the stands na indivisible andice good evening ladies and gentlemen Smit is not called of order in line with the B receiv longing policy open government and in compliance with the open public meetings act I wish to advise you that adequate notice of this regular schedule meeting was sent to the asra park press and other local newspapers on January 10th 2023 each insist the daytime location of this meeting five in the notes this meeting is open to the public roll call council member beer here Booker yes catalana here Gorman here killer and L here mayor right we'll begin with a remarks from the audience if there's anybody online or in person like you heard just please state your name your address and the floor is yours he everybody Kevin bsol 9 New Street um as you all probably well aware as you probably got some phone calls our recent tax assessment came in for for next year um and property values have gone up exponentially um one of the concerns that I had I I've already put in appeals both my um uh added assessment that I got and my yearly assessment um but across the board I did some I went on the open public records act looked at some numbers Here There and Everywhere and it seems to me that there's a little bit of unfairness going on I understand that it's all based on comparables in your neighborhood everything like that but based on what I looked at on just random picks from across the town uh your R your R2 and R1 and R3 at zones up in North be and South Beach um only range somewhere anywhere between 16 to 18% increase downtown ranged anywhere from 20 to 28% increase across the board um the one thing I noticed was that if your houseold value does over a million dollar it was 16% if it was under a million dollar it was 20 to 28 um you know I mean it seems that there's a little bit of like question going on there then not then then not even not even get in the business Zone you got downtown business district that business district nothing in the business district went up four more than 4 and a half% when you look at I I know you guys have history with the beach clubs the beach clubs whatever they only went up 2% but there were three properties that are owned by the beach club that are zoned residential that went up less than 2% one of which only went up $100 and that's the three parking lots down here they went up their zoned residential and they still only went up less like one went up $100 I mean meanwhile the property directly next to it which is an open lot same situation as they are with a parking lot back half got 16% front half front third of that property went up 122% it doesn't make sense to me because I I know it's I know when you say you're comparables this that and the other thing we got one one one house downtown that sold just outside of the the assessment window dates it was just this side of the assessment window dates that assessment came in at805 it sold just after the assessments came in at under seven a house on the north beach which sold inside those assessment window number dates sold for 3.4 the assessment came in at 2.2 it doesn't make sense to me it seems like somebody took a shotgun shot it at the town and went this is where we're at and the majority of the hits hit downtown I mean you've got you've even got a couple of of U of marinas in town most of the marinas went up 11% one of the marinas only went up 2% it doesn't make sense to me there's no Rhyme or Reason to it and I just question what's going on and if something if something can be done I realize that at this point there's probably nothing that we can do based on the book that has been submitted and everything like that but beside you know if there is nothing we can do and I know that the the tax rate hasn't come in yet and that's really going to determine what our what we pay on our taxes for 2024 but that being said and with everything being said your tax your your tax income last year was over a billion dollars if you go at the low average there 16% what are you planning on doing with that $176 million that you plan on getting next year if you keep the the ex the existing tax rate so so that's all I have to say I just something's a miss and I think somebody should look into it a little bit look around kind of thank for doing the research on it's interesting I know was pretty big bump downtown yeah I also have one other thing separate why the increase on the on the beach passes before before the new year why the $25 increase I mean again if I was a conspiracy theorist taking that and and the taxes in town I'd say you're trying to push the middle class out I mean that's what it sounds like to me I mean 20 you ra you raised the price did for the pretty much the locals it's not the local price it's the early price for beach beach F was always been $50 if you got it before Christmas or before the new year and you just rais them to 75 bucks I don't think have an impact over the tax no I know that's separate a completely separate thing but I'm saying if somebody would to look at this from you know conspiracy theorist would come in here and look at this and look at all these things and these numbers they could go I think you're trying to push out the middle class so my St no thanks for sh info good to have that cuz I time their research all from pockets and down yeah I mean you can look it up on the public records so everything's there you can just grab some numbers grab some random houses here there I have a neighbor's house that was that I have a neighbor's house that was sold in almost all downtown at 20 to 20 28% I have one neighbor's house that was already over million only went up 16% Tim is coming to our next Workshop in January if you'd like to stop over I've already spoken with him and every that I've stated to him he gave me kind of a runaround answer that didn't answer anything and so I'm you know part of me wants to question his capabilities at this point because I was just like don't you know it's it's insane so I made my point thank you thanks Merry Christmas my name is Mike con I live at 1486 Ocean Avenue have a similar issue I'm 66 years old first of all I was shocked at this town they raised my property taxes my valuation from a million4 to 2 million for and my neighbor my neighbor I mean it's Insanity um my taxes are going to double I don't know what how I have to sell my house now it's insane I went to see Tim and he goes well there's nothing I can do they forced me to do it really your house is worth a million 6 but I put up 2 million4 cuz another house of 3 million but it's a half a mile away from your house it's on the ocean it has it has ocean lights I don't see anything I'm totally blocked in he put my lot at a million5 the dentist which is next door his lot is twice the size of mine and he's $800,000 I can't sleep at night thinking about this but I went to see Tim and he goes well appeal so I appeal let's say I get a reduction then I have to pay an attorney because of his negligence or whatever it may be my neighbor's house was built the same day and delivered the same day as mine he has a th000 more Square ft he has riverv views but he put my house the same value as his house it's impossible his numbers don't make sense I looked all around the neighborhood I looked people behind me I paid 900,000 for my house the same the same month another guy bought a house for a million6 but his house is appraise $400,000 less than my house now it used to be appraise 300,000 more he went from a million 8 to 2 million1 cuz I guess things went up 18% but to me me bring me from a million4 to 2 million4 and I asked him to review it again he didn't why why should you have to challenge it that's not fair I lived in Northern towns if you had a real issue like that they would adjust he he says oh your bathrooms are brand new you guys did you went from house to house I cooperated I had a filming done on my house like everybody else did but he did they did they use that I don't understand how he could have praised my house the way he did and why do I have to now I have to go to appeal and go to someone in M be in Mammoth County who doesn't know our area right they don't know our area they don't know that I'm blocked by Driftwood and I have no River viws so I have a lot that's the size of a postage there and he put it at a million5 it's just crazy that's all I have to say yeah thank thank [Music] [Music] you uh Jerry Keane 5 Ministry just two questions when will the budget be available to look at where the money is going to be spent and if you could add some color today on what large projects we're looking at next year that's driving the increase well maybe I'll ask Mike bastim or CFO to answer those questions I the budget is approved already it was approved uh four or five months ago maybe even longer 2023 bu we're coming to an end on the 2023 budget 12 days till that ends the 2024 will be developed during the first quarter of the Year okay so we haven't developed that budget as of yet is that available upstairs at some point in time oh yeah I don't be available had introduction which will probably be linked Poss March but generally can you share some color on well the the the assessment was was somewhat of a argument between our tax assessor and Mama County tax assessor the County tax assessor um I'm not sure the Dynamics of it but they don't want the town as a whole to fall below 95% of what the sales have been um so Mr an so he sent in his book what what he thought was fair and they they refused it they said they would not certify those numbers uh He adjusted a second time I believe and they wouldn't they they wouldn't accept those numbers the third time they imposed an increase on on the town the County Board of Taxation so um while Tim has to defend both our side and their side because he technically is under the County Board of Taxation um you know it it went up and there are in inequities in this this system that's we're going through yeah but what do we do so I have to spend money and I have to hire a lawyer I mean doesn't a town care that people I mean it's I've been a senior citizen I've never I PID my taxes but to go up SE 75% in one year on my taxes it's criminal I mean it seems like a mafia is running Joe can I make a couple comments oh I can tell you everybody on this day is cares and is concerned about the point you're raising because we all live here and it's affecting all of us maybe in different ways and different percentages but just to add a little bit of context to what Joe just said Tim submitted his recommendation for assessment it was rejected by MTH County as being too low he resubmitted it it was rejected again as to there MTH County is adding a number on top of that which is driving this now the thing we have to keep in mind is there's three major components that made up our tax rate it's our Municipal tax it's what we have to pay to the county and it's what we have to pay to the school system until the assessed values get beat against the tax rate you don't know what the municipal portion of your taxes are so so sir if my taxes went up to 2 mil4 and my neighbor's at 1.6 and his house is twice the size of mine something wrong I don't care how he submitted it he calculated wrong okay my intent is not to address individual cases here because I can assure you everybody in this room and everybody around the table has a similar concern to what you have I do myself I won't go into my numbers but I do myself Sim situation happen and I'm questioning it we in this town can only adjust our Municipal rate a cap of 2 to 22% per year so if the assessed value goes up we have to reduce our tax r commensurate with that and that's a process that's ongoing right now what concerns me besides what we're all paying is the fact the part that goes to mou County does not get adjusted the same way I just described for the municipal rate and the other issue is the equalized value of the town to Mr bol's point is when equalized value gets calculated on the town if it goes from a billion to a billion three that gets used for school formula calculations and we already have a challenge in school situation so we're going to work on the budget as Mr Basin said we're going to look to try to get that nailed down by February March the earliest which will Define what's going to happen in 2024 to answer the gentleman's question back there we have not finalized the 2024 project yet as to what the major Capital Investments are there are some that have been preapproved that are ongoing whether it be the fact that we purchased a new fire truck whether it be that going maintenance on some roads there's a number that have been approved already but the ones for the 2024 plan are in discussion have not been finalized yet but I I don't want anybody in the room to have the impression that anybody sitting up here is not concerned about the issue that's being raised and in fact the lead in trying to work with this is Tim manuso trying to get adjustments and fair values for the things that are being put on the bottom line and I'm almost done the bottom line problem we have right now is people are coming in and paying exorbitant prices for houses in this town and when the comps sit there I'll just speak for myself the comp drove up my calculation and there's nothing I can do about it because people were willing to come into the town and pay 20 30 40% over what the number was a year ago that comp is what's used for the calculation and if any of us go on Zillow and put our address in we're going to be surprised by the number that's sitting there because that number is defined from comps in the area that number on Zilla $700,000 he valued my house I I just I'm not going to go into IND I know you don't want to go into it okay fine no I wasted my time the point is the point is you said it's like the Mafia crazy it's a crazy situation it's a crazy situation where it's he knows that it's wrong and he won't adjust okay other towns they adjust if there's a mistake made they adjust well I I I believe in the end my my my first reaction was to the view that says we don't care that is absolutely well I don't I'm not I'm not saying you and and secondly we are concerned about the issue and are asking in our Workshop to roll up our sleeves and get a better feeling of what's going on here because we agree it's moving in the wrong direction and we don't understand why so we've got to get to the bottom of it the one thing I would ask is if you're going to say something just come up and I don't know whether or not we have time limits on anybody here just you got to do it so people can do you with their all so Kevin bir just to your point when when do you guys um when do you guys plan on having the tax raid finalized I mean because I know that's going to really determine where we are as far as the taxes that we pay on our new assessments it takes a while Kevin be only because the county waits for every municipality to prepare their budget and pass it before they set the set the total rate am I correct Mike that's that's correct so you have a number of steps here at first thing just to be very clear the budget isn't set based on the assessments so if you have a billion dollars in new assessments that doesn't mean the budget goes up right uh the budget is still as irn stated before budget driven by the amount we need to operate mity and and it's capped by what we're allowed to increase in each year so even if the um assessment values went up 100% we're still capped at a 2% increase in the tax levy uh and then that Levy will just be divided differently amongst the values based upon who went up more than the average you know who went up at the average and who went up below the average um but the uh the overall tax rate so we'll know what the municipal tax rate is within 100 of a penny uh by late April uh and but we won't know the entire tax rate to include the county the school districts uh until um Mid June at best so then so so here's my question there's another clarified question then so we have to have an appeal for our tax assessment in by January 1st but we won't know what we're actually going to be paying on our tax until April for that but but just know this Kev the you appeal based on the assessment not on your taxes you cannot win a tax appeal just over how much your taxes R it's on your assess I realiz it we're appealing the assess the assess value so but we're appealing granted I understand houses the housing car prices in this town are going up for exact same reason some people are coming in and buying up at ridiculous prices and that makes sense and and I understand that portion of it but the problem is right now with if the taxes go up at the if the tax rate stays where it is and these absorbent prices go up then I you just said you just said you just said your budget doesn't change so you need x amount of millions of dollars to run this town and whatever so now you're getting another if you if the tax rate stays the same you're getting almost $200 million extra where's that money going to go tax rate can't stay the same when you have that type of increase in value the tax rate will go down you you can't see the same that tax rate is going to have to come down from 1 019 where it is right now down to under 6 or 7 6 or 7 in order to equalize the cost there I mean and the chances of that happening I mean we've only ever been as low as 08 I think Kevin to be very clear on what Mike is saying when the assess value goes up because the municipal budget is capped at 2 and half% the rate automatically comes out of that formula no I realize that I realize that you're saying what you're saying is if the tax rate stays the same and the assessment goes up that's not going to happen no the assess goes up and the tax but again the tax I know I understand the tax rate is going to come down but my point my point is if we feel that our assessed value is is insane yeah but the tax rate comes down to a point where it's like all right whatever it's fine because it's not really going to kill me on my taxes because the tax rate has equalized and everything's fine now instead of paying what like my house right now if if the tax rate stay is the same my house my taxes go up from $6,000 to $10,000 a year so if that tax rate comes down and I'm still paying $6,000 a year in April I'm fine it doesn't matter how much my house is worth but my point is I don't have the option to appeal it until I have to appeal it by January 1st I have to appeal that value by January 1st because I feel it's insane and now I have to hire a lawyer or somebody has to we have to hire a lawyer to go in and say listen this is I feel this is incorrect we have to look for a um comparables in the area that we feel are correct which as you know are slim and hard to find because like you said people are paying insane prices for these houses so again we're in a catch 22 situation I can't I have to appeal it by January 1st otherwise I'm stuck with whatever tax rate comes out in April and my taxes go up and I am stuck and that's what I have to pay through April of next year yeah on my taxes I understand everything you're saying again everybody in this room that side and this side is concerned about this and to me the one thing an individual can do is if they believe the comparables on recently sold properties in their area that are relevant are significantly below what they're assessed at then they have to appeal that and they have to do it as Mike said you're appealing against the assessed value not against your taxes I we're all sitting here in the same boat right now I took the three comps on my block technically not cuz you're at 16% I'm at 28% so yes I've already I've already run the numbers on everyone in town on every one of the people in this room and some some that I know are involved in the politics in this town and I know where the numbers are so know you're not in the same boat as Kevin public record I know it is Kevin let me finish it's public record in two years my taxes have gone up my assessment's gone up 50% in two years so don't tell me I'm not in the same and look where look at the neighborhood you live in you live in you know you live in a 2 million 3 million the the the house on your block on for $6 million right now it's the point I'm trying to make is for us to get into each as an individuals not appropriate because we don't have that Insight but what we do understand is how the system works and how the taxation works all we saying he's not exemp from the same thing that you and everyone else don't I realize but I'm just saying it seems to me you're you're driving out all the you're going to drive out all the retirees you're going to drive out all the middle class you're going to get to the point where nobody where nobody lives in this town in the offseason because it's all sold to llc's and people that are rent them out of to airbnbs that's all that all is going to live here in the offseason in the next five years if this continues so I've said my thanks like to speak tonight anybody yeah this is another issue there many issues I'm sorry that your name address my name is barbin Adler and I live at 656 Ocean Avenue and I actually think it's a shame that I have to come here tonight um about two years ago we recognized that we were having a really big problem with a storm drain the state owns this thing so that they River in the [Music] ocean so what my husband did is he called somebody in town who's in the I forget what department it is uh Public Works and the gentleman came from Public Works not my job well we don't have anything to do with this you know this is the state so my husband got a number from the state there he did give him a number for somebody to call and my husband did call the state of course everybody's out in the field we don't know which field that people are out in but they're certainly out in the field somewhere I guess they come in to get collect their salaries um after many many call he got somebody to call him back and the guy said definitely going to take care of this nothing happened for over a year we lost the some of the paperwork I called again I called the uh the I can't go forgetting the name of it the people who the same guy anyway called him and uh I said we we're not hearing anything uh and he said well um maybe I could call or something or whatever of course we never heard anything and then I got into it and I said we got to fix this so I called again and I got somebody at the state who said that they were sending somebody in and somebody would come to fix it meanwhile the water keeps on coming closer and closer not only does the water come closer and closer but because it doesn't drain properly and the summertime we have an insect problem there and the water now is almost up to where the where the uh in fact sometimes it actually comes over into the driveway I then one day I was sitting there and I saw a guy come with pad we did so I ran out I was all excited I said who are you he said well I've been hired by the town so I said well you know are you going to fix this he said oh yeah you you're you have a big problem and you have a couple of other people with a problem it's supposed to be 36 in you don't even have an inch there so I thought oh that's great somebody's going to come and fix it well I never heard from anybody again so then I called and um you said that you would call me back I don't hear any ring no ring so I call again no ring still no ring so then I go to the office where there are three people cuz everyone else is out in the field I spoke to someone who I think works with you a woman explain the whole situation to her certainly I thought that I would get a call I pay almost $20,000 a year in taxes we have a town with 15 almost 1,500 100 people maybe 15 35 was what I looked at 24 people working for the town I shouldn't have to come here and you should have called me shame on you so now we still have the same problem that we've had for tunah years ago and it's really a shame they have all of these people here and all this beautiful building and I I had to call Brian I bothered him one day I asked him to do something he was in the mix too he told me contact Joe so I did so I did everything I'm supposed to do and I still don't have I don't I don't care whose problem it is I at a minimum somebody should have called me back and nobody did so that is that is a no no that I I cannot tolerate that I cannot tolerate that not not what I'm paying for taxes and we're only less than 1500 people here certainly you have some time to give one of the resident it's it's it's rude and it's uncalled for and it should not be happening and all of you should be sure that anybody who's working for our town if somebody calls in this town they ought to be responded to I you owe me that call so I want somebody to address this issue to tell us a timeline who was it that came with the with the with the pad and took all the notes who was it I still don't know who that is and I don't want to have to come I'll come here for for important things this is an important thing that people are talking about but the St it's not important enough it should have been handled right away and nobody did handle it yeah all right so Joe does have an we'll give you a call tomorrow so I will give you updated you know what those status is on that I know you've been in touch with the state on this one well I had to call Senator o scalin to try to get us at a meeting with the state uh still haven't gotten the meeting with the state to talk about the issue um and I apologize for not getting back to you but I don't have any answer I had to call the senator an answer is I called it this is what happened you call me back okay I apologize I I I I not once not one twice I at least twice I called you and didn't get a respon and then I went and I brought myself to the office and told spoke to a woman there Christine I think took all the information and still didn't hear anything Christine did I speak to you okay so so I look familiar to yes okay and I thought for sure I'm going to hear something when was that 2 months ago so I Merry Christmas sorry for the delaying that but we'll we'll check in with de and see get another update for you everybody heard that right yeah thanks anybody else here like to be heard tonight anybody online now yes sir since it's a speak yes Anderson 8 Center Street um guys I I I would like to hear from you guys because we've heard over the years how oh we've kept the budget under the cap kept the budget under the cap um that we keep the budget the municipal side of it that you can control nearer to inflation rates and that's a that's a tough thing so we don't go out doing a lot of crazy stuff um and as far as the assessments go I'm living with my wife in the house both floors are falling in that the burrow constructed they're engineering the UN know firm that they hired their Builder that they hired did this damage to our home we went and qu our assessment but our property value keeps Pace with our neighbors even though we have a first floor that we can't really live in no kitchen cabinets no floors we're walking around on sub floors no sheep rock the house is now deflected 3 in in the center so when people speak about problems here and Community I don't see it and I haven't seen it and the thing is you guys know what you did some people sitting here know exactly the situation and know they've done nothing that's my story have a good night 3 minutes thanks 3 minut anyone else is there any line to speak all right well thanks uh thanks for speaking tonight no no happy stories here sorry guys and you know hopefully you know hopefully the fields work out to a degree you know I don't know on that one I any exempt on that one but uh it was a from but thanks for your comments and we'll talk soon um all right we'll be on to the consent agenda thanks guys all right good guys8 the consent agenda right and then to approve the rest of the consent the second one I'm sorry what is the 1884 property us per do we have to explain why we want remove moving up separate vote okay voted on separately so who made the motion is there a second on the balance of the consent second all right so there was a motion to to uh vote on the the balance of the consent agenda minus number 188 so uh let's see council members Bieber yes Booker yes Catalano yes Gorman yes killer yes and yes all right so the consent agenda passes minus 188 would any like to make a motion on resolution number 188 all and sell our property Jon to block 22 lot 4.01 I'm I'm sorry I'm confused that's the par and property yeah we we separated from consent vo and now voting it individually correct I'm sorry just is one that wasn't clear to me I'll second that all right so on resolution 188 call council members Bieber yes Booker yes catano yes Gorman no killer no and L yes right so resolution 188 passes we're going on our first ordinance ordinance number 16 2023 and ordinance of the bar sebrite adding chapter 107 firefit to the code of the Bor of sebrite may like to make a motion to open a public hearing and ordinance number 16 2023 so move second all right council members Bieber yes Booker yes yes Gman yes Giller yes yes right anybody to uh be heard on ordinance 16 2023 and uh all right make a motion to close the public he on ordinance 16 2023 so ccil members Bieber yes Booker yes catano yes Forman yeser yes and yes all right motion to close the public hearing would any like to make a motion to adopt the ordinance 16 2023 sove right Council memb Bieber yes Booker yes Tana yes Forman yes heer yes and M yes all right or 16 2023 was adopted we're on to individual action uh business this vouchers $568 388 would anybody make a motion to approve this voucher list second right counc Mar Bieber yes Booker yes Catal yes Gorman yes killer Yes and Romy yes all right the vou list has been approved all right so we're moving on now to Mayor and Council comments um I can give a few quick updates I know we've heard from our uh special attorneys for schooling ofo and kry this week and the uh the appeal uh by uh ocean Port Shore Regional the appeals uh were dismissed by superior court of New Jersey so those motions were the Motions to dismiss were granted um we got some good news I believe yesterday Frank Lawrence who've been working on it for years and years between now for years after Sandy FEMA approved of our reimbursement request for um all the volunteers efforts that were documented for and it was kind of Frank did a great job of it because that was like you know that was just like the drudgery the just keeping track of all volunteer hour for quite a long time and the years after Sandy so he basically did textbook submitted everything and then New Jersey o and they were notified that fale approved of it so probably sometime in January I think we should uh get a a reimb reimbursement for about $456,000 nice yeah they they reimburse at 90% of the request so I think our request is around 507 right and yeah and uh as last I spoke to about it earlier lot you know a lot of times didn't do it or didn't do it correctly and uh you know Frank the folks who helped him kind of painstaking document everything and it paid off so that was nice this is final this is it is yep it came from FEMA and they notified state today or yesterday that's great yeah that's good news Mike do you know the number the what the Yeah 456 yeah 4456 3484 that a one some payment yeah I think yeah I think Frank said usually gets paid out in four to six weeks so I would assume January yeah uh let's see yeah the uh I will got you the uh so yeah I just wanted to thank Jeff right now say uh the last meeting of his term so we all wanted to thank Jeff for your service for last three years all all your volunteer efforts and helping us through all of our meetings and agendas and all your work they've done for the town so thanks again Jeff I'll see you soon out there but uh you know the governing body has a nice little uh thank you card here for you and a little gift card in there that we hope you enjoy and uh but we all wanted to thank you again for taking a lot of time out of your life for the last three years to uh dedicate the seab braak thanks je grateful to the residents receive right for the opportunity to serve um I enjoyed my time on Council and um uh enjoyed working with all of you um voters have rendered different decision and we respect that um so I I uh I'll be in town a few year around um not not disappearing going anywhere so I look forward to working with you all as that opportunity May uh and look forward to meting all town so again thank you all uh for uh your cour you're working with me uh and I appreciate the opportunity the staff and other thank you very much all right thanks again Jeff um also we have uh on see the date is January 6 I believe is our next public uh not the next public meeting but the actually the first public meeting of the Year reorganization 10:30 in the morning so feel free to come on out Goes The Rebirth of our town so again that's Saturday January 6 10:30 and uh do thanks to all our departments again this year we to greet 2023 overall so please fire first aid our office our Administration Public Works already did a great job this year our Beach uh so you know thanks for having a great year and uh hopefully uh 2024 is as good um aside from that you know season greetings to everybody you know Merry Christmas Happy New Year's and any Council like to speak to their committees mayor I've got a couple things real quick um just an update on the work that we're doing in Anchorage Park um councilman Lamy and I completed the first phase of the Train Pavilion if you remember this is a three section thing that we're doing um very happy with the kit that we got that we purchased through both donations as well as matching funds from MTH conservation um the next step is we're going to be attaching the two Wings the left and right side north and south of the Pavilion it'll look very familiar but we're trying to replicate as you recall what the old train station looked there the reason we had to delay those was because they required updates to the CAF permitting from what was originally there so that's being worked on Frank and our Engineers are working on that early spring we'll be starting the construction of those two Wings off the side and during the winter and into the spring we're going to be looking for a series of nice training features to sort of deck it out as an old train station making it look as similar to the original train station as we possibly can So the plan is by the summer that's going to be a nice little attraction for people to have photographs taken Maybe some music being played there and other things but I want to thank councilman Ramy for a lot of hard work over the last couple weeks on that second thing on the planning board I serve on behalf of the Council on the planning board which has been a pleasure again this year um Q4 was pretty quiet U we actually had to cancel a couple meetings because we didn't have enough applicants so uh not a lot going on the majority of the applications that we had during the last quarter were predominant private residents um either tear downs and replace or expansions or elevations and things of that nature there was nothing controversial during the quarter I would say overall that took place a couple commercial things that took place we approved the Woody's final expansion on the planning board we just approved a canopy down at Driftwood but well attended by the board no significant issues and uh you know as as we all know the town is very much developed at this point so there's not a lot more space for people to be putting putting up new things um on time every time we say it there was something pops yeah exactly on behalf of the Personnel committee um we've been doing a lot of work around succession planning for our leadership team uh most significantly of which comes January we're beginning the process of posting for the position for business administrator Joe Roy our administrator who would been incredibly fortunate to have since San and has done a great job for the town is going to be retiring uh sometime in the first half of next year so we're going to post that position we'll look for applications in the January time frame probably we'll need the council and talk about how we want to conduct the interview and selection process that'll go through February and then sometime around the March time frame hopefully have a a new candidate in place for an overlap period with Joe so there can be some mentoring and and orientation for whoever that new ba is going forward uh but once again thank Joe for his incredible service and dedication to the town and again like you said mayor happy holidays to everybody happy merry Christmas happy Hanukkah safe happy new year thanks May I just want to offer the U First Aid has their new structure and their chess compressors and question is you want to do a demo at reorganization day when public is there show them that's just put up I don't need any answer tonight but okay consider because I think people if they see it they come to appreciate you know that especially that chest Professor that's very important if somebody in your home in your family is having trouble breathing something you want to get that call in and not just say well I'll drive you to the hospital it's better take the first day because that's the difference between a full recovery and so so just let me know all right sounds good that's any updates for your year end no other than that last night I met with Senator scandin to ask for his help to get the m to sit down with us and get to the bottom of this so I know it's late I'm as frustrated as you are not the only action we need but I'm responsible for public works this year so you can reach out to me I promise or I'll be back to and I notic did put it into his computer he put it in his little thingy there whatever so reach out for today as well Jack and I have both been pounding it to try to that's not the only area where we have a concern and we need help because it's State Highway you guys have anything status progress just a reminder we have our inro Farmers Market on wedes so just keep bring friends I appreciate anyone who's introducing it to other towns um we are getting a bunch of people from local Highlands Atlantic Highlands M Beach so the word is is getting out um and so I've also reached out to L on Journal that she'll come through into kind of a tour and also it's the same day that the historical society is opening so shop the Market take a look of historical society it's just a great opportunity to also get people into the recreation center because we are opening that um and there's a lot of potential in those walls so excited to see keep the momentum going into 2024 there small that's tomorrow is Wednesday yes tomorrow great than all right thanks guys thanks for coming out tonight that was a tough meeting I'm sorry some of the bad news there but yeah motion to adjourn any with me any can make a motion to adjourn second all right council member Bieber yes Booker yeso Norman yes yes and all right everybody me is