April 20, 2021

Council Meeting Minutes

April 20, 2021

Due to the Point Pleasant Beach Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency declared on March 16, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the directive that all events on Borough property by cancelled until further notice, this meeting was held via the online Zoom Meeting platform/Meeting ID: 949 0042 2700. The public had the option to participate online or via telephone. Instructions were published in the Ocean Star and Asbury Park Press and posted in Borough Hall and on the Borough web site.

The Governing Body reserves its right to amend and supplement the purposes of executive session by motion at the public meeting.

Mayor Kanitra called the regular meeting to order at 7:30PM. Present were Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Santanello and Migut. The Municipal Clerk read the notice indicating compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act: “Adequate notice of the time and place of this meeting was given under the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act and was posted and sent to the officially designated newspapers in compliance with the law.”

FLAG SALUTE, INVOCATION

Motion by Councilwoman Testa to approve the March 16, 2021 Council meeting minutes was seconded by Councilman Vitale and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

Councilman Migut….ABSTAIN

DISCUSSIONS

Bird Scooters

Mayor Kanitra: congestion, parking and ensuring the whole town benefits from beach/Boardwalk visitors are issues in summer – Councilwoman Testa was approached by and he had multiple discussions with Bird Scooters – would help shuttle people from hotels to beach/Boardwalk/downtown – 3-month pilot project.

Jeremy Lynch, Sr. Acct. Exec, Bird Scooters: gave a presentation – trying to get people out of vehicles – community-specific – users reserve scooter through free app, complete safety tutorial – described features  – 15 miles/hour is top speed – no cost to Borough – launched in 35 communities since February – account manager oversees launch and set-up, relays monthly data and hires local fleet manager who gets 50% of ride revenue – proposal to launch in May or June with 15-20 scooters to start, going up to 75 – costs $1 plus 39 cents/minute – revenue share to Borough is 15 cents/ride (Atty. Riordan: must open this up to all companies who may want to do this and issue an RFP – whoever offers the Borough the most return is the company you can go with – can’t simply choose one company over another or tailor to any one bidder; Mayor Kanitra: can request components; Atty. Riordan: as long as there is more than one company that can respond to it) there is an 800# and email address on scooters to report damage, improper parking, etc. – don’t rely on police – community access programs for low income riders, Veterans, senior citizens, etc.– can make it slow downtown and no-go on Rte. 35 – rider must be 18 years old and follow traffic rules – scooters would shut down automatically in no-ride zones – franchisee is on call 24/7 – generally shut down 11PM-5AM – fleet managers re-charge them – no bike rack needed – can be ticketed for intoxicated riding – helmet is not required, but can get a free one for signing up.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to authorize the Administrator to issue an RFP with an expedited date for GPS-driven personal mobility scooter that involves revenue sharing for the municipality was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Santanello, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello…NAY

Proposed Prayer Protocol

Councilman Migut: read his proposal “The Borough Clerk, or any person appointed by the Mayor, or the Council person in charge of the meeting, shall read in alternating sequence by consecutive meetings The Lord’s Prayer, The Shema and the Maghrib which shall be followed by a moment of observed silence by the Council Chamber for the recognition of non-religious persons or persons of religious affiliation for which communal prayer is not practiced. Fluidity Clause: This policy shall be liberally construed and amended as necessary to include faiths which are unknown to the Governing Body, but which may wish to present themselves for inclusion in the recited communal prayer recitation.” His recent “Ocean Star” editorial laments the attacks on the free exercise of religious beliefs in today’s society and recounts PPB’s past experience, resulting in the prohibition of The Lord’s Prayer recitation – proposal would return the Governing Body to starting their meeting with prayer, in compliance with the most recent Supreme Court ruling – asked that it be adopted by Council tonight – paraphrased The Shema, an Old Testament Jewish prayer, “ I am the Lord your God, you shall write my name on your hearts and hold my name in your hand, write my name on the gates of your house always” and The Maghrib, first prayer of the Islamic day, which starts at sundown when the Council meetings start, signifying the start of a new day in PPB, “Allah is most high and most powerful” (Councilman Santanello: about 10 years ago, someone sued the town over saying The Lord’s Prayer before meetings) PPB had opportunity, but elected not to join a lawsuit, Greece, NY vs. Galloway – same issue – case was decided May 5, 2014 – Ocean County has large Christian, Jewish and Islamic populations – this  would recognize 3 principal faiths that practice communal prayer and, in moment of silence, faiths that do not, like Hindu (Mayor Kanitra: asked Atty. Riordan if proposal is legal and would not open PPB to lawsuit and, if so, if all the different faith’s prayers would have to be said on a regular basis; Atty. Riordan: no, it’s not legal and yes, would have to recite all and any prayers – implementation would be almost impossible – asked, if there are no other Hindus in the room, who would know what’s communal and what’s not when Councilman Migut leaves the dais – read the opinion Councilman Migut referenced – it’s extraordinarily nuanced – present invocation is the subject of a consent order – can expect to be sued and, based on what he has read so far, would expect to have not a great deal of optimism about success; Councilman Cortes: believes that’s why  PPB came up with the generic prayer said now; Mayor Kanitra: to make anything more spiritual is good) disagrees with Atty. Riordan’s assessment – thinks this challenge would comport with the ruling in Galloway – incumbent upon people to exercise the opportunity to express themselves in a traditional manner and not be censored/edited – doubts PPB would be struck down for practicing inclusiveness.

Motion by Councilman Migut to move his proposal to the Consent Resolutions was seconded by Councilman Santanello and defeated by roll call vote.

VOTE:   Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….YEA

Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes….NAY

Mayor Kanitra….ABSTAIN

Atty. Riordan: doesn’t pass (not added to agenda)

Councilman Santanello: objected to change in agenda order, as there is no major emergency which requires the Mayor to speak first.

Motion by Councilman Santanello to continue in the normal order was seconded by Councilman Cortes and defeated by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….YEA

Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….NAY

MAYOR’S REPORT

Mayor Kanitra: a situation needs to be brought to the public’s attention – asked all to listen carefully to fact-based, not political speech – will vote on a motion to censure Councilman Santanello and he will personally be filing multiple ethics violations against him – will be the first time in PPB history that any member of the Council will be censored –  a disgrace that it has come to this – will also be stripping Councilman Santanello of his committee chairmanship and asking him to resign immediately – he has spent the last two years working to undermine this administration in a selfish and political manner after his group was unceremoniously dumped out of office – his actions have compromised the legal standing of the Borough and cost taxpayers untold dollars in legal fees and potential settlements – he has not had the decency to show his face on Zoom meetings and has tried to formulate conspiracy theories – have sat by quietly and allowed this to happen – have extended olive branches in an effort to foster unity for the community – has texted and called him multiple times and asked him to go ahead and disagree and vote however he wants, but stop making up untruths, spewing personal insults and undermining the Governing Body – has tried to squash his unhinged ramblings and implored him to stop for the sake of the town – has broken these requests with unsolicited attacks and more fact less drivel – has made everyone’s lives miserable with wild lies – have never gone after him unsolicited – tonight, he must be stopped for good – as he sells his house, prepares to move and tries to burn PPB on his way out, let’s take a look at quoted from the last 2 years of Council minutes to uncover his insane conspiracy theories – after the 2019 Primary, he said the town actually elected Kevin Riordan Mayor and called everyone sheep, as they would simply do as they were told – he switched his affiliation to the Libertarian Party – said the supposedly Republican Party just chose Kevin Riordan as the next Mayor and nominated 3 tax and spend Socialists as candidates – said, if they were elected, he would not caucus with them and they wouldn’t want him in the room, as they figure out what favors to pay back and plot behind closed doors – he claimed that when Councilwoman Testa proudly told the local hardware store she’d won the election, she was actually looking for a discount – after telling two residents to go F themselves in a Recreation Committee meeting, and scandal ensued, he made up wild claims that a Board of Education member was trying to influence basketball and said that all of our supporters practice unadulterated hypocrisy – in a meeting where a concerned group of citizen leaders expressed concerns about the future of cellular deployments, he dismissed the residents who came to the meeting, calling them anti-vaxxers, uninformed, misguided and embarrassing – after opposing her appointment, he called the Quality of Life Director “What’s her Name” and stated she had a no-show political patronage job, despite that she was putting in 50-60 hours/week to help residents and businesses with PPP loans, grants and funding for the pandemic – he started implying that his pointing out code violations missed by employees was improper – he let slip that he had been actively in contact with Town Hall employees behind the scenes in an effort to create a false narrative and undermine him – he called the increase of fees, that were massively less than other towns, to be a massive money grab by the Borough Engineer, a large contributor to the Mayor’s campaign – this was a new Engineer who often works for free and desperately worked to save the town from a $300/household flood insurance debacle that Councilman Santanello and his cronies created during their time in office – in conversations about the Amethyst Motel, he discussed Closed Session Council minutes,  a clear violation of ethics laws and  possibly criminal – he manipulated those minutes and tried to make it sound as if parking was not the primary reason for PPB taking the property – now the minutes have been made public – his attempt to undermine the Governing Body legally will be shown to be totally false – he spends weeks writing a carefully-crafted committee speech that calls people names, implies that any expenditure is a result of political favors and alleges everything is a political conspiracy – he hasn’t done a single hour of work for the residents – he volunteers no time – he helps clean nothing – he drafts no ordinances – he creates no solutions to the problems – he didn’t have the decency to support the police on the Boardwalk a few weeks ago – he has been the conspirator – he asked Borough employees to provide dirt on his political enemies.

Mayor Kanitra: asked for a motion to make public the correspondence from an investigation, that was launched into Mr. Santanello’s violations of Closed Session meeting decorum, carried out by a third-party attorney, Special Counsel Sean Gertner (Councilman Santanello: asked if he gets to reply or if the Mayor just gets to throw dirt at him) said he would be able to give his speech when it’s his time.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to make public the correspondence from an investigation, that was launched into Mr. Santanello’s violations of Closed Session meeting decorum, carried out by a third-party attorney, Special Counsel Sean Gertner, was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Santanello….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes, Migut….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: asked for a motion to make public the correspondence to and from an investigation into Mr. Santanello’s violations of an employee relations issue, carried out by independent third-party attorney, Tim Cunningham, a former official in the Department of Local Government Services for the State of NJ (Councilman Santanello: didn’t violate anything – didn’t’ share anything in public – that’s a lie) will read it once it all becomes public.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to make public the correspondence to and from an investigation into Mr. Santanello’s violations of an employee relations issue, carried out by an independent third-party attorney, Tim Cunningham, a former official in the Department of Local Government Services for the State of NJ, was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: since Councilman Santanello’s violation has already occurred and he’ll be held accountable, asked for a motion to make public the Closed Session minutes of discussion regarding the Amethyst Motel.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to make public the Closed Session minutes of discussion regarding the Amethyst Motel, was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Santanello, Migut….YEA

Mayor Kanitra: directed the Clerk to make them a part of the official minutes and available to the general public.

Mayor Kanitra: read aloud the correspondences discussed above (Councilman Santanello: stands by his statements 100% – didn’t discuss the matter in public or with the media and that the Local Finance Board said it was a reach at best) was contacted by reporters this week who informed him that Councilman Santantello had reached out to them and discussed a confidential employee situation (Councilman Santanello: not true, ex-employee – not confidential) Councilman Santanello was told by the Borough Administrator and independent legal counsel he can’t legally discuss this in public (Councilman Santanello: that’s a lie) Councilman Santanello will try to say he is a bully in Borough Hall – has no facts – asked all to listen for proof of anything other than a hard driven Council who treat all employees the same, is hands on, gives a lot of oversight and expresses when things have not been addressed in a clear but professional manner – have been multiple OPRA requests that clearly state this – are no emails threatening or harassing employees –  Councilman Santanello’s administration did nothing to even know what employees were up to, let alone encouraging them to perform better – anyone who made a campaign contribution was never told “no” – things were built that shouldn’t have been – flood ratings plummeted, laziness reigned – ran on a campaign of cleaning up Town Hall and the mess they created with incompetence and inability – Councilman Santanello is a danger to public and liability to residents, unfit for public office.

Mayor Kanitra: called for a motion to formally censure Councilman Santanello for violating the law relating to Closed Session confidentiality, for compromising the Borough’s legal position, for conspiring with a former employee, and ignoring demands from the Borough Administrator and multiple independent legal counsels regarding a harassment suit he is named in. Reminded every Councilmember that the facts are irrefutable and if they do not vote for this, they are condoning the actions of the above and saying it is acceptable for all future Councilmembers to behave in such a manner.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to formally censure Councilman Santanello for violating the law relating to Closed Session confidentiality, for compromising the Borough’s legal position, for conspiring with a former employee, and ignoring demands from the Borough Administrator and multiple independent legal counsels regarding a harassment suit he is named in, was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote:

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….NAY

Councilman Santanello: not resigning – scam – spoke to several lawyers and Local Finance Board (LFB), who indicated the threats are empty – Nick Bennett, LFB (609-984-7765/nick.bennett@dca.nj.gov)  told him if there is no financial interest, there is not a penalty against him – submitted a written request for an advisory opinion – once he has it, he’ll be free to speak – he is not scared of attorneys – can’t bully or threaten him – Mayor Kanitra and Atty. Riordan want to pack the vote in advance of the scam they are pulling – Mayor Kanitra did reach out to him in January, asking him to lower the temperature on the rhetoric and stop pointing out the flaws of the Borough Attorney – agreed to cool things down, as it’s right thing to do – is willing to give anyone a chance – also promised he wouldn’t start a fight but would finish anything that came his way and hit back twice as hard – when he gave his last committee report, he was polite, didn’t call any names, didn’t attack, simply stated his opposition to several agenda items, as is his right and duty – then, Mayor Kanitra went on a rant about how he sucks at running committees, while he has publicly admired the Mayor’s ability to get them fully staffed and functioning, and how he hates the town and residents and cares about nothing but attacking him – will stack his 30+ years of volunteering his time, talent and money to PPB against Mayor Kanitra’s 4 years of lies, division, tax evasion and chaos – Mayor Kanitra had given an interview to The Patch guaranteeing the entire Council is with him on the seizure of the Amethyst and wrote an article about a company that was going to come in and do paving, which was absolutely terrible – when Mayor Kanitra says “get along” he means “vote my way, agree with everything I propose, fall in line and obey” –  if you don’t, he’ll spend entire meetings mocking and attacking you – will not be anyone’s punching bag – is willing to go toe-to-toe – will be dragged out kicking and screaming – has done nothing wrong – Mayor Kanitra is the one who violated the truce – anyone who disagrees with Mayor Kanitra is a liar, incredibly self-serving or ignorant, or it’s the previous administration’s fault – he is a bully – quoted Dylan Thomas – will rage against the destruction of this town (Mayor Kanitra: Councilman Santanello made it sound like he was going to blow the lid off everything and he presented nothing) can’t yet – doesn’t have his advisory opinion – takes a couple months – is not scared – can’t trust attorneys – at the last meeting, got advice which proved to be completely wrong – advice you get from an attorney is just an opinion – only a judge can say whether or not anything is correct – rejects that these people gave facts – attorneys are doing what Mayor Kanitra wants them to – Atty. Riordan will make almost $175K this year and others will make $200K-$300K – will spend $1/2M to cover up heinous acts (Mayor Kanitra: couldn’t be further from the truth – have a working budget – numbers are about 30% of that) they are based on billing/actual facts (Mayor Kanitra: the LFB Councilman Santanello spoke with is a staffer, not a board member – not true that there needs to be financial incentive for a local government ethics violation) that’s what the lawyer is telling him – probably lying (Mayor Kanitra: asked Atty. Riordan if he needs a vote to strip Councilman Santanello of chairmanship; Atty. Riordan: yes; Mayor Kanitra: asked for a motion to remove Councilman Santanello from his chairmanship)

Motion by Councilman Vitale to remove Councilman Santanello from his chairmanship was

seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: need to protect the Borough’s financial and legal interests – asked for a vote to remove Councilman Santanello from any information regarding the Amethyst, Jenkinson’s and this employee relations matter (Councilman Santanello: asked if he is afraid he is going to find out more dirt on him).

Motion by Councilman Vitale to remove Councilman Santanello from any information regarding the Amethyst, Jenkinson’s and this employee relations matter was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE:  Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: in an effort to save money, have an opportunity to partner with Eileen Laterza and her company to review contracts for goods and services and assess big ticket items and try to get better prices – she believes she can save the Borough $20K-$50K the first year, with no cost to the Borough, other than commission (BA/CFO Riehl: would need a motion to issue an RFP because there is a cost share; Attorney Riordan: right, this is another thing that you can just pick – have to set it up for everybody) asked if BA/CFO Riehl can explore that relationship and issue an RFP appropriately (Councilman Cortes: asked if she can save more than the co-op; BA/CFO Riehl: have an opportunity to explore some cost sharing –  use State contracts and cooperative purchasing for a lot of larger purposes, but there is always room to improve; added as item 3q); had asked for a meeting with NJ Transit, as downtown revitalization continues – parking is going to become more of an issue with increased occupancy rates and people coming down – the western NJ Transit lot is a nice size piece of underutilized property –asked NJ Transit to move the  bus station to Rte. 35 – they came back with a proposal that will give about 20 parking spots – appears to be no cost – they are planning on leasing it to the Borough – will continue that discussion; he, personally, made $1,500.00 donation to the Borough by purchasing the old lifeguard boat that was used in competitions in the 80s and 90s – was stored in Martell’s – has a huge hole – a total mess – the Oar House in Oceanview will fixed it up and the Fisher Family Fund has committed to matching what he put in, and a little more, to help restore it – hopes to display it proudly in town and take it out before the bonfire and other events; PPB joined Sister Cities International last year – for a year, have been working on a list of towns across the globe that match PPB in terms of population, a tourism-driven economy, maritime focus, goals, etc. – sent a letter, which QOL Dir. O’Rourke translated into French, to Bonifacio on the cliffs in Corsica, France and got a positive response – it is already in the media over there – they seem very excited about the potential for collaboration between the schools, virtual learning operations, sharing  educational delegations, arts collaborations, Chamber of Commerce and business participation and import and export of goods – endless possibilities; is happy about the landscaping RFP on tonight – landscaping must match property values and taxes; resident survey is finished – will collect 600 responses within the next week or two and will share data with the town (Mayor Kanitra: wanted to have this Council meeting in person – was disappointed that or 2 Governing Body members didn’t want it).

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Councilman Vitale: gave Chief’s report – Hometown Security Webinar is May 5^th at 7PM – shared on social media with a clickable registration link – timely with the mass shootings happening; Recreation has agenda items – Uke on the Beach and authorization to advertise for the Summer Camp positions – looking to kick-off camp in July; new Pleasure Park equipment and water fountains have been ordered – Committee started fundraising to offset costs – thanked Jenkinson’s for generous donation; Ryan Simunovich attended a Tug-of-War meeting with Manasquan Recreation – tentatively October 9th – other events coming; Wifi and camera installation in Borough Hall should be done in a week or 2.

Councilwoman Testa: thanked those who participated in the MAC family dinner kick-off, especially Kait Greenberg and Erin Vitale – was a lovely article in the “Ocean Star” about the MAC – great pictures and participation – here to serve as a community resource – reach out with any needs and like their page – event coming up in May; Arts Committee is doing amazing – welcomed creative new members – 2 storefronts have been completed downtown – recognized Christopher Cochran’s work on graphics and Blazing Visuals – thanked Fisher Family Foundation for providing grants for material and labor – April is National Poetry Month – can submit poem on their page – May is Photo Month – photo submissions will be accepted on the ptbeacharts page – 2^nd Homegrown fair is May 22^nd behind the book store, with vendors – information to come – Sidewalk Sale that day too – shout out to Melissa Hood who is painting 100 photos for 100 Shore Things – can follow her on Instagram – Beach pArty on July 22^nd with local artists on Bay Ave. – great things coming this summer – check out the Facebook page – cool murals by Fallon Schultz; new Beautification planters have arrived – will be prepped by PPB’s great DPW and ready for planting mid-May – thanked Councilmembers Cortes and Byrnes for helping take down garland, all the volunteers and BA/CFO Riehl; will be doing a walk audit and meeting to put together a proposal for the Safe Streets Grant.

Councilwoman Byrnes: on April 18^th, the Fire Department was dispatched for structure fire at Point Beach Apartments  – arrived 3 minutes after first call – full response from both companies – heavy smoke condition – conducted a primary search and located the seat of the fire – extinguished it – very grateful – no loss of life – family lost possessions and has been displaced – there is a Go Fund Me page – FD is planning a Jetty rescue drill – new fire truck is expected early summer; 29 new trees were planted this week – residents purchased them through the Big Beautiful Tree Program and Fisher Family Fund and some are Borough replacements – one is a memorial tree for Elaine Hennessy, donated by the Shade Tree Commission, in recognition of her many years of unwavering support and protection of our beautiful trees – have a beautiful tree canopy to thank her for – a memorial and celebration is being planned – the Commission will hand out bare root tree samplings for Arbor Day, April 30^th at Stop & Shop and on May 22^nd at the Homegrown Fair – PPBHS Environmental Club is handing them out as well – Louise Stillufsen is heading up this effort – acknowledged Don Rodgers for his contributions to the Broadway planting – he will be moving soon and will be missed; Green Team and Environmental Commission is seeking hands this Saturday at the Arnold Ave. firehouse to complete a planting project – bring gloves and knee pads – Green Team is seeking more active members – more civic-minded projects coming up – reach out; Senior Committee met – discussed vaccinations, fundraising, social luncheon, and participation in the Homegrown Fair – hand delivered 477 surveys to those age 75 and older – compiling information – Chair Theresa Dosch and QOL Dir. O’Rourke worked many hours on the Community Challenge Grant, sponsored by AARP – was just submitted – secured a facility to administer vaccination to seniors – it was going to be a J&J, so in a quaqmire about that now – asked for thoughts – wgirls.org has been super helpful in getting appointments – Ocean County Senior Services is ready to help – will be sending more surveys to a younger group.

Councilman Cortes: (Mayor Kanitra: thanked him for decoration removal) recognized April  employee anniversaries – Chris Burger 19 years; Comcast facilities by District II have been moved in preparation for large flag pole – Verizon has to remove theirs; spoke to Ryan from Game Time – will get a ship date to deliver to Pleasure Park – installer will receive the shipment – hopefully by Memorial Day; Inlet bathroom roof leak has been repaired; ATT&T replaced the wooden fence at the cell tower with a vinyl one; bike racks are out – DPW is cutting bricks for nicer installation – there are 2 left (Mayor Kanitra: invited suggestions – wants them all facing in the same direction); shed by the Maryland Ave. Beach was removed – approval for new shed is on the agenda; 2 Adopt-Spot locations are on the agenda – wants to make sure they know the sign regulations.

Councilman Santanello: finds it humorous that the Deputy Mayor says he does nothing for the town – item 1y, the Forerunner software, was his initiative – Mike Thuelen did the bulk of the paperwork, but it came from him; spoke about item 2g – DPW can do this – shouldn’t spend $15K of taxpayer money; agrees with 2h – prices are pretty good; will vote “no” on 2o; there are 4 more attorneys on the agenda, which brings us to more than 35 attorneys on staff; spoke about item 3i – Clerk Farrell does a fantastic job of keeping calm and keeping things going, especially in this town; doesn’t know what the Deputy Mayor is talking about regarding 2 people keeping meetings from going live – all he said is he wants to have his shots first and by next meeting he will – so, he is not stopping anything; said the Republican Club, packed with Socialists – they refused to endorse Councilman Cortes for at 4^th term because he votes and acts like a real Republican – he is the hardest working Councilman this town has ever seen and beloved by voters, but was rejected because  he wasn’t sufficiently obedient – being replaced by Mike Ramos, a good soldier who will always vote as told, won’t question anything and keep mouth shut about anything controversial – will be open season on taxpayers and businesses – a direct connection to the Barrella administration – Mike Ramos was one of the original and strongest supporters – direct line to a self-avowed Boardwalk hater – begged Councilman Cortes to quit the Republican Party and run as a Democrat, who are more conservative, locally; cannabis regulations are ridiculous – already have a CBD shop downtown with no complaints and a ton of liquor stores and bars, even though alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana – Mayor Kanitra claimed at a media appearance that all people in town would be against a dispensary – PPB voters approved this 2-1, so he is way off base – have received calls from Republicans and Democrats, who support a business downtown – what better way to bring a young, hip crowd, with a business that caters to them and is open at night – passing up actual, proven revenue – ordinance is on the wrong side of history and constituents – this is his chance to fix the one vote that he regrets in his 5½ years; is against the Channel Dr. ordinance – amount of money required by taxpayers to develop this area would be staggering – taxpayers would pay double and triple the taxes; in past, have had to come up with emergency appropriation to pay attorneys; Atty. Riordan will be writing the new salary ordinance in January that make the Mayor position full-time, year-round, with a 6-figure salary, full benefits and a car provided by the town; 4 other attorneys are on pace to pillage our taxpayers another $200K – bringing in lawyers for everything the Borough Attorney involves himself in, doubling the cost – will spend upwards of $1/2M in legal fees this year – these folks will write unconstitutional, poorly-written, challengeable ordinances that are going to probably violate Civil Service rules and act in unethical, dishonest behavior that would need an army of bottom feeders to back them up – word is out that if you want to get rich and feed at the public trough, the billing spigot in PPB is wide open – Atty. Riordan negotiates each contract with 35 attorneys and bills taxpayers – doesn’t matter if work is competent or correct – they get paid either way; attorneys who work for the government will take both sides of an issue, depending on who is paying them – Mayor Kanitra & Atty. Riordan are discussing current litigation in open public meetings, while claiming there is no gag order, but when a resident asked for detail on the seizure of a business, Atty. Riordan denied it, claiming potential litigation – have something to hide, just like the Deputy Mayor talking about how he is a bad guy for talking about stuff in public when they do the same thing – hypocrisy is staggering – they want to apply their hard axes behind closed doors with no oversight – will get that, come January, if Ramos is elected – there is a rot at the core of this Governing Body – administration claims to be transparent but spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover up and hide from their deeds (Councilwoman Byrnes: has never seen anyone work as hard as Paul Kanitra – he is passionate and articulate) this is a stepping stone for the next job he is going  to run for (Councilwoman Testa: disagrees with Councilman Santanello, who had his time to put him down – let Councilwoman Byrnes say what she has to say – she is lifting him up; Councilwoman Byrnes: is incredulous to keep referring to him as a Deputy Mayor) Atty. Riordan runs the town, not him (Mayor Kanitra: listed all the people Councilman Santanello insulted in his report; blighted Channel Dr. properties are assessed for a $7M valuation – developers who want to fix up Channel Dr. are talking about a $100M investment – since PPB is fiscally responsible Republicans, that would mean roughly a minimum $1M increase/year in a $15M budget, which will go into the tax base – would spend $3M cleaning up Channel Dr. because residents will recognize a windfall when that underutilized waterfront resource, in this safe, affluent community, is turned into something great; asked BA/CFO Riehl what is budgeted for legal fees for 2021) this is not including the emergency appropriation – budget means nothing when you have emergency appropriations (BA/CFO Riehl: $170K is the budgetary line item for 2021) will go through that by June (Mayor Kanitra: asked was spent last year; BA/CFO Riehl: budgeted $160K – spent close to $175K) went over – last year, only had like 2 ordinances/meeting, now 10, tripling the amount of money spent – so, it’s all lies (Mayor Kanitra: asked Atty. Riordan how many attorneys were used before the special investigations against Councilman Santanello; Atty. Riordan: 2 is his recollection) an outright lie – there are bond attorneys working – have got people working on the Tumolo situation (Atty. Riordan: Councilman Santanello doesn’t know what he is talking about – spent $170K on legal fees, as  BA/CFO indicated, not $500K – now Councilman Santanello is calling BA/CFO Riehl a liar) no – calling you a liar (Mayor Kanitra: salacious nuggets being thrown out with no facts behind them).

Councilman Migut: nice to be back, coming off some medical procedures – will be dipping a toe back into his committees in the coming weeks; a firetruck at Sunday’s fire was in disrepair last year – Council voted unanimously to invest $15K to repair the pump, so it was able to respond to that fire – is on the agenda to be sold for $40K, a price which would not be realized if investment had not been made – good that Council was able to work together unanimously a year ago for the good of the town – hopes that occurs again.

ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT:

BA/CFO Riehl: Wifi wiring is done – met with Comcast who will do cabling from one server to another to enable camera installation that will provide live stream for upcoming meetings; ran into another small hiccup with the flag pole – vendor is backing out – having issues on install with footing and need to de-water – so they will have a price deduct, but now she and the Borough Engineer have to find another vendor to dig the footing, secure the pole and pour – a lot of liability involved a 60-foot flag pole – it has to be done correctly – taking more time than anticipated – will keep on it; Maryland Ave. shed is here and beautiful – DPW has it, did a lot of work on the street-end and has solicited a price for a nice wooden fence to replace what is coming down and hide the Port-a-John and equipment (Councilman Cortes: asked if brush encroaching on the right-of-way will be cleared) will work with homeowner – will have to remove very little – might replant roses on the eastern side – won’t see vegetation from the street – there is a quote on the agenda to paint the bath house concession stand – hopes to have done for May opening; working on updating the Water Dept. emergency response plan, risk and resiliency plan and updated total coliform report; still working on direct install for Borough Hall, Water Dept. and DPW – seems to stall repeatedly; followed up with JCP&L on LED lighting – still need Broadway and Rtes. 35N and 35S done – have to re-fill out the forms with pole numbers and wattage – will take time; 1 cat trailer is being removed from the parking lot and not replaced – DPW helped AWC with removal and disposal – could maybe supplement them with some funding as year goes on – with COVID, their fundraising has somewhat stalled.

Clerk announced additions and revisions to the agenda.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 9:52PM

E.J. Geiger, 115 Arnold Ave.: asked if this will be the 3^rd price increase for the flag pole (Mayor Kanitra: Comcast and Verizon were going to charge for moving wires – he asked them not to, in the public interest, so they did it for free; BA/CFO Riehl: initially quoted an 80-foot pole, which was roughly $25K – then requoted at 60-foot and price dropped to about $15K – they are going to deduct a couple of thousand because they are not going to do the install – will just be paying a different entity that amount).

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 9:53PM

Motion by Councilman Vitale to close public participation and approve the items listed below was seconded by Councilwoman Cortes and carried by roll call vote.

CONSENT RESOLUTION 1:

1a     Approval of payment of Payroll #6 ($261,155.50) & #7 ($265,381.82)

1b     Approval of S/E Application for PPB Memorial Day Bike Parade on Arnold Ave, 5/29

1c     Approval of S/E App for Nat’l MS Society Bike MS Coast the Coast event on various streets, 5/8

1d     Approval of S/E App for ACS Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Bdwlk, 10/17

1e     Approval of S/E App for DAV Forget-Me-Not flower drive on Bdwlk, Thursdays, July 1-Sept 2

1f      Appointment of members to Borough boards/committees

1g     Approval of salary adjustment for C. Glass for passage of courses leading to certification

1h     Approval of payment to M. Woszczak for emergency repair on Baltimore ($11,014.30)

1i      Approval of payment to Borough of PPB for Developer escrow acct transfer ($13,977.35)

1j      Approval of payment to BTMUA for March bulk water usage ($48,276)

1k     Approval of payment to All Covered for network upgrade ($8,573)

1l      Approval of payment to Quadiant Finance for postage via credit line ($5K)

1m    Approval of 5 W/S relief requests

1n     Approval of salary adjustment for M. Schwarz for passage of course leading to certification

1o     Approval of payment to Ocean County Landfill’s escrow account ($50K)

1p     Approval of payment to Ocean County Treasurer for 2^nd quarter tax levy ($2,244,518.81)

1q     Approval of payment to the State of NJ for employee and retiree health benefits ($116,957.49)

1r      Authorization to conduct hydrant flushing 4/26-5/10 & to advertise in Ocean Star 4/23-5/7

1s      Auth for Mayor to execute professional svcs contract with J. Conaty, Holman, Frenia, Allison, PC

1t      Memorialization of appointment of M. Ruvo, Toms River, P/T Code Enforcement Officer

1u     Appt of B. Patton to permanent position of DPW Repairer & auth for Clerk to dispose of CSC list

1v     Approval of resolution for Jenkinson’s Fireworks 2021

1w    Approval of payment to All Covered for Microsoft Exchange renewal ($4,960)

1x     Authorization to auction surplus water meters and equipment on Municibid

1y     PO to Forerunner for floodplain management software (NTE $8,500)

1z     Approval of pymt of Pay Est. 2 to Capella Const for Boston Ave Bulkhead Recon ($17,164.70)

CONSENT RESOLUTION 2:

2a     Resolution in opposition to Assembly Bill No. 21

2b     Authorization to advertise for Dir., Asst. Dir., Sr. Counselors & Counselors for Rec Summer Park Program & approval of salaries

2c     Approval of 2 Adopt-A-Spot applications

2d     Auth to remove 115 single-space coin operated meters on Ocean Ave, south of Washington, to

Maryland Avenue, and replace with a pay-by-license plate application

2e     Approval of PO to Lasting Line Panting for annual line/curb painting ($30K)

2f      Approval of PO to Most Dependable Fountains for water fountains at skate park & gazebo ($8,480)

2g     Award of contract to Burke Environmental for Landscape Design “A” for $15,120 annually

2h     Award of contract “B” for weed & debris removal to Garden Party Farms

2i      Authorization to re-hire J. Venturi to the position of Seasonal Laborer

2j      Approval of S/E App for Rec Uke on the Beach on MD Ave Beach, 7/12-8/16 (rain: 8/23 & 8/30)

2k     Approval of S/E App for Tracey Pearce Interior Design Tent Sale in River Ave parking lot, 6/5

2l      Approval of payment to All Covered for IT maintenance/support, Feb-Apr. ($7,268.04)

2m    Approval of payment to OCUA for 2^nd quarter sewerage payments ($318.071.25)

2n     Approval of pymt to Integrated Technical Systems for contract parking meters, Mar-Apr. ($3,300)

2o     Approval of pymt to All Points for spring/summer newsletter & postage ($4,312.18)

2p     Approval of pymt to Hunter Technologies for annual Avaya support/maintenance ($2,997)

2q     Approval of pymt to Servpro of Toms River for bioremediation, 3/1-3/29 ($8,550)

2r      Approval of PO to Darren Meseroll Painting for painting of municipal bath house (NTE $12K)

2s      Approval of payment to Janitor Supply Corp for bathroom supplies ($3,381.20)

2t      Approval of PO to Riggins for DPW fuel for 2021 ($50K)

2u     Approval of payment to Riggins for DPW fuel ($13,421.46)

2v     Approval of payment to Sprague Resources for 2500 gallons of winter mix ($5,105.75)

2w    Approval of payment to Kempton Flags for Maryland Ave Shed ($6,470)

2x     Approval of PO to Fastenal for 2021 DPW shop equipment ($2,500)

2y     Approval of payment to Atlantic Salt for de-icing material ($4,421.88)

2z     Approval of payments from Planning Bd, BOA & Developer escrow accounts

CONSENT RESOLUTION 3:

3a     Authorization to accept funding for Municipal Alliance Committee

3b     Authorization to apply for Recreation Grant

3c     Approval of 7 taxi vehicle licenses for Briggs Transportation through 4/19/22

3d     Approval of 2 taxi vehicle licenses & 1 taxi driver license for Squan Taxi through 4/19/22

3e     Appointment of A. Strong to the position of DPW Laborer

3f      Approval of payment to Lasting Line Painting for marking numbered parking stalls ($8,800)

3g     Approval of PO to WB Uniforms for 2021-2023 DPW uniforms (NTE $9K)

3h     Approval of LOA for employee # 000757123

3i      Recognition of Municipal Clerks Week, May 2 through 8, 2021

3j      Approval of payment to Clean Cut Lawn Care for landscaping at Inlet bathroom ($11,211.20)

3k     Approval of payment to Project Graduation for 2021 ($3K)

3l      Approval of payment to Garrigan Construction for repair of Inlet Bathroom ($2,800.00)

3m    Approval of payment to Keystone Plastics for sweeper brooms ($2,756.20)

3n     Authorization to execute a lease agreement with NJ Transit

3o     Certification of compliance with US EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance

3p     Authorization/direction to sign OCCares Grant Agmt Addendum & any future docs

3q     Auth for Admin to issue an RFP for someone to review contracts, etc. for cost savings – ADDED PER MAYOR’S RPT

CONSENT RESOLUTION 4:

4a     Approval of payment of computer-generated vouchers ($3,791,812.19)

4b     Approval of payment to Motorola for Fire Dept radios ($6,255)

4c     Approval of pymt to NJ Emerg Vehicles for custom Ford E-450 ambulance remount ($110,528)

4d     Auth to sell 2000 Pierce Dash Pumping Engine to Broad Channel Vol. FD & Ambulance for $40K

4e     Approval of payment to Penguin Mgmt for annual contract – Fire Chief Plan ($2,796)

4f      Approval of payment to Action Uniform for police uniforms ($6,207.97)

4g     Approval of payment to Meridian Occupational Health for police physicals ($3,490)

4h     Approval of NJ State Firemen’s membership app for M. Jorge, Fire Company No 1

4i      Amendment to Resolution 2021-0119/2C (Safe & Secure funding amount) from $49,714 to $26,846

4j      Amendment to Res 2021-0202/3D (Fatal Accident Support Team Prog) from FY 2020/21 to 2021

4k     Approval of payment to All Points for Chief Michigan letter & postage ($2,087.23)

4l      Approval of PO to Brielle Cyclery for 2 Trek bicycles & wheel rack for PD ($3,263.74)

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes (except 1t and 3l), Santanello (1y only),

Migut (except 4a, 4b, 4d, 4e, 4h)….YEA

Councilman Santanello (1a-x, 1z, 2a-z, 3a-q, 4a-e, 4h-j)….NAY

Councilmembers Cortes (1t), Santanello (4f-g, 4k-l), Migut (4a, 4b, 4d, 4e, 4h)….ABSTAIN

Councilman Cortes (3l)….RECUSE

Mayor Kanitra: asked that the record reflect that Councilman Santanello voted against Breast Cancer Walk.

ORDINANCES:

ORDINANCE 2021-12  (Authorization to Acquire Property) was considered on second reading. Mayor Kanitra opened the public hearing.

Councilman Santanello: seizure ordinance – at and since the last meeting, the Governing Body has received no indication of resident support – they are worried about a parking lot next to residences, about the Governing Body seizing more properties, like the nearby Pelican Motel, for parking, about Laurel Ct. becoming the main thoroughfare for traffic leaving the parking lot or traffic exiting onto Arnold Ave. – have no idea nor plan –  legitimate fear with slippery slope – no professional studies about how a parking lot or garage will impact Laurel Ct. real estate or anything else – someone OPRA’d information on a financial analysis and was told it couldn’t be provided because of the possibility of future litigation – the real reason is that none of the information exists  – this is about ego, proving a point and giving an explicit threat to every business that they’d better fall in line and obey or they, too, will be terminated – irst step in a complete takeover of the businesses and the long goal of eliminating tourism – no solid numbers – no idea of what the payback is going to be – unknown effects on taxpayers and residents – know nothing about the ordinance, financially, but being asked to vote on it – crazy to vote “yes” – it’s a massive boondoggle.

Councilman Cortes: not in favor of eminent domain in this instance – premise is that PPB  approached the Amethyst for parking because it’s in the proximity of the Borough’s parking lot – Master Plan is an integral part of the town and Mayor Kanitra campaigned hard that he wanted to be the Mayor during that review  – paraphrased page 7 that there is a need for off-street parking, as permitted, on west side of Ocean Ave. – asked when PPB will go after the Point Beach Motel, the Sand Pebble Motel, the White Sands, or  residential houses #1 and #3 Trenton Ave. that butt up onto the parking lot – concerned with houses on Cramer that butt up to the parking lot behind The Coal House – would be nervous if his property bumped up to any parking lot – becomes easy, once used, to use it again – acquiring property on Trenton Ave., on east side of the tracks to connect Pleasure Park to the Little League Field complex would be a  better idea (Mayor Kanitra: agrees – would love to have the property by Pleasure Park on the Open Space ROSI and try and purchase it – this is a commercial acquisition – while there is technically a house on the property, it’s for commercial usage – have zero intention of ever using eminent domain for any residences – pledged that he has no intention of using condemnation for parking anywhere else in town during the rest of his time – valid point – this is a financial decision as much as anything else – BA/CFO Riehl has different projections – some she talked about in the Closed Session meeting, which show the Borough can gross about $200K/year from this acquisition and there are much higher projections as well, to make this a financially sound decision – the lot behind the Food Shack does not garner as much money – proximity to Little Silver Lake lot is fortuitous – went on the record that no residences will ever be touched with condemnation and pledged that, as long as he is in office, we will not use condemnation to go after any other properties for parking – there is a property downtown that could be great for parking – would like to purchase it and owner is working with us – this situation is unique – 1/3 of the property is already used for parking – went on the record that after this vote, he still plans on trying to negotiate with Mr. Fernicola – reached out to him through an intermediary recently and said we would be willing to talk about purchasing – regardless of how this vote goes, it’s his intention to try and avoid this and just purchase the property as best as possible; Atty. Riordan: the ordinance itself says that you are going to acquire the property – it doesn’t say you have to use eminent domain – it allows you to negotiate – questioning the financial viability of this project is putting the cart before the horse because the first thing you need to do is get an appraisal and the Borough has had difficulty doing that, although he expects it to happen soon  – and once the Borough knows the fair market value, will have a much better situation in which to start projecting whether or not the revenues cover the cost – don’t know what the cost is yet; Councilman Santanello: if don’t know the cost, shouldn’t be voting on it).

Amanda Wood, Point Pleasant: the place needs to be gone – John will charge $30-80/car for parking in summer – $10/day for guests – she was the manager – John should not be owner of that hotel at all.

Glen Paesano, PPB: asked Chief Michigan if he agrees with the statistics posted in the newspaper by John Fernicola, in relation to the Amethyst, and their merit and validity (Chief Michigan: read a bunch of articles – has what is in the Police Dept. – doesn’t know exactly what was posted); asked, based on the increase in taxes from new construction, if the increased legal costs are in pace with the increase in revenue (BA/CFO Riehl: the addition this year, received from last year’s benefit of added valuations to the town equaled roughly, in this Budget, an increase of $55K) probably a few percentage points but, based on the increased legal costs, it’s probably a similar pace – it’s unfair to say there are increased legal costs, that you should relate that to what the costs have been in the past – would think that’s a fair and reasonable assessment, based on the worth of the town (Councilman Santanello: thanked Mr. Paesano for bringing the Chief in on this question – now that the minutes of the Closed Session have been made public, asked Chief Michigan if he was at the Closed Session with regard to Amethyst (Chief Michigan: I was at the meeting) and what his purpose was there (Chief Michigan: represent the Police Department) asked what it was in regard to (Chief Michigan: calls at the hotel and the Police Dept.’s involvement; Councilman Migut: last April, he advised Mr. Fernicola to call the Police as many times as necessary to control tenants he could not evict because the landlord/tenant courts were closed due to COVID-19 – that conversation happened in the weeks after the lockdown/early April, so any excess calls to the Police were by virtue of his advice to Mr. Fernicola).

Dan Friendly, 1401 Ocean Ave., PPB: cautioned all what has happened to the last several Councils, elected as conservatives and Republicans, who wandered down a liberal path – there is nothing conservative or Republican about taking someone’s property through the use of eminent domain – can’t see a way that this Council gets re-elected if they move forward – there are plenty of other solutions – urged all to find them and not vote for condemning someone’s property.

David Betten 400 New Jersey Ave., PPB: asked if the Police calls to the property, or anything other than parking, are being considered, relating to eminent domain (Mayor Kanitra: no – this is a parking and financial issue – everyone can OPRA and bring in all the statistics they want – there are side effects to this, as there are to any decision) Councilman Santanello is a disgrace in how he responds and interrupts.

Dennis Wynne, 204 Arnold Ave., PPB, Manager, Amethyst Beach Motel: bringing a large parking lot to already congested area is the wrong way to go – can use buses, trollies and bicycles on a much grander scale – challenged Mayor Kanitra to do better – deserve better than a quick fix parking lot – hardly progressive, innovative thinking – shutters to think PPB’s future lies in more parking – need more visionaries, not parking attendants – whether the purchase of the Amethyst is against John Fernicola, or for a parking lot, is irrelevant – it is wrong for PPB – do not sell us out – parking lot is an expensive band aid – trying to steal it to get it cheap doesn’t make you a hero – explore further – Motel is doing just fine now – is happy to be there – it was a rough year last year – removing Amanda Wood as Manager was a good move.

E.J. Geiger 115 Arnold Ave., PPB: lives by the property – watch the Police in and out all summer – hasn’t been as bad this winter – is a Democrat and does not agree with eminent domain being used in this – if town can find a property price that’s agreeable, then doesn’t see a problem with that.

Kitty Stillufsen, 54 Channel Dr., PPB: owns property on Channel Dr. – asked if that will that be the next eminent domain – Sandra Day O’Connor, the dissenting voice in the Supreme Court decision in CT – if we do eminent domain, anyone who owns property is not safe – an absolute chip away at our democracy – ironic that the Amethyst Motel is in front of the Veterans Memorial Park, where she rides her bike with everyone in town on Memorial Day to celebrate people who have fought in this Country for democracy and the right to hold private property – town is  solvent – just because it’s a good idea and might generate money is no reason to declare eminent domain – Atty. Riordan said “should the owner wish to negotiate” – they have a sign that says “Please Don’t Take our Property” – doesn’t think owner wishes to negotiate – they wish to negotiate if threatened by eminent domain – eminent domain, to improve the economy of the town is for extreme circumstances, like if the town is bankrupt, which PPB is not  – Mayor’s pledge doesn’t mean anything – asked if he is willing to put up a $500K bond (Atty. Riordan: don’t answer – neither a public official, nor the Governing Body nor the Borough of PPB can bond for such a situation) asked the financial analysis/cost benefit of buying this property – would oppose even if incredibly financially beneficial – asked if town is bankrupt – it’s a private property – should not take it – has nothing to do with the Amethyst Motel – respects the Mayor and Council, until this eminent domain decision – is totally shocked – it’s a disappointment – it’s anti-American (Mayor Kanitra: have a $15M Budget – this year, pensions went up roughly $200K, health insurance $150K, regular insurance $50K – in terms of increases, almost $500K in wild, crazy, uncontrollable increases – need to be financially and fiscally responsible – asked if she’d prefer her taxes to go up $300) clarified that the questions is does she think we should force a private property to sell at what we find to be the fair market value, or possibly, maybe, her taxes might go up (Atty. Riordan: it wouldn’t be what the Borough thinks the fair value is, it’s what the jury finds the fair market value is) asked the Mayor to repeat his question (Mayor Kanitra: asked if she would prefer her own taxes to go up in relation to this decision) asked if he is saying that if we don’t eminent domain this business and create more parking, that taxes are going to go up (Mayor Kanitra: is not saying that – it’s one of many decisions in a Budget – next year, health insurance and pensions will go up again – every year, the march towards increased Budget will continue to go on – State of NJ is messed up with what we have to spend – town is not bankrupt, but if we don’t look financially towards the future, will be in dire financial straits) no – doesn’t think we should eminent domain a private property and force them to sell – sometimes taxes might have to go up – hypothetically speaking, as a fear factor in the future – has a ton of respect for the Mayor, just doesn’t agree with him on this issue (Mayor Kanitra: should be challenged in decisions like this – appreciates her comment).

Tom Highton, 400 Central Ave., PPB: not customarily for any sort of eminent domain for any private property – 3-4 years ago, about a dozen properties west of Ocean Ave. were approved for commercial use for parking – doesn’t agree that Amethyst is a good neighbor – extension of parking into that territory would be good – increased revenue – concerned that it would be difficult to bar whoever owns the end of Ocean Ave., between Central and Arnold to knock down every home there to put up a parking structure or lot, when we’ve done this as taxpayers 3 blocks away (Mayor Kanitra: good perspective – when the previous administration rezoned properties for parking, they cut off their nose to spite their face – Borough’s interest is the Little Silver Lake parking lot and the previous administration, in trying to make political supporters happy, rezoned all those lots for parking – not only did they cut political favors by making more parking for their friends, they hurt the Borough because they created new parking areas that compete with residents’ interests (Councilman Santanello: they were called for in the previous Master Plan – it said to increase parking west of the tracks – can try to blame  the previous administration for actually following the rules put in front of them – keep blaming the previous administration for every mistake you make) was the Chair of Planning Board when previous Master Plan was written – when talked about increasing parking west of the tracks, that was not the intent (Councilman Santanello: then maybe you should have written it better).

Jason Snyder, 113 Arnold Ave., PPB: relatively new homeowner, across from hotel – asked if an impact study was done on property values (Atty. Riordan: trying to get appraisal done – once accomplished there may be other studies that get done; Mayor Kanitra: once we decide to acquire property, would like to invite Laurel Ave. residents be part of the process and do whatever is necessary to make no impact on them – open to a host of different ideas – will be looking at everything).

Chesla Wechsler, 706 Forman Ave.: asked if Governing Body is voting to be sure this is a good idea and will then study it (Atty. Riordan: Governing Body has to determine fair market value from an appraiser’s point of view – if appraisal comes back at too much money, Governing Body might choose not to continue with the process – if the appraisal comes back at a price the Governing Body thinks is reasonable, they might choose to do some of the studies suggested and determine whether the amount of revenue the projected parking lot will generate will justify the cost and how many years it might take before the Borough would pay off any financing bond obligations and at what point the revenue would go directly to the residents – the first step in the procedure is to pass an ordinance that permits the Governing to acquire the property – without that, the Governing Body is without the ability to do any of the things folks are asking them to do) asked the square foot of the property, how many parking spots and the income stream (Atty. Riordan: there are some rough estimates but nothing that is done yet: Mayor Kanitra: price is the most important factor – using the plans that Mr. Fernicola had made, the Administrator determined the minimum and maximum number of parking spaces, compared that to revenue generated by each spot in the Little Silver Lake lot and in parking overall, came up with minimum and maximum numbers and had a conversation with Green Acres, which could produce up to 50% of the price for purchase, demo, construction, etc. – we know roughly the worst and best case scenarios).

Steve Egan, Pt. Pleasant: he and his wife became friends with the Fernicolas, who own the Amethyst Motel, almost 15 years  ago – are very good people – when COVID came, they got a lot of bad tenants and couldn’t get rid of them – it’s out of line to say that the number of calls he made to the cops about his tenants has occupied so much of the Borough’s time that they want to deem this hotel unfit – asked amount of current property taxes they pay – taunting residents by saying that if we don’t take this hotel and get revenue from the parking, taxes will go – Amethyst probably could use a facelift – suggested giving him an ultimatum with a year or 2 to get his act together to recoup from COVID, to put a plan together to renovate the hotel – this town needs a higher-end hotel – family-owned business – need to take that into consideration (Mayor Kanitra: when Mr. Fernicola came to BA/CFO Riehl and him last year, he had sketches for a 4-story monstrosity that occupied every square inch of the property and said it’s the only property that would be financially viable – quoted him as saying it didn’t make sense to spend money on the Amethyst unless he could get that 4-story property – implication was spot zoning to allow the largest property in PPB that would tower over residences, have an untold number or rooms and a tunnel over Liberty Ln. – concept of spot zoning is illegal – can only speak in generalities, but their taxes have been taken into account as to what the potential money is) he looked at the plans that were only proposed – since Sandy, height restrictions on residences have also been raised – 3-story homes are allowed so, if you have to knock it down to a 3-story hotel, doesn’t think that’s out of line – asked why he shouldn’t propose a 4-story hotel – only on story over what current zoning allows.

John Taurozzi, 509 Delaware Ave., PPB.: asked if privatizing with revenue-share with a private owner and revenue stream option for the town was considered, rather than pursuing this (Mayor Kanitra: if passed, are willing to hear anything out) so, if it’s an option, will be put it out to RFP (Mayor Kanitra: doesn’t know – willing to sit down and talk – would like to – offer remains to speak with Mr. Fernicola).

Mayor Kanitra: getting close to 11PM – called for a motion to extend the Council meeting and asked Atty. Riordan if that could be for as long as necessary (Atty. Riordan: can say as long as necessary).

Motion by Councilman Vitale to extend the Council meeting to as long as necessary to finish the business before the Governing Body was seconded by Councilman Cortes and carried by consent of Council.

John Longfield, 103 Makin Ave., PPB: in the 26 years he has lived here, has only spoken about parking at a Council meeting – commercially, the west side of Ocean Ave. happened in the summer of 2016 – was adamant we would see a decline in quality of life (QOL) – everybody says QOL started to deteriorate 4-5 years ago – getting too many people – didn’t realize eminent domain would be used only to put up a parking lot – last thing we need is 130 parking spots – QOL will continue to decline – was told we were doing Jenkinson’s a favor by extending parking west of Ocean Ave. because they are good neighbors (in July 19, 2016 meeting minutes) agrees that houses will get torn down and will be in competition for parking – all of Central and Arnold Aves. will become a parking lot and that will ruin values – should rescind the ordinance of the summer 2016 and tell folks they can’t park there any longer – need to start rescinding, not adding parking – that is the core of our decline in QOL (Mayor Kanitra: PPB always needs to look at how to protect residents – encroachment of people moving into neighborhoods for free parking is also an issue after Little Silver Lake lot gets filled) that’s every beach town – can put up 1,000 parking spots – everyone will look for the free space – people come here because they can always get a parking spot – QOL is going to get worse.

Glen Paesano, PPB.: agrees with Mr. Longfield’s comments about parking west of Ocean Ave. – allowing structured parking, controlled by the municipality, and restricting parking on residential streets, will give residents a better QOL – are not seizing the Amethyst property – are offering them a fair market value – probably the highest it’s been in recordable history.

Atty. Paul Fernicola, Red Bank, on behalf of Amethyst Motel owners – asked that Ordinance 2021–12 be tabled due to procedural violations at the last meeting – attempted to ask a question about a cost analysis and was disconnected from the meeting by Councilman Vitale, based on the instructions of Mr. Riordan and was then blocked from coming back to the meeting to be able to listen to the comments – is a clear violation of the NJ Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) to bar someone based upon comments made at a meeting – was addressing Council respectfully, unlike Ms. Wood, who was allowed to remain on this meeting tonight – the content of his discussion lead to him being barred – 1) procedurally, this ordinance is defective because of the violation of OPMA –2) the 6^th whereas clause says Borough is in need of property to provide parking for those seeking access to the beach – asked if studies have been conducted to determine the need for additional parking (Atty. Riordan: will be no answering your question – please move on) Mr. Riordan’s comment that the process is to first get an appraisal and then conduct studies is wrong as a matter of law – are literally proposing that there is a need for parking – that’s what is the attempt to justify the taking of this private property – you don’t obtain the appraisal first – studies come first to justify the need for one of the most intrusive powers the government has – doing it in reverse and it’s procedurally defective – 3) heard many comments by the Mayor that what this really amounts to is an economic taking – made many comments about the financials, the income stream – are taking a business so that you can take the revenue stream generated from the parking – and what supports that is the fact that you’ve conducted no studies whatsoever to establish that there is a need for parking – were scheduled to be in court yesterday, – after he filed briefs on behalf of the Fernicolas, the Borough had to ask for an adjournment, acknowledging that they had not complied with the Eminent Domain Act in trying to inspect the property – procedurally, you have violated OPMA, provisions in the Eminent Domain Act, that you have failed to substantiate that there is a valid public purpose behind this property, the comments tonight is that this is pretextual to say that it is being taken for parking – clearly there are other reasons that the Mayor referred to – at the March 2^nd meeting, it came out that Police calls and not parking were generated – violation of OPMA – have failed to conduct a study – are a litany of violations that the Borough has failed to follow the proper procedure – suggested that the process be started over – there is nothing that prevents the Mayor from negotiating with the property without this ordinance in place – it takes away equal negotiation power when the government only comes to the table with a take-it-or-leave-it offer – despite what Mr. Riordan says about having the property appraised, that’s the town’s appraiser’s opinion of fair market value – based upon that, it’s then the use of eminent domain – if you want to have negotiations, you don’t need to adopt this ordinance tonight, and that’s what should take place – eminent domain should be used as a last resort, after all other means have failed – the town is using it as a first resort, not negotiating with the property owner, who met voluntarily with you in January 2020 – creating an unequal playing field – respectfully requests that the Borough either tables this ordinance tonight or votes against using the power of eminent domain, that is premature without a determination of the public purpose – otherwise, the  attempt to take this property is unconstitutional by both the 5^th and 14^th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution (Atty. Riordan: Mr. Fernicola is paid by Mr. Fernicola to argue his position and he does it well – will save his arguments for the courtroom).

Councilman Migut: is disappointed in people’s memories or prejudices – primary reason properties along Ocean Ave. were re-zoned for parking is the Zoning Officer reported a loss of 75 street parking spaces in Districts III and IV, due to house raisings and the change in driveways and curb cut – Chief O’Hara testified that it is easier to police a parking lot than cars parked along several hundred feet of street.

Motion by Councilman Migut to table Ordinance 2021-12 was seconded by Councilman Santanello and defeated by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….YEA

Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: confirmed that, after voting, Governing Body will still have every option at their disposal and if they wanted to change or minds, if Mr. Fernicola wanted to negotiate differently or, if they came up with another agreement, they could still do that at the time (Atty. Riordan: absolutely – and the real problem is that the only thing the Borough can pay is fair market value – it can’t pay the exorbitant price owner might ask – often an owner wants something more than fair market value – only way to determine fair market value when a willing buyer and willing seller can’t get there is a jury) if John Fernicola is willing to come to the table, he is willing to talk with him – have tried for more than a year to get into the property for an appraisal – he stalled – Borough wasted resource – his goal is to not take that course of action in acquisition – wants to make that clear.

John Fernicola, owner, Amethyst Motel: takes exception to the Mayor’s characterizations of their prior discussions and negotiations – he won’t negotiate under threat – are threatening him by taking his land and interrupting his income – it isn’t about what the jury decides 2 years from now – asked, where he makes a living for the next 2 years (Atty. Riordan: Borough has to pay the money when the condemnation takes place) is tired of Atty. Riordan taking control of meetings – Mayor is quite capable without his help – neither he nor the Mayor is saying anything wrong – asked Mayor Kanitra to keep the ordinance but remove eminent domain, which was Atty. Riordan’s idea – been PPB business owners for 60 years – willing to talk and work with you – exchanged niceties over Christmas – did not have an adversarial relationship until the Mayor sprung on him, via registered letter from an appraiser – was trying to accommodate him – didn’t know, during COVID lockdown that the Borough was progressing with anything – got blindsided in the fall but is being characterized as dragging his feet – was in Florida having multiple surgeries but is back (Mayor Kanitra: despite what people may believe, he is listening to everything Mr. Fernicola is saying – has an open mind – for over a year, tried to get into the property – wouldn’t let us in) have had no more negotiations since COVID hit – was supposed to meet with BA/CFO Riehl – COVID struck – we cancelled those appointments – got into a lockdown situation with a hotel full of horrible people – asked for help from the Mayor, Chief and Councilman Migut, who was nice enough to back to him – Mayor wanted to set up multiple meetings with the Chief – had no time to deal with this and didn’t know he was moving forward – wasn’t until November 2020 that he realized Mayor Kanitra still had an interest in talking to him – hasn’t been putting him off for a year – that’s a lie (Mayor Kanitra: would like to work this out without any condemnation or long drawn out legal battle – asked what he would give in exchange – doesn’t want to back off on eminent domain because it is the only tool that we have to tackle the parking issue, etc.) inaccurate – been here for 6 decades – no one has ever had to use eminent domain to tackle a multitudes of issues – will go down in history as the first Mayor in PPB to use eminent domain (Mayor Kanitra: asked him to listen, as he is missing an opportunity – asked what he would be willing to offer in exchange) a negotiation, but have to get rid of eminent domain – told him on the phone he would not agree to going forward under the threat of eminent domain – putting a gun to his head and then saying to negotiate – going to take his property whether he likes it or not (Mayor Kanitra: thinks there is a middle ground – asked Atty. Riordan, if Governing Body votes to proceed, if they  would still need a vote on cost to pay; Atty. Riordan: there are many more votes to be had; Mayor Kanitra: pledged to Mr. Fernicola his availability, after this vote, to sit down and talk through any possibilities between now and the next of what might be  multiple votes on the path to resolution – hopes he takes that in good faith; Atty. Riordan: advised Mayor Kanitra not to conduct negotiations in public like this; Mayor Kanitra: not a negotiation, just wants to be clear on the record that there will be more votes) can use eminent domain at any time – asked why pushing it so quickly (Mayor Kanitra: just extended a huge olive branch to Mr. Fernicola) are going to vote to put the gun in your hand anyway – hopes Councilwomen  Byrnes and Testa, being religious people, would recognize that this is not what good Christians do – you don’t violate the 10^th Commandment and you don’t take people’s property without their consent – respects Councilmembers Vitale, Testa and Byrnes, but asked how they can live with themselves and vote the path of eminent domain when we haven’t exhausted all the options – three are so many possible options left without using eminent domain and eminent domain doesn’t go away – can vote it in whenever you want (Mayor Kanitra: this is a vote for acquisition – while not taking it off the table, it is not necessarily the path we are going down – and even if this were the path, there are still more votes between now and then – looking forward to talking man-to-man and resolving this situation in an interest that is mutually beneficial and fair to all parties – asked for a motion to move this ordinance).

Motion by Councilman Vitale to close public participation and adopt Ordinance 2021-12 was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Mayor Kanitra….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes, Santanello, Migut….NAY

 ORDINANCE 2021-13  (Amend Ch 19 Floodplain Management) was considered on second reading. Mayor Kanitra opened the public hearing with no member of the public wishing to be heard.

Motion by Councilman Migut to close the public hearing and adopt Ordinance 2021-13 was seconded by Councilman Vitale and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

 ORDINANCE 2021-14  (Refunding Bond Ordinance $764,000) was considered on second reading. Mayor Kanitra asked for a motion.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to close the public hearing and adopt Ordinance 2021-14 was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

 ORDINANCE 2021-15  (Refunding Bond Ordinance $96,000) was considered on second reading.

Motion by Councilman Vitale was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

 ORDINANCE 2021-16 (Refunding Bond Ordinance $3,900,000) was considered on second reading. Mayor Kanitra opened the public hearing with no member of the public wishing to be heard.

Motion by Councilman Vitale was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

Atty. Riordan: heard from a number of folks critical of the ordinance – have Counsel looking at those complaints – the purpose of tabling it is to see if he can tweak the ordinance to meet the demands of the folks complaining – after he got the complaints, he looked at it, spoke to the Administrator and the Mayor, he asked the Clerk to put “to be tabled” on the agenda.

Motion by Councilman Cortes to table ORDINANCE 2021-17 (Amend Ch 5 Merc Lic Regs) on second reading was seconded by Councilman Migut and carried by roll call vote.

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

BOND ORDINANCE 2021-18  (Amend Bond Ords 2020-06 & 2020-20) was introduced on first reading.

Motion by Councilman Migut to approve Bond Ordinance 2021-18 on first reading was seconded by Councilman Cortes and carried by roll call vote. The public hearing will be on May 4, 2021 (either in-person or via Zoom – check the website before coming to Borough Hall).

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

 ORDINANCE  2021-19  (Cap Bank) was introduced on first reading.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to approve Ordinance 2021-19 on first reading was seconded by Councilman Migut and carried by roll call vote. The public hearing will be on May 4, 2021 (either in-person or via Zoom – check the website before coming to Borough Hall).

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: spoke with the Borough Attorney at length about Ordinance 2021-20 – wanted to ensure this ordinance would allow delivery of product to any resident who can legally imbibe it in PPB – Atty. Riordan confirmed that would be the case – to anyone who makes the comparison between cannabis and liquor, we don’t want any more liquor stores in town either (Atty. Riordan: there was a letter from a resident that missed the point – this ordinance was recommended by the NJ League of Municipalities – virtually every municipality in the State is passing it – the statute passed by the Legislature gives municipalities a very short window to ban it – can always change your mind, but have only a short window to ban it – that’s why virtually every municipality in the NJ League recommended this type of ordinance in response to the Legislature’s statute – it’s not suggesting that it may never come to PPB – it’s saying that, because the statute by the State requires a municipality to exercise its authority in a very short window, that’s why the ordinance was suggested by the League and why it was discussed by the Council last meeting and that was the point of the discussion last meeting and that’s why it’s now on) it goes back to the concept that, from the very beginning, when this marijuana law passed, we said we needed to see how it was affecting municipalities, the ramifications for tourism industries, etc. – need time to study this and the fact that the State gives us such a truncated timeframe, where we have no ability and we lose that ability, it’s a no-brainer.

ORDINANCE  2021-20  (Amend Ch 3 Prohibit Cannabis Business) was introduced on first reading.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to approve Ordinance 2021-20 on first reading was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote. The public hearing will be on May 4, 2021 (either in-person or via Zoom – check the website before coming to Borough Hall).

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: this was the result of Zoning Board Engineer Savacool, Zoning Board Atty. Galvin, Town Planner Lawlor, CO Thulen and himself looking at all the little things that have fallen through the cracks in PPB in terms of zoning – gave examples – decades of nuanced ordinances – this is a sweeping group of common sense measures to make PPB more business-friendly.

ORDINANCE  2021-21  (Amend Ch 19 Improve/Update Dev Reg) was introduced on first reading.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to approve Ordinance 2021-21 on first reading was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote. The public hearing will be on June 1, 2021 (either in-person or via Zoom – check the website before coming to Borough Hall).

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

Mayor Kanitra: have a truncated time frame here – talked about 5G a year ago – public sentiment on both sides – been approached by Verizon – getting close to putting in application – without a set of design criteria and limitations, they are legally allowed to come in and dictate where things go – going to consolidate and give ourselves ability to cut down on prevalence if they do come – will have a say with aesthetics and distance – if application is submitted before this ordinance is passed, it defaults to the existing stuff on the books, which is nothing – consultant is on the line (Councilman Cortes: will abstain – didn’t get chance to read the ordinance – his town email is screwed up and he couldn’t find it – asked consultant, Matt Watkins, 201-927-7660, to touch base with Councilman Cortes and brief him and anyone else).

ORDINANCE 2021-22  (5G Ordinance) was introduced on first reading.

Motion by Councilman Vitale to approve Ordinance 2021-22 on first reading was seconded by Councilwoman Byrnes and carried by roll call vote. The public hearing will be on May 4, 2021 (either in-person or via Zoom – check the website before coming to Borough Hall).

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Santanello, Migut….YEA

Councilman Cortes….ABSTAIN

Councilman Cortes: asked about the Police interceptor for the Building Dept. in the Capital portion of the Budget (BA/CFO Riehl: a request from the Building Dept. – Capital Budget is a wish list – before capital bond ordinance is drafted, will go over each line item; Mayor Kanitra: regular car/pickup will suffice).

Motion by Councilman Cortes approve the items listed below was seconded by Councilman Vitale and carried by roll call vote.

14     CONSENT RESOLUTION 5:

5a     Resolution to defer $5,979,327.00 school taxes

5b     Resolution for Revenue in the Budget

5c     Introduction of 2021 Municipal Budget

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Cortes, Migut….YEA

Councilman Santanello….NAY

The public hearing on the 2021 Municipal Budget will be on May 18, 2021 (either in-person or via Zoom – check the website before coming to Borough Hall).

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 11:40PM

E.J. Geiger, 115 Arnold Ave., PPB: asked if meetings go in-person if they will continue to be Zoomed for people who can’t get into the Council chambers.

Mike Ramos, 420 Arbutus Dr., PPB: he and Councilman Santanello were once friendly – that changed when he supported the Kanitra ticket – Councilman Santanello publicly disparaged at cursed at him at a public meeting in 2019 – behavior is disgraceful – 30 years of tantrums and bullying – now a censure and disciplinary action by Council – can’t touch his record of service or contributions to PPB – calling the Mayor and others a bully is a textbook example of a pot calling the kettle black.

James Caufield, 101 NY Ave., PPB: agrees with the gentleman who spoke about parking being changed in 2016 – that’s when QOL began to change – a taxpayer for 43 years – non-residents have become 3^rd or 4^th class citizens and have to wait for Council, residents and lawyers to speak – unfair – why pay taxes if getting treated like 2^nd class citizens – should review that policy.

Dan Friendly, 1401 Ocean Ave, PPB: not crazy with what Mayor Kanitra has done with garbage cans – have dozens of rental properties – impossible to control renters who don’t know rules – every rental property changes over on a Saturday – relying on tenants to put out other people’s garbage and recycling –asked for garbage/recycling pick up east of the tracks on Saturday when property managers are there.

Andrea Bowne, 103 Arnold Ave., PPB: asked the status of the cell tower – thought it was temporary – poor placement – asked if Arnold Ave. residents were notified – were not notified about dredging/flooding.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 11:57PM

Motion by Councilman Vitale to close public participation and adjourn was seconded by Councilman Santanello and carried by consent of Council.

Meeting was adjourned at 11:58PM.

Attachments to April 20, 2021 Council Meeting Minutes

ATTEST: _______________________________
Eileen A. Farrell, RMC

Municipal Clerk