Borough of Point Pleasant Beach Council Meeting Minutes
September 20, 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 7:31PM. 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, Ramos, Crowley and Migut.
FLAG SALUTE, INVOCATION
APPROVAL OF COUNCIL MINUTES:
Motion by Councilman Vitale to approve the September 6, 2022 Council meeting minutes was seconded by Councilwoman Crowley and carried by roll call vote.
VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Ramos, Crowley, Migut….YEA
Councilwoman Byrnes….ABSTAIN
PROCLAMATION:
Mayor Kanitra and Assemblyman Catalano recognized the PPB Junior Little League All Stars 2022 baseball team for their District 11 Championship and Third Place finish in the State.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Vitale: commended the Police Dept. and Chief Kowalewski on the Seafood Festival – was there most of the day – the amount of officers walking around and coordination with other units was great – people felt safe – also thanked EMS, DPW and Code Enforcement, who worked all day – great overall effort by Town Depts. – Carol Vaccaro and the Chamber of Commerce deserve a round of applause as well for coordinating vendors and the band – a huge effort; gave Chief’s report – thanked all the Ocean County Sheriff’s Dept., NJ Office of Homeland Security, NJ State Police, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and all assisting agencies, Canine Explosive Teams and Officers who worked the Festival of the Sea – long day for all – they provided safety and security for residents and visitors – 4 more recruits will begin the Ocean County Police Academy night class on Sept. 23rd – reminded all that paid parking is still in effect, there are no dogs or smoking allowed on the Boardwalk and Officers will continue to enforce these violations – reminded all that the PD will conduct daily house checks for those on vacation – come to the PD and fill out a form, which is also available on the web site under Home Security Check – it’s Rail Safety Week – reminded all to cross only at designated pedestrian or roadway crossings, obey warning signs and signals, stay alert around tracks, refrain from texting, headphones or other distractions that will prevent you from hearing an approaching train, never mix rails and recreation – trains can move in any direction at any time – for more information, go to www.oli.org; the Recreation Committee Locals Only Bonfire has been rescheduled for this Saturday, 6PM-10PM – Kids Fishing Derby on Sunday was a huge success with 54 kids and 13 prizes – the biggest fish caught was a 17½” fluke – thanked Ryan Simunovich and the rest of the Committee for running the event – Tug of War is Oct. 1st, 11AM-4PM; BA/CFO Riehl is setting up a meeting next week for she and him to meet with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security agency to go over the results of the scans and set up additional testing.
Councilwoman Testa: thanked Chief Kowalewski for Seafood Festival – was there for 4 hours at the information booth – traffic blocking was superb – she felt safe and received a lot of compliments for the PD – great time – outstanding job by the Chamber and Carol Vaccaro, putting out fires at the last minute – thanked all who participated, restaurants, etc.; thanked BA/CFO Riehl: for Do Not Enter signs on Rte. 35 that went up last week (BA/CFO Riehl: had to change some – 2-3 weeks ago, No Right Turn and No Left Turn signs were put on the turn signals – the Look For Pedestrian sign was hung too low and she was afraid people would walk into it – QOL Dir. O’Rourke reached out to DOT but they couldn’t come, so DPW took it down – are asking DOT to come out and re-evaluate the height of that sign) hopes that will help in summer, with cars going the wrong way; reminded all about the Arts Committee Scarecrow contest – register by Oct. 1st – winner announced on Oct. 30th – information is on their web site – Oct. 23rd is the Homegrown Festival, 12PM-5PM on Bay Ave. – taking vendor applications; is proud of working on the Municipal Alliance Committee with QOL Dir. O’Rourke – she is great on getting grants and money – teamed up with Ellen Veprek from the Elks Fdn. – there is a Peer Leadership Conference in Feb. in Long Branch – item 1x – are lucky to send 6 PPBHS students and 2 teacher chaperones – will have money left over and will talk about what to do with it in the future (Ms. Veprek: she is the Chair – left brochures – all about drug awareness and suicide prevention – all NJ high schools are there Fri.-Sun. – she fundraises all year – if one student is saved, it’s all worth it – thanked all so much).
Councilwoman Byrnes: compliments to Chief Kowalewski and Chamber Dir. Vaccaro and all involved in the Seafood Festival – received many messages about the more comfortable traffic pattern – didn’t go, as she had a surprise birthday party and was involved with family all weekend; Fire Company presided over the last fireworks display of the season – they will be on hand for the Bonfire – congratulated the new Fire members and wished them safety; the Shade Tree Commission (STC) is accepting applications until Sept. 23rd for the Nominate Your Block initiative – appreciates the special watering; Golden Gulls met last night – new suggestions on distributing Project ICE packets – will discuss with BA/CFO Riehl – Oct. 11th is the Fall Gathering – details to follow; Nov. 10th will be Bingo at the Elks – on Dec. 13th, there will be a Christmas Luncheon for residents.
Councilman Ramos: Environmental Commission meeting is cancelled this week due to vacations – they put out the display in the foyer downstairs, as well as at the Seafood Festival – been very well-received; kudos to all involved in the Festival – he and his wife walked it and ended up at the Elks behind the grill – fantastic, open, well-received event; Bd. of Ed. had a great start to the school year – this Friday, under the lights is the 2nd home game against Asbury Park – Superintendent Dr. Smith has been awarded 2023 NJASA Region 3 Superintendent of the Year – can add that to his 4-time Ocean County Superintendent of the Year – are blessed with a tremendous Bd. of Ed., team of administrators and teachers and an outstanding Superintendent.
Councilwoman Crowley: DPW worked very hard at prepping for the Seafood Festival and worked tirelessly all weekend to keep our streets clean and ready for the next day – sadly, was unable to attend, as she was at her daughters’ parents weekend, but heard great things – thanked Chief Kowalewski, PD, Chamber and DPW for making it a wonderful weekend for our community – DPW will continue to keep the town clean and transition into the fall schedule.
Councilman Migut: on Oct. 6th, the Parking Authority hopes to award 2 bids – one for winter snowplowing and one for the bank teller kiosk in the Borden’s lot – bids are in the process of being finalized and published – hopes responses will be in by the Oct. 6th meeting – members and Atty. Bogan and Engineer Savacool, met a week before the Seafood Festival and spread mulch in the planter areas of Borden’s lot to spruce it up for the Festival – DPW delivered 2 truckloads of mulch – kudos to them; the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) completed some repairs to the cat trailer, including new windows and mold remediation – repairs were paid through this year’s bond issue – may have the trailer painted next month – over the past month, there were 2 newspaper articles about towns facing feral cat problems – Lavallette and Freehold Boro – thanks to the work of our AWC, we have that issue under control – a member is being added on this agenda (Mayor Kanitra: congratulated AWC’s great work).
MAYOR’S REPORT:
Mayor Kanitra: item 1o was removed – gave an update on the Gottlieb Building – was a huge priority of his – along with Steve Fisher, saved it from the wrecking ball – a vital part of our town’s history – since then, a new roof and foundation have been put on, along with new windows, new floors, brick repointing and a sprinkler system – the building has been refurbished in a way that it will stand for another couple hundred years, jut the way it is – during the pandemic, the downstairs lessee terminated their lease – is important to him that this space, in a highly-coveted location, work to fill out the rest of the recipe for downtown PPB – when you look at downtown, you don’t see a major entertainment option – have Uncle Vinnie’s, which is a nice comedy club, but need something to attract people before and after dinner and bring more people into town to compliment the incredible restaurants and shops we already have – Steve Fisher approached him and offered to donate the Gottlieb Building to PPB – for a town that has sold or given away most of its assets over the course of the last 100 years, in terms of the beach and other properties, this is rare opportunity to have something we can protect and shape the future of the town – 1o was pulled because we still have to work through the logistics of that – may be possibilities in terms of how it is donated – have the Business Improvement District and the PPB Community Endowment Fund that could be conduits for that – item was pulled so we have a little more time to work on that and find the right pathway – knows that the Town Hall and Governing Body would never let an opportunity like this slip through our hands – comes along once in a lifetime – looks forward to the next couple of weeks, while we figure that out and make sure everybody does the right thing, and then we’ll put the right pieces in place to make sure we have an opportunity in that space downstairs to do something special for the town – will take a little more time, but it’s a very positive update – a great opportunity for PPB – is excited to see how things transpire over the next couple of weeks.
ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
BA/CFO Riehl: meeting with Homeland Security Div. to go over vulnerability – she and Chief Kowalewski are meeting with the parking machine vendor next week to go over applications we might be able to utilize with the existing machines – will then meet with the committees on that; met on Zoom with the County last week on the Beach Renourishment program – they’ll pick up half the cost for the municipality – there will be renourishment from Elizabeth Ave., north to Trenton and dune work at the Maryland Ave. beach – have our comments in – they have a plan in place – will work through a State Aid agreement with the State and send that to the County – they will go out to bid late this year (Mayor Kanitra: biggest fear is if we wind up setting precedent for other properties that aren’t ours, and it needs to be replenished every 4 or 5 years and winds up becoming an increasing cost that we have to budget for); noted that the Audit is on this meeting and that, under “Comments and Recommendations” there were none, which means there was nothing to record that the Borough auditors felt was inappropriate or done incorrectly – glad to have that every year – the Finance Dept. has just been fabulous (Atty. Riordan: that doesn’t happen in most municipalities – let alone year after year; all agreed on a great job); the County’s portion of the Ocean Ave. job was discussed today – there is a pre-con meeting next week – not only are they doing road repaving, curb and sidewalk, they are dropping a storm drain the entire length of Ocean Ave. and on Arnold, from the railroad tracks to Ocean – neither she nor the Borough Engineer were aware of that – they have to re-open, lay the storm drain on both roads, then do the restoration, then do the curb and the sidewalk – they awarded the bid to Earle Asphalt – the Borough Engineer will be at the pre-con meeting with the County to take notes and get all the particulars (Mayor Kanitra: asked how much time this will add to the project and if it will be paved before the asphalt plants close in Dec.) it’s a lot of work – must work around the main that we just put in – has to be done before Memorial Day – would prefer it be done in its entirety before Easter (Atty. Riordan: it’s going to be a mess; Mayor Kanitra: asked how something like this happens) the whole project, the County’s side and ours, has been delayed – are sill wrapping up a project that was supposed to be done in Jan. – are hoping to finish our pieces by the end of Oct., then the County can start their piece; had correspondence from NJTransit this afternoon in relation to the Bay Head substation – need to install 7 poles with power lines along NJTransit’s right-of-way within the Borough of PPB, between Sea Ave. and Bay Head rail line – need to see if the Borough Atty. would require any sort of agreements on that; Mayor Kanitra: they are massive poles; Atty Riordan: may not have much to say about it if it’s in their right-of-way – asked BA/CFO Riehl to send it to him).
Clerk announced additions and revisions to the agenda.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 8:14PM
Dave Cavagnaro, 118 Parkway, PPB: asked about what is changing in 1n (BA/CFO Riehl: Engineers for Channel Dr. – a lot of engineering changes more or less – just wanted to have another look – will not change cost); asked if the names in 1q will be on the Borough web site (Mayor Kanitra: announced the names; Atty. Riordan: will be posted after meeting; BA/CFO Riehl: under “committees”); is thankful the name was included in 1y.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 8:16PM
Motion by Councilman Vitale to close public participation and approve the items listed below was seconded by Councilwoman Testa and carried by roll call vote.
CONSENT RESOLUTION 1:
1a Approval of payment of Payroll #18 ($317,444.87)
1b Approval of payment to Amazon Capital Services for supplies for Recreation events ($2,588.59)
1c Memorialization of agreement with American DAS Networks/Munisite
1d Approval of change in rain date (from 9/11 to 9/24) for Rec Cmte Residents Only Bonfire
1e Acceptance of Annual Audit for 2021
1f Approval of payment of hand checks from Pl. Bd & Bd. of Adj. escrow accounts
1g Approval of Copline Inc. S/E app for 5K Run/Walk on the Boardwalk, 12/31/22 & -1/01/23
1h Approval of ABC Social Affair app for Elks Motorcycle Committee Fundraiser, 10/22
1i Approval of release of maintenance guarantee for 411 Central Ave. from Dev. Escrow acct.
1j Approval of release of performance guarantee for 310 Baltimore Ave. from Dev. Escrow acct.
1k Adoption of updated Zoning Map
1l Approval of payment to Riggins for 2022 DPW gasoline ($9,592.75)
1m Approval of payment to Keystone Plastics for DPW gutter brooms ($3,031.80)
1n Acceptance of STV revised scope and fee proposal for Channel Drive Revitalization Project
– subject to Atty. review & Engineer comments – LANGUAGE ADDED PRIOR TO MEETING
1o REMOVED PRIOR TO MEETING
1p Authorization to purchase MyRec Registration Software
1q Appointment of the Point Pleasant Beach Business Improvement District Board of Trustees
1r Approval of payment to Hutchinson Plumbing for new A/C unit in Finance Office ($7,931)
1s Approval of payment to County of Ocean for Schedule C Agreement – 2nd Quarter ($2,806.90)
1t Approval of payment to F&C Auto Supply for DPW auto parts for June-August ($4,312.50)
1u Approval of payment to Brick Township MUA for August bulk water usage ($147,830.54)
1v Auth for Rec Cmte promo/registration for various classes at MMDA- Rec gets 25% of registration fees
1w Auth to advertise for bidding for the Boston Ave. & NJ Ave. road projects
1x Authorization for MAC to allocate $3,080 to Elks Peer Leadership Conference
1y Appointment of Cindy Kells to the Animal Welfare Committee and Environmental Commission
CONSENT RESOLUTION 2:
2a Approval of payment of computer-generated vouchers ($277,483.89)
2b Approval of payment to Deborah Cardiovascular Group for 12 stress tests for SLEOs ($3K)
2c Approval of membership of P. Waldman, PPB, in Fire Company No. 2/NJ State Firemen’s Assoc.
2d Approval of membership of G. Shafer, Bay Head, in Fire Company No. 1
2e Approval of payment to Pt. Pleasant Bicycle for 2022 Police Bicycles ($10,063.48)
2f Approval of payment to Witmer Associates for 34 Megaflo Breather Hoses ($28,014)
2g Approval of membership of A. Lando in Fire Company No. 2/NJ State Firemen’s Assoc.
2h Approval of payment to Eagle Point Gun for 2022 firearms/supplies for the PD ($15,322.86)
2i Appointment of B. Krueger as SLEO II
VOTE: Councilmembers Vitale, Testa, Byrnes, Ramos (except 1h, 1x, 2c, 2d, 2g), Crowley,
Migut (except 1q, 2a, 2c, 2d, 2f, 2g)….YEA
Councilmen Ramos (except 1h,1x,2c,2d,2g), Migut (except 1q,2a,2c,2d,2f,2g)….ABSTAIN
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION BEGAN AT 8:16PM
Ellen Veprek, 341 Eastham Rd, Pt. Pleasant/Elks: thanked the Governing Body for allowing the Elks to have their event – brought in 182 new members.
E.J. Geiger, 115 Arnold Ave., PPB: Christmas Tree is defunct – totally brown – maybe there is something in the soil (BA/CFO Riehl: watered the heck out of it; Mayor Kanitra: when this happened the first time, asked STC and tree donor to get involved to figure out a care plan – about 3 weeks ago, there was a story on TV about a Christmas Tree farm where all the trees died because of the brutal summer – asked BA/CFO Riehl to have the soil tested; Councilwoman Testa: maybe Rutgers; BA/CFO Riehl: STC said to gator bag it and we did; Councilwoman Byrnes: BA/CFO Riehl had extra water and gator bags on it right away – started to improve – unfortunately, not looking the same today; Mayor Kanitra: will get it fixed); when they did the Arts Festival, they spraypainted with what was supposed to be washable paint – the numbers on Bay Ave. never came off (Mayor Kanitra: asked BA/CFO Riehl: to ask DPW. Super. Trout to figure it out; Councilwoman Testa: not from this year – has been there for a while; BA/CFO Riehl: bought some great graffiti remover and a sander); he got a permit in 2018 for a fence and was shocked to receive permit and floodplain violation notices – got a very nice phone call from CEO Troncone, apologizing; Mayor Kanitra: 2018 was before GovPilot and best practices – maybe was not transmitted the right way – system is checked regularly – but we can check into it).
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ENDED AT 8:25PM
Motion by Councilman Vitale to close public participation and adjourn was seconded by Councilman Migut and carried by consent of Council.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:25PM.
ATTEST: ______________________
Eileen A. Farrell, RMC
Municipal Clerk
