[Music] of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all welcome everyone to March 14 2024 regular scheduled council meeting call this meeting has been properly advertised and posted in accordance with public law 75 chapter 231 I have a roll call please mayor jetti here atoni here Clark here Dash here Galloway I am here Heist here hessie here Timbers Wright Richie here in compliance with the open public meetings Act of the City New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the E City common Council was Prov in the following manner Advanced written notice of this meeting was posted on the EG City Hall bulleon board Advanced written notice of this meeting was posted on the EG har City website Advanced written notice of this meeting was sent to the Hamilton Gazette and the press the meeting is being conducted via zoom and conference call the meeting is also being recorded to air on the egg haror City website Channel 97 and the Egg haror City Facebook page may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the 22nd of February make a motion second all favor all right anybody from the public have any comment with agenda items only once twice all right mayor the floor is yours for your report okay that was quick um see um just a report we have some senior P picnic scheduled already for um Cedar Creek it'll be on the 10th with 11th rain date oest high school will be on the 12 13th for a rain date um still one other thing about the lake Angela I was looking to when I was reviewing the uh and revising the AFP I noticed that um ordinance number 5 2020 1984 um under bathing restricted we do we're missing a section for that and I have it right here I will give that to you we have the one that is Mark still here that Mark had brought up that one year about swimming by something I remember exactly what it was but but this is this is missing so I don't know how that happened but I thought we did that I looked in my green book and I couldn't see it my so I don't know what happened I know 2023 probably isn't in there because make said it takes him a year to catch up but that was 2020 yeah um also I think um I sent the email out makes s to me I think you sent it to me or somebody did our district 8 legislators would like to attend the March 28th uh council meeting at 700 p.m it's uh tyer Senate and teresi assembly so I don't know yeah absolutely okay and uh we did get the a uh American Rescue plan firefighter grant for $75 Jody had put in for I mean 7 $75,000 yes we're make a trip to Staples for $75 right um so thank you Jody for putting that in you did a great job and um the fire department's extremely happy also Jody and I and Ryan we did have a meeting about the safe route to transit to get an update on that I think if you recall a couple years back we were um going to do the uh share of the road like with the bike sign on it so that's still in the in the works um they just wanted to remind Council that you did approve it and do you still approve it because it's been a few years that's the one on Cincinnati Buffalo they want Cincinnati but I had suggested Buffalo might be a better thought only because there's a lot of bike traffic that comes from the um School in the Village Avenue Apartments so we'll we'll look at that we'll let Ryan decide what um he wants to do but I think that would be a better fit so the only the only parallel parking that we would have to um block off I believe is the zero block which may call something else but you know the block across the pike uni block uni block where at well I call it the zero block but um but everything else will just go right in the road just to let the cars know that the passenger you know to share the road with the bikes we also had a meeting with the um D with Allan Miller and we were talking about possibly um designating the old dump at the industrial park uh brownsfield um designated be called a BDA brownsfield designator area or whatever um to potentially close that site clean up the lots that are contaminated in the industrial park that we can't sell because they're so close to the dump and also put a um solar farm possibly on there um which would be helpful to all the residents of a haror city so we're looking into that we have a meeting with um one of Allen's Associates we haven't scheduled the meeting yet because Ryan's on vacation till I believe at least the 21st also uh descri got uh email from the Senator's offices Senator um Booker and also um bandrew and their office about discretionary aid from the Congress and I had suggested several ideas that I've been speaking to tryad about that aren't really going to fly one was the fire truck because we already paid for it one was The Crusaders improvements which being that the school does not use it for programming except for maybe 10 hours a year that won't qualify either and then um I had suggested also Water and Sewer at the Lake Campgrounds and they said that won't qualify because we make money off of it so at this point um it's due the 25th so if anybody has any suggestions I had talked to nette about possibly the peace Pilgrim thing but these are these are big big grants yeah I know that for the Statue know but I had sent you an email outlining what I think needs to be done at peace build park right but we'd have to have a price written up from the well the county I contacted the county last year and in fact Jerry delas Was supposed to call me this week to let me know what the public works department um what they discovered when they went there because I'd like to see all that concrete that up against the bulkhead removed and so it's it's that may not even by either but we could find out but does anybody else have any other ideas that they're thinking of one a fitness Park that we we were talking about before a couple years back I think that might be the same as key wck you would need to have some sort of a a school using it or something or okay or seniors or something they you would have to be able to prove that there's x amount of programming hours that go on there yeah anything around the lake like that the uh walk around the lake or anything that and you can't you can't make money off of it could we U that's a good idea good ide we possibly partner with Taris again remember that that idea of a pow building our issue was the facades the Aesthetics of it because it was just going to be basically like a like a a metal Barn well our our our real problem with that was a resident from Chicago Avenue and the PL the land use board but are you saying for the same area or a different area well I I thought most of the complaints were about the Aesthetics of it if we use well if that is an issue whether it's that site or another site we could possibly use the money to pay for like a facade that you know a lot of us would find more appealing right but pal also not to say keep saying no no no but pal is also a money-making entity and they would be Mone I don't think it makes money for us not for us or basketball courts next to the tennis courts yeah but then you'd have to have programming make sure you'd have to be able to prove there's programming go that goes on there could probably do like a summer the summer league and talk to him is there a criteria for these grants that you can maybe email to us so that we can take you know I don't I don't I just go right through Triad and they say yes or no oh okay I don't have there is a um if you if you click on Google and put a discretionary BRS from the Senate it'll come up and all the qualifications are there it's kind of like Port projects it's what the Senators put into their budget requests every year and they get a certain amount of money they approve some they reject some right so what may or March 25th it's a fast turnaround Yeah March 25th so um so if you want to email me with something but and if you want to look it up but I'll I'll talk to them about the senior center because that's really bad that needs a whole it's just horrible it's horrible um and just just since you brought up the senior center I have a girl uh local girl who's going to take care of the uh beds a couple beds she's affiliated with crops and crops is going to be removing the old beds from behind the cabin because they Ser serve no purpose purp because they don't get any sun there so they're going to move them to another Community SLE took me a couple seconds and I see faces going like why are there beds behind the cab sorry that's just how my mind work sorry the gardens the raised beds I should say raised beds I on the agenda is putting some heater is Jody isn't it for at the senior center we got that we got that Grant though I'm just saying it wouldn't need new when we're saying about Pro senior genter isn't that on the agenda HVAC HVAC okay there's other things they can use so anyway if you have any ideas email me um I'm sure the the chief's going to talk about police licensing that's just come up uh I guess January January 1 and just a couple things the cleanup day is scheduled for May 4th Saturday May 4th and I'm going to be doing another mayor's walk on April 21st I'll be posting that all that information shortly on the official egg haror City Facebook page I think that's all I have thank you thank you all right moving on new committee report uh Finance Redevelopment first week of April I'll shoot some deta out in the next couple days first week of April we have we have to have a meeting there some pressing issues that we have to discuss uh code had a code meeting a couple weeks ago discussed some things say systems are being put in place um and the employees are being receptive to a lot of it so it's moving in the right direction and as I guaranteed it will be fixed so um we will be having another meeting I think I schedu so I sent that email out also uh moving on councilman Dash safety safety nothing to report this week Council Public Works in Highway Public Works um we're moving right along um the new flags for this um spring are up on the Avenue we got the delivery of our new truck um all the flower beds have been mulched which I guess did Public Works through the flower beds all the flower beds have been mulched and we're moving right along to get into the busy season I know scheduling of the campground leaf removal is in the near future and that's all I have thank you councilwoman Anthony see property Parks playgrounds and Schoolboard I have a couple things so for parks and playgrounds we uh met with the campground this week uh they advised that 2020 coming up to 2026 would be their last year they would not be putting in a new RFP they're going to be putting in the decking working on putting in the decking to make it ADA Compliant for the uh the Boy Scout building there which is something that was supposed to be done last year it's not completed yet um and they recognized that um we have a couple things to to work through with them that we've asked them to put in writing and then we'll bring that back here once that's all kind of settled Board of Education had a meeting last night our community schools so your sprag school and your City Community School have put forth a 0% tax increase to our area so that's in budget this year and so um just so everybody knows and is informed that their budgets at a 0% tax increase to us uh in this town and then there was some concerns raised um that I wanted to discuss with the chief um I don't know if you're going to bring this up during your report or not but I wanted to just bring it to attention I brought this up last night there and they asked me to bring it here uh approximately two weeks ago there was a robo call that went out to all the district parents about a suspicious vehicle uh and concerns over the suspicious vehicle and that uh us as parents uh make sure that we inform our kids to you know stranger danger and to look out for anything suspicious um yesterday there was a secondary incident um I I don't know if there were any additional outside of those two but yesterday there was a secondary incident I live a block in the school my kids were involved in seeing this car and um the police were called and there was a little bit of Hysteria for the younger kids who don't quite understand what's happening and then that kind of created some hysteria with us parents um where our kids were all running around screaming there's kidnappers in the neighborhood so um it's emotional and it's scary for us as parents and I don't know and I know that there's limits to what we can release and what we can say and what we can do so if there's anything else that we could say or do as a community um I just wanted to know um I'm sure all of the other local parents and grandparents in the community want to know and if there's anything um that we can put out there or anything else we can do as parents and members of this community that's why thank you um there anything that ADA R when's this completion on that uh we ask for that to be put in writing it should be completed by end of this season was my understanding not meeting all right a meeting set up with um Ben rley for the architectural plans okay and regarding the capital Improvement plan he has till March 16th to have that put in and he'll be in viol contract yeah and we asked him to put that in writing there are a couple other things I think that we need him to put in writing um some concerns that were raised during that meeting in regards to um when they do not put in for the RFP again about how uh we could do something where we could keep the picnic tables and the fire rings and and things like that and my concern is if those were put in where he said that that stuff that he did as a capital Improvement and that's not something that he would be handing over to us like graciously to turn over with the campground that's something that should come with the campground no matter what so um so we've asked all that to be put in writing yeah so correct me if I'm wrong Angela picnic tables and fire rings are not Capital home frequen agreed okay so he needs to be given or look up the definition of a capital Improvement and we need to make sure the Capital Improvements he puts forth are actually Capital Improvements so the security system is that consider Capital Improvement Capital Improvement yeah definition 10 s five to seven 7 to 10 years basically attached to the building in conjunction with the building it's a pertinence to the building or facilities of the building yeah so and that's also stay with the campground when they do leave corre capit so you can feel free to tell him picnic tables and fire wings are not capitals so thank you uh councilwoman Clark license and ordinance uh nothing to report uh councilman timers L use Aon H nothing he you have anything for I do not and councilwoman hasy R uh the rotary has the egg egg harbor hunt Egg Harbor um Easter egg hunt uh on the 23rd uh and a rain date of the 30th what um they were working diligently on filling the egg so um they're all ready for this uh the following Saturday so if anyone has young children it goes from 1 to 12 so bring them out it's 11 o'clock on the 23rd and if there's a rain date we will definitely post it on the eggh Harbor City Facebook page okay that's all I have thank you councilwoman Galloway anything for sustainable yes several things uh first of all if anybody has anything for the newsletter please get it to me as soon as possible uh that goes for the community too if you have any events that you want to see published in the newsletter please send me a flyer with all the information um on April 1st we're going to have uh with like the um um part committee and the green team we're going to be meeting out at the lake to talk about the proposed rain Garden there and the public should know that anybody who lives along the rake along the lake is eligible to apply for a reimbursement if they put in a rain Garden um to protect the uh water uh so we'll be talking about that I sent everyone a link to their last video which explains rain Gardens and the project that they have funding for uh that's the Pinelands preservation Alliance and ruers University um we're currently conducting our uh tree photo contest U submissions can be made at peace Pilgrim peace Pilgrim no sustainable ec.org uh the deadline is April 15th and our Arbor Day celebration will be held April 26 the peace Pilgrim Park our next meeting will be March 26th uh here here and on Zoom um at 6 PM uh Works progressing on the simple Sher grave site project uh and we're going to be doing a community cleanup there for cleanup day if anybody wants to join us there uh and possibly working at peace PM Park to replant the herb Gard uh speaking of the herb garden does anybody know what happened to all the plants there they removed because it was a managerie if you are going to plant herbs would you please which the only thing that should be planted is the peace sign yeah that they're going to need containers buckets why because they're they're invasive they take up people put invasive plants in there there was a plant in there that was planted by Peace p at lean Young's house and transplanted there and it's gone and that's something that you can't replace I was disappointed to see that everything was out of there I was disappointed to see the shape of the what it looked like it was terrible so so well it is a it is a a perennial garden so those plants come back every year well they do so do the weeds and so do all the overgrowth and everything that nobody takes care of right so so I'm hearing that we need to put a plan together moving forward make sure it's maintained properly or we should get rid of it so well somebody put concrete in there so I don't think you're going to be able to get rid of it you still you'll still have the sign well we don't want to get rid of the peace sign but I don't the aspect of it the garden aspect has to have a plan yes you're right maybe there's a compromise and there are herbs that are not invasive I mean there's plenty of herbs that are not invasive I don't want this to turn into a debate about herbs okay moving forward let's put a plan together to maintain the Garden or we just simply have to remove the garden because it's aesthetically not going to be pleasing to those that visited so um anything else yes uh we submitted for our sustainable Jersey certification um for on the first round which is unusual we usually do it at the last but we submit it and we have 200 points that we submitted when we only need 150 so there's a possibility we may receive certification the first round so that's good news um all right so I have a question regarding this rain Garden so if this gets put in place how's it going to be maintained who's going to maintain it well um that was discussed and they said they're putting together a team of ruers University employees and students who will maintain it for two years so those two years exp fir who takes care of it them we'll have to do it we'll have to do it okay so regarding the fireworks situation uh correct me if I'm wrong that has that land has to be cleared of any brush or uh vegetation because of the fireworks don't we we the rain Gardens yet so you know that's we'll take that into consideration that needs to be discussed when the people who are going to be doing this project are there okay and then the last thing is you said April 1 is the meeting meet where whenever yes they didn't set a time though probably be doing the day okay so property and pars playground so one two three all four individuals worked on a day so how does that benefit anyone of those individuals to attend that meeting if they're all working through in the day well I work during the day too and I plan to be there so I mean it's important to me and so you're asking the members of that committee to use PTO time to attend this meeting I don't care what they do but you know I'm just saying that's when the meeting is and if they could be there not had schedul it at a better time where at least one or two of those committee members have attended like when at night you tell me you're in charge of it I'm not in charge of it council's in charge of the lake did you not SCH on the parks and playgrounds did you not schedule the meeting I did not schedule it it was presented to me that we can meet there on April 1st I'm passing that information along but did you ask if we could explore another date in time because no because I didn't have an objection with so you sp of all the committee I cannot attend that meeting I put that in there yes I know you can and I asked you to ask the other members your Committee of them can ATT there without taking I can be there is 5 o' well I could be there at one o'clock and report back it's not a big deal I have it on my calendar but whatever Council decides is with me did they set a time I feel like it's it was I'm just bringing it to attention that's all I mean you have four individuals on a committee that work day during a daytime and if we want to member of that committee to attend uh thankfully the mayor is willing to and report back it should be taken into consideration moving forward of the members that are on certain committees and the professional personal lifestyle well I didn't hear from every member of that committee I only heard from one person did you take I ask that one person please pass it on to your committee members and see if someone else can attend and I didn't hear anything back okay so don't find fault with me I'm not finding fault I'm just looking at opportunities for people to attend things that's all I'm doing so U thank you for your report so moving on Chief hello everyone so much better thank you um all right let's talk about some of the things that were brought up mayor I'm not sure what you want me to talk about PTC licensing just to let them know that they have to yeah they have that's just something new that came out I guess in August right they were discussing it and voted on it in October something yes but maybe Council would like to know what that is so PTC licensing um it's a good thing um it's a pain in the rear for um police Executives basically what it means is that uh policing in New Jersey will be viewed as a profession we will be licensed we will have to go through um licensing every three years our certificates are Li good for three years um and everyone who is currently a police officer was licensed at the beginning of 2024 um they're rolling out doing one year license two three so that way everything can get rolling um what then entails is we as an agency are required to basically do a background check on our officers every three years um so we will be doing full-blown uh background checks to include looking at loops and wages uh any criminal background and driving history e everything we have to look at it all um looking at social media that kind of thing um additionally we will have to certify that they have gone through the mandated trainings um that are necessary each year so um so yeah that's what licensing is it um doesn't really I don't want to say it doesn't really affect it's not really going to impact our day-to-day with the police officers because we're already doing everything that we need to do for the licensing we're up to date with our trainings you know the mandated attorney general directives and and the clear training and our firearms training and our drug testing and everything that we have to do we are in compliance um it's just a pain for the admin who has to then go through and do all of the background arey whoever sees that like is it state that is like when you have an EMT it's like the New Jersey Department of Health oversees my certification as like similar to that the police training commission so it's the P they're the ones who come up with the curriculum and the the mandates for all police training so it's the PTC curriculum that all officers go through when they go through the academy um and they are the ones who will um list the certified training at specific policey for um recertification for they're not going to do radar anymore I'm not sure why but there are certain classes that like methods of instruction um defensive tactics uh physical training they're very specific curriculums and the PTC the police training commission oversees that so they will be responsible for all the licensing and has been a an arduous process um for them because they've had to license what is it 30,000 I was wondering it's a lot yeah it's it's it's a lot so um so yeah so they did off a lot and I hope they have fun cheing it but uh so yeah so that's that's what the licensing is um it's as much is as it is a pain and requires additional work and it does require additional work a background check is T you know and we will have to do that for every officer every 3 years um but it will help um with accountability and integrity because sometimes you know if something happens with an officer off duty and this is more so for larger agencies because in a smaller agency we kind of know everybody's business anyway but sometimes things fall through the cracks you know so if somebody gets arrested for something you know out of state or in a different County uh the employing agency may not know about it and so it's it's one of those things where it's to weed outad apples and to make sure that only the highest qualified and you know people who should be police officers maintain their certification so that's what the PTC licensing is about um yes is is there a cost associated with this and who bears that cost so how much is the initial licensing cost for anybody who is in now is grandfathered in so there is no cost any new applicant I believe it's $300 I don't know I need to um I need to check that I imagine that that will be something that the collective bargaining units will try to incorporate so that if in the event that somebody tries to get hired and goes through the thing and successfully does XYZ then they may try to have the employing agency pick up that cost um so I'm not sure um how that actually works just yet I don't even know whether the PTC knows how that's going to work just yet because you know it's it's it's fresh I don't think we've had any graduating emies as of yet so I I don't really have a very specific answer for that so all right on to the susp vehicles that councilwoman adne CRA brought up so we are aware and uh we have worked with uh the security officers and Sr Regal uh regarding those Vehicles we know who these individuals are um I sat down and I spoke with uh superintendent Shelby and and you know she asked you know do the police want to put something out and my response to that was no um because talking to kids is not illegal and I don't want to create the hysteria I think that it it was better received from the school and you know that's something that yes we're always out there and we will absolutely protect the kids and if there is anything they should absolutely go to a trusted adult to a crossing guard I would like to commend our one crossing guard and officer Ed because they were very on top of things they saw stuff they so you know it it it takes the whole community and so you know if you see something uh I know I believe that's where um another parent and another board member sent an email we check the tag it turns out that that one was a parent one you know so but you know what it's okay you see something suspicious you're like why is that car just sitting there I didn't see a kid go to it tell somebody tell Adrien tell one of the teachers they'll send it to us we'll run it we'll keep an eye on out for it so you know um I can't stress enough it is a community issue we know who some of the people are that have been doing kind of shady things but nothing that is Rises to the level of criminality and nothing where if we continue to stop because we have stopped we've gone to their houses we've talked to it gets to the point where it's bordering harassment if they're not doing anything that's criminal so it is it behooves the parents and the teachers and you know I sent to Adrian this is what it is this is how it goes you know advise your people advise your teachers who are on duty advise you know your parents who are XYZ like if there are any parents who are regularly there let them know you know um and tell the kids walk in groups um don't talk to strangers don't get in your cars if somebody does something grab your phone you guys film everything anyway you know grab your phone and and and take a picture get a tag you know we we're more than happy to help and work with the community but like you said we don't want to you know create hysteria where there doesn't need to be any but you know we will be vigilant and we will continue to work with the schools to go ahead and hand that thank you I appreciate the clarification because no absolutely the hysteria especially yesterday afternoon was very very high um and there was I mean the kids all did the right thing they thought they saw something a parent called the police but then our group of kids from our neighborhood all came barging through my door and it was I mean for a moment there you're thinking was somebody just taken so I appreciate the clation absolutely do we um send an officer to the school in the morning and and every day riding around all the time um and when there's not you know baring any serious calls for service um additionally they do have the security guards and officer Ed who is amazing walking around and and they're on top of it and our crossing guards do a pretty good job as well of letting me know if there's something that that is off guard so um when we are not but that's part of our regular Patrol duties when when they come in for their 8 to four shift the first thing they do is they go out to the schools um and then in the afternoons as well oh good thank you so all right on to what I came to talk about um so uh some numbers for you since we last met on February 22nd we've had one stolen M vehicle and five thefts um 14 motor vehicle accidents two pedestrian stops 57 traffic stops for to of 25 summonses that were issued we had one dii arrest six um arrests total 11 business alarms two residential alarms 195 crime prevention activities 14 domestics 35 EMS incidents uh one seven Firearms ID application 23 followup 472 property checks and six Public Service um in terms of training and things that we've done two officers in this last um period have gone to the altit test conversion we've talked about that before we're getting new machine mythically um one officer went through the initial alatest training which is a 5day uh a four-day course um we had one officer attend the PDA mini convention um all the officers went to the range for rifle familiarization two officers uh went to an empowering leadership um seminar the other day a few things uh that I and I'm going to take a little bit longer than normal sorry um on febru on March 1 uh we had a catastrophic fire on the 200 block Liverpool I uh cannot say enough good things about a our volunteer fire department um our police officers and our Public Works uh a lot of people complain about the taxes in this town but I don't think that you will get a faster response and a more personal response to a critical incident than you saw on that day and that's because you have people who live in this area who work here who are proud to work here and so I am so so proud of our fire departments of the neighboring fire departments who all came to our Aid I believe I saw you out in the truck there um you know we had the mayor and and her husband out as well you know it was really a show of of community and um I am extraordinarily proud of the two Patrol officers who went and uh pulled a man out of a burning building um I am extraordinarily proud of Lieutenant Perna who was on his day off um who was was a captain in our volunteer fire department who is out there fting fire on his day off um and just generally you know I think that you know the the whole adage of you know police versus fire all that kind of stuff I cannot be prouder to be in this town and to work alongside of all of these men and women um but you know unfortunately there were two homes lost uh fortunately there were no lives lost um but you know it's it's horrible for the families the three families that were displaced so um I believe there are GoFundMe Pages for them so if anybody does feel inclined um to give you know there are plenty of resources and ways to try to help those families out Chief I only found the one gofund me for um did you find the other one we TR can can you put them on our Facebook page I couldn't find them um as long as you don't share them from another page go right to the source and put it on there put y so um going from that catastrophe to some really great stuff on February 28th um we work with the church by the bay the pic in um the New Jersey court system and um operation rise in Lincoln Park and we were able to give away 250 free hot meals that were provided by the uh picelli in um over 3,000 pieces of either clothing or shoes or personal items that were necessary were given away um I don't recall the number of Maran um doses that were given away um and five people came to have expungement STS three were able to do it right there on site one had to go to court the other one unfortunately was not eligible um but even on that rainy day and it was not nice out it was cold um and rainy uh it was hugely successful and so that something that we are going to try to do quarterly um just because there is a need um so I I think that that also just shows what EDG Harbor City is about you know having people come out and volunteer and do those kind of things on the police side um we had six arrests and part of those were and I'm going to read to you a letter that I got from a Stafford Township Sergeant um regarding Lieutenant FNA so so he wrote To Me Chief elen I'm writing to bring to your attention the remarkable remarkable efforts Lieutenant Zack per of Lieutenant Zack per during a recent collaborative narcotics investigation involving the Stafford town of drug enforcement unit the New Jersey State Police crime suppression unit and the DEA in August of 2023 the deu initiated an investigation with the assistance of the New Jersey State Police additional suspects and Residences in a city Atlanta County were identified it was at this juncture that detective Michael Wade reached out to Lieutenant at per of your esteemed Agency for assistance Lieutenant Perna played a pivotal role in the investigation providing invaluable support through his expertise in surveillance operations he proved instrumental in gathering crucial evidence in establishing probable cause for search warrants despite the demands of his administrative duties attor turna consistently made himself available to assist our team demonstrating an unwavering commitment to the success of the operation on February 21st 2024 the culmination of our investigation resulted in the execution of multiple search warrants leading to the seizure of significant quantities of narcotics Firearms ammunition and currencies furthermore five suspects were apprehended in charge of various offenses related to drug possession distribution and weapons the success of this operation underscores the importance of collaboration and teamwork in combating drug related crime Lieutenant F's proactive engagement and dedication exemplify the highest standards of law enforcement professionalism his exemplary conduct not only reflects positively on your agency but also serves as a source of inspiration for all officers under his command in Rec of his outstanding performance and invaluable contributions to this investigation I respectfully request that Lieutenant Zack ker be formally commended and that his Commendation be documented in his Personnel po his dedication to hard work must be duly acknowledged and celebrated um so last time when I was here I talked about the uh two two uh search warrants that were executed the day for the day before um at the Philadelphia village department complex that was about that so I spoke before about our collaborations with with other agencies state and federal agencies as well and you know I think it's important to recognize the work that is being done that being said on March 20 or excuse me February 28th an investigation that was spearheaded by our officers here in Egg Harbor City um on February 29th members of the aara city police department in Del County prosecutor office gangs guns and narcotics unit executed search warrant at a residence on the 100 block of London Avenue the search warrant was a part of an ongoing investigation into the distribution of Narcotics in EG Harver city as a result of the investigation police recovered a quantity of Narcotics a handgun one50 round drum large capacity magazine and 13 round large capacity magazine as a result Victor and Martinez 53 of haror city and Veron Valentine 47 of haror city were placed in custody and charged with various drug and weapon possession things I'm not going to go through all the charges but that was Egg Harbor City officers from Soup To Nuts the certification the affidavit the search warrant writing the surveillance the putting together the op plan that was all them um and I think that it's necessary to recognize them for the work that they're doing so uh that's kind of all I have I'm just I'm just super proud of our guys you know I and you know it makes me sad to think that a catastrophe makes appreciate you know what we have here but I'll tell you what um for those who complain about the taxes like I said you know where else are you g to get this kind of service so that's all I have anything else questions concerns anything thank you Chief J you have anything I do not thank you you have anything have Angela yes unfortunately I have a lot of course I have to follow the ch I'll make it brief as brief as I possibly can for an attorney okay so for your consideration tonight we have resolution number 16 this resolution amends the park fees it's number 16 on the agenda 16 on the agenda and this was as a result of discussions with the ordinance committee and the results are the clarification of some fees increase of some fees reduction of some fees and time clarifications for your consideration as well there's resolution number 22 on your agenda and 23 on your agenda these involve the nonprofit tax exemptions for Cincinnati Avenue for the properties I asked the tax assessor for the backup information on this and I did not receive it as of yet so I would ask that that be tabled for this evening when I receive the information hopefully by the next meeting then you can look at it at that time and I have four ordinances I prepared also as a result of the ordinance committee see these ordinance are basically as follows number 25 the noise ordinance the change in that is the time frame the restricted hours during weekdays and the restricted hours during weekends and also the tiered penalties we went to a tiered situation to give um the judge better understanding of what the city would like in terms of fines so we did a first offense second offense and third and subsequent offense then we have the littering ordinance which is next 26 in this littering ordinance we also did a tiered violation first second and third offense and also we made the cause to become leans against the property to be taxed if needed then we did a property maintenance ordinance Amendment which is number 27 which also calls for a tiered uh penalty first second and third and then we did a solid waste amendment number 28 on your ordinances and that is for landlords to put in 96 gallon attached lid recycling totes per unit and landlords also to put in one96 sealed lid trash container per unit and some of these were requests from the code we hope that clarifies and makes their job easier and I think they would be the best for the city at this point in time um these are all for introduction this evening and for your consideration you want have any questions I just have one question about the leak fees just like a clarification um on number two where it talks about the preseason badges we sold uh through and including Saturday and Sunday Memorial Day weekend after this time daily risk band rates shall apply can you still obtain seasonal badges after that I think so so seasonal badges um for the actual holidays which are it's Memorial Day July uh 4th of July Labor Day in juneth we're not going to have we're not going to allow seasonal badges to be sold the rest of the season the rest of the season yes and pre and pre-season uh the last day to buy preseason is going to be the Sunday before Memorial Day I think it was just a little uh wordy where it says daily rband shall apply where it kind of led me to believe that you would be able to get a seasonal in addition to a daily which was my concern uh Angela chapters uh 178 2113 and 230 do we put effective dates in there because I don't want to happen all these chapters are effective after publication and adoption can't have one without the other any questions for Angela nope all right thank you thank you Ryan is not here tonight so we'll move on the 14 is motion to appr approve Arbor Day celebration PE CLK April 26 2024 from 3m. to 6 p.m. American Cancer Society Pon June 2nd 2024 any questions or comments have move motion second second on paper all right number 15 resolution for Budget transfers uh J you just want briefly what they are um I know it's not much yeah just kind of moving things around just to be able to like clean up some New Year stuff is this this year's budget the temp no there it's the LA last year in the first three months of the new year you can transer from bud yeah just moving some money so we can put a little more some of like if someone retires whatevering some of that that go crazy with fundamentalist religion thank you Jody any other question problems all right uh motion motion second second roll call at yes Clark yes stash yes Galloway yes Heist yes hessie yes Timber yes Richie yes 16 is a resolution to amend the park uh City Lake Park fees any more questions or comments regarding have a motion so moved second second roll call Aton yes Clark yes stash yes Galloway yes Heist yes hessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes 17 resend resolution number 62 of this year authorized on February 22nd authorizing the award of a contract any questions that's why why is this being resed we cannot award the purchase before we applied for a grant the local Recreation Improvement Grant so we can award the contract before we find out about the grant the grant would disallow it so we're going to wait and see what happens with the grant first before we approve it if you don't you'll be disqualified for the grant any other I have a motion second second roll call please atan yes Clark yes Dash yes Galloway yes Heist yes hessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes resolution to authorize the purchase and installation of two gas heat and split DX cooling HVAC systems for the EO City Senior Center through a Cooperative agreement with the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey any questions or comments may have a motion so moved second second roll call that's me Clark okay yes it's competing company okay Clark yes Dash yes Galloway yes Heist yes pessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes 19's to refund the street opening Bond any questions yes I had a question uh was there ever actually a street opening there does anybody know I believe so Ryan said it was like we had the FR before we approved refunding anything soix that's the fixing the driveway right yes 435 [Music] Buffalo crumbling can't a without the engineer signing off on it so I would assume the work would be done the Eng that's not why I I I didn't think there was a driveway there oh okay all right any questions motion please me motion second second roll call atoni yes Clark Desh yes Galloway yes Heist yes hessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes authorizing application to the NJ D Community forestry leafing out management and education grant programs any questions or comments motion please I'll make that motion second second roll call atanes yes Clark yes Dash yes Galloway yes Heist yes hessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes 21's awarding a professional service contract for arborist Services any questions or comments have a motion motion second call please at yes Clark yes Dash yes Galloway yes Heist yes hessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes 2223 is being tabled uh resolution number 24 100% disabled vetom tax exemption any questions or comments so moved call okay ten yes Clark yes Dash yes Galloway yes he yes hessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes uh number 25 introduction of ordinance before uh for a motion we have any further questions or comments regarding this ordinance all right they have a motion to introduce make motion second second favor of it all right advertising noce the in introduction and the hting out on the 20th for public hearing on the 28 motion make a motion second second all favor i i 26 uh introduction of the ordinance any questions or comments regarding before introduction all right I have a motion to introduce make a motion second second all in favor all right motion to advertise some moved second all in favor 27s to introduce ordinance for any questions or comments regarding prior sorry there you go second second all in favor and motion to advertise on the 20th for the 28th second all in favor and the last one is number five amending chapter 230 any questions or comments regarding have a motion move second all in favor I and to advertise on the 20th for the 28th All favor anyone want to make a motion second second roll call at yes Clark yes Dash yes Galloway yes Heist yes pessie yes Timbers yes Richie yes mayor the floor is yours have final I do not have any final but I would like to thank the chief for um her report and her kind words and she's absolutely correct we are fortunate to live in this city who has so many people that really care about the city whether they get paid for it or not they really care we have a lot of volunteers our fire department is second to none in my opinion and as is our Police Department Public Works allers just thank thank everybody who it's something it's something to see when you're standing there watching a House burn down and you see the professionalism that goes on on um with getting that fire put out I mean it's just amazing it's the second fire I've ever seen and I just can't even imagine you know how you just can't imagine it until you see so thank you thank you may shake it up a little bit uh councilwoman Galloway I have a question about U resolutions 22 and 23 don't we need to vote to table them you want to otherwise the chair May table them he can table them without second a motion in a second just resolutions okay all right so um I have something I would like to bring up and I don't know if I'm sure the attorney's aware of it but there's a controversial bill being forwarded in the state legislature that intends to gut the open public records act and I kind of I'm a journalist you know I should be on one side but I see both sides of the issue and I think that the way we publish our resolutions and ordinances um we might be setting ourselves up for one of these U massive Oprah requests that could sap all the time from both the clerk and the uh Deputy clerk so I'm going to propose that we redo our website this year and create a a location right on the the front page of the website for Resolutions agendas uh ordinances so that they're easily found and it would help eliminate OA requests in their entirety because everything would right be there on the website so I want to I'm going to suggest that we include that in our budget when we have our budget meetings and just so you know the New Jersey New Jersey mayor did just send out a um a synapsis of that legislation which I don't believe is approved yet but um I did email to Meg and I'm sure she's aware of it anyway as the city clerk but I do believe Jody does post those um that stuff on the website already because I've seen it well resolutions aren't posted I don't believe and the other thing is that we have an agenda here and we give the public uh a comment period at the head of the uh agenda here H to speak on all these resolutions but they don't get to see a copy of them so they're they're just going by what's on the agenda any training I have we're not supposed to stand out the resolutions until they are adopted well I I've covered government any classes I was in with legal advice from attorneys that they don't go out well I've covered government for 25 years and I've never been to a government that doesn't I'm curious only I want to say is I've paneled both sides of of oer um I've done it like every day um oer only requires the the custodian like if you you don't have to make it easy because the custodian can simply give someone a link to the document so if the custodian knows where it is they send them the link if they ask for a resolution that satisfies opr you don't have to make it a herculine feat and I think what the legislation is trying to do is to help municipalities deal with things like the op machine where someone can can basically send out a request to every single custodian in in the state and then require them to respond back within seven days with documents or some type of request for extension and now they basically are creating a scenario where they can file GRC complaints or they can file complaints in Superior Court and try to get attorneys fs and so I think they're just trying to comat what is what has become a problem so when you say gut what is the definition of gut the process well that's the that's the language that you know all the journalists and they're writing stories about this issue are using because they're they have a bias they're on the side where they want as much information as they can get and I thought I'm a journalist for 25 years I've never well not never I have had to file Oprah request maybe a half dozen times in 25 years most of the information every clerk is just willing to turn over and but when it gets controversial uh if it involves police you know all these cameras we have all over town it could be burdensome on the Departments to fill those requests so you know I I'm one for keeping everything before the public doing all the work of the of the council in front of the public so that's what we yeah that's exactly what we're doing it everything the city has done since I've been here has been open free and like I said there to give somebody the opportunity to discuss any of these resolutions when they haven't seen them is you know nobody ever gets up there and asks a question whereas if they saw the uh the they might have a question so so the opportunity is listed for them to speak at that time and they can say hey what's resolution number 17 referred to and then we can explain it at that time nobody steps up there's no need to explain yeah get like I was in the 90s i' I'd be up here asking questions on every single agenda you're free to step down and start asking the questions I am asking me questions because I want to know too and I want when the when the legislation is actually passed whenever it comes to fruition then we'll address it till then I think we'll continue to move forward in the direction we're moving and I I'd be happy to send that out to council because the mayor's uh drilled down a little bit and if you guys want to read it I'll send it to you I appreciate [Music] that I have thank you Council M Clark you have anything um a little more lighter uh the the Crusaders are having signups now um for t-ball and as well as a fly football Clinic uh the flag football clinic will be free of charge and it will be a total of eight weeks um and and uh t-ball uh will be uh coming up soon as well um signups are going to be every Tuesday at the concession stand from 6:30 to 7:30 if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to councilman Wright um or myself or email us at mean green Crusaders gmail.com that's thank you councilwoman H um I just want to want to thank the mayor and her husband for filling Planters they look beautiful on the Main Street really nice uh spring is in the air for sure um I also want to say have a safe St Patrick's Day everyone and um I hope to see everyone out at the Easter egg hunt on Saturday the 23rd that's itk thank you councilwoman anthon I just want to Echo um thanking Chief and all of your staff under you and all of the fire department and I just want to thank you for listening to our concerns her's concerns um I know that there's limited information that we can release so thank you for listening to us and responding because it's it's near and dear to my heart and and many of our hearts so I just want to thank you and then I want to wish everybody Happy Easter I will not be at the next meeting I we will be away so um just happy Easter and stay safe thank you councilman timers uh nothing discon thanks thank you i' like to Echo the mayor's comments about our Police Department our fire department our First Responders um I I uh typically make a point of thanking our city employees our city clerk our wut clerk our our CFO our uh code enforcement our public work so I appreciate everyone who worked so hard for the city um but one other thing I'd like to address as I sit here and look at the people that are here in the meeting with the exception of the chief it's all men sitting here and oh I'm sorry sorry I don't have my glasses on it's mostly men sitting here no these are wom glasses um it's mostly men sitting in the in the audence and what I like do is just address something to you guys make sure you're taking care of yourself make sure you're going to the doctor I know a lot of times we like to just power through we got a lot of work to do we got a lot of family obligations um I had a situation where I went just for a regular Primary Care appointment and two weeks ago and I ended up in an ambulance and in the hospital for a heart condition so please make sure you guys are taking care of yourselves I know it's easy to just let things go but please especially young guys in the back they're Invincible that's right that's right women too a lot women actually are likely to know about our conditions but I agree with you I agree with you 100% but like my wife always reminds me women go to the doctor regularly for many different things where men a lot of times will blow everything off so please go your primary get checked out um get an EKG get your blood pressure checked many you and that's all I got thank you Council woman I just want to wish everybody a joyous Passover I too will not be at the next meeting um and chief kudos to your men and women and kudos to the fire department for all they do for our city we truly do appreciate it and that's all I have thank you I'll finish up um as you said myself the mayor her husband were there we saw it firsthand observed everything when you see it in play real life it's a eye opening Awakening situation and the professionalism of how it was handled uh and the response and the neighboring towns and it just everything that took play that day was um to the utmost that anyone could ask for so it goes without saying like just you guys had an excellent job keep it up and we we believe in you we trust you uh Fire Department Public Works fire police department everybody works for this town those who you s in front of us so um and Steve I'm glad you're still sitting next to me nothing happen so you kick me every time I get out of hand I'm good and I will I'll continue to do so so that I open up to the public anyone from public with any comments no once twice motion to adour make a motion second second all in favor have a good weekend