e okay ready all right good afternoon everybody we have a special meeting of the city council of the city of Kate may we are here in the Kate May City Hall Auditorium today is March 5th 2024 the time is 4:00 please join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all clerk you want to open this up you could just do the uh the open public meetings law under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the Kate May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a cop of the copy of the meeting meeting agenda was delivered to each member of city council and posted on the Kate May City website and K May City Hall bulletin board no notice is hereby provided that Kate May City Council meetings are audio recorded and or video stream live live video streams are posted to the Kate May City website the city of K May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Baldwin here council member Meyer here council member D here council member Jagger here mayor mullik here Deputy city manager Justin rggs here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here all right we just have one resolution on this evening and that's to go into close session to discuss the uh K May Point cour Court services and uh our Park Mobile parking contract do I have a motion on resolution 9203 2024 I'll make the motion do I have a second the second we have a public uh comment on this seeing no one here uh I'll close public comment moot we have a motion and a second roll call please council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes council member Jagger yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes and uh if Aaron's watching we hope you feel better soon Brian thanks for jumping right in is 404 time is 4:04 for the record e e e e all right good evening everybody we have a let me get to the right page here so I know what we do have okay we have a work session meeting of the city council of the city Cape May New Jersey we are here in the Cape May City Hall oh okay correct I shouldn't have got rid of the first page for yet F uh first I'd like to close the uh Clos session that we just had um there we don't we will not be taking any action if you want to give an explanation yeah Council reviewed two items in Clos session and does not anticipate taking formal action tonight do I have a motion to close I'll make a motion I'll second on in favor I I I all right good we'll open up the uh work session meeting this is a work session meeting of the city council of the city of K May New Jersey we are here in the Cap May City Hall Auditorium today is Tuesday March 5th 20124 the time is now 5:04 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the Kate May County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council and posted on the Kate May City website and Kate May City Hall bullton board notice is hereby provided that the Kate May City Council meetings are audio recorded and video streamed live live video streams are posted to the Kate May City website the city of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call Deputy Mayor Baldwin here council member McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here council member Jagger here city solicitor Gill Schwarz here Deputy city manager Justin Riggs here CFO Kevin Haney here Council any additions or deletions this evening I don't believe we do do we have any additions deletions Council no okay okay moving on to the the employee of the month Justin you want to take that away sure um thank you everyone um Mr Dietrich is um up in Trenton receiving an award for the city I'll let the mayor speak about that um you know when it gets to that point but um our February 2024 employee of the month was Donna Roth um unfortunately she's not here with us tonight but um I'm going to read a little bit about her from um our department head and what her co-workers said about her since 1994 Donna Roth has been a wonderful asset to the city of Kate May starting in the recreation department Donna was a camp Kate May counselor and part of the roller skating crew 30 years and many hats later she is an administrative assistant for the Water and Sewer Department Donna is extremely organized and is quick to help with any task when asked but her most important asset to the the department is customer service she goes after out of a way to assist each and every customer with kindness and respect Donna resides in Irma with her husband Luke and children Cadence and Chase in her Spare Time Donna enjoys gardening camping and spending time with her family the city of K May is lucky to have such a hardworking and dedicated employee with as much knowledge to the city as Donna Roth some comments from her co-workers included always has a smile Pleasant to work with and has a wonderful personality goes above and beyond to help residents has excellent customer service skills goes above and beyond for the water and sewer department but always lends a hand to the public works department maintains a consistent high level of productivity handles a lot of tasks efficiently and professionally and is a very diligent worker so Donald Roth is our February 2024 employee of the month that's great thank you Justin and thank thank you Donna and uh your whole family who have been highly involved in the city of Kate May so we thank you very very much um and just on the Note Justin welcome again and uh thank you uh for fulfilling the role here as our Deputy city manager um and I do want to thank the historic preservation commission they're up in Trenton with um with our city manager and um are receiving a really nice award being recognized by the state which is wonderful and it follows I know um the CCA just received an award too on their um recognition for their publication of black voices voices of Kate May a a feeling of community which uh was another wonderful award so Kate May is well represented in Trenton tonight and I I just uh thank all the volunteers I see several of them here right now so thank you um with that can we get an update from the city manager Deputy city manager sure thank you mayor um just two points um just want to thank everyone for their patience with the detour with the Lafayette sewer work that is going on I know it's uh pretty extensive out there um but we just wanted to say thank you for everyone's patience as that project goes on um and all the projects are on schedule and should be done by uh miday and that's it there that's great city solicitor any updates U I don't have anything uh tonight mayor other than I just wanted to draw council's attention to the first resolution on the consent agenda and that is the resolution establishing the Mount Laurel subcommittee subcommittee um and Council will remember that we appointed special council at the beginning of the year to start planning for our affordable housing obligations in connection with round four which is the Mount lur litigation um and this is I think a step in the right direction and and going to put city the city in the best uh planning space going forward addressing obligations and and potentially some opportunities that may come up to address those obligations going forward that's great thank you Mr oh you can hear okay Chris Chris could you repeat that yeah I'm sorry I I don't know used to just eat the microphone and now I I'm too far away from it so um I'll just repeat that I I wanted to draw council's attention to to the uh resolution establishing the Mount Laurel subcommittee which is the first resolution on the agenda um and Council had taken the Step At the beginning of the year at uh minor Mr dietrich's recommendation to appoint special Council to address uh our the city's round for obligations which is the Statewide uh affordable housing litigation so this is in furtherance of that and it is part of the city's overall e effort to address its affordable housing obligations and and potentially identify any opportunities that may be out there to serve the city's needs so I just wanted to point that out to council that's the purpose it's on here and it's a a pretty common practice in other towns where our special Council has uh been appointed which is numerous towns throughout the municipalities or throughout the state excuse me thank thank you Mr Mr solicitor um before we go into our ordinances we did just get receive a bit of sad news and and uh Council councilwoman U Moren McDade if you would please yes thank you um just wanted to pass along to everyone that Barbara Caldwell who was um the past president and vice president of the Village Green civic association passed away over the weekend um Barbara has been dealing for the past year um with a long illness um she was up with her daughter Michelle and her grandchildren um and when peacefully um Michelle has reached out and will is planning to have something um more than likely down here at some point in time um and I'll be sharing this information with the Village Green community she was also very active in Kanas uh much loved a strong supporter um so if I could just ask for a moment of silence thank you Council woman and uh I know we all Echo those sentiments she was a very wonderful lady and and uh we thank her and her family for all the service that she provided to the community so thank you morning um I did uh promise to give a update on roads I didn't know the city manager wouldn't be here but we're I'm going to kind of try to fly through a few things but before we do that I did just want to address a quick front page article in the star and wave which uh I just it's so important uh journalism and and and um coverage of local news which you all know has been dwindling throughout the whole country which is is a sad thing but I just want to make sure that there kind of we have the right information out there um the article kind of seemed to indicate that uh there was some mystery as to the bond for the convention hall which just is not the case whatsoever and in fact many of you probably remember that you voted on that Bond um so all of you voted to to have that Bond and to build that building um so I just want to make sure everyone understands that that we didn't find a bond in a closet and say oh shoot we have to pay this uh it's quite the opposite and in fact um that Bond will be being paid off in 14 years and I think some credit is due to um the mahany administration and the folks that were involved there that decided to do that Bond on a on a quick basis that um that will be paid off in the next three years um so I just when I read the article I was a little taken back because I thought well this is a positive thing we're we're going to be paying off this wonderful building in in a matter of 3 years so we'll have this big building on the beach without any debt um and I just want to kind of also just say we all know there's been some controversy along the way in convention hall and but and and we haven't kind of done a big grand reopening and maybe when we pay that Bond off we we actually should um but I I do I do want to say I think we have to take pride in that building it's it's a beautiful building it could it certainly could be dressed up on the uh facade and and frankly that's something I just wanted to mention tonight but really to say um you go in that building it's very comfortable for the events that we would like to have uh of course we had options could we make it bigger could I have a kitchen all those things um and one thing we can say is that may be available at a later date um and that can be decided by the public at a later date but I just think it's something we should celebrate and and um some of the issues that it had from the beginning uh many of you are aware of the insurance issues that it have have all been taken care of and all of those things are now kind of in the past and so I just I take that news article as a little bit of an opportunity to say the town let's have pride in that building it's it's a wonderful building um and I I asked to put this Photograph up here because I think this is all what we'd like to see up there of course um but Brian if you could go to the next slide real quick you know this is a side view of of course the same building and uh what you would see if you went further back is basically a big box okay which is what we kind of have today if you took a similar photo from that same location you would see the side of a box um so I all I'm saying today is that you know th this has the opportunity to be a really wonderful building with not a lot of funding going forward I'm not proposing anything and anything that would be proposed would have to have a long conversation and frankly a lot of public participation but I I just wanted to say that as this is a good building let all of the issues that had are in the past let's move on and kind of have some pride in in ownership so that that's just a little on the side that I wanted to open up with Brian you can go to the next meeting uh next slide there's the front facade of the existing convention hall um and now onto the streets if you would um very quickly um we when we first kind of came into office um we knew that roads were in bad condition as all of you know pretty pretty well County Roads City roads a lot of them were in bad condition but not only were the roads in bad condition but we had lead pipe we had bad utilities that were over a hundred years old um so we had a lot of work to do and for some years there we were basically doing one block per year of city streets the reason for that was it was matching up with do grants that we were receiving from the state which is which is a good way and and an understandable way of doing projects we get a DOT Grant we do it one block at a time the issue with that is a couple fold one um I think you kind of get a diminishing return when you're only doing one block at a time there's a lot of effort to um um get the equipment there the Machinery all of those things that are expensive uh mobilization costs are very expensive um so you are really not getting a bang for your buck on a square foot basis okay not that we do roads in square feet but you get the point the other issue which is probably even more important was we did a a calculation and looked at every street now you can't read this and you might be able to read it on at home online but what we did was this is every street and you can go through the next couple sides this is every street in town and the square footage which we really wanted to say okay if we're doing so many square Fe feet per year how many years would it take us to do the whole city well when we did the calculations it was over 100 years so that's not a timeline that works to to have streets and frankly even more importantly what's below those streets so we knew that we needed to pick up the pace when it became to getting our streets done and our utilities done go to the last one of these slides here uh total approximate is about 30 uh 30 square miles of street or no that 30 30 yeah well I'll have to 30 mil in length oh in length I apologize yeah I got you thank you thank you so 30 30 miles in length um so and and we'll have I'll go through each of those in in but the main point is this we were certainly not on schedule to get our streets done we knew we had to increase it so you can fly through these Brian these are just uh some photos of all the street work that has occurred in the last few years this is lead removal you can keep going through but I did want to read too as we're going through these um this was a note from Rob Kaminsky our uh water department superintendent he said and this is just yesterday our current inventory of galvanized services so the state doesn't recognize the difference between lead and galvanized just so you understand is we have 77 known galvanized and Andor Le pipes and and and he's has updated that we have zero known lead pipes at this point we are in the process of renewing the utilities on three streets this year that's within the 12200 and 1300 blocks of Ohio and Stockton place from Beach to Columbia this will remove an additional 59 galvaniz Services out of that 77 by the end of 2024 we will have 18 Services left to renew from the initial report of 119 submitted to the New Jersey D in 2021 uh they have until 303 uh excuse me 2031 to H get all of these out uh they are well ahead of schedule obviously and and if they keep the schedule that they have will basically be done within the next two years I say that because when we looked at the uh the the need what what roads needed to be completed we also wanted to come together with a formula for how we chose what streets um one of these photos uh and I don't don't have to look for Brian was the video service that we hired as the inii study for the city that service has been one input to kind of our formula for choosing the streets what do this what does it look like underneath the road number one does it have lead or galvanized pipe that's one number two what do the utilities look like under the street number three uh what is the road condition and number four um volume of traffic on the road of course if you have two equal roads one road doesn't have a lot of traffic the other does it b gets bumped up within the formula um so I guess to get more to the point though of why what're we're we're giving you a little road report uh of course we're all and I actually brought some hard hats under here if you guys want to put them on here I I'll take one hard hat so at least I at least I did my gimmick here okay so we're all a little tired of of the construction on on Lafayette Street especially but um you have to understand how important that is the you not only did we have still some um I don't believe we actually had lead but we did have galvanized pipe some of the sewers were actually crumbled especially when you first come into town you ever notice how there's always that puddle there that that was a broken puddle pipe so we we've known it's a broken pipe we never wanted to open it up because we we knew we'd have a big mess now that's being um obviously repaired all of these new crosswalks new um um pedestrian friendly um initiatives of course working with the bicycle and pedestrian group um but all of which is to say uh we know we need to do these upgrades and I know that was never the question but it's as we go through these are very annoying times like just to remind everyone these are extremely important upgrades there's a reason Lafayette Street wasn't done for a long time we knew this was going to be an annoyance but I'm I am happy to report and as the deputy city manager said we are on schedule on Lafayette Street to be complete before Memorial Day so it's it's been a long uh Journey obviously but we are um on schedule uh of course with working with our friends at the county um with that to get more into the the um me of it I'll ask our uh CFO to give us a little bit of info on U some some of the financing right so some questions have come up regarding the numerous Road reconstruction projects going on throughout the city and specifically their funding sources so I just wanted to provide some information oh sorry okay sorry about that um so like I said some questions regarding numerous Road reconstruction projects and their funding sources who just wanted to provide some information on a couple of them so starting with the 2023 Road program this is one umbrella project that covers Congress Street Trenton a Washington Street and Franklin Street the total amount of the contract for that project is 2.3 million um to date we have spent a little under 400,000 with around 2 million left remaining on the contract um we included about 2.1 million of this total in our 2023 debt issuance with the remaining being covered by grants specifically a Department of Transportation grant for Trenton a um in the amount of $185,000 a neighborhood pre preservation program grant for Franklin Street in the amount of 20,000 and we are currently pursuing a 2024 neighborhood preservation program Grant in the amount of $125,000 uh next Lafayette Street emergency sewer so the contract amount for that one is around 2.8 million uh to date we've spent around a million so about 1.8 left on that one um around 1.8 of the total is being pulled from issued debt with the remaining 1 million coming from authorized debt uh so issued debt is debt that is actually outstanding as a result of a bond sale and then authorized debt is just debt that has been authorized through a bond ordinance approved by Council but not actually issued um and it might never be issued there's the ential that we either refund it in the budget or then reimburse it through issued debt later on uh the Texas a sewer repair by the Wawa um which I believe is on the agenda tonight that total came in at a little under 177,000 um and that is also being pulled from authorized water sewer debt uh reconstruction of beach AV is currently an open bid so we do not have a contract amount for that one but we estimate it to be in the ballpark of about 700 ,000 and that is going to be included in a 2024 Bond ordinance and again pulled from authorized debt not issued debt uh and then finally we have reconstruction of Ohio Avenue which is upcoming uh that will be included in the 2024 Road program so again we don't have a contract amount for that one um but we have so far received two Department of Transportation grants totaling $395,000 um again with a remainder to be included in a 2024 Bond ordinance and pulled from authorized debt so on all of the projects we have essentially a mixture of issued debt um grants received and then uh either future debt issuances or reimbursements through the budget thank you Kevin I just want to highlight to on this slide here um of course grant funding is so important to uh the streets this is some of the um Street programs that we've had since 2022 um new 2022 we received New Jersey DOT Municipal aid for Pennsylvania Avenue Phase 6 of 185,000 uh 2023 New Jersey do Municipal Aid Trenton Avenue 255,000 2024 New Jersey do Municipal 8 Ohio Avenue 220,000 2024 New Jersey do ltpf Ohio Avenue that's 175 and then USDA rural development pre-planning Grant of 24,000 for a total of $859,900 that's a significant increase over grants that had been received in the past which is obviously another funding source uh for all all those projects listed above and um I do compliment um both the engineers of Vince Orlando and and um Mar DeBlasio who have really done a nice job for us matching grants with with projects while kind of increasing the amount of projects that we've uh taken on um but with that we welcome to open up any questions on roads let me just say this without our city manager here if some of the answers we don't have at this moment we'll get you the answers so be happy to do that but with that I'll open it up for public comment s and this is on roads specifically it's it's good to hear that a lot of people are concerned about Lafayette Street because often thought I was the only one but I guess I'm not uh I wanted to bring your attention to the to an issue that's um critical to Lafayette Street and and I and actually I want to see some work done on it uh and that's the turning lane at St John's Place can you go to that graph uh it because it doesn't at this point they're putting curbs up and down the street in in all directions and the curbing hasn't been cut in for that yet and um the second issue at that St John's Place there it is there the second issue is to make sure that we have the underground utility electric to cross the street so that we can put that light in there at that spot if and when we choose to do that so so we it it's still being plannned and and and being done frankly I think my understanding is within the next two weeks they'll they'll start the uh concrete for that and for those who don't know that's this slide here will we will be creating a turning lane onto St John's uh off of Lafayette Street which is important as many of you know in the summertime that's where it can really back up going toward the Acme there so and also you all know probably I would say one of the most dangerous turns in Kate May is coming off of St John's and making especially a left on to Lafayette Street but even a right can be difficult what this turning lane will do will it it only removes a few parking spaces but it also increases the width of the street so that when you're going to make a leftand turn off of Lafayette oh excuse me a leftand turn off of St John's onto La yet you'll have a very clear view of the traffic coming into town so that's much better but especially the traffic coming into town now will get into the turning lane and out of the line of traffic um which we think will help really with some congestion getting you know having waiting at that traffic L to answer your question though on the light it is being wired we don't have a plan yet I mean obviously it's all right as long as as long as the wire is there before we put the black top down and that's also critical one more point you could add to the presentation is that that's where the police station is going to be going and so the design of the police station has to incorporate the fact that they've lost curbing lost sidewalk at that point so not only the police station but the park and hopefully a parking lot right um and uh of course what we really wanted to avoid was people stopping dead in on Lafayette Street to make a 90° right hand turn that turning lane will not only feed it's hard to see up there folks but you can see almost in the middle there um that is a uh uh apron driveway to get into Lafayette Street park hopefully the future parking lot and and it's also my understanding if you can see that that little square that you have at the U at Jefferson there at Jefferson Street that would be an ideal opportunity to put one of the things that they call a u indicator uh not an indicator a uh speed bump a speed table a speed platform and I know that that would have to change the plans that we've already been submitted to and approved by the county but in going forward those speed tables need to be at at least three different places along Lafayette Street to calm the traffic down because the thing that slows the traffic down now is the condition of the road MH now when that road is paved it's going to become a speedway in particular not so much inbound but outbound traffic speeds on Lafayette Street quite a bit so I agree with you then it's not in the plan now just as an FYI I know um but I agree with you and frankly it wouldn't be the first County Road entering an island community that had some tabletops so no be Stone Harbor has them and I I think the c k May Point has them too K May Point there's a few of them yeah yeah it's a doable thing and if it's a question of just laying some black top down on the new road that would be fine but we need to consider that in the future cuz that's going to have to calm that traffic on Lafayette Street thank you thank you any other questions on roads uh Stacy Shan 928 Columbia um I just want to jump off of what Dennis Crowley said about that traffic light and my concern is that I hope there's going to be a traffic study done before you put in a light because my concern is it's going to dra backup traffic in town trying to get out and you're not going to be able to get the fire trucks out onto laf yet stre that traffic starts getting backed up that was it uh absolutely and and frankly with the county we absolutely would ask for that and then the last slide just for everyone's information too I think it's an important one is because we look at um Financial indicators and frankly a lot of them for the city is good I mean you're going to see in the budget process that we'll be going through over the next few weeks um that thing things are are very smooth um Surplus is obviously up um and but one other indicator that obviously is important in regards to doing all of this work and these projects is our debt ratio which I have on the screen um The Last 5 Years um it was in 2018 1.57 N I won't go through every year till till now but today it's 923 so it's actually seen a 42% de decrease since 2018 so uh again uh getting these projects going is important but doing it in a in a way that doesn't increase our debt ratio is obviously really important um and I'm just happy to report that um we're actually down in our debt ratio which is great um with that I think we can close public comment on roads we of course open it back up soon and move on to ordinances for uh reading for consideration yes tonight we have two ordinances for second reading and consideration for adoption the first of them is 526 d224 an ordinance authorizing fees for use of electric vehicle Supply and service equipment evse and make ready parking spaces and Mr Mayor there is a public hearing tonight is anyone here wishing to speak on ordinance 526 224 this is essentially just setting the fees for the uh charging stations that are already on seeing none we can close public comment do I have a motion from Council motion do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments Council roll call council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes okay next we have the department of personnel positions in the city of Kate May and there is a public hearing Mr Mayor is anyone here wishing to speak on 527 ordinance 527 seeing none we can close public comment do I have a motion from Council I'll make the motion I'll second any questions or comments Council roll call council member jger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor bobwin yes mayor mullik yes yes all right next we have public portion on resolutions only okay we have our consent agenda does anyone uh want to remove anything from the consent oh I'm sorry public portion would you like to remove anything Stacy sorry that's a loaded question yeah sorry uh Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue um I have a question about resolution 14 1403 2024 um it has to do with proving emergency temporary Budget on the current fund um it says including a grant award for the desalinization plant I guess my question would I would be to um has to do with why is that lowering the current fund and not the water utility since D salinization should be part of the water utility and all calls should be coming out of the water utility [Music] you're right it should be water SE utility I think we could update that is that possible make that change is it sure we can update that in the resolution but this is 114 yeah and just for the public all cost associated with the water treatment plan or Dale plan all should go through the water utility and not right no fund should come out of the current fund it should be a standalone exactly utility no correct and then my um second question has to do with resolution 1103 uh my question is it has to do with a change order for the construction of Trenton Avenue is how toward it in the resolution but I noticed that all the um change orders have to do with things all around town and my one question has to do with the removal of Three Trees on Franklin Street we have a contract with miners I don't understand why we contracted deasio to remove the three trees on Trenton or on Franklin Street well it's the um the company that removed them is called part of the forestry surgeon right but we have a a standing contract with miners I understand that he probably had a sub he just had to get it done oh so it was did go through those are already down yeah I know they are and I guess I'm assuming that the shade tree approved them yes I was asking Shane I didn't know because he was on the shade tree um the shade tree uh chairman has uh confirmed that those trees were in bad condition and uh gave the approval for them to come down and replace okay so they will be replaced then yes and uh since we're talking about trees uh the city manager would like to also see uh the city plant a a larger a little more mature beautiful tree in the uh that that field in the corner of Washington and Franklin uh at the post office land something big and beautiful that would fit in so we're we're we're conscientious that any tree that does go down gets replaced either in the current location or somewhere else in our tree Bank okay I just didn't know why that went through deasio not just through the shade tree to take those trees down it seems like we're paying a third person to do something that we already had a contractor to do I understand okay um my next question has to do with um resolution 108 has a change order to the contract for the fire station dual building restoration um I guess my one question is in this resolution talks about the contract time will be Unchained by zero days meaning that the firehouse has gone over the time limit and my question to the mayor I guess it was or the council a couple meetings ago was are we going to go after them for the fact that they've taken longer than expected to to complete the building and the qu the answer to me was no and I didn't know if this contract unchanged by zero days means that you are also approving the fact that you're not going to go after any back uh charges for this company for the fact they took longer than expected to complete the job well speaking of loaded questions that that's a loaded question for Council to answer I don't think we're at the end of that project yet that's certainly not what this change order provides okay at the end of this project the city's going to have to review final tally and the project and you know evaluate those types of things at that time well I guess with the fact that you're awarding the Change Control so it means you're paying them more money but the fact that they could be owing you money in the end I didn't know know why we'd be still giving them money well we we haven't paid them the full contracted amount is my understanding um I have to tell you for certain uh Rob Conley uh reviews each of these change orders very with the fine Toth comb um so this change order puts us at a total of 5,246 89374 my understanding is there's very little left in if any change orders um so uh look the Project's basically almost closed out they have door hardware that theyve been waiting well I mean I wasn't going to bring it up but additional fire rated doors and hardware at over $10,000 to me you would should know how many fire rated doors you were going into the building before you build a building it's not even a big building I bet you know on two hands you can all the door point out little minor things on the building all day the fact is it's under 2% change orders so I mean it's you know how how much detail do you want to get in I can tell you for certain that every one of those details that have been approved in public by Council um have been highly discussed negotiated and um and and and debated right we so some of these things we don't necessarily totally agree with but there's given no I understand and I understand that point I guess it was um more of the zero days that was in this change order that I was asking my question about the contract time will be unchanged by zero days that was my right there's no change to the days provided for in the contract okay thank you for the clarification um my other question I think I just want clarification on because I think it's a seems like it's a good project and maybe can give more information to the the public and that has to do with resolution 104 the support for the community solar project um it seems like there's a lot of money that's going to be available to the public and I want to know if you could give more detail so the public knows that these benefits are available to them this um I well I think that there was some information provided previously I know I got something in the um and I don't quote me Stacy but it it might be called like the LEAP program where people can call up who believe that they might be eligible either as low or you know moderate income um and and then also find out if you could be eligible for some assistance for installation of solar well I also when I was reading this that's what I thought at first yeah but it seems to me that people can get a 15% discount on electricity from the community solar project so you don't have to install solar panels right exactly and that's why I thought if you could get more detail cuz I think people don't realize that some we get a lot of things in the mail I think a lot of older people don't even realize agreed what they're getting and Justin I don't know if you have any more information I just know that I saw it and was and looked at it went online only because of the population of Village Green to see if there was some information I could include in a newsletter a lot of this information is coming sort of Fast and Furious now that New Jersey is really being very Progressive um with off trying to get more people converted to Green energy solar energy um and a lot of can be very confusing but Justin I don't know if you have any other information sure so I can add um basically it's kind of twofold one we're going through our sustainable Jersey recertification process and I believe it's the city's position that we're very proud to have that silver status um so we do receive points um for implementing a community solar project um and then to answer your question specifically um there would be um the opportunity for people the the users to sign up for the the program um where they would be able to usually it goes towards the um low to moderate income first and then kind of anyone after that would be able to sign up as the program goes forward we are going to put that web um information on our web page as well and um at no cost to the city the um person that will be doing the community solar project plans on doing a Citywide mailer to to all the residents to explain that project thank you I appreciate the details absolutely thank you thank you uh before we move on can I revisit um resolution 114 if possible please uh it is correct as it is um Stacy you are correct it is related to the desel plant which is a water sewer item however all grants are recorded under the current fund and it would then reimburse the water sewer so it should be added to the current fund okay so then so you're saying any grants for the Dale plant will go into the current fund first and then get credited to the get reimbursed correct to the water utility yes thank you for the clarification no problem any other comments Mr Rous name j Rous 1010 New York Avenue uh just a little thing but the um 11203 2024 the the surf school is there going to be a location that's identified with with that uh yeah Queen Street Queen Street Queen Street it is Queen Street my my concern is this is a fiveyear deal we're seeing such a change in the the uh the Dynamics of K May will this be locked in or will be there an opportunity to adjust these Comm commitments in the future if the demand by the public is much greater than a four or five or 10 people that are going to get instruction on riding a surfboard does it say five years yeah one one contract for one up to five years yeah so I think the goal here is uh and and I drafted the contract for this so so the the goal here is to is to try this out for a year and then it gives the city the option to extend it but but it's a new New Concept right and I think the recreation department thought that this would be a really positive thing for the city of Kate May to try it out and then if it turns out to be a positive thing it would give the city the opportunity to extend it or expand it or you know whatever deems whatever the city deems appropriate at that time I think it's an excellent program I I am concerned that the next one will be somebody wants to open up a sailing school um you know these are all positive things but we've got a limited amount of Beach and we've got an increasing population sure so I I think this was a program The Genesis of this was a program that I think the recreation department thought that you know this is something that the city would like to offer and in lie of undertaking all the resources to get that going to open it up for an RFP but this doesn't B the city to open it up for sailing or kayaking or anything else it's just surfing this year so um 11403 2024 this is a um a d change I guess but can can we have a a little explanation of what what um what this really means what where it come from and uh how is it going to affect the desale plant this isn't a change to the diesel plant this is a grant that we received that can be used for the Dell plant so we're just adding it to the budget to have a line item in the budget for it so are we getting the 750,000 yeah if we spend the funds then we can get reimbursed for the 750,000 and is there a specific use for that 750,000 or does that get thrown into the kitty um I can double check the the grant award letter and follow up with you on that to let you know but it is earmarked for d sell plant do we have any more uh information on the progress that we're making we're not making with a d out plan um I mean I can I can give you we they are the engineers are still working on it um and to be honest with you I don't know what percentage they're at right now i' I'd have to look at that but the fact is um the main thing is really going after some of these grants some of them this is one but but uh some of them um are are we've we've received some commitments um not as much as we would like to but I think that'll be a more comprehensive uh discussion coming soon I would I would hope and how how how's the communication going with the other customers that are participating in it I mean are they are they fully aware of what we're doing and what they're uh and I don't know whe whether we know what kind of participation we want from them but every everyone is absolutely aware that we're pursuing this and then I just want to answer too I mean tonight on the agenda as well is um the resolution um on the water line the water line all right that's my next question um you know that is fully funded by the grant which is great the bidding came in just uh on I think I was on Thursday um so that's another um important project that's will be you know this has no effect on the dile pl so that's why one of the reasons we wanted to move this forward that was what what I was going to be asking that waterline uh in uh installation how does that relate relate to the new diesel plant if that's what it doesn't but it allows them to my understanding and again I this is trying to remember like six months ago from this conversation but it allows them to open up a different valve um and and use this new line um but this line will have no effect on the dile plant except that it'll be a new line that's uh you know exactly what the water department wants thank you but but but that question of you know is this going to change once we do the dile plant the answer is no thank you mayor if I could just add one thing that resolution 114 um is an EPA Grant specifically for design work for it okay it raises a question are we designing this for our need or are we designing it for the need of the four communities that are participating for for the current users and certainly for the future future well do we know what the future forecast needs are for the the the amount of water that we need that that's part of the equation definitely yes okay thank you yes any other public comment on resolutions please forgot to give you my name last time it's still Dennis Crowley 806 left Street speaking on behalf of MTR at this point I'd like to ask a couple of questions about resolution 99-03 uh it it's a sort of a parallel piece to an issue that we've been concerned with as a committee for some time and that is the the fair and Equitable uh establishment of fees and services fees for services rendered and uh whether or not those fees should be escalated over time in order to avoid the prospect of them becoming stale through inaction over the course of a decade or so so my question is uh this resolution authorizes a lease of $12,000 what was what's the current lease with them there is none for that that there is none for that space currently do you do you know Ju Just So you're the Public's aware and that we're clear this is for a portion of unused space in in the rear North West portion of the welcome center right and we have a dollar lease with the chamber the nonprofit for their operation but doesn't cover the entire that whole that whole uh complex of the Welcome Center is something MTR has looked at with respect to not only the lease between Chamber of Commerce but also this new service for The Rail lines and and uh the chart the use of the uh facility for charter buses coming in and out of town and what their fees would be I raise it only because this also recommends that a 3% per year for the next 3 years escalator it it falls into the Trap that we we found ourselves in in other contracts that we've looked at over time and that is that plugging in a 3% anything is turns stale quite quite quickly if it doesn't keep up with inflation and our recommendation was that uh the escalators for fees that I think is going to be incorporated at least partially into the budget this year uh that that escalator would be calculated by something akin to the cost of living index or the Labor Statistics so that we can keep an accurate number plugging in 3% seems like a good idea in the short term but may turn out to be ineffective over time so so Dennis can I address that yes because I think there's actually an escape hatch for this trap that we fell into the uh the lease provides that any extensions are at council's election so it there's it provides the opportunity for a 5-year term but because we're under we are the the tenant essentially of NJ Transit there has to be an escape route for the city to get out of deals like this so that um and to evaluate it on a year-by-year basis so this actually provides that we're only in for year it would be our option to renew correct if we did renew it it would be at 3% is it too late to change that to some more reliable and defendable index of it's It's Too Late in the sense of this year's RFP but if the city decides that it wants to put it back out for RFP next year it has that option to do that okay all right I'll take that back to the can I ask a question on that Mr solicitor was for the bidding process which is obviously you know strictly regulated can we instead of 3% within that when we put the bid out can it say CPI I mean I can imagine it can't but I just want to make sure it it it said 3% because that was consistent with some other practices we've done on leases but if and we're actually seeing that in some of our upcoming contracts CPI that's why I'm raising it basis so but this this one was a product of some prior discussions yeah so we can um look to incorporate and we actually we are in the process of incorporating that rather than these fixed rates good and since it deals with the rail service we'll all get back on the same track on this correct the M mrack very good mrack imag all right any any other public comment on resolutions this evening okay we can close public comment on resolutions all right we are moving on to the consent agenda matters listed under the consent agenda are routine in nature and may be enacted by one motion and one vote items will not be read individually unless removed from the consent agenda by any member of council does council wish to remove any item from the consent agenda can I yes sorry go ahead that's okay can I remove 112 please I like 93 please I'll have the chicken anything else Council sure you don't want my helmet no nothing for me anything else Council no okay do I have a motion on the consent agenda Council I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second roll call please please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes council member Balin yes mayor mullet yes all right we are going to go to 93- 03224 this is a resolution establishing a Mount Laurel subcommittee and appointing members to assist the city in complying with its affordable housing obligations make I have a motion do I have a second a second any questions or go ahead I have a comment I think we should make a um a revision to this ordinance I think every I'm sorry resolution I think everywhere it says subcommittee should be changed to task force I think that makes sense uh councilman Meyer um just in the nature of this group it's it's going to be more in the nature of a task force and it's not going to meet on a monthly basis necessarily it it is going to be focused on uh the issues that the city's is going to have to uh uh address in the coming year regarding changes in the affordable housing and coal laws and our obligations looking at 2025 and the projects that are being considered in town that impact those concerns so it's two of the members are myself and the affordable housing special Council the things that we'll be discussing are not necessarily going to be uh always for public consumption so that makes makes a lot of sense to me I just oh I'm sorry I I just had a um question I think um and if you can share what would you say is the immediate charge of this task force what are what are sort of the priorities I mean you've two things go ahead thanks um so one one is General one is specific but they're both related so the the general is there are some uh anticipated changes to the co laws in the state I think a bill is either on the governor's desk been signed or very very close to that um regardless that that may have some impact on uh all the municipalities in the state are anticipating addressing What's called the round four obligation in 2025 and that stems from the round three and earlier obligations which were the subject of the 2018 litigation that every municipality had to deal with um back then the city was proactive and was able to resolve that resulted in various things like the spending plan and changes to our in code Etc um so we're uh city manager Dietrich and I wanted to get proactive with this and not wait till the end but get started on this early so that's why we wanted to get special counsil on involved in 2024 to plan for 2025 have have the year to do that so um part of the uh goal this task force will be to focus on the planning efforts for that and then addressing the city's round four obligation in the context of all the changes and progress that the city has made since the settlement agreement the second thing is frankly we've had um uh the Kate May Housing Authority is a part of that discussion they were a part of the settlement agreement they have some uh plans that they are in the process of of uh working through which inevitably impact the city's affordable housing obligations so we want to get proactive and and consider that in the context of our upcoming round four obligation so it seemed like the smart thing to do to get special counsel um on board to review and plan for those issues and and and dive into the details a bit more rather than just the uh aerial view at this point we need to dive into the details and plan for 2025 so for the changes that might be forthcoming um do you anticipate knowing when that information um when you know the governor May sign it when it will go through the legislative body uh based on the discussions with our special Council uh few short weeks ago it it seems uh pretty close uh I don't I don't as I sit here right now I don't have an exact update on that but um it things are moving in the direction of changes but we have we have a strategy and a plan to address those going forward and there's there's going to be a a clear process kind of outlined for all the municipalities throughout the state if the changes occur or if they don't we we have you know if they don't occur we we know what we're going to have to do and if they do occur we know what we're going to have to do at that point too thank you could can quick question um some of these changes that are coming about does it look like it some things that are happening at the Housing Authority as well as other um uh units in the city do you think that that will count towards our COA obligation yeah I mean that was part of the original settlement agreement was that the city was going to not do anything to detract from that um and I think what the Housing Authority is considering right now is is some not only refurbishment but expansion of that so I think there's an opportunity for that to go towards the city's round four obligations it was considered in the prior settlement agreement so what we want to do is get beyond the concept of that and dive into the details and and really figure out what that's going to mean uh and we're going to have to figure out what that's going to mean over the next year towards uh our round four obligations so it it seemed like a sound planning effort to to get that going early at the you know at the beginning of 2024 rather than later because there's a yeah there's a lot I was going to say I mean it's one thing for to have been the concept and and had that accepted as you know part of our you know uh requirement but now I'm sure they're looking for some more action since this original um you know settlement or you know it's progress at least I would imagine sure well that's that's just the thing I mean it is undoubtedly a a good idea for a project right but but then what we need to do on our end we we're the ones with the Constitutional obligation to provide affordable housing opportunities so and among all the other municipalities in the state so but that those two things are related and this is an effort to merge the two and figure out what that means and how they can be merged so this is a step in that direction among addressing our overall obligation M and you and I had a conversation Mr gillin schwarts um regarding the status of this some of the current units and you indicated that Mr veto and um Craig hurles are following up on both those developments yes um I've been in contact with Mr veto and Mr huris throughout that process as well um and they're fully aware of the phasing requirements under the cor regulations and I'm I'm my understanding from Mr veto this week is that um the Lafayette Street uh project was cooed so that's going to sort of clear the way for the other development but that that was certainly a trigger and something that they were monitoring uh to make sure that that those um phasing requirements were being met now the confusion with that can sometimes come with you see a building under construction but that's not necessarily the trigger things can be built but not coed the COO is the trigger for these things so that that was where I understandable confusion frankly you see a bunch of buildings going up you think what's going on here well that that's what's going on things can be built so construction materials aren't lying around but the co is really the hammer and the The Shield that the the city has to sort of make sure these things are staying on track thank you we have a did you make that in the form of I didn't make a motion yet you want to make a motion sure I make a motion that uh anywhere in this resolution that it says subcommittee to be called uh change to task force do I have a second to that motion I'll second that any questions or comments on that Council roll call please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member mcade yes Deputy Mayor bobwin yes mayor mullik yes do I have a motion on the amended uh resolution so moved do I have a second second roll call please council member I'm sorry is everyone okay uh no questions or comments yes roll call please council member joerger yes council member Meyer yes council member McDade yes Deputy Mayor Balwin yes mayor mullik yes all right moving on to resolution 112-311 resolution authorizing the hiring of a surf school instructor concessionaire through the competitive Contracting process concession do I have a motion I'll make a motion do I have a second I'll second any question question or comments Council I have a few questions um and I know we received something a little late and I did not have a chance to go through this um I think this is a great idea that we're looking at a surf School within the city but I have a few questions as far as like the insurances which I'm sure is probably covered better in this document um as well as the hours of operation because you have lifeguards that are on duty during a specific time um that could you know trigger you know something um storms could be you know coming up I don't things like that CPR for state and I don't know if that's all covered in here but if you can give me a brief overview Council may have an outdated packet at this point um and the goal was to get because of the timing of it the recreation department wanted to get something the concept um out for Council as soon as possible and then proceed with the details aspect of it I can tell you that um and this probably didn't make uh council's packet but there's certainly an agreement that would go along with this and and similar in the same manner as a lot of our concession aors agreements along the beach there is insurance and indemnification requirements consistent with our GIF requirements um there's language to provide that you know the beach if the beach Patrol needs to shut something down or the city manager needs to shut something down or move something or alter something you're kind of at the mercy of Emergency Management and public safety concerns at a certain to a certain extent so that if we need to make some you know if it needs to be shut down it's too rough out there that's that's the way it's got to be so and as a practical man they're not going to want to take beginners out in that those kind of conditions anyway but that that goes for in the water operating in general and then placement of these things so that we don't want to interfere with any of the beach Patrol and the things that they need set up so there is certainly language to to create sort of the rules of the road road on the beach and then and and the rules of the road are essentially the concessionaire has to yield to what the city's doing um from a public safety standpoint in addition to the insurance requirements that are out there there was one note in here that it talked about being consistent with um I guess Incorporated uh surf school concessionaire permit terms and conditions and I don't know I mean is that covered in here are we premature to vote on this and put this forth I'm I'm wondering that's up for Council to decide I I I don't know if Council got like I said that there is a an agreement that goes along with this that is pretty we just we got it this afternoon um and I looked through it and I had another question not to interrupt that but are they also required to go through any CRI criminal background checks in advance I would want to make sure that a condition of any company that we contracted with they're going to be dealing with children um so are they going to have to go through a criteria for criminal background um anything else doing with the you know child protection laws so that would most certainly be the case if we were they were employees of us um the goal here I think is is to to subcontract this subcontract this out and actually you know there's an existing there's existing surf schools out there run by surf shops Etc like you has their own group so that was the goal to get those types of organizations interested in this and make a proposal to the city um I if and they're not employees so the goal is to get outsourc this and um you know they are 100% responsible for their operations and their employees and you know that that's the framework that's proposed here okay um I'm just going to say on the record that I'm uncomfortable with with us not having some hiring practice language in here um especially with dealing with regardless and I understand that they're not our employees but they're operating under the imperat of the city of Cap May offering a surfing school lessons um and it becomes a very fine distinction in my mind from The public's perspective as to you know oh they're employed by this person or that person they're just not setting up a tent um you know and they're um so I would want to see some type of a language that understands the hiring practices of a company that's providing a service like this uh in a public area um that would be engaging with activities for um potentially children one of the things that we could do is notwithstanding that they are not they are not employees of the city um they nor the people that work for them but that their hiring practices will will meet or exceed the hiring practices of the city of Kate May that might be something that we can add into the the bid requirements so that that's a condition of the bid I would ask if that could be included thank you I'm I'm good with that as well so uh I think with that then look to uh table this until the next meeting I'd be comfortable tbling it I think okay do I have a motion to table I'll make a motion to table it do I have a second I'll second uh any questions or comments on tabling and I I would say a to the next agenda with the goal of we want this to be to your satisfaction yeah I and I I I think it's a great idea I just want to make sure that we have the time to go through it and make sure that the conditions and the the structure around it uh meets the the criteria that um we all feel comfortable with before moving ahead so if we can get that you know Incorporated for review at the next meeting I think that and we can have you know a proposed final packet for Council that doesn't come 5 minutes before the meeting you know it's it's there was a lot of of single space language in there so don't that's great thank you Chris thank you so we have a motion in a second to table do I have a a roll call please council member Jagger yes council member Meyer yes council member MCD yes Deputy Mayor Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes okay any old business old business any old Business Council city solicitor any new business I don't think have anything tonight mayor thank you Deputy City manager any new business no ma Deputy city clerk any new business yes I just wanted to remind everyone that next Monday March 11th the Red Cross is sponsoring a blood drive at convention hall um you can sign up online uh right now 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. so uh I said it last meeting the need is great so if you can donate um that would be fantastic you can walk in but um you can also make an appointment online and that is all I have tonight mayor thank you thank you it is Saturday I think yeah uh I'm sorry uh Deputy Mayor any updates um yeah there there's a lot of things going on in the city right now between the firehouse opening what's going on down at the Cove we um we do have a lot of city employees that have a lot of talents outside of their job descriptions and they've all kind of come to the you know Forefront whether it's the police department the fire department I mean all city employees um they they have communication background they have construction background you know outside of their realm of work and I really think that you know they need to be praised I've I hear a lot of this out on the street um but I wanted to publicly thank people um because I do hear that quite a bit and that's all talented group of people yeah beyond their scope of their job description uh councilwoman McDade uh nothing at this time mayor councilman Meyer uh yes thank you mayor I just want to point out to the public maybe you already realized this but a huge percentage of this agenda here has to do with green initiatives and uh this is help keeps our points up for civil you know uh status and it helps us get grants so it's important that we we follow these uh guidelines um also the keep May veterans auxiliary has got a confirmation date for a retirement retiring of Old Glory ceremony uh it's going to be the 16th at 10:00 a.m. at Quan Park they're going to have the local Boy Scouts uh is that March 16th yes okay um and they're going to do the demonstration I've never seen one before but there's a whole program to it and for me it's going to be an education so I'm excited to see it that's great council member Jagger um nothing tonight mayor thank you okay uh I just want to uh it's seems like a far off but happy St Patrick's Day to everyone we don't have a meeting till after that uh and kind of going with what the deputy mayor said we they the recreation department came up with and I actually I don't want to credit anyone because I don't know but someone came up with a really nice idea of uh doing the it was not me of doing the family uh roller skating for our employees the other night um it was really nice event just to get you know people together after hours and and uh so a few of you there and it was just really really lovely to see everybody's families and and Echo kind of your sentiments deputy mayor of uh we just have a really nice group of people and and that was shown well at that um also the water transmission line again um an important project bidding came in under um the number and and uh so we'll be fully covered by the grant which uh they'll my understanding is they'll start within the next couple weeks it will have no effect on water Within in the community of course um but they'll be starting that soon um and then last thing which was great news that I think most of us heard was the um Boardwalk fund uh from the state receiving $6.8 million uh toward the boardwalk uh preservation frund um and I do I want to thank the governor's office our our legislators in the uh district one who really advocated on our behalf um just one of the biggest grants the city's ever seen so it's uh really going to be used for a great purpose we all know how important our prominade is uh not just to Recreation and a lovely walk but of course it's part of our seaw wall and what protects the city so uh I think it'll be money well spent and uh look toward uh some really nice projects coming forward and and interestingly enough in our application um you know you go through the photographs and I think the application was really compelling which I think obviously kind of showed through and in the amount of grant funding that we received but you do remember how many uh upgrades are kind of necessary uh Ada accessibility and and uh some of the cement you know basic kind of stuff but really um uh could could use a nice touchup so um looking forward to that uh with that we open up for public comment anyone wishing to speak on any issues please come to the microphone state your name and address and shoot away Peter good evening good evening Council uh Peter Cole 1075 Michigan Avenue uh I've been sitting in here for some I don't know over the last 10 20 years or so and my ears are not as good as as they used to be but I will say that tonight it's it's becoming very hard to hear you guys at the back of the class here um I'm sorry to to to ask you if you could possibly start to look into whether we can upgrade your system maybe get these things to work because we're really not hearing you and an example of that actually Deputy Mayor and I you want us to start over pardon do you want us to start over no I'm I'm kidding but but answer your question Peter we'll definitely look into I there there's a audio equipment back here obviously may be as simple as turning up the volume I don't know but we Justin if you could take a note okay thank you I I just wanted to point out you know in trying to listen you've got really quite animated about 10 minutes before the end of the meeting um you know the previous 40 minutes you were rather quiet um the deputy mayor I I'm sorry to pick on you Lorraine but when you were talking about the uh surfing instructor which I really could hardly hear what you said I heard the words storm I think CPR MH and shark but I'm not sure whether I'm correct on that I don't quite know what I was hearing we need to be better anyway two right all right thank you very much thank you Peter and and we will address it Mr Rous Jules Jules Rous 1010 New York Avenue I've got I've got to Echo what what Peter what Peter has raised what you folks don't realize is you've got one of these in front of you however you very often go and when you change your position you change what we can hear or not hear and all you have to do is Miss 5 or 10% % of it and you know we're sitting up there so um you you understand we'll look into it a couple of items um do we know what what the status is of the tennis club Grant application I don't have that info on off hand but I can get it get it to you if you'd like uh if you could check that out I understood that that application should have been acted on uh last month but uh who knows um the um the state Grant which I I think is really great great that the city got uh over $6 million do we know how that's going to be used and in what time frame um I think this the honest answer right now is not exactly um it one thing just to remember is and I'm looking at the date on this um application that we made they Ann uh the state announced the boardwalk preservation Fund in late August um our Engineers put together this 55-page document by October 23rd 2023 and I and I really say it's it's um um comprehensive it does lay out ex frankly exactly what we want to do but it also I think comes in with a total number of uh where we at here uh there's different phases the total number of over $20 million so obviously um everything that we have in this Grant application isn't going to be done in one phase um but uh your question is exactly what we need to answer within the next few weeks hopefully but everything everything is uh in here we just we can't do everything that's in here basically what are the phases that was the next question if we go over the the the 6. 68 I think it is uh do we have money to handle anything in excess of that it's a it's a good question and again I I don't know the answer just because it's so fresh um I think we as a counsel are going to have to look at this and say are we going to dedicate any funds to this and maybe the answer it's it's at least in my part a little premature to answer because you know it came in at 20 million to say let's do you know everything on here we have seven it's sort of saying okay now that we've gotten the you know we know what we wanted to do now we have some money to go towards it do we take a look at it and say these are the more critical things to to work on immediately and is there any funding that we think the city would be willing to put into it to to to to bump it up because you know there might be one or two additional critical things that we think need to be there to be honest with you Mr R at this point I'm not prepared to answer that I we have to look through the document again and as you know as a council sit down and have a discussion as to what we think is the most important thing but there is no matching Grant requirement from what I understand no no matching requirement um in addition the U mayor did invite us all to meet with him to discuss our ideas will the public have an opportunity to participate in the discussion of what the the items will be yes and and uh we actually did have a little presentation on this I will say it was pretty quick kind of understand that which was kind of part of the whole process but let me let me just be clear this is like pretty simple stuff I mean um and let me also be clear about another thing this is totally separate from the East End um Army core of engineering project and FEMA uh project um and just to be clear that everyone understands that I'm talking about the corner of at Wilmington at poverty Beach uh the Army Corps has has a project going on that's been approved and and is moving through the process uh FEMA is looking at funding the city for um where the Army Corps project ends to approximately Philadelphia Avenue in front of kuanana Club um which would be fantastic if we get that funding things look well and but importantly for the Army Core project they have adopted the city's design and you know you're familiar with that we've had several Pres ations on that so I think when you look when you look at what was in this application it's a similar design that what's going to be done at um the corner of Wilmington um it it's obviously fixing up um all of the concrete Ada accessibility issues um it looks into the restrooms that are up there um it goes it has some widening portion of it um and none of it is raising it o over the SE the seating um design that has been well documented which would increase the height by I think it's like 2 feet 6 in or something like that but frankly below the Dune line so you it would not uh affect any um views or anything like that but in any event I I don't not being prepared to speak on this but we have a lot of uh discussion as a council to go over and all of that will be at a city council meeting as well so we'll give a present as to what um is decided any any opportunity that that the short knee wall I'll call a knee wall along Beach Avenue will be short up um because it's it's deteriorating to the point now where it's starting to to a road that's in this and and most people can probably think of this but maybe not recognize it the main portion of RC wall is kind of the I kind of look at as like a World War II style like bull head that that uh you know you can imagine the um parking meters on along the the main portion but then as you get further down toward the Cove it's actually the wood um uh portion um railroad ties basically obviously same thing at the East end at at uh poverty Beach that's all being addressed through the Army Corps and FEMA project this Project's looking more at the West End southern end of town uh toward the Cove and yes um the railroad tides are addressed as part of this project again that's part of the 20 plus million project that we're going to have to discuss now that we know how much we have uh just two two more items um the library is closing coming close to a finality and do we have a final figure on what the city's obligation is going to be toward for that project I I don't have it in front of me right now um we can get that number for you it hasn't changed we don't have any change orders okay you know uh one other just a very small item but it isn't and Dennis brought it up the you know the city owns the uh Washington Washington Street mall we haven't had an increase in the rents in I think almost 15 years um it's time that we recognize that asset that that belongs to the city and it's it's enabled our our restaurant beverage business to be very very successful and now with an extended series season uh it's going to be more and more beneficial to them the city needs to benefit from being the owner and get a re a a responsible U rent and tie that in to the CPI as well as all the other rental property thank you and just to answer that it that uh Jules is being considered with kind of all of our fee schedules is yes thank mayor real quick before we move on too too far um for the boardwalk preservation Grant it's not a 100% match but there is a 10% 10% match in that yeah I think the 10% over the 2.8 though it just if I'm correct like it goes further you know for to our uh total number I think yeah I would have to look more specifically into the details but I just wanted to make sure that it was on record and we'll we'll come up with a 10% to make sure we get it uh Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue um to expand on that the boardwalk preservation Grant um you you mentioned that there was a presentation on the projects that were proposed can you see what that was cuz I don't remember that ever being and we literally just was received uh word of this a couple days ago so but we will have a lot of um public comment on this okay cuz I guess my question is you know it seems to me that it would be money spent like on bathrooms I didn't know if we were you know going to sneak in the Arches there to be put on the boardwalks with this money I'm not I'm going to say no okay I'm not really speaking for anyone else but this is grant money that's supposed to be preserving or it's not even in the uh application we have to I didn't know it was in the application because you said there was a presented well look we just got $6.8 million it was a good it was a good application that we had to throw together very quickly I'm it covers the necessary upgrades to the prominade as many of you know prominade was a lot of it was built after the 1962 storm uh and hasn't had a lot of updates since so it it needs a lot of upgrades they're very obvious there's no secret um laboratory underneath of it or anything like that it's just just honest upgrades to the promot okay my my next question has to do with the um Atlantic Electric project has that been completed what project Atlantic City Electric the substation the substation the substation is complete the Landscaping is not I know I Noti there's no sidewalk in it yet that so they have to and and and I give a lot of credit to Mr Meyer who's been working on that and pushing them um they have committed to do it uh to do both the road the sidewalk and Landscaping hopefully this spring they have a application into the D so they're waiting for uh approval from the D for the sidewalk and that that's the only reason they haven't already bid it out to do this spring okay that was my thing and then um I just want to ask a follow-up question to Mr rashi's question about the library costs it was my understanding that when there's change orders came in that the council took a stance that they wouldn't be uh committed to over $2 million for the project has that changed that the the city's gone to put in more than the $2 million that they said they would put in I don't I don't know I have no idea we haven't we don't have a change order but there was I mean the we know that the library is almost up to $10 million so that's more more than $2 million that the city promised so my question was are we going to as a city are you going to put in more than the 2 million that you originally said you weren't going to go over I I have no idea but I have we haven't been asked for any change orders there was change orders in the very beginning a couple years ago that brought up the um califano had a change order for his I didn't say that there weren't change orders there's there's certainly been change orders they've been well discussed here at the table uh I'm unaware of any change order since I would I would assume that there will be to be honest with you I I mean most projects when they come to a completion there's you know hey we need a switch here and we didn't have it on the plan or whatever so uh I'm not talking about switches I'm talking about millions of dollars more than what we committed to of 10 of $2 million I'm if if there was millions of dollars in change orders I'm sure it would be well discussed up here and I'm unaware of any of that okay they were they were discussed M the the resolutions that you're referencing reference Mo uh an intend to move forward with the project but not amend the shared services and I think you were on Council when we did that's why I was bringing it up because I do remember it of us saying we're not going to go over the $2 million that we had committed to right it's a 2 million and then there's there's a $300,000 kind of buffer in there but yeah the the resolutions contain language of got I'm sorry I'm this is exactly what was were complaining about earlier the resolutions contain language referencing that we're not amending the shared services agreement but yes move forward with the contract so that the city's commitment remains what's in the shared services agreement I think what the mayor is referencing is we haven't been asked to change the shed Services agreement at this time that's all I wanted to clarification thank you um oh one last question having to do with we talked about a lot about affordable housing tonight with the um Medford Lakes task force and everything I'm just want to follow up on that Lafayette streets uh project for affordable housing how's that moving along I mentioned that earlier actually uh miss the uh construction official indicated that that that project's been seed which is what the city was looking for to make sure that the phasing requirements were being met and kept on schedule okay thank you have hard time hearing still just on that one okay thank you um I just want to say on the library project that things are going really smoothly so I just don't want people to think that we're not addressing something that I I have no idea so I just want people to know that the project is going very smoothly um the building looks beautiful and we don't have any change orders right now just to be very clear um and again I'm not saying that there won't be I would assume that there will be as as we get closer to the Finish but nothing of any significance that is I just want to be clear I don't I have no idea what big things may come don't think they will but I would assume that minor uh modifications may be made at the end frankly to um upgrade the facility to what folks might want to see so with that do we have any other public comment motion to adjourn I'll make that motion thank you everyone have a wonderful evening thank you the time is 6:37