Borough of Point Pleasant Beach Council Meeting Minutes
Mayor Reid called the meeting to order at 7:32PM. Present were Councilmen Vogel, Cortes, Toohey and Santanello. Councilmen Kanitra and Migut were absent. 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 Toohey to approve the February 20, 2018 Council meeting minutes was seconded by Councilman Vogel and carried by roll call vote.
VOTE: Councilmen Vogel, Cortes and Toohey ….YEA
Councilman Santanello….ABSTAIN
Councilmen Kanitra and Migut….ABSENT
DEPARTMENT HEAD MEMOS:
Councilman Cortes: discussed request for curb cut at 108 Sanborn – concerned about wording of ZO Petrillo’s recommendation (Councilman Vogel: vacant lot – time is not of essence) – NO ACTION.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Vogel: Chamber’s Beers on the Boards revised event date is April 7th, Member Appreciation event is March 15th and General Membership meeting is March 28th at Duke’s; thanked Chief Michigan, DPW and BA/CFO Riehl for information during the last storm; would like to consider leasing space at the Inlet restroom for a food vendor, to bring in non-tax revenue – would have to go to the Planning Board – ideas include 12-month lease, no fishing tackle or bait for sale, open 6AM-10PM, music audible outside 8AM-8PM and make it responsibility of vendor to open & close the restroom and police trash on the property – welcomed feedback and ideas for next agenda; he and Councilman Toohey met with School Board about the School Resource Officer (SRO) contract and security – will come back with proposals – school offers a lot of opportunities and is open to community involvement, which is very important.
Councilman Cortes: attended a marijuana seminar in Lakewood with Chief Michigan, Capt Duffy and Lt Quaglia – was sponsored by the Ocean County DART Prevention Coalition – really interesting – speaker not pro or con – will send PowerPoint to all – at the event, DART presented a plaque to Mayor & Council for leadership in preventing marijuana sales in the community; recognized March employee anniversaries – Kevin Napalo 18 years, Ernie Errico 18, John Flynn 18, Billy Popp 8, Paschal Drew 14, Scott Nase 12, Ita Brown 6; Beautification Committee has new volunteer members on agenda for approval – will be a new tree planted at the River Ave triangle in memory of Mr Pfister – sent a letter to Elaine Hennessy regarding barrels – she said she will maintain hers – asked that DPW Super Trout remove the Borough’s broken two; Parking Authority brought up possibility of restriping parking lot by Rudy’s Restaurant – will look into Rudy contributing to the cost, as it benefits his business; lake dredging is ongoing – can’t catch a break with the weather – Engineer will look at the Chicago Ave storm drain and test for E-coli or chlorine – pipe could be compromised; Inlet wall is basically completed – waiting for concrete to be poured (BA/CFO Riehl: will be a concrete 6-ft walkway) – DOT contacted BA/CFO Riehl about Forman Ave (BA/CFO Riehl: preconstruction meeting is Tuesday at 11AM – one-way angled parking – they will take care of all the actual construction) will tie in New Jersey Ave – awarding contract to repave Parkway before summer – NJNG is replacing mains and services to houses on Washington in the next couple of weeks – need moratorium on road opening permits, as too many patches on the roads.
Councilman Toohey: thanked Dave Cavagnaro for work on the Beautification Committee and for welcoming his mother; been kicking around plans for Loughran Point upgrades for 2.5 years – waited for DEP to repair the wall – Open Space Committee gave final round of input – he forwarded to Engineer Savacool, who sent him the final plans – will be beautiful and inexpensive – given the timeframe, there is a bond ordinance on the agenda just for Loughran Point – down payment and debt service will come from Open Space funds – project doesn’t impact the budget; thanked Chief for leadership at Antrim PTO meeting – discussing cost sharing arrangement to allow Class II Special Officers to be kept in the schools in the 2018-19 school year to aid SRO O’Neill – kudos to Chief for acting quickly and reaching out to the Governing Body – great to see the community working together; will introduce the budget at the next meeting – very proud of it and of BA/CFO Riehl – been kept in loop every step of the way – looking to introduce less than 1% (.006% of a penny) tax increase on every $100 of evaluation – @$2.75/month on average assessed house – BA/CFO Riehl achieved that while projecting decreased revenues and reserve for uncollected taxes, at the committee’s direction – this allows the Borough to regenerate revenue and keep tax rate low (lowest of any Ocean County municipality with a K-12 school system and full-time police department), while keeping a first class police department and municipal employees (Councilman Vogel: also addressing projects) – at least partial repayment of the Community Disaster Loan is due in 2019 – in a good position to not pass that payment on in the form of a tax increase.
Councilman Santanello: asked Councilman Toohey about adding the names of the two recently lost fisherman to the Fisherman’s Memorial (Councilman Toohey: BA/CFO Riehl has been looking into a design – planning on maxing out the space to make room for more names); Recreation Committee met on February 26th – will have the Key and Interact Clubs keep squirrels away from the eggs at the Easter Egg Hunt on March 24th – committee voted unanimously to allow all homeowners to send their kids and grandkids to summer camp – Best Day program was moved to New York Ave Beach (Mayor Reid: Risden’s said no to the event) – Bonfire will be on September 8th – Mayor Reid will attend the Mayor’s Trophy basketballs games tomorrow – will be advertising for and reaching out to past counselors for the Summer Park Program – a new member, John Babbini, is on the agenda for approval – explained what Best Day is – Borough has committed to giving up the New Jersey parking lot for the day – Businesses are donating prizes, etc.; hiring three new Laborers and transferring one – interviewed seven people over two days – he and Councilman Cortes were glad to be part of the interview process with BA/CFO Riehl and DPW Super Trout; Police Committee met – there is unanimous support for officers in schools – Chief and department come up with solid, intelligent, workable solutions – complemented Chief Michigan and Mayor Reid for their leadership – everyone wants to follow what PPB is doing – reviewed the budget and negotiated with the Chief – Councilman Vogel and he will meet with Father Bob Benko and a representative from the Diocese Security Team about a cop at St Peter School (Mayor Reid: St Peter’s was represented at Chief Michigan’s security meeting and they get it.)
Mayor Reid: there is flooding up and down the East Coast – spoke to Engineer Savacool – there is a higher tide than usual now with the full moon – have to deal with the flooding for a couple of days – PPB streets have always flooded and always will – that’s the way it is – more than usual now with the dredging; commended Chief Michigan and Council for taking a stand against marijuana dispensaries in town – PPB was the first and now other mayors calling him – was invited to speak about it at Rider University and AAA; thanked Councilman Vogel for working with Mike Corona on the Thursday Night Concert Series – has almost every Thursday night slotted – need funding – meeting on Thursday to finalize all that; met with the Bike Share people about where bikes should go and meeting this week about sponsors – coming in about 1.5 months; he and BA/CFO Riehl met with a company about a reduction in electrical rates for street lights and municipal buildings – auction was today (BA/CFO Riehl: savings for street lighting will be $5,100/year with a 2-year contract – projected savings for municipal buildings is $11,200/@$22K over the life of the contract) commended BA/CFO Riehl for her work on this; asked all to be brief, due to State of Emergency.
BA/CFO Riehl: had a phone conference with Congressman Smith’s office regarding the Coast Guard property divestiture – and received a phone call from the Coast Guard’s Property Division, asking what they needed to do to have a courtesy meeting before the Planning Board about a subdivision (Mayor Reid: met with the Congressman and his Chief of Staff) there are a couple options – hopes to hear back soon (Councilman Vogel: probably a 3-year process, at minimum).
The Clerk announced revisions/additions to the agenda.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 8:18PM.
Dave Cavagnaro, PPB: asked if JCP&L will re-do Parkway lines prior to paving and about lake dredging.
Marilyn Burke, PPB: asked if bid proposals are sent out for projects; complemented police for security at Antrim School; disgraceful that Risden’s turned away Best Day.
Vince Castin, PPB: spoke about lake flooding on Arnold, the Coast Guard Building, Councilman Vogel’s suggestion for a restaurant vendor at the restroom, bath house bids and item 2h.
Bob Maloney, PPB: asked about flooding due to dredging.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 8:39PM.
Motion by Councilman Toohey 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 first installment to the OC JIF ($257,234.62)
1b Approval of S/E application & fee waiver for St Peter PTA Fisherman’s 5K Run on 4/28/18
1c Approval of payment of Payroll #5 ($220,758.20)
1d Approval of payment to All Covered for Microsoft Exchange 360 ($4,350)
1e Auth to purchase electricity supply svcs/street lighting for public use on an online auction website
1f Approval of payment to D. Sweet from BOA escrow accounts
1g Approval of payment to Galvin Law Firm from Pl Bd and BOA escrow accounts
1h Approval of title change per Civil Service reclassification
1j Approval of pymt of Pay Cert 1 to Albert Marine for Little Silver Lk dredging ($202,804.63)
1k Award of contract (A&B) to Earle Asphalt for Imp to Pkwy Phase I&II ($654,313.13)
1l Appointment of C. Manzo, MJ Roselli-Mitchell & K. Bixby to the Beautification Committee
1m Approval of PO to Hudson County Motors for garbage truck exhaust parts ($6K)
1n Approval of payment to BTMUA for February bulk water usage ($47,539.74)
1o Approval of payment to State of NJ for employee and retiree health benefits ($137,133.15)
1p Approval of pymt of Pay Cert 1 to Electro Maint for Emerg Generator Replacement ($121,030)
1q Approval of payment to Riggins for DPW fuel ($10,559.42)
1r Approval of payment to T&M Associates from developer escrow account
1s Appointment of J. Babbini to the Recreation Committee
1t Authorization for Recreation Committee to accept Summer Park Program applications for children/grandchildren of residential taxpayers and lease holders (summer residents)
1u Authorization to advertise for Summer Park Program Counselors
1v Approval of Transfer Resolution
1w Appointment of S. Cooley, J. Sutton, R. Stauffer, C. Betz to the position of DPW Laborer
1x Authorization for Administrator to solicit bids for Improvements to Loughran Point
1y Approval of PO to Devo & Assoc for parking meter repair ($5,291-insurance reimbursement)
1z Conditional approval of leave of absence for Employee #89584
1aa Approval of payment to Jenkinson’s Pavilion, et. al for tax appeal refunds ($141,795.63)
CONSENT RESOLUTION 2:
2a Approval of payment of computer-generated vouchers ($1,555,030.27)
2b Approval of S/E app & fee waivers for Fire Co No 1 raffle sales/trailer on Bdwlk, 5/11-9/16
2c Approval of membership for J. Varga, PPB, in Fire Company No. 1
2d Approval of payment to Fire Store for 2 jumbo intake valves for Fire Co No 1 ($3,150)
2e Approval of payment to Planit Police for yearly scheduling subscription for PD ($2,627)
2f Approval of pymt to Fireflow Svcs for hose/pump/ladder testing for Fire Co No 1 ($3,954.20)
2g Authorization for Administrator to solicit bids for public safety software
2h Appointment of 22 SLEOs Class 1
2i Approval of payment to L3Mobil-Vision for PD license plate recognition systems, light bar mounts, service call & warranties ($38,054.07)
VOTE: Councilmen Vogel (1), Cortes, Toohey and Santanello….YEA
Councilman Vogel (2)….ABSTAIN
Councilmen Kanitra and Migut….ABSENT
Per Borough Attorney, assume usual abstentions on item 2a with which Council has conflicts.
ORDINANCE:
Ordinance 2018-02 (Loughran Point Improvements) was introduced on first reading. Motion by Councilman Toohey to approve Ordinance 2018-02 on first reading was seconded by Councilman Vogel and carried by roll call vote.
VOTE: Councilmen Vogel, Cortes, Toohey and Santanello….YEA
Councilmen Kanitra and Migut….ABSENT
Motion by Councilman Vogel to approve the item listed below was seconded by Councilman Cortes and carried by roll call vote:
RESOLUTION 3: Passage of Bond Ordinance 2018-02 & authorization for Clerk to publish notice of introduction and time & place of public hearing
VOTE: Councilmen Vogel, Cortes, Toohey and Santanello….YEA
Councilmen Kanitra and Migut….ABSENT
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AND ENDED AT 8:41PM
WITH NO MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO BE HEARD
Motion to adjourn by Councilman Vogel was seconded by Councilman Cortes and carried by consent of Council. Meeting was adjourned at 8:41PM.
ATTEST:__________________________________
Eileen A. Farrell, RMC
Municipal Clerk
