e e e e e e e e e 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 we have a special meeting of the city council of the City of Cape May New Jersey we are here in the Cape May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday April 16th 2024 the time is now 6 4:00 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy Justice for All thank you under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the CATE May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council posted on the city website and the City Hall bulletin board Noti is hereby provided that K City Council meetings are audio recorded and video streamed live live video streams are posted to the Kate May City website the city of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Baldwin is absent council member McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz and city manager Dietrich are present and in the other room and Deputy city clerk Brian here and we have one resolution uh for the special meeting we have 14204 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 4-12 this is to discuss block 1060 lot 33 and the shared services agreement with a barrow of K point for court services do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second second roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes mayor mullik yes and public portion anyone wishing to speak seeing that we have no one in the audience we can close public comment time is now 8 past 4 o'clock 408 into close session thank you thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 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 evening everyone we first have to close out our uh closed session that we just had um city managers coming back but there is no action being taken based on that actually city solicitor is coming uh city solicitor what did I say city manager sorry city solicitor be right back um we are going to take action on the Kate May Point contract is that correct okay so um Mr solicitor if you could just we're coming out of Clos session if you could just give an explanation on the um keep May Point uh contract that we just discussed sure uh Council discuss two items in close session one is block uh 1060 lot 33 no any no actions anticipated on that tonight the shared services agreement with burough West Kate May or burrow of Kate May Point rather is going to be I think it's already is an agenda item for tonight and Council does anticipate taking formal action on that tonight okay do I have a motion to close the um close session I'll I'll make the motion second I'll second okay we can then uh open up our regular city council meeting this is a regular meeting of the city council of the city of Kate May New Jersey we're here in the Kate May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday April 16th 2024 the time is now 3 5:00 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge 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 that this meeting was sent to the K May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of City Council posted on the city website and the City Hall bulletin board notices hereby provided that K May City Council meetings are audio recorded and video streamed live live video streams are posted to the Kate May City website the city of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Baldwin is absent council member McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager Dietrich here and Deputy city clerk Turner here any additions or deletions Council not on mine not in addition that K point was already on the already on there y thank you um and just before we start I do want to U she's fine but uh Deputy uh uh deputy mayor uh Baldwin could not make it because she was feeling under the weather so we hope you feel better um first off we're going to start off with the employee of the month um this evening I'm I'm really proud to uh award our next employee the month for the month of March I'm going to ask uh William Miller to come on up he's uh one of our um code enforcement officers and um first thing I'm going to say uh code enforcement officer is probably one of the hardest Municipal jobs there are Bar None because um popular no you're always having to go tell people that they're not doing something right and the the other hardest part is well what's really good about Bill and Tim that work in the code enforcement office that I think I'm really proud about is they're consistent and that's what you can have to ask for our code enforcement people is because if they make a comment to Sally they got to make the same comment to Joe because guess what Sally talks to Joe and and Joe talks to Sally and so you always want to be telling them the same thing and enforcing the same rules because it's the city ordinance that that we have to follow it's not City manager's rules it's not Bill's rules it's not Chief Ash all's rules I do blame the city solic so so it it is a hard job that he does so that's why I think it's um I'm really proud to be able to give this nomination to bill because you know he does all of that and maintains a really good positive attitude um you know and here you know people feel that you know he's really re reliable he's always does more work than what's expected and and really never says not my job he's always willing to jump in and try to figure out and solve the problems uh he always works well with the other departments and keeps staff up to date um because he's not by himself he's always dealing with all the different various departments because a lot of different departments call him with hey can you go take a look at this can you go take a look at that because a lot of times he's our eyes and the ears on the street to look at stuff um the police look at their end of the stuff but when it comes to things that aren't people um Bill and Tim have to take care of that um and he's always responsive in attend instead of complaints and and really works with residents to come up with a to try to the best positive resolution they come to and believe it or not I was talking to Bill and he's been with us since September 2021 and and he they do such a good job he's he's meeting with the prosecutor for the first time tomorrow on a case so to be able to say that hey he's been able to work out what he has to do without having to take the person to municipal court so when the people say oh you're just working you know trying to give me the violation to get a fine and get the money Bill and and Tim that's not their moo send their moo send is hey let's get compliance but let's work with the resident the business owner to to get compliance so I just really want to say thank you Bill for everything you do thanks [Applause] picture picture at at at at the meeting I have to hold it up and everything thanks thanks thank you [Applause] Bill thank you very much Bill and uh just echoing your comments Paul uh it takes a lot of effort and and and a lot of diplomacy so we thank thank you very much appreciate it thank you thank you okay and now I have a proclamation in honor of Arbor Day 2024 and this is a proclamation recognizing Arbor Day in 2024 whereas in 1872 J Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first obser absorbed excuse me observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and is now observed throughout the nation and world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water cut Heating and Cooling costs moderate the temperature clean the air produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper wood for wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other Wood Products whereas trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of our business areas and beautify our community and whereas trees are a s a source of joy and spiritual renewal and whereas the city of Kate May has been recognized as Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation and desires to continue its tree planting ways now therefore I Zachary mullock mayor of the city of cap may do hereby Proclaim that the city of Cap May will observe Arbor Day on April 26th 2024 and I urge all citizens to continue to support these efforts to care for our trees and our woodlands and and to support our City's community forestry program further I urge all citizens to continue to plant trees to Gladden the hearts and promote the well-being of present and future Generations thank you all right thank you and uh I'm going to hand this actually to councilman Meyer who is our representative on the shade tree commission and he's going to hand it to Jay shatz who could not be here but uh who does so much for the the trees in the city of Kate May and and Shane you do so much for the city of Kate May so thank you councilman thank you mayor thank app spee please on behalf of the sh Tre commission I want to accept this and thank you uh and J shett uh thank you to Justin our our Deputy city manager he had Public Works help us with our flag as you see it's displayed like the rest of the flags and it wasn't like that before and uh we're very proud of our shade of our tree City USA and uh we thank everybody for also being uh tree lovers like us thank you Mr Meyer okay updates from our city manager uh thank you uh want to give you a few updates um especially on some of the uh construction projects we have going throughout the town um because there's a few of them uh if you've been up on beach Avenue today they have completed both of the travel lanes and they've coming back on the South Side you know working between the travel Lane and the prominade and they they I think they're from Pittsburgh and they're west of the convention hall I don't know what I wasn't able to see what street they finally got to but I know that they were at least got to west west of the convention hall on that side so that's all done um depending on the weather we'll depend on the rest of the week on if they finish it but if if the weather stays good obviously the whole rest of the street should be paved by the end of the end of the week so um and then they'll come back over the next couple weeks put line striping down and finish it up and then that'll be complete um they've also over the last couple since the last meeting finished Congress Street um they still have to come back and do some line striping uh and finish work they've also completed uh one section of Franklin Avenue or Franklin Street between Washington and and uh Columbia they've completed the paving they still have to come up and finish one of the Ada ramps and do that work they are still working on the uh they finished the water main installation to today um they have to put the hydrant tie in and a stub at Osborne and then they'll do the pressure testing and bacteria testing and then start laterals and services probably next week uh and then we will do a a temporary Paving on on that section of Franklin Street uh probably two two to 3 weeks after that um to have that closed up for the summer and then return in the fall to do the street skate project on Franklin Street um Lafayette Street they have about 500 feet of curb and sidewalk to do uh as they head back north or south on to to get to Union um our section of the sewer M they should be done next week on installing the uh the sewer M and laterals and uh then they'll be ready for base Paving so that we can open or reopen at least that small section of of Lafayette back to traffic um so that's all I think the big update for all the the road projects that have been going on in the city um had had a request or just an update we there are still several Grant applications that we have not heard back from uh as of today uh just was making some phone calls so the historic trust Grant and uh the Ada Grant we still don't have any information or word back from the the state or the the National Park Service if we're receiving those grants this is about the time that we would have received it but we still have not received any update uh from them so that's kind of my update on the projects and and what's going on Paul can I ask you Mr senior manager can I ask you uh about the uh Trenton Avenue project oh I forgot to Trenton Avenue so so they're um they started this week on uh curbs and sidewalks uh they anticipate between this week and next week having all the curbs and sidewalks done and then uh should be having that uh paved uh the week or two right after that so um that's still on schedule to um be done well before Memorial Day Weekend great that's great okay um and I just want to just share based on your topic on Beach Avenue um with the citizens of Kate May our deep thanks for the county um they worked hand inand on some you know some of the situations where the city was on behalf of the citizens of Cap May asking for a little bit more than I would say might be a typical road project but uh the county really worked with us um some of the curbs um we we kind of reviewed the whole project before the paving started and said hey some of these curvs really could do a little bit better um especially right in front of um the the uh lifeguard Beach headquarters um they redid that whole bump out on the on the headquarters side and anyone who walks by that knows it was in pretty bad shape um the corner of Jackson Street was kind of beat up and and I would say a little bit of a mistake from their uh their um contractor but to their credit they came back and fixed it and so everything that we've asked for they've done and and um they didn't have to say yes but they did so we really appreciate that and uh and not having to you know uh be calling every day at the county to make sure that this is done before Memorial Day is a bit of a blessing so um we we thank them for that and knowing that we're still on track for laad Street which I know everybody's concerned about as well as we are is a good thing as well so and I just had one other project uh this the school library project that is um the Construction office has been in there this you last week and this week signing off on a lot of the uh TCO and final Co information so they are on their way to be able to start moving some of the furniture and supplies in and uh they're anticipating I think we have a scheduled grand opening on June 13th so mark that on your calendar uh we're going to be looking for uh volunteers to help with a book rade I know Shane and uh Lorraine are looking at you know coordinating that effort uh so we will be doing a book book Brigade for some of the books to bring them back from the old library to the new library so that'll be a big event that we'll be looking forward to that's great all right city city solicitor any updates I don't have anything tonight mayor thank you okay on to in uh ordinances for introduction yes mayor tonight we have 53122 an ordinance regulating the use of artificial turf in the City of Cape May for introduction do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments on this Council uh if I if I may uh just quickly I want to thank um we put together a nice ad hoc committee uh to talk about this um discussion of artificial turf and that included a membership from each of the different boards whether it be historic preservation uh zoning um and um the planning board one of the questions of course that came up on the planning board as Mr joerger knows well was if you were to approve it you know what is the quality of turf what is this uh lot coverage how does it count for lot coverage all those types of things um the ad hoc committee got together worked with uh Rich King uh Craig hurles Rich King our our solicitor for the zoning and planning board uh Craig hurles our engineer for the Planning and Zoning Board uh and and with the Sol city solicitor Chris Gillan Schwarz um and I think came up with a a very good ordinance that took into you know varying opinions from all all the different U members of that ad hoc committee but um ultimately they just a report to the public they voted unanimously uh that we should pass this ordinance so that's what we have on our desk today and I don't know if you want to add to that Mr solicitor I just just to give a brief explanation of what this does um for for the public first and foremost um this would ban the use of artificial turf as an alternative to Natural Landscaping which is really the goal of the discussion um and but it also does not make it a violation right now if somebody has that existing out there had a permit for it previously but it this would look to you know it wouldn't look for expansions to that and if those things reached their end of their useful life so the property owner would have to come into conformance with this an obvious exception that was unanimously um voted on on uh by the committee was to make sure that miniature golf courses commercial miniature golf courses are are not uh subject to this so those can continue to replace their um surfaces um and City projects are exempt from this um but with the recognition that most many of the city's uh properties that would be developable or would be subject to an HPC advisory opinion and I'm sure artificial turf would be something that would be discussed but so those are the two very narrow exceptions other than that um this seeks to um prohibit the use of artificial turf in the city of Kate May and I'll just add that this is consistent more consistent with our our historic district which encompasses a large portion of the town they don't want to have uh artificial turf in the streetscape so this isn't a New Concept it's really a continuation or expand expansion of an existing one and I should mention too not just the ad hoc committee but maybe even more importantly the planning board voted unanimously in favor of it that's how it got to our desk so the planning board un unanimously approved that and I want to thank Bill bazer the chairperson and and all the planning board members as well who um took some time on this I just want to note something else for the record this was already reviewed for consistency with the master plan that's how it got here in the first place so council is in position to do first and second reading we'll have to send it back to them to review the same thing okay so we have a motion in a second any other questions or comments Council okay roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes mayor melik yes next we have an ordinance for second reading and consideration for adoption this is ordinance 529 d224 an ordinance amending section 42 of the K May city code to confirm the fees applicable to tree removal applications and there is a public hearing tonight mayor is anyone here wishing to speak on ordinance 529 this is the um the on tree removal applications seeing none we can close public comment council do I have a motion I'd like to make that motion do I have a second I'll second okay any questions or comments Council I have two questions for the solicitor please I may uh first of all this is an amendment to an ordinance that was already in the process of being you know official so the the rest of this ordinance besides what's being changed here is already in effect is that correct that's correct okay um as a as another question what is the process or the um if somebody were to violate the shade tree ordinance and and started uh trimming a street tree what is the what is the violation of that look like so um turning back to the original ordinance which this seeks to amend uh there is a separate section for violations and penalties assessments costs and enforcement that's section 4829 and 10 and there's a a number of options there for the city so the the sh shade tree commission is going to review applications for tree removal if you remove a tree in the city of Kate may you have to get a a permission from the shade tree commission you know through their approval process and I I had an applicant which I won't indicate uh who it was but last night at the HPC meeting there was even some confusion of that concept Maybe by some professionals that are working in town um and the idea that just because uh the HPC says this building looks good or this garage is good you know doesn't translate into a tree removal permit that's a that's something that has to be reviewed by the shade tree commission so if using the example of somebody who just chops down a a tree within the definition of the code without a permit um they can be issued as summons potentially but it it becomes a so a Code Enforcement issue they can be cited they can issue a stop work order um and the stop work order the lifting of that in order to lift that in that case it would have to go to the shade tree commission so the shade tree commission would review what happened and decide to lift the stop work order on that basis that's ultimately appealable to the city manager just like any other decision of the Shader commission but there's the municipal court summons Avenue there's the fines and penalties Avenue there's the stop work order option um which can grind a project to the Hal if there isn't approvals and and put it through that process and that gives the shade tree commission an opportunity to review what happened and ultimately weigh in on maybe if there's a replacement obligation and have that discussion at that point so it kind of it Corrals the uh violating party through uh through that process essentially um but there's the long and the short of it is there's a number of options outlined in the code um a through I um so there's a there's a a list of them in there and that's ESS essentially the toolbox for the code enforcement officer one of the other things that that ordinance did was establish a liazon to be voted on by the Shader commission membership amongst themselves to be sort of like a contact point for the code enforcement officer if the code enforcement officer has questions and then have the flow of information going back and forth so that the shade tree commission knows what's going on with enforcement matters and the code enforcement officer knows what it is that the Shad Tre commission is trying to accomplish does that answer your question I think that was an excellent explanation thank you very much any other uh questions or comments Council okay roll call please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes mayor mik yes right next mayor we have the uh public portion on the resolutions only is anyone here wishing to speak on any of the resolutions this evening yes sir Mr Rous we'll have another public comment for General but this is for Resolutions uh good evening uh Jules Rous 1010 New York Avenue and I'm here speaking on my own behalf um I totally support the city of Kate May police department and their need for and the importance of a new police station facility the excellent service and safety protection they provide as a valuable asset to the city residents in surrounding area I have two questions relating to this particular resolution my and you got to bear with my recollection It's Getting Thinner and thinner as we go along um I kind of remember there was a piece of rat land that belonged to uh jcpnl that was going to be given to the city did that happen not yet the city had an agreement in place from multiple years back with jcpnl um and the city has the the right to purchase those lots for a dollar um upon the uh issuance of a PPR CD letter which is essentially legal ease for they don't need the property anymore for remediation purposes and all the permitting regarding that has been resolved they're still in the process along with the Housing Authority right now of effectuating that subject to Hut approval so we have we have we have the right the city has retains the right to purchase those properties and fully intends to um to execute on this project once that uh uh the the the release comes for uh the deed notices that's frankly what I remember um and has the city submitted uh the Conley plan for and and well at the backup did Conley do a development plan of how they're going to cover the property with a site plan yeah that that project was submitted uh the first phase was we submitted to HBC we received the re a recommended approval from the HPC and uh Conley then has then submitted that up to shipo to start the process uh with shipo to get their approval does that that comes back that's part of the part of the project as well as it's all part of the project yeah um and I guess all these are kind of dependent upon one another um and and we you know the the the the project approval process for Cony to move forward was kind of put on hold why we ironed out a lot of these other moving details we felt that we were in position that um those moving details the jcpnl the Green Acres diversion are all coming to their final conclusion and that they should all be satisfied and done by the time shipo comes back with their approval so that that we can kind of continue the design process and move it forward in a parallel path does the city I'm I'm assuming the city needs to pass the resolution to accept title for the to the properties from jcpnl and also um the Housing Authority the not the Housing Authority Housing Authority but but the the yeah the council will will take formal action at the point to execute on the right which is secured by the agreement um by by resolution and just to point out too this resolution for Mr Connelly's contract it it doesn't just like pay out money it authorizes the city manager to give a notice to proceed on the remaining phases of the project as he sees fit for the execution of that so you know we're ready to the point to the the project itself is Advanced to phase where it makes sense to authorize this and then this resolution gives the city manager the authority to say yeah go ahead on the next phase and then when it gets to that the next phase the city manager retains The Authority what's what's the process then for um uh D to convey to the city I'm not sure I understand your question that's it's part of the green Anor diversion yes we we have the city has preliminary approval from the D which means that they've holistically looked at the project and deemed it ready to move forward for final approval we're in the process of submitting up to the uh the D the final surveys the final appraisal report the final D descriptions of you know the the two parts of the diversion you know what we're proposing what we're giving what we're taking and um once they have all that it's it's like we're dotting the eyes and crossing the te's and and finalizing that process and it should this whole process that we're just discussing really hasn't come before the public with any specic any specifics um well it did go to a scoping hearing with the the public was invited to participate and give their comments and they certainly did um if I can just comment on that it's been some time and I recognize that people may have forgotten uh but we had a scoping meeting that was of course live streamed and everything and I don't know if you remember Mr Ral but we had signs that were on the property promoting that date uh we had newspaper I mean it was by law and by us wanting to put it out there that this was uh probably one of our more wellp publicized meetings uh that you could you could have for the for the land diversion portion of that and this whole the whole what I call the jcpnl project is has been I guess that's five six seven years it's so long now that than that it's been over 10 unfortunately yeah and you know it's interesting from that standpoint because a lot of people don't know anything about it and I'd like to make a little little kind of a brief summary because uh I have I have some serious issues which I'll also discuss the new facilities proposed will be constructed at the intersection of St John's and Lafayette and it's going to be built on heavily polluted site that was formerly used by JC cpnl that pollution is still there that's not true we we we we couldn't build on a polluted site I mean it's it had to be certified by not only the EPA but the D I mean it's probably and I mean this probably the cleanest property in the city of Kate May and because because I can say that with certainty based on scientific reports and so I just I want to be very clear about that we're and I'll just clarify I'll give some technical background to what the mayor just said the where the remediation occurred for the main part of where the jcpnl facility was the parking lot will be over top of that so there will be no penetration into the ground that would disturb any potential contaminant so the we will receive from the DP or JCP now will be receiving from the DP authorization to move forward with certain remedial controls that will be in place that allow us to move forward so the the building envelope will not be over top of the prior contamination area so it it's off of that site the parking lot will be over that area so it's it's essentially what they call cap and cover so there's no penetration into that envelope of area but certainly the the 55 ft deep um uh subsurface containment area that that has not been completely evacu evacuated of material so it doesn't have to be under the under the standards and imagine what that would do to the city of Kate May you'd have to you would have to the the reason that wasn't done is you'd have to make a giant upside down pyramid to get to all that which would be a devastating thing so what they did is they capped it to the point and jcpnl retains the obligation in perpetuity to make sure that those monitoring mechanisms are working and it's safe it's on them not us but doing this project the there's very clear planning at the outset not to disturb those types of things and that's always that's going to remain a concern as this moves forward one of the other issues I wanted to to to address or comment about you know we do have two Wells there and they're monitor Wells and that it's an ongoing o obligation for jcpnl to uh we have our own sewer plant frankly that not ours but a plant that that treats the potential for sewage coming out of that property and that's that little building in the back I don't know whether you folks have ever seen it um and my understanding as well is that uh D and JC and pnl they have the opportunity to review and approve any time that we go through that soil so if you you decide two three 5 years after the after the fire the police dep department is is finished you can't just go in and dig it up right when when the county did the widening of the road right there the county had to provide documentation to the jcpnl of the concrete and curb and the soil that they dug up to remove there they had to document where it went and stuff like that so that's that's a normal procedure that you have to do for a facility like this my my concern during this whole process is frankly the health of of the city and the residents and the people that come and visit that's a big piece of ground and could potentially handle a lot of people so I go back to my my statement about the health and I I will agree to disagree respectfully mayor that I don't believe all the pollution has the carcinogenic material has been removed just just as a reminder and I don't look you're going to have your opinion I understand that totally but that was a house two years ago you know that the two houses were removed right in that same area I just want to make sure you you you know the area that talking about I mean there were two houses in that on that corner lot that this is the police station would be over top of those two locations and then I'll I'll give you my statement as to my my opinion of the resolution uh frankly I believe resolution number 14342 2024 is premature and cannot be adop adopted until the city of Kate May and DP have a fully executed agreement of sale Andor an email tacet agreement approving the land exchange as presented and the same level of approvals for the ca permit that's required to construct a new police station facility on the lands as described in my opinion it's unreasonable for the city to risk 288,000 that's the amount on the balance of the the Conley contract without commitments to accomplish the goal of a new police facility I don't believe it's appropriate for us to approve uh an expenditure not knowing exactly what it is that we have if if I may on that point and I don't disagree with that Mr Roush however I'm sure you understand that to make these applications to make the application to cfra to make the application to different groups we have to have a plan so we have to have a plan to present to them we can't present an idea so I mean I I'm I know you know that but those plans cost money now we've spent I think $80,000 is that correct 80,000 1530 thank you so we spent $80,000 to get to this point um and that point but and let me just be clear about this um there were several government a agencies such as shipo who really wanted a full set of plans I mean I'm talking basically the whole whole thing completed right so paying the total of the $368,000 of cost we said no we said look we C we can't spend that kind of money without some kind of guarantees frankly if shipo says no Then where are we at so I would say somewhat smartly H uh the the council approved up up to 880,000 with that 880,000 they made these designs those designs have all been approved appr D so we it's been approved by HBC been approved by shipo um and now we have preliminary approval from the D which is huge I mean I that's the biggest step in the this whole process was the preliminary approval I know preliminary sounds um obviously it's not final and it isn't but it preliminary approval is the 90% of the work if not more then it goes on to the uh the D commissioner for their approval and then state house approval my understanding of state house approval is it's something like batting a th% you know I mean anything that gets approved by the D is then approved by the state um so I just want you to know that we have taken those steps to say no we're we're not going to finalize a full contract we're going to spend the minimal amount along the way that we possibly can to to get to our designs and then even within this resolution it only uh authorizes the city manager to approve any further expenditures it we're we're not saying cut a check and finish the job I mean just to use layman's terms so we share in your concerns 100% And and frankly have kind of I think met those concerns up until today we've maxed out that $80,000 with with uh Rob Conley who who folks who don't know was the architect on the firehouse did a very good job and frankly we all work kind of unanimously hey did a good job there move on to the next one so I mean I I don't know how much that answers your question Mr Ral but I want you to know that we take this very seriously and certainly are not approving the entire uh contract at this point we're approving the city manager to be able to make I'll call it installments and and we've been discussing this issue for probably the last six months on when do we move forward at this point and once we receive preliminary approval and talking with all the DP staff talking with the the attorneys with jcpnl HUD and housing you know we felt that we were comfortable to move the project that we we're getting the proper approvals and and in the point of we don't want to wait another five years that if if we sit there and we have other shipo takes time there's other land men use approvals that we have to get so if we kind of wait till they all were finished at their conclusion instead of running some of these in parallel you know we're going to continue you that's what part of how this has been carried on so we're trying to move this project in a parallel course and we've been discussing for the last six months on when was the right time to move this forward and we believe now is the time to move it forward based on the timing of all the other things to to move in parallel to be I'm I'm familiar with with the process having done it with my own money so uh the caution is you you you you you've got a big project for for $5 million the use of that money is a public a public pocket sure and uh it's just um difficult for me to accept accept spending or approving this expenditure not having a whole lot of work that has to be done to actually earn that money and and I know I know that's coming down the road but um one other one other small issue it has been I always would would review uh the insurance on any project that I was involved in at what point does does the city uh start to deal with with GIF and and a project of this sort and how does that relate to the site itself is there um I'm unfamiliar with that area all of our contractors are made to conform to the standard GIF requirements for be it Professional Services or if it's a building contractor we have standard uh insurance requirements that are baked into our contract agreements all right thank you very much thank you Mr Rous anyone else wishing to comment uh on resolutions this evening seeing none we can close public comment on resolutions okay Council moving on to the consent agenda matters listed under the consent agenda are routine in nature and may be enacted by one motion and one vote items will not be read individually unless removed from the consent agenda by any member of council does any member of council wish to remove any item from the consent agenda this evening anything Council no no no I just want to uh comment on the fire report which is for March but I know everybody knows we had the a little a minor fire uh in April which will be on the next report uh but just commend the firefighters for their quick action uh no my understanding is there was no major damage but really because of their quick response that's great so great job um okay do we have a motion I'll make the 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 mayor mik yes any old Business Council any old business any new business city solicitor nothing tonight mayor thank you city manager yes thank you I had two items um first I'm going to take them kind of out of order the mayor's Wellness campaign um we're looking to that's kind of like a sustainable Jersey action that we're moving forward so we just wanted to know we're trying to move that forward um as as an implementation of that I'm going to be reaching out to each council person individually on some ideas that I have on uh an activity uh for everyone to encourage for the whale the to incorporate the mayor's wellness program so I I hope to I want to know what the mayor is doing first Jaz size so yeah jazzer size I have I have some ideas and we're gonna I want to talk to you individually I don't want to spring it on you on a um public meeting but I do you we did want to talk about the mayor as well campaign and and make sure that you guys were on board with moving forward with the mayor's Wellness campaign but I do have a a plan for the mayor's wellness program to move forward that for that walking the golf course yes uh the next item I had was that we were I had asked um uh our Mrs Keenan the Planning and Zoning Board administrator to uh to look at our development fees and recognizing that they have not been addressed in many years um she did a very good analysis looking I asked her to poll and kind of look at all the fees in the entire County um to kind of see where we were at um then I kind of fine-tuned some of them and uh so I'm looking to develop a introduce an ordinance but I just didn't want to bring the ordinance here I wanted to present you know that draft to to C so that you had some time to look it over but what you see propos would bring uh the application fees in line with the county average or and and appropriate to cover the costs uh of for the office as well as the escrow fees um that are escra fees are what pays our you the board solicitor and the board Engineers to review the application for the applicant so that those monies don't come out of um City funds but they're they the pay for the the review of those applications um the board office is continuously having to ask applicants to to submit additional fees and that's an arduous process and and sometimes if an applicant you know you don't we don't know that we're out of fees until whether or not they've already gotten their approval and it's sometimes hard to get money if somebody gets denied an approval and you're asking them hey I need some more money and they just got denied and it's sometimes hard to get their money uh to pay the professionals that have have already spent the services on that and you know in rare instances sometimes the city would have to you know pay for those costs and because the applicant just doesn't want to pay it but we have to pay our professionals um so I would be looking to put this on at a our next meeting as introduction but obviously I'm looking to have your input before I make that introduction uh for the analysis um um my only input on would be to work with u MTR and Mar McDade regards I think we've all kind of discussed um a um percentage you know on moving forward that right may help these fees so that it doesn't feel like they get collect collect dust for some time and then you know uh then then get taken out and people get upset I mean I think setting a a percentage that makes sense yeah we I mean most of the recommendations come around is it a you know a CPI cost of living um is it you know to look at every couple of years becoming more routine from a business operation standpoint um for the city um and you know the finance um you know the CFO to have that sort of on their their docket to do in preparation for the budget just makes sense and it's sort of but I thought it was but but this to create the starting point I thought it was better to level you look at the county let's level up and then as we move forward in future years let's make this something that we're not looking at every 10 or 15 years take a look at the numbers yeah I can I can I can I can definitely share this sheet where we had the county average and stuff like that so you can kind of see what what those numbers look like for sure thanks thank you for doing that and then just Mary you mentioned the the response I meant to chime in the fire department was on scene within six minutes you know so that's you know when you look at a response time for a fire department you know thank goodness they're in their new home so obviously that cut down on some of the response time being here on Franklin Street as opposed to being in West Cape May but you know six minute response time from when they got the call to when they're on the scene you know you know responding and active on that fire you can't really get better or ask much more than six minutes thanks and that does go to the police department not they bring that up again but I location is just so key for response times and I I know we all know but that is one of the main considerations is we've got to be able to get to people quickly from our location so okay city clerk yes just a few events coming up that we want to announce um there is an Earth Day Beach cleanup on April 22nd um anybody wanting to participate can meet in at the front steps of convention hall at from 10: to 12: and we'll provide garbage bags gloves and water if you can assist there's also a Citywide job fair um at K May Convention Hall Sunday May 5th from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. you can be a vendor you can contact convention hall to set up a table there um job Seekers should bring their resumés and be prepared to interview on the spot if necessary so definitely spread the word more the marrier free and open to the public that's um May 5th job fair 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. and if I could just add to that you know we're you know we're also looking for merchants businesses in town that want to set up a table there's no charge just contact the uh you know staff over at convention hall their contact information on the flyer so it's we're not just looking for people that you know are looking for jobs we also want to make sure you know this was as a request from the Washington Street uh Merchants you know hey how about doing a job fair to kind of attract and bring people in um so this is a way that you know if you're looking to hire please reach out it's a it's a way to bring in there is no charge for the merchants to to to participate um so please uh you know utilize this as as a way to to get some employees out there it's a great idea that they I've done them and other um professional capacity and um they're great opportunities for both sides the point of contact is desire at convention hall 609 884 9563 if anybody has questions or is interested thank you that's it mayor okay uh council member McDade um just one actually two things I just want to um mention that Marty vanin welsome and Steve Bodner um were part of the shared services work group uh working with the city solicitor um and Kevin Haney our CFO um so very pleased with the outcome with the Kate May Point shared services agreement um and so I just want to acknowledge their participation and their their efforts on that uh and then the other is I just want to mention that um Chief fasel and I along with Casey rigan um did meet with all of the um golf cart uh vendors um and we have uh a new process this year uh a new way of ensuring lsv safety and chief do you want to talk about it because you know yeah and he can show you the um the little one of the things I was going to bring up this evening and I appreciate you guys bringing that back up speak dat as well um we were each year this is the second year Mr MCD and myself have been working on this um with the city and and the and the um lsv vendors they've been more than more than um U attentive to our our concerns first was the safety the helmets how how these lsvs were driven around Kate May um we were able to come up with um a cling called a cling that goes to the windows every vendor uh that we deal with here in Kate May and even the vendors that come out of West Kate May and real grand uh South Jersey electric vehicles uh sat at this table listened to our concerns had no nothing more than hey we'll pay for it we'll do whatever we need to do to be a part of this to make sure that uh our renters or people that use these machines are well versed into how the city of C May wants these things to operate so they can we came up with a short list and a QR code with the rules the roads the speed limits um that go and they've all been delivered they're going on the vehicles that get rented in the city of Kate May and come to Kate May um where they can you know the person who rent it is going to look right down say that this is what I should do I can scan on the QR code so I thank the city for taking that initiative Miss bicd spent a lot of hours with us um going over that uh and it wasn't a heavy ask for the vendors they were very attentive so I appreciate them that the vendors for coming in and doing so I do have more but I'll come back up sure thank you council member McDade um C uh councilman Meyer oh yes thank you mayor um I'd like to first thank the solicitor again for your continued Guidance with the commission we're going to continue to you know uh seek your advice uh i' like to just mention that I've noticed that the uh experienced police officers I've seen them training our new police officers on the mall which is really nice to see including the chief out there and uh it's nice to see you know the commitment and that these people take these younger people under their wing and uh and they're you know they're making fine police officers in Kate May um a number of years ago we had uh South Jersey Gas go through town and they ripped up some of our roads and it was our understanding that they were going to finish both sides of the road so a lot of Kate may it was only one side that was paved after the fact and you know we had to learned a lesson that we want things in running not just you know a handshake but uh our old city uh Deputy city manager L Blasco a number of years ago I went up to him I said you know this street in front of the you know the VFW on Congress Street is terrible they had potholes the size of man holes and almost as deep to be you know to be honest with you and uh and I said Lou we got to figure out how to do this so he took he took the money from the margins you know from all the grants and all the other road projects and he he organized you know a number of years ago a list of priority roads and you know our road plan which is excellent and uh we're continuing it today but he found the money to finally have that road paved and and and the work to be done underneath it uh I think you know I I got to give him the credit for doing that and and thank him publicly for that and the VFW thanks you and the people that live on that road you know some people are disabled on that road so you know getting around is very difficult um and finally the only thing I want to set mention is the the book Brigade the uh human chain of book uh carriers that we want from the current library to the new library you know May 22nd 1982 it was done then and we want to do it again and we want everybody's you know support I think it's going to be a really awesome opportunity to recreate history and and create our own history you know I I've we got some photos you know from members of the community and uh I went up to the county library and I they had a whole file on just everything Kate May Library so I was there scanning and you know it's funny because I was looking for the staring waves and for some reason they don't have any staring waves from 1980s in 1985 so I was really Bumm so here I am going through micro Fe which was awesome too of all the newspapers and uh and so I showed the librarian what I was trying to do and she said oh here's a file you know and so it was awesome a star and wave did you know even though I couldn't find a newspaper from the Star and wave they had their own Edition it was like a 12-page newspaper with just photographs and things of that so you know I really want to recreate this you know moment in history for all of us that are here today you know Casey and and Rachel from uh uh the tourism Department you know they're very excited about doing this as well that's really exciting that's great very cool and the photos are are really really cool that's just great um councilman jger U nothing new tonight mayor but I just I would like to acknowledge councilwoman McDade and the work she's done on the lsv the chief as well and and of course Casey's help um I know she's been working on this for quite a long time it's it's a really great outcome I think it's an not an intrusive um way of getting the the safety message across to people who are renting and driving uh lsvs in this town so and I wanted to make sure yeah thank you I wanted to make sure that we got you a sample so that you could show the the bicycle and pedestrian safety advisory because we had gone to them last year when we started this discussion great thank you thank you Mr joerger uh and I I want to just Echo that really it's the U Council woman McDade and mrack members too who have helped us kind of get some data and statistics that have really helped our decisionmaking process and that's not an easy task and you you mentioned Martin and uh Steve they they've put a lot of hours into that and it it makes the decisions for us at this table a lot easier so uh I Echo that and say thank you to to especially Martin and Steve on on that project um and just want to invite everybody to that Earth Day cleanup I think that'll be a lot of fun we got a lot of support from different um Community businesses this year and uh so come on out celebrate Earth Day and help clean up the beach a little bit could use a little clean up I was walking down the Promenade just the other day and could use some with that we'll open it up for public comment anyone wishing to speak please come to the microphone state your name and address Chief good evening again again thank you I wanted to just circle back to uh Mr rash's comments uh Jules I appreciate your your your attentiveness to our project moving forward um sometimes the expertise of I'll call you the Elder um is is more is welcome so I appreciate you keeping us on track and keeping the mayor on track with that again I want to thank the mayor and councel U Mr Jagger and and our new city manager Paul dri as well for being a part of our building project um it's a it's something we started last year which has been started years ago but uh the mayor made me a promise when I came into office we came in together uh as Chief and mayor um in 2021 uh so that promise was that we would get a building done so ever since then we've been moving the firehouse was first priority we got that done Lessons Learned From The Firehouse Lessons Learned From that so you know anytime you do some projects in Kate M you kind of got to you know pay attention to things and that's what we're going to do moving forward pay attention to things that either went a ride there or we're done differently so again I thank city council and the mayor for doing that uh Jules will will pay attention to what you said so um anytime you want to meet with myself the mayor city manager I'm sure we could sit down and talk with you um and bring some of your knowledge back to the table that we can move forward with um speaking about Earth Day I want to move forward to that um I was out this past Saturday the windiest day of the week it was very cold on Saturday um I want to give special attention to Mr Martin he's a high school teacher he had 30 of his students out in K may there's 15 bags of trash at the end of The Cove there they started the Earth Day a little early um I want to applaud those students for coming out cuz my daughter was one of them uh but Mr Martin he enticed them to come out with some extra credit Etc so you know getting a 17-year-old from at 9:00 in the morning on a Saturday is not always the easiest but they got up and as I dropped her off I I was happy to see 30 of our local kids some which aren't don't live here we out on the beach they picked up things all the way down to you know the other end of Wilmington there uh in groups and Mr Martin should be applauded for that and the school so um I'm sure if we called him he would probably bring some more kids out for Earth Day so I'll make sure I make a mention that to him um couple things that we been tasked with the manager had tasked me with um working on the meters and with the mayor so I just want to make sure everyone's uh aware we came up with a flyer um that we've been putting out through social media um I worked with the the mall Merchants Association they have a representative um that works with them to come up with this flyer to kind of give the public a better understanding of the of the of the meters and as we move forward because it's not um it wouldn't be kind of us if we just threw these meters out there upgraded the meters on the beachfront without giving the the public the um the proper knowledge and education so but that's what manager uh Dietrich asked me to do is properly educate the public uh with with a flyer with the five ways you can get um connectivity to our Park Mobile unfortunately we do have to charge for parking so that's part of it but um if we can give you the instructions is what our our goal is so there's five ways to do so and I'm sure Aaron can uh put this back on our our city page if not I think we probably should have a parking space on there on on the landing page maybe something to you know people can go on there and say how do I park in Kate May how where what time when are the meet answer the questions that we come up with this flyer pretty much answers most of them but the five ways you can you can use Park Mobile you can download Park Mobile on your app store if you have a smartphone through the app store or to the Google Google Store uh you can also scan the QR code that's on the flyer as well uh on the signs the green signs around town um there's ways to to scan a QR code to uh download the app uh you can also type park mobile. into your mobile phone and sign up that way um for those that are just learning the text you can text 77223 into your phone and the final way and probably the easiest way for those that aren't techsavvy they can f phone call they can call 1877 727 5304 on their phone and you can call in and talk to a live person and they will tell you how to um apply for Park Mobile put your credit card on there and then every time you park you just call that same number and you park um and our staff like the mayor and had said we're out and about and as council member Meyer said uh we're doing our best to get this the young staff out and about and train them properly because we've been listening to the comments from the Mall merchants from the council about having more people on the mall and and I think that's the best thing not just for part parking tickets for dogs on the mall for bikes on the mall and just for normal questions we are the ambassadors through the city so we try to make sure that we do that well um any questions you have we can help you with that if you have any questions and you want to call in 884 9514 that's Ally she will walk you through the process if you can't understand the brochure so that's Park Mobile in and of itself um couple events moving forward we're going to be very busy for the next few weeks um it's not going to be nice and easy for people on uh Perry Street in the mall area we have a movie coming to town you know uh about Bob Dylan so kind of proud that it's coming to City Kate May it's been all over New Jersey all over the country working with the movie crew I got to applaud Casey again for helping us out because she's dealing with these movie people and what better person to deal with movie people than Casey because I don't have the tolerance however it's going to have an impact on the city of Kate May here um some roads are going to be shut down there's going to be some traffic detours along with all of the road detours we already have going on so please bear with us as we move forward here um we'll do our best to keep everything flowing uh any of the services you see going out there you see police officers out there the company is paying the city for those services and public works and this isn't something the city's giving to them free um we have prom coming up in may we have Coast Guard festival coming up uh in may as well the great K May foot RAC is coming up so we have a lot of things coming up that will impact and bring a lot of people here to the city of K May so uh any questions or concern please do not hesitate to write reach out for us I think that's all I have thank you thank you Chief you're welcome anyone else wishing to comment from the public please come forward state your name and address Mr RH Jules rash again um I don't recall a resolution being adopted to employe Collins to do the well I call the second section of uh the prominade um I try to have a Tickler for that but I I don't recall there being a resolution employing them the dollar amount for for who callers yes you talking about for the the grant the preservation grant that we got for like to yes Madison to The Cove it's a good thing you haven't seen yet because we haven't awarded any yet nobody has started work yet on it so I am in the process of uh soliciting some rfps uh to get a competitive pricing and my next question you we're going to hope to uh at the next council meeting uh hopefully have a recommendation for an award for that for that project great thank you Mr R um last thing I have and just based on some of the um topics with the um police station I do want to just Rec recognize and thank uh a couple of the task force members Dennis Crawley um former M mayor lwell Jake Stevenson uh HPC me member and of course Mr joerger um all of them have been working you know with the police chief and his staff uh to really come up with a good product so got a lot of work left to do but I think a good team is in place so yeah thank you very much any anyone else wishing to speak seeing none we'll close public comment and uh motion to adjourn I'll make that motion second the time is 6:06 please have a wonderful evening everyone thank you very much