--------- And though I don't drink the wine, too, apparently. So, good evening everyone. Um, I said I'd like to call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mr. Asus, here. Mr. Vieira, I'm here. Mrs. Whittis, here.
Mr. Dangler, here. Dr. V. And I'm here. So, we have two. I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the open public meeting act and posted as required by law. Thank you, Amanda.
So, we have um actually two presentations tonight. Um starting with the presentation on the 2024 annual audit. Robert, there you go. There you go. Thank you. Okay. Who is our city auditor?
It's my annual appearance in front of you all. Um, so each year when we we finish the audit, we come just to give you a brief presentation about, you know, how the audit went and where things stand in the branch. Um, as I' I've mentioned in the past, you know, we're here to do determine whether your financial statements are fairly stated,
whether in compliance with the rules and regulations of the state of New Jersey. And so we do all our tests. We're looking at all your outside departments. We're looking at your purchasing or your grants and things like that that you have to meet all these standards. and uh and you know if we find problems you know that could affect the opinion or
there could be comments recommendations in the report. Um I'm happy to report that the the the opinion was a clean opinion. It's an unmodified opinion report which is the the best opinion you can get. Um we have no findings in the report this year. Remember last year there was one finding that was corrected. Um but we had no no findings
this year. Uh but the surplus in the town is always a big issue. Uh we're almost exactly where we were last year. We're about $18,000 less than last year, which is a really small amount. Um, so you're really good shape. You know, the rating agencies want you to be somewhere
between 20 and 28% of your total budget surplus. You're at 25%. So you're in a real good spot of where you, you know, we want to be. Um, again, I always mention every year, you know, keep that in mind as you're developing your budgets every year. Um, you guys, you the council's done a good job in
listening to the administration in, you know, in developing those budgets. you're able to maintain that surplus. A lot of the towns get out there and they want to, you know, let's reduce taxes and we'll throw all our surplus at it and you have reduced taxes for a year or two and all of a sudden you're stuck and you guys kind of get that and kind of
stay with that. You know, people, you know, you get a reduction of taxes for a penny or two. It's nice, but it doesn't really mean but but when you raise them four or five, then it's like, wait, wait a second now. Where does this happen? So, I I encourage you to continue to do a good job with that in budget time. Um
the other thing is that's more of a suggestion. I we discussed it when we finish our audit. We have an exit conference with the administration. We kind of go over things and uh one of the things that we we brought up at that point in time is reviewing our capital ordinances. You we pass ordinances every year and for we're going to do a road
program or we're going to buy a truck or something like that. You don't always spend all the money. Maybe the bid comes in lower or things like that. And the suggestion would be to try to review some of the older ones. you know, we have about 10, 12, 13 that are older, you know, as far back as like I think 97. So, maybe review those and cancel
them. Okay? It's not required, but it's good to clean the books up, you know, cancel those and in in general, it'll if they're funded, they'll create capital surplus, which you can then use to use in the budget or to offset other smaller capital projects. So, again, we encourage you maybe take a look at that sometime during the year this year.
Mayor, how are you? Good, sir. Good to see you. Excellent. Um, that's that's really all I have to to to say at the meeting. have any questions or comments about the audit process or anything like that? Uh can you just um so council has to pass a resolution tonight certifying
that they that they've reviewed the audit but at the very least they have reviewed the comments and recommendations. Were there any comments or No, there's nothing there no comments or recommendations. There's nothing review. I was I was telling Mike, you know, I won't mention the client, but we had a client where we had
somewhere between 20 and 25 comments of the report every year for five years straight. And so uh they finally and at this we were never invited to the meeting to discuss it. So finally I got invited to the meeting to discuss it. So I sat down and I went through all 25 of the the comments. I said and one person
asked like you know how long have these been here? I'm like most of them been here for like five years. And she and she goes well why am I just hearing about this now? I'm like well you kind of said you signed off that you read the recommendations for the last couple years. And she goes I did like yeah. So,
uh, but yeah, there's there's nothing to you, you know, for anybody here to have to, you know, we had one small recommendation last year that was corrected already. So, everything's in real good shape here. And what was that recommendation? Last year, we had an over expenditure last year. It was the way the way things were were budgeted, how it showed up in the run, but uh there was that was taken
care of. There's no problems this year. Thanks. Very good. So, um, so at some point we should just, um, keep it kind of on the tickler file to hear from f from Mike when all those ordinances are cleaned up. Yeah.
He'll come to he'll come to you. Okay. I'll present a resolution. Okay. Good. Very good. Have a great night. Thanks. Okay. So, um, our next presentation now, Charlie, it's looking like you're
preparing to do that. Mike will not be here. He's he's on his way. Okay. But I'll I'll start it for you guys. Okay. So, um, as we did last year, as you guys can remember, this is the Mammoth County Open Space Grant. Um, so one of the requirements is that we do it in public. Um, just in case anyone, you know, wants
to ask questions or or talk about it before we apply for the grant. Um, so last year, as you know, we did the area between the library and city hall, which we were funded for. Um, this year, our choice is Vancort Park. Um, we we have a
lot of conversations with the director of recreation, and the basketball court in this area is by far the worst. There's actually um there there's flowers and grass growing through the cracks in it. Um and in one area where underneath the basket it's so dangerous
that you know we they've had a bunch of people twist their ankles there. Um so it needs to be completely not just resurfaced but replaced. Um so part of this grant would be to a full replacement of the basketball court um in including the poles and the nets. Um
and obviously you know all of the um trees and everything will be maintained around it. He did a few more um trees just to buffer it a little bit better than what it is now, but all the existing will remain. Um he actually as we move forward with this, one of the things that we told you guys that we
would do is we would put water fill stations in as we do this and instead of it being a normal water station, it'll be a bottle fill station. Um so there's one of them in there and we're going to, you know, as we move forward or replace or add, we'll put them in all the parks. It's the biggest thing probably being
asked for now. Um, and then as we went as we went through all the parks, you know, some of this equipment that you buy, you don't realize how old it is. But as we went and looked at it and then called the company to find out, believe it or not, the park's over 25 years old. Um, and we we were astonished by it. But there was there was things that we
wanted cleaned up about it. We had uh Stan's guys power wash, try and scrub it. Um, but it really it's put its time in. There's a bunch of steps that are that transition from the plastic to the metal that they're just you can't replace them. they're rusted out. Um, so
basically it's going to be a replacement of that entire area including uh the the the rubber floor or the rubber layer beneath which is required. Um, believe it or not, as we we're looking at the park over on um the mom with medical property and went to did it. You know,
kids aren't allowed to play in grass anymore. We have to do something. It's it's great. It's not allowed to play in grass. No. Like in other words, like you can't have swing set under grass. You got to put something there. So all these playgrounds have to have some type of a surface. Um you know grass just isn't good enough anymore. So and it's funny
because the surface is as much as the the the play the playground set itself. Um so it would be a full replacement. Uh again the the trees will stay. Some additional buffering is provided. Um and then we would fence in the area so we have a a tot area and parents wouldn't
have to worry about it. And can I add Charlie that that playground is really heavily used. Yeah. As well as the basketball court. Yeah. Yeah. Are you going to put like picnic tables and things like that? Yeah, that that'll absolutely be part of it in in the middle where there's open
space um and and garbage containers, recycling containers, all of that is figured into it. Yeah. Now, when you do these bottle filling stations, are they just going to come out of a hose or is this going to be No, no. There there there's a specific
company off the top of my head, I don't know, but it's a specific company. They're made for outdoor. They're um you know they're stainless going to be hard hard piped on Oh, hard piped. It's all hard piped. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, no, absolutely. They're and they're made for parks and for outdoors. Um the ones that we've already selected for the the boardwalk
are a little bit more robust as you know, they must be. Um but the parks ones are, you know, made for made for So, something like that, do you have to shut the water? We do. We have to blow It's like a It's like a sprinkler. We're going to have to blow it out and it Yeah. Will it have like a little tray on the
bottom for pets when you walk pets? We I I we I don't think we selected that one, but Well, can we look into it? No pets. People walk their pets by there all the time. Yeah, but there's no pets. There's no pets in the park. That's why we don't we don't attract them because our ordinance says they're not allowed there. We I we'll
we Jackson Woods because of that, remember? Yeah. because there people going there for the dogs and then we had the the things the dog hang the trash bags in there says if their bags and allow dogs and the things we had to change that and and honestly just not nothing to do with dogs or anything else. We we we've
selected the most robust one with the least amount of moving parts because every moving part you put in it's something else to break. So if the dog dish breaks and it keeps filling then what does that mean? Now the whole thing is shut down to humans and pets opposed to us having a single operation single-use button that if that breaks we
can fix it and move on. Yeah. But I see a lot of those a lot of places people do walk their dog. Sure. Things like that. Charles. Yes sir. Only correction comment I have is said
people are pissing their ankle under court. Mhm. That's close to trying to stop me when Alan Iris across nothing. All right. All right. Yeah, that was 20 years ago.
So, Michael, I've uh I've gone through most of the presentation already. Yes. My apologies. I had the wrong time in my No problem. Um is there anything else you want to add? I went I went through the site the site plan and everything. Is there anything else that I that's required that I have to Um not really. Did you touch on the cost? I didn't do the That's the only
thing I didn't do. I was getting to that point. I wanted you to be the bad guy. I have it here. Yeah. So, um why don't you come here and sit right at the end? Yep. So, um so the overall does everybody know who Michael is? No. No. I apologize. Hi, I'm uh Michael Riser
with Sei Associates. I work with Laura Newman. Uh she apologizes that she could not make it tonight. she had prior commitments. So, uh she sent me but unfortunately they put the wrong time on the calendar. But, um yeah, the overall
um cost for this project is $756,200. The Mammoth County Open Space Grant is limited to $500,000 per project. Uh but since the city is a designated urban aid community, the county will fund up to 75% of the eligible project costs.
So yeah, so what does that leave us? Yeah. So that leaves us the county would be if assuming we get a maximum award, we would get 500,000 and then the city would be funding the remaining 256,000.
It's 381. Our our portion would be the 25% plus that, right? 381. 381, right? It's a 25% of the 500 plus the overage. Yeah. Yeah. So 3 381 would be our portion.
Okay. We can have that conversation when we get there. What's what's been our history with this? Have we always gotten this grant like like our chances? We've done very well. We've done well. So it looks good that we're going to get it again. I mean chances are chances are.
Yeah. Yeah, I believe we we applied for the city hall improvements last year and obtained a grant for that as well as the Manahassid Creek and Pleasure Bay Park improvements. Okay, that's successful. I I know for us it's not a thing, but I think a lot of these grants they look at not only the ability to get them, but to
finish them and we always finish them. That That's what I was thinking. Our our record is having a good That's a big deal. Yeah. It doesn't always happen. Well, when we first started, we had a lot of unfinished projects. Yes. To get them back. That's whole gold ones. Good.
You guys have any questions? When do you when will this be done? Done. I don't know what the what the grant gets submitted next week. And then uh when when is the what are they awarding? Do you know? I believe October. October next year. Yep. So, we'll know. So, by the time October happens, then
you know, Mike's got a it'll be one of those where where in the budget is. Are we waiting for the budget? You're doing the chapter 159 where capital is at the time. So, I'd say you're a good year away. Okay. Yep. Good. Thank you, Charlie. Thank you, Mike. Cool.
Charlie, just when I walked in, there was a comment just about um like a tripping hazard or something. We were talking about the existing court. Existing court. Okay. Yeah, we'll take that. Yeah. Yep. There's also a comment about having water for the dogs, too. Having water for the dogs. Okay. We do
have in there like a drinking fountain, and I do know that they make ones that are both where you have the the human portion as well as the dog. We've installed those. That's uh Thank you. something we can definitely include. Not to miss an opportunity.
Okay. Good. Good. Okay. Okay. Mike, thank you. Charlie, thank you. Thank you. Okay. For um the council, any old business? No, I'm going to do it.
Nope. Um, you know, I I'm going to put this in the category of old business just because I don't know where else to put it. But just tremendous kudos to our police force and everybody who made July 4th just uh so safe and amazing. I don't
know if the rest of the council I mean I got a lot of of comments of people just feeling good that they saw the police out there and to control the traffic the way these guys did. You did an outstanding job. So
any uh new business? Nope. Uh review of the regular meeting agenda. Any comments? No comments. I'm good. Okay, there we go. Um, I need a motion to close the public portion of the meeting. So, move second. All in favor? I
opposed. Um, I we're going to go into executive counsel. So, I need a motion to adopt the following resolution. Resolution number R-129-25. Be it resolved that the city council will go into executive council uh I'm
sorry executive session to discuss the following attorney client privilege administrator's update administrator Shirley. So move all in favor. Any opposed? Okay, good. Thank you. Part: 2
So, good evening everyone. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have a council meeting with this room packed. So, we are so thrilled that you're here and uh actually so thrilled too because we have some special awards.
So wonderful. It'll be a great evening. So, the July 9th, 2025 council meeting for the Long Branch City Council will now come to order. Roll call, please. Mr. Rases, here. Mr. Vieiraa, I'm here. Mrs. Whittis, here. Mr. Dangler, here.
Dr. Vote, here. Um, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. I will now read the mission. I will now read the mission statement for the city council. The Long Branch mayor, city council, and administration are committed to cultivating an environment of mutual
trust and respect that values the wonderful diversity of our community. We will strive to enhance the quality of life for all who live here by making Long Branch a desirable place in which to live and prosper. We will treat all
members of the public with respect and expect the same in return. Madame Clerk, I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act and posted as required by law. Thank you. And um so we have we're going
to start off our presentations tonight and the first one is going to be for the New Jersey Library Association Award. Good evening everyone and as the council president said thank you all for being here this evening. So um
some people become such an important part of a place or institution that you can't imagine it without them. And uh that's Thalia Suite and the Long Branch Public Library. Thalia started as a page
here in Long Branch 22 years ago. She's now the technical processing manager. And while you can still find her helping someone find a book, you will just as likely find her in a library construction meeting or an event planning uh meeting. She is and always
has been everywhere. and no job is too big or too small for Thalia. Um her initiatives for the library's pride celebrations and Junth festivals among many others uh have enhanced the library's presence in the community. And
it was the work of everyone at the Long Branch Library, many of them who were right in the first row here, um which led to them receiving two years ago the National Medal for Museum and Library Science award. that was one of only four libraries nationwide to receive that
award. Um, and Thalia's contributions were a important and vital part of all of that. So, congratulations Stalia for receiving the 2025 New Jersey Library Association Library Service Award. It's
incredibly welld deserved. Thank you. Wonderful. I want to read the certificate of recognition for you and just to say to our library folks, we never get tired of giving you awards. You are spectacular. So, this one is from the city of Long Certificate of
Recognition. It's a certificate presented to Sallyu for receiving the 2025 New Jersey Library Association service award for 20 your 22 years of dedicated service for the Long Branch
Free Public Library have enhanced its impact in the community through administrative contributions, close relationships with the city schools and exemplary innovative leadership in creation and implementation of projects
and events. Your unwavering commitment to the library staff, patrons, and community have helped to make the Long Branch Public Library one of the best libraries in the nation. Presented on this ninth day of July, 2025
from and signed by John Palone as our mayor and uh as council president by me. So, congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you, Zalia. And uh so what's the next several awards are really a
collaborative effort of u many people and it's just so important. We're just so proud to be a part of um the award presentation tonight. So, um, we all know that life can change in an instant, and tonight we're celebrating heroic and
selfless officers, first responders, and civilians whose actions literally have altered the lives of one individual and his family. On May 31st, two residents, strangers, came together to help a man
in dire need of emergency medical help and stayed with him until first responders arrived. Four police officers immediately responded and quickly administered flawless life-saving aid. Two more off-duty officers responded
with the Elbron first aid squad and continued to assist the man and transport him to the squad hospital where he ultimately made a full recovery. All of these people were part of a scenario that could have had a very different outcome. What if the residents
had just simply walked by? What if the 911 call hadn't been placed? We hate to think of that outcome. We're incredibly thankful for everyone who took action that day so that this man and his family were given the gift of a future
together. Thank you all for literally changing lives. Good evening everyone. Uh, first mayor, um, council BA, thank you very much for holding this, uh, event for us. I know the police department really appreciates it, just like our Elbron first aid in
our community, I'm sure, appreciates it also. So, thank you very much for that. Um, let me introduce myself. I'm Captain George Seo. I'm the officer in charge for Long Branch. To my right, it's Captain Hazel. He's our patrol commander. Um, I was going to tell you the story of actually what happened on the first date. Uh, the mayor said it,
so we're going to skip a couple steps. Um, I would like to bring up uh Mr. Kumar Singh. He's actually the person that our officer saved. Uh, so I felt like it would be appropriate for him to give the pen to to our officers. All right.
At the end of the presentation, I know he would like to say a few words. So, um, we'll save the best for last. All right. So, the the first person we're going to have up here is going to be Sergeant Patrick Vicaro. He's receiving a meritorious service award. Um, and it
it is for um your performance on May 31st, 2025 in response to a medical emergency involving a male who had collapsed, was unresponsive, and not breathing. Upon arrival, you performed CPR on the individual without hesitation, demonstrating a profound
knowledge of life-saving skills. Your actions and performance during this incident resulted in the individual regaining a pulse and stabilizing him for a transport to the hospital. He has since made a full recovery, which the medical staff credited to your actions that day. Your rapid intervention,
seamless coordination with fellow officers, and composure under pressure reflect the highest standard of law enforcement uh and public service. Off uh Sergeant Vicaro Yeah, you go. All right. Our second officer is
Corporal Eric Weddermark. Eric, you can come up. He's not in uniform cuz uh he had a small injury to his uh arm, but it wasn't from this incident, I promise you. All right. Um, you're receiving also a meritorious
service award for your performance on May 31st, 2025 in response to a medical emergency involvement a male who had collapsed, was unresponsive, and not breathing. You immediately prepared and deployed an automate automated external defibrillator known as AEDs with
precision and care, demonstrating a profound knowledge of life-saving skills. Your actions and performance during this incident resulted in the individual regaining a pulse and stabilizing him for transport to the hospital. He has since made a full recovery which the medical staff credits your
actions that day specifically citing the AED shock that you provided for the more um your reasoning and ability to gain next ofkin information from his watch was exceptional. Your seamless coordination, swift and decisive actions
and dedication to public safety was truly commendable through our throughout this incident and speaks volumes to your abilities as an officer. Just to give everyone an idea, um Mr. Singh had no ID that day. Our officers
were able to use his GPS watch to get his date of birth. From his date of birth, we were able to look through our system and find out who he was. Uh we were able to get in contact with his brother in Hoboken who within the hour was at the hospital.
All right. All right. The third officer is uh officer Devon Wright. If Officer De Wright He is also getting a meritorious service award and as for your performance on May 31st, 2025 in response to a medical emergency involving a male who had
collapsed, was unresponsive and not breathing. Upon arrival, you performed CPR on the individual without hesitation, demonstrating a profound knowledge of life saving skills. Your actions and performance during this incident resulted in the individual regaining the pulse and stabilizing him
for transport to the hospital. He has since made a full recovery which the medical staff credits you to u your actions for that day. Your rapid intervention, seamless coordination with fellow officers and composure under pressure reflect the highest standard of
law enforcement and public service. So thank you. So, Officer Wright and uh Officer Eric Eric Wedmark were the first two officers on scene that day. Uh within probably less than a second of them being there, officer Wright was checking
for a pulse, saw that there was no pulse and immediately start CPR while officer Wetmark, actual Corporal Wark um start getting the AED together to deliver that shock that uh Sergeant Vicaro brought that AED. So um thank you very much. The
fourth officer is Thomas Wright. That's right. So, he is also receiving a meritorious service award and that's for the recognition of recognizing the severity of the situation. You quickly stepped in to provide meaningful support to
responding paramedics. You demonstrated exceptional initiative and competence by utilizing your prior experience as a EMT. uh your actions and performance during this incident resulted in the individual regaining a pulse and stabilizing him for the transport to the hospital. He has since made a full
recovery. Uh as as stated before, your seamless coordination, swift and decisive action and dedication to public safety was truly commendable throughout this incident and speaks volumes as to the abilities as an officer.
So, if you're wondering why there's two rights, it's cuz they were the right brothers. And I think I I think Long Branch is probably the only city in the country that could say we have the right brothers working for us. Um, they were also in the right place at the right time. So, thank you.
Okay, this is a certificate of recognition and this is to Michael Morris who is also one of our police officers. Um he was that day he was volunteering his time with the Elbron First Aid. Um so you know he's one of our EMTs. So after his 48 hours worth of
work with the Long Branch Police Department, he um works as a volunteer with Elbron First Aid. So Mike, thank you very much for for all all of your work. All right. This is for the your response as a member of Elbron First Aid, providing expedient and crucial
assistance to a resident in medical distress during an emergency that occurred on May 31st. Your rapid intervention, knowledge, seamless coordination with officers and composure under pressure resulted in saving a life. Your actions exemplify the true spirit of community and demonstrate the
profound impact one person can have on another's life. But thank you. Okay, another one is another certificate of recognition is another of our officers that just like um officer
Morris um he also works for actually um volunteers for the Elbron first aid squad. So whenever he's not at work, I know how much him and Mike love the Elbron First A squad. And that's officer Jeppe Aliato. Okay, that's for your response as a
member of the Albron First Aid providing expedient and crucial assistance to the resident resident in medical distress during an emergency that occurred on May 31st. Your rapid intervention, knowledge, seamless coordination with officers, and composure under pressure resulted in saving a life. Your actions
exemplify the true spirit of community and demonstrate the profound impact one person can have on another's life. Thank you. So, the last two, um, I'm not sure if they're here. Um, is Marilyn ARS? There she is. On video, it looked
like she had darker hair. I just like to say, okay. Um, this is a certificate of recognition for Maryland Heirs for providing an expedient response and crucial assistance to a fellow citizen medical distress during the emergency
that occurred on May 31st. Your extraordinarily discernment of the urgency of the situation and alerting emergency personnel resulted in saving a life. You inspire us by exemplifying the true spirit of community and demonstrate the profound impact one person can have
on another's life. Thank you so much. So I don't believe uh Mr. Gomez is here. Um he I'll fill you in. Uh he originally saw Kumar fall. Oh, not not fall on the floor. Uh kind of trying to breathe. Um
he asked um Marilyn if she could have actually called the police. So that's how these two uh two civilians were involved. Um I it is the same exact thing that um we read for Marilyn, but I'll read it anyway. Uh, it's for Al
Alejandro Gomez Rodriguez and it's also a certificate of recognition for providing expedient response and crucial assistance to a fellow citizen in medical distress during an emergency that occurred on May 31st. Your extraordin extraordinary discernment of the urgency of the situation and
alerting emergency personnel resulted in saving a life. You inspires by exemplifying the true spirit of community and demonstrating the profound impact one person can have on another's life. We will make sure that he gets this. Um unfortunately he couldn't be
here today. Um I would just like to say before I turn it over to Mr. saying that um when the community and the police department um you know reach out for one another and have a tight uh I guess community and
and police relationship. It just shows how unstoppable we are and saving a life is here's a perfect example of how we could do anything when we we have a good community and a a great law enforcement um and Elbron first aid and we stick
together. So um Mr. Singh I know you would like to say a few words so I'll turn it over to you. Uh thank you everybody. Uh my name is Kumar Singh and um yes I'll just share a a quick few words about kind of what
happened and and how I ended up here. Um so leading up until uh May 31st I'd been having uh chest pain when I started exercising and I'd been you know continuing to exercise. I was going to, you know, my primary care physician. They, you know, thought it could be
exercise induced bronco constriction, basically asthma. They gave me like an inhaler, um, some allergy medication. I kind of kept, you know, push pushing through, uh, w with the workouts, with the running, um, exercising, and I kind of just just
ignoring the pain cuz the last thing I thought is that I would have anything, you know, uh, cardio related at my age. I'm 35 years old, pretty pretty healthy male. Um, you know, and and little did I know though, I was I was working out with, you know, roughly an 80% blockage
of my my LA or your widowmaker artery. And, you know, that that day I I have actually no recollection of it. So, I kind of just learned some of the details today. Um, I was on a run with my buddy. I I believe I kind of told him to go off ahead. He, you know, I was kind of having the chest pain. Didn't want to
hold hold him back. And um you know from there obviously I I did go down but from my point of view up until 10 minutes ago I thought that you know I was down for maybe 30 seconds. I thought someone watched me fall and then the cops were right there. But you know just after
hearing uh the story directly from the officers you know I'd been down for at least a few minutes. I was you know blue in the face. My my skin was cold when they had arrived. Uh but um you know so I just can't you know state how how
grateful and how forever in debt to these to all these guys these officers and and the civilians that that I will be. Uh you mean everything to me and um obviously mean a lot to all my my family and friends a lot of who who showed up here tonight. So thank you. Um, and you
know, a lot of people said, you know, God God was watching out for me, gave me a second chance, which which I do believe, but it wouldn't have been possible with without these boys in blue and and again the civilians as well. So, um, without Marilyn and and Alejandro. So, uh, thank you so much. Like I said,
forever in your debt and and looking forward to to keeping in touch with you all you guys. And I I I wish there was some way I could, you know, kind of repay the favor or repay the debt, but but looking forward to uh keeping in touch and forever in your debt. Once again, thank you. I'll just like
I'll say one more thing to Mr. Sing. I wasn't going to say it, but since you brought up your age, I know in two months is your birthday. So, on behalf of the city of Long Branch, happy early birthday. Thank you. So, how wonderful was that, right?
We are we are so fortunate. Um like it was said before um our police folks working together with the city and uh what can be accomplished is amazing, extraordinary. So proud of of um all of
you and so proud of our library too. So we are going to move on. Let me just take one second. Okay. Um uh reading and approval of previous minutes. I need a motion to approve approve the
minutes of the June 25th, 2025 meeting. So move second. Roll call, please. Mr. Rases, yes. Mr. Vieira, yes. Mrs. Wittis, yes. Mr. Dangler, yes. Dr. Vote, yes. Motion passed. Thank you.
Uh, consideration of ordinance to public hearing and final consideration. And this is for ordinance 0-09-25. This is an ordinance of the city of Long Branch creating chapter 233 entitled licenses for commercial and
movie filming. This or this is a summary of the ordinance. This ordinance was introduced on June 25th, 2025. The purpose and intent of this chapter is to be supportive of the film industry while at the same time
protecting the business and residents of the city from any negative impacts resulting from filming. The requirement for a filming permit issued by the city will balance the needs of the film industry and the city and its taxpayers
and promote safety and welfare. I need a motion to open p the public hearing on this ordinance only. So move second. All in favor? I uh if there's anyone in in uh in the
public has has any comments to make on this ordinance only, please come to the podium. State your name and address clearly for the record. You'll have five minutes and may only speak once on ordinance 0-09-25. And seeing no one coming forward, I need
a motion to close. Some moved. Second. All in favor? I um I This is the second reading of ordinance 09-25. I need a motion to adopt on second and final reading and advertise according to
law. So move. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Rases? Yes. Mr. Vieiraa? Yes. Mrs. Whittis? Yes, Mr. Dangler. Yes, Dr. Vote. Yes. Motion passed. Thank you. Ordinance for introduction.
There are none. Public participation for resolutions and all general comments. I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments. So move second. All in favor? I opposed
the um the public portion. Um I I want to draw your attention to our guidelines for the public um comment portion of the meeting because they have been changed slightly. So um it reads like this. The public portion of the meeting is to
allow you the public to state your comments directly to the administration and have a voice in the proceedings of your governing body. There will be no cross dialogue during the public portion of the meeting. After you have spoken,
any member of the deis authorized to speak for the admin on the administration's behalf may address your comments, answer your questions, and correct any misleading or or erroneous information.
If there is anyone in the audience who has a comment to make, please step forward to the podium and state state your name and address clearly for the record. You will have five minutes and may only speak once. Anyone in the
audience who wants to further discuss any of the comments uh that are made or concerns, please call the city clerk's office at 732-571-5686 to schedule a time at the public council hours that are held the first Wednesday
of every month. If anyone would like to make a comment, please come forward. Good evening, mayor, council, administration. My name is Tanya Garcia, library director of the Long Range Free Public Library, 328 Broadway. Uh this
this evening, I would like to take a moment to once again recognize and congratulate a valued member of our team, Thalia Suite, on her recent accomplishment. I first met Thalia when she was 16 years old, 20 years ago, over 20 years ago at the library. Born and
raised right here in Long Branch, Thalia comes from a remarkable family of educators and has grown into a vital part of our family as well. Today, Thalia serves as the manager of our technical processing department. She's responsible for overseeing the purchasing, processing, cataloging, and
mailing of thousands of materials each month. She ensures that everything is accurately entered into our automated system, maintains our collections, runs statistical reports, and so much more behind the scenes. Her dedication, expertise, and tireless work ethic are a big part of what makes our library
function smoothly. It's truly a pleasure to work with her, and I'm incredibly proud of all that she has achieved. But I'd also like to take the opportunity to invite everyone here to visit our newly renovated library. Since reopening just four months ago, we've experienced an
amazing response from the community. Every day we are welcoming both new faces and familiar ones and the feed feedback has been overwhelming. In the month of June alone, we welcomed 7,533
visitors. We saw 9,157 items borrowed and we hosted 53 programs with 856 attendees. We're deeply grateful the support of our city administration and most importantly for the unwavering support of our community.
The love Long Branch residents have for their library as a parent. Our library offers a wide variety of services including databases that can help you learn how to uh learn a new language, learn how to repair your car, study for your GRE, your GED, SAT, thousands of
free ebooks and color digital magazines. A rich collection of local history, including Long Branch yearbooks, all available online. Free public programs, story times, computer classes, literary literacy classes, and more. A movie theater, study rooms, completely free
for our residents, and of course, a collection of books of over 80,000. If you live, work, or attend in Long Branch, you're entitled to a free library card. The Long Branch Free Public Library is your library, and we are here to serve you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your continuing
support of this essential uh community resource and have a good evening. Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Jarno Robinson. I reside at 22 North Fifth Avenue uh in Long Branch here. I've been a resident of Long Branch for the last 5 years now. purchased a new
home and I'm very uh my comments have been very complimentary to the council. I I've sat through a couple of meetings and uh I really appreciated the impact uh that you guys have made on the city. Uh my only concern uh throughout the whole thing I moved from Elizabeth to Long Branch uh is the traffic and just
any ideas about what is happening with infrastructure for traffic uh within the town particularly on side streets and the main streets that go through uh the town on Jolene and also through Broadway as well which I reside. So if there's information out there for me to follow
up on and follow up I will get my research uh if you can point me in the right direction. Would anyone on the DS want to make a comment? No, but I'll grab my card before you leave and I'll Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you everyone. Thank you.
Requesting one minute notification. Vincent Leapour, 33 Ocean Terrace, Long Branch. Tonight, I would like to extend thanks to residents of both Long Branch and West Long Branch, attending West Long
Branch Council meetings and supporting the West Long Branch Fire Department, and successfully working with the West Long Branch Council and West Long Branch Mayor and tableabling a resolution concerning the West Long Branch Fire
Department. Much credit goes to the West Long Branch Council for their transparency and in their answering of questions to the public directly. I would also like to give special thanks
to the following West Long Branch firefighters. Jamie Blake, Angelo Chiaglia, James Quinn, Michael Chiaglia for leading the fight and speaking at West Long Branch Council meetings to maintain
the sovereignty of the West Long Branch Fire Department. Breaking tonight, Long Branch Fire Department at it again. Concerning the Long Branch Fire Department, it has been learned that the
fire department's recent June 23rd 5050 raffle as of today, July 9th has not paid out a single scent because there is no money to be found in the fund to pay out. Long Branch Fire Department on its way
again to review by the authorities. Just keeps rolling, requesting one minute notification. Tonight's agenda, resolution 149, the audit. I'm requesting a no vote. Nobody on this council is competent enough to
approve that audit. The auditor stated in the workshop, no findings. Was he a joke? I found 30. He made a comment about applying the surplus that it really wasn't necessary. Tell that to the taxpayers of this city.
He was a joke. I'm requesting a no vote. Oh, let's not forget the tax abatements on page 34, no 14, 1,69,000 for Pier Village 3 alone. Total tax abatements in this city for developers
3,545,000. Tonight's agenda on the professional services resolution 143 general legal services renown requesting a no vote. He has no standing in this room as an elected official or resident of this city to be running city council
meetings. He's eared many times in the past few years requesting a no vote on a completely separate matter. This council allowed the hiring and has approved the budgets of a community outreach manager. The community outreach
manager is a full-time position paying 87,500 annually. That community outreach manager's position comes with health insurance, dental and visual coverage, life insurance, and pension. The position also comes with sick, vacation
personnel, and paid holidays. council, knowing that the duties of this position can be easily handled by each or all of the following, including the senior center director, the program and events coordinator, and the library director.
Yet council still allows disposition to occur and rubber stamps it in the recent approval of the city budget. Adding insult to injury, that particular individual hired for the position of
community outreach manager on February 13, 2023, ran the congressman's re-election campaign in 2022. A congressman who is related to the mayor. One minute notification. So these arts and cultural events are nothing more
than a steroidal excuse for the mayor to create a political plum job to an individual in reciprocity for running the mayor's brother's congressional campaign. How sweet it is. This same individual holding this position is a council person in Fair Haven of the same
political party of the congressman and the mayor. racketeering at its best the corrupt Palone pay-to-play gravy train at the expense of resident taxpayers of Long Branch junk government.
Thank you, Mr. Leapor. Anyone else? Good evening, Adam Kavski, 15 Eleanor Avenue, Long Branch. Um, congratulations to the honores on a well-deserved honor and those who are uh no longer in the room. Um the the ones
that uh I would like to acknowledge tonight are the ones who did not receive any recognition, but that would be the mayor and the council and the city administrators for I mean we haven't talked about this um park project yet. So I'm not sure if I'm even speaking at
the right time, but we're supposed to be talking about the the Vancort Park project. That's what I'm here to speak about. Uh, Eleanor Avenue, for those who are not familiar, is a street uh immediately um intersecting with Van Court at that park. I've been living
there for 30 years. I've been there with my kids and my grandchildren countless times uh over the years and the park has always been uh kind of sparsely equipped. Um and um you know I had a
discussion with the mayor about that sometime last year and true to true to form the mayor being the uh extremely responsive to uh to the public in general he he got to work on it. We put a new piece of equipment in and and then he told me well now the the magic's
about to happen with this county grant. So I don't know what the plan is yet but I'm sure it's going to be great. And um on behalf of uh my family and really on behalf of of my community in general, you know, this this the mayor and the council, I've always been extremely
supportive of of all our institutions and always ready to provide uh you know, security, building security when that's necessary and and add uh pedestrian crossings and and visit our schools. everyone on the
council has been has been to at least one of our schools at some point in time. So, it's uh it's just a great feeling to be part of this city and and part of the overall community. And I want to thank each and every one of you and uh and you know wish you continued
success in running this amazing city. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Here we go. Scott Beaver, 434 Long Branch Avenue. I'd just like to thank uh Director Shirley for uh addressing my
issue. It's We're not there yet. Got a little better. We're not there yet, but um it it seems to be getting better and and I thank you for that. And uh that's all I have to say on that. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Any comments at all from the day? Nope. Yeah, I know. I just Okay. Um uh I need a motion to close the public participation portion of the meeting. So move. Second. All in favor?
I opposed. I'll now ask uh madame clerk if there were any changes to the list of resolutions. No changes have been made. Okay. Thank you. We can take the list of uh resolutions as the consent agenda. I need a motion.
So move. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Ras, I. Mr. Vieira, yes. Mrs. Whittis, yes. Mr. Dangler, yes. Dr. Vote, yes. Motion passed. Thank you. There are no um applications
tonight and so we're going to move to miscellaneous business for the good of the order and we're going to start with Councilman Ras. Thank you, Council President. Uh I'd like to thank everyone for coming out this evening. I would like to congratulate and thank Dalia for her years of dedicated service making our
Long Branch Library one of the best around. Uh, also want to uh congratulate and thank the officers who were honored this evening um answering the call to go above and beyond the call of duty to help our public and make it safe. Also would like to thank uh public uh safety
director Shirley for coordinating um everything with Oceanfest this past weekend. Uh everything with our police department and all the other departments went really smooth and a big thanks and I want to thank every thank everyone again for coming out this evening.
Thanks. Good. Thank you Councilwoman Ras. Um Councilman Vieiraa. Yes. Good evening. Thanks for coming. I also want to echo what the Councilman Rasa said. Great job Tanya. You and your team are amazing at that library. I know you're at 7,000 in month of June. Wow.
That's amazing. Thank you for all you do. I also want to congratulate all the officers for their awards. Welld deserved. And I want to be a big shout out for the public works, the lifeguards, and the first responders for this weekend. It was an amazing job.
I was at the beach all day on Friday and I was at the pool on Sunday and everything was running smooth and everybody was doing a great job. So to them, great shout out. Thank you. And with that, I want to say good night. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Vieira. Councilwoman Whittis.
Hi. Good evening. Um, I too would like to congratulate you for all your work that you do for the library and we truly appreciate it. Tanya, for your leadership, thank you. Um, I'd also like to um thank our police officers and um
the civilians that helped that young man survive um is very moving and it gives you a true appreciation of how hard our police officers work in our city for all of us. Um, I also wanted to say thank you to Adam
for your comments this evening and Scott for yours. Um, glad things are starting to work out and uh, it's good to hear the feedback. And with that, I wish everyone um, great two weeks and we'll see you soon. Enjoy your summer. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Whittis. Councilman Dangler. Yes. First, I'd like to congratulate Missu. Um, you're doing a great job and you help help keeping the Long Branch Public Library in uh in the limelight, if you will. And
to uh Tanya and uh your staff, we may have to lobby Washington to change the National Award to to Long Branch Public Library National Award. Um because you guys are doing a great job and once you go out of Mammoth County and certainly the state to be recognized, it's it's a
great thing. Uh and lastly uh like everyone else to have seven police officers and one civilian converge um swiftly uh even though sometime police take a beating uh for what they're not doing but to save someone's life and all
of them not panic and know uh what to do not step on each other's toes uh to bring that young man back um that is a great thing and I'd like to congratulate them and thank them for the job that they do and God bless you. Thank you, Councilman Dangler. Vice President
Dangler, I should say. Oh, yeah. That's me. And now moving to Mayor Palone. Thank you, Council President. I'd just like to talk about a couple of uh interesting, exciting, and a fun events that we have coming up in the next couple of weeks. The first is that um
the next funday is next Wednesday, July 16th, from 5 to 8:00 p.m. at the Long Branch Community Pool. Uh that's uh everyone is welcome to join us. It's a free event. Free admission to the pool. There's going to be food, entertainment, and music. That's from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Uh the cruise to the Jersey Shore car show, which is normally scheduled for um uh for Father's Day, which was rained out, has been rescheduled for Sunday, August 10th. That's going to be from 9 to 3 3:00 p.m. Uh, our new exhibit,
Salted, is the next art exhibit at the Arts Center and uh it's inspired by our local uh marine life and it's a very interesting exhibit. This will run from July 9th through August 1st. The opening reception is next Monday, July 14th,
from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. And also Jaws and the Jersey Shore will be presented at the Long Branch Senior Center on July 21st at 6 p.m. This is the 50th anniversary of the movie uh Jaws, its release, and we're going to have a
discussion by Dr. Richard Fernicola who's a well-known local author and he also wrote the book that was the inspiration for Jaws which uh many of you probably heard about back in 1916 um there was a shark that literally went up from the ocean into the Raran River
and unfortunately there were five victims uh and that gripped the shore uh the Jersey Shore back then almost 110 years ago and uh uh and uh uh Mr. Benshley who wrote Jaws said that that
was an inspiration for for his movie. So uh the movie is going to play uh I think earlier in the day and then at 6 pm Dr. Fernacola who wrote the book is going to be discussing um those events that happened at the Jersey Shore back in
2000 in uh back in 1916. Uh so thank you all for coming this evening and uh have a great week. Thank you Mayor Palone. So tonight certainly is an uh an evening of thanks and appreciation and recognition and gratitude. Uh it was uh when we walked
in the the room tonight, it was a joyous feeling and at least I think many of us are still feeling that uh those joyous vibes. We're very fortunate um here in Long Branch. Um I want to um thank Adam.
I want to thank Scott um for your comments. Um I'm going to speak directly to Scott for a second and and um it has to do with with a a conversation that we have had among the council of when we
have some comments and work gets done to address them. how we make sure that the the public, you know, knows that that work is being done. And um business administrator Shirley is very good at
getting back directly to the people and uh who make the comments and saying this is the work that's being done on a broader level for the recognition Scott of you know saying that things are are moving forward. Tremendously
appreciated. So thank you for that. Um certainly repeating all of the uh recognition for um uh you know for our our library staff in general too uh and for our police officers. Also just to go
back to um uh business administrator Shirley for one second. um with thanks to our police officers and everyone who was out there July 4th for the whole weekend um making us keeping us safe and
making sure that Long Branch was just a shining star on uh for that whole week and a lot of people commented um that they just felt very good about being here. So with that um I think we are
ready for a motion to adjourn. Someone second. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for coming.