of the United States of America to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with Li and justice for all roll call Mr shf here Mr Franco I'm here and Mr cabera I am here comp to the
open public meetings act chapter 231 public W 1975 the notice requirements have been satisfied as to the time place and date of holding head Me by posting notice of the meet of this meeting time change under the bolon board bur Hall and by mailing and emailing say to the
herald of cman County and the Press Atlantic City on February 16th 2025 in the event of an emergency the emergency exit is the back door our front left your back right or just by the American flag um this meeting is
being shown live here today just want to do a sound check with Vicki and be good to go all right uh on the Burrow's YouTube channel and also streaming live on the Burrow's Facebook Channel um if you uh want to make a public comment you're more than welcome to call into
the uh the meeting while dialing the access uh phone number 888 363 4734 and when prompted you're going to enter the access code 969
9020 followed by the pound or the hashtag any event you watch the recorded version of this meeting and would like to make a statement or comment you're more than welcome to uh telephone our clerk at 609 729 804 or you may email
her at kerk Wild press.org speaking of our clerk M of mar we have an introduction of ordinance yes sir we have an ordinance and it reads as follows an ordinance to establish cap bank for calendar year 2025 pursuant to
njsa 40a col 4- 4514 motion that ordinance number 4448 be passed on first reading and advertis according to the law regarded for second and final reading public hearing on March 12th 2025 at 9:30 a.m.
motion second yep motion second it has been moved in second that ordinance number 1448 he passed on first reading advertised according to allw re brought it for second and final reading in public hearing on March 12th 2025 at 9:30 a.m. roll call Mr shiff yes Mr
Franco yes Mr Caba yes next we have the resolutions the first is authorizing introduction of local budget of the burrow of Wildwood Crest County of Cap May New Jersey for the fiscal year 2025 I'll motion I will second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing
resolution be adopted roll call Mr shiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes next is authorizing certification of compliance with the United States equal employment opportunity commission's enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest
and conviction records in employment decisions under title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 motion I will second it's been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes
next is authorizing a shared services agreement between the burrow of Wildwood Crest and the k County Municipal Utilities Authority to review sign submit the 2024 annual recycling tonnage report I'll motion I will second it has
been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Cabrera yes next is authorizing expenditure for pool system service contract under es C NJ Mainline
commercial pools at the not to exceed sum of 27,000 for the public works department motion second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes
next is authorizing the appointment of health insurance brokerage consultant for the year 2025 as a professional service contract without public bidding motion second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr
Franco yes Mr cabera yes next is authorizing certain appropriation transfers motion second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Cabrera yes next is authorizing expenditure to
purchase Beach boxes for the beach under State contract motion second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr cabara yes next is exercising option to extend
one-year extension of contract for Crest bicycles LLC for bicycle concession number three at Heather Road for bicycle rentals only Barrow concession agreement number [Music] 2021-topcon
yes Mr cabera yes next is exercising option to extend one-year extension of contract for Dr Bradley's Bike Rentals LLC for bicycle concession number 8A at Rambler Road for bicycle rentals only
burrow concession agreement number [Music] 2021-22 core logic motion at second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr shiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr cabera yes next is authorizing resolution number
2567 Which authorized the appointment of one class one police officer to be rescinded in totality a motion I'll second it has been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr shiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr
cabera yes next is accepting the 2025 2030 Wildwood's Urban Enterprise Zone development plan and authorizing its submission to the Urban Enterprise Zone Authority board motion uh will second yes it has been moved and seconded that
the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr shiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes lastly is authorizing increase of contract in the amount of $ 17,9 9994 to Huber Inc for Kabota tractor for
public work motion second it has been moved and seconded that the forgoing resolution be adopted roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr cabera yes motion that all bills properly authorized as submitted be paid second it has been moved and seconded that all bills properly
authorized as submitted be paid roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes thanks chge you're welcome okay brings us to uh our reports we'll start with uh Captain Deo
morning Commissioners Chief's on his way back from a trip so you guys are stuck with me for one more week so I apologize in ADV um before I get into uh some highlights from the the report that the director of Public Safety I just wanted
to take a a quick moment and address um a question that was that was raised during the last meeting in regards to the on boarding of two members of the police dep Department um there were some questions that were raised by one of the residents in terms of um when those officers were brought on
board when they were hired full-time and uh it was his impression that we weren't going to hire any additional full-time staff in 2025 so I know that the commissioner uh shift had addressed some of those questions during the um during the commission meeting
however I had a chance to talk with with uh Mr Marino after and offered a little bit more clarification to him and I felt it was important that we share some of that information with the general public so everybody has an understanding of of what transpired during that iron process so in August of 2024 the police
department received support from members of the governing body to enroll uh two recruits in the full-time residential Academy um both those officers were hired and entered the academy with the intention of them becoming full-time members of the department however as we recall at the time we were having some discussions internal discussions around
the structure and composition of the police department so those recruits entered the academy under two separate classifications both were employed by the wild press Police Department throughout the academy however again like did went through with separate set classifications and statuses um by
January 2025 we were able to come up with a plan for the future of the department the structure and and the composition of the department and we were able to amend the status of the second officer that was that was hired and went in to the academy in 2024 we had a ceremony in January um of
2025 just to formalize the appointment and to um celebrate their achievements and with their family and their friends so while I understand that there might have been some questions and you know seeing the Facebook post from our uh swearing in ceremony there might have
been questions in terms of when that person joined the Department um I just wanted to clarify a little bit so that we can understand both parts's position so I understand that that Mr Marino had an impression from seeing the face book post that that officer had been hired and on boarded um in January however you
know understanding commissioner shift and the full backstory of that process I think we can see that that officer was joining the department and hired in the department in August of 2024 um so hopefully that helps to clarify a little bit of that information and bring everybody on the same sheet of music as
we move forward so that um we can put the bed that that question um that's all I have on that topic for the month of January for the director of or the report to the director of Public Safety um the police department responded to 1,13 calls for
service um 40 I'm sorry 477 of those calls required multiple officers to respond we conducted 19 criminal investigations 195 service calls including alarm citizens assist fires medical assists and school related
activities um we also deducted 219 uh traffic deleted calls for service including 105 Motor Vehicles stops with 23 traffic subes issued there were 302 property checks conducted and 480 training hours we also had six adult
arrests during the month of January that is all I have from the report to the director unless if he has any questions thank you I'm good thank you K thank you thank you anybody from the public right um next up Lieutenant a
[Music] he just wants to reiterate everything to C just cover everything so well all right Mr CS does it get old with you you had good morning body
Administration uh reports for January while press Ms we have 50 calls of service uh 17 transports two refusals 29 uh standby with fire uh one medical uh
and Mutu we went to wa once North waa in lower Township which is lower Township Diamond Beach uh three uh we uh been benefiting from this file Life program we've had a lot of inquiries I appreciate the the governing
body support as well as uh Brien if our PI for help get us that information out so if anybody has that uh will be out there we've had people come to our building uh which is nice I been see since I've been there but come in blood pressures check and we've had phone
calls people just asking us to come over to their house and uh do that so that's that's been good uh and off emergency manager I commend the governing body for uh sorry for giving homework uh guys thank you for that support uh in regards administration because there's some
things that we're uh getting back into play that I haven't done in a few years so uh regards OEM uh obviously meteorologists are 99% of the time wrong so we're having an early meeting you know because the original so we always continue to monit and the support of all
the department heads regarding OEM has has been fantastic uh I think get to train and continue myself and the deputy and that's all I have for my Phil thank you for sorry I just want to thank you for keeping us informed it
seemed like you were texting us calling this every day we don't get too much to do and I mean it's a good sorry it's a good thing uh that we don't have that much and again emergencies happen whether it be weather related or you know incident like we had uh we just never know so you
know unfortunately this burrow is is is prepared but there's things that we've all agreed to find that we need to just improve and that's that's what we're doing taking this and taking that wrong and moving up one more for you more for the public the more information the better so I appreciate it go just to the
public knows um the meeting today at 9:30 was changed from 5 as a result of the forecast cu Sunday and early Monday the forecast was not looking good at all so to meet the notice meeting notice requirements we had to make a decision
by Monday morning or Sunday night so the decision was in the interest of safety obviously to move the meeting to today so I just want to make sure for the record that everyone understands why the no agree that's what we put that out there too to make sure because I know uh you know I'm sure people were you know going to come in at 5:00 but you thanks
to Patricia's Guidance with that that notification I wasn't aware of that which now I'm man that there's that 48 hours notice that has to be done especially at 9:30 if you're going for the 9:30 a so and I think and Mr Crips also sent us our homework which I believe we all took and passed right do we get a like frame certificate or
something with that it it should have been emailed we get it larger three boys right yes three probably that to go into my personnel file go to like you said it's it's what's been
done in the past uh and next meeting meeting uh I will be submitting the EOP is completed an Emergency Operations plan uh that the state of New Jersey had a grant done we had a company come in a third party did a phenomenal job assist us as well as County's local EMS and EOP
is officially completed uh it's up to dates will be sent to you folks the governing body for signatures uh and then uh once that then you guys can submit that into the resolution thanks thank you sir pray for
yes okay have a need a motion for acting a minute for reports reports motion all reports received from the court administrator Chief Financial Officer tax collector chief of police supervisor for the recreation department construction
official fire prevention emergency service coordinator for the EMS and the wildest Volunteer Fire Company chief for the month ending January 31st 2025 be accepted as presented second it has been moved and seconded that all reports
received from the court administrator Chief Financial Officer tax collector chief of police supervisor for the recreation department construction official fire prevention emergency services coordinator for the EMS and the Wild Crest Volunteer Fire Company chief
for the month ending January 31st 2025 be accepted as presented roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes motion to all minutes from the commission's meeting dated January 22nd and February 5th 2025 be approved as
presented second it has been moved and seconded that all minutes from the commission meetings dated January 22nd and February 5th 2025 be approved as presented roll call Mr Schiff yes Mr Franco yes Mr Caba yes okay that brings
us to the engineers report Mr deasio okay thank you uh couple capital projects to update the Commissioners on the Bayside bulkhead replace a flood mitigation Improvement project is going on hot and heavy as you can probably see by the uh the uh work site and the
contractor mobilized out out in the site at this point uh the contractor has completed all the underground storage system piping and has uh substantially started to complete the bulk replacement on primrose Myrtle and sweep Brier we continue to try to accommodate um the
public and the property owners as best as we can in this invasive uh type of construction second item is the DCA fiscal year 23 small cities program Municipal Building bathroom Improvement project as you can see out in the hallway it's ongoing the
contractor is currently working on the drywall and finishes and uh so far so good no major issues in that project the fiscal year 24 do reconstruction of Toledo Avenue is uh proceeding on schedule and acceptably
the contractor is working on the replacement of the sanitary sewer water service and uh concrete curving in various stages in the project that project is scheduled to be completed in time for the summer and last item although not in the
report I just for the email over to the mayor and to Francine uh Congressman van Drew has opened up funding applications uh Federal funding opportunities similar to what we did last year for the two flood mitigation project so that's a
discussion topic for us to ident ify a capital project and um submit that to the congressman that is my report sir any questions of our admin excuse me of our engineer great job
Mark public any questions anybody on the conference line uh so I just want to just touch base on the on the second part under Grant applications the board wall preservation fund um so just uh just to keep it on everyone's radar so
um we received Francy correct me if I'm wrong 1.1 million roughly round numbers for um the Improvement of our fishing pier um along with that um what we were also discussing this uh
the Army Corp D do because originally um and I'll talk about this here a little bit later there was some dollars allocated for through aert credit if we were to move forward with that project now that there's dollars from the state that credit or hard construction dollars
never materialize in fact it was my mind kind of res sended uh as part of the the project so so here's where we are we have 1.1 sitting in this Boardwalk reservation fund we have the open space that's waiting for potentially an
application from the burrow to to uh re to renovate the existing Pier or potentially build a new one now the the current design takes to Dune if we were to move forward underneath this the current Pier which
I'm not sure is a good idea or would work for this municipality nonetheless I just want to make sure everyone knows going forward that we have this grant money we have until 2026 um to use up those that those funds from the from the preservation Boardwalk
preservation fund but in the meantime we need to start thinking about okay if we're not moving forward with the project or if we are how are we going to handle the fishing pier cuz that's that's something that's um is Spook with public works there is some uh you know
the dunes the dunes there are wet and they're eating away at the uh you know the the wood because the wood's been there since I think I'm going to say 2006 that's the original construction when we revitalized it appear almost 19 years ago so um so something we're going
to have to address in in the future but I think we just kind of take it day by day as we see how the D do unfold okay U anything else there Mr basio no let's go on to um correspondence
there's been no correspondence um discussion items under nothing listed under new business uh under the bicycle safety bike path uh we had talked about that um again we're we have a a caer permit that we're looking
for potentially down the road a larger scale project um we are looking at but maybe there's maybe there's some uh those uh I forget what you call it the what's what's the name of that paint you talking about that Thermo
thermop plastic yeah maybe something on there we'll remove the old the mileage markers that Recreation had put on there maybe there's something that can be done there 250th birthday committee uh I don't believe we had any more volunteers although we did have a presentation yesterday at the Arts Pavilion by Rita
rothberg at one over very well uh she spoke about the Kate May County uh during the American Revolutionary War and also the Battle of turtle gut which took place at Miami and New Jersey Avenue in that in that area uh Municipal app is is a budgetary item old tourism
building use um I believe we when when the 25th bids bids bids are due in on uh February 25th Historical Museum is on hold uh concession agreement Hotel b beach chair is on hold traffic calming I
believe that's part of the uh the ibank program in terms of improving some streets um we do have some dollars allocated for some blind for some uh pedestrian crosswalk striping and so forth so I'll coordinate with Public Safety to uh help us determine which
areas uh could use some use some attention uh Back Beach excavation there so a part of the Army Corps Pro program was to uh uh low uh raise the back part of the beaches by the bulkhead and slope it
towards the back end of of the Dune um so that project would not be happening if we if we do not move forward with the Dune project however um in meeting with Public Works our CFO and Mr DeBlasio we believe that under the current um under
our current Beach maintenance permit we can do this work in house um and I believe Mr deasio P between engineering and Public Works you're going to kind of survey it and uh put some flags up there so the Public Works can move the
sand pursuant to our beach maintenance permit to the back beaches to to help raise those areas and hopefully save maybe a quarter million dollars correct so we have to survey the beach anyway to provide an updated annual survey to comply with the D's uh permitting
requirements as part of that process we're going to coordinate with uh Steve and Public Works to stake out those areas so that the backp can be filled yeah I think Stanton Stockton and faragate are the worst areas if I can remember remember the lowest areas as I
recall yep so more more to come on that but we have we have some time they'll start moving St around before the summer time Mark I'd like to thank you for staking out the uh Heather Road for the Dune system and people have gone there to take a look at it so I think it was
very effective and I appreciate that it helped out a lot good thank you on the visual especially for me and there's a on that note there's a drone video coming as well that'll kind of capture capture everything that we've been talking we can sit up here and talk about it all day long and read words on
the paper but for most people including myself I'm a visual person you kind of kind of want to see it absolutely uh all right New Jersey Avenue infrastructure pre- County I know uh CFO Springer is working on a uh capital projects Bond and that is one of
them public Works roof Mr Shear how are we doing down there public works roof on the interior portion of the work now okay next year done all right any any idea when when they're going to be done originally it was I think it was going to be the end of January but I
know this be done I think we're eight working days left for them to complete okay all right uh Washington CV Beach fall outfalls in capacity uh that's that we're still waiting on the official word from uh our grant writer
ERS and the FEMA um okay so let's uh the Army Corps D ding so we had talked about that uh at the last meeting um I'm going to I'm going to go back and kind of do my best again to to summarize where we are um
there's been a lot of news articles there's been a lot of meetings there's been a lot of emails uh from the public from the state from the Army Corps so I just we we we are at a position now where where we we as municipality need to need to make a decision as to what
we're going to do so um the there was a state aid agreement signed ballpark 2001 based on I think it was the 60 or 65% plans as the details came out in the 95% plans after an engineering review after we all had a chance to review it
after surveying it after seeing and hearing the the negative effects of taking this the width of our beach and and making smaller as a result of um them taking the sand from borrow areas A and B uh
and C um we met with the state on 2 I'm sorry December 16th 2024 we met again about two to two two and a half weeks ago here in this room um they made a presentation to the municipality we did not get a chance to ask all the
questions we sent um uh all of our questions to the state which they responded to um hopefully everybody had a chance to to review that I was up actually read read most of it again last night um there are some things that um
that I don't think we got the answers that we were looking for I think there's some things that um are still kind of open-ended um the biggest takeaway that I think the state offered was that they were they they committed to not taking
sand from borrow area C which is the bar area almost back to the V beaches so I don't believe they would have had to take sand there anyway because our concern is is taking sand from marrow borrow area A and B which is basically
in the water and to visualize it roughly almost to the first platform of the fishing pier if you're using that as a kind of like an a visualized you know point of reference so it would sign it would no doubt significantly shrink our beach and
that's we had the beach survey by Mr deblasio's uh surveying crew and that uh affirmed um and confirmed our our belief that the that the beach would in fact be getting smaller um the DP says hey uh
we'll come back in every four years you know we're going to renish this thing we potentially may have to do a similar project um to keep taking sand down to North Wood and also to keep your Dune intact we asked the question well you know where's the money coming from they said through Congress Congress said if
there's no money allocated by Congress then there's no money available to renourished beach which in the end will come back to our taxpayers so I think it's uh I think it's safe to say we all share the same concerns I I go back and continue to
reiterate the points that Wildwood Crest has a dune system Wild Crest has a beach that's 1,00 to 1500 ft wide depending on C certain areas um while Crest has great Ada access where folks that that have disabilities or just need to push a
stroller or what have you down to the beach we spent millions of dollars to do that with the help of grant money um and I quite frankly I think that the public enjoys the beach exactly and a residence exactly the way that it is right now so anything without any formal
guarantees by the D or the Army Corps um I don't think works for for the Min for the municipality I think it would be risky for us to to move forward uh on a project without those guarantees so in the meeting that we had
two weeks ago um although I thought the email was a little Loosey goose in their response we asked the question what would we need to do in order to not move forward with the project and correctly from own men they said you just need a
resolution right they just need you just need a resolution so um I think that if there's any concerns we should we should talk about it now if there's any anything in favor of the project we should talk about that as now um if the decision collectively and I I
think based on body language and the questions asked I'm not put words into my fellow commissioner's mouth but seems to me that the buau um is not interested in moving forward and and we should be looking potentially at the next meeting putting a resolution on the book formally U withdrawing from the state
aid agreement and from the project so that said I'll leave it up to my governing body members to make any comments I agree with you there mayor um I I'm fully against the project um and I actually have to say
the correspondence we received from residents I I haven't seen any that are in favor of this project if anything they all been uh negative towards having this project move forward so um they're also our constituents which we have to
listen to so I haven't met anyone that's in favor of it and I agree with them so I'm not okay have to agree with that um after going through all the that one meeting and then looking at the uh blueprints ourselves and finding out
that it wasn't what it was supposed to be and there was changes in there and I think it will affect our community um I'm quite in favor of not moving forward with it although the only thing that I'm concerned about is the D coming back
against us with other projects I think we have to be prepared for that situation to happen because uh for a reaction there's a reaction and I'm concerned about what that reaction will be for our community but at this point right now I'm 100% with uh my fellow
Commissioners that we need to just say now your concern would be retary yes sir ralat yeah and I think we all have that in the back of our mind well and and I I I it's definitely reality I think that the D if they look back of
you know wild crash has always been um playing within the rules uh since I've been here there's been some human error and that we've been trying to correct and work through uh I.E the beach the D area but nonetheless far as
long as I've been here we've always been you know a great partner with the D so I don't I'm hoping that hoping that continues that way that wouldn't be the case but nonetheless uh just something to be aware of that's all that's all I'm just saying but I agree with you that's that way yeah and then the uh he said
one of the things that uh some of the things I just want again bring forward is is that the back beaches we're going to have to address ourselves with the with the sloping compl bur Beach maintenance per permit and inh housee cuz that was one element and then the aspect of the lert credit um for the
fishing pier so basically the fishing pier we're going to have to deal with on on their own originally when we signed the agreement there was supposed to be aert credit and and again I'm going to use round numbers I when we calculated it we thought it's it's going to be
roughly two $2 million right so not going to be able to do that so we may have to downsize you any upgrades or improvements to uh to to the fishing pier but um that that pretty much this this this the or DP will have nothing to do with the fishing pier so um so we
have our peer it's definitely um something that we need to put on the radar and U we talked about at a capital being going eony see how things play out okay so Madam clerk I think uh safe to say at the next meeting we would like to um have a resolution on their
formally withdrawing from the state agreement very good okay um last on the agenda is on the under old business is um burrow Hall Renovations um Mr Blu had recommended uh
an architect I believe there's a a meeting this Friday to kind of talk through and just like overview the project and then assuming that the governing body board with uh when he puts together his approv wants to put it together one of the things that I think is important
is to have what I'll call department head meetings with the architect so everyone can talk about what what where where they're missing they do they need storage they need space all death space do they need another bathroom or whatever we need we just need to build
it into into this plan um and I think um the structural report we never move forward with that too so I guess part of this will be the structural if can any can this go handle any more weight or not I thought we did we do that we had asked for that but I
don't know how far that went or I think uh it went as our last architect was supposed to be doing that it went as far as a walkth through and a draft proposal but then it stopped yeah because I remember the walk through and while we're on this topic I'd like to thank public works for uh helping the police
Department started rearranging and they've done a great job on the floors and some of the rooms that need work on it that we appreciate that okay all right uh that's all I have for uh under old business any Gover body
anything else you want to go over talk about no Mark if you can just shoot me over the numbers for that whenever you get a chance for the for this project for the for the evaluation yes I know we did one a few years back but I don't
know if that has changed and if we're adding anything or subtracting anything I know there's a safety issue that commissioner ship brought up so I I definitely want to address that but um the overall scope of it I like to see the the actual figure at the end so what we'll do is we'll have our preliminary
conversation I guess Friday and then determine the next steps which would be do we engage the architect to do a preliminary assessment or we going to jump in and do the whole assessment so that's going to be the decision we're going to have to make cuz I'm unclear on what exactly is being I think everybody
is right at this point to if it's I know it's if it if it's this side or police side or both or whole building in my understanding it was going to be the whole building okay well X here we're going to go back police side is is to get rid of some of that
choppiness CU it is so we so we'll flesh all that out Friday but my understanding is we were going to look at the whole building interior and exterior and if there were any spatial needs that we were going to discuss potentially using the area in the rear and and build
new yeah I know I know when I think part of the process is as we go through it I I'm I'm personally aware of storage issues um chopping this over on that side the exterior though the brick you can see the cracks you can see the roof is uh in bad shape yeah part of part of
the previous discussions were looking at going back in I guess the parking area where the police are and building a new building as an addition to where I guess there's a a shed there now or storage building and creating space there that's why we were supposed to redo the parking
lot but we held off on that because we didn't want to repave and make improvements and come back in and hack it all up and then that kind of died so yeah I think the need is to assess first and then see what our costs are to move forward on it eliminate the part maybe
we could uh no there stage stage it out right so there was there was a bit there's a a building there now I think it's storage and some weights are in there The Conversation Piece was in lie of trying to build a second story on this building which has its challenges
both structurally and inconvenience wise to actually utilize that space I'm sure everybody is familiar with when you build new it's easier than renovating right so the thought was if there was if there was I don't want to bring that one up again so if there if there was a
spatial need instead of trying to Patchwork something here maybe it might be more cost effective and in and convenience effective to build something new outside of the building and then connect to the building so those are all the conversations that would be spurred
with the architect that building would be faster just knock it down and build a new one right as opposed to like trying to put a second story on this building and ripping HVAC equipment off andx more a
th% to go unless AA cuz you never know what you get correct a box okay thanks so Mark can I ask you who's the who's the architect do you have one yet the architect that we
recommended is uh Jerry Blackman from OS okay I I don't know I'm not aware of them but thank you I just wanted to know who it was appreciate it all right Gover body any other questions comments old business new business any all right all right we'll go to public comments we'll
start with anybody here in the audience just come on up to the podium we just need your name do not need your address nothing all right anybody in the conference line have any public comments all right hearing
done commissioner comments yeah I'll go first all right uh going back over what the captain was talking about I feel there's a need uh to respond to questions about public the public safety budget and particularly spending on the police department and in
the interest of transparency I'd like the community to know that the public safety budget accounts for the Volunteer Fire Department EMS Services Beach Patrol traffic maintenance County dispatch Services municipal courts and of course the police department the
police department accounts for a little over half the public saf budget uh allotted which is consistent with years past the public safety budget Services the largest burrow Workforce of all three Commissioners and ensures that lifeguards are on watch throughout the
summer season officers are out patrolling our streets firemen and Es e EMS uh respond to our calls for help and our roads are kept safe the budget had addressed hiring retention concerns through the Departments equipment to
meet today's needs and those of tomorrow as well as many other factors that elevate safety through our town we have heard various percentages and dollar figures string around during the uh past few meetings but I want to point out that each department budget is agreed to
by all members of this commission and vetted with public with the public as we are preparing to do so once again and uh has remained stable and consistent throughout the years we are we are on track for yet another modest increase of
of our 2025 budget with less than 01 C increase which is unbelievable I have never exceeded the funds allotted to Public Safety during my time in office and I've worked alongside my fellow Commissioners to ensure taxpayer funds
are safeguarded and wisely spent I am proud of all my departments and will continue to support their efforts to keep Wood Crest safe and I appreciate the support that I've been hearing from the public about how things are being run Francine and I appreciate your work
and everything you've done to help us continue to stay within our budget and also to keep us in line with our taxes I'm very proud of that and especially of you and Trish you do a great job too thank you and Mark I forgot you do a great job too so I just thought I'd
thank everybody thank you what about me uh you're okay we're still working on we're still working on I thank you're right here for our budget it's all good uh just to piggy back on what Commission Shi said the budget was introduced tonight uh today and and we're under a
ping as commissioner shiff said so which is fantastic in my opinion uh so if you own a house that's uh $650,000 your increase will be about $63 uh that's 16 a little less than $16 per quarter which in my opinion is
phenomenal because your services are uh continuing to be uh stable and not go down and um my fellow Commission the appropriate cuts to get to that uh percentage uh with the help with Francine Trish and all the department
heads so um I think we're we're doing a hell of a job with uh our funds um and uh after looking at all that I that's all I have I know we haven't uh adopted it yet it takes a few meanings to do that but I'm satisfied with uh with the
budget so congratulations good job okay uh so first of all uh congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles and all their fans I was one of them till midnight that night yeah I I'm sorry to interrupt you
but I remorse not to remark about Brian K son who scored a th000 points last night I just wanted to make sure that the community was aware I thought that was uh very good I always find that is just early uh an outstanding job I'm
sorry to interrupt sir that's um and I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day and the President's Day um with respect to the budget yeah I think um um one of the things that I always look for is is the amount of surplus that we use and the amount of
surplus that we put back and we are holding firm and with the same Trend that we've been doing over many recent years roughly 50% goes into towards the budget and we're regenerating almost the equal equal amount um so that tells me
that uh you know public work or public staff department heads um are not using every penny of their of their you know what's allocated in their budget which is good so they're tightening your belts there was some cuts that we had to make to get to uh under uh under a 1 cent
increase uh for this time Francine um had a gun in my head and he said start making Cuts with a red pen so superintendent sheer and Frankie Bazil um you can get add at me later but I did make some cuts um as commissioner I think we
did it's all so uh but thanks to the department heads thanks for thanks to everybody um one of the great things about this municipality as small as we are is um we do work together and we we do have fiscal responsibility at the Forefront of of our thought process I.E
the the dun Pro dun project um that said uh I don't have anything further U next meeting will be uh March March 12th 12th and we adopt the budget March 26th at at 5:00 p.m. March 26 anybody wants to speak about the budget come on out Francine and our auditor will be here to
answer any questions as well as the govering body all right entertain a motion to adjourn uh motion a second All In