[Music] I got to tell you [Applause] with that name ever since Oh yeah that
was too bad Good evening everyone This is the city council work meeting Today is April the 7th 2025 and the time is 6:34 p.m This
meeting has been duly advertised in the city newspaper in performance with the open public meetings act otherwise known as the sunshine law Madame clerk roll here Pimona present
Ogusby present Battis present Swepson here Thomas present All in the second May I have approval of previous minutes may I have a motion motion May I have a second all in favor agenda First is ordinance number one
second reading public hearing will be held during regular session amending ordinance number 24-205 which created departments divisions and positions in the city Any questions council i do Um is there a job description that
goes along with this is it in the budget what's the salary uh do you have a need for it it looks like it's just overseeing the police department And what are the qualifications okay For Yeah it's all above We have the job
description which was approved by uh by our attorneys and everything So all above that we have is the job description included in the agenda The job description will be on a resolution separate from that Job description will come in the resolution But we're going to approve
this This is the second reading tonight Yes Because it doesn't require job description in order to come on You can't create a job and no job script I'm just taking my opinion about it There's a job description that exists with job description Well then why isn't the job
description in the agenda you expect us to vote on things with no job description i don't expect you to vote on It's not my ordinance It's not my ordinance Councilwoman so the questions that you asked um this
evening um you do know that Councilman Obsby is the chair Did you make a phone call to him to get any of the answers that you need there is no reason to because I'm here for the people and I ask the questions so that the people can hear the same questions that they have
not a conversation between me and a committee person And if that's the committee person then he should disseminate the information to the other four people that are not on that committee Councilwoman even council president even if you have
a question with the chair of the committee you still can relate that same conversation here tonight I am relating it right now Where's the job description what is the money who do they oversee what are the qualifications for
the person those are very simple things that you ask about a job description that you're putting in something that the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for paying They're very simple questions And if you can't answer them that's fine Everybody knows how I'm going to vote
now All right Is that a ordinance number two second reading public hearing will be held during regular session adopting a green purchasing policy and assist Any questions council
see none Ordinance number three second reading public hearing be held during regular session establishing and adopting a complete and green streets policy in the city Council any questions see Ordinance number four first reading bond
ordinance providing for various sewer and roadway improvements for the city appropriating $4,600,000 Therefore including state of New Jersey Department of Transportation grants totaling1,250,732 and authorizing the
issuance of $4,600,000 bonds or notes for the city to finance the cost thereof Any questions council i do Go ahead What is the payment for the bonds and is there a
um a penalty for prepayment of those bonds i think said it was like 24 years to pay it off Metal Z Sure Um let me look at the PO schedule There's no prepayment penalty
Okay And this one is number [Applause] right here Thank you I'm sorry It was doublesided So okay we have two is actually two bond orness and it was the recommendation of
our bond council to do it that way So yes we're looking at 20 years for the first one to pay over um over Oh I'm sorry
All right Okay Good evening So uh the first bond ordinance is um has a useful life of 20 years but these are bond anticipation notes which we would take like about 10 years to pay to include interest and
um and principal payment is over 20 years and the once you get into the third year you start paying down on principal So by that point in time we can also look at what we have in debt at that point in time three years down the
road and see where interest rate is at and refinance the interest rate But we don't know what the interest rate is going to be until we go out to the market until the coun our bond council goes out to the market Do you have any idea not what the interest included in it but what the
payment would be with um again with bond anticipation notes those are the bands those what is called temporary finance the first three years is interest then after that you pay interest and penalty so we're looking at over 10 years you're
looking at 400 just straight p principal $460,000 a year and and This is this question is for both four and five because they're both the same Um so on like a say a
$450,000 bond payment a year what is the amount of increase in property taxes per tax it all depends in the year that we strike uh we are able to strike the tax rate That's all part of it So um right
now I believe Our equalized valuation of the city is like 1.4 billion which is like about 14 $14,000 a penny right now from what I
can recall Uh but right now to tell you the impact of these bond periods in the future um I'm not able to I I know you're looking into so it's like 14 cents No it it says penny per
$14,000 Correct Somewhere around like that Yes Thank you Madam CFO while you're standing here can you um just tell everyone what the projects are sure Sure We have two bond ordinances Um and
both of them have to do with street road and sanitary line improvements And these uh the city received grant grants from DOT And um so in order to get these projects moving before we lose the grant
we had to proceed and borrow the money to get these roads and sanitary lines done And we also have in these in this ordinance a roofing project for the recreation center
So uh I'm referencing ordinance number four section 8 when I was reading at the last uh line I saw the city shall shall be obligated to levy uh valerant taxes Can you explain that a little please
section 8 Okay Section 8 the last line to the end of the Oh okay So section 8 less the faith pool and credit of the sea or he or pledge to the punctual payment of the principle of and interest on the obligations authorized by this
bond ordinance The debt obligation shall be direct unlimited obligations of the city and unless paid from other sources the city shall be obligated to levy adarium taxes upon all the valuable property within the city for the payment
of the uh obligation So basically it's just spreading the the debt service amongst all property tax properties in the city So that is not that No no no Because this is just right now the ordinance and
then there's going to be another second hearing and then once with all the passing of the first and second hearing then we go out to the market once we borrow the funds then that's when we start making payments well payment won't
be done till like a year from now So can I have follow Uh so but we have idea before the implementation of why the taxes will be moving out of ideas council Okay Yeah So I don't until we know I don't
know right now with the future right thank you very much Thank you Any other questions so thank you Thank you So we're talk about road work
sewer for um Bridgewood Avenue Latis Avenue South Franklin Boulevard East Bay View Avenue and South Echley Avenue And we're also talking
about road work for the group at the recreation center We're talking about the bike path from Decada Avenue to Milan Avenue including uh the light fixtures
Um and we're also talking about Broadway improvements to Green Street from Main Street to Franklin Boulevard And that's also including um lighting Nothing
That's council Any other questions in reference to for seeing none man okay So we'll jump to resolution 68 authorizing the city to execute a renewal agreement under an upgraded master agreement with Sound
Think Incorporated also formerly known as Shot Spotters Incorporated Council any questions yes Uh where they have the definition if you go below that uh item a state your customer will be will have
access to review alerts Do we have access to review the alert who does which provision are you talking about council i'm reading from this um sound Right But what what which page or what provision i'm reading from page one of
15 One of 15 And then you're at definitions Yeah Case builder Yes A Item A Item A under definitions Yeah Which one yeah Item A Right underneath definition is your customer will have
access to review alerts I don't see that It says insight means So you you must be looking at something else That's it Insight means the internet portal to which customers will have access to review Now that wouldn't
be you That'd be the police department So this is this is you know what it is yeah Police representatives Yes So it's it's a software kind of database where it hears shots when they're fired and it provides signals and they manage it This is so our police have access to our
police our police is in communication with them and depending on what's going on they have access to reviewing the data But the background the question is that to ensure that someone can verify from our end that it's functioning as so if the police does that then that satisfy my concern Oh you mean that it's
working like their guns being fired and no one's hearing Yeah Well that that's something different because someone would have to tip us off and then we'd have to look to see if it wasn't registering You know I hear what you're saying right but let's assume that there were shots fired and it didn't register on the
shots fired system someone would have to say there was a shot fired on um Maple Court right and then the police would say "Well we don't see anything in the system." Then we know it may not be functioning properly Okay Other than that we have to rely on the system to
notify us unless someone's calling simultaneous I think it's a great question though and the police should be looking at that if if if the system isn't registering right yeah Thank you very much Yeah But this is a renewal for um three years and um it's at the same
price that it was previously only it's an upgrade Councilman Barkley maybe that'll be a good question for um the public safety committee to bring up in in you all's meeting maybe for a report to make sure
that you know it's accurate Thank you Madam clerk resolution 69 terminating a deed notice to be replaced by notice in lie of a deed pursuant to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections
All as set forth in this letter of May the 16th 2024 Council any questions cna resolution 70 authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute an agreement with the county of Atlantic
Municipal Alliance grant program for the governor's council on substance use disorder physical cycle October the 25th to June the 26th any questions council see resolution 71 opposition of the
approval of Atlantic City electric to increase rates more than 17% in June 2025 and it call on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to reject a proposed additional rate increase of 8% Mayor would you like to speak on this yes This
is something that came out of the Atlantic County Mayor's um meeting And really they have enough It's just to be unified They have enough already to take it to the next level to reject the rates But we wanted to be I award it to you
all so that we could be a part of rejecting it because they just had an increase and now they want another Thank you Question Um is this going to make the U board of public utilities not have an increase
i mean or is this just a ceremonial kind of vote well it's ceremonial but they'll have their you know we'll have their ear in case you know the more unified you stand And with all these people that were involved in it did anybody come up
with any um ideas as to um alleviate the the need for you know like maybe put in a solar project or something that we had discussed at the meeting you know that we had that
project in Did anybody bring up those kind of things not at this meeting This is solely about electricity and and the rate hike that they're going as far as solar and all the discussion was not at our table I mean because solar's part of that that's huge
Yeah Any other questions council senior nurse man resolution 72 appointing Kenya Newza as the qualified purchasing agent for the city [Applause]
And can I add no additional compensation for Miss L That is correct Any questions council seeing that resolution 73 authorizing a fire emergency demolition at 23 Turnpike on
March the 23rd 2005 and amount of $7,000 Any questions council question for VA I know it was mentioned in the meeting before we was trying to get in contact with the owners of this Have we made
contact with them so for this so we we've tried to uh reach out to the uh owners We have not yet to confirm that they're even aware of what's going on But the service that we have to the public is that we have to get this No I
understand that I was just wondering if we had any contact I know due to the emergency situation that we respect Yeah we we have a a duty to the city and to the people of the city to make sure we remediate this as quick as possible It's dangerous It's actually contaminated
area Um so yeah this takes down the wall and removes the debris and actually disposes of the And do we have to secure that area because it is contaminated yeah I would imagine yes I would imagine that's going to be the next phase that part of the $70,000 once we tear clear
tear it out and then we have to put something up to secure that area No this is just to to take care of the remediation of the uh the Okay Thank you sir Yes To the BA Have we made a formal attempt
to contact yes Or has it been informal i mean a letter versus So I'm not some type of legal notice some so that'll come eventually So some things would take longer So if you mail something that this just
happened so you know to Yeah And there's some other issues I know I'm aware of the others That's why tax issues So but we're definitely working on it and uh you know it's definitely at the top of my list of things to get done So yeah we're trying to get in touch and we'll
get this resolved as soon as possible But in the meantime you want to get resolved for residences Thank you Thank you sir Madam Cler resolution 74 proclaim the month of April as autism awareness month Any questions council seeing none
Resolution 73 granting approval of a Jeep festival on June the 28th from 9:00 a.m to 8:00 p.m at the Tilton Avenue Ballpark Any questions council question Yes What besides vehicles uh what else what else is going
to be involved with the festival will it be vendors etc yes Are they going to be tearing up the turf [Music] there will be vendors Uh mostly food vendors And this is a uh almost like a
car show Like a car show location That's what I was driving around at one more question to the chair Is is uh the police department required to be at these events or No they just stand by or they required to stand by They're just
standing by I I I don't want to opine on it only because I haven't looked at the permit for this and it sometimes they will ask different events they will ask that police be present depending on what it is and then they may have to go through to do different
get overtime or so it depends on this specific detail let me correct myself I we'd have to look at the permit processes you'd have to ask them to see what exactly they've sought in the permitting process So in
the past in the past we've had some new detail but a lot of times they bring their own security This is the first time that we're having the Jeep festival here but the festival I know avoid some security and the police do they circle back and forth Yeah I I just want to
know we had someone a detail officer there or that that's what I was curious It all depends It really depends on the event These events are getting bigger They were beautiful last summer I I went to them They're really nice The attendants were great I was just asking
that question For instance the um poor Haze event he had detail one year He had about three or four and didn't need them because he also had his own security And this year he said that he's you know he planned to just do it with his security
And the event was peaceful They're all most of them are These people have had an event in Rhode Island previous year The police department reached out to the police department in Ro and came back and said that there was no issue So I
don't think there's going to be a problem I was wondering [Music] Okay I have I have some of the our events They're very beautiful But my question is we as a city do we have any right to determine
if an event requires police presence or we just leave it with a Yes we do Yes we do I'm sorry Thank you And the city line said if you have an event you have to have a detail Yes sir Sorry Of course Uh I mean we're
not like a sovereign state or anything but we do have there's a permit process I do believe and as council said anybody here from the police department that can help us out with a permit probably not Yes But
uh I'm sorry I won't put that on But uh yes the police usually make an assessment as indicated by Miss They follow up with previous years I've seen they had this thing up in Burlington County I've seen it there Uh
it's pretty pretty much okay But traffic is the only issue that you you may need some traffic control and you know these organizations will pay for the cost of uh Yeah I just want to add in the meeting
um that question did come up and they they did say that they want to provide that home security association Is the street going to be blocked off no it's available They're trying to get people to
park dispersing the people that are going to so everything is not concentrated I'm I'm satisfied I'm satisfied I'm satisfied Any other questions council Madam Clair resolution 76 granted
approval of a Latin music festival on August the 23rd 11:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m at the Tilton Avenue Golf Park Any any questions council same question Same situation Same same parking and
traffic I think if the road get blocked off then we might have to No blocking It's no resolution 77 authorizing an emergency temporary appropriations pursuant to NJSA 48 colon 4-20
council any questions see next is review of the business list [Applause] Hello again Good evening The you have to fill this We can use the one that reads on the top Check registered by check
date Yes So there were some couple of items that had to be paid And um one of them is to the New Jersey American border This has to do with our hydrants with our uh it's it's a hydrant
expense that um we incur every year with them The second item um on the bill list is for the police department cooling tower parts which they will now uh if it's not already scheduled to
um have the AC system work effectively here in the building switch it over Excuse me Switch it over Yes Yes Uh the next item that we have on the bill list which is um the New Jersey
uh the state of New Jersey pension bill This is the city's um pension bill for the PERS member which is the um public employee retirement system And then from the bill list that
requires your approval tonight so that we can pay uh these vendors Um one of them is Adllettech and this is the police department Um it's a subscription is um
program that they use for training timekeeping um record other police matters on there The other bill that we have is to the Atlantic
City Municipal Court joint court and um the payment is for the last for the last quarter of 2024 and plus the two months of um this year which is January February
and we have an annual contract with them for $24,000 a year Uh the other other item I'm sorry I am on page page two [Applause]
Then we have Bruno's Associates who are our grant consultants Over the past several years they have uh we have received and been awarded grants through their services And then we also have
um a vendor I'm sorry Anybody has a question no No Okay Then the other vendor that we have on the bill list is Lafayette Construction and they did a repair of a sinkhole on Mont Clair Yes
So the resident is there Yes And let's see Okay The marina area which um I don't know what the the the real name is I'm not a doc master
but the floating the floating steps on the water So it's detaching from the bulkhead And since we're going to eventually open up the park that has to be beautified there So um we're getting that repaired
What number is that Mr That's on page five 43598 Good And on the same page we're paying um last year's um and it's grant money that comes down from the US Department of
Agriculture for the summer suit program So they have um allocated a purchase order that they draw down on and that's another um high ticket um but this is coming from grants So it's not not
hitting the city general funds and Is that money guaranteed the one the grant money for the for the Yeah Yes I mean like checks in the mail and deposited in the bank because you
never know what's going to happen Well no Apparently we've had draw downs in the past for the complete funds of it still from last year Yeah it's from from um it's from last it's from 2024 summer
program So we're going to be getting right We will get we should be getting reimbursed for that difference Absolutely there's no guarantee right we should be because that money is earmarked to us I'm just saying there is
no guarantee for any grant money these days is there is no federal money that you can take to the bank and guarantee that it's going to be there if they tell you under the circumstances of what we're going through this year with the federal administration Yes I'm keeping
my fingers crossed leaving all of them Everybody better So folks that's what I have uh so far for tonight on the bill is some of the higher ticket items Yes uh for
02151 for the the ride of home ones that we that we truly need Are they in yet are these order oh no They just um I just issued the purchase order last week So I believe they could be in any day now
Okay Yeah Thank you You're welcome Were you there yeah I was going to ask council to come on just let us know Yeah the laws when they come in just let us know Thank you Any other
questions council thanks folks Mayor do you have any comments nothing Thank you council Anything all right I have a motion to close the work session All in favor
good evening everyone This is the city council meeting Today is April the 7th 2025 and the time is [Music] 7:07 This meeting has been duly advertised in the city newspaper in
conformance with the open public meetings act otherwise known as the sunshine law Please stand for invocation by Reverend Felicia Morales And then we go ahead and collect Let's pray God our father we
thank you so much for all that you are and all that you do We thank you for this day you've given us Father we pray even now that you would have your way in this meeting We pray for every elected official God for every person who is here to hear what's being done in this
city We pray that your peace would abide in the midst of this meeting We pray for unity We pray God that you would continue to show us what it is that we need to do to make a difference in this community That the people will be blessed We thank you Lord God for all
that you allow us to accomplish even this day In your name amen Amen To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all please here Thomas present all in attendance may I have A motion to dispense previous minutes please Motion May I have a second second All in favor i Mayor any
accommodations proclamation next we have public portion Thank you First we have Pastor Jerome Page [Applause] Good evening Good evening 213 West
Pleasant Avenue Um I come to you this this day at this time One to thank the Pleasantville Police Department Couple weeks uh last week me and my wife are sitting in the living
room looking at TV Pow pow pow pow pow Five shots real close Next door Within seconds the police department was
there I want to thank them because they did a good job They found the person took him out of the house and did whatever we had to do What I like is the next
day two officers came back knocked on my door and asked me if you could hear anything the night before I said "Yes we did." We did I live on Pleasant Avenue I sit down 213 West
Pleasant It's not Pleasant anymore The shooting used to used to be up at near Main Street And I believe one young man was killed I've chose to put in my petition to run for city council I know this is not political but I'm going to let you
know who it is God is in control of everything Everything God put every one of you up in that seat I'm going to bring forth a message as I run Not to talk about
anybody but just to look at the issues that that are happening in Pleasantville school system in Pleasantville There's a lot going on As you look at the agenda I want to
thank Joanne Farmer She is a former board member for school board And I don't care what it is You have committees and each chair is responsible to share with all of the seven of you
what goes on in the committee It should not be a bo a a a council person to stand up or to make a comment Listen if you're going to vote on a position every one of you council have to know what is the
job how much does it pay and is it needed There should never be a meeting where you come to and none of the board members or one of the two of the board members don't know why we voting on the job that we don't even have in front of
us the job description Okay Now I know the school board is different from the council but committees are committees and committees are set up to make it smaller and not
have a a board a council of five or four I would ask that as I study you guys and see what you do as counselors that I will look at the ball too Um one
more thing on the agenda You have the bike the bike uh path Uh congratulations to your marriage and um but I I'd like to know what the school district is going to do with that
bike path There's a something we came up with and wanted to know what the school was going to do Um and I'm going to leave it at that Okay Um thank you Mr P Okay Thank you Um that's it Next we have Miss Anna Quintana
1503 on place Um my first question is with this public safety director What um why do we need one and really for the city of Pleasantville as strapped as we are why would we strap
ourselves more with another one what is what does this public safety director do does anybody have a question because I'm interested What's your statement i'm sorry Um the public safety director what
what is their job what what is their job description what are they supposed to do who reports to me well I'm sorry Look well I don't have it in front of me I can just speak I can speak I can speak generally It's
okay So I think that and I I understand completely and there is a job description I It has to be flushed out a little bit more It was developed by our labor council Our labor council works with titles through civil service This is a civil service jurisdiction So it's not just a a job is being created and
someone's being hired for that job There is a process and the process and the first step in that process is that the there has to be an ordinance creating it adding it to the number of positions within the city Then it goes to civil service Civil service decides whether or
not they're going to allow it Then there's essentially it could sit for 10 years or not If you look at the organizational chart there are titles that are not filled and they're there and sometimes the titles are removed So it could be for efficiency purposes to have that there is a director of fire
but there's no fire director So it's not an expenditure of money until which time the position is filled and it could remove other positions depending on what's happening It could consolidate because it's public safety and not just police It could be fire and police but
there are things that need to be fleshed out and discussed So while it may seem that everything should be tight and wrapped up right now there is a process that takes a while and so you have to start it at some point and you're not going to necessarily nor should they have all of the answers today because
civil service may come back and say something So the first this is nothing more than the first step and that is police director excuse me public pro uh public safety director which is has become throughout the state of New Jersey a very efficient position because
it allows a civilian who is not uniformed and who does not have essentially you can kind of fix the salaries different and that's the same thing with the salary range that's not fixed There's no salary attached to this position yet and that's why there's no job description attached to it It's a
public safety and there are certain standards by the way with civil service connected to a public safety director position If civil service says yes you can have a a public safety director they could say "Okay fine We'll leave it here for the next two years We'll see what
happens." Or they could say "Okay let's do some shifts Talk to the union Talk to whomever Come to a decision about whether or not they want to have this over fire and police or just police and fire." So I don't want I don't want to speculate and I don't want the the
public to to speculate about how this position will be utilized because it's a little premature to give too much information because there we haven't even been approved by civil service yet But you this is your second reading You have to because that's the only way an ordinance can be passed right but okay I
know that other state I hope this is not affecting my time Okay Um I know that other state um cities here in New Jersey do have one I know Atlantic City has one Do they have a Oh yeah they have one or director Okay Okay But they can afford
it You can Well Well I'm thinking they make more money than we do Yeah It's it's all it's all relative because it also depends on what else you have right it depends on your chain of command and that's where it can be efficient And if you and if you misuse any title or any
position or you have too many of any positions it can be a huge expenditure So it depends on how you manage it You know because let's say for instance you have a police director and a fire director Well those are two salaries can be very expensive where traditionally and the reason why they came up with
public safety director is because they would be over both departments So but if we have a fire chief and we have a chief um for we have a fire chief and we have a police chief why do we need somebody else that's all
I'm asking That makes sense to me because we really can't You know my thing is a lot of sometimes this is like transparency and we've had a lot of it on this board Okay so that's why I'm asking the question do we really need
this and why are we going to strap ourselves even more than what we are we're trying to move money from one internal account to the other to pay bills and stuff We It's got to get some kind of tight We We got to get some kind of control over this Just because someone has this and and all the states
do and because it's you're saying it's um you know it might not happen for a couple of years It may never happen It may never happen but still we can't really this city really can't afford it But it it there you're not voting They're not voting to determine whether
they can afford it or not because there's no expenditure to this It's like anything It's like registering to vote And it's poor analogy but you may not believe in the process but when it comes time to doing it if you're not registered you don't have an option If they want to have an option they're
putting it before civil service It may sit there and it may never be funded but it's just the process for having it an approval in in the event depending on how they want to move and and you know I mean I I'm not this isn't my I'm not the brainchild I just feel like I'm going
it's like going around the rosie bush here you know ring around the rosie I mean I understand all this but I I really don't understand why this is even on here That's what I'm trying to say I say the city of Pleasantville cannot afford any more people than what they
got Our payroll is large enough Thank you Next we have Miss Felicia Good evening everybody Um Felicia Morales here I am the founder of More Love Restoration Community Center That's a nonprofit Our platform is homelessness
Every second Saturday of every month we go out and we feed those who are hungry and um they could be homeless or not but we just tried to feed Um our goal is to provide a safe haven for those who are hurting in our city Right now we're doing phase one which is we're trying to
get housing for our veterans who are for transitional housing We're back around services I just want to let you know that we are in the um community from November 2023 to now we fed over 1,800 people and we articles of clothing and things to keep them um um like for
weather for this Right now we're in winter So we give them things to keep them warm in the winter and we give them things to keep them cool in the summer Over um almost 1500 people now So we just want to let you guys know that we are here We need your support Um you
could come and join us every second Saturday We need at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church We partner with them They help us with the food and all that kind of good stuff Just want to let you know that we're here trying to make a difference in the community If there's any grants or anything available please let us know We can use as much help as
possible Thank you so much God bless you Thank you Thank you for all your work Sorry Thank you for all your work Thank you Next we have Mr Archie Good evening everyone
Madam President I have uh one more question for the mayor Is it all right question Yes Um mayor planning board members It's an easy question Johnny Sanders having attended a meeting since co
um why are we still holding on to him and not fill that position the second person is Neil Lockett if I'm not mistaken haven't attended a meeting for at least a year Bottom line why haven't we filled that position or would you um
Yeah that's the bottom line I'll leave right there Why haven't we filled those positions cuz Johnny hasn't been there He was coming when we started back um the meetings in the courthouse Now he was out since co you just came back last week That
sounds like a long time members that uh have been out because I know you mentioned some else before but there's many meetings that were been that were um but maybe since you guys were just because of co he was out he wasn't even on a co I mean on the zoom meetings he
wasn't even attendance on that So so what I'm getting by is that if the person's not there and it's up to you and he's an individual from the public there's some more people in President that can help you out See that's what I'm saying It's helping you out He's
helping the city out as far as the planning board Just like the other gentleman if he's not there replace him I mean because if I'm not coming then I don't want to be there Don't hold it Put somebody from the public in that position Next No I just want to answer
But that's something that's been discussed because of the reasons that they said they were coming when we came back into the courthouse He didn't show up That's something we'll discuss further Yeah And your next question So if he doesn't show up on the next meeting will you replace him that's
something we will discuss We need help So Mr R So uh next question When the gentleman got sick back here last last week yeah Uh it it took a little time and
somebody helped me out with understanding the process I think phone call was made to the police department Yes And I guess I had to go to Harper Township and then come back here I guess I don't know But my other question relating to this we got the fire
department next door There's no medical individuals over there could have came over here and help us out Okay But I didn't see them back there You thought they were outside no they were inside They were inside In that
corner I seen the police No that was the fire department So we was waiting for the medicine We wait for that I stand to be corrected My fault
they good Now since everybody was collectively involved I would ask you to collectively help our mayor out so we can get personnel on that planning board in those videos Thank you ladies and gentlemen Amen And brother Lawson Good
luck and thank you everybody Next we have Miss Linda Carson Yes Good evening everyone Good evening And I'd like to say thank you young lady for so elaborately explaining what the deal is with this um
safety person that that that's supposed to be anticipating arrival Thank you so much for that explanation Um and and and and I don't want to have any reason not to trust you Thank you for the transparency Um Mayor Ward good
afternoon Um I do want to mimic the same regards as Mr Archie at the planning board when I've heard your remarks and I'm satisfied that you will discuss it and we'll hear something after that Do you know how soon that will be though will it be a month two months three
weeks 900 Okay All right So all right So in the face of transparency um council one of the things that I want to happen is I want to see agenda items more
specific than this This is very vague and as you know a lot of us come to these meetings and we like to read We like to read to see what is going on in our cities And with these with this vague agenda we we don't
really know that what you're passing until you've already passed it or had a second reading or a third reading or how many readings So for transparency sake I would like to have something more detailed Now I know that people have
asked for something more detailed and the rationale behind the lack of receiving the agenda more detailed is um ambiguous It's not acceptable We want to read what you're going to approve After
all we have a right to know right do we have a right as citizens to know what you're going to approve do we do we maybe I'm I'm overstepping my bounds to ask for something more so that if you're going to pass something that I'm going
to challenge then tell me if I'm out of line here Do we have the right to see an agenda with more detail do we have a right to ask it and I know you're looking at me and you probably can't
answer but it is my hope if you plan to be transparent with us Please give us something that we can work with because we are citizens and you know that we care We've proven that we we care So we want something a little
bit more detailed because it seems to me that when you fail to give me something that I asked for and I have to go and Oprah this and Oprah that and wait many moons to receive an answer or to receive the Oprah you've already passed what
I've required So I do wish I do want to see an agenda more transparent or give me an answer that is not elementary as to the reason why I can't have something more detailed If you don't give me
something more detailed then I will assume and you know what an assumption does I will assume that you have something to hide from me And if you're hiding something it's going to be made known So
just for transparency please we would like to have something more detailed We don't look like other cities and we're maybe we're not supposed to but we can at least not play on the intelligence of this fine city or these city of folks
that we can have something more detailed and we can ask questions without being angry all the time We can add we can talk about things without being angry all the time Why because we're informed Nobody is hiding anything from
us You're being forthright You're being truth You're telling the truth upfront We don't have to go behind the scenes to discover that you've been lying to our faces So please if we can have something more detailed I would
like to have it more detailed And um thank you madame president for letting me go over um my minutes and I thank you and um Mayor Ward I will be looking forward to your answer regarding the um planning Thank you Thank you Thank you
Next we have Mr Tim Jones Hello Good evening everyone Tim Jones 21 pleasville I I do um appreciate a lot of the words that I've heard this evening from on both sides here from um our our audience as well as um like from Miss
Cosby with regards to the answer to the explanation as to the public safety director position It's good to hear that when if if and when it comes time to actually hire that position there will be other discussions and the public will have another chance to engage the process at that time which is u my
understanding of how that goes And so that's that's a good thing Um so I would like to um uh also um take this time to um address a few things that I heard um during the night One of them is resolution 71 um which is the um
appearance before the board of utilities My simply question for that is when when and where is it because I think the public could actually benefit from actually being there because as you know we've kind of been pushing for lights in our city and I think at that meeting we could be a place that we could actually
take a stand for our city at the same time fight against this rate increase So do you have a um information as to when when and where that is no I do not Okay Well we looking for that information I guess I don't know where to find it but it should be advertised Yeah Why but
nobody sabotaging the press Nobody's reading that So we we don't have to have way of doing it But I think it's a good thing for the public to come out and support our city in many ways at that meeting instead of you know just there's an item resolution 77 um
transfer funds temporary appropriation Could you give us elaboration as to what's transferred for what purpose madam sure good evening Mr Jones How are you how are you good Uh basically this what this resolution does is in the
first quarter of the year we introduce what is called the temporary budget appropriation So we are now a little bit beyond that and we're expired Once we get our state budget approved then we can move on and bring in the full permanent budget The resolution 77 what
it does is when you do a temporary budget it expires um mid mid-March So now we're going into April and we have to pay vendors electric bills employees contractors So that's what it does It it extends it
from a temporary budget to what the statute calls it an emergency temporary appropriation Very good Thank you very much Thanks for the explanation Thank you Another point that came out was um and this goes back to a meeting several meetings ago where we had a police chief
u come here to um speak on police matters He suggested that there's software that would be available through county resources that we could use for our stats and and various other activities and it was mentioned here during the budget um um the bill list um
I think it was Agular software and I think that's the police software and I just think that needs to be considered cuz I know that's that's costing us a pretty penny as well whatever that software is and give consideration to that in respect to what we perhaps get free through whatever that police chief
is speaking DCA Yeah DCA Yeah but he was speak as I you understand he was talking about the comat crimes system Does that have anything to do with the software is it apples and oranges it's a whole training mechanism but it's also a software program that
but it's it's a data-driven process So it's they've got to be trained on it and I don't know the exact software if there are multiple softwares but it's cuz I'm saying it may be a replacement for something like this that we we current I I don't think that they're interchangeable Okay I don't I don't
know That's a lot of attorney general guidelines and that's what you know uh a lot of stuff has to be done All right One more time Thank you Thank you I do appreciate that comments regarding more information We will
continue to pursue that Thank you Council President Yes Mr Jones Yes I wanted to say to you that on here it has a letter to call for um BPU if you're if anyone's interested in that Oh okay Let me write it down
[Applause] I'm ready Okay 800 624 0241 Thank you Okay Of course you can always contact the government's office too but
that is the number You're welcome Next we have Thank you Mayor Next we have Mr Royal Thank you Next we have David Carrington I thank you May I have a motion to close
public portion madam Person agenda ordinance number one second reading public care required amending the ordinance number 24-205 which created departments divisions and positions in the city
roll public hearing Oh I'm sorry Anyone for public hearing for ordinance number one [Music] seeing no one may I have a motion to
close public portion i mean public hearing Second All in favor and may I have a motion for number one may I have a second roll call Femalo No
Pomona Yes Clark yes Ogusby yes Bettis yes Swepson yes Thomas yes Ordinance adopted Ordinance number two second reading public hearing required adopting a green purchases policy in the city May
I have a motion public hearing Oh sorry Anyone from the public would like to make a statement or have anything for ordinance number two ordinance number two public hearings
What is the reduced adopting a green purchasing policy it's right there at the bottom You have their establish a policy institutes She got it Anyone have a motion to close the public
hearing oh wait It's just pertaining to ordinance number two No this is public hearing May I have a second to close public hearing second All in favor may I have a motion for ordinance number
two motion Second May I have a second call Yes Pimona Yes Clay yes Okusy yes Bettis yes Swepson yes Tomley yes Ordinance adopted Ordinance number three public
hearing required establishing adopting and completing Green Street's policy in the city Anyone would like to speak to ordinance number three public hearing seeing no one may I have a
motion to close public hearing may I have a second second All in favor may I have a motion for ordinance number three i move it They have a second Roll call
Emilo yes Kimona yes Barlay yes Yes Bettis yes Sweepson yes Thomas yes Ordinance adopted Ordinance number four first reading a bond ordinance provided for various sewer and roadway improvements for the city appropriating
$4,600,000 Therefore including state of New Jersey Department of Transportation grants to1 million1,250,732 and authorizing the issuance of $4,600,000 bonds or notes of the city to
finance the cost thereof May I have a motion motion May I have a second second Roll call Penal Yes Kimona Yes Barlay Yes August Yes Bettis Yes Swepson Yes Thomas Yes Ordinance move to second
reading scheduled for April the 21st Ordinance number five provide ordinance providing for various 2025 capital acquisitions and improvements for the city appropriate $1,825,000 Therefore including the state
of New Jersey Department of Transportation grants totaling $818,000 and authorizing the issuance of $968,250 bonds or notes of the city to finance part of the cost thereof May I have a motion
may I have a second second Roll call Folaro Yes Perona Yes Yes Old yes Sweepson Yes Thomas yes Ordinance move to second reading scheduled for August the 8th of the 21st
Resolution 68 authorizing the city to execute a renewal agreement under an upgraded master agreement with Sound Thinking Incorporated also formerly known as Shot Spotters Incorporated May I have a motion move May I have a second
second Paula yes Kimona yes Park yes Ogresby yes Bettis yes Swepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 69 terminating the deed notice to be
replaced by a notice in lie of a deed pursuant to the new church department of protection all as set forth in its letter of May the 16 2024 May I have a motion sure May I have a second second Roll call
Yes Colona yes Sparkle yes Obispy yes Vettis yes Swepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 70 authorizing the mayor and the city clerk to execute an agreement with the county of Atlantic Municipal Alliance Grant
Program for the Governor's Council on Substance Use Disorder Physical Cycle October the 20 25 to June the 2026 May I have a motion motion May I have a second second
Paul Peer yes Pomona yes Barlay yes Ogresby yes Bettis yes Sweptson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 71 opposition of the approval of Atlantic City Electric to increase
rates more than 17% in June 2025 and a call on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to reject a proposed additional rate increase of 8% May I have a motion motion May I have a second second Call
Famil Yes Kimona yes Barlay yes Ogresby yes Battis yes Sweepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 72 appointing Kenya News Akuna as the qualified purchasing agent for the city
May I have a motion motion May I have a second second Warfall Emma Yes Pomona Yes Rockclan Yes Ogusby Yes Vettis Yes Swepson Yes Thomas Yes Resolution
approved Resolution 73 authorizing a fire emergency demolition at 23 turnpike on March 23rd 2025 in amount of $7,000 May I have a motion motion May I have a
second second Roll call Bear Yes Kimona yes Barlay yes Ogresby yes Vettis yes Swepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 74 proclaiming the month of April as autism awareness month
May I have a motion motion May I have a second second Roll Femal Yes Kimona yes Barlay yes Augustine yes Bettis yes Sweepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved
Resolution 75 Gretner approval of a Jeep Festival on June the 28th at the Tilton Avenue Ballpark May I have a motion motion May I have a second second Roll call Ever yes Pomona yes Barlay yes
Overby yes Badis yes Swepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 76 granting approval of a Latin music festival on August the 23rd at the Tilton Avenue Ballpark May I have a motion motion May I have a second second
Roll call Famila Yes Kimona yes Barlay yes Ogusby yes Bettis yes Swepson yes Thomas yes Resolution approved Resolution 77 authorizing emergency temporary appropriations pursuant to NJ
SA4A colon 4-20 May I have a motion i have a second Second Paul thank you I heard voices Kimona I'm sorry Yes
Kimona yes Roy Clay yes Bettis yes So notice yes Thomas yes Resolution approved I need a motion to approve the bills motion May I have a motion may I have a
second that was yes Kimona yes Clang yes Opus yes Abstain Swepson yes Thomas yes Motion to approve
Next is comments from council and mayor Mayor do you have anything and I'd like to thank you all for coming out Um and wish everyone a happy Easter We had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday Just beat the rain and the kids had a good
time with that And also I'd like to say uh congratulations We had two boxers at Tropicana a couple weeks ago that won their boxing match Julio Sanchez and um what's the other's name i forget the other boxers name but they
represented well county and they boxing matches and congratulations to them everyone have a good evening council woman Uh I would like to make a motion to resend ordinance number 4 2020
and resolution 127 2021 They both deal with the transfer station I would like to make a motion to resend both of those So I think that this this resolution
121-2021 ordinance 4 hyphen 220 and resolution 127 hyphen 2021 Right So um I think that it's out of order I don't have it in front of me There's
been has there been any notice given to council that you plan on moving to rescend it no Okay So I'm going to advise council president that that um rescension motion is out of order Um if
it were valid it would require 23 vote of council but this is from 2021 and 2020 There may be a reliance issue if they're already in contract I I you know I don't even have anything in front of me to tell me what it is except I know you said the transfer station but short
of that well they were just rescended at the planning board meeting but that's the planning board and I don't know where they are in their vote with it That's the the issue They voted it down They voted Yeah So they so they voted it down You would like the city to vote it down Then
they send it back over here to us and we see the minutes and you have with your committee and you talk to them and or give some notice advanced notice Even for sensions if it's not the same night typically you have to give notice If you went into they passed a resolution
without giving the audience legal advice but if there was a resolution that passed tonight and then somebody who voted in favor of it wanted to rescend it you don't need to have notice Then you could as long as you get the second you can move it through But this is so
remote in time that it would it it could essentially open up the city without having more information and without giving notice in advance to them So council president to that's my opinion Who do we have to give notice to your council colleagues that you plan on
moving to resend well get all the information together and I will bring it up at the next meeting the city council meeting So everybody is on notice that I will bring it up They can all do their due diligence The public can do their due diligence and speak on it I will bring
it up again Thank you Thank you [Applause] She wants to change her vote from a yes to a no Anyone else that's it Anyone else i
yeah if I if I may Madam President the tag on the last item uh I do recall that procedurally in concurrence with council that whatever action that the planning
board they have to send it back to us anyway relative to I support uh that that council relook this and and as she's requested
So also I wanted to say to to the citizens that uh often times uh you know government has to plan uh on certain things that particularly
when it involves personnel that they can't be as transparent as they would like to be uh because of as was explained by council uh certain restrictions by other authorities that uh that impose on the
state level But one of the issues that I've observed is that you have employees making plans and decisions that the government should be making You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow But if you got an idea that
something might happen that you don't want you need to plan Because trust me those people who are opposed to what your governing body may want they got their plans They got they made their plans and
they're exercising And now we got to come from behind to make the plans that are in the best interest of the citizens You can trust and assure that all those positions on the organizational
uh manpower plan ain't going to be all filled at one time We know we can't afford it but we have to have a plan to be able to act when we're supposed to actually uh and not be reactive to what
somebody else who has no authority You didn't elect them to do some of the things that they're doing That's one reason why I'm here to help do things that are supposed to be done the right way by this body
and not the things that other people want while they line their pockets with our money with parachutes I'm going to leave it alone to them So council Yeah I want to thank everybody for
coming out I just want to give everybody the news that sometime this month you don't start seeing the sweep sweepers out there in the streets cleaning the streets So it will be like a week week and a half I think should be having the
machines out there cleaning the streets All streets Anyone else all streets downtown uh the city and through to the whole city especially Main Street We got uh what we got three machines Yes sir Yes Three small ones
and one big one So they're going to start working pretty soon Two small ones Two small Two small ones Yeah two small ones Anyone else yes Uh I just want to comment on the issue of the trans station and I appreciate the fact that
my colleague made a promise that she'll be bringing up here My advice that it has to go to a committee hear first so that we can dissect it and know what we are coming to vote on that doesn't happen as it comes here with a surprise you know it may not pass
by the text of some of us so I would like to advise that if anyone receive the information let it be assigned to the committee that will make the recommendation committee would that be the president would know which exactly in this case council is a committee
there is no committee that oversees that's why I said the president would know a council as a So this is Yeah So um it has to be discussed first in detail before being introduced to the entire entire uh public Yeah I don't
understand what you're saying I don't understand what you're trying to say Okay What I'm trying to say is this And we receive response from the board We have to discuss it in detail in our meeting and know what we put voting on
You said it should be taken to our meeting What committee the com council as a whole We have to discuss it more ourselves before bringing the public to see who want to vote Understood Anyone else
they have a motion to adjourn [Music]