock
Sports Complex hopefully this spring. So, um, just note a few things about this ordinance. Um, a lot of the feedback that we got had to do with when and under what circumstances the light could be used, the lights can be used,
but also a lot of the feedback was about um improving parking, improving um uh traffic measures. And because this ordinance uh is about light usage, those nonlight
usage aspects of our conversations are not actually a part of the ordinance. We had it in there in an earlier draft, but our council advised that we couldn't mix that in. So, and and maybe it's those portions aren't appropriate for an
ordinance anyway. But I did put those uh we did put those in the uh preamble and all these whereas clauses and after a long conversation I had with council member elect uh this week uh I I decided that I'm
going to uh propose an ordinance at the next meeting to kind of codify uh all those measures that we're going to take. And some of them, for example, are um to um have postgame reviews and various kinds of reports. Hopefully, we'll get
the TAT lock committee up and running again to continue to address ancillary issues uh surrounding Tatlock and of course safety and community programs. uh the council committees for those two will continue to address those and try
to make improvements as well. As as far as the actual light ordinance goes, um we have sort of divided divided up uh the parameters in terms of youth practices,
high school practices, youth games, and high school games. Um couple of broad strokes here. Uh, high school practices have always been during the day and they will continue to be during the day. We're not going to have scheduled
practices under the lights with one exception, which is maybe in the case of extreme heat if the high school trainers recommend moving a practice to the evening when it's a little cooler. That may happen at some point in time. Um, we
had talked about when uh practices should end if they're under the lights and 9:30 was the time that uh most of the sports teams wanted. And they wanted that because
considering the fact that the high school practices um after school and those fields generally aren't available until around 6:00. Um the first practice that could be scheduled there would be at 6:00. They
typically run an hour and a half and that would have allowed for a little bit of a buffer before 9:30. However, we got recommendations from the planning board and the Tatlock residents had pushed us to um uh end practices a little earlier
than that. And so, right now, this ordinance has uh uh youth practices ending at 9:00 with lights to go out 15 minutes later. As for youth games, um, all youth games are scheduled to end by
nine o'clock or are to be scheduled to end by nine o'clock. We do have a provision in there that they can go a little bit later. Sometimes there might be an injury or a rain delay, but all youth games will have a hard stop at
9:30 with the lights to go out uh within 15 minutes after. Uh we've provided that where high school games go into dark, uh games that were scheduled during the day, sometimes JV games go a little long and they have to cut their games short
in order to um uh get them done before dark. We'll allow the lights to come on under those circumstances to go off uh again 15 minutes after the game ends. We also put, and I'm not going to go through every single provision of this,
but um in terms of uh varsity games, when we had our town hall, we talked about having it be 8 to 14 games. Now, where did those numbers come from? Well, we wanted to and we thought it was
important to be equitable in who could use the lights from the high school. And we have high school football, we have boys and girls soccer, we have field hockey, we have boys and girls lacrosse,
and we also have um uh girls flag football. So, we wanted to give each of them an opportunity. And speaking with the athletic director and Scott Huff, uh the superintendent of schools, they're very excited about the um prospect of
giving these kids a chance to it'll probably mostly be their senior night. uh when they honor their seniors uh to have some night games. So uh but instead of 8 to 14, we rounded it to up to 10 games and that's going to be at the
discretion of the uh the board of ed and and the the high school sports. Those games are also to be scheduled to end by 9:00, but can run to their completion. So, if you have an overtime situation, um, for the high school games,
um, the varsity games that are scheduled at night, there's not supposed to be any, there won't be any junior varsity or freshman games scheduled to play at night. Uh, the lights are to go off a half an hour after the game. We need to give them a little more time because
they have more to get off the field after a game. uh playoff games can go longer and uh because there are a lot of times film crews and interviews after the game um you know we're giving them a
reasonable chance to get off the field without turning the lights out on them. In terms of um some of the miscellaneous uh things that we have in here, um
there's going to be no uh no practices or games scheduled under the lights certain times of year. What we have is uh between the Tuesday after Memorial Day until the Thursday after Labor Day, there's going to be no scheduled activity on those fields at
night with the one exception that I mentioned before. In the case of extreme heat, maybe football has one or two practices in August uh if it's necessary for the safety of the kids. Uh there's also going to be no scheduled practices
or games um between December 15th and the last day in February, wherever that happens to fall in a particular year. So, um, again, we're going to, uh, put together a resolution to add some of the other
requests that we had about reporting to the city, um, efforts to make improvement and, you know, maybe even to have some meetings after the first couple of night games happen. I want to remind everybody that when we talk when we've talked about the
lights at the town hall and at other meetings and people hear the number 10 games, what a lot of people have in their heads are 10 football games, which are by far the most well attended games that we have. It's not going to be like that for field hockey or the soccer
teams. Um maybe a big lacrosse game will uh will be as well attended as a football game, but that's pretty much it. So in terms of a traffic impact, I'm optimistic that it's really just going to be two or three games a year where we
have uh a full house at night down there. So uh with that, I move to introduce this ordinance. >> Second. >> All right. U Madam Clerk, roll call, please. was seconded. >> U councilwoman to
>> thank you Mr. Ber >> I. >> Miss Cmanson >> nay. Mr. Palowski >> I. >> Mr. Smallwood >> I. >> Miss Toth >> I. >> President McTurn >> I. All right. Uh motion carries.
Okay. U we have a second law and labor. Uh madame clerk. Will you please read uh ID number 12295? An ordinance amending article 2 meetings of the common council section 2-2 council meetings subsection 2-2.2
council rules. >> Thank you. Uh Councilman Palowski. >> Thank you. This is ordinance ID number 12295. Some of you may wonder why are we passing an ordinance for the council rules when every year in January we pass
a resolution? The reason that we're doing that is uh if you ever look at our city code which goes through e-code 360 um it hasn't been updated since 2018. Now, if you read what's on e-code 360, you'll
see there's a provision in there that the council rules are updated uh usually annually and that any changes found in the annual resolution uh would take precedence over what's in the ordinance.
However, for uh the benefit of the public who wants to quickly look up what the council rules are, if you were to do a Google search, uh it would take you straight to e-code 360 and it wouldn't be 100% accurate. So, we're committed to
making um making our rules uh codified in the ordinance on an annual basis or I think Rosie every six months we update any changes to the city code. So, we're going to be more on top of that going forward. In terms of the changes to this ordinance, the only
substantive changes include codifying uh the long-standing practice of this council to not have council comments after an ordinance is introduced. And you can find that at section 8. And we
also removed from the council rules the limitation on public comments at the end of the meeting uh that that limited those comments for things that were not on the agenda. So, if you want to speak during public comment, you can comment
on an ordinance uh for introduction or a hearing that maybe you didn't make it in to the meeting in time to discuss during the actual hearing period so that you can have your voice heard. With that, I move to introduce this ordinance.
>> Second. >> Thank you. Um All right. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Ber, >> I. >> And Miss Cmonson, >> I. >> Mr. Powski, >> I. >> Mr. Smallwood, >> I. Miss Toth I President McTurnin >> I. Motion carries. All right. Uh we're
moving on to a ordinance from safety and health. Uh madame clerk, will you please read ordinance number ID12303? >> An ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-8 parking subsection 7-8.7 parking prohibited at all times on
certain streets. >> Thank you so much. Uh Councilman Ber. >> Thank you, Council President. The uh purpose of this ordinance is to establish a new no parking on several streets whereby safety, visibility, and
uh traffic flow have been ongoing concerns. Uh these areas include portions of Bedford Road leading to Mars Avenue, Broad Street, uh from Ashwood to Park A, uh the east side of New England
Avenue near uh Christ Church, and the south side of Weaver Street from the Summit High School exit to the driveway of 46 Weaver. I was so tempted to say south side of Chicago. Um
uh these adjustments uh follow recommendations from our police department and our department of community service services and are intended to improve pedestrian safety. Um so with that I respectfully submit
this ordinance number 12303 for introduction with the hearing date on December 16th. >> Second. >> All right. Thank you so much. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mr. Ber, >> I. >> Miss Calmanson, >> I. >> Mr. Pilowski, >> I. >> Mr. Smallwood,
>> I. >> Miss Toth, >> I. >> President McTen, >> I. All right, motion carries. Okay, moving along. We're to resolutions. We have a few this evening. First one is community programs and parking services. Uh, Councilman Smallwood. >> Thank you, Council President. This is ID
number 12282. uh to authorize exceptions exception to bidding in excess of $17,500 for parking pay by phone services Park Mobile LLC. Uh the city has utilize Park Mobile for pay by phone parking payments since
2012. Our current contract has expired and cannot be renewed under its existing terms. This new agreement will allow users to continue using the pay the park mobile pay app to pay for parking with the option of up to fiveyear one-year
five one-year extensions. Therefore, the uh please approve the attached resolution authorizing the renewal of the new contract with Park Mobile. I move to have this res I move to approve this resolution. >> Second. >> All right. Uh, at this time are there
any members of the public who wish to comment on this resolution, members of council? No. Um, the only thing I would say is um, you know, technology is great. It it works. Um, I use it all the time. My one
pet peeve though is we have free parking for under an hour in the uh DeForest lots, but it's really not free because you got to pay a service fee to park mobile. I know the economics of it makes
sense, but it it does drive me nuts because it cost is it 40 cents? >> 35 >> 35 cents. still a bargain to use our downtown, but it does bother me. We advertise free parking and it kind of isn't. Um, it's not us. We're not
collecting it. It's It's a It's a credit card transaction fee, I guess. Right. >> But if you use if you use the kiosk, isn't it free? >> Free. Yeah, I'm I'm lazy. >> You got to go to the kiosk, right? >> Okay. So, maybe I'll do that because I am cheap, too. >> Council, uh, Councilman Smallwood,
>> thank you. Uh I I do want to give um uh Nicole, our director, uh Siki, uh some props for this because she did negotiate the fact that we we kept it at 35 cents. I believe they tried to move it up to 45 cents 40.
>> Uh but she was able to keep it at 35 cents. Now, we could keep that one hour free if the city absorbed the 35 cents per transaction. >> Oh, I know. We don't do that. So, um, >> it's expensive. >> However, it it is free if you do use the
kiosk. Um, but again, if you do want the convenience of using the park mobile, there is a transaction fee of 35 cents. So, I'll leave that up to the future council to determine whether they want to pay the 35 cents and really make it free. Free. There you go.
All right. Any other comments? All right. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. All right. Uh, moving on to safety and health. Uh, Councilman Ber. >> Thank you, Council President. This is ID number 12299.
As our esteemed mayor said, uh, leading off, uh, today's meeting, um, congratulations to Officer Jonathan Sour, uh, who's served the city of Summit for 26 years. Um whenever there
is a police officer um that retires, it is a joyous but sad occasion for the city of Summit, the residents. Um but I I I wish um officer Sour a wonderful and
happy retirement and I truly thank him for all of his service uh to the residents and to the city of Summit. With that, I will be declaring a vacancy for officer Sour's uh position. So, I move this for adoption.
>> Second. >> All right. Uh uh would anyone from the public like to comment on this resolution? members of council. >> You know, council president, really quickly, uh I would just like to say, you know, this adds another uh young
officer to the to the Summit Police Department. And kudos to our chief. Uh again, he's probably got the youngest police department in the state of New Jersey. Um but they, you know, when when you when you see these officers out, you
know, say hi, you know, and um they love to talk, you know, they're and and they're they are so joyous being here. I was talking to one at the car wash the other day, you know. So, um I'm I'm excited about, you know, still excited about the future of the police
department. So, thank you, council president. >> Thank you. Other comments? >> All right. All in favor? I opposed. >> Motion carries. Okay. Um we're on to capital projects and community services. Um we have a couple for there. Uh
Councilman Ber number one. Thank you, Council President. This is ID number 12280. Uh the department of community services is seeking uh these services which is the
authorization for the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority for fiscal year uh 2026 and it's called complete streets technical assistance program. Uh these services are to support the development of a bicycle
network plan for key corridors in our community including Springfield Avenue, Payic Avenue, Mars Avenue, and River Road. Uh this work will help us evaluate future opportunities for bike lanes
possibly and related infrastructure. an important step in improving uh a multiodel mobility, strengthening connections to schools and commercial districts and also enhancing public safety. I move this for adoption.
>> Second. >> Thank you. Uh any comments from the public for this resolution? >> Comments from councel. >> Council president. The only thing that I would say is uh you know it's it's always a pipe dream for bike lanes. Uh
you know with with our uh our ebike ordinance moving bikes and everything off the sidewalks you know um it's you know is definitely needed. Whether or not uh the county
would like bike lanes is debatable but this makes it so we can at least start having that conversation. So, you know, I'm I'm excited about this. So, um, thank you. >> Thank you. Other comments? Yeah, I I
would just add I know we have been looking at bike lanes for a long long time. I was approached by a lot my first goaround on council and it's frustrating because a lot of our roads from a physical perspective just aren't wide
enough to accommodate bike lanes. So, um it it sounds like such an obvious thing, but when the road's built the way it's built, it's it's difficult. And I know um uh Director Shrager can attest to that. Um I do think though this is awesome because maybe someone can come
up with something different or some other way to look at it, you know, build a better mouse trap. Um because it it it is worth continuing to search because it is it is important. It's a safety thing. It's great for youth. It's great for adults to be able to move around our town in a safe uh way on a bicycle. It'd
be great. Um so I'm I'm excited about this resolution. I hope they can come up with some really uh creative innovative ways and work with different levels of government to maybe start to add some of these things finally. So okay. All right. Uh all in favor?
>> I I opposed. >> Motion carries. All right. Uh, capital projects and community services number three. Councilman Boyer. >> Thank you, Council. >> Maybe. >> Oh, no. >> Number two. >> Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I just did the wrong thing. Sorry. We're on number two.
Apologize. Councilman Ber. Thank you, Council President. This is ID number 12287. Uh, this resolution authorizes the execution of three access agreements necessary to advance the Saltbrook improvement project. uh specifically the
stream uh cleaning and bank stabilization near 70 through 722 Springfield Avenue. Uh earlier this year, if you recall, the council authorized the city to begin this work, which is being coordinated closely with
Union County as they repair the collapsed county-owned pipe located within the same area. Uh because the Salt Brook runs entirely through private property at this location, the city requires temporary access agreements
with the affected property owners to perform stabilization work. Uh and and those agreements will be covering 722 Spring Avenue, 712 Springfield Avenue, and 70 to 710 Springfield Avenue. Um,
this has been reviewed by our city solicitor and thank you to our uh, city engineer Aaron Shrager. Uh, this is a a long time due, right? We I'm I'm happy that this is still in
motion. We're not there yet. Um, I'm curious to see how all this is going to work out. I may hopefully I'll run by there and see like the bulldozers going through um, these driveways. But I will say thank you to the residents for working with the city and agreeing to do
this. You know, specifically the Smiths, if you know them, what a great family. Um, and you know, we we really appreciate that uh that they're they're coming through for this city and making this happen. So, with that, Council President, I move this for adoption.
>> Second. >> Comments from the public. Comments from council. >> Councilman Smallwood. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, this is a long time coming and as you can see, it's not just one resident um that
the city is helping here. Uh, we we're helping the entire residents that live on the Springfield Avenue uh along Springfield in in on Springfield Avenue near uh the Saltbrook. Uh this is just I
believe in my opinion the starting point uh of being able to fix a a long-term um problem that that we're having at the Saltbrook. Um I did hear a I went to the dentist uh a month ago and I don't know
if you know Dr. Bleton or not, but he actually gave me a story of how his theory of how it actually originally started was I believe the hotel when they did some renovations decades ago
moved some of the water from a piping into the the piping the the Union County pipe rather than it going down straight into the Saltbrook. So, I don't know whether that's true or not, but it might be worth looking into, which may have caused a lot more water coming out of
that pipe, which possibly could have made it break. So, um, Director Shreger, maybe it's something you could, uh, could look into. Uh, I can certainly put you in touch with Dr. Blackner. You can, get some details from him. Um, but I I
think this is, you know, certainly a long time coming and, you know, I'm I'm hoping that the the county will will certainly assist. Uh, are they actually going to fix the pipe while we're doing this? >> Yes, through you, council president. So, the primary reason they can't fix the
pipe yet is because there's nothing left of the bank for them to put the pipe there. They could put the pipe there. It'd be gone in the next rainstorm. So, as we armor the bank, they will come in and fix the pipe. Um, so that will be back in operations. Okay. >> Awesome. Thank you.
>> Other comments from council? Yeah. I I would just also like to thank the residents who are, you know, this is it's nice. It's neighbors helping neighbors. No one wants to have bulldozers go through their yard. Um but I think people are doing the right thing. So that's a that's a really nice
thing. So thank you for those people to do that. And this is a bigger project. Um you know there's that water goes all the way down and I know New Providence has issues with the salt broken etc. Um, and this is the city's
uh job to get this thing rolling and then we'll pass this off to the county and to possibly the Army Corps of Engineers I know have been brought in around this. So, it is a big project and so this is the start and I'm happy that we're going to at least kick this off and um help stabilize that bank so these
other entities can make the improvements. So, all right. Um, all in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. Okay, now we're on to capital projects and community services number three. Councilman Ber. >> Thank you, Council President. This is
resolution ID number 12193. Uh this resolution authorizes the city of Summit to enter into a shared service agreement with New Providence. Uh we have been uh in this agreement uh for
the past 14 years and the arrangement has consistently provided reliable uh oversight of our uh sewer and um and uh wastewater operations and maintenance.
Uh the proposed agreement continues uh weekday and weekend inspections and maintains the burrows road as a licensed operator and provides on call and routine maintenance services. Uh the annual cost for 2026 is not to exceed uh
$157,596.81 with an additional not to exceed $65,000 for on call services. uh given the longstanding success of this partnership and its important importance for regulatory compliance especially with our D and infrastructure
reliability. I respectfully submit this resolution for adoption. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh would any member of the public would like to comment on this resolution? >> Members of council. Uh, council president, really quickly, uh, director
Shrager explained the importance of this. There is a C3 sewer operator license, which is, um, which is really hard to get in the state of New Jersey. Uh, not a lot of people have it. Uh, there may be some opportunity in the
future to, um, have this um, internally here in Summit if someone wishes to maybe go out for that important license. Um although Director Shger made a made a good point, they'll get it and then they'll leave because there's not a lot
of people that have that license. So maybe we want to just continue in with this shared service agreement. But this is a really important um resolution here. And uh I don't know if you remember, maybe several months ago, we had some issues with our with our water
pipes and stuff like that. And you know, they can cause a lot of damage. So um that's it. Thank you, Council President. Thank you so much. Other comments. All right. All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries. All right. Uh
we have a few finance uh resolutions this evening. Councilwoman Toth, you want to take us out with number one? >> Okay. Thank you, Council President. Um beginning in November each year, the city can move funds between accounts from those with the surplus to those facing a deficit. This allows us to pay
our bills while keeping our budget balanced. We passed the first of these resolutions last month. Resolution 123000 is the second, moving a total of $19,4001. We're moving funds from the fireart department to the police department and
from engineering to our telephone bill. There are some smaller transfers as well. I move to adopt this resolution by roll call vote. >> Second. All right. Uh comments from the public. Any comments from councel?
All righty. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Ber, >> I. >> Miss Celmanson, >> I. >> Mr. Powski, >> I. >> Mr. Smallwood, >> I. >> Miss Toe, >> I. >> President McT. Motion carries. All right. Finance number two. Councilwoman Toth. >> Thank you, Council President. Summit previously requested bids for
maintaining and repairing its emergency generators. Only one bid was received and the price is way out of line with what the city is prepared to pay. Resolution 12259 rejects that bid. The Department of Community Services will explore other ways to receive these
services. I move to adopt this resolution. I second. Thank you so much. Uh would any member of the public wish like to comment on this resolution? Comments from council. All right. All in favor? >> I opposed.
>> Motion carries. All right. Uh, finance number three, Councilwoman Toe. >> Thank you, Council President. Resolution 12274 authorizes the city to contract with the firm of DE Francesco, Baitman, Kunman, Davis, Lair, and Flown, PC to
serve as tax appeal council for 2026. The firm has served Summit well for at least six years and is proposing to keep its fees the same for 2026. The total amount paid will not exceed $90,000 and is payable from our tax appeals trust
fund. I moved to adopt this resolution. >> I second. >> All right. Um members of the public, would you like to comment? All right. Uh members of council, I just have one question on this. Uh
Councilwoman Toth or maybe U. Councilwoman Camelson knows. This is again another professional service. We've had these for a few years. The are these people on our list for RFP at some stage >> for 2027. Council President. >> Okay, perfect. That's awesome. Um, all
right. Other comments. >> All right. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Uh, moving right along. Finance number four, Councilwoman Toe. >> Uh, thank you, Council President. Summit's 2025 contract with our city
solicitor Clearary Jacobe Alfieri Jacobs LLC is for a not to exceed amount of $250,000. Resolution 12291 adds $100,000 to that amount for a total not to exceed amount
of $350,000. The overage is due primarily to labor and to OPRA issues. The city has funds available in its legal services accounts. I move to adopt this resolution. >> Second. All right. Uh, comments from the
public. Comments from council. All right. All in favor? >> Council president. >> Oh, yes. Sorry, Councilman Smallwood. I I would just say, you know, the majority of the cost of this is due to Oprah requests.
I would caution the, you know, obviously the the open public record is is there for a reason. Um, but every time a resident or even a non-resident requests something from the city solicitor or the city clerk, every piece
of the information that you get, the emails, which could be one page, could be 10, could be 25, 30, 30 pages, our attorneys have to go through those. So, I I guess I would just caut caution the residents to think about like is
this really important or is this something I could call and have a conversation with? Uh maybe one of the council members if you have a a question about something. Um this really truly is a an expense that the city doesn't necessarily need to have if we had more
dialogue with our residents. And I I would encourage residents, call one of your council members, have a conversation, and if you need to have another conversation with one of the other council members, maybe it would save the city some money rather than just immediately doing an Oprah request.
>> Thank you, Council President. >> Clarify, the the the OPER requests are one component. We also are involved in some different litigations that are is probably the biggest driver. The thing with the Oprah requests that that um take the most time reviewing emails and
things like that are not as timeconuming. The most time consuming Oprah request is the police body cam footage. So when people request police body cam footage, you literally have to go through frame by frame and redact images. So you
have to have the software to be able to redact the images, but you're sitting there going frame by frame. And some of these body cams can be, you know, a half hour, 45 minutes, an hour, and you're going frame by frame by frame. That and it's something that um you have, you
know, legal duty to protect people's privacy rights when they're involved with the police. And the reason you're doing it is because if you disclose something that's not, it could subject the city to a lot of liability. So that's something that that I know we work closely with the police, but it's a it's a arduous task for the police
department and you get an inordinate amount of open requests. >> Yeah. >> Yes, please, Chief. >> Through you, Council President. So, we are exploring I reached out to uh some of my counterparts in the county and beyond. Um some municipalities have
drafted an ordinance with a fee schedule for that specific reason. um because the body warn camera and the MVRS are the main contributor for our OPER requests um in that it just generates a lot of of hours to review and redact. Um so I am getting copies of those from from some other municipalities that have drafted
those ordinance look to introduce that to safety hopefully right after the new year and then present it to you guys as well and that should offset some of the costs or which it's not intended to do inhibit certain people's requests because they just you know they can't pay the fee. There's I think the League of Municipalities has approved 3 hours
of overtime at a certain rate for every 1 hour of body warrant camera footage. As a city solicitor had had said, they have to go frame by frame. So 1 hour of footage could take up to three hours to redact. So we we're actually legally able to charge a fee for that, present that fee up front, and then the
requester can determine whether or not they want to pay the fee or just withdraw their open request. So that's what we're going to look at doing. >> And yeah, the fee under under case law, the fee is not the attorney's time. It's the most inexpensive person in the police department capable of making the
review and redactions. The problem is is that if you pick, you know, a clerk to do it and they get it wrong, you could have huge liability. So, what some places are doing, they're doing it that way, but then they're still having the attorney review the the um the
redactions to make sure that you don't you're not missing one. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Chief. >> Thank you, Chief. Oh, what? Well, yeah. So, I I was going to say around this, you right answer. Um I I know I've seen there's some news articles that have come out in Massachusetts where there's
um and I noticed that they charge for this. I was like I So, so I wasn't sure whether that was a state-by-state law because I have not heard of municipalities in New Jersey doing this, but it's good to know that they are. Yeah, we talked about it briefly at safety and I've um solicited some of the
other uh my counterparts like I said are the chiefs in the county to find out what they're doing. Um I'd say it's a mix. Uh but I do think a lot of people are dealing with the same issues that we're dealing with. you know, an excessive amount of Oprah requests in terms of body warn camera footage. And oftentimes, believe it or not, it doesn't come from our residents, comes from from people who I believe are using
it to which you're not supposed to use over for monetary gain on their end because if you post an interaction that goes is controversial by any means, >> goes viral, >> goes viral, you get a million views, and guess what? YouTube's paying that person for that. And technically, that's not what Oprah's supposed to be intended for. So,
>> or it's also used as as pre-litigation. So you'll you'll see you know different law firms will do an open request if they if somebody comes to them says I was wrongfully arrested they'll get the body cam footage and all. So you you always are thinking when you're producing the stuff especially
especially when involves law enforcement or a lot of times it's uh couples going through a bitter divorce. So there's lots of different issues that you have to just be mindful of. Frankly, the best thing to do would be the state legislature change the law and and give
a special fee for body care because look, watching that is so much harder than redacting emails and names. >> Um, >> and just I mean, just to give you an example, we get Oprah requests where like they'll go on, you know, the public the attorney general's website and see a
list of our use of force interactions for an entire year and Oprah every bodywn camera footage for all of those incidents. I mean, you're talking it could be 10, 20, 30 incidents, multiple officers on scene, multiple body warn cameras. Everything needs to be redacted and reviewed before release. So,
hopefully with this new introduction of 2026, we can mitigate some of that manh hours and hope and reduce the overall liability uh moving forward. >> Thank you. Yeah. Well, I I hope that um it can come to a good scale because Oprah, it's there for a reason and you don't
want people who can't, you know, who are using it properly to be deterred from that. But I think there is a lot of abuse in the system and I know Oprah, the state legislature, they aren't there immune from Oprah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, so they they've passed laws
that require municipalities to do all this stuff and they don't have to. It's just I mean, don't get me going, but um so that that would be a good thing to uh to maybe look at next year. So, all right. Uh any other comments?
>> All right. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> All right. Motion carries. Um All right. Uh finance number five, Councilwoman Toth. >> Oh, thank you, Council President. Resolution 12283 authorizes the city to enter into a
contract with Acure to provide risk management services for 2026. The city issued a request for qualifications for risk management services and received three bids. Acrisure, which has served as the city's risk manager since 2018, submitted the bid
demonstrating the most knowledge of the city's joint insurance fund structure, operations, and requirements. Acure is paid from that joint insurance fund. I move to adopt this resolution. >> I second. >> Thank you. Uh comments from the public,
>> comments from council. >> All right. All in favor? >> I >> I opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Uh last finance resolution number six. Councilwoman Toth. >> Thank you, Council President. Per close session discussion. Resolution 12296
authorizes a payout of acred vacation and terminal leave to Gustaf Reyes who is retiring from the from the Department of Public Works at the end of the year. This is permitted under the city's personnel policy and procedures manual. I move to adopt this resolution.
>> I second. >> Comments from the public. >> Comments from council. >> Council President. >> Yes, Councilman Boyer. I would just Gustavo Reyes uh longtime city employee um
always a smile on his face will give you the shirt off his back. He has served uh this city um with distinction. I mean I I he's another one that I I wish an amazing retirement. You know, he
deserves it. So um congratulations, Gustavo. still think you're you're too young to retire, but you know, um but congratulations, my brother. >> All right. Uh other comments from council. All in favor? >> I opposed.
>> Motion carries. All righty. We're on to our consent agenda. Um at this time, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Um, at this time, would any member of the public like to comment on any or
multiple uh resolutions in the consent agenda? >> Hi, Bonnie Morrison, Rotary Drive. Um, I just wanted to ask about the performance bond for the Habitat project. Uh, as we all remember, there was damage caused by
their construction and the city paid to have it fixed even though both the city and Habitat were liable under the settlement agreement. And I just wanted to confirm now that we're giving them the performance bond back, does that mean
that there was a resolution where they reimburseed the city for at least some of the expense that we all paid? So, >> thank you for your question. >> Uh, Councilman Boy,
>> Director Shreger, do you have Yeah. >> Director Shreger? >> Uh, yes. And to my knowledge, there's been no agreement or settlement outside of what uh took place. But we just have to highlight the performance bond is also just for the work that was
physically on the plans which they did complete satisfactorily. Um which is why it's recommending to be released at this time. So yeah, thank you. Other comments from the public and anything on the consent agenda?
>> All right. Uh comments from council. >> All right. Um >> um Councilwoman T. Okay, then. Um, thank you, Council President. Um, one small, one large. The small one, the the shorter one. The 2025 election results
were certified a few weeks ago. Um, and I think we should welcome our incoming council members, Jacqueline Lera Cena from Ward 1, Chantel Landman from W 2, and Dan Chrisouli at large to the 2026 common council. We look forward to working with them.
>> Councilman Toe, this is comments on the consent agenda. Excuse me. Comments on the consent agenda. >> I am so sorry. >> No, don't be sorry. That's exciting news. I think we're all going to >> So, thank you. Thank you. >> No, >> never mind.
>> I want to hear that again in a few minutes. Um, >> all right. Uh, any other comments on the consent agenda? >> All right. Uh, all in favor? >> I. >> All right. Opposed? >> Motion carries. All right. Uh, at this time, we're on the public comment
section of our meeting. Uh would anyone from the public uh like to uh make a comment on anything uh not on the agenda? I would just ask when you come to the dis just to repeat what our madame clerk said earlier. Please state your name, your address, and please uh
limit your comments to 3 minutes or less. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Yes. Good evening, Mayor Fagan. Uh, Council President McTurnon, members of council, I'm Jim Bennett, BNE TT, 38 Fair View Avenue. Uh, Councilwoman elect
Jacqueline Laser Cena has used social media to call on council to slow the sale of the old fire headquarters to ostensibly consider other options. I ask council to reject this call. All options have been exhaustively considered and
the time has come to sell the property and use the proceeds to amortize municipal debt. I was heartened to hear our council president mentioned that uh the bids are due next week and they're on their way in. The municipal budget is
under pressure and the priority is to develop the property within the overlay zone and put it on the tax roles. One of the laseroscena options I understand has been to put the property in the hands of a nonprofit.
That is a bad idea. Depending upon the use, nonprofits don't contribute to the tax base. Another proposal is to have the entire development become affordable housing. This option was also vetted. No
developer would buy the property under those conditions. and Councilman Buer once expressed concerns about ghettoization. A false argument has been that making the project entirely affordable housing would head off a builder's remedy. This
council has developed a balanced plan to address round four of the affordable housing mandate. The statutory procedure calls for the city to apply for a declaratory judgment in the superior court. uh anyone
including builders can file objections and builders routinely do. The city is negotiating with two builders. I agree that in negotiation as with litigation, one should not be reckless. However,
being unduly timid, it is also not in the city's best interest. The city has chosen the right tactical approach in round four and there is no need to involve the old firehouse property beyond the contribution it would make otherwise.
Uh the process the city is following is transparent. So reject the call to slow the sale and proceed expeditiously with selling the old firehouse property as planned. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Other comments from the public Jaclyn Laroscina. I'm a resident of Summit. Uh I appreciate the introduction of sorts. Uh I'd like to talk about the the proposed sale of the
old firehouse site. Uh I do continue to have concerns about the process and my main concern is kind of a basic one. Uh when I was a junior associate and I was being taught about deal making, uh I was taught by a mentor, you always want the
other side to believe that you're ready to walk away, right? That you're ready to not do the transaction in order to get the best deal. Uh here we have a very valuable community asset. We're so fortunate. This is an in demand parcel.
Uh and we are in a position of strength, right, to get the very best deal for the community. Uh but we've shown our cards a little bit, right? Because there have been some public comments by some that we will absolutely do a sale of this
parcel uh before the you this term of the council is is completed. Um, so we've we've indicated that we're not willing to walk away from the deal. Uh, and even though we may get a bid at the floor that we've set of 4.6 million, we
may not get the very best deal because again, we've we've indicated that we're we're not prepared to walk away. The biders may not come uh in truth with their best and final offer. Um, so that that is actually my my concern that again, this is a very valuable community
asset. We want to make sure that we're conducting uh the very best process for the community. Um so again, I would urge the council, I know we're we're not under an obligation to accept any of the bids. Uh and I would urge you to pause and really consider that option. I think uh we can expediently begin a fresh
process um where we would, you know, make sure that we are saying and doing all of the things that we reasonably can to get the best the very best result for the community. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Other comments from the public?
All right, I'm going to close public comments section of our meeting and now we are on to council member comments and new business. Councilwoman Toe, why don't you take us out first? >> Oh, don't you think you've heard enough from me in a row? >> Great. I want to hear Oh, no. No. Um,
elections over, election certified. Okay. But I want to say last week I attended both the interfaith Thanksgiving service and the community Thanksgiving celebration. Two gatherings that showed summit at its best. Uh people from different backgrounds, beliefs, and neighborhoods came together
with mutual respect and a shared sense of responsibility for one another. And that spirit is what residents say they want most from all from us on this council. collaboration, a willingness to rise above politics, and above all, civility.
And civility is not just in what we say, but in what we do. Since the election four weeks ago, the outgoing council majority has used this lame duck period to rush through actions it knows the incoming council majority does not support. from renewing the city
solicitor's contract to introducing lighting regulations at Tatlock Field to PO to pushing a quick sale of the firehouse property. The outgoing council does this knowing their actions can and likely will be undone in January, wasting precious city resources,
including including residents tax dollars and the time and effort of our city employees. This is not normal and it is not how our community has handled transitions in the past. When Democrats first won a majority in 2017 and when
Republicans reclaimed it in 2023, both outgoing councils respected the will of the voters and avoided major changes in the lame duck period, focusing on doing the city's business. That restraint honored Summit's longstanding norms and our residents as
well. The current approach does not, and I'm so disappointed to see this departure from that tradition of good governance. I expected better. In January, the new council will begin the work voters elected us to do, but the decisions being rushed through now
create unnecessary hurdles to that. Our constituents deserve a more responsible standard of behavior from their elected officials. We can disagree on policy, but I hope we can still agree to respecting the process and the people we serve. I encourage the outgoing council
to pause, reflect, and choose a better path, one that respects our traditions and our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. Other comments from council? >> Council President. >> Councilman Ber. >> Uh, first I'd like to talk about the League of Municipalities. Um, I think I
forgot to talk about that last time we had a council meeting, but um, uh, before that, I would like to congratulate, uh, the new council that's coming in, Jacqueline Larosino. I'm going to pronounce your name correctly.
I think I got it right. um uh you know, I've I've spoken to um to to each member either on the phone or through text and um those conversations have been great, right? Um and I think Councilman Plowski
would would say the same thing. So, I'm I'm looking forward to to working with them. And listen, I respect the process. I respect, you know, the the the seessaw battle, right? Like, you know, people vote,
things change. Um, you know, that's the American way. That's how things work and I respect that, you know. So, I'm looking forward to uh getting uh things done and I I think the incoming council members uh want to get things done. Uh
back to the League of Municipalities. We met some very interesting people down at the league. The league actually is for you to go down and make connections so that you can um bring back some things to the city that will help the
city. And we met two people. One is uh Ciro uh Scarella, I think. I hope I got Cro's name right, but uh he is uh the head of the local 55.
Um they do various things for um um housing authorities around the state of New Jersey and basically, you know, they can do it a lot cheaper, right? So if you come back and someone says, "Yeah, you know, this unit costs $175,000
to to rehab." Well, I think the local 55 will take a look at that and say, you know what, our guys can do it for cheaper. So, that that's good. It's always good to have an option there. Uh, secondly, I'm always looking to help our our Summit Housing Authority and our
residents there. And I I met the Raritton, New Jersey mayor uh who also works for a company that provides uh relief for uh utility bills. She said,
"Listen, if if people are low income, I can come and you know, people can sign up and we can provide literally relief for their utility services if they can't pay it. they can't pay their their their gas and electric and things like that. I
mean, what a what a what a utility, right, to have that. So, I'm looking forward to working with the Summit Housing Authority um to have the Raron Mayor come in and and provide those services. I think that's
great. Um secondly, uh Mr. Bennett, just to be clear, um my belief is that uh there is no ghettoization at Summit because Summit doesn't have any ghettos, right? Like that was my thing, right? You can build affordable housing in
Summit like Glennwood and Weaver Street and Dennis Place and they're not ghettos, right? So, we can do the 100% affordable housing thing, just not um where the firehouse is at. And I will
say that um to to Jacqueline, you know, I get it. But once you, you know, once you get in the seat and once you, you know, hear what the city is dealing with and things of that nature and other different options because I know you want affordable
housing. Um, you know, you may have a different opinion and I'm I'm I'm happy that you're you're you're open to different opinions. So, you know, I'm I'm happy about that. Uh,
last but not least, um, we had a Thanksgiving holiday celebration again at the senior building, which was absolutely amazing. I like to to thank the the Summit Masons for for cooking
and Pilgrim Baptist Church for cooking the food and providing it. Um and all the folks who donated um money for the event. Um and the last thing is the mayor talked about
it and our police chief sent out some uh some great detail about, you know, staying safe and keeping your packages safe. Um if you're having something delivered to your home, you know, you can there's always an option for you to sign for it, right? That's a great
option. There's little cubbies at 7-Eleven where you can have Amazon drop those things off so you can go and pick them up. So, there's various different ways where you can reduce the opportunity. So, I always think of um uh
crime being in three different things, right? Um rationale, pressure, and opportunity. Well, you know, we can't do anything about people rationing, you know, in their mind committing crime, right? We can't do anything about the pressures of, you
know, people going out and stealing because it's Christmas time and, you know, they need money, right? But what we can do is we can reduce the opportunity and our police chief laid it out on Facebook and other medias about
what steps that you can take to reduce the opportunity, key fobs and different things, right? Um and and we need to do that. Uh lastly, we have a nice young police force, right? And they are out there and they're getting after it, you
know, and this is what the taxpayers paid for. Now, I'm not going to make the chief over there sweat and say, "Boy, don't be saying that we're going to like prevent all crime from happening." I'm not saying that. But what what I'm saying is that um this is the stuff that
uh our our new chief, you know, this stuff that we prepared for and you as a community, residents, uh taxpayers, this is what you supported, the hiring of new police officers so that we're prepared for this stuff, right? This is, you
know, th this is this is where we want it to be with our police force. I hope that we have a 100% come January cross fingers and make sure all the police are safe. But um this is the good thing of why we hired more police
officers, right? So that we can when when we see these upticks, we can do what we need to do to to to battle that. So um I know that was a mouthful, but it wasn't as long as Councilman Palowski introducing the uh the Talloc Phil light stuff. I cut that
down. >> Thank you, Council President. >> Thank you, Councilman Ber. Other comments from council. >> Councilman Smallwood. >> Thank you, Council President. Um I just a couple things. U Miss Larosina, I I just there's a couple things. You
know, we've been going through this process for the last two years. Uh it does take time and as soon as you you know you'll be as frustrated as I was when I first got on council how long it takes things to get done. Um this is not the beginning. We're not trying to rush
anything through. This is the final piece of what we've been working on for the last two years. Um, in terms of deal making, um, you know, Summit is a very desirable place to live. And I think if
you, uh, look at any homes that are priced anywhere between $750,000 to $1.2 million. A lot of times there's multiple bids. And eventually it gets to the point where a lot of the homeowners will say, "Let's go to closed and final
bids." And the people that are actually bidding on that home will actually bid higher because okay, if the minimum is selling for $750,000, there's multiple bids at, you know, 800,000. And then they go to close the final bid,
those last remaining biders on that house have no idea what the other biders are going to bid on, what what bidder A, bidder C A is going to do. So, they typically will increase their their offer in a closed bid. I don't think
I've ever seen a process like this in an open bid. Um, and Tammy, correct me if I'm wrong. This does have to go through an auction process. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Um, and we will certainly review those those bids and we're certainly
going to take the highest bid that that comes in because we know that they have to whatever they're going to develop there. That's the purpose of the overlay zone so that we know what they can and cannot build. What goes in it is up to the developer. Um, the city should not
be in the development business. So, they're going to buy the land and have to build within those parameters of the overlay zone. Um, Claire, you know, I'm kind of I reject your comment about, you know, this council rushing through things in a
lame duck session. Um, it I believe it's com it's it's common for the current council at the end of the year to renegotiate the city solicitor's contract for the new year so that there is a city solicitor. Um, and for you to
say that, you know, we're only wasting time because the new council next year is just going to undo everything that we just did. I mean, if that's if that's the case, then you might as well just say every every city employee, you're you're on notice because we may fire you
next year. Um, I I I find that a little rude to be honest with you. That's all I have. Council President, >> thank you. Other comments from council. Councilman Palowski. >> So, I also want to congratulate the uh
council members elect. I did reach out to them all. I talked to Shantal and to Dan. I didn't get to talk to Jackie yet, but I left her a message. Um I look forward to working with you guys. Second on the local 55, you forgot one
one thing that I'm think could be really great for some of our residents. When they come in um to do work on housing developments, they also try to recruit employees. >> Um they will hire and train people and
and have them join the union uh to learn a new trade if they're so interested. So, um, if we're if we're able to get them in here to do that, they also said, uh, that they would come in and do one or two units as a pilot at an even
further discounted rate so that we can see, uh, you know, what it is that they have to offer and make a decision if we want to do a whole lot more. So, I think those are a couple of exciting uh, things that we learned at at the league. Um,
as for the selling of the firehouse site, I looked for and I didn't find any empirical evidence that open bids uh realize a higher price than closed bids. Um, I also uh think I heard Miss
Lucerina say that by accepting closed bids with parameters, we're indicating that we're not prepared to walk away, but then in the next breath say that I know we're not under any obligation to accept the bids. So, in other words, we
could walk away. So, I'm not sure how you could reconcile those two things. Um, as far as undoing lame duck measures because the new council may not want it. Um, that may or may not be the case. Uh, I
don't know if that's true or not. Um, I also don't know if it's true that just because a newly elected council might not want something necessarily means that the residents, the majority of residents don't want something. Um,
you know, people donated a lot of money for lights down at Tatlock. Why? Because we have a field space issue and we need to improve um availability for practices. I'm not so sure that the majority of residents don't want uh the
ordinance that we introduced today. I'm I don't know that the that uh a majority of the town wants to fire Matt Gio. Um I don't think it's true. So, but you know, things will play out the way that they play out. Um, we also were elected to do
certain things and as far as I know, um, the current council is elected to continue to work for the city through the end of 2025 and that's what we're doing here. So, that's it.
>> Thank you. Other comments from council? Councilman Boyer, you got another one? just real quick. I mean, you know, I wasn't going to say anything about it, but I mean to to just assume that the new council is going to come in and
they're all going to be lock step and vote right the same way, you know, is um maybe you know, right? Just see sounds arrogant, but and Bob, maybe we should just go home, right? Like maybe there
should just be call it short, right? and then they're just five council people and we can just change the charter, right? Because what are we doing here then, right? If it's all set in stone and and everything. But you know what? I I think that
there are some independent thinkers that are going to that are going to come up here and uh maybe surprise someone that um that just thinks it's all said and done so so filamently like yeah you know
um so listen it and by the way like I like the process right the voting process it's American way but also We still have elected officials up here and we still need to do city business, right? Just because somebody is elected,
we don't take a break, right? If that was the case, once again, um the the new council was started November, right after the election, right? I mean, so, you know, there there's some things that, you know, just need to be practical, right? These
council folks still have a job. Bob and I are still up here, right? Um, and there's new council people coming in who may not want to vote lock step with the the new council president. So, um, I I
will say that. And and last but not least, um, to start off saying civility and then take like 85,000 shots, right, is like so hypocritical. We need civility. But by the way,
shame on you. Like uh I mean come on, you know, and I' I've heard like unacceptable and all this all these other terms like a lot lately. So maybe that may be the course of uh of of
the future in January. I hope not. I hope we are civil and I hope we just do the city business and not just being partisan. Right. So, but thank you, council president. >> Thank you. Other comments from council?
>> No, I'll I'll just wrap it up. A couple things. Um I also want to uh congratulate the new council members, Dan, Jackie, and Shantel. I know you guys worked really really hard um to get elected and we have you know I think
some people say it's not a perfect process how we run elections but I still think it's the best process. Um you know uh it's been working for close to 250 years and we have a great country and a
great community as a result of that. So um I'm excited for you guys to start. I wish you all the success. Um, and again, you guys worked hard and and congratulations uh for that. Um, as far as uh just to echo some things, you know,
look, my wife would like it if if after the election I was done. You know, she's like, "What the heck are you doing? I spent 40 hours a week doing this job and I get no pay for it. So, I'm not going to come up here and not do anything. No one no one up here is
working to not do anything and there's important things that we need to do. Um I look at the sale of the the firehouse property. This has been two years in the making. Um I would be incredibly disappointed if we I ended my stint up
here and that was unfinished business. I would think I was a failure because this has been on the docket for so long. And as I think Councilman Smallwood mentioned, things take time. And I've been yelled at by loads of people who
have, you know, ripped my head off on why this hasn't happened already. And, you know, it's tough to explain. I look at getting this firehouse property sold as a gift to the incoming council. That this is business that we've cleared and
done for the community and got much needed revenue in so we can have a good budget process. I know Jackie, you ran on not raising taxes next year. I would love that. Please do not raise my taxes. If you do, I'm going to come in here and
say, "Why did you re raise my taxes?" this will help you do that. This is something we need to do. Um, and I'm really psyched that we got it all together at the end of the day and that we're going to have competitive bids, an
auction process. As I said, we don't want to have some developer in a smokefilled room telling us what this is worth. That was the problem we had with redevelopment. We got railroaded because developers are they're experts.
We're not developers. And to think that we were able to negotiate par pursu with these people was just foolery. Now we have developers bidding against themselves. They know what this is worth. And this
is how we're going to maximize value for the taxpayer with a zone that's hardened. It's not an overlay zone. It's hardened that we've had lots of input. We've had loads of meetings at the planning board during
the summer. This is not rushed. There's loads of input on what can go in that spot. And I'm psyched that we're going to get this thing sold and closed on. And that
is again that whatever hopefully millions of dollars will allow Tammy and the incoming council to have a much better and easier task which is to to do our budget process which is going to be difficult to begin with. So I'm excited
about that. Um as far as again working up to the end I don't have a crystal ball. Nobody does. I don't know how people are going to vote. All I know is we are up here to do a job and we're going to do that. Um around norms, I
don't know what the norm is. Again, I just not come in December. You got to come and do the work. And to speak of norms, um you know, the norm is we hire a city solicitor for a year.
That's the norm. I don't know how you can say we're not following the norms, but then at the same breath say we're going to fire the city solicitor. That's and and Claire, you can run the council whatever way you want. You said we're going to do things the new way.
So, you know, please I don't need to be lectured about norms if that's the case. Okay. So, um like I said, proud of what we're doing. We're up here for a reason and we're going to do important business of the city until like when I'm not here
and I I I'm going to leave everything on the field because that's what we're we should be doing. Um so that's that. Last thing I want to say, we are entering into the holiday season. Holiday season is joyous. It's
about being with friends and celebrating and reflecting on what hopefully has been a good year. Um, some people need to be reached out to and brought in because this can also be a very uh lonely time for some people. So, make an effort with your neighbors. Make an
effort to invite them. Go say hi. It matters. It really does. Um, but I would say if you're out there and you're seeing friends and you're enjoying and maybe having some good cheer,
take an Uber or a lift. Please don't make our very good police uh forces job that much harder. It's dangerous. Get home safe. So, enjoy the holiday season, but enjoy it responsibly.
That is my uh comment. >> Council President. >> Yes, Councilman Smallwood. >> I won. >> Sorry. Me too. >> I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> I >> I opposed. All right. We are adjourned.