that's [Music] [Music] she Hi how are you Austin Austin yeah uh Ron okay so I'm going to have Ron a phone in the voicemail okay I don't have a phone in no I do my my my cell phone yeah [Music] [Music] thank [Music] you did your mom call you J yeah right yeah okay hey how are you I'll let you know to on Facebook and want the cat the hair going in all different directions did you change the minutes I did not because I didn't get I only heard from one person so oh okay I didn't know how you wanted to work that I really supposed to so do that evening [Music] sure I was just getting like like people mixed up yeah he look like but you're with right what if three of us get right yeah yeah sometimes is perfect [Music] there [Music] haven't seen you in a while no it's here [Music] okay l ER you ready what's up flag United States stands IND liy and justice for all I wish to announce that the 48 hour notice is required under the open public meeting act with email to the as par press the co-star and the new co-star on December the 7th of 202 23 that a copy has been placed on the bolon board in the burrow office and that a copy has been filed with with the burrow cler as a courtesy to the public this meeting may be attended via Zoom if for any reason the zoom portion of this meeting failed or is disconnected the inperson meeting will continue and action can and will be taken Mr Noble here Mr G here M Mahoney here Mr Weber mayor Fox here uh good evening everybody uh we are going to Executive session in a minute but um before that again try to make my commercial announcement that all although we should welcome disagreement because it helps us think through things differently our voice should be a constructive one we all want to Bright our Bradley Beach and ask you to join us in this journey and I ask everyone to engage their tone during going forward we all neighbors um Mr Mayor I'd like to add to that comment if I may sure okay first of all I'd like to thank everybody for being here I like to hear from you and I thank you for tuning in too it's important the governing body values your comments your questions your compliments and yes even your criticisms because that's our job we serve you you are our boss you are our most valuable asset and and as the mayor States each meeting voices should be constructive and should we should all gauge our tone as we are all neighbors well that needs to work both ways at our last meeting one of our governing body members muttered aloud directed at a resident sit down that behavior is unacceptable and I would like to recommend this person practice what he preach thank you thank you okay we'll now go into executive session resolution 2473 retire executive session to discuss personel investigation motion to ex session second Mr Noble yes Mr G yes M Mahone yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes Austin hey man I'm [Music] ready [Music] you have the um she told me could take 10 days instruction now [Music] the never I do go [Music] station add are might not see such change because some of that might be per [Music] we definitely get when was [Music] nobody [Music] back I split my day so I don't get I actually left at so I come back at and finish I don't think she was definitely Stitch or yeah it was it was days yeah putting in Fant us father we was teer [Music] dist huh country living man I me it's funny up there it's really a nice place a totally I'm so both me B I think it's us estim was still C so we not of sharing the information they to so right now [Music] gift card I don't blame I actually know [Music] own [Music] love the sad thing is however I it's come I'm not getting them all son [Music] weon Chang they but they did donate [Music] you [Music] that's the one I don't know you were yeah your exch [Music] think real time demonstration [Music] like develop want B oh [Music] every I love ch th us I have so in the shower there FL rich they got I guess just drill he said that's it that that [Music] that [Music] 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be for every I work but I think I'm try which is why like was still number you [Music] like end [Music] did she just she just got I was like she was I did like [Music] this [Music] [Music] keep great body you I mean hopefully there'll be she is mad at saw bre [Music] you that's nice guys are the best okay apologies for um the duration took so long than we thought uh the next item on the agenda is Workshop sales sewer considerations Mr sh Avenue in the spirit of efficiency and trying to keep the meeting on time I'm going to shorten my Preamble and say I've been before this everybody on many occasions talking about sewer infrastructure because um uh my fellow president rck B and I co that went to the council uh to the Strategic plan Committee in December of 2019 a lot of recommendations a number of which have been implemented the final recommendation was that in our in our six month um investigation of sewer infrastructure where we had many many meetings and interviews with other towns water the U Neptune sewage Authority it was apparent to us that there are reasons for the governing body in the interest of tring the most cost effective way to apply sewer services to continue to do an evaluation of the various options to that end I'm very pleased this evening to introduce Scott King with Dakotas firm Scott has had a substantial amount of experience in New Jersey with municipalities and SE infrastructure so with that as a brief introduction excuse me hi sorry about that I'm going to try to be only a little bit longer than Jim was um because I know you've got a full agenda this evening and I know Jim wants to go watch the Miami open uh I was asked to give a very high level uh General review of your options when it comes to uh management of your sewer system your Wastewater system so I'm going to go over the four General options that you have to of which I'm going to uh pretty much discount for my purposes this evening from the GetGo and just focus on on the other two one of those options obviously is for you to maintain your status quo everything the way it is you're familiar with what what's going on um that may or may not be something that's viable for you that's not something that I can really address at this time so I'm really not going to focus much on that the other three options are um to do a public private contract uh to have a an entity manage your system um or you can do a municipal sale or long-term lease of your system or you can parti What's called the water infrastructure protection act also known as whippa it's another system that I don't believe really applies to your uh your Wastewater system and and that's another one that in the future if you'd like I could always address it to to a further extent um but I'd like to focus really on your public private Contracting option or your long-term uh lease or sale option um the public private Contracting um is governed by specific or specific Statute in the state the New Jersey wastewater treatment public private Contracting act um it is all of these the two that I'm going to discuss are um very strictly uh regulated and they are time consuming um both of these the private contractor or the sale longterm Le could take up to a year and a half uh to to to go through from start to finish uh for different reasons public private Contracting act um is easier to get into but the timec consuming portion of that is that once you have your proposed contract available it has to be presented to the uh Department of Environmental Protection the Department of Community Affairs um local Finance board and State uh BPU each one of them has to review it and approve it and that can take a long time some of the things to think about on a public private contract is that system is still yours um so it's yours for any uh Capital Improvements those are at your expense and what you end up doing is you pay uh the private contractor to in essence manage your water service um depending on the the reason that you're you're looking to change the system that you have now change the status quo might not be simply from management um which is where you would get into the um long-term lease or sale system but things to think about on the the public private Contracting aspect of it are that again it take a year to a year and a half to complete um you are still in charge of the rates and the rate structure for your system system uh Capital Improvements again are your obligation uh what you can do is uh put into a service agreement as part of your private contractor um annual work items which typically don't exceed $155,000 and they typically would just roll that into their fees um to be charged U as part of the service that you're paying for on a regular basis um if you have a staff system that you'd like to maintain that can be rolled over into into a contract with a private contractor and then there's a transition period that you'll have to undergo whether you go through a private contractor or you decide to to do a sale and that is for the staffing of this of the service and as well as the Billing System there's a period of time that you have to work with the contractor to determine uh that the decis is going to flow seamlessly and easily long-term leases sales in essence you're selling your system no longer responsible for the maintenance of the system but you're also no longer uh in charge of the rate structure you're going sell a system um it's another long-term process could take a year to a year and a half uh again you're no longer responsible for the management of the system of Capital Improvements but clip side is you're no longer in charge of the rates that are being being paid by the uh your base Staffing as with the the lease of the system can be rolled into uh the contract with a purchaser as in the transition period and the billing period similar to a uh a longterm similar to a contract with a third party contractor there's a period of time that you'll have to work with with the purchaser to make sure that the transition goes smoothly and that the billing changes go smoothly as well on the sale of the system what do you do with the proceeds proceeds by Statute have to go first to pay off any debt associated with your existing system once that's paid off they have to go to the payment of any other debt any other Municipal debt and if there's any funding left over after that um it's to go to the general fund for whatever wh the one that I said I wasn't going to get into very much is is a very strictly Rel regulated system only applies if you can comply with one of five conditions and um you don't have to worry about the population but it only applies to municipalities with population of 270,000 people or less and that in a nutshell is really the uh the options that you have um I to keep it as quickly and short as I could your agenda and if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to uh try and come um thank you very much just for joining us tonight taking time out of your your very busy days um the reason this has come up and Mr shishes has been great along with uh his colleague and fellow resident uh rickel uh as you mentioned you started question a long time ago for Bradley Beach and you wouldn't necessarily know our specifics but but one of the reasons I think at least I and I think others have at least wanted to understand the pros and cons um one of the things we keep saying and I want to say for the Public's benefit as well nobody that I know of is sitting here thinking we want to sell our system all I'm thinking is I'd like to understand the pros and cons you know what are the risks what are the rewards and when I think of what we've got today um I know we've got you know very old 100y old terracotta infrastructure we're talking about can we put in you know kind of I don't know liners and things like that to preserve the length of the you know the usefulness of the sewers for some period of time um we're also looking at potentially if we if we need to actually Place sewer lines borrowing substantial amounts of money for a relatively small ipity um so at least one of the questions is what are the tradeoffs in the event of a of a sale what are the tradeoffs in terms of that loss of control right now we can set our rates but once we borrow a ton of money if we do we would Jack our rates dramatically higher soor how does so I guess help us if you would just think through high level what are the what are potential pros and cons for an or process and the contract that you enter into with a uh purchaser is you can lock in certain rates for a period of time now it's rates aren't going to go through the roof because regardless of who operates the system rates are governed by the state statute and the bo Public Utilities so they're not going to allow someone to come in and say okay well we want to increase our rates by 5% that that's not going to happen and what you can do you typically locked in now one that we just finished has a 0% increase for the first two years after the closing and then I believe it's uh two three and 4% after that you can negotiate those numbers when you're negotiating the contract and you you specify what you're looking for in your uh in your offering before the biders actually come in and make the BS so those are the two biggest ones you lose control of the system but you're you're also dating the repairs and cost for infrastructure that you would otherwise have to pay yourself and um can you give us a sense of the world after after a sale and and I guess what elements would we as a municipality negotiate typically so what I'm thinking is there a purchase price do do we receive X dollar and two you you started to talk about um the rates there's some there's some leveling of the rates for some period of time can you negotiate that yes you you will definitely get cash uh and what your your next step when you get to the point where you're beyond just thinking about it next step you're going to have to do is put together a team to actually evaluate your system and what it would be worth that team is typically an engineer Financial Consultant uh and an attorney could be your burrow engineer if you if you have a Financial Consultant or a financial advisor that currently works with the municipality you can use that one or you can enter into a contract with another uh you really want a financial advisor that's familiar with this type of process and not just the general financial advisor um so if you have one that you work with now for your for your bonding processes um that that financial advisor might not be comfortable doing something like this in which case you'd have to enter into a contract with a uh financial advisor that is familiar with this type of a transaction and that group would then come with it come back to you with numbers and based on those numbers you'll cut a determination on well does it make sense to keep the status quo or are we getting some numbers here that make no sense not to to take that we can't pass out everything that's in the contract that goes out um on your RFB would be negotiable so you know you're going to know what the system is worth you're going to know what kind of responses you get from whoever bids on the uh on the program and you're going to be able to negotiate um before it even goes out that far as to what kind of term locks you're going to be looking for what kinds of public properties are going to be included in those term locks all that's as far when we go should we go through a process like that you know requesting bits doing some with the team doing evaluations of the pros and cons for us ultimately who Mak the decision is is this something that goes to a public referendum or how does that work a a sale has to go through public referend which is part of the reason that it takes as long as it does and it it's it's one of the bookends of of the timing because in order for it to be on a referendum for example for this year has to go to the county three months in advance approved and that's you're getting on a really tight uh time frame to to do that um so it might make more sense to determine what it is you want to do start it off slowly and then plan on having it go through a referendum for 2025 really be squeezing a lot of work into a short period of time to get it in this and all more I presume there's a very formal process to go through that ref so um my last question just B on your personal experience or you know what you've learned from being in the industry um can you just describe to us what what might be an example of a successful sale that you've heard of and what might be an example of they you have to name names but just the scenario of what might have been viewed as by residents as not a successful s something that could go WR well I can really only speak for the transactions that we've handled in my office and uh I'm not aware at this point of any I this goes back to maybe 2015 2016 I'm not aware of anywhere we've got any negative feedback after the transactions the planning is where it's it's most important and when you get through that planning you'll know what you want to do and then you'll uh you'll just go through the process the most important part is the the ear beginning you're planning on which option do I want to take and what are the values to the to the municipality for each option I last question but one more are there are there typically two or three main biders out there or could there be 20 or 30 utilities that we did on something like handers Jim thank you okay go to the next item uh approval of minutes uh make motion approve March 13th 24 council meeting minut a discussion on that one yeah uh Mr may I know there's very lengthy statement that you've added to the ministry I think um I'll speak for myself I don't think it should be included in the minut if it wasn't part of the actual holding of of thee so I would I would suggest we at least discuss striking your CS dos I feel like we asked this at the time um Greg do you remember has I do so what I don't remember the answer and can they be in the minutes if they weren't actually spoke you uh have previously allowed people to email in statements and included them in the minutes to the it's been the practice here I obviously can't make you vote anything into the minutes they're your minutes as a body um but it has been prast practice where written statements have been given to the book and they've been included in because they're in there because that's what the cl's been told to do for a number of years so like you know there's no hard and fast rule you guys approve the minutes they're your pleasure they're your minutes uh you're voting as to whether they're an accurate reflection of what was said or wanted to be included at the meeting and it's been done in the past what they want to do right now is up to you I must be other ways for the mayor to communicate his thoughts right you put them in a minute soon as it' be more comfortable if you just post it on a website or something okay so you want to make a motion to pull that out yes a motion okay I'll make a motion to remove the mayor's comments from the the statement he did not read I know what you're talking about I know exactly what you're talking about okay do I have a second second Mr Noble yes and if he would like to greet them I would welcome them in the minutes but at this point I I will say okay I I don't have it in front of me otherwise okay I would I mean give him that option if he' like to read it that's fine with me I'd like you know I feel it's different when mayor would you like me to read your statement no it could take it would take 10 minutes and it's it's the public I'll put on the website I just don't want to take up a lot no that's okay most of what is in there most of what is in there has been already stated okay that's your call okay okay um okay so I got my second Mr Noble wait what was it that you saying I'm going to strike it out of the Mr yes M Mahone yes Mr Weber yes may fo uh no thank you uh March 13 2024 executive session minutes make a motion to approve second Mr Noble yes Mr guzi yes Mr Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor abstain I missed the Y okay uh next item is public comments pertaining to 327 agenda items only 5 minute I'm sorry do we have to make a motion to approve the minutes yes okay one more motion actually approve thees um do I have a first and a second second mayor you're first oh sorry to approve the the actual minutes okay um no your second Mr Noble yes Mr guozi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes public comments uh agenda anybody public comments agenda yes uh Thomas J Coan 64 Third Avenue um I'd like to comment on resolution number 20247 any that that reads um is is very disturbing to me because I've never seen a resolution that basically threatens the council that's going to vote on uh you included uh statute 52 col 27 bb- 52 which says a local officer or member of local governing body who after the date fixed for compliance fails or refuses to obey an order of the director of local government services under the vision of this article shall be guilty of a misemer upon conviction and may be fined not more than $1,000 or imprison for not more than one year or both in addition to the forfeiture of office I've never seen that in a resolution but what I'd like to share with you Mr Cannon and the council is this is the model resolution that is presented by the DCA which does not use this harsh language essentially threatening the council to vote Yes on this AIT this makes no sense to me and I find it to be a horrible technique now I think the mayor should really focus on uh statute 52 col 27 bb-51 which says the officer of a municipality or County who is charged with duties pertaining to fiscal Administration shall keep accounts in order uh in other respects perform his duties in accordance with the regulations by this board an officer who willfully violates this section shall be guilty of the misdemeanor and the $1,000 fine and imprisonment and loss of office that's the one that you should really focus on because this audit is so late and I can't wait to read it I'm looking forward to it but this is it was due September September 30th and now it's March 27th and we're getting I'm sorry September 30th 2023 now I would hope that you Council folks since you haven't seen a budget yet would not approve any budget until you have the 2023 audit which should be due by June 30th so I I appreciate the opportunity to make those statements thank you thank you anybody else yes i2th Avenue I that our uh acting bar uh administrator has left I don't understand why but I'm hoping somebody's going to be able to answer my questions accurately regarding the bills list the manual checks and wires the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development that bill was for $ 23,9 6761 could someone please explain this expense I can't but I will ask well who can we will get back to you well I noticed that I didn't I you said you would get back to me when the last time I asked questions and I still have so now how do I know I'm going to get these answers okay well miss jamarco was here would I be able to get the answers do you have any other questions M yes I have plenty of questions but I'll answer question can I can I ask you a question is it possible that this Workforce develop is that like unemployment do pay pay World taxes okay okay well $23,000 that the bill was paid folks um US Bank operations center it's uh what is this bill for it's $1,384 N9 again nobody knows uh page three nobody here knows pardon me nobody here knows well who's paying our bills nobody here knows you're in the building 247 you have you're here all the time with Meredith DeMarco our acting ba and you're playing ignorant you don't know about these bills no I don't I really I I really question your integrity own honesty I question your question Mr because number one I'm not here 24/7 okay may I I made a mistake I will admit the fact that maybe I exaggerated L the time that you been you spend in here but you spent you are very much aware of what's going on in this burrow that's your responsibility and who signs the checks the CFO and myself okay so therefore you you have knowledge of these checks so you're not totally ignorant of what's going on with the bills what's your next question don't really okay uh broadcast music uh events B why are we LIC licensing music that's $435 no answer page five Clark Payton Pon and hindes fair housing is this attorney for fair housing Council Center that's $ 4,737 folks Mr Bernstein and he was the UFC UFCW 152 employment Council that bill was for $2,745 is this the union negotiations yeah I'm sure you're sure or it is yes or no I'm sure it is that's is it a yes or a no I'm sure it is yes okay thank you uh is there a cumul um is there a cumulative amount we've already SP is this the accumulative amount that we've already SP no it's not since there's no contract no it's not okay Oprah issues Oprah cancel Mr Bernstein was paid $4,260 why are we continuing paying Mr Bur when he keeps losing in court and we are losing and we are losing to our own residents that's $4,260 Mr Bernstein got Helman consultant uh ordinance that is for bazio Center and that is for I think mold remediation that's on page 10 of the bill list for any of you who have it again another bill for mold L is this is this additional or is this something that's been ongoing I'd like to know how much the whole repair work and the whole cost of that building cost us the taxpayers can we please get that number one more Beach repairs Building Maintenance $43 for the shower repairs when and Earth are with residents of this town going to get decent showers on our beach these are postor War II showers there nothing but metal pipes sticking out of the ground they been they been that way since I've been a little girl on the beach at my grandfather's restaurant on Fourth and ocean that water Felton on 4th Avenue has been there since my grandfather had the concession on that restaurant thank you Mr one more you're over well you used a lot of my time I Haven I'm sorry oh and I'm I'm glad to see that you got paid this month uh f87 [Music] Nancy me ocean par Condominiums um I also challenge things on this bill list for usual many of which m s because I can not pronounce her name properly um brought up and it's more the underscore of we finally found out actually who signing our checks tonight that's a step forward I've been asking this for I don't know how wrong but how do I know that those checks signed are actually for the bills will be approved how is it there's here we're supposed to approve manual checks and miners well they already went as did the payroll dates here you approving things that you've already paid um there's a term for that but it's not lady likee so I will not say it but then more importantly and I've asked this before who does the bankx I certainly hope it's not any of the two people that have just been we've just been told sign the checks and who matches the checks to the bills in other words where's our money going it's not funny it's on page 20 we've got another bill from P Point who's supposed to be free from who from P I say it every week supposed to be free why do we still pay it we used to have an employee that was called a CFO that did our payroll and now we're spending thousands of which the December bill is we had over $88,000 over the prime point doesn't make sense and we're calling part of our payroll now contacts in part office does not make sense we're always told or not always I've learned recently that a good line here for things is we're not in possession of those records I know I've been told it I know someone else has been told it which is bogling as it is a federal offense to not keep records but you know it's R so why do we care but yet we're paying file Bank thousands of dollars really and one of those bills is from October and let's talk about Mr Bernstein who I was told that that firm was not our Oprah attorney but we all know I was told the wrong information but I am still waiting for an answer from that firm so why should we pay for that bill that open thing I you do not Steward our monies properly and it's an emergency I am beyond frightened Beyond disgusted and as I've been saying lately I don't know what I can do to write the ship we're not welcome we're belittled we're not answered but the men are usually answered sorry and it's disgusting and embarrassing and this is I mean I'm on film here forever because people don't do their jobs and because there is no accounting and at some point for those of you that are taking advantage of we the taxpayers I promise you it will come back and laun you m just add that we've been using file Bank as long as I've been up here you can imagine a lot of right paper gets generated and instead of storing it in the hallway right down there which we did like we use this file right I get it where it is but it's but but but to me that's us so we are in possession of whatever file bank has they have our records so to constantly say to some of us who are asking things we are not in possession that is quite threatening to me okay and may I say regarding the workforce thing that is normally a quarterly payment on payroll taxes $23,000 is quite an alarming payment because I do believe a couple of weeks ago I said why are we paying this is not the end of a quarter so um again really scary that somebody signs off and doesn't know what money is for thank you I think we can agree that an extension of us sh green J for 14 M Avenue um I'd like to address the 319 Lorraine property last fall there was a workshop where consensus was reached to have the burrow go ahead and sell the parcel with for deeded conforming subdivided Lots there was consideration to put the onus on the buyer to demolish the structure with the caveat that elements deemed historically significant and worthy of resale be pulled for the borrow I recall a lengthy presentation by an Antiques representative who deals in resale of artifacts and the suggestion that there is a market for some of the elements contained within the church structure later in the fall an out of the blue a proposal by the mayor was made to include an affordable housing plot on the site with Habitat for Humanity as a Target investor as I recall there was a great deal of concern expressed about this and it seemingly went nowhere concerned that this asset has dragged out I have publicly asked in three recent Council meetings about the line property and told each time by the mayor NBA that the borrow was working with an engineer to prepare an RFP no other detail details so tonight we have a resolution not an RFP my question is this resolution the context for an RFP do the bids come in with no RFP resolution 20248 to challenges my understanding it makes no mention of the historically significant assets and their preservation further I'm stumped at a decision to go forward with affordable housing on this property for a couple of reasons number one it does not align with the single family housing stock within the neighborhood and number two it assumes a shortfall on the sale for option A which requires one quarter of the overall plot to be designated at below market rate and further how does this square with the lack of affordable housing requirement for developers on properties such as 301 Maine the auto tech site and the multi-unit rental building west of burrow Hall why does the B take the financial hit with no responsibility seemingly on developers now to the resolution it says the land use Board of the burrow retains Authority in the areas of subdivision review and approval site plan review and approval and the issuance of variances the property is located in an R1 single family zone now the land board the land use board members are appointed by the mayor and it is noticeable that residents with different viewpoints never seem to get appointed to the board the resolution goes on to say the invitation to bid shall require each bidder to submit one bid under each option A with restrictions and option b three of restrictions both options A and B have the same minimum bid price of 2 Milli 7181 so my questions what is the incentive for a developer to bid above the minimum for option A which assumes a lower profit margin on an affordable housing lot and two why two variable options what is the thinking behind structuring it this way I'll go on and then I'm going to share this my questions regarding option A has it been determined who will own and manage the affordable housing lot is it Habitat for Humanity number two will variances be required for the two unit building remember it's in in an one single family Zone in option A and put in place by the borrow and land use board and number three I do not recall an affordable dwelling 2unit structure in CME Associates subdivision document can you share this with the public the resolution goes on to say the municipality may elect or reject either or both options and the highest fit for each such acceptance or rejection shall be made no later than at the the second regular meeting of the governing body following the sale and if the governing body shall not so accept such highest bid or reject all bids said bids shall be deemed to have been rejected my questions so who determines the winning bid the municipality or the governing body and if not approved by the governing body how does the sale proceed are their second and third choices I know I asked a lot of questions here so I've made copies to distribute to all of you so you can answer in an email um please respond to all of the questions good thank you can I share this with you to share I have seven of course and IOP jus5 I'm just going to keep this short and sweet uh please vote no on passing the bills list that is um just there is no accountability there is this is blatant disregard for financial responsibility and we have to start saying no we have no idea where our money is going what is being paid and what is not being paid and the fact that our acting VA is once again not here to answer questions there is no reason for the council to approve this it is time to start saying No this mayor mayor Fox and um you are bankrupting our town it's time to stop stop the MS thank you thank you Beth Kepler 504 Central Avenue here in Bradley Beach um I also ask this Council to vote no on the bills list I think that it's inexcusable I mean I don't know what other job in in the private sector that people would be able to be newly hired such as the acting um borrow administrator Mr Marco where there would be so many absences and she's you know first it was the eye thing then there was a death then there was the flu and I don't know how many I mean I'm think I'm missing one or two other um instances and she was here tonight we still have not had an answer from the mayor as to where she went she was just here and then she vanished and conveniently when it came time to start answering questions about our money and um I also would like to go on the record preemptively um now months in advance because I can see the handwriting on the wall that we are being set up again for a repeat of last year where all of a sudden you know I I remember several meetings going back to the beginning of this year about how the promises were made about the council would be given and there's three steps I understand to approving and implementing budget and that you're supposed to be given proper documents in a timely manner so that you can ask questions and manage our money um properly and I can see that we're being set up again or the council is being set up again so all of a sudden at the 11th Hour be like hurry up we got to pass this we got to prove it we got to prove it because if we don't there's going to be all these like penalties and I don't really care anymore because whatever penalties could possibly be coming down the pipe us couldn't be any worse than giving this creature standing in front of me a blank check to to just write I I have to say as much as I I really support the council I am very disappointed about what happened a few meetings ago and regard to the 11.5 blank check that million dollar that was given to them given to to uh the criminal Network that's at play in our in our burrow and I don't want any more of our of my money in L and mismanaged and therefore I ask this Council in advance I don't care what the penalties are I don't care what the ramifications are there's no budget I would rather see just the lights kept on and us doing the bare minimum to just get us through till November so that we can just survive the rest of the few months because clearly there's no conscience here he's not going to step down he's not going to do the right thing he knows nobody wants him here he knows he's he's impotent and he can't do anything so really we just have to you know muddle through and Limp through and all these dumpster fires are being set I submit because what the gentleman who presented um on the SE situation made a very important point about referendums in this coming November for the election and in order for us to change our government and to make sure that we don't wind up in the same situ situation again with the next mayor is we need to figure out in advance and start really working and focusing on what kind of government that we are going to switch to so that we don't have to deal with another strong mayor who thinks that he can like like steamroll over this community and unaccounted just spend our money willy-nilly and behind the scenes with no answers by enacting ba and I also would like to see this uh Kim Humphrey whatever the QR whatever she is needs to go we need to like start like we're being diverted our attention is being diverted and all of these situations are intentionally being created in order to divert our attention from the really important things and right now we just need to manage to get through to November and I don't really believe that the the not only should the budget not be passed in the future unless this council is given adequate time but this bill list tonight should be voted no regardless of what the consequences are because it shouldn't be and if and if anybody wants to know why it's being voted no it's because the people that are supposed to be here and we it's not like there's not advanced notice and we don't know that the people that are required to be here don't know that there's going to be questions and I suggest that it's potentially that she can't do her job and she can't answer the questions and she can't she she's afraid or the mayor is afraid you really shouldn't talk about Municipal Employees in the context of performance that's well that's my my that's my personal opinion I'm paying her salary and I have a right to my opinion and it's kind of Rich of you to do that to sit here and bang your dabble about like how people should talk because you don't talk to people the right way you refer to your residents as minions and and and a lot of other derogatory terms you're the one who's out of so it's kind of ironic that you're going to stand here and lecture us about how we should be talking thank you yes Avenue uh just mayor and I don't think you do this intentionally uh but you do interrupt women speaking a lot and by the way that's not that's not specific to you there's been studies that men do that to women pretty regularly in in corporate life in particular so I would just say I would just ask respectfully uh to be aware of that uh and don't interrupt or try to shut down what what some people are saying here thank you mayor where is I'm not sure so she just got up and left the meeting I'm not sure what happened maybe she got a call why don't you call it yes reference ordinance 24-1 uh this ordinance was before the uh land use board and uh there was a recommendation made I noticed that uh on the agenda I read the uh 224-1 there's been no change to it whatsoever you know like we said we requested that uh you look into this ordinance that you're proposing and tighten it up there's a lot of loopholes in here uh for one uh you have uh I'm sorry Mr sh but I think um I'm sorry for interrupting but um I think we got a memo from the L board the other day saying it was good to go so I'm missing something so maybe you can light well it shouldn't have beened up because St in fact I made that motion to uh what it should state that uh yes it is consistent with the master plan but uh there are loopholes in here that the mayor and coun should look into and tighten it up can I ask a question isn't this something that the state is requiring of us not like it was a it's a recommendation it's a recommendation and the DCA has uh what you we call it modified that recommendation and that was another thing that was brought up for you guys to look at I mean uh here's one right here provide opportunity non-residential use to supply EV to their customers and employees so now what you're saying is uh we're going to put the charging stations in a parking lot let's say uh Darcy let's say him and he's going to put it for his employees the parking lot is for customers not emplo you just say customers and employees yeah okay so if darc got torn to the ground and a big apartment building got built there that's what this is talking about then there's a requirement to put electric vehicle charging stations there and what you just read said yeah in addition to I guess people that live there you have to be available to the staff that work there and opportunity for nonresidential okay so if you're disputing that sounds like your beef is with the state of New Jersey not no because you could modify it you don't have to put go work for work read it carefully it does say you could modify it's a recommendation these are recommendations I this and I didn't read this memo that you're talking about or that the mayor's talking about so I don't are you suggesting that we that we table this uh would say so Mr sh yet for the record speaking for myself I know nothing about the feedback that you're describing so it was not shared at least with me I don't know anyone else in the council we what what happens is we get a memo from and unfortunately we were both still that day so we weren't there um um the memo we got from the um Secretary of land's board I thought I read it I read it quickly but I read it and it said um we were it was approved and there we go I I it didn't say exactly like that but I did go through it yeah I'm looking at the resolution from the L use board there's no says that it was all voted says you voted yes yes that consistent it's consistent with the master plan but yeah but I know you guys usually put a list if you have suggestions in right but that's not I'm just telling not well last time we did and again there was nothing done on the last one so you know why why go through a list when uh everybody's going to just ignore it so was your request that we table this and get a list of what these exceptions are there's no exceptions read it I'm sorry modific exactly because in here it says that me as a homeowner I could put in charging stations I could charge people for it now I have a gas station an electric vehicle gas station on my property it says I think it would be helpful if we could get your list of recommendations rather than well rather than debate them one by one you know I Char anybody you could you I I think I could without T it yeah when we get there unfortunate evening where we were counil people were ill he yeah unfortunately thank you thank yes good evening Linda duffley uhing to resolution 20 2480 um why are we putting at other expenses 1,569 I I can't even read the number why is it other like what it's for it's so in general terms it's typically when you start the year you start the number is between 25 and 26% that you allocate to operate the government if you go beyond three months which we're about to go beyond three months you take it up to 40% so our CFO put that resolution together to do that okay and then it say salary and wages and we haven't uh settled a contract yet that's going to be substantial it's going to be substantial and how did you figure out it's only going to be this amount 600 600,000 this is only a temporary I know but if it's it's something that's a temporary budget where's the other magical money going to come from if it's more than this our annual budget takes all that into account all right all right the other thing I'd like to say is on the bills list page four thank you very much for sending sergeant car safety I appreciate that for what I'm I didn't you sorry you're not aware of that okay she went to a training session how to secure car seats and make other people feel more comfortable and put them in their cars correctly because this town's 28% seniors and I'm guessing that 10% of us they it and we have no idea on how to put a car seat in so thank you very much but I'd appreciate it if you put it on your website something like car SE safety make another link CU I looked it wasn't thank you very much um I'd like to know also on 20124 d82 I think that's it what is no deed restriction inail make me I don't understand option b like could you build a side breaker 20 um 20 unit place no parking uh studio apartments what does that mean it's no de on option b on the pet yeah but it's on the it's what it said when you read through when you clicked on the resolution there was like the option b it kind of said no de no restrictions like what does that mean what are the pros and cons today are there pros and cons I'm sure there are are and I don't know what they are the mayor and the ba and a team put this together so the right so and also um option A I didn't really understand why the price difference should be different for both options in my opinion because if you're giving somebody a free will why don't we charge them a four million you given them the option to do anything that they want there no any anything that's done has to be has to conformed to it doesn't say that what protections do we have that it's going to follow that right I just you know like to know all right and the other thing I wanted to say is on Eric bur ring it in every Bill list he has for negotiations maybe we should fire him and get another negotiator so we can get a contract resolution and those people can be made Po and what is the difference between General local pay for him and you and the um the local 152 pay what is the difference between those two salaries I'd like to know are they both for negotiations or there's general labor questions that come up that have to be answered General to do employees to do with anything to so it's not for negotiations okay all right thank you very much for your time I appreciate it on the shamp for half r Avenue I'd like to make a comment on resolution 2024-25 up all sorts of can wors things that were discussed at length are not mentioned things that were discussed and were areas of concern such as affordable housing are suddenly appearing again I urge the council to table this resolution at the very least and uh that's all I have to say thank you yes uh Dr Tom 610 Bley Avenue um so um Lind just had had a question about the deed restriction I was pretty sure that the one meeting I think it might have been even in October that it was a surprise but everyone actually agreed on the deed restriction can you give me an example what a deed restriction would be like what does that mean like what do you like does that mean you can can't do certain things what does that mean so before you like discuss I'd like to know that um a d restriction is something you build into a contract or or a sale that says you can do something like for example what would that mean for example because it's a single family zone right the R1 so doesn't that mean you can only build a single thing you're R1 Zone but you can still go to the land yeah oh so there you go so that's what it is so that's what you want to so the de restriction would limit so say if you want to build town houses or something like that that would you equ a d you're in an R1 Zone start with that's not possible you'd have to come back toest now didn't you I'm more than positive didn't you agree to put the Deep restriction in there blanketed yes talking about preliminary so we're talking tail the church so when you all discuss restriction specific what deed restriction I don't know that's what I'm asking but you did all agree that subdivision we're talking about subdividing it into four yeah and then you agreed that you would put a deed restriction so that certain things would not be made or something like that but um one the POs you all agreed on it so I don't understand why deed restriction is even an option to not have it why was that put in there I think it's it's in there to have four Lots in there but isn't isn't one option deed restriction the other option is no deed restriction we'll talk more about this I know there's a lot to cover but I know you guys are going to get to talk about it yeah and I don't you know what I mean so I'd like to talk about it now so before you get to it I have some understanding of what you're going to be talking about so you just understand why because it just feels like this is I know it's not rush but I mean AR obviously you didn't do anything the rfps just kind of fell through so I feel like bid it's a bid package it's not an RFP I know you told that you were working on rfps for like two months and that obviously didn't happen so stalled for like two months and now I I'm sorry I said it feels to me it feels stall so it's my opinion so it feels stall so I was just wondering like why why that wording why aren't we doing is there a is it going to be like an auction like are we going to be able to auction it or is it that's what I don't understand because it says it's like u a 2.7 is that for all four Lots or are we subdividing each individual one for 2 .7 each one is 2.7 all so you can it's all or none you can only buy you have to buy all four or none all right is there any way that we can change that that's terrible I think each lot should be sold individually that would make more sense I mean that's just real estate 101 is you know get the most money by selling individual you're only going to ding developers instead of someone like me I might want to buy you know but I can't buy all four of them but I might be able to buy one of them and I feel that's reaching outside of the town side so if there's any way we can change that wording because I I don't know who did that wording it does not read like gray Cannon is all I'm saying because I no he did not like that did you like that I think so do not have great Ken's writing on there he has a very distinct writing style and I us can read his and no he not I was informed that it was a team and I was not part of the team I wish I was because I love land use for and I love land use in real estate very interesting to me I was informed it was Larry and the acting VA so no lawyer wrote that no not that I was informed of is that noral don't usually write but I mean it looks like were jargon so like I would just being in Average Joe here I think that the ordinances are usually written by who reviewed it what legal I reviewed it oh you reviewed it but you didn't write it okay um do we have k for I Bley uh two quick things Mr Fox I don't know what it says about your relationship with the I VA that she walked out of here without even telling you these are questions about what to deal well I'm speaking to several people agenda you can com you're stepping on my five minutes I'll be out of here in two minutes okay I'll be out of here in two minutes you have a question on the agenda I do have a question okay ask your question for comments can you comment or speculate on why the acting VA walked out of here even bother telling you why she left I cannot so it must have been some emergency must next question got like five minutes uh you seem to suggest earlier uh Mr Fox that a member of the public should not comment on the job performance of a public official can you site the law or regulation that prohibits that sort of thing from happening uh no I can't cite the law but I know that it is a Mr K can you comment on perspective well let me put this another way let me put this another way Mr fo let me let's let me try to answer the question okay speaking about Mr Canon can a member of the public make a comment on what they see as the job performance of a public official yes okay there doesn't seem to be any doubt of that right no right so put another way Mr Fox if I once again say that I think you're a terrible mayor and you should resign do I face arrest ticketing summons can some legal action be taken against me any have questions on the agenda Mr Ken can I be arrested or ticketed or what for commenting on the mayor's job okay thank you thank you yes s to 184 um I know we're not there yet but obviously there's once again a whole you know mess with the wording of the church so um my one question to all of you and I will ask you individually is if you were to vote on it today or to get it rewarded that it was just simply would be sent out as a bid to replace four single family homes would you at least say yes if it just literally only dictated single family I would abstain was easy like just four four single family homes probably I I think I I would ask us not to respond that and I'll tell you why we received some time we rece we received some new information in our executive session that would probably give us some pause that we have to relook at some elements as it relates to Co 4,000 and we don't have we'll have an answer to that pretty quickly but we don't have the answer time so in regards now that you bring up Kaa why has it been done in the past that we have not asked or dictated that 301 Main give their shared allotment of affordable housing or why John Naples and his Auto property is not required to have affordable they are so that's going to be rectified I'm not sure so how many how many how many units are currently rented out of 301 M 301 301 m is exactly no I know's his is auto I'm saying 301 Main it's a 30 301 cross Dar the largest apartment building why why do they not have affordable why were they not given affordable housing requirements have our ordinance in place when they got is there anything that can be done retroactively to require anything of that nature we're assessing that right now okay all right well then I'll wait for you guys to share that information but until that and until we have it absolutely worded perfectly so that there is no loophole please vote no and I also agree with everybody else please don't vote through any more bills until we know what we're signing because it's app parent that our mayor doesn't even know what he's signed thank you I can't see oh I'm sorry 44 andley Avenue um I'm going to start out with a request with an with one request followed by an apology and then another request and the first request is to please vote no on 2024-25 everyone was in agreement that that property should be sold I was not there dur due to personal circumstances I have not been paying a whole lot of attention to agendas and that's my fault um at the same token I think the majority of town doesn't even know how to find an agenda or really understand how town government works and some of them are frankly afraid to show up speak so my next request would be to consider for this governing body to consider the fact that the town in general and the vast majority of its citizens have never answered more than one question with respect to 319 Marine Avenue the only question they have ever answered and they answered it on a survey and a referendum was do you want to spend million for a full scale remodel for a full service Community Center that answer was a no no one has ever asked the people of this town do you want to knock the entire building down or would you rather preserve a smaller footprint knock down the gym have Town Offices there build parking there with sensitive Landscaping to make it acceptable to the nebor neighborhood no one has ever facilitated some kind of real examination by the actual people in the town of what the inside of that building looks like although there are people who have been in and out several times so um and I've heard things around town like couldn't we do something simpler I really don't want to see it come down I've heard other people say I would rather see on that property a new community center I've heard people say I would like to see a park on that property now when I saw this resolution and I saw that that was what was going up or possibly going up I um I thought you know are the neighbors even remotely aware of what's going to happen there so my request of this governing body is to build in some kind of structured process to have a more nuanced and concrete idea of what the majority of people in this town and what the people in the area want and to see that they're also well informed before before something happens that then is irreversible and I would like in that process for there to be some consideration of the fact that we now own a very very um valuable piece of property and we also have right there another thing on it in the actual historical part of that building inspiring public space which is not something that is ubiquitous in Bradley be so um so there I I think that I will I will end my comments there and thank you oh I do have a question also um when you talk about deed restrictions can they be overcome by the zoning board by way of variance or are they something that sticks more than our ordinances the exod canri cont between the gr tour and only the gr tour so the way I understand it then is if we absolutely have deed restriction we can determine exactly what's built a priori and it will stand but if we don't have D restrictions then the Builder Builders whoever it is can go before the zoning board and basically all bets are off generally that's that's an accurate description I would mention that the because the burs the grants are a future governing body the Deep restriction as could them you said so so gr tour is property to a grantee yes it's a contract right property you evidence by the deed legal procedures the grantour conveys title to the grantee with a deed restriction it's a contract between those two entities the grantour can then can reverse that contract okay you call me so it's not a permanent once you put it on there it's absolutely permanent ende never the grant so it would have to be the entire Council that would have to new Council potentially new mayor potentially correct okay so we'd have to be super careful about who we vote in you should you want to get the board yeah okay we have her Kenny hi can you hear me yes yes hello can you hear me I can he you yes M okay a couple questions um first has go to process Improvement um I know the mayor has changed the agenda for meetings this year Mr K are you asking questions about the agenda yes I am I'm talking about the agenda mayor Fox okay what what exactly okay I'm going to tell you right now is there any way we can have an ordinance that executive meetings were at the end of the meeting instead of beginning of the meeting yes okay we've now had two executive meetings in the front of the meeting where you were abruptly left at the end of the last meeting with no explanation and now we just found out the VA left at the beginning of the meeting with no explanation so yes can we move the executive sessions to the end of the meeting making an ordinance to make sure it happens is that after is that okay mayor with the agenda no it's not because we have situations where we need to do it before the meeting generally we do it at the end of the meeting this was because we had um a couple of legal people in from far away who had to drive in for our meeting and uh we accomodates okay so you don't accommodate the residents I get it okay my second question here then has to do with the audit from 2022 when will the town be able to review that and see it that's my first question second question um who actually developed and actually signed the audit uh tomorrow if we sign off on this affidavit tonight it's available and it's signed off uh by uh myself uh with the auditor and the F administrator okay what burrow administrator the AC ad well she wasn't here when 2022 happened so was the was the ex NE neither was the CFO um yeah I know well that's my next question was the ex CFO involved in the 2022 audit uh yes from an input and review perspective with the auditor but he didn't sign it no we didn't ask him to well the new C the new CFO did correct right because he was not here nor was not involved in in the audit in the context of he's he's taken that audit data from the audit and he's interfaced but he has not been intimately involved so we have no Financial CPA any fin Financial accredited person who signed that audit the audit okay so that auditor will be on the hook yes if there's any issues with the audit correct huh so okay any that's the reputation normally you have a CFO who's also involved correct or no yeah I mean I don't understand how the current acting VA would sign it when she has absolutely zero clue what happened two years ago I just want to make sure someone's accountable that's all I'm asking okay because that's a real issue here okay my final comment is regarding the church with no Deeds um I'm really thankful that we've actually had the public who voted in a council because I'm sorry mayor Fox and I'm sorry anyone else who's there with the land use board but I would not trust you were the land use board to make a decision with an open-ended deal so I really hope that the council tonight gets this understands it and at 2:30 when this meeting ends we'll be able to get more discussion on it that's the end of my question thank you next we have Dr I don't know what can you hear me yes can I just have your name and address yep DAV kowsky 30 3043d thank you I have a question on the bills list page 21 uh Ruckers State uh State University Municipal budget process is that a class that somebody attended sure that it is what page page 21 Ruckers Municipal budget process looks like it was a class for uh some kind of budget class training yes that would be a yes that's a that's a class that so I don't know who but yes I'm sorry who attended that I don't know who attended it but yes that would be a class an employee would have attended would that be the ba the acting ba it's possible so we're paying for her to go to class now I have no idea who would have that answer we can get you that answer okay so she gets a salary and now we're paying for her to get her her accreditations or certificates okay is she required to attend that meetings or or she could just uh not attend as many as she wants Council meetings question not it's not on the agenda it's just you know you have any other agenda questions okay thank you is somebody back there yes I'm sorry I miss good evening I'd like to Circle back to the discussion sorry name and address can you hear me now yeah just name and address your name and your address I'd like to Circle back to the you need to state your name and address sorry my name is Gail a and I'm at I'd like to Circle back to the discussion about the church property um this is public property it's owned by the taxpayers of the buau and um to that end I'd like to speak to the concept of preserving the public property for future Generations since our government and our residents should be considered of public property public space it's not just for today's generation but it's for the future generations of Brady Beach once public land is gone it is highly unliking in this world that there will be many in any um opportunities for public land to be available to us and um I I think that we don't know what the needs are for the future we can't even anticipate what they would do but I think that we have a huge responsibility as guardians of public space as trustees that's not just the government officials but it's all the taxpayers to consider that and I would love to talk to you more about this Con but I have had experience in other communities where they have so a viable School building 15 years ago for $100,000 and now they have spent Millions to expand their existing schools that's one idea another another I'm in the education world so that stun I know another area that mothball they building sort of mothball they they use for Girl Scouts and community events and stuff like that and seven years later they opened it up again as a school you people in education are very concerned about being Trustees of the future and I would like to see that that be considered in the future discussions thank you thank you okay we'll move to next agenda item which is uh ordinance introductions we have one ordinance introduction 20 243 and ordinance amending chaps 350 Property Maintenance and housing standards of the B rised General ordance establish standards for the storage of salt and other solid materials mjdp requirements make a motion to introduce this discuss quick quick question Mr Canon this this really is U just standard language mirroring the state yes thank you second Mr Noble yes Mr kuzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor fo yes okay moving to adoptions um we have 20241 uh I'll make a mo it's okay to table this uh but require is gone Mr sh to U provide us well I can talk to I talk to Mr Mayor about providing us any modifications that we may have not heard of yeah so thank a motion table second Mr Noble yes uh Mr GUI yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor yes 20242 it's an ordinance amending chapter 396 storm water management on the bur's revised General W to adopt new regulations consistent with amendments to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections storm water management rules uh this is an adoption so we'll ask for any public comments on this make a motion to open hearing oh I'm sorry make a motion to open to hearing um a second open hearing Mr Noble yes Mr gboi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes any questions on the ordinance okay I'll make a motion to close the public uh comment public hearing and make additionally make a motion to approve ordinance 2024 second Mr Noble yes Mr guzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes point of order did we do it properly for the one before you're tbling it so yeah okay okay um consent I'm Excuse me consent agenda resolutions there are five the bill list for March 27 2024 uh 2024 75 the congregation I did sorry thank you Bradley Beach conductor Jewish Sab service 5th avue on Friday June 14th from 6: to 800 p.m. approval in Jersey short cl to conduct at 5K R Loser run for Saturday April 64 8 1 approval of te Foundation to conduct their annual remembrance walk for Sunday May 5th 24 from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. award a bid for miniature golf concession license make a motion to approve yes um yeah I'd like to have a little discussion on this because um well I would like to vote the bill list out separately um but also there's an issue that that actually our clerk brought to my attention and uh I think it's a significant issue for the burough to address and that is the deposits um in our agenda planning meeting I asked you about the $2,500 deposit for these events and and I don't know if our residents know this but I'll lead by saying I did not know this um we do require $2,500 deposits very definitely uh Eric explained to me that it is not a a deposit that we refund the balance unused it's a deposit that is nonrefundable we keep it uh I I doubted that I actually said oh Erica that can't be and she assured me it was actually went to the ordinances and guess what Erica you were right but most people I think I know for a fact because I was talking to Paula Gavin about this for bbca and and Paula was of the assumption that it was a it was a deposit that we held and you know that we would if we needed $500 to cover DPW expense they would write us a check for 500 keep the deposit going for their events so we're about to vote on these consent items and I think two of them require the is that correct ER uh no only one of them that was uh that's the ti Foundation okay so one of them yes but but a little I I think I can't speak for the rest of the council but I'm thinking that we might want to amend our ordinance to make to to not necessarily build people 2500 are addressing that yeah so do you want to hear how that's being worked right now or sorry okay yes um so um we do have so the example you use is a good example so if you get a $2,500 deposit it's $500 does that mean we net $2,000 well that's not the intent of the ordinance um we're trying to work through transactionally the best way to do this the legal way to do it it's probably going to be that you give us $2,500 separately you the $500 and after we receive 500500 we return to 2500 we're trying to work through that the mechanics of that right now okay good so we were doing that independently because I I thought we had to do that so I'm glad to hear you're ahead of that but for purposes of approving this at least this one event you know right now the audience says they don't get that money back to either one do they know that or two yes they do know that and they also require services that are probably going to yes oh it's all right I would Char it's a okay so as long as it's a mega event and and'll go above that and I know we can build Beyond I just thought there was a refund issue I wanted to high but otherwise I do have a question on the bill list we don't we don't well I want to make a statement and then have a question I appreciate the residents who stood up here tonight and said vote no on the bill list um and I understand frustrations you have I probably share a lot of the same ation I I do not intend to vote no on the bill list tonight because I still feel uh an obligation to at least 95% if not more of the items on the bill list that we probably should be paying so until I get some sort of better understanding of which items I can isolate and vote no on you know it's unlikely that you're going to hear me at least vote no on the entire b list um that said I do have a very relatively min question but on um there's a web International billing as I I'm wondering if it's like a monthly maintenance fee but it's on page 28 it's $333 33 and it's a it's a small amount except that if it's monthly it you know it would annualize up to $4,000 um but I my sense I guess I want to confirm that and then I want to make a statement that my sense is we are dramatically overpaying for our website all right so um so I'm not going to I'm I'm not even going to vote no on that one payment because it certainly wouldn't be fair to the vendor but I do want to highlight to the rest of the world that I have a potential concern that we're overpaying for this service okay now that concludes my comment so we okay so appr the consent okay he just moved the consent agenda and I seconded it and I forgot that Al wanted the bill list voted on separately but I think I don't think that's necessary yeah I don't I don't think unless someone else wants it I'm not going to I'm not going to line item anything on the bills okay yes Mr GUI yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes okay individual resolutions approval to uh apply for a grant from New Jersey Department of Community Affairs approximately $20,000 ofation Center previously tabled 22824 was Ted because we just got some more time to the proposal make a motion to approve 22454 second Mr Noble yes Mr gzi um I have a question for the mayor mayor if you know this I don't know I know there's been back and forth conversation um and an email I recently received all related to uh the potential for a dog park in that space where the greenhouse is and I know there are people pros and cons I don't want to debate the U the merits of it I just I'm curious would this grant would any of it be available to that purpose should should the council want to consider that further or do you not this grant would be it's really Geographic it's it's for the recreation area so anything it's possible there people recommending some other things it's a matter of getting the Grant and we at least remove the greenhouse remove it just get rid of the greenhouse as long as yeah that could be part of this grant as well yeah I mean that whatever we decide to do with the grant that could be retrofitting it could be removing it it could be doing a number of things we have to come up and yeah there was a very specific comment I read that it was related to uh drainage for the field so I just I didn't know if we could use it for potentially other things as well no there's some specifics that we've already identified that have to do one of them okay all right thank you so yes I think we're up to yeah okay so you seconded it uh Mr Noble yes again Mr gbesi yes for the first time M Mone yes hopes that we could maybe get a dog par Mr we maybe we should deed restrict the property yes yes idea 22479 governing by certification of 2022 audit and yeah uh discussion please y okay I've asked for discussion because this is one of those times where if you want to break out your iPods or whatever people have nowadays um I'm going to read something because uh I want it for it to be included in our public record in our minutes and we are going to Simply vote this Council right now is going to Simply vote um on whether or not we read the comments basically in the audit report um I did read the comments and and it's a devastatingly bad audit report so rather than just vote the way I'm going to vote um I'd like to I'd like to use this as my opportunity to let the let our you know residents know um some of the challenges that that you'll all be looking at shortly when this report avail um also I did ask Mr Co to to bring an exhibit that maybe he can pass that while I talk um but for the past two meetings I've tried to learn residents to anticipate concerns regarding the 2022 audit report we finally received the audit report about a week ago about a week ago and tonight in resolution uh 20247 the governing body is required by law to certify that we personally reviewed at a minimum the annual report of the audit and specifically sections of the annual audit entitled comments and recommendations while I will certify my review of these comments and questions I believe I am obligated to share my opinions of this report with the public in my opinion Bradley Beach failed our 2022 audit miserably the comments and recommendations section highlighted incredible Financial incompetence by our Administration our 2022 financial data was so poorly maintained that overarching audit finding 22 2022 d001 stated and I'm going to read this U Vera internal control procedures were not in place for preventing or detecting and correcting misstatements of account balances recorded in the general letter on a current and timely basis General ledgers that are not completely inaccurately maintained present a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement in financial statement balances will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis this is one of the worst types of audit assessments that could be received think about the wording a material misstatement is reasonably possible that just should not be the case and it goes on to say and it will not be prevented or detected and corrected there were 16 comments in all that we all have to review and and attest and certify that we read eight of those comments half of them were repeats from last year half of those corrective action comments were left unaddressed for over a year a quick summary of the remaining comments includes trust accounts were not properly established with the state of New Jersey employment contracts must be reviewed the those were both from prior year as well and Carri forward monthly receipts and dispersements must be recorded in the general ledger I mean think about that how must be recorded in the general ledger and reconciled to the bank account statement suggesting that we're not doing that at least not consistently proper authorization um authorizations were not obtained for ere expenditures of Appropriations in the current fund and the Beach utility operating fund Bank reconciliations someone asked this question earlier who's doing the bank reconciliations bank reconciliations were not completed and accurately reconciled to the general ledger a burrow officer's certification was not consistently made on goods and services received Bradley Beach is not in compliance with the state statute that requires a responsible individual to authorize and supervise the activities of the payroll service provider to make matters worse as of the year end 2022 the auditor was unable to balance our cash on hand to the general general ledger our actual cash was roughly $75,000 less than what our books reflected said another way the auditor couldn't account for $75,000 and when you have access to the report this is referred to as miscellaneous reimbursements in exhibit a-4 even more discouraging and this is you know a very serious concern of mine personally even more discouraging the order to confirm that in 2022 the burrow did not pay ourselves back1 million that we borrowed from our Surplus um I did ask Mr Co to pass out this exhibit because I'm going to make some quick references to it but um I went back 12 I went back 14 years but 12 audit reports from back to 2010 and um I'll just roughly talk talk everyone through this but um every year as a matter of course the burrow borrows from our Surplus always with the intent to reimburse our Surplus in the summer of last year so I'm talking June 2023 our mayor our business administrator and our CFO informed the counil that $700,000 of this million doll borrowing had been paid back to the Bur so the council was told that in in the prior year 2022 700,000 of the million had been paid back and I was upset about that and I think other council members might have been as well but because we all thought we dipped into our Surplus $300,000 how could the administration be so unaware of our 22 financial statements financial statement results 6 months after the 22 books should have been closed and what I mean by that is they told us 6 months after the close of the Year 700,000 have been paid back now we're finding out 22,000 was paid back oh not 700,000 we did not pay back 1 million please note that the council relied upon these misstated amounts when negotiating with the mayor on the 2023 budget I personally pushed very hard to find out what was the amount that we had reimburse replenish our Surplus because I thought that was at least a rule of thumb a guideline something I could used to estimate what the subsequent year 2023 might be so we because what happens is every year we make that decision to borrow again well we borrowed again in 2023 1.1 million and if I had known at that point that in the year just p we had paid back none of it I might have looked at that borrowing and I would have looked at that borrowing very differently so for those in attendance tonight I did prepare this exhibit I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it but but anyone who has it in hand for folks joining I'm going to ask joining by Zoom I'm going to ask our uh clerk to to include this in our minutes but I went back to 2010 went to every single audit report and pulled out exactly how much we borrowed each year and exactly how much we replenished and in most years out of 12 years that we looked at um three of them we did not get the full 100% replenished in agregate on average we replenished 134% so even the three bad years were more than offset by the good years um as I said we on average replenished 13 4% uh the worst bad year we had we replenished 77% that was the worst of three bad years 77% 34 of the money we borrowed we repaid this year we borrowed $988,000 we replenished 2% so I cannot tell people because I sit here and I I know I'm you know this financial geek and most people your eyes will back in your head when I start talking about anticipated Surplus but um this was extremely Discerning it should be for all of us what a a state of chaos and disarray our financial department was through the year 2022 that our auditor tells us we can't even reconcile bank accounts and that we we didn't even know that we could not replenish a million of our Surplus I don't know when the administration found out but I found out about a week ago when this audit report was made available to me so I will finish my comments on the audit I will vote Yes that I read those comments um but I just want to make sure the rest of the residents understand my concerns thank you thank you so um make a motion to approve uh 202 2479 Mr Noble yes Mr guzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes mayor Fox yes 20248 authorizing amendments to the temporary budget make a motion to approve 20248 Mr Noble okay yes Mr hzi yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes yes mayor Fox yes 22481 approval of a shared service agreement with nepon City for summer make motion to approve yeah um second yes Mr GUI yes M Mahoney yes Mr Weber yes yes 2482 I'll make a motion to table this uh in that um we can't go through some of the detail we received um um information in our executive session that will conclude us or have us have take so make motion table second M yes Mr gy before I vote just want to make a couple of unscripted comments but for everybody's benefit I came here tonight with zero intention of voting yes on this even before we had our executive session um this resolution was prepared in a vacuum without any input requested or received from the council um it it I sat here and I read an earlier prepared statement where I gave very specifically four criteria that I would need to vote Yes on the ultimate disposition of this property and it included deed restrictions and it included that the burrow would not do uh a demolition ourselves we would make sure that was part of the the purchasers uh uh obligation needless to say when this bid package came to the council um it was honestly it was just all over the place it was back to fair share housing there's no way I was going to sit here and vote to dedicate one lot which more or less could be worth a half a million could be worth a million I don't know I feel there I felt there would be other opportunities to pursue satisfying our obligation for fair share housing in the in the session we had executive session tonight I think we've discovered that there probably are other opportunities so this was premature I think it was ill ill conceived uh and for all of you who stood up here tonight and said please vote no I wanted to tell you then that I that I had no intention to voting know for the same reasons that you shared with us tonight so thank you and I'll vote Yes for tabling M Mahone yes Mr Weber also go off the script stain uh before I vote um I'd just like to say that councilman goosi I think your comments are just a little bit off on this uh number one um this package went out on March 12th at 448 uh the memo in the package cited your four specific requirements uh that they were were addressed March 12th today's March 27th I did get feedback from one council person uh council president um denoble last Wednesday and I've been attempting to answer her question so um we develop a bid package and we expect feedback and inut you didn't open it through March 20th you had even open the email so I I take a little bit of exception to the fact that you say that you weren't um notified on this um it was eight days went by that you didn't even open the so um let's not misinform people and say we just came toight on on March 27th the Pack set approve it this went out on March 12th and the reason it went out on March 12th was as we asked please review Etc we gave it to the um B attorney the bur attorney last Friday said this meets all the Le with I don't want to get into a long and draw that argument because I think between now next week we're going to be able to work through a couple of the issues on here but um I will vote Yes on the table thank you Mr M I'd like to make a comment back in fact um as you accused me of misinforming people and that my comments um were inappropriately uh shared I have have a prepared statement that I was not going to read until now but on March 12th I received an email from our business administrator and it stated there are four councilman gubitosi requirements as I understand them one the governing body should approve a subdivision plan and have it processed before the lanus board prior to sale that is accurate two the governing body should approve the requirements in detail to pre-qualify potential developers that is also accurate three not in favor of the burrow this is a summary not in favor of the burrow managing the demolition of the buildings I was absolutely adamant about that and four a public auction opposed to a RFP process I wanted a public auction not an RFP process so Mr Mayor you're right my comments were addressed by the business administrator then the the business administrator said in her note I have been able to satisfy these requests to varying degrees and then she said the email continues I am unsure how to address the first second and third requirements so when you when you say these things to the public please know what you're talking about I know what I'm talking about counc I do and but the point is that you li to these people and please don't say that that's that's very important you just said my comments were addressed how is that honest how is that accurate what I'm telling you is on March 12th you had every opportunity to come forward and say let's work through number one two 3 4 this is why there were reasons why those things Happ this the noble told me I didn't have to open it for those of you who are you are you represented by council president I'm she applies for her de she's very good my point is she told me what was in the email I'm like this is unbelievable it is relevant this is what's relevant is that you put together a packet with a team that nobody knows that exists you you say we have to have affordable housing I already solved that we don't have to have it I don't think we've solved anything yet okay well I I made a very good suggestion but I would have loved to been part of this team that created this packet I have land use experience we've all been on the land use board or the planning board at one point or another the the opening bid amount is ridiculous it has to be reassessed because it's way too low the two options there should be one option the artifacts what's going on with them we don't know there's just so many questions that weren't answered I I I sent many emails and I CC everybody so they were in the loop even if they did or did not read it but I printed it out and shared it with councilman goosi so that's another way to read it without opening and it's it's amazing to me that you know that would be on the 20th right it's again relevant but I did a lot of research before I I'm not saying don't interrupt letter you're asking me I I looked at the packet I was not included it took me five months to get the packet so it took me a week to really digest it and come up with a lot of questions that I had and which I still have and we're tbling this because this package is unacceptable again I wasn't included in this council president we T we're tbling it because we have some information that we have to it still and who brought that to your attention Council woman J I believe the fair hous and I think I should be also be in that committee as well thank you okay thank you uh there's no announcements so uh mayor and Council reports we'll start with councilman wether I have a very very big announcement everybody you know that really huge lottery ticket that was so it wasn't me yeah I know you were hoping that it was me but it wasn't it could have solve a lot of problems um could have Sol a lot of problems um I'm going to be firing first a report first a report um for the operational period ending on March 27th 2024 that's today uh Squad responded to 7day calls three Night Calls for total of 10 calls seven work for Medical three fire the squad conducted one drill for the safety and education membership there were no out of town Mutual Aid request and Squad requested no Mutual Aid assistance um in that period uh fire department we're going to do those reports monthly by the way but sure that they would both both departments would like everyone to know that they're still looking for volunteers for pring first a uh they provide free training qualified individuals uh anyone wishing to volunteer for either the firei department or the first aid uh applications could be found on the World website um and there's cooperation between these two departments that allows us to keep answering the Citizens need for medical care and fire protection at no cost for 247365 fire department um I was not here last week for the the Fletcher Lake commission meeting so I do not have a report I'm sure Jane is going to tell you more about a tree planting for shade tree committee um we are going to have a tree planting on May 4th and uh we're going to need volunteers just like we do this twice a year every year so anybody wants to volunteer plant trees in the planting strip see me email me call me um and saying we probably planted maybe a couple dozen trees probably could use a couple dozen volunteers us 9 to bnoon whenever we are done uh I would like to comment that the fire speak the fire department the fish fry was great uh it was great to see a lot of our police officers there that was great um had a good time and I hope everybody that was able to attend had a good time and now I'm going to go back to the first day for one thing I think it was the last meeting we approved a CO I think it's on 4th of July we weekend whatever um people should recognize that that hasn't happened in a long time um it's been a long time I'll leave it at that so save your change give it to the firstate spot of coin cost I know the schools raising money they want your lose change too uh and if you have money that doesn't jiggle and it folds and you want to give them that they like that too so uh save up for 4th of July support the first and that's my report thanks very much thank you just a quick um note uh the fish fry I won the 5050 I gave it back though TJ wanted me to but it was great it was a good time uh okay um the land boort me met on March 2 first um three applications came before the lers Court the first uh was for 302 Park Place avenue to extend a driveway add a second story on an unexisting structure construct a garage and an outdoor shower and that was approved 6 to3 with four variances uh 900 Ocean Avenue saw a use variance for a bed and breakfast to change into a single family home uh due to a fire and replace the Lost garage Department the driveway the application was pushed to May 16th meeting for more testimony uh finally 27 and half Pacific Avenue applied to enclose an area under an existing garage the changes required two Vault variances and a use variance the application was carried into May 16th meeting for more testimony the next time they will meet is April 18th at 6:30 um I just have a couple of other comments um we received the two 2022 audit and in this meeting we're just being we were asked to certify that we received the audit and we read the comments and recommendations with that said and I didn't check with uh councilman goosi before I wrote wrote my comments so if I'm a little repetitive not only did the audit find 15 internal control and compliance matters 16 depending on how you count them but eight of those issues were from 2021 shockingly the 2021 audit only mentioned eight internal control and control and compliance matters this means no corrective action was taken on those eight items between 21 2021 and 2022 and seven more control and compliance items were identified the audit report found a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting by failing to maintain accurate General ledgers for all funds on a current and timely basis the Burrow's response to this matal iial deficiency was agreement with finding with the finding and that it would enhance its internal controls to ensure the maintenance of complete and accurate General ledgers for all funds but the question remains how are they going to do this these same issues with the general ledger were cited in 2020 in the 2021 audit and never ameliorated this is not progress and the presidents suffer to the 2024 budget I optimistically and perhaps naively joined this council with the goal of getting the budget process started early and running smoothly I wanted transparency accountability and clear reporting this is what I was good at in my past life on Wall Street though Municipal budgets are a different beast in some ways deadlines are an immutable Tas March 27th only 6:00 p.m. as I wrote this and we still have no preliminary Budget on top of that when I first sat down with this Administration in October we talked we had talked about delivering clear quarter quarterly numbers for each burrow fund showing actual cost and percentages the budget I am hope hopeful that I can see the 2023 actual versus budget at the end of March as for the budget itself I have no idea it's not for lack of trying on the part of this Council now seeing the interations of communications request and answers my sympathy extends to my fellow council members like the audit this is not progress and you the people of barley beach again s those are my comments thank you councilman buosi I'll start with u s on to our Police Department start with our police report uh detective Lieutenant brownie gave me a very comprehensive report for this council meeting that he said thankfully we have not had any anything significant to report in regard to crime or arrest since the last council meeting so thank you great news great news um I also did have a chance to to meet with Captain Arnold and we discussed some um Capital Improvement needs for the police department uh as you're all aware soon we should be working on the budget and uh I wanted to get a head start with the captain just to make sure I understood um the police department's needs and and May priorities um regarding the 2024 budget itself uh I believe did did it get sent out Mr Mayor like 6:15 today uh it's got sent out the C yeah somebody somebody did tell me I haven't seen it but I'm told it's in my inbox so that that's Obviously good news we originally thought we'd get it January 31st then we passed a resolution to delivered on February 27th here we are March 27th and we now have a draft of the preliminary budget um the reason I say that is because it's it's taken at least a month I mean I could say two but January 3rd versus pretty aggressive but it's taken we're a month later than we should be in receiving this budget and my concern is that we are now and I think m m Kepler actually mentioned this earlier you know the way this works and it has worked exactly this way um it's wait around wait around wait around we finally get the budget and then it's like all hands on deck get this approved get this adopted immediately um and it's just not going to work that way this year I I we've tried repeatedly to work collaboratively if we can work collaboratively this year great but speaking only for myself I am not approving any budget until I am very comfortable that it is as accurate as I can determine it to be now realizing that even the numbers I was working with last year were not very reliable um I'm the liaz the S Lake commission and the Civil Lake commission members reached out to Mayor Fox just a few days ago to express concerns about the uh the critical status of The Flume on the East End of silin lake and they noted that The Flume was broken and that U water was rapidly draining from svin Lake endangering the fish and the fow and causing an odor mayor Fox responded very very quickly that the work is proceeding this week and commission members have related to me that they're they're very happy to have gotten such a quick response from the mayor um I've got to make a quick comment about uh local 152 um we talked about this a little while back a number of our Union uh members joined us at a council meeting and expressed concerns um I had a longer stat I'm not going to read it but I will say it's been 15 months I don't understand why so little progress has been made the council has requested repeatedly for us keep in mind we ultimately have to uh approve any contract that's negotiated we've requested repeatedly to have a voice at the table any one of us just have a voice at this table because we get feedback from our own employees that our negotiating team is quote unquote not being reasonable I don't know if that's true I'm not accusing our negotiating team of any wrongdoing or poor negotiating but I just don't know if it's true and if they're saying that why not allow one other council member to join these negotiations um so you know folks said at the last meeting somebody referenced some of the invoices uh the bill list invoices for negotiations by attorneys um somebody said at one of the last meetings that we're coming close and may even exceed a paying legal fill legal bills that are greater than what we would that we would negotiate as a a merit increase for our uh our employees I mean I I think I don't know this but I I think the total salaries for this group might be around $1.5 million a 3% increase would be $45,000 4% increase you know you guys do the math but if that's the kind of magnitude we're talking about of a merit pay increase it seems silly to me that we're paying our lawyers 40,000 and More in cter so I just had to say it makes no sense to me that the council is not allowed to participate to some degree just to give another perspective here I'm I'm just openly asking the mayor to share with the council the Union's most recent proposal to allow us to sit an executive session because we haven't seen it to allow us to sit in an executive session with the labor attorney with the business administrator with the resident volunteer who's negotiating and and explain to us where we stand uh and then finally uh I'll just make a a financial appeal to everyone still trying to raise money for our fallen heroes U at the moment we are locally short relative to our goal with Memorial Day rapidly approaching and again our fallen heroes I'm referencing uh the the the the people whose lives were lost in combat uh in the armed services uh who were from Bradley Beach we have 19 that are already recognized on monuments around town one more that we will be adding this year so again if anyone has some spare change line onun the house and you can make a donation to the fallowing heroes it's uh Mr nin has set up a collaboration with the burrow Council via the uh Bradley Beach historical society and we can make contributions there thank you very much council president thank you I'll try to be brief since it's so late so uh we didn't have a shade tree meeting but on a side note the Bradley Beach sixth grade class took a tour of the trees on their campus with member Noel Weinberg and myself Jane Den Noble and we identify the trees there which included White Oak red maple Red Oak Tula Eastern White Pine River Birch and red bud and we also talked about how the trees provide oxygen they improve air quality they conserve water preserving soil and support Wildlife including our local boxes next we have tourism they had a meeting on um March uh 18th good news tourist director Amy Hall secured $2,000 sponsorship from the mammoth County tourism division the Shamrock hunt was a huge success the commission discussed that they're going to approve one day event next year to better promote visitors to Main Street also mark your calendars April 21st is the fourth annual Earth Day Festival and green Fair that'll be held in Riley par really fun and of course summer shaping up nicely I can't wait with did events on the beach front and Riley Park next is the Bradley Beach Board of Ed stand by oh here we go they had the meeting March 19th the uh board mentioned the Poseidon program at the Neptune High School where graduating students may also receive their associates degree upon graduation the school was awarded a full Grant from the New Jersey Natural Gas Save Green project in the amount of $392,000 for the replacement of the two old steam boilers along with LED lighting upgrades thanks to Michael hiber the superintendent David tanzo the VA and Elizabeth Franks the president of the board of ed for working on the submission material also Thomas J Coan from the Bradley Beach Education Foundation for locating the well done that's a huge amount of money that he'll be saving us taxpayers and we really appreciate that Bravo to everybody great great work um on another Financial note the Bradley Beach Board of Ed presented their 2024 2025 tenative budget for which there will be a public hearing on May 7th after losing over $50,000 in state aid their budget reflected an increase of $59 for the average home at $1 million another job well done by our Board of Ed let's not forget that in the 2023 budget 2024 budget year we saw a decrease in our school ta taxes oh and more good news they celebrated the winter teams and the coaches and the girls basketball basketball team is the 2023 Mammoth County Athletic League National division Champions with a record of 12 to w and uh his daughter Nora was on the team as well Bo well they didn't do was so good but they had a lot of fun and the coach was wonderful and all I I congratulate all the uh athletes and and their uh teamwork very important thank you that completes my report thank you uh I just have a couple things to cover first um I want to clarify something that I mentioned the last meeting on the uh funding community Project funding grants um so I announced that we got an award uh and we certainly thanked um congressman colog and Senator Booker uh I mentioned that um we had two applications one for silven Lake and one for Main Street I kind of combine that sentence and I should have separated the sentence the applications were for s in Main Street the award just went to Main Street uh s Lake did not receive award I clarified that with the S Lake team and they were disappointed but that's the grant crumbled this time hopefully better better luck next time on that as I said um a lot of improvements that we can assess and kind of get lined up relative to Main Street um the grant is is $1,400,000 uh it clearly isn't enough to revamp the whole of Main Street but we can get a good start on it uh we want to start looking at some Define design and implementation uh we want to get a a small te together to start looking at the prior plannings and and see where we go from there um I know that um we've had an initial me and I initially met with CME on this and they're they're just going to get a kind of an idea um set of ideas um for us um as it relates to the boardwalk preservation grant that 4.3 million that we'd have to match 200,000 it's about 4.6 um cme's already started um at design phase um specking out some environmental requirements um some survey requirements some conceptual requirements uh made D contact and U they're not sure whether we've got to engage the Army Corps yet but U or if but I think we do um so we're the point is on this on this 6 million or of uh grants for our community we're beginning to move on those so we can uh move forward uh we've already received um requests from Congressman p in Booker's office for next year already um so we're going to begin to work on that too it might be a good way to complement what we already have hopefully we can do that but we'll see how that goes um I you probably some people have seen this U on social media I guess yesterday maybe the day before uh on mayor's Wellness um I think I mentioned the last meeting we receiv received that healthy town to watch in 2022 uh in 2023 we were we actually um went up a level and happy to report that uh we achieved a healthy Town designation uh there's 17 towns that achieved this um we thought we were kind of a year away from that but we U we exceed our expectation uh I'm really grateful for the recognition that the team that's worked so hard in this area I also want to congratulate um some other Shore or mm County towns uh bead with Crest Asbury Park who repeat and Freehold um received um healthy Town designation and Stone Harbor Brigantine Atlantic City Red Bank and brick received either a town to watch or up and coming so uh I think we quickly kind of mov up that curve and we're going to continue to work on programs that make our community healthier going forward um that's all I have for now um just I just ask you to for uh purposes of gravity I go into the library Recreation um but just check the website for upcoming events with that I'll close my comments and move to public comments Kepler 504 Central Avenue here in town um I would like to speak and address um a superior court decision that was handed down um yesterday afternoon in regard to to um Chief Gua and um the judge allowed Chief Guida to get away with his actions with no ramifications to him due to Mayor Fox the acting business administrator DeMarco and labor attorney Bernstein all who criminally conspired to hide the report from the council the court system and the mammoth County prosecutor's office have both failed we the people in this process first the prosecutor's office decided not to press criminal charges against chief which they had the authority and the discretion to do and then the judge who failed to protect the interests of the residents of um the burrow yesterday decided to protect the um the rights and the interests of Chief weda the council should urgently provide yesterday's decision to the attorney general as further proof supporting the need for immediate and impaneling of a grand jury seeking criminal indictments for collusion against the aforementioned individuals who conspired to protect Chief waa from appropriate disciplinary action the residents and the burrow of Bradley Beach have been damaged by of these individuals actions Fox DeMarco and Bernstein in that in this matter specifically and other additional situations um collectively and severally and each of these individuals should be held accountable by way of um some kind of a lawsuit or indictment and consideration by by the borrow to sue these individuals personally being that there I did receive thank you for your response to my Oprah request um in regard to I asked for a copy of the individual Fidelity performance insurity bond a liability POS uh policy held personally by mayor Larry Fox since January 5th of 2021 um as is required and um I was informed that there are no responsive records for um this part of my request and I did receive your oath of office so therefore that means that you are personally liable for damages now because of the fact that the council is not able to take appropriate disciplinary actions um due to the withholding and the hiding of the report because you know mayor Fox is saying that the council which we have an ordinance and usually ordinances when they're broken which are considered laws people are arrested um I'm not sure why our police are not acting on I mean if I were to break an ordinance I'd be arrested so um mayor Fox subverted our ordinance and he did not provide the report to the council which we have an ordinance that says he was supposed to however he was trying to justify that he didn't provide it to you because he was still working with the prosecutor's office but somehow acting uh burrow administrator DeMarco and um labor attorney Bernstein they somehow were special and they were able to have access to that information and as a result of the fact that the council was not able to act as would have been their right to take disciplinary action such as demoting there would have been now there will not be um a a public Municipal trial for the actions of Chief VA and disciplinary action which could have included Ed demotion or some kind of financial remuneration for his actions will not be allowed to take place now which is considered damages against us we the people because now he will be able to move forward with his um retirement and going before the pension board without any kind of penalty or demotion like he would not if now he'll be retiring as a chief as opposed to maybe he could have been demoted down to patrolman and retired at a patrolman salary so there is a financial not just a um moral and ethical issue in hand here and that the mayor would hide that and then misrepresent the circumstances under which and the timing and how he received the report and the actions that he took to keep it from the council which is there's an existing ordinance um Chief Arnold or Captain Arnold could you please exess um what your position is about the fact that um mayor Fox withheld in violation of our ordinance the report that he was supposed to have provided that he was in receipt of on January 19th and chose not to could you express what your feelings as Chief would be and how you will be handling that thank you keep that in mind that Captain Arnold will not comment can't John Ross 107 Second Avenue uh I have been working back and forth with lining the driveways or the street for parking parking towards the beach which is you know on the first house and I have a twocc car garage with a one car apron cut very challenging for homeowners and for the beach goers I didn't believe after 20 years there was going to be any resolution to it except when I see the first block from Main Street on Second Avenue and the first block on Third Avenue all lined with parking and delineated driveways also norc Avenue is completely lined with first block parking and driveways all the way down to Main Street driveway delineations I was working I thought with mayor Fox and I thought that he said he was thinking that it was going to happen but he would also like the parking eliminate delineated but I haven't heard anything and you know I I first called the road department CU I thought oh they're the ones that do the yellow lines they're probably the ones that line the driveways they can't make that decision no and they said they can't and then they said no the police department makes it so I called the police department and I think I talked to a sergeant um Sullivan no Arnold maybe he's Captain Captain okay whatever captain and he said to me well if I do it for you have to do it for everybody but as I say I think that ship sailed because you did it for somebody that's all I have to say I've been you know a homeowner here for 30 years the home that I built is 20 years old and I've been going through this for 20 years this is the latest picture of somebody in my driveway who the police they give a ticket to but they won't they won't take them out they won't tell them and then I'm held in my house from 6:00 in the morning until almost 2:00 in the afternoon until somebody decides to move and then they curse me up and down that you know they I should get an effing ticket every effing day of my life because they got a ticket and they're in my driveway and I can't pull out and that's all thank you may I have your number of your home again yes 107 okay thank you yeah it's the first house towards the ocean thank you yes Nancy meow ocean par Condominiums I want to um first of all do my little Public Service Announcement which is that um our next meeting is April 10th your next meeting is April 10th that also is the second Wednesday of an even month which is plastic film pickup day so so um since that has not been changed I would like to encourage everyone to put out their plastic film um I want to reiterate what I learned this evening because it got a little confusing with names and people being thrown around if the mayor stated that he and the CFO are who signs the checks so quite honestly that really doesn't concern Miss DeMarco um because it is those two people's responsibility um and we're I don't know why we can't know who does what job um but I'll just put it right out here yes we are spending $300 a month for that disgusting useless website and it would be better if our employees did the job properly and I don't know how it is again I actually got on a mailing list for the mayor's newsletter do any of you think I want to receive that who put me on it that's the last thing I want to see in my inbox and then it went on and on about our food pantry and our volunteers they are not ours they are their own business and every if you're going to do that for them and I say this to you all the time then do it for every other business in this municipality how dare you be that biased and especially with our money I still don't know the difference between commission and department but I do know when I click on things like burrow Hall I don't know where to look for something on the list because there's no order maybe it's the teacher me you do things alphabetically I don't know but again it is an employee who does this so do not stand there and sit there and tell us we cannot talk about about the incompetence of the employees unless it is you who tell them do not be organized do not be accurate take Liberties it's one or the other and we since we're paying for it I think it is extraordinarily unjust I also failed to say regarding the whole electric charging station thing which I really did want a while ago until you got blown out of proportion plans of grandios and blocking people's parking spaces in front of their house this new law thing is not needed right away we don't have to comply right away technology will make Leaps and Bounds in the next 10 years on all of that that whole thing doesn't just need to be tabled it needs to be put away for another eight years I also don't understand why we are spending money on a qpa and then yet this bid package on the church thing was done by the B acting ba and the mayor it just is mind boggly on every level how we continue to waste money how people who don't know enough involve themselves in things they shouldn't be involved in have people who don't know the direction we want to go into we don't want that grandal plan for for Main Street that's not what we want how many years are we going to have it presented pay for a second presentation presentation you'll thank you it's not what we want and to have the same people be consulted is short changing the other residents of the town and that's it because I'm going to go and dig out my recycle thank you I still have time my thing didn't go off said you were done I I never said I'm done well maybe it's your interpretation so definitely is and your arrogance and your offense and the comments you make to the public you need to be the one to monitor yourself and your comments and state the facts yeah was you while you're getting up I just like to Municipal Employees work hard every day and do a good job it's unfortunate [Music] people comment in the question given our ordered issues that we're starting to hear about now I don't understand how we approve the bill list without someone here to answer questions should we here's my question should we have a process in place to ensure questions are answered prior to approval you're putting the council and yourself in a very difficult spot right now by approving the these bills and again with our audit and I know things are sometimes a little different but it's all money and all kind of comes together so I asked the question again should we have a a process in place to ensure questions are answered yeah I took your comment down and I'll talk thank you [Music] yes mire 610 Bley a um okay this audit information has me spinning I'm going to remind everyone that I came up here last last year discussing the replenishment of the anticipated Surplus for 2022 during the budget season last year and I harped on the 300,000 because in 20122 we only passed the budget because of a $300,000 amount that the council didn't want approved it got eliminated in 2 the budget passed okay when we came into 2023 mayor you don't have to look at me like you're going to stab me okay I'm just trying to understand well okay so we came into 2023 and I kept mentioning this 300,000 because I found it to be very much of a coincidence that the budget got approved without this 300,000 that had been in payroll and so we REM it got removed because it was too much of a raise and it's the only way the budget was going to get approved in 2022 when we came into 2023 we found out that we were we had only replenished 700,000 into the anticipated surplus of the million we used so I sat here and said wow what a coincidence that we didn't pass 300,000 in the 2022 budget but now we see that we didn't replenish 300,000 okay and I harped on this and Mr farbach and M and Larry Fox treated me like I was an imbecile every time I was up here talking about that so here we are now with the proof from an audit that they lied by Omission by not even correcting the fact that 700,000 wasn't paid back and only 22 $2,000 was paid back so I also recall sitting up here standing up here when we were told we were going to have an 11% Municipal tax increase but that was an error it was more like 13.2 and I remember standing up here and saying how can that be did our Council were they giv false numbers to vote on during the 2023 budget I said those words up here again looked at like I was some imbecile well guess what you guys were given false numbers last year and when this budget comes in front of you I don't care if we can't pay anyone I don't care if not one penny gets paid until this mayor steps down we cannot give him the responsibility of doing anything with our money again again AB if you all introduce this budget just introduce it you are part of this criminality you are part of these lies you are part of wasting our tax dollars with no idea of where it went and I want to also remind everybody that in 2022 when we used a million dollars and didn't replenish it guess what else we use that we have no records on we got $217,000 of covid money that year too that we have no records on where that was spent this is a federal issue we don't just need State investigations in here we need Federal in investigations in here now we Cann not he will bankrupt us before we can we can we can manage our own money we can manage our own money here we will do it he needs to step down because he cannot manage a penny we have what was it that um councilman goosi said about the audit we have no Bank reconciliations we don't balance Bank bank accounts we don't balance bank accounts how many bank accounts do we have how many four four five four you know how many about do we have 20 or do we have like five I think it's like 20 something okay and we don't reconcile bank accounts guys and we have over 20 bank accounts trust accounts dipped in and out to that is against the law to not have those records thank you can you please resign we can't give you another Penny thank you uh Thomas J Coan 612 Third Avenue um mayor you said we have a healthy Town designation is that what you said we do but it's not a financial healthy Town designation um I did want to say that Mr Canon I mean I think everyone should call the DCA tomorrow and use this uh New Jersey statute 52 col 27 bb-51 which calls into question the officer of the municipality who shall keep accounts and and perform the duties in accordance with the recommendations of the DCA this report should go to the DCA and that person should forfeit their office um that's what the statute says again if you needed 52 colon 27 bb-51 um I feel bad for Mr Ross uh I've been requesting uh Street striping on Main Street for 10 years so I'm hoping that Mr Ross can get his striping but that the $1.4 million that's set aside for Main Street can be used for striping uh ladder crosswalks where there's no signalized intersections um I mean it just has to be done it's just silly at this point uh but also wanted to clarify I got approval from this Council to purchase two benches for my building at 401 Main Street and um I'm working with the bbca and the council to determine what that's going to be so now that we got this grant I'm not one to spend money twice so I don't want to have to spend money on these benches and then have the benches not match whatever's going on on Main Street so is there anyone who can give me some direction on that cuz I want to drop a couple Grand and find out I got to change them out maybe we could use benches that you choose as standing bench on Ry Beach doesn't use anything that I [Music] choose to have a committee I would love to love to be on that committee I'm just so happy that the Bradley Beach Education Foundation was willing to take in the refugee that I am because I wasn't accepted on any other commit thank thank you very much an I don't know exactly how I want to present this please be patient with me I found it absolutely amazing that everybody congratulated the fact that the school got a new meating system and it was done by a group of people who did it out of the goodness of their heart and for the sole purpose of the benefit of the school I did not hear the mayor say thank you I don't understand your I don't understand it how you find it so difficult to thank human beings with No Agenda who work very very hard to make our town better and you don't have the courtesy to acknowledge them and say thank you I find that very disturbing and I'm going to give you my bill list so questions so maybe I will get these answer and please make M Marco gets a cop yes real quick I just wanted to add my voice to the gentleman who requested striping um just me name address I'm sorry Lauren Eggbert 404 and a half brenley Avenue um I don't know now if the budget will allow for it but I would love to see striping throughout the town and certainly on Brinley Avenue on my street and there are people that take their half out of the middle on on you know in order to preserve a parking space for somebody it really cuts down on the amount of parking that we have on the road so and also I think you know that I'm not sure how happy people were about the striping that was done on on it and um and and they are asking you know why here and not other places and I was thinking yeah why why there and not on my street you know so please consider the possibility of striping um throughout the T thank yes 312 friendley I'd like to thank Council ass for providing us with this information it must have taken a long time to do this does the audit compare what we budgeted for something and what we actually spent on something I I don't understand how the audit works I mean it's it's a it's a 200 PA document it's really really and it's got budget is another word in our vernacular is appropriation so what we think we're going to spend is appropriation and it and what we spent and what we spend is expenses and it gives us B so it's in there so does it tell us where we went over I mean obviously spent too much money way too much money so which areas do we have to concentrate on minimizing the expended we going to expend yeah it's it's basically in there but it's it's very complex and it's we I've had it for about a week and I haven't even build into the details but it'll take a little while for me and I presume no I'm not asking you to say through it I just want to know if that information is available to us because for you to get a budget maybe your budget can't be as you know large as it is for certain departments and we have to really tighten our belts because this is really unacceptable thank you very much Dr Tom 610 Bry Avenue um I ever changed the form for the US to F out for the mertile license I appreciate it thank you so much for changing it it's much easier to read that says that you have a professional license you don't have to pay for it so thank you whoever did that um I also had a concern that the mayor is not concern um it seems that only councilman to I mean I'm sure everyone is but mayor Fox is more concerned about the mayor's Wellness campaign and our Zoom meetings that five people attend when you're spending our money and you can't reconcile you're not concerned about that you don't tell us like everyone hey I'm so this is here I'm going to act as the mayor people Beach I'm very sorry that the audit came back this way we're going to do our best to um reconcile make it better uh we want to make Bradley Beach a great town I'm sorry the audit happened this way but we're going to do better we're going to make that money spent and show you how we spend it that's awesome right wouldn't have been so great to hear that and I would have felt good you all would have felt good but obviously you have no concern you made more of a diet chop about the mayor's Wellness campaign than the audit which I I can't believe you did that um and the last thing was I know there was a thank not a thank you giv and um I I understand why there was no thank you giv I mean I courtesy would be you buy someone a drink they say thanks have a great night I purchased the mayor's drinks and uh I got no thank you so please don't anyone expect a thank you or a I sorry anymore from this F coming till November there will be no thank yous I'm sorries just don't expect them they're not going to happen um it's just not the way he operates and thank that should I'm not done okay I'm sorry I thought you were done no you do this all the time I get it late but you suck at that you have no timing whatsoever you just assume I get it late I mean the ba knows this lady she left very very early is there any way that we can make her stay here this things K I wanted to ask her hey did you take a class at Ruckers University that I had no idea about was that someone else Erica didn't take it who took that class I'd love to know that that she's taking a class to try to do her job that's like me going to an anatomy class while I'm already a doctor doesn't work that way you kind of have to take that beforehand so that's really scary so um thanks every uh there's one on the board I cannot read the name Mr Casto Mr castalano can you can can you hear me I can hear you okay great thanks can you just I'm very I'm very I'm sorry 60 604 Bradley Boulevard thank you I'm really intrigued about this budget can somebody uh inform me how many line items is this budget how big is it what's the size how many checks how many POS do we have how many checks do we right here any does anybody have any data about the volume I I know there used to be an Excel spreadsheet with 800 uh account line items but I have no idea how many checks we write okay so I'll just throw this out there um income companies when they can't figure out what to do they Outsource it because they realize they don't have the resources they don't have the talent they don't have the continuity between people as they turn over and you know what they basically do is they say we're going to pay somebody to do this we obviously don't have procedures but don't know what amendments we make we can't keep track of our our expenses and it's probably going to take a lot of resources to do and and a lot of people because we doesn't seem like we have the basic people infrastructure in place to do it otherwise we would be doing a lot better on all the things I've Hur so I would just say rather than looking at Outsourcing you know the water pipes we should look be looking at Outsourcing somebody that take care of our budget pay it as a bill every year and uh and and solve the problem that way thank you for listening thank you okay I'll make a motion to uh adjourn fav start like us some I know