https://www.cityofsummit.org/DocumentCenter/View/4402/Fox-Council-President-Preview-060920
The next Common Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 9 at 7:30PM. Members of Common Council, Mayor Radest, and city staff will be participating electronically in this meeting. For this and all future electronic meetings, members of the public will be able to comment by video or audio conference. The access codes and instructions for public comment will be posted on the city website prior to the meeting.
Every Common Council meeting is broadcast live on HTTV Verizon channel 30 and Comcast channel 36 and 34. The meeting will also be broadcast live on the City of Summit YouTube Channel.
At the June 9 meeting, Summit Police Chief Andrew Bartolotti will give an overview of Summit Police response to the recent community protest marches, police officer training protocols and department operating procedures.
Common Council will hold a public hearing and vote on the 2020 municipal budget as amended. View the City Administrator’s presentation on the amendments to the budget here. These amendments reflect the adjustments made to revenue and appropriations in response to conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amended municipal tax levy shows an increase of 0.14% (as compared to the introduced tax levy increase of 0.75%).
After the budget hearing, the Finance Committee will introduce a bond ordinance and two resolutions. The bond ordinance will fund the city’s share of the flood mitigation facilities project for the Joint Meeting of Union and Essex Counties. The Joint Meeting is an entity comprised of 11 municipalities that operates a wastewater treatment plant. To fund its share of this project, and ensure the continuous operation of this facility during storms, Summit will be issuing a bond ordinance to borrow $2,375,000 from the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank. FEMA has committed to reimburse 90% of costs to municipalities over the project period. The first Finance Committee resolution is to approve the 2020 Municipal Budget as amended and the second resolution is to cancel outstanding checks.
The Capital Projects and Community Services Committee will introduce twelve resolutions. Six of these resolutions will address measures to assist businesses in Summit when the governor allows the reopening of various categories of businesses. These are temporary measures for this calendar year to address the challenges of providing the public safe access to businesses and agree to uses not typically allowed by Summit’s Development Regulations Ordinance. First, council will reauthorize the parklet, a seasonal temporary seating platform, on Springfield Avenue in front of Tito’s Burritos and Batavia Café. On June 15, restaurants will be permitted to open for outdoor dining. The parklet is one way restaurants can expand outdoor dining capacity while maintaining necessary physical distancing. The second resolution will authorize the expansion of the parklet program to additional locations throughout Summit upon application to the city. The third resolution will authorize the closure of the Bank Street lot to parking to allow for its use by the public as an expansion of Lyric Park. The City and SDI will place tables and chairs in the lot to allow use by the public. Fourth, council will consider a resolution allowing the expansion of outdoor dining on the public sidewalk outside of restaurants and on sidewalks of adjacent businesses with the consent of the adjacent business and property owners. The fifth resolution will authorize businesses throughout Summit to use sidewalks to display and sell merchandise, which may assist non-essential retail businesses that are allowed to reopen on June 15 with 50% capacity. The sixth resolution will allow the temporary use of public parks and fields by local exercise and fitness businesses. Currently, fitness businesses are not permitted to reopen under the Governor’s executive orders. These fitness uses must be scheduled in advance and approved by the Director of the Department of Community Programs.
An additional five Capital Projects Committee resolutions are to authorize submission of New Jersey Department of Transportation grant applications for projects: (1) to extend the sidewalk on River Road near the bus stop; (2) to expand the sidewalk network on Morris Avenue and Broad Street to provide access to Phase I of the Park Line; (3) for road construction in the Park Avenue area; (4) for road
construction and traffic calming measures on Briant Parkway; and (5) for Phase 3 of the Village Green Pedestrian Safety Project. Finally, council will consider a resolution to award a bid for the Huntley Road area improvement project, which includes milling and paving, drainage and curb improvements.
The Community Programs and Parking Services Committee will introduce a resolution to reject the single bid for the athletic field maintenance services contract. This was the second time that this project has been bid unsuccessfully and, under state law, the Department of Community Programs is seeking authorization to negotiate the contract.
Lastly, the Law and Labor committee will introduce two resolutions to (1) authorize the payout of accrued time for a retirement in the Police Department and (2) extend sick leave with pay for an employee of the Department of Community Services.
To view the complete Common Council agenda, go to https://www.cityofsummit.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/471?fileID=23593
Next Common Council Meeting: Tuesday, June 23, 2020.