to the co-star the official newspaper of the burough of Almar and the Asbury Park Press on December 13 2023 a notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board to the municipal building take roll call Council MC Donovan here Council mckenny here mayor bco here councilman Rano here and councilman L ABS please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America andice please remain standing for a moment of silence for our troops their families and our First Responders thank you we're going to start off our Workshop meeting tonight with a presentation from Jersey Central Power and Light on up thank you mayor council um Robert Bryce and the regional external Affairs coordinator uh for Jersey Central Power light on the municipal liaison um all the towns with projects outages I I uh communicate with the town the mayor and the administrator and put the microphone fire okay and uh communicate with them about any issues involved in Jersey Central Power and line uh tonight I'm here to speak about our new program called Energy andj uh this is the biggest infrastructure Improvement plan uh in the history of Jersey Central Power and like uh I've been in municipal government for about 30 years I've been with Jersey Central little under two years and one thing I've heard proba since day one is uh JCP only needs to spend some money on the infrastructure uh we got a a new CEO uh with First Energy about a year ago and he heard you uh New Jersey is the first state of our five operating companies uh from First Energy uh to have this infrastructure Improvement uh plan proposal put through Place uh now this is a proposal uh the documents I gave you say 935 million I'm going to explain to you in a minute it's actually more like 900 million uh it's been amended down uh due to a recent decision by the PPU uh but that's a proposal that doesn't mean we're going to get it we just had a rate case uh for about 192 million we were looking for we got 85,000 so typically we get anywhere from 40 to 70% of what we ask for uh we're trying to get the most we can to maximize this this is why we're going the municipalities and asking for your support uh this is an important project it covers a lot of things that go ahead and help us uh improve resiliency within the system uh what we're looking to do is enhance uh reliability performance especially after St storms uh Harden uh our current infrastructure uh from future storm damage uh go ahead and expand our capacity and I just need to put my glasses on on the L like this I expand our capacity um and by doing that what we're going to do is we're going to add things such as Loops so when there is an aage we're able to go ahead for instance Belmar it's covered by two substations the Belmar substation and glendola substation what we're looking to do is get it so that if both those substations are down we're able to Loop you into another substation as well and bring you up through that during an outage uh and then upgrade the backbone for the Electrical uh grid of the future we all know uh whether no matter what our position is on it electric vehicles battery backup systems solar they're coming to what degree they're going to come we don't know but as utility we have to go ahead and repare for it uh and that's what this uh system is going to help us do there's three pillars that we're looking at doing uh the grid modernization system resiliency and substation modernization uh for the grid modernization the way that'll probably affect belmare is through uh these devices called trip Savers this whole program requires us to go ahead and well the proposed program we would install about 2100 trip Savers throughout our territory uh a couple years ago we installed 1,200 of them and it was highly successful in uh restoring out is quickly um and preventing uh troubl from having to go out and make manual repairs what a trips saer is it's a fuse that automatically resets itself uh back in the old days you probably remember well still exist right now too but a fuse on a line would go out a troubl mo would have to come out might take anywhere from you know a half hour to a couple hours depending how busy he is uh come out with a long pole reset the fuse and then go on his way and miraculously everybody goes back on as soon as he sets the fuse what this does is this automatically resets it as soon as the outage occurs this tries every couple minutes to go ahead and reset the fuse uh just I live in Wall Township uh over the last couple weeks I know twice I've been reset by the uh this type of device uh within a couple seconds of the of the outage so it does work uh system resiliency we're looking to standardize all the voltages uh a lot of times there's different voltages whether it's uh you know 4 Kilts or 12 kils in a certain area we're looking to make it all 12.5 uh that's our standard uh operating uh uh circuit uh another thing too spacer cable you see them all throughout it's three cables held together by a plastic piece um goes from pole to pole a lot of times contact between those can cause an outage we're looking to enhance that to make sure there's no uh contact in there by no outages as well uh substation modernization uh this is one area where belmare will definitely benefit because both the belmare substation which is over on 18th Avenue and the uh glendola substation which is in mwn by Camp Evans they'll both be uh upgraded uh the reason being they're both it's called Coastal substations so they're susceptible to uh salt and water damage we'll be uh upgrading the gears in those stations so they're less susceptible to any sort of damage or interference with Sol uh and they'll both be upgraded with that type of devices the impact on people and customers the average customer currently pays about $116 a month if they use about 783 Kow uh kilowatt hours uh the average customer is going to see over a 5year period and seven incremental increases uh about a $416 increase increase at the end of the 5 years um it's about a 3.2% increase uh by way of comparison uh with other utilities PSG and Atlantic Electric that will still keep us about 20 to 24% lower uh than what those comparable utilities charge um and keep us the lowest utility in in the state with that uh but these are all upgrades and enhancements uh that are needed to go ahead and make it so the systems more resilient especially when trying to recover from store damage uh particularly for Belmar like I said the Belmar substation um and the glendola substation will be worked on as well as the uh trip saers installed uh at several locations and the way we identify locations is the data driven and historical uh data based upon outages um those there any questions oh let me go back and real tell you real quick about why is this 9 100 million so in the last week um the Board of Public Utilities uh heard our basic rate case that was up for that again that's where we were proposing a 192 million uh for operating expenses and we're granted about 85 million as part of that uh they took out some of what they knew we were going to be proposing in this and put it in that system so they're requiring us within our basic uh rate case to go ahead and make the uh improvements the 18 priority circuits none of them affect belmare the closest one is Howell um port and probably Lake Hurst uh but those are systems that we've had to take out so that's why that figure is going to be different it's probably going be about 900 million our proposal at this point and again we're looking to get as much of that as we can historically it's anywhere from 40 to 70% that they will go ahead and Grant this any questions has any questions hi Mr Ry thank you for joining us um my first question is I know I know that there's Federal Li funding but can you talk about any um assistance programs in light of all of this for people who might have trouble affording their jcpnl sure so as part of the the basic rate case we actually had some uh assistance to elderly included in that the BPU actually removed that uh and what they did do though is they put a system in there and it's not up yet but we're going to have a system where we're going to have people be able to reach out and uh public Outreach and also on the website and guide people in the right direction to get federal assistance uh and state assistance for paying their bills because there are federal and in state in uh State programs to be able to help them with that um so my other question is I have had residents over the last year um reach out regarding different lights that have been out around town um and I know you've talked about the grid meing modernization and things like that but we're talking about lights that have been out for months if not close to a year what can we do to make that change okay so I didn't realize how complex lights were until I got into the company and the reason why is because you have duplicate orders um the way that the lights are reported some people report address other people will the best way to do it is to report the actual poll number uh I work with public works as well as the police department uh and we've gotten some poll numbers to us specific locations and we're able to get the people out there uh some of the orders like I said that may come in from uh and and again it's not necessarily the customers's fault because sometimes they'll call the 800 number the 800 number will accept the uh the order based upon address while we show up to an address the person's giving us their address but the light might be around the corner or down the street somewhere so it's not really accurate in that respect so those are some of the problematic ones that we've had again I've worked with public works and the uh police department we've got a lot of problematic ones done I know I'm still currently working on a few um the issue is like a couple of the ones up on Ocean I tell you right now there's a whole block that's an underground fault so it's not just going and replace the bowl there's a there's a problem in the wire somewhere there uh and again you know this environment it might be two problems might be three problems the whole wire might be so they are working on that one um and there's only other than that there's only a couple other locations that I think are are hot was just saying before the meeting that the one for instance was it 17th and a or 17 yeah it doesn't have a number on the pole so that's a problem 17 we have that okay I'll look at that though thank you I appreci I have a list if you want to take it after the meeting thank you very very much I will take that from me um one other issue with lights is that we do have a little bit of a supply issue we're getting them in but it sporadically uh the different bages uh we just had a batch of bulbs and we realized this we went fixed a bunch in some other towns and all of a sudden people are reporting it and we're like wait a minute we know we fixed that white well it was a supplier that we had uh for a certain wat we couldn't get from our main supplier and they were going out probably within a couple weeks if some of them probably a couple days so we did have that problem we've addressed it I don't think it's that widespread uh but just like everybody else were we have some supply issues that we do thank you I have a couple questions yes thank you for your presentation um so upgrading this the overhead power lines and how involved is that I mean is it all of the power lines that they want to upgrade or certain NOP uh for you guys don't uh it shouldn't be any uh thing as far as that's going to require road closures yeah um anything like that um the trip Savers uh those will be installed they may require yeah how big is this what's a trip saver like what's it look like so trip saver is probably about the size of that table um it has large arms on it it's like looks like coiled arms and they go back and forth and that's actually the the fuse and uh it automatically resets on those so so where would that go it go up on top of the pole every pole no just the ones uh at certain uh junctures of the pole where the uh the circuit ties in and that's where and that's no not right there uh that's that would be about one that has three on it um some of them only have two uh and again it's not a solid piece it's it's a base with those uh devices on top of it but roughly a little smaller than the table and that would that would oversee the fuses on multiple poles I'm assuming yeah it's a circuit it would uh be at certain points in in that circuit so that I I'll give an example so one circuit basically feeds the whole area along the river uh those streets uh come across from the park all the way to here this location this is the end of the glendola if uh circuit if you would so let's just say from here uh two blocks that way there'll be one two blocks further there'll be another one so that if there's a trip here it's not going to trip out the entire circuit it's going to stop two blocks away that's that's probably the easiest way to explain it okay I think understand in my LS again I'm not engineer like be told it's somewhat right thank you okay any questions thank you so much Mr Bryce appreciate it appreciate your uh wanting to enhance our infrastructure uh I'm sure you may already know this um so I'm just using my shot here um you live in wall you probably know we have a skate park at Dempsey Park on 16th and railroad it used to be a jcpnl property um and our Belmar has done a wonderful job in their belmare skate uh Park committee and they have an incredible design for an inclusive and accessible Park um that'll bring joy and Recreation to people of all abilities and ages um we have a fundraiser coming up for this um Saturday March 23rd from 12: to 6:00 p.m. at salty beach bar we would love you to come and we would love jcpnl to be a partner in this project thank you March 23rd yes so we do have the First Energy Foundation um I I'll talk to you more especially if it's inclusive uh I might be able to help you with that that would be great thank you so much these are things that we look for thank you any other questions comments well thank you very much and uh we look forward to seeing your please it's thank you okay um to continue with our Workshop do any of our council members have anything they would like to discuss I do uh Mr Mayor today we have a resolution um 202462 authorizing the bureau to advertise for bids on the renovation to the Taylor Pavilion um I was just wondering once uh the bid goes out with the specs um and is advertised uh will there be a following bid for the concession uh let me just bring it up yes if this is the bid for the construction 202462 oh I had 60 yeah 62 unfortunately how do you get that one um can someone give me a copy of that to the agenda late today yeah it's not on the it's not on the public site I'm using yeah it's on the the paper one you the the renovations to the Tor Pavilion are for the for the the bathroom and the windows and that will include um we're not doing any renovations to the concessions but that does not include the bid for the concession that will be going out as soon as we get a the exact square footage that's um going to be the concession space so will that generally be at our next meeting that that would go out then or be ready to go out yes yes the uh yeah once once the the bid for the renovations goes out uh the RP it will uh do the concession wonderful and how will that be advertised will there also be a sign on the Taylor Pavilion every way we can great so it we'll be a banner or a sign as well yes awesome thank you Mr Kane does that mean that the architectural plans obviously are all done and all ready to go in order to put this out to bid yeah so we we we met with our Engineers today and uh they they expect to have everything complete by the end of the week if not Friday by Monday um papers are going to be notified that's what we're doing the resolution today that we can we can advertise for the RP and uh soon as he gets information they'll go out to the papers and all the dates are set and everything so if not Friday Monday delays and then then we'll have that will once we send it out to the newspace papers and everything will the actual plans be available for the public to see we're going to put that on the um on the on the website if we want people to to request them I don't know what form they're in so I I don't know if that's possible uh typically for bid specs we don't put them on the website in case there's a change we don't have a way to notify anyone that received them that there was a change but we could talk about maybe doing yeah just the drawing or I think that would be helpful just so everyone knows once when when you get a bid speec and you get the specifications if we then later change it we need to be able to know who to send the changes to so that's why they're just not put out there for everyone to to see because somebody might pick it up and then put in a bid and we've changed it and then they'll come in and say well I didn't know we changed it well well you didn't contact us with the specifications so we didn't have your your name and address so that's a little technical reason why we don't we just don't post them um okay so that that answers one of the questions I had in terms of the U availability of the specifications any other comments questions okay then let us move on petitions I do not receive any petitions okay um next is the minutes can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the January 23rd 2024 meeting motion second councilwoman Donovan yes councilwoman Kenny yes mayor mesco yes councilman rero yes and then can I also have a motion to approve the minutes of our February 6 2024 special meeting motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes mayor Buco yes councilman Rondo yes okay reports of councel council Donan thank you um Tourism Committee um we have n and Dash coming up soon you can still get your tickets I believe so I encourage everyone to go out and enjoy everything that Belmar has to offer um the next newsletter will be out next Tuesday I'd love to remind everyone that if you have anything you'd like to submit whether it be photography or announcements accolades to a Belmar resident you can submit them to newsletter at belmar.nj internally soon to go over the business meeting the conversations that came up at the business meeting which was quite robust um to discuss what we can do on tourism to further um bring more people into Belmar and uh Patron come to our wonderful businesses um haror commission we are working on updated language or proposing updated language for our um different types of Charter vers party vers open votes um and we'll be discussing that at our next meeting I encourage anyone who's interested in that to come um I want to thank our environmental commission and volunteers they've been working very very hard with the lasers down at the lake um we have been doing uh unofficial monitoring I guess is the right way to phrase it where we've had different volunteers counting the geese on the lake on certain points of the day and even with just the Amber lights installed thank you to DPW you um we've seen a change we already have fewer geese on the lake I know that number is not at zero so not everyone is thrilled but we are happy to be moving in the right direction um I want to congratulate the new member even though we haven't officially voted it in Matthew d'angeles uh for the environmental commission and to congratulate Diane Vu who is the new um chair of the environmental commission um we also had our first meeting of the Silver Lake team um that team is full of ideas for different grants and different approaches to cleaning up the rest of the lake and really getting that into a thriving ecosystem that we'll be able to use forever going forward for not just as Beauty but for recreation and to help with flooding um Verizon Verizon update uh Congress Kenny and I have met with oh goodness promoted her um well relevant though so Council Kenny and I have met with um officials from all of our neighboring towns who are extremely interested and ready to get involved with us um so really great conversations there and we're already moving forward um looking to meet with our federal officials um and not just our federal official but um different congressional districts up and down the Jersey Shore so uh we're really excited about that um and we don't as of right now I know that there's been no movement on the pending uh lawsuit um we still haven't heard a decision on whether not our residents will be allowed to intervene but of course as soon as we find out we will let you know thank you congresswoman Kenny have thank you mayor okay so uh Recreation couple things Junior guards signups are happening now Junior guards remember it's such a great program they've really done an outstanding job promoting this and getting lots and lots of kids involved so if you have kids or neighbors or anybody who wants to sign up do it it's a really great thing for kids um the Easter egg hunt is happening March 16th they are looking for volunteers to help hide the Easter eggs so please contact bar at Recreation uh our next Ada meeting is Thursday February 22nd next week um shade tree committee we also got a new chair of our shade tree Gary hener is our new shade tree chair and they are excited to partner in the proposed projects um that are coming into town and I was wondering if Mr Kane could give us an update on the piano project do we know anything further uh yes as you can see one of the resolutions is to uh to initiate the uh phase two site work they're going to be uh we're going to be selling uh engrave pavers similar to the Pavers at the corner of 10th and Main by the clock um so the the sale of those papers will pay for the site work that needs to be done to uh put the piano in piano Plaza the um it's not we're doing this now uh the sit's being developed so we're trying to make it as easy as possible there'll be a QR code that you'll be able to scan it'll take you to a website you can load all the information in you want on engraved on the paper and pay all once all once spot so um that should be ready within the next two weeks so uh with within the next week or so we'll be getting out more information on that as far as the piano itself goes uh we're waiting to hear back the uh sales person the salesman said he was going to be reaching out to the company to see exactly where it is of production uh it's it's currently you know it's being made in Israel so we just uh he's going to give us details on that how that how that's going that's where we're at do we have an ETA at all or not not really the original thing was late February early March um but that was preliminary so uh he's supposed to be get getting back to those of more details on that good that's good um the other part of shade tree they are getting ready for Arbor Day Arbor Day is not until the end of April I'll have more updates about that um and then a couple things around the school SCH Belmore elementary school has prek and kindergarten uh registration open February 27th and 8th February 29th is the fashion show Taylor Pavilion and then Friday and Saturday March 8th and 9th the drama the drama club is presenting their presentation of the wizard of o in bmar Elementary uh School auditorium and then lastly just around St Rose High School their theater company is putting on The Little Shop of Horrors February 23rd and 24th that's the spring week theater and on Saturday March 2nd St Rose High School is hosting three cardiac screenings for all students from 9: to 1 p.m. so this is a big um push for cardiac sudden cardiac deaths and cardiac arrests in in athletes and kids so if you want a free screening can come to the high school on March 2nd and have your child screened and you need to reserve your spot so please do so on the Belmar on St Rose High School mj.com uh school is closed in all the schools Friday and Monday and lastly boys basketball's number one in the state nonpublic and public which is a big deal for our little St Rose so we're really excited about that they won the first two rounds of the shore conference the next round is semi final there will uh be against CBA on um Wednesday and they should win and they should win the whole thing and then they go on stage so to be to be continued and lastly we've already uh mentioned it but the salties fun our very first fundraiser for the skate park coming up U March 23rd 12 to 6 please do stop by I'll keep bothering you all about that great than thank you so much councilwoman rondan thank you mayor I attended the Belmar Housing Authority meeting last Monday uh the main elevator repair has been completed uh but needs to have fire and smoke alarms installed and that's installed on each floor top shaft um and in the mechanical room I spoke to executive director director Dan santis today he stated that Verizon was in uh to hook up the phone lines to the fire alarm systems um and he hoped that it's going to all be accomplished within a week um before going to final inspection uh this happens um this all needs to happen before that elevator is in use um I was told that the bids for the facade repair will go out within a week so we'll check in on that in a week uh the next meeting is March 4th but in addition there's a special public public hearing on the 5year plan it's open to the public March 15th at 9:00 a.m. um basically any money for Capital funding each year looks like it's going to go towards this facade until completion um We're still praying that we can get this done sooner if Congress passes the funding bill that Chris Smith uh myself mayor and Council all of us here have been advocating for that would offer $657,000 towards these emergent repairs um we really pray that that happens so please thoughts prayers whatever you need to do um you know reach out um and uh just chat your legislators and tell them please we need this past uh last month Congress extended this vote until the first week in March so that's what we have to wait for there I was informed that there's also a plan for painting in the interior hallways which is something that had come up in the last meeting um and I was told that that would be done in a month or two do so today is February 13th and we will check in with them after that um so I suppose March 13th we'll check in and see where they're at there um I know residents have spoken up about the condition of the walls and I hear you and I agree um additionally residents have reached out to NJ do to advocate for the start of work on the promised crosswalk on eth in Maine um I've spoken at length to our business administrator and our mayor regarding this concern how important it is um the buau did send a letter of support for the project on January 8th um and that was sent to Andrew Feller and I know just as recently as today our burough administrator has reached out um to NJ do but Andrew Feller can be reached at andrewb doeller f l r at do. nj.gov um so I encourage anyone who is concerned about this project maybe to reach out to him as well um I was told that last week a driver plowed into a sign on the 8th Avenue easement uh thankfully no residents were crossing at that time but we need to keep advocating for this this is not just something that you know isn't important and we're just waiting to get done this is a safety concern for our Beloved Community um change Belmar Library um we didn't have a trustees meeting uh this month uh but the Belmar libraries living history series kicks off this Saturday with President ulyses srant followed by President Theodore Roosevelt on Saturday February 24th and finishing with Harriet Tubman on Saturday March 2nd all events are at 11:00 a.m. live at the library and the 2024 Irish Celebration in soda bread contest so fun uh will be held March 14th at 5:00 p.m. at the Taylor Pavilion so if you're interested in that it will be posted on the library website later this week so stay stay tuned uh the belmare Historical Society had a really successful Show and Tell um I Heard amazing stories about the riv and Rialto theaters memories of ice skating on Silver Lake uh the Historic Society does an incredible job at preserving our unique belmare history so please if you miss the event stop in to the museum or check out their website um next Patty's Day uh fundraiser is this Sunday 2 to 6 at the boat house um the Belmar Public Library had a great Chinese lunar new year and I'm looking forward to the skate park fundraiser thanks thank you I have nothing really in particular but I will comment on the Historical Society I was there also and it is very very interesting for those who want to know more about what went on in bore I was talking to former mayor Brian McGovern because he had a few pictures of a silver lake and what have you and he you know obviously he remembers the day when they used to do ice in on the lake when it was cold enough I could do it in the center part he was telling me how they couldn't use it in certain parts because there was too much you know salt water in the front and then they think there's an underground stream in the back but I thought it was interesting because he said you know when it was really cold they would uh they would ice skate and DPW would put up a big barrel with like firewood in it and we probably be breaking like five environmental laws now if we did that but it sounded very very very nice and very Hometown like things so uh you know when you get a chance if they have another one of these which I'm sure they will or if you haven't become a member I would suggest becoming a member which I have to do myself and uh or go see them over at the uh they're right on the side of the Union Firehouse they have a lot of very very interesting stuff there uh that's it for me um let's move on to the public session for the agenda if anyone from the public would like to speak regarding a resolution on the consent agenda please step forward state your name and address can I have a motion I have a few questions about the resolution no not about the resolution this is only on the resolution public can I have a motion that close the public session motion motion second all in favor hi can I have a motion to adopt the resolutions as listed on the consent agenda motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes may BCA Fusco yes councilman Rano yes next we have second reading and public hearing on ordinance 20241 this is a bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of a 2024 ambulance and ancillary equipment uh this is open for public hearing if anyone would like to speak on this ordinance please step forward state your name and address seeing none can I have a motion to close the public hearing motion second all in favor I and can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 20241 motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes mayor B pusco yes councilman Rond yes next is ordinance 20242 this is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 19 adding a handicap parking space this um can I get a motion to offer it for first reading and introduction motion second councilwoman Donovan yes councilwoman Kenny yes mayor vusco yes Council rero yes and now we're on to public session on any items please remember to state your name and address before you speak thank you hi my name my name is amarie Janovich I live on 11th Avenue I have a couple of questions I want to ask about first I want to ask about the firehouse on 11th um and a while ago there's going to be an investigation into emails and I wanted to find out I haven't heard anything about that I don't know if Mr well yeah the uh the report's done um I will discuss it with Council I'm not certain that any information is going to be released it's being viewed as a Personnel matter so we'll discuss it and then uh we'll let you know what we're going to do it was an investigation that was prompted by the council so before we before we can even really say anything Council hasn't hasn't really sat down with Mr Migel to to go over it so that really is the first step for us and that would be done in an executive session which we'll probably do at a future meeting either the next meeting or the one after that okay so something else about the that firehouse that's on my block of 11th and um I wanted to know why we're not it seems like we're not going forward with the building on 12th in Maine to move the firehouse that's on 11th over to that location because one thing I would like to say in particular well a couple things about that Firehouse I mean it is a bit of an isore on my block um it's you know from the outside it's the ugliest of the three that we have the other two are very nice and if that Firehouse can move over to 12 I count it that will open up about seven or eight parking spaces on my block and that's really a big deal in that little block first of all because of the school and all the traffic you know and parents were constantly dropping off but really there's a lot of apartments right there and there's not a lot of driveways so those parking spaces are really needed so my question is will the firehouse get moved over into that location on 12th or what's the deal with that location on to that's that's a we could spend probably the next two hours discussing what we you know have considered for that uh we're really not in a position at this point to say uh whether or not I for for now I will say I believe the 11th Avenue Firehouse is staying there right um as far as what we're doing with location what's that so what will happen with that 12th Avenue location well I was going to I was just going to say that um what we we're planning on we have a few more we just got a letter in uh this week from our our engineering firm who's been talking to uh I think the firm is K saddle who has been doing the uh remediation work he has put in for some additional remed ation work to be done so we're we're not at a point at which we can uh say well we're going to you know either flatten the area and just put it up or after bid or use it for something in the burrow so we're kind of still in a in the holding pattern as it comes to the uh the actual remediation of the of the property in other words we have to the person who I'm talking about is the what is it LS lsrp lsrp the license essentially engineer who's standing in place for D so we really can't do anything until he says you know we're ready to go uh so to answer your question directly we don't know at this point there are a couple of avenues that can be followed but um you know the 11th Avenue Firehouse for now is is staying there I think the original uh going back to the original purpose of purchasing that property was mostly for the EMS and there was obviously talk about moving creating a fire uh the large back building right with fire station in there so the truck or the two trucks that are the other issue have could go in there the other issue we have now is we think that the build we'd have to get it tested for asbest those buildings are very old so we're not even at a point where we can say that those buildings could remain even if we wanted them to remain but I thought that the the seller put like 300 some thousand into escrow um when that sale went through you're correct and that was for these like for remediation has that money been spent no it was for the remediation of the of the ground contamination right but as far as the contamination in the building we don't know what that is at this point so you know if we wanted to use that building we would have to figure out what if anything needs to be done is it coste effective to use that building um and you're saying that work hasn't even been done no because we don't that's disappointing to hear I will say from my block especially like I said that firehouse and the impact just of those parking spaces alone on my block is a is a quality of life issue for all the people in that little block um the water tower the water tower is that on a list that's going to get paint painted uh I don't know if it's on a list we know it has to be painted but um it will at some point be taken up I don't know if it will be doing it in this budget year excuse me I don't know if we'll be doing it this year or next year but uh the borrow realizes that it has to be painted okay um I had seen in the paper about the grant um that you're looking for for McClary Park and those improvements and I saw that it's a uh matching funds Grant correct so can I ask how much money are you expecting from the taxpayers to go toward that project about well that's not it's it it's a matching fund so it'll probably be a uh a bond ordinance would be would be issued so ultimately it would be half but it's not all half to this it's like a it's like it's a loan so in other words the taxpayers will be paying the The Debt Service on whatever it is we have to uh borrow well so but it is a matching Grant I mean it's not a full grant that it would pay the full in other words hypothetically if we get if it if the project cost $200,000 the borrows in for 100,000 correct that's the way it works um so and I did want to just make note about that project that though it sounds very lovely in its conception um there's no parking there and especially with uh you know the goal to make it an all-inclusive Park I don't know how parents of children who have disabilities who really would need a vehicle to transport their their child there you know that's really not realistic that that is the best location for that kind of an idea so I'd like you to reconsider that I know that you're going out for the grant and all that but um I was the chair of the Sha tree commission a few years ago and you know that Park could really be what I thought like Gateway into Belmar and it could we could pursue grants to beautify it to make it really beautiful and like I said a Gateway into bmar um and deal with the parking situation as it is as you said the parking situation is is is a potential problem and if we deal with the parking situation in my mind it seems like you would eventually be taking away from the park absolutely be able would you put the parking right right so it's and and in today's day and age uh you know grants for parking number one don't exist because the trend is to get people out of their cars and using bicycles and walking and things like that so um it's uh you know we're caught between you know wanting to provide a service but then on the other hand you know if you provide more parking you know it's uh something that is going to take away from the park atmosphere we're all aware of we're all aware of it and you know we try to address it as best we can but I don't think it's a reason to stop you know improving the park with the pickle bll courts or the or the uh playground for the uh but even though I mean those activities require you know people are going to drive there and it's just you know you're going to be flattening more it's the Green Acres area you're going to be getting rid of the grassy areas um even for more pickle Bol courts and there's such limited parking I'm hoping that the area is used you know it's designed probably to be used mostly by the people in the Rhode Island section which means you know they can easily walk a block or two down to the to the park obviously if I want to if I want to go from Fifth Avenue I have to take a car but you know we have other parks in this section of town and I I just thought it would be nice to enhance the area there so the people who live on you know briwood Maplewood Oakwood all those streets you know could easily access that Park from where they live well they can easily access it now um but now they got more things to to do there but the parking really is a problem there and I would just suggest parking throughout the whole town park it's a problem doesn't make sense to me I haven't I haven't you I know you have other issues and I apologize for I haven't put my five minute monitor on but uh my sense tells me you're getting close to the end I am yes and I appreciate your patience and actually I want to I just want to take a time to to make a general comment to people you know this is the comment section and as much as we love to answer questions many times we're not pred to answer questions off the fly so you know sometimes if you can send in uh messages or requests like we have info gar.com where people could could send in uh questions or um you know I'm just saying it it's it's not a it's not a question and answer period really because and it's frustrating I know from your end because sometimes we don't have the answers and we don't have the answers because we don't have that material at our fingertips so just be aware of that when you're when you're coming up and and you know making your comments so I think my last issue is I wanted to um to ask you about some of the projects going on because I did hear that the Mediterranean project received their cafra approval and I wanted to know um what's going on they received cfra approval and we're at the point where I believe and Mr Kane can tell me if I'm wrong we're going to uh uh appeal that correct and that's yeah they gave they gave the burrow I think 30 days to appeal that and we're in the process of doing that so do you think you'll be able to provide some updates on I guess on that project as well as who when you say they who is going to provide the update you oh okay you the council I know that a big part of your platform right was no development absolutely very limited development to get we are waiting to get information from from the owners of that property because they haven't provided us with any more information about it so um you know we will we will uh ultimately if they don't we will be in court with them in April to uh to find out what their plans are sounds okay um in addition you know to the Mediterranean right obviously the other projects that are top of Mind are the one on um eth and Maine that empty lot across from comfy next to St Rose um along the Waterfront um by Kleins and then uh the one on 10th Avenue that old eye doctor Appo uh office Flames yeah we're not really in a position to to comment to those because they're all in the process of being uh I won't say litigated but we're we're um negotiating with fair share housing the court um the individual property owners in fact uh we're you will we will have a session by our development attorneys probably I don't know two or three meetings in March and yes mayor I know you're trying to tell the public that this matter is in fact in litigation we have filed uh an action seeking an approval of affordable housing plan these projects are are all owned by interveners in in that action and the matter is pending and all of those properties uh that what's going to be built there is under negotiation so we can't really discuss it it's not like um anything's hard and fast at the moment so there's really nothing to discuss except that they're in that the the development is in negotiation and that's all pursuant to the affordable housing obligation that we have so I think we should just leave it there um we we yeah we'll just basically that's what I was going to say we don't really know we don't have any final decision or final final uh ideas of what those projects are going to look like right no I do okay all right thank you I appreciate go ahead well it's it's not no idea a final idea that sounds like we don't know what's going on we know what's going on it's just we have nothing to discuss right now okay thank you anyone else and I have a motion to close the public session motion all in favor okay and then we have one more item is a resolution authorizing an ex of session uh this is a res resolution whereas has been determined by the burrow Council that is necessary to discuss the following specific matter as it relates as it regular meeting in the absence of the public which is pending or anticipated l