Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin, I just want to let anyone here in attendance know that we are going into close session first this afternoon. So, I apologize, but I want to make sure everyone knows we do believe that would take about an hour. So, I I just give
you that heads up and and apologies just due to scheduling of a council member, we had to do the uh close session first today, which is on the agenda, but just we do expect that to take about an hour. So, we we expect that we'll be back here
for the regular meeting at 4:00 just just to give everyone that heads up. We ready otherwise? Good afternoon everyone. We have a regular meeting of the city council of the city of Kate May. We are here in the Cape May city hall auditorium. Today is
Tuesday, June 17th, 2025. The time is now 5 3 p.m. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of to the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Under the open public meetings law, notice of this meeting was sent to the Kate County Herald and the press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council, posted on the city website and
city hall bulletin board. Notice is hereby provided that Kate may city council meetings are audio recorded and video streamed live. Live video streams are posted to the Kate May city website. City of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable.
Roll call. Council member Baldwin will be arriving for close session. Council member Bodner here. Deputy Mayor McDade here. Council member Meyer here. Mayor Mullik here. City solicitor Gillan Schwarz here. City Manager Dietrich
here. Deputy Manager Riggs here. Deputy Clerk Turner here. CFO Haney here. Council, we have resolution 20606 2025, a resolution providing for a meeting not open to the public in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act and JSA104-12.
This is to discuss bargaining negotiations for the following units. GWU upper Management, UAWW Middle Management, CWA White Collar, CWA Blue Collar, PBA Local 59 for Superior Officers, and the 609 Lafayette Street
welcome center lease. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Mayor Mullik? Yes. All right. Okay. We
will now go into close session. And again to the public, we do anticipate to be back no earlier to 4 than 400 p.m. maybe 4 410. It may take us a couple extra minutes. Thank you. Time is 3:06. Good afternoon everybody. We're just
coming out of a close session. We'll get started in just a moment. Thank you for your patience. Okay, good afternoon everyone. We're coming out of close session in which uh we will be taking action uh this afternoon. Mr. Solicer, do you want to explain that? Yeah, there's there's a
few items noted on the close session agenda uh resolution rather. So, council does anticipate taking action on the upper management uh blue collar and PBA local 59 superior
officers contracts. Uh and we'll be going over in detail those resolutions when we get to it. Okay. Thank you. Um do we need to close the executive session? The close session?
We've just returned at 4:02 p.m. Okay, I agree with that. Okay, with that we'll open up um our regular meeting agenda and uh first will be additions and deletions. Yes, I'll go over those council. Um so the first edition is
21806 2025. This is a resolution authorizing approval to submit a grant application and execute a grant agreement for the New Jersey DOT for the reconstruction of Grant Street project. I'm sorry to be a monkey wrench, but point of order. Should we call the
meeting to order? And then we already did. Okay. Yeah. So, we did roll call. That's right. We don't usually do it like Sorry. Thanks for explaining that. Thank you. But yeah, this is a continuation of the uh 3:00 meeting. Thank you. Mhm.
So, to that effect, do we have a motion to add 21806 2025 to the regular meeting agenda? Do I have a motion? Yes. Do I have a second? Yes. Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Council
member Baldwin? Yes. Mayor Mullik? Yes. Next we have 219062025, a resolution approving a memorandum of agreement between the city of Kate May and the Telecommunications Workers of America Local 1036 Bluecollar Unit. Do I
have a motion? Yes. Motion. Do I have a second? Second. Roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Bodner. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. We have 22062025,
a resolution approving a memorandum of agreement between the city of Kate May and the government workers union upper management unit and authorizing the execution of a new collective bargaining agreement between the parties covering the period of January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2027. Do I have a motion?
Yes. Do I have a second? Yes. Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Council member Baldwin? Yes. Mayor Mullik? Yes. And finally, 221062025, a resolution approving a memorandum of
agreement between the city of Kate May and PBA local 59 as the bargaining agent for the city of Kate May police department lieutenants and captain and authorizing the execution of new collective bargaining agreement between the parties covering the period of January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2028. Do I have a motion? Do I have a
second? Second. Roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Baldner, yes. Council member Baldwin, yes. Mayor Mullik, yes. Any updates or old business here?
Updates or old business? City manager. Thank you. Um just wanted to update uh you'll probably Siobhan Construction on the prominade project. They were bolting down the last set of benches today. So they should be cleaned up, cleared out
for the summer season and the prominade is now back fully open with no restrictions. So they will return after Labor Day and continue the work on the prominade. Um, another good announcement, uh, mayor, we received a
letter from the Department of Community Affairs, uh, awarding us for the second phase of ADA improvements, uh, to extend the, uh, ADA mats through the tennis ADA path through the continue through the tennis club and up through the
physics estate. So that way we'll be able to have one continuous ADA path through from Madison through Kuanas Park which was a small cities grant and then we had two phases that we'll construct in the fall and winter to get us all the way up through the tennis club and the
physics estate up to Washington Street. So that we'll look forward to a project in the fall winter coming forward. Just a quick question on that project. Have there been revisions to the map as far as the um that access from from
behind for parking? So So I just actually had a meeting last week with MAC and the tennis club to kind of go over how we're going to route the project through there. Um over the next two weeks, I'll be meeting with our design professionals uh to go over that
project with them. And then we'll slight change we'll we'll we have some slight changes on how we're routing through there. But the tennis club and the phys I mean MAC are comfortable with how we're going to get the path through there and um we work with the both of
those groups pretty well and um they seem pretty happy. So once once I have that final route I'll bring it back to council and present how that's going to look on paper to council as we move move forward through design. Great. Thank you.
And um every you know from a standpoint of all of our city departments we're really you know now that you know it's always from Memorial Day to Fourth of July you know we're still in the slow I I call it the little slow period between the the real heavy start of the summer
but all the departments are really geared up. We have all of our summer staff you talked to uh Chief Beck over at the lifeguard. Um, we have probably one of the largest rookie classes we've had in years. So, we'll be be able to be fully staffed and open up some of the
some of our beach stands that have not been I'll say fully opened uh in several years. So, I think we'll be able to have a fully full beach open uh for protection this year and uh you know have all the beach taggers are out there and um public works has the town looking
really nice. So, all the departments have really stepped up and uh we're ready for the full summer season to be upon us. So, thank you. That's great. Um, city solicitor, any updates? Nothing tonight, mayor. Thank you. Okay, city council, I see a citizenship award
update. Um, can I go back to the city manager? Yes. So, I did pass out I did not have a full presentation. I passed out a set of user fees and you know I've been meeting with um Casey on looking at
one of our a lot of use facilities fees are some of these fees that I'm presenting to you have not really been formalized. So, but we, you know, we're looking at what needing them, updating them based on a true, uh, ROI for what our employee
costs are, uh, especially like when we're setting up for special events, whether it's in the small convention side, you know, setting up one hall or both halls and seeing what those employee costs are. Um, so I've we've done some preliminary work. I wanted to
present that to council as as a draft for what user fees and use of facility fees that we're looking forward and then uh by the next meeting I'll work with um Chris on um working on the ordinance. Okay. To uh you know put it in ordinance
form. Um, I I may make a recommendation that we may have maybe an ordinance and a resolution because these fees need to be updated fairly regularly that we may do a base fee ordinance and then have a the ability to uh update the fees by
resolution from time to time as you know as we as our costs change we may want to update these without needing to go to a full ordinance revision. May I ask a question? Sure. Um, I see that you have firefighters, uh, you know, $100 per
hour, police officers, $100 per per hour, but for fire engines, you have 150 per hour. Is there a reason why we don't have police vehicles as part of this analysis? So, we've our our typical blended rate for the um
the police officer includes the vehicle. Um, usually though when you staff a fire engine, you have you can't just staff it. You know, usually with a police vehicle, it's police vehicle and one officer. With a fire engine, you need multiple firefighters. So the costing
for the the fire, you know, so it's that's why we, you know, essentially fire truck and a firefighter and then additional fighters fighters would be allocart to add on based on the the need for that project.
Okay. Great. Okay. Um and city council the citizenship award So, um, this past year we, um, recognized, actually the mayor recognized that, uh, we had not done the citizenship award for the monument, um,
on the Washington Street Mall since, I think around, uh, COVID 2021. Um, so we took that opportunity to resurrect this program. Um and we're able to recognize uh four wonderful individuals who have contributed uh to the city of Kate May over the course of many many years um
and held that uh event um in a couple of weeks ago. So this is to be able to set the uh stage for continuing continuing this program and to do so in a um more routine and regulated fashion. So this is the award
description. Um and then the back is the nomination which would go to the city clerk's office. Um so if you have someone who you think is appropriate who is uh worthy of this um to complete this and obviously a summary of their contributions to the city would be um
should be included. That's great. And just the deadline for residents. Yeah. When is the deadline? Yeah, it says December 31st by the end of the year. So, so annually till December 31st, you can submit this to my office. So, just
remember that we're watching all of you to see who would be the 2025 citizen of the year. So, be on your best behavior. And also, please don't mention us because we're not allowed to to uh Perfect. All right. Thank you. Uh on to
ordinances for introduction. Yes. So, tonight we have ordinance 568-2025, an ordinance amending chapter 194 of the city code regarding construction activities to require notification of work to adjoining owners sharing a party wall.
Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any questions or comments, council? Uh, yes. Um, so this actually came out of some discussions, um, primarily around the, uh, R4 area, uh, Village Green, um,
and there are two others in here, but, um, we have a, uh, an addition or an amendment to the ordinance. Uh, Mr. Gillan Schwarz, could you, um, Sure. Um just I received some uh feedback from council members prior to
this meeting and just just suggesting adding a statement of purpose to go into the the city code provision um that's included in the ordinance. So what's before council now you would just add a section before a new section A and
move everything down and it could read as follows. Statement of purpose. The purpose of this section is to promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of the city by establishing reasonable notice requirements for construction activities involving properties that share one or
more party walls with adjoining structures. The city finds and declares that construction, renovation, or demolition work on buildings with shared or adjoining walls has the potential to impact neighboring properties both structurally and functionally. In order to reduce conflicts, preserve the
integrity of shared structures, and foster cooperative cooperative relationships among property owners, it is the intent of this section to require that any property owner or applicant proposing such work provide timely written notice to all adjacent property
owners with whom a party wall is shared. This section shall be known as the good neighbor construction notice provision and is enacted to ensure that neighboring property owners are properly informed prior to the commencement of any construction activity that may
affect a shared part shared wall or create a condition of potential risk or disruption. Is the policy of the city to encourage proactive communication and responsible construction practices that reflect respect for the rights and concerns of adjoining owners? So that
the intention of this is not for um to ask permission, but it's really just sort of a good neighbor policy for those of us who, you know, live next to or adjoining party wall. Um having your neighbor, having done construction myself, letting them know when I'm, you
know, was undertaking construction, I think just as a common courtesy. Um, and so as activities like this are taking place, I think it's just good practice for us to encourage uh, property owners to just notify their neighbor that they may be having some activity taking place
that they would be aware of contractors in proximity to their property, you know, um, things of that nature. So, um, clarify this is for the shared wall. This is only for shared walls. It's not it's not you're next to somebody and you share a property line. That's not regulated. It's just if you share a
party wall. A party wall. Yes. Um and this is something that the zoning officer actually brought to our attention as something that he has been doing sort of as a practice to encourage communication um so that you know um people are aware of what's going on. So that is the intention here. Um it really
is just sort of a soft introduction to say listen if you're going to do work on your property or if you have a neighbor who is just just let them know you know as a common courtesy. So, um, and thank you, Mr. Gillan Schwarz, for putting that, uh, preamble together. I think it actually works for, um, what the
intention of this is, and I think, um, this is the case for all these ordinances, the next couple ordinances that the planning board has reviewed and and agreed with each of these. So, okay. Any any questions or comments? Council, roll call, want to make a motion to
amend that. I'm sorry. I'll I'll make the motion to amend the ordinance to include the preamble as um put forth by Mr. Gillan Schwarz. Do I have a second to that motion? I'll second. Everyone understands that this for the amendment. Do I have a motion on the amendment? I
mean, I'm sorry. Do I roll call on the amendment? Thank you. All right. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Bodner. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. Do I have a motion on the amended ordinance? I'll make that motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Questions or
comments? Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDeade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Council member Baldwin? Yes. Mayor Mul? Yes. We have uh 569-2025, an ordinance amending chapter 417 of the
city code to clarify exemptions from site plan review. Do I have a motion? I will make the motion. Do I have a second? Second. Any questions or comments? Council, roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member
Bodner. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. 570-2025, an ordinance amending chapter 525 of the city uh zoning code to clarify design standards for exterior air conditioning units in the R4 zone. Do I have a
motion? I'll make the motion. We have a second. A second. Any questions or comments? Again, I know this came up from our zoning officer and again was unanimously approved by planning board. Any other questions or comments? Roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy
Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Bodner. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. 571-2025, an ordinance designating an unnamed public right ofway as Dempsey Drive in honor of Emily Dempsey. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion. Do I have a
second? A second. Everyone wants Any questions or comments? Do we have to make an ordinance to make this a one-way? Oh, I think we do. Wasn't it already a oneway? The question is, is is this included in the ordinance of of making
it a a oneway? The Dempsey Drive ordinance. It's it's not really uh regulating the direction. It's acknowledging that it's a it's a oneway. Should we add it or or is it okay? Should we do that separately
and not take away from the you know Yeah, this is this is a this is a different this is naming a street. This is not the traffic. This is not for traffic control. Okay. Okay. And and arguably it's not really a street
regulated under traffic for a oneways perspective. So, we can direct. Why don't we I mean, I have some other streets that I'm going to be evaluating for oneways that I have some requests on. So, let me look at that and then I'll bring back probably a
list of some oneways that I've had some requests for and we'll look at that. You comfortable with that, Mr. Meyer? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Great. Okay. I want to make sure we can take a people with Yeah, absolutely. U and I think I speak for everyone that we're we're thrilled to name Dempsey
Drive for Emily and um we had a wonderful ceremony the other day and uh that we thank you to the Dempsey family. Roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Bodner. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. And Mayor, I
think it's important to mention that Mrs. Dempsey sent us a very nice letter in response to it. Yeah. Really? She did secondarily ask if she can put a toll booth on that street. And finally, we have 572-2025, an ordinance amending chapter 7 of the
Kay city code regarding metered parking and incorporating the Ocean View parking lot pursuant to city use agreement. Do I have a motion? Can I still need one? Do I have a second? Thank you. Can I have a comment? Comment. Um, I just want to, you know,
really I I look forward to this being a model that we might be able to move throughout the city and having a partnership with some of our uh private uh parking lots to to, you know, when they're not in use in the off time that
if we can encourage them to open it up to public parking when they're not using it. um you know having that public private partnership I think it's a it's a win-win uh for everyone and I just thank uh the ocean view for you know stepping forward coming you know having
the discussion with the city and and and allowing us to partner with them. So hopefully this is just I know we did this with Cape Island Baptist which was kind of the start but this you that was we already had an arrangement with them and and you know sharing of a parking
lot. this is really the next step of really a public partner private partnership. So I look forward to reaching out to maybe some of the other establishments in the in the city that might be able to do the same thing. That's I think I think I think it's a
great job Paul and and echo I'm sure everyone echoes those sentiments to the ocean view and an open invitation to any of the other uh businesses out there. I think it's or churches or any other organizations, it this really does make
a lot of sense um for the businesses, it makes a lot of sense for the city of Cape May. Um if you're like me and you see an empty parking lot where there's a ton of parking needed, this makes a lot of sense. And and just to put it out there to the businesses and
organizations, um you know, this takes care of insurance and things like that that obviously is important to businesses. So, uh, I think it's a good good, uh, win-win type scenario for anyone out there with a parking lot in the city of Kate May. So, okay. Uh, we
have a motion in a second to, uh, any questions or comments. Roll call. Council member Meyer, yes. Deputy Mayor McDade, yes. Council member Bodner, yes. Council member Baldwin, yes. Mayor Mullik, yes. And we have ordinances for second reading and consideration for adoption
is 560-2025, an ordinance amending chapter 7 of the Kate May city code regarding metered parking incorporating the AM church parking lot. And there is a public hearing tonight. Mayor, is anyone here wishing to speak on ordinance 560, the AM church parking lot?
Seeing none, we can close public comment. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any questions or comments, council? Roll call. Council member Meyer, yes. Deputy Mayor McDade, yes. Council member Bodner, yes. Council
member Baldwin, yes. Mayor Mullik, yes. And 561-2025, an ordinance amending section 482, the city code to update the policies and procedures for the protection of trees in the city of Cape May with a public hearing. Mayor, is anyone here wishing to speak on ordinance 561?
Seeing none, we can close public comment. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. I just want to again thank uh Councilman Meyer and the Shade Tree Commission for always being diligent and uh obviously makes a ton of
sense to protect our trees. So, uh any other questions or comments? Roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Bodner. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. Next, we have the public portion on the resolutions only.
Does any like to open it up to public comment for resolutions this even this afternoon? Is anyone here wishing to speak on resolutions? Hi Ros Johnson, 826 Lafayette Street. Um my question actually has to do with the welcome center lease and I guess that
was on on your uh close session resolution 206. Um, I don't know if you can talk about it, but I was wondering, um, who holds the lease now? Is it not the Chamber of Commerce? Correct. Have that as a resolution today? Not that we
don't. No, no, it was it was on for a close session discussion, but the city is currently negotiating with MAC, right? Um, and nobody uh the chamber uh left the space at the end of their term, did not renew, and so the city's looking
to partner with MAC right now. So, okay. Okay, we were discussing finalizing those terms and probably we'll have something in the very near future with Mac. Okay. Well, I actually I would encourage that because um I saw that on the agenda and last year I had brought up that the welcome center really looked
horrible and shabby inside. Uh so before the meeting I decided to go in and look and uh I was really pleasantly surprised. Uh now that Mac has taken it over um there's a a beautiful map inside. It's huge and the um the way
they have it set up is so much more welcoming than when the chamber had it. Um I talked to the um the volunteers that were there. They were very nice. I when I came in they said you know can you can you help me with anything? And
that really wasn't the response that I got when uh the Chamber of Commerce was there. Um but uh they did say, you know, I I was um telling them, "Oh, it's so beautiful inside here. It's so nice." And um they said, "Yeah, we really wish
that the outside looked like how we feel on the inside." Um, the outside, I don't know if you know, is is uh gray grayish brown, very very dull. Uh, not very welcoming. And they said, you know, they
wish the outside looked kind of more sunny. That's the word that they used. Um, so I don't know if you'd ever consider it uh possibly, you know, given the outside since because the um the sign on the street and your
plantings that you've put there are so nice, but definitely once you get to the welcome center, the outside does not reflect the welcoming sign that's inside that's on the street. So, if you would ever consider making that look a little
bit more welcoming on the outside because they definitely have made a wonderful improvement inside. So, I thank Mac for that. So, thank you. Great, great suggestions. Thank Thank you, Ross. Anyone else on resolutions this evening, Mr. Roush? Yes. Good
afternoon. Good afternoon. R1010 New York Avenue. Uh, resolution 211. Is is this the an intention to serve alcohol during the concerts? It's or make that available. So, what
what happened is we we council already authorized summer concert series uh promoters and one of the contracts includes already includes the ability to pursue social affairs permits which is a specific kind of like oneoff permit.
you're limited to a certain number a year, but they have to be obtained by a nonprofit organization. So, it's a specific type of one-off permit. Um, and there's a limited number for the year there. This has already been authorized in one of the contracts. And what this
resolution is doing is putting both of those contracts on the same playing field and basically saying to both promoters, look, you can if you would like and the city would like to have that available for those specific events, um it can be done through a
social affairs permit. If there are uh specialty concerts that the city doesn't run, can that can the this same uh permit be issued to uh other people?
It's only this this resolution is specifically targeting the summer con concert series and those events that were authorized by prior resolutions. So, if we're going to do something different at another event, that's going to be subject to further authorization
by council. But this is dealing specifically with the 2025 summer concert series. And if the summer concert series would move outside, could the alcohol then be served outside as well? um subject to permitting
requirements and and public safety issues and and those types of considerations which all go into a social affairs permit application. But doesn't that come into conflict with the um prohib the prohibition against
serving or having alcohol on the beach? Well, this this would be an exception to that. Um and this really contemplates the interior of Convention Hall. Um, so the the location would really if if it's proposed to be changed, that would that would require another discussion with
the city because I I I would strongly discourage uh having alcohol distributed on on the beach. Um I think that would be a something we really don't want to see uh expanded. Um
my next question is on resolution 212. Um I've not heard any discussion among council about the really what this means and um I think it would be a
we should have an opportunity to know what what what it is are we talking about. Um and in in also in view of that since it's um and I don't know exactly where the city property line is between Kate May and West Cape May whether
that's in conflict with the property line um but certainly it whatever we do in a restriction way is going to impact West Kate May um and um I think it needs to have a
certain discussion so that we know what it is that you're planning and um and then move forward with a study. But at this point, I I I I would like to hear at least a discussion of what's planned and how council feels
about it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rous. Should we just get this out of the way? I was just separate from the agenda. Do you want to go ahead? Yeah, it would
be um We're sorry, gentlemen. We just wanted to follow up on Mr. Rous's comment on 212. If you give So, this is following up on a project that I presented in last year's uh the 2024 capital bond project. Uh it's a flood resiliency wall revetment that we're
looking at. It's it's all within the city limits of Cape May essentially coming I'll say at the abupment at the Cape Island Creek Bridge on Elmmyra Street and would follow along I'll say essentially the coastal marsh and the wetland line um along the back side of
the substation wrap around Venice down along the Bank Street parking lot and then up wouldn't hit Broad Street but would head towards Broad Street and essentially create a raised all to
prevent the overland flooding, mitigate the flooding that comes into that area. Um, we did have I was just really quick looking to see I thought I had put up a presentation um on online. But now if if council moves forward with this, I know we did it in
our presentation. I had a map for council that showed that I'll say the location as well. If this is authorized tonight, I'll put a a section on the city website that will further describe this project. now is going to move into the design phase to show the public exactly where this uh flood resiliency
wall would be located. And as more information would come up, uh we would do that. We did have a I'll say a pre-application meeting with the D just to kind of see what permit hurdles will be had. So that's that was kind of the delay in looking at moving this forward
and and what permit restrictions and requirements so that they could uh accurately prepare a proposal uh for the city. Okay. I can if I could. Yeah. Yeah. Um for years this has always been an area that has been a floodprone area
and I guess really until you came on Paul um nobody ever mentioned anything about doing this. Um it just makes sense uh for that end of town. Um I mean it's one of our and I recall it as part of the presentation. It was part of the presentation and part of the capital from last year. Yep. Yeah. I mean it's
probably one of our two hot spots you know here. Yacht Avenue and you know that's it's one of our most critical spots that gets flooded and a lot of people use that to move back and forth. So um it's a critical location. I the roads closed if it if there's a major
storm. So it's and not even not even a major storm. We could have a you know full moon blood and tide. You can have three, four, six inches of water in that street. I floated my car over that bridge before. I floated my car like wheels just going. Yep. So, so it's it's
it's definitely needed and and that was one of the things that I wanted to move forward. So, okay. The water that does get trapped in that location, it will be pumped out though, right? Yeah, we already and that was something, you know, about a year and a half ago, uh, public works worked to rebr because the
pumps were there. They were taken away. We brought those back in u 2023. Uh so you'll see that the flooding and then now we have also interconnected because the pumps that are over on Venice Avenue kind of just handled the the
intersection of Venice and Bank and that so the flooding that would be over on Elmyra Street was not connected and didn't have any way to get we interconnected those two systems as part of some of the work that uh we had done. So now when we the pumps will actually
help clear out Elmyra Street too, but this wall will help further prevent water from getting in that area. Jules, it's a good question because to be honest with you, I it's good to get a reminder on this stuff, too. And I I it reminds me, we going back even a couple
years, we had Stockton Coastal Research do um an analysis. They actually put um uh tide measurements in some of the storm drains and things like that. So, um, actually kind of interesting stuff. Um, any any other, uh, comments tonight
on, uh, resolutions this evening or this afternoon still? Good afternoon. John Bobick, Captain Kimmy, please. Um, on behalf of myself, Lieutenant Maz, Lieutenant Walker, just wanted to say thank you to council, thank you to the manager's office. Um,
we, this was, uh, putting this superior officer's contract together. This has been a long time coming. We've been attempting to try and get this as soon as we had the captain, lieutenant, chief um administrative um setup in the police department. We've
been trying to get this together. It it'll be a tremendous cost saving to both the city and the local PBA, which recognize them as well. And just want to say thank you to everyone involved. It it was very reasonable and uh courteous
negotiations and we really appreciate it. Captain, we thank you for that and we we thank you guys every day. I mean, seriously, you're topnotch. So, having said that, we have actually not voted on this yet. We
we voted to add it to the agenda. Well, thank you for the consideration. Does that mean you'll be back up in five minutes when we vote on it? No, you got it. We'll have a seat now. Not to give. I haven't left this. Yeah. Yeah. No,
we'll take we'll take double thanks all day every day. Any anyone else on the on the resolutions? Yeah. Yeah. Out of order. Um on to the consent agenda. Yes. Council, is there anything you'd
like to remove from the consent agenda this evening? Anything, council? No. No. All right. Do we have a motion to accept the consent agenda? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Okay.
Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik. Yes. On the regular agenda, we have 218062025, the resolution authorizing approval to submit a grant application and execute a
grant agreement with the New Jersey DOT for the reconstruction of Grant Street project. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? Second. Questions or comments? Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDeade? Yes. Council member Bodner?
Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Mayor Mullik, yes. Excuse me. We have 21906 2025 resolution approving an MOA between the city of Kate May and the CWA local 1036 blue collar unit. Do
I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Questions or comments? Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Council member Baldwin? Yes. Mayor Mullik? Yes. Next we have 2206 2025.
It's a resolution approving an MOA between the city of Kate May and GWU upper Management uh recognizing the execution of a new collective bargaining agreement between the parties covering January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2027. Do I have a motion? I'll motion. Do I
have a second? I'll second. Roll call. Council member Meyer? Yes. Deputy Mayor McDeade? Yes. Council member Bodner? Yes. Council member Baldwin? Yes. Mayor Mulik? Yes. And finally, 22106 2025 resolution approving a memorandum of agreement
between the city of Kate May and PBA local 59 as the bargaining agent for Kate May city police department lieutenants and captain authorizing the execution of the new collective bargaining agreement for the parties covering January 1st 25 through December 31st 28. Do I have a motion? I'll make
that motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any questions or comments? Roll call. Council member Meyer. Yes. Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Council member Bodner, yes. Council member Baldwin, yes. Mayor Mullik, yes. Thank you all very much. And now it's adopted. They'll
get back up and thank us. Thank you very much. Thank you. [Laughter] And and but in all seriousness, thank you gentlemen very much. We appreciate all your hard work. Same to the GW. I just want to say a little something and
our blueprint. starts it starts uh Era Presinski Cindy Kate May public works so it starts with the top down so the table right here is a perfect example of the leadership to the members of public works they couldn't stay obviously but they do thank you Paul Justin thanks for
everything hey Eric you've been doing such a good job we're going to give them junth off miss Thursdays I'll take it some people are some people working. Thank them for us as well, too. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thanks, Eric. And Eric to to you, too.
Thank you so much for your hard work and leadership. Looks great. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Uh with that, we are on to uh new business. City solicitor. Nothing tonight, mayor. Thank you. City manager, any new business?
Well, new business. Uh Junth, uh we'll be officially be closing city hall uh Thursday on Junth. So, um we'll be posting that. Um for we will be doing regular recycling collection on Junth.
Um as well as our normal beach collection, you know, for trash and recycling on our beach and the mall and those different public spaces. So, all those types of activi activities will be continue to be operational. Okay. And run as normal. Thank you. Um Mr. City
Manager, is there not um I think you sent out an email with regard to some changes with recycling center next week on canning. So for next week, uh the um Thank you. Um there's going to be doing South Gas is going to be doing road work on Canning House Lane. Uh so the
recycling center will not be able to have the convenience center be open to drop off. Uh I've worked with uh Eric and superintendent and public works. We will have a recycling only drop off at
Lafayette Street Park for next week. Um while the recycling center can't be open for south by search because of South Jersey gas work. Um could you describe what would be limited to the drop off site? just
just your normal household recycling. Anything that you would normally take over for household recycling, we will be able to accept. We would ask residents just to hold off. If you have grass clippings or leaf droppings or anything else that they would be dropping off and want to drop off at the recycling
center, just ask them to please hold it for that that week. Uh um we just don't want to try to inconvenience a resident by trying to get down a half closed road in between construction activity. You know,
Canning House Lane is already a narrow road as it is and um it's just going to be better for the public. But we wanted to have the availability because we know a lot of residents rely on the residential recycling. And so, you know, we worked with Eric over this last week
to um figure out how we can accommodate the residents and we felt the most appropriate way was to be able to have a drop off center at Lafayette Street Park grass, you know, where we park uh and uh there'll be a collection area there normal for normal business hours and
drop off your residential recycling only there. So, is it only residential and not commercial? Well, commercial too. Yeah. Yeah. if a commercial business, but it's just but it's just for just as long as it's it's it's regular plastic coingle single stream recycling collection. Okay. Nothing nothing beyond
that. Okay. Yep. City clerk, any updates? Nothing tonight, Mayor. Thank you. Okay. Council members, Council Member Baldwin. Uh I just have one thing. Um the Beach Safety Committee um is going to hold their fourth annual open house at headquarters
um from 8 to 10 on Sunday. Right. Uh there's going to be mock rescue demonstrations. There'll be refreshments that'll be served. So breakfast, your typical bagels and coffee and donuts. Coffee and donuts. Yes. Um so perfect. And um there'll be somebody announcing
it on the uh on the prominade. That's great. So thank you. You get a chance to stop by. Council member Bodner. Nothing tonight. Mayor Deputy Mayor McDade. Yes. Just a reminder that um actually council um councilman Bodner and I we're he's
joining me tomorrow for the mayoral wellness walk on the pro on the beach mats north of convention hall. Um I'll be joined by some of the members of the OEM team um deputy chief e um Eric um
Frank McCcluskey uh perhaps Chief Fashel based on his schedule and Harry back from beach patrol. We're going to be focusing our discussion points uh as we encounter residents and visitors around public safety, hurricane preparedness, the Nexel program, um swimming, you
know, on the beach activities, swimming near guards, posted areas, things of that nature. So, we just came up with some talking points so that we could engage with uh residents and visitors on that topic. So, tomorrow at 11:00, we'll be kicking off heading north on the beach mats and it's not going to rain.
Finally. Well, now you jinx me. Yeah. All right, Councilman Meyer. Uh, thank you, Merritt. Uh, we're we as a shade tree commission and the subcommittee are still finding trees of heaven. So, keep lookout for them in a time being uh before we take those trees down. Uh, look for the
lantern flies. Right now, what they look like is little black uh little nymphs or whatnot, a little uh black with white dots. If you uh see a bunch in your yard, grab a spray bottle, you know, put some uh soapy water and some vinegar in there, spray those babies. That way they
won't uh progress to the next stage of their life cycle and they won't grow their wings. Um so that's something that we're working on as well. Uh another thing that the state commission is look working on is creating a tree bank. Uh currently the code is that if you are
get the permission to remove a tree on your property, you have to replace it with two trees and some people have a limited amount of space and uh and with the permission of this the uh shade tree commission we will wave the need to plant those trees but we will ask for money and you know instead that way we
can create the tree bank and plant more trees on on street lines of Cape May. That's great. Uh and you know finally I just want to mention that you know we have very strict law laws about trees in Kate May. We pro all these trees are protected. Uh we had a person take down a tree that was 20 inches in diameter.
Uh currently the code is uh pi r 2 * 27. So you know 10 in time 3.14 uh 10 you know 10 x 10* 3.14* 27. this tree that we had taken down, they they cut it and they put a planter on top of
it to hide that it was gone. Um, that tree was worth over $8,000 in penalties. Wow. So, it's very ser we take this very seriously, folks. That's it. Thank you for your diligence on that, Mr. Meyer. Um just real quickly I just add um
actually this morning we took um the DCA around this a state agency that um community affairs um and they one of the things that they do is a lot of ADA accessibility grants that the city has
been fortunate enough to receive a few of. Um, also the small cities grant um, and one of which we've been working on, Franklin Street out front. And I just want to share with the public that they they were just so thrilled with the
projects that we have going on using their funds, which um, you know, you want to be careful when you're using grant funding to make sure you're doing what you said you're going to do and do it well and and spend it well. And I just report to you that their happiness
in frankly being able to show their higherups in the state. Um some really beautiful pictures. And I just tell you included on that tour was of course Franklin Street and you know the new gas lanterns and lights and and um the brick
work and the crosswalks. Um it included um the Kuanas Club Park. We went over there and all these kids are out there playing, having a great time and uh all ADA accessible. Um so they were just so impressed with um the work that that
that went into and the the use of the funds, frankly. And the last one that we took them to see was the beachwalk and to be able to show them 1.6 six miles of um and and then of course we saw a few people there on on motorized scooters um
and and wheelchairs using that. So anyway, I just want to describe to the general public how thrilled they were and I think that means that there might be some more money coming in, which is always a good thing. And uh we did just get the letter on on phase two of the tennis club for um that that
accessibility project. Um, two other quick ones. We just had the nature trail opening. Wonderful opening. I thank thank everybody for being there and um encourage anybody to go take a look. It really is a wonderful project um and and beautiful and we thank the county again
for their support of that project. One other just public um you know announcement. We I just went uh last week with my wife and saw the Kate May stage opening uh play. It was wonderful. And I just feel like everybody should go out and see it. It's really wonderful
and it's it's nice to just have a night where you're not on a television screen or a phone screen or something and you go out and experience that live arts in in our community which is really wonderful. And I know Eastland Theater uh as well has a has a new play coming up just in Thursday. Thank you for their
first showing on Thursday night. So go out and see the show. It really is great. So thank you. With that, I'll open it up for public comment. Anyone wishing to speak, please come to the microphone. State your name and address, please. Mayor, council, and staff. My name is Edward Quigley. I live in Richmond,
Virginia, 5521 Cottage Street. Uh, I've come to Cape May to address you on a an issue of safety. In uh July 7th of 2015, the pole, an oak shaft of a windblown
beach umbrella impaled me through the left eye and breached my brain cavity. I died on the operating table and brain surgery. Took 23 minutes of chest compressions and seven cycles with those paddles to bring me back. And so after
recovery and a few operations, I decided my mission was to educate people on the dangers of windb blown beach umbrellas. And I do have a handout if uh maybe that could be passed around. In uh
2021, uh a few uh senators got together and wrote a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission chair. And out of that came a task group in ASM. That's the American standards for testing and
materials. Uh if you buy a PVC pipe, it says ASM and a number. In April of 24, a safety standard for beach umbrellas was published uh by ASM. And in May of 24, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
incorporated that into their guidance for beach umbrella safety. We had a team of engineers. I worked on the the task group in ASM for about three years. Still on it, still working it. Uh we had a team of engineers from the Consumer
Product Safety Commission and they spent two years testing beach umbrellas in wind conditions on beaches and in wind tunnels to develop the scientific data that determines what can keep a a beach umbrella safe and secure on the beach.
And so the safety standard was written uh with uh two things in mind. One is uh some testing that could allow manufacturers, distributors, retailers, even private individuals to test beach umbrella paraphernalia, which the main
uh object of the testing is the umbrella and also an anchor device. It was determined that no beach umbrella is safe on the beach without an anchor device. And you may think that if you put it, you know, a foot and a half into the
sand and tilt it into the wind, it's safe. It's not. 10 days after my accident, more than 40 beach umbrellas blew down the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. It was late in the day and fortunately, no one was injured. I watched that video so many times and it
came so close. Um, so what was determined was that for a standard beach umbrella, the kind that we see on the beach as a, you know, the oak shaft and the 7 and 1/2 ft diameter canopy, it takes 75 pounds of resistance to keep
that secure on the beach in a wind up to 30 miles hour. And we set 30 miles hour at the upper limit because if it's blowing at 30 miles an hour, you're probably being sand blasted. Not many people stay on the beach in those conditions.
So um in the the the standard there are uh wind tunnel tests and there's a simple pull test and it was determined that that 75 pounds is absolutely what's required. And so if a manufacturer uh
tests their device uh and it passes, they can affix a compliance label to the anchor device. Some of these are integrated systems. So you can put on the integrated system as well. Uh and also if you look at the uh handout
there's a uh an image of a warning label. That warning label is prescribed to be affixed to the inside of canopies of newly manufactured umbrellas. And uh we had an expert from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that helped
design that label. And originally we were going a little timid with the graphic on it, but the experts said, "No, it's like a lawn mower or a power tool. We show cut off fingers on lawnmowers. You need to get the the attention of the consumer, the user of
the product." And so that's why it's a little bit graphic. Uh I'll tell you uh there was a little worry about whether it would affect children, but uh at Halloween uh the children walk around and they know that that's not real right there. And so we don't believe the
labels will affect children uh in a negative way. Uh hopefully uh their parents will explain that there's a danger there and that's why uh the label is there. Uh so why am I here other than spreading the word? Uh, beach umbrellas
can be dangerous. Uh, there have been some deaths. There's thousands of injuries each year documented by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And so what I have is an aluminum sign. And my ask is that these be posted near
beach access points and possibly on the back of uh lifeguard stands. Uh uh there there there is a city that has a tram uh Wildwood and they're actually putting them on the back of the trams as well.
Uh I have a uh donor for beach umbrella safety uh the organization that I started uh who will provide these signs free of charge to any city that's willing to post them. And uh all I need is a little advanced word and they'll
manufacture them. we'll get them delivered and uh your city can put them up with a screw or two. Uh so I I know that uh you probably have some process to consider this uh but uh I would hate
to think that a child or even an adult was injured because we didn't warn them that there's a danger. Thank you. That's uh first off u we're happy you're here and uh thank you for that. I mean, I actually know someone in Kate May who
was impaled by an umbrella and and had some significant injuries. Um, so I know close to home that this is a tough it's very real real danger. It's real. Um, obviously, you know, we probably have a couple ordinances we'd have to
look at for the sign, of course, but the offer of doing that and through it and and for free is is is awesome. Um, and we have I think you may have just heard we have the beach safety um advisory u you when when was that again? Yeah, I
was going to say could you take the sign and share with them? Yeah. Uh you can have this sign. Would that be okay because we have our open house on Sunday. Okay. Why don't you why don't you stay in Kate May till Sunday and and come to our open house. Uh I would but
I'm uh babysitting my granddaughter 15 years old. Bring her down. Wake Forest, North Carolina. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh I'm actually speaking in in Atlantic City tomorrow and in the morning I'm dropping off 180 signs to Long Beach Island. Wow.
So uh we've got probably uh eight cities now that have uh decided to go forward and actually I've delivered the signs. That's great. Now just a quick question for you. the anchors that you're this is showing you the danger of this, but the
anchors I think are what's really important, right? Um I have an older anchor, you know, that I twist into the ground, but are the new ones affixed with like, you know, is is it um CPSC like is it it's still kind of new? Uh
there are some products if you look on Amazon and put in that F-3681, you'll see some products come up that already have compliance and uh the uh uh the screw devices are not effective. Uh so if you think about it, yes, the the
ones that are separate from the pole itself. Yeah. So uh if you think about it, you could put that into the ground and probably with about 10 pounds of force pull it. Uh because the only thing that's holding it after that umbrella rocks a little bit is the additional
weight of the sand in the screw itself. Oh, not the screw one. Like it's like a um like a a propeller, right? Right. So So think about it. You've got this much uh blade or so around it around that
screw device. And so the the sand within that blade is the only additional weight that you have. And it's not going to amount to 75 pounds. the the the engineers determined that. So, uh my advice, check on Amazon.
There's a number of devices out there and uh hopefully you find one that is convenient for for you. Uh my whole family has them now, of course, and we've been using anchors for years. Uh fortunately, I'll bring this up at the beach safety
committee meeting. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Thank you for allowing me to come here an out oftowner and uh share my story. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I love your town, by the way. Been here a few times and I love
it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak today tonight? Tonight now. 502. Okay. I didn't uh Jules Rous 1010 New York Avenue. really hard to uh not accept the kind of offer that that
gentleman has made. Just nobrainer. Um as I look at at the direction that the city's going and then this past week, we got announced in the newspaper that the federal government is going to
discontinue funds for beach beach replenishment and they're pulling back funds from every department that they possibly can. I'm concerned about the beach fund uh withdrawal of funding. We have a as I
understand it we're scheduled for 27 for a replenishment. Um and this their federal program is so important to us that I don't think we could just sit by and just do nothing. I
don't frankly don't don't know how you would propose to try and get some political assistance but uh this is such a priority for for Kate May that I I think it's important that really we kind of address and be aggressive in trying
to make sure that you know we do get our funding and in line with that you know we have about 15 years left on our contract and you know if if if it's an appropriate time to start to to initiate some kind of effort towards extending
that contract. You know, Kate May was in a unique position because the federal government approved it based on the mistake that the f federal government made with the jetties. So, you know, we we we we need to be proactive in that
particular regard. But that also um brings to light that we need to we need to be more aggressive with the del plant. I don't know where that particularly project stands, but that's a health issue, a safety issue. Uh it's
it's another it's another one that involves a lot of money and the dependence upon the government for whatever assistance will be there. But I would strongly recommend that we be more aggressive in in in seeking those funds.
Um, and then we also I don't where the the I know both the Delaware Avenue and Wilmington Avenue projects have been approved, but there's another issue there. It's funding. Uh my understanding
is both of those are dependent upon funding. So here we are. We're looking at, you know, some of the major issues in in this community are all based on federal funding. And I think I don't know how to suggest to the to to city council that they develop some kind of a
proactive committee organization to try to achieve success in accomplishing these three major projects. So I bring that to your attention and hope that you will work towards that that end. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Rous. And I think everyone up here agrees with you 100% obviously. Um, in fact, today I spoke at the Chamber of Commerce in regards to the seaw wall funding from FEMA. If you're following the news, FEMA
has been a bit of a target lately in regards to funding. Um, and you know, we have $25 million in approved to do that. Um, so we're waiting for that check to be distributed. So we're we're very
hopeful, but we we'll see. Um, but I want to just say one thing in support of it. That's not something that happened just all of a sudden. It's based off of years
and years of work to get to the $25 million in funding and and and frankly some aggressive push. Um, but in defense of my experience with a with a group like FEMA in regards to this $25
million, when it comes down to it, you think it's going to all be about scientific data, which it is. you know, you're you're looking at where are your weak points and and things like that from flooding and estimated, you know, sea level rise
andor storm surge, etc. But it's dollars and cents. FEMA wants to fund projects that protect a lot of value. Uh so when we're talking about Wilmington and where of course everyone saw it Sandy, you
remember the Wilmington sign, you know, was sand up to the sign. We had to prove that this project financially made a lot of sense that we were protecting a lot of value with not
so much of a cost compared to other projects which are big big projects. And that's one of the reasons that this was approved and funded. And um so I say that in just to say this project makes a ton of financial
sense. Forgetting, you know, any value that it may have to protecting the city financially. Uh this $25 million protects billions of dollars in value. So uh you know, talking kind of like
almost like an insurance person, you know, this makes a ton of sense to do. And and that's the argument that of course we've been pushing basically. And I just would follow up. We're having those discussions on a monthly bi-weekly basis with our federal partners, you
know, both at the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, um, and our legislative teams, whether it's, uh, you know, Congressman Vandrew or Senator Bookers or Senator Kim's office. We're having regular discussions with those groups on all of our those projects and making
good headway on maintaining the funding that has been earmarked and lining us up for future earmarks. And um we hope really soon to have a presentation to council on the beach safety uh to bring a proposal back to to move that
discussion forward and and doing that, you know, lining on how we can start looking at that 15-year mark and start that design and and discussion with the Army Corps process. Uh we'll probably in the fall have some discussions and I'll bring forth with council on how we're
going to probably fund and mechanically um phase in the desalinization plant and and how we're going to look at that. I've been working with Kevin on doing some financial modeling and and to be able to show counsel and the public and
our bulk user partners in West Kate May Kate May Point and the Coast Guard on how we need to fund this and um you know we have some really realistic uh opportunities to you know make sure that the project is coste effective but also
leveraging um funding from our federal and state partners. So we're we are looking at all those things and actively working on them. So it's it's on I appreciate you you know Jules bringing that to our table but but
it is on our you know plate weekly. Yep. Anyone else this evening? This evening. Seeing none, we can close public comment. Have a wonderful evening everyone. Thank you. I make the most.