good evening the February 28th 2024 council meeting of long bran city council will now come to order roll call please Mr Vieira I'm here Dr vote here Mrs S M Mrs witas I apologize Dr Sul is absent Mr dangler here we please oh go ahead oh no please stand for Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of to the stands one nation godible liy and The Lawn branch mayor city council Administration are committed to cultivating an environment of mutual trust and respect and respect that values the diversity of our community we will strive to enhance the quality of life for all who live live here by making Long Branch desirable place in which to live and prosper we will treat every member of the public with respect and expect the same in return Madame clerk hi hear by certified that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the open public meeting act and posted as required by law thank you uh there will be no present black history presentation uh this month uh unfortunately several of the the students that are going to be a part of the presentation or sick so we certainly hope that they uh get well soon and we will uh have the presentation at a later date during the year thank you I need a motion to approve the minut minutes from the February 14th meeting so moved second Ru call Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes Dr s is absent Mr dangler yes consideration of of ordinance public hearing and final consideration ordinance 0624 an ordinance designating no parking any any time East Side of Westwood Avenue starting at the northeast corner Apex of Westwood Westwood Avenue and Willow Avenue ending at 191 north thereof this ordinance was introduced on February 14th and prohibits parking at all times east east side of Westwood Avenue starting at the North Corner Northeast Corners Apex of Westwood and Willow Avenues and ending at 191 north I need a motion open a public public hearing on this ordinance only some moved second all in favor hi opposed so moved I'm sorry uh if there are any members of the public that has a comment to make on this ordinance only please come to the podium state your name and address clearly for the record you will have 5 minutes and may only speak Once on This ordinance 06- 24 I need a motion to close so moved second all in favor I I opposed so moved this is the second second reading of ordinance 0 0624 I need a motion to adopt the second and final reading and advertise according to law so moved second roll call Mr Viera yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes Dr Sally is absent m Mr dangler yes public portion and resolution and all uh excuse me I'm I skipped one ordinance for introduction we have none public portion for resolution and all General comments I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments Some Mo second all in favor I opposed if there are any members of the of the audience that has a comment to make May step to the podium and state your name and address clearly for the record you will have 5 minutes and may only speak once my name is Bernardine Brownridge I live at 573 berdan place and I've lived there for 47 years um I'm I'm hoping that I can make a comment about the branchport crossing and i' just like to state that um I'd like to advocate for the wetlands the birds that live on the branchport creek and um I am concerned about overdevelopment of the wetlands within 100 ft of a body of flowing water water um I know that the area is um in disrepair and that um revitalization is necessary but I'm also concerned just about the entire overdevelopment of that particular site in addition to um access to berdan place which has never been allowed in the past um we fought uh when Kasa Kam was on the property exits onto our street and um I just want to make that a public statement thank you thank you two they in wet hands board Frost vinon leaport 33 Ocean terrist Long Branch requesting one minute notification so the city breaks it today about a pier where was the transparency in that design over the last 10 years plus multiple federal grants and City expenditures totaling in excess of 122 mil all involving pay to-play professionals that being planning legal engineering fees Etc that already had been spent on all prior fantasy peer dreams that 12.5 mil plus exceeds the $3.3 million Grant City's history is not good not good at all there were alternatives to this building several shaded bump out viewing and sitting areas along the boardwalk might have been a suggested option not to mention it would have been nice to have used the 3.3 million to pay down the local taxpayer contribution to the new Boardwalk bottom line 3.3 mil if that's what's going to cost I may remind you Ocean Grove paid 1.4 mil for their paer it's too small a project in Long Branch for a billion dollar beach front no transparency Mr dangler has Council filed any criminal charges we're in the process of working with the County prosecutor's office to do so on the animal abuse fatality of an 11-month-old dog on Lafayette Avenue Council has no authority to file criminal charges against anybody that I would refer to the police department is Council working with the prosecutor's office on this matter counil doesn't work with the prosecutor's office on criminal matters those matters all work through the city police department I suggest that you contact the police department and the council doesn't talk to the police department the council does not interfere in the police department's duties and the council has no Authority into interfere with their duties as sworn law enforcement officer that's ridiculous no it's the law no you're wrong you might find it ridiculous well you're wrong Mr dangler why hasn't the SPCA contract been rendered Nolan void on the dog fatality criminal negligence by the SPCA that led to the dog fatality an 11-month old dog I'm not aware that anybody has been charged with any criminal offense as a result of that so I'm not sure how you can deem it to be criminal and I would I would suggest to you that you might be careful about it in a public form referring to accusing people of a crime that they haven't been charged with no I'll say what I'm going to say Mr Ron you're apparently doing a dance on this without hitting it straight on as usual it's amazing Mr rown with the former police chief and director of this city Jason robuk how with all his violations of procedures and policies and he how allowed his subordinates in the police department breaking policies and procedures how he was allowed a separation agreement with this city he was allowed to separate from this city with a huge separation payment where was the council and the mayor to fire him while he was in employment for all those violations Mr Reno I I actually believe that all of those claims by you have been rejected in the lawsuit that you filed so no it has nothing to do with that maybe you should and I would form you I would suggest you not mention that right now on the public forum Mr R you will be held liable for it you go right ahead you will be oh I will I will I've already done it yeah go ahead go ahead Mr palone you were spineless with Jason robuk you failed to take action you and this Council you danced for two years in your Administration until the point came where you gave Mr robu a huge payout for violating policies and procedures spineless Madam clerk how much time do I have 42 seconds 42 seconds Mr Martin at the last council meeting I asked you if you had contacted Charles Kushner involving the peer Village audits you stated you didn't have his phone number in the last two weeks Mr Martin have you in the city been able to find the phone number for Charles Kushner not directly though oh so you had two weeks the city had two weeks to find the phone number for Charles Kushner and you can't find it 5 minutes is up we have riots we have civil unrest in Pier Village but nobody knows how to get a hold of Charles Kushner particularly on the Audits and you wonder why people view this de as junk government thank you anyone else I need a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so moveed second all in favor I oppos so move Madam clerk were there any changes of the list of resolutions no changes have been made we can take the list of resolutions as a consent agenda so moved second roll call Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs whtas yes Dr Su is absent Mr dangler yes applications I need a motion to approve the transfer of the following uh tax am as listed so move second roll call Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs whtas yes Dr s is absent Mr dangler yes Mr Lan's business for the good of the order councilman Vieira yes uh good evening thanks for coming out tonight I just want to get a big shout out to the public works for the Snows that we had and the keeping Everything clean and our public safety director for our fire department our police department they keeping us safe and doing a nice job out there thank you and good night councilwoman vote thank you council president um just want to say I'm glad to be able to come back in person um and that I appreciated your comment about environmental concerns um so thank you for coming out tonight and look forward to seeing you in two weeks councilwoman wit is I'd like to also thank everyone from coming out this evening and we'll see you in two weeks thank you mayor palone thank you council president good evening everyone um we announced today that the city will be building a fully Ada accessible fishing and pedestrian Pier with a $3.25 million Grant uh it recently received from the state Boardwalk preservation fund Governor Murphy announced the award last Friday many of you know this will allow Long Branch to to achieve a longtime goal to bring back a fishing and pedestrian pier where it stood for over a 100 years perpendicular to the city's Boardwalk I want to thank Governor Murphy and the Department of Consumer Affairs for this grant for many when we think of historic Long Branch we think of the pier uh we're grateful for this funding and we're happy to bring another amenity to Long Branch for our residents and visitors to enjoy uh the pier is uh currently in a conceptual state however will be about 500 ft long and run along the RightWay that um exists next to the L Street beach the project will start in the year 2025 and will release more information in the coming months I also wanted to mention that our Hometown Heroes Banner program which has been very popular is up and running banners onor US military veterans who either presently reside in Long Branch or formerly lived here displaying the veterans picture name military branch dates of service you've all probably seen it for the last couple of years on the boardwalk I want to thank councilwoman Rose witus for coming up with this idea and uh pursuing it uh like I said it's been very popular uh please contact the mayor's office for more information that's at 73257246884 the new Long Branch fire and history museum on March 9th that's not this Saturday but the following Saturday from 3: to 5 p.m. that's at 46 Atlantic Avenue and um and Ocean Boulevard if you've gone by in the last several months you'll see that there's a a a a a red uh Firehouse there and that's where it is we're very proud and happy of that all are invited we'll have free refreshments and we'll display uh be displaying some artifacts from our Rich fire department history such as a one-of a kind uh 1880 bab cop chemical engine which we're told is U one of less than a handful Nationwide and an 1890 hose wagon so if you available again that's next Saturday um at the corner of ocean um and Atlantic Avenue from 3: to 5:00 p.m. I'm sorry not this Saturday the following Saturday March 9th thank you and all have a great week thank you mayor uh I would like to uh on this a few weeks ago had the uh had to call the police department for emergency purposes and uh uh EMS and I wanted to just thank them for their uh professionalism um and handling uh my mom uh they did a very very nice job um in the we hours of the morning um and again I just want to say thank you um and appreciate the uh TLC that you showed thank you very much and thank you for coming out get home safe God bless you motion motion to close motion to close so moved second all in favor I I good good night