e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e uh like to call this meeting to order welcome everyone um I do want to let you make sure that you're in the right room this is for the council meeting not the planning board so if you're here for the planning board it's upstairs in the Whitman room okay Madam clerk please read the adequate notice compliance statement adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the city clerk's office in preparation of the council meeting meting notice dated May 22nd 2024 which was properly distributed and posted per statutory requirements please be advised that fire exits are to my right your left and at the back of the room the city has a listening system to assist the hearing impaired if anyone needs hearing assistance please obtain it the system at the deis and return it thereafter excellent thank you roll call please Mr Boyer here miss Hamlet here Mr migar Mr palowski here Mr Smallwood here Mr Varan president president Allan here okay I'd like our interns to lead us in the pledge of 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 okay Madam clerk please read the explanatory not regarding hearings comments and close session a Clos session meeting as authorized by state statute was announced and held prior to the start of this meeting and the known items for discussion were listed on the published close session agenda please be advised that Council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channel 36 and 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 lecturn clearly state your name 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 give her email a copy to the city clerk's office at city clerk cityofsummit.org to help facilitate an orderly meeting to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to 3 minutes or so in length I'm sorry three minutes unless you are using electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or needed for professional emergency contact purposes please turn it off thank you excellent thank you okay approval of minutes do I have a motion to approve the regular and close session meeting minutes of June 5th 2024 and our special meeting of June 11th 2024 so moved do I have a second second excellent so it's so moved okay on to reports all in favor all in I'm sorry all in favor I I any opposed motion carries okay on to reports Madame mayor that's me yeah um okay I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank the incredible staff at the summit family Aquatic Center yesterday we faced an unexpected challenge when a circulating pump malfunctioned causing the pool to close for the day thanks to the Swift and efficient work of our dedicated team this issue has been resolved and I'm pleased to announce that the pool was opened today um outstanding work everyone and um as I mentioned with in my uh Mondays with the mayor this morning um it with the intense heat these p last several days many of us are eager to cool off in the pool while we all want to enjoy our fantastic facility I want to remind everybody about the importance of safety parents please remember our lifeguards are there to ensure a safe environment but they can't watch every child every moment it only takes a second for an accident to happen in a crowded pool especially on a hot day so please let's work together to ensure a safe and happy summer for everybody and lastly I am pleased to announce that the summit police department has added six new pedestrian stop pedestrian crossing signs in the uh areas with high pedestrian activity such as crosswalks in our downtown area um this initiative is part of our ongoing efforts to promote pedestrian safety and provide clear direction to motorists it's a state law that vehicles must stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk I thank the police department for its continued efforts to educate the community and enforce the law for the benefit of us all and I do want to remind the pedestrians that they also have a responsibility to pay attention as they cross the street um and next I would like Megan champney to introduce our interns thank you everybody um good evening council president Allen mayor Fagan esteemed members of common Council and all joining us tonight either in person or through our live broadcast my name is Megan champney quate and I am the human resources manager for the city of summit it is with great pride that I introduce our dedicated summer intern for the year 2024 these individuals are making significant contributions across several City departments please join me in welcoming Luke Deandrea thank you and hope bassan stay standing um they are both working in the human resources department with me um hope is actually returning from our 2023 internship program um so we are thrilled to have her back uh we've got Jessica fre man Emmy goswami and Nate stackler who are also bolstering our Communications efforts um with Nate also working in our mayor's office working on a project with the mayor so thank you um Nick Margaritas who is engaged in a finance related project with Administration he's working very closely with Michael Rogers on a particular project so thank you and then we also have two additional interns who unfortunately could not join us this evening um however that is Olivia flame working in our Department of Community programs and Anna Sullivan who's also working with our Communications Department uh these talented young individuals have spent the past three weeks immersing themselves in government operations and injecting new ideas into our community initiatives let's extend a warm welcome to them as they continue their educational journey by observing tonight's council meeting thank you can I take your picture actually really fast definitely here Megan do you want to stand next and while they're getting their photo taken I'm just want to commend these um young ladies and gentlemen they have been working really hard um or at least they're faking it when I come in the room so but they've been it's been a pleasure to have them in City Hall so thank you guys thank you you guys thank you Megan all right you're all done with your reports I am okay to say all right so the city's annual Fourth of July celebration is over a week just a week away over um on Thursday July 4th please join us at Memorial Field for a day an evening filled with music food and fun the festivities begin at noon with a flag raising ceremony followed by a children's bike parade at 12:15 p.m. and conclude with an amazing firework display at 9:00 p.m. hopefully it does not rain this year um for more details visit Summit Community programs.com um and we want to give a big thank you to our corporate sponsors Bristol Meers squib investor bank and to everyone in the community who donated your generosity helps this wonderful tradition to continue we hope to see you there um I also want to thank uh councilman Boer and his family for inviting me to Pilgrim Church's 95th Anniversary on Sunday it was a spectacular and Powerful service their uplifting message was a reminder that we must keep pushing ing forward to see the human in each other look past our stereotypes and when we focus on compassion love and empathy we can break down all kinds of barriers trust is built on what we have in common and divisions can be healed when we honestly seek to understand each other so thank you for that okay um okay and we are on to historical minute councilman palowski thank you so uh with school ending and no volun tonight I uh dusted off an old an old uh Summit historic minute that was done by Tristan Court in uh September of 2015 on the history of the public schools the history of the summit school system is quite unique along with the city of summits proximity to New York City and our train station our great Public School System represents um one of the great uh one of the many great aspects of our town the first school in Summit was simp ly known as PS1 and was located right here in City Hall this was the main School in Summit until Roosevelt School was built in the late 1880s however during this period Summit was rapidly expanding and officials began to recognize the need for more schools and an official Town Hall at this time while Summit was scouting the best locations for a new school a wealthy New York businessman contacted City officials he offered them a large piece of land to build their new school on the businessman had just one reest not money nor great recognition he wanted the school to be named after his late son Bron who had died at the age of 12 the year before the town agreed and that is why today Brighton is the only Elementary School not named after a president or founder six years after the construction of Brighton in 1911 Summit announced plans to build two new schools The Summit High and Junior High School and Washington school with the completion of with the completion of these schools in 1923 and 1924 respectively PS1 was shut down and renovated to become the new city hall now I along with councilman Boer and Varan and city clerk lies and City Treasurer Baldwin and HR manager champney and I think maybe some of the interns um are are products of the summit schools um I received a back balanced and liberal education when I was there I learned how to think not what to think and with the rise of social media and the pressures our kids face these days I worry so um some tene professors wrote a letter to their students a while back and I put a bunch on the table on the way in and out you guys should all help yourselves it's a worthwhile read thank you great thank you councilman okay um at this this point in the meeting we are going to head into public comment um and we welcome any member from the public about issues that are not topics on tonight's business agenda whenever an audience or council member reads from a prepared statement or has a question please provide a copy to the city clerk at city clerk cityofsummit.org to help facilitate an orderly meeting please state your name and home address clearly to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to 3 minutes um tonight our business administrator and affordable housing attorney are unfortunately out sick so Michael and um Nancy if you're watching Tonight We Wish You a speedy recovery um and if there's anything that we need to answer that they would need to answer for tonight's discussion we'll be directing their questions through email or the next or at the next council meeting so I with that without further Ado um hold on one second Dennis thank you yeah turn okay okay Dennis white 137 Tulip Street I'm here to address the city's defamatory June 21st news release authored by city housing attorney Nancy Holm regarding the Gothamist article on the city's affordable housing activities I understand City officials weren't happy with the Gothamist article you weren't portrayed very favorably that portrayal however was based on public comments made by the mayor and council members and had nothing to do with anything I have said or done moreover the city's communication officer and City and common Council refused to be interviewed for the article as did Nancy Holm the news release claims that the Gothamist article was one-sided but in fact the city was given an opportunity to comment and refused to do so instead the city issued a news release attacking people quoted in the article which would be me Mark McBride and Pastor Blake scallet the news release was authorized by council president Allen mayor Fagan City administrator Rogers communication officer Karens and I assume other members of the Mount Laurel subcommittee council members Hamlet and palowski the news article States twice that individuals quoted in the article including me and Mark McBride are advocating for affordable housing on the firehouse site because we have a financial stake in the development and want to profit from affordable housing members of the Mount Laurel subcommittee including council member Allen mayor Fagan City administrator Rogers and attorney Nancy Holm know this is a lie Mark McBride and I have been at lengthy meetings with the subcommittee I have met separately with you each individually and have had numerous email Communications in all my dealings with the city and in my interview with the Gothamist I have been consistent consistently professional respectful and factual you know Mark and I are not developers you know we are retired housing professionals who developed our proposal for the firehouse site because we think it's the best approach for the city and for Working Families who desperately need housing you know we are unsalaried volunteers working on behalf of the summit affordable housing Corporation you know the summit affordable housing Corporation is not a developer you know it's a nonprofit organization where working to advocate for housing and affordable housing with full knowledge that Mark and I have no Financial stake in this development or any other affordable housing you mayor Fagan council president Allen Michael Rogers Amy Karens and attorney Holmes responded to the Gothamist article by lying about our intentions and imping our integrity your lies have harmed my reputation as an honest hardworking community-minded person I expect you to publish a retraction of your false allegation and post it on the city's website and Facebook page thank you thank you okay I'll someone's coming I think Rosemary's coming yeah yeah she's just trying to are you coming Rosemary okay it keep shut off oh here hold on one second hold on one second Henry there you go all right hi Henry Bassman 18 Harley Road I thought I'd do something a little different tonight I'm going to do a show and tell I have fond memories of Show and Tell and I'm sure some of you do as well uh at one of the neighborhood meetings I suggested that in L of lighting tatlock Fields Memorial Field should be turfed and the reason is uh the stated purpose of putting up lights is to increase time that young young athletes can practice and play well putting lights up is not going to help during the most logical and most uh attractive times which is right after school and Saturdays and Sundays however turfing in another field will add 50% to the field availabil availability in town now when I mentioned turfing Memorial Field Mr Oz OSI responded quickly and forcefully that it was out of the question too expensive because Memorial Field has to be leveled before the turf can be applied so I took a look at the two Fields two of the three fields that we have uh the investor Bank field was already a flat field before it was turfed uh but here's the upper cat Lock And if you'll see in this picture there's a long wall the length of the field and there's a large wall at the end of the field about 78 ft those walls retained the soil that was used to fill to level this field so that it could be turfed then I went over to the lower high school field which is now being built and saw an even larger wall an even higher wall at the lowest point it was above my head and I'm 6 feet tall at the highest point over here it was about 18 ft tall so leveling the field is pretty much a standard practice in installing Turf on a place that formerly did not have turf and it would make good sense to spend the money making more Fields available for young people than for lighting a field that already exists and distracting and disturbing an entire neighborhood good piece of news my 8-year-old son went to the first day of community program summer camp today and came home a delighted little boy it's a good program thank you thank you I'll leave this with you you want yes I'll just take a photo I want it because I there's a reason I want it yeah thank you you can leave it there on the floor thank you very much and you know what you reminded me to say um the department of communities uh programs did an extraordinary job with their Camp 450 students this year so yes I know thank you for reminding to allow more people yeah so thank you for reminding me okay hold on one second r we we're all set okay ready okay so last Friday at 4:06 p.m. oh Rosemary can you say your full name and home address sorry Rosemary Grace Chestnut Avenue so last Friday at 4:06 PM I received your summit advisory text message as did thousands of other Summit subscribers linking to the statement refus ining Gothamist affordable housing article I'm here to respond to that press release attacking the character of Dennis white Mark McBride and Pastor Blake scallet people who have done nothing but work tirelessly to get much needed affordable housing built in Summit I'm a member of summit at home and I know firsthand that Dennis and Mark have volunteered hundred hundreds of hours to develop their affordable housing proposal educate the community about it and Advocate it for advocate for it with the city in return for their Good Deeds you through your attorney Nancy Holm have lied about their motive claiming they stand to profit from their proposal you know this is untrue everyone knows it's untrue but apparently you were so so angered by their statements to the Gothamist you lashed out with lies and by the way nothing in the article said by Dennis Amar reflected poorly on you or the city they however were respectful and gave facts without any personal attacks however public statements made by mayor Fagan council president Allen and council person Hamlet were used in the article and and they made our city seem closed-minded and classist it was wrong for the city to use our public dollars to pay Nancy home to write this false attack this is an adversarial news release it treats Denis and Mark as the enemy when in fact they are people working hard for the betterment of our community the city's attorney paid with resident money should repres present the interest of everyone in our community not the interest of City officials whose egos were bruised by an unfavorable news article in our democracy Mark and Dennis have a First Amendment right to speak with the Press about what they see as the city's mistakes in rejecting the summit affordable housing corporations Common Sense proposal for the firehouse site and our democracy in our democracy you as government officials have an obligation to understand and respect this right and engage in respectful dialogue about disagreements the fact you resorted to lies to smear Dennis Mark shows you do not have what it takes to represent the people of summit one question for you have you no shame thank you name and home address hi Maggie Balman 40 Lewis Avenue my schedule hasn't allowed me to regularly attend Council meetings but I did make it to the boosters meeting with councilman Smallwood discussing the tatl lights and I was struck by a few things he said it was difficult to choose one group's needs over anothers that may be true in some situations but not this one the negative impact of of lights on the neighborhood far outweighs anything else and let's not forget that lights are a want and not a need during our 24 years in Summit we've been a sports family our three kids played every seasonal sport in elementary and middle school they played in high school with each of them chosen as a team captain one played in college my husband and I both coached and cheered along the way but as much as we love sports we know that they are just one part of our life not everything Dr Fagan is probably familiar with the recent American Academy of Pediatrics report called the professionalization of Youth Sports 70% of kids drop out of organized Sports by age 13 the authors mentioned over training burnout pressure to succeed from parents and coaches and overall loss of enjoyment kids don't quit Sports because they can't play on a lighted field they quit because it stops being fun my other takea away from this the meeting is that the tatlock neighborhood is the only one threatened by Lights making it easy for other residents to support this ill-advised plan I originally thought that if these lights went up there would be nothing stopping oakal Camp place or oratory from lighting their fields and disrupting those neighborhoods turns out these schools can't put up lights because they must follow the city ordinance that prevents it it's mindboggling to me that the city not restricted by the ordinance can consider lights that are five times over the limit the only structure in Summit taller than 80 ft is the helipad at Overlook Hospital I know they are not part of this process but I'd love to know what the summit planning board would say about this Reckless plan I generally prefer to stick to facts and reality but let's imagine if tatlock wasn't the only field identified as a viable option by the volunteer committee what if they recommended light installation at tatlock or Memorial what would happen then you knew what you were getting into when you move next to a field that's what my friend who lives by Memorial said at the boosters meeting would he embrace the lights and fight to have them in his front yard would neighbors band together and campaign to bring lights to Memorial fields of course they wouldn't they would have all the same concerns that the tatlock neighbors have they would know that the already densely populated space cannot handle the traffic or parking they would recognize it as a threat to their right to peace and Tranquility a threat to their home values they would understand that a home buyer isn't going to pass on a house in Summit because their third grader can't practice a sport until 10 p.m. but that buyer will pass on a house that has Stadium lights in their front yard adding lights at any additional field in Summit is a bad idea and I urge Council to end this conversation thank you thank you wait name and address all right miles cinon 67 Butler Parkway so uh I've been looking around online to see if I can find some supporters um for our group opposing Stadium lights at tatlock and I found a local resident that I think would actually be a good candidate on their website they said some things that really resonated with me and I wanted to share them with you all today so when talking about overdevelopment they said we don't need it we need to preserve our community we need safe and clean Open Spaces parks and playgrounds we need sensible Redevelopment they also said the fact is we do not have to permanently change the character of our town for any reason and that we need careful analysis due diligence and sorry careful analysis and due diligence regarding the real cost costs and benefits both tangible and intangible of any proposed measure well Michelle and I came up here a little while ago and talked about the tangible effect Stadium lights would have on our property values this person sounds like they might care about that and to to top it off they even share our concerns about safety their website says we've seen it all cars driving 45 and a 25 and rolling through stop signs texting drivers impatient drivers speeding by double Parkers and Parkers on crosswalks we've heard about we've all heard about it cars hitting pedestrians so when I read this I couldn't help to get excited to reach out and see if this hill topper would join our group so what do you say councilman palowski will you join our group and publicly oppose Stadium lighting I I've asked about 10 times to join your group but I keep getting re well if you come up publicly we can uh we will add you to the Facebook group um so um or so if not do you only care about preserving part of the community east of Woodland or south of kpl Boulevard I'm sure that if you were worried about a new building in a commercial District changing the character of our town you should be equally if not more worried about 80ft Stadium lights in the middle of a residential neighborhood or maybe just maybe all the fuss about Broad Street West was really never about the building thank you thank you uh Joseline Modesto 61 Butler Parkway I attended the boosters meeting on May 15th where the tatlock lighting project was discussed athletic director Healey and councilman Smallwood repeatedly emphasized the need for teams to practice on Fields they explicitly said that there is little demand for grass fields teams will choose to practice later on turf fields over practicing on grass fields so from a practical standpoint the current proposal to light the fields at tatlock makes very little sense because it would provide minimal benefit while harming the mental and physical health of surrounding residents and further destroying their quality of life every single day lighting tatlock would extend practice availability by a few hours each day depending on the season but if the grass fields that no one apparently wants to practice on were turfed then teams would gain many hours of practice availability on weekdays without having to practice late at night and they would also gain all day on Saturdays and Sundays on days it rains Memorial and Franklin grass fields are often shut down for many days while they drain and dry out Turk would provide much more open practice Time by allowing teams to practice both while it is raining as well as on days after the rain it is a short-sighted solution to light two already overused fields and leave other fields in inoperative conditions especially when the need for Turf space was stressed by both Mr hey and councilman Smallwood if Stadium lighting is installed at tatlock the numerous grass fields in Summit will sit empty instead of being put to use as viable practice space that in the long run will be able to accommodate sumit's growing population and longer Sports Seasons let us be resourceful about how we fix this so-called field shortage and turn often disregarded and unusable grass fields into desirable and functional turf fields without damaging an entire community's quality of life thank you would anyone else like to come up okay okay I'm going to okay Peter lejoy 124 canw Brook Parkway Summit New Jersey I just want to speak about the comments that were just made about our esteemed Council people and the mayor they were personal and unwarranted the excuse me is it right here stay with me people that know the affordable housing business do know that people make money off of it they make money off of it through the purchase of tax credits they make money off it because these projects are heavily subsidized by the federal and state government and they convert that money into profit and they put it in their pocket and for anybody to say that isn't the case is lying the council may have asked the our attorney to write a letter the attorney wrote the letter not any of these people sitting here and you're you're personally offended well I'm personally offended because you see ceaselessly look to demean the people that were elected and just are trying to do good for this community they have been working to follow our affordable housing plan and construct affordable housing which is consistent with that plan and the agreement which was approved by the court and to say otherwise is wrong the news article in my opinion was merely an editorial and it was stimulated because some people are unhappy about the fact that we're not building an oversized 55 unit affordable housing building which we all know is against public policy because the policy of Mount Laurel has been to distribute affordable housing units throughout a market project and throughout a market Community which is much more healthy for those residents but I think we need to stop focusing on the folks that are trying to do a job and were elected to do a job and quite frankly in my opinion are doing a great job thank you very [Music] much okay I'm going okay which one no the the one right in front of you name and address please uh my name is Tom zebra I live at 768 Springfield Avenue Apartment A3 so I'm here tonight for two reasons first I want to commend everyone involved in coord the juneth celebration last week and seeing so many families come out to celebrate such an important day in American history was extremely heartening uh however I also want to voice the sadness I felt about one aspect of the celebration that I thought was unfortunate um it's my understanding that certain individuals with input on the programming of the festivities voiced opposition to councilman Boer having an opportunity to speak at the event now it isn't my style to come out here and call anyone out by name but to me councilman boy lawyer speaking seems like a no-brainer he's the first ever black councilman in Summit he's an incredible speaker he is as good a man as I know in Summit or anywhere and the fact that it would even require any debate to decide that he should give remarks is confusing to me um the only reason I could possibly think of that an organizer of the event would not want to allow him to speak is because they differ from him politically and I would love to be wrong but I don't believe that I am he ultimately did speak at the event and in spite of the pettiness thrown in his Direction councilman Boyer delivered a message of progress inclusivity unity and hope to those in attendance I was and I know others were moved by his words so I want to thank you councilman Boer for your strength and your character as well as the example you set for our community you are truly an inspiration to me and keep up the good work that you're doing for Summit and continue to block out the noise and to those who resort to sanctimoniousness and virtue signaling and partisan political games in planning a celebration for a day as important as juneth I would suggest that you stop and consider how meaningful and uplifting it is to have somebody like Mr Boer behind the Das thank you for my three minutes which are absolutely long enough to be up here to speak thanks thank you yes em City CLK at City Summit okay any further comments otherwise I'm going to close yep okay good evening name and address please eileene Jackson uh you lived in Summit for over 70 years and now I'm in Springfield okay town over I just want to say do you mind just giving us your home address sure for the record yeah 100 Stonehill Road thank you umart 11 Springfield New Jersey perfect thank you okay sorry it's okay I just wanted to mention that councilman J Jamal Boer is my son-in-law and we love him to death and I too the gentleman who just spoke before me I um am so proud and happy that he noticed everything that other people noticed at the event it was a very nice event but it was a little you know people were very rude and the people that were there are not here tonight I see uh maybe they got win that somebody was going to mention something about it but jamala is such a great guy and I you know we love him to death and I don't like to see disrespect to people who have not done anything to you that don't deserve the treatment that he was getting um I mean they had turned the uh mic down so you could barely hear what he was saying you could hear it but you could end the different clapping like okay your time is up and different face IAL like they're immature adults they call themselves adults and I just wanted to mention that I'm a mama bear okay and when anybody messes with my children they're in trouble okay and I've lived long enough to have seen a lot in Summit New Jersey being like I said live born and raised here for 70 years and now I'm in Springfield but I just wanted to let Jamal know that I am behind him 100% anything that you do or say I know it's going to be good and meaningful and we love you and uh keep up the good work all the counc council people here tonight thank you so much thank [Applause] you I didn't put her up to that by the way pretty impressive that your mother-in-law said about you saying we all know Mama Bear is up here good evening everyone uh David McCrae 95 Orchard Street thank you just to give a little um history about Jamal um I watched this young man grow up to become a very fine young man a great speaker and someone that you can be proud of great father great friend and a great person on this Council so from my my heart I've always just wanted to say how proud I am of you I've watched you come from the youth center days when you were like here and his wife when she well actually just so that you know um I used to hold his wife in my arms okay um and we all grew up on Williams Street which is probably one of the best streets in Summit um but I just wanted to tell you that the whole William Street Community is so proud of you for everything that you've accomplished and I'm speaking from my heart I just wanted you to know that and we stand behind you [Applause] 100% thank you okay U can I just say one thing my mom is visiting so Mom if you're watching could you like come down okay if anybody else would like to speak yeah Helen 24 PL Street uh last meeting there was a comment made about the firehouse being the uh fire Tage MAF house or something uh this is a town upscale Town beautiful homes but uh to power fa's uh FL Flash Dance we're not exactly a town made of steel made of stone we're made of wooden vinyl so nice good wind and a fire and the town is gone so I would think that people would want the most experience the most trained the most equipped fire department that they can get and The Old Firehouse was pretty tired and I think uh if your budget went a little around because um you know spent $15 million on the new firehouse and to equip it you know maybe another 500,000 you really have something there but um I think that that's money well well spent I mean uh even the rescue squad the man who was here last year who they resuscitated I mean it's his life worth 15 million uh kids all the sports that we are playing here and the rescue squad that's there and can resuscitate any kid who seems to happen a lot now that they're hitting the chest and then they're down they have to be resuscitated I think we should really be proud of what we've built and not squawk well now we're in debt and now we have to change zoning so we can pay for our firehouse and do all those things it's a great firehouse and we should own it thank you did you send her okay okay are we good with public comment anyone else okay okay I came here so I might as well said something uh Kevo 113 Woodland Avenue I just want to put one thing in context um when we moved when we decided to move the firehouse at that time it was talked about the reason to move it is because we were going to do this Redevelopment area and in nobody's develop no developers plan which is they going to be a firehouse there we bought at the same time we decided to move the firehouse and I think Greg you maybe introduced it and David nedu talked about it you talked about that we were also at the same time buying the office building next to it for $1.55 million to have that to sell to a developer you both talked about the cost of moving the firehouse was much more than expected it actually is turning out to be much more than you thought at the time but you talked about that the sale of the firehouse and this new office building property and the tax revenues that you would receive from it would help the city pay for or pay for it entirely I think it was said at that meeting that new Firehouse okay so then we went on the city made a mistake of entering into a development agreement with one developer before it ever talked about plans or money or anything else right and then that caused us to look at building this monstrosity of a building that did had at no point any more than one of the absolute minimum affordable housing units in it okay we extricated ourselves from that agreement because we couldn't reach a financial agreement with us they they were screwing around with this was ridiculous we finally got out of that in less than 3 months group of people from the Interfaith Council the beacon Church whatever came together as this at home for Summit presented the city with a deal to build 100% affordable housing which is not what the city's required to do um and saying what they could pay telling the city we need to do this right now because we're not going to have funds by the end of this year there some funds that are coming up we need to do this okay the city was the all of the people that were elected were elected to figure out what was the best use of that figure out what the city's obligations were figure out what what the best for the residents of summit were the at home for Summit people were telling us telling you that you needed to circumvent that entire process and do their deal not talk to anybody else if you decided for some reason that 100% affordable housing was the right way to go for Summit you should at least talk to multiple people and see what they're willing to do and what they're willing to pay the IDE idea that we would be required to enter into with one group of people after we just got out of it and we're getting sued for getting out of it and I think one of the things they're looking into and they're saying is that you had discussions with at home for Summit I guess before it was terminated or before the end of this year or before the end of last year or whatever anyway I just wanted to put that in perspective okay okay I am going to close public comment okay and I'm going to go to council councilwoman [Music] Hamlet um councilwoman go ahead okay so one um comment I have is this uh Gotham Gothamist article um and it's it's all over social media folks can look it up um Gothamist printed an article with number of inaccurate statements you don't really have to look any further than the title which is Rich New Jersey city turns down affordable housing development to build pricey Apartments well that's just not true um all we did was put in an overlay zone so um we published City published a press release to correct the record uh late Friday afternoon early evening I think someone said it was 4:06 I have no reason to doubt that not long after we published that we heard that some people had in our opinion misinterpreted a portion of the statement so we clarified it as is often done with press releases and now it says um the Gothamist article and the self-serving statements made by representatives of a developer who stands to benefit financially want the public to think that there are only two choices Etc so just wanted to clarify that for everybody thank you councilman palowski all right does anybody else want to speak sure uh councilman Smallwood um I just want to address the I'm not going to there was four Council or four residents that came in spoke about or in reference tatlock lights um so I'm just going to kind of go through it aggregate um I've also tried to join the private Facebook group uh United for tatlock I'm still waiting for my uh request to be accepted um so with that you know I I've inherited a project that has been discussed whether it's been public or not it's been discussed within the Department of Community programs since 2018 in the 2022 December 2022 uh preliminary budget uh and then it was taken out of the budget in 2023 it was in the 2023 December preliminary budget and it was taken out in the 2024 budget so we're in the exact same spot as we were last year however somehow with I I guess a new Council um it's a Hot Topic when we're in the exact same spot as we were last year what I'd like to ask is how many other council members I've held five separate individual meetings with the TAC residents I held them at different times different days so that we could accommodate people who work people who stay at home people who have children I have done nothing but be as transparent as I possibly can for a project that's not even on the agenda and yet I'm not included in a private Facebook group which you have every right to deny me you have every right to hold a private Facebook group but if you're asking for transparency why not let's open the discussion I have at least five times with close to 55 to 60 residents in the tatlock neighborhood I have done everything I possibly can for something that's not even on the agenda in terms of transparency and I will continue to to do that we've taken those meetings we did a traffic a comprehensive traffic study that cost $21,000 on graduation day we're going to do another traffic study during one of the largest football games in the fall we're doing an environmental study and yet there's still residents that come up knowing that we are going to be doing this knowing that the discussions still come up and talk about lights at tatlock I have not brought this to council and you have every right to and let's continue this dialogue but I also find it ironic that you're recommending turfing a field and taking away Green Space when in 2008 you were so adamant against against turfing tlock uh so I kind of find that a little bit ironic um you know the only I I I the only thing I can say is I'm going to complete completely be transparent with you I don't know how many other council members that you've spoken to prior to this year um I didn't bring this to the Department of Community programs I inherited it and I've taken it on and I will continue to be transparent and continue with those meetings and that's all I can say um you know I just feel like you know if you want if you want transparency then maybe you would reconsider my acceptance into your private Facebook group thank you councilman Smallwood um councilwoman Hamlet councilman veran I can okay go um I guess a a couple of things on the U the proposal and and and the Gothamist article uh the one frustrating point for me uh in that article was was When U Mr White was quoted and I guess the frustrating part was was that there was no additional discussion um and what I can tell the public and with confidence is there was a lot of discussion there was a lot of meetings I personally sat with Mr White for about an hour and a half we talked about going on field trips um with the organization to do smaller projects around summer uh around Summit uh we meant we meant that we genuinely want that uh I spoke with Mark McBride at the last meeting about the continued desire uh to work together I spoke with our city planner today Tom Barons and I said when we were in those meetings or when you were in the meetings with Lisa Allen and the mayor did you get the feeling uh that if this project didn't work would others work and he said yes absolutely we spoke to all involved and said if this project doesn't work would any small projects work and the answer was yes of course we'd love to work with you um so I I truly and genuinely think that all of us had good intentions to work with the summit at home they are volunteers uh and Dennis and Mark you've been uh obviously very professional and and I've enjoyed your your company and uh learning about tax credits and and and how we can accomplish affordable housing in Summit um but for the audience I think it's important to remember what our attorney said at the last meeting which is that there is a risk for the city um there are 4% tax credits 9% tax credits that usually fund the entire project uh usually the city to any usually any municipality would have to give the land away or donate it to whoever's doing the project however as a requirement for going to Public Funding a municipality has to have a resolution of intent to bond if there's a shortfall in funds and that's when we talk about Gap financing so if we give the land money from the trust fund and the project still comes up short that happened very often in 2021 is what she told us when construction cost skyrocketed and then all of a sudden a 100% affordable housing developers came back and said sorry we have a $3 million gap just because of the price of lumber and that's how it happens so the municipality is typically on the hook for whatever is not financed and whatever is not provided by the state for funding uh so when Nancy Holmes talked about the um the fairness hearings that she is currently sitting in uh there is certainly a risk to the taxpayer if these projects um if the cost Skyrocket and we have to do that intent to bond so uh I am you know confident that our overlay zone is going to provide um plenty of affordable housing and we don't know what will be on that overlay zone so uh I think that um I think that was all I had to say Mr Bassman I really like your picture wherever that is of the um the turf field down below the high school and um the wall is is very very large and I was set on the planning board and we had some concerns about that wall and um I don't think we're we're going to be able to replace too many trees there now that I'm actually looking at that um I think that's all I had um I think that's all I have okay I think that's all okay you good oh I I think the last thing no that's it that's it that's it okay councilman bartan do you want to say anything councilman Boer thank you council president I'm gonna switch it up a little bit here um first I'd like to thank pastor Al and Reverend Dean from Pilgrim for in inviting me and council president Allen this Sunday for to celebrate their 95th year uh in operation here in Summit as a church it was uh it was an amazing event it was a very emotional event um Reverend Allen had me come up and also introduced uh council president and uh it was a feeling of love acceptance uh in community and I thank the Reverend both Reverend and and uh Pastor for that now as you all know uh this past weekend we had the uh juneth event and I was honored to be invited to speak as summit's first black councilman elected to Summit City Council since since its Inception in 1869 uh this was a momentous occasion and I believed it important to address the community at this event however I feel it crucial to inform all the residents about some troubling events that occurred leading up to the event the week of the Jun team celebration council members and city employees were informed by the juneth event committee which included members of the Interfaith Council and anti-racism committee that they did not want me to speak their reason was I was a black I am a black Republican and they did not consider me really black and they disagreed with my policy views so simply because I am a black man with different opinions and political beliefs yes I was deemed not Black by a politically motivated group most of which who do not reside in this town during conversations with city employees and council members these individuals said the following he can't speak he can't speak he doesn't represent what it means to be black and Summit he put in the Resident protection ordinance while political disagreements are normal using these disagreements to invalidate my racial identity is discriminatory if he speak or if he's speaking then we're going to have comments in return and I can't guarantee what we're going to say because we're going to make it clear that he doesn't represent black folks in Summit they attempted to intimidate and discredit me publicly which for me created a sense that I would be going into a hostile environment despite several discussions by our council president council members and city employees a compromise was reached allowing all council members 45 seconds to speak now imagine I am a volunteer I am working I'm talking to residents on the phone during the week trying to solve issues and I'm getting five or six calls back and forth from other council members city employees and the council president discussing about me speaking at a June th event and a group of people saying the reason is they don't consider me as black that is disgusting it is outright disrespectful we cannot be Hypocrites if black people are truly free we can we can have different opinions without being called not black sometimes we discuss race in general terms but now it is staring Us in the face does being a Democrat or a liberal make one black while anything else does not don't you see the hypocrisy in that normally I wouldn't even bothered addressing such challenges nonsense like if I was High School however members of the anti-racism committee must understand that I deeply love black people love is not just a word it is the embodiment of certain principles if these principles are violated you cannot claim to love love is not a romantic term it is not just an emotional feeling it is principle Carri into practice the principles are freedom justice and equality these are essential to life if you love your brother but deny him the freedom to express himself you are not acting out of love if you claim to love another but refuse to treat each other fairly simply because of political differences differing in beliefs or different religious practices this is not Justice nor is it Freedom nor is it equality there is no love there for your sake my sake for God's sake and for the sake of our future loving each other is essential to achieving freedom justice and equality that we seek loving each other means giving each other the freedom to express what we think and feel and listening with patience and genuine concern not mockery and [Music] Scorn that's right we are too busy mocking laughing at and putting each other down the Earth is a vast place it accommodates all forms of life on sea land and Air are you really going to tell me that the Earth is too small to accommodate your idea and mine this is hateful in the sight of our creator and hateful in the sight of intelligent people this treatment was not just a personal affront but a disrespect to the office I hold the town I serve and and the residents including many from summit's black community this is the town where I grew up whether you agree or disagree we must have the wisdom to truly listen to each other we must develop the patience to hear each other out carefully and the maturity to question and disagree intelligently but we must never let our disagreements turn us into the kind of opposition that hinders us from addressing the needs of our community if our churches and residents truly stand against racism and support the freedom of black people to express diverse views I urge you to take another look at your anti-racism committee and some members of the Interfaith council do we tolerate racism only when it I with a particular political narrative is this the Legacy that we want and how we treat our first black councilman because history will tell the story thank you council president [Applause] yall go on and sit down now I'm still impressed that your motherin-law came up and some to thank my family uh for coming out um and to my my son and daughter who um are watching at home um yeah your daddy's strong you know you don't got to worry about me all right thank you councilman Boer okay um I'm going to close this part portion of our meeting I'm actually going to take five minutes if anybody would like to use the restroom um or exit the room so five minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Sur I'd like to call this meeting back to order okay uh we are moving into ordinances for hearing Madame clerk please read the first ordinance ordinance number 24- 3320 an ordinance amending the code chapter 2 Administration Article 4 departments created section 2-15 Department of police subsection 25.1 establish l m and God bless you um councilman Boer safety and health I'm sorry excuse me I was just taken back by a uh by a comment that you know I should recognize uh Susan Harrison as the first um black African-American uh female councilwoman in Summit and uh I I have a lot of respect ECT for Susan um and I'm sorry I uh I forgot that but I want to point out that Susan was invited to speak so thank you for reminding me uh councilman bartan and I wasn't Susan's a a Democrat and I'm a republican so we'll go back to it again as a matter of fact you know I I uh I don't want to talk about this topic anymore um tonight uh but yes I do recognize uh Susan's accomplishments um and so I'll leave it at that all right so ordinance number excuse me ordinance ID number 24-33 20 uh this ordinance is a request being made in part due to the recodification of the agency's organizational structure table uh which would increase the sum of police department's level of Staffing from 47 sworn personnel to 50 sworn personnel allocation of funding for two additional officers is already been made uh in addition the third position and I want to reflect this uh is for an officer who was already replaced following a permanent assignment to the state PBA office in which the city has agreed for his salary reimbursement uh I move to adopt this ordinance you're opening the hearing sir yes I moved to open the hearing for this ordinance and this this ordinance was adopted on 65 right so yeah second thank you thank you right hearing is open Council comments public comments okay we're going to close the hearing um Madame Clerk ordinance number 24- 3321 repeal and replace chapter 29 protection of trees excellent councilwoman Hamlet uh yes thank you uh councilwoman Fox counc councilwoman Alan I'm sorry going back in history here um this is ordinance uh 24- 3321 this ordinance repeals and replaces chapter 29 protection of trees to provide for permanent requirements regarding private tree placements at a tree diameter of 12 in rather than 16 it also clarifies the language exempting hazardous trees from fees or replacement require replacement requirements updates the violations and penalties to reflect current tree care costs ads prohibited species and updates and clarifies language throughout the ordinance I would like to move this ordinance for hearing second excellent okay hearing is open Council comments public comments uh real quick I mean I would just like to say that through the shade tree committee um uh councilman palowski and the City Forester and the city staff this was a ton of work and I trust that everything is is is wonderful in here I've read it a few times but all the hard work really was done uh within the shade tree committee and the city staff so thank you for all your hard work that you put into this come on good evening my name is John Kilby 19 oxan Summit I'm the the current chair of the summit shade tree committee uh well with the current Heatwave even the most disinterested residents have seen some advantage to trees I would think Summit in the earli days has been a place where people came out from New York to take the air and I think we saw a good example of that today I'm certain that both the hilltop location and the tree canopy helped in the this regard I believe it is our role to both maintain and hopefully improve on the tree canopy during our relatively small time frame relating to tree terms it has not been easy with the amount of new oversiz construction over the last decade in the city and the consequent loss of many mature trees unfortunately this has also affected our storm water management the recent arrival of three major tree infections of the ash the pin oaks and now the beach has and will certainly take its toll compound this with harsher weather and storm systems and it's not been an easy decade for trees however our past aggressive planting policies I think have held our own our revision review has been quite extensive prior to the state guidelines on which the ordinance is based in the various areas of compliance we have chosen a middle approach from those of our neighboring towns and cities which we have reviewed we've included Provisions that the Forester can mitigate absolute compliance where diseased trees losses put an unfair burden on residents and updated technical aspects of the city's administrative operation guidelines the revised ordinance will provide the city Forester more appropriate tools to do his job and on that basis I ask a council to support this Revision in closing I wish to publicly thank our volunteers that have enabled the shade tree as John linston would say punch above our weight class thank you thank you sir yes than job hold on one second hi I'm MIM zukov I'm a member of the summit environmental commission and I came tonight to read a statement that was prepared by Donna Patel our chair who is out of the country and is not able to be here tonight uh dear mayor and Council common council members the city of summit is a proudly a TR City USA and celebrates its tree canopy the environmental commission supports the shade tree advisory committee as as it works to maintain the existing canopy plant new trees and educate residents about all the benefits of our trees as such the environmental commission supports the ordinance repealing and replacing chapter 29 protection of trees the environmental commission supports the revision to require permits for the removal of smaller dynamer trees in the revised ordinance and the additional clarity about around replacement trees both changes acknowledge the importance of the existing trees in Summit and help mitigate the negative effects of tree removals in addition the revised ordinance promotes native species the use of native species is key in supporting the full range of insects pollinators birds and other Wildlife the use of native trees better accommodates rainfall and reduces flooding native trees are also better acclimated to handle drought conditions New Jersey is experiencing both extremes of increased downpours with flash flooding and drought conditions and the Revis tree ordinance improves summit's resilience based on these considerations the environmental commission supports ordinance um 10977 and the additional protections to the city trees sincerely Donna gagen Patel on behalf of the some some environmental commission thank you did you have I have it already Yes evening uh hi my name is Scott jorck 6 Hickory Road and I've been living in Summit for the past 10 years I volunteer for the shade tree advisory committee and and I'm here in favor of this updated protection of trees ordinance so I have three quick points uh one why now uh it was over a year ago that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection revised the tier a municipal storm water General permit which in turn required municipalities to adapt the updated tree removal replacement standard standards so in addition to wanting to revise and update our City's tree permitting process we were required to do so as per the njd second point is why do we care I care because I love trees I'm a tree guy um I've read the 35 pages of this ordinance a few times and I probably still need to read it again um protecting our City's trees is a good thing the rules and regulations are in place to maintain and preserve all good things that come with trees as in Aesthetics privacy air quality helps reduce water runoff help cool down homes and streets um another point from money.com article dated July 2022 reads homes with trees have anywhere from 3.5% to 15% more value than those without and there are so many other more reasons why trees benefit our community so third point is um what do we do so I encourage my fellow Summit residents both current and more importantly new residents to become tree people if not already use the resources around you to help you maintain and care for your trees for the benefit of current and future residents so some of those uh resources people could and should reach out to are the many local reputable arborist companies uh they reach out to the city Forester and the shade tree advisory Commission and also they could visit the Reeves Reed Arboretum right here in town thank you thank you hi Francy Cho 27 beakman Terrace um I'm very much in favor of this updated protection of trees ordinance the language regarding regarding protection and maintenance of the tree canopy is thoughtful and will provide the tools to help maintain the Summit Tree canopy and concrete ways I'm one of the people who reviews zoning applications on behalf of the environmental commission and as such I appreciate the clear language giving the city Forester the means to deny permits for tree removal based on certain criteria furthermore I've seen many instances of significant trees being cut down unnecessarily and slated for replacement with trees that are not comparable it was very frustrating to see zoning applications with 20-in and 30in oak trees marked for removal with plans to replace them with an ornamental tree that would never contribute to the canopy or carbon sequ sequestration in any way approaching that of the shade trees being removed the new language providing for in-kind replacement of significant trees that is shade trees must be replaced with shade trees is excellent as we all know trees are critical to the fight against global warming and I'm very pleased to see this thoughtful language being proposed for protecting the Trees of summit thank you so much to the shade tree commission I'm very grateful to you thank you anyone else okay um I just want to say oh um thank you for those who came up um Scott Mr Durk I think you're here uh why now I think it's a great question I'll have to huddle up with our city administrator and our director um to see why we didn't meet that original timeline I I wasn't aware that we were uh later on that but I think it's a great question um I really liked your questions and to Francine Cho I think the the really fun part of of this is when you sit on the planning board or the zoning board and you take a look at all these applications um because it is very hard to tell um you know what trees you know need to be replaced and and that's why we have professionals that that look at all this stuff um it is nice to see visuals I would say even in those um applications that we're looking at from planning or zoning it's really interesting to see you know the trees from 10 years ago versus now and that's one of the things that we're working on in the planning board um is to be be more educated on this so as part of the planning board I'll make sure to um pass this along and to the zoning board and the planning board I think it'll be really great excellent thank you um I just wanted to say um I fully support this ordinance uh someone once said to me that trees will yield when it comes to development and um I will always stand up for more green space and trees and against overdevelopment we've seen significant storm water issues and flooding um that relates to development and so I think that we need to do more of um these types of ordinances so I will be fully supporting it tonight thank you okay anybody else okay uh Madame clerk oh we're gonna close the hearing are you deal with oh sorry councilman Smallwood oh I thought you were Council com oh oh yeah yeah you want to yes absolutely um so I I I completely concur with Mr Kilby uh during graduation waiting for the Prof for the uh High School Prof procession sorry oh yeah right for the graduation yes wait waiting for the graduates to take their seats uh I was certainly seeking shape and I'm so glad that we have a huge tree right there by uh the field in tlock so um um although I'm not on the shade tree committee I am the the aison for the environmental commission as well as the recycling committee and I will 100% wholeheartedly be in support of this this new ordinance excellent okay any other council members no okay nope okay yall look like you're going to say something but I'm not quite sure Le it into vote okay you want to vote okay I gotta all right then we're going to call um we're going to close this this hearing uh Madam clerk please read the first ordinance for final consideration ordinance number 24- 3320 an ordinance amending the code chapter 2 Administration Article 4 departments created section 2-15 Department of police subsection 2-15 point1 establishment excellent councilman Boer yes one I'm sorry I lost my page here what what was the number of the uh 24 3320 24- 3320 so now we had a duplicate here an ordinance yes okay um having closed the hearing a moment ago uh I would like to uh move this ordinance for final adoption excent second excellent okay roll call Madam clerk Mr Boyer I miss Hamlet I Mr palowski I Mr Smallwood I Mr Bart I president Allen I motion carries okay um Madam clerk ordinance number 24- 3321 repeal and replace chapter 29 protection of trees councilwoman Hamlet uh thank you councilwoman uh this is having just heard the hearing on 24- 3321 I would like to move this ordinance uh for a vote second excellent roll call vote Please Mr Boyer I miss Hamlet I Mr palaski I Mr Smallwood I Mr bartan I president Allen I thank you madam clerk motion carries okay ordinances for ordinances for introduction Madame clerk please read the first ordinance ID number 11346 an ordinance amending chapter 4 General licensing section 4-19 public places where food and beverages are sold or served of the code of the city councilman palowski yeah this is uh ordinance ID number one 11346 um the ordinance will uh will be revised to provide that in the event of a change of name or a change in ownership of a food establishment a new application must be filed and a new license issued prior to selling food under the new ownership or the new name purpose of the ordinance is so that the city will know the identity of an owner uh where there's a switch in ownersh ship uh during the year uh normally you would renew um at the end of the annually so second excellent okay um Council comments no all right public comments nope NOP no because we're introducing my apologies I got lost okay sorry um all right roll call vote Please Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet hi Mr palowski I Mr Smallwood I Mr vtan I president Allen I okay the hearing will be on Tuesday July 9th um Madam clerk ID number 11347 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-25 regulations for the movement and the parking of traffic on Municipal property and Board of Education property subsection 7- 25.4 regulations councilman Smallwood thank you council president this is ID number 11347 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7- 2 5 regulations for the movement and the parking of traffic on Municipal property and Board of Education property subsection 7- 25.4 regulations this is in the manner of parking lots uh and garages and just to without the the legal ease this means that you can actually if you have a front plate you can park straight in or you can back you can back in um so after much discussion this original was this original ordinance was introduced uh about a month and a half ago and um there was some discussion among Council that they like to back in their cars as well as other residents uh so what we did is we took it back we revised it and what we're introducing tonight is that you would be able to uh if if you have a front plate you may back into your parking spot so it's not head- in parking only the reason for that is because our traffic uh our our parking authority officers uh use cameras uh to scan your license plates so that helps them uh determine how long you you've been in the parking lot parking spaces whether it's the garages or the parking lots as well as the uh the street parking so um with that I move to introduce this ordinance second excellent all right Council comments anyone okay uh roll call vote please mam cler Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet hi Mr palowski I Mr Smallwood hi Mr bartan hi president Allen I the hearing will be on Tuesday July 9th motion carries okay on to resolutions uh counil ham councilwoman Hamlet thank you this is resolution 11351 this resolution actually Rosie we have a we have a scrier error in this yeah there's a typo in right we're fixing right okay sorry uh sorry sorry sorry lost my you can bundle these can I bundle them you can bundle yeah that' be great okay so this these are resolutions 11351 and 11349 which authorized the 2024 salaries effective January 1st 2024 for the cola and effective July 1st 2024 for the steping increases I would move these resolutions I second I'll second got it um all right Council comments public comments okay we'll vote all in favor I any opposed motion carries all right safety and health councilman Boer yes this is uh resolution uh go in order one one bundle you can one and two one and two do you want me to bundle them okay one and two okay uh this is resolution 11336 and resolution 11337 uh as per 11271 11271 when we start at the top okay I'm sorry number one and two one and two uh this is resolution ID 11271 and resolution ID 11 336 33 336 got it sorry uh as per Clos session disc questions I move to adopt this ordinance second excellent okay um Council comments public comments okay let's take a vote all in favor I I any opposed motion carries okay councilman Boyer your third resolution yes now I'm getting this right this is resolution ID number 11337 uh confirming the mayor's appointment to police Sergeant uh unless the mayor would like to comment um based on on close session discussions I'd like to move this uh resolution for adoption second um as we all know we have an exceptional police force and this is uh a promotion within the department and um in working with Chief zagorski and the Safety Committee we had some terrific interviews and uh really really pleased to support um officer beretto to uh be promoted to Sergeant great congratulations any Council comments public comments okay all in favor I I any opposed motion carries all right we're on to capital projects and Community Services um councilwoman Hamlet your first one first resolution uh thank you this is ID 11305 which will amend the Professional Services agreement 20124 Planning and Zoning supplemental services for neglia with additional fees of $25,000 um I'd like to move this ordinance for introduction this resolution for introduction second sorry I forg to Second talk talk I didn't know that was you or Andy sorry everybody race okay Council comments I me what I was going to say without boring everybody in the resolution um and I've spent probably way too much time on this specific um the this specific one uh so neglia is actually an additional Professional Services Company that is is adding to our zoning department While most of you know we just lost Christ Anderson who is our zoning officer so right now our zoning activities are not only handled by Chris Nia U but they are hired by Burgess and they are also supplemented by Burgess and Associates and by neglia so this really is a crucial uh vote tonight getting these additional funds I will say in looking at the invoices for the last several years I think we need to and I've asked the city administrator to put more detail in these invoices and the reason is as we re-evaluate how Community Services develops and what we need in the organization to move it forward we need to have a better understanding of who does what you know what is Burgess and Associates doing versus neglia and what are the future needs of the city so these are all the things that I thought about it might seem like a a a small task to just approve $25,000 but when we look at what the city of summit needs going forward it's a very thoughtful process in which we need to to start which is right now excent thank you councilwoman anyone else public comments okay all in favor I any opposed motion carries councilwoman Hamlet your second resolution sure uh yes this is ID 11230 which Awards the was this the right one 11 I'm sorry uh which Awards the city of summit Cooperative pricing for the 2024 micro surface program not to exceed $223,300 uh I would like to move this resolution for introduction Second Great Council comments I I will say one thing that I'm in favor of of doing this however we do have a list from psng uh of work that they would like to do in the city of summit so I do need to huddle up with director shreer to get that list and just make sure that this list is accurate versus uh if there are roads that are going to be ripped up by psng we certainly don't want to be micro Paving them I'm not sure because I haven't seen that list yet but um wanted to just me mention that excellent thank you any other Council comments can I just add the the hope would be it's going to be a lot more streets from psng right so the hope would be that we can get our rep to come and speak to us in committee and then hopefully here uh to explain to the community what they are doing uh over the course of the next many months thank you per and just a piggyback on Council councilman Varan and I think you said this before um we want to make sure that there is some uh distance between Paving and ripping Up Paving and ripping up um I know uh there have been residents who have emailed and called and said didn't we just pave this street now we're ripping it back up again I mean we want some longevity in our in our streets so excellent we do have a five-year moratorium but somehow the utilities end up being exempt somehow um all right public comments all right all in favor I I any opposed motion carries councilwoman Hamlet number three yes this is resolution 11361 which is rejecting the bids and authorizing a new advertisement for the pedal tennis court Improvement project uh there was only one bid received the paddle tennis court Improvement project by the purchasing agent on Tuesday June 4th uh and it was rejected for the incomplete bid Bond uh so we will be going back out to work uh going back out to bid for these paddle tennis courts um Rosie I appreciate you putting this on the agenda I know was we had to push it a little quicker um but I'd like to move this resolution for introduction second excellent all right Council comments yes thank you council president um councilman uh councilwoman uh Hamlet do you know when we'll go back out to bid I mean this project has been going on for a very long time um it it just seems like it keeps getting delayed and delayed right I mean I I got to think that there are more than one one more than one company that's out there there's um this is actually this was an interesting one it took us a long time to actually figure out who could draw the engineering specs up for this so we had to look at organizations like Stone har sorry towns like Stone Harbor and seagert so it took us a long time to actually get the engineering specs written for the paddle tennis court in order to go out for this RFP um the one there there's there's actually only a few companies that do this um so we are pretty limited I know we plan on going out to bid I don't know if Augusto if you know when we're going out but I know it's probably this month July 16th is July 16th yeah we're advertising on the 3D okay and I am coordinating with um uh with Natasha around what we need to there was there was a mistake in this one but since there's only so many um companies that do this I just want to make sure that everybody knows that the actual bid is happening I don't if you can talk about that um Tammy but sorry through you council president she will advertise it appropriately to get the most you know to get it out there to the most people she can if anybody knows anybody that's interested when it goes up um on the third when it's advertised the more bids we get the better it is so than okay any other Council comments all right public comment all right all in favor I any opposed motion carries uh councilwoman Hamlet number four keeping me busy tonight okay this is resolution 11370 which will authorize the purchase of a garbage truck for $269,000 was $269 00412 and this was approved in the 2024 capital budget process approved the funding for the replacement purchase of a single axle reloader trash truck by the division of Public Works in support of its sanitation unit trash collection operations this recommendation is to purchase a new 2025 Kenworth p480 4x2 chassis I would like to move this resolution for introduction I second okay Council comments public comment all right all in favor I I any opposed motion carries councilwoman Hamlet your last resolution yes thank you this is resolution 11345 this is pend this was pending closed session discussion to appoint Dan palac to the Hometown Heroes ad hoc committee and I'd like to move this resolution for introduction second excellent Council comments public comments I would just like to say real quick um Dan was one of our residents who raised his hand and reinvigorated the map system for our Hometown Heroes so now when the hometown hero Banners are being put up by DPW they're automatically geomapped to our app and loaded into the city of summit's website so I'd like to thank Michael Arlene for chasing down all of the residents who are asking where the Banners are every year uh it was really his idea to enhance this um enhance this process and we're really excited U residents are looking uh for their family members and it's really heartwarming when they finally find their Banner so I just want to thank the resident for all his hard work great D is on DeForest this year with my short hair let that was like in you were like 19 yes excellent all right public comments all in favor I I any opposed motion carries all right at this time we're going to vote on the consent agenda do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved do I have a second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries all right moving along almost to 9:30 guys we might do it oh wait we're losing some interns I'm trying to hurry supposed to call them out bye you guys have a great night thank you for coming thank watch your step watch your step yeah well done you guys thank you bye all right okay uh Council comments do I have any can I say something actually now that they're not here I want to talk about them no the interns I want to talk about the program generally uh we we pay city of su pays interns now uh this is a couple years two three years that we've been paying them now um you know what that what it does when you have unpaid internships is makes them available only to people that don't have to be paid right so it's giving further opportunity to people that are already pretty privileged right so like for somebody like me growing up in Summit who had to work over the summer I was a lifeguard at the pool you know I would have loved to work at City Hall instead uh but but uh you know I think this is a tremendous opportunity uh and obviously the city wins too because we get uh the experience of these folks who get to do some pretty cool projects and I've worked closely with them on a few of those so cool thank you that's it for me and some of them actually have two jobs here and elsewhere um and and sadly this is their last week so yeah but they've done great work so far all right anyone else Council comments uh council president uh you know we've been getting a lot of calls uh this week um about uh motor vehicle thefts attempted motor vehicle thefts burglaries um and I I did receive a report from uh Chief sagorski thank you Chief sagorski um there was a resident that had asked you know what are we doing what plans do we have and you know I don't want to talk about um uh how we do policing but I was wondering if the chief would want to want to come up and say anything about um just crime in our town uh you want to make any statements or anything to you want to go over to St there if there's anything that you want to say about um uh increased police presence or whatever whatever we are doing to combat um the recent I don't know how to answer that one I can give answer that one yeah we had um uh the other night we had two attempts and then one the night before that this month we've had a total of six attempts to enter motor vehicles and three St Motor Vehicles in all um that the attempts to enter motor vehicles and the the thefts of Motor Vehicles and burglaries to residential dwellings are down however you know we are not at zero we still do get um activity and it's important for residence to remain Vigilant uh contact us when they see something suspicious and remember to um you know take a common sense uh crime um um measures such as locking your uh car doors and taking your key fobs locking your um your home when you're even when you're in the residence setting your alarm uh even when you're in the Residence at night thank you Chief okay I know people want to hear from you not from me who's this Boyer guy um so just quick on the stats uh from January through May so I'll start with 2022 burglaries 4 and 2023 we had 12 and this is to date January to May sorry January to May and 20 24 burglaries 7 so these are the numbers for burglaries and attempted burglaries to Motor Vehicles 2022 from January to may we had 54 2023 January to May 30 and 2024 January to May 13 calls for service this year are up uh in 2024 about 21,000 calls for service 2023 uh I want approximately uh 20,000 calls and in 2022 approximately 19,000 um terms of traffic enforcement move and violations the total summonses in 2022 was 1,800 in 2023 roughly 1500 and 2024 2000 uh in terms of parking summonses in 2024 1,335 so there's a lot more parking summonses uh I don't know if I should uh should credit councilman Smallwood on that one um but uh there's a significant increase there um in terms of moving violations moving summonses uh in 2024 200 excuse me 672 2023 562 and 2022 5 60 uh so we've seen an increase in uh moving VI sumes for moving uh summonses uh I just want to also say to uh chief sagorski that I know your officers are working um hard I've seen personally a increased police presence uh in town um and I know soon uh we'll have some new officers starting at you know at some point uh hopefully uh this summer and the initiative of having those officers roaming and uh going after certain criminal activity and not actually taking calls I think it was a great idea and would be very helpful uh in reducing crime um I have no more comments I have one can we just have those stats of the website yeah can we add those to the website later because I was I was going to try to write them down but I KN was I knew I wasn't going to keep up and and councilman b i I sent you an email one I just got them too so I know you've been asking thank perfect excent thank you councilwoman H Chief last night the the vehicle in question did we know if that went through the License Plate Reader or not yes it did um we tracked it when it came into town it came in 10 minutes before the incident itself however um it wasn't entered stolen yet in the system so we didn't get an alert had it been ENT stolen his system we would get an immediate alert saying that it was in town so um we we realized that it was in town after we got um a partial plate from a witness and then um dispatch uh ran a couple different scenarios of of the plate and the model and that it came back to a stolen car and we able to confirm once we had that information we were able to confirm that the information was captured by our cameras coming into town but um again it wasn't um uh it wasn't in the system as stolen yet so but it got in the system as stolen within those 10 minutes no it was in NCI stolen uh it takes a little bit longer to get into the um the uh the uh the camera reader system and what was that again the NC NCI I mean NCC I'm sorry NCIS the show okay got it thank you for thank you for clarifying that appreciate it great and chief just as a followup though um and uh correct me if I'm wrong but we have to be like very very on point when we are identifying stolen vehicles because they typically necess necessitate a felony stop so you want to get that right am I am I correct on that one well we want to get it right for a lot of reasons uh because sometimes you do get uh uh a false hit so when you get when you get the hit um we have to confirm through NCI see um that's that's that's the um one we go by um because uh we we do have a problem with the uh dealer plates um each dealer plate the each dealership has assigned certain numbers and then they have Little Numbers at the end so one of those plates gets reported stolen uh well the whole series when it it'll hit by the camera saying it's stolen even the ones that aren't stolen obviously so our cameras that are by the car dealerships we had to make adjustments because we were getting hit after hit after hit because they report one plate stolen and then the whole series is hitting so again you have to do um you just can't go by what the uh the camera reader says you have to uh verified through NCI thank you for your explanation Chief appreciate it excellent I just want to say um highlight the fact that you got a partial plate from a resident from a an aute resident yes that was helped you and your detectives detective to get correct a fall plate so that was excellent work thank you and I'm very excited to see The Pedestrian signs downtown in the crosswalks so yeah I thank you for that and by the way my daughter was crossing the street uh on Morris Avenue by the hospital and there's a there's a flag you take the flag out and you walk across the street with the flag did the hospital put that's the hospital they stole them from the private cuz we didn't put them out they sto from I I I just I just thought that was not your daughter I meant whoever put it I just thought that was an amazing idea right so you take the flag out when you're crossing the street you you have you never been next door to New Providence have you not seen these no I don't go to New Providence Sor just kid all right excellent good thank you Chief any other Council comments I just have one um May or I not want to put you on the spot here but can you can you provide an update on Brian I indeed I can in fact I happen to have right here um the current status uh general contractor for this is for Bryant Pond um the general contractor has completed the first section of the Bryant Pond Hydro raking and has placed approximately 1500 square yards of material that was removed from the bottom of Bryant P pond in the designated material staging area which is a basically a pit um and they will start to remove the existing stock pile of material from Bryant Pond location on or about today June 24th um they basically have to wait for all the water to seep out and they need to um get it tested there's a whole process so um on completion of this first round uh the contractor will continue with the hydr raking process and will place the material removed from the bottom of the next section of Bryant par in in the fenced area and this process will continue until the hydr raking work has been completed the construction work is expected to be completed with all of the material removed by the middle of August this year weather permitted that was from the county as as of today look better better so good news from the county excellent news through you council president I'm sorry I'm all over the place tonight um I I had asked uh the fire chief uh just to talk about the the the firehouse tonight and I didn't want to um to leave the meeting and he did all his good work it's it's all right you're good because good to come up but I mean why don't you give an update is that well do okay keep yeah I'll make it quick to Quick uh quick um update in Firehouse um time frames Award of the project in 2021 letter to proceed was in January 2022 it was a 60-month bill time which sticker to April of 2023 R see uh over our time frame anticipated completion date is July beginning of August of 24 that's where you stand now um other than that um building is almost completed interior it's about finished up got some site left to do on it so almost there so we hopefully be done in July beginning of August and our goal to have some kind of opening um in sometime in September so as we get closer to that day we're confident we'll put a date out to everybody so excellent ready thank you appreciate it thank you thanks for your very concise report all right okay any other comments because I'd like to adjourn do I have a motion I'd like a motion to adjourn no okay second excellent all in favor any opposed motion carries eting I know