##VIDEO ID:YqOGLusLBAs## good evening the August 28th 2024 council meeting on the Long Branch city council will now come to order roll call Mr dangler here Dr vote here Mrs whts here Dr Sy is absent Mr Vieira I'm here please all stand for the pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic which stands one nation under God indivisible in liberty and justice for all I will now read the mission statement of the city council The Long Branch mayor city council and administration are committed to cultivating an environmental of mutual trust and respect their values and enhance the quality of life for all who live here by making Long Branch a desirable place in which to live and prosper we will treat all members of the public with respect and expect the same in return I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the open public meeting act and post it as required by law thank you I need a motion to approve the minutes of the August 14th 2024 so moved second roll call please Mr dangler here Dr vote Yes Mrs whts yes Dr s is absent Mr Vieira yes motion passed consideration of ordinance public hearing and final consideration there's none ordinance for introduction there's none public participation for Resolutions and all General comments I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments so move second all in favor I oppose if there is anyone in the order that has a comment to make please step to the podium and state your name and address clearly for the record you'll have five minutes and may only speak once requesting one minute notification Vincent laor 33 Ocean turist Long Branch taxes taxes taxes over the past few weeks we're hearing how the residents of this city are now being clobbered with increases in taxes 10 to 15% some even more apparently as they call into or come into City Hall asking why one of the responses given is that the people with the increases will get it back when they sell their houses what an insulting remark to generational homeowners and working people that's not what they want to hear they've made Long Branch their home and they're being taxed out and this Administration has completely failed the continued arrogance and ignorance of this Administration concerning taxes is reprehensible with no solution but the city allows Kushner with the perer Village Street 30-year tax abatement to remain unaudited it's disgusting junk government Mr Martin at the last council meeting I stated how the June 30th 2024 Oprah response more complete was unacceptable as far as Kushner projections we didn't get the audits that Oprah is still being outstanding another Oprah you just recently answered stated the garage ords have been supplied but Kushner audits you're still awaiting you would mark them on the first audit completed on the first oper completed so the Kushner audits remain outstanding this all goes to the authorities Mr Martin it's not nice that you and Mr palon are dancing with the piper you both are going to pay the price the city has posted a full-time Animal Control officer's position this is very troubling the wording of the posting States quote cleans and maintains the impounding facility end quote the current impound facility is the mammoth County SPCA that just mentioned is a violation of the current contract with the SPCA and the city a further violation of this contract with the AOC job posting is the wording quote impounds stray animals wild game birds and unlicensed dogs end quote no that is the spca's duty under the contract prior to the contract animals were taken by the ACO to the spca's ACO room where the ACO would set the animal in a crate with food and water that's it nothing else now with this way the job posting is is written you're requiring that the ACO care for the animal or animals during their stay at the SPCA what's worse is that the city will now have two acos on the books in addition to an SPCA contract costing the taxpayers threefold for animal control the current ACO Deborah Nagel on indefinite layoff upon success in fighting the unfounded charges against her will get full reimbursement of all wages pension and benefits in addition to reimbursement of legal fees finally the city's ACO posting mentions one-year experience in Animal Control ACO Deborah Nagel with 13 years experience nine of which were with the city deor Nagel being fully accredited with multiple certifications from the state one minute notification the city not only surrendered her but allowed her to be victimized by the SPCA Humane law enforcement division of the mammo County prosecutor's office with the weaponization of the law against her on false charges what a mess this city has put the taxpayers in with the Contracting of the SPCA furthermore now that the Rono decision has come out thepca is a quasi governmental agency as of right now this contract should be no void being that the Humane law enforcement division is part of the SPCA and has worked with the prosecutor's office to file charges against a police officer and a health department official of this city they can no longer be afforded recognition of the current contract or any future contracts five minutes and this Council should have been on top of that and been aware of it just continues to be junk government thank you anyone anyone else good evening Council mayor I'm a local person myself my name is Nick de yelmo I'm at 580 Patton Avenue Long Branch I just recently moved back to Long Branch I grew up on lipincott Avenue right around the corner here a graduate of Long Branch High School and I lived here when this was the friendly City I now can State this is the unfriendly City we're separated we have a separate city of Pier Village it's totally independent as was stated by this gentleman people that are not paying taxes at all what has irked me to the nth degree I recently purchased a townhouse not not far from Miss Rose witas um which I was I thought I'd be able to retire in this community my home where I grew up a Long Branch High School graduate and I am embarrassed to say this city is no longer friendly why my taxes were stated by the realtor at the time that I purchased May 5th of 2023 they have since exploded I went from a quarterly payment of two $2,100 to over $3,000 that's a 42% increase where in God's name do you ever get a 42% increase nowhere I'm certain that those obtrusive buildings on Pier Village the city of Pier Village not the friendly city of Long Branch pay they don't pay a damn thing as was eloquently stated by this first gentleman I am in total Cahoots and I don't wish to live in this town anymore not where I get a 42% increase inflation is 10% where in God's name does that happen when I came to the tax office I was eloquently told by the people there well yes taxes are high in the city of longri we only work here we can't afford there well yeah unless you're an out ofer and you live in the city of Pier Village I state it is time this governing body went on the premise of being transparent let's be transparent show me how much in taxes the peer Village individuals are paying not a damn dime but yet the working class is being clobbered horribly and why why what poola has been been occurring what happens with the county taxpayers I I request and submit let's get a task force to to come for study bring this forward without going through the legal riger role let's be transparent no one knows this so in my development in marinaa Bay there are 96 units each each individual unit is taxed about $10,000 that's about a million do that's about a million dollars of taxes in one area the people in the tax assessors showed me $120 million well yeah who's paying all those the working class of this town what used to be the friendly City I know most of you on the council and mayor we went to school together we went to school together can you actually look somebody in the eye and say hey you're paying 42% more in taxes while someone who's blocking a wall we're talking about in this country about not building a wall and we built a damn wall along the beachfront and we're proud of it and let them go scot-free there are inequities in the way that we're paying taxes in this town and it's a disgrace that we don't have more people out here totally in your faces to be able to say that from all of you Council legal everybody you ought to all be ashamed of yourselves that's all I got to say and I didn't even use up my five minutes so yes I'm outraged and I I want to get the hell out if this is the message that all of you want to wind up presenting and saying come back to the the friendly city of w granch then I think all those placards need to be put up out of state so that way more people can get those 30-year abatements it's disgraceful and I think there's only one thing all of you should say shame CU it's shameful I I submit give give us some transparency thank you thank you you shouldn't respond to this right you want oh okay what we wait yeah okay we weit anyone else all right thank you I need Mr Mayor I just council president if I can I just want to to to the gentleman pure Village there there's tax BS but they don't pay zero I just want you to know that I mean you can get the information from the tax collector's office they're paying payments in L of taxes so I I'm sorry if you thought that they weren't paying anything but that certainly is not the case and and as far as the the percent as far as the well and I don't think that that's necessarily true so you might want to like do the research and see exactly what it is the other part about it is this is that the the I don't know what your realtor told you about with your your assess valuation is there's a county them County program that reassesses everybody's house every year that really has sometimes more to do with whether your taxes go up or down it's based upon whether the value of your house goes up or down so and it and it's not something that's not an uncommon thing that we've heard but it is you know the there's not necessarily a relationship between how much the town's budget goes up and how much the uh your taxes go up and of course we're only a portion of your tax rate is the school board in the county or the other portions of it so I just wanted to to yeah and Nick if you don't mind I just want to make a few comments too uh first off uh Lou's absolutely right about the demonstration program that's unique to Mammoth County I'd be happy to talk to you about that there's a you know assessments and and and it's based on a formula but beyond that you know there are some people who come here and again if you're just talking about taxes that's one conversation but if you're talking about two cities meaning pure Village and the rest of the city I have to 100% argue with you on that because there are some people who come here and say that and the reality is for the last 6 years every single thing that we have done has been for the benefit of the city at large so we can talk about the uh Art Center which is not in pure Village we can talk about the renovation of the library which is not in pure Village we can talk about the community pool which is not in pure Village we can talk about 50 paved roads that are throughout the city and are not in pure Village we can talk about a new health and Technology Center which is not in pure Village nothing we have done that benefits the community at large in what I believe is a friendly city has been done in pure Village we have neighborhood fund days for the kids barbecues extensive Recreation programs throughout the city if you were just talking about ta taxes I mean again I think that's a conversation we can have but if somehow you were referring to like there's two cities there's pure Village and there's Long Branch there's there's absolutely not and I would like argue with that you know at any point on any level so thank you and um I like to add that that that this Administration has not given one tax abatement since we've been here not one no we have we well you're right actually we haven't actually you're right right actually right and if anything nick uh Mr leapor likes to talk about kusher organization we took away the 30e tax abatement from lower Broadway so that doesn't exist that was a 30-year tax abatement for Lower Broadway that was taken away but that the 30e abatement for the rest of village and that's where the issue well s just not a back and forth yeah it's not back we'll talk okay um if there's no one else i' like the motion to close the public portion please so move second and Mar if I may you're you're right that the tax no was the tax no we did do the tax abatement for Ocean Gate the tax abatement was done for Ocean Gate and in Li for the 10year tax abatement we got a $3.1 million community pool that was free so I you know I think we would argue that point as well you could say okay well you gave them a 10-year tax ement that we did and we got a 3 million community pool U you know uh for that uh some people people have argued well you shouldn't have done that but I'm I'm sorry I'll I'll I'll uh I'll stick I'll stick by that thank you mayor I need a motion to close the public participation portion of this meeting so move second all in favor I oppose I will now ask Madame clerk if there is any changes to the list of resolutions no changes have been made thank you we can take a list of resolutions and consent agenda so move second Road call Mr dangler yes Dr vote Yes Mrs whtas yes Dr s is absent Mr Vieira yes motion passed applications there are none miscellaneous for business of the good of the order councilman dangler uh yes uh tonight I would U like to commend The Long Branch here's uh organization all the hard work and and dedication to uh actually uh save lives uh the program this evening was was very nice uh nicely done and just keep up the good work and perseverance on uh saving the lives of those who are trying to recover and lastly the summer is coming to an end school's going to begin so enjoy the rest of the summer to all of the young people and those who um have to go back to work for the board education but um again enjoy the summer be safe thank you and God bless you all thank you councilman dangler councilwoman vote thank you council president I'm going to speak about the same thing as uh councilman dangler did um to uh recognize um the work of the he's organization here's is the mayor's task force on substance use disorders um we have been in in existence for six years ever since we came uh into office um this Saturday is um officially nationally as a matter of fact internationally overdose awareness day and it's a day to honor uh the people that we have lost due to an an overdose um we wanted to do an event tonight to honor overdose awareness um because the council could be here the mayor could be here and me members of the administration and I want to thank uh all of you for your support of the event and all the work that uh went into it we're saving lives uh and that's what counts uh and so your support of an an event like this and your support of hears and awareness of what we're dealing with nationally uh you all know this is not just a long bran Branch issue it's nationally what we're dealing with with the opioid epidemic but we're making progress because of support like that and because of organizations like yours so my thanks to all of you thank you councilwoman V councilwoman with us um I too would like to thank Susan Marco and the hearers committee and councilwoman vote for all your hard work and keeping things going along and being so successful thank you and also the involvement with the police dep department' been very instrumental with PE and like to thank you too and with that I wish everyone a happy labor day and uh please stay safe we'll see you soon thank you thank you mayor palom thank you I just want to like thank everyone for uh coming this evening and have a great week Nick I'm glad you're here glad to hear your comments um you know I think we are the friendlier of the city I think we're friendlier than ever frankly more more than that I I understand I'd like to talk to you about your particular issues with taxes uh but um you know we're we're we made a point we're we're one city we're a diverse City we're inclusive city um and uh and uh I'm sorry I don't think we're the unfriendly City I think if anything we're we're the friendly City who cares about everyone thank you thank you mayor palon and I also want to Echo what my fellow councilman said I hear is thanks the councilman V for being a big part of that great job and uh as we come to the end of the summer I want to thank the public works the life cards out there for doing an amazing job the police out there there some crowded days in the beach and um Nick I know you said that the two different cities after Echo what John Mayor palon just said I I do enjoy both parts of the city I live on this side of the city and I go to Pier Village on Thursday Night concerts and I see a lot of people from all parts of the city there so so it's not that there's no separation that we all use different parts of the city you now we have it uptown the art center we see the same amount of people I mean same faces as we see at the Pier Village on a Thursday night concert so you know I have to disagree with you when you say this to different cities on that one okay I also want to thank uh baraki and Bud over there back there for being always been supporting us over here and thank you and have a good night I need a motion to adjourn second all oppose I all in favor oppose thank you