All right, we're ready to go. John, ready? Yeah. Okay. All Township Council meetings will be audio and video taped will be shown on the Township Provos community cable channel. Channel 22 on Verizon Bios and channel 77 on cable vision. Can I have a roll call, please?
Mayor Neutani here. Deputy Mayor Fischer here. Council member Aera here. Weinstein here. The notice requirements of the open post meetings act for this meeting have been satisfied. A copy of the annual notice was sent to the Aspbury Park Press and the coaster posted in town
hall municipal clerk on January 3rd, 2025. Uh we are going to start off with a presentation. I believe Colleen Mayor is here from our planning department to discuss the possibility of merging our planning and zoning boards into a joint
board. So, Colleen, I will turn it over to you. Thank you, mayor. Um, yeah. So, what I wanted to do, it has to go out for referendum if the mayor and council so do agree. The the boards are very lopsided. We've had
to cancel a lot of planning board meetings because of no business and sometimes we've just had them just because we had a resolution and meetings are less than five minutes. Um just in 2023 the board of adjustment
had 62 applications 24 uh 67 planning board in 2023 had 10 and last year had 14. I'm sorry. Can you go back and do say those again? The board of adjustment in 2023 had 62
applications. 2024 they had 67. Whereas the planning board in 2023 had 10 and in 2024 had 14. Um, two meetings were cancelled with the planning board and three we only held because we had a resolution to do. Do
you attribute any of that to Jeff Le? Yeah, it's all because he left. We miss them. Um the board of adjustment is just very it's it's a very lopsided the boards and the board of adjustment when I came on a little over a year ago it was just you know each month it was six
to nine being carried nobody you know is just getting if we did a unified board wait why were they car finish that thought because you couldn't get through them you know when you have you know so there's you know nine 10 on the agenda but and and it's taken it shouldn't be
taking somebody four or five months to get through on a variance. That's a little long. But how does how does combining the two solve that problem? Because you still have two meetings a month. So instead of just having the board of adjustment, you're you're the planning board and you're we're going to say we flip-flop, you know, but you're
called the planning board. So you can hear so instead of people waiting three four month I think customer service-wise quicker you you get through it quicker but then you have the people so then you'd have one board but you'd meet twice a month correct so then how did
the people who on the board feel or it doesn't matter as long as you have enough of a a quorum you have enough do you have enough people on the boards that well I think the the mayor and I have had a discussion about it and I feel that as what I've gathered from him that he feels that he does have enough
people. By enough people. Well, when you say have enough people meaning what? So, so you have not with a planning board, a combined board, you have nine members and up to four alternates. And what do we have today on each? Uh, let's see. We have two alternates in
the board of adjust. And Colleen, just so everybody's aware, this was brought up, I believe, once before in the past. Um, I really have no opinion on this at all other than Colleen coming to me a
few months ago making the recommendation along with I don't think Dave has an opinion either. So, I wanted Colleen to come in explain the pros and cons of a joint board and then we would decide as a governing body to see whether or not
this is something that we want to do. And it would be up to the public because it would go out to a referendum. So back to the num. Thanks John. Back to the numbers. So nine and I'm sorry. So a combined board would be nine members and up to four alternates. Okay. And now
currently on the planning it's I think we have probably nine nine members and I think we have two alternates right now. You have the I think openings for four alternates but you might have only appointed two. And on the zoning board, you have seven regular plus I don't know
if there's two or four alternates. You can have either one. Yeah, that's statute. Correct. The alternates are up to the discretion of the governing board, but nine on the pling board, seven regular on the zoning board is by statute. So in theory, we'd end up losing Hi, how are you? How was traffic?
Summer traffic has started. Started last week. Yes, sir ma'am. Um, so would that mean my math is right, Jesse? Keep me honest. Seven. You didn't get that. Seven people would no longer have a position.
Correct. How do you pick? Uh but there's also there's also um if you took the plan board, there's a lot of people who don't show, right? Uh board of adjustment is more of no shows. More of no shows. Okay. So, you probably you probably have five or seven people who
automatically or Yeah. continually. Yeah. Tap out absent a lot. Yeah. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah. On the planning board. on the plane, but I think I had like four people who never came. Yeah, they were kind of So, you probably tapped members or alternates?
Um, both. Both. Yeah, it was whatever the pool was, we would sometimes we barely had five. Right. Right. Yeah. So, it was and it's and it's difficult. There's times, you know, we sit out send out the emails, you know, we got to know for a quarum purpose. tell you we never had a problem when I was on board. We
always had problem. Yeah, we always What's the What's the reason? Were you too uh to do a unified board? What's the benefit to unified board? Sorry, I missed the That's okay. Is the board of adjust they're very lopsided boards and as you know being on the planning board,
we've canceled a lot or we just had a meeting just because we had a resolution, right? So in 2020 2014 the planning board only had um I mean 2024 had 14 2023 they had 10. Wow. So where
you have you know and the board of adjustment it takes a long time only because of not because of paperwork here processing but because of getting on an agenda. You know I can put you on an agenda but we have 15 on an agenda. We're not going to get through 15 in a night.
Yeah. So it's just a snowball effect. So then you know you're carrying six or seven. I mean we're not stacking them. When I came in the the agendas were just out of control just just putting them on soon as they're ready putting them on and you know no sense. But I just feel
for somebody to take four months to go through to get a variance from a board here. So this would speed it up. You think it would because you're still meeting twice a month. Yeah. And instead of you know so now you can hear them twice a month you know. Yeah. You can only hear, you
know, now if you're a combin board, I'm going to use the term flip-flop. The zoning board just meets once a month now. Zoning board meets once a month. We've done a couple of a special meeting when I came on to clearing up the agenda, uh, which the town paid for, you know. So, I do try to push the bigger
applications to pay for their own special meeting, you know. So, what happens if we get one of those complicated cases like where all of a sudden somebody wants to do something big time, right? and where we've almost got to have the special meeting and and you know it becomes very cumbersome.
What do we do about that? Well, I feel with the combined board with a unified board, you wouldn't have to do a special meeting. You know, you know, this is coming on. You could stack the first meeting or the second meeting and have that meeting light to hear that application and give them the night. I
mean, right now on the board of adjustment, they're getting 45 minutes to present their application. I think the pract I think the practical challenge is that if you have it's nine and four is that what we would have nine nine people so the practical challenge
would be that if you started having a meeting every other week right and you felt like you needed to make sure that there was a core group of always people that were always there. The challenge is is that that you'd have to find out how those people signed up for that like if
they really wanted to be here. Whoever the chairman was, whoever the vice chairman was, you know, they would have to feel like that this is something that they're okay with or or off the board and then we have a space or b we'll appoint somebody else. Yeah. But I mean it's, you know, it's a
it's a tough uh it's a tough thing because if if uh what Colleen's saying is so like you know when we do the planning board if we had something there you know it might go to 10 o'clock or 9:00 or something but you're basically saying these meetings go till like 10 o'clock every single one I've been on
I've been on both and the board. So now you have volunteers who going twice a twice a month a month to 10 the distance every time. Right. With a unified board, you wouldn't have to go that late. You wouldn't be So, now whereas the board of adjustment, you know, you're only
hearing it once a month. Well, because you're only hearing it's once a month. So, you could take So, the planning board's once a month. So, that's the board of adjustments once a month, but if it's a unified board, you're meeting twice a month as a combined board. So, the agenda is going to be shorter. Agendas would be shorter. Why? What am I missing? Why would the agenda why would
the number of applications be any less? So, but so what you're having is right now the board of adjustment has we'll say eight on the agenda where the planning board has nothing. But now you're hearing eight in one night instead of hearing possibly 812 in two
nights. I would um just so I can just chime in for a minute. I I I think what Colleen's saying is our planning board has really not a lot going on. Obviously we don't have any of those big applications uh
Dave um like you were just asking. So right now because that board and it doesn't seem like that board's going to ever really get truly heavy because you know most of the town is built out at this point. I think what the reason why
Colleen brought it up is basically to look at a streamline process and look for cost savings and getting our residents through the hopper quicker than we're currently doing right now. So, I think that we're trying to
get a service that we provide obviously that has to be done through the through the town through the planning department and if it gets our residents their applications done quicker and it's more of a streamlined process and it
ultimately saves the municipality some money, you know, I have to say I'm probably for it, but I want to hear what everybody else says. Remember again, it is a referendum that the residents get to vote on. We don't get to dictate how how this goes. Oh, when would the vote
be? November. Oh, Colleen, is it seasonal? Do you find like, you know, if you had to chart it out, there are certain months that are just jam chock full and then there's months that are not, or is it more of a steady? It's pretty much of
a steady. I'd say you probably have a few more during the cooler months, believe it or not, than the summer months. I think the summer months it's just the construction going on or where people don't want to do the construction while they're enjoying the summer. The other question I had is I know like in
the court system when they get jammed up, they'll do like a blitz and is there ever a thought to like take one of these meetings and maybe put some of the cases that are not as complicated or don't seem as complicated and like stack them all in one night? We've we've done that.
We've done that in the past. We've done that to try to clean up the agendas to get it moving along. Yeah. So without naming names, do you think you'd have
nine committed members? I think I would. Oh, yeah. Between the two. Yeah. To do it. Yeah. Twice. I think you'd have at least I think you'd probably have at least seven every week that would you they would respond to emails and Yeah. Yeah. We had we had a problem at the board where people weren't even
responding right to Right. if they were coming back. Yeah. They they've gotten a lot better. Yeah. They've gotten a lot better. Yeah. So, I think I think based on everybody I know, I think you would have I think Yeah. Yeah. You'd have a solid seven that would over You'd have to ask these people, too, like, "Hey, is this something you're willing to commit to?" Because we just doubled your
workload, doubled your time constraint. You're going to be sitting in meetings potentially from 7 to Well, the only thing that could work out, I mean, just just to kind of be fair, right? If you had a chairman and you had a good vice chairman, those two could kind of figure out who's going to go one week, who's going to go the other week, right? If you had if you had a pool of 13, you
could they could they could talk for themselves. And I think these guys know each other pretty well to do that kind of thing. Who's the who's the chair of the um it's Ed and who's the chair of the um adjustment is Shwanda. Shwanda. Okay. And who's and the vice chairman of
both our uh Mr. Fuller is the board of adjustment and Michael Putus is Oh yeah. So you have you have you have people who switch around and stuff. You probably have to figure out who's gonna be the chair, which you know that might be a what? Right. Sure. As you asked that, I
was thinking Well, fortunately, you don't have to figure that. They do. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's just I I feel it would it would I mean I I to take four months to to get a resolution or approval on a is
it's long. Four or five months. That's that's in my eyes that's that's really unnecessary. And then you're looking at going through the building department process on top of it and shouldn't take you 6 months to go get permits to to do work on your home. Right. So I agree
with everything you're saying. The only thing I have that concern is that one 32 acres project that comes up that we don't know about. You know the the uh the next one and there will be a next one. Maybe this town is mostly built out but there's always somebody who wants to do something. So, most of the bigger applications, I've talked to the
attorneys and they've done special meetings. Yeah. Can we just force them to do a special meeting? Yeah. Now you're Now you're at three meetings, four meetings, right? It's a big commitment from people. But I don't think there's a shortage. Maybe I'm naive, but a shortage of people who want to be on this board. I think it's just showing up. They're not showing up.
Well, it's the same thing, right? Yeah. I Well, yeah. I think John I think there's been some people haven't showed up who are no longer on and so we kind of did some things with that. So and also this is not the only town that's ever talked about this. Other towns most towns do
it. Yeah. So this is not far is that the case? Is it more combined? I don't know about most. It's usually either the smaller towns that don't have a lot of applications or the towns that are more built out that don't have a lot of applications that go to a joint. It's usually a question of efficiency. We
have two boards that we only need one. I mean, this is a little bit different because you're trying to make it more more efficient by because you have more applications on one side than on the other. Um, but I'll tell you my view. I think it's a good idea, but it sounds like your efficiencies are not so much coming from join the boards. It sounds
like it's coming from doubling the meetings. I mean, that's Yeah. Um, right. That's the alternative. We could just have Well, the board That's a good point. Why not just They're gonna have Now it's three. Oh,
see where I'm going? Yeah. Is that an option? But if one board's doing nothing, Yeah. it's like really they canled the last meeting. Yeah. And then we've had I think uh two or three that just because there was nothing on them. It's like everyone show up so you could say here and then and the
resolution go home. I think at one point the planning board stuff would had a different um the applications were a little bit different, right? And so you kind of were a little bit I don't want to say more involved but had more moving parts to it maybe. Is that a fair sense when we had some of the applications for
the planning board? I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's been a while since the planning board has had Yeah. that many, but I mean, I don't I mean, I don't I wouldn't think the complexity is I think it's probably the same. As of right now for 2025, we've had one planning board
application. Crazy. Wow. Just one. What was it? Put your I'm just trying to think to sort of your point complexity. I think it's I think it's a I think it's probably a good idea. I mean, it just would speed up the process. I guess it's you know I mean Yeah. I mean uh if
there's I mean I being on the planning board there was nothing worse and I'd see there's nothing on the agenda coming all the way in to rent to to vote for 20 seconds to get my car to go home. It just didn't make sense. Well, you were one of the guys who didn't show up. Correct. Correct. I had because we know Dave
doesn't like a lot of meetings and driving. I think the reality but Jeff makes a good point. I think that the boards or the board if it is decided by the residents that this is a referendum that they would pass. My
assumption is that uh you know it's it's pretty easy for them to decide who's going to show up, who's not going to show up. you know, I I think that that makes sense, too. Um, and again, worrying about who's going to show up,
who's not going to show up, or who can do it, who doesn't want to do it. I think we vet the members first before we actually pick them and find out, you know, are you willing to do this twice a month. Did you? So, that's going to really fall on us as well. Did you discuss this with anybody? No. No. No.
Okay. Not until Okay. Let me test. you know, until until the Now everybody knows. Yeah. Well, until the mayor and council just Yeah. You know, I'm just going to go start asking questions if if everyone's not on board with it and doesn't like the idea and I
think it's a good idea. I think I think it sounds I think it's fair. It's a fair thing to do to residents, right? It is. Yeah. I mean, when when I came in, you know, four or five months to get a resolution. What do other towns do? like we're not so much larger than everybody
else. How come it's taking us four or five months? Like what does a town of sometimes do double up just tell the zoning board you got to have two meetings a month? Yeah. And it's it difficult. I mean there's a lot of towns it stresses out the volunteers, right? You know, if it's at that level. Yeah.
And I was thinking the benefit you get from joining is you get instead of having seven on the zoning board, you'll have nine regular on a joint board, right? And alternates and four alternates. 13 goes a lot to figure out how to get five people to a meeting, right? 13. And
how what's the total now? Uh I'm going to say seven. Nine on the board of adjustment and uh 11 on the um Okay. So, we're cutting we're shaving it down. But again, but again, a lot of people come. We don't respond even. Right. Right. And then
it's difficult to try to add a meeting, you know, and you say you're busy to try to add. So, you got to go everybody, get everybody's schedule, and not everybody's schedule is just, you know, sometimes it's well, I don't know until it gets closer what my work schedule is or are there people, you're the you're the liazison, so you could you could be
there for all these meetings, every single one. I mean, I just told Colleen every week I'm going to have a meeting. Um, are there people whose terms end in July that you Well, I think we we purposely did that. We made them not, you know, we staggered them on purpose.
So, it's You're required to by law. Yeah, we cleaned all that mess up. But if it was approved that all the seats would be wiped out if there's a a joint board would be established, then you'd appoint from scratch. Seems like a good idea to me. Seems like
a good idea to me. What other all I jury's after me. I get the reason. Sure. Don't I get it? Yeah. Stagger. What else have we tried? One year, two, three. What else could we try to speed it up? Odd year. I don't know the I'm asking because I really don't know. Figured out. Yeah.
Interesting. I I mean it it's the volume is just there. The volume on the board of adjustment is just there. Um building. Yeah. Is there anything now that you asked it that way? And this Kevin question is is there anything we
could do with our ordinances to lessen the number of applications? I I don't know if that's maybe a statute. I had put in for the budget to have the ordinance redone from top to bottom. Um I don't know if that got approved or not. We'll find out. But we'll find out.
Um but yeah, the ordinance needs to be revamped a lot. Um some of it is just makes people comment like really. So it needs to be revamped the whole thing with everybody would and that could take some time. I don't think it's going to
eliminate that much um of the volume. you're you're on the right track. What you want to find is what are the applications that are coming in that are common and that are simple and maybe can
change by ordinance. Like if a fence people come in for six foot high fence and your ordinance says has to be 5T maybe like let's make it six and then they'll make it you know eliminate those but you should have your you know engineer weigh in because sometimes there are concerns you want to be aware of but other towns do that try to
eliminate the need for variances. Yeah. I mean, there are some that we can some we keeping track of it and some we we're going to be sitting if it's approved to redo it in the budget. We're going to be having meetings and and with everybody
to zoning officer, the engineer, um code, a lot of things are just so okay, I'm all for that. What um so what are the next formal steps? uh the you'd have to approve a question to go on the ballot for November and you
do that I'm going to say by mid August is it August 22nd or the 22nd resolution or I'm not sure if it's a resolution I can see don't know I think it's a resolution I think it's a resolution too nonbinding no I think it's binding I
think it's I think if it goes on it has to you have to change it it's not it's not doesn't come back to you for another decision It's just it's approved, it happens. If it's not approved, it doesn't. Okay. Do we need to socialize this with any of the um current board members on the different
boards to kind of just tell them what we're thinking about? Just to see what they I think. Yeah. Just to kind of, you know, make sure we're not ending up in November without anybody on any I I know one member that wasn't in for it. Oh, why don't you have to say I don't know
why. I really don't. Time con. Okay. Now, see, now I wasn't trying to narrow it down that much. I was just looking for the general reason. I mean, at least the last time I had a conversation with him, not for it was Yeah. Okay. Here we go. And the first
letter is Well, you'll have people opposing and they can of course take your vote. Yeah. If you put it on, I mean, I'm just looking more of of the customer service aspect of it and it takes a long time and it shouldn't. It really shouldn't. I guess my only
thought is, you know, when if we do move forward, just make sure you get the the best team there, the most qualified people who who are committed because it's a big commitment. It is a big commitment. That's all it is. You know, it doesn't have to be as big a commitment. Meaning that if you put a schedule together, I mean, if you were
doing this, right? So, like, so we're doing the planning board, we just assumed people were going to come to the planning board meeting, right? If you're on the pling board, you could do it if you have multiple board. If you have this pool of people, you could say, "Okay, this is your week. This is your week. This is your week. Somebody put a schedule in place. But if the occupation
gets continued in your weekend, right? They have to listen to the thing. Testimony, then they can't vote. How often do how often do the do those continue? Not too much. We're moving them along where whereas before it was you got 45
minutes and they'd cut you off and you had to come back. And I'm trying to push it. Let's let them go a little longer, especially when they only have another 15 20 minutes to go. let them finish and then sometimes you have to stay a little longer and sometimes we can get through them quickly. House rule or an ordinance for the 45 minutes. Uh it's kind of like
a house. I thought it was a half hour. Yeah, it's 45. But whereas the planning board, we don't have many on. So they usually get there full time, right? But in the board of adjustment, it's like, okay, your 45 minutes is up to come back next month. And that's a little frustrating, too,
right? Especially to residents who want to come and hear it. Now they have to come again and they're not they're have something going on in their life and they can't make it. Carrying the case is never good. No, no, no. And and not to beat the dead horse, but carrying it not having the people available because of
that concept that would even be worse. Yeah. I'm not saying it's we'd have to work through it. Yeah. I mean, I've spoken to both board attorneys and they're in agreement that that's the way to go, too. Wow. So, we'd lose an attorney. Oh, yeah. Attorney, an
engineer, a planner. Yep. It would cut costs. Whoever serves on the on the two boards. Interesting. I don't think Well, the only thing is always our our cut our planner for the wise same as our Maybe there's like economies of scale. I don't think you're cutting cost two for one
deal. Lose that the the job for that board. You don't you don't I mean if they serve in both boards they'd keep one board presumably but but you still but you still would double up on but right now we have two different attorneys. Good point. Two attorneys and the planner and the engineer are the same right now.
But you still have to spend them the same amount of time, right? Yeah. Maybe they'll give us a discount. So I I would suggest you guys think about it. Um, we'll all think about it and then Colleen, um, you know, if we all decide we're in agreement that we
want to do the resolution, um, I would say we put it on, uh, probably for next month if we're in agreement. Okay. In terms of the referendum, would residents understand what we're trying to do? It's has to be phrased in the right way. Two boards,
one board, like what? It would it would have to well yeah it would have to be maybe a little PR campaign because Lord knows nobody even knows what this is until they have to go in front of the board you know and I would think that anybody who's gone before the board would realize the same thing you know
realize it. Let me ask you a legal question. When I was on the board of ed we had a referendum we were not able to promote it. Oh I don't that that's you mean for the budget we had a referendum for construction. So
we could we could say go vote, but we couldn't say go vote for it. No, but you could educate people on what it is. I I would well I would suggest that you you might not want to promote it. Say um for this whether you can or cannot have to look into but you can certainly say to people this is what this will do if you approve
it. But I'll I'll check into whether you can take a hardline position on one side or the other. I'm I think you can, but I'm not. Let me get back to that. Can the town promote it? Can it, you know, oh yeah, just put it out there and say, hey, this is what's going on.
There's a question on the ballot. You should make your own decision. This is the questions. We could do that. Yeah, that I know we can do, but to the point of whether we can say which way. Yeah. Because I just don't think most people would would even know what this
is, right? And honestly, sorry. Sorry. I don't know that most people are even going to care. See a question, right? Or not see it. Right. right or not vote me. I would think most people would think that if we're promoting a consolidation of boards, they would probably say yes. I
think they'd say, "Wow, this is a cost-saving measure. It's probably going to make my time longer." I Oh, that you think. But then we're going to say that you're going to be on both boards and you're not very quick. Love that. Yeah. I think you most people were eliminating a board. That's what I'm saying. I think
we need to explain it. Good one. All right. We'll figure it out. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Haven't had to think this much in a while. I'm sorry. This is steam coming out. All right. Thank you. Have a good night.
Have a good night. Thank you, Colleen. Thank you, ma'am. Now, uh we don't have Dave. We don't have Greg. So, I'll go around the horn. We'll start with Councilman Sarah. Um, do we want to get into the audit?
The comments on the audit? Do you want Ricky to come in? Oh, he would know. Yeah. What was the comments on the Everybody? Yeah. Yeah. I I'm not I read it twice and I'm not sure I still understand it.
You mean You mean these comments here? We've never had these comments before ever. Really? 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a comment on Oh, I was expecting these comments. Usually you get comments that you don't like, you know, like, hey, you should Well, there's these are comments kind of
uh I'm not sure whether it's saying we didn't follow the proper procedure for purchasing based on the statute, the way it's written. Ricky could clarify in a second. Um, did I have anything else?
Um, I did not have anything else. Mr. Mayor, let's go to Councilwoman Kaplan. You even know where we're sitting. I'm good. I have some kind of creepy. Yeah, it's a little creepy. I'm trying I'm trying to remember where they where you guys.
That's true. Dave's all right. Dave's in your office with his feet up. Yeah, I saw that. Ricky, yes. Audit statements, comments at the back. Yes. The one on purchasing. Is it something
we need to be aware? I'm obviously aware of. Did we do something? It's spoiler. No. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's just telling you that's what the minutes and bits is. Just making it let you know what what was in there.
You looked at the minutes to make sure. Which page are you talking about? 57. That's in there. Is it? Yes. I don't I don't remember seeing. Okay. Same with the other one. Collection delinquent. Mayor. Yeah. I thought I thought this
was all boilerpl. Okay. It was a good audit. Correct. Yes. Yeah. I think there's one comment recommendation which was uh at the time that we uh sold notes. We didn't anticipate that we were going to sell a note for the uh golf utility and the golf utility acts as an enterprise fund.
You have to do interest acrruel and we didn't uh provide for that in the budget. So we have to charge the budget. Technically it says it's an over expenditure. It's raised in this year's budget. How much? Um 40 some odd thousand I believe it was. Yeah, I saw
that. That was Yeah. No, I thought this was pretty Yeah, I'm sorry. Pretty vanilla. All good. Yeah, pretty vanilla. All good. Okay, you're good. See you in the next. Thank you. Yeah.
Yeah. So, I have no questions for anybody in this room. Deputy Mayor Fischer. Yes. Uh, mayor, um, I just want to let everybody know, and I'll I'll state this down in, uh, the public meeting, but, um, hot off the
press, we have, uh, Super Bowl champion Kenny Picket coming back for the second annual Punt, Pass, and Picket event. And, uh, it's going to be on the 29th, Sunday, uh, at 9:00 a.m. Oh, that's good. I'll give Yes. everything. You have no idea how much wrangling we had
to do, by the way, cuz a weekday it's hard to get kids out of camps. Uh, are you going to restate this in the public? I am going to restate all this in the public meeting, but it was very exciting news. We had to do a lot of work and I'm I'll thank everybody publicly and um that's all I got for you, mayor, but I
did want to say that uh it's going to be a nice event. And what I wanted to bring up was maybe as a council, I don't know how much Kenny wants and doesn't want, but you don't win a Super Bowl every day. We should do something for him. So
maybe more than a proclamation, but I don't think, you know, he's shy at times about what these things are. So we have to come up with something that fits in with the theme at that day. At that day, um, you know, so let's let's put our minds together like a game of flag football or something. Oh, let's do
that. Us and Kenny pick it. A bunch of a bunch of the Eagles, bunch of the Eagles against like us guys. Yeah. So we'll work on that. Jeff's already got great ideas on this, so uh we'll figure it out. I know that that's the problem. The winner can get the Nepalani trophy.
Yes. All right. So, that was good news. Mayor's Wellness Committee working hard for you, mayor. And, uh, that was a good one. It's all I got. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Uh, Councilman Weinstein. So, I'm going to talk about a
couple of things. One is I'm going to talk about our economic development committee and how that's now on our website. And, uh, we have our first thing that we're going to be doing on June 5th. So, I'll talk about that. I think I sent all you guys the flyer on that and that goes live tomorrow. So, uh on our website.
So, we're going to be talking about that. I have a bunch of environmental things here. Um um we have 21 entries for that contest we did for um the kids to do for recycling. So, we have 21 entries and by next meeting we're going to have a a winner. So, we're looking at
all those videos. Um the survey is out uh that the town put out and we had now so far 100 um 100 people have responded to the survey and how many are they expecting? Yeah, I think we're expecting somewhere around 250. Okay. So, we're going to socialize a little bit more. Uh we also signed on the consultant who's
starting to work with us for our plan by the end of the year. The way that works, just as an FYI, is the uh the consultant starts doing the work. When all that work gets done, then we get reimbursed um by the grant uh to pay for his time. and the straight tree commission. Um we
gave away about 200 trees to individuals, 275 to the schools and students and then um the you remember the um the people the kids who presented to us that day well they won the Albert M. Greenfield foundation contest. They
came in second place in that uh in that contest. So we should also So that's all I'm going to talk about this when I'm down there and give it a little bit more time, but those are some of the uh Those are some of the highlights. Any questions for me?
No. Cool. Yeah. John, anything? Did you have any questions for me? Uh, no. I have no questions. Okay. Got a report, John? I do not have a report. Okay. Do you want to take a break and we'll call you
back when we go downstairs? Yes, that works. Okay, we'll call you back in a little bit. Thank you. All set. Yep. Good evening. I just want to remind everybody that all regular township council meetings will be audio video tape. They'll be shown on the township
oceans community cable channel, channel 22 on Verizon FiOS and channel 77 on cable vision. Can I have a roll call, please? Mayor Naplani here. Deputy Mayor Fischer here. Council members Aera here. Kaplan here. Weinstein here. Deputy
Mayor Fischer will lead us in a pledge of allegiance. And please remain standing as we say a silent prayer. I pledge allegiance 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. You may be seated. The notice requirements of the opening staff for this meeting have been satisfied. A copy of the annual notice was sent to the Asbury Park Press and the poster posted in town hall and filed
in the office of the municipal clerk on January 3rd, 2025. There are two emergency exits to the wall on the right that will take you to the front of the building and another on the left that will take you to the rear parking lot. Please make sure all your cell phones are turned off and if you need to make a call, kindly step outside of the
meeting. Before we start our ceremony, I'd like to go down the line and start off with council comments. Not sure where Fisher sitting, but he's usually at the end. So, Deputy Mayor Fisher, I'll start off with you. You know, he's in Well, actually, I'm sitting in your seat tonight, John.
Enjoy it. All right, quick council comments. Uh, I just hot off the press. Um, the mayor mayor's wellness council is proud to bring you Super Bowl champion Kenny Picket is coming back into town on Sunday, June 29th for the Kenny Picket
punt, pass, and pick comp event. Uh, it was tough to get him in here, but we've got we've secured him. I have a big thank you to former council member Kelly Terry, Mike Patrico for making this event happen. I also want to thank uh head varsity uh coach Chad King for
volunteering his time. Uh it's uh not easy to get uh a Super Bowl champion back into town, but he did agree and it's a good event for the children. It's going to be on the website real soon. It's going to sell out quickly, so put the word out. I also want to thank uh Ocean's very own Chelsea Maddie, Ocean
Township High School Junior, for putting on the second annual uh Parks 5K. Uh all her proceeds will be donated back to the parks. There was over 100 runners and our very own council member Jeff Weinstein ran a sub blistering 26 uh
minute 5K. So the bar has been set. Who anybody wants to break that next year? You can uh go after uh Council Member Weinstein. It's all I've got. John, I heard he beat Councilman Asa's time there. We just checked Just for the
record, Mr. Mayor. We checked the records and that is not the case. Just for the record. He was excited. Fun. Uh, let me go down the and I believe we have Let's go. Councilwoman Kaplan. So, two things. First of all, I just
want to thank everybody, especially our police force for an amazing uh flag raising, Israeli flag raising last week. The police did an incredible job of keeping um everybody there safe and secure. So, so thank you since you're all here. And I also want to uh mention
that we have a busy June. June 22nd is going to be our bike safety event in Joe Park. Uh there's going to be four sessions, 15 people each. Um so please I encourage everybody to sign up. It's especially um you know important in this
summer that we're getting. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Weinstein. Um thanks mayor. Um so I have a couple of things. one is uh so we started an economic development committee uh for the town. Um I am the chairman and my uh
my fellow uh councilman Rob is the uh vice chairman. And on June 5th we are going to be having our first event. It's going to be a workshop for small businesses. Uh Mammoth University, Brookdale Community College and New Jersey Economic Development Author um authority are going to be presenting
what's available to small businesses in the town to help them grow. So we're looking forward to that. Um, on the environmental side, the environmental commission ran its contest of for a public service announcement on how to recycle. We had 21 entries from uh from the different schools in in our in our
town in the neighborhood. So, we're going to be awarding it a winner on that on June 5th. We did a um survey that's out on the uh website. So, I if you haven't finished the survey to add trees and and canopy to our town, please take that. We so far have over a 100 people
who have done the survey. So, we're looking to get that up to about 300. Um, on the Shade Tree Commission, we had 14 volunteers that handed out 200 or so trees um the other day and we had 275 trees given to um grade schools uh
throughout the town to plant more trees. And then the other uh last month we actually had a nice presentation by some Ocean Township Intermediate School um kids who were talking to us about the importance of tree canopy and and trees and they actually entered the Albert M.
Greenfield Foundation contest which is a very competitive contest held and they came in second place. So uh just great stuff all around. Thank you. Thank you Councilman and Councilman Asa. No report Mr. Mayor. Holy cow.
So, uh, we're going to start off with a ceremony and I I just want to make a couple of comments before Deputy Mayor Fiser comes down and administers the oath. We have two captains that are
retiring, Captain Pat Martin and Captain Greg Skank. I know these guys personally. They've done an outstanding job for the Ocean Catchup Police Department and I really extend my heartfelt thanks to the years of service
that you've provided to this community. We are going to be swearing in Captain now Todd Gregory who I've known my entire life, Captain Mark Delin, Lieutenant Mike Melody, patrolman Troy
Arantino, and patrolman Joshua Hernandez Franco. I also want to say this, and I obviously can't see the crowd out there, but I'm sure it's a sea of blue. I want to just tell you men and women that are
out there this evening under the leadership of Mike Santino, I had an incident that I needed to have taken care of with the police department last week and I cannot thank your team enough. You men and women that
are out there are truly the best police department we could ever have. And I truly from the bottom of my heart thank this team for everything that you do day in and day out for this municipality.
Thank you. And I think everybody should give them a round of applause because they are the true heroes here. So of course I do extend my apologies for not being there personally, but I do have a family emergency. I'm attending to currently but I know tonight is very important not
only for the swearing in but also for the budget. So without further ado if the council can step down off the deis and deputy mayor Fiser will administer the oaths to the new the police officers. So I'd like to call up Chief Santino to come up and say a few words
about all the officers that are going to get sworn in tonight. Thank you. I would uh first like to thank mayor council uh township manager for all the support you give to the police department. We provide the best possible service to the township and our
community. Um I'd like to welcome family, friends, colleagues, and residents. Uh I would like to begin by calling up uh two recent retirees, Captain Greg Skank and Patrick Martin. Please come on up. We have some proclamations for you.
You are clearly retired based on your retirement. These two men have dedicated more than half of their life to this department, the township and its residents. uh they rose through the ranks and have held captain positions for the last few years, have been part
of the senior command staff. Their loyalty and dedication has gone unmatched. Um I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. When they say surround yourself with good people, uh these two are the best of the best. So thank you for your years of service. Congratulations on your retirement and I
wish you the best of luck. one for you. I should say to them. Sorry. I apologize. All right, congratulations. Thank you. Okay, we're going to roll right into uh this set of swearings in because uh for
efficiency, I see the uh crowd is uh anxiously awaiting um our two new captains, Todd Gregory and Mark Delton. Um they've been part of the senior command staff for years. Uh Todd has been here 27 years, Mark over 20. Uh
they've both held unique positions uh still currently with the county. Uh Todd is the commander of the serious collision response team, investigating all uh serious and fatal accidents with the county, and Mark is currently the MOSERT commander, which is the county
SWAT team. Uh so these two men have uh exemplified their leadership. Uh come on up and we will swear you in with your families. Whoops. [Music] Congratulations. Want to bring your
family? I got some Bibles here. I'll go over here and you guys can All right, everybody ready? All right, raise your right hand. I state your name. I, Mark, solemnly swear I slely swear that I will support the Constitution I will support the
Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and the governments established the government established in the United States in the
United States and in this state under the authority of the people the authority of the people I do further solemn only swearly swear that I will faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially justly perform all of the duties all the
duties of captain a position of captain the position of captain for the township of ocean police department according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations Awesome. Congratulations.
You guys want to take a quick picture? Congratulations. Want to jump in? Yeah, do a family first and we'll jump in. We're getting out. It's like a wedding. You guys want to get in? We'll do well
with the council. All right, congratulations again. Good work. All right. Next is uh Lieutenant Michael Melody. Uh if you want to come up. Michael is an 18-year veteran of the police department. Spent spent many years in our detective bureau. Uh came out several years ago to the patrol
division as a sergeant. Uh recently promoted to lieutenant. He will assume command of the patrol squads. Uh with administrative duties to consist of scheduling and training. Uh here to swear him in tonight is his brother uh municipal court judge, honorable uh
Eugene Melody. Come on up. Oh yeah, of course she's official. It's a big day. It's a big day. Might need good style stuff here. Oh yeah. Yeah. This is it. Oh, here.
Yeah. No problem. Good to see you. Thank you very much. I, Michael Melody, I, Michael Melody, solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the
United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey that I will bear full faith and allegiance to same I will bear faith and allegiance to the same and the governments established in the United States and the governments established
in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will faithfully impartially and justly. Faithfully and
partially and justly perform all of the duties of the position of lieutenant perform all of the duties of position of lieutenant for the township of Ocean Police Department. for the Township of Ocean Police Department. According to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So
help me God. I love you, bro. Love you. Hey, congratulations. Congratulations. Take a couple pictures. Parents, you want to come up and take a shot? Come on. A little family picture here.
Let's go. Congratulations. You want me to take the picture? I'll take it. No, with that. You only have the wait. I think we got I think we have somebody more official.
He wants to get out of just take my real quick. Yeah, there you go. Congratulations. Thank you so much. We're almost done. I promise. Uh we saved the best for last. It's always uh exciting to bring in new members to the department. Uh these two young men have
worked as class 2 officers with us for several years. They've proven to be loyal, hardworking, dedicated, valuable members of the department. Uh officers Troy Arantino and Jose Hernandez. Please come up with your families. I'm going to give you this so you can
hold on. Let me help you a little bit. Here's the Bible. And somebody from your family can hold that. And somebody from your family can hold that. Okay. Okay. All right. Everybody ready? Raise your right hand.
I state your name. I solemnly swear swear that I will support the Constitution I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. that I will bear true faith that I will bear fruit true faith
and allegiance allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the government established in the United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly
swear that I will faithfully I will faithfully impartially and justly and perform all of the duties perform all of the duties of the position of patrolman position of patrolman for the township of ocean police department for the township of ocean police department
according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Yes. Congratulations all of you. Yeah. Take some pics. It goes.
Just one of the capsule and we'll let you Sorry. Nice. Any more, Chief? We're done for tonight. Yes. Uh, thank you all for coming. Uh, thank you to the members, uh, outside
agencies that showed up to support the members. Uh, like I said, it is a wall of blue. Um, thank you to former retired members, uh, and all the ones that are here tonight. And, uh, thank you all for coming. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So, we're going to take a little
bit of a pause right now. If you guys want to take some pictures, come on up, take some pictures, and then we're going to resume the council business in about uh, what? 15 minutes. Okay. Five minutes. All right.
I am here. All right. All right, we're going to get started on the uh township's business. Okay, I'm going to turn it over to Mayor Napol County. Good evening. I'd like to have item B1 to authorize the 2025
municipal budget to be read by title. Someone please offer. I'll offer. Second. Second. Roll call. Yes. Kaplan. Yes. Yes. Fisher. Yes.
Yes. I'd like to call Ricky Garts, our CFO, up to do a short presentation on the budget. Before Ricky does that, I want to thank you, Ricky, for the hard work you put in on this budget. I know it's
never easy. This is one of the hardest things that we do in the municipality to try to keep it lean and mean. So Ricky, I'm going to turn it over to you to give the short presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Mike, hold up. Oh, the mic.
I'm sorry. Tommy wants to hear you. Don't push. Make sure the button stays up. Thank you, Mayor, council members. Uh, tonight we've been approved by the state of uh New Jersey to adopt our uh
2025 budget, which was introduced on uh April 10th. Um few of the highlights that are in this budget. Uh we started off the year knowing that we were going to have a tough time. We were going to lose approximately $1.2 million in revenues from 2024 that we have to come
up with somehow. Um they consisted of our uh federal ARPA funds of $860,000 and we lost $263,000 in state aid. A couple of new revenues that we have in the budget this year are uh hotel fees. Uh the hotel has
started to generate revenue for us. So that's a new revenue item for us. As well as uh we have reserved for payment of notes that uh we're collecting on our sidewalk programs to pay down our debt on that as well. Uh total budget's going up approximately $1.9 million and the
average homeowners uh increase is about $144 which is $12 per month. uh salaries have gone up $1.1 million which is basically contractual. We settled the union agreements in 2024. In
2025 this was anticipated that we would have this increase as well. Uh the insuranceances are uh just through the roof. Liability workers comp and health insurance is going up $400,000 and the uh pension bill has gone up
$200,000. Overall, uh, with the loss of revenues that we, uh, anticipated coming in and with the, uh, appropriations and the increases of 1.9 million, I would say that the budget is as lean as we can make it to provide the residents of Ocean Township the services they've uh,
come used to and for uh, everybody to be able to say that they are happy to live in this town. So, it's open up to the public now. John. John. Yes. Ricky Dunn. I am Ricky Dunn. Yes. Do I
have a Can someone please open public discussion on the adoption of the 2025 municipal budget? I'll move to open public discussion on the 2025 municipal budget. I'll second. Second. Aera, yes. Fisher, yes. Kaplan, yes.
Winstein, yes. Nepalani, yes. Anyone wishing to be heard on the 2025 municipal budget, please step up to the microphone. State your name and address for the record. John, we have somebody coming up. Um, it doesn't sound like it. Hit the
button. Hello. Okay. Um, I saw the budget online in the agenda, but I'm wondering if there was a userfriendly version that is online on the website and where can I find that? So, I have a couple of questions. So, I'll just enumerate them and then you
guys can answer however you want. Um, so is there a user-friendly online version? Um, what is the percentage of increase of the total budget number over last year? Like is the 2% increase? I know you just said 1.9 million going up, but I'm speaking
percentages. Um, there seems to have been a lot of legal fees this year. Um, so I'm wondering what the increase in legal fees are in this budget. And I think that's it for right now. Oh, I'm sorry. And um what are the
marijuana um the taxes on the marijuana uh businesses? What do they have any if if any um implications in this coming budget? Thanks. Go ahead. Uh first off, there
is there is a user friendly budget online. uh where the regular budget is. Why can't why can't we? Uh secondly, uh if you look at the legal line, it actually is dropping $20,000. So I'm not quite sure what you're referring to on the
increase in legal. It is actually dropping 20,000. I was No, there's a decrease. Correct. Um help me out with the other questions. What's the percentage over last year?
It's roughly four and a half%. And there was a fourth question. Marijuana. Marijuana. There is no revenue anticipated in this budget for marijuana cannabis. And what are we bringing in marijuana yet? I can't anticipate a revenue until
I know what's being brought in. So that'll be part of next year's budget once we see how the revenue is flowing. Okay. So, none of the marijuana businesses have opened at this point. So, can't get any revenue till they
open. I think today we got an email that one of them may be open. Anybody else? Last chance. Hey, seeing here none, do I have a motion to close public discussion on the
2025 municipal budget? I move to close public discussion on the 2025 municipal budget. Second. Second. Roll call. Aaron, yes. Fisher, yes. Kaplan, yes. Winston, yes. Nutani, yes. Action on the
adoption of the 2025 municipal budget. Move to approve the 2025 municipal budget. Second. Roll call. The chair. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan. Yes. Weinstein. Yes. Lutenant.
Yes. The 2025 municipal budget passes. Thank you very much, Ricky, again for your fantastic work on the budget this year. Thanks, Rick. Thank you, Ricky. And uh since Fischer's in my seat, I'm turning the meeting over to him. Let him do some work. You guys have a great
night. Uh thank you again for everybody that attended and uh working on this budget. Have a great night. Okay. Okay. All matters listed under consent agenda are considered routine by the township council and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below.
There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired on any item, that item will be considered separately. The purpose of this public portion is solely to ask questions to understand resolutions that appear on this agenda and is not an occasion for the public hearing on an ordinance. All
questions not related to an item on this agenda should be asked during the public cons uh comments portion at the conclusion of this meeting. Okay. Any questions? I mean any any questions on
the Yeah. Any questions on the um resolutions on the resolutions? Come on up. State your name, address. And unfortunately, our microphone is right over here. No, it's up here. No, it's right here. Wait, wait, wait.
And it's on. I forgot to put my address. Alex Hayes Oakst. actually not address because I don't legally have to give you that. Um, so my question is on resolution number seven. We're on resolutions. You said, right? Um,
uh, are all Well, I'm sorry. Is the mayor voting tonight? He's he's done now. Okay. Um, so are all four of you authorized or allowed to vote on number four? Number seven? I'm not. So, you'll be recusing?
Okay. Um, I think that's all I had. Yep. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else from the public? Okay. Seeing hearing none. Oh, motion to uh accept the
resolutions. Move to approve the consent agenda. Second. Second yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan. Um everything except resolution seven. After I accuse myself
yes. And oh he's not here. Never mind. Okay. Individual action vouchers uh in uh for 13,234,615.17. Can I get a motion? So moved. Second. Second.
Yes. Fisher. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Ordinance is up for adoption. Ordinance uh number 25504. An ordinance amending ordinance number 2338 entitled an ordinance fixing salaries and compensation of certain offices, positions, and employees in the
township of ocean. Open it up to uh public comment. Actually, we need a need a motion. Yes. I'll move to open the public hearing on ordinance 254. Second. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan. Yes. Yes.
Anybody uh wishing to come up and uh discuss ordinance 254? Seeing hearing none, I get a motion to close the public hearing. I'll make a motion to close the public hearing on ordinance 25004.
Second. Second. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Keep. Yes. Wednesday. Yes. Action on ordinance 25004. I'd like to close the Did that move to I'm sorry. Like to move to adopt
ordinance 25004 and publish according to law second. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. So moved. Ordinance 25005. An ordinance amending and
supplementing ordinance number 2343 entitled an ordinance amending the revised general ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 relating to personnel policies, practices, and procedures. I'd like to get a motion to open the public hearing on that. I'll move to open the public hearing on
ordinance 25005. Second. Second. The chair. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Yes. Yes. Anyone from the public wishing to be heard on ordinance 25005? Seeing hearing none, can I get a motion to close? I move to close the
public hearing on ordinance 255. Second. Second. Chair. Yes. Yes. Chairman. Yes. Wednesday. Yes. Action on ordinance 255. I move to adopt ordinance number 255 and publish according to law.
Second. Second. So, go ahead. Go ahead. A chair? Yes. Fisher? Yes. Kaplan? Yes. Winston? Yes. All right. Ordinance so moved. Ordinance 256, an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 2 of the revised general ordinance of the Township of Ocean 1965 entitled
Administration section 2-5 col 7 Department of Public Works and section 2-5 col 9 department of human services. Uh, can I uh get a motion to open the public hearing on that? I move to open the public hearing on ordinance 256.
Second. Second. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Yes. Yes. Anybody from the public wishing to be heard on ordinance 256? Seeing or hearing none, can I get a motion to close the public hearing? I move to close the public hearing on ordinance 256.
Second. Second. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan. Yes. Yes. Get action on ordinance 256. I move to adopt ordinance number 256 and publish according to law. Can I get a second? Second. Aera. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan.
Yes. Wsteeen. Yes. All right. So moved. All right. Up for introduction tonight. Ordinance 257, an ordinance providing for the vacation of a portion of the right ofway known as Vanote Parkway. And that will have its public hearing on
June 12th. June 12th. And um can I get uh someone to introduce that ordinance 257? I'd like to introduce ordinance 257. Second. Second. Aera. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan.
Yes. Weinstein. Yes. Okay. We have one more. One more. Ordinance 25008, an ordinance amending chapter 12 of the revised general ordinances of the Township of Ocean 1965 entitled traffic section 12-2 col 2. Parking prohibited at all
times on certain streets. Can I get uh someone to introduce ordinance 258? I'll introduce ordinance 258. Second. Second. Yes. Fisher. Yes. Kaplan. Yes. Weinstein. Yes. That'll have it public hearing. And that will have its public
hearing on June 12th. That it. That's it. Okay. Up for public. All right. Anybody from the uh public wishing to come up uh to uh speak on anything gerine to Ocean Township, now is your time. Can I speak first, Mr.
Deputy Mayor? Oh, absolutely. Uh we didn't do the proclamation for Arbor Day. Oh my goodness. Sorry. We have a proclamation for Arbor Day. Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Rob. You're welcome. That's wonderful. All right. So, the township
uh would like to uh recognize Arbor Day. And that was April 25th. It was April 25th. We're a little late to the party, but um nonetheless, we uh do um care deeply about our trees and um all that sort of thing. So, on behalf of the
township, we uh would like to uh bring this proclamation to the public. And that's it. Thank you, Rob. Okay. Thanks, Rob. Otherwise, we would have forgot the trees. Thankfully, he text me. All right. Moving on to the public
portion. Now's your time. State your name and address for the public or for the record. Alex Hayes Oakst. Um, I think I have like seven questions here. I'll try to do them in order. Um, I'm wondering if the town attorney could provide me with the
policy number or I guess ordinance or resolution or rule, whatever we call it in town, um, that allows for town council members to vote virtually. So, I'm wondering if you could provide that for me. Um, second
one, we live in a town of 30,000 people. 27 27,000 and I'm the only one asking questions about a $50 million budget or whatever it is. Um I think that's pretty sad that we aren't more engaged. I don't
think this council engaged the public as you are I believe statutoily mandated to engage the stakeholders before you talk about the budget. So um that's more of a comment that's not really a question. Um, I do wish that you had sent out
robocalls or some more information to the public. If it weren't for Mr. Aera posting about this meeting and about what's generally on um, meetings, hundreds of people might not, maybe even thousands. I don't know how
big your post go, but at least somebody posts. There needs to be more information on the town website. Those were my for one comment, one question on page 75. I apologize. I don't know what um resolution it was, but it might have
been a cut and paste. Um and there was mentioning of the township of brick, not ocean. So that might need to be fixed. Yes. Um I again that's another question. Not a question. I mean um thank you.
Yep. Golf maintenance. Are we in the bills? We paid $30,000 for 2 months. So, are we really paying $30,000 to maintain our golf course every month? Um, that seems high. And we are paying 5,000 a
month for SPCA. So, I'm just wondering what that entails. Like, uh, how many dog pickups? Um, do they just wander around the the town? Does it include 14 calls? And then if it's past 14 calls, we get charged. I don't know.
Um, I see $3,400 in litigation um about affordable housing um from the Clark Kenton Hins Hints law firm. There are many Jersey Shore towns that are suing the state for the affordable housing
mandates. So, I'm wondering if that is something that this town council is entering into or if you can give a little bit more insight on what that quote unquote affordable housing litigation is about. Um, almost done. Okay. And then
newsletter I have here who writes the town newsletter that went out to um residents. I think it's quarterly. It was atrociously grammarly. There were spelling mistakes. grammar mistakes.
Um, some parts of it it was embarrassing to read that it comes from elected officials and the town council. Um, so I think we should have a better um, grammar police looking at our publications that go out, not to mention the fact that it wasn't in any
language besides English. Okay, thanks. Go right ahead. Um the first one was to me um the attendance of meetings is not governed by a town rule or law. It's governed by the state law. It's called the open public meetings act. Um and uh
the um the rule is that a council member can attend um and especially in the instance of an emergency if they cannot be personally at the meeting as long as um the council member can or mayor here can hear the proceedings that are going
on and as long as the members of the public can hear the mayor's participation in it. So I um I know for the first minute or so we didn't have the microphone on him but after that I think it was pretty clear that uh who he was and what he was saying and uh what he voted for. So it it is allowed under
state law participation and that is correct. Yes. Correct. The other one was a statutory obligation for us to share the budget. What was the statuto obligation to share? Oh. Oh yes. Yes. There are there
are strict laws on um the legal obligation of the uh township to provide notice to the public which includes um publishing in the paper. I think it's also on the website um and those in my office too on the counter. Oh, I'm
sorry. And at the counter at the clerk's office. Um I can tell you that that has been done. Um so the the I'm sorry that's considered engaging stakeholders. No, no, no, no. He asked what the legal requirements were. A minor understanding was what the legal requirements are. So the legal requirements for publication
and notice to the public have been have been met uh for passage of the budget. That wasn't that wasn't a question. That was more there is no public engagement. Okay. But not that I want to get into a
debate, but I am curious. So you use the term statutory obligation. Is there a stat other than publicizing it? No, no, the the it's state law, statutory law, and it's very clear on what a mun any municipality in
the state of New Jersey has to do in order to have their budget publicized, made known to the public, made available to the public for their review and then voted on on and that's what I what I just uh reported. The publication does not is not required
for engaged stakeholders. I I not sure what that means. It it talks about notification to the public at large. Um I and while I'm take one other question and I um you know Dave Brown is really the the proper person to answer
this one because I'm not familiar with but the Clark Kaitton firm is the township's affordable housing council. They hand they handle all affordable housing matters. I don't know what the specific bill you referenced was for. Dave uh reviews those bills, but we can get that answer for you by the next
meeting. I want to just go uh just expand on the affordable housing thing. So, Ocean Township has been super proactive with this. So, at this time, we are not engaging in any lawsuits with any other townships. We actually got ahead of the
curve um and we have settled our obligation for, I believe, the fourth round. So township's on the hook for about 160 units right now which is believe it or not an actually an incredible situation because if you look in the paper you'll see Colts neck some of these towns are on the hook for
Homeell 700 units Rumson's on the hook for a bunch of units. So uh Ocean Township was you know I mean we spent the money on the front end but I believe you know through this process we've really done as good a job as we can. Um, the town got a designation of of being
essentially built out, which is good in a sense because there's not land all over this township that can be, you know, taken over. There's no farmland. It's not like Colts Neck, Marbor, and Alpin where they have tons and tons of land. Uh, but the township is um very much on this and this law firm that we
have used in the past uh has done quite a good job for us. As far as the newsletter, I guess, uh, we'll have to just have another set of eyes to take a look at that. But um you know I appreciate your comment. Was there any other questions? 30,000 on the golf D. I don't know. So I think that's a
better question for Dave Brown. Um I do know that the golf course for the first time ever has actually shown a profit uh versus a loss. I will speak generally that golf courses are extremely expensive to maintain. Um it is just the nature of the game. It's the nature of
uh maintaining a beautiful golf course. But, uh, as of last year, they did not lose money. So, it is a profitable venture for the township and it is well used. I mean, it's not something that, uh, I mean, it's it's fairly packed and, um, I have to give the guys credit who, you know, the people that work there do a credit. They've done a nice job with
the golf course. C, can I just make one add one comment? Keep in mind that that that's a separate utility. So, it's not it's it's a separate utility. So, that is not under our municipal budget per se. It's self-funding. All the costs are
generated. All the revenue that is generated goes to pay the cost of the operation. No tax dollars are used for that. So the $30,000 a month is not somehow paid back by the revenue. Correct. That's all. Okay. The five, if
I may, the 5,000 on the SPCA, that's probably better answered by Dave. I can give you some of it, but probably wouldn't be enough and and may not be accurate. Anyone else from the public wishing to be heard? Now's your time. Come on up.
State your name and address for the record. Oh, and we have a microphone. Yeah, please. Is it green? Is it green? Hello. Yeah, we go. Hello. Hi, Louis Gardius. occurs. Um, so I'm here tonight
to explain and introduce our new football league. Um, we were granted field usage for the high school and for a practice field and miraculously they changed their mind after we, you know, put this out and been working, got a
team together, coaches, and now they're saying we can't use the practice field on Whale Pond. Um, so we're just here tonight to to ask if you know if any of you guys ever played football or, you know, like the sport or the kids of Ocean to play in their own town. We've
done this before and we've actually been like kicked out to Neptune. U, we're here tonight to ask if, you know, we were hoping the mayor was going to be here. Uh, we wanted to ask if there was any way we can get a little bit of backup. We almost had the field. We were about that close and out of nowhere, they just changed their mind. And what
was the reason? What was the reason? It was uh the grass. They're worried about messing the grass up. What What field? Whale Pond North. It's going to be the So, it's a soccer field. Soccer field with the park side. The the soccer field is on this side and on the opposite
side, they have like a lacrosse slash they use it for everything. Mhm. We live about a block away, so we know that that piece of land is not really used by sports teams. you get, you know, stragglers or adults using it here and there, but for the most part, they use
the big mean soccer field. Um, so Mike, the recreation director, told us that, you know, after having some time to think about it, we didn't feel it was fit for a tackle team. We're going to be one team right now. It's, you know, maybe 18 to 20 kids, couple of coaches.
It's no more than what soccer would do to that grass, you know, and we would be willing to put seed down if we did, you know, mess it up in any way, which I don't think tackle practice is going to cuz it's drills. It's not like they're playing the sport. Small. They're not. We don't even have a big 13, 14 year old
team. They're just little guys. Like I mean, their cleats are plastic. The the guys that are slide tackling on it at night that we see is like that would mess it up like a lot more than with these children from Ocean. Like these guys are from like, you know, I ask them, "Hey, where you guys from?" "Oh, we're from Neptune." You know, "Over
from Long Branch. Oh, we're from here. Oh, we're from there." You know, these kids that are on our team, they're from Ocean, you know, and a lot of them, their parents have small businesses in the town and stuff like that. Like, we just want a little bit of recognition. We just want to We're under Pop Warner. So, we we get that we have AYF in Ocean
and Ocean bleeds red and white and we understand that completely. But you have your families, let's say from Middbrook, Twinbrook, Continental Gardens. Um many of these low-income families can't afford to play under AYF because by the time you're done with your fees and your
um work bonds and such, you're looking at almost $750 plus your cleats per year. Per year per season, per player per season. You do get some back if you return the equipment and you work the snack bar equip which if you've ever had a player
in football, you know, you're not really going to work the snack bar unless the snack bar, you're going to miss your kid play football. It doesn't even make sense what they're doing. So, it's kind of like we'll keep your money cuz you're not going to want to come and watch. So, right. Well, being that the town manager is not here tonight, uh I think the best thing to do is after the meeting, let me
get your information. I'll get that information off to uh the township manager and we'll get your response. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys coming. What's the name of the league? What's your shirt say? It says Ocean Township Dolphin. Dolph. That's what I
was asking. Okay. Can I just ask one question just so why why would it be any cost any different for somebody to participate in your league because it's the same equipment? Same. We're only charging $17. We charge a lot cheaper and we let them keep the equipment. All this stuff here. Okay.
But it's the same. Kids have the same equipment. We have a lot better equipment than Ocean Township. They like my kids played in Ocean Township when I used to take the helmet home. You You remove the plastic little piece that saves their head and it's all moldy. It's just like that stuff's been in that trailer for decades and it's just like
they removed the sticker on the back. Put a new sticker on. Here you go. Move on. And you don't even keep that helmet. That helmet goes back to them, back to the trailer, back to the next kid next year. We learned how to get new equipment, very good equipment for their heads and stuff like that because these are our kids. And uh they get to keep it
So if they ever do leave and go to another league, they'll still have that safe home. And this is no competition with you know, this is like having a second pizza place. That's it. We're just bringing another option for families because a lot of people may not
even like af, you know, one of the reasons we opted to remove ourselves and Pop Warner has been around Pop Warner used to be ocean but it was here in ocean before you know generated a lot of great
players. We have six boys. Our oldest son is well our second oldest son is 16 and he's at the high school. He will be most likely the head quarterback for the high school. So
congrats. Well, we seem to produce a lot of quarterbacks for motion tant. So, that's good stuff. All right. So, we'll get back to you. I didn't get to say the reason we take the mic. You can grab the microphone, right? Yeah. Going to grab
the mic just because it'll be this way people can hear you. And also, you have four quarters. And also, you have kids that are 11 years old. You have about four quarterbacks. Only one of them are going to get to play. And usually that one is the coach, head coach's kid or a coach's kid, you know what I mean? So
now you have three other kids that are sitting there going that worked very hard, you know, to play these positions and this is just another spot for them to say, you know what, I might be able to go over there, they only have one quarterback over there. Now, if he gets injured or if he can't come that week, you know, maybe I could play, you know,
instead of being fifth string, you know, it's there's a lot of kids that like to play positions that don't get to play as well. Appreciate it. Thank you. Just stick around after the meeting. I'm going to get your information real quick. Thank you so much. Yep.
Last licks. Just state your name and address, please, for the record. Brian Mullins, 107 Bimble Boulevard. I'm here to talk about Bimble Boulevard. Uh we had a nice uh quiet summer because there was a speed bump placed in uh the eastern
third of the road. It did a lot to slow down and deter cut through traffic through the neighborhood and then it was decided not to be replaced. 2 weeks after that was removed cuz it was only supposed to be in the summer anyway. A car heading east speeding down the road in rainy
conditions wound up in my front lawn. Had my wife and I not gone out, her car would have been totaled. had the little girl that rides her bike up and down the sidewalk not had been riding her bike. She might have been hit by the car. And I've been coming to town council meetings. Um my third mayor, third uh
business administrator, I think third chief of police. When I first came, the first chief of police just said, "We don't like speed bumps." And it was under Mayor Larkin that they were supposed to do a study and then they did it for the winter months, pulled them up because of a snowstorm and then the
chief said we're not doing it again cuz they were supposed to run all season. So we got good information cuz my information is anecdotal. I've only lived on the street for 25 years looking at the traffic from my house. Um, I know the mayor said that this the
township is for the county making it a do not enter and I just wonder well I just believe that to be kind of kicking the can down the road because every time I came over the three mayors and three business administrators I met with them they said we'll do a
study we'll do a study we'll do a study and finally when the alley was being opened and it was disced us that they were going the county was going to be putting down a center turning lane down Asbury Avenue right by Bimler. And when
it was discussed by the residents, the county engineers, I guess, were unaware that people head east on Asbury Avenue and make a left into Bimler. And that would been but people heading west on Asbury making a left into Aldi uh in
contrast with one another. So, they did a study and they put all sorts of high-tech things up and then from what I understand and I'm I'm quoting a township official that said the county engineers were blown away by the um
number of cars that traveled down the road and the rate that they traveled down the road. So, the speed bump was put in, then it was taken out. And I know you're saying you're going to get the county to do it, but what is being done to get the county to do it? First,
my understanding is that they don't want to do it. So, that being said, if this is going to take 2 years, the speed and rate and volume of cars is only growing because GPS's send people down those
roads. We're still stuck with the dilemma of the speed bump. Now, I'm only going with the mayor's not here, so it's hearsay. It was in an article. He said it's dangerous for the ambulances to be traveling over that speed pump. Um, I
spoke to a representative at PNL, P&L, um, emergency vehicles and wall. They build them. They're made to go over them at high rates of speed. So, it's a safety issue for the people in the ambulance, maybe. Well, has anyone done
a study to find out how many times a day, a week, or a month the ambulances go down Bimler Boulevard? And if they do go down five times a week, how many times are they traveling at a high rate of speed? Cuz normally when I see them going by,
they're just cruising slow at the yellow lights. Has anyone thought to ask the neighbors that live on that street how many times they pull in and out of traffic that come speeding down the road? So, my point I'm getting to is he's placing the
safety of the ambulance crew, which is important, and the patients in those ambulances that infrequently use the road over the residents who use the road multiple times a day. I've been backing out of my driveway at 5 in the
morning. Look down east to Wikipekco. I see no car and next thing I know there's a car passing me as I'm backing out. So, this is a a dangerous thing for the residents. This started because the GPS's sound send 18 wheelers down the
street and the electrical lines are ripped out six times in front of my house. So, I it's still a safety concern for the people in in in the community. And I don't I don't agree with the mayor's decision or council's decision not to
replace that temporary speed bump for the safety of a few over the safety of more. So, I'd like to have see something done for this summer because I don't believe the county is going to do anything before the summer. I'm gonna
have to interrupt you because you we hit the five minute spot. So, I'm not I can respond to this if you want. I can I can respond as best as I can. I think we probably just want to tighten it up. Okay, that's good. Thank you. So, um I spoke with residents that live on Bimler
about I want to say maybe five, six months ago. And I also set up a meeting for the residents of Colonial Terrace with our engineer. They are looking to make the street one way. They are looking um to get residents input on what would be the best course of action
to make sure that there's less traffic on Bimler, that it's it's a safer street for all the kids that live on that block. Um and our engineer is on it. I I can't speak to what exactly the status of the making the street one way is. Um
I can't speak for the for the police who we defer to when it comes to whether it's safe or not safe to have a speed bump on that block. Um, but I can put you in touch on behalf of the council with the engineer who will I've spoken to to Greg Blash when in the last six
months. Uh, yes. What was his answer? The county didn't want to do anything about it. No. So, that's not that's not what's happening where they are looking to make the street one way. Um, it is our decision, not the county's decision to make the street one way. by the county. From what I understand, the
county has to make the decision to make. That's not true. That's not true. That's what I was and this is another thing I've told many different things. At one time, I was told Bimbo was a road and that was by two different tax officials. Okay. I mean, we appreciate a little. Okay. We appreciate you coming and
raising the issue. It's not a small one and it's one that needs to be addressed. Um, if you want to give us your contact information, we'll have the engineer reach out to you. Um, I don't necessarily know if the speed bump is the answer. I suspect it is not because we do defer to the police when it comes
to what's safe. Well, I can tell you again anecdotally that it was far easier to get out of my driveway and get into my driveway. Talk to the you talk to the microphone, please. Okay. Well, we can also put you in touch with the police who can do uh who can who can speak to it. We are not the the body that's
equipped to speak to whether the speed bump is the right move or not. Again, I guess I'm what I'm saying is I don't buy a lot of what they're selling because I was also the 18 wheelers that come down the road are overweight for the road. There's a wait sign on the road. They're not supposed to be coming down the road.
And I was told by the traffic officer years ago, oh, if they're doing local deliveries, they're allowed to come down the road. No, they're not. Okay. The conduit underground doesn't know that it's overweight, but it's allowed to come by because it's a local delivery. It's overweight. So I a lot of people
just say things, okay, without we have to start somewhere. So I got you. So give me your contact information. Okay. I'll connect you with the engineer and we'll see um whether he can shed some more light on it that we necessarily can't. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. See here in Thank you. All right. Get a motion to uh adjourn the meeting. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? All in favor? I I I opposed. All right. So, I'll talk to you about this thing we're doing.