Common Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome back everyone and good evening. This meeting will come to order. Madam Clerk, would you please read the adequate notice of compliance statement.

Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the City Clerk's Office in preparation of the Council Annual Meeting Notice, dated December 17, 2025, which was properly distributed and posted per statutory requirements. Please be advised that fire exits are to my right, your left, and at the back of the room. The City has a listening system to assist the hearing impaired. If anyone needs hearing assistance, please obtain the system at the dais and return it thereafter.

Thank you. Would you please read the roll call?

Mr. Boyer? Present. Mr. Christofoli? Here. Ms. Collinson? Here. Ms. Landman? Here. Ms. Lucera-Sena? Here. Mr. Smith? Here. President Toth?

Present. I'd like to call on Luciana Conti to lead us all on the Pledge of Allegiance. Madam Clerk, would you please read the notices regarding closed session and hearings and comments?

A closed 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 closed session agenda. Please be advised that council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channels 34 and 36 and Verizon channel 30 and rebroadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays on HTTV on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33. When invited to speak, please come to the lectern, 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 cityclerk at cityofsummit.org. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard, please limit your comments to no more than 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. I'm going to expand a bit on the city clerk's note about hearing and comments. This will facilitate a smoother process, particularly for those watching remotely. If you are seated in the first two rows in the audience, please remain silent in those seats. Anything you can say will be picked up on the recordings and make it difficult for anyone watching remotely to hear the official proceedings. The three minute limit on public comments corresponds to a bit less than a single printed page. If you're leaving your written remarks, please put your name on them and place them in the box near the lectern when you are done. With that, let's move on to the city's business. Starting with the minutes for approval. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of the regular and closed sessions of July 28th, 2026? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Under reports, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, good evening everyone and welcome back. It's great to see everyone here tonight. I hope everybody had an enjoyable and relaxing summer and I'm wishing all of our students and parents a wonderful start to the school year. Okay, I want to share a couple of quick safety tips to keep in mind as we get back into our regular routines. For drivers, with more traffic on our roads again, please slow down and stay alert. Stay off your phone and watch out for kids crossing the street. For pedestrians, use crosswalks instead of crossing in the middle of the road and put your phone down when crossing. Wait for the walk signal at intersections. We have two lovely new intersection stoplights in town, so use the buttons. And utilize the flashing beacons we have positioned at several crosswalks throughout the city. Remember also that it is your responsibility to make sure that the driver sees you, so look both ways. Together we can ensure everyone stays safe on the roads and gets where they're going safely. As you all know, this year is the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. I didn't think I was going to get emotional just reading this. We are hosting our annual observance this Friday at 945 at the Firehouse. Please join us to honor family, friends, and neighbors we lost, and the courageous first responders who responded to the scene to help. All members of the community are invited to attend. September is National Preparedness Month and I encourage everyone to visit our website and check out resources we are sharing to help you get prepared for any emergency that may come your way. We share tips on how to build an emergency kit, create a family plan, and other information to ensure that you and your family stay safe throughout the year. Fun stuff, we have two fun community events coming up later this month. Head to the Village Green on Friday, September 18th for our annual Fiesta Latina event and join us to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. The fun will start at 6.30 and we'll have musical and dance performances, food trucks, cultural demonstrations, and more. Then on Saturday, September 26th, we have, this is one of my favorite events of the year, we have our annual Doggie Dip, which is at the Summit Family Aquatic Center. This event is open to Summit residents and non-residents. There is a small fee for each dog to participate, and there are separate swimming sessions for small and large dogs. Interested participants should pre-register online with the Department of Community Programs through Civic Rec. We have more information on our website at cityofsummit.org slash doggydip. Hope to see you there. Thank you.

Thank you. And now on to Tammy Baldwin for the city administrator's report. Administrator Baldwin.

Thank you, Council President. Reminder that we have a modified recycling collection schedule due to Labor Day. It's delayed one day this week. So please keep in mind that there are certain major holidays throughout the year that affect our recycling pickup. We have a list on our website at cityofsummit.org backslash recycling. Trash is still collected on holidays and summits, so there's no change to trash collection this week. We've returned to regular hours at City Hall, which are 8.30 to 4.30 Monday through Friday, and the construction office's hours, their regular hours are 7 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Lastly, there is a change in the date for the upcoming Summit free market event. The Saturday, September 12th event has been switched to the 19th. It's still from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., There is no change to the Friday event on September 25th from 12 to 2 p.m. You can join us at the transfer station and drop off yard sale quality items and browse other donated items for free. A Summit resident parking transfer station permit is required to attend and there is more information available on our website at cityofsummit.org backslash free market. That's all I have. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. And on to my report. So with the new school year underway in Rosh Hashanah this weekend, it really does feel like a reset for all of us. Council has been very busy over the summer, and you'll see it as the rest of the year rolls out. We'll have ordinances focused on stormwater management, progress on our affordable housing plan, and some transparent planning for the use of the city's opioid settlement fund. And as to affordable housing, you may be aware the property at 180 River Road is in the round four plan for 30 total units, eight of which are to be affordable. The property owner recently entered into a long term commercial lease with a tenant. So of necessity, Council is looking hard at the few parcels of land that the city controls. I've spoken about this before. We need to balance our legal obligations and our own fiscal health. We can do this, and it remains a work in progress, and we'll update you as we can. Next, Summit is the defendant in a class action lawsuit filed by our firefighters. State wage and hour law was amended to provide overtime to all employees who work more than 40 hours a week. That law failed to consider firefighters who work a 24 hour shift followed by 72 hours off. So in many weeks, firefighters work 48 hours. The firefighters won the preliminary judgment. The city's asked the court to reconsider its decisions, and we're waiting for the court to act. If the firefighters ultimately prevail, our attorneys predict it will cost the city something in the neighborhood of $13 million. Our city administrator and our fire chief are already exploring every alternative for creating a fire department that wouldn't require that kind of overtime. Next, there's a lot today. There's much confusion throughout the country about voting by mail and the November election generally. I'm pleased to say that Nicole Dorado, who runs the elections for Union County, will present an update at our next council meeting, so watch for that on September 22nd. Here's where things stand today. You can see it on the Union County Votes website. New Jersey is in litigation with the federal government about voting by mail, and no one knows what the outcome will be. Union County is preparing its vote by mail ballots according to existing state law. They're scheduled to begin going out on September 19th. The county mails ballots in alphabetical order by name of municipality, so summit voters should begin receiving their ballots starting about September 26th. If you are not comfortable with voting by mail this year, you have until September 15th to act. You can email ucvote at ucnj.org and provide your full name, address, date of birth, along with stating you wish to vote in person. Again, that's ucvote at ucnj.org. If you later decide you want to vote by mail again, you'll have to submit a new request to do so. I'm going to post this information in my recap tomorrow, and the city will provide it as well. And finally, this is the council president's annual PSA. We are in election season. Council business meetings are just that. We meet here to conduct the city's business. These meetings are not intended to be political rallies. Candidates and their supporters have numerous other opportunities to express their views and garner support. So let's move on to our historical minute. Council Member Landman.

Thank you, Council President. Tonight, we welcome Luciano Conti, a Summit High School senior, to speak about Tilla Thomas, a Summit High School teacher and advocate for gender equity. And Luciano, over to you.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Luciano Conti.

I am a senior at Summit High School and a proud member and treasurer of the Unión Hispana Club. When we think about people who influenced the history of Summit, we might think of politicians, business owners, or other famous people. However, one of the most important people in Summit's history was a teacher named Tila Thomas. Through her work as an educator and her commitment to helping women pursue higher education, Tila Thomas left a lasting impact on the Summit community. thomas began teaching at summit high school in nineteen eighteen she was an accomplished educator who had graduated from western reserve university as a phi beta kappa she also studied at wesley college columbia university new york university and the sorbonne in paris at summit high school she taught spanish and french eventually focusing primarily on French. She also served as an advisor for the French club and the service committee. Betila Thomas' influence went beyond the classroom. On February 25, 1920, she brought together a group of women in Summit who wanted to support education for girls and help newcomers become part of the community. This group eventually became the Summit College Club. What makes it especially significant is that this happened only about six months before the 19th Amendment gave women the constitutional right to vote. The Summit College Club began raising money to provide scholarships. One of the ways they raised money was through donations and community events, eventually beginning an annual book sale in 1935. The organization continues to support education today. Tila Thomas's legacy can still be seen through the Tila Thomas Scholarship. Every year, the scholarship is awarded to a Summit High School senior who has demonstrated academic excellence and leadership potential. This is why I believe Tila Thomas was an important person in Summit's history. She didn't influence Summit through politics or wealth. Instead, she influenced the community through education, leadership, and service. She spent 38 years in the Summit school system, and even when she was preparing to retire in 1956, she volunteered to continue teaching until the end of the school year without pay. More than a century after she founded the Summit College Club, her influence is still present. Students continue receiving scholarships because of the organization she started and the value she promoted. Tila Thomas shows us that one person doesn't have to be famous nationwide to make an important difference. By educating students and creating opportunities for women to pursue higher education, she helped shape the Summit community and create a legacy that continues to benefit students today. Thank you, Council, for letting me make a speech. Thank you. Thank you.

And we have a proclamation, because it is Constitution Week. And as a James Madison fan, this one's near and dear to my heart. Mayor.

It's OK.

Whereas September 17th, 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention, and whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary, and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion, And whereas Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America, designating September 17th through September 23rd as Constitution Week, during this week we celebrate our Constitution and the rights of citizenship that together we enjoy as the people of this proud nation. Now, therefore, I, Elizabeth Fagan, Mayor of the City of Summit, do hereby proclaim September 17th to September 23rd, 2026 as Constitution Week, and ask all citizens to reaffirm the ideals the framers of the Constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the City of Summit to be affixed this ninth day of September in the year 2026. Thank you both for being here.

I just want to thank you for every year reminding us what a wonderful day this is. It's not a holiday that people celebrate usually with parades and fireworks and things, but it's a very, very important day in our country's history for all of us.

Thank you.

Let's move on to ordinances for introduction. Madam Clerk, would you please read ordinance for introduction number 12716.

An ordinance amending the code chapter seven traffic section 7-11 through streets, stop intersections and yield intersections. Subsection 7-11.2, stop intersections designated.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Council Member Smith.

I'd like to, this is an ordinance that has been on for a while. I think it got kind of skipped over, but putting in additional safety measures in a high traffic area that we think really needs it, and I'm offering this up for introduction. Thank you.

Do I hear a second? Second. Okay. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Boyer? Aye. Mr. Christofoli? Aye. Ms. Kalmanson? Aye. Ms. Landman? Aye. Ms. Lucera-Sena? Aye. Mr. Smith? Aye. President Toot?

Aye. Motion carries, let's go- The hearing date? I'm sorry, the hearing date, thank you, is going to be September 22nd. So let's move on to resolutions. The first up is finance. Council Member Landman?

Thank you, Council President. ID number 12712. This resolution authorizes Summit to issue short-term bond anticipation notes to finance projects previously approved under three June 2026 ordinances for general city capital improvements, sewer utility capital improvements, and parking facility improvements. These notes can have maturities of up to one year and may be renewed with the CFO authorized to determine the interest rates, terms, timing, and sale of the notes. I move to adopt this resolution by roll call vote. Second.

Thank you. Are there any members of the public who would like to speak on this resolution? Any members of council who'd like to speak on this resolution? Okay, hearing is closed. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Boyer? Aye. Mr. Crisafulli? Aye. Ms. Kalmanson? Aye. Ms. Landman? Aye. Ms. LaSarasina? Aye. Mr. Smith? Aye. President Toth?

Aye. Okay. Council Member Landman, back to you.

Thank you. ID number 12710. This resolution authorizes Summit to issue up to $12.6 million in short-term notes to temporarily finance school improvements that were previously approved under a July 2025 bond ordinance. I move to adopt this resolution by roll call vote. Second.

Thank you. Do we have any comments from members of the public on this resolution? Do we have any comments from members of council? Another short hearing. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Boyer? Aye. Mr. Crisafulli? Aye. Ms. Kalmanson? Aye. Ms. Landman?

Aye.

Mrs. Saracena? Aye. Mr. Smith?

Aye.

President Toedt? Aye.

Aye. And back to you, Council Member Landman.

Thank you. And our city clerk, I see here on this version that I was handed that this one still says 2025 city solicitor fees. I don't know if that's a Scribner's error on mine.

Scribner's error.

Yeah.

Scribner's error? It's 2026.

It's 2026. We will change the record. Okay. So this is for ID 12713. The city has budgeted $350,000 for legal services in 2026. The original resolution that we authorized at the beginning of the year was for $250,000 of these funds. This resolution authorizes the remaining $100,000 that was budgeted for legal services this year. This two tranche approach is consistent with how the city has been doing it for the last few years. This resolution does not require the city to spend an additional $100,000, rather it permits us to do so as additional legal services are provided. That said, for much of this year, the Finance Committee has been asking for some pretty basic facts about our city's legal spend. What are we spending on each legal matter? from litigation to OPRA requests, where do we have opportunities to change behaviors, and our approach to reduce expenses. Although this ordinance does not put us at risk of spending more than we have budgeted, we have a responsibility to the public to scrutinize our spending and look for opportunities to save taxpayer dollars. The Finance Committee will continue to dig into this and report back as we get more information. As I discussed with our city administrator today, I have a high degree of confidence we will get there, and I expect to be proven right. So with that, I move to adopt this resolution. Second.

Do we have any comments from members of the public? Do we have any comments from members of council? Council. Okay, Council Member Lucera-Cena. Thank you, Council Member Boyer.

Thank you, Council President. Just in brief, we are represented by great external council, which is very important. We are spending a good amount of money, right? That is a bit of the cost of doing business, of being a municipality in 2026. TO PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT MORE INFORMATION AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO THE DILIGENCE BUT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF SHARING WHAT WE DO KNOW IN THIS TIME AS COUNCIL PRESIDENT SHARED DURING HER PRESIDENT'S REPORT, ONE OF THE LITIGATION MATTERS AGAINST THE CITY IS A WAGE AND HOUR MATTER COMING OUT OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT for those who have had any experience with wage and hour matters they are very complex and they involve a lot of data analysis and information gathering so that in addition to lots of other work related to defending the litigation so that is in part a meaningful chunk of the city's legal expenses in addition to processing the oprah request so these are public records requests as councilwoman landman mentioned Depending on the nature of what material is responsive to the request, it may have to be reviewed. In some cases, for example, if it's body cam footage from our police department, it's frame by frame of the video that is evaluated for certain material that can be excluded from the responsive return. So it's in part the cost of doing business, but absolutely we will look for opportunities to implement technology or just try to stop getting sued. But we will keep the community updated as we continue with that work. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Boyer.

Thank you, Council President. Administrator Baldwin, just so the public has some gauge of where we are, where are we trending this year as opposed to last year in terms of legal fees?

Through you, Council President, it's right about the same, actually. Month to month, I couldn't tell you, but I know that we ended 2025 with $380,000 because we had a $250,000 contract, we added $100,000, and then we added another $30,000. So right now, Without this addition to the current contract, I would be short about $15,000 for bills through August. I would hope that this will get us through the end of the year. We actually have, as Councilman Landman iterated, we actually have 350,000 in the budget and an additional 30 in the labor side for these services. So we're not going over budget, but we are watching. Thank you.

And if I may, sorry, just to directly answer, we've spent 58,000, excuse me, 58% of what we've budgeted for this year at 58% of the year. So we're like right on track with our budget.

Thank you. So my question is, I know people look at the $100,000 and it looks like it's whopping, but this is actually our new normal.

no reason to you know be alarmed unfortunately it's just how it is so thank you thank you okay any other comments okay all in favor aye any opposed motion carries um let's move on to council member Chris Cifulli for capital projects

Thank you, Council President. Resolution ID 12723 would appoint Mr. Raymond Sullivan as Director of the Department of Community Services. Mr. Sullivan, seated in front, brings long experience in making things work. He brings people skills. Earlier in his career, he managed nearly 200 people at a private financial services company. He understands land use regulations, having worked in Berkeley Heights on land use and zoning for many years and 16 years on the zoning board. He has deep experience in project management, most recently serving in the engineering office of our county, managing complex infrastructure projects such as bridges, traffic intersections, and roads. Among his many qualifications, I noticed that he is a certified green belt in Six Sigma Lean Enterprise Management, and I like the sound of that. So I'll take you on. I'm not a green belt. Maybe I'm a whatever the lowest grade of that is. Ray is already diving in and tightening the ship after several months of part-time leadership of his department. Ray has an impressive background and we have high hopes for his long and successful tenure here in Summit. I move to adopt the resolution.

Second. Okay. Do we have any comments from members of the public? Do we have any comments from members of Council?

Council President.

Yes, Council Member Boyer.

Mr. Sullivan, I just want to say congratulations. I actually read your resume today. It is extremely impressive. I think the City of Summit is glad to have you. You have a big job, and we will definitely be talking soon, but congratulations.

I'm looking forward to working with you. Thank you very much, Council Member.

Yeah. And thank you. I only apologize for having failed to introduce you at the beginning of the meeting. We were kind of rushed. I apologize. Any other comments from members of council? Okay.

Our mayor. I was just going to say I had the privilege of being involved in the interview process, and we're very, very fortunate to have you. So welcome.

I'm looking very forward to the opportunity here. I'm grateful for the opportunity. You're supposed to use the microphone now. Yes. That was my first phone call. I'm very happy to be part of the city community. I come from a family of Highlanders, so going home tonight as a Hilltopper will be quite a surprise for my family. And I'm looking very forward to the opportunity to working with everyone and the staff here. in the city of Summit. Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Terrific. Everyone in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Welcome to the family. Thank you. Back to you, Council Member Christopher Lee.

Thank you, Council President. Resolution ID 12715 would authorize an expenditure of approximately $2,000 from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for affordability assistance. This is the first grant, this would be the first grant under the terms of our affordable housing agreement with the state, the first grant of this nature. I move to adopt this resolution.

Second. Any comments from members of the public? Comments from members of council?

Council President.

Yes, Council Member Boyd.

The only thing that I would say about this is that this is an exceptional use of this money. This is money to be used for a down payment uh to get into the housing and um this is the purpose of the affordable housing trust fund and i would love to see it go to things like this as opposed to legal bills so this is in the spirit of it and thank you thank you any other comments from members of council okay hearing closed all in favor aye any opposed

Motion carries. One more time, Council Member Crisofulli.

Thank you, Council President. Resolution ID 12729 would authorize execution of a license agreement with Temple Hill Associates. This will improve pedestrian safety and sidewalk aesthetics along Aubrey Street. Extensively documented, discussed, and unanimously approved by the Planning Board, on which I also serve. I move to adopt this resolution.

Second. Do we have any comments from members of the public? Do we have any comments from members of council? Okay, hearing closed. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Law and Labor, Council Member Lucera-Cena.

Thank you, Council President. ID number 12718 authorizes the city to enter into a settlement agreement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. This relates to the construction of our new firehouse. There was an alleged foot fault with respect to the maintenance and the treatment of underground storage tanks. This is a standard settlement agreement with basic terms and the payment of $4,000 as payment of a fine in connection with the assessment. That amount will be initially paid by the city as the owner and controller of the land, but it will be incorporated into the ongoing litigation that we have with the builders and certain of the contractors for that new firehouse site. So I move that we adopt this resolution.

Second.

Thank you. Do we have any comments from members of the public? Do we have any comments from members of council? No. Another short hearing. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Back to you, Council Member Lucera-Cena.

Thank you, Council President. Resolution ID 12737 authorizes the city to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with a gentleman named Mark McBride. Mark McBride is a former Summit resident. He is an affordable housing finance expert. He has many decades of expertise and experience. He currently serves as a commissioner of the Madison Housing Authority. He has generously offered to help educate myself and other interested council members and sit in conversation with certain of our city staff to talk about different financing options as we continue our diligence with respect to usage of the old firehouse site and looking across the city so we can make the best decisions with respect to the land that the city controls. This relationship, his generosity of sharing his expertise at no cost to the city is already delivering results. We had a meeting with Mark McBride this afternoon during the Mount Laurel subcommittee meeting. where he shared a very detailed and educational presentation about federal low-income housing tax credits, which can cover around 75% of certain kinds of affordable housing projects. So again, this particular resolution simply authorizes the city to enter into the non-disclosure agreement, which Mr. McBride has already signed and is bound by. I move that we adopt this resolution.

Second.

Second. Do we have any comments from members of the public?

Council President.

You were a member of the pub?

Just a point of information. I just wanted to be clear about something. Yes. Just to make it clear that this is not to authorize, right? It's already been signed, and this agreement has already been executed. So actually, I think we should probably move to ratify this instead of saying authorize because it already happened, right?

Okay, if I may council president Mr. McBride has signed the agreement. The city has not countersigned it The resolution is to allow the city to countersign the agreement, which it has not yet done Okay.

Um, yeah, so Point of information because that is that is really confusing so Administrator Baldwin, did you did you have a meeting with mr. McBride McBride yet? I

Through you, Council President, we did have a meeting today. Mount Laurel Subcommittee met today. Mr. McBride signed an NDA prior to that meeting. It is on the agenda to be ratified. He's the only one who signed it. Just for everybody's clarification, it was a presentation. There were some questions, but there really wasn't any confidential information shared at all, but we did the NDA as a matter of course and protection for the city. But it was really a presentation with some questions Thank you.

Thank you Okay members of the public

Hey, Bob Polosky, 3 Crest Acre Court. I understand from Councilman La Saracena that this is going to be, I guess, for a consultation on finance matters. Anything else? I guess you'll answer me in the emails. I should know the ropes by now. No timer anymore? There's no timer? I guess, you know, I know Mr. McBride, I guess he's not here, but I know he's an expert on all these things and everything else, but he's also an affordable housing activist who was a big part of At Home, where, you know, kind of wanted us to give away that site and pay money to have it developed after all the work that we did to pull all those properties together to get maximum return on on our dollars and I just hope that this isn't the next step in not selling the firehouse which should have been on the market months and months ago in my opinion so Also, he's had some history with the city incredibly critical of the council file an ethics complaint against one of our professionals and I wonder if we needed finance advice from somebody if he is the best person to get it from given the track record and You know some of the prior interactions that we've had with him so I I just hope everybody thinks about that. I know the agreement signed and he's already started consulting, but I mean, is he going to be working with our city professionals, including the one that he filed an ethics complaint against? I don't know. These are just concerns that I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from members of the public? Comments from members of council? Council Member Smith.

Yeah. I just want to say, This is done. He signed it. He's already spoken. He's put a presentation on. But I have an issue with how this came up and how all of a sudden in our meeting minutes, our agenda, his name pops up. I don't know Mr. McBride. I know there are people that do have issues with Mr. McBride, including professionals in the city. I just think this should have gone through a different process than it did. in terms of how it came to be on this agenda at this point i'm i'm you know i don't want to be performative or whatever i mean it's done what's done is done but i think we need to i i like the idea of having a mechanism whereby we can take professionals from the community and allow them to have some input into things and having an NDA allowing them to do that as a general rule. But I think we need to be careful about who it is that we're doing this with. And it has to be something that has a little bit more transparency, particularly here where it was sort of on the agenda after it was already done. and we're voting on something that's already happened. That's just my comment.

Other comments?

Yes, Council Member Lucera-Cena.

Thank you, Council President. First, a note. I take accountability for this. We had an NDA that was prepared by our city solicitor's office. I shared that with Mr. McBride. It was myself. I was anxious for him to join the upcoming Mount Laurel subcommittee meeting. We have heard from the community, right? People want to know what is happening with the old firehouse site. We understand. And we are also anxious in moving that process forward. We want to get it right. And part of that means assembling the right team. We are very fortunate that Mr. McBride, who is expert in this area, which as a side note, there are very few people who are expert in this area and ever far fewer who are willing to share their expertise for free. So I am very grateful to him and just so we're not speaking in code. The issue that's been raised about the ethics complaint, to my knowledge, there was one external city professional against whom Mr. McBride filed an ethics complaint. This is my understanding, I have not verified this. It was because that city professional, that external city professional, this goes back to June of 2024, penned a, I'll say generously, press release that was issued on behalf of the city that made negative comments about Mr. McBride, which I believe were false and unfounded. So there is important context here. It was, again, just with respect to that one external city professional. That is the only issue that has been discussed. And again, in context, we are, I think, very fortunate and far better off that we have the benefit of Mr. McBride's expertise, and I express my gratitude for him. Thank you.

Council President. Council Member Boyer. As I recall the record, our external attorney was actually replying to an article that had said some things that she felt was untrue and the Gotham, was it the Gotham?

Could we limit our comments to the resolution before us?

Council President, thank you.

We have to be fair up here too. I was interrupted once and you didn't say anything. What I'd like to know is, is there any guardrails on this nondisclosure agreement? It's pretty broad. THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS INVOLVED IN A PROJECT FOR THE FIREHOUSE, AND I'D LIKE TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS INDIVIDUAL IS NOT GETTING INFORMATION FROM THE CITY THAT COULD LEAD TO ANY ADVANTAGE IN any developments or anything like that. So what is the non-disclosure agreement actually for? Are we providing this individual any non-public information? And if we're not, then what is the point of having a non-disclosure agreement?

Yes, Administrator Baldwin to the rescue.

Through you, Council President, I might be able to clarify to put people's minds at ease. The non-disclosure agreement was, I feel like, an extra precaution because council members wanted Mr. McBride to attend the meeting. It specifies it was for one day. It specifies he was there for September 9th for this meeting. I think I stated earlier that he did a presentation. There were no other items discussed at that time. It was just his presentation and questions on that. But specifically, the nondisclosure agreement says for his attendance

to provide a presentation on September 9th so it doesn't give unlimited access I mean unless there's another one he wouldn't be back again to the Mount Laurel subcommittee so that might provide the guardrail that you're inquiring about thank you for clearing that up yes it sounded like it was on some ongoing uh ongoing thing so I I appreciate that um I would just say for the record that if we ever do anything like this again that it comes to the full Council so that we can all give our feedback and come to a consensus on whether we agree to this type of thing or not. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor.

My concern is really about the fact that we all get an agenda before the public sees the agenda, and this was not on that agenda. I don't believe. I didn't see it. Yes, it was. Maybe his name was not on it. It was listed on the packet. It was? Yes. All right, I missed it. It was included. Okay. Okay. I missed it. My apologies.

And I will say, yeah, the sequence was less than optimal. I mean, we do not meet for approximately six weeks over the course of the summer. In another part of the year, this would not have happened. What I will say is we've also been very lucky in the past. handful of months we've had several individual residents with specialized areas of expertise offer their services on a you know on a specific item and having done this once we at least now have a process that would connect and a volunteer with, with, with specific talents, um, in, put them in front of city staff, um, in a way that can be useful. Um, and in a way that our typical committees made up of resident volunteers would not afford. Um, I think that sentence was grammatical. Um, but with that, I'm going to close the hearing. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Nay.

Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. That moves us on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Can we comment first? It will happen. Okay.

So moved.

Second? Second. Do we have any comments from the public on the consent agenda?

Bonnie Morrison, Rotary Drive. A lot of these say pending closed session. Can we get clarity on what they all are? Thank you.

The adopted resolutions will be part of the minutes.

Okay, as the clerk reminds me, the adopted resolutions will be part of the minutes, though that's another couple of weeks. All right, any other comments from members of the public? Do we have comments from members of council? And yes, starting Councilmember Landman.

Thank you. So I specifically want to address some of the questions I've gotten from residents about the items on here regarding the opioid settlements. So as I've shared here in a previous meeting, one of the big reveals to me being on council and specifically on the finance committee was learning about the millions of dollars that sit in funds outside of the annual budget process that we have access to. I knew about affordable housing trust, but this one I frankly didn't know about until I was on council. And we have over $800,000 sitting in this fund that is designated by the state of New Jersey to be used for programs that will help reduce overdoses, educate young people, train our first responders, and connect Summit residents with the help and support that they need related to substance abuse and misuse. So we should be putting these dollars to use now, not sitting on them. The resolutions in this consent agenda are actually to accept even more funds into the opioid trust fund that we hold. Before this fiscal year, the city had received close to a million dollars in funds, but the dollars we spent over that same period prior to this year were almost zero. We are starting to put those dollars to good use. We hired the outreach worker and social worker through Bridgeway earlier this year. We designated one of our outstanding police officers as an ACT officer, but that is definitely not enough. In fact, unfortunately, the last meeting of this task force that reviews opportunities to spend these dollars was canceled because there wasn't enough content to discuss, which just makes my head explode. There is so much to discuss, and this is a priority for this council. Council members Lucera, Cena, and Smith have joined the task force to ensure that there's appropriate representation of council, more visibility into how the city is using these funds, and so we can increase accountability as well. The Board of Health, our schools, our non-profit partners, our first responders, and many residents have excellent ideas on how to put these dollars to their highest and best use. You've already started sharing them with us, but I want to put the call out on social media with Council Member La Saracena, but I wanted to state it again tonight. Many of you have experience in this domain, either professionally or personally, and will have great suggestions for us on how to put these dollars to good use. We encourage you to please reach out to us and send us your ideas. Thank you to those who have already reached out, and we appreciate you keep sending them our way. So thank you.

Thank you. Do we have other comments from members of council? Council Member Smith.

Yes. There's a consent agenda. There's a number of things that... I think are really great and it's nice to have that where we have several grants, we have a fire hydrant going in, have additional training for our firefighters, helping the safety of the town and particularly three or four grants. It's really, I think, good work by the fire department. We have in the city administration. We have a supporting bridges and the bridges outreach run. And then one of the nicest things that we have, I think, on the agenda tonight from my perspective is we have two volunteer firefighters, including the son of one of our former Summit Fire Department firefighters. I think it's really important to recognize that achievement that we're having sort of a generations of firefighters from the town coming into the town. I don't want to mess up his name's Lon. Mullen, yeah, Lon Mullen. Was the father. Was the father who was the firefighter for years, and now that's being passed down to his son. So just wanted to bring that to people's attention.

Are you looking at me, Council Member Kalmanson, like you want to say something?

You can see my wheels turning. No, I just wanted to echo what Andy said. And Lon Mullen was a dedicated Summit firefighter. And sadly, he passed away last year. And it's just really an honor to have his son come and join the family and continue on in the tradition. So we can't wait to welcome him when we see him. Thank you.

And we should say both of their names. Kyle Mullen. Oh, and I'm going to mess this up. Antonio Famiglietti.

Thank you.

I was going to call up Chief to say it otherwise.

That's in Italian, by the way.

Yes, Councilmember Christopher Lee.

Thank you, Council President. Clearing up some of Bonnie's questions about the very good questions about the pending closed session discussion. Item number one under capital projects is the arcane issue of the temporary parking of a mobile cell tower. while an existing cell tower is being renovated and that vehicle which contains the mobile cell unit will be parked on a parking space of city land. And so that should be the text of number ID 12719 should read T-Mobile and their contractor. And so that's that one. ID 12722 uh we agreed during closed session to appoint a new student rep to the recycling advisory committee and we welcome josephine ariaturai and i hope i've pronounced her name within the within the ballpark For the Round Four Common Council Task Force, we appointed and we welcome Chris Cinelli, Rebecca Foxwell, and John Calabrese has been reassigned to a longer term position on the task force. And finally, I believe declaring the vacancy in the Division of Engineering and Public Works is to hire a new driver.

Do any other council members have comments? Yes, Council Member Boyer.

Oh. Council President. I think the meeting that we had with Mark McBride, not to go back to it, but it's important, right, because it's about our housing and what decisions we're going to make with the firehouse and things like that. If you can just tell the public when, if he'll come in and do a presentation to the entire public, I'm interested in what he has to say. But I know one thing we need to do something with the firehouse. And my opinion is that we should stick to the plan and we should sell the firehouse. And let me tell you a couple of reasons why.

Council President, we are talking about the consent agenda right now. You're aware of that. It's not council member comment.

I'm sorry. I thought we finished up. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Do we have any other comments from council members about the consent agenda? Yes, Mayor.

I want to piggyback on what Councilwoman Landrum was saying about the opioid committee and just explain that there are members of fire department, police department, board of ed, superintendent as representative, first aid squad. they're all members of the of the committee so there are um avenues through which each of those entities can bring ideas and many of them have already done so and there are ideas that are in formulation that we're not ready to be discussed at the last meeting, which is why it was canceled, also secondary to some lack of availability. And I also want to mention that there have been two council members on the committee since its inception. But there was a lapse because we had a wonderful council person step down and he did not get replaced. That was a mistake. It was an oversight. That has been remedied. And I believe that the addition of one other council person was in replacement of council president who hadn't been able to come.

Or we've never gotten a notice of any of the meetings.

Well, you were supposed to be there, I think, on me. So I don't get a secretary. I do myself. So sorry if I missed. But I just want to make clear that it's not as if there's transparency there. There's a lot of collaboration. And it's very... requirements to expend the funds and city administrator can speak to this if she'd like but the requirements are very stringent and very and it took us a bit and frankly I was one to to do some of the the legwork to find out how we could expend the funds it took a while to really get an understanding and Um, and there were other priorities and then we didn't have a city administrator for a little while. So, um, it's taken a bit of time. This is some of the reason that we didn't expend funds. Now we have the ability to do so, and we will continue to do so. And we'll continue to gather ideas from the community. And also, um, I would ask that if people do have in the community do have ideas, um, please send them to myself and or Tammy. Um, or you can submit them through the appropriate.

uh authority so chief of police chief of fire first aid squad or superintendent thank you okay that it okay um all in favor aye any opposed okay that that ends um the regular business portion of the meeting i want to thank our city staff you are free to head home um And then we'll move on to the public comment portion of the meeting. Thank you. Thank you. And as we begin public comment, we ask that residents of Summit step forward to speak first. We value input from everyone, and any member of the public is welcome to speak. We simply ask for your courtesy in allowing our neighbors to lead the public discussion.

Council President, I really jumped ahead, didn't I? I mean, I skipped the whole section.

It's almost like you've never done this before. I did it once last year, so we're even. Hello, Mr. Hoffman. Wow, I'm known.

okay I do have copies of this so you can read it well you put it in the when you're when you're finished if it yes okay and the clock is running here we go my name is David Hoffman living at 1 New England Avenue I'm returning after a four-month hiatus from talking about parking because I hate talking about parking yet talk I must Four months ago, a disgruntled group of Manly Corps residents sat at council meetings, met with council members, and offered ideas to solve the decades old problem of residential parking in zones close to town with little or no off street parking. We were told to be patient. The best minds were working on a solution. Finally, that solution came in two parts. The overnight solution was new. Pay $100 a quarter for a permit and park on the street by your apartment. Wonderful. Unfortunately, the daytime solution really blew. Pay $10 for a permit, move your car to a municipal lot, and pay $5 a day. Residents on vacation, working from home or just plain sick, must start worrying about 10 AM. Are they ticketing today? Just to be sure, I must repark my car, but on a different street. Because the ordinance is now being interpreted to be two hour limited parking on the entire street. So if you move your car at 10 AM, run some errands, and park again on the same street before 6 PM, you're in violation and can be ticketed. That happened to me last Wednesday. I was told that after moving my car, I could come back later and park again, but it had to be on a different street. That requirement is implied by the signed two-hour limited parking. I read the ordinance. There is no mention of re-parking on a different street. Well, live and learn. It's in one of the jobs of municipal government to make our lives easier, to make Summit a place we can live with less stress. Adding $1,040 a year by daily parking on top of $400 overnight parking does not make life easier or less stressful. Having to get up every morning, move your car into town, and walk back or keep moving it from street to street every two hours does not make life easier or less stressful. The solution is simple. Extend overnight parking to daytime residential parking. Why not? What problems does that create? The Common Council has had months to solve this problem. Entire states have redistricted in less time. Ouch. Come on guys, you can do it if you want to. You are the government. It's been posited that simple government functions will be done by AI. Government jobs done by AI. Even schools in our future will be run by AI. Well, I don't think so for two reasons. One, government decisions need to be done considering suffering and have empathy. And that's something that AI will never have. And two, I know this to be true because this morning, Alexa told me so. Please extend the overnight residential parking permits to daytime residential parking. Help make our lives less stressful. Thank you.

Thank you. Perfect timing. You nailed it.

Hello, Mr. Bennett. Good evening. Mayor Fagan, Council President Toth, members of Council and staff, I'm Jim Bennett, B-E-N-N-E-T-T, 38 Fairview Avenue. At the last meeting, I asked Council to stick with the original plan for the Morris Broad Crossroad Zone, or MBC, which includes the old fire headquarters and far more. Delay in the plan is money. I was disturbed to hear Ms. La Saracena suggest making the site 100% affordable instead. My concern was validated when I read her op-ed and tap calling to cut the baby in half to provide some affordable housing along with an op-ed from a council candidate on the same subject. What these op-eds call for is financially irresponsible. No developer wants just half of the MVC lot. Affordable housing pays nothing toward the new fire headquarters debt, and it makes reduced payments in lieu of taxes. Pilots don't pay a penny toward the school system, which is over half of your property tax bill. People living in affordable housing are not indigent, but they disproportionately use the school system, forcing other Summit taxpayers to carry them. Putting affordable housing at NBC will not replace other projects and could reopen the door to developers like High Point Capital. MBC rezoning has been meticulous. Its two buildings are height restricted, set back with green space between and around them. They have adequate parking and fit in with Summit. Here's a better idea. If Summit lets KNK out of its contract and rebids the project, it will likely do better. Under the zoning allowed in the MBC, a developer could, for example, build and sell seven townhouses for $3 million apiece, according to credible sources, yielding Summit over $300,000 annually in taxes. If the builder could also build 36 rental units, including affordables, bringing in $2.5 million annually in rent, those units would yield Summit another $400,000 in taxes for a total of over $700,000 in annual tax collections. Summit would likely receive a higher sales price for MBC. There's more. Summit could generate $300,000 for municipal parking on Cedar Street, bringing total MBC and tax and fee collection to more than $1 million per year. The op-ed proposals would throw most of this money into the garbage can and make the rest of us pick up the shortfall. If council does not like the current plan to meet round four, find another way but leave the MBC alone. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bennett.

Oh, Mr. Bennett, did you put your statement in the... I did. You did. Thank you. Thank you.

Delia Hamlet, 59 New England. I was just at a very heated parent football meeting, so I apologize. I was listening to bits and pieces of the meeting and ran up here, but I'm not sure where we left off. I kind of briefly heard Councilwoman LaSarasina say that she hadn't really read the entire ethics complaint. I don't know how you vote on anything if you didn't look at 40 pages of an ethics complaint on our own affordable housing attorney. It's just... seems like a basic requirement, right? In fact, Ms. Brown, I emailed you that last night at 1030. I said, I hope that council's seen all of this because it's really important. It's really important because the individual that we invited to well is an amazing person and I have had really good conversations with these individuals and they've taught me a lot as well. Those were folks that we rejected from our fourth round affordable housing plan, right? That still is not completely court approved. So you are putting the city at risk by having an entity that was rejected from our fourth round of affordable housing and has filed an ethics complaint on our affordable housing own attorney. bringing them into a confidential meeting, which, by the way, I didn't attend because I thought it was today, correct? It was today? So you voted on something today that he was supposed to attend today? Is that my understanding? So let me just back up. The Mount Laurel meeting today that we voted on just now, why would it have been today You vote on something today that happens in the future. You voted on something that wasn't legal because you didn't vote on it. You had a meeting today. You put the city at risk. You signed an NDA and gave someone we rejected their site from the fourth round, you had them at a confidential public meeting today without voting on it. Is that right? Maybe I missed something. Maybe I was on vacation. But I think that's what happened. And I'm sorry, Ms. Brown, that's on you. That's on you. If you let an entity that did not sign an NDA, it's not on you folks. I actually don't blame you. That's on you guys.

He's not an entity, and I was a member of the same group as Hamlet. You're not making any sense.

What do you mean I'm not making any sense? He was representing Summit Affordable Housing Corporation. He was not. Well, he did for our fourth round. He did throw our fourth round.

Council President, is the back and forth?

Yes, yes. Thank you. Let's let the comment continue. I wasn't here during the resolution. I wish I would have been. My big point is, regardless, you all voted on something tonight that happened today at 3.30.

And that's not true.

Council member Lucera seen it.

Did Mr. McBride attend the meeting today for Mount Laurel? No, I'm just curious. Did Mr. McBride attend the meeting today at 3.30?

The resolution authorizes the city's signature, Delia. That does not happen.

Did Mr. McBride attend the meeting before the vote? There is no back and forth.

That's fine. That's my question. Did Mr. McBride attend the meeting before the vote? Did he? Did you put the city at risk?

Did you put the city at risk? You did. Just own it. Just own it.

Council President, as a suggestion, when it's public comments, I would just let the person talk and give you the three minutes.

I did my best. Do we have other comments from members of the public? Thank you.

I think what I'm going to say is important after all this, but Dan Jackson, 28 Morris Avenue. About two months ago, passed a resolution in support of council being able to lower speed limits in certain areas if it passes the assembly. And I just have some concerns about it because The uniform traffic code strives for uniformity because it doesn't want towns to put up traffic lights for their own warrants or put two-foot blue stop signs up. Uniformity is expected for safety. It's important, I think, for people who go from different towns, and they can expect a certain amount of total uniformity as best as possible, even state to state. When you allow, even if it's five miles an hour, municipalities to change it, what you're doing is, I think, creating traffic danger, why? Okay, municipality one decides, we're gonna lower all the roads that we want five miles. Municipality two says, we're not traffic scientists, let's just lower it, say, three miles. Municipality 3 says, we're not traffic scientists. They were set by traffic science and uniformity. Let's leave it where they are. Municipality 4 says, why don't we just ask the residents of those streets? Even though it was limited, it was limited to schools and, I think, pedestrians. But this is how these things grow. Because council people say, oh, now we can get more power. I can decide in the future I can regulate even more. It just grows that way, just as traffic calming did. And I see that as a problem because that's only four municipal reactions. There's 564 municipalities in New Jersey. That to me is not uniformity and safety. It's non-uniformity and danger. Why can't council, for example, if they had a problem with a school or a certain situation, just go to the horse's mouth, the traffic safety people, the engineer, the people you rely upon and say, what is the non-political Traffic safety suggestions that you have. It seems to me that that would make more sense. You also have the other problem where I've been driving for over 50 years. If I'm driving at the speed limit and all of a sudden there's this artificial speed that's been set in front of me by a car or cars by council people, Again, I'm doing it. It seems to me that you're building on safety, that there's a greater chance of an accident. And the greater the deviation from the manufactured artificially low speed limit and the traffic science determined speed limit, the greater there is to be less of a safety. So I'm against. I'm just against what was done. And I think this should be thought about when it

Thank you for your comments. Do we have other comments from members of the public?

Bob Pawlowski 3 Crest Acre Court I thought Delia made sense I mean if it's worthy of a hearing okay and it has to be on an agenda you probably should have moved the Mount Laurel meeting a day just to make sure everything was nice and tidy I know of an opportunity to save taxpayer dollars Sell the MVC zone already. Mr. Bennett covered everything else I had on that. Two other quick things. The dog park. We have some senior individuals who like to bring their dogs there and they could really use a bench. I know when I was doing some work at Cornog that we had some extra benches in there. I don't know if there are any left. It seems like it would be pretty easy to have DPW just bring one over there. A garbage can would be good too. We had garbage cans right near the old dog park, but there's not now. And on Cornog, before I left the council, I was very much trying to get those locker rooms ready for the fall. We have JV soccer that plays down there for both sexes, and we have girls tennis in the fall. And there's three locker rooms, so there's one for each of them. Same thing in the spring. We have boys baseball that plays down there. They don't have a locker room. They change in their cars. We have girls softball that plays down there. they change in the public restroom. And there's also boys' tennis. They lug their gear to and from school every day, to and from their field. We have lockers, right? I got some volunteers. We harvested the lockers from the old Tatlock Field House. When we redid that, we won't have to buy it. I had spoken with Aaron Schrager before I left. There is money in the budget to improve that field house to cover the minimal expenses that there will be. We have to replace some doors. I'm told we have to widen the bathroom stalls so that they're wheelchair accessible in conformance with the ADA. And when I left, the hangup was that it would cost $25,000 to get an architect to come in and do a plan that's necessary before we do this work. But Scott Leukitz, another resident volunteer, is a certified architect. He's willing to donate his services. When I left, Aaron was supposed to contact him so that he could show him it, take some measurements, and get the plan rolling. I spoke to Scott recently. He hasn't heard from anybody. We need to get that going for the spring. we're talking about replacing a few doors we had volunteers in there who repainted the locker rooms we got donations from local sports clubs you know for their future players who are going to be in there and we installed rubber floors we cleaned the place up please please please corner by the spring thank you do we have other comments members of the public

Do we have comments from members of council?

council member boyer you get go you you began yours no michelle can go okay council member cal minson thank you thank you councilman boyer appreciate that um thank you council president um i had a few things and then i wanted to give a playground update um so um mr hoffman thank you for for um coming in i don't know if you received we'd sent out a survey you did receive the survey okay We discussed, and Councilman Boyer, I think he can back me up on this, that we discussed this really at so many meetings and really stuck because we simply don't have enough parking. We don't have enough parking to accommodate everybody. So the only solution that we could come up with is potentially turn some of it into pay parking, but the survey said that the majority of people were not willing to even consider that. It was a non-starter. So unfortunately that is, and we did discuss it. for so long because I do have a lot of empathy and I do understand that it is a huge problem and inconvenience to have to move your car. And I completely empathize and I apologize that we just weren't able to come to any better conclusion. I never say never. I don't like to say that we won't be able to. But as of now, the best solution that we can come up with would be to turn some of it into paid parking. And I don't know if anybody wants to re-engage in conversations about that. The overnight parking hasn't changed. That's always been, I don't know for how long, but it's been like that. Not everybody knows it, but if you have a permit to park on the street in Summit, you do need to pay for that. Regarding the, I'm sorry, reducing the speed limits, I just wanted to, and Council President Toth might want to add something to this, but I just wanted to say that our support of that, of course, we would never reduce a speed limit without consulting with our professionals and our city engineer and the police and the safety and everything like that. I mean, I'm not sure if this is even going to pass. but we we would never just say we're just going to do this because we're not the experts but we see what happens in the community and when people are reaching out to us and saying that people are speeding we want to have the opportunity to bring that to bring speed limits because the county when we reach out to them to reduce the speed limits it can take quite a long time for the county as well So a playground update. Maybe playgrounds were aware of the existing ponding issues at maybe playground basketball courts. The construction company Whirl has met with DCP and city engineering team and has identified a solution to add drainage. A design has been submitted to the engineering department. and we are waiting for approval. Once approved, the work will be completed by world with no cost to the city. They will also power wash the courts. Memorial playground. Over the summer, a community-wide survey was distributed for input on the design for the new playground that will be installed. The results of the survey have been compiled. The DCP has sent the survey results to three playground designers who are currently developing plans. One of these three designs will be selected. We will work with the playground designer to either complete in phases, possibly replacing the one aging piece this winter and completing the remainder next year or complete in one phase next year. Tatlock Playground, we are still waiting for grant reimbursements. As soon as these are received, we will be able to complete phase two of this project with a larger climbing structure and slide. That will replace the current red and blue structure. This is going to be a good piece for the older children, some feedback that we've got that parents would like to see things for older children. And the East Summit Playgrounds, which is also at the community center, this was awarded in July. Manufacturing should take approximately four to five weeks. Then the installation will begin, and we hope this playground will be open by late fall. Additionally, we will have a resolution at our next council meeting to name this playground after a treasured summit individual, Reverend Harrild. I'm really overjoyed to name this playground in his honor, and I'm sure everybody up here joins me in that excitement. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Council Member Boyer.

That was a good report, Council Member Comminson. And with the speeding, this past year, I was in the safety committee with you. And even to this day, I get calls from constituents about speeding all the time. And Chief, I just got five or six yesterday about Ashwood Avenue. Ashwood Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Mountainside Avenue, all the time. I think the one big thing that we really did was, and this is consistent with pretty much every park in Union County, was to slow down Bryant Park. The resident there, I know he said that his daughter was hit. And if it wasn't for a certain speed the car was driving, she wouldn't be here anymore. And that is a proven fact, that speed reduces the chances of fatality. Just to talk about affordable housing real quick, because I never really... really talked about in detail my position. I think Councilman Christofoli says it all the time that we typically all agree on things, but in different ways. My problem with the having affordable housing at the firehouse slide, is that it will pull from the same pot of money that we're using to rehab Glenwood, Weber Street, and Vita Gala. It literally is the same funding sources. I know I heard Mr. White talk before. I'm not against Mr. White. I think he's a good dude. And I think everyone that's trying to do affordable housing in Summit are great people. They're trying to find solutions to make Summit more affordable. That makes sense. But the low-income housing trust fund, the NJHMFA programs, all these things, our affordable housing trust fund here in Summit, all these things pull from the same pot. So the agreement that we have with the Summit Housing Authority is that if by 2032 correct me from wrong uh administrator ballman but if by 2032 uh the housing authority does not find the six million dollars that they need to rehab all of these units the city will then have to come up with those funds to do it now let's think about this make this make sense right So we have the firehouse lot that we want to do affordable housing in. They're going to pull from the same resources that we're saying that the Summit Housing Authority is going to try to get as well. So if we think that we could get $12 million or $15 million from the state of New Jersey or from HUD in the affluent town of Summit, New Jersey, that ain't happening. is one or the other. So I'm not against the firehouse. I'm not against that. But we have to put our residents first. Now, someone said at a planning board meeting, former vice chair, I think, of the current chairman of the Summit Housing Authority, and Dennis White feels the same way. He said, well, let the Summit Housing Authority wait until next round, round five. Well, the past council said, no, we're not going to do that. We're going to take care of it now. Well, I'll say then, why don't we settle round four and wait for Route 5 to do something that's 100% affordable, either at the firehouse or somewhere else, right? I'd rather we sell it, the firehouse, so that we can make up any shortfalls that we have because look at our legal fees and everything else. It's building up. But this city has accomplished something that hasn't been accomplished in 50, 60 years. which is full rehab of three of our low-income places. 147 units. That is tremendous. Because right now, there are four or five people that are living in Vida Gala that have flooding in their rooms, in their homes. We can do something about that. Now here's my second thought. Now follow me on this. What problem are we really trying to solve when it comes to affordable housing? Because here's the problem that I see that we should be solving. You see, my mom came here from Newark. A year later, my best friend, his mom, came here from Newark. A good friend of mine, Mike Tappia, grew up on Glenwood. We're all friends. All three of us. will never, our kids, and probably us, I can guarantee, will never see poverty again. We're not living in affordable housing or low-income housing anymore. We're all successful, but we grew up in low-income housing. How about we think about building 100% low income housing on the Weaver Street property or doing some business with the Summit Housing Authority again, right? I think the problem and to move the dial is get really people who need housing, who need to have their kids to go to good schools. There's a kid right now on Weaver Street. She graduated in the top five of her class. She has a 4.6 GPA. That changes the trajectory of her entire family. That stuff is important. I'm a living example. Let's settle round four and keep it moving and start thinking about the bigger picture, which I know people will say like, oh, low-income housing. There are no ghettos in Summit. You ain't gonna find one. Even if we put 50 more units somewhere in Summit, there are not gonna be any ghettos here. What it will be is more inclusive community. That's what it would be. That is my solution. And I think we're not too far off. Maybe the place where it's at, right? But I'd like to just put this one to bed. Let's all move forward, because this thing takes a long time to even plan out. And look at some other properties that we can do. I mean, even the Summit Foundation, or is it Civic Foundation at Dennis Place? What is that? The Summit Civic Foundation. I mean, we can do something there. Those properties need to be redone. I mean, probably build those up and actually have somebody own a house. Wouldn't that be a great idea? So I didn't want to make a long speech, but this is really important to me, and it's really passionate to me as well. Because there are real examples of this. This is not a theory. This stuff is really happening now. On a much lighter note, I think, I'm happy to hear about the doggy pool. I got my dog. He's like 15 pounds. We got him a vest so he could swim. I'm going to throw him in the pool. He hates that. I want to thank Councilwoman Lammon because she left the door open for us to talk about the crossing guards and invited me to the Finance Committee meeting. where they'll probably tell me they don't have no money. No, I'm just kidding. But that's the kind of work that I appreciate. And I don't know if people know this, but these council members, they work with me. I don't know if it's because they don't want to hear me talk, but they do work with me. And I appreciate that. But I think we just really need to move on and get to planning. Thank you, Council President. I appreciate you, and good night.

Do we have comments from? Ah, Council Member Smith.

Just briefly, a couple things. I don't want to beat a dead horse with McBride. I really don't. I'm not sure that an NDA needs to be countersigned. I don't think it makes any difference. I think the key thing with that is what Administrator said a second ago. It was done before we got here. Good, bad, or indifferent, that's what it was. He came, he spoke. Whether that, you know... Even if an NDA does have to be countersigned, what are we going to do? I'll vote against it. It's already done. It doesn't matter. And then the NDA isn't applicable? So it was done. It's done. It's over. Let's move on. There's other things to do in the future. We can maybe do things a little bit differently, but that's why I didn't vote no, because it was pointless, right? It's already done. In terms of the firehouse and that whole property, I agree wholeheartedly. You know, we have a good plan in place. We had some obstacles, I think, with the affordable housing. One of them, we had that degree later on. And I do think we need to move forward with the sale of the firehouse property. That's my opinion. The one last thing I'm going to say with regards to the speeding issue. You know, one of the things, the issues that I have had with that was that it's supporting or was a resolution to support something that's up in the assembly. And, you know, again, I don't think that's what we should be doing, right? whether we support it as a council or have a vote on a resolution of it or not. Now we're talking about an issue that is going to be something that comes up through the assembly, through our assembly people. And if we took a position on every issue that comes up in front of the assembly, all of a sudden we're taking local issues and broadening them out. And I think that issue will resolve one way or another. And if the Assembly passes that, then we as Summit have to figure out how we're going to deal with that and whether we're going to be, what kind of talent we're going to be with that. But that's something I think I understand what your concerns are. We're talking about something that we're not actually voting on. It's just voting on supporting something that is before the Assembly. So just wanted to make that note. And that's it. That's all I have.

Okay, thank you. Other comments?

Council Member Christopher. Thank you, Council President. First, regarding Mr. Pawlowski's comments at Cornog, I was informed by the city engineer that there was a small amount of work done this spring, but that there was not budget available, unfortunately, for additional work. So that will be part of the capital project's budgeting process for next year, and if Mr. Skolitz is able to donate some architectural services, I think that's an amazing offer. He's been very generous with other projects as well. And the suggestion of a bench at the dog park I think is a great one, and we'll see what our new director of community services can do on that. After some delays this summer with many of the infrastructure projects, which many of you told me about very loudly, the city has received a lot of news from residents about these delays. And we are glad to have our new director of community services in place. And he just joined on August 31st. He's hitting the ground running and I'm hoping well, we're already seeing a number of projects moving forward the tear garage Renovations is underway are underway the city reviewed paving By the utility companies and is pushing them to meet their obligation for curb to curb repaving that this council passed by ordinance this spring Canoe Brook Parkway sewer repairs have been identified and are beginning. Salt Brook, Ashland Road sidewalk, industrial and walnut repaving are all moving forward this month. Unfortunately, the bidding for the two new bridges and the park line were put out, the RFP was put out, but no bids were received to our surprise. And so city staff have been working with the Park Line Association. Steering Committee. Steering Committee, thank you. Which has also had contact with potential manufacturers to try to shake that tree and understand why the bidders for those new bridges are not coming forward. But we're hopeful that that will be able to proceed. I wanted to also address an issue that I posted about. I shared a post about vandalism to a flock camera, also known as an automated license plate recognition system, or ALPR. And the vandalism took place in Westfield, which is very close to us. Summit does not have flock cameras, but we have invested in other ALPRs under both Democratic and Republican-led councils. And I wanted to better understand the benefits as well as the risks. And I got a number of comments to my post. Residents are hearing about incidents in other states and are asking us whether the technology represents a risk to our privacy and whether the benefits outweigh the risks. These are very important questions for us to ask. I spoke with Police Chief Peters, who is with us here tonight, who conveyed his support for the technology and cited a number of specific examples where these cameras deterred theft and helped him solve crimes. The benefits go well beyond reduced vehicle thefts, since criminals often try to use stolen cars to try to commit crimes here. ALPRs have helped make Summit safer. I met with both of our state assemblymen, first with Andrew McCurdy and then with Vincent Kearney. A Summit resident, Andrew McCurdy, worked in the New Jersey Attorney General's office. He told me that ALPR is confirming our chief's perspective that they're a powerful tool for law enforcement. He also shared that New Jersey has some of the country's strongest protections against misuse of the data, including tight limits on who can see the data and for what purpose. The stories we're hearing about misuse are coming from other states. Next, I met with Vincent Kearney, Assemblyman, who in addition to serving us in Trenton, is a Union County Sheriff's detective. He confirmed that ALPRs have a significant impact on criminal activity, and he also shared that while our current protections are strong, the Assembly is exploring ways to further strengthen privacy protections. I left these conversations with a better understanding of how this technology has contributed to the steep decline in crime we've seen in Summit, as well as the privacy protections New Jersey already has in place. While we have strong protections, no system is foolproof, and we will always need to balance the benefits against the risks. So far, the evidence in New Jersey shows that the benefits are running far ahead. I will continue to follow developments on this topic and be glad to keep you posted.

Thank you.

Do we have comments from other council members? Thank you, Council President. I just want to give a couple updates from the Finance Committee to start. In addition to the good work you've already heard about tonight, the Finance Committee is starting to prepare for the 2027 budget cycle, focusing right now on what are our priorities going to be and establishing some guardrails for this year. We're also closely monitoring our 2026 spending versus budget in risk areas like utilities and fuel costs. Expect to see some what I'll call reallocations in November where we're going to move dollars around within line items on the budget to cover these. unexpected spikes due to the war in Iran. We are also inviting Tim O'Connor, the city's tax assessor, to join our next finance meeting so that we can talk about the city's ratables, ongoing tax litigation, and how the affordable housing plan will grow the tax base. So more to come on that. And then lastly, as it relates to affordable housing, I just want to reiterate that our financial position is strong and stable and sustainable. We have outstanding credit. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Triple A rating from all three of the top rating agencies. That's the best possible credit rating we could have. And so we can take on debt at a lower interest rate, at a very low interest rate. We are also not over leveraged or drowning in debt, as I've heard some people say. Our current debt represents less than 1% of the market value of property in Summit. We could borrow up to three and a half. We only have borrowed about 1%. And then over the past five years, we've paid down more principal debt than we have borrowed. We do not need to liquidate any city assets or drastically increase taxes in order to service our debt. So I just want to say that debt is not a dirty word. Let's do our best on this day as to communicate the facts with the public rather than stoking fears and concerns. That's it for me. Thank you.

Council Member Lucera.

Full lineup tonight. Apologies. I'll try to keep this brief. Thank you, Council President. And I apologize also, but it's part of the job. You can come at me all day long. It's the cost of the opportunity to be up here. But when you come for someone I respect, now we got a problem. So with respect to Mr. Mark McBride, he is again an expert in his field who is generously offering his services for free we want to make sure that we get this decision right right now we're just doing our diligence right on what could be at the old firehouse site we feel a responsibility to consider whether it can be a greater part of our round four numbers right right under the current zoning it only requires seven affordable units And we want to take a look. We want to stress test whether there is opportunity to have more affordable units, I think, on balance with a separate market rate build out. Again, to correct the record, this press release that was issued by the city, I actually submitted an OPRA request at the time. This was back in 2024, well before I was even thinking about maybe running for council, because I was so disappointed to see this issuance that was put out under under the authority of my city, which I feel so much pride to be a part of, because there were such disappointing language that was used to describe a Summit resident, a former Summit resident, and a faith leader in our community. It was not initiated. I have seen the email threads through the OPRA request. It was not initiated by an external or internal attorney. It was initiated by a summit resident who reached out to several then sitting council members who said, did you see this Gothamist article? I'm paraphrasing. We have to do something about this. That was what started this issue. And then again, there was a, I'll use loosely a press release that was issued by the city that was penned by an external city professional that made negative comments that I believe to be unfounded against those three individuals, a summit resident, a former summit resident, including which was Mr. McBride and a summit faith leader. That is the factual underpinning of the ethics complaint that then Mr. McBride I think had every reason to bring against that external city professional. One of the things I've been saying recently is we got to try to keep the easy stuff easy. Enough of this work is complicated and it should be hard. It's meant to be hard, but the easy stuff we have to try to keep easy. Yes, I owned it. Again, I was the one who pulled the NDA from the packet and I sent it to Mr. McBride. I'm the reason that he attended the meeting before we passed this resolution. It was not City Solicitor Brown. Please do not make accusations against her. She is an excellent attorney. You got a problem with it, you can come talk to me about it. There are other action items on the agenda that we ratified, right? We do that pretty regularly. It's not a perfect process, but it happens, right? We did that tonight and no council members expressed any concern, right? We made the appointment of our new wonderful director of the department of community services. He started about a week and a half ago. And so we ratified his appointment. That is, again, we have an imperfect process, but it is the process we have. I think, and I apologize for that, but again, that accusations are being made against both a really skilled expert and just a very good person, completely unfounded, someone who is volunteering their time, I think is just really disappointing, and I would urge everyone to just not do that anymore. An early Shana Tova to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah later this week. And a huge thank you to our teachers and our school staff with the public schools opening in Summit on Tuesday. I know we all love our children, but gosh, isn't it wonderful when they go back to school? The teachers and the staff, they work so hard and there really is not a summer season off. they're all working, whether they're at the offices or from home, they're all working so hard all year long to make magic happen in our public schools. We continue to be so grateful for the excellence that they deliver to our children and to our community every day. On affordable housing and on the old firehouse site in particular, I understand that I have seen and I have heard that there's a lot of misinformation, what I consider to be misinformation that's being shared primarily on social media or maybe in mailers or what have you. I saw one in particular that is saying summit's losing millions of dollars with respect to the old firehouse site. They were attributing $16 million of the cost of the new firehouse somehow to the old firehouse. I can't quite make that make sense. If anyone can explain that to me, I would appreciate if you could do so. But all to say, Councilman Boyer asked, what are we trying to achieve with affordable housing? For me, there are multiple purposes, but one of the things that I'm trying to work against is what's happening in downtown Milburn. I drove through downtown Milburn again today. It has dramatically changed over just the last few years because their local leadership lost control of the process. They tried to thumb their nose at the decades old affordable housing system in New Jersey and they lost. and they are paying for it now. I desperately do not want that to happen to Summit. So part of what we have been working on, what I will continue to work on over the next several months is to, again, we're just doing our diligence to see if we can include more affordable units at the old firehouse site responsibly, so that working families can have access to our excellent public schools, so that life trajectories can be changed for just a few more families. Again, I think the affordable housing unit number that makes sense there is 30 to 35 instead of the seven. it's a modest but meaningful increase that could potentially relieve pressure on other parts of the plan or parts that just won't come to pass for reasons outside our control. As Council President said, we're already seeing that that happened at the 180 River Road. So in contrast, we have the 190 River at the old Wells Fargo site, that's a different thing. We're talking about 180 River and adjacent parcel that is included in our Round 4 plan, But it is now entered into a commercial short-term lease rather than a residential. So we know the units already just like kind of from the jump or just a few months into round four, we know that those units likely get wiped off the board for us for this measurement period. So again, we're just simply doing the diligence to see if we can make a smart investment balancing taxpayer load with trying to prevent what is happening in Milburn from happening here in Summit. We want to get this right and not rush it. There's that old saying, good, fast, cheap. If you're good, you can get one of them. If you're great, you can get two of them, but you never get all three. But we're trying to move quickly and responsibly to just figure out what makes the most sense for the old firehouse site. So we appreciate your patience and we will certainly keep the community updated as our diligence continues. And I know there will be a lot that is said in commemoration of September 11th. I just wanted to note that if you lost anyone or if you were impacted, we're holding you in our hearts. And if you're not familiar with the story of the man in the red bandana, Wells Crowther, I would encourage you to go and learn a little bit about him. He was an exceptional young man, 24 years old, who rescued an estimated 18 people. And he, sorry, when he stood from his desk, he worked at the World Trade Center. And he said, if you can stand, stand up. And if you can help someone, help them. And that is what I will be carrying with me on September 11th. Thank you.

THANK YOU.

COUNCIL PRESIDENT. YES. JUST VERY BRIEFLY, WHEN IT COMES TO THE CAMERAS, I HEARD THIS FLYING BACK FROM FLORIDA, I HEARD FLOT CAMERAS, FLOT CAMERAS.

WHAT IS THAT?

ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ALPRS? WE CAN'T FORGET THAT WE JUST CAME OFF OF the last three years of an increase in burglaries and car thefts that was extraordinary so extraordinary that we hired four police officers right we had like 18 burglaries one year those cameras were instrumental into solving those crimes It amazes me sometimes how soon we forget because that's how we seep back into that never-ending cycle of allowing crime to fester up again in our communities. So I would ask that the residents just go back a couple of years and look at all the weekly reports about burglaries and car thefts. almost every week we were up here talking about car thefts and burglaries. It was stressful to say. Second thing is, real quick, I believe we are like one of six towns that hasn't settled their fair share housing agreement yet. To me, that's kind of scary. We need to hurry up and make some decisions. I think the longer we wait, the more we can end up looking like no burn. That's it. I just had those two comments. Thank you.

I'm going to end this on a, I guess I'm not going to end this quite yet. Sorry.

Just want to comment because I feel that it's important that we do defend people that we respect. And I want to make sure that everybody understands that the ethics complaint that we're talking about was determined to be unfounded. So I just want to lay that out there.

Thank you.

I am going to end this on a totally different note. And Summit is blessed to have so many of its residents who volunteer to serve on its boards, commissions, committees, and task forces. Historically, at the end of each year, many of those boards, commissions, committees, and task forces have vacancies and we've invited folks to apply. Two things on that. First, it's never too soon to start thinking about it. They're all listed on the city website. You can see what matches your interests and talents. The chairs of any of them I'm sure would be happy to hear from you if you have questions about what's involved and what they do. And some of us have been having conversations among ourselves about perhaps pushing the turnover date forward or back, depending on how you say it, from December 31st to March 31st to give a new council a chance to settle in. get a sense of what's really needed on those boards. Whether or not we do that this year, still, look at them. Please apply. Share your time and your talent. I'm not going to be your house of worship and ask for your treasure as well. And with that, do I have a motion to adjourn? So made.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Passed. Thank you all for coming out. So good to see you again.