Justice good evening ladies and gentlemen this meeting is now called order in line with the b c right's longing policy of open government and in compliance with the open public meeting act I wish you advise adequate notice of this meeting Park Press other local newspapers on January 8th 2024 in each instance daytime and location of this meeting will provided in the notice this meeting is open in public roll call Council memb Bieber here C here Gorman here ker L and here all right first we're going to have a moment of silence that's Angelica's dad actually right here Angelica's passed away also got notice that Kenny bar is also the family also passed away I guess yesterday so like have a moment of s all right first up is a resolution uh we're going to be uh authorized empowering a full-time control officer CBR uh police department um we they like to make a motion to adopt resolution number 62 202 all right council members Bieber yes Catalano yes Borman yes ker yes Romy yes and Lexi yes all right resolution number 62 2024 has passed and I know if she want to say a few words about Alexa if she's promoted to where is Alexa Alexa come on up Alexa was just tell me how much she likes being in front of crowds take her pictures how she likes the spotlight but um that Alexa she's been with us for about 3 years now she started a class one special officer I remember interviewing her with Jim during Co we didn't letter in the building since then I think everybody has um since then she's been a class one officer class two officer she's probably done every single job that a special officer could do I'm sure everybody has seen her uh stopping cars riding tickets she's done everything we have asked her to do plus more um she's not a lazy one she's very active she's been on the beach she's been in every role we could possibly put her in and she has paid her views more than anyone that I've ever seen so I am proud to be here and I'm proud to get for the job and Alexa congratulations you did a great job um and I just can't be more proud of you than I am right now thank you very very much administr yes govern to say you know congratulations officer also thanks for you've been part of for a couple years do what she's supposed to do we appreciate it uh mayor council police committee Joe thank you again for everything we appreciate this one three s Patrick come on up somebody come up to put could let see who's going to hold the Bible no do solom swear do solom swear that will uphold the Constitution that will uphold the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and all about true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in the state and to the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further Solly swear I do furtherly solemly swear that I will partially and justly and I will partially and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of patol Officer of patol officer and the sebr police department and the sebr police department to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Music] your congratulations thank you than thank [Music] you congratulations pictur take a quick picture something morning all right next up we're going to move on to remarks from the audience I just want to say if anybody's online uh you're not speaking just please make sure you stay muted because we're getting a lot of feedback over here so please mute unless you're actually speaking um okay so with that being said if there's anybody in person or online be heard just please state your name and your address and you have up for 3 minutes to address the Gover body anybody can be my name is can I speak uh in a minute we have somebody where speaking right my name is Kathleen o Conor I'm at 932 Ocean Avenue and I was just call or here to speak and follow up on an email I sent to you guys about equipment that was placed on the dunes on Anchorage Beach um the week of January 23rd was told by the person installing it from Rucker ocean project manager said it would be two three weeks it's now been eight weeks it's uh not a really nice view so I was just wondering when I can expect this to be removed and I just I don't know why it was placed there if it's against student policy and hoping it's not going to be happening again I know Council Catal so you're on it I uh I responded that morning and I got in touch with Joe and it should be removed there yeah I I uh will call in to him tomorrow uh it was only there for two weeks of test in um or supposedly two weeks for testing obvious yeah obviously it's uh it hasn't been removed but uh you know they've been good partners with us uh Ruckers they've helped us a lot but uh they've overstayed their stack so I'll be notifying them to remove it okay appreciate that and is this going to be an annual occurrence in this location is there a reason why it was there yes what they actually asked for they they want to deploy that in Main and because we have one here they thought that they could put it there for a couple days make sure it works okay and then move it yeah didn't know that it was going to get away okay all right I appreciate you following up on that thank you all right who next I heard some somebody online was who the gentleman online oh that's me again you're up can you hear me hi I'm J Wayne 5 new Street and uh I'm calling to uh R my opinion once again about the Apparently upcoming decision between a restaurant and or a presidential component of the manh building um once again I feel that if it were to be a bar/ restaurant it would provide different Mayhem and congestion and cost to the town which IED you guys to come sit them on forun on Friday night and listen to it but nobody sing me up on that and if it were residental with my understanding that it would be much more financially but official to the town to have residential units there tax Dollar Wise and stress on the town's infrastructure police garbage things of that nature then it would be to have a restaurant a sled bar with lied parking in the Mayhem that it brings so I would just once again important you to consider the residents who live in the neighborhood and U would you like a bar in your backyard Al you've already got a bunch it's opportunity to change it s in a positive direction for the permanent future that's all I got to say right thank you tonight I'm Brian George from Northshore the clothing store down the street and uh for over I guess about four or five years I've been listening to customers and neighbors talk about The Madhatter and you have heard it and I'm sure you're tired of it as I am um I understand there's a disposition on the matter today in close session or whatever you call it uh I just want you to know that it's an embarrassment not only to you as members of the council but the whole town and it's uh it has to be resolved it just has to be we're all intelligent people and we there has to be a way legally to resolve this situation so my frustrations go four or five years every day I hear somebody asking me what is going on with the manh and I'm tired of it and I'm sure you are too and you got to do something about it that's all thank you me to rest that have to do um you know you're right we're all frustrated and we're all tired of it as well um the the problem is um the burrow although we've made a number of attempts to try to get some grips on the situation we don't really have control and the ultimate disposition the mayh is not going to be decided by the mayor and Council unfortunately um May and Council will have some input um but the primary lean hold on that property is the new is The Economic Development Authority they have lean in excess of $3.5 million there were also various subcontractors and contractors that have um hundreds and hundreds of thousand dollar of Lans on the prop and the ultimate resolution of what happens there is is really going to be driven by the Eda as the primary lean holder and something's going to happen there that uh um you know we'll we'll get some money onto the property and get the property finished um and the gentleman earlier talked about it being residential the reality is that property has been approved for commercial use um the neighbors challenged that approval took it all the way up to the court system the man had Prevail uh so it's approved for a a bar and restaurant use uh and also the reality is as we've discovered uh by doing some rfps to try to find people interested in putting some money into it getting in there and finishing the project uh you know we've discovered that the commercial use of that property is far more valuable than the residential use so the odds are pretty strong at the ultimate resolution will be something like what was approved a restaurant a bar commercial use because that is going to bring investors in with the most money to pay as much of the leans as as possible so uh what the council is going to do tonight is make a recommendation uh of one of the RFP proposers um and we're going to transmit that to the Eda the Eda is is in active negotiations right now uh with the Kelly who own the manhatt uh also with the prime the second lean holder which is the construction company that that actually did the work um hopefully there'll be some resolu ution of that and although as I say we'll have input and I think what the council has done is far more than I think um uh was necessary I mean the council really has taken a lot of action over the past few years to try to push that uh to a resolution the problem is when we have lean holders uh you have the Eda um as as the primary lean holder so you got the government involved there's Federal money involved in that as well uh it's very difficult to move the ball and uh I think what the council has done in terms of actually going out and getting companies to Comm in who are willing to put money into that project we're willing to take that over I think that's allowed the Eda now to have some substantial negotiations with the Kelly so we're hopeful that over the next 30 45 days there could be a resolution of that and uh part of that resolution really uh goes to what the council has done and attracting some interest in the property um but the concept that it's going to be residential that's that's not feasible um the concept that it'll get done uh and stop being the eyesore that it is U I think that's a a reasonable possibility in the near future may I ask would you need to say somebody wants to go residential could a variance well you have to go for another you have to go for another approval the problem is that the residential I mean unless the council would to sit back and say okay what's AA a 12 story building right um that that somebody would put enough money into to pay off the leans and that's not going to happen Okay uh no one is going to come in and pay as much for that property residential use as it will commercial use because that property uh and the building that's been approved would only produce a very limited number of residential units we did have someone who came to us one of the respons to the rfps was someone who wanted to develop it as a residential facility the fact of the matter is that's just not worth enough money to put a deal together to take care of of the people who are owed money on that hope that help than thank you who's next first good evening uh my name is Ira sh I live at 7:30 Ocean Avenue I just want to address the council I I think I left uh the workshop meeting the other day uh and I created some ambiguity as to my position on ebikes on the splash pad um I am absolutely against ebikes on the splash pad anywhere that you have um uh pedestrians we can't have um we can't have vbikes um the uh ordinance that was that is being presented tonight uh frankly is going to be another cpz type of ordinance there's no muscle behind it um it's not going to make people safer um so um regarding um the the ordinance itself um I respectfully asked the council to amend the title of that ordinance to make it descriptive of what's going on there was no mention at all of ebikes uh in that ordinance and I think that's misleading or certainly not revealing what the content is um most of you have knocked on my door um while you were campaigning and I voted frankly for every single one of you folks um I'm asking you to vote against ebites in the splash pad we've lived here for 22 years my wife and I and my family in terms of safety this is probably the most important issue that's ever come up it's bad now it's going to get increasingly worse and I really uh hope that you you're listening to me and um frankly the citizens the residents of CBR uh not to allow ebikes on the splash pad thanks a lot than good evening uh my name is Michael shimento representing uh sans's Beach Club at 825 Ocean Avenue also uh representing uh the multif family house at 858 Ocean Avenue by shimento Associates LLC um I second that gentleman uh I don't think ebikes on the splash pad is a particularly good idea um rates of speed and their silence you never see them coming as a pedestrian the the reason I'm standing here from the beach club point of view is we would then become a byproduct uh being affected as the bikes travel South they go into shiple ho parking lot going opposite flow of traffic as conversation I had yesterday with Daryl Jackson and then into our parking lot going the opposite direction of traffic um I've stood before you guys in the past talking about the effect of bicycles going through our our active parking lot on our private property this will make it easier and an even more dangerous situation for the families that go to Sands as well as my staff of uh teenagers and early 20y olds um nothing good can come of this with when it comes to safety and I think you guys really got to give this a serious amount of thought about the effect of the people on the SP Splash Pad but also wherever those ebikes travel next um I trust you guys will give it a good amount of thought and really give thought to the safety aspect and uh if it goes that far I'll be happy to walk the properties with you and you guys can see some of the things uh in great detail of what we experien as Sands and some of the other beach clubs nearby thank you yeah just want to comment on that just something the Govern yeah after speaking with some people ear this will come probably be acting on tonight proba be forward another meeting Gover body I know I think majority RW it and probably amend it a future Council I mean we won't know until we Pi action but [Music] that'ss hi Susie marks 1187 Ocean Avenue I I also want to speak about the ebikes um you're all right it's it's a dangerous situation there's no doubt about it um but I I honestly do not think that b them from the slash pad is the answer for uh many reasons but something absolutely has to be done um it's very dangerous to ride a bike in North Beach um on 36 like everybody knows this in terms of the beach club like I ride through your parking lot know but if you ride on the street there a lot of cars from your parking lot stick out I'm sorry yeah stick they stick out in the street so like when when I ride there because honestly the the the bike I you call it bike lane the shoulder when you're riding a bike it seems about that big it's maybe like that big the cars stick out you have to go out into traffic it's impossible it's terrifying to ride up there and like it's it's it's it's also scary to ride in the parking lots too like when the people are pulling out and stuff but it is safer every other teenager in Rumson has an ebike now like we all know this it's wealthy everybody's got them you can't all of a sudden have all these teenagers on the road there somebody will will die in the last four years is there's been like 10 motor vehicle versus bicycle accidents in town I don't think that we've had any deaths but there has been there's been zero ebike accidents um on the slash D in in that same amount of time so yeah like it is a problem and it's going to continue to be a problem um I think that if we work with like big signage education um you know obviously you shouldn't be able to use your throttle like the pedal assist there but like you can't Banning them completely first of all it won't work it's you're never going to prove that I had I was not pedaling you know what I mean like you know you're never going to prove that but you can't just flat out ban them because I believe that that will cause way more accidents uh especially in North Beach than than just um working with the public that's all I'm sorry you're next hi my name is Candace brunwood I live on five Henry Lane um halfway between the both Bridges I'm also here to discuss the resolution about the ebikes I am not in favor of banning the ebikes on a splash pad for several reasons Excuse me while I look at my notes since the co um disaster that we had in this country bicycle industry has boomed it's become alive and ebikes has uh actually given seniors and a lot of uh disabled people an opportunity to get out on an ebike where they wouldn't be able to on a regular bicycle also I'm also a b Avid cyclist who puts over several hundred miles on a bike every year my concern is like you had said that Ocean Avenue it's seab bride is not a bike friendly town on Ocean Avenue North of the of the village it's dangerous I myself I would get off the road and I will ride on the splash B till get to Sandy Hook that's how D how many times I can I can't tell you how many times I've almost gotten hit um in all honesty I have been I I am on the splash P every single day I walk my dogs every single day two three times a day I encounter more problems with Road bikers who are speeding no heads up no Bells no warning than ebikes I maybe once or twice had a situation with an ebike um I think Banning it it's a multi-use path and I think Banning it would prohibit a lot of people from getting to Sandy HW also people from Sandy Brook who come to the village and spend their money here it wouldn't be fair to those people for the few people you know to C cut it off with a few people because of the few bad people but I do understand it is a problem it is dangerous there are the state parks have multi-use signs and it's a yield to sign bicycl yield to horse horses yield to bicycles bicycles yield to pedestrians I know it's more signage I don't like more signage I don't think the town does but maybe putting something out there to make people aware um I just think it would be a bad idea to ban a multi-use thing for people that use it now don't ride regular bicycles sure thank you right hi Carol chesheim 7:30 Ocean Avenue and I'm also here to talk about the bike situation the ordinance I've lived in seite for 22 years with my husband IRA and family and um I walk frequently on the splash pad on the east side of Ocean Avenue mainly because the sidewalk on my side of the street on the west side of Ocean Avenue has too many issues such as curb cuts and crumbling pavement it's just it's it seems dangerous to me so I cross the street and I walk over there I oppose allowing e bikes on the splash pad it's a sidewalk not a roadway and I don't know if you're aware of this there are 62 staircases along this one and a half mile stretch that reduces the splash pad width by you know this much this way so if you're out there taking a walk going both ways you're going to walk by 124 staircases you've got traffic coming both ways and it's it's just very dangerous and so many times I've been out there and almost gotten hit by a bicycle regular bicycle um ebikes are quiet it it's just a very dangerous situation where there're pedestrians there should be no ebikes and um ebikes do not belong on the splash bad thank you thank you [Music] everyone Tammy Kaiser to East New Street so I was here before and I think I called in in the past when we were talking about the Kelly's and I'm certainly um for making the the building residential and so I my question I have more questions than I have you know things to say so I'm hoping that maybe I can ask these questions and it sounds to me Roger from what you said earlier that you know this board does have the ability to say that it can be residential and not commercial so that doesn't seem like it would be you can't make I thought you said you can make it residential but it would have to be 12 stories I was I was thrown that it is it has an approval for commercial prop that approv runs with the land doesn't matter who owns the property that approve is in place but you could give it what I said was that what we have discovered is the property is not worth uh more as a residential project in its current form than it is commercial Pro the only way you can make it worthwhile residential is to have a high rise there right what so what I'm saying is that building you know if it's going to be restored it's going to be used and it's going to be finished uh economically it's going to be a commercial project not a residental is that in order to pay the leans it would have to be you're talking about $5 million or more in leans on that proper but does CBR have to pay the leans or do the Kelly have to pay the leans I mean the Kelly the property owner is responsible for the leans and those Lan attached to the property right so the only way that that property is going to be completed is if you resolve the lanes and somebody infuses enough money into that pay the leans and to finish the crush so assuming the Kelly's pay the leans this group could approve residential if you take the two pieces and separate them assuming that the Kelly are going to put pay the L would be an enormous assumption and not reality right they've had all these pay the L that's not going to happen someone is going to come in and invest money into that property okay and all I'm saying is that to say that you would like to have it residential is fine that's fine is a preference as a practical matter it's simply not going to happen it's economically unusable if the Kelly don't pay the leans then how long would it be how long would it go until it finally gets resolved and the town doesn't what could happen is a foreclosure a bankruptcy proceeding you're talking about years and years and years of that building sitting there looking just like it does today what the burrow has been trying to do is hurry up the process get the project completed and the discussions that are going on now would look toward a a quick completion of the project but again it's going to be commercial it's not going to be resent well I think the only other thing is by saying it's commercial and not residential it's not giving people an opportunity to aine on whether they'd rather see out the no that's not true the RFP that the burrow put out left it wide open as to what someone would be interested in doing we had one proposal for residential and It produced the least amount of money to finish the property if they purchase it what I'm telling you is is the reality I mean I could sit here and tell you yeah maybe that'll work we'll see what happens but I'm not going to lie to you the reality is it's not going to happen because it's not worth enough money un unless somebody like to donate five or $6 million what I like pay off what I'd like to do is just understand the Alternatives You' like to what understand the Alternatives so you're telling me so I just want to play back what I'm hearing from you and that is in order to do something quickly then you have to get someone who's going to pay off the leans and the only way for that to happen is if it's someone who's going to buy it for a restaurant is that correct correct okay now alternatively if it was going to be residential you're going to open it up for that then you'd have to go through the bankruptcy proceedings and no that's not what I said okay we opened it up for residential right we took proposals to include residential okay we got four proposals three of them were for commercial one of them was for residential the residential one produce the least amount of money okay is it the least amount to pay off the lean yeah and the least amount to finish the you you talking about two things you have to understand the leans have to be satisfied and the project has to be finished okay that's that's two things you got to do okay well I do have another question because one of the things that we talked about is that ongoing with taxes that the residential might be better for the town than what it is if we pay the lead off no would but that's all true so I guess this leads me kind of to the next question is if I have questions I think there's some amount of ambiguity going on so I guess I wonder why we don't open it up for people to come into the town ask questions look at the financials get an understanding I mean you have a very ENT town you can look at all this information and probably has questions on it man' we've been working on this for at least 5 years we put out an RFP which we published in the Star Ledger and I forget how many other places all right to invite people to commit we've had people looking at that property coming in and talking to JY coming in and talking to the mayor for The Last 5 Years you know what's happened nothing and the reason why nothing's happened is that no one's yet come up with enough money to pay the leans and finish the project okay so if the current negotiation can knock down enough of the lean and bring in enough money from the third party then we may be able to get the property finished but that's only going to happen in the commercial contact and the think that it's going to happen in the residential context is simply not realistic as much as you may want it's not realis well I guess I guess can I think I think your time's up is it t get three minutes you about six well I think but I think it's up because I did amount of talking so I feel like that was intended to tell me something three times so I couldn't finish the questions yes same question three times the answer three times Well my big question is why can't the town be part of it why can't they see how each individual is voting and why can't they go into the financials find somebody with 6 million bucks take care good evening my name is George Henderson 174 Ocean Avenue um I want to voice my opposition to the elect bike potential ordinance really comes down to me as a matter of safety um my wife and I used the path multiple times a day all year long walk a dog get exercise I'm a cyclist an avid cyclist and I cycle on the road I know it's problematic just given the arrangement but that's where bikes moving at 10 15 M an hour should be as opposed to on the splash pad which certain times of the year is very heavily used as I'm sure you know there are families there are children there are people walking you know side by side an electric bike is heavy and it's going to move fast and I think you know any thought that you could tack a speed limit onto that ordinance nice to do but impossible to you know to really up and it is just that safety question you know particularly times of a year when the Sun goes down there still are a few people walking on the splash pad they can't be seen and that creates another potential danger so that's you know thank you that's my comments thank you any El good few more coming all right came off the Ben you guys got me I'm c number seven is that going to stay in there no Charlie Rooney 196 Ocean Avenue seab Bri New Jersey so um the ebike ordinance I'm dead set against it um you know a big thing in newth beach is uh traffic jams in the summer the way app we got a lot of things going on we got people coming off the Sea Street with these ebikes stopping at the Chubby Pickle having a couple of cocktails heading to Donovan's standing up no helmets on all our people in North Beach are trying to enjoy their normal activities and here comes this bike out of nowhere never been on the smash bad before his first time to see right but he's barreling he's coming down it's just not good so I'm going to just ask all of you a couple of questions you can answer them if you want how many of you have been on an ebike on the splash pad going 20 miles an hour anybody on E how about have we gone door to door like we do when we go to get everybody's vote to see the vibe of the people in North Beach hey Charlie Rooney I just did it for 2 or 3 days everybody's against it right does anybody has anybody done that come on the whole town is counting on you guys every part of this town has its own personality South Beach right we got our sidewalks Jack remembers when those sidewalks were put in right first they built C right Village then they built Island View and I remember riding with my father in the van he said you know what we need sidewalks down here so people can walk into town right late 80s the splash pad is going to come into existence because they're fixing the seaw wall my father goes door too and asks people to donate their property so they can widen the splash pad so the residents could walk safely on Ocean Avenue and not be stuck on that little sidewalk on the side and now you want to take it away for people that don't even live here I it's not the Suzies the candes that are going 10 or 15 miles an hour that would be great it's not reality it's like saying the speed limit on Ocean Avenue is 35 but we're not going to monitor it you can go as fast as you want is something going to go wrong of course it it's just you guys I mean I think you really need to get on the street start knocking on some doors like Iris said he voted for everybody here and the other thing that I want to make a point about here this is important this is a picture of my father with Tommy Johnson the chief of police at the time I think Brett might have been a dispatcher at that time best friends trained for marathons together ran together New York City marathon a couple of times but when it came to this town they had two different point of views the police don't think the same as you okay when John Aras comes to you he's not talking to you as a bike rider he's talking to you as a police officer they don't want to enforce the ordinances don't we know that how many ordinances do we have that don't get enforced the easiest ordinance for that is to allow the ebikes on the splash pad there's nothing for them to do if we say no ebikes on the squash pad they have to enforce that ordinance if they want to come on take care of these people in this town thank you I would say two things I mean first of all the police are I mean they are Public Safety I get it I get it they're not doing they're great they're the best I know but they're not doing it in my opinion any way per form to avoid having to monitor SL they're doing it I've spoken to the chief 20 times about it I mean just the other side of the story The reason why we're at this point is that you know a few things one is that having e bikes on Ocean Avenue North be yeah me we all live in SE I know I don't we don't live on North Beast I think we have a good idea I mean I've been on a splash pad so I would say that you know it is a public safety issue and it's dangerous matter we had these conversations in the past I mean I's been here where no matter where the your bikes go or bikes in general if they're on Ocean Avenue or from a Splash Pad but just the police point of view and I agree with a lot of what they say is that you know it's lower risk on a splash pad because you know I give a scar of drinking the ebiking but you also have the scenario of you know 15-year-old in ebiking on you know you you're on North Beach having the lane on North Beach to ride an ebike or a bike is so tiny I we've had you know over 10 accidents of various bikes in town they all on Ocean Avenue and it's a state highway so you're throwing 15y old kids on ebikes on state highway so you know different I think you should get an ebike and take it for a ride I've been on right down the splash pack just just check it out all right thanks hi uh Pat yeah your name beatric Paton 924 Ocean Avenue um I just want to go on the record that myself and um my family are against the ebikes on the splashpad I was a nurse intensive care in neurological ICU unit at Cornell and ebikes are a lot faster than a regular bike and a lot faster than a jogger or a walker and I don't even want to go into describing the patients that I took care of I also had a mother in-law my husband's mother had an accident um someone did Cut Her Off she did fall on the splash pad and she ended up in surgery in the hospital for many months and um later passed away you don't want to have highspeed accidents on that Splash Pad where you have little kids where you have elderly and you have a lot of thorough Fair people that want to go out safely and enjoy seab bra speaking of the splash pad is there someone that can enforce um the overhangs because when you do have a lot of people with for instance Sunday when I was out biking with my daughters um there are a lot of trees brush whatever overhanging on those splash pads uh on that splash pad and it's not safe because then you all start getting congested and you end up having accidents also Al um I'd like to um commend you guys for the bike wrecks that you have put out there at Anchorage thank you very much for getting those because for 5 years straight I used to have to help the elderly and mothers with carriages get down the handicap ramp um I see I saw a great Improvement this past summer 23 however on some busy days there still were some bikes that thought were we're just going to lock up here on the handicap ramp and at that point I'm just wondering I don't know why don't you make some money cut the chain take the bike and if they want it back charge them handicap ramp is there for a reason it's not a bike holder thank you thanks and I one thing for the splash pad where it's Frank Lawrence a few weeks ago and I don't think it's done yet but going into spring and summer we're going to clear the there some place where like the wees and up encroach and the sand encroach on the splash P branches and on a Bic we'll take a look at those thank you thanks all right May one com hands yeah let everybody CLE through first we come back to you all right who's next online anybody hi hi my name is Megan rle I am a resident at a East New Street um I just I have a comment and I have a question um the comment is um regarding the M patter um I know there's a lot of frustration in the town all around um and I'm I'm happy to see that that some progress is being made on it I'm appreciative that the council is working on it I think what would help to alleviate some of the concerns is just that there was more transparency on the process because I think what's happening is of course lots of rumors we we see these articles about the litigation of the Kelly circulating um and then we see this issue come up on um for the council meeting and then we'll always see that it's that it's saved for the executive committee so that so us as residents don't get to hear what's going on so I do think that just some transparency and seeing the RFP RFP is being submitted and what the town is considering what the current standing of the litigation is I think that would help to go a long way and just mend some fences um now for my question um the reason why I would personally um prefer it to be a residential um building whether that's going to happen or not is really of the traffic pattern our home backs up to the m patter and currently there's a lot of dangerous stuff going on well one people are parking in nonp parking spots two you have a lot of people going the wrong way on that street three there's no sidewalk so when we're walking our families to one of the only one of the you know two um entrance points to the beach there's no place for us to get our kids out of the street and we've we're having people go the wrong way some knowingly um and some unknowingly because I think the signage needs to be better but people knowingly doing it trying to get to a parking spot because the area is saturated so that's really my concern um is the traffic pattern whatever happens with this building when it happens the traffic really needs to be addressed us um because it's a dangerous situation so I'm wondering what the town um has plans to kind of address these things especially coming um for the upcoming uh summer season so that's my question about the traffic well I think we could talk to uh Chief fredman and his staff about uh traffic I I I guess you mean on Wayne Street man surf surf surf or M or uh Wayne on on surf the the one sorry that's not our me it's the one that runs along the beach to Donas that would be Wayan Street it it is clear clearly identified at the end your old burrow Hall that it's you know there are one way cutting in both spots the lines are loed out the way they should be it is enforced multiple times a day with the parking um we are out there as you know riding as many tickets as we can back there you need to have an officer walking back there so any future we will take care of any future there are no sidewalks back there there is a section where there is no line along that fence line along the side that maybe some more signs can be put up but at that point we are writing as many tickets as we can back there it does get jam-packed early people are conf cing around looking for parking spots all summer along it's not a secret so we are out there foring our tickets will show you that we are I I would say what would help is there is one sign at the very beginning of going down that road if you're going to go the wrong way and I think people are so focused on trying to find a parking spot and potentially see somebody leaving that not even looking at that sign so if you had two signs um that I think would help but also there needs to be a sidewalk there's no sidewalk there's space for a sidewalk but there there's nothing there and so we're forced to walking the street and we' have to yell at people because they come around the corner fast to take that turn and have almost children well we can certainly put some more signs up for you we'll take a look at it we do every spr when he signs up the sidewalk I don't think I can help you with that thanks Chief and thanks Megan thank you all right who's next online any El like you heard tonight yeah Jim sculfield 14 East Sur Street uh and you know not ful but question uh when you mentioned the RFP process you mentioned that your request proposal was public uh in kind of my line of work responding to airport and unispace and other municipalities the r response is also made public uh just per Mak point so everyone's aware how the decisions are being made and everything's transparent is there any intention to do that I would you repeat the question I'm want to see the r want to know if they are there any intention to make them public I think they are public they are public they are public they are public they have been public the responses are public yes okay all right I'm sorry I don't guess I'll need to research and figure out where they are yeah and I and I and I add also in terms of transparency that the matter is discussed at public meetings constantly uh and everything about the RFP process was fully public okay I've been in four or five meetings on the topic I've never heard this the fact that I knew there was going out but and I heard the responses came back but I never knew information do is stop in the B Hall and ask the see ask the clerk's office will provide them for you to sit down there if you'd like toh take a look at them yeah so it's physical it's not online I don't think they're online no they're physical RFP okay all right thank you all right thank you all right anybody else online who would like to he tonight any in person before I had a question I'm Melissa 400 Ocean Avenue um there last at the workshop somebody had mentioned a like a grant or something about the bike Lanes um like maybe having some money come in to help either widen bike Lanes or make them visible to people can somebody um is that a thing or was I making that of can I comment on mayor can I come we we talked about the possibility Melissa of that being one of the approaches we would take yeah and if I could I just I'd like to take a minute there if I could just to go over a couple things that was said first of all on the ebbi coordinates um I think there's a little confusion because when people get up and say they're against it I think what they're saying are against the splash pedit portion of it because if you look at the rest of the ordinance and there copies of it over there it's specifically tries to address the control and operation of ebikes in the town and the reason the ordinance was created was because the chief of police said they're becoming more of and more of an issue and we've got to get something documented to put the police department in a position that they can actually enforce something and we all thought that was a very good idea so they went off they looked at other towns they looked at comparative sites to determine what would be appropriate for this town and they created a draft of that and that went around for review and the council reviewed it and as we got to the latter portion of the review of that ordinance we got into the issue of this FL how are we going to handle a spash and then that created the big issue which is a big issue that everybody's talking about this evening and everybody's concerned about please read the rest of the ordinance because the ordinance is strictly intended to put the police department in position that they can deal with Rec the reckless driving speeding driving on sidewalks before this ordinance they had nothing to point to to take action yeah so in our mind this is a major step forward and we want it in place this summer the splash pad issue is a major issue I heard the mayor say earlier we're not going to vote on tonight but a couple things I'd like to say now to specifically answer your question we have thought really long and hard about this and there is no good answer we contemplated a couple other approaches to how to deal with this one of them was suppose we widen the splash bed most of your question yeah it's 7,000 ft from the beach clubs to the bridge up at Sandy Hook 7,000 ft if somebody wanted to widen that with concrete it would cost between 5 and $700,000 to widen it besides the fact we would have to take advantage of the easement of property of all the property owners along there that's going to take time but it's very possible it may be federal or state money to do something like that for safety purposes since it is right next to a state High yes we are going to proceed down that path to determine the feasibility viability and desirability of doing in mown it may in fact be a very good conclusion for us to widen and safen the path but quite honestly that will take years yeah the next alternative we talked about is since Ocean Avenue is going to get repaved after the bridge is done is it possible to widen the bike lane narrow the car Lane and actually create as Susie said before a wider bike lane well the reality that means the car Lane is going to be smaller and if you do that will a state actually approve something like that the answer is they probably would not but if you had a more visible bike lane for bikes to go in we would start feeling better about bikes being on Ocean Avenue right either way it's going to be a problem so that leaves us with two choices two very difficult choices and I'm not going to express my view on this here that wouldn't be appropriate for me to do that because they are both difficult choices but since so many people are here and because this is such a Hot Topic I would just ask the chief if he wouldn't mind because in my opinion I yield to The Experts right what do the experts think so the the short answer is we did talk about that approach Melissa it may be very viable to do it but it would take us time grant writing State approval easement rights construction all that would take a couple it could be in the works it could be in the works yes so Brian if you don't mind maybe the chief could just say a couple words about his view on this is can I say something real quick before sorry one more thing um if is there any possibility of Paving the uh beach wall at some point now when you have tons of money to just use up uh Paving the beach walls just like it is in town here so we that the pedestrians can walk and actually see the each and then the bikers can use the easement two quick responses that I would give number one it's not our property to do it belongs to the Army Corps of Engineers and State Property it's not ours to do and I wouldn't be surprised if we did that that we get a lot of calls from people say my view is now obstructed by people on the SE well it's just an option it could be cool to walk up there nicely see the ocean looking I mentioned at the last meeting is and I'm not sure unless you had different from dot but a prior plan from the state when they resurface North Beach just is to narrow the two driving Lan and then add two bike LS North and South so that and that would be course Bridges done but that would be yeah and then I think it' be a different day then like so if we do rout obviously the consideration if they actually add bike Lan to Ocean Avenue but again that would be for years but I that would obviously be a consideration if it happens yeah we we did take action to work with do to see if it's feasible because when they repay if we can make a wider Bike Line everybody would feel better without Chief do you mind no not at all so the police department's position and I do have like stord ca areas M and Murphy we do know that there's a lot of travel on the splash pad with the E bikes they're fast they're going quick it it can get a little sketchy at times but we find be way more dangerous for the seab police to push everybody with an eag add onto a State Highway 36 without a shoulder there is no way any of us would put a family out there a senior out there a kid out there people coming off the hook saying no they're coming off hook 100 miles hour sorry hit the shoulder on that this is not going to be happening when we do that we are not pushing anybody on to Ocean avue on eik is too dangerous to do it there's nowhere to go out there and it just it's it's unfortunate there's no easy answer but to push the entire family other people out onto a state highway with no shoulder it's we're not we can't do it's it's too dangerous thank you and that's how my whole Police Department feels about it app Li law 14 Street how are you doing tonight um one two questions they should be pretty brief um the restaurant which you said had the highest amount coming in does that cover all the leans there's going to have to be a resolution that satisfies the L that's going have to be part of the pro but they do not necessarily cover all the leans there's going to have to be a solution which satisfies the L I don't know that they're all going to be satisfied they could be satisfi by 85 cents on the dollar it could be 30 cents on the dollar I have no idea but you don't know at this point no it's not really my business to know at this point it's Evas okay all right the other thing is and some people were talking about the amount of traffic the restaurant that has come in who you're considering giving or not giving but having build there what is their plan for parking the the project has already been approved years ago by the planning board so I don't I don't can't tell you the answer to that question does anybody here have that answer but where are all these people come to that restaurant going to park there's no parking there's no everybody else okay so there's no parking I think there's like one or two spots so here our little tiny town again and I know this is being brought up from years and years and years ago when this was first brought up there's no place for all these people to park there just there's just no right which is why the residential would make a little bit more sense because then we don't have that what sated I know but you're talking about the immediate you're talking about the immediate fix as opposed to the longterm fix the long-term fix is where are all these people going to park there'll be more income coming in from those that's not the longm the longterm fix is it's an approved project and it's been litigated so there's nothing we can do it's very hard when you live right there and now you're going to have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people coming in there and there's going to be no place for them all the neighbors appealed and took it to court but the neighbors lost and the man had a want that's the way it worked that's the way it worked then but now this is a whole new project litigate the same issue and now we're going to put more pressure on all the police to have to deal with all these more people who are going to be out and about and buing I'm not I'm not telling you it's ideal I'm just telling you you can't reate ISS than anybody else has spoken yet be heard I have a question who's that can you hear me what's your name c Lan 5 East New Street Unit B okay um will will there be somewhere that we can go to look at the results of the voting that's going to take place on the manhatt who voted which way it it'll be public it'll be a public if there is one so yeah and where where can you see that it'll be post tomorrow okay yeah it'll be on our it'll be on our our website C and.org okay and I just wanted to um I guess my voice to those that said that that they were looking for more transparency about this process today is the first day I've heard anybody explain what the proposals were the proposals were received did not use residential that was adequate to cover the expenses I never I I've been operating on rumor and innuendos for all of these years this has been going on and would appreciate if there was some kind of a venue that we could get information hard information about what the process is is going on and what the status is yeah I would say I mean I think especially I this is a pretty heavily attended meeting usually we have about one or two people here I think one of the issues is that despite all the public meetings we have workshops Council meetings Town Halls that uh most of them aren't really heavily attended but yeah we've covered this topic in every way shape and form for God probably 5 years so and the planning board of course had their years of of wrestling with it also so yeah I mean I think anyway just my opinion I think we've done a pretty good job of being pretty open book about everything including the public RFP so uh but any anything else that comes out you either watch the meetings live or you know go to our website as as already stated moving ahead right Quicky can can the RFC responses be put online not without not until I redact the trade secret information then you can put them on right to the Bur attorney with all due respect what are the possibilities of doing a mixed use of uh retail and residential on the top no one has been interested in but it's practical isn't it well how come it hasn't been address the one proposal for residential had commercial some type of commercial use on the first coffee shop or something yeah shop or whatever I think anybody would that but again that that that doesn't produce the same amount of money I was just thinking if you had retail or retail on the first floor and you had maybe four stories that's why the RP was it was pretty Loosely worded you know specific you to complete the building as is it was okay open up all ideas creative I have to tell you I mean you know if you if you had been here for the discussion over the past 5 years the council's well aware of the fact that the people who live around the M hat really don't want the M hat there I mean the council's well aware of right so so when we did the RFP we left It Wide Open understood in the hopes that maybe somebody would come in with something different right which which would which would a finish the project and gave an eyore and B make people happy unfortunately economically just any else heard yet thank you hello can I speak one more time uh let me see what's we got to be brief though guys we got all right Su Mark 1187 I just want to say um to the council I I uh went to every single uh planning board meeting for the hatter that was what eight years ago I think there were 10 meetings there were four or five hours each um I went to every single one the council at that time and this Council has been nothing but transparent everything about the hatter uh as far as I can tell everybody that spoke out against the hatter the residents that live there you all move there after the approval so I don't know what you're you moved in next to a bar and restaurant I it's I live next to Diamonds I Liv there 26 years it's not the best I moved in when I was 24 it was awesome it's not great now I'm not going to lie it's a different ball game but I moved there that's it was there first it's been a restaurant for 100 years not 100 you know what I mean so I mean all these things if you guys are getting your information only you're in uendo and your rumor from all about SE right then yeah it's going to seem like it's not transparent you literally all live a a quarter of a mile away from the building that can answer all of your questions and and that's all if you have questions come to the meetings go to bur Hall ask representatives and they will all tell you there there's no rumors there's no hiding anything that's all thank you thanks whoever speaking please be brief yeah I just be I they can't hear you online if you don't oh sorry about that no I I would just say that for me it's more about um and I I appreciate what you said about transparency is kind of where I'm coming from that if there are rfps to have people who sometimes these are vacation homes to have people who aren't nearby or have jobs it's not always easy to walk and look at an RFP so it'd be good for it to be online and then after it's online have a forum for people to come and ask questions but it sounds like because there's a vote tonight that kind of process we won't be able to have I thought when we talked earlier you said you the results weren't but the request propos well the results I yeah I don't care about the RP I care about the results and looking at those and having opportunity to ask questions you're saying it should be online so people can respons it was online no so people can see the responses and ask questions about that comment speak online go first okay online go ahead all yours okay new stre a one quick question I have in my brain is why is the Kelly lack of proper management with the money that the state lend them well to our lab as as residents should it be their pay back should it be their money to pay back and not pay it forth us well said5 million State I always got free I think they come after me why should I as a resident have to eat their garbage I think it's fair right but anyway that's all I to say you got move on thank you I think word we get out very quickly with a well-crafted aggressively enforced ordinance that bans evites and the splashpad uh people will know about that in a week so if we're concerned about the folks coming over the bridge uh from either Rumson or Highlands with ebikes we also communicate that to the folks who rent ebikes I don't think that is going to be as much of a problem um as uh you think it is or as achievements it is thanks is that a wrap all right thanks guys thanks for all the time and all the comments um we a lot of topic but uh so moving on to our consent agenda can somebody please make a motion to Pro the items are on this second all right Council M Bieber yes yes yes L and all right approv all right we're moving on to our first ordinance ordinance number 3 2024 uh an ordinance to fix the compensation of officers and employees at the bar SE County of M state New Jersey for the calendary years 2024 2026 can somebody please make a motion to open the public heing ordinance number 3 2026 all right council member yes yes yes yes and yes anybody from the public would like to be heard on ordinance number 3 2024 motion oppose the public portion second any second all right council members Bieber yes yesman yeser yes all right ordance 3224 public fa closed somebody please make a motion to adopt ordinance 3224 all right call council members Bieber yes yes Gman yes killer Yes L and yes all right we have successfully adopted ordinance 3224 let's see moving on to the next ordinance for 2024 an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the bar chapter 130 land use and to establish a salt storage regulations somebody please make a motion to introduce ordinance number 424 second counc M Bieber yes yes Gman yes ker yes L yes yes all right ordinance number four 2024 has been introduced uh moving on to ordinance 5 2024 an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the B of SE chter 130 land use and to establish stre preservation placement regulations can somebody please make a motion to introduce ordinance number 524 all right call Council memb Bieber yes yes Gman yeser yes yes all right we have also sucess inod ordinance number five 2024 right the next one I believe we have you may have ination to carry this one it's ordinance number 6 2024 speak that Mr Mayor we can based upon everything everyone said tonight and I want to Echo prise I think there are there is good stuff in that ORD so I don't want to kill it so I'm going to make a motion to to completely I think you need to go back and talk about it so I would make a motion to table that ordinance for the time being so I can be further work on it second all right so motion to table ordinance number 6 2024 U I'll read it an ordinance of the B of sebr in the county of M state of New Jersey amending is supplementing chapter 2011 of the burrow code regarding motorized vehicles uh so roll call Council memb Bieber yes this is the table corre table yes Gman yes killer Yes L yes yes all right we have table ordinance 6224 for next meeting V for all right next Bond ordinance number 7 2024 Bond ordinance amending Bond ordinance number 20 21 that 13 finally adopted by the burrow of Council of the burrow of sebrite New Jersey on August 17 2021 I I was make a few comments our compl of our see no I'm sorry I to make a motion to uh introduce ordinance number 7 2024 roll call council members Bieber yes yes Warman yeser yes L yes and yes all right we have introduced ordinance number 7 2024 I believe uh ordinance number 8 2024 we're going to do probably make a motion to par this all yeah so may make a motion to table that as well all right anybody second let me read this one also ordinance number 8 2024 ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 2011 vehicles in traffic of the code of B of SE roll call to carry the ordinance council members Bieber yes helano yes Warman yes K yes L yes and yes all right we have Ted ordinance eight 2024 we're moving on to individual action vur in the amount of 54743 and 31 can some please make a motion to approve the v m Bieber yes yes Gman yes [Music] ker all right the has been approved all right the next one is resolution number 72 2024 introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget before vote make some comments on a carefully prepared by our CFO M on tonight's agenda the V Council will be asked to introduce the 2024 Municipal budget the budget will vote on this evening on this evening reflects a slight decrease in spending as compared to 2023 like everyone else the bar was impacted by increasing costs and general economic impacts items of note in the 2024 budget include an increased health insurance cost for employees as a result of another increase the state of New Jersey benefits program toing approximately [Music] $60,000 um a new appropriation of $30,000 int to focus on recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters ENT and a onetime appropriation to funding ordinance in the amount of $241,400 using teal Surplus as an offsetting Revenue in spite of this the B's projected tax rate will decrease by 14.14% or 6.5 down from 45.7 per $100 of assess value in 2023 to 39.2 per $100 of assess value4 the budget recognizes the expected requirement of department heads in 2024 and includes funding for The Replacements also the r council is confident that the department heads and governing body will continue to work closely 44 to improve revenues and reduce costs to continue to borrow his own history of Municipal tax rate stability the public hearing on this budget will be held at a regular meeting on April 16th [Music] 2024 second all right this is Introduction of 2020 School Municipal budget roll call council members Bieber yes hanano yes Gorman yes killer Yes Mia yes and yes all right we introduced the 2024 Municipal budget next up is resolution number 73 2024 self-examination of BU budget someone please make a motion to adopt the [Music] resolution Council memb Weber yes yes bman yes killer Yes L yes and Lexi yes all right we've adopted resolution 73 2024 all right so we are up to Mayor and Council comments would anybody Council here anybody I'll fire away real quick the the beach had do grass P thing everything went well it was quick uh we got 3,000 plants in the ground and helped out Frank uh he helped out setting it up and um we got a lot of um Doom fence installed uh recently so uh we're still working on access points that got covered up that should have been there uh but we're working with Greg to get that all fixed up um we're going to start repairs on access points we got that approved at the last meeting um other than that all right coun anybody else mayor just a couple quick things on behalf of the administration committee um we have uh been made aware of a number of retirements in the town of our senior leaders Jo is retiring very shortly and the council has gone through a process of looking at candidates identifying a replacement and that new business administrator will be starting in April and Joe thank you for the outstanding work to the town for the last 10 years more will certainly come on that and also Trish Spar our Treasurer has announced her plan to retire as well after Decades of service to the town and from an Administration perspective first of all we're very proud of these people who are leaving the town in very at hands but it also represents an opportunity for the town to sort of rebuild and reshape our leadership team going forward so we're excited about that and also greatly appreciate the great work of leaders that we've had for many years thank you than anybody [Music] else sure on the more than the E which is north beach the roadway I think we should try not just try but U have a sit down with d to see what options we have to remove the storm water sewer grates from what will be the bik lane on each side on the east side it should be fairly easy on the west side it's going to involve modications to the side but I think removing those strong rings from what will be the bike line is very important because uh I've spoken with even the most experienced bike riders sve out to avoid those grains and we talking about waving the it's expanded by the D it's only going to be maybe 3 ft wide and scooting out into the what would be the travel Lane could be very dangerous so I think yeah I could gone to other places and take some photographs there is a way to set those storm drains back so you have clear yeah we bring up put on our agenda when they go to Res that's right to do it now so when they come in go to service and see if they can include that option in there I'll let you know what what the answer are here right thank all right from that I'll say progress um we do have an executive session coming up and unlike most meetings we may take action afterward so I'm do we go to the or we need to Okay so we are going to come back out and we may take action afterwards but in the meantime I'd like to uh ask the anyone to make a motion close session all right counc M yes yes yes l I'll talk to youing the week see you yeah whatever you want to do