##VIDEO ID:XlAiDpPEWz0## star the official newspaper of the burough of Belmar and the Asbury Park Press on December 13th 2023 and notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board of the municipal building take roll call Council woman Kenny sorry councilwoman Donovan this is three times here I am here as well here councilman rero here and councilman Lis is absent please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States of America stands indice please remain standing for a moment of silence for our troops their families and our First Responders and also for Belmore resident Michael conell who was in a horrific accident in Nashville Tennessee thank you he Workshop does anyone have anything like to bring up that Workshop mayor I just wanted to follow up and uh maybe our business administrator or our engineer knows better um I just want to follow up with the 12th and Main um property and what uh the Geo proe results to measure the extent of the contamination was uh Council I don't have an update other than to say that the um work is ongoing we're expecting the results back I believe within two to three days so once we have those we'll be able to share that um with councel with Administration I'm I'm quite concerned that the remediation um May exceed the amount allotted for um and um I know know that it was a zoom meeting I guess it was 2022 I remember um mayor waler at the time being asked by a resident um what would happen if it did uh exceed the estimated cost um and and uh he he said it would be worked into the contract um so that the seller uh would pay anything that is over is that true um George do you know whether that that is true look at the contract again to answer that question but I don't believe that there's any provision in the contract that would provide for any expenses over the amount alloted for escrow and that's a 300,000 that's allotted in escrow okay I feel like the the residents were misled with this purchase I just want to say I'm quite frustrated I'll get back to the definitive answer that's what I believe some of that escrow has been drawn down on uh due to work that's already been done you know professional fees and so on so um but generally in my experience when you have an escro amount once you exceed the es escro then it's you know the money is just gone and the property owner there to result but I'm sure counselor will take a look at it for us I me I us know we we are not I just want to make sure that I'm I'm right about this are we even allowed um to sell it if the contamination or remediation monitoring is continuous you can sell it yeah to the remediation and then what about digging and building something like for EMS um like it was was meant for are we able to do that at this even at this point or does do we need to make sure all of this testing and continuing to clean it up occurs prior it'll have to get the uh go LSR this this could still be years in the process excuse me could this still be years in the process beyond my abilities to say how long the mediation may go on for thank you where we're at exactly now is the the area that they thought need to be remediated they they excavated the dirt put new dirt in it but in the testing process during that removal period there were some elevations that exceeded the levels uh the situation now is they're up against the sidewalk they're up against the concrete between the building the sidewalk on Main and the sidewalk on 12 instead of just tearing that up and keep digging what they did was called a Geo probe where where they're going to do core samples to go down to see exactly um what the status is with the contaminants in those areas and then correct me if I'm wrong Jim but that's the uh that's the report we're going to be getting back from the lsrp Kevin stadle showing these VI probes and what the extent of the the contamination is in this extended area that is correct okay any other Workshop [Music] issues okay not having any more issues let's go on to petitions mayor I did not receive any petitions uh next would be approval of minutes can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the October 8th 2024 meeting I'll make the motion second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes mayor V fesco yes councilman Rondo yes any reports of council Council ven I I hope everyone noticed the really cool scarecrows we have up and down Main Street those are being put out by belmare businesses it is a contest actually and you can vote for your favorite ones through October 30th we will be announcing the winner on Halloween and you can vote for your favorites at bitley bmar scarecrow that's bit. lbar scarecrow um trunk Retreat is Friday the 25th it is in that new location um but we welcome all trick-or-treaters and I believe the council will be having their own Trunk or Treat um the Chamber of Commerce fallest is the 27th and we will feature a they will feature a classic car show pet costume parade live music and vendors it will take place between 8th and 10th including piano Plaza so please come out for that um from the environmental commission Patchwork for wildlife is coming to Belmar um they'll be offering native plants to homeowners who want to participate at so please follow along for more information on that program uh they asked me to again reiterate our plea for geese mitigation services to be included in the upcoming budget so uh we have gotten incredibly great feedback from residents on the success of that program so everyone is really excited about that um the last Harbor commission meeting actually has to be rescheduled um but we are working to finalize our recommendations to bring to council for the 2025 rates thank thank you thank you Council McKinny thank you mayor uh back to trunk Retreat we still are accepting cars if you want to register reach out to Barry at Recreation starts at 5:00 p.m. on Friday um one couple more things around Recreation winter basketball signups for boys and girls second to fourth and fifth and eth Happening Now clinics start early December and games are starting in January signups and December 15th um kindergarten through first grade clinics are starting November 9th for basketball signups are on November 10th Belmar youth club signups are happening now two sessions one for grades 3 through 3rd through 5th and at from 5: to 6:30 and one from 6: to eth graders from 7 to 8:30 um and we are happy to announce that Marina ma who played in our Belmar Recreation program basketball program for years and currently plays for the WNBA Connecticut Mystics has sponsored the entire basketball program for the season so that's really exciting um all the teams we still have to pay parents still have to pay for registration fees but she is sponsoring all the teams which is really really great um the beach music kids rock band is playing this Saturday 12:30 at Jack by the tracks so that's the Saturday November or September October 26th at 12:30 and talk about that and um let's see couple things around the schools so I was able to attend I think a couple other people here too were able to attend conv relation which is the presentation that the belmer elementary school did on cell phone usage and addiction to cell phone usage it was a wonderful program I thought it was really informative they're implementing the program in Belmar Elementary I actually passed this along to um St R grammar school which I just thought it was a really good a good program so that's kind of exciting thing happening FMA Elementary has their annual lip sync show October 29th uh parent teacher conferences are November 4th to 6th and Belmar school is closed for Teacher convention on November 7th and 8th St Rose High School is doing their annual clothing dve Saturday November 9th it's at the red brick building from 8: to 10: a.m. please clean out your closets drop off your blankets even they'll even take stuffed animals so please do drop everything off and and the last thing I the St R grammar school has their parent teacher conferences half days October 30th to November 1st last thing mclear Park I just Billy I wanted you to just follow up about that they were there was some complaints about cleaning up and because it's a state road what did you find out about that about the grass and the and the cutting of the hedges well the the property and the vegetation is all um responsibility of the state so I reached out to the state they put it on their list of properties to take care of um they said they're going to get to it as soon as they can in the meantime we're just monitoring it for litter and actually the chief is trying to get the uh bo Scouts to do a uh a um a park cleanup there as well so um that's excellent okay good news thank you so much um and that's all I have okay thank you councilwoman keny uh councilwoman Ronda narrow thank you mayor um first I wanted to personally express my heartfelt condolences to all who knew and loved my Connell um he was a wonderful kind person an active resident um and I know he'll be very missed um so I hope we can do something in his memory um in the coming months uh yesterday the belmare public library had its Board of Trustees meeting uh it was an exciting meeting as uh the board approved their strategic plan uh for 2025 um in the following three years um this will act as a road map um for attaining the library short midterm and long-term goals uh our first goal includes Capital Improvements bringing the library into ADA compliance making sure that we have ramps a door um you know front door that actually has um is wheelchair accessible um and uh also an adaa accessible bathroom uh they'd also like to add a staff bathroom and improve the fire eress lighting and general maintenance of the building uh goal two is to improve the technology available um so this is security and infrastructure of our technology increase training um and support to provide patrons better access to our tools um updating software expanding it support and improving the website uh goal three is Outreach uh enhancing and expanding the in-person and remote experience through staff um and Outreach to increase awareness of our services uh with emphasis on engaging the hard-to-reach communities and our fourth goal is collection development um enhancing and expanding the print and digital Library collections um the Strategic uh planning committee worked really hard on this uh and I'm proud that um between them and the library board we were able um to pass that I'm excited for what's to come for the library um there is still chimy uh repair needing to be done I know the mayor was able to use my um not thank you for reading my notes on that um last last meeting um but we are awaiting delivery for um new piping um and also a new flashing um to prevent flooding um meanwhile library is open and safe to patrons it's a buzz with events tonight was a Medicare Workshop uh there's an author time with Dr Paul wakky with yes I Canen uh this Saturday 11:00 a.m. Taylor Pavilion October 29th from 3 to 7: is the fall children's and young adults book fair so I think this the first time that we've had a children and young adults book fair at least in a while so that is um from 3 to 7 October 23rd um October 30th we've got children's Halloween movie night um and then mark your calendar November 2nd Penguins November 9th um I'm sorry November 2nd wolves November 9th Penguins um and then our Diwali celebration is um November 7th at 6 p.m. at the Taylor Pavilion and the food will be ordered um from our new bmar establishment Indian Garden um if you haven't gone there yet I highly recommend it's delicious um the burough is still awaiting Community the Community Fund Grant application we haven't received it yet from HUD um as Belmar is um officially the the recipient um that that funding will go straight to the Belmar Housing Authority um and we're just waiting waiting for that to come in and then April Doug for millennium strategies and I will take a look at it make sure it CS right back um so that we can get that funding um to the people over there for the facade of the building and very lastly and I'm sorry for the long um report um I had a meeting with um Tom and Jillian from wingman printing uh which on Walsh today um to set up our veteran banners for this year um I spoke to Billy thank you very much uh DPW will be putting up the ones that we have already from last year um probably sooner probably towards the the end of the month and then um we should be getting the new ones on the 30th and there's 22 new ones uh this year we'll have uh the belmare Historical Society actually sponsored um banners for the four belmare Navy sailors lost um in battle um when the USS Juno was torpedoed during the Battle of bad canal and that was November 13th 1942 so they'll have their banners and the bmer Women's Club actually sponsored a banner for active duty Major General Lisa Ho serving with the National Guard um I continue to be really proud of this uh Banner initiative and thank the mayor and Council and the bural employees for supporting me with this meaningful project for Hometown Heroes thank you thank you believe it or not I have something I'm going to mention in the in the report um April sent me and uh and Kevin a note that we received at info@ bmo.com and it's from a a person uh her name is an Noble about uh her visit to Belmore and I'm just going to it's only a few paragraphs I'm going to take a a quick read of it it says hello I just wanted to say what a fabulous welcome my daughter and I had in Belmore a few weeks ago thank you we were touring a few places in the USA where from Scotland and had decided to make a side trip on the way to New York to visit Asbury Park and then Belmore as we are Bruce Springsteen fans I was a little concerned that locals in Belmar would be fed up with Springsteen fans hands obviously she doesn't know you know that but anyway but I have I have to say we couldn't have been made more welcome people offered us directions without being asked offered to take photos of us outside the balmore library next to the guitar on the B Treasure Trail and chatted with us special mention to George and we all know George who we gathered is known as Mr Belmore and the staff at Sweet tees it was a lovely visit and we're just sorry we didn't have more time if the USA has a best town competition then you deserve to win with the very best wishes and so you know amongst all the letters we get it is nice to get something from someone you know especially out of the country so thanks to all the residents who who interfaced with with an and her family that's all I am gu we're moving on for the public session yes if anyone has a comment or question about a resolution listed on the consent agenda please St forward state your name and address seeing none can I have a motion to close the public session motion second all in favor I and can I have a motion to approve the resolutions as listed on the consent agenda second councilman Donovan yes councilman Kenny yes mayor fesco yes councilman rero yes we have no ordinances so we're on to public session anyone like to speak just please remember to state your name and address first Lind 4th Avenue the was of Mike has opened up an area that we should consider we on Route 35 we have a problem with people residents Crossing 35 to go over to Marina Grill as we work to develop that property between 8th and 10th the problem will be exacerbated I would like to see maybe we could get a grant to build a bridge across 35 because it's very unsafe and the light changes for the in the crosswalk before you could get across the street so those those who are more advanced in age have a problem making it across without being caught in between traffic so talk about this would be one of the nicest things we could do for Mike is to create a bridge in his honor thank you I think that's a a good idea obviously we'd have to work with the state of New Jersey Department of Transportation because they they control the role but it's definitely something that we would be worth looking into thank you Linda for bringing that up I think that's nice anyone else like to comment Tom Walker 527 8 Avenue mbar um I've been listening to the uh procedures as far as getting the finan support to fix the uh uh situation at the senior uh building and it's to it SS and I'm I'm only up here speaking to backup Maria and the work she's trying to do to shake it loose but it's like a comedy of hers I mean you send you a check that Scott Belmore own it and you got be somebody didn't realize that the senior building is in and and that is slowing the whole process down so that somebody's still liable to get hurt there um and what I'm asking is Mayor and also Kevin uh if you can add your muscle to her muscle uh I would uh hope that you could and speed it up speed up the process I think we wait those people have way of going in thank you thank you we could certainly look into that I know I've read something recently though there are certain steps that have to be followed in the protocol so I mean we we'll make sure that those steps are being followed and moved along absolutely I think we're waiting on the application as I I spoke to April today about it that we're still waiting for that application to come to us um so we can get it to our grant writers um to go back out but it is it's longer than anticipated for sure I do think that the recipient um is the the burrow itself um that that is is pretty standard for these grants because they're going to the community their Community funding so as much as that money is allocated and will be allocated for the BHA I think that the same same goes with wall when they have their Community funding grant that it went to Wall Township um just like this one has to unfortunately go through burrow the B Maro burrow of Belmar where's that application coming from coming from HUD directly from HUD okay I would like to ech I would like to Echo though that we all appreciate how hard you've been working any other comments bar Luben 15th Avenue um in addition to what Linda just said with that bridge because I have thought of that up here before uh last meeting you guys talked about signage welcome to Belmar if we had a bridge then on both sides in addition to uh any Memorial that we wanted to do um that would be a wonderful quite visible place to put some welcome sign I I think I speak for everyone up here that that would be certainly a wonderful thing to see so thanks for your comment anyone else Eugene ker for I don't really need I don't need the microphone we want to get you on tape so we keep looking at it thank you Maria for bringing me up 12th and and May and and the U remedi that's going on here uh I guess we're down in Belmar except for the marina and perhaps Public Works we don't have any more gas stations in Belmar do we so if you want to excuse me 16th is Clos that's closed good oh so we don't have gas in town I believe we do at the marina but uh uh you know you see what's going on in these areas that have getting hit by the storms U you know I can see a situation like that developing in Belmar where where would you even fuel up your vehicle or get gas lean for your generator you know there's practical problems there uh regarding a 12th in main um I'm just curious um 12th in main uh is uh M County Route 30 and uh so Main Street is actually a m County Road um are we paying tipping fees for the disposal of the excavated contaminated [Music] material I don't know that that we are I don't know if if Mr Horus has any insight on that mayor um the there is a cost to dispose of the of the contaminated soil and that's uh built into the uh environmental consultant's um oversight and and his cost okay uh very good I'm just curious because it's probably all ending up uh over at MTH County um you know this this is kind of interesting if the excavation of soils uh out in the county right away uh would they perhaps be willing to wave those tipping fees for the disposal of the material um you know my my idea uh actually about that site is really not to be too concerned about excavated material uh the reason being is yes you have to dig down but uh uh you know the thing to think about nowadays in Belmar especially with an emergency management uh fire department type of facility is um did this go dead no you're good you're good it's good yeah oh this is this is highly directional that yes okay there's no mic condom on it or or anything there um does it overall at least from the the original plans that I had seen this was going to be an excavation job anyway uh a portion of that building was to be constructed below grade and uh actually in Belmar here uh we don't have much uh uh below grade nothing that certainly uh uh would would meet uh the requirements for radiation protection if you recall um I know the grade school that I went to U had a uh yellow sign on the corner of the building that it was a safe place uh to go not necessarily safe but uh reduced offered some degree of radiation protection uh belmare Elementary School I believe has a portion of the lower of the lower floor that uh uh that is below grade of course if uh if you're going to build an emergency services building those are the people that need the most protection uh we of course have our own basement in our house that we would go to but uh certainly you want the people that would be responding uh for for medical you know Medical Services you would want them to have a place to go to be protected uh they would perhaps be the last survivors in any case uh one thing the town may want to look into is that any tipping fees I'm sure going over Toto Road or someplace uh that the county takes care of the disposal and there maybe some cost savings there um I tell you what I am concerned about the site is that uh any plume that's traveling from that gas station that's all within the Silver Lake Watershed the and and uh contaminated sites like that do not get better with age this stuff migrates and it will go down gradient and we have enough problems with Silver Lake uh and and don't necessarily need uh you know volatile organic compounds to be added to the mix I I agree and we're we're really subject to what the lsrp um decides needs to be done and they will do you know in in accordance with what the D rules are they will decide what needs to be done in terms of getting rid of all the contamination so I don't really think we have much to say in you know what they should do or shouldn't do they're just going to say this is what has to be done and it will be done so but I agree with all of your comments okay if you want it you could have it okay no no no I'll hand it to the next person any other any uh more comments from the audience I me I do have one other question mayor uh on the payment of bills list um I did check the Burrow's website and the most recent as of this afternoon the most Rec recent uh list of bills that I could find was September 24th now I see that there are you actually approving when you approve a payment of bills list are you approving a list of categories of bills instead of the individual bills themselves I think we're actually we have we have the behind the list is a a computer sheet which shows all of the all of the checks and categories that have been had have been issued already so essentially we're approving after they've been issued as the way the bill list works and I think there was a April wasn't there a last amended the bill list I think I thought I saw one this afternoon that came through yeah the October one is on there but for some reason it's out of order it is there and then we have to add to I don't if we answered your question or not no I actually I was looking at the resolutions um out in the entrance there there's a a list of categories I'm sure and and those bills they're not bills they're categories okay if you go online though the the behind that list of categories are the actual bills and we don't put the entire list you know on on the uh in the resolution but it's in if you go on the website you'll see the bill list and it'll show you all of the all of the the computer print out with all of the different payments in all the different categories yeah I detail I did that this afternoon and and the latest version I could find was uh September 24th well they might not post it until we vote on it is that correct no the October 8th one is there it's just it's not in for some reason it's showing up before the September not after um I just have to add the one for today yeah but today is the 22nd in other words are we paying a bill list uh you know where do we find where do we find a list of of the bills that you're actually voting on tonight I'm adding it right now yeah that is the it'll be on the website in the same spot as the other ones I'll find it there tonight yeah I guess the point I'm making is uh you know if there was a question about a bill it when is it ever going to be found um I guess that's same question when I first started looking at the bill list but apparently that's the protocol that's the procedure that that's followed essentially we're we're approving the bills after they've been after they've been approved by the by the CFO but we still have to approve it to uh get the payments made am I am I Mr King bill is presented and it's it's approved and paid okay so they're not paid yet but they will be paid after tonight yeah but for when does the public have the opportunity then in other words the council will will already approve it before the public has the opportunity to see the Bild that actually being you know proposed to be paid I think that would happen at the at the comments on the resolutions if somebody had a problem with a particular bill then they'd have to come up and make a comment uh yeah because we haven't voted on it yet at that point yeah but we haven't seen the the bill list that's the point I'm making normally we do see LED prior it usually is I just forgot the list it's just tonight we we didn't have it there but normally that bill list is there could have asked for it too and like if I you knew it wasn't there you could have emailed me and I could have sent it to you I'm not being a nitpicker here it's just that you know to bring up a bill two weeks or three weeks or a month later what's got you know that that's not really uh well it might seem as a monthly but we haven't approved it yet so you know it's it's all gone through the process except for the very very last step which is the council saying it's approved and then the checks will be cut yeah normally list thereally it's there it's normally there it's it's reca in in the resolution by category voted on and yeah I I do see the category it's it's normally this one just didn't make sorry okay Sor thank you I think we have one more comment CL H 18th and B um first thing is there any update on the curves for fourth and C being fixed curves no date yet okay but it's it's but they won't take six years like Snider and 18th right what's that they won't take six years we get down hope uh well okay can't vouch for the sixe part but it's on the list and like yes okay fair enough have to check the bill list for and just um talk about the bills I'll go back about 30 years at UPS I was bored and took the list that IBM used to hand us and say Here's what you have to pay here's what you're running on your machines and we paid the bill I said let's check that $600,000 later I got a pat on the back for verifying what we're actually paying so just that Bo okay any other comments I don't think so can I have a motion to close the public session second all in favor I I okay uh next we have resolution 2024 187 this is a resolution authorizing an executive session where it is been determined by the burough Council that it is necessary to discuss the following specific matter at its regular meeting in the absence of the public which is contract negotiations and shared service agreements whereas the open public meeting that permits the burrow Council