##VIDEO ID:COs2Aq5adJ0## here you go let's uh all right we're going to call to order of the city council meeting of Thursday November 21st please stand for pledge of allegiance and a prayer I pledge of Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all please bow your head for a moment moment of silence and prayer amen okay Mr Barnes Mr Crowley here Mr har Mr oh Mr pinii Mr here and Mr Madden here adequate notice of this meeting has been given pursuant to Public Law 1975 chapter 231 hell of a we'll go right into reports from the mayor and the administration no reports so we'll open up the citizen comment due to the number of people signed up we're going to be 3 minutes for citizen comment ATD Donal you're up first Ed O Donald uh we've talked about the evils of cigarette smoking and alcohol now today the evils of gambling so we're finishing this trifect of evil uh so gambling the only person who's ever wanted the casinos is the owners of the casinos and uh it causes tremendous financial problems for those who Gamble uh still a lot of cigarette smoke in the casinos a lot of prostitution so we need to do away with this now as you can imagine I am first announced candidate presid United States 2028 41st year but Christmas is about forgiveness so I have forgiven Savannah Guthrie Lester Holt George Stephanopoulos David new noro Donald for not conducting one good interview with me so I can bring the message of Christmas of the world and needed changes in society talked about and I wrote them a very nice letter before the election with a good press release sent them a beautiful Christmas card with another press release requesting an interview so uh the ball is in their court it's basketball season and uh they've got the ball they're behind by one point and they got the final shot so they they do need to conduct an interview with me on the message of Christmas and issues being ignored and I don't need to live in the White House I don't need to be the real president of the United States uh but uh they're forgiven 100% but they need to conduct that interview thank you thank Youk you next we have Bob hi Bob helier 34 West 10 Street I'm here on behalf of the concerned citizens for Glen Co and we're hoping that the town at Administration might be able to bring some clarity to uh concerning the use of uh 110 West 10 Street last year the applicant submitted a statement of compliance it came to the town and all in that statement when it talks about the property history it says the property has historically existed as a marina as can be clearly seen from the 1970 aerial photographs also there was a recent article in the Atlantic City press and the council for the applicant said this is merely a renovation and reconstruction of dots that have been there since 1945 so the citizens of Glen Co once they saw that they got very concerned and I started doing research and I want to share you some photographs brought up online from 1933 to 2002 I'll be very quick in this first photograph was 1933 basically difficult but just a uh a beach there 1956 also just another Beach area a couple little teeny rowboats there Back in 1970 the photograph they said that's the Army Core very blurry we looked forever to find them still a Beach area there not until 1987 the picture we got that's clear that just shows a bulkhead but not even any docks a dock up here at this other property then 2002 is when the the previous owner put in a small dock with two slips there so at most the concerned citizens of Glen Cove are saying this was never Marina at best they have four slips there also uh when we responded during to the D last year we had Jim Chadwick a local engineer uh uh do some uh comments to the DP he said the 1970 aerial photograph was not a marina he also checked with the tax assessor there's been no history of the property ever being taxed as Marina he also spoke to Eileen Ganon who issues a mertile license there's no history of a mertile license being given for this property he also had a small minnow business there and we've T and he's never seen a marina the local people in the area that have had homes since 1920 have never seen a marina on this site so the concerned citizens of Glen Cove are asking the administration and you that have been here your whole lives has 11 West 10 Street ever been a commercial Marina thank you thank you Jonathan Father in Heaven thank you for today bless this Council guide them in honoring their Oaths to all people amen Jonathan dice 12 Street I've uh come to council and have told you about how I have been attacked persecuted my children attacked persecuted down at the little lead uh about 10 years ago go the Ocean City resident Greg Brady calls me on the phone says you're no longer allowed to coach your children not allowed to coach any children in little leag after that phone call there was another Ocean City resident named Ken West neski that called me up and said look it's not right what you guys what they did to you why don't you come over to the um to the draft you know they draft the young boys onto teams and just sit in said okay great thank you so I come over there and uh the meeting goes on and I wait till the end of the meeting and I went up to one of the um board members uh Mike DLo in the meeting and uh I said to him I come up he's speaking to another Ocean City resident that was sitting down he was sitting on the table I said Mike could I speak to you for a minute and you know he it's like I I'm speaking to you and you said something to me and he went like this I said to him Mike I said it one more time Mike and he didn't turn around he kept talking to the the man that was sitting in the chair and that was the beginning of my journey of uh just being just totally totally abused and unfortunately by what I call oath takers okay they take an oath of Allegiance they swear an oath to the people do you know who you are it seems like our oath takers at least when it came to me in my family they were taking for themselves the oath had nothing to do with it so I really would like to see people I would like to see oath takers start honoring their Oaths to the people of this city of this state and of this country it is a self-government at least that's what I read this is a self-government that means we right here are the government we you and me and we can't have government officials treating people improperly we can't have government officials using your land for themselves thank you Phil Meritt so U morning name and address for the oh sure it's 12:40 C avue thank you so um I want to start with just saying thank you to the councel uh well at least members of council uh you've been reaching out to us and discussing the one one thing with us hearing us and that is a very very important part of government's role so we thank you uh for that uh we thank you all for putting your comments uh in the sen lastest in terms of where you stand on R land I appreciate you know what's written sometimes may not be exactly what you said may not cap it all but I think I got the gist of where you at I want to just talk about two things so one is the project itself so some of you like it some of you don't um we'll talk about that at our own town meeting on November 30th we let you all to come out um but one thing we're going to release today a document we F in over the summer about pla Place beautiful neighborhood beautiful neighborhood beautiful neighbors it's a beautiful Community it will be destroyed by this P destroyed those people are terrified and they are angry I just want you to know please watch the video second you all had comments around the process that Mr me wants to proposed which is this Redevelopment process I think some of you got it not all yet and we're going to work this issue what I want to tell you though is first of all Redevelopment is a nuclear weapon of land land use it strips away zoning it strips away the master point it strips away all the protections it's there for one reason to deal with blight because blight is hard to renove and the state gave you incredible weapons to deal with blight Wonderland is not life there's two components of it one it has to be dilapidated and second it has to be shown to be dangerous you just had kids there it's not it is not dangerous it is not dapid it is not light it's the wrong process you need to move on this really quickly it's not to say Mr me is not not entitled to make a proposal he is he owns the property absolute right to make a proposal but he needs to follow the rules and this is where you need to look to what Kate May did Kate May confronted with the exact same developer with the exact same approach with the exact same kind of hotel said to redevelop it no no and then their mayor said something profound and profound things to me are usually really simp I'm sorry but I'm sorry your time's up thank you very much for your comments it's an important issue Donna thank you think nope don't work that way hi good morning um name and address for the record please Don Donna saber six um sorry I'm ready to give you my phone number 1324 Asbury unid commercial um I was at um the Tabernacle Hall that was organized by mayor J and I listened to him talking about the property that's between um the community center and the intermediate school and he was looking for ideas as to you know what could be done there so we recently saw and I can hand these to you thank you thank you we recently saw the list of um the rides some of them are antique rides um they're all for sale and we were just it's I I'm not looking for an answer today but it was just I want to put the idea maybe in the city's head of uh when I grew up in the neighboring town we had a little neighborhood place where there were rides little golf courses you know little AR stuff like that and I thought well maybe a couple of the rides could go into that area it was just um just want to give it as a proposal and maybe a thought and uh just just an idea mean some of those rides I think all of us remember from um childhood of probably half a century ago but um there's no other CH children's rides I don't think in in Ocean City and uh woman I work with said well steel pure might have some in Atlantic City but that's not a safe neighborhood so I think it's important that the children's rides are preserved possibly in Ocean City which is seen as family friendly thank you thank you thank you Bill har Bill Harry at 728 battery Road first of all Happy Thanksgiving to everybody I hope your holiday is great and I'd like to address something that I think is a little foul and that's a PL words and what I think is foul is our debt our debt is 200 2 million 580,000 5 677 we're buying two more lots money out the parking lot the parking lot appraisal is $35,000 there's more money out the airport's going to be $7 million and we haven't finished with the Clause property yet although I still don't understand why we paid $1 million more than we should have but that's another issue it's an issue for you guys to deal with so while you're putting me in debt I don't appreciate it thank you thank you [Music] Nelson I'm Nelson tribe of Asher 12th Street I want to talk about out signs symbols there's a book called The Art of War and Russian generals are required to read it once a year to maintain their commission I want to honor Melissa rasner I sent in a Oath a request for an oath of office for a gentleman who crushed my hands what I claim was an act of War as a police officer and uh I wasn't expecting her to give me the truth she did I'm shocked and thankful the chain of command in this city on the executive BR uh side is the mayor it's George savastano the business administrator Melissa rasner city clerk that's the chain of command not darthy mccrosson the city solicitor I'm here today to at this time during my three minutes I was asking what to do you know the Lord what to do today to kind of wake up who needs to be waken up and if hopefully this is not going to be a violation of protocol but this is how the Armed Forces of America the United States are woken up it's 21 seconds [Music] thank you for the courtesy I am going to ask any veteran in this town whether you're a member of the BFW whe whether you're a member of the uh American Legion contact me at 609 602 3723 and I am going to prove that there are two constitutions going on right now and I can prove it by what's in this room you want to know how someone and I want to know who the hero is that brought the real flag with no gold Fringe of the United stat States of America to my left I want to know when I I came here with a friend of mine we were doing a field trip a a patriot field trip we came in this room which is open I believe from 9 to 5 every day for the people to assemble the flag over here is the Kate May flag and it is a military occupation flag it is not the true flag thank you thank you all right we're going to move into reports from city council Dave anything to report report Jody nothing Kei yeah I do want to follow up on on Bob's comments so what's what would be proof that there was never a marina there is that enough proof that there was never a marina there he's got pictures from 1930 on up that there was never a marina there councilman the the issue is to whether there was a marina there is pertinent to whether the DP will issue a permit to construct docks it's part of their review and what happens on that side of the Boardwalk Ocean City has no jurisdiction over so I don't know what all evid what evidence they relied upon in determining that a permit could be issued the history of the site is certainly relevant but I don't know what criteria they looked at so the so what you're saying to Bob and his group is they have to go back to the D but I do have one another the zoning question it's not a pingpong wall right so if for any reason it was a marine let's just play along that it was um and then it became residents you're not allowed to all of a sudden say once once upon a time it was a marina now it's a residence owned a residence I'm just going to say it was a marina in other words the zoning work that way because if that was every almost everything this town could immediately change back to it originally was I mean because that's how much change we've had so I'm just trying to figure out to play along I'm trying to play along uh with the D application actually said by the applicant is that possible that one time was a marine and now the zonings changed but hey I can always go back is is there a ping pong effect with zoning under the municipal land use law if there's a use which is discontinued and in the land use parl would be abandoned and becomes non-conforming in order to resume that use a use variance is required okay so if it's been used exclusively as as a residential use for example in a in um in a residential Zone and at one time it had been a lawful commercial use but they stopped became residential if it's establish that the nonconform use was abandoned a use varience would be required okay so the once Upon a Time story does not necessarily work in zone it it it does not and we are talking about two different properties two different sides of the bulkhead okay D has exclusive jurisdiction as sympathetic as you may be to these to these neighbors and I know you are you have no jurisdiction on the waterw side of the bulkhead no I'm just trying to figure out that I make sure I'm accurate and getting the information that Glen Cove as I can be to help them yes I am sympathetic to it but more importantly a public official that's our job to make sure that when they ask a question up here that we give we give an answer that that that helps them further their cost because that's why we're likeed so I appreciate your answer is very helpful thank you Sean any reports no reports Tony no reports Terry I'm good also can I have a motion to adopt the regular city council meeting minutes of Thursday November 7th 2024 so move Winslow second partel Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr Lech Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes we have several ordinances today so we'll go through them first reading and introduction ordinance 2416 I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2416 on first reading so move second Mr Barnes um yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr L yes Mr Pini Mr winow Mr mad yes hey ordinance number 2416 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 25 zoning and land development of the revised ordinances of the city of Ocean City privately owned salt storage Council this ordinance governs privately owned salt storage as the title indicates this is not municipally owned salt storage and how the city deals with the salt that is pres on on the ground in um times of ice and snow this is in the event we have private citizens who are storing that type of salt probably doesn't happen a whole lot in Ocean City but we're required to have this ordinance on the books as uh in order to get our tier a ms4 permit which is the storm water permit that the city utilizes so we're checking a box and a permit um procedure by putting this in place great any questions from Council Dave Jody no question ke no Sean no Tony no Terry I have no questions can have a motion without ordance 2416 on first reading and introduction so move Winslow second Hearts Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr lch yes Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes second reading public hearing will be held on Thursday December 5th 2024 and will be published according to law and I have a motion to introduce ordinance 247 17 on first reading so Mo second Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr love yes Mr Pini Mr Winslow Mr mad yes okay ordinance number 2417 an ordinance authorizing and imposing an occupancy tax on certain properties in the city of Ocean City this ordinance would impose a 3% occupancy tax on rentals obtained through the transient space Marketplace that's a term of Art and you might better known the transient space Marketplace as companies like vbo and Airbnb it does not apply to realtor Place Rentals it does not apply to hotel motels great question from Council da um I think why does not apply to hotels it could you could also impose such a tax on hotel motels this ordinance just applies appes to transi space Marketplace you can amend this ordinance and bring it back for first reading again and add those in you could adopt this and bring a separate ordinance to apply it to hotel motels that's up to council okay Jody questions no but I I'll say that some of the hotels are on the that those Market places their rooms so so it depends on how they place the the um order for the room if it goes through the trans space Marketplace the 3% tax would apply if it goes through the front desk it will not correct so the person who owns a condo if they rent it through a realer that this does not apply correct that's correct and if and the person rents it themselves this does not apply that's correct that they rent it through Airbnb it would apply that's correct okay um I guess I'm trying to I'm trying to figure out and really only because Mr Winslow bought it up I I had made the assumption that the hotels were um paying the 3% so you know in my mind maybe we should have a discussion whether or not everybody should pay it now I think the the condo rental that does it themselves to the realer to have to say no because we do tax them we do have a tax for them that I worked on in 2007 there's a licensing fee but no tax and the state statute would not permit count Council to tax to do an occupancy tax do something about rooms or something like that because a licensing fee well and that's by the room so correct they're paying something because I remember if I remember correctly it was councilman Jack Thomas that brought this up we were get we were getting in about2 or $300,000 in in revenue for tourism Mark stford was worth a million dollars but we you know we didn't pay them that much uh and by putting that in then we got the revenues up I believe about 7800 ,000 so if I was looking at this I'd say okay the the condos have done their job okay they've done their job um but to Mr Winslow's point if if if if if you're going to if you're going to do this to the airbnbs we should discuss whether we should do the hotel rooms and just lok's point um if some of the hotels are already doing it then it might as well just be all the hotels if they're doing it to fill some of the rooms cuz I think we're picking winning and losers here now somebody could convince me otherwise this is just first FL sure you know just first FLH he brought it up I thought you know it's worth thinking about that's worth talking about and I'm glad he did so we're bringing it before you in November so that it can be in place prior to the season so again as I said to M to councilman winow you could adopt this as just the transi place Transit Spate Mar Marketplace rentals you could amend this bring it back for another first reading we would do that December 5th and then do it on second reading at the end of December we then have to send it to the state or you could uh and that or you could let this go through and then do a separate ordinance on December 5th for the hotel motels to get this one in place entirely up to council if if you were sitting our chair what would you do I just it's just because I'm saying what's easier you guys are the ones that have to do some the paperwork no the the paperwork's not an issue I I wonder if you would like to get one of them started through the process of getting approved by the state first and then bring the hotel motel one it would follow but hopefully also be in place in time for the season since Mr wisler bought it up I want him to comment on that because I'm not going to pick his idea and then make a determination of where he was trying to go with it yeah well Sean and I had discussed it it doesn't seem consistent it if you do an Airbnb in a hotel you pay a fee if you go to the front desk you don't pay a fee and it's the same room so it seems like we're not being consistent I don't know if if you want looked into this we asked apparently the the hotels already pay like 17 18% or something like that and I'm just I don't know that factual so that's why when we talk about this with the council president vice president is is that's why they want with the Airbnb so we can get all those backs but my understanding is the hotel rooms already get a nice whack on themselves I just want we either way I want to be cons we we just need to be consistent we'll get the information whatever you guys want do so I guess what we're saying is we would pass this now and you you back so we're not doing something stupid either way correct you know yeah I'm up in here but let's get moving but thanks for bring Sean Sean questions yes I'm glad everybody already spoke about this because I have a lot of questions about this um and Dy and I did speak earlier in the week about it uh so there is a state statute that allows us to charge the hotels motels and Transit space Marketplace there was a little unclarity um with regards to is a hotel trans your Market space and from the resources that I pull down some people call it the same thing other groups don't it's very clear how the it depends on how the room is booked if you go through Airbnb this ordinance will apply regardless of what you're renting ordinance you're proposing the the ordinance before Council right now but the state statute allows us to tax hotels hotels and Transit and has for many years this Transit space Marketplace tax is relatively recent so I have a big question like Dave lud and the other gentleman next to me that um why if our if our goal is to raise revenue for the city which is a great goal why are we not maximizing that possibility the reason I question that is I believe that Airbnb and the and those type of U platforms are falling by the wayside because their fees are are very high on the back end they're 14 to 16% on top of the tenant's rent so and full disclosure a few years ago I used to use them but it was crazy when I saw the fees on the other side it we we no longer are competitive I know hotels pay high tax as well but if you travel popular destinations whether it's an urban setting or a resort town there are occupancy taxes and so what the tenant pays up front when they first see the rate the finyl rate's a lot different so this is a common thing in in the rental space but I think in order to be fair and Equitable we really have to look at doing it across the board and not only to be fair and equal but if we're going to maximize the revenue that we're trying to generate then let's start with the right I think the most efficient uh ordinance uh I don't see any benefit in breaking it up if we're going to charge a fee and start collecting it let's do it now um so that's the biggest part of my concern and then just for clarification if we're charging 3% to the tenants are we getting that entire 3% I know a couple weeks ago one briefly talked about there there was some question about does the state keep part of it if we're charging the tenant a a 3% worth of pain I'd like to see the city of oan City get that 3 so that confusion may have Arisen when I explained the procedure the ordinance goes to the state the marketplace is advised uh to that they must impose the tax they remit it to to the state the state collects it and then the state turns it back to the municipality so the entire 3% comes to Ocean City even though it passes through the state's hands the city gets the full taxs again this was all start because they pay nothing everybody else pays it so that it's really common you know third grade level is that's why it was brought up to us and I think Bobby Bor brought up you know a couple years ago was that and then the other kid Motel people were saying the same thing and every else we're all paying except these guys can come in they take our stock and they pay nothing so that was the the idea of this but I'm look whatever you guys want to do we'll get you all more information but um that's what with Frank was saying get this because Frank does it down West Cape managing Frank's not here with you no um so just just to get it going and then again you can always add to wherever you want to do West may I actually pulled down their ordinance that they adopted back in 2019 and they specifically do say hotel motel and trans accommodation and you're free to do that that the mayor was looking for Revenue sources and brought this one forward for your consideration but it's a it's a council decision so we can change that to a later date you can do it however you want either now or by separate ordinance you can add it to this ordinance and delay it till the to the 5ifth you can do this now and bring a separate one on the fifth it's not a huge difference the goal of doing this now was to be able to start this January 1 so I think if we move this forward allows us to do that when we come back next meeting introduce another ordinance and I think it's in our best interest to talk to the hotels to make sure that we're all on the same page um the you mentioned Mr Mayor that um the hotels complained about paying this fee are we're not seeing a 3% feedback from the hotels right now right the state get when these first came into being there were no there they didn't collect taxes one of these you mean wait the airbnbs and and vbo and those type and I don't mean to pick on those two but those are the two that are the most common they didn't have the fees that they now impose and there was a perception among the hotel motel owners in town that there was not a Level Playing Field that Ocean City should somehow tax them put license fees on them at that time it wasn't not an easy thing to figure out who was doing airbnbs and impose a license fee now it's very centralized and the state has empowered the city to city council to impose this kind of a tax and I don't want to see anybody pay more taxes than their competitor but I want to make sure we're all paying the same and if if uh hotels are paying 177% where's that money going because there is no occupancy fee right now right correct it's sales taxes it it leaves Ocean City it's various fees but it leaves Ocean City I believe the transi space doeses the same it collects a sales tax and believe it or not they do collect an occup occupancy tax I have no idea where that goes obviously because we would know that if it came back here correct but they're calling it an occupancy tax so there's a lot of unclarity here um that I think we have to get work through and I would rather see an ordinance set in place one and done where IT addresses the issues and we can talk to lower you can amend this at the table too if you if there's a consensus among Council you can mend this at the table and it can go forward with both hotel motel and the transient spased Marketplace if you feel that you have the information that you need you can in prod it that way you know the the concern of the administration is if you get it if you're going to do it let's get it in place in January but if you amend it you could amend this at the table to include hotel motel and what's the process can I make that recommendation or you could you could ask um the chair to entertain a motion okay well now the appropriate time I would like to entertain that motion well should go around go around we finish the question Tony questions uh they were answered all right thank you Terry yeah I think this this has been brought up a number of times this version is kind of the cleanest way to kind of Kickstart the process to look to bring in additional Revenue to the town it's it's been done by many other towns there's a process in place and by doing it this way we're really not incurring any administrative costs we're not going to have to hire anyone else at the city or the administration is going to be dealt with at the state level they're going to cut us a check every 90 days and and it's it's super clean we've certainly debated the whole hotel thing um I think there's a lot more there than you guys are top you know just top of your mind um I I would encourage you to really research that and to maybe bring that in in a separate space because there's a there's a downside there as well that that I don't think we're considering everything so I would encourage you to move forward with this version to get it into place for January 1st and then if you guys want to talk to people bring it bring it you know a different ordinance f for I do have one other question I'm sorry um so this wouldn't affect the condo because condo if the if the rental was placed through Airbnb it would affect it okay but how if it wasn't so I check into I check into the Flanders and the Flanders rented right then that's still not a hotel room correct or is it a it's operated like trying to figure out Des yeah it's operated like a hotel if you on a website you're going to pay the 3% okay if you come to me as a homeowner or you go to the Flanders and just book a room right through them in person there's nothing there's no F it's going to be like it is right now okay my my question is if is is that a condo so when it's rented at that time by the Flanders it's rented as a condo and not a hotel room so therefore it wouldn't have the 3% because if if if we had 3,000 rooms and and 2,000 in alond h tells then went down to only a th000 rooms that would qualify for 3% I'm just trying to get the clarity of who's actually considered a hotel grou if this if the ordinance as written is adopted regardless of whether it's a hotel Like a Holiday Inn traditional hotel or a condotel like a Flanders if the room is rented through one of these transient space marketplaces this or orance will apply if you add in hotel motels then the FL either way at the Flanders would F either way at holiday and W so so a condel is still a hotel room yes un if the condo hotel markets through Airbnb then this will be apply that part I get yeah okay I'm trying to get a definition of a hotel room some fol say a cond hotel is not a hotel room that's not true it is yes you're paying the fee to make it convenience for people to just do it online or whatever if you come in person you don't pay that Fe so basically right it's not well it's not so much you come in person if you book through the oh you can book it through okay versus Air okay right and the condo is just a form of ownership it doesn't talk about how an operation a Association how the building is operated it's just the form of ownership is it one owner with many rooms or one building with many owners that that's not really relevant to how this will play out and I I agree with Terry I think that we move this forward today get this in place that this is in place January 1 we do our due diligence with the hotels on doing anything to the hotels and we and we bring back that back in two weeks um so Sean would you like to try and amend it or I would I would like to make motion no mate to include just to clarify the language to include hotels the hotels um and just so everybody's clear you know according to the statute I believe the V the uh the tenant has to pay the vendor is not allowed to pay the fee so we're not looking to tax any hotel owners that are here uh the tenants are going to be paying the tax and that's per the statute but corre I think again if we're trying to maximize revenue and we're trying to uh be fair and effable across the board that I do think is just to clarify the language just like if there's a second to that motion there can be further discussion so there's a motion is there a second to the oh yeah second okay Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley no Mr Herzel yes Mr luk no at this time Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes and Mr Madden no [Music] five gues four so that was four to three to to amend this ordinance at the table so it will be the same except instead of Transit space Marketplace they'll it ALS every place it says that it'll say and hotel motel rooms yep so um council president you could consider a motion if discussion is included to adopt the ordinance as amended or introduce it rather as amended on first reading so have a motion to adopt ordinance 2417 as amended on first reading and introduction Mo second Mark hey Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley no Mr Harville yes Mr L no Mr pinii yes Mr winow yes Mr mad no okay second reading and public hearing will be held on Thursday December 5th 2024 and will be published according to law we have another ordinance on first reading uh can have a motion to introduce ordinance 2418 on first reading so move tson second wins Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr L yes Mr Pini Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes 2418 an ordinance amending section 2-25 of the administrative code of the city of Ocean City currently the administrative code includes an ordinance that requires Council to get an appraisal on all units on all properties it's considering buying or selling where the price exceeds $100,000 and two appraisals if the price exceeds $250,000 and if you've gotten two appraisals and the values differ by more than 10% then you're required to get three appraisals and the price of sale or purchase must be consistent with the appraisals those values are as you know are very low in light of the appreciation of properties in Ocean City since that ordinance was put in place so this ordinance would change the 100,000 requiring one appraisal to 500,000 we change the 250,000 to a million so if the property you're seeking to buy or sell 500,000 you would be required to get one appraisal if it's a million or more you'd be required to get two appraisals this would take off the Restriction that you could not negotiate for a number higher than the appraisals and would not require you to get the third appraisal all right I have questions or comments from Council Dave no Jody no questions ke so I rustle this a little bit but in today's environment what happens now is there's a lot of overbid and I I don't even think Praises matter to be honest with you um I buy real estate and sell real estate and um I'm amazed of how it works you basically whatever you're not paying for something that's it becomes the appraisal I don't care what anybody says I've never seen an appraisal where I obviously thought was an appraisal now because it's changing so fast Becky and I were in Chicago this week and she said wonder what that place is worth across the street I said I have no idea because I can't tell you what anything ocean cities were you know I used to be able to I'm sure Pete can cuz he's looking at it every day but you'll see something that was a year ago that was worth a million I just sold for 1.8 so because of of of the normally never before this but because of the atmosphere that we're in and all the and all the frenzy we're in and people willing to bit up stuff like it does like there's no tomorrow unfortunately we're going to be forced into doing this and I think it kind of the average person looks like what do they want to do overpay well now if you want to get it you're going to have to be competitive in being able to bid it's unfortunate is that way and probably in most other environments I'd be no but unfortunately here I'm yes Sean good answer Tony no nothing and ter I think it's a good ordinance it lets us be more competitive in the market pleas councilman I I apologize I see a typo at 2-25 it didn't change the 100 ,000 in the subtitle it still says 100,000 it should say 500,000 now we'll correct that before it comes forward at um second reading if you council president if you could entertain a motion to amend that to correct it at the table now yes uh that would be helpful that's fine can I have a motion to adopt aordance 2418 on first reading as amended and introduction would you ask for a motion to amend first I have a motion to amend ordinance 248 Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley Mr harzel Mr L mrini Mr Winslow yes Mr mad yes thank you good catch and can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2418 on first reading as amended and introduction so move second Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley Mr harzel Mr L yes Mr Pini Mr wiow yes Mr mad yes second reading public hearing will be held on Thursday December 5th 2024 and will be published according to law we have a second reading can have a motion to take up ordinance 24:15 on second reading public hear so move second Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr L yes Mr Pini Mr winow Mr mad yes 2415 a bond a bond ordinance appropriating $750,000 and authorizing the issuance of $712,500 and bonds and notes of the city of Ocean City for the various improvements or purposes authorized to be undertaken by the city of Ocean City New Jersey this is second reading you'll have a public hearing on this ordinance which authorizes the acquisition of 844 Central Avenue and puts money in place by authorizing the issuance of bids to pay for the purchase of that property property is under contract the inspections have been completed and if this is um ordinance is adopted and upon the um expiration of the estole period we expect that the closing will occur later this year before the first of the year thank you D it's a second reading so we're going to go out the public comment on this ordinance only any public comment on this ordinance only from this side of the room see none any public comment for this ordinance only this side of the room see none back to the council table for questions comments Dave no question no questions no questions I'm good Mr President thank you no questions Tony no question Terry and I have no questions I have a motion to without ordinance 2415 on second readings so move WS second Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr Herzel yes Mr lch yes Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes Mr M yes moving to resolution for on the agenda all resolu resolutions listed on the conset agenda are considered to be routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion if the mayor or any council person wishes a particular resolution to be considered separately it will be removed from the consent agenda anything to be removed same none could have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move Winslow second Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley Mr harzel yes Mr L Mr pinii yes Mr winow yes Mr M yes pending business ter nothing Tony nothing Sean uh nothing Keith uh yeah I just wanted to um thank the administration we um got a request from 500 Bay concerning some issues about how they used the crosswalk and was immediately taken care of uh and move forward so I I really appreciate that and I was also happy to find out the issue about the Carol cell was was corrected because believe it or not I knew some he was going to buy he was going to be sitting in my parking lot so uh you know I'm I'm glad that was able to get resol cuz I was a little worried about that but if somebody was a sale was going to get purchased I certainly wouldn't be involved in getting it think you brought that up is when I gave the list back when I was looking for the worth of the rides you know I was just trying to get myself all together when I gave it to the gentleman so it's it's like as a Salesman they they use something like that too but it's it's not for sale the wheel and the carousel are not for sale they haven't been for sale so was just back when I was I'm just glad it got straightened out otherwise I was going to have I was going to have it sitting in you guys you hear he something like that I mean the one thing that doesn't happen is when something like that comes right away give me a call oh I've got my cell phone number it seems like it wants to get back out on this chatter to talk about but no well I was in a position I was right in the middle of it so that's no but thanks bring that I appreciate it Jody I'm good thank Dave new business Dave Jody I'm good Kei uh just Happy Thanksgiving to everybody um just reminder that Jody has a meeting Monday night and um so I won't be able to go I'm in class um so you know he's very happy I won't be there a little too excited um and also Bill Mer's group has one on on Saturday so you know there's a lot going on with this and I recommend that people attend both both of them are open to the public um so they can get more on the issue any business and no I just want to say Happy Thanksgiving all as well and also thank you everybody that does show up to these meetings really appreciate the passion no matter where we stand on the issues it's important that we all get out here and have our voices heard thank you for showing up uh ditto Happy Thanksgiving and also it's important you guys want to be heard I think it's important that the city of Ocean City is heard so in this issue try to get out there to these meetings and we're going to hopefully have another big meeting as well uh for the city to uh talk about this uh project but thank you D yeah I just want to let everyone know we're working on an ordinance um you know one of the issues we constantly talk about is parking uh so we've gone through many iterations of this ordinance that we'll be bringing forward but really what we're going to look to do is um from octo uh April 1st to October 1st um from Friday night to Monday morning we're not going to have any trailers on the streets we're also going to look at changing the size of dumpsters that are on the street if you want to use the big 30 foot or 30 cube that that can go up on the property but in the street we're going to look to use the smaller dumpsters and the whole idea of this is we're going to free up parking in our busiest time uh of the summer so that's kind of the overview dy I don't know if you want to add anything else now we've been discussing this ordinance for months in senior staff and that's the the direction that the senior staff has come to at this point of course this is entirely up to council so I'll bring forth the the these These are the portions of the administrative code which will be affected and it's not as easy as let's just put that in place we have to make sure it's consistent throughout the administrative code so we anticipate bringing forward an ordinance for your consideration but it'll be up to council as to you know how you want to work it but we'll start the process by bringing you the draft along the lines that councilman Crowley is just out I I got I guess a question to comment so if I understood you correctly it wouldn't APPA during the week the trailers the tra great yeah see I don't get that because you know every property on this island being worked on has a parking requirement right so there's parking available and those Trails could be put in the in the parking so to me that encourages people to go ahead and leave the trail there uh the other thing is is why don't they take the trailer home you're echoing some of the discussion that we've had at senior staff so that's those are excellent questions um if you have a consensus now I can change the draft now or I can bring It Forward at uction and you guys can massage it after you've got something on paper in front of you but that's the kind of issue that we've gone around and around about um it's completely up to council I I I'm 100% you know this is something that's been on my mind for a long time and I've advocated along with councilman Crowley that there's no reason that a trailer should be there overnight there's zero reason in my opinion I mean the bottom line is you bring your truck you take and you take that home you take a trailer with it and and if you don't have room for your trailer where you where you work then you may want to decide you're going to have to find it um you know parking is a premium as everybody knows I'm trying to I'm trying to work with with the administration the Council on some parking issues that we're having um in my ward which I'm looking into now but I I I every property I look at and I I write sounds goofy but I ride every alley at least once a week um in the streets and the reason why I do that is is is to look at the quality of life because that's what I promise and there's always room for a trailer not on the street and and I got and a builder calls me and tells me that and he proves it to me I'll let him put up in my parking lot I mean I I'll be accommodating but I mean I'm I'm I'm I'm going point now there was an inis on um 600 block of ocean and I don't have the pictures anym you know how I love pictures half the street was taken up half the street was taken up with trailers and people working in the street so you know enough's enough folks I mean you when you work on a property you work on the property I sent George one this would this is crazy folks there there was a um a porter party on the sidewalk like what is wrong with people a p par on the sidewalk sidewalk how about I I how about I find out did that and I go to their neighborhood and put it on their sidewalk like you can tell most about this because I'm sick and tired of riding up and down my streets looking at stuff that makes zero sense because these people aren't following the rules I say this you have to pass the strictest rule that you can because if you don't pass the strictest rules you can you'll get taken advantage of by these folks and it's not all of them that's the sad part most of them are great but it's like couple and they're immune to getting tickets because they are getting tickets the police are ticketing these people and they what the heck I'll pay the ticket I'll pay the F I'm making a lot of money I'm a big shot well you know what no you're taking your trailer home we're going to and you're going to get it every day and sooner or later you're going to get tired of paying it you're going to take the trailer home and that it was a parent but I feel like I'm dealing with kids um so I asked Becky how do you deal with kids she told me and this is how you do so when you're when you're cons considering this between now and the next meeting consider also that this was going to be a um this ordinance as original or as finally conceived was going to apply across the board to all trailers Boat Trailers storage trailers construction trailers commercial trailers consider whether you want to treat them all the same or you want to make distinctions so it's head gu you got a trailer it sounds like this will be a beginning point and that you got a trailer find a place to put it I mean I I don't I don't every other town I've seen in my life or lived in does that so I I'm I'm a myth why we can't figure out if you have a trailer you got to put it in the par pocket spot on your property or rent a rent a place to put it I I don't I don't understand it I clearly don't understand it and the fact if you could do it on the weekend so if you can move your boat on the weekend but you don't want to move it during the week that makes zero sense to me I'm with these guys talked about consistency on the on the hotel motel thing and I'm like you know what I didn't think of that thanks guys well this is the same consistent argument um if if you if you have to remove it for the weekend then you got to remove it during the week because also it's going to happen and you know this is going to happen oh I forgot it's it's Saturday and you know and our people don't be need to be running around because you know I'm going to police this you know I send something to you guys he every week so you know I'm going to police it and that's just more work for everybody so if it's consistent you can't make a mistake right you can't have the trailer you can't have the trailer there's no guesswork in it you know because how it's like the trash thing how are we going to educate people we weren't so we had to pay more in the trash this is the same thing you know I I've got to get now I've got to get out to 2,000 units in in in my in my ward and try to explain it's okay doing the week but not in the weekend now if you just make it not okay then it's not okay and everybody gets SI that's I feel so strongly about it I couldn't feel more strongly about it to be honest with you right you could thank you you're welcome Dy is there anything going to be in provision to like these pods this white you know you buy these storage pods because I'm starting to see a proliferation of them around town on the streets they're not permitted to be on the streets now oh they they get permission from us permission have to have a 30 days yeah every every pod that's on there has to come through the administrat okay okay because sometimes if we're moving in but again we we do keep an eye on see two one I forget what street was on the ocean or something like that two side by side so okay keep an and I've had the experience where they were at the very end of my alley and I couldn't safely see out and I I called the police chief and and it was gone the next day I don't know where it went but they the police were very responsive about making that a safer situation yeah I thank and if I could just add I hope that we consider getting the information out to everybody as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we're not having aggravated uh visitors coming down summertime and particularly with the boats and the jet ski trailers I mean agree 100% we need to clear up some the parking spaces but if we can be proactive and getting that information out to everybody whether it's through the Realtors as they do their rentals through a little by byy six card or something just get the word out so Bill's not getting all right everybody good into discussion we're going to move into citizen comment any citizen comment this side of the room on a subject we haven't already talked about y okay so I'm Joe Conway I live on uh Walton Place resident on glan Cove and after Bob's presentation with the pictures and everything I guess I'd like to try to get a reading from city council and uh the administration is to whether you agree that the the property at 110 10th Street was ever a marina or if you can't answer that now could we get a reading at some later date it's not a dialogue so we'll just take your comment and then we'll follow up thank you thank you anyone else a side of the room a different topic just uh I wanted to leave this with Council today this is a statement from the mo group and us just generally about the trajectory of the city and how conversation is really important and all that and again encouraging everyone to do that so I'll just leave that with you thank you thank you thank you anyone else from the side of the room all right anybody from this side of the room for public comment here come on6 for City I'm not on social media or anything like that I'm getting comments that the property at 6 Street and the boardwalk is a done deal there's no way I can be a done deal unless the zoning board changes the zoning and I'm hoping the council here will make sure that doesn't happen there's no need for Ocean City to have a grand ois hotel it's no no place for it in ocean and it was disturbing that unique neighborhood that's there which is insane everything is insane so I'm hoping that every B will do the right thing and we can have a nice Town it to have just a little uh place for young children to be and have a great family resort for the children thank you thank you thank you thanks thanks for coming in anyone else ins side of the room seeing nothing let's go yes thank you I'm Nelson tribe of Asher 12th Street the last council meeting a police officer brought a piece of paper to me claiming it oh no first he said there was a warrant out for my arrest I said okay fine show me the warrant and then we'll go from there he said it'll be being brought over after the meeting he showed me a piece of paper it had judge freed name on it it had judge Russell's name on it it did not have a signature it did not have a seal turns out for a warrant to be lawful that is what has to happen now I do do not blame the younger officers who are always the ones to do the worst dirty work because they're less risk of if they get in trouble meaning the department that they lose their job and not the upper management that's been my observation which is fine it's their responsibility however to know the Constitution which says in article six clause to this Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof so pursuance to this constitution then in article 6 clause three all executive and judicial officers both of the United States and of the several States shall be bound by oath of affirmation to support this Constitution when did the term don't make a federal case come out of it come into being you know when it was about 1900 why was it not a problem in 1850 because common law and common sense ruled in 1850 on the land of New Jersey it's not the case today so I was taken to jail $1,500 bail they said we know you don't like to pay bail Nelson you're going to the county jail correct I said absolutely they took me to County Jail when I got out uh uh 23 hours later uh they wanted me to sign an agreement agreement a contract to show up at judge freed again I said no I've done to myself I've done that at once I brought eight different motions for to dismiss for lack of uh ability to do what was under either the Constitution or the uh Northwest Ordinance things that are in common law denied denied denied Deni Deni Deni denied was like a song so next Thursday Tuesday there's going to be another opportunity for this administ rtion of the executive branch to follow an order from Judge Russell to arrest me again my point is in 1990 there was a case retki versus uh I believe it was the state of New Jersey he was filing impeachment charges and judge Russell from Ocean City in Woodbine told his syap fants ignore the Constitution when you're training to be a municipal judge so does the Constitution of the United States mean anything in the municipal court I say no so the officer arrested me under that order I went to jail under that order but can they force me in to go see judge Russell or force me to go see judge free I say no I don't want to see these young men officer monzo I told him don't put you know check with Sergeant call the chief I know it's late he doesn't want to be bugged of course they have to do what judge Russell says so now there's a federal crime being committed in my opinion by which I'm reporting through the chair to the chief that the postmaster is hindering the uh uh certified letters I sent to the FBI and eight other people including the governor the state attorney general and the mayor and uh no not the mayor the chief of police judge Russell the County Administrator judge freed so get the mail moving it's a federal crime and if you touch me again then I will have to proceed with federal charges thank you Nelson anybody else inside of the room probably comment Jonathan dice 12 Street I have a correspondence here by email from the director of community services and the devel the department of administration those two people they talk about uh just different things that were going on in the city and how there were negative things going on in our rec recck department talks about it uh on uh November 7th remind me to update you on my call from Mark ryit regarding basketball coaches and then here a couple days later this guy Mark ryit who apparently just does whatever he wants here in the city hall barged into this uh person's office and the person described it as a a drop in attack by Mark ryit yesterday is Case in point of the problems that are going on now this is a man who's an Ocean City resident I said last time on the record that he's in this uh Sentinel Ledger Endless Summer I brought a couple of them and he's the uh owner here of Ocean City Financial Group I'll leave that here in case you don't know who he is or what he looks like I mentioned his wife last time I spoke about how um she filed a false Affidavit of Truth huh I had my own drop in Attack by Mark ryit from the Ocean City Financial Group and how did he get that name anyway Ocean City is a better place than that than attacking people Ocean City Financial Group it was on a Wednesday it was July uh January 31st it was a chilly day kind of cold was dropping my children off at the intermediate school and there was nobody on the street except for one car was running a little late but the aid was at the door still so I knew my my children could get in and I pull down the street and I see this guy get out of his car so I stop obviously was getting out to talk to me this guy Mark Ryman comes and I have my affid of truth right here Sign Sealed notorized Affidavit of Truth he starts banging on my vehicle banging on It come on he's screaming come on I played football against guys that were 65 275 lbs I had never felt that way before in my life for the safety of my life the look in this guy's eye he did according to my affid of Truth $638 like 25 cents I don't see it right I got an estimate from moo I still haven't fixed the vehicle he did that damage with his bare hands okay okay so what do I do I go report it to the police that's when the cover up started there was no video I didn't know I didn't know that the police were against me and that they were going to hide information on me I had no idea detective mullo gives me the lowdown on what happened with the investigation and I said well listen I remember a black Sprinter man behind me can we look at the video I'm not doing that you do it yourself he says I have it in an email that's what he said to me you do it yourself what God just attacked me man he he he has $14 million with his company with your employees in the pension fund that's what this guy's running Mass Mutual it's called called uh Empower now Empower what a name they sure empowered him to continue to abuse me and my family and I'll talk about that in the future thank you anybody else for City citizen comment one more come on Jim ner 500 Bay this is my first meeting and I hope this is the last one I'm going to speak for a positive note cannot thank you all enough for what you're going to do down at 5ifth and uh ba uh Keith can't thank you enough we're going to have a bus put in our condominium uh bayro of you um this happened that will scare folks away this happened I'm serious not between the police department and Council and what you're actually going to do to add and it wasn't just for the 500 pay condominium there's 110 of of us there but there's four Sports Fields there um the use of uh Fifth Street for two schools and I think that um what you're doing in a I think a more than a minimal way we knew we couldn't get a light but it's you made a safe neighborhood with what you're doing with that so thank you thank you thank you go Birds Go birds all right are we I just wanted are they going to put it in are we asking to put it in or can we put it that's I just want to make sure so that's a County Road and what we're doing is requesting the county to put it in but we're pursuing it yeah correct it's the first and getting to where you want to be correct correct we're asking for it and then M just uh yeah I wasn't mentioned but the city's Thanksgiving service will be new Tuesday at Second Street Church medical sponsorship for so you know they usually do it at night time they change it from usually 7 o' I think it's tacle usually was new time location treats afterwards anything else I think I'm good okay thank you we all good got have a motion to adjourn amen second