h for I'd like to call our February 21st bergantine city council meeting to order we please rise for the black standing while our Deputy Mayor Karen bu leads us in prayer Heavenly Father we give you thanks for the freedom we exercise and the many blessings of democracy we enjoy in these United States of America we ask for your protection and guidance for all those who devote themselves to the common good working for justice and peace at home and around the world heal us from our differences and unite us with a common purpose dedication and commitment to achieve Liberty and Justice in the years ahead for all people and especially those who are most valuable in our midst we pray this in your name amen your standing silence for the grand patriarch of Brigantine filina Arena filamina passed this week at the amazing age of 106 years old she was born in Philadelphia in 1917 and moved to Brigantine with her husband and daughter in 1949 where she was involved in just about every organization the island had to offer she was active in St Thomas Women's Club in South Jersey cancer fund sons of Italy young at heart Beta Sigma Pi senior club and the Brigantine Republican Club she was a 50-year member of the Lions Club and was a volunteer at the Historical Museum for many years at 100 years of age philina was named MVP of the Bachi League Phil participated in senior big bigo at the community center and last year she was crowned Sherry Boston princess at the green teens cherry blossom tea Bina is survived by her daughter Anette Wilson her son-in-law Richard Wilson her granddaughters Melinda Cunningham and Pam Hoffman their husbands Jason and Richard and her great grandsons Zachy and Alexander you should all take a book from the page of filamina and live life to its fullest thank you please be seated ly can you read the open public meetings act announcement adise the meeting no covering this meeting required tiger ex session no mayor there's no need for executive s I need our approval our February 7th 2021 council meeting executive session minutes motion second second questions or comments see none for br yes yesy yes yes yes may Sarah yes motion carries time we'll open it up for public comment this is public comment on agenda items only please come up and state your name and address for the record see no public comment close the publiction we have resolution 20243 this is a resolution of support from local governing body authorizing fiscal year 2024 local Recreation Improvement Grant application funded by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs have a motion in second tiger can you give us little information on this grant mayor so this grant that we are applying for would cover new batting cages at the uh 26 Street field netting some uh fence repair also at the tennis pickleball courts some shade structures much needed shade structures that's shoot for this grant does this grant have a local match so there is no required local match however to be competitive it is encouraged for a local match so if we are awarded then we we can discuss the little that do have any questions or comments from Council seeing none we have roll call you yes mat yesy yes dely yes Kan yes SP Sarah yes resolution 2024 d39 and this is uh state of New Jersey New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Officer of the Attorney General safe and secure community's grant program have a motion second so move second any questions or comments seeing none we have roile you yes yes yes yes Kan yes yes motion car resolution 202 try that resolution 2024 D40 this is a resolution authorizing the city of Brigantine to enter into the New Jersey Cooperative purchasing I Cooperative purchasing agreement have a motion second questions or comments see none can we have roll call you yes yes yes yes yes SAR yes car resolution 2024 d41 and this is a resolution requested permission with a dedication by Ryder for veterans hometown hero banners required by the city of Brigantine have motion second so this is just in order for us to get State approval be taking in a program and this will set up a trust where people can do banners for local veterans who served and this will allow us to get the state approvals to collect those funds and use that money specifically for starting that process Now by state all right any questions or comments we have this specific location seen that in other Town yeah so that's kind of where we got this from I've seen it in other towns too it looks sharp it looks yeah it looks really nice myself and John doring met with the legion and ufw we're gonna have them involved with it as well the initial thought is uh to run them along the prominade and uh depending on how how big it gets how many we get then the uh business districts the streetscapes all those new polls as well that's what this uh we're in the very early stages but we are we're heading in a good direction yeah absolutely all right there's no other questions can we have roll yes yes yes yes yes motion carry resolution 202442 this is resolution authorizing the award of an Irrigation Design Consulting construction at the Brigantine Links Golf Course to hydro designs and amending the shared service agreement with Atlant County Improvement Authority uh this is as I said for hydro Design Inc is the most qualified bidder at 32,500 motion second second sure this is the first step in investing in upgrades for our golf course which we purchased back in 2002 need to invest in your properties Just Like You knowes on the island and it's long overdue that we put this irrigation system in I don't think we can go through another couple Works without losing the whole all the fairways and the greens so this is our first step and constantly they have been yeah they've been putting Bubble Gum and duct tape on on it and digging holes all over the course for many many years and it's just beyond that the new system incredibly accurate end irrigation system out of blanks is definely out out question yes for my fellow council members along with John yes yes Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 20-43 and this is real estate tax exemption for a 100% questions comments have call yes yes yes yes may Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 20244 resolution granting Li at 21 Street driveway Street yeah the city um this came up before the planning board the city had has a RightWay through there and um they have a deck that was unsafe they wanted to fix back be into the driveway a little bit so this is going to allow them to park in our RightWay but not lock side we have no utilities running through there and there's no city interest that I'm aware of at this time decided to do in changes f if there's no other questions or comments we have roll call yes the yes hany yes dely yes Kan yesen yesara yes we have our consent agenda and on the consent agenda I apologize thank you I get event all right so we have resolution 2024 and this is a resolution sorry 2024 d45 this is a resolution by the city of britin New Jersey authorizing Enterprise management to provide City vehicles for Brigantine New Jersey have motion second uh big thing we're doing with this is um just giving the city options get vehicles part of the co-ops that we're in right now uh we're waiting anywhere plus to get vehicles um through Enterprise uh they have the ability to reach things wide in order to get vehicles hopeing drastically cut that time down so if they have stuff Avail available that works for us we can use it if not use any of our there any questions or comments see none we have BR you yes yes yes sah yes motion car now we have a consent agenda all right we got uh St Andrews by the C Beach request we have our women's surf fishing club tournament request Brigantine food truck festival request booked on fishing request elk raffle license number 1045 elk raffle license number 1046 and stt University for Shore crew CFT we have a motion second questions comments yes yesy yes yes yes motion Carri um mayor Sarah I have to apologize I IED the bill list on here we vote on the bill list I think we need to pay the bills all right so motion second for uh payroll requisition and operating expenses I'll make second any questions or comments see none can we have profile yes yesy yes yes Sarah yes motion car at this time we have our Council manager committee discussions Ken thank you for that very eloquent prayer legac see thank you same it's see she do fantastic job well that's all I got here here turn over to our new president ch and thank you Michael said thanks shout out to my nana our school estimat like to appoint myself counc counc PA School motion second all in favor any oppos see motion pass at this time we'll open it up comment anybody wish heard say address S I think Dro sir I think you dropped something back there I don't know if you need that for notes so if you don't mind if you speak in the microphone it's sorry it's it's hard for people one in the room to hear but two at home I'm saying from my from the obvious thing is January to January this is January this year that's January last year you can see different increase janary year next is same the same dat accept comp see in January January basically expect that that difference should remain compan L by about then suddenly this year shut up by an average you look at the difference 40 going down 100 going up every I believe everybody's Med should very so the only way we going to do this is got a significant number analysis dat the data entry getting dat is a bigger deal where I need your help I also give you comparon your five minutes sorry your five minutes is up sure you're going have have to have very definite data to be able to take on some this significant I it's been big on social media too but what I also want to ask you is do we think there's I mean we all know when they were putting in new meters and that everybody's electric is going to go up a little bit probably more accurate than the old meters but you're saying that it went up 30 to 40% which seems pretty substantial generally it's so what I my my question is there's a couple things we have to ask one did the increase is it only because the new meters were accurate and the older meters were as accurate and to how do we figure out what's actually coming in off the line and what we're actually I'm sorry what's coming in off the line and actually so I I listen I'm with you and I get you 100% it's a good question I have an answer for anything says everybody saw this sure and that's probably why they put them in that Reas Swit they recalibrate they've gotve a lot more control speculation yes I would agree with that but unless you have the data going to they have they have all the information they have all the power the point is you know they they have things that unless you demonstrate this electricity if I recall sir is that Michael did did you you spoke to somebody I read I mean your email was very thorough had a professional touch right with with with the L spil I got back I remember read that all right sorry but I've also talk it's all over social media too it's all over social media too that that social media we get get the data pictures like I said earlier before you do have to have you have to give Atlantic City Electric the right to come in at least defend themselves and speak and explain how these new meters work um only way to to actually figure out if the meters are inaccurate or if they're just more accurate is to I don't you'd have to get an electrical here for that but I don't know how you know do we set up another meter that's calibrated I I don't know I I can email you all get yeah but again it's it's Ace's data data but but it's your it's your data so you sign on to it's the data they're getting from the meter that we have a problem with you understand that yes so how how do we how do we bypass that meter and find out how much energy is actually going important thing is did it increase signicant if it increased then they then you ask a please explain screens of their electricity email you say this is how you get on to the aite I I think we all knew that our energy bills were going to go up a little bit because of the the question is did it go up substantially to a point where we start the question that adults will vot more thank you your presentation was excellent the time you put into it you made your case very thank you for that really page of the times if you need up now I I was waiting I wasn't sure an H phps 30827 mayor usually mayor comment just read these four topics I received a copy of a well-written letter to the city manager by a long time br br president from that President about not being able to hear the febr 7 council meeting my evidently there was no monitoring during meeting to ensure that the public was hearing it now this is a very responsible work and we've heard for years about Bri improving it sound system but it appears also that we're still having problems so I hope you noce that two the city has now authorized two new positions to deal with shortterm rental problem a code enforcement supervisor and a Cod enforcement inspector who has been hired at what salary and what precisely will they do to prev violations of our and the existence of Resort houses the city manager said not what is the status of the mayor that's plural Coalition against the new jerse dep to at windmills close to in our ocean B Sarah you have spoken of having a countywide town me to discuss this issue and all issues flowing from the windmill projects and our count to take a stronger stand that's last we heard from while it appears to be very quiet at this point still pushing this and ourselves to get bear I didn't even for sound shortterm R stuff I have city manager comat a minut but uh when you talk about the I guess update on Windmills of Brigantine is involved in litigation right now we're taking that through that process bner which is from county has joined us in that litigation along with the LBI so we're waiting on that to move through courts apologize what you said yeah I couldn't tell you what court it's him and I do apologize for that we our attorney handles that we have an attorney that's specifically dedicated to this this um I don't know the exact court that it's in so I do apologize that is proceeding moving forward it's broken up in several phases go phase by phase as we move forward uh when it comes to the countywide meeting we're looking at a couple different options we're looking at um doing a bigger countywide meeting but um I believe that smaller meetings in different municipalities um starting to work on coordinating that with the different towns uh my fear is if we do something really big will draw a crowd but I think we're going to draw the people engaged I think we need to take this more local and hit up some of the different organizations to try to get people engaged may not understand what this is going WR uh so in the process of doing that I'll hope to have more information very soon we're talking well right now I'm focused on U Atlantic County County I've have um met with representatives from Kate County they're going to be doing the same thing talked about doing a joint meeting but I still think we need to hit the locals and uh right now my focus is Len and County um Congressman VRE has uh hosted a number of meetings not just here in New Jersey but some other areas so we're hitting this from different levels but um I really want to make sure that people from plan County are engaged fully understand this but it to be much bigger than us much more than us and unfortunately I feel like a lot of people out of the South Jersey area really do not understand this issue do not understand the impact and there's a lot of false information about the benefits that will come from the ocean wind energy that has been challenging to get through and unfortunately um people are trying to make this about partisan politics but it has nothing to do with Mar politics and it's a mask that the governor and some other people pushing this are hiding so we're working on to strategize how we get through that uh for the sound and the short-term rental I'll turn it over to our city manager if you give us an update on sound uh did receive an email the deputy manager did respond to that email as you you all see there are uh notes in front you please speak directly into the microphone it is difficult for some people on YouTube to hear specifically the public microphone phone so we may have to look into getting I know we've had this discussion many times to whether it's a direct or indirect however that I'm probably using the wrong words for so you might need a different microphone there but when people do sit further away from the microphone or they're softspoken it is difficult for people to hear so that's why there's those notes but we've actually we've replaced all of these microphones all these microphones are brand new yes absolutely everything and we're posting it on our YouTube channel which should help access to that but were we looking at anything else for the city so we we do have a program John can probably speak to What U what's the name of that program upgrading it we're upgrading the Liberty system system the Liberty system is yeah upgrading audio and visual and like right now we do I'm doing the zoom and hits the button for 97 that's one of the problems sir that people speak and people that can't hear you and then that's we get we couldn't that's you speak right here they can hear you well so that is what a lot of what we're uh the feedback I'm getting and I kind of take it personal to just text tonight with the microp they are mic so you speak into it it's harder for people to hear but we are making more improvements than just microphones to continue to improve this unfortunately it is a slow process but we are moving forward TIG short term R so we did uh advertise internally as we all do and fortunately reason can't discuss public that hiring is on hold right now so hopefully we'll have uh some movement on that soon we are not um going to hire into the code enforcement part-time inspector position until we can secure that full-time position the the part-time position will what we envision is being able to cover more of weekend hours when City Hall is closed so we will have coverage for somebody to be out there on the street checking on properties uh and you know our our frequent flyers I guess so to speak uh making sure that they are following the ordinance and the ordinance is being enforced that was one of the things that recognized in the past that enforcement was lacking and that is something that these positions will work to take care of in the future is that enforcement piece that's what what we doing but right now it's not I guess as busy so police C enforcement are handling that the Big Challenge becomes as we get into the the summer months more absolutely and and we are still moving forward with the uh program that we've been talking about um there was some delay in our old programs getting the information and pull data out of one program loaded into the new program uh so that there was a delay in that we are moving forward we had discussions with them just today and you know Construction office has gotten some training they need some additional training fire prevention office is the next office that go through their training which should be scheduled within the next week or two so that entire office will be spun up on this new program this new program is going to be phenomenal once we get it up and get all the you know cobwebs you know to everything cleared out that there there it's going to be some Growing Pains as we all learn this new program but it's got a great uh module for a citizen portal an app for people to follow along or be able to uh do complaints through an app or through website it's going to be it's gonna be really good we're taking baby steps but we're again yeah know um I know you and the staff here have worked really hard to make sure that uh all of the information has been migrated over and now making sure that everybody's properly trained on how to use this because I think the biggest thing is once it goes live to the public you know people want immediate response make sure have those Kinks worked out before we take live and then to add to this too um I was going to give this in an update but I did but uh one of the things I'm going to talk about is you can already start to see the impacts of the laws that passed uh there's a number of shortterm rental owners who have decided that they really can't comply and have sold there's a number of short-term rental owners who have now hired professional managers to run their properties know people that have started um property management businesses that are maxed out right they set a number because they want to make sure that they do a good job so we're already starting to see those changes and to my understanding with the exception of the uh party that happened over believe it was Halloween we have not had any other issues on the island and I think it's because our Police Department handled that situation so well you know we're continuing to monitor doesn't mean something hasn't happened that hasn't been reported but we can already start to see the impacts that these walls have had and it has been a much quieter offse and um you know we're going to continue to move forward and continue to get uh everything in place ready to roll this month there's no more public comment close the public portion sorry I received I should did out I made a copy of it snow emergency City had a complain about small snow Emer it's clear that if the owner should pick out the the said you're not allow par sir glad to see it the statute I'm wondering like I just as you were speaking I just brought up on the E 24-33 which specifically addresses the situation gives the dates quickly here from November 30th to May 2nd and the the reason for the further stipulation is just to just for that reason for emergency reasons just in case just people maybe there get you know get it off the road say that much to you uh that's just the statue I I don't know just got your hand out here and you that's the statute that you do have you have 34 highlighted 28434 284 d 33 yeah I do see that you have that you know do have that what you cited initially with those dates you didn't you don't have the dates highlight highlighted but the only response that I get read that article is that it's Stu well not in not in 28433 that doesn't I don't think that brings up snow at all yeah but not SN I don't see snow in there if I may uh the the ordinance that you're pertaining to it really has nothing to do with the snow or with emergency parking at some point uh the residents and Council I guess decided that you know they wanted to get all the boats and trailers off the streets of Brigantine from a certain time um this is up to debate but I guess they figured it was an eyes sore they didn't want boats and trailers all winter long on the streets of Brigantine the compromise they came up with was you know obviously in the summer people are using their boats and that's kind of the part you referenced where boat has to be in front of your own house in the summer months but the ordinance that pertains to your issue is from from you know in the winter months all boats and trailers need to be off the street um we have Community watch people for lack of a better term who call us every winter and say there's boats on my street get them off my street why aren't you guys enforcing the ordinance so the call we got or the email I got today was not just your I know you were trying to talk to your neighbors to see who called about you uh the email I got was 10 different houses spread over a different area wasn't just one neighborhood it was a woman who was complaining about 10 different boats that she has seen as she walks the island and why aren't we doing anything about it so when we get a complaint like that we look into it and we just let the home no this is the ordinance please please move your boat and trailer so that's the ordinance that was addressed today has nothing to do with snow it has nothing to do with anything else but the city has decided for a long time now to have that ordinance to just get the the boats off the street for certain months okay I received the information about the snow from cityall well I mean that's that's a different ordinance and that's snow emergency roots and obviously I apologize I was always told well I was always told the past it was because S no because if that was true then that was 20 years if that was true we would make your so if your boat's in the 200 it's not for snow it's just that you can't have your boat in in in those months we're not going to make you move all those cars because that's fine that's good that you came so we could CL my wife doesn't want any of I haven't been before I've never spoke app pleasure meeting you 50 years in the island coun i' see none we have a motion second to adjourn all in favor I any opposed seeing none motion passed thank you for joining us tonight Council team