All right. Good evening everybody. Uh we have a regular meeting of the city council of the city of Kate May. Today is Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. The time is now 3 minutes 4 minutes past 5:00. 4
minutes past 5:00. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Thank you. Under the open public meetings law, notice of this meeting was sent to the Kate May County Herald and 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 or 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 >> here. 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. >> Any additions or deletions tonight,
council? I have one recommended if you'd like me to detail that. Uh, so we distributed yesterday resolution 198052026, a resolution authorizing change order number two to the contract for construction of new Kate May police department headquarters
for addition to the regular agenda if council is so inclined. >> Uh, do I have a motion to add this to the agenda? >> I'll make a motion. >> Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Council member Meyer? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDade. >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner. >> Yes.
>> Council member Baldwin. >> Yes. >> Mayor Mullik. >> Yes. All right, updates on old business. Mayor, >> any uh updates or old business? City manager? >> Yes, I have a few this evening. So, thank you. Uh first, some good news out on the beachfront. Um public works got
completed putting out the um extension of the ADA mats. Obviously, we had to taken them down after the storm last season. He was able to get them back out there. And uh good news is we were able to put them all the way back out to Madison Avenue. So you can now walk from
Madison Avenue to the cove out on the beach again. So those are back up. Um again once you make that long walk back if you're walking back along the prominade uh starting at the cove the benches are starting to be put back out there. I think they're almost down around lifeguard headquarters uh putting
out but they'll just continue putting them up. Just an FYI, the plaques are not have not come in yet. So, as soon as the plaques come in for the people that have renewed their benches, we'll start putting the plaques out as we get them in. Um, so just just know that that is
coming back. Um, work is continue on several of our capital projects. Uh, if you were out on uh Monday morning, you saw a big articulated tube sticking up in the air and that was putting concrete up on the uh second floor floor of the
police headquarters building. Uh, so that now has a finished slab. So essentially the underside is weathertight, which means now there's a lot of contractors out there working. You know, you have the masons working on block work. You've got the electrical and HVAC contractors and plumbing
contractors all starting to start to show up and start to do work on the inside of the first floor of the building. Um, Stockton Place, um, one of the last roads we have that and Idaho Avenue. So, Stockton Place by the end of this week
will be paved and then they'll be moving over to Idaho Avenue to have that uh it'll probably take about two weeks for h to have that. So, hopefully before Memorial Day, Idaho Avenue will be paved before the holiday season. Um from a safety standpoint, uh the public works
has installed ballards out in front of Collier's uh liquor store. That was, you know, if you recall last summer, we had a a real scary event where a vehicle decided that Lafayette Street should just keep going south and and so they
kind of went into the CER liquor and kind of bang the building up a little bit. So, we're installing some ballards and we're also going to be adding some chain just to keep the pedestrians from crossing in that area. And um I'm really excited to say I've been working with West Cape May over the last month or two
and on for a trial basis this year. We're looking at um extending Jity service into West Cape May uh and then to utilize some of their free parking at their burough hall and uh you know extend the Jity in and out of uh West
Cape May along our normal Jity route to uh provide another path for users to use. Um, if everything goes right this summer, then uh we'll bring back a formal shared service agreement that will work between both municipalities to uh codify that long-term agreement. And
with that, I think everything else public works and every everybody in the city is trying to get everything ready for the start of the season and everything's starting to look pretty nice out there. So, thank you. >> That's great. I just uh comment uh city
city city manager the um it was interesting to watch them repave the prominade and the temporary ramps that they made to get up onto the prominade. That was pretty impressive honestly. Yeah, pretty cool. Uh city solicitor,
>> I don't have anything tonight. >> Okay, city council, any updates or old business? Um, I just wanted to mention that the lifeguard um headquarters ribbon cutting was this past Friday. And if you haven't had a chance, please stop in. It's um really exciting uh for our female guards
and and the male guards um to be in a rehab building, but they finally have facilities and uh accommodations um equal balance between the males and females. But the project turned out really nicely even with all of the weather that uh the contractor dealt with over the winter months. So take a
look around. It's beautiful building. Thank you. >> Okay, with that we'll go on to uh presentations. We have improving water sustainability in Cape May phase one and two updates from Columbia University.
Justine is here with us today representing the environmental commission. Thank you Justine. >> This is really exciting. We're glad to have you. >> Thank you for having me. I apologize. I've recently lost my voice. Bring the
mic a little closer. Um so, um for the past 18 months, the city of Kate May has been partnered with uh >> Justine, I'm so sorry. Could you bring that much closer? You It moves closer. Yep. >> Okay. >> Talk right into it. Thank you. >> Um for the past 18 months, the city of
Kate May has been partnered with Columbia University School of Professional Studies and the Climate School. They have been studying water sustainability and conservation. Phase one was specifically with the school of professional studies. They
identified three key areas um for which the city could improve uh the longevity of the desalination facilities and reduce uh water demand, circularity, del ops and demand in general and then assess the finances of
each of those groups. circularity focused on what we can potentially do with the byproduct of the delaw plant. There were several proposals offered um because the diesel plant does not produce enough byproduct. Salt and
minerals were not deemed viable options. The only one that was potentially usable was through landscaping. um at this time we do not have the infrastructure or team to use that byproduct. So moving on to the next area
of research, the teams looked at how we can reduce the overall energy demands of the plant itself. You know, as um Kate May faces its water shortage, um we also have higher energy costs for the plant
itself. It's very very expensive to operate. Um, by adding an energy recovery device, the city has the potential to save 20% of the plant's energy consumption. After this presentation was first
delivered to council and and Kate May, um, the city engineer manager looked into the different models that are available today to see if we could retrofit one to the current DEAL facility. At this time, that is not an
option. Um however looking forward as technologies continue to evolve it is something that we should keep in mind um even for the future plan if not initially um in the years that follow. It has the potential to save the city an
incredible number of dollars. The team also recommended a full solar system for the roofing of the new diesel facility could potentially reduce costs by $40,000 a year. The city engineer and
manager has um indicated to me that the solar plan will be implemented during phase two of the new facility. Do you? >> Yes. >> This is a detailed question, but do you know why the building I >> green?
>> No, the there's a building without solar on it, and I just was curious. >> Yeah, the top left of the photo. >> I I see it. I do not, but I'm happy to ask that follow-up question. >> Okay, perfect. >> The third group focused on water demand.
We have had a water conservation ordinance on the books in Kate May City for decades. anyone who was here in the 70s, 80s, and 90s um remembers it. However, uh community conversation has all but forgotten it. Um so, in an
effort to bring the community back into that dialogue and increase demand from this this side of the table, it was recommended that we implement a tiered water pricing system, a rebate system, business engagement, and community
engagement. So that is pretty complicated. What does that mean? So there was a proposed restructuring of our water rates. Uh a mailer that was designed as a template to include within
the water bills. A redesign of the water bill itself that can explain to um account holders how they are consuming and how they may save. There's then the costbenefit analysis
provided as to what this rebate system would look like. Um they crunched some numbers, looked at the top 100 accounts, and counted if the city offered a $15 rebate on 910 showerheads,
a $140 rebate on 960 toilets. The city would spend approximately $150,000 and save 46 million gallons. These are staggering numbers and this is a program that we highly recommend the
city consider. Phase two of the project focused on developing further the work that was done by the demand team. They identified um key areas of potential, a story map and media assets, financial analysis
tool, a community workshop, and a public art campaign. The story map um using ArcGIS is really quite fantastic. I want to reiterate that the materials provided here are not
final draft. The team has built a template rough draft assets that we as as the city can fine-tune and edit before we release to the public. But they've done an extraordinary job and I'm really happy to share them with you
today. So this is the draft of the story map that they have created can be linked through QR code throughout the city. It dates back to the time of indigenous Americans and their relationship to water here. Looks
at water challenges from a geologic scale and a community scale. offers a timeline, changing water consumption, key water landmarks where it is recommended that QR codes be provided,
actions that can be taken, links to the ordinance, and more advice for conservation. Now I need to get back to the presentation. Okay. Um the next uh deliverable that
were was provided were templates for table tents, brochures, social media posts, and marketing deliverables. Um the letters specifically would be asking businesses to potentially engage with this program and initiative to inform
the community on how we can reduce water. Next, the team created a website for the city, or at least the the bones of it. They wrote the code, which would allow for account holders to actually look at
how their bills operate. So, this is the rough draft. You can see the rates um per gallon, quarters, late payments. It can link to the city itself, online portal, mail, Dropbox, and then you can actually enter
in your household size, your estimated usage, and then how many conservation actions you would like to adopt this toggles here, and you can see what your annual savings and gallons per year savings would be.
>> Cool. It's it's really a fantastic tool and again it's a rough draft but um it is something that is highly recommended that that we continue to develop. They also provided the templates for mailers
one pagers to go out to residents restaurants and hotels. Um currently uh we looking across the top 100 accounts we see that hotels with restaurants are the largest consumers followed by hotels
then the residential community then restaurants and finally city buildings. So we need to target our outreach to those groups specifically. They then provided assets for u what we would need to host a community workshop.
How would we roll out a program like this? How do we engage those stakeholders and implement a tiered water pricing system? They created a draft for a flyer uh linked with a QR code, street banners, uh a schedule of
events, and a letter that we can send out to residents. And finally, they've recommended a public art campaign. One of the issues that we have with water conservation in Cape May city is that we have so many visitors who do not have any prior
knowledge of it. If we can reach them through table tents and public installations, then we can do a better job of actually having an impact. They looked at case studies in Mexico, Los Angeles, New York, the Netherlands, um,
and they found that these public art campaigns are very effective. They drafted a call for um a proposal for artists, identified grant opportunities um and have generated the materials that we would need to release that to the
public. So that is it. I have summed up 10 working groups of work in hopefully under my time limit. Um and I'm sure that there are many many questions. I'm more than happy to answer them via email at a a later date.
>> Did a great job. >> Thanks. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Justine. Really appreciate it. >> Well, only because I will say we had the benefit of seeing a very expansive, you know, presentation that you were going to do, which really was a lot of work that was done by the groups
and and this really is a very salient and very, I think, deliverable um summation of that. So, really excellent job. Yeah, Justine, if I could just mention, I mean, the the product that has been provided by the Colombia groups that did that um embarked on this is
it's absolutely professional product um with really um there's there's you know the city can use this. This is something that's really functional and it's tailored for Cape May. It's tailored for our our desalination plant. It's detailed for
the residents. It's detailed for our businesses and it's also detailed and provides information for this city itself how we can all do better and come up with a um really work on this desalination project and come up with a you know the solutions that u that
address both sustainability and also keeping our cost down. So, thank you for working so closely with them to keep them on task and also to educate them about Kate May because I know we wouldn't have this product if you hadn't worked with them to really pull them
into the community um and to get them to be uh really embedded in here so they understood what our needs were. >> Thank you. and would be >> and I just want to add so the the the original capstone project is up on the environmental commission uh portion of
the K8 city's website. So once we get all the final reports from Justine, we'll we'll put this presentation along with the um the other reports that were just updated for this year on the environmental commission page. So that's where the public can go and and find them if they want to go look.
>> Paul, could I ask or Justine that this version be shared? Yeah, I'll put we'll put this PowerPoint on as as a link on on the Environmental Commission page also. Yes, >> the um final folder of deliverables, the final report from phase 2 was sent to me
yesterday morning actually. So, I mean it's very extensive. Um but that will also be sent to you as well. >> Justine, please share our major thanks with all the students, the professors that were involved. And you didn't have
a lot of time to say this, but I for the general public to know that um I think the two prior cities that experienced this was Cairo, Egypt, >> and Mexico City, Mexico. I mean, millions of people. I mean, I think Mexico City is one of the largest cities
in the world. Uh but millions of people and um and then and then Kate May. So, that's pretty cool. >> We're we're very fortunate. the the university has supplied us with hundreds of thousands of dollars of free consulting services.
>> Amazing. Yeah. >> Um and thank you for the support and encouragement. >> Yes. And thank you to all the environmental commission folks who were involved as well. We really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Justine. Okay. Next up, we have
You have some big shoes to fill here, John, after that presentation. So, uh, with with us is John Becker, uh, on behalf of the USS Jacob Jones Memorial Site. John, welcome and thank you for being
here. >> Thank you. >> Take your time. Yeah, it takes a few minutes sometimes. It's the other one though. >> It's not. >> Oh, it's not. Okay. >> Oh, great.
>> I was doing this before. >> While we're waiting, I do want to thank John. Uh, separate from this, John is also our Historic Preservation Commission um uh chairperson. And um I know you are coming out of a very busy
season of HPC right now, but some of the reforms I'll call them that that you've made along with the other members of HPC in having more meetings I know has been you know some of those Tuesday meetings that you've been having uh have been a a
a real benefit to the community. So thank you. >> Yeah, I'm on city hall but there's a different one I was using with Brian was a different one >> just in case somebody a lot of people don't know what um you're talking about
with those Tuesday meetings um John and uh Kevin they get together and they work with applicants that want to come in front of the HPC and it's in a working friendly way to know what could possibly be done um come brainstorming a little
bit and then coming to the full HPC So, you're well prepared. You know exactly what to expect. Um, and and a lot of that ground work is is done at those meetings and they've done a fabulous job. >> There it is. >> Sorry. Sorry. I'm wondering did we
disconnect the other one? >> Erin, is that that's not still connected? Right. >> There it is. >> Good. There. Now it's showing up. >> Let's see. >> Okay, there we go. That That should do it. >> See, this should do it. >> Beautiful.
>> Let me just Thank you, sir. Minimize out of all that. You're good. Okay, good. >> Let's escape out of this. >> So, now I don't know how to get out of this. >> Okay,
one more thing. Well, good evening everybody. Thank you for having us back. You may recall the last time we were here was on August 5th and after that meeting we decided to take a break and start over. It what I'm presenting tonight is a page one
rewrite. Threw everything in the garbage can. Let it sit for a couple months. Started redesigning again in October. Spent most of November and December redesigning and then January and February creating some of the things that I'm going to show you this evening.
So, one point I do want to make uh right up front that this entire project will be funded by a private 501c3 nonprofit organization. And you can see at the bottom of this slide is a link to our website for more information if anybody's interested.
So, just a little context, what I'm trying to do here is take um the presentation that we made publicly on April 15th, which was half an hour. I'm cutting that in half. Hopefully I can even do better than that, but we'll do this as quickly as we can. For a little context, four days after Pearl Harbor,
Germany declared war in the United States. About nine weeks later, on February 28th, the first naval vessel of the US military was sunk by a yubot just off the coast of Kate Mes, the USS Jacob Jones DD-130.
And it was a very strong piece of propaganda throughout Nazi Germany, validating their approach to having the yubot along the east coast. And the 138 crew members who died, their remains are still at the sinking site.
11 survivors were taken to the Naval Air Station, which is now the Coast Guard base. So, this is the first memorial of its kind. Um, we've done extensive research. There's no other memorial anywhere in the United States that attributes to a
single ship that was sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic, except for one small plaque in Maine. And then of course the larger Battle of the Atlantic memorial in Battery Park City in Manhattan. And one of the really powerful things about this is that this is intended also to
honor more than just the crew members of the Jacob Jones, but all the folks who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Battle of the Atlantic. And this is clearly of very national significance. So you might note that here on the front page of the Philadelphia Enquire, it's dated March 4th. So DoD was really
frightened in a way to make this public. Didn't release it to the press until about four or five days later because they thought everybody would panic. But this also made national news and headlines in hundreds of newspapers around the United States including Boston, Chicago, LA, Miami, uh St.
Louis, um on and on, including little places like the one on the top here, which is in a small town in North Dakota. So, we have dozens of copies of these newspapers from that time period. And the idea that
this is the one and only home for the memorial being in Kate May, it's arguably the single most significant event of national import attributed to Kate May because of how it impacted our defense system along the east coast of
the United States. It actually not only helped well it the the canal was built as a function of that in order to protect the supply ships that were getting sunk by the Ubot around the Cape of Cape May and it demonstrated how
vulnerable the East Coast was to the Nazi military and it included the creation and development of some significant homeland security issues at the time which were um few and far between including development of radar and sonar that didn't really at that
point have developed very far. And one of the things I'd like to point out is that since Kate May is the only national historic landmark district that at the national level includes the entire municipal boundaries, this reinforces the historical significance of Kate May in that we
think of Kate May as Victoria with its period of significance between about 1780 and 1840. Well, given the significance of this event, it just simply adds and reinforces the historical significance of Kate May and in a in a way extends its period of
significance by eight years or two years, I should say. So since August and with lots of deliberation, we heavily examined what would be the criteria for a desirable and appropriate site and that evolved extensively. So, first of all, within
the city of Kate May, having the ability to view the sinking site, of course, thereby being next to the beach in the ocean with lots of uh symbolic attributes, not the least of which in this case is the uh abandoned and the one of two remaining World War II
observation towers directly across the street from the site we're proposing. that is inaccessible whereby the other one is and have no impact on any residential neighborhoods squarely within a commercial area with a high accessibility to enhancing the prominade
experience with low maintenance and security needs and also no impact at all on the dunes andor any D regulatory processes. core principles for design also significantly evolved very much wanting to contribute to and fit within
its natural ecology and habitat and in fact do better than doing less damage actually promote habitat and um ecology in that place but also be a place of of humility. uh a quiet contemplative meditative space that is intended to be
very much an immersive experience as opposed to just looking at something and really again to honor these heroes but do so with an inordinate number of what I'll call symbolic features which I'll run you through real quickly. So the
site that's being proposed now is directly across from the Grand Hotel right on Beach Drive and you can see an elevation there. That's where the World War II observation tower pops out of the top of the Grand Hotel. And we've had several conversations and a couple of presentations with the owner of the
Grand Hotel who has uh expressed his support for the project. The only thing he asked is that we located between these two yellow lines so that it was in front of the main mass of the hotel as opposed to in front of any of the rooms. So if we take a look at where our site
is and connect it with this line to the sinking site, that line is 43° due east of Solar South, which will come up more importantly in a minute. So if we just simply blow up the scale of this, the
the actual platform upon which it sits is this red circle. Let's rotate it so that beach drive is directly horizontal so that we can take a look at a site plan. So that line that connects our site to the sinking site is the perpendicular bis sector right here to
the sinking site. So to orient you, the beach is to the south here. Here's beach drive. This right here is the new 3-ft high wooden bulkhead that will be built. And then from that bulkhead 27 feet will be
a sloped landscaping area before we get to the new prominade which is 18 feet wide. And then we have the cast inplace concrete seaw wall. So in section if we take a look at that at the bottom of this drawing here's beach drive again.
Here's the wooden bulkhead. The existing grade is this dash line right here. So the actual level of the prominade will be roughly five feet higher than what that current level is. And the landscaped area will be sloped up to
that prominade. And then the prominade goes from here to here. And then here is the cast in place concrete bench with the concave back that is the seaw wall before the dune grades back down to the ocean. So the fundamental premise of
this is we're calling it the portal to freedom and the design is drawn into this section so that there at its core is an 8-ft cylinder portal through which you walk before entering the memorial. So we spent some time doing some
computer simulations in context of what this looks like. At the very center of it, which generates all these geometries, is a twoft diameter bronze plaque, which is a reproduction of the seal that we had made by a graphic designer. That the intention is that
that be made out of bronze that is cast from bronze that has been salvaged from the sinking site of the Jacob Jones that will be melted and reused to make this plaque. Uh we're still waiting final word from the Navy to ensure that that's acceptable because there have been significantly more stringent rel um
restrictions for diving the site since that stuff was salvaged. So that center line that connects to the sinking site is right down the middle here which is tiled and slightly depressed so that any rain water that falls on this concrete can then be collected and drained into
the planting bed here and here at the other end. So the prominade's located here. The main platform upon which you initially arrive as sort of the threshold is a foot above that. So on one side you come up two steps to arrive. On the other side you come up a
ramp to arrive. Pass through the 8ft diameter portal into the sacred space or the meditative space which is shaped precisely derived from the blueprints of the Jacob Jones that we were able to get from the
Navy thanks to George Shu. And those are created by framing members that are floating and slightly caned to suggest that the bow is sinking. And that's then flanked by two fence pieces with welded wire. So that the planting beds that
surround that of coral honeysuckle will grow up those walls and will grow up those fences and become what we call a living wall. And those coral honeysuckles are native planting that are um powerful pollinator plants
predominantly for hummingbirds. And then that's flanked again by another layer of 6 to 7 foot high bay berries that also provides food for the local bird habitat. So this is what it looks like in three dimensions if you were sort of hovering
above beach drive with of course the ocean in the back and you penetrate through the main portal and here are the ribs of out all out of stainless steel marine stainless steel called SS136
and from the beach drive it would look like this nested in that planting and what happens here is allundred 38 names are cut out fully through this inner plate of curved stainless steel.
So all of those names are then back lit by virtue of this second layer that allows the sun to bounce around in here and backlight these names through the cutouts. And at night time there's a very low voltage, very dim LED hidden lighting source that
also backlights all 138 names. So the idea here is that instead of the names being remembered in some sort of dark carving which we see in almost all memorials around the country and the world that they're actually being remembered in light. So from eye level this is what the
entire composition would appear to look like from Beach Drive. And there's also a celestial component to this. You may recall that that line to the sinking site which runs right through the middle at the terminus. Once you arrive in the
in the sacred space or the or the meditative space, there's another portal that's 2 feet in diameter. You stick your face in so that you can focus your view directly out to the sinking site. And it is designed such that when the altitude of the sun on February 28th, the date of the sinking, when the sun is
directly in alignment with the sinking site to our site, that altitude angle passes the sun through this opening, this portal, and precisely illuminates the two-foot bronze plaque on the floor of the memorial. So, inside of it, this
is what the experience would look like. nested in nature by virtue of the honeysuckle growing up the walls to again enhance the floating nature of the bow pieces of of the ship. And then from the proomenade side, it would look something like this. And it's intended to enhance
that prominade experience with something that is a pause place as well as a place to add some interest to the walk of the proomenade. And it's intended to very much be embedded in the habitat on both sides of the proomenade. And the whole idea also here is that it's kind of
hidden inside of all of this habitat and vegetation. So you really only understand it when you walk through the entire experience and pass through that first portal. So what we also did was we created a little cinematic film of this
and I want to show you that. Here we go. Those are two benches for folks who are waiting. And again, you don't quite know what's going on until you come around it and then go up and experience the whole choreograph sequence.
So lastly to close, we have done extensive um there have been there's been a whole committee who's been doing research on the descendants of the Jacob Jones and first and foremost above among those are Lieutenant Commander Hugh David Black
and what the photograph in the middle is is his grandson came last September once his father died to and he met with us for breakfast and talked all about this. He's a a New Jersey guy uh where Captain Black was to scatter his his father's ashes, Commander Black's son's ashes
over the sinking site. So, one other really fascinating piece of information with all these all of the um descendant research is there were three sets of brothers who were um on the ship who went down. And speaking of brothers,
we have a little message for all of you from um the oldest of the two or the oldest grandson or the brother of who you saw dumping the ashes who' just like to address all of you for a brief moment here. Good evening, Mayor Mullik and members
of the city council. For the record, my name is Greg Gorn and I reside in Spokane, Washington. I wish that I could be with you in Tape May tonight so that I can personally thank you for this opportunity to address the city council. Mayor, I am proud to say that I am the
oldest grandchild of Lieutenant Commander Hugh David Black, the captain of the USS Jacob Jones and a native son of New Jersey. My mother was only 9 years old when the Jacob Jones was attacked and sunk off the coast of Cape May by a German submarine. And next
month, God willing, we will be celebrating her 94th birthday with her. On behalf of the extended family of Lieutenant Commander Black, I can say that we are excited and deeply moved to learn of the local grassroots efforts to design and construct a memorial monument
to honor the crew of the Jacob Jones and all of the sailors who so bravely fought in the Battle of the Atlantic. We fully support these efforts and stand ready to assist in any way that we can. Mayor, I find great comfort and joy in
knowing that the ultimate sacrifice made by the crew of the Jacob Jones that faithful day has not been forgotten and that f future generations will have the opportunity to honor and pay their respects to these brave men and to
reflect upon the losses of and sacrifices made by the families like ours so that all of us may be free. Thank you so very much, Mayor. I wish you and the city council the very best in your deliberations and I look forward
to the opportunity to to meet you and to thank you in person. Good night. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you very much for your time, John. That was uh moving and um I think I personal opinion would love to hear
from other folks but I just think you knocked it out of the park. I I um yeah I >> and it says a lot to not take that such pride in authorship. you know, I think you really took into consideration a lot
of a lot of comments from a lot of different people, which which is not easy to do. And I think what you did is just incredible, honestly. >> Yeah. Well, oh, also I'm sorry, John, just to um follow up on that, you listened,
which is probably the most important thing that came out of this was really listen to what people were saying, and took the time to step back and say, "We still want to achieve this goal, but we have to revision it and revision it with what would be acceptable to the
community." And I think you've done a fantastic job. So, >> thank you. I I have to say that um the public comments made it a better design and um I also have to say that it's not me doing it. This comes from some other
source that is not me. Mayor, if I could just before um so I was alerted that the presentation mode might not have been working on the YouTube. So this presentation possibly Justine's might not have been presented to the people in the public. So just just I just want the public to we'll
we'll post post both of the powerpoints on the website um so that they're available to uh take a look at them. I just wanted the public to know that you know that they're viewing maybe from live on the YouTube to know that they'll they'll >> they'll we'll get it up there so you
know later this week. Um >> we'll get the presentation >> we'll get the presentations up there so that they can look at the presentations >> because that's a shame because if the public didn't see that it was a really wonderful presentation. So, please check it out on the website. >> I just want to make sure that >> Yeah. Um, you know, while we have John
here, is uh council, are we okay to open it up for public comment? >> Absolutely. >> Um, so uh right now I'd like to open it up for public comment on on John's uh presentation. If you have any comments that you'd like to make or questions, please feel free to come to the
microphone. State your name and address for the record if you would, please. Hello, my name is Devin Barer. I reside on 1379 Washington Street across the street from the C view. Everybody knows where that is. Uh my father passed away
in n in 1989 on the Tammy D. Never found anybody. Uh but their n names are all inscribed in the fisher memorial. Now, somebody told me about this project uh George Shu actually. He was a friend of my father's back when
they Harrisburg and um he told me about this project and I was like this is amazing. I think it's a great idea mainly because when people lose parents or family members to the ocean, you don't really have anywhere to go. You don't have like
>> any finality. So, I mean, I think it was back in around early 2000s, they tried to move the Kate May memorial. I don't know if the fish memorial >> and there's a huge outcry of the community because they're basically saying like, "Hey, we're going to move your cemetery." >> And nobody wants that, right?
>> Um so, something like this where it said 138 sailors passed away, that's 138 families at least >> um of people that don't have anywhere to grieve. And I guarantee you that 130 people is probably up to a thousand
2,000 uh family members who will look at this project and say, "Hey, that's our family name on that plaque." And I think that's a fantastic idea. Like our future is our isn't our past. That's this is
our past. I mean, maybe you can't make me more of a World War II historical uh place to see. And that's so basically all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you, Devin. Thank you. >> Uh Dr. Christopher Trafeti, 1062
Pennsylvania Avenue in KM May. 138 members. Now, for a moment, just metaphorically close your eyes. Presume you were related to them. Presume you had nowhere to mourn them.
Now presume that you came here and saw them. We are losing anywhere we're losing over 100 of our World War II veterans a day. The latest count is anywhere between 45
and 66,000 veterans left alive. Don't let their memory perish. My father was a decorated World War II Navy vet. I see no better way to remember these people than to have a place where we can
mourn them and salute them. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Doc. >> Good evening. My name is Elizabeth Hyde. I reside at 107 New Jersey Avenue. Um, and I just had a couple qu questions if you in mind. Um, so I'm not opposed to
it. I really appreciate all the comments that you took in to revisit this uh this wonderful project. And I I would also suggest to those of you who have not ever been, but if you take a trip out to the point and you go into Fire Tower 23,
there's a lovely memorial to the the SS Jacob Jones and it it also um captures they have a a video that captures the visit when the the family the the uh family members came um to visit Kate May
before they passed. And so there's other information there. I don't know if that was part of the research that was done, but I learned about it from an article in the the uh the star and wave. And it's it's really quite something. Um and given the connection with the uh the u
the tower and its significance looking for you to u back in the day. Um it's interesting that you picked the grand because uh you may not all be aware, but it was built around one of those towers. So the uh the connection between the two
was not lost on me. But I'm really curious how what are the dimensions of this? I mean I just don't really I've been to a lot of the memorials in Washington DC but I don't really have an appreciation since I live so close and uh just wondering I have a difficult
time visualizing because the the whole reconstruction of the boardwalk hasn't really taken place in that section yet. So, a >> couple things that may help. Um, this is a drawing that actually shows. Let's see if I can get this real quick. There's a
person right here so you can see the scale of it. So, that's a a 5'9 in high person and the top of it is at 8 ft. This dimension is 8 feet, which is about half of a car length. And then in plan
the memorial itself see I can get this here. Yeah. So this space the meditative space is roughly 11 ft by 16 ft and then all the the platform itself
just this circular concrete area that is a dimension of 34 feet. That's it. >> So if you look in if you look back at that site plan escape
if you look at the site plan from where we showed it early on here this will give you that's exactly that 32 foot or I'm sorry 34 foot diameter circle. So that's the scale of it in
context. So, when I'm when I'm looking at the the dotted line, the green space to the right, is that the where the pool is? Um, >> no, the pool is here. >> Okay. >> The awning. >> Yeah. >> Oh, that's the awning to the entrance. Okay. Okay.
>> Yeah. So, this the pool is right here. >> Is that the restaurant area, John? >> Yeah. This is this is this is actually the um the the the second floor >> balcony >> uh balcony that looks out over the beach. Okay. >> So, the entrance to the Hemingways is right here.
All right, great. Okay, thank you. >> Thank you, Beth. >> Good evening. >> Evening. Hi, my name is Vince Dejo and I live proximate to um to where the proposal is for the monument. I'm on
Maryland just off of Philadelphia and Philadelphia is our beach. And um I've seen what was in the newspapers and I took a walk out to the beach today and I kind of looked back towards the
grand and imagined this um this monument being there and I was moved. >> I said, you know, this works. >> This works. And I saw the tower in the background >> and I see how those two blended >> from the historical stuff. And um I'm
really excited about having it as a neighbor. >> Yeah. >> And uh and seeing it there. And I think you guys have done a great job. >> Well, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Bonnie Bonnie Pontton, 30 Gurnie Street. Good evening, Mayor. >> Good evening.
>> Member, city council. >> I'm going to reiterate. I need two and a half minutes of your time. The USS Jacob Jones was the first United States Navy warship sunk by German forces in the Atlantic Theater after Pearl Harbor. Many people in this room
have direct connections with relatives who served his country during World War II. On a personal level, my father was a Navy World War II Navy pilot, lifelong resident of New Jersey. My father-in-law, born and raised in New Jersey, served during the war in the
United States Coast Guard, patrolling the waters of New Jersey and all along the East Coast aboard a schooner disguised as commercial fishermen manned by fishermen looking for yubot strategically positioned along the entire coast of United States. On March
3rd, 1942, the headlines of the Newark evening news read, "Subinks destroyer off of New Jersey informing the citizens of Newark and the rest of New Jersey of the sinking of United States Navy warship by a German submarine."
The article continues by saying, "The first torpedo hit just above after the bridge, leading to a devastating explosion that sheared off the forward section of the ship. A second torpedo struck near the stern, causing further destruction and igniting the depth
charges in a massive explosion that left little hope for recovery. 84 years have come and gone since the fateful day of the sinking of the USS Destroyer Jacob Jones. We, the citizens of Kate May, are honored to be able to finally pay homage
to the men lost to this tragic event that happened right off our shores. This will be a significant opportunity and a sacred and solemn obligation as we honor this hollowed grave site as well as honoring the hundreds of American
soldiers lost to Nazi hubot during the battle of the Atlantic. My hope is that this final memorial be offered and hosted by the city of Kate May, all who call this home and all who wish to visit. This overdue tribute will give
national recognition to the men who made the ultimate sacrifice. The monument will be located here in Cape May, New Jersey, but the recognition will go well beyond our borders and shoreline. As residents of Cape May, may we all get behind this project with a rallying cry
of support. To borrow a segment of the American plea to the French government after the Battle of Normandy when General Mark Clark asked for only enough soil to bury our gallant dead, we ask for only enough
sand to honor our gallant dead. Thank you. Thank you, Bonnie. >> By the way, this is an image of the the latest monument that was built on Normandy Beach. >> Good evening, 29 Gurnie Street. Thank you for this
opportunity to express my support for this uh initiative. Um this memorial recognizes the sacrifice of these 138, preserves their me memory and reminds us of the sacred spot off our shores that
became their final resting place. These 138 who answered the call to serve the country during time of war. And the memorial has been designed with great thought, beautifully designed. In fact, I'm
wondering whether in a previous life you worked on the pyramids or something. I'm so blown away by by the sighting and and the whole uh exercise of having the sunshine. Uh at that exact moment on the 28th of
February, um the memorial will offer uh the public a place for remembrance, for sharing uh for education, for learning the story of the Jacob Jones. I don't think it's widely known. Um and just um
an opportunity to express our pride in military past and present. Um, Cape May is a city that values history, respects history. I urge you to um give these 138
men a permanence and um in our thoughts and an honorable place to to rest. Thank you. >> Thank you, Teresa. >> Hi. Uh, good evening, Mayor Mullik and town council. My name is Kevin Black. I live at 912 Corgi Street. And full
disclosure, I'm the treasurer of the USS Jacob Jones Memorial. Um, I just want to reinforce our commitment to this memorial not having any impact on taxpayers. Uh to date we've received a
significant amount of support for the memorial and very positive feedback regarding donations um from both Kate May residents as well as non-residents and all of this is contingent on
obviously the vote tonight. >> Thank you. That's it. >> Thank you Kevin. Thank you. >> Well, maybe last but not least, um, for the for the record, Jim Test of 1501 Beach Avenue, Cape May. And for purposes of of complete disclosure, um, since
most of you know that I also sit as vice chair of the HPC, my remarks tonight are going to be personal remarks. They're going to be individual remarks. they don't seek to analyze or or talk about the merits of this, but but but they will be, I think, personal and
heartfelt. And that's really what I wanted to bring uh to your to your attention. Um to to say that um that this has a personal connection to us and our family is to let you know that my dad also was
a World War II veteran. He was a Navy man. He was a sailor. He served as the radar man of LSMR 401 um for those of you who aren't familiar landing ship medium rocket um and was on his way through the Pacific theater to
participate in the invasion of the Japanese home islands. It's fortuitous that when that happened in the summer of 1945 that the war ended before he got there and it's probably the reason why I'm mostly here tonight. Uh, but I will
say that if my dad were here, uh, he would say that he loved Kate May. He visited it often. Uh, he he took great pride in many things that we have here locally. Being trained as a draftsman, he appreciated our architecture. Uh,
being the son of a carpenter and master builder, uh, he appreciated construction and preservation, but he really loved the sea. He visited the Naval Air Station. He was proud that we had a naval presence and a Coast Guard base.
And and I think if he were here tonight, he would say that what we are seeing in terms of this memorial is an extremely appropriate and welldesigned, well thought of, and a significant u
contribution toward those who sacrificed to give us the liberty and the freedom that allows us to be here tonight. and talk about things like memorials. So, I would say that in in my view, uh this is a very significant addition to the Cape
May catalog. I think it will it will bring us um attention and rightfully so. Uh I think that um we will be the better for it and I do think that it'll confirm what we know from many other instances
in Cape May that this is a little town, but it's got a really big heart. So, thank you very much for your attention. >> Thank you, Jim. >> Anyone else on the Jacob Jones? >> Yes, please. >> Yes, sir. >> Take your time, >> sir. You could sit right here if you'd
like. >> Oh, thank you. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Right. >> Oh, no. Right there. >> Oh, right here. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Make sure it's got >> just speak right into that microphone.
>> Thank you. >> My name is Bob Myers. I live at uh 1108 Lafayette Street >> and I too am the son of a World War II uh veteran. My father was uh a strategic
air command pilot and retired as the director of the B-52 maintenance school in Shannuda, Illinois. I've followed this project from its inception uh in the paper
and um I I must say that it reminds me that whoever said that there are two things you never want to see being made, sausage and legislation was absolutely right. Uh it's been it's been quite an
ordeal. Uh but I think um the process has worked. Uh I think it I sense it's come to a good point. Uh I support the comments of those that
support the project and understand them. And I would say, excuse me, that um one one criticism
uh that I read of in the paper uh needs to be disposed of. And the criticism was that this project was too scientific. The technology and the the mathematics
that underpin this project also underpins Stonehenge, the pyramids in Egypt, Chichonita in in Mexico. And it's part of the brilliance of of the
design that the oculus of the design focuses the the light of the sun on the plaque on the day of the sinking. As people stand and and look toward the
site, I assume that the person that offered that criticism switches off their satnav when they come into an historic town and and reach they reach for a paper map.
Thank you for your consideration. I I strongly encourage the project and hope support it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Sir, you're good. >> Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Lance Fontton, 30 Gurnie Street. Uh, just to follow up on what my wife was saying
earlier, as I looked at this, I didn't realize how farreaching this is, and it was mentioned a few times tonight. And I can tell you firsthand that my father was on a schooner, about a 70 foot schooner,
sailed the North Atlantic, disguised as fishermen with with other Coast Guard guys, and they were out there spotting German submarines and radioing back >> their position. So, I mean, I have a a
direct contact with this that I never even realized. And I'm sure there's other people around the country that that feel the same way. So I endorse this and hopefully you'll carry it through. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Anyone else's on this topic? Okay, we can close public comment on the USS Jacob Jones. I'm almost disappointed that we don't have a resolution uh that we're looking to approve tonight on this. Um >> Well, I think our our attitude towards it is >> Yeah.
>> You know, shows how we feel. >> Yeah. I I um I rarely put the pressure on council like this, but I I fully endorse this and and I think um you just have John and and everyone involved took
all those different public comment opin um you know, opinions and and questions and just hit it out of the park. And I I just think it's beautiful. And as many people I think you even just heard tonight that there's this is going to touch a lot of people that there are a
lot of people with relatives that were in World War II that will just greatly appreciate this and I think you just did an incredible job. So congratulations mayor. I just want to just want to add >> that you know the it has already been a
success. One of the comments was that um not enough people know about the story of the the men that were on the Jacob Jones, people that visit Kate May, people that are longtime visitors of Kate May, people that reside in Kate May. The you know over the past year
that you've been working on this project, you and your team have already brought that story to light to so many more people. You've already succeeded. I I would just add I look forward to voting to in favor of of moving forward
with this project and and offering city support for that when we have that opportunity. >> So the true thanks should be given to Miles Martell because this was his brainchild, his idea. He was the one who put the committee together and it's because of him that we're here talking
about this. The only other thing I would add is just when we sat at this table back at the latter part of last year, when you have a community that went from not really wanting this, questioning it,
fighting against it to having a community that embraces it, kudos. Kudos for the work that you have done. Um, your I say your Da Vinci model of the brain that came up with this. Um, but
also the fact that you guys stuck to it and you listened and this community by the presence of these people tonight and the comments embrace it have embraced this project which I would not have thought if I look back at you know sort of the tenor of the of of the room at
that point in time. So much congratulations and I fully support it >> and I do have to please >> I I have to actually kind of comment on what um Moren just said working with you also on the HPC. This is the true man
that he is. Um takes you know all of the information that was you know that was given throughout this entire process and just like you said you came up with a beautiful project. Um it was a work in progress and what you have now is just
amazing. I've supported it from the beginning. Um and I just think that the way that the committee um has been very professional, very open, very transparent uh with the public and you know accepted all that criticism um and
came out. I think this is just a win-win for the city of Kate May and the blessings that you're getting I you can see it. It's very evident. So, thank you and thank you to the committee. >> Good. >> And I just have one thought, too. Um, I
can't think of a single person walking on the prominade and not being curious and want walking over to see what that is. And I think more importantly than that, I think when the kids get to see it and go in there and the parents explain the history, uh, it's going to be something really, uh, impactful for
our young Americans. >> Absolutely. Okay, great job. What's that? >> So, mayor, so for next for the upcoming meeting, y >> I'll work with Chris to work on a resolution and a maybe a draft shared
service. Yeah, not shared, but a agreement to move forward. If anyone wants to stay to give us the same accolades on the um parking meter >> parking meter increase be please feel free to
>> that's good news. with that. And please feel free to if you're leaving that's no no problem. Take your time. Um we'll move on to ordinance for introduction. Sorry.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Take take your time. Yes, we have 602-2026, an ordinance amending chapter 7 of the city code regarding metered parking in the city of Cape May for introduction. >> Uh, do I have a motion? >> I'll make the motion.
>> Do I have a second? >> I'll second >> for some discussion, please. >> Yeah, mayor. >> Yeah, please. Y >> um so I've had some discussion and I I know individual council members have had discussions with me and and maybe between each other um but not collectively and I think I'd like to sum
up some of the discussions that I've had that might uh coales hopefully the discussions of where we're at that we I would like to make the following re recommended changes to the ordinance uh that we've that that's been drafted because we really drafted this ordinance after MTRA made their presentation and
and I think you kind of gave us a broad brush guideline of what we felt the ordinance wanted to be. But as we thought about it and started looking at some of the the the devils in the details kind of the thing, uh we started to think that maybe we need to make some adjustments. So the first adjustment I
would recommend that the yellow zone instead of the $4 per hour that goes to $3 per hour. That makes it a more moderate increase from the current $2 an hour and just increasing it by$1. And the intent was to really have a separation from,
you know, the the yellow zone predominantly being around the Washington Street Mall area and having that different than the other parking areas to kind of, you know, make it a little more selective and perspective if if you remember the MTRA's description
of why you you you create those two different pricing zones. So, I'd make that first recommendation. Second, there was some discussion regarding the blue zone. blue zone is the areas I'll say east of U Pit Philadelphia um Avenue and
and that area uh there was some discussion that doesn't get a lot of I'll say the the shoulder season uh parking so you know even though we were trying to create consistency amongst the zones I think it does make sense to to put that back to you know not revise
that zone so to to remain uh from April 1 to October 31st uh for the blue zone All the other zones uh would red, yellow, orange, and green. Sorry, I had to think there for a second.
>> Um >> we we have almost all the colors of the rainbow, but not quite not quite everything there. Um >> we are trying to simplify this, I believe. >> So So all of those zones are are going to um April 1 to December 31. So that
that is a change for that. And then obviously the ordinance is really changing. I'll say all of the zones are going from a $1.50. All the other zones besides yellow would go from $1.50 to $2 an hour. So that would be a 50 cent increase. And and everybody should know
this these parking fee numbers haven't been changed in over six years. So this is the first increase for parking fees um in that time. Um, we had some discussion regarding um the three-hour time limit and and a lot of discussion
the the area within the yellow zone is signed for three-hour limit. However, I was just doing some research in the ordinance. I don't believe that three-hour limit exists for any of the colored zones in the ordinance currently. So, we don't have to remove anything. We don't have
to add anything because it currently doesn't exist. I'm going to have to work with public works to remove those signs because we don't really have an ordinance that supports it. What is in the ordinance are there's time limits for the parking lots. So the Jackson
Street parking lot is listed as a 10-hour limit, which that's our 10 to 10 kind of time limit. All of the other parking lots, community center, welcome center, city hall, um, and the then the private lots that we've just added on,
um, are all listed in the table as a three-hour limit. What I think and and I didn't obviously have a chance to go back and look in history. My belief would probably be believe that some of these colored zones were listed in these tables that listed different parameters.
But as we've over the years brought those zones more into alignment with each other, they got pulled out of the tables and into the main body of the paragraph of the uh underlying ordinance and then therefore lost their that
three-hour time limit underneath of them. So um I know we had that discussion about the three-hour time limit, but I don't think we really need to bring it up because >> I reviewed it. I don't I don't believe any of the the the metered zones except the parking lots
>> have a three-hour time limit. >> Paul, I'd just be speaking for myself, but I'd like to hear from the bid specifically around the mall. I mean, that that is our biggest issue in regards to, you know, getting people moving out of those areas. if if the the
folks around the mall who know it the the best um were concerned that cars were staying there for too long. >> Yeah. So, so we did some initial review um of the information when we looked at we had the most time to look at I'll say
Lyall and Carpenter Lane. Uh when you look at the average time the park mobile lists that they say they're around about an hour and 45 minutes >> that that also included Ocean to Perry also it was Ocean Perry Decar um and
Jackson. So it was you know and it was consistent it was interesting it was very consistent for a two-e period in July. >> Right. Yeah. So, we didn't obviously we didn't look at the whole summer every day or something. So, we just looked at that. >> I think I'm I'm saying it more as a public comment to to the bid if they
felt like, hey, these cars aren't moving anymore. >> Let us know. >> Is that Yeah, let us know. >> Now, I I did get some comment back. I had one member of the the bid that come back and said, "Hey, you know, they felt that some of their customers needed to stay there a little bit longer." Because if you kind of think about it, if I'm
going to go out to dinner or grab a meal and then do shopping, you're probably going to want potentially 3 hours, maybe four hours, depending on >> I always like the limit. That helped me out. Oh, we got to go. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. >> Well, I think what we're saying right now, though, is that we're we're not
going to impose the limit. We're going to take that right portion out >> and then we're going to look at the data, hear from the bid over the summer months to find out if this has more of a I guess a negative impact, an unintended consequence of cars not moving enough,
right? >> But but but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what but what I will say is that three-hour limit has not been enforced. you know, whether whether or not through the park mobile app, which we could force people to not be able to to reup or, you know, from an enforce, you know, police enforcement standpoint of the old chalking of the
tires and and seeing how long your cars there. So, over the years, I'll say at least within the last two and a half years that I've been here, >> the police enforcement have not enforced the three-hour limit. So, >> it hasn't been an issue that we've heard about, but if it becomes one,
>> yes. Yeah. So yeah, and then you take a look at um since it hasn't been enforced, the signs all say at Park Mobile Center. >> So So it's kind of self- enforced. It's selfforregulated. It did. It absolutely did. So you know, if we remove it, then we see what the consequences of that are.
>> And and we'll live with it for a season and see. Um the bid does have a meeting on uh the 11th. >> Okay. So, um, you can let them know that >> I'll send the information out to them, um, and have them, you know, let them know what the decision was. Um, a lot of them, a few of them might be here.
>> Yeah. >> And I did convey the summary that I kind of spoke here at the beginning. I did email that to the, uh, Washington Mall bid group of businesses. So, they they were aware of I'm sure they were aware of the proposed ordinance, but I also made them aware of, you know, the possible changes that were forthcoming
possibly this evening. And MTRA will also be looking at this. I have talked to Martin. We'll take a look at the data after the summer um you know and um take a look at it and see what you know some of the the impact might have been. And this is just the introduction. So correct rights.
>> But we but if you are obviously we need to >> make sure Chris is clear with what the changes are and make a motion to amend >> amend the proposed ordinance. Can I try and spit this back to you guys so that I and I'm going to do it in narrative
form, not like look at this line, look at that line. So, I just want to be clear about we have some we're still working with the same existing language. We're going to be tweaking that. The green, orange, and blue zones, $2 an hour payable in 10 10
minute increments. All on street parking metered areas will be 10 to six between April and December 31 >> except when we'll talk about the blue zone. So the existing blue zone language that was crossed out is now going to be
restored. So parking east of Philadelphia Avenue will have an earlier termination time of 5:00 p.m. So we that's what's in there will be restored. That's going to live on. Um the all city parking lots language will remain the
same. And then we're really um making distinct rules for the yellow zone. The yellow zone is the areas on the map that Paul uh generated $3 per hour instead of four that was proposed payable in 10-minute
increments. We're going to eliminate the three-hour parking maximum and take a pilot. Let's see how that works for the summer. But in this update, that three-hour limitation is going to be removed. Um, and then that's going to be a 10 to
10 again between April and December 31. >> Then we get to the red zone. That's going to be $2 per hour like the other ones in temp 10 10-minute incre increments. And the parking uh will be
enforced from 10 to 10 again between April 1st and December 31. So the parking season in Cape May is now April 1st to December 31st >> except >> except the blue zone. >> Except the blue zone. >> So the blue zone is going to end >> October 31. >> October 31st.
>> Okay. All right. So I'm going to add that as well. >> Yep. >> But with all that those are the updates. Yes. and all the language, the updated version will reflect that and that's what will be published and ready for second reading potentially. >> Do I have a motion on the amendment?
>> I will make the motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Uh, roll call on the amendment. >> Council member Meyer? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDeade? >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner? >> Yes. >> Council member Baldwin? >> Yes. >> Mayor Mollik?
>> Yes. Do I have a motion on the amended ordinance? I'll >> motion. >> I'll second. >> Any questions or comments on that? Roll call. >> Council member Meyer. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDeade. >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner. >> Yes. >> Council member Baldwin.
>> Yes. >> Mayor Malik. >> Yes. >> And of course, we'll have second reading and public comment at the uh not the next >> Actually, it is the next council meeting, >> the May 19th meeting. Yes. >> Yes. No 19 type
>> because remember with the with the new publishing laws, the clerk is now able to because we publish all of our legal notices on our website, you know, we're able to meet the statutory guidelines for public notice and really have, you know, be able to act on ordinances and
different things at the following meeting. Okay. Yeah, I was going to detail that a little bit later, but so expect a more expedited ordinance adoption timeline because we now can publish it to the website rather than having to wait a whole extra week to
publish it in the weekly paper. >> Okay. On to uh ordinance for second reading. Yes, we have 601-2026 ordinance amending the city of Kim Code establishing procedures and regulations for memorial program with a public hearing tonight. Mayor,
>> is anyone here wishing to speak on ordinance 601 memorial program? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make Oh, >> I'll make the 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 Malik. >> Yes. >> All right. Moving on to the public portion on the resolutions only. Mayor. >> Is anyone here wishing to speak on the
resol any of the resolutions this evening? Resolutions this evening. Please come to the microphone. State your name and address for the record. >> Stacy Shen, 928 Columbia Avenue. Um,
I have a concern with resolution 189 >> 052026 a resolution authorizing procurement of janitorial services and it's for 44,479 and my concern is this is from September
6th to November 15th 60 days which comes out to be $741 a day that we're going to be hiring somebody to go from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. And between September 16th and November
15th, I don't know if even all 11 of those bathrooms are even going to be open. And I just don't understand why we're spending that much money at that time of year for bathroom cleaning when basically not many people are here during the week. And you'll be, like I
said, 700 or $741 a day for two people to be here to clean the 11 bathrooms, which I think are, and Paul, please correct me if I get the wrong bathrooms for the 11. >> It's that's all we have is 11. >> The park.
>> Mhm. >> Lifeguard headquarters, which will probably be closed in November, probably closes in October. The boardwalk has five. The mall has two. And I guess is it city hall and conventions hall? Are the other
two or is the welcome center? I wasn't sure cuz my other question is who is cleaning the bathrooms when we have them during the the summer months for concerts? Is that going to be somebody else going in there to clean after six? >> We already use uh this company for the
summer. So this is like a second round because because we didn't weren't able to have higher seasonal workers to do this. We're taking essentially our seasonal salary budget. You know, that's essentially just two employees that we would have hired for that seasonal shift.
>> Well, I understand you have them before the season from May until >> No, we we hire >> um that you're hiring these people from May 15th to September 15th. I think it was the original contract was for, >> right? And this is the supplement that original contract. Do you really think
we need two people every day basically in the fall when a lot of these people there's probably no one even using these bathrooms during the week to be here from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. >> We get the calls and complaints. >> I was going to say part of the challenge here is when we get calls and complaints
when someone says a bathroom isn't open. Hey, I'm sure I'm sure you get complaints in the summertime when they're not clean because >> No, I'm talking in the off season when people are walking and they're, you know, they are out walking you on the prominade from September through to November. Um, people visiting or locals
and when those bathrooms are either not open or not in a condition. So, I mean, it's a balancing act. Do we just say we're going to close half the bathroom, so we cut half the contract? I I just I just think $741
during the off season is ridiculous necessarily change their rate based on our off season. So from a you know from the contract point >> I just I mean September I then after November 15th who's going to clean the bath who's going to clean the bathrooms? >> Well, don't we close a lot of the
bathrooms? >> The mall's still going to be open. City Hall is still going to be open >> and and a lot of those shift a lot of those shifts are covered by overtime employees and other seasonal staff that we do have on that we do hire. So, >> I guess my question is we're outsourcing a lot of the work that the current
public works is doing which is grass cutting, bathroom cleaning, and I just wasn't sure what their job eventually going to be if we're outsourcing a lot of their jobs. Every year we hire 19 to 24 seasonal employees.
They haven't come to to work here in Kate May City. If you you've had ads in the Herald. We've had ads on Indeed. We've had on the job on the spot hiring and we have maybe hired I think four seasonal workers so far this year. So,
so this Stacy, this isn't a comment on what you're saying because I I understand your concerns, but I will just compliment Paul and and Justin and and the whole staff >> in trying to recruit. I have to say that between um what was the last thing at at
convention hall the >> um open house uh advert I mean they really have been putting a lot of things on advertising websites and >> and I just just want to echo I've I've seen the effort to recruit people and it hasn't it hasn't >> if you know anybody
>> is let me ask you this with the convention hall for the concert aren't they required to have bathroom >> people there and typically if we don't have a seasonal person on that day we pay somebody overtime to work that shift. >> I meant the open house that they had at convention hall. That's all I meant to
recruit people to >> Right. But I'm just saying for concerts, the the concert people are required to have somebody to clean their bathrooms while somebody's there. >> We we schedule somebody in there. But the problem is and so what we do is we budget for this. So last year we budgeted for this. We did this last year
>> and we did do it, but we didn't pay this much an hour. Stacy, can I just just so you know this we this is going to be pulled from the consent agenda and discussed by C. I just want you to know that. >> Okay. >> Um my other question has to do with resolution um 195 and I just want to be
clarification. So we're selling our litter back to Wawwood for a dollar. That also that also was going to be pulled from the >> it's it is a piece of equipment that has been sitting outside in the back of the
public works yard for probably three years now since we've had replaced it. It it is of no value to us. You know, if you're going to determine what the value is, it's probably $100 worth of value. And >> so, in other words, we probably should
have put it into that selling of our equipment years ago. Yes, it should have been. Unfortunately, it did get got missed in the list of things that got to be sold and public works finally got around to, oh, this is
still sitting in the back of the yard. I need to move it out of here because the city manager saying clean up the public works yard and they've had has an asset tag. So, I have to bring it before council to to to dispose of it. Um, but it's it's a
>> uh my other question has to do with um >> Harborview Park. I guess Harborview Park is up to 1 $1,791,000. >> Um how >> is there is that a which resolution >> for change order? Right. It's up to but
that's the final price is up to 1,ion791,000. Um, I guess my question is how much is going to be paid by grants? >> Good amount. >> I think the grant was one 1.3 million. >> I was going to say
>> 1.0 over 3. >> Say between 1.3 and 1.4. >> And what what's it? We have a match with that. >> Yeah, we have a well 10% >> 10% match. >> 10%. Okay. >> Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate. And this was because Paul this >> Yeah, this change orders the um when
they for the new railing post, uh there's only a 6x6 on the top of the existing bulkhead and it's not, you know, that railing post really needs some additional support down low so that it doesn't doesn't fall over. So, um
we're just putting another 6x6 lower to kind of support the railing so it's it's better supported. >> Thank you. Appreciate Anyone else on resolutions this evening? Mr. Roush. >> Good evening, Jules Rous. 1010 New York Avenue. >> Good evening.
>> Um, resolution 196, the fireworks. Do we we're giving a $30,000 gift to >> We No, we we partner with Congress Hall
in our annual fireworks celebration. We typically give a payment to uh Congress Hall and partner with them uh in the fireworks display. Uh if you we have a resolution on this agenda. I believe it's um 187052026
a grant from the uh county as part of the celebration. So I believe about 3/4 of the that we're using the proceeds from that is going towards the payment for this. So it's kind of we've ramped up the celebration because of all the
anniversaries going on this year. And so we're kind of this is a much larger amount than what we normally provide as part of uh working at that. So that we really have a really exciting Fourth of
July fireworks celebration and it's you know it's a city partnerships. You know most towns the fireworks presentation is paid for solely and and contracted through the city. here. We partner with Congress Hall and you know we're fortunate to have a good partner with
and work with Cape Resorts and you know for many years they paid the lion share of the cost of the presentation and and we paid a minor lesser portion as a percentage. So this is >> do we know what the total cost for the
fireworks is? >> They're still working on that. Part of that part of working on that final number is knowing what is going to be authorized from council and is accepted so that we can get to that final number.
We're anticipating it's going to probably be in the $50,000 range at least >> minimum. We I don't know the final number, but we're it's >> it's a lot. >> We we I mean we did say we'd like this to be extra special this year. No
questions about that at all. It's just >> I don't want anybody to say the mayor did a terrible job on the fireworks for 250. >> If we didn't get the grant from the county, it might not be as much. But in the budget, we did put additional line items spec specifically for anniversary
celebrations. So, we already knew that we were going to ramp this up and and the county grant is just allowing us to add one more. you know, instead of a 4inch shell, we're going to have some eight inch shells and and it's just gonna everything's going to pop. And you're not going to see one shell at a time. You're going to see a lot of
multiple shells uh going off at one time. So, it's going to be >> this will be a >> it's going to be a humdinger of a show >> season for fireworks. No question about that. >> Yes. >> Um resolution 197 in the bills there. Bill
one or 09464 $358,000. Would you please explain uh we are we buying out the leases for the vehicles? >> Yeah, that's if you recall last year we made one payment to enterprise after
this is the and this is we're using the capital portion of our budget. So this is not going out for long-term debt for these vehicles. So, we're using budget funds in a capital portion of our budget to buy out the rest of the leases so that there's no long-term financing for
the purchase of these. >> Okay. But we will own the vehicles. >> Yes. >> How many vehicles are in that package? >> This particular one's probably about 17 or so. But there was a previous one
all in total. I think it was 38 total that was previously authorized by council to go for enterprise. So now we would own all 38 of those vehicles that council previously authorized. I think it was 40. There about 40.
>> How many? >> The original lease was 40. I'm sorry. >> Correct. The original one council authorized back in I think 2022 or 2023 was for 40. public works only went out and got a total of 38 total and then this cleans it up with
about 15 to 17. >> How many are EV as opposed to internal combustion? >> So, do you mean EV or hybrid? So, we have some full EV and then we have some hybrid. None of them are plug-in hybrids, but
there's I think three three full EVs and >> I'd say 10 >> four. Well, you got three total of the total EVs and then you probably have about eight eight hybrids.
>> Hybrids. I just think at some point we need to standardize down and uh and decide how how we want to go. I think mo most people have found that the EVs for the kinds of uses that we
put our vehicles to isn't very economical. Um um that's all I have on on the resolutions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jules. Anyone else on resolutions this evening? Seeing none, we'll close public comment.
Uh I know we had a couple that we wanted to remove from the consent agenda. >> Yes. Which numbers, council? >> Uh 189 and 195, please. >> Anything else this evening? >> Anything else, council? >> No. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda?
>> I'll make that motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Council member Meyer? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDeab? >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner? >> Yes. >> Council member Baldwin? >> Yes. >> Mayor Mullik? >> Yes. 189052026
resolution authorizing procurement of janitorial services under New Jersey state contract division of per purchase and property contract for access New Jersey. >> Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion for discussion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second questions and comments.
>> Yes. Um, and I didn't want to bring this up at that time, but I just clarification and questions on this because as I'm looking at the two proposals, the one being uh September 16th through November 15th
um to the tune of 44,000. Uh that looking at the service hours on that, that is from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening. um that's in our off season. But then looking at the service hours of the back
part of that contract, it's May 15th through September 15th. It's 6:00 in the morning till 2:00 in the afternoon. I'm not sure why we was that inadvertently. >> So, no. So, it changes because we it's balancing our schedule between our
full-time staff and our seasonal staff that we do have. So, it's kind of figuring out their schedule and and working it in and merging it with the schedule of our um seasonal staff that we do have. I think we have two I think
we ended up getting maybe two uh restroom cleaning staff maybe and then it's balancing with okay the obviously Monday through Friday 6 to 2 we can you know public work staff
can do that so it's it's all in balancing what we need coverage and and when >> this is seven days a week including holidays So I I guess my question is is if we're able to do that during the the
the height of the season and we're able to have >> the staff I I just don't >> Yeah. Is is the staff our staff working 2 to six? Cuz that I mean based on um Councilwoman
Baldwin's question I I would have I looking at this I would have flipped it too because >> it would appear I think what you're saying or we need clarification. Are our employees working from 2 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. >> and these service hours in this contract
are being covered by this this contract? Yeah. And it's in the height of the season. So May through September, whereas the off season, >> I would say the offseason you could do 6 a.m. to two because, you know, it would have be less volume. Still needing to be
serviced, but not at the the degree of frequency and probably uh volume going through those facilities. >> Do you have >> manager and council? I I'm trying to find it. I don't want to speak before I find it. However, I thought we already
contracted with Access New Jersey >> for the afternoon hours. They're already covering the afternoon hours. So now this resolution is to supplement what we're you have already authorized them to do >> from two till whenever the closing shift is.
>> So 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. or whatever hours during the season. >> They're already doing that. >> There's in a that's in a contract. >> Yes. And then this is to to provide supplement services that we were unable to acquire seasonal staff for. >> And then
>> after season, >> this is a this is contract coverage for the period of time from September through to November >> to to make it whole. >> Okay. So, it's really three contracts. >> Yeah. I believe one has already been um authorized by council is that afternoon
shift if I'm not mistaken. And I do recall that before. Um I mean I I know that we I think we did that last year when we couldn't hire anybody. I think we even did it this year too, >> but it was only one contract last year >> if I'm not that. That's true. Correct. It was only we had more seasonal we had
more seasonal staff last year. >> I think this is coming around now because they were trying to get more seasonals in and >> Okay. So do you have the original contract there? >> I'm looking at my emails. For some reason I don't have access to my server right now. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing
it. >> So, >> but if you continue talking, I'll >> So, Paul, none of our employees are doing any of this work. >> No, they are. >> They are. >> Okay.
>> Because it takes more than 11 bathrooms. It takes more than just two people to cover this. >> Okay. >> I mean, we have a a person that starts first thing in the morning. He starts at station one and he's got to clean and go
all the way around and do everything, you know. So, it's not, you know, think about how long it takes to, you know, this isn't, you know, going in your house and you're cleaning your one single stall bathroom. You know, these bathrooms have multiple
stalls. It's it's it's not a oneperson operation. And it's not a two-person operation, but you have to have, you know, the call comes in and says, "Oh, there's no toilet paper up at the bathroom at Broadway. I need toilet
paper. You got to have somebody available to move and go restock that." So, council Yeah, council did authorize back in February of this year um a contract through state contract to
access New Jersey >> and we did this last year. >> Yeah. >> I just and I just want folks to know this because I'm just doing the math. It's um you know this 59,000 I'm six I'll call it 60,000 divided by 120 which is four
months uh equals $500 a day divided by 16 hours because there's two people working eight hours is $31 a day $31 an hour just just so everyone knows that >> and that's the same >> that's not what they're getting paid. >> No Exactly. Well, I just I absolutely
and I so the math works is what I'm trying to say is Yeah. >> And uh Eric does know that obviously with this budgeted amount he has to he can't get to seasonals, but he knows,
hey, I can't hire five or six seasonals based off of these numbers to to supplement the budget. >> So this was that was going to be my questions. This is this is a sort of almost a one for one. I'm sure it's not exactly. >> This is taking this is taking the seasonal there's for each seasonal staff
we we budget 20 $22,000. So he's going to take that seasonal salary budget and and know that okay, I'm not hiring those people and because >> you know we evaluated this when we put the budget together and formulated it
and we know >> what work we need to get done and >> I think >> if we can hire seasonal staff, we'd love to hire. completely understand and I think that this is also there's you know I I like the fact that this is a contract being awarded to PE to a
company that is um hiring uh disabled people too. I mean that giving them an opportunity to work and so that's something that I think is another you know aspect of this that should be highlighted. Um, so I'm I'm pleased with that part of it and as long as there's
an understanding that this is the monies that's in his budget that it's being reallocated. Um, you know, he's trying to work as smart as he can to make sure that things are taken care of. >> And don't forget any hours after 2 o'lock if I have to have I'm paying overtime.
>> And if it's a Sunday scheduled, I'm paying double time, >> you know, for for not that I we this isn't a way to to not have our employees do work, but it gets real expensive if I'm paying our employees. But we we put
up signup sheets for our employees. We have many times where they didn't want to work, you know, you know, nobody wants to work every Saturday and Sunday after working five days a week all summer long. So, it's it's hard to find,
you know, our ask our full-time people to come in and do it, you know, as well as if we can't do the seasonal people. I you know >> I I don't want to make those hard decisions of >> closing closing down comfort stations.
>> We may have to meter the stalls is what we're getting. >> We we may have to put >> Okay. >> Yes. Any >> just just a clarification then just um so the public knows um Aaron was able to find that. So from May 15th through September 15th the original contract was
from 2 to 10 and um this this one is from 6 to2. So that is covered. I was just worried about the time frame. Yeah. >> And then the total amount from the previous contract as well as these two is about $164,000.
So >> there we go. >> Yep. >> All right. Any other questions, comments, council? Roll call. >> Council member Meyer. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDade. >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner. >> Yes.
>> Council member Baldwin. >> Yes. >> Mayor Mullik. >> Yes. And thank you for the questions and explanation. Um 195 >> Yes. 19505 2026. Resolution authorizing sale of vehicle to the city of Wildwood pursuant to NJSA 4812-21.1.
>> Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Questions, comments? >> I I know we typically put things out on gov deals. Um I would like to have this this has been sitting for like two years. It was the I think the sweeper
that came off the mall. Um I think I'd rather see what happens if we put it on gov deals first um before we you know sell it for a dollar. >> Not only that, there might be another town in this county that will buy it for $2 double.
>> It's going to need better bidding. >> I'm just saying, you know, it's it's worth >> I did deals. There were a few of these out there. You just don't know. I I know. >> But we have to list it as not working. So the ones on gov deals are probably >> there's a few things that are on there
that yeah people buy old computers and all sorts of things. So >> So you'll see you'll see you'll see something on the next agenda and if Wildwood wants to buy it they can go on eBay but but we'll >> then >> okay pay $2. >> Yes, >> that's if everybody's okay with that.
>> I I think it's prudent. I think it's a policy that we should continue. >> Okay. It's a people's money. Yeah. >> People's vehicle. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh so >> move it. >> Motion to remove or
>> motion to remove. >> I'll make a motion to remove. I'll second. >> Lucky. >> Okay. So, we have a motion to uh remove it from the agenda. We have a second. Roll call. >> Council member Meyer? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDade? >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner? >> Yes.
>> Council member Baldwin? >> Yes. >> Mayor Mullik? >> Yes. But I just do want to say I can see why uh this would maybe be looked at to just give to a neighbor if it's not working or anything like that, but I'm I'm okay with removing it from the agenda. Thank you. >> And finally, we have um the addition to
the agenda on the regular agenda 1980 2026 resolution authorizing change order number two to contract for construction of new Kate May police department headquarters. >> And just to give a little brief description about them, I know it wasn't available, so I'll give a little more description about that. There are two
portions of this change order for total of $19,719. Uh it was to add some louver and duck work for a operated damper that was missed uh as part of the specifying of
what was to be installed. And then uh we're it's also to install a trench drain in the sally port um based on the sloping of the floor. We had one at the one end of the sallyport, but we needed one at the other end, and it was kind of
overlooked in the uh design. So, both of these were just kind of add-ons uh for that. So, that's that's what they included. So, it's $19,719. >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Any questions or comments, council? Roll call.
>> Council member Meyer? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDeade? >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner? >> Yes. >> Council member Baldwin? >> Yes. >> Mayor Mullik? Yes. >> Oh, and just for a record, that is that is pleasure. That is 0.23% of the contract value.
>> Thank you. >> City solicitor, any new business? >> Nothing tonight. Thank you. >> City manager, new business? >> No. >> City clerk, >> you know, there are a number of items to announce, so I think I'm going to let Deputy City Clerk Turner handle it this evening. >> All right. >> Yeah.
>> All right. >> Keep him awake back there. >> All right. Here we go. So, don't just run, make history for our run through history 5K. That's 7 a.m. check-in, 8 a.m. start on Saturday, May 9th. So, that's the first
year for this. That's going to be pretty exciting, I think. Right, Steve? >> Yeah. All right, moving on. We have the HPC awards ceremony on May 13th. That's next Wednesday at 7 PM at the Shaont Hotel. um come on out and don't just
support it HBC's work on this. Um but all the residents and business owners uh work hard to make these awards uh something that we can do. So I think we should celebrate that and that's going to be a great event. Um on Saturday, May 16th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Atlantic City Electric is having a drop off recycling event. So, you can get $50 for each el eligible item you drop off. Uh, which it could be uh working room air conditioners or dehumidifiers. And they'll even take it out of your car for you, which is a pretty pretty cool deal.
So, um if you've got a dehumidifier that works and you don't need it anymore, you got plenty of moisture, go ahead and uh bring it over and make yourself some some money. All right. Um forget California Dreaming. You'll be Jersey jamming at the Hello Summer concert uh
featuring AM Gold on Friday, May 22nd from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Um, grab your nights and white sadden and daydream believers and head on over to Cape May Convention Hall and um it's going to be a good time. So, bring your beach chair, stay for the sweet sounds of summer and
leave with memories. Um, that's on Friday, May 22nd. Um, I wrote this, by the way. Um, I think we all understood that. Thanks, Brian. >> We're getting there. We're getting there. Um, there's going to be a seaside
celebration on Sunday, May 24th from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Kate May Convention Hall. There's going to be free live music on the back deck featuring the Animal House Band from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. And then Mike Dempsey, a DJ, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. There's going to be hot dogs, pizza,
sweet treats, and but wait, there's more. There's a scan a sand sculpting contest. Um, and you don't have to be a pro. Actually, you can be a semi-pro or a family to participate. So, get your hand in the sand and sharpen your shovels for what promises to be an
exciting day in Kate May. Um, and then of course our Memorial Day ceremony will be Monday, May 25th, uh, Memorial Day at Soldiers and Sailors Park. It's a really nice event if you haven't been. Uh, a lot of first responders, uh, obviously veterans and the Coast Guard come and
they do a really, really nice job. So, that'll be 11:00 a.m. Soldiers and Sailors Park on Memorial Day. Um, there will be a Sorry, only two more, I promise. Um, the
a citizenship award on May 11th at 5:00 p.m. at Draper's Walk right there on the mall. And finally, backed by popular demand, the city will be hosting an open house on Wednesday, May 20th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. featuring the city's
various boards and commissions at convention hall. And that is all I have. Thank you very much, >> Council. I uh I immediately regret my decision and apologize on behalf of the clerk. >> Aaron, you're never going to be allowed to do announcements from now on. >> Don't don't worry. We're going to we
must might trade him off to Casey's group and have him write some of our public affairs and social media. >> By all means, >> Boardwalk announcements. >> Was he practicing all day in the office? This is shining moment. >> I do like the boardwalk. >> By all means, please continue. Council.
>> Yeah. He and um Mel Ree. All right. >> Yeah. Mel Ree. Yeah. >> Um I don't think there's much left to say, but Councilwoman Baldwin >> um wow. How do I follow that? Um, but uh just to kind of um piggyback
on the HPC awards ceremony. Um I do want to say that the Sha gracious graciously open their doors for the ceremony that's going to be there. So um hopefully all can all can come. Uh the jazz festival, I mentioned this at the last meeting, uh May 15th through the 17th. I don't know
if you all know that there's a nonprofit foundation that's part of the jazz festival that works with our youth within the county and um they perform concerts in the fall and they there's a um an artist and residence that goes and works with the youth throughout the
school year and then they come back and do a wonderful concert. Um and it really is a great um music appreciation for the for the kids uh and the students in our county. So, um, along the same lines, the second line, Saturday the 16th,
which is a kind of like a New Orleans style second line where you're waving your, um, I'm I'm getting like you where you're waving your Yeah. Well, you can have your parasol, but um, yeah, that starts on the mall at 11 o'clock, and that's a really good time, um, a parade
through the city. So, that's all I have, Mayor. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Bodner. Uh, I want to thank Justine from the Environmental Commission for her presentation tonight as well as John uh from the Jacob Jones Memorial uh committee. I mean, both just
outstanding presentations um before the community and before city council. Um and it's just a another reminder just how invested the people who live in Kate May um are in the community. So really
grateful for uh for their involvement. I thank them. >> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. >> Um I just wanted to give a shout out to uh Kate May Cares for their Earth Day event. Um the kids did a fabulous job um going through their neighborhood. Um and
they even went over to the uh Osborne Court and helped the seniors uh clean up their areas too. They did a fantastic job. Um and to the um Martin and Deb Van Walsome for their uh outstanding just generosity for a second year in a row.
All of the kids who participated were given a seasonal beach tag um and a beach towel and they were just thrilled. So that program started last year by their um own initiative and generosity and it's grown and um I think it's going
to become a yearly event. I just put Martin and Debb on the spot, but the kids really enjoyed it and um so it was it was it was a great event. Thank you, >> Councilman Meyer. >> Yes, thank you. >> I just like to uh say that I think this was one of my most favorite city council
meetings I've ever sat at this table because the the two presentations we had were just topnotch and the community that was here was very supportive. Um and uh it's just a lot of good vibes and a lot of good teamwork on this uh on this table because you know we're working together. We're explaining
ourselves to the you know the community and um I think it's a lot of good teamwork. And on a different note um we had a Arbor Day celebration at the Lafayette Street Park. We planted two trees. Um, one was a liberty tree and
the other one was a tree a a beach tree which I think is the only one in town and that was in dedication to Jay Shatz who was able to uh be let out and uh help celebrate with us Arbor Day. Uh it's a beautiful tree on the way to the the uh the nature trail. It's uh it's
got this beautiful plaque in front of it. And I just want to thank uh uh Paul, Justin, Aaron, Brian, uh Casey, Public Works, and Matt Notch for getting this all together. It was an excellent event, and there's a lot of people there. >> So, thank you. >> Yeah.
>> And thank you for being there as well, members of council and mayor. >> Um, one one sad note that I actually meant to bring up at the beginning was the passing of uh Sister Kay. many of you knew her on Washington Street and just um someone who took care of so many
people around her and prayed for people and and was just such a wonderful person. Um so I I was very saddened to hear uh her loss, but uh I I know she affected a lot of you uh here in Kate May. So thank you for her blessing that
she gave to us here in Kate May. I also want to mention um Chris Maza in his retirement from the police department. Uh Chris was just such an excellent um person that helped serve and protect our community for so many years and someone
I think all of us just really loved and and he cared so deeply for this community. Not going too far, but just a a great person. And congratulations to Chris and his whole family. And I just echo those sentiments uh on the Colombia
and and thank MTRA for their volunteerism, the uh the um environmental commission for their volunteerism in regards to the Colombia study as well as HPC and and their hard work. And I do want to echo to what Shane said, great job Shane. You know,
um the uh tree ceremony was awesome. And uh I think you know that Jay loved that and really appreciated it. So, that was a beautiful thing to uh to watch happen. With that, we'll open it up for public comment. Anyone wishing to speak on any and all matters, please feel free to come to the microphone. State your name
and address for the record. >> Jay said he never met a tree he didn't like. >> My name is uh Mark Robertson. We live at 1309 Idaho Avenue. And I'd like to commend you. For the first time in 29
years, we don't have rusty water. >> So, it's really great. Yeah. >> Uh but I also serve as chairman for the planning commission at home. We're about a 27,000 person uh municipality >> and one of the issues I wasn't here when
you were discussing it and that's around street trees. I was going to talk about the parking and everything, but you've taken a lot of those things out or modified them. But uh you have a lot of street trees that we have banned. We
just went through a new comp plan. We're getting our SAO and our zoning ordinances modified right now. But the street tree at our house, uh, the storm drain is basically ineffective. It's a golden locust. I have never seen the
storm drain clear. It's always filled with leaves or seed pods. Mhm. >> It's done thousands of dollars of damage to your streets, >> uh, our sidewalks, my driveway, >> and I don't understand why you still
have things like golden locust, sycamore, sweet gum, which we've all banned as street trees, because we know what the root system does. >> So, I'd really encourage you to >> I I I believe Mr. Meyer is the uh
liaison to the shade tree commission and you have made some significant updates. >> We do have a a list of recommended uh trees at the uh chain tree commission office. >> Well, I didn't see anything in the minutes or anything that showed any of them were taken out. >> Uh not taken out, but the updated the
list of trees recommended trees. >> Well, you know, Paul's taking notes and I and we'll we'll look at your tree in your situation and uh >> yeah, it's like the Bradford pair. It's now classified as an invasive, >> right? >> And the city of York went and cut them
all down. They were beautiful one time a year, >> but and we definitely don't allow those. >> Try Commission, we don't support painting those trees anymore. And uh but we we're not in a position to cut them down just because they're not >> Yeah. Like because I I don't know how
many times I've repaired the sidewalk. When we first bought the house, the city paid a little bit. the two sections were replaced. They're now 10 in to 12 in higher than everything else.
Uh and the work being done now, the contractor can't even put curb in. They're putting a piece of steel plate. >> So, you know, when the salt environment and everything, how long that's going to last you and taxpayers going to pay for
that to be replaced again. I will uh direct the shu commission to your comments of tonight's meeting. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> And my dad served 90 not served 30 years in the Navy and he always love coming to Cape May. So I think the memorial is
going to be great. >> That's beautiful. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Thank you. >> Stacy Chan, 928 Columbia Avenue. um with the ordinance for meters. Can I just get a clarification because I it's a little confusing with the the colors. So,
I'm just going to ask for areas because I think it might be easier. Down by the cove, I think it's after 5 or 6 p.m. you're allowed to park there. Is that still going to be in effect or not? >> So, on Beach Avenue, no. So, on Beach Avenue, that's considered the red zone.
That's a 10 to 10 zone. But as you would move off beach, that orange zone would would be off at 6:00 p.m. >> 6 p.m. Okay. >> So like 1st and 2nd. >> So but but you're going till December 31st, whereas before I think it was
probably October 31st or so cuz >> or even earlier than that, is it? >> No, it been October. >> Was October 31st. >> Yeah. The the red zone we're keeping on there just because of the that whole stretch, especially up, you know, between all the bars and restaurants you have there. you know, it was decided to
keep the that red zone on during that time because of the amount of >> But I guess my question is you're So you're going to have de till December 31st on First Avenue and Second Avenue. >> No. Yeah. Um yes. Yes. >> Okay. Only because it's residential and
now you're not allowing people to park in front of their houses, which we know probably November and December there's probably no one even going to park down there but the residents. So, I didn't know if you want to rethink about the fact that you're not allowing residents to park in
front of their houses. And I think when it was originally meters were put in there, that's why they allowed those times so people could park in front of their houses after certain times along with those months because hey, anybody that's here in the fall knows that
during the week there's not many people here. It's only on the weekends. And now you're not going to be having now that you're allowing Beach Drive and go till December 31st, the workers on the mall are only going to be parking in the residential areas. So now you have people that they're here year round.
They're going to have the mall help parking again in front of their h their houses. So you're not allowing them to park where it's free down by the beach and everything and then walk up. you're kind of still compressing that area into forcing them into the neighborhoods
where it's free, which if you're a resident, you like to have some time where you're not fighting for a spot in front of your house. My other question has to do with again back to the bathrooms from 6:00 a.m. to
6 p.m. I forgot to ask this because these people that are cleaning the bathrooms are going to be in the bathrooms and also in playground areas. Are they going to have background checks because you're now putting them in
cleaning bathrooms in those playgrounds? And >> I mean our our yeah state contract, but I mean even our current a lot of our current seasonal employees don't get a background check. >> Oh, okay. >> In those areas.
>> So you have people that are going to be working in the area where children are and you're not doing the background checks. >> The children usually aren't attending the restrooms when they're cleaning them. The restrooms are closed when they're cleaning them. Nobody's allowed in there when they're being cleaned. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. >> So, it's not like somebody's going to be
using it and >> only because I've been in the mall area where I've been in the bathroom and they've been clean at the same time. That's why I was bringing that up. >> Not I believe the practice that we have, but we can double check. >> Well, most likely if if you are in there when they're cleaning, you've probably gone past the
>> bathroom restaurant closed while we're cleaning site. >> But you have you have children. I'm just I'm just bringing it up because you have a bathroom at the playground which is fairly new >> and >> you know we want to make sure that the kids are kept safe. >> Sure. >> Sure. Um
>> make sure I so um are we and we are still free back to the parking. Sorry about this. We're still free where after after 5:00 pm down there by Peter Shields, right? >> Yes.
>> And is that on Beach Drive too? >> It's east of Philadelphia is the blue zone and that's got an abbreviated time frame which is 5:00 p.m. instead of 6, right? >> And then it's also abbreviated season where it's April 1st to October 31st. >> Right. cuz I figure if you're allowing
people to um be October 30 31st in that area, I don't understand why you're not doing that October 31st in the other area. Just my comment. I ride my bike so I don't really care, but I know a lot of citizens do when they have parking meters in front of their houses. Thank
you. >> Thank you. Anyone else this evening? >> Can I ask a question? >> Well, I just you got >> sir. Sir, if you want to come you after um Miss Johnson speaks, you can come up and speak again if you like.
>> Hi. >> Hi, Ros Johnson. 826 Lafayette Street. Uh thank you for mentioning um May 20th, the um open house uh town hall. Um Shane said this was one of his favorite uh
city council meetings because he saw people reacting to um something wonderful that was um being planned. Um I see no advertisement at all on the city website for the um open house. It's
not under events. It's not under meetings. Um there's a scrolling on top that says you know the um >> projects >> historic preservation candidates find
out about this and it says you know uh city projects. I think we need something like that. Um >> it's it's on the um community events. >> It's not it's >> it's there. I'm looking at it right now. It's under the meeting and events
>> under on the homepage under community events. It lists spring sidewalk sale on the 17th, exit zero jazz festival 17th. Kit me city open house on the 20th >> on the 20th. >> Yep. It's right there. I mean, yes, it's not
under city meetings. I think it's on >> because it's not really a city meeting. >> So, it's on the It's on the community events side. So, we're what I'm saying is that where can we advertise this because it's our responsibility to tell the public about this meeting >> and it's on our social media and it's on
our website. >> Okay. >> I'm I am providing a notice to the paper just as an FYI. Um but yeah, it it is being disseminated currently. Um I also contacted uh Rachel Schubin because she
um >> takes care of the advertise or the takes care of what's going on in city council >> and she said she would mention it in the um >> May 13th um >> issue of the Star Way. >> That's great. >> So uh yeah, I just think as much um
advertisement we can get out about it, >> it'll uh repeat that great feeling that you had today. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Roz. >> Sir, >> yeah, I guess >> she Stacy come up with a pet peeve for mine. What is your state law around
clearances? Pennsylvania, it's pretty straightforward. Anybody around children has to have all three of the clearances. Uh I'm, you know, I'm a mandated >> for hiring. We follow all the state rules and guidelines for for hiring and
registration. >> Yeah. with people working at your playground and everything where you've got >> we follow those state guidelines. >> So the ju so just so you know so the joint insurance fund is kind of our um go-to for these types of mechanisms and they've recommended and we follow all
their guidelines and procedures that they've put into place. >> Yeah because I'm a vice president on a board and I'm a mandated reporter so that you know something that I really take a hard look at. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you sir.
Hi, mayor, city council. Uh, my name is Chris Cook, 313 Washington Street. I've been lucky enough to have a business on the mall for the last 18 years. I want to say first, I value everything you guys do. Kate May is a wonderful place to visit. It's truly a remarkable town. We're all lucky to be here. Uh, I just
wanted to give my personal thoughts about the increase in the parking meters and the timing of the parking meters. Uh I remember speaking at the last time that the meters were increased. Um I know it was proposed to us as something that would benefit the turnover of people in our business and things things
like that. I've since found studies that seem to contradict the evidence. I know that there's been stuff that's you know been brought forward by the commissions but there was a professor Ken Timeell from the department of economics in California State University that shows increasing of parking fees generally
doesn't have positive economic effects. But more so to that, I wanted to come and speak. >> Chris, can I can I ask you that? >> Sure. >> You said economic effects. Did you mean that? >> Yeah. For for businesses that were affected by that. Yeah. I I understand that the city is probably doing this as a revenue increase for the city itself,
>> but the last time it was proposed is like, oh, no, this is going to help you guys. >> This is this is for revenue. >> Sure. Sure. And I am pleased that the there's a revision making it, you know, rather than doubled, bringing down to to the $3 an hour. Personally, I would in this time of economic, you know,
uncertainty and, you know, the cost of living of all the our visitors that come here, I don't know if it's the right time to do it at all, but again, you guys have the financial structure behind that of why it has to be there. I would want to say that, um, being someone who
works on the mall and everything, uh, we deal with the public often about parking meters. I know there was the change to go fully to the app-based system which was a cost-saving measure by the city. Definitely doesn't go over very well with the public. They often have difficulty. Um we're often trying to
help them out but it's definitely challenging for people who are less tax techsavvy even with issues with uh the one service going down, the servers going down and other issues happening. So although a lot of our visitors and even locals in the regional area have a positive view of our city in general, I
think the the interaction that they have with the parking system we have has always been a negative one. No one likes paying parking in general, but even the motions that we've done has made more of a negative effect with them in a lot of situations. and specifically to the hard
limit on the timing. Um, I did want to speak about 3 hours sounds like a lot, but considering our shopping mall is a great shopping mall and all the restaurants and the ice cream places and everything that's on it, 3 hours can go by pretty quickly. I've definitely helped people out before where they're
shopping in the store, their parking meter is about to expire. They can't add time to it. So, they have to Can I ask Can I interrupt ask you >> what do you what would you like to see in regards to the time? >> We've taken out the three-hour, by the way. >> Yeah, sure.
>> So, but just in general, what I mean, you like you said, I know you're you're boots on the ground. What would you like to see? >> Sure. I mean, I definitely wouldn't want to have any kind of hard limit on it in case you had >> so just no limit. >> Well, I I mean, I can understand having to do uh you know, the you want to
encourage turnover. You want to make sure that people come if you're going to have a like some kind of limit on it like the four hours or three hours on the app as long as there's a way to go past that. The idea of marking, you know, marking tires and then having someone get a ticket on top of that would be a further distaste to visitors.
You can go you can go in and add time because we have the data. >> You can't you can't actually add time beyond the 3 hours. What you have to do is you have to create a second session and like overlap over top of it which is hard for a lot of people to even understand that they're like I can't add
time. I can't add time. They'll leave rather than figuring out I have to start an entire new parking session. >> But the way that the way that we should have programmed it with a three-hour limit is it wouldn't even allow you to start a new session. you would actually have to move your car to a different
park mobile zone to initiate a new session. So, that's how the three-hour limit is enforced. So, that's why we know that it's never been enforced because we don't have that setting set up because you can't, you know, it is a it is a inconvenience to start a new session, but it's much more convenient
than having to go get in your car, move to a different park mobile zone and find a spot in a different zone. So, >> Right. Right. And and someone wouldn't do that. They would just leave, you know. Correct. We we deal with the frustration of the visitors both from the local area and from out of town. >> Chris, I know you guys do and I've I've
heard it from a lot of people and frankly >> you all do a great job of being ambassadors to Kate May >> for some of maybe the shortcomings that we do have. And >> sure, >> you know, listen, my parents don't have smartphones, so like I this is something that I've struggled with. Now we have
the kiosks as as you know. >> Yeah. >> Um but um >> let me just say this. I we we see this as a working partnership obviously. So I think if there's any recommendations that you have I do think the $3 is probably going to pass just just to let you know that uh
>> because uh you know it has been six years. You guys know the cost of the cost is just it's gone up. So we've got to maintain it a bit. Um but we are open to suggestions and and I know that you all deal with this on a daily basis. So we'd be happy to hear from you.
>> Sure. >> Any any other suggestions? I just want to make sure that, you know, we value Kate May as a an affordable place for a wide variety of people to come and I want to make sure that we're still, you know, keeping middle class Americans and whatnot able to come down and able to
afford it. And every little thing that, you know, eats away at that is something that affects the affordability of of visiting us. So, I thanks for the consideration. >> Thank you, Chris. promise not to take long. Jules Rous 1010 New York Avenue um mayor again in
the in the newspaper you commented about the taxpayers association proposing or promoting a 1% tax increase. That's absolutely true. However, you didn't finish it by saying to have it applied against reducing
debt. that that >> that's the newer uh newer uh asterisk to the to that comment, but I I'll take that. Yes. >> And that was a consistent thing when you adopted the increase in the in the in
the room rate. We ask that that that 1% also be added to reduce debt. Yeah. >> Um I just >> I agree. I agree. Um, one of the the important things and I've talked with the city manager that the application
that that Jake Jacob Jones uh should be making is a formal application like any other application. It it is submitted to the city for the review of the various departments that are necessary to show that they they
comply with the normal procedures that every applicant has to go through. I don't know that that's been made clear to them, but it's it it certainly is something that is important as far as I'm concerned. >> We we agree and they will. >> Yeah, they're making an application to
the HPC. They're scheduled, I think, at their next their next meeting. >> I I don't know that for a fact, but yeah. >> Yeah, I'm pretty sure that it's scheduled for the next meeting. >> It is. >> Yes. So they couldn't they couldn't make the presentation until they had really
authorization from the city to put something on city property. >> I understand. >> So you you kind of need authorization from the property owner to move forward. So now that they kind of have that now that now they can move forward with the HPC.
>> Uh in in line with the Jacob Jones and I I have supported this project from the beginning. It is a a monument as opposed to a memorial. They are distinctly different animals. And I need I think it
needs to be understood that way that it's a monument. What we have at the tower in in Cape May towards Cape May point is a memorial. And in line with that, I'd like to to ca pass around for
each of you to see the kind of effort that's been made by Mack. Mack runs the the the tower as well as the lighthouse. They've done an outstanding job in providing the public with really
meaningful uh information about those two facilities. This is a what I'm passing out to you are photographs of some of the plaques that are mounted at that facility to give the people an
understanding of exactly why those things were built, what their purpose was. But the more important one is they have spent a great deal of effort in describing the Jacob Jones along with the surrender. And I did not know until
a couple of weeks ago when I I've made several visits out out to the to the observation tower. And I didn't know that there's a there's a there's a video out there of the actual surrender of the German sub on top of the the remains of
Jacob Jones. And it was ordered by the Navy Navy and it was made as a quite a big production. And there's a video of that. Um, so as we go through the process of of approving the Jacob Jones monument,
my concern is what information will be available to the public regarding the value of that facility. What does it what does it really mean? Because all the way it's the way it's organized now is they're just going to look out on on the water. They're not going to see
anything, learn anything other than the names of the individuals. So, I pass that on. I I want to make sure that this is a great asset for the city and that we take full advantage of it. And uh thank you very much.
>> Thank you. >> Kevin. Yeah, go ahead, please. Yeah. >> Hi. Uh Kevin Black, 912 Corgi Street. Uh just uh to add a little bit of clarity around the Jacob Jones and memorial
monument, whatever we're calling it. Um there is been a significant amount of descendant research that's been done u a lot of it and at at any point we would be happy to share it but it will be
shared as part of inter interactive signing with QR codes with deep history around all of the the 138 people their families uh the legacy a lot of other side stories about the
people and the activities that happened leading up to that and subsequent to that. So I I think it's much broader than what you see at the lighthouse, but I I welcome you to uh to to see some of that information. That's great. That's
it. >> Thank you, Kevin. >> Laura, evening I'm gonna make it short. >> Thank you, Laura. >> I've been waiting to see this. Hi, Deanna. Good to see you.
>> And we tried to coordinate it with the colors that are already here. >> With the halves. Um, I'm going to put on the table here. >> That's beautiful. >> Do you want help? >> Just make sure it doesn't fall. >> Sure.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Great idea. Okay. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Mayor Council. >> Um, I'm here to dedicate this picture collage. >> Ma'am, city of Kate May. >> I'm so sorry. Could you please state
your name and address for the record? >> Oh, Laura Kalan, Kate May, New Jersey. Um, we got a national historic landmark May 11th, 1976 and Carolyn Pitts was instrumental in
getting our landmark. And there is really nothing in writing or visually in Kate May honoring her or celebrating her. And when you look around in this room
especially, these Habs drawings were basically created by Carolyn Pittz and the dream team. And they basically did it for six years. And in a few of the pictures there,
you'll see pictures of the Shelfont Hotel. Carolyn Pittz and the team stayed at the Shelfont Hotel numerous times. The other place she stayed was the Baronet and also the uh Navy Leafy
House. And when you look at the habs, each one of those is on the wall here. So I would like to present it to Kate May and see if you could decide where you're going to put it. >> That's
>> um either in this room or the hallway. >> Absolutely. It's some place where it'll celebrate Carolyn and the dream team. >> That's that's beautiful. Thank you so much, Laura. >> We um
>> hope I'm hoping you I don't just make sure you obviously we have the historic preservation awards ceremony on the 13th. You know this, right? Okay. Okay. And um Carolyn Pittz of course will be there and and the um and and be honored.
And uh also on the 11th I believe it is right. >> She's receiving the citizenship award of the year which we're we're proud to give to her because uh well just what you just said. I mean she has so much effect on this city
>> and that'll be at 5:00 at Draper Walk. >> Yeah. We wouldn't have a national stroke landmark designation if it wasn't for Carolyn. >> Yeah. >> And the one thing that I did find in the papers in Washington DC is the actual outline of our national historic
landmark district described and in the bottom it has a latitude and longitude. >> Wow. And the one person that helped her with creating that map and getting the longitude and latitude was Captain West from the US Coast Guard base.
>> Wow. Wow. Very cool. >> Okay, >> that's awesome. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Diana. Thank you. >> Anyone else this evening? Seeing none, we'll close public comment and close the meeting. Have a wonderful evening, everybody. I make emotion.