e e okay [Music] yeah that's Dr good how are you good well good yeah and I ran into a big dog work no AR right F already find know true Tom every r hey um sign just mother I we need to that's you know I mean it looks like guys [Music] thank [Music] you supped to be back City very ni you're welcome very I do I was Wonder Alle un States and justice for all I wish to announce that the 48 hour notice as required under the open public meetings Act was email to the Asbury Park Press the co-star and the new coaster on December the 7th of 2023 that 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 be will be taken providing there is an in-person quarum MR Noble here Mr kbos here miss Mahoney here Mr Weber here mayor Fox here uh good evening everybody uh Welcome to our ninth meeting of the year um I have and will continue to emphasize it's my commercial announcement for the uh reach meeting that uh we should welcome disagreement because it helps us think through things differently but our voice should be a constructive one we all want to brighter Bradley Beach and ask that you join us in this journey I ask everyone to gauge their tone going forward we're all neighbors uh unfortunately this sometimes falls on dep ears and we're just gonna have to continue in a positive way that sorry so with that um we were going to have a workshop on this very issue tonight but I asked be pushed to June because I had a couple things to um 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 try 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 want some family time might not have to stay to the whole meeting unless yall want me to keep it to one of the last things okay now okay um so I'd like to make a motion to move up 20242 do I have a second second Mr Noble yes Mr gboi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes excuse me Mr Mayor it's not even on the agenda yeah resolution 112 I'm sorry that thank you for pointing that out I hear you oh there you are hello thank you okay uh 2020 412 is a nomination of Captain James Arn position of chief of police for the B 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 ridge University he be he became a uh he began his career as a special officer and dispatcher uh in 2000 uh he became a patrolman in 2002 in 2006 he joined the mammoth County Emergency Response Team where he rose the position 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 Mammoth County active shooter partnership a training program inclusive of 12 Shore towns 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 Arn 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 any other comments or we W need to motion to vote probably should all any comment that's how we make meetings long just want to say it is great to be doing this and um Captain Arnold it's just a could be a new day for Police Department here 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 to this I'm also really excited about this I think uh it's a good choice and um I think it'll be a great step forward for for Bradley Beach we need a a breath of fresh air and um this will be a good a good thing 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 that my role as Le aison uh I'm very excited about you taking the lead here and uh I look forward to working together with you and calling you cheve 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 need 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 we're seeing a a tide turning and I see morale already is boosted I see communication has been created between the fire department the first day 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 has finally come okay uh I'll make a motion to approve 2024 112 second Mr noo yes Mr gzi yes Miss 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 because we all know these meetings can be rather lengthy 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 Poli 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 it's just been so impressive I'm so proud of everybody in that Police Department I'm so proud the tour of that Police Department a lot of the members are here tonight as you see 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 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 police we kept politics out of this captain Chief elect until you said make the department great again so we very much sh your comments and we'll formalize as we said there's formalization going on we're talking about you know formalization of swearing in 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 us one of the safest towns in MTH County and we very much appreciate that we don't get to say that enough but um we do very much appreciate that too to each and every one of you okay so our next Workshop item is um actually wait before you guys go hello hello hello hey could yall 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'll only take five minutes but I'd like um it'd be good to have um these folks here too be in Mr Noble yes Mr gubitosi yes Miss Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox I'm sorry I I looked at the sequence I that was next um so uh supervisor could you come up here getting new title not need one I got to put glasses on the font is better too uh so for those who don't know it's National Public Works week and um we wanted to recognize our public workers team I ask the a to pop in Andre this uh Proclamation so National Public Works week whereas Public Works serves Services provided in our community are an integral part of of our citizens daily lives and where whereas support of the an understanding of and I I'm sorry this is a really small P whereas the support of and understanding of informed public is V to the efficient operations of Public Work systems and programs including water sewer shoes public buildings Solid Waste election landfill Water waste disposal code enforcement and Engineering providing to essential services for citizen 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 rightly dependent upon the efforts and skills of Public Service employees and whereas the efficient efficiency of of the qualified and dedicated Personnel staff the public works department is materially influenced by The People's attitude and understanding of this important work they perform now there resol the governing body Beach to right fo plan the week of May 19th to 25th which is a few we Apple we wanted to get this four Memorial because they get very busy right there public works week uh building for today planning for tomorrow in the bough Bradley Beach and call upon all citizens and Civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involving and providing a public works and then recognize the contribution of Public Works officials made every day health safety comfort and quality of life on this day 8 may24 thank you now 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 councilman Weber wants to uh wead 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 the trees on Main Street um there's I don't 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 with care and maintenance and planting that um it doesn't really leave much unified on Main stre are very good look so the idea is to have to 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 would get a better deal from the county than going out the commercial provider and they've done that so in practice the the town's taking care of this anyway I thought let'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'll 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 um 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 the vibrant part of the future Main Street and uh property owner by property owner we struggle tremendously there are some that are that beautifully maintain their trees uh prune 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 that you know most if not all of our Council will agree on that the one 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 and sometimes in reality depending on how uh U 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 a small burden on the taxpayers or do we consider a small sear charge to each of the property owners on Main Street and I don't know we as a council we really are talking about this for the first 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 sear charges existing for other you know other activities so if a sear 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 a property per month uh and I can talk you talk to everyone about details later for year for year I'm sorry per year yeah um so it may not be a significant search charge but conceptually it maybe in principle I I at least would advocate for uh there being some sort of a levy some sort of a search charge 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 orone today and because I said to really understand 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 Shar 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 you know assess the landlords of the buildings or even with the shade 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's going to 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 there wow gorgeous okay and I know their taxes are probably 50% of their income and then that's why they have everything perfect right but I thought why can't we look more like that and then we all use Main Street this is the benefit for all of us because 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 get from M County thank you any other coms 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 trees on Main Street is really important I think the big thing for me is 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 p- on cost 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 we 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 forign to minimally U councilman gubitosi orber on you know what is this operating model going to look like what's the funding model to support it um I'm not sure where GIF 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 um 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 even know if you know what the implication 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 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 if 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 Shady Tree commission was involved how would they be involved 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 U the 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 gpw 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's definitely fundings 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 the question that you know I would have for J I just want to clarify comment you know I I'm close to a number of the members on the shade I'm mayor to the sayage any concerns you have I don't think sh 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 and they wanted nothing to do with that in fact I think at that point uh Dr heflick uh who was here at the time raised concerns in public that you know we we the burough had communicated that the shade tree was making taking some initiative that in fact they weren't so um so I I think at least for that one concern you raised I think we're off the hook shat Tre wants nothing to do with it other than they just want to increase the canopy of our trees in Bradley Beach but they would this to me this is all about questions like Mr marker you just raised and others on this panel have raised um but it's our ordinances we decide ultimately how we F if we want to move forward how we will find it and we're changing an existing ordinance if if we do it all uh and we have that we should have that authority to do that to change ordinances yeah my comment relative to shade tree was somebody I think Council pres Den 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 goes back into the capital fund I just thought that might be a possibility just to yeah but again we we need to know the cost you know like many years ago I asked somebody said oh I could 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 and if 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 their property and some of them don't and you're going to charge them all a fee that's that would have to be figured out uh and like I said in practice we've called 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 and not the property owners and who aren't doing it so there's more than just trimming trees um you know if a tree is lifting up the papers if have responsibility our guys Biagio his guys could go out and they could fix that what we have right now is that's being ignored I mean 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 have 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 behers so whoever if it's the responsibility the the um the property owner that's fine if it's the responsibility of the town I think it'll just get taken care of that much quicker because we know whose job it is and we know that they have the skills and ability uh to do it so it's more than just trim trees so um yep that's that okay um you want to get some public comments for let's say 10 minutes yes that now 41 Avenue didn't know I was actually going be speaking about this tonight but if you know my house I live in the corner of Fifth and Madison I have six lovely very expensive London planes that I just paid $1,400 to have Trent 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 TCH so something to think about because those trees technically belong to the town I can't cut them down I can't I'm not 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 and if I can just respond to that Mr Mayor it's it's a great point I just want to say Dev that you know we thought about that and kind of like um Council Den No said main Street's everybody it's like yes you and me we're 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 $1,400 so I do those trees every couple years yeah okay so a lot of money as the liability of a branch coming down on somebody's head as they go up to the beach pass my street is part of the town and I just recently watched um the 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 your you don't have lines going through that was that was JCP out so they take care the trees where there's L they don't take care of the trees where there's like and they hack them then that's really I me but I think that it needs to be addressed for everybody not just me thank you thanks I yes hi pet McGuire Sy ber 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 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 or commissioner 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 there's nobody on the board uh I do not nope no hands on the board day oce Condominiums um I love trees I like The Giving Tree book I need trees to live to breathe in my oxygen this is not the time we have no money our budget is a disaster we have no how you can even think that we can spend money on one we 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 do not know that anyone there has the training to properly PL trees I know it includes these othery but you even spend money on a tree and then have people not trim them properly is R 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 a necessity but I do not think that this is the time to do it thank thank you yes yeah Thomas J out of you I do agree with Miss berell um I put my trees on a 5year cycle it's about $500 a year I do my two trees at 401 Main and then my neighbor trees 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 I want to spend money twice if you're going to do it I love the idea 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 clean the trees but if it could it could be done unilaterally down the whole block that 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 treats um also mayor I'm I'm POS about you've had two meetings of the Main Street um I volunteered to be on the committee but no one called and you've had two meetings yeah yeah do you have other Main Street landlords for 27 years no we've got we've got a okay thank you thank youbody else okay uh we appreciate everybody's input um we won't move on okay um the next agenda item is approval of minutes so I'll make a motion to the April 24th 2024 Council business meeting minutes second Mr Noble obain Mr gzi obain M Mahoney yes Mr Weber up to us yes fo yes okay 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 the agenda yes just one question since it's Public Works week do our Public Works employees have a contract yet okay that's not on the genda sorry public works so yeah it's it's really do they have a contract yet though yes question no they don't and that's being yes 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 stld so it was a 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 dollars from 2022 audit is we need to know where the covid monies are where they were allocated to where they were even deposited um I think we need to confirm that $500,000 was was replenished for 2023 and check on where the 600,000 went because we were to told that 300 is going to be not 300,000 was not going to be replenished and now it 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 a 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 vacation 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 been 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 and 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 if the budget doesn't get passed and introduced 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 firsthand and I think that is most important so please vote n thank you thank you any other comments yes 62 Third Avenue uh first of all on the uh the settlement 2024 1113 the 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 all uh 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 comment so I'd like to take this time to congratulate um Captain Arnold on its new position um but because it would have been nice if some 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 the 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 uh resolution to retired executive session Mr Ken will there be any business done after that point no okay great thank you very much thank you yes Nancy meow ocean condomini I want to underscore what M Maguire said Mr Cohen um I am appalled that probably 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 C before divorse um I requested numerous times that the ordinance go back to having the police chief of go to the VA I've been ignored and that could affect how somebody whether or not they want to position 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 removed I'm glad to see you at least had an opportunity to speak to him um did we get other applications did we seek um you also need to change the ordinance and reduce the number of employees with that being said prior to dealing with reach badget I would think you would revise that ordinance that would be percentage of um other department employee pays and would P out with each utility um yes we the budget's mess you cannot conceivably pass that um I would also regarding resolutions 2024 103-107 I've stated this before we need to take a refundable deposit even thir pass it's just how many times we to say the same things um and yes dou Works needs a contract I my services are starting to decl because they're two people short they wouldn't beat 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 fer red pencil and just go nope nope no and I implore you we still we have pnls on the recx pnls on tourism pnls on all various departments questions answered about incomes where the sources are where the deposits are why is everything free at the rec center why does not Bradley Beach residence get first I can go on and on and on we need to get the town in order before you before you start privilously spending our money thank you thank you yes so5 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 burough who's a paid employ these are our duly elected officials I mean we've all been in business I mean Mr pops you've been at J&J all those years you talked to subject matter experts you were 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 JD 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 I 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 point 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 a domino effect and also all 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 manage my money doesn't that work so again Mr Mayor I implore you to allow people to have a conversation and Mr Canon you still have an answer to me is that legal or no I know you're looking something up I mean l i mean it's I can't question depend on the employee there's employees in a different control the clerk works for the the council so that's just the policy that has been I I know that started with our former VA Miss Humphrey started with no one was allowed to talk to employees I just I'm not sure that's said I mean so I I don't understand 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 here's your opportunity to work with people let Mr goosi 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 than yeah Fourth Avenue um could anybody give me a progress report on the audit for 2023 is that going to be um submitted before the deadline I I can I can get you an answer to that I asked that the last time and I'm still waiting well the auditor is coming in tomorrow so I'll be speaking tomorrow okay now is Mr farbach still negotiating the um participating on the budget he's part of the team yes yes and so how many I'm still waiting for so regarding each 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 because they're also on the committee well we're not really on a committee but we've had no other than to the email that I received from the N the council is has been named as members of the committee for for the F for negotiating the budget and I've been happy to share all of that with I can easily retrieve it from my emails and U Mr farb names mentioned Department HS were mentioned and theot line council's names were mentioned and I will be happy to yeah I think we clarified that in the last meeting with 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 administrator and I was I wasn't able to ask you that question last time last meeting I assume that everybody provided feedback on Capital forecast is that correct 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 committee I'm not surey to understand what you mean by negotiation I'm sorry well whoever I don't know how the budget works but if they're members of the the team shouldn't they be involved in the meetings as much as Mr Fallen back 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 that as a resident I would like to see that my council is represented there on an equal basis understand your here point but will they be participating they have been they have provided us input to this part of but if I ask why don't I do this Mr sh is 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 I 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 within the granted there's a little link the only input we've had on the budget is 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 logo 152 we have very rare up stes uh and but other than that no interaction whatsoever so your question was around the contract negotiation I'm sorry no but the budget in general budget in general Mr oh then there's just there's just us asking questions so far y i I think he was asking if you're on the team refering to yes we not we are not on the team no Prov on the email that I received you asked me a question and I answered your question relative to the people that have been involved in the budget process I view that as a a team say they're not active members well they provided us input on Capital and they've been asking us questions which we've been responding to so as so maybe your definition of team of Minds different so well it seems like counil has a difference of opinion as you matter okay thank you anybody else yes te Happ Thor and I grimly a couple of things few things actually uh Chief Arnold uh just wanted to say congratulations I'm among those that made a lot of noise about what happened here we I want to acknowledge that you've probably been through a whole lot in the last that would have been it could not have been easy for you and I particularly appreciate the fact that you suggested there is room for improvement and things need to change very Happ here that's one two I would like to speak to the agenda item on change of form of government strongly in favor of that unfortunately my five minutes doesn't allow all the reason for I support just be no time but I did want to address one thing that I'm confused about just judging on interaction the previous we have been told Mr Fox by you many times that this is a comment only portion of a meeting we try to do that you just answered hang on hang on you just answered a number of questions so have you now are you now prepar to drop this ridiculous claim that it's comments only and this is a true question and answer period no okay so I want to quickly review what happened on the last week because this issue has kicked around for a while now so and you go can look the sou and watch for as long as the meeting is online at the 27:45 second Mark anyone 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 answered rep with an answer 2 minutes later he asked another question you answered but at 3220 the new speaker begins to ask a question you cut her off know what I said her you 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 were more questions 482 you answer a bill list question 17 seconds later you flip on a question you don't like presumably interrupting speaker by telling her again her I'm sorry do have comments the 60 Minute Mark you jump in to answer a question that was put not to you but to Mr Canon who didn't even have time to answer prompting the speaker to say I'm asking Mr Canon again you didn't give him the opportunity to answer and you jump in with I'm answering your question so this goes back and forth until 7155 when you finally po this part of the meeting with here it comes are any other questions so how you can sit there and say this isn't a question and answer period I'm really just very so can you please explain or again just draw this ridiculous premise this is not a question and answer perod because it is thank you for your comments and your questions thank you no other questions okay we're going to move to the next agenda item which is I said it no other comments I'm sorry um I'm gonna quote Jesse Jackson here God hasn't finished with me yet I do make mistakes when I talk sometimes I I apologize for that okay let's move to ordinances um we have one introduction and one adoption today ordinance of amending chapter 9 396 storm waterer management of the bir revised General ordinances to revise the burough St order her recommendations from MTH County planning board are there any com Council comments on 20247 I guess Mr Mayor just for the benefit not only of me but for the public it seems like the edits are relatively minor and and if I'm remembering correctly these are edits being made to something that we only introduced a few months ago is that correct this these edits are actually uh they were requested by the county so we have to do them so but it's something we adopted because of the County's recommendation few months ago and they already the consist we ad we adopted according to the state model as we discussed that the introduction so let speak louder um part of that review process goes to the m County planning board they also had comments so this is their provision and and again I'm fine with the comments I just want to make sure we all understand this is something that mammo county is recommending 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 amendments most of the Amendments I've gotten back are all the same um generally it has to do like I think there's a the word freeholders use someplace in there things like that um in general they're not not they're not very substantive they 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 and you know I think that that's the sub sector because obviously storm water is far different in the highlands than it is at at the beach so okay um that's why the planning the 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 they're finding thank you any other comments from the council okay then I will make a motion to approve um the introduction of 20247 for second Mr Noble yes Mr gubitosi 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 a question asking voters whether or not they wish to establish a charter commission to study and possibly recommend changes to the burough form of government uh we'll start with Council comments are there any Council comments a brief comment which is uh this is something that I know many residents have asked for and uh this just to be clear has other than the council 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 former government it will be on the residence it's the end of my C any other comment okay um I I have one comment and then we can um open this to uh a hearing before adoption um I as I said in the introduction I 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 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 then it's just more of a fact it's it's a the writer the uh journalist must have 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 with the 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 do people know that from 1915 to 1992 Bradley Beach operated under a five member commission form of government where the MERS chose the mayor it was clear that the change to the current form of government wasn't the best interest of the town now are we going backwards so that was a comment from resent um I tend to agree with that so um but um I'm sorry sorry about that um so um I would uh at this point if there's no other comments I would close and and open it uh the adoption up for public comments I I have one comment oh sorry yeah no it's okay it just when you spoke it just made me think of 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 the 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 on ordinance 20246 uh I ask people limit their comments to three minutes have a second second Mr Noble yes Mr gubitosi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes the any questions yes what comments Don greenberg2 par place's a question um how does one app fly to be on Mission will that be made public that because it says you're going to elect toy commission members at the same exact time I think that's a right Canon question there'll be a petition available Erica will have a petition available online as well put it online we could put it online to print out I guess but you can't submit signatures online it's got to be hard copy you can print it out yeah you can you can I mean you can print it out at home but but I don't want to confuse people you can't submit the signatures on and what are the criteria signatures do you have to get Etc is that like a county thing or a state thing we have to spell all that out 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 that it's in it's in the pner oh it's in the pner I just don't know what it is off the top of my head but but the um Eric and I already went about procuring a form um to be prepared and we have not put that form together yet because obviously the was literally just a few moments ago um but the form will have how many signatures you need and the the requirements on this 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 when it's thank 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 investing the possibilities that's all we're doing investigating possibilities thank you yes I this area 116 newk I'm looking forward to this commission being able to be formed I think like many things in life Robby beach has outgrown the current form of government and I think we need to review what our issues are Financial is the other issues we have in town and see how we can do better and I think the commission can do that I do have a question speak um er the petition is to elect the commission or the petition to put the right it be to El 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 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 charge of study commission fundamentally the actual wording is in the that there's no changing that that's in the F you just insert the name 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 head to the next question five candidates out of power file okay great thank you those five candidate names to be on the right yes they have the file in time essentially by the nonpartisan the same deadline for the municipal election here the nonpartisan to have to file what is that deadline you know it's the first Monday or Tuesday in September is it no August my head it isn't August yes stre Third Avenue um I would I would appreciate if you approved this I think it's really interesting that that this proposal was originally made by Council in sexman I here 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 col no I'm 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 the councilman at the time SEI 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 you go you don't want to look at something else you've already voted against it so um I'm just telling you sex we but we've had Mayors before who work collaborative and that's really what the public envisions and hopefully we can get to that with a new form of go thank you thank you uh okay there's nobody else we will this then moves to closing this and vote I'll make a motion that we adopt ordinance 2024-the the broker placed upon the November 5 2024 general election ballot 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 Mr Noble I'd like to add one more thought out of the 564 municipalities in the state of New Jersey only seven burs have our form of government probably only seven because it just doesn't work my vote is yes Mr gbesi yes M money yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox I'm gonna vote no and again I 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 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 minut okay yeah it's still very oh is it's not it's 554 it's not a large number you're absolutely 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 some seasonal employees um uh the beach staff uh employees we we're gearing up for that and then the environmental commission and the library board the the couple that I'll just mention a few of those on the 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 and um respectfully resign and Kathy Mitchell also we thank them for their service um Dennis morens and uhh Katie C Duty Sal Duty senson um have accept the rules on the environmental Commission and uh I know that they met the other night um with the new chair and we actually I should mention this the chair has shifted to um Jeff Curtis uh Liz Hernandez accepted a new position on State Board of Health and just had 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 Vons sober has um accepted the mayor's alternate on the uh Library board uh okay let's move to uh resolutions we have um a number of individual resolutions well Senate first on the consent I'll just read the quickly 2024 102 authorizing the appointment of a special class one law enforcement officer attending June class County Police Academy 10224 103 approval of the brain injury Alliance of New Jersey to conduct their annual 5K walk on over F 7:30 to 12:30 to pass through 2024 104 approval of the Asbury Park firefighters local 384 to conduct their 5k1 Saturday June 22nd 8 to9 2024 105 approval of United engine fire to conduct their 5K run lot of 5Ks 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 getk 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 U here to make sure that happens um approval of the surfi foundation Jersey Shore chapter to conduct their chapter meeting on Fifth Avenue gazebo June 5th 2024 2024 107 approving black party for Burlington Avenue I guess this is the second annual on July 20th 2024 with the rain date of 20 uh Sunday July 21st uh 2024 and then the last 22418 approval of lean Redemption refunds for 613 MC the demount of $ 26760 appr five uh make a motion to approve the consent agenda second Mr Noble yes Mr gzi yes Miss Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes okay uh individual resolutions uh we have uh introduction of 2024 budget read only I'll make a motion to approve 2024 86 second um Mr Noble no Mr gboi 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 vote but I will vote now M Mahone 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 mayor to see if we could you're not cting a negative fall on that I hope no I'm talking about how it's you know trepidations for both of us because we're both talking about concessions so that is possibly um Council me Council go should talking about private negotiations okay 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 pair down some questions maybe 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 kosi 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 some parameters on things that we can't come together and Al uh councilman gsy and I can sit 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 thank coun in the middle of a vote Mr good good Council okay so this is the third time this budget has been introduced and uh the same thing's going to happen and has happened the last two 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 at the CFO and all that so I would hope that this third time of voting down the introduction of the budget we 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 like 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 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 budget will get introduced uh and then we can move from there I will say it does hurt the town to be passing a budget this leag okay 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 would just take a different TX because otherwise we're gonna do the same thing two weeks from now so I will vote now mayor Fox I vote Yes um you know I believe we've 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 17th um and um I just hope that uh we can move forward also so yes thank you 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 our clerk pointed out that we didn't formalize any vote on daily beach badges in November we we focused more on uh seasonal senior Junior yeah and um she just wanted to make sure we formalize that um well because the beach season is coming up so yes that would be 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 in on the beaches come down from about 900 to about 600 it it's it's very high right now and it's high because the Surplus is high in the Beach utility because um the some sort um because I was looking for a document here that I can't put my hands I'll just do it for memor that um in 2021 the co year we just blew every forecast out of the water number one and two I think we had a beach price in 2021 for dailies of $14 we peeled that down to $12 in 2022 because we experienced 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 beaches 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 80 to $90 on um seas seasonals and that was we we ended up going to 85 and we said 40 the of the recommendations was $40 for seniors and um Juniors we went to 37 um so the benefit of that move or that you know that approval was about $62,000 that uh enhan bless you uh had we gotone to the $940 it would have been an additional $66,000 which we opted not to uh 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 theave bless you causing some real an 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 no mer if you have that number but it's a couple hundred thousand dollars per year uh so my point is we're going to see proba 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 it's somewhere around $2.6 million a year we operate um I think it's 2.5 2.6 so to have a $660,000 forecasted Surplus we're still in very good shape from a surplus perspective but I can say that from 22 to 24 it's gone from 9 919 to 750 to 660 so it's going to continue to go down why is it going down uh minimum wage and wages are going up um our operating costs are up U so that's why that's going to happen you know are we in the Red Zone not at all um but the the value of a dollar increase in dailies is about $80,000 we sell about 80,000 uh badges in a good year the last three years we sold about 80,000 badges so if we opted to go up a dollar it's an $80,000 game if you will if we opt to do nothing it's it's where we are right now because right now we have forecasted fall 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 utility is separate and apart from the current fund we don't pay taxes none of us as residents pay taxes to fund the Beach utility 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 years we've dropped 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 $190,000 uh for Beach 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 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 35 $40,000 uh from parking meters taking it into the current fund I'm asking that among 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 uh but nobody wants to increase batch prices 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 well I don't think we have do we have a resolution that says 12 it it has last year's amounts on there what you decide is that's up to youing at I understand your point can we change to 13 you can amend it yeah to3 absolutely okay if that's what you to do let's do that then well John will so just I I just got this kind of hot off the press relative to somewhat 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 clerk to collect a little bit of data um the average daily on a weekend is 12 bucks the average weekday is 11 bucks and this is one two three four five six seven eight it's about 12 towns um I'll just tell you who changed Allen Hurst went up Asbury Park actually went down um belmare went up um pardon me mar what what did belmare 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 uh 10 to 12 bucks there's only five or six to one off so second I'll just read through them madisan was 1010 they're now 1212 um because there are different we we are beach daily prices seven days a week we don't we don't differentiate um Spring Lake $12 last year $20 this year what so those are the ones we know of at this point I'm not gonna I'm not making any comments for about another town because it's going to come back and bite Us in the Ang so those are just some comparisons but on average let me just say deal is 12 bucks lock Arbor 12 bucks uh Long Branch is nine bucks ocean grow 12 bucks Sears 12 bucks so there's a lot of $12 in there um uh my particular my view I share councilman gub to'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 um but I I would I would be in favor of the 13 because of and the number is actually less than 100 it's more like $80,000 because we sold about 80 thou forecasting about 880,000 units of sale for dailies this year weather permitting I'd be in for 13 corre John yeah Mr we would like free right John nothing it's free somebody's got a pay so do somebody want to amend the resolution amend motion to amend the the resolution to $13 per Daily Mr no yes Mr kosi yes M Mone yes Mr Weber no mayor Fox yes may can make a motion to adopt made a mo to amend it and then to somebody want to do that or I make a motion to adopt the daily and weekly badge cost for 20124 public com resolution yeah do I have a second second it's with changes with changes with changes changes um yeah I know M yes Mr gbos yes M Mahoney 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 no okay mayor Fox yes appreciate your comments Council okay it's going 12 to 13 so I thank you uh okay um next individual resolution I think we'll get through the rest a little bit quicker authorization of a request for General financial support under State um actually about 110 the beach operation schedule oh I didn't under that I'm sorry Beach operations schedule for 2024 um just for people's um knowledge uh we ask the beach manager to formally put a schedule out and we we passed that to your resolution so a motion to pass 2020 4110 second Mr Noble yes Mr gzi yes Miss Mahoney yes uh Mr Weber yes mayor C yes thank you for that uhome pick up 2024 111 authorizing request for General financial support under the state uh future year 2025 budget for a regional flood study uh I think we brought this up at the last meeting 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 it affected Ocean Grove much more significantly than us but um what we're asking for is to get some financial support to do a study so that's what this is for so I make a motion to approve 2024 while Mr M 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 warning does talk about um that we wish to submit a request to the state of New Jersey for $500,000 to conduct a flood study and then it says approves the 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 the funding request the funding request yes okay 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 um Mike bessam who's the CFO of Neptune is chairing this um so we get support and I think I I I want to say that Senator goal attended one or two of these meetings so so so do we have an idea of what the dollar amount is we like 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 basham's group is been to they they're basically doing the application is there a cost to the burrow to do this I don't think that there is no no okay thank you so I'll make a motion to approve 2024 one second Mr Noble yes Mr G yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor FS yes we've already covered 2024 1112 I will go to 2024 13 authorizing sell with pending litigation before superior court of New Jersey entitled mgu vers Beach docket number ml l 253-2335 um we'll move to Mayor and counsel reports I'll I'll we start with councilman Weber sure thing does everybody or does anybody feel like this was a bit of a calmer meeting than normal maybe maybe shorter too okay does everybody see those flowers sitting there okay it's the flowers those are Erica's and she could have kept them in her office but they're out here and the fragrance of lilac that is permeating the room is calming everybody down and we're having a a better meeting on that front uh opinions were still expressed and agreements were you know disagreements were had but it just seems calmer and I think it's the flower so thank you ER you might be on thank you yeah okay so that said um so if I like we a big flower hat like every Mee flowers at every meeting put in the budget all right um because we talked about this uh Charter study commission I just want to you know remind everybody that if you made an organizational chart of the burough 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 that you would get to 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 been on 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 and congrats people stepping up for that um yeah and it was clerk week last week sorry CL 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 I'm on the council I'm a member of the council right okay well say mayor and Council so okay I just didn't want I just want to F the confusion it's it's you know I'm the other person we have Main Street owners on that and uh so far Ben matlak 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 day report uh for the operational period ending today the squad responded to six day calls and 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 request and the squad requested no Mutual aid for this operational period 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 wanting to do this can find application on the Bros website and if you will now bear with me I will go and find the uh buy report which is right here for the month ending April 30th um 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 flooded residence the department conducted two trainings one for engine operations one for bailout harness operations there were no Mutual Aid requests the department fulfilled 100% of their assignments for this operational period they are also still looking for volunteers uh for and they offer free training for qualified indiv ual anyone wishing to volunteer can find an application on the on the website um the Fletcher Lake commission uh meets tomorrow so this is a little bit old news um they just want you to know that they work for the betterment of both town both community so you know speter Lakes we share with h Ocean Grove and there's people in both communities on that um but they also want to know that they tried last year a test of planting some perennials allowed to 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 P the bar some money by having perennials instead of plants that need planting every year or lots of um other care uh for sha tree there's planting neither Jane or I were there so I will talk about it but we got a very good report uh had great planting on oh actually councilman goosi was there mayor the mayor was there as well great I wasn't there so I wouldn't know I was teamed up with um Sergeant solaro all right excellent so bunch of trees got planted I do want to emphasize 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 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 everything so um plant new ones great let's just keep an eye on preserving our old trees uh and that is the extent of my report thank you Council Council I don't have too much um the environmental commission met on Monday May 6 and we''ve talked about the changes in um leadership there and the members who have served a very long time and and have um have left and the new members that we have um the beach 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 cigar Telos taros yes ought to be a lot not the noes different cigar not related yeah so that was the number one uh item that they picked up off the beach um so they also find this weird they found a large dead animal in a bag they did um so that was given to the police department right yes 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 tear 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 land's board will meet on Thursday May 16 thank you Council uh Council sorry just notes 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 has been trying to raise money for our fallen heroes we have uh 19 fallen heroes who are recognized currently on our respective monuments uh this year we plan to add a a 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 uh but uh I'm disappointed to say we've fallen short on our fundraising so uh 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 like I don't know I think Granite Monument not particularly big but you know maybe I don't know maybe roughly the size 2 feet by 3 feet 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 U that has World War II uh fallen heroes and at the base of that Monument is our lone Vietnam veteran or Vietnam Fallen Hero so there 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 U 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 alliance week I I may not be getting the terminology right looking for Paula Gavin who I think what might have been here but left anyway one day of that week June 7th uh I am responsible as the council person I believe each one one of us has been given a date and a and an event uh so my responsibility will be to help coordinate uh a small celebratory function at uh at the maritime Forest at the very North End of of our Beach uh as most of you know that Maritime Forest uh has 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 Shrek 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 burrow um so that will be June 7 at 5:00 pm 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 uh 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 a 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 fighting went to tell me there is an end in site so as far as I know there's no end in site and I just don't understand it just want to make sure I make that statement publicly that concludes my comments thank you oh I'm sorry council president thank you on behalf of the governing body I would like to thank the members and the volunteers of the Sha tree commission that came out Saturday on May 4th Larry Bagwell Nick corich and Boni Noel Weinberg Caroline Davidson and Susan parel you guys rock you planted over uh 21 trees throughout the burrow they were in Third Avenue Fountain Park Silman 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 Club along with shade tree commission members Larry Bagwell Nick corsage Noel wideberg and the liaison Jane Den Noble planted the pollinator point and my back back can vouch for this we planted almost 50 plants that will help feature um that are featuring 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 for the tourism commission the tourism commission has been approved for threee marketing collateral from the mamed County Board of County Commissioners through a destination marketing organization American Rescue plan Grant was awarded to the mm County division of Tourism the Bradley Beach tourism commission is thrilled for this support and focused on attracting very happy visitors bless you the tourism commission has ordered signs to promote delivery and takeout from uh our local businesses each sign will be play posted at each Beach entrance also in Riley Riley park with a QR code that directs potential customers to a site listing all Bradley Beach eating establishments and and the summer entertainment series will start July 6 with Kenny Kay and the way onto the school Bradley Beach Elementary School is celebrating teacher appreciation week and they are acknowledging and celebrating 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 make a difference in their lives every day and that completes my report thank you very much okay thank you m president you're welcome um I have a couple of um comments um I'll try to keep M 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 Bradley 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 u charges as a wellness committee trying to promote health and and wellbeing of all so and if I may add they have excellent snacks afterward it's definitely worth it yes um Main Street um we had a couple of comments around Main Street this team is working on a recommendation we have had a couple meetings and they've been pretty productive so I'm 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 then we could present that to the U 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 meting with uh uh bur the bur administrator myself were meeting with the mayor of Avon and that business administrator of 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 abon we've got the outfall pipe uh on silven Lake that's going to probably start September if we get the pushed update end of September uh which will be similar to happened with mccab 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 fixed that flu and um I don't have the right ter for it I call it a flu the the the gate and U that's a temporary fix so we've got a sequence when are we're going to replace that total unit so we need to talk about that we just got this 2.4 million Grant um from the um transportation trust and we need to kind of talk about where does that go and that this is just a prary discussion on that because we haven't really talked about it but then the key interdependence on that is um there's been a group working on the U natural Shoreline and provements to silven 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 well 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 it going forward so um we'll be framing that and getting back with people um shortly on that um quickly on Library uh Recreation there's upcoming activities you can check those on the website I do want to mention two that that are interdependent relative to the library um Friday May 17 145 to3 the middle school is doing I think it's the third year now the um one beach one read um it's supp 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 mexit uh with a comic book Workshop to follow which was very successful last year something very similar registration is required um but uh it's it's it's really a great program that's volunteer L and um you know improving our literacy and and engagement is great on Tuesday May 21st 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Bradley Beach Firehouse Banquet Hall there will be a one beach one read discussion that book is Magic strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch album uh all of barley Beach is invited to read this book and U there'll be a come together discussion it's a poplock dinner uh and a dis a book discussion so it's uh I attended last year we probably had 40 or 50 people there and 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 gubat to'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 um um we are pretty squirt we pretty much understand what we are and where we're going but we will update on that again there's no end sight correct mayor I'm sorry there's no end in sight is there an end in 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 Insight yes I there okay that is not the update we received per perk fact finding does not mean and in sight well no that's that's the next step that's the next said it's not when are we going to be able to pay these people for last year and this year include the contract that's problem I just wanted 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 council person like why can't one council person be in the negotiation process on your team why can't a council person be on the team that's working on the budget I just don't understand why I 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 refused I went to Europe with my brother and I wanted to apologize that I I missed the meeting but I just didn't want to have unexplained absence it was the first meeting I missed and so I was um you know put my hand on the Bible with 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 yeah good to see all those faces you who brought us all shirts I brought chocolate it's even better okay well now the council comments thank you public coms you want to hear from us again yes 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 who is 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 volunteer 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 comments yes Morales Fourth Avenue my comments relate to The Bradley food pantry and I will start by reading a piece from the main newsletter from St Jam's Episcopal church and it reads it's crucial to address the misinformation distortions and disparaging remarks C culating about our church and our community Bishop Sally's response to the CO's article encap encapsulates the situation accurately stating in FKS I am disappointed with the way the food pantry has moved 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 a community and 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 20 of those years have been peaceful like most if not all of our 600 block friends and neighbors we have supported the Bradley Beach Pantry with both food and monetary donations some have vol did their time we are heartbroken that food insecurity has become both a national and local crisis we believe in helping others I'm writing for 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 us you've never spoken with us you couldn't pick us out of a crow to those who implied we are racist and don't want those people in our neighborhood we are are those people my husband was born in a small Dusty Town Chara reaches Mexico his parents moved to America when Charlie was a baby he grew up in a one-bedroom tenament 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 Paul in May 2000 our family was in Rome that memorable day to particip in the ceremony proclaiming saood for 25 Mexican Martyrs including my husband's grandfather St Manel Moralis that's quite an extraordinary family history especially for those people judge not let 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 walking our driveway regularly a few weeks later she brought us two orange cones to use she said I've been Wasing your driveway and I agree it's a problem I thank her within a month both Cones were crushed and daned 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 owned the Red Fort or the blue Chevy your car is walking our driveway and we need to get out the majority of the responses were I'll just be a minute with little regard to hour being late for go pointer last year a gathering of 600 block neighbors Pantry leadership and Canon yarah 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 face the ongoing issues of traffic block driveways 500 a.m. commercial food delivery trucks public urination crash on our Lawns loud voices and long lines beginning at 7 a.m. were unacceptable everyone agreed everyone subsequently a meeting of Father James the church bester and the pantry leadership was held the 600 BL 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 B 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 the resolution the recent communication from Bishop fren Bishop French Episcopal dases announcing the gradual reduction in hours was a decision of the dicese the announcement of the May 17 224 closing of the Bradley food pantry was communicated in the newspaper and the CH and in the church made newslet that decision was made by the pantry leadership my husband and I learned 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 clients parking for the increase in cars and handling commercial truck traffic we hope for a peaceful transition happy enjy El thank you thank you that um first off I up here 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 if the leadership would just 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 it 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 um so thank you so my second question is is um are we to assume that U Mr carach is still the primary liaison for the DPW contract talks Yes No Maybe So I'm going to keep you the comments here okay and then I would well not that one's assume but I'll assume um that that also means he's still acting in some type of volunteer capacity um as a b um again as I find it disturbing I find it more disturbing that tonight he decided to sit on the floor in the back corner of this room feverishly taking notes while our acting being 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 question for a resident any of the that I'm even more Disturbed that not only has she been gone for three different instances I I have comments it's a comment I'm just speaking comment that she literally has been and is currently in the backro just sitting watching this meeting Michelle Wy I have a real problem with that that we are paying 110 $120,000 for someone who clearly canot 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 needed to be no no no no it's five minutes let's go to law I am allowed to say what I want I'm speaking 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 wey but we're not goingon to go there right now I'm giving you the fact that it is unconscionable that you continue to play the charade that you continue to block and not allow any one of our for very kind and 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 St 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 waiting saying hello stopping and saying how are you actually having a l 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 it's 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 oppr attorney from a letter I sent on February 18th I find this unacceptable um and now as you're moving about another pipe hello who said these things are going to happen M I hate it when I'm right um and on that thing 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 waiting for apply to a letter that I sent to the mayor on April 177 because since December 15 in China toow a um landlord not ready registering a rental property and I keep following up with OAS 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 swarm me um that being said I have also said before that I believe we need two managers in ball business manager and office manager because I am sick of the office management and the website that goes from bad to worse 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 today 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 W there I would turn off that website which also I say does not list 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 you um saying 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 that agendas posted Etc just would be courteous I and I really don't want anything posted about restaurants on the brick walk we did it for Co to health 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 poly I would actually put it in the category why when you use pronouns of our and we I would like to have an antic to know who you're referring to um just because I know I'm not part of the Wii 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 competence of our employees M I don't even think to try that with me and what I would like to know is what actual improvements there will benefit everyone in the world are you referring to because I've not seen any that have benefited me and I can't be the only one with that because I know because let's face it we all chat so with that being said Mr thank you next yes me I'm not sure what you let there is no Next Level I'm sure you give the address we can have code enforcement it's being handed what does that mean it's being handed when how is it been since I'd be happy to talk to you offline about yeah we can't talk about we can't announce what whatever enforcement is right now since December 15 is that rational I'm not sure I understand your December 15 comment but yes when I brought it to the attention of the B thank you that was stated in the letter to you thank you Rano 604 Brad last meeting there was a gentleman sitting somewhere around here I think he was from the e something and he talked about some S and L and the Neptune bar and what he was talking about was how a lot of the water the rain water the storm water from Neptune blows into Sven Blake third remember that so so my is is there a way that we can charge Neptune or their storm because the way I see it you know people from Neptune they can't necessarily come to Bradley Beach and dump off the garbage right if they didn't we would charge well the storm water is Wasing issues with the lake there is way we could get revenue from Neptune for the storm water and we could use that money each and every year to maintain the L reg whatever we have to do seems like they're getting a free pass for something that really shouldn't 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 do some things to keep the can I address this Mr Mayor cast on so there the concept that you're talking about it's a storm water utility and the state made it legal for towns to do that 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 stor M 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 and if you want to expand and put more pavers or make your driveway bigger than you would pay more we 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 it could 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 and sh she when do we have more specific detail on the 2.4 million as far as how that can be used but not yet not yet but will we have that specific area of my interest having looked with the uh the environmental Restoration Team is uh what component of that 2.4 million might be available for the natural sh line restoration which does have some R money and other money and we're really ready to go when there's enough money to complete the design and move to the next step I'm Secretary of the collaborative that in three phases contributed close to $50,000 to the maritime forest and is ready to contribute money to the silen 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 about how that might play out but uh when that's available and hope we'll have that sooner rather than later it can lead to other funding that will be available for the overall restoration thank you thank you all right yes even Mike 6 under Fourth Avenue at the last um meeting I had asked a question about the uh library's annual advice 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 clarify some of your concerns with the following information we were notified on October 3rd 2022 by Will wiot and Company they will not be conducting the library's 2021 audit the library then engaged WEA 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 Audits and I responded to him with the library's audit 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 of Le and company and we will start the 2022 audit in the second week of May I have attached the audits for 2019 2020 2021 so my questions always been about process you know I've asked you know question about has the annual financial statement for 2023 been published yet and as this evening on the website it hasn't at the last meeting I was told it wasn't and I'm assuming because it hasn't been published it still hasn't been so as governing bodies are are you comfortable especially with the issues that came out we looked at the 2022 audit versus the 2022 annual Financial segment all the significant differences that you're seeing in expenses with that when you're looking at the budget down are you comfortable with what you're seeing for 2023 as an example the 2022 audit excuse me in the 22 annual financial statements cash on hand of the general fund was 7,297 46 the audit report said cash was 4, 4143467294 in the annual financial statement the audit report haded at 10 million 971 29933 additionally there was two Appropriations in the current fund called miscellaneous reimbursements for 75579 63 and reserve for clearing accounts in the amount of 155 4279 I apologize it's been asked an answered before um I'm sorry as it AIT was delivered late with the two Appropriations mentioned above plus the overe expenditures identified in the audit in the current fund of 48,000 84188 and 2997-22 in the beach Utility Fund was there an emergency appropriation to approve any of those expenditures I I can help with a couple of your questions the 75,000 was cash that we couldn't the auditor couldn't bind so that's basically a plug and the 155,000 were overdrafts per the auditor I pointedly asked them those questions so over expenditures of my understanding need to be budgeted in the following year after they occur was it $38,000 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 included and my guess is it's not but we can't access the CFO so at the moment we don't know I appreciate continuing to say no to the budget introduction thank you thank you any other comments yes joh Greenberg 302 par Place avenue um first just want to Echo some of the other commenters about the lap of access provided to the council to the CFO it's unconscionable and I can't think of any reason for it other than your hiding 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 landage planat um when our when our our plans were up for approval and I had a medical condition at the time made it very uncomfortable to actually be out and it would have been really nice if there was a way 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 to council do about it who has jurisdiction over how that's from they're an autonomous group but they're appointed by the council so appointed by the mayor oh they're appointed by the mayor right where is there anything the council can do about that legally to say that you have to do Zoom meetings their own body all right thank you very much yes linda2 congratulations you're doing a great job everybody great job really appreciate thank you um mayor you never gave a recreation report how come I mention no you didn't yeah I was listening to it what was Recreation he didn't talk about pickle ball he 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 you also um when the gentleman that was sitting next to me was talking numbers I had no idea what was talking about um wouldn't it have been proved as all that if Meredith was there she could answer those questions because that's in her realm isn't it and why would Al have answer I just wonder thank you I'm not done I thank you for comment oh yeah and thank you for the live but I think it's lavender next next meeting is going to be L caling me down all day yes R Maguire 610 friendley 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 should be passed if the 22 audit hasn't even started on a 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 the introduction for a third time I have to lend a huge thank you to councilman goosi the way you answer questions the way you rece 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 she 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 Browning um that sends 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 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 allowed 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 ignored how 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 to the last minute okay it's also embarrassing let's go to the pantry now we have a mayor who dispar this the 600 block residents of Fourth Avenue near the p country 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 ordinance whatever 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 greenber 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 dispar 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 please please choose who's here for democracy please thank you okay if there's no other comments we move towards the um we'll we'll adjourn and adjourn into executive session um make a motion to4 second Mr no yes yes yes that was that was on the was we just need make no no we we just need to make sure the just yeah okay so it's on every night yeah yeah warmer there what's on the what's on it oh yeah it's quick boy I looked at the uh the dots on that on NJ Sports yeah it's what it's ply the documents all the I mean the bur's position is that the house was built not in conformance with the zoning permit you can oh yeah and then then then there was like a temporary permanent so the claim in the case is that the burrow is discriminating it to get not refusing to issue the co and giving them a hard time because people live there are Indian right I saw but here's the thing right we didn't know they existed right and so they came for the co and they couldn't buy the house in June we didn't know they when we were bu chops who's just building a house however he felt like it right um we don't even know who who Who's the buyer is we don't even know there's any people there trying to sue us so that we'll basically let him keep the I didn't said it was that you couldn't have a rout around por no you can't I didn't realiz you can't if you go get a variant but and he get a permanent se he didn't that's the whole issue he has a temporary SE that's expired but didn't didn't they reply I was read reply it said but a permanent was issued so they must have figured out the people that bought the house that we got notice expired right so they must went like  right and he came in here and got a housing SE not a you not a construction SE and now he's trying to say oh you gave me a fin got said no H9 turn that video it's got lot of STS last have we love for for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e thank you Erica to this meeting to meeting have a good one everyone night thank you