Borough of Point Pleasant Beach Council Meeting Minutes
October 18, 2022
Held in-person at Borough Hall Council Chambers, 416 New Jersey Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach.
Live streamed via 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 7:32PM. 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.” Present were Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes and Ramos. Councilmembers Crowley and Migut were absent.
FLAG SALUTE, INVOCATION
APPROVAL OF COUNCIL MINUTES:
Motion by Councilman Vitale to approve the October 4, 2022 Council meeting minutes was seconded by Councilman Ramos and carried by roll call vote.
VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes and Ramos….YEA
Councilmembers Crowley and Migut….ABSENT
MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR FORMER COUNCILMAN RAY CERVINO
Mayor Kanitra said a few words about his legacy.
PROCLAMATION: FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY WEEK
Mayor Kanitra presented a proclamation to Matt Willbergh, Branch Manager-Point Pleasant Beach, Ocean County Library and Mr. Willbergh said a few words.
DEPARTMENT HEAD MEMOS: AZO Savacool RE: Curb Cut Requests
a 505 Atlantic Avenue – Added as item 1s.
b 202 Laurel Court – Added as item 1t.
BA/CFO Riehl: the Zoning Officer said it doesn’t appear that the relocations will have negative impacts on on-street parking, which is not delineated by space in that zone – recommendation is that both requests appear reasonable (Councilwoman Testa: read them both in detail – if AZO Savacool said it’s fine, does not have a problem with it).
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Vitale: gave the Chief’s report since last meeting – training included Mandated Canine In-Service Training, Tesla Crash Course Presentation dealing with safety and emergency situations for electric vehicles – thanked Councilwoman Byrnes for organizing the Tesla training – the annual Halloween curfew for those under 18 is in effect now through November 1st, 7PM-7AM, except those going to or from a legitimate work, church, school or organized sports activity – Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk was this past Sunday – in the range of 20,000 participants – received assistance from several neighboring towns with bomb detection dogs, our Fire Dept. and First Aid Squad – thanked all officers and mutual aid agencies for ensuring another safe and secure venue for this year’s event; the Tug of War was a huge success – PPB won 6–3 – festival was excellent, attracting more spectators than the Manasquan side – always tough rescheduling events, but this worked out with the weather and everything – thanked the Recreation Committee members who were involved in planning, Make a Wish, the Chamber of Commerce, vendors who participated and businesses who donated – presented the trophy to Mayor Kanitra (Mayor Kanitra: will go on his office desk – will give to BA/CFO Riehl and Clerk Farrell to engrave – huge honor to have it back – adds to the rivalry – noted the new 25-ft-high inflatable gull – Councilman Vitale and the Recreation Committee went above and beyond); Recreation is holding the 2nd annual Halloween Pet Parade during Sunday’s Homegrown Festival – registration starts at 1:00 and the parade is 1:30 to 2:30 – Grom-o-Ween will be on October 29th at the Skate Park, with skating and costume contests, etc. – registration for the Holiday Lights Decorating starts in early November – public will be voting on houses by category during the drive-by event to win gift cards from the Chamber – December 10th is the Winter Wonderland at Pleasure Park with a snow machine, ice sculpture carols and a visit from Santa Clause; met with Homeland Security last week on the Cybersecurity initiative to go over the next steps in the assessment, which will take place in the next 2 weeks – are working with our web master to officially change over from a .org to a .gov domain.
Councilwoman Testa: the Arts Committee scarecrows are up downtown – 19 amazing participants – can vote via app – 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes will be announced on October 30th – thanked Councilwoman Byrnes for organizing and putting up about 60 cornstalks with bows and all the volunteers who helped – pairs well with the scarecrows – the Arts Committee Scarecrow is The Queen of the Harvest – on April 29th there will be a Walking Art Tour inside local businesses, 12:00 until 6:00, with more information to follow – the art gala, Party By The Sea, will be in the spring with more information to come; Beautification volunteers have done a great job – thanked John and Gary for helping build storage shelves for Beautification – MJ and her friend donated the wood – all the holiday decorations are there – appreciates their time and work; working with Building Department on updates for next year – they will be available on our website; the Water Dept. will have fall hydrant flushing October 24th-November 18th, as needed, 9AM-4PM – may experience temporary pressure or discoloration, pressure during the flushing period; will be accepting RFPs for 2023 Professional Services – deadline for submissions is December 2nd at 4PM – will be posted on our web site.
Councilwoman Byrnes: members of the Fire Company EMS, Dive Team and Police Dept. participated in the Tesla Electric Car Workshop for First Responders – thanked Chief Kowalewski for sending officers – positive feedback – great information – thanked BA/CFO Riehl for her support and assistance in putting that together – the companies held a drill in town at a property slated to be demolished – they can’t say enough how helpful these opportunities are; the Shade Tree Commission has begun the fall planting season; the Golden Gulls held a Zumba Gold class and Chair Yoga today – was rolled out quietly to see what the needs were – 8 people participated – they had a blast – the Zumba instructor was wonderful – participants enjoyed it so much, she stayed for an hour instead of a half hour – she thought the Chair Yoga would only be a demonstration and everybody stayed the whole hour – beyond her expectation and they are on again for next Tuesday– will have another Bingo event on November 10th at the Elks, 1PM-3PM – a Christmas Party is in the works.
Councilman Ramos: thanked Councilwoman Byrnes – the Environmental Commission also benefitted from the Tesla training and it goes toward Sustainable Jersey points; the Environmental Commission and Planning Board won’t meet this month; Dr. Smith reported that the High School had the highest AP enrollment since 2018, so things are back to normal – Antrim’s One Book One School initiative has been going great – this year, they are focusing on “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” adapted for lower grades – they discuss positivity, taking charge in your community – has gone over really well with the students – the football team will be adding 2 more consolation games to the season – this Friday, the Education Foundation is having its annual Sips and Dips fundraiser – tickets are available – see Sandy Pasola or Kas Dyson.
MAYOR’S REPORT:
Mayor Kanitra: announced that he missed the Tug-of-War, which is among his top echelon of PPB events, because he was gone this week and got engaged – he is excited – his fiancé is an incredible person, who is probably watching the live stream now; as BA/CFO Riehl mentioned a couple meetings ago, on September 22nd, the NJ Pension & Health Benefits Commission voted to increase health benefit premiums by 20% for municipal employees and municipal employers (BA/CFO Riehl: our increase was 24.1%) while PPB is just a small town in the hundreds in NJ, we wanted to take a role in trying try to shed light on how ridiculous this is and how difficult it will be to Municipal Budgets across the State – he and QOL Dir. O’Rourke drafted a letter that they will share with the Ocean County Mayors Association, Barrier Island Mayors Association, Ocean County Administrator Mike Fiure, and the NJ Conference of Mayors, on which he is a Board Member – coming out of the pandemic, PPB was blessed to have a great year with parking revenues up and being very fiscally responsible – not every NJ municipality is as lucky as PPB to have great leadership, great seasonal weather and a great destination – will try and do everything we can to fight this – thanked QOL Dir. O’Rourke – hopes to have more to report soon.
ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
BA/CFO Riehl: the Municipality will pay more in health insurance premiums, but for the employees on the plan, their contributions will increase as well – did a claims experience for 2020-2022 to shop around and see if we can do better – our broker said our best shot would be to stay with State Health Benefits – can’t imagine what other plans are experiencing (Atty. Riordan: the one in his office increased incredibly this past year – the health plan for his employees, himself and his family is ridiculous) maybe some favorable results if all the other Municipalities join in; an RFP is being issued for Landscaping for Borough properties – it’s less mowing and weed-whacking and more weed pulling, debris, spraying for weeds, planting and landscape design, particularly at Borough Hall, Pleasure Park and the Inlet area – are looking to get a new landscaper to work with us and accomplish what we’ve been trying to accomplish for about 2 years (Mayor Kanitra: we’re partially there); the County starts tomorrow dropping drainage pipe at Ocean and Water St., in anticipation of their final project – at least part of it is underway, which is good news; the County used to participate in an annual revenue sharing on recycling proceeds – they stopped doing it 8-10 years ago – they restarted that program and we received $32K in recycling grant money, which we will appropriate in next year’s Budget; on Halloween Day, we are having the First Annual Halloween Throwdown in Borough Hall, by department – the Chamber will send 3 people to judge the Municipal employees – anyone can come all day – judging will be at 2PM.
Clerk announced additions to the agenda.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 8:05PM
Dave Cavagnaro, 118 Parkway, PPB: congratulated Mayor Kanitra; confirmed that the curb cuts won’t affect any parking spaces; spoke about Ordinance 2022-26 – understands the reasoning and supports most of it – likes the idea of running the line from discharge to a grate so you don’t have it standing on the street – some neighbors, even when they run the line out to the street, don’t check elevation – Boston Ave. is at a 3-foot, so it’s counterproductive if you have it aimed west instead of east – concerned that anyone building a pool has to put in a drainage system with a line under the ground that is perforated, catches the water – sounds like a great idea but, if it’s a light rain, it does a great job, if it’s a heavy rain, it tends to back up – if it backs up in the front, it kind of runs in the street, but when it backs up in the backyard, it tends to flow into somebody’s backyard slightly – there are many streets where the properties run front to back, high to low, sloped down – if anyone installs a pool, it has to be installed at the highest point on the property – elevation at Ocean Ave. is about 8’, elevation at Boston is 3’ – when it rains, water flows naturally down the block – if it hits anybody with a pool, it stops – when you discharge a pool with that system, water goes through so quickly, it backs up and floods the next-door yard – the idea of sending water into the street doesn’t great, but it protects yards from flooding from heavy rains, etc. – asked about coming up with something else (Mayor Kanitra: asked Clerk Farrell to transmit this section of minutes to Engineer Mele and ask him to contact Mr. Cavagnaro accordingly; Councilwoman Testa: was in that meeting and doesn’t remember hearing that – it was about getting the hose out to the street and getting it to that) might have misread the ordinance – has spoken to Mr. Mele, whose his best suggestion was a sump pump (Atty. Riordan: might want to discuss it briefly with the Zoning Officer – he understands what you are talking about; Councilwoman Testa: think it’s 2 different things; Mayor Kanitra: let’s ask Mike and John to be looped in – was borne out of the way people are doing it now – Council got frustrated; Councilwoman Testa: got complaints; Mayor Kanitra: for instance, Blodget, where we have to spend a couple thousand dollars to fix where the 2 roads come together, because that’s the natural point where the water crosses the street, and it degrades the seams where one paving job hits another) sees it on his street – not only does the water come out, but sand, dirt, etc. (Councilwoman Testa: not good) and if they are backwashing, depending on the kind of pool and chemicals (Councilwoman Testa: it sits in front of your house and lingers – it’s not even your pool and you have to get it out of the way) cement was supposed to be tilted, so water flows easily and it’s still ponding and turning green and kind of ugly.
Robert Kniffin, 114 Central Ave., PPB: the 2-week maximum time on dewatering wouldn’t give you enough time to build a pool (Councilwoman Testa: they said that was more than enough time, that 24 days was way too long – that’s something to talk to John about; Mayor Kanitra: directed him to leave his contact information for the Clerk) it’s 12 weeks to build a pool (Councilwoman Testa: this is something different – he’ll have you speak to Engineer Mele; Atty. Riordan: he is the Borough Engineer and Mike Thulen, who is the Construction Code Official, are the gentlemen who asked the Governing Body to do this, so it would improve conditions) will leave his information (Mayor Kanitra: appreciates him noticing this on the agenda and coming – asked if he picked it up on the internet or if somebody gave him a heads-up; Councilwoman Testa: we are not pool experts – a lot of components – loves the input).
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 8:13PM
Motion by Councilman Vitale to close public participation and approve the items listed below was seconded by Councilman Ramos and carried by roll call vote.
CONSENT RESOLUTION 1:
1a Approval of payment of Payroll #20 ($321,747.01)
1b Approval of pymt to NJ DCA for State Training Fees – 3rd Quarter ($6,508)
1c Amend 9/20/22 Council minutes to reflect approval of 9/6 minutes (not 9/20 – typo)
1d Approval of pymt to OCUA for 4th Quarter Sewerage ($318,071.25)
1e Approval of pymt to M. Woszczak for emerg. water main repair at 309 Sea Ave/Rte. 35N ($10,217.47)
1f Approval of pymt to OC Treasurer for County Tax Levy-4th Quarter ($2,459,646.28)
1g Approval of S/E App for PPB Arts Cmte Art Walk inside local businesses on 4/29/23
1h Approval of 2 LSV taxi vehicle licenses & 2 LSV taxi driver licenses for Point2Point Shuttle thru 12/31
1i Approval of pymt to State of NJ for employee & retiree health benefits for October ($125,866.47)
1j Authorization to conduct hydrant flushing 10/24-11/18 & advertise in Ocean Star 10/21-11/11
1k Approval of pymt to BTMUA for bulk water usage for September ($141,240.84)
1l Authorization to advertise RFPs for professional services for 2023
1m Approval of pymt to Cherry Valley Tractor Sales for emerg. repairs to utility vehicle ($2,301.29)
1n Adjustment of stipend for special Bd. of Adjustment meetings, eff. 10/1
1o Adjustment of escrow stipend to $150/month for each acct, with a max. of $450 monthly, eff. 10/1
1p Authorization to advertise for Landscaping RFP
1q Approval of payment of hand checks from Developer & Bd. of Adjustment escrow accounts
1r Authorization of starting salaries, within the ordinance range, for DPW Laborers & Repairer w/CDL
1s Approval of Curb Cut Request at 505 Atlantic Ave., per recommendation of AZO – PER DH MEMO
1t Approval of Curb Cut Request at 202 Laurel Court, per recommendation of AZO – PER DH MEMO
CONSENT RESOLUTION 2:
2a Approval of payment of computer-generated vouchers ($3,110,688.12)
2b Approval of PO to Skyland Area Fire Equip. for Fire Co. 1 gloves ($3,949.88)
2c Approval of pymt to Meridian Occupational Health for police physicals 2022 ($4,856)
2d Approval of pymt to Wilmac Business Equip. for software maintenance renewal for the PD ($4,195)
2e Approval of pymt to All Covered for IT maintenance for Sept., including for the PD ($5,037.97)
2f Approval of pymt to All Covered for IT/Maintenance Support for PD ($5,670.72)
2g Approval of pymt to Information Station Specialists for AM Radio Station for PD ($7,995)
2h Approval of pymt to Fire & Safety Services for repairs to Fire Co. No. 2 vehicle 4305 ($14,355)
2i Approval of pymt to Lifeforce USA for AED Package for the Fire Dept. ($15,022.24)
2j Authorization to execute contract with Chief Kowalewski, effective 1/1/22
2k Authorization to extend contract with the State PBA through 2025
2l Approval of membership of M. Hatala, Pt. Pleasant Beach, in Fire Co. 2/NJ State Firemen’s Assoc.
2m Authorization to execute OC Prosecutor DWI and DRE Shared Service Agreements
VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes and Ramos (except 2b, 2h, 2i, 2l)….YEA
Councilman Ramos (2b, 2h, 2i, 2l)….ABSTAIN
Councilmembers Crowley and Migut….ABSENT
ORDINANCES:
Bond Ordinance 2022-25 (Amending Ordinance 2020-06, as Amended by Ordinance 2020-20 and Ordinance 2021-18, Providing for Replacement of Water Mains – $3,100,000) 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 to close the public hearing and adopt Bond Ordinance 2022-25 was seconded by Councilman Ramos and carried by roll call vote.
VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes and Ramos….YEA
Councilmembers Crowley and Migut….ABSENT
Ordinance 2022-26 (Amending Ch BH10-Swimming Pool Code/Sections 6&8) was considered on first reading
Atty. Riordan: explained that this will likely pass on first reading – he will speak to the Borough Engineer and Construction Code Official when folks are finished giving their input – there will be some changes to the ordinance and we will come back next time – depending on how significant the changes are, will either be a second reading to adopt or first reading on a materially-changed ordinance. (Mayor Kanitra: contingent upon the concerns raised being addressed appropriately).
Motion by Councilwoman Testa to approve Ordinance 2022-26 on first reading was seconded by Councilman Ramos and carried by roll call vote. The Public hearing will be held on November 1, 2022.
VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes and Ramos….YEA
Councilmembers Crowley and Migut….ABSENT
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 8:17PM
Dave Cavagnaro, 118 Parkway, PPB: knows that BA/CFO handles this very well – just to make all aware, since early spring, he catalogued about 30 lights out – to date, most have not been fixed (Mayor Kanitra: asked about having an officer do a full audit; BA/CFO Riehl: usually do them when the time changes) majority of the lights are going on and off – at least half are just off on the Boardwalk (Mayor Kanitra: asked QOL Dir. O’Rourke to work with BA/CFO Riehl and the new contact at JCP&L, or just take it off her plate).
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 8:19PM
Motion by Councilman Vitale to adjourn was seconded by Councilman Ramos and carried by consent of Council.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:19PM.
ATTEST: ______________________
Eileen A. Farrell, RMC
Municipal Clerk
