that's okay i'd like to call this meeting to order adequate notice of this meeting was provided and published in the Asbury Park Crest and the Ocean Star on January 17 2025 copies of the agenda were provided to the newspaper posted on public bulletin boards in the township website thank you can I get a roll call
councilman Albanese Councilwoman Pterero here councilwoman D young here councilman Fineman councilwoman Travers here vice President Makino here president Amberino thank you okay okay can we please rise for the salute
to the flag and a moment of silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy for all thank you i need a motion in a second to approve the minutes from the April 8th 2025
meeting please motion second thank you roll call councilwoman Pterero yes councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers epstein vice President Makino yes thank you thank you can I call the mayor up front
please and I also have Captain Forester and Captain Matthews please and the dispatchers sorry this is your My bad hi thank you so much for coming tonight guys
all right right i have a proclamation here I'd like to share with everyone frontline workers are the builders of our community exercising curiosity compassion courage and creativity to provide essential services that ensure the safety health and education of our residents over 9
million healthcare workers across the United States serve in hospitals clinics and long-term care facilities often placing themselves at risk to provide life-saving care and firefighters respond to an estimated 36 million emergency calls each year over 800,000
sworn law enforcement officers nationwide work tirelessly to uphold the law and ensure public safety and emergency medical services personnel respond to more than 240 million calls annually teachers dedicate their careers to shaping the future of our communities
with over 3.7 million educators in the United States providing knowledge and guidance to our youth and frontline workers embody the essence of builders flexibil flexible thinkers and constructive problem solvers who respect the dignity of all people by dedicating
themselves to overwhelming challenges so therefore I mayor of the township of brick in the county of ocean in the state of New Jersey do hereby proclaim the month of May 2025 to be front work frontline worker appreciation month and I invite everyone to celebrate with us i
also have a resolution here from our council and this is to recognize national public safety telecommunicators week right here we have uh those gentlemen with us this is a national recognition of the vitally important role that public safety
telecommunicators have in our communities as they are often the first and most critical contact citizens have with emergency services public safety telecommunicators often called dispatchers are the single vital link for our police officers firefighters and
EMS staff as they provide them the essential information they need to respond to emergencies the citizens of the Brick Township are fortunate to have a staff of 24 full-time and two part-time dispatchers working 24 hours a day 365 days a year standing ready to
assist them in an emergency our dispatchers as well as all public safety telecommunicators exhibit compassion understanding and professionalism during the performance of their job therefore be it resolved by the township council of the township of brick county in the
state of New Jersey that we praise the men and women who serve the township of brick as public safety telecom telecommunicators and we urge all residents to thank these individuals for their support and all the work that they do to help our community thank you so
much it's better well Okay we're going to continue with business we have uh 41 ordinance on second reading cap rate 8 ordinance calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank
NJSA4A 4-4514 councilwoman Dion thank you this ordinance allows the township to establish a cap bank for future use the ordinance allows for increases for budget appropriation and allows the township to bank any unused monetary room this cap bank ordinance allows the
township to increase budget appropriations by 3.5% over the prior year's appropriations and to bank any unused appropriation room for the next two succeeding years this ordinance is simply precautionary it is not funded
through a tax increase since it is only used in subsequent years should we need to fund a one-time expenditure the monies available by this cap rate index ordinance may be used to offset costs of any future disasters and the need for
any future emergency appropriation we are not generating cash we are creating the ability to raise money should we need it if the funds are not needed in the succeeding two years the bank is simply dissolved thank you a motion in a second please
motion second thank you open to councel seeing none open to public on questions on this ordinance only seeing none close public roll call councilwoman Pontterero yes councilwoman
D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mino yes thank you all right at this time I'm going to entertain a motion to suspend a regular order of business to accommodate a budget hearing a motion to suspend
regular order of business for the budget hearing can I get a second second roll call councilwoman Padterero yes councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes thank you
Council President this is the time fix for the public hearing on the 2025 municipal budget the budget was introduced by the governing body on March 25th 2025 and was as advertised in the Asbury Park Press and the Ocean Star on March 28th 2025 together with a notice of hearing for April 22nd 2025 at
this time thank you anyone who does not have a copy of the budget they're available in the back of the room now would be your time to grab them thank you so before I open the public hearing I wish to outline the procedure each person desiring to be heard will raise
their hand wait to be recognized and will come forward to the microphone give his or her name uh before speaking i will recognize one speaker at a time address all questions to the chair questions must be confined solely to the
municipal budget before us school or county matters are not proper subjects for this hearing and cannot be discussed or answered here tonight i now declare this public hearing open for 2025 municipal budget is there anybody from the public that would like to comment on
the budget any questions one at a time yes sir gregory Cohen 111 Rob East this budget is not just about the taxes it's about what brick is becoming
yes the taxes are going up again we all know that but it's more than just dollars and cents so from 019 in 2025 to 067 in 2026 we're seeing more and more development more traffic more stress on
our schools more apartment complexes going up where the trees open spaces used to be at the same time the town is spending more and saving less they're using 14.6 million in surplus this year we're already projecting a major tax
rate spike next year we're pushing it off huh so what happens when the savings run out more tax hikes cuts to services or even more overdevelopment people are asking "What's happening to our town?" Because Brick is starting to feel like
he's being sold off piece by piece question: When does it stop when do you stop playing politics with our town you claim you're not for overdevelopment just like you claim taxes wouldn't go up but yet we see through it the build are
going up the bills are going up and the trust is going down thank you thank you sir anybody else yes ma'am good evening Lisa Reena r E I N A 13 Wayside Drive so my question is related
to the tax increase and the surplus usage and so we'll start um I'll start with a quick look back as cont when you look at analysis there's a pattern that emergencies that emerges in 2022 Brick Township used about 9.95
million in surplus at the time Mayor Crate was a council member then in 2023 her election year the tax rate stayed flat however it wasn't because spending was under control it was because more surplus was used over 11.4 million just
to cover the real costs in 2024 the tax rate went up 2.9 cents and you used another 10.9 million in surplus here we are in 2025 and we're seeing the highest amount yet 14.6 million in surplus
drained that's a 34% jump in just one year notably spending has climbed nearly 12 million since 2022 that's not budgeting that's political damage control and now bricks t bricks taxpayers are footing the bill and so my
question is this how much more of our surplus are you willing to exhaust to cover uh your political gains and what then happens next year what happens when the surplus is gone and the tax rate spikes will you be transparent and
honest with the public or will you keep hiding behind temporary fixes and kicking the can further down the road with hopes that taxpayers are not paying attention or doing the math no
okay anybody else from public please yes good evening i actually almost said everything I wanted to say my name is Maline 333 Hudson Drive Brick New Jersey um I've been working on budgets for the past year so I've kind of learned a lot
this year we're facing a 1.9% increase and using over 14 million in surplus our savings which amounts to 65 of our of our surplus looking ahead the mayor's budget projects a 16.7 cent
increase in 2026 concerns me greatly what specific revenues are you counting on to replace this surplus and prevent a major tax hike or a major spike next year or is this just squeezing more revenue and seeing where
we can develop that concerns me overdevelopment in this town is concerning me greatly to chase or are we chasing our ratables to bail out our budget it's something I need to know it It's very scary the rate that we're
going to have to hike up and it says it right in your budget for next year thank you thank you anybody else from public please seeing none at this time the meeting for
I'd like to um get a motion to close the public meeting motion to close public hearing second councilwoman Pterero yes councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice
President Mikino yes thank you thank you now we're on five municipal budget here authorized reading of the budget by title only resolution authorizing reading of budget by title only NJSA4A 4-8 provides that the budget
shall be read in full at the public hearing or that it may be read by its title only if at least one week prior to the date of the hearing and at the hearing a complete copy of the approved budget shall be made available for public inspection NJSA4A 4-8
and shall be made available to each person upon request thank you and can I get a motion to adopt the resolution a motion to adopt the resolution second roll call councilwoman Pontterum yes
councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes thank you thank you 52 is an adoption is the adoption of the 2025 municipal budget i move the adoption of the budget second
roll call councilwoman Pontterero yes councilwoman D Young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes thank you thank you this brings us to our regular consent agenda all matters listed under item consent agenda will be enacted by one motion in
the form listed below if discussion is desired on any item this item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately thank you 61 recognize National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week thank you 62 authorize amendment to 2025 capital
budget councilwoman Travers thank you Council Vice President this resolution authorizes an amendment to the 2025 capital budget to include phase one of the DPW master plan for the site this is a one This is year one of the DPW site
renovation as recommended by the council's public works committee this is a multi-year project that will be funded through a separate bond ordinance the total for year 1 is 2.2 million in this year we will be replacing all fuel tanks doing the site work and designing the
building thank you thank you 63 please authorize receipt of bids rental and laundry of public works uniforms this resolution authorizes the receipt of a bid to provide rental and laundry service of uniforms for the public work employees these uniforms include pants
shorts shirts jackets and insulated and non-insulated coveralls this contract will also be for the rental of various supplies needed to upkeep of the township's fleets 64 authorized receipt of bids uniforms for various departments
councilwoman Pontterrero thank you Council President this Resolution authorizes the receipt of bids for uniforms for various departments this bid covers the purchase and delivery of the t-shirts the polo shirts the golf
shirts the sweatshirts for various track programs such as basketball leagues softball leagues summer fest the lifeguards summer camp counselor t-shirts and police camp this bid is
also used for purchasing departmental uniform shirts for our public works for our tax assessor's office building department inspectors code enforcement and others thank you thank you 65 please
authorize award of contract beach 3 food concession councilwoman Trevor thank you this resolution authorizes the award of contract for the operation of a food concession at Brick Beach 3 to Castaway Kitchen Brick in the total amount of 16,22 for the 2025 summer season bid
notices were provided to 123 prospective biders from our biders list and 11 picked up bid packages two bids were received and Castaway Kitchen brought the lowest responsive responsible bidder thank you thank you 66 authorized settlement agreement with Fair Share Housing Center regarding fourth round
prospective need thank you this resol resolution authorizes a settlement agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center regarding the township's fourth round perspective need obligations for affordable housing units through mediation with the Fair Housing Center
the parties agree that the township's fourth round perspective need obligation is 322 units however we agreed that that number may be further adjusted based on the lack of vacant land as a part of the fourth round planning process which
requires a consideration of realistic development opportunities based on the availability of a developed land within the township thank authorize special events permit best day foundation event thank you this resolution authorizes a best day
foundation special event on Saturday August 2nd and Sunday August 3rd from 7 a.m to 2 pm at the Brick Beach 38 please authorized special events permit Sha Halal food grant opening
councilwoman Ponttoerrera thank you this resolution authorizes a special events permit for a grand opening over at Shaz Halal Food on Hooper Avenue on Friday April the 25th from noon to 200 p.m at
Shah Halal Food thank you thank you 69 69A is an inspection fund release for block 105 and 106 lot 8 and 15 thank you 610 610 is the tax collector 100% DAV widow
of veteran deduction block 21106 lot 8 and 100% DAV v widow of veteran deduction block 11632 lot 33 C is a veterans deductions for block 937 lot 34 thank you this
brings us to the end of our consent agenda can I ask for a motion and a second motion second open to councel seeing none close council open to public for questions on the resolutions only
seeing none close public roll call councilwoman Pondero yes councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes thank you this brings us to 611 bill resolutions computers be it resolved by the township council
of the township of brick that the following bills be paid and that the mayor and clerk be and are hereby authorized to draw orders on the treasurer for the amounts of the same computer bill resolution in the amount of 13,643,110.13 thank you can I get a motion in a second motion second thank you open to
councel see none close council open to public for questions on the computer bill resolutions seeing none close public roll call councilwoman Punterero yes councilwoman D young abstain Community Services Inc and Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity
councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes 612 is bill resolutions manual be it resolved by the township council of the township of brick that the following bills be paid and that the mayor and clerk be and are hereby authorized to draw orders on the treasurer for the amounts of the same annual bill
resolution in the amount of $2,74,5652 thank you can I get a motion in a second please motion second open to councel seeing none close council open to public for questions on the manual bill resolutions seeing none close public
roll call councilwoman Pterero yes councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes thank you this brings us to 67 ordinance on first reading there's no public hearing on the first reading bond ordinance providing
for phase one of the construction of a new building and garage for the Department of Public Works in and by the Township of Brick in the County of Ocean State of New Jersey appropriating $2,200,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $2,90,000 in bonds or notes of the
township to finance part of the cost thereof thank you Councilwoman Travers thank you this is year one of the DPW site renovation which has been recommended by the council's public works committee this is a multi-year project that will be funded through a separate bond ordinance the total for
year 1 is 2.2 million in this year we will be replacing all fuel tanks doing the site work and designing the building future improvements include renovations to the building and vehicle maintenance garage as well as incorporating space for the township's buildings and grounds crew and construction of a truck wash
thank you thank you can I get a motion in a second please motion second thank you open to council seeing none close council open to public public for questions oh sorry there is none roll call sorry
councilwoman Pontero yes councilwoman D young yes councilwoman Travers yes vice President Mikino yes thank you thank you and this brings us to public comments please note that each person addressing the council during any section of the meeting during which public comment is
permitted shall limit his or her remarks to five minutes pursuant to Brick Township Administrative Code section 2-33B thank you anybody from public yes ma'am as a concerned citizen I'm very upset with the budget for
2026 residents of Brick are coming to me and saying to me they're on fixed income they want to know how they're going to afford to stay here how they're going to stay in their homes for another year young families struggling with raised t
raising taxes HOA fees and overall costs compounded by inadequate state aid for our schools impacted by sanctuary policies academ accommodating over hundreds of non-English-speaking students we are under siege from all sides
residents are quietly confiding in me and it's heartbreaking it's really heartbreaking to see what is happening in this town yes we have a budget this year but every year we're taking more and more out of our surplus we're going down to below 50% of our surplus that's
not okay it's just not okay so I'm very concerned for 2026 budget and that's it thank you thank you anybody else from public yes sir mr schluke John Sluka 950 Sylvia Court i will read my letter unfortunately I
didn't send out till this morning so who got to read it council President Derek Araino all councilmen council women as well as the residents students workers news organizations of brick and all of Ocean County the pleas of the residents of Ocean of
Evergreen Woods condo area Brick High Primrose Gardens Sutton Village Lanes Mill School Green Bryant Town Hall itself Brian Miller Birwood Park and basically other areas in Brick Township and Ocean as well are finally getting their prayers and pleased
u the New Jersey Turnpike Authority executive director wrote to Mayor Crate stating that the a landscaping maintenance program has been initiated and it would mean replacing all of replanting all indigenous plants and trees this is there's no way of knowing
for sure that just threes and bushes will eliminate the noise and toxins flowing off the Garden State Parkway but at least it's a start finally after 12 or 13 years air pollution is harmful to everyone not just the people of
evergreen woods so this project is tr truly just a first step the people of Cherrywood Brick High Primrose Garden Brier Mill Sutton Village Lanes Mill Greenbryer Town Hall Birwood and other areas are also
impacted by the toxins and the noise the New Jersey Time Authority basically has admitted something needs to get done or else they're going to try to do this and it will be up to mayor the council and the administration to ensure that the New Jersey turn back meets the mandate
of aiding the people to clean living the mayor the mayor mayor crate and her administration need to oversee the project at Evergreen Woods development and they need to continue push for true solutions for all the people of brick not just evergreen woods thank you for
your time John 95 i didn't say it but I do have a couple quick notes has the town started to receive any money from that uh food town sports complex thing i'm sorry try it again i'll read the
whole thing then you could answer has the town started to receive revenue from the sports dome area not function yes red sales function how much are we expecting to get once it starts way back when a few years ago
we have a completion date on it they started finally yeah i mean my grandson was getting old waiting for this move out of state by the time they do it and he every time he sees it he goes "I thought they were going to start." I said "They tell me they're going to start." Hasn't done i yield
back two minutes and 10 seconds thank you thank you Mr sluka anybody else please for public yes sir my name is Dennis Cork i live at 186 Glen Ridge Court just two simple questions
complaints one is I live right on the throughway or off the Princeton and I know there's been a lot of construction there water mains what have you we're just curious we heard over the past couple years that they were planning on paving Princeton ad eventually is that
still in the works do we get bids on that yes it's a county road and from what we understand after all of the utility work is completed the county has told us that they will be then pave repaving Princeton Avenue do we have an estimated
date on that hopefully this year hopefully this year okay depends on when all the work gets done because you don't want to repave a road that's just going to That would be great yes I'm all totally in agreement with I've lived through that before freshly paid road and
then thank you for that other thing um I'm friends with several of the men and women and brave men folks in blue uh that keep our town safe and I have an
understanding that during the time of CO they were instructed to pull back a bit on their uh pulling over folks for breaking simple laws like maybe running the red light at the last second things like this i'm just curious if somebody here
can answer the question no idea if we're looking to enforce that because I Just about every day whether I'm going to church or turnpike or wherever I'm going there are
people what they sometimes call daisy chaining through a red light because they see nobody else on the opposite's moving yet and I see several people right in a row just breaking the law where somebody could pull them over and give them three or four or five tickets
seems like easy money for the town i'm just curious is anything going to be reinforced are the laws that we've had in place for decades going to come back what does that look like does anybody have an idea mayor
hi so I'm not going to speak fully for the police chief but I can give some input to that uh with regard to cars being pulled over and targeted enforcement my understanding is that is in full force right now that's not been I'm if there was something that was
happening during COVID I'm not aware of that necessarily from being on council but I can tell you right now uh my understanding is there's full enforcement out there they do have targeted enforcement as well in certain areas and I can go back to the numbers from last year i happen to have those
with me so I know people think that nobody ever gets pulled over or maybe you don't witness it as it's happening um but last year just the motor vehicle stops we had 9,630 uh that did I I think that's right one two three yes
9,630 people pulled over and that's not from targeted enforcement if you add the targeted enforcement numbers you can add an additional I don't know where that is it was another like 1700 stops selective enforcement i'm sorry oh it's
under S because I'm looking in the wrong spot i'm sorry i was looking at a target um oh actually it's more than that 3,660 people pulled over so people are getting pulled over i recognize because I drive around brick too um that I don't see every single person that gets pulled
over i don't know that that that's possible but they are out there um and we can you know I can obviously have a conversation with the chief about what that looks like as well but just from conversations that we've had and I'm we work very closely with traffic safety as
well that they're doing their best um but we have a lot of people driving through that are not from brick as well as you know um because we have two state highways and a ton of county roads and we are the hub of a bunch of other towns so um I would like to say that all brick
drivers are excellent and everyone else that's coming through they're the problem uh okay but maybe not maybe not um but you know I feel like brick we're pretty good um and so uh you know I can certainly talk to the chief about that but those are the numbers that we have from 2024
thanks thank you sir anyone else in public yes lisa Reena 13 Wayside Drive so I I hoping you can help me understand what was the point of opening up to a public hearing but not responding to any of the
questions raised um here tonight with respect to the tax um increases that that will be voted on this evening do we have specific questions well the first gentleman got up said thank you and sat down and so did the second
person so if you have a specific question be more than happy to answer it okay so why are let's talk about the surplus and the usage of the surplus and the increased usage of that year over year
which is brings us to a dangerous low level of under 50% of the surplus and how that each of those uh coincides year over year um and coincidentally with election years we we see the tax um
increases are flat or not raising Right well so again the question is what is is there a plan what happens next year when the taxpayers are faced with a significant hike because the surplus has been exhausted
i'm Moren uh Laffy Berg i'm the CFO for the township a couple of things that we do have for next year to replenish the surplus is we have the reserve for FEMA FEMA money which we were not allowed to use so we had the sign off from FEMA for the Sandy storm that we had and that's
$4.9 million that we'll be able to put back into uh surplus next year we also have admin fees for police road jobs of 839,000 that's just been accumulating i asked the auditor if we could also put that into surplus he said yes um we have
two as of right now as of we're speaking right now we have 2.3 million in the 2024 appropriation reserves which at the end of this year will funnel into surplus um so I'm as of today the MNA
that we've collected because I figured this question was going to come we have 1.6 million so and MNA is miscellaneous revenues not anticipated yeah so those four things I do know we will have to increase surplus
at the end of the year so those four items you mentioned um in addition to the seven and correct that will be correct yes so we would have like 17,371,000 in there if but like I said this it's a moving object i I can't this
I can guarantee will be in but the other floating parts I don't know how much more we will have thank you you're welcome thank you yes sir cohen 111 Redwood Place East um the question I asked you besides when is
this craziness going to stop is when are you going to stop playing politics with our town these tax increases are hurting the people of Brick Township i'm also going to ask you an additional question i'd like you to explain to me since I've been constantly told that we're not a sanctuary town
that Bricktown is not a sanctuary town then how can we have such a high increase of non-English-speaking students in our schools under 100 in 2020 and over 600 as of today can the council clarify their stance and what that means we wouldn't know if How would we know if
they're if they're documented or undocumented uh you're making an assumption in that in that question it's not an assumption it is true fact that this town has has become a sanctuary town whether you want to admit it or not that is what has happened
brook Township is not supposed to be sanctuary town these people should we should be complying with ICE we should be complying with everyone in the federal laws we've had no contact from ICE to have any that's not what I understand but I'm not
going to get into an argument with you yeah that the police chief has not had any maybe they're going through the county but nothing has come to the township from ICE we've not had any communication from ICE and we're going to participate and we
are going to if ICE comes here as you're telling me they haven't i've heard they have been here you are going to participate the town is going to assist them in performing their duties is that correct can I Is that what I understand you're telling me sir I I can tell you
I'm a township attorney and uh federal law uh governs here just like everywhere else the township is subject to that the township I have not heard of any issues with ICE having a problem in brick there will not be a problem brick because our
police department uh will comply with federal law as will the mayor and the council uh regarding all immigration policies apparently we're not riding around in this town and seeing what's going on but you really still did not answer my question my question was will our police department participate with
ICE and other federal agencies when they come to our town i can tell you from experience when ICE comes to town in New Jersey they do not ask the local police for assistance in fact they usually say "Please we'll let you know we're here please stay out of the way so we can do our job." And when we pick up an undocumented and one of our police
officers picks up an undocumented person that has a warrant out are we turning them over we comply with federal law yeah that was stated early on that if somebody is arrested and they have a warrant that that goes to the county just like it would with anybody else that is arrested with a warrant thank
you thank you anybody else from public yes sir mark Vasquez 441 um quick question so the budget that you guys voted yes on tonight says that we were doing a 1.9 increase this year
and then it says in 2026 16.7 can you explain how we got such a big jump from this year to next year and then it looks like it's increasing every year it's the I'm sorry i need to find my paperwork that's part of the what the
Hold on let me find it before you I think I know what you're looking at it's part of the budget that you that I took out just give me a second i'm sorry does anyone in council know no I don't I don't think so i'll I'll just give me a
second please okay I got it the budget that we vote on starts on sheet A the budget that is up i believe it's back there it's also on the website it's the budget that gets on the budget
the one that you have on the website is page 10 sheet uh well the PDF says page i don't know what that translates to i don't Is this what you're looking at no it's the one page before that okay so like I said
that sheet 10 is not That's sheet 10 is about revenues it's not that this is um all of this just gets put in automatically there's like an equation there for the state this is nothing the mayor didn't bring do this i didn't do
this this just populates okay how do they get to that number it goes you we put the bud the budget in all of this is correct but then it what is like a future projection is what this is projected see this is not something that
we worked on this is just taking the findings from our budget so So the state is projecting this is what this this is the state we don't know what that is they take our budget to populate these fields based on some percent yeah see before I came here I put all
state calculating uh this is not something that I did okay so that would be perfect i appreciate that and then just to go back to state comment um I know you had addressed this at one point I believe with with one of those newspapers um and
you said you would follow with the state statute so we wouldn't deputize any of our police is is that is that how because that's what that statute basically said that we wouldn't place wouldn't be deputized to go help if ICE has to so our our township if ICE were
to ask they would send out units to support and deputized by ICE my understanding is that's not how ICE works i don't know of any place where they've deputized local police to assist with ICE ice comes in and ICE does their job
and if we our job is if someone is arrested and breaks the law and they are undocumented they're treated like every other citizen that arrest that is arrested for breaking the law and they are we notify the county the county comes in and then ICE would be called after that my is my understanding so
that's what we do i don't believe that ICE deputizes local police and uh that would be you know something that we would have to talk with the chief about but I don't think that that's something that we would be participating in but we're not a hindrance either i'm just I
want to be clear about that so So just across the board is the federal government obviously they're taking a very aggressive stance right now so things can change as to the way that they're operating so at any means and you're what we're saying with any means is if the federal government says we're
doing X Y and Z this this administration will comply with no questions asked it's something we would have to see if that happened i'm not saying I think that's something that would have to be discussed with the police chief honestly that's not something I can demand that
the police chief does i mean we're partnership you're saying there would be no obstruction from the administration themselves as I said before this town like every town in New Jersey is subject to both state law and federal law federal law is the highest authority so if a valid law comes down from federal government we're
obligated to comply thank you sir anybody else from public please seeing none close public mrs bergen I have nothing to add other than to thank uh our CFO for being here tonight
and helping answer questions thank you mayor sure oh thank you uh thanks Mo for coming and assisting tonight i appreciate it uh I do want to thank the um 30 volunteers that came out this Saturday for our
pickup brick event at Riverwalk Refuge uh a lot of garbage was collected and it was uh our most exciting piece of garbage collected was a singer songw who who would have guessed who would have guessed right um and this week on Saturday the last pickup brick for the
next month or so is taking place at Haven's Farm and um that side of the sawmill track but we're also going to do that's where our public butterfly garden is is also located there and so what we'll be asking residents if they're if
they're into it and they would like to assist um we will be weeding that garden that day as well so I'm going to send out anybody that is volunteering for that particular pickup brick if they're interested in working in the butterfly garden with us to prep it and make sure it's ready for our green fair that uh
you know bring your gardening gloves and your kneeling mat and whatever else you have that you do for gardening and we'd love to have you come out and help us with that um the next thing I'd like to talk about is our senior citizen prom that's taking place on Friday May 2nd the theme is Friday Night Fever so it's a 70s disco theme we're looking forward
to that that's from 6:00 to 9:00 at Civic Plaza it is a catered event with um a nice three course meal uh with dessert on top of that so we hope that our seniors will come out um we can accommodate approximately 125 people and
I think we're up to about 90 participants so far so if you have not registered yet please call Town Hall and we'll get you registered for that event our I mentioning the green fair that's taking place on May 17th and that's a busy day i believe the thing uh
the theme of the green fair this year is think green um make green or something something having to do with money right think green in both ways right i'm sorry I don't have the theme but I want to point out that a great thing happening that day is also our townwide yard sale
which is a great way to recycle and reuse and reduce uh the stuff that you have and have other people come out and uh purchase it from you so you can make a little bit of money and um keep the environment clean by not throwing out your junk right so two things that day we have the townwide yard sale and our
green fair on Saturday May 17th um and I forgot to mention our farmers market kicks off on May 3rd sorry I stole that one from you Heather um from 8:30 to 1:30 fingers crossed that weather uh holds up usually the first one is freezing cold but it would be great if it was the same weather we had today uh
hopefully fingers crossed that's what we get and then finally I just want to mention that this Thursday uh the 24th is our visi our monthly visitation lunch uh that takes place at Visitation Church again it's Thursday April 24th and that
doors open at 11:30 and lunch is served at 12 so hope to see you there thank you thank you Mr oh hold on i'm so sorry so sorry i One more thing um I forgot to mention on my little sheet here so I believe um Mr bacon I think last week or
the last time we had a meeting or maybe the meeting before you had asked about the um the ordinance that we had for the vacant buildings and you asked about the businesses that opened and so I I went back and we did a little bit of research so I just want to let you know that so
far 33 businesses have taken advantage of that vacant storefront ordinance that we have um and they have saved anywhere from a low of $225 not very much to a high of the biggest one
here $5,890 on fees and everything in between uh the average is probably around the $1,700 mark so it's a good savings for new businesses coming in and of those 33 businesses 24 are still open that's a
73% uh you know win for us I think as far as businesses go and I think that it's proves that businesses want to come here to Brick Township because it's a great place to do business and so if there are businesses out there looking to open up in some of our bacon storefronts please
take a look at this ordinance and we'd be happy to have our um zoning people meet with you to see uh if that's appropriate for you so that's all I have thank you thank you Mr starky thank you Madam Clerk nothing thank you
Madam Secretary councilwoman Ponttoera thank you very much i want to thank wholeheartedly the vast efforts of Morenburg as well as Bergen i have been
reviewing the budgets for our town for over 10 years i will tell you that it's very similar to your home budget in fact I look at my home budget when I look at the town's budget every year expenses go
up every year every year we have to try to figure out how to do the same thing we did last year but with less this year with the federal cuts my concern me I am
is our schools and the services that our special needs children need at our schools my concerns is that the cuts that are going to come are going to come into our school system our budget is fiscally responsible as it's been for
over 10 years paying down systematically extraordinary debt along with carefully using the surplus i appreciate all of the effort and time and each of you should be
commended for all of your work and diligence especially Mayor Craig thank you thank you Councilwoman Dio i just would like to thank uh Moren Laffyberg on her great work on the budget every year she
makes it fiscally responsible and she explains it to us very well so that we do like Councilwoman Pontterero said we we understand where our money is going um and we do ask questions of it so I just want to thank Mo and Mrs bergen and
the mayor for bringing forth a fiscally responsible budget that's all thank you thank you Councilwoman Travers i also would like to follow the same testament and thank Moren and Joanne and the mayor for working so hard on the budget thank you thank you
ditto thank you everybody um our next meeting is Tuesday May 13 2025 7 p.m a motion and a second to adjurnn all in