i' like to call the meeting to order please Johanna will you read the statement of compliance the notice requirements of the open public meeting act for this meeting have been satisfied a copy of the annual meeting notice was sent to the Press of Atlantic City Star Ledger posted on the bulleon board in the municipal building the municipal website and filed in the office of the municipal clerk please turn off all cell phones please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance FL United States theice Johanna please take the role mayor Collins here commissioner blumberg I am here commissioner horn here good evening everybody uh we will begin today uh with our jff ual presentation I'd like to hand it over to the sure perfect hi my name is Dave Miller I'm your risk manager as many of you know uh risk programs and she'll be uh giving you the renewal presentation I just want to go over some of the faes I do every year with you for the insurance your loss ratio thanks to uh good risk management Dan's had a lot to do with that is trending downward and uh we now as a March we were lower than the risk average for years we were higher than the risk average for the and we're actually a couple points below as of March so that's a good sign I also like to remind you that workers comp is the primary uh assessment that that the town goes through of your assessment approximately 23 to 70% of that money is attributable workers cost so return to work or any safety programs greatly helps your assessment in the future okay some of the highlights of new year were the environmental GIF came on this year which means that you now have environmental coverage through the state and not individually used to have some individual policies they no longer were needed because you're now part of a bigger program they did a survey which uh we were involved with and I working bad on some of those most of those have been corrected only have couple things that have to be corrected small so that's a good feature because now you're in a pool that gives you gives you bigger coverage um that's it if you have any questions com is GNA bring up some of the highlights thank thank you Dave thank you for for having me on your agenda tonight I really appreciate it I apologize I was trying to find parking um so one of the things I'm sure you have the presentation already so I'm just going to highlight a few things in um slide um we're currently facing a really hard um Insurance Market the last time we had an insurance Market this hard was in 19 1980s and that's created the birth of the jet um so we're seeing a lot of increases in property um I'm sure many of you haveen increases in your homeowners in auto insurance recently I know a lot of the auto insurance companies are asking for like 25% rate increase so I'm sure you guys are seeing some of that as well on a personal level um we're seeing it on the jef level and so are the insurance carriers seeing it from the reinsurance market we're also dealing with a lot of U medical inflation we're dealing with wage replacement and I'm not sure if you know but New Jersey is one of the only states that make Co compensable for safety and essential employees so for that we were not budgeted we did not know Co was going coming our way so the male Affiliated gips alog together spent over 25 million in Co claims the atlanic GIF alone spent 2.5 million um we're also being faced with a lot of workers compensation reopener this is when an employees injured and they're hitting their two-year limit statutory limitation they're starting to reopen those CLE for additional treatment so we're being impacted by just under 27 million for that we're also being impacted by the Worldwide Insurance crisis it's affecting like I said property our liability cyber as workers comp as well um one of the things that's impacting the property Market is the global warming and the increase in natural disasters um in 2023 alone we had 28 separate 1 billion doll losses in the state in the United States so that is impacting the proper Market um Atlantic County as well as K county is very unique for Atlantic J because we have Coastal exposures so for that we have programs such as Boardwalk management lifeguard training and Beach sign guid guidelines so this is to help mitigate some of the safe the risk that we have as short towns and we are also being impacted by um sea level rising um when we look at a gif budget 30% of our budget is coming from the Mel GIF which is our reinsurance carrier over the Atlantic Jeff and that's been impacted by Co claim um climate changes EPL P police liability as well as cost of reinsurance the remaining of our budget comes from our local gy which is about 70% so when we break down that 70% almost 54% of our budget goes to pay for claims and and 10 less than 10% goes to the operation of the GIF so we're operating the gif as tightly as we can while still giving you the benefits as a member of the jip and I'll talk a little bit about some of the me U benefits that we have um with all that said I want to reassure you that your J is financially stable we have over $13 million in Surplus we have over 46 million cash on hand we also have we've released almost $54 million in dividends to our members since Inception and Margate has Rel or received almost $900,000 in dividends since you became part of the dividend cycle um last year the landing GIF released $2 million to back to its members we know there's a lot of competition out there so we going to prepare you if you're looking make sure you're looking at the right information um what you see on this page is a historical operation results for another GIF in the state some of the r flags that you want to look for is discounting of reserves that means that they're take they're anticipating income from Investments and they're reducing the cost of the claims you can't do that we don't know what the Market's going to do tomorrow so that's something to be mindful of also recoverables you know this is money that they're anticipating that they'll receive from excess carriers and just like in the municipal world we if we don't receive our recoverables within the year they have to come off our books so that's something to look at too when you're looking at uh potentially other JS so like I mention is being a member of the GIF you have a lot of benefits you have safety and risk management training um as Dave mentioned you're part of the Egypt now so I'll go into a little bit of that we also have EP on P programs um that I'll touch on as well so risk management and safety training it saves you money is keeps you employees safe and it helps the JF as well um in 2023 we provided training to managers and supervisor 700 managers and supervisors were trained in 2023 we trained um 480 police Command Staff we also provide training to rank and file employees as well as elect officials I know you participated in the training last year so thank you very much um also we provide safety visits um we have a safety director that comes out and visits your town helps you you know mitigate risk that they may see that you may not realize or is a risk we also have training both and um on a online platform which gives you inperson online and streaming safety training videos so that your employes are a able to participate in the training at their you know when whatever is convenient for them in that platform um we also have Regional safety training which is in person and we have safety bulletins and message that are sent out by the safety directors and you may be wondering why do we do spend so much time in energy and safety what we have proof that it works so this is a 20year sh snapshot on the slide and you'll notice that in 20 in 2003 we trained a little over ,000 employees and our loss time accident frequency was just under three and loss time accident frequency is when is when employees injured and is out of the work for more than seven days when 2023 we trained 76,000 employees and our losstime accident frequency rate reduced down to 1.6 so safety works and it's very helpful um we also have programs to help your residents you know when your residents want to rent out the community center for birthday party um we have the Tula program they can obtain inexpensive insurance for um through this program and it will automatically name the city as additional insur and provide $1 million in coverage we also offer Certificate of Insurance guideline to help you when you're going out to RFP or RFQ or when you're just going into contract with the vendor we also have model indemnification language that you can utilize in your agreements and contracts and this was recently updated and adopted at our May meeting um as Dave mentioned we're part of the Egypt now we joined as effective 1124 um it's more or less um Services they provide a lot of services I'm sure many of you have heard a plane crashed in Galloway yesterday so the egyp was put on notice if there if there was any contamination or anything they'll be the first ones to jump on the road get on the road and be there to help Galloway so that's where that service and coverage and the hotline comes to helpful um I personally saw the article so I notified the Egypt right away and they were right on the ball you're also a member of the Cyber GIF we joined last year um and this GIF again is designed to provide coverage when it's difficult to get coverage in the insurance market and it also provides you with services and the Cyber jip has a deductible reimbursement program to help you reduce your uh deductible when you have a cyber incident we have clim management strategies that we utilize uh transitional Duty right when your in employees injured and the doctor releases them back to work in a limited capacity if you bring them back in a limited capacity you're saving money on the for the claim but you're also helping the employees mental morale right you're bringing them back to work they're interacting with their colleagues again so that will boost their morale um we also have a A specialized defense panel that's familiar with Southern New Jersey these live down here and they're familiar with the court system down here as well and we have strong use of title 59 defenses um we have an auto repair program that you utilize as well and this was done in recognition of auto body garages that were keeping Municipal vehicles for a longer period of time and then fighting hidden damages and costing taxpayers a lot of money to repair those vehicles so we've created this program to help minimize that as well and um your jip is very flexible um Mr Adams as well as Lisa mclin they were both your fund Commissioners and they go both they are both very involved Miss U mclin was on the finance committee she partook in every discussion that we had regarding the gist finances and Mr Adams is also very involved so I thank you for supporting them in that so what can you do to help control your cost you can ment transitional Duty use online in inperson safety training um be familiar with the cyber security awareness training initiatives and we also have a law enforcement uh Risk Management Services that are offered to you as well finally I have this document which I will leave with um M Joanna um this gives you a breakdown of how you rank amongst your peers and I will tell you you guys are doing excellent you have zero for your Los time accident frequency um your loss ratio is great and you report claims within a day of that an employee being injured and you use all your lost time accident on transitional Duty days so Kudos and finally I hope you will look favorably upon renew your um membership in the Atlantic jip thank you thank you community all right we will move forward with our engineering report Ed thank you thank you mayor good evening everyone starting off with our drudging program there um is a note on the report that I reported at the last meeting we de did finally resubmit our drudging plans with the updated survey information about a month ago we have followed up with the D um to see if we can get a response from them and their review comments the idea here is that we intend on moving very quickly once we get the thumbs up from them on the new survey information so we can wrap up this permitting process and begin to plan the actual dredging project on Item B which is a Al Island salt marsh restoration site related to the draging project we did get an update from the Stockton Coastal Research Center they will be conducting some fishery questionnaires and um collecting some additional water quality data actually sometime next week uh so that is in response to some comments we got from the D on the studies that were done there 2023 Road program we did complete the survey work and base plans for the 600 block of Fredericksburg Avenue which is being added to the project so we can uh complete those plans and then have that project ready to go out to biid the Washington Avenue street skate project as well as the Venter Avenue Safe Streets the transit improvements project we had a meeting a little over a month ago we are fine-tuning the concept plans that were presented at that meeting to the steering committee I think we're just looking at some turning movements with some of the larger City Vehicles that'll be uh accessing that road and then we'll be able to share that updated concept plan with the steering committee for some additional feedback before we move forward with some more detailed engine in design so we are proceeding with that project which is being funded through um two grants for over $1.5 million item e is the Adams Avenue storm sewer pump station and I keep saying I need to change that to the Amherst Avenue storm sewer pump station so I'll make another note to do that um I reported at the last meeting that we've been attempting to evaluate a an abandoned Vault on Adams Avenue to use as part of the new pump station um it we reaching somewhat of a dead end in that effort so we're beginning to look at alternate locations for the pump station within the footprint of this project one of which may be up at the Amherst Avenue Park um again this would be a subsurface Pump Station so would not be visible um from the land but we would need to meet with Green Acres since that was a Green Acres funded site to see if that is a viable location on their end so we are scheduling a pre-application meeting again this is just tenative uh we're just exploring alternative options as we continue to evaluate that Vault on AB Avenue next item is the 300400 block a thurlo Avenue this is a road and utility project and that design is in progress the next two items Redevelopment of well 9 as well as the Winchester Avenue and Benson Avenue water main reconfiguration have been advertised for bids bid opening for both those projects will be on August 22nd next item is the 2024 ker and gutter program which we will survey in September once the street are a little more clear of Park Vehicles we do need to get a detailed survey for that project because they are small sections of curving gutter item J is the municipal building office Renovations phase two we did complete an existing conditions survey a couple weeks ago and we're putting together the plans inspection for that project the 2024 Winchester Avenue project um as well as the 2024 Road program will have the survey work uh completed sometime in the early fall item n is the first first phase of our lead service line replacement program so we are in the process of just tightening up our lead service line inventory which will then identify the locations that need to be included in this project and then we will prepare the plans and specs for the first phase of construction as we continue to go through the ibank process for funding item n is new to this report which is the new Public Works building project we are scheduling the field survey work for that project and at the same time we will begin to put together the preliminary floor plans um that we will review with the city um as we develop the program for that new Public Works building no update on item o which is the flow warning and response plan under the CRS program no update on item P which is our ongoing ms4 compliance under Q pending Grant applications you can see we have three Grant applications that are currently outstanding the most recent would be the 2025 Municipal aid application that was submitted for the next phase of Atlantic Avenue under item R pending cap projects three of these projects are improvements at the Sig Rim complex which will be implemented as part of this upcoming Capital program so I think there's one of those projects on the agenda today authorizing for bids for the basketball courts and the others will follow no updates under miscellaneous or under our open maintenance bonds turning over to page three projects and close out we did move the last phase of Winchester Avenue the fiscal year 20222 State 8 project into close out so that project is substantially complete and we will uh work to get our reimbursements from dot the next phase of Winchester Avenue which is from Claremont to Douglas we do have a contract awarded to Lexa concrete and we already had our pre-construction meeting we're just putting off construction to start in September after the season uh item W is the bulkhead access at suar and Benton which is complete uh there's just a little bit of restoration work that's left there but we got that work done and the last item here is the the municipal building office improvements which is in progress in construction that's my report great thank you Ed Mike I have a question uh Ed I I know there's some misinformation uh out in the public and I know that you guys aren't directly involved uh maybe the solicitor has been more involved we do have a pending Grant with the I believe it's with the Economic Development Authority where we're asking them for a million dollarss for the proposed parking lot purchase correct the gas station purchase from what I understand yes and and that is a competitive grant that we're asking for and we're up against like all 500 municipalities right do we have an idea of the timing of that and what our chances might be of getting I personally don't um we have our grant consultant Jim Mella working on that Grant application um but I believe it's been submitted has been submitted and it's for up2 million and I don't think it's 500 communities applied for but a number have it is competitive and it is not necessarily a million dollars it can go up to a million dollar and we should know before the end of the year there it up thank you all right thank you Ed we will now move forward with our department head report Scott um we have a couple items on tonight as you can see the uh ordinance moving forward with the sale of Osborne Avenue beach and that involves a similar transaction that we've done several times now to get new bulkheads uh new bulkheads built along the ocean front that would include handicapped access stairways Street end uh and some cash to us so we've had a lot of discussion on that that ordinance is moving forward we also have the resolution authorized the um purchase of the gasoline station that's on there as well as the bond ordinance is moving forward as well um that's pretty much what I have do offer the other ordinances um basically traffic um they're pretty stand so that's all I have for for now there great thank you Scott Pat Mike have another question uh Scott related to the resolution 188 2024 but if we pass that resolution what does it obligate us to well what it is is we we can enter into an agreement of sale bu the former gasoline station subject to our environmental analysis we uh there's quite a lot of environmental paperwork with the state Exxon is responsible to clean the station up they have an arrangement with the D we need to verify that that is binding upon them that the city's acquisition doesn't mean the city's in any way responsible for that contamination resulting from the gas station but other than that we would be bound to buy the property we signing a deal to buy it and and is there any money involved what's the money involved $2.3 million to purchase the gas station and up to a half a million dollars for uh engineered improvements and and isn't there a down payment that we have to $100,000 down payment which I'm told our Chief Financial Officer we can make that on August 28th after the bond becomes law clear that up too thank you okay anything further Scott no all right thank you Pat thanks mayor uh just get a brief update on our water meter replacement program we're still working on phase one two and we just started phase three so we got 1900 or 1973 meters complete so far so of three phases we got 63% on of the phases uh this morning we set up the stage for the morgate memorials for tomorrow night and uh our open house went great the other uh last week so I just want to thank the mayor Commissioners for your support and uh thank uh Chief H Hinson for allowing us to close the street and Dan Adams for uh bringing his new fire truck over appreciate it thank you thank you Pat Jim that is a real nice fire truck on Dan like to take a minute to thank all Margate for the well-wishing and support while I was out uh my phone was Non-Stop and like to really thank first platoon and um Matt uh Chief hinson's uh officer Josh um dunan for their being at the site and and I would like to thank um Commissioners and mayor for everything that they gave to me um thank you let's do some business you have any question about the ordinance number for the second reading on the property maintenance and anything rental units it's something the state wants us to do we're ahead of the head of the ball on this one so it's lead base paint but that's all I had the report great and welcome back I missed you guys I couldn't missed you as well I couldn't couldn't send being home you know thinking about what's going on in the city drove me crazy Roger not much to add but just uh Jim glad you're back sitting next to us and uh you know seeing where you fell you're you're lucky to be here so can't get lucky stars so nothing else to add thank you great thank you Chief hon thank you mayor just a few announcements actually uh first of all some of them are sort of community related and some of them are sort of parking related just so everybody knows first of all we have a large event at the Dominic patina Performing Art Center on Saturday August 3rd it's a comedy show benefiting the Dominic vtina Performing Art Center so there will be a lot of traffic a lot of people out there just so everybody knows I'd like to invite everybody on Wednesday August 14th at 6:30 for law day at the Margate Library this is an event we put on for 20 plus years uh it's a good Community event a lot of my officers most of my officers will be there I will be there it's a good event um for community relations so it's something I really enjoy and the last thing on Wednesday August I'm sorry on Thursday August 15th the Budweiser Clydes will be in Margate from 2 to 4m it will be large traffic diversions in the area of Cedar Grove to Washington their proposed route will take the Clydesdales from Cedar Grove in Atlantic westbound down Atlantic Avenue to Washington Northbound down Washington and then eastbound down ventner past Firehouse number one and then back up seedar Grove Avenue so it does it takes some time to put all of the equipment on the Clydesdales but again supposedly it's a it's a great event I'd like to see everybody out like I said I think it be a good event for the city that's all I have thank you chief chief Adams thank you mayor Commissioners uh one Jim welcome welcome back it's great to see you here it's good to have you back and again to Echo Robert Roger's comment uh you know where you fell and what happened we're very lucky and we're happy to have you here uh Public Works I can't say enough about the event you guys ran it was Second To None it was awesome the kids had a great time pat you and your crew did an outstanding job it was Second To None the event that was put on that day so hats off to you guys for that um it's been very busy this summer uh the crowds have been extremely larger than normal especially on the weekends and the responses we've had have been the same um our responses are way up from prior years um summer grilling I just want to remind everyone make sure you keep your grill clean um and keep it a safe distance minimum three feet away from combustibles so I know everybody loves to grill in the summer have a great barbecue please keep your grill clean and clearer of combustibles at least a three- foot clearance all the way around uh for the beach Patrol we have Friday night the Margate memorials they'll kick off at 6:30 p.m. to catar Avenue and the beach it's a great event uh really fun to watch and uh afterward there will be a band playing on the beach uh a local band called local noise um but they're really good it's a local uh I think his name's Robert Wood local kid who sings at a lot of different establishments and places but it's going to be a great event uh the beach Patrol lifeguard and training program it has been a huge success this year um I got to give you know former Chief Greg Smallwood and chief Graves uh kudos for running a great program uh we've had nothing but positive feedback from it from parents and kids and I think it was really a great idea and a great move for the future of the lifegard starting for our beach Patrol and lastly uh the fire department visited Margate Recreation today we had a great time with the kids and the the fire department personnel working with the children and the kids had a great time spraying the water and operating the hose line so we had a great time out there with the kids and that's it thank you very much thank you Chief and they all appreciate the swag you handed out as I saw at pickup today so uh Johanna I have nothing to report all right so I just want to reiterate uh the Public Works event uh phenomenal event for anyone that didn't didn't come out to see it it was the first year we did it and for chief Adams to come up to me at the event and say it was the best event of the of the year for the city I think that's says a lot because the fire department and police department both put on a put on a great event as well so uh Chief Hinson has some big shoes to fill for his August event uh for that but uh great job by by Pat and and the crew um also just W to uh commend Chief Hinson and our Police Department um for any of you that were here at the at the last commission meeting a lot of Resident complaints about um some late night activity at at at some of our bars and restaurants and uh Chief Hinson immediately uh responded to those concerns uh police department stepped up commissioner horn and her husband uh were with the police department Saturday night immediately following the meeting from from 1:00 a.m. to 2:30 uh to monitor the scene my wife and I went this past weekend from uh 3:00 a.m. to 4:30 uh stood with the police department as well so we could monitor the scene and and assess the situation um we've all had uh conversations with uh the owner of the establishment we've had conversations with the residents we're working towards resolutions and I feel like uh you know just a great job all around and just wanted to say thank you to to Chief for that um furthermore I just wanted to provide some clarification on uh the whole gas station purchase which I know a lot of you are are here for today um there's a lot of inaccurate information out there um you have to be careful what you read online um I think you also have to start to wonder um why people are putting inacurate information and and what their purpose is and uh and their intent to mislead so I just wanted to to kind of clarify some some things so I'm going to go through some some talking points just to to make sure we address the issues so uh first I think most importantly is that all three of us Commissioners have uh shown the desire for parking in our business districts commissioner horn and I uh showed support at the last meeting when we uh voted to approve the ordinance commissioner blumberg years ago uh uh tried to purchase the property adjacent to to this for uh parking lot and and a Park area and was did not have support from the from his administration at the time and you know commissioner blumberg also expressed the option of using the New Jersey Transit lot across the street uh for parking but we are in a longterm lease that the city is not able to to get out of to use for that um all three of us authorized uh the application for the grant that we spoke about that commissioner blumberg brought up so that we did that um at the end of last year um all three of us also authorized the appraisal for the property which uh the intent was to purchase uh for for this parking lot that was also at the end of last year um Margate Business Association and our citizens advisory committee have been uh very much supportive of the need for parking in our business districts uh talking to the citizens advisory committe it was actually their number one priority as they met and met with residents so again we were C certainly met with uh as soon as we were elected bring the citizens advisory committee back we did and we listening to them and uh as Rich holson was here at the last meeting handing out pamphlets with information on how to contact them I urge all residents to reach out to them give feedback provide insight as to to what your concerns are in the community so that uh we can address them um many concerns about the remediation of the site so Scott has brought this up at multiple meetings uh the city has no cost obligation to remediate the site it is uh there's environmental review and all work will be done by Exxon Mobile per the contract that the existing owner has um with the site so the city uh the site will be remediated at no cost to us um as far as maintenance people brought up the cost to maintain it uh Pat and I spoke this week I said you know we pulled up the concept plan said you know here's what we're looking at what what does this add to the tax burden uh for our residents and there is zero impact uh all of the maintenance will be done with our existing staff at no additional cost uh to the taxpayer um Everybody also says okay we're making a big purchase it's going to be a tax increase that is that's false information um we spend money the city spends money on capital projects yearly and has done so uh forever and uh that does not indicate that we will have a tax increase so um the bud this Municipal budget can be complicated um I'm going to try to simplify a few things just you know for better understanding for everybody so um you know we just did a capital ordinance recently we had fire trucks we have police vehicles we have a police shed um all of these things you know are are things that we invest in um to improve the quality of life for our residents and um some of them you know our street repair projects our playgrounds our Sports Fields all of these these projects are things that we invest in and end up on our our Capital list and we Bond uh in order to pay for um so our Auditors and financial advisers provide us with feedback as to uh how do we stay within the constraints of our budget um I had the pleasure of sitting down with them for uh two hours uh in probably about mid April uh before um we approved our current budget and we discussed you know future Capital so we all of the department heads we meet frequently go over capital projects uh as you can would probably not be surprised nobody's better than Chief Adams Chief Adams has I think a 20-year plan for the fire department on what vehicles he needs when what equipment uh we try to stay on top of it so we know what our future expenses are and we try to stay within the confines of our budget in each year so our financial advisers tell us you know how much we can spend on capital projects within a given budget year without an impact to the taxpayer and that's what we we try to stay under and the we have the full intention of staying under that amount uh in this current year in light of the purchase of this of this property in question um so I think um a lot of times when we when we talk about the the long-term plan you know that our Capital committee meets and there's projects that have really been on the list for a number of years and they're just kind of in Waiting um we constantly we have a five-year plan but sometimes that gets altered because of of reasons outside of our control a lot of which are safety issues so you'll see one of the recent projects that's on our our list is a new Public Works building uh our existing Public Works building couple months ago six months ago I think had a wall cave in it's unsafe situation really not not a good situation for our for our employees it's a uh you know when it's a safety hazard obviously we have to address it and um Roger Ned you may know I I think this plan first came up six years ago or so is that sound about right um so so this is ongoing discussions that sometimes you know longterm get pushed off get pushed off and then then are finally here another one would be the walkway around the the sigm field so that um number of years ago it's a gravel path with concrete dividers and again a safety issue a lot of tripping hazards um our residents are unable to push a stroller around around the field and um really uncomfortable so so that's a project that again was on the on the list probably a request of our rec department for a number of years that that we're moving forward with now so back to the gas station you know as I said it will have no impact on the budget um we have no in intention of it having an impact on the taxpayer um so but what does that mean and how do we make Financial sense of that so um let's just say for all intents and purposes that $3 million purchase was added on top of our budget again not Our intention but let's say that that was the case the impact of the taxpayer uh when we bond this would be um about half a penny and what that equates to is less than $30 a year on uh somebody whose assessed value is $500,000 for their house so there's a you know commissioner blumberg said last meeting $450 a year I got all these questions how is that possible what it it's it was wrong so the the reality is it's it's under $30 a year for for that if we were to um you know over if we were to go over our allowable bond amount by $3 million which again is not not Our intention um Additionally you know I know uh I'm with all of you I don't I certainly do not want uh my taxes to go up I am a resident and taxpayer here as well uh Our intention is not to do that we did have a municipal increase this past this past year um 54% of that increase was due to unfunded uh capital projects from 2018 and 2019 so we had over $ 1.1 million of unfunded capital from the previous administration that had to go on this year's budget because it was pushed off for so long so that had a significant impact to the taxpayer not something we certainly ever want to do um but it was it was a a necessary uh move for the city um another thing about this I think that uh is important is that uh the purchase of of land in this city which uh we know there's very little of is adding an asset to the city we're not adding an expense we're adding an asset that's only going to appreciate in value um no disrespect to Chief Adams but that new fire truck on day one starts depreciating um this this piece of property we start appreciating on day one and it's an asset not an expense on our books so I think that's that's a really another key point on this um we we often talk about missed opportunities um again commissioner blumberg two weeks ago spoke about uh missed opportunities the property adjacent to this one missed opportunity the lot across from uh Johnny that was not purchased by the city um we're going to run out of opportunities as you can see the way the density in this city and and the real estate market is there's not going to be opportunities pretty soon so uh for us to to sit here and lose an opportunity and come back in 10 years and say we should have could have would have like commissioner is doing with the other two properties would be a fault of this Administration and I think um it's pretty clear um that we need to Mo to move forward I understand the concerns um again I think for the most part it comes down to to tax dollars and again there's no intention to uh to burden the taxpayer with with this um I think another good point um commissioner blumberg made last meeting was was the uh Burger Bus property years ago uh the design was um Park and parking so it was a combination of Park and parking had more trees than than the conceptual design for for this um the property the tailor gas station property and the design we put forward again in um in reference to the Grant application we were pursuing was to maximize parking so we put 30 30 parking spots I believe is is about what we came up with there um the uh Burger Bus property that was done a number of years ago had 18 parking spaces and some benches and some some Landscaping uh this uh this New Concept also has a number of trees I believe it's close to 30 trees with the ability to add more to the plan um but I think you know I think all three of us are open to discussions you know as you suggest the commissioner um that maybe there is more uh more benches more trees more more park space in there and it's something that I think you know we have to consider as we move forward um but again kind of reiterating back to the other point I think the ability to to add open space to this community is is something we're not going to have pretty soon so I think um it's a it's a great opportunity I think uh again we talked about the problems the density problems the cars what where does everybody go um if if this property is um approved for uh commercial with residential above we're adding another you know 20 cars parking to that area and we're adding a you know a three-story property that's blocking that that entire that entire area um I think it's a win-win for the city and you know with with no impact to the taxpayers so um you know I just wanted to clear that up just so everybody had had accurate information um because I know there were a lot of questions I got a lot of phone calls emails text messages you know um trying to clear things up this past week so uh just wanted to share that with everybody here I'd like to add just a couple quick things you said it perfectly but I would also like to see um maybe a couple electric car chargers there as well um I do think we're buying an asset not an expense I think it's okay to disagree I think conversation is great we've been looking at this since November um this is not new um I guess at the end of this discussion I hope the takeaway is you may not agree that you need or the city needs needs this spot right here but I hope you you leave with um this specific purchase this one is not going to raise your taxes thank you all right so we will now open to public comment if anyone has any comment um you can can step to the microphone state your name and address cell 114 North lanter Avenue I wasn't going to talk about this but uh since it came up I thought i' one i' mentioned one thing that I mention one thing that doesn't seem to be you talk about the cost of the property and all that but someone owns this property someone pays taxes to morage this property those taxes will be be lost also and that'll be forever so that has to be included in the cost it's an ongoing cost but um I wanted to say something about parking parking is a problem in Margate and uh Beach block parking seems to be I don't know kind of uh restricted and it looks like it targets Beach cars because there's no parking uh 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. that sounds like beach time so you're targeting beach goers but more specifically you're hurting the uh elderly because uh younger people just go parking somebody else's spot take up all the rest of the streets and Margie and carry their beach chairs and all maybe two three blocks I see it in front of my house they Park you know and go wherever go but the senior citizens can't really go and park three four blocks away and carry their beach chair so they'll have to wait till five o'clock to try to get these spots and when they do that by the time they take their beach chairs out and get to the beach the lifeguards go off duty at 6 so now it's kind of more than just targeting beach goers it's more specific that you're kind of hurting uh the seniors a little bit because they'll have to give up their you know they can't make it to the beach or else they have to go without out an umbrella or something can't carry so I thought you know this 10 to five sounds like somebody pulled it out of the air could it possibly be 10 to five no parking July on one side and no parking August on the other side this way you get it's half a loaf so if it's July hey you know I got this side part I'll give it a shot and actually there's eight spots there you may think that's small but you have say 30 beachs you times that by eight that's 240 spots that you're opening up that can help all of mar and it it requires no money just a change of a sign that says no parking July and August and no parking August on the other side which even helps the people in the beach park because they'll say well at least I'm okay in August at least nobody's in front of the house in July whatever so it sounds like an easy thing to do it cost you absolutely nothing and you're gaining eight parking spaces all day long in the beach blocks for 30 blocks that's 240 spots you're getting Prime spots and it's well distributed along marget it's not targeted to you know memories in morgate or some other spot it's divided out equally along Margate and all of the other people who live in other areas of Margate that are not near some of these busy areas won't have cars in front of their houses people with beach chairs and all because the young people are going to do it anyway so this will this I think will help and it's a simple F thank you thank uh J wi Tri North Frankin Avenue next to our neighbor to Bud Taylor as well as live five doors away from the gas station for 29 years I know bud well we have a situation here that's a little uncomfortable and what's interesting is you as the elected officials were given the privilege to serve us through election but along with that privilege comes a responsibility and an obligation an obligation to serve all of the taxpayers of marget now looking at the situation right now we have over $40 million of debt in marget right now and if you throw another 3 million or 2.3 million you're adding between 5 and 8% on to that Debt Service debt service is not free I've learned that in 47 and a half years being a financial planner and advisor debt is not free there's a cost anywhere between 150,000 and 180,000 a year on The Debt Service that's not free money there's a cost to the budget of Market on top of that if we stretch the current employees to maintain that property they're going to be deficient in other places that need to be have work done that's going to eventually catch up and we're going to have to increase the cost of employees benefits so security Medicare all right federal unemployment tax state unemployment taxes that's not free so for every dollar you pay an employee you're adding 37% on top of that dollar not including the pension benefits and the cost of that so to make the statement that this would be a free deal for Margate is far far from the truth that's really not a good deal for Margate do we have a parking problem well I live there okay it's very different on the North side as compared to the South Side South Side has more business and they have a parking problem R has told that many times where we are we don't see that parking problem if the advisory Council Claims that they spoke to the people none of my neighbors spoke to anybody no one came to a house made a phone call email text message nothing and I'm in touch with all the neighbors right so who did we speak to who who heard a word and you're trying to tell us that it was well F out we don't have a parking problem what we have is and this is awesome where the food truck is the doctor and his wife are developing a wonderful property they came to me long before they went to the planning board to try to get their plan approved they said Jay we want to be a good neighbor what do you think and I looked at the plans they're awesome they're going to have three commercial spaces they're going to provide five parking spaces three tow houses with three bedrooms there's going to be six parking spaces and it's going to be aesthetically pleasing now if we're going to take all of our money and it will affect us down the line like you said Capital Improvements eventually have to be paid for you can only kick that can down the line so far and somebody has to pay the price I like everyone else just got our tax bill it didn't go down right we could have bragged and Margate that we've held the line for so long well eventually it's you got to pay Piper now we as a taxpayers are seeing that I believe you're throwing an additional burden on us to satisfy a few remember your obligation as elected officials is to Serve and Protect all not some and quite frankly a lot of people see this project as only better thaning a couple of people but it's going to take a lot of money out of our pockets with that said I agree with with commissioner blumberg where he said last meeting I think that the city has an obligation to run public meetings two or three at one of the schools and present the plan to the public here's our cost analysis to to purchase it here's what we think is going to cost us to run this piece of property all right and and a fiveyear performa what it's going to be where will revenues come from to pay for this and in order to do do that I'm strongly strongly suggested that this body consider pulling and tabling those ordinances this evening and put it in front of the public all taxpayers in Margate to a non-binding referendum in November and then we can address it as a group not a a laser shot but a shotgun shot that everyone can see that in my opinion would be responsible government thank you thank you J excuse me Jay so every time we have a disagreement we should have a referendum and this has been going on since November December um so nothing has been like this isn't a surprise we're GNA buy a lot that's not how it's going so why I value your opinion I live on Claremont I can't find a parking spot when I want to go to the beach I'm getting older too art I got to carry my beach chair so we do need parking you might not need parking because you have your driveway right there I need parking so some people do disagree with you surprising but we knocked on doors we knocked on everybody's doors parking parking parking that was what we heard I can appreciate your point of view and your comments you did not REM mind them maybe you weren't home when we did your street none of my neighbors were there either so I think that Excuse me while we can um have different points of view with this thing we will be respectful to each other not condenscending to each other and I still hold my position that in this case where we're going to increase the debt service by 8% that I believe this body has an obligation to get an opinion from the public just like they did with the boardwalk same thing it's the same situation and yes we can have a difference of opinion thank you thank you Jay so I just again just to talk about the debt service our financial advisors we again we meet every year we clear debt we we add more debt um it's we have a very high credit rating we do a phenomenal job with our finances and uh we're in we're in great position going forward so our that is not an issue but uh next hi my name is Mary slowman I live at 9x Court in Margate and I've lived here for about 20 years um I definitely agree with you that we need more parking and um I'm not as concerned as the previous gentleman is about the cost of it um but I I am concerned about one thing I'm concerned about the contamination on that site and I read read something in the press that our um lawyer Mr Mr Abbott said um and I quote the sellers are obligated to hand over all environmental reports and correspondents pertaining to the contamination and Remediation efforts in addition to existing leases surveys and elevant elevation certificates for the property Abbot said the owners would provide the city with this information needed and that records of what was done at the site could be viewed on the State Department of Environmental Protections website now I'm sorry I wasn't able to to make your last meeting but I did go to the Department of Environmental Protection to day and I spent two hours trying to find something about this what you know Mr Abbott mentioned and I did find an active site with confirmed contaminations for all the cities in Atlantic County including Margate and of course this particular site's on there but I could not find how to access um exactly what they've done if anything and I think that you're probably aware that Exxon has not been the best neighbor to a lot of places maybe they will be to us in this situation but have you any documents about the contract that you told us today the owner has with Exxon to remediate it I'll let Scott address I can answer that Mary um there is an extensive file we have not signed the contract yet so they have not turned over that I've been advised by their Environmental Lawyer fell named Frank Brennan who specializes on these environmental issues that there is a very significant file in this part of our contract is a due diligence period we have Ed Dennis's firm and Ed you may want to speak to this they have people who are very familiar with environmental that will analyze these reports and the contractual contractual obligations with the state of New Jersey and Exxon so no we're not buying it not knowing we're buying it with a due diligence period to thoroughly investigate it and confirm that margate's not on the hook and that there is an agreement that Exxon has to resolve it Ed can you add a little bit to that picture all I would add is um the actual requirements as far from a remediation standpoint are all dictated by njd and they are administered by licensed professionals called licensed cyber mediation professionals we have um several of those on staff at our firm I'm sure the reports that are the reports that are required to be filed with the state are all pretty standardized so these will be able to view what they've filed where they are in the process and make an assessment just from an an environmental remediation standpoint where we stand and then of course Mr Abbott would review any legal uh binding documents with regards to responsibility and things like that and because they are public documents I see no problem with making them available for everybody to have a look more eyes the better but we we do have environmental people on our side that are going to examine all of that once we have a contract signed and you can get out of that contract if you it's unsatisfactory and you you seen it mayor that you can get out of it the agreement of sale has that that Clause yes once we review the for your environmental thank you hi guys I'm Stacy seagull 29 North decator and I also own the home at three North Franklin so this definitely impacts our home there um the gas station is a complete and utter eyesore it's an eyesore for us to be at the home it's an eyesore for our long-term tenants to be at the home so a couple of questions is there a design plan that we can see so so there is a conceptual plan uh Ed had to leave but they created a planc I have a cop of it if she wants I would love to take a look at that because I am very interested in Green Space I brought I brought uh I don't have enough for but I have uh like 10 copies of the conceptual plan that we sent when we applied for the grant I also have nine or ten copies of the plan that we did uh 10 years ago that was more of a park and parking uh I I can put those up front I just don't have enough for everybody um the ideas and one of the concerns I have and I wait until everybody uh has a chance to speak one of the concerns I have with this grant uh again is that we're competing with other municipalities and two I don't know that we'll have the ability once we get the grant if we get the grant that we'll have the ability to make any changes any substantial changes to the design that we've already sent um and and in that regard that's a that's a big concern for me and I haven't been able to address whether or not that is something I did speak Ed about that today maybe yeah so I spoke to our to Ed Dennis or engineer about any changes to the plan as you know you can see the one plan was for Park SL parking one was was just parking um so the entrances are on the side streets yes okay and then how long so that was my second question of the entrances and then how long will this project take from start to finish uh that's a good question probably one Ed we would need Ed to answer I don't know if Scott you have that no more than probably three months three months from start to finish for the construction of the parking lot yes okay so demolition of the building yep um remediation and then as far as the construction of the parking lot you're saying that would be Demolition and and parking lot would be a 3mon construction CU I'm all about getting the environmental hazard out of there yeah I I agree I think and then are do we have any kind of um protection from when there's demolition like a temporary fence and things like that they'll follow the the proper protocols that they do for uh all job site safety so um you know Jim can probably speak better to that but there will be protections yes I've got to say this looks way better than what's there right now I agree thank you thank you hi my name is Carol or live on Dolphin Drive um I have a couple questions did you say there were 13 parking spaces how many so the original concept that was used for the grand application had 30 parking spaces um the concept that uh commissioner blumberg was referring to from a different site years ago uh had 18 so 19 19 so this one will have how many well so the original concept is 30 but uh you know as we were just discussing you know there may be alterations where we go somewhere in that 18 to 30 range I would say uh to incorporate more only concern is it seems like an awful lot of money for even 15 parking spaces it doesn't really solve much of a problem but um and and the budget I know you said the taxes won't go up for the average price home of that's assessed at like 500,000 would be about $30 a month so if if we were to bond the full $3 million amount which again just to clarify that the purchase price is 2.3 million the construction cost estimate came in around 365 I want to say so we allocate up to three million so that there's a cushion the you know the intent is not to to spend that full amount but but I mean my house originally cost under 37,000 and it's no I mean yeah I would if I left I would make them I don't want to leave morgate that's my other we don't want you to leave okay but I could I come in on I wasn't at the meeting last week but my brother and I were slandered at this meeting and um I heard the whole audio on people I must have gotten 70 clothes my brother had people clo him someone came up here and said that we drove them out of the neighborhood and um Jim is shaking his head we have had problems with these neighbors it had nothing to do with their sexual orientation the color of their skin the religion we have had problems for over 25 years I have had my air conditioner broken I have had lights shining in my house all night hallogen lights I it it's been I never filed a police report I don't the to me the police are wonderful they do a great job here I don't think there is terrible crime in Margate I don't think that this is a bad City I think it's a great City and I don't complain I don't complain when someone's trash can is out for two hours past the code they may be sick they may be at work but on our street we have we had someone that complained if a delivery man came and parked for 10 minutes to pulling in packages and it's no parking in front of our house the police were called we all put up with this this person sued three people on my street sued the people in back and now my brother and I are horrible people Everyone clapped at the meeting after his speech because we were biased we were homophobic homophobic my brother the only thing my brother said to this man he called them by his last name we were introduced to them 30 years ago their name is ly R everyone on the street pronounce her name L where and my brother called to him to stop torturing me and Jim knows that he would call from minor there was nothing wrong there was this code violation I had that code violation and it was constant it was for everybody on the street and my brother said to him one day after he hid my trash cans loaded trash cans behind my bushes so that I was I had to go to a doctor in Philadelphia and I wasn't going to be home for a couple days my brother came to pull my trash cans back so he wouldn't complain and they were hidden I had a a video my neighbor had a camera and saw him come out of his driveway 2 in the morning and take my trash cans hide them behind my bushes I was so disgusted I did take that video of the police they said we can't see his face do you want to F complaint I said no I don't I don't do that but I want you to be aware of this my brother did yell at him he called him by his last name he did it was not a homophobic call that was his name we all called him everyone on the street their name the mother's name was laquer the father's last name was laquer that was their name and that's what he said just if I said Lumberg come here or you know if I said Collins I want to talk to you that's what he said and now we have we are people look at us like we're awful people but we've done this awful thing my brother doesn't even live in the house he came over he fixed my air conditioner condensation pipes when they were broken by quote Steve Swift came over from the police when I showed him he went to this door and he said they're bad kids in the neighborhood did I follow a complaint no I don't want trouble but my brother kept coming to repair my screens to repair the hardware still liked me mayor Becker used to say you're here with the screens every three weeks my screens would be slashed on that side of my house I didn't complain but now I am a horrible person and people clapped when he talked and we were humiliated so trying to C now will the down Beach Buzz put this on their audio so the rest of down Beach can hear this and not hear this man everybody has it on their phone and they're saying listen to this so I just wanted to clear that up if uh I've lived here for 70 years and um I've loved it and I think the company does a great job I mean everybody is so responsive but I don't file complaints and I have I don't care if somebody has 14 husbands and you know I don't care it's none of my business thank you we appreciate you clearing that up for us thank you and I I was a little bit upset that you let him go on and on about that because now I mean I'm getting phone calls from people and people go by my he gave my brother's address which was hi I'm Jackie delario 8905 Mammoth Avenue and I just want to make like two statements um one the fact that my taxes went up with a this I don't know how you expect us to believe that if that you PCH we purchase this it's not going to impack the taxes because even without this the taxes have gone up the other thing is um had you not declined on the Johnny's property and laughed at Raz when she made her suggestion you know you might have a little credibility saying you know this is for the Improvement of the city and parking to me it just looks like favoritism because we we know what the big store you know we know the store down the street and it's just it looks like it's just a way to get the taxpayers to pay for parking for that store thank you yeah so just to address your statement the I will say uh you know I was not in office at the time for the Johnny's uh purchase I uh speak to Raz frequently and I believe that that property should have been purchased at that time and you know definitely see a need in our other business districts for parking as well and and it is again something we're looking at going forward Dennis how are you fine Dennis gorosi 7702 M Avenue first of all you keep saying that don't listen to this down Beach buzz you said that in May when they were talking about that Margate Towers is it where Mr Abott went to visit and Jim I think you went I don't know so they do give information and so don't say that they don't give you good information it's all baloney when I when I spoke earlier I was referring to just general online okay but you did point out the last time and you're right they are also saying I could live when near you m hen so we're we're not a problem with parking in our area not back near us yes but we only have a problem out of this entire thing with parking only for 13 weeks after 13 weeks it goes away so to spend $3 million for 13 weeks I understand the green what some people are talking about but we had a parking spot across from the CVS there are 40 parking spots there of which 20 of them no one can park at because they're all for a realtor and who owns that property the city or does the um the real estate company own it because there's only 20 spots for that were free now there's a charge to park there so what goes on with that real estate having 20 spots yeah I mean I'm not again commissioner blumberg maybe you can attest to that that was many years ago when that those spots are leased we get paid for those spots and um you know so when we own the lot we lease out the spots they're bid on by the different businesses the idea there was that we absolutely were trying to help the businesses in those neighborhoods um when we purchased that property and didn't want to just give away understand the spots so we lease them out I think we but there all 20 of okay let's just say something all 20 of them are for a real estate not for any of the businesses in front like for salad works or for Nicks or for the um and I know that there's 20 but those spots might count think owned by the real estate so what's going to happen with this one where you're going to put 13 or or 30 spots in you're going to have what time spots and somebody can come in and buy or lease there will be no there will be no uh business leasing it will be a public lot it'll be a public lot so you're going to have what a time restriction two hours so that that's something the chief has has been looking into and talking about but there's well he has a restriction right now for pay for parking at the one that changed that was not even communicated by anybody that you were changing it from free to pay so when did that come everybody says you as Miss War says you've been discussing this since November when was that discussed that that was going to go from free to pay that was um Chief Hinson put that on social media we talked about it at the meeting it's 18 spots okay I've been at every one of your I know you missed a couple I missed it I missed a couple twoo for TR talked about it it's been on media um Jesse did you put it in the before we stop the bulletin it was in the bulletin what's the bulletin how do you get the bulletin the newsletter she's referring to it's an online newsletter the only thing that you have on people go to is the morgate docomo in was for first of all the it's very hard your website to find something I agree with you okay well I'm glad you do because I was going to say you need somebody whose tech savvy to change it but again you're going to spend $3 million for 13 we problem who's it going to benefit if you're going to tell me it's going to benefit somebody for a couple hour parking two hours so you're going to be either somebody running from the beach to put their money in there or right now there's no meters you're using it the um one from CVS is that you go online to increase your money so somebody's going to park there and pay what a dollar an hour I believe that's what the current Uh current Park Mobile well it's going to be useless because the first the first 20 or 30 people who get in there are going to be there all day and pay you the 20 bucks well that's why the chief was talking about restricting the time limit so that you would not be able to renew under the same license plate U why that's discriminatory if the person's there you cannot say to him move your Park from out of the parking spot the idea behind paid parking is that what uh there's that there's turnover so we don't if when we had public parking lots the whole Bay Front before it converted to Park Mobile you'd see the same car there for three months in the summer the idea was to make it Institute the park mobile and this was done three years ago commissioner does that sound about right sounds about three three summers ago I believe uh they did that so that there would be turnover so that again we're we're helping the the businesses so that but there's no businesses down there your business that you're talking about putting there is just down Beach Belly Deli has its own parking area taco cats gone I mean it's just the zoning board just approved two what two commcial commercial projects on that strip within the last which their own parking which have limited parking commercial parking but but they have their own parking because that's required by your Planning and Zoning if they do it right there's there's limited Park commercial parking in every business in in the in Margate their uh commercial parking variances are given because it would be impossible to meet the code for any commercial um business I don't know if you know the exact number number of square foot to spots and and typically what typical retail space is one spot for 200 square feet if it's a restaurant it's based on seats you know so well you don't have enough parking spots for boka then and and that's tell you right now well and that's a problem throughout the entire community and that's what again contributes to to the parking problem but if you if you required bokeh to put uh one spot for every or however many spots per per seat uh we would we wouldn't have any restaurants in town so you to try to promote our commercial district there are circumstances are most people who are in that area for boa walk to that restaurant anybody ever think about putting um a Jitney yeah so again say as we discussed I don't know if it was last meeting or the meeting before this parking lot again is not an isolated uh isolated purchase the idea is to have parking in all of our business districts you know we're investigating a shuttle service to get people from One business district to the other so you could park in this lot take a shuttle to the next lot that and and that would be next lot once you get well we do so again the the intention is so we have the Washington Avenue lot you're talking about we have our which is not which is has 20 spots we have our Marina District uh and then um on the site of the Public Works property the the Public Works plan uh when that building is built we will be able to vacate our carpenter shop and electric shop is that correct um and that would add additional parking in the Marina District at no costs again because we own the land so uh so it is part of a a longer term vision and uh we're looking at at ways to try to promote our businesses and and keep them around okay but you put businesses in like the Tequila Sunrise that is going to be what 100 oet seat for there IAM see 100 I don't whatever but you don't have parking for that number of people there no parking okay then you have the market what's that Towers is it the one Gardens Gardens thank you the one that's under controversy did we pass the ordinance to say you're going to get a lawyer to sue them what that was last meeting that was last meeting I saw that so that went through without any discussion or whatever but in May there was no problem because our solicitor was there said he didn't see any problem somebody else was with them and said oh they didn't see any problems but now all of a sudden three months later we're suing the person okay again people who you hear that are trying to say are not telling you the truth are telling you the truth okay so please don't be just condescending to them and they said there was a problem back in May and prior to that the city did react on okay thank you thank you Dennis hi Sherry lilienfeld 7809 Wellington Avenue first thing I wanted to welcome Jimmy back we missed you Jimmy as you all know has been very instrumental in keeping the work sites clean and thank you for that as a member of the Margate Green Team greatly appreciate that um I'm not going to comment on the parking lot I just wanted to reinforce what the last gentleman said about a shuttle service and Jitney service um um other short communities have it obviously you know I really care that whatever you do is is green but I do feel it would encourage people to maybe walk to a bus stop let's say you do a loop around Amhurst Avenue to ventor oranic it would really help the parking situation especially for people or year year round residents who live what I call you know further back near the schools um so anyway just wanted to say like definitely think about that I'm sure there's obviously there's going to be a cost you have to invest in the jitneys you have to invest in someone driving them and insurance and all that but definitely put it on a planning item it would really help the parking situation in the daytime and in the evenings when if you go to those restaurants down there and nowan birdies is you can never find any parking so even with the paid parking lot so that's it thank you and welcome back Jim thank you Sher Sher I did I wish Chief Hinson was here because I had asked him and he did send me an email in reference to the last attempt with the Jitney he said it was suspended due to lack of ridership um and he sent me a couple of things but it doesn't give me any detail as to I know there was some concerns about the stops the locations and people weren't happy with the locations that own those houses they didn't want people congregating um but I did ask him to get me all he he sent me the stop locations and why it was terminated but that was it but it is something we talk about and we're not opposed to reconsider and try again well you have the the group um that takes input right from the citizens that you sign I mean obviously maybe that's something they could talk about so uh Rich Tolson and I actually um had a meeting with uh gentleman from Ocean City who who uh is in charge of purchasing there and runs their Jitney service so we got details on their process costs all of that and um again something that again kind of reinforcing the citizens advisory you know I wish everybody would reach out to them because they they do have a good pulse of of all of this and they have the concerns that they're bringing to us that they're they're hearing from the community and Rich did give a report at the last meeting meeting and and address some of those and I believe he plans to come once a month to address uh to address their meeting and update yeah I mean I mean I'll definitely reach out to him about it but maybe that would be something when he does come to ask him I know I think C City also has a JY or something maybe get input for them too yeah I believe when we met it was April or May and we knew we were not going to have time to put anything in before this summer so we kind of said let's look in the fall and and really take a hard look at it to see to see what we're what we're dealing with cost wise okay thank you thank you electric or hydrogen hey guys Joe Doyle 406 North Lancaster um as a member of the Green Team before I would have been stoked if we were able to get this lot for the price that we were getting the Burger Bar back then to make it all permeable space native flowers and all that but that's not the case I mean this thing best case scenario is going to cost us the city about $2 million I know you said mayor that this is within the budget wouldn't the budget be easier to meet if we didn't have this cost on top of it we then really stay within the budget we have Surplus for the fire trucks that we could start paying on now uh contract them something like that I just look at the plan it's under 30 spots I figured it out for 30 so the math is easier it's about $70,000 per spot to buy this thing if we have 13 weeks that's being generous because some of those early weeks in June and we don't have a whole lot of people around school's still in session uh we needed about eight hours a day maximum and that's being generous that is 96 hours a week uh about 960 hours or so for the summer is what we need not 96 hours for we 56 but about 960 hours per the summer is what we need this parking lot will help us with if we're charging a dollar an hour each spot gives us back under ,000 a summer so at that rate it's going to cost us over 73 years is to get this investment back in this asset I mean do we need more parking yeah but the businesses that are going to benefit from this they went into business knowing what the parking situation was if they couldn't handle it then it was a bad investment to go into business does it get crowded down there absolutely but we don't need the city to finance this lot for however long it's going to take and you said it's not a big uh cost to the taxpayer but it is something as Mr wi pointed out you know there is a cost for this so I am fully against this um it seems like it's a very expensive solution looking for a full-time problem instead of a problem that's going to happen just a couple weeks out of the year so I say we stay under the budget we even if this is in budget let's keep it way under budget by not buying this property and letting people deal with it is deal with what we have they want to they can ride bikes there they can walk there get a Jitney service that's a great idea have it pick up a couple places around the uh City on an hourly basis so people could ride up but we don't need the city buying this lot because it's just it's too expensive even if it is within budget so that's what I'm saying thank you Joe Sam lashman 119 North Anover Avenue uh a different question uh I don't know if there's been any news or update on the noise situation that we had comments on last time if you have any time after you get done with the parking issue maybe somebody could say it's gotten better or not hopefully it's gotten better thank you yes Sam so uh as I mentioned Police Department's been working uh Matt do you want to take yeah we had we had numerous conversations with the owners of memories he is very receptive to changing the frequencies um lowering the volume it seems to have uh gotten gotten better um there is some noise when the doors open to the club that's out of our control when the doors open but every effort has been made with with the neighborhood and speaking with the neighbor Neighbors in trying to uh come up with a solution to keep the business running and to keep the neighborhood as happy as can be and as I mentioned commissioner horn and I were both there the past two weekends uh we felt like it was it was definitely a better situation than what we heard and speaking with the residents this week uh Pat Uh and I actually were down there uh we uh put some more trash cans to to try to resolve some of the trash issues and we were speaking to some of the residents and I think they said the last two weekends were were much more pleasant than what it was before so we're making progress and we feel we feel good about the direction we're headed and additionally even after the the mayor and the commissioner were there I was there at 5 o'clock in the morning looking at the area and the area around memories was very clean there were some uh cans and cups along the promade area I spilled with Pat and Public Works comes in at 6:00 am. on Saturdays and Sundays if they could just go police the area for anything not even memories related any trash that may have been left hat was very receptive to it so we're we're attempting on all fronts great thank you Dave Decker 105 North Adams um I think we all know that parking has been a problem with Margate forever I was a regular here in the middle 70s to the middle 80s we run at a house on cool your mom if I didn't park my car on Thursday night I didn't get a parking space I would have to park in long because there was nothing in the Marina District you have the same situation there I understand we come down here I purchased a house seven eight years ago I know we have a park so we deal with it but I was curious about the gas station uh I'm assuming that's been there operational back in the day for at least 50 years back more more 60 years back when did they become non-operational as far as the gas pumps and where the tanks removed Scott I don't know if you I believe it was within the last two years and very recently and the tanks had to be removed for insurance purposes have they done any monitoring Wells there's a whole D um monitored program there yes has they G have they gone outside of the property I believe they have but we don't we do not have all of those reports we have a due diligence period to look into that and spend the money to investigate it but we it's been represented that yes the D is all over this with Exon that would be my biggest problem we all know that if you dig a hole in the ground very before you hit sand and sandy soil if you've ever been involved in a gas station number of them back in the 50s and the 60s they were dumping oil and the pipes that got abandoned all of them did you're right so that that could be a real problem could Road as far as how much remediation they have to do and how it's going to affect all the properties around them just a thought thank you Dave Jody singer 9510 Amherst Avenue uh first I want to publicly thank the chief for much more presence on the street I still stand by that I think a SUV on Madison Avenue would intimidate a lot of the the crazy oh well that's good to know that's good and I want to thank you two for getting up at two o'clock in the morning with your spouses and wandering into the area to see what it's like so it's more reality um so I want to thank you for that and I want to thank the director of public yes for you guys coming yesterday you the mayor reached out to me and I want to thank you for that to come through with the trash cans and I really think that's going to make a difference so that's one of the three things so the trash I really feel we're getting under control the one thing about the sound last meeting they talked about no one is trained in decimals how does how do we make that happen how do you get some un trained is this something um uh super expensive thing for the city it doesn't seem that complicated to get someone trained in that area and it's not just about memories I think a lot of clubs would appreciate a lot of residents would appreciate if someone was trained in that instead of being like Oh it's too loud which is what's happening and yes Teddy um I I just think that moving forward into the next season we should have a little bit more in place with the sound and also with maybe like we talked about the home Marina District possibly getting some public bathrooms you know not pter John but like trailers you know to make it kind of a little bit more effective and I think the police have to spend so much time chasing the kids it would if we had trailers there that could be monitored a lot more easy than just chasing but again I want to thank you guys for really kind of showing up and paying attention to our needs from last week thank yeah yeah thank you and I think it caught all of us probably by surprise this summer and um I I think we're going to continue to work together to to get a resolution so thank you good evening Alan Alexander 9704 vetner Avenue I'm going to um direct this to the mayor uh last meeting um I brought up uh the zoom and I was just wondering if you had I know you're really busy you have a lot on your plate um were you able to get in touch with your um it people and find out anything if we can get move forward with getting back Zoom um time goes by so fast and people will be going south soon so yeah so I reached out to uh to ventner um Venter is in the process of installing a system uh which would be similar to what we would need here okay um they shared their uh their price quote for how they're going to outfit their Chambers uh it it would be unique for this Chambers compared to theirs and it would would certainly have to be customized but we at least have an idea of one the vendor they're using the price we're looking at and um you know moving forward looking to move forward in that direction so it is possible that it will happen yes okay because especially all this going on I mean I think a lot of people would really appreciate it being on zoom and especially with this going on with the gas station and everything because I mean we'll all be going soon so I really appreciate that thank you thank you okay hi I'm mitcho it's at 8802 ventner Avenue I grew up in Margate on Douglas Avenue um I just think from a different perspective about the parking lot I I I think it is an asset that the city um could have I'm going to set aside the financial considerations because I just take I'm interested in the Aesthetics you look at the burger bar or that's a travesty you look at the gas station it is a complete eyes store needs to be remed but I think you and the government and I don't know how the planning works here but I think there should be some broader planning perspective as to what could beautify the city and make it make it more attractive for everybody I mean the parking lot you know the car culture just adding a asphalt lot that just radiates heat and encourages more cars coming into the city and there um doesn't add to the enjoyment for everybody I mean just kind of a more pleasant place to be in that area is frankly it's pretty bad I mean right I mean the down Beach Del is not doesn't look all that great um talk we got I mean the the Burger Bar the the bus the bus turnaround spot which is out of our control obviously and I don't know how the Burger Bar ended up as it was and how that was approved um but you had that and now you had a parking lot and it's just I mean it just feels like the city's going downward in terms of just care for what our environment looks like um and so I would just encourage you to kind of think otherwise about it's probably it sounds like it's too late from the parking lot perspective but generally the city as a whole I think you ought to give some consideration to the the environment in which we all live walk and breathe every day which it just feels like we're not giving enough heat to that so yeah I think over the next five years you're going to see a a lot of changes in that area of town uh the burger buses for sale um as Jay had had pointed out they're they receive zoning board approvals for uh commercial with residential above um there are multiple people inquiring about that property purely for commercial um and they would they would not have residential there which would be a win for the city again as as we would preserve more of our commercial District uh the property across from uh bokeh uh the it was a Chinese restaurant um that has been uh torn down that uh that development again um I don't have uh any of the elevations here but it's it's a pretty pretty goodlooking building that's going to going to add value to the city and I know um you know certainly the taco cat down Beach Deli there's there's discussions for some Renovations there to improve improve that as well so I think I think we're going to see a lot of a lot of changes um in the next five years or so in that sounds very good there I I just in the terms of the parking lot I'll just if I had my brothers I would you know make it a park because I just don't think the parking is as important and I where I would um buy the land ande and not not allow a three four story building but lease it for you know kind of one story commercial and make money on a lease and add attractive stores and perhaps a restaurant there as well just um anyway that's one great thank you hi I'm Ken grman six Bay shpt been a resident for about 45 years um I'm sitting here like a fly on the wall just listing some really good ideas I'm just wondering is this a Fade Out comp plea do we have any say parking lot's going to go through regardless of what goes on here so I mean it it will come to a vote uh at the commission me we already passed the ordinance at the last meeting anybody here I mean certainly we we welcome public comment at all of our meetings welome it's not going to change your idea right sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't I haven't heard anything that it's going to change me personally I have not have you commissioner k no it's a fade outcome please so this waste of time so so I might if I might if I might suggest uh the the idea is that we have the ability the three Commissioners here and we did it last week we uh at our last meeting we have the ability to pull and table this ordinance we don't have to vote on it now the idea is and my suggestion last meeting will be the same suggestion I have this meeting that we table this ordinance we kill this resolution that will automatically pull $100,000 out of our budget that's real month so we can table this ordinance we can in November give the people an opportunity to vote we this is a lot of absolutely absolutely I feel like it's being rammed down our throats actually independent of that that this is this is a lot of money for me $3 million is a lot of money this lot is not free the financial people that advise me are different than the financial people that are advising Mike $3 million is $3 million it will impact our budget might not impact our budget this year but it's going to impact our budget next year and the idea is if it won't impact our budget next year there are important things that we will not be able to do that we have planned to do I I trust that seven out of the 10 people here had no idea that we were talking about spending three million dollar until last week when they heard when it got out into the into social media that we were planning to do it if we've been talking about this for six months two to three people that come to these meetings are the ones that heard it on a regular basis not the not the general public that this is directly going to imp I'm proud to boast 10 straight years and we did this when we were campaigning of no Municipal tax increase we're not allowed to say that this year because you all have seen your tax bill and your taxes went up and they're going to go up next year I'm I'm just telling you that's the way it is or a lot of stuff isn't going to get done the for me and the people that I talk it the reality here is that we have a large parking inconen venience three weekends out of the Year exactly we have a we have a small in that area a small parking inconvenience 10 weeks out of the Year okay I'll give somebody 13 if they want 13 we have no inconvenience nine months out of the year so what's going to happen what what I think is going to happen is that you're going to see this empty parking lot for nine months out of the year now I I commend my fellow Commissioners that they are now happily and it sounds like we'll consider the alternative design that we have but we shouldn't even be looking at that right now we should be looking at asking the people if this is something that they want to spend their money on and uh you know so so at that point in time when the when the time comes uh when we start the next meeting I I am again going to suggest that we that ordinance and kill that resolution so thank you for the consideration yeah and just to respond commissioner uh you know when we campaigned with you uh the first thing uh you said when you uh agreed to to run with us was the the no tax increase and then um very quickly we realized that that was not possible as we were talking with uh our CFO and and other people uh with within the city so you know commissioner horn and I were misled that that was something we would be able to to continue and you even um spoke in your letter to the MBA calendar which I think we did our writeups in October right after the election saying that we would see a municipal increase so you knew going in that we were going to see an increase and you withheld that from us and we thought that was something we'd be able to to go forward with as it turns out as I spoke before um there were two Capital ordinances in 2018 and 2019 that um had to be tacked on to last year's budget because uh the previous administration kept pushing it down to to down the line um and again that represented 54% of the that's $1.1 million over $1.1 million that was added as a single line item to our budget last year that was kicked down from um from those years so that was something we had to absorb uh certainly didn't want to raise your taxes and and want to be responsible uh financially going forward and have full intentions of doing so kicking the co you're just kicking the can down the road the last Administration is this Administration basically maybe a new face the same stuff tell me about coming to my house and knocking on my door and asking if I need a parking lot when did you come to anybody's house so so what what commissioner horn was referring to is when we campaigned and we the en when we campaigned in canvas the entire town um you brought the you brought the parking lot up no when we campaigned and canvas the entire town um I was tasked with taking notes and um 95% of uh the respondents was parking parking parking parking parking parking parking and beach beach Block Park Beach block parking so wait these parking spots for beachgoers oh no they're for the commercial commercial area or is it both uh I mean if somebody's going to go to the beach in the what were we thinking 2our time limit and come back then certainly they could go to the beach but this the idea is for transient turnover in our business district to support our businesses I respectfully suggest that you do a very formal survey by some outside company to see the need for this parking lot seriously because if it's going to be empty for nine months of the year how how can you explain spending all this money for 22 spots how can you explain that it makes no sense makes no sense and I think beyond that I think that you need to have a referendum because you f to 95% of the people who want parking tell them about the parking lot I would suggest that probably a great majority would not want that I think you know you're the mayor you should do the fting of the residents don't you think so what why not table it and just wait why push it through what's the big deal so again if this is a has been a long process since the beginning and tabling tabling the resolution and the ordinance a long process since November I keep on hearing from six months yes it's been eight eight nine months process since November it's not a long time what's the rush well Rush is that we have a pending Grant application and and the requirement to do this in order to to continue on that path slow down slow down thank you very much time appreciate it appreciate it herbo stack 108 North Adams Avenue you guys were elected easy to people the people are speaking they're not looking for they're looking for what they want not what the commission wants or what a three Commissioners want I say let's do what they did on the boardwalk let's have a vote in November and see if it goes it's being fair if it says that we need a parking knot so be it if it says we don't get a parking knot so bit I can tell you one thing if parking's been a problem why is the zoning board keep priting new buildings new companies new establishments not the correct amount of parking we just had a new place approved but zoning board required 29 cars you know what we got zero parking so the people that are live around that nightclub or whatever you want to call it those cars are going to take their places and more cars are going to need parking for the residents start listening also to the residents and this these people out here are saying let's go for a vote let's have some public meetings about it let's just not to make some decisions a lot of people presented it say this is going to be a profit loss thing you guys are not listening to what the people want to say you're just sitting there and taking command and having some inner spouse or inner feuds among the th of and it's not acceptable to the voters thank you her do we have any more public comment hi um my name is uh Dan balis and I'm at 302 North Kenyon I was wondering is um we heard I heard you you're talking about some components of um various parking ideas and visions and whatnot um does a town does City have a um a comprehensive parking plan um for the next 5 10 years to develop parking uh no I don't believe there there was any plan done um Roger would be be the one that would would know the answer that but Roger oh who's Ro Roger just oh he left okay so um our our traffic planner and our our city planner hasen't been involved the engineers haven't been involved in any developing any comprehensive approach to parking in the city uh not that I know of okay yeah I don't know if that's part of the master plan Jim is that um there what I remember reading it it did mention um alternate side of the street beach par parking not sure why that never went through but it did mention it in there and we're up to doe yeah the master plan will be bid in January um and will be every 10 years it's revised so the the existing one is about 10 years old yeah I'm real familiar with Master plans having worked on some of them but um um there're great guidance documents and Bedrock foundation for for other steps that the city would take but they're not um operational plans they're not development plans they give guidance about what the city should be looking to do but it would take an actual plan to actually do something like that so if we don't have a parking plan at this point and I would agree that we need parking I don't necessarily agree we need immediate parking in that particular part of the city I say the Southside business district um needs a lot more but I understand targets of opportunity fine but without a a comprehensive plan we're just you know flailing about waiting for somebody to help us out and uh pull us out of a run um so that's one recommendation I would make um I would suggest you whether you hold off on this or not okay and it seems like it might be more prudent to hold off on it but definitely get a body together um to develop a comprehensive parking plan so we're not talking about you know who's willing to sell who's not willing to sell who it's going to benefit Etc down the road um the the second thing I would I would suggest is the parking that the city wants to develop uh all the parking that the city wants to develop at what I've heard tonight um is to help our businesses which I would agree we need to help businesses keep the ratables here uh we've lost so many ratables over the last 20 years that I've been here um it's it's really sad to see how the town is losing this stuff the city um why not make a partnership with um the business community to develop parking so that the onus for paying for it all isn't on the taxpayers the businesses can share in some of this since they are the ones benefiting from continued or expanded uh business traffic yeah so so we have solicited um planning services from an outside party and uh Roger uh and I have had discussions regarding the overall plan the parking the uh basically the five 10 20 year future of of Margate that involves this and how it'll be tied into the master plan and that is a component of it so you know we talk about these it's it's it's very difficult for a business to open up and meet the commercial parking requirement there's um there's actually uh you can research nationally um they're trying to eliminate commercial parking requirements in in many areas because it's just not it's just not realistic for businesses to operate with under those requirements um our discussion was requiring the businesses to pay when they get so pay into a fund that will be used for these these parking lots parking purchases as as they get parking variances for commercial so that that is a component that uh our planner uh and Roger are are looking into we're looking into so that would pardon me eventually be part of a comprehensive parking plan um when could we expect a comprehensive parking plan could be completed well I imagine it would be tied into the master plan um Again Jim do you have a better idea of of Master Plan timeline or Scott maybe next year starting that starting to review the master plan yeah but there there's a fundamental problem here and you're all you're all seem to be missing it I was just going to keep my m a bunch of fundamental problems but I can't help it yeah so I'm going to have my two cents forth too if you don't want well wait till he's done well well I thought he was done I was again I just want to emphasize master plan is great but you need to operationalize things that are mentioned in the master plan so comprehensive parking plan not just ideas you know mentioned getting getting getting things down on the ground would be really good to have so that we can avoid these kinds of discussions in the future I appreciate your feedback thank you but but I'd like to answer him if I can so here's the fundamental problem that I've been doing these for 40 years now I represent number of planning and zoning boards and municipalities it's the opportunity to buy the property yeah Target of opportunity if you don't and whether they buy it or they don't buy it if you wait until you have a master plan and a referendum what are you going to do you going to condemn the property you're going to implement eminent domain how exactly do you get these properties and once they've been sold and redeveloped with brand new structures the cost is astronomical then the opportunities lost unfortunately the town didn't get that vacant lot across from Johnny that was a perfect solution but the political opposition oh it's going to cost us money how about if you start to lose some of your businesses you know we've been lucky but a lot of towns look at Longport they they're down to one commercial property and so your opportunities here you have to pick them now I did like the idea that commissioner blumberg said why don't you make some of it a park personally I think we need some open space that end of town doesn't have the parway like this end of the town has look I'm a taxpayer here I've raised my I've lived here for 60 some years got my grandchildren growing up in this town I love this town I understand the vision here to try to not have big commercial structures built this is an opportunity it's only there fleetingly if the town doesn't grab it somebody else is going to buy it and then it's gone this property is unique too it's got three sides of street with currently driveways those driveways for the most part be reduced by I guess about half so it isn't just 30 spaces on site it's also the on street parking that'll be created will it benefit places look my family had Maloney for years they had virtually no parking any of the places we loved growing up with Maloney the sailfish now boka Margate movies Essex Avenue Bowling Alley all of those places none of them had any parking the way these standards these standards are goals they're lofty goals but virtually no commercial business can meet them uh so what do we do some towns are getting rid of commercial parking requirements because they know it doesn't all it does is it locks everything in place and nobody can redevelop or build new structures so yeah you're right you're all right that we have to think about this and what are we doing but these opportunities only come along infrequently God I remember years ago begging them bu her Fishers 800 foot of vacant ground ran from Scot stocks to the uh Margate Yak oh we can't do that' be too much M Chris you could have bought it for under $800,000 would have been the nicest park in South Jersey I thought didn't do it opportunity lost so look I realized some political differences here I know but in my view and been a longtime resident here I want some open space I don't want it all build up I want to see some parks I I want to have easier parking if I go to castles or Boo or wherever so I know it's every oh the money we've now crossed s billion doll rable base that's what this town's worth and uh you have to put money back in to maintain and and quantify make it a quality community that it is I think we all want that so look I've been heavily involved with this it's been going on now for really more like a year so to hear oh we didn't know about this well I apologize for that but there's been a lot of discussion about it to push it along so here it is tonight if you don't buy this he going to sell it to somebody else you don't have six months to screw around with a get a new master plan or maybe go to a referendum how's that going to yeah well that's it okay thank you um I'm glad that whatever little I've said has helped to stimulate your response it has you very helpful to me but I just I just I just want to note that I did talk about I did to quote myself I don't have a problem with targets of opportunity I understand targets of opportunity I've taken advantage of them all my uh professional career so so we're we're we're talking the same language here and and I understand exactly what you're saying about all the all the properties of our youth that we and the opportunities that could have been taken if the price didn't seem so high at the time so we're we we my wife and I were talking about that uh just today geez we could have had that building for $90,000 it's worth $3 million now right you know really so I understand what you're saying about that um I'm just saying whatever you do for this particular Target of opport Unity okay and I understand folding it into your bonding um uh portfolio reduces the the the total impact of the purchase because B basically you're paying principal interest you're not paying you're not throwing $3 million on your operating budget right which would have a big impact so you got principal and interest which reduces the impact overall at the same time I assume you can answer this or not I don't care um at the same time that I assume you're retiring various levels of debt so that you maintain your your your indebtedness at a at a certain governable level okay so you're not just going into debt Deb debt Deb debt correct we again every year as we go through the budget process it is uh you're retiring something that gives you the opportunity to take on something like a new fire truck and whatnot so that's fine I I don't have a problem with that I think that's very well manageable what I'm recommending is and I'm not necessarily not necessarily saying hold off until you get the M master plan master plan if you get it done in a year you're doing really well if you're doing a comprehensive review so where are you a planner just out of curiosity well I'm not I'm not a planner I was a I was a planner and auditor and whatnot for the Department of unit services for 40 years and uh you live here I've been with the town um well we've got a house here and we've been here full-time since March we also have a house in Hamilton where I was on Town Council and the environmental commission involved in the master planning uh process um so so I understand all of that stuff and it's a bear it's a bear um if you want some help fine I'll be available to help you on it um whatever you need but um U I do recommend getting a comprehensive plan for parking so that we can take advantage of future targets of opportunity okay let you know carve out a particular area say we need parking in this area so when something becomes available baboom we're ready to jump on it okay rather than out of the seemingly out of the blue taking taking on a on a task anyway um um enough said um you know who I am Mr galantino knows who I am by the way our our Landscaping at 302 North Canyon I think you'll like it you should you should come by it's matured now so it's really it's really coming in nicely so thank you for your your guidance and your your help for that pardon me oh let's yeah we don't want to take up the time for that um thank you very much and um you know let's let's talk um Mr Mayor may I speak as a member of the advisory committee you may steid just please state your name and address for the record sorry stepen Alman 9003 mhst Avenue Margate I grew up here I went to Granville Avenue School and I've been honored to be the only member of both this advisory committee and the previous one uh uh under the previous administrations and I've had the opportunity to talk to my neighbors I haven't knocked on doors but I'm a big one for interviewing people that I meet at the library which I spend a lot of time at the library and I'll ask people have you heard about the parking lot what do you think generally people are negative generally they have been negative however I would like to tell you what I tell them that there are more uh aspects to this parking than just the parking lot there are the bicycle racks which you all have seen and which is helping parking there are um ideas about the bus service the Jitney Service as it were there are uh help me out here because we've talked about this electrical pardon electric plugs electric yes there there there are a lot of components going into a lot of thinking going into resolving these parking issues more just the parking lot the last gentleman who was up here I thought was brilliant and of course Mr ABT is always brilliant now I supported mari's ideas when we were talking about a parking lot for about 600,000 was it I supported him wholeheartedly and it was not adopted and that was a big loss I have to part company with my friend Mari on this one because I think really what you're proposing is an opportunity you're proposing an opportunity tonight and we don't have time to go to a referendum or we would lose this lot which would be a big loss now there there there are all kinds of things in the work including the master plan which is not even underway yet I do understand if I'm correct that there is a discussion to have um a park as part of this parking lot that it's not just going to be cars and asphalt and that was Mar's idea with the previous plan that he supported and it was a good one and he went to a lot of effort we had meetings here with with uh beautiful signs showing uh the possibili so he's got great ideas and what I'm saying to all of you fellow citizens is this is not just about a parking lot it's about a comprehensive plan to improve morgage if I'm not mistaken there is some discussion about limiting the number of bedrooms in future construction is that correct someone told me that that they were going from five bedrooms to maybe three or something I don't want to get into an argument on that but the idea is there are just a lot of ideas being circulated and they will some of them come to fruition and some of them won't but I think this is really just an opportunity to secure a bid on a property am I correct it's the opportunity to bid on the property no it's to buy it it is to buy bu okay anyway all I want to say is if you folks have complaints or suggestions we have brochures I put some in the library uh I don't see any here oh they are we have some over here and if you email us of I forgot where I was my apologies anyway if you contact the advisory committee we take your ideas seriously we look at them we compare with other people's ideas and then we move ahead I see another advisory committee person in the gr so please take one of these over there and contact us with your ideas and we'll get them to the Commissioners and I thank you thank you Steve again J wi tret ten nor Franklin haven't moved um we're four months away from an election time now I know bud and Bud still run his business we just talked last week he's selling his propane he's doing his work he's making money has like no overhead and he says if I have to wait I'll wait I'm in no hurry why can't we put this to a vote to the public I know how Mr blumberg feels okay I agree I think a lot of people would four months isn't going to break make or break a deal but your answers to this are telling us that what you think the future is mar are you willing to go to a referendum hear what the people want and I'm curious to hear you response yeah so I think uh the people spoke in May of last year and elected the three of us to make tough decisions so if we're talking about a $30 million Boardwalk project that has millions of dollars in maintenance okay maybe that's something that goes to referendum if we're talking about a $3 million purchase of an asset with very little maintenance that is something that you've entrusted us to make a decision and again as commissioner horn said you're not going to agree with every decision we make I'm not expecting that we're going to make everybody happy with every decision we make uh but I will say that while the majority of people here are here against it because people like yourself post on social media don't do this because of this this and this which I stated facts to contradict because a lot of that was was mis misleading information the majority of people that have reached out to me specifically I just got an email two hours before this meeting don't let this opportunity pass you're not going to get opportunities like this and again we talk over and over again about these Lots years ago that commissioner blumberg wanted to that we missed out Scott just brought it up again that we don't have the luxury of missing out on opportunities they're not going to be there's not going to be opportunities like this going forward so the answer is no you don't want to hear from the people thank you I do want to say one thing to that we always want to hear from the people and when we have a 15minute meeting and we're in and out that's disappointing that that's should it shouldn't be that way but we don't always have to agree discussions are good you say you're not going to change my mind I'm not changing your mind but it's good to have this discussion because down the road we might the gentleman that just spoke that was brilliant like we might hire him down the road he had great ideas I it's good to discuss these things the people from the Mariner that meeting went on forever did we get up and like go home and say too bad there's a bar there no we came together Chief Hinson was out there the next morning I was there Saturday he was there so these discussions are good we're not always going to agree Jay and I'm sorry if I sounded condescending to you because anybody that knows me I'm the least condescending person but I will say this I wonder if you would have said that to me if I wasn't a female so I'm Gonna Leave You with that and Jay some let let the commissioner speak listen so I think these discussions are good I do I think what you just said was this disgraceful com all right whether you're a man or a woman doesn't matter okay if you knew me you knew my business my client base is 70% women okay that have lost husbands that have been divorced okay that come to me as business women and what might help not because I speak to them as a man to a woman but a person to a person and what you said was disgraceful unall for you should be ashamed of yourself so so Jay I just want to just want to speak to again I think I think all of us I mean I can just speak to everybody in the room we all love Margate right we people come up we have we have complaints that it's not perfect but we live in a great town and I think we all need to appreciate that I say it all the time our police fire Public Works they're the most underappreciated departments around they do such a good job they keep our streets clean they keep them safe uh they respond to everybody we live in a great town it's not it's not perfect it's not what everybody's vision is everybody came from a different place not everybody grew up here some people come from from other areas and have different experiences and they bring those experiences here and they want to try to uh to try to improve Margate in their mind in in that way and and I will tell you right now I I am receptive to everybody you I'd be happy to sit down with you Jay and and go over your vision for Margate I will sit I can meet you next week and I mean it in full sincerity and I mean that to every resident of Margate I meet with people I I listen and I listen sincerely because I care because this is the town I grew up in this is the town I'm raising my family in so I'm a taxpayer just like all of you I don't want my taxes to go up I don't what I want is to imp improve this town in a fiscally responsible manner going forward and we can't be caught in again missed opportunity and we can't be caught in 2024 we need to we need to look forward and I don't I don't pass any blame on the previous administration for this I speak to you know commissioner blumberg and obviously the the other two often um I offer a younger perspective I want to look forward for the next 20 years some people here may not agree with that because maybe they they you know represent a different age demographic but my my parents are in this town so I care about uh the seniors in this town my kids are in this town I care about the kids and I care about my generation as well so I think I'm trying to offer a perspective for the future that works for all of all of our residents all of our visitors first homeowners second homeowners all of this nonsense about local non-local year round verse n year round it's it's baloney I don't I don't believe any of that I I believe that we I value everybody's opinion whether you're here two months a year whether you came from Pennsylvania whether you go to Florida to me that doesn't matter you're a resident of Margate you could visit for one weekend and I care I want I want you to have a good experience here and again not trying to make everybody happy failure is trying to make everybody happy that's it's you it's impossible to do what I'm trying to do is set forth a plan for the future of this town I want to I want to do that in a responsible way trying to again we talk about the tax increase of last year we didn't want to raise taxes none of the three of us wanted to do it we get the budget numbers we see how pensions increase healthare increases different things increase a lot of those are out of our control and and we do the best we can to try to uh keep everything within our budget we talk operating budget all the time if you know so I am uh Commissioner of Public Works so so Pat and I go through a budget if his line item in his budget says he has $110,000 in it we're not trying to spend $110,000 that year we're trying to spend as little as possible Chief hinson's probably the best in the city as far as keeping a a tight budget we're we're not we're not saying the money's there let's spend it we are responsible to the taxpayer and we always will be and again I welcome feedback I welcome input and I think again it takes a big group it takes a lot of people to come up with with these ideas our citizens advisory committee is great I met with with them for uh their July meeting um great feedback and and I want to continue to have that that meeting but again Jay and and everybody else here happy to to sit down um Sher can tell you you know she'll grab me when she sees me uh we have we have very good conversations relevant to to Margate relevant to the things we're discussing here relevant to the Future um Sher won't let me not uh answer one of her questions if I wait a week she'll hit me up again what's what are you thinking and I think that's great because again we are accountable to to all of you and I I encourage you all to again I I encourage as commissioner horn said encourage you all to show up to the meetings we we appreciate the feedback uh I encourage you all to reach out what phone call email um set up an inperson meeting I personally prefer in-person meeting because I think it's just it it's just more personable and I think you can actually uh get to know somebody a little bit better and and and truly understand what their motives are so I encourage you all to do that with all three of us we um we are invested in this town and we will continue to be so appreciate that okay you want to meet next week all right I will reach out thank you all right do we have a motion to close public comment motion I will second mayor Collins yes commissioner blumberg yes commissioner horn yes is there a motion to adjourn motion I have will second mayor Collins yes commissioner blumberg yes commissioner horn yes all right thank you everybody we're just going to take a two-minute break before the We Begin the commission meeting