##VIDEO ID:6_pM6Ustq9c## good evening the November 6 2024 council meeting of the Long Branch city council will now come to order roll call Mr dangler is absent Mrs whts here Dr vote here Mr Vieira I'm here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all I will now read the mission statement of the city council The Long Branch mayor the city council and administration are committed to cultivating an environment of mutual trust and respect to all values that diversity of our community we will strive to enhance the quality of life for all who live here by making Long Branch a desirable place in which to live and prosper we will treat all members of the public with respect and expect the same in return mam clerk I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the open public meeting act and posted as required by law reading to approve of previous minutes I need a motion to approve the minutes of October 23 2024 so moved second vot call Mr dangler is absent Mrs whts yes Dr vote Yes Mr Vieira yes motion passed resolution I need a motion to adopt a resolution r264 d24 en tile a resolution appointing a council member for this vacancy for the governing body pursuant to the municipal vacancy law so moved so moved roll call Mr dangler is absent excuse me before the roll call U Madam clerk I know that this wasn't um probably part of the council packet since the name was put into the resolution tonight so can you just for the record State the name of the person being appointed uh Glenn rahas am I saying that correctly Glenn R yes R rases Glenn rasis okay mam Clark sorry Mr uh d is absent Mrs Wht us yes Dr vote Yes and Mr Vieira yes motion passed thank you all right now i' like to get the swearing a call up councilman Dan rasses be sworn in with our Comm Clerk I st I Glen rasses do swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear truth and faith that will bear truth and faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government established and the government established in the United St in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially and impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties as a council member all the duties as a council member for the city of L Branch for the city of L Branch according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability congratul thank you thank you [Applause] congratulations congratulations congratulations thank you conically congratulations thank you we want to welcome Glenn RS to our city council and we look forward to working with him we know he will do great things for the city of Long Branch thank you Glenn thank you okay thank you mayor palone council president Vieira and members of The Long Branch city council I am extremely honored to have been appointed to fill the Council seat held by Dr Mary Jane S I had the privilege to have known Dr s I know she left some big shoes to fill I know I can't fill her shoes but I look forward to continuing her Legacy to serve the residence of Long Branch I'm aware of the challenges that lie ahead and look forward to working with my fellow Council members to serve the residents of the city of Long Branch lastly I would like to recognize the present council members as well as all council members going back to the incorporation of the city of Long Branch for their tireless service to make Long Branch a prosperous city thank you thank you well said consideration of ordinance public hearing and final consideration ordinance 21-24 an ordinance authorized an amendment to the deed of easement for 1 1907 Ocean Avenue block 59 lot 3 in the city of Long Branch this ordinance was introduced on October 23 20124 and amends an existing easen along 907 Ocean Avenue block 59 lot 3 to be delate a 20ft wide easement area across the property for the purpose of constru construction reconstructing and maintaining steel core and stone Jetty works as required and detailed by Long Branch zoning board resolution ZB 23-21 I need a motion to open the public hearing on this ordinance only so moved all in favor I if any member of the public has any comments to make on this ordinance only please come to the podium stay your name and address clearly for the record requesting one minute notification vinc leor 33 Ocean turist Long Branch for those of us who've been around here quite some time unlik you mis I know for better than 40 years the law access right away as protected by the public trust Doctrine existed at 907 Ocean Avenue the property was vacant land by the owners upon purchase of the property the current owner eventually put a locked gate at the entrance of that common law access right away that gate being illegal thus preventing the use of that common law Public Access right away for Beach Growers fishermen and Surfers eventually a revent law was initially illegally put on the common law Public Access right away by the owner preventing beach access not withstanding an illegal nearby substantive non-compliant Oceanfront deck was built by the owner without any local or state D permits as well I caught both illegalities and filed complaints with the state D and long brand however D responded that I was a third party with no standing and that it was the municipal government that had standing but failed to act that failing municipal government being the palone government as a matter of fact the only thing the owner's attorney and I agreed upon on the record before the zoning board is that the municipal government failed concerning both the common law access right away and easan to date the reason why the owner of 907 Ocean Avenue illegally built two structures has never been fully explained but during the zoning board process I discovered his planner hiding downstairs in this building during the application hearing that planner being the recent former director of Planning and Building of Long Branch quite suspect indeed after my Discovery put on the record at a city council meeting the owner dropped his planner and hired another one such a troubling occurrence was put by me on the record during the zoning board process now tonight ordinance 21 redirects an easement onto the common law Public Access right away and worse prevents use by beach goers fishermen and Surfers further aggravating this matter is that I stood before Council and Zoning Board on the public record requiring 160-year title search on the prop property none was done Deeds from the 1860s through the 1920s showed elel Brown for which Elon was named after and others owned lots east and west devotion Avenue and their benevolence via General deed easement was allowed access across their Lots on the Eastern side of Ocean Avenue for Beach rights in perpetuity E Brown owned former Lot 19 907 Ocean Avenue so to now tonight's ordinance 21 presents the problem and that the general deed easan will be on tonight's ordinance easement after the house is erected at 907 Ocean Avenue is the city prepared to take on such liability and has the city notified those with the General de easements no as stated earlier the palong government's track record in maintenance at 907 Ocean Avenue about the common law access right away and eement is poor and now to go in accommodate General deed eans not a chance as a side note upon purchase of the property the current owner never had a title search done until the zoning board required it at my assistance was he afraid to wake up the general de's mins for which he would have to serve quick claims one minute notification the title search back to 19 1938 is inadequate a 160-year title search was required for stated reasons no ordinance 21 no thank you anyone can mind if I comment I I you know I always want to try to do it before Mr leapor runs out of the building the first thing so we should clear something up Mr leapor I went to work for the City attorney in Long Branch in 1979 so if I check that right that's 45 years that I've been involved in city of Long Ranch in some way or another but more importantly um this is the settlement of a matter that um that there's a lawsuit pending obviously and um there's a zoning board approval the easement in question is in general easen across this property and it's for a very specific purpose and it's only for constructing or reconstructing or maintaining the jetty and as many of us know um that's since 19 39 when the city got the easement we've never had the occasion to actually do that so we we uh after the zoning board reached their decision the common sense approach to this was to and by the way that easement was generally across the property it wasn't defined in any specific place so we we've now actually cleaned up this title by putting a specific easen in a specific place it's 20 foot wide it runs from the from the street to the beach um and that was the why there there was a recommendation from the administration to uh reach the settlement that we approved at the last meeting and obviously this ordinance is just accepting accepting that easement um when people throw around words like common law access easement and general deed easements I I I I'm not sure whether the public understands that I certainly do that those are not legal terms those are made kind of made up legal terms um they don't really mean anything they're just things that people say um and in fact the only easement that we have of record is the easement the 1939 easement and if I you know I challenge anybody if they have something you know if there's 160-year search out there of this property and I doubt that there is um because that far back we probably have handwritten deeds and somebody should submit to the to the city that that General easement and by the way if that easement existed it still exists on the property that's not what we're dealing with today we're just dealing with the easement that the city has since 1939 and we're um clearing up a central a title issue and we're settling a lawsuit and we're also getting $10,000 to improve actual access that the city has to the to the um to the beach two other two other matters we have an access plan for for the beach for all of our access um it's been approved by d uh D doesn't ask us to do any more access than we're doing in fact there's access within two blocks on either side of this property so it's important that you know people understand that this act isn't limiting the access this is a private property essentially and the fact that people may have walked over it for years as I said at the last council meeting if you walk across my lawn every day for a week you don't get to own my lawn it's not the way the law works so I I just wanted to make make it clear um council president that that that's kind of that's what we're doing settling a lawsuit resolving this easement um and um and kind of moving on with the city's business thank you I need a motion to close the public portion so moved second all in favor I this is the second reading of ordinance 21-24 I need a motion to adopt on a second and the final reading and advertise according to law so move move V call Mr dangler is absent Mr rahas I'm sorry I'm sorry Mr abstain you're going to abstain abstain yes yes Mrs witus yes Dr vote Yes and Mr Vera yes motion passed thank you ordinance for introduction ordinance 0-22 d24 this is the first reading of ordinance 22-24 an ordinance designating a handicap parking space at 6 ventel summary this ordinance designates a handicap parking space at six vanel I need a motion to introduce the first reading advertised and post according to law and set the public hearing for November 26 2024 so move so move second roll call Mr dangler is absent Mr rahas yes Mrs whts yes Dr vote Yes Mr Vieira yes motion passed public participation for Resolutions and general comments I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments all for all comments move so move second all in favor I oppos I if there's anyone in the audience that has a comment to make please step to the podium and state your name and address clearly for the record you'll have five minutes and may only speak once question one minute notification if needed Vincent laort 33 Ocean Terrace long brand your colloquy on the ordinance Mr Ron completely blew by the public trust Doctrine really disappointed completely disappointed or should I be council president Vieira the lack of transparency in this city continues at the last council meeting resolution 262 was introduced after the public portion ended denying the public the ability to comment such incorrect procedure is not acceptable there's a lack of diligence very severe lack of diligence as with resolution 264 this evening agenda came out Friday night it wasn't until this council meeting tonight that the name was made public again denying the residents of this city transparency council president Vieira how many people applied for the vacant Council position and tonight's resolution 264 Mr leor I mentioned that a couple times I'm not going to answer any your questions well I'm going to ask them CU you're taking a paycheck well this is a comment portion and it's accountability no that's your subjective opinion it's a comment public portion again want me to read it to you I don't know council president Vieira I don't know what you understand is the public Port comment of those that applied for the vacant Council seat how many were interviewed by Council council president via the council ever sered public notice for applicants to apply for the vacant Council seat let the record reflect council president Vieira is absent of answers the fact is council president Vieira the council tampered with an election and an election process the fact is former councilwoman Mary Jane Sy not only in her selfishness arranged with palone to die in office but despite her inability to serve in her office physically and mentally this Council passed multiple resolutions under false pretenses extending excuses of her absences until such time as she returns to which she was never going to return but wound up Dead 4 days after the last resolution the council parlayed the body of an ill Woman as a vessel to come within the 60-day time frame required by Statute to bypass the November 5th 2024 general election knowing full well that the appointment would serve for a full year up until the November 2025 election it's election tampering without doubt dirty filthy corrupt self-serving Long Branch the council continues to have no standing on credibility none it's outright betrayal of the public trust councilman rassis you come before the people of this city this evening I've attended most every coun meeting since 2003 except three and the three that I was not present at I had very good excuses councilman rasses could you please notification your qualifications for being a council person in the Long Branch you don't have to answer that question Mr rases the direction questions come to council president you can direct the question to the president Mr VI can you give us councilman cles his qualifications to serve the people of the city I'm not answering any of your questions I told you a lot of time long time ago we have we have a you're running this Council like a kangaroo court counil president you in subordinate the public of this PE of this city you're ins subordinating the residents junk government anyone else thank you I need a motion to close the public participation portion of this meeting so moved all so all in favor I oppose I I want to ask Madame clerk if there are any changes to the list of resolutions no changes have been made thank you resolutions we take a we take the list of the resolutions at a consent agenda so move second V call Mr dangler is absent Mr rahas abstain Mrs witness yes Dr vote Yes Mr viea yes motion passed applications is non miscellaneous for business of the good of the order Mr rases you're the first one if you have anything to say I know you said a beautiful before this is an exciting evening for me um happy for the attendance everyone coming out this evening and I look forward to working with my fellow council members uh for the betterment of Long Branch thank you thank you councilwomen with us well thank you everyone for coming this evening and this is very special time for us and the R's family he's been in La Branch for as long as I can ever remember if not longer and um would like to welcome Glenn thank you to the council and I look forward to working with you thank you thank you thank you Council andom vog thank you council president I'm going to Echo Council woman uh witness's comments um to welcome councilman R and it is a pleasure to welcome you and we so look forward to uh working with you you bring um a great amount of knowledge and history and perspective um to our team and um we look forward to all of your contributions thank you so much for joining us and thank you everyone for coming tonight thank you Council mayor palom thank you council president I I first also want to welcome and thank councilman rasis our new council member I've known Glenn for many years and he's going to be a great asset to our team and I know that we all look forward to working him so thank you working with them thank you Glenn uh just two uh upcoming events three I'm sorry the Holiday Beach badges are on sale right now until January 31st they're $45 for adults and $25 for students students prices go up after January 31st uh they're sold at the recreation and tax office uh simply strings is performing at the Long Branch Senior Center tomorrow night November 7th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. this is a free event with a beautiful classic classical music something uh new that we're doing and finally our city holiday events will be starting in the next couple of weeks uh please check out our website for a full ual at long branch. org um again congratulations Glenn to your family you're being here um and good night thank you mayor palone and I also want to thank everybody for being here tonight I'm going to Echo my fellow council members and the May said Thank You Glenn and welcome and I hope you enjoy it my honor and I want to thank the director and the chief back there for being here present with us today and with that I want to say good night thank you I need a motion any a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor oppos thank you all right good job