the public law I wish to state that on March 7 2025 noce of this meeting of the upper toship committee posted on the official board the Upper Township website email the City Press the Ocean
City s lger the Herold times file with the township cler tonight's meeting is also video up until the Avail theer I I direct this announcement be
made part of the minutes of this meeting would everyone please stand for flag Al to the flag of United States of America to the repic for it stands Nation indice Mr caceo Mr na here Mr Sam
Palumbo here Mr Zach Palumbo here Mayon yes all members are present um everyone had an opportunity review February 24th 125 regular minutes yes somebody like to make a motion make a
motion that we approve the minutes from last meeting second call Mr Casio Mr na Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zach Palumbo yes mayor Corson yes motion [Applause] carried Sam you like sure sounds great
um we had our first Rec Advisory board on February 25th um really great productive meeting talking about kind of getting every one registered uh protecting the township and the individual organizations um making sure they're certified in the
proper way um as well as just excited for the athletes for their Seasons to start um so soccer lacrosse softball flag football which is an intriguing one through the NFL um cheerleading uh you know as well as baseball you know if
you're interested in there's programs some of them have already started already but make sure you reach out and get your kid registered I go you have sure do good evening everybody thank you so much as always for coming out it's been a uh very busy time for the Township in a very exciting time uh
Tyler and I attended the small business dinner uh last Thursday at the tuo in so thanks to blanch I see out there in the audience for inviting us to speak um we spoke about what's going on in the township and all of our grant money that weed a lot of programs that we're doing and it was really great to meet some of
the uh business owners in town and just kind kind of chitchat with them about uh everything that's going on uh highlighted that meeting we gave a certificate to action supplies celebrating 40 Years of business in the township special to me is the towers
grew up in my neighborhood and they're good friends and it was really awesome to award them and to remember um Mr Tower who passed away a few years ago and uh the amazing things that are still going on with Action Supply um on the
public safety building front and that's what I want to make uh very clear that we're going to be calling this a public safety building not an EMS building because uh all Public Safety in in Upper Township's going to be utilizing it uh the only update I have on that so far is we've received a multitude of support
letters from RMS marora fire takaho fire upper rescue and ocbd have all sent letters of support um and then the last thing it's just kind of cool going on in the town I'm sure you've heard uh Steven Spielberg one of my childhood Idol and favorite directors of all time uh
shooting a movie in our little town and we're trying to support them as best as possible we've been working back and forth with them for months Curtis has been huge with that and it's been been great and it's going to be really cool to see our our little town in a UFO movie directed by stepen Spielberg
that's all I have tonight thank you Z you have any yeah uh so I want to say now two weeks ago Craig and I met and he brought up the concerns of Strath and the beach and the lack thereof and the beach erosion that's
there on Friday uh the mayor myself uh Craig Mike Jones all um and Joe and the DP members and Bill Hanley was also there and also uh Ry was also there um you know and
that was the concern is the beach erosion at at high tide like how's that a public safety aspect and also how's that going to affect properties that are there as well on the North End of Strat there so even at low tide when we met on
Friday it was visible you can see the cutouts on the uh walkways and also you can see the erosion of How High the waters come up you know from high tide and then on Saturday a family friend of mine actually flew a drone and took Imperial photos and uh streaming video a
video of of the thing and again even with the Westwind you can definitely tell that there was significant damage to the North End of the uh of the island so um you know we'll probably have more footage from that uh in the next couple weeks and then you know have to start game planning with the fact that there
is that significant erosion and with Summer quickly approaching we got to be a cognizant of not just how we're going to get lifeguards down there or also how are we going to keep the structures in contact as well so that's it for
me thank you mayor uh not a whole lot to add like Vic said we we attended the uh small business association's annual dinner last week had a really nice time meeting with uh business and Community leaders there establishing a good line of communication answering uh any of the
questions that any our local Business Leaders had and concerns trying to address them hear what their uh complaints and such were and how we could help them uh improve themselves and uh nothing to add as far as animal control reports this week everything
seems to be thanks just to follow up uh I'd like to thank everyone who did attend the Business Association meeting I was scheduled two months ago to go and uh obviously I couldn't make it I had a family
emergency superseded that so I thank you all for attending and speaking sure and following off on the beaches the scarfing is a problem um we will have probably the northern ID the island closed because I don't anticipate or see
a feasible way to open some of that so it's going to take some adjusting to get used to just like it was two years ago um everything is in our power is being done we talk to the D at length about replenishment
project about the hard structure and what are our options and possibilities and it's going to be a work in progress and should be quite interesting so Jo you have I have a couple items mayor
uh as you said and as councilman Columbo said uh the division of Coastal Engineering was here uh and just to add what you said uh we are requesting them applications for uh um a new uh dredging project even though we know uh that it's
not coming as soon as you'd like uh but he told us to get it in the pipeline so we'll request that I I'll ask for Ryan's help in that uh as well as a application for uh um pumping sand if if if C if the
township committee chooses to do that from from the bay we'll have to see the likelihood of that um but there were a couple options they gave us um that involve New Jersey Transit if I'm correct could say do the inter Coastal Way Department of Transportation Department transportation yes and it's
to dredge the channels and provide for safe votage through them so they have some brands for that and and they need places to put the the the strp spoils yep um last week last mon two weeks ago we we talked about the Cedar Square
shopping center I met with uh rich karski and Brian Keenan and they were a tremendous help um I want to thank them uh I know they contacted the owner um and once uh I guess there was some publicity regarding that the owner reached out to John uh is their attorney
I suspect John correct and asked for a meeting uh with the township committee uh so uh we're trying to schedule that and we'll give you an update on that but it was positive uh uh we shook the tree a little bit and hopefully they will uh
come forward and come with a plan to to at least uh start Renovations we'll see we'll see where they are um we also met with on the living Shoreline with st strair fishing and uh an environmental group and act engineering tonight
engineering is on the agenda they're going to prepare the Grant application uh and we're the conduit for that Grant application to uh stabilize the uh the shoreline in Strath Meir on the Bay Side
um we also met with uh uh the Woodbine mayor pck licki I believe is yes Bill P picki uh to talk about the next step in uh negotiating our host Community fee uh and uh we'll we'll will'll proceed uh
again John was reaching out to uh to others um uh and as a result of tonight's meeting Triad there's a resolution on there for the public safety building um they need the resolution and I think uh Wednesday is the deadline for submission
and they will be uh along with the resolution they'll be providing the application for the public safety building um and a brief update on on the uh Township administrator search it's ongoing as I I said um you folks saw the brochure put together and uh and
ultimately it went out to a couple thousand uh uh recipients and contacts that uh that we've identified so uh that's what I have here thank you have I have nothing thank you U mayor if I could just to uh just a
quick uh update on tonight's agenda we will have one additional matter to add to new business is number 35 um as you've heard me say before personel matters are typically discussed in closed session uh this evening there was a rice notice uh sent to Mr deoro that was signed requesting that uh any
discussion related to his employment as Personnel officer be discussed in Open Session uh so we're going to add that as number 35 tonight under new business as opposed to conducting an open or in Clos session that's all I have R you
thank you Mr Mayor just a couple things to touch on for our resurfacing project a to finalize our specification for sent them to Township staff for internal and then anticipating
um as Joe mentioned we did have a meeting regarding Shoreline I also had a meeting with Noah to confirm that stra fish environmental Club is still in place to receive the grant um by mid ail
early to mid April their response obviously we've seen everything that's happening with no Noah currently in the news but from that conversation they essentially could only give me at 90% that the grant would be approved and
received by Shion environmental Club Mid April so once that's received Township and fish environmental Club can enter into agreement in order for the township to send the project out the bid and then
ultimately proceed with construction hopefully June or July this year uh if we cannot get it done this year because of the regulations construction will be the following year following summer and
that's the construction is dictated by animals last updates I have are construction really roadway construction related for first one 50 we have an update they will be doing additional overlays very early stages for the
project but they're anticipating construction start in Spring of 2026 for portions of 50 um it's important to not that already doing overlay for one por
it's about miles in summer year this year and add the last one I have is Marshall bille Bridge Road um there is a preconstruction meeting on the 18th with
theot or and sorry the county um so the count is proceeding with removing and replacing that bridge with the steel trust uh they're anticipating the project to be substantially complete in July this year so I'll have some more
information that construction that's all than Mr Mayor if I can sorry I just negligent I do have one other item to add tonight uh under close session we can um just came to my attention today uh so we need to add another item for pending litigation it's
the case of Gary demaro versus Township of upper at Al we'll discuss that in close session tonight okay yes go with the 2025 budget we have the cap ordinance and budget introduction introduction and first
reading of ordinance number 1 2025 calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appr appropriation limits and to establish a c bank the public hearing would be April 14th would somebody like to introduce ordinance number one of 2025 with public
hearing on a I'll make that motion a second Mr sto yes Mr nappen yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zack Palumbo yes mayor Corson yes motion carried number two we
have the introduction of the 2025 budget t2s a legal budget can be adopted the one real piece of bad news in this bu you lost $645,000 St that's little over three cents
to away other things were done increases which normal increases as everybody knows where we are right now is not 3 and half% increases are exceed that every go bu a pie
$2 is cheap anymore it's going up everywhere the same results are in all the towns just about we have 53 of them and9 all over the place I met with everyone in groups
about sunsh law violation and discussed the budget for and a half gr went over everything and again the big Thorn is we lost 645,000 our tax levy is up
54,000 so 6459 away we're hoping we cut some Capital things back to allow for other spending increases again you're legal the public hearing
answer any questions public be on your website and this starts the budget process you are self-exam state that ton is start 2.9 INE with L
65,000 just Echo what Le said we would had a zero increase if we would not have lost it 6.4 645,000 so I think everyone here has done their job and I'd like to thank all our
professionals and staff that did a great job in holding but some things are just out of control so at this point I guess we need a motion to introduce the budget so I'd like to make a motion we introduced a 2025 budget for a public hearing final
adoption on April 14 second Mr caceo yes Mr nain yes Mr s Palumbo yes Mr Zack Palo yes mson yes motion carry number three we have authorizing the execution of a
group affidavit the governing body certification of compliance with United States equal employment opportunity commissions enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records and employment decisions under title eight of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 motion second Mr caceo yes Mr ma
yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Zack Palumbo yes forson yes motion carries there's any questions anyone 14 changes CH thank you very much thanks Le thank
you have a good night see you sir this time we open it up to the public did anybody public like to comment on any agenda item agenda items only all consent agenda items listed below are routine in nature and will be
enacted by one motion if the mayor any Committee Member wish is a particular agenda item to be considered separately it will be removed from the cons agenda and acted on separately one of my colleagues has conf with item number 22 it number 22 motion to approve the consent agenda
except for item 22 second please Mr caceo yes Mr nappin yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zach Palumbo yes mayor Corson yes motion carried for number 22 we have authorizing a contract with act engineers in for
engineering consultant services for the straff Mir living Shoreline project motion to approve second please call the r Mr caceo Mr daen yes Mr s Palumbo yes Mr zacho yes M Corson yes motion
carried under new business we had the Parish of St maximilan Colby request to hold raffle ra 589 at 200 tuo Road marur on August 16th 2025 motion to approve second Mr caceo yes Mr nappin yes Mr Sam
Palumbo yes Zach Columbo yes M Corson yes motion carried 32 country Shore Women's Club request to hold Bingo ba590 and raffle ra 591 at the Upper Township community center 1790 Route 50 tuo on April 12th 2025 motion to approve
second Mr caceo yes Mr nappin yes s Palumbo yes Mr Zach Palumbo yes may Corson yes motion carried 33 potential revenue streams from existing short-term rental regulations so this is something I had put on here um I I had always
thought when the short-term rental discussion was going that we could somehow figure out a way for it to become a revenue Stream So the thought process from my end is not changing any of the language and defining what is or isn't a short short-term rental that was
was done via the previous administration and done uh through like a smaller focus group uh but in my experience and I've stated a few airbnbs vacations Etc you know when you when you go to check out at the end there's a little fee tacked on um that goes directly to the township
so my thought is as we face all these budgetary concerns and revenue issues and things of that nature to try to tap into the transient tourist Market that we have uh coming in and out to stay not stepping on the toes of any of our
residents and coming up with a common sense way to bring res Revenue into the township I've looked at a few neighboring towns and how they do things one is middle and I like some of the language in Middles to generate revenue
for us so I asked this to be put on there so that we could just start talking about coming up with a way to bring some dollars into the township do we have any uh we had some kind of registration I believe on our short ter
do we have any idea how many are just one just one um the current regulations exempt uh stra marmore town center and the Waterfront Development Area so there's but there could be some more in
that area that's the thought to tap into that the thought being you know if you're somebody if you're from way out of state you come in to stay for the week uh at a rental property that there's a a fee at the end what that's called or how it's
labeled varies from town to town but that it would be a burden to bear of the the tourists coming through not the homeowner so we would need to tap into that to in order for this to be become something of any significance the
current regulations exemp except for those areas that are exempt don't allow short-term rentals if you have um for under an acre under seven days and for over an acre under seven days I'm sorry under three days for um over an acre and
under seven days for for one of those combinations that's so we would have to change the existing if you're going to do is there any way to analyze how many shortterm rentals we have through these Airbnb verbo
airb um there's the OC NJ there's another one uh be short of just going on there and putting in your zip code and looking through them seeing there there are there are some on there uh I just think it's an even if it's if it's not huge dollars but it's just dollars that
are are sitting there uh it's a fee that I've paid and two other towns when going there so however we decide to go forward and however we can sort of uncork that I just thought it would be prudent to look into it what's our next step well right now you have an ordinance was
adopted last year I mean you'd essentially be seeking to amend that I think because a lot of what's included in that I assume you don't want to get rid of there's a lot of good stuff in there so I mean you'd be seeking an amendment to that ordinance to change some of the current terms or to add terms that don't presently exist that you'd like to have at that's what you need to do next and then way down the
line you're G to have Beasley's point it's going to be very high tourism area to come up with a way to yeah to benefit yeah as you've got it set up right now just to to the deputy mayor's point he used Middle Township as an example they
charge a higher uh annual fee per rental than we do by more than double uh and they do it's a 3% tax that they impose on every booking in their municipality so 3% of the total state with a few exclusions related to tax and some other things in that number but they're then collecting that on the back end from
each of these rentals so could be a substantial Revenue driver depending on how many places you have registered so how do we proceed to sort of put that if it's the pleasure of the governing body for us to consider an amended ordinance we U you guys could vote on that then we can get to the drafting
process um as to an amendment to the ordinance and once we get it into a form that's acceptable to everybody we can vote to to approve it should we wait until we do that research to see what if it's significant or yeah I mean that's that's completely at at your pleasure it just seemed like that's what Curtis was
curious before why I mean I see like if the be Point project gets built that's going to be a primary one of the primary uses there so it may be something we need to get in place before
that happens not too early to start So currently uh I believe that that area is Exempted under your current ordinance from the registration requirements the Waterfront Development Center which I believe is yeah the entirety of the beas point project that we're talking about but if we're want
to try to use airbn for a tax stream revenue or Revenue stream I think even the exemp are would be all of them yeah we can look into that I'm not sure the basis for the exemption or why it exists but we can look at that as part of this
process I think okay so we'll continue to have that discussion we won't make any action maybe at this time but I just wanted to state that and make it abundantly clear that uh no changes to this idea of you know people staying for
a single night in neighborhoods or anything like that just more just trying to be smart and utilizing the fact that you know we do have this great tourism sort of yeah Revenue stream available to the township
that's it okay next next one is boat ramp fees every year we can have obvious we try um we can change the fees by resolution it's here for discussion because
obviously you have committee last year we actually in and we were to the clock uh our boat ramp frees are consistent with our neighboring communities I don't think we should change them but we're
back to Rue so it's here for discussion we're already a think there's any reason already uh within our surrounding areas all the other surrounding area towns I don't think there's need to scalp any more money from I agree especially after you're
seeing how we just got nailed by the state with that 675,000 cut you know we don't want to be tapping into our people for anything extra so I would say keep it as is good leave thank you uh so so the next item under new
business uh as again I indicated earlier uh there's a personel matter up for discussion tonight uh rice notice was sent uh to the employee Mr demarzo and I know here this evening uh upon receipt of the rice notice he signed and requested that any discussion related to his employment as Personnel officer be
conducted an open session so uh we're in Open Session now uh we'll open that up for discussion um just to advise the board or or the governing body as to where we stand uh you'll recall that through resolution 51-25 uh the governing body authorized
labor Council who is also here and present uh tonight Mr blay and his office to prepare and MIT a layoff plan for the position of personnel officer to the New Jersey civil service commission that was done by his office uh and on March 3rd uh Civil Service authored a
letter that was uh received here in the office on the 7th uh approving the content of that layoff plan um So based on their approval there is a period of time required for which if this governing body were inclined to implement the plan um that you'd have to
provide uh the the affected employee uh a period of time before the layoff actually takes effect it's 45 days from the date of notice so tonight in order to proceed forward um with implementation of that plan if that's the choice of the governing body we do have to resolve to do that uh and I can
read the terms of a resolution prepared to that effect if that is your pleasure um tonight but um that that's kind of where things are in relation to uh the authorization provided to Mr Blay's office and the response from civil service related to our request
I'm prepared to act on this resolution so if you want to read it and then we can make motion so the resolution that's been prepared um it's titled implementation of layoff plan of personnel Officer Gary dearo as approved by the New Jersey New Jersey civil service
commission uh whereas to resolution 51-22 the governing body of the township of upper authorized labor Council to prepare and submit a layoff plan to the New Jersey civil service commission for the position of Personnel officer for purposes of economy and efficiency and whereas Gary demarzo held the role of
personnel officer for the township of upper at the time of submission of the layoff plan to the New Jersey civil service commission and he continues to be employed by the township of buer in that position as of the date of this resolution and whereas on March 3rd 2025 the New Jersey civil service commission approved the layoff plan for the
position of personnel officer for the township of buer for the purposes of economy and efficiency as submitted by labor Council on behalf of the township of buer and whereas the township of upper seeks to implement the layoff plan approved by the New Jersey civil service commission as it continues to be the position of
the governing body of the township that there no longer exists the need for a continued existence of a separate position of personnel officer in the township as the job duties is said Position will be assumed by other employees Andor contracted agents of the municipality um whereas pursuant to the requirements of New Jersey civil service
commission the layoff of personnel Officer Gary dearo will begin 45 days from the date of this resolution and Mr dearo shall continue to be compensated at his regular salary as Personnel officer until the date of his layoff now therefore be it resolved by the township Committee of the township of buer in the
cap in the county of Cape May state of New Jersey as follows uh first the allegations of the Preamble are Incorporated here in by reference second the township of upper hereby approves the immediate implementation of the layoff plan of personnel Officer Gary demarzo as approved by the New Jersey
civil service commission third Gary dearu shall continue to receive his salary attributable to the position of personnel officer until the effective date of his layoff which shall occur 45 days after the date of this uh resolution and service of uh required notices to the affected employee the
township administrator shall be required to serve the individual and generalized notices of layoff upon Mr Gary demarzo simultaneously upon approval of this resolution the governing body of the township of upper hereby determines that Gary demarzo Shall Serve the remainder of his period of employment for the
township remotely and on an as needed basis as detered by the township of Upper and its so discretion but his attendance at township hall shall no longer be required on a daily basis as of the date of this resolution's adoption within 48 Hours of any request
from the township administrator Gary dearo shall be required to return any and all Municipal property Andor equipment to the township administrator's office upon layoff of personel Officer Gary dearo the position of employment titled Personnel officer shall be eliminated and the duties of that position of employment shall be
transferred to the township administrator moving forward uh eth upon approval of this resolution Gary dearo shall also be removed from his positions as the township of buffer Municipal housing liazon Municipal joint Insurance Fund commissioner Ada coordinator and seasonal parking code
enforcement officer uh lastly this resolution shall be effective immediately and is intended to ratify confirm and approve any formal action taken by the township committee so that's the approved resolution um it's again at the pleasure of this body as to
have any ACC to be taken does anyone have any questions noove second Mr CIO upon advice from legal councel Iain Mr nappin yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zack Palumbo yes may
Corson yes motion carried with four in favor one exstension at this time need to be yeah that's fine please let the record indicate that Jesus Township administrator Township administrator the papers
directed The Med next one anybody on mot go ahead I hereby move that all claims submitted for payment of this me meeting be approved and then Incorporated in the full in the minutes of this meeting
second I have to obain on my uh line night of item number 00185 bill number 00173 Mr caceo Yes except for those two Mr napin yes Mr Sam Palumbo yes Mr Zach
Palumbo yes M Corson yes Mo car open back up to public is anyone in public like address Natalie n 759 Route 50 Petersburg um the last meeting February 24th the
Bill's list was motioned second and with all five board members voting yes then someone said script I think that's what I heard I think I heard the word script and I don't understand what
happened after that I think somebody heing I don't know so there was it yeah um I I had advised um I guess was two of the governing body members that they needed to abstain from at least one of the bill line items
related to Mr uh Norman Briggs so he was previously Township councel for a matter uh litigation matter um up through and I don't have the dates in front of me but he was essentially asked to assist in that matter and then later asked to to stand down from any further involvement
he never filed any pleading so there was no formal representation on the record in that case but he got out of that case soon thereafter um the columbos retained his services for A Private Matter so my recommendation to them was based on that they should abstain from any any vote on approval of his uh invoice to the
township but my recollection is that to the the meeting was rolling along and then we got to the point where we were going to approve the bill L like that's what happened and then he wanted to make sure to go back and say no I want to stay off that one item
after all five members voted yes we'd have to listen to it again are you asking or telling well I know it was after okay just trying he just trying to make a simple correction I'm sorry he was just trying to make a simple correction that's all well I don't think it was a simple correction and I mean
aren't you following Robert's Rules of Order yes are you sure the mistake was made they abstained from the voting on paying from one B just like Mr CIO
Tay what was the one bill that they abstained from it was Mr Brigg's invoice for legal services for what you rece for Legal Services to the township so he handles more than one case for the township possibly he is not now handling
anything for the township but he previously was handling a matter has since stopped handling that matter we paid him an invoice that was sent for a short representation in the case okay I still feel that it was not appropriate because there was nothing
said um until after the vote was taken and we're sorry you feel that way all he they were trying to do is just do things the right way okay and then tonight again Mr Cassio um he abstained and
um again he didn't leave the room I have no idea why all I know is that there were two numbers given there the public doesn't know what those two numbers reflect public record if you would like to reference those tomorrow you can come up and go through the
bills yeah he had a conflict with one of the people being paid does business personally with that was the end he does not have to divulge his personal Vision with you but he had a conflict and took the high road and voted extinct yeah it's a small town from time
to time we have business relationships or things with people and we do our best to obstain and just keep everything nice and clean it's not meant in any sort of Nefarious way it's something that every governing body in every town does uh abstain here and there from certain
things nothing wrong in all due respect Mr KN and I don't think it's a good look you're right thank you is there anyone else from the public hearing no more public uh input we will entertain a motion to go in close
session I'd like to make a motion we go into close session Z read the good one I hereby move the resolution be incorporated into minutes authorizing the township committee to enter into executive session for the following matters pursuant to open public meetings
Act One Personnel two Safety and Security three potential litigation Prescott Avenue four pending litigation Gary dearo versus Township of Upper and at all five contract negotiation reconstruction of Prescott Avenue six
contract negotiation butter Road Landfill seven contract negotiation block 382 lots 1.01 and 1.02 I also includ in my motion to estimated time and circumstances under
which the discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public as followed a it is anticipated the matters discussed close session today may be disclosed to the public upon determination of the C committee and the public interest will no longer be Reserve uh be served by such
confidentiality B with respect of employment of personnel matters such discussions will be made public if and when formal action is taken or when the individuals involved consent that it can be made public C with respect to the
contract negotiations such matters will be made public when negotiations have ceased and there are no longer a reason for confidentiality in D with respect to litigation matters such discussions will be made public when litigation is complete and app applicable appeal
period has been expired second pleas call a r Mr Casio yes Mr nain yes Mr s Palumbo yes Zack Palumbo yes yes Mo car
take a break