##VIDEO ID:3epkEgWph6g## meeting to order please adequate notice of this meeting was provided and published in the Asbury Park Press and the ocean star on January 12th 2024 copies of the agenda were provided to the newspaper posted on public bulletin boards in the township website thank you can I get a roll call councilman alanes councilwoman pontorero councilwoman D young here councilman Fineman here councilwoman Travers here vice president amberino here president minino here thank you thank you could we please please rise to salute the flag in a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Madam clerk will you accept the reports yes of course thank you can I get a motion and a second to approve the minutes from November's 12th meeting motion second thank you roll call councilwoman D young yes councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes president minikino yes thank you thank you and I'd like to call the mayor at this time to the podium please y good evening uh if I could have Danielle kidney from the chamber come on up thank you we have small business Saturday coming so I'd like to read the proclamation and uh let Danielle have a chance to talk about some of our small businesses here in in uh Brick Township Brick Township New Jersey celebrates our local small businesses and the contributions they make to our local economy and Community according to the United States small business administration there are 34.7 million small businesses in the United States representing 99.7 of firms with paid employees and are responsible for 61.1% of net new jobs created since 1995 and employ 45.9% of employees in the private sector in the United States 68 cents of every dollar spent at a small business in the United States stays in the local community and every dollar spent at a small business creates an additional 48 cents in local business activity as a result of employees and local businesses purchasing local goods and services Brick Township supports our local businesses they create jobs boost our local local economy preserve our communities and recognize the Saturday after Thanksgiving as small business Saturday therefore I Lisa crate mayor of the township of brick in the county of Ocean and the state of New Jersey do hereby Proclaim Saturday November 30th 2024 to be small business Saturday in the township of brick and I urge all residents to shop small and support their local small businesses on small business Saturday uh I love shopping small I love our local businesses and uh I'm excited to present this to you and would love to hear if you have few words you'd like to share thank you so much to the support of Mayor crate and the Town Council uh we are honored at The Brick chamber to have such a wonderful relationship with the town um our small businesses truly are the backbone of the community and um we are so excited like I said to have their support and to help further the economy in Brick with the economic development committee as well uh looking at ways to bring more small businesses and incentivize small business owners to open and flourish here in Bricktown so thank you thank youant she will oh wait hold on my glasses there we go thank you so much for coming tonight and I'll see you out and about on Saturday I'll see some I'll see some of our businesses right okay this brings us to our consent agenda all matters listed under item consent agenda will be enacted by one Motion in the form listed below if discussion is desired on any item this item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately thank you 41 please authorized budget transfer this resolution authorizes budget appropriation transfers as needed for year end these transfers do not increase our overall budget in any way we are moving funds from one account to another thank you 4 two authorize insertion of chapter 159 Ocean County health department Municipal Alliance Grant 2024 councilwoman Travers thank you council president this resolution authorizes the insertion of a grant in the amount of $2,773 from the Ocean County Health Department for the 2024 Municipal Alliance Grant thank you thank you 43 authorize insertion of chapter 15 59 state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Garden State preservation trust for ocean open space and Recreation plan brettonwoods thank you this resolution authorizes the insertion of a grant in the amount of 1.4 million from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres programs these funds are to help help offset the acquisition of the Breton Woods property for open space 44 please authorized insertion of chapter 159 National open settlement Council vice president Amberen thank you council president this resolution authorizes the insertion of funds and the amount of $943,000 police departments are taking the lead by developing Partnerships to better assist those needing help thank you thank you 4 five authorized receipt of bids boat parts supplies and repairs for boats up to 27 feet councilman fan thank you council president this resolution this resolution authorizes the receipt of bids for boat parts supplies and repairs for boats up to 27 feet this bid is for the purchase and delivery of various boat parts and supplies as well as various repairs to Township vessels to be done on an as-needed basis some repairs in this bid require specialized equipment and training thank you thank you 46 authorize Award of contract addition to access control system councilwoman D young thank you this resolution authorizes the award of contract Mr Keys brick at an approved schedule of prices for additions to the access control system at Town Hall the contract will primarily be used for the addition of doors to at our existing access control system this will include the installation and configuration of approximately 15 to 20 Doors in new construction in the police operations and EMS building behind Town Hall bid notices were provided to 20 prospective biders from our biders list and 11 requested bid packages one bid was received thank you thank you 47 please authorized change order number one roadway improvements to Sherry Manor councilwoman di young thank you this resolution authorizes a closeout change order for the roadway improvements to Sherry Manor contract the change order decreases the contract by $15,512.71 19 440 thank you thank you 49 authorize Award of contract 2025 prescription Insurance Central Jersey Health Insurance Fund councilman Fineman thank you council president this resolution authorizes the renewal of a contract with the Central Jersey Health Insurance Fund to provide prescription coverage to active and retired employees Central Jersey Health Insurance Fund has offered a 16.8% increase the only additional quote received proposed a 21.1% increase all other prescription benefit managers contacted by the broker of record for the Township's prescription coverage declined to quote or were unresponsive thank you thank you 410 authorize Award of contract 2025 dental insurance councilwoman D young thank you this resolution authorizes the award of renewal of of the contract with d Eastern Dental of Clifton to provide a dental program to the Township's employees and retirees the proposed rates reflect a 15% in increase in a 2-year rate guarantee thank you 411 authorize Award of contract 2025 dental insurance Delta Dental of New Jersey councilwoman D young this resolution authorizes the award the award of renewal of the contract with dead Delta Dental of parcion to provide the dental program to the Township's employees and retirees the proposed rates reflect a 1.96% increase and a 2-year rate guarantee they offer a large coverage of network which allows employees and retirees access to an in network provider within reasonable distance thank you thank you 412 authorize Award of contract 2025 Cobra administrator OCA Council vice president amberino thank you council president this resolution authorizes the renewal of a contract with OCA of Mercerville to provide Cobra coverage for Township employees and retirees OCA has offered a 0% rate increase thank you thank you 413 please authorize Award of contract 2025 stop loss Insurance Sun Life Assurance this resolution authorizes an award of contract with Sun Life Insurance Wesley Hills ma to provide stop-loss insurance sunlife has an established working relationship with herizon and the township there will be an increase of 27.2 two% in a fixed expense and no additional lasers 414 authorize Award of contract 2025 temporary dis ability plan Guardian Life councilwoman Travers thank you council president this resolution authorizes an award of contract with the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America New York New York to provide temporary disability coverage for the township Guardian has offered a 0% increase to the employer rate and the minimum State mandated employee rate of 23% for 2025 thank you thank you 4:15 authorized shared service agreement Ocean County schedule C councilman fan thank you Council president this resolution authorizes a shared services agreement with the county of ocean to use as needed in the repair and maintenance of our streets and property in addition in additional to providing uh materials and supplies in this agreement the township can utilize the services of the county at an agreed upon schedule of prices for the work and equipment thank you thank you 416 authorized shared service agreement Ocean County animal facilities Services sorry this resolution authorizes a continued agreement with the Ocean County Board of Health for animal facilities 417 please 417a is tax over payments for 2024 block 306 lot 50 I'm sorry 305 lot 50 block 369 lot 10.01 block 21.1 do 2 11.01 Lot 19 block 37 7.01 lot 69 and block 37701 lot 34 thank you and this brings us to the end of our consent agenda can I get a Motion in a second motion second thank you open to council seeing none close Council open to public for questions on the resolutions only yes Mr Finelli how did I good evening you're losing your audience do we always have these TVs or you have a TV sale we got new mic a new set up here yeah okay I've been a while a couple of questions um I always have questions when it's big budget transfers so I'm just curious on three items number one um health insurance you needed to transfer almost $1.5 million what was the reason for that and uh transfers from you were able to take $161,000 out of salaries from dispatch and another 585,000 from salaries from police that's almost three4 of a million dollars so I'm just curious about what happened with health benefits and how we were able to transfer that much money out of those two so we are self-insured as you know so um we are our the health insurance rates and what we pay does tend to fluctuate based on the wellness of our covered lives um we had a rough year with some significant illness by several of our covered lives and this not only covers that but also gives us kind of an estay going forward for next year um she wants to be sure our CFO wants to be sure that we're in a good position going into the year for the bills that we'll have coming in before we have a budget and also making sure that we're adequately funded for the real life claims that we're experiencing so that's health insurance um in terms of the uh OT for a dispatch so we just budgeted more than we needed this was for overtime specifically so we were just didn't expend what we had guesstimated and the same is true for the police department so a reduction in overtime in overtime cost overtime cost MH is there a reason I mean it's good news right I'm just curious as to why we didn't need so much overtime this year was well I know on the police department side you really never know what kind of incident is going to happen you don't know what kind of year you're going to have you don't know how many guy people you're going to need to deploy at how many events so you know we always budget uh on the larger side to be sure we have what we need if we do and then knowing that we can transfer it uh if we if we don't need it but it's safer to have it has been our opinion okay I mean again it's good news yeah I'm just curious and one last thing just just about the prescription drug plan uh $6 million seems like a lot of money this is for present employees and retired employees correct and how many retired employees do we have I don't know the number off the top of my head but it's obviously significant because the 16.8% increase that's a one time for the next three years it's going to cover the three-year contract yes because all the information I'm getting I'm on Medicare and all those things is that drug prices are going to go down oh oh insulin is going to go down going to be C at $22,000 things are going to go down you we hope that's the case for everyone for all of us whether they're in our insurance plan or not um but we uh haven't necessarily experienced that and we can't negotiate but we can hire a broker that negotiates so the broker did spend significant time trying to negotiate us a better deal and as uh council person said in the comments there was only two submissions and the other one had a higher increase so you put this out the bid and and they they were able to negotiate they they directly contact several companies that provide this and tell them about what we need and try to get a price and usually we have more than CH two to choose from um but we got two to choose from this year and the other submission was higher than this one so we're going with the lowest submission okay thank you we we bought it's my imagination we only have one or two TVs in here now we got these yes we have a whole new s system hence no microphone there uh so upgrades that were needed for to be able to record not only our uh Board of adjustment planning board and our Council meetings but also Municipal Court these are specifically for the court or for the council the court does use them every time there's a session okay thank you you're welcome happy holidays everybody you too thank you anybody else from public please seeing none Clos public roll call councilwoman D young yes councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes president minino yes thank you thank you this brings us to our bill uh computer Bill resolution be it resolved by the township Council of the township of brick that the following bills be paid and that the mayor and clerk be and are hereby authorized to draw orders on the treasurer for the amounts of the same computer Bill resolution in the amount of 9,470 18385 thank you can I get a motion in a second motion second thank you open to councel closed Council open to public for questions on the computer Bill resolutions seeing none close public roll call councilwoman D young yes councilman fan yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president ambino yes president minikino yes thank you thank you this brings us to our manual Bill resolution be it resolved by the township Council of the township of brick that the following bills be paid and that the mayor and clerk be and are hereby authorized to draw orders on the treasur to the amounts of the same manual Bill resolution in the amount of 1,992 4867 thank you can I get a motion in a second motion second thank you open to councel close councel open to public for questions on the manual Bill resolutions seeing none Clos public roll call councilwoman D young yes councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes vice president amberino yes president minikino yes thank you thank than you and this brings us to 51 ordinance on first reading there is no public comments or uh there's no public comments on this uh first reading thank you an ordinance of the township of brick County of ocean state of New Jersey amending and supplementing chapter 288 of the Township Code entitled vehicles and traffic to add a new section to regulate low-speed electric bicycles thank you Council vice president amberino thank you council president the council's Public Safety Committee is recommending this ordinance to add address the growing numbers of electric bicycles on our roadways with the rising popularity of the use of electric powered bicycles the brick Police Department is seeing a rise in motor vehicle crashes resulting in serious injuries involving these types of bicycles most of these crashes are at the fault of The Operators of the electric powered bicycles in addition brick PD is seeing an increase of careless operations of electric bicycles and other electric powered means of conveyance this ordinance outlines the classes of electric bicycles and the rules that need to be followed if in use for example we're defining low-speed electric bicycles versus motorized bicycles and the speed limits at which they are able to operate and establishing rules such as all of the normal traffic vehicle rules apply to the operators of these vehicles uh the need for lights and reflectors that Riders 17 will require helmets that none of these can be operated on sidewalks by over anyone over the age of 14 we're defining Reckless and careless riding and specifically places within the town where they're simply prohibited like all of our Parks most importantly this establishes penalties for violating this ordinance that could be enforced by our Police Department adopting this ordinance is another tool for those officers to also help educate and enforce these laws in an attempt to to lower motor vehicle crashes involving electric powered bicycles and careless operators the goal is to reduce the amount of injuries and property damage related to improper operations of electric powered bicycles in our Township thank you thank you can I get a motion in a second motion second thank you open to council seeing none Clos Council roll call councilwoman D young yes councilman Fineman yes councilwoman Travers yes yes vice president ambero I vote Yes president minino yes thank you thank you this brings us to our public comments please note that each person addressing the council during any portion of the meeting during which public comment is permitted shall limit his a her remarks to five minutes pursuant to Brick Township Administrative Code section 2-33 B thank you anybody from public have comment seeing none closed public Mrs Bergen I have nothing thank you thank you mayor yes thank you uh with the Thanksgiving holiday coming upon us I just wanted to give some information about uh if there's anyone out there that is experiencing food insecurity during the holiday season here uh I just wanted to give you some locations over the next couple of days where you can go get a free meal the first place is in Seaside Heights Simon's soup kitchen at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Hall that's on Grant and Central Avenues and from on Thursday November 28th Thanksgiving from 2: to 3:00 p.m. you can go and get a hot meal there uh in Tom's River Holy Cross Lutheran Church 1500 Hooper Avenue also on Thursday Thanksgiving from 12:00 to 4: they'll have food available uh also in Toms River Salvation Army Hardy helpings that's located at 1738 Route 37 West Monday November 25th which is passed so we're going to pass that Wednesday uh tomorrow November 27th they'll have Thanksgiving meals and Thursday November 28th from 2: to 4: they will have also some meal giveaways so all are welcome if you'd like to stop by there and uh the last one that I'm going to share is in Point Pleasant the Knights of Columbus will deliver fully cooked meals on Thanksgiving Day from 11: to 1:30 or families can pick them up from St Martha's Roman Catholic Church between 10:30 and 12:30 p.m. that's on Herbertsville Road and anyone interested can call the church at 7:32 295 3630 extension 42 I do want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and remind everyone that our Christmas tree lighting is taking place next Wednesday December 4th at 5:30 p.m right here in uh Town Hall we'll have some special guests that will be appearing for that event and uh it's really a lot of fun some hot coco served there's a train ride for the kids and uh lots of good times that we'd love to have you come join us and not only uh will we have the Christmas tree lighting outside but if you pop into town hall anytime between now and the end of the year we have our Hall of trees and it's beautiful there are 15 trees that are being decorated they were donated by all local uh groups that we have around town uh the Women's Club the um Garden Club our Chamber of Commerce the Girl Scouts the Boy Scouts the hospital uh there's 15 different trees from 15 different groups and they're all decorated beautifully so we welcome you to pop in uh the night of the Christmas tree lighting to check those out or if you happen to have to pop in the town hall for anything else please take a look uh people spend a lot of time on them and it's quite beautiful so that's all I have thank you very much thank you Mr nothing this evening thank you thank you Madame clerk nothing thank you thank Madam Secretary Happy Thanksgiving to everybody thank you councilwoman Dion just Happy Thanksgiving to all thank you councilman Fineman thank you uh Happy Thanksgiving stay safe and have fun thank you thank you councilwoman Travers Happy Thanksgiving Council vice president amberino thank you I'd just like to recall what mayor crate said a little earlier and Rec congratulate the Chamber of Commerce on Saturday being local small business day uh I think it's a great idea to shop small the small businesses here in Brick are what power our community and give us that sense of community uh Happy Thanksgiving to everyone I'm Italian like some of us up here so every holiday is based around food but this one is certainly Takes the Cake so I'm very much looking forward to it thank you h I resemble that remark yeah happy holiday to everybody um our next meeting is Tuesday December 10th can I get a motion in a second to adjourn motion all in favor I