##VIDEO ID:W6hhtIWC7n4## we had a few it was cold right for you say sometime you told me that you didn't know how to view the gallery I don't know to say why are you making this [Music] you been long no I actually have 9298 one of those but I thought I thought they were using their house still D when I got here people I don't think are years back the parties that come oh thank you [Music] I was say I thought I'd be sh my age I'm my age [Music] why our lights AR want stay up the place that I went they sold it so I can't get it back the are you sure you heard of that coming from [Music] I need need three for for okay it's pledge pled United States I wish to announce that the 48 hour notice as required under the open public meetings Act was emailed to the Asbury Park Press the co-star and the new Co on December 7th of 2023 that a copy has been placed on the bulletin board in the burrow 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 the zoom portion of this meeting fails or is disconnected the inperson meeting can and will continue and action can and will be taken uh Mr Noble excused Mr gubitosi excused M Mahoney excused Mr Weber excused mayor Fox here excuse me just for a second to is that back controls lights uh oh you know what that could be my fault sorry I I I didn't ask who I didn't ask that no that was my fault sorry it's been like that all day sorry cut you yeah so we're on um YouTube live but um we made a decision to cut the zoom for those who weren't here last week um there was a two fairly um offensive uh cins from Zoom um and just as the meeting started three very similar names popped on there so we can could have expected to have the same situation occur so we are in YouTube live but um unfortunately um and maybe sergeant should probably talk about this tomorrow more we did police report on what happened last week yes but we've got to come up with a technological some kind of way of blocking people out that shouldn't be uh so we can talk yeah absolutely thank you okay um happy holidays everybody Welcome to our 23rd and last meeting of the year um as I said last week I had informed the council in November that we probably need one to meetings to complete some important burough business um the items were a resolution for the disposition of the artifacture 319 line uh you know I I know that our residents expect us to move on this uh we did add a request into the resolution for this Historic Society uh we've met with Mr champen a couple of times um need to just close out with him but I think we've got a resolution that will work for that um the so we're working through that right now we did have a a resident I don't see here tonight um and I have the name I just don't have it in front of me uh who asked about other uh artifacts in the building and we're going to put something together on that but it'll be separate from this transaction um we scheduled a separate meeting um with the operating agent to try to deal with any outstanding questions and we did meet with her last Thursday um myself and the bur administrator um one that concerns me a lot is the main street resolution being reintroduced we met with jcpnl on the 19th um also they owe me a memo but um and I also spoke to mayor notton of Spring Lake um and the cost it's it's going to be in excess of a million dollars block uh I'm hoping to get that memo tomorrow from Mr Luna who are jcpnl Representatives um you know this goes very counter to the committee that developed the recommendations for this we put it in a later phase and we could get more funding if we even wanted to consider utility underground utilities um the big issue here is the is the clock we lost time um when we got this grant last February we did not we could not act on it until we had a budget and that wasn't until September um we have a we have a um request Grant in for 2025 that I think is at risk on Main Street but even more so um you know we could lose this funding of a million for if we don't start acting on it so that's why I'm going to like continue to bring this forward a couple of times uh we fought very hard to get this and um it's just not good government that we move forward with this um Bill list for 2024 bu and the budget reallocation are on the agenda the reason they're on the agenda as they are every year we have a special meeting um just about every year um it really takes 2024 activity gets it into 2024 without encumbrances and moving money around next year uh and it helps us have a clean 25 2025 start in our finances uh it's not the end into the world that um we haven't done this it's just a lot more tedious for our finance department which you want to try to minimize it's uh it's unfortunate that without a forum we can't vote on those things today um the demolition bids for 319 line did come in on Friday the 20th uh we did have um One Challenge that um we worked with the um burough attorney on and we believe that that challenge is um really kind of move so um getting that pathway forward um ready to go um so uh we obviously don't have a quarum tonight but these are important items to get on the record and uh potentially you know um get done early uh next year I'm certainly disappointed that we're not getting these done um it you know promotes again good government getting getting uh items squared away that we need to square away um so with that the next agenda item which is also kind of MOT is um public questions or comments on the agenda um and then that would be followed by U public comments so hopefully we keep those to a minimum and let people get on home are any questions on the agenda yes uh Thomas J Coan 612 Third Avenue um the you're doing this without getting the memo to established the actual confirmation that uh J Thomas jco 643 that jcpnl is saying this well jcpnl told us that they went back talked to the analytical people the analytical people confirmed those numbers and they said let us put it together in meal and that could have been done ago and it took that long to get it done since it was raised we got asked about it on December 11 yeah um then um the committee that you say it's counter to the committee right but the main street committee we never the public never saw a report so we don't know what they're I can tell you the council no no I don't need you to tell me anything I need you to supply data real documents real data that was supplied oh it wasn't supplied to the public is it on the website I don't know okay great well then you should know you should be a you should say I know it is on well if you want to get a response to your question I'd be happy to answer it unless you my's you want a grand stand just there's a trust issue here I'll grand stand I agree that okay um you know you lost all the time for these grants through poor financial planning in 2022 and 2023 okay and now you're going to say 2022 2023 yeah the 2022 bad audit with 16 items that had nothing to do with the grants zero okay well now it does because you're you're saying it's really hard for our finance department and now you just said it's hard for our finance department at the end of the year Well it must have been hard for them in 2022 and 2023 we still don't have a corrective action plan for 2022 for the bad audit we still don't have an audit for 2023 and in a few hours it's going to be how does this Rel to the um agenda oh it it relates to the comments that you just made I just used all the things that you said in my comments here you're making excus the I'm not making excuses for anything what on the agenda are you talking to right now okay right now I'm talking to the bills list you stated that it was difficult for the finance department and they worked hard to get this done that's a comment I made that's not an agenda item it's a comment I made okay I'm referring to the agenda item and backing up what you just said you know it it's like this double spe speak all the time you yes there is you supply no hard data for four years none we have no corrective action plan okay I I'll just sa my rest of my comments for later I do want to uh reiterate the fact that this is an illegal meeting we've been down this road before why is it illegal meeting because it was not uh it was not noticed properly um it has to include the topic of the notice uh for a special meeting so none of these things are it just says a special meeting at this time and again we've been down this road before I spent a lot of money on lawyers to see that this town ran properly and clearly you still don't get it Superior Court has determined that I've been correct okay and I'm correct this time again it this is an improper meeting to even bring people out here and then you say oh hurry up we got to get this done we shouldn't even be here you mean the items on this agenda no the public comments you said oh let's hurry up so we can get out of here we shouldn't even be here that's the point we should not even be here this is a 100% illegal improper me thank you I'll save the rest of my comments for the public portion thank you thank thank you yes F Kepler 504 Central Avenue Bradley Beach I'm serving Larry Fox the mayor and the burrow with my com section is this an agenda yes it's regarding this a legal meeting that's one of the there's not a legal meeting on the agenda it is so upon information and belief the two improper Council meetings of December 23d and December 30th this coup were mechanisms used to exploit the guidelines of outlining the terms and conditions for the usage of the bond money once the bond ordinances were adopted on November 7th 2024 when the council voted unanimously to adopt the bond ordinances 20241 and 11 during the November 7th burrow council meeting during the adoption hearing and Council discussion of bond ordinances council president Jane Den Noble asked once this is approved before there there is any expenditures would they have to go in front of the council for approval mayor Fox responded Yes there's two I call them stage Gates um that would have to take place yes correct this is why mayor Fox was so insistent on scheduling the two additional special meetings December 23rd and tonight December 30 after the last scheduled council meeting of December 11th he knew he needed to satisfy the two stage gates in order to access the 5% down payments to award CME the money this 5% does not require the council's approval mayor Fox was clearly aware of this fact it's important to note that the president of CME attended the entire December 11th meet council meeting from beginning to end mayor fox has repeatedly demonstrated willingness and intention of undermining and usurping the and depriving the council body of their powers and authorities at the burough council meeting of December 11th mayor elect alosi read a prepared statement to the record in summary he indicated that he had many concerns regarding the removal of artifacts from the 319 church and at the direction of Mayor Larry Fox um November 27th mayor Fox notified Council we have had success in getting all artifact back salvaged and the actual removal will occur over the coming weeks if you get questions on activity at the site removal will be gone going on intermittently between now and the years end and I will advise when we are complete with that activity Monday December 2nd Mr kosi said that our our Municipal attorney Mr Canon notified mayor Fox of the New Jersey statute governing the sail or disposition of burrow assets which typically requires open bidding and resolution by the governing body that same day Mr gubitosi said he sent mayor Fox an email making him aware that the removal of burrow property without Council approval could result in the mayor himself being held personally liable for the value of the assets removed the Historical Society of Bradley Beach reached out and other count to council members to State their objections to the disposal of artifacts they believe should be preserved from the for the Bradley Beach Historical Museum they believe that commitments made to them by the mayor are now being ignored furthermore during the public comments portion of the improper special meeting held by mayor Fox on December 23rd fough resident Barbara Kenny asked mayor Fox if any of the church artifacts had been sold or any of the money had changed hands for any of the church artifacts to which Fox replied no Mr nanin challenged mayor Fox answer to miss Kenny's question in which Fox answered no when asked specifically if any money had been transacted Mr namp claimed that Mr Foley advised him during their conversation on December 20th that he had written a check made out to the burrow of Radley Beach for the full amount mayor Fox quickly interjects he is not Mr M mkin replies that's not what I was told further back and forth continues till councilman Weber finally responds after a long pause something is fishy in New Jersey an elected official who willfully defies laws and regulations such as selling public property without authorization could face several criminal charges including but not limited to official misconduct mayor Fox was warned and advised by both burrow attorney Greg Canon and mayor elect gubitosi in separate emails as well as verbally by mayor elect gubitosi and the council during the burrow council meeting on December 11th mayor Fox's actions are a breach of public trust I'll finish it during public comments any other questions you sorry did you cover everything public comments any no other public comments uh I'm sorry no other questions okay um we will go to uh resolutions which we have no Corum but I'm going to read the resolutions up 2024 1887 is authorizing Award of a proposal for professional Engineering Services with CM Associates for mainstream improvements phase one previously tabled 11724 failed 12 1124 no quum 12232 24 so this has been up three times well yes it's been up three times this will be the fourth authorizing the disposition of bur property uh located at this bur property located Avenue B 1211 no 1223 2024 21 sorry uh Bill list for December 30th 2024 and 2024 2022 authorizing the transfer of Appropriations those are the four resolutions that I would have hoped uh would have been conducted as part of burrow business uh so we will now go to public comments are there any public comments yes death Kepler 504 Central Avenue Bradley Beach I'm going to continue with what I was reading in my uh notice report that I just served in New Jersey theft and embezzlement by public official are covered under njsa 2C 20-4 theft by deception mayor Fox ignoring special statutes could lead to additional charges related to the unauthorized sale of Municipal property the official corruption Bureau of the New Jersey State Police is responsible for investigating allegations of official misconduct and can bring charges against elected officials who engage in such activities the New Jersey statute for abuse of of power and official misconduct by a public servant is njsa 2C 30-2 official misconduct is a crime of the second degree if mayor Fox's actions were proven to be unauthorized and against the advice of the public and the burrow of historical society and with against the will of the council he could be charged with official misconduct and be seen as a breach of legal duties the mayor's actions likely violate several local and state laws that require public property to be sold through a transparent process such as public auction as detailed in njsa 42-13 and njsa 41-36 his failing to adhere to these requirements can be seen as a breach of legal duties in summary Fox's actions could result in serious legal and ethical consequences including criminal charges invalidation of the sale and significant financial and emotional damage to the residents of Bradley Beach mayor Fox mayor Fox is conducting improper Council meetings on December 23rd and the 30th are violations of section 40 colon 8120 of the New Jersey revised statutes regardless of whether or not any Vote or action was taken the purpose of this requirement is to ensure that decisions are made with adequate representation and participation from Council Members mayor Fox injured the entire public and me specifically because I did not have my duly elected officials present at these meetings therefore leaving my interest and the public interests without proper representation without a quorum decisions made at the meetings may not have accurately represented the will of the entire Council or the community leading to potentially unfair unjust or unbalanced outcomes decisions made without a quum are not legally binding mayor Fox's actions of taking these two meetings without a quorum and the December 30th meeting without a proper 48 hour notice published with the agenda can be legally challenged resulting in delays additional unne necessary and avoidable costs to the residents taxpayers and could lead to the potential invalidation of decisions and contracts mayor Fox as actions have created a loss of public trust in the local government as residents feel their voices and best interests are not being heard respected or protected and it undermines the Integrity of the decision-making process and transparency expected in public meetings mayor Fox's actions have resulted in resource misallocation in that decisions made without proper representation have led to inefficient use of public resources and has thus resulted in the affecting services and projects that benefit the community and the residents who have a direct state in the success of the burrow mayor Larry Fox and his administration violated multiple burrow ordinances as well as state and federal laws which have caused significant harm to the citizens of this burrow of Bradley Beach and undermine the Integrity of our municipal government on behalf of myself and all of the taxpayers homeowners and residents of the burough Bradley Beach I demand a thorough criminal and forensic examination into the financial and business practices of the burrow Administration known as the fox Administration for the years's 2021 to the present furthermore I request this matter to be addressed promptly and all appropriate corrective and disciplinary actions to be taken to ensure the future Integrity of the governing process within our burrow I'm just doing this as the lead plaintiff and a potential class action lawsuit and any Resident taxpayer of the town can enjoin me in the future it will be made aware of how that will happen and we gave as Mr Weber said at the last meeting you were given your plaque we told we wished you well you didn't deserve it but this I don't we call you is a circus no not me no no not me it's not a circus I have a responsib IL to work you are a clown you are a clown you've now gone over the line because you I don't care that's not illegal it's not illegal and I'm just saying it and calling it like I see it you're a clown yeah Thomas J Co 612 Avenue I find this uh locking down Zoom very disturbing because this porn incident that happened on at the meeting on the 25 yeah but it also happened previously a year ago what happened to a planning meeting couple years ago yeah and and we couldn't fix it in all this time I go on state Planning Commission zooms all the time I register I put my phone number in I put my email in I don't see what why Bradley Beach can't do it like everyone else does it it's pretty simple uh but yet now we're we're depriving the resid the town the ability to attend this meeting well no they're on live YouTube oh and and they're interacting with us here they're going to be able to come on and I'm sorry I'm sorry okay great all right that's convenient that's pretty convenient uh May mayor you always refer to your team I I I take exception to you saying it's convenient you're implying something that's just well you imply things all the time I don't imply anything yes you do now I'm I like my time backyard please this guy's taking my time it's my time apparently for comments yeah so you always Ed the word team you used it in the newsletter today my team our team did you enjoy the newsletter oh no I didn't I I didn't think it was accurate and and again there's no data to back it up there a lot of I'm asking the really important questions here can we really afford these grants because abut okay that listen show me the numbers I'm the numbers guy let's see the numbers okay show me the numbers how much is in our Capital account right now have you have you reviewed the AFS for 202 oh yeah oh yeah I have and I'm waiting for the 23 audit and I'm waiting for Happ to report that um I don't I need numbers I need a piece of paper that says these are the numbers you have a okay can I can I have that I'm done with the the dog and pony show here okay but you use the word that I'm sorry okay well no it's true the fox and pony show that's what it is okay so anyway um you always refer to team okay but for some reason that team doesn't include the council and that's probably another reason why they're not here tonight okay but we were all exced you representing the council no I'm not I'm just saying the way you've treated them I wouldn't be here on Quanza and Hanukkah either if you it didn't make me okay so um we were very excited in August when you chose to enter the transfer portal and not run for mayor we were very excited because now we have new players that are going to get game time and we're going to run this like a collaborative team for the benefit and hopefully at some point in time we may be able to win a National Championship here at the University of Bradley Beach but I wish you luck at your new institution and I hope you don't have double digit tax increases like you did here I hope you can supply data our tax increase for four years was 4.7% for the municipal we had the 13 a half% year and we had well you're not even counting the money you took from the Surplus we didn't take money from the Surplus so the Surplus was 2.6 now it's now what is it a million it's a million something but it was over 2 million it's gone okay so there's no collaboration you've never collaborated and you know again I just want to wish you luckk at your at your new your new town or your new job you're going to have but this place will run a lot better with new players who like to work together enough has been squandered here you know enough has been about a million five is current a million five and it was probably more than that because but probably no probably is not a word that we use in because we haven't closed the books for 202 2024 as of the end of November we had about a million4 favorable variants to our budgets so hopefully that will drop right to the Surplus and hopefully that's another word that no it's exactly we need exactly know well we'll have that when the books are CL we'll have that a little easier when we get to 2023 audit if we would have if we would have um gone through the bill list and made those transactions that have been a little bit easier but we'll get done okay great and and then uh so not having the 2023 audit is not going to affect our getting the Grant in 2025 so the state just gives out grants for four5 million to people who don't have aits state and federal uh grants oh okay and they just give out money to people who don't have corrector action plans and don't have audits don't have real number numers that they is that the way they do mean I got to call up the line if that's the way they do it they have they have the AFS and I'm un comfortable that your comfort level is not my comfort level sir unfortunate okay and we have people here who actually pay the taxes uh I'm one of those people too oh you're you're one but there's a lot more and a lot more people's taxes have gone up a lot more than yours okay and and for you to take credit how would you know that oh you know what wait are you you said you g me more time say yes okay you didn't say that okay 605 nor Avenue um mayor Fox I'd like to get an update on the 2022 um audit corrective action plan where are we that as I've said before the audit of the CFO was going to take the 2023 2022 audit and corrective action plan combin okay I don't think that's legal and the state St show it says let me finish please you have once you receive the audit you have 60 days in which to provide a corrective action plan this is for 2022 audit so Mr Gs who is our CFO um has a has failed to do so the um the state statute is you can up to a $1,000 fine as well as prison time so what is the issue that we don't um have a corrective action plan Mr spoke to DCA DCA um agreed with him that that would be an approach you could take to combine the two correct action okay so was this communicated to this is the first yeah no I've communicated in okay so so we don't have to have it done when so when is Mr Gs going to provide that information if that's the case I'm glad to hear we're moving forward so when is Mr Gs going to provide and him have a couple of loose ends that they're tying up um finish 23 22 what are the Loose Ends that they have to a couple of schedules like um accumulated absenteeism funds there's two or three items I don't have so so Mr Gars though has provided all the information possible to um the auditor so there there are no I think the auditor still is asking Mr Garts ow S one other piece of information and when is Mr Garts going to give him that information completed which he's working on diligently okay so so the DCA waved all penalties and and everything that's one we have that I would assume so only because you're we can please please we we I would assume so because I didn't have the conversation with DCA he okay so so we have that in writing that the DCA is waving that and said that we he does okay isn't that kind of unheard of that we're going to have a corrective action plan for 2022 and 2023 I mean in corporations you never combine um audits I mean 2022 was 2022 20202 2023 is 2023 I can't imagine that we are going to lump it all in together um you have to have different segments to say this is what went on in 2022 and this is what went on 2023 so do we have it in writing from the DCA that you're answer to that but I will get that answer uh that would be greatly appreciated because the fact of the matter is then there should be subject to fines and all other kind of improp proprieties of not proved that but I'm asking you is it in writing because I I think that everybody in town and posted on the website because everybody keeps asking about the audit so I mean if you have that information that would be wonderful um to share um just to ease everybody because um we have you know there were you know what is it materials misstatements there was a lot of a lot of bad things in 2022 right and I think money money gone un accounted did we find out where the covid money went and all that kind of stuff so there's no unaccounted money U Mr Garts um a lot of what 2022 had in that report Mr Garts has already corrected as part of his current practices and U I spoke to the auditor today and he felt like there was a significant um reduction in any commentary for 2023 based on what he has right now and felt like um 2024 because of regards as the organization you put together the the team um a deputy of CFO and we shifted some resources from the front office to of accounts payable CER so he has three people so who's working for him yes the deputy CFO who who's the deputy CFO U Allison Gavin and all right well hopefully as again I would like that request if we could have in writing from the DCA that gave him permission to do so that'd be greatly appreciate thank you that's on um there's no other questions or comments we will adjourn thank you all and a good New Year how Theiss I I need to have I need an opinion