##VIDEO ID:nsGNdNhx93U## make take a little while guys ready I'd like to welcome everybody to our December 18th bergantin council meeting please rise for the standing while our Deputy Mayor Karen needs a heavenly father at this festive time of year we pray that you would be with us in all that we do and plan and we particular particularly want you to bless the holiday celebrations that we will be participating in thank you for the many blessings you have given us and we pray that you keep our community safe as we enter into the New Year pray and before we get started I want to wish my dad a happy belated birthday happy birthday Frank we all love you hey we're on camera none of that he blush blush all right uh Lynn can you read the open public meetings act announcement uh tiger do we have an executive session tonight no executive session we need our approval of our December 4th 2024 council meeting minutes have motion second questions or comments see none can we have roll call yes mat yes yesen yes may Sarah yes motion car we need the approval of our payroll requisition list operating expenses we have motion second uh questions or changes seeing none can we have roll call you yes the yes Kan yes be yes may Sarah yes motion carry this time we'll open it up for public comment this is public comment on agenda items only seeing no public comment we're going to close the public portion uh first up we have ordinance number 20 of 2024 this is a public hearing and adoption and this is an ordinance to create I'm sorry ordinance to create chapter 280 of the revised General ordinances of the city of Brigantine to establish a new chapter entitled treeses anybody uh can we have a motion second anybody wishing to be heard on this agenda item please come up state your name and address for the record seeing no public participation we're going to close the public portion any Council comments seeing none can we have bro call yes yes p yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes motion Carri next up we have ordinance number 21 of 2024 this is a public hearing and adoption and this is an ordinance amending chapter 21037 article two of the code of the city of Brigantine uh portion as it relates to pleas a motion second at this time we'll open public hearing anybody wishing to be heard on this issue please come up state your name and address for the record seeing no public participation we're going to close the public portion any Council comments see n we have roll call yes yes may Sarah yes motion car ordinance number 22 of 2024 this is a public hearing and adoption and this is an ordinance amending chapter 61 salaries and compensation of the code of the city of Brigantine pursuant to njsa 48- uh sorry colon -165 establishing the salaries and wages of certain officers and employees of the city of Brigantine County of Atlantic and state of New Jersey motion second at this time we will open up for the public hearing anybody wishing to be heard please come up state your name and address for the record seeing no public participation at this time we're GNA close the public portion any Council comments seeing none can we have roll call you yes the yes yes Sarah yes motion Carri we have resolution 2024 d212 and this is uh resolution by city council appointing our acting municipal clerk we have a motion in second questions or comments see none we have roll call you yes mat yes yes yes Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 2024-25 Sol solution authorized Police Department to participate in the leso 1033 program to request and acquire excess Department of Defense equipment we have a motion in second questions or comments sing none can we have roll call you yes yes yes yes Maris yes motion carry resolution 2024-25 and this is a resolution amending the city of Brigantine 2024 year Municipal budget by the insertion of a special item of Revenue and appropriation from the state of New Jersey body armor Grant amount of $2,849 26 we have a motion second questions or comments see none can we have roll call you yes the yes yes yes yes marera yes motion car resolution 2024-25 and this is a resolution by the city of Brigantine for the transfer of funds and the current year 2024 budget motion second questions or comments sing down we have roll call you yes yes yes may Sarah yes resolution 2024 -216 and this is resolution authorizing the award of a contract for improvements to Atlantic Brigantine Boulevard limited access road to Fred thank you Fred Shone uh Construction in the amount of $724,500 motion second uh this has been a project a long time in the making know when I talk with Mrs foli she's been trying to get this done since her husband was in office it is very very much needed I don't know if you saw with the last really heavy rainstorm that water still sitting out there and uh this will this will be a great added Improvement to that area so I'm very very proud to see this uh moving forward tonight uh questions or comments we have roll call you yes yes yes Sarah yes motion carry resolution 20242 and this is a resolution authorizing the removal of a lifeguard boat from in uh we have a motion second uh typically when lifeguard Vats get to the point of not really being safe to use the chief cycl Mount this one's cycling out so I think the chief got at least one if not two votes last year position to keep guess equip that we need out there any questions or comments from councel all if there's no questions or comments can we have roll call you yes the yes yes yes Marisa yes motion carry uh resolution 204-218 and this is authorizing real estate tax refunds motion second questions or comments seeing none we have roll call you yes L yes yes re yes may Sarah yes motion carried next up we have our consent uh consent agenda we have raffle license number 1092 and BFW raffle licenses number 1093 and9 motion second that questions comments see none we have roll call you yes yes yes re yes Sarah yes motion carry this time I'd like to actually a part take part agenda of a special presentation tonight actually want to take a couple minutes uh to honor and recognize councilman coun looking it's always John dor but I wanted to actually honor and recognize Rick De I know served on Council since yeah around the 1900s but he is actually one of the longest serving council members here in and I know when Rick and I first met I don't think we got off to the best terms told for a couple years but U actually took some time to get to know Rick and was probably one of the best things that I have Rick and I served together on the beach committee was chairman for a while in that committee and got to know him and once I kind of got past uh thinking that being in this position was about politics fting with people the other part I got to know Rick and really started to develop a friendship and very proud of all the things that he did one two volunteering down the farmers I know Rick uh dedicated a lot of his time to make sure the city council ran to make sure that people's voes and to make sure that no matter what we tried to do here on Council that it was in the best interest of the people of and uh something that's really funny is that brick I don't know if you realizing this but U you've actually helped me so much over the last decade and you probably have no idea how so I want to share this uh because I think it's actually kind of fun anytime anyone in the city whether it was on Council or politics or any came up with an idea that I thought was really a bad idea i' say well not with you and I can't tell you how many times that had shut down bad ideas and so Rick one I want to thank you for that two I no longer have that excuse so now it's you know I got to put it on myself but Rick I want to thank you for that and um what's really good too is there's I know there's times where if I wasn't sure about an idea I could kind of float it out to you and bounce it to you and tell me true for good for bad there was issues with things you would tell me what those issues were and what I really respect about Rick is um normally in politics if you find kind of like a mistake or issue that somebody created you go make it a big public thing you blow it up in the media you create issues Rick never did that once he always gave us the opportunity to fix it and make it right because at the end of the day the only thing you ever cared about best for Brick team and it's something that I really really respect about you something for me as long as I sit in this seat as long as I'm involved in government I will always remember that try to treat people the same way because it's so I want you to know one on behalf of city council we are all very proud to have worked with you we're proud of all that you have done for the city for myself I am really grateful for all the opportunities that You' given to be a better person so Rick I'd like you to come up and join city council thank you for your dedicated service to the city this firstone say there's anybody get away from that's Mar what but again uh real been a great 13 years thanks everybody right have a great rest of your meeting for for so get back to our normal agenda we have our Council manager committee discussions tiger anything for us uh no uh mayor I I would just like to say Rick um congratul ations thank you for your service and dedication to the city Brigantine not a lot of you probably know this but I knew Rick when I was a child when he worked at Renos delivery guy with my mom who was a waitress Way Way Back In that's not a lot of people know Renos is right from the old school but uh but but thank you and uh for for what you know your contributions to this Council City a pleasure working with you and thank you for all the Kudos I miss somebody else got to pick it up yeah I too Rick want to wish you well uh you always had kind words for the police department and saw us out at the events you always mentioned it had kind words so wish you well I'll concur city manager and the other department had said you know good knowing you I'll see you around the island I don't know if you remember uh you lectured at my pre I don't know if you remember that yeah so thank you for that too we're still good no I beat the 155 yeah 16 years now yeah thank you we go to our Deputy Mayor Ken all right first I'd like to congratulate Public Works Fire Department police department the chamber for an awesome tree lighting ceremon festivities um there was a great turnout of people and it was a wonderful way to start the holiday season on Saturday I attended the Elks Army Navy day uh at the L at the lodge I always love being there to help greet the Veterans as they come in to brigan te watch the football eat a great meal and play Bingo the El veterans committee does a fantastic job honoring the men and women who have served our country uh Rick I would also like to thank you for your so many years of service on Council representing the presidency of the fourth ward and um you did a great job serving on the beach committee and volunteering at the farmers part always need help uh and thank you again for being respectful to me I've been doing your and I just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah and hope everybody has a happy healthy New Year see you all lunch per those who are going in you have my respect already unless you don't fully case don't waste my thank you fun okay sorry once again want to thank ly Sweeney for awesome job she did with the toys for children it was just it always does my Sunday morning volun thanks City first of all thanks everybody out for coming in here tonight appreciate you coming out spending your night with us here thanks for fire John doring tiger not only on this on the tree lighting itself but honestly I can't tell you how many people have said to me how they recognized the the lights around the trees through the town and all so it was good to hear great to hear Rick it's been a pleasure you know longer than we've been on council with my daughter and S together [Music] onoir issues the thing I always remember most is that during the pandemic we really truly United came together worked together and I'll always remember that first shortterm ISS you right on I appreciate thank you you can just yeah if you if you need to get in touch with me okay yeah this time I'd like to make a nomination to our planning board like to nominate Alexis Eisenberg to give you a little bit of background she owns the Lexus Group which is a small women uh woman owned business uh specializing in at civil engineering uh she is a professional civil engineer and she's licensed New Jersey Pennsylvania Maryland and Delaware she's got over 30 years experience uh in the field she's been a project manager for over 20 years uh she was uh acting as a consultant she was the township engineer for Hershey as well as the township engineer for Silver Spring Township um in Pennsylvania and uh before she moved to Brick she was on the Planning Commission in New York Pennsylvania for over 21 years she's got a lot of experience and I think she brings some good insight to the city I'd like to have a motion second to nominate Alexis Eisenberg to the planning questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call yes yes yes may Sarah yes car couple quick updates I to see the big thing that's been on people's minds is uh drones um don't even know where to begin on that one I had an opportunity to participate in a I guess marage discussion with the White House on the issue to talk about this um I can tell you that uh FBI FAA Homeland Security everybody's on top of this looking into it um they didn't really have a ton of information to share other than try to put things in perspective uh in New Jersey over the last three weeks there's been more than 5,000 drone sightings this is a special hotline that the FBI has set up uh of those 5,000 there was only about 98 that were credible reports so a lot of these they said are reports things they gave me a long list of things that that aren't trums I think the major concern from the White House from Homeland Security is that on social media a lot of people are talking about taking matters into their own hands and trying to shoot the drones down the problem is what a lot of people are mistaking as drones are actually helicopters low flying planes and smaller planes and I think there's a concern that if people try to shoot things down could have some uning consequences so if there's you know you suspect that you see a drone obviously reported to the FBI everybody's engaged in doing all they can to try to get answers um Homeland Security has deployed I don't know if you can say the technical name so I'm call it uh drone detecting uh I don't systems they're in the region they are here so how they work is there's radar they try to pick them up on radar and then they use infrared to scan the drones to try to pull down more information about that so there is active investigation uh Brigantine is working uh closely with Homeland Security and uh the FBI on this had some reports coming to me anything that's credible we have a direct connection to the FBI agent who's in charge in Jersey for this that we can report that so we're going to stay on top of this make sure that um people get information as soon as we get it but uh we're engaged in this fully and work on this making sure that whatever possible resources are in the area that we have Val um Congressman VRE we talked about this last time he has legislation that he passed that is going to be helping with areas of severe erosion we just got the official word from the Army Corps that the North End of Brigantine in the Cove Beach area is now officially in the federal interest determination study and the goal for this is that they're looking at longterm better solutions to deal with those erosion areas so uh Bri is one of the cities in New Jersey that is slated for that uh once we have a better idea what that means we share that with the public but uh spoke with the congressman staff and they wanted to let us know that we were officially in that so that is really good for our are um so we'll keep people posted as we move forward with that uh the other big thing too is that there was a meeting with the U New Jersey Board of Public Utilities today and Congressman van Dro is been fighting the rate increases a lot of people Jersey have uh experienced the last round of rate increases it has been very very hard for people and they were in there again today asking for another 10% increase on top of what they already had Congressman bjer was fighting this I know our County Commissioners just put out a resolution last night in opposition to the rate increase as well as uh Senator Paisa our assembly Representatives so we are fighting this at all levels and they're all working to get answers as to why these rate increases happen with what they're so foring so far according to Congressman VRE the answers that he's gotten from them in his meetings and written correspondence are not satisfactory and to his judgment do not justify these rate increases so we'll continue to share information as that comes out but I just want to give people update on that information at this time we're g open up the public session anybody wishing to be heard please come up and state your name and address for the record for e e s for e for for you ask question have you applied for your TC that did not have T Construction issues as ases so I can understand your concern and it's you're you're welcome to talk about desires the city is to have you sit down with our city manager and try to work this forward because that's really what do I think that the way you're opening and operating right is not really Spirit of how businesses should operate team so I know that our city manager would like to sit down and talk how but the reality is like that opportunity Tove that together this Council would love to see you succeed but there are steps that need to be taken and you say there's rumors that you hear on side I would say here on our side just best thing to do make sure that you give our manager your contact information because we've actually been in contact with franchise to try to resolve these issues franchise owner has said that he doesn't want Tove for this way and would also like to be part of those I think that's actually the next step of that what I've asked our construction official and our zoning official is actually together a list of all the things that need to be res so sit down that that would say here's the outstanding issues this is what we need to be corrected here's how we so that's actually the process we're in right now so I'm actually very glad that the two get if I could just as I just want to reiterate what the mayor just said there a moment ago how all of counil here succeed best when things get worked out and uh you know there was such excitement when uh santui when it was gonna and now people are you know I know that uh got a chance to taste pizza cheese steak anyway you know I I just want to say there's no other public comment close the public portion any final councel comments I seeing none I'd like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy holiday season definitely a happy happy New Year uh we have a motion in second to adjourn our meeting all in favor all right thank you for joining us and watching your Council team at work