don't tell me Tom one I'm going to Triple [Music] true [Music] [Music] in [Music] place GL your to bring that I think I'm bring that I [Music] told I told they don't care don't like let h thank you try Tove is that your golf cart Larry your golf [Music] [Music] back Jersey City very ni [Music] C [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] no that's right start [Music] the United States of America the for stands Nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all I wish to announce that 48 hour notice is required under the open public meetings Act was emailed to the Asbury par press the co-star and the new co-star on December the 7th of 2023 but a copy has been placed on the bulletin board in the burrow office and that a copy has been filed with the municipal clerk as a courtesy to the public this meeting may be attended via Zoom if for any reason the zoom portion of this meeting fails or is disconnected the in-person meeting will continue and action can and will will be taken providing there is an in-person quarum MR Noble here Mr gub toi here M Mahoney here Mr Weber here mayor Fox here uh good evening everybody Welcome to our ninth meeting of the year um I have and will continue to emphasize it's my commercial announcement for the uh for each meeting that uh we should welcome this agreement because it helps us think through things differently but our voice should be a constructive one we all want to bride our Bradley Beach and ask if you join us in this journey I ask everyone to gauge their tone going forward we're all neighbors uh unfortunately that sometimes falls on dep Years and we're just going to have to continue POS so with that um we were going to have a workshop on this very issue tonight but I asked you pushed to June because I had a couple things to U tighten up on it um so uh but we are you know continuing to try to conform to the agenda and uh we will continue to do that uh the first order of business is um a workshop on trees on Main Street but uh I had asked the council uh I'd like to make a motion to move resolution 20242 up so that some of our valuable resources that are in this room that work shifts and uh once some family time might not have to stay for the whole meeting unless youall me to keep it to one of the last things okay okay um so I'd like to make a motion move up 2024 12 a second second Mr Noble yes Mr gzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor fo yes excuse me Mr Mayor it's not even on the agenda here resolution2 okay thank you thank you for pointing that out I hear you oh there you are thank you okay uh 2024 112 is a nomination of Captain James Ronald the position chief of police for the bur Bradley Beach uh that is the resolution I do want to make a comment or two before um we set a vote in motion but uh just some background on Captain Arnold he received his Bachelor of Science with high honors from rord University he he became a u he began his career a special officer and dispatcher uh in 2000 uh he became a patrolman in 2002 in 2006 he joined M County Emergency Response Team where he rose the division team leader uh Captain Arnold has was assigned to the detective Bureau from 2012 to 2016 uh there he was promoted to Sergeant as a sergeant Captain Arnold became the lead instructor for the southern MTH County active Sher partnership training program inclusive with 12 shorts 2020 2019 Captain Arnold was promoted to Lieutenant and 2023 promoted to captain during his career Captain Arnold also served as Department's traffic officer and Firearms instructor uh as many of you know since mid November of 2023 Captain Arnold has been the officer in charge of the Bradley Beach Police Department he's done an admirable job and I believe uh he has the support of the department to move this resolution forward he certainly has mine so with that uh I don't know if anybody has um just want to say it is great to be doing this and um Captain Arnold it's just a it's be a new day for police department and it already has been a new day but I'm really looking forward to that new day and working with you I appreciate our conversations thus far and um I kind of can't wait so appreciate you stepping up for this I'm also really excited about this I think uh it's a good choice and I think it'll be a great step forward for for Bradley Beach Captain I'm looking forward to that being the last time I refer to you as such um it's been an honor and a pleasure working with you in my RO leaon U I'm very excited about you taking the lead here and uh working together with you and calling you Chief I'd also like to thank Captain Arnold for reaching out and calling me and I wasn't in trouble it was just to see what I did which was good but that was the first time the the police called me and reached out and communicated with me and I felt this is this is foreseeing a a Time turning and I see morale already is boosted I see communication has been created between the fire department the first a it's it's a whole new day and we can never let what happened happen again we have to keep those lines of communication open and I'm very happy that this day is finally come okay I'll make a motion to approve 2024 112 second Mr no yes Mr gzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes I I warn you this might happen absolutely yeah go ahead I'll make this real quick we all know these meetings can be rather ly there will be a swearing in so that that'll be my time to express a little bit more to you guys but for tonight mayor council I just I really want to say thank you not for me but for our Police Department the men and women that work in that department are topnotch and the resiliency and the motivation that they've shown over the past several months has just been so impressive I'm so proud of everybody at the police department I'm so proud to be part of that Police Department a lot of the members are here tonight as you see uh on their own free time like the mayor said so thank you for coming out supporting this resolution the members of the community that came out to support this resolution I thank you so much it means a lot to us this really helps move this Police Department in the right direction just making this department great again so thank you so much I was pleased we kept politics out of this captain Chief elect until you said make the department great so we very much appreciate your comments and we'll formalize as we said there's formalization going on we're talking about you know formalization of the S uh we look forward to that and I thank uh I thank everybody for coming tonight particularly the folks that are out there every day making it happen for us here making this one of the safest towns in M County appreciate that get to say that enough but we do very much appreciate that too to each and every one okay so our next Workshop item is um actually wait before you guys hello hello hey could y'all come back for one minute I'm sorry I'm calling an audible here um if if if I could ask uh for one more motion um could we um just move up presentations and bids to the next item it only take five minutes but I'd like ' be good to have these folks here too second Mr Noble yes Mr gzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox and I'm sorry I I I looked at the sequencing I thought that was next um so uh supervisor kaam could you come up here please getting a new title not need more money right now and I got to put glasses on because the font on this is better two uh so for those who don't know it it's National Public Works week and um we wanted to recognize our Public Works team I ask Thea to pop in and agre this um Proclamation so National Public Works week whereas Public Work serves Services provided in our community are an integral part of of our citizens daily lives and whereas the support of the and understanding of and I got I'm sorry this is a really small thought whereas the support of and understanding of informed public is vital to the efficient operations of Public Works system systems and programs including water sewer streets public buildings solid waste collection landfill Water waste disposal of code enforcement and Engineering to provide these essential services to our citizens and whereas the health safety and comfort of this community greatly depends on these facilities and services whereas the quality and effectiveness of these facilities as well as their planning design construct and construction is is vitally dependent upon the efforts and skills of Public Service employees and whereas the efficient efficiency of of the qualified and dedicated Personnel who staff the public works department is materially influenced by The People's attitude and understanding of this important work they perform now there resolve the governing body of B Bradley Beach to hereby proclaim the week of May 19th to 25th which is a few weeks out but we wanted to get this before Memorial Day because they get very busy right then Public Works week uh building for today planning for tomorrow in the burough of Bradley Beach and call upon all citizens and Civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involving and providing our Public Works and and recognize the contribution of Public Works officials make everyday health safety comfort and quality of life on this day 8 May 2024 great thank you want to get these folks home so they get some sleep okay um the next um agenda item is um a workshop on trees on Main Street um and I think um Weber wants to uh lead that discussion sure thing uh the idea here is that right now technically on you know way it's supposed to work on paper right now is that property owners the adjacent property owners are supposed to take care of trees on Main Street um there's I know roughly 75 different properties on Main Street and uh I think the evidence is plain to see that if we have 75 different property owners doing or not doing their own thing withe care and maintenance and planting that um it doesn't really lead unified look on Main Street or very good look so the idea is to have the town take that over and the other underlying thought here is that in practice the town already has as long as I've been up here on Council there's been two different times we've called the county and asked the county shade tree commission to trim the trees on Main Street because we get a better deal from the count going out the commercial provider and they've done that so in practice the the town's taking care of this anyway I thought it's just make this official let's make it so it is on paper like it is the town's job the job of the adjacent property owner and I think that will contribute to a better look on Main Street and uh I hope my Council colleagues agree and I think that's that's kind of it um I think I think councilman Weber you're uh right right on the Mark I do think we need greater uniformity and greater consistency and you know as we improve Main Street we have to make sure we have a solution for our trees trees will be a a vibrant part of a future Main Street and uh property owner by property owner we struggle tremendously there are some that are that beautifully maintain their trees uh PR them every so many years and then there are others who go as far as to on their own cut them down um and everything in between so we need the consistency I I'd like to think the you know most of if not all our Council will agree on that the one question I I think that we're going to need to address if we were to move forward with the burrow taking control of the trees would be uh the funding for maintaining those trees because right now in theory sometimes in reality depending on how uh uh consistent the the property owners are um the property owners pay for the pruning and maintenance of the trees if the burrow takes it over uh does that become a small burden on the taxpayers or do we consider a small sear charge to each of the property owners on Main Street I don't know we as a council we really are talking about this person time um but I think I think that's an important issue to to address I personally I don't know mechanically how that works but I am aware of search charges existing for other you know other activities so if a search charge was possible uh someone would have to run the numbers figure out roughly what the cost would be my own rough guess is it might be you know $50 of property per month uh and I can talk you talk to everyone about later per year per year uh I'm sorry per year um so it may not be a significant sech charge but conceptually maybe in principle I I at least would advocate for uh there being some sort of a levy some sort of a surcharge for the existing Main Street Property Owners but other than that I I do think whatever way we pay for it we need to take control of the trees I also agree and I know you talked about the county doing it I did have a conversation with Tom know today and cuz I said to really on what we need to do we need to know how much this is going to cost so he said just put a request in for shared service and the county can do it for a fraction of the cost of a regular private tree service so then we could also go through where you thought you know we could also landlords of the buildings or even with the SHA tree commission I mean if it's not that much money we could even you know maybe tap into their resources as well so we do have options but I think the first thing we have to establish is what is the cost in addition we just got a grant for Main Street so that means there will be more trees coming that means more trees will be pruned but I'll tell you I just got back from a trip from Europe the way they keep their trees they gorgeous okay and I know their taxes are probably 50% of their income and that's why they have everything perfect right but I thought why can't we look more like that and then we all use mainam tree this is the benefit for all of us cuz they say oh you're responsible for your tree at Third Avenue not everybody goes to Third Avenue I feel like everybody in this room has gone to Main Street a few times at least in a year and we can all benefit from a nice looking Main Street that we can all be proud of so we have options but we have to just figure out how much that option is going to cost us first that's my suggestion that we reach out and from M County thank you I uh I probably need to hear from all of you and see what you think about this because I think I mean of course I'm I think taking care of our truths on these street is really important I think the big thing for me is where who uh who carries the cost does the business owner carry the cost or do we as taxpayers carry the cost and um you know people who have people residential people live in residences are charged with taking care of their own planting strip in their own trees should the same should the same be done for uh Main Street should there be a pass on toost to the business owners so I don't know the answer to that so I would like to hear what you all have to say to help me make my decision because I don't know what the answer to that is right now yeah so um I guess my comments right now are you know we just set up a a Main Street group to look at how improve Main Street and I I think after we've had two meetings and it is going to be a multi-year deal um I can tell you that now um just based on what we're going to try to do and how we have to do it um there's questions that that I have on this around um and this is not foreign to only uh councilman goosi or whoever on you know what is this operating model going to look like uh what's the funding model to support it um I'm not sure where jip stands The Joint Insurance uh fund we have to check that out um if we're talking about a shared service or an outside service versus DPW there may be a a good differential of County versus outside Service uh we just need to understand what that is um I I don't think we've contacted the state yet relative to that I don't you know what the implication of if there's a state you know issue um I am somewhat reticent relative to uh the shade Tre Commission on this in the context of We Still I think have issues around um how we govern in the context of if if somebody's home somebody uh has a violation incurring time setting that violation to somebody currently is still a little fuzzy um and we've got to tighten that up uh I I struggle with having um residents uh in in a in a role of um of any kind of role of um you know kind of enforcement if you will and I'm not saying that that would happen I'm just saying we have to understand in that operating model where where if the shade tree commission was involved how would they be and what that input would be um so those are a couple of my comments I don't know I've spoken a little bit to uh ba about this I don't know if you have any comments I think the uh shared service is an interesting idea um I know that DPW right now doesn't have the capabilities or the capacity to take it on um we don't have a bucket truck for example to do anything um with the trees that go into wires or anything like that um so there definitely the big issue um but I think shared service might be a good uh option to explore like I said my um big hesitation and I think it's a question we can get answered easily is does this um put any increased liability onto the burrow as far as insurance liabilities go um so that would be the question that you know I would have for J I just wanted to clarify comment you know I I'm close to a number of members on the sh mayor to to Stage any concerns you have I don't think sh tree commission wants anything to do with managing this process or in any way interfering with the processes of our government so that came up once before with the red flag trees they wanted nothing to do with that in fact I think at that point uh Dr heick uh who was the chair at the time raised concerns in public that you know we we the bur had communicated that the shade tree was making taking some initiative that in fact they weren't so um so I think at least for that one concern you rais I think we're off the hook sh Tre wants nothing to do with it other than they just want to increase the canopy of our trees in bradle beach but they would this to me this is all about questions like Mr Mark you just raised and others on this panel have raised um but it's our ordinances we decide ultimately how we if we want to move forward how we would and we're changing ordinance if if we do at all uh and we have that we should have that authority to do that to change our our ordinances my common relative to shade Tre was somebody think honest made a comment on that my only caution with the shade Tre commission is that um I just thought they could help with the funding because they want to a lot of times they get $10,000 from the town that they don't even use they give it back every year go back into the have a fun I just thought that might be a possibility just to but again we we need to know the cost you know like many years ago I asked somebody said oh I can do it for $75 a tree so if you have 100 trees it's $7,500 so it might not be as much as we think it's going to be I just have a couple follow comments um just to be clear I'm not proposing this and saying then then we should go and you know get a special assessment from Main Street owners I think that gets really dicey because some have a tree in front of the property and some of them don't and you're going to charge them all that's figured out uh and like I said in practice we call the county the County's done this I don't see why that would change it would just be that you know we're not it would be official that that's our job not the property owners and who aren't doing it there's more than just trimming trees um you know if a tree is lifting up the papers if the town is responsibility our guys viio his guys could go out and they could fix that what we have right now is that's being ignored I on this Main Street committee Mr Mayor you know a business owner came in and he complained about a tree that's lifting up the papers and I went and looked at it and people told me it's been like that for years I don't know why our code enforcement isn't going out saying hey you need to fix these papers so whoever if it's the responsibility of the the um the property owner that's fine it's the responsibility of the town I think it just get taken care of that much quicker because we know whose job is and we know that they have the skills and ability um to do it so it's more than just trim and trees so um yeah that's that okay um you want to get some public comments for let's say 10 minutes yes de reell 401 Avenue didn't know I was actually going to be speaking about this tonight but if you know my house I live the corner of Fifth and Madison I have six lovely very expensive London planes that I just paid $1,400 to have trimed so how do you differentiate trees on Main Street because I'll happily pay $50 a month as opposed to my $1,400 to uh have my trees taken care of so when you're talking about Main Street you're also talking about the rest of the trees in town think about because those chees technically belong to the town I can't cut them down I can't I'm I'm responsible for any damage that they do last year I replaced a windshield on my cousin's truck because a branch came down so I think you need to think about all the trees not just Main Street thank you thank you just respond to that Mr Mayor yeah it's it's a great point I just want to say d that you know we thought about that and kind of like um Council Noble said main Street's everybody like yes you and me were all responsible for the trees in front of our house um I think it's great that you paid $1,400 to to trim them um I'm not sure it would work out if we did a $50 a year assessment I mean I don't know when the last time you paid $1,00 so I do those trees every couple years yeah okay so a lot of money as but the liability of a branch coming down on somebody's head as they walk to the beach past my street is part of the town and I just recently watched um Utility Authority come through and I was talking to the guys I said oh my God I just paid $1,400 and now you're trimming the trees and he said oh no we don't touch yours you don't have lines going through them that that was JC yeah exactly so they take care of the trees where there's lines they don't take care of the trees where there's like my corner that and they have them I mean I get it but I think that it needs to be addressed for everybody not just me good thank you thanks very yes hi Brash McGuire the ad um I just wanted to I know there was some talk about the business owners like trying to figure out who would carry the cost I would like to if the business owners are going to be part of it I think in conjunction with the landlords of Main Street buildings makes more sense than just one or the other um just just because you know with owning one of those buildings rents can go up they can benefit as well from a nicer Main Street so I just would like the idea of not just business owners you know if it's going to be business owners maybe in conjunction with the landlords for Main Street I'd also like that if this decision has to be made with the whole Main Street Grant and the group Comm or whatever um that we have some town halls and workshop before decisions are made where we can get resident input before any type of group or commission makes final decisions thank you thank you anybody else yes uh I do not no no hands on the board Nancy Ocean Bar condums um I love trees I like The Giving Tree book I need trees to live to R my oxygen this is not the time we have no money our budget is a disaster we have no know how you can even think that we can spend money on one leaf is beyond me in addition even if you look at the work that jcpnl did tree surgery is a skill an occupation a degree with no disrespect to DPW who I feel has already been disrespected this evening I not know that anyone there has the training to properly prune trees I know it includes things other than but to even spend money on a tree and then have people not trim them properly is really Beach way and I think we need to change that way um again I underscore the fact that we should only spend money on necessities and again I know my oxygen is NE but I do not think that this is the time to do it thank you thank you yes yeah Thomas J 6 12 Third Avenue um I do agree with Miss Bernell um I pred my trees on a fiveyear cycle it's about $5500 a year I do my two trees at 401 Main and then my neighbor's tree so they all look very uniform um you know I didn't do it this year they're beginning to grow into the wires it's about the time I do them in January or February usually I held off because I'm said I want to spend money twice if you're going to do it I love the idea of the County uh doing it because it does help with parking management that's always an issue we have we have to coordinate with the police department to block off the parking spaces on the morning that we're going to prune the trees but it could be done unilaterally down the whole block would help also we do play substantial amount of County taxes so it would be nice to get some benefit from that but I do agree that it's really not fair to the other residents who have to maintain uh their troops um also mayor I'm I'm puzzled about you've had two meetings of the Main Street um I volunteered to be on the committee but no one called me and you've had two meetings yeah yeah do you have other Main Street landlords for 27 years we've got oh okay thank you thank you else okay we appreciate everybody's input move on okay um the next agenda item is approval Ames so I'll make a motion to April 24th 2024 Council business meetings second good Mr noain Mr gain Mr M yes Mr Weber yes yes okay uh the next agenda item is public comments pertaining to the 5824 agenda agenda items only 5 minute limit single instance for your comments any comments on yes just one question since it's Public Works week do our Public Works employees have a contract yet that's not on the agenda I'm sorry public works so yeah it's it's really do they have a contract yet though no they don't and that's yes um I do think it was a little bit of an embarrassment a lot of bit of an embarrassment to do a public works Proclamation I was told on the way out dispatch um week was two weeks ago and they got nothing and still no contract is what I was told so it was punch in the gut and those words were spoken on the way out the door so um the other thing I want to mention which I repeated time and time again is I'm asking for the introduction of the budget to be voted down um I think we need a lot of answers as residents we need to know where the 986 or close to million dollar from 2022 audit is we need to know the co monies are where they were allocated to where they were even deposited um I think we need to confirm that $500,000 was replenished for 2023 and check on where the 600,000 went because we were to told that 300 was going to be not 300,000 was not going to be replenished and now it's 600,000 so we need all of this information before a budget is passed I also think DPW needs a contract before any budget is passed and I'm talking the 2024 contract so we're like way behind at this point um how do we pass the budget if we don't know salaries if we don't know vacational if we don't know any of that so I just don't see how this is going to pass I think we have all the material mistakes that showed up um that were even brought over to the next year in 2022 that came up on that report we need an investigation in here we need the DCA to come in I am willing I don't know how that happens I don't know if the council gets fined if the town gets fined I think if if it if a budget doesn't get passed and produced I think we as the residents need to come together and figure out how to help raise funds if the council and the town gets penalized because we need the investigation first hand and I think that is most important so please vote now thank you thank you any other comments yes hey tomin 64 Third Avenue uh first of all on the uh the settlement uh 2024 1113 the settlement depending litigation um that is actually not a settlement of litigation uh the mayor uh the town was found guilty of not supplying the opras this is merely a financial settlement so I just want to make that clear um it's not a settlement of the litigation uh second of all U mayor when you when you when you break the agenda like that you don't give the public an ability to comment on resolutions that you do before the public public comment so I'd like to take this time to congratulate um Captain Arnold on his new position uh but because it would have been nice if some of the the public could have done that but also I'd like to make a motion that uh Sergeant uh William major uh be made the new captain because he really stepped up and no one's mentioned his name in this room and everyone owes him a debt of gratitude for the evil leadership that we put up with in this town for a long time he's a gentleman who stepped up and I want to thank him uh also on the daily beach badges we don't know what the budgets are we don't know what's going on charge $13 we we don't know about the back pay that was supposed to be paid we don't know about the new minimum wage the taxpayers shouldn't be stuck with all this but you know we don't really get a lot of budget information on how things work it should be $13 that's my recommendation on that and um uh on the the uh resolution to retired executive session Mr K will there be any business done after that point no okay great thank you very much thank you yes Nancy meow ocean par I want to underscore what M Maguire said Mr Cen um I am appalled that the public did not get to have comments prior to um pushing through the police Captain's promotion um had we done that I would have said that I don't know him I have no personal opinion there however I think he put the cart before the horse um I requested numerous times that the ordinance go back to having the police chief rep a I've been ignored and that could affect how somebody whether or not they want a de it's not just about who we want to hire it's about who wants to work here um the rest of my points I guess are M I'm glad to see you at least have an opportunity to speak to him um did we get other applications did we seek um we also need to change the ordinance and reduce the number of employees with that being said prior to dealing with Beach badges I would think you would revise that that with the percentage of um other department employees pays that are pulled out of the each utility um yes we get the budget aess you cannot conceivably pass that um I would also say regarding resolutions 2024 103-107 I've stated this before we need to take a refundable deposit even for a pass through um it's just how many times we to say the same things um yes Public Works needs a contract I am my services are starting to decline because they're two people short they wouldn't be two people short if they had money if they were paid so really that's on you um I would also say that with budget you need to look at what's a necessity what personnel are Necessities because I can go through right now and take my t-shirt red pencil and just go nope nope NOP and I implore you until we have pnls on the rec pnls on tourism pnls on all various departments with questions aners about incomes where the sources are where the deposits are why is everything free at the rec center why does not Brad Beach residents get first I can go on and on and on we need to get the town in order for before you start frivolously spending our money thank you thank you [Music] yes okay J Titus 605 Nork Avenue um I'm asking a question in regards to the introduction of the budget as I had asked last week and probably the week before that has the council been given access to the CFO to answer questions no no so I implore you to please vote no to this um how can we vote on a budget if we cannot ask questions of our subject matter experts and also of someone that we pay to be a CFO um so kind of like he is not performing his job functions and also Mr Canon I have a question for you is that legal can the mayor just block the council from talking to a a staff member of uh the B employee these are our duly elected officials I mean we've all been in business I mean Mr Fox you've been at J&J all those years you talked to subject matter experts you were NE never blocked talking to your financial experts I'm sorry you're not a financial expert Mr Marco is not a financial expert um and and that's not putting you guys down you just are not so Mr buosi is a financial expert a c a CPA he has a ad he's run Global divisions um why can that he not have access to asking questions and when you say it's too many questions it's because from what I'm seeing is that's a conversation so when you have a conversation guess what all those questions keep getting eliminated because you're having a conversation so I look at it this way perception is reality so if you have nothing to hide which I I really hope that's the case there's no reason why the council cannot have access to the CFO and also I'm very disturbed and another reason why to vote no on the introduction of this budget is the debacle from the 2022 audit so I would like to know is when will the residents of this town be presented with the corrective actions from 2022 we have a lot of money missing so when is that going to come into place we don't have a contract with the DPW how do we put together a financial plan for this town when it's a domino effect 2022 missing money mismanagement Financial mismanagement we need corrective actions so that just leads me to believe 2023 then has misinformation that was given to council to vote on a budget because I personally can't wait to hear about the 2023 audit to see what comes down with that so you have the domino effect and also all of us personally I don't think any of us would run our own households like this when you talk to your broker your broker your financial expert or whatever you have questions you just don't blindly just say go ahead manage money doesn't that work so again Mr Mayor I implore you to allow people to have a conversation Mr Canon you still have an answer to me is that legal or not I know you're looking something up I mean Lan I can't that question because of the employee there employees under different control works for the council so that's just a policy that has been I I know that started with our former ba Miss Humphrey started with no one was allowed to talk to employees I just find that said I I mean so I I don't understand it's just like let's let's have sit down and Converse you know I mean you're writing these articles to say in the newspaper I'm trying to work with everybody well here's your opportunity to work with people let Mr gubitosi have access to the CFO and let's get this done once and for all I don't understand what the problem is this is business 101 and common sense so if you have the best interest of the town and there's nothing to hide let's move forward thank you [Music] ith Avenue um could anybody give me a progress report on the audit for 2023 is that going to be submitted before the deadline I can I can get you an answer to that well you I asked that the last time and I'm still waiting is coming in tomorrow so be speaking okay now is Mr faren still negotiating the um participating in the budget he's part of the team yes yes and so how many I'm still waiting for answer regarding time and what portion of the negoti negotiations he participates in and and has the council been uh given equal time to participate in this is there also the committee well we're not really on a committee but we've had no other than well according to the email that I received from the mayor the council is has been named as members of the committee for for they f for negotiating the budget and I'd be happy to share all that I can easily retrieve it from my emails and back's name was mentioned department heads were made mentioned and the line council's names were mentioned and I will be happy to yeah I think we clarified that in the last meeting no council with councilman Weber that he asked the same question and the answer relative to the council was they provided input on the capital budget to the B administator I was I wasn't able to ask that question last week I assum everybody feed on every council member has um waited at some point or asked questions or yes but are they participants in the actual negotiations the way the rest of the Committees on I'm not sure to understand what you mean by negotiations well whoever I don't know how the budget works but if they're members of the team shouldn't they be involved in the meetings as much as Mr farach and other members I mean they have to approve the budget shouldn't they have some input and some deep knowledge of what's going on with the negotiations and all of that I don't you feel as a resident I would like to see that my council is represented there on an equal basis understand good point but will they be participating they have been they have provided us inputs as part but if I ask why don't I do this Mr sh I will outline the steps in the budget and where we are and what has to happen next Mr sh maybe I can help that by you're you're effectively asking I think two different questions okay one question is what input we've had on the budget and the other question is what input are we having with Grant that there's a little link the only inut we've had on the bud we've been allowed to ask questions we really haven't received answers to help us understand so we've had very limited interaction on the budget and regarding the uh log 152 we have very rare updates uh and but other than that no interaction whatsoever so your question was around contract negotiation sorry no but the budget in general the budget in general no it has nothing to do with nothing to do with Mr Bernstein and oh there's just there just ask questions so far I I think you was asking if you're on the team refering to yes we are not we are not on the team no but your names listed on the email that I received from mayor you asked me a question and I answered your question relative to the people that have been involved in the budget process I that but the council is saying they're not active members well they provided Us in for that capital and they've been asking us question to respond so your defition well it seems like the council has a difference of opinion you there okay thank you else yes K 409 Brinley a couple of things few things actually uh Chief Arnold just wanted to say congratulations I'm among those that made a lot of noise about happen here just I want to acknowledge that you've probably been through a whole lot in the last months it could not have been easy for you and I particularly appreciate the fact that you suggested there is room for improvement things need to change very not going to do that that's one two I would like to speak to the agenda item on the change of form of government strongly in favor of that unfortunately my 5 minutes doesn't allow all the reason something all time but I did want to address one thing that I confus about just judging on the interaction of the previous speaker um we have been told Mr Fox by you many times that this is a comment only portion of a meeting we tried but you just answered hang on hang on you just answered a number of questions so have you now you prepar to drop this ridiculous blame that its comments only and this is a true question and answer period no okay so I want to quickly review what happened in the last meeting because this issue is kicked around for a while now so and you folks can look this up and watch as long as the meeting is online at the 2745 second Mark for anyone who wants to look you open this part of the meeting with these exact words are there any questions on the agenda items for tonight not surprisingly first Speaker asked a clarification question you immediately answer reped to an answer two minutes later he asked another question you answered but at 3220 when a new speaker begins to ask a question you cut her off not what I said her we cut her off with this do you have any comments but just four minutes later 3619 again you can look it up between speakers you ask any other questions of course there are more questions 4820 you answer a bill less question 17 seconds later you flip on a question you don't like presumably interrupting the speaker by telling her again her I'm sorry do you have comments at the 60-minute Mark you jump in to answer a question that was put not to you but to Mr C who didn't even have time to answer proing the speaker to say I'm asking Mr can again you didn't give him the opportunity to answer and you jump in with unanswering your question so this goes back and forth until 7155 when you finally close this part of the meeting with here it comes are there any other questions so how you can sit there and say this isn't a question and answer period I'm really just very confused so can you please explain or again just drop this ridiculous premise this is not a question because it is thank you for your comments and your questions thank other questions okay we move to the next agenda item said no other comments I'm sorry um I'm going to quote Jesse Jackson here God is in fin yet I do make mistakes when I talk sometimes I apologize for that okay let's move to ordinances um we have one introduction and one adoption today ordin amending chapter 9 396 stor management of the bur's revised General ordinances to rise theor M for recommendations from Mammoth County planning board are there any Council comments on 2024 I guess Mr Mayor just for theit that not only of me but for the public it seems like the edits are relatively minor and and if I'm remember correctly these are edits being made to something that we only introduced a few months ago is that correct this and these edits are actually uh they were requested by the county so we have so but it's something we adopted because of the County's recation a few months ago and now they've already cons we we adopted according to the state model as we disc the introduction so speak L um part of that review process goes to the m County planning board they also had comments so this is their opion and and again I'm fine with the comments I just want to make sure we all understand this is something that M county is recing so across the state we could have different versions of this amendment or is are are others you know adopting the same amendments I believe others are adopting the same am most of the pits I've gotten back are all the same um generally it has to do like think there's a the word freeholders used someplace in there things like that um in general they're not they're not very substantive they're really just clean up but yeah they don't appear to be substantive I was just wondering if we're being consistent across the state of New Jersey at least across M County and you know think that that's the sub sector because obviously storm water is far different in the highlands than it is in the beach so um that's why the planning been m is a regional planning issue um the water doesn't just stay at Bradley Beach um so that's the check on it to answer your question it squares up on a regional basis and the counties are the most imperfect level to do that their final thank you any other comments C okay then I will make a motion to approve introduction of7 second Mr Noble yes Mr guzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes uh adoptions we have one adoption uh 20246 uh it's an ordinance authorizing the burough clerk to place upon the November 5th 2024 general election ballot question asking vs whether or not they wish to establish a charter commission to study possibly recommend changes to the B form of government uh we'll start with Council comments are there any Council comments a brief comment which is U this is something that I know many residents have asked for and uh this just to be clear as other than the council is providing our residents with this opportunity this has no bearing on any member of this Council we're not other than as residents will vote but we are not involved in this this is creating an opportunity if the residents want to evaluate changes to our for of government it will be on the residence the end of my comment okay um I I have one comment and then we can um open this to U the hearing before adoption um I as I said in the introduction I don't support this I don't think this is what Bradley Beach needs um it's it's really a focus on community I think not so much politics I think um I just believe that this is is going backwards um I I have two two things I I'll mention here one uh was from a a recent coaster article it's just more of a fact it's it's a the writting the uh journalist must just pulled this out but it says Bradley Beach began to operate under a small municipality plan on July 1 1992 after a previous Charter commission study recommended it the so-called strong mayor form of government is only available to municipalities of population less than 12,000 uh beginning in 1950 and until 1992 the burrow had a five member commission form government with members choosing mayor among themselves which is what some of our other towns do around us um I had just one email in um from somebody who asked me about this and said that people know that from 1915 to 1992 Bradley be operated under a five member commission form of government where the members chosen may it was clear that the change to the current form of government was in the best interest of the town now are we going backwards I tend to agree with that so um but um Mr Mayor you're mumbling sorry about that um so um I would uh at this point if there's no other comments I would close and and open uh the adoption up foral comments I I have one comment oh I'm sorry yeah no no that's okay it just when you spoke it just made me think something I think that the beautiful thing about this referendum and this um ordinance is that it gives the people a chance to decide what it is that they want so um we'll let the people talk and see what they think works um and what they think uh we should do and it's just um to form a committee to decide what needs to be done and and maybe based on things that are happening this is not the best form of government for this town um so there's no harm in moving forward with this I think we can let people speak a referendum that's written properly um we'll usually get um Fair responses so I look forward to seeing what happens in November thank you okay a motion to uh open the public comments ordance 46 uh i' ask people to limit their comments to three minutes second Mr Noble yes Mr Goo yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes questions yes comments 302 Park Place and here's a question um how does one apply to be on the commission will that be made public how's that going to happen do it says you're going to elect the five commission members at the same time time I think that's a great can question there be a petition have available be online as well put it online we could put it online and print out gu but you can't submit signatures online it's got to be hard copy you can print it out yeah you can you I mean you print out at home I don't want to confuse people you can't submit signatures and what are the criteria how many signatures do you have to get Etc is that like a a county thing or a state thing spell for people or is that something that just the council and mayor come up with no it would have to be something we'd spell out and we have to go by guidelines yeah so there are State guidelines for that the F act oh it's in the f I just don't know what it is on the top of my head but but the um Eric and I are already went about procuring a form um to be prepared and we have not put that form together yet fews ago um but the form will have how many signatures you need and the requirements under the F act and people to pick them up and turn them in cool thank you very similar to a mayor packet or a council packet time to run for those positions um it'll no thank you it'll be a similar type of petition thank you okay great and I just got to say I do support this uh there's no harm in investigating the possibilities and that's all we're doing investigating possibilities thank you [Music] yes an need 116 newk I'm looking for to this commission being able to be formed I think like many things in life rad be has outgrown the current form of government and I think we need to review what our issues are Financial issues the other issues we have in town and see how we can do better and I think the commission can do that um I do have a question um er the petition is to obct the commission or is the to put the it need to elect the uh commission am I correct yes it be excuse me 20 days from now the ordinance isn't in effect yet until 20 days from now um if there's no challenge or the ordinance is still in effect then there will be a ballot question placed on the ballot and there will be candidates listed underneath and it'll say do you think there should be a charter study commission fundamentally the actual wording is in the that there's no changing that that's in the all right thank you cting um and and then it'll be under that so you vote if yes and if if this passes who would you want to serve and then you have to the next question five candidates out of file okay great thank you candidate need to be on the yes they have to file in time essentially by the nonpartisan the same deadline for the municipal election here is the nonpartisan town have to file what is that deadline you know it's the first Monday or Tuesday in September no August it's a I don't know the exact date on the top of my head but it is in August so yes Thomas 6 thirdd Avenue um I would I would appreciate if you approve this I think it's really interesting that that this proposal was originally made by councilman sex series apparently he was acknowledging that it wasn't really working too so I appreciate this Council following up with it I mean clearly no one really envisioned a strong mayor form of government being used like this to block you from meeting with employees and manipulating nobody's blocking anybody Mr yes sorry it's not the case but just another point on Mr seith um if you recall I don't know if you do recall this Mr seith um councilman at the time seith his reason for bringing this up was there was a lot of Divergent view by the Council about how things were operating and his challenge was if you don't like it go look at something else that was his real challenge there you go you don't want to look at something else you've already voted against it so um tell but we've had Mayors before who work collaborative and that's really what the public visions and hopefully we can get to that with a new form of government thank you thank you uh okay there's nobody else we will this then moves to this and vote I'll make a motion that we adopt orance 2024-the the bur cler Place upon the November 5 2024 general election ballot the question asking voters whether or not they wish to establish a charter commission to study and possibly recommend changes to the Burrow's form of government is there a second second mrble I I'd like to add one more thought out of the 564 municipalities in the state of New Jersey only seven hers have our form of government probably only seven because it just doesn't work my vote is yes Mr gesi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor CL I going to vote no and again I'll just make my brief comment I I don't think this is what we need right now we've got a tremendous amount going on in town I think um we can be better served with our resources working on something else and I would just check that number I think the number is more like 14 okay it's still very small oh it is it's not it's 564 it's very small it's not a large number actually a lot of change since then uh okay uh we're going to move to number 10 Communications um we've got four Communications uh Public Service um Public Service public works seasonal employ um uh the beach staff uh employees were were gearing up to that and then the environmental commission and the library board the the couple that I'll just mention a few of those on because I do want to thank um two members on the environmental commission Dan leus who I don't know how many years he was on the environmental commission but I think he was on for a number of years but he uh just um kind of had some other priorities to focus on respect resign and Kathy Mitchell also we thank them for their service um Dennis morens and uh Katie Sal saly senson have accepted r on commission and I know they met the other night um with a new chair and we actually I should mention this the chair has shifted to um jeck Curtis uh Liz Hernandez accept position on the State Board health and just have some other things going on so um she's still on the environmental commission but they switched off from from a leadership perspective uh and then uh Susan vono has um accepted the mayor's alternate on the uh okay let's move to uh resolutions we have um a number of individual resolutions consent first on the consent I'll just read quickly 24102 authorizing the appointment of the special class one law enforcement officer attending June class County Police Academy 10 2024 103 approval of the brain injury Alliance in New Jersey to conduct their annual flight day walk on October 5th 7:30 to 1230 to pass through 2024 104 approval of the Asbury par firefighters local 384 to conduct their 5K run Saturday June 22nd 8 to9 2024 105 approval United engine fire to conduct their 5K Run 5K is going on here August 17th um uh from 6:30 to 12 this is the Bradley Beach 5K yes it is yes it is the Bradley Beach 5K fire department yes I'm sorry 5K Bradley Beach on this to make sure people understood it and I see the person who's organizing this and has been running it for how many years 15 15 years is here to make sure that happens um approval of the certified Foundation Jersey sh chapter to conduct their chapter meeting on 5th Avenue gbo June 5th 2024 2024 107 approving block party for Burlington Avenue I guess this is the second annual on July 20th 2024 the rain date of 20 uh Sunday July 21st uh 2024 and then the last 2024 108 approval of lean Redemption refund for 63 demount of$ 26765 make a motion to approve the consent agenda second Mr no yes Mr yes M Mahone yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes okay uh individual resolutions uh we have uh introduction of 2024 budget read only with motion to approve 2024 86 second Mr Noble no Mr gzi I've been U stating for five weeks now that I cannot approve this until I understand it in order to understand that I need access to the CFO I will vote now m m no um we need more details um so that we can see how Appropriations and revenues are totaling up to the funds um I'm trying to work with the to see if we could you're not casting a negative on that no I'm talking about how it's you know trepidation for both of us cuz we're both talking about concessions so that it's possibly um Council me Council priv negotiations I know I know but it doesn't involve me paying you any money um so if we got if we if we you know maybe down questions we could get some time with the CFO so we are because if we don't get time with the CFO I am not ready to approve this because we have questions that we need answers and um councilman G toi is even more uh strict about that because he really has questions that he needs answers and I can't see how we can't work together to find some time if we set parameters on things that we can't come together and Al Council and I down and talk to the CFO and get some answers um and then we'll feel satisfied and I think you will all feel better about um the information that we can get back to you about what is actually happening with our budget so I'm going to vote no good good so this is the third time this budget introduced and uh the same thing's going to happen and has happened the last few times you know what they say the definition of insanity is and all that um I just want to emphasize that uh you know I don't see this Council changing their position until they get questions answered and have time with the CFO and all that so I would hope that this third time voting down the introduction of the budget would get something to change on the administration's end and I will just say I I searched the memory banks and a very long time ago every time that I've had done this budget thing up here I've had time with the CFO it wasn't any extra special favor ass it was just part of the process sat down oneon-one talk to the CFO uh we could probably streamline that this time and they probably wouldn't have to sit down with each and every single one of us but they definitely have to sit down with one or two of us so if we can make that happen I think you know the bud will introduced uh and then move from there I will say it does hurt the town to be passing a budget this leate we got department heads some in the room some not in the room but it's problematic for them to not know you know like literally half the year is going to be over before we pass the budget and that's not ideal it's always going to be some of the year but it's the less less it is the better so there are consequences to this I'm very aware of the consequences um but I really wish the administration take a different T because otherwise we're going to do the same thing two weeks from now so I will vote mayor I vote Yes um you know I believe we worked very hard to answer the questions that have come forward uh we spent a lot of hours on that um and I know the last set that we answered was on April 17 I just hope that also yes okay um let's move to the next agenda item which is sorry about that um the next resolution which is 10 uh 2024 109 daily and weekly Beach badges um so I think Erica pointed out um our clerk pointed out that we didn't formalize any vote on daily beach badges in November we we focused more on uh uh seasonal senior Junior and um she just wanted to make sure we formalize that um well because the beach season is coming up so yes good reason to know what the beach prices are um so um we have provided um a an estimate of fund balances and our fund balance in I'll just make one or two comments on the beach is come down from about 900 to about 600 it it's it's very high right now it's high because the Surplus is high in the Beach utility because um sh some sorry um because I was looking for a document here that I can't put my hands I'll just do it for memory that um in 2021 the co year we just blew every forecast out of the water number one I think we had a beach price in 2021 for daes of $14 we peeled that down to $12 in 2022 because we experiened a very positive outcome for 2021 we continue to have a positive outcome in 2022 2023 and hopefully in 2024 but we have seen a deterioration we reviewed that in November we have seen and we have forecasted about a 5% deterioration why is that it's not because of the Bradley Beach features or the experience it's that travel people getting out postco people are now migrating back to other other vacations other things to do so um we put a slight uh reduction in our forecast for this year uh the only other two comments I would make are that we we did um in November when we voted on beach badge prices we we did have an analysis that said one recommendation was go to go from 880 to $90 on um season seasonals and that was we ended up going to 85 and we said 40 one of the recommendations was $40 for seniors and um Juniors we went to 37 um so the benefit of that move with that you know that approval was about 62 ,000 that uh enhances bless you uh had we gone to the $940 it would have been an additional $66,000 which we opted not to U put in place the only other point I would make is that um two points actually um that we are funding um we have debt uh relative to the um outfall pipe at Ocean Park maave bless you little causing some real ax um and um that um that debt uh I I did not get the number but it's I think it's a couple hundred I don't know if you have that number but it's a couple hundred, per year uh so my point is we're going to see probably if all things are equal and we do our due diligence this year with hiring and operating uh I think we'll see a continued deterioration in the Beach utility Surplus it's not but I want to make everybody clear our beach um forecast is is somewhere between somewhere around $2.6 million a year we operate um I think it's 2.5 or 2.6 so to have a $660,000 forecasted Surplus we're still in very good shape from the Surplus perspective but I can say that from 2224 it's gone from 9 919 to 750 to 660 so it's going to continue to go down why it going down uh minimum wage and wages are going up uh our operating costs are up uh so that's why that's going to happen you know were we in the Red Zone not at all um but the the value of a dollar increase in dieses is about $80,000 we sell about 80,000 uh badges in a good year the last three years we've sold about 8,000 badges so if we opted to go up a dollar it's an $80,000 uh gain if you will if we opt to do nothing it's it's where we are right now because right now we we have forecast so that's my comments and I'll be quiet at this point yeah I I'll just make a couple quick comments when we did discuss this last year I think I was the one person who suggested we go to 13 um keep in mind the beach utilities separate and apart from the current fund we don't pay taxes none of us as residents pay taxes to fun the beach the funding of the utility largely comes from badges right the seasonal as well as the daily uh as the mayor said we've been depleting the Surplus the last couple of years we've dropped at about 100,000 a year uh we added the mayor didn't know the exact number but you said around 200,000 I think it is $190,000 of new debt and $119,000 uh for each badges that one extra dollar we sell about 100,000 badges so that one extra dollar is $100,000 we've added 200,000 of new debt we've been deteriorating the the uh Surplus uh 100,000 or so a year uh could be as much as 200,000 two years ago um right now I'm asking questions about this but we're taking revenue from the beach utility $354,000 uh from parking meters taken it into the current fund I'm asking that other questions don't have an answer yet as to if we can even legally justify doing that but for all these reasons I think adding 100,000 of Revenue uh is is just sound business and U but nobody wants to increase patch crisis I understand that nonetheless uh the mayor said we're not in a Red Zone yet and that's good and I don't want to get into a red zone so I plan to vote no on this because I think we should be at $13 can we change I don't think do we have a resolution that says 12 it has it has last year's amounts on there what you decide is that's up to [Music] all so just I I just got this kind of hot off the press relative to some what other people are doing um because we didn't have this in November we didn't have what other towns are doing but we did um I asked um our Deputy cler to collect a little bit of data um the average daily on the weekend is 12 bucks the average weekday is 11 bucks and this is 1 two three four 5 six it's about 12 PBS um I'll just tell you who changed Allen Hurst went up Asbury Park actually went down uh Belmar went up um pardon me what what did Belmar go up to two bucks they went from um 10 bucks to 12 bucks 12 bucks so now they're the same as us that's a good point let me just bring that up yeah so Allen Hurst went from 10 to 12 bucks um on weekends Belmore went up two bucks on both 10 to 12 bucks there's only five or six that went up so I can I'll just read through madisan was 1010 they're now 1212 um cuz there are different we we our beach bit daily price is seven days a week we don't we don't differentiate um Spring Lake $12 last year $20 this year what those are the we know comments for about another town because it's going to come back and bite Us in the so those are just some comparisons but on aage average let me just say deal is 12 bucks lock Arbor 12 bucks uh Long Branch is n bucks ocean row 12 bucks SE 12 bucks so there's a lot $12 um uh my partic my view I share councilman gb's view that um it's better to get ahead of this than fall behind this um I I I haven't really thought that much about a weekday versus a weekend I think that just complicates Our Lives um and if we're going to take if we're going to take it take it but I I would I would be in favor of the 13 because and the number is actually less than 100 is more like $80,000 because we sold about 80,000 we're forecasting about 80,000 units of sale for D this year WEA permitting for 13 yeah Mr like nothing it's freebody so does somebody want to amend the resolution to amend motion to amend the resolution to $13 for daily Mr Noble yes Mr Ki yes Mr Mone yes Mr Weber no mayor fo yes now you can make a motion to adop to amend it and then I make a motion to adopt the daily and weekly badge cost for 2024 no public comment on it resolution yeah do I have a second second with changes with changes with changes um yeah I know Mr no yes Mr G yes M Mone yes Mr Weber since this already passed uh we have to figure out if this is about getting people on the beach or if this is about money so I'm voting okay mayor Fox yes I appreciate your comments councel okay it's going from 12 to 13 thank you uh okay um next individual resolution I think we'll get through the rest for a little bit quicker authorization of a request for General financial report under State um actually for about 1 10 each operation schedule oh I I'm sorry Beach operations schedule for 2024 um just for people's U knowledge uh we ask Beach manager to formally put a schedule out and we we pass that through your resolution so motion to pass 2024 110 second Mr Noble yes Mr kzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor fo yes thank you for that uh you're welcome pick up 2024 111 authorizing request for General financi support the state uh future year 2025 budget for a regional flood study uh I think we brought this up at the last meeting U Neptune Neptune City and us are working on a joint um study uh and it really comes from that late September I think September 30th October 1st it was the the significant rain we had effected otion Grove much more significantly than us but um what we're asking for is to get some Financial so that's what this is for so I make a motion to approve Mr may just a quick comment again I I missed the last meeting so to the extent there was discussion I I'm not up to speed but the wording does talk about um that we wish to submit a request to the state of New Jersey for $500,000 to conduct the flood study and then it says approves then we're being asked to approve the funding request of the above study we're not being asked to approve the 500,000 we're being asked to approve funding request the funding request so it's a it's a fairly large group um we have OEM sitting in on it and I think engineering I sat in two meetings Mike bessam who's the CFO of Neptune is chairing this um so it's support and I think I I I want to say that U Senator goal so so do we have an idea of what the dollar matters were what would what would the application cost $2 $3,000 what are we approving we're approving to enter into to to actually make this request for this for the funding I think Mr bess's group is going they're basically doing the application is there a cost to the burrow to do this I don't think there is okay thank you so I'll make a motion to appr second Mr no yes Mr G yes M Mahone yeah Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes we've already covered 2024 112 I will go to 2024 113 authorizing s pending Jersey beach number3 to approve second yes Mr kosi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor yes okay there are no announcements um um we'll move to Mayor and Council reports I'll I'll we start with Council sure thing does everybody or anybody feel like this was a bit of a calmer meeting than normal maybe maybe shorter too okay do everybody see those flowers sitting there okay it's the flowers those are Erica could have kept them in her office but they're out here and the fragrance of lilac that is premating the room is calming everybody down and we're having a a better meeting on that front opinions was were still expressed and agreements or you know disagreements were had but it just seems calmer and I think it's the flower so thank you ER okay so that said um so I like big flower hat like every flowers every meeting the um because we talked about this uh Charter study Comm I just want to you know remind everybody that if you made an organizational chart of the bur of Bradley Beach the voters are at the top so that's why just to assure everybody you are getting your say as to whether you want Charter study commission or not and and you would get the say and who would be on that commission um so because you're at the top of the chart uh I want to thank Dan Le for years on the environmental commission he's was down for a very long time I think as long as I can remember so uh it was a good long run for him I appreciate that congrats people stepping up for that um yeah and it was clerk week last week sorry clerk week this week we passed the resolution at the last meeting but that's hence the flowers um the Main Street group that was mentioned um you know a group of us the mayor the administrator myself I'm mentioning this because the mayor's newsletter said they were council members plural with an s on the end there's one it's me just letting you know um I'm on the council I'm a member of the council right okay well it is Mayor and Council so okay I just didn't want I just want to clear the confusion it's you know I'm the other person we have Main Street owners on that and uh so far so then that lack of course our engineer participates so uh so far so good and because I am out of Inc at home I have to read this these reports from here so for the first aid report uh for the operational period ending today the squad responded to six calls seven night calls uh eight were for medical one for fire the squad conducted one drill for the safety and education of the membership uh they provided medical OverWatch for the tear Foundation walk there were no out of town Mutual Aid requests and the squad requested no Mutual aid for this operational period the squad filled 100% of their assignments for this operational period they of course are still looking for volunteers they offer free training for qualified individuals anyone W to can find application on the pr website and if you will now bear with me I will go and find the uh fire report which is right here for the month ending April 30th uh the fire department responded to two day calls and three Night Calls for a total of five calls three were for alarm activations one was for odor of gas and one was for a blooded residents the department conducted two trainings one for engine operations one for bailout harness operations there were no Mutual Aid requests Department fulfilled 100% of their assignments for this operational period they are also still looking for volunteers um and they offer free training for qualified individuals anyone wishing to volunteer can find an application on the on the website um the Fletcher Lake commission uh meets tomorrow so this is the old news um they just want you to know that they work for the betterment of both towns both communities so you know sper L share with the Ocean Grove and there people in both communities on that um but they also want you know that they tried last year a test of planting some perennials around around the lake I don't know where so don't ask me um just in an effort to plant things that require less maintenance and watering and they succeeded so that's a potential path that they're going to go down and maybe save the Bro some money by instead of plants that need planting every year or lots of um other care uh for sha tree there was planting neither Jane or I were there so I will talk about it but we got a very good report uh they had a great planting on uh oh actually Council was there may the mayor was there as well great I wasn't there so I I was teamed up with um sge soloro all right excellent so bunch of trees got planted I do want to size when it comes to trees planting new trees is great but we really really have to think hard about saving the mature trees that are in town and uh you know you can't put a tree or two in the ground or even three um after you've taken down this big giant tree and call it equal because it's just not you literally have to plant hundreds of trees for the uh for the services that that big old tree is providing in terms of shade and and everything so um plant new On's great let's just keep Ane on our trees and that is the extend of my report thank you coun I don't have too much um the environmental commission met on Monday May 6th and we've talked about the changes in um leadership there and the members who have served a very long time and have um have left and the new members that we have um the sweeps that they did a couple weeks was weeks ago was a success even though the weather was terrible um they had 66 volunteers and they picked up uh a lot of plastic the number one plastic piece that they picked up was the tips of those little scars Telos toel yes be a lot not the no not related yeah so that was the number one uh item that they picked up off the beach um so they also find weird they found a large animal in um so that was given to the police department right we don't know what it was anyway anyway it was sad um I love animals so that makes me very sad um the mayor and I were at the organization walk uh last week and we tried to stay warm and it was very cold I got to pull out my winter coat again I'm hoping I can put it in my closet and never uh take it out again till I don't know November but that was a great event that they have every year and it was a beautiful ceremony um and the L use board will meet on Thursday May 16th thank you counc as the liaison to the police department I want to start my police report once again congratulating our new chief of police James Arnold sounds very good Chief to be able to say that uh and I also want to thank detective Lieutenant Browning for his report it's not particularly lengthy but uh we did our Police Department did arrest a local man for cyber harassment and another local subject was arrested for driving while intoxicated um I wanted to note that uh many of you have probably heard me speak about this up here as well as seen some various uh Facebook ads and whatever uh as ver been trying to raise money for our fallen heroes we have U 19 fallen heroes who are recognized currently on our respective monuments uh this year we plan to add 20th I'm not going to share the name now because I'm hoping that'll Peak your curiosity and you'll all be able to show up for our Memorial Day service to see who the 20th Fallen Hero is that's being added but um but uh I'm disappointed to say we've fallen short on our fundraising so um we are definitely going to have some recognition uh take place at Memorial day but but some of the things we we had hoped to raise enough money to purchase uh most significantly uh banners a couple couple thousand dollars uh as well as u a new uh I don't I think Granite Monument not particularly big but you know maybe I know maybe roughly the size 2T by 3 ft or so that would include all of the names right now many of you may not realize this we have the war memorial at Riley Park which is World War I focus uh we have a World War II Memorial uh by the by that rec center field it's called War Memorial Field um that has World War II uh fallen heroes and at the base of that money is our loan Vietnam veter Vietnam fall so they're a bit dispersed across the burough uh and our goal is to get one plaque that covers everybody in one place in Riley Park um so we're going to continue fundraising efforts uh through Veterans Day our hope is to officially kick this off with with the things we we hope to purchase by Veterans Day but nonetheless we will be unveiling the name of our uh 20th Fallen Hero who we uh just had not recognized up to this point but it's a gentleman who um died a number of years ago um so more to come on that you'll be hearing a lot more shortly with Memorial Day rapidly approaching also um the bbbc uh is planning an science week I think i' be getting the terminology right looking for Paul gav who I think might have been left anyway one day of that week June 7th uh I am responsible as a council person I believe each one of us has been given a date and a and an event uh so my responsibility will be to help coordinate a small celebratory function at uh at the maritime Forest at the very North End of of our beach um as most of you know that Maritime Forest uh it's been 20 years in the making but we really culminated a lot of that work just a few years ago in a dedication ceremony to former mayor Julie shre uh and this is just an opportunity to continue to introduce people to the maritime Forest better understand the background of it and how it how it uh serves resiliency for the burough um so that will be June 7th at 5:00 p.m. and notices will be coming again that's only a month away so um you know some good things I think on the horizon for us and that's that's one of them my final comment is um is is just really frustration I I think I've said something about this at every meeting I've been at um I don't understand why we have gone almost a year and a half trying to establish a contract with uh our local 152 I know number of you reference that in your comments today um I'm sure our team is working hard but I just don't understand why it's taking this long and as far as I can tell there's I haven't been updated by anyone to tell me there is an ended site so as far as I know there's no ended site and I just don't understand it I just want to make sure I make that St publicly that concludes my comments thank you oh I'm sorry C pres thank you on behalf of the governing body I would like to thank the members and the volunteers of the shade tree commission that came out Saturday on May 4th Larry Bagwell Nick corich an goosi Noel Weinberg Caroline Davidson and Susan perel you guys rock you planted over uh 21 trees throughout the burrow they were in Third Avenue Fountain Park silen Lake and several residential areas as well the plantings included six honor me trees that were dedicated to loved ones that raised $2,100 so that helped subsidize this planting May 6 the students from the Bradley Beach Elementary School element um environmental club and garden clone along with shade tree commission members Larry Bagwell Nick corich Noel Weinberg and the liaison Jane Den Noble planted the pollinator point and my back can vouch for this we planted almost 50 plants that will help feature um that featur native flowering plants and grasses to encourage pollination and provide food for wildlife it's located Second Avenue between Beach and Central take a look it's still a work in progress but it's pretty awesome and the next tree planting will be the end of September next with the tourism commission the tourism commission has been approved for free marketing collateral from the MTH County Board of County Commissioners through a destination marketing organization American Rescue plan Grant was awarded to the mammoth County division of Tourism the Bradley Beach tourism commission is thrilled for this support and focused on attracting very happy visitors yes you bless you the tours of commission has ordered signs to promote delivery and takeout from uh our local businesses is each sign will be posted at each Beach entrance also Riley Riley park with a QR code that directs potential customers to a site listing all Bradley Beach eating establishments and the summer entertainment series will start July 6th with Kenny K and the way onto the school Bradley Beach Elementary School is celebrating teacher appreciation week and they are acknowledging and cele the dedication and hard work of their teachers they are excited to announce a spirit week in their honor featuring fun activities and events each day showing their gratitude and support for the incredible Educators who make a difference in their lives every day and that completes my report thank you very much okay thank you president you're welcome um I have a couple of um comments uh I'll try to keep short um the W the mayor's Wellness committee is sponsoring a blood drive on Tuesday May 14th from 11:30 to 5:30 at the Brad Beach Firehouse uh we've had great participation on past drives and we really encourage you to consider participating uh this is one of our key uh charges as a wellness committee trying to promote health and and wellbeing of all so and if I may add they have excellent snacks after work it's definitely worth it yes um Main Street um we had a couple comments around Main Street this team is working on a recommendation we had had a couple meetings and they've been pretty productive so I'm pleased with that uh we have had um we're going to have our third meeting with CME on Friday uh we're trying to finalize the north side prominade what's what are the possibilities and we can present that to the uh North Side prominade building uh to the public and the council uh that's getting very close um we are meeting on the promin Grant on Friday and there's some initial just estimates from that that we want to talk through and then uh tomorrow tomorrow not Friday um we're meeting with uh bur the bur administrator myself for meeting with the mayor of Avon and that business administrator bur administrator um we're trying to get uh there's a number of things on the docket as it relates to um the um relationship with that on we've got the outall pipe on Sil Lake that's going to probably start September if we get the pushed upd end of September uh which will be similar to what happened with mcade and um Ocean Park the difference is it's a lot more complex uh a lot more complex so we're working through that uh we just fix that flu and um I don't have the right term for I call it flu the the gate and U that's a temporary fix so we've got to sequence when are we're going to replace that total units we need to talk about that we just got this 2.4 million dollar Grant um from the um transportation trust and we need to kind of talk about where does that go and this is just a prary discussion on that because we haven't really talked about it but the the key inter dependence on that is um there's been a group working on the uh natural line and Prudence to Sil Lake we now have to reconcile that so there's a lot of points of reconciliation so we're just trying to the Avon uh Team really the Avon leadership and us we're just going to have a conversation about how do we how do we move this um forward and bring the right people into a goingn forward so um we'll be framing that and getting back with people U shortly on that um quickly on Library uh Recreation there's upcoming activities you can those on the website I do want to mention two that that are uh interdependent relative to the library um Friday May 17th 145 to3 the middle school is doing I think it's the third year now the um one beach one re um it's support it's going to be supported fifth it's going to be supported by the fifth eth grade students the discussion is going to be on the book mexic kid uh with a comic book Workshop to follow which was very successful last year something very similar registration required um but uh it's it's it's really a great program that's volunteer LED and um you know improving our literacy and engagement is great on Tuesday May 21st 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m. at the Bradley Beach firhouse Banquet Hall there will be a one beach one read discussion that book is Magic strings of Frankie cresto by Mitch album uh all bar Beach is invited to read this book and'll be come together discussion it's a problem dinner um and a book discussion so it's uh I attended last year we probably had 40 or 50 people there it was very interesting and the books um I think if you look at the website um there's places where you can acquire those two books so I just wanted to make that point and I I just wanted to make one other point um relative to councilman os's comment on the contract we actually briefed the Council on that two executive commit executive sessions ago and I thought we had Clarity on where we were so I'll make an effort to make sure that we do that again because U um we are pretty squirt we pretty much understand where we are and where we're going but we will update there's no end in sight correct I'm sorry there's no end in sight is there an end sight well I think what was articulated before was that perk is providing us uh fact finding we're going through the fact finding we're going to move forward so there is an end yes I there okay that is not the update we received per perk fact finding does not mean that site well no that's that's the next step that's the next step it's not what are we going to be able to pay these people for last year and this year that just include the that's problem I just want to comment also on that we see a pattern here where we're having a volunteer resident in these meetings but not one of a councel person like why can't one councel person be in the negotiation process on your team why can't a councel person be on the team that's working on the budget I just don't understand why we get to we get we ask questions we don't get them answered it's very frustrating and I want to apologize that for that and I want to add one more thing I forgot to apologize I missed the meeting last week I I had um an invitation I couldn't refuse I went to Europe with my brother and I want to apologize that I I miss the meeting but I didn't want to have unexplained absence it was the first meeting I missed because I was um you know put my hand on the Bible the said the oath of the office and I apologize but I'm glad to be back and um good to be back to work here good to see all these faces here give you if you brought us all t-shirts I brought chocolate it's even better okay well now Council comments thank you you just I want the council to be aware of the fact that I screenshot the um email that I received from the mayor regarding the members of the um budget team and I find it interesting in view of what the discussion was that we have a volunteer participating in these negotiations and yet we have a council person who is a CPA an attorney and has extreme credentials to handle this in a very professional way and it's very confusing to me as a resident while our council person isn't there but we have a volunteer there now as supposedly a volunteer I'd like to know how many hours he has vol and what role he is playing there and what role our VA is playing in these negotiations we have a VA why do we have to have a a volunteer thank you thank you any other comments yes Kathleen Morales 624th Avenue my comments relate to the Bradley flute pantry and I will start by reading a piece from the main newsletter from St James Episcopal church and it reads it's crucial to address the misinformation distortions and disparaging remarks circulating about our church and our community Bishop Sally's response to the Coaster's article encapsulate encapsulates the situation accurately stating in qus I am disappointed with the way the food pantry has used media attention half truths and even outright misrepresentations to apply pressure on the church to make accommodations in their favor at the expense of the congregation and the community now the following are my remarks that I posted yesterday on the Bradley Beach um Facebook page pres preserving Bradley Beach my husband and I have owned our home on Fourth Avenue directly across from St James Episcopal Church for 22 years years 20 of those years have been peaceful like most if not all of our 600 black friends and neighbors we have supported the Bradley Beach Pantry with both food and monetary donations some have volunteered your time we are heartbroken that food insecurity has become both a national and local crisis we believe in helping others I'm writing from my husband and myself this is personal we have been slandered and maligned in the press and on social media and actually here at one of these Council meetings we have been gossiped about in local restaurants we made a decision in March of last year to not contact local news and not post on social media to those of you who have posted inaccurate information distorted the truth made derogatory comments about us I am surprised at your very unchristian-like Behavior you don't know know us you've never spoken with us you couldn't pick us out of a crowd to those who imply we are racist and don't want those people in our neighborhood we are those people my husband was born in a small Dusty Town chues Mexico his parents moved to America when Charlie was a baby he grew up in a one-bedroom tenement in Hell's Kitchen the rest is history one of struggle hard work believing in the American dream celebrating the canonization of his grandfather by Pope John hul in May 2000 our family was in Rome that memorable day to participate in the ceremony proclaiming saood for 25 Mexican martys including my husband's grandfather SEL Moralis that's quite an extraordinary family history especially for those people judge not you be judged Matthew 71 facts matter truth matters a few facts at no time during this 15-month period did the 600 block neighbors request or demand the closing of the Bradley Beach Pantry we believe that was up to management those in charge the decision makers we presented the issues and the challenges it was not our responsibility to manage the problems our expressed desired outcome was a reduction in the days of operation I personally have known the director of the Bradley Pantry for several years we're in a book club together about two years ago I spoke with her about the excuse me the increase in traffic on our street and the problem with cars blocking our driveway regularly a few weeks later she brought us two orange cones to use she said I've been watching your driveway and I agree it's a problem I thanked her within a month both Cones were crushed and damaged as cars parked on them blocking our driveway Charlie and I have never called the police about our block driveway instead we often walked across the street to ask who own the red Ford or the blue chevry your car is blocking our driveway and we need to get out the majority of the responses were I'll just be a minute with little regard to our being late for doctor appointment last year a gathering of 600 black neighbors Pantry leadership and Canon Father James to us as we have a very friendly relationship we met at the pantry one-on-one conversations took place and issues were shared there was an agreement that the pantry had outgrown its space the ongoing issues of traffic block driveways 500 a.m. commercial food delivery trucks public urination trash on our Lawns loud voices and long lines beginning at 7:00 a.m. were unacceptable everyone agreed everyone subsequently a meeting of Father James the church bester and the pantry leadership was held the 600 block neighbors were not in attendance it was at that meeting that a reduction in the number of days of operation was proposed that was not acceptable to Pantry leadership compromise was not acceptable Pantry leadership resigned this was told directly in person to me by Father James there have been several meetings throughout this time in person with representatives from the pantry leadership the 600 black neighbors Father James and on Zoom with Bishop Sally French I was in attendance at the majority of them meetings were conducted with professionalism mutual respect and cander the goal always was to work towards a resolution the recent communication from Bishop fren Bishop French Episcopal dasis announcing the gradual reduction in hours was a decision of the dases the announcement of the May 17th 224 closing of the Bradley food pantry was communicated in the newspaper and the CH and in the church made newsletter that decision was made by the pantry leadership my husband and I learned of this just as most of you most of you did our hope is that the Bradley pantry is successful finding a new suitable location that can accommodate the growing number of cents parking for the increase in cars and handling commercial truck traffic we hope for peaceful transition Cy and chy thank you thank you8 that first off I applaud you Kathy for standing up here and reading everything you did um it's been very unfair what's been going on for those on the 600 block of 400 uh on for that um and again if the leadership step up and um you know explain again be transparent um a lot of this wouldn't happen but for them to take the hit is really unnecessary and inappropriate um I have a question I'm sure it's not going to get answered but is RBA required to be here during our meetings mayor she is here okay okay um so thank you so my second question is is um are we to assume that U Mr farbach is still the primary liaison for the DPW contract talks Yes No Maybe So I'm going to keep you the comment okay okay and then I would well not that one to assume but I'll assume um that that also means he's still acting in some type of volunteer capacity um as a um again as a res I find it disturbing I find it more disturbing that tonight you decided to sit on the floor in the back corner of this room feverishly taking notes while our acting ba sat in that at when she was here um and didn't take one note during the entire evening not so much as a followup a question for a resident any of than enough I'm even more Disturbed that not only has she been gone for instances I I have comments it's a comment I'm just speaking comment that she literally has been and is currently in the back room just sitting watching this meeting with Michelle Wy I have a real problem with that that we are paying 1101 120,000 for someone who clearly not do the job does not want to do the job thank you for your opinion thank you but I have five minutes to talk um you really need to be no it no no no no it's five minutes let's go to law I am allowed to say what I want I'm speaking of fact you cannot stop me but thank you anyway um you're speaking of opinion I'm sorry no I'm not opinion because if we go back there right now we can all see her sitting with Michelle Wy but we're not going to go there right now I'm giving you the fact that it is unconscionable that you continue to play the charine that you continue to block and not allow any one of our for very confident Council people to be a part of this Administration to make us run well to make us run efficiently to speak on behalf of all of us who have voted for them all I can say is I hope the council continues to say no when you don't get your answers so if you get nothing about the budget please continue to say no Captain Sun be Chief Arnold we applaud you we thank you we have already seen a difference in the force it is nice to see police officers waving saying hello stopping and saying how are you actually having a laugh that is what a tiny little town in New Jersey could be like and it should be like so yes we we are so welcome for the change we want to see more of it we are here to support you as well as we can with whatever you need and you'll see that many of us do believe in Bradley Beach so thank you sir thank you any other comments yes Ocean Park Condominiums so much to say such a little time um I want to reiterate as I think I've said um since October 2022 maybe um about the Ocean Park pipe that I am still waiting to hear from our over attorney from a letter I sent on February 18th I find this unacceptable um and now is you're moving about another pipe hello who said these things are going to happen I hate it when I'm right um and on that theme and at the end of my five minutes Mr Canon if you could answer me it might be helpful well it would be helpful um I am wai for a reply to a letter that I sent to the mayor on April 17th because since December 15th been trying to resolve a um landlord not registering a rental property and I keep following up with opras and I keep being told it's not listed and then the code Department doesn't do anything about it so I went to the next chain of command which would be the mayor who says he answers everything and Mr Canon what I'd like to hear from you at the end is what is the next step up um that's going to maybe shed some light on this for me um that being said I have also said before that I believe we need two managers in Bal business manager and office manager because I am sick of the office management and the website that goes from bad to worse and and I would like to point out that on April 30th I went to get a pickle ball lesson at 6:30 because it said the day it was from like 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. it's not so I went there for no reason I would also like to say that they said that there were lessons on Tuesday May 6th I believe today is Wednesday the 8th so that would be Tuesday the 7th I don't understand why I'm paying these people seriously it's not funny anymore it's embarrassing personally if I were up there I would turn off that website which also may I say does not list to the board of directors of the rec center and it's funny that all of these issues I have kind of focus in One Direction bless you um same way with tourism they had a meeting yeah the agenda wasn't posted 48 hours ahead of time I don't know if it has to but I would suggest that again you have to legislate um that all meetings have the same parameters regarding Zoom advanced notice agendas posted Etc just would be courteous um and I really don't want anything posted about restaurants on the brickwalk we did it for Co to help CO's over get Beyond it um and the fact that they can just assume they can do this is even more insulting and disrespectful but we do know that that is a trend and then sort of lastly but not really um when you say you're not on social media and then you post a letter on social media that seems to be a little bit um contradictory to put it politely I would actually put it in the category why when you use pronouns of power and we I would like to have an antecedent to know who you're referring to um just because I know I'm not part of the wi um these people business people on the Main Street well what about residents if you want us to spend our money there I would think we could have an impact on it or at least make a statement or two and may I say that I do not deal with unilateral decisions just because you can doesn't mean you should and I don't think that there is respect in different points of you as he tried to shut down somebody who disagreed with you about the confidence of our employees I don't even think to try that with me and what I would like to know is what actual improvements that will benefit everyone in the burough are you referring to because I've not seen any that have benefited me and I can't be the only with that cuz I know because let's face it we all chat so with that being said Mr thank you next yes not sure which there is next I'm sure to give the address code enforcement it's being it's being hand what does that mean when how is this been since December 15 I'd be happy to tell the we can't talk about we can't announce whatever enement is right now since December 15th is that rational I'm not sure understand December 15th com but yes when I brought it to the attention of the B you that was stated in the letter to you thank you Ray Casto 604 graad the boulart last meeting there was a gentleman somewhere around here I think he was from the e of something and he talked about some Sven Lake and the Neptune Barrow and what he was talking about was how a lot of the water the rain water the storm water from Neptune blows into svin Lake remember that conversation okay so so my question is is there a way that we can char Neptune for their storm water because the way I see it you know people from Neptune can't necessarily come to gravy Beach and dump off their garbage right if they did we would charge it well the storm water was causing issues with the lake there was a way we could get revenue from Neptune for the storm water then we could use that money each and every year to maintain the leg grate whatever we have to do seems like they're getting a free pass for something that really should be free so I'll throw that out there um I don't know if it's doable but if it is it's another way that we can get some cash to do some things to keep the Le than can I address this may so the the concept that you're talking about it's a storm water utility and the state made it legal for towns to do that a number of years ago exactly zero towns in state of New Jersey have done that uh it wouldn't quite work like you're talking about because you couldn't charge where it's coming from you could charge like within if this town had a store more utility it could charge everybody it could charge you it would charge you for how much impervious surface you have on your property you know if you want to expand and put more pavage or make your driveway bigger then you would pay more you can't charge other towns but we would charge impervious surfaces in this town and you probably figured out why no towns have decided to do this because it's like we're just taxing people I mean in a way it could go to good things be good from an environmental standpoint but it would just be another tax in New Jersey based on how much impervious coverage you had so thank you yes we on the same subject L Mr M have do we have more specific detail on the 2.4 million as far as how that can be used not yet not yet but will we have a through specific area of my interest having worked with the uh the environmental Restoration Team is uh what component of that 2.4 million might be available for the natural Shoreline restoration we just have some Rey money and other money and we're really ready to go when uh there's enough money to compl the design and and move to the next step I'm Secretary of a collaborative that in three phases contributed close to $50,000 to the maritime forest and is ready to contribute money to the sil Lake restoration but cannot do that until construction is imminent so I'm being asked questions often times about what is the status it'll be very helpful when we have that detail and I know you have a team and on communication with the team uh about uh how that might play out but uh when that's available and hope we will have that sooner rather than later it can lead to other funding that will be available for the restoration thank thank you sorry yes M 6en at the last um meeting I asked a question about the uh library's annual artist and was told that um that my information that I received from the state was incorrect so I reached out to the library director here and on Tuesday April 30th at 5:53 p.m. she answered my email hello Mike thank you for reaching out I hope to verify some of your concerns with the following information we were notified on October 3rd 2022 by wiot and Company they will not be conducting the library's 2021 audit the library then engaged ala and Company to complete the 2021 audit the 2021 audit was received by the library on February 20th 2024 and accepted by the Board of Trustees at the February 26 2024 meeting Robert Keith did reached out to me regarding the aits and I responded to him with the library's arit status I'm not sure if that was before or after your communication with him I'm in contact with the library's current auditor ala and company and we will start the 2022 audit in the second week of May I had attached the audits of 2019 2020 2021 so my questionss have always been about process you know I've asked you know questions about has the annual financial statement for 2023 been published yet and as the evening on the website it hasn't at the last meeting I was told it wasn't I'm assuming because it hasn't been published it still hasn't been so as a governing body are are you comfortable especially with the issues that came out when we look at the 2022 audit versus the 2022 annual financial statement all the significant differences that you're seeing in expenses that when you looking at the budget now are you comfortable with what you're seeing for 2023 as an example the 2022 audit excuse me in the 2022 annual financial statements cash on hand of the general fund was 7,297 46 the audit report said cash was 4, 4,143 46 Appropriations within caps and outside caps was 10,42 37624 in the annual financial statement the audit report had it a 10 milon 971 29933 additionally there was two Appropriations in the current fund called miscellaneous reimbursements for 75579 63 the reserve for clearing accounts in the amount of 155 4279 I apologize has been asked an answer before um I'm sorry as it a was delivered late the two Appropriations mentioned above plus the over expenditures identified in the audit in the current fund of 48,8 4188 and 29972 in the beach Utility Fund was there an emergency appropriation enacted to approve any of those expenditures I I can help with a couple with your questions the 75,000 was cash that we couldn't the auditor couldn't find so that's basically a PL and 155,000 more overdrafts per the auditor I pointedly asked those questions so overe expenditures of my understanding need to be budgeted in the following year after they occur was it $38,000 night that I just mentioned included in the 23 budget if not do they need to be accounted for in the 2024 budget I we have not seen uh that in and my guess is it's not but we can't access the CFO so at the moment we don't know I appreciate contining to say no to the budget intervention thank you thank you comment yes Don Greenberg to Parkplace Avenue um first just want to Echo some of the other commenters about the lack of access provided from the council to the CFO unconscionable and I can't think of any reason for it other than your something um I do have one question about the planning board meetings how come they're not on zoom and is there something the council can do about that I actually had to go to planning board meeting or luse board excuse me the luse board meeting um when our when our our plans were for approval and I had a medical condition at the time that made it very uncomfortable to actually be out and it would have been really nice there was a to zoom it so how come those meetings aren't on Zoom I think they were during Co right so why can't that continue and is there something that Council can do about it who has jurisdiction over how that's run you have time is grw but they're appointed by the council so I by the mayor oh they're appointed by the mayor corre where is there anything the council can do about that legally to say that you have to do Zoom meetings all right thank you very much Lind 312 congratulations you're doing a great job everybody's doing a great job appreciate thank you um May you never gave a recreation report how come aren't you no you didn't I was listening to it what was Recreation you didn't talk about pickle you didn't talk about Mar all the things that are going on with the residents of our town I was just wondering if you could do that next time we appreciate also um when the gentleman that was sitting next to me was talking numbers I had no idea he was talking about um wouldn't it have been behoved us all that Merith was there she could answer those questions because that's in her realm isn't it and why would I was just thank you I'm not done I thanking you for com oh yeah and thank you for the but I think it's lavender next next meeting is going to be lavender I don't know been calming me down all day McGuire 610 Bley f um this I wasn't going to speak because I've spoken enough tonight the gentleman who just got up about the library another reason why the budget shouldn't be passed if a 2022 audit hasn't even started on the library or just started there lies another huge issue of how things are managed here um I do want to thank this Council for voting down introduction for a third time I have to lend a huge thank you to councilman buosi the way you answer questions the way you respond to Residents about the budget how hard you work in the details of this budget it's it's just how it's supposed to happen and I feel like you're carrying the load of the CFO the burough attorney the mayor the VA when you answer these questions and I I just have to say thank you for that so I I just had to point that out because it's irritating to sit here and to not have the professionals to not have people sitting here answering questions and to have the volunteer resident sitting on the floor which is a fire hazard because I remember another meeting someone was told to get up off the floor and there were seats open so I know it's frustrating mayor that I'm pointing this out but it's just the obvious he's taking notes the entire time sitting on the floor and it's he could you know give him a seat at the table if he's working for us as a volunteer give him a seat so we can ask him questions that would be really great my other um oh congratulations Chief because um multiple um officers sergeants I don't know title per person I try so hard have just said since you have taken over and also detective Browning is it detective detective Lieutenant okay detective Lieutenant brownie um that send you guys have really been handling things that more got done in two weeks than got done in 10 years and I want to say a good eight different police officers have said that I also want to stress how many of them also said they were so happy to support the fire department at the fish fry that they were finally allowed to be at allow with that statement I have to go back and just mention how much had been ignored by what happened with our old Chief and I know we're all moving forward but it's really hard to move forward when we have a mayor who ured how a black man was treated on our streets when we have a mayor who ignored all everything in that Prosecutor's report who tried to hold that report till the last minute okay it's also embarrassing let's go to the pantry now we have a mayor who dispar the the 600 block residents of Fourth Avenue near the pantry it's crazy what we are up against and it is no surprise to me that the mayor voted down the charter resolution or whatever if it was a resolution orance that he voted that down that to pass that resolution was strictly to give the voice to the people it had nothing to do with any of you up there voting on that was putting our government in our hands period it had nothing to do with any of you so for to have a mayor who acts like a dictator day in and day out who has hid money from us I remember standing up here in 2022 during the budget season saying if you're hiding in for if you're not telling us information it means you're hiding something and here we are in 2024 and Mr Greenberg just said the same thing if you are not sharing you are hiding so the fact that you run this town as a dictator and disparage residents do not honor democracy or else you would have voted yes for us to decide our government just says loud and clear what we have to do as residents in November we have to I stress it please everyone I I on public record just please please choose who's here for democracy please thank you okay if there's no other comments will move towards the um we we'll adjourn and adjourn into obective session um make motion to no yes that was that was on the U that was on the we have we just need to make sure the electric no no we don't need we just need to make sure they're on just the electric works yeah okay so it's on every night yeah yeah no I don't need stuff I don't need stuff get home did I