good good evening everyone special guests this meeting is being held in accordance with the public laws of 1975 chapter 231 and adequate notice this meeting has been provided by a notice sent to the ASR Park Press Two of times and the Star Ledger and posted in the main lobby of the municipal building and on the municipal website opma authorizes municipalities to conduct public meetings through use of streaming services and other online meeting platforms the Red Bank Council is meeting in person as well as providing an option for the public to participate these Zoom video meetings please note that the option to attend is being provided as a courtesy therefore Zoom becomes unavailable during the meeting and to not be quickly fixed Council will continue with the remainder of the meeting for those of for those joining us via Zoom please raise your hand oring designated times to be recognized for a comment whether you appearing in person or via Zoom you must provide your name to be recognized please rise for theedge aliance Al unit States Amica and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God invisible with liberty and justice for all thank you roll call please Lord council member bonais here council member Cassidy here council member facy Blackwood pres council member flus pres council member janon pres Deputy Mayor Triano here and mayor Portman here pres thank you um we have a couple of proclamations the first one is for pride month whereas the burrow of Red Bank is a diverse lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer lgbtq plus community that includes people of many races ethnicities religions and professions and whereas diversity is a Community Asset that enhances and enriches the lives of all community members and whereas the burough of Red Bank recognizes and honors the history of lgbtq plus Liberation movement and supports the rights of all citizens to experience equality and freedom from discrimination and whereas the B of Red Bank observes pride month with a flag the rainbow flag is widely recognized as a symbol of Pride inclusion and support for social movements that advocate for lgbtq plus people and society and whereas the burough of Red Bank is committed to supporting visibility dignity and equality for lgbtq plus people in our community and whereas while Society at large increasingly supports lgbtq plus equality it is essential to acknowledge that the need for education and awareness remains vital to end discrimination and Prejudice and whereas this nation was founded on the principle that every individual has infinite dignity and worth and the bur of Red Man calls upon its citizens to embrace this principle and work to eliminate Prejudice everywhere it exists and whereas celebrating pride month influences awareness and provide support and advocacy for the lgbtq plus community and is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances build acceptance and Advance equal rights now therefore be resolved that r Bank hereby proclaims the month of June 2024 as pride month in support and support of the lgbtq plus Community recognizing all lgbtq plus residents whose influential and Lasting contributions to our neighborhoods make Red Bank a Vibrant Community in which to live work and visit and now we have a proclamation in honor of juneth we our country is made up of people from every nation on Earth who were declared equal not only in freedom but also in Justice both of which are essential for a healthy human civilization and whereas our nation was conceived on July 4th 1776 with the Declaration of Independence the classic statement being we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and whereas at 2 pm on New Year's Day January 1st 1863 using his War Powers as President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation providing that all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state shall be then then forward and forever free the Emancipation Proclamation made the permanent abolition of slavery a union War aim and provided the legal framework for the emancipation of nearly all 4 million slaves as the Union's armies Advanced hearing of the Proclamation many slaves escaped to Union lines as the armies moved South and where as this news reached Texas when Union general Gordon Granger arrived in galon Bay with Union troops it was on June 19th 1865 that he announced the people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States all slaves are free whereas celebration of the end of slavery which became known as juneth is the oldest known public celebration of the end of slavery in the United States commemorating African-American freedom and celebrating the successes gained through education and greater opportunity and whereas on a larger scale celebration of juneth reminds each of us of the precious Promises of Freedom equality and opportunity which are at the core of the American dream and whereas juneth 2024 will be celebrated in Redbank on June 16th 2024 at Johnny Jazz park commencing at 1: p.m. now therefore I William Portman mayor of the burough bread Bank on behalf of the burough council do hereby Proclaim June 16th as a day to celebrate juneth 2024 and urge all citizens to celebrate juneth and recommit to working together to eradicate systemic racism and equality in our society wherever they find it next up we have something that no matter how the rest of the meeting goes is going to be my favorite part of the meeting I know it already we are honoring the Girl Scouts of troop 625 so let me read something about you guys so the project title which the girls came up with is the magic Sparkle girls Garden genius inspired inspired after cookie season The Troop discussed various things they could do with the money they earned selling cookies the girls decided to save some money spend some on an end of the year party and to use some of the proceeds to do a project in our community the project they decided upon for our community was to adopt a garden plot in town they coordinated with the burrow manager to get some options and selected a plot on White Street the girls learned about what types of plants would grow well in the plot given its exposure to Sun and chose drought resistant plants they would be easy maintain they set a budget of $200 to spend on Plants fairy houses and a sign for the garden they work through their budget to figure out how to best use our funds to fill the plot on May 3rd the girls planted the garden they're going to assign one girl to check on the garden each week over the summer so we can make sure it is weeded watered and continues to look great nice job girls to have another department to oversee quoting Mr Donahue there fairy hous is in all things sparkly so it's my greatest honor so I have a certificate of excellence for each one of you I call your name come on up I'll give it to you all right so first up and I'll read this one in its entirety and but they all be the same the bur of Red Bank certificate of excellence is presented to Adeline Dunn and the B girls couch tro magic with sparkle girls Garden on White Street next up I have a certificate for Annabelle McDonald all right next up is Avery dun right next up deing buy B buy ly all right thank you next up is Emma Goldenberg where's Emma got it next up is Evelyn t next up is Kieran is and next up is Liberty Birch to Mama way ahead of you next up is Lily ly Goldenberg next up is Mora Dei [Music] next up is Maya ruse R and next up is finally Mila Johnson thank you guys Co the trip leader should be in a tet Violet and Nicole Violet and Nicole get in the picture Viet and Nicole get in the picture anybody yes get in the picture hold on there's more people to get in the picture piure yeah get in there there we go I like it I like it two three couple of them all right one more look at me look at me look at me and I think you're in somebody okay you got it one more for good luck oh good girls here you go well those girls got good all right he's more popular on McLaren more popular in our neighborhood hair or pumpkin oh it is pumin mayor I'll see you back home all right thank you they're they're really very nice family I think you guys are all going out for ice cream now right is that true me right that is not good was about to have to reach into his own po that the other way absolutely my pleasure all right um picture came out next up we have Shauna I believe who is going to do give us the uh magical Sparkle self assessment m May Council I am here with um Susan pava from bfj um they have done a self assessment on Le borrow based on our um plan endorsement for our Cent a requirement asess it thank you Shauna that's a tough act to follow yeah think as dry as this but I will try to get through it fairly quickly um this the municipal self assessment or the MSA report is an important part of the plan endorsement process which uh in New Jersey generally seeks to align a municipalities master plan and other planning and policy documents with the state's plan which is state plan Bank in particular why this is important is it's Public's efforts to regain its designation as Regional Center in the state plan and also it's part of the process in transit Village designation so it's a procedural step it's formality as sh mentioned but it is an important part of that process and there are some other benefits as well which I'll touch on ultimately it's the state's office of planning advocacy who improves this invol all along the way repetition process to give us some guidance to make sure that the B is on the right track I just want to make clear that the MSA is not ay document doesn't have the force of the master plan it doesn't direct the b in a specific course of action but it's technical report it's meant to provide a detailed soqu conditions require planning efforts and documents and policies an initial list of what Red Bank hes get from the state part of this process includ direct requests to regain that Regional Center dation um and that would allow Red Bank to application St or other it's designation that you once had and it just expired um so it should be fairly simple to get it back but we do have to go through this process so I will note that in the MSA the municipal self assessment did ask for two waivers from the state for the procedures and the first of those is there's a community visioning requirement usually part of this process he asked if think successful but we um put basically made the case that process as our master plan that was fairly sensive so it did establish commun to be Carri forward to this process should satisfy that requirement and likewise there is a requirement in the MSA to do a CL of gen vulnerability assessment that was done as part of the master plan it's a legal requirement now for master plan so just did in the last two years so we think that will also there are some specific actions that we've highlighted in this MSA that the bro will get from the state as part of this um this designation or this of this process or what could further these efforts and the first of those relates to Sunset Avenue landfill site the Future Park um I think we're all very familiar with that um and it's really great that the the MMA County MMA conservation one excuse me just got $500,000 to further environmental testing and Environ State should be looking to help some of their funding so that's one thing that's highlighted um we've also highlighted the need for technical assistance as part of your Transit Village designation that's another opportunity for the state to offer funding new bip planes and related infrastructure or something that called out very strongly in the master plan and continues to be a priority we understand so that's something that we are highlighting for potential funding of Grants um and then also the Riverwalk continuing to expand gaps along the waterfronts that is something that we hope state will look kindly on in terms of finding lights um so we do believe that um the municipal self assessment does show that the bur's master plan and its other relevant planning documents are generally consistent with the state plan and they do lay the foundation for the next steps in the endorsement process which generally once uh you all refer it up to the state if you approve it um it basically goes to the off of planning advocacy there's number of steps that they undertake within different state agencies but this is you know kind of the key step on the BR end we were receive we wer in receiving excuse me of some comments on the draft um and I'm grateful for um residents who take a close read because they they were some good comments um and these I think you have the post change Pages for you tonight but I'm G to Qui through those they all relate to read development Rehabilitation so they're all in a single page of document page 19 and again I'll reiterate nothing in this document affects Redevelopment in any way it's not any kind of designation doesn't change any prior designation or process that has been completed or is under way but it's really just meant to relate the facts and the existing conditions and the existing state of Redevelopment so as a result of the comments that we received we have made a number of or several U recommended changes to the document and the first is just clarifying that the Visiting Nurse Association property I think WECT indicated was Redevelopment plan or Redevelopment designation that actually was part of the rehabilitation area um a Redevelopment plan was created for that site it was as part of the umbrella Rehabilitation area that's a clarification um another area is just the description of the rehab rehabilitation area um as I think you all know and it shows figure that's part of this draft plan for draft for that is a pretty extensive area we have area it covers much of downtown Red Bank basically West abroad and the language in the the draft report did talk about it being kind of around the train station which is accurate includes areas around the train station but includes a lot more so we're suggesting just some text to sort of clarify that further I don't think it was incorrect it just didn't quite explain the extent of that Rehabilitation area it was shown figure um the other change which I think is very technical but but is correct um is just clarifying that the two Redevelopment plans for the White Street lot and 55 West Front Street those were actually designated as part of a single reel design they were then created two different Redevelopment plans so we' made that clarification as well um so it's really just those kind of four EXC me there's another one um the new Redevelopment designation around the train station this just happened in the last six weeks and basically cross paths between when we submitted our draft and when you all made that designation so we have updated it to reflect that that designation now does exist so we do think that with these changes I think the picture of your Redevelopment plans and processes is very accurate at this point there was one other comment which was raised about shb Avenue I mean this one's interesting prir some digging on our part and's part more than us um there is a provision in your code not in the zoning code not in anything related to land use that does refer to shrewbury Avenue as a rehabilitation care a part of the code that deals with tax abatements and it's interesting that it was adopted the same year as the local Redevelopment housing law was adoped in New Jersey I'm not sure which came first but it is very clear that this portion of your code makes no reference at all through the local development hous involved so we don't think that that Rehabilitation area even though it's defined in that part of the code is a re Rehabilitation area under the lrhl so it makes no mention of any kind of zoning impact or Redevelopment plan any kind of land use aspect that so we we think it's still accurate to not discuss that um that Shrewsbury Avenue rehabilitation area which is frankly news to us I'm not sure if it's still even in effect it's still any books but um this section of the MSA was very specifically about areas that are under the lrhl and this I think clearly is not so we feel comfortable not including that in this section the other edits that just SP through so they were good comments just I'll wrap up with next steps we all have before you draft resolution send this up to the state once it gets to them they they will convene some different agencies and they'll do their own analysis consistency review and make sure that they agree with what what we're saying on your behalf which is that your planning documents to are generally consistent with the state's plan um and then there will be a final action done by the state Planning Commission of endorsement and after that it just becomes monitoring and keeping up your paperwork so this is an important big step of the process and it's the last one that's directly in your control um and after this we hope that the state will move expeditiously on your request yeah Ben um I don't remember your last name so I've been curious because for a long time I've attended these meetings prior to being a council member and we always refer to I attended these meetings long before I was a councilman and you often refer the body up here and others refer to us as a Transit Hub or Town Center what was the terminology used before so I'm just curious did the state event actively decide to remove all those designations or why did we lose it and now have to jump through these hoops again um because you know I for 20 years and I remember I think was proudly announced here probably I don't know it's mayor Mena or Pat Ed McKenna but you know how did that happen why do we have to do jump through these thingss again let me just clarify that I wasn't sure what you're were getting at the transit Village you don't have and never had it there's there's not a lot of communities around the states have reach that destination but it was the regional center designation in the state plan and on their state map and sure when back in 2020 so um New Jersey separated in into certain plan areas um there's plan area one plan area two um and others uh there's a few of other of them and it's based on like your density the amount of population that's there um the amount of roow and activity um there's protected areas and it just so happened that because where Red Bank is located and the fact that we're on a train line um that we are serviced by multiple um Transit uh areas Transit multiple types of mod modes of transportation and um the fact that this is a growing area the town well the state um the state planning office or commission um when they wrote the state plan they divided the uh the entire State up and we fell Red Bank within planning area one and a part of planning area one um it's it's another subsection of uh categories which is the center designation and we just meet the the different definition the definition of a center um and so a part of the state state plan um every year actually the state plan is very outdated it's been since 2001 they've been updating it yes they've been updating it and so a part of the whole process is that they have to um every couple of years redesignate each and every um every area within the the entire um State and so it's just that hours was up in 2020 and then because of covid the governor extended it um the deadline and then it was extended one more time and then we just had we're catching up with redesignating ourselves it's just a planning term honestly okay anything else so we don't get any state funding without all so we have to do all this in order to get like funding for anything River Walk which sound I love it well I I don't want to say you can't get funding just makes you more competitive to be designated as a center it shows that got a lot of planning activity behind this you were a growing area you're served by transit all the kind of boxes that the state likes to see check so it makes you more competitive thank you very much the state just like to see that we have ongoing activities that we're not stagnant that we are you know growing with the different initiatives that are happening um throughout the state um that we're keeping up with you know planning activities so this is what this um analysis is that we're improving that we're we're moving along with what the state plan has even though they're in a process of dating it but it's just saying that we're conforming to whatever the state plan is I can't help but be a little cical about me the state seems to revent itself itself on a regular basis and seems to not make its own deadlines on a lot of things so this is fine I guess making us do all this um that's all overall I me the document really just highlights some of the strongest points of our master plan I really like that we're rededicating ourselves again to you know where our focus should be um I appreciate all the bik and ped language talking about the dedication to circulation study um really necessary steps um environmental clean up dedication to affordable housing like you said it's just reiterating the stuff in a nice package for them to digest um but I also think this would be great for residents to read um if there's anybody who didn't read the master plan this has a lot of good summarization like executive summary correct it's like an executive summary of the master plan which is kind of brilliant so I think this is a useful document even if residents wanted it a a quick guide to the master plan as well so and what we can do um Council chooses to uh approve the resolution um Susan will clean up the document to make it hold and we will have it on the um website thank you anyone else have any questions no okay thank you very much um yeah how do we I was going to say now do we have I mean if we have the experts here it would be yeah yeah let's let's let's just open this up for a public comment while we have you guys here yeah motion sir I motion yeah second second all in favor Alan Hill 64 McLaren street thank you for the presentation of bfj Consulting the people who uh actually wrote our um our uh our plans our uh master plan and have had a big input on the station area development and many many other um reports and uh Consultants in the area I just wonder um how qualified you are to an objective assessment of progress it it seems odd doesn't it I mean it does say self assess I suppose that's what you're doing right but what confidence can the people of Red Bank have in the objectivity of your findings that's my first question I mean I would say that we have a deep knowledge because of the background that we have here in red B I mean I'm not necessarily gon B bfj I'm not sure if that's what you're asking but this is a technical report it is not necessarily saying you've made X progress in the last two years since the master plan and and here's what you have left to do it's really just putting together a snapshot of where red B get at this time making a case for the state that you are on a path is consistent with what their vision is and also um you mentioned in the uh if you read the report remember you know residents get about 24 hours notice of this report that uh you consider consultations some of them were the public comments at the last mayor and council meeting item item C is might be okay oh no I Haven got your the mic oh the mic no no we to make yeah you know it's really typical isn't it of the way consultation of residents go if anybody report was the consultation over the master plan document which actually amounted to being able to post 180 characters size a tweet in for consideration and now we've got this one here um you know on once again based on comments made at the last general meeting at s of the mayor and Council without people who were commenting being aware that was consult cons ation and I don't know how do you know what was said how do you know what residents said it's really unsatisfactory you know it's no good saying residents are consulted and residents are you know all this when you have like a 50 P document presented to you if you're lucky if you're lucky enough to be on the mailing list and if you are enough to extract it out of a you know 203 page uh agenda today how is that consultation and I'm not really asking you I'm asking mayor how is that consultation thank you thank you mayor I would like to comment oh sure um I just think if there's any residents you know listening um you can read this document that's going to be online and it's going to name all the ways that residents have actually been interacted with for the master plan which is an extremely important document and the incredible links actually that all of you went to to reach those residents so I'm actually extremely grateful for the work that you put into this and it is above and beyond what other municipalities receive so thank you so much and I appreciate the work that you've done anyone else have any uh comments while we have our presenter here okay motion to close the public comment I'll say I'll make thatone online oh is anyone a second second all in favor do oh hand just popped up motion to reopen Flor Mr you're on D no can you hear us Dan no muted so no no he's not muted no Dan Dan hop on your bike quick you can be here in like six minutes there can you hear me now can hear you now you can hear me okay um so uh first I think I missed the Girl Scouts but I wanted to thank them that is an excellent Garden um the other thing I wanted to thank you guys for um I see that you're going to put uh the building Department's documents online through oprs I think that's great um I hope that you'll put more things like that online what's that you hear me Dan yeah yeah just real quick we're just doing a public comment because we have the planner here right now oh oh oh well I don't have anything I don't have anything about that okay we'll come we'll come back here for the other all right all right thank you motion to close the public comments I'll make that second second all in favor all right thank you thank you for being here well it's NE it's up right now so um motion to open the floor for public comments on agenda items only I'll make such a motion have a second second all in favor I I yes Mr he you do uh mayor just before we get into public comment I just wanted to make a note for everybody that resolution 24154 adoption of updated police department rules and regulations I'm going to ask to have tabled tonight uh for the next meeting there's a couple changes in there that I want to make sure are addressed before it's actually cified since it does have me as the appropriate Authority I want to make sure that it's being uh presented appropriately and I also want to make sure that we're we are um getting the pba's Insight on that as well just to keep cabor thank you so noted yes sir Stephen hect 135 Branch Avenue um thank you for the opportunity to uh ask a question about um 20 24-32 ordinates that's the one that um U about the Cannabis um tax and such um question is there a sunset provision on that ordinance no there's not Ste is there a way that the council at some future date can choose another um yes by ordinance yes we can by ordinance yes okay all right and um I do I do understand with all the work that's going on um with parks and recck um why that would be a wise choice at this point to to to allocate the taxes there one other question about that um Can someone tell me what the um Parks and Recreation trust fund is rder sure so the dedicated rer by Rider fund which means that once we dedicate funds to that purpose or for example it would it's also the place we accept donations if you make a donation to our Recreation Commission also the place where we collect all the fees from summer camps and and permit fees and things like that uh also I believe that there are certain parking permits in Marine Park that also that Revenue goes into there because that is part property and that is part of the Green Acres regulations but long story short it's not really what so much what goes into it as it can only be spent on Recreation and conservation purposes this is not a new entity this has been in existence correct yes thank you very much thank you should we go to Dan agains patient yeah all right Dan all right can you guys hear me yes all right so uh as I said I just wanted to say thanks uh for the um the building codes going up into oprs I hope you'll put more online uh I'm not crazy about oprs but it works the interface could be better but it works um I also found uh 2024 32 sort of curious I mean I got to think that at this point that trust fund's got thousands maybe tens of thousands of dollars going into it annually if if we get everything geared up it's going to have hundreds of thousands and maybe Millions going into it um I I'm curious why that fund was chosen well first of all we have to start by saying we don't have a lot of funds right now because there's only one cannabis shop that's open so um it was analogy to me it's like under like beer budget not a boat budget right now um we do have two other Cannabis shops that are to open and that would be more money um so what we decided was to put it there I look at it from a public health standpoint we could also have educational um talks for drug and alcohol for our young people through that money um and in the future as we told Stephen before that we could switch the money when we get more funds to another um something else in the town but for now it seemed like the place a good place to put it yeah so myself mayor Portman and Laur J know met on this as an ad hoc uh group on this piece of legislation three of us um and essentially uh this earmarks the money in a clear spot um in a clear tab underneath there as opposed to it going into miscellaneous Revenue um we just believe at that you know from a public health approach and perspective that there should be a visible and felt Improvement by the public um from this Revenue uh so that we can physically go somewhere and point to something and say that is due to cannabis Revenue that was created from that and we really wanted to avoid it just going into miscellaneous revenue and you know balancing that people being like well what did the Canabis Revenue really do our CFO um when we met with him uh stated that this was not bad policy he was not against it uh he said that it helps to know upfront what that money is it helps all the departments when you understand what you have in one place what needs to be in another um so from his perspective from you know a management of the funds perspective he found it to be appropriate um and for us as you know policy people and decision makers up here it just makes it clear what those funds are and what can be done like I said to tangibly give an improvement to people that they can see and feel all right thanks for that info that's that's all I've got thank you anyone else have any comments on item yes name is 25 Street uh I just wonder if you can give some insight on the one with the Committees and changing the Committees there was a lot of Crossing out what's the purpose and changes of I guess the management operation of how the standing committees are formed or run number uh d33 202 24-33 sure so um one there was a lot of cross outs but that was actually unnecessary i i i drafted the original version I didn't realize that um the charter the change of government ordinance it actually eliminated the sections after that um so long story short it basically just cies what the council is doing there are no more standing committees in the council manager form of government um as you can see from the cross outs the standing committees had significant administrative responsibilities and authorities um which have been gone since the prior ordinance actually but the new language that's in there is what's important and that's basically what you just heard councilwoman Triano describe which was there's particular issue uh Council formed a specific committee to address that issue and they came up with a solution a legislation and you know they'll form again if they have another perhaps cabis issue maybe they'll be the point people for that but it really just codifies how the council is actually working um you know subcommittees speaking on particular issues and and things that are going on so that's the overall I don't know Council want they is what we had the budget committee instead of having a year round finance committee they became the budget committee when the budget was done the committee dissolved um my second question is about um uh 24-26 about the um BC improvements I'm speaking on my behalf not on behalf of the school board um so I know there was some push backs you hear some people for some people against it one of the comments need was well the the public school uses for the count cup which hasn't happened in a couple years however um when we do graduation we just get our speakers out I me spend about 100 plus, on a Press Box SC is really like a lot we're not like we don't have a public high school here our public kids go different high school that it so I'm just curious did anyone think about putting it back and making it more not so grandiose um of a stam to save some money um I don't think there really much was much changes from the initial uh presentation well first of all this is um two separate issues one we're um approving the bonding we're not spending the money we're just approving the bonding if everything turns out as it is but um I'd like to think big picture um the field of count basy to me is an incredibly underused asset um I think we could do some amazing things there um it could be an income generator for the town for a long time to come I think just the partnership we have with FC Mammoth for example the semi-pro football team could really grow into something um exciting the timing is good for it we have a World Cup coming here in two years I mean that's just that's just one example of things that can be done there so um considering that the grant that we we're approved for hopefully assuming that we can work out um a deal with the school um is really covering the majority of the cost for this so um I think it's a it's a good deal for us and again I'm thinking for the future it's not a bad thing for the town to have a state-of-the-art uh football stadium so of the 1.3 million isn't the grant only covering about 57,000 right 50% yeah yeah and mayor I just would like to add to that that it's also used by our youth football program there has regular games on that field they need an all call box Oscar uses that box we all call for the egg hunt multiple times a year when I'm there and yeah having the graduation there is a big deal that's a lot of students to have in one space so for them to have that there is is pretty Monumental um you know and we do have partners that give a sizable amount to the burrow to use that facility and they actually don't receive first priority of it so you know it it is a Sound Investment and it does make sense and you know I don't understand putting all that work into a place and then questioning if it needs a call box for an announcer that just seems very very strange to me um I I just think it's very counterintuitive and we're here to invest in our community and I think if communal seating where we all sit together and enjoy something publicly I think that's a good place for for government to invest their money um my next question is I know people were talking about the uh the trucks and the you know Vehicles the size of vehicles on the street um is there any more discussion on any type of changes or is what's written we have I know sometimes you guys have a discussion on the Adas uh they were talking about boats not boats um trucks hitch not hitch trucks I mean I didn't know if anything are you guys are standing by what's on written or is there any more discussion because I know I've talked to some uh residents who see the need for the sum of change because we do have trucks a lot and mean some roads become a single oneway Street and that's dangerous so I didn't know we is there any room for negotiation or change in that you guys are sticking with that well you know I think we said when we had our discussion that you know to me this is a uh an incremental ordinance we we'll we'll pass it as we see it we'll see what works we'll change it if it's not working we'll enhance it if it is working so um I think it's important to get something on the books here and start making that change and we'll modify it as needed okay thank you thank you yes sir Donald Donald Ellis at Highland Avenue here in Red Bank welcome thank you very much first of all I'd like to thank mayor and the councel for all the great work you do on behalf of the uh the residents of the town so uh my comments here today are really around item number 31 just briefly and I and I do want to let you know I'm really trying to drive this around safety you know not not anything else so I know you have proposed in there a 10,000 pound vehicle limit but when you take a look at a lot of the issues that are faced within the township most of the vehicles are really under that 10,000 pound they're they're usually class 2A or 2B Vehicles not so many you'll get some class three vehicles which are your larger trucks that are greater than uh 10 thou you know greater than 10,000 pounds so the safety issues that I see all the time and I'm more I see more on the our side of the town which is over near Spring Street h a lot of vans that probably fall into the category 2B and they're huge I mean they're they're big they're long they're high and you can't see past them uh so I would say that I would ask that you consider to maybe make the cut off at the 2A level which is pretty easy to identify so it's anything over 8500 pounds so the kinds of vehicles that fall into the 2A category are your typical vehicles that people use like the Ford F-150 you know a pick up truck that's a class 2A vehicle but when you get into the larger 250s 350s the Rams the big commercial trucks that tow a lot of those vehicles that is in the 2B category that's greater than 8500 pounds the the other thing that I thought was interesting was really about the trailers so uh the trailers it's it looks like you're allowing trucks to have trailers hitch but as long as they're hitch they're okay but when you look at the some of these guys have like these big box trailers that are 12 18 feet long and they're big big solid TR big solid trailers attached to a truck it's like trying to get past a small bus you can't see so I'd ask that you at least take a look at that uh maybe what you do is consider the combined weight of the vehicles if there's a a truck that's a class two uh 2A uh say 6,500 pounds and they got a trailer it can't go past it but I also know it's difficult to enforce and I want I think you know Council M trick you had some comments about it needs to be enforceable and I I totally agree with you if you do the the cut off at the 2B police officer can see immediately all he has to do is check the registration on the vehicle say right on there class 2B or or 2C or or three uh they can do that I also found it interesting that you're allowing or don't allow stretch limos to park which are way smaller and lower to the ground probably a little easier to see pass than some of these big trailers and vans that we see parked on the on the streets so uh and and then the last point that I would have is that when you look at enforcement uh I think you have a couple of different options you're trying to go with the classification of the vehicle you probably can also take a look at whether it's even a commercial vehicle so a lot of commercial vehicles park on the street and I'm sensitive to the fact that sometimes people need their commercial vehicles to go to work we don't want to deny people going to work but I would say the vast majority of the time it's a matter of convenience that people bring those work Vehicles home and in many cases that at least my observation in many people part the commercial vehicles on the street in their own cars in their driveways or in their designated parking spots so you know they have the opportunity to take that vehicle and get it off the street but they obviously they want to keep their vehicle either in their driveway or in their designated spot so I I would just say that I think there are opportunities for reconsideration that you have I believe options to consider that will help improve the safety because even like on Spring Street when we move the parking over there are like 35 houses on the other side that we tried to help out if each one of those houses had two cars at 70 cars now on the other side of the street you're probably have 500 cars every day going in and out of those apartment driveways trying to see past these trucks and you know all I can tell you that my personal experience is that it's just very difficult to see I I hope that nobody ever has a bad accident or a pedestrian walks out and right from behind one of those veins the people come down the street can't see past the van if somebody's walking out and and the cars that are pulling out can't see past the Vans and the large vehicles that are there so again I don't want to take too much time I just ask that you reconsider the designation of the vehicles that you're trying to get off the street maybe push it to like you know the limit where it's a 2B not a class three Andor commercial vehicles I appreciate it thank you and as I mentioned before um and you've experience if it's not working we'll we'll keep fixing it till we get it right but I but I appreciate you coming with Solutions right right and like I said I hope that you take this under consideration because it sounds like you're getting ready to pass it the way it is definitely get ready it's right here on theend yeah I know and I I would hope take the ongoing process though this isn't the end of the story and the this is the second piece of legislation we started with the unhitched trailers I I I just I think your suggestion is very good about the 2B vehicles um you know we your point you just said they move everyone across the street becomes disrupted what have you so we're trying to let's move everyone who's over 10,000 PB maybe next time we'll move everyone over 8,500 lb kind of going in a level so we don't disrupt everyone's life in right in town but your points um some of them have already been considered um and not not necessarily rejected just push to the next you know the next time next level yeah it's like this every six months frankly as the police report back to us to be honest yeah I mean I'd like to certainly have the opportunity to talk to always sometimes to catch it and you're doing the ordinance reviews like I don't review it every every week you know kind of think I there's a lesson time I know a lesson it's all part of what I what I should be doing but sometimes you miss it if you're way uh but I would hope that you take a look at this and give serious consideration to you commercialist commercial plates or the 2B designation and then take a look at the trailers combin trailer hits trailer weights the trailer is the is the is definitely is definitely number one on the next round hit list okay um and we're trying to figure out how to work on that at the tell you I'd certainly offer the opportunity to participate in your discussion I'm an engineer doing billions of dollars of construction in the state and all around the world so I got a fair perspective on how to address some of this stuff well you leave your card with Laura before you leave yeah be more than happy to correspond with you tell you what's going on in this right great I usually get thank you very much yeah thanks I think the way you said it last meeting was fast that we're doing it bite by bite like this leg we're approaching completely this issue we're approaching differently than others and that can be seen with the progression of these how we're doing this just bite bite bite little by little to make sure we don't step too far and then have to pull back it's easier to just little bit at a time anyone else have any comments on agenda items yeah sorry saw I saw a hand in the back first ma'am and then oh yeah I'm just curious about the um say your name and address please leis D Mento 9on Court um what is the process for Marine Park from now on I mean we have something that some people call a concept some people call it a plan and um you know for um refurbishing GRE parket to sending and so I looked at that concept plan and and um it's going to take down every tree except six and then I'm I'm concerned that once you do that the whole nature of the park will be trans transformed because there's a lot of trees on the hill now that are healthy for people sit in the shade and they'll be gone except for a few of them and I'm wondering um if you if you're going to stick closely to that concept or if you're going to have another detail plan coming out before you move to phly break dirt and I just want to see what the process yeah I'll say just without having gone out there and actually counted the trees which I will take that in consideration because I I haven't done that but the the goal goal is to not remove all the trees in Marine Park at all I believe that the plan shows where there's going to be improvements in areas and it shows what existing trees are there and what would have to be removed if that Improvement is made but it doesn't take the trees in totality of marine park into consideration so if it's not if it's in an area that's undisturbed we're not removing any trees whatsoever but if there's if the playground is being moved and you know a tree or two needs to be removed and replant you know replanting of trees then that will have to be considered I know that on the plan they do show the circle right the hash red circle trees that would be removed um they have they have six trees it's remain those are remains yeah yeah so there's six of them that are going to remain the rest are gone out of think 40 trees is the opposite yes you got it backwards I looked at it care yeah little trying to say that if there's area of marine park that's not being disturbed by the plan the trees in that area are not to be removed didn't you guys meet and you said that we would look into this and yeah and that I just want to remind you right now the only the only thing we're doing at' Park is we're converting the tennis courts to parking and then we're greening in yeah the existing parking lot so um we have plenty of time to further look at the trees but no tree I don't think any trees unless there's one on an island there not in the parking Island it's going to be in the parking lot right those ones that are on the island are going to be coming out obviously because we're you know we're turning that whole area into grass those are mostly dying so that makes sense but um the ones on the hill there's about 20 on the hill and the plan concept plan or whatever has all of them gone except six so it just seems right we plan should be more carefully explained to the public or you know people yeah I would definitely will will be looking at that and hopefully fitting the um the playground which is designated for the area within and around whatever existing trees that are there yeah there's always going to be some limitations to that right because there's a plan that has to be carried out however I want to report back with your you know your suggestion as to what trees will remain which ones are on the plan that are identified to potentially be removed I appreciate you bringing it to my attention I didn't go out to Marine Park to count the trees yet I just don't think they were there um but to what the mayor said this first phase is the The Greening in of that area and actually getting rid of a lot of the uh perious coverage there so I will take that in consideration and hopefully report back soon on what trees are to remain so there'll be a report to the public about what is going to remain and what is going to go before you proceed yeah absolutely I mean they'll be updates on the entire process so yes and I know that shatri is going to take some uh some interest in this topic as well good okay thank you thanks L thank you online too it one online oh actually no this this yes good evening I'm Kathy Crim I live at Red Bank Terrace Spring Street it's a safety issue also with the people coming out of that apartment building I've so I've seen quite many a lot of accidents come there out of there I'm nervous don't be nervous we just want to hear where you're talking about what building red Terrace I'm on the end lot okay apartment so I hear the crashing in this because the street is very small the trucks are parked right there you can't get in you can't get out and people sve the Street's not big enough it's really not plus people are putting out their Shrubbery like I have one right there so you can't get down that street you poor is waiting go you know back and forth and scary there's something's going to happen there I mean I was thinking maybe if they could have the trucks parked up the street away from the apartment buildings it's coming out you can't see anything when you coming out there I'll certainly take that to Traffic Safety to to look at the the site come see triangle when you're pulling out of the lot make sure that it's I hear a lot of screeching and a lot of people it's going happen okay I appreciate the heads up okay thank you thank you thank you for coming Come Again Come Again now you here okay all right we have someone online you said hi can you guys hear me yeah um Nicole Tage 153 Hudson Avenue um I just um I wanted to follow up I'm sorry if I missed the first part of the discussion with regard to the bond ordinance at um count basy so um I certainly appreciate you know the the desire to invest in the town and the the Press Box and those facilities are used by various entities that do provide Revenue to the town do we have any type of analysis or um projection as to like how those revenues from the entities that pay to use the facility will be you know helpful and offsetting the cost is there any idea like a certain percentage per year or how long it'll be before we kind of like are able to pay off the bond with the assistance of those fund flows thank you there's a uh um shared services AG specifically RBC so every time there's been a capital Improvement since the 80s um there's been an agreement signed in which there's a contribution for the life of The Debt Service so it's figured out at the beginning when it's improved and then there's a monetary contribution towards like there was new track um most recently and then rbc's contribution increased for a certain period of time that until the track is paid off so that's functionally how it the money that comes in is for the Capital Improvements and then obviously the the revenue is dealt with by Oscar and permit fees and the trust fund that we were talking about earlier um for recreation and what about FC Mammoth um because they use it and do I think they use the Press Box too so is there any type of like um understanding of how that will will help or offset so I I know that's a growing program um as currently the FC Mammoth pays the normal permit fee to use the area okay thank you thank you anyone else have a question on agenda items yes alen Hill 64 M Street um this is about 20 2433 um I heard Mrs sc's questions and I heard the answers that were given but I still um unclear as to how these changes are going to in improve transparency and accountability of this Council part of the answer was that these old committees will be disbanded and we'll just have little ad hoc Committees of three or four people you know to meet about is it not true that ad hoc committees a fewer than three or four people don't need to produce minutes don't need to produce agendas you know it seems like the outside that little closed huddles will go on and make important meet make important decisions I mean we've had it today haven't we on speaking about the um uh the the uh the self assessment report we've had it cently there was a little ad hoc commity went through all this what how is this improving accountability how does it improve transparency to the people of Red Bank so the I and I I don't live here so I particular have one view one or the other I play Devil's Advocate with you the the voters voted to have a council manager form of government there's only one stop for accountability in Council manager former government sitting right next to me by the code he's responsible for everything in the town so frankly ad hoc committees could meet and they could tell him what to do and he could say no and do something himself so legally that's very very very very very different than the standing committies that existed under the burough form of government where I could make the argument that that's less transparent Because the actual decisions and things that were happening were happening in committees rather than at the the council meeting whether minutes were kept or not right because most people don't need minutes so I'm not arguing I'm just playing Devil's Advocate You could argue it one way or the other it's two different ways to run the government um I certainly understand your points but I think the you know the other side and that's that's what people voted for so that's what we do up here well let's agree it was not very transparent before how is this going we don't know what is being discussed we don't know what people are going to say to the uh to to the the every government action has to be taken I'm sorry forgive me I'm sorry you don't know sorry it's for my comments we don't know anybody any of you people up there will smirk and meet in your little meetings wa being called a caucus because that's partly what this is all about isn't it under the new form of government and no no oh you want that explains well I've got I just didn't I didn't hear what you said okay well I haven't really got enough time but I do not believe and I don't believe the majority of the uh people in this town and you know only about 20% did Vote for This Council will believe that transparency and accountability will be improved thank you thank you anyone else have any comments no anyone online no sir I have a motion to close the public comment for agenda items only so moved I have a second second all in favor I right okay um can I have a motion to approve the minutes from 523 2024 go moved have a second second all in favor I I have a motion to approve the exact section minutes from 52324 so moved have a second second all in favor I right um ordinances first up is a oh no we're um we have I have a note here right this was we still running through it yeah I listed it in error the public hearing was scheduled for um the July 11th okay um yes so the the um the public hearing for this ordinance is scheduled for July 11th pending a land use review right so we're rolling past that um next up is a public hearing and Adoption of 202 24-26 bonding for the count facing improvements can I have a motion to open the public hearing on this ordinance only I make such a motion I have a second second all in favor hi hi anyone have any comments on just the count Bas improvements bonding motion ordinance okay can I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance only I'll make such a motion I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202 24-26 say I got second oh second I wanted to make a comment on that yeah okay um so I've been listening to comments here and of course um it's been discussed at The Parks and Rec meetings um I've been longgo to the count AC Park and been on those stadiums and uh it's a long it's a lot of history in Red Bank by close to 100 years and my father played on that field um there's a couple things I um it's been a maintenance challenge for some time those those uh The Sting in particular and improvements do need to be made there um been concerned for some time as many up here and in the public about lack of State railings for example when you're walking up and down those steps um and I'm inclined to say I'd like to maintain them and have them and continue in town if it's financially viable and obviously all the partners would need to contribute significantly for that to continue plus we have an opportunity possibly for Grant um I guess we're voting on whether tonight um of course ultimately it's the board of education's property so um I don't know the details but I assume our manager is dealing with the board of education on the topic and um you hopefully that business will be resolved um now I don't want a dilapidated Stadium um it needs to be properly maintained I don't you know it's an important facility for parks and rec for storage not that we couldn't find another location or build one but it's not an insignificant issue um there isn't a lot of storage space that I'm aware of that parks and W can use so that would have to be solved um the other thing that concerns me is that as as an audience member not so much as a board member up here um I remember some environmental issues with that facility and it worries me that um if we were to tear it down or raise it that that actually would probably be a very significant undertaking if you've ever been there it's a the whole top of it made of steel or something and I think it would be a very significant and probably costly demolition although I'm certainly no expert on it but it's something we would certainly have to take into account um I've actually seen a lot of use of it and I haven't done a survey um and I I don't go there every day but I do drive by a lot and see a lot of use there I go on the I've been at the count basy field for Middle School versus the charter school soccer games and numerous other uh events as a school board member I'll be there Friday for the graduation which does take which does use the stadium and when I've been there it's been a lot of use on that stadium for that day um so anyway I just wanted to comment that's an ongoing topic of discussion at The Parks and Rec meeting and I know up here and um I just wanted to make that comment and I do plan to vote yes thank you um do we get a second on that one a second okay and roll call please council member Bonas yes council member Cassidy yes council member py Blackwood yes council member flis yes council member Jan yes Deputy Mayor trano yes mayor pman yes motion pass thank you next up is a public hearing and Adoption of 2024-25 bonding for tap Grant projects have a motion to open the public hearing on this ordinance only so moved have a second second all in favor I I anyone have any comments on ordinance 202 24-27 I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance only so move have a second second all in favor I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 d27 so moved have a second un roll call please council member Bonas yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member flis yes council member janon yes Deputy Mayor Triano yes mayor Portman yes pass sir um next up is public hearing and Adoption of 202 24-28 bonding for Road improvements know specifically this okay harison so can I have a motion to open the public hearing on ordinance 202 24-28 only mov have a second second in favor I anyone have any comments on this ordinance I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance only I have a second second all in favor I I have a motion to adopt 202 24-28 sove I have a second second roll call please council member B Tas yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member janon yes Deputy Mayor Triano yes mayor Portman yes next we have a public hearing adoption of 2024-25 all right can I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance only so moved have a second second all in favor motion to adopt ordinance 2024 d29 so moved have a second second roll call please council member Bonas yes council member Cassidy yep council member FY Blackwood yes council member foris yes council member janon yes Deputy Mayor Triano yes mayor Portman yes thank you good again yeah um remember how we started this meeting just anyone who's still here I'll just remember that was great let's let's revisit the justed Shrewsberry Avenue and Marine Park this is an amazing meeting yeah uh have uh motion open the public hearing for ordinance 24 202 24-30 bonding for water and utility I'll make such a motion I have a second second all in favor hi hi anyone have any comments on 202 24-30 no I have a motion to close the public hearing this ordinance only have a second second all in favor I I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202 24-30 am the motion I have a second second call please council member Bon Takis yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member Janome yesy mayor tro yes mayor Portman yes motion pass thank you next up is a public hearing uh an adoption of 2024 31 amending chapter 680 vehicles and traffic to prohibit the overnight parking of oversized vehicles on public streets and right away have a motion to open the public hearing on this ordinance only I make such a motion have a second second all in favor I anyone want to add anything to uh 202 24-31 okay can I have a motion to close the public hearing on this ordinance only make sense a motion motion a second second all in favor I I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 D31 sir yes second second I roll call please council member Bonas yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member Forest yes council member janon yes Deputy Mayor trano yes mayor Portman yes motion thank you next up is Introduction of 202 24-32 amending chapter 270 cannabis of the Burrow's revised General ordinances to dedicate all cannabis transfer tax revenue to the Red Bank burough Parks and Recreation trust fund can I have a motion to approve the ordinance on introduction so moved a second second roll call please council member V talk us yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member flest yes counc member janon yes Deputy Mayor Tano yes mayor pman yes motion pass thank you there'll be a public hearing on this ordinance on June 27th next up is an introduction of 202 24-33 amending chapter 85 mayor and Council the burs revise General ordinances to remove mandatory standing committees and administrative duties and replace same with discretionary project policy issue specific Committees of the baral council I have a motion to approve on introduction yeah I'll make that motion I have a second second roll call please council member bonis yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member flest yes council member janon yes Deputy Mayor Triano yes mayor Portman yes motion pass thank you be a public hearing on this ordinance on June 27th um for the resolutions two of them were pulled already 24145 and 24149 Jam has asked that we hold off on 24-54 so I'll make a motion to table 24154 I have a second second all in favor all right um any any of the other resolutions anyone needs to do them separately can we do them on the consent agenda consent agenda mayor that's right okay um I have a motion to approve resolutions 24143 24-44 24146 24-48 and 24-15 through 24153 some moved have a second second call please council member Bona Takis yes council member Cassidy yes council member facy Blackwood yes council member flis yes council member janon yes Deputy Mayor Triano yes mayor Portman yes thank you um like to have a motion to open the floor up for public question and comment I so moved can I have a second second all in favor [Music] yes all Barb Bo 135 Branch Avenue um two comments um number one thank everyone for coming to the trivia night we made a lot of money um number number two um I would like to know how and why certain Corners are being painted yellow and others are not how do you how does the town decide which Corners are going to be painted yellow the curbs I see mine is I've been living in my house for 22 years and it's never been painted yellow and so it just seems that it's missing something what corner is that bar of East Bergen and Branch the same place I want the bus walk right at least the cars won't be parked there and getting crashed by the people who go 90 miles an hour around that corner yeah I mean there statute that tle 39 that prevents people from parking a certain distance to the corner really I do know that that's why I'm asking you're saying that which doesn't require a painted curve but you're inquiring why some are and more yeah and and this is a particularly dangerous and particularly um I don't know it's very busy and there are many accidents on that inter at that intersection I appreciate you bringing that to my attention and to the extent that a family across the street had to move out of their house because the car went right into their house and their children couldn't sleep anymore so it is a it's a pretty reckless place no that's not that's a different street street street thank you for looking into but I appr I would appreciate it because it really I don't care if people bark in front of my house that's not the issue it's it's close closest to the to the intersection to the stop signs right so I'll be sure to let traffic safety know and terance know from dpu to just look into that and if there's a need to hit the curve that it gets done thank you I appreciate that and thank you for your patience on this issue it's not the first time this has come up the yellow's this is my first for First with the yell crosswalk you know I think I'm going to go down and sit in in treeold and just wait and talk to somebody down there all right maybe they'll listen little lady thank you anyone else yes you should tell her that she just said she was gonna go to their meeting tell me actually Bara just so I could follow up uh we met with one of the Commissioners recently in the last two weeks yeah in the last two weeks uh East Bergen and Branch was a topic of our discussion to request crosswalk so yeah we brought it to him we'll be sure to follow up with the commissioner on that absolutely certainly makes me happy Cindy barnham 71 Wallace Street um I'm here tonight to find out um we are p in regards to short-term rentals we are up to the 20 days right now you can start to enforce so what what's the procedure if we see a Airbnb and we know that the owner lives in Atlantic Islands what do we do so bring that to our attention who's are to the code office okay right that'll be what if it's what if it's on a weekend I'm answering your question so okay bring it to the code office go look into it if it's on a weekend you're most likely going to be calling in a noise complaint or something like that which could be called into the police department which would be fine follow up with our code office but as far as the bringing the person that owns the short-term rental into burall to make sure that they're registering and seeing if they qualify for an actual license and registration under our new system it's going to have to be brought to our attention so we can make contact with them now how are you gonna what's the procedure for you reaching out to let these people know that they have to register but notice a violation that they're not registered oh so they have to be in violation first will there be in violation if they're operating a short-term rental without a license well wasn't that the whole reason with 60 M Street at 60 mechanics Street you said that uh he had a really tricky lawyer and that he got off because he wasn't registered that was at Oakland butak yeah that was before no I'm talking about 60 60 mechanic I never said that you might be but the conversation about the tricky lawyer was the guy on Oakland Street um but that was before we had changed the ordinance and now we believe the or the new ordinance is enforceable as it is written so that unit's actually for sale now is it correct on Oakland yeah listed are you gonna do if what's what's the GNA be the procedure because I know the guy across the street from me swore he lived there he and his girlfriend and they don't they never did but they lied so how do we prove that if they say that they did and even maybe maybe even their license might you know they might have that address on their license but they don't actually live there how would we how would we yeah I know you're offering a lot of hypotheticals but hypothetical it's the truth hypothetical what they're going to say when they come in to register their short-term rental that's what they've said before that they live in it now there's a registration process so they're going to have to come and lie to us and grow a hall and that's gonna be a problem that's going to be a problem for them be a problem in court too what about inspections like cosos like that in regards to these short-term rentals believe it's in the ordinance isn't it they have to get an annual inspection yeah oh an annual okay thank you thank you anyone else have any comments questions yes good evening mayor and city council and Ne and Zoomers and my name is Georgina Shanley Red Bank New Jersey and I think you all know why we're here to see if city council has any compassion in what's happening in Gaza and and the West Bank to help end the killing of ordinary civilians release all the hostages and give humanitarian Aid to the people who are starving and send it to Biden and Malone and all the rest of them to hurry the process forward because Biden is speaking great words about a ceasefire but meanwhile he's sending arms to Israel so try to figure that out I just want to remind you we have 38,000 people who have been killed mostly women and children who are not homos are not terrorists and we have almost a 100,000 injured and the psychological damage that are done that's done to the survivors must be horrendous Gaza is only 25 miles long and six miles wide you originally had 2.2 million people there's no exit from them they can't escape we had a famine in Ireland and um at least people could leave and a lot of people here probably have ancestors who were able to come across um victims of the famine but survive very well in the United States the people of Gaza cannot leave it's an open air prison they don't have arms the people of Gaza they have a resistance movement called Hamas God only knows where they are or how well armed or what's happening there it it's really we're we're losing we had 108 journalists killed 254 um Aid workers killed people are helping killed no arms and we're reaching a stage where we are losing our rights as a result there's even a law that's just been passed there's so much to say but I know I have 498 seconds but other people can have much longer time and often you respond which is really an incredible experience it must be it's a rare one we've never experienced it so one day maybe before we die we have a response from somebody on city council and at this moment in time there are so many bills in Congress stripping away our rights like here's there are here's one two three four and there's another one it's called the anti-Semitism awareness act and it h it's it really conflates our Amendment protected political speech critical of the Israeli government and state of is called anti-Semitism to be critical of the Israeli government is anti-Semitism and that's against the hate crime 6408 and it would strip nonprofit organizations of their tax exempt status with virtually no limitations or accountability because the organizations have viewpoints That official or presidential Administration with 7914 it is to enacting sanctions against Palestinian organizations that have not been designated a terrorist organization and it would set a precedent that would allow Congress to implement sanctions on organizations that Administration officials have not found to meet the criteria for designation it would C another one would codify and entrench the narrative that Pro Palestine movement is responsible for the anti anti-Semitism in the United States um if it's a continuation of Congress is focusing on combating anti-Semitism and also there's a bill and I'd like to call the order she's over time I want to respond to her actually okay can I just say Mr Forest can I finish what I was gonna say or no I think you've gone so State over your time I think it's about two a minute over my time you can override me I comment you you can finish up let me just finish this we have another law introduced by two Republicans that it originally is to cover service members like reservice and members of the National Guard while an active duty and this one would be extended to American citizens serving in the Israel Defense Forces so whatever benefits a reservice and our National Guard would receive the same benefits would be extended to American citizens who fight for Israel so it's getting a little bit out of control and I think it does affect all of us thank you very much thank you yeah so I just wanted to respond to jordina um I have responded to you at meetings you're the only one no I think actually and I think and I I you know I don't F feel like since I'm not really going to say anything that I haven't said that I don't need to take up everybody's time kind of repeating you know I think I said it twice I mean I I the basic gist of which is that I Pro probably not going close to 2000 on I ran and I didn't really talk to people in town about international issues now a couple of people thought that I was running for congress or something and they may have brought up international issues but you know I don't disagree with a lot of the points you made but I am really not I'm not comfortable speaking for people of Red Bank on this issue I've heard a lot of different points of view on this and I may personally share much of your point of view on this but I'm not here in my capacity obviously as a Red Bank councilman and uh maybe next time if I run for re-election I'll ask people about the issues I'll feel a little more comfortable about now I could revisit this issue at some point nobody's told me not to make a motion and bring it up but um you know I'm here representing my view you know I'm here in my view repres representing you know the interests of Red Bank and what concerns business of Red Bank and I just don't really want to get involved in the Middle East um on this topic now you and I are not going to agree on this but I just wanted to make the point that you have gotten responses from multiple of us most of this and I basically said all this to you before and um with that said I'm glad you're here at every meeting fighting for a cause that you believe in and it's inspiring and you inspire me um not there okay thank you very much please I heard it does affect the people of bread Bank in many many ways and if we see our rights being Stripped Away it's going to affect all of us and thanks very much M Morman for allowing me to speak thank you anyone else anyone online yeah go ahead you want to go some online f uh hi can you hear me yes uh hi thank you uh my name is Sarah and I'm From Hell New Jersey mmed County um I also wanted to um uh kind of highlight um a couple points that uh Georgina said before me and also in response to um our Council on this I know we've gotten multiple responses um from Council Members at Red Bank and I know time and time again we hear things like oh this is an international issue um it doesn't exactly involve us and the truth is like when you say things like oh like maybe next time I'll ask people when um I'm running for reelection the thing is there is no next time right um Palestinians in Gazza and in Rafa and in all parts of um Palestine like the Palestinian territories even if there were to be a ceasefire right now um thousands of Palestinians would still be dying because of the lack of Health Care um due to starvation right so it's not even just the fact that we need the war to end it's the fact that it it's going to take a lot of time it's going to take years and years for us to actually rebuild and let these people strive and live again right um even in terms of uh current politics um there was um a bombing in hza that the US actually took part in and it's not just our uh tax dollars that's going straight to um Israel it's the fact that our like our own like humanitarian AIDS from the US they're planning their they're strategizing with Israel to kill people in Palestine and as members in New Jersey in America we shouldn't be okay with this right it doesn't make sense for us to be like listen it doesn't involve us because our tax money is still our tax money is still benefiting um the people that are murdering and killing these Palestinians Palestinians are seeing their own parents being murdered over 177,000 children in Palestine live without either a mother or a father there are different orphans there are multiple accounts of doctors saying that um they are literally giving Tylenol and Killers to kids with severed limbs um I personally think that this is something that Red Bank needs to talk more about um I don't really understand the whole argument with the whole there being different sides to the issue it's clearly a genocide that's taking place right now and I wouldn't be surprised if people had the same perspective back when the Holocaust was still taking place and why it took so many months and why it took years for us actually for the US to actually take a stand against that um it's because of moments like this right we kind of see that we kind of see every as like a multi multi-sided issue when it's clearly not there is an oppressor and an oppressed group and there are people that are dying and it is our job to stand up for these people we're not just coming here to preach to the choir and tell you guys that hey like we're not just here to inspire you guys you guys actually have the power to do something about it Red Bank actually has the power to start a movement in Mammoth County a lot of these towns could actually follow into what what Red Bank is doing and Mammoth County can actually be Pro Palestine and there's a lot of power in your hands as a group I was going through the agenda and the meeting minutes and there was a lot that you guys said about pride month and about juneth and I genuinely take pride in how much um accountability and how much uh politics uh and how much activism that Red Bank already takes part in right uh but it doesn't stop there it needs to include Palestine there's no such thing as CER Liberation without Palestine there's no such thing as black liberation without Palestine there's no such thing as having any of these conversations without Palestine thank you I yield my time thank you okay good evening good evening Council uh vegan Arabian 185 Maple Avenue like a dialogue here um it's really disturbing that after what's been going on in Gaza in the Middle East and um and the events of Russ Russian warships going to Cuba and eventually Russian warships going to Venezuela we need to hear we need to let the federal government hear our voice this is unacceptable it's unacceptable that a genoside is happening in Gaza and I know you're uh I know you've said that it's not you you're more focused on a red bank issue but mayor Portman you wrote a letter on a Red Bank headline that you you uh that you stand with Israel and there are sometimes that you don't stand with Israel do you stand with Israel with what's going on right now to to the Palestinian people um it it's just it just disturbs me of uh of not voicing we're on the side of Peace we want we want a ceasefire we want the killings to stop that's what we're all asking for is to make our voices heard to let the federal government know that this is unacceptable and uh recently a couple of weeks ago me and John Sue was running for um who was running against palone we went to a few homes in Red Bank and all the people that we've met they're very disturbed of what's going on in Gaza please be on our side and past this resolution that Georg Georgina had drafted it's about peace it's about stopping killings please thank you thank you for listening thank you some I think hi Nicole T again 153 Hudson Avenue in Red Bank um I've said a lot of this to you guys um to many of you privately on the council but publicly I want to say first of all I am supportive of you not taking a stance on this issue this is a federal issue as far as I know the Redbank Town Council does not have any role in negotiating the end of this conflict with Hamas Hamas start started it Hamas could end it okay I H I don't think you guys have any role in those negotiations not so far as I know um I also don't believe there's any portion of the Red Bank budget where my Red Bank tax dollars are going to fund this conflict so I think you guys have done a great job here in Red Bank and I fully support people's right to voice their opinion and the right to protest anyone who knows me knows I'm all for that but I am for you guys continuing to do a very good job at what you are doing these meetings run long you guys had several ordinances up tonight that are pretty complicated and I think you're doing a great job and I would love for you to focus on that I would love for folks who have Federal issues take them up with your Congressman I'm sure Frank palone is very receptive to these arguments if you're in Christmas District good luck but I I really just I'm a Red Bank resident and I have many friends who agree that we want you guys to stay the course and just continue doing your job and privately if you'd like to voice them as a private citizen to the federal level great but I I don't think that this conversation has any place at this meeting anymore it's taken a lot of time thank you anyone else have any comments questions yes Anon Hill 64 M Street I I'm not going to go rehearse the incredibly uh moving arguments in favor of taking a reol resolution on this matter I think in actual fact that the reaction of this committee sorry not committee this Council says enough for me about your attitude and that is you just sit there in silence I know one or two people are going to say oh well I I said one or two things about that but the majority of you have permitted your mayor to make a statement on your behalf one or two of you have come back with some me words which meaningless you claim that that there's no support in the town for this motion in fact we've just had an instance of where you're wrong somebody has called in uses fake information if anybody thinks Hamas started this war they have a very short memory in fact you know they can't remember probably from the beginning of this year you know this is a a conflict that's been going for something like 80 years now and to you know just to come out and use as an argument it's all a particular person's fault so you know you stand on that and I think that's what will be remembered and uh you know if you think on the basis of just the people who speak to you that you know you know what's going on in this town well quite a lot of people speak to me and my friends out here as well and it's a slightly different story I'd like to move on just another uh topic I don't know if I get the the full three minutes but I this afternoon I was driving along um dr's Parker Boulevard I noticed what appeared to be some new share the road with cyles signs gner um I I I just wonder when am I wrong are these not new because if they are new they're certainly going up against the advice of the great majority of people who are active in safe cycling that the share of the road signs do not work and should not be used that's just and the last thing I've got on the countdown you're counting me down now and at the moment no he's getting back to me but I've noticed that you do count down I'm going to carry on in a point about the countdown the three minutes includes responses from the chair well I've watched it today I'm sorry I'm sorry you may have missed it you may have missed it but you do okay it's just not fair no one's telling you to stop talking you can oh I know moment I know I know but I'm just saying uh previously you talk about your three minutes often a minute or or more is actually a response from the top table and and I'm I'm going to accept yeah you know I run some Zoom meetings as well I forget to push the button sometimes but you know I do try and make a conscious eff I understand but it does matter thank you anyone else have any comments anyone else sir have a motion all right go ahead hello uh I was there about a month ago uh I'm Scotty I'm from bead please I'm Scotty I'm from bayhead I I don't come from Long Branch I or uh from Red Bank I was going to be there but there was no trains that would have gotten you took the train last time right huh you took the train last time I remember you yeahthey goad yeah yep nice to hear you so I wanted to give my perspective as someone who comes from uh a whole lot of Jewish refugees uh that came here in the early 20th century late 19th century my great great-grandfather came here to start a new life to get better opportunities uh he moved from a city called dinin which was in the Kingdom of Russia at the time and later became a city of the USSR B he traveled home very often I don't know if it was for business or to see his friends and family but in 1935 uh he became a naturalized citizen because he wanted to go home and be able to come back as an American because he could have gotten uh denied re-entry into the United States because of immigration laws but he never got the chance to go home again because in from 1941 to 1943 the Nazis systemically eradicated all the Jews of the city out of 15,000 people that were estimated to have lived there the survivors are estimated to be under a 100 and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because Israel has not alluded to any of this what they're doing the Israeli government wants me to believe that Israel is my homeland but it's not they want me to forget about the destruction of this ancestral Homeland that I actually had in vins forget all the relatives whose name that I'll never learn the graves of my great-grandfather's four younger siblings who died as teenagers because what they're doing is so similar to what the Nazis did back then to that City it absolutely terrifies me how similar it is and it Absol UT terrifies me to have to reckon with the fact that these people who I considered my people are the ones who are now acting like Nazis reciting Nazi rhetoric engaging in war crimes and it's driving me insane that the American Media and Israeli media is throwing around the term anti-semitic as if it means absolutely nothing to them they there was a Starbucks sign a month or two ago that was vandalized with bumper stick and they were calling it an anti-semitic hate crime that a Starbucks sign was vandalized with stickers nobody was hurt nobody was targeted there was no anti-semitic language on the stickers it was just pro- Palestinian language and it was being treated as if it was like a shooting like it was violent a protest against genocide is never ever a call for genocide that's the entire point and the fact is that Israel is the one who is anti-Semitic they want Jews globally all of us to feel unsafe where we are and yet they also want to portray us as all having this hive mind where we all they can all portray all of us as these violent colonizers who want to get rid of all the Arabs from Gaza the next time somebody calls this side of the argument anti-semitic I just I urge you to consider that that is exactly what Israel wants you to think because they do not consider consider at the Arabs of Gaza to be Semitic they do not consider them to be equal sorry for I sounding a bit emotional it kind of is you done thank you um I have a motion to close the public comments make such a motion have a second second all in favor I Christine you got anything um sure I do just want to respond because we had a couple of comments this evening and again I always appreciate folks attending this speak again like our last speaker here from the heart um a couple folks asked for or or noted that they hadn't heard all of the council members voice their opinions on this matter I just want to say I'm not hesitant to do that um each be said I want see the killing stop I want to see The Killing stop desperately um I'm not hesitant to say that in any way um but at the same time I I'm not up here because I like to hear the sound of my own voice or even hear it mirrored on the stus that's not what I find rewarding or why I do this um I do this to forward constructive things for our community uh so just just want to differentiate I'm not hesitant to say that I've had those private conversations but want to make that clear um outside of that uh on the topic of constructive uh items I just want to share I was very uh privileged to attend last week the uh planning and Redevelopment conference in New Jersey hosted by New Jersey future and the New Jersey chapter of the American Planning Association um really wonderful conference uh we hear a lot of uh thought leadership on issues that we're hearing around the state so and things that we share here in Red Bank so affordable housing uh climate adaptation plac making parking and the future of that um really exciting I also want to report that Red Bank was uh really well represented Shauna our director of Community Development was there uh also resident and planner Megan Massie uh spoke on a panel uh as well as Bob's are in from River Center uh and it is nice when you're gr for planners When you mention you're from Red there's a little glint in the eye because people really do recognize this as a special place so that's nice to see um you know we have a lot of the same struggles that are seen throughout the state um but I think we have a unique set of opportunities here so it's really exciting to come away and remember that and especially with this particular group I know we're sensitive to these issues uh and we can continue to do a lot um I just want to start by acknowledging the evening of our last meeting evina Mana passed and that's the mother of our mayor Pat Mena and he was a devoted servant of this town but he was even more so a devoted son to his parents and uh he s in a heck of an example for how to help your parents in their old age and um I just want to send condolences to to Mayor Mena into his into his family um as three weeks have passed they can only imagine the size of the hole that remains in his heart um so he's in my thoughts I want to acknowledge the uh work of Bob holiday and his daughter Bailey holiday in particular for the work they did over uh setting up for the yard the lawn for uh for Pride Kate and I had the privilege of joining them um but in particular Bailey she's gone to help bob every year um great family but it's just above and beyond the Call of Duty um we have juneth coming up this uh Sunday I will be away I send my regrets in advance for not being able to attend and finally if anyone was wondering what the golden bur bird girls and I were discussing those are my neighbors it's that uh the mayor's not as popular on our street as like cat that's what wanted to share with me so but they uh they were adorable and I just appreciate the acknowledgement that you you laid out for for those kids um made their day they'll be good citizens um it's a Memory will carry with them so thank you um the notes I have from the EC is that uh they'll be drafting a letter voicing their concerns about the proposed development in Middletown at the headquarters of the swimming River this is a development that is going on Newman Springs Road and uh close to the intersection of um Sting with that Road H no yeah H but it's where the old Bor building is for the old Telecom people here it's where the Bor building was they're putting up new development there and while Middletown is saying oh well they already have the infrastructure there there is concerns by ension Falls that the water um of the swimming River will be negatively impacted and there was some research done so um Red Bank EC will be in support of that of supporting tint and falls in their petition to Middletown to please take that under consideration um the EC is also drafting a flyer encouraging sustainable Landscaping practices which also include the gas power to leaf blower reduction they are also in uh drafting a native plant ordinance uh they do have to work through some of the nuances given climate change what is actually native now right uh they will also be tabling at the juneth event at Johnny Jazz Park I would also like to report that the parklet that was um developed with a grant from the EC it was the ARP destination Redbank Grant um that included a website with all the information about healthy walking around town people and places of interest and then um a parklet at the corner of White Street shade would like to report that the um the trees that were planted as part of the Grant have now passed inspection and uh they're working with Terrence and Maria to put together documentation so the borrow can get the reimbursement and that's all I have there thank you thank you Ben I wanted to comment actually on the uh limo parking ordinance and all this business um I want to thank Council for adopting it and um you know one of the other issues that wasn't mentioned in the discussion earlier is that there's also a many streets my street but others um parking problem there's too many vehicles and I think that one of the things came to mind is I really would not want limos parking you know in Locust that is we don't have the fraking room I mean one of the things that happened because housing is so absurdly expensive that that you have people piling in the houses you know 25 years ago when I moved into Red Bank it was never problem any time of day parking on Locust Avenue was it is completely the opposite now so one of the things that um this is a minor issue in the scheme of things the main reason I support this is that it's really inappropriate to park B trucks on residential streets um but I don't and I want to agree with some Coles here I don't want to ban businesses from Red Bank or people who work you know need their vehicles and you know reasonable size trucks okay um and we can tweak the ordinance I'm a little concerned that we're aring on the side of maybe just too many big ordance but we'll see what happens um you know I listen to many voices on this and I know some of them are not no matter what I do they're not going to be happy but I think this is a good step and we'll see what happens and whether we have to tighten it up some more um so thank you for moving along and this issue is actually come up a lot over the years I've sat years in the audience so it's amazing that we are actually moving on it and I think this is much better than doing what Long Branch did which was ban all commercial vehicles um okay and I have spoken to some of my neighbors on this including Alan business uh maintenance and I think he is grateful certainly sound that me last night when I had a conversation that we didn't ban all commercial vehicles and U and many of our landscapers and others make an effort to minimize their impacts on others and I really appreciate it um okay the other thing is I'm looking at my notes here um on the uh parks and rep uh we had a meeting last week but I I just wanted to say amazed and impressed I am by the way the whole department is operating um Pride the event this weekend was really well done it was a lot of fun um sure I guess it would have been nice to have another thousand people there but it seemed like it was well attended to me and I got a lot of good feedback um so a lot of us were there and um hitting on all cylinders there then we also have juneth coming up this weekend I want to be there for Father's Day as I know some of you will be um so I just you know I'm just amazed at all the things I think also the Tai CH is a big hit over there at the senior center and we got movies coming and lots of other things that parks and recck are doing so uh and also Laura joined us at the last parks and recck being and I think it's great when more of US participate on those committees um I also wanted to comment a little bit on stuff that Mr Hill you know about the government and I was listening and thinking about our like I was on the finance ad hoc committee I guess my view from it is that it really isn't like girl business when we did it it was sort of it was more a presentation from finance department and I guess Jim and they were talking to I guess us in a capacity kind of an advisory capacity but really wasn't I don't remember any kind of real decisions there other than this is what we're thinking of doing and all the business Parts all every all the decisions were made here and were on the agenda I could have voted no or I could have brought questions or demanded a business admin or manager do something different but um I think it's actually a good idea to try to um get input from members of the public and that includes Council um you know feedback and use us as sounding boards for things for you make your decisions but you make the decisions we approved and went along with most everything but it was I felt like I was there an advisor of a capacity and I wasn't actually making financial decisions so um I just wanted to make that comment U since this ordinance came up on you know changing the standing committees and um you know we have change in form of government and a lot is different anyway that's that's my comments Mr Mayor you have any questions for me hi so I have a report from the library being sign to the library good news um the elevator they're doing some finishing work and then they'll have inspection so the fingers crossed it should be up and running soon um uh elany just um let me know that they're in a bit bit of a mess they were closed half a day they're also putting new software in at the same time so um they actually were closed half a day to train all the uh staff at the library on that so thank you for your patience but they really want people to join them this Saturday I know it's the same day as no juneth is Sunday it's good okay this Saturday for our 100th anniversary Birthday Bash and summer reading kickoff that will be at the library this Saturday um from Animal Welfare we had a meeting the other night um yappy hour was such a big success we're probably going to be doing some more yappy hours um a couple of evenings at um broadwalk and um they went through the special events calendar and we have our date approved for Dog Days in um Riverside Park this year because Marine Park will be under construction so we're starting to make plans for that um I attended juneth at the bogal last night which was wonderful it's such good music and lot of talent out there it was really I was glad to be there with my some of my colleagues from the council and my husband came um pride in the Park as Ben mentioned was wonderful um makes me proud to live in Red Bank and we even raised a pride flag out here the other day and it was a nice ceremony um Middle School graduation is tomorrow night and I'll be attending that too at the park that c basy Park which we're going to fix up because I do think it needs to be fixed up but um I'm proud of the middle school students who will be graduating and the Girl Scouts thanks so much you're just adorable that was the highlight of my meeting too and that's about it thank you thank you mayor turn your mic off oh I got it sorry it's okay um Bri in the park was wonderful uh that was an event that myself and the former one of the well former cor manager started in uh 2019 and the idea behind it uh kind of came out of the fact that I have a kid and pride is really different for me than when I was younger um bisexual and I've been out since I was 18 and I really love marching with my kid in the parade but then after that that's kind of the end of it and you know there's a lot of actual people that work in youth education in town around lgbtq issues we actually host the Gayla here in town for young people and the idea behind having pride in the park was just having a safe welcoming space for those younger people it doesn't have to be this glit glammy thing it's you know have some fun music let's hula hoop in the park let's have a good time and um I really said to myself from the beginning I will gauge the success of this event once I hear young people say that the event did something for them and this is the second year in a row that a student from a local high school spoke and stated that this event was the first Pride I ever went to referring to a couple years back and saying it was one of the first times I ever felt safe or accepted and that the accessibility of the event is what made it possible for them to attend um so to me that's that's the greatest feeling on Earth because that means that we're actually making um a change here uh from the community Equity engagement committee um the 5Ks this weekend uh the push share that was received through a grant to help somebody participate in that race and provide accessibility will be used um the C has also discussed with the library about putting this into their catalog of objects that are available for rent from the library so this push share will actually be available to the public to rent out um and use um at their Leisure uh I also just want to comment on uh the restructuring of this government and and why it's so meaningful and important to me as somebody who served up here in the former form of government and as recently as last January when bylaws were made by the former governing body here that made it that four people which is actually a majority of your deis had to agree on a piece of legislation before putting it onto the agenda if anybody was paying attention during that time that's essentially your governing body agreeing that they're going to vote Yes on something before your public meeting even takes place it's aboring to me these ad hoc committees are extremely important because yes we have a manager he's in charge of day-to-day operations we put immense trust in our CFO and our professionals and we do not overstep like some former people did with the budget and you know do harmful things to our buau and we do trust our professionals but when it comes to ordinances and policy like for example tonight the legislation or the ordinance that we propos to put the money into the parks trust I need to talk to somebody before that gets onto the agenda we need to have a meeting to discuss that and we need to be able to do that in a working group that is not a quarum so that is the perfect example to me that me and Laura who's the cry were the mayor the CFO Jim we met Greg we talked about this and then we brought it here and then the beauty of it is if somebody was against it that's what the vote is for and the public agenda is the transparency for you to know what's going to be tended to so I think this is actually the most brilliant process this burough has had it is the most transparent because you don't have a quarum of people agreeing on something before it goes on to the public agenda you're finding that out here in public and that's the way it was supposed to be um no standing committees that are meddling in your bur operations before you had whole council members going in and telling DPW how to run the place it was absurd and the meetings were unnecessary so I'm really really really elated to be at this point and I just want to state that the work that is being done here although it sounds mundane on an agenda go look at another municipality's agenda go look at what they get done in one meeting it is unbelievable we are rocking and R and everybody should be extremely proud to get Shrewsbury Avenue done the tap Grant there and on the same agenda we're we're funding Marine Park these are and we're also addressing count basy I sat up here for stretches of meetings we're not one one thing that Monumental would happen so I think Red Bank should be extremely proud of the direction that we're going in and extremely proud of having a transparent government thank you thank you I want to say now again I I appreciate you uh coming with Solutions and not and not just problems and I know it might not be moving as fast as you like but as you can see we're chipping away at it so please stay involved and your input is really always welcome um got to give a shout to my man Dave Cassie graduated law school be studying for the far endlessly good work after I can't wait till you pass it on the third try it's G to be great um last week I was over at the high school I got to present a um a proclamation to mine Sanchez Bara she was the highest ranking student from from Red Bank at Red Bank Regional she's going to John Hopkins on a full ride that's awesome really happy to be there really proud of her um she's an incredible role model um knows how to advocate for others and more importantly for herself so congratulations to madlin um yeah otherwise busy week right we had we had Pride um I was at the Red Bank Charter School graduation last night and then popped over to the juneth event at the basy so Ben and Laura and Nancy there um Middle School graduation is tomorrow and uh of course juneth is on Sunday so um things are humming here in the burrow very excited and that's all I got Jim yes sir thank you uh I just want to be give an update on marine park we have met with the the bids obviously went out we awarded the project precise construction we've met with the precise preconstruction meeting I know there's going to be a little bit of a I don't want to say a delay we're just waiting for some of the uh electrical work to come in for the parking lot as far as the light poles and underground conduit however uh Marine Park as far as the grading and surveying of the new parking area will start in July the very beginning of July and then we'll probably hop over to the White Street easement that parking lot on White Street where we have to replace and restore the easement to better housekeeping and then go back to Marine Park for The Greening in of the Green Space once the actual parking lot is created so that we're not taking away parking before providing parking um so we've kind of talked about that whole dance uh with this project and making sure that we're taking into account um taking into account some of the events that are going on in those areas as well I know there's a car show there's Symphony there's a couple other things that are going on that we're taking into account um I have put out and I know that there was a date discrepancy but that's been corrected uh with the water rate study informational session which is going to be on Wednesday June 19th from 5: to 6: pm here in council chambers also with a zoom option um that comes out of the April 2023 water rate study that was uh approved by the governing body at that time so it's been a long process and we're coming up to the end of that process where decisions need to be made as far as how we are going to fund the capital infrastructure of the water sewer utility and all the infrastructure that is in the Burrow under our Capital Improvement plan uh for the future you know looking at the next 10 years and also realizing that water rates have not been changed for previous eight to 10 years in town so there's obviously some major implications with that so we look to cover all that um information we'll have Ingenuity who's our water professionals on hand along with CDM Smith who was um subcontracted by Ingenuity to provide this water rate study and actually do a lot of the financials around water infrastructure and how our rates are working we also have a biking and pedestrian Forum scheduled for Tuesday June 25th from 5 to 6 PM again in this room we'll have the Red Bank Police Department um CME engineering our planning department we'll have Shauna there for Community Development myself uh we look to have a representative from vitic which is our new program that we're going to be using for our road infrastructure on hand to tell us how their program can assist us in discussing our plans challenges and improvements to our biking and pedestrian infrastructure as well and then so we plan to take half of that time maybe a little bit less on those uh pre presentations those are going to be quick Snippets because we actually want to make sure we have enough time to hear from the public as well that's very important for that process um I wanted to give an update on the community engagement coordinator position we solicited a really good number of uh applications for that position uh We've comb through them um and as of today we've narrowed that down to a group that we're looking to bring in over the next two weeks uh so we hope to have a really strong applicant out of that process um sustainable Jersey has been a a process to borrow for some time now uh it's a it's a laborous yeah right it's it's a laborous cause it's it's uh something that Nancy has really spearheaded among you know Gathering the information from many different departments and as a council woman it's been kind of thankless but thank you for doing it uh however I'm looking to to bring that in house I'm like other towns like other towns wow so I'm looking to streamline that bring that inhouse put it under our community development uh assigned to Shauna Shauna will receive a stien for doing so um by ordinance good I have the ability to provide a stip in up to $6,000 it's not for this full $6,000 um not that that would be out of the question however there's gives us a little bit of room to work with in the next couple years so Shauna will be tasked with that well I know we'll be meeting with you in the next couple weeks to kind of hand things off here's where we're at this is what's needed I know nany's going to be very involved still but uh hopefully we can a lot of have the bragging rights when we go to the leag that we that we all that and they had an inhouse person I know like I know no what I was going to add is the advantage of having an in-house coordinator is that when you have projects because this impacts every aspect of the borrow that will take more than say six months to do having that coordinator can really assist and getting those long-term projects done but what sustainable Jersey has is a lot of very interesting actions to really help our town be sustainable but there are a lot of long-term projects that we could possibly take advantage of so thank you and yes I've started the data dump with Shauna and um it's overwhelming but I'll be there the whole time the first go round yeah and um just for the record we go through through the heavy task of documenting all the good stuff that we're doing once every three years and this is the year we're doing it so that would free up Shauna to look at um the longer term projects on the off years great so I'm looking forward to that I think it's going to work really efficiently speaking of working efficiently having been an assistant administrator in one form of government one to having been a burrow administrator which was what this a form of was and now having being and currently am a town manager I can say that this is probably the most effective way that government can run when it's it's seamless you you you Empower somebody to make decisions based on your confidence in them I report to you I'm beholden to you as a governing body um and I think that it's really important that we have these working groups because they've been really working for me quite honestly I'm not president of red Red Bank however I am a municipal executive that knows how to make Municipal decisions but I find it extremely valuable to have those ad hoc committees that you guys have the boots on the ground you have the pulse of the community you know what's going on out there and I need to hear that so these working groups are working for me and I hope that I've never seen a more transparent government than what's happening here thank and I've been involved in many of those discussions right when we have meetings that don't involve the public that don't necessarily make it out right those things make it out here thank you and you know quite honestly it's it's one of the most effective ways I've seen that thanks appreciate that where's the wood sir all right good uh can I have a motion to Mr have a second all in favor thank you guys we will see you on June 27th we have an executive session