Council adopts multiple ordinances on leases, street work and staffing

Highland Park Borough Council adopted a package of ordinances on final reading during its April meeting, approving leases of municipal buildings to local nonprofit partners, a capital project for street improvements and an administrative ordinance establishing positions and pay.

The council voted to: adopt Ordinance 25-2106 authorizing the lease of a building at 20-40 River Road to Raices Cultural Center; adopt Ordinance 25-2107 authorizing the lease of 101 Raritan Avenue to the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership; adopt Ordinance 25-2108 authorizing Main Street Highland Park to occupy the first floor at 212 Raritan Avenue; adopt Ordinance 25-2109 authorizing the second floor at 212 Raritan Avenue to be used by the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation for an emergency shelter; and adopt Ordinance 25-2110 authorizing use of 120 (733) Raritan Avenue for storage/repairs and affordable housing units. The council also approved Ordinance 25-2111, a capital ordinance providing for improvements to North Tenth Avenue and Volker Street, and Ordinance 25-2112, amending administrative chapter 72 to establish positions and compensation for specified borough employees.

Council members gave roll-call assent for each ordinance. For Ordinance 25-2106 the roll call recorded in the meeting transcript shows affirmative votes from: Council member George; Council member Hale; Council member Matthew Hirsch; Council President Stephanie Kim Chohan; Council member Pisonic (as recorded in the transcript); and Council member Tomaides Vargas. Similar roll-call responses recorded in the transcript accompanied subsequent ordinance adoptions. Affidavits of publication are on file for each ordinance as required for final reading.

Several lease ordinances were presented for facilities the borough is making available to nonprofit organizations. The transcript shows staff and council described these items as a way to provide office or program space for charitable organizations that the borough does not otherwise have room to house. The capital ordinance for North Tenth Avenue and Volker Street was presented as a public-works project; no public speakers appeared during the individual public hearings for these ordinances.

The transcript records a consent agenda vote later in the meeting adopting a group of consent items listed as A12 through A12I; the meeting transcript does not disaggregate which consent items correspond to specific resolutions referenced by public commenters earlier in the meeting.

Votes at a glance - Ordinance 25-2106 (lease, 20-40 River Road to Raices Cultural Center): adopted (roll-call yes votes recorded in transcript by Council members George, Hale, Hirsch, Kim Chohan, Pisonic, Vargas). - Ordinance 25-2107 (lease, 101 Raritan Ave to Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership): adopted (roll-call recorded). - Ordinance 25-2108 (lease, 1st floor 212 Raritan Ave to Main Street Highland Park): adopted (roll-call recorded). - Ordinance 25-2109 (lease, 2nd floor 212 Raritan Ave to Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation for emergency shelter): adopted (roll-call recorded). - Ordinance 25-2110 (lease, 120/733 Raritan Ave for storage/repairs and affordable housing unit): adopted (roll-call recorded). - Ordinance 25-2111 (capital improvements to North Tenth Avenue and Volker Street): adopted (roll-call recorded). - Ordinance 25-2112 (amend chapter 72: positions and compensation): adopted (roll-call recorded).

The meeting record shows each ordinance had been advertised for final reading and that affidavits of publication were on file. The transcript does not show any recorded amendments to these ordinances during the meeting, and no member of the public who rose to speak during the ordinance hearings offered substantive objections or questions for the listed items.

Clerks and staff identified the ordinances on the agenda and called for public hearings; where no one spoke, the council closed the hearing and proceeded to a roll-call vote. The meeting record indicates unanimous or near-unanimous affirmation in the roll calls as captured in the transcript; the transcript lists affirmative verbal responses by council members at each roll call.

The council also approved a consent agenda of several items (listed as A12 through A12I in the meeting record). The transcript does not break out the individual consent resolutions by number during the public roll call beyond that group adoption.

Background: The borough presents second-reading ordinances in public hearing with affidavits of publication on file. Lease ordinances allow the borough to grant nonprofit organizations use of municipal space under negotiated terms; capital ordinances fund specific public-works projects; administrative/salary ordinances create or adjust compensation and positions in the borough’s staffing table.

Clerk and staff materials filed with the borough will contain the full text of each ordinance and the affidavits of publication noted in the record. The council’s next meeting is scheduled for May 6 (as stated at the meeting end).