for for all I'd like to welcome everybody to our March 19th frantin city council meeting please rise for the flag salute Spirit St Patrick Inspire kindness generosity and gratitude throughout the community the land
everybody see read the public meetings act announc this the meeting notices covering this meeting have been sent and posted as require under the meeting exective session tonight uh no mayor no executive
session all we need our approval of our March 5th 2025 council meeting minutes we have motion and second second questions comments seeing none can we have roll call Lai yes Haney yes vilo yes
ha Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion Carri need our approval of our bill requisition list we have a motion second questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call let yes Haney yes
vilo yes Kane yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion Carri this time we'll open it up for public comment this is public comment on agenda items only see no public participation we're going to close the public
comment uh first up we have ordinance number four of 2025 this is an introduction and this is an ordinance amending chapter 21037 Article 2 of the code of the city of Brigantine uh portion as it relates
to feeds a motion second questions or comments see none we have roll call the yes hany yes vilo yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion car ordinance number five 2025 this is
an introduction this is an ordinance amending chapter 61 salaries and compensation of the code of the city of Brigantine pursuant to njsa 4A 9-1 165 establishing the salaries and wages of
certain officers and employees at the city of Brigantine County of Atlantic state of New Jersey in motion second questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call thei yes Haney yes vilo yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah
yes motion carry resolution 2025 d 68 this is a resolution of the city of Brigantine County of Atlantic state of New Jersey introducing the 2025 Municipal budget to be read by title
only we have a motion second Tigers your presentation this is where I do my thing I was thank you mayor the city manager is required by Statute to deliver to the mayor and city
council a budget document for the preparation of the annual Municipal budget this presentation of the city budget to the governing body commences the formal budget process under the control of the mayor and city council this open meeting allows for
transparency and the process as well as an opportunity to report to the taxpayers and residents the manager budget recommendations the CFO Al sanley received budget requests from each department head we have reviewed each Department's requests and worked
together to prepare and collect the data for the budget document we have worked with City auditor Leon Costello to verify compliance with the state of New Jersey spending caps law tax levy cap law and other budget regulations the city
manager's proposed operating budgets are compliant with the tax levy cap law and the spending caps La I am recommending this year at the conclusion of my introduction of the manager's budget that the mayor and Council move to introduce the budget this evening as
presented the mayor and city council will have ample time to review the budget in detail prior to the public hearing and adoption which is anticipated on April 16th at which time an amendment can be introduced if changes are
necessary this year is a self-exam year for this city budget since 1977 Municipal budgets have been prepared and complet liance with the spending cap law in 2010 the tax levy cap law was established the city manager's
recommended budget is in compliance with both cap laws the city's percentage of tax collections continued to be strong in 2025 at 99.49% this budget reflects a conservative
approach to the anticipation of revenues the city state aid received was decre increased by 71,000 in 2020 salaries and wages total 15 m643
191 includes required contractual commitments anticipated increase in seasonal employees and minimum wage other expenses total 9 m7748 193 and represents the operating
expenses from all departments along with insurance and utility costs statutory and deferred charges amount to 4,575 9443 level Debt Service continues to be an important initiative of this
Administration the 2025 Municipal portion of debt is 4,218 18875 which reflects an increase of only $885 from 2024 for reserve for uncollected taxes is a
calculation based upon the entire Levy of the city including County and school taxes the calculation this year remains conservative and is based upon the current local purpose tax levy and an estimate of the school and County taxes
as well as a prior year collection rate the 2025 increase is approximately $62,900 in summary the manager's 2025 current fund budget as presented here tonight totals 37
m178 $178,500 ESS value a penny on the tax rate equals $354,700 of assess value for reference the tax rate in 2014 was 71.1 the water and sewer utility budget
is supported by the Billings and fees charged for the consumption of Water by individual customers Water and Sewer utility as presented as a proposed balance budget for 2025 and maintains a self-liquidating status as such any
Capital Bond ordinances approved will not require a 5% down payment the capital budget included in the 2025 budget is a six-year plan for the city this capital budget represents a total of potential Capital
Improvements of approximately 23, 259,000 over a six-year period the W sewer will require a significant investment over the next six years due to the Aging of infrastructure
and state mandated requirements in closing the city's budget in 2025 once again is managed in a professional and fiscally sound manner this has been achieved through long-term budgeting and projections maintaining proper allocation methods and sound
financial records while providing the necessary reserve for future expenditures as always I am available to meet with the mayor and city council to review the budget and provide any additional information necessary I would like once again to
thank the city employees and the department heads for their service and dedication to the city of Brigantine and for their assistance in the budget preparation process I continue to be thankful for their support as well as their ability to work together to continue to provide the
level of service expected by our residents also I would like to thank Al Stanley the finance department and City auditor lean Costello for their help and input in the development of the city manager's recommended budgets as I stated at the beginning of this
presentation I now ask mayor and counsel to consider introducing this budget this evening keeping in mind that any questions and concerns can be addressed from this point on and until the public hearing on April 16th should any changes be required an amendment will be
presented for approval to reflect thank you mayor thank you Le all of your hard work on this budget all of our department heads for their input on this and one of the things I want people to know is this budget is um part of the increase uh has
to do with inflation and Rise of costs this is something that's impacting every municip ality across the country uh but a bigger part of this has to do with the Capital Improvements that we're doing here in the city if you just look at our agenda tonight it's all Investments it's
all repairs it's all capital projects that we're doing here uh we're really focusing on our roads and that is a big thing probably the number one request that we get from residents is repay reconstructions and that's something
that we're across the whole community um working on our Recreation facilities working on our public buildings our beaches you know starting to replenish our bond money when it comes time for the next beat function you know that's something some of the
municipalities right now you know they're on a three-year cycle we're on a six to seven year cycle that is changing so we're starting to prepare for that ahead of time you know a big part of that too is the water and sewer system you know some of our water sour systems and
also down state of New Jersey they're requiring when it comes to the lead service lines those galvanized steel they have now set are considered as has they're requiring every municipality in the state to repl one of the major problems with that is they're not
providing really any funding so that's going to be on ours to get that done uh so that's something that we're really working on I think one of the things we need to look at too is look at our tax rate tax rate today um it's almost exactly the same
I don't think that there's any other municipality in the state of jur that can say that within the last 10 years they have kept taxes under control that that is something that we all committed to doing so um I've had an opportunity
to look budget look every line also want to make sure that we have the money to reinvest back in your community take one of the suggestions I for every single member of council I suggest that you set up meetings with our city
manager and our CFO to go through budget to make sure understand in each of the line items and also if you have any questions make sure questions the date on April 16 April
16th will come back for public hearing to adopt the budget there's no other comments outting last year went now to reassessed if there's no other questions or comments we have roll
call yes hany yes vilo yes yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion car resolution 2025 69 and this is a resolution the city of Brigantine this is a resolution of the
city of Brigantine for self examination of the 2025 budget a motion second second questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call Lai yes Haney yes vilo yes Kane yes rean yes
mayor Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 20257 this is a resolution by the city of brigan New Jersey authorizing a refund to Reese Paving Company for hydrant meter and wrench this is a refunding the
amount of $1,042 motion second questions or comments see we have Ro L yes hany yes vilo yes Kane yes Reen yes mayor Sarah
yes motion Carri resolution 202- 71 this is a resolution authorizing a contract with Charles marandino LLC for concrete replacement and drainage improvements at various locations this in the amount of
$372,450 we have motion second questions comments Sy non profile L yes Haney yes vilo yes p yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes motion carried resolution 202- 72 and this is a
resolution authorizing the contract of AR Arthur Chu Consulting for a for design and construction management services for cdbg pedestrian improvements to West Beach Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard this is in the
amount of 28,800 we have a motion second questions or comments done we have roll Calli yes Haney yes vilo yes Kan yes rean yes mayor Sarah
yes motion carry resolution 2025 73 this is a resolution authorizing a contract with DeBlasio and Associates for design and construction management services for the Reconstruction of portions of Harbor Beach Boulevard this is the amount of
37,500 motion second I'll make that questions comments see none we have roll call Lai yes Haney vilo yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes resolution 2025 d74 and this is a
resolution authorizing a contract with tkt construction for wellhouse entry and site elements Rehabilitation this is in the amount of $268,000 motion second um tiger this is in reference to
I guess fire of our wells I forget the number right behind City Hall John this isn't this 14 north and Old Well three at so this is for uh reconstruction of the well at 14 Street North and the old well three I believe it was at the
Historical Society by in front of the training center to fix that Cav in concrete fixing that area so this one is not tied to that it's not that sir I got my mixed up see I'm impressed very impressed very
impressed see John actually had me asked a question he didn't think he knew the world numbers there was a set up pass test there's no other questions can we have roll call fur yes Haney yes vilo yes Kane yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes
motion Carri resolution 2025 d75 this is a resolution authorizing a contract with think uh pavers hardscaping for reconstruction of the 45th Street Cove this is the amount of
174,175 d76 and this is a resolution authorizing a contract with Palestinian Associates for construction management services for sanitary sewer line replacement and this is in the amount of $18,600 have motion
second questions comments none to roll call L yes Haney yesil yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion Carri resolution is a resolution opposing Atlantic City Electric's rate increases we motion
second I'll make that I think this is probably one of the hottest issues going on right now and I say that because a lot of people are really struggling uh to pay their bills Atlantic City Electric has uh continued to raise their rates I know Congressman
van Drew has been uh fighting this and calling on a full investigation into this but I will tell you that this could not come at a worst time you know people are struggling to pay their bills and um when I hear what some people's electric bills are it's insane you know there's
people say it's G they're telling me that their bills have gone up 400% I don't know how that's humanly possible and how the Board of Public Utilities can allow something like that to happen and a big part of this too is you know Governor Murphy and the Board of Public Utilities have spent over a
billion dollars on fail green energy initiatives and one of those big ones is the ocean wind projects you know they instead of and they've known for years that these rate increases are coming and instead of reinvesting back in the infrastructure we're looking for ways to
keep bills under control they have spent money on these failed Green New Deal initiatives and now all of the rate payers in New Jersey have to pay the freight for that and I think that's wrong you know so I know um we put this resolution together we'll be sharing this with other municipalities we'll
send a copy of this to the governor to the Board of Public Utilities to atantic City Electric to make sure that they understand that the people of Brigantine do not accept and will not stand for these rate increases there's no other comments we
have roll call L yes Amy yes virgilia yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion carried resolution 22578 this is a resolution authorized contract with Frank Maz and Son in for
improvements flooring of City call and this is the amount of $879 1552 motion second um I know this is probably an important one to know to our city manager myself when we did the roof replacement took out the
columns terrible there our front entrance want to make sure that City Hall looks good and care of so I thank you for budget get this forward there's no questions or comments we have roll call yes hany yes vilo yes
Kane yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes motion carried resolution 22-79 and this is a resolution from the city of Brigantine to support publishing legal notices on official government websites with motion second so
moved I think the big issue with this under under current state law we're required to publish newspapers the problem is is that newspapers don't print every day and some newspapers are very dysfunctional and when we send stuff in they don't know that they got it doesn't get printed and really most
people get their news digitally and we should be able to publish and send stuff out digitally to get stuff done as more and more newspapers close down it's getting harder and harder to to meet the letter of the law we will continue to do it but there is often times that we've had to publish in newspapers in North
Jersey which doesn't reach any of our residents because that is the only way we can get legal Publications done and I think that's something where the state needs to act and um change the law and change the requirements so I know a number of municipalities around the state are passing similar resolutions
this joining in on that because I I understand the frustration there are no other comments we have roll Calli yes Haney yes vilo yes Kane yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion
Carri resolution 20258 and this is a personto person liquor license transfer in motion second questions or comments seeing none from we have roll call Lai yes hany
yesil yes yes mayor Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 2025 d81 and this is the renewal of a smile Factory Amusement Games license motion second questions or comments see n roll
call L yes hany yesil yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 20258285 see none we have roll call L yes Haney yes vilo yes Kan yes Reen yes
mayor Sarah yes motion Carri resolution 2025 d83 and this is a resolution of the city of Brigantine accepting the municipal Alliance grant for fiscal year October 2025 to June
2026 and this is in the amount of 45339 motion second second questions or comments see none we have roll call L yes Haney yes vilo yes Kan yes Reen yes mayor Sarah
yes motion carried next up we have our consent agenda we have the Brigantine baseball and softball Association opening day parade and Easter egg hunt green whales Terry Blossom Festival 5K run britin Lions Club annual classic car show Bri team Municipal Alliance hooked
on fishing uh n Swan the soccer resour beach tournament Blake Morgan uh Brigantine food truck festival American Legion raffle license number 112 Elks raffle license number 1103 motion
second questions coms may have brile L yes Haney yes vilo yes Kan yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes motion carried that any updates for us uh no updates but I I do want to thank
Council for passing the resolution to fund the floors and to dress up this building make it look nice um but I also want to say thank you to Al Stanley our CFO and John doring uh I've been bugging them for quite some time since we got the lobby done and got the new paint on
the walls and the new art on the walls to uh find money for these floors so I just want to publicly thank them for actually uh finding that money thank you John Department second Council I have nothing except that the
North End of the island is still under construction so careful in those areas Dennis Mike on the St Batty's day breade the crowds just seem to just get bigger and not seem to they're get bigger and
bigger yearly it's uh it's awesome mik incredible job looking forward to uh kickoff baseball and softball season here bringing team I do want to recognize the Brigantine o Lodge Baseball Softball Association ran
short in funding this year putting up the new billboard sign scoreboard it's so big they had me to dig 10 foot footings so they came to the Elks with a request of $5,500 and the
Elks we be making that presentation so just recognize the good work that the Elks is always doing here thank you thank you mayor thank you and uh want to thank all the department heads
Public Works Police Department fire department support here year for the St Patrick's parade the grand Marshals were excellent this year and good see it's good seeing some of the past Grand Marshals come out like Dennis and
uh and few of the others ones but uh weather was with us things held up so uh thanks again for all that the um economic development team leeting uh committee meeting had
some good discussions about things that are going on the island and U also want to do some some kind of uh events and all during the summer you know in different areas of the island so we're looking forward to
that uh Cultural Arts commission is getting ready to setting up their their things coming throughout the summer and that's that if anybody has any questions you know you can always find my number on the front page briane time so that's
it thank you mayor and uh Mike thank you for all your efforts put great together I think uh one of the best we've ever had had so many and speaking with our business Community is one of our best offse
events in the entire GL to mention that because I forgot to mention the Chamber of Commerce who did so much to uh for the whole week with shake the Sham so remind teamwork uh for me I just have one
update but uh definitely a very good update on Atlantic Shores the EPA actually uh rescinded one of their permits and um they issued it about six months ago and they have now rescinded that permit without this permit it
should make it almost impossible for them to move p with construction at this time which is good there's a couple oceanwind companies that um are further along permit processing so they're trying to push forward with construction regardless of uh the president's uh
mandate to stop all this stuff so they're trying to push forward for us we're very very fortunate that um Atlantic Shores had this permit voked uh big thanks to that you know one obviously Congressman Ben Drew has been incredible with this but also two Bob Stern from sa LBI I know that part of
his litigation um actually is what kind of Thea to resend and overturn that permanent reexamine it and a lot of this has to do with the Trump Administration who was requested that all of these existing projects be reexamined to make sure that things were done correctly so
it's good news for us but I would tell you that this battle's not over yet as long as they hold on to those permits uh they are still in danger and you can see with the different um presidential Administration they could come back at any time we believe that Atlantic Shores
although there investors have pulled out um their plan is just to sit back and try to write out this Administration and see if they can rekindle things the next Administration so we need to make sure that we continue to do all we can to make sure that their permits are
completely revoked so they can't move forward with this process in any way shape or form so we'll keep everybody posted but I thought this was really good news and I wanted to share that with every at this time we'll open it up for public comment this is public comment uh please come up and state your name and
add address for the record yes good evening I guess this is bend it all no I just it's kind of awkward to yeah that's what I want thank
you yeah I have several comments number one the planning board's decisions have important effects on this community but the public knows little about it and that can be corrected
easily by taping its meeting with what you have right here and what you're doing right now you don't have to have concern about the devices you need to do that so I would strongly recommend
that you make use of these for another function which is the planning board and based on the letter to the editor in the Press uh not the Press but the times there are concerns at the planning board so the public really needs to know more
so that's a recommendation how is is the council responding to the county Executives mandate for revaluation is your choice countywide or local and how much flexibility does
council have in timing in getting this done so I'll just leave I've have one more question and then I'd appreciate if you'd answer all of them now short-term rental is still with us unfortunately with its negative
illegal consequences despite which you believe that or state that it's legal please inform the public of Judge bed's order for the city and the association short-term rentals owners excuse me um business people to
participate in a meditation no mediation excuse me on March the 27th and of course what are the main issues involved and even though this is a legal proceeding there are certain things that uh the public can know and
should know so those are the questions and I'd appreciate your answers thank you by the way I have responded to the county for its lack of leadership regarding the turbines so I
hope it will be in print soon thank you thank you no other public comment close the public portion uh so for the revaluation uh the recommendation came out from the county that were I guess all municipalities in
L County need to do a rebound we're looking at the difference between a rebound and a reassessment uh we're looking at what the cost and benefits would be to go with the county they're offering what I think is a countywide service we're also looking at doing it
internally for timelines it could range anywhere from two to five years and the reason is that um if you go to an outside company there's only a couple companies I think in the whole Northeast that do this so depending on their backlog you're kind of at the mercy of
it and also if all 23 municipalities have to do it depending on the schedule we're looking internally to see if that's something that we can do my my gut tell me that we'd be better off doing it internally because I think one
um we'd have better timelines on that and two I think you're going to have people in Brigantine who know the community who know the value and I think you're going to get a better product at the end I know the last couple times we've gone through these uh revals when
we've had outside companies and they have people who come in don't really know the community that we have major issues with tax appeals which gets very very expensive and part of the reason it gets expensive is one the legal fees but also two once the county strikes its tax
rate if somebody comes in and appeals it their taxes go down but Brigantine is still on the hook to pay the county portion that doesn't change so I know that we're really looking to see if we can make this work internally because I
think it's better to have a number that work so we can kind of lessen those appeals so we'll keep everybody posted but we're in the early stages exploring both options um for the short-term Reynolds uh for the mediation uh this is
something that judge blee had talked about I guess when the initial case came in what he wanted to do is see how the season went because there was a claim from the other side that the laws and what we passed here had caused harm and
he wanted to see what actual I guess harm came to my understanding there's been no harm to any short term rental the only thing that has shifted is the burden of responsibilities on them to control their properties in Brigantine this has been very successful I think
our complaints have gone down to almost nothing um and any complaint that has come in our code enforcement and police are on it right way and now we have the teeth to make sure that um we can enforce these laws so uh this has been
part of Judge B's recommendation so the mediation isn't anything new this is something that both sides were aware of I know that um somebody has kind of put it on Facebook to try to show that somehow the city was in trouble but we're not this is part of the legal
process and judge B's recommendation is to see if there's something that can be worked out on both sides without going through further legal I guess costs or steps so that's where we're out with that um as soon as we have more
information on that we'll be able to share that publicly um as for the taping of planning board meetings is something we can discuss with the planning board see what's there um but I don't know that there's any issues that are being hidden from the public as you suggested
um I know that there's a lot of stuff that's on social media unfortunately a lot of stuff on social media is just not correct Council comments motion to adjourn all in favor
thank you for coming out watching your Council team of work