Baron Council to order please rise for salute to the flag in a moment of Silent deflection I pledge Alle United States of America the stands na indivisible please remain standing for a moment of Silent reflection thank you sunshine love please this meing has been provided by the adoption of resolution by theary Council on the second day of January 2024 in which resolution the time and place of agenda and regular meetings commencing with January 2nd of was Del to the par to copy of the notice was posted on the and on the bul board in Bur Hall all meetings are open to the public roll call please counc member wiy here SC hereo here here V here here I have a motion to approve the minutes of the March 19th regular meeting so move second roll call please um no I'm sorry all in favor I any opposed any extensions we have no Communications we'll go to reports of committee starting with councilwoman Al balador thank you mayor uh from the recreation department there are three things that are being offered at this moment um summer tennis lessons are being offered um registration began on April 1st and it is ending on June June 30th it's a 6-week program that meets once a week and there are different age groups if you're interested in that please look at www.b.com in addition to tennis lessons they're also offering a tennis camp so if kids are interested in that please look up at the same website and the third offering that they have at the moment is for the kids running club um and that will also be that will start on July 1st so if your kids entering grades 3rd through 8th are interested for this year please check out the website other than that all matters are in order thank you very much councilman ventrice thank you mayor uh couple of announcements from the environmental commission there's going to be a late cleanup uh for the spring on April 27th from 9: to 11: um and then uh on April 20th at 10:00 in the morning here in burrow hall there's going to be a native plan talk uh which will be an educational talk on uh which Native and uh perennial plants can be integrated into local Gardens it's going to be given by uh Irene wanut who is a dedicated Ruckers Master Gardener and uh also in Ocean County um and again that's going to be here uh Saturday at Town otherwise all matters in order thank you councilman deoro I just have to referral kind of questions for you sge anything going on with the police department nothing major to report uh there was a large power outage uh today that affected a number of belmare residents um there were no reports of it affecting Lake comoo that excuse me that Situation's been resolved with jcpnl um we also have eight Class 2 special officers getting ready to graduate the police academy to help us out with the Summer Rush um other than that nothing major fantastic uh Dre sorry I'm sorry can you tell me do you know why the power went out I'm just curious it was an issue with a substation uh nearby I exactly what kind of issue I'm not sure okay thank you you have a question with regards to the ambulance core how's that work or now I'm sorry I don't with regards to the ambulance core and moving into the firehouse and the whole first dat of fire yeah there's no issues at all um been going well it's been going fantastic yeah no issues at all I mean the response times for the residents now are well under three minutes great on the time call been put in no nothing further May thank you councilman Dano uh thank you mayor all matters are thank you councilman skull thank you mayor um just sharing that there is a spring wide yard sale um taking place in Lake comoo and in belmare on did I say spring yard spring wide oh my gosh town wide yard sale it's a spring yard sale taking place Saturday May 4th and Sunday May 5th um from 9 to 3 Rainer shine um we are taking I don't I don't think you have to apply for rating you just sort of let us know or is there there's application just so we can put their addresses on a list that gets distributed between both towns awesome okay perfect so there is an application just so you can put your address on our list um and so we will be sharing that list of addresses as we get closer to the date other than that all matters are in order thank you very much council president wiy thank you Mr Mayor uh under the 100 anniversary uh committee the first thing is that our first event is going to be uh April 28th from 2 to 6 as Joe Shack uh we have a res in town uh who's on a planning board who owns a little Dog Brewery in nepton and she's making a special beer for us called 1924 to help cook off the hunting anniversary of the town uh that there' be more events coming forward but this that the first event will be April 28th then we have one on June 3rd which will be a special couns meeting on Monday night on june3 at 7:30 and that would be 100 years to the first date of the first meeting of the town uh uh the mayor and I are meeting with jure running club on Monday to talk about uh organizing a 100 anniversary 5K run in town to be held on Lake com day on September 21st uhor also um not only is the H anniversary of the town but uh if the fire department was still in service April uh this year will mark anniversary of the fire Deport so that's another thing we had to say a few things about uh we fire company was in service for I guess 90 95 years before we dissolved the fire department uh but they we got to think about all the members in the past history that served this town and put their lives online to protect the homes and property of the residents of South thar and Lake also of the finance committee uh we had our first meeting and uh things are looking okay so far uh but we're not ready to come up with any numbers yet hopefully within another month we'll have some numbers to um tell everybody about other than that that is in order thank you very much um for my no question tonight by the way you had a packed house tonight oh I have a think before the meeting over okay um for my report I have a couple of things that I want to talk about um first Amy I'm going to ask that we put a workshop on our next meeting um we have uh Doug and I sit on the planning board along with some other of our volunteers here in town and we've been coming across some applications and some discussions that have really questioned some of our um some of our ordinances some of our uh building ordinances in town so there are one or two that the planning board has asked us to really review and take a look at um and it's something that I would like to put on for a workshop on the next meeting um if uh if we can at that time if it's needed we will ask our uh planning board chairperson who just happens to be in the audience uh our planning board chairperson and our engineer to possibly come speak to those ordinances but we'll talk more about that at the next meeting uh as of tomorrow we will have a townwide street cleaning we have developed a relationship over the past couple of years with our County to use their street sweeper to pay for their their use of their street sweeper um we're develop we've developed a plan that started two weeks ago that we will actually have the street sweeper come in twice a month uh the first and third Wednesday of every month so the day after our Council meetings uh it is going to be a regularly scheduled event unless something happens street sweepers tend to break down um if their street sweeper breaks down then obviously they wouldn't come through so as of two weeks ago uh as of this we didn't have a meeting two weeks ago so as of this meeting we're really announcing this program moving forward we are not initiating any ordinances at this time as far as parking as far as uh cars being on the street but we do request that if possible our residents move their cars off the street if they can um at the very least perhaps moving the their cars to a different spot on Alternate Wednesdays so certain spot can get uh clean can get swept the problems that we've had in the past is that our sweeping has been so irregular that it's hard to predict when the the street sweeper was coming in and certain parts of the Town were not getting as clean as they should have been so this is the first time in a very long time that uh Lake KO or South belmare really have had any type of programming for street sweeping so it's something we're going to try to continue um throughout the uh throughout the summer uh and part of the Fall so again the first and third Wednesday of every month if residents could try to focus on moving their cars off the street the best they can um and uh we can get the streets swept up uh we also have with us tonight our representative from smura Mr Uh Kevin Lynch to talk to us a little bit about flows yes one Kevin Lynch South M Authority as well as 1823 Parkway just a halftime report in honor of March Madness in terms of the flows from Lake ELO to uh murza and again this is really important for Drew and Doug when they do the finance uh for the upcoming year uh you can see that we with the amount of rain in December January and March um cler up closer up for all the TS it's actually been one of the highest uh uh in record of SP so um this is just more of a guide to give you projection for next year obviously this doesn't you know finalized until October for the finance committee and for group um but to see where we were last year and see where we are today this is just a report that's all I have this is you said this is a record for the for Smur at a whole as a whole as a whole in terms of all towns so that's uh I forget what day when it rained like 37 hours straight it was yeah it was it was no when we when we supposed to be L home remember we had in the fall fall is that one that when you're talking about I recently spring break it was spring break it was spring break it was four days of straight rain of uh you know into the SE system so um but it is interesting but at least what we're projecting for the budget for next year that's all any questions for Mr lynwell is here all right thank you very much sir uh also I have uh I'm going to ask uh Miss schaer to talk a little bit about a correspondence that we received this week uh last week last week um legal you're on am oh yes so I mean we're not going to go into a lot of detail but I did want the public to know and mayor and Council to know that we are being sued by two U residents who AB but the lake claiming that the uh fountain that many of us many residents have found to be very pleasant is a nuisance and there's an order to show cause returnable on May 1st and uh we intend to oppose it vigorously uh because I think the mayor and Council have decided that the fountain is a good thing but that's I'm not going to go into a the detail but we have talked about it and we will be responding to that tomorrow at returnable on May 1st thank you um with that being said I know that we are uh moving into budget time um as council president Woody talked about we should have something uh to present to the council um for a vote for a discussion within the next month uh I think it is app propo to talk a little bit about uh a very recent New Jersey nj.com article that came out where it spoke very favorably about our town which is something that I like to talk about when I can um and it put out uh rankings for all of the towns and all of the counties and they were ranked by home value and and tax rate and I think it was councilman Danto that actually bro broke it down into numbers for us that uh as far as property value I believe Lake Como was in the top 50% 23rd out of 53 property values a 50th of 53 in taxes so it's it's to say that our property values that have been increasing over the years that we were have been able to keep that tax rate low that we have the third lowest tax rate in the county um and I think that that's attributed to the hard work of the council uh and the things that they do and the hard work of the people that work here in Lake comoo so it was really a good article to to read it was a good it was a good list nj.com doeses a lot with lists nowadays and um I think it was it was a good list to to really focus on and talk about there so I want to thank them and I want to thank everybody for their hard work uh as we move forward into next year's budget or this year's budget it should um with that that's all I have for my report um and at this time I will take a motion to open for public comments on new business and the consent agenda so move second all in favor opposed anyone wishing to speak to anything that is listed tonight under new business if you are here to talk about something else that's not on the agenda there will be another public session um but if anybody would like to speak to anything that's listed here under new business on the agenda may come to the mic and do so now if they wish to do so good evening my name is Steve R I live on 28th Avenue I don't know what the new business list is soow so if you just give me a topic I'll tell you yes or no the consideration selling Town's water infrastructure Umar you you can't hear me speak into the mic please I just have to ra it the consideration of selling the town's water infrastructure to a public water utility okay so we're we're I'm going to ask you to wait till the next Open Session which uh which will be right after we pass all these resolutions and so yep five 5 10 minutes thanks all right no problem anyone else seeing none I'll take a motion to close so move second all in favor thank you under new business we have ordinance 2024-25 two related to the storm water Control Ordinance of the bur of Lake comoo recently the njd amended its storm water management rules and whereas we have ordinance number cified in chapter 19-1 uh this ordinance is um amending that to comply with these rules so this is a second reading and public uh hearing for this specific ordinance so if there's anyone wishing to speak to this specific ordinance they can actually come to the mic and speak now um if not I will close the public session and uh I have a motion do I have a second second roll call please council member ready yes yes anano yes yes ventri yes yes thank you right now okay we have ordinance 2024-the thank you mayor uh so offer this is the second reading and public hearing on ordinance 202 24-3 ordinance amending chapter 16.4 fire inspections fees for non-life hazardous use the ordained by the mayor and Council B Lake Como the chapter 16.4 of the burough ordinances amended as follows or fire inspection fees for non-life hazardous uses the fire inspection fee for businesses is going from $50 to $75 fire inspection fee for common areas remains at $100 the fire investigation reports at$ thank you this is also a second reading of public hearing so anyone wishing to speak to this specific ordinance can come to the mic and do so now seeing none I will close the public portion and we have a first do we have a second second roll call please M yes SC yes yes yes yes yes thank you ordinance 202 24-4 offered by council president witty so ordance 20244 in ordance amending chapter 2 the administration of the B Cod the B of authorizing a third party pay Distribution Company under the legal Finance law of State New Jersey we had to P this ordinance in order to hire a third party to do the payroll for the town second second roll call pleasey yes yes yes yes yes alal yes thank you resolution 2024-25 63 this is a resolution appointing the deputy Municipal registar whereas the recommendation of Mayor Kevin G Higgins the burough Council appoint Sam M Waters CMR number 6077 to the position of Deputy registar for the burrow of lake comoo commencing on April 1st 2024 terminating on March 31st 2025 a copy of this resolution has been forwarded to the New Jersey state registar thank you do I have a second second roll call please member yes SC yeso yes deor yes V o yes thank you very much congratulations Sam thank you for all your hard work and and doing what you need to do to get that registar license I appreciate it uh we have resolution 2024-25 offered by council president Woody so offer resolution 2024 d64 a resolution approving the participation with the state of New Jersey for the copson shop Pro summer program this is where we can uh we get $2,880 to be used to cops uh at local bars in town to check IDs and we we were the first town that we seeed this years ago and every year we get it so this just gets an extra money to be put into budget to help use it to Cops thank you I have a motion do I have a second second roll calls please W yes SC yeso yes yes entri yes alad yes thank you resolution 24-65 offered by councilman danana thank you mayor so offered resolution 20 24-65 is a resolution awarding a contract for installation of a pole barn at 720 17th Avenue uh three quotes were solicited for the project the apparent low quote was received from Sino Construction LLC was St M New Jersey in the amount of $38,000 uh there now therefore be it resolved by the mayor council the Bly Como to award um the contract to thank you um I have a motion do I have a second second call please council member wnie yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you resolution 2024 66 offered by councilman demorrow resolution authorizing the adoption ofou memorandum of understanding buying between the municipalities participating in the South Mammoth Regional Emergency Medical Services agreement uh this is a resolution basically just outlining protocol and processes to to make sure that everyone is in agreement with their roles and responsibilities thank you do I have a second second R call please counc member wnie yes yeso yes yes yes Al yes thank you resolution 2024 67 offered by council president witty resolution 24th s67 the government body certification of the annual audit each member of the council and the mayor was given the audit report for the year 2022 which we need to approve the certification of that audit um do I have any questions from the Council on this this is the year the fiscal year 2022 just so you know um that was not a mistake I I just have one question yes are we allowed to have any of the money that is in these accounts to be in interest beiring account we're looking at our Chief Financial Officer I don't me to putting our spot but some of these accounts have excess of you know 100,000 one of so I I will I will will give you my understanding of where our excess would go into our Surplus in a budget um are you asking to invest that that Surplus yeah I mean they're are safe avenues like t- bills where they're getting 5% interest right now yeah I I don't I don't know if there's a mechanism for that um I if there is it's definitely something that we can look into uh I think moving from year to year um we actually use that Surplus in in case of an emergency so I don't know if I would really want to tie it up um in any type of investment but I mean that's definitely a conversation that the finance committee can have with our CFO because we we just invested my charity which is basically you know this we just invested into small guaranteed three six month people so that flow we know how much cash we need it's even money markets are getting four or 5% so I hate to see this money account get that I have no questions with the a thank um do I have a second second roll call pleas yes SC yes yes yes yes yes thank you and uh resolution 202468 offered by Council Dan thank you mayor solo offer resolution 202468 is a resolution indicating corrective action plan status regarding the 2022 Municipal audit report uh attached to the resolution the is the corrective um action plan status developed to address the recommendations noted in the 2022 audit report be it further resolve the B clerk B and is hereby directed to file said resolution with the director of the division of local finance and those are uh what it looks like seven recommendations from our auditor to our Chief Financial Officer any questions on that do I have a second second roll call please counc wnie yes yes yes yes yes yes resolution 20246 uh 69 offered by councilwoman skull thank you mayor so offered resolution 2024 69 be resolved by the mayor and Council of the burough of lake comoo that the proper officers be directed and authorized to make payment from the following accounts current account 2024 $ 398,375 Water and Sewer account $966 67 dog license account $6 General capital account $239 unemploy unemployment account $1,973 tourism account $74.99 e wire payments 23,5 584,000 $ 23858 And1 Cent for a total of [Music] yes yes yes yes yes thank you and finally resolution 2024 d70 offered by councilwoman Al balador thank you mayor so offered resolution 202 24-70 be resolved by the mayor and Council of the B of lake comoo that the proper officers be directed and authorized to make payment from the following account this would be the New Jersey natural gas account uh for $750 thank you do have a second second roll call please ready yes yes yes yes yes thank you very much at this time I'll take a motion to open for public comments so second all in favor all right at this time anyone wishing to come to the mic for public comments for anything can do so now um we just need your name and address and then whatever comment you would like to make or concern that you have sir this is the time that you can come up and ask your questions or we just need a name and address that's it okay it's Steve R and I live on 20th Avenue L com thank you and is the uh possible sale of the water infrastructure still under consideration it is um it's been it's been a it's been a topic that we've been considering for 12 years now ever since we started the uh the project to clean and line the water infrastructure that we have in town um as you as you know as a resident with that uh with that debt that we incurred with that project we were looking at ways or investigating ways over the last decade to try to bring down the water um the water bills for our um for our residents at the time we investigated possibly selling the water infrastructure but the price that we got was not substantial was not significant enough for us to choose that option um recently the state passed um Whi the water infrastructure protection act um in where uh if if a town can prove that our water infrastructure falls under one of five categories then the value of that water infrastructure becomes um higher therefore you could sell it for a higher rate um you would have to go through a bid process and companies would have to bid on it but since that uh since that legislation was passed by the state it has become more interesting to the town to investigate the possibility of selling that infrastructure um a lot has to go into that it probably takes 18 months to two years um for that process to be investigated um do a financial analysis on what that would give to the town um what it would cost the town after that sale happens um and for us to decide as a council if that's the best course of action um to go so yes it is definitely something that we consider and talk about okay I don't know about in the past but I just read that tap article which basically you just covered which is good no that's good well that means they're listening right uh I think it's well intentioned what you're doing but I think it's a mistake okay for the current residents and those that come after I think that whoever gets in is most likely than the American Water who I do not trust that will forever be under their thumb and we'll have to do what they say and pay what they say and we'll have re no recourse to go someplace else so that's basically it I just want well intention I don't think it's a good move it's a physical asset of the town I don't think you want to sell it off and everyone has to pay their Lil which is a little higher Andy that's life yeah and your your your point of view is valid and it's definitely part there's two sides to the coin right and there's definitely that conversation that can happen um the biggest concern for me um is that I think I'm pretty confident that LE comoo residents have the highest price tag for water I think you pay the highest bill in the state of New Jersey for your water uh that's probably going to go up in the next number of years because the New Jersey American rates have been going up so we're going to have to pay those rates no matter if we they own the system or we just get their water uh so your your the bill that you pay is definitely going to go up in the future whether we sell it or not so that is going to go on for every town for every town what the rate is going to go up so the rates can do go up so New Jersey American Waters rates change uh on a regular basis I don't know if it's every year but um they have they they petition the state to raise their rates for their water which they do on a regular basis um they've done it several times over the past couple of years we have not changed our rates that we pass along to our um our uh taxpayers or our our residents because the bill is so high so we really incorporate that that rate but but we can't sustain can't sustain that anymore so we're going to have to start to raise water bills um unfortunately um so it was as a result this you took out a loan or a bond yeah we had two different loans yeah okay well you know maintenance has to be done and you have to pay for it you have to pay for it whether this is true what I'm going to say I'm not sure but American Water had a lot to do with causing problem with the BR water I can't say that yeah I can't say that yes okay I can't prove some people think that because it so coincidental at the same time there was definitely uh there was definitely a switch from chlorine to chloramines at the time there was also uh a significant event with hurricane Sandy that was very coincidental at the time too so um I have a fish tank and at the time that they sent out the letter saying that they wereing from chlorine to Chlor chloramine they said if you have aquatic fish and plants you need to add something to the water because it chloramine will not dissipate like chlorine does after 24 hours and let it sit so you needed to put something there because it's harmful to the fish and the plants and I thought but it's okay for me there was nothing in the letter in regards to that so I've never really liked the taste of American war and I was really happy here a few years ago might Swit town has got be so that was that was another part of the discussion um there was definitely several plans that were looked at and considered um we wouldn't switch to Wall Township we would switch to or the plan at the time was to switch to South Mammoth Regional Utility Authority not smura it's smoa um but they serve they serve Wall Township so the South Mammoth Utility Authority serves Wall Township what the way Wall Township comes into the equation for us is that we could not directly be fed by smoa so our water would have to come through Wall Township their pipes to come to here one of the problems was that one of their pipes on 18th Avenue was not large enough for them to feed us and then there was discussions in Wall Township to actually charging us a carrying fee to carry that water through Wall Township to here which then became counterproductive in the discussion and did not really offset the cost savings that we were looking for okay so basically we are stuck with American water so we have New Jersey American Water now right you know that so if we were to um if we were to change water supplier uh the only one that I know of would be South Mammoth Utility Authority there are other water companies out there Suez I think there was another company drew that that had talked about interest I forget who it was but there are definitely other companies out there um if we were to I guess we're talking about two different things who's supplying us water and who owns our system uh if we were to sell our system we could sell our system to anybody we wanted to as far as the bidding is concerned um you're right New Jersey American water or American water which is their national uh their National company is probably the heavy hitter uh and they would probably be at the Forefront of looking into that uh or the Forefront of buying that system but as of right now we have New Jersey American water that supplies us our water um I don't see an Avenue in where we are going to change our water supply company unless they really did something we didn't like true but the other part is getting the water to here so there's there's one there's one pipe that feeds water to Lake comoo and it's belongs to New Jersey American Water right now if we were to go with South Mammoth Utility Authority we would then have to pay other towns to carry that water for us which in the end is always possibility but at the time it was just not cost prohibit or was certainly know what's going on not there's nothing in the state could be ask for help because like this is we need water you know the state might come in and say we would help you on this like either like work something out with little Township or I don't know what we can ask please do because once we American war mhm done that's definitely it's a valid point of view and I know it's a point of view that a lot of people have thank you for hearing me yeah no problem thank you for coming okay anyone else Joe losing 4 17 16 uh how where are we in the process with dealing with them have they well given have they named a price I mean no they can't name aice yet actually we are we just have we got an appraise yet no we're in the process of this I did speak to the one engineer today and we have to meet again probably next week it's a it's a time consuming process so it's we're very early on so we we did um approve an appraiser to appraise our system uh and then we have to go through the appraisal system number one to even get a starting number from to where we're at and well I'm ass there'll be process we talk about this absolutely okay thank very no problem anyone else okay thank you seeing none I'll take a motion to close the public portion second all in favor I L M screen next meeting please next regular meeting of the mayor of Council on Tuesday May 7th immediately following 7:30 p.m. Workshop in the Le meeting room all meetings are open for the public thank you can I take a motion to adjourn please I'll move second all in favor I we are adjourned thank you everyone for coming out have a great night