##VIDEO ID:F8ZTBpAw7p4## think we're all here um I would like to call the regular meeting of the lake com mayor and Council to order please rise for a salute to the flag a moment of Silent reflection flag United States America the stands na indivisible andice all please remain standing for a moment of Silent reflection thank you sunshine law please the ad of resolution by the mayor and Council on the second day of January 2024 resolution the time and place of agenda in regular meetings commencing with January 2nd or set 4th noce SE was delivered to a park press to CL start and tap into and a copy of the notice posted on the bur website and on the bulletin board in B Hall while meetings are open to the public roll call please CC member witty here here Anana here Mor here andri here here we don't have any minutes tonight um we will have minutes from both meetings at our next meeting um we do have one communication that did not meet or did not make it onto the agenda but it was sent to miss bony who will read it at this time for the council good morning mayor H and council members my name is Alison krilla and since 2006 I've been a resident in 1825 B in Lake homeo although I'm on vacation this we unable to attend the August 20th council meeting I would like to express my thoughts and observations about the traffic flow on Bradley Terrace and request that you read my letter into the record at the meeting despite numerous requests over the last several years nothing has been done by the current Administration to address the traffic issues on Bradley terrorist this includes the lack of so much as a trial period during which Bradley and Greenwood could have been made oneway streets on a temporary basis to observe any impacts for changes although perhaps such a trial is pending the results of traffic study that the residents were told was necessary well since no traffic study has been performed on Bradley in particular during the summer months it appears that once again nothing will be done to address the concerns me and my neighbors have voed first Bradley Terrace is currently a very narrow 2way Street 26 ft wide in some sections with a maximum of 28 ft with a Bend towards the south end that creates somewhat of a blind spot when cars approach from opposite directions all street parking for residents is extremely limited which results in fur narrowing of the passable Lanes of traffic since cars are typically parked on both sides of the street even during weekday this has caused road rage incidents Vehicles backing up in the middle of the roadway to maneuver past one another for Sight lines for vehicles pedestrians and bicycle bicyclist and property damage to parked cars personally in the last three years my husband's car was hit while parked in front of our house in total and more recently two weekends ago my car suffered more than $2,000 worth of damage while parked in front of my house as a result of a hit and run accident when I was at home in my case based on the area of damage it appears that a vehicle pulled into my neighbor's driveway across the street and in an effort to turn around perhaps because of an open space an open parking space on the east side of Bradley and back directly into my car this is a common occurrence to alleviate the dangerous condition of the street the property damage and the potential for road range to escalate to violence which is given expletives regularly heard during just one weekend sitting on our porch the solution seems simple make the narrow streets Bradley and Greenwood one way it doesn't matter to me which direction but doing nothing is unacceptable my neighbors and I are tired of FP service please make this a priority thank you Alison thank you um I think we can uh talk about this briefly now um as it has come through Communications this is something that I know councilwoman Al balad do Doyle has brought brought up at the last meeting and and in the past I know that you live in that area um as well um there were we've had conversations about this before we did choose as the body to not move forward with e one way on either of those streets um one of the discussions we had at the time was to create a oneway on 18th Avenue um and the idea was to rectify situations of major traffic in that area um the feedback we did get was that the one way on 18th Avenue did help um even though the GPS sites like Google um uh do not really reflect that oneway during the summer uh but the continued issue with two-way um two-way traffic on those streets is a problem um I don't necessarily think we need an additional traffic study I think the existing traffic study from 2001 outlines a lot of the guidelines and procedures that the council has taken under advisement in other areas of the town that we can simply apply to this area of the Town um Miss krilla does outline in her letter that the street is 26 feet in certain areas or 28 ft in other areas um I think the one thing we need to do is have someone look at it to really get the true specs um but even the traffic study in 2001 cites how uh 30 feet is the is the is the recommended width for traffic and two-way parking so it does fall under the parameters that are outlined in our traffic study um without going into a whole another traffic study I think it would be suitable for the buau administrator and our current Town engineer to just give an opinion on this without having to go into a whole study um looking at the possibility of one ways on those two streets um whichever way they would be and they would give a recommendation of what that would be um and then we can we can determine that as a as a council um you can determine that as a council sorry uh what you would what you would like to see in that area um I know this is something that will be out there and we will we will hear uh opinions from our residents either at this meeting or meetings in the future um but it's not necessarily something we have to wait on till next summer we get something we can act on right now uh so I mean with your permission I would like the the administrator to look into it with the the engineer um as kind of giving an opinion based off of the existing traffic study that that exists for different areas of town um we I would like your thoughts can we do that with all of the recommendations with all the recommendations you mean in the current resolution today we have those are in the traffic study so we can we can we can address that we talk about the resolution um the the I'm saying have the engineer and the uh administrator look at what we're proposing compared to that traffic study so what we're looking at was in the traffic study already so we could talk about that when we talk about the resolution as of right now we're just we're talking about the area of of Greenwood and brandley um so it's not in the traffic study so we would need an an additional opinion with without going through a whole another traffic slight causing costing thousands of dollars um that would be my suggestion to the council um if it it doesn't need a vote it it's part of you know everyday operations but I think that's where we would move forward at this point um I don't know if anybody has any other thoughts or or concerns or questions about this specific topic so I can just say because I do live in the area the one way that was created in that small spot people obviously still continue to turn left we see it every day um so that isn't necessarily doing what its function is it's slowing down some of the traffic but at the end of the day it doesn't matter how much traffic there is the traffic can't get through and the concern is there is minimal on uh off street parking and so all of the on street parking is used and because of that if you have cars coming in and then and I've said this before if you have an ambulance or a fire truck that needs to come through they will not be a ble to get through and that really is what's concerning above and beyond the dangerous situations that it's caused the accidents that we've seen the the road rage as Alison krilla pointed out I mean that's a common occurrence because people can't get through and backing up to let someone out when there's three cars behind you just is not an option you're looking for a problem but again above and beyond anything else you're never getting an emergency vehicle through there at that time so yes that one-way section has alleviated some of the congestion but it has not alleviated the problem that we see even during the week when it's not as crowded so this isn't necessarily A crowding issue this is a space issue right thank you my question is a little confused is it one way now or is it two-way so Bradley Terrace and green with Terrace are two ways yes 19th Avenue is a two-way uh 18th Avenue is a oneway eastbound during the summer two-way during the winter just just from New Bedford to B Street correct and it wouldn't affect 19th 19th can stay two ways because you're coming in and coming out it it wouldn't really affect people being able to come off of 19 from their homes you know trying to look at the minimal impact that it could have on the residents on either side yeah I mean I think um if I remember correctly you know the the oneway 18 on 18th which I've gotten positive feedback but that's neither here nor there right I've gotten positive feedback on um that was I think that was kind of a step in Li of creating all of the one ways um which is you know something this Council has done over uh a couple of years is taking the suggestions through an engineering spec and trying them out see if they work right um everything that we're told is you either need to go one way or you need to lose parking right right so uh I I me that's kind of where we're at and and we're going to have more of that discussion as as Nick said um when we talk about the resolution but I don't I think the point is we don't need to pay for whole another traffic study for a two block uh radius um but uh it's definitely something that we can get engineering an engineering opinion on we have an engineer to give an opinion and we already have the information about the 30 ft so we already know that cars are only getting bigger there comments from the council um we have no unfinished business so oh I'm sorry I missed committee reports um we will have reports of committee starting with councilwoman Al balad do thank you mayor from the recreation department um I have word that the recreation winter basketball signups will registration will begin September 1st and end December uh December 10th noting that late registration starts on December 1st and ends on December 10th uh with a $25 late fee so get your kids registered if you'd like that this is for kids in grades 2nd to eighth grade boys and girls and they are looking for volunteers as coaches as well as team sponsors um fall Recreation soccer for the kids K through first ends this Friday and and registration for 2nd through 8th grade ends on 8:30 and the belmare youth club is starting back up again and that is for kids in Belmar and lake comoo and St Rose uh each group will take only the first 40 signups and you must be registered before you come sign ups start on September 1st and end January 31st grades 3 through 5 will meet from 5 to 6:30 and grades 6 to 8 will meet from 7 to 8:30 special note on that they are looking for parent volunteers other than that all matters are in order thank you um councilman ventrice thank you mayor all matters are in order councilman deor U the officer I am sorry sir I don't know your name yes Lieutenant Des Lieutenant anything uh to report from the police no no it's the Summer's winding down it's uh little crowded at the part it like I had a biger line when I drove by up here so she said you had an extended report for us that yeah I just found out about this today the only other thing mayor is I want to bring up I guess this is from councilman skull I I've had the pleasure of this summer going to a couple of the area towns they have H nights where they have bands or uh musicians playing Bradley and Belmar and so on and so forth and that you know that maybe something we should look into I I to you know lake comoo is is a uh the I guess the music capital of the Jersey sure already in the bars but outside the bars we should try to build it up this it's an idea I I'll help I'm not trying to just say all right but uh I just you know it may be a way to you know help build the lake homo's brand a little bit if you don't mind me answering for you I talked to Nick a little bit about this and I think this is a really nice idea once we get Park finished completed um for you know local local uh families and and kids to come maybe on a Sunday night um have a local musician or something play um adults can enjoy the music and kids can run around and and play in the park when to wor about streets and things like that so think it's a really interesting idea something we could look into for sure that's a great idea no other thing nothing further thank uh councilman Dano uh thank you mayor all matters are in order Council skull thank you mayor just reminding everybody that Lake Como day is Saturday September 21st from 4: to 9: um we have a great list of venders so far food trucks and craft vendors but we can always use some more so if you know anybody that's a craft vendor or a food truck that maybe is free that day please have them check our website we have um an application there uh they can just fill it out drop it off mail it in whatever works um but please spread the word and also hopefully everybody here is planning to come that day other than that all matters are in order thank you council president witty thank you Mr Mayor on top of what council said on L day also we're having a 5K run that's going to be starting that morning at Le from Ms and also at 11:00 is signed up for fishing contest for kids 15 and Under fishing contest is going to be from 12: to 2: and that is sponsored by the police department of Bor so Al also keep that in mind other than that matter thank you um for my report uh I am I have a report written which is unusual for me so please uh bear with me uh on August 15th council president witty and I met with 25 or so residents uh of North Boulevard uh some of who are in the audience tonight to discuss the significant increase in their property assessment uh from 2023 to 2024 I've also spoken with and emailed other residents who could not be at that meeting first I want to thank the residents that I met with some have seen their property values increase 50% or more in a year and even so the discussion I believe was productive and insightful that being said there's still a lot of questions that need to be answered for those of you that do not know Loma was part of the mammoth County Tax Board assessment demonstration program otherwise known as ADP and has been since 2015 as a brief history of this Pro program it began in Mammoth County as a pilot program under Governor Christie the program was intended to assess properties at their fair market value each year shuring taxpayers would pay their fair share of Municipal School and County taxes since its Inception the program has been met with controversy and scandal in 2017 municipalities in the county had the opportunity to withdraw from this program some did including Belmore Wall Township and manisan just to name a few some towns such as Red Bank actually who left the program and then rejoined after they determined that the problems that they found within the program were fixed um Lake Kom was not one of those townships they stayed in the program and did not leave during the withdrawal period in 2017 the program calls for 100% reassessment of all properties in the burrow each year another intent of the program was to see small increases in property values over the course of fiveyear Cycles to avoid massive increases in property assessments over many years I did say intent the 5-year cycle includes 20% of the Town being inspected properties I mean but 100% of the Town being assessed in my personal opinion I believe that the program did do Lake KO some good for many years there were many years this town was hurting and had difficulty even staying solvent this program contributed to the town and Main maintaining a low tax rate and continuing services for the burrow this year there was an obvious anomaly the property assessment on North Boulevard specifically increased greatly from last year to this year while there is nothing that the burrow can do about this specific situation I believe it is our duty to discuss this openly with representatives from our County from our County it will give us the opportunity to discuss the program and ask for answers demanded by our residents I have invited the burrow tax assessor the County tax assessor and commissioner ourown to the first council meeting in September we will schedule a workshop meeting so they can educate the council better on the program and we can ask questions to them about the advantages and disadvantages moving forward I ask the council tonight to spend some time over the next two weeks learning what they can about the program and develop some questions on their own to ask to ask our guests if they wish I encourage them to reach out to residents on North Boulevard and other areas of the town to listen to their concerns I sent email invitations yesterday but I have not heard back from anyone as of this meeting I will check back with them later this week thank you that is my report for tonight um we will move along with our agenda yep do you know if right now we can opt out of it I do not know that that's one of the questions that I would be asking them um so there's there's a lot right there's a lot that I that we don't need to necessarily get into with this meeting because I mean you're talking about an education that that I'm learning more and more every day about um there is when the program was started it was started as a pilot um towns that were in were locked in there was an opt out portion in 2017 like I said and then towns are also being told that they are locked in again and towns that are not in are being told that they must return the word must and locked in are a problem for me um and they're a problem for a lot of people so there's a lot more research to be done and questions to be asked um if there is a situation where they're telling us that we're locked in and we want to get out it may result in some type of legal action to get out of it which obviously would be discussions with the council before we move forward um but those are all questions that we can ask um our guest correct me if I'm wrong the big the larger beneficiary of this is the county correct absolutely the biggest discrepancy um countywide is that towns that are in the ADP system and their assessment is going up every year and are paying more to County taxes than towns that are not in the system and their assessments are not going up every year so that is definitely the biggest discrepancy sure there's other discrepancies um but that is the most glaring to me sounds like you did we'll see um okay at this time I will take a motion to open to public comments on new business and the consent agenda move second all in favor I all opposed okay so this is an open portion for anyone wishing to come to the mic to discuss anything listed on the agenda under the consent agenda which is the raffle license and under new business which includes the two ordinances and the two resolutions specifically um anyone wishing to speak to those one of those just for the record one of those ordinances is the traffic ordinance that we will be discussing tonight tonight so you can comment on that at this time anyone wishing to do so can come to the mic name and address and make your comments to the council please CL ha 18th and B um first off I would just want to commend you for even considering revisiting the ordinance and the one ways that you put in a couple years ago um I've been waiting for eight years buma um safety is the biggest thing more so than anything and summer it's crowded we all know everybody's got to have a little bit of patience with the streets and everything excuse me did you say your name I'm Sor 18th and B okay the corner um the one street that I see as the biggest issue was when Newman was switched going south because that took away the cross town for stops at every corner to get from 18th Avenue out to anywhere else in town um you can avoid Main Street you can go down a street yes you can but at the same point in time it's only a two-way stop so it's the safe safest way in in my opinion the other streets you know definitely the one ways on Greenwood and and uh and Bradley and all the others are just you us you get used to it you get used to it driving around the block and around the block and around the block to get out of town but it is what it is but Newman was the biggest one that I felt was um the biggest impact more so than anything so that's it thank you thank you um I you know I I it's I know it's a it's a joke sometimes and I say this a lot but somebody friend of mine called Lake Como Hotel California you can check in but you can't check out it's it's funny the ADP program yeah that's the ADP program um so Newman Street to be specific um when we talk about our um engineering study that we did in 2001 uh one of the specific mentions that the engineering company gave to us um was that and and I'll quote it says uh should Newman Street be considered for oneway assignment a one-way Northbound assignment would create three consecutive Northbound roadways along 16th Avenue eastbound where E Street is Northbound Newman Street would be Northbound with the opposing D Street being two-way in belmare and C Street is Northbound however a one-way southbound assignment would create a pair of consecutive one-way roadways along 17th Avenue where B Street is southbound and the next two roadways of Newman would be southbound in reviewing the local roadway Network circulation system as a whole it appears that the most beneficial to assign Newman Street as oneway southbound so that Vehicles access have access to 18th Avenue and subsequent access to the signalized intersection of Main Street Main Street 18th Avenue Etc um so that's really where the Council made their decision as far as the direction of Newman Street uh I think a conversation tonight will uh occur when we talk about um the ordinance uh between 16th and 17th um but we can definitely add your comments to that conversation when we have it so thank you anyone else wishing to comment on consent agenda or new business seeing none I'll take a motion to close so move second all in favor I one second I lost my okay under the consented genda we have um permits for raffle license we have 2024 20-21 and 2024 d22 it's the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention gift auction and the American foundation for Su Suicide Prevention 5050 so and excuse me this is the same event correct they're just doing a gift auction and they're doing 5050 and everything is in order they do this every year correct everything is in order with is there any concerns that you know of no any questions from the council I'll make a motion we approve agenda second all right uh all in favor I opposed extensions under new business we have ordinance 2024-25 for ordinance 20248 an ordinance amending chapter 9 building and housing code bar lishing a lead paint inspection program and in 2021 the governor signed a law into effect that requires uh town to create a program where they can go in and expect houses that are a certain age and that are rental for lead paint and that's by doing it is it give us the authority to do so this is a second reading um can I have a second second all right this is a second reading so this can have a specific public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this ordinance specifically can come to the mic and do so now any questions or comments okay seeing none I'll close that public portion and ask for a roll call pleasey yes yes yes yes yes yes uh next up is ordinance 2024-25 this is an ordinance amending chapter 7 traffic of the burrow code section 7-13 of the code entitled parking prohibited at all times on certain streets would be amended to include 18th Avenue on the South Side from Main Street to New Bedford Road on Newman Street on the east side between 16th and 17th Avenue also amend section 74-14 of the code entitled parking prohibited During certain hours on certain streets and that would remove um the the previous item on 18th Avenue where the Restriction was on the south side only during um essentially um weekends and holidays in the summer um it also amends section 7-18 of the code entitled oneway streets and would have Newman Street um the southbound between 17th and 18th Avenue with parking permitted on both sides um okay just before I ask the council for questions or comments um just to summarize uh 18th Avenue will have no parking on the South Side all year around and then Newman Street will between 16th and 17th will return back to 2way and have no parking on the east side all year round um this was something that was discussed during a workshop meeting at the last meeting um we had good conversation among the council we did we had one person from the um from the um the town one resident come and comment about it uh and the idea that the council came to or conclusion the council came to at that time was that they would like to see these changes and see how they work not uh all of the council was at our Workshop next last meeting so I know that there are some comments and questions um so I will open it up to the council now for any type of discussion that you may want to have before we take a vote on this so Nick if you would I know you want to talk about it I in total transparency I live at 1605 Newman Street which is uh at the intersection of 17th and I am very opposed to this and I'll tell you why first of all uh when we went to one way we lost two spots at the intersection because of the stop sign that was there by doing this ordinance we not only lose those two spots we lose another four on the other side of the street and uh so it's really it's ma it's a major becomes a major parking issue and I understand the uh the need to trying to create a thorough fabric which there only ocean a and and Main Street Main Street is a obviously coming out of 17th onto Main Street's a problem I you know I I have a semi police truck that I drive and it's still a problem for me so I understand the ramifications of that but uh what I can't understand is why can't we just turn the one way and and then I think it solves everybody's problem by turning into one way that way and leaving the parking from from uh 18th down to right into mmar that would answer everyone's problems it would save all the parking and it would uh you know not be a major problem for loss of parking spaces and you know looking at the the roads we do have a situation as we just talked about with Bradley Terrace with 26 ft it's the same thing on Newman this it's the same issue but going back to a 2-way street and losing six parking Spa spaces between 16th and 17th I don't think is is fair sense any other council members have any questions or anything to add to it so I I will just say um I talked about this last time that it and we all know that it's a problem to get out of from 17th to turn right onto Main Street so you know I understand about the parking I hear that but it really is a problem to get out of town um but I I mean we haven't discussed changing the direction to southbound for that street so I don't know if that's something that we could try instead of this but I feel strongly that we need a way to get out of town without having to get to Main Street I yeah I just in and I wrote myself a note and I think it might be the appropriate time to say this I also think that the one way that we created on Newman to Greenwood is forcing people to come down Snyder or a and turn left onto 17th Avenue as well so I think that's creating even more traffic on 17th Avenue because we can't you can't turn left onto 18th so you have to go down come and come back up there's the fork but I think that also might be creating more traffic I know that's the way I go because I can't turn left I'm I'm confused about the the map that you're drawing out but I hear you but it's I think all of it is creating more traffic and that's the big problem is there a way to try it the opposite do you think that will alleviate the issue is the question we can we can try anything um you know I think the discussion that we had last week would be that it would be easier to try the way that and and I'm going to tell you right now you're the ones voting on this right I'm I'm kind of facilitating the discussion um we can we can try anything you can um I think the discussion was that the the ordinance that we have now was that we it was easier to try it this way than trying to flip a one way and then realizing that we don't like it and then flipping it back again uh I think that was part of the discussion last week if you make it it two-way it's the same issue well I think it's I I'm not disagreeing with you I'm saying if you try to make if you take one part of that and make it a two-way you're just talking about adding and taking down signs with the other one you're talking about the entire neighborhood going in a different direction yeah but you're losing six parking SP you're losing a lot more parking spaces on 18th Avenue too with the with the way the ordinance is written now and I'm this is just I'm not arguing I'm just this is the discussion we're having but that's a major thare 18 M and this is going to turn into a major th there right what do you mean more people are going to use it and I agree it's a problem going down to Main Street or Ocean Air and you to get down to downtown Belmore I agree with that why that's why I'm suggesting the one way going down you it solves everybody's problem it restricts the uh restricts the uh the issue here and it it saves all the parking it seems like a common sense answer you know then having a situation where you got you know two-way streets and you lose six parking spots you know maybe that's why B maybe it's something we can to have the engineer look at for the next meeting you have them look at the Bradley Terrace have them just look at it and see if that's even feasible I know someone mentioned I don't know if it was you mayor that uh the reason we were going south pound was supp to the T intersection at 18th so you know maybe that's important but I also I walked today uh cuz I so everyone knows from the stop sign on on Newman Street there like a 75 ft yellow Mark to stop parking right in front of my house right if you go down to 18th there's another stop sign right at 18 on Newman Street it's like 16 ft or 15 ft is it yeah so I took a picture of it you know Drew is not here but I took a picture of it so if it's a stop sign issue with parking within how come it's I lose two spots there and you know so you know I it just made me look at it and I caught it when I drove around yesterday cuz I I took the time uh I'm sure yesterday Sunday and drove around all over over town to see this one way situation so I can feel a little educated here so I agree with the thoroughfare issue down from 17th down into downtown because I it would be good for me too okay but you know if we don't have to lose uh six parking spots and you know which direction of traffic to me yeah and the other discussion that we had too was and whether this is relevant or not the parking spots that would be removed with this ordinance um are nobody's nobody lives on that block right there's one house on that block that has a driveway for six cars and then the other property there's nothing El the other thing you got to take into consideration is Tuesday nights with bar a that whole area is packed right and on Sunday night I don't know why I guess joose hershack does very well on Sunday nights but that it's packed on Sunday nights too on that whole street so that's going to create an issue too could we table this and run this by the engineer since we're over to CH i i i because I'm trying to figure out what the engineer is going to do and tell us differently what we already know we already had the traffic study Point not yeah yeah but the the study says one way the study doesn't say too also I think it also talked about just removing traffic on the one side of the street so you basically the study says the same thing for every street is it's either one way you're moving your moving from one side of the street so um it's just kind of like splitting a baby I guess you know half and half compromise but is the compromise the way to go I you know well the other thing is this is only a first reading right so this is nothing is set in stone until after a second reading anyway um yeah but fruition if we can try to work it out before put an ordinance in you can we somebody can make a motion before we vote to to table it if you would like to table it for further discussion um and then we would vote on that table um or the motion has been made for this it can be seconded we can vote on it and then move forward from there um but somebody would have to make motion to table that would have to be seconded and then we would vote on it and then depending on that vote then we go back to the ordinance or not I'll make motion table until next time talk about it so that's on the workshop next meeting we have a motion to table for a workshop to next meeting I have a second to that motion second so we have a motion and second to table the discussion for the current ordinance which is listed as 2014-09 not going away but is tabled for further discussion at a workshop to the next meeting roll call please on that mayor that be tabling the one section of the entire audience in the entire the entire ordinance at this time have roll call please on that or on that uh motion to table wity yes scull noo yes deoro yes VRI yes yes okay so um ordinance 20249 is being being tabled at this time um it is not by any means gone away uh we will set uh a workshop we already have a workshop for the next meeting or we will just be a longer Workshop um as part might be able to include ter same time uh we have resolution 202 24-1 129 offered by councilwoman skull thank you mayor so offered resolution 2024 1119 be resolved by the mayor and Council of the Bureau of lake comoo that the proper officers be directed and authorized to make payment from the follow the following accounts current account $15,246.86 Water and Sewer account $$ 59,6 75 General Capital account $3,920 Grant fund account $370 tourism account [Music] $566 100th anniversary account $287 AC wire payments $ 7,539 and77 for a grand total of $155,100 79 I have a second second roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you resolution 2024 d120 130 sorry two two small princi right I haven't needed readers yet I yes I need them I think it's uh offered by councilman ventrice by thank you mayor so offer resolution 202 24-120 resolution of the b l Cola Council executive sessions whereas the B Council of the B of Lake com must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the exceptions the open public meetings act and are permitted to be discussed in Clos session pursuant to njsa 10 colum 412 small b s and8 which are subjects covered by the attorney client privilege and subjects involving Personnel matters um the length of the Clos session is estimated to be not more than 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the council will be convene an action may be T thank you do I have a second roll call please winie yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you this time I'll take a motion to open for public comment so moved second all in favor I opposed thank you at this time um anyone wishing to speak uh make comments to the council uh can do so now please come to the mic name and address we'll receive your comments 18th and B um just a reminder um and an invitation that um on the 29th of September at around 9:00 up on the corner of North Boulevard in Ocean a the New Jersey Run for the Fallen will be running through belmare they do this every year it's a group uh that starts out in Kate May and it's kind of it's a 4-day run they start and they stop and honor everyone that has been killed in the global something more that they had and my sister and I have hit three of these every year um one of them is down in absin for a cooworker son who was killed second one is for our cousin down in bayhead who was killed and the third is for another coworker son who just happens to be up here on the corner of North Boulevard and oan there there's another stop also at um tell Pavilion for um Campbell his last name where his first name is cell um but they run through this group run they're running this whole time and they stop at each one they got a big truck with all the pictures on it of everyone that they're honoring and then they have a tribute to each and every one and they present um you know flowers or whatever if the parents are or any family members are there and it it means a lot to have people there Belmore brings the flags the fire trucks bring Flags out the police are there to help us out and everything and it's just it's just an honor and it's to uh see these people run and it's normally the day after Lake KO day but it's not this year so I'm hoping to see you all there uh date time and location again please okay September 29th Sunday approximately 9 a.m. they can give or take 15 minutes depending on how fast they're running the weather and everything else but I'll be back to remind you again and GI will have something in the post off for thank you very much hi um my name is Wendy buen I live at 528 North Boulevard and I first want to say thank you to Mayor Higgins for having us the other night with um councilman Wy and um and what you said earlier and what you're going forward with all this ADP stuff but until you're in our shoes and I kind of like here to kind of Enlighten you a little bit about just myself and my husband Jim we moved into Lake homo in 2014 this year our taxes increased 62.85 in one year from $2,530 per year to $2,452 77,500 from $2 $227,000 an increased to $50,900 the the assessed value of the land increased to 1 1,489 from $866,000 an increase of $682,500 in one year so I have couple questions pretty simple were you aware that we were getting those assessments prior to us getting our tax bills and if you weren't why not I so you want me to answer them one by one or you want to ask your questions did you know no the answer to we don't get we don't get notified on that that it's it's a county program so our tax assessor actually reports to the County tax assessor we have the the the council has no influence or notice of what those assessments are going to be we only I mean we get the postcard just like you and that's that's the only thing that we really know so as a as a person in the community we get those postcards shame on me I'll take every responsibility I'm supposed to not to know enough to question that assessment but it wasn't until our tax bill that we really know what we have to pay going forward so it caught a lot of us in shock and I guess I just who who sets the tax rate that would be the local tax assessor okay so that's something I didn't know and then um I guess that's it that's not the tax rate is not oh the tax rate I'm sorry the tax rate for the municipality is set by our budget by the council I'm sorry the the assessment on your home is set by the tax assessor okay the rate for the municipality is set by the council when we pass a budget the rate for the school is set by the school board when they pass their budget and the rate for the county is passed by the County Commissioners when they set their budget so um I might be misunderstanding but if you know the assessed values have gone up then wouldn't you be careful with the rate so yeah we so we we can't we don't low we can't lower the rate by like 60% right and I know you're assessment goes up that High um but the rate for the town has been slowly dein ining over the years um because we know that the assessments have been going up we were not aware of the what happened with North Boulevard um but the assessment did go down this year a percentage point or a fraction of a percentage Point um to try to to try to offset a lot of those assessments okay I I'm just going to I mean if you're living if you live in Lake comoo you're going to be in our shoes mhm values don't go down so if they're finding it not a problem to assess my home 62.85 higher in one year they all going to be in the same place ADP has to be addressed and I appreciate that you're you're asking them to come and and as I said one of one of the one of the intents of this program is to to combat exactly what happened to you it was to combat the every 5 years or every 10 years you get assessed and you go up 60 70% but when you have an inflationary year like we did and you have two homes that sandwich mine at 2 point whatever million being sold it's just unfair this who who would ever think that your taxes are going up 62% I mean I don't have like to just Fork out $7,000 and I will wait until August 27 to hand that check in at the very last minute because it's just crazy it this is crazy so that's but I do appreciate what you're doing thank you thanks anyone else yes I'm going to come up sure since one of the people that live on as well sure we just need your name and address and can you speaking to the mic for the record please my name is Michelle and I live in North Boulevard and this has been a place where I live most of my life um so I wrote I was really upset like my other neighbors about this um this is almost unheard of what happened um New Jersey is one of the highest you know property taxes in the whole in the whole um country but this is a this is absurd what happened and it really targeted just the boulevard so I just want to let you know that I did talk to Matt Clark the week of the 5th and you know he went through a big long explanation of how the ADP is and all this stuff what's going on and like okay so he said he'd get back to me I gave him you know my email address and he never he never got back to me so I wrote him a letter and I'm just going to read you the letter because I'm just really upset um hello Mr Clark I spoke to you the week of August 5th in reference to the massive property tax increase dollar amount that had selected we affected the residents who live on North Boulevard Lake comoo I'm sure you know at this point the increase to each of the residents was between 40 to 60% and that's in one year all right never heard of that anywhere in the country in New Jersey you stated that you were going to investigate this incident with the tax assessor Mark Fitzpatrick and get back to me I gave you my email and I never receiv received any response back as of today which was um August 17th to give you some more information on my property land dimensions are 59 by 88 not very large lot the home is approximately 1,50 Square ft two bedroom one bath ranch style home built in 1960 there have been no changes in construction deletions or additions the house remains exactly as it was since 1960 I need a new roof it's leaking all over I need new windows they're also defective and some are leaking as well this type of increase without any detailed warning from the town is almost unheard of someone somewhere either from the town or the county had to know something mayor Higgins stated you know to be fair to you I mean I just I had to put this in it's okay mayor Higgins stated he was not aware of this extreme tax increase until after the fact how could the mayor of a town not be aware of a tax increase that resulted in 40 to 60% affecting only a selective group of residents on a particular Street um well a lot of the towns stayed flat as a m municipalities need to be able to budget for their own expenses so do the homeowners need to prepare their own budgets as well I mean can you imagine getting a bill after the fact and then you have to come up with all this money you know in 17 days because that was an extension that was given 17 days um also I never received the postcard mailed in November so that I could have started an appeal because if I had noticed that on a postcard I would that I would have been alerted to Something's Wrong um tax increases like this will only over time devalue the homes people will not want to purchase a home in this town why would they also you must remember the storm does anybody remember that in 2012 I mean it took years for people to recover I mean I have photos I can bring them in here it was horrible people got sick people died after that people were killed in their homes um I'm still traumatized by it it took years for people to recovery storm like that that could easily happen again I mean does anyone think about that and it would entire the whole flood the whole area and then Deval devalue the homes again and I think people just don't remember that they have short memories so the bills were never in place prior to August 1st and sent out the last minute received after the due date on Thursday August 15th an article in the co-star Gina mayor stated that Blake comoo mayor and council at their August 6th meeting passed a resolution solution extending the grace period for the property tax due date so does the town of Lake Como and the county of Mammoth believe this is an appropriate resolution they really believe that given the extension of 17 more days to come up with thousands and thousands of additional dollars it's going to solve this problem and give the selected residents a peace of mind this is an insult to the selected North Boulevard residents of Lake K in reference to the assessment demonstration program I heard heard about it years and years ago but didn't pay much attention to it it kind of came and went many places opted out you know of the program I have to really question the Integrity of this program which was used to evaluate our property values on North Boulevard Lake home it appears to expose property taxpayers to swings in the real estate market I mean they go up one year they can go down right um and they iness it annually is there something being could interfere with the assessor that's doing the assessment on your property also when evaluating this extreme tax increase only affecting the North Boulevard it appears to be so disproportionate that will only have an adverse effect on the residents and senior citizen taxpayers including disability I mean people aren't disability and we have those on the boulevard as well on one of them it may also have an impact on the protection of the freeze act forcing homeowners to appeal year after year How can any of these solution situations previously St to have a positive Fair impact on any homeowner or M municipality as a whole my suggestion be that this small town should either merge with bmar merge with wall you know or and it needs to opt out of this program because it's certainly not fair and it's unjust it's it's an insult to the boulevard people and why should they be the only group and who to go up there it's never been heard of nobody and I've spoke to somebody in traton about it and they've never heard of it either and this is a big problem and there's something very wrong really wrong thank you Michelle anyone else and I'm speaking for a lot of the boulevard people here good evening my name is Jim Nan my wife and I live at 608 North Boulevard and I just want to Echo some of the things that in front of us said first by saying thanks to the mayor for sitting with with us last week through our uh concerns but just to give you an idea when we're talking about percentage increases assess values we're talking about money coming out of our pocket so for example I'm retired uh there's people have disabled as she said uh our neighbor two her is down she is retired she's lived there 62 years we've lived there 36 years and all of a sudden you get a letter in the mail it says you now have to pay as for us we got a Mor $500 more a month henceforth have a nice day so some people have to pay $1,000 a month so just to get an idea what what is talking about out of your pocket just a letter in the mail saying and it's only the people on North Boulevard just because you live there and so that's why everybody's upset it's it's a lot of money and if you're on a fixed income or retired what does it come from and then if you don't pay you get you know they're going to take your house away whether it's a Mortage company or the county whatever that is and so it's hard for people to swallow and so that's why people are upset you know you're talking about for us is $500 a month we've got other expenses too so uh some people is more some people is double and they're not all here tonight but they so when we're talking about that kind of cash coming out of your pocket it's it's it's a lot of money and just because we live on North Boulevard and we've been there a long time as I said in uh two two doors down her neighbor was born there so she's been there 62 63 years and all of a sudden she's on a fixed income she's retired and now she's got the similar Bill what she supposed to do and so that's the issue for us is that it's it's money that's out of our pocket and I heard some of the other comments tonight about you know the traffic everything like that granted it's an inconvenience but if someone knocked on your door and say hey I need $500 a month out of your pocket hence forth every month or going to lose your house you're preaching to the choir I agree with you want 100% so I just want you to know that I'm just trying to I don't have as much of em motion as some of the other people and some people can't even talk about it because they're so motional about it I hold on hold on so I I just wanted to go on record saying that you know at least from my family and I we go record say we're picked off to say in a nice way but uh we want to get to the bottom of it we want to meet with the uh the local assessor the county assessor Assessor and see we can all figure what to do but so far what being told is there's nothing we can do about it so that means we're locked in anywhere from $500 $500 a month or $1,000 a month forever and some of our neighbors are concerned that it's not going to double in two years or three years so thanks for your time appreciate the opportunity voice Our concern hi1 just you know my tax almost 40% also okay thank you very much any what's the the name of the program we're giving out information inform for senior citizens or um people of a certain age that can get into a freeze program I believe senior tax freeze it's right through the state's website we have flyers I okay all right if if you don't know about the senior tax freeze um Amy can give you information on that um I'm not exactly I'm not going to tell you what the program is about because I'm not exactly sure what it is off the top of my head um and I'm not saying that that's going to help in any way um what happened last year or this year um um but I know a couple people have mentioned um being retired or being a senior citizen so Amy does have that information um any other comments at this time I want to thank you mayor for looking into the ad I also live on North Pole just need a name and address Joe St 399 North po I'm also retired and I'm looking the liia permanently I should be in front of you guys with been a month with my plans I'm scared I'm scared all right and I think there should be a low in place that you could only raise at a certain percent of the year I think that would be fair not to shock 62% 42% It's not right we merge with one of the towns which was brought up so that's all thank you thank you Dr St Kevin I just have one more another thing to tell you Michelle I'm going to ask you to wait for a second okay anyone else jimy Canon 528 North Boulevard so um I just put this thought down so when you get the tax assessment card there's no dollar amount there's no real dollars on that thing when the real dollars come that's when people's stomachs turn and they've all they're running running out of time or it may time have may have expired already where you could contest that and the way it's contested is every single year um that gentleman who used to sit on the board that was in that article that I spoke up the other day um it really affects it really affects people um so I here's what I did so I think that's a good idea but they could change that and just throw it all on us here's your assessment and here's what you're going to pay then I say whoa I let's all let's all do it that it was crazy my stomach turned right so here's what I did In fairness of everything I tried to figure out because everybody's saying we're being targeted I sent everybody a spreadsheet I don't know if you had a chance to look at it um but this is what I pulled out of it just for the record everybody knows what he's talking about I didn't want to give your email address down on the to them well I was going to refer as your email address but I didn't want it on the record all right so I'm laughing but this is not fun this this is the program that we're in and and how it affected us so what I did was I collected data for uh 2019 to 2023 did not include this uh particular uh year okay and what I found um the average home assessment on every single uh house that fronts the lake since we have really nice property and it's really expensive then I would say then it should be pretty much uniform around the lake because the lake is the lake so the average home assessment for Belmar was a little over 1 million they had a 5year freeze though very smart and I'll tell you why in a bit Spring Lake a little over 2.7 million and understand I'm only talking about the all the homes that surround the lake lake Ko's homes were a little over a million so Lake Ko's average is approximately $7,000 more and our our homes are further from the beach when it relates to Belmore the average tax rate balar had a 5year freeze but they adjusted their tax rate to meet their budgets 1.7% Spring Lake 2.5 1% Lake comoo 9.2 wait say that again I'm sorry no no no that's what most people say no no I no what are you referring to as the rate our rate is not 9.2 the average tax rate from 2019 to 20 23 got it all those years the average increase in in taxes was 9 99.2% oh for for you mean on each home every single I got I wanted to spread it out so there's no anomalies and I'm not including 2024 right the average tax dollars um that increase per year in belmare was $230 Spring Lake 297 same Houses Lake Como 721 so then I dug out the sixe comparisons sixe comparisons now um only include Spring Lake and Lake Como because Belmar has frozen and I think they passed their their taxes and I went down there I don't know what the rates are so I don't know how much they're going to go up so now we're comparing Spring Lake and Lake H the average home assessment in Spring Lake was a little over 2.8 million Lake Como a little over 1 point no a little under 1.2 million so the difference is Lake KO is 1.7 million less than Spring Lake we're evaluated less than Spring Lake the average tax dollars real dollars in Spring Lake uh was $233 a year like Como 18834 talking about increase or I'm talking about the increase per year if I were to spread out here's my taxes that go up every year average amount what's what's the answer the average was uh 1834 and I encourage everybody to check what I did there's a lot of numbers on those pages and if I messed up somewhere I don't think it's going to mess up um the overall um highlight of what this ADP program does the average tax rate in Spring Lake was 1.98% Lake Como average a 16% uh tax rate up and Lake com's tax rates are 14% more are our homes are uh valued less but we paid $116,000 more on average per home for houses that are valued less this then I said wait a minute I when I when I took this on I wanted to see if I could prove that the program was good and these are the numbers that I extracted out of it I want to convince myself well maybe maybe the program is good so then I did this I said these numbers are pretty uh they're pretty bad so I took the top um assessed values of 12 homes on Lake Como on our side and compared them to the 12 homes on the other side to see if that changed nothing changed same kind of results so I think by a set I don't know if it's good for the town or bad for the town Belmar does it for five years it makes sense um but I think the ad ADP system takes advantage of your voters um in inflationary times the ADP system takes advantage of Black Swan events when has anybody's property ever gone up what did you say it was when no no no not that the the land8 that's insan $800,000 so then weeks after getting the card saying this is the cash you got to come up with I looked at Zillow and my house is already down $250,000 that translates to $2,800 in inflated taxes on my home if you had a fiveyear adjust the rate but if you do this then you're going to be susceptible to these black the other part is you keep raising our taxes nobody's going to buy our houses they're going to say there's a tax there's a like I feel like I'm renting my home now nobody's going to buy these houses the houses are going to drop and what is that do to you how do what is the longterm effect of that so my analysis of this program Every Which Way I tried to make it make sense it it didn't make sense I I think we got to leave and if if they want to sue us to leave then um let's have a carnival and raise money and and sue them for not letting us out because I don't understand if you told me if any of you told me we have this program we're going to do and you're going to be in for a little while you can opt out here but after that day you can't get out that's like saying this is a great restaurant I'm going to go to it all the time and then the food's not really that good but you can't you have to go there we don't have a choice this is the United States of America we don't have a choice I think we should make a choice so I have a question here I was like who's responsible for that tax rate but I think I figured it out and I think I figured out how they how they uh create the coefficient so I'll keep that to myself right now but um one of the other things that I wanted to say um I forgot what I was going to say but I got a lot more coming there's more information out there and there's no doubt that this isn't reasonable if you think it is reasonable um then you know let me know and I'll run against you because probably don't belong up there no I'm serious no and and and I'm I'm not laughing um I I think you know that I agree with you I think we've had this conversation and and we continue to have these conversations um and I don't and I think everybody up here is is reasonable to know that this is like you say a Black Swan event um and hopefully we'll get those questions answered um and if it's the decision of the council to either get out of the program or even Sue to get out of the program that's the way we would go well I think you should at least say we don't want to be in this anymore to many anomalies um the one year thing is is not good might be good for the what taxes you collect but you can adjust those rates they can adjust those rates I I I I totally understand I to I'm not disagreeing with you yeah all right so I have much more information for you that I'll I'll share with you later yep all right thank you Jim anyone else yeah Mr R Bob RS b504 18th Avenue actually came for a different reason which I'll cover later but I do want to address the taxt because it's a very confusing topic that people without experience going through it so I I feel for you because I understand you don't control most of the tax dollars and this is about tax dollars it's not about evaluation it's not even about the tax rate it's what those numbers mean as far as what you have to pay out of your pocket now unless I'm wrong and I didn't who my file I didn't bring it with me but there are three major components of what we are have to pay for taxes the County assessment the Board of Education assessment and the town budget of are they the three that are the main appointment and I believe that the town is one of the Lesser numbers the dollars as compared to the education and the county all I suggest is before your meeting with the county a rather simple approach that I would recommend you look at is how much money has late KO been assessed by the county and by the Board of Education what lumpsum number is that because I think that will give you a lot of the um ammunition you might need if lake comoo is paying 30 is being um responsible for 30% more than spring lady in RAR dollars forget assessments forget tax RS for second just dolls and that's how I would recommend you know you look at it not not just um the assessments because you get you get so bogged down by the assess values because your neighbor's house sold last year and that up your price 20% and so forth so just a recommendation if there's some way you can get that information I know you have it from the town budget for your section of it but it's the other two components that I think are very key thank you um one the point I wanted to make parking in one ways sorry parking one is that the other thing you want to talk about um good subject but but not immediately humps and bumps humps and bumps we won't go through that right now um the other um uh point is is two months ago we had a meeting and we discover we discussed law enforcement and one of the things that we we found out was that we a real problem having the proper staff to patrol the town am I correct with that so yeah I mean it's a it's not just a local thing but it's a state and a national that police forces are under staffed yes um is there any progress on that front now it's the end of the summer for us but it's time also to plan for next summer because I still see on weekends violations of parking lat lat without having tickets without being ticketed or in some spots being c um so I think that's a real point that we have to address and you know look at the alternatives for Lake coma because I know we're part of the Lake comoo elmar Police is that the best way going forward I know there have been comments here and there but I think it's something that we have to keep on look not we I recommend um that the council keep on looking at just to make sure the town is properly protected because all those nice changes that we're talking about on oneway streets and everything else you know if we don't enforce it why bother I mean I see people going and I'm sure everybody does two ways down num it's not uncommon um and again and the only specific point is that comes to mind is the stop sign which I have no reason why it's there on 18th and New Bedford nobody nobody stops at that stop sign literally and I do you know what so you can't say nobody sorry 90% of the don't stop there I even stop there on my bike but in order for a car to come around it's almost 180 degree turn in front so I could see why somebody that's a stop sign why but why have a sign if we can't um so um I just throw that out but but I think the police force is a big point that we have to continually look at and look at maybe different ways of um enforcing I love the patrol guys on the bikes during the summer I think that's great thank you thank you Mr R else I just wanted to say one shall we usually only allow one comment but since since this is a sensitive issue I can allow you to come back up you have to come up to the mic to make if you want to make one additional comment yeah and the reason I'm making I'm going to need you to come to the all the way to the mic though because it's got to get on the record I appreciate it all right I'm just bringing this up because this past winter was like in February like I took photos on February 26th but the incident happened probably a few days prior to that but we had a little bit of snow that time and there were snow plows going down the boulevard like 40 miles an hour and there wasn't really no snow on the street but they were plowing the street and I heard a big crash so when I went out I saw the curb of my neighbor all crushed and there was Pebbles all over the street so a couple days later I called up the town and spoke to Viva and then a few days later I don't have the date of the gentle don't I think it he was the administrator here I remember the incident you're talking about yeah and you know he I spoke to him and I really didn't appreciate the way he spoke to me um I was going to do something about it at the time but I didn't but I figured since we're talking about Lake comoo because this did happen on Lake Como on the street of lake comoo and it's important and he said I said can you repair this since it was done by you and he denied that it was he denied that his people were were in but I saw them you know I didn't have a video of them speeding but they were I have a witness um and it was just upsetting the way somebody from the town I don't I've never come to the town and complained I've paid my taxes always on time I just all I did was work keep to myself and then so this happened and and now the tax issue and that's why I wanted to bring it up otherwise I wouldn't have but you know it's something that needs to be addressed and if you know you were paying these taxes and then just kind of like forgot about it and said well I don't know what we can do about it well it needs to be fixed and it was destroyed by whoever was driving those clows I heard it didn't see the plow plow into the curb but I do have photos and it's obvious that something hit it was hit thank and it was avoided um before we get into comment any anyone else seeing none I'll take a motion to close so move second second all in favor I oppos all right any um before we move on if there is any comments or anything for from the council um please I I just have one thing for the lieutenant on the other end sir yes do you have your officers checked I don't believe they're enforcing the commercial vehicle ordinance appropriately can you have them look into that okay thank you any comments at all on anything from the public open public no at this time not at this time okay um like I said we're hopefully we'll follow up um with the appropriate personnel that I discussed earlier um and we'll have uh that Workshop meeting at our next meeting um I will also reach out to the residents that I can reach out to that I have been reaching out to uh when that meeting is set just to remind them and let them know and they can talk to their neighbors Amy I'm I've already talked to Sean heer but can you just follow up with him because we may need the gym across the street for the meeting um if we expect it to be highly yeah attended it's not just a North Street issue right um all right um at this time the council is going to go into closed session closed executive session we are going to use this uh room for that closed executive session so we're going to ask you to to leave we will turn um