I'd like to call to order the uh March 13th meeting of the commission of uh the veter city commission uh if I could draw raise for a flag salute please alance to the flag United States of America to The Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible
Liberty Justice all Thank you Lisa will you uh take roll call please commissioner langra here commissioner Mento here mayor Kel here Lisa we read the open public meeting announcement please pursuance to the
open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided the agenda for this meeting is posted in the city hall and on Venter City's website thank you uh will you leave the live streaming announcement please the city of Venter offers live streaming and the option of public comment via remote
access as a convenience to the public in the event remote access is unavailable for any reason beyond the city's control the city will not pause or stop the live meeting the city reserves the right to discontinue remote access at the discretion of the city for any future
meetings Thank you Lisa uh this evening we have two resolutions um first resolution 2025 d04 is resolution regarding the uh the authorization of the municipal budget read only by title
2025 um we have um I have Leon here for adding some local color for that and some description if you if you if you would um and the second resolution zero five is uh the introduction of the municipal budget so would you like to
Sure minutes so tonight is officially the introduction of your budget which means that it now is up for uh public comment on April 10th once it gets advertised and once you if you vote to inter uce it your state self-exam so the
state won't even look at this one the um if you've been following along almost every town has an increase and rather decent size increases like two three four cents across the board this is
um a period of time when everything is going up I don't care what you look at it's it's going up insurance goes up a lot Electric's going up a lot you pay your employees more every single year and I know that from doing this
for for doing this for my 51st year that what you spend in 25 you're going to spend more in 26 it's just the way it's going to be you you provide all the services that aren't profitable or some private company be doing it make money on it so the your your ratables are
increasing at a decent amount it has been now for past several years since the reval um we're legal we're well within both we could spend another $670,000 if we wanted to we could raise another $420,000 in taxes if we wanted to every
stay within the limits we stay within the limits right every uh 212 221,000 is a penny so you know we could actually add two more cents to this if we wanted to that's not our intention uh your debt positions pretty
good the compar compon from last year to this year salaries up 4.2% which is really not a lot considering how your salary structure works with the police and fire steps you there is no three and a half 3% on those contracts they may go
from 52,000 to 61,000 because of the steps and the percent increase so all in all that's not a bad number your tax increase is 3.19 right now that's what was uh set for introduction your percentage of
collection is still good um fund balance it was we had a a loss in fund balance but we should recover it we're not doing any damage to it we're using um more fund balance actually we did last year but we're we we will recover um most of
that money hopefully it looks like it's we'll get it back the amount is the amount a decrease was 1,196 but we can see where that will come come back we should be back in in solid shape again next year it's not bad where we are but it's not uh in the
increase it's actually sitting out there in receivables for grants that haven't been uh where we haven't received the reimbursable yet right so that affects the fund balance picture so we know that that what you're seeing in the annual financial statement that's what the f
fund balance is really is more than that when we get those receivables in that's the mechanics of the grants that we have to fund them ourselves and then reimburse can you repeat the amount of increase we are using in fund balance uh
550,000 I thought you said a million one so no no million one what we lost the amount decrease yeah yep so and you said the the aggregate increase in salaries is 4.1% that's across that's all that's the total nine item Total Line
everywhere there there's variation from one yeah including retirements new hires Etc the whole works that includes the the the pensions no pensions another number all by itself yeah okay and you know that's that's a sizable number health
insurance the police and fire pension system the increase is $313,000 right uh public employees that's everybody else is actually a slight decrease of I think about 14,000 and uh health insurance is up 270,000
correct and um utility costs are up another 100,000 so so you just hit really on all the major major increases police and fire salaries police pension health insurance utility costs um okay um I mean we've sat in on
some of these but um but if there's and this is our uh you know authorization to read the title only and then the introduction for more public comment in April April 10 10th yeah yep um which I'll be back for for
sure and commissioner L you have any more no no um I mean everything costs it's just it's it's hard to go with with last year we were at seven to we less than that this year which good yep appreciative
with that but uh it's still I hate raising he raising the tax yeah so yeah but not not that people folks didn't work hard to get this where it is I heard higher numbers before so I think we did peel
back some things I know Leon you never want us to use that Surplus and using quite a bit of it but uh it's um something we need I think we need to do to make it reasonable there was a one of the sheets I was looking at today showed based on a certain household this is
what that household would pay if your home is worth this and that made me a little more comfortable because it's not a huge you know number for the majority of our right yeah it's a it's for the average average home it's a couple hundred dollars a year right so right and the
other thing to keep in mind is that we don't have a lot of sources of uh Revenue besides property taxes we're heavily relying on those our our beach fees are very modest compared to other municipalities our parking revenues are
very modest compared to other towns that you look at places like Cape May and Ocean City and wildwood you know big numbers for those things for beach tags and for not Wildwood not beach tags but parking certainly so you know just to to touch on you mentioned Beach fees
there's a push around the state to eliminate those uh we got a resolution I think um not sure who it came in from but I want to get that on our agenda that will be on the agenda if not tonight at the next meeting to oppose that legislation and as understand that it wouldn't actually eliminate beach
tags but it it would just create some additional chaos that would uh say that people that are heading to The High tidde Line in the hard sand uh which is technically claimed by the state of New Jersey anything below the high tideline that you could not require a beach tag
just across the beach to get to get to the water I don't think that's going anywhere but that's the proposal yeah I read it the same but and that's always been the uh the myth that if your your feet were wet right you couldn't you didn't need a beach batch and you see
people with the beach batch Checkers coming down the beach everybody get up and walk in the water you know put our beach Checkers on surfboards I would just agree with you your comments I think that we're we're I'll kick to to commissioner Mento that we're we're starting this conversation
with um with those line items the the pension increase of 300,000 the health increase of 270,000 the salary increase of 500 ,000 these are things that are um that have to be allowed for and and I think I think things like beach tags are something that we we're not going to balance the budget on it but we have to
keep them in step with the other increases in the world in the in the rest of our our budget so that we're not so we have some things to mitigate them so I think we got to look at that and all all our fees to make sure that we're as many as we can are user are user based not resident
base yes I know nobody wants a r increase including us who live here and pay taxes um but we are faced with some big numbers here that we have limited control over such as the huge increase for the police and fire pension the health benefits those come down from the
state we have no control over that and those two alone combine combined are about $600,000 um no actually it's more than that uh we have a um police and fire is what
$313,000 yeah and then health insurance about $600,000 I know Tom you looked at um health insurance this year and last year and we had some people that were sick we have no control over that some serious illnesses so we did not get any interest for another health benefits
plan but we're working towards that and we're hoping next year maybe you know we'll have some interest out there that will give us a proposal that maybe we can save some money but right now we're in the state and we have to pay that huge increase thankful for the development and how the city is looked
at now in a positive nature because of the ratables that we've seen this year um have mitigated this increase almost to half of what it is if I recall when we were talking so um I I think we're doing everything
right we talked about the the increase to police and fire um had we not negotiated those contracts the way we did eight years ago that number would be maybe three times what we're looking at now and you know I you we all say the
same thing we have the best police and fire department out there and I quite frankly wouldn't live anywhere else without having one like this which I never really appreciated until I had this job that I want to paid fire department and paid EMTs that work for the city um coming to coming for me if I
need them so um thank you Leon and um for everything you did to get this number down as low as possible and the use of fund balance also with an increase of what did you say $500,000 yeah increase of 500 for fund balance this year compared to last
year okay I'm good thank you so if you're ready you need a motion to introduce the budget and then take a roll call vote on it uh do the first resolution we'll do the first one first yeah in the we'll do that in the uh in
the in the m in the meeting not the workshop right by tit yeah we'll do that we'll do that at the after the workshop right yeah we don't need to do 104 we'll do 104 at at the public hearing
okay right you're telling us that resolution 104 doesn't need to be passed tonight which is the title only yeah okay the reading by title only is when you open up to the public for the uh adoption the public hearing night if maybe for that next meeting we can have the actual number that the ratables
effect how what the positive effect the ratables have had on it on uh in the on on the on the annual I guess on the annual basis yeah actually you can uh see that on it's sheet three Levy cap the
ratables increase I thought I saw that three sheet Levy cap on the far right hand column three quars of the way down the page which page three sheet three- Levy cap got it sheet sheet
3 3 ly cat there it is so the impact of the when you get to that page let me know we're here okay 3B three dash Levy cap oh- Levy got it so the the levy cap law
says that whatever your new construction was times your rate only not the county not the school is how much it it gives you that you can add on so you really generated $56,000 from the levy the increase in ratables 56 yeah and the
annual so you see the calculation 40 million 40 million 1.45 that's the rate right the 56,000 got it that's the type of percentage I I I that I think I I knew in my head but it's
nice to see those actual numbers get a feel for how much it takes in actual construction to get a half a million so what that says is if you add four um $40 million in in new ratables he can spend another 500 whatever that number was
dollars and you'd be even right okay great great thanks you Leon yep so we'll move on through the workshop if everybody's if that's okay with if you guys wish we're gonna introduce the budget so we're g to vote on that 105 so if you want what I'll do
is I'll read the title and when I'm done you got you can call for a motion M the municipal budget of the city of ventner city county of Atlantic for the fiscal year of 2025 be it resolved that the following statements of revenues on Appropriations shall
constitute the municipal budget for the year 2025 be a further resolve set budget will be published in the Press of Atlantic City in the issue of March 25th 2025 the governing body of the city of ventner city does hereby approve the following budget for the year 2025
notice is hereby given that the budget for the tax res resolution is approved by the commissioners of the city and we will hold the public hearing for the tax resolution on April 10 2025 at the municipal building of 5:30 thank you Lisa we have a roll call
we need a motion we need a motion for uh introducing the uh resolution 105 we make a motion to introduce resolution 2025 one05 second commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Creo
yes okay so now you introduce the budget and we have a public hearing on April 10th in between now and then you can discuss anything you want about the budget but we can't make any change to it until April 10th okay because the amendment would say the public hearing has been held and it's desired to make
some amendments if you decide to make any changes so that's you can talk about it if need be but we don't do anything official till April 10th understood all right and if I may I'd like to just take a moment to uh to recognize the effort that Amy puts into putting this budget
together you know the nuts and bolts all the different spreadsheets and salary uh information spreadsheets and stiens and all that stuff that's all her work product that she pulls all that together and that's that's the beginning part of putting this budget together right so
it's a lot of work and she does a great job with it absolutely thank you thank you appreciate department heads as well yeah yeah exactly it's so see you in four weeks great good night Leon good seeing you
again said I didn't know um we have a uh we have no presentations this evening uh we have no department head reports correct not tonight but what I will say is is Rick would you be ready for our or doing
April 10th when we're going to do the budget is that a probably bad night you're not here at the end of the month right your way I am here I'm not here on the 14th from the 14th to the 20th so by missing the second meeting in
April that's what I mean so you want to want to push it to May uh um yeah if there if there's no emergency we just want to start doing the department head reports again so yeah is that okay go to May for you would be the first department head to to start it'll start
us off in May right right thank you okay um yeah just one let's see how they go I'm just thinking you could have the the Chiefs standing by and ready to go also true we might might do that that's
pretty simple because we do want to do that yes okay we we'll let the other ones know yeah yep May is right right there we're starting to get into the thick of the the season what's that that's right
right before summer [Music] um uh so uh no no Capital discussion I think we' talk about that um and the following items are scheduled for action in the commission portion uh we
have no minutes this this meeting uh we have an ordinance introduction um which is the uh 20 003 which is claims for payment so we're we're increasing the number uh the the limit for um for purchase orders yes
we're we're really just making adjustments to bring it in line with with what the uh State uh purchasing laws allow us to do so it uh it just raises the threshold and matches it to what the state thresholds permit uh So
currently anything over uh $33,000 requires two of you to sign before purchase order can be issued this would raise that threshold to 6,000 so it just streamlines things a little bit for us you guys you know don't maintain
full-time hours here and uh sometimes things need to be purchased more quickly then we can track you down can we get those vfds for less than $66,000 we don't have to order yeah I swear I'm gonna start a company making those darn things he
does I don't think I don't think he his calculator goes that low yeah nice time we're mending the form to include department head correct the the first step should start with the department head request
for anything over $6,000 up to the bid threshold of 40 44,000 would require would still require two of your signatures and one of those should be the department uh that uh the purchase relates to
okay I think that's where they always start at least mine always did they always came to me if they come out of public works right Tim usually got them if they are Public Safety and yeah I think sometimes when it's urgent it's the first two people you can get then that's gonna happen Department had sign off on it because then you at least
you know they know right I agree you mean not not us as department head you mean those department heads okay gotcha understood now I got you now that I'm signing them realizing it was you know yeah expend and you need a background
yeah I didn't think of that before when I was in h seat but no didn't know what I'm saying I I get it a lot of times I I'm I'm shocked at the software subscription pricing that we have to go through lot of is software yeah you know a lot of it and those numbers are higher than you
anticipate um any other comments on that ordinance nope I think it's good uh to keep things moving uh we have another ordinance introduction uh I saw this back and forth of fees looks like we're bringing this up to um more uh similar to other towns dumpsters and portable
storage units um really more um the pods if you see those the the white units we were only allow them for 48 hours and some folks are doing home renovations that take a month couple we're going to treat them more like dumpsters where you have a 30-day you can get an extension
and we did work the fees into what what other towns are doing for those so more of a convenience thing again they got to be on property just like dumpsters do in the summertime um I think we do allow them on the street and offseason thank you um we have no
ordinance uh hearings and adoptions uh we do have a a handful of resolutions we have uh first resolution 106 uh is enforcement of no parking uh from April 1st to June 30th uh these are uh things we do every
year second is um our drug Counsel on alcoholism and drug abuse this is uh Kathy McFadden's been doing that for years does a great job uh having U certain events events at the art center and and that um support the um uh those
efforts um and then we have uh 108 um this is a Fleet Maintenance management do you have a yeah I do little blurb here thanks Rick for the notes on it tonight so this is Sam Sarah Fleet Maintenance U this is going to add not only cameras but GPS tracking of our of
our Public Works vehicles um provides close caption TV footage forward and and into the cab for triggering events such as accidents heartbreaking so if something happens the the camera kicks on um driver can activate it himself if he's looking at to record certain
conditions emergencies and things of that nature also tracks the maintenance maintenance needs of oil change things like that brake fluid on the vehicle um and we can review complaints as well someone can hey your truck just did this well we have camera video of that and it
did or didn't do that um and this will be on the on on all of our on the entire Public Works sleet yep starting there we're going to do them incrementally it also does we can do a geofence or alerts if a vehicle goes out of the city or certain areas or stolen
uh system permits valuable equipment to be located track generators put like that we can put tags on other stuff they're not drivable but if they they're gone we can track them snowblowers yeah things like that yeah exactly so okay
great thank you yep we've been trying to get them these guys came in and showed us I think we saw them at uh the league league municipalities and tied up with them and brought them in and we looked at a couple other ones it seem to be the best one great sounds great sounds sounds like we're it's a kind of
Technology that's can be useful when you need it uh resolution one Z that 109 is uh waiver of fees for the dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation event that's a three-year like Li that's something that uh we've always supported uh so that's a
continuation of that um the difference is it's three years instead of one yeah right but nothing else is different pretty much the same waving of we right great great appreciate what he does um
resolution one0 is authorizing closing of the boat ramp and um uh and no parking for Friday the 6th and Sunday the 8th in June for paddle
for cause fundraiser I believe that's the that's the Randazzo Randazzo yep and uh resolution 111 is uh renew of interlock Services between Atlanta County and Improvement
Authority and VOR participating in the lead-based paint inspection for uh rented dwelling unit programs do you have anything that we it's a continuation provides yeah just an extension of it um we offer the the owners of these units
that they rent out the ability to go to the county and use their lead based inspectors to check the properties out we don't force them I had a resident call he was a little agitated and made sure that it's it's an option right we think it's a better option yeah um but certainly if you own a property you can have your own inspector go in and do it
but it's got to be meet the state requirements make sure there's no lead that can damage um young children and you know their health good program we do with the county great and resolution 112 is uh
replacement of Public Works generator uh not to exceed 300,00 316,000 we need a new new generator over there so y it's time to replace it okay um and resolution 113 is preparing uh
specifications to handle the bid process for exterior advertis in for the boardwalk beaches and business district so this is a continuation of our Boardwalk banner and other asset uh advertising that we do throughout the city um the existing contract is up soon
but extended through the through the the summer season and it's already sold out on the boardwalk new some new some returning advertising to the boardwalk which I think for me I think it's a uh they do a great job uh it brings a nice liveliness to the boardwalk always
pleasure to see see so is this for the production of the baners no we put it out to uh our to uh RFP so this is for the reupping of the contract to put it out to public bid what are we bidding on the authorization for the contract to
provide advertising which includes the banners so they have a they we have a contract with them that includes uh profit sharing and um we advertise it and anyone can bid on it okay
um any other any other questions no I think it's a great program yeah now that we own the the polls yeah thanks um moving on we have approval of bills and payroll um you have any other could we
add um resolution 144 sorry apologize so we have one other resolution to add resolution 11 four um this is uh for uh that's right this is adding um uh the hiring of a greeter um and at Borman uh
to uh for Wednesdays and Thursdays um in City Hall thank you right 114 thank you for thank you for the note and mayor we do have one other one from the bench if if you don't mind no should be number 115 um the background there's been a uh
request to have a donated leave policy enacted within the city because we're a civil service municipality we have to go through civil service to do that so the um resolution would simply be authorizing and directing um City administrator to take all steps necessary to um enact that that policy
consistent with civil service regulations the policy do not donated sick leave donated sick leave yeah so if there's an employee that would needed his his or her fellow employee could right I remember the conversations and is that 115 that would be 115
yes okay if you need the formal title Lisa for the record I can read that if that's enough you did it I I want to back you up for just a moment to add a comment on 114 hiring
Anette Burman the it's likely that she's going to work additional days during the summer with the beach tag program so right now she's going to be the two days a week at the front desk uh filling the vacancy there but we do expect that she will probably work another two days a
week uh likely on weekends for beach tags at the same hourly rate okay um okay thank you so we're adding 114 and 115 in our in our regular session when we get to that
um uh can I have a motion to open the work shop meeting to uh public portion on any items that we have discussed so far make that motion I have a second second commiss roll call please
commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Creo yes so uh we Comm we welcome any participants organizations or individuals uh to comment on any items that we have uh discussed so far in the
workshop recognizing yeah anything we've discussed so far nice to see you for am the a thank you thank you Jim any comments on items that we discussed so far in the workshop portion
in the zoom platform anybody on Zoom wishes to speak or comment on any of the items that have been spoken about so far please make yourself known with zoom by raising your hand or in the chat feature and you'll be recognized no hearing none can have a motion to close public portion of the
workshop so moved second the roll call Lisa commission langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes so before we um close the workshop portion and open the uh I'd like to offer Maria a opportunity
to get ask for a moment of silence for a a notable passing of Resident Dave Vania husband of Cheryl they owned a nets for many many many years Dave passed this weekend I was a bit of a
surprise and um as you can imagine it's it's very tough and um Cheryl's dealing with it and so we can just have some prayers if you pray for them or in a moment of silence thank you thank you
app Maria thanks Maria he was genuinely a nice guy good guy yep people I know former mayor Cher probably held Court in the nets for a couple for while he was that that was a great establishment always always a welcome face there they
are missed really missed at AET especially so I'll um make a motion to close the workshop portion of the meeting and call to order the regular portion of our meeting I'll make that motion second Lisa roll call please commissioner langra yes commissioner
Mento yes mayor creel yes we Have No approval of minutes but we do have uh ordinance introduction ordinance number 003 this is the claims for payment ordinance described in the
workshop ordinance 003 may have a uh motion to to introduce ordinance please make a motion to introduce ordinance 20 25-3 roll call Lisa commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor
Kel yes we have a ordinance introduction uh ordinance 004 this is uh portable storage units and dumpsters uh entitled fees section 1114-19 may have a motion for ordinance
introduction please make a motion introduce ordinance 20254 second roll call Lisa commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes uh we have no uh public hearings we have no ordinance adoptions but we do
have a motion to adopt ordinance resolutions may I have a motion please for ordinance resolutions 2025 d016 through 202-1550 106 through 115 thank you second roll call Lisa
commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes you um Amy can we have uh bills and payroll please payables for this period 77338
71 payrolls $619,500 roll call Lisa commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes any announcements or safety reports uh we have commissioner reports any uh commissioner Mento do you have
any reports to offer today yes um today we met with um a couple residents from Newport Avenue who wanted to discuss um some concerns they have regarding the activity that occurs on
Newport Avenue including the farmers market and the concerts and some other events the city might or might not have there this year and um some private events and the impact that it has on them um because
they live there and and um so you know the the traffic impacts them and um the noise impacts them but they were also concerned about the public safety aspect of that area particularly during the farmers market when there's a lot of um
cars looking for parking spaces and idling and waiting and um concerns about you know the people trying to cross the street cross Atlantic Avenue and um basically you know the activity the
congestion and the noise so uh it was Nicole cury our attorney myself and Tom cheron our administrator met with two residents they were three people and or two um homeowners that consisted of three people and um we listen to what
they had to say and um I expect we'll be discussing particularly the public safety concerns soon um and then you know we're going to look at some of uh the events and see if there's any uh
anything we could do to accommodate um accommodate them I know these events are very popular with the public and I remember when we suggested moving them all to Ski Beach and how we each got many phone calls or texts or
emails or comments on Facebook about how dare we that they love these events and so um there's a lot to consider here and um we're going to do that it it was an uproar when we just when we thought at the one point we were
going to move them to facilitate the stage application so they're very they're hugely popular so I appreciate your your discussions with them and and it dovetails into one of the things that I was going to say is that we do have a solid seven applicants for which is up
from last year for class one temporary police officers and we have one returning so there's a possibility and we did talk about this after your meeting that that um Bella could move into a more uh leadership role that could help with that but there is a intersection there that has traffic
control so there is some traffic control there so it' be it it would we'll put some focus on it I guess what I'm saying in the police department and hopefully some additional temporary signage for people to pay attention to the crossing signs yeah
I I I got a Blank Stare when I suggested it but I was thinking that because you have such a convergence on FR on for the farmers market um what happens is a lot of times you get people trying to find parking spots and they slow down and you have one-way traffic and people that that that negotiation that happens in
the in the driveway and on Atlantic Avenue I think if we had more signage like like our like our like our electronic sign that says aent ahead or something of that nature just to give people to slow down when they reach that street because frankly I'd like it to be
more popular I think the the farmers market is one of the best events that we have as and yeah you know managing a popular event is a good problem in my opinion it makes the city walkable it brings people downtown that may shop at other City other portions and brings people to the city it brings people to
the city I know folks that come from the mainland and down beach every time you talk to someone there they say this is the best one y and it's because it's got that it's got so many things to offer it's so easy to get to and and the parking and the and the blueberry
blueberry it's the blueberry Mento blueberries and the parking and and the cars that's not unique no I've been other farmer Market it's not as good as ours but um you're parking in residential streets one of the one of their one of their concerns or issues
was the parking on Newport um on that beach block people wait and they don't move because they're waiting for somebody to move out of the parking spot so they're idling or they're waiting and they're blocking the roadway in part so I don't know if
there's something we can do about that that says no idling no waiting maybe that's something that the specials or the police officers can work on just keep people moving maybe that's something to yeah andest it's you know it's something you want to try to balance but we also have to recognize it's a
public area it's been a public area forever it's required to stay a public area and it's for the residents of the city of vetner and and otherwise to enjoy so um and and those areas exist
all over the the city whether it's the homes next to the fields or the rowing um house or or if you're near the bay where the boats go by or ski Beach I mean we we have these all over and um it's a Rowing Club and a boat house but
that's okay yeah okay what I call he's at a rowing house and Rowing Club in a boat house okay and um yeah so it's something to think about
and try to see what we can do yeah so we'll put more focus on it in terms of traffic safety there may be you know there may it's frankly I think it's a good problem to have What's the phrase It's a fluid situation there it's always
changing so it's I think our police and specials do a great job managing folks there and we'll do as best we can you know it's an event people want to be there what I see is people walking from further distance I know Ken C walks some
touret Avenue with the wagon he's got a big wagon yeah I think that's the culture that you want is is the walkability and as as the more residents come to this to the downtown areas the more hopefully you'll get that that you know that sort of Market Central that you have in Europe you know that that's
the idea that's to me what it reminds me of so that's great and just so the record's clear too the the discussion about the concert series was about the 2026 season this season is already set correct Maria indicated we're open to
you know giving some thought to how it goes see what happens again this summer do a little debriefing afterwards and just make decisions about 2026 down the road the other traffic safety issues are things that we need to look at now yep
we do start with commitments or scheduling around June when the concerts start um we need to talk about that whole process too though again and but we're we're right back to the previous discussion about contracts and how they
get approved and when they get approved and you know can we in fact commit to Something in 2026 when we haven't even had 2025 yet so we need to figure all that out well it could be it may be an informal commitment however there's certain banss
I personally am not willing to wait on if we're going to get them we have understand that we have to have a commitment that's it all right M angra you have any uh um couple things first is did anyone else notice that Margate just went to our format for meetings no did not
having the workshop before the actual public hearing public meeting think they just changed that last month so seems like we're doing something for us for once right tongue and cheek tongue and cheek love Mike and the guys down there so um couple things updates uh the basketball
court uh demolition started this week um reconstruction should start soon after um they're they're redoing that whole basketball court at um sok Avenue there seuk Avenue complex soon to follow that is the seashore playground the
makeover starts um April 8th that should take a couple of weeks it's not a whole makeover there it's just fixing a lot of the equipment that has aged out of its useful life and we're replacing all that and we can't do that work because that was a Leathers designed Leathers the is the architectural company that designed
it we can't touch it and keep our insurance on it so we have to and the warrant's on it so we have to have them come in um there was some delays in getting some of the product if you're near that area you see those those trailers the see the shipping trailers sitting there that's holding the
equipment um now they've rescheduled to be here early next month so that'll get started should be ready for hopefully May without any delays um we had a a final meeting on the boardwalk uh bidding process for the replacement of the boardwalk the actual
construction we did bid the decking material and the um Fasteners um and we did get that all that material has been purchased uh the that contractor will keep those materials at their yard um because we don't have a place to store
that much Lumber we bought probably million and a half $2 million worth of materials yeah almost almost $2 million worth of of so part of that the $7.5 million of the project that we have scheduled for about $14 million came
from a state Grant actually a federal through the state to us um that money has to be spent by December 2026 so we purchased the first amount we got to spend that seven and a half from the state first our money we can spend whenever we want to um I got a little
bit of a schedule here and that's what the meeting was about with our design engineer Mark DeBlasio and his team Ed Stinson and Rick santor was in there as well uh we're going to start September of 2025 um we're deciding which end to
start on um it'll either be at the pier and go towards ltic City or start at Jackson Avenue and come towards the pier I think we're leaning towards and Tom was in the meeting as well um we're leaning towards starting at the Atlantic City end just for facilitating the construction um everything after the
peer is okay no we don't have enough money for the rest of we're going to go as far as we can with as much money as we have so we did just recently authorize Jim Rella to apply for another five million to move that further down um one of the things
we did that extended the the project we don't know how many blocks but several blocks and this was a discussion we had to change from the Herring bone design to straight planking um saved a lot of Labor about uh 20% in
labor costs and about 10% in material costs uh it's less cutting the material is very very dense very hard to cut um when you drill a screw through it you have to pre-drill every hole um it's material that lasts a long time so that's the plan we start in September of
25 whatever is finished by May of of 2026 we will stop and then start again the following September um we will certainly spend the state's money before 2026 December of 26 and then beyond that
we'll be using our dollars so um he's preparing those the boardwalk bid documents right now we should have that out to bid sometime May June so we anticipate so for award in the summer and then get
started so just to clarify on on the funds when we had the discussion uh you know we did make it clear that we're going to spend the grant funds first the 7.1 million there there was a 10% match on that right of the 7 million of of Our
Own commitment 71,000 of that is uh matching funds so we'll spend that simultaneous with the Grant and then and then we'll go into the rest of it being our money yep that's all I have thank
you all right thank you uh I just have a couple things um mostly about the beautification of the downtown I met with I was at the planning board meeting and I gave a brief presentation on the downtowns to the planning board it was a light week so we had a chance to make
have some discussions on we basically centered around two things blade signage as an as a as an option for the for the downtowns to have a certain size that is perpendicular to the building so it's more pedestrian friendly and offer them
a guidelines business guidelines for um blade signage um and also uh increasing the description of what a facades are uh the Improvement of facad things like um uh clearing uh things that are already
in our code but I think we can remind businesses there's a there's a sort of a dos and don'ts of um uh of what makes a an attractive facade like um awnings and how they're prepared so I'm I'm asking
the the planning board to to to codify things that are a little bit more uniform in the awnings uh the L removing LED from around windows um things of that sort that separate us uh from Atlantic City in some ways when you get
into ventner to have a little bit more of a different aesthetic um uh and some other things that are kind of would dovetail with a um with some of the code and then also with uh our our next master plan that would help um I think
uh in general to increase the so that VBA was there VBA gave some comments about the um the facades and to communicate and they were U they were very receptive to bringing some of these uh this blade signage uh to their membership and the and any code they're
going to we're going to we're going to bring out the codes that apply to business owners and have them reinforce them with their um membership and then Lance and I today walked uh the street looking at locations from uh uh two
business districts in the in an effort to replace somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 30 trees that are either dead or dying or missing so H we're adding some symmetry to the streets uh we're adding and then uh the trees that are uh healthy within
those areas so from Nashville Avenue to uh right about up to the theater and then picking up again from uh I would say uh Newport Avenue towards uh towards the opposite end right around New Haven that's right um and in so not just
replacing these with um with a variety of species that I've worked with the green team to identify what's available uh things like lilac junipers um Black Gum these are small trees U that won't affect signage or
parking we've located them in places that won't affect parking um and then the trees that are in good shape they are going to um remove the the hodg podge of plantings that are around them and sometimes they're not plantings they're just rocks and replace them with
Native grasses so we're going to have Beach grasses purple love grass it's called Uh brooms hedge and a a few perennials as well we get the Latin names of them too yeah sure bre Amilia
brilia kid sorry so that's been a bit of a journey with the green team because it's funny they were throwing Latin words at each other AC you know nuts the the the the the the landscaper and the green team but we landed on those you
get your daughter to trans get my daughter to translate for them yeah that's right just a a comment on on the blade signs and we have Roger actually drafted in Leo drafted a resolution or a ordinance for it um we can certainly and
I think we put it in there that allows them to project into our right of way on the North Beach section on for certainly on Atlantic Avenue but on ventner Avenue down here we're going to have to Lobby the the county to allow that to occur yeah because that's their right of way
and most of those buildings are at zero setback so we'll have to talk to their planners and see if they're okay what it shouldn't be that heavy of a lift maybe once we have some examples up in that area be able to show that this is something that's positive definitely if
if you walk um haddenfield they have it and it works well there and that's a state highway so yeah they've allowed it so there's there's other examples of it yep yep uh C uh um Collingswood Rybeck New York a lot of these because they're pedestrian friendly and they also offer
a little bit of a of a of an of an image recognition to when you're walking down the street you can see what the next what the next uh and does it has a bit of a a throwback so everybody was very receptive to the idea of kind of making our facades a little more similar and
you I think we're at that point now where ventner has got such traction that if we start to enforce those things like when you you're on the planning board as well and you always think of Lorraine aada when you think about Hedges like she's the person that's gonna make Landscaping
she's the person so I think we need you know another champion and I'll be it to say that when we see something that comes up as a facade what are we doing to improve the image and the overall image of ventner as a destination because I think we're at that point where we could
have uh our own little our own little shop our because you know these are turn of the century kind of downtowns and we have all that we have a lot of that we have some Barrel tile RS but but over the years things like those commerciall
looking Barrel style awnings I think are don't really they don't really fit the aesthetic they're they're you know those big round 9s 90s kind of architecture I agree so like so I think there's a dos and don'ts and then and then some of these windows haven't changed in in
decades so just having them people pay attention to this with examples of why you shouldn't have you if you plaster all those advertising on your windows you create a wall you don't you don't it doesn't offer you the space the invting yeah so those kinds of things we're going to bring up and have
like a cheat sheet for there's a there's a form and I can't believe I'm gonna say this there's a form of of land use ordinances called form based code and I'm cursing myself for using that word because it is the worst way to write an ordinance except for signs uh Town up north and I'm I'm going
to have to pull it uh Hamilton has form based code for their entire downtown it's awful it bases the use of a building on what type of building it is it it's it's ridiculous but signs it's the perfect way to do it here's a
monument signed there's a picture of it you actually put a picture of it in your ordinance um it works very well for signage I was at a seminar a couple years ago up in in New Brunswick and a woman planner for one of the towns did it in their town and it I almost tried
to do it in crda but it was just with casinos you throw everything out the window so it was didn't work for them but it it might get us to what you're looking for so you mean like a bike for the bike shop or not even that it's just a form the format of the sign not what's
on it I see but the style of the sign awnings here's what an awning has to look like right you know here's here's what a set a design criteria here's what a facade sign should look like and and that exactly not like a historical commission would required this way these are suggestions
on this is what style you could choose from and go from there so let let me like I said I I I do not like form based code because of of what I had to do in in hamon to fight through it but it might work very well for signage well what I'm saying is like if we're not I
don't want to create a compli something complicated that's not doable I want to set an attainable goal so it's not and I think this could put it that way this could be put that way like you and I could say an awning yeah and three different images of an awning exactly here's an awning this is what we want exactly and there's a picture of it yeah and there so fab fabric awning with the
the logo with the logo and signage on the drop Edge those kinds of things are what people recognize as s like Mike like uh 7311 there's great some really good examples but there's also some examples of people that just inertia has kind of created what they their facades
look like so what I'm trying to say is that we bring that to their attention make sure that new new businesses that are opening have a sens sensitivity to it over time we can have we can have a bit more of an identity when you hit those downtown it doesn't have all the
flashing lights it doesn't have like my grandparents were guilty of it they had a pizza shop for 30 years and if there was a sale on slices they would take a paper plate and they put a dollar a slice and they put it in the window you know and that's just we can do better you
know anyway uh so blade signage facades and trees and hopefully some trash cans and own order thr own order and getting rid of the the old stumps from the the old meters those kinds of things all that happening by they're already
starting to cut so that's that by Springtime we should have bit you know uh some steps forward I'd be excited good stuff um any uh can I have a motion to open up the meeting for public comment
for any any topic whatsoever so moved second roll call Lisa commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes we better hurry up our Clerk's voice is fading fast The Fading sorry seeing none
in the chambers any in the zoom platform comments about anything there is one one comment um Phil ner a resident of Longport is having um audio issues so you just wanted to wanted to ask a question on will any
will any of the free parking be extended or when it is due to expire this month will the parking be turned back on um our dates for parking that are by ordinance are I think May April 1 April 1 end of March end of
this month end of this month okay yeah end of this month and we'll not be extended and we're not planning on extending great thank you y anybody else in Zoom I think you have in the chambers right we have one in the chamber now so
to speak good evening gtim crer uh I just want to take some few uh minutes of your time to go over these plans no I'm only kid where they are actually I got a call from Jim Rella
last month uh to see if we had any plans or information on the when the city did the historical renovation of City Hall and I couldn't find anything but I did come across these plans that were for hiac and window replacement so we really
don't need them in the historic line I'm sure you have have them here in City Hall but now you got an extra copy so I didn't know Jim was looking for I have plans for the I have the original plans for City Hall oh you do they're in my office so I I didn't know Jim was looking I'll talk I'll call okay thank
you so the other thing uh you dealing with the commissioner meno's meeting mayor you mentioned the digital signs just uh make remind you that we did we're in the process of doing a shared service program hopefully we get the leap Grant where the county will
purchase three of those digital signs and make them available to the municipalities that signed on at no cost so hopefully we get that and that will give you another I know you have some signs now but this will give you an option for additional one so what I
really came tonight is I want to thank commissioner meno for uh calling me back even though she was out of town I I really appreciate it uh regarding the ambulance billing process for the city yeah uh if I understood your message
correctly commissioner that uh if the person doesn't have insurance or insurance doesn't pay all of it uh you'll send that person two bills for the balance and after two uh bills if they don't pay it you just write it off
did I understand that correctly I I think this policy has changed over the years uh my memory is being tested but when we first set this up that um I was concerned about residents getting a bill for ambulance
service that they already paid for in their taxes or never received a bill before uh so I was very concerned about starting this process but the late great Chief D Dan Cahill convinced me that we're leaving money on the table by not
billing the insurances insurance companies and that residents would not get bill so I don't know if that changed somewhere along the line but I I think that process brings up two scenarios that I'd like to talk to you about one is an issue of fairness you have a
senior maybe a senior citizen since they're more prone to use the ambulance um that their insurance doesn't cover it all and they get a bill in the mail uh and they're from the old school they get a bill you pay it you know and
where you have another person that's always looking to scam the system and and not pay it they get the bill and they throw it in the trash they get the second Bill and throw it in the trash and they don't pay so the conscientious resident pays the balance
and the scammer doesn't to me it sets up a a a situation of unfairness I don't know how you feel about it but you know where the conscientious person pays the scammer doesn't pay uh and then another
situation or another scenario could be catastrophic um you have that senior citizen who on a fixed income may not be able to afford to pay it they use the ambulance they get a bill you know six months later I I don't
feel too good I got some chest pains uh but I you know I got a bill the last time for a couple hundred dollars I really can't pay that right now I I'll just sit here and you know hopefully it will pass I'll be okay and bang they have a heart attack because they waited because they
didn't want to pay a bill that they didn't have to pay anyway that or you have that person that pauses doesn't call the ambulance they have a stroke now they have a life altering situation where they're
crippled they they're they're suffering some impact of that tro or worse yet you have the person that says you know what I don't want to pay the ambulance I can drive myself boom they get in an accident kill somebody else in a car run
up and on the sidewalk and kill some pedestrians I I know it brings in Revenue I think you have $376,000 in ambulance fees I don't know how much of that was collected from the insurance companies and collected from the residents I might I don't know if
you know but that might be a good figure to have but I I think the city should really look into not sending bills for that and avoiding these possible scenarios uh I believe in user fees but not when it comes to life threatening
situation so I really would like the commission to to think about doing away with sending those bills to the residents and only sending the bills to the insurance company and accepting whatever they whatever they pay your thoughts I think I would yeah there's a
lot of H hypotheticals there I don't know I've follow all them but I I'll pass it to because we do have a policy Tom we've talked about this over years one thing I will say is that we have um we've hired we hire a company that does um every every ambulance call gets
entered uh for everything from oxygen bottles to uh Naran everything that everything that gets used on that call is um has is coded and entered by the um by by the attending um EMT um and a lot
of that is uh is covered by Insurance uh by residents and non-residents mostly because our because of the flow of our of our um our traffic but um Tommy yeah things may have changed since since I last looked at this but typically uh
when you Bill for ambulance services I think there's an obligation uh if you're sending a bill to one person you have to send one to everybody but most people these days do in fact have insurance that covers ambulance
Transportation um how aggressive we we try to collect unpaid bills is a different issue that I'll take a look at and maybe get back to you on but I I don't think that we can single people out and say you don't get a bill but you do I think if you're
billing you have to bill everybody but typically uh Medicare is the rule of thumb usually that's what it sets the fee for the service it's whatever Medicare pays that's what we bill that's what we would
accept as payment if somebody has insurance and again uh if everybody's following the law you were supposed to have insurance so uh there shouldn't be too many that don't and again if somebody doesn't have insurance and doesn't have Medicare I
don't think that we're going to be too aggressive in trying to collect that no and before you rebuttal I just would say that well I'm we're open to the discussion and I think there is an argument somewhere in there that taxpayers are already paying for that service um so there should maybe there is a there is some dispensation that
could be given but um and our our our percentages are also that our our payment percentages are way up because we've gotten more efficient at the recording of them we've had different Services over the years and vetted them and now we have a service that is made
up of U primarily former uh police and fire chiefs that have uh very highly sophisticated software um I've seen it i' I've gone through the drills with them and sat in on the meetings where they present it and it's um it's it's it's more comprehensive I think you know
we do have costs associated to users and that's what we're uh but as as I said I think there there is an argument to be made for taxpayers already paying for the service how would you give them that dispens ens ation so but I understand what you're saying I might get a bill I'm I pay my bills so I'm getting a bill
for the balance of the ambulance service and I'm going to pay it my neighbor's not going to pay it so you're saying it's an issue of some people are paying it some aren't it's an issue of fairness and then you also if I heard you correctly you got the people who who will get the bill and be afraid to call
the ambulance next time because they don't want to get a bill again because they can't afford it so it's probably worth the discussion um and even maybe Amy maybe you and Michael kahill um maybe the service can't differentiate
like that and and can't not send a bill out um I think the question will be do we send bills out or don't send bills out right if we don't send bills out we know we're going to lose some income from the people that are paying um but we and I think the I
understand what you're saying I think in general we don't pursue residents vigorously we don't at all no I understand you send the two bills out if they don't pay you write it off yeah so mayor why I acknowledge there some hypotheticals in my yeah but I think
they're realistic okay and potentially real life situations and Tom if I can ask you to look into if you send the bills to the insurance if you have to because if you have to send it to them then that that takes care of the issue but can you look into that and find out
let me know all right thank you so thank you thanks Tim thanks I have a I guess a comment on procedures um I don't and Jim this is not Jim P andas I'm talking to not any criticism
to you but I don't think that he should be taking the questions from the zoom and interpreting them to us if a person has a question I think they need to come on and ask the question um I don't think it's I didn't hear that so um the person
Phil's been on here the entire time so I I don't know I haven't heard people ask us a question in a while I have we we've had people come on yeah yeah but I I don't think it's appropriate for for Jim to be interpreting that and and asking the question so I think we should unless
they tell us definitely that there's there's an issue there then then we'll make an exception but I think those folks should be asking the question similar to the planning board should come directly from that I think it to so yeah well they're on they're listening to our meeting so they just
should identify themselves and ask a question so good point that's all right thank you you uh hearing no any uh seeing no other public comment requests I have a motion to close the public comment
portion so moved second roll call E commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes seeing no executive session I will prior to asking I will just thank cler Lisa
Han for toughing it out toughing it out with feeling under the weather thank you very much uh my motion to adjourn so moved second roll call commissioner langra yes commissioner Mento yes mayor Kel yes meeting adjourned