Just want to remind everybody that all town of council meetings we will be audio and videotaped. They'll be shown on the town of a ocean community cable channel 22 on Verizon FiOS and channel 77 on cable vision. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mayor Nutani >> here.
>> Deputy Mayor Fischer >> here. >> Council member Dera >> here. >> And council member woman Terica >> here. >> Thank you. Can everyone please stand as we do a pledge of allegiance and remain standing as we do 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. Please remain standing. I want to bless our troops that are over in uh Iran right now fighting overseas for
us, for our safety. You may be seated. The notice requirements of the open public meetings act for this meeting have been satisfied and a copy of the annual notice was sent to the Aspbury Park Press, sent to the coaster, posted in town hall, and filed in the office of the municipal clerk on December 18th,
2025. There are two emergency exits to my right that'll take you to the front of the building, one to the back that'll take you to the rear of the building. Please make sure all cell phones are turned off. If you need to make a call, kindly step outside. Before we get into the municipal budget, I have two
proclamations that I'd like to go through very quickly. Um, the first one, I'm going to skip down to child abuse prevention month as an educator. Obviously, this one's near and dear to my heart. Um, therefore, I would just
like to read uh just the last part of it. I'm not going to read the entire proclamation, but now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and the governing body of the township of ocean that we here do hereby proclaim April 2026 as National Child Abuse Prevention
Month in the Township of Ocean. And we urge all residents to recognize this month by building a narrative of hope for children and families through collaboration and the creation of an ecosystem of primary prevention. It's that important. Please make sure we do
this for the children. And our next proclamation, if I uh didn't put this one on before the budget, I would probably maybe have divorce proceedings with my wife who's out here. So, we're doing uh National
Donate Life Month. If I could have the council come down, we're going to present this proclamation. And actually, we'll come down there. It's my uh CFO that really I have to sit there and put you to the side for a minute there, Ricky. uh national donate
life month we have a proclamation and I'm not going to read the entire proclamation as I do it every year but I just want to let you know that donor awareness month which my wife Michelle who's next to me here works for a
company Metronic and she does tissue donor so I just want to read the last part and then she'll explain a little bit about how important donor awareness month is now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor governing body of the township of ocean that we do proclaim
April 2026 donate life month in the township of ocean. We urge all residents to join in promoting organ and tissue donor education through national donate life month. So, I'm going to turn it over to my wife who will be explaining a little
bit about what your company does next door to us in Eaten Town and how important it is for donor awareness month. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'm here Michelle Naplatani. Thank you so much for having me. And I'm here
with Jackie Patterson. She is one of my colleagues at Metronic um in Metronic Eaten Town. uh the plant here on industrial way. We uh work with um donor uh families, donor tissues. Uh we
process these donated tissues into um spinal and orthopedic implants. Uh we are stewards of this very precious tissue. Uh we're very very proud of what we do in in enhancing uh the lives of
you know helping others taking these gifts and and and and transforming them into um uh solutions for spine surgery that will allow a better day for for so many people. Um part of uh this journey
here and this message is not to talk about the spinal implants that we and devices that we uh provide because that goes without saying but it's more so um honoring the gift of donation recognizing those who have made those
very unselfish decisions. uh and also to um highlight uh just how many people are impacted and can be helped uh with one uh decision to make uh to to be a donor. Uh so Jackie, I'm going to pass it along
to you. Uh even though we are focused on the muscular skeletal tissue in Eatentown, uh the organ donation component is is pretty amazing and I wanted to give Jackie an opportunity to share a little bit about that. >> Sure.
>> Um in New Jersey there are over 5,000 people waiting for organs and in the country there's over 100,000 people. Um, so it's very important that if you would like to be a donor, you can do so on your driver's license or if you uh if
while you're going to get your real ID or you can do it on the an iPhone on the health app or a donate life website or New Jersey sharing network website. So there are lots of easy ways to do it if you haven't already. And there are the
the personal stories are what really makes it um important to me that I have a second cousin who had a double lung transplant and it gave her five more years with her granddaughters to see them grow up. And then I know another
co-orker whose son also had a double lung lung transplant. He had cystic fibrosis and this helped him. He's now um married and has a child and um is a volunteer fireman in Middletown. So it
really helps people. So it's um uh it's very good cause to have and thank you. We appreciate you doing this. >> Absolutely. >> And um also one more thing. >> Do you think I had a choice? >> Yeah. >> No. >> Tomorrow's blue green day.
>> Tomorrow's blue green day. >> Why I'm here with my condoms. Blue and green. >> So yeah, the it signifies blue for the sky and green for the water or the other. Yeah. >> Right. National Donate Life Month is April and tomorrow, April 10th is Blue
Green Day. We're all wearing our colors to to symbolize. Um, and I really >> Yeah. You didn't even realize flying. Right. There we go. >> Exactly. >> You got some blue. Yeah. Got some black.
>> So, again, we appreciate the the time and and the proclamation and just we witness every day. Jackie and I uh the transformation and the lives that are that are that are changed. Um and we just we're just doing our part to raise
an awareness. Um so thank you again for having us and for proclaiming April April uh donor awareness month. >> And the only thing is we have to get it signed because we have a couple of our council people who are not here this evening. We want to get them to sign it and then I will bring it to you personally
>> that I'll give you that I'll give you that uh wiggle room there. >> Thank you. You can hold it. >> That's yours. >> Thank you. >> She wouldn't have it any other way. >> Thank you
very much. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> What's that? Okay, I am now going to turn it over to our CFO Ricky Garts who put together a
budget for the municipality. and each and every year that it gets done. Uh it's not easy when you're looking at all of the expenses within the municipality. Remember that as the governing body here, we handle police, we handle the
roads, we're handling lake projects, um all our parks, recreation, municipal buildings, and such. So, we do an incredible amount under what we feel is a very tight budget. Um, and Ricky, I
I have to thank you for, you know, working as hard as you did on this budget so that it's lean and mean and it's a fair budget. So, Ricky, I'm going to turn it over to you so you can, you know, go over the highlights and, uh, then what we'll do is we'll open it up
for a public hearing and then we will adopt the budget. Good evening, Mayor Council. Thank you. >> Is that on, Ricky? >> Hello. >> There you go. >> I guess I got closer. You'll hear me. >> All right. I can hear you anyway. Ricky, you don't need a mic. >> People can >> You don't need a microphone.
>> Um, we introduced the budget on March 12th. We're uh approved to adopted tonight by the state of New Jersey. We are under self-examination, which means I do not need the state's approval. I just have to certify to them that we followed the correct procedures, which is in the resolution for tonight that we
have followed all the procedures. Um just a few highlights uh to point out. The overall budget's going up slightly over $2 million. However, of that $2 million, there is $1.8 million that's roughly uncontrollable by us. Uh that is
compromised of our pension increases of $284,000. Our health insurance, which is up $681,000. And if I could just point out on the health insurance, the state of New Jerseys health insurance went up 36.5%. through the efforts of uh my office,
particularly Kimber Williams, uh educating our staff on uh high deductible plans, uh we've been able to manage from the 36.5% increase down to 18.7. >> And being in the public sector myself, I can say that I don't think the average
person out in the public realizes how important that was. Me being in a public school system, seeing my healthc care go up 37%. Seeing it only go up about half in our municipality shows just how wellrun we are.
>> With that in mind, the $681,000 that we're going up could have been twice as much, which would have put this budget astronomically over what it is currently right now. Um salaries, which are contractual and uh step increases are going up $738,000.
Utilities are out of control. They're going up only 60,000 in comparison to what it could have been. So, we have those uh being monitored and social security for another 49,000 makes up the 1.8 million of the $2 million that we've increased. The average homeowner
is going up approximately $17910. The average home is roughly $1,8,000, which is up from $931,000. With that being said, I will uh open it up to you to uh open it up to the floor.
>> Right. We'll open it up for public comment. >> Oh, motion to open up for uh public hearing. >> I can I apologize. You consider this an ordinance or resolution? >> Resolution. Well, consider it an
ordinance. >> Okay. Uh, I'll move to um open public hearing on the 2026 municipal budget. >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Aera, >> yes. >> Fisher, >> yes.
>> Terrier Rico, >> yes. >> Neplatani, >> yes. Anyone from the public that have any questions or comments in regard to the budget, please step up to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. You have five minutes.
>> Hello, it's Jim Bay from David Street. Uh, regarding the budget, I was looking at the appropriations that you had on the shelf here. And in 2025, Planefield had a $93,000 CFO services
and 13,000 was for Alenhurst. In 2026, the playing field is no longer listed in the appropriations, only the Alenhurst. I was wondering why that's occurring. Uh some of my uh questions, and I gave
you all a list of the questions, is what is the tax increase in 2026? And you said 1.8 million. Uh what is the 26 tax? That's $29 million. Uh 1a is is $345
the tax increase for each owner occupied house. He mentioned the tax increase is $179 out $179. Yes. Is it $345 for each owner occupied house? Is $546
the 2% cap increase without voter approval? And that references there's a 2% cap, but you've increased the taxes 1.89 million. Was the 2.49 million the debt increase last year? Is
$450 the debt increase for each owner occupied house? Was $10 million the debt increase 2022 to 2025? Is 18.6%. The additional taxes collected to pay
for the $4.6 million debt service on the $45 million debt is 16% of the 26 tax plus debt increase, which is $4.3 million. A $796 increase for each of the
owner occupied houses as opposed to the $179 that he mentioned. Did the council ordinance voting for a 3.5% cap bank increase an additional 2,667,881? And lastly, did the council take $3.5
million from the sewer authority and did your taking the money from the sewer authority over the last 10 years cause the sewer rates to increase? >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Jim. Ricky, I'll let you answer those.
Uh, with all due respect, I will uh research them all. I'm not going to answer these off the top of my head. I don't have this information sitting in front of me, but I will give you the answer on the playing field, though. I'm no longer the CFO with playing field. So, we do not have that in the local anymore. So, that does that's why it does not appear in this year's budget.
>> Right. But the average homeowner is only going up $179 this year in the budget. >> Right. I don't know where the 452 came from, but I'm going off of your numbers. >> Thank you, Ricky. Anyone else wishing to be heard? 52 came from
residential is 85% of the tax. Apartments are 5% of the tax. The $ 1.59 million increase. There are 8,784 residential parcels. 62% of them are owner occupied.
5,57 residential owner occupied into 1.9 million is where that and if you include the debt, you're up to about $800 per if you include debt. >> Okay. Well, Ricky, >> real quick, simply uh owner occupied or
non-owner occupied. A homeowner is a homeowner. It is what I said it is. >> I Okay. >> I tend to go with what you're saying. Thank you, Ricky. Anyone else wishing to be heard on the budget? Seeing here none, do I have a motion to close public hearing on our budget?
>> I'll move to close public hearing on the 2026 municipal budget. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Telerico. >> Yes. >> Nutani. >> Yes. Action on the municipal budget. >> Move to approve the 2026 municipal
budget. >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Telerico. >> Naputan. >> Yes. and that lieutenant. >> Yes. And our budget passes. Oh, wait a minute. We have to approve the self uh
examination of the 2026 budget. Someone please >> offer the resolution. >> Offer the resolution on approving the self-examination of the 2026 budget. >> I'll offer. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> A chair? >> Yes. >> Cap chair Fischer? >> Yes.
>> Terrier? >> Yes. >> And Nepalan? >> Yes. Now, do we got to redo this again? Are we good? No, we're good. >> Okay, we're good. >> All right, our budget passes. Thank you, Ricky, again. Great job. Thanks very much. Thanks, Ricky. >> You, too.
>> Consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the township council and will be enacted by one motion in 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 the public portion is to solely ask
questions to understand resolutions that appear on the agenda is not an occasion for a public hearing on an ordinance. All questions not related to an item on the agenda should be asked during the public comments portion of at the conclusion of the meeting. Are there any public questions on agenda items
resolutions a consent agenda? Anyone wishing to be heard? Please step up to the microphone. State your name and address for the record. Seeing here none, do I have a motion to close the consent agenda? >> I'll make a motion to close. >> No,
>> I mean approve the consent agenda. >> Thinking I'm on the stuff right now. >> Approve the consent agenda. There you go. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> A chair? >> Yes. >> Fisher? >> Yes. >> Terica? >> Yes. >> And Neutenni? >> Yes. That's what happens when we do an
ordinance first. >> I'll mess up your >> vouchers in the amount of $12,69,187.86. Someone please offer. >> I'll offer. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Telerico. >> Yes.
>> And that. Thank you. >> Wait a minute. I had the wrong agenda out here. I gave you the wrong figures and you guys all voted on >> 2 million48. >> Yeah, I did the wrong one. I had the other uh the other agenda from last week. >> Can someone please offer the vouchers in
the amount of $2,348,924.93? I will offer again. >> Second. >> I'll second again. >> Roll call. >> Terra, >> yes. >> Fisher, >> yes. >> Terico, >> yes. >> And Napleani, >> yes. Ordinances up for adoption. Ordinance 2539, which is an ordinance
amending chapter 12, the revised general ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 establishing a speed limit. Someone please open the public hearing on ordinance 2539. I'll move to open public hearing on ordinance 2539.
>> Second. >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> A chera? >> Yes. >> Fisher? >> Yes. >> Telerico? >> Yes. >> And Nepalenni? >> Yes. Anyone wishing to be heard on ordinance 2539. Please step up to the microphone. State your name and address for the record. >> Hello, Jim Bay. David Street. I'd like
to thank the safe streets people for all the work they did on u approaching the police and getting these changes on this ordinance on Wikipeka Drive. If you could do north of Coriss back to the old speed of 35 miles an hour and then continue with the lower speed limit of
30 of 25 miles an hour during the in the dense residential area where their kids and all are. So if you could split WAPCO to two different speed limits, the normal speed limit on the north and then the safe one where the closer to the school and all that would be
appreciated. >> We can run that past the police department. We can't change this right now. Yes, sir. Okay. Anyone else wishing to be heard on ordinance 2539? Seeing none, do I have a motion to close public hearing on ordinance 2539?
>> I move to close public hearing on ordinance 2539. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Aera. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Telerico. >> Yes. >> Neatani. >> Yes. Action on ordinance 2539. >> Move to approve ordinance 2539 and publish according to law.
>> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Aera. >> Yes. Fisher, >> yes. >> Telerica, >> yes. >> And Napenni, >> yes. There you go, ladies. All set. Good work. GOOD JOB. >> CONGRATULATIONS.
>> Ordinance 2540 up for introduction and ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 5 of the revised general ordinances of the township of ocean 1965 entitled licenses section 5-9 filming subsection 5-9.6 fees. Someone please introduce ordinance 2540. I move to
introduce ordinance 2540. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Aera. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Telerico. >> And Neutenni. >> Yes. That ordinance will have its public hearing on the 14th of May. >> I will open it up for public comment.
Anyone wishing to be heard on anything? >> Graan, do you still want to stay or are you good? >> Thank you very much. >> You too. Thank you. >> Don't forget to turn so you don't burn. Don't forget to turn so you don't burn.
>> Before we have public comment, I want to just go down the line because we didn't do it before our proclamation. Stopped down to see uh Deputy Mayor Fiser. Anything for the public? >> Sure. Thanks, Mayor. Uh congratulations to the Complete Street Group. Uh you guys, we listened, you came to us, and
uh I applaud you for your uh civic action there. But I do want to uh caution we have lowered the speed limit to 25 miles an hour. But uh it's going to take some time before the uh people who don't live here or the people who do live here know. So just please make sure
that you tell your children to look both ways and don't assume anything because distracted drivers, out of town drivers, they concern me on a good day. Um second thing I wanted to point out to the public is that uh the second component of this is enforcement. So, you know, we
all live in town and um some of us are used to going a little faster than others and uh now that we're bringing the speed limit down to 25, there will be an enforcement component and that's going to come from the police department. So, we're going to do a good job to try to let the world know that, you know, you got to slow down. But, uh
unfortunately, you know, there's nothing worse and if you live around the corner and you get picked up going 35 and a 25. So, I just wanted to get that out there. Last thing I want to say, Mayor, is the weather is changing. We've got some beautiful weather in our forecast. Uh I went out on the golf course this week at
Larkin. It's in absolutely great shape for April. So, as chairman of the mayor's wellness committee, I encourage everyone to get outside, play, use our playgrounds, play pickle ball, play tennis, do everything out there, and uh enjoy the beautiful spring weather. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Aera.
>> Uh congratulations. Also, if any of you would like to move to Oakurst and help us uh do anything in Oak, that would be greatly appreciated. So, um, anywhere near West Lincoln, Mammoth Road, happy to have you. Whale Pond. Um, but congratulations. Thank you. Uh, no report, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay. I just want to take a minute to
thank Jen Nordom and her team for a great egg hunt uh last weekend for uh actually the weekend before. Uh, phenomenal event, very well attended. Also, Fireman's Pond is wrapping up. They're taking the Hall Road out. We're
going to have a pond again instead of a mud pit. cannot wait to see it when it's, you know, filled and the kids can get out there and fish like I used to when I was a child out there. Uh, major plus. Next one we'll be doing is Lollipop Pond. We're tenatively scheduled to start that in the fall. And
then after that, we will be able to get in down at Terrace Pond. I spoke to the engineer of the DA Commission today. He gave me some really good news about their project that's going up in C Square. Um they D EA was holding them up
quite a bit and uh Peter Ivakian from Lyanna Svakian uh advised me that the plans that the D and the EPA wanted, they actually made it significantly higher, but they're funding it. So in other words, they have a feeling on on a
better system and and better uh ideas up there. So, as long as they're picking up the check and it's not getting passed down to the municipalities, the seven towns that surround De Lake, I'm very pleased and I'm glad with the update. It seems like they should be, you know,
getting involved in that and I think within the next year that'll be completed so that we can start our project downstream in Terrace Pond in the fall of 2027. So, we've got some really good things going on here in the township ocean. Um, with that being said, let me open it up for public comment. Again, if you have anything to
say, Germaine, to the town votion, please step up to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. >> Mr. Mayor, can we let the town manager speak? >> Oh, absolutely. >> David, >> thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Yes, sir. >> I just wanted to congratulate my uh Complete Streets family. Um we we worked
hard and long on this. Uh but we're not done yet. We still have some stuff to do. and a couple of us will be attending the complete street summit that's coming up uh so we can uh add some other aspects to making things safe and then I would be remissed if I did not commend
uh Mr. Garts and all the department heads for putting together um the best um municipal budget that we could put together for the residents of the township of ocean. Thank you. >> That's really uh a testament to you and your team Dave, you know, appreciate that because the budget does get put
together by Garts. He puts all the final numbers together, but it's all your department heads that give their wish list. And I guess the uh CFO cuts it down quite a bit as you can see. >> Oh, he does. >> Thanks again, Dave. Appreciate you and all your department heads. Great job.
So, now I'll open it up for public comment. My apologies, Dave, over there. >> No worries. >> Anyone wishing to be heard? Christensen on Garvin Avenue. Um, I just want to say thank you. You know, we all have been coming here since it was
October, right, when we first started coming. >> And it just makes such a difference in how receptive the town has been and working together and all being on the same page trying to make the safe streets the streets safer for everyone. So, I just want to thank you and Rob for
coming out to the cleanup last weekend. Um, it's just it feels really good to work together like that. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And we're going to keep doing more. So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I I >> I don't think anyone's opposed. Thank you. Have a great night. >> Do you want it? >> Great meeting to discuss that billboard is >> no.