i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call mr schiff here mr mr franco
I'm here mr cabrera I'm here in compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 the notice requirements have been satisfied as to the time place and date of holding said meeting by posting notice on the bulletin board here in Burough Hall and
by mailing and emailing same to the Herald of Kate May County and the press of Atlantic City on October 15th 2024 in the event of an emergency your emergency exit is the door you came in our front left your back right or the door just by the American flag a couple quick
announcements here before we get started uh this meeting is being shown live here today on the burrow's YouTube and Facebook channel um if anybody that is watching the live stream and you have a public comment we have a conference line that's made available to you all by
dialing the access number 8883634734 and when prompted you're going to enter the access code 96920 followed by the pound or the hashtag in the event you watch the recorded version of this meeting you're more than welcome to uh email our clerk
at clerk wildwoodrest.org or phone her at 609-7298040 madame clerk I believe we have some ordinances yes sir the first is ordinance 1449 regarding garbage motion that ordinance number 1449 be
placed on second reading and final passage by title only second it it's been moved and seconded that ordinance number 1449 be placed on second and final reading by title only roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes ordinance 1449 reads as follows an
ordinance of the Burrow of Wildwood Crest amending and supplementing article 1 of chapter 37 garbage rubbish solid waste management of the code of the burrow of Wildwood Crest regulating section 4 containers recepticles
placement for collection motion that a public hearing now be held on ordinance number 1449 second a motion it's been moved and seconded that a public hearing on ordinance number 1449 now be held roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes floor is open for public
comment on ordinance number 1449 also known as the trash ordinance i believe you're all here for this but far away hearing none motion that a public hearing on ordinance number 1449 now be closed i'll second that has been moved
and seconded that the public hearing on ordinance number 1449 now be closed roll call mr schiff yes mr mr franco yes mr cabera yes motion that ordinance number 1449 be passed on second and final reading and advertised according to law
i'll second it has been moved and second that ordinance number 1449 be passed on second and final reading and advertised according to law roll call mr shiff yes mr franco yes mr cabar yes okay next we have ordinance number 1452 and it reads as follows an ordinance of the Burrow of
Wildwood Crest amending and supplementing the code of the Burough Wildwood Crest article 1 uniform construction code of chapter 22 amending fees for permits motion that ordinance number 1452 be passed on first reading advertised according to law be brought
up for second and final reading public hearing on April 9th 2025 at 9:30 a.m i'll second it it has been moved and seconded that or owners number 1452 be passed on first reading advertised according to law be brought up for second and final reading and public
hearing on April 9th 2025 at 9:30 a.m roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabrera yes okay before we move on to resolutions we're going to move right to our presentation here this evening um I'm assuming most everybody here in the
room is is here to uh uh join with us in recognizing and honoring the boys uh seventh uh and eighth grade uh basketball team at Crest Memorial um I'd like to introduce uh first of all um uh the coaches uh Jared Degraph and Adrien
Richie where are they i see Jared where's Adrien okay um and then if I could ask the both of you to come up come up front please um also want to um introduce uh um Dave Delconi the the school superintendent where's
David david in the back and we have school board members Tony Pussella and Lenny Bernstein here in the audience well right okay welcome um Jared if you may do the honors of recognizing and and asking your team members to come up we'd like to present them all with the plaque
and you and Adrien as well we have Owen Bannon eighth grader we have Matt Mayer eighth grader got Levi Shepard eighth [Music] grader got Crew Filero eighth grader got Shaunie Kiff eighth grader
we have a big piece that didn't show up today michael Sierra eighth grader didn't show up today we have Jared Banks who couldn't make it as well eighth grader we have Ryan Davenport seventh grader ben Krinski seventh grader
we have Gabe Vulpi who didn't show up today he was busy seventh grader and Gary Triano sorry about that he's an eighth grader should have been Oh James Bradley seventh grader yeah uh so let me just say um so it
looks like they've won uh gez almost everything that they played this year right 25 and0 as a season they won the Scoop Tower Tip Off Classic Champions Island Tournament Champions the George De Mo Memorial Tournament Champions Atlantic Cape Junior High Division Champions is that right all right and I
don't know what I don't know what's in the water in Wild Crest but every one of them taller than me i feel so uh anyway so we're going to present this we're going to come down and present this to the coaches congratulate
everybody brian do you want a couple chairs in the front or here's the Congratulations i'm not sure where they're going to put this Mr delcon where are they going to put this down there they're going to put this in somewhere i don't know where else to go
yeah I was going to say someone else someone else over here take a knee someone up here whoever's got the longest here stay away hey this this one first this one first okay all right here we go one two three
one two three one two three that's good for me stay there for everybody else thank you do you want Do you want Dave Dan anything dave Dave anybody else school board next to my pop
[Music] that's nice okay thank you all right one more round of applause in my 12 years obviously the best team we've ever seen i think it goes down by just from talking to some alumni it's probably one of the best teams we've
ever had in 25 years and coaches thank you players thank you but you got to thank the parents they they put a lot of time and effort they love the kids a lot of kids are coming as always crowd baby crowd thank you i got a new player for you if you
going to need some height for next year we'll put the chief in he's six what two or something like that i'm sure he's seven i'm sure he's seventh grade right thank you that was great congratulations thank you all right
congratulations Bill congrats it's awesome appreciate it thank you and you don't have to obviously leave thank you thank you very much we really would like everybody to stay for the rest of the meeting we got the budget hearing we got some closed sessions all
good stuff they're out there then we'll be able to hear them appcateast dr yep oh that was fun okay resolution all right the room has
been cleared madam clerk may we move on to the resolutions yes sir first is authorizing the calendar year 2025 municipal budget be read by title only and that a public hearing be held on the calendar year 2025 municipal budget i'll
motion it i will second it's been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabrera yes yes please thank you i appreciate it
i think this is Mr garcia yep okay so we have with us this evening our municipal auditor Mike Garcia it's going to give us an overview on the 2025 budget oh my gosh thanks Mayor um a few comments on the um on the budget before
I get into a little bit of the details um just as a reminder the bureau is required to stay within the two statemandated caps first there is that 3 and 12% spending cap the budget is $532,000 below the cap so we're well
below the spending cap we are also required to comply with the 2% tax levy cap this budget is about $1.3 million below the tax levy cap so um we're raising way below the maximum tax levy
here um the budget also um provides to maintain all the burough services as well as manage surplus and debt and speaking of debt we are about $76 million below the state maximum de um
debt rate for um the municipality so we manage the debt very well um there was a bond sale last year um the bureau with its strong um bond rating of AA2 from Moody's um was able to issue bonds at
just over 3% last year 3.167% so all indications that we're um uh that the bureau is managing the finances very efficiently um as with most municipalities all municipalities this year um there are costs increasing so
there is a slight tax increase required this year it's under 1 cent um per 100 of assessed value it's actually um 9 um um nine about 9/10 of a cent it equates
to um about $43 a year on your average assessed property which your average property is assessed at $450,000 so this increase is about $43 a year on that property of um $450,000 so slight increase the reason for the
increase is um the spending um is up net of grants and capital about $653,000 the largest piece of that is salary and wages which are going up about $418,000 now that is um predominantly
contractual um obligations for salary increases as well as um minimum wage requirement to keep up with the um minimum wage for some of your seasonal employees and also um lifeguard um wages to keep competitive with um local other
neighboring municipalities so that you can retain your lifeguards health insurance is up about $170,000 pension costs both the um public employees retirement system and the police and firemen's retirement system are up about
$82,000 um debt service is actually down about $168,000 as I mentioned earlier when we sold those bonds last year um we got a much better rate than what was anticipated so we were able to to realize a decrease in our debt service
of about $168,000 um we also have an increase in our sewer expense in the payment that we make to the Kate May County MUA but that's offset by our revenue um but that amount was about $136,000 and that's offset by the sewer
billings um all the other items in the budget anything that I didn't mention specifically accounts for $14,000 worth of the increase so those handful of items that I just mentioned to you really key in on all the areas of increase everything else that I didn't
mention specifically contributes about $14,000 to that $653,000 increase so um once again we are below both of the caps a very slight increase in the local purpose tax um the bureau is managing its surplus and its
debt very well um mayor if you're ready to turn it over to the public um you know I'll be here for any comments or questions but I'll take a seat sure uh anybody anyone in the public have any public comments questions on the 2025 municipal budget
anybody on the conference line have any uh public comments or questions on the 2025 municipal budget yes sir how much of of that goes towards the beach not just the lifeguards how much goes towards the beach curiosity in
I mean there Francine you want to mention you so like for beach maintenance yeah like who takes who you know the beach gets taken care of somebody pays for it right oh absolutely for the beach maintenance for the people that rake the beach talk about public works to rake the beach maintain it
um about seasonal employees they're take care of the beach during the summer time and it's about $50,000 is budgeted for their salaries and then about $110,000 uh for other maintenance Um and u the for the maintenance of the portaotties and such to to keep the the
beach going for the summer there's there's also though the biggest piece is the lifeguard salaries are about $800,000 that comes out of the taxes of the Yes well and yeah yes yes exactly all out of the taxes but the the biggest
piece are personnel costs sir I just need your name for the record uh Chris Hughes thank you thank you anybody else public questions comments questions on the budget all right hearing none uh I'd
like to personally thank Mr garcia for your efforts Francine your efforts and your departments and all the department heads um and the and the fellow governing body members for a job well done on this year's budget um we appreciate it and I think the the key points that Mr garcia made that the the
the the surplus is looking strong we're managing that very well the it's a minimal increase $43 on a $450,000 average property um that's good stuff and and and the burrow continues to progress by you can see with all the roadway construction and beach projects
and everything in the municipal building projects so everything's good um so if anybody has any follow-up Yes sir one other question what is considered an average property 4 well the the average property the average assessment in town is $415,000
for like a town home that got built on a single Well some some the average means some are more expensive some are less but that's any type of house any condo if you're assessed at $450,000 okay the and the effect is about $9 on a on
$100,000 so if you're assessed at $100,000 it's $9 200,000 would be $18 and so on so it's the it's the assessment number that that we're talking about no problem one of the things I wanted to just say about the budget also and that since it came up
for the lifeguard salaries at $800,000 that's total for everybody but we have 110 to 111 lifeguards that are being paid so the number is large but we have a lot of beach to cover so I just wanted to make sure that was uh in the record
reflected okay Mike excellent stuff michael thank you you're welcome you are free to go take care everyone good night all right Mike all right i do need We need I'll entertain a motion to uh close the uh public hearing this time
what's that can I get a a motion a motion second is that my phone is that your Mr i think that's Chris's phone chris is that your phone yes it is i didn't know we left you there it has been moved and seconded that the public hearing on calendar year 2025 municipal budget now be closed roll
call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes next we have authorizing adoption of the calendar year 2025 municipal budget inclusive of 17,441,245.72 for municipal purposes be adopted motion second it has been moved
and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr frank yes mr cabera yes next is cancelling erroneous 2025 sewer rents in the amount of $124 for property located at 7201 Ocean
Avenue motion second it has been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes nexus authorizing advertisement of a notice to biders for 2025 road resurfacing program motion second it has
been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabrera yes next is authorizing award of professional services contract to the Lomax Group for specialized engineering and environmental consulting services in
conjunction with Green Team Community Forestry Consultation Services Part Two at the not exceeded sum of $4,450 i'll motion it i'll second it's been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr
schiff yes Mr franco yes Mr cabrera yes next is authorizing advertisement of a notice to biders for landscaping services for Higgby and Mory Fields i'll move second it has been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr
franco yes mr cabera yes lastly is authorizing the approval to submit a fiscal year 2026 community project funding grant application for the Heather Road boardwalk fishing pier a motion second it has been moved and
seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes motion that all bills properly authorized as submitted be paid second it it has been moved and seconded that all bills properly authorized as submitted be paid roll
call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes okay okay all right so we have uh one public safety report tonight we asked our chief of police uh Bob Wood to come on up and
give his presentation good evening Chief um I'm going to touch on some highlights from my uh report to the Commissioner of Public Safety for the month of February 2025 in February uh the police department responded to
1,050 calls for service uh 466 of those required more than one officer uh we conducted 18 investigations um 146 service calls we had 94 motor vehicle stops with 37 traffic summones
issued uh two motor vehicle accidents we did 296 property checks 582 hours of training and we had seven adult arrests and three DWIs
i also want to let the public know if they haven't seen um through our social media or through the media itself uh we're partnering with the New Jersey Highway Traffic Safety um division with
the you drive you text you pay enforcement mobilization April 1st through the 30th there's going to be extra officers out doing patrols looking for distracted driving so if you're using a handheld device while you're operating a motor vehicle don't be
surprised if you get pulled over um so again that's April 1st through April 30th thank you Chief okay thank you any questions for the public anybody in the call all right we're good Chief thank you all right reports
motion that all reports received from the court administrator chief financial officer tax collector chief of police supervisor for the recreation department construction official fire prevention emergency services coordinator for the EMS and the wild crest volunteer fire
company chief for the month ending February 28th 2025 be accepted as presented seconded it has been moved and seconded that all reports received from court administrator chief financial officer tax collector chief of police supervisor for the recreation department
construction official fire prevention emergency services coordinator for the EMS and the Wildwood Crest Volunteer Fire Company Chief for the month ending February 28th 2025 be accepted as presented roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes motion that all
minutes from the commission's meeting dated February 19th and March 12th 2025 be approved as presented i'll second it it has been moved and seconded that all minutes from the commission meetings dated February 19th and March 12th 2025 be approved as
presented roll call mr shiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes thanks Josh sure okay that brings us to the engineers report okay thank you mayor a couple of updates for the commissioners on their capital projects the Bayside bulkhead replacement project is ongoing
uh the contractor has completed all of the storm sewer work and has completed the bulkhead installation at Primrose Myrtle Forget Me Not and Sweeper Road they're now working on replacing the B bulkheads from Primrose Road North the
Burough's Small Cities uh program grant for the munipal bathroom improvements is heading towards the finish line here we have some punch list items and close out but we should be delivering open bathrooms in the next week or so which I think will make everybody happy um the
reconstruction of Toledo Avenue is uh on schedule to have the roadway paved and open for the summer season the contractor has completed the installation of the sanitary sewer and the water services and is currently working on the concrete and flat work the 2025 road resurfacing program with
the approval of the resolution tonight will go out to bid that is a simple road resurfacing project that we are going to have completed on or about Memorial Day to uh address a couple of roads that just need resurfacing as requested by the
burough uh moving along to two updates under grant applications the first one is the New Jersey Ibank project that is the program that we're putting the burrow in position to get a $3 million principal forgiveness loan which is synonymous with the grant for a couple
of roadways to replace the sewer and reconstruct the roads we uploaded the plans and specs which are called step four on March 21st so we are on target for a May authorization to bid and hopefully a successful contractor and if
we pull this all off by June 30th you'll be in position to get that principal forgiveness and lastly with the codification of the resolution tonight uh we submitted successfully on March 13th the uh Congressman Congressman Van
Drew's federal grant opportunity for the fishing pier and made a request of $4 million on your behalf and that'll go to Mr vanrew's office and uh hopefully to Congress for funding our report any questions of our engineer
line okay okay good they do yeah they really look well thank you yeah it's an improvement have to see how they're going to hold up yeah it was uh wasn't looking too good before but yeah it's good stuff we We're just We'd like to get it buttoned up and
closed up and move on so thank you thank you thank you Mark yeah and just uh just a comment i know Mr garcia but um Mark indicated about the $3 million grant so that's uh through the New Jersey I Bank so uh Bay View Drive and some side
streets um are slated to be reconstructed um for 2000 starting here this year uh after the summer 2025 there's another eyebank program that's coming in 2026 correct me if I'm wrong and that is the program that we would be
hopefully tapping into uh for Park Boulevard with all the construction of the uh bulkheads and the water sloping back out we you know there's there's definitely uh that's probably one of our streets that has a lot of roadway issues and draining issues and all that good
stuff so we're gonna hopefully address all that at that time the I bank and I know Francine's thrilled to hear this is an annual uh program so once you complete your fiscal year you could always go back to them again so good but we though this municipality does so much
with grant money um I don't know if everyone really anyone really pays attention to all that because it wasn't mentioned in the report but I would ask our CFO if she gets a chance at an upcoming meeting so I'd like the public to really understand and get their hands around how much money this bureau gets through grant monies i think it's
something that'll be you all to be thankful for and for all of us to be proud of that helps us keep our tax rate down and we get a lot done all right that's it for the engineers report um I'm going to move on to
uh discussion items under new business there's nothing listed uh under old business so we have two matters under closed business here so in the interest of time I don't really have any updates on any of this stuff uh unless any of the governing body members have anything
that they want to bring out or talk about Joe nothing on my end the only thing I want to do is to remove the bike safety u bicycle path up there we've uh generated signs that we're going to put up there i think I discussed that with
you yep and uh the uh we'll be you'll they'll be visible shortly okay so the community will see them all right all right well then we're going to move right to public comments and then we're going to head uh head into a uh close session and we'll need a resolution for that so we'll open the floor up for public comments if you can
just come up to the uh podium and we just need your name we do not need your uh address okay joyce Gould Wild request um the three of you received a letter from Kevin Yeko who is a former clerk so it wasn't in the paper so I'm going to read
it to you dear Governing body I have noted in several recent newspaper articles of the bureau's intention to pull out of the fivemile dune beach maintenance project plan administered cooperatively by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection once that decision becomes official and binding I would trust that you have already commissioned your environmental engineers to have a comprehensive plan ready for your adoption such standalone plan must fully address the myriad of
all current and further beach maintenance dune management and flood problems of the burrow will be required to remedy alone as you and your fellow island communities the federal government and the state will no longer partner with you in any environmental
matter of this nature that being said and if no final action has been taken to this regard I would point out to the major pitfalls of your potential withdrawal as follows one the continuing accretion of the beach renders your clearing of outfalls virtually
impossible which in and of itself would create a host of flooding problems that must be abated two no longer partnering with the federal government US Army Corps of Engineers and the state New Jersey D for beach protection and having a plan both agencies will endorse and
sign on will jeopardize not only our flood insurance community rating reduction but potentially the bureau's actual continued participation in the national flood insurance plan along with all properties situated therein you will have guaranteed that
the US Army Corps of Engineers and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will be providing absolutely no assistance be it financial or advisory for any future beach storm related environment conditions on that may arise you will be exposing the
burrow to many potential private property owner lawsuits if flood insurance is no longer available because we have no approval we have no approved dune management beach maintenance flood protection system in place and operational i respectfully request a
detailed response to each of these issues that I have raised here and above and along with a copy of your detailed alternative plan to which the federal and state governments would have otherwise provided kevin Nco 151 West Morning Glory Road for those of you who
don't know Kevin he was he was my clerk when I was here and he was many for many years very knowledgeable you could pick up a phone and if you needed to find an answer you called Kevin Yo because he was that good at what he did not that anybody else that f wasn't but he was
exceptional um I just I read the paper and I see the things in the paper and I see some of the the little spout offs that we're talking about a project that can be anywhere from 40 to 50ome million dollars and we're saying no and if we
say no and that big one comes this town is is screwed so you better think about this really i know you have you're going to go into litigation now and um Judge Shepard will be hearing you i believe it's April 15th is that your day income tax day what a day to have that too
please anyway so thank you for your time thank you thanks George anybody else public comments um my name is Chris Hughes i kind of disagree with what she said i'm on the same side as you guys are solely on the fact that why would you shorten two
beaches to make one beach longer why wouldn't you just make one beach longer but that's me i just that's I don't understand that one the second thing I don't understand and I appreciate it you guys are replacing the beach walkways my understanding that the
problem that the D has with our dunes is that there's clearcuts every project north of here they build a giant dune and you walk over top of the dune you guys are the town is in the middle of replacing the walkways could it have
been an option to just backfill the walkway area level to the bike path and build the walkway all the way out to the end and down now you have a continuous dune from the walkway all the way out to your first dune to your fordune or
whatever you want to call it i I get it it's a different part but we do have a lot of sand that we can get if we wanted it that's just my thought there is multiple sand bars out in front to take from even in North Wildwood all that
sand that they put onto that beach in my opinion is sitting right out front and I don't know why they don't want to take it from 10th Street to Fifth it's sitting right there it shows every low tide anybody can go up there and see the white caps it's it's there so I applaud
you guys for you know doing the right thing because to me common sense says you don't shorten two beaches to bring up one beach why would you bring two beaches back to one instead of just bringing one up to the other two that's that's all I got thank you
all right okay so um to address uh the most the two recent comments on on this project so the the matter is under litigation but what I can tell you is that the bureau has not withdrawn from the project in other words we did not do
take any formal action um we had talked about it our I think our goal is to just get everyone back to the table to review this project and say what are the options available so that we don't lose our sand and our beach and the width and cross the public safety issues and and
and the ADA accessibility issues and all the things that come along with that so I don't think those are unreasonable requests to the point of flood insurance there is no impact to flood insurance we already did that homework so there's there's nothing there um and um I will
say to you that um all the other details uh that we're talking about you know in the papers and so forth are are just uh statements and facts that the bureau has rendered its opinion at this point um as to why we're not in favor of the project
but again I mentioned that we have not officially pulled out of the project um the project is uh as I understand it is um still on the table um we're hoping to get people back to the table to discuss it and see if we can figure out a way to
make this project work in some fashion um to the point it's a $53 million project it's a 50-year project um the initial 53 million is for the construction of this new dune and the sandbaring and the backpassing that is
what the Army Corps funding along with the D as a sponsor of the project have the to work with to get this project done um if there's any change to that that number could very well be reduced we're just not sure yet at this point so um can't comment on that any more than
what I've already said but I just wanted everyone to be comfortable knowing that this municipality this governing body is doing its due diligence to make sure that our taxpayers are protected while at the same time trying to maintain what
we already have there might be some give and take we just don't know yet because we're not at that point yet all right any other public comment yes sir david Thompson Wildwood request you have an update on New Jersey Avenue
with the county uh work or what's going to go in there is there a timeline or do we know where we're at with that yes so the county has put us on notice that they're intending to start the project in the spring of 2026 so um Francine has already we already
introduced the budget uh I'm sorry we already uh I think we passed on this uh we will be uh finalizing the budget at the next meeting the financing for that we have the infrastructure work that we have to do that's going to start here this fall that's going to roll right into the spring of 2026 where the county
is going to start their project um teller design group the burough's planner as well as the county's uh designer are coordinating all the details so some of that uh works with Mark's office so we're hope it's gonna you know it's the project's going to start it'll probably come back to come
back and finish it up after the summer of 2026 so the project is still very much moving forward okay great thanks you're welcome anybody else anybody in the conference line have any public comments
okay hearing none then I think we're uh ready Madam Clerk for the resolution for a close session yes sir it is authorizing executive closed in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act specifically NJSA 10 col4-12B with regard to two
items the bureau administrator position and potential litigation for the dune i'll motion it second Trish it's been moved and seconded that the foregoing resolution be adopted roll call mr schiff yes mr franco yes mr cabera yes okay okay we'll take a couple minutes to
clear the room and