channel channel 22 and Verizon fos and channel 77 on we have a roll call please mayor nean here Deputy Mayor fiser here council members the Cher here kapan here Terry here the notice requirements of the open public meetings act for this meeting have been satisfied and a copy of the annual notice was filed in the off was sent to the Asbury Park Press in the coaster Post in town hall and filed in the office of the municipal clerk on December 14th 2023 uh start off with items for discussion uh let's start off with Greg okay good evening everybody Greg uh First Step first off project the 20 2022 Road program the contractor has restarted on Roosevelt avenue so we predict he's going he's got Roosevelt Curbing and he's got Walnut curbing he should be done with those two both in about four weeks and then we'll have him start paven and then we'll get him out of town probably by sometime around beginning of June which is that's the deal Road four here which is from Mammoth to whale Pond is part of that which is pretty bad shape uh the 2023 program Jesse and I met with the residents last two nights talking about the concrete uh assessments we got the honor of meeting your neighbor last night yes Brent oh oh oh yes he's my next door neighbor oh he he mentioned that he was a treat yeah um I didn't even know his first name until you said it so yeah but uh we met with them everything went well uh with like most uh people were kind of happy with the ability to opt out but most actually were opting in they wanted more done than less so which is a good thing we all explain to them that you know you can get it done cheaper with us and it lasts longer and it looks better so everybody's doing that uh the 2024 Road program we just wait the adoption of the budget before we get going on that uh next thing down the list is the 1,1 W ofco we're about uh I'd say 90% done with that building we're just waiting for Water and Electric and Gas uh connections we're told they're coming next week we thought they'd be in the end of this week early next week so hopefully they will be in next week and then uh we'll be in good shape but the flooring's going in all the drop ceilings in the golf cave units are in they just have to put their Electronics in when the electric comes in the bathrooms are done uh the front foyer is done counter and cabinet wise and paint wise they just got to put the flooring in and tomorrow they're doing a concrete work around the outside of the building and then they'll put the front door in and the back door stairs in and the building is going to be probably by end of next week about 99% done wow good yeah so they they they're doing really well um the next thing I don't know if you know the mansard roof went from a metal roof to a shingle roof that was changed just so you know uh I didn't have anything do with it but we were going to do with shingles Mike got a little nervous the time wasn't going to be going to be done so he wanted to change it to a shingle roof that coming off or they going over it I don't know but I they the shingles got to come up there's no way you can attach to it you're going to take them off put plywood up so okay that's all being done I guess some probably in the next two weeks he'll be done with that um there change order for that from the change order that we already did that'll be a new purchase order thing that's part of the budget that's all it's there's enough money in there to do that because it's they're actually less than it it's less than the metal roof was going to be um the other thing is the outside the exterior lights will be worked on next week we just got to connect the three exterior parking lot lights and the perimeter lights on the building the wall packs that guy's coming in next week to do those um so that kind of tied that ends up that finishes up that building um next thing that's changing is uh the Hope Road um the fuel Road sidewalk and the bike path those two projects were awarded we're waiting for the resolution are going into the state we're just waiting for their approval to have the pre construction meeting for both of those jobs and then those will start probably within about 3 or 4 weeks from now bike path on deal I bike path on roller Road and the sidewalk on Deal got it okay sorry if if you having thank you yeah um that the Cramer Court thing the souls work was done uh we're supposed to get the report tomorrow that'll go over to structural guy we had a conference call about that today just some of the things are getting worked out but I think everything is kind of online for us that at least advertise that and the funding will be put in place before we actually have to make the the uh decision on awarding and also the trees I think we said last time the trees were removed before the first so that was all good so where's the actual uh acceptance of the funds coming down the road cuz now there's a legal back and forth going over where I think we're now doing instead of just a maintenance agreement a maintenance and escro agreement and we're taking the money a portion of money in as a grant to go out to bid and the other portion of the money is going to be in s for the maintenance excuse me for maintenance for maintenance and some of the construction work if the bids have been high yeah so we're the time schedule that I sent you is off so we're on target yeah we're from from the bid point of view we're on target the funding will just work itself out I mean that just has to be in place before we award and that that it's going to be by the time we bid this I think it was another 3 weeks before we bid it so the award was going to be for about another month and a half so we have that period of time to get the money in place uh the next things were the second second round of the stream cleaning we're just awaiting adoption of the budget to see if you know we got the extra money in there to clean in next you know section of stream Corridor and then the other one I'm waiting for word back from Ry if there's available funding to clean that section of the the stream playart so it's I mean he's kind of been tied so so didn't can't we use open space for yes but I just I just want to make you know instead of me going and doing it I I want to clear with him to tell him I'm spending that much money so when he get huh yeah no I tried it a couple times it doesn't work [Music] very and other than that that's the all the changes since the last year question before he leaves on stream planing I you're going to be leaving um when did you say deal Ro is getting paid you think it's going to happen soon probably by June okay June this part of deal the deal Road section between 35 and Logan will probably be late summer because that's part of the 23 program which will Beed probably May is that when you do it in late summer or even now is it going to close the street for any significant period of time we do it at night okay he road is paid at that's already in the contract okay because of that reason because the volume is too intense too high um I just looking at my list um sidewalk sandor um redirection redesign of in front of the mil and Terry Park the sidewalks we're going to run the side down yeah the two and the sidewalks is that what you mean yeah um down in the park itself we were going to do that with the bathroom when we do the bathroom over no but I'm talking about the corner up on yeah the tap that's all going to be part of the 24 Road program so that's all coming up okay thank you CH jump in if somebody's got some I do not yeah I'm good 1515 no change we're just waiting for they're slow I mean we're still waiting for our permit for the first sidewalk Crossing on oil Pond Road that's been probably nine seven months since we've submitted that for that little sidewalk going over the the C right yeah they're just they're slow right now we're pushing and we call them every other week I think I'm good Greg okay good thank you Greg anybody have any other questions for Greg I think the gentleman in the corner yes uh you did a very good review of flooding in trees a few months back saying trees were great they changed the water table the trees alone don't change flooding you nailed it right on right on the money Regarding cleaning streams I wonder if you kick around the concept A flood plane is a flood plane stream is 10 ft wide 8 in deep flood plane is 4 500 ft wide X in deep depending on what the 5ye 10e flood is but it's 400 ft wide when you clean a stream all that work you did stream doesn't know it's 400 ft wide during a flood stage yes we clean the 10t wide area it looks really nice but all that money the stream doesn't know it's 400 ft wide so hold the thought that a lot of stream cleaning is very symbolic but actually doesn't change the flow just hold that thought when you're putting huge amounts into stream cleaning it may not actually change the Hydraulics well I would disagree with you because what we're cleaning out is actually the channel and we go when the channel is blocked when you're cleaning a blocked Channel thank you it's fabulous what weing large 100 yard stretches we excellent we're cleaning the channel itself which is has blockages in it anywhere there's not a blockage we're not doing anything and Jim we went out uh Greg and I both went out checked uh a couple sites and there was one heck of a blockage out and Po and it really has caused us uh we think problems off on whale pond because what we found was that the water was actually flowing out but it was blocked up in the further sections that's why a lot of deal park has been flooding we had guys from the road department jet back out our uh storm drains in those areas where there was a lot of blockage specific places are very very useful very useful that's all we're doing with this 100 yard strips Greg uh had a person out there who I met with Greg and uh he was going to do any extremely thorough job and Greg actually opted to go with another company that wasn't doing as thorough of a job more or less just clearing spreading and getting the job done it was an extremely economical expense and well worth the money that we spent and now we'll be on a program where we do this every five years Greg if I'm not mistaken well we're going to try to do 20% a year and hopefully we can get most of the main quarter y specific blockages work 100 yard stretches is just cosmetic we've never cleaned 100t stretch we've only cleaned the channel we couldn't possibly we would be there forever we wouldn't get 100 ft done right thank you Greg anything else on that from Greg uh Dave or anybody else have anything for Greg I did one question um and I don't know did we find any other locations for dog park possibilities I on on my list I'm supp to pass yeah that's I'm glad you brought that up so on YouTube I looked at the master plan and tip like all the places that we can so in looking at the where the space was where it was supposed to be I uh sent Ross L Citra a message for him to come out meet me out um at the area over there where we were originally going to put it now when I went out there Sunday it's clear that there's an area that goes uh further west not near the parking lot but kind of in the middle you'd have to walk there a little bit you'd have to make a trail but it's a nice wide open space that doesn't have any trees there's also a space behind it kind of off away from the tennis courts more so closer to the building which actually has the path that walks there between the indoor tennis courts and the outdoor tennis courts but wasn't it a wildlife issue that they said we couldn't do it there I don't know that's why I want to have Ross meet me out there and see I thought that was closer to West Park yeah that the other entrance the one they had the problem with was where they have it was where the parking lot is parking lot little small parking lot for a walking trail yes I thought there was they wanted to put it by a tennis court building that's where we broke ground per se okay right at the end of that walkway but you're talking about the same entrance way but well there's actually that big open space that's on the other side of the little tree line that's there the tree line blocks the outdoor tennis courts and then there's enough I think there's enough space there that could fit it even uh you know 20 ft 25 ft off of West Park Avenue you start it there you go back um the only things that are there there's like maybe three pine trees that are in that section in that area so that's a possibility there and it's that would probably work because then the walkway we would put in would go around the south side of the tennis court yeah cuz our concern was that we were wanted it had to go between the tennis courts and the building you have some uh time maybe early next week or you know to get out there and we I'll you know just pinpoint I was going to call you but I said it's easier for me to go out and meet you there yeah whenever you want okay next week for sure but we the place in player Park is dead with the neighbor there uh rob you spoke to that's the takeaway I had I can't imagine but that's no good so I too looked around town did and I was in play park over the weekend so I mentioned that white condemned building that you you can drive in the big one but I think it's a hazard I'm sure it is but behind there and I don't know how what before you get to the mulch before right where the mulching thing is back there this is like so this is you're coming in off a whale Pond there's the big building used to be a boy club at some point it's got a little fence around it now maybe they use it for some storage I'm sure DPW uses some of that and there's another side building there that dpw's definitely using but there is a little mini parking lot there is asphalt and there's a little grass section right behind that building I don't know how wet it is very wet I just saw a parking lot and a piece of grass that's the first drainage thing cuz that all used to flood in there and all the runners had problem getting through there but we put a big underd drain system in through there to get rid of the flooding in that area I think it's far enough in the park that you're not going to hear the the barking you won't but it'd be a mud puddle especially with this kind of weather then it would just be a pure mud puddle other than that we're going to have to build an elevated one so well that's that's what we' do that you that's probably great we would have the elevator would probably work if we filled it you know a foot or two put sand in it and so maybe take the spoils from somewhere put it right there well what we can start doing because one of the ordinances in town is you know we're allowed to take any fill from any construction site that we deem we need including top soope so if we want to do that we'll pick out area and I can start we can start well I got to get Green Acres approval but it has to meet that clean criteria yeah it pretty much does the C when they exate for a new building Foundation is p pretty much pure sand anymore but we could do that we can start piling it there and we get enough will level it out I mean it's not going to be a big dog park but it could be a dog park y so and there's a there's a fair amount of room there I mean my first I just got to make sure it's not Wetland yeah I mean my preference is obviously the West Park I think there's a lot of land over there but worst case scenario I think it's far enough away from all civilization that you could have a dog park there yep you're right because you can drive back in there nobody even know you back drive back in there you got to stripe the four or five spots whatever it is and it's not going to be wol Hill you can't have $50 back there and one thing probably to think about for the future because once you know the DP site were DPW site we're proposing and that's going to get rid of all those building there yeah so we could possibly use those spaces want to wait 5 years but you know that that could expand the par once we get rid of the buildings A John asked me to look around I looked around somebody did their homework I'll make sure that's not well in I was walking my dog Dave we don't want to over he found it we don't want to overwork Dave um any other questions for uh Greg while he's here Greg did you want to do a storm what's that storm water yeah there's the just if you want to go over this we have to adopt a new ms4 Pro regs from the state it's just the standard requirement one of the thing is that the changes in these new RS is really for mostly coastal areas for storm resiliency and what they've done they've created a lot of new little buzz things that we have to do instead of checking inlets you know once a year got checking four times a year it comes into sweeping roads cleaning off inlets U more than once a year and also U putting more lowf flow castings in in areas that are prone for flooding but generally that's it they're trying they're trying to get us into more repetitive things more repetitive inspections to cut down on the clogging which then cause flooding as we all know when a pile Landscaping stuff gets over top of a grd it doesn't work real well so but that's really what most of these RS are about I assume we have an ordinance about putting debris in front of storm drains is that something that we on the books well the ms4 permit says you have to clean it up but that's PW has to put up but yeah I don't know if we should have from a landscaping point of view I don't think they're supposed to pile it in the street yeah but that's I don't think they really do but then obviously there's wind rain which pushes it right to the Dr so then it's Public Works responsibility to try to get out that's why every time there a ma storm we stop everything we're doing is allowed to check those points try to clean the brush up as fast exactly so that's it's a tough battle especially as much rain as we've been getting a lot of trees yeah okay did you need separately all right good night everybody good night thank you oh long drive yeah David Brown it's on you all right mayor uh bring everyone's attention to uh resolution 24 thank you- 089 which is authorizing the application to the New Jersey te energy program Community energy planning grant program which was a late edition uh our environmental commission uh had reviewed this and Eventing recently uh they pushed it over to my office and uh Jesse's office and after review um the as the manager and Community Development director totally agree with them uh that we should move forward with this and basically a community energy planning is a process by which the communities collabor select uh and strategically Implement emissions reducing initiatives that fulfill the energy master plan uh goal which is what's the state's energy master plan and this process includes assembly a planning team of local Municipal staff elected officials relevant Municipal board and commission members and community volunteers this planning uh process basically um assesses the municipality needs and helps find the opportunities for energy resilience renewable energy and Energy Efficiency so what we'll be doing is going for a $10,000 Grant we invoke uh Millennial strategies to make this application for us uh it should be open and shut case uh most towns will receive the 10,000 there's a higher amount of 25,000 for a different category of towns which we are not a part of so we should be getting 10,000 to do this we'll assemble all those folks and uh we'll we'll do the planning and then at some point I can Envision this and I have to review the master plan that somehow these need to converge at some point this plan needs to be either um a component of the master plan somehow get in there on our next update I spoke to Ed this morning to figle about it he gave me a little bit of uh insight into it looks like potentially a quarter of a million if we you know yes so so getting ahead if we get all this done the next stage is implementation so then we can go for another grant for 250,000 but you have to have a plan in place to go for the 250 so they kind of give you 10 and this is when I say they they is the New Jersey vpu they give you 10,000 to the municipality to do the plan so then once Millennial write the plan write the grant we get the grant then we have and we'll go get U um a firm that has expertise in this area to help this uh Team of assessors along along the way it's a I mean it's a no-brainer for us if if we can grab grab that slow hanging fruit but is there criteria mens and Maxes like for example with the emissions that we would have to be within once once we Implement um that I haven't gotten that far yet but it could be cuz um I just printed out this grant which is about eight or n Pages was not too bad but then the implementation was pretty lengthy which I didn't dive into yet so not able to answer that yet but we'll we'll get to the bottom of that um the other good point on this is that we will get sustainable Jersey points for this too cool so that'll help us Kelly we go get the bronze we're going to make silver right that was bronze last year we're going for silver baby let's go let's go is is there a deadline for the implementation yes I'm glad you said that deadline for this grant is May 24th so that's what we're shooting for now and then I think the implementation Grant is months months okay after that cuz um this is It's we're in the first round now which is get the plan done right okay um thank you speaking of putting teams together we recently got a letter from cuz the state uh plan Act is going into effect which brings in that uh cross acceptance process with the m County planning and basically now I've submitted to um to Joe Baris who's the M County planning director I've submitted our team which consists of myself um as the uh manager community development director Township engineer Greg blash and our planning administrator um Colleen mayor so the three of us will be What's called the cross AC acceptance committee and basically we're on we're on watch um to see what the state's going to come down to the county and what what's going to happen we made sure the county has all of our updated master plan and anything related to that so we're we're in good position now it's just we're on watch uh as the County's on watch waiting for the next move for the state okay and if you don't know all of our rqs are out right now they are all due back by April 29th we're out for Township uh the co- attorney the co- consultant planner Bond Council labor attorney Redevelopment Council special project engineer public defender alternate public defender administrative agent for affordable housing legal service tax appeals Engineering Services planning board attorney planning board planner planning board engineer zoning board attorney zoning board planner zoning board engineer and architectural services so we were out for just about everything um prosecutor in there too uh no we did that already he's okay yeah down so we have all of that and I want to say this CU we're on on TV so we want to make sure that anybody's interested that they apply as soon as possible they can pick up or go to our website to um get the the rfqs and they'll do April 29th make sure you adhere to the deadline cuz there is a time in there I don't know if you remember Justice 3 I think it's 3 p.m. 3 p.m. so 3 p.m. April 29th and I'll repeat this again at the 7:00 meeting a lot of [Music] jobs and last but not least calls and definitely not least dear ah that was on the top of my page dear question mark anything from the state not the d a r d e r so we have a couple of steps we're getting closer uh met with Tracy today in my office and the uh consultant we're real close now to putting the button on the the response to the questions that were asked of um the state agency and there's two things that have to come up one we noticed that we have an ordinance on the books that we're going to have to change uh so that ordinance will become for this body as soon as we um te it up and then we have to have a resolution approving um for furtherance after the budget is adopted so that the money is there and appropriated so that we can get the certified funds from the CFO to actually hire the consultant to do the major work uh which is the the uh larger plan David what has to be changed in the uh ordinance that were the ordinance that we have to change is right now we have on the books that we are not allowed to use any firearms in the in the PO park right so in order to uh proceed a hybrid situation we would have to uh relax that ordinance otherwise otherwise we can't do it it okay so wasn't the plan excluding them anyway excluding Firearms no the plan is a hybrid I know it was a hybrid but I thought it was uh a hunt not using Firearms well it it it encompasses all of that any type of yes exactly yeah so so no bow and arrows no firearm no nothing like that can be used until we change and you can create that definition As You Wish as the as the governing body so now Dave we get into uh we get into the season right which is the fall and I'm not mistaken I'm not really up on Hunting cuz I don't hunt but isn't hunting season in the fall sometime like yes but I don't know if we even make then because once we finally got our act together and get it into the state now we're sitting on watch again because now we're waiting on them to get back to us to give us approval are those other municipalities the public needs to understand that the town doesn't isn't dragging their feet we're trying to push this process but we are getting blocked not blocked but well I mean the 10 questions weren't easy number one to answer yeah I think that I want the public to understand that we want to do something but you know we're getting it's a lot of back and forth and and the data that was used when I first got here 3 years ago had to be refreshed they said no we can't use that data no more we want we want new data so then we have to do the studies all over again and I hope we don't go through three more years and to the studies again well and the studies take procurement to get somebody in here to do the study with the expertise and infrared for the deers and you got to do a car count of accidents crashes we got to look at insurance it's it's a lot to it it's not just Dave behind the computer type it up meanwhile the deer population triples exactly you know it didn't happen overnight here and I get it y we'll we'll tackle it as best we can yep yeah just have to see uh something come together because it's uh you know we're obviously we have a couple of residents that keep inquiring to you and me and you know I'm sure the rest of us get calls and um you know I just want the public to understand that this governing body does want to do something we do want to make it decision or we want to get something done here and you know the back and I just want to point out too that um Tracy is constantly on top of this she's been great she's on this and moving it forward and then you know pushing the um consultant to get his part done pushing to make sure I'm sitting down to get the input in and get the input back from this body so it's it's a lot of back and forth yeah okay anything else I think that's it man all right let's go around the horn Rob go ahead nothing what shocker man what's going on here that Eclipse man I'm it's working it's working two in two factions floods an earthquake eclipse and Rob with no questions there was a meteor the other night missed that one um do I do have something so uh John myself and Dave Brown met and John wants to push the mayor's Wellness initiative so we're forming a committee uh it's going to be replacing the community hopes drug and alcohol Alliance so this committee is going to be encompassing all aspects of Health whether it's mental health physical health diet Elder Health we talked about drug and alcohol then a few things to be named later um we're going to be sort of looking for some big events some small events some speaker series um so we do have a 5k coming up uh rather soon so this is coming up in May 19th um we're going to try to do some sort of piggybacking on this uh to try to sort of you know bring this out but we do need to get our committee together first um some of the we're all we're open to all ideas I know everybody's got great ideas some of the ideas we kicked around were walk with a council person walk with the mayor and p park speaker series diet nutrition Elder Health Community CPR which Jesse was brought up Jesse also brought up challenges which I think is great where we challenge somebody to do something whether it's you know participate in the 5K or something like that J's idea of te's to the trees te's to the trees I'm going to give Jesse all the credit for this stuff I don't want I'm not taking one ounce of credit for that credit to the Tre we're going to call it Jesse's teas to the trees yeah which I thought was great some of the other things I thought were good was maybe having a speaker series or speaker event where we do we bring OEM in uh preparedness we have the new C members um I think a lot of people don't realize you know when it goes bad what do we need uh so we'll lean on Tom Ru for that I know ocean police department does a bike safety thing maybe we sort of piggyback on top of that internet social media so I think the big thing is we're trying to look for all aspects of Health I had a little pie in the sky idea but I have to talk to Kelly about this maybe just maybe we could bring Kenny picket in for a punt pass and kick competition but that's just something that I'm throwing out there um now that he's living in New Jersey maybe we can so anyway I'll just throw that out and see where the universe takes it but anyway so this is a it's brand new if anybody has any ideas please come to either myself or Dave or John uh we're willing to listen and we're willing to do all sorts of things so going to be kind of a little bit of a slow roll out but once we get going this is going to be part of our you know yearly deal we'll obviously partner up with Mike patrio and Jen Nordstrom and anyone else who wants to help out so we got Sharon Asar also help because the uh the former you know group was good they they did a lot of good for the municipality as it relates to uh drug awareness um and and that's when we sat around the table that really is a a big issue here uh the drug and alcohol and mental health uh like I had said to you in the in the meeting we you know lost a family member last week my kids did and uh you know it's pretty serious and I you know to pull it all together and get some of their ideas and and some new ideas and and do some activities I think it'll be it'll be great the mayor's Wellness committee or mayor's Wellness uh group has is Statewide when I was down at the League last year I you know went over and you know they have the the pins on the board of all the towns that actually do this and I actually bounce a couple things off John Mo Asbury as they've had theirs up and running for years now and and it it's a great it's a great uh committee everybody can get involved uh residents and stuff and you know I asked you know David to uh chair it up because you look he's he's the medical guy here so about wellness and his Wellness is near and dear to his heart so uh what better guy to put to work than David I like it so uh thanks Dave I appreciate you attending and uh we'll ear Mark these if anybody at the table has ideas just reach out to Dave or myself and uh you know we'll get it wrong thanks Dave yeah anything else that's it okie dokie Kelly um a couple sessions ago there were complaints about um people doing work and the Neighbors being concerned that there were not permits on file and we had talked a little bit about maybe amping up the surveillance maybe on the weekends which is when people seem to be trying to get away with stuff that might not be permitted it might be permitted but they're not displaying it properly did we ever do anything that probably won't take effect though after the adoption of the budget okay cuz then um we'll have a little bit more money for part- timr and cuz we only have one enforcer right I know you don't have a lot of people to do it so so then um and I can't mention it public hipple rules but there's some issues with scheduling right now trying to trying to do that on the weend so so we'll we we are focused on that and we want to get to that but I got a couple of personnel challenges to get gotcha that was it for me okay I have nothing the flag request oh it was a flag request from Christine H my apologies that's okay D3 Christine hland Tom arnone and the Italian American Association to fly the Italian American flag from October 1st 2024 to October 31st 2024 in honor of Italian heritage month right everyone okay with that just to play devil's advocate here I have no problems with the flag card but it's the duration yeah I didn't know they put it 30 days yeah yeah listen if we want to do it great but I I don't disagree with you Dave I don't remember what our time limit was was it a week there is no limit there wasn't but we were all thinking it was short term like like around the day right I think I I think we did a week last last year for this but I I yeah I'm going do a week on on these flag raisings I mean a day to me is I don't know day seems pretty quick right a week is fine actually start Columbus Day or the day before Columbus Day well she did so what does Columbus say standby just trying catch up to St patri you did last year that's what we did last [Music] year that the only flag request yeah it's the 14th if you did it 14th what day is that is that Monday happens to be a Monday it is on a Monday um so I mean you could start it that you know that Monday and do it for a week right through the weekend or if I may just for flexibility if if we want to pass it tonight put it for the 12th in case they want to do it on the Saturday or Sunday before okay just because it's the weekend wait the 12 to the what's the following week so s days I'm good with seven okay so October 12th to October 19th sure it fits in May I'm sorry may I ask it can you do 12th through the 20th sure 7 Days somewhere between those okay in case they start on the 13th they can go to the 20th if they start 12 think go 19th got it all in favor somebody has to move somebody offer as much as much as Jesse gets to move in second have someone offer I'll offer second second roll call all in favor I think I'm going to abstain okay oppose I think I'm going to abstain abstain opposed no okay you're abstaining because you're Itali on the board what's the advanced that you have to give to request a flag raising as long as this before council meeting you guys can approve it yeah was 30 days at thought yeah we it wasin uh well wasn't it do we have an ordinance or just a poli policy policy policy but if we don't have a council meeting then I don't think there was a I could be was trying to get it at least 30 days I think was actually look Che well we beat October so that's I was just curious Jesse you have anything else no that's doie my apologies Again Jim anything else the budg is Rick going to just have a courtesy if there's questions or does he have a formal presentation no last year it was just a courtesy if there were questions yeah there's no form it's just an introduction there will be a presentation at the adoption in May excellent and then uh thank you and then also Jesse gave me an opr with the um salaries and benefits and um Dave gave me the last four contracts that were created on um February 22nd and what I handed out to you was the contracts that were on the 22nd from the council and Jesse here's a point of consideration if in the contracts there's no reason you would know this they would 14 holidays at comp time is 21 holidays 5 days they can cash out 10 days comp time two personal 12 three bonus sick days 73 days of uh paid time off there's no reason you would know that you didn't sign the contracts the council signed the contracts on February 22nd and this is a listing of what each one day these employees are paid is is in the First Column and I just wanted to uh know that uh this is based on we opened the 2023 salaries and extrapolated from that 3. 75% so we could have an estimate for the 24 salaries so that sheet that I handed out today is the overtime and alls based on last year and it's an estimate of what it'll be for this year is the concern salaries attributable to vacation time and overtime that's embedded in the contract that was awarded is that the concern there's multiple things here occurring which is $670,000 of overtime uh you're you're having 73 days off creates very expensive ensive replac workers 73 days off per person or Collective no it's got your contract for as a federal employee this afternoon I sent I don't have a contract as a federal employee I'm a federal employee also um this afternoon I sent an email to you all and on this afternoon's email will be this information as a federal employee you and I used to receive 11 holidays off yeah your contra contracts on February 22nd were 21 holidays two personal days um 12 sick days three bonus SI days most of them get 10 additional comp time days and again if you can just but they're contracted to provide a service for a certain price and how they manage their workload as long as they don't exceed that price I don't understand the conflict your your employees here yeah are hourly employees might mostly hourly here no they're a they're a hybrid of hourly employees yeah and I just wanted you to be aware of let me ask you a question because this comes up a lot and I don't want to be argumentative and and I don't want to sit and say oh this is know these are our St bunch of whatever work for us what do you what are you suggesting or I I don't know what you're looking for in the long term these are look I'm these are I play an interesting role all right I have a union role over in Asbury Park as a school teacher I'm also a union president so I've negotiated Union contracts for 25 years I'm also in a management role over here in my position so I kind of have a lens for both sides what I and there there's Union contracts there are contractual obligations you signed those contracts I know what I signed I signed them on both sides I signed for the union side and I signed for the management side over here what I'm trying to find out is these are you know these are salaries and benefits and this is you know we go off of averages with the you know state of New Jersey on the raises and you know the these are costs that you know you I don't know what you're looking for here but these are contracts that we have with our employees could you publish these to the websites the people there's Sal everybody's salary and you know this everybody's salary you can get on that site that the aspbury park theer requests that I put in require know but we would never dozens of hours of we would never publish this CU these are not their salaries you can't put down these as their salaries these are not their salaries you're adding everything together you're adding all of the stuff to you can't put that down as the salary that's not what the salary is I'm sorry I you are paying $17 million to these people and that is how the $17 million paid breaks out I know million 2 million additional but there's pension obligations 28% on the PFS and 11% on the but listen there's there's pension obligations we have to pay that as per the state there are you know obviously the salaries you're paying are outrageous honestly our salaries were actually low lower than other salaries and we had cops leaving this town to go to other municipality good cops that left because their salaries were a lot lower than other municipalities so our cops are just got a Union contract 5year Union contract and we're trying to catch them up not only that Jim but here's another thing that and as a union person I take exception to this our staff members in Ocean Township have paid into their health benefit way before chapter 78 way before I ever did as a teacher when chapter 78 was initiated by the state of New Jersey back in 2010 or 11 whenever Chris Christie did it we were ahead of what chapter 78 was our municipality our um staff members here I looked at it our health plan here is nothing compared to other areas they're doing a 2030 plan as a base if you know anything about the health insurance which to me for our municipality and we're an extremely wealthy municipality I personally think it was absurd but you know what that was negotiated way before I ever got on prior administrators prior CFOs did those negotiations so our police our Public Works are people inside town hall have been paying into their health benefits Jim way before chapter 78 existed so right now what the manager did when he negotiated is he's trying to get us to a point where people will stay in the municipality that are good employees and I have to back what the manager did and recruitment right and recruitment too I mean it's there's you know people municipalities all they poach from each other you don't want to lose like right now we have have really good employees we've got I I think we've got a phenomenally well-run Town um our directors our manager the employees that we have you know but we want them to stay Jim I don't want them to leave because they can go over to eat in town and make another $220,000 is it's just it's not good for the town it doesn't look good a reasonable amount of people leaving is acceptable not in my eyes when they're good sorry I did disagree these salaries are these are not the salaries though Jim if you give the real salary if you give the real salary our salaries are actually in line and maybe even you you know better than me David I mean we're in a average right now we're not definitely not higher than than most municipalities I like to compare us like eaten toown West LA Branch as two of the municipalities that are kind of equal to us eat and town I keep getting told about eat and town police they're way above our cops way above and you know with all due respect to Mayor Tarico and this is no dig I mean Ocean Township is a different municipality we have a much different clientele here so we are actually lower when it comes to our cops so I'm I'm look I'm a firm believer in making sure that they're funing familiarize yourself I have familiarized myself this is what they're taking in cash thank you I could R this one is in cash those numbers are shocking so I appreciate your time and I appreciate that Richard is just doing an administrative tonight so uh thank him when you see him and I won't be um in Richard's meeting I I do have one question and Kelly brought it up first and and I'm not sure I understand because you have it different in two places you have estimated 73 of 260 days paid off and then up here you have estimated 73s of 187 days work what 260 is 52 weeks at five is 260 I got 260 - 73 is 287 okay I got 187 hold on slow down I got the math what does it mean that they're getting 73 days off has paid time off each year each person each everybody on this list is getting 73 days off it's it's the police okay all right well that's okay there's a difference here's the numbers right here but Jim they don't get 73 days so you get they get let's just humor 10 days comp time to personal days that's 12 12 plus three bonus sick days 25 vacation after 20 years do you got to you know yes 14 holidays at comp 21 holidays paid sell five for cash holidays and comp equal 21 holidays so it's 24 26 how does 14 comp 21 P 38 41 66 I can't answer all this right now yeah I figed that this is the same thing we've Kimber the chief Rick yeah maybe the maybe there's a lot of numbers on here so I can't say he's right or wrong okay I appreciate your time and uh thank you thanks Jim thanks Jim okay we have uh eight minutes till we go to close or you going to want to go any early motion to go in a closed session um just one question yes can uh can you go over the ordinance for the um the ebikes or Matt can you just touch on some of the aspects of that um sure there are did did you get Jim's email no I did no on the ebikes no is that why you're asking yeah but I'm I'm also asking just to just just the give me the cliff notes version cliffnotes version is uh you know ebikes have a defined they're defined in state law as certain lowp speed vehicles uh you have to abide by the bike and traffic codes um helmets if you're underage you can't ride on the sidewalk uh basically it is limiting where you can ride these just no riding in the Parks no riding on the sidewalks 17 and under you got to wear a helmet yeah and uh I think the police wanted to add uh no no no Parks or playgrounds and can't utilize the township parking lots as through ways the only thing I and listen I'm all for this you know I think this is a huge issue especially light of the kid who got H over here whatever um I think that we got to have some kind of campaign whether it's on the internet or something to let you know people know hey you can't be riding your ebike through the park so it's all right you know I guess just the usual fine venue is fine but I think people definitely need to know hey this Township has an ordinance you just can't ride your bikes all over the place especially in the summertime could signage be enhanced yeah you can put one of that you could put that big sign up you know that uh town has you know hey eat bike uh ordinance and in something like that no yeah I just uh I think what's going to happen is you're going to get an influx of people here in the summertime they're not going to know the rules and then all of a sudden it's you know and then it becomes an Enforcement issue so a mailer it goes in that magazine that goes out you know the trifold or whatever that thing is you mean our newsletter yeah one that just went out so can you incorporate that literally how often does it go out I just saw it yesterday is it is it yeah oh it is out yeah quarterly quarterly for behind the ball on that a good idea Twi just didn't come early enough that might be a good conversation to have with maybe the chief like the right time you put that big thing up that traffic you know sign just say bike ordinance in believe I don't feel like electric signs there is the maybe before I electric coin I've only written electric bike yeah that's what I'm saying e these things already that's all I just I'm all for I think I think those things are flat out dangerous I really do so just since I thought he was bringing it up hello Tom what's up got something to say about the ebikes well not the ebikes but I agree with you you need a campaign you need to set up a campaign figure out where you want to put it websites Twitter all those places yeah and just work on getting that together so you need to maybe get a couple people together and figure out where you want to put stuff yeah I just think enacting an ordinance is great but we've got to let the world know that there is an ordinance now right and the newsletter just went out so that's not I know I missed the boat social media question May 19th the 5K who's running that a lady named the sister of the person who did the milk weed farm milked thing Jo absolutely is it a private kind of thing no that's why you're a lawyer and I'm not I know how many people are I'm just wondering if I should put together a um an action plan I'm going to go my personal opinion I'll yield to the manager is talk to patrio because I'm assuming he's got something to do with it yeah he does okay right yeah I will ask thank you good um sorry so Jim sent us all an email regarding this he said and some of it's reasonable if we do restrict some things are we limiting the are we violating anything with the American Disabilities Act no good uh please do not ban eat bikes in the park blanket restriction is oppressively strict in a governmental overreach that's his opinion I get that well that's yeah I mean we own the parks we can set rules and regulations to it he wants to change I just I don't know if I even care about this must be yelled n the rest is that's fine it's a lot of jum I tried to read it it was yeah got it it was as long as we're not violate anything no it's these are electric it's not a anything electric scooter does have a it's defined I mean and they precedents yeah and we're so we're talking this and actually this is kind of taken from state law so um you know I think Neptune just enacted something too right I thought I saw that they I don't know but I can tell you that this was enacted in Fr burough yeah I thought Neptune had something before we go I got one more if you don't mind a lot of news lately on squatters taking over homes various places in Jersey around the country they just taken over they're living there you can't get them out because of the way the laws are written any experience with any squatters in Ocean or anywhere in the state that you've dealt with no but I don't I think that the squatter's rights that are referenced in like New York I don't is not really applicable here as far as I know there's no real I mean it's very tenant friendly if you have a lease and that kind of thing it's very difficult to get out but just if you're trespassing and you say hey my house now uh doesn't really work you haven't had that okay no I don't and I don't think that the laws in New Jersey are very favorable towards uh that type of thing good thank you agree with that I had that in back in 2008 on the housing uh crash we had a lot of that and the mpal that was in I agree with the good I can sleep at night hey motion to go to close session so moved second I'll second all in favor hi hi you po good evening everyone I just want to remind everybody that all of our Council meetings will be audio and video taped will'll be shown on the town promotions Community cable channel channel 22 on Verizon FiOS and channel 77 on cable vision can I have a roll call please may teny here Deputy Mayor fiser here council member aera here Kaplan here Terry here can everyone please stand for a pledge allegiance and remain standing as we say a silent prayer I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing you may be seated the notice requirements of the open public meetings act for this meeting have been satisfied and copy of the annual notice was sent to the Asbury Park Press and the coaster it was posted in town hall and filed in the office of the municipal clerk on December 14 2023 there are two emergency exits to my right that'll take you to the front of the building there's one to my left that'll take you to the rear of the building if you have to make a phone call and you have a cell phone please step outside and make the call out there before we get into our proclamations I want to go down the line and do our Council comments I'll start off with Deputy Mayor fer thank you mayor so uh the mayor and I and the town manager had an interesting meeting this week we're going to be kicking off the mayor's wellness program which will be replacing the community hope drug and alcohol Alliance but we're going to try to incorporate all aspects of Health everything from mental health to physical health diet drugs and alcohol counseling uh so this is a really exciting time for Ocean Township uh I'm excited to chair this committee more work but I'm excited and I think uh what I'd like to uh you know put out there to the public is if you have any ideas or suggestions please uh see either myself or the mayor and um we're going to be rolling this out in a slow format but the idea is we're going to be having speaker programs events we're going to partner up with our parks and recck we're going to partner up with all kinds of different things so there's a lot of potential here and I think it's an exciting uh initiative and I applaud the mayor for pushing this and I look forward to being part of it thank you Dave and I want to thank you for taking this on and having that meeting uh yesterday uh it's definitely going to be a good thing that we can do for the tach of votion um I feel really strongly about it I know that our Community Fund before they did a lot of good for the municipality and I don't ever want to you know downplay what they did and what they'll continue to do and there are some ideas that they had through that committee that I think will be very beneficial to the township of ocean be it especially uh I've got a a real soft spot for the drugs and alcohol and um mental health stuff it's hit my family uh pretty hard over the years and I I feel very strongly that this committee uh especially with Dave heading it up I'm I'm excited about it it's something good for the municipality and you know like he said we're looking for input and we're looking for more ideas and things that we can do so Dave again thank you councilwoman Terry nothing at this time thank you councilwoman Kaplan hi I just wanted to encourage everyone to attend greenfest 2024 um I signed up for the 5K personally I also signed up my husband which he doesn't know yet um but it's on Sunday May 19th and I hope to see uh everybody there all right thank you councilman a chair Chamber of Commerce will be having their wine chocolate and more event that's uh usually one of the most uh popular events that we have uh from a chamber perspective it's a week from tonight Thursday April the 18th from 5:30 to 8:00 it is over at the shore Antique Center in Allenhurst you can go on our website gocc.org and sign up uh $25 for chamber members $35 for non-members a lot of beer alcohol a lot of beer and alcohol a lot of beer there is a lot of beer and alcohol a lot of beer and wine and chocolate as the title uh States so uh always a fun time had by everyone hope you can make it thank you Mr than thank you councilman uh Dave thank you mayor um Township ocean is accepting responses to the request for qualifications for the 2425 year in the following categories co- attorney co-a consultant planner Bond counsil labor attorney Redevelopment Council special project engineer public defender alternate public defender administrative agent for affordable housing legal services and tax appeals Engineering Services planning board attorney planning board planner planning board engineer zoning board attorney zoning board planner zoning board engineer and finally architectural services all responses shall be submitted to the Township Clerk no later than 300 p.m. April 29th 2024 all the best to all who are responding thank you mayor thank you sir uh there will be a 5K in the Park on May 19th uh looking forward to that uh also have this weekend and on the 13th Saturday I got a text from our assembly woman who came in thank you assemblywoman donlin who's back here I believe she's here for Joey tonight uh it will be starting at Fairway Lane starting at 9:15 a.m. uh the OT police department will be shutting down Logan Road around 9:45 the parade will commence at 10:00 a.m. uh looking forward to a start of Little League season so thank you assembly woman for sending that over to me I'll be glad to see you over there Saturday um without you know further delay here we do have some guests and we have some proclamations before we step down from the deis I'm going to just briefly go through one of them which is for Arbor Day April 26 2024 um and I'm just going to read uh the last two paragraphs whereas trees in the township increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of business areas and beautify our community and whereas trees wherever they are planed are a source of joy and spiritual renewal and now now therefore be it proclaimed by the township Council of the township of ocean that we hereby Proclaim April 26 2024 as Arbor Day in the township of ocean and we urge all citizens to plant trees to Gladden our hearts and to serve as a living reminder that we will all bear responsibilities of Steward dis to our future Generations so that's the Arbor Day one now for the next three I'm going to come down because we do have guests here and we are going to give out some proclamations come on let's go down all right it's always a always a great night when you you can do something nice for the community and the community members and we're always excited to really push good things in this community so we have three other proclamations I'm going to start off with one of our businesses in town um that you know has been here since 2008 they moved their corporate headquarters so we're going to start off with Carney Bank come on up Carney Bank how are you sir great good to see you thanks for coming out so Carney Bank opened its Ur branch and administrative offices on Highway 35 in 2008 and whereas Carney Bank remains focused on personalized attention helpful banking services and commitment to being a good neighbor and whereas carne Bank looks forward to empowering Prosperity connecting the community and delivering trust for many generations to come now therefore be it proclaimed by the governing body of the Town Dev ocean that we extend a heartfelt congratulations to Cary bank they are an integral part of the community as we have a bustling Highway 35 Corridor they add to and and enhance our beautiful Corridor that we have love the grounds that you have over there you've done a great job so you want to tell us a little bit about the bank and you know what you guys have provided and and what you do in the community okay wasn't aw [Laughter] yeah we've been around 140 Years start off with a small Savings Bank think there it [Music] that b good okay is this on yes okay I to any so like I said we've been around 140 years uh do personal accounts business accounts try to help everybody out uh we have all the products and services that the big larger banks have but we still do things the oldfashioned way you're not a you know a number you're a person you're a human being when you come in you don't need an appointment to come in we're here to help the community and help everybody at wants to come in with us we have over 42 branches in the state with three New York and we're just here to help everybody out and I'm on the chamber with Rob so I know rob a little well is my secondary on the chamber so we're just basally here for everybody to help you out you know we don't expect everything we're not there to sell widgets like some of the bigger Brown Banks you come in you have any questions try to help you out we don't necessarily have to make a sale just there to help you out do things the oldfashioned way like iy was raised when I was younger it's basically the gold rule do things as you want everybody else to do you do for them so thank you very much we do appreciate that thank you Scott Scott wasn't prepared as you can see so Scott we'll uh let's take a couple pictures I had did bring in a photographer for you okay my wife's right here so come on up professional I do okay she'll take every angle I'll take a few in case we have some blinkers in the group okay hold those Smiles one two three I'm going to do another one there you go thank you thank you very much bab congratulations I would stay and hang up but no one's home with my animals call go for it Scott we appreciate you coming in thank you I'm sure in all right next up we're bringing up somebody very special when we're going to have to figure out was going to take this picture but um uh bringing up my wife Michelle and her friend Jackie from metronic medronic is a company that's located up in eent toown and this one is for donor awareness month or donate it's actually National Donate Life month so Michelle and Jackie come on up and Michelle had to do a lot of planning for this presentation tonight we had to plan this out come on up Michelle Jackie you want to get on each side of me why don't we do that so again I'm going to just read a couple of lines for you whereas every capable person should support his vital effort by registering as an organ and tissue donor making their family aware of their wishes and being willing to give the precious gift of Health sight and Life to people in need and whereas registering as an organ and tissue donor at a Lo local Motor Vehicle Agency or online at www.nj sharing network.org signifies our fundamental human responsibility to help others and whereas as mayor of the township of ocean I recognize National Donate Life month as an opportunity to join New Jersey sharing Network in its life-saving Mission now therefore I John P appani senior mayor of the Town Ocean along with the entire governing body do hereby Proclaim April 2024 as don't life month Donate Life month so this honestly for years I never did it on my license I never put down organ donor but I did renew my license and it's right here Michelle you can inspect I am now officially an organ donor okay congratulations so I I try I try to practice what I preach therefore for you I have become an organ donor for the first time since I started driving at 17 so ladies uh Jackie I'd like you to tell us a little bit about your company what you do I am not allowed to say what my wife does because it's top secret but I'm gonna let you do it Jackie here you go okay thank you we work for metronic for the last 14 years and um we make products out of donor bone for a spinal implant and I do I review the donor records so I see every donor along with my teammate that uh that gives the gift of donation so yes good it's a good thing she does an amazing job she's on our quality team speak the m and I'm on our sourcing team but she has some some words to say about why we're here uh you know and for donor awareness month that she wanted to share with the group one more thing just um we work with the New Jersey sharing Network that you mentioned and they're having a walk a 5k walk or run on May 18th in Ocean Grove on walk along the boardwalk so it's a it's a good thing to raise money for the sharing Network who advocates for donor um everyone to donate thank you you have anything else to say first I want to thank think I was going to get away with that when you're married to the mayor you get to do it I just wanted to thank you for this that that does mean a lot it is it is a time this month every year to recognize the unselfish gifts uh that these donors uh the decisions that they made uh save lives and they enhance lives uh and Jackie and I working at metronics see firsthand uh those gifts transformed into products and therapies and solutions that make a better day for people every every day around the world globally uh we just had an opportunity to uh bring in one of our donor moms uh she was one of our Rose Bowl Parade uh Walkers um she had lost her son age 34 a tragic situation uh we had the honor and privilege to uh be stewards of her son's gifts and transform those gifts into uh Sports Medicine graphs that were able to help her after a ski skiing accident a skiing injury uh she is forever grateful that we were able to take such good care of Ryan um and make sure that Mom received his gifts in time for her surgery mom was the very first patient to receive his gifts around the world we would not distribute anything until mom was taken care of uh and once we knew she was okay then we could share Ryan's gifts with those that need help uh to improve their lives we've had Lori come and speak to our employees and share uh she's forever grateful uh for what we've done and she left us uh not too long ago when she visited the site with a quote that I just can't forget uh she said I carried Ryan for nine months of my life and now he'll carry me until the day we meet again and because of metronic and because of Ryan's decision to donate and everybody's supp in transforming those gifts into something that would help her she never really has to say goodbye right and he's with her each and every day so um there's life-saving donations out there for organs there's muscular skeletal and Sports Medicine donations that like I just mentioned that make a better life and enhance your life and make a better day uh but the beauty of what this means the magic I don't think enough people realize the importance and how many people are out there awaiting donations today so are we here to talk about medical devices that we sell an metronic no we are talking to say speak up sign those cards be a part of this Neverending Story because we witness it every day and it's amazing so thank you thank you Michelle um I I see the work that Michelle does from home it's uh phenomenal what her company does I've learned a lot over the years um and of course we had to have you present a little bit because I don't want to get outshined by my friend Anthony talarico in eatown so thank you for coming out out um Wendy would you like to take a couple of pictures please thank you you very much [Applause] okay and our final Proclamation for this evening is our very own Joseph Valentino come on up Joseph and I want to invite our Assembly women up we have Dr Margie donlin and Luanne Peter Paul Esquire on their way up to the days Joey how are you congratulations so I'm going to read again M Joey I actually want to go through the whole thing because this is one absolutely outstanding kid here so Joey got the National Junior firefighter of the Year award whereas Joseph Valentino is a proud Third Generation member of the volunteer fire services and has distinguished himself in his community as a junior firefighter for both The Long Branch fire department and the oakr fire department and whereas as part of Joseph's Eagle Scout project he played a pivotal role in a volunteer recruitment drive for the Long Branch fire department which resulted in a 25% increase in the Long Branch fire department's active volunteer firefighting force and whereas Joseph is constantly demonstrating his commitment to community service from his participation in the Boy Scouts of America to engagement in his church Community to multiple service and leadership roles at school including membership in the National Honor Society and whereas in pursuing these varied interests and such a high level of achievement Joseph has not just overcome personal challenges but he has used those challenges to fuel a passion that strengthens and enriches the communities he serves now therefore be it proclaimed by the governing body of the township of ocean that we hereby extend our heartfelt appreciation gratitude sincere admira sincere admiration and proudly honor Joseph Valentino our National Junior firefighter of the year you want to say a few words before I have the ladies come up and present I want to say I could have done this without my parents uh the love and support has carried me throughout these years um also want to say thank you to everybody who has um always had faith in me and never gave up on me um it's it's a true honor um that I uh got this award um not just because of my ESL project but because it shows that anything is possible no matter what background you have um the old I got the more um realization I I realized that I knew that I have these issues but I never let them stop me and U just to finish up I wanted to say that um it it was it's an honor and still honor that I can show my community to help and grow of the the young go Junior one fir fighters who are um who want to join fir Fighters there's never a um a wrong background or anything if you want if you have a heart to help a community then that's all we need for for people to step up and to do the right thing so thank you so much WoW uh this kid here I mean between volunteers and donors this was one heck of a night so Joey I do have a couple questions for you so I'm going to put you on the spot what's your favorite part of like giving back to the community well um where is it not a good part I mean it it it's just I've been living in a lived a long branch for most of my life and it's truly an honor that um I get to step aside step by side my grandfather and my father who are both fighters of the district and and who um who has led their amazing um they've been amazing Ro models and it's just a great experience helping my community um especially having a great um great friends of boy scouts club Scouts it's just it's just amazing feding back and giving me back that love and that um and that um that passion that they gave me back to my communi so can I ask another question and then I'm going to let the ladies come up what are the plans moving forward well um so far I um I'm going to the um to I'll go to the academy um I don't know Academy yet but probably M at the midd toown um Academy sometime next year or this year um I will also be going to um um to book to extend my passion and of in graphic design but also my passion for helping others with expressing themselves with whatever I have to do um cuz um my passion is um with what I with my Bo and with everybody else um I love giving um feedback and giving um putting towards a direction that can help people um sh the dreams so anything's possible um you are more aming than you think don't doubt yourself cuz you're the only person that um that U opinions really matters so thank you thank you and I'll tell you what you got a good role model out there your dad D Dad Dad serves too over here which is great on our SE Authority how are you Chief all right let's have the ladies come on over as they present their Proclamation and I believe the senator did he bring one as well you have a joint Proclamation ladies I'm going to turn the mic over to um so it it's really I mean quite an honor to be here to honor you because your service to the community is just absolutely impeccable and inspires so many other other people to step up and do the same so you are a leader in every true sense of the word so thank you so much it's it's it's truly an honor sorry I hon it's truly an honor helping my community and I been saying this it's truly a thing well if you think that there something um something that can be fix something that you think that you can help um Step Up there's places everywhere even um if you enjoying the fire department and you a worried about you can't fight F just plenty of areas not even in the fire department but EMS and all the other areas um even around in official offices there's a lot of ways you could help um make our community great so it's it's an honor that I could help with being but I'm not done yet so that's the best part he's not done yet he's just beginning um I'm not going to read through this entire Proclamation but it's a joint res resolution um from both the Senate and the general assembly in the state of New Jersey from your Senator Vin gopal and assembly mallin and Peter Paul and it's signed by the president of the Senate uh Nicholas gari and the speaker of the general assembly Craig Coughlin so that's what is in this Proclamation and this um joint resolution but I did want to point out one particular thing that has already been mentioned tonight but the project that he did for his Eagle Scouts in in terms of recruitment for the fire department I mean we spent years on the uh on the council trying to figure out how to recruit more volunteer firefighters to the profession and even in the assembly we're working on on uh on legislation that will help recruit people as well but I don't think there's any anyone who's done more uh than what you've done with your project to increase oh yeah absolutely we are we're taking notes so we'll come to you um for for any advice you have but um sounds like the door-to-door thing was was pretty effective yeah it was also an effective part about um helping I couldn't done it without my um Troop suay One and the local fire department um and help up with the parade with the um com Day parade that really helped get awareness um it's just was an amazing experience and I'm happy that I could help um build my community make it stronger well congratulations and I I think we all uh feel we can't wait to see where you go from here so right very very briefly because I think everything's been said especially by you Joseph you are an amazing young man uh you raised such an amazing human being so thank you for for sharing him with us and as a resident of the city of Long BR Branch I want to thank you for the service you did to our city so thank you Joseph and good luck to you thank you I kind give [Laughter] up picture yeah Brian you want to come up and take some pictures you want to get up here too family bring up Grandpa come on Chief very nice you everybody let's get the family come on Grandpa yeah we need grandpa in here come on we need picture grandma got white angle grandma [Music] got your brother yeah my brother was your Scout Master Don [Laughter] P okay one two three those gorgeous Smiles all right what a good night this is [Music] okay okay we are back in session can I have someone please introduce the municipal budget presentation B1 which is improving the introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget I'd like to make a motion to approve the introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget second second roll call oops I'm sorry aera yes Kaplan yes Fisher yes Terry yesan yes uh the budget will be introduced at our next meeting on May 9th we will now have public questions on resolutions and vouchers only all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the township Council and will be enacted by one Motion in the form listed below there will be no separate discussion of these items if discussion is desired on any item that item will be considered separately the purpose of this Public public portion is solely to ask questions to understand resolutions that appear on this agenda is not an occasion for a public hearing on ordinance all questions not related to an item on this agenda should be asked during the public comments portion at the conclusion of the meeting do I have anybody that has any questions on the consent agenda or um our vouchers seeing here none do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second second the Cher yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes nean yes V is in the amount of 7,448 19848 someone please offer I'll offer second second roll call aera yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes Ney yes ordinances for uh introduction ordinance 2458 an ordinance establishing a cap bank for the year 2023 in accordance with njsa 48 colon 4- 4514 someone please introduce ordinance 2458 I'd like to move to introduce ordinance 2458 second I'll second roll call aera yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes nean yes and that ordinance will have its public hearing on the 9th of May ordinance number 2459 which is an ordinance amending chapter 5 of the revised General ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 entitled licenses someone please introduce ordinance 2459 I'd like to move to introduce ordinance 2459 second second roll call aera yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes NE yes and that too will have its public hearing on uh May 9th ordinance 2460 which is an ordinance amending chapter uh chapter 16 of the revised General ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 entitled parks and playgrounds subsection 16- 5.5.1 fees associated with indoor golf facility someone introduce ordinance 2460 like to move to introduce ordinance 2460 second second roll call aera yes fer yes Kaplan yes Terry yes appy yes that will also have its public hearing on the 9th of May ordinance 2461 which is an ordinance amending chapter 5 the revised General ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 entitled licenses section 5-1 17.1 vendor and activity fees for the township sponsored events someone please offer i' like to move to introduce ordinance 2461 second second roll call aera yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes nean yes that too will have its public hearing on the 9th of May ordinance 2462 which is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 12 of the revised General ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 entitled traffic section 12-7a electric bicycles and scooters someone please offer I'd like to move to introduce ordinance 2462 second second roll call chera yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes neany yes that too will have its public hearing on the 9th of May and ordinance 2463 which is an ordinance amending chapter 7 of the revised General ordinances of the township of otion 1965 entitled Property Maintenance and housing - section 7-5 vacant and abandoned property someone please offer i' like to move to introduce ordinance 2463 second second roll call aera yes Fisher yes Kaplan yes Terry yes nean yes that too will have its public hearing on the 9th of May we now have public portion uh if you have anything Germaine to say about Ocean Township questions comments concerns please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record Stern isern 238 Avenue um I was here last month I believe and um the situation Remains the Same it's actually more tenants have been moved into the house the two bedrooms next so there's probably eight adults two minors living in this house what's the address again the address is 242 PR Avenue all right I know U Mr Brown if they've even let your inspectors in last time you spoke they refused to let anyone in the home so yeah no proper actions are being taken and I know it's unfortunate it's taking a while but it has to go to court um so I know we're waiting on that as well but I will follow up with um with Tracy in my office who oversees the code enforcement and see where they're at and have have someone give you a call because it's a rooming you know it's a rooming house and also the trailer is still there since December yeah that one's even more challenging to try to remove it because we can't forcefully remove it all we do is keep sending them uh violations and summons to remove it and that too has to go to court as well so do you know the court date is for that no I do not but that's why I'll have um Tracy or somebody from Cod call you so once the court date happens what's the procedure Point well at that point then the prosecutor um will probably work something out or will get to some sort of conclusion and then the judge will sentence and then we'll know exactly what will happen at that point so I'll be notified um yeah I'll have code enforcement notify you if um if you're not able to attend the court hearing okay thank you thank you thank you sucks anyone else wishing to be heard dtis how are Youk Dennis howed 1638 hbook Street um I've been here before at uh several meetings ago I brought up the plastic film recycling that's been going on in the town I think it's a great idea I did follow up with the doctor I found out how many had been how many of the containers had been distributed in town 951 as of a couple months ago I'm surprised and pleased that that's a a really good uh movement going forward is there any feedback from the company that's picking this stuff up if they're going to continue this or how we stand on that now go ahead Dave yeah so um right now the program is a one-year program is coming to a conclusion but the Township has in this budget that was introduced tonight the funds to support it uh internally and Department of Public Works will continue that mission uh other than the hiccups in the beginning where we had some pickup issues um that will be resolved cuz the uh the township um Public Works won't physically be picking it up Public Works will be in charge of it and they'll we will go out to a vendor that will pick it up probably the same vendor okay that that's the person that brought the program to the town is that correct yes but they're they're kind of um there was a third party the third part is going to kind of fade out and then Public Works is going to take kind of the the management role I have noticed a few more of the buckets around I don't know if you have in our neighborhood one or two not not enough but uh I'm still I'm surprised that almost a thousand people that signed up yeah it's been very successful that's good uh I have a question for the for the Town Council I don't know if anybody's aware of the what I consider to be a really dangerous spot on popular Brook uh at well Pond Road uh when there's heavy rain and there's been more and more lately that part of the area really gets flooded very quickly and after the really heavy rainstorm was it about two three weeks ago I haden't be driving on whale Pond and I got out of the car CU I when I I was driving on wh Pond and I noticed I couldn't see any asphalt from the entrance to the maintenance area all the way to the building that whole area was completely flooded up to the end of the socer fields and into the woods on on the south side of Po Brook when I walked across the street to where the the I don't know what it's called The Basin whatever is the catch Bas thing sends the water from under from uh J Park to east of whale Pond that Creek that area there I don't know if you ever noticed it it is very steep most other places around and the water goes under under a road like that there's like a little plane where the water can go out but that water I'd say that is a good 8T down and it's probably only 10 or 12T wide the water was probably no more than 3 or 4 Ines from breaching whale poot and maybe had before I got there if anyone fell in that water you would drown there is no question in your mind even in I adult but more so a kid Dave can we have uh maybe Greg take a look at that that that's on that's on his if I may may or that's on his list yeah that he's well aware of that because that floods all the way back into joea yeah and you can't cross some of the paths in J because of that drainage under whale pond it's on his list of things to clean okay that that's good but I'm not sure how much you can clean it because the the water there because the sides are so Steep and that area there is uh so narrow that if anything happens and somebody happens to fall on that water they're gone and there are houses there's houses on side of and one of the reason one of the things I looked into is where the nursery school used to be on uh Route 35 on the east side of Route 35 where the water for Papa Brook goes under 35 there's a an area there that parking lot gets flooded I know it does and some of this area behind that gets flooded but there's a plane where the water can go but I'm imagining it's the state has put a fence along that that sidewalk now H it happened to be when I was there the guy who directs the traffic in there didn't want me to park because they use it for something I don't know what it is but he came out and started talking to me and says this is amazing here because we have so many so much flooding every time it rains and so many deer get hit because the fence isn't even high enough to keep the deer from hopping over the fence and hitting and getting on to the Route 35 but the fence is really good idea it just should be a little little bit longer and a little bit higher now maybe that was done by the state and maybe we can't do anything but if po Brook is in that area is controlled by the town it might be a good idea to get a fence on both sides of that but particularly on the east side where it really gets narrow because I'm telling you the water was shocking to me I should have taken a picture of it but I just didn't have the uh movie thing on my camera going Dennis we uh you know always appreciate your input you know thank you for you know bringing that to our attention uh we're also being proactive with stream cleaning that we've started to do uh through Greg uh you know there's a trying to do uh around 20% each year uh take a chunk of it and get the streams cleared and we're noticing that some of the areas are you know draining out quicker now that some of the streams are cleared uh we're also looking into uh the drain the drainage systems but really the residents need to be cognizant of what the you know what's outside their homes too if you have a flooded area if your uh you know your storm drain is is clogged let the township know so that we can send somebody out there to take a look because really you know we're you know a body of five and you know we're around the town but we we're not in every nook and cranny I did a ride through uh during the flooding you know a couple of times just to see some areas for myself but there's a lot of areas out there so you know we strongly suggest that residents report any of the flooding issues to the town I appreciate that I appreciate the fact that resources are limited and I know that they have done some cleaning on POA Brook in my area at the end of Brook and Westville and all those streets the only problem is there's nothing you can do about changing the diameter of the pipe underneath the road and I don't think it was blocked at all I didn't think any of that was blocked it was just to much water yep we have the engineer looking into that stuff too okay all right thanks Dennis appreciate it good see anyone else wishing to be heard senior or none do I have a motion to adjourn can I just be recognized real quick yes um I'd be remissed cuz I should have said this in the comment period but I just wanted to recognize um that it happy birthday to council woman G oh my God we were supposed to sing Happy Birthday don't have to sing I don't think she want want on the record birth we ready ready should we sing Happy Birthday to councilwoman Kaplan happy happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear G happy birthday to you wo and I'll tell you what the big 40K you this is a big one you're not supposed to do that man I can for 40 thank you I can Kelly had hers last week I got mine next week Dave's next we got a lot of aprils here I love that thank you everybody thank you motion toour so second second all in favor i j we forgot that