$5.44M in Spending, New Film Rules, and Data Center Limits- John’s Notes on the 7/7 Council Meeting

The June 16th meeting saw a $10M+ bond, OPRA fees, the appointment of a new Councilmember and AI Data Center ordinance that drew a huge crowd and a ton of comments.

Closed Session

As has been typical, the public gets labels with no real meaningful detail.

-Old Firehouse Property

-Affordable Housing

-Tatlock litigation update

– Beacon Unitarian Church.

-Personnel matters include (new Fire Chief, Battalion Chief, Lieutenant and Probationary Firefighter, Building Subcode Official appointment

-Building Inspector vacancy

-Recycling Advisory Committee appointment.

As we’ve stated, the Council is probably able to share more information than these brief headers on the agenda.

Regular Agenda

We start with the swearing-in of Andrew B. Smith as Ward 1 Councilmember -appointed at the June 16 meeting to fill the Ward 1 seat that opened up in May.

There are also fire department swearings-in and a presentation recognizing retiring Fire Chief Eric Evers.

Ordinance 26-3391 (Film Ordinance) is back for hearing and final consideration and repeals/replaces Chapter 5, Filming Controls, and amends the fee schedule for filming permits and filming parking fees. These changes are intended to comply with Film Ready New Jersey requirements. The ordiance will require a permit for filming on public land, or on private land when the filming uses public property for vehicles, equipment, temporary structures, barricades or anything that blocks or restricts pedestrian or vehicle traffic.

There’s also a storm water ordinance being introduced that

repeals and replaces Summit’s stormwater management regulations to reflect NJDEP changes under N.J.A.C. 7:8 and applies to non-residential major developments, portions of residential major developments that aren’t preempted by the Residential Site Improvement Standards and major developments undertaken by the City itself.

The Data Center Ordinance gets a re-work that seems consistent with public feedback from the last meeting;  broader and more refined. This new version includes stand alone data centers generally and adds that they’re prohibited as a permitted use in all of the City’s zone districts.  

Ordinance that adds stop signs to

Canoe Brook Parkway and Beverly Road- Canoe Brook Parkway north and south

Colt Road and Pembroke Road – on Pembroke Road east

Maple Street and Linden Place – on Maple Street north and south

Portland Road and Warwick Road – on Portland Road east

Tulip Street and Linden Place – on Tulip Street north and south

Tulip Street and Oakland Place –  on Tulip Street north and south

Wade Drive and Hartley Road – on Wade Drive north and south

Wade Drive and Karen Way – on Wade Drive north and south

The biggest capital item involves repair and mainainence at Tier Garage with a contract going to Sealcrete Contracting for ~$3.3M.

During the 6/16 Meeting, Council President Toth said the sale of the old firehouse didn’t close as expected and that the city was finalizing negotiations with St. Teresa’s for a new and valid parking agreement, planning an environmental analysis of the property and considering whether a broker with more direct experience in that type of transaction would better serve the City. Toth also said the City’s budget was balanced without the sale of the firehouse property, meaning Summit was not “under the gun,” though she said the City still wanted to sell it fast.

The Old Firehouse Property shows up again for the 7/7 closed-session.

Another meaningful item involves a corrective action plan in the 2025 Audit which includes the following recommendations; both involve the Municipal Court:

-Development/Implementation of procedures on resolving case management exceptions.

-Attach validated bank deposit slips directly to each ATS Daily Batch Report and Criminal Report.

Moving on to the Garden State Community Energy Cooperative Energy Aggregation Program – an annoyingly long name.

At the June 16 meeting,Concord Energy Services said Summit’s current energy aggregation program saved participating residents more than $48,000 collectively in the first two months, with an average household savings of about $9 per month. She said the standard program rate was 14.46 cents per kilowatt hour and the optional 100% green program rate was 14.61 cents per kilowatt hour.

Also discussed: opt-outs, permanent opt-outs, returned mail and utility rejections.

Summit’s opt-out rate came out to about 23%.

The 7/7 resolution would let Summit submit its participation form for the next round or any contract extension. Concord Energy is the consultant and Lincoln Park is the lead agent.

The Summit Family Aquatic Center is set to be the City’s cooling center location when the emergency heat plan button is pushed- available during heatwaves from 5pm to 8pm and folks looking to access the facility would need to show proof of Summit residency as per the staff memo.

The payment resolution hits ~$5.4M and includes

$3,438,241.26 in bills

$1,045,797.57 in gross payroll for June 12, 2026

$956,051.85 in gross payroll for June 26, 2026

The bill batch totals are:

ADMIN: $18,127.85

FINANCE: $1,815,002.41

PARKDCP: $114,282.94

SAFETY: $287,893.29

WORKS: $1,202,934.77

Total bills: $3,438,241.26

Some of the larger items include sewer joint meeting costs, joint dispatch center costs, insurance, Canoe Brook Parkway improvements, fire radio equipment, garbage truck costs and other infrastructure, public safety and utility expenses.

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