supposed [Music] Elevation changes. I think it's less now, but when it I don't know. Hi. How are you? All right. Awesome. [Music] Okay.
[Music] I appreciate it actually. This is based on Well, it is because [Music] they'll budget as opposed to So
the hearing is [Music] forgiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
I wish to announce that the 48 hour notice is required under the open public meetings act was emailed to the Aspbury Park trust, the co-star and the new coar on December the 19th of 2024. That a copy of be placed on the bulletin board in the burough office and that a copy has been filed with the municipal clerk.
As a courtesy to the public, this meeting may be attended via Zoom. If for any reason Zoom Zoom fails or is disconnected, the in-person meeting will continue without interruption and action can and will be taken provided that there is an in-person floor. Mr. Noble
here, Miss Greenlat here, Mr. Nikki here, Mr. Weber here, Mayor Guboszi here. Welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. Um, we will move to item number five on our agenda, workshops. There are none. Item six on
the agenda, presentations and bids. We're just going to take these a little bit out of sequence. Uh the most likely to be timeconuming uh component of our presentations will be our chief financial officer's uh presentation of our local uh municipal budget. But
before we do that, I want to give us a couple of quick minutes to to uh make some presentations that are also included on on our agenda. The first one being the Centurion Hannah Marcus Proclamation by Mr. Councilman Weber.
Okay. I need a copy of that. Okay. Sorry. But no problem. I knew you said yes. Oh, thank you. He's got We have it. Okay. Thanks, Eric. Okay. I just knew I didn't. Yes, I know. Small. No. So, for you know the saying, it takes a
village to raise a child. Okay. Okay. Well, apparently in Bradley Beach, it takes the whole town to wish every 100 year old birthday. Uh, and that's what we did last week and it was really fantastic. So, I guess before u I read this, I'm going to thank a lot of people
because this maybe is my idea, but a lot of people executed it. Uh, first and foremost, VA Matt Dhy, thank you for for coordinating coordinating a parade of row vehicles. Chief, thank you for having the police vehicles in there.
sirens ablazing. They're not in the room, but the fire department, they said yes, and their fire truck was in this parade of vehicles. Uh, and somebody of course had to drive it. First aid, same thing. And couple of DPW vehicles, there was a lot of things. Um, everybody that
signed the card in this building, at the DPW, wherever. Um, the family was really touched. They really liked it. Um, so and we got to meet the family and uh everybody except for Councilwoman Dinova was there because she was out of town. So we had a really great time. So this
is what was read for the hundred-year-old the day after her birthday when her family was having a big party at their place on Thursday. So a proclamation from the Bur of Bradley Beach for Hannah Marcus on her 100th birthday. Whereas the Burough of Bradley Beach is comprised of residents from all
walks of life from many geographical places and all ages. And whereas the Burough of Bradley Beach values those who choose to vacation here, whether they rent an accommodation or just spend the day on our beaches, as much as we value our summer and yearround residents. And whereas the bureau values
those who choose to purchase a vacation or weekend home here. And whereas the Marcus family is a prosperous and noteworthy family from Lyndon, New Jersey. And whereas Hannah's father Morris Aaron opened Morris Aaron Bicycles in Elizabeth, New Jersey in
1904. And whereas this business was in continuous operation by Hannah's family for 103 years from 1904 to 2007. And whereas Hannah Marcus worked in this family business alongside her husband Gilbert. And whereas Hannah Marcus and her family have been spending time in
Bradley Beach since the 1960s. And whereas after renting homes on Ocean Park in Avenue Marcus family purchased a home on Third Avenue in 1974. And whereas this home became the primary residence of Hannah Marcus and
her husband Gilbert in 1987. And whereas Hannah Marcus has three children, eight grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. And whereas Hannah Marcus had her 100th birthday on May 15, 2025. Now therefore, be it resolved that the
mayor and council of the burough of Bradley Beach declare May 15, 2025 Hannah Marcus Day and the week that follows, May 16th to May 23rd to be Hannah Marcus week. Be it further resolved that the burrow and all of its residents wish the entire Marcus family
all the blessings and joy of a wonderful birthday celebration in honor of centinarian Hannah Marcus. That's it. I had a family member make a great video of the two two days of celebration and
uh mercifully she completely cut out all of the uh the where's she was like okay I said the first whereas and then now therefore be resolved and it was great you don't need all that stuff in between she made a great video which we'll try and get out there because it's it's out in the public so thank you Mr. Okay,
I just want to take a time out to thank you because when you first came up with this idea, I thought this could be challenging to pull it off. Not only did you pull it off, but that the family was just in awe of Bradley Beach and for we had 60 or 70 residents attend and uh it
was a really just a wonderful feeling. We got to share that moment with the family as they all shared their love with their mother who's obviously reaching 100 years old. Um, and a number of people came up to me afterwards and said, "This is what a small town is all about." Uh, so thank you for
spearheading that effort. I appreciate it. Yeah, a lot of help. And I just realized that many people showing up. Amy Hall helped get the word out on social and made a Facebook event and did all that stuff. So, uh, lots of help and thanks everybody. Okay, our next presentation will be the EMS week, uh,
proclamation by Councilman Noiki. So many of our front liners are are you know often forgotten about all the work that they do. So this is really an important thing is this week May 18th to the 24th is the um uh emergency medical service uh week nationally. So the
proclamation is whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service and whereas the members of the emergency medical service teams are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And whereas access to quality
emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. And whereas emergency medical services has grown to fill a gap by providing important out of hospital care including
preventative medicine follow-up care and access to tele medicine. And whereas the emergency medical service system consists of first aid responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police
officers, educators, administrators, prehosp nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public, and other out of hospital medical care providers. And whereas the members of emergency medical services
teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills. And whereas, it is appropriate to recognize the value and accomplishments of emergency medical
services providers by designating emergency medical service week. Now therefore, be it resolved the mayor and the council of the burough of Bradley Beach to hereby proclaim the week of May 18th to the 24th, 2025 as emergency
medical service week this day, May of 2025. Thank you, Councilman. Uh, and I do see Mr. Vita Masa in the back row. Vita, can are you able to accept this on behalf of the EMS? Yes, that'd be great. That's all. Oh, I'd love to. Yes. We weren't
sure someone was going to attend and drove the ambulance last week. Just put your camera. We take a quick picture. Get in here. In the middle.
I know, right? And not only did uh Vito drive the ambulance for the 100 year birthday celebration, you uh you were at least with the ambulance if you weren't driving it when everyone came and helped rescue my wife. So, thank you for that as well. And and thank you for
everything EMS does for our community. On behalf of the squad, I'd like to thank the mayor and council and the members of town for recognizing the squad and what it does. And uh you know, your support is greatly appreciated and it's through that support that we can
maintain our all volunteer uh service which operates free of charge in the residents of Brian Beach. So we appreciate that you allow us to continue to do that. Thank you. Thank you. And our next presentation will be
council president. One more proclamation. One more proclamation. Yes. Beyond the one I was just going to say. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh, it's okay. I was just Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were Never mind. That's okay. I thought there was another one. No. Uh, Council
President Jane Denova will make the proclamation for uh, for Pride Month. My honor. Whereas the governing body of the Burrow of Bradley Beach recognizes and proclaims the month of June 2025 as
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer questioning and plus LGBTQ plus pride month. And whereas all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, LGBTQ plus
individuals have immeasurable impact to the cultural, civic, and economic successes of our country. And whereas the burrow of Bradley Beach is committed to supporting visibility, dignity, and equality for LGBTQ people in our diverse
community. And whereas while society at large increasingly supports LGBTQ equality, it is essential to acknowledge that the need for education and awareness remains vital to end discrimination and prejudice. And whereas the nation was founded on the
principle that every individual has infinite dignity and worth. And the governing body calls upon the people of this municipality to embrace this principle and work to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists. And whereas celebrating Pride Month
influences awareness and provides support and advocacy for the LGBT community and is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances, build acceptance, and advance equal rights. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the
governing body here proclaims the month of June 2025 as Pride Month in support of the LGBTQ plus community. And if I may add, um, Asbury Park is, uh, celebrating the 33rd annual Pride Parade. It's Sunday, June 1st at noon.
I've gone before. It's a wonderful day of celebration, and I highly recommend attending. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council President. Okay. Uh, as I mentioned earlier on our presentations this evening, we have our
CFO, you can't get any more, guys. Okay. We have our our our CFO about to uh present the budget. And even though this is a category of presentations, uh we will be opening up the the questions and
comments to the public. Uh normally we might not do that presentations. We were originally going to have um public hearing this evening. We we now know that we need to make uh at least one amendment to the budget that's been
introduced. At the same time, uh, purely by coincidence, the state of New Jersey is reviewing various municipalities budgets. We are on their list to be reviewed. Um, and I'm told by our CFO, she she can answer more questions, but I'm told that we actually won't be able
to introduce uh it's been introduced. I'm sorry. We won't be able to uh formally adopt until they have completed their review. So, the hope is they will complete their review shortly. Our plan is to have uh another meeting on Jan on
I'm sorry June 5th in which we'll have a public hearing. It'll be our second opportunity for the public to ask questions or make comments and at that public hearing we will adopt the introduced budget knowing that we have
to make at least one amendment. We will then uh propose that amendment and adopt that amendment, but then we will need to have a followup on June 19th um where we will adopt the amended budget and again that'll consist of a public hearing. So
effectively the public's going to have at least three bites at the apple to ask questions, make comments um and whatever. So I just want to make give everybody that background. Very good. The final comment I'll make is you're relatively new to Bradley Beach. We are
thrilled to have you. Um but uh but any questions, you know, if there's any issues where you need me or others to jump in, let us know. Okay. Do we know that everyone on Zoom can actually see it's being shared? The screen's being shared with anybody that's on.
Is this on? It looks like it's on. No, because of the red light. There's a switch on the bottom. It's on. I just wasn't talking loud enough. It doesn't amplify. It just picks it up. It just picks it up. Okay. All right. So,
good evening everybody. Um, thank you. Okay. So, as the mayor explained, I am fairly new to the town. I kind of stepped into um what you see before you. Um, the budget synopsis that I'm going
to go through tonight is a document that I didn't necessarily create, but it does tell the story of your spending and your taxation uh for the calendar year 2025. And uh certainly any of the
detailed questions I'm going to push out to um Mayor Gubitazi and uh I'll answer any of the technical questions that you might have. So let me start by saying go ahead you can put um that this year's budget you know with
uh municipal budgeting we're required to be within two caps that the state has uh imposed on us and one is a 2% levy cap and that's 2% cap on the amount to be raised through taxation and that
percentage there are some exceptions to that so debt service some statuto expenditures and it does change uh from year to year depending on the economics of the of the year and then the other cap is a 2% cap on appropriation. So
that's 2% on spending. So, in other words, if even if we had uh you want to do a million dollars more into your spending and you had money to support it, if the levy cap wouldn't allow for it, you simply couldn't do it unless you
got special permission from the state. So, this budget is in compliance with both of those tasks. So, we've met our statutory requirements. We're going to overview um the expenditures, the what we call
appropriations, revenues, um capital and things of that nature. So the budget for 2025, uh the appropriations is 11,40,81136. This excludes the public library. So we pull that out because
that is a separate tax on itself and we do not calculate that. And within this budget salaries non police and publica safety just salaries for all other general operations is about 16% and the
remaining balance is comprised of your operating cost statutory health care liability and debt service expenses. The police and public safety operations account for about 26% of all of the expenditures. And a little bit later in
the presentation, you'll see where I have like a pie charts that uh kind of point out where the different spending is and what those allocations are. Um, and I misspoke when I said the appropriations. It's a 3 and a.5% uh appropriation cap. I'm sorry. This year
the state allowed 2 and a half% for a COLA, a cost of living adjustment. And then they allow us to do an ordinance which you if you pay attention and follow through with municipal budgeting you'll see that every year there's a cola ordinance that comes through before
the budget gets adopted and what that does is it allows us to increase that appropriation cap to a maximum of 3 and a half%. So, there have been years where the cost of living adjustment was zero and then you could do uh an ordinance in
the in town to uh increase it by 3 and a half%. This year they allowed for 2 and 12% increase. So, Bradley Beach did an ordinance for an additional 1%. And you always want to do that. It doesn't mean you're going to spend all the money of the appropriation. Sometimes it does,
but the state also allows us to bank some of those unexpended appropriation allowances for rainy days. You know, some towns do the max every year. Some towns, you know, you can bank it for two years, so some
towns do that. So, it all really depends on what your budgetary needs are. Um so here's a a pie chart of our expenditures for our appropriations. So you can see um
that debt service, utilities, um shared services, they all account for very small percentages. Your larger percentages would be, you know, your public works. Think about the larger departments that you have in town. It's perfectly natural for that to
be public safety. Now, public safety is more than just the police department. It also encompasses, you know, dispatch, crossing guards, any facet of our operations that deal with public safety. Now, the flip side to the
appropriations is revenues. Municipal budgeting requires we unlike federal budgeting, we have to have a balanced budget. So our appropriations have to equal the revenues coming in. So we can't, you know, um budget for more
than we can actually pay for. And so basically we have uh revenues that we can um anticipate every year and the largest and then the offset would be the amount to be raised through
taxation. So, um we have uh uh revenues that come through such as um franchise fees, licenses, um you have a a various uh amount of let
me so you have uh your permitting fees from say uh UCCC fees, your court charges, is um your interest on investment which a few years ago was like zero now it's become you know it's been a little lucrative for
municipalities cell tower rentals so those types of items are all used to support the budget and then we use the amount to uh raise through taxation to balance
it I talked about the the cap so each year as I said the is going to determine what items can be excluded. So again, debt service is always excluded because that is that has to be paid no matter what, right? It can't be in default. And then other
exclusions include um something that would affect our our um levy cap would be your added assessments. So, when you have added taxes for new construction, the state allows you to increase your levy cap by uh that percentage of your
tax rate simply because they know that you'll be raising those taxes even though it wasn't on the books um at that time. So, they'll allow you to raise it for that. And then other things that are exempt are like your low staff payments. That is the length of service for our um
volunteers. So they're all exempted. This year the state also allowed for um some health care. So if your health care in cost in were increased um more than what they allow or basically more
than what they deem to be appropriate, they would allow you to um keep that outside the cap. Uh liability insurance is another uh item that um has the cost of that has gone out of control. So they've allowed us to after a certain
increase they have allowed you to exempt that from the cabin as well. So we do what's called the levy cap calculation and it's a booklet that is put together um by the state. We complete it with our budget information and it basically will indicate okay you can put this amount
outside the cap. any grants that are within the budget are a net zero because we're getting the money in and we're spending it and basically the grant washes right off of your budget. So, we just use that the budget um itself as an
indicator or a paper trail if you will of the grants that come in and then they immediately get washed out of the budget and put into a separate ledger. Okay. So, when we talk about revenues and what we're um going to use, um state
aid is another one of the larger revenues that we can anticipate every year. And so, um what happens with the state aid, it's been flat since about 2010. Governor Christie came in, he had
his toolbox, and the first thing he said is, "We're we're not going to give you any more money. Whatever level you're at, the state can't afford it. We're going to leave you at that level." And then occasionally throughout the years when the state has extra money within their budget, COVID was one of those
times that they would give us some additional aid. Last year, we got some municipal relief aid, which is not afforded to us this year. So, that was about almost $40,000 that was offsetting your taxes, money coming in that we're
not getting this year. Um, any grants that are listed in the budget as prepared are not all the grants that you might see throughout the year. It's just what we have, you know, what are known to us right now. So,
throughout the year, the departments, the professionals, the business administrators, everybody's searching for money. um they don't know me well enough, but that's my first directive number one. Go find me some money. And so they'll be looking for grant opportunities. And as those come in,
you'll see those on a public agenda as a what we call a chapter 159, which is a special insertion of funds that we receive because we can't spend any money that isn't allocated in the budget. So when those grants come in, well, our
budget's already complete. So what we do is we do this uh chapter 159, we send it to the state and now we can say we're we're adding this to a budget that was already completed again as that paper trail goes on the budget comes
out. And then again the the elusive amount to be raised through taxation, which is really what everybody cares about, right? That's the amount that really matters to us. surplus. You'll find surplus is another revenue that is
utilized um to offset your taxation. Surplus is a misunderstood terminology. Surplus doesn't mean that that's just extra money sitting in a in a bucket that we can just spend on
whatever we feel like because it's extra money. Basically surplus is generated through um I told you about the revenues that are anticipated. Well, we have other revenues that are not anticipated and we call those miscellaneous revenues. Monies that we collect
throughout the year that it any one of those revenues might not be a very large number, but together you know a few things here, charges here and there. We add those up because we didn't account for them within the budget. we weren't anticipating that as a revenue that will
go to our fund balance or our surplus. And then it's also generated through the cancellation of budget expenditures. So we budget for a certain amount of money. If not all of that gets spent, it'll be reserved for one year anticipating any
expenses related to that year. So for instance, right now we're in 25. If anything comes through that wasn't account that an invoice, you know, usually happens closer in the beginning of the year, but occasionally things come through. It's an invoice from last year. So, we don't charge it to this
year's budget. We're going to charge it to last year's budget. So, they the state allows us to keep the appropriation reserves open for one year so that in 2026, whatever was left open in 2024 will now lapse into our fund
balance. I bet you didn't know you were going to get this big education on a municipal budget today. So anyway, so that surplus then is that's the money that we're going to use. We can determine how much we have,
how it's regenerating, and what we can afford to use to keep your taxes, you know, at within the the boundaries of of what we're allowed and what's acceptable and and all the other mitigating factors that go along with that.
And it also enables us to have cash flow to pay bills, right? Because if we just started every year at zero and had no surplus and no money in the bank, how are we going to pay bills for the month of January? We have zero tax collections coming in. So that's really the purpose
of surplus. So you want a healthy amount of surplus. You know, sometimes I've worked in towns where, in my opinion, they had too much surplus, but you want around, you know, a 10% to 15% of surplus. It is beneficial for operations, for cash flow. It's also
beneficial for when we borrow money because that is one of the indicators that the um investors and like Moody's and all of our uh ratings come from is they want to see how stable your finances are. are. And one of the things they look at, what's your revenue look
like? What have you been re are you is it regenerative? Is it are you spending every bit of uh surplus every year to offset your budget? Those are things that they look for. So, we always want to have, you know, a comfortable cushion there for those reasons. Not it's not
the town putting money in putting your tax dollars in the bank and not letting you benefit from it. you are benefiting from it in ways that you know at first sight you might not necessarily um realize okay so this is the pie chart of
your of the revenues so as we see taxation the largest number um there 77 about 77% um surplus makes up about 10% and then all of your other various revenues
including delinquent taxes. So um we can anticipate an amount based on the amount of taxes that are still outstanding from the prior year. The I interesting thing about when we are doing our budget and
figuring out well how much can I um anticipate for this current year? Well, we're only allowed to anticipate up to the amount that we collected in a prior year. So, we don't usually like to do that because there's no guarantee
you're going to collect. I'll give you a perfect UCCC fees. So, your permitting fees one year you could have a stellar year and collect a lot of money in those permitting fees. And then you might have a downturn in construction or any. So we
when we're making these decisions, we're talking to the different departments. You talk to your construction official. You figure out like, you know, are there projects going on in town, what do we anticipate those to be? Even though we may have collected, I'm going to make up a number here, a 100,000 the year before. There's no guarantee that you're
going to collect 100 this year. So, you know, you have to use your best judgment. And over the years, you can start to look at the trends and you can make educated decisions based on that. Okay, so this is a snapshot of the property tax levy and what it means for
your municipal taxes. So everything we're talking about tonight is the municipal budget. Your tax bills are comprised of municipal, your local library tax, county tax, all the funds to the open space and the county tax,
all the components of the county tax, and your school tax. The only piece we're talking about right now is just the only one that the town actually has any control over whatsoever and that is your municipal tax. So, um, your valuations have gone up from last
year and so um, which is that's been the trend everywhere, right? So whether um and especially in Mammoth County where you do your um reassess val you know your reassessments every year the the uh assessor can revalue the properties. So
we know that the market is in uh very strong at this point. So your valuation is 2 bill435,230,300. Uh your one penny is equal to uh $243,523. So every penny that your tax
rate increases is going to net that much money um towards the support of the budget. So your average home value for 2025 is a,262,431. The average value in 2024 was a,17362. So you can see that you know
the values of your homes are increasing. Thus, the increase in the assessed valuation of the town. The total assessed valuation of the town is also used for the county tax rate. That's how they determine how what your fair share of the county tax bill is going to be.
Um, and then uh the average municipal tax bill based on those values, right? So, if your home is worth a little bit more or a little bit less, these numbers would obviously change accordingly. but for 2025 is
going to be about $4,443.76 and all of that will support all of the operations of the municipality. So the uh amount to be raised through taxation um is going to be 8,563,3656. That translate to a tax rate
of approximately um 35.2 2 cents per um 100 and the um increase. So I told you what the amount of your average tax bill would be, but the increase is going to be about $12512 per year, which is about 25 bucks
or maybe $30 a quarter. So not terrible. Um and then the last piece of the budget is capital. So capital is basically the future spending plans on infrastructure, equipment, other
projects that you know we're not necessarily going to fund through a budget appropriation, a grant um or I'm sorry that will be funded through um you know budget appropriation grants or financing. So this year's budget we do have and I could ask the the mayor to
elaborate on what these capital projects planned um are that are within the budget. So we had roof repairs like I you want to talk about that. Yeah, these are u roof repairs. The police station has a a leaky roof. We put aside some
dollars there. I want to say magnitude 30 40,000. The perfect purchase of public safety vehicle I believe is closer to 75,000. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but that is typically annually we'll try to purchase one new police vehicle as we
retire one of the older ones in the fleet. And then the street light repairs. Um we've actually had some downed street lights over the past year or so. Uh and what we've done is we put a metal plate over the live wires, but
we have not replaced the actual lamps. Uh I think there's six of them down. Four of them we've we've sub we have some money in a trust already about not a lot about 11,000 which is roughly the cost of one lamp. Uh but we've got u
insurance claims submitted for at least four of the down pole. So we should have roughly, you know, five lamps, five poles of cost available to us and we would look at trying to maybe, you know, complete those repairs a share if we
would do that. So these capital the cost for these capital improvements will come out of your uh the capital improvement fund. So it's not it's not through general um operations, it's coming out of capital. And this is another um
sometimes when we do capital projects, we pay cash. And in these instances, that's what we'll be doing. And these um types of expenditures fall outside of that that caps that I was speaking of as
well. Okay. So then the there unrelated to your um tax dollars is are you is your utilities, right? So municipal utilities are created and utilized to maintain infrastructure and are
financially solely supported unless you through user fees. So there are two utilities in town which you're aware. You have your sewer utility which is 2,145,000 and the beach utility which is closer to 3 million a year. Both of
those utilities are selfquidating. So what does that mean? It means that the fees that are collected are enough to support the operations, right? And that's what we want. We we want the same things that happen with your current fund budget because what triggers a tax
increase is how much money do we need to support the budget, right? And we all know in our uh you know in our personal lives, utilities, you know, go to the food store, you know, you know, break the bank with that. So obviously you need more money to pay for that. Same thing happens with your general budget
and then of course with the utilities. So we need it to be self-supporting and if it's not that's when you hear of rate increases whether it be for the sewer badges or whatever other um fees that go along with either one of those operations. So they're both
selfquinating and that allows us when we do capital projects out of those utilities that if we need to borrow money now we don't need a down payment. So customarily you need a 5% down payment when you do capital improvement uh borrowing and you do a bond
ordinance. But for the selfquidating utilities, they don't require that if they know that you know you're solely you're uh fully supported. So a snapshot of your sewer utility. Now obviously the utilities are a lot simpler. The number is a lot
smaller of the overall budget and you're only talking about a single department really. So the expenses, largest expense for your sewer utility is the treatment costs. So we're budgeting $800,000 this year to cover that. Then your total
operational costs are about $465,000 salaries and wages and it starts to go down. Debt service and and capital outlay. So you'll have your debt service payments and then we'll allocate some money. We want to do you know cash capital things come up, you know,
emergencies come up. So you have a little money there. So the total of that is about 431,000. And then your statutory expenses, that's your pensions and the health care contribution and social security and taxes uh for payroll um
associated with this particular department are all budgeted there for roughly $80,000. Your beach utility. So your beach utility again it's not a lot to it as far as because the operations
although a lot goes into it right most of your uh expenses come through salaries and wages. Think of all your lifeguards and the beach um tag sellers and all of that's all your special police officers that are you know
monitoring the activities of of the beach. So salary and wages is your biggest uh expense there. Again, we have debt service statutory expenses and then other operational expenses. That's, you know, all of the items that your
uniforms for everybody, your the tags that you're selling, all of those um items would be included in the um utility uh operational expenses. So, that's the overview of how the budget's
put together and how it works. And certainly um you know we welcome any questions, concerns, comments, answer the best we can. So I don't you want them to come up
right? They got a state name there. Please raise your hand and I'll recognize you. Okay. I was just going to ask if you could go back to the slide where you actually had the 2025 tax rate and then there was a $4,000
figure 1.2 million. So with that slide did I right where if the average home is 1.2 Does that mean that that average home tax is
4,000? That's the municipal tax, right? So it doesn't include what your county taxes are, your school taxes. All of those components have an have an a rate associated with them. Okay? And that rate is used to add their portion. So
this is the amount that you pay that covers municipal expenses. What we control, what right? So your police and everything else that you get here. Okay. And then you talked about the increase percentage and you said not bad. Um how does that
4318 like what what was the that was last year that that was 2020 2024's average municip municipal tax portion was 431864. So the difference between the two is the 12
$125 that that the increase is expected to be for this year for the municipal for the municipal margin. Yes, I misread that with the calendar year 2024 where the average home was 1.2.
That's yeah 1.25 2024 it was a So it's the 1.17 and then I just got a couple heads. No. Yeah. And Okay. And then the municipal part
for that average home of 1 17 Oh, that was 2024, right? So that 4,300 figure applies to the 2024 average home, not the 2 the
1.2. Correct. Okay. As I recog If you would please please stand up and give your name just so everyone knows. Sorry. Somebody had to be um can you explain where the retro money for the back pay came from?
Did it come from surplus? Well, I I would say, you know, again, I didn't create the document, but I can tell you what the the story the numbers tell, and that certainly some of it is uh funded through an increase in surplus, but from
when I reviewed the budgets for the prior years, other than last year, we're very close to what normally is anticipated for um surplus. So, some of it is there. And then also some of it um
was existing from prior budgets so that they knew that the um contracts were out. So you're still anticipating a little more salaries, you know, because every year you think this is going to be the year that we settle. And so you you know, so it's not
like every nickel of the increases were just thrown in this year's budget. So certainly somewhere because you have the increases for this year. Um but some of the retro was already like baked in to the prior year's budgets and then of
course the to offset that the revenue was going to come from some from surplus some from tax increases. I can't pinpoint well we needed you know 400,000 so this is where it come from. You you build it and then you make you know you you fill in the blanks with the
revenues. Just for the record on that point, the previous administration over two years had acred had reserved close to $300,000 that was basically out. We were able to allocate
that much of cost back to prior prior. So the money was always there then. So not all but you that would certainly help a step in the right direction and and yes. So let me can I just explain that one side is cash and the other is the
appropriation right so there was money the cash money that resulted in people's paychecks but now we also have to raise enough you have to increase the salary line items from you know for all those
years. So the cash came from one place appropriations are increased for this year. Yes. Yes. Very much for having first of all I'd like to thank you for actually
addressing the audience of taxpayers as opposed to having back to us. That's actually something that's been rare. So really appreciate that. Thank you. And I also appreciate the fact that you've taken us through and explain things. I feel like I'm back in my EBA program.
But um the only little quibble I have and it's little um I prefer to see you know calendar year 24 versus 25 or vice versa in a in a you know a chart as opposed to um birds and so forth. But
but otherwise um thank you very much. I'll keep that in mind for next year. Mr. Kenny, uh Herb Kenny 216 Grimley, thank you very much for your presentation. Good question. Um you know, this town is exhibit a barrage of lawsuits. I believe some of them have
hopefully been settled. Where do they show up in here? Well, it depends on the type of lawsuit. So if it's a salary, no, I don't want to I don't want you don't want to air it. But if it's a property or damage and things like that,
then it would go if it's if it if it's a salary situation, it has to be budgeted within salaries because our insurance doesn't won't pay the back salaries. They'll pay um you know um anything that's not salary related. So if
somebody's getting money for pain and suffering, the insurance company will pay that less our deductible. If it's some kind of property damage, they'll cover that. But if it's a salary situation, we have to show it's going to be in the salary and wage line. And Janette, I can add a little
more. One of those lawsuits that has settled was related to the beach utility. Those salaries will appear in the beach utility. Another lawsuit that is about to settle more or less have reached an agreement. We just finalized it uh would hit the current fund because
it was related to a situation not in either of the utilities. But when those hit so you don't have like a the standard um benefit say calculation in so you just get one base pay but you don't have a multiply. No, cuz sometimes
before they said, "Oh, yeah. We wouldn't even we wouldn't even know because there's been some we can only just anticipate based on what we been some comments like editorials and things weren't accurate." Then if you're not adding benefits to that just based
on Okay, yes, Rick Baral 16. Uh I'm looking what was posted on uh the website and it looks like uh the county tax however is decreasing. So
our net out of out of pocket would be less than last year. Well, it depends on how much it decreases because the two components of the tax calculation is the assessed valuation and the rate. So if the rate if this evaluation goes up, the
rates typically come down a little bit. So it depends on how much it came down. If it came down at a larger percentage than the percentage going up in the valuation, then yeah. So it could it could even be flat. What are the numbers that are showing on this budget that's
posted? Um it's it has the rates about the county and the different categories of the county showing that the numbers are less this year than last year. Are you talking about the municipal budget? That's that you're looking at our budget. Yes. So that is estimate
estimates because when that was created the county and the school didn't have their budgets yet. Okay. When you anticipate that happening? Um I it really depends. Uh I don't know when Mammoth counties are out. I don't they they should be out now I guess. I don't
know. I I we don't have any control over that. So we just focus on this. We base the estimates on you know last year and you know you add a percentage and that it's just an estimate. Okay, another question I had according according again for this document it shows that the
reserve is a million one from over 2024. So that gets put in aside uh to be if anything comes up for the for the last year that hits this year. Correct. Now what was the number then
for 23 the reserve? Do we know what that was? Well it it's not well does question mean? Yes. I think I'm sorry. Are you saying the anticipated surplus? Well, the 23 you should have after the one year you should have what the number should be. Correct. Right. But I don't
have that AFS. I can't tell you what the actual to total amount of surplus was. I just want to make sure I understand the question right. When you're saying reserve, are you are you referring to the revenue line item surplus or no? The amount the amount of reserve compared to
24 actually we paid to the total amount of the surplus was for the prior year for the prior year the surplus I just I'm not sure I understand that can be found on the financial statement. How much was the Yeah. How much surplus did we have? So
for this year for for from 2024 I believe there was two a little over 2 million that was regenerated for for from 2024. I'd have to look at the totally now and we use and we're using 1.1
right right the year before I don't I'd have to look at that that financial statement which also can be found online. Okay. I know it's a little bit and with this budget, how much do we anticipate the savings would be for this year to carry over? We never answer. So,
or is that too much to ask? Yeah, we hope that you know it there's many factors. What our goal is is to regenerate what we're spending so that you're right and that's what the anticipation is. But until the year is
over, we don't know. We can only go by what past history has been. When I looked at this budget overall, and if you all just take a look at what was appropriated uh last year versus what's appropriated this
year, it's very similar to last year's. The biggest increases were were salaries, right? Because that there was um actually two years. Yeah. So your salaries and then your statutory expenditures. So your statutory
expenditures went up nearly 12%. Again statutory is your health your health care your um not healthcare. Let me back up. your debt service, your pensions, your um all of those things that we have to pay by law that there's no you know
you can't you can't say well I'm going to you know uh lessen the amount of employees or you have to do it. So that went up 11%. So that's where the increases came from. There's really nothing. It's basically
similar to prior years. So my anticipation would be surplus should regenerate at the same the same rate. Maybe again I can add to this ju just because you're you're touching on issues that I think are are should be
shared with the public but uh but I haven't heard the exact words so I'm just going to volunteer some additional information but the way budgets are built in the world of municipal government you know you identify appropriations which you expect to be more or less your expenditures for the
year and there are various caps and parameters within which we have to work. Um, so if you know you're going to spend money and for example these lawsuits that Mr. Kenny asked about, we know we're going to have x thousands of dollars that we're going to have to pay
one time. We know we're going to have the demolition of the church. We have to build that into our budget. That item is not in there yet. But we know we're going to have to, you know, pay that number this year. What we can't do in our budget world is anticipate the
revenue the sale of the church. We We can't anticipate revenue that we've already locked into via shared services that we've structured early this year. We can't anticipate revenue for fees we've already increased that will take
effect or have taken effect this year. So, there's a lot of revenue out there that we know is coming, but we can't recognize it. And one or two folks have asked, well, you're above a million dollars. is that you know is that a number you can recover you know
replenish from surplus we're very confident we can replenish it and part of the part of the mechanism I'll call it that we use in in municipal budgeting is we have to work on the appropriations you have to clearly identify appropriations we've built in
significant increases for salaries we had to we we built in anticipated costs of these various lawsuits that we're trying to settle uh we're not able to build in a lot of the revenue we know will be generated. So that's why the way you the way you balance the new
appropriations most of which are one time only they spike you in this year the settlement the demolition of the church they spike you this year but next year they go away we can't build in revenue this year because it's any uh any revenue we know is coming but we
didn't have last year that's not anticipated. So what we do is we increase the anticipated surplus line knowing that we're borrowing that from our existing surplus because we have that money. And then when the sale
of the church goes through, presuming it will when uh when these new revenues are generated, I we estimate that roughly we have roughly 300,000 of new revenues coming brand new just from all the other work we've done, shared services and
increasing uh fines and things like that. Uh we anticipate that we're not even counting the church revenue. We anticipate that we're going to easily replenish the monies tomorrow. I don't know if that helps, but but there is that confusion. A lot
of people don't fully appreciate the timing. Appropriations we got to recognize right now. Revenue we kind of have to wait on until we get realize it. And that was one of the things, thank you for bringing that. One of the things that I didn't really touch on either with your new revenues. So, um, had the
property already, had the church already been demolished and you had a contract of sale in your hand, we could have anticipated some of that revenue into the budget. But because we don't have a contract of sale, whatever when it gets
sold, when the money comes in, it'll just go directly to fund balance. And at that point, that in turn becomes your surplus. Rick, I don't know if that helped answer your question. No, I was I mean that was I understand what you were saying and I was just seeing if there was any, you
know, off the cuff type of estimate of what the reserve was going to be for this year. Just you know, we don't budget for surplus. That's because a budget is just a guesstimate anyway. So it's a plan for spending educated guess
hopefully an educated guess. The older we get, the better we get. Question. Yes, central. Just to be clear, is what you're what you just spoke about um in regard to April 1st during that
discussion with um the previous CFO, you had indicated that there was $450,000 of receivables that were found. When that money comes in, even though it was from 2023, that would become part of what you're just now talking about,
right? Uh well yes this is a unique question though this is but that's debt that's debt yeah that's I believe that's debt service it so it'll become a reserve to pay the debt service so it's not going to be surplus it's not going to be and that and actually that
might be a larger a bigger is that all one thing that was found or was that accumulation of a bunch of things our prior CFO so this is all part of our uh capital budget and I learned I did not know this that within the capital budget world, we actually don't have
receivables. Even though you just referred to it that way and I'm sure others have. Uh when the CF our part, John Barrett, when he identified this, it he was going through paperwork basically related to uh shared services we have with Avon and he and it was
actually more than 450. I want to say it's closer to 470 to 480, but it's almost half a million dollars. and he send us an email saying, "Hey, found this receivable that's not a receivable, but it's money that we believe Avon owes us shared services rather than
that's under that umbrella for funding. We we so we think we're still we've shared that with that mayor there sharing it with their CFO. We don't really have that resolved yet. So that's why hesitant to even refer to it as definite money coming
back, but we think it might be that and and I don't know what the repayment terms were. So, we there's a lot of investigating that still needs to be done to see, you know, I doubt very much they're going to write us a check for the half a million dollars in one year. Be very surprised. But that that would
be great if they did and we could get the interest on that money. But yeah, it's good to know it's out there that it might be available. Uh it won't impact the budget one way or the other, but but it's good to know that. Yeah.
Any other questions in the audience? Uh, is there a way to see Erica? If there's anyone online with a question. No, it doesn't look like No hands. Okay, as I mentioned, the the the public
will get two more bites at the apple after tonight, at least to hopefully we'll have a budget resolved in June. But uh but thank you for your questions tonight. Uh seeing no other hands, I'll close the uh public discussion and move on to
uh item seven on our agenda, the approval of minutes. The uh I'll make a motion to approve the May 6, 2025 council business minutes. Second, Mr. Noble. Yes. Mr. Reeblot, yes. Mr. Nikki,
yes. Mr. Weber, yes. Mayor Bossi, yes. Okay. Item eight on the agenda. Uh public comments or questions specifically pertaining to this tonight's agenda. Show hands. Mullen Mia Mullen 3024th Avenue. I just want to
echo what Mary had said in regards to the next meeting that we have. Very helpful to see last year. Yeah. So people can expect what they're
Thank you. Other comments or questions? Okay. Seeing no other hands, um we will move on to item nine on our agenda, which is ordinance introductions. And uh first on our list is ordinance number
2025-17, which is amending chapter 9, traffic of the burrows to revised general ordinances. What I'll just summarize this quickly, then I'll open up any council discussion. Um, but basically what this ordinance is doing is restricting the the employee parking
lot out to the side and right immediately behind the building. Uh, the side being the north side. Um, restricting it to employees between business hours 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. What we've been finding is we have a lot of folks going over to any of the businesses um, parking in our parking
lot going, you know, across the street to get something to eat, whatever. uh and our employees when they've got out to lunch, they come back and they don't have any parking spaces. So all this is doing is is reserving the spaces here in
our parking lot between 8 and 4 weekdays for employees andor burrow business visitors. That's basically what this is doing. Uh it's just an ordinance introduction at this point. So there there won't be any broader discussion other than if the council has any
comments. I I would like to add um earlier we had met and I had asked the mayor were can the seniors still park there and for the BAZI center how about the historical society if you're having a meeting in the fia center you're more than welcome to use that parking lot so
I had that clarified and I appreciate your time on that thank you mayor I really I have to convince the chief not to take it over seat chief is there signage coming up indicating that there will be their assigned and can I just ask and I
guess this is more a question for you chief you know we're moving into summer this is going to be new I guess this won't be in effect until we're actually in summer but we have a period where you know special officers are maybe just keeping an eye if they see somebody just give them a warning because maybe somebody's been parking here lunchtime
and going across the street for a very long time just to get people used to it gently into the new and mayor, I'm also going to go across the street to the businesses myself and just follow the owners or managers and
give my heads up what's coming down. But they're they're more than welcome to park there on the weekends. Correct. Yeah, this is just restricted between 4 p.m. and after 4 p.m. Okay, great. Thank you. I like that they yell at you. Yeah.
Any other council discussion or questions? Mayor, isn't there also a requirement that um is that during the night from a certain time at night 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. You're not allowed to park as well. So that's just another, you know, so
people aren't just, you know, camping out in parking lot or parking their cars there through the night and basically living in their cars or using a parking area. So that's something new as well. Okay. Thank you. Uh so no further
comments or questions. I'll make a motion that we uh approve for introduction uh ordinance 2025-17 amending chapter 9 traffic with the buroughs revised general ordinance. Second Mr. Noble. Yes. M green. Yes. Mr.
Nikki. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Mayor Katosi. Yes. The second ordinance for introduction is ordinance 2025-18 military leave different. Well, it's actually titled ordinance amending chapter 78 personnel policies of the
bureau's revised general ordinances to revise the bureau's employee military leave policy. Uh at a high level, what we're trying to do is is tighten up our existing policy. We just want to make sure that uh it is serving its proper
function which is to make sure to a degree anyone in military service various branches of service have uh have compensation available to them support from the burrow. Uh but but I would say we're trying to tighten up our
definitions a little bit. And Mr. Canon, I know you've been close to this. Is there anything more appropriate that you can add? Uh no. work closely with the delay of returning to get this together and the road. And again, this is a a first
introduction so that you'll all have time to review it uh over the next few weeks and comment at adoption. So, with that said, I'll make a motion that we uh introduce 2025-8 ordinance amending chapter 78 personnel policies specifically with
regard to employee military leave. Second, Mr. Noble, yes. Miss Greenlat, yes. Mr. Tuniki, yes. Mr. Weber, yes. Mayor Guboszi, yes. Now we'll move to ordinances for adoption. There's only
one item 2025-16. The ordinance supplementing chapter 113 animals and of the burough's revised general ordinances specifically uh redefining pet waste. And this is standard statutory language provided to
us by the state of New Jersey. Any any uh comments or questions? First, I'll open this up. It's adoption. Open it up to the public for comments. Any comments or questions? Okay. Seeing none, I'll I'll
close make a motion to close public comment. Can we make a motion to open? Nope. Open and close. Close the door. Anybody? Okay. Can we just make a motion to open this correctly? Second. Mr. Noble. Yes.
Mr. Greenwat. Yes. Mr. Nikki. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Mayor Bubosi. Yes. One more shot. Anyone care to make All right. I'll make a motion to Okay. I'll make a motion to close public
comment and adopt 2025-16 uh supplementing chapter 115 and specifically defining pet waste. Second. Mr. Noble. Yes. Miss Bringwood. Yes. Mr. Nikki. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Mayor Hubosi. Yes. Okay. We will move to item
10 on the agenda, communications. We have a I have a couple of appointments to announce. One is u environmental commission appointment for M. Carol Conway is is she is being appointed to join our
environmental commission. The arts council alternate appointment of David Rosenl. Is David with us now? Okay. David is being appointed to the arts council as an alternate. Um I have a couple quick announcements communications to make. One is uh we are
going to hold a business open forum on May 28th at 4 pm at the firehouse. Uh and this is the idea is to get our businesses give them an opportunity to have an open forum with the mayor. Uh I'll probably try to enlist one of the council members so we don't have a
quorum and I'll probably try to enlist our business administrator, Mr. Dhy, who spends a decent amount of time with our businesses as it is. Um, and it really is going to serve as a bit of a round table just so businesses can ask questions, give us suggestions, whatever. Uh, as I mentioned, it'll be
at the firehouse 4 p.m. the 28th, and you'll see more of that in the newsletter to come. Um, financial updates. I just want to give folks a sense of a couple things. one, our auditor has uh is going to be
starting his audit uh probably in the very early part of June. He specifically said uh he wanted to give our brand new CFO a little time to just get acclimated and I think time is up Janette, but um Janette's going to need to put together
some exhibits for him balance day and so forth. So he said he will get the audit underway. uh he anticipates he doesn't he still doesn't know the quality of the data but he believes last year's data was much better than the year before. He's hoping it'll continue to have
improved. So uh he does expect at this point it's very preliminary uh to be able to complete it by the end of August. August is the anticipated date that the state is going to require completion.
Um the uh I already mentioned that we're going to try to public hearings on for this budget June 5th and on June 19th. Um but just as awareness to folks we've
identified an old bank PNC bank uh had 26 people have asked us over the months. Uh why do we have so many bank accounts and you know why don't we close some of them? Well we found 26 that are basically have no money. 25 have no
money. one uh one has a good amount of money but PNC last week we identified these and we closed all 26 the one account that had uh substantial amount of money about $700,000 in it we transferred that money to our current
bank proven to uh and we believe that money is uh we're trying to investigate to be sure but it looks the way that money approved it looks like it came in during the beach season very likely came through community pass uh revenues that
were tied to daily beach patches. That's my best guess. We don't know that for a fact, but it was just shy of 700,000 $697,000. The bureau knows this money exists. We didn't find new money. We just found it in a place we didn't
expect. We thought it was already at probably. So, the good news is moving forward on that. The one challenge with that is uh and I'm trying to work through this now with with PNC Bank is we were being assigned being assessed u
processing fees for for accounts where we had no money. So we're going to we're going to work with them to see if we can resolve that. But just wanted to let everyone know that with one fell swoop we were able to eliminate about 25 accounts for anyone who's worried that I
had 60 plus accounts. So that's a good thing. Um, also, uh, Mr. Fred Ibeno, who I introduced to us all a while ago, uh, as he's been on assignment, a relatively
modest $5,000 assignment to give us a look back of our finances over the last couple years just to make sure everything looks copacetic. He has submitted to me a draft report. uh we're going he and I are going through that and once he finalizes that he's agreed
that he'll be in a position to present it to the burrow uh in June one of our two June meetings. So that go ahead those processing fees were monthly or uh what I know for a fact is last month
March or two months ago in March we had a $3,000 fee for one month for one month but I requested four years of statements so we're going to do a much deeper dive once we and these accounts are being closed right they've all been closed but
while they were open we were getting assessed analytic fees So, uh, but again, I just want to make everybody aware we're making strides towards cleaning up some of the outstanding issues. Well, thank you for that. Uh, and finally, just a quick
update on Lorraine Avenue, and by that I obviously mean the Methodist Church at 319 Lorraine. We've completed the public auction. Um, for the most part, that that went very well. Uh the challenges were probably tied to getting folks in
to remove windows and so forth. The logistics of removing a lot of the artifacts has been a bit challenging. We we enlisted EPW to help us a lot with that. Uh the scheduling of that. Uh we plan over the next few weeks, we plan to arrange access for either salvage
companies or individuals, residents in town. Uh it'll, you know, the items that are left, we no longer are required to sell or uh open public auctions. So now anyone who's interested if they want to make a donation to the historic society
or something they can. But if you're interested in a a pew or other things that are there uh if you would work through I'll say yes Mr. Dory. Yeah. If they could work through me because I have a waiver that our attorney put
together for folks to sign before they go into church. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody's going in without number number one signing waiver and number two letting us know the doors are still padlocked. So unless you're climbing through a window, you know, you're not going in. Okay.
There are no windows. That could be a challenge. Um Okay. So with the auction and then the artifact removal largely behind us, we expect that'll be another 10 days, probably the f into the first week of June. We expect during the month of June to have the
actual demolition. As I mentioned, we do have to modify our budget to make sure that we uh can you know account for the funding for the demolition in our budget. And u
we expect we're hopeful that after June 5th, after the meeting we have scheduled June 5th, we'll be able to begin the demolition. That obviously has to be coordinated with the demolition company and it could get pushed into the latter part of June. Uh people have raised
questions about bats and about rodents and about other animals that may be living in the buildings. Uh and when I say plural, it's because we have the church, but we also have the parsonage building. Uh Mr. G, do you want to give an update on bats in particular? Uh
sure. We had crowd less in to take a look at all those ordinance and they're working with our DPW director came up with a strategy to uh remove and contain whatever was there prior to the definition because the bats as you showed me are protected species of
sorts. Yeah. So they're a little more complicated than mice and mice burn. Yes. So rodents of various sizes and shapes. Uh we have all kinds of extermination things in both buildings. Uh in the church. We've had that for a
couple months more recently in the uh in parsonage, but the bats have been a new challenge and we're actually know that there's actually do we know that for a fact? Yes, are they in the building?
I'll take the bats are good. bats. And that's why we have no mosquitoes in the church, right? CFO is going to charge him for staying in the church from them.
And the final update on on 319 Lorraine and 317 Lorraine is that we plan to conduct the sale of these four subdivided lots, residential lots, uh no later than the August time frame, if possible July. that might be pushing it a little bit to advertise it correctly
and get the right interest and hopefully the right price. Uh it'll likely fall into August, but hopefully before the end of the summer. That's the plan. Those are my updates for communications. Uh let's move to item 11. Can I just ask, can you just share the protocol um
for any environmental hazards um so neighbors who are nearby during the demolition can know what to expect for any um any hazards that are in the building as well? Yeah, the main hazard is there's an asbestous removal company
now that is uh that's on site. Um they just did the house. They have to do inside the house and the church. Um and um you know we've already made sure that our engineer is looking
over their work along with the majority department they're the ones who actually um regulate the spec. Yeah, we did follow up just recently with our engineer to make sure that all
guidelines are being followed especially when we get to the massive project taking down the church so people need to be concerned during the physical demolition about anything that's airborne. People nearby, should they be closing their windows or Well, I mean,
they should close their windows, not because of the spice, but because of we're going to do our best, you know, keeping water on the debris as it comes out, but it's inevitable that some's going to escape and and potentially on
other houses. So, yeah, we're going to make sure um because we didn't do a very good job announcing the initial speesus removal. So, we're going to do a good job announcing in advance to the residents in the area when the demolition is going
to start so they can So, is there a reverse 911 that goes out or how how is are the residents going to be notified? Um, honestly, old schoolers going to knock on their doors. Yeah. Knock on their door. So, the full answer is we
haven't we don't have that notification plan yet. You know, we think we're at least two weeks away, maybe more, three to four weeks possibly. Um, and we did already for a separate related challenge we face with our sewer system, we did do the oldfashioned knocking on doors only
to find out folks knocking on doors couldn't get into a couple buildings because the buildings were locked and you know, you're missing eight or 10 residents and condos or rentals. So, we do have to fine-tune our strategy for what, you know, the old fashioned way. That said, uh, we're going to got to
communicate it extensively. It'll be direct, you know, mails of some sort, hand delivered or US US mail, uh, newsletters, things like that. So, is it like just within a requisite number of feet from the building? I mean, how far out do you
have to go? Well, the whole world will know if they're reading our newsletters, you know, but but in terms of specific mail delivered, it probably we'll figure that out. That'll probably be a couple streets. You think about like use is within 200 ft. So maybe do something along those lines. We can do we'll do
more. We we're going to air on the side of safety. They're following all of by law they have to follow all of New Jerseyy's, you know, requirements. So uh we're going to take this building down as as uh safely as we possibly can and
communicate it as as thoroughly as we can. And the roads closed off during the demolition. We want to keep it wide open. Just to give everyone an expectation of what it's going to be. Sh. Why don't you
give us a list of all your questions? Somebody out there that's wondering every question. No, I know I'm teasing, but we, as I mentioned, we're going to finalize the communication plan, but but there are questions we just don't yet have the answer to. But we will
absolutely be safe. I am joking. Question on the auction. No more questions. Comment on the auction. Um when will we um share like what is the the outcome of
the auction as far as revenue that was earned and when will that be available? It should be available, you know, probably by next meeting. We'll give some sort of an update because we're still we're still working through some of the removal of items and some of the revenue may go down because some people
haven't yet picked up their items. Uh other things may still sell like through salvage and whatever. So hopefully if hopefully if not the next meeting, the second meeting in June. Okay, great. Thank you. By the way, everybody, uh
spoiler alert, it's not a lot of money, but it was I thought it was great. like a lot of people got to go in and see the church that have never seen it before and and I got some I bought something. So, it's just nice that people could own a piece of history and I think even now like there's still a lot of Bibles left,
Spanish Bibles, there's chairs, there's artwork and I'm I'm happy that people are going to be able to get that for free and take it. I just, you know, I don't I hate to see things go into a landfill and especially from a church. So, it was really nice inclusive process. Sometimes, you know, it's about
the money and sometimes it's about doing things right. And we we did it right. And while council president was able to purchase something, I was outbid. Somebody sniped me at the last second. Yeah. Do you have a question?
No. U Mr. Michelle, you're gonna have to wait till the uh end of the meeting to comment, but he'll have more information on specifically on the artifacts. Um, okay. We'll move to resolutions. The the consent agenda resolutions. Are there
any items anyone wants to comment on or vote out separately? That's good. Okay. I'll make a motion that we approve consented agenda resolutions 2025-186 through 2025-189.
Mr. Noble, yes. Miss Greenblat, yes. Mr. Noiki, yes. Mr. Weber, yes. Mayor Dubosi, yes. Okay. Individual resolution 2025-180 authorizing the burrow of rather beach to enter into a cooperative pricing agreement with the educational services commission of New Jersey
cooperative pricing system. I should say that this and a number of these others uh the next three after this are all uh recommendations by our new QBA uh just to make these things available to us to the extent we can save some money. Um,
so any questions on 180? No. Make a motion to uh approve 2025-180. Second. Mr. Noble, yes. Mr. Green, yes. Mr. Wiki, yes. Mr. Weber, yes. Mayor Gubet, yes. 2025-190 authorizing participation in
the New Jersey Wastewater Cooperative Pricing System of Pay Valley Sewage Commission, PBSC. Same thing. Uh, any questions or comments? I'll make a motion that we approve.
Second 2025. Mr. Noble. Yes. Mr. Greenlat. Yes. Mr. Niki. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Mayor Kubosi. Yes. 2025 191. Authorizing contract through New Jersey Division of Purchase and Property
Contracts. And I'm going to skip the rest. 19. Any comments or questions? I'll make a motion we approve 2025 191. Second, Mr. Noble. Yes. M. Green. Yes. Mr. Nikki. Yes. Mr. Weber. Yes. Mayor
Kubosi. Yes. 2025192. Authorizing a memorandum of understanding between the burrow and laborers international union of North America. Local 77 for the temporary employment of local union labor as may be needed by the burrow.
I'm going to comment on the topic. No, no, always answer. I didn't have the perfect answer to this. Thank you. So, this is um this is an entity. It's a union. Uh not rather each union that uh nonetheless provides
certain levels of of labor uh at an hourly rate. Uh it's it's an hourly rate that includes not only the labor cost, but some of their other uh statutory costs like for pension, healthcare, and so forth. Um but there are times uh We've probably passed those times right
now. We last few weeks, last month, DPW's been hurting for staffing and probably could have used this labor pool to draw on a few people for a few hours in a given week. We probably are beyond that time right now. And the preference, I talked to Vajio Capone about this. The
preference is where we do have extra work. These folks when you add up all their component parts their their their cost time to hire them is very comparable to a lot of our folks working overtime. So all things equal we'd
rather pay our own employees as long as they're willing to work overtime. That said, if we're really the DPW in particular is really in a pinch is uh really happy to have this opportunity uh to draw from this call. Uh and Mr. has
already connected with the union to make sure that the union doesn't have any concerns about us drawing from a different Indian court but it would be I would think extreme situation and we may never take advantage it's just there we need it so is the expectation like we
use to build something or are we going to get extra labor if we need help I don't know picking up garbage can is it all the above or the above yeah painting building garbage masonry work, um,
landscaping. Okay. It's it's as me mayor mentioned, it's as needed. So, if you use it, you pay for it. If you don't use it, you don't pay. And there is no you already confirmed there is no conflict between unions. Are you going to verify that? Uh, I spoke
with uh Mike Thompson, the representative from UFCW, informed him what we're looking at doing. Um, he didn't see any conflict. Now, this doesn't replace any burrow employees. It doesn't replace hours for any burrow employees. It simply uh supplements um
if there's additional need and it also replaces having to hire contractors. So, you know, if you'd have to hire a contractor for masonry or for landscaping, instead of having to pay them plus, you know, you got to pay their you're going to get paid 10 20%
profit, which is fair. You just hire the labor and it all works underpal to not ever have to access this group. I mean, they're there. They've got skill sets that we might be able to utilize, but the hope is to not have to
use them at all. Uh but the union is aware of them and Baj also knows that first and foremost we want to make sure our own people are appropriately compensated. So that is the plan at this point. It's just another resource that we have available to us. So with that
said, I'll make a motion to approve 2025 192 authorizing the memorandum of understanding between the Burough Laborers International Union of North America. Mr. Noble, yes. Mr. Reglet, yes. Mr. Noiki, yes. Mr. Weber, yes. Mayor
Guboszi, yes. 2025 191, I'm sorry, 193. Approval of a lean redemption refund for 611 Parkplace Avenue in the amount of 1418.73. I'll make a motion to approve. Mr. Noble, yes. Mr. Green, yes. Mr. Nikki, yes. Mr. Weber, yes. Mayor
Guboszi, yes. Uh, resolution 2025-194 establishing the bid threshold to 44,000 for calendar year 2025. This is as our new QPA described it a house cleaning item. We just wants to make sure that we have current documentation.
Every year we should reaffirm that this is our bid threshold. Uh not for professional services but which remains right now at $4,000 but for all other acquisitions otherwise his concern is only that somebody could challenge that. The limit without this is for the
burough to authorize 17,500. with this the limit is 44,000 and the actual 44,000 is already in place but we just have not restated it for the record. So any questions on this one right I'll make a motion that we
approve 2025-194 second Mr. Dylan yes Mr. Nikki yes Mr. Weber. Yes. Mayor Guboszi. Yes. Item 2025-195 is the bill list for May 20,
2025. Any questions or comments? Yeah, I had a question. Um, so I see on page eight of the bills list um charge of 45,536 and change. Uh, it's related to
the Ocean Avenue and the prominade. And I'm wondering is that the outflow pipe. No, that is that should be each utility by the way. I don't know. Yeah, I would assume. Yeah, that we we engaged avocing
firm to evaluate uh a lot of the changes we've since undertaken on Ocean Avenue uh to to expand our site triangles entering Ocean A. uh five or six streets that uh that enter ocean looking north
side triangles. We've removed one or two parking spaces or a total of maybe eight spaces removed um just to just to improve sight triangles as well as looking at where we would be able to place the um uh hand the wheelchair
access pickup and drop off spots. So they did analysis for us to make sure we had this in the most uh appropriate location. and they coordinated with the county to it's a county road to make sure we can make the changes. That's what that was for.
Any other questions? My questions were answered. Thank you very much. All right. Then we'll I will make a motion to approve 2025-195 bill of May 20, 2025. Second, Mr. Noble? Yes. Miss Greenblood? Yes. Mr. Nikki? Yes. Mr. Weber? Yes. Mayor
Dubosi? Yes. Item 12 on the agenda, announcements. There are none. Item 13A, the item that you've all been waiting for, the administrator report. Mr. Dory. Thank you, Mr. May. Um, first
thing I want to uh recognize, um, one of the resolutions you passed in the consent agenda was adding additional counselors to the camp. Um because of the hard work of uh Courtney Pathis, our rec director, she was able to get those
counselors which allowed her to take all the children off the weight list. So every child who wanted to be a part of the Bradley Beach camp this summer will now be able to be a part. So she's worked on that for the last two months to make that a reality. So I just want to recognize her. Before you continue
your report, I just want to add to what you're saying. I had two different individuals, parents, basically say, "My kids's on the wait list. What are you going to do about it?" So, I mean, there really was a wait list that people really wanted.
So, thank you for stealing my there were 35 students on the wait list and that the rec department was actually looking for more staffing. So, have they already fully staffed up? Well, because of the resolution you voted on tonight uh during the consent
agenda, those new counselors will allow them to remove those take those I shouldn't say able to take those 35 off the wait list and put them in. So, they're not they're no longer looking for additional counselors or not after
tonight. Yeah, not great. So, good job. Um we mentioned the parking lot. Um This is something that was brought up since day one. Um, one other thing that we're going to start um gradually um is taking credit
cards at Burough Hall. Uh instead of just checks and cash, uh we want to start moving into taking credit cards as well. It's going to be a little bit of a process. We have to go through procurement. Um but eventually we're going to start taking credit cards as
well. Um, as the mayor mentioned, if anyone does want to get into the church for salvage, uh, please just email me, uh, va brandy beachj.gov. We have a waiver to sign and
then we'll work out a time, a schedule with Department of Public Works for folks to get in there. And at this point, you can take whatever you can carry out. Uh, and lastly, I just wanted to recognize and thank the hard work of the Memorial Day committee. uh particularly the uh employees here in in
in Bradley Beach. Uh Courtney Papus, one more time for her. Uh also Amy Hall and of course uh Michelle Wy who uh truly puts her her uh her heart and soul into this event. So that's all for uh for me, mayor. Any questions from the council?
Thank you. There's a fulfilling the saying that we started a while ago dragging Bradley Beach into the 20th century. say 200 and dragging us into 2025 with presumably credit card fees. Yeah.
Presumably a fee for use of credit cards. Yeah. So if if you use a credit card, we have to charge you a fee because if you buy a beach with a check or cash, it can't cost any more or less for someone else because they use a
credit card. So yeah, we have we have to by law pass that credit card. We cannot sense. Thank you. Great. Thank you for your report. Uh we'll now move to item 13B on our agenda, which is mayor and council reports. Let's start with Councilwoman Green.
So, I'll start with the uh my less lengthy uh recreation department uh report. Uh the recreation uh uh board held its last committee meeting on May 12th. Father's Day kickball is scheduled for Friday, June 13th at 6 p.m. in the
recreation field. The event is open to all, but those who want to participate must register on community pass. The cost for participation is $16 per person and includes a t-shirt and meal ticket. Refreshments will be available for
purchase for general guests. Be sure to attend this weekend's Memorial Day festivities. The rec uh committee volunteers will be on hand Saturday morning at the prominade fair to assist with vendor sign in. A reminder about ongoing events. The senior club meets
tomorrow, May 21st at noon at the Beyz Center. The next meeting is June 25th and it is the birthday celebration month. Be advised that they will not be meeting for July and August, but will start back up in September. Afternoon pickle ball runs from May 21st
to June 3rd, 4 pm at the rec center courts. Spring botchi runs from May 6th to June 24th. Summer league registration opens on June 16th. Salted yoga will host five sessions this month. Check the calendar on the recreation web page for
dates. Bowling night is planned for Wednesday, May 28th, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Bradley Bowl. It is $12 per person and includes shoes and a 2-hour bowl. Please go to the recreation homepage for details and community pass for registration. The rec board's next
meeting is Monday, June 9th at 6:30 p.m. at the rec center. Fletcher Lake Commission met on May 8th. Um, a Fletcher Lake cleanup is planned for Saturday, June 7th, 10:00 a.m. to noon. Everyone is invited. Refreshments will
be served. And many thanks to our DCW for providing gloves and bags for the cleanup. Air raiders were just installed for the season and a special thanks to the Neptune Township DPW. The commission is interested in installing LED lights on the air raiders
around Fletcher Lake. They hope to do a pilot with one light initially in order to gain community input. The commission presented this plan to Neptune Township already and hopes to present to the Bradley Beach community at our next council meeting. And here's another big
plus for goose remediation. At Fletcher Lake, a variety of water fowl have returned to the lake. In addition to the musky ducks, there have been sightings of corrant malards, blue herin, and egret along with two visiting swans.
Also reported was an 18inch bass that was caught in Fletcher Lake. The next commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 12th at 6 p.m. The Arts Council met Friday, May 16th. The Arts Council will host Summer Pal, an art exhibit at Posh Real Estate,
June 7th through 14th. An artist reception will be held on Saturday, June 7th, 4 to 6:00 p.m. There will be a book talk and signing event for Bradley Beach author Lorie Crimes newly published Chasing Bruce, as in Bruce Springsteen.
Uh, Chasing Bruce through the Backstreetss and Beyond at Posh Wednesday, June 11th from 5 to 7:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome. The Arts Council will be doing outreach to begin engagement with volunteers. They have been invited to attend the first arts
council exhibit hosted by Posh. The next arts council meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 30th at 2 p.m. That is my Thank you, Councilwoman. I'm going to jump around to Councilman Noiki. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I initially got a a
police activity report saying nothing to report and then I got another email about an hour before this meeting that I was like, "Wow." So, they're doing their job and thank you, Chief. Um so um shortly after saying this report we had a significant arrest for burglary, theft and receiving stolen property. Patrol
fielded a call for reported motor vehicle burglary on New York Avenue. At the same time as this call came in, a resident handed over a phone to dispatch. They claimed some woman gave them as they were walking on Main Street. Dispatch was able to get a description of the woman who handed the
subject the phone as patrols on the burglary scene obtained surveillance videos from the victim's home security system. The phone turned in by the woman was in fact stolen and the surveillance video of the burglary confirmed the suspect was the same woman in both incidents. K9 Sergeant William Major
quickly checked the area and located the suspect at the Asbury Park train station. Subsequent investigation revealed the suspect was a wanted person of Atlantic City and was in was also in possession of several other burglary proceeds including mail from a local business, numerous stolen credit cards,
driver's licenses, health insurance cards, mail and other personal items from several victims. So far, victims of her crime spree have been located in Nutton, Ocean Grove, Asbury Park, and Atlantic City. The investigation is ongoing.
So that was that was a wild moment. Uh on the first aid front for the operational period ending May 20th the squad responded to 10 day calls and six night calls for a total of 16 calls. 12 were for medical, four for fire calls. The squad conducted one drill for the
safety and education of the membership. The squad provided medical overwatch for the tears foundation walk. The squad participated in a celebration of a Bradley Beach resident who turned 100. As we spoke about earlier um and squad requested no mutual aid assistant for
this operating period. Uh squad fulfilled 100% of their assignments for this operational period. They are still looking for volunteers for first aid. We offer training for qualified individuals. Anyone wishing to volunteer for the first aid squad applications can
be found on the burrow's website. And the fire report is for the month ending April 30th. The fire department responded to three day calls, three night calls for a total of six calls. Three were fire alarm activations. One was a smoke condition and two were
carbon monoxide alarms. Yours may the department conducted one training and one community service event, the annual egg hunt. There were no requests for mutual aid from other fire departments. The department fulfilled 100% of our assignments this operational
period. I'm happy to report two probationary firefighters are enrolled in the summer fire academy class beginning May 12th. I'm also happy to report that the fire department acquired much needed fire engine from the burough uh from the broughtton volunteer fire
department in Bratton, Pennsylvania. Um, this 2001 Sutfin 2000 gallons per minute pumper was purchased with donations contributed by the residents and friends of Bradley Beach. The department is extremely grateful for this support. Keep it up and thank you all for your
service. On the Silver Lake front, um, tomorrow, sorry, Thursday is the Silver Lake meeting. Is it Thursday or Wednesday? Yes. Wednesday. Tomorrow. And um Other than that, there's nothing to report.
I'll report on civil progress um at the next meeting. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Councilman. I'll turn to my right and ask Councilman Weber to present. Okay. I'll start off by wishing everybody a happy Hannah Marcus week
because it is Marcus week according to the proclamation. And I want to rethank everybody that had uh something to do with that that day which couple of days which was great. Um I should have mentioned that the local assembly women
um Margie Don Lan Peter Paul they came and had their own proclamation from the state which was pretty cool because the whole the crowd was like the family the family doesn't live in the district. These are elected officials and they just they came in here because they heard about it they thought it was really great. So there's uh there's some
video about them doing that as well. Um Memorial Day is coming up. Happy Memorial Day in advance. Hope for great weather and um yes, thanks to everybody that's working really hard on that. Michelle especially obviously that's she does that every year. Um DPW people have
been hearing about how hard DPW is working, but they are out there and town is looking good and they're getting it all done as far as I know, which I think is I think they definitely are. Um, on the community development front, um, just going to mention a couple things as reminders. Not that anybody's complained
about these things or or anything like that, but, uh, we have an ordinance for putting your trash in a can with a lid. You can't put out loose bags. And I'm saying this hoping that, you know, we got all these summer residents that are going to come back and if we as as year round residents can do it right and lead
by example, then we'll get everybody doing it right. And we won't have a trashy looking town. the fox or the seagulls or whatever can get in in loose bags. That trash has to be in a can of food lid. Um there's also an ordinance you can't you can't put trash cans like in your front yard. They're supposed to
be hidden. So that's just a big reminder there. And we also have an ordinance uh about bamboo. If you have bamboo in your property, it can't be getting into your neighbor's property. Um just be mindful of that and for goodness sake, please don't plant any bamboo. Uh, speaking of
invasive species, the Environmental Commission, we on the day of the Fletcher Lake cleanup on June 7th, we were going to do at the same time, and now I know that they're serving snacks. So, this is this is good. We're going to gl on that. But, um, in the maritime forest, we're going to do the notweed removal, Japanese notweed. It's that
invasive species and it was there before we planted the maritime forest and it keeps coming back. So, we just have to cut it. Um, you know, just think of it as glorified weeding and we'll, you know, come join us and We need volunteers because there's a decent amount of uh of it. And I would like to
say that the mayor, it was probably on news 12 tonight as we were having this meeting. Correct. Okay. So, they were doing a story on beach badges and some advocates pointed out that a handful of towns out there are doing it well with the way they deal with the beach badges and the beach utilities and the money
and all that stuff. And Bradley Beach is one of those towns. The hook on the story was that there's a town around here that will remain nameless that decided to charge $200 for the beach badges uh for the year, right? And so by contrast, we have towns that are doing it right and have been. It's not new in
this administration, but apparently we've been doing the right thing with our beach badges, beach money, and so you were interviewed, correct? I did. I was I was given about five minutes uh advanced notice. But yes, I shut down to the beach. And just on this point, um I
know the motive was to compare and contrast a beach town that quote unquote does their budgeting correctly versus that they may be spotlighting for negative reasons. But what was nice and interesting was he wanted to interview me down by the U evergreen uh entrance
where we've done the handicap drop off and pick up where we have the 10 foot wide bobby mats and the handicap shower access. So uh it was I hope some of this made the air. I had no idea. But uh but he was asking me about specifically when you have a surplus in your beach and you
and you what do you do with that surplus? You know the answer funnel it back into the beach. Uh and and he obviously knew that answer because he said so for example you know all this gave us a chance or me a chance to highlight the things that Bradley's
doing in this case to expand uh services especially for wheelchair bound individuals. But of course everyone using at least cliff Beach and Evergreen Beach are going to benefit from 10 foot wide bogey mats, uh, nicer showers. Um, you know, again, the pickup and drop off
location. So, it was a nice spotlight. Again, I think I talked for five minutes and he said it'd be a 30 second clip. Sounds about right. Um, so everybody rush home and either watch News 12 online or on TV. So, that is the extent of my report. Thank you. Thank you. And
now, last but certainly not least, Council President Jane Do. This will be quick, I promise. Okay. Tourism did not have a meeting this month. So, but Amy Hall does want to remind everyone that Pat Rody will be in Riley Park on Sunday
from 4 to 6:00 p.m. I attended the Bradley Beach Shake Tree Commission meeting on May 7th. Uh there was one application. 55 Main Street is removing one tree. Good news, they're going to replace it with two trees. Their um their trust is currently
$15,200. The board event meeting is tonight, so I'll report on it next week. But the Bradley Beach Education Foundation has asked me to share that the scholarship committee presented their 2025 scholarships this evening at the board of ed meeting. This year, the
recipient of the $500 award was Amelia Mat. The foundation was able to award two additional scholarships of $250 each due to very generous donations. The uh recipient was Nora
Vanell and Dylan Vak Pane. That's a big name. The foundation thanks all who supported the scholarships through their generous donations. And the foundation wants to thank the scholarship committee consisting of Barb Kenny who's here this evening. Hello Barb, Bruce Piller, and
Roseanne Whitby for all their work. And just on a side note, the Brownley Beach Education Foundation is a 501c3. And I have to admit that it's very exciting and rewarding to see your donations being used on a local level.
And I want to commend this is a newer foundation and already they've created wonderful opportunities, scholarships, and accomplishments. and it's quite admira admirable. So, I would say please join me if you want to donate to a very
very good cause. Thank you very much. And that's my report. Thank you, Council President. Um, I'm going to name a good number of very important dates coming up. So, if you all want to grab your pencils and paper, write it down or just be ready because I'm going to try to
rattle them off. Oh, yeah. First and foremost, uh, business open forum. I mentioned it earlier. I'll mention it again. It's the first time we'll be doing this, at least in my administration, May 28th, 400 p.m. at the firehouse. We will be advertising that and will be in the newsletter. Um,
the library will be closed Memorial Day, May 26th and the week following, May 27th through June 2nd. They're doing the carpet installation. Uh, their book drops at both entrances will still be open uh for returns. And then the
library reopens June 3rd. very important that uh there was a strong buzz about this topic a month or so ago. A lot of residents asking about it, fair share housing. We the bureau used to submit our 10-year plan uh by
the end of June. On May 29th at the land use board meeting, the draft of that plan will be presented. So May 29th, land use meeting in this room on 6:30 May 29th. If you're interested in the 10ear plan for fair share housing be
there. Um and then a good number of dates for the Memorial Day weekend coming up. This is a a powerful weekend for any beach community. Obviously, we're opening up summer, but but very importantly, you
know, we're recognizing fallen heroes, men and women who gave their lives uh uh in service of our country and and for us. Um, starts with the parade. Saturday, May 24th, 10 a.m. There's been some confusion. I've understood that
there might be some different times. The parade starts at 10:00 a.m. If you're marching in the parade, they're going to ask you to arrive at 9:00 a.m. That's May 24th, Saturday. Um, there that weekend there will be vendors on the beach on Saturday and Sunday. Uh, there
will be kid kid activities and everything. So, that's the 24th and the 25th. Um, of course, we're opening for the first time a lot of our uh wheelchair access improvements, which our DPW working closely with our police and uh
and some really uh amazingly responsive vendors have got the the beach uh in great shape for uh for Labor Day out, I'm sorry, for Memorial Day. Uh and the the two handicapped beaches are uh Evergreen and Cliff. We've got showers.
We got the 10 foot wide moby mats. We've got the pick up and drop off. We've got sight triangles that have been narrowed. So, uh, or expanded, I should say. So, all good there. Very importantly, Memorial Day, Monday, uh, May 26th at 11:00 a.m. If you can make it to Riley
Park, we're hoping to have a really powerful, uh, ceremony. Our keynote speaker will be our own Anthony Murray uh, with our police force. Um, we're going to unveil a new uh Fallen Heroes Memorial Monument. It's actually a three
ton boulder. Three tons is a lot of weight. Um, and that that boulder should be dropped off uh Thursday morning if anyone's walking around town and wants to head over to Riley Park on Thursday morning. Anyway, that will have a bronze
plaque on it identifying uh the war heroes that we've already identified from World War II and Vietnam and adding our 20th fallen hero. For the first time, we'll have a part of our ceremony. We'll recognize John A. Quinland who
died many years ago in Afghanistan on a helicopter pilot. His sister will be there. U Mr. Quinnland's daughter will be there and will actually speak. So it should be a really powerful time for all of us. Uh and then finally after that uh
after that ceremony at Riley Park, the historical society will host uh a gathering afterwards and we can see a lot of the materials they put together related to our veterans and fallen heroes. So a lot coming up in the in the week or so ahead. Uh be there if you
can. It'll it'll be great. Just a minute. Is that gathering afterwards at the Bey? Yes. uh and I think it's going to run for one hour. We should go roughly 11 to 12 for the ceremony, 12 to 1 roughly for the the center after
gathering. That concludes my report and we'll move to public comments or questions. Please limit yourself to five minutes and uh speak uh to uh any issue you care whether it's on the agenda or not. You want to start with policy? I I'm
going to get Let's start. Okay. Be quick. Um Hurricane Penny 216 Ridley. Um as usual, it's going to be financial acumen. Um so um the last um person in your job a couple weeks ago, he told me
you don't look in the back in a rearview mirror. So um um actually I think you do. Um you know, when you have an $8 million budget and you find $700,000 That's a problem. It's not newfound
money. I don't know what it is, but you know, I don't know if municipal governments need to run off of Sarbain Oxley type um procedures. You know, do you have who opens these accounts? Whose signature authority on these accounts? What's happened with these accounts?
Right? Most of the people in here and then times three. They've been in here for the last five years. You can't find money, right? You couldn't find the co money. you can't find this. When you can find $700,000, it's amazing. And you need to look in your rearview mirror to see who
had who had access to those accounts, what's been in, what's been out, who's allowed, whose names are on the accounts, because um I'm not going to name names, but I bet no one on this here is probably on the accounts. And you know, that is
unbelievable, you know, that that could happen. And you know, I've asked, you know, I've asked several times, why were there so many accounts? And I think um Mr. Dy said there was one reason, you know, for it's easier for accounts. You shouldn't have many accounts. You should not have more than four or five accounts
at this time. And I would love to have someone explain to me why you would need more than that, but it's all it does is create problems like this. So, um I think you have some homework to do. And I think you should report back to the public on what this money was, where it
came from, how long it's been there, and um you know, it's pretty scary because a lot of people in this town have been very very concerned about the money in, money out, and um it's about time. Thanks, Mr. Kenny. Just because you highlighted a couple things, I I want to
add some clarity. Your comments are very well founded. Um but I also want to make sure everybody understands the situation. the money, as far as I know, and I've talked to the auditor about it. I talked to our CFO about it. As far as we can tell, it was there was a starting balance of around $60,000 entering 2024
in this account. And all the other accounts had been I know $2.50. I I already went through the budget, but there's like, you know, there's 26 accounts. One had a lot of money in it, almost $700,000. Most of that money came
in between May and September of 24. So, and and the obvious assumption that we're going to find out for sure is that it came in through daily beaches. It wouldn't be seasonal badges because that money comes in earlier in the year. But
in those peak summer months, the obvious infusion because nobody else is depositing any money. Nobody else knew about these accounts. The obvious assumption is community pass was just funneling to this account that they used to use historically uh what turned out
to be almost $700,000. I understand but no well I know but some No, no. So just somebody knew how to wire it into that account committee pass a vendor of ours was using an old account the prior account should have been closed out
anymore. No, I understand. Uh the one other thing I wanted two other things I want to make sure everyone understands the money as far as I can tell we've only been discovering this in the past week. Uh the bureau knew about the money. It was in our AFS but they but it
was not identified as being in our old account PNC the you know they they had all the dollars. So it's not found money. Now is it the right amount of money? Why was it there? You know you're raising a lot of good questions. I just want to make sure people don't think that we found an extra seven. No, no, I
understand that. It's just okay. You know, when you're looking at a budget of, you know, 8 million as you put up or 11, but everything in it, I mean, that's a big part of the budget. And to have any question, it's a little scary. That's
I understand. I mean, and I'm sure, like I said, um, you know, there's probably no one in this room whose name probably opened a calendar on the account today. I hope they are today. But um good guess though, huh? When when we discovered this, we had one signer. It
wasn't the mayor. It wasn't the CFO. It was our clerk, Erica. Shame. I had no idea. I had no idea. Okay. Let me just put that on the record. I had nobody. [Music] But I I do think you should get back and
we are doing everything we can to tighten up control. And you know what? We don't use America to repeat what I said when I found that out. Can I if I eliminate the curse words? Uh, also, Mr. Even was originally
hired to look back that rearview mirror uh or that rearview window and he will be presenting his his findings in June. Yes. Magguire 610 app. Um, is do you need one person on do you need
more than one person on the accounts at a bank? Typically, we have a number of signatures. Okay. So, it's not it wouldn't just be the clerk. It wouldn't normally be more than one, right? There. Yes. And if I may, there were other signature. There
were other people but nobody that is in charge today. So she was the only one. Okay. And then um being that this money was accounted for but we didn't know where it was. Would you just simply say that was
because we calculated the revenues coming in and that was documented but we weren't reconciling our accounts and that's why we had no idea what bank it was in. Like this is this is insane to me. I wrestle with this because there's
so much going on here, but but I wrestle with it for fear of creating more confusion than than enlightenment. Um, we the bureau financially knew we had the money. It's true audit reports
have have told us accounts were not being reconciled, but statements were coming in and somebody somewhere in the CFO world knew we had this money. I didn't know Our current administration did not appreciate that funds were split
across banks. We all went through the new administration went through getting our signatures updated on the accounts private bank in particular that we use daily for payroll for each utility pursuit utility. So we did all the updating we thought including with Mr. Barrett here. Um no one had brought
tower to my attention that we had this other account with 700,000. First question asked is did we just find gold in them nar hills? know we knew about it. It was in our financial stuff. No one's going to see an increase of 700,000 but we would not I get that. I
mean obviously I almost feel like it's PTSD with all of this just coming back to this topic. Um with the account I just have so many questions with the accounts closed now. Could we still tap into those accounts if we want back old
statements or anything like that? Four years of statements I've asked for them. They're closed. So there will be no more financial activity current ones. But if you wanted like if if I have come to if I come to you as a resident and ask for more than four years, are you able to
ask for that? Am I able to request that as a resident? I don't know. No. No. You can't get access to our accounts unless you open them and we have them. Um but uh no one's trying to hide anything. We've just discovered of course. But you
I mean I'm not a new person here over the last few years. This is freaking me out. Um mayor Yeah, please. So these bank accounts so it's from our former bank. So realistically what happened was
we bent with PNC bank and then a decision was made you know not by us by somebody else to stop banking with them and move everything to Providence Bank right
Barrett had told me okay so then so yeah so unfortunately normally when you switch banks which in the finance world doing because it's a lot of moving parts and you only do it if you know you're
getting it's so much of a financial gain. Um, so what happened was they didn't close out the those accounts. So it's not like it's a secret bank account. It's not it's just that they they weren't fully closed out. Little
balances were left probably uh especially the one where you said it started the year with 60,000, right? That's more the concern. It's not about not trusting the new administration. It's it's really just going to We know
we've had all these bank accounts. We were told 26. This year we realized it's over 50. Well, the reason it's over 50 is because it's double because we opened all of the new accounts in pro. So that's why if you look at the financial statements, you're going to see because we have different accounts for various
reasons and we four unfortunately four accounts isn't enough when we there's certain ones we have to have separate accounts for. It's more um makes more sense that we probably have 20 some odd accounts. Believe me, I've worked in a town where we had 100. So it's not uncommon. Usually the bank works with
you and we don't really pay for a lot of the services are free and all of that, but it's better for accounting and some of it is state regulated. We have to have separate accounts. So those accounts should have been closed out and and put into the other account. That's why it looks like there's so many accounts. So they left a little bit of
money in. Why would it show 64 when there's 700, right? So if we if I'm sorry. No, that's okay. So if we are um so the account some some accounts we have direct deposits coming in. The
state gives us state aid. They do it in multiple payments automatically deposited in there. Uh there's a state like vendor portal where if we get grants certain grants it just automatically comes in community pass which is used for the the beach utility is the same thing and that's what we're
assuming what h because it I would be more concerned if it had less money the fact that it's got all this extra money so that's what we're assuming when they did the AFS they listed all the accounts so it's not like you didn't know that they had them just that for whatever reason and I'm I'm assuming you know
you've had a turnover in financial people, right? And so nobody has and we're trying to be patient and I'm hoping to I'm hoping to reinstill your confidence and all of that. But what happens is the last Mr. Barrett who was
here for very he didn't have time to, you know, by the time he's trying to find his feet, he left. So he did the AFS, all those accountants showed up. That was should have been the trigger like this doesn't make sense. Okay. But he he probably have time. He didn't I know he didn't without knowing him. He
didn't have time to come and revisit and say we need to close these out. We happen to stumble over it by accident. And unfortunately what I think you're going to find throughout the rest of this year is little things that are going to seem like a big deal if you to me this is a shame because we're being
charged fees. Yeah. Right. So that's the shame of everything. I don't think it's anything untoward. I don't that's just my opinion. I think it was just a housekeeping issue that wasn't resolved. Okay. And so I think that would make total sense. I think there's going to be I just want to warn everybody as we go
through the process and we try to really clean things up and, you know, get us where we need to be that welloiled machine. You're going to hear some of these kubbles come up, but we're going to fix them. That's what we're going to do. Thank you. Can I just ask Miss Larrison? So the the monthly fees, what
were they char? So they charge they they so for because we fell below certain balance uh they charge like maintenance fees and all of this analytical paid I got a much more a broader explanation but you're
right there's an element of that but uh we had when we were doing all our banking there and average cash balance of $10 million um they had a series of uh analytic programs designed to detect fraud and measure activity and are you
missing entries here? Are you getting too many there? Are you putting them in the right accounts? And they have this fairly sophisticated uh analytic program and they charge roughly $3,000 a month for these analytics which I'm sure highlight fraud issues and so forth, but
we had zero balances for for at least a year if not more that they kept running the analytic programs. So the problem is you're running analytics, you know, and they're charging, you know, between $1,500 to $3,000 a month. We're trying
to find out how far back this goes. We're trying to find out how much was charged, but um but what we know is there was a long period of time where we probably didn't need the analytics. Um so we're going to find out, we're going to do an audit of that. We're going to talk to the bank about the potential for
refunds and so forth. Uh, but I think everyone who I've talked to at the bank has pretty agreed the analytic programs really weren't serving any value when you you don't have accounts. And and ironically, the one account where we had
money that was that enabled the bank to charge fees when the rest of us didn't know they were charging fees. If they were sending us an invoice every month, somebody would have said, "Hey, what's this $3,000 invoice?" But they were slowly drawing down the six or 700,000
we had and nobody knew it unless they would have looked at the bank statement which is which is what the other problem. So these are the things I know it's driving everyone a little crazy. We're you know we're very very aware of
the challenges. Uh there's a lot of good that's happened and there's a lot of stuff we need to fix. So right now we're in the process of with a new CFO and a relatively new council. We're in the process of getting our arms around everything and our our CFO in particular and our auditor are very uh laser
focused on helping us get our our bookkeeping in order. Okay. Uh any other questions or comments from the public? Mr. Thomas Jan 6 Pwood Avenue. Um, I'm just puzzled about this now hearing that it's
possibly beach daily fee money. Would this 700,000 be in the surplus for the beach utility or would it be in the surplus for the general fund? It right now is okay. Right now it is it was in the current fund at the bank and when we
moved it we moved it to the current fund at the new bank our current bank. Then after because we wanted to close down the accounts immediately and get control of the cash and put it in the right account. It turned out to very likely not be the right account. We
probably should have moved it to the beach utility which we could easily transfer. That's not a problem. But transfer. We didn't know at the time. We're used to that here. Interfer. We didn't know where that money came from. But then when we looked at it, it it it'd be really unusual to have a lot of
different feeds to one account. Okay. And even though it's feeding the money was coming into the current fund, we looked at where the money came from. It was a lot of money, 700,000 for May, June, July, and August or maybe September. Four to five months, which
screens, you know, individual badge sales. It's only in the tailed off almost nothing after September. It was nothing leading up to May. And seasonal sales come in early. So, all we know right now is uh logic. logic looking at
this says I bet this is I'm quoting myself I bet these were individual cash sales we don't know that so I did announce that I think that's very logical with the analysis and figure out where the money's supposed to go that's more work for you
and we've already alerted the business administrator to u to in turn alert uh community pass because they probably have an old account set up I don't know why it would have been the current fund But they were transferring monies into
this current fund at the old bank. Thank you for your financial logic. Appreciate it. I mean, it's it can be revealed by see the statements. Once we get the statements, we'll be able to see um
exactly what what those transactions were is some of it could even be state aid payments and that maybe they realize later in the year because they come periodically. So until the important thing is that we got the accounts closed, the money's all in one bank
where we're getting better interest rates and we'll figure out where it needs to go. We'll be able to report back to the public when when that's all sort of Bradley. Um when you say that you're going to be
requesting um the bank statements, is it just for that because you said there were originally we thought we had 26 bank accounts as of March of 2024. Um we were told that there were 26 and they were all unreconciled. So that's where our mistrust comes in. Then
2022 audit showed multiple material misstatements which is the fancy accounting word for fraud. Then we never had access to speak with any of our financial people such as yourself. And then one of our CFOs had his license
taken away. Our mayor was very disrespectful to us and would never give us answers and would talk to us in circles and you know I don't know you might very well be familiar with the movie um all the horses and this screams
of that. I mean 54 accounts and to find out you have d than what you were told and then you know so I don't my my mistrust has nothing to do with this administration but our co money has yet to be be
accounted for in terms of telling us where that money was deposited and how it was allocated and where it went and that's federal money and then in as you know with with hurricane Sandy money was
returned in 2020 23 at the request of the federal government and after a certain amount of time you're not allowed to request money back unless it's actually determined to be fraud even if it's misallocated. So, uh, well, I can't answer to anything except for
for the hurricane Suptorrm Sandy because what hap just from working in a previous town and having a similar situation where FEMA came out and they were handing money out like you know Halloween candy, then they come back and
they do the, you know, after 10 years they're going to come back and now they decide, oh, you know, after you've had five or six different case workers on there, Um, now they're going to come back and tell you, "Oh, this wasn't done right. Oh, we don't have this paperwork." And then they start clawing the money back.
And they they all deemed fraud, though, unless it's there's an actual case that's there's I mean, I guess you could fight it, but but I know that I've in two other towns we had to pay back money in and it wasn't fraudulent. It was they gave you the misallocation though is up to five years they can do it and then up
to 10 it's yours even if you did misallocate it, right? And so all of these things cumulatively create a great sense of mistrust totally and that's why we feel the way we do. And so that's why I'm asking even though
we're closing these other accounts and that one account I know you indicated that you're going and asking for retroactive bank statements for can we I can we find out and look at the activity of the other accounts as well the past activity even if they're a zero balance
we don't know you know I mean I've been very I haven't minced my words I really since July of 2023 I came here and said I feel like there was crimes going on and that there's major fraud and there was a criminal syndic syndicate at work
in our in our burrow and based on that all of these things on face value do add up to and give the appearance and lend to that being we are simple answer is first of all we've requested 26 different
accounts four years of statements that's what I I wasn't sure if you were asking about that one or all of them and that's what I So, we'll go back to before the money was removed from those accounts. Um, no one at all among us, the administration,
our CFO, no one suggesting a fraud of any kind, but there's a lot of money that's moved around that we would like to understand how it was moved. So, we are beginning that process of reviewing that. And and and one final thing, so
the bank reconciliations that I guess probably weren't from what in order for them to have for the financial statement to be completed for this year for the audits to those bank reconciliations although we still need to see the bank wrecks because I
don't know where those records are and certainly we have to do the analysis to figure out what happened and when but the bank reconciliations to my knowledge are completed through December of 2023 uh
2024 at this point because without that there would have been no financial statement for 2020, you know, for the year ending 2024. I can tell you that me coming on, you know, a few weeks ago, they need to be done, you know, and
then the rule of thumb is that you do them whenever you have to go back. I'm have to go I'm going to start from January and work my way forward, which is part of the part of the problem is going to be also with, you know, the outstanding statement. That's where we are. I appreciate 25 of
those patients should be pretty quick. Yeah, I think so. I think they'll be real quick. I appreciate it. And thank you for your diligence and, you know, pointing these things out and your transparency to come and let us know like what's going on because that puts
us at ease and calms us because when something may not have been going on, but the appearance of how we were treated is what makes you feel like, well, what's somebody hiding if they don't want to answer questions? So, we thank you for that. I chose to share this particular information about PNC Bank, you know, as
part of being transparent, but really just to educate our residents that a cleanup is underway. Not in any way to suggestive spark. I mean, we're cleaning up. We're going to understand what happened and in the future once you get
everything back. It's too soon and I appreciate it. Uh, okay. Mr. Mankin, you've been waiting patiently. Thank you, sir. [Music] Paul, he's trying. Okay, I'm unmuted. Yes. Yes. Yes,
we hear you. Hi, Paul. The champion 411 and a half Lauren Avenue. Can you all hear me? Yes. Yes. Thank you. First of all, I'd like to thank the bureau for all the help um I've received, the historical society
has received over the last month. Um first of all, in donating um the requested stained glass windows is much appreciated. Uh, as you probably know if you've been following social media, uh, the historical society was able to get
out the two major large stained glass windows, one from the sanctuary and one from the shepherd's hall and they are created and will be going into storage until we can figure out how to display at least parts
of those large stained glass windows. Uh, this is a very expensive u proposition. Um, we had a a professional stained glass restoration company carefully remove the windows. Um, the
contract was for 2 days of their work. Um, they actually put in 3 days for um for two days pay, but it amounted to about um $7,000. And um I thank everybody who has donated so far. I'm
hoping that we will get some more donations. uh to offset that cost. But um thank you very much for all of you who have donated. Um we've also received donations um for removing the bell. Um, the
historical society proposes to get the demolition company to carefully somehow lower the bell and we hope to have that preserve for the burrow, spoken to the
principal of the elementary school who was quite interested in having it put on the school property. Um, and we will have it displayed there. We think that's most appropriate is the bell was contributed in
1900 by the the children of the parish and we want to point that out that the children of Bradley Beach actually paid for that bell. Um uh I'd like to coordinate with the
bureau on um the removal of any of of the other objects. It's going to be a little bit confusing this first week uh because Long Branch, who have a great number of items to remove, will not be starting until the day after Memorial
Day. Uh so they're going to be working that week to remove their pews and tables and altars and also their their stained glass windows. They have not removed any of their stained glass windows yet. Uh and also they're
removing um the organ. Um so there there might be some confusion on what has not been claimed or picked up and I'd like to try to try to straighten that out and coordinate with the burrow so that people don't come in and pick that stuff up.
Um the historical society also would like to uh see that the himnels and bibles if possible get to the people who originally had their families donate them. We looked through and many of the
himmnels and Bibles have dedication pages with the names of families who donated in memory of their parents and many of those families of parishioners are still in town. And we'd like to actually find those people and see that
they get these as as souvenirs of of their uh participation in that parish. Um, we plan on actually publicizing that in the co-star and the coaster and that hopefully is in the
works right now. Um, so we like to sort of coordinate and make sure that people just don't come in and take those him and Bibles out until we actually give a chance to people who might really want them as a family momento.
Um, the other item that I'd like to thank the burrow for is I'd like to specifically thank the DPW for helping us put up the historic signs on the boardwalk fence. They all went up very smoothly this year. There are some gaps
and we hope to fill those in. We hope to get people to actually signs. Um, we will be posting details on how you can do that on our website. Uh, in the very near future. Um, but the signs are all
up and I hope that the town enjoys them and our visitors enjoy them. Thank you very much. Thank you, Paul. Any other questions or comments? Seeing no further hands, I will close um public session. And um
let's see, we have no executive session. I will make a motion to adjourn. Okay. All in favor? I thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's great.