to the Coastar, the official newspaper of the Borough of Belmar, and the Asbury Park Press, and notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board and the borough's website. Take roll call. Councilman Donavan. Here. Councilman McKennon. Here. Mayor Buckley-Fusco. Here. Councilman
DeBlasio. Here. Councilman Maroney. Here. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Please remain standing for a moment of silence for our troops, their families, and first responders. Okay, thank you. And tonight we start proclamations.
We have three. The first one being Public Service Week. Proclamation for Public Service Recognition Week, May 3rd through the 9th, 2026. Whereas Americans are served every single day by public servants at the federal, state, county, and municipal
levels. These unsung heroes do the work that keeps our nation working. And whereas public employees take not only jobs, but oaths. And whereas many public servants, including military personnel, police officers, firefighters, border patrol officers, embassy employees, healthcare
professionals, and others risk their lives each day in service to the people of the United States and around the world. And whereas public service include teachers, doctors, scientists, train conductors, and astronauts, nurses and safety inspectors, laborers, computer
technicians, and social workers, and countless other occupations. Day in and day out they provide the diverse services demanded by the American people of their government with efficiency and integrity. And whereas the public service at every level can uh
continuity would be impossible in a democracy that regularly changes its leaders and elected officials. Now therefore, the mayor and council of the Borough of Belmar do hereby announce and proclaim to all citizens that May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 is Public Service Recognition Week. All citizens
are encouraged to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of government employees at all levels, federal, state, county, and municipal. April 28th, 2026. Thank you. Uh let's go to Building Safety Month.
>> [clears throat] >> And thank you. Uh Building Safety Month is May 2026. Uh whereas the Borough, Borough of Belmar, County of Monmouth, State of New Jersey is committed to recognizing our growth and strength depends on the safety and economic value of the homes, buildings, and
infrastructure that serve our citizens both in everyday life and in times of natural disaster. And whereas our confidence in the structural integrity of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and fire
prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, design professionals, laborers, and other and and others in the construction industry who work year-round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are
dedicated members of the International Code of Code Council, a US-based organization that brings together local, state, and federal officials that are experts in the built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes to protect us in the buildings
where we live, learn, work, worship, play. And whereas these modern building codes include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as hurricanes, snowstorms, tornadoes, wildland fires, floods, and earthquakes.
And whereas Building Safety Month is sponsored by International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our communities' largely unknown protectors of the public safety, our our local code officials who assure us safe,
sustainable, and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity. And whereas Get in the Game and Celebrate Building Safety is the theme to Building Safety Month 2026 encourages us all to raise awareness about planning for safe and sustainable construction,
career opportunities in building safety, understanding disaster mitigation, energy conservation, and creating a safe and abundant water supply to all our benefit. And whereas each year in in observance [clears throat] of Building Safety Month, people all over the world
are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community. And to acknowledge the essential special essential service provided to all of us by local and state building departments,
fire prevention bureaus, and federal agencies in protecting lives and property. Now therefore, the mayor and council of the Borough of Belmar, County of Monmouth, State of New Jersey do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Building Safety Month. Dated April 28th,
2026. Thank you. And I'm going to do the the next one, which is the 57th annual Professional Municipal Clerks Week, which is actually May 3rd through 9th. Whereas the office of Professional Municipal Clerk, a time-honored and
vital part of local government, exists throughout the world. And [clears throat] whereas the office office of the Professional Municipal Clerk is the oldest among public servants. And whereas the office of Professional Municipal Clerk provides
the professional link between the citizens, the local governing bodies, and agencies of government at other levels. And whereas Professional Municipal Clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and impartiality,
rendering equal service to all. Whereas the Professional Municipal Clerk serves as the information center on functions of local government and community. Whereas Professional Municipal Clerks
continually strive to improve the administration of the affairs of the office of the Professional Municipal Clerk through participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, and the annual meetings of the state, provincial, county, and international
professional organizations. Whereas it is most appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the office of the Professional Municipal Clerk. Now therefore, the mayor and council of the Borough of Belmar recognize the week of May 3rd
through 9th, 2026 as Professional Municipal Clerks Week and further extend appreciation to our Professional Municipal Clerk, April Claudio, and to all Professional Municipal Clerks of New Jersey for the
vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication to the communities they represent. Uh I'm going to continue on this vein and I'm going to ask April to join me down in the front along with the rest of the council. We have a very
special person in our midst here tonight and I want to let all the residents know. I was able to attend a a ceremony along with uh the AKN on on Friday of the uh Municipal Clerks Association of New
Jersey. And I'm supposed to This is not the plaque that we came up with. We just took it off April's wall to show her. But um what it says is um April has been appointed or designated the Municipal Clerk of the Year.
So let's give April >> [applause] >> in recognition of her dedication and professionalism to the office of Municipal Clerk. And I know she worked very, very hard uh to get this. She takes all kinds of classes and we really do have a star in our midst and I don't know what we would do
without her. So congratulations. >> [applause] >> And she actually had to say a few words at the event, which she was not prepared for. One more time. If you want, you can, but you don't have to. Okay.
And I'll present this to you again. And I have the vehicle there. Okay, we're going to move on to the workshop uh discussion. The first thing we have is the filming ordinance. Uh New Jersey Film Ready.
Uh we were given a proposed ordinance. We already have an ordinance and April went to uh to a lot of extent to compare our two ordinances and we just have to discuss it and see what it is we want to do in terms of that.
So I know our ordinances go back to when we were worried about reality television shows filming here, which I don't think is as strong of a worry nowadays. I'm not really worried about the real world filming here. Not that I would want that.
Um My understanding of the ordinance itself is that it includes not just it's mostly guidelines but it also includes suggested fees and rates that would be then uniform against around all of the towns who adopted this
ordinance. Um to me that has its pluses and minuses. The I don't love that we're being handed guidance with uniform fees across everywhere because I always think Belmar is worth more. But I know if we set our rates too high,
we don't get this film ready designation. Uh that being said, there's also things we have to know like I know you have to put in like 10 locations in town to register as film ready. So we would have to agree on what those 10 locations are.
Um and for me as well, anything that would become official, if we were as a town approving filming, I think we would have to be very intentional and particular about where and when. We wouldn't want someone filming on 18th
and Ocean in July. Um and I just wouldn't want to disrupt our quality of life. So So that to me is really important when we consider all of these things. I also don't want though want Belmar to be left behind.
Um when I talked to businesses in town, what they often talk about is how now winter months are worse than summer months are not as good. And if we can have something that's bringing in business particularly outside of the summer, I think that is a
net good for Belmar. That also being said, we there's some things that people in town can do. One is if you want to register your private property for filming, you can go to njrealscout.com and those would be subject anything like
any other event as far as noise ordinance permitting. And the other thing is that you business can businesses can register as film ready, which I think is a neat little direct approach to the Main Street business problem that all of the
businesses problem because business can register on the NJ film ready site do who want to provide crew services, vendor services, film support services. So that is already available even if we don't pass the film ready ordinance. Okay.
When I was looking at it, uh the very first thing, looking at the analysis that April the chart that she the very first item is the reviewing authority. And in our current reviewing authority is the what we do for all special events. Uh
it goes through the borough administrator. We have a special events committee who is who is advised of what's happening. Uh and any expedited permits obviously require approval from the police chief, public works superintendent, two council
members. The sample ordinance only provides that the the reviewing authority is the town manager, which in our case that would be the business administrator. And there is no multi-member committee required for any permit type. Now, what
what it kind of leaves it blank to, you know, if we if we say that, can we still have our our, you know, our special events committee and and all that kind of stuff? It doesn't say that you can't, but I mean that that was one thing that just stuck
out for me because I think we would need to want to continue that in the future for for any of the TV or filming that's that's going on here. Um some of the other things that I just point out quickly, um
you know, our permit is $250. The sample ordinance makes it a hundred. Um expedited, we we have a thousand dollar permit fee. They they make it 250. Um
daily filming fee, you know, we have it in our ordinance now for for 500 per day. Theirs is 150 per day if the if the budget of the I guess whatever the filming organization is is under 20 million or
500 a day over 20 million. So I mean I'm not going to go through them all but they there are differences in some of the fees. Um I'm trying to see what else might be um permitted filming hours looks a little different. Right now ours says 7:00 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m. in residential areas uh May 1st to November 1st further limited to non-holiday weekends only. The the sample ordinance says Monday through Sunday 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Uh camera wrap 10:00 p.m. for the crew wrap. Uh night restrictions apply only to exterior residential filming. So it seems a little broader to to me in terms of when when they can film. Um Our ordinance says uh in terms of
maximum days that that can be filmed, uh we say three consecutive days per location, six days per year per location, which is the way it was before major motion pictures. Sample says there's no day provision day limit provision.
Um We have a no filming within 200 ft of a licensed establishment of liquor license establishment while open unless there's an exemption granted by the business administrator. They don't have any equivalent position
provision for that. Um you know, the insurance looks pretty much the same. You know, it's it's it's different, you know, um you know, Yeah, we have the strict insurance requirements. Um we we require a $500 bond.
Um the ordinance doesn't. Um We don't have an appeal mechanism, but apparently the sample ordinance does in terms of appealing to the town council within 10 days. Obviously, I think that's connected to the fact that the very first thing was that the town
manager makes the decision. So obviously if it's appeal, if we have everybody on board at the beginning, there should be no appeal needed. Penalties, we have a thousand dollars a day. The sample ordinance has two thousand dollars a day. Um
In terms of notifying the New Jersey Film Commission, [clears throat] we don't require that, but the the sample ordinance says copies of the permit must be sent to the New Jersey Motion Picture Television Commission. Definition are in our thing
the definition of filming in our ordinance doesn't reference streaming platforms. In the sample, it says explicitly covers major linear broadcast networks and streaming platforms. Um And
the section on TV series private property exemption, um we say that TV segments shoots conducted entirely inside a non-residential commercial building not visible from outside are exempt from the permit requirement.
And they and the the sample ordinance does not have that that that similar carve out. So there's a lot of there are a lot of pros and cons as to what what we would want to do. I mean the thing I think to consider and I don't know whether I have a good handle
on it is what is the benefit to us to be film ready. I mean I guess I guess the the answer is when the New Jersey Motion Picture and Film Industries, you know, get approached by a director or somebody and they say, you know, where is a place that we can film?
If we don't have the the ordinance, they're not going to take Belmar. I guess that's the that's really the ultimate um reason for for adopting the ordinance. So I think ready is the word here, you know, if
it Filming has started. It's been in Asbury, it's been in Red Bank. I think we should open the doors for people being in Belmar. I just think we have to do it carefully so that we're maintaining our quality of life. Um I personally would prefer to be reviewing
authority we still have rather than the sample ordinances. Um but I worry the the thing that always worries me about any large event is that to make sure that we are as a town not losing money on it. I don't want to have large expenses for DPW and for the
police department um that we're not recouping in the name of a 30-second spot uh in a TV show. So I think it has to be balanced that way. I think a lot of the numbers almost every fee that they proposed or
had in the sample was less than what we currently have. So to second what you said, we're worth it. Uh but what do we actually have to do to become that film ready status? Um and and how do we do it to only benefit
our our businesses and not put that strain on the police and the DPWs. It's a challenge. We have to look at it. I think we need a better explanation of what what specifically we have to either completely modify or reduce with our
ordinance as it stands because it's it's it been the ordinance right now is made for us to be protected. So, we we move it we open the doors. I think it'll be a great thing. It could help the businesses. It could also not help the businesses. It's a matter of getting it to that right point. So, I think that
you know, all of all of the things that the mayor brought up I had in an in an email I could draft to April about some of the, you know, fees that that I would say we should really stick with our fee versus their fee like the $150 a day fee budget under
a 5 million, you know, under a 5 million budget. Um And then there was also the limit that could, you you couldn't film between, I think it was May 1st and November 1st and that's where I thought you kind of might lose a little bit. Maybe we should reduce that down towards like the middle
of September cuz that's probably when, you know, a film would want to use, you know, use that our our, you know, beautiful city space. Those are some, you know, timing restrictions that maybe we could reduce, but the fees I didn't really see much of a point. The bonds, the insurance, those
are things that we need and and I agree that the approving um party should stick with the way we have it. As long as we can still get that film ready. I think the way we do it now is the best way for the town. Do we have any idea of what the neighboring towns have for ordinances
and what they they are currently? And one thing I didn't hear and I apologize if I missed it was um if the police department's going to be involved, is there going to be overtime involved and how are we handling those expenses to secure the scene while that goes on?
I was wondering that too with the what what is the additional you know, people that we need on the scene in order to to create a film ready scenario, a safe film ready scenario and what what doesn't list anything in that list about what we are responsible for payment-wise.
But I do think [clears throat] we also should be inviting people to film in Belmar. I think that's a good thing. I definitely do, you know, I think we should. So, besides this ordinance also, my second question is what else do we have to do to become film ready? Right. And as I said, part of this is an
application process and like I said, there's those 10 designated spots. So, I think our staff would have to be involved in putting that whole package together. But I think the the key component for us when we're thinking about why we would do this, it would be to bolster our businesses more than anything else. And
so, we would have to do very active outreach to our businesses, maybe through the chamber, to make sure that they're filling out like and they're in the vendor database, that they're they're doing all of those things so that we are getting what we want out of making ourselves film ready.
Um to answer your your question about other towns, I know other towns have um I think they use the um sample ordinance, but I can we can look into that, I think. Yeah, I just don't want to undersell us because I do think that we're worth it. And if if everybody else is a little bit
above the sample and and people want to film here, I think that we can, you know, if that's the standard around here, I I I don't want to undersell us at this point. And make sure that we do have road closures, DPW overtime, things of that would have to be covered. And I believe
our based on the process and the permit process and any road closure you have to file with the police department, not not the township direct. Be honest with you, I think there's a lot of gray areas here and I'm concerned that the um >> [clears throat] >> you know, if you get a if you get a
motion picture uh person in here and they're shooting for 2 weeks and, you know, it's like and we have to provide police and DPW, how are they going to pay for that? You know, they're giving us some you know, they're giving us what?
A street closure fee of $1,000 a day. That's if they close a street. Um but it it just seems most major motion picture daily fee is $500 a day. You know, it just it seems very it's nice and clean from their end. You know, oh,
we're going to do it for $500 a day. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. But it doesn't relate to the reality of what the actual cost is going to be to to the borough. Now, I mean, that's something we might have to you know, think about if we want to go
with the with the you know, the proposed sample ordinance, but um you know, it is something that you know, and I think you're not going to know until you actually have something done. And then you'll see what, you know, it could be a it could be a 30-minute thing on the
beach and, you know, it's not a big deal. But um you know, I I understand that this is to give the the you know, the people that are filming some some guidelines as to what the film cost to come into a certain town, but
I would like to like to have a little more flexibility in terms of you know, covering our expenses. I don't know. Maybe that's possible. I don't know, you know, once you have people involved and you start kind of negotiating, maybe, you know, maybe that
would uh would be possible. But I again, the bottom line is we think it's a benefit to the borough uh having you know, more commercial filming within the town. And if we want that, then we should go with the sample ordinance.
It seems like what they're proposing to us. Right. And I I mean, I think the thing to remember again is that this was originally written with a very different target in mind you know, discouraging rowdiness and
the Jersey Shore. And like I said, I don't think that is something we need to worry about necessarily anymore. So, it's a question of being thinking about what we do want to attract and being proactive about it. I'd be willing to consider the sample ordinance as long as we are covering
costs, especially with the police department and what we are actually expending to make sure that they have a safe environment to work in. Come with come up with some kind of a consensus or Yeah, there's a document on their website. It's a little bit about
11 pages that kind of goes into a little more detail about the ordinance, what the whole application process is and so, maybe we should go through that a little bit more. Is there someone we can reach out to to say, you know, we we see the points of your sample ordinance, but we want to keep some of our own?
>> [clears throat] >> As I got your guys' email, we'll reach out to the film commission and find out exactly you know, does it have to be used or can we use ours or some kind of negotiation between the two? It What what they really want to know is do you
want people to look at this as a as a potential site or not? You know, there's some towns that say, "No, we're not interested." What's happening is basically the the movie industry is migrating from California to New Jersey. And there's going to be a lot of content
locations that are going to be scouted for and uh they just want to know where they can go, where they can point people to. So, I'll reach out to the uh film commission tomorrow and get back to you. Another thing that would be I would be curious about is what, you know, what do
they see in the future in terms of the the ability to modify the sample ordinance? You know, like we might start with it and might, you know, towns may conclude, you know, "$500 a day is not enough." You know, and what what would be the process to go
to the commission or whoever wrote this up and say, "Oh, you know, these these certain provisions are not working because, you know, it's costing us too much or whatever." And how flexible they would be to say, "Yeah, all right, you know, it's a work in progress. We can kind of modify a few
things." I'd be just curious to see if they anticipate something like that happening down the road. I mean, obviously it's the first it's the very first step, so. My concern is that it seems like our ordinance really anticipates what our costs are
actually going to be. Um the sample ordinance that they're providing obviously is geared towards them having as low a cost of production as possible. So, I do think that there's got to be some place in the middle where
we can do that. And just to reiterate my point, I just don't think we should be doing anything in town that the town is paying for this outs over and above the expenses of, you know, we need to make sure that the expenses of the town are being covered.
If we're going to be paying overtime to police officers to secure the scene, all that money needs to be secured. Couldn't we reach out to Asbury or Red Bank and find out what their ordinance is to see if there's provisions for, yeah, what they have what their expenditures are for additional staff
and resources for filming. I think that's where we should start. I agree with All right. Well, I think uh Kevin's going to reach out for them and then April has set of the document. She can circulate to us and we'll have to bring it up at the next meeting again and see if we learned
we learned anything new at that point. Okay? Great opportunity, I think. We can't pass up on this opportunity. I feel it's good for businesses. I mean, I see the I see the need because the film industry doesn't want to have to go to, you know, 20 different towns
with 20 different ordinances and every time they want to do something, you know, like they need a lawyer to to go and and check everything out. It's easier for them if they know they have a standard. But, it's easier for them, but it's not necessarily easier for us. So, we'll find out more.
Okay, the What am I doing with my other Okay, we're going to talk about the AVP tournament. Yeah, while we're on while we're on special bets. I just want to put three on the radar, cuz we're a couple weeks away from the Seafood
Festival. It's going to be Friday, May 15th, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Saturday, May 16th, 11:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 17th, 11:00 to 4:00 p.m. Same exact setup as last year.
Same vendors, yeah, different band arrangements, but all the exact same setup. Uh 2 weeks after that is the AVP volleyball tournament. So, if you remember last time AVP was in, it was a monster event. Uh
it's not it's That's not it. Uh they they have what they call heritage events. And what they're starting this year is what they're calling uh they're starting a league with eight stops, Belmar being the first of the eight, and Chicago being the
final, Labor Day weekend. And uh there's going to be two two of those locations that are going to be filmed on TV Saturday and Sunday. Belmar being the first, and Chicago being the last. Uh W WB Network is filming on Saturday, and
CBS Sports is filming on Sunday. It's going to be a probably a 4-hour playtime, you know, like that like a 12:00 to 4:00 kind of thing of actual events going on. And much, much smaller than it than you remember in in the
past. What happened is it got too big for them. So, they they they actually went bankrupt and and reorganized and have new sponsorships, and and they're starting back up. This is always one of their best stops, which is why they reached out.
What is the date? Um Saturday, May 30th, Sunday, May 31st. Right, the weekend after Memorial Day. Okay, so um Mr. Kane, is there going to be like like stands and like big bleachers and the whole setup that they had on the beach
like they had a couple years ago? Is that all happening again, or is it going to be just multiple like beach courts? Smaller smaller than in the past. Basically, it's going to go from the first first avenue entrance on the beach to the fourth avenue.
The whole first avenue area is going to be the whole staging, you know, their equipment and everything. The between second and third is going to be what they're calling their their stadium court, but it's not going to be the size of the one that was there in the past. I
mean, it's going to be set up for one court, and then between sec between third and fourth is just the stand-alone courts. Whoever plays and they work towards the final in the what they're calling the stadium area.
But, we had a meeting on Monday? Friday? One of those days with AVP and and and the special events committee to go through all the logistics, you know, with DPW and PD and
EMS and everybody involved. Um are we recognizing any revenue from this? Uh so, what we're going to do It's it's really designed to bring people to town like like all of our special events, but what we we're going
to have local sponsorship to your point about covering our costs, so it doesn't cost any money on our end. They're not going to pay to come in like and none of our special events pay us to to come into town. But, what it does is going to bring thousands of people into
town. Um and TV coverage and and everything else. And what's the expected sponsorship contribution? Probably we won't need more than $10,000 probably, because
they provide everything. In our meeting the other day, our DPW basically is going to be there to help. Yeah, they're maybe put a fence up, that's going to be it, but they provide all that. They provide, you know, the
garbage service, you know, they're going to utilize one of the dumpsters that's right there that we're going to provide. Same thing with with police, maybe a couple couple officers just to keep an eye on the street, but they provide their own security.
It's all going to be fenced in, and anybody that wants to utilize the beach will have to buy a wrist band. Beach badges. Okay, that was my question. So, there's still going to have to buy badges to get on the beach. Yeah, they're going to sell tickets to their event strictly to be inside that fence. I don't know how it cuts out. Strictly
to be inside that fence, and and they know that if anybody wants to go to the beach, they're going to have to buy a buy a badge and go down through another entrance to one of the gate checkers. So, just to be clear, the the um the
contributions from the sponsors, we expect to cover all of our costs. Yes. Yeah, it's not going to cost us anything. Other than have their own concessions, bathrooms. How do they bring in these people? You want them to be buying our food or
We don't want them using our bathrooms, but using our concessions. >> Yeah, so what they've done they reached out and asked us for a list of all of our restaurants and all that. They're going to purchase prepackaged food. There's not going to be any cooking on the beach. So, like
say Surf Taco or burrito or something. Yeah, they'll they'll order from them and >> [clears throat] >> package the food, bring it to the site, and sell it there. So, and they're going to eat try to utilize all all the local like they had they had a scout team in.
Billy, I think you met with them a couple weeks ago. And you know, they were out here, you know, talking to vendors and trying to figure out what businesses they can utilize while they're here. Same thing with the hotels and all that.
I like the local support they're providing. Yeah. And what are the sponsors are they thinking? Cuz there I know I saw there something about Miller Lite sponsor. I mean, is the beer tent thing uh kaboshed? No alcohol on the beach. Absolutely This
this event will not They will not be serving alcohol at this event. We were pretty adamant that no alcohol on the beach. It's just taken a long time to make sure that alcohol is not on the beach, and we're not going to allow for one, cuz once you start with one,
there's thousands more behind it. So, the chief is pretty adamant about that. So, they've accepted that. Yeah, they This is this is a priority stop for them. So, but most of their probably main you know, heritage events are probably
you know, companies alcohol companies. But, uh So, that's that's the So, so we're going to have the Seafood Fest, then you have Memorial Day weekend, then you can have the AVP volleyball tournament. And just want to put on the radar Independence
Day celebration. It's going to be Friday, July 3rd. Um light show, fireworks, same as last year, but the Raising Four that does the light show in celebration of 250th wanted to uh an advance. So, we're
probably going to go like a 4:00 start. They want to utilize Silver Lake Park to do maybe a couple food trucks and a beer tent uh conjunction with with McCann's restaurant uh and a tavern in Lake Como.
And that's going to lead up until light show. You So, you figure probably 4:00 to 8:00, 8:30. I think whatever time you know, when it starts to get dark, they'll run the light show, and the fireworks will go right after the light show. So, that's Friday, July 3rd.
Speaking, can we request a little Bruce in the mix there instead of street country this year? A little Bruce in the Last year's music list, guys, was all country music, which has a time and place, but I think we're on the Jersey Shore, and we should throw some
local into the mix. I see you submit some songs, and I and we'll Oh, I'm taking you up on that. Submit submit some songs, and and we'll make sure it gets into the playlist. So, that's it. I just wanted to get those on your radar. Thank you.
Okay. Um one other thing we have is the We have a sign ordinance on for tonight. And Quinn Boardman has made some recommendations, and I think we need to discuss whether we want to move forward with
that or or not. I think we um April you probably have a better handle on this than any of us being at all the meetings. Um In a in a nutshell, the difference between What did the planning board want?
Um one of the differences was the political signs. Um right now, it says I believe it's one um per a property, unless it's a corner lot, then you can have two. Um the board
discussed that it should be one per uh for rates and total rates, so that you could have local county state federal more than one. So there was that change and then there
was discussion about the flutter flags. The proposed ordinance limited them to Friday, Saturday and Sunday only and they wanted to delete that part of it. And that would make it
available every day. Every day but with um only for special events. Only for special Like grand openings, sales, sidewalk sales, things like that. And The other one was the fluorescent. Right. There was a section of under
prohibited signs that prohibited fluorescent colors and when they just wanted to take out the word fluorescent. So I reviewed the changes with Mr. Miguel and he agreed that if the council wants to make all of these changes, we would have to
reintroduce the ordinance. Sounds Sounds reasonable to me. I guess Yeah. So we're all we all think we should re- make the changes and reintroduce it. Yes, I think the consensus of everyone is
Okay, that was easy. I'll do that. Um anything else for for workshop at this point? Actually, I wanted to ask because we had a pretty rapid discussion in the last meeting about the water utility. If anyone had any additional thoughts on
that. My biggest concern is I'm not big on social media. So if it went out on social media, I apologize if I missed it. But did information go out to the public that this was going to be that this was required in order to
maintain the What do we call [clears throat] it again? Yeah, the viability or the self-liquidating part of it. So did that information go out? No, because I was in the process of
doing that and I said, you know, I didn't want to put out something if I didn't know that it was going to pass. You know what I mean? So I I you know, we need to pass that ordinance >> [snorts] >> or not tonight. And once that passes, then we will know what what actually,
you know, we can inform the residents of. I got to be honest. I actually disagree with that whole process. I don't see I don't feel comfortable passing an ordinance, no matter how important it is, if the public has not been made aware that this is going to happen to them. We're talking about a
13% increase. It was a 12% increase last year. That's a 25% increase over 2 years. I'm not comfortable passing this regardless of the deadline if the public has not been a made made aware. I don't want anybody getting a bill that they don't understand where it
goes up significantly. And I I thought it was clear on our last meeting that we were going to send it out just so that they were aware. Um I understand your concern but
I'm just going to back up for a second. Every ordinance has a process that we have to follow. And that process is designed to give the public awareness. And that's why we have a first reading. That's why it's put in the newspaper.
That's why we have a second reading. Okay? It seemed to me it wouldn't be practical if we put something out to the public and say, well, you're going to get a 13% increase in your water rate. Okay? And then we
come here and we say, oh no, no, no, no, no. No, we'll be changing that. We're going to make it a 5% increase. Okay? I I think that's a disservice to the public. Mr. Mayor, I just wanted I just want to point out that last week hang on last week
you said that this was just a matter of process. We could pass it this last meeting and then we could get it out to the people so that they knew so that when it came down to actually passing the ordinance, you said that that was what you suggested we do and everybody here
agreed with you. There were people in disagreement with you and now here I'm hearing that we did not do that. We did not do what you said we were going to do and now we have a transparency problem where people are going to get a bill that raises their rate because there's
some May 2nd deadline. So I've got an I've got an issue with the fact that you convinced us all to vote for the first reading based on sending out this information. We didn't send it out and now you're asking us to pass it and then tell them it's going to happen.
I'm not okay with that. No. What I'm asking you to do is what we do for every ordinance. >> [snorts] >> Okay? We're not going to make exceptions for ordinances now where we're going to do a third notice. You know, we're not going to do a first reading and then a
notice to the public and then then another notice for the second reading. It just doesn't work that way. I understand what you're saying. I understand but my question is why did you say that that's what we were going to do in the last meeting? If you didn't
intend to send that information out, you should have never told us that we were going to just pass it based on process, follow through and then we would have transparency before we had to make this vote. We're about That's exactly what you
said, not what we asked for. All right. And I changed my mind because I realized that the public ordinance might not pass. Now you're saying it tells us that you changed your mind because you never told anybody on the council No, I won't. You never told
anybody on the council that you changed your You are out of order. I am out of order. Yes. But you How many times are you going to say that? How many times are you going to be not transparent? You know what? You don't want the ordinance.
The solution is to vote against it. That's as simple as that. Okay? I'm against I'm against the lack of transparency. That's what I'm against. That's transparency is a lot of crap. Because you know Are you stating that transparency is a lot of lot What you're saying what you're saying is
we are transparent. Okay? It's just that you want you want to make extra notices to the public when it's not needed. >> I'm not asking for anything that you didn't say you were going to do. You said I would do it. How many times are
you going to say that? Gentlemen. Hi. I have to say I understand Councilman Maroney's point. I think transparency is important and that when we say we're going to do something, we should do it. However,
we've also seen the long-term effects of people sitting up here and making short-term decisions, whether for political reasons, campaign reasons or other reasons, instead of making the difficult decisions that were for the long-term benefit of Belmar. We've seen it with our roads, we see it with our
taxes and we've seen it with affordable housing and then we wind up in these situations and now we're looking at it with the water utility bill again. And so it's very easy to take the out the exit ramp with transparency because you're right.
The mayor did say that last time and it should have been done. But I think the harder decision and the more important decision is whether we're making the difficult decision with the water utility, making sure our residents are getting all the information they may need to get the assistance they may need and moving forward in the right
direction. I just want to give you a reply. I told you why I didn't send it out. If you want to badger me for the next hour about that, fine. Okay? But I changed my mind. All right? You can say it a hundred times. I told you I told you I told you.
Okay? But I changed my mind and I have that prerogative. You have a responsibility to the people out here that when you say something, it happens. You have a responsibility to these people out here that Enough. We we have to maintain some
decorum here. The mayor runs the meeting. People can't shout over him. He directs who speaks. That's how it goes in our ordinances. So I understand that you're passionate about it but we do have to maintain some control. We need to take a five minute break.
Okay. First I'd like to apologize to everyone in the public. All right. That was not me. It was not necessary. But every once in a while something goes off and it's a something that
I regret. Okay? So we're going to move on with the meeting. Um I don't know where we're at on the I would just like to ask if it's okay. We still had a couple issues with the with the ordinance and I just thought that it would be wise if we could reiterate why we need the increase. So
not to the extent that Lorraine went to two weeks ago but maybe just to clarify why we need the percentage increase and with our auditors. So if I could just hand it over to you guys, so you can just clarify again for us why this ordinance is on the docket. Well, as we discussed last at last
meeting, um the water sewer utility is facing a situation where we're not bringing in enough revenue to offset our expenses. Compounding that fact is this year we're under state review.
The state review mandates requires us to provide a balanced budget and to provide provide certifications of all the revenues that we're bringing in and advising council that we are raising an adequate revenue in order to offset our expenses, which is what we're required
to do. Um absent this ordinance passing tonight, we will not be able to adopt our budget because we will not be in a position where we can certify that the revenue is coming in that we've already basically told them
we have made accommodation within our budget um accounting for the increase in fees. We are facing uh significant requirements, capital requirements, significant operational requirements
that and basically our expenses in the water sewer utility are are somewhat fixed and um our there's no wiggle room at this point in time. So, the our situation has somewhat changed and
as the the final straw that's going to break the camel's back is that any shortfall in the utility has to be raised in the current fund budget. So, we're we're basically facing um
competing issues. We need to raise revenue in order not to affect our current fund budget. It's not a pleasant pleasant situation to be in. Um we have uh attempted to uh address it by the
rate increase last year, but unfortunately that was not sufficient. So, hence the need for the rate increase this year and I I totally understand that council is not happy about this. I would not be recommending this if there were any if there was any other
alternative. Um Thank you. Thank you Thank you for that, Lorraine. Thank you and and I think that point was made across last week as we kind of just got it last minute and now we've had some more time to review. Um and you know, we have gone back and forth on some ideas and you know,
it it's there's no doubt that we believe in you and that this increase currently is mandatory ultimately in order to keep us alive, right? Keep the water utility alive and and above water. However, you know, what I made the point of last meeting was we
have a lot more users coming to this town whether we like it or not and there are certainly ways we can adjust ordinances and fees for larger scale users. So, with that said, I was really not keen on the mandatory
increase year after year and that's something I would really like to see removed in order to vote on it comfortably yes saying, this is mandatory, this is not a political vote, this is not a I ran on this so I'm going to vote no because I said I was going to vote no. I see it, I get it. This is
something, you know, I'm I'm one of the new guys here but we understand that we're in this predicament and everything's going up. I everything, you know, everything we buy goes up. Everybody we pay, the prices are going up. Insurance is going
up. Every chemicals, you name it. Um so, I understand the need for it now but I think to make a better long-term plan would be to realize that in the the usage we're about to get and see if we can possibly limit the full-time
resident or the single single family homeowners rates versus an automatic increase every year. I think um and this is a suggestion. If you wanted to offer an amendment to the ordinance
to remove that that particular section where the automatic increase were going to affect on January 1, 2027 and then every year thereafter, that's certainly something that that you can offer. Um which might make you more comfortable
and and I understand that we we have future revenues that we can expect but because they're not coming online until probably sometime mid-2027 at the earliest, we have to do something now. So, Exactly, which is why, you know, I I
can understand that the current immediate need for their increase but hopefully we can reassess this next April when we see, you know, if there's other items we can address or maybe we have some some added units and and some more
income coming in in other ways. Who knows? Maybe prices come down by then. Who knows? So, my my question I'll just I'll just I would like to offer that as a suggestion, a formal suggestion to amend the ordinance and with eliminating the
2.5% increase so we're not hitting residents right now with 12% and then again in January with another 2.5. Let's push that off a year or to the next to the next um you know, review. Do we need a second on that amendment because if we do
I'll make the motion. We're in workshop now, aren't we? Yes. Okay. All right. So, we're going to have this on our agenda. If if you want to make an amendment, a motion for an amendment, the amendment's adopted, then we'll vote on the
the ordinance as amended. I took a look at at the ordinance and I knew I knew of this issue before we came here tonight. So, I'm comfortable with the I'm comfortable with proceeding without
having to reintroduce because the two things are really independent of each other. One does not affect the other. The calculations for our need this year have not been influenced by the prospect of
having or the prospect of having an an increase in the future year after year. So, the two things are independent. So, if we get rid of one, it's not going to substantially affect the other. So,
we can proceed with As long as we're not pushing this to affect the the budget adoption. So, we'll close up the we'll close the Because this is the first I'm hearing about this. Has there been any financial projection made based on that type of change?
No, that that 2.5% did not factor into the calculation of self-liquidation self-liquidating status for 2026. It would because it was was not planned to come on board until 2027 so I did not
include it in my calculations. The calculation, like I said, the the state is looking for the number that you have, the increase, not the 2% 2% going forward. So, it's not going to affect the budget for this year. Lorraine's certification based on that part of the ordinance because they're two separate
things will still stand. So, you can make that amendment in my eyes and still get through state review with the budget as it stands. So, my question would be we did 12% last year, we expected that to fix the problem, it didn't. Now we're at 13% this year.
Are we confident that that 13% this year will put us in a position where the 2.5% will be adequate next year or we are just or is there an expectation that we are going to continue to do these double-digit increases going forward?
Based on past past history and our current status, I would say this should be sufficient to carry us at least a couple of years. And and understanding that there will be some additional users coming on board,
there will be additional revenue to the utility based on on the greater level of of sale, if you will, of water. Uh I believe this is this will put us on the path
that we need to be on in order to make to to revive the water sewer utility. So, based on that, if we pass this tonight, [clears throat] do we actually think that a 2.5% increase, which can be voted on, I'm
actually in favor of of Councilman DeBlasio's um amendment that we don't include the 2.5% automatically, do we think that a 2.5% um increase based on on expense increase and everything else will be an adequate increase next year?
I believe it it should be enough. I have a question. Um With the water utility, one of the reasons we are in this predicament is because of the poor shape of our water mains, correct? That's that's a good that's a good part of it.
We are faced with significant capital capital costs going forward because we have to comply with the requirements of the WQAA, which calls for us to have a capital plan that where we where we are replacing the
water mains and and laterals and getting rid of lead line pipes in the in the borough. So, we have significant expenses coming on in in future years that hopefully will be offset by number
one, some connection fees that as they now it's in effect and we should be collecting it on new developments, not necessarily the developments that were in the pipeline before. And we are um we are looking at the alternative
funding sources such as the I-Bank, which offers not just a lower interest rate, but also in certain cases with certain projects principal forgiveness, which again is not an immediate we won't have an immediate effect, but going forward we are stabilizing the water
utility. Which is the goal. And um I guess my question to you guys because I like the idea of the amendment, um but if we're thinking about our massive infrastructure problem, do you guys think that it is more responsible to
keep it in place for that or to go forward? And that's my real question. I I I think we have to assess it again like we did this year. We have to assess the utility next year at the beginning of the year to see if that was an appropriate really did need another increase. [clears throat] It's not forbidding us from increasing again.
It's just not making it automatic. Of course, but we already know that if we are looking at massive expenses to address the that infrastructure, so it do you think do we think it's more responsible to have that revenue coming in that we can
put towards that or or to be assessing as we go because if we're being honest, we know that we will have that need that we have to do all those projects. It's a real question. Yeah, no, no, I hear you. No, I think it should be assessed again again as these new developments [clears throat] are coming in and as we figure out how much we're
really making from them. And I said it's going to be probably they could said beginning to middle of next year it's going to be 2027. Uh but they're also doing a lot of infrastructure improvements in their projects, too. So, you know, maybe 2027 is kind of optimistic as far as having water bills
coming in. No. I think it's real. At least on the one one's underway. So, I know on the other one the church improvements. So, I know about what the others. I guess the point that we need to recognize is if if we think it's going to be a 2.5% increase as Lorina said,
what's the difference if we take it out now and vote on it again next year at 2.5% or 3% or 10% whatever it is, I don't think that we're I don't think we're changing the dynamic at all by doing that. Um
I I I just think that people want to see that we're protecting their their um their finances and everything else. I agree. I think that this should be something that we should consider every year. I don't know if it should be an automatic. I kind of like the idea of assessing. Maybe we need a 3% or maybe a
3.5 next year instead of 2.5 and then when more buildings and projects and people come to town and we our water bills might change. You know, I think it's an idea that we should keep in the public's mind that it probably will be a 2.5% increase, but maybe more, maybe
less, but maybe we should assess year after year. And I think our goal some of the things some of the ideas and creative ways of getting money without raising it on the prom you know, our residents is looking at the multi-family three units and up, looking at um you
know, summer rentals, looking at obviously big developers. So, looking at those as where we can possibly increase without affecting our residents. Any more discussion? So, how does it work, George? Do we do the amendment at the time of the ordinance? Yeah, okay.
All right, thank you. Anything else for workshop? If not, we'll move on to petitions. Mayor, I did not receive any petitions. Reports of council? Councilwoman Donovan?
I apologize that we didn't do this earlier, but I would like to have a small moment of silence for Betty McCann, who was a long-time Belmar resident whose family owned and operated McCann's. So. We have a lot going on. Um in very good news though, the Belmar Environmental Commission's new website
is up and running and you can find it at belmarenvironmentalcommission.org. Please take a look. You'll find a lot of information on there, some beautiful photos, and including the event this weekend on May 2nd, which is our First Avenue Beach Clean-up from 10:00 to 2:00. Please come
out. There's a lot going on that weekend, but what is a better way to start your weekend than putting on your worst clothes, a pair of plastic gloves, grabbing a garbage plan, and waiting through all of that. So. >> [laughter] >> You'll leave with a sense of
accomplishment. Good, you will. Okay. 10:00 to 2:00. And if you know any high school students, too, who are looking for um service hours, uh please let them know. Do they have to go through the school for that or can they come and do just get a certificate or something at the event? Do you know? That's a good question. You can ask um our expert
Charlie. He is well-versed in that. Yes. All right. Um Harbor Commission, we are planning an outdoor meeting this May. We're going to be walking the marina as we meet, um and looking at all the different spots, the the new work, things that
need work, um and familiarizing our newest member with the whole marina down there. So. Um you always come out for an exciting Harbor Commission meeting. Uh speaking of exciting, we had a beautiful event this weekend this past weekend at Taylor Pavilion Grounded in
Belmar. Massive congratulations to Eliana, to the entire Environmental Commission, and all of our different uh participants. It was a beautiful event. Um So, uh last meeting we had some residents come from River Road. I wanted
to follow up on that. Um I met with a liaison from the governor's office to talk about the issues that they raised about um speeding right there, um desire for a sign about who has jurisdiction. So, we are moving forward trying to address their concerns. Um and the Environmental Commission is
also looking to start to look over in that area for what we can do to um make it more beautiful for everyone. Um our Verizon update, we held a meeting with the FCC. Council President Kenny and I were on the call, um and included
Spring Lake, Spring Lake Heights, Sea Girt, uh Avon, Bradley, um and we talked about all of our different concerns, um including the need for um more local control when we feel like we have so little to begin with. They are assessing whether or not
to eliminate things like the shot clock, um and aesthetic uh concerns when they're putting up new poles uh that we are pushing back against. At the same time, I actually spoke with Chris Smith's office today. He has put up another piece of legislation um similar to what he had in previous sessions of
Congress that would take away that shot clock requirement that we don't like, um along with other, you know, pros municipality um statutes. So, all of that is really great. Um Arbor Day, uh well, let's have Councilwoman
Kenny talk about that. And finally, um this Thursday, if you are a poet or come out to the Taylor Pavilion at 6:00 p.m., we will have professional poets along with one very precocious fourth grader who will be reading her favorite patriotic poem. So, I will be dying
slowly in the background. >> [laughter] >> So, thank you. That's all. And Council President Kenny. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just a reminder, graduation banners are going to be going up. If you have a high school senior in Belmar and would like
to have your senior's banner on Main Street, please reach out to Jenna Van Blarcum in Tourism. There is a form that you will need to just fill out with your graduate's photo, and please um let's have all the graduates up on Main Street
as soon as we can possibly do that. Um St. Rose Grammar School would like to know that they are adding an outdoor classroom to their grounds, and there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for that on May 27th at 9:00 a.m. So, they're going to be doing a little outdoor area where students can can
learn and and just have a different environment for learning. Belmar Elementary School is having their Mother's Day jewelry sale May 5th in school. It's one of Kate's favorites. And the PTO fashion show is Friday, May 8th at uh Belmar Pavilion.
The Shade Tree Commission, we did have our Arbor Day celebration this past Friday at Belmar Elementary. Planted a bunch of trees with the fourth graders. Uh Councilwoman Donovan was at the St. Rose fourth grade planting at the library. They loved it, took pictures, they had their own little shovels. It
was great. It was it was real good. It's always a good event. Um >> [clears throat] >> Shade Tree uh Commission's next meeting is actually the first Thursday of the month in May, not the second. So, if anybody is interested, it will be May 7th um at 6:30. And there will be a new
member added to our commission, which I believe we're approving will allow the resolution this evening to have a new member on Shade Tree. Uh Finally, we like um uh Business Administrator Kane mentioned, the Seafood Festival is in 2
weeks, May 15th, 16th, 17th, and the Skate Park Committee will also be having a tent there as well. So, stop by, make a donation, learn more about what's happening with the Skate Park, and we'll be selling these t-shirts and stuff, also. And um that is all I have.
Thank you. Councilman DeBlasio. Mayor, >> [clears throat] >> thank you, Mayor. Uh Planning Board at our meeting uh we discussed the signage was one of the topics, but we're also starting a new uh committee reviewing um awnings. So, we have two of our lovely members, uh
Johanna and uh Linda Sharkey is working on different presentations and how awnings can become more uh consistent throughout the town and how to uh possibly change your ordinance to make it work that way. Um Harbor Commission next meeting is May 19th. Councilwoman
um Donovan covered that. Uh they had on Saturday, April 18th, FASSOS had their third annual shillelagh um plunge for autism and they raised over $100,000 uh for five uh different charities uh
for the our specializing autism support support of autism children. Um and that is uh really a huge undertaking. Um so, I really want to congratulate them and thank them for running such an amazing event. Um and then as just to piggyback on the
Route 35, we did reach out also to the DOT, filed formal complaints about lack of safety, speed signs, and cleanup on that Route 35. Um I believe I don't think they said they're going to look into it. It's going to be a priority since it's a main road. Uh that's all I have.
Thank you, Councilman Maroney. Um all I have is that volunteer Hook and Ladder uh on 11th Avenue is going to be having a fundraiser at um Boat House this Sunday. It's $20 entry fee, uh gets you a free drink and free
buffet, and we'd love to have everybody there. That's it. What time is that at? What's that? What time is it? 12:00 to 5:00. >> [laughter] >> Hey, let's move on to our reports of council and public session.
May I have consent agenda number one? Anyone >> Oh, we have to do the minutes. I'm sorry. I jumped ahead. I have a motion to approve the minutes of the April 14th meeting. Motion. Second.
Councilwoman Donovan. Yes. Councilman McKinney. Yes. Councilman DeBlasio. Yes. Councilman Maroney. Yes. Mayor Buck Fiasco. Yes. Now, we'll go back to public session. If anyone would like to speak or make a comment on the resolutions listed on the agenda, please step
forward, state your name and address. Just the resolutions. I have a motion to close the public session. Motion. Second. All in favor. Aye. Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the
resolutions as listed on the consent agenda? Motion. Second. Councilman Donovan. Yes. Councilman McKinney. Yes. Councilman DeBlasio. Yes. Councilman Maroney. Yes. Mayor Buck
Fiasco. Yes. Okay. Uh next we have the 2026 municipal budget hearing. Okay. Our 2026 budget has been um challenging,
to say the least, to get through this budget season. Uh we are under state review, which adds another layer of uh bureaucracy to our usual process, which is as I say, challenging at best.
Um the current Our main total municipal budget this year is 26,303,624.28. We have that uh categorized broken down into current fund, water sewer utility, beach utility, and parking utility. And we have listed all of the budgets for each one of those
separate funds within our um within our operation. Uh the current funds is generally operations that uh affect our daily
daily operations. The 25 The 26 budget is under the 2.5% appropriations cap, utilizing exceptions, and under the 2% levy cap. The proposed municipal tax rate is 60
60.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Um that represents an annual increase of $254.47 on the average assessment of 596,870. And obviously, inflation is still an
issue with um year-over-year increase of 2.4% at the time this was prepared may be different today. I'm not sure. Um our budget is is based on revenues and expenditures that balance.
Um our certain categories of uh expenditure are debt service, uh public employee retirement and pub- police and fire retirement systems and health insurance costs. And by creating
cap exceptions, the state allows temporary increases in appropriations for health insurance um and above the 2.5% appropriations cap. However, there is an associated increase in the tax rate to fund these increased appropriations, which is
incorporated into the the increase that I mentioned. Um our current funds, we have a list of uh categories within which we spend money. Other expenses covers everything other than salary and wages with the exception
of a few that a few others that are listed here on the slide. Um revenue as introduced, the budget proposes to The borough proposes to apply $3,530,000 from fund balance or surplus for the
2026 budget. This is a slight increase from last year, but we replaced um more than the 293,000, so we're in good financial shape in this particular instance. Um we are anticipating 428,549
in state aid, which is no different from our figures in '24 and '25. So, the state is not helping us in the long run. Um the current fund provides The revenue is broken down into various categories. The
leader of that, obviously, is the amount we raise by taxation, which includes the municipal tax at the municipal amount and the library tax, and then all of the other revenues uh flow from that in order to balance our budget. The municipal tax rate, as I said, is 60
is proposed to be 60.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, which is a 4% a 4-cent increase over last year. The average average residential assess assessment is 596,870, and the average municipal tax is 3 mil-
3,651.8. The water sewer utility, um obviously, we're not in great shape in our water sewer utility because the revenue is based on the amount of rents that we collect. Um our expenses are
basically fixed and increase on an annual basis. It also includes treatment for the uh sewerage through the SMUA. So, we have significant expenses that need to be covered by our by our revenue, which in this case primarily is water
sewer bill billings. The beach utility is basically operates the same way as the water sewer utility. The beach utility and the water sewer utility has to be what they call self-liquidating. That is, the revenue
is sufficient to cover all of our expenses. Um our beach utility is uh doing fairly well. We are not in danger of being not self-liquidating for beach utility, and we are covering our expenses. Obviously,
the revenue we collect is dependent on the weather. Rainy season, and we collect less. So, we're always very conservative in anticipating revenue, trying to manage our expectations so that we are
um we're not creating a situation where we're creating a deficit. >> [snorts] >> Uh again, revenue is based in in is broken down into several categories. Primarily, we use fund balance and beach
badge sales. And beach badge sales consists are um considered our rents in the in the beach utility. Um we also have a parking utility, which costs us a a amount of money to operate,
and which we generate uh a decent amount of revenue from. And so, this is is the slides up to this point show us where we stand with the introduced budget. However, because we
are under state review, we have to amend the budget. So, there will be a resolution on tonight's agenda as well to uh amend the introduced budget. And there will be a public hearing on the amendment at the next meeting. So, at
this point, we would if council would open the meeting for comments on the municipal budget as introduced. We would close the public hearing. We would uh consider council will consider the the budget amendment.
And we would schedule We have scheduled the public hearing on the amendment for May 12th, and then at that point, we would assuming the amendment passes, we would be able to adopt the budget on May 12th. All right. Now is the opportunity for the council to have
comments, questions. So, I asked you this earlier, Lorraine, but if you could just in layman's terms tell us the percent increase on the average person with this budget, what the tax increase is going to be percentage-wise.
It's just under um 9%. It's 4 cents on the budget. The um tax rate listed is 56.4 cents. So, Could you repeat that?
I actually didn't calculate the percentage exactly. I understand that, but just a general just so people can get an idea, cuz sometimes that 4% I that so much on the dollar doesn't equate to what people pay. 9% is 4 cents on the on the rate.
It's a 9% increase in taxes based on this. And this municipal not only municipal is second part of your taxes, correct? Yes. In your opinion, you would say the largest majority of that is based on what? Did you say that again? In your opinion, the largest
reason for the increase is based on what exactly? Oh, primarily? Yes. The uh increase in health insurance premiums for employees and retirees. I mean, we've Health insurance premiums on in the
state health benefits plan increased uh 20% last year. This year, they went up 36%. The borough left the state health benefits plan at the end of 2025
and joined a uh and enrolled in a joint insurance fund for health uh for health insurance. Those increases were somewhat less at 22%, but it's still significantly more than
than what we can absorb in the budget in a in any given year without raising without raising the rate. I mean, this is um it's So, a couple of things. Number one is it's not 2.7%, that's for the municipal
tax. Do you know what the exact number of the increase I'm sorry, what did you say? 9.27%, okay? And so, what we're seeing is I have a lot of clients in the state of New Jersey. Every Every municipality is dealing with this. And you know, you have your 2% levy cap. They give you an exception, Lorraine had said that
earlier, for increases above that, and that's what kind of gets pushed outside of your cap, but it still affects taxes, right? So, they they allow They understand that they said they were going to have a cap on the taxes, but the insurance has gone through the roof, and the state comes up with rules every
year, and they they change them every year in terms of what can be inside and outside of the cap. But regardless, it's still an appropriation that has to be covered by revenue, and of course, we know taxes is our largest revenue. So, the point being that across the board in New Jersey, people were running out of the state
health benefits program, which they call was an a death spiral, that's their words, not mine. And so, everybody's jumping out into a GIF or to private insurance, and you guys are no different than that. And the increase, even though it's not 36%, it's still 22%, okay? So, that's
really really the main driver of what's going on here. I know cuz you've now entered into what I in to what I do, but I know marketplace plans premiums, and this is um per per plan, not on the um
for the group plan, are going up by that like 20-something percent, but an employer-sponsored plan, you're really seeing only like 6 to 7% increases, which is still too much. So, why is there a reason why our GIF is going up and we're getting charged a 25% increase
that way? Do you Are you familiar? 22%? Based on the the guidance that they issued, it's the um over overuse of GLP medications, which are driving huge drivers of the cost,
believe it or not. That's not the only reason, but it's a very big It's a very big portion. Wow. That's going to be the headline there. >> [laughter] >> We love drugs that drive taxes. >> [laughter]
>> Well, it's driving health insurance premiums, which are driving tax increases. Okay. That's That's in nationally. Now, I have I have questions about that. Is Is that the a driver nationally, any
sense? Yes, it is. Absolutely, it is. Wow. Okay. Um that's why as an aside, some um insur- insurers these days require you also to have a um associated
illness, uh specifically diabetes. And if you don't have a diabetes diagnosis, they won't approve the GLP medication for you because there's not a because of of the cosmetic aspect of of
uh prescribing these medications. >> Lorraine, I know that there is also a big problem with um as we have one generation aging and retiring, those costs are going up, too, both retirement costs and health care costs. Is that part of our budget, too? Yes.
Yes, it is. >> [clears throat] >> Well, that's the conversation for another day, but yes, it is. Are there uh comments, questions? I'd like to point out every year when we do this, the um total amount of money that we
budget is $26,303,624. And we're very fortunate here in Belmar because of that $26 million, only 12,231, 846 is raised by the residents, by local [snorts]
taxes, which means when when I figure out the percentage, basically, um we're paying we, meaning the residents, when we pay our tax bills for municipal tax, we're paying for 46.5% of of the budget,
which means the other 54 53% is being paid by all of the other miscellaneous income that we have, plus the surplus that we that we kick in. So, uh we're we're very fortunate in that sense because many towns don't have that much
additional revenue. So, it's just something to keep in mind. Uh the other thing I'd like to point out, and it has nothing to do with our budget, but it always, you know, when we pay our taxes, you know, we're paying a county tax, we're paying a school tax, and we're paying a municipal tax. Well, you know, I was going through the budget
things, and you know, I don't know how many people realize that our the the levy amount for the for the county for Belmar is 5. $5,536,767. Okay? That's just the uh the county tax
that Belmar residents have to give to the county. Uh I don't know what they use that money for, but I think it's going to come a day when people need to start looking at that. The health uh county health tax is $96,000. That went
up, and the open space tax went up by $20,000. It's now 800 and and 35,889. So, total of all county taxes is $6,469,122. And I just point that out because uh
it's it's a pretty big chunk of our tax bill, and I would love to have um maybe somebody from the county come down here and explain what are we getting for that $6 million $6,469,122. Uh cuz I don't I don't know. I mean, maybe once I
retire from this job, I'll I'll start looking into what what we're you know, what they're doing with all this money, but um that is a large part of our tax bill, also. So, uh you know, I just bring that to your attention because on the one hand we're lucky we have that
revenue, and on the other hand, you know, I think if we want to start reducing our tax bill, we need to start looking at what the county is doing with the money that we're giving them. And that's all I have to say at this point. What's the next step? We need to
have a vote to approve. Open the meeting to the for public. Yeah, we're opening it up to the public on the budget. If you have any questions, comments, now's the time to ask. We have the experts here, and uh once they leave
give your name and your address. Uh, Chuck Peters, 202 19th Ave. for 40 years. Uh, I was concerned about the water bills. I see that there's a lot of meters that
aren't being read. And just in my neighborhood alone there's a fellow that has a hotel, I guess, to consider two units. He's just been for the last 9 months
paying the minimum, the same as me and my wife. My My wife and I use about 6,000 gallons a quarter, maybe a little more, 7,000 a day. But I noticed someone moved into the house next to me.
And they've been there a month and a half, and they use 10 gallons. He has a system. 10 gallons. That's all his reading. So, he qualifies for the minimum. There was a house built across the street from me
that's been there 6 years. And the last 4 years he was getting the minimum of 89, whatever it was. Now he's getting a regular bill, I guess it's reading, and he's paying 4 or 500 bucks.
So, my concern is why are these meters malfunctioning or nobody's Nobody's ordering it. I'll do it. I'll do all the queries in the world. I have the information, and I can
give you a list of people that are paying them nothing. We would have to look into that. Um, you know, this is actually also But I'm I'm allowing you to finish. This is actually the hearing on the budget. Uh, not necessarily the water. But since you're there, you know,
we understand your message. If you can let us know, you know, the address or addresses, you know But that's That's up to the town to run these queries. You know what I mean? Mhm. And [clears throat] I agree
And And I I think we do Westview What's your name? Let's see. Elliot. Elliot. So, if the town is consistently giving quarterly estimated bills, that means the meter is either not connected properly or the meter reader itself is
damaged. So, at that time would be when we send a notice to that resident saying, "We're not reading your meter. We need to get into your home or we need to access your your property." Billy, correct me if I'm wrong, but I know I've been through this process before. Um, so that is the process that we go
through. So, it's a matter of uh the meter readers coming back saying, "We're estimated We're estimated for three or four months in a row, four months in a row." Then the notice would go out that we have to get in. We need permission to go in. Or I mean, I don't know the jurisdiction that, you know
go And someone could ignore us completely and consider it kept. And eventually they're going to get hit with a couple thousand dollar bill cuz the meter's still running even if it's not being read. But you're right, we should be trying to get as many read as possible. That's awesome.
There is a process that we go through, is what I'm saying. Maybe there's a couple addresses we have to look into. Any other comments or questions about the uh the budget? I just came in before I got here. I just have a quick question.
It It It's more on the revenue side of money coming in. With all these uh redevelopment projects, not all of them I think that one of them there they're not going to go with the payment in lieu of taxes. But are we
receiv- With the projects that have been entered into a pilot agreement, are we receiving that money? I mean, this is one of the the advantages of of a pilot is you don't have to wait for certificate of occupancy.
Uh Are we receiving that money? And is it significant? >> Yes, we have We have been receiving the money based on the pilot agreements. Um, we are there is currently litigation on a couple of the projects, but for the most
part we are collecting what we're supposed to be collecting from the pilot agreements. Is it substantive? In other words, the We do We do anticipate that as a revenue in our budget. And that is a category of revenue that that we include.
Yeah, I'm I'm speaking just personally. In In going through that probably granting or or entering into these agreements do the rest of us benefit from that?
Or was it just something that enticed the developer to develop? Um, there there is a benefit to the borough from collecting that that revenue. That revenue goes solely to Well, it
used to go solely to the to the municipality. Um, we owe 5% of what we collect to the county, and I know they they are considering further legislation that would make a portion of those funds that
we collect payable to the school. But yes, in general the the residents do benefit from the fact that we have pilot agreements. Okay, thank you very much. The other I had I hadn't looked at this in a number of years, but I believe the
assessed value of Belmar is somewhere in in the $5 billion range. Uh In other words, what's the assessed value for the rest of us that aren't involved in It's $1.8 billion. 1.8?
>> $1.8 billion. Okay. I knew it was a big number, and the largest percentage of that is residential. In other words, it's almost You would think that the commercial district would be paying high
taxes, but they're not. The The residential districts are really what carries this town. Well, because we can't have a >> [clears throat] >> We have to tax everyone equally. We can't We can't
create a tiered property tax system. It's It's not permitted. It's not something that we could enable. So, we can't have commercial properties paying more. They They would pay more based on their assessments,
which would be based on the commercial activity that that occurs, but we the rate is the same for everyone. Yeah, I understand that. But when they do commercial properties uh
it's not local. In other words, they A commercial property can use a comparable from Wall Township or Neptune. Uh whereas here in in Belmar, when you talk about residential, your comparable has
to be in the neighborhood. Uh I'm just bringing that up as if we all talk about doing things for raising business and so on. But the businesses aren't really paying that much. That's all. Thank you.
Anyone else? [clears throat] Okay. I have a motion to close the public hearing. Motion. Second. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Uh, next we have Resolution 2026-90, a resolution authorizing amendment to the 2026
municipal budget. Do I hear a motion to adopt the resolution? I'll make a motion. Second. Yeah, uh they want to say something. You're You're introducing the You're introducing You're introducing
Helen? You're introducing the amendment right now, and as as Lorraine had explained earlier, you'll introduce the amendment, and then the amendment will be advertised, and then you'll have a public hearing just on the amendment. We've had the the public hearing on the budget as introduced, and at the next
meeting you'll have a hearing just on the amendment. And again, the amendment is, as Lorraine had pointed out earlier you're in state review. Once every 3 years the state has to look at your budget and approve it. And they it's been very onerous this year. They've changed some people down there, and they're asking for everything, which is fine. We're making these subtle
adjustments in the budget that they're requiring. And so, that's what the the amendment basically consists of. The taxes do not change as a result of the amendment. That's important to note. So, tonight you guys are going to introduce the amendment, okay? Then you'll You're stopped for tonight. You're not going to
not going to adopt the budget. And there'll be an advertisement, and at the next meeting you'll have a hearing on the amendment, and then adopt the budget as amended if you proceed forward with this. Councilwoman Donovan? Yes. [clears throat] Councilwoman Kenny? Yes. Councilman DeBlasio? Yes.
Councilman Maroney? Yes. Mayor Buck Fusco? Yes. All right. Next we have I'm sorry. I'm just to reiterate that the public hearing on the amendment will be held on May 12th. Next we have um ordinance
2026-6. This is an ordinance amending chapter 40 development regulations uh specifically section 7.24 signs. Um does someone want to make a motion to table this ordinance?
I'll make the motion. Second. Councilwoman Donovan? Yes. Councilwoman Kenny? Yes. Councilman DeBlasio? Yes. Councilman Maroney? Yes. Mayor Buck Fusco? Yes. Uh next we have second reading and public hearing ordinance 2026-7,
an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 29 water sewer utility department and specifically section 7.1 water sewer rates. This is open for public hearing if anyone would like to comment on the ordinance, please step forward, state your name and address.
I know everybody. Hi, my name is Anne Peters. I'm at 22 19th Avenue. Uh this is my first time ever coming to a meeting and I want to say thank you. It was very interesting.
And I'd love to go to your Thanksgiving party then. How's that? Okay. My question I have, this is um in regards to the water situation. Um Caitlin Donovan, I take notes so don't mind me. Caitlin Donovan just
mentioned the long-term benefit of Belmar residents. You made a comment. So my take is the benefit should be to the town doing their homework prior to a rate increase.
As my husband, Charles Peters, just mentioned, it did not take him a long time. Go on the computer, do a little homework, blah blah blah, and guess what? We found out so many neighbors are paying way less than in water
charges than other neighbors. And I'm saying to myself, well, how can the town just go and do an increase without doing your homework? We should be going out, doing an audit, getting out there, reviewing the meters.
If the meters are broke, guess what? Get them fixed. They don't want you in their house, turn off the water. Give them a 30-day notice. Play hardball. Save the residents money by doing your homework and getting everyone to have
their invoice billed correctly, have the proper equipment, and have everything working. Cuz guess what? If you do that, you take the time, I think someone mentioned something to do with the capital plan. Did you mention the capital plan?
Maybe if we did our homework and got the rate billing, maybe everybody here, if you're a resident of Belmar, maybe your water bills would be lower and the proper houses that need to have their increases would contribute to the capital plan. That way
the money is flowing in and maybe we can justify a 2 and 1/2% increase. We all know increases with inflation, it happens. So it's my suggestion you just do your homework first before you just say a large increase.
I don't know if anybody else agrees, but I think that's the key. Any comments? public comment section. Do you have any questions for me? No. All right, just wondering. I do have a question in regards to the budget.
Um I don't know your name, I'm sorry. It's actually we'll we'll allow it, but the time to make it was when we were talking about the budget. Oh. But you can you can go ahead, but we just won't have the benefit of the order. This is just a quick question. I know some towns
have this and I don't know if Belmar partici- participates in this. If you're an employee within Belmar and your spouse is employed with Belmar, do you get paid extra if you decline the benefits,
the health insurance benefits, because your spouse takes it? Cuz there's many towns that do that. There is a um there is a a stipend offered to a an employee who declines health coverage.
However, they are not eligible for the the uh stipend if their spouse also works for the state or is covered by the the same health benefits plan. So it it it won't um it you're not double dipping in other
words. Now, the only reason why I know that, I have a family member who declined the benefits cuz she was already getting it for the state and didn't need it. And she actually got it was like a bonus money every month and I was like, wow. And I realized that local towns also
participate in that. I was not sure if Belmar did that. >> there's a benefit to the bureau to offering that to the employee who chooses to decline health benefits plans because the health benefit plan even for a um single
uh single coverage employee is somewhere around $12,000. The uh stipend would is limited to less than $5,000 or um 50% of what we save in the long run. So it it it turns out to be a savings to
the bureau. >> Okay. Just a question. I didn't know if we participated in it. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Uh okay. I have a motion to close the public hearing. Motion.
Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2026-7? No. This is where I'd like to offer uh vote for the amendment to eliminate the 2 and 1/2% increase.
I'd like to second. Councilwoman Donovan? Yes. Councilwoman Kenny? Yes. Councilman DeBlasio? Yes. Councilman Maroney? Yes. Mayor Buck Fusco? Yes. Can I have a motion to adopt the ordinance as amended? Motion.
Second. Councilwoman Donovan? Yes. Councilwoman Kenny? Yes. Councilman DeBlasio? Yes. Councilman Maroney? Yes. Mayor Buck Fusco? Yes. Last ordinance is second reading and public hearing on ordinance 2026-8.
This is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 3 Department of Administration, specifically section 3-6 Tourist Development Commission. This is open for public hearing if anyone would like to speak on the ordinance, please step forward.
Can I close the public hearing? Motion. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. And can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2026-8? Motion. Second.
Councilwoman Donovan? Yes. Councilwoman Kenny? Yes. Councilman DeBlasio? Yes. Councilman Maroney? Yes. Mayor Buck Fusco? Yes. Okay. Uh now we're on to the regular public session. If anyone has a comment, please step forward, state your name and address.
Thank you. My name is John Judge. I live at 511 11th Avenue. I have Parkinson's so I know No. I have Parkinson's so I can't talk about uh My neighbor just uh he's got a landscape business uh in his front yard.
And it it's supposed to be it's supposed to be a uh a residence. I went to the town and they said it's fine. But they they notified me fine. I don't understand. But you you say he keeps it out of his
front yard, the all equipment overnight? >> Oh yeah. I sent pictures. Please help. I'm quite sorry. Sorry about that. It's all right. Thank you for coming out. If I if I if I call down call down the phone, you'd think I was drunk. I'm sorry. And
could you just repeat your your concern because this equipment is He runs his business out of his house. Okay. Got you. I just want to let you know any hour every day of the week. He's annoying. I have tenants who live right next to his house. He's an noisy neighbor. His name is
Manny. I'm sure you've heard of him. Yes, Manny. Uh Go ahead. Uh-oh. What do we do? Speaking of the phone. Hello. Yes. >> I believe he spoke to Bob Hoffman code enforcement about it and
my understanding is that Bob explained to him that home businesses are permitted but if it's a noise violation that they should notify the police department. Is it the noise that's that's the issue or with equipment or both?
Mr. Claudio and come to that he did review code enforcement did review and you are allowed to run a business out of your home. However, there are noise ordinances that we have to follow. Also and also commercial vehicle parking ordinances we have to follow.
Um no, I'm not a commercial vehicle. No, me no. I am a truck. Can can he um Commercial vehicle it is non-commercial vehicle. It is driveway there's some there's a limit on Parking on the street is a problem.
Parking on the street. I've been putting up with this for 25 years 26 years. I get called. That's something that you know the council needs to look at too. I'll have a discussion. You're not nobody. Our our council is going to step in also sir.
Okay, thank you. Thank you. What what was the address again? 508 11. You're at 508 11. I'm at 510. You're at 510. Yeah, you know I'm at 510. You're at 508 11. There's a truck right next to it there's a truck holding equipment right in front of the house. 508 I live in the back of the house.
Just just to think I don't think our parking has any restrictions on commercial vehicles on side streets. Just the side streets. Yeah, I mean it it could be something that the council I believe it's overnight on the side streets cuz I was not happy when I saw
it coming to my neighborhood but but I think it's overnight on the side streets and we will >> in the back of the house and this person lives in the front of the house is that the Yeah, I live in the front house I live in the back house I got two houses. I live in two houses. And the my tenants in the front house. I live in the front house and you're in
the back house. Yeah. Okay, got you. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, yeah, no I understand I'm just trying to get an understanding of where I appreciate it 25 years I'm tired. Any other comments? I've been 25 years to say
Good day. It's good. Okay, do not. Again along the same line of commercial trucks on the park on the street overnight. We have a lot on our block. It's a very narrow street. And um they park there all the time.
Hardly get through the streets. A lot of people come to zipping around the corner and there's going to be somebody's going to get hit. So I don't know what the verbal ordinance is is there anybody following up on it to make sure that they're either parked appropriately, not
supposed to park on the street or what? Because it's dangerous right on that corner cuz they come zipping around 14th Avenue. Well, as I said we need to review the ordinance to see exactly what is prohibited and what isn't and we can only enforce what the ordinance
says at that point in our review. And then we'd have to we'd have to change the ordinance if we wanted to Who else is next? Somebody else want to go ahead and go? Uh you're at 830 4th Avenue. Um By the way I I I I I I I I
I I see that two proclamations tonight of course they both got got got the big one for um municipal clerk but uh she's also the administrator for the construction code department uh right here in town. So the
second proclamation about the building safety is she actually gets both of those recognition. Uh actually I have a question about the construction that's taken place uh down
at Ocean and 16th Avenue down there and uh I don't I went there yesterday uh and I think I was last week I had stopped by there also. Um has a construction permit been issued
for that construction that's currently going on? Is there a construction permit issued for the 16th Avenue building? Bathroom, yes. It's supposed isn't there supposed to be a placard uh posted at where the construction is
taking place? I don't they're not required to post it anymore. And until a certificate has been issued I believe. In other words, I'm just a member of the public and I go down there and I take a look at the site and there's no placard
there that a construction permit had been issued. They're not required to do that anymore. And we know have the clerk of the year telling us that. >> [laughter] >> They changed the they changed the regulation obviously.
They do not require that. This form is no longer required? No. Uh this is kind of interesting because here we are having to uh issue a proclamation at um
at a public meeting recognizing the good work that the building inspectors do. However, isn't it much would the public be much better informed when they see construction going on in their neighborhood that actually the town is
inspecting the work? Use the SDL portal where you can look up by address what permits have been issued. Of course you could call or file an open report and you know any construction that requires a permit needs to be permitted and you can make a report even through
the SDL portal. Now we opened up a is it called a complete one uh and that you can uh let notify us via the SDL portal that there's construction going on without a permit. And that's
the public has access to any property in town? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Kyle Rosetta 14th Avenue Bellmore. First congratulations to April. She's one heck of an employee here really gets a lot of
things done. And I want to congratulate her on all those accomplishments that she's been doing since she's been working for the borough. >> [applause] >> Thank you to mayor and the borough of Bellmore for allowing the Bellmore Cares group to use the Town Pavilion for our
event 2 weeks ago. It was one of the best fundraisers we ever had. We had an awesome turnout. Most amount of people that were there. The band that played are professional entertainers. And one of the entertainers in that
group performs in Vegas. And postponed one of his gigs just to do this fundraiser for us. Did a wonderful job. Congratulations to you. And thank you for everything you do. >> [applause] >> It was It was a lot of work. A lot of
work, a lot of hours. And the next day I was so tired I couldn't even relax. Just a question reference It's kind of a two-in-one question. Skate park and the girls basketball field baseball field on 13th on the southeast corner. Which one
are we supposed to get this skate park done? Are we supposed to work on this ball field for donations? It seems like we're bouncing back and forth. I want to see that skate park get done. It's They're two separate two separate fundraisers. Two separate projects.
Yeah, the skate park is is we're in we're in a kind of a regrouping kind of phase to see if we can like scale it down to either be something smaller or something we can phase out in several different phases as opposed to one big grand gigantic park. So we're kind of figuring things out with that now.
This Scoville fields are I believe moving forward with grant funding and Yeah, those are I don't think those are in competition at all. They're actually two fairly different audiences as we found. No, I'm not I'm not saying competition. I'm just saying which one are we going to We started with the ball with the skate park. Let's just get that
done. I I agree. Let's just get that done. It's not up to me. Wait, I'm confused. Which sentence do you mean? Do you Do you mean the sentence We need the skate park. Oh, but do you mean Thank you.
It's the They're the We're all plowing straight ahead. Somehow going to make it all work. I'd like to see them both done, but I'd like to see see The The The skate park was started so long ago. I'd like to see that get done. It's also a dramatically different amounts that we're fundraising for. Mine is a much
much smaller project. Yes. So I mean I don't think there's any reason to put them up against each other any more than any other two projects in the bureau. Okay. I just like to see one of them get done. I think you will. We'd love to see them both done. So thank you. You will. Yes. Any other
comments? >> [snorts] >> Claire Henry, 18 B. April, congratulations. A phrase that I've heard several times, you're the glue that holds Belmore together. So thank you. I hate to go back to flutter flags
because it's a good topic. But I attended that planning meeting, okay? And Councilman Squazzo, if you remember we we did say that we went with per race for the signs and then we switched to per candidate.
You were both correct because you came up and and so so it was it's per candidate. One sign per candidate and two on a corner. It went from lot to race, which you had suggested,
to candidate on that. Do you agree with me? I have to go through the minutes. I thought we went back to race. No. We went back to candidate. You were happy. We were very happy. I think I think they mean the same thing ultimately cuz it's candidate running
per race. Yeah. So they're the wording I think is We voted for two. We talked about that. I'm not a >> [laughter] >> All right. Whatever. Um No, but the the formal just so you know, the formal letter from our planning board attorney was or is going to be
sent for the amendments. So if I misspoke on the race or candidate, what our attorney took the notes and what the planning board suggested is going to get here and then it's going to go back to us. That's how we voted to push it aside and take the planning board suggestion. So if I had one word wrong, it's going
to be correct with the legal terms. Including the flutter flags or whatever else we discussed, the the final wording of that. All right. Flutter flags are mentioned three different spots. Um One saying that they are permitted. And then we have them in section four
under temporary signs. Um 4D, which falls into the category of the Friday, Saturday, Sunday only, you know, for special events. But go down two lines and you have a
complete definition of flutter flags, which is why the whole thing started, that they're not going to be torn and this and that and they have to be moved at night. So in my on opinion, I think from section 4D, the word flutter flag should
be removed because you're you're talking about two different flutter flags in two different areas. That's the same thing. So I'm just FYI. Maybe I'll go to the next planning board meeting, too. And
another question I had is how are we dealing with the non-handicap or ADA compliant curves at Mr. Kramer's corner? Have they been corrected? No. He's good. Now, by the way, before we get off on that,
Fifth Avenue is now completely paved. It's done. The only thing all the way to Main Street. Main Street to to C Street. The only thing left to do that I see is they have to paint the lines for the crosswalks, stops, and all that kind of
stuff. Great to have a touch football game. Anybody wants to know. All my skateboarders, Fifth Avenue now open. Council President here is going to teach me to skateboard. >> [laughter] >> Mr. Kane's going to let you know what
There's issues with with the height of the road and the and the curb settings. And there's there's some drainage issues. So if they if they were to change those curbs, there there'd be puddles because it has to be re-engineered a little bit. So it it wasn't a quick fix like we had
anticipated. So it's going to be looked at in the future. The next road project we're going to take a harder look at that. So it's not going to be done with the Fifth Avenue project, but it will be done with a future project. Okay. Thank you. I'll keep trying.
Any other questions, comments? >> [snorts] >> Um Belmar, 605 Ocean. I did come to the planning board meeting specifically because of the political signs. And I did make the comment about per
candidate because we do have vote for two races. You guys run vote for two. Um But I also did some more research to kind of try to look at state law and federal law, constitutional law.
And I really think that you need to take a look at that political sign as a temporary sign. Maybe some of you remember, probably all of you were here in Monmouth County 10 years ago. There was a controversy in West Long Branch
over a flag. Under federal law, under the Constitution, a flag is a sign as far as I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I understand it, that's the case. They put a limitation in West Long Branch saying that you could only have
the sign up, I think in their case it was 30 days. You're saying 45 days. They challenged the ACLU actually represented this guy and challenged it. And the judge threw the ticket out and they repealed their ordinance based on
that. So this is like a temporal thing, right? Time that you can have I appreciate where you guys are coming from about the signs, but I also think that we're in an environment right now where we shouldn't be limiting political speech that's civil. And putting a sign
in your yard, putting a sign in your window. I live in a condo. I face the dumpster. Nobody's going to see a sign if I put it out. But I appreciate that other people do put signs out because it's a it's a physical representation in our
community of people's support for something. And I appreciate that people have a right to not put up signs. Maybe you don't feel up for certain candidates. But I think that based on that and also based on there was a Supreme Court decision 2015.
It was out in Arizona, but my again, I'm not a constitutional scholar, but my reading and understanding from just reading some legal stuff, legal journal, is that when you make certain types of
determinations about how you're going to treat different signs, that if it's going to be content based, which if it's a if it's a political sign for candidate, it's based on the content of the sign that you're trying to regulate it. Based on regulating it like that,
it has to go under strict scrutiny. And I think that the way that you wrote the ordinance and maybe the way that you're going to rewrite it is not going to be something you can enforce. And I just caution you, don't pass ordinances with pieces that you can't enforce. Even if
we're not going to deal with it now, maybe years from now somebody else is going to have to deal with it. It's going to cost the town money and frankly nobody wants to be associated with uh you know, violating constitutional rights. >> [clears throat]
>> None of you None of you represent that from what I know of you, from what I've observed. And so, you know, on one hand like I came to the planning board last week and I even said, "Hey, I appreciate it and other parts of the state, you know, sometimes you see signs that are
up for months and months and months." But again, you you're we're talking about private property. And just one last thing about that, if you were to adopt the language that you have,
by restricting it to one sign per lot, you're putting people like these people that were here that have a tenant, you're putting them in a bad situation because unless they put that in their lease with their tenant, then there's going to be there's going
to be some kind of conflict if both of them wanted to put up a sign. Say they they support different candidates. They both want to put a sign. Again, I I mean, maybe this kind of stuff doesn't come up most of the time, but I think that it's something you
really need to think about and it's something eventually New Jersey is going to have to think about because we have a whole town that's a land lease town in Ocean Grove. And if if the landlord is the person who can
make determinations and put it in the lease to restrict your political speech, then it's just creating more I mean, I guess this hypothetical, but it's creating more animosity on political speech that
I mean, it's just my opinion, but I don't think that that's the kind of thing that we want to do. So, that's as much as I have to say about the sign, which is a lot. I apologize, but it was it was eye-opening to me to read some of
the legal stuff on it. That's why we rely on that gentleman right there to tell us what we can or can't I'm not going to debate the constitution tonight, but I will take a look at it. If there any issues, I'll talk to Doug Kovacs, who's the planning board attorney, and we'll make sure that our ordinance is constitutionally sound.
Okay. Great. There's just one other thing, a positive thing. I was here for the last council meeting. You guys did a resolution to honor George. Everybody in town knows George. Everybody appreciates what he does. I don't know if any of you know about this, but I mentioned to
somebody during the break earlier. There's actually a patriotism award that the county is giving out. Did anybody nominate George for that? He would be such a great candidate for that. >> will. Um so, actually I I pulled it up because
I haven't seen it. >> [cough and clears throat] >> There's a There are three categories, but I think that he certainly is a first responder. There's a The actual title of it is patriotic American Hero Award and uh the deadline is May 1st. So, it's
kind of a late date, but if somebody's interested in nominating him, I'll do it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. He's such a great candidate and even if he didn't win, he should be recognized as a nominee. So. >> Done. Thank you for pointing that out. Of course. Thank you.
I hope we're making an exception tonight through persistence and we're proud here and none of us want to go home. Good evening. My name is David One question. Who do I talk to about borough ordinance regarding uh commercial trucks on the street? Who would I talk to? Who would I ask to
find out about that? It depends on what it is you're you're you're asking. Like what is the ordinance? >> what the borough ordinance is regarding commercial trucks parked Or I mean, in a residential April 10th, you have You can go to the e-code 360 uh website and type
in commercial trucks or parking and you'll see ordinances like that. And then yeah, no problem. >> All right, thank you. >> I can guide you to the right site. Okay. We did a whole workshop on that at one point in the last three years. We did. I thought there was like an axle thing, like how many parking too. It was
parking on the street. Well, the number of days cars were parked on the street, too. We did a whole thing on that. I would have to look it up to read it and see exactly. We're working on it.
Any other comments? Sure. Five minutes. 15th Avenue. Uh it's nice to be, I think, 2 days now, maybe even 3, to sit in my backyard and listen to the pound, pound, pound.
Finally, they're working again. It'll be over very soon, the pounding. By the end of this week. I have a motion to close the public session. I'll make the motion. Second. All in favor. Aye. Our last item is resolution 2026-91,
a resolution of the council permitting to go into an executive session. Whereas it has been determined by the council that it is necessary