of this meeting of mayor council was sent to the Asbury Park Press and the co-star our official newspapers and posted on the bulletin board of the missible building. Take roll call. Councilwoman Kenny >> here. >> Councilman Delasio >> here. >> Councilman >> here. >> Mayor Donovan
>> here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Please remain standing for a moment of silence for our troops, their families, and our first responders. We'll move on to workshop. We're going to do some things a little bit differently uh today. Um, first though, I'd like to thank um our newest burough
administrator, Mr. Joe Veroni, for being here with us tonight and for helping us right now in this period. And >> I have to say, I've had multiple conversations, I think, with everyone in this day about what a pleasure it's been to work with you as a professional and to have you on staff. So, thank you very much.
>> Four days, >> incredible. Um, okay. So along with uh Mr. Veron, I'd also like to welcome Mr. Michael Baskam who's not here tonight, but who is our financial consultant and who I have task
to focus on four main areas beyond examining our general overall spending. And those items are water sewer utility, itemizing the beach utility, opportunities for improving our procedures, and the office of the tax collector. So, in regards to the office
of the tax collector, because I've been receiving a lot of questions about this, but um first I want to say we've had a professional in since last week working with us and she is working on a sizable bulletoint list of items. So,
uh, those include reconstructing our tax lean related records, reviewing items for accuracy and appropriate posting and status, communicating with our leanh holders and our taxpayers to respond to current and past inquiries that were not previously addressed, preparing records,
um, and addressing any other tax matters as they may arise. So, we're very happy to have her working with us. Um, as well, I also want to say that yesterday I met with our auditor along with Mr. Veron and Mr. Baskam. And I just want to say this because I've been getting a lot of questions and I want to be really
explicit here. We've not yet found any evidence of wrongdoing, but certainly we found many areas for improvement in our procedures, in our management. However, if we have any evidence of any wrongdoing, we will of course
immediately report it to the authorities. So, if anyone has any further questions on that during public comment, please or reach out at any time. So, next I'd like to go through our agenda just to make sure everyone understands what's on it.
So, on the consent agenda, we have our uh resolution authorizing our payment of bills and our resolution authorizing our refunds. The next item is a final payment to the library facade project. So, congratulations to the library.
Um, next we have a resolution authorizing the support of bills to reduce our sales tax on set the main street bridge closure. So this is in support of A4425 which is uh sponsored by Assemblyman Keen and Assemblyman Schnall in the assembly and its
companion bill S3709 which is sponsored by Senator Gopal and Senator Singer. So these are bipartisan bills which would provide for a 50% sales and use tax for retail businesses impacted by for instance the upcoming bridge closure. So this is something that's really
important for our main street businesses because of the impact these projects have on them and I would urge anyone listening to reach out in your support for these bills. Uh next uh this is just a standard piece a resolution authorizing updates to the
signatures on our borrow checks from the former mayor and administrator. Following that, we have a resolution just affirming our shared service with the county to maintain our tax maps. We have some special events coming up. The these ones on this resolution are for
the McGovern Challe 5K on October 3rd. And then a couple events I wanted to bring to your attention anyway that are sponsored by the American Society along with the environmental commission um which is the river signing which is a great event for kids um and adults. Uh
but it's great. It's in August. It's $10 per participant. I encourage you to look it up. And we also have two wedding proposals coming up. So hopefully no one's googling their own names and seeing what the names are on those. So good luck to those couples.
Um and our ordinances, we have our bond ordinance for the 6th Avenue sewer replacement project. This is to cover about a thousand linear square feet of 1,000 linear feet of the sewer main and associated laterals on Sixth that where it turns onto South Lake Drive, then up
South Lake to B Street over to 7th and B. Then we have uh we're just updating our water sewer utility language so that it reads correctly to water sewer collector and not the municipal clerk.
And we have our bond ordinance. If uh you remember we brought this up before and tabled it. This is the final product of a lot of negotiations. But on that bond ordinance we have scanning and permanent files. We have police department equipment including the two Durango, various improvements to
the DPW building. uh turnout beater for the fire department. There was reurfacing and drainage improvements to sixth a that's covered by a DOT grant. Resurfacing 8th Avenue from Ocean to D along with drainage improvements and some landscaping that's covered by a
$1.3 million DOT grant. Replacing the municipal roof, which I can personally attest is leaking, and some matching funds for the Shark River Basin grant that we are participating in along with other towns and M County. And finally,
we have two ordinances at the bottom. These are ordinances that are promoting transparency and cooperation between mayor and council and of course ultimately to the residents. So the first one says that any applications
made for a development uh must be submitted electronically to the burough clerk and then promptly sent to council. They say that the zoning officer must create a monthly report and share it with council and that the burough attorney must make quarterly reports, thank you, Mr. McIll, to the governing body about any pending litigation and
that the burough engineer must also make these quarterly reports. Um, my goal here is that there shouldn't be surprises, particularly not to council up here. My general theory of government, everyone is that it's a team
project. everyone on pier is bringing skills and perspective that are really crucial. Um, and no one should be bogarding information. Um, but also importantly, um, we have to be able to make informed decisions and that's going to, uh, severely impact our ability to
do that if we're learning about litigation or proposed development live on the day. So, that's what that's for. Um and hopefully what you'll see is um with improved communication is just an improved government for all of you. Um
and finally the last one is an ordinance that clarifies that twothirds of our governing body can vote to remove the burough administrator. So if anyone has any questions or anything on that, we can talk about it during public comment. Um and now
quite a long list, so thank you for bearing with me through all of that. Um, we would like to just talk a little bit about items that could appear on our next meeting. We have potentially a draft resolution to amend the land use permit fees and a draft ordinance to create a merkantile
license late fee. And actually, um, what I would love to do is ask our burough clerk to kind of explain a little bit what the reasoning is there. >> Sure. Uh for the land use permit fees, currently we charge varying fees for
different types of projects. It's a zoning permit for the zoning officer to review. And it's his recommendation that we charge a fee for resubmissions because what he's seeing a lot of times is architects aren't familiarizing
themselves with our ordinances perhaps and they'll submit an application. the zoning officer will deny it for various reasons. They'll resubmit. They don't address all of his questions or comments and then sometimes it's even been a
third or fourth submission. So, he was recommending that there be a second fee for additional reviews. Um, I looked at what um, our fees are
and sorry and came up with a suggestion of >> Yeah. So, I went with the the lowest fee that we have is $50. So, I thought that that seemed like a fair uh plan review
fee for a resubmission, but open up to suggestions or feedback. >> Is that each resubmission if it does turn into three or four every time they resubmit? Don't pay that. >> Um, that's up to you. We could do that
that way or it could be just um I think Councilman Blasio had suggested that maybe the second submission is included in the initial price and only charge the fee on like the third or fourth submission. Yeah, it's common to get general feedback from the engineers or
zone of officer with, you know, adjustments to plan and put them in. And if you don't get it right the second time, then let's let's pay the fee on the third or fourth. And it shouldn't be a repetitive fee because the comments are pretty um they'll be repetitive if you don't fix what's on there or you
create a new issue with with your plans. Uh you'll just keep creating other variances. And you know, as a professional, you should understand the rules before you submit to. >> That's my question, too. They do get they do get comments back when you when you submit plans saying this was wrong,
this was wrong, this is wrong, refer to so and so ordinance or etc. >> Okay. >> And then the other item, so that would be a resolution to set that fee which we could put on for the next council meeting. And then the other item was an
ordinance to amend the merkantile licenses for our businesses. Currently the ordinance reads that fees are due in uh December by December 31st of the
prior year. Um and then there there's that's it. And what we're seeing is uh we ran into an instance where co um last year we had several businesses that didn't pay and we're in the summer months and they still haven't paid and
so code enforcement issued some summones and one of the businesses questioned um where does it say they have to pay by a certain date. So my suggestion and it's it's becoming
an issue where we send out the renewals, a majority will pay within the first month or two and then there's always about 10 to 20 that we're continually going after throughout the year. Right
now there's currently 10 that haven't still haven't paid for this year. Um, so looking at some ordinances from other towns, they do charge a late fee and um, so the what I was recommending was the
fees would be due by December 31st. If you pay within the first 30 days of January, you'd be charged a $50 late fee. And then if you pay anytime after that, it's a $100 late fee. And I just felt it would be a bit of an incentive
to get them to file timely. >> When because I'm a business in town, I should know this answer. When do the actual merkantile license bills go out? It's around the holidays, right? Or December. Typically, it was um in the last few years, um it was
recommended that the renewals not go out until January, but re-reviewing processes with our new administrator, new finance consultant, we can go back to the old way where we would send out notices in November, letting them know
that they have till December 31st to pay. And then one of the other changes in the ordinance was just something minor. It said that um in it shall be the duty of the chief of police and the license officer
to um determine that they are in complying with the ordinance. I don't know who we don't have a license officer. So I just changed that to code enforcement. Any other questions? >> Right. Do we um at this point we can close workshop. Do we have any petitions?
>> I did not receive any petitions. Uh having no petitions, then we can move on to approval of minutes. >> I have a motion to approve the minutes of the June 23rd meeting. >> Motion. Second.
Counciloman McKiny. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delasio, >> yes. >> Councilman >> yes. Mayor Donovan, >> yes. >> Can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the July 6 special meeting? >> Second. >> Penny, >> yes.
>> Councilman Delasio, >> yes. >> Councilman >> yes. >> Mayor Donovan, >> yes. >> Mayor, can I just say one thing? Did you want to review the the committee nominations council seat? >> No, our plan is to do that in the next
meeting. >> Very good. >> Thank you. >> Now report to council. Council President Kenny. >> Thank you, Mayor. Okay, so couple things coming up this week. Sand castle contest is tomorrow uh July 15th up on 18th
Avenue Beach. So come up and check out all the sand castles. Tomorrow is also the Belmar lifeguard tournament in the evening. Belare is hosting I think nine or 10 beaches that starts at 6:00 p.m. That's at 10th a beach. I plan on being up there because we had to rescheduled
this a couple times last week. So it should be a good night. It's going to be hot. Come out and support our Belmar lifeguards. They, by the way, came in second on Monday, last night at the Bradley Beach uh lifeguard tournament. So, it's exciting. Uh the junior guard tournament is Thursday in Belmar on the
6th Avenue Beach. That starts at like 9:00 a.m. That goes about until 1:00. So, come out and support all our junior lifeguards. Uh a couple other things around recreation. Fall soccer signups have start started. So, if you want to sign kids up for soccer in the fall, um
we had to reschedule the Luckenville performance that was at Taylor Pavilion over the storms. Um this this the July 7th show is postponed and has been rescheduled to Wednesday, July 22nd at 700 p.m. at Taylor Pavilion. Friday night concerts on the plaza is
Little by Little this Friday at 6 p.m. at Piano Plaza. And then next thing I have is that the next Shade Tree Committee meeting has been cancelled for July. It will be held uh second Thursday of August. Um that's that's when the next meeting will be and that's all I
have. >> Thank you, Council President. Councilman Delasio. >> Okay. Uh on planning board, we haven't met since our last meeting. Uh we will be meeting Monday on the the 20th at 7 p.m. That's when we will uh review the reports to council regarding our reports
to planning and our planning board engineer and planning board attorney regarding our uh department head meetings and our up to how we're going to update the master plan. It'll be a pretty big discussion on Monday night. Uh as far as the harbor commission, we also haven't had a meeting, but there's
been a lot going on in the harbor. Uh we had issues on July 3rd with the heat and the train bridge rail bridge not opening and then in combination of that the power going out there were a lot of boats stuck in our inlet. We luckily you know saw a lot of people getting off at
the inlet um on on the Belmar side of of Terrace Road. Uh so that was great that these people were getting off the boat but the boats were stuck there till about 700 p.m. 7:00 a.m. the next day. Um, however, tomorrow there is another scheduled train bridge closure from
12:00 to 8:00. If you go out before 12:00, you will not be coming back in until 8:00. So, that bridge will be closed from 12:00 to 8:00 tomorrow. Uh, that's a report directly from the transit from New Jersey Transit uh, regarding the heat uh, that it will not be able to operate the bridge. Um, and
then lastly, I just want to announce that we did get the part for the Lake Ko valve. It was installed two days ago. Was it finished today, Billy? >> It was finished today. So, let's just uh give a round of applause to our DPW getting a part. And some further
discussions on that valve and what we can do in the future to be uh more prepared for this uh potential issue. Uh that's all I have for council. >> All right. Um the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission was scheduled to be here earlier in the month. um but they
got rescheduled because of the rain. Um they're coming back on the 20th. If you did have an appointment, they will contact you if they haven't already. Reach out to them. But there are additional appointments. So if you need a real ID, registration, renewal, title, duplicate title, anything like that, they'll be in town on the 20th for that.
I don't have the times though. >> I do not know. They does say that they opened up new ones, but I don't know if they've been full since we got that correspondence. >> And that's all I had. >> Thank you. Um, if I could add on to the conversation about the New Jersey Transit Rail Bridge, I was on the phone
with both New Jersey Transit and with a representative from the governor's office. Um, because what we've heard and I've been hearing for years now from our our captains is that it is not enough to get an alert the minute the bridge is closing. we need to know as far enough
ahead of time or ideally not have the bridge close at all. Um so what I asked of them was to try and have some type of standard operating procedure so that we know for instance if the temperature reaches a certain height uh that we know
to start to alert our captains that the bridge closure is a possibility. If we have certain number of days in a row of a certain level of heat, we can do the same thing. Just something so that we have something in place. So again, fewer surprises. Um we're also looking into
seeing if we can get in place something less ad hoc so that if there is an emergency, if people are stuck east of the bridge that they're not either stuck out there or disembarking onto private property. Um but we have something in
place potentially for them. So we are working on that. We would love to make that happen for our boat captains because it is their it's their life. it's their business. It's how they make their money. Um, and it is incredibly critical to our marina. So, um, that is
a high priority. Um, again, I just also want to say thank you. It's been a very, very busy first week. Um, I've met with I got to have breakfast with DPW. I've spoken with Chief Scott. I've spoken with most of the professionals in our office who again, I just want to say are
incredible people. Um, they have been working so hard for all of us. that is all of the women in our front office, our DBW, our police, um all of our department heads. So, thank you all of you for everything that you do. >> Okay, mayor, can I back to the train
bridge? Um I feel like I've never heard of this before with the heat. Is this like a new injury to our train bridge? Is this something that is like a a deteriorating problem with the train bridge that we need to be worried about like the Main Street Bridge? Like, I'm a little concerned. >> Those are really good questions. No. In
fact, there are reports, and I mean this is what I'm getting from our captains, that um years ago, don't ask me how many, they would actually use fire trucks to water down the bridge. Um when I asked about that with New Jersey Transit, they said that because the
number of bridges that are out, they just likely don't have the capacity to be there all day continuously spraying it down, which is what would have to happen. and they had a bridge just a few weeks ago that was stuck even after doing that for at least two hours. So,
um that's why we're looking into other problems. But the other thing here everyone is that um this is not a one-off. It's not once a summer is increasingly frequent every single summer. And the other thing I will say too is that he did mention that that bridge is slated for repairs if not
complete replacement um at some point. So, I did not get a timeline for that. >> But these are really important conversations to have and it's really important that all of us are advocating for Belmar and for our businesses. So, again, I mean, I thank you to our boat
captains. They put up with so much, but they contribute a lot too. So, >> thank you. on to public session. >> Anyone has a comment or question about a resolution on the agenda, please step forward and remember to state your name and address.
>> Barry Luben for um 15th Avenue number one. the railroad bridge for pleasant beach got the same notice >> because I still get info from them. Number two, I would like you to discuss. Okay, fine.
the first time on as a member of the zoning board. Um, first time, okay, I agree that there should be a penalty for that third, but when you're dealing in
architectural fees and all that, is $50 even worth it? Just a thought. >> Any other comment or question? All right. Seeing no further comment, we can close public session and move on to
our consent agenda. >> I have a motion to close the public session. >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Can I have a motion to approve the resolutions as listed on the consent agenda? Motion.
>> Second. >> Council McKini. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delasio. >> Yes. Council member Moroni. >> Yes. >> Mayor Donovan. >> Yes. >> Next, we have second reading and public hearing on ordinance 202613.
This is a bond ordinance providing for the 6th Avenue sewer replacement project appropriating 720,000 and authorizing the issuance of bonds. This is open for uh public comment if anyone would like to speak on this
ordinance. I have a motion to close the public hearing motion. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> And a motion to adopt ordinance 202613. >> I'll make a motion.
>> Second. >> Council McKenna. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delasio. >> Yes. >> Councilman Moroni. >> Yes. >> Mayor Donovan. >> Yes. Uh next we have ordinance 202614. This is an ordinance amending and
supplementing chapter 29 water sewer utility. This is open for public comment if anyone would like to speak on the ordinance. >> I have a motion to close the public hearing. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor?
And a motion to adopt ordinance 202614. Motion. >> Second. >> Councilwoman Kenny, >> yes. >> Councilman Delasio, >> yes. >> Councilman Moroni, >> yes. >> Mayor Donovan,
>> yes. >> Uh, next one is a revised ordinance 20269. This is a bond ordinance providing various capital improvements and acquisition of various capital equipment appropriating 2,833,920 and authorizing the issuance of
1,357,332 in bonds. Do we have a motion to offer for first reading and introduction? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Counciloman McKenna. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delasio, >> yes. Councilman Moroni, >> yes.
>> Mayor Donovan, >> yes. Next is ordinance 202615, an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 40 and amending uh various sections of chapter 40 pertaining to certificates
and permits, powers and duties, burough engineer powers and duties of the department heads and the of the and creating a procedure for re review and comment. Do we have a motion to offer this ordinance for first reading? Motion
second. >> Council McKini, >> yes. >> Councilman Delasio, >> yes. >> Council member Moroni, >> yes. >> Mayor Donovan, >> yes. >> And last one is ordinance 202616, an ordinance amending and supplementing
chapter 2, article 3, section 13, department heads and subordinates. Um subject regarding the office of the burough administrator est establishing the conditions upon which a burough administrator may be removed from
office. Do we have a motion to offer for first reading and introduction? >> Motion second. >> Counciloman Kenny, >> yes. >> Councilman Delasio, >> yes. >> Councilman >> yes. >> Mayor Donovan, sorry. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Uh, now we're on to the regular public session. If anyone would like to speak, just please remember to state your name and address first. >> Anita Buckley First Avenue. In 1999, 1990, Congress passed the ADA law and
the Belmore Public Library is not ADA compliant. Um, I see that we're giving them $10,000 more dollars to paint the outside. I don't understand that. And last night they approved $30,000 for I don't know. I'm completely ignorant when it comes to instruction and engineering
and everything like that, but for something that seems to me like they're dragging their feet. They need an ADA bathroom and they need an ADA entrance. And I just don't understand it. And I just want everybody to be aware of that. Thank you. >> Thank you.
I'm happy to reach out to the superintendent and find out where they are in that process. Thank you for your comment. Good evening, Linda Shares, 4th Avenue. Um, this week on Facebook, I saw a post that included our logo on a third party
provider. U, our logo is very special. It isn't, it hasn't been constructed for other vendors to be using our logo. And likewise, we the
logo on the Marino Marina is far from a a far cry from what we what it should be if they're kind trying to duplicate the logo. And I'd like to bring Susanna, the found the creator of the logo, to talk
about the restrictions and what the logo means to our town. And it was implemented in 2012. Phil, >> Suzanne, um, Fifth Avenue in Belmont. I just want to say, first of all, thank you for all
that you do. I know that you're all so busy and you all have your own lives and thank you for everything you do on the council and as the interim mayor. Um, >> as mayor, mayor. So,
Linda brings up a good point um about the logo. I designed the logo in 2012 and I designed it around the time of Hurricane Sandy. I also had the logo copyrighted and then in 2017 I had it
trademarked. I did this because the the administration at the time they weren't moving to go ahead and copyright the logo and we started seeing it just like Linda said on different things. Um at
that time I created visual guidelines. I'm I have a business of branding and you know design conceptual design and so I went ahead and created a visual guideline uses for the logo non-uses and
um a term for the the an industry term would be to not bastardize the logo. Okay. What Linda is talking about with the Marina sign is we're not sure who designed the sign, but they went ahead and changed the wave. The wave is
resting on the word Belmar. And they added Manudi Marina, which it looks like it was just maybe put on with some decals at that time. Um, the other thing that Linda is talking about is the use of a
the logo by a third party vendor. In 2022, I created a partnership with the um when Mark Walsifer was mayor, his administration to we have a partnership with the use of the logo. I don't get royalties for the logo. I
give Belmar free use to the logo. The only reason why we did this with the partnership was so we can police it just for these reasons and policing it in terms of you yourself would could send out a
letter to this third party to then say you don't have permission to use this logo and it's been done before. Some people had wanted to use the logo on their Facebook page and they misrepresented themselves
by using our logo when it's not an official Belmar website, Belmar Facebook page, Burrow. I'm speaking of the burrow. So, it's not official. And so we we created that partnership in December
of 2022, which is prior to the last administration with Buck Fusco as mayor at that time. And I'll just introduce myself to you, Mr. Veroni, because as a business administrator, since 2012, I
have been designing the logo and volunteering to design it for so many uses in town. And I want to extend that out to you as well because number one, I love our town. I want to beautify our town. I created the
logo and I just would love to have the opportunity to continue to serve my the logo is I served on the and I'm sorry to go on about this, but it's very important. I served on the um beach
committee after Hurricane Sandy with the um Matt Dardy's administration when he was mayor and I designed the all the signs that are on the boardwalk on the Howard Roland building. I designed the logo and the the type. I I actually did
a portrait of Howard Roland. I did the basketball court. This rug here, this, you know, everything that you see the logo on has had my hand in it and volunteered it to the town. I also created the Shade Tree Committee logo. I
also designed the Belmar Women's Club logo. All this is in volunteering. So, I ask if you have any questions going forward and I would just ask for your courtesy if you would include me because I have designed it. It's copyrighted and
if you need any additional support or any projects going forward, I would love to volunteer my time and reg if you need any information of how we can police this logo. I would love to work with you in order to make that happen. So,
>> thank you and thank you for for your time on this. Um, a few things actually. Uh, one, I know we've spoken about the importance of making sure that local uses and guidelines unfamiliar with that process and I think it's really important. Um, two, I think, uh, that
that letter in question was someone we were partnering with. I don't know if that's a gray area, but three, um, I'm happy to sit down with you and our attorney. I know there's, uh, a lot of questions about trademark law and we can discuss it and what the proper use is going forward. Okay, that would be
great. >> Thank you. So can we clarify because the initial portion was very confusing the the Lou environmental letter that goes out. I received one for for my two family and you know called them and paid. Are there other for other for people that get that
letter? Are there other companies that they can hire? Do they have to use the person that sent that letter? I'm going to give it like your car hits 36,000 miles. You get a letter. It looks like it came from GM. It's not from GM. It's from the guy that wants the extended car warranty, right? Do you know, you don't
have to use that person. It looks very professional. So, I do feel it looked very com It came from us and it didn't. It came from a third party. I understand we had a partnership. I'm not saying you have the answer, but All right. >> Yeah. Um, yes, we have a partnership with them. Yes, you can also use an
outside vendor, but then they I believe have a $20 fee. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Simple. And if anyone has any questions, please contact the office. They're happy to answer them. >> Any other questions or comments? >> You're Dean Kremer, 4th Avenue. Uh I'm
back on the U water border sewer bill. I guess uh you know, we get what four of them a year and try to make it less of a a letter bomb. Um, I think there's a way that uh that
we can tackle this to at least reduce uh the sewage char the sewer charge. Uh, number one, the way we're organized, uh, we have a a water utility, we have a
sewer utility, but we don't have a storm water utility. And uh what I'm advocating uh is the creation of of an storm water utility to try to shave that sewage
charge uh which is excessive. Um I did check with the South Mouth Regional Sewage Authority and uh got numbers for the year 2025. And in 2025,
uh, Belmar senta 331 million gallons of, uh, waste water to be treated. Uh I also uh over at uh our
sale of meter water here in Belmar and um I had gotten that number and that was uh 183 million. So, um, the way that things
are working out with the bill is that when you buy one gallon of water metered from the town, you pay you're paying for two gallons of water being sent to the sewage treatment plant. Um,
one way perhaps of cutting the right number should be you buy a gallon of water, you pay for a gallon of disposal. Okay? And that's why we have the seniors upset about the uh about the water bill. We're getting
charged for two gallons of disposal uh instead of just paying for the one gallon that we purchased. uh you really can't do much with the price of water. That's a commodity. Uh and yes, it's going to increase in in
cost as time goes by because of chemical salaries and and so on, but you could sell the water utility and certainly New Jersey American Water Company would be, you know, willing to purchase that.
Nobody wants to buy a sewer utility. it it's a loser as far as money is concerned. U there's no way you see us now we're allocating millions of dollars to realign sewer pipes and and and so
on. One method of approaching the uh approaching this problem would be the establishment of a storm water utility. And we do have direct costs that should be charged uh directly to the storm
water utility uh including the $65,000 that we paid for the uh lake pipe. Um, and we're probably going to, by the way, the A Street pipe, which has a similar U
check valve on it. Uh, that that's I checked that the other day. We had five inches of rain and you could see the plume running off into the river that >> I believe the A Street line is is one way as opposed to the Lake Como one, which I think is two, but I might be
wrong about that. I'm correct. Fantastic. There are two different types of valves. Excuse me. The Lake Como valve is two-way, which means it's letting water in and out. The one in a street is only one way. So, you can only go out down
Silver Lake down a street and into the inlet. >> I believe the Lake Como pipe, at least according to the authorization, is a check valve, which likewise is a one-way
valve. Um but I I can't correct you but um in any case we have a growing storm water uh issue in this town. Um I don't think we have to worry about future
development with these big projects. you know, 300 three acres over at the repetitive property and and the other one west of Main Street here because they have to comply uh with the
U MS4 municipal storm water for NJD regulations. Uh so so that that infrastructure cost there will will for those bigger projects. Unfortunately
the MS4 regulations have a regulatory threshold and the town you know the town has been dealing with this for years. uh basically it's turbidity cover and um the MS4
regulations I believe the regulatory threshold is disturbance of a quarter of an acre and mostly home refilling and so on that's going on here east of Main Street is uh
doesn't come up to that regulatory threshold. However, if we had in place a storm water utility, uh that would capture and bring it up through the same hyper standard
reduction of impervious cover and and generation of some funds in order to make those payments. Um, and the uh storm water utility uh is is
getting very popular. Most municipalities uh don't think about passing a storm water utility until they have fatalities. And unfortunately in New Jersey, that's that's what we're seeing. I did u
first I checked with the city of New Brunswick. uh they have a ordinance that they pass which involves a lot of uh tax exempt property uh including Ruckers
University. Uh then I um I also checked uh New Jersey Future and uh they had put out a
a model or and uh to be adopted by other municipalities or counties in in the state. And I'll just read you what it says of at the end of it here.
It says, "This model storm water utility ordinance was researched, written, edited, and finalized by members of the of the Flood Defense Coalition, including the New Jersey Le League of Conservation Voters, New Jersey Future
Association of New Jersey Environmental Commission, and Ruckers University." Um, I'd like the mayor and council to take a look at this and see whether we could adopt this
a strong order utility. >> Thank you, Mr. Kramer. Um, I know there are some more people who want to comment so we can continue this after they have. But what I would like to do is if you could share your information with us. Um, either if you have paper copies or if you could email them. Not only can we
share it with council, but I can share it with Mr. Askum who is um looking into issues like this. But I agree with you. The the fact that we are processing so much storm water is is wasteful. And that's why it's really important that we're addressing our infrastructure to
to try and do it with that and save us all money on our utility bill. >> Okay. Fine business. Can I give this to your administrator perhaps to >> I'll share it with them. Thank you. >> Share it with them. Thank you. And >> thank you for bringing that up. Hi, Kathy Dior of 217th Avenue of Mayor
and Council. I wanted to address the car rally from last night. Um, I'm wondering if we have any information about who the organizers were. >> I'm unaware of the car that was last. >> Oh, okay. Well, it was a pretty big one.
>> Um, I saw two police cars go down towards Ocean Avenue. I'm on the corner at 8 Street. Speeding, speeding every car. No one's stopping at stop. >> My apologies. I was notified.
>> Okay. I'm sure >> I didn't know either. Were they gathering at 7-Eleven like they're not supposed to be? >> I did go down there because there were so many There's, as we've said before at these rallies, there's a playground, there's
young families walking. So, I I can I'm just going to interrupt you right there because we do follow social media and we have been following them and uh I literally have Instagram on my phone just to follow these people. I don't follow anybody else on Instagram,
>> but these car um enthusiasts as as they call themselves. Um I was unaware of it. I usually get a notification um on my phone. I and I seriously had nothing last night, but um I will look into it because usually we'll get the notifications. We'll call in extra
patrols. We'll call in, you know, the parking um authority people to do the parking officers, sorry, to do the parking along Ocean Avenue. Um I was unaware of it. So, >> it was not as large as other ones, you know, and I and I know you've, you know,
been looking in Instagram before and, you know, we really haven't had, you know, too many, but >> this when I saw the two police cars go down, >> um, I was surprised because usually what happens is one of the police cars will come on B Street
>> and stay there and the presence alone will stop make them stop stop a little bit of their racing. Um, >> I will absolutely look into it. I don't know why I wasn't notified that this, >> you know, we have we have people who are are visitors who don't know that there's
these rallies going on. They're walking with young children. They don't know that those cars aren't going to stop. You know, it's really We've been very lucky. Other towns seem to be able to, you know, I know they've had the team
popup rallies. This is different, but we don't want, you know, anyone to get hurt. Okay, thank you. >> I'd also like to comment that I think part of the reason we have been quote lucky is because Chief Scott has been on top of this for the past couple years. We really have been cracking down. So,
yeah, we might have missed this one, but I think overall you guys have been really trying to stay on top of it. So, >> 7-Eleven. >> You know what? I didn't go down. I didn't go down that way. I just stayed where it was because I know how fast they're riding. But it looked like
that's where everyone was going cuz there were cars parking in front of my house. >> Unfortunately, we can't stop them from parking on Ocean Avenue or on >> No, but the speeding and going through the stop signs, that's that's against the law. So, that's that's what's scary.
I don't care if they want to show off their cars. That's their business. But you can't be speeding down our streets. It's not right. public comment or questions. >> I have a motion to close the public session and adjourn the meeting.
>> Motion, we have a come on up. >> Thanks. >> I think this will be quick. >> Hi, my name is Debbie Kinsley. I live at 5121 13th Avenue. And I just three things I wanted to quickly ask. One is
there's been a lot of construction on my block and we're a narrow block and it's a oneway. >> I mean I have a picture here from July 2nd after 5:00 of the size of a vehicle parked you know on our block. I think we
really have to consider some kind of controls after July from Jul for July and August on construction number of vehicles parked on the streets. It's it's a safety issue >> because there like there's construction going on on my block and there's eight
vehicles, eight business vehicles and you can't even get out of your driveway to see uh you know other towns have this and starting with July you know only maybe inside work is allowed or some kind of
controls with the vehicles. I mean is this something that we could consider because I know my neighbors they're also asking about it. We've been like inundated with this. >> 13th AB does have a lot of construction. You're right. Um I don't know if we can outlaw all construction or limit it to
indoor. >> I'm not against that. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for some controls like you know when there's eight >> construction vehicles on the block in July. That's a problem. It's a problem for your guests. It's a problem for the
people on the street. It's a problem for us getting out of our driveways. And it's also a courtesy I think it's a courtesy issue. >> I think certainly what we need to do is very much focus down on parking on in the townwide level. Um and we can put
that on the list. We're considering we're moving forward with making a parking committee. So we can happily add that to the list of considerations. >> Yeah. I I don't I'm not saying we should shut down construction. I'm saying there should be some limitations
on what can be done in July and August >> or isn't there an ordinance overnight for commercial vehicles >> overnight? >> Oh, you're not talking about overnight. >> Well, no. One of them was there overnight. And it it's just, you know, you pull up. Okay, I'll give you another example. In January, you know, I you
know how much snow we got? I I shovel right in front of my house the whole area so my brother and I can park. And they come with all their trucks and start pulling up. They don't pull in the driveway of the house they're working on. Like that's just rude. I mean, that is just not neighborly. And
you know, I just think that we need to have some a little bit more courtesy to the people in the neighborhood. >> Thank you. I understand. And thank you for coming down. You must be really frustrated. >> Yeah. This has been going on for me for like two years now. and and I'm really
now I'm like after the July 3rd which was a federal holiday and people are working on the federal holiday that really shouldn't be happening. I mean that's another that's another thing is there's no ordinance because I I called and asked that says they can't work on a federal holiday. I think that's
something you guys should consider. Like it's like a Sunday. You know, you can't work on a Sunday. Maybe you shouldn't be working construction on a federal holiday, >> especially when when they fall in the summer >> when you when you have all the people
here for the beach. >> Okay. So, that's my first question. My second question is I had asked the former tax assessor this question about reassessment and like they said something about 10 years but we haven't done it. What's the
stories of that? >> Then the next assess we're on the 10-year program. A lot of the towns in Mammoth County are annual. Um and our next assessment is coming up next next year. >> Okay. Okay. Because then my next question is on the taxes. How do I find
out more about like our real estate taxes? Because I feel as if we have a lot of new construction in this town, but the people who have been here and have older houses are paying a lot of money. And when is it going to get sort of spread to these new homes? I mean,
>> that is a question for the tax collector or assessor, but it's all based on a tax rate. And we got schooled in that in an executive session, and I can honestly tell you, I glazed over after. Like, it's very involved. But I'm sure he'd be happy to like explain the formula to
you. But it's a it's there's a right there's like >> I got understanding of it. But you know I'm I'm very surprised with the amount of new construction we have in this town that >> Oh, there is a formula and you I'm sure he'd be happy to explain it to you.
>> Then then my question is what are we doing to cut costs? because the park costs are still rising as much as they are and we're we're adding this much more more uh you know uh buildings in in this town. The numbers just don't seem
to make sense to me that they're not spread right. I mean I don't you know I don't know but I'm asking the question like what how do we keep our costs at a reasonable level with I think adding new construction is one way you know you add
more ratables you should be bringing in more money and that's why I'm saying if we don't reassess how do we how do we gather that money back you're you're assessed every time you do a construction project anytime you improve your home you are reassessed and you get um an increased rate whether it's an
special assessment and then it's tacked on to your taxes for the following year as one new assessment. >> So, it's a reassessment of the whole of the whole home. If you put an addition on your own and you were not assessed in 8 years, that whole home is going to get
reassessed as a whole. So, you you're basically, you know, giving yourself a new assessment by doing the the renovation project. So, new construction is assessed as new construction whereas the house door is not. all the new construction. It's not covering the cost of of
>> Again, there's a tax rate that does compare your lot to your lot to your lot to that big building. >> I'm talking I'm talking just general math like with the amount of new construction we have. Okay. And the amount that things go up, >> why are things rising so high with the
amount of new construction? >> That's my question. That's a good question. Um first, the major projects aren't up yet. So, so that's point one. But point to the reason our tax bills are going up is a large percentage of that is actually our health care costs.
So um we have our we have at this point more retirees on our health plan than we do active employees. And for those retirees, we're not only covering them and their out-ofpocket cost on Medicare, we're
also covering their spouse and their family. And that Yep. And that extends um even after even if they pass. >> Okay. So here's my question which which is which goes back to the to the beach, right? Does some of our beach money go
towards that? Because those positions were for partially for the beach. >> Not not really. No. Most of the majority of our I I appreciate you thinking outside the box. I do. Um so a few things though.
Um, one, our beach utility has to be spent on the beach. The 90% I I made that number up. Let me make it more clear. Um, most of our beach staff are seasonal employees. So, they're not going to be on a retirement plan. They're not going to be on a health plan
in general. Um, what we have to do, and that's why I t our our our new financial consultant with looking at this, is looking at our spending. Where can we um reallocate funds? where can we streamline our spending? Um, and what are our
opportunities to lower costs for the bureau? So, it is a priority. I understand your concern. We're all taxpayers up here as well. Um, and I will keep updating you as we go along and we find out more things. >> So, so for example, like Chief Scott said, okay, we have to deploy more more
overtime or people if these people are gathering at the beach for their for their things, right? Their car things. to me then that cost should be going from the beach fund and that a portion of the people that we hire. I mean I'm just I'm taking you down the
path of >> No, I I appreciate that but like again the beach utility is very tightly regulated and overseen. Yes. >> But I do think that this town is spending money because other people are coming into it for activities.
>> Yes. And and if the beach fund is is the reason they're coming here is for our beaches, obviously our marinas. So if this is a, you know, maybe we should be trying to get more out of that because maybe that could help our costs. That's all I'm saying. >> Thank you. >> Just asking.
>> Yes. >> I mean, I think the same was this gentleman was asking about the sewer which I think listen anything we can come up with. We only have a fixed amount of revenue. So you know, like how do we cut our costs or spread them better? That's what I'm asking. I'm just asking like I like to stay here but you
know my taxes went up an awful lot last year and I really didn't expect it with all the construction we have going on here. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Yes, >> Johanna Robinson, 9th Avenue. I just
want to piggy back off of uh what Mrs. Dioro had mentioned about the popup cars. Um, I just happened to be having dinner yesterday over at the anchor and I don't think it was a formalized like popup, but the amount of cars that went
through driving through the main street and the noise that it made was just ridiculous honestly. And um I've seen a few things that are concerning to me about 8th Avenue. Um the other day just walking down the street um you know
people coming down Main Street making a quick right onto 8th Avenue. They almost hit you know a gentleman and his two kids that were crossing the street and he flipped out about it. So I don't you know I know they were talking over the
years about doing something as far as like lights and things like that over by the senior building and like 8th Avenue, but 8th Avenue and 10th Avenue, you know, eventually somebody's going to get hurt. So, I just wanted to get some
feedback in regards to where we stand as far as hearing from the state or whoever deals with the 8th Avenue project because that's been several years, more than several years. >> So, one project I know we're working on is pedestrian safety and traffic at the
transit village, which is 8th Avenue where the senior building is. So, uh, Mr. Orson, I don't know if you have anything you can input, not to put you on the spot. I know you've been working on that. Uh, do you have an update because this is all about pedestrian safety on 8th Avenue, which is where you're talking about.
>> Sure. So, from Bain Street to Route 35, that that corridor, um, the burrow had been notified some time ago that DOT had a pedestrian safety improvement project there. Uh to complement that project, the borrow applied for a transit village
safety improvement project which would connect that crossing down West Railroad and over to the train station. So we're working with the DOT to better define who's going to do what and when, right? Because they had already had a project planned. We have grant funding
associated for that project. Um we had a meeting with DOT about permitting. Um and so that is that's the that's the update. We're waiting on the next meeting with the DOT to improve that location. In addition, in the overall plan for what the DOT had provided the
burrow was to take a look at the intersection with Main Street as you're heading uh away from the railroad heading east to um shift the center line over slightly, make enough room to uh create two formal lanes uh which would
then uh help with um traffic configuration. So you could set it up and have a straight left um and a right only or conversely do left only and a straight right. So those are the things that are that the we're working on with
the DOT. The other thing I wanted to point out with the trans with the the DOT's project improvement, they're moving we're going to they their proposal was to move the the crosswalk about 50 ft to the east and move it um
so it's um in a better location. Right now basically you run into 10th Avenue. So it moving it over to the parking lot area makes more sense. But then there they wanted to narrow the lanes down, right? So right now you've got almost
two lanes and you have some parking. They want to throw it down so it's only one lane in each direction which means the pedestrian has less distance to travel but it's going to impact traffic. So we're looking at that pretty closely to see what are the best options.
>> That was DOT that wants to do that. >> Yes, that's the the concept of what the DOT wants to do included that throating down of that that location. So, like there's one parking spot in front of 10th Avenue Burrito, that would go away. >> Um, but by making it one lane in each
direction and not have people kind of funnel through there, it's safer because you only you have more protection. You don't have to cross >> get rid of the angle parking in front of angle the anchor and all that. >> That would still all be there. >> Oh, it's only the east side the east side eastbound kind of lane.
>> Correct. And I think there's probably one spot in front of the beach house that lost. So, um, we want to make sure we're communicating all that to to the mayor and council, um, so that you're aware of it and we get we may need a public input session from the public to
get some more information about what it is we at and the burrow want to have the DOT do. >> Okay. >> The other question I have to that being that there will be development with the Russo and Repi, are they taking that in consideration? You're going to have far more traffic feeding into 8th Avenue
also. So 8th Avenue isn't that wide. Like they really need to look at something that's going to support that because you're going to have a lot of traffic coming in. And 10th Avenue also like those are roads that we really need
to look at. And that's those two entries brings everybody into Belmar. >> It's like the main threshold, main throwway, you know, in regards to that. So, um, so West Railroad, that location runs one way heading south. So, um, you
won't see there'll be increased traffic on 8th Avenue. I'm 100% agreeing with that. But what I'm trying to say is that people are not going to be able to come out of there of that development, come on to West Railroad and turn left and go to 8th Avenue. And they're they're also
reconfiguring the parking. Um, the the planning board approved it. I believe the council is considering a resolution approving it to reconfigure the angled parking um and make parallel parking and and also um create more of a help us
with our pedestrian path is the best way to put it so that we can get people from uh from 8th Avenue including the senior center over to the train station. So it's improving uh that thank you for your feedback. Thank you mayor. Thank you council for listening.
Any other questions or comments? No. Close public session. >> A motion to close the public session and adjourn the meeting. >> Motion. Second. All
>> in favor? I