adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the co-star the official newspaper of the burough Belmar and the Asbury Park Press on January 3rd 2023 and notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board of the municipal building take roll call Council MC Donovan here councilwoman Kenny here mayor bucka Fusco here councilwoman Rondo here councilman lvis here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Al to unit States of America indivisible Justice for All let's have a moment of silence for uh our armed forces and our First Responders and tonight we have two individuals uh Pier Mema who was a uh dlaw Merchant who recently passed away and also um Joe mckoy's father thank okay start with our Workshop does anyone have anything particular they would like to start off with all I we start you want to start okay we have the um the best practices checklist on the agenda uh I think we're April we're we're just acknowledging that we've we received that is that yes it's already been filed at the state we just have to um acknowledge on the record that you received it and reviewed it okay how do you want us to to do that just I received it you want to go down does anyone have any questions about it or no no questions that's all we need okay um the second thing I wanted to to bring up was uh I think it was at the last meeting or the meeting before we had uh spoken about the um trap neuter and release program for for um feral cats and we have reached out to the mammoth SPCA we actually received a um memorandum of understanding from them uh which we will be signing uh and they um they're excited to have us on board with them uh the way it seems to work is we we also um part of the the agreement with them is that we will we will get we will have volunteers as colony caregivers because what happens is once the cats are are brought to uh the mammoth SPCA and they nuded the cats are given back to the to the Colony caregiver and those cats would stay in that particular colony and there's a apparently some kind of a reporting requirement I don't have any details on that but uh the way it works is um MTH County SPCA actually splits the cost of the neutering uh with the burrow so at this point for example we would be responsible for $37.50 of the $75 total cost and what we would could do is then we would we would uh set a limit of of how many cats we would neuter you know in a year so we would know how much money we're potentially going to be spending that year so um under this agreement there would be a limit of 100 so you know in terms of the what we would spend the most we would spend would be like $3,750 but uh we will we will um we'll learn more about that and we'll probably also be reaching out then for um individuals to become Colony caregivers because that is an essential part of the program and I believe he said he would um he was going to come in and do a little presentation Mr Kan this morning uh Russell Citra U is runs the sbca and uh he he'll come in and do a town hall meeting to explain to the residents exactly how the program works what's required for the colony caretakers and uh and the documentation needed so they'll come in we'll set a date and uh they'll in and do a town hall for the community and and talk about the entire program yeah we'll find out I'm I'm assuming it's most likely going to be at a council meeting or if necessary we can just do an special town hall meeting to have either either way people come okay uh anyone else uh on a workshop um the environmental commission would like to have uh someone come in Mike B to do a presentation about a program we would like to recommend that we adopt um um a one-year pilot program that would be plastic film recycling um there would be no cost to Belmar or individual residents in the first year um a company called unw comes once a month to your residence and will pick up the plastic film when I say plastic film I'm talk talking about things like the plastic your bread comes in like those thin Plastics that we still get even though we don't do plastic bags at the at the stores anymore um and it' be once a month they take the plastic film they turn it into other objects like benches things like that the idea is not only is this good for getting the plastic film out of all of our houses but also it would also hopefully lower our costs a little bit because those Plastics wouldn't be going into our waste um other Pro other towns that have done this include ocean Bradley matalon and Redbank um after the year we would have to decide whether or not we'd want to continue it at Cost To Us with DPW participating um but right now the BDC request would be to have my V come and do a presentation here so that residents can ask questions and we can make a more important decision okay sounds anything else that's a good program by the way that's something Clare hayner was talking about we we I literally dropped my film off at her house and they made benches and I just thought always thought it would be a good idea for vmar to do something like that so that we could have free benches around town or whatever I just think it's a good idea so I like that I do have one thing um Roco cabaloosa and his wife Ana they were the um the residents who started the program the donation program at the library for the Ukraine the for the Ukraine um people uh last year or the year before Rocco got in a very bad car a motorcycle accident two weeks ago so let's just all keep Roco in our prayers he's been in intensive care for the last two weeks so let's just pray that he pulls through and makes it through this it was a really bad uh motorcycle accident so let's just all keep him in our prayers thank you okay I would like to just uh maybe take something a little out of order uh we have an ordinance on tonight the first reading and we normally don't speak about ordinances on the first reading but I think this one you know should have a little bit of explanation for the council at least uh ordinance 20 2320 is the ordinance that generally sets the fees for the for the beach badges uh in years past uh and again I don't know when it was changed but that uh setting of the beach badge fees was done by resolution in fact there was there's a remnant of that old law in this ordinance that says it shall be set by resolution even though the top part of the ordinance sets the fees so you know it's a little uh confusing so what we're what we're doing here is we want to go back to setting the fees by res resolution so that every year if we want to change it or every so many years we don't have to keep doing an ordinance so this ordinance tonight basically is amending 2023 I'm I'm sorry section 18- 2.5 fees and charges to take out references to the actual dollar amount of the of the badges and um basically and the and the storage loer fees so basically uh that's all it's doing and it says that you know we will by resolution um set the fees now having said that um there we're anticipating an in an increase in the fees but that will not be able to go into effect until uh January probably January 8th because we can't do the resolution while the ordinance is still in effect and we have to have the first reading and the second reading and then we have to wait 20 days so we're anticipating that the um resolution will be will be passed on our January 2nd meeting to go into effect on January 8th now this kind of creates a little bonus uh situation for people who want to get their badges early because the proposed uh new fees for the for the badges are as follows right now the season badge is $72 uh as of January 8th it's going to be $80 and we're including that $2 fee so it's just a straight $80 the senior badge right now is 30 + 1 but in January it's going to go to 32 that's a $1 increase and the and the daily badges which obviously we don't buy in advance but I think we will be anticipating an increase in those up to $12 which is consistent with what our neighbors charge so if you the badges will start being sold when December 1st they will be sold at the current price $72 so if you want to save $8 on a Cesar badge I say get them before January 8th or $1 on a disability or a senior badge again get it before January 8 Christmas present so I just want to explain that because it might not be clear from just looking at the ordinance why why the change okay so um that's the change we will be putting up uh some things on Facebook around the building letting people know of the anticipated increase so any questions on that uh no mayor I just uh I noticed there were some redundancies removed from the ordinance as well uh regarding uh veterans badges yeah so we removed a section and then because it was already in there contained in the uh say that again so we're striking out uh section e which is uh the section that waves the fees for veterans it's already included in um in the exemptions under Section K so yeah redund it was redundant so that's why we got rid of it at first when I first read it it scared me a little bit Yeah it it's it's a little bit of a mess that that ordinance and we're trying to clear it up and and you know make it a little clearer for everyone section was also because done right right so slowly but surely we'll get everything to make sense um any other questions on that uh that's I think that's all I have for Workshop so let's move on to our petitions any petitions no I did not receive any okay approval of the minutes can I have a motion to approve the October 24th 2023 minutes motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes Jesco yes Council rero yes councilman L yes okay reports of council uh councilwoman Donovan this Friday is the tree lighting it starts at 5:30 although I heard that the chorus will actually start a little earlier than that so if you'd like to be there for the entire thing um maybe aim for 5:15 520 um the candy cane hunt if if it is cancelled I should say because of rain we'll do it on Saturday but the candy cane hunt which is new this year will go on regardless that starts at 6:30 um if if there is rain you can pick up your candy cane paraphernalia at the courtroom along with a little map this is new this year this came up this was an idea that happened in our tourism commission meeting two cycles ago um and has been very popular very quickly we've had 160 kids sign up we can't bring in any more because the stores had to buy the little presents ahead of time uh but we're really pleased with how po popular has been and it's great for our businesses on Main Street to have that type of foot traffic so um Christmas light show will be on December 9th and December 1 17th that's in piano Plaza there will be a manura lighting on December 11th with caner Gabrielle I'm sorry I have the name wrong here um from the mouth reform Temple and um if you want to participate in the house home decorating contest for um the last day is actually Monday we do need more homes to sign up so please if you're so inclined come on down and sign up for that okay Council any thank you so much mayor I wanted to congratulate Kate Donovan on her election since last time we have not had a been here in a while and we should have an election so there's that um but congratulations it's always a pleasure sitting next to you we also had a lovely Veterans Day service on November 10th uh where we were able to honor all veterans who showed up and the Beautiful uh batters were up on just in time right for veteran service so that was awesome uh the Ada committee we did have a meeting on 11:16 we updated the resource God the resource God is does have a lot of information and the committee wanted me to remind everybody that if anybody needs information on um government or County agencies uh all disability agencies you know the Blind and and handicapped Family School resources Transportation agencies Recreation Sports agencies the resource guides are at burough Hall at the library and also online um circle of friends wants to remind everybody that their ugly sweater party holiday hop is Wednesday December 10th and um they can all they're always looking for kids to do to use to Ser for service projects to donate their time to help with their events so if you know of anybody body who needs service projects like all the St Rose High School kids always need time for service projects for any you know um you know any kind of service projects high school kids they can always go to help out at the Circle ront the shade tree commission met on uh November 9th they wanted to let everybody know that their website is updated and complete we did get a new tree logo which is actually fabulous our it was donated by our wonderful Belmont resident artist Suzanne Anan she drew a beautiful logo for the shade tree shade tree commission so check that out on the website uh the commission is in discussion with millennian strategies to for potential grants for next year and they are also working on a five-year proposal and they would like to be presenting that at an upcoming council meeting as well so we'll look out for that Recreation youth club signups are still ongoing that is youth club on Saturdays just a reminder youth club is for belmare and Lake comoo residents only basketball signups are ending soon that season I think begin in the next couple weeks and about the house decorating Belmore Elementary School uh six week enrichment programs at Belmar Elementary School before and after school 12 different classes including but not limited to photography cooking without fire and friendship bracelets and sports so that's really all action-packed at belmer Elementary School uh belmer element she also recently started a year-long e sports club before school their Youth Government day is December 7th and the Winter concert is December 14th um and last School St Road High School their H 100th Gala 100th anniversary Galla was a rounding rounding resounding success I we went to the event it was awesome over 400 people showed up um it was pretty much sold out the 5050 winner got $8500 so I wish it was me but it was not that was a good 50/50 um the high school would like and the grar School want everyone to let you know that they're getting ready for all their winter sports um the basketball season is starting soon we're very excited one of the seniors on our current boys basketball team at St Rose High School just got signed to Villanova full ride so real exciting Sports at St Rose High School this Friday St Rose High School theater production murder at the art show it's their first attempt at a dent dinner theater program which sounds exciting I'm going visit the website and purchase your tickets on L and lastly we um blanketed a lot of businesses in town with our skate park signs for donation you might have seen posters in some of the businesses in town to donate to the skate park so we're working hard on getting donations and so and that is all I have okay thank you councilwoman randao thank you mayor um I'd like to congratulate councilwoman Donan as well on her election win um I feel grateful to continue to work aside you on the council and you work so hard you're such talent we just really appreciate all that you're doing so thank you um as you stroll along Main Street you'll see the beautiful veterans banners along the light post um this was a burrow team effort for sure um but I'd especially like to thank Tom Arabella and the team at wingman printing in belmare for such quality banners um so many of these pictures when they initially came to us were wallet sized or faded um and the family members would say well I don't know whether we can use this and they said no no no we'll figure it out out and they touched them up in a really careful way allowing the photograph's beauty to be preserved um so um I know a lot of people have asked when is uh when are we going to open again for applications um for our next round and as soon as I know as soon as we can talk about it I'll let you all know but I hope it's something we can do for years and years to come uh it was very meaningful program and I'm proud of it so um thank you to everyone who was involved in this because I it really was a team effort um also the public library is excited to announce two holiday season events uh this is the first Christmas concert that they're having with the Doppel flout which is a musical Duo specializing in flute and piano organ concerts that's not just heard but experienced uh the evening's program will feature several modern classical pieces a selection from the nutcracker suite two singal sections of popular Christmas songs and they'll close out with a special rendition of silent night um they'll actually bring this oral kids wood um pipe organ which is going to be assembled there and played and the audience can volunteer it's really fun um I saw the the person who was um is doing the Oregon part of it before with the library and it was very interesting I honestly went in thinking I don't know what this is going to be like and I left thinking I cannot wait to go to this concert um so light Refreshments will be served that is December 6th at 700 p.m. Taylor Pavilion um registration is required and you can register on the library website uh the second event is the children's Christmas movie party uh December 8th at 6 p.m. in the library uh families are invited to bring their children to the library in pajamas and blankets and watch a classic movie Rudolph the rednose reindeer we did this last year it was a great success um it's held on the main floor it feels really cozy um and after each movie or after the movie each child will receive a holiday treat bag with a drink and snack as they leave and that you can also register on the website um finally the library is pleased to announce a new edition they have a 247 virtual library uh where they have a free New Jersey driver's permit test prep um and that's with permit test practice.com and the patrons can use it this online service um that has unlimited practice tests um it's completely free um they have flashcards cheat sheets um so it's a really neat service that they have and all you need to do is go to the website um and go to the service menu and you will find that uh link there uh finally for the library you might have seen online they are having a pet shelter holiday gift collection they're collecting items in support of the associated uh Humane Society in Mammoth County SPCA animal shelters uh needed items can be found at local pet supply stores are on their Amazon wishlist or chewy.com and donations can be dropped off at the library uh Saturday December 9th from 99: to 2: and Sunday December 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. uh any more questions you can visit the website um or called the library uh the belore Housing Authority the residents were offered a Thanksgiving dinner um to all the tenants of there on Thanksgiving Day uh the repair in elevator 2 and that's the freight elevator is scheduled for next week that repair will take one day um but the main elevator is scheduled for repair the second week of December and that's going to take about seven weeks so we'll have a working freight elevator while that one is being repaired uh the next meeting for the belmer Housing Authority is December 4th um lastly as we continue in the holiday season please consider shopping locally um we all want a thriving business Community but it's hard for our small businesses to stay afloat especially during the winter they need our help so please come out so many of our businesses are having sales um so many you know are offering gift card options or um you know having individual popup shops I know the Women's Club is still having their um gift auction January 17th so you can find out more about that um gosh the belmare um Historical Society is having a popup shop as well and if you didn't get your Belmar Susa Centennial commemorative ornament um you still can you still can get it uh December 9th and 16th from 1 to 3 um at their Museum on East Street um I look forward to the candy cane hunt this Friday um also if you haven't seen yet tap into um Belmar lake comoo is having their annual holiday contest for free beach badges um the contest is you know the person who can shop at the most places um and you get a receipt from each place that you go uh they can win up to four Beach badges last year um we had someone come in first place that got four then we had a third place uh three and then two it's really fun you don't need to go and get something expensive you get a cup of coffee just remember to keep your receipt and at the end um you can keep them all see if you can win a beach batch um so anyway shop local Santa is watching um and speaking of Santa I think our chief has an announcement about him good evening everyone uh Santa will be arriving on Wednesday December 13th to go around Belmar Lake comoo to deliver gifts to the children of the residents in town um we're scheduled to start at 400 p.m. um if you are a Belmar resident the gifts are to be dropped off between 9:00 a.m. and 400 p.m. at the pmar police department um there'll be a sheet for you to fill out with the information on the gifts just make sure that the child's name and address are clearly written on the gifts so we can make sure that Santa doesn't get any um mixed up and then if you are Lake Como residents they can be dropped off at Lake comoo burrow Hall the same hours 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. thank you thank you uh council president Le thank you mayor um while you're shopping at uh some of the local businesses in town keep keep your eyes open for the boxes of uh wrapped toy for wrapped toy donations um unwrapped toys so they're actually Belmar PD and the friendly s of the shalele are doing a toy drive they're looking for unwrapped toys books or games for children aged two months up to 19 years um they'll be at the local businesses or you can drop them off I think we have one here in Bur Hall um and they'll also be at the shalele clubhouse at 16 tabs so you can drop them off there um Harbor Comm meeting was last Tuesday I want to thank uh harbard commission chairperson Bob Lynch and vice chair Roy Childers for the hard work they did in actually setting Marina rates this year um they met uh separately after the harbor commission meetings to go over the rates reviewed rates and other marinas looked at our weit list that we have for the marina so so the rates that we're going to be voting on tonight really reflect their hard work and effort in making sure that we can really maximize the revenue we're getting out of Marina so it's uh really good to work with those guys and they did a fantastic job getting this done in time for us to uh approve it at this meeting that's all I have thank you I just have a brief announcement I've um you know I never realized that so many events occur in the first week of December and had I known I wouldn't have scheduled my vacation for this week so I'm not going to be at the the tree lighting or all of the other events that are taking place in the first week of December uh related to that is uh should this meeting go past 8:30 tonight I'm going to pass the Baton to council president Levis because I'll be leaving so so with the with the council's approval obviously uh so I just wanted to to let you all know that other than that I have nothing else to report yeah um just also wonder toind everyone that Medicare open enrollment is going on right now um if you're on a traditional Medicare Plan highly suggest suggest you still take a look at your part D plan that's your drug Benefit Plan those plans can change from year to year um your needs might change your plan might change it's a good time to do kind of a health care audit and see if there's a better plan out there for you so just a little Public Service Announcement thanks okay can I just make a public Anice announcement we did post on our Facebook page today um there has been another um uptick in uh vehicle burglaries and and home burglaries um they're now happening during the day during the night uh they're entering homes um so I just we put something out on our Facebook page today um I cannot stress enough for you to lock your cars take the valuable valuables out make sure that your homes are locked if you have outside lights security systems make sure they're up and running make sure the lights are on I have all my outside lights on in my house and uh it's a little annoying because they're bright but it's uh you know a safety thing so um just want to get it out there that um I mean it's happening uh last week in seagert well Township um it's it's it's everywhere so um just please you know take take precaution and and lock your vehicles lock your cars don't keep any valuables in your vehicles thank you why we have you here I've been meaning to to uh email you on on an issue and I might as well just bring it up I've noticed especially where we put the new two stop signs on Inlet Terrace and River Road and it just happens I walk my dog there pretty frequently it is really amazing how many people don't stop at the stop signs and I mean I I some people slow down and some people slow to maybe two miles an hour and some slowed to maybe 10 miles so it's like more of a yield for for a few people but I've seen people just just go like right through so uh you know whatever I think we need to let borrow residents know in particular that we're going to really start looking at people going through stop signs because there's no point in having them if people aren't stopping at them and I'm sure it's that way throughout you know throughout the town so I mean I think you know especially in preparation for the summer when we blame all the people who are coming here our visitors are running the stop signs well you know we we're guilty of that ourselves and myself included you know how many times we do the New Jersey stop you know what they call you just roll through the SN so uh maybe we can do something about that but I just thought I'd bring it up okay anything else okay I guess we're on to um public session on the uh consent agenda resolutions yes if anyone would like to speak on one of the resolutions listed on the agenda please step forward state your name and address Eugene forth avue um first one here uh resolution authorizing payment payment of bills um I notice there's uh since you mentioned SPCA before it seems to be a recurring charge on here about 13 or $1,400 a month uh it's listed as a dog license um but uh seems like I said about 13 or $1,400 a month is that a payment to uh MTH County SPCA yes that's for our animal control services okay uh then I'm I'm talking about the right thing here um does and I guess the collection of dog licenses is supposed to go towards that be spent covered at 13 or $1,400 a month are we I I've noticed last couple of years actually since the pandemic that the population of dogs in town apparently has gone way up at least that's my observation uh do we collect enough in dog license fees uh to cover that $1,300 a month charge now our dog license fees are 1420 or 1620 and we only have about 90 to 100 dogs licensed have to pay for one month sounds like yeah what we say that that's what it sounds like um the other thing uh Belmar deregulated cats about maybe five years ago um I noticed that Lake comoo uh where our Police Department also patrols um they still do regulate cats and licenses are required uh now we're the program that you were talking about here of fixing the cats um should we be looking at licensing of cats like we historically have done that was suggested to us by the SPCA that we reinstate the licensing program and I'll I'll just St at obviously the council can take that up you know we can we can uh think about that and you know if the council wants to do that we certainly can can start licensing C so maybe we can put that you know discussion on for the next meeting at the work session we should maybe at the beginning of the year we only had less than five I mean I think the other issue was probably enforcement you know knowing you know even with dogs you know we let people don't let their cats outside so you don't know they have them right but it it's it's something that we could definitely take up yeah well I have cats killing song birds in my yard um the uh I know a lot of municipalities in this state now uh if you feed a cat you own a cat uh seems to be be pretty effective uh at least at getting these people people to to uh uh you know get tags for cats otherwise how do you know a straight cat from cat that belongs to a resident uh anyhow food for thought and uh M we're going to be potentially taking on another U Animal Service here um I I guess that brings up another question uh would be uh would the uh fixing of of the cats would that only be done to cats that actually are licensed here no they're not I my impression is it's not for licensed cats it's for feral cats so you know cats that are not licensed that are wild they'll they will take them and I think if it's if it's a type of cat that they or or a kitten that they think they can you know keep in the shelter and perhaps you know get someone to adopt they will do that but if it's doesn't meet that their criteria they will give it back to the to the person you know who's taking care of that colony and they will be responsible for for feeding that cat um the the numbers are phenomenal when when he when we have the de the presentation it's just really unbelievable how you know how like 20 cats in so many years can have you know you can have a huge population explosion of of of of cats so it's really important to to get it under control before we we're dealing with a you know an overabundance of feral cats yeah it used to be a bigger problem people would come down here in the summertime and they would have a cat and then they go home in the winter and then we we had cats uh all over the place in any in any case I just food for thought and I saw that U we have a recurring charge here already um I wanted to comment uh oh resolution uh 228 uh shared service agreement with the Board of Education um that uh we're going to be selling them gas at 3 at 350 a gallon that was adjusted that was a prior um so there was a revision to that resolution ution after publication so the resolution that we're voting on tonight for that is based on the same gas fee that we used to char Marina so it's not 350 okay that that would be a very bad rate to charge I was was going to say where's the bargain yeah that's been adjusted so but then again who knows uh you know next year to price of gu may go through the roof again okay U but they're not bound by that are they in in other words if they want to go go to uh the gas station at 16th and Main they can fill up there right no okay so they're not bound by the way except for for the municipality itself I I guess Belmore is down to one gas station that within our Municipal borders and that's at 16th in May and uh I know that site has been remediated uh you can tell because uh the pavement is uh is crumbling it seems that with all these remediation jobs that they don't consolidate the soil very well and uh the asphalt surfaces that break up in a matter of months anyhow we're down down to one one gas station in town and I I remember when I first moved to Belmont it must have been a half a dozen gas stations on Main Street um one other uh question here um resolution uh 239 uh permission for dedication by Ryder for affordable housing trust fund fees in the buau of Belmar um I guess this is to establish the trust fund for affordable housing development fease it would be a dedicated fund okay who would be the trust trustees um it's the the normal um staff that has access to the bank accounts so it's usually the CFO her whoever her backup is um myself and usually one or two Council people are authorized signers on all the bank accounts okay um from what I from what I understand about this uh affordable housing uh trust fund that all the uh people who have uh contributed money to the fund they are to be identified and it's supposed to be available as a public record as to where all the money in that fund had originated from um I would think so I mean it says no reason why it wouldn't be public record okay trans look into that but that all accounts are going to be audited and subject to public inspection so we don't think it would be subject to public inspection no it would be it would be yeah I mean it's okay I I just wanted to make sure um is there any way uh that a donation can be made to that trust fund you mean just out of the from a from a resident or from anyone just that I don't know I don't know that that can we'd have to look into that probably okay if you want if somebody wants to do that we we'll certainly take the money and put it into the account if somebody's going to give it we'll we we will handle it just like we handle any gift right it would be ear marked for affordable housing and and it would go I suppose that's the way it would happen and we could always double check with our with our orders too make sure there's no nothing uh you know that would prevent that but I I I agree with I can't imagine anything that right it's a trust fund it's a dedicated fund so that money would go right into that fund and only be used for that for that purpose yeah and I guess we're looking for actually approval uh to uh everything costs money in other words try setting a trust fund I I Believe by state law isn't it isn't uh the percentage amount limited to something less than 25% for the administration of the trust fund yeah I don't know the answer to that question okay I could take a look at it but I I I wouldn't think that we would be spending 25% of the affordable housing money on Administration but I I'll take a look at that yep but we don't have have any money now so anything that's added to it would be I think it's being handled by people who are employed by Belmore right now so I don't know do you have any insight on that I know yeah would just I don't know about administrative fees it's whatever fees the bank charges to maintain the account like we have all of our accounts with the bank so whatever they charge to maintain our accounts would I think the only fees that would be coming out of that okay I mean I can kind of answer that CU we did the same thing we did a a skate park dedication by Rider account and it didn't cost us anything to open the account okay I think the question was though legally is there a cap and I'll take a look at that right okay thank you anybody else can I have a motion to close the public session motion all in favor hi I so councilman L asked to pull resolution 2023 231 from the consent agenda uh so we'll vote on that one first it's a resolution appointing a fire administrator do we have a motion in a second uh April before let let's just note for the record that councilman Levis is uh recusing himself on this because he has a conflict and I discussed it with him um it actually is the person that's being appointed actually appointed his wife and his wife's sisters as the Grand Marshall of the parade and just to avoid any kind of look of quid pro quo um he's stepping down as we say yeah abundance of caution so he won't be voting on this can I have a motion to approve resolution 2023 231 motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes Mayco yes councilman Rondo yes next can I have a motion to approve the rest of the resolutions as listed on the consent agenda motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes mayor B pusco yes councilman Rondo yes councilman Lis yes all right next we have first reading and introduction on ordinance 20239 this is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 40 development regulations of the revised general for ordinances um this is the ordinance that was presented and discussed at a previous meeting by uh from the planning board so do we have a motion to offer it for first reading and introduction motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes may fesco yes Council nrow councilman lemis yes all right and last one is ordinance 20232 ordinance of the mayor and Council the B gar amending and supplementing chapter 18 of the burough code section uh 18- 2.5 fees this is the ordinance to that was discussed during the workshop to amend the beach badge fee ordinance um do I have a motion to offer for first reading and introduction motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes mayor Buca Fusco yes councilman rero yes councilman Lis yes that's the end of the agenda items now is public session if anyone would like to speak please step forward state your name and address first First Avenue Council can you elaborate on the elevator at the um Housing Authority is it a freight elevator is safety features I so so the second elevator the one that I said was going to be next week fixed is the freight elevator um that has a apparently something that is simple and can be done in a day the main elevator that really needed the full modernization is the second one and that's going to be the second week um in in December that that will start it'll be a seven week um time span that it'll take okay so my my actual question was the for freight elevator when you say freight elevator I don't know much about elevators or anything like that but is that safe for the residents to be in for seven weeks you know we're talking about 92y old people that have to ride to the sixth floor some like when I think of freight elevators I think of like furniture and you know like I don't know so are is it a safety is it a a real safe elevator that's what I'm hearing that it will be safe enough to to use on the regular basis I don't know as far as the safety of it I don't you know I couldn't say yes or or or not but um yes I've been told that that that is a safe option um and that the superintendent there will help anyone who needs help with the freight elevator thank you thank you Jim diorio 2178 they have new quick question about the ordinance on pool houses I'm on the I'm on the zoning board and we get a lot of requests to convert a garage into a pool housee an existing garage so my question to you is it intended that somebody will be able to convert all or part of a garage into a pool house so so one of the reasons this came to the planning board to look at it was because the previous zoning board from last year felt that lot of requests so it was something that we should have on the books so that there could be an option for it right because you you define garage separate from a pool house exactly so you could have a situation where a pool house is a garage and a garage is a pool house and it's one structure potentially yeah that would kind of be up to the zoning board to determine uh when people well i' like to appliations I'd like to get a little Direction before you know we're we're on the on the the spot to make a decision and somebody says that's not what was intended I'm I'm trying to find out from the council what's intended can you convert a garage partition part of a garage and make it a pool housee and put a half bath in I think that'd be a question for a planning attorney or own I'd like to have it answered before you pass the law and then you have somebody else has to interpret it yeah that's a fair question I think the current ordinance the definition for garages says that it can only be used for storage of vehicles so the intent was to add this ordinance in to allow uh pool houses and it could be it could be you could have a garage and a pool house as long as both meet this because criteria people and there was an exception made two months ago and you know where the person had a two-car garage and they partitioned off part of it to put in a bathroom that they got a variance for so we we called it a bathroom in an existing garage um so my question is what what's the intent is it a freestanding do you have to take your car out of the garage and partition that spot to make it dedicated to humans only and no cars the the the actual ordinance says a one-story ground level detached accessory structure so I'm I'm assuming it when it says detached it means it's detached from everything so a pool housee is a pool housee a garage is a garage but you can have a two-car garage and this and a pool house in the in the same structure no it says here that it has to be a detached no so you detach two car garage and I want to turn one of the Bays into a pool house but the pool housee is attached to the garage at that point no but it's considered I think it means detached from the house detach well I don't know about no no that's it was April is right it that's a supplemental structure right accessory structure because we have I guess my my other question then would be be Dev that what's the difference if if if the poolhouse is taking up one Bay of a two-car garage what's the difference what's what's the difference between me having a one car garage the difference is if you call it a pool house you can get a half bath which a lot of people in this town want but you have to have a pool right so what's the difference if I have a if I have a SE pool house so I take my two garage I knock down to one Bay and then I build a pool housee next to it no accompl no you take one Bay out and turn it into a dressing room with a half bath that that's my question Jim I think I think the point of it was to alleviate the burden on the zoning board for having to have I think you're going to create more of a of an issue because it's not clear I think what you need to do is come up with some of the scenarios because people are going to want to convert a garage into a pool housee believe me I have a couple of neighbors who are looking to do that if they could yeah but we've told them so far no you can't well and what we've told them was they would had to go get a variance from the zoning board to be able to do that but nothing existed so now by creating this ordinance something is defined so now they wouldn't have to go to the zone board for approval to be able to do something like that but yeah my my point is by definition you have a garage defined and you have a pool housee defined you haven't defined a combination Garage pool housee and that's my point it's all about defining the terms and I don't think the terms are defined properly to avoid more confusion that's my point that's I think that's absolutely that's why I was saying the definitions are there for a garage in a pool housee so when a zoning officer sees that if it meets if the structure meets all the zoning criteria he would make the decision whether to approve it or send it to the zoning board I think the question comes down to whether or not the two can you have a garage and pool house joining each other with the you know pass through between the walls that kind of thing Under One Roof actually be one structure I think that's what you're and and we granted we granted a VAR on just that situation where the person partitioned part of their garage my view of the ordinance would be that that would be permitted I don't know how Ted bian would look at it and that's we we get I understand your position because we get into situation where Ted starts defining what things are so yeah that's why I'm asking what was the intent of the council in coming up with the whether or not you should have a garage separate from from the pool house and what the mayor was saying was I think you know what would what's the problem with kid combining them if there's separ you know this part's a pool house meaning you probably can have like a a bathroom right that that would be your pool house in a recreation area that kind of thing and then the next area next to would be your garage where you pull your car bike or whatever there's other issues with fire rating the partitions between the garage and quote Living Space the pool housee part that that would be a construction issue though right I mean that wouldn't be something that that you guys would be dealing with right we only we only deal with uses so so you're you're saying come January February somebody says I want to I'm saying I understand your question I know I want to answer somebody's going to come to the zoning board when they when this gets out and they're going to say I'm going to convert one of my Bays into a pool house and put a half pth and that's what I was saying if if the application they submit to the zoning officer meets all the different criteria in the ordinance for a pool housee for a garage setbacks coverage everything like that then he would approve it so you're saying you could have both in one structure right as long as it means all so maybe it should be defined because just so it's clear I me I mean I I agree I I think it should be it should be made clear I don't think it should be up to somebody's you know like well we thought it would be I mean I would rather it say you know a pool house must be a separate structure and must can and and then do it this way you know or you can say in the alternative or poolhouse must be a separate structure apart from any garages on the property and then you know for sure the pool house must be separate I think there's a market for converting garages to pool houses well the question though is what do we do we want to permit that that's the question well the the other issue you run into is you have a parking requirement so if you don't comply with the parking requirement the zoning officer is not going to let you take out your garage to make it a pool house and get and lose parking that all right I'm for keeping things simple you know we we know that you can have a garage and I would just leave it at that if you want a pool house that's something extra you have to build a separate pool house I mean that's my my opinion instead of like mixing the first uh you know permit comes through or variance comes through can I come back to you no I'm saying maybe this should be changed that's my suggestion maybe uh I don't know I don't that was the intent of the of the planning board when we well that's the problem we don't know now we're sitting here we don't know about the intent that's a problem but that's the good thing about public debate is we're not in a rush to get this maybe it need to go back to the planning board and let's not that we we can divy it up and say we need to make a decision question is can an existing garage be converted to a pool housee if they answer that then we have no problem right it does go back to the planning board for review before we have the second reading well then we need to we disc my view is to to leave little up to the imagination basically if if we if we want to separate pool house we have a separate pool house if we want to allow it in a garage then we should say and by the way you can also have a pool house in a garage okay it shouldn't be up to interpretation you know he's speaking please please sit pleas sit you're out of order you're out of order I'm not listening to you please sit down we have someone here who's speaking uh in two seconds I'm going to ask you to leave please sit oh my God okay maybe just go back to the planning yeah I think we could iron that out at the about intent that's all yeah that's it's a good point though makes a lot of sense yep okay thank keep things as clear as possible okay okay yes Tom 1000 River Road there's another root to this thing I believe make a new designation and this is all I want to say under under a uh a point of order and I would have sat down you didn't have to make a big deal you could have made let me make the point of order excuse me but we have rules here where if you want to speak before the council you come up to the mic and you get recognized no one can just get up and start talking whether they say point of order or any other Oh yes any other phrase yes they can no they can't yes okay why don't you say what you want to say rules of it may it may be Robert's Rules or but the way we handle things here is that we have somebody speaking and they go and they're allowed to speak uninterrupted and we don't have that kind of situation because you have the ability to stand up next and talk and then that person has the ability to talk so we don't have to go through Robert's rules to we don't do it that way we don't do you rather order a counselor me out of order it doesn't really matter thank you you're making a mockery of this thing thank you thank you you're using your position to make a mockery no I'm using my position just to continue on the way we always have stop why don't we find all the man stop what is your comment you have before all right let it go counselor we're here to hear your comment everybody F word me Mr dillberg you're H you have the floor and now you're going to be antagonistic towards me yeah last word that's fine just just be quiet um excuse me we have a certain amount of decorum Mr dber yes you hear that dber you hear that counselor I I hear it Mr dillberg do you the thing is you you're the one that's in question here not me excuse me I'm going to read something to you please don't read to me uh excuse me please don't that's horrible don't read to you are you are being personally offensive and abusive and you're also uh making impertinent remarks to the attorney and you're actually conducting yourself in a boisterous manner so and in about 2 seconds I'm going to ask you to sit down or leave now please make your comment now to me all right Miss May what we should be done with this pool housee garage thing I think is make it a new designation pool house whichever word you want to put first or garage slash garage garage SL poolhouse a new designation which will take care of both ends of the matter and that would be it that's definitely a possibility any other you and I will have some words oh excuse me learn to conduct please come up Sandy Caputo Surf Avenue thank you mayor for following through with the SPCA with the trap newa release program it's going to make a big difference thank you to whoever else helped you and I'll reach out to um other people that I know so that we all know what's going on now when will it be effective well we don't we we need to have uh him come in and and and do the uh do the presentation and then at that point you know we already have the memorandum of understanding so it's a matter of us signing that and then he'll tell us exactly what we need to do as far as the caregivers so I can't give you an exact date but uh we're going to be reaching out to him soon I believe if if not already okay yeah well we'll let you know as soon as it's going to be effective thank you okay any other comments yes uh Eugene fer 4th Avenue um at the last meeting mayor you mentioned uh that you were contacted by NJ regarding the Main Street Bridge yes uh did any meeting occur and uh maybe you can give us an update on that yes we did we I'm working with my memory but I I kind of remember the salian parts uh yes they're going to uh replace the bridge uh this actually the subject of the meeting was whether or not we were um going we we were okay with them there were two options they could either uh demolish the existing bridge and build a new bridge or they could work around the existing Bridge uh and I forget what that the term was that they used you you remember but the difference was there was a difference in price and there was a difference in time that it would take the preferred uh the preferred uh action from the dot was that the bridge just be demolished and a new bridge built they had a meeting with the officials in Avon and they um they kind of agreed that that would be the best thing to do because it would be quicker and I think it's like $40 million less money um the Stag versus detour stage versus detour yeah the detour one was the one where they would just take the bridge down and they would set up a detour uh around the bridge uh the estimated time to complete the bridge was and correct me if I'm wrong Mr King it was three years to to complete the bridge 36 months three three four five yeah uh but the key the key thing though is this this is not would not be starting until 2028 so that's 5 years from now and they anticipate it would take another 3 to four years to to actually complete it so you're looking at you know 2032 before we would have a new bridge um but that was basically the gist of the meeting was to whether or not we would want to go with the um you know the tour plan or the stage plan and there were some other technical engineering things that were different in in different you know the the the the where they put the um the what would it be the the pilings and stuff it was it was uh they thought it would be better to do the The Detour because then they would have full access they could you know work on it uh the only twist in that also is the fact that they anticipated there would be a time when the marina it would not be able to operate it would be a I don't know if they said a three or four month period and that all has to be cleared with the Coast Guard and other people so you know we didn't even really discuss that except to say that they should do whatever they can to keep Naval traffic you know shipping traffic open as much as possible but um that was the basis of the meeting and I think they were going to do some some uh uh media for some of the businesses and whatnot to kind of let them know what was happening but uh that was pretty much it I don't know you want to add anything no correct the the gist of it was to to get our opinion on which would be better uh doing a detour for a shorter period of time or doing a stage which would be a longer period of time they all knew that the the the Marine Traffic had to had was a big priority and had to stay open and it had to deal with the different size uh openings within the bridge with one or the other so uh they were just trying to get support from from both sides of the bridge to do the shorter version which we agreed would be the better option uh but there are there's a lot of moving Parts they're a long way away from actually doing the work yeah yeah and the detour was was just a better Bridge also was um mayor you may want to consult with mayor banano and also former mayor mg uh this subject had come up before and uh the decision at that time was to try to maintain the businesses on Main Street because if the bridge get shut down for any period of time uh both towns both a and belmare Main Streets will suffer uh and I thought there was at least a verbal commitment at that time and the town both towns agreed to it it would be better would be to build a totally new parallel Bridge uh and uh once that bridge was and that of course would involve some taking of property on Belmar side it would be uh oi Klein's a portion of his parking lot uh the other of course it would be on Avon side I think there's a a diver store or something over over there um that that way uh the existing Bridge could be used until such time as the parallel Bridge was was built uh also so as far as Belmar is concerned you're certainly aware of it like the rest of us that live up at the North and um the intersection of uh Fifth and Maine is a terrible situation um because East Street I believe is a oneway up there uh you with the construction and the buildings that have already been built uh we have a can effect you cannot tell whether the bridge is raised and open or whether the roadway is open until you're sitting over by Jersey Mike's study you know studying their menu from your car um it uh if a parallel Bridge was built that would move the uh roadway to the West um and uh that would open up that inter inter section that we uh that Fifth Avenue traffic and River Avenue traffic for that matter would be able to see the status of the bridge uh going back some time there was even discussion of putting flashing lights or notifications on Fifth Avenue that never happened uh the other if you're thinking about long-term Solutions the advantage of of building a parallel Bridge like they they you've seen it done with the Drisco Bridge on the parking built an entirely new bridge parallel uh in that case they kept kept both spans but if they uh abandon the existing bridge then both Avon and belar and and and remove of course the movable span um in order to maintain marine traffic but the town would gain a a potential prominade up at the North End on the River Front um so there there are advantages and disadvantages to to doing things certain ways but like I said about it was about five years ago this subject and I thought the consensus at that time I know the consensus at that time was the preference to build a parallel Bridge that's all fortunately that wasn't one of the options that they presented to us the um the the other option was you know basically building over the existing bridge but it didn't you know it it's not the parallel bridge I understand exactly what you're saying but they never even discussed they discussed it at all I think uh they said that Avon they met with Avon first and that they opted for the detour so yeah but I mean even even the other alternative wasn't wasn't like a like a parallel Bridge it was just like they would they would build basically over the existing Bridge it would be I think they said it would be 8 ft higher than if they had knocked it down but it's still and it probably would give us a little more time to have traffic you know flowing on that Main Street bridge but ultimately at some point that Main Street Bridge would have to be taken down and um you know and then the new bridge built so yeah of course the the parallel Bridge you would not have to uh right interrup traffic at all um in any case it's five years from now who knows you know two years from now they can come back with another plan mayor I believe that in that meeting they did say that they're going to do a public information session for the public and the residents and businesses in town um once everything is said yeah and they they talked about you know on The Detour plan that they would you know modify some some lighting you know some traffic lighting and crosswalks and things like that that to kind of let the flow cuz the detour plan is basically you know going over the through 35 Bridge coming in you know with a Avenue going around and coming down Sylvania Avenue in in avine so that's that's the detour plan and uh you know and we know what what also will happen is the detour plan will be going up the Ocean Avenue and ACR you know which means all of our you know fifth eighth 10th they they they're going to get the bulk of the traffic going down to the beach yeah they also talked about uh possibility of ferry service you know to help the businesses yeah like during the summer like just to go back and forth across you like r a ferry from the Avon building over to where like in the marina somewhere and and people could then you know go from one side of the river to the other so why did they contact Avon first first I have no idea they contacted the it was the same day the meeting was on the same day actually afternoon that was it right yeah it was I think they did it by alphabetical War just kidding any other questions comments kiss how you doing great Michel 14th in Ocean I just wanted to say thank you very much for the uh outstanding job with the veterans um banners uh it's a it's a personal thing but uh you did a great job C woman appreciate the only thing I was worried about I know you I think the last time you said that um you're going to leave them up through like January or something like that is that still and then maybe use them again next year I I have a sneaking suspition if you leave them up through January they're not going to be around for next year you know what I mean but that's thank you appreciate okay thank you anyone else can I have a motion to close the public session and adjourn the meeting motion second all in favor I