--------- got about seven copies of of what I'm doing here. >> Yeah, just one for one for each of us. >> Okay, sounds good. >> Thanks. >> We're just going to wait to call the
meeting to order when that comes on. All right, gentlemen. >> Jim, you're good. >> You're good. >> Okay, I'd like to call the meeting to order. Uh, first order of business is the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. First first order of business is a roll call. Um,
consider Council Member Bodner here. Committee member Dick >> here. >> Committee member Hathaway >> here. >> Committee member Moffett here. >> Committee member Morris >> here. >> Committee member Cassidy
>> here. >> Okay. Moving right along. Old business is a little report for myself. Uh we have two new members of the uh
committee here. I think it would be good to maybe everybody take a minute just to introduce themselves including the new members, the old members so we uh start to get to know each other a little bit. Uh yeah, every I see everybody has their
microphone on so that's good to speak into the microphone. Uh Steve, you want to start off? >> I'd be happy to. 60 seconds or so worth of uh background. >> Sure. Um so first off, welcome gentlemen. Uh appreciate having you here. Steve Bodner um on city council.
My background um is well my work background is I was a a prosecutor in Burlington County. Um as far as my Kate May experience, my family's been in Kate May since the since the mid70s
um in Village Green area. Uh my wife and I, we al also live in in Village Green. My mom still has her house and we have our our property. We've been full-time residents for a while now. Love Kate May. Um a lot of experience here. Um and
I ran for city council last year, so this is my first full year on on city council in Kate Mag. One of my responsibilities is be on the bike and pedestrian advisory committee which kind of fits the bill since I cycle a lot and I run a lot and I spend a lot of time
walking around town. I spent a lot and have spent a number of years walking around town and biking around town. So it kind of fits the bill and really excited to have both you gentlemen on board. So thanks for volunteering to be part of uh part of this committee. >> Good. Thank you Steve.
>> Uh I'm George Yeah, I'm George Dick. I'm the deputy mayor in West Cape May. Um, I've been for the last three years doing that. Um, I was asked to join this committee and it really is a sweet spot with me. This is one of the areas where most of the constituents in Westgate may
have a strong interest in bicycle and pedestrian safety. It's one of the number one things that we talk about in our board of commissioners meetings. Uh, since we have one of our main streets is Broadway and it's it's pretty dangerous going down there. So, getting involved in this has been great. Um, I also am an
avid biker. I run every day. You if you see somebody running with a dog, that is me. Um, you'll see me all winter. I'm the only one out there. Steve's not with me, but u so it's it's it's a lot of this is personal for me um because of of how
much I use the roads and the streets. And it also, you know, as a representative of the public and and serving the public, um it is incredibly important that we get this right. And we have some challenges because of the way the roads are, you know, they're historic roads that are narrow. Um, but,
you know, working with this group, we've come up with some good solutions. Um, working with the police department, we've come up with some good solutions. Uh, like to continue to do that. >> Thank you, Bob. >> Okay. My name is Bob Mars and uh I live
in Westgate May. Uh, raised my children here. They went to lower and uh they have all done well for themselves. I got involved in this. I was president of the Quantis Club and we ran a program, Bike at Night, Have a Light and we gave out lights to all the school children in
Cape May, West Cape May. And uh you know, we went around and spoke to them and uh we talked to the police department and they put signs on when you drove into signs, one of the the electric signs, you know, put bike at night, have a light. We also had a float in the parade and Trish Hendricks was on
board and she goes, "You should be part of the bike advisory committee." So that's how I ended up on here. So I've been a member since uh 2019. Thank you. Uh Jim Moffett,
uh I was the uh on the original bike uh and pedestrian advisory committee uh when Mayor Aier shortly after he took office in 2017, January of 2017 and shortly afterwards. he uh organized
several um committees uh across a number of activities in u in the city and I was asked at that time to become a a member because I was an an active biker um at
the time and had an interest in u just making some commitment back to the city of Kate May. Uh, I've been coming to Kate May since uh I was 17 years old, 1960. I lived and worked in Congress Hall myself that year and I've been
coming back ever since u I finally bought a house here in 1991 and lived on Su Avenue up until four years ago um when I moved out to um still on the island but lower township
on on New England Road. Uh I haven't been able to or have decided not to get on a bicycle for the last three years now just because I have some uh fairly significant balance and uh nerve problems in my legs and uh I
don't want to fall. So, uh, but I still maintain my interest in, um, first of all, paying back Tape May for all they've given me and doing that by being part of part of this committee and we've
made some good progress over the last six years. There's still progress uh, to go. >> Uh, my name is Jerry Hathaway. Uh, I'm an attorney. Uh, I practiced for over 45 years now. uh mostly at large law firms.
Um uh my discipline is labor and employment law firm management. Uh but most of my time is spent on transactions where I evaluate target companies uh in their compliance with labor and employment laws. Um I first came to Kate May 1979 when I started dating my wife.
Uh she's been coming to Kate May since 1957 or so 58. Um, uh, we bought a house here, uh, 10 years ago on Delaware in Village Green. Um, I own an electric bike. Uh, I like to ride it around town.
Um, I see a lot of, uh, problems with electric bikes, particularly I see teenagers and younger, uh, flying across lawns and all over the place on electric bikes. Uh I I moved here from New York City uh full-time a year and a half ago
and I've had four or five within inches near collisions with electric bikes in New York City. Uh so I I think uh attention needs to be paid to uh electric bikes. Uh they're problematic. Mine's legal. Has a 19 m hour uh limit
on it. You can't go faster, but I could adjust it and it could go 40 miles per hour, but I'm not making that adjustment. Uh, so I think that's my my primary concern, electric bikes, just seeing in the summer in particular, how they're flying all over town, across
lawns, um, uh, buzzing around and and and being ridden pretty dangerously. Um, I just looked at a very wellthoughtout uh, Cape Island safe streets action plan from last year. Um, and uh I'm I'm really excited uh about the uh projects
that are addressed in here, but I also think we need to pay some attention to electric bikes. >> Thanks, Jerry. Joe Cassidy, I believe the newest member of the the group. This is my first meeting. Um I grew up in
Philadelphia. My wife and I lived most of our lives in Montgomery County, Horscham Township. We moved down here permanently, I mean full-time in 2004, but we've had a house here since 1986 in
Village Green also. And um uh but my parents have been coming down here since the 50s. So I love Kate May. Uh I'm an avid biker. I try to use my bike whenever I can, you know, on on the island. And um
um I I was a CPA for uh Verizon Communications for 33 years and retired in 2002. Hard to believe it's that long. And um um
it's um so it's it's a privilege for me to be on the committee and have some input to the biking rules in Kate May and um and the the safety of uh bikers and and pedestrians as well and um
it's pleasure to be here. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank Thank you, Joe. Um just a couple of things u comments from myself. Um Steve,
I believe you took the minutes from the last meeting. >> Yes. And I will have them for the group's consideration at the next meeting to um to to review and to uh to approve.
>> Okay. And I'm also taking them for this meeting as well. >> Yeah. Okay. So, we'll we'll we'll skip reading the minutes of the last meeting now and move that until to our next meeting. But it brings up the subject of um the committee needs a secretary to
take minutes and and then get them typed up and and presented at the at the next meeting that we have on a on a regular basis. So, u I I'll ask e if either one of you are
interested in that or would like to do it or would like to think about it and come back to the next meeting or between now and the next meeting say, "Yeah, I'll I'll be secretary." Uh that would that would be that would be appreciated. >> I have an electronic device uh that uses
AI to summarize meetings, >> right? >> I can just bring that. >> You want it? You have it. No, thank you. >> Okay. So, yeah, I'll do it. >> Okay. >> But not not for this meeting. >> All right. So, can we say Steve, can you
take them for this meeting? >> Yes, I intended to. I will. And um that would be great. Jerry, that's wonderful. That would be greatly appreciated if we could kind of count on that and rely on that for for future meetings. Um so, I guess are you volunteering to be the
secretary utilizing your AI? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate >> being recorded. The fact that this records it doesn't make a difference. So, >> yes. >> Will it change the words we say >> into proper English rather than
>> colloquialism and Philadelphia accents? >> It understands Philadelphia accent. >> I I think to make this official, we should take a uh just a vote on this among ourselves. Uh so all in favor of Jerry Hathaway becoming the secretary of
the uh bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. >> I I >> I think >> Okay. Congratulations. >> You're the man. >> Another check. That's good. Mhm. >> Um
the the only other thing that I have uh as far as old business goes is uh at the last meeting we had uh one member of the public make a make a comment in regards to the um nature trail and the signage
at the nature of the nature trail. It's very evident that no dogs are allowed and there's great signage in that regard. Uh there's just a small mention amongst uh a lot of other items
that are mentioned about no bicycles or skateboards. and and the member of the public was saying, "We really need much better signage as far as no bicycles in the um
in in the park." Uh I I walk the trail myself a couple of times a week. It's a it's it's wonderful. It's beautiful. Uh and I love doing it. It's just just just long enough for me to hobble around with
my cane. But there are numerous bicycles using that trail. Uh and very few dogs most of the time people because I've stood there for a while and people walk up to go on the trail, they have a dog
or two in hand and they turn around and leave. The bicyclists just keep on keep on going. So, I'm very much in favor of seeing the city uh make an improvement in the sign of
not having bicycles because when you're there for a walk and somebody's coming along riding their bicycle, it's it interferes with with with your walk. It's and I think it's um it's also a safe safety factor. Um, so I was there I
was over there yesterday. Um, and there's been no change in the sign since last month we did this. So I would just like to maybe um talk to the city manager again or or do
something. Uh, I'm just speaking for myself here, but if you know the committee thinks that that was a good idea, maybe you don't think it's a good idea, but I' I'd like to see us uh uh make a recommendation. We are we are an
advisory committee. We can't change it, but make a recommendation that we have better signage as far as um keeping bicycles off off the nature trail. Could I open that up to discussion here? >> Jim, could I just add to that a little
bit just to provide a little Could I just add a little bit more information to what you just have have uh brought up? So, in addition to the last bike and pedestrian meeting where we had um uh public comment, it is also a topic that
has been raised at city council meetings by the public as well. So, it's been a public discussion raising the same issue um at you know in in that venue and during those conversations the city
manager was present heard um you know has heard those and I know he was present for the last meeting as as well to hear it here. Um I look you're right the signage there is is not adequate as far as notifying bikes. It's kind of
it's buried in a sign that says all the dos and don'ts about what you can and cannot do on the trail, which especially if you're on a bike, you need something visual to be able to see because people that go on the bike, they're just going to fly right past it. They're not going to they're not going to read that
anyway. Um so I I um my understanding is that the city manager is working on signage. Um, I know that it hasn't been added yet, but I and I would agree with you. I
think that this is something that we should can discuss. And I would encourage this committee to push continue to push for that. But I think there's something in in in the works with that. And I'm going to also follow up with the city manager to determine where we stand as far as
having that signage placed out there. Any any other thoughts, Jerry? >> I would add uh scooters to that list. >> Scooters. I would add scooters. >> Yeah. And there there are on there um skateboards. There's one line that says
no bicycles, skateboards, or other um recreational vehicles. Although we could, you know, we could be specific about scooters. >> Yeah. I'm seeing these one wheeled things around town, too. I guess those are electric skateboards technically, so
they they're covered. >> Public comment. >> So, I guess you're you've been following the meeting, huh, Paul? >> No, I've been trying to scramble a report together for something else and so I was trying I had a time sensitive on it. So, I apologize for not stopping
down sooner. >> So, thought I thought this was the biggest game in town right now. Yes. >> Thought you'd be here. No, appreciate you. >> No problem. >> So, really just, you know, don't really have an update. We're moving forward. The uh bid for the uh sidewalk project is out. We anticipate having those bids
back uh later this month. Um >> can you hold off just just for a minute because we're we're in the middle of another discussion which would be of interest to you. >> Okay. >> Actually, and I I candidly I thought you may have heard what we were No, I did not. >> So if we could Yeah. If we could address
a specific specific that good though to pay attention to a a meeting and do that. So now >> Thank you. The the issue that has been discussed is the signage for no bikes on the nature trail. I know we have talked about
the signs that presently exist. It says no bikes, but it's kind of it can get lost in the message. So, what's the status as far as putting better signage for >> we don't I don't want to keep adding signage because sign pollution just is that sign pollution. So, uh, public works is in the process of getting some
stencils, uh, that we're going to stencil on the path as you would ride up and approach each of the ends of the actual boardwalk area and just say, you know, no bikes and have signage, you know, it would be sign that way. Um, as
opposed to adding a third sign along there that really just becomes people are going to ignore it because they're going to ignore it. whether I don't care if I put one sign, five signs, or 10 signs. Somebody that's going to ignore it is going to ignore it regardless of the amount of signage, but we are going
to put some stenciling on the path. >> And I I'd like to add I another suggestion along those lines. I don't know if it's been brought up or not, but I think it would be advantageous if there was a bicycle rack so that people that >> There is there's a bicycle rack
>> right at the right when you would make the turn to go back in towards the woods, there's a bike rack >> coming off coming off of St. John's. >> St. John's. Yeah. >> Yeah. Like like if if you look if you can consider the sidewalk that comes from St. John, the sidewalk that comes from Lafayette where they intersect, set
of trash cans, bike racks right there. >> Okay. And and that's probably we'll probably add a no bikes there also just so that >> Yep. >> try to make it >> reinforce it. Yeah. >> Reinforce it. But like I said,
>> people are going to still do it. >> Okay. >> Unfortunately, >> Paul, if I could ask a follow-up question along the line with with the stencil and I know I know the the flow of of um going on the nature trail. It's you pretty much would see it at the one
lo one location even if there's another way to be able to access the trail. I think a lot of people probably they you >> can't really access coming in at that location is really the only place to get to the trail. >> So where where were you intending on placing them?
>> I'm going to put one right after the right after that intersection. So if you at that intersection you started to head that way, we'll have one there. And then I was going to put two really at the you know I mean the important spots to not have bikes are when you're up on the elevated trail. If you're in the
sidewalk area in the grass area, you've got at least some space for the pedestrian to move off. The bike could move off into the dirt area, you know, so you kind of have some recovery space, so to speak. But when
you're up on the elevated platform, you don't have anywhere to go. I mean, and that's kind of the same issue about why we don't want dogs up there is you don't have anywhere to go if you're the other person. >> And what time frame do you think?
>> Waiting for public works has ordered them. So, >> okay. >> As soon as we get them, they'll be installed. >> Okay. Thank you, Paul. No problem. >> Um, you're probably on a limited time here. No, I finished up what I needed to do then, so I' I'm good for the next
>> turn it over to you for your report. You're starting to go on the sidewalk. >> Sidewalks. So, we have um the sidewalks are out to bid. So, we're just waiting for the bids to come back um and then we'll evaluate that project. Uh projectwise, you know, a lot of
construction still going on. So, we're looking at moving those forward. Uh I I know that I don't know if you've already discussed as far as I know I had a conversation with Council Bodner about what project you'd like you know because
we're starting our budget time now. You know we had our focus projects that came out of the the safe uh roads and streets project. Um, I had made the recommendation kind of looking at that Almyra Bank
corridor getting up to Beach Avenue as as a as what I thought we could propose to council as a project to fund and try to get into next year's budget. Um, but that's my recommendation. I think it, you know, I think that the committee
here could look at all the different recommendations and if you concur with that, that's the proposal we'll put forward. But, you know, I think we're we're only going to be able to probably get funded one project from a design standpoint. I don't believe council's going to have an
unlimited budget with planning dollars for this. So, I want to pick pick the project wisely that we want to pitch for it. So, I'm looking for this committee to kind of give that recommendation so that I can work up that proposal price to council to put in the budget.
>> Hey, just a little later in the meeting under new business, we're going to talk we're going to have a discussion about what our priorities are for next year and I have a copy for everybody. >> Perfect. Uh these are the uh uh prioritized infrastructure projects that
the consultants >> made suggestions of >> and and and ourselves agreed upon last year to move forward with. So >> a little later in the meeting. >> Not a problem. Okay. >> Very good. >> All right.
>> Any questions for the city manager? >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. I'll hang around so I can let you know if there's as we get to that discussion so we can round table that. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Steve, I turn it over to you. >> Okay. >> As far as uh comments that you'd like to make.
>> Sure. Uh appreciate it. Um see I believe at the last meeting I mentioned about the QR code stickers. >> A little louder. >> Sure. The QR the QR code stickers. So, um, the city has prepared
stickers that can be placed on the rental bikes that have a QR code. On the QR code, um, it leads one to the Kate May city bike safety page. On the bike safety page is the city bike map. Um we
h are in the process myself and David Sheffler who's our uh director of recreation where we are in the process of going around to the different bike shops to have them place the stickers to discuss placing stickers on the bikes.
Um so far we've been met with um agreement. The bike shops think it's a a great idea. um they get a lot of questions about the bike maps and one of the positive aspects of this QR code is as we up the QR codes don't get stale as
we update the bike map and I know we're going to talk about our priorities for next year among them may be projects but one of them may be updating the city bike map as the city bike map gets updated when we update it on the city the city website the um when when a uh
an individual goes and scans the QR barcode, it's going to bring up the latest information. So, it um as we update information, we can constantly um provide the latest bike map for for folks. So, um, I wanted to give the update that we're in the process of
going around to the bike shops, um, being met with, uh, like positive feedback on it and anticipate that and hopeful that those, um, QR code stickers will be on all the bike map or uh, rental bikes for um, for this this
coming season. Um, the other the other matter that I wanted to talk about um, was ebikes. Um, and in in this regard, so as Jerry pointed out, um, we do have a
lot of ebike users in town. And while many of the ebike users use them properly and follow the rules of the road, one, we've seen an explosion in the use of the ebikes. And there there has been an issue though
with with people who not following the rules of the road um whether they're on ebikes or other you know other devices as as well. So, there's been um I have to say one of the things we've heard on city council is um and I think many
communities have a lot of feedback about um the reckless use of ebikes as well as questions as far as what can the community do to regulate the use of ebikes um in in the city. And
candidly, the law has not kept up with uh the the technology that's out there and the proliferation of ebikes. For instance, there's no licensing requirement for the use of ebikes. There's no registration requirement for
the use of ebikes. and the you know the the the guidance that we have received from our city solicitor um and my you know the understanding of the law as well is that's not something that the the city can regulate that's something that's in within the purview of the
state um nonetheless there I believe that there are steps that the city can take regarding the use of ebikes and I think that it's time for
Kate May to take a look at this and see if we should be considering an ordinance that addresses the the usage of ebikes and not wait for the state to give us guidance on that.
And one of the um in in part that's driven by um last night at city council meeting, we had one of our residents stepped up to the podium and discussed another incident where they had a close call with an ebike. And candidly, I
think I can just go around to many people in town who can discuss about close calls that they've had with ebikes. And sadly, you look in the in the newspapers and you consistently hear about incidents involving individuals
with ebikes, either pedestrians being hurt um or the riders being being hurt as well. Um I noticed that lower township apparently passed an ordinance within past day or so
regarding regulating the use of ebikes. So, I have reached out to our city solicitor to get information regarding that particular ordinance. Um, I think it's time for Kate May to take a look at this issue more closely. And candidly,
I'm not I I don't think that this is something that we should just kind of we don't have the time to wait for the state to address this issue. At a recent um city council meeting, city council passed a strongly worded ordinance
or sorry resolution for the state to address these issues and I know that that's been forwarded to the state. I believe West Cape May has done a similar thing. >> So lower and then now lower has come out with something else. >> So the state is hearing it from the communities but we need to do something
in the meantime to address this. What I would suggest and what I'm throwing out to this um to this committee is that um that we discuss and we resolve to to
vote that Cape May city government to the extent that the law permits should pass an ordinance to address and regulate the operation of ebikes and electric scooters in Cape May. I think we need to take a look at this. I think it's time for us to do for Kate May to
um to take steps to regulate the the use of ebikes. And I think if this committee sends that me message to city council, I think that helps. I think it's I think it's an opportunity for this for this committee to weigh in on that issue, I think it's appropriate, too. And I would
gladly take that message to city council. >> Steve, let me jump in here for a second. Um, I think that any ordinance that gets put in place and since the enforcement will be likely from our friends um in the police department, I think it almost
needs to be coordinated and islandwide. So, if you're going to do it, we absolut we we want to do it. I haven't spoken to the point, but I'm sure they would be involved. Uh, the lower portion of the island, they've already done something. I have to get a copy of it. But I think we should all coordinate for the whole
island so there's consistent rules for everybody across all the municipalities. >> So I'll gladly share what I get the when I get the information. I'll be I'll be happy to pass it to to you for Westgate May and we can you know we can discuss that matter um we could discuss that
matter further. And I mean I also want to add look I know our you know Lieutenant Walker is is here today is going to be addressing us. you know, it's um in and is going to provide us with feedback on his experiences
regarding ebikes over the course of the summer and efforts that have been made for enforcement. You know, a lot of this comes with education and getting people on board with doing the right thing. Uh we can't have somebody on every street corner. I think our police department does a great job. Um but you can't have
somebody everywhere. And when our town has um you know upwards of 50,000 people um in the city on on any given day um there's a certain a certain aspect of they can only they can only we can only do so much from an enforcement
standpoint but um having something on the books that provides penalties and gives another tool to the police department I think is going to be is going to be beneficial. So, um, be happy to, you know, that's something that I would like to look into. As I said, I
think it's something that I would think that this committee, um, I would like this committee to make a statement on those lines that I, as I said, can take back to to the city. Be happy to work on that with West Cape May. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Steve. Um before we
move move along >> um there's a front page article in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer on the whole ebike issue and it covers New Jersey state and what the problems are between state municipalities. I commend the article.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um I for the city manager Paul um we have a question for you. Right before the meeting, Joe Cassidy asked me about the
change in signage for uh bicycles on the prominade. Joe, >> yes. So, in uh the last two years, the um the rules for biking on a prominade were between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
during the summer between that was between May 15th and September 15th. Prior to that, it w it was May 1st to October 31st. But now the signs uh the new signs that just went up within the last week or so seem to indicate that
the restriction on bikes is between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. And it appears to be throughout the year. Unless I misread something on the sign, I think it's pretty clear. >> Yeah. Well, I I'm sorry. I didn't hear
>> you. >> Okay. So, so it's a year round restriction now. So, that's a big change from the way it's always been. I mean, it was May 1st to October 31st for the
last 40 years that I've been here. And >> well, >> yeah. Well, that that was never brought up >> to this committee. It was just >> happened, >> right? I didn't I had been on I hadn't been on the prominade for a couple of weeks. Yeah. So, I didn't even know
signs again, it's within the last two weeks or so. So, the sign will say uh bicycles and scooters only between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and then period. And then it says dogs are allowed between um
uh September 15th and May 15th. So I don't know if that was supposed to apply to both the dogs and the and the bikes, which it had in the past, but um >> Well, what was what was the reason for the change?
>> We'll look into it. We'll get back to you. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh thanks Steve. Do you want to introduce the U police department uh report? >> I'd be very happy to. >> So um this is Lieutenant Joe Walker. So
I at the last meeting or I think maybe a subsequent discussion um Jim you and I we had discussed uh we had such such a successful I think briefing last time from our city manager Paul Dietrich about kind of like the state of the city
um for some of the projects that had been um undertaken and were underway that we asked that uh representative of the police department come and do a similar presentation. um regarding I guess uh
you know your experiences over the course of the department's experiences over the course of the year issues that um the city has faced um in well that are that are within within your realm um
as well as some of the steps that the police department took over the course of the summer specifically regarding directed patrols and um and just you know events that were going on while um during the course of uh during the
course of the of this this season. >> So um I've had a conversation with the the chief Deacon Fashaw um Lieutenant Walker someone who is candidly you in some ways more boots on the ground you too uh to in be involved with some of
these issues and Joe's graciously um offered to do a presentation to us today. So Joe, we really appreciate you being here. >> Yep. Not a problem. Thank you for having me everybody. Um like councilman said my name is Joseph Walker lieutenant I'm an administrative lieutenant with the police department. Uh my primary duties
within the department I oversee like all the special events throughout the city. So if you have any parades, races, big events, you'll generally see me at those events. I oversee all of our municipal court operations throughout Kate May, West Kate May. and I oversee our criminal investigations division within
the police department and not to mention putting out the daily fires that you know pop up within any organization dayto day. Um first the chief uh just wanted me to apologize for him if he's not able to be here today. He's attending the FBI Academy conference in Atlantic City. So that's where he's at
this week and he just asked me like any questions that you may have that we that I might not be able to answer him and I will conference when he gets back and we'll get an answer to the committee as soon as possible. So, anything that I can't answer here, you know, we'll get we'll get an answer to you as soon as he gets back. Um, real quick, we can't
manage what we can't measure. So, you if you'll just allow me to go over some information that um I kind of put together over the course of the year. Uh, and maybe give us like a baseline of what what we're looking at for um I
researched our motor vehicle stops for uh time period of May 1st through October 2nd. I tried to keep it in an area where we're in the summer months. Um we are plus 79 car stops from where
plus 79 from where we were at last year. We had 890 last year. We were at 969 this year. So we definitely saw an increase in our officers going out and addressing violations during that time period. We've been
stressing to them just to be out on the road more often, address the problems as you're seeing them, and be proactive. That's one of the big things the chief wanted to wanted to address with them is we really want you out enforcing the the laws and the ordinances. So we saw an
uptick in motor vehicle stops and along with that we are somewhere in the same area with motor vehicle summons uh during that time period May 1st to September 1st we're plus 21 citations more than we were at last year. So
enforcement stepped up a little bit as well. Um, we took into account some DUI arrests from the same time period, May 1st to September 1st. We're down five DUI arrests from where we were at last
year. But that didn't seem right cuz I feel like we've had a lot. We've been experiencing more DUIs from from January 1st till when I did the numbers, which was October 2nd. We have three more DUIs than what we were at last year.
>> You said you were down five, LT. Yeah. >> Uh what were the the the raw number? >> So 24 we had 24 DUI arrests from May 1st of 24 to September 1st of 24. And this year we had 19 during that time frame. >> Okay.
>> Overall, like I said, we're up three arrests. We have three more arrests than we had. However, during the summer months, it seemed to scale back a little bit. >> Do do you guys do it by time of day >> and day of the week? So we could, but it
would be have to be like hand plotted because like as you So we have a CAD system. It's it's called infosshare is what our RMS and CAD is. It's what the county communications uses. So basically everybody who's within county dispatch. That's what we
have to use. It's just not the great sometimes pulling information and stats. It's just a little difficult. Like for instance these numbers to try to keep it as accurate and just give us as much of a baseline as possible. We used Kate May city numbers as our numbers for this for
this event. Now, some of these details that I'll talk about, these directed patrol details, they we they do take place in West Kate May. It's just to try to keep the statistics to give us a broad overview. It's based on Kate May city 0502 numbers.
Um, we wanted to look at crash reports because we thought that was relevant to the committee. So we took numbers for crash reports and we ran the crash reports from January 1st to October 2nd so we could just get >> what was a crash report >> like a motor vehicle accident report. So if there's Yeah. So if there's an accident involving a car, bicycle,
pedestrian, >> we're called and we'll we'll do a police report on it. So in 2024 we had 162 reported accident reports. >> Now these are motor vehicle accident reports. Yes, they could involve
>> necessarily involving a bicycle >> if if a car hits a bike, if a car hits a pedestrian, that's we respond out. So, they will I I'll give you the number that included I I broke it down for a bike or pedestrian involved in those. It
was but let me just we had 162 in 2024 versus 178 this year. So, we did see a little bit of increase in motor vehicle accidents for 2025. Now, in 2024, during the summer months, we only had one bike or pedestrian
involved in a motor vehicle accident. In 2025, just we had two. So, not a large increase, but an increase. Um, along with motor vehicle accidents, it's nice to be able to report that we did not have any fatal motor vehicle accidents in any of our jurisdictions in
2025 to date. So, we hope that trend continues. Um, so that's a good number. Um going along the lines of enforcement, not only traffic, but we also seen an uptick in our criminal charges that we've had in uh in 2024 we had 103
criminal complaints filed and in 2025 we're up to 162 criminal complaints filed. So while it might not necessarily relate to bicycle pedestrian safety, some of these initiatives that we're doing are leading towards arrests in other areas.
What level of criminal is I mean is that shoplifting? >> It could those arrests >> that's the absolute number. >> Yeah, that's the absolute number from everything from a disorder or petty disorderly person's offense all the way up to any first, second, third, fourth degree crimes. So that encomp encompasses a lot of different offenses.
Uh a a question for you on I if if um somebody stops a bicyclist >> or going the wrong way on a one-way street or not having lights on at night or not having a helmet on as a child,
>> what what happens to that individual? Are they warned? Are they arrested? Are they fined? Are they go to court? What's the next step? the officer has a lot of discretion in how they handle like minor
offenses. Okay? So it the whole the whole goal is compliance with the law. We want to see compliance with the law. If the officer feels that a verbal warning will gain compliance with the law, they have an option just to give
that person that they're dealing with a verbal warning or a written warning. If it's somebody that they've had contact with multiple times, has multiple points on their license, is an offender, or doing something recklessly that they feel a verbal warning is not going to
gain compliance with the law, that's where they have the tool in their tool belt to issue a motor vehicle violation or a summon or an ordinance violation or if it's a criminal offense to make an arrest. As far as criminal offenses go, there's there's that's not an officer
discretion issue. If there's a criminal offense, they're making the arrest. I'm talking more for like motor vehicle violations, helmets, bicycle off fences. That's where they have their discretion. >> Yeah. Because I'm just thinking, you know, a lot of times
u an individual will be riding a bike, but they won't have their driver's license with them, and they may have no identification at all. M >> so especially if they're an out of town visitor I it would be difficult to follow up I would think
>> yeah we have to be careful um I think a lot of people think when there's an ordinance violation people have to produce identification and it's it's an easy thing to manage and for ordinance violations you don't have to if I ask you if you're
right you don't have to provide it so then we kind of get into a stalemate of all well then you're free to leave. Okay. Well, now we're going to stand here and look at each other for the next six hours while you decide if how difficult you want to be with the police. So, we have to really weigh how
we manage certain situations and that's where the officer discretion comes into. You know, we have some good patrol officers that know how to mitigate and speak with people to try to to resolve the situation. Um, but like I said, a lot of the times if it's that frequent
offender, we know who we're dealing with a lot of the times and that's that's where you'll see the citations really come into come into effect. >> Thank you. >> No problem. So, um, you just so those are just some of the overall statistics to kind of give you like the the
baseline hasn't changed all that much from what we saw last year to what we saw this year. Um, we have stepped our enforcement up and that's going to kind of go and segue into the next section where like the city manager's office, the chief and our command staff, we
tried to come up with a way to address a lot of the complaints that we were getting with within the city. So, what we started to do was we started to implement what we call directed patrols. So what we'll do is we'll give or guidance to our sergeants or we'll give orders really to our
sergeants to say hey these are the problems that we're having in this area this month. We want you guys to kind of focus on that area that's going to be your area of responsibility. So we have four squads patrol squads within the police department and we assign them a certain area that we want to see them
tackle that month. So, um, directed patrols, I just took this number from January 1st till September 30th of this of this year because it's something that we really started to implement this year. Um, we included certain areas like Lafayette Street,
Washington Street, and this is just to name a few. Columbia Avenue, Madison Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, Pittsburgh, Sydney, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware Avenue. These are all areas that we've implemented these directed patrols for our West Kate May. We've also pushed that out into West Kate Mayboro Burough
as well. Just so you're both aware of that. We've included Broadway, Stimpson Lane, Sunset Boulevard, >> Stevens, >> Stevens, Kate May Point. We've we've we've made sure that there's officers running them down there as well. But like I said, these statistics for us, these are the ones that we focused on
for Kate May. We conducted 22 different directed patrol locations throughout Kate May City over the last since January 1st. And in those locations, we've had officers out at those locations over 355 times running radar
and monitoring traffic in those locations. Um during that time, we've conducted 279 motor vehicle stops in those areas and we've issued 107 traffic related citations to address the
speeding complaints or any other complaints that they may run into in those areas. Um, we have made three DWI arrests at those at those locations while we're doing that. And we've uh made two criminal or warrant arrests out of those details as well. So like the
city manager's office would get complaints about like traffic safety issues on a certain street. That would be an area that we would target in that directed patrol for the month. And then each at the end of every month, that sergeant produces a report for our administrative division. and then we
compile that every month to the manager's office as well. So, that's one thing that we've kind of done new this year to try to tackle some of these traffic related complaints that we're getting about speeding and um it's something that seems to have have really worked out. Um and it's and it's
generated some some good enforcement. Um, on top of that, uh, for some bicycle complaints that we've got about bicycles being on the mall when they're not supposed to being on the mall or being on the prominade and dogs being on the mall in the prominade, we've also done a
directed patrol for that. Uh, we took some of our SEO staff and we assigned them to those locations between 8:00 in the morning and 12:00 noon. Um, and for the mall, we've removed 50 bicycles off the And I'm sorry, that detail ran from
August 8th to September 8th. So, we did that detail for a month just to see what our numbers were. We, you know, is there really a problem? Is it really an issue? Um, during that time period from the mall, we removed 50 bicycles off the
mall and we removed 169 dogs. And on the prominade, we removed 57 bicycles and 98 dogs. So, we're trying to step up our enforcement action based off of some of the complaints that we're receiving from the public. Um, >> what was that time frame, Jeff?
>> The time period was September 8th, I'm sorry, August 8th through September 8th, and it was 8:00 a.m. to 12 uh to noon. Um, real quick, I did want to touch on ebikes because I knew that would be a hot topic. Um, when ebikes first really
came out, we transitioned our our bicycles that we had for our bike patrol. We trans transition them all to ebikes. Um, over the course of the last few years, we have phased out the ebikes from our
own perspective looking at our staff using them. You know, the bike patrol is supposed to be a community policing division. It's supposed to be a way for the officers to slowly patrol through the neighborhood, see some of the issues that maybe a patrol vehicle won't see, interact with the public, and we just
felt like we weren't seeing that from the bike patrol division. So, we have since phased that out. Any new bikes that we're purchasing are all we're going back to regular officer bicycles like mountain bikes. So, um we know it's
an issue. we are monitoring reckless use of the bikes in all the jurisdictions. Um, if it's something that we are going to all bear down, I agree that consistency is so important between our municipalities. I think even with lower township, if the message is consistent,
there's no confusion with the kids. I think a lot of our kids that we are seeing are from Lower Township. So, if the rules kind of apply across the board, I think that's that's that's important. From the police department's perspective, I know we are waiting on guidance to come out from the state. I think the
chief was expecting something to come from them hopefully sooner than later before next season regarding ebikes. >> What do you think that would make your life easier in enforcing ebike issues? >> Uh, registered bikes, licenses on them.
Uh, I I think it's t I think it's going to be hard to I think what council was it's hard to regulate something where we have so many people coming from out of our area with bicycles down here. I don't know how we would realistically, I
would say, enforce licensing ebikes or making them be registered. I think I would hope that would be something that would come down from the state. I think >> and that's what they're looking at. >> Yeah. I I and I think if it comes down through the state and we have state statutes that we could rely on, I think
and and then it's throughout the whole state, it's consistent. I think then that's more realistic. I think having our officers really go out and just address the reckless use of the bikes and there's laws already on the books for, you know, careless driving on bikes
and so I think we could push more towards enforcement. Is there an age limit on ebikes? >> Uh, I don't believe so. >> No, I I don't think there is either. >> I I don't think there is. I think they're treated just like any other bicycle. And I think that's the problem.
>> It is. >> And I and I know like I just I So my kids I you know I have a 17-year-old and a 15year-old and I know that amongst their friends that's all they're getting is they're not getting regular bikes anymore. All of these kids are all getting ebikes and they're all buying
the ones that they could manipulate the speed on and they can crank it up to 40 m hour and then they're essentially they're driving a motorcycle around, >> you know, is is what they're doing >> to to that point. I mean, when you have an M on your driver's license, which I
do, you got to go through, you got to pass the test, you have to train. Correct. To me, anything that can go 20 this the speed limit, >> you need to have training. And and I think maybe that needs to be a category of >> they did with mopeds. >> Exactly.
>> They did with mopeds. When they when we had our kids riding mopeds back when I had first started, that was the big thing. All the kids, they had to go through there was training, there was courses, there was regulations. >> So I, you know, we I know the chief and I would like to see the state push that with the with our ebikes.
>> Yeah. So George, to your to your question, there is not an age limit for ebikes. The only age limit is under 17. They're required to wear a helmet helmet. >> But as far as operation, there's that's not addressed. >> It's got to change. >> Hopefully Trenton I could do here to do
that. But that that that's something. >> And you have parents buying $1,500 $2,000 bikes for eight-year-olds. >> Correct. I mean, if you go to lower lower K regional high school, outside of any practice, there's the entire bike rack is >> electric bikes.
>> Metro bikes. >> That's all that there are no bike. Nobody rides a bike anymore. >> Yeah. Correct. We will um I did hear some talk earlier about the trail. We'll make sure that we have officers out patrolling the trail as well. I know that we've already asked them to do that. I'll just, you know, make sure
that in our next directive patrol that we just push out like, hey, squads detail somebody out there a little bit more frequently, especially now that we have our uh departments transitioning from having our summer staff to now they're starting to go back to college. So, we'll have some of our full, you
know, full-time officers start making that a priority. Does anybody have any questions for the police department? I didn't That's as far as like stats go. That's really all I had as far as numbers. Um, does anybody want to see anything maybe more
out of the police department? >> I I still have a question. >> Yes. >> Um, when you do your uh directed patrols, >> how do you determine where you're going to put them? Is it just based on number of complaints? Is it based on data? >> It's you it's usually based off of like the complaints and if we see like an
increase in accidents in a certain area and we try to vary up where like we try not to hit the same areas, you know, month by month. Like we try to vary up the locations, but a lot of the times the complaints come into either the chief's office or the city manager's office and we're like, "All right, we know that that's a spot next month where
we're going to we're going to focus on." >> Do you do you use the data that you get off the radar speed signs to say, "Hey, this is a hot spot. this time of day. >> Yes, it's it's so the Lieutenant Maza is usually in charge of pulling all the
speed sign data and then based off of that data, we could articulate, okay, we know that, you know, Broadway might be a problem between three and five and we'll and we'll pass that along. Yeah, we'll pass that along. Yeah, >> just a comment. I mean, it seems like the directive patrols have been very
successful. Um, and I it also to me it seems to be an excellent use of sleos as well. I mean that seems to be a a just a great use to ensure one that they're um well that they're being properly utilized and also we're getting uh we're
getting a lot of I guess you know bang for our buck so to speak as far as re utilization from them. Yeah, we found like using the sleos for that is a well is much better use than using a full-time officer on that detail. And it's a good way to also get them out, get them interacting with the public, too. They were professional when they
dealt with everybody. The last thing we wanted to do was have a poor image either. So, they were firm, but they were also professional with everybody that they encountered. >> The visual presence, I think, is really um important for for the public to see as well as people that are operating. I think that and consistency and having
the patrols out there. Um, look, they somebody could be out there one day and they, you know, they don't get stopped. They they get stopped. People change their behavior. >> And that that's that's the big issue I think is getting >> um getting that behavior changed. So,
especially since it changes on a week- toeek basis because we have so because we have such a turnover on a week- toeek basis. So we're we reboot every >> it's it's very difficult and I always try to explain that like the turnover that we have in our in our jurisdictions, you know, week to week is it's it's
incredible. So that's an uphill battle that we always face is that we just try to be consistent because we're always dealing with new people week over week. So it's a challenge. >> Can I comment to something you said, Steve? I agree that it ch once
somebody's pulled over, it changes their behavior. It also changes the behavior of everybody that drives by that incident when the when the flashing lights are going on and have somebody pulled over. >> There are many people that are impacted by that. >> Yeah. >> Force enforcement.
>> Couldn't agree with you more. We even hand we even think that way with our events like if you see like the canine like at our races at our runs at our you know at all the different October f you'll see like the canine dogs you'll see. So that way people see like there's a presence, there's planning that goes
into it. The township is prepared. It's not a soft target. So it's all about optics, >> right? >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you, Lieutenant. We we got to keep on schedule here. My job is to get us all everything included before 11:00. So I very much appreciate you
coming by and updating us and good luck going forward. >> Appreciate it. Not a problem. Thanks for having me. >> Excellent. >> Thank you, Lieutenant. >> Yep. Take care. >> Yeah. you want to sit in and finish? Sure. >> U yeah. Uh I'm dedicated to keep these
meetings somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. So we still have an important um topic of discussion which is our goals and priorities uh for for the next year. And I I've started a list
myself of just general topics rather than trying to get into too many specific things. Um, but I'd like I'd like to u uh tell you what I'm thinking along along these lines. Um, and I'll
start with ebikes and just have that as a as a general topic to um dig dig into the situation with ebikes here specific to Cape May because we are a
um a a community not just of residents but a lot a lot of tourists who bring their own bikes here and then include the bicycle shops and the individual teenagers or middleagers, whatever you
want to call them. So, on on my list of um goals and priorities is to just address the ebikes ebike situation and what we can do about it. Um my second one is the topic of the
pedestrian bridge between West Cape May and Kate May. Um, and I I think we should have a voice in that discussion uh and at least have a discussion among
ourselves uh regarding uh where that project is going and to be somewhat on top of it. So that's number two. Um, number three is I go back to uh bike
Kate May report from uh 2016 and uh the safe route to schools project that uh is not completed yet uh which is the
bike trail from the Coast Guard to the elementary school. Uh there's still work to be done. uh the money has already been appropriated and given it's a county project uh which reports to the
city of Cape May uh but I I uh I see us following up and hopefully getting that uh bike trail completed uh in particular a bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue and
and that we stay on top of that and do what we can to help the city urge the county to complete that project. And then the fourth is to go back to um the consultants report or the
consultants work over the last year and a half uh and what their priorities are. and they came up with a list of about a dozen projects. [Applause] Um, and I I got this off of the Kate Bay
city website of their prioritized infrastructure projects. And rather than try and pick one out right now, um my suggestion is is take this home, go out to the website.
It's u very comprehensive uh action plan, but it it discusses the whole project and the process that the consultants went through. uh BPAC was a member of the steering committee that
they reported to as well as um city administration and take a look and at our next meeting we go down and uh from the prioritize list that you have in front of you now u
where we think we should um direct our attention to where we could be most helpful u recognize we're only talking about how this affects city of Kate May. Even though West Cape May is um
close to us, since we report to city council, our advice um as an advisory committee goes to what Kate May City Council has jurisdiction over. So if there's something on this list that like
there's one item there that just affects um hey may point uh we're not going there. So, uh, I guess your homework assignment, uh, is to take a look at the, um, report
in tape city.com, the website here, and, uh, come back, at our next meeting, which, uh, I'm going to assume we can talk about this in a minute, will be in mid November u, and get more specific as
to, okay, these are the top two or top three things that we think we can make the most um uh influence on and take our ideas forward to u Cape May city city council
and the city manager. So, I open it up to you people for for thoughts along those lines or things to add as a general topic for our goal goals and a uh uh priorities for 20. >> Just a question, Jim. You mentioned the
the bridge, the pedestrian bridge, whatever it's called, to uh Westgate May. Where is where does that stand? Has it been approved? Are they moving forward? >> I'm going to turn that over to uh one of our uh committee members here, Mr. Dick. Um
where does it stand? We've done uh a lot of the preliminary work on design just to so that we can uh apply for D permits. Um we will have a big announcement on grant funding momentarily
uh which will help with the payment of the project. Uh everybody should be happy about what the the grant is. We've already have an $85,000 grant and we had asked the NG DOT for a $700,000 grant which basically pays for the whole
thing. >> Um, and I am pretty sure there's going to be really good news today about that. >> So, that's kind of where it is. Now, that that doesn't mean the project is okay. That that's a that is a huge hurdle. Um, we still have to get our
permits. Uh and once we have the permits, we probably will need to adjust a final plan and design for the bridge. Um uh I can also say that I have in Westgate May at least, I have had multiple people come to me and say they
want to become friends of the bridge and work on the landscaping and the and the planting of flowers and seasonal things around the bridge and clean up. Uh and I'm sure there'll be volunteers in Kate May to do that, too. So, so some real positive things are coming uh real soon.
I'll just say that. And uh that's kind of where it stands. >> Have you approached the fund for Kate May? >> We haven't. Uh if this grant goes through from NJ DOT, I think it's fully paid for, but the friends of uh um
we can ask them to do some maybe landscaping or pay for some of the landscaping work around it or think or supplementary things. Thank you. >> Thank Thank you. Um any other thoughts
in regards to um o o overall infrastructure or projects that we should be paying attention to as far as our goals for next year? >> I have a question and it actually may be to to city manager. So, this came off
the the website and this is directly from I'm looking at the the projects directly from the consultant that we listed and the question I would have is on each one of these projects there are things for example that Westcape May is already
working on. We're m taking steps to to to make one of the big things that we have as an issue is trying to make Broadway safer through one of the one of the areas one of the things on here talks about going up all
the way up to the bridge on Seashore and Broadway and pedestrian walkways and things like that. We're already looking at that with the county um from the section from Stimson down to so it I mean if these are bigger projects and
since they're named in here we can do them systemically with every all the county all the municipalities involved and we can get perhaps larger grants we want to do that but I don't know the next step to get to that
>> the let's look at let's look at one that does all of us the the uh and actually you mentioned it the Elmyra Leaming Landis Stewart Ocean Street, >> right? >> There's a West Cape May portion of that. It's the the second one down. How do we
get to a project uh and you know a study to say, "Hey, this is the things we need to do on all those roads." >> Well, I mean, the first one that we're applying for, the federal grant to to update the bike plan. So, that was the first thing we've applied for and uh
we're in the process of getting that. Um yeah, the it's really coming together and figuring out what do we want to work on collectively, >> but some of the collective projects are a little harder to do because then you got to get two, three towns all
honing in money at the same time. >> Exactly. >> And for the same focus. So it's it's just a little bit harder. But you know, part of that discussion starts here and you know, figuring out where to focus on those types of things. things that are on the county road, you know, are probably going to be maybe easier. You
know, the towns can go meet with the county engineer and and because >> if I'm sure or you may not be aware, but the county was going through their own safe streets process >> at almost at the same time they were finishing up theirs, right, as we were
finishing up ours. So, you know, there is some crossover even from that. Um, but that would be an outreach like, you know, especially if it's a project on the county road to work with the county to see if they'll partner, >> okay, >> and see if they'll do some of the heavier lifting,
>> so to speak. It >> it seems to me that it's on these multi- uh jurisdiction projects, it's almost one of the towns has to take a lead, right? like with the br with the bridge, we felt that that fit with our plan to
find a safe road to the beach and >> you guys were very willing partners on it, which was awesome. >> Um, and you know, we've taken the lead on that and we work together. I think some of these other projects have to happen that way, right? And that's why, you know, that's why I looked at that on Myra Street, you know, kind of looking
on our side >> on your on the West Cape May side. It kind of, you already started pointing that direction and and you have your bike lanes already kind of kind of already established there. So, it's really the heavier lift is really on our
side to be able to get the rest of the way to Beach Avenue. And that's so that's why I'm putting that more on. It is a much heavier lift that you're add but >> I mean you have some issues on your side. >> Leaming needs to be addressed as you know because people come off Broadway and they accelerate down it's a people
live on both sides of the street. So >> and and I would say that if if we thought like I would say next year like say we get the safe streets federal grant money to do the bike plan. I would say what we
could look at is next year as we go into the safe streets funding round again is look at okay maybe there's a project that is that bigger lift and we want to work and find that project but I think I mean what I was asking at this point is
I just need a small project that I'm going to fund at at the at the city level just because I know I'm not going to get a huge amount of money but I think I can get enough to maybe move us forward. But when we get to some of these larger
ones, it may make sense to focus that as hey, that's a priority to to apply for a grant to get that bigger pot of money. >> Okay? >> Whereas we still may need to, you know, like when we applied for that safe streets grants, that still costs, you know, even applying for those those
federal grants, they still cost 105,000 $20,000 to even make that application. So part of that process even as part of we put the budget proposal for next year would be to put some extra money not just for
that project design but also to make a grant application for that. So that would be another thing I'd recommend. You know, West Koint to maybe have some additional funding money to, you know, even if we all if we all have $7,000, we
all pull that that gets us to $20,000, then that could be a good application that would join all three towns or two town. You I mean, if it's something that is West Kate May, Kate May city centric that, you know, then we're just funneling it in and tie, you know, tie
it in that way. So that would be but that's all comes to what do you think is the priority moving forward you know so maybe the group works on a city focused thing that I'm going to throw a project at that it's going to be city funded but
if there's a another project that we want to throw some money at that is a joint venture we'll call and and looking at a proposal for for you know this time next year or summertime next here that you know we could hire a consultant that would be a
multi- town project to to do that. >> So Paul, one of the things um the I know that the reason one of the reasons that I was put on this committee is because you had the $200,000 grant to do the whole island
>> with the the refocus back on Kate May. I you know my first reaction and some of my constituents first let's have a West Kate May bicycle and pedestrian safety committee separate from this one since the focus of this group but what I don't
want to lose as you know as somebody who uses all the biking and and running and this whole island this side of the bridge is is linked and and we >> sure >> so I what I don't want to do little silos Kate May's doing this west Kate
May wants to do this so I just want to throw that out there. I'm pretty sure we're going to do our own bike safety commiss committee just so that our town's people have input in this kind of a way and it's not just me and uh Mr.
Mars here standing here. Um but I don't want to lose the ability to have the conversation of the islandwide work together. Well, and I think having you guys sitting here at these discussions keeps that tie and keeps the conversation
>> and we'll continue in in there. So, >> okay. >> So, I would agree. I mean, look, this >> people don't even realize when you go from one community to the next. So, I think the goal would be if we address these issues to make them seamless to go
from one community to the next. So, it only makes sense to continue with that. And I mean that's kind of how the first avenue bridge ex you mean it's >> Yeah. I mean >> a quick question for you. U if if we want to look towards putting something
in the operating budget for Cape May what is the what's the timeline for next year's budget? >> I no later than your next meeting. I need because I'm actually by in November
I have to have whole public budget meetings to kind of put out to the public what I'm going to be how I'm formulating my or what I'm getting from my departments. I have to have public discussions on when I'm meeting with the CFO to kind of formulate that budget.
So, you know, I need, you know, no later than your next meeting. I need a project idea or guess what? You're using mine. So, we're scheduled I would think just based off of our scheduling, November 12th would be when this committee would have its next meeting. Generally, you
have those >> um the budget meetings take place. >> I'm probably going to have the budget meetings probably already at that time, but I can still, >> you know, that's for all my departmental meetings. This is going to be aside, but at that meeting, I'm going to need a
focus project that this committee wants to focus on. So, we should walk out of next week's next next month's meeting with some idea as far as just what we're prioritizing to be able to give that feedback to the city. >> And and going on George's coming, you know, you could come up with two ideas. One could be a city centric focused
thing. The other idea could be what if we want to look at a communitywide thing that we're going to apply for the the federal grant next year that would be maybe larger scale incorporate you know a larger budget
I would need money to apply for that grant too. So it's kind of two parts one doing a physical project one applying for grant money which would be a larger project. So you could have two focuses. So I just doubled your homework. So
>> Gotcha. Okay. Well, I'll put that on the agenda for next month then to have a discussion. >> But I al I do need that >> giving you some >> I need that recommendation. Otherwise, I have to just go out on my recommendation because I have to put something forth to council because we're at this time of
year. >> So if I could ask that um look, I know you're you're going to have a lot going on. schedule fills up. But if we are going to have that date, if we if you could be available for that date as well to participate here, that would really be helpful, too.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I think we're we're going to aim for second Wednesday of November for the next meeting. >> Does that work with uh everybody's schedule? >> I think that's maybe the 12th. I don't have my calendar in front of me. It's 12th.
>> Yeah. At 9:30. Okay. Thanks. >> And if anybody has any questions, just feel free to email me in between now and then if you have a question. >> Okay, we're good. Any any other comments from uh committee members here that you'd like to make before we uh we turn
it over to the public comments, but I don't think we're going to have too many public comments today. I just want to point out that on the uh official bike map of Cape May, it says biking on prominade limited hours in season 4 a.m. 10:00 a.m. May 15,
September 15, offseason dawn to dark. >> Yeah. And >> that's on the >> that has well they're going to get back to us with I mean that's a a live topic for next meeting. Could could I make a a comment and Paul may be
interested in this talking about you had mentioned um sign too many signs um during the summer that that new walk ramp along the beach which is great people use it all the time but apparently bikes are not
allowed on I don't think there's any signs at all >> but are >> yeah there are Yeah. >> Each bance beat each beach entrance as you go from the prominade to the beach says no bikes.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, so you can't have a bike on the beach. You can't have a bike on the ADA map. So, that's where >> but it's there. >> Okay. Anything else? Otherwise, I'll ask for a uh call for adjournment.
>> Motion to adjurnn. I second. Okay. Meeting is adjourned. Next meeting um 9:30 here, November, Wednesday, November 12th. >> Thanks, guys. Okay. >> Thank you everybody.
>> I'll bring my little uh device. >> Yeah, that'd be good. >> So, it records the entire discussion and makes up a report. Does the transcript summarizes what just happened >> and what the next step
>> and what and how much input does it require from you to finalize Part: 2
got about seven copies of of what I'm doing here. Yeah, just one for one for each of us. Okay, sounds good. Thanks. We're just going to wait to call the
meeting to order when that comes on. All right, gentlemen. Jim, you're good. You're good. Okay, I'd like to call the meeting to order. Uh, first order of business is the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. First first order of business is a roll call. Um,
consider Council Member Bodner here. Committee member Dick here. Committee member Hathaway here. Committee member Moffett here. Committee member Morris here. Committee member Cassidy
here. Okay. Moving right along. Old business is a little report for myself. Uh we have two new members of the uh
committee here. I think it would be good to maybe everybody take a minute just to introduce themselves including the new members, the old members so we uh start to get to know each other a little bit. Uh yeah, every I see everybody has their
microphone on so that's good to speak into the microphone. Uh Steve, you want to start off? I'd be happy to. 60 seconds or so worth of uh background. Sure. Um so first off, welcome gentlemen. Uh appreciate having you here. Steve Bodner um on city council.
My background um is well my work background is I was a a prosecutor in Burlington County. Um as far as my Kate May experience, my family's been in Kate May since the since the mid70s
um in Village Green area. Uh my wife and I, we al also live in in Village Green. My mom still has her house and we have our our property. We've been full-time residents for a while now. Love Kate May. Um a lot of experience here. Um and
I ran for city council last year, so this is my first full year on on city council in Kate Mag. One of my responsibilities is be on the bike and pedestrian advisory committee which kind of fits the bill since I cycle a lot and I run a lot and I spend a lot of time
walking around town. I spent a lot and have spent a number of years walking around town and biking around town. So it kind of fits the bill and really excited to have both you gentlemen on board. So thanks for volunteering to be part of uh part of this committee. Good. Thank you Steve.
Uh I'm George Yeah, I'm George Dick. I'm the deputy mayor in West Cape May. Um, I've been for the last three years doing that. Um, I was asked to join this committee and it really is a sweet spot with me. This is one of the areas where most of the constituents in Westgate may
have a strong interest in bicycle and pedestrian safety. It's one of the number one things that we talk about in our board of commissioners meetings. Uh, since we have one of our main streets is Broadway and it's it's pretty dangerous going down there. So, getting involved in this has been great. Um, I also am an
avid biker. I run every day. You if you see somebody running with a dog, that is me. Um, you'll see me all winter. I'm the only one out there. Steve's not with me, but u so it's it's it's a lot of this is personal for me um because of of how
much I use the roads and the streets. And it also, you know, as a representative of the public and and serving the public, um it is incredibly important that we get this right. And we have some challenges because of the way the roads are, you know, they're historic roads that are narrow. Um, but,
you know, working with this group, we've come up with some good solutions. Um, working with the police department, we've come up with some good solutions. Uh, like to continue to do that. Thank you, Bob. Okay. My name is Bob Mars and uh I live
in Westgate May. Uh, raised my children here. They went to lower and uh they have all done well for themselves. I got involved in this. I was president of the Quantis Club and we ran a program, Bike at Night, Have a Light and we gave out lights to all the school children in
Cape May, West Cape May. And uh you know, we went around and spoke to them and uh we talked to the police department and they put signs on when you drove into signs, one of the the electric signs, you know, put bike at night, have a light. We also had a float in the parade and Trish Hendricks was on
board and she goes, "You should be part of the bike advisory committee." So that's how I ended up on here. So I've been a member since uh 2019. Thank you. Uh Jim Moffett,
uh I was the uh on the original bike uh and pedestrian advisory committee uh when Mayor Aier shortly after he took office in 2017, January of 2017 and shortly afterwards. he uh organized
several um committees uh across a number of activities in u in the city and I was asked at that time to become a a member because I was an an active biker um at
the time and had an interest in u just making some commitment back to the city of Kate May. Uh, I've been coming to Kate May since uh I was 17 years old, 1960. I lived and worked in Congress Hall myself that year and I've been
coming back ever since u I finally bought a house here in 1991 and lived on Su Avenue up until four years ago um when I moved out to um still on the island but lower township
on on New England Road. Uh I haven't been able to or have decided not to get on a bicycle for the last three years now just because I have some uh fairly significant balance and uh nerve problems in my legs and uh I
don't want to fall. So, uh, but I still maintain my interest in, um, first of all, paying back Tape May for all they've given me and doing that by being part of part of this committee and we've
made some good progress over the last six years. There's still progress uh, to go. Uh, my name is Jerry Hathaway. Uh, I'm an attorney. Uh, I practiced for over 45 years now. uh mostly at large law firms.
Um uh my discipline is labor and employment law firm management. Uh but most of my time is spent on transactions where I evaluate target companies uh in their compliance with labor and employment laws. Um I first came to Kate May 1979 when I started dating my wife.
Uh she's been coming to Kate May since 1957 or so 58. Um, uh, we bought a house here, uh, 10 years ago on Delaware in Village Green. Um, I own an electric bike. Uh, I like to ride it around town.
Um, I see a lot of, uh, problems with electric bikes, particularly I see teenagers and younger, uh, flying across lawns and all over the place on electric bikes. Uh I I moved here from New York City uh full-time a year and a half ago
and I've had four or five within inches near collisions with electric bikes in New York City. Uh so I I think uh attention needs to be paid to uh electric bikes. Uh they're problematic. Mine's legal. Has a 19 m hour uh limit
on it. You can't go faster, but I could adjust it and it could go 40 miles per hour, but I'm not making that adjustment. Uh, so I think that's my my primary concern, electric bikes, just seeing in the summer in particular, how they're flying all over town, across
lawns, um, uh, buzzing around and and and being ridden pretty dangerously. Um, I just looked at a very wellthoughtout uh, Cape Island safe streets action plan from last year. Um, and uh I'm I'm really excited uh about the uh projects
that are addressed in here, but I also think we need to pay some attention to electric bikes. Thanks, Jerry. Joe Cassidy, I believe the newest member of the the group. This is my first meeting. Um I grew up in
Philadelphia. My wife and I lived most of our lives in Montgomery County, Horscham Township. We moved down here permanently, I mean full-time in 2004, but we've had a house here since 1986 in
Village Green also. And um uh but my parents have been coming down here since the 50s. So I love Kate May. Uh I'm an avid biker. I try to use my bike whenever I can, you know, on on the island. And um
um I I was a CPA for uh Verizon Communications for 33 years and retired in 2002. Hard to believe it's that long. And um um
it's um so it's it's a privilege for me to be on the committee and have some input to the biking rules in Kate May and um and the the safety of uh bikers and and pedestrians as well and um
it's pleasure to be here. Thank you. Okay. Thank Thank you, Joe. Um just a couple of things u comments from myself. Um Steve,
I believe you took the minutes from the last meeting. Yes. And I will have them for the group's consideration at the next meeting to um to to review and to uh to approve.
Okay. And I'm also taking them for this meeting as well. Yeah. Okay. So, we'll we'll we'll skip reading the minutes of the last meeting now and move that until to our next meeting. But it brings up the subject of um the committee needs a secretary to
take minutes and and then get them typed up and and presented at the at the next meeting that we have on a on a regular basis. So, u I I'll ask e if either one of you are
interested in that or would like to do it or would like to think about it and come back to the next meeting or between now and the next meeting say, "Yeah, I'll I'll be secretary." Uh that would that would be that would be appreciated. I have an electronic device uh that uses
AI to summarize meetings, right? I can just bring that. You want it? You have it. No, thank you. Okay. So, yeah, I'll do it. Okay. But not not for this meeting. All right. So, can we say Steve, can you
take them for this meeting? Yes, I intended to. I will. And um that would be great. Jerry, that's wonderful. That would be greatly appreciated if we could kind of count on that and rely on that for for future meetings. Um so, I guess are you volunteering to be the
secretary utilizing your AI? Yes. Okay. Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate being recorded. The fact that this records it doesn't make a difference. So, yes. Will it change the words we say into proper English rather than
colloquialism and Philadelphia accents? It understands Philadelphia accent. I I think to make this official, we should take a uh just a vote on this among ourselves. Uh so all in favor of Jerry Hathaway becoming the secretary of
the uh bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. I I I think Okay. Congratulations. You're the man. Another check. That's good. Mhm. Um
the the only other thing that I have uh as far as old business goes is uh at the last meeting we had uh one member of the public make a make a comment in regards to the um nature trail and the signage
at the nature of the nature trail. It's very evident that no dogs are allowed and there's great signage in that regard. Uh there's just a small mention amongst uh a lot of other items
that are mentioned about no bicycles or skateboards. and and the member of the public was saying, "We really need much better signage as far as no bicycles in the um
in in the park." Uh I I walk the trail myself a couple of times a week. It's a it's it's wonderful. It's beautiful. Uh and I love doing it. It's just just just long enough for me to hobble around with
my cane. But there are numerous bicycles using that trail. Uh and very few dogs most of the time people because I've stood there for a while and people walk up to go on the trail, they have a dog
or two in hand and they turn around and leave. The bicyclists just keep on keep on going. So, I'm very much in favor of seeing the city uh make an improvement in the sign of
not having bicycles because when you're there for a walk and somebody's coming along riding their bicycle, it's it interferes with with with your walk. It's and I think it's um it's also a safe safety factor. Um, so I was there I
was over there yesterday. Um, and there's been no change in the sign since last month we did this. So I would just like to maybe um talk to the city manager again or or do
something. Uh, I'm just speaking for myself here, but if you know the committee thinks that that was a good idea, maybe you don't think it's a good idea, but I' I'd like to see us uh uh make a recommendation. We are we are an
advisory committee. We can't change it, but make a recommendation that we have better signage as far as um keeping bicycles off off the nature trail. Could I open that up to discussion here? Jim, could I just add to that a little
bit just to provide a little Could I just add a little bit more information to what you just have have uh brought up? So, in addition to the last bike and pedestrian meeting where we had um uh public comment, it is also a topic that
has been raised at city council meetings by the public as well. So, it's been a public discussion raising the same issue um at you know in in that venue and during those conversations the city
manager was present heard um you know has heard those and I know he was present for the last meeting as as well to hear it here. Um I look you're right the signage there is is not adequate as far as notifying bikes. It's kind of
it's buried in a sign that says all the dos and don'ts about what you can and cannot do on the trail, which especially if you're on a bike, you need something visual to be able to see because people that go on the bike, they're just going to fly right past it. They're not going to they're not going to read that
anyway. Um so I I um my understanding is that the city manager is working on signage. Um, I know that it hasn't been added yet, but I and I would agree with you. I
think that this is something that we should can discuss. And I would encourage this committee to push continue to push for that. But I think there's something in in in the works with that. And I'm going to also follow up with the city manager to determine where we stand as far as
having that signage placed out there. Any any other thoughts, Jerry? I would add uh scooters to that list. Scooters. I would add scooters. Yeah. And there there are on there um skateboards. There's one line that says
no bicycles, skateboards, or other um recreational vehicles. Although we could, you know, we could be specific about scooters. Yeah. I'm seeing these one wheeled things around town, too. I guess those are electric skateboards technically, so
they they're covered. Public comment. So, I guess you're you've been following the meeting, huh, Paul? No, I've been trying to scramble a report together for something else and so I was trying I had a time sensitive on it. So, I apologize for not stopping
down sooner. So, thought I thought this was the biggest game in town right now. Yes. Thought you'd be here. No, appreciate you. No problem. So, really just, you know, don't really have an update. We're moving forward. The uh bid for the uh sidewalk project is out. We anticipate having those bids
back uh later this month. Um can you hold off just just for a minute because we're we're in the middle of another discussion which would be of interest to you. Okay. Actually, and I I candidly I thought you may have heard what we were No, I did not. So if we could Yeah. If we could address
a specific specific that good though to pay attention to a a meeting and do that. So now Thank you. The the issue that has been discussed is the signage for no bikes on the nature trail. I know we have talked about
the signs that presently exist. It says no bikes, but it's kind of it can get lost in the message. So, what's the status as far as putting better signage for we don't I don't want to keep adding signage because sign pollution just is that sign pollution. So, uh, public works is in the process of getting some
stencils, uh, that we're going to stencil on the path as you would ride up and approach each of the ends of the actual boardwalk area and just say, you know, no bikes and have signage, you know, it would be sign that way. Um, as
opposed to adding a third sign along there that really just becomes people are going to ignore it because they're going to ignore it. whether I don't care if I put one sign, five signs, or 10 signs. Somebody that's going to ignore it is going to ignore it regardless of the amount of signage, but we are going
to put some stenciling on the path. And I I'd like to add I another suggestion along those lines. I don't know if it's been brought up or not, but I think it would be advantageous if there was a bicycle rack so that people that There is there's a bicycle rack
right at the right when you would make the turn to go back in towards the woods, there's a bike rack coming off coming off of St. John's. St. John's. Yeah. Yeah. Like like if if you look if you can consider the sidewalk that comes from St. John, the sidewalk that comes from Lafayette where they intersect, set
of trash cans, bike racks right there. Okay. And and that's probably we'll probably add a no bikes there also just so that Yep. try to make it reinforce it. Yeah. Reinforce it. But like I said,
people are going to still do it. Okay. Unfortunately, Paul, if I could ask a follow-up question along the line with with the stencil and I know I know the the flow of of um going on the nature trail. It's you pretty much would see it at the one
lo one location even if there's another way to be able to access the trail. I think a lot of people probably they you can't really access coming in at that location is really the only place to get to the trail. So where where were you intending on placing them?
I'm going to put one right after the right after that intersection. So if you at that intersection you started to head that way, we'll have one there. And then I was going to put two really at the you know I mean the important spots to not have bikes are when you're up on the elevated trail. If you're in the
sidewalk area in the grass area, you've got at least some space for the pedestrian to move off. The bike could move off into the dirt area, you know, so you kind of have some recovery space, so to speak. But when
you're up on the elevated platform, you don't have anywhere to go. I mean, and that's kind of the same issue about why we don't want dogs up there is you don't have anywhere to go if you're the other person. And what time frame do you think?
Waiting for public works has ordered them. So, okay. As soon as we get them, they'll be installed. Okay. Thank you, Paul. No problem. Um, you're probably on a limited time here. No, I finished up what I needed to do then, so I' I'm good for the next
turn it over to you for your report. You're starting to go on the sidewalk. Sidewalks. So, we have um the sidewalks are out to bid. So, we're just waiting for the bids to come back um and then we'll evaluate that project. Uh projectwise, you know, a lot of
construction still going on. So, we're looking at moving those forward. Uh I I know that I don't know if you've already discussed as far as I know I had a conversation with Council Bodner about what project you'd like you know because
we're starting our budget time now. You know we had our focus projects that came out of the the safe uh roads and streets project. Um, I had made the recommendation kind of looking at that Almyra Bank
corridor getting up to Beach Avenue as as a as what I thought we could propose to council as a project to fund and try to get into next year's budget. Um, but that's my recommendation. I think it, you know, I think that the committee
here could look at all the different recommendations and if you concur with that, that's the proposal we'll put forward. But, you know, I think we're we're only going to be able to probably get funded one project from a design standpoint. I don't believe council's going to have an
unlimited budget with planning dollars for this. So, I want to pick pick the project wisely that we want to pitch for it. So, I'm looking for this committee to kind of give that recommendation so that I can work up that proposal price to council to put in the budget.
Hey, just a little later in the meeting under new business, we're going to talk we're going to have a discussion about what our priorities are for next year and I have a copy for everybody. Perfect. Uh these are the uh uh prioritized infrastructure projects that
the consultants made suggestions of and and and ourselves agreed upon last year to move forward with. So a little later in the meeting. Not a problem. Okay. Very good. All right.
Any questions for the city manager? Thank you guys. Thank you. I'll hang around so I can let you know if there's as we get to that discussion so we can round table that. Sure. Thank you. Steve, I turn it over to you. Okay. As far as uh comments that you'd like to make.
Sure. Uh appreciate it. Um see I believe at the last meeting I mentioned about the QR code stickers. A little louder. Sure. The QR the QR code stickers. So, um, the city has prepared
stickers that can be placed on the rental bikes that have a QR code. On the QR code, um, it leads one to the Kate May city bike safety page. On the bike safety page is the city bike map. Um we
h are in the process myself and David Sheffler who's our uh director of recreation where we are in the process of going around to the different bike shops to have them place the stickers to discuss placing stickers on the bikes.
Um so far we've been met with um agreement. The bike shops think it's a a great idea. um they get a lot of questions about the bike maps and one of the positive aspects of this QR code is as we up the QR codes don't get stale as
we update the bike map and I know we're going to talk about our priorities for next year among them may be projects but one of them may be updating the city bike map as the city bike map gets updated when we update it on the city the city website the um when when a uh
an individual goes and scans the QR barcode, it's going to bring up the latest information. So, it um as we update information, we can constantly um provide the latest bike map for for folks. So, um, I wanted to give the update that we're in the process of
going around to the bike shops, um, being met with, uh, like positive feedback on it and anticipate that and hopeful that those, um, QR code stickers will be on all the bike map or uh, rental bikes for um, for this this
coming season. Um, the other the other matter that I wanted to talk about um, was ebikes. Um, and in in this regard, so as Jerry pointed out, um, we do have a
lot of ebike users in town. And while many of the ebike users use them properly and follow the rules of the road, one, we've seen an explosion in the use of the ebikes. And there there has been an issue though
with with people who not following the rules of the road um whether they're on ebikes or other you know other devices as as well. So, there's been um I have to say one of the things we've heard on city council is um and I think many
communities have a lot of feedback about um the reckless use of ebikes as well as questions as far as what can the community do to regulate the use of ebikes um in in the city. And
candidly, the law has not kept up with uh the the technology that's out there and the proliferation of ebikes. For instance, there's no licensing requirement for the use of ebikes. There's no registration requirement for
the use of ebikes. and the you know the the the guidance that we have received from our city solicitor um and my you know the understanding of the law as well is that's not something that the the city can regulate that's something that's in within the purview of the
state um nonetheless there I believe that there are steps that the city can take regarding the use of ebikes and I think that it's time for
Kate May to take a look at this and see if we should be considering an ordinance that addresses the the usage of ebikes and not wait for the state to give us guidance on that.
And one of the um in in part that's driven by um last night at city council meeting, we had one of our residents stepped up to the podium and discussed another incident where they had a close call with an ebike. And candidly, I
think I can just go around to many people in town who can discuss about close calls that they've had with ebikes. And sadly, you look in the in the newspapers and you consistently hear about incidents involving individuals
with ebikes, either pedestrians being hurt um or the riders being being hurt as well. Um I noticed that lower township apparently passed an ordinance within past day or so
regarding regulating the use of ebikes. So, I have reached out to our city solicitor to get information regarding that particular ordinance. Um, I think it's time for Kate May to take a look at this issue more closely. And candidly,
I'm not I I don't think that this is something that we should just kind of we don't have the time to wait for the state to address this issue. At a recent um city council meeting, city council passed a strongly worded ordinance
or sorry resolution for the state to address these issues and I know that that's been forwarded to the state. I believe West Cape May has done a similar thing. So lower and then now lower has come out with something else. So the state is hearing it from the communities but we need to do something
in the meantime to address this. What I would suggest and what I'm throwing out to this um to this committee is that um that we discuss and we resolve to to
vote that Cape May city government to the extent that the law permits should pass an ordinance to address and regulate the operation of ebikes and electric scooters in Cape May. I think we need to take a look at this. I think it's time for us to do for Kate May to
um to take steps to regulate the the use of ebikes. And I think if this committee sends that me message to city council, I think that helps. I think it's I think it's an opportunity for this for this committee to weigh in on that issue, I think it's appropriate, too. And I would
gladly take that message to city council. Steve, let me jump in here for a second. Um, I think that any ordinance that gets put in place and since the enforcement will be likely from our friends um in the police department, I think it almost
needs to be coordinated and islandwide. So, if you're going to do it, we absolut we we want to do it. I haven't spoken to the point, but I'm sure they would be involved. Uh, the lower portion of the island, they've already done something. I have to get a copy of it. But I think we should all coordinate for the whole
island so there's consistent rules for everybody across all the municipalities. So I'll gladly share what I get the when I get the information. I'll be I'll be happy to pass it to to you for Westgate May and we can you know we can discuss that matter um we could discuss that
matter further. And I mean I also want to add look I know our you know Lieutenant Walker is is here today is going to be addressing us. you know, it's um in and is going to provide us with feedback on his experiences
regarding ebikes over the course of the summer and efforts that have been made for enforcement. You know, a lot of this comes with education and getting people on board with doing the right thing. Uh we can't have somebody on every street corner. I think our police department does a great job. Um but you can't have
somebody everywhere. And when our town has um you know upwards of 50,000 people um in the city on on any given day um there's a certain a certain aspect of they can only they can only we can only do so much from an enforcement
standpoint but um having something on the books that provides penalties and gives another tool to the police department I think is going to be is going to be beneficial. So, um, be happy to, you know, that's something that I would like to look into. As I said, I
think it's something that I would think that this committee, um, I would like this committee to make a statement on those lines that I, as I said, can take back to to the city. Be happy to work on that with West Cape May. Excellent. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Steve. Um before we
move move along um there's a front page article in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer on the whole ebike issue and it covers New Jersey state and what the problems are between state municipalities. I commend the article.
Okay. Thank you. Um I for the city manager Paul um we have a question for you. Right before the meeting, Joe Cassidy asked me about the
change in signage for uh bicycles on the prominade. Joe, yes. So, in uh the last two years, the um the rules for biking on a prominade were between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
during the summer between that was between May 15th and September 15th. Prior to that, it w it was May 1st to October 31st. But now the signs uh the new signs that just went up within the last week or so seem to indicate that
the restriction on bikes is between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. And it appears to be throughout the year. Unless I misread something on the sign, I think it's pretty clear. Yeah. Well, I I'm sorry. I didn't hear
you. Okay. So, so it's a year round restriction now. So, that's a big change from the way it's always been. I mean, it was May 1st to October 31st for the
last 40 years that I've been here. And well, yeah. Well, that that was never brought up to this committee. It was just happened, right? I didn't I had been on I hadn't been on the prominade for a couple of weeks. Yeah. So, I didn't even know
signs again, it's within the last two weeks or so. So, the sign will say uh bicycles and scooters only between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and then period. And then it says dogs are allowed between um
uh September 15th and May 15th. So I don't know if that was supposed to apply to both the dogs and the and the bikes, which it had in the past, but um Well, what was what was the reason for the change?
We'll look into it. We'll get back to you. Okay. Thank you. Uh thanks Steve. Do you want to introduce the U police department uh report? I'd be very happy to. So um this is Lieutenant Joe Walker. So
I at the last meeting or I think maybe a subsequent discussion um Jim you and I we had discussed uh we had such such a successful I think briefing last time from our city manager Paul Dietrich about kind of like the state of the city
um for some of the projects that had been um undertaken and were underway that we asked that uh representative of the police department come and do a similar presentation. um regarding I guess uh
you know your experiences over the course of the department's experiences over the course of the year issues that um the city has faced um in well that are that are within within your realm um
as well as some of the steps that the police department took over the course of the summer specifically regarding directed patrols and um and just you know events that were going on while um during the course of uh during the
course of the of this this season. So um I've had a conversation with the the chief Deacon Fashaw um Lieutenant Walker someone who is candidly you in some ways more boots on the ground you too uh to in be involved with some of
these issues and Joe's graciously um offered to do a presentation to us today. So Joe, we really appreciate you being here. Yep. Not a problem. Thank you for having me everybody. Um like councilman said my name is Joseph Walker lieutenant I'm an administrative lieutenant with the police department. Uh my primary duties
within the department I oversee like all the special events throughout the city. So if you have any parades, races, big events, you'll generally see me at those events. I oversee all of our municipal court operations throughout Kate May, West Kate May. and I oversee our criminal investigations division within
the police department and not to mention putting out the daily fires that you know pop up within any organization dayto day. Um first the chief uh just wanted me to apologize for him if he's not able to be here today. He's attending the FBI Academy conference in Atlantic City. So that's where he's at
this week and he just asked me like any questions that you may have that we that I might not be able to answer him and I will conference when he gets back and we'll get an answer to the committee as soon as possible. So, anything that I can't answer here, you know, we'll get we'll get an answer to you as soon as he gets back. Um, real quick, we can't
manage what we can't measure. So, you if you'll just allow me to go over some information that um I kind of put together over the course of the year. Uh, and maybe give us like a baseline of what what we're looking at for um I
researched our motor vehicle stops for uh time period of May 1st through October 2nd. I tried to keep it in an area where we're in the summer months. Um we are plus 79 car stops from where
plus 79 from where we were at last year. We had 890 last year. We were at 969 this year. So we definitely saw an increase in our officers going out and addressing violations during that time period. We've been
stressing to them just to be out on the road more often, address the problems as you're seeing them, and be proactive. That's one of the big things the chief wanted to wanted to address with them is we really want you out enforcing the the laws and the ordinances. So we saw an
uptick in motor vehicle stops and along with that we are somewhere in the same area with motor vehicle summons uh during that time period May 1st to September 1st we're plus 21 citations more than we were at last year. So
enforcement stepped up a little bit as well. Um, we took into account some DUI arrests from the same time period, May 1st to September 1st. We're down five DUI arrests from where we were at last
year. But that didn't seem right cuz I feel like we've had a lot. We've been experiencing more DUIs from from January 1st till when I did the numbers, which was October 2nd. We have three more DUIs than what we were at last year.
You said you were down five, LT. Yeah. Uh what were the the the raw number? So 24 we had 24 DUI arrests from May 1st of 24 to September 1st of 24. And this year we had 19 during that time frame. Okay.
Overall, like I said, we're up three arrests. We have three more arrests than we had. However, during the summer months, it seemed to scale back a little bit. Do do you guys do it by time of day and day of the week? So we could, but it
would be have to be like hand plotted because like as you So we have a CAD system. It's it's called infosshare is what our RMS and CAD is. It's what the county communications uses. So basically everybody who's within county dispatch. That's what we
have to use. It's just not the great sometimes pulling information and stats. It's just a little difficult. Like for instance these numbers to try to keep it as accurate and just give us as much of a baseline as possible. We used Kate May city numbers as our numbers for this for
this event. Now, some of these details that I'll talk about, these directed patrol details, they we they do take place in West Kate May. It's just to try to keep the statistics to give us a broad overview. It's based on Kate May city 0502 numbers.
Um, we wanted to look at crash reports because we thought that was relevant to the committee. So we took numbers for crash reports and we ran the crash reports from January 1st to October 2nd so we could just get what was a crash report like a motor vehicle accident report. So if there's Yeah. So if there's an accident involving a car, bicycle,
pedestrian, we're called and we'll we'll do a police report on it. So in 2024 we had 162 reported accident reports. Now these are motor vehicle accident reports. Yes, they could involve
necessarily involving a bicycle if if a car hits a bike, if a car hits a pedestrian, that's we respond out. So, they will I I'll give you the number that included I I broke it down for a bike or pedestrian involved in those. It
was but let me just we had 162 in 2024 versus 178 this year. So, we did see a little bit of increase in motor vehicle accidents for 2025. Now, in 2024, during the summer months, we only had one bike or pedestrian
involved in a motor vehicle accident. In 2025, just we had two. So, not a large increase, but an increase. Um, along with motor vehicle accidents, it's nice to be able to report that we did not have any fatal motor vehicle accidents in any of our jurisdictions in
2025 to date. So, we hope that trend continues. Um, so that's a good number. Um going along the lines of enforcement, not only traffic, but we also seen an uptick in our criminal charges that we've had in uh in 2024 we had 103
criminal complaints filed and in 2025 we're up to 162 criminal complaints filed. So while it might not necessarily relate to bicycle pedestrian safety, some of these initiatives that we're doing are leading towards arrests in other areas.
What level of criminal is I mean is that shoplifting? It could those arrests that's the absolute number. Yeah, that's the absolute number from everything from a disorder or petty disorderly person's offense all the way up to any first, second, third, fourth degree crimes. So that encomp encompasses a lot of different offenses.
Uh a a question for you on I if if um somebody stops a bicyclist or going the wrong way on a one-way street or not having lights on at night or not having a helmet on as a child,
what what happens to that individual? Are they warned? Are they arrested? Are they fined? Are they go to court? What's the next step? the officer has a lot of discretion in how they handle like minor
offenses. Okay? So it the whole the whole goal is compliance with the law. We want to see compliance with the law. If the officer feels that a verbal warning will gain compliance with the law, they have an option just to give
that person that they're dealing with a verbal warning or a written warning. If it's somebody that they've had contact with multiple times, has multiple points on their license, is an offender, or doing something recklessly that they feel a verbal warning is not going to
gain compliance with the law, that's where they have the tool in their tool belt to issue a motor vehicle violation or a summon or an ordinance violation or if it's a criminal offense to make an arrest. As far as criminal offenses go, there's there's that's not an officer
discretion issue. If there's a criminal offense, they're making the arrest. I'm talking more for like motor vehicle violations, helmets, bicycle off fences. That's where they have their discretion. Yeah. Because I'm just thinking, you know, a lot of times
u an individual will be riding a bike, but they won't have their driver's license with them, and they may have no identification at all. M so especially if they're an out of town visitor I it would be difficult to follow up I would think
yeah we have to be careful um I think a lot of people think when there's an ordinance violation people have to produce identification and it's it's an easy thing to manage and for ordinance violations you don't have to if I ask you if you're
right you don't have to provide it so then we kind of get into a stalemate of all well then you're free to leave. Okay. Well, now we're going to stand here and look at each other for the next six hours while you decide if how difficult you want to be with the police. So, we have to really weigh how
we manage certain situations and that's where the officer discretion comes into. You know, we have some good patrol officers that know how to mitigate and speak with people to try to to resolve the situation. Um, but like I said, a lot of the times if it's that frequent
offender, we know who we're dealing with a lot of the times and that's that's where you'll see the citations really come into come into effect. Thank you. No problem. So, um, you just so those are just some of the overall statistics to kind of give you like the the
baseline hasn't changed all that much from what we saw last year to what we saw this year. Um, we have stepped our enforcement up and that's going to kind of go and segue into the next section where like the city manager's office, the chief and our command staff, we
tried to come up with a way to address a lot of the complaints that we were getting with within the city. So, what we started to do was we started to implement what we call directed patrols. So what we'll do is we'll give or guidance to our sergeants or we'll give orders really to our
sergeants to say hey these are the problems that we're having in this area this month. We want you guys to kind of focus on that area that's going to be your area of responsibility. So we have four squads patrol squads within the police department and we assign them a certain area that we want to see them
tackle that month. So, um, directed patrols, I just took this number from January 1st till September 30th of this of this year because it's something that we really started to implement this year. Um, we included certain areas like Lafayette Street,
Washington Street, and this is just to name a few. Columbia Avenue, Madison Avenue, New Jersey Avenue, Pittsburgh, Sydney, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware Avenue. These are all areas that we've implemented these directed patrols for our West Kate May. We've also pushed that out into West Kate Mayboro Burough
as well. Just so you're both aware of that. We've included Broadway, Stimpson Lane, Sunset Boulevard, Stevens, Stevens, Kate May Point. We've we've we've made sure that there's officers running them down there as well. But like I said, these statistics for us, these are the ones that we focused on
for Kate May. We conducted 22 different directed patrol locations throughout Kate May City over the last since January 1st. And in those locations, we've had officers out at those locations over 355 times running radar
and monitoring traffic in those locations. Um during that time, we've conducted 279 motor vehicle stops in those areas and we've issued 107 traffic related citations to address the
speeding complaints or any other complaints that they may run into in those areas. Um, we have made three DWI arrests at those at those locations while we're doing that. And we've uh made two criminal or warrant arrests out of those details as well. So like the
city manager's office would get complaints about like traffic safety issues on a certain street. That would be an area that we would target in that directed patrol for the month. And then each at the end of every month, that sergeant produces a report for our administrative division. and then we
compile that every month to the manager's office as well. So, that's one thing that we've kind of done new this year to try to tackle some of these traffic related complaints that we're getting about speeding and um it's something that seems to have have really worked out. Um and it's and it's
generated some some good enforcement. Um, on top of that, uh, for some bicycle complaints that we've got about bicycles being on the mall when they're not supposed to being on the mall or being on the prominade and dogs being on the mall in the prominade, we've also done a
directed patrol for that. Uh, we took some of our SEO staff and we assigned them to those locations between 8:00 in the morning and 12:00 noon. Um, and for the mall, we've removed 50 bicycles off the And I'm sorry, that detail ran from
August 8th to September 8th. So, we did that detail for a month just to see what our numbers were. We, you know, is there really a problem? Is it really an issue? Um, during that time period from the mall, we removed 50 bicycles off the
mall and we removed 169 dogs. And on the prominade, we removed 57 bicycles and 98 dogs. So, we're trying to step up our enforcement action based off of some of the complaints that we're receiving from the public. Um, what was that time frame, Jeff?
The time period was September 8th, I'm sorry, August 8th through September 8th, and it was 8:00 a.m. to 12 uh to noon. Um, real quick, I did want to touch on ebikes because I knew that would be a hot topic. Um, when ebikes first really
came out, we transitioned our our bicycles that we had for our bike patrol. We trans transition them all to ebikes. Um, over the course of the last few years, we have phased out the ebikes from our
own perspective looking at our staff using them. You know, the bike patrol is supposed to be a community policing division. It's supposed to be a way for the officers to slowly patrol through the neighborhood, see some of the issues that maybe a patrol vehicle won't see, interact with the public, and we just
felt like we weren't seeing that from the bike patrol division. So, we have since phased that out. Any new bikes that we're purchasing are all we're going back to regular officer bicycles like mountain bikes. So, um we know it's
an issue. we are monitoring reckless use of the bikes in all the jurisdictions. Um, if it's something that we are going to all bear down, I agree that consistency is so important between our municipalities. I think even with lower township, if the message is consistent,
there's no confusion with the kids. I think a lot of our kids that we are seeing are from Lower Township. So, if the rules kind of apply across the board, I think that's that's that's important. From the police department's perspective, I know we are waiting on guidance to come out from the state. I think the
chief was expecting something to come from them hopefully sooner than later before next season regarding ebikes. What do you think that would make your life easier in enforcing ebike issues? Uh, registered bikes, licenses on them.
Uh, I I think it's t I think it's going to be hard to I think what council was it's hard to regulate something where we have so many people coming from out of our area with bicycles down here. I don't know how we would realistically, I
would say, enforce licensing ebikes or making them be registered. I think I would hope that would be something that would come down from the state. I think and that's what they're looking at. Yeah. I I and I think if it comes down through the state and we have state statutes that we could rely on, I think
and and then it's throughout the whole state, it's consistent. I think then that's more realistic. I think having our officers really go out and just address the reckless use of the bikes and there's laws already on the books for, you know, careless driving on bikes
and so I think we could push more towards enforcement. Is there an age limit on ebikes? Uh, I don't believe so. No, I I don't think there is either. I I don't think there is. I think they're treated just like any other bicycle. And I think that's the problem.
It is. And I and I know like I just I So my kids I you know I have a 17-year-old and a 15year-old and I know that amongst their friends that's all they're getting is they're not getting regular bikes anymore. All of these kids are all getting ebikes and they're all buying
the ones that they could manipulate the speed on and they can crank it up to 40 m hour and then they're essentially they're driving a motorcycle around, you know, is is what they're doing to to that point. I mean, when you have an M on your driver's license, which I
do, you got to go through, you got to pass the test, you have to train. Correct. To me, anything that can go 20 this the speed limit, you need to have training. And and I think maybe that needs to be a category of they did with mopeds. Exactly.
They did with mopeds. When they when we had our kids riding mopeds back when I had first started, that was the big thing. All the kids, they had to go through there was training, there was courses, there was regulations. So I, you know, we I know the chief and I would like to see the state push that with the with our ebikes.
Yeah. So George, to your to your question, there is not an age limit for ebikes. The only age limit is under 17. They're required to wear a helmet helmet. But as far as operation, there's that's not addressed. It's got to change. Hopefully Trenton I could do here to do
that. But that that that's something. And you have parents buying $1,500 $2,000 bikes for eight-year-olds. Correct. I mean, if you go to lower lower K regional high school, outside of any practice, there's the entire bike rack is electric bikes.
Metro bikes. That's all that there are no bike. Nobody rides a bike anymore. Yeah. Correct. We will um I did hear some talk earlier about the trail. We'll make sure that we have officers out patrolling the trail as well. I know that we've already asked them to do that. I'll just, you know, make sure
that in our next directive patrol that we just push out like, hey, squads detail somebody out there a little bit more frequently, especially now that we have our uh departments transitioning from having our summer staff to now they're starting to go back to college. So, we'll have some of our full, you
know, full-time officers start making that a priority. Does anybody have any questions for the police department? I didn't That's as far as like stats go. That's really all I had as far as numbers. Um, does anybody want to see anything maybe more
out of the police department? I I still have a question. Yes. Um, when you do your uh directed patrols, how do you determine where you're going to put them? Is it just based on number of complaints? Is it based on data? It's you it's usually based off of like the complaints and if we see like an
increase in accidents in a certain area and we try to vary up where like we try not to hit the same areas, you know, month by month. Like we try to vary up the locations, but a lot of the times the complaints come into either the chief's office or the city manager's office and we're like, "All right, we know that that's a spot next month where
we're going to we're going to focus on." Do you do you use the data that you get off the radar speed signs to say, "Hey, this is a hot spot. this time of day. Yes, it's it's so the Lieutenant Maza is usually in charge of pulling all the
speed sign data and then based off of that data, we could articulate, okay, we know that, you know, Broadway might be a problem between three and five and we'll and we'll pass that along. Yeah, we'll pass that along. Yeah, just a comment. I mean, it seems like the directive patrols have been very
successful. Um, and I it also to me it seems to be an excellent use of sleos as well. I mean that seems to be a a just a great use to ensure one that they're um well that they're being properly utilized and also we're getting uh we're
getting a lot of I guess you know bang for our buck so to speak as far as re utilization from them. Yeah, we found like using the sleos for that is a well is much better use than using a full-time officer on that detail. And it's a good way to also get them out, get them interacting with the public, too. They were professional when they
dealt with everybody. The last thing we wanted to do was have a poor image either. So, they were firm, but they were also professional with everybody that they encountered. The visual presence, I think, is really um important for for the public to see as well as people that are operating. I think that and consistency and having
the patrols out there. Um, look, they somebody could be out there one day and they, you know, they don't get stopped. They they get stopped. People change their behavior. And that that's that's the big issue I think is getting um getting that behavior changed. So,
especially since it changes on a week- toeek basis because we have so because we have such a turnover on a week- toeek basis. So we're we reboot every it's it's very difficult and I always try to explain that like the turnover that we have in our in our jurisdictions, you know, week to week is it's it's
incredible. So that's an uphill battle that we always face is that we just try to be consistent because we're always dealing with new people week over week. So it's a challenge. Can I comment to something you said, Steve? I agree that it ch once
somebody's pulled over, it changes their behavior. It also changes the behavior of everybody that drives by that incident when the when the flashing lights are going on and have somebody pulled over. There are many people that are impacted by that. Yeah. Force enforcement.
Couldn't agree with you more. We even hand we even think that way with our events like if you see like the canine like at our races at our runs at our you know at all the different October f you'll see like the canine dogs you'll see. So that way people see like there's a presence, there's planning that goes
into it. The township is prepared. It's not a soft target. So it's all about optics, right? Yep. Okay. Thank you, Lieutenant. We we got to keep on schedule here. My job is to get us all everything included before 11:00. So I very much appreciate you
coming by and updating us and good luck going forward. Appreciate it. Not a problem. Thanks for having me. Excellent. Thank you, Lieutenant. Yep. Take care. Yeah. you want to sit in and finish? Sure. U yeah. Uh I'm dedicated to keep these
meetings somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. So we still have an important um topic of discussion which is our goals and priorities uh for for the next year. And I I've started a list
myself of just general topics rather than trying to get into too many specific things. Um, but I'd like I'd like to u uh tell you what I'm thinking along along these lines. Um, and I'll
start with ebikes and just have that as a as a general topic to um dig dig into the situation with ebikes here specific to Cape May because we are a
um a a community not just of residents but a lot a lot of tourists who bring their own bikes here and then include the bicycle shops and the individual teenagers or middleagers, whatever you
want to call them. So, on on my list of um goals and priorities is to just address the ebikes ebike situation and what we can do about it. Um my second one is the topic of the
pedestrian bridge between West Cape May and Kate May. Um, and I I think we should have a voice in that discussion uh and at least have a discussion among
ourselves uh regarding uh where that project is going and to be somewhat on top of it. So that's number two. Um, number three is I go back to uh bike
Kate May report from uh 2016 and uh the safe route to schools project that uh is not completed yet uh which is the
bike trail from the Coast Guard to the elementary school. Uh there's still work to be done. uh the money has already been appropriated and given it's a county project uh which reports to the
city of Cape May uh but I I uh I see us following up and hopefully getting that uh bike trail completed uh in particular a bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue and
and that we stay on top of that and do what we can to help the city urge the county to complete that project. And then the fourth is to go back to um the consultants report or the
consultants work over the last year and a half uh and what their priorities are. and they came up with a list of about a dozen projects. Um, and I I got this off of the Kate Bay
city website of their prioritized infrastructure projects. And rather than try and pick one out right now, um my suggestion is is take this home, go out to the website.
It's u very comprehensive uh action plan, but it it discusses the whole project and the process that the consultants went through. uh BPAC was a member of the steering committee that
they reported to as well as um city administration and take a look and at our next meeting we go down and uh from the prioritize list that you have in front of you now u
where we think we should um direct our attention to where we could be most helpful u recognize we're only talking about how this affects city of Kate May. Even though West Cape May is um
close to us, since we report to city council, our advice um as an advisory committee goes to what Kate May City Council has jurisdiction over. So if there's something on this list that like
there's one item there that just affects um hey may point uh we're not going there. So, uh, I guess your homework assignment, uh, is to take a look at the, um, report
in tape city.com, the website here, and, uh, come back, at our next meeting, which, uh, I'm going to assume we can talk about this in a minute, will be in mid November u, and get more specific as
to, okay, these are the top two or top three things that we think we can make the most um uh influence on and take our ideas forward to u Cape May city city council
and the city manager. So, I open it up to you people for for thoughts along those lines or things to add as a general topic for our goal goals and a uh uh priorities for 20. Just a question, Jim. You mentioned the
the bridge, the pedestrian bridge, whatever it's called, to uh Westgate May. Where is where does that stand? Has it been approved? Are they moving forward? I'm going to turn that over to uh one of our uh committee members here, Mr. Dick. Um
where does it stand? We've done uh a lot of the preliminary work on design just to so that we can uh apply for D permits. Um we will have a big announcement on grant funding momentarily
uh which will help with the payment of the project. Uh everybody should be happy about what the the grant is. We've already have an $85,000 grant and we had asked the NG DOT for a $700,000 grant which basically pays for the whole
thing. Um, and I am pretty sure there's going to be really good news today about that. So, that's kind of where it is. Now, that that doesn't mean the project is okay. That that's a that is a huge hurdle. Um, we still have to get our
permits. Uh and once we have the permits, we probably will need to adjust a final plan and design for the bridge. Um uh I can also say that I have in Westgate May at least, I have had multiple people come to me and say they
want to become friends of the bridge and work on the landscaping and the and the planting of flowers and seasonal things around the bridge and clean up. Uh and I'm sure there'll be volunteers in Kate May to do that, too. So, so some real positive things are coming uh real soon.
I'll just say that. And uh that's kind of where it stands. Have you approached the fund for Kate May? We haven't. Uh if this grant goes through from NJ DOT, I think it's fully paid for, but the friends of uh um
we can ask them to do some maybe landscaping or pay for some of the landscaping work around it or think or supplementary things. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Um any other thoughts
in regards to um o o overall infrastructure or projects that we should be paying attention to as far as our goals for next year? I have a question and it actually may be to to city manager. So, this came off
the the website and this is directly from I'm looking at the the projects directly from the consultant that we listed and the question I would have is on each one of these projects there are things for example that Westcape May is already
working on. We're m taking steps to to to make one of the big things that we have as an issue is trying to make Broadway safer through one of the one of the areas one of the things on here talks about going up all
the way up to the bridge on Seashore and Broadway and pedestrian walkways and things like that. We're already looking at that with the county um from the section from Stimson down to so it I mean if these are bigger projects and
since they're named in here we can do them systemically with every all the county all the municipalities involved and we can get perhaps larger grants we want to do that but I don't know the next step to get to that
the let's look at let's look at one that does all of us the the uh and actually you mentioned it the Elmyra Leaming Landis Stewart Ocean Street, right? There's a West Cape May portion of that. It's the the second one down. How do we
get to a project uh and you know a study to say, "Hey, this is the things we need to do on all those roads." Well, I mean, the first one that we're applying for, the federal grant to to update the bike plan. So, that was the first thing we've applied for and uh
we're in the process of getting that. Um yeah, the it's really coming together and figuring out what do we want to work on collectively, but some of the collective projects are a little harder to do because then you got to get two, three towns all
honing in money at the same time. Exactly. And for the same focus. So it's it's just a little bit harder. But you know, part of that discussion starts here and you know, figuring out where to focus on those types of things. things that are on the county road, you know, are probably going to be maybe easier. You
know, the towns can go meet with the county engineer and and because if I'm sure or you may not be aware, but the county was going through their own safe streets process at almost at the same time they were finishing up theirs, right, as we were
finishing up ours. So, you know, there is some crossover even from that. Um, but that would be an outreach like, you know, especially if it's a project on the county road to work with the county to see if they'll partner, okay, and see if they'll do some of the heavier lifting,
so to speak. It it seems to me that it's on these multi- uh jurisdiction projects, it's almost one of the towns has to take a lead, right? like with the br with the bridge, we felt that that fit with our plan to
find a safe road to the beach and you guys were very willing partners on it, which was awesome. Um, and you know, we've taken the lead on that and we work together. I think some of these other projects have to happen that way, right? And that's why, you know, that's why I looked at that on Myra Street, you know, kind of looking
on our side on your on the West Cape May side. It kind of, you already started pointing that direction and and you have your bike lanes already kind of kind of already established there. So, it's really the heavier lift is really on our
side to be able to get the rest of the way to Beach Avenue. And that's so that's why I'm putting that more on. It is a much heavier lift that you're add but I mean you have some issues on your side. Leaming needs to be addressed as you know because people come off Broadway and they accelerate down it's a people
live on both sides of the street. So and and I would say that if if we thought like I would say next year like say we get the safe streets federal grant money to do the bike plan. I would say what we
could look at is next year as we go into the safe streets funding round again is look at okay maybe there's a project that is that bigger lift and we want to work and find that project but I think I mean what I was asking at this point is
I just need a small project that I'm going to fund at at the at the city level just because I know I'm not going to get a huge amount of money but I think I can get enough to maybe move us forward. But when we get to some of these larger
ones, it may make sense to focus that as hey, that's a priority to to apply for a grant to get that bigger pot of money. Okay? Whereas we still may need to, you know, like when we applied for that safe streets grants, that still costs, you know, even applying for those those
federal grants, they still cost 105,000 $20,000 to even make that application. So part of that process even as part of we put the budget proposal for next year would be to put some extra money not just for
that project design but also to make a grant application for that. So that would be another thing I'd recommend. You know, West Koint to maybe have some additional funding money to, you know, even if we all if we all have $7,000, we
all pull that that gets us to $20,000, then that could be a good application that would join all three towns or two town. You I mean, if it's something that is West Kate May, Kate May city centric that, you know, then we're just funneling it in and tie, you know, tie
it in that way. So that would be but that's all comes to what do you think is the priority moving forward you know so maybe the group works on a city focused thing that I'm going to throw a project at that it's going to be city funded but
if there's a another project that we want to throw some money at that is a joint venture we'll call and and looking at a proposal for for you know this time next year or summertime next here that you know we could hire a consultant that would be a
multi- town project to to do that. So Paul, one of the things um the I know that the reason one of the reasons that I was put on this committee is because you had the $200,000 grant to do the whole island
with the the refocus back on Kate May. I you know my first reaction and some of my constituents first let's have a West Kate May bicycle and pedestrian safety committee separate from this one since the focus of this group but what I don't
want to lose as you know as somebody who uses all the biking and and running and this whole island this side of the bridge is is linked and and we sure so I what I don't want to do little silos Kate May's doing this west Kate
May wants to do this so I just want to throw that out there. I'm pretty sure we're going to do our own bike safety commiss committee just so that our town's people have input in this kind of a way and it's not just me and uh Mr.
Mars here standing here. Um but I don't want to lose the ability to have the conversation of the islandwide work together. Well, and I think having you guys sitting here at these discussions keeps that tie and keeps the conversation
and we'll continue in in there. So, okay. So, I would agree. I mean, look, this people don't even realize when you go from one community to the next. So, I think the goal would be if we address these issues to make them seamless to go
from one community to the next. So, it only makes sense to continue with that. And I mean that's kind of how the first avenue bridge ex you mean it's Yeah. I mean a quick question for you. U if if we want to look towards putting something
in the operating budget for Cape May what is the what's the timeline for next year's budget? I no later than your next meeting. I need because I'm actually by in November
I have to have whole public budget meetings to kind of put out to the public what I'm going to be how I'm formulating my or what I'm getting from my departments. I have to have public discussions on when I'm meeting with the CFO to kind of formulate that budget.
So, you know, I need, you know, no later than your next meeting. I need a project idea or guess what? You're using mine. So, we're scheduled I would think just based off of our scheduling, November 12th would be when this committee would have its next meeting. Generally, you
have those um the budget meetings take place. I'm probably going to have the budget meetings probably already at that time, but I can still, you know, that's for all my departmental meetings. This is going to be aside, but at that meeting, I'm going to need a
focus project that this committee wants to focus on. So, we should walk out of next week's next next month's meeting with some idea as far as just what we're prioritizing to be able to give that feedback to the city. And and going on George's coming, you know, you could come up with two ideas. One could be a city centric focused
thing. The other idea could be what if we want to look at a communitywide thing that we're going to apply for the the federal grant next year that would be maybe larger scale incorporate you know a larger budget
I would need money to apply for that grant too. So it's kind of two parts one doing a physical project one applying for grant money which would be a larger project. So you could have two focuses. So I just doubled your homework. So
Gotcha. Okay. Well, I'll put that on the agenda for next month then to have a discussion. But I al I do need that giving you some I need that recommendation. Otherwise, I have to just go out on my recommendation because I have to put something forth to council because we're at this time of
year. So if I could ask that um look, I know you're you're going to have a lot going on. schedule fills up. But if we are going to have that date, if we if you could be available for that date as well to participate here, that would really be helpful, too.
Yeah. Yeah. I think we're we're going to aim for second Wednesday of November for the next meeting. Does that work with uh everybody's schedule? I think that's maybe the 12th. I don't have my calendar in front of me. It's 12th.
Yeah. At 9:30. Okay. Thanks. And if anybody has any questions, just feel free to email me in between now and then if you have a question. Okay, we're good. Any any other comments from uh committee members here that you'd like to make before we uh we turn
it over to the public comments, but I don't think we're going to have too many public comments today. I just want to point out that on the uh official bike map of Cape May, it says biking on prominade limited hours in season 4 a.m. 10:00 a.m. May 15,
September 15, offseason dawn to dark. Yeah. And that's on the that has well they're going to get back to us with I mean that's a a live topic for next meeting. Could could I make a a comment and Paul may be
interested in this talking about you had mentioned um sign too many signs um during the summer that that new walk ramp along the beach which is great people use it all the time but apparently bikes are not
allowed on I don't think there's any signs at all but are yeah there are Yeah. Each bance beat each beach entrance as you go from the prominade to the beach says no bikes.
Yeah. Okay. So, so you can't have a bike on the beach. You can't have a bike on the ADA map. So, that's where but it's there. Okay. Anything else? Otherwise, I'll ask for a uh call for adjournment.
Motion to adjurnn. I second. Okay. Meeting is adjourned. Next meeting um 9:30 here, November, Wednesday, November 12th. Thanks, guys. Okay. Thank you everybody.
I'll bring my little uh device. Yeah, that'd be good. So, it records the entire discussion and makes up a report. Does the transcript summarizes what just happened and what the next step
and what and how much input does it require from you to finalize