good evening The April 23rd 2025 council meeting of the Long Branch City Council will now come to order Roll call Mr Dangler is absent Mr Rases here Mrs Whittis is absent Dr Vote here Mr Vera I'm here Please stand for pledge of
allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America for which it stands for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and ahead of
us I will now read the mission statement of 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 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 with respect all members of the public with respect and expect the same in return
Certification 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 Reading and approval of previous minutes I need a motion to approve the minutes of April 9th 2025 So move Second Roll call Mr
Dangler is absent Mr Rases Yes Mrs Whittis Abstain Dr Vote Yes Mr Vieiraa Yes Motion pass Consideration of ordinance public hearing and final consideration There's none Ordinance for
introduction Ordinance 06-25 This is the first reading of ordinance 06-25 entitled an ordinance designating a handicap parking space at 549 Avenue Summary This ordinance designates a
handicap parking space at 549 Avenue I need a motion to introduce the first reading advertise and post according to law and set the public hearing for May 14th 2025 So So moved Second Roll call Mr Dangler is
absent Mr Rases yes Mrs Whittis yes Dr Vote yes Mr Vieira yes Motion passed Ordinance 07-25 This is the first reading ordinance 07-25 entitled an ordinance amending
chapter 111 plastic single use to include elimination of singleuse condiments and create a new article to control plastic dust and containments Summary: The purpose of this ordinance is to amend and
supplement chapter 111 plastic single use to include the elimination of singleuse condiments This orders also includes a few article to include the regulation of plastics dust and
contaminants I need a motion to introduce on the first reading advertise and post according to law and set the public hearing for May 14th 2025 So moved Second Roll call Mr Dangler is absent Mr Rases Yes Mrs Whittis Yes Dr
Vote Yes Mr Vieira that Yes Before I open the cup public portion I'm going to ask our city attorney Lou right now to open up Yeah I just council president there was just one item that was on the agenda and I know that um this was I
don't want to say it's unusual but we haven't done this in in some time Uh and that's uh resolution 72-25 which permits the transfer of a redevelopment agreement and a finance agreement Um all of the redevelopment agreements that the city has entered into and finance
agreements also over the years have all permitted and this one does permits u the transfer from one property owner to another These projects uh sell oftent times um they are as a matter of contract entitled to have the property transferred from one owner to another
All we're doing with this resolution is certifying a couple of things The first is that they're in compliance with the with all of the agreements requirements in this case That's that's true The second uh part because this project was
just at its um at its um completion uh we we went through a process through building engineering legal uh to make sure that all of the items that had to be done to complete the project were done So we've been actually working on this for some time We've now all of the
departments have now signed off that it is is actually done and complete So all we're doing is um uh authorizing the execution by the mayor and the clerk of the assumption agreement which just now binds the new entity to all of the provisions of the finance agreement and
the redevelopment agreement But like I said this is really kind of more of a paperwork thing The the um the developer is entitled to this as a matter of their contract um and prior city ordinances Thank you You're welcome public participation for resolutions to all
general comments I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments So moved Second All in favor i opposed I If there's anyone in the audience that has a comment to make please step to the podium and state your
name and address clearly For the record you'll have five minutes and may only speak once Good evening Susan Makitus uh 63 Pape Drive Atlantic Highlands New Jersey I'm here on behalf of Food and Water Watch I noticed that your support for the Super
Fund Act is on your agenda and I'm just thankful for that Thank you very much for putting it on the agenda and I'm hoping that it will have an affirmative vote Thank you very much Thank you Thank you Hello my name is Julie Berg and I live
on Wall Street between Norwood and Oakwood We like to call ourselves the stepchild of Long Branch cuz we're right on the edge Across the street is West Long Branch Um I'm here because I lived
in my house since 2002 And it's always been a busy street And uh when my kid was small I tried to get a children at play sign or slow down And I got pingponged back and
forth Oh that's a county road You have to call Mammoth County Call Mammoth County No no no That's Long Branch You have to and nothing ever got done You know it the only thing that gets done that's great is that our street gets plowed like 20 times Like when it snows
it's great Um but anyway I'm here because of the noise issue The last couple years it's just been insane with the um the car these car Is there an ordinance for music and
cars because my whole entire house will shake That's how loud it is And also I'm here because our little piece of road has become a drag strip People turn off a Norwood and there's a straightaway
until that first curve and there are people that just like gun it and it's like crazy and a lot of times they're in loud cars too So and I'm really nervous right now what uh got me to come here And my son is grown up but we have little kids little toddlers that just
moved in next door and across the street and we just need some sort of like police presence If you like if a cop was on Oakwood for half a day once a week or something giving out tickets to these
maniacs that I mean they'll like gun it and go like 60 miles an hour in this little strip So that's why I'm here We need help over there And it it's just going I'm getting a hot flash Sorry Um
it it's it would just really be so sad if one of these little kids got hit you know Um and I don't know it is a county road but and it's West Long Branch and it's Long Branch I don't know if there's signs like could when people stop at the
stop sign and the traffic gets backed up and there'll be some usually a dude in the car with I mean just so loud and I don't know if like a sign would help like hey lower your radio like because I don't
think people realize how how loud it is you know so that's one issue but the speeding issue that's it's it's bad so that's why I'm here I'm going to I'm going to let our business administrator address it as if he Yeah
So we'll have our traffic uh division go out there and we'll take a look and uh we'll put up some digital speed signs get some readings of exactly what's going on there and then make sure patrols are are boosted for the noise but we'll deal with the speed through instruments Oh that would be awesome
Yeah Thank you so much Thank you Thank you Hi I'm adding my two cents to Julie My name is Janet Rackom and I live at 615 Wall Street which is again on that little nub of Long Branch that is the orphan stepchild of the city Uh
and my house I'm the second one in from the corner My house has been hit Two trees have been taken down My porch has been hit twice My house has almost been hit itself Uh I've come home from working in the city and found tire tracks in my front yard And this is
again from people whipping around from High Street Norwood trying to make the light come whipping onto Norwood and sliding and losing control of their cars Um I'm not a little kid but I wouldn't I don't like it that I'm startled by some
person speeding around the corner in their blue BMW hitting the street tree which exploded and shook my entire house Um and then it was pretty funny actually that the BMW kind of crawled to the center of the street and then all of its ins fell out It was kind of funny but
it's it's really disconcerting and and my house is a big house and and I'm sitting in the back of the house and sometimes the entire house is shaking because there's a big there are several very large pickup trucks in our area that come down and go around the corner and they have such amounts of speakers
in their truck that the I my house shakes Julie's house shakes It's it's so loud I I a couple of years ago there were some little Brazilian trucks that were just jammed with speakers I actually photographed one and and I looked for it online because I it had a
Brazilian plate and it was it was competing in a some kind of car show in Newark and the entire bed of the truck and all of the all of the doors and every floor space in in that vehicle were packed with speakers I mean that was And I was walking my daughter's dog
one time and I saw this truck come out and I and I called 911 and and they came and said "Which was was it the blue one or the white one?" think what there is more than one of those cars So those I haven't seen those cars in in our area in the last year or so But the big like
these big double wide cab cars trucks the pickup trucks they're really deafening And then there the little the little pardon my French little piss cars that are small but they want to have a presence And so they have really ramped up exhaust systems and
it's so irritating You're just trying to have a nice quiet time in your house reading a book and the noise is irritating and shaking The house is deafening and I would be happy to sit on my front porch with my little phone camera and and shoot these people so that I could say this one did it and
this one did it so that something could be done That's all Thanks Ben Thank you Thank you Vincent Leapour 33 Ocean Terrace Long Branch requesting one minute notification from the public record to the public
record concerning the former fire department member former public works employee and former officer of the local fireman's relief association who was charged by the Mammoth County Prosecutor's Office with falsif ifying and destroying public records At the 4925 council meeting city
attorney Reown falsely responded to my statements specifically concerning the criminally charged defendant and the local fireman's relief fund Turning Ron incorrectly stated the following quote I understand he's been
separated from the relief association which by the way is not a city function It's a function of the notfor-profit corporation that runs the volunteer fire company Mr Reon continued So it's got nothing to do with the city The city
doesn't make appointments to it It's in accordance with state law Again Reon stated and now it's with emphasis quote which by the way is not a city function and so it gets nothing to
do with the city End quote To the contrary Attorney Reon chapter 45-8 of the city says quote "Every active member of companies section 45- A B CDE E F G H and I within the fire department shall
in each year perform at least 50% of duty at fires and drills And a record shall be kept of such attendance and duty by the company captains and chiefs of the fire department and annually reported to city officials and the secretary of the local fireman's relief
association to qualify for exempt certificates and state benefits The UFD commander must report all qualified members of section 45-1J annually to city officials and the secretary of the local fireman's relief
association end quote Furthermore in addition to the just stated the criminal court order concerning subject individual defendants PTI states as follows quote "Further ordered that
defendant shall be forever disqualified from holding any office or position of honor trust or profit under this state or any of its administrative or political subdivisions pursuant to NJSA
2C col 51-2D Bad old core corrupt long branch government." Council President Vieiraa what corrective and disciplinary action are you and council going to take against Attorney Ray known for his incorrect and false statements at the
last council meeting say saying what the truth is Does does that council president Vieira what disciplinary action are you taking against attorney Romeo let our attorney answer that question You're going to let the attorney answer how counsel is going to discipline him sure Because the your
reticent mindlessness at these council meetings Councilman Vieiraa is unspeakable It's deplorable No problem Council President Vieiraa have you and council ordered an audit of the Long Branch Fireman's Relief Association once again Mr Since an officer of that
association as described in city chapter 45-8 was charged with falsifying public records by the Mammoth County Prosecutor's Office Yes or no Council President Vieiraa i will attorney for I'm happy to answer the question Council President Vieira has no answer He's not
capable of one Council President Vieira have you and council reported the defendant's violations of a PTI criminal court order and maintaining an official position in the local firemen's relief association to the Mammoth County Criminal Superior
Court Judge responsible for the criminal court order yes or no Mr Vieira you want an answer one minute notification You're not capable You don't have the intelligence Resolution 72 That was quite a defensive statement you made Mr Renome Just stated you didn't
have to defend resolution 72 because you know it's wrong Oh no In resolution 72 section 19 does the application transferring on will not unreasonably withhold
it is with reason that this council should not approve resolution 72 Mr Leapor you have no idea where you're talking transfer of the tax exemption at a time when a 2% municipal cap is lifted and the state education department
incentivized a 5% match of any increase by the board of education on taxpayers to cover a state funding cut back with the board of ed currently losing 1,300,000 annually to Kushner and other developer taxes Mr Le it's insanity
complete insanity to give a long-term tax abatement to a new owner No I'm requesting a no vote Mr Leor your conduct at this meeting Attorney Reon is deplorable and it's univil I'm surprised Mr Riera you haven't disciplined the
city attorney junk government Mr Leapor Mr Leaport just for the record Mr Leapor is running out of the room because he never wants to hear the answer to the the questions Mr I just want everybody to understand that that was just I I performance art I think is what that
was It certainly was all lies This has nothing to do with the grant of a long-term tax um uh abatement And Mr Leapor knows that And I I apologize to the public for me trying to interrupt him and him screaming at me and of course saying that I was not civil But
once again this is what we do every meeting Mr Leapour gets up says as many lies as he can and then gets up and walks out of the room With regards to the relief association the fact that we report who our active firefighters are to the relief association doesn't mean we control the relief association It's a
p it's a private entity and not the city I don't think that there's really much else we can say than what I said before m uh Mr President about the um about the resolution Thank you Anyone else on a quieter note uh good evening all
Thanks for the opportunity My name's Nick Deagle Yelmo 580 Patton Avenue I've been coming here now on a regular basis and I have two issues They're the same two chronic issues and of course
foremost is the uh always the unresolved issues with taxes I know that property taxes that is I know that uh we're anxiously awaiting the final budget and hopefully Mr Martin can elaborate a little bit more on that and it should be
forthcoming I take it Um my question is let's say that the budget is X and I won't give any numbers cuz I the last time I did I I insulted u and I don't want to do that but we
know for a fact the taxes are going to come at X um in order to be able to the property excuse me the uh budget is going to be at uh at X in order to be able to pay for the
budget we're going to come up with something probably x -10 x - 20 x -30 million My question to the council and everyone
involved what measures what plans what foresight do we have to try and and uh clarify that pitfall because you know that there's going to be a shortfall and obviously if the budget is here and if
you've only have property taxes here how you going to come up with that difference so the obvious thing as has been done historically is the property taxes go up Is there any thought of
making some budgetary cuts to be able to have a little leeway because and and I'm not a finance person I was a biology major I went the totally different way Um so I don't have the expertise in that
But hopefully uh we can get some additional information about that uh because it's obvious I mean you know despite the fact that we see buildings being built but there's no additional monies coming in So I won't even address
that But I would behoo I I would I would request that there be some kind of a measure implemented to decide hey how are we going to come up with this shortfall my second issue if any of you are not and haven't
taken a pulse of what's happening in the town our streets are not safe I don't have to tell you all the statistics and sir public safety director I don't have to wind up telling you the two murders
in in March were horrific The multiple stabbings continue You know granted it's a small group of people but everybody is afraid The
businesses are afraid Mario Porto desol that normally gets families you know families go in there with children They're afraid to go in there because there have been multiple stabbings on
Broadway What can we do to restore this confidence what kind of statements can be made because this is unheard of Unheard of Totally unheard of And Mr Dangler at the last meeting said he's
not afraid of walking on Broadway which is admirable but he's he's by far very very few The rest of the people are scared blankless and there's no restoration of confidence in that We need some
restoration We need some kind of statement whatever it might be I don't I don't deal in the criminal justice system but just take a pulse People are afraid Look at the businesses Those businesses are
hurting Forget about the Pure Village crap You know you guys will have no quanss no qualms in getting an army of police if there's a popup party for the pilot program but god forbid there's
something in the hood on Broadway on Lipenop I don't see that I beg of all of you we're paying taxes Our taxes are about to go up again do something to restore the confidence I
don't have the answers You're our elected officials our workers Five minutes Thanks man Thank you Thank you Anyone else seeing there's none I need a motion to close the public participation portion of this meeting So moved Second All in
favor i opposed I will now ask madame clerk if there is any changes to the order of the resolutions No changes have been made Thank you We could take a list of consistent resolutions Sorry I apologize We can
take the list of resolutions of the consent agenda Roll call So I mean second roll call Mr Dangler is absent Mr Ras yes Mrs Whittis yes Dr
Vote yes Mr Vera yes Motion passed Thank you applications There are none miscellaneous business of good of the autumn Councilman Rases I'd like to thank everyone for coming out this evening and uh please stay safe Stay
safe Thanks Thank you Councilman Councilwoman Witt I would like to thank everyone for coming out this evening and your comments and uh I hope everyone had a nice holiday and look forward to the summer Thank you
Thank you Councilwoman Vogue Um thank you everyone for coming out and uh really for your thoughtful comments and um I know as the mayor as a council the whole administration will um look in
terms of the kind of response um for you if it's information Um but certainly we take all of these comments seriously and appreciate the input Um and hopefully we will see you in two weeks Thank you Thank you Councilwoman Vote Gay Palone
Thank you all for your comments ladies Thank you for um making our aware of that more aware Uh I'm sure Mr Shirley and the director will address it Um thank you Uh I have um just a few
upcoming events that I wanted to mention Um so uh the uh citywide yard sale is May 17th and May 18th It's that weekend from 9:00 to 5:00 No permits are required for this event So if you wanted to have a uh city sale please do a yard
sale Our next history in motion series is about Fort Mammoth and the history of the base Um for those who don't know every once a month uh an evening at the senior center we have some sort of uh historical uh information or lecture
about the city or the area And as I said uh the next one is uh on May 6th at 6 p.m at the senior center all about the history of Fort Mammoth and the history of the base Um the burlap project is our current exhibit at the arts and cultural
center This ex exhibit takes burlap bags donated by Rook Coffee which is here in town and then transformed into art by many different local artists in the community The reception um the event goes on until uh May 6th I
believe So for further information please uh take a look at our website And finally uh our third annual disability resource fair is set for May 3rd from 12 to 2:00 p.m at the senior center uh join us for games resources music uh and a
lot more That's a growing event each year Uh and this year it's going to be uh both inside and outside at the senior center Again thank you all for coming and have a great week Thank you Mayor Palone And I uh got to say um Julie
Janet thanks for your concerns I know the area very well I know they got a little speeding over there And Nick I know you mentioned uh safety Safety is our first priority up here And I know you mentioned uh if it was a popup party up here village we would be set We know
about those things What happens with stabbings i'm not a director of public safety or anything about it but if we know about a murder or a stabbing or anything like that we would be there too These things are happen unexpectedly You know that And uh we we are safety we're
working on that You know what I mean we have a public safety director We have administrator We got ours up there We're working Our first priority is safety for the citizens of Long Branch And you know that we do everything we can to do that These things do happen expectedly You know what I mean we don't expect when somebody has an argument pulls out a
knife and stabs somebody You know you can't keep people from hanging out in the streets You know that And uh I understand the the business of suffering There's other issues going on You know what I mean it's not just what's going on with uh the crime there's other issues going on in the different cities
with businesses suffering people not coming out to the public You know what I mean so but I want you to know that we are addressing that topic and uh we're going to do everything in our power to to improve that All right Thanks And for that I want to say good night and thank
you for coming out tonight I need a motion Yeah I need a motion to close So move Second All in favor i oppose Thank you and good night