i'd like to like to welcome everybody to our April 2nd Brigitine City Council meeting Please rise for flag salute Heavenly Father as these new officers embark on their duty humbly ask for your guidance and
protection Grant them wisdom and justice jud judgment in their daily tasks and may they always act with integrity and compassion Shield them from harm and danger and help them to find strength in your unwavering love May they be a beacon of
hope and justice in our community And may they return to their families safely knowing they have served with honor Christine can you read the open public meetings act announcement this is to advise the meeting notices covering this meeting have been sent and posted as
required under the open public meetings act I have uh well we all have the pleasure of swearing in two officers tonight Uh brand new full-time officers Uh it's always a happy day for us Uh it's great
to to see the cycle You have brand new officers and then in the back you have uh some older guys back there Uh we just had an officer complete 25 years So it's it's it's fun to see the different phases of all the different officers So
we're going to we're going to swear in two new ones tonight As I always do I want to thank the family in the audience Um you're going to live this profession with them Uh it's it's a unique profession Uh when they have a bad day you're going to know about it Uh when
they have a good day uh you're going to know about that as well Uh so you're going to you're going to ride the roller coaster with them and be there for them I know you have already Um like I always say there there might be an empty uh
seat at the table on Christmas Uh because someone's got to do it Someone's got to be out there protecting Brigade And uh I I I think it's it's one of the more honorable things you can do one of the more um important jobs you can do And and they've chosen to do that So we
thank them for that because it's not getting easier It's only getting harder and uh bear with them You know if there's an empty seat there at Thanksgiving it's because they picked a really important profession and and they're out there ready to answer the call So we
appreciate the family and start with Officer Long on upg uh grew up in the area went to Holy Spirit uh where he there uh did some wrestling lacrosse uh moved on to Kutztown where he got a a
degree in criminal justice which is always a good way good foundation to start your career with Um we brought him on as a class one and we immediately recognized that uh he he was more mature and and and more ready to do the job
than than some of the younger candidates that we have So when we had a chance we uh we sent him to the six-month academy He excelled Um did a great job for us and and now he's sworn in tonight We bring the family up
That's established We'll uh as we always do we'll take a a quick break after uh the second officer so the family can come up and and take some nice pictures up here at the front Next up Officer Millback Officer Harry I grew up in Clarksboro in
that in that area Uh went to uh the Gloucester Institute of Technology Uh really good baseball player So softball games Um from from there he went on to um Stockton played baseball
at Stockton Uh again uh criminal justice degree Uh we brought him on He was a class two officer for us Uh he was able to work with uh with the squad for for a while and we got to know him and we had a chance uh once again we brought him on
board So congratulations Stop That's it Oops That's [Applause] very proud to welcome Ryan and Zach to the force We have a outstanding police family here and I'll tell you probably one of the toughest jobs in America
right now is that as a police officer but I will tell you that it is one of the most important jobs in our entire country They put their lives on the line so that the rest of us could be saved So to all of our police officers thank you for everything you do for our community
every single day We appreciate all of the sacrifices all of the service that you provide to us Thank you This time I'd like take a motion second take five minute recess allow families to take pictures All in favor i motion pass
We're going to take five minute recess Praise All right you got it It's about Welcome You guys Congratulations [Music] I'm good
Yeah Have to leave before you sw before I have to take a picture Hey Thank you [Music] That's I'd like to have a motion and second to
resume our meeting Second All in favor i see none Motion pass We're going to resume our meeting Uh Tiger do we have an executive session tonight we do not have an exe So no executive session All right Next up we have our
approval of our March 19th 2025 council meeting minutes We have a motion and second Second Questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call latiri yes Hy yes Rearen yes Mayor Sarah
yes Motion carried Approval of our bill requisition list Motion second Questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call you Yes Latiri Yes Haney Yes Rearen Yes Mayor Sarah Yes Motion
carried All right Uh before I open up public comment I also want to let people know that uh we have a public hearing that you'll have public comment because I know a lot of people hear about the uh uh fee change ordinance I would ask that if you have comments about the fee
change ordinance do it during that time All right At this time we're going to open it up for public comment This is public comment on agenda items only Please come up and state your name and address for the record I see no public comment I'm close the public portion Um I'm actually going to reorder
one thing just for to expedite something I'm going to move resolution 2025-88 up And that's number 16 on your agenda All right So we need a motion and second for resolution
2025-88 This is a resolution establishing the dates for the citywide yard sale and waving permit fees These dates are June 6 June 7th and June 8th of 2025 We have a motion in second I'll make that motion I'll second Uh
questions or comments it's a great thing the city does for the whole community The green team is the spearhead of it and um they will also be able to get some sustainable jersey points from it That's perfect Thank uh there's no other
comments Can we have roll call yes Yes Haney Yes Can I take a second and thanks Mike Janette Kesler green team Um I thank city council for hearing it and for giving us the points uh for that by
offering us the permit free um yard sale We get 10 sustainable jersey points for that which is great I take this opportunity to also fill you guys in on our green team initiatives for the next coming months We have April 25th 26 is
our cherry blossom festival weekend The 25th we have a 5K run and a onem walk That's a great activity Everybody should get involved The mayor's wellness campaign is part of that um walk and run The 26th hundred tickets The tea sold
out So if you missed it you're out The 26th we're giving away trees at the community garden from 10 to 12 I encourage people to come on out for that The farmers market starts on May 24th every Saturday from 8 to 12 And mark
your calendars September 20th our first Brig Blanc event It's a white party right out here the whole block 150 tickets only It's going to be the first of its kind It's going to be fantastic It's going to be uh the green
team supporting local business Watch for it in the local paper It's going to be great Thank you so much council for all your support for all we do Thank you Oh thanks Janette Thank you for all the things that you do Um I know you put a lot of time and effort into everything we do
with the green team and I know the city is better for us So thank you I agree I ditto with the mayor just said and everyone else on the green team that does an excellent job and since uh the wonderful Janette Kesler made a little informative speech there I vote yes to
the citywide permit Thank you Mayor Sarah Yes Motion carried All right we have ordinance number four of 2025 This is a public hearing and adoption and this is an ordinance amending chapter 210-37 article 2 of the code of the city
of Brigantine portion as it relates to fees We have a motion second Second All right Before we open up the public hearing we have a presentation from our CR staff I'm going to ask our CR director Jim Boen to start us off
Okay I think I'll work from here because if I get up and use that mic my back will be to one or the other It's very nice crowd here tonight I don't recognize too many people out there pickle ball in their
paddles I say that affectionately Uh we are here tonight to explain uh we've been working for several months with regard to uh stabilizing improving uh taking uh uh messages from people
with regard to the indoor pickle and the outdoor We have tried to meet with as many people as we could Met with the recreation commission We went met with the ambassadors your ambassadors Uh we
sent surveys out that we do after normally after every session feedback surveys We also have met with city manager and his assistant and two ambassadors We've also contacted various
recreation departments and cities We have information on on trial from EHD and from Ocean City Not a lot of municipalities have indoor paper So we eliminated them if they were just
telling us about their outdoor facilities We here to uh present make this presentation uh your feedback on it All right And we want to what is best for
bringing and to make it a very very improving and nice residence for people down here Anytime you want to talk to us and I are in this community center just about try to
help my pleasure now to announce or to uh introduce uh person who is done the lion share of work for this presentation uh and uh she is very very good with regard to talking to people and
everything else So I I'll tell you this one thing and I introduce her by this way Every time she gets embarrassed right when we hired her we expected great expectations It took her two weeks to
exceed those expectations So I want to introduce Kristen Sullivan my assistant Thanks everyone Um so as Jim mentioned I'm rather new here in town Uh it's just been my privilege to serve as the assistant recreation director for the
city of Brigante for almost two years It'll be two years in July Um when I went through the interview process my goals for coming in were to bring the community center registration online So we achieved that goal gather feedback from our participants just to see what have we been doing well and what do we
need to improve and then also to ensure that our programs are being run equitably Equitably and equity is going to be a big word that we go through today So in terms of pickle ball the history of pickle ball at the community center based on what I've been told is that it began as an open gym activity
There was low structure It was overseen by the pickle ball association and as it grew it needed more structure The Pickle Ball Association put together an app called Team Reach where people would RSVP and we limited it to a number of 21 participants each session Based on
feedback that we've collected from participants folks were staying longer than they were supposed to They were playing at levels higher or lower than their ability making it not fun for other people Folks were helping each other learn and staying for hours and hours of gym time Um there were no
repercussions for no shows and folks were often taking space away from someone else who could be participating um if they showed up The courts were slippery They need to be realigned and we need new nets So based on that feedback we made a plan in January uh
which was the proposal for uh putting in a fee for participating in indoor pickle ball We switched over from team reach to court reserve which is an app that the city pays for uh for the outdoor pickle ball It's the same system that the majority of folks are used to using Um
it gets us in line rather than having an app for indoor and an app for outdoor We have the same system All participants must give their name at the front desk So they have to check in with us And we track that user data So who's coming who's not coming how many people are coming out of the total maximum that
could come Participants can only register for the session that matches their ability And also they can't change their ability level on their own they have to come to myself or another administrator in order to do that So you don't have people playing three times a day because they switched their ability level in running a report from court
reserves So when we switched to this we required everyone that wanted to play inside to have an indoor only membership It was free but it was something they had to do 274 unique people have an indoor only membership at this time but out of those 274 only 154 have ever
checked in So that's 56% Out of that 154 only 28 of them have a home address outside of Brigantine And nine of those people have a home address outside of the state of New Jersey So you can see the participants that are
here right now and have been participating from January through March are primarily Brigantine residents We determined that based on all the feedback that we received and in order for us to continue to run an equitable and a fair program we needed to switch
from the open gym mindset where there was limited structure to a program mindset where there is structure and there is a fee associated with it All of our programs uh have a cost associated with them We've been through the process of adjusting those costs based on the
people in our town Unfortunately we are not able to do a resident non-resident rate That's just not something that we can do But what we can do is we offer classes that are lower rates for seniors versus non- seniors right now based on what we changed it to Uh seniors pay $2
per class per however many classes they get in a session and non- seniors pay $5 a class So benchmarking against other local pickle ball establishments and recreation areas we determined that Egg Harbor Township Recreation Open Gym They just released their spring schedule It's
a drop in for $5 for two hours of play and they only offer Thursdays in the spring Pickle Juice and Pro Shop are two local establishments that are pickle ball at heart So they have the best course the best nets the best lights everything there But you also get what
you pay for in that circumstance Pickle Juice The cheapest membership is $495 a year plus $10 for an open play fee anytime that you want to play ProShot is $179 a year plus $10 open play fee
anytime that you want to play So when we were determining our cost we said the fee would offset the expenses and allow for preventative maintenance That's one of the things that we at the community center have determined is something that we can improve on I feel like we do a lot of reactive maintenance where this thing broke hurry we need to fix it
Where if we have this fee associated with it we can set a plan in place for ordering equipment ahead of time before it breaks That way we don't have a downtime in court time Charging the indoor pickle ball participants they would have the option to pay a daily fee a monthly fee or a yearly fee
Participants will only be able to come in and play at their selected session and they would be directed to leave when their session is over That's something that even though we've been using court reserve I watched one person walk in at 11:15 last week and they walked out at 3:30 And I think those of us who play pickle ball in here know that that's a
lot longer than they should have stayed There will be consequences for repeated no-shows to ensure as many people can play as possible This is time that people are now paying for if this passes and we want to ensure that that is being uh being overseen by both us and the
pickle ball association staff will be on site to address disputes There have been a handful of people who have come into our office and told us about issues that were happening on the court Um now we will be able to go in and say "It's not the pickle ball association that you need to see You need to come see us."
New nets will be purchased based on the pickle ball association feedback And then we've also purchased a port clean mop system which is different than the typical system that's used to clean the community center Community center is now open at 7 a.m for facility cleaning every day But then there's at least two
if not four activities that happen between when the gym gets mopped first thing in the morning and when pickle ball starts So the court clean system is used in a lot of college environments and it's a wet mop system that takes 10 minutes to both mop and dry So that will
already go into the 15minute buffer ahead of pickle ball every day Our goal is to have it happen every day but that depends on the schedule of the staff Again that's our goal And then also we want to ensure there's equitable amount of time for the sessions including both port setup and tearown Right now it's
not equitable for the beginners and the last group of the day And so we can readjust the schedule for the future We're going to continue tracking usage data determine what time slots have the least attendance and repurpose that time for other levels or for the possibility of indoor court rentals That's something we don't have right now and it would be
a great thing that we could offer for folks who are coming into town and don't have membership We also are committed to enhancing pickle ball both with offering a QR code survey which is similar to the program surveys that we offer after our programs each session and then also add new things like making the rules
accessible for participants um and potentially sharing information about the pickle ball association for anyone who moves into town Some other things to note pickle ball has 22 of 57 possible gym hours each week We have two new fitness classes that were added in the
gym this session for the spring Uh but in order to add them into the gym we cut time from youth basketball rather than cutting time from pickle ball Two additional fitness classes were also split into four due to the limited gym time causing higher instructor fees and lower class numbers For this the four
classes can fit 15 people per class where the gym could fit 60 In terms of figuring out our pricing we looked at the indoor pickle ball expenses And so this year we have staff now checking in the pickle ballers when they arrive Uh we typically spend $1,000 on pickle
balls a year The new net system that we looked at is roughly $6,000 for three new nets That would increase the ease of setup for participants as well as limit the amount of storage space that they're taking up The court reserve system is
$675 The court clean mop system is 800 Court mopping itself will take uh $1,625 worth of salary time Replacement decks are $300 and then the floor is being resurfaced this weekend actually um in order to be cleaned and resurfaced
and also to have new lines with town for pickle ball Um those are all the things that go into indoor pickle ball There's also some things that we've talked about with the pickleball association about outdoor which is something that we can work on and we're committed to working on to enhance the participant experience this year knowing that we can't just
pour new pickle ball courts tomorrow and call it good So we have a short-term plan at looking at ways to increase outdoor space and outdoor signage And then a long-term plan which uh I believe the mayor has spoken on is just looking at what a renovation of that entire outdoor sports complex looks like But
that's long term So just know that like Tim said we are very welcome to feedback Feedback is essential for growth That's the only way that we learn what we're doing well and what we can improve on Since I started here I said I make no guarantees but I will happily listen to anything that anyone has to say And
that's true to this day So if you have any questions about the information that was delivered or the rates that are listed in the fee structure please let us know I guess I think $5 per session I also found that Avalon for their indoor per three-month session they actually do
split it between taxpayers and non- taxpayers but it's a $75 fee for taxpayers It's a $100 fee for non-t taxpayers And uh Kate May also offers indoor pickup and I believe they do their uh convention center the offse but
it's $5 per session And for all three of these cities they don't offer any of the structure any of the amenities that we have It is just dropping Um I think too one of the things that's important I guess actually didn't write it down here
Um do you have the hours because I know you had said that um pickle ball represents 22 hours per week but for the other open gyms roughly how much time do they have i um bad mitten and volleyball split the
gym on Mondays and Wednesdays for about two hours three and a half 3.25 hours is bad They get half of the gym Volleyball gets half of the gym that time as well Um volleyball also gets two hours on
Saturdays Youth basketball or sorry this is all adult programming So adult basketball gets two hours three two and three quarter hours a week and then pickle ball not including the setup time gets 19 and a half hours And um I think one of the explained to
me in the meeting too is that there's groups that used to come in and use the gym or no longer those time slots are filled Yeah we try to limit the number of cancellations as best as possible And so that's where it gets hard when we have
an open gym program versus something that is something structured Whether it's a group that wants to come in and host an event whether it's users that want to come in and use it for a class Right now we're not choosing to cancel pickle ball even though it's been historically an open gym activity um to
add classes in One thing you have to realize is we have a lot of other things down there particularly classes Monday we started our spring classes We're teaching 43 classes physical
fitness stuff for the kids Uh every Monday Wednesday and Friday we have the toddlers in one two and three year old children Uh and but out of these nine new classes that we had we really had to try to figure out not taking any time
away from pickle ball people but how we were going to do this There's actually one woman if we had the use of the gym for two more hours she could teach she could take 60 people gym one shot
Now we had to make it 15 different classrooms at three different times It's the same instruction that if we were able to fit them in If you look at our gym and we have some verification of this I don't know where
it's at now but Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday the gym is full filled from 9 in the morning to 9 at night Not any time for anything else Okay And that that's what we're that's what we're facing now
too If we're going to continue to and vary classes time just about anything people want about these surveys after each session each uh spring summer winter
fall and they give us feedback that is absolutely great Okay And we try to look at that feedback and do as much as we can One thing we never realized is we used to have registration for the people coming in If I took the online
registration we set the time as nine o'clock on a certain day where people would sit by the computers and punch in Well we didn't think about it We had about three or four nine o'clock classes So the people who are in those classes came to us and said "We can't you know
so we moved it to eight o'clock and we're making a play fair playing field But you know and when you build the building uh you always think you have enough space You always think you have enough rooms You always think you have enough office space You always think you
have enough closets Well 14 years later we're looking around every day trying to figure out what we can put here where we can move this here and that down the line like Chris said we we
have a plan be sick for that I know you laid down um I guess all of the city resources that are now being put towards pick basically an open gym drop instruction for the other open gyms What
kind of resources are Yeah Uh we don't have any type of online registration system for open gyms So it's just drop in Um with uh the bad mitten group they're a local group of people who come every week They communicate they with themselves They do
all the setup tear down all that Volleyball it's very similar Adult basketball we have a small community who participates in that Um but again no sign up And then really with that we just make sure that folks have a waiver on file with us We keep that online or on our computer and then whoever is at
the front desk just matches the name on the sign in clipboard with the fact that we have a waiver So um it really helps us in terms of staffing because uh early morning Fridays are always hectic and then early morning Saturdays are hectic as well And so those are the times where
we have adult basketball Um folks can sign their name in and then just go into the gym with very little oversight If there's an issue we can go in there and have a conversation with them Um but really our staff are more flexible to move around the building and address other concerns that folks have or fix things if they're broken
You talked about the needs cleaning and resolving disputes Um what's your 2025 yeah So we haven't historically I guess we started with our front staff person coming in additional time uh probably in
November just to get ahead of what we were going to have in uh January And so that $4,000 is 4,000 additional dollars of time that we have scheduled someone for the entire year So they are coming in additional hours that they weren't scheduled before
One of the things you have to realize is not everybody who works down there is full-time There's three full-time people and four part-time people Part-time people can't work more than 28 hours a week Okay So one of the tough things
about the job is trying to satisfy everybody days off and vacation and I can't Two Fridays in a row I work from seven in the morning to 4 at night 4 in the afternoon by myself Why because
people have days off and I can't call one of those part-time people in because they go 28 hours So it's not always you know full staffed with uh you know eight people there either part-time or fulltime
you have allocated $1,000 each year for balls How we spend $1,000 so one box of 100 pickle balls ranges between 230 and $300 So we have never tracked how many pickle balls we use a year We just
always buy more pickle balls whenever we need to buy more pickle balls And usually that's late We find out oh there's two balls left in the box We need to track that That's where our preventative maintenance can come in And that's the plan So as part of the commitment with this fee structure as part of our commitment is keeping track
of what that ball usage looks like um we committed to giving six balls out a week If they're cracked they go in the box If they need more than six balls then we can commit to giving more and keeping track of that Again I think we've just been reactionary when things break and reactionary when we need to get new
things Um and I think right now we're in a place where we can say we're going to pay attention more That's the the staff structure aspect of it We're going to pay attention more and we're going to be able to commit more Number of people emailed me I guess about the indoor nets
that a number of them perhaps Yeah So from what I've been told the indoor nets were originally outdoor nets that were brought inside to satisfy the indoor population Um about two months ago I went through all the nets with one of the pickle ball association members and
we identified which ones were good which ones were not The ones that weren't good are tagged as spare parts They're just left on one of the shelves I believe there are five nets right now that are listed as good That means both the net structure and the net itself In terms of new nets we can buy the same thing Um
but for me that just means we're digging ourselves into the same hole So I've spent more time over the past two weeks looking up pickle ball systems talking to other facilities that have indoor pickle ball trying to figure out what works the best And I think with us and the conversations I had with folks today
um our goal would be to be able to leave the nets up all the time We can't do that in the community center based on the amount of space that we have I looked today John and I were down there today We took the measuring tape out A pickle ball nest 22 feet long the three
spaces that we looked at uh one would block an egress one there was only 17 feet um and then another one would create a potential tripping hazard for anyone that was walking from the dining room typically used by seniors into the other part of the community center space
So there's nowhere for us to leave them So if we can't satisfy that goal then our other option is to find nets that are easily set up um the nets that we have now the system takes two maybe three people five minutes If you have
one person it takes a lot longer just because there's a lot of parts that need to go together The systems that I looked up and worked with some of the pickle ball association members on uh there's three parts to it One right side one left side and a net There's no holes in the middle nothing Um they're a lot
easier to store There's no bags for them to go into There's no worried about parts from this one getting put on this one There are three parts to each net system Uh they are on wheels and so they can move into our storage area easily and move out of the storage area easily
as well Um that way I know right now sometimes folks come in set up all three nets not knowing if three ports worth of people are coming in Uh this will allow each port to set up their own nets essentially based on how many people are there just because of the easy setup and that's an investment So they're about
$2,000 each net system but they are heavy duty They are a single time purchase and there's a warranty associated with you You said it's a single time purch So the net system itself is great Uh
that's why we looked at it'll be $6,000 from the net system that includes the two sides and the net and then each additional net on top of that is about $100 So we have budgeted for additional nets that are the replacement nets which is the part that goes down first Now
these nets are also different than the nets that we currently have which have a lot of pieces that wear out or uh fall apart And so it's a little bit more um of an investment in the quality of the product that we're going to get as well
6,000 should last stay on top Yes Yep I uh I just want to say one thing I want to thank John During and public works for keeping the building as clean as it is Everybody who comes into the building
and then we got problems with the gym but they marvel at how clean it is And we always consult with John if when we're buying equipment because he can guide us the insurance people don't want that in there you know can't that but
it's very very cooperative between the departments and uh can't do that I guess there's Yeah So originally when pickle ball was moved into the gym um and set up for indoor there were lines that were put down with orange tape And so there are
three courts that are uh running sideways compared to the large basketball gym In our gym there are lines for basketball volleyball tennis and yep one other sport And so there's a lot of lines all over Then you add orange
lines which are the pickle ball lines that were done in person Um they were done to satisfy the need And right now the plan is this Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday the gym is closed The entire floor is getting cleaned by a contracted company that we work with
John with And then once it gets cleaned and resurfaced new lines are being put down in place of the orange tape lines This might actually receive a number of emails about the shade structure for the
outdoor These these were recommended by the pickle ball association these particular shade structures John can we explain to the people with regard to the wind screens our policy of putting them up and taking them down because we get a lot of questions that
they're not up And and why in our past history do we do that 1 Wait Fire Yeah I was going to say because that's been one of the concerns that's been brought up to me is that if the boxes
don't break away I know when we were ordering fences to fix we had a similar issue with baseball and softball sponsor banners around the field big strong
windtorm fences So I know that's one of the big issues a question about outside that's come up I know we did a full resurfacing in 2021 was probably about 350,000 put into support Um number of cracks number of
issues is there anything that done to repair i feel personally that when the company came and did this we've had issues from the start Yeah John Same crap Get slot Now I guess people brought up safety
concerns too Cracks They've been inspected by insurance company They've been inspected to ensure that they're safe and good breakfast Excellent the shade structures on the fence They'll be positioned I assume over benches
Yeah that's complaints I get is top right we'll also have it part of the alleyway too That's probably a bigger area shape And then one of the things we had looked at too is expansion of the pickle
ball courts We definitely need more I don't think that there's enough outdoor pickle ball courts One of the original proposals was actually to move the mini golf Mini golf needs some major repairs We wanted to move the mini golf out to the 15th Street parking lot here That would give us the space to expand into
that area Uh we got push back from our business community They were really concerned that we were going to be giving up parking in the central business district and it would hurt all of those businesses We've had a number of residents who have come in and talked about the issues of parking there too So
based on that feedback um we're unable to move the mini golf So what we're looking at is a restructuring and reconfiguration of that whole recreation area One as you heard our uh director of public works talk about is the only way that that cord is really gonna be great
is a full resurfacing Taking it down to nothing doing it over I'm going to tell you that's very very expensive process Just the restoration was 350,000 That's in 2021 Prices are way up One of the things we're looking at is use down
there I will tell you that um outside of people walking dogs in there I haven't seen people use the hockey pools in years I know that our city manager has been talking and working with the Britant Hockey Association uh to see if we can eliminate one of those courts So
we do the restoration to do one to have it I will tell you me personally I don't see anybody use it I know that there is a deep love for people who played and they don't want to let the courts go but I believe that we can work a deal with them to take it down to one court to do
a reconfiguration and to move things around to create more space That is going to take a little bit of time Um one of the suggestions we're looking at now is once we have an overall plan is to do it in phases to try to get it done But one of the things
that we are very responsible with is the budget There's only so much debt you can take on at one time That is something that we really try to do We try to manager manage and structure debt so that as debt falls off we replace it with debt And what that really does is
helps to stabilize everyone's taxes So a lot of this is looking at the long-term plans of what we're doing down there Um just because the one plan didn't work doesn't mean that we're giving up We are working Uh we do have money budgeted right now for the um mini golf We're
using part of that funding right now to do restoration because we need to have restoration of that court We can't leave it It is not playable the way it is Uh but we are starting to work on that Um we've been meeting with our uh capital committee and also with our city engineer to start to look at what those
plans and uh long-term ideas look like We will share that with everybody One of the things that I think is really lacking is communication between the city and between the pickle ball association There's information that we feel that we try to get out that doesn't
always make it out I know that there's a lot of frustration sometimes that happens within the pickle ball association that doesn't always make it all the way to us One of the things that we requested is to have a meeting with our CPR staff I see somebody got my five
minutes there uh with our CER staff with our manager and deput deputy city manager and our deputy mayor Karen Pew to sit down and start to try to talk about all these issues and how we resolve them And that's one of the things that I do come out of the meeting is there's a lot of assumptions on both
sides that are not correct Uh one of the reasons we wanted to have our CR staff here tonight is to talk about you know why they've made this recommendation to council I think it's important for council to hear what was said as well as your concerns you know and understand
you know that there is investment that's going into both indoor and outdoor pickle ball not just for this year but also going forward And we're trying to do everything in our power to make this as as good as it can possibly be One of the major changes it has now become a
structured program It is no longer a just drop in and play program There are resources There are things that we're trying to do based on the feedback that actually has been given to us by the pickle ball ambassadors You know before if there was a dispute out on the court
you had to try to get somebody in the pickle ball association to come down there and settle They're notable Now what we're doing is using our CR staff to go out there and resolve those disputes People on the courts too long We're using the four reserve system to make sure that we can handle those
issues so people don't just stay there and play all day Pickle ball is very very loved but if you look right now of our community center um activities there's 57 possible hours 22 hours of that is dedicated towards pickle
um when you look at participants because one of the comments that was actually made to me is that the pickle ball players are the majority of people in the community center I want to give you the statistic I have Um you heard Kristen talk about this earlier There's 154 registered
pickle ball players on court reserve who actually play this year There's over,300 other participants in other activities and classes and this doesn't count the seniors who come in So what I want you to understand too is that we are doing everything in our
power to make accommodations to make things good And one of the things that does frustrate me is that there are people who have come to me that they have actually lost their gym time because we give time to the pickle ball association But I will tell you I
support pickle ball 100% I love how much people play I think it's one of the greatest things that Brigantine has to offer But there has to be balance between what we do and as I said if you look at all the other municipalities you know we're looking at $2 per session
Most people are charging five who offer the indoor and um Avalon is much higher at 75 and they only offer three months That's what you have to pay One of the things we're also working on and this is something I've been working on for a while is to
actually bring in an outside vendor private business Uh we have a private business that's coming in They're putting together their building plans They're hoping to be open by this summer but you will have indoor pickle ball and a private business that they have in other communities And we've been working
uh with the owner of that business to get that here because I think it's something that's needed And we're hoping that this will take some of the demand off of the community center So people are going to have a lot of options Uh we had a business that was going to come in here a couple years ago and ironically
before that business opened Kelly Williams took the space So uh they didn't act quick enough but now we have another person who's coming in and they have their lease and they're going through the planning or they're through the planning board They're going through construction and permitting and all that right now So we're doing everything we
can for uh the association Um are there any council comments before we open up all right So one of the other reasons we want to have our CR staff here too is to make sure that people can properly answer your questions These are the people who run the day-to-day operations
down there And I know sometimes it's frustrating for people You come you have a question we're like we have to get back to you So we wanted to make sure that as best as we can we can give you uh answers So we will when we open up the public meeting uh open up the public
hearing uh come up make sure you please state your name and address for the record Uh you have five minutes to speak and our acting city clerk time All right So at this time we're going to open up for public hearing Anybody wishing to be heard on this ordinance please come up state your name and address for the
record and ask any questions that you have Morin Burger 240 12th Street South Um just a couple the biggest question we had is saying that it's a change from open gym to
structured There always was someone checking us in when we came in Like we would sign in like there's not a new person there doing that Um we've been able to manage ourselves If someone's not planning I think it's happened once
that I know of and it was fixed Um we would never go to anyone other than ourselves to address any concerns like we're adults playing the game You know never had I've never seen anything that was unable amongst the
people Um so those services are not actually required very curious about $6,000 nets That seems outrageous I've played in a lot of other indoor places
They're they're a little better than what we currently have but they don't have to be you know they just we already put them up take them down ourselves If someone stays longer usually it's because the next group
didn't have as many people and they wanted someone to stay to balance out So you know maybe they only had seven you need eight So they asked someone to stay Yeah That that's where we get in trouble because not always people in there want to play with a guy who's maybe a
3.0 and they would only ask they would only ask the person that would be appropriate Like I have played I have gone before I've been a little early I play in the three O's The two fives needed someone to play with They asked me I jumped in and I played You play to
the level of the people you're playing with You're not going to go in We're not going to have someone that plays a very high three five level play with someone that's just not going to do that So let me tell you something At least three times with this one individual Okay he
wanted to play with his girlfriend She was a two He was a three plus and we've had him in his office three different times Excuse me Wait excuse me one second I
respect you have the time before I would ask the people in the audience to be respectful because you have a speaker who's here on the floor We have people trying to answer It is not helpful to yell and scream The goal of this meeting is to share information So I'm going to ask that the people in the audience to
be respectful and listen because that is your expectation of us Thank you The person that you're referring to he's a 35 she's a three He was spoken to by the ambassadors and he no longer
30 It really wasn't played with it was fine It wasn't that big of a deal Um community is one of the reasons I've enjoyed moving here full time It's how I've made all my friends down here from playing It's something that you want to
see continue It's just that it is an it is no different It doesn't need to be structured It is not structured now There is no need for when we were using the team reach Same thing You sign
up It's always full there's a waiting list you know and you get moved up to the waiting list when someone backed off going Yes you want to make sure people actually show up when they say they're going to show up That is something that you want to do but that doesn't need
someone pleasing it you know at the door We were already signing in that the same person is at the front desk before court reserve ended and court reserve was already in place for
the summer So it's not a new expense we actually bring Okay So it is okay That's not something that So um that's really I mean we don't need to
place for adults like you know that's it's not it is an open gym thing It does not need the structure That is the reason that you're saying it is the expense The structure is most of the
reasons for adding an expense to it None of those are actually necessary So what you're suggesting that's I think let people play No no no The sign up You should play within your levels and have a sign up which is what
we were doing prior to like the team reach was doing that No you have to have some just show up you know because right now I'd like to start No Yeah No I was just I understand to just remove structure and resources that
were trying I guess that it's being recommended to us to put forward to make things better because my understanding is that center is trying to resolve and make things better But if you're telling me today that none of that is necessary should we remove the instructions
sorry Chris I could have speak I apologize As my attorney tell me that it's one person at a time getting on a handful of I think the unique thing about the
way that we have our structure uh with the schedule is the schedule is the same week after week after week after week And so folks that come in on Wednesdays at 11 may see someone that sit sits at the front desk Wednesdays at 11 Historically we never had somebody there
Thursdays during the time that pickle ball starts or Fridays during the time that pickle ball starts We added staff to the schedule in order to ensure we had someone there to check people in When I first started Team Reach was the app that was used and folks would just
RSVP on their own Any issues folks came to us about them and we said "You've got to reach out to somebody from the pickle ball association." And again as someone who's providing a space for a sport to be played I don't like that I'm telling you to now go email someone to fix an
issue That that doesn't seem like appreciate that That's not a fair service And so from the switch from team reach to court reserve before then we did a signin system because we realized folks that were signing up on team reach never signed our waiver And so we
determined Oh that's every person I saw walking in sign No no no Before the waiver before the waiver existed when I first started there was no waiver to walk in You could just walk in say I always we would just go in and sign every time you went in to play whether someone was at the front
desk or not Right you signed the way this is before that So before that again that that's part of the structure that we created So before that when I first started team reach folks RSVP they came to the session they stayed however long they played they left and then we realized there was no waiver within the
team reach system There's a waiver within court reserve not within team reach So then we required everyone to come to the front desk and sign the waiver when they walked in I would like to think that everyone signed the waiver whether someone was sitting at the front desk or not but it's really hard for us to verify that
And so that's why we moved also to court reserve and to having a staff there The person checks folks in they're the person that is there to answer any questions about pickle ball If folks come in they're there to make sure that the folks have an account If someone comes in and says "I want to play pickle ball right now." Our staff are there to
help them create that account and to work through that process Right now in the wintertime that might not be a thing uh based on the residents that are here right now but in the spring and summer we're starting to see more and more people come back to the community that haven't been with us when we required them to RSVP with court reserve
previously Just last week someone said "Oh it's not team reach anymore." No it's not Let me walk you through the process So I think on that in that standpoint folks are there for more hours at the front desk than they have been previously It might not get seen by
the folks that play at the same time every week Um and then also managing issues internally I don't want to handle any type of issues that I don't have to But if things are coming in my email inbox if people are coming in our office door complaining about things that are happen happening during their pickle
ball session I can't ignore that That's just news to me I've never and any anything any that would have would have ever brought us The first time I saw you was today So like I never would have gone into your you know what I mean and you were checking out the court and
that's the first time I laid eyes on you because we've never had an issue right and that may also be along with the group that you play with whereas there's other folks who like Jim mentioned like to push the boundaries and so there's certain people that realize folks are pushing the boundaries I can push them
too So the emails that I get in my inbox I try to handle those conflicts but it's just one of those things of is it the pickle ball association or is it us is it an open gym that Football Association oversees or is it a program that's happening within our facility that's the kind of thing that we're trying to ungay
We're trying to make it black or white The other drop in activities like admitments they just sign in right they sign in They sign in on the waiver and they manage themselves There's no number of people that need to be there They're never being told when they need to leave or not It's always the maximum capacity
that they're at They always stay within that That's what I always thought we were so doing And that's understandable Yeah I mean that's so it was just you're saying that structure is the reason for expense
and our experience is there is no need for structure there is no need for you know one other thing is that uh sometimes the uh people who are in there one of us will go in if it looks
crowded one of us will go in and just count hands 21 people supposed to be there people I say Christian says four people shouldn't be here four people should not be here Come out and we'll
talk That's happen every time there's ever been more people There are some people that will come and just sit up on the stage and watch They're with friends so they're not going to be counted Um I've been there when one person did come in and they actually had not been
registered and they were "Oh hey can actually sign up We're not going to be able to play." And they didn't The police where if there are if 21 people We play our games tonight instead of like to keep things moving which is
something that we just and and not everybody is conscientious as you Why do those poor people think they could just walk in there and play i honestly they might not be here I'm not a case I'm just saying as far as anyone else's
experiences has expired So told our five minutes Thank you I did a great job Anybody else wish to be heard on this issue yes please come
up I'm sorry We have the Go ahead Ladies first One of the things that was brought up more than ever to take less out like this
people very happy to share Thank you very much for sharing My name is Les Newuh Hall 33942nd Street Thank you all for all the work you do all the work you've done on
pickle ball and the rest of the recreation in this wonderful wonderful town city or beach Everything about it Kristen you were recognized early on I don't know you well but I can tell you
you are an asset to this city You are [Applause] cordial You are kind and you are so pleasant Thank you I thank you for that I'll second that
I'd like to point out that the work done on the courts inside is not just for pickle ball It's for all the sports The courts are a mess with the
lines They affect all the sports not just pickle ball I can't see how we've added any personnel indoors for pickle ball We're It's That's kind of like has been said
We're self-governing We really don't have any problems If there are there are just a few The one gentleman who did cause a problem it was handled Third point we
compare our program to other cities and towns indoor Why don't we compare our outdoor court program to other cities and towns i'll point to Galloway
Township 10 brand new perfect absolutely perfect quartz from getgo with shade and bleachers Most important part
free no charge I could ask you about Galloway though How much play do they have there do they have the same volume that we have here yes they have three levels They have the same type of setup and there are a lot of a lot of our people go there They don't join here Sure In the in the
summer because of the fee structure I know most of the shore towns um and their courts are better I was just down in Better Margate looking at their courts Ocean City beautiful courts but I know that most of them have these structures in place that are similar But we are aware that Galloway does provide
free play It's not just Galloway it's a harbor There are many of these towns and cities that are free and there are more being built Absin has two brand new courts They're perfect They're free So it's nice to compare You want to compare
apples to apples Let's do it inside and outside Now we mentioned the court time We need to bear in mind pickle ball has three groups of people This is single little short
pickle ball has three groups of p of people So each group doesn't get 19 and a half hours And let let's keep that in perspective How much time does basketball get basketball gets uh two
and a quarter hours per week How much time does kids basketball get i think that's total for all of them It's open gym I apologize Kids basketball No I don't have that off the top of my head Um just because that changes each
session I would say around about nine hours maybe 12 Okay The point I'm making is that's two groups of people right there in basketball The same as we are three groups of people in the same sport I think that needs to be
considered just But you think that we're getting that much more time than the other sports you realize seven possible hours So that's that's what we're looking at Even though you look at it's three groups right but it's only five or five and a half per
per group within the group The same as basketball but it's Yeah And I I hear what you're saying but it's it's still over I think you said 54% of the time is dedicated to one activity Okay Even though it's broken into different groups I made my point I'd like it to be
considered Absolutely Now the city of Brigantine provides recreation for a multitude of people We have beach volleyball We have baseball
softball So we're going to spend a little bit of money or call a lot of money depends on how you look at it at indoor pickle ball What do we spend on the baseball fields they're not here They don't have to be here Those tractors are out there The
lawns are cut The line the fields are lined for every game That's all free Even if it's kids it's recreation for the town We love our kids We wouldn't want anything taken from them but we are
citizens too That's a lot of money spent on those fields much more than you're going to spend on our pickle ball courts Those fields the work they do is continuous from spring to I I live there
I see what they do how they have to grade them lime them cut the grass Les if I could say one thing Um baseball and softball they they do pay well They have sponsors and they pay for
insurance but they're not paying a free No no no The kids pay group can be $125 literally I'm not sure what the cost is now but it's not free to Okay I appreciate that Does that cover all their expenses
but my point is that we're not asking as a city we provide recreation to all groups not not just one or two I just want to be clear though we're not asking you to cover all the expenses but when you look at even like the golf course put a lot of time in the golf course
People pay a membership they pay when they show up Same for the beaches We put a ton of money into maintaining the beaches but people pay fees to use those as well So I mean we can do the comparisons Now there was
another issue brought up about making new courts I can I think I can give you two new courts in the space with them Just like that Our basketball courts if you look at them outdoors The time has expired
You got to be kidding Can I have somebody else's we're not able to transfer time Yes we do Because we do have a number of people who want to speak When any of us speak they shut the clock down But our seniors what you have for the
seniors discount we get 20% you're proposing and everything in here is four pages where they get 70% discount and with instructors why are we prejudiced the
the cafeteria I would remind you that I thank you all thank you wish I had more else All right If there's no other public comment we're going to close the public portion My name is Philip Telman I live
at 1423 Sheridan Boulevard I apologize What was your name again philip Telman T E L M A N I I too want to appreciate what is being done at the CER with our administration I think what is happening just taking a step back We are here
represented by a number of pickle ballers at the group level We are active people doing pickle ball I don't see where we're getting a good interchange between what they're perceiving and what we perceive
They get all the squeaky wheels If we had an ambassador and I think we do and a couple of people they should pass those squeaky wheels off to our ambassadors We'll take care of ourselves I think that's really where we have to come together and
negotiate We've been left this was really quite a core dump today We had heard a lot of things Kristen she pulled out the stops on everything and it was great but why not include us in some of that what do we think we need in a pickle ball
net what do we think we need as far as lines what are the lines going to look like now afterwards i don't know what it's going to look like Will it really be better these are the things that I really think is important Getting together as administration as actual
players and let's see what kind of things we really believe are necessary I can then Let me say something to that gentleman We have a format where you can come not in here We have a recreation commission
on the island They're appointed by the city and we have a meeting every two months and one of your ambassadors is born that commission Okay Well okay So we used to meet every month
Then it got to a point where responsibilities and there wasn't as much activity over here as there was And maybe that's a good idea if these people will commit to meet with us once a month But what we do is there's the forum for
you people representative or any representative I can send you the names of the people They could bring it up at that meeting and that group could make recommendations I think that's been So Philip I think that's been one of the things from
council that um we were under impression that information was shared out before this even was put on the agenda council was under the impression that the pitball association understood this was going on understood what the reasoning was And then actually through the ambassadors and through some emails I
received I found out that this information wasn't shared I guess to the satisfaction of the group that most people had no idea what was going on And that's something that um we've actually talked with with our uh CER staff about communications Um one of the things I
use is constant contact It's just an easy way I have a list of people I know that people got the information I've offered that to our community center but I know they can do it through court reserve Through court reserve they can send out notifications send out information And I think also too getting
that feedback I think that that's important You know we did have a meeting last week I mean Jim and Kristen Tiger Ryan myself and the two pickle ball ambassadors We had Jay and Bob there and we listened both
back and forth They gave us a whole three pages of suggestions from you So they were listening to you and they were bringing suggestions to us So yes we did we did meet Yeah Uh last week this was all shared
with them Yes Uh people who had emailed me the majority of this information was actually shared out through email from constant contact Um so like I said 10 people emailed me I was able to respond to those 10 people but I don't know if it went beyond any those 10 people And that's where I think communication is
really lacking because a lot of this information was shared and that's where um you know I've had discussions with people within the pitball group that they've asked me questions about things like I talked to you about that I told you that they're like I'm like oh I talked to you last fall here's what
happened So the information doesn't make it beyond us that creates a problem and that's one of the reasons and I think one of the biggest things that needs to come out of this is better communication and I use the the um shade as a good
example Uh shade got delayed came in really late I think it came in late in the fall Decision was made that we didn't want to put it up in the winter and have it get beat up all winter So we were going to put it up in the spring a number of people who have emailed me that said that you promised us shade and
you still haven't gotten We were under the impression that this was communicated out to the group that it had come in so late that we didn't want to put it over winter and have it get damaged And that's something the shade's going to go up you know in the hot plate months I'm going to call it but it's
probably going to come down sometime in SE end of September You start getting those strong storms One I don't want to damage Two I don't want to pull them down the fences you start getting damaged down there One the cost we can talk about but two it takes away from playing time We are looking at um trying
to do a temporary expansion This is something that your pickle ball ambassadors brought to us since those hockey courts courts aren't used We want to see if we can actually as a temporary thing to give people the opportunity to play out on those courts since they're not the premium courts suggested maybe
that some of the brand new pet players people who are learning this is something you guys have to explain to us what to do to put them on those courts but have those auxiliary courts be free of charge you know so like these are suggestions that aren't brought forward and ambassadors do a great job sharing
that but I don't know if that's shared out yet And one it's very new but this is where we need communications And if that's something that doesn't work then we won't go in that direction But we're just trying to do anything and everything we can to to expand have
accommodations uh for the basketball courts I know we had some uh people playing out there when the other courts were being prepared One it's very far from everything but two sounds stupid but there's a lot of little rocks on the court People were slipping and fall I had never played pickle ball I probably
played twice in my life One time I played was on the basketball court I stepped on a bunch of those rocks I went flying I thought I was going to get hurt Right So we don't think that's court And that was the first question I asked about hockey If we're using one of those hockey courts in the summer we're going to have the same issue I was told no one
of the courts is a lot newer the surface is a lot better and we'll make sure to best of our ability that we try to keep maintained right so there's not those little rocks or little issues keep people safe but we're willing to work do whatever we can to make things better I
wish things could happen faster And I will tell you and I I learned this one my first years in council We literally had a road falling into the bed Literally I got on council It was a road falling into the bed You know it took us
two years to fix it Bureaucracy and funding are ungodly slow when it comes to government So I tell people when somebody asks me something I said "We'll get this done fast but it takes two years It's a two-year turn." I agree
with every single person in there Those courts out there especially outside the courts 100% need to be 100% need to be expanded But it's not like we just waved the line and we also have to work with the different groups And as much as
you're here frustrated there's other groups that are frustrated too Like you know we we talked about basement you know um the roundhouse out there where the middle where they sell the sacks out of the sacks and they have the upstairs It's been in need of repairs
for about a decade It is so expensive We're working to put the funding together right but one of the things we weren't able to do is start to fix the fields You had those dugouts filling up with mud filling up with water The fences were falling down like the netting people were hitting fly
balls in the cars or hitting out into the street you know So there are some safety things that we try to address you know and that's something we try to do but they they waited a long time too Dealt with the angry crowds there you know but that that took a number of years and we still can't fix the
Brownhouse We're getting there's a lot of recreation facilities You talk about the golf course you know I was talking with Mayor Phil Gunther You know we're finally starting to fix the irrigation system You know we had over 470 breaks in the irrigation system alone last
summer You know Phil told me he goes "Man that need to be fixed 20 years ago." It did but it took us time to get the money together to do it So we are going to do everything we can to make this better We are going to do
everything we can to improve indoor improve I think that's what Chris and Jim are trying to do I know that some of the issues that they see you might not see They might not happen at the times you're there Sometimes people email when
they have an issue or sometimes people come talk to them privately because they don't want to make a big deal And I will tell you like it is tough especially sometimes some people get along well but when adults are policing adults sometimes it doesn't go well And that's where our staff's able to step in And I
know people might not agree with this but I see it all the time We talk neighbor disputes One of the biggest challenges we have here in the city is dealing with neighbor disputes where people just can't make good decisions to get along with their neighbors It is very challenging to deal
with So I tell you when adults police adults always do it I guarantee you every person in this room I guarantee perfect do all the right things out there You're conscientious players that's not even player that's out there You know that's one of the things we want to make sure that we're available
and there we're trying to make this experience better You know and that's really this is going to come down to a decision that council has to make You know tonight they've had an opportunity to hear your side Uh they've had an opportunity to hear from our professional staff down there What
council needs to make a decision is are we going to support the resources that are down there is this necessary it's this you know it's a $2 fee and if not then they vote it down and that's it you know but when we vote this down there
are going to be some changes that come from that I don't mean to be that in the loop but saying that we're trying to put together and we don't expect pickle ball to to fully self But one of the biggest complaints
we get in the city is taxes spending money So one of the things we look at is the fees that we do and try to have some of the users of different programs and the the beach is a huge thing of that but some of the users of different programs offset a small portion of the
cost that we put in And you're right for a lot of the youth sports we don't really charge that much if anything But one of the things that a lot of people in this community don't realize is is we see all the big houses is we see people who have some means Our
schools over 60% free and reduced lunch There's kids who don't have enough money for food right so my heart breaks a little for them So yeah you know what me personally and I know a lot of people on this council we're going to put some money into that because we want to make sure that those kids have a better life
And that's something I'm committed to doing For those of you who don't know I'm a teacher for 19 years you know So when I see kids in need I do you know I have to say like one of my things it's funny I was in a meeting the other day and somebody said you
know it's not about the eye it's about the it's what we can do as a community to make things better So there's no other further public comment Yes sir My name is Jerry Boyer I live at 4500 Whleman Road And first off thank you all
for providing the opportunity to give us a place to play indoors and out It is appreciated Uh there are some questions that I have uh and I had addressed with the ambassador before he uh had his meeting with you folks Um and I don't
have any answers to this Uh do you know how much money was collected when court reserve went into effect a couple of years ago uh in the first two years the first two summers I'm sure you guys have those figures of what money was collected and I'm sure there's a percentage that went towards the
personnel staff uh the balls and whatnot that uh you provided How much more of that money is left and what is it going for i'm not seeing it I see the personnel I see the
balls Okay I just learned tonight we got shades that are going to be here this spring I've been hearing that for quite some time that we're going to get shades I saw a water fountain get put in What else i don't see anything else I'm I'm wondering where is my money
going where's Why would I want to pay more when I haven't seen any bang for my buck what I've already paid the last couple years i can speak a little bit on that Um from what I understand the funds that are collected do not go right back to the direct program that they are collected
from So for example um the money that gets collected gets into the city general fund and those funds could be going to put in the water fountain or could be going to paying for the shade structure this year compared to years previous Just looking at our outdoor pickle ball expenses we're at about
$79,000 for outdoor pickle ball expenses this year compared to 29,000 from last year and the year before That includes the shade structure It also includes staffing things that you mentioned Um but just because funds are raised as part of a program doesn't mean those
funds go back into that program They are collected in the city general One of my positions and I've said this since um people started uh the new system is that that money should go back into pickle Like when you guys pay the fees that's something that I've
advocated for over and over You pay those fees that the majority of that money should go back into the program That's what we that's what it's for And that's where you look at the increase from you know 2023 and 2024 of 29,000 roughly Now this year you know we'll put
79,000 back in you know and the same thing like when we did the repairs is 350,000 Uh when we do the probably the reconfiguration just for the pickle ball courts alone tennis courts it's all together the more complex should
probably right So one of the things we try to do sometimes is start to build up capital to then make investment I don't know about you I don't like to pay with credit cards I like to pay cash from Okay Uh I'm I'm sorry I I I guess that was my
my only point that I really wanted to make was uh I just don't feel like we're seeing a bang for the buck and it does not make me enthusiastic to pay for this when there are as Kristen pointed out other places locally that you can pay you know and in terms of you know pro
shop we said $179 whatever it is for a year that's less than what it costs to pay for an indoor outdoor membership for me as a senior uh and facility is much nicer yeah it's a little bit of a drive but I can couple that with other things you know if I go off the island at least I see what I'm getting
for that and the experience is a greater one than I have here Although the convenience here is wonderful and I love it and I wouldn't want it to stop It just with regards to like what the some of the other folks have said we can kind of police ourselves Yeah we had
an individual and I know exactly who you're talking about and I think we probably all do that's been resolved I don't know that there's anything else that has come up like that that's you know needed some resolution I've not heard of anything I play in the uh in the 3.5 group which is not as big of a
group as the 3.0's and I don't know if they're having some of the issues that you're describing I certainly don't see them Uh and I don't think anybody that plays in the advanced group sees those kind of things on a regular basis or even on a irregular basis for that
matter That's what I had to say Thank you Hi I'm Sumo Zeleleski 28 Coil Beach Truck First of all I love you guys I love all of you I moved here like two and a half years ago And tell my friends I not only moved to a different town
I it is it's an amazing place Played pickle ball the whole time The structure it's a little elusive I understand structure with signing in There are three levels There's a beginning level 20 25 that the structure ends there I
think ourselves um I've played primarily at the beginning once and so at the beginning level we're really not beginners We're taking in new people and we're teaching them And you
know if you don't mind doing that it does get kind of tedious after a while Um and now we're going to pay $100 and still do that same thing which okay people say move up but the 3.0 level is
full So to pay $100 and then move up and be on seems a little I don't I don't know what the Someone needs to help people especially if they're paying but I don't know that it needs to
come I don't have the answers to that I don't have the answers to that The other thing is I'm sure that sign up and I'm just talking in 100 people It's
$10,000 Is that I know it's going back It's not going into so it's going to the whole it's going to the general fund Yeah So it doesn't necessarily mean it's coming back to pickle ball as a whole So put it
in perspective though if I can add a number you said 10,000 but on the 2025 budget they've given me just for indoor pickle ball they they have expended 13,100 So you no and I'm wondering is the $100
negotiable I mean I'm single but there's a lot of couples so they're going to pay $100 each and each pay so they'll be paying if they choose that option So
everyone has the option to choose the pay as you go So that's $2 anytime that you RSVP The only thing with that is you only have three days in advance to book So if you're somebody that doesn't spend a lot of time here doesn't know if you want to play at a 3.0 level don't know if you're going to get enough court time
then you have the option to pay the lower rate which is $2 per time you play But if you're someone that's going to be here for a long term then that's up to you and your finances The other thing with outdoor play is there's seven days a week for the entire season There's 97
days between you can play seven days a week for 13 hours a day is the amount of time that's bookable there So when you compare when you combine the indoor time and the outdoor time as well as the court reservation that you can do for both play and court reservations um I
believe it's close to five hours a day for indoor outdoor and a port reservation within your your ship rate or outdoor Thank you Y it's okay You're just very passionate We
have to keep some comments Anybody else wishing to be heard all right At this time we're going to close the public portion Are there any council comments thanks I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight Really appreciate all this input It's fabulous Five years
ago Kathy Ewing stood up here in front of us when we had no outdoor pickle ball courts And Kathy was the most passionate pickle baller I ever met in my life She was wonderful And we had a lot of trials
and tribulations over what was needed and what was wanted at the time And it took about two years but then we had we had the uh dedication three years ago down the courts and I couldn't
believe there had to be at least 300 people down there It was fabulous So that being said I'm sure that as we work together with the input that we're getting tonight and future past
input and I'm really impressed person but uh I'm sure we're going to be able to get this all worked out that that it'll uh get resolved and for everybody that sounds like everybody seems to be uh
concentrating on the monitoring of the program but you're forgetting that it still needs the setup of the the nets the take down of the nets the let me I listen to you She listened to you I asked that everyone listen and also the
cleaning between that that Kristen says is done The cleaning of the courts between groups before and after whatever So you have to remember it's not just the monitoring of or checking somebody
in Also is it possible to uh just do a little alteration in the fee structure for a family we definitely look into that I think the benefit of the fee structure as it's presented is that is the maximum
that it would be approved for right now Right So we can do some altering on the individual memberships at a lower rate or the monthly memberships at a lower rate But right now if this gets approved that is the highest that it would be allowed to be right now
Check our turn This is our number It's not a It's not a But what I hear our deputy mayor saying is that she would like So just say this passes tonight One of the things family I get I didn't think about that You got you know it's uh 200 bucks then it's 400
bucks I get that Is there something we can look at when it comes to family to maybe give better rate on price that's something we can look at We definitely work ambassadors So then we bring that back before council to make that change
That's something I do think that that makes sense We can't change it tonight if we change but that's something that we could work out and we're back before council to make that um adjustment Um I have a question
too So we put it in place something's negotiated for families It takes two meetings and 20 days So then when we have to refund people then it's procedural
right does this take effect so we have flexibility I just want to make sure clear because I know the procedures I told you government moves slow something We can look at the council
[Music] confidence Best of luck to everybody involved on all sides if you will And I just want to uh extend congratulations to this morning officers Officer
you're you're perfect So it's not yet So we still have a whole meeting ahead of us We're just doing the comments Oh that's the lock down I'll just stop right there There's no further council comments We have roll call with what I had said I I'm going to vote
yes Uh the public portions closed We had it open It's closed council So the procedure is we do go to a roll call vote I I'll state that I would like to see a
change effect at least to have family price Uh but I will vote yes for right now Let's hearing into broken Sure Deal with
it Yes So I mentioned about three years ago with the dedication of the courts with Kathy Euing and that day we were all down there We got a chance to play and it was a lot of fun And then I guess two summers ago I signed up and got the reserve whatever was on the phone I
think I paid a hundred bucks with it right like a hundred bucks for a couple years now And I played a couple times and really enjoyed it I I didn't get the bug yet but I still I might be able to But but I I played against some uh some
great people that I coached their kids uh in particular over there but they're smiling at me But uh and I used it a couple times for 100 bucks and it's great value Sydney does a great job You can see we have a real excellent lead
professional running the thing here and and and you know the committee put in a lot of hard work meeting with the ambassadors getting trying to figure it all out to you know to get things right And I
mean we'll mention some of the expenses and I was looking up prices and nets here and I know everything we do here in Brigantine is is topnotch We don't do it half halfway and uh you know and I did see I did see some nets you can get a
$200 net and I saw loads of $2,000 nets and $3,000 nets And so you know there are costs and we want to build more courts and the association probably not going to be h happy Like when our kids
were younger we had those courts were full most of the years We had so many we went from a thousand kids to 375 on the island but there's cost associated with it No one likes to pay more I mean I used to pay $20 for chicken parmesan on
the island here Now I'm paying 35 You know my wife picked up golf and now I got to pay for her membership with the golf club you know I mean there's there's expenses that we don't want to spend but but I mean the enjoyment that that the group gets out of pickle ball
and we we're not just doing it to raise the prices We want to make it be better bigger And so all that being said the fees that we have here and hopefully we can reach uh some kind of agreement on family charges and all but
uh for now I'm going to vote yes on this Thank you Mayor Sarah One I appreciate everybody coming out here today Two I definitely think we need more communication Uh one of the things I thought that was brought up that's really important is this idea of
family membership I do think that I can see how it would be cost prohibitive Um so I would like us if you guys want to stay for the meeting you can We can take a little recess if you guys want to go I know the
rest of the might Mrs Phillips is in for the long All right next one Yeah Uh next up we have ordinance number five 2025 This is a public hearing and adoption Uh this is an ordinance amending chapter 61 salaries and
compensation of the code of the city of brick team pursuant to NJSA48 colon 9-165 establishing the salaries and wages of certain officers and employees of the city of brrigantine uh county of Atlantic state of New Jersey motion
second At this time we'll open up for a public hearing Anybody wishing to be heard please state your name and address for the record Seeing no public participation we're going to close the public hearing Any council comments and this is arranged This is
uh seeing no uh council comments Can we have roll call you yes Lat Yes Hy Yes Yes Mayor Sarah Yes Motion carried Resolution 2025-85 This is a resolution resolution authorizing the
acceptance and the ward of the cops and shops grant This is the amount of $2,800 Have a motion second I'll make questions comments seeing none Can we have roll call you hear yes Yes Yes
Mayor Sarah yes Motion carried Resolution 2025-86 And this is a resolution authorizing the city of Burggantine tax collector to prepare and mail estimated tax bills in accordance with PL 1994 C73
for motion second Second Uh we started doing the estimated tax bills a few years ago Oftentimes the county doesn't strike their tax rate till really late So this way we do an estimation we send the bill out we correct
it correct it on the back end and forget exactly when It just makes it easier for people paying the taxes This way you're not waiting forever So we just do this to streamline the process Second any council comments seeing none we have roll call Yes Latiri
yes Haney yes Yes Mayor Sarah yes Motion carried Resolution 2025-87 And this is a resolution of the city of Brigantine supporting the community project funding application and this is for uh improvements the
lighthouse circle motion second Uh we're working with the county on this project This is a county project but we're partnering with them Um it's in the permitting stage right now The county is still working on putting together the funding for this This is a grant opportunity that helps offset the
cost for both I will tell you this is probably one of the slowest projects in the history of brick team We are three mayors in 20 20 years into this project But um we have some conceptual designs We're into permitting This is further
been along and uh worked really well with um one commissioner Rich Dayton He's on the roads and uh bridges committee and also our county executive Dennis Levenson So he he promised me he would get this this project done So we're moving forward Any questions or
comments seeing none we have roll call You Yes Latiri Yes Haney Yes Rearen Yes Mayor Sarah Yes Motion carried Resolution 2025-89 And this is u a resolution authorizing the city of Brigintine to
enter into a cooperative pricing agreement Apologize I don't see who's it with There you go Cam County Education highlighted There it is I forgot to highlight All right Thank you Camden County Education Services Thank you Tiger I'm glad you're here Teamwork
right motion Second Questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call yes Latiri yes Amy yes Rean yes Mayor Sarah yes Motion carried Next up we have our consent agenda We have St Thomas raffle license
number 1104 Green Whales Inc raffle license number 1105 and raffle license number 1106 Philadelphia Outrigger Canoe Club uh race challenge We have motion second We have questions and comments We
have roll call Yes Latiri yes Amy yes Rean yes Mayor Sarah yes Motion carried Next up we have our council manager committee discussions our deputy mayor Real quick uh looking forward to opening day for baseball and
softball this weekend Hopefully the rain will hold down Parade starts about 10 o'clock from here City ball down at the ball field Pardon me 9:30 Okay And uh just a lot going on at the golf
course Work is started on the replacing irrigation on the front line and the course will remain open during uh the process and we only anticipate closing a hole here and there if necessary Uh it's
really going to make a huge difference That's it That's it Yes Stage all over again Okay Uh congratulations again to uh officer Milbach and Officer officers the best in
safety council We always the best and uh not here today family law enforcement guys safety is to just do your job properly and get home safe every night and sometimes it's just smiles and smiles as
they would say nothing hit the fan real quick as beets Thank you mayor I also would like to thank John Doran We had requests and calls from the green team and the garden club for water
down at the community garden Over the past week they were carrying buckets of water over there to start watering the vegetables and all Put in a call with John Doring and he got that water running and uh yesterday So uh they said to say thank you Let them know they
appreciate everything you do So also like to thank the fire department for this different um CPR training that you're doing with different groups throughout the island I know you have something going on with Kellaways uh couple sessions So thank you Also
Chief um the Cultural Arts Commission has an excellent event this Saturday at 1 PM down at the community center and Steve Serur is speaking Now if you've never heard Steve Serur speak he's excellent and they'll have some ordering
some uh some things to eat down there also But the uh subject matter they're speaking on on Saturday at 1 pm down the community center is the history of music and dance in the theater and you're free Thursday or Saturday after the baseball
parade and the Easter egg hunt down at the field there sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce If you're free at 1:00 stop by the community center I'm sure you'll enjoy it speaking at the chamber of commerce with the district on
Saturday They're also doing an excellent job on many different events which I have right here Just the Easter egg hunt starts this weekend Then they have a different chamber social Cherry blossom week is coming up April
21st Love your mama week that's coming up Mother's Day weekend So uh there's a lot of good things going on of course the economic development meeting uh we have uh Jim Mattella come to speak about some of the grants that are available and also uh
it's a lot going on and of course um that's it if you need me my number's on the front page of Gentine times and that's all I got thanks mayor and the board of school estimates
met our school taxes for the year This is the 12th year in a row that school board has reduced uh taxes 12 years in a row they cut taxes The average reduction will be about $40 Most
people see about a $40 reduction in taxes One of the things I think is really impressive over the last seven years uh the school district has lost $1.5 million to state aid So even with that money that's being cut they're keeping the budget under control and a
big part of that is um you know through attrition reducing staff School population shrank with about 400 kids We anticipate it's probably going to level off there We're seeing this in most of the shore towns We have smaller numbers Uh so as
teachers are retiring the position is not necessary The school board has been reducing those positions This year they've reduced staff by another two positions and I think they're probably over the last 10 years I think they're probably somewhere between 80 and 90
positions So the school will continue to rightsize their staff Um you know I've had people not that I would go this route there's people that why don't you just fire a bunch of the teachers problem is doing those mass layoffs One it's not good for the district but two it's really the people at the bottom of
the scale They're not really changing the number We have a lot of staff that is in position to retire as they retire Um we have not school board has not placed it That's been good One of the exceptions is obviously special ed We are obligated by law to meet IEP and
special ed needs So the district will continue to do that Uh the school has a lot of outstanding programs People literally come and I say people administrators from all over the country come to our school to learn about the programs that we're doing Our
superintendent has been uh called down to the Washington DC to the federal department of education to do presentations on some of the best practices that we're doing in the school and our superintendent Glenn Robbins was actually named as the uh second best
superintendent in the entire country So there's a lot of great things going on now A lot of the professional development a lot of the things he does for the kids in the school it's been absolutely amazing I know they just had a big day They uh superintendent
challenged all the students to improve all their test scores based on the percentage of test score they got They got a length of tape and the goal was to see if they could tape him to the wall Those kids improved so much on those tests They taped him to
the wall and he stuck on the wall He was hanging up there for a while The kids cheering were so excited and I know that's always a big thing is test scores But over the last couple years especially for taking over obviously since co took over co uh test scores going up the culture of the school has
really changed you know there's a lot of amazing things especially with Mr Rogers projects where they're working um coming up with marketing ideas for different businesses in the community um as well as the stuff they're doing with uh aviation their podcasts and also when it
comes to cyber security AI a lot of our students and they're partnering with I know with Stockton and some other uh universities um they're really learning the technology and job skills that they're going to need for the future And one of the things we see in education is a lot
of the jobs that this generation is going to go into hasn't even been invented yet But the skills these kids are learning put in position to be marketable for those jobs and that's exactly what we want to school So at this time we'll open up to
public comment heard Please come up state your name and address for the record Yes Mr NH Phillips 30827 Street What are the results of the mediation between the city and the short-term rental association
what does that mean tell you that they're ongoing Mediation takes meetings It's ongoing In other words the lawsuit against the city continues So you keep mediating Is that it how How
many sessions do you have i'll turn it back to our attorney Or is the judge you make him work hard tonight Well no I understand the concept of mediation I just wondered what if any progress was made and either side is
giving in at all or there's a compromise So at this point Europe city's position remains the same and the neighbors remains the same As far as I know nothing's changed Okay
Um on short-term rentals how many units do we have i apologize Mr Phillips I I didn't bring my notes with me I don't have it It's It's a large number isn't it isn't it somewhere around a thousand well I've
heard around 900 So so in percentages what percentage of the total residences residences is that i don't have what do we have 8 8,000 7,000 I don't have those
numbers Well it's another interesting facts I mean numbers that we should have All right How I know tonight we added two new police officers How many do we have counting them
the addition of these two which are replacing left we have 35 35 also which is the same number we've had for many years just replacing retirements We're just replacing I think the number we usually we've had
34 I believe so we increased the number I don't believe we've increased the number I thought we had 36 I thought we been 35 for quite some time Okay So we'll continue to see how the short-term rental situation proceeds You
know my opinion on that I'm not the only one but I still think the city is on the wrong side in terms of what is good for the whole community Thank you Good night There's no public comment The public
portion I would tell you uh one of the things we set out to do is to create uh the short-term rental ordinance and regulations that would really help to resolve a lot of issues As far as I know since we put our
measures in place since we put the extra staffing in place and started to get on top of those complaints were almost down to nothing that was our and a lot of people who had major issues have told me that it is significantly better And one of the big changes they see is
especially with houses that were notorious party houses at 10 o'clock people shut down and they said they can live with that enjoy the home during the day when it's time to go to bed shut it down and a lot of the owners are staying on top of that because the responsibility on
them to regulate it is now on them real consequences So it has worked very quickly Thank you Mrs You want to hand it to us Thank you We appreciate it Yeah I noticed there was a couple here
from one of the the short-term rental issue and they have nothing to say tonight Just complimented us on the way in I thanks Are there any further council comments i just want to thank Kristen and Jim for coming and great
professional presentation Excellent job Jim Yeah what a great team Yeah Chris and Jim I really appreciate everything you've done I know how much work you put into this Um I've seen dramatic improvements uh in center all
the programs and I used to get a ton of complaints because a lot of people are really happy especially with the online services they don't they're not standing in line forever they like the online payments and um that's that's huge and I think
it's you know usually around the time you got to sign up called me from line do you know how long I've been standing this live so I want to thank two of put that together really all the programs in the organization nothing comp John John Johnson I don't know if
you've driven by the public works building but the progress on there it is absolutely beautiful I just want you to know just talking about the railing absolutely We told you we'd get it done We're slow but we're getting there But uh it looks
beautiful Yeah So uh Karen asked me too We've gotten a number of emails about this The street in front of public works it is on the list We are working on that Uh we got to work on the drainage We have an issue with the drainage under the street We're
going to take care of the drainage Then we're going to come back through paving full reconstruction It is on the list and it's moving forward And uh beachfront parking lots they're under construction now That was a promise we made last year and they're all under construction right now Moving forward we're hoping the paving and everything
is ready by the open of the season So all things good we're moving on a good pace Yeah the beach is actually coming back I don't know if you've been down there Pepper Cove Uh we worked uh with DOT Senator Palestina uh had the acting commissioner come down take a look at it
They helped us with the beach replenishment that an area they need to dredge and putting that sand in the way they did has helped to trap catch sand And you can see that the sand actually stretches It's under the water but it stretches all the way back to the end of the jetty again And um they have let us
know the Army Corps that they anticipate that that beach will continue to build and they're going to monitor it But uh Congressman Van Drew had um he was successful in getting legislation passed to look at long-term fixes not just for
Pepper Cove but also for uh the Prominade area and that beach areas of repetitive beach loss what we can do They're going to do a study Best things for the government Let me study it But they're going to do a study to try to come up with some long-term solutions to
help at least keep the sand in place or try to slow down that loss A lot of beach communities used to be a six to eight year rotation when it came to beach replenishments A lot of towns are ending up on a three and I think we're pretty soon going to end up on a
three So they're going to study that They're going to come up with some recommendations I will tell you this impacts I believe the whole east coast for the team It's one of the only cities on the east coast has two locations on there So I thank Congressman for his support All right that being said I have
a motion and second to close All in favor i Any opposed seeing none motion pass Thank you for coming out and watching your council team at