Good evening. Thanks everybody. It's a It's an exciting night. We even have DJs here tonight for We all get started. Have a seat if you like. I'd like to call to order uh
the May 8th Vendor City Commission meeting. If I could have everyone rise for the flag salute. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God under Godisible. Indivisibley andice. Liberty and justice for all. I hear Lance is in the background. Good to see you. Good to hear you Lance. Yep. Sorry guys. I'm going to miss an exciting night in Ventner. Congratulations to chief and captain.
Um, work work calls. Understood. Thanks for uh for for zooming in. Um, hang on one second. Have a little technical difficulty here. There we go. No, no mouse. Um, Lisa, can I have roll call, please?
Commissioner Langrif here. Commissioner Mento here. Mayor Kel here. Lisa, would you please read the open public meetings announcement? Pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided. The agenda for this meeting is posted in city hall and on
the city's website. Thank you. Lisa, would you please leave the live stream announcement? The city of Vander 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. Um, prior to our u our regular meeting, we have two resolutions. The first of which will be
uh resolution 2025-149 resolution uh appointing Lewis CBO to police captain. Pick it up. Yeah, sure. Lou, did you come up? Oh, we got to pass a resolution. Oh, I'm sorry. Pass. Do I I'll make that motion. Make
that motion. Second. Lisa, can I have roll call, please? Commissioner Langrath, yes. Commissioner Mento, yes. Mayor Creable, yes. And we'll do the second resolution now, and then we'll swear them both in. Uh second resolution is
2025-150 resolution uh appointing uh David Gekckl as police captain. Can I have a motion, please? I'll make that motion. Second, please have a roll call. Commissioner Langraph, yes. Commissioner Mento, yes. Mayor Kel,
yes. Thank you. Yes. So, we're going to swear in the chief first. So, we're going to do the chief first. Okay. And then we'll do um and then we'll do David. All right. All
right. Chief first. She had the best I do solemn. I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey. Allegiance to the state and government established in the United States and in the state under the authority of the people and that I will
faithfully impart and justly perform all the duties of the office of chief of police according to the best my skills and ability to help me out. Congratulations.
I do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States support the Conitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of the Earth. that I will bear true faith and
allegiance I will bear true faith and allegiance for the same and the government established established in the United States and in this in the United States and this under the authority of the people under the authority that I
faithfully faithfully partially and justly perform all the duties all the duties the office of police captain practically According to the best of my skills and abilities, Good. Right there.
Everyone, David G. I David swear solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. that support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. Constitution of the State of New Jersey. bear true
faith and allegiance obey our true faith and allegiance to the same to the same to the governments established to the governments established in the United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will
faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the office of police captain the office of police captain according to the best of my skill and
to the best skills and ability. So help me honor you all. like to take some pictures in front of the front of the desk. You're welcome to as a group or Okay. All right. What the
Amy, no recommendation. I remember my first audit with them. It was um God, what's his name? I can't think of his name now. I just love him. Anyway, Garcia, I love I rewrote the I rewrote the
management letter. He's like, you read the management letter. I'm like, but it was wrong. I was just believe it. Yeah. But what did I know? I was like so new at it. Like you made you made correction. You basically did the same
thing by making corrections. It's wrong. It's wrong. No, they can't. And so what did millions I I turned it off. I remember.
Okay. Lance, you still there? Yes. I am. Okay. Michael, go out the party. presentations went out to talk to Sarcus. Okay. Oh, wait. Oh, Tim's here. One. Just one. Just one. got stay open looking at us like why I know she's
like I know open public meeting like because it's an open public meeting door has to be open clear the hall over Few more minute. Another minute. The first one to do it. You're not the first
one to do it. Yeah, I know. No, no, no, no. Open the door. Just leave a crack. There we go. That's open. All right, Jim, could you leave the door
open when you leave? It's got to stay open. Yeah, leave it open and clear the hall for us. All right, we'll struggle through it with the left with the norm. Tell them the first round's on uh the chief who never gets. Okay.
Um so moving through the agenda we had the um department head reports. I believe we uh don't have any yet but we are going to start that soon. Uh capital discussion. Uh we do not have the
following uh following items are scheduled for action in the commission portion of this meeting. We'll have uh minutes from the March 27th regular meeting and the March 27th executive
meeting. Uh uh the public hearing will be carried over from the April 24th uh 2025 and adoption. Um do you want to clarify that for me? The this is the um vendor professional campus L.
Sure. So, we have not received the official amended plan yet. Um, I did meet with Jack Placer and David Waxman today. Um, got kind of a feel what they're going to come back with. Um, and they asked us to be prepared to accept
them to come in for the public hearing and hopeful adoption on May 22nd. Okay. Okay. So, just for the for the benefit of the people in the room, um because it's a little difficult to hear that we have not received the revised
plan and um that you have had spoken with the uh applicant's attorney and that we are looking for did you say April 20? May 2. Okay. Um for the p for a public hearing where the public can make comments.
They will do a presentation at that time and then the public can comment on it and then if appropriate we can then vote on it. Okay. And thank you. And that is going to be here in the commission chambers. Correct. Okay. Could you repeat the date again for everybody in the room? May
22nd was when the the the plan would be approved. Lance, is that what you said? May 22nd. Correct. Okay. Yeah. So, so after that is done, we'll have this ordinance, right? Um the
public hearing would be brought off the table and then depending on how that if there's a new ordinance to be introduced at that time, we would do that. No, we we I don't believe we need to do a new ordinance. There's not significant enough changes that are going to occur. Okay. So, it's just a continuation of
the o of the public hearing to the 22nd and then if if appropriate, if we don't have any more comments after they do their presentation and the public hearing, then we can adopt on second reading. Got it. Understood. So, the action that
we're taking today is carrying over. There's no action. There is no action. No, no action. Okay. Um so moving forward, we have no ordinance introductions. We have no ordinance or public hearing adoptions, but we do have a number of resolutions
um by consent and then we're adding three today. So the first uh resolution by consent is 2025-151. Um this is authorizing the payout of former Chief Joseph Fussner. Uh
2025-152 is authorizing the payout of funds to for uh Philip Bole retiring from the fire department. Resolution 2025153 is uh is um I guess re is resolution state.
This is no bicycles on the boardwalk on Saturday May 17th. Okay. This is for the run monopoly. So, this is a this is a temporary suspension of bicycles on May 17th from 7:00 a.m. to 12 in allowance for the um monop a run called the
monopoly series. Um resolution 2025-154 is a resolution appointing members to the ventner city school board. Any uh comments on that? No, your re believe it's just the reappointment of two members. Correct. The reappoint. That's
correct. So, reappointment of two members that are up for um reappointment right now. Those names are Lisa. Uh James Quinnland and Lori Abbott. James Quinnland and Lori AB. Um yeah, it's been a while since I read that back up.
Um next is 2025-155. Um, this is authorizing approval to submit a municipal aid grant uh for uh with the Department of Transportation. Do you want to add anything to that,
Lance? Okay. Sorry, a bit. Um, Jim Retell is asking for it's an application for additional funding. I'm not sure. Maybe Tom can fill it in because I don't have it in front of me. I'm driving so Oh, I'm sorry. I have that in front of me. This
is for the signalization, isn't it? This is This is for Atlantic Avenue. Yeah. This is Atlantic Avenue signalization. Yeah. Yeah. This is to convert all of those lights to the same lights that we actually the controls, not the lights, just the controls. The same type of
controls we have on Ventner Avenue. Right. Great. It doesn't require a match, I read. So, that's good. Does not require a match. Yeah, that's great. So, so, so, uh, as as always, uh, Jim Martell is is looking out for the city
of Ventner, um, and finding these kinds of grants for us that are really appropriate. That's a, that's an important, that's an important aspect. Um, next is, uh, 2025156. Uh, another grant, um, approval to submit. Um, and this is also for the,
uh, Department of Transportation. Um believe that is related. Um 2025-157 um is one of a series of tax abatements. So uh 157 uh is a tax abatement for uh
5702 Winchester Avenue. 158 is a tax abatement for 126B North Portland Avenue. and 159 is a tax abatement for 102 South Oakland Avenue. Um, and 16 is a tax
abatement for 21B South Wayimoth Avenue. And 161 is a continuation of a tax abatement for 6807 Winchester Avenue. And last one in tax abatement is
162 which is uh uh tax abatement uh continuation for 119 North Sacramento Avenue. Um next is uh 163. Um this is authorizing part-time employment uh for
the department of revenue and finance uh beach tag checkers recreational aid. So these are two um this is uh uh for obviously the season coming up. Um and then we have 164
uh which is authorizing payouts for uh Thomas Grimley retiring from the fire department. And 165 is a um replacement of existing chiller at the library um through cooperative pricing agreement
and CM3 amount not to exceed $251,855. That looks like something I remember from 2016. Y right. Yep. We've had to do it again. These these systems are just not lasting. This one we're spending extra dollars to get it uh
treated. Every piece of the chilling equipment will be dismantled and dipped in I guess galvan. It'll be galvanized or at least treated. So, and in hopes it will last longer. That's what they said in 2016.
Sorry. I know. I'm I'm with you. Don't look I'm tired of put money in that building myself. So that's I know frustrating but we are going to have to we are getting prices now also not to talk about it now but for the exterior
improvements of that building. Um, I met with Andy Vasperino a couple of weeks back and he's working with a contractor that makes that material uh those uh molded chair rails if you will uh to help us
find those again. Okay. So, great. On a on a different topic, but Oh, no, that's fine. That's great. Thank you. Yeah, we are adding three resolutions on the bench. Um we're adding 166 which is accepting the resignation of Patrick
Spina and um we have uh resolution 167 which is authorizing the hiring of James Hoff as a labor seasonal employment going from seasonal employment to full-time employment on May 18th. Any comments there Lance? That's your department. Um it didn't work out with
Pat Spina. He got an offer that's more money. That's the problem when you start out at public works. The the salary is pretty low there. We've looked at other options to try and increase that, but Mr. Spina was able to get a job that uh provides him with a much higher salary.
So, he he was sorry to leave. Enjoyed the work, but uh he's got to take care of himself and a family. So, understand his his leaving. Understood. Thank you. And the last one that we're adding at the bench is 168. And this is additional seasonal
part-time hires for this time special events for uh um for the the summer season. Um and I and I know that's a busy season. I'm sure they'll be utilized. Great. Um and then um we will
have approval of bills and payroll. Um we don't have any discussion items as far as I know. None that I'm aware of tonight. Um and then we have u public portion. So um for any items that have been
discussed so far uh we ask you to come to the mic or leave or to the zoom platform. Uh and we ask that your comments are limited to three minutes per person if you wish to address the commission. Any comments about items
that we've talked about so far? Now is the time for the public portion. Seeing no one stirring in the chambers. Anyone on the Zoom platform that choose that would like to comment on anything we've discussed so far in the workshop?
Anybody on Zoom wish to comment or speak on any of the items spoken so far? Please make yourself known by either raising your hand or within the chat feature and you'll be recognized. You Nope. All right. I have a motion to close the
workshop portion of the meeting. So moved. Second. Lisa, roll call, please. Commissioner Langrath, yes. Commissioner Mento, yes. Mayor Creable. Yes. Can I have a motion to approve minutes from the March 27, 2025
regular meeting and the March 27, 2025 executive meeting? I'll make that motion. Second. Roll call. Lisa. Commissioner Langra. Yes. Commissioner Mento. Yes. Mayor Creable. Yes. Uh we have no ordinance introductions.
Um no action. We have uh no action to be taken at the public hearing is carried over from April 24th. And we have one ordinance adoption. So, no, that's the same. That's the ordinance that we're going to carry over for the next meeting, right? So, do we
need to vote on 20? No, we're just going to carry, right? I'm talking about the second one, 22. So, uh, professional. Okay, so we're skipping over that. So, it's in there twice. I see now. Got you. Thank you. So, moving on to uh resolutions to be adopted by consent.
May I have a motion to adopt resolutions 2025-151 through 2025-168? I'll make that motion. Second. Roll call. Lisa. Commissioner Langra. Yes. Commissioner Mento. Yes.
Mayor Creable. Yes. Amy, may I have uh bills and payroll, please? The payables for this period $628,5743. Payrolls for this period $630,4818. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve bills and payroll, please? So
moved. Second. Roll call. Lisa. Commissioner Langra. Yes. Commissioner Mento. Yes. Mayor Creable. Yes. I have no announcements or safety reports, but I will imagine we have any commissioner comments or
reports. Starting with uh Commissioner Mento. So um we've we recently completed our audit. The auditors completed our audit. There are no recommendations. So that is fantastic findings that there are no
findings and um it's being reviewed and I would expect it to come before us in the near future to vote on it. Um we also have some events coming up and for the public I'll go through them. The block party is Saturday. We have 90
vendors registered and um which is Donna's here tonight. It's what 20 some more than last year more vendors than last year's block party. Okay. And that goes from 10 to
10 to 5. Okay. Okay. Repeat that again. Where for people when the New Haven between Portland and Troy. Okay. So that's um this Saturday. That's right. Kick off at 10 o'clock.
We have um tallied up our sponsors this year for the concerts and uh we have sponsors totaling over $78,000 for our concerts and last year we had a little bit over $46,000. So um this is also very
positive for the city because I call that the Mento effect. This is your new uh department. Usually it's mento bad luck. That's what goes on in my Congratulations, Donna. Yeah, good job, Donna. Um and we we have a lot of people supporting us, a lot of vendors
supporting us and um you're going to see them all listed on a banner. So, um there there's quite a few and I thank them for showing a little faith in Bentner and and supporting these concerts.
Um, let's see. What else do we have coming up? Oh, we we we the past the past uh April 26, we had the shred event and we shredded over 5,000 pounds of paper. Wow. That's pretty amazing. 5,000 pounds of paper. That would have all
went into a landfill. All my old files. Yes. Um, we issued seven permits recently for most of them are private events. We do have Red Bull coming. Um, they're new this year. What
What is that for again, Donna? The race at the beach patrol race. Surf and rescue. That's what I was looking for. The surf and rescue. That's July 14th. Yeah. And um the upcoming events to mark on your calendar. The
farmers market opens May 23rd. I love this farmers market and I cannot wait for it to start. So May 23rd, 8:30 to 12. And I know I'm in a lot of good company with that because it gets packed. It's a great farmers market and the volunteers have done a fabulous job
over the years and we have some new leads this year and um it's going to be great. They have seven new vendors too. So you're going to see some new new things to look at and buy to eat or buy to wear or whatever they are. Um we're
opening the beach May 24th at 10:00 a.m. at beach headquarters. So come on out. That's self hook in the beach. We're kicking off the summer concert series on May 24th or we're kicking off the summer with a concert on May 24th at 5:00 pm at
Ski Beach. That's Dorset and Burke. We also have the Kenny Whailing Run 9:00 a.m. Atlantic and Newport Avenue on May 25th. And then we have the Memorial Day ceremony. I invite everybody to please come out. And that's May 26 at 9:00 am
at City Hall at the flag pole. And then we have Lour Down Beach coming up June 1 and the American Cancer Society bike ride June 1. Um we have seven concerts this year on Newport. And how many do we have Donna
at Ski Beach? 10. Plus July 3rd at Newport and plus this coming concert coming up at kickoff. Is there anything you want to add about our events or did we We got it covered. Donna, when is the
first uh concert scheduled for the Newport Avenue this summer? 28 June 20. Thank you. Recognizing Shel. A new stage is being constructed and
um I'd like to thank again the beautifification committee because they are donating. I guess you're still donating. Uh can I am I allowed to say how see how this meeting goes? Yeah, I think it's $100,000 you're donating that the beautifification committee raised
through their events over the years like chef's night out primarily, right? And um which is and that that's a a a good amount of money that's going towards this. So I don't know if we could have done it without you and without your
team. $100,000 towards this is um really helpful and really amazing that you were able to raise all that. I don't know anybody else that can say that unless they're the American Cancer Society or something like that, right? So, thank you. So, I think that is it for me. I
know we have some tax appeals coming up, but I don't have much to report on that now. Uh thank you, Commissioner Langraph. Do you have any um uh Commissioner comments or reports? Just a couple updates. Uh construction is ongoing out on Ventner Gardens Plaza
uh at the intersection there with uh Monmouth Avenue. We're doing the stormwater reconstruction out there. Pardon me. Also, we're getting close with the traffic signals on Ventner Avenue. You'll see some of the new poles have been installed with new lights.
We're still waiting for a couple of of poles to arrive and they should be finished up by Memorial Day. Um, the basketball court should be painting the court surface. If it's not done this week, it'll be over the next week to 10 days. Uh, they had to wait a
certain amount of time before they could paint it after the asphalt was put down. Um, we had some comments regarding the pickle ball and tennis courts. Um, that area will be totally re reconstructed just like the basketball court, but that will be next year. those that project is
out to design right now and and hopefully construction in the fall and over the winter of next year. Um that's uh pretty much it. Other maintenance stuff getting ready for the summer. Rick and his team, you'll see these guys out on the beach, the
boardwalk getting ready for the summer. Um you know, we've bringing on our our summer employees, summer seasonal guys to start doing some of that work. Um, we're going to start and force to start cleaning up behind the boardwalk. Uh, a lot of those areas collect a lot of trash over the winter. That'll be
something that happens on a daily basis now that the summer season is coming through. Uh, as well as cleaning the beach and those areas as well. So, that's pretty much it for now. Great. Thank you, Commissioner Langraph. I will just add that I did talk to Rick
earlier about the new lifeguard boat that's going at the plaza for that. He's working on that. I saw right. All right. The public can't hear whatever Rick's saying. So, so he's just mentioning that the uh that tomorrow
morning at 6 a.m. the new the new boat will be installed. The the owner, Mark Greco, is going to be irrigating it and adding plantings to that display. and that um it is a decommissioned 2014 boat and the old one was beyond
repair, but I believe they're going to repurpose it as a uh display of some kind with in parts. So, nothing goes wasted in the in the beach patrol. Um but, um it's a great it's great. It's a great uh you know, it's one of the unique things about our our our city. I
think it's it's a nice welcome to Ventner sign. Um and I'm sure people will be excited about that. Um, and then I just have a few things I will add that uh the chef night out is May 18th. Unfortunately, can only watch people do it because I believe it's sold
out. 108 tickets. How many? 48 tickets. This is the May 18th. This is the 12th year. Uh, every year there's uh different restaurants because the city of Vner has a way of incubating new
and wonderful restaurants. this year. Um, 19 stops. So, go hungry and go and, um, it's a it's a great This year, we're also going to, I believe, help with parking on uh on Atlantic Avenue in one space because it's a there's a bunch on
that street. We talked about that and Veter Avenue as well. It's always a great event. Um, I unfortunately will be out of town picking up my daughter uh uh from abroad, but um ple but uh it's always a successful. We can't thank you enough for not only just your um your
donation, but um you know, you were you're you're you're one of the original um people that saw the need in Venter to bring um beauty to the streets and and a sense of community. So, it's really appreciated and everyone there incl.
You started it off. Yes, you did. Um, uh, just a mention about the block party to be careful that, uh, Venor Avenue will be closed. There will be traffic rerouting, so please use Atlantic Avenue between Dorset and Rosboro. Please be mindful of those detours when you're coming down Veter
Avenue um on Saturday and there'll be a code red going out. So, that's a good segue. Please sign uh there's not there may be people that are uh new to the area. We might want to do another post. people coming in that don't aren't aware of code red. It's always this time of year where we need to remind them to sign up
for the OEM uh call back and the code red. So maybe we'll push out that as well. Um uh there is a training exercise on the north of Portland Avenue. There was one today. There'll be another one on Tuesday, May 13th. It is not an
emergency, but you will see increased police presence there. Um and uh also in terms of signing up um the veterary uh in the recreation department there's the rec desk is open for a number of camps that are still available. I believe
there's still some openings. Um and also two more things. One is that we are uh uh we have our SLEA our our class one officers will have um five new ones starting in the beginning of um uh
beginning of June after they they finish their training, but we are enforcing more uh rigorously the um dogs on the boardwalk and the presence of uh electric vehicles on the boardwalk. Um there were in 7 days 31 calls. We're
going to continue that until the um until we feel that it's uh understood. We're also increasing the signage on the boardwalk to show more of a impact that um dogs are not allowed on the boardwalk and that um electric vehicles are not allowed on the boardwalk. So, look
forward to those signs being switched out. Um and then lastly for the voters the vendor avenue uh Dorset Avenue is uh going to be until further notice is in
the down position. Um so that is uh because of control issues uh that are that are frequent with the bridge. So is uh in the down position and we're waiting on the counties to uh describe when it uh when that control position
will be uh fixed. issues will be fixed and it'll be back. So, it's not it's not a problem for boats that don't need the clearance, but for those that do, um, they're they're gonna have to find have to go out into the Atlantic Ocean, I guess. So, is that what I saw today? The guys in
Yes. Yes. Yep. Oh, no. No, that was something else. Fatigues. That was uh That was something else. Not aware what that was. This was in a This was in a The training is happening in a a residence that's being torn down that's abandoned. So, it's police
tactical training. Did you Did you say everything? Yes. Okay. So, Lisa just reminded me to remind everybody to get their beach badges because they go up after May 31st. So, veterans right now are free. Seniors are 350 through May
31st and 12 and up are $10 through May 31st. And then June 1, everything's $20. So get your beach badges now. Great. Veterans are always free. Yes, but until May 31st or always. Okay.
Always. Veterans are always. Sorry about that. Yeah. Okay. That is all we have for commissioner comments and reports. Um I am at this time. Um may I have a motion to open the meeting for public
comment? So moved. Second. Lisa. Roll call, please. Commissioner Langra, yes. Commissioner Mento, yes. Mayor Creable, yes. So, at this point, we open the uh anyone who wants to participate uh in the workshop or the or the discussion on
any any topics regarding Veter City. Uh we ask you to limit your comments to three minutes. Not seeing anyone star in the commission chambers. Do we have anybody uh raising a hand in the Zoom platform? Anybody in Zoom wish to make comment on
any items? No. Nope. Hearing none. May I have a motion to close public comment? So moved. Second. Lisa, may I have roll call, please? Commissioner Lingrav. Yes. Commissioner Mento. Yes. Mayor
Creable. Yes. Do we have an executive session today? We do not. Um I have a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Please second roll call, please. Mr. Langra. Yes. Commissioner Mento. Yes. Mayor
Creable. Yes. Meeting adjourned.