good evening the July 24 2024 council meeting of the Long Branch city council will now come to order roll call Mr dangler here Dr vote here Mrs whts here Dr s is absent Mr Vieira I'm here as please stand for pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible 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 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 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 certification please I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the open public meeting act and posted as required by law presentation we have the disability pride month I guess we have presentation by motions stand yes all right and come on up set you up on his a mic over here all right you take that one you good you can there got it yeah if I speaking just stut a little bit okay where is occurring to the central for disease control and PR pration 61 million go still again or fine good prepation mil adults in theed states have disabilities and whereas the United States say t Bure reports that more than 300 million children in the United States have disabilities whereas the the Americans with Disability Act was signed into a law on July 26 1990 and where is the Ada prevents disc disc discrimination based on this on disability requires that employers provide reasonable comp combinations occurs that public yeah public combinations me accessibility requirements and it is recognized as one of the most important civil rights laws in history and whereas individuals with disability remains at the increase risk of experience experiencing dis Diss and isolation and Clarance and whereas this buing Pride enables people with disabilities to affirm their self selfworth congestions Bas and discriminations and this this place for negative PR preparations of individual individuals with disabilities highlighting them as people with value talents and scientific whereas disability PR month is celebrated in July by people across United States now therefore the mayor and the same Council of the same La Branch hereby proclaims that july23 being decide to decid as disability pride month to urge our sessions to take action activ role and preventing Theus of and this this screen here we go against individual with disability and to celebrate the avilable cions they make to our community presid this 24th of July 2024 thank you job thank you thank [Applause] you reading of approval of the previous minutes I need a motion to approve the minutes of the July 10th 20124 I moved second pH call Mr dangler yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus 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 moved second all in favor I I oppose 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'll have five minutes and may only speak once Vincent laora 33 Ocean Terrace Long Branch requesting one minute notification tonight's council meeting marks a full year since I first began questioning the city's appointed professional staffs bewildering lack of interest in or concern for the respective fiduciary responsibilities to monitor the numerous mandatory reporting requirements agreed to in the 2017 Financial agreement between the city and what are now the four urban renewal entities responsible for the Redevelopment of block 222 more formerly known as perer Village 3 as of today the city's Chief Financial Officer Mr Martin has only received a single unexecuted audit covering perer V Village 3's Gary Barnett's parking garage and making matters worse tonight the city council which recently approved the new Municipal budget has not for at least the third year in a row undertaken an accounting of the analysis of the accuracy of the annual service charges paid under the pilot tax abatements of either the residential condominium owners or the commercial property owners at perer Village 3 this mayor and council's complete disrespect disdain and contempt for my diligence in this matter along with CFO Martin's insulting remarks towards me on this matter belies the fact that your failure to properly analyze the profit loss calculations of the four urban renewal entities required in the financial agreement most likely would result in additional and ual service charges to the city in consideration of the successful roll out at Pier Village 3 adding to the failure of the city's professional staff as it concerns their verbage as to the overiding of an obligation to conduct an analysis of the profit loss calculations of the four urban renewal entities at Pier Village 3 which is the controlling factor that determines the amount Property Owners owe under the annual service charge again adding that failure was City auditor Robert Swisher's failure tonight and the audit report of resolution 182 to perform an examination of the city's underlying Financial recording methods as it concerns the veracity of the revenue figures attributed to the pilot property switcher banal recital of total Abad taxes an actual annual service charges received in support of the municipal budget as detailed in note 14 titled tax abatements Pages 36 and 37 of the 2023 audit lacked any qualifying statement the fact that swisser failed to test the authenticity of the accuracy of the approximate $3 million in the 2023 pilot taxes paid to the city which represented 4.3% of the total 2023 Municipal Revenue should be disqualifying Council that Workshop presentation tonight was a joke Council you may be impressed but anybody with financial knowledge would look at you right now as Financial illiterates in the face of what's been taking place in this room for the past year as far as these audits are concerned one minute notification a yes vote on this resolution 182 for the audit by this council is the council actually stating that they are corrupt and incompetent I'm requesting a no vote on resolution 182 it's a flawed document complete junk government Mr Martin before the Bell goes off this time has Kushner delivered three years worth of audits yes or no no no he hasn't huh Mr Martin are you aware that Gary Barnett's audit for perer Village 3 garage is an unsigned document I don't recall seen a signature no excuse me I don't recall whether it's signed or not I don't remember have you Prov proof that out I've looked at it yeah you looked at it you looked at it but have you proofed it I don't know what you mean by proof proofing it five minutes like tonight's audit which wasn't proofed I've got flaws throughout and I've only got five minutes switchers said no red flags there's red flags everywhere junk government anyone else I come in peace it's a hard act to follow my name is Harry Delane I live at 448 Ocean Avenue the building behind Max's I've been there for 32 years uh so let me just start off with saying thanks for all you do and deal with um not just with you know tonight but also in terms of you I've obviously seen the city evolve a lot since I've been here and uh a resident who really feels very positively about that and there's some rooms for improvement that I'll talk about here but I'm very happy with uh being a Long Branch resident so I wanted to touch bases on uh two things and have them focus on West End um the two the two parts are public service and uh I'm sorry public uh safety and um Public Works starting off first with compliments to them so the beach looks phenomenal I mean it's really beautiful I think gets better every year as the uh uh grasses fill in and it's great to see so many people coming here I it's really makes it feel like uh you're at a resort somewhere when you walk down the boardwalk the new Dune signs that they put in thank God because people have been cutting across them uh not just at the volleyball courts but all over and now there are in the exact paths there are please keep off the dun signs which are respectful and much needed um and then I've also had some interactions with both a guy named Edgar and Eddie who work for um Public Works and they're phenomenal and very thoughtful in helping get doggy bags put up because apparently people steal them so thanks for that the opportunity I wanted to talk about are the medians on both Ocean Boulevard and on Cedar Avenue uh they seem to be uncamp un uncared for they're not edged and they're not mowed properly and I think it's an opportunity to bring them up to the level of what we see closer to perer Village there's a distinct uh difference between that and I think that this the city does do the mediums at perer Village medians is that true yeah yeah so uh you if you took those apart you would think you're in two different cities they don't look they it's overgrown and I can't remember the last time they were edged you wanted to just I don't want to interrupt you but because it was in improved upon and not just what's down there we had to agree to maintain them so the county maintains the rest but we maintain that section okay so are you the Le on with the county made myself for for that for that item just because I mean it really it looks crappy well I'll say something no um yeah I didn't know that that was the the dynamic there um but if if they could bring the same level of attention or get the the county to do that that would be greatl yeah we we try to I'm sorry we uh constantly uh call them yes yeah so would it would uh residents advocating to the mammoth County Council make a difference no no I think when when we call they they they address it so we should call a little more frequently well I think in having them to agree that it's done a regular basis whatever the cycle is so it's not having to call and make them you know own up to it on the public safety side uh fantastic job dealing with popups which uh and I know that the letters that went out from the council thank God uh that we averted that this year uh and the visibility I think of the the special ones twos and the police officers are uh it makes it real big difference uh in the town so very happy with that I think in the opportunity side um let me speak to the Ocean Avenue linear Ocean Avenue not Boulevard linear Park uh specifically uh at Le in this week alone I've spoken to three motorcycle riders who were parked inside the area from I'm not sure what street is where the uh Food Shack is up uh and I've spoken to two people that drove in there with their cars one completely ignored that there was a or missed uh the do not enter sign and was speeding through there until she came up to the fence another guy thought it was uh right for him to go in there because he had to unload things in the mammoth Bluffs uh I think there there's not just an opportunity a need to address that uh both in having people not drive in there and uh kind of somehow finding some way to regulate uh what happens along that linear Park um there's there isn't a safe place to walk dogs you can't go on the boardwalk you can go on the sidewalk but if another dogs come the other way and they don't want to interact you go out to the street and it's kind of it's worse obviously down towards Pier Village but we don't have any bike Lanes walk Lanes it's not clear who goes where so I think there's an opportunity there should I stop and have someone react to that or no I'm just the area you're talking about we used to have what's called a a knock down there I you're right it's not there I don't I don't know why that now the knockdown from Bright Brighton is there it's from Ocean that's what I'm saying there used to be one I don't know why I don't know why it's not there I'll make sure they do it if you're coming down West End right coming no coming coming uh going south on Ocean a because there are there are cars that go south there and go straight across you're saying to where the BL go straight across or come down I'm not sure if that's Howland or whatever that is and make a right into there we'll definitely put something there yeah super then I think the interg section of the two is more forward looking than these transactions what can we do well this I'm sorry one other thing for West End the uh noise is ridiculous in terms of the uh I think aftermarket uh accessories that didn't put on cars and then cars that are just built to do that I was trying to sit at uh lascalas or scalas uh last week and couldn't hear the person across from me because of people at the light revving their engines so uh I think that theit from a business standpoint uh it makes Le West End uh less attractive to go to to sit outside which is is a loss but in terms of the noise I'll come back for the next one to talk about Ocean Ocean Boulevard thank you yeah thanks a lot thanks a lot thank you anyone else I need a motion to close the public portion participation portion of this meeting so move second all in favor I I oppos I will now ask Madam clerk if there are any changes to the resolutions no changes have been made all right thank you we can take a list of resolution as a consed agenda so Move Motion second roll call Mr dangler yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes doc Dr s is absent Mr Vieira yes motion passed okay applications there's none Miss Lan for good of the order councilwoman vog um thank you council president um it is a delight to see our folks here from motions and celebrate uh the disability honor of disability month so um excellent job excellent work that's done by motions we're so proud of everything that goes on in that organization organization and thrilled to have you here tonight um uh second comment I didn't catch your name yeah Carrie ask um Mr delain let me just tell you thank you so much for mentioning uh do not walk on the on the dunes and I'm looking at the business administrator chuckling where are you there you are um just with uh all of the work that went into getting those signs put up and we were all so thrilled so um just so many thanks for for mentioning that and uh and and some of your comments in in terms of West End um very much appreciated and uh appreciated that you came in peace so thank you everyone um have a wonderful next two weeks and we will see you then thank you councilwoman wit us I too would like to thank you for coming out this evening and to motions for presenting this evening our resolution was very it was very uh informative we appreciate it and uh I wish everyone uh next good two weeks and we'll see you then enjoy your summer thank you thank you councilman dangler yes I too want to certainly uh thank U motions for coming making the presentation did a fine job um and as the summer continues to be warm hot uh just be careful and and enjoy the rest of the summer and see you in a couple weeks and God bless you thank you mayor palom thank you council president I wanted um thank everyone for their comments this evening Kevin thank you for helping us to celebrate a disability pride month and uh I just had a few announcements so our uh the brand new Senior Center is set to open officially on August 5th uh we're going to be hosting a sneak peek grand opening lunch on August 2nd for the senior center members and then we're going to have a public open house on Wednesday August 7th in the uh evening at 6:00 we've seen a large uptick in memberships to the center and we expect that Trend to continue um at the Long Branch Art Center this past Monday we had a uniquely Long Branch exhibit um that was been that will run through August 30 it's called tides of change lifeguarding and surf culture in Long Branch it's been embraced by the Community has been a true collaborative effort the artist reception as I said was last Monday and we welcomed over 200 visitors including the artists Surfers past and present lifeguards history Buffs and art enthusiasts so I would just uh uh recommend everybody to stop in and see that the arts center is open Monday the Friday from uh 8:30 in the morning till 4:30 in the afternoon and finally uh we're excited to announce the um an improvement plan for the El Bron section of the city uh thanks to a 500,000 in federal Community Project funding that was secured uh just a week a week or so ago by Congressman palone um the project will include a new bike path that follows the historic Route along Lincoln Avenue used by President Garfield and others to the Church of the seven presidents on Ocean Boulevard uh the famous Garfield tea house will be moved from seven presidents uh Museum to this uh New Park area which is adjacent to the uh elbron Public Library um that'll also be built with the federal funds and um New Jersey Transit will create an exhibit space inside the elbron train station with historical reference and artifacts from the time when Garfield visited uh Long Branch many of you probably know that President Garfield was assassinated oh I'm sorry there was assassination attempt and he was severely injured in Union Station in Washington in July I forget the year I think it was 1881 and then in September of that year uh he had a cottage here in Long Branch and um you know it was thought that the um salt water and Ocean Air would would be good for him and so uh he came down the elbron station but they didn't take him by horse and carriage because he was you know seriously wounded so so the residents of the community and literally there were a couple thousand of them uh literally built a track within 24 hours from the elbon train station all the way to his Cottage at the end of Lincoln Avenue um on the ocean and um so this path will follow will follow that the tea house was that still exists today was made from the rails and the railroad ties and that like I said would be placed um at the uh at this added Park area and then the train station inside itself will have a little uh history of the Garfield so you know all of us are trying to you know the historic um significance of Long Branch to our country has been very important so wherever we can we we try to preserve that and try to get some money to uh to continue that so didn't mean to give a history lecture here we're all excited about it but anyway thank you uh thank you all for coming this evening thanks mayor thanks for the listen and U I also want to thank everybody Chiefs back there Harry thanks for the input and um motions Stan Kevin great job out there reading and I'll see you guys in two weeks and uh good night I need a motion to close to adjourn so move so move second all in favor oppose all right