##VIDEO ID:HYujf8szfLc## 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 all right we have a uh I hear you I have a we have a special meeting of the city council of City Cape May New Jersey we are here in the Cap May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday August 20th the time is now 10: two please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance Al flag of the United States of America and the rep for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all thank you under the under the open public meetings law notice that this meeting was sent to the K 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 K May City website the city of K May is not responsible of audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Balin here council member McDade here council member Meer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager Dietrick here Deputy manager rigs here and Deputy clerk Turner here Council we have one resolution 22608 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 municipal court judge appointment the city manager contract and the tax assessor position if we have a motion do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second second roll call please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor bobwin yes mayor mullik yes and public portion mayor open it up for the public portion seeing no one in the public we can close public comment and go into close session the time is now 10:4 cool than 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 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 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 e e e e all right good afternoon everyone I apologize for a little bit of a late start here we are coming out of a closed session um um I first would need a motion to uh close our executive session do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second okay okay the time now is 3:13 today we have a special meeting of the city council of the city of cap may we are here in the Cap May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday August 20th 2024 at 3:13 please join me for the pledge of Allegiance i al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the Kate May County Herald in the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of City Council post on the city website and City Hall bulletin board notices hereby provided that K City Council meetings are audio recorded and video streamed live live video streams are posted to the K May City website the city of K May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Balwin here council member McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager d here Deputy manager rigs here Deputy cler Turner here and Council I believe we have some additions this evening if You' like me to go over them uh yes please okay we have resolution 2348 2024 a resolution updating city manager contract for the city of Kate May and 23508 2024 resolution authorizing contract with State contract vendor General Recreation Inc pursuant to njsa 40a 11- 12a for poured in place surfacing and materials for Lafayette Street park playground if we'd like a motion to add to the regular agenda do I have a motion I'll make a motion do I have a second I'll second roll call please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes depy mayor Balin yes mayor M yes all right we have updates in Old business any updates city manager thank you um we were looking at updating the um we've had several discussions regarding updating mertile fees and the land use fees uh had a chance to meet with uh the clerk's office and uh Council woman M McDade and went over that um we kind of went over all the the items some things went up some things went down we added a few things we deleted a few things and we Consolidated a few things um and uh we'd like to uh I think we've followed some of the recommendations that MTR uh put forth definitely the spirit that MTR uh put forth in some of the their requests and and I think that um I think we have a good proposal to bring th those fees in conformance with uh you know the today's costs both what the city experience those costs and um you know to help pay for the services that are rendered whether it's through the mertile or through through the uh uh land use uh Planning and Zoning Board um application and escrow fees so I you know like everybody to take a look at those items not really looking for you know decision today but if if everybody's okay we would like to incorporate them at the next meeting uh as an as an introduction for an ordinate so that this keeps us on a time frame of if we move now we introduce them at the next meeting they'll then be adopted at the first meeting in October and then that gives us you know the rest of the balance of the Year especially for the mertile fees to to before mertile renewals come out to be able to to get that information out to all the uh merchants and see where the uh um fees are going um and based on that so that's kind of the schedule we're at I don't know if maren has any other comments to that but no I would just add that um it was based on a a 5-year CPI CPI um evaluation so we did consider that as part of the the methodology so well thank you uh for that level of detail and and of course thanks to MTR as well for their research on that and we'll go ahead and you now that we have this final list out to council we'll go ahead and send a copy over to Mt track just so that they can see what we're going to be proposing uh in a proposed ordinance as we move move forward that's great um moving on to some other things uh we did uh kind of put some social media out uh last week uh Public Works um took delivery of a new sweeper um or or the old sweeper was limping around and you might have noticed if you looked at the decal you saw lower Township on the side emblem because we borrowed their sweeper on occasion just to kind of keep try to keep up with the streets but with a new sweeper out there um our guys are out there uh making sure the streets are clean and nice and and I think it follows up I think mayor I think I think I saw you you posted on social media that you know we're listed as one of the cleanest cities around and you know and and you know Council providing us the budgetary funds to you know to buy new equipment like this a road sweeper to keep our town you know that's just one of the steps that we use to uh keep the city clean for both our residents and visitors so it's you know thank you for that and and of course we we really do thank our neighbors in lower Township for allowing us to use that sweeper you know that's so important to have uh you know that support you know we share equipment with them they share equipment with us and you know to have that relationship with some of our neighboring communities it it really does help out when you need help um along new things uh we opened up uh the Kanas bathrooms restrooms uh on Friday and then we anticipate opening up the restrooms up on the prominade next to convention hall um later this week uh just doing some final touchup and cleaning in that restroom so we're hoping to have that open by the end of this week and then I'm sure the next question is well when do the the old Comfort station that's sitting out on Beach Avenue go away uh had some discussions with Public Works uh today so we'll you know once that's up and running uh we'll work on uh the exit strategy for that Comfort station can we do a ceremonial with um banners banners and yeah and uh I think cans might be a you know in the back of it let it go you might not want to follow too close that's all I'm going to say um and then I uh the last thing I just would like to report um I'm I'm working on uh sending out a notice to uh the residents uh regarding uh holding a uh town hall meeting for the um for both promoting flood insurance but also to talk about the NJ paact rules um it's kind of late in uh October close to the deadline of um uh the public comment period but I feel that you know this would be one last presentation right before the public comment period ends and I'm I'm looking to have it hosted on Tuesday October 29th and that and that town hall meeting would be probably at 5 o'clock at convention hall so I still have to work on some final details but at this point that's what I'm looking to uh to schedule that for I still have to confirm with um I'm asking Peter Max to to attend that meeting just to lend his final perspective uh from the county and um you know look to uh move that forward on that date that's all I had this evening mayor can I thank you Mr dedri follow on the on the Kanas um I I know you did a you know kind of like a soft opening of the when the bathrooms were open um are we going to do a full opening of now now that that's on yeah so we're working we've reached out to kanana Club to to kind of see when some dates are and uh you know hopefully before by next council meeting I hope we hope to have a date you know for the I'll say the grand opening for the whole park bathroom and All Phases of that yes okay so as soon as I have a date we we'll get it out the council okay thank you yep okay uh on to uh city solicitor any updates or old business I don't have anything tonight mayor thank you okay uh we have City Council on here do I don't think we normally do that but does anyone have any old business okay uh on to uh mayoral appointment um it's a privilege and an honor to uh nominate it is a mayoral appointment for the class 2 planning board member uh Justin rigs our Deputy city manager and just take the opportunity to Justin to just say you've done a great job and uh I'm happy to hear of your willingness for the planning board so I I thank you thank you thank you um with that we're on to ordinances for introduction we uh have 542 this is a ordinance establishing met metered parking days on uh at K May City Hall uh parking lot I just want to thank um both Moren McDade and and Lorraine Baldwin for uh tackling this issue we had it up at the last council meeting and um have some updates do would either of you like to explain them yeah I can May so what we're looking at doing is opening the um the parking lot out here uh with I think better signage and you know identifying things um a little bit better but opening it up on Friday uh at 5:00 and then closing it again on Sunday at 10:00 at night um yeah and it still allows uh city hall employees to have the ability to park here um but yet it gives us a lot lot more additional um you know surface parking spaces within the city on the weekends yeah and on the weekend yep and the rates are the same as that the Welcome Center and and not addressed in here but part of the the discussion also was that there's going to be some additional parking spots put in um towards the back of the lot correct yeah and then um an area where people have expressed some uh frustration about going to the library there's also a plan that Mr duuk shared that they're um going to put in some parking spots uh I'll call it the alleyway between the county library building and the firehouse so there would be some spots in there that people could take advantage designated for you know parking for the county library Etc so trying to recognize and accommodate that people just want to drop their books off or or pick them up you know one of those spots would be designated maybe as a drop off zone or so so forth so you know I think a lot of work being done out there to try and improve the overall use of the lot with the signage obviously the yeah the signage and that's the rest of those aren't going to be available just so the public knows they won't be available until the parking lot is fully paved resurfaced yes resurfaced so I have questions MH um are we talking meters I mean real meters we are talking Park Mobile Park Mobile MH okay um and nobody's concerned about December to April and how the lot is treated because the meters are off all over town what what's the I don't think and nobody I mean you know there's during the weekend I don't think there's a high need on the weekend for parking in that in and I guess all I'm saying is that it's uh you know will people remember that it's a weekend or will they look at it and say it's hey you know the parking meters aren't on anymore this is public parking we can park here well during the I think when sign talked about signage we'll make sure that signage is clear that you know be when the parking meters are on you know when it's paid it's paid when it's not you need a permit the park there during the week and this this this is basically codifying an exception to the general rule that that is to be used for official business M so and that that's referenced in the ordinance just to kind of point to the code sections that are applicable to that lot so during that season um it'll provide the opportunity for public parking on Saturdays and Friday late Friday Saturday and Sunday but to your point councilman joerger in the offseason you know there's no overnight parking at any time so there there's still some limitations on the use of that lot it's just not necessarily metered on the weekends and things like that okay the only other thing I want to just add to all of this as far as the signage just you know coming in today the signage for the other lot which is only for um the fire um and yeah fire Personnel maybe look at signage for that we're going to replace all after we do the paving we're going to replace the signage for the lot and update it for this and general signage yeah it seems like there was one one idea and then there was another idea with another sign so just to con put put everything on one it was just to clarify in the short term we got the final signs perfect thank you okay uh do I have a do I have a motion we do not yet a motion to introduce yes thank you can I do I have a motion to we do have a motion to inter I did not I did not may I have a motion okay I'm sorry I'm I'm only unsure about one thing and that is Mone blue is there any special Arrangement made with them now or will there be in the future okay that's cool and I guess you could say this is the arrangement yes which except for the weekend do on the weekend okay good okay now that's all right all right so do I have a motion uh to introduce 542 I'll make the motion do I have a second I'll second um again I just want to thank both of you for for working on this I do think we have a better uh better easier to understand ordinance here any other questions or comments on ordinance 542 Council I just feel strongly about the comments I made at the last meeting so thank you okay roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes okay we have um ordinance for second reading and consideration for adoption it's 540-224-5170 evening mayor is anyone here wishing to speak on 540 ordinance 540 open it up for public comment seeing no one seeing no one uh we'll close public comment council do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments Council roll call council member yger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor M yes next we have 541 d224 an ordinance amending section 434 of the city code to require trash cans be provided and maintained in connection with food service businesses providing for immediate consumption off premises with a public hearing is anyone here wishing to speak on ordinance 541 time is now for public comment ordinance 541 seeing none we can close public comment council do I have a motion I'll make motion do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments Council roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes jeffanie mayor bin yes mayor mullik yes right next we have a public portion on the resolutions only those wishing to publicly comment please come forward give your name and address and speak into the microphone and please limit your comments to 5 minute time frame is anyone here wishing to speak on resolutions this evening please come to the microphone Stacy Shan hold on Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue um I just have one question that was uh emailed to me to ask and I just thought I'd ask it um for resolution 227 the contract for the fire truck the $2.1 million um did we get more than one bid for that no as because it's part of the um National Cooperative that the national Cooperative bids it nationally to vendors and sets and establishes price nationally so it it has been bid yes so to the extent that it's been bid it has been bid under the and it follows all the state procurement rules under bidding so it's been bid by the state yes for the contract okay by this Cooperative it's not the state Cooperative by this Cooperative agreement it has been bid yes and do we have more than one Cooperative that we go through for that or is there just one for the for the fire truck that this is one of the ones that have not all cooperatives and state contracts have but this is one that has a fire truck on it I I didn't know if you were belong to any other besides just one that belonged to the fire truck you know just this one just this one okay my other question has to do with the addition of resolution 234 the city manager's contract my question is what is the I guess I'm assuming the increase in pay raise that he's getting it's an update to the update and clarification to the existing City manager's contract and it's it's not reflecting any increase uh in salary it's just there's two aspects of the city manager's compensation one of which is the duties of the city engineer the other is the city manager there was a reflection of a $10,000 a year increase for the city manager duties and the update and clarification is to the contract is to confirm that that's salary not a stipend okay so he I'm just just so so he got a $110,000 pay raise for the next couple years no it's it's I'm understand not yeah it's not changing the compensation it's confirming that it's salary not a stien so total already this $10,000 you're just saying it's not a stien it's part and I I'm assuming this was for the flood plane manager position no this is this this is just to confirm that when somebody fill the role of city manager they're doing it on a salary basis not a stien basis and it's part of an effort to eliminate and clarifies some of these um references to stiens um and it's a salary position so that's to confirm the total salary is salary and not salary plus a stipend okay so so just for clarification so he's a city engineer and he has a city manager's position so they're both salaries one's not a stifen correct that's correct correct okay thank you um I I just want to comment on resolution 229 and that has the all the change orders that have to do with lafat Street sewer main project and how the increase was over $800,000 I mean the original bid and then was just under 2 million at 1.97 million and the final project is going to be around 2.8 million I mean that's almost a million dollar increase and I guess my question is when this was bid I know it was an emergency but shouldn't we be took maybe be taking better looks at what the project is going to entail if you're gone up almost well at 41% increase over the bid because when it comes down to it seems like that other people might have had a better bid but have been higher but it might have included more things I wasn't here when this was done but this was not a bid project this was authorized under as an emergency appropriation so therefore it was more of a negotiation and at the outset the ultimate scope of the project was not fully determined and so things were added to as we got into the project and identifying you know you know and actually this change order is actually reducing the final contract by $800 understand but but the comment really was for the other change orders but for this change order just to be clear is reducing it just to F and this is the final change order but that's the nature of an emergency appropriation at the start of the emergency you don't know the size scope and level of detail and so wasn't involved you know we had to replace the brick Island at Sydney and Lafayette that was not contemplated when the project started so we had to replace all those break so that's why the bricks aren't what's making it Millions almost a million dollars more but it's just those things that weren't anticipated and known the number of service connections that were had to be done you know the abandonment level my my point is that I think going forward when you're having we knew that Lafayette Street was going to be redone for years matter of fact we were fighting about it for years to get it redone we we should have known that it's going to have to require sewer and water upgrades at at some point in that if it hadn't been done in years and I think that maybe better planning in the future would be more optimal to we're not paying over and that's why and that's why you have a full-time engineer now I we had a full-time engineer you did not have a you did not have a staff fulltime engineer to be able to review and analyze and and review projects right well I now this was uncovered this was uncovered the this work was precipitated by a a study that the city ordered on the sewer system to identify these types of issues and this popped up that's referenced in the original resolution just so we have the complete history that precipitated this also we weren't required to but the city did seek competitive quotations even on an emergency basis to try and get a competitive price at the start of this and that's what precipitated that award so we weren't required to it was an emergency situation but we did see two competitive price quotations even before this awarded just just to jump on that because the fact is this is not the way that you want to do a project I'm I'm I I agree with you 100% um however and you know this Stacy because you were deputy mayor when we were pushing really hard for an inii study for years and it didn't happen in the last few years we we did do an II study thankfully and that inii study and what that is is infiltration and um it looks for leaks what what's the other eye inflow inflow and infiltration is that right yes yeah basically it we videoed the um pipes you water pipes sewer pipes taking a look at all the condition underground and what we real realized and as many people know Lafayette Street had been planned for for years why it wasn't looked at beforehand there's not a good answer I mean it should have been looked at this should have been planned but we can't help that it wasn't so we did the inii study that study immediately said you have a problem on Lafayette Street and you're about to repave that road in in the next year so as the solicitor just explained we did competitive bidding and within that bid and this is this is in there it has contracted pricing for anything that could occur so it has in here your 8 in PVC Mains and it gives you a linear foot cost for anything that would be done under the contract and that's in the situation that we had I think this was the best way we could have possibly handled it we didn't know everything that was underground so we we put out to bid for Contracting pricing for anything that could potentially occur do we need a new lateral here for this a house that we didn't expect how much would it cost to replace any sewer lines that need to be replaced so while obviously I agree that's not the way you want to do the project it's kind of backing into the project um and $800,000 uh increase is not not how you want to do it but that isn't necessarily a surprise we knew that there was going to be a significant change order based on what they would find underground so what should have happened is years before Lafayette Street Park lafette Street was about to be paved we should have opened up the street and found out what was or or did did this inii study years ago when you were asking for it so and it wasn't done so my question is then moving forward because Washington Street now going to be done are we going to be seeing emergency repairs to this street and and I can tell you no with some Authority because we had the inii study done on Washington Street and that study showed us that it wasn't in that bad of a shape now when they put that heavy equipment on Washington Street could a pipe break yes you know so maybe there will be some change but that is the same way with any other Street in town that we've done and let me just say other than Lafayette Street any of the projects that we've had this isn't the way we've done it we've we've as part of the bidding process it's been you know when we did Trenton Avenue replace what's underground and then then pay they also remember on Pittsburgh that we you know it was another County Road that they finished it and we had to go back in and make emergency on Texas you mean I mean just to be clear yeah well exactly I mean and that was a true emergency the pipe broke and that's unfortunate but it was caused by the machine of doing the project and that wasn't just our pipe that was a county pipe broke and a city pipe broke so you know that was a true emergency where a pipe broke from the construction but the point your point that this shouldn't should have been planned out PR previously I it's true it should have been done years before but frankly this Council was faced with what it was we thankfully did the inii study said that you had a problem and this is the emergency situation that we did now what about the beach drive one that we're doing um from Broadway to The Cove Cove so so you you would have noticed early in the spring we did a trench some utility work in there so we've done the utility work you know the water main had already been replaced we did the sewer ban and now we're going to go in and do the paving when we've done you know we we're in the process of redoing Ohio AB section of Ohio Avenue we're looking at the infrastructure so we're looking at that more constructively based on that I and I study to make sure when we PVE a street and that's why it's unfortunate I get calls from residents all the time hey I've got a little bit of ponding on my street the pavement is alligatored and stuff like that well we're not looking at just the condition of the road we're trying to look at infrastructure and condition so that we can make good decisions and not have to have emergency decisions um with talking about water and sewer my my next quick point or question has to do with um payment from the Coast Guard base I notic on one of them that they're behind on one of their bills for I think wood sewer and I just didn't understand what that was for where's that on the where you looking at I think it had to do with I can't remember where I saw that I think it it's the first first in the packet I guess my point I know it's hard to find it is is the Coast Guard up to date with their payment to the city which they should be since they are the federal government with their water and and sore payments is that something we can we can I I'd have to do some research I unless you come so I think the answer is what we have to look into it and get back to I mean I only saw it because it was the packet I mean I didn't I I didn't do any other research or anything I'm sure they will pay but we we will get you that answer I was going to says they could have paid I mean it looks I mean when I look at it's on page 45 in the packet it appears that the balance is zero I mean that was the report for the month of May and June so that very well could have been that could that might be current but we could at that point there was something they were behind on that's why I was asking on the report that was given to the public it looked like they were behind well no so many many of times you know and I spoke with the tax collector about this and actually quite frankly with the Coast Guard base uh in a conversation that that we had and that's basically it has to do with the billing um you know when they receive it it's not hey it's done on property it's sent off to headquarters in Washington and then circulated but this shows it it's paid you know there was an April there's an April charge of $ 34,7 5710 and then there's a subsequent payment you look at it there's a constant bounce being thrown in there about about $6,000 that they didn't pay the first one and they kept rolling over but I but if you look at the last one at zero okay to check I mean yeah I was just asking I just had seen it I was just asking it that's typical in in Municipal and governmental procurement I mean you know there's always a lag between you know when a Bill Gets Sent in and when the check gets processed you know it's no different for our city bills but time you know a payment comes in this month by the time it gets procured sends in a p the PO get circulates gets signed you know and you know and just within city government Kevin has to sign it I has to sign it department has how to sign it I can just imagine the procurement within the US Coast Guard of what they have to do to to sign off on pay but we are billing on regular basis but it appears that their bills are current based on what the The Collector posted thank you any other question uh questions or comments um on resolutions today Jes 1010 New York Avenue just to follow up on that Lafayette Street as a it's kind of a broad question uh Mr do do we as a a a practice have asilt plans for all the the new streets that we're that we're creating we don't get as built plans per se I have implemented a process where we are digitizing uh the uh utility infrastructure into our GIS Network so that we have a a known GIS Network which is an asz built for the water sewer utility infrastructure but we're not going out and doing an asilt plan that making sure that the grade was the grade based on the engine the engineers plan was built to the to I'm more interested in in knowing that we've got some good record keeping as to where things are we're we've I've implemented a process where we're definitely keeping track of the utility infrastructure so that we can go back in and look on con like this past year we rebuilt Congress Street we rebuilt Trenton Avenue it'll it's documented in our utility infrastructure so 10 years from now we know that we replace them in 2024 are we doing that with the laterals with new homes and and reconstruction as well I'm not sure if the laterals are but I know the mains are I just think it's a you know we've seen the changes in in a town that's several hundred years old and you find a lot of unusual things so the better recordkeeping obviously the better we are thank you thank you Mr Rous anyone else on resolutions this evening this afternoon seeing none we can close public comment on resolutions council do I have uh does anyone wish to remove anything from the uh consent agenda if I could have 233 pulled and then just a question is 234 and 235 they're separate they're not part of the consent agenda we'll do those separately on the regular agenda yes I'm not going to pull 227 I I just have a question on it if you don't mind anything else Council okay do I have a motion so moved do I have a second I'll second um be before we go to roll call my my qu and I'm actually I apologize Paul for not asking on 227 prior but I forgot to ask you about this um this is the this is for the fire apparatus is this the this is a pierce 100 foot is this a ladder truck yes it is the ladder truck yes okay so the the fire apparatus that we had approved previously this year was the tanker truck I believe and that's on order no the what was authorized in the capital Bond was a a ladder truck yes oh that is that what this is that's what this is now my recollection was that was a um Ferrera the brand of I think based on the budgetary amount that we appropriated this is the truck he could find that he found that met within the budgetary constraints and also met his his needs I mean I I completely respect that and uh would happily pass this I I just if anyone said to me that we had budget restraints that didn't allow us for another truck that wanted or something I'd like he was able to I mean CU this was his budget request it's not like you know it's not like he asked for $5 million and counsel city manager put his budget down he he asked for the the 2.1 million and you know obviously I think we have a pierce now but anyway I I don't even know that for sure but he's you know he I mean he's already been talking to the the uh the vend you know the vendor okay he he anticipates that he we might have a truck by March oh great speaking speaking with the uh the fire chief yesterday he said that is a really you know the iron's hot and it's time to strike because otherwise it might take years for this opportunity it's for the ambulance in the future is going to take about 2 years to order I just I meant to reach out to the Chief and Paul on this one and I just totally forgot I mean if if if you online I had the I think it's still online the my capital budget presentation I had a photo of the ladder truck okay and you might have seen it through town because they they they tested it around the same type of truck they're looking for and made sure that it fit down the streets and things like that I mean that's the critical I mean that's obviously the critical thing for here is you know the maneuverability of the truck was is almost as important as you know some of the other specifications on the truck because you got to be able to get the truck to where the fire is okay most of our streets perfect thank thank you very much we have a motion in a second um any questions or comments Council roll call just to clarify this is to adopt the consent agenda Council consent agenda yep minus 233 council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes and we have 23308 2024 resolution for the payment of bills do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second questions or comments Council I'm just I'm just going to abstain I'm okay I'm in there for a refund oh okay for for a concert that's all U any other questions or comments um roll call please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Stephanie mayor Balwin abstain mayor mullik yes now for the regular agenda we have 2348 2024 resolution updating city manager contract for the city of Kate may do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second a second any questions or comments Council okay roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member mcdde yes deputy mayor yes mayor mik yes thank you and 2358 2024 resolution authorizing contract with State contract vendor General Recreation Inc pursuing to njsa 40a col 11-12 a for poured in place surfacing and materials for Lafayette Street park playground do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second I know uh we had a couple comments on this and wanted to implement um some amendments um Deputy Mayor mentioned making sure that this um had 50% payment from the city and 50% payment from the Board of Education can I ask the solicitor how that should be um formulated into this I I think we we've been in constant communication with the board of education on a shared services for this we don't have it tonight um but the intent here is I think that there'll be sharing of costs for this project at the playground so what I would suggest is in order for timing purposes to you know put this project in queue with the goal of having a shared services agreement formalized very soon um we can add language to this saying the within authorization this would be a new paragraph three at the end the within authorization is conditioned upon the execution of an interlocal shared services agreement with the Kate May City Elementary School District for the shared cost of resurfacing referenced here in and should you specify 50/50 you can but the shared services agreement is going to provide the detail that's not in here right now like it to be just say it now I just put it in there I would like it there please and we have shared this quote Proposal with the school administration so they they're they they're aware of of of how we're moving forward based on our previous discussions about the shared service agreement so we can just instead of saying shared cost we can say for half the cost okay fine yeah comfortable with that thank you should that be done in a motion do you want to make that motion I'll make a motion I have a motion to amend do I have a second I'll second that motion uh do you want to could you state that for the record one more time Mr solicitor would you write it I yeah I just I just closed the document but I'll pull it up it's uh again the within authorization is conditioned upon the execution of an interlocal shared services agreement with the Kate May City Elementary School District for half the cost of resarch of the resurfacing referenced here in okay we have a motion in a second I I make a comment this is something that we need to do for various reasons not to get into it but uh the reality is the K May taxpayers are paying for it either way either way MH roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mik yes we have a um motion to adopt as amended uh do I have a motion to adopt as amended I'll make that 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 bobin yes mayor mullik yes all right and moving on to new business new business city solicitor I don't have anything tonight mayor thank you city manager just two things first I just wanted to make an announcement that we have uh three uh capital projects going out to bid they should be advertised I think next week the 28th uh one is for the uh uh repay or reconstruction of Beach Avenue from Broadway to The Cove uh the second would be the street skate project from Washington the Lafayette and the other would be the city hall parking lot and clag Horn Place to uh clean up that drainage issue uh for Miss Leo and the rest of the residents on claghorn and that's great capart Lane city manager you said between I were you saying Franklin Street I'm sorry oh I me Franklin yes I'm sorry Franklin from Franklin to Washington I'm sorry the lafette okay um so that they're going out to bid and anticipation to have them out uh you know possibly to start construction in the fall um I also anticipate having I know we uh put in the capital budget for a sidewalk project I'm going out for a smaller project this fall uh to kind of to do this as a the test project for the larger project just to a to see about how the pricing is going to come out for sidewalks it's going to incorporate some of our 50-50 projects but also looking at some of our street corridor doors that need some upgrades that maybe haven't been identified through the shade tree with the 50/50 program um so I'll probably be putting that moderate size project out to quotes and and get working on that uh this fall um and then you know in discussions with uh Justin Deputy manager we had some just going around with a lot of the different issues we have and we're going to be developing within uh some of our department heads and departments um quality of life group that we're going to start meeting monthly uh to discuss General things that have just come up you other words from the public or you know here at Council meetings and just so that we can pinpoint and address which departments really need to address some of the quality of life issues that we're having and uh so I just wanted the council to know and residents to know that you know we're kind of spearheading going to have departmental level meetings uh to kind of focus on quality of life um moving forward and I'll you know I'll report to Council on a routine basis on you know progress and and what we're focusing on in any given time Kudos on that Mr gri I think that's a great idea um fully supportive of it um you know living in the Village Green area I know how important we've talked about that some of these issues are so applaud you and Justin for putting that together you've both been very helpful in some of the things I've talked about with you as well as Mr Gillan Schwarz um can I just go back to your Franklin Street could you please just make sure to notify the one resident on that street when you plan on doing that work yeah definitely I I have spoken to that resident regarding the work that I actually showed some of the advanced plans but uh when I had the preconstruction meeting I may invite her just to uh partake so to speak Paul I have one question on that one as well um did we already put out to bid the uh Municipal parking lot that's part of that's one of the three projects and and all three of these projects all three of these projects the plans and a description are on the city website uh so residents uh and affected people can go on the website under the construction page if you can't find it it Scrolls across the top just click on the scroll on the top it'll take you right to the construction project page and um project plans are there for your viewing pleasure that's great and if you obviously if any Resident uh has any questions about those projects feel free to call myself that's great thank thank you Mr dri city clerk yes uh just want to alert the public and remind Council that this is the final 3M meeting of the summer we're going back to our 5:00 pm meetings as of September 3rd work session just so everyone knows we'll be back to 5:00 P PM that's thank you okay City Council Members Deputy Mayor um I think the only thing uh National Night Out um was the night that we had our last city council meeting want to thank all police fire um everybody who participated because it was a wonderful night we were a little concerned about the weather but it was a beautiful yeah beautiful night great turnout yeah that was great that's all thanks mayor yep C uh council member McDade nothing at this time mayor thank you council member Meyer um just remember to be safe out there folks sumers side over yeah real I'll you go go ahead as sum I probably should have asked the chief uh back to come in at this meeting because as the summer winding down we are guarding less beaches um please if you're going to go into the ocean please swim in front of a a guarded Beach um if you're unsure of a guarded Beach you know check in you know we try to post things on social media on our website of when when the guarded beach is on you know and because your guarded Beach might be there on Saturday when you come in on Monday it might not be guarded but it might be guarded on Thursday so it's really staff dependent um but the uh the safety is most Paramount and just swim in front of a a guarded Beach because you know this is when tra you know this is when you start to see the reports up and down the Jersey Shore of you know people think they know where they can swim and what they can do and that they're stronger than mother nature and we're not stronger than Mother Nature out there in that water so please be safe you're you're so right city manager every year you see those reports of someone drowning and almost always it's on an unguarded Beach so definitely swim in front of a lifeguard uh council member joerger uh nothing tonight thank you okay I just wanted to quickly say thank you to the TPA uh we had a very productive and good meeting um that that I attended about a week ago um and also the cottagers association we had a very nice uh meeting there but gave a lot of updates on what we've been doing as a council and I think um they asked me to share their thank you to all city council so that was nice to hear um I did get a um complaint from um a resident uh that I promised I would say on their behalf about Wawa uh some of the trash in the back there so I'd just ask if City man if you could follow up on that um and also say Wawa has been a very excellent um partner to the city on multiple things but we got to make sure the trash is clean so if we if uh city manager if you could look into that I I also just want to say one thing that's a little bit outside of the norm um but I think it's something that we as a community have to really think about um and that is with the news out of Ocean City New Jersey which I hesitate to com coment too much on except that to say it's very sad to hear about the closing of their amusement park there and um I say that only selfishly from the perspective of a Cape May resident and what that means to us as a community um there's the Coalition City you know America's playground I think it's is that is that America's greatest family Resort okay greatest family resort I was way off I was way off from an Ocean City resident but you know one of the things that was said about it was what is the highest and best use of the property and I think we all understand that what exists there today is not by its definition the highest and best use of that property um but I think that's when you look at the lot as an individual lot but I think if you zoom out and look at what makes up the fabric of your community maybe what exists there today is the highest and best used um again those are technical Planning and Zoning Board issues but I'm I'm saying that because selfishly you look around the town of our community and you see small areas that might be a miniature golf course charging $12 a round and you divide that $12 into what that lot may actually be worth in the millions of dollars and you got to wonder why some of those people are sitting there listening to a tourist tell them I can't believe you're charging me $12 an hour a round so I I just I say that with no answer and no um thing other than to say what happened in this situation was a letter that went out to the community that says it's closing so and that can happen anywhere here in our community and we all have those special things and I just I say it just quickly to reme remember that these are the things that make up the fabric of our community they are why many of us chose to live here purchase their second homes here they've added value to all of our homes and our even our second homes um but if these small wonderful things that make up our community become condos and hotels um we're not left with what was what initially attracted many of us to to be here and live in the community so again I'm not I'm not offering a solution and everybody knows how complicated any solution would be but I think it's something we as a community really need to think about and it's certainly not just any member of city council up here or mayor it's the whole community so anyway think about it and and tell us your thoughts and ideas with that we'll open it up for public comment anyone wishing to speak please come to the microphone state your name and address thank you Jules Rous 1010 New York Avenue I have a handout that I'd like you start I don't have color everybody thank you I can share this thanks Shane in line with the uh um comment about quality of life I think it's really important that that the city take on this that project because we've seen a significant change in the last few years about the numbers of people coming the the um the dur of their stay and how the economics are changing and what I've passed out to you is is a a photograph of the Delany parking or the Delany uh sidewalk tables and chairs we're supposed to require and we do require a 5- foot pedestrian open sidewalk that photograph is rather descriptive indicat that it's not there and it forced that family of husband and wife and two children to move out onto the street to P for passage I think it's a significant demonstration of something that the city needs to look at we've allowed an expansion of sidewalk dining in areas that frankly in my view is not permitted it's not permitted uh off of the mall but in line with with the safety I don't know how many people have experienced difficulty with trucks parking as close as they can wherever they're delivering whatever it is that they're delivering but they are stopping at intersections they are stopping wherever it is convenient to them and I had an experience next to me this past week where somebody was delivering Carpeting and they backed across the sidewalk and left a a 40ft truck sitting there for an entire day the second day when they showed up I told them if they don't move it I'm going to call the police but we see the delivery trucks we see the uh the lawn people Park wherever they choose in whichever direction they want they don't put out any safety devices we are not enforcing the safety for for those items and frankly it's rather it's easy to do if we enforce it um and I'll leave it up to I guess up to the city or up to the police department just to kind of rein in some of this freewheeling as I'll call it C can I just comment on that Mr rch because I agree with you um we need citizens to report it you know I mean it's it is difficult for the police to just be constantly you know everywhere and looking at code enforcement as you know well especially in regards to like landscapers a lot of times they're parked halfhazard no doubt but quickly frankly I mean they they may be there for 10 15 minutes so we need people to report that so I I I I only say that to you to encourage folks if you see a violation like that especially when it's dangerous report it and I I guarantee you Chief fashaw will look into it right away or as quickly as he can okay um we have an election coming and I don't are is there going to be a debate or does the city not become involved in organizing a debate or is that the city's not involved in it so it's okay um my my recollection was that the last council meeting there was a private closed session that discussed leases for a number of the city-owned properties uh dur and there was no discussion or no action taken but uh the question about that particular subject of the number of those leases were there any changes made in the leases or were they just extensions of the existing leases I I actually forget what we're talking about there was no no change any change would have crossed Council table with the resolution thank you um and I actually still don't remember what we're talking about but but uh absolutely any any action would had have been taken at this table well there's no there was no comment made it all about that particular closed session item Mr cicer can you remind me of what we were disc we were talking about mermaids mermaids okay and we Al but there was also discussion with K May stage and Ma it was mermaids Mac and K May stage stage okay no action no action no offal action taken on any of them that's fine yep thank you very much and by the way on on closed sessions I'd be happy to I think this council's policy is to have as little closed sessions as possible I don't I don't like to have closed sessions but those are in regards to a a contract which is definitely under a closed session and and and should be but if if any action were to be taken on that it would be done at at the table Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue just to expand on Mr rash's point for the last two Fridays at noon time on Friday there was a big tractor trailer cocacola on Beach Drive unloading why do we have loading and unloading zones for these trucks if they don't park at these spaces you know on decer stre we have a we're taking up I think five parking spots all day long that they could park up he might have to walk you know a little bit further but that shouldn't be our issue he should be parking where the loading and loading zones are not on Beach Drive and sitting there for 20 minutes on a Friday afternoon which you know the traffic there on Beach Drive isn't easy to get around that truck and that's between it was between Jackson Street and Decor is where he was parked um and you know what to I have called the new dispatch and they're not as quick as ours was because they're not familiar with the area so sometimes it takes a lot longer to get the information to them um moving on I just have a question about the capital project that's gone on on Franklin Street and my concern is that when it was presented to council before there was a lot of trees going to be taken down and I want to make sure that the trees on Franklin Street weren't going to be removed like they were in the plans we actually made a presentation uh to shade tree uh I think we're adding I think we're removing two trees removing one invasive tree and planting five I think was what the number so we're we're adding the reason why you're removing one cuz they seem like they're pretty wide trees the the one tree that's being removed and replaced is a Bradford pair so sh tree recommends to get rid of the Bradford pairs the two are kind of where the CCA building is one got damaged because during the last construction project a truck backed into it the other one has to be removed because we were trying to save it but it has to be removed because we're putting a crosswalk from the Frank you know from the the library to cross the street so it's like a mid block crosswalk there and the only place you can put it is right across where the tree is uh you can't move it to the Firehouse side of that drive aisle because you can't have you don't want the crosswalk in the middle of the garage so unfortunately we were trying to save the tree but the only place to put the mid block crosswalk at the for the library was where the was but we're adding trees so the crosswalk is going to be where the entrance of that road is right cuz it gets a little dangerous when all of a sudden you put a crosswalk in the middle of nowhere and you expect people to to understand it when they when they make that turn there but but it's but it's at where you know maybe not a dedicated street but definitely a driveway into the back you know the side of the firehouse which appears to be a street and is appropriate location for M okay so right there by that street or whatever that yes driveway where the alley because you know without doing traffic studies if you move these walkways up and people are turning that corner there they're not going to see the people in the crosswalks because they don't have time to view it when they're making the turns and these are designed by Professional Engineers that know how to locate these locations okay um my next question is you're redoing the pavement in the between the fire truck that a lot out here before the construction happened we had a Dropbox for water bills and taxing is that box going to go back out there because I think it's important for it to be out there for people since parking's an issue and they can't always get to the box which is now up here so they now have to park where before they could just pull up and drop it off we can we can look at we can look at putting a box drop box out I mean I'll have to find out why it left but you we'll figure out where it used to be you know in that one spot where people could pull wasn't it next to like FedEx and uh no it was on the other side it's where the um ballot Dropbox is now right there there's like a little kick out Peninsula but there might be room at it right next to The Ballot Box we'll look at yeah people people did use it because they didn't have to get didn't have the par the car get out to park it here you know especially people that have issues with walking it was it was a close drop off um my next question has to do with just say FYI you know when we're talking about parking in the this parking lot a lot of people use that parking lot to go to the police station to report crimes and everything we want to make it easy for them to be able to go do that and so we have to keep that in mind too because that's 24/7 the people go to the police station need access and just want to make sure we we realize that need to be available I think that was it thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak please come to the microphone Ros Johnson 826 Lafayette Street um my question has to do with the uh town hall meeting that um Mr Dietrich mentioned on the 20th um is this town hall meeting 28th 28th excuse me um or 29th was it 2 29th I'm sorry Tuesday the 29th tentatively just just to be clear I want to yeah um at this town hall meeting um is it just going to be your agenda that you're going to be speaking of or will this be a town hall meeting it's a town hall meeting to discuss flood insurance promotion and the New Jersey pact rules okay so um are you planning another town hall meeting that um you said that you would think about as uh that was very similar to last year's town hall meeting where you talked about um the past projects that you have been that you work on and the future projects that you're working on uh can this be incorporated since you're using the I I think the the discussion for those rules will probably bring its own discussion and I mean I don't want to speak for Council but um I wanted to do this one to talk about flood and stuff so I think that if Council wants to hold another separate meeting to talk about projects and stuff like that we can maybe find a different meeting I think a quick update on the bigger item ones I I know that we're anticipating having a presentation in September most likely for on the D plant having a consultant to come in and talk about the Dell plant um I don't know what you know I don't really know what other projects we you want to update on but well I'm talking about uh what you did last year mayor which was wonderful I think I think a handful of projects if especially if it's a Well attended event would make sense to go over so I I have no adding that to the agenda okay I mean I just the only hesitation and I mean this is I I want to make sure Paul has his a lotted time for a really important topic but I agree with you why not if you're going to have that many people come give give a quick update on on what's most important you know and project wise yeah so I'm fine with that and um could it be advertised as such sure in other words not only we would want to put the agenda out as soon as possible so just so people would be interested okay yeah great and um I was very interested in the comment you made about Ocean City and how we have to be careful about um Kate May because it it is those little places that gave us the memories and continue to give us the memories and uh we certainly don't want to lose that so thank you thank you I agree anyone else I see I see you my oops my name is Paula sulki wer and I live at 1306 Missouri Avenue my question is about the tents on the beach I think New Jersey has a law about them and it's my understand we we have a law I just make sure you know this we have a a law that's 10 by1 ordinance as a maximum but I didn't want to interrupt but we do have do they have to be back Beach or I don't think it addresses that but it does address the area Okay because there's I watch my grandchildren a few times a week and I like to sit up front of course so I can see them and I'm not good walking as you could see um and some of these people have these cool Cabanas and they have a back on them and they put the back down and it's like sitting in back of a Mac Truck you can't see anything so I just you know if if there's a problem do I go to the lifeguard and say could you talk to these people so as you know this has been brought up and I I think I would assume you would know and we've we've called we've called this an intense conversation and it's uh because I think I'm sure you appreciate with the little kids a lot of times it's nice to have some coverage for those kids from the Sun and funny enough you look at these old photos of Kate May and really before umbrellas it was tents so you see these old tents all over the beach right but I think the point that you make in regards to walls should definitely be something that should be looked at from an ordinance perspective I even just informally put out there there's these other tents out there that I call them the tentacles that like yeah they're dangerous too cuz I mean you be running and strangle yourself on well and and and they go about 16 ft so the tent itself may be 10 but the legs are 16 feet in in a square so every Shore town is talking about this some some have banned tents altogether um we already have on the books a 10x1 uh maximum I do think the wall thing is it is something we should discuss being like blocked out by a billboard is pretty lame yeah it's it's rough and then the other thing I I go to South Philly Beach and I have since 80 I started go I went to Windsor in 54 okay so I've been here a long time when the Grand Hotel brings their little blue chairs out and their umbrellas and sets them up before people get there is there an issue I mean is there a rule with that have people there before they set up I'm I'm answering this pretty quickly because obviously we've heard it okay I I actually thought our city manager came up with a really good solution that will be implemented by next year unfortunately ordinances take a long it's okay it's it's late um but I really like the idea that he came up with I believe which was to Simply publish the layout of a lotted umbrellas and chairs in a public location because again back to enforcement of this we don't have police officers walking up and down the beach and we really shouldn't I mean for anything like that but we need the public to report to us when there's a violation if the public doesn't know how many chairs these hotels are allotted which they're taking advantage of we we know this okay but we I think this is a great idea to have it public in a public area to find what they're allotted to have in regards to chairs and umbrell they are allowed to set up chairs they're allowed to but the idea is not to block the entire front you know real estate of the be I've use more blue chairs than anybody I mean people must call me Karen of the beach and I mean if nobody's sitting in them then I'm going to take this spot and and you should I mean I think honestly the answer to your question is they don't have the right to take that POS that position okay you want to put your spot right there you can go right ahead and do that um but I think on in regards to Citizen complaints if somebody is allotted for 20 chairs and they have out 50 you should know that because you'll see it on a sign and you should report it all right and and that's part of what we're going to part of what that quality of life group I was talking about that this is one of the topic issues that we'll be discussing and as long as as well as the I'll say the plan or map that each concessions allowed to do we're also going to be having a preseason meeting with each of the concessions oh good code enforcement and police here at City Hall to just make sure that everybody's on the same game plan and that the city has the most current contact person and phone number and that contact person and phone number may be posted on the sign so that each P each resident has a contact of you know to who to call at whatever establishment down so we're going to be looking at that each year and and having that meeting so that because the problem is the the young mostly gentlemen that are setting the beach chairs up they don't know just doing their job they're oh I just out here I'm just setting up chairs and I was told to do this and and so you know it's you know so that's what we're you know when we have code enforcement out here that's what they're hearing and then they have to go walk across the street and go try to track down somebody I don't I've got more important things for my people to be doing I mean to to go track down the person is the thing that they shouldn't be doing making sure that they're following the rules that is what they should be doing and and and that's what I want them to do but I need to them to do it more efficiently plus I need them to follow I need the vendors to follow the rules so that is definitely you know I mean at this point in the season it's not something I can fully and it doesn't make any sense but it is on my top 10 list for the start of next season that's definitely on my top 10 probably in my top five list of beach concessions that our contract renewal period is in 2025 so it might be something that one of the things on that I'm sorry to interrupt public comment but it's on that point one of the things that we can consider doing in connection with that is codifying some of the standard conditions that are in those agreements so that code enforcement or Police Department is not having to dig up some or dust off an agreement it's in the code book things like speed limit you know the for vehicles and and location of certain things that is just not going to change right and that would be the time to deal with in conjunction with rolling out new um the beach concession contracts because they would be made aware that these changes yeah because stagger does it when someone comes they take the umbrella they take the chair and that's you know that's the other thing um I spend a lot of time at the beach people changing clothes in the bathroom can you make a bigger sign there for these people and maybe in French too because they don't get it it's it's I mean I don't think bigger sign I mean we can look at the signage but but but the bigger sign is not going to if people you know are not going to follow the rules they're not going to follow the rules they're not going to follow the rules if I put a bigger sign if I put five signs they're just not going to follow the r unfortunately they're not going to follow the rule I mean you and I both you know you want do a changing area there with a few curtains I mean unless the city gets you know you know know some towns they have an attendant at each bathroom but I don't know if we want to get into the I mean that's the only way that you know it's the same way with speeding the only way that you control speeding is by enforcement the only way that we can really control changing in the bathrooms is I'd have to put a bathroom attendant a male attendant and a female attendant and and and honestly for I was short six seasonal Public Works and Building Services people this year so I can't get people to work let alone just to do the general cleaning I don't know if I'm going to be able to get you know to have a person at each Comfort station no I understand male female to to to do that I'm just saying maybe a bigger sign they'll say it you know I mean I I I don't I don't disagree maybe having some signage in French you know you know obviously different cultures have different expectations um and so you know maybe we could look at doing some signage and French just to uh make sure that those okay that those language speaking peoples aren't missing the translation of no changing in the bathrooms translates to French properly I agree sping in front of a lifeguard because last year on September 11th I got caught in a rip tide and I was on Philly Beach and uh the Lifeguard did come get me and if I was not on a guarded Beach I think I probably would not be alive and and a lot of the things that you brought up and if I could just make a point mayor and and Mr Ros as well are things that this quality of life committee will be looking at you know a lot of things that come up here um as Mr dich said it's a to have a coordinated effort amongst multiple departments so code enforcement PD fire inspection construction you know because a lot of times you're looking at an issue and yeah it's a Code Enforcement issue but you know what there's a fire inspection issue there too or there's a construction issue so you know I as you bring these complaints you know or issues to council these are things that are perfect examples that I'll make sure are added to the agenda and the committee can have a coordinated effort you know moving forward okay thank you thank you we appreciate it and I think one thing that could be said today is anyone because these tents are expensive anyone looking at those tents that are over the 10x10 square area you might want to rec consider purchasing because we will be looking at it strongly this offseason sorry Mr bazer you're fine go ahead it's your meeting um Chris bazer 228 Windsor Avenue um so actually what I'm going to talk about there's a lot of things have been discussed at this table today that would refer to that so um it's generally kind of understood that if you don't want to get into a fight or an argument in a bar you don't discuss religion or politics uh in Kate may there's a couple other issues you don't bring up I'm going to bring up one of them unfortunately and that's a parking garage um it is an election year as everybody knows so two of those seats up there may be filled by new people or the same people um and we discussed capital projects a lot of capital Improvement projects today some of them the firehouse a diesel plant Lait Street Park the police station upcoming seaw wall um they're all capital projects the city needs the city's done a good job financially in trying to make sure those projects are done but they all have in common the fact that none of those projects pay for themselves they don't contribute to the pay payment of it they don't pay for themselves they might cut corners or they might cut cost in more efficient buildings they might cut cost in better designs uh longer lifespans but when it comes to a parking garage that's a a capital Improvement project that would actually help contribute to the cost of paying for itself um and I know it's been discussed over and over again and it gets into arguments and people want a town hall over it they want a referendum on it it goes round and round and if you look at the planning master plan it's been in there for at least 45 years parking is a problem in the city of K May if you ask anybody on the street they will all tell you parking is a problem if you ask them about a parking garage that's where you start getting into into difference of opinion and uh this summer if if nothing else especially around the C downtown area of the mall if the traffic congestion and the number of people looking for parking spots has not made it perfectly clear that we need a solution in town I don't know what will um and just to give out some numbers real quick so this year um or sorry in the 2023 budget we brought in almost $2.4 million in parking meter Revenue um we budgeted 2 million for this year obviously you go under a little bit just to make sure but I'm sure that number as of June I believe the taxpayers meeting there you recorded we were up above our projected numbers on the parking meters um and like eight something like 8% which yeah last year was big um Deputy Mayor you brought up you know the municipal lot we're looking for every little spot we can to get parking spots you're talking talking about maybe 15 20 spots out here for 3 Days Friday Saturday and Sunday we do have a parking lot that people have been using we've opened up the Lafayette Street Park Grass area and you know I think they are using the St John Street side but I've been around and watching and if there's more than 10 cars in there yeah I I agree so so to say you know we have a parking problem in certain locations in town we have to change the ad itude of some of our visitors and residents that maybe you have to you know you can find free parking you might have to walk a little bit to get there but there are opportunities and obviously when Lafayette Street Park gets done that's going to be a pave parking lot I don't I mean at this point I don't know if the city anticipates putting meters in that spot but that'll be a free potentially a free parking spot you know you know I know the school parking lot you know does not get you know obviously they can't parking it now because the contractor's been replacing the roof but you know I don't you know so you we do have parking issues in certain section of town that's because everybody wants to Park right next to where they want to go and so I think we have to work on changing the attitudes of of the drivers coming in to say hey you can find a quick parking spot if you just park right here and you can probably walk there faster you mean that's what you know when I go to like you know to big stores and you you can drive around to try to find the the first parking spot in the shop right parking lot but if you just you know you're going to spend an extra 10 minutes whereas if you just park out a little bit further you can get there and and you pass the car that's still certain or circling and waiting to get the the first parking spot up there so it's all in the attitude of the driver as much as anything I I agree and I also want to thank you Mr diet for pointing or proving my point of why we don't bring this up at a bar and start having disagreements and aru with people because you jumped right in on that one um so I'm not going to be here to argue either side I just want to just bring up some points however and looking looking forward whether it's decided on or not and Mr Dietrich also part up a good point it's all about location as a real estate agent I can have a beautiful house on Lafayette Street that's $3,000 less for the week people want to be on the beachfront they'll pay $3,000 more you know they they won't do it so to your point they don't want to park on Lafayette Street in a in a grass lot they pay $20 to park in the center town which brings up the location and we discussed that Swain's park or not swains the CER parking lot seems to be one of the last spaces that makes sense between that there's arguments on Bank Street lot I'm not here to say where it should be where it shouldn't be I'm just bringing up things that have been discussed before but generally speaking looking up just some quick numbers a 150,000 foot parking garage on average cost between $8 to $10 million roughly depending on where you are the number of spots that parking garage can hold between 375 to 500 spots again depending on design and where it is just to give you some idea um and Mr Haney can correct me the CFO can correct me but I did speak to him about the bonding on the firehouse before to cover a bond on A8 to10 million project you're looking somewhere between 350 to $550,000 per year to cover a bond depending on the interest rate the term of the bond things of that nature so you compare a$ 350 to $550,000 payment per year on a bond in a city that brings in $2.4 million in parking meter revenue and I don't know how much revenue 375 to 500 spots would bring but obviously it means the city wouldn't be on the hook for the entire 350 to 550 every year because you would easily be able to earmark that money for a parking garage just food for thought that's it it's just one of those things that it is um I know Council has other projects but it's been discussed before it's in the master plan any visitor any tourist any local will tell you parking is an issue I do agree with Mr Dietrich there are other ways to do it you know there are people that want to put a parking lot down at the base of the bridge and have everybody take a Jitney in or a trolley in and if people would do that I would be all for it but at the end of the day you know so most people especially the type of people that we have visiting the uh the affluent people we have visiting don't care what they pay they they want the amenity and it does go into a quality of life issue also you know when you get down around the mall area there's a quality of life with people trying to cross streets in deadlock gridlock traffic um you know people backing out people pushing strollers into streets with with cars going all over the place and the less congestion in that area would be better for a quality of life for the people trying to walk around so uh just to respond to you I mean to think that in another 550 cars would be circling around Lafayette Street and around the mall kind of gives me pause I don't disag disagree with anything that you've said I think that we all recognize um there's been ideas floated around just briefly closing down the entire streets around them mall and making it completely pedestrian um certainly during the season ballards that could be put up very similar to how you see in European cities you know that those streets are up at certain open at certain times but then other times that they're not I do think that we need to start looking at discouraging people to think that they have to park as close as they possibly can you know some people say well charge them more that's not that's as you've said that's not going to change the behavior we need to give viable Solutions as to where they are and do better at marketing those Solutions and being able to offer them at more Ro robust times and schedules not only for people who are visiting but people who are living here um this year the Jitney will be running to the end of the year on the weekends first time we're doing that all the way through the fall season I've talked to many people have taken it this year they're like this is the greatest thing it would be wonderful if more people would because then we could run the service more you know during the day or even more buses that's where you get traction on some of these things you got the whole other end of town down by poverty Beach you know knock on it's all free parking now you can get on a shuttle there and just be wherever you need to be so I do think that it's a balance between putting up a structure that says okay everybody land yourself in the center of town because I still believe that that may not be the the best solution for traffic flow pedestrian issues but it needs to be something that says what really do where do we want people to go you want to get them into town but you don't necessarily want of those cars trying to circulate around just my my own I agree and the Jitney Service as you brought up it's been in act it's been acting out for over five years and you know the ridership numbers just they are what they are they're they're better they're better but they're they're you know fractionally better and you know if we they could be and we could spend a ton of money on Advertising that would fix it then and again I don't want to get in the debate over I'm just I'm bringing up the issue it's a it's not an issue it's going to be fixed tomorrow it's not an issue it's going to be fixed next year but there's going to be two seats up there that will be there for four years that can look at long-term planning and quality life in town that's all thank you yeah I I just one comment too is that um is 375 enough if you give the capacity of 375 people might say Hey you can park in Cape May now and they start coming in they fill up the 375 and then the next Bunch comes in and says no you can't and they'll be driving around I mean I'm just I'm just saying that you could build a thousand parking lot parking spot there could be a lot of more demand here than we realize and actually parking is somewhat of a meter on um you know who's who's going to come and who's not yep I agree thank you very much thank you Chris anyone else this this afternoon Dennis the second meeting in a row which I came to and I didn't have anything to say but now I have a few things I'd like to say name and address address please yeah first of all you still got to give your address Sheen steps up to the microphone and say name an address Dennis Crowley oh Dennis Crowley 806 La When Stacy comes to the microphone and says I just have one thing to say don't believe her right Stace I want to make mention Stacy because she's doing something for the TPA which has become very successful she's editing the minute editing the agenda of all of your meetings and we're sending that agenda in a digest form out to everybody on our mailing list and TPA currently has over a thousand people on its mailing list so a lot of the comments you hear come from responses to that so she's doing a great job on that appreciate that uh two things the the issue well they both involve MTR MTR looked at just recently at that whole business of how hotels and vendors use the beach under what circumstances they use it the contractual Arrangements they have and we made recommendations to the city because that that seems to be a real problem both in terms of its operation and its financial situation the uh the vendors who use the beach as you may know uh do so under a contractual arrangement with the city which is a 5-year deal and as morine mention the it's over in 2025 we we saw that there was no apparent reason for what the fees were and why they were what they covered what they were supposed to do so we recommended that that the entire Arrangement again an ordinance as Chris suggested an ordinance specifying how the how our beaches are used is probably the best way to to to determine that um we also recommended that the revenues from that uh licensing fee be funneled back to the beach utility because the impact on the beaches by these hotels and vendors are really an impact on the beach and the Beach utility needs Revenue that's a good Revenue rather than a general fund to to to support whatever they're doing so I'd like you to re relook at that resolution and recommendation we made to you concerning the uh the U the use of the beach the second issue is the parking issue and and MCH also re spent a lot of time reviewing a lot of the way other towns uh provide parking and how they fund it uh we made a series of recommendations on how to fund whatever it is whatever solution you'd like to have whether be it a garage or a a shuttle service or whatever but in that recommendation were were some Revenue sources which are not being used right now and should be used specifically uh user fees for the individuals who who come into town and need a place to stick their cars uh so I'd like you to revisit that recommendation as well and the last point I wanted to make was um what what Zach said a minute ago resonates to with me very deeply because I agree with the fact and and as MTR has discussed over the last four years Kate May is a business it the reality of of the growth and vitality of commercialism in this town can't be understated it is not the Cap May that we all went to as kids even though we'd like the dream that it was it it really is not and in that regard um I think the master plan has fallen far short of recognizing that reality uh we have a master plan that's done every 10 years I think I mentioned this last time I spoke uh concerning uh got my head handed to me by Mary Notch about the uh oneway Street on Lafayette but we'll skip that for a second but the but the master plan is is uh developed every year and if you guys are Seinfeld fans you remember the episode where he went to the airport to get his rental car and he said you know how to take the reservation you just don't know how to hold the reservation so with respect to the master plan we all know how to plan for the future we just don't know how to do anything about it and if you look at the master plan as it sits on the dusty shelf today you'll see that all the issues that get discussed every time there's a quality of life meeting are in the master plan so maybe the council ought have a town hall which just discusses whether or not that Master Plan means anything I think I've discussed with a couple council members I think just just as a a basic fact of life that I would say most Master plans for a lot of communities postco is very different you know I mean the the the real estate values in 2019 exactly are extremely different than today exactly and um that master plan our current master plan was written in 2019 right now if we wait until 2029 to do another one we're behind the eight ball to the issue you raised which is what is Kate May and how do we preserve what we want it to be and how do we help it become what we want it to be I think Co fast forwarded us a few years I mean there's no there's no doubt about that and I think when you say that some of the master plan is maybe even Antiquated or whatever that may be true because of the the amount of change that we've all seen the last couple years in every town I mean that you know not just Kate may but you know yeah so I would what are we going to do about that let's not let's not take that reservation sure unless we're going to actually hold it now well how do we do that uh we we can I think the law Chris am I right or wrong the law provides a community to the ability to to redo the master plan in a shorter period of time so so anything that's happened and you're talking about Monumental changes covid for example but you're also talking about just the the the amusement park the same fellow who owns now owns that amusement park is going to put the hotel there in Ocean City that he had planned to put in Cape May so we're so we're we're facing the reality that Kate May is moving because it's because every man and woman has the right to do what they want with their property MH uh the community's interest the community's image the community's environment is not getting in the mix when it comes to blatant commercialism and I think that is your point it is yeah so maybe I'd like to suggest that we all we we we reconvene a master plan study maybe in maybe in kicking it off with a u a town meeting just on the master plan and just one on the issue is what is K May supposed to be what do you want it to be what is it what's it going to be it's it's the next step to your concern you you mentioned a minute ago you didn't know what to do about here's something we can do about it start a public dialogue about whether or not we need to look at where we're going thank younis can I quickly respond that and mayor you and I have had discussions about this and I I don't sit on the planning board I know you do Dennis and a couple of members up here do um Master PL should be written by the people and I think that you know and and I've been involved in doing a master plan uh we had a blue ribbon panel there were different people from the different sections of the municipality that were involved we s you know went out and you know whether or not it was the Marina District or you know um uh Village Green you know so you have different areas of town the business district all of them have to be part of the planning process yes and you know I think that that's one thing that if and and we can always open up the master plan and do it prior to the you know the expiration of it um most yeah most of them do sit on the shelf and they're Dusty um but you know if if the planning board does redo that um I would hope that that would be the direction that they would go in do a blue ribbon panel have different cross-sections of people within the within the city get involved in their Zone um you know fire Poli there there's and it really should be a working document and you're absolutely right it it sits on a shelf and it you know it yeah it's in the master plan but what does that mean and the master plan the last three Master plans are basically filled with what is calcifying into um boilerplate language yeah so you're on you're on the you're on the planning board that's all I'm going to say well the plan I think doesn't Chris doesn't the planning board act at the direction of the council with this record yes but I I think what uh councilwoman Deputy Mayor is saying is you know you're in a position as well to sort of bring this to the four and the the master plan does you know rest in the hands of the planning board in the in the uh immediate sense but I I think I think that's a collaborative process and it should be and and um you know it's a discussion that can continue and and move onward and I think there's some interest for Zach is hiding but I'm not the only member of the planning board and the final point I wanted to make I do do I hear you asking me to bring this up at the next planning board meeting so well I let me just say this not to belabor the point but I don't think maybe a few Insider folks had some indications in regards to Ocean City but for 99.9% of the people you got a letter and and the shock of that letter you know so but to me it's a wakeup call you know what what makes up the the fabric of what I think of Ocean City is going to close we all we all know what we think ocean Cape May is we we haven't seen it translated into a into a policy document that that really works for the and and return to the master plan it's not helpful because it's calcified boilerplate in a lot of ways Denis probably one of the other challenges to that is there are so many issues and questions identified in the yeah yeah and and we we've had those discussions over the years and recently with some areas of town okay posing a question an issue what do you do with it and that's there's so much to tackle that I think it requires you know maybe groups of people to tackle this specific issue and that specific issue yeah I I I think you're absolutely right and not only not only are there some some things need to be tackled there's a lot in the master plan that doesn't even fit anymore it it's just not pertinent to a lot of the things we really are as a town I I'm I'm I'm talking about this just to sort of get an idea of let's get a process started somewhere and how do we do it and that your comments are helpful your comments are helpful but uh we all we all look at this as perhaps the next topic because uh Paul's Paul's town meeting is about something that's that is right now we might probably need a town meeting about what we need to what we think we want to be for the future and Dennis sorry sorry to interrupt on that point I mean the idea of reopening the master plan is is is itself like a daunting task and there is a lot of boilerplate and things like that in there because there are statutory things that we have to do every 10 years but it doesn't we don't need a statute or 10 years to identify a specific issue in the master plan say hey we're going to tackle that this year and it's could be a you know to the Zone yeah you can you can break it up and break off smaller chunks so that it doesn't feel like oh we're opening this every five years instead of every 10 well well you could do that Chris made a point of a a parking garage which has also been in the master plan for 40 years I'm all for taking I'm all for your approach going into the big document and picking off stuff that we can do right now and that's what MTR I think has been doing to a certain degree Dennis if you bring up dogs on the all next I'm we're just going to end the meeting no and the only the last point I wanted to make was the quality of life team that that Paul's putting together there's got to be in that process and I know you're going to do it um a real effort to get public involved in that process that it can't be the the employees getting together and Dennis you're doing it right now that's the public involvement for the AUD life committee okay that's great good all right good can I can I say something mayor please sure I don't mean to go on about the master plan but uh this is something I wanted to talk to Justin after the meeting considering now that he's on the planning board I've been on a planning board and his zoning board for a number of years and when I would show up to the meeting Not only would I have my packet which I did my research not everybody does I also had the construction code and I also had the master plan so if I couldn't if something wasn't referenc in the code I always went to the plant and I think it it is a living document as long as we use it and I think every single person on his own employed planning board HBC any other commission should have the master plan and know what it says inside there unfortunately not everybody does that and I think that's something that we need to encourage yeah you're right absolutely absolutely thanks a lot sorry I took so long no thank you Dennis anyone else this afternoon motion to adjourn I'll make that motion thank you everybody have a wonderful afternoon the time is now uh 4:57 thank you