e e e e e e e e e e okay good afternoon everyone um this is uh our special meeting uh city council city of Kate May um you want to do the quot of order absolutely okay if you would please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance okay Al to the flag the United States of America to it stands na God invisible liy and justice for all under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the K May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the meeting agenda was delivered to each member of city council and posted on the Kate May City website and K May City Hall bulletin board notice is hereby provided that Kate May City Council meetings are audio recorded and or video streamed live live video streams are posted to the K May City website the city of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Balwin here council member McDade here council member Meyer is absent this evening mayor mullik council member Jagger here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager Paul Dietrich here Deputy city manager Justin rigs will be joining us uh in a little while uh Council we have one resolution for this evening it is resolution 14204 d224 a resolution authorizing a Shar um sorry is uh resolution 12804 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 shared services agreement with the buau of K May point for court services motion I'll make the motion and I'll second it all right council member Jager yes council member Meyer is absent um council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes okay the time is now 4:33 um we're going to open it up for public portion okay and we'll close it for public at this point um so it is now 4:34 we're going to enter into close session okay okay and here e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e and we have um no public for the budget that's correct this is just yeah there Lor so that's Leon Castell right yes okay I had it up the since he thank you yeah so hey um airport place is so cold because it's a little town back but limo not limo friend big ass the drive to Resort I was looking at everything and said this is just like every place else you go you know it looks it's the same strip malls and the same um fast food places and it was like I thought we'd be in like country everywhere but then and that res was I first time in my life I've been days on vacation my go usually ready to go home I'm ready to go are we ready Paul I think Kevin's on his way down meet you um okay everybody ready okay okay we're back in session uh this is our special meeting we're going to close out our special meeting um solicitor do you want to uh Council discussed the uh Kate Mayo uh shared services agreement for court they do not anticipate taking any formal action tonight okay thank you um do I have a motion to close our special meeting I'll make that motion second do we need a roll call on that or no we're just going to open up the okay okay this is the work session meeting city of Kate May we're at uh City Hall Auditorium it is Tuesday April the 2nd the time now is 5:04 uh can we have a Pledge of Allegiance please iedge of Al flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation indivisible with liy and justice for [Music] all under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the K May County heral and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council and posted on the Kate May City website and Kate May City Hall bulletin board not notice is hereby provided that Kate 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 bobwin here council member McDade here council member Meyer is absent this evening mayor mullik here council member Jagger here City solor Gillan Schwarz here city manager Paul Dietrich here Deputy city mayor uh manager Justin rigs will be joining us shortly CFO Kevin Haney here and City auditor lean Costello here Council any additions or deletions this evening no no and we are moving on to the employee of the month we're actually going to hold off on that till the next uh we're we're still trying to the the employee that was selected he could not make it the so we're trying to get him to come to the next council meeting and uh get him to come to the meeting so we're working on that perfect all right um city manager any updates yes thank you um we've had a couple little brief discussions regarding the uh prominade preservation uh Grant um just thought I would you know we do have the uh resolution on later uh this evening for authorizing uh to enter into the agreement with the state but so I just wanted to kind of highlight through the prominade assessment uh the full assessment uh for the prominade has been put on uh the city's website but I just thought I'd go through some of the um areas just to show how we've came up with how we're going to prioritize uh the spending of the 6.6 million uh preservation grant that the city received uh colar engineering uh prepared the report uh for the city council I did provide a copy of the presentation so you don't have to keep arching your neck back back and forth so we'll follow through there um really just started with an introduction talking about um you know our prominade as as mayor mullik always likes to remind everybody and just really highlight for everybody this was the first uh prominade Boardwalk on the Jersey coast so um we do have a long history of uh supporting and having this uh great feature uh to highlight our beaches and we need to preserve it um if you know and and really we're talking about the exist in prominade uh through this assessment not the proposed um seaw wall expansion that we've been working over the last 2 or three years uh for uh and receiving a $25 million uh FEMA Grant to kind of proceed with that project so we're not talking about that project this is on the existing seaw wall essentially from uh just I'll say east of Madison Avenue uh West to The Cove Pavilion um and and what the assessment really did was it went through each of the access point locations and kind of graded each one of the access points for overall condition Ada access and the different things um and you know just kind of detailed where everything was if you really look at it you know some of the grades were you know overall A to B but some of the condition areas you know where D's or an F for failing just based on the condition and cracking and and really we drive by it all the time walk on it all the time and sometimes you kind of miss some of it but when you really if you read the assessment and then you start then go back in and look at the you say oh wow there is some deficiencies in there and there are preservation work that we do need to do on this um so this is uh just I just highlighted a couple of the examples Madison Avenue um had an overall condition of a D um Queen street again had a d this has no Ada access and you can see the existing um revetment wall there you know has efflorescence and deterioration of the concrete uh throughout the areas um Howard Street has an overall d uh Conger Street has an overall C where the ADI access was good but has some deterioration along some of the um uh other areas of the concrete uh so you know in conclusion it just kind of went over and you know gave a little summary report so we have a table of all of the gradings of all the access points and just kind of all the different elements and kind of reviewed each of those elements on their condition and that's what we use to formulate hey what preservation work should we be looking at um the the consultant then kind of maap those areas out you know so we've got two pages that kind of delineate uh different work efforts that need to be happened along the prominade um all the way down to the Pavilion and then here again they just kind of showed just more pictures along the uh promonade that really just shows the the level of deterioration in areas and you know as I said you kind of don't notice it when you're not paying attention to it but when you start looking for it you notice that we there is a lot of work that needs to be done um so the last page is a uh summary uh kind of a cost estimate looking at how we can uh look to fund the project my page uh the first phase you know is doing all the repairs to the uh concrete and Timber that's exposed uh upgrading the Ada Ram s um doing some resurfacing of the existing um prominade surface uh and and to do that engineering plus the engineering for the second phase in permitting that's essentially will eat up around 7 million do uh which includes our city 5% cost share um as a second phase what the engineering and permitting would be doing would be adding a widening over top of I'll say the um existing seaw wall if I'll go back a couple slides where it shows the old on the top picture on this one fixture seven it is uh it does show where the old seaw wall is kind of covered over but where the prominade doesn't really extend into that area this is kind of the similar area where we're doing the seaw wall extension that we're kind of building on top of so the theory would be is to utilize that same area to build a um resiliency wall seating wall on top of that area similar to what we're doing with the seaw wall extension using that same design and incorporating that over top of that existing structure to provide some additional resiliency and elevation to provide better protection for the uh uh homes and businesses in that area um and and and that cost estimate is in the 13 to15 million range so that would be something that we would look at in the future maybe apply for a future FEMA mitigation Grant to help fund that um but that's kind of the the scope and progress of of what we're looking to do and again I'll put this mini presentation of you know I'll say the if you don't want to download the full 13 page report and you just want to download the 18 page mini report and take a look at it but that's what we're kind of proposing to uh uh move forward on the uh preservation I know I've met with each of the council members to kind of go over this project and and scoping and you know I I anticipate having two or three Consultants working on the project so that we can kind of phase it out and keep it moving in a very time time frame the the preservation Grant actually has to be all the encumbrances have to be done before the end of this year so you know they are looking the state is looking for have this money to be spent and done we do have up until 2026 to actually spend the money but they want the money encumbered by the end of this year so the thought would be to have some of these projects designed like this phase one to be designed over the summertime and to have construction maybe over two seasons you know first I'll say Phase 1 a in um the the fall winter uh up upcoming and then the second one would be during the 25 26 winter season before the start of the 26 Season so that's that was what we were proposing to do um and you know not though specifically detailed in the agreement but this is how we anticipate uh moving forward with the uh proposed Grant agreement not and that that's what's really great about having you here as an engineer um kind of guiding us as far as a lot of these resiliency projects um no nice presentation yeah and also I mean it was um very helpful to sit down with you um and go through it and really look at what the options were um and I think it's important to note that we are prioritizing sort of the the accessibility um and also some of the structural things by utilizing this money um in the initial round and then initial round it is really repairing and rehabilitating existing features um the only additions would be adding Ada ramps to a location that only has steps that would really be the only addition to the the pr now phase two would be that more of a the widening and the resiliency wall which would be more of an enhancement of the existing uh prominon yeahh okay thank you thank you it looks great great so kers is already involved in looking at this call call your was um they did they're doing the engineering for the seaw wall ex extension currently so they're the ones that did did this work so obviously we'll be looking to them as one of the Consultants to do some of the uh future work you know it's good to see we've gotten a jump on this and yes we can get it get it going as soon as possible because it's definitely shabby yes great okay thank you all right is that it Mr city manager I'll have some more comments uh under new business at the end of the meeting thank you sounds great uh city solicitor any updates I don't have anything tonight thank you great great moving on to the budget discussion with CFO Kevin Haney and lean Castello our city auditor we are going to start it off with an ordinance for introduction this is ordinance 53-22 4 and ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank calendar year 2024 I have a motion I'll make the motion second roll call all right council member jger yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes all right gentleman take it away sure I'll start so tonight is the introduction of the budget obviously see this has been in the works for months and months and tonight is the actual formal process to open this up um for Council and also for the state the budget that you have tonight that's being presented has no tax increase again it's well within both caps you actually could raise 4, 800,000 more in taxes if you wanted to but I know you don't want to but that you could have if you had to desire um there's no gimmicks in here there's no one-time revenues there's nothing in here that's out of the ordinary it's a straight up budget it provides for everything that you've been accustomed to all three utilities are in Balance all three utilities have adequate fund balances the um property values went up $35 million this year it's a a sizable increase for Kate May uh that helps with no tax increase obviously your fund balance went up and we using a lot of that fund balance for that service to pay off off and fund projects that previously were unfunded so that when those projects go away the revenue doesn't have to be there so it's not a a thing that's going to put us in a hole so all in all it's a great budget um I need at least three people to say yes to move forward and the uh the next thing would be the public hearing which would be May 5th right May 5th would be May yeah May 5th at that time the public will be able to comment on the budget if anything needs to be changed we can make an amendment if there's no desire to change anything we can adopt it that night you are self-exam so Kevin just has to swear that everything's in good shape and away we go which I know he'll do um because it is yeah uh incidentally he's doing a great job he's been here a year and uh he's taken everything the bull b of horns and is running with it so I'm really happy to say that that it's great to work with and it's really good job so the budget's in great shapee your office is in good shape and now we need to vote to or Council comment and then a vote to introduce it okay any comments I know we all met with with Kevin and um and Paul the manager uh and the deputy manager I was very satisfied yeah um very thorough spent a lot of time talking about it um any questions I had were answered um I do want to you know Echo What U Mr Costello says Kevin you've done a great job in the last year um you really have listened to some of the the changes in the request um that we um sort of laid out for you um and very pleased that um and it's been great working with you you've been you know right on top of getting the data and understanding that we've been looking at it in a way maybe differently um than has been done in the past um and that I think it um comes from the fact that some of us come from more of a business side than Municipal at least personally I'll speak so um really appreciate the fact that you've uh listened to the request and and have been um a Keem participant in getting us the information so thank you I have no other comments think everything was um well well put together and uh questions asked and answered and I you know I pretty much Echo what my two colleagues had to say about it um was very good meeting um with uh everybody going over the details of the budget I had some questions they had the answers I had a small ask they actually gave is nice um and uh no I I think that in the end the city's in in good shape and this budget reflects that situation so thank you guys it was great great job yeah thank you a lot of work mayor mullock mayor I just want yeah I I just want to thank um Echo those comments I know a lot of what hard work went into the budget I just thank you all very much okay okay very good so yes so so we have two budget resolutions this evening and I'll go ahead and read both um we'll start out with resolution 12904 d224 a resolution for the approval by Council of the local Municipal budget okay is there a motion I'll make the motion and I'll second itoll all right council member jger yes council member MCD yes Deputy Mayor Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes all right next we have resolution 130-04 d224 a resolution for the governing body certification of compliance with the United States equal employment opportunity commissions enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records and employment decisions under title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 okay is there a motion I'll make the motion second I'll second all right council member Jagger yes council member MCD yes Deputy Mayor Balman yes mayor mullik yes all right Deputy Mayor next we have the public portion on resolutions only okay those wishing to publicly publicly comment come forward and give their name and address uh speak into the microphone and limit your comments to a five minute time frame and this is on agenda items [Music] only Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue uh my question has to do with resolution 13 13204 um it has to do with the USDA water and waste grant funding um in the resolution it talks about Grant and loan amount do we have a breakdown of what that is and how much of a loan were taken out I know it's an application but I just want to know it was the broke down the way the USDA process works is you make the application for they never give you 100% Grant it's always a grant loan combination and you don't it's you make the application and then they come back to you with an offer and then they'll tell us oh they're going to offer a 20% Grant and 80% loan it could be a 30% Grant and or really they call it it's not a grant it's really loan forgiveness or principal forgiveness and um you know so it's it's we won't know that until you know we make the application and then they come back to us with an offer okay and then we would evaluate that offer based on our needs okay thank you okay good evening David mades 311 bav my question is on um resolution old business 11203 regarding the surf School instruction concessionaire um really the question is how far along or or where in the process is Council regarding the bid process for this at the beginning okay this is I mean this is would be the beginning of the procurement process okay um so just a couple concerns that I have are um just some of the as a surf instructor Camp um I've run Camp surf instruction for the better part of of 25 plus years and I'm just I have concerns about the process itself mainly how the the the timing of the execution um just the the material C the material procurement alone is going to take several months uh for somebody to secure enough boards uh Supply chains are still crippled I also in a surf shop it takes us weeks to months to get more than a dozen plus boards in for ordering um and the main concern that I express is that it'll go out to bid and and the timing and everything will be laid out in place the bids are awarded awarded and the bid is awarded I should say and then there is just a giant delay and and log Jam um do we know if and when the resolution is approved would the when would that bid process open we would look for a short turnaround like once you know if we have authorization to go out the bid uh we would turn that around probably at that next council meeting with a a recommendation and then start working with that vendor for the concessionary license to give themth authorization to to to process and start do we know if the bid process and details and specs of the bid are are finalized or is that still working um we had had a proposed draft I think two meetings two meetings ago uh Council had several comments uh we went back uh and worked out I think all of the council's comments I think we have addressed in the proposed regulation or resolution and bid specifications um so we're hoping to to get this out to bid now uh so that we will have enough time to let that vendor know and we have had discussions with at least two vendors um you know just to you know feel them out you know to make sure that hey the parameters that we're asking are realistic and reasonable and you know just so that we're not you know out of you know we're not off sure yeah I uh I had a convers brief conversation with Mr rigs um and see he he was pretty early seemed like he was just kind of hammering out details uh but just wanted to to put that out there and appreciate the update one thing is too um I mean if you're interested in it that's kind of This Is A New Concept for the city and it's if you weren't didn't see the prior meetings it's something that I think the recreation department wanted to offer but didn't want to kind of go out and like you said like buy a bunch of boards and there's obviously people in business doing do that already so the idea of putting out a public procurement and getting an interested partner from the business Community to do it seem like a logical kind of next step if we don't want to do it ourselves meaning the city so just so you're aware the term of the contract if awarded would be one year there's options to renew but I think the city wants to get a feel for you know is this working or not so might there might be to the extent it's it's not available this year there might be future procurements that this would consider or it could be this year maybe you know by the time it gets really up and running it could be a July you know an August time frame something along those lines when you know so I think it's just at this point viability looking at the viability but certainly interested in seeing what we could do for this season um if if it seemed feasible but got it um and I'm I would welcome any thought or conversation like I said I've been in doing this business um across the country mostly here in Kate May for decades and uh we would welcome the the opportunity to uh to assist in anyway I couple concerns that I had are are parking timing um the the thought process of it is great it's fantastic this is something that we as a vendor have approached previous administrations before um the safety is a massive concern um you know just from the experience in our our own shop we are we're Safety First customer service second um you know so so I just want to express a little bit of concern there and personally I would rather see this pushed back and considered a little bit deeper and in an earlier time frame of the year just registration alone and getting in the proper insurance and and policies in place staff training alone is is very detailed CPR first a certification um I you know I wouldn't want to see anything rushed well it certainly seems like you've got a lot sort of the checklist of things that we may want to consider so if you would be willing to share that with the city manager abut I think we would absolutely uh welcome that you know because what you're putting forth right now is sort of the logistics and the operational implementation um and the pathway to get there um and you know it it makes perfect sense what you're saying and yeah ideally we you know we'd like to offer something this year but there's it sounds like there's several things that we may need to consider and I'd rather us be successful um than have a false start with it um and so you know if you have something that you're willing to share or you know um email or meet with the city manager I think that would be um a great opportunity for us I'd be happy to do so and you you you hit the nail on the head there get one chance to make a good first impression and and this is it so I'd be happy to do so thank you so just a quick question I mean it'd be important for us to still do this this year and come up with the winner of the bid then I mean in your op we shouldn't put this off until next year early but is it are we better off I don't think any of the comments that he's made I think I think most of them are addressed in our revised bid specifications and and a lot of those can be worked out once we have that you know concessionary awarded um you know a lot of the safety concerns and all those things are all built into what we'd be working on I was I was probably hearing more about the actually like getting surfboards well I mean there's there's already I think there's already one person in town that has been doing it informally on the beach the other person that came to us approached us so you know if he's approaching us and having a communication early on he probably has you know whether he has another surf lessons throughout whether it's Kim County you know that he can you know so I'm sure that you know we can get this worked out for this season if we if we move forward tonight okay and there's also uh detailed areas within the bid specifications where you clearly um you know put together your plan and uh and any deviations from that from that bid would have to be noted as well sure so when that comes back in that is reviewed and if there are deviations it could be rejected for those and safety is is clearly highlighted you know you know whether myself or the the beach Captain you know supervisor you know we we we dictate hey if conditions are not right you're not having class today if you know you've been having classes on X Street and the surf isn't right there because the the sand has changed and you got to move down to a different block then then you're going to have to move your operation so we the ocean is a fluid situation and so will this Camp have to be somewhat fluid in in what it does and I I understand that I agree with that 100% that is where my concerns develop is because we've been doing we've seen that happens often windy Seasons the logistical Log Jam that it could create at the last minute when you have to reach out and touch base with with all participants to to reshuffle and reorganize and that's why that person has to be an organized vendor that's going to come forward to propose working with us to have a good plan copy that thank you appreciate it very much any other public comment okay seeing none we'll close that all right 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 council wish to remove any item from the sent agenda I do not uh no nope no okay so do we have a motion to adopt the consent agenda I'll make the motion to adopt the consent agenda I'll second that okay council member Jagger yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes did that in business 112 so we're going there okay yep so under old business we do have resolution 11203 d224 a resolution authorizing the hiring of a surf school instructor concessionaire through the competitive Contracting process concession when this was tabled back on March 5th 2024 okay is there a motion I'll make the motion I'll second it okay council member jger yes council member MCD yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes uh Deputy Mayor may I just ask a question I just wanted to clarify M Mr gri you indicated that all of the comments that were made at the at the original time that we discussed this the clearance of the employees all of those things for consideration specifically you know the um for all instructors would have to be have trained background checks and and those kind of things were all all I think we we went through bull appointed all your comments from the last meeting and I think they're I believe they're all addressed all right that's all I wanted to confirm thank you thank you okay took a roll call on that we did okay all right any new business city solicitor nothing tonight thank you city manager um first I just would like to we were hoping to get some Paving done this week on Beach Avenue but Mother Nature was not uh in tune for that so uh hopefully we'll be back uh in Paving mode and and have Beach Avenue almost fully paved maybe next week and then probably the week after Congress Street uh the city portion of Congress Street should be back involved um so we're hoping to get that out there and regarding Beach Avenue I just wanted to give a uh a parking meter update I'm sure everybody knows uh April 1st yesterday uh parking meters has been turned on um good thing is or bad thing um there's not a lot of people out using the parking meters cuz it's really wet out there um but on Beach Avenue uh as part of the construction uh we REM the city removed the parking meters on I'll say the the non prominade prominade side the west side or the the north side of beach Avenue um Public Works has gone out and put up um I'll say extra Park Mobile signs on there you know we'll eventually thin some of them out but uh we wanted to make sure that that residents and visitors knew that you had to use Park Mobile I mean you can use Park Mobile on both sides anywhere where there's meters but just because there wasn't a physical meter there that that is now a a park mobile zone um as well as uh behind um the Street Mall areas in Jackson Street those are where the kiosk were um we just had the the maintenance on the kiosk those kiosks were over uh 10 years old uh and back in 2019 uh Public Works had made a capital request to replace the kiosk uh as well as to uh replace uh the meters and the that Capital purchase was not funded uh so therefore at that time in 2019 Council kind of gave Public Works the direction that we're phasing out of the the meter business uh it's you know the parts are almost impossible to find uh we unfortunately we can't even change the rates on the meters because the little key to that you do to change the dials within the meter um don't work and you can't get a new key to change the rat so um we we can't even change the rates uh for the meters if we wanted to because the parking meter would just keep Charing charging the old rate uh so with all those factors and and even with the meters in the kiosk last year um we've seen a steady heavy increase in Park Mobile uh sales and usage uh and the cash usage has steadily declined uh over the years um even without us you know you know like last year the kiosks were there the parking meters were there on on Beach Avenue but we still saw a continued uh decrease in cash sales so um yeah actually um uh Kevin had done us um an assessment at my request last year and you know it's close to about 85% is through Park Mobile about 10% was through the kiosk and only about 5% was really coming in through coin so you know it really clearly is the trend it's been a steady decrease so I just wanted to give that update and uh just on Lafayette Street uh the Paving you know that work is still on schedule to be anticipated to be uh uh paved uh in probably at this point early May that's all I had all right great um just a couple announcements from the clerk's office there will be the longest yarn fundraiser on April 7th so real quick I'll just give a brief um summary of what the longest yarn is the longest yarn is a three-dimensional wool tapestry knitted and crocheted by thousands of volunteers worldwide it measures 80 M and represents the 80 years since dday and the 80 days it took for the Allies to liberate Paris uh The Longest Yard tells the monumentous story of June 6th from the buildup and launch in England through the Normandy invasion um so the goal ultimately is to bring that tapestry to Cap May County it's going to be on display at the Notre Dame Church in France on May 28th um where we remain until September so like I said said the goal is to bring it here they're having a fundraiser I did put out uh some flyers and brochures if anyone is interested in more details you can always obviously reach out to the clerk's office as well um the only other item I have is there will be an Earth Day cleanup on April 22nd from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. right in front of um convention hall so garbage bags water and gloves will be provided so I think that's something we can all get behind um keep our beaches beautiful again if any questions or concerns please reach out to the clerk's office we'd be happy to uh help you out with that other than that Deputy Mayor I have nothing else thank you thank you uh council members council member McDade no nothing at this time thank you council member Ager nothing tonight thank you and I don't have anything mayor mullik do you have anything no I guess I just don't have to be there and it's a first meeting actually could I could I just I just wanted to give a um we had uh two events over the weekend we had the uh Easter egg hunt on the beach and uh the fashion stroll uh at Rotary Park uh both events were attended very well attended I think the kids had a a real good time out on the beach they found they each of the age groups found their golden egg and and got a prizes and so I just would really want to thank uh the quanas club uh the Washington Street Mall Association and the Chamber of Commerce uh for providing uh the prizes and and kuas uh filled over 3,000 eggs uh for the event that's a lot of eggs so that they're always looking for volunteers to help put those eggs together so and then obviously a big uh thanks to uh uh Department of civic affairs uh and public works for you know coordinating those events on the day of so I think it was a good event for everybody and I think everybody had a good time now we need spring yes okay uh public portion uh part of the agenda those wishing to speak publicly shall come forward give their name and address and speak into the microphone is there any public members that would like to make a comment Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue uh my first question question has to do with The Bard preservation that you discussed um and it's I guess it's my understanding that a lot this money should be going to structural improvements on the boardwalk the the the guidelines were for preservation aspects Ada um improvements and resiliency improvements those were the kind of the three uh guidelines uh for the program okay I just I guess my question is sometimes you preservation do you mean historic preservation or and I guess what this is physical physical okay so just for the record are arches going to go on the boardwalk new arches not as part of this program no okay this program is not funding the AR any expansion of the Arches okay my second question has to do um you had mentioned widening of the boardwalk mhm right yes and I I didn't have a chance to look at what was on online that goes from where there's already rock that we did for widening at the between the two arcades you're going to do at the on on the other side the other on the oceans side of most of the prominade there is concrete and stone revetment well it's really only on the one side of the arcade between I would say Madison and the arcade it's the only place where there's the rocks and stones that are there and you say widen and it does continue further down even even south of the convention hall there's no there isn't I'll respectfully disagree with you there are rocks and revetment maybe not as wide but there are some rocks it's it's the timber bulkhead that's on that side and that's why there's only sand on the other side i' go to the beach a lot this is why only reason why I know where where the rocks are so from from the arcade that is at Jackson Street to The Cove it's the bulkhead Timberlane that's along there is that the where you're you're expecting to um widen it we we would be looking to to not as as not as part of this preservation Grant but as part of phase two or part of phase one we're going to apply for engineering and permitting to yes do some minor widening and construct a Sim resiliency aspect to increase the overall flood height to create that seating wall similar to what's on the proposed on the seaw wall expansion uh for the rest of the prominade yes okay um so that like you said you that so this money is going to go through trying to get the permits from Kappa and the Kappa and the D yes okay so that we would be prepared should we be able to secure funding for the second part which incorporates the widening right because it's going to have to go into the beach which is it would go into the beach no into the into the back Dune it wouldn't go into the beach well I I consider the dun the beach I mean I don't know what your what your philosophy is of what the beach is there's two there're two different components okay what's what what's the beach and what's the Dune I guess I I'm asking that thing then well the beach is the I'll say the flatter towel space area where you use and then the Dune is from where the line of uh Dune fences and grass and vegetation between there and the prominade that's Dune okay where where it's protected with where it's where it's all the grass is protected and the trees and everything are there to protect this the erosion correct that's part of what it do does so that's what we're going to put the boardwalk on top of what we've been projecting okay part of it um my other question has to do with uh did the water tower make the water to painting and make the budget uh that's a capital uh expenditure purchases you know so we'll be evaluating the full uh Capital uh Bond projects uh at a future meeting and uh that is one of the items we're looking at though we have to determine from an engineering standpoint the timing and the necessity of that work okay um and then you mentioned about the parking meters that there's no more kios is so no no one can use money except on beach meters still exist still still on on beach drive but I'm talking about the mall around the mall is there any parking meters well they're on the side streets some of the side streets but not not in the back of the mall or the front of the mall no there's no meters okay wherever there is kiosk is all Park mobile at this point I'm just bringing up to the attention that you know there's a lot of elderly people that don't have a phone or an app to pay for meters and I I would I'm surprised you didn't leave at least one kios around for people to use money it came down to the inability and I I had worked on this with Kevin and with um Eric last year um right as Paul was coming on board it came down to the fact that there was no company that was willing to maintain the devices um the cost to run those was outweighing you know sort of the the revenue that we were seeing from it um and so it became a maintenance issue there were often times where these were not working well I know we had a contract that we did every year and the company the company went out of business and we could not locate another company to do the maintenance and so it was day in and day out of Eric trying to you know get these things to be functional so there were times where they weren't even working so we looked at the costs and this was before Paul came on right around the time we looked at the cost to be able to replace those and they were exorbitant compared to and and they were you know and I just back in 2019 there was a $170,000 Capital request to purchase 12 uh new kiosk units and it was not approved and not funded and which gave the public works the direction of you know to find alternative methods to uh for parking yeah I know we had um we're fortunate enough to we purchase or they they gave us some of old meters from one of the other store res yes yeah but I they didn't give us the actual meters they only gave us the the housing covers the covered the I'll say the guts the inside the mechanical parts we did not get so those are the ones that we're still having to you know fix and maintain they don't make parts for them anymore and like I said the key no longer works in those to change the meter pricing so if we wanted to decide to if there was a need to increase fees in the future we can't because we can't reset the meters well I know um one of my committees had looked into the parking heads that you had the credit card card because that's where a lot of places like around Baltimore I think and all them have that so people can pay right at the meter at the head with with their credit card um or put coins in and things like that so I guess they're they're still around at certain points oh my one last thing is I just wanted to advertise that blessing of the water is at the Fisher Memorial this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. hopefully nice weather this this year I think it's going to be good evening Ros Johnson 826 Lafayette Street um I would just like to Echo um Stacy's comment about the meters um you're saying there were 5% that still use the coin um I have a very soft spot for those 5% um so picture picture Mary and her friends getting in the car for there once a year visit to Kate May uh water bottle check sunscreen check quarters that they got at the bank last week all in hand coming into town and not knowing what to do when they can't find parking um I don't feel as though I I don't know how we can dismiss these people because they've been coming into Kate May for so long um they're part of we're historical city they're part of our history these people that do come in that are elderly um and for them not to have any place to go with their car um kind of concerns me yeah I I think maybe I'm I'm not sure all of the meters have not been removed there are still many streets and there you know that have meters and one side of beach Avenue still has meters so I think that I'm I'm not sure if maybe there was a misunder you said the ones on Beach Avenue aren't even there no on the one side on the one side on the prominade side of beach Avenue there still there the meters are still there okay so I'm still uh addressing the uh people and I'm sure you know that go around and around uh the mall area trying to find a parking spot and they'll you know Mary stays in the car lets everybody off and she goes round and round and um anyway so how are we going to with that being said how are we going to help these people in their transition um I think you said they're going to be several signs something yeah we've put up additional signage for Park Mobile and I mean that's part of why I mean part of the transition is we didn't take all the meters down you know that's I think that's one thing that Stone Harbor saw and and they kind of didn't do it the right way they kind of came in on over the weekend and all the meters throughout the entire burough were gone and didn't really and didn't and didn't really communicate that to the public here I think we're we're communicating to the public you know in advance hey there are streets that there are areas that are used to have parking meters or kiosk they're no longer there and there's options how are they going to know about that the signs well the signs and we've had social media you know we we you know part of part of the Outreach I think I mean I know I've talked about this at least twice or three times uh previous to this that this was coming so you know we're talking about it you know I mean that's part of the the education is we're letting people know uh about about it ahead of time I think also it's only on one side of beach Avenue those are the only place that's the only place that the meters have been removed every place else is still has the meters that were there last season are still at the same place as they were so it's there's been a reduction but it's not as if all of the meters have been removed okay okay so just to yeah I I just want to make sure we're really being very clear for clarification to the public listening that there is still meters in town it's just the one side of beach Avenue they were removed and we may and we may look at in the future when we when we get to the point where we have to take all the meters out we may look at a program where somebody can come in and buy just like you buy a a daily or a weekly yes Beach tag that maybe we offer a daily or weekly I think hang tag you we don't know if we can do it but you know because how do we get them you know it's easy for a beach tag you know we have the beach tag Checkers you know you you go up on the beach you get it then you go on the beach parking's a little bit harder um to to where you're going to go you know City Hall is closed on the weekend have to go someplace C buy it and then take it with you in your car so we we've Paul and I have talked we talked about it but the mechanism is the logistics of it is not as easy to get past is is is the is the timing between when you buy your tag and getting it back to the car before the attendant comes by and checks your car to see if you've paid for parking or not right you know so that that's the mechanism of trying to figure out where can you buy a tag to go and use the tag in a convenient fashion for all users that's going to be the that's something we're we're looking at but I think that'll be something that we would look at to to implement as we would phase out all meters not at this time um I I was thinking about this and I was you know we have a welcome center and um why would not the Welcome Center be a good place abolutely um to do this I mean we are welcoming people right yeah that's something we can look at we um right now it is least and that could be a Central Area also could be MH also um when you have your signage I was uh maybe part of the signage if you did have someone in the Welcome Center that could help someone download an app or something like that maybe in your signage it could say something like visit our Welcome Center if you need any help with this because um to me that should be a job of a Welcome Center welcoming uh helping people who aren't sure where to go how to do and so um we've got a Welcome Center so that might be a possibility sure and also part of the sign that would say you know v i I would just feel so much better if these people just weren't kind of oh my gosh what do I do you know we'll visit our welcome center and you know uh we could help you find a solution because we really do want you to come and we love that you're still coming and uh let us help you MH so that was just a thought and thank you for um continuing to think about this all right thank you thank you Ros I just have a clarification question all the kios were removed right yes okay so that I think that's the important part they can't even go to a kios they would have to do Park Mobile around the mall correct okay mhm any okay good evening everyone um Trish tarv V 719 721 Franklin Street I just wanted to timeline on a couple things the library um it's supposed to open in April that's what I was told earlier it's the the the discussion for the opening of the library has always been the second quarter of 2024 uh I think we've heard from the county that I think the grand opening for the library is going to be June 13th 13th June 13th will be the the grand opening for the uh for the library okay all right and um also I wanted to ask you about the timeline for um next door um 7 I don't know we don't have a timeline don't have any kind of timeline on that yet okay fine well as if we get as we get we get closer to the demolition of that structure we will definitely make sure that you notified well I hope like not closer like not like in two weeks but a little bit out for and anyway my next um question was the bell tower uh is there any news on the bell tower when that is going to be constructed we're we have a project out to bid we're hoping to have that con reconstructed possibly this year okay so that's this year okay so and then the I know that mayor mullik had said that the inside you also had bids out for the inside of the church yes so has any bid come back on the inside yet the you know not yet nothing so how long does it usually take for a bid to I know it's been out for a while every bids are every bit is different and it has they all vary but they theyve been out for a while yes have you received any bids on it at all nothing nobody no okay well all right well thank you yep thank you anyone else okay seeing no one can I have a motion to adjourn I'll make the motion I'll second it okay thank you time is six o'clock thank you everybody all right Zach thank you very much you got it have a great night Z you're busy Leon okay I got something to say that's I know the well the budget books are I'm technologically challenged by ATM Ma and I can make the par mobile app and you can make the par mobile okay well that's that's good to know good job thank you do you need to ride home I see you have an umbrella we're if it's pretty bad let me knowy find okay you're not parking that no all right parking foot you're on foot no parking no parking issues at all that's me you know what I don't have I don't have Park Mobile I had it on my phone updated somewhere went away but we do have it and what I tell everybody is that I never come downtown with a car iik when the Met are WR it's yes it's definitely right we do whatever we have if the weather if the weather's bad and we have to go out or if I'm taking my mom who can't walk that's then you'll use Park Mobile absolutely y it takes me usually about three or four times to get familiarized again with it you want to yeah you can take cuz I have it already yeah there's a lot I know he's going to put it online but I like I need to be today I may be coming back to you for now we'll least get and I saw your email about the yeah yeah you got a mon okay perfect thank you you I don't remember problem did we just did thank you very much I appreciate can you ring but