Data Centers, Vehicles, Lawsuits and a Sauna – The Summit Council 07/28 Agenda  

As usual we’re going to start with closed session which includes:

-Affordable housing.
-Firehouse property.
-K&K Developers.
-Tatlock Community Preservation Association litigation.
-Two Department of Community Services vacancies.
-Personnel Policy Manual changes.
-A Rent Commission appointment.
-Round IV Task Force appointments.

One DCS vacancy is for a Technical Assistant to the Construction Official or TACO…best title ever.

There are 16 Round IV task-force appointments, but no names connected to them are listed – also true for the Rent Commission. The personnel-manual resolution only says it’s pending closed session discussion.

K&K is the more substantial carryover from July 7 during which it was announced that they backed out of the Firehouse deal then sued the city alleging that the City misrepresented/concealed the 2001 agreement with St. Teresa’s around parking.
The city indicated that it would “strenuously defend” its position and interests
.
On affordable housing, Lasaracina said Summit expects about 530 new units over 10 years and threw out $20M as a back-of-the-envelope worst-case estimate if all costs fell on Summit taxpayers with no assistance from the County, State, etc.

Ordinance 26-3393 (Data Centers) is scheduled for hearing/final consideration.

The language being deleted (from June) used the term “AI Data Center” and included a 20-megawatt power threshold or a measurable and distinct impact on water use. Those definitions/terms aren’t in the current language, which adds a broader definition of ‘data center’ with the ordinance stating that data centers are not a permitted use.

The ordinance defines “Data Center” as not including:
Server rooms, network facilities, or computer-processing facilities that are clearly secondary to a permitted use and operate only for that occupant’s internal business, administrative, communications, cybersecurity, operational, or utility functions.
Accessory data-processing facilities run by financial institutions, public utilities, hospitals, educational institutions, government agencies, research facilities, or similar entities as long as they meet a separate list of conditions.

The 20 percent/1000-square-foot limit, whichever is smaller, is mentioned in exception two; it is not clearly stated in exception one.
This is important because the public conversation saw the 1,000 square feet as the max. that keeps the city from having massive server operations but exception one doesn’t apply the same limit to internal facilities.

For facilities under exception two, the 1,000-square-foot limit applies to the total across all buildings on contiguous parcels that comprise a development. Additionally, those facilities cannot be the main use and must not involve cryptocurrency mining, high-density computational processing, or wholesale digital infrastructure services.
The term “high density computational processing” isn’t defined.

Conditions (d) and (e) overlap with one referring to a dedicated utility transmission substation and containing “exclusive of those uses identified #2 above” in its language.

The next says no dedicated electric utility substation, switching station or comparable major electrical infrastructure may be built primarily to serve the use.

The Council should explain whether exception one is also intended to have a size cap and how conditions (d) and (e) are supposed to work during the 28th meeting.

Ordinance 26-3392 (Stop Signs) is also back for hearing/final consideration and includes….

Canoe Brook Parkway and Beverly Road, stopping Canoe Brook Parkway north and south.
Colt Road and Pembroke Road, stopping Pembroke Road east.
Maple Street and Linden Place, stopping Maple Street north and south.
Portland Road and Warwick Road, stopping Portland Road east.
Tulip Street and Linden Place, stopping Tulip Street north and south.
Tulip Street and Oakland Place, stopping Tulip Street north and south.
Wade Drive and Hartley Road, stopping Wade Drive north and south.
Wade Drive and Karen Way, stopping Wade Drive north and south.

There’s a new Fire Engine ($1,175,500) through the Houston-Galveston Area Council contract which appears to be replacing a reserve unit according to the attached memo.
MSRP base price: $685,605.
Selected options: $415,735.
Dealership services: $38,642.
Exempt services: $35,100.

Those four lines on the quote add up to $1,175,082, not the quote’s stated MSRP total of $1,240,294. The unexplained difference is $65,212.

The discount section has another problem:
Contract discount: $62,301.50.
Additional FF1 discount: $8,228.50.

Those two lines add up to $70,530, not the stated “Total Discount Off MSRP” of $64,794.

The final price reconciles with the MSRP and total discount:
$1,240,294 – $64,794 equals $1,175,500.

The Police Department is asking for five vehicles:
-One 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility @ $44,671.67.
-One 2026 Ford Explorer @ $42,022.70.
-One 2026 Ford Explorer @ $42,243.60.
-One 2026 Dodge Durango Pursuit AWD @ $45,791.20.
-One 2026 Ford F-150 Police Responder @ $51,530.
Coming to a total of $226,259.17

Messercola is the low bidder for the Lorraine Road, Lorraine Place, Sherman Avenue road and sanitary sewer project.

The memo says the work includes drainage and curb upgrades along with sanitary sewer replacements and full milling and paving. There’s a separate project expected for lining several sewer mains in the area.

The bid tab has some serious unit-price outliers:
For 934 square yards of base repair in the base bid, Messercola and Portofino each bid one cent per square yard, producing a total of $9.34. The other three totals were $23,350, $56,040 and $116,750.

For 114 tons of alternate base repair, Messercola again bid one cent per unit, for a total of $1.14. The other four totals ranged from $2,850 to $20,520.

For 112 gallons of alternate tack coat, Messercola bid $100 per gallon, totaling $11,200.
The other bidders’ totals were $112, $896, $672 and $1,680.

While that doesn’t automatically change the low-bid result it’s fair to ask how the City reviewed the unbalanced line items before recommending the award.

There’s a $370,946.46 East Summit Playground buy from MRC, Inc. through Bergen County Cooperative bid 24-35.

The DCP memo says the City previously accepted $350,000 from the LaSanders Foundation and $46,000 from the Junior League. Those figures total $396,000, leaving $25,053.54 after the proposed contract. The memo refers to the project as turnkey and says it’ll use no taxpayer dollars.

The quote includes playground equipment, installation, 74 brown rubber curbs, installation of those 74 curbs, 245 cubic yards of engineered wood fiber and installation of the wood-fiber surface.

One issue with the standard terms is that the price does not include the installation of the safety surfacing or the border timbers.

The exclusions section starts with “Unless specifically included,” suggesting that the specifically listed inclusions control. However, the packet does not explain this contradiction.

The City wants to buy a public-address system for Tatlock field from Coskey Electronic Sound Systems for $26,708.

The memo says the equipment components are covered by a Hunterdon County Educational Services Commission contract and that labor/installation will cost $7,885 and system design/engineering will cost $4,845. It also says a second quote from Zaxcom Electronics was pursued but wasn’t received and the effort “officially counts as a quote per purchasing laws.”

Those two service amounts total $12,730 so it looks like $13,978 of the $26,708 total is  for equipment, but the packet doesn’t include the Coskey proposal or an equipment list.

During the 07/07 meeting a target installation date for speakers and cameras landed in September.

The 2026 Union County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan is on the agenda but the plan itself isn’t included and the memo is missing an intended adoption date.

We’ve written extensively about the UCHMP; its purpose is to keep Summit eligible to apply for grants from FEMA in the future.

The CDBG item continues Summit’s participation in Union County’s shared-services arrangement for the 2026-2027 program year.

The attached June 1, 2026 County letter and allocation sheets show:
$7,000 for Summit’s Share the Fun Club, shown on the allocation sheet as the Summit Youth Center Program.
$5,000 for the Senior Connections Bus.
$60,000 for Summit Senior Housing ADA restroom upgrades.
$9,000 for GRACE.

The title refers to a cooperative agreement dated June 17, 2014 and amended July 25, 2017.

The body refers to an agreement dated June 2014 “as amended July 2026.”

What’s attached is labeled “SAMPLE I GUIDELINES.” It’s a cooperative agreement signed in 2014 and repeatedly labeled for CDBG fiscal years 2015-2017. The packet doesn’t include a separately executed 2017 amendment, a marked 2026 amendment or a clean 2026-2027 agreement.

The 2014 document has auto-renew language for successive three-year periods but also says both parties need to adopt amendments for later qualification periods.

There are two resolutions connected to how bills are paid that residents should be attentive to.

One resolution gives the CFO ongoing authority to pay specified bills between council meetings to avoid late fees or service interruptions and covers Payroll, Debt service, Utilities, BOE and County tax payments, Contractual obligations and Insurance.

The money must already be budgeted and encumbered; the CFO must prepare a manual check or voucher and present a complete list at the next public meeting for audit and approval.

The resolution contains no meeting-date limit or sunset.

A separate August resolution is narrower and authorizes bills due from July 22 through August 12 (due to no meeting in August). An itemized list must go to the Mayor, councilmembers and department heads by August 12 with a deadline for questions or objections of August 14.

Another resolution supports state bills A5274 and S4448 which would allow municipalities and counties, under specified conditions, to reduce speed limits by 5 mph after consulting with a staff engineer or traffic engineering consultant without a traffic investigation.

The consent agenda has 23 resolutions.

$50K Union County Kids Recreation Trust Fund grant request for the eight Memorial Park tennis courts, with a $50K City match.

Possible $15K Recreation Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities grant. The required local contribution is described as $1 for every $5 in state funding.

Three DCP refunds totaling $1,535.

Renewal of Temple Hill Associates’ liquor license

The Summit Summer Sidewalk Sale/Cafe

A FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant request of up to $10,181.82 for two sets of protective gear (10% local cash match) and leaves the local share at $1,018.18 based on the memo’s figures.

Private sale of the PD’s 2006 Dodge Magnum

Sale of 31 retired guns to active sworn Summit officers in good standing

Six-month extension request for the $280,486 Springfield Avenue sidewalk grant.

Possible $20,000 Greening Union County grant tied to a 50% City match and a plan for 50 trees. The resolution says matching funds would go in the ’27 operating budget, while the staff memo says the City would need to encumber the match in 2026.

Authorization to advertise the alley-improvement project behind Union Place between Summit Avenue and Beechwood Road. Memo says Summit Downtown, Inc. provided a $76,505 grant to offset the cost.

Conference attendance for the City Administrator/CFO and Finance Director from September 22 through September 24 in Atlantic City. The packet doesn’t provide an advance cost estimate.

Refunds of $4,023.24 in taxes, $200 for a duplicate food-license payment, $500 in property-use escrow and $404.25 for a sewer overpayment.

Budget insertions of $10,494.88 for an opioid settlement grant, $29,987.36 for a recycling tonnage grant, $1,125 for a Union County history grant and $793.35 for an alcohol education, rehabilitation and enforcement grant.

Third and fourth quarter County purpose taxes of $8,717,580.10 per quarter and open-space taxes of $448,003.68 per quarter. Together, those four payments total $18,331,167.56.

The regular bill list totals ~$1M
A separate manual check for a travel-camp payment is $2,147.50, bringing bills to the resolution’s $1,014,112.82.
The two gross payrolls are:
~$1.1M for July 10.
~$1.1M for July 24.
Bills plus the two payrolls total $3,199,867.18.

The bill list contains a purchase (Sauna) from Muskoka Sauna Company charged under Safety to the “Federal e-Share Forfeiture Fund.”
The line items are:
Luna 8-foot-by-8-foot sauna: $10,291.
Two-tiered side-wall benches: $1,049.
HUUM Hive Mini electric heater: $2,785.
UKU Wi-Fi sauna-heater control: $1,324.
HUUM sauna stones: $800.
Shipping: $950.
Total: $17,199.

We reached out to the Mayor and Council for more information and Councilmember Claire Toth gave us a response from the Summit Police Chief explaining that the sauna will be part of the Department’s wellness program.

According to the Chief, the sauna is meant to be used as a recovery tool in connection to training, emergency response and occupational stressors associated with police work. He also indicated that it could act as a recruitment incentive in response to declining police applicant numbers, He wrote that the $17K will be paid for through a Federal Asset Forfeiture Account and reported that it wouldn’t represent a cost to the City beyond the utility bill. He also reported that Summit went after a 2026 New Jersey Law Enforcement Wellness and Resiliency Grant to offset the cost but wasn’t selected. (full statement)

Other notable items include:
$20,000 to the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad, split evenly between opioid training and opioid equipment.
$26,485 for 2026 primary-election materials.
$44,354 in asbestos and lead-abatement costs at Cornog Field.
$35,711.42 in affordable-housing planning and legal costs.
$76,047.19 in traffic-control charges paid from a grant account.
$48,434.38 to 911 Leasing, labeled “Final Payment – Dodge Durangos.”
$35,842.92 in third lease payments to Ford Motor Credit.

The packet’s general info section also includes:

A Berkeley Heights application for a three-story mixed-use development at 458 Springfield Avenue, 230 Sherman Avenue and 428 Springfield Avenue- 33 apartments, including seven affordable units, plus commercial space and parking.

A Millburn ordinance regulating wireless telecommunications facilities, with an August 11 hearing.

New Providence’s Housing Element and Fair Share Plan notice.

A New Providence ordinance removing data centers as permitted uses in the TBI-1 and TBI-2 zones and adding definitions for data centers and micro/mini data centers, with an August 11 hearing.

A Summit Planning Board application at 190 River Road for 198 apartments, including 168 market-rate units and 30 low- and moderate-income units, above the existing parking deck for a total height of six stories. Twenty-five parking spaces would be reserved for City use.

A Temple Hill Associates application at 527 Morris Avenue for exterior lighting, signage and minor reconstruction of existing landings at the Morris Avenue and Aubrey Street entrances.

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