##VIDEO ID:1lmiXhNlY4A## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ready all right good afternoon everybody we have the city council meeting of the city of Kate May here in the Kate May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday September 3rd 2024 the time is 4:30 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the Kate May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council posted on the city website and the City Hall bulletin board notice is hereby provided that Kate May City Council meetings are audio recorded and or video streamed live live video streams are posted to the K May City website the city of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Balwin is arriving shortly and will join in close session council member mcde here council member Meer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager dri here Deputy manager rigs here Deputy clerk Turner here and Deputy Mayor Baldwin here just arrived and we have one resolution on the special meeting agenda Council it's res resolution 23689 2024 a resolution providing for a meeting not open to the public in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings Act njsa 10 col 4-12 this is to discuss the Kate May ma the Cumberland and the Cumberland County Improvement Authority shared services agreement do I have a motion I'll make a motion do I have a second I'll second roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes and mayor we have a public portion anyone here wishing to speak on the closed session seeing none we can close public comment and go into close session the time is now 4:32 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone I apologize we were coming out of a closed session there which we need to uh I need a motion to close the Clos session do I have a motion make a motion do I have a second I'll second okay do we need a roll call thank you okay uh and we do not plan to take any action based on the conversation from from the Clos session uh with that we will open up our work session meeting of the city of Council of the City of Cape May New Jersey we are here in the Cape May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday September 3rd 2024 the time is now 15 5:00 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all thank you under the open public meetings law notice that this meeting was sent to the K May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council posted on the city website and the City Hall bulletin board notice is hereby provided that City Council meetings are audio recorded and or video stream live live video streams are posted to the Kate May City website the city of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video stream of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Baldwin here council member McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here City solicor Gillan Schwarz here city manager diet here Deputy manager rigs here and Deputy clerk Turner here and Council I do believe we have one addition uh to the agenda this evening it's resolution 2509 2024 a resolution appointing the me appointing a member the keep May City Zoning Board of adjustment there's a motion to add to the regular agenda do I have a motion to add I'll make the motion do I have a second I second roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member mcde yes Deputy Mayor bwin yes mayor mullik yes any other additions or deletions Council anything Council no okay employee of the month okay City man man Dietrich if you would take the stage thank you this is always the uh fun meeting of the month where I get to come up and uh you really just highlight one of our great employees that we uh have working here at the City of Cape May and uh we have no exception to the rule here um we have a patrol Eric pinski here um so I Alex pinski got I got Eric coming up for a thing so Alex um here this evening so um just a great uh officer within our uh Patrol and and I just wanted to let Chief FASA come up and and just kind of give give you a synopse of the great work that he's doing for us thank you manager I appreciate that uh again as the I'll Echo the statement of the manager as well the employee of the month is an important role um started back a few uh years ago with with um manager V continued by manager dri um I think it's a great program that uh acknowledges and exemplifies the uh the employees as we come through um no short of words for patrolman Alex pinski um who's been with us since uh K PD since 2017 he began his career as a summer officer SLO officer uh advancing to full-time status in 2020 uh since that time Patrol pazinski has excelled while in the Patrol Division Patrol Pinsky has a very good Street presence and level-headed approach to handling difficult situations that arise while on patrol Patrol pinski is one of our Department's recruitment officers Department resiliency officer defense tact defense tactics instructor PT instructor baton instructor police bike instructor and has most recently been accepted and is now an active operator on a cman county regional spot team um something he's very proud to be a part of um which I'm also very proud of him to be a part of uh as the C May police chief I'm very proud of to serve alongside of Patrol Rozinski as well as all of the other members in the C May Police Department um specifically as he navigates his tricky career and life goal of being a police officer Patrol pinski loves being a police officer interacting with the Community especially our youth uh you may find Alex running radar on one of our busy streets walking on the Washington Street Mall perusing K May point and we simply playing around the kick kickball with a with our kids in one of our parks and playgrounds uh which is very important and I think our community policing standpoint um that I I preach he picked up and continued through so um it was built in him and he's continued that so I'm very proud of him and congratulations [Applause] get a yeah you MD I think it's spelled different too I think thank you congratulations thank you one more she want one more with you guys sorry bu thank you thank [Applause] you Alex I just want to say thank you uh and Echo the sentiments of the chief and city manager you've you've I've seen you in action whether it be working with kids or in an important situation where you have nerves of deal and and I think we all see uh the hard work that you've given to our community and we're all proud of you so thank you for your service thank you thank you and actually uh city manager I just I know we're probably all say it at the end of the night but just having labor day yesterday I think we want to acknowledge all of our employees in the city of Kate May so many of you even some yesterday working uh but I think throughout this entire summer season I I saw a lot a lot of hard work and dedication to uh making making sure Kate May is clean and safe um and uh I appreciate it our employees here in City Hall as well so thank you very much with that we can move on to updates old business city manager thank you um first I just wanted to um talk a little bit about about uh hadn't really given you an update on the EV charging stations uh they have been pretty successful um over the summer so uh we have been as a summary uh in the month of July we earned just close to around $7,000 in revenue and in the month of August a little over $8,000 in Revenue uh from the EV charging stations both here that's combined both here at City Hall and at the Welcome Center and um we're only paying about just under ,000 a month in electric cost so and we're definitely covering our costs and you know recouping some of our install costs that that we incurred in them but uh you know you you always see them being used I don't think there's a day that you go by that you look and you don't see a vehicle being Char on hooked up and charging so I I think that's been a good benefit to our residents and visitors of of the city um I also wanted to update on the lightning strike um information uh looks like that we're just over um or maybe just around two just under $300,000 in claims um that we've submitted uh for the GIF uh and we've you know spent around $50,000 for additional lightning protection they just actually completed work today on fully grounding um this uh this building uh about two weeks ago we completed regrounding and putting in new grounds on the communications Tower next to the building so you know we feel you know as confident as we can that we've secured this building uh appropriately uh to protect any for future electrical storms so can't say that it's not going to happen but I think that I think if it does we're going to be much better protected than we were uh beforehand I saw them putting big copper grounding wires outside and you'll see you'll see there's four new ground wires that are coming down from the roof uh so there's four that come down on different sides of the building uh they're all interconnected and then you know connected both to the Tower and then send into the ground to be properly grounded as well as all the utility are now connected and grounded properly so I think we've got it covered pretty well at this point um Beach TAG season is now you know Labor Day you know is upon us so I guess the unofficial official end of the summer um from a beach tag sales uh from a revenue standpoint we were just under $474,000 in increase in Revenue um the the number of tags uh some of them uh were up total number of tags were up about 1,700 tags uh but when you look at seasonals we were down about 269 seasonal tags but we were up 482 commercial tags so most likely I'm thinking a lot of those seasonal tags we got them to go buy a commercial tag um but we we're down both in three-day tags and weekly tags so I think you would kind of maybe see that with an increase in commercial tags that's where the where you're going to possibly see those weekly tags you know they're now being used instead of them coming and buying a a weekly or a three-day tag so um but all ground total uh just up over $474,000 that's great Qui question and that's not final final numbers but that's as of what we could tally for this year do we have any um update on the digital tags so those numbers includes the digital tags if if you want some numbers from digital tags just curious um first year we did uh daily tags there were about eight about 10,000 daily tags purchased through the digital um and of the 10,000 8,000 of them were they used the actual a virtual tag where they did not actually get a physical tag um all the other where they paid for seasonal weekly and three-day or daily pickups you know we did sell quite a few of those um you there was over 2,300 weekly pickups uh for almost 1500 3-day pickups and 2200 daily pickups where they paid on essentially paid online and and picked up a physical tag so at the um end of the season when we have the wrap up if we could have the percentages associated with the digital versus physical versus those that were done virtually would be really and the associated Revenue obviously would be very helpful yes thank you but that's I just got a quick look at those numbers ahead of time just to kind of have that information for this evening Mr Dietrick if I could just jump in I want to thank the beach taggers for their patience and going through the digital Beach tag process it was a huge undertaking but you know they really um they came to it with some hard work and really trying to understand it and work with our vendor and really just tried to get the general understanding of the project so I I just want to tell them thank you for for doing that because not only did they have to educate themselves they had to educate the public at the same time so they were they were under Fire for the first two three weeks it was a uh a testament to their uh fortitude and working so yes um and then I I was going to save this later but I'll just mention it now um talk to Chief Harry back about uh you know lifeguards and you know as I mentioned this last meeting please swim uh at a guarded Beach uh we will endeavor to update the guarded Beach list daily if it's changing so please check our social medias uh on which beaches are guarded we will be extending um you obviously on the weekends we going to have more guarded beaches than during the week but we'll Endeavor for the next at least two weeks maybe three to have uh at least you know to have guards out on the beach to for protection of our residents and visitors to keep the the bathers safe but in order for them to keep you safe you need to swim where there's a guarded Beach that's all I had today mayor thank you city manager city solicitor uh just just brief for Council um the open public uh Records act changes to the law took effect today there'll be some changes slight changes to the city's forms and I'll be working with the clerk's office to um assure a smooth implementation of that I know there'll be some uh some relief to the clerk's office in processing those applications but um like I said I'll be working with the clerk's office to implement that thank you city council any updates old business okay uh up to a department update on Commercial recycling from our Department of Public Works Eric thank you for being here Frank thank you and I know I'm repeating myself but uh please share with all the DPW that our our biggest thanks for a great season still a lot of season left but we appreciate lot of season left yep um Frank just move the mics closer a little bit you can move them around talk into them please okay there's your copy thank you so I don't know if you guys got a copy uh digital but I did bring some paper ones thank you so Frank Frank and I was and my department was tasked with you know looking at some of the recycling stuff that's going through town and during the EV during the lookout and the evaluation we noticed there's an extreme extreme amount of recycling being puted out curbside throughout the town so uh in the spreadsheet is basically all of our commercial properties throughout town where where there's no no no information in in the spreadsheet box you know they're within two three cans of residents and Commercial spots the numbers that are in the spot are above those limits of cans being put out curbside so um myself Frank sat talked about it and we kind of looked at some other ordinance around other short towns and there's 's a lot of short towns that put a can limit to recycling as far as curbside so you know we we both sat together and kind of pinpointed and we're looking for Council support in this to you know go to like a res residential owners to a two two 296 gallon can or up to 192 gallons total you know which leads out to like 4 48 gallon cans 6 32 gallon can of that sort and then as far as commercial commercial properties go go into a 4 496 gallon totor to 384 384 total gallons does everyone understand what that 3 384 is 496 gallons yes 496 gallon cans yep toor um so Eric I'm I'm sorry no um so I note on here a number of um have can plus there were um stacks of boxes how do how do you presume with with the cardboard and all it's hard to put a limit on the cardboard because again we're going to make them Jam cardboard in the 4 gallon 4 96 gallon cans you know we do have a city ordinance that it needs to be broken down tied up okay you know so that's something me Frank and myself had to work with code enforcement kind of thing to make sure it's being enforced but if it's presented that way on the side you're you're okay with that regardless of the volume and the amount okay just I I think that the volume would still have to be an equivalent volume well that's why I'm asking because you know we certainly um you I've witnessed where you know you could see a half a street block full of and I you know I know that this is an area um that uh in your particular department has one of the highest you know uh claims associated with workers comp and a lot of it is associated with the kind of work that's being done so I'm just you know want to talk through what the boundaries are to make sure that you could you just like you you know like a 96 gallon toter has a a size we could put a size you know that cubic volume as well as the gallons and convert that you to a total cubic do we have any comparative language from other municipalities along these lines most of them most of them all use the number of cans as as a reference just want to put it out there that be that can be easily converted to just something we should consider as we're looking at this yes super intendent can I ask you a question kind of start from the beginning you know as far as I know about recycling is I need to put it out tonight to pick up tomorrow because I live in a Village Green area how H how many sections of town are there how often do you go through the business districts do they get picked up multiple times a week can you just kind of give us a so we have we have five zones we have five routes Monday's route consist of the Cove to Ocean Street beach AV to Venice basically that's Monday's route Tuesday route goes from Ocean to Madison Beach to Lafayette or Broad Street where the uh Housing Authority is Wednesday is from Kate May Avenue to Lafayette Street Madison to uh yacht yacht yacht club and then Thursdays is Beach to Kate mayave Madison to Pittsburgh and then Friday is everything up top so regardless of whether it's residential commercial so it's part of that route it's part of that route yes okay thank you can can I further ask a question sure because I'm looking at some of the properties in here and I know that we have a lot of large um condos there might be five condos in one you you know in one building um is that going to be are you request asking for limitations for that yes would that be the commercial or would that be under residential I would I would consider commercial with a mertile license I mean in my eyes Okay so so like a a five you know five unit um so it wouldn't be considered residential you would consider a commercial commercial yes okay um but you I think actually mertile license might not be the way just with you have individual homes that are rented you probably don't want to necessarily consider them commercial no I mean I mean in theory like you know you know I know there's a lot of airbnbs you know regular to me it's a single family home that's residential it's residential you know okay maybe it's the number of units in a building maybe it's four or greater or something you know where we would think we're we're a little more unique I think than other probably again these are any these are any recommendations and suggestions that you know we we talked about and you know I'm sure there's a little give or take here and there with some of it you know because everything's every every address whether it's single family multiple units you know C can I ask a question on on when this says totor what is it which which ones is that the 96 tot are 96 gallons 96 gallon 48 I'm not going I'm not going to say the business but I think you know when you read this which obviously we are you you have one business on here with 36 toters on one day yes so that's actually the reg sorry that's actually we're not saying names that's the 30 32 32 count a small 32 gallon anything that we grab with the back of the trash or recycled truck is considered a to that's so it doesn't necessarily mean a gallonage correct but we are getting we are getting complaints about that location I mean it's just when you're getting to 36 I mean cans whatever they may be that is when that business should have recycling pickup and that's and that's why we you know superintendent looked at the numbers looked what other toal were doing and you you have to find a line of okay when has this become the city's responsibility similar to what you would be picking up for a residence and when does it become the commercial business obligation to because they collect so much that it it's really not incumbent upon the city to to pick it up so that's really I've uh I've I've picked up recycling in that particular location because the wind just blew it blew it over so I got my buddies to let me pick it up I mean I'm just saying it's a cost to the city you know in in regard one regard or another when you're that when you're picking up like 36 I mean how how full does that I mean is that you're you're probably had to stop for minimum 20 minutes packing it each can's going to weigh different M depends how much how much how many of these I mean when you're doing a run so excuse me for so for today today alone I was actually on the truck today we were short-handed um I went out for about an hour with the guys again today and today I did one route myself today I did over nine tons on just Monday's route that's and how much does the truck hold holds over seven and it holds over 10 tons right at 10 tons so I wasy much so you're so you're not going up and you have to take all this up to Woodbine right U uh uh transfer station Burley in Bley okay so okay but I wasn't even done the route yet today I was that was about halfway done the route on Monday rout so we had to stop the route today to dump 8 8.41 tons you had to go you drive up to burle and then and come back so each each route that you're doing for each day then you're probably up there VAR very midday Monday and Tuesdays are the most because it's the most commercial spots there our busiest spots our most bulk trash up recycles sorry okay I'm just trying to get so today we pick today we picked up about almost almost 15 ton just today well and that's not with the second trucks the two trucks we have in the yard now still have stuff on it from this afternoon that we then dump lat this so we got to add to the what's it cost us I was going to say what's going to cost us per ton cost yeah for what what's it cost the city per ton there's no there's no cost of D no cost single Str for the because the recycling if it's if it's contaminated then we get hit with a contamination Lo but they're not that's why that's why we strictly ask for no plastic in the bags okay so it's no Plastic Man hours yes man hours Fuel Man fuel yeah potential harm right so you know the the address you guys are speaking of now you know besides you know if we're going commercial 384 gallons total they were above by 612 gallons above that 300 W so that that one stop alone is putting out almost 1 th000 gallons of recycling that's not counting cardboard that's just cans and and most of the businesses on here they're they're pretty most of them are pretty obvious they're either over or they're within a compliance now I know I've seen personally at times uh properties are doing projects uh and there's large quantities of boxes out on the street um you know for maybe weeks on end as they're you know doing things do they make um accommodate do they contact you to say we are we were requesting a special pickup or any kind okay so we don't have a pro do should we consider a process that says if you're doing something along those lines that you need to notify you know the supervisor once excuse once in a while we do get notifications um residents may call hey I'm moving in this house here what they is my recycling okay I want make sure that recycles out that day um a few businesses have done that in the past where they're getting ready for the season and they give us hey we're going to have a lot out for you on a recycle day gives a heads up but that's that's about it yeah I'm not muchly talking about con you know construction related or activities where people are replenishing a full house so there's a lot of boxes out there that kind of a thing no I mean for instance you know hotel's opening up for the season yeah they don't we just pull up to the stop and it's it's from one block to the next block covering parking spots as well yeah cuz they put it out I mean only because that's also you know on the street um and if we've got any kind of you know weather event it's an it's an eyesore but it's also weather event these things can move around so just something we may want to consider having a discussion about notification if you're putting out that kind of you know um process I don't know we're loading it in your truck and bringing it to the trans station which I've done many times in the or or bringing up to our Central recycle station right in wtcl so you know jumping on to that you know um I have spoken with Frank who's you know one of my um assistant supervisor of Public Works uh Deputy Rigs and manager Dietrich you know we like to offer the central recycle station to open on Wednesdays year round at the DPW facility right now they're clo as of November 1st it closes on Wednesdays right and I've already I I don't see I don't see any issue with it you know it's the same people that work it during the summer would work it during the winter time well and that gives people an option who may be very close to this correct you know gives them the option to bring it up to the yard and put it in the dumpster it's a nice option or if we have a storm come and so forth they can be proactive as well and come up help out as well well and there are a lot of times homeowners are down here cleaning up after the season or cleaning up the Le and everything else and so they get down here and then they're they wind up trying to go over on a day it's closed correct then the stuff's sitting you know somewhere so yeah I mean I'm a proponent for it so you know with with the backing you know with manager Dietrich and Deputy manager rigs you know we think this is a good a good option for the residents and business owners to you know have an extra day where oh maybe I might not make it till next week you know there's an extra day in the week that they can drop bring it up to the St recycle station and dump it there okay C so Council We have basically a proposal from Public Works um and it essentially is 2 96 gallon cans for residents which I had to say personally I think sounds pretty fair that if you fill up 196 with just recycling that's that's a lot of recycling um and Commercial properties with 4 96 gallon this is not saying you have need a 96 gallon um uh container it it's giving you 384 gallons so I guess you could use 48 gallons or 32 gallon containers just as long as the total does not go over 384 correct okay um so I think we we should still talk about this but I guess the idea is we're asking the solicitor to write an a ordinance amendment can we also maybe put in some of the other things that we've discussed um the boxes the the size dimensions what we would think would be based on these um Frank and um Eric's recommendation and Paul's how many how many boxes you know the size of that would be accommodated for condo bu buildings and and that would be aggregate not not you don't get like 496 gallon toor and understood and I I just want to make sure that that's in in condo buildings um is it four plus units do we consider that to be we consider that increase an increase yeah they're more on the commercial side than the residential side um I I can't think of anything else right now but I'm going to go through I'll go through the list a little bit better I couldn't I couldn't read it on the no that's fine kept again yeah yeah again um we you know Frank and I are available to meet you know if we want to sit down and brainstorm together something you know it's a little more feasible for you know residents and business owners and you know to make sure we accommodate as best we can you you might you might have to weigh in on the I think you can see a problem with the residential and the number of condos I mean you know correct councilwoman recom said didn't recommend just said four which is probably a good number but that could be a problem could be there's no way that correct and and we're I'm not I'm not we're not here to create a problem you guys know you you would know what to recommend I can say no eight could be the cut off whatever it might be I that could you know whatever so what do I have a volunteer from Council to work with Eric Frank and our solicitor to come up with a ordinance it would be an amendment or a new ordinance Mr solicor it' probably be an amendment to our Solid Waste code just to build in some of these requirements do I have a volunteer for that I'm happy to work with them Moren so the the three of you could work together with the solicitor yeah I'll hang out Shane do you want to help yeah sure okay so uh council member Meyer and uh uh McDade will work with the two of you and the solicitor come up with an ordinance and sounds great bring that back to the table for discussion anything that you think of between now and then just send to um Mr Gillan Schwarz so that we can you know if something comes up in the next you know week or so to make sure it gets Incorporated sounds good great ideas thank you appreciate your time guys thank you you you're a very good trash talker I know I've played golf before thank you have a good all right thanks thanks Eric thank you Frank thanks okay with that we're on to ordinances for introduction yes tonight we have three ordinances um first one being 543-2020 ordinance amending chapter 310 of the code of the city of Kate May regarding licensing fees do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second I'll second and this is a ordinance for introduction yes um this really was um I believe involving the MTR yes MTR and uh going through with our city manager uh all of the different licensing fees MH um does anybody have any questions or comments I mean just to kind of reiterate you know we did look at mra's recommendations um we did consolidate around and removed around nine eight to nine different codes and and Consolidated them in we end up adding maybe an additional three two to three different new activities that we wanted to make sure the track and make sure that we were uh receiving mertile licenses for um and then did the analysis based on a a 5year cumulative CPI to look at where the increases should be and then we kind of averaged them out and adjusted them based on an appropriate dollar amount that's how the the summary came up and um the city clerk was also very helpful in in just um understanding the process and then sort of you know really weighing in on um you know the time energy and effort some that some of these do and also recognizing that this is an operational task within her unit um and so trying to uh round these to the nearest dollars um from a keing perspective it sounds minor but it's critically important when you're doing the volume that they're doing in that office so all of those things were factored in so you know it um was a lot of work um by everyone else um and I was happy to partip anticipate but I think we came out with a good product at the end agree can I make a comment mayor please uh can I ask the solicitor to kind of explain to the public you know uh the rules relating to raising fees when it comes to these kind of processes to statewise you know we're not trying to pill the call First we're just trying to maintain the amount of work that's oh sure I mean these the licensing fees are so that the city doesn't lose money in processing and and um you know uh they have to be updated from time to time in our code and many other towns update these on an annual basis so I think we've gotten in a better habit of that lately and looking at them on an annual basis with the help of MTR so and if you look at these fees um in relation to other towns for similar Services I think they're kind of right on the money um and that is one of the considerations that um people reviewing these types of w we'll look at thank you Council just to so that the public is aware these fees have not been updated in 20 years so how long 20 years at least so long overdue and and I think the the fees are not nothing that are out of the ordinary as the solicitor said that they basically just bring us up to par with other neighboring municipalities so um city clerk if you could just explain what the process would be when rolling this out this would be really for the 2025 season notification yes yes okay just want anticipated it's going to take us time if this does get adopted to work with our software um to make all of those updates on our you know internal processes before rolling this out for the upcoming season okay thank you so we have a motion and a second are we ready for any other questions counil roll call just a quick general statement um because we have a couple of these that are on here and like you said they haven't been updated in like 20 years yeah um we really need to well it is one of the things and I know MTR is really been doing a fabulous job on a lot of uh a lot of these things but um had I hate to do such a huge increase over you know some of this is like 50% and more increases so I just you know I think the development fees you're correct but these the mer tiles are mostly about A50 to $75 increase we really tried it was all within CPI of five years for those um but it is something that MTR has discussed and it is a discussion that I had with um the city manager um the deputy manager and the city clerk along with the CFO that we need to be a little bit more rigorous about not necessarily increasing but reviewing so that there needs to be more of um you know a business model that says every two years just take a look at them um the city clerk you know there are times where you know it may not require any more additional work effort so it may not warrant an increase at that point in time and that those considerations need to be part of the discussion and the conversation and that's why it's important that those people be around the table so um it is not necessarily meaning we're going to be increasing at that pace it means that we're we will be reviewing and having a more disciplined business approach to it okay any other questions or comments roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes depy mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes next we have 54422 an ordinance amending chapter 211 of the code of the city of K May regarding development fees do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second I'll second um similar to the uh previous ordinance uh this is an update to the development fees city manager do you want to give us a quick yeah again this is a ordinance that has not been upd or not quick whichever this has not been updated since 2020 so we're looking at 2020 fees uh we had the um board administrator do a countywide survey and so you know you have the survey of all the the County fees as well as establishing what like a county average and I think we are proposing fees that in line with the county average um and what probably is going up a little bit more significantly is what the escrow fees are and the escrow fees are fees that um are used to pay the board's professionals so the board engineer and the board solicitor uh that you know review the applications and you know send the city a bill and then the city has to pay that bill um and they use the grow fees um every time an applicant and about 30% of the applications are submitted needs additional fees and what that means is our board administrator has to go track down these applicants and tries to recoup the fees and then sometimes if the applicant has not gotten an approval they're not wanting to pay and that means then the city is then on the hook so to speak to pay the professionals out of the city coffers um but also it delays in payment of the the professionals so that it just you know instead of paying timely bills in a 30-day process sometimes there's 60 90 or 90 plus days in a rear of paying some of our professionals um so what was also occurring was the ordinance set up Provisions that if you submit a set of plans and the board of professionals review it and then it has to be revised that there's an additional fee for that but we don't collect that fee up front that has to be collected additional so that's you know so if if a plan needs two revisions and then a revision at the end of the plan you end up trying to collect an extra $300 or $500 that you're always having to chase down the applicants to get the money and it you know the board administrator spends a lot of their time chasing down money to pay the board's professional and it just becomes a cumbersome so if we collect the money of the escro money up ahead we have enough money to pay the professionals to have a streamline process and then at the end of the project if we have to refund $100 if you have to refund $500 the remainder the remainder that that we don't use that we keep in a separate you know accounting then that's that money is returned to the applicant in a in a timely fashion upon request so it just it makes it much more easier for an administrative process and to pay the board of Professionals in a more timely process yes and I I spoke you know I gotten some data to take a look at too and then spoke with the the board secretary for both the planning and zoning and and she just said that there's a lot of time and energy spent trying to recoup these dollars um and oftentimes you know we're the liability sits on the city books awaiting for payment to go to the board engineer um and the the the board solicitors which is unfair to them uh waiting for their their payment um so it just seems that making more of an adjustment uh and working this as a refund process and she said that those are very few situations in which it does occur but it's very minor but just so I'm and I'm just so I'm clear uh which all that makes sense some of this is application fees and some of it is obviously escro fees the right the application fees cover um the application you know for the board administrators right uh fees and and and administrating and then you know that fee seems like it's going up but if you look at one section that we removed there's a section oh one here there there's an administrative fee that was collected separate that was added to the application fee that was a percentage of the application fee that was to cover office expenses you know heat Electric office supplies and you know and it and and it just was an additional math step that had to be done whereas most towns don't do that extra step they just their application fee covers all of that administrative costs um and if and if we keep up with updating our application fees on a routine basis then we don't have to really worry about you know escalating you know utility costs that would be to the board's office to account for that so so that was that's one reason why the application fee kind of jumped because it's it's kind of putting another part that was a fee collected but not really shown as a fee in in the chart Deputy Mayor yes um I mean some of these fees are going up pretty drastically and I think that that's you that was my sticker shock um and I understand the whole process you know getting those escrow fees things like that um but we're looking like $100 to $550 for an informal review um I would like to request and I don't want to hold this up because I understand that you know the Planning and Zoning like they need to be able to not have to go back to um uh to the applicant to get additional escrow or or anything like that so I really don't want to hold this up but I would love to have MTR take a look at this I know I spoke to MTR in the past um if they can take a look at this and kind of you know see if we're you know there wasn't a real deep dive into this and I think that you guys would do a great job with it well we have the data that um and I'm happy to share that with Mr Crowley the data that um the city manager obtained from all the the other municipalities then we have the data that we've already looked at from um the board secretary so we we we pretty much have the two two pieces of information um I can share that with Mr Crowley and um go back through the the same exercise kudos to uh Ken Keenan for getting all this data OT more clearly the public can't see what we're looking at but I'm looking at the fee schedule of every fee from Cape May City of course a county average Avalon K May Point lower Township Middle Township Ocean City West Cap May and Wildwood Crest so that really does give you a nice breakdown I to be honest with you Deputy Mayor I had the same sticker shock when I looked at some of the I mean look that they're all still reasonably done what is clear is that the county averages are pretty close to the application fees that were were implementing in in this ordinance not not that that we have yet but um the escrow fee to me is a no-brainer that that makes all the sense in the world um I do think some of the appli ation fees this is the problem with not increasing your fees for 20 years and it's why we need to get into and have been to to the credit of everyone on this board and and the municipal Taxation and Revenue Committee of getting into a a CPI um some some type of um you know look at it more frequently you got to look at it more frequent it more frequently you may not make adjustments at any time but the fact is that it needs to be looked at that it needs to be routinely on a calendar that says once every two years we're just looking at it in regardless of whether or not we act if if we're looking at planning boards have budgets is that correct they approve so what is the average cost for zoning of planning board m without the es that's that's where I think that M50 per hour per professional maybe four four hour of span not talking about reparation but that's where the escrow comes in if you're if you're if you're looking no I'm I'm not I'm not counting escrow so see you have an engineer and an attorney for 4 hours how much does that cost well I think $8,000 that's where MRA they they're doing all the work ahead of time though too all that's the esro covers is that correct the escrow is supposed to cover the review of the particular applications and any work done in connection with it now there is the general cost of having Professional Service aboard you know a month from 7:00 the meeting starts there may be a meeting fee or an hourly rate depending on the I don't I don't have that contract in front of me but yeah I mean like for for instance I'm the zoning board solicitor in SE there's just a monthly stipend and then there's the fees that are associated with a particular application those are the escrow um and that fees and that General fee is the board administrator has a general question they call up the attorney and I don't build an hourly it's just part of my job that's part of the escrow but when as soon as that application hits Mr Gillan schar's office he reviews it he has to prepare be at the meeting attendance prepare a resolution of approval have correspondence with the applic that's what the escro Fe covers right but but but but the board or I'm talking about just just the meeting itself you're you're saying there's probably probably a cost 7: to 10 a.m. to or p.m. excuse me 6:00 to P 10 p.m. how much does it cost to perform these meetings but some of that but some of that is Esra Fe some of that is applic is Mi up so it's hard it's hard to say exactly that's that's my point yep that's why you look at that's because I'm thinking about these prices are pretty high if if we have you know four applicat paying $1,000 each for a uh a a variance appeal right I think that covers the cost more some or maybe more than that that's where I think you know maybe and I I hate to go by averages you know I don't know if that's really the best way to do it and that's why MTR has done such a great job on a lot of other things maybe you know but to move this along I think we need to I'm GL support along as well this is not something that we're charge people are seeing their prices go up every year this this is something where most of these people are this is the they do this one time major development they came in they're making an application I don't think they they're looking at sticker shock they're just looking at which is dropping the bucket compared to all of their other expenses I'm just trying to say we were justifying we're talking about CU we're trying to justify the expense can I make a suggestion then because I think what is pretty clear is if you look at the county average and you look at the application fee numbers they're pretty similar um that that's a cursory review here but in any event um what I would suggest is we have a motion in a second it's the um introduction of the ordinance I would suggest personally everyone should vote how they feel that we introduce it but at the same time I'd like two volunteers to work with the city manager uh and and MRA if if if they feel that that makes sense I'm not that's no offense to MTR but if if that makes sense please do and then um if we need to make amendments to that application fee at the next you know at the second reading we we make those amendments does that make sense I'm not volunteering for anything I'm just want to have a conversation with Carol Keenan that's all yeah okay perfect and I'm I'm I'm deput mayor forward too would you work with that one absolutely okay so obviously I'm the counil yeah so um we have a motion in a second um we're going to have um deputy mayor take a take a take a second look at the application fees um and make any suggestions at the next meeting is that good good okay um any other questions or comments Council roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mik yes and finally we have uh 54522 an ordinance amending chapter 7 of the code of city Cap May regarding driveway line straight do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second uh city manager would you give us a quick uh explanation this is uh we had a provision in the ordinance that if somebody wants to have a driveway to park in their park on the street in front of their driveway there's a permit process and then part of that permit process is the painting of the yellow line in the driveway to make sure nobody parks there uh we have received numerous requests to CU sometimes the driveway is not wide enough so it doesn't meet the permit requirement so we can't issue them a permit and then they say well can you paint our road driveway anyway so somebody doesn't park in front of our driveway and we have to say we can't because we don't have a way to charge you this is essentially giving the city ability to collect the money to reimburse our Public Works employees to go out there and paint a a private driveway uh so that it that people don't park in front of it and this is beyond the parking that if the little white little I'll say they're called T's and L's that that would Mark the location of driveway this is to put the yellow lines across the driveway to make it very obvious that cars shouldn't park there can I can I ask a quick question um this is if an applicant is denied or or we could use it for even if somebody just wants if if they know they're not going to be denied that's why the per that's why the it's if you look at the section A it's $25 plus $100 so this is kind of $125 it's $125 which you know it kind of covers if you want to say it's $25 for the application just for us to process this request and then it's $100 for for Public Works to physically go out there I guess and I'm getting a little technical but if someone is denied and they have already spent the $25 permanent fee can we make this $100 get a credit yeah yes that's rather than 25 yes are you okay with that amend we're okay with that okay does everyone understand that I just think if you're denied on your application you already spent your $25 right do they they don't get a refund on a denial right no $25 no okay so I think if you're denied 100 if you're not denied 125 we can add something probably in section A I I understand I think you confused but I understand I think yeah I I think we can deal with the language the the intent is that if you've applied and been denied but still want striping you should get credit for the 25 you paid if you just want striping it's a full 125 yes everybody's paying the same thing you just get credit if that Mak okay so how would you like that in the form of a amendment I mean if the if that's the substance of what council wants to do you can vote on that in the form of an amendment we can we can include that some red line I just hasn't been published yet so we have flexibility in the in that wording yeah I'll make a motion to amend the ordinance um hopefully the solicitor can come up with a better terminology than this but that the $25 permit fee be you in the event of a denial $25 permit fee be credited toward the cost of the painting so that the paining is $100 and only associated with this ordinance right yeah they I I can make an suggestion right now should the applicant be denied this is B should the applicant be denied a private driveway parking permit but still want a driveway striped the new language the applicant will pay an additional $100 on top of the $25 application fee above for a total of 125 or mhm and then you just leave the rest of it there yeah so that's my motion do I have a second I I'll second okay any questions or comments on the amended ordinance on the on the amendment I should say no okay roll call on the amendment council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor bin yes mayor mullik yes do I have a motion on the amended ordinance to introduce as amended thank you now second and any questions or comments roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meer yes council member McDade yes depy mayor Balin yes mayor mull yes perfect okay so next we have the public portion on the resolutions only at this time council do anyone wishing this evening to speak on resolutions on the agenda this evening Jules oh my God you know what you know um Mr Raj I'm sorry if if we go out of order for just a moment because uh we have some a gentleman who's been patiently waiting here agenda should we take a motion to to remove from the consent agend yeah so I'll make a motion to remove this from the consent agenda okay so I have a motion to remove uh resolution 23709 2024 that's the the motion appointing uh Patrick McCarthy to the um the uh tax assessor position do do I have a second I'll second roll call this is to remove then we're going toce remove from the consent agenda oh no okay all in favor all in favor say I I okay sorry council do I have a motion on res on resolution 23709 2024 I'll make the motion do I have a second a second uh Patrick is with us this evening and I just um uh P we interviewed Patrick for the and and the um the tax assessor for the City of Cape May is a council appointment so we interviewed some very good candidates um and Patrick really Rose to the top Patrick we thank you for being here um we actually haven't voted on this resolution yet maybe we should do that first but if there's anything you'd like to say we you'd be happy to say hello if you'd like but before you do that let me let we have a motion in a second to roll call please speak got official council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes Patrick P welcome congratulations I'll keep it short just uh very grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to getting started started uh on Monday so thank you thank you watch watch his foot he's a Lal grat as well Patrick uh is a Lal grad uh the family owns a a house in Wildwood is that right um and uh we're just thrilled to have you Patrick I I think captain of the soccer team and um so a lot of I won't go through your resume cuz I don't have it memorized a lot of leadership skills a lot of leadership skills and we're excited to have you in the building so thank you very much for your willingness and I wish you the best of luck welcome welcome yeah yes Mr Rous I I apologize so we'll open it up for public comment on resolutions this evening only uh jul Jo your evening 1010 New York Avenue I have a question on uh 241 the this appears to be a number of changes and they're being lumped into one resolution is that is that correct hang on to me Trenton Avenue yeah I just want to get to it so I could there are a number of additions deletions and extras on this resolution yes this is a uh quite frankly Mr J most of the times when we make these change orders we they're they're specific as to a particular project um does this does this change the the procedure that we're going to follow and how will the uh the accounting for the dollars be be be attributed to the various changes well I don't think it's a change this is how we would normally do it and it is identified as the project is the 2023 utility and Road program and the 2023 NJ do miss Aid project they're one in the same project it's only identified as the doot project because part of that project had do grant funding in it and there's so many different line items or or groups in that because we have to account for the do participating item separate from the nond doot participating items and if you look at uh the first I think it's the first page of the change order it it it outlines you know section A is for Beach Avenue sanitary sewer supplemental items section B extras on Beach Avenue supplemental uh sanitary sewer section c is supplemental non do items which would have been all of the other road work which would have been Trenton Avenue uh Congress and Franklin Street and then the reduction of those same non doot participating items um the dot parting items are are really Trenton Avenue had the most had I think the majority of the do related work so those reductions extras on the dot section would be on from Trenton Avenue but this is not a Divergence of what we normally do this is how we've always done it for this type of project that had multiple roads it's just but in the final analysis when everything is finished everything will be accounted individually for each individual project well it's there again it's it's one project one project has many roads within the project um we do have an you know we don't necessarily have a full I mean we do have the engineer does have an accounting for each road but we don't itemize it that way when we sum it all up we we sum it up for the project the only thing we separate out are the do participating items and the non do participating items because the dot needs to know which part they're paying for and which part they're not paying for yeah I understand they they they require a definition um that would you explain what what the Trenton Avenue re is it a reconstruction or a removal well Trent na was a reconstruction project they replaced they did water sewer and drainage and re reconstructed the road but we are not removing the Trenton Avenue discharge for storm sewer into the ocean no that was not part of the project there was storm water infrastructure on Trenton Avenue that was but that was between Beach Avenue and and Lafayette believe no we just went up two blocks to New Jersey New York I think to New York Avenue but that project was defined when it was bid and awarded okay thank you very much yep thank you um this is uh just for The public's information a0 85% change so a very minor change it does bring the total up to 11.29 um I think the nature of these road projects is what you see um these requests for um for an increase you know um this is all as much as it's not per Street per project it itemizes all the extra work that was done and I'm sure if you look at that list these are all things that we needed to do and unfortunately sometimes you don't know until you open the road up and that's kind of the nature of a road project unfortun and that's how these projects are bid these projects are Bid as a unit price M contract so the the item that's why you look at it there's some go up some go down and sometimes we need a little bit of extra work because we just didn't know what we saw when we couldn't see under the ground y okay anyone else on resolutions this evening hi maryan reamer 113 Illinois Avenue it wasn't a resolution on your agenda but the resolu solution to adopt the tax assessor the the young man that was just in here I'm not familiar with tax assessor and the responsibility can you elaborate a little bit on his role and his responsibilities sure well the tax assessor um essentially values all the real property within the city both the physical improvements that are on the property and the land value and establishes what that assessed value is and that's what's utilized to uh appropriate and appoint everybody's real estate taxes so that's the assessed value you you get your little green card every year that says the values well he's the guy that does the math to figure that out and it's one of the four statutory positions required in the state of New Jersey okay Council was a replacement for previous tax assessor um departed okay thank you I'm not familiar with the New Jersey how we doing in Pennsylvania it's different so that's why I didn't understand thank you you sure anyone else on resolutions this evening Mr Crowley uh hello I'm Dennis Crowley 806 Lafayette Street Cape May New Jersey a couple couple comments on the consent agenda actually comments questions on 243 that uh massive report on the master uh the uh master plan Watershed issue mhm could I ask that you place that uh report on the city website it it will go up on the W City webs okay because the the one that was attached is it's very color coded oriented and it's it's hard to understand what they're even trying to say on yep on a black and white so it'll go it it'll get up there okay and the other thing the other the other issue is 247 the came my audit that's finally going to be uh approved so that'll be up on the website also yes good good in the corrective plan which is the next resolution I did notice that um there there was um an expenditure for the Lifeguard uh pension increases or salary increases or something like that and it was attributed to the general fund and I think that MTR uh one of M tr's recommendations was that as much as possible any costs related to the utilities be put in the utilities budget and I was wondering whether or not that actually is going to happen are we going to get a reimbursement from that utility for that for that money or or how does that go uh it's a good question um I'm city manager do you were you talking about the audit the um audit yeah but for the pension fund yeah in the in the next resolution 248 where they approve the corrective action plan it reference is the U the general surprised that well I guess the I don't know the explanation the pension fund I think would be outside the perview of the utility itself but but I think let us let's get you I'm just bringing it up because it's it it's in inconsistent with the recommendation I know coun it's a good question that and if we can take it from the beach utility we will is I think the answer but I know and you've been working hard to get as as much as possible in the utilities so that's fine either way for the Lifeguard pension payment correct that's right right we'll get the answer from our CFO for the next meeting if not before then that's fine and I I have some comments about the uh ordinances introduced but I'll hold them to the general public sure conversation all right thank you couple comments anyone else on resolutions this evening seeing none we can close public comment on resolutions all right we had one resolution obviously taken off the consent agenda any anything anything else to remove from the consent agenda Council remove 242 please sure yes anything else Council okay all right so do we have a motion to adopt the consent agenda then do I have a motion I'll make I'll make the motion do I have a second no second roll call council member yger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Stephanie mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes all right then we have a 24209 2024 a resolution of the City of Cape May authorizing SEO services do I have a motion I'll make a motion do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments yeah I pulled this off the consent agenda because um it's it's pretty pretty considerable this is the first time that we had to do something like this with our Harbor Master um just want to pretty much and uh I spoke to the manager about this um they're going through the proper channels to try to reimburse the money um but it it really becomes a a hazard out there and I'm really glad that we have a couple of uh Harbor Masters that are looking out for you know one of our great resources um so Paul I don't know if you have any additional updates I think well the One update you're going to say you're going to see in a upcoming agenda we're working with uh Chris and and come up with essentially how we have a taxi I mean not Ta A Towing ordinance and provision we're looking to have a a boat towing uh ordinance and Provisions so that we don't have to do this in an emergent reactive way we can be more proactive and have a a better streamlined process to handle um abandoned boats in the harbor and how to take care of them we the the the boat owner was issued tickets for that we're going to work through the municipal court process and essentially if we can you know whatever we can recover for costs um we will um because of these costs we may end up having to move it out of Municipal Court depending on with these costs but you know we're we're at least you know we've started the municipal court process with issuing the owner of the boat tickets that was but the most important thing was securing the boat from an environmental hazard on the Harbor that was you know the the Prime Focus both of Code Enforcement police and administrator manager's office was to make sure that we did not have an environmental hazard in in the harbor as well as a navigational problem in Arbor so that was the question that I was going to direct to the city's solist Center um with regard to our ability to recoup um and the process that we the city would go through if you had someone who was an absent owner or someone who was not willing to to pay the bill u under State Statute and our city code that basically incorporates those Provisions those individuals are liable for the costs including things like this um and there's also steep fines and penalties that are in addition to the costs that can be levied and I know that the city is looking uh intently at those Provisions I I will say about what manager Dietrich just mentioned about you know an RFP to kind of get an an ordinance to get things updated I don't think the city wants to get in the business of spending money on this all the time but what what is important is being in a position to act if nobody else is going to act to protect you know the city's waterways and things like that so I think putting the city in a in a position to act if it needs to is a good thing um obviously no one likes to see $25,000 show up on a bill but the the alternative is much worse and and acting responsibly is one of the duties here here so um and and those individuals um I know that code enforcement has been in contact and has um you know is pursuing those alternative channels as well question you mentioned the whole Towing ordinance council member Myer thank you clerk when it comes to Towing if the the first toe person is not available you go to the next toe person so my question is are there any other boat towing services besides CTO out here and two you know according I remember last council meeting you and I I asked you behind here Mr Mayor you know why can't we have a contractual you know agreement with Sito and Sito is clearly a franchise I I assume that that's the way the structure of the company's you know formed why can't we have have contractual agreement with these folks that's what we're looking to do we're and what is and do they have that with other municipalities not and not necessarily with Sito but to do to get a service like that in the Dugout in the case of emergency so we're not wondering hey who do we call what do we do you have that set up and you may not need to use it you probably don't want to but if it's there you need it and you can pull the trigger I just my question is why can't we you know why can't we have the same benefits as a private boat owner you know why can't we have more of an umbrella pay a little more you know to get a little more you know when we need it I just think $25,000 is insane and you know I think $25,000 is a annual I I could be okay with that for an annual agreement of picking up any boat that's that's drif in harb but don't forget that cost was to tow that boat from Kate May Harbor 40 nautical miles or 35 nautical miles up to Delaware Bay up to Marsh River to a yard that could haul that boat out of the water and Salvage it in a appropriate fashion so you know it's not like towing a car where we have to pay for that you know that that should be that should be fine upon the boat owner un but unfortunately this is this was declared an abandoned boat so at that point an you know just like if we had an abandoned car you you know we wouldn't know who the you you don't know who the titled owner is at that point and so we dealt with it the best we could mhm so and also and also in addition um there was work that had to be done in order to make it seaworthy to to get it down the river you know so they did some extensive kind of rehab work um on the boat to get it you know patching the the hole of the boat and then also almost um like a jacking system to get it level with where high tide would be then now pull it back out to there and to your point councilman Meer that's kind of where we're going after evaluating this this um issue kind of thinking about okay if we happen to need to do it again what's the best way possible what's the most coste effective way possible to to do that I'm probably not getting into my point the best way my point is CTO is a big company a big franchise we can't be the first municipality asking for this type of agreement so in in other municipalities um I can't speak to New Jersey but in talking with um code enforcement who has kind of been in contact with CTO this type of service is offered you know in Florida pretty much is where they were speaking about so um I have reached out to other city managers up and down the east coast to say hey how how do you deal with something like this and they're talking about what we're doing um right here um I spoke to a city manager out somewhere outside of Georgia in the Georgia area um and he said this is how we deal with it but every state deals with it uniquely so um in Florida they the Florida Wildlife and protection actually they kick in money to municipalities to deal with this type of stuff we're working with Stockton University um and also our EF you know with the manager's office to make sure that we recoup what we can and then also go after um you know to the owner as well so we're it's kind of like a pronged approach um unfortunately some of our stuff has to be reactionary but it's kind of the nature of the be on this one a great explanation I I just as information I talked to um the guy who owns the com the competitor to SEO uh and I told him what we paid to have the boat towed off of there um and he said that that company gave you pretty good deal that was a good number so one other thing just to to your point um is as you said different states handle it differently our legislators are act actively in the state looking at an abandoned boat um legislation and funding so they they've done the first part they haven't done the second part but what one and and you know they have to find a a poot of money to contribute to that but yeah and that the municipalities in a position to enforce but one of the things that people leaving their boats there need to understand is that the the most economical choice is not just letting it sit there because the municipalities have the ability to find daily fines of $1,000 a day and we've been doing that well and and that's the thing a $25,000 Bill looks really high but if you're there for a month and you're in violation that's 30 MH so that's that's the economic DEC and not economics aren't really driving that when you have a sunken boat maybe other things are happening in people's lives but if they're look at it one versus the other the cheaper option is to pay for removal rather than face what the city can potentially do so and and mayor just to continue on event really and I think you brought it up kudos to our volunteer Harbor Masters really who identified this issue very early on and then kind of worked with our code enforcement and City management to say okay how are we tackling this issue I know it kind of took a little longer than probably most people wanted or or expected but really we you know code enforcement and the harbor Masters we were following that legal process to make sure things were in line that's the main thing I just a we're going to go after the owner to the fullest extent of the law and go and and find him to the fullest extent we'll see what happens you I mean we can't obviously can't guarantee what what what's going to get paid back or not but we're going to go after that person and frankly anyone else who thinks about dumping their boat in our Harbor we're going to go after the fullest extent of the law number one um but as you said I do want to thank both our volunteer Harbor Masters Jack Lord Tom Carroll they both uh recognized that this boat was sinking um immediately called city manager sprung of action captain bobic and and our um code enforcement um Everybody Knows Beach the boat Then followed the law as as uh the deputy city manager just said um we wanted to get rid of the boat as much as everybody but you obviously have to give the owner their opportunity give the time um do the title search all that fun stuff um but in any event um the good news is we don't have a boat that's sitting at the bottom of our Harbor now and it had um diesel fuel inside of it so of course that would have been a huge expense of a cleanup had its had its um sunk let alone the environmental impact so um I get I think looking at this as the mayor I think everybody did the best they possibly could so I I appreciate everyone's hard work and we're going to go after the person as much as we possibly can and anyone who thinks about it in the future we will be litigating this to the fullest extent so all right I think we have a motion a second right do we have a motion in a second on this any other uh comments answer questions Council roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mik yes and for the regular agenda we have 2509 2024 a resolution appointing a member to the K May City Zoning Board of adjustment do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second I'll second um this is appointment of Sarah Stevenson to the zoning board um I probably should say this after the vote um any any questions or comments Council roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meer yes council member mcde yes Deputy Mayor Balman yes mayor mullik yes and I just want to thank Sarah for her willingness to serve on the zoning board thank you very much okay with that on to new business new Business Council city solicitor any new business I don't have anything tonight matter thank you city manager no just uh Summer's unofficially over but we still do have 3 weeks as good weather out there so again just a reminder please swim in front of a lifeguard thank you uh city clerk n tonight mayor thank you Deputy Mayor nothing tonight mayor thank you uh go ahead may you did have something so on this Friday 4:00 we're going to have the uh official ribbon cutting of Kanas uh Park so uh we do have that so if you're if you're available want to come out and you know we got the bathrooms finished the par has obviously been finished but we're going to do the official ribbon cutting uh with the you the kananian are going to be out there we're going to try to get the school bus to drop off a bunch of kids and you know just kind of officially open the park to the public that's great yeah thank you very much um where were we council member uh McDade uh nothing tonight mayor council member Meyer I just want to thank everybody that's part of Kate May for the success of Kate May um and I am very happy that but the parking along St John Street in Lafayette was a success something I've been wanting to see for more than 10 years and um and it goes to show that if you make it available people will park there and so I think uh moving forward we all know that you know that's the move that we need to make yeah and uh just think uh I'm just so lucky to live in Kate May and I love the summers in Kate May that's all thank you Mr Meyer uh councilman jger um yeah I just want to I'm starting early on this you probably hear about it a few more times uh but anyhow I just wanted to mention that um we're going to be doing a dune grass planning we're looking for volunteers for dune grass planning on Sunday October 6th it's only for two hours 10:00 a.m. to noon um and everybody's meeting at the U lifeguard headquarters and putting out thousands planning thousands of uh doing grass sprigs so um yeah it'll be U it'll be a great uh great event so um I'll mention it again later on but um again it's on October 6th that's great thank you thank you to the environmental commission too that's great um I have nothing further as with that we'll open it up to public comment anyone wishing to speak please come to the microphone sir uh good evening my name is Paul Johnston I own the Cove Restaurant located at 45 South Beach Avenue uh last month or in August I saw U some surveyors from the blast own Associates doing a survey in front of my restaurant uh so I went out there and asked them what they're doing and they said they're doing elevations for the um West End of Beach Avenue Improvement project that's the first I heard of it so so I went online just last week and I looked at it and this afternoon I went to the Staples and I copyed this and I said questions about it looks very pretty it's a it's a nice red brick seat wall a nice red brick turnaround Zone little little eye drop there nice papers here but there's some questions I have which I need to understand if you can see right here uh there's bards six bards blocking the traffic going into the beach the entrance to the beach is that a mistake or no that that is um that's where the current guard rail is thank you that area is out in front of where the guard rail is but it still allows access to the beach it's still still have access to the beach so bikers can bike right through those B you can have this we have it I'll get another copy myself I see six bows and there are I'm sorry sir could you speak to the microphone I'm sorry thank you I say six poers and they're approximately um I would say 10 20 about 266 feet east of the existing barricade I'm I'm guessing because I don't have a I don't have a a measuring device here uh appears it's 25 6 24 26 ft east of the existing barricade would that be an approximate guess it's I don't think it's that far it's a dist well if you look at this I assume well but what's the point what the point is if you look at this it's very hard to get to the beach with this this plan I'm showing you here's the Boward right here and here's the here's the beach access right here what I will say is there's better there will be better access to the beach with the proposed project than or what is currently if you think about the guide rail that's there now it's a solid guide rail across rail now this this plan is all new this is not a this is not an existing U super uh above ground above Sky View what what is now but would the would the seat wall be where the barricade is now basically yes proba where the bike ride is now oh it's for the back no the seat the seat wall is at the end of the sidewalk and the barricade is right at the West End or no it's about in the middle of the seaw wall the little sea wall or or a bulkhead west of the boardwalk west of the entrance to the beach so here is the that be thir this is being taken out and replaced here is the seaw wall right bulhe right there m here's the the seat wall right there yep then you have approximately 25 ft of pavers yep then you havehe but here's the entrance in the beach right here so car's coming down America the right and we don't want the cars driving onto the beach right so well that's clear we do not City Vehicles tractors loers yep how they going to move to the beach if if you notice that the Ballers don't go all the way down so there's a they stop they sto short to allow a vehicle to pass onto the beach to the same same location today and then and just just so the public knows what we're talking about cleaner going down here I guess they can drive across that city clerk city clerk could you have a microphone status over here if and if we need to move micat if we need to move a baller one way or the other we'll move a baller to make sure that I mean trust me the one thing the city wants to do is make sure that the beach cleaners and beach access is still maintained for us to maintain the beach that will maintain and happen as I said there will be no loss there will actually be improved beach access to the public people with bicycles people in pedestrians will have better access to get on the beach and our Public Works Public Safety will still have access to the beach right yes Mr Johnson one one thing I just want to make sure you understand too in just looking at this that Island the brick Island the tear drop the tear drop yeah it's the same as what it it's the same height as the rest of the road just just you know if you need to cross it iume maybe half an inch higher you know would be small yeah right I I assume that mhm uh but it just appears to me that my property's Frontage Street Frontage is going to be reduced around 25 ft no through the Boward here's my front door and the Boward starts about 12T west of my front door there's a here's a Boward right there and here's my front door right there okay you you've eliminated your own parking yeah it's you mean you mean where you have all the where you have all the seating out in front so we're actually protecting your your patrons yeah but I'm saying but I I would still need Street Frontage let's say the street is still there I want to revelop it can I just just so because we got a lot of people here okay I'll let them speak I'll let them speak first and I'll come back that's this is important to me so I can't say I can't be blown off by saying hey hey in front of you I'm not trying to blow you off I I think what we're having is kind of a private conversation I don't care if the public hears it but I think it'd be better if if after the meeting we meet with you and and as long as you need to we'll talk to you no problem well I just want to put on record okay that I want to put on record that I have other questions too it has been five minutes Council uh on the plan you have some some drainage along Beach Avenue is that a storm drain or a French drain a French drain French drain so we're not tying to this the storm system yeah we are a French drain as I explained to you in front of your restaurant last last week or a week two days ago last it was last last week so the French drain will tie into the storm drainage that's down onto um uh First Avenue Second Avenue second ver it it goes in and well my my my engineering wise I think a French drain and a storm drain is two different things a French drain is just the drain that that that the the stones absorb the water a French drain is a component to that and it and by the way it's an improvement to what you have there today yeah yes I I agree a French drain is good two French drains even better free is good but a storm drains better it's the best solution and we're we're we're improving we're improving what you have today right now right now you've got a drain that heads to the towards the Dune and and is full of sand we have a French drain and no one cleans out it's full sand yeah C never cleans it out so now so now we have a French drain going the other direction so it has positive drainage well the city's going to clean it out every I mean if storm drain you don't have to clean out you you have it goes into the system I disagree storm drains we have to clean out every year okay sorry um well I just okay I just Mr Johnson pull what what you'd like on the record Put it on the record but let's meet together and go over that's fine I didn't know no one told me about this I found out just through a guy that's not true though because we you and I have discussed this I emailed you yeah sorry you got to respond sir we would need to give you guys we got to take it one at a time all right we're doing seriously mayor I F I just I just downloaded this thing this morning I from the St Mr Johnson it's on our it's on our webbsite it's it's and it yeah where I got it from yeah yeah okay so we've had we've had um it at Council meetings and you did and I'm I'm just I'm not you know I don't want to go back and forth here but you asked me specifically about this project yes I asked you to to to tie the storm drains time tie the storm drain into the the system which is at M Avenue and Second Avenue but didn't you ask that question based on the fact that this project is happening no I did not I was getting I was having flooding issues I was having flooding issues I asked you to address it and I'm happy it's been addressed I I okay and I asked you to to tie that French drain into the storm drain okay just for okay well I I just want to put on record I have more questions and and you want me to stop here and and and that someone else go ahead of me but I I object to reducing my street Frontage from 96 ft to looks like 75 ft like but I don't have a gauge here you still have the same amount of Frontage under zoning and and just to be clear um I first corresponded with you by email on April 8th of 2024 and saying that that we were working on reconstructing Beach Avenue to address your drainage issue um and I had several other emails yeah I did email you but I sent you a photograph of the flooding and you said you're going to be working on it and I've been I never saw this I never saw this until recently so but anyway I I I I object to have my street funing being reduced from from 96 feet to now 70 I can't tell in 70 78 75 I I object to that I'd like to get more information okay it'll be noted in the minutes that you oppose that I'm sorry it'll be noted in the minutes that you oppose that well obviously I that's why I said it yes Mr Mr Johnson we're going to work with you no thank you thank you for me I really appreciate that will when do you want to meet we we let's meet after the meeting I'm fine right right now we want to work with you I mean we meet on site yes yes but we can meet right after this too and I let's I prefer to me on site as well fine that's fine I'll do both now let me just say this overall this is going to be a vast Improvement I think you're going to I agree I I I started my conversation by saying how pretty everything isk so give me some credit for that I didn't come here in a in a hostile we're going to we're going to put your name on one of the bricks is what we're city council do you understand that I didn't come here in a hostile way believe me I don't want I I don't think I don't believe I give that that interpretation you're not okay thank you for saying that sometimes I feel that that's how how you're taking it okay I appreciate your concern obviously it's your your place of business I fully appreciate that thank you for saying that thank you anyone else um public comment hello sir uh hanisco 1113 Illinois Avenue I'm sorry what was your name hanisco Mark Mark okay thank you thank you um there's no signs on the individual entryway to the beach that says no dogs I found two signs the long rectangular ones right one's at Second Avenue and ones at poverty okay and they site a uh I forgot my glasses 158-159 dogs permitted on the beach between whatever it is beginning May 16th and September 14th okay yeah I see them all the time right so the question is is it an ordinance or is it not are we going to enforce it or are we not I think we need more of those long rectangular signs as you walk on the beach there's no smoking pay attention to lifeguard all this other stuff but the no dog thing is not there so i' like to see more no dogs I I don't hate dogs I just don't want them on we understand believe me I want them on beach thank you I think um the sign that you're referring to the long one was actually updated um by the solicitor we had multiple signs what was bicycles and pedestrians were different date than dogs were we've inseason offseason rules now right and inseason offseason signs are those the on you referenc this is the one right here yeah there one at Second Avenue and one at poverty you like the sign or you the sign's great I think we need more okay it's just two of them on what do we got I think what we have to do is consolidate and I think this is a good winter project okay we've had updates to certain ordinances and then you kind of put one ordinance on one sign okay and then we end up with six signs at a beach entrance we've made some updates and I think they're good updates you know made more con concise and and understandable language for you have to site the ordinance but you also want people to understand what what you're actually trying to say I think I agree with you let's make a winter project of trying to consolidate the rules on the beach you know to so that we don't have six different signs for different ordinances but and starts with a welcome you know welcome to Kate may have a great time please do not smoke have the dogs etc etc um so please respect I'm going to ask for a a council member to work with our solicitor we have until spring of next year in public works I'll volunteer for that would you do that yeah totally okay so I so I sir I have I have a council member who's going to volunteer Mr Meyer is going to work with the city solicitor on signage thank you thank you thank you thank you Chief I'll be quick as the late hour approaches um just a couple different things as we as we as the manager said we conclude our summer summer season it's not over our shoulder season is upon us I think we are sometimes busier in the shoulder season um as Kate May is um I spoke with some representatives from W Crest today and they were just we were going back and forth in some banter um about how their their season ends and it gets real quiet over there and I'm like we pick up immensely over here so as we move into September I want to remind everyone of our upcoming 911 services uh we moved that venue from The Cove back down to um or back to the new Firehouse here um I think it's going to be a great service um we've got some members from kuas helping us out with that as they always do um the fire department will be uh displaying a piece of Steel from 911 and which they're very proud of um several members including myself went to 911 during that day um and and tried to help out as best we could so um as we move into that we also have October Fest coming up at the end of September even though it's October Fest it's at the end of September several races and runs coming through Beach debur um that start here in Kate May and end in lower Township um we seem to be the host for a lot of runs that end outside of our purview so um Lieutenant Walker and Lieutenant Maza and Captain bobic are very busy getting everything prepared for that um we have a very busy day on the 28th I believe L that's October Fest um we have an event out in West Kate May on one of their their um distribution sites for um uh an event out in the at in the field um that's coming up as well we have a windmill event that's going to be at the end of Beach Drive that same day on top of October Fest so we're pretty much all hands on deck for that that weekend um and we also have an event uh I believe uh in Village Green correct so um like I said our shoulder season gets no slower we get busier so just bear with with us as we move along um the traffic may slow but I think our Thursday to Sunday traffic is still going to be here and you know that's one thing I couldn't control this summer was the traffic I don't know what happened this this season we've been here a long time some of us um it wasn't a rainy day it was a bright sunny day it would take you 45 minutes just to get off the island let alone onto the island I I don't know people called and complained to me about it and I tried to answer as best I could um but it's I don't have an answer uh at the end of the season I don't have an answer what happened I don't you know usually happens when there's a thunderstorm coming and people exit the island quickly with nowhere to go so um you know I'm I'm not sure uh we are moving into hurricane season as well so OEM and ourselves are ramping up for that we'll be putting out some messages and we remind everyone to uh be informed join on to nixel um that information is on our web page front top Banner on the web page um my um Police Department's page and OEM uh anyone that does not have a computer we will send someone to you uh on Freddy will come to your house um and help you walk through that with the laptop um we we'd rather people uh into our register ready ready program as well I looked at the numbers today it very low numbers um of people that are actually registered on the County's register ready program that means if you live here year round and that you need assistance other than just uh calling 911 we kind of come to you first and we can get to Kate May Point West Kate May Kate May City and deal with you because we know you live here so if you live here year around and you need extra help or you your family member lives here please come on to that register ready it's a County webbased service that can help the the public um be better prepared and us be better prepared so we don't have to go house to house hunting we'll do that at the end it's better to come to you first so anyone with any needs there please contact us we try to remind you of that um oam coordinator e deputy chief e reminded me he wanted that that known um also on a Saturday it's not really involving Kate may but I just want to extend the city's condolences to uh the gudo family the Matthew and Johnny gudo uh they were both killed uh recently in Salem County um I say that because they touched one of our our officers members family here um Lieutenant Maza his children were taught by them um in hockey so um he had sent me a picture just recently while I was sitting here of his son placing a stick at the site for them today so very sad it's part of our ongoing uh with city council and the manager Office ongoing effort to uh to thwart any du we had several DUIs this summer um I also applaud our staff for for being attentive to that and trying to capture that uh as they as they out go out and Patrol um you know 8 in July six or seven in August doesn't seem like a lot of numbers but that's you know 12 13 off the road um and they were pretty decently High numbers um we tell everyone there's Ubers there's you know I'll drive you home myself call me I'll pick you up I I don't I really don't care where it is so again our condolences as a city as a police department to the gdor family um sad very sad for a mother and a father to lose two children at once on their you know sisters uh you know um rehearsal dinner night so that along not too much detail but on the Cove incident uh just want make sure everyone's aware we you know again our Public Services lifeguards Police Department fire department our Public Works um responded quickly to an event that was unfortunate uh in the city uh on a you know coming into a busy Labor Day week um you know we we did have to close some area down I do apologize to Mr Johnson for closing the Cove down for a few hours in the morning um but again I want to also applaud the staff members who dealt with that because a very unfortunate tragic incident that sometimes um cast a cast Shadow over over that so we've made sure that our men and women they handle that have been spoken to and taken care of um and again I appreciate the um all the city partners that helped out get getting that that situation under control quickly and and doing that uh one thing on the boats um in the harbor my department Captain bobic assist the harbor masters with that program um maybe some additional signage out there in the harbor you know as you come into it on the polls there's several polls out there I don't know what we can attach to what we can attach to but you know maybe people coming in see it he there's a fine if you come here or boat here something on lands side uh we can post all the social media you want but if someone doesn't see it if I drive into a parking lot says I'm going to be towed if I park here I may not um and people it's a Dumping Ground so unfortunately it is it definitely is a Dumping Ground for that so um I think that's all I have for now thank you thank you Chief and I you know we I think we all uh extend our thank you to your whole department for a a busy summer as you said a lot more left to left to go um in fact I don't think it ever actually ends in K May anymore but um yeah you've you've handled a lot of and some unfortunately some bigger events um but have handled it very professionally so we thank you I just can I just add on to Chief's comments real quick just as a reminder um school has started so make sure that we're uh you know being mindful of our speed as always uh especially with you know little ones that are roaming around and might not be you know oh there we go good sorry I did forget that but yeah I Echo uh dcms comments there slow down and smell the solid air it's pretty simple it's very very simple slow down we have a lot of children none to waste it's it's it's very simple thanks your turn thank you Mr Mr Rous yeah Jules Rous 10 New York Avenue I'd like to U pass com the uh taxpayers Association has had several discussions about recyclables just a bit of a little history up until January 1st 2017 commercial businesses were required to contract for their own collection of recyclables and beginning on January 1st 2017 with no discussion from city council with no budgets with no uh authorization no resolution the collection of commercial businesses was done free I think it's imperative that you take a look at this from a a a a a real perspective point the city has changed we all know that we're now 10 to 12 months a year uh in the last five six years we have seen a change they tell me from 400 to 800 houses that are now being rented we know that many of them are big houses they're event houses I've got one that's right down the street for me they take 25 people their trash cans 8 10 we don't you never know how many are there going to be depending on how many people show up um I would like to see us return to the position where we originally were the commercial businesses are required to pay for their own contracted with whomever they choose and and and follow their business I've passed out to you several photographs that I've taken this year of commercial projects around town that um that indicate that the issue is not trash cans the issue is you've got to deal with everything that they put out on the on the sidewalk I don't think it's fair to accept expect our Public Works frankly to be dealing with that issue it's it's too significant an item the um the requirement on the employees to handle these large volumes in one location is is and frankly I don't think a fair representation of what they should be doing commercial does not belong be by the City commercial businesses are in business to make a profit and as their business grows they've got to pay more for water and sewer and gas and electric and employees the responsibility for their recyclables is theirs it should not be ours and I think that needs to be established as you look through a mon ification of your ordinance and I would add it that because of the change that we've seen in the rentals of residential real estate that we look at at how many occupants are allowed to occupy in a particular dwelling and reflect added to their meraner license a fee based on how many occupants that building is allowed to have whether it's $25 or $50 added on per occupant is a relatively s small number to recognize that these are now commercial businesses people are buying them they're not staying them themselves they're running them out frankly they're on a 12 month basis these are these are no longer what you would call Little seasonal re rentals that I was accustomed to as a kid they're it's a full-time business it's a commercial business and they need to be handled as such the other Factor comes in you know what what has happened to the city and the number of accidents that our unfortunately our employees have had you take one of these these monsters containers and load it up with you know 89 to 100 200 uh beer bottles they can't pick them up so I I would like to know how many injuries have we really had as a result of the collection of recyclables and to know and I think you folks should know you know how much has this cost the city how many man hour hours were lost JF has recommended to all their members that we get that they that the memberships not participate in trash or recycling collection that's their request to their municipalities so without getting into further comment you've got the photographs there's they're they're representative of what they what our our people have to deal with and I don't think it's a reasonable business practice for the city of K May to collect commercial um recyclables thank you thank you Mr Ral obviously this was discussed this evening through one of the ordinances what one of you volunteered Shane and I uh to to look at this in in depth so um yeah so we we're we're looking at it obviously um but I I hear you I mean you look at some of the photos I saw saw some of it myself today and I do think it's ridiculous when you see 30 trash cans lined up I mean that that is a commercial that is a that is a commercial amount of recycling in this case that the businesses should be paying for and and frankly a lot of them do so I think really we're trying to make this fair for everybody any anyone else this evening M Mr Crowley what's yeah Dennis Crowley 806 left Street uh a couple comments about the uh ordinances that have been introduced today and and as U the chairman of MRA I I I I I speak for MRA when I say that we we all feel like expecting fathers because this is one of the things that we have advocated for since we we began our process and it's uh frankly one of the Cornerstone pieces that that we have done uh behind the occupancy tax and the residential rental issues the the upgrading of fees and making them uh modern and practical and effective has been a goal of ours for a long time and we appreciate this this Mo this motion today Council couple Council people have indicated some of these fees are 20 25 years old and but the other thing we wanted to I wanted to say was that um we've also always been sort of a macro look at what's going on we we don't want to get into Weeds about anything about whether $5 or $6 is appropriate but we MTR has done a lot of statistical work and practical work for many other recommendations and this one this one's different because we want to commend the city for doing what MTR had been doing and that is to get down and and drill down into these issues and make sure that that we have data and facts to support the decisions we're making and and Paul and and and uh Paul and Aaron and Moren have done a great job about that and we want to commend them for that because this takes a lot of the workload off of MRA we don't we don't want to really be a any more than a suggestive box looking at looking at issues and this is to that end this is going to be on our we have a meeting on Thursday we're going to have put this on the agenda for review we're going to review both of those ordinances that um that have been introduced today and and if the committee wants to make some suggestions we'll make them to you in enough time so that you can consider them as you roll forward on this issue there won't be any delay in the in the process cuz one of the other things we need we have always advocated is getting issues changed early enough so that everybody can process them that so it's a good it's a good it's a great start we appreciate it I want to thank you for that uh with respect to the other issue of um recycling mtr's also looked at that and um go recycling going forward is we don't want the city I don't think we want the city to um make changes to the way the system is working without going back and looking at what the system is all by itself recycling was something that was sold to the city as a way to pay for itself was supposed to generate Revenue enough to cover all of its costs and even make some profit for the city and that simply has not happened the revenue the revenue has never been there for recycling there is no market for recycling and uh the city is now incurring a significant annual cost to provide a service that frankly doesn't make any sense uh the U the trash is collected privately private residents arranged for their own trash collection perhaps would the city a to look at eliminating the whole concept of City provided uh recycling services because it just is not working properly and it's not making money and it's costing us money and MRA is a revenue and Appropriations Committee study committee and we did a little bit of a study of that we're going to do more because we don't want the city to go too far down the line of changing the way that you're doing things without considering whether or not you even should be doing those things so those are my two thoughts for today thanks thank you Mr Crowley and thank you for uh you're willing us to help in that anyone else this evening seeing none we can close public comment um and motion to adjourn thank you very much everyone have a wonderful evening the time is 7:10 thank you was