okay the March 13th 2024 council meeting of Long Branch city council will now come to order roll call please Mr riera I'm here Dr vote here Mrs whtas is absent Dr s is absent Mr dangler here can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Allegiance the United States of America to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all the Long Branch mayor city council and administration are committed to cultivating an environment of mutual trust and respect that values the diversity of our community we will strive to enhance the quality of life for all who live here by making La 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 Madam clerk 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 we have a presentation the IR Irish American Heritage presentation but it's by Long Branch public [Applause] schools ladies and gentlemen I present to you Miss mine Carr La banch Middle School student whereas from America's earliest days Irish immigrants and their descendants have contributed leadership wisdom and vitality to America through nine signers of the Declaration of Independence and 22 presidents with Irish Roots as as well as the indelible Mark Irish Americans have made in the shaping of the great state and city of Long Branch through numerous Governors legislators Mayors and public officials and whereas throughout their long history the Irish have been Ardent in their passion for Liberty hatred of Oppression and renowned for their loyalty and thus the Irish have from the beginning been prominent in the defense of this nation with 20 of George Washington's generals and an estimated quarter of his army being composed of Irish Americans and whereas Irish immigrants and their descendants have contributed to the building of this Great Society not only by the laying of railroads and building of physical Bridges but also by Building Bridges of the Mind amongst all people through the founding of numerous schools colleges and universities enhancing the quality of every phase of life and whereas Irish American women have a long and proud tradition of being Visionaries and Trailblazers whether it be Annie Sullivan the teacher of Helen Keller crusading journalist Nelly BL or New York's own Colonel eileene Collins the first woman to command a space shuttle and whereas Irish Americans have made an incredible impression upon every human endeavor in art music literature science film Dance Theater Sports education law finance and politics with all the strength resilience humor and Hospitality of the Irish character it is most fitting to set aside this month to highlight and honor the history and Heritage of the Irish Americans and to remember and pay tribute to the contributions they have made to our city and our nation now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and City Council of the city of Long Branch that they hereby Proclaim March 24th as Irish American Heritage Month in the city of Long Branch time thank [Applause] you greeting and approval of previous minutes I need a motion to approve the minutes from the February 28th 2024 meeting so move second roll call Mr Viera yes Dr vote Yes Mrs whtas is absent Dr s is absent Mr dangler yes consideration of ordinance public hearing and final consideration ordinance for introduction 07- 24 a capital ordinance providing for construction of a Broadway Extension in the city of Long Branch County of the state of New Jersey appropriating 3,200 3, 249,000 to pay for the the cost thereof which the amount will be funded by New Jersey boardwalk preservation fund Grant received or expected to be received by the city the purpose of this Capital ordinance is to appropriate 3 million 249,000 received or expected to be received from a grant provided by the by New Jersey boardwalk preservation fund to pay for the construction of the boardwalk extension in the city of Long Branch I need a motion to introduce on the first reading advertis and posted according to law set for public hearing March 2 March 27 2024 so move second M oh Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs Wiis is absent Dr s is absent Mr dangler yes public portion excuse me public participation and resolution for 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 opposed if there's anyone in the audience that has a comment to make please step to the podium and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak once uh good evening mayor palone City Council Members my name is Alex smiga um I live right here in this neighborhood 35 lip and cot um I share that street with 34 of my current and former students in their families I'm a lifelong City resident I'm a teacher at Long Branch High School I'm vice president of Long Branch School Employees association with the recent release of the state budget we learned that Long Branch public schools are set to lose over $10 million in state aid this is the largest reduction in funding across all 600 plus districts in the state of New Jersey this reduction will substantially and negatively impact our school system our community and most importantly the children of Long Branch this is potentially catastrophic news but I am confident that I am standing here tonight amongst people both in the audience and on Das who are committed to the absolute and total success of our community especially its young people on behalf of all of those whom I represent I will thank thank you for the work that you have already done and I will ask you tonight to continue that work and amplify our message to state legislators assembly leader Coughlin Senate president scer governor Murphy and Echo that Long Branch needs to be held harmless that additional state aid be made available to mitigate the DraStic cuts that our school's funding is seeing so that we might continue our critical supports of our students and our parents that they have depended on we are talking about after school steam programs we're talking about full range K to2 Camps summer enrichment courses that prepare our students to take advanced placement courses for college credit that tutor our newest multilanguage Learners in English and every other need in between I know that our voices together can secure this additional funding uh from the state and keep Long Branch live as a connective and thriving part of this community which I am very proud to call my home thank you very much thank you Alex is there anyone else from the school who will be talking on your behalf or No No not tonight thank you so I just if I may I wanted to just read a little statement that I prepared knowing that you were coming and I um I want to thank you all for being here um I know I speak for all of us that we fully support you um you know you you probably know that we have two council members who were former longtime Board of education members uh uh as well but all of us uh fully support you um we've done a lot of what you've already asked us to do uh Alex so thank you um as you know this is a matter for the state legislators and the education commissioner not necessarily obviously for the for the mayor and the city council but I will tell you uh that Senator go gopal has made a commitment uh to try to change the school funding formula moving forward and uh is aggressive Le trying to get a supplemental funding bill to remove most if not all of the um $10 million and cuts this year uh on Monday I was on a zoom call with the uh education commissioner Senator gopal and others um where it was mentioned how there was no way for anyone to have predicted this $10 million loss in funding for this for the school district how devastating these Cuts we all agree will be uh the need for a supplemental funding bill and the need to uh reexamine the funding formula perhaps in the future um I also spoken with superintendent Rodriguez another strong supporter that you know and I know that he's attending a hearing tomorrow um with the state senate education committee called for by senator gopel who ALS gopal is also the chairman of that committee and um uh many of you may know that I've spoken with uh uh president Christ Clark a few times as well in the last week so we'll all continue to work together to support our state legislator Senator gopel assembly members Donan and Peter Paul all of whom you mentioned and I know are very supportive who are trying to find the supplemental funding for this year and to ensure that the schools have consistent funding uh in the future so again thank you all for being here this evening thank you mayor uh I want to also just say uh as a former um board education member I remember when uh we had a $2.5 million surplus in the coffers if you will and then Governor Christie decided that he was going to take it um and that was devastating they gave it back to us but you really just gave us our money that we worked hard to you know keep in a surplus just in case uh so to lose $10 million uh that's probably close to 10% or if not more than the budget so I do hope and support um what you're here for and I and we all do but I just wanted I know you know firsthand that that is uh that's a lot there will be a lot of programs that would have to be cut if we if there is no sub supplemental uh funding and U we'll we we will be hoping that the the powers to be do the right thing by not just Long Branch but a lot of the school districts that are being cut we don't need to be an example of the largest thank you very much God bless anyone else Vinson leaport 33 Ocean terorist Long Branch one minute notification please I wasn't prepared to say this tonight but you're going to hear the other side of the story about the school cutbacks I stood before the Board of Education 3 four years ago and this Council room arguing against a John palone 30-year peer Village tax abatement you want money the Board of Education failed the council failed because the improvements in peer Village phase three don't contribute to the board of education on a 30-year tax abatement so for 30 years you're not getting money I warn the Board of Education the Board of Education failed and the city council failed that's why you're in the mess you're in you may not want to hear it but it's the truth Mr raino yes sir your law partner Mr cochan coflin of rown cochan Mello coflin can these pronounce his name he assembly speaker 82930 a405 stated last year on Oprah reform quote Oprah has been in place for 20 years everything evolves Cochin said quote technology evolves the nature of requests evolves and so we're working through those and hope to look at those reforms and this timing will be when it's right end quote so last week he released it what' you do tell him you have a headache with Vincent leapor at the Long Branch Council meetings and with his opras boy boy Mr laor you really have a incredibly large view of that my opinion of you would move the state legislature this Oprah presents more hurdles this Oprah reform presents more hurdles it was a secret partisan FastTrack Bill and all it did was make matters worse and impossible for more accessible records especially concerning records of the police department which this city has a torrid history of we're going to be fighting this and we're going to be fighting your law partner on this Mary Jane s is she physically and mentally capable of Performing her duties I believe there's a resolution on tonight excusing her from yeah resolution 54 I asked is she physically and mentally capable of Performing her duties I don't think that's for anybody on the council to answer you don't think it's for anybody on the council to answer she's been out for more than six months the other council members pick up a phone and call in and she hasn't been able to do it for 6 months at least and nobody can explain why junk government council's depriving the people of this city a representative you really are one minute notification one minute the resolution concerning the boardwalk you don't have the application on exhibit a you don't have exhibit B we're watching this one we have preliminary engineering designs on three peers for development 2,000 ft long and now we're going for 500 ft and you think you're going to duplicate that again with the corrupt palone pay tol gravy train it isn't going to happen it's not going to happen we'll fight this one Mr Martin on the Pier Village phase three audits since the last council meeting have you been able to find Mr Charles kushner's phone number uh no I have not but I did receive an audit from the parking garage for 2022 which you should be getting this week so 2022 what happened to 2021 the current owner was not the owner at that time that's all they could produce that's all they could produce all right so we still haven't gotten anything from Charles Kushner when do you anticipate to get the phone number of Charles Kush I couldn't tell you my research is failing miserably your research is failing miserably and nobody on this Council or this city Administration can come up with Charles kushner's phone number like I said in Pier Village Charles kushner's Pier Village we had a riot and a civil unrest over a 2-year period and nobody knows how to call Charles Kushner to let him know what's going on in Pier Village and to make it worse the audits that he's supposed to produce for two years he hasn't produced minutes and you cannot find the phone number to make him produce those audits it's junk government classic junk government through and through anyone else motion to close the public portion of the meeting so moved second all in favor I opposed so move Madame clerk were any changes to the list of resolutions no changes have been made we can take the list of resolutions as a cons consent agenda you have a motion please so move second roll call Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs whts is absent Dr Sy is absent Mr dangler yes application none miscellaneous business for the good of the order councilman Vieira yes good evening thanks for coming out tonight Chief thanks for coming out I want to thank meline for the great presentation for the heritage of the Irish day and I want also want to thank for the Public School Employees and teachers that came out took the time out of the come out tonight and let's get this money back and good night councilwoman vote thank you council president actually the same two issues um first of all I'd like to um congratulate our student I love opportunities for our students to um showcase and be proud of their Heritage and teach us some things along the way each one of them just does a magnificent job so congratulations um for uh for our student tonight and um I also want to express my appreciation to our Educators um for coming out tonight and for all of their actions during the meeting um the visible support um is just uh you you you we're here for you um and the idea that they come out and they speak um their issues and what needs to be addressed uh speaks volume so very proud of our Educators as we always are so thank you very much and with that I'll say good night and see you in two weeks mayor palom thank you council president uh I also want to thank everyone again for coming out this evening I had a couple announcements I wanted to make so thanks to a federal Appropriations bill that was sponsored by Congressman palone uh we're excited to announce that long branch has been awarded $850,000 towards a new two acre city park that we're creating next to the Future Health and Technology Center on third and bath Avenues this is the property that was donated to us a few years ago by Mammoth Medical Center uh we're also currently accepting applications for this year's Hometown Heroes Banner program these are the banners you've seen on the boardwalk that honor Long Branch military veterans please contact the mayor's office for more information um I I believe the deadline is the end of March and the uh new banners would go up on Memorial Day through uh through Veterans Day uh our current exhibit at the Art Center is called her story which is celebrating women through ART uh this is a uh in honor of women's history month and the artist reception is actually tomorrow night that's Thursday March 14th from 6: to 8:00 p.m. and finally I just wanted to mention that the uh the Arts and Cultural Center has many events and programs coming up including photos with the Easter Bunny uh so check out our website uh for more information at long branch. org and again thank you all for coming this evening and have a great week thank you thank you mayor um again I would like to um certainly thank the employees uh for coming out uh as a former Union man I like the solidarity and certainly the Partnerships and you do have partner here um sitting here on the de um and it's better to come out early to fight a good fight and hopefully the message will get where it needs to go so long brand students won't suffer uh and with that being said have a good evening get home safe and God bless you all can we have a motion to adjourn so moved second good night all good night good night good night