June 1, 2021 - Borough of Point Pleasant Beach

Council Meeting Minutes

June 1, 2021

To be held in-person only in the Borough Hall Council Chambers,

416 New Jersey Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742. Face masks required. No Zoom access.

Copy and paste the following web address into your browser to access live stream: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCflODKbSFakXUEKiyxSYdUA/live

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 7:29PM. 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 Councilman Vitale to approve the May 18, 2021 Council meeting minutes was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote.

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

OATH OF OFFICE: Clerk Farrell administered the Oath of Office to Police Officer William Kavanagh (Chief Michigan: position opened up with the retirement of Cpl. Distelcamp – wished him well in his retirement – one of the easiest decisions he has had to make as Chief – the Mayor and Councilman Vitale had the chance to interview him – an impressive young man, born in Point Pleasant, does everything asked of him – has full confidence and faith in him – doing a great job in PPB – pleasure to have him officially on board – congratulated him (Mayor Kanitra: echoed the Chief’s sentiments and congratulated Officer Kavanagh on behalf of the Council).

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Councilman Vitale: gave Chief’s report since last Council meeting – PO Latshaw will graduate the Monmouth County Police Academy Basic Police Officers Course on June 11^th – there has been recent training in Canine, Firearms Instructor, Method of Instruction and CPR Instructor – Memorial Day weekend activity includes 12 arrests and 23 Borough Ordinance violations – commended all on job well done this past weekend – Officers proactively engaged the public regarding quality of life incidents – special thanks to Capt. Kowalewski, Lt. Grace, Sgt. Siculietano and POs Hayes, Garcia, Marchetti and Gippetti for ensuring that the road and Boardwalk operations ran smoothly – thanked the Governing Body, Municipal Clerk, Borough Administrator and Borough Attorney for supporting Officer Kavanagh’s hiring – their support and dedication to the PD is greatly appreciated; great turnout for the Memorial Day Bike Parade – thanked Chief Michigan for helping with the ceremony – thanked PPBHS students for the National Anthem and keynote speech – a touching tribute to the men and women who lost their lives fighting for our Country; still work to be done with the Pleasure Park upgrade (BA/CFO Riehl: delivery to come in stages – must take soft surfacing out – will see if the installer will do it); Pickleball clinic was a huge success – Pickleball Night is on the agenda for every Wednesday; Summer Camp registration is ongoing – looking for more counselors; military banner initiative is ongoing, with 80 banners left – deadline is beginning of August (Councilman Cortes: asked if the need to be adjusted for Pickleball; BA/CFO Riehl: will find out).

Councilwoman Testa: Art’s Committee’s Homegrown Book Fair, 2 weeks ago, was great – lot of vendors and foot traffic – the Beach pARTy Art Festival is July 22^nd, with Bay Ave. closed, and space for vendors at storefronts – application is on ptbeacharts.com – Music Together music lessons, with Brenda from Sunny Bee Music, begin July 2^nd for 6 weeks; a lot of rain has been good for plants – everything looks great for Beautification – everyone is maintaining their gardens; thanked Chief Michigan for yesterday’s beautiful ceremony.

Councilwoman Byrnes: echoed sentiments on yesterday’s sweet tradition (Bike Parade) – families rode bikes alongside teachers, neighbors and friends – heartwarming and touching – thanked the Recreation Committee, Chief and Mayor; gave the Fire Dept. report – this weekend was quiet – last weekend was not, with alarm calls, an overturned vehicle and a dumpster fire – are training in conjunction with the Boro tonight – are prepared for fireworks beginning June 24^th – participated in the Bike Parade; the Shade Tree Commission is pleased with the summer watering help – are fine-tuning a Memorial Tree initiative – will be enjoying a walking tour of the business district and lake area, to identify trees in need of pruning or replacement; Environmental Commission and Sustainable Jersey have some things in the works; the Senior Committee meeting was well attended last week, with Officer Hayes to answer questions – spoke of survey results – received 20 at the Homegrown Fair – seniors want activities and engagement – has a list of events to be planned; is thrilled that the telephone pole was removed on Arnold Ave. – thanked BA/CFO Riehl.

Councilman Cortes: recognized June employee anniversaries – Brian Spader 21 years, Bryan Benites 4, Dave Marchetti 3, Antonio Garcia 3, Christie Glass 6, DPW Super. Trout 35, Jack Johnston 16, Eric Sudia 13; the new shed was delivered at Maryland Ave.; the hole at the Harvard Ave. bulkhead was repaired; fence company is measuring around the water plant and taking down the fence at the Seacoast Oil property; the pay phone on Arnold Ave. is gone – he called his contact at Verizon, who gave him an email address of a third-party company that removes them – there was an accident and this one was taken down before they got to it – will be getting the one on Central Ave. down; there was a parking issue on New York Ave. – homeowner applied for a curb cut – inadvertently, the white brackets were not yet removed and a car parked within the white lines and blocked their driveway – he and the Mayor took care of it the next day – will try to make an amendment on the curb cut paperwork, to put the burden on the homeowner to call DPW if something needs to be changed when the curb cut is built; are back to paying for bulk drop-off as of today, as the free drop-off was badly abused and there was an increase in tipping fees – can pay online with a credit card – if you are down on Saturday only, you can pick up tickets in the Police lobby – the garbage dumpster is still there but was moved west, closer to the tracks – will keep an eye on that too.

Councilman Santanello: the definition of a crony is a close friend or companion – is hardly a crony of Fernicola, who he has never met or spoken to; with regard to Resolution 3, objects to taking $1/2M out of surplus to balance the Budget – are spending $1/2M on attorneys and engineers this year.

Councilman Migut: the Animal Welfare Committee will resume fundraising with a beach BBQ at a member’s house in September; the Planning Board met and considered Development Ordinance 2021-21 with no action taken; the Floodplain Management Committee will meet at Borough Hall on June 10^th at 6PM; on Thursday night, the Parking Authority will meet in-person in Borough Hall for the first time since COVID; asked about approving final payment for the firetruck (BA/CFO Riehl: was approved – holding check for paperwork).

MAYOR’S REPORT:

Mayor Kanitra: Tax Clerk Coyne asked him to remind all about the Shop the Beach program – taxpayers have saved more than $20K on their tax bills when they shop and dine locally, and she enjoys giving the credit to homeowners – she can walk everyone through the process – there are also cards at the Chamber of Commerce; heard from a lot of residents who are wary of the scooter program – suggested holding it (Councilman Santanello: the emails raise a valid point – could be a cool thing for the town, but there could also be injuries, drunkenness, liability) if we get a handle on misbehaving and a grant for the sharrows, it might make sense down the road – no need to rush (BA/CFO Riehl: opened bids last Thursday – got several – had concerns from our insurance company about COVID regulations – would have required bikes to be wiped down between uses) maybe we’ll see where we are at after the State of Emergency; has fielded many calls and texts about the weekend before last – there seems to be disproportionate bad behavior on Sundays and Mondays than other days of the week – has asked Chief Michigan to put together data to quantify that one way or another – there are some special events held on those days – doesn’t know the solution – is Council’s duty to constantly assess the situation – the beach ordinance is a huge step in the right direction, as well as working with Jenkinson’s – at the next Council meeting, liquor licenses are up for renewal – there are two sides to the equation, the special event side and the liquor license side – asked if there can be more review and oversight over events that might qualify as Special Events – can talk to the owners and maybe come to a mutual agreement on the liquor license component (Attorney Riordan: there is some research to be done on how the Special Event ordinance has been and could be applied or tweaked – with respect to liquor license restrictions, will have to give the owner of the license an opportunity to be heard in a public hearing in front of Council; Clerk Farrell: June 22^nd is the special Council meeting date – the ABC licenses are going to be renewed on June 15^th because they expire at the end of the month – if Council were not to vote on that liquor license on the 15^th, it would have to be advertised for two weeks in a row and don’t think it can be acted on until five days after that – looking at June 22^nd; Attorney Riordan: have to arrange to have a special meeting of the Council, on June 22^nd, to have the hearing on the liquor licenses that you might wish to restrict – and you can always cancel that, but you would need to schedule it tonight) it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to restrict anything, it just means that we can actually have a conversation in a public forum – asked if that is how it works (Attorney Riordan: you could have a private conversation between now and the 22^nd and if you have decided that you think restrictions might be appropriate, then you would have a hearing in front of the entire Council and you would have an opportunity to have the Chief represent evidence to the Council – the applicant for renewal would have an opportunity to present evidence and then you would make a decision – that decision would be appealable to the Commissioner of the ABC and, ultimately, to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court) asked if one scenario makes more sense than the other – if one can be explored and stopped (Attorney Riordan: can explore both simultaneously and stop whenever you choose; Councilman Santanello: the meeting on the 22^nd would just be for the liquor license; Attorney Riordan: yes) asked if vote is needed and if anyone has any thoughts (Attorney Riordan: should put on the consent agenda a special meeting on June 22^nd to consider liquor license restrictions; Councilwoman Testa: need to have a conversation; Attorney Riordan: can cancel if conversations are fruitful) no objection to adding to agenda – added as item 1EE.

ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT:

BA/CFO Riehl: going out to bid on Central Ave. – decided to combine Harvard and Danby and bid as one job, which should be more cost-effective; talking with the County about curbs and sidewalks on Arnold Ave. – prices probably won’t be so advantageous in another year – need to do design plans and have them inserted into the County plans before they go out to bid – County is delayed, so have some time – County will have contractor do work under Schedule C – will pay the County and bill the homeowner, or homeowners can go out on their own and hire someone or pay to have the town do it – will take them to tax sale if not paid (Councilwoman Testa: asked about price) received a very low cost estimate from a private contractor, but costs are now rising, County can probably do it for less; County should be out this week to address the storm chambers at Lake of the Lillies again; met with the DCA on Historic Overlay Trust Grant applications last week – 83 applications received – $17M to give out – were only one of 3 applications that include municipal work, so have a pretty good shot – they wandered around downtown and said we will know by September if selected for next years’ grant; the Inlet concept idea on the agenda is rehabilitation of the Inlet area to include a cemented area all the way to the end of the parking lot, perhaps a fence – approval is for design and concept (Mayor Kanitra: idea is, if we concrete it, we never have to fill it and clean it, so we save that cost); shed is in place at Maryland Ave. – is operational – need to get handicap matting out.

Clerk announced additions to agenda (consensus to make 7PM the time for the meeting in item 1EE).

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 8:14PM

Robert Moreau, Point Pleasant: asked about item 1c (Councilman Cortes: GPS tracking system on Borough vehicles); asked about 2b (BA/CFO Riehl: payment approval) asked if it went to bid (Chief Michigan: we look for best price) trying to buy local; asked if everyone is now wearing body cameras and about reimbursement from the State (Chief Michigan: purchased today – put in for a grant; Mayor Kanitra: body cams will be phenomenal – now everyone will know the whole story; Attorney Riordan: reminded the Mayor that body cams are not for social media and the Internet; Mayor Kanitra: Chief will be able to reference it); Subsection H of the Beach Ordinance is so vague – overuses the skills and efforts of the PD – should be removed (Mayor Kanitra: Police will exercise discretion; Attorney Riordan: unless and until tickets start being written, Dr. Moreau’s imagination is unnecessary).

Dave Cavagnaro, 118 Parkway, PPB: asked about item 1r (Mayor Kanitra: fairly intensive – could spend the money and end up not doing it if the cost is too high, but it’s the only way we can get there) asked if the only focus is along the Inlet (Mayor Kanitra: has no appetite to connect the Boardwalk to the Inlet because it will bring the Boardwalk problems to the Inlet area – this is to make maintenance easier) asked if considering putting the life boat in that area (Mayor Kanitra: the problem is that the area floods all the time – is open to possibilities; BA/CFO Riehl: DOT says it can’t be put by Beautification sign, as it would be considered a projectile instrument with no guardrail – State property – they will take any barrels there; Councilwoman Testa: will e-mail Beautification about that).

Vince Castin, 15 Trenton Ave., PPB: asked about items 1c (Mayor Kanitra: previously discussed) and 1i (Chief Michigan: this is a different group than the Disabled Veterans who sell forget-me-nots).

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 8:25PM

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

CONSENT RESOLUTION 1:

1a Approval of payment of Payroll #10 ($272,670.82)

1b Appointments to PPB committees

1c Approval of pymt to Vehicle Tracking Solutions for silent passenger subscription ($14,694.12)

1d Approval of payment to Selective Flood Insurance for substation flood insurance ($6,648)

1e Approval of payment to Quadient Finance USA for postage via credit line ($4K)

1f Confirmation of details of sale of general obligation bonds to NJ Infrastructure Bank & State of NJ

for Water Meter Replacement Project

1g Approval of payment of hand checks from Planning Bd & Developer escrow accounts

1h Approval of payment to Capela Construction for Harvard Ave bulkhead repair ($2,500)

1i Approval of NJ Dept of Military & Vets Affairs S/E app/fee waiver for outreach on Bdlwk, 6/21-9/21

1j Authorization to advertise for clerical staff for the Building Dept.

1k Approval of registration fees for the 2021 Summer Park Program

1l Memorialization of auth to hold/advertise 2021 Summer Park Program registration

1m Appointment of A. Pastor, to the position of Summer Camp Director

1n Approval of payment to Lasting Line Painting for annual line/curb painting ($29,841)

1o Approval of payment to Glenco Supply for No Smoking signs & posts ($3,860)

1p Approval of PO to MAXR for 15 refuse/recycling containers ($28,055.25)

1q Approval of PO to Ground Hawg Demolition for beach walk over maintenance (NTE $2,500)

1r Approval of Collier’s proposal for Inlet/Pompeo Playground/Loughran Point Pk Access Imp ($20,050)

1s Reappointment of G. Dempsey to 3-year term as OEM Coordinator

1t Approval of pymt of Pay Cert 5 to Lenegan Plumbing/Heating for Water Meter Rplcmt ($35,710.99)

1u Approval of PPB Rec Committee S/E app for Pickleball in Pleasure Park, Weds, 6/2-12/29

1v Denial of Sun Kissed Hair Jewelry & Accessories S/E app for pop-up on Bdwlk, wknds 6/18-8/8

1w Approval of payment to Handi-Hut for replacement bus shelter ($6,575)

1x Determination of form/details of note relating to Water Bank Constr Financing Prog, providing for issuance/sale of note & auth execution & delivery of such note

1y Memorialization of approval of date change for Memorial Day Bike Parade from 5/29 to 5/31

1z Approval of S/E app/fee waiver for Chamber Festival of the Sea 5K in the Bldwk area on 9/18

1aa Approval of PPB Rec Cmte S/E application for Yoga on the MD Ave Beach, Fri & Sat, 6/4-8/28

1ee Authorization to hold a Special Council meeting on June 22^nd to consider liquor license restrictions

CONSENT RESOLUTION 2:

2a Approval of payment of computer-generated vouchers ($145,282.07)

2b Approval of payment to Brielle Cyclery for 2 Trek bicycles and wheel rack for the PD ($3,263.74)

2c Approval of payment to Eathspiritnet for waterproof jackets and pants for the PD ($4,874.95)

2d Approval of jr. membership in Fire Co 2 for G. McLaughlin, PPB & C. Loughran, PPB

2e Support for Click It or Ticket Mobilization, 5/1-6/6

2f Approval of PO to Safe Fleet for Police body cameras ($183,241.25)

2g Approval of PO to Jersey Shore Power Sports for all terrain vehicle for the PD ($15,382)

2h Authorization to sign over 2004 Dodge Durango to All Time Auto Body for disposal

VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale (except 1u), Testa, Byrnes, Cortes (except 1j),

Santanello (1b,1m, 1s, 1ee, 2d only), Councilman Migut (except 2a, 2d)….YEA

Councilmembers Cortes (1j), Santanello (except 1b, 1m, 1s, 1ee, 2b-d, 2e-h)….NAY

Councilmembers Vitale (1u), Santanello (2b-c, 2e-h), Migut (2a, 2d)….ABSTAIN

ORDINANCES:

Ordinance 2021-21 (Amend Ch 19 Improve/Update Dev Reg) 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 2021-21 was seconded by Councilman Vitale and carried by roll call vote.