Full Notification

Here is the latest Take Five briefing from the February 7, 2023 meeting of the Mayor and Borough Council.

1. Recognition of Mayor Gayle Brill Mittler: Senator Patrick Diegnan, Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak, and Assemblyman Sterley Stanley presented former Mayor Gayle Brill Mittler with a joint legislative resolution of the New Jersey Senate and General Assembly in honor of her immeasurable contributions to the Borough over her 13 years of service as both Mayor and Councilmember. The resolution highlighted her many accomplishments, including receiving the Innovation in Governance Award from the League of Municipalities three times for the Park Partners Grant Program, HP Gives a Hoot, and the Civics in the Community Program; maintaining silver-level certification from Sustainable Jersey; and repurposing a tract of Borough land for a solar field.
    
2. Presentation of Lincoln Highway Survey: A representative from Richard Grubb Associates presented findings from an historical survey of the Lincoln Highway – known locally as Raritan Avenue. They surveyed 86 properties with an emphasis on documenting the historical period between 1860 and 1960. The project was led by Highland Park’s Historical Commission and funded by the Borough and the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.
    
3. Property Revaluation Update: Councilwoman Kim Chohan provided an update on the Borough’s ongoing Property Revaluation Program. Property owners, commercial and residential, should have received a letter from Professional Property Appraisers (PPA), providing an updated assessed property value. These assessments are based on PPA’s field inspections. If you have questions about the revaluation, or if you do not believe your value to be accurate, please contact PPA at 1-800-410-5815. If you have not made your property available for inspection, we ask you to please do so today as it is the best way to ensure accuracy and fairness in this process.
    
4. Water Meter Replacement Program: Letters went out last week to more than 3,000 property owners/water customers announcing the launch of the Borough’s Water Meter Replacement Program that will replace the majority of the Borough-owned water meters. The contractor for this project is National Metering Services (NMS) and they will be contacting customers under a separate letter with specific instructions on how to book an appointment.  For this project to succeed, we ask each property owner to please respond to NMS promptly to schedule and to provide them full access to the water meter area. 
    
5. Lease Renewals with Nonprofit Partners: Borough Council authorized the renewal of lease agreements with nonprofit partners Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (101 Raritan Ave), Main Street Highland Park (212 Raritan Ave, 1^st Floor), and the Reformed Church of Highland Park–Affordable Housing Corporation (127-133 Raritan Ave and 212 Raritan Ave, 2^nd Floor). The Borough is proud of the work of these organizations and are glad these properties can be put to good use while we work toward implementation of the Borough’s downtown redevelopment plans.

If you’re interested in watching the February 7^th Council meeting, go to HPTV’S Youtube channel where the meeting will be posted in its entirety. The next meeting of Council is scheduled for Tuesday, February 21^st.