I'd like to welcome everybody to our March 20the city council meeting please rise for the flag salute mayor Ken us prayer heavenly father thank you for the change of seasons as we leave behind a winter that wor out its welcome we step into spring with a fresh heart ready for nature to take its course may this season bring joy and light peace and prosperity and a spirit in full L you read the open public meeting act announcement adise meeting notices covering this meeting have been sent post is required under the tiger understand we have a executive session the topics yes mayor litigation and Personnel all right so Lyn can you read the executive session resolution where public meetings act prevents the exclusion of the public from meeting certain circumstances whereas this public body is of the opinion that such circumstances presently exist as the governing body which discuss matters of litigation thees be made public now therefore it resolved public be excluded resolution all in favor any opposed seeing none motion pass are we back for e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e for e e e e e e for for for for there technal difficulties laptop get started e for e for for than get to that part before all sorry we have a new computer we're working with so we had a couple tech technical difficulties there all right so we have a motion in second to return from executive session motion all in favor I any opposed all right seeing none motion passed M you give update of executive turn it over to our deputy mayor for a special presentation tonight for two and that counts against your five [Laughter] minutes are you get an extra two minutes tonight all right we need our approval of our March 6 2024 council meeting minutes motion second questions or comments seeing none we have roll call you yes the yesy yes be yes mayor Sarah yes motion carry approval of our payroll requisition list and operating expenses we have a motion second questions or comments seeing none can we have Rolla you yesy sah yes motion car all next up we have public comment this is on agenda items only anybody wishing to be heard please come up and state your name name and address for the record right seeing no public comments we're going to close the public portion at this time I'm going to turn it over to our city management thank you mayor okay so the city manager is required by Statute to deliver to the mayor and city council a budget document for the preparation of the municipal budget this presentation of the city budget to the governing body commences the formal budget process under the controls of the mayor and city council this open meeting allows for transparency of the process as well as an opportunity to report to the taxpayers and residents the manager budget recommendations the CFO Al Stanley received budget requests from each department head we have reviewed each department Department's requests and worked together to prepare and collect the data for the budget document we have worked with City auditor Leon Costello to verify compliance with the state of New Jersey spending caps law tax levy cap law and other budget regulations the city managers proposed operating budgets are compliant with the tax levy cap law and the spending capsule this budget document has been prepared in the format required by the Department of Community Affairs and vision of local government services and includes the city current fund budget and the water sewer utility I am recommending this year at the conclusion of my introduction of the manager's budget that the mayor and Council move to introduce the budget this evening as presented the mayor and city council will have ample time to review the budget detail prior to the public hearing and adoption anticipated on April 17th at which time an amendment can be introduced if changes are necessary this year is not a self-exam year for the city budget for this budget since 1977 Municipal budgets have been prepared in compliance with the spending cap La in 2010 the tax levy cap law was established City manager's recommended budget is in compliance with both capitals as presented the proposed 2024 current fund budget is approximately $95,000 under the 2% tax levy cap limit and approximately 1.58 million under the 3.5% spending cap the manager's 2024 current fund budget presented here tonight totals 34 m747 2487 the local purpose tax of 24, 240,000 local purpose tax of 23 m455 882 and results in a 1.54% increase in the tax rate from the previous year the city's percentage of tax collections continued to be strong in 2024 at 99.41% this budget reflects a conservative approach to the anticipation of revenues as of December 31st 2023 the UN audited fund balance stands at approximately 8.4 million which is an increase about 1.3 million over the 2023 available balance the use of 3,425 th000 in fund balance is $425,000 higher than the amount used in 202 total miscellaneous revenues without Grants State Aid and reserve for debt is projected to be approximately 4.9 million in the 202 sorry 20 this amount represents a net decrease of $334,700 in miscellaneous revenues over the 2023 budget while the city anticipates that revenues will remain strong in Beach tag 4x4 passes construction permiting fees and Goth course revenues the miscellaneous revenues continue to remain conservative and and cautious in its projections for 202 the city's state aid received was increased by $34,000 in 24 with 92,84546 less than in 2023 were approximately less than 1% decrease and includes required Contra contractual commitments anticipated increase in seasonal employees and minimum wage other expenses total 8,214 483 and represents the OE from all departments along with insurance and utility costs and reflects an increase of $482,000 million 8,448 181 which represents an increase from 2023 and the amount of $41,250 mostly due to the rise in pension costs level Debt Service continues to be an important initiative of this Administration the 2024 Municipal portion of debt is 4,210 3750 which reflects an increase of approxim $ 49,28334 ction rate the 2024 increase is approximately $857 6115 in summary the manager's 202 2024 current fund budget as presented here tonight totals 34 m747 and uh sorry 34 m747 th000 2487 it represents a conservative approach to revenue projection and includes both the increases and decreas inrees in the respective Department budgets and other operating expenses based on the 2024 City assess value a penny on the tax rate equals 349,000 five cents with a 2024 rate of 69.3 cents per 100 assess value a property with an assessed value of $400,000 will pay approximately $2,000 774 in local tax the 2024 tax rate is lower than the 2014 tax rate of 71.1 cents for a property of the same assessed value which would have been $2,844 tax the water sewer utility budget is supported by the Billings and fees charged for the consumption of Water by individual customers water sewer utility as presented has a proposed Bal balanced budget for 2024 and maintains a self-liquidating status as as such any Capital Bond ordinance approved will not require a 5% down payment the 2024 order sewer utility budget total 7,459 18467 for a decrease of $ 33,41 2017 there is no proposed rate increase for the utility the capital budget included in the 2024 budget is a six-year plan for the city this capital budget represents a total of potential potential Capital Improvements of approximately 26,100 th000 over a six-year period the capital expenditures for 2024 are estimated to be $17.2 million the water and sewer will require significant investment over the next six years due to the Aging of infrastructure and state mandated requirements in closing the city's budget in 2024 once again is managed in a professional and fiscally sound manner this has been achiev through long-term budgeting and projections maintaining proper Alle ucation methods and sound financial records while providing the necessary reserved for future expenditures through a conservative approach to budgeting on revenues and limiting growth on discretionary expenditures the city remains in sound financial position and has not relied on one-time revenues to balance this budget the recommended budget allows the city to continue to provide the same services in 2024 as in the past this budget also provides for a very stable future as always I am available to meet with mayor and city council to review the budget and provide any add additional information necessary I would like once again to thank the city employees and department heads for their service and dedication to the city of Brigantine and for their assistance in the budget preparation process I continue to be thankful for their support as well as their ability to work together to continue to provide the level service expected by our residents also I would like to thank Al Stanley the finance department and the city auditor Leon Costello for their help and input in the development the city manager recommended with as I stated at the beginning of the this presentation I now ask mayor and counsel to consider introducing this budget this evening keeping in mind that any questions or concerns can be addressed from this point on and until the public hearing on April 17th should any changes be required amend an amendment would will be presented for approval I this time is there a motion in second to introduce budget so I guess do I have to say the whole thing intruction make one of the things I would encourage every member of council receive the budget tonight that everyone should set with our city manager to over the budget make sure you have any questions that you fully understand document uh that you'll be voting on uh the public hearing for this budget will be able April 17th is that correct so April 17th is the public hearing on this um are there any questions or comments this time from any neor Council one things just I want to add here and tiger touched on this a little city has approximately about 26 million in capital projects planned in the city over the next six years and I think that's something that's important we need to make sure that we are reinvesting in our City while we plan to continue improving our roads our beaches our recreational facilities and public buildings we'll be making significant investments in our water and sewer system and this is due to the state end you know so we're in the beginning processes of that now but a lot of the money that we have here is going to be reinvested back into our community and I think one of the other important highlights to take away from this tiger said this but I want to highlight again is that the 202 tax rate is still lower than in 2014 so for more than a decade we have kept that tax rate under control and I don't know if there's any other municipality in state of New Jersey and I think a lot of the thanks for that goes to our strong financial team thank you Al tiger and also I want to thank Ryan know work we have a fantastic team who really helps us get a lot of stuff done and keeps our expenses under control uh make sure you guys take time to to me the manager and to be with our CFS if there's no other questions or comments uh can we have roll you yes yes yes yes yes Sarah yes motion car see you thank you all next up we have ordinance number three of 2024 uh originally we had planned a public hearing but we're going to be reintroducing uh so we have a small change so can we have a a motion in second to amend chapter sorry ordinance number three 2024 to amend chapter 234 of the code of the city of Brigantine entitled parking lots to update the parking regulations in the city parking lots for permit parking motion second can you go over the changes absolutely when when this was first introduced there was a uh I guess I don't want to say a typo but the Way It Was Written I missed it in the first reading that would have required anybody who bought a daily pass using the park mobile system that we're going to had they as an example had they gone to the beach at Roosevelt and bought a daily pass and then in the afternoon they wanted to go to 16th Street The Way It Was Written they would have had to pay again for another daily pass because 16th Street would have been a different Zone and and it actually wasn't caught until today when we were looking at it closely when we were on a conference called meet with with Park Mobile and then I realized that the language that was not the intent of of us going to this system so we wanted to correct it so and now it's it's Crystal Clear that that daily parking is good in any of our Beach Municipal Lots during any questions or comments by councel I see none can we have roll call you yes mat hany yes Del yesan yes Sarah yes motion carry by ordinance number four of 2024 this is a public hearing and adoption and this is ordinance to amend chapter 105 code of the city of Brigantine entitled beaches yeah entitled beaches and Recreation areas to update regulations for ice cream permits we have a motion in second anybody wishing to be heard on this uh ordinance please come up state your name and address from your record I see no public participation are there any Council comments I see none can we have roll you yes thei yes hany yes duy yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes motion carry ordinance number five to 2024 and this is an introduction and this is uh an ordinance amending chapter 210- 37 article two of the code of the city of Brigantine portion as it relates to fees we have a motion second uh big part of this is I'd really like to thank city manager of tiger plat I know he went through and actually cleaned this organ this ordinance up put it on alphabetical order simplified it and made it a lot easier so I want to thank you for that I know that took a lot of work but it is much easier to follow in sand and it now references the appropriate I guess uh sections of the city code when it comes to different this way when we change things it's One-Stop shop so thank you very much uh there any questions or comments from Council see none can we have roll call you yes yes hany yes Del yes rean yes marera yes motion Carri ordinance number six of 2024 this is an introduction this is an ordinance to amend chapter 260 of the code of the city of Brigantine entitled streets and sidewalks to add an article to revocable license agreements for encroachments have a motion second I think the big uh process with this is we're looking to I guess formalize this process on the city side there is a process when it comes to the mining board side uh we looked at some of the other municipalities that allowed this we want to make sure that we had a process so this way we're fair and consistent there's also some uh costs that are associated with this make sure that if we're doing a revocable license for someone that they cover the cost of what it would cost the city for us to process do what we need to do here um any questions or comments from Council I see none can we have roll call you yes the T yes yes Sarah yes motion Carri uh we have resolution 202454 and this is uh resolution opposing the state New Jersey uh new proposed Shore protection rules and njac regulations in motion second all right so just to give people a little bit of background on this um right now the de is putting uh restrictions in to restrict access to tial waterways and adjacent shorelines uh the city has some major concerns that the D's proposed rules uh would expand seasonal Clos ures of Beach beaches title waterways and Beach entrances during the high season of our short toown Community uh one of the things that we're very concerned about is that the regulations they put in place is a violation of the public trust doctrine that grants public access to all of these areas and it's one of the things that the state has based all of its access rules and regulations on so we don't understand how they have the authority to violate their own rules so we're kind of bringing this out one of the things they're concerned about and I guess when it comes to the protection of animals with Wildlife they talk about um potential inous uses and some of those inous uses they have pictures of um footsteps on the beach people walking along the shoreline uh Shoreline access to boats um accessing the beach with uh Unleashed dogs um I know that people like to walk their dogs out on the beach so we have some serious concerns about what the D is doing and why that they would want to shut down our beaches and waterways to activity that people do all of the time uh we're also concerned that if these uh closures happen during the summer season that it could have adverse impacts on our local economy one of the things we're very concerned about is that there's no legislation that has authorized the D to require more stringent uh requirement and restrictions on public lands and this has been one of the objections that at least I've had in many members of this council is that the DP especially through pack regulations um is regulating things and circumventing uh the legislative process and one of the things that we're requesting to ensure fairness and maximum public uh acceptance is that these regulations go through the process that our state representatives have an opportunity to weigh in on these that the D can't just utilize Al pass regulations that it probably does not have the authority to do so so this would call this to their attention that it's a violation of their own walls it could be damaging uh to the short communities we also want to make sure that you know there's a balance we understand that there needs to be a protection Wildlife protection of animals we will do everything in our process to do that but I think the DDP needs site uh before they take a step forward there any questions or count uh questions or comments from Council uh yeah have a couple questions looking I don't we don't have the text of the called the proposed new rules has anybody seen the text of this proposed I don't have the full text because I I went on the D website and for they have listing ofos rules I the only reference I saw was to six-month-old webinar The Proposal so if we're concerned about a proposed rule should talk about something but how do we vote on thing when we are concerned about possible impacts don't text of what the is to determine what it is that it might power to not CH process normally legislature passes the law and if it's one that's within proper jurisdiction of one of the state departments they authorize that department to adopt rules to and that's that's what has happened with our existing public access rules process change legis certainly change the law but process forp would be that there would be proposed Rule and then there would be an formal process to gets followed and proposal get published in New Jersey register hearings and so on and so forth and eventually you have adoption adoption the regulation that we are supposed to be responding to so this comes from a a DP meeting presentation they did on September 9th of 2023 where they outlin the new proposed rules uh that are referenced here and um I don't obviously they haven't taken effect yet but they they gave the impression at this meeting that they intend to move forward with this this has been one of the issues with some of the pack regulations that we' with I want to say going on four years now um with the DP where I'm G to go into the path um they want to come up with a series of rules that they want everybody to agree to before they've actually told everybody far and that's something we've had an issue with and I believe that this also falls in line with this so this is part of that presentation so I don't think that they have put it in place yet but I think it's important for them to understand that what they are proposing does violate the public trust Doctrine and they should really consider that and make sure that it goes through the legislative process with the pack regulations um I believe that they intend to pass those regulations with going channels of the state legisl I'm not going to take everybody's time to get into a long debate about rule Mak that's not how it works if the D is proposed to rule it's common for that a lot of State departments to first you know introduce what it is they're looking at thinking about doing to parties they have all of which is done notification hav't done anything with it maybe they hav't just couldn't find it but seems to a very specific exact text of a proposal if in fact one was then evaluate whether is it something that could potentially prevent Public Access circumstances abiles circumstances where they couldn't presently be closed circumstances if there was any already exists police power to limit or even close access for a period of time to address it that doesn't seem like what we're talking here this is being presented and itic assume this was provided to oan City to number of other municipalities with request that everybody get on board T this which you know on its merits whatever the merits might turn be maybe that's exactly is if it we're opposed to IDE that was talked about six months ago but which has not how we do that I think one of the concerns because you brought up Public Safety departments but based on what was proposed it would restrict access of um Public Safety which would be F fire Beach Patrol so when the D closes down an area you see that now like just say I set up out there that area the beach would be Clos down to all of it my understanding is this would expend extend that um restrictions that our public safety personnel would be able to go in that area either unfortunately if you're you're dealing with situations where especially with the ocean where people can't respond appropriately and I understand your your point you're saying it hasn't gone anywhere um I also look at uh and I'm going to come back to the pack regulations too um if us and 19 other municipalities hadn't been pulled outs had been fighting this I believe pass so I'm concerned that there's a proposal out there that could potentially harm the city harm our Public Safety personnel's ability to do their job and I think that it would be important for us as a governing body to share our concerns so if there's a or if there's changes they would understand that had concerns with what has been proposed and maybe before the regulation forward that it could change that and there could be changes to the proposal before it gets to the point of going through the whole process of public I find typically uh by the time the state gets to the point of holding public meetings and moving things forward they've already made up their mind and it's kind of hard to change but I do doe respectfully com I I'd like to agree with the mayor rck I don't see a problem with us um letting uh having a resolution that disagrees with proposal from the state we have lots of plans laws and regulations in place already when something happens on a beach I mean I was up on the North End when the whale mushed up that died from the Sona radar from uh the geom mapping and all so we we have a lot of things in place that we already use and I just think it's overreach by D duplication of what point still is what is the overreach there is nothing being done by D there is no proposal out there there was at most discussions involving I don't know who six months or more ago which have not generated anything so this is like we could have a resolution or 10 resolutions at every meeting saying heyy government in New Jersey don't do the following things which would be damaging to us even though no one's proposing to do those things it's kind of the cart is way before the horse and I'm not even sure if there's a horse say's I meantion DET where it speaks of theous uses and and prior paragraph is St presentation outline the new actually Mak process you know part's not question but for the rest of us you know if there is something out there our first step would to be let's let's nail it down what is it that if there's something I missed that I didn't see on the website or that you know other people who have been involved in this may Ocean City or other places that have adopted a similar resolution you know find out if there is in fact the text of something floating around out there which EP is looking having considering whether or not it's even made it Point yet being a formal legal proposal and then we have aide exactly better evaluate is there something in there that could impact our interest any we again we could have a resolution all the time which says Hey DP don't do anything which is going to the ability of our police fire lifeguards to protect human life of course but if nobody is proposing that why are we why are we talking yeah there was there wase involving somebody and somebody said it and and you did mention thebly maybe put in Department course however at the same time I that's just to something just to make the resolution and say this we're aware of this right now it needs to be address disagree with the gr I guess I'm sensing a Readiness to vote there's no final comments we have roll call you yes I see no har of being proactive we be reactive after I'm voting the maybe well said Ken yes no yes Sarah I think it's important for us to be proactive presented it I think it's game I know that there's a number of things that come up all the time that the pass resolution on don't we pass important I think what's being proposed hasn't been fully formalized as a violation of the public trust Doctrine I think right now there's opportunity to make a statement so that the de back potentially uh what their proposal is and also we are asking for the legislature to use their Authority um to make sure that this process goes through them so that all of our places so I vote Yes resolution 20 24-55 this is a resolution authorizing the execution the settlement and general release between the city and as Local 63 motion second questions or comments see yes thei yes hany yes duri yes Reen yes may Sarah yes motion car resolution 2024 56 and this is a PBA roadway solicitation application with have a motion second questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call you yes yesy yes Del yes re yes may Sarah yes motion car resolution 24- 57 this is a resolution by the city of Brigantine New Jersey authorizing the purchase of a Chevy Tahoe vehicle under State contract 21 Fleet d014 83 from high hyri Fleet Services Incorporated this is a vehicle for the fire department it's in the amount of $ ,27xn- sing can we have you yesi yesy yes yes ran yes marar Chief you need this then I uh next up we have our consent agenda we have the Lions Club Car Show request uh baseball and softball Association parade requests and soccer event requests we have a motion second make questions or comments see none can we have roll call you yes Lai yes Haney yes deluc yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes next up we have um our Council manager committee discussions t or anything for us to our department heads sorry John mayor congratulate the Chamber of Commerce and our own Mike re for hosting our F fantastic two weeks St Patty's Day celebration it was the best parade Brigantine has ever had it was amazing to see how many people were lining the street all the way down I'd like to thank say thanks to Chief caso's officers acting Captain Steve Ward and Lieutenant Jack blasser for presenting a very informative session on Elder financial fraud and scams yesterday at the community center it is really scary hearing how close to home these criminal activ activities actually are uh we had a great turnout there were about 45 seniors there it it was just a great event I'd also like to thank Linda nce and her staff and um Jim Mogan and Kristen SU for making this happen and thanks to show that also I'd like to recognize the garden for their beautiful garden beds uh spring daffodils High really are looking weather coming this weekend as chamber by Den thank you mayor GNA piggy back on those remarks too uh John you said everybody else has said here in Council what a great time what a beautiful day the weather was great crowds families all the way up the Avenue uh businesses were packed just a a real not that it well it's just good to give our uh our business Community shot the arm whatever we can uh great warm up then if you will for uh summer before you know Memorial T be here but uh what a festive day it was already our Town's on the our town has got steadily on the map more and more over the years but um Mike you outd yourself man it was really heck of a job um and everybody else in blow the police fire Public Works John chief chief great job everybody uh helping out and just yeah was just K around with Tahoe tell you what it's very important to keep uh those Vehicles rotated and safe uh I know myself from is not here today but anybody who's involved in long vehic get really beat up you get a lot of mods put on them every year wear and tear and uh it's just good add to the safety Community you got get hurry safely quickly as boys and girls of Summer coming up baseball and softball kind of winding down I told Mike when I came in and Karen got the green tie but it's kind of like winding down from say bad's day but a fun time but everybody some see some the kids out there already playing and the girls and best of luck to all the teams have a great time join everybody and congratulating and thank all person uh and after the parade all anybody seem to talk of that at least people I was talking to was how can we get Dennis hany to be Grand Marshal for most Den to our champion thank you mayor thank you mayor State all the comments certainly about the bra but it certainly couldn't done without everyone else teamwork with something John ding Public Works chief of police finest and bravest out there showing themselves and helping us out is just fabulous and of course all the support from the city manager the rest of council I just wanted to say Dennis that you've been voted the most animated passionate giving Grand Marshal in the history of the parade so congratulations Dennis no just the the amount of local businesses got involved the Chamber of Commerce was just amazing the way they've expanded this and buil on shake the Shamrock so to fun columb break other than that we have the uh Cultural Arts committee had a great talk about the birds local birs cator that was fabulous well attended and speak of cultural arts commission if I may I'd like to make a motion to add marot vestri and Franny streer uh to all in favor I see n motion pass all right thanks and then uh other than that we have the economic development committee this parade and everything we do in the shoulder season is for business EES years the tax rate as it was in 2014 any issues any trouble you know where to find me Rick would you help me out the front Mike I thank you for outstanding the best in the history proud uh great partnership with the Chamber of Commerce I think really initiatives of both the chamber and uh the economic development committee which Mike's the chairman is of is to build our shoulder season this was a great kickoff event for the shoulder season and really the summer tourism season Island was packed people were here but had a great time great support for Public Works police fire department just really across the pull together fantastic event Mike I got so many compliments about how well the parade ran how much fun people had and what a fantastic Grand Marshall Dennis H people sent me lots of pictures they said you were outstanding so great representation of the city and uh you know we get do a lot of good work here I'm very very proud of work every chamber thank you very much for all of our thank you for all you do for our city uh quick update too on the Cove beach erosion as you know brigantine's been hit as well as a lot of short Community has been hit with a lot of winter storms uh this year probably the worse that we've seen I haven't had major major storms but it's the consistency and Persistence of the storms as well as they've been coming in from a southern Direction nor get hit nor Easter these been coming in from the south so we're not used to getting hit from the side uh we've had a lot of erosion down on the Cove Beach one of the things I'm G to say is that um probably if you're someone who buys a 4x4 pass for the Cove Beach I would really consider it this year I'd say half to make maybe two-thirds of that beach has been eroded in V uh one of the things that our beach fee office is doing is making sure that if people buy a 4x4 permit there's notices there letting people know people are signing off on their paperwork they understand that there might be limited access and closures Le may have to shut that down when it gets crowded and I anticipate that it'll it'll get crowded quick on the weekends want to make sure the people uh with the help of Congressman van Drew uh the city was able to set up a meeting and talk with the Army Corps of Engineers uh this occurred last week and we wanted to see how the Army Corps could help the city properly address this issue uh the Army corp's response for an immediate short-term solution was to put sandbags out there uh so they want to stack stack up sandbags my understanding is when they have other flooding events they use sandbags as immediate rapid response uh one of the issues that a number of the homeowners are having is that even on a normal high tide the waves are rolling down along the top of the jetty into people's backyards during storms it's uh even worse than that so the Army Corps we showed them pictures and videos that were shared with us by people who live in that area so they can get a picture of not just what the aerial erosion looks like but also with what the homeowners are dealing with on a on an almost daily basis now if not um many times throughout the week um although the suggestion seems very overly simplified to have sandbags the Army Force said that that is an action that the city can take right away when they talk about some of the longer term solutions they said in order to do this there's um required to have studies design plans and permitting before anything more that can be done so one of the first things they want to do is study it I would tell you government LS to study things they want to study the issue they want to take a look at it so they can make a determination of one why it's happening and what the best way is to address it so and I know that's frustrating for a lot of the homeowners down there because obviously if the waves are breaking in your backyard you want an immediate response um the city asked the Army Corps to provide a coastal engineer to help us determine the best possible layout placement of where those sand bags would be the Army fors said that they would be able to assist us with that uh the Army court let us know because we asked about you know timelines for long range solutions they said the long range solutions by the time you go through the studies the permits and the engineering could be anywhere from three to five years so again our heart goes out to all of the people who live down in that area because that is not a number you want to hear the city of Brigantine is going to do everything we can to expedite that process I know congressman bandrew is going to do everything within his power to expedite that process we we let them know that this situation for us is is merging on emerging uh right now we have the jetty down there we had Dr Su in gives that this happens to all Jetties that the jetty has had some settling it's supposed to be at elevation 8 uh he has not formally studied it but based on his observations he believed it's probably at about elevation 7even right now the Army for said they would take a look at that so we're gonna uh speed this process along do everything we can in our Po and stay on top of it uh we'll keep people posted as we gain more information but I went to give everybody an update of where we are I know the BR Team times is also going to be running a story this week so that way people who aren't here at the meeting have an opportunity to read that in the newspaper so just wanted to share that at this time we're going to open the meeting up to public comments anybody wishing to be heard please come up state your name and address for the record yes an action yeah so uh there was a court date on March 12th where we presented um I say we attorney presented the arguments I do not believe the judge has made a decision on that but I do need to follow up and get an update I just haven't had a chance to follow up with the attorney okay what court who's the judge I don't know the judge and apologize I don't want to say the Law Court okay exactly what was the purpose of this so it was a challenge to the simple version It's a challenge to the BPU that the BP was not um unbiased in their decisions and pointing out the bureaucracy or the uh unbiasedness of the BPU and asking that the decisions when it comes to Ocean wood projects be moved to an independent body okay well you were you saw with the article in the this week's times concerning the B and the action of the um so there are several lawsuits filed everybody's doing everything within their power to to basically stop this by ready rectic Shores is planning project just about 8 to nine miles off sure that is the project that we've been dealing with here it's one of the closest wind farms continue the fight secondly the um short-term rental any action on that you said last week that those positions haven't been filled because there is some legal action uh we have a Personnel issue that we're dealing with right now once that issue is resolved we'll be able to move forward but until that issue is resolved we're not even okay I would like to comment on um something city manager said not during the meeting but after when I asked if he still believe or believe in the statement that um we don't have Resort houses basically his answer was he's sticking to that statement based on a technicality and I can't ask him directly but I'm G to ask you what would that technicality be probably a better question for our attorney he's not here right now but I can have him reach out to I don't want to get into a legal discussion definitions and I believe actually Michael who here tonight is one of the draft this but um I could have maybe Tiger have him reach out to you and he could probably explain it better than a okay but you know at the next meeting have an explanation or a statement I believe tiger have Mrs Phillips phone number no don't don't call me I just think it should come up at the next council meeting so the public this is a public question and get deserves a public answer so that's what I'm my question so at this point we're still on hold in terms of appointing people those two positions so we're moving everything in the process forward it's just finalizing the Personnel for that area we're on hold with that but the sdl program which is the digital side of it I believe is scheduled to roll out April 1st yeah so we're forward with all of our training uh that's almost completed uh we're rolling the program out through the city so this would give the people one the ability to file their complaints digitally we'll be able to track things better so that's moving forward the updates to the paperwork and all that stuff is moving forward and I believe that um people who get the licenses have been notified by the city of the changes that are uh moving forward so everything's moving forward uh we're just waiting on this one piece okay thank you thank you and if if I can uh real quick I just looked up in in our code the definition of a resort house and this is maybe why uh city manager plat St that we don't have Resort house in the island because in our code it's defined as a residentially style structure that is used maintained marketed promoted or advertised as a destination location available friend lease or subas for Gathering of invited guests but not limited to weddings Retreats family reun the resort house is a commercial use appropriate only in areas Z for hotel and motel and a few other things but you could see by that just the definition part of the definition I read that we don't have any Resort right there's no other public comment I've closed the public portion any final counsel confence PHS have a wonderful birthday happy birthday happy birthday pH all right can we have a motion second to adjourn all in favor I any oppos all right seeing none motion passed thank you for joining us tonight watching your Council team at work enjoy