##VIDEO ID:DwtSKKxITEU## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right good afternoon everybody we have a special meeting of the city council of the City of Cape May New Jersey we are here in the Cap May City Hall Auditorium today is Wednesday January 22nd 2025 the time is 3:00 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I I pledge 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 thank you under the open public meetings law notice that this meeting was sent to the C 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 the K May City Hall bulletin board notice is hereby provided that K May City Council meetings are audio recorded and or video streamed live live video streams are posted to the K May City website city of K is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call council member Baldwin will be arriving shortly and enter into the Clos session council member Bodner here Deputy Mayor McDade here council member Meer here mayor mullik here City sister Gillan Schwarz here city manager Dietrick here Deputy manager rigs here Deputy clerk Turner is present and upstairs and CFO Kevin Haney here we Al also have present is our labor Council Michael Watson hello Council we have one resolution on the special meeting agenda it's 6501 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 njsa 10 col 4-12 this is to uh discuss collective bargaining negotiations for the following units gwu upper management UAW middle management PBA local 59 for the superior officers uh CWA white College CWA blue collar and the I local 3495 firefighters do I have a motion I'll make EXC I'll make the motion second I'll second roll call council member Meer yes Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner yes mayor milk yes public portion mayor is anyone here wishing to speak on this resolution seeing none we'll close public comment and go into close session time is 303 303 thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good afternoon everyone we are coming out of a close session which we're going to take no action on we need to adjourn that special meeting do I have a motion to adjourn that I'll make that motion mayor do you have a second I'll second thank you uh with that we'll open up our reorganization meeting of the city council of the City of Cape May we are here in the Cape May City Hall Auditorium today is Wednesday January 22nd 2025 the time is now 74 p.m please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance i al 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 thank you under the open public meetings law notice that this meeting was sent to the K May 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 K City Council meetings are audio recorded and video stream live live video streams are posted to the K May City website city of K is not responsible of audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable roll call council member Baldwin here counc member Bodner here Deputy Mayor McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager gck here uh Deputy manager reigs here and DEP Deputy clerk Turner here all right May here we have the invocation first first we have the uh invocation father Alan Leonard from the church of the Advent would you please join us thank you very much almighty God ruler of all people send down upon those who hold office in this city of K May the spirit of wisdom charity and Justice that with steadfast purpose they may Faithfully serve in their offices to promote the well-being of all people guide them in their deliberations that all that they do may be in accordance with your gracious will and for the welfare of all the residents of Camp all this we ask in your holy name amen amen amen thank you move on to the Oaths some Oaths of office here beginning with yours mayor uh uh the honorable Judge baton if you would please join us at the podium Need Is this where you have us clerk if you'd like okay yeah Justine would you like hold the Bible it's your event as you wish okay so you are going to raise your right hand left I hold a microphone one of the where should I go you got you got to hold it for the judge here okay come on over here you got to hold it for the judge right you got to hold it up so you can hear your dad okay get a little closer get a little closer step right in here all right and hold the mic a little bit closer to your dad's chin dad's chin you set please repeat after me I Zachary mullach i Zachary mullach do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of a Kate May city mayor of a Kate May city mayor according to to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will not use my office and that I will not use my office to Grant preferential treatment to Grant preferential treatment nor to seek personal gain nor to seek personal gain favor favor or advantage or Advantage not available to the general public not available to the general public so help me God so help me God [Applause] I'm all right next up we have council member Bodner here yes next we have the oath of office administered to council member Steve Bodner by the honorable Judge baton yes so my wife is here my mom is here my sister here oh Mom can you come up to and back I know you wanted I know you wanted to someone a picture my wife please repeat after me I Steven Bodner I Steven Bodner do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of a cap May City council member at large of a cap May City council member at large according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will not use my office and I will not use my office to Grant preferential treatment to Grant preferential treatment nor to seek personal gain nor to seek personal gain favor favor or advantage or Advantage not available to the general public not available to the general public so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you spe Steve yeah yeah please yeah so if I could just make a a couple of remarks um I just want to I want to I'm very grateful for the opportunity to serve on K May um city council and I want to thank the people who supported me in the election um and I thank you for trusting me to have with the responsibility of serving on Kate May City Council um Kate May is such a unique and special City with our history with our architecture but most importantly with the character and fabric of the people of Kate May and it is humbling to be able to sit in this position and serve on city council um I would say I was inspired in part to run for city council by coming to meetings and watching the people who I'm sitting up here with mayor mullik other members of city council former councilman um Mike joerger who who Mike I appreciate you being here tonight um and and watching watching them work and devote themselves to Kate May and do what is best for Kate May and what I hope to do is add that value to the city and to council as well and serve in that same capacity and bring my talents just as each of them are bringing their talents to Cape May um I would be completely remiss without acknowledging my wife and my family um being here tonight um my wife Ellen um my partner and I appreciate all of your support um and your tolerance for me um and I want to also acknowledge my my family who's always supportive of me but my mom is here tonight as well my mom's birthday was yesterday and the one thing that she wanted for her birthday was to be here for the ceremony tonight so I'm very grateful for my sister Mary Beth um for bringing her down I'm glad they were all able to be here and I would add my mom and Mary Beth also are homeowners and Kate may as well they don't vote down here but they but they but they also have homes in Kate may as well so we're devoted to the city so I'm ready to get to work and um thank you very much I appreciate you all [Applause] and uh okay finally mayor we have the oath for the deputy mayor all right so we have the uh Deputy Mayor Meen McDade being sworn in by the honorable Judge baton again and and uh judge thank you again for being here Mary Francis thank you for coming and U of course judge baton is a resident of Cape May and and a very highly respected and honored former judge and we we thank you so much for being here our pleasure we're thrilled to thrilled to help thank you yeah okay you hold that thank you Solly swear you Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of deputy mayor of Deputy Mayor according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will not use my office and that I will not use my office to Grant preferential treatment to Grant preferential treatment nor seek personal gain nor seek personal gain favor favor or advantage or Advantage not available to the general public not available to the general public so help me God so help me God Madam Deputy Mayor congratulations thank [Applause] you judge again thank you very much than I just want to thank everyone and in particular my fellow council members for giving me the honor of serving as deputy mayor for the next year thank you very much thank you okay looks like we are on to the consent agenda yes is there anything Council would like to removed this evening council is there anything we'd like to remove from the consent agenda no seeing none do I have a motion I'll make that motion mayor do I have a second I'll second ready roll call council member Meyer yes Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner yes council member Balwin yes mayor mullik yes and next mayor uh you went over this on the seventh but if you'd like to go over your mayoral appointments for the year I believe yes I'm looking for those as we speak let me assist here 55 in the middle here oh oh perfect thank thank you thank you so much thank you um so the mayoral appointments um are of the historic preservation commission the the environmental commission and the library library advisory committee um I want to thank Uh Kevin hamran for um again being reappointed thank you very much John Becker being reappointed thank you very much and congratulations uh he was nominated as the chairperson of the historic preservation commission so congratulations Mr Becker uh Steve Johnson and uh uh William Yogi kurts congratulations to all of you and thank you very much for your service I'd also like to uh thank uh both ketchen Whitman and Kimberly um grundal how I'm I'm totally Mis Mis saying her last name but and also like to thank our our library advisory committee Anita desatnik Eileen Cassidy George Kates Lorraine Walsh and Elaine Brodsky thank you all very much for your service to the city of Kate May oh is there more oh how about that okay and and importantly uh our office of emergency management uh Michael E who is our Deputy Fire Chief and he under this uh Proclamation he's our OEM coordinator and again Deputy fire chief so Mr E thank you very much for your service and uh our class two planning board member who is a member of uh uh the city staff and happens to be our Deputy city manager Justin rigs thank you Justin all right didn't mean to forget you all right mayor moving on to your state of the city oh okay uh let's see thank you I'm going to try this clicker while uh while giving the very short state of the city address um um in all seriousness it's about 10 minutes just so everybody knows I'm I'm including another 10 minutes for Applause and laughter but um so but good afternoon city council city manager clergy members judge baton Administration our city manager Deputy city manager our Clerk and most importantly my fellow citizens it is an honor and privilege to stand before you today to deliver my fifth state of the city address I must first express my gratitude to all you the wonderful citizens of the city of Kate May who have entrusted me to be your mayor it truly is an honor and to have the opportunity to serve the community that I grew up and is truly a privilege and I thank you I want to thank my mother and my father who happened to be here thank you uh and I especially want to thank my wife Justine thank you for everything do you're the only reason I can stand up here so thank you so much um judge baton Mary Francis I see Colleen Summers Susan tishler I thank you so much for all of your help during campaigning and all those difficult times but I really appreciate it Mike former council member Mike joerger thank you for all your support over these years and of course my fellow council members um I'm thrilled to report today that the state of our city is strong and vibrant we can go through a couple of these slides to to to show that as I reflect uh as I reflect on the past four years I'm struck by the pro progress that we've made together when I first stood before you I had a few more hairs and the ones that I had were a little less gray but despite that passage of time and the challenges that we've faced One Thing Remains clear we have one of the greatest communities and places to live in the entire country and it deserves and needs our protection from the community and from your elected officials together as a community we have accomplished so much over the past four years and I'd like to take a moment to highlight some of those key Milestones that have helped to find our time in office and some of these you know we about four or five years now uh but just to remember that these accomplishments are those of the community not one council member but of a United Community working together toward a common goal and you'll see some of those goals here um one of the proudest achievements of the last few years is the preservation of the soul track is a photograph of course of that area between um the Atlantic Ocean of course and and the Coast Guard base um this is a it's a 100 acres of obviously everyone knows pristine property it's a testament to the power of preservation and p uh perseverance and our commitment to working together for the environment for future Generations we've also taken steps toward a more sustainable city with a new more fuel efficient City Vehicle Fleet solar panels on City Hall and a variety of other green initiatives these efforts are into first place in the state for cities under 5,000 in population for sustainability a recognition that we should all be very proud of first place in the state so pretty pretty neat oh there you [Laughter] go over the past four years we have saved three buildings that were listed on New Jersey's top 10 most endangered sites the how the how house that you see here now the Harriet Tubman Museum the Franklin Street school now the Cape May library and the am Church soon to become a theater and community space which are all shining EX examples of what happens when we work together as a community I want to thank everyone involved in the library project especially our partners in the county if you haven't seen that building yet make sure you get inside it's absolutely stunning while those are large preservation projects we have taken also smaller steps to protect our historic structures performing needed repairs on City Halls such as the repointing of all the brick on the outside adding HVAC to both the firefighters Museum and the Colonial House just recently um and also taking on other important things like infrastructure we've also completed important resiliency projects like the new electric substation which might not be the most visually impressive and beautiful uh structure in the town but especially during storm events like we've had in the last couple days to have that reliability and re resilien ofy of our electrical grid is is huge huge we've everyone probably remembers I think it was in like August of 19 when some of the town was down for 3 or 4 days in the middle of the summer um this this certainly should fix that perhaps one of the less visual uh improvements that we've made is the restoration and enhancement of our infrastructure four years ago two of those Wells that you saw on the previous photo were down now all pumps are operational we've added duplication to our water transmission line that allows us to make repairs on individual pumps in the event of a malfunction we've replaced miles of roads and sidewalks but more importantly what's underneath of those roads storm drains water lines sewer lines and fire hydrants we've also built miles of new sidewalks making it safer for pedestrians we've added crosswalks and repainted streets in cooperation with our bicycle and pedestrian committee improving both both pedestrian and cyclist safety across our city while also making biking more convenient putting in a over a hundred new bike racks and a couple Bike Fix It stations at the same time we've invested in spaces that bring us together whether it's the new basketball court or the Ada accessible playground at quanis Club Park the new restrooms are rehabilitating existing restrooms including the new yearr round restroom at kan's Club Park and on the prominade they're actually working on the prominade one today our children our seniors and our V and our visitors all benefit from these improvements we've also made extensive enhancements at soldiers and sailor Park a space to honor our veterans and war heroes we've added a new Ada accessible beachwalk to provide access for everyone the new beachwalk allows residents and guests of all abilities to enjoy the natural beauty of our environment this new amenity has allowed some who have not been able to enjoy the beach in many years to join their families and enjoying the beach that so so many of us love personally speaking some of the letters and emails that I received in regards to this were very touching and heartwarming this spring we will be adding more mats to the beachwalk to extend it further toward Madison Avenue we'll also be adding more stopping points for people especially in wheelchairs to use the sidewalk uh to use the walk and be on the side of it while being able to join their families Public Safety our fire department and police department continue to grow stronger we've added more full-time firefighters a full new Squad of full-time police officers ambulances and fire apparatus all of which will serve to protect our community for de decades to come most importantly with the vote of the people we built a brand new firehouse that's not the brand new one somebody else said I should have had somebody else do the clicker but that's all right mostly on time and on budget that building along with these Investments is critical to maintaining the safety and well-being of all of our residents which was which as we have seen recently with the unfortunate forest fire is extremely important getting the lead out was uh one of the first uh groups that we formed and unfortunately I think I forgot the uh the slide for that but I'm proud to report that to get the let out task force uh especially with the help of our water superintendent Rob Kaminsky has made tremendous progress since its formation we have reduced nonn Le pipe in the City by 90% well ahead of schedule this is a crucial step in ensuring the health and safety of our residents especially our children and of course these are P pipes that are under the ground that would not be affected by the new desalinization plant these are these are utilities that need to be upgraded no matter what parking I wanted to read something that someone published in the starn wave about parking when the section of the Jitney ordinance was introduc was enforced which provided that no more than one Jitney Park in a single block of the business section of Washington Street the star and wave took the liberty to suggest that similar legislation be enacted regarding private cars nothing was done however I don't think the council was very active and the result was that Washington Street remained as congested as ever the street has just about is just about sufficient width to accommodate four cars breast but when Autos are parked on both sides of the street this allows barely enough space for two cars to pass one another with a condition like this the slightest deviation causes a jam and traffic is jammed several times every day with the accompanying loss of time and convenience it is not necessary to prohibit cars from standing on the Main Street all that needs to be done is to put a time limit on the parking privilege this will prevent the streets from being lined on both sides of the street all the time and will cause less traffic jams this was a comment from someone in the star and wave in August 9th 1919 so not much has changed in parking uh I so but which is pretty good the star and wave from 199 and I think it was Mr lell who passed that along to me kind of as a former mayor to Mayor it was kind of funny taking on one of Kate May's longest standing challenges we have created over 100 new parking spaces in downtown The Welcome Center kan's Club park in front of convention hall Lafayette Street and other spaces here and there throughout the town makes a big impact Financial strength the key to our strength lies in our Financial Health four years ago two of the three utilities water and tourism were operating at a deficit today I'm proud to say that all three of our utilities water tourism and Beach are not only solvent but they're thriving and all of which I think one has like a 1.5 million but I'd like to say all of which have a multi-million dollar s Surplus this is a remarkable turnaround and a testament to the sound fiscal responsibility and commitment to our community's long-term sustainability and a lot of our uh coun members and of course Uh Kevin our CFO uh our city manager our owed a debt of gratitude to making sure that occurs our general operating fund Surplus has seen a 225% increase growing from 4.5 million to over six to over 15 million understand it might be closer to 16 today a truly impressive feat meanwhile our debt ratio has decreased allowing us to invest in more services infrastructure and projects that directly benefit benefit our residents interest on investments increased from I don't even want to say the the the uh percentage up there but from $5,000 a year to over a million we've managed to reduce our debt ratio while simultaneously expanding services this hard work has allowed us to provide Fair wages to our employees that they deserve this balance of fiscal responsibility and growth positions us well for the future over the past 5 years we've had zero tax increases and now we're preparing our sixth budget which I am told by our city manager and our CFO will include a sixth year at a 0% increase we are the only municipality in New Jersey with a police and professional police of fire department that can make that claim we continue to provide thank you we continue to provide excellent Services uh without burdening our residents and maintaining fiscal responsibility okay over the next several months I want to just highlight a couple of the projects quickly um the prominade preservation is a project is a city received Grant of $6.7 million this is mainly for Ada accessibility and resiliency of our prominade this grant money will be a major upgrade to our existing prominade that you will see starting this spring and next fall um this will be uh really repaving the whole prominade really cleaning everything up adding Ada accessibility and of course some resiliency portions of it the community center you asked and we listened within the next two months we will be opening our new community center at the old library on Ocean Street this will be a wonderful space for all of us to gather commune and play the nature trails we're thrilled to announce that by this summer nearly 2 miles of walking trails will be open winding through the marsh area behind Lafayette Street Park this will provide a beautiful new space to enjoy peaceful walks breathtaking sunsets and the natural beauty of our environment the picture on the right is just from a couple days ago from our city manager uh and uh shows some of the pilings that are going in for the platform what excites me most is the opportunity that this creates for our local school school children they'll have the chance to explore and experience the wonders of nature right in their own backyard a truly special learning environment that will spark curiosity and deepen their connection with the world around them Lafayette Street Park uh I know uh councilman Meyer can tell you that this been quite a journey to get to this time and uh how many how many years have you worked on it Shane well 10 years on Council probably maybe three off city council before that so 13 total years so I my statement here is true for over 10 years we've been in permitting and let litigation with multiple people but including jcpnl and I want to thank the hard work of our solicitor for getting yet another major victory for our town we have finally settled with jcpnl which means soon we can finally finish lafay at Street Park and I thank JCP and for working with the city for all these years I'm proud to announce that starting next week work will begin on the dog park in the ball fields truly improving this underutilized public space this is a result of over 10 years of hard work and I'm thrilled and thank you all for your hard work on getting this finally going our biggest goals moving forward will focus on securing the long-term future of our of our community and ensuring that we continue to be a city that thriv lives the seaw wall first and foremost must we must priori excuse me prioritize the protection of our Shoreline without strong storm protection not much else matters the seaw wall project will be critical to ensuring our city can withstand increasing unpredictable weather patterns safeguarding our homes businesses and communities as of today the D app that we have D approval for the seaw wall we are are included in the FEMA funding for $25 million this has been many years of work in the making working withth our County state and federal Partners in the D State historic preservation office and of course the Army Corps we look forward to this project beginning within the next two years clean water is essential to life we have ensured that we must ensure that Kate May has reliable and sustainable water supply developing a water desalinization plant is one of our top priorities addressing future needs while safeguarding both public health and our environment tonight I have two major announcements regarding our water one I am announcing a partnership with Columbia University and their graduate program to study the hydrology of Cape Island this is a fully funded study of hydrology especially the desalinization plant and potential efficiencies regarding the treatment of our drinking water this is a major partner partership that will involve some of the leading mins on water and infrastructure that will help in better designing a state-of-the-art plant and our water system as a whole how do we pay for it tonight I am thrilled to announce that included within the bipartisan Warda bill that's Water Resources development Act is $40 million set aside for the city of Cap May desalinization plant this is a major benefit that will help Cap May Island including of course the US Coast Guard Training Center West Cape May Cape May Point lower Township to enable us to have the cleanest drinking water for many years to come the word of bill was supported strongly by our representatives in Congress Jeff vandrew and Andy Kim as a congressman and Senators Corey Booker and Andy Kim as our Senator police station as our city grows the need for a modern and efficient police station becomes even more critical we are committed to providing our Law Enforcement Officers with the resources and Facilities that they need to protect our residents and ensure Public Safety for generations to come we have made significant investment in new equipment like radios body cameras and many upgrades to our police vehicle Fleet but what's most important is that we provide our police with the finest facilities today we have preliminary D approval for the land aversion that would allow for the construction of the police station on Lafayette Street park it also provides environmentally sensitive land adjacent to the soul tract to be preserved in perpetuity we hope that that will be finalized within the next 3 months oops that's fine thank you affordable housing uh is one of the most pressing issues that we face in the city while Cape May is known for its beauty and charm it has become increas increasingly difficult for our workers our teachers and our First Responders and others to keep our City operating and be able to afford to live here we must find ways to preserve our community's vibrancy by creating affordable housing that ensures Kate May remains a place where people want to live work and grow K May's greatest asset is its Community it cannot be replicated most Shore towns as many of us know become almost ghost towns but that hasn't been the case in the city but we all know it's becoming more and more difficult for people to be able to afford to live here we are working with the housing authority to use our Coes to support the construction of 16 new affordable family homes unfortunately the city does not control who gets to be in those units of course we would like to have them for our police officers for our firefighters for people who work for the city and other businesses the the city must take Serious action to create affordable housing to illustrate the need the first two affordable housing units that the city has done in recent history were completed last year there were over 800 applications for those two units on Lafayette Street this is something that needs to be done immediately while we still have a chance it will not be easy and it will not be cheap but it's something necessary to protect our greatest asset our community we cannot be a community without the people who can afford to live and work here as we look forward to the future we remain committed to building on the progress that we've made with a focus on the projects that will ensure cap May's resiliency sustainability and continued Prosperity while the road ahead will have its challenges we are well equipped to meet them together we are focused on fostering an environment where our community can Thrive that means attracting businesses supporting local Entre entrepreneurs and improving our tourism offering offerings while maintaining the character of our city together we will continue to make Kate May an even better place to live and to work moving forward together in every accomplishment in every challenge faced and in every opportunity seized we have demonstrated what is POS possible when we work together the strength of Cap May lies in its people people who care deeply about their City who are willing to step up volunteer and give their time and energy we are a city of great resilience creativity and heart when we come together whether it be to build rebuild a historic site support a local business or protect our environment we prove that Kate May is more than just a place on a map it's a community that we call home I thank you again all for the opportunity to serve as your mayor and as always I encourage you to continue to share your thoughts ideas and concerns with me and any of my colleagues here on city council I say to myself and to my fellow council members our purpose is to listen to lead with humility and to work for the benefit of all I ended the prior for uh state of the city addresses which were a little shorter than this one with a proverb which I'll repeat again today the way of a fool is right in his own eyes but a wise man listens to advice this is a reminder that no one has all the answers but together we have the wisdom the strength and the resolve to create a future that is bright for all of us my door is always open and together we will continue to make Kate May a place that they we all are proud to call home God bless Kate May and God bless America thank you okay I'm going to go right to the uh benediction father father Dolan from Our Lady Star of the Sea if you could uh say a few words words thank you very much father you're welcome good evening let us pray blessed are you oh Lord Our God who have given us marvelous examples of Charity and the great commandment of love for one another send down your blessings upon these your servants who serve our community and who generously devote themselves to helping others especially here in our city of Cap May when they are called on in times of need let them Faithfully serve you in their neighbor Lord send your light upon our mayor our city manager all the members of this Council and all the citizens of cap may may they continue to enjoy your favor and devote themselves to doing good we make these prayers in your holy name amen thank you thank you Father with that we'll move on to uh Council comments um I'm not going to say anything I think I said enough um council member Meyer I'm just uh I think everybody's doing a great job and we're in a great place in this uh City and we're only getting better um I just think it's really outstanding that you shared with us the $40 million that were approved by our United States government I think we should all give ourselves a round of applause for that because that's a lot of money and it's a big project and uh I just you know I'm thankful to work with such a great team in the city thank you Mr Meyer uh councilman Bodner uh nothing else tonight I um I think I said everything I needed to say earlier but thank you okay councilwoman Baldwin I congratulations um Deputy Mayor McDade and mayor mullik and to you as well Steve Bodner and welcome so thank you Deputy Mayor um just very briefly it's um an exciting time here in the city and I am really thrilled to be part of this team um a lot of work um but we've got a great group of people um and um I just see that uh more will even more will get accomplished um in the next couple of years thank you the the only thing I will say is thank you to all of you and and a lot of the work that you saw up there is because of your hard work it's a part A lot of it is the community a lot of it is uh our city manager or solicitor and and and and our clerk um but uh I I just thank you and I appreciate work working with each and every one of you so thank you uh with that we'll open it up for a public portion anyone wishing to speak please come to the microphone state your name and address for the record and please keep it under five minutes Stacy Shan 9928 Columbia Avenue um I noticed in the resolutions that we had we have four Engineers I thought with the hiring of Paul as an engineer with a salary that we wouldn't be hiring all these additional Engineers do you want to comment on that Paul well two of them are extension of existing project Engineers uh cers is obviously continuing to complete the design of the seaw wall and CME is continuing the design of the desalinization plant um so their tasks specifically for those two projects individually uh the other two uh the blasia associates and engineering design associates they continue to work as project Engineers on Project you know larger capital projects um that most of them are ongoing like the Lafayette Street Park uh some roadway projects we have uh water and sewer infrastructure projects that applying for grants for and continuing projects like that and what do you do as an engineer that's what you were hired as and your salaries through being an engineer right because that goes to purs and everything overall yes okay I didn't know what is what what projects are you working on as the city engineer overseeing all of those projects and making sure everything's coordinated properly and effectively but isn't that usually what the city manager is without being an engineer no okay in the past they the city manager did that without being paid an engineering salary my other question just on just to be clear on the salary uh Paul probably makes a little less than other city managers as a total whether it be engineer or to stip in as a city manager than other city managers in town and his expertise as an engineer definitely is helpful in any of those projects uh he can keep those other Engineers straight and to be honest with you I think that has saved the city some funds and making sure that those Engineers are sharping their pens but correct me isn't his salary he was hired as a city engineer and his second job it was a stien becomes the city manager correct that's true yes okay so but it's not a stien position it's it's I am both city manager and city engineer it's not one is not one is one is not subservient to the other well I thought that your salary was under um as as engineer and then it becomes also the smaller part is city manager so that way you know your Pur can become the city manager or the city engineer I'm sorry mr's contract was updated to confirm that dual role and that he's getting a salary that represents those two roles okay so that all it so it all is contained onne person then correct okay whereas before it wasn't so and and really that's to reflect the the way that Paul has worked the past year he started out as city engineer and you know he's doing those uh both of those roles and not unlike the solicitor that I don't do all the legal work we have we Farm some of that out to tactically to Specialists what right but you're not on a salary either no no but it it does point to you're just by projects we just pay you per project and per hours that you spend right but similarly Paul is is is tactically deploying uh specific Engineering Services where it's it's appropriate to do so roads parks and and still has the expertise to to guide those projects but we're also you know hiring an engineer to do that too so we're we're paying we're paying two Engineers basically is my point I find a lot of value in uh the city manager is being a engineer he's taking the time and opportunity to explain some of the many complicated plans that the city has going on and to do that with him and know having him always available has been beneficial to me at least for the first time in recent years okay and I would add also that his his ability to navigate through things like d FEMA uh some of the regulatory Things instrumental and flood plane management you know those were being parsed out or not being really attended to at the level that he's been able to do so there there is as it appears to you that you know as that we are hiring other people but it would be challenging and difficult for for the breath of projects that are going on in the city for him to be both an engineer and a city manager at the same time um there are other functions that are necessary to be able to run the city and run it effectively so I mean I almost see it as it's a split between the two and it's his responsibility to balance the work products needed for both of them so my um other I guess comment has to do with the plans for lafad Street Park um know we had talked about it before and there were some changes made but I see that was back on the plans and that is the bathrooms are the focal point of the of the park and I thought we were going to it was said that you guys going to move it off to the side so when you look at the park with the field where the pickle ball courts and everything is you're not looking at a building that's a bathroom and that was my only comment on that I know I'm not expecting to comment I'm just saying that it would look better if when you look at the park you see the pickle ball courts and the basketball courts and not a bathroom thank you thank you uh Stacy if you want to respond to this I I just just I'm clarifying and I just want to make sure other people who are hearing this understand the other Engineers that we're hiring are on a Professional Services agreement not hiring a internal engineer or something like that I just want to make sure people understand that Project Specific we we would pay those people based on uh projects hey we're going to do the road on Washington Street who's the engineer on that and we pay them to do that okay anyone else from the public seeing none we can close public comment and uh to adjourn the reorganization meeting motion to do I have a motion to adjourn the reorganization meeting I'll make the motion and I'll second okay and we are right on time perfect unless Council would like a recess for any reason you want a few minutes or any um we do have further business to attend to but anyone who is here for the reorganization meeting we appreciate you coming very much and uh feel free to uh go grab some dinner father Dolan thank you Father Leonard thank you thank you AE yeah yeah thank you congratulations at the beach for the swap a property swap when Jules had a few things to say were they were they all right or were they e e e e e e e e e e e all right officially good evening everyone we have a regular meeting of the city council of the City of Cape May we are here in the Cape May City Hall Auditorium today is Wednesday January 22nd 2025 the time is now 5 5 p.m. please join me for the pledge of allegiance of Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God I with liy and justice for all thank you under the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was sent to the K County Herald and the Press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council and posted on the city website and City Hall bulletin board notice is hereby provided that City Council meetings are audio recorded and or video stream 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 here council member Bodner here Deputy Mayor McDade here council member Meyer here mayor mullik here city solicitor Gillan Schwarz here city manager Dietrick here Deputy manager rigs still here Deputy clerk Turner here any additions or deletions tonight Council any additions or deletions Council okay okay any um any updates old business city manager thank you so got got a little bit of an update uh first I just wanted to I started the quality of life group last year and I just wanted to give you a brief summary on some of the things that we've kind of accomplished and and and geared towards um one of the first things that we wanted to do was have some directed uh police patrols uh for Speed enforcement throughout the city and just you know so I'm getting a a month report on that and just as a summary they did 33 uh radar details and they kind of split each Squad up and they kind of take a different street each week and and kind of do a directed Patrol so they did 33 uh detailed uh radar details they had 57 uh motor vehicle stops they issued 12 tickets two DWI arrests resulted that and 30 warnings which I think the 30 warnings is the important part especially as they get out there is to put the out there and and really we just want compliance with speed and stuff like that so that's just part of one of the aspects uh other things we've been meeting on is talking about um we've been working with uh in the Village Green section about some zoning issues and and different things about how things kind of gotten out of control so we're having code enforcement and uh uh come out there and take a look at those issues and we're going to be addressing them as we move into the new year and sending notices um also there's been some houses throughout the town that have some neglect to them so we're looking at you know working with those Property Owners to try to encourage them to um make the necessary repairs to keep their houses in in proper repair so those are just a few of the items that we're looking at uh doing with the quality of life uh one thing that has also spurred out of that is we're I'm looking to reach out to all of our boards and commissions to develop it which I felt really worked out well with last year when we brought them all together um to to deal with the artificial turf ordinance I I think that it' be appropriate to to kind of meet with that group on a quarterly basis to kind of have all the different boards meet whether planning board zoning board environmental the historical commission environmental commission and shade tree all to get together with a representative and discuss what issues they see and face and then try to work up uh some proposals uh for Council uh and City Administration to work towards uh you know just improving the quality of life uh in K May City so we're looking to call that the lad workg group uh land use and development work group and uh I'm going to be reaching out to all the uh board chairs uh in the first you know quarter and try to set up quarterly meetings with those um kind of as a a spin-off of our quality of life group to improve the quality of life here in the city um the other thing I wanted to bring up uh report on the recycling uh ordinance uh the subcommittee did meet uh we I thought we had a very productive meeting and had a good draft we distributed it to council um I know some Council people still have some uh questions so I'm going to be trying to meet with uh all Council that has questions see if we can um come up with answers and um you know hopefully in February come back with a draft that Council can be um Can endorse and we can move forward uh to uh you know change and modify our existing ordinance and then the final update I had is uh I sent the municipal Public Access plan uh that's a plan that's required by the state of New Jersey uh to really document um all the public access points that we have uh to the uh open public Waters the beaches and the back bays and our tidle Creeks obviously I don't think anybody can counter how much Public Access that we have um and and the availability of it um unfortunately there are towns in New Jersey that really limit and restrict and want to reduce the amount of public access points uh to uh the the public Waters Kate May City is not one of those but it's a plan that we have to put together in order that we have and and receive a beach beach fill funding and also to have our general permit to uh maintain the beach so uh this plan as you see is a draft uh it's also being uh reviewed at the uh planning board um but I do want to you know make make you aware of it and it'll be coming back once the plane board adopts it uh and the DP gets final approval of it it will come back here for a final approval uh for your review but I wanted Council that if he did have any questions on it let me know so we can address it but uh it I believe it's on the agenda for the next planning board meeting uh later this week or next week it's on for the 28th yes correct and that's all I had okay great thank you Mr city manager um any updates from our city solicitor um no updates other than I just wanted to to thank o uh thank Council for the opportunity to serve this will be my fifth year serving with you all as solicitor and right before this meeting I had a contract sitting here waiting for my signature for $1.9 million for funding for the nature trails and um I just wanted to express what a unique challenge but also honor it is to do this and work with everybody Administration the clerk the managers um and councel and all the Departments um I've gotten to work with all of you and Steve when you were volunteering too uh before you're a council member and I'm just um happy to to be able to serve and it's an honor and um look forward to seeing what everybody is going to be accomplishing the next few years as well so thank you thank you Mr solicitor uh city council any uh old business or updates no okay all right Carolyn zabowski you're up to bat we have the Washington Street Mall business improvement district proposed 20125 budget presentation yes um my name is Carolyn zabowski as you know I'm the treasurer of the Washington Street Management Washington Street mall management company Board of Trustees um we're a little late with our budget this year so I apologize um but better late than ever um I'm just going to go through this spreadsheet and then if you guys have any questions um I guess just hold them to the end and I will answer them as best I can thank you um so we are anticipating assessment Revenue in 2025 of $ 71,3 a26 we will also be collecting a special assessment for the security camera project throughout the city um that will increase our Revenue by $43,500 we currently are running a brick a memorial brick program um we have so far received $13,995 of brick income and we did have some Surplus from 2024 of $10,000 which brings us to a total of $318,400 we are budgeting $10,000 for administrative and professional $1,000 for memberships $143,500 for Mall enhancement projects um this is where the security camera special assessment will go before we pay it to the city towards the project um we are also looking into improvements for our beastro lights for this year um we've budgeted $55,000 for decor and maintenance this is all of the um seasonal flowers Decor everything that we do along the mall $116,000 towards the installation and purchase of bricks $7,000 for advertising ing $133,000 for events $8,000 for our website and social media management um we have $2,000 budgeted for uncollected assessments luckily in 2024 we did have full participation so hopefully we don't need that again um and $1,000 for miscellaneous and we have set aside $61,900 I hope there's enough in here for the treasurer um it is a volunteer position but I am very happy to do it seeing these numbers on the spreadsheet in front of me um make me really happy we've usually been working with about $70,000 so this is a great Improvement to what we can do we we really thank you honestly I mean on behalf of the city too not just the bid but um we appreciate it it's a lot of work for you to do voluntarily so thank you we could we could make a motion to add that to the budget I think but but in all seriousness thank you of course so your brick program has been very successful very successful okay and obviously there is a limitation on um space where do you think you are at just as a percentage or do you have an I honestly don't have a a I don't manage the brick program so I don't know I would say were a quarter to a half of the way through the bir somewhere yeah third or we're getting there yeah that's well that's still good that's great congratulations thank you can you repeat which uh location the um video uh surveillance was in it's um it's budgeted towards Mall enhancement well I just appreciate that you all put that in there I know it's a great partnership with the police and but we thank you for doing yeah I think it will be beneficial for everyone I agree thank you of course any other questions or comments Council I'll just make a comment does such a wonderful job um and just taking a look at what the mall has done over the past couple of years with the music on the mall t t tunesday Tuesdays yeah um little tongue twister um the decor there's just so much that um is just really a a good asset to the city to that District thank you we have a core group and everyone really cares yeah it's beautiful when you walk down there really the decor is really I whoever your professionals are they do a really good job thank you and thank you for your your volunteering on the bid and getting that done it's I know it's a lot of work so thank you appreciate it um okay so if council is prepared we have resolution 66-1 2025 a resolution introducing and approving the 2025 budget of the Washington Street Mall business improvement district in the city of Kate may do I have a motion I'll make a 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 Balwin yes mayor mullik yes all right and this is slated to come back for public hearing and adoption on February 19th great thank you moving on to ordinances for introduction we have 54922 ordinance amending chapter 247 of the Kate May city code regarding fire prevention Bureau fees and reg ation do I have a motion I'll make the motion do I have a second a 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 next we have 550-2259 any questions or comments Council roll call council member Meyer yes Deputy Mayor MCD yes council member Bodner yes council member Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes and 55122 an ordinance amending the city code to provide for control of plastic dust and contaminants do I have a motion I'll make that motion mayor do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments I just go Ahad please I'm sorry I just wanted to know where where this ordinance came from well basically from from me okay okay no I I like it I just didn't uh from um and and a discussion some with some of the members of the environmental commission and and uh and it came up as a topic at the um um sustainable Jersey um yeah I I think it's it's good it keeps um work sites clean yeah of you know dust contaminants particles in the air agreed uh I would like to ask uh the city manager um to see to make sure that this gets updated onto the contractor checklist that is given out in the Construction office um since when it gets passed as an ordinance so that it is on there as a reminder um when they the the contractors come in they're supposed to be getting those documents and acknowledging them um and this is a prime example of something that should get added on um so that they're aware of it each and every time um and as word gets out I think that homeowners will also remind their contractors when they're on site and just to note it's I think from a practical standpoint relatively easy to comply with you you add a vacuum attachment to the saw is not or or put a tarp down honestly Chris either one of them Mr Gill either one of them is sufficient to you know make sure that it's not sitting on the the lawn or getting into the grass or the the soil um and the other thing is I would also suggest too that maybe putting um I know there were a lot of signs down in the Construction office and in that area but putting something up effective when this ordinance is passed um you know indicating um you know new ordinance be aware you know that this is something uh that uh the city would like compliance with so okay any other questions or comments Council roll call council member Meyer yes Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner yes council member Balman yes mayor mullik yes next Council we have the public portion on the resolu only is anyone here wishing to speak on the resolutions this evening Stacy Shan 928 Columbia Avenue uh my question has to do with resolution 75 resolution for the transfer Appropriations reserve for the 2024 budget um in this resolution it states njsa 40a 4- 58 um that states that transfers happened the last two months of the year we're not in the last two months of the year we in the first two or the first month of the year I apologize but I do believe it also encompasses the first month of the New Year not according to what is in the ball okay title 4A municipalities and and counties section 48 4- 58 appropriation transfers during the last two months of the fiscal year here you go and I think this is what we had an audit uh finding last year when we were doing this at the wrong time last year I don't mean I don't mean to there's also uh section njsa 4A 4- 59 which is appropriation transfers during the first three months of of succeeding year so it it might it might just be the statutory reference and that could be what the the clerk was uh that's fine I just wasn't sure what you know and it it f it follows the same voting procedure two3 you know 23 always is 23 when it comes to the budget y it it would just be 59 instead of 589 okay I'm happy- 59 okay thank you um my other question has to do with um resolution 67-01 2025 commenting on the fourth round presented and perspective need affordable housing obligations um I didn't see any numbers put in there for what is required from the state it is my understanding from what is published that the round four prospective need DCA October 18 2024 report it was 48 but the round for prospective need NJ LGA proposed litigation drops it to 16 and I just think that's a good point to have that know where we stand with that um Mr solicitor you have a comment on that it listed in the one two three four it's in the resolution the fifth whereas oh I didn't see the it's in the fifth whereas it says the president need rehabil Rehabilitation obligation of 46 and a prospective need new construction obligation of 48 it's on the first page it's kind of buried among a bunch of does it say about this the 16 does it say there 16 those are our numbers based on the this new round 48 and 16 yes okay you said it was 16 in that resolution it was one two three four you said the fifth whereas it says 48 and 16 48 46 and 48 well according that's what I'm saying it's that they're not correct 16 I don't know what you're reading from but I'm saying I'm I'm looking at this is it it's from the states what they put what they put out yeah this this resolution is from our affordable housing Council special counsel and the DCA numbers the report for the fourth round has a present need rehab rehabilitation obligation of 46 and a prospective need of new construction obligation of 48 and those will be further subject to potential vacant land adjustment analysis which we're going to be going through so that's not what I had stated them for the 16 the 16 is fourth round perspective need proposed litigation of 16 that's what they they think they're going to be dropping it down to um yeah well that's that may be a projection of where where it may go from there um but like I said these are the numbers we we just need to all council is doing today is saying this new system is the DCA releases numbers for the city and every other municipality in the state and each town has to look at this and determine can we make this work or not right I was just and this this resolution is yeah I think we can make this work and that's those numbers may be subject to further adjustment through planning efforts and looking at things like a vacant land adjustment and when they say litigation that means going in this context going through this process it's an administrative process it's no longer in the court as the outset they've the state has coralled everybody through this administrative process first and that's this is the first step in that and then the numbers will be further evaluated through the mechanisms available I was just making it so people understand that they did readjust those numbers and I was reading off the report that was given that's all that it was down to 16 what they assume with proposed litigation yeah and look I don't I don't know the numbers in the resolution are what the DCA released we'll we'll have to figure out what the final number will be I I've seen that thank you okay then um we just have to go through the process and fi figure out what the the final number will be but it's going to be you know based on these initial figures okay why I say that is because um the mayor in his speech commented on 16 and I thought that was really good 16 but we also had the other two so we actually at 18 if you're going to do 16 and the other two we already have which would be over the requirement those two would have been counted on our prior round not in this future round I think it' be all included because it's after uh the numbers were each rounds are separate this is a new each round is separate this is a new round so those two when did the new round PRI when did the fourth round start it starts as in 2025 okay thank you um my other question has to do with uh these resolutions talking about participation with Colombia and also the other volunteer student with the lead for audit of the city of Kate May um with water usage if you could just elaborated on what those two programs are going to be doing and how they interact because when I see that they're going to look at water usage I would think we already have those numbers and that's why I was you know asking mayor if you want me to go so those two resolutions um were brought forth really to maintain compliance with our joint Insurance Fund um the mayor and the environmental commission brought forth the idea to involve some student interns with various organizations so these two resolutions just make them as uh part of the city make us into compliance with the joint Insurance Fund I understand that I'm asking what are they actually going to do you know what I'm saying because it really is like a little vague there they're they're going to look at water usage well so the resolution itself does that action the program with Columbia University is kind of more open-ended um we're going to be working with an advanced graduate um course on a Capstone project so really we have a meeting scheduled later this month to talk to the students it's led by a professor at The Graduate level so we'll learn more about what those details really are the second one is um high school students and in terms of a water audit they come back to the environmental commission to talk more about the details of that basically it's a survey that these two students are working on that they will put together that will then go on to our website and it's a volunteer participation it engages our youth it engages Council and the city as well yeah I was just looking for particulars on what they were doing um so I think that's all I have and I just you're going to change 751 to 59 thank you thank you anyone else from the public on resolutions this evening seeing none we'll close public comment on resolutions um and on to this consent is that where we're at consent agenda sorry onto the consent agenda yes would we like if it's necessary to amend 75 to fix the statute from 58 to 59 pardon me do I have a motion to uh change the number from 58 to 59 do I have a second I'll second we have a motion to amend to a roll call council member Meyer yes uh Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner uh question are the minutes are they part of the consent agenda so this is just the motion to amend to fix number 75 so you're good so just to amend it I know I'm the new guy but you're right we'll get to that in just a second um council member Baldwin yes and mayor mullik yes I think we should motion on that resolution on the amended resolution do I have a motion on the amended resolution I'll make the motion do I have a second a second any questions on that this is the motion on the amended resolution to adopt 75 yeah on 75 uh any questions roll call council member Meyer yes Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner yes council member Baldwin yes mayor mullik yes so now for the consent agenda uh council member uh Bodner is correct that he should if if you're comfortable um making a note for the record that you will be abstaining from the regular meeting minutes dated April 16th 2024 they were apparently written and never adopted so that's just this is just a maintenance adoption that was that was my attent you can absolutely um vote on the rest of the consent agenda we'll we'll mark Mark that for the minutes okay is there anything else Council would like to remove from Thea anything Council can I remove 571 2025 please 5701 okay anything else Council okay do I have a motion on the uh consent agenda I'll make that motion mayor do I have a second I'll second roll call council member Meyer yes Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner um but for the the minutes I abstain on the others I vote Yes perfect uh council member Baldwin yes mayor mull yes do I have a motion on resolution 571 2025 I'll make that motion do I have a second I'll second any questions or comments Council I just have a question because um and I think this is for the solicitor looking at this um and looking at the current contract as far as the police and the extra Duty um is there a conflict or is there consistency with that is that something that we need to be concerned about so um the Genesis of this is we this this Council I think recently last few years updated our extra Duty ordinance so that it provides the mechanism for event people putting on events that need Public Services specifically the police to um access that and provide fees so that the taxpayers aren't paying paying for those extra Duty services this was requested by the police department to help um those requests are there and there are service providers out there that will coordinate that service so it kind of takes it off the city's hands and frees them up to continue to do police work instead of doing administrative work like following up on hey have they paid this deposit for these services that they're required to do sure and then the service for that the service fee is supposed to be passed on also to the the person receiving that service so it's not going to be um it's kind of like a service fee like like Park mobile or something like that it'll be passed on to whoever's using it but it's going to free up the police to not have to do the administrative side of doing the extra Duty work and allow them to focus continue to focus on police work so um this doesn't award a contract but it'll put it'll allow the qpa to go out and do a procurement and see what the best um and most costeffective solution for that will be for the city and if we want to pursue that but that's where it came from came from the police department looking and seeing that other towns are entering into these types of agreements to have a vendor coordinate their extra Duty Services it seems to be working in other towns and they wanted to see if we could give it a shot yeah and that it totally makes sense but their current contract it doesn't conflict with that at all cor correct no it would be and and the RFP is is clear that it would be administered pursuant to the the city code so so the process and the procedures that we have in place for that that service will be provided under that umbrella there won't the the contract won't be driving the brust on extra Duty the city code and we're not making any changes there so okay thank you okay we have a uh pardon me we have a motion in a second any other questions coun roll call council member Meyer yes Deputy Mayor McDade yes council member Bodner yes council member Baldin yes mayor mullik yes okay we'll open it up for public comment anyone wishing to speak on any and all things this evening please come to the microphone state your name and address for the record anyone okay we can close public comment on to new business city solicitor nothing tonight mayor thank you city manager I just would like to say looking forward to a a good positive year I think we got a lot of things on our plate and a lot of good things to move forward a lot of projects uh that I think will be really taking action you know I think this the seaw wall the police station building uh a lot of road infrastructure lead pipe removal uh so there's going to be a lot of capital Project work uh we have a sidewalk re rehabilitation program rolling out Harbor View Park could probably come towards the end of uh you know I'll say the fall you know so a lot of projects all going to be rolling out as well as you know we've got the community center I'll say soft opened with some uh exercise programs but you know looking forward to really you know hopefully by Spring and if we get the budgetary funds to get that up and really rolling you know so a lot of fun and exciting things for 2025 very good thank thank you city manager city clerk nothing tonight mayor thank you okay council members council member Baldwin um just kind of following up on a conversation that the manager and I had as far as the engineering study for the beach slope um we're expecting that and I know it's been delayed I know we've been talking about it but um they had to compile a lot of information transfer that data um so what we're looking at maybe another two months and M March I'm hoping to have something by March yeah there's there was a lot of data they ran into a lot of snags with doing that but we were hoping to have it by by the end of last year but unfortunately sometimes that's what happens so um that's all mayor thank you thank you uh councilman Bodner uh just want to mention on so on Monday uh this past Monday at the physic estate um they opened up their new winter exhibit um roots of black travel and I know I know you were there Mr Mayor you you opened the exhibit and yeah I want to mention that just because it touches on a chapter of Kate May history um that had been uh neglected for a while and uh the city is now um educating people on and has become more in the public eye I just want to mention it because first off it's a fantastic exhibit so for those that are listening um I highly recommend uh that people go and see it well put together um very educational and um I think it goes until until March or so but um I appreciate having the opportunity to see it and they did a terrific job that's great thank you councilman Bodner uh Deputy Mayor McDade um just uh sort of uh following up on what the city manager said about the community center and opened up two weeks ago um with the first sort of exercise programs and um uh the women we very excited to be there they're very happy to be in a new home um Dave uh and Rachel have done a great job um they'll be adding on some classes next week so some additional classes um so things are getting rolling and um there's a lot of energy people are asking me about it um you know utilization of it for book clubs and you know card games and things like that so really exciting uh time and um it's it'll be a great facility um little bit of work to be done inside but uh I'll be working with with uh the city manager and the deputy city manager and the the um staff from uh convention hall U trying to get things moving figure out what how we can optimize that space for for the public so that's great and that's all exciting very very cool especially this time of year you know I mean you know getting being able to get out there uh when people feel a little snowed in and whatever it's it's nice so thank you for everyone everyone I'm sorry and there is one other thing we did discuss this at OEM um and we are looking potentially for that to be sort of a designated warming Center or cooling center should we need it um and um so that's something that um the coordinator e um is going to be talking to the county about but it came up in our meeting and we think it's an ideal location should we have the need um and it would be available obviously to some of our uh partner residents uh the West CAP Mayor Kate May point if needed so just wanted to mention that also great uh councilman reyer uh yes mayor thank you uh I just kind of want to also Echo a little bit of what uh Mr Dietrich said I'm also very much excited about the projects that have already commenced and will'll be commencing this year we have a very exciting year and some new great opportunities for some ribbon cuttings um and kind of going that same you know uh spirit I don't know if anybody's realized uh recently that you know we are now in our 149th year as a municipality and I think we should start looking to next year what we want want to do to really celebrate all the success that we've had that's great wonderful all right um I guess that's just me I just again I want to thank everybody um it really is an honor to work with each and every one of you I mean I just uh the respect and professionalism I I really appreciate it and um I'm looking forward to another great year so thank you um with that do we have a motion to adjourn all right have a wonderful evening everyone thank you very much time is uh what time is it 5:4 5:45 yeah