notice of this meeting was provided and published in the Asbury Park Press and the ocean star on January 12 2024 copies of the agenda were provided to the newspaper posted on public bullets and Boards in the township website a roll call please councilman albanes councilwoman pontorero here councilwoman D young here councilman Fineman here councilwoman Travers here vice president amberino pres president minikino thank you uh everyone if we could please rise for a salute to the flag Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence to flag of the United States of America stand indivis please be seated uh Madam clerk please uh accept the reports of Municipal officers yes sir an approval of minutes from the April 9th to 2024 meeting is there a motion second is there a second thank you roll call councilman albanes yes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman feineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes thank you uh we now have a swearing in of a new police officer Jesse lion like to invite the chief and mayor crate up to the podium hi nice crowd here tonight I appreciate uh everybody supporting their their fellow volunteer firemen it's good to see uh I also just want to start off by saying I thank the mayor and the council for their continued support and the business ad administrator of uh Public Safety and the police department they've always been pretty supportive so without further Ado I'd like to uh have Jesse lion badge number 349 uh step up Jesse is a longtime resident of Brick Township of Brick Township he graduated from Brick Township High School in 2012 After High School Jesse moved to Myrtle Beach South Carolina and 2014 he was hired as a police officer by the Myrtle Beach Police Department in 2017 he resigned from the Myrtle Beach police department and moved back to New Jersey back to Brick with his wife Nicole to start a family in 2019 Jesse joined the Breton Woods fire company and still is an active member Jesse has been working as a assistant Fire Marshal with the Brick Township Fire Bureau Jesse will attend the Ocean County Police Academy which starts on Friday May 3rd and Jessy is here accompanied by his wife Nicole and their three children Lily Brody and Nico if you want to come on up right who's GNA who's going to hold hold will to unit States [Applause] absolutely y all good all good we're some picture so don't go away pictures thank you good [Applause] what did he it's G to get a lot scarier I all right and I I would I would like to comment on this fantastic turnout uh but I will give everyone a fair warning that if you'd like to leave and not stay for the rest of the meeting now's your time Joanne Joanne what did he say I couldn't hear that's what he said a he didn't seem scared he seemed like very excited oh probably talk next for at this time I will entertain a motion to suspend the regular order of V business in order to accommodate the budget heing motion to suspend regular order of business for the budget second roll call please councilman albanes yes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes council president this is the time fixed for the public hearing of the 2024 Municipal budget the budget was introduced by the governing body on March Mar 25th 2024 and was advertised in the ocean star on March 29th 2024 together with the notice of hearing for April 23rd 2024 at this time thank you I'd like to open the floor to Mayor crate to speak thank you I just need a moment um so thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak briefly on the 2024 Municipal budget since it's introduction we have worked hard to ensure this budget is fiscally responsible and sound in its stability to fund Municipal Services the amount to be raised by taxes in the budget before you tonight have been decreased by over $1 million that means the annual Municipal tax rate increase on the median assessed home is now $731 as I said when the budget was introduced this year's $17 million budget has increased only by 1.9% from last year this modest increase is a testament to this administration's commitment to fiscal responsibility and running an efficient and effective municipal government this budget is the culmination of months of hard work by the Township's Financial team as well as the result of many years of instilling a philosophy of fiscal responsibility an effort that has produced undeniable results and created what we consider to be one of the most efficiently run and fiscally conservative Municipal governments in Ocean County this budget it also reflects the cost that comes with exceptional services and programs that we are all deeply proud of serving all of our residents from the very young to our active aging seniors I thank you um I thank our team for all the hard work that they did to put into this budget and thank you for the council for your support thank you Madame mayor copies of the budget are posted on the township website and in the back of the room we're going to open this up to public hearing but before we do I simply like to outline the procedure each person that would like to be heard will raise their hand wait to be recognized and give his or her name for the record I'm going to recognize one speaker at a time you should address your questions to the chair when necessary those will be referred to individual members of the governing body or to Municipal officials questions should be confined solely to the municipal budget before us school or County matters are not proper subjects of this hearing and cannot be discussed or answered here tonight is there anybody that would like to be heard regarding the budget Miss call why don't you start us off n car 18 Green Brier Boulevard I haven't really gone over the budget but the one thing that I am concerned about and you should be able able to answer it even though I don't know where it is in here is I did miss a meeting or two I don't know um but the last thing I remember is there was going to be road work done in brip and I read something in the media that said it would be a joint venture with Tom's River now I don't have the details at all in my head about it however when I left the last meeting and went to pick up a few things uh over near uh St Dominic's the road there and I've said it before it's about time you spend the money and you light the roadways Route 88 at that point is very narrow it shouldn't be the speed it is it's much too fast on the speed for what that roadway is and I have seen so many close calls with young people many of them are teenagers and very responsible teenagers I think we have wonderful children here and remember I'm old anybody younger than me as a child so they're wonderful and I want to see them live a long life but with the darkness of them going along Route 888 if they're coming from St Dominic from being in the gym there or coming from possibly just a little bit further down there's no place for them to walk and be safe we had up a whole program and I've been involved in it but I haven't been able to for several years now uh smart growth is one of it smart streets I think is another name and we really need to have many changes we need to have all of the residents involved because you're not going to think of everything and I'll just in closing regarding roadways my late husband and I I was married to St Patrick so he's watching over me he's also St Francis in other places and he uh he has gone but when we came and moved fully into the house as of January 2001 after coming back from Colorado and having had a snowstorm here and the uh I signed up sign Patrick and IA for a defensive driving course which was given at that time it was given regularly by the AARP and one of the first things the facilitator or moderator said was we live in Green Brier too well I now am living there and talking to St Patrick all the time though so he's there if not in body in my mind and the facilitator said that when we come out of these communities and all as it's too fast 30 miles an hour with the bending turns and Roads that's much too high it should be 25 like the original Green br is I'm in two Green Brier 2 and the fella said uh we should not be going out and he was taking it for granted that at that time all of us were much older than the 55 and alive and that we should stay off any roads that was more than 40 mil an hour and one of the people who had lived in green briu much longer than I in fact I was just there brand new and I said uh you can't get out of green Bri 2 without going on to a road that's more than 40 m an hour as soon as you come out we have to think about changing our roads because the way it's going uh I read about the crashes I've read about Ridgeway and I'm familiar with Ridgeway down in Manchester and we're going to be seeing a lot more of our people being mowed down and actually dying because of the crash between a pedestrian and a vehicle thank you miss call is there any other questions from public Mr Finelli big Finelli first off we going to get another copy of the budget because this one is outdated the one that's in the back this is the old information not the new okay so why are we giving out this one if it's not correct that's I I mean when I walk in here and then take the copy of the budget my anticipation and my expectation is this is what's going to be discussed tonight this is the budget but this is the budget from two meetings ago this is not the budget for tonight so I mean we always have the same problem we get the information after the discussions are going on how come we can't get if you change the budget how come we can't get it updated for the [Music] meeting I don't I don't think it's am amended until after the budget amendment they haven't adopted a budget amendment yet so I'm assuming warin that that's the budget as it is right now until we have the amendment right so then when are we going to get an updated one of these so are we going to talk about the budget at the next council meeting again oh now you see my dilemma you giving out the information after the budget meeting it doesn't make any doesn't make any sense all right I'm not going to go through this because it's wrong but I just have one question on this before I get into the other things current year average residential assessment $252,000 what is that for green Brer it is from the entire town H it's from the entire town and do you believe that that that's accurate that the average assessment of all the homes in Brick is $252,000 I I would guess you'd have trouble finding $252,000 just in greenb or other senior citizen places those are the assessed values of the correct yeah well I'd say it's as wrong as the rest of the report you might want to look into it it's not what it goes for the value when you buy when you go to sell it it is it's an ass yes I I know what an assessment is okay and I know I know I know it's an assessment but very low very low okay my questions about the agenda and you all remember my comments from the last meeting which makes me very suspicious the $1 million that's that's a that's a separate line item on the new budget where did that come from it's item number three miscellaneous Revenue section g special items of General Revenue it doesn't say where it come from nice round number does anybody can anybody tell me where you got the million dollars from say what they gave you a million dollars they they will be has that happened in the past or is it yes yeah okay it just it just I'm just curious because I brought up the the uh um tax levy last time and all of a sudden we got a million dollars to knock it down that still puts the tax levy at 4% right last time it was 5.3 you added a million and a little bit so the tax levy is now 4% my my problem is nobody's mentioned that in two meetings now when we talked about the budget I keep hearing uh our spending is going up 1.9% which is nice but that's not as important as the tax levy to the taxpayers of what you're going to increase their taxes by and and and with this adjustment that's still 4% never heard that mentioned so I think that's deception by Omission if that's a legal term I don't know if you would m b you want to define the difference between the tax levy and I know the difference between the tax levy and what what what the budget is going up what is what you're spending and the other is what you're collecting sir that's not what I said the tax levy is different than what any individual's tax rate might increase by and I'd like M Bergan to explain that difference it is different tax is the amount that is responsible by the home all of them com no different than what I said well it is right I'll an example I keep hearing listen to what I'm saying I will I will listen to what I'm saying there are three new homes being built by me right very close to where I am all three of those homes will pay taxes those taxes will increase the tax levy for the town that increase in the tax levy is not driven by an increase in my tax rate so there is a separation between the comparison of last year's tax levy and this year's tax levy and what our actual tax rate increase might be for an individual homeowner when those when those houses get built sorry which those three those three houses you're talking about are not in this budget particular ones are other ones were built previously talk about the whole thing talk about the whole thing all right sorry when you're talking about the whole thing talk about the whole thing don't don't don't leave don't mention 1.9 when we're looking at 5.3 that's decep figure is the increase in the budget ofation from last year if I read this correctly and I'm just want to confirm my numbers the understanding according to the new budget $16 million is going to Debt Service is that is that correct right $10.9 million is being held in Surplus okay and an additional $3.3 million is being reserved for uncollected taxes right that's correct so you're withholding [Music] over over1 14.5 million doar of taxpayers money you're holding and I bring this up every year you've got interest free $14 million of our money that you're holding on to now I understand the reserve for uncollected taxes you got some uncollected taxes you got to pay out the monies that you have to give back when people get their taxes back but $1 million for Surplus unless you're anticipating a Sandy coming every other year my personal opinion way too much money to be holding of ours just sitting there as a CFO I have to think of next year's budget as well and I try to explain this to you every year so when you think that I'm holding on to it that I'm just going to not to use it for something this year that's not true what am I gonna if I if we say there's going to be no um increase in taxes because I'm going to use up the Surplus what are we going to do next year how are we going to get Revenue next year you don't do you think it head to that what what you questions you're GNA have you can you can raise the tax levy whenever you want right no you have you have the you have the cap Appropriations you have the tax levy which there's a lot of different how do I say this there's a lot of different math that goes into what we're allowed to have the amount to be raised by taxation and I don't think the I don't think you understand that and as far as the reserve uncollected taxes that's money we put into the budget as an appropriation that's not money that I have being held so that whatever Mathew did to what did you say $13 million I have extra that's not true well it it is true you're going to I I already explained what you're going to use that for and I know what you're going to use it for but it's still there it says reserved it says Surplus I didn't make those words up those are your words it no it's not my word that's the state's word when next year when when when when when was that way before I got here and I've been here for 26 years but there's also something else Mr fin we have to think about how do you know how you regenerate Surplus I mean let's just say you're looking at it and saying I have million left and it's like a slush fun how do I regenerate that do you know how I regenerate Surplus because looking at it in the future for next year there's certain parts of that that I'm not going to be able to regenerate so I in my mind as a CFO have to think what if I only end up with what we're ending up with this year to balance next year do you know what's going to happen next year because I don't no I don't but that's my job to but I'm telling you my own personal opinion $1 million of surplus is way too much money of our money to be holding on to you have it it's not a fictitious number it's there you might need you might use some of it for next year's budget but you're collecting it a year before next year's budget i' rather have the money in my pocket than yours and so would everybody else thank you for your opinion and and let's let's get to the last part just so I understand um and this is something else that I don't agree with it seems to me that everything you buy not just big items but practically everything you buy or everything you need of everything you take on you Bond it and if I look at the page that has all the bonding on it you put up 5% of the money and you Bond 95% of the money which keeps the debt how many how how much money you have in debt right now hundred and something million dollars yes right and and well I understand understand you're paying off 16 million of it you're adding another 9 million some of it's for 5 years some of it's for S years some of it's for 10 years so for 15 I look at just how I run my own household yeah I finance some big items but I don't Finance all of them I pay for my roof but I finance my car I pay for my mortgage but I pay for remodeling my kitchen it doesn't seem because you don't have to and I understand you don't have to you don't you don't never put any money away to buy something it's always bonding it's always debt it's always it's always future and you put up 5% of the money and and then you end up paying 16 $16 million of your budget is going to Debt Service in one year if I rein my household like that you know where I'd be bankruptcy court lyberg is it accurate that we have reduced the outstanding debt for the past decade every single year yes we have yes the debt level because this year in this budget are lower than we have and every year last understand that I understand that we've been paying down but but but but you keep adding to it it's it's you're well over hundred million do it's a lot of money it's coming down slowly slowly thank you for your comments Mr I just think we can do a better job of this Mr Foster okay I apologize I came in late today but just to confirm here we're on the budget here we're at the 43 adoption of 20 24 budget am I correct 41 41 okay uh first I want to uh not even at 41 we're just we're discussing the budget okay just want to follow up on Mr between Mr uh Finelli and Berg is it Berg bur and Miss Mrs Burg uh on the subject of the uh two things were were uh because I brought this up years ago during a budget hearing and uh regarding the referendum to increased taxes I'd like to remind everybody that the reason why that was uh increased was because the state of New Jersey cut about $2 million with Aid to the town of brick and that's why because I was in the room and I heard Mar Cris and council members up there Republicans all of them said the same thing this is our situation we either have to have massive layoffs in town by cuts and eliminating the entire public works department in order to balance the budget or we have to have the referendum to seed the t% spending cap so I'm just saying this just to straighten this out because there's a lot of uh misrepresentation going on here I remember this is very big contention Point here so just want to clear that up uh on the subject of uh of the uh Mr F's comment about the outdated budget information I agree with him and I just not just he but myself and others had problems with communication between this Administration and the public now I have a Ser simple question I attend Tom Ser counsil me I was one there I was out there one last week I think it was after my chess club and uh they are very open with the public they have everything you really need to know is right there on their website what how difficult would it be and I mean no disrespect to you mayor know you're doing a good job Mr KY same thing no problem with either one of you but it's uh I've had this problem before their website is very easy to navigate pretty much whatever you want to know they have right there how difficult would it be to put the budget and Mr finale is right why you just you've got an outdated budget here which we cannot discuss with you and we will not have the opportunity to discuss because when by the time the new the budget this year's budget is released we can't talk about it next uh next week unless it's during the public comments that might take away our time for something else that we want to make up is it really so difficult just to have the budget from last year the one that's out of date and online available if you want to be the budget that has yet to be approved so that we can know what you people are doing because that's just it I mean this has been going on for years you're too secretive about what you're doing and I you can make make phases I don't care I don't care I saw you like a response well no because I'm still talking excuse me I'm still talking I only have five minutes I appreciate let me finish this is the problem you people get mad at us when we ask you what you're doing with our money it's our money we need to know we have the right to know and we don't have the you don't have the right to sit up there make faces like I saw councilwoman Travis doing Mr was talking J Town turning her face there's no excuse for that it's rude it's disrespectful and that incites misconduct by other members of this Administration mayor not you you know I like you you're a nice person you've never when you're a councilman you always prob respectful that's why I I like you do Mr Kinley same thing but you have to get your understand I've said this before when I got screamed out by councel Mino you people do not understand we have the right to critize you and question you about what you're doing with our money put the information on the website like Tom je does and I've attended other counsil meetings as well in person over the years and uh I see them on on YouTube too and uh there's no reason why you should not you're not cost getting money to print P out paper which has got expensive I just had to buy print paper last night I ran out of paper and I couldn't believe how much it went on used to be up used to get for $3 I paid all $7 for room of paper so there's no expense it's just out there digitally anybody can view it online or print out what they want from it instead of the secrecy that you people are involved in you've been this way all along ever since you took control of the council mayor's office and again mayor crate you were not like this when you're Council woman you're always respectful polite always very knowledgeable and I a lot of people in town appreciate that that's why you got so many votes I know you're a nice person good person and we need more people like you in government Mr Kinnley always respectful polite knowledgeable lawyer but you have to stop this nonsense get MadAss in his faces when we're talking it's disrespectful and it's going to incite people to misbehave and I'll be damned if I'm going to put with another incident like me being attacked by former brick Police Officer Ken ban who started punching me in the back of the room in front of another special police officer didn't do a damn thing about it then I got people didn't mind about me because I kicked his ass I shouldn't have to kick someone's ass because someone's attacking me thank you for your comment thank you and it better not happen again with me being anybody putting their hands on me is there anybody else from the public that would like to be heard sir in the gray sweatshirt just couple quick questions Justin 301 sander place um we talked about a referendum and uh ra having a referendum in terms of raising the budget cap and the last one I think was beaten into all our heads last year that was in 2011 which we helped pass to uh save in-house garbage um save 32 jobs of police officers numerous Public Works employees and so on but that's what I wanted to ask I um two quick questions one is we talk about the Surplus where we are today what is the difference in the amount we have in Surplus now as opposed to 10 years ago because we always go back like 10 years 10 years 10 years is it going down is it remaining stable and the other question I wanted to ask was uh how much more is the budget being raised this year to make up for not raising anything last year so since we were at 0% last year and cost of living went up we probably have to make up for something from last year which means raising it a little bit more this year I have a surplus history um from 2010 to 2024 if you would like to look at it just 2010 how much was it or 2012 actually I 2012 it was 8 million three yeah and it went up right after that after the referendum how about 20 like 2015 when okay and how much more do you estimate the tax increases this year to make up for 0% last year tax change tax rate is a change of 3.8% between last year and this year yes because last year it was a negative okay all right thank you are there any other comments Bob Malo brick I had a just one question with the police officers um their budget's only going up 2% was that is that what it was the police their operating budget at the one meeting when the officer the captain was going over the budget he says the increase was going to be about 2% well I'll get i'll get to the point does the 2% does that include uh new troll cars and stuff like that is that all part of the budget going up I'm talking about the actual police officers that are actually working in the in the forest out on the road P without the dispatch it's under the police budget right okay okay so okay my my point is if they got a cap on their budget why can't we raise their budget get more officers which will stop a lot of problems that everybody complains people you know speeding here doing that um everybody you know they all have some kind of complaint why can't we give them extra Patrol officers on the street which in return giving tickets would create more income for the town correct or not uh well we don't hire police officers to purposes of income uh 100% on public safety and we have this budget does include more police officers uh we hired one tonight and we'll be hiring more for the next Academy which the academy is are only twice a year that's in October so we'll be hiring more then our roster is 146 147 which it was but 138 10 years ago when I got here so we have invested in more police offic steadily over time today breakdown is a lot bigger than what it was which is why we've up the roster right which is a little bit more headaches in today's society which they would need more officers on patrol so my point is helping the police department is a big thing you know instead of you know um I know you guys said they had money put away for garbage trucks and stuff like that that was saved over a few years but if they increase the police officers maybe brick would be a little safer I mean not that it's bad but it's still I feel that we need more police officers on the road I see a lot of guys out on the road now doing patrols I see for the first time a lot of cop cars with the lights on pulling people over which is great um we have bicycle patrols we have boat patrols we have I'm out there every day we have the highest number of police officers in the Township's history so I think we're doing what you're asking us to do and I know I would not recommend to this Council that we not we buy fewer garbage trucks to add to the police roster doing that in a calculated way that we can afford but if we could put a little bit more for them to help them get more guys we've done that I know but we're not doing enough in my opinion one person's opinion of a budget we're trying to balance but I thank you for that all right thanks thank you for your comments Mr Vasquez Mark Vasquez 440 L court so a couple things just as a mentioned I think it was wrong that we did a 0% increase on an election year and then we did it on an off year most likely you'll do a 0% again next election year uh besides that on line 40 45 on the appropriation summary there's a one about a million dollars for open space budget do we know what that's going towards and we can use it for Parks anything on a park opinion from him to make sure that I was allowed to use it not just on land but on yeah okay so there's 170,000 that's already budgeted for for if I'm not looking this incorrectly Parks and Recreation so we were we're just in case we're budgeting an additional million dollars for that that was the open space tax and the money that comes in from that is separate and apart from the parks and recreations operating budgets and capital budgets okay um so we use that and we pay down Debt Service we um put it towards you know Recreation and Parks and their operating budget but generally we use it to pay down Debt Service awesome okay thank you and then the last thing is obviously we're increasing police and we're we're spending the money on it which I think we should but how much of that is going to community policing and then actually a standard officer that would be on the street in a patrol car pulling someone over so the totality of the budget isn't divided that way um it's they have a total operating budget and there's programs that it funds including neighborhood watch the bike Patrol boat Patrol um all of the things that are part of running a police department so they're not separate line items the only separate line item is the police camp so we can track what we pay for the that is the majority of this budget though that we're increasing going to community policing or is it going to to a standard officer it's going to both it's funding new officers and funding those ongoing programs no PR we don't have a specific understanding where the money's going none the programs are going away nothing's being cut and who who makes the final decision on where that money whether it's an additional Community officer or again who makes that decision is that the chief is that the mayor so the chief comes up with this budget that uh it goes over with Moren and I and then present it to the mayor and councel for their approval um so he develops his budget we talk in great detail about his budget the salary and wage budget is set by Moren based on what's been articulated in terms of what they need we look at retirements and we want to make sure we plug those holes quickly um and we look at upping the roster and how many we can bring in over the two of the Year and that when he presented his budget he didn't give you a definition of what was going where no because it's not broken out that way we talk about the programs and the need to discuss if any of the programs would be going away which they're not so it's really just a fun the ongoing program I would just recom and are we are we still part of the lead program there was a counil was a pilot program for us and is it still running in Brook okay and how many years until no longer fund us and we have to start kicking in our own money I believe that was a threeyear pilot program we're in year two year two okay all right perfect thank you very much appreciate it thank you for your comments Mr Vasquez is there anybody else Mr bacon good evening mayor council and administration I have a couple of follow-up questions I I heard from some of the residents uh first I want to thank you for putting a copy of the budget in the back that's helpful my understanding is there's going to be some adjustments to this you have to pass the amendment is that correct okay thank you when does the budget actually have to be uh into the state legally do we have the the date of that by any chance had to be passed by this meeting correct that's okay because there's a lot of good questions I'm just kind of curious why don't we back this up a little bit so maybe you could have a couple public hearings before you're you're up on the the Mandate of the state just kind of curious about that what's that no I understand that my what I'm trying to say here is this is a pretty heavy document the Board of Ed is also up for approval this week there's a lot of things to digest here a lot of us don't have a financial background I'm just kind of curious since we have a state mandate to have this in play by Friday why we couldn't have started this process a few weeks early so you could have maybe a couple public hearings on the budget so we have time to review or to get back to the Administration on it that's all as you said Mr bacon it's a very heavy working document and we do try to start the public process very early I gave my budget presentation six weeks ago so we we start the process by sharing information publicly that people can ask as many questions as they'd like about the different when the different department heads come to present because it's a working document because it is constantly being reviewed and updated uh to make sure that we're we provided the most fiscally respons Bud that we can present to Mayor and Council right so it's it's uh publicly discussed over many weeks of what we're working on and where we are and this is the culmination of that no I and I appreciate the the lot of work that goes into it I'm just questioning could we move it up maybe a couple weeks so you could have two public hearings so we're not right up on the deadline of the state mandate that's sure I to look at the state state public hearings I've never heard of that to get back to you I mean there's there's dates it's introduced C amount of time you have to wait yeah got it so I don't want to give you a correct information buty absolutely never yeah because it's it's a lot you know what I mean uh because I know you folks spend a lot of time on it is appreciated do like to see the department that you do that's helpful too when you go over those Department things I mean I tend to not want to come up and speak let the department heads talk about those things so that's a good forum to talk like if we have questions for example a couple questions came up tonight about the police and the Staffing of the police if that's appropriate to bring up and yeah the council president has always opened it up questions department heads and they have been asked questions over the years many times over the years some not at all relevant to their budget but there's still enough to answer the questions but it's the council president has open it up to the public every pres no I understand I tried you know I listen to it try to take it in but you know at what point do you talk about because some of these questions tonight could have been addressed when the the police chief we'll do so a couple other uh things and thanks for going through the process but I I want to draw back on something that somebody else brought up I actually brought it up two weeks ago as well because I do know a few folks that are chief financial officers Mayors and business admin administrators outside of the town and the one thing that they generally say is you never want to take a zero tax increase now as a person that pays a very high amount of taxes I appreciate that however we had four major contracts last year and I think across the the first year of them it was 6% the second year is five and it varies a little bit between the the various unions there so the question I'm going to ask and I'm going to be right up front with it because talking to a host of people you never take a zero especially in a high infl is it okay if I can continue of course thank you very much so you never take a zero on it because you got to catch that zero up at some point obviously you're taking some away from Surplus this year looking between the 23 the 24 budgets some of it's coming there you probably retired some debt so I guess who made the decision that we should take a zero last year when it's against the grain of what most people will say if you go to any Town especially we're in high inflation last year I mean I read the notes from the December 22 uh you know some of the comments made in public that actually got into social media so with all that said and I said this two weeks ago and I'm going to say again tonight is they deserved every bit of that so this is not an issue about what's deserved between uh the unions in this Township it's a question about a policy from a financial standpoint of why we took a zero and I'm going to ask the question question who made the final decision to take a zero last year I do appreciate your comments and questions Mr bacon but that sounds like a question about a decision made last year we should really keep this to questions about this year's budget I agree but it has an impact on this year's budget and are you on the F Financial committee I am okay then you know the repercussions have taken zeros you know the last time this town took a zero does anybody want to look it up in the last 10 years I'm sorry seven twice in the last 10 years last year was the second time I believe if you go back and look at the history when the previous mayor was running for a second term you took a zero so we're going to talk about finances and what to do properly for a Township then we really need to look at those kind of things that we're we're doing in those years so to your answer your point when you take a zero it does have repercussions profoundly on this budget and everything else because of those changes in health care and those other things thank you for the extended time have a good even thank you for your comments has anybody not been heard Mr finale I didn't remember whether we were allowed to come up twice thank you I only have one question and it's Beauty can can anybody up here tell me why the MUA would give you a million dollars and not the school district who's got their budget cut by $25 million in the last seven years there is a state statute that allows them to do this for the municipality I don't know that that statute includes Boards of Education I would have to research if I told you if I told you Tom Rivers mua gave the school district money okay like I said I know there's a state statute I don't know the details of it other than that's this the statute that to do that us that doesn't answer my question I know but I told you I wasn't going to be able to answer your questions until I the statute anybody else I mean you know you know to shape the school district's in so if the MUA had a million dollars to give out and they could give it out to the to the school district why are you more deserving than they are and getting the money they're much more shaped than you are has nothing to do with who appoints the people to the MUA does it Mr Vasquez Mark Vasquez 440 L court so go to go back to that question that Mr bacon asked who made the decision because it imp taxes our tax this year will anybody answer that did the mayor make it did the council make it no I don't think we're going to answer a question about a decision that is that what it impacts the taxes this year does it not yes or no it doesn't do you have any further questions so I do have further questions we obviously collect taxes for the school board so we collect taxes for the school board is that or for the school district is that correct okay do we make interest on that in on collecting the taxes do we hold any additional funds and collect interest on that as well they get paid okay but do we at all hold any additional funds from the school and collect interest on that at all we do not okay wonderful Mrs bur don't we actually lose money because when we do tax appeals they we have to pay the money out and the school gets paid in full so the township actually loses money out to add to her point because the school gets paid monthly if there is an appeal and it's lost we don't go back to the school for the the portion that their portion lost perfect no no problem perfectly fine and I appreciate the answer for that I wish you guys would answer who made the decision on 0% last year um but then the other question is is are you willing to give that million dollars that the MUA is going to give to you to the school district because you have class sizes of over 30 you we have over 600 non-english speaking students who are learning by translating apps for teachers who are unqualified to teach that and I think it's unfair to the school system that you guys are getting a million dollars from the MUA and they're really in bad shape and so and we're about to lose a bunch of teachers class sizes are going to increase so I would love to know will you make that commitment on passing this budget that seems to be wonderful which you claim to be 1.9 or whatever it is now it's be 4% right would you be willing to give that money back or give the money to the school system you don't really need it right it would be bad for politics probably if you had to make up that million but the school system needs it so would you be willing to make that commitment to give it back to the school so I I would like to just make one point this is not a policy decision for me to answer but we've met with the superintendent and business administrator my colleague across the street they asked us for a few things both of those things we have done so we work with them to provide the assistance that they ask us to provide okay so we have a clear track record of supporting them in many many many ways to help offset their hardship so can you make the commitment that you'll give a million dollars to the school system that desperately needs it or kids are suffering and they're going to lose on an education so not you obviously you don't make the final decision on that but would this Council and this mayor make that decision tonight publicly to give the million dollars that the MUA to give you to the school system that desperately needs it yes or no didn't this counil authe the purchase of wood TR which is what they asked us to do that exceed the cost of a million doll yes we did but that doesn't answer my question though that's wonderful that you guys you're working to give what you can that's over a million that's fine but that doesn't cover the deficit that the the state won't give us right and it it doesn't help at all to we bought a track I'm sorry you said we bought a track that they wanted I apologize I didn't hear that part the TR both the track of land they want you okay perfect so what's the additional million dollars I mean you we're not willing to give that to the school system that needs it more than you I mean tough decisions need to be made because you have a bunch of kids that are suffering in our school system we have over 600 non-english speaking students that are suffering even more and and that's only going to put a greater burden Mr Vasquez we opened this public hearing by stating that matters of the school matters of the county not this is matter of the township is the township willing to give a million dollars of their money that's coming from the MUA and put it towards the school system yes no if you want to say no then that's fine you made the decision you said no don't put any words in my mouth I'm not say I'm just saying if you say no then it's no it's no big deal you said no we got to budget the balance we got to do what we got to do but if you're willing to say yeah then you're helping the school system a little bit more that's wonderful we did what we could but we're just asking you can you give that money to the school system and then figure out how you're going to make it up cut something else right A million dollars for Parks that's wonderful if we need to use it great whatever the case may be but the school system is is suffering so will this Township be willing to give the money to the school system yes no you could just tell me no if you don't want to do it thank you welcome Miss call Man car 18 Green marah Boulevard I will tell you what did I say did I say Green Brier Boulevard or did I by any chance say Empire Boulevard that's another state um where I lived near um what has just been shown is that have if you ever heard we the people in order to form a more perfect union meaning that every single person who lives within the defined area be it a state a county a [Music] um uh federal government we need more people gathering in a a uh a body to speak similar to how some of the States run their primary and that they do caucuses the people that are out there that aren at this meeting there are so many of them who know so much better on how to handle these things that we've been talking about throwing money at any problem isn't good and it's been shown we need more traffic lights out there and although they belong not to this uh Township we pick up the freight on it there's a lot that needs to be discussed and we cannot go on like this where a few people are making decisions in an autocratic way we need to have a meeting at least once a month for the whole Township to be able to gather now how you going to do that well everybody's not going to come out but we need to find a venue and not do it as a formal meeting do it more as a brainstorming meeting what can we do and how can we do it and I just add now because I'm old and I forget what I went into the other room for so when I sat down I mentioned before that that there had been an accident down in Manchester it turned out that the most severe injuries were suffered by a Brick Township young woman lady more like a young girl maybe and that there's a GoFundMe page we should think about funding something like that but we should think more about how do we stop these accidents from happening and that's not done with just a few people talking it's done with the all Town talking Mr Foster Sam Foster want to you drive quick question I'm going to make this I'm going to split this up make ask these questions most these are in public comments because I think you're more public there just wanted to bring up a comment on what was just discussed here first of all I I have said this before and I think it's the best way to deal when you deal with the government is to keep it on legal grounds what is legal because what your opinion is it's going to be different in mine but the law should supersede and it does our personal opinions now with that in mind I would like to know what legal grounds council president uh embo has for refusing to say we can't discuss prior Year's budget issues and refuse to answer the questions by the man in the back I forgot his name man in the red Shir was that Garcia or Vasquez okay I'm sorry Mr vasquez's question about uh and also why you refused to answer the question about if the school system receiv received the money instead of the township of brick what legal grounds you I don't care about your personal opinion I'm a former Ocean County Democratic committeeman so I can tell Mr Finelli the answer about uh certain things about who tells who to do legal rounds we have an attorney here what legal grounds do you have for refusing those answer those questions would you like to answer that Mr and if I'm wrong you know I appreciate you I'll be glad to answer okay thank you Council vice president is acting as the chair tonight is correct in his response could you speak in the microphone I can't hear you the council vice president Who's acting as the chair was correct in his comment this is a budget hearing on the 2024 Municipal budget this is not a hearing on the 2023 Municipal budget so you're asking a question of what a majority of this governing body did a year ago they voted you can go and look at the resolution and go in the clerk's office tomorrow and you can look up who voted yes and who voted no on the budget resolution that is that is the only question that the council has to ask there'll be a point in time in this meeting where they'll be asked to vote yay or nay on the resolution and adopt the budget that was your question who voted that it's a public record who voted on the resolution this is the heing on the 2024 budget it's not the 22 21 20 it's 2024 budget but is Mr Fini budg this hearing and this public comment is for questions about the 2024 budget and as Mr fin stated your question his question was not about the 202 I understand but as Mr Finelli said it we don't have the information from the 24 24 budget you have given us the budget from 2023 so it's outdated so how are we supposed to discuss something when we don't have that information in front of us in fact you already your question just was your question to me I understand that your question to me and I think I answered your question about on the 2024 budget that's well if you want to know about 2023 go back and look at the minutes and look at resolution the point is the point is it's already been stated by this Administration that you're going to release the 2024 budget after today's meeting but we don't have any hearing enabling the public to discuss that that's what this is this is but you don't have the budget from 2024 as Mr fali stated yes there's just a misunderstanding it is the 2024 budget as introduced that's in the back 2023 tonight if the council votes on an amendment which I haven't vot voted on yet so it's not in place okay that will be changed then that will be changed and available to the public what's in the back is what we introduced for 2024 okay then why why was there a discussion between Mr Finelli about whether or not that the information was outdated because of the amendment okay so it's just the amendment but the budget itself is already there yes okay all right I I was I came in late so I didn't get the okay now uh Mr K first of all thank you for the for the information I appreciate that but since you discussing the uh 2024 budget the issue is if you're going to bring up if you're going to bring up prior Year's budgets and discuss it which you have done then why can't we citizens do the same thing the council is voting on The 2024 budget I understand that they didn't bring it it was a question from the from the audience that asked about last year's budget which is really not relevant to what this hearing is this hearing is about the 2024 budget I think there's a discussion a question about why the one that what the money was given from I think it was the MUA went to the town that's this year's budget this year the MUA is giving a million dollars exactly so again and when a citizen ask why isn't that money going to the Board of Education which needs it more than Township brick uh vice president m b refused to answer question for the MUA or the Board of Ed but our it's if we are getting that money from the MUA it's in our it's going to be in the budget correct and it's a 2024 budget am I correct yes yes so why is it that why isn't it why is it an improper and or prohibited legally from discussing that money that we received in the budget why didn't that money go to the budget of the Board of Education as Mr finel I believe it was said that's not part of the brick Township's proposed budget is the money going into the budget in 24 yes then then it's part of the budget yes to be used by the township yes so why is Mr finelli's see this is what it's frustrating talking to people if you're going to admit that the brick mua has given $1 million whatever it was to Township of brick is see the 2024 budget you and Mr key keeps saying that this is discussion about the 2024 budget if the money is in the 2024 budget Mr fidelli whoever it was brought this up I think was Mr fing has every right to ask why is that money in the 2024 budget for the township brick why wasn't it given to the Board of Education which needs the money more that would be a question for the MU no it's a question of us because we are the ones that by your own admission you said that the money is in this year's 2024 budget correct so it's our this is a budget hearing question uh this so the question what's that he's answered your he answered it improperly just like you people do have been doing for years it's double speak that's all it is the money this is supposed to be a discussion about the 2024 budget which received $1 million whatever it was I don't know how much it was from the M from the MUA and the question which you people are refusing to answer and give double speak about is why was the money put in the 2024 budget for the town of brick and not go to the school system and you could double talk all you want to but first you're saying that this is about discussions about the 2024 budget you yourself admit so as I said you Mr to killing yourself and others have said this is a discussion tonight about the 2024 budget you're very specific about that the 2024 budget includes money from brick muua the question that Mr finy asked was very specifically why was the money put into 2024 budget and didn't go to the Board of Education that's the question which you refus to answer because as I've said before you are too secretive about what you're doing with arrow money and personally I don't care if you get made or not I'm making any specific accusations but if you don't like it you can meet me in the courtroom chrisan I think there's embezzlement going on in town I do I'm not not going to mention any names and Council M Travis you can all you want you but I'm tired of the faces that there you go because like I said before this is exactly what incites people to misbehaving is there anybody else that would like to be heard please sit down go ahead I'm sorry proba I won't be the dead horse I just it's it's an mua question again but it's a different angle who who's the MUA leaz on here I'm the liais onto the MUA okay I just want to they do a good job over there I know a lot of employees over there and they do a phenomenal job I just want to get that out of the way I was just curious when do they notify the town about the million dollars they're going to give the town is it something that they budget for is it something that they come up with and say oh we have this in excess and let's you know offer it to the town how when do you guys normally get notified that you're G to have that for your budget because I know this isn't the first time it's happened there's several questions in there some of which you need to direct to the MUA can you speak to when we were notified uh yes so um I made the request I sent I sent a letter and as I have many years in the past um asking if it was a good opportunity for them to give us a million dollars as would be help some taxpayers of brick I sent a letter I received today via email a resolution from the MUA commission was approve okay thank you that um I do know some of the questions probably have to be answered by the MUA and I'll follow with Mr Theos in response to that the other thing I just wanted to to bring up is a former executive director of the MUA is was a friend of milin point and in talk with him I thought the MUA and muas throughout the state are supposed to be nonprofit and any profit they make is supposed to go towards capital projects and future projects for the authority and like I said they do a phenomenal job over there we have the largest water treatment plant in Ocean County and probably the best water around um they raised our rates this year for the first time slightly but if they were going to have an extra million dollar what was the need to to raise our rates it's I know you can't necessarily answer that but just someone threw out there that to me I was kind of confused and again I'll address dress it with them and I'll speak Theos but I just thought that was kind of interesting there any other comments seeing none I will now entertain a motion to close this hearing second the motion roll call please councilman albanes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes we now move on to item number four authorize read reading of budget by title only resolution to authorize reading of budget by title only njsa 40a col 4-8 provides that the budget shall be read in full at the public hear hearing or it may be read by its title only if at least one week prior to the date of the hearing and at the hearing a complete copy of the approved budget shall be made available for public inspection and shall be available to each person upon request I move the adoption of this resolution second motion roll call councilman Alban yes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president Amber no I vote yes thank you item number 42 authorized budget amendment I have to read the whole thing are we ready whereas the local budget uh Municipal budget for the year 2024 was approved on the 25th day of March 2024 and whereas the public hearing on said budget has been held at as advertised and whereas the township Council the township of brick desires to amend the introduced and approved budget and now therefore be it resolved by the township Council the township of brick County of ocean state of New Jersey that the following amendments to the appropriated 2024 budget be made General revenues miscellaneous revenues section B state aid without offsetting Appropriations energy receipts tax Public Law 1997 chapters 162 and 167 from five 5, 42431 to 5,451 300 $1 total section B state aid without offsetting Appropriations from 5,986 2187 to 6,1 13,2018 miscellaneous Revenue section g special items of General Revenue anticipated with prior written consent on the director of local government services other special items from0 to1 million total section d special items of General Revenue anticipated with prior written consent of director of local government services other special items from 3,457 72534 to 4,457 72534 summary of revenues miscellaneous revenues section total section B state aid without offsetting Appropriations from 5,986 2187 to 6,321 87 total section d special appro items of General Revenue anticipated with prior written consent of director of local government services other special items from 3,457 72534 to 4,457 72534 Total miscellaneous revenues from 9,432 6997 to 20,4 59,6 n97 77 five subtotal je General revenues items 1 2 3 and four from 32,000 32 m875 11887 to 33 m921 18887 six amount to be raised by taxes for supportive Municipal budget from 84,85 to, 4658 to 83,8 35,45 8 total amount to be raised by taxes for support of Municipal budget from 84,85 4658 to 83,000 83,8 35,4 658 C be it further resolved that two certified copies of this resolution will be filed with the director of local government services for certification of the 2024 Municipal budget as amended thank you is there a motion I move the adoption of this resolution second roll call please councilman albanes yes councilwoman Pono yes councilwoman D young yes councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino I vote Yes this resolution is adopted move on to item number 43 four three is the adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget I move to adopted 2024 Municipal budget I second the motion roll call councilman albanes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman feineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino I vote yes thank you we will now return to our regular agenda moving on to the consent agenda all matters listed under item consent agenda will be enacted by one Motion in the form listed below if discussion is desired on any item this item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately item 51 authorized temporary capital budget councilwoman D young thank you this resolution authorizes a temporary capital budget for 2024 which certifies the bond ordinances to be introduced later this evening for 2024 capital projects and Equipment purchases thank you thank you item 52 authorize Award of contract operation of food truck at Brick Beach three councilwoman Travis thank you Council vice president this resolution authorizes an award of Contracting amount $2,000 to Little Caesar th River for the operation of a food truck at Brick Beach 3 this contract is for the 2024 Beach season when the con concession stand will likely be under construction for structural repairs thank you thank you item 53 authorized negotiation of Summerfest food truck vendors remaining categories councilman Fineman thank you uh this resolution authorizes the Township's business administrator to directly negotiate food truck vendors to fill one or both of the specialty spot openings for food truck vendors at this year's Summerfest concert series the township went out for bid twice for these two spots and did not receive any bid thank you thank you item number five4 authorized shared services agreement for sign shop Services PO Pleasant Beach councilwoman D young thank you this resolution authorizes the renewal of a shared service agreement with po Pleasant Beach for assigned shop shared services in this agreement all expenses and staff time are reimbursed to the town thank you item 55 authorize agreement for lifeguard Services Ocean Club at manalan Condominium Association councilman albanes thank you Council vice president this resolution authorizes the execution of Life Services with Ocean Club at man as in the past the township provides life service for the neighboring Beach and all costs are covered through this agreement thank you item 56 authorize adoption of title six nondiscrimination policy councilwoman D young thank you this resolution authorizes the adoption of a non-discrimination policy in in accordance with title six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in connection with the operation of Brick Township senior Transportation program as required by the grant funding from New Jersey Transit title six prohibits discrimination on the basis of race color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance the township of brick is committed to ensuring that no person shall on the grounds of race color national origin be excluded from participation or Deni the benefits of our service thank you uh item 57 Bond releases 57a is an inspection fund release for Block 854 Lot 4 and 7B is an inspection fund release for account 851 075 thank you item 58 tax collector 8A is 100% daab Widow a veteran deduction for Block 3804 lot five 8B is 100% D Widow of Veteran deduction for block8 6941 lot9 and 8C is a tax over pay for the year 2023 at block 1150 Lot 4 thank you item 59 authorized special event permit bike Ms Coast the coast event I'll read this this resolution authorizes the issuance of a special event permit to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for a bike Ms Coast the coast event to be held on Saturday May 11th of 2024 bicyclists will bike from deal to Island Beach State State Park and back in the bike Lanes on Route 35 North and South they have also received a permit from the NJ do that ends the consent agenda I'll ask for a motion in a second open to councel for questions seeing none I'll open it to the public for questions on these resolutions only Mr Foster I'm getting my Tre work in today not can use my big belly Sam Foster 1082 drive two questions on your consent agenda the first one is number four shared services agreement I remember that the uh Cal Administration believe it was them had a consent uh Shar service agreement I think it was with the police department some department but I forgot who it was but it was terminated by I remember mayor JY was talking about this when he became mayor I asked the question or the council me why it was terminated and he said that we was actually costing us money he said that the uh Shar service agreement was uh not uh not very beneficial to The Brick I know uh Miss Berg I think you're you're the CFL correct Berg ber I'm sorry ber and ber in yeah I don't know which one if if which one who who would be but do you know uh uh I forgot who what what department it was but it was you yeah yeah uh yeah but uh yeah cuz you're the new business Min but anyway um what uh assurances or procedures have you uh can you give us that this one will be fair in terms of it not being uh costing us money like the one have you has there been any uh uh studies done or anything like that this is a shared services agreement that will allow could you Pleasant I'm sorry speaking to the microphone this is a shared services agreement that will allow Point Pleasant to use our sign shop services for which they will reimburse us yeah so it's a very different scenario from the shared service agreement that can you speak your microne please oh I'm so sorry it's a very different scenario from the one that the township exited with at the time it was with Tom's River for building department okay so that was all of the permits all the inspections all the permit review the processing of permits that's an enormous um undertaking for a size for a town this size never mind to try to merge that with the town the size of Tom so it was two humongous Services shared by to large towns okay yeah uh this is different um this is not for all the signs that they want to do in Point Pleasant uh the the veteran signs that are outside of windward uh if you've ever noticed them and next time you're on princeon take a look if you haven't I don't dare so I passed that almost every day so okay they've been greatly admired by other towns so uh they have asked us if we could make the same sign so it's not every stop sign or road sign or no parking sign it's just for the veteran signs which we did successfully bad and we didn't lose any money on that and now we're doing that with Point Pleasant Beach thank you you're welcome second question is and I have a question before I ask this question is number six authoriz authorized adoption of the non-discrimination policy is uh this is under civil rights law it's under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and this is just because of I believe Mrs Bergen aora we just changed the building correct yeah so the policy is required because we get money from the county for our senior services program that money comes from the federal government trickle down to the counties down to municipalities so because of that because the money some of the money that we get is federal money we are required to adopt this policy which we have had in place as Council D young said for many years uh but now that we have opened Aurora and seniors are located there we had to amend the policy to make sure we're including all the addresses of where we operate Services okay I have a question about this and I know going to raise some hairs on your necks but I'm sorry I have to ask this question uh you all know I'm a disabled person and my question is similar to what I asked about number four and that is what guarantee and I want asking this as a disabled person which I'm supposed to have rights under federal law civil rights law Ada Americans with Disabilities Act I I'm not going to go into the specifics but you all know what I put up with at the meaning here I've told you people I'm disabled and and I've had my rights I'm not going to make this I don't want to be antagonistic Mr Kinley so don't take it that way but I've had my rights not respected just happened just now you know did I have a slight hearing lost councilman amberino I said this the councilman minino when he threw screaming temper tamper at me when I ask you to speak in the microphone it's for my benefit as a disabled person who is hard of hearing I asked Mrs Mrs uh Miss Bergen and she spoke into it it doesn't matter if everybody in the room can hear you I can't I'm a disabled person Ada requires Mr Kinley can tell you this reasonable accommodations to be provided to a disabled person I can't hear as good as you people can if I say I can't hear you you are legally required under federal law to speak up you do it councilman minino does it and I'm tired of it how can we have any faith that you're going to uh abide by federal civil rights law under resolution number six when you people can't even do something as simple to speak up and not scream and curse at me during a council meeting and you people wonder why I lose my temper seriously what is wrong with you people you know I've got a Civil Life lawsuit civil rights lawsuit pending against the township and I'm not trying to be antagonistic Mr K Mr uh Kennelly but I mean it I've had it you don't listen maybe a judge will straighten it out for you thank you Mr Foster you are welcome and don't yell at me either there any other comments on the consent agenda seeing none I'll close public call councilman albanes yes councilwoman Padero yes councilwoman diong yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes move on to item 510 Bill resolution be it resolved by the township Council of the township of brick that the following bills be paid and that the mayor and clerk be and are hereby authorized to draw orders on the treasur for the amounts of the same Compu computer Bill resolution in the amount of 24 m89 7,829 189 is there a motion motion second open to council for questions on the bill resolution only seeing none open a public for questions on the bill resolution only seeing none roll call councilman albanes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young abstain Community Services yes to the rest please councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes thank you item 511 manual Bill resolution be it resolved by the township Council the township of brick that the following bills be paid and that the mayor and clerk be and are hereby authorized to draw orders on the treasure for the amounts of the same manual Bill resolution in the amount of 1,935 8874 is there a motion motion second open to council for questions seeing none open to public for questions on the manual Bill resolution only seeing none close public roll call councilman albanes yes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes move on to item 61 ordinance on first reading I remind everybody there is no public hearing on first reading Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements and Acquisitions in and by the township of brick in the county of ocean state of New Jersey appropriating 2, 869577 m726 192 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof councilwoman young thank you uh this explanation will be for the bond ordinances for the for all the lives the 5ye 7ye 10 year and 15E the 2024 capital budget totals $10 million at the outset the total request for Capital funds exceeded $20 million but the department heads worked hard to back into manageable numbers highlights for the 2024 capital budget include improvements to br brick Beach 3 concession building year one of our Park safety surface replacement program with uh fry Park scheduled as the first priority for 2024 a highwater response vehicle for the police department remounting two ambulances cameras and lights at Pinewood Park a sidearm garbage truck and rear loading garbage truck for DPW and funds toward the permitting and design of the DPW Public Works Master site plan this this year's capital budget also includes $75,000 design cost for a new public safety building that the township would like to build on the Barrier Island the new building will house the police department including summer crossing guards EMS and the fire department the capital budget also includes over three million in upfront cost to begin the dredge Marshland res restoration project thank you thank you I'll ask for a motion motion second open a council for questions on the fiveyear life Bond ordinance seeing none roll call councilman albanes yes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes item 62 Bond ordinance sevene life Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements and Acquisitions in and by the township of brick in the county of ocean state of New Jersey appropriating 441,000 ,100 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $499,450 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof is there a motion motion second open to council for questions seeing none roll call councilman albanes yes councilwoman pontorero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman fman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes item 63 Bond orance 10e life Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements and Acquisitions ended by the township of brick in the county of ocean state of New Jersey appropriating 3, 81157 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 3,620 n91 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof is there a motion motion second open to council for questions seeing none roll call councilman albanes councilwoman Pono councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes item 64 Bond ordinance 15 your life Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements and Acquisitions in and by the township of brick in the county of ocean state of New Jersey appropriating 2,877 760 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 2,733 1872 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof is there a motion motion open to council for questions seeing none roll call councilman Alban yes councilwoman ptero yes councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes thank you thank you moving on to item number seven public comments please note that each person addressing the council during any section of the meeting during which public comment is permitted shall limit his or her remarks to 5 minutes pursu to Brick Township Administrative Code section 2-33 B thank you very much Miss call oh this side I on my mind traveled like it did when uh you were still on the consent agenda and one of the things I want to talk about is uh at the same time is the last council meeting I went to I think it was the next night I went to the planning board meeting at lo and behold they don't seem to have a problem with having lock 38 o45 and then immediately following it the address that we recognize that as and I did comment at that meeting about how I felt that that was very good of them and they were quite happy to get the compliment so I repeat every time you use block and lot that means nothing to us this is a public meeting in which we are supposed to become informed give us what we need keep the blat and black that's fine or don't keep it that would be fine too but give us an address and you uh said there's no uh open me no ability to comment on it on first reading that's not the correct phrase it is not mandatory to have it open to comments from the people it is optional and going way back to the days of Joe scarelli who wasn't supposed to be so involved in Council meetings but he would frequently get involved and he was always willing to have us stay and uh speak on things on first meeting at the Caucus meeting which was the week before the public meeting so you could do that and you would probably have better but it's more important that you've got to start listening to the people there has to be I would say once a month you now have two extra weeks since they don't use uh the combined the uh system that they did when may scarelli was here where you had a caucus this week and the public the next week with the same subject matter and both of them frequently want went as long as each other that's why why we had taken it and changed it to a combined caucus SLU but you don't have a Caucus meeting caucus meetings allows us to talk on everything until we're satisfied that we know what's going on so I suggest that you get to know your people in your town have a meeting at least once a month somewhere and maybe in Civic Center where the people can talk about not just what's on an agenda but what's in their minds and one of the first things I would talk about is the streets and getting somebody here who has the rule books the textbooks whatever it takes as to how much room you should have there was a big fuss about putting the trees back in into uh what do you live Joe Jack uh Ever Green Woods if you take a ride up or is it down I think it's down Burnt Tavern Road to uh Stop and Shop in at the next town Point Pleasant you will see before you get to that point that there is an a median an island whatever you want to call it that is a very wide space with a grassy area and trees and that is how it should be for all of the areas where you have such a highspeed and so many cars that are going both ways to keep the uh lights from going into the driver of the opposite direction car there is so much in this town that is way off the whack and people ought to start bringing suits against you for it thank you Miss call any other comments from public mruga John sluka 950 sovet Court um I think this Thursday is the board board of ed meeting just in case anybody feels like going uh question concerning the new Aldi before I get started on my letter uh behind the Alis we have a a bunch of stuff do we ever groundbreaking or anything like that do we know find the sports dome or whatever that thing is so they just that's not aome they had to go back before the planning board to modify it's no longer a dome it's going to be a Butler Building because of the difficulties they encountered trying to get a sprinkler system which is required for the safet of the kids that'll be in the dome they went back before the planning board and very recently came into resolution compliance which means they can now submit their per they have not done that yet but that's what we but that's the next step and then okay I mean the council should also consider once they start making money and giving the town the money normal tax rate would be about 55% goes to the school board right now under that plan zero goes to the school board it makes no sense just because we have a specialized agreement I know the state says you're allowed to do it let's not be allowed let's automatically just change it which we're allowed to do I guess okay my letter April 10 2024 to Mayor crate council president Vincent minino all brick councilmen and councilwoman and all the P people of brick uh many 14 to 20 foot pollution noise and safety walls are needed alongside the Gard State Parkway additionally increase in the number of trees and brush is needed alongside the Garden State Parkway throughout Brick Township and other parts of Ocean County the people of Evergreen Woods Green Brier Brier Mill Cherrywood and the students teachers and workers in the schools such as Lan mil Bai and Lake Riviera Areo and those working at the Town Hall and Library die prematurely the council comments that the meeting is a great opportunity for the a council to for members to show that they care for the residents of the township this may not be their first opportunity to stand up but it is an opportunity to speak out about the dangers to our residents of the New Jersey turn par Authority forced Upon Us 10 years AG ago or so the New Jersey turn Park Authority looked at the financial benefit of their supporters without regard to the impact on the residents of the area everyone may know that the New Jersey turn par put a group of trees in the Evergreen Zords area which were maintained by the Association of the approximately 83 foot trees that are now 6 foot 7 foot 10 12T tall and a lot of room in between each one uh still maintained by the Association in a row just one row near the Garden State Parkway obviously you could the kids could see this stuff between the trees there's a gap of 5 foot that's a lot of Gap app this may be nothing better than its nice feeling and adds to the Aesthetics but does very little to Aid the children want waiting at the bus stops swimming in the pools playing in the playgrounds or in fact living in Evergreen Woods these trees are obviously not sufficient and do little to help the residents the New Jersey turn Park Authority does not care and has basically does not nothing to advest for the residents of the Brick Township or Evergreen Woods or anywhere else in Brick Township the World Health Organization suggests the main pollutants are particular matter a mix of solid liquid droplets arising mainly from fuel combustion and road traffic nitrogen dioxide from from road traffic and indoor cookeries uh sulfur dioxide from burning fossil fuels and when ground level caused by the reaction of sunlight with pollutants on the emissions this is the ozone that we hear about the pollutants that affect the people the most is the particular matter uh but and that causes an air pollution obviously everything in that causes air pollution our engines continue to pump out dirty emissions nine out of 10 people die prematurely because they breed the polluted air and it kills over 7 million people every year throughout the world not United States and not New Jersey not in everg Greenwoods but total 7 million people is a lot of people the health effects of air pollution are serious one-third of the debts from stroke lung cancer heart disease are due to the air pollution this is having the equivalent effect of smoking tobacco I thought we wanted to get rid of smoking tobacco and much higher than say eating too much salt thanks for your time if I didn't say it John sler 950 silver your cord your back 10 seconds anybody else from public Mr Finelli mentioned last time I was up here that this is that the uh mua is giving you money before and I remember they have could anybody tell me roughly it doesn't have to be totally accurate how many times in the last 10 years the MUA is giving you money 2014 15 16 and 17 14 15 16 17 so at five times they giving you money in the last 10 years including tonight yeah okay has it always been a million dollars okay so in effect my way thinking the MUA is collecting tax revenue for you they're doing it by charging us for our water and sewer because they oh they they have a million dollars to give you quite often and if that's not illegal it really should be because you're you're getting money for your budget from them on a consistent basis and that's wrong I'm I'm a single person and I pay minimum on water whether I use it or not and they're funding you um last meeting at the end of the meeting when it was board comments we had a dissertation about fully funding the police department so I have a couple of questions or comments about that the size of of brick the geographic footprint has not gotten any larger as far as I know still the same size according to the last census which was 2020 I realized it's a couple years old Brick Township went down through 3,000 people from 77,000 to 74,000 so we're not growing people we're losing people we're not growing geography yet we consistently need more and I use the word more we need more police we need more special police we need more dispatchers we need more bullets we need more everything and I I specifically remember the last time we needed we wanted special police we were going from 5: to 8: and the reason we wanted the three was so that they could do the bookings and whatnot and they could uh do the court security and whatnot and that would put more regular police out on the street and I didn't disagree with that makes sense to me now the number I'm hearing was we need 15 special police and that's what we were always budgeted for or what we were planning for the last time there was no discussion about 15 it was get to eight so if nothing is changing why do we keep why do we keep needing more what what what's going on that's making it that we have to have more so the sidebar contract that the council approved with the PBA for special police officers allowed 25 99% the number is 25 oh thank you um so that has always been our number for the past decade is 25 now the number the reason you see a lot of swearingin over time is because they leave some of them go on to the police academy to become police officers they they want went on to the fire um Department to become a fireman they they go and they do other things they leave so we're swearing in so that we're keeping the force at the 25 that we originally agreed to when we did the PBA contract sidebar for the special police officers so did you when in this contract cont this contract says you will have 25 or you're allowed to have 25 this contract remains unchanged from when we first did the sidebar with the PBA for specials it's 25 now it was 25 then Joanne you didn't answer my question I'm sorry my question is does it say you have to have 25 or you allowed to have 25 we're we're allowed to have up to 25 okay so you don't have to have 25 no we don't right and this is something that you negotiated with the PBA I did not this was in place okay I didn't mean you this was this was negotiated correct so there's nothing that says you have to have 25 that's correct okay but but that's what you're striving for that's the number that we work with we we know we can have 25 we know we can have up to 25 so we try to kind of like we do with our police roster we know what the number of the roster is there's a lot of moving parts and you're always trying to make sure you have enough people to to serve the function that they're intended to do special police officers very specific responsibilities and duties that they cover for the township of brick like you said to allow the police officers to be out on the road doing other things so how many do you have now I don't know what the current roster is I I I couldn't tell you guess is it anywhere near 25 probably probably close to 20 what do you what what are you so are you are you going to try to get 25 we always do we're always and what are you going to do with them they have very specific roles and responsibilities in the contract which we use them for you articulated earlier is there is there a shortfall I mean are you hurting is there some reason why you have to have them and not that you can I mean we always hear that well we can have this the law allows we say we can do this we can do that we can do the other thing you know you you can do what you want on the cap but the school district can only do 2% you can do it is not a reason to do it you can do it if you don't need them then don't hire them we absolutely do need them they fulfill a very specific responsibility in the the police department for the town of brick we absolutely do need them tell me what what areas they're not you already articulated it yourself so they do bookings they do bookings now they do the court the police officers don't come have to come off the road to do a booking they're done by the special police officers so is there more booking that you need more of them to do more booking I don't know how many arrests we had last year I'm sure the chief covered that in this police presentation I guess my next question is the beauty is crime going up that we need more people because I always see that I always hear that it's not well yeah the goal is not for Crime to go up because we're out there being proactive and we have our specials at all of our events and we have our specials doing traffic detail all of these things that keep the police officers doing what it is that they do all right just just my ending comment you know we heard other people talking about zero budgets and and everything else you realize that we in New Jersey are the highest tax state in the country by far nobody even close to us and and even even a a one year of no tax raise just means you didn't raise the taxes but everybody else did right and if what you're looking at now is going to be what you raise what the school board raises and what all those other people that I mentioned last year raises right everybody's money is going up me personally I like a 0% increase but that but that doesn't make me happy because we're the highest tax state in the country a decrease would make me happy that that would be nice and and just for you to say that we we negotiated with with the PBA that don't mean we need to hire another five or six or seven if we don't need them we don't need them what whatever the number says thank you Mark Vasquez from for Elana court so I would like to second that this this Council should really think about doing Workshop meetings or caucus meetings however you want to put it it is unfair for us to to find out about what you're doing last minute not have a budget set up not having discussions not not being able to talk about it things really you never answering questions unless it fits your agenda that needs to change the other thing as a also as a resident of Evergreen Woods Mr Mr John has been reading his letter for 10 plus years I think it is now right 10 plus years I live close to the parkway so I'm used to hearing the sounds and the construction and anything that goes on the races and everything else it's frustrating though that this body and not necessarily every single one of you because you haven't been around for 10 years but he reads this letter every single council meeting and then some of you spend the time to stare at your phones or look down because you've heard it over and over and over again and that is unfair to him 10 plus years this man has been coming to almost every meeting unless he's sick and we do nothing about that I know it's not in our wheelhouse and we can't make the final decision I understand that you can shake your head as much as you want that's completely fine but the reality is is that someone is coming to you for 10 plus years years begging you for help now I happen to go to meet some people that this impacts because they live literally right there against the parkway fathers worried about their kids because their kids are waking up in the middle of night because they're hearing the sounds they're worried about yes their health now obviously I'm no health expert so I couldn't give you whether that really does impact whether it creates odd I can't answer those questions but as a person who lives in Evergreen Woods I could tell you yeah it's really annoying and then you have a council who rather look down and text that's annoying and that's unfair and so this I don't know where we got to this idea that that for some reason we're just an audience no we're your taxpaying voters well we're the taxpaying voters that are telling you this is what we're worried about this is what we're thinking about and then you ignore it you laugh at it and then this poor guy Teddy you push the buttons man you love to push the buttons because as soon as you have the authority to it you love to use it and we've seen this over and over with you again and so as public comments I would love love that you guys make a workshop meeting so that the community can engage with you so before you vote we've had the opportunity to tell you hey we like this or hey maybe we don't need 25 right now we should do 15 because we things are rough out there how many people in Brick Township are barely affording the bills right now buying food but yet you did 0% now and you didn't want to discuss why you did 0% last year now you're you're increasing the budget you're claiming 1.9 when we know it's 4% so you're doing this whole show right so that those who really don't pay attention will vote for you again so you say oh don't do politics here but all you do is politics all day long every council meeting and that's very frustrating because at the end of the day we're the ones that are impacted right you live here you're gonna get paid we're paying health insurance is that correct for them okay why don't you give that back send it to the school system do you really need it will you give that $1 million to the school system probably not but you should because this damn Town needs it we're desperate for help and the only thing I see here is just whatever works for you guys so you can pass it and move it on still got about a minute and 20 seconds so I'll keep reaching so the reality is what what is this and actually I do have a question for you as the Le onto the MUA did you at all have the discussion about this money that's being that's coming over did you were you aware of it at all yes you were okay did you at all decide or say hey the school system needs it before we do did you tell Joanne Bergen not to send a letter because maybe that should have gone to the school system why did you not so you made the best decision for what looked best for you guys right that's obviously everything is for the town we know that right so it doesn't really matter but why did you why did you take you're raising so the school system needs it more than your budget does big time Big Time and you're taking it yeah and he makes a really good point how how is it that they're collecting taxes for you somehow and then you're getting paid for it well it's not really they're not necessarily saying we're going to collect the taxes right they have the profit and you're getting it right so you got it five times $5 million so that's you got I wasn't really talking to you I apologize but the M the MUA gave you guys $5 million over five years right gave the town $5 million why did you not give the the why did you say no why wouldn't you say know when you're the liaison do you ever talk to the school board at all you never answer question this is the point of what the problem is with this counil you guys never answer questions when it's tough for you right you love to turn it around it's for the town it's it's for this but when it's real when we're asking you a real question about our school system is suffering I can't when that budget comes out and people see what we got have to lay off oh boy it's going to be rough here in Brick and they're part of our infrastructure and so but it's it's for the town what you're doing is for the [Music] town I'm sorry say again I don't have any kids does that matter though me and my wife plan to have kids right so then that it's it does matter right oh well I forgot taxpayers don't matter in the school system taxpayers don't matter in the school system most of the taxes taken that you guys approve is going to the school system though is it not well they don't I'm sorry excuse me the board the Board of Education approves that I apologize does not adopt or vote on the school board budget and that was very clear in the original instructions as to why they were not count commenting on the Schoolboard budget or the county budget this is not the appropriate Forum to discuss those budgets they they have a building across the street and they will have a public hearing on their budget at which time anyone is free to go in public comment this council is busy enough dealing with the town budget of police and public works and and maintaining public property it's not their their duty to oversee the school board's budget or the County's budget but this is the town collects the taxes that is strictly a job of a tax collector and we act as a pass through and doing that but that's not their that's not their role to comment or uh impose their opinions on the Schoolboard budget yeah but they're they're part of this community are they not and so so they're not imposing the Schoolboard Budget on anyone I I understand that they're not imposing the Schoolboard budget but they is there liaison to the school board in this on this council is anybody here liaison I know you were liaison at one point correct there's no liaison now so you guys are not communicating with the school board that's inaccurate we we stated already that we have sat down with them and we talked about ways that we could work with them who we m Bergen or I and none nobody from the council the deciding body who approves or disapproves the budget you may not like it you asked if we communicated with the school board and I'm telling you that we do okay that's fine but that doesn't really answer right so the council is making the best decision right for politics not for the people let's not pretend the facade is is what's best for the people right because if because it was a council member would have been a liaison would have spoken to the superintendent who who is saying yeah we need money and we're suffering and you would have then made that decision to say well we're getting this million dollars from the MUA we that that really should go to the school system thank you for your comments is there anybody else from public seeing none Clos public Miss Bergen if if you'll allow council president I'd like to see if Moren take my absolute summary in case she has any closing I just wanted to say to anybody that was saying that nothing's um you can't get your hands on budgets everything like tomorrow the budget will be put put up on our website everything is up there at your convenience to up there to look the annual debt statement the annual financial statement the audits everything is public knowledge and out there for you to see so I I I don't you know I I just wasn't understanding why everyone was saying you can't see anything it's published on our website we have to have four years up there going back so I just wanted it to be clear that everything is out there for everyone to see thank you for that clarification Miss Burke mayor cig thank you I W to um congratulate our new officer Jesse lion welcome him to the family and uh look forward to seeing him serving here in Brick Township uh I also wanted to just mention a couple of things that we have coming up but first I'd be remissed if I didn't thank um both Miss Bergen and um Mo for sitting here and and being available to answer all the questions that people had uh and all of your hard work that went into going into making this budget a reality and we appreciate you so thank you um I wanted to uh just briefly thank the brick little league and the brick American uh Little League for inviting uh myself and the council out for their opening days and to remind everyone that uh it this year is the 50th anniversary of girls playing little leag so it's girls with game 50 so if you're out there cheering on some teams you're going to see a lot of girls out there playing we had a lot of girls celebrating on a couple weeks ago on Saturday when they had their opener so congratulations to them and I hope that they both have wonderful Seasons um the second thing that I wanted to just bring awareness to is we have our our next pickup brick is this Saturday it's from 10 to it's from 10 to two but it's really like 10 to oneish uh it will be at Riverwalk refuge and uh that's off of manogi Road near Vata woods so we look forward to seeing a good turnout there um I don't I'm not familiar with that area actually I haven't really uh walked those paths yet but I always wear my boots because you never know how wet something's going to be although I don't see rain being called in the forecast too much this week so Seekers or boots would be appropriate for uh but otherwise we Supply everything else the gloves the bags the buckets all that stuff so hopefully we'll see a good crowd come on out for that um the next thing is uh our SII senior citizen prom is coming up I know I've mentioned it before but it is a great night um it's taking place on Friday May 3rd from 6:00 to 9: at Civic Plaza if you're interested in attending you can reach out to our recreation department and they'll reserve your spot it's a great night with the band uh our my mayor student advisory will be there those students will be there serving and dancing with everyone uh so if you're interested we don't really as adults at least I don't have the opportunity uh to dance that often with with friends and uh you know I I'm past the point of lots of people getting married in my life so that was really my that that s that ship is sailed so getting to go to events like this are fun because it's gives you the opportunity to dance and it I think dancing makes people happy so uh love to see you out for for that um I did host a lunch today or we I should say we hosted a lunch today here in town hall for our uh brick Chamber of Commerce we've been making some very good connections with our chamber if you are a small business in town if you're a big business in town and you have not reached out to our chamber they are growing and they offer some wonderful ways to become um a part of the chamber and also to support each other because that's the whole purpose of this chamber is for businesses here in town to support each other and for us to be able to work with them um to make our community better small businesses here in Brick Township are really the backbone of our community and uh I was very happy to host that lunch today and I look forward to working with a lot of people from the chamber going forward and finally Miss Bergen and I had the opportunity this morning to meet with assemblyman kitra it was a great meeting we met with him and his staff we had conversations about ways that we can work together uh with him through the state to get a lot of the things here in Brick Township that we think are important to our residents rolling and I was very uh happy to have that meeting and continue that relationship going forward and seeing different ways that we can work together so other than that that's all I have and I hope everyone has a great night thank you Madame mayor Mr canel nothing to see thank you very much Madame clerk nothing thank you Madam Secretary no thank you councilman albanes yeah uh May 18th the 12th annual green Fair will be at 5:15 her road from 10 to two I hope you all can make it councilwoman ponter thank you I want to commend Miss Bergen and Miss B for your wonderful and concise uh budget presentations and trying to articulate in a way so that all of us can help appreciate all of the time and hard work and effort that you guys have used to back in to a number that is manageable I don't know how you work the magic that you work but I know that it occurs on a daily basis because everyone complains that no one says yes and I don't want them to say yes I want them to make the right decision so I applaud your efforts even though sometimes you get backlash for it and thank you to all of the members of the community to come out and listen to these budget presentations and try to make sense out of it I know it's not easy um I've talked to some residents who have been watching on um on the BTV each presentation and I've only gotten wonderful responses of how much they learned and understood so thank our department mens who I've been presenting in the past weeks thank you and have a good night castom young thank you I too want to thank Mo and Joanne you guys always make understanding the budget much easier for me and of course um our Township employees who do all of the work uh to continue always making trying to make brick better um a couple other events uh that we have going on um the PBA is hosting their Helping Hands basketball game uh it is the PBA versus the I believe it's the green dragon seniors football team and it is uh held uh in the dragon Den on Friday May 3rd it starts at 5:30 uh and this will this year that is benefiting the Fabia and Doty families uh who are facing Financial hardships due to medical illness uh you can uh purchase tickets I think there's a link on the PBA Facebook page um so it's a really fun night out um if you are if you like to watch a basketball game versus our cops versus a bunch of high school seniors really fun really fun night uh and also our Farmers Market starts May 4th uh 8:30 in the morning to 1:30 it is our 10th season and we are really really looking forward to it I we have a bunch of new vendors ERS um and of course we have the old standbys we have por coffee re woodwork um who are the Seaglass jewelry uh the soy candles all of those guys that have been there for 10 years since the beginning uh and it's a fantastic Community event and what I've grown to love and appreciate for our Farmers Market is all our vendors talk to each other they all try to like make you know using different products from each of the places they really had they really have grown together and uh made it a really good Community event and of course it's always supporting our small businesses uh and that's all I have to you thank you thank you Council mfan thank you so much to unpack tonight I don't know where to begin uh first I want to thank uh Mr Berg and Mr Bergen for uh piling and pres presenting the the budget definitely uh not easy um as a small business owner it's very chall in and I can only you know imagine and being new to the council um you know I know there's a lot to lot of work and effort so I just want to say thank you to you to and the team and everyone else uh you know I get it you know times are are tight I mean I you remember when the dollar store right they went up from a dollar to a do25 and for yeah and for uh you know store we call it the dollar store it's like surely you can't be serious yeah yeah um so you know I get it um uh but you know as long as we can you know stick together and I don't know the exact kind of off a little bit but the power of one right so whatever you can do as an individual as a person as a neighbor as a friend as a relative whatever whatever you can do to to positively impact another person no matter how small even if the smallest little thing you should do it I know I try to do it when possible I know that the council people up here we all do so I I just wanted to you know reflect on that that's my uh you know advice and thoughts so uh thank you stay safe and have fun thank you councilwoman Travers I also just wanted to congratulate our newest officer Jesse lion and again again for all your hard work tonight um there's a lot of moving parts to all of this and it's hard for anyone individual to understand so for you and your team to than you so much and thank you I'd also like to thank Mrs Bergen and Miss laffy Berg for all of your time tonight all the work to put into the budget Miss Bergen for making department heads available for the last two months to prevent to present budget details to the public during our meetings I know it is an extraordinary amount of work that you begin very early in the year in order to get it done and you get it done every year for us uh the last thing I'll say is just the next scheduled meeting is to be held on May 14th at 7M we will now entertain a motion to adjourn second all in favor meeting is adjourned