00:11
good all right well good evening
00:15
everyone and
00:16
welcome to our first meeting for the
00:18
month of september
00:20
hard to believe the uh
00:24
june july and august are behind us but
00:26
uh
00:28
let's uh let's press on so an idle let's
00:30
get the
00:31
the show on the road all right good
00:34
evening and welcome to the regular
00:35
meeting of the council of the city of
00:37
long beach held tuesday september 1st
00:39
2020 at 7 pm we'll have a roll call
00:42
council member delorey president
00:45
councilmember mandel
00:46
president council member treston
00:50
here vice president mcinnis president
00:54
president bendo present awesome
00:57
let the record indicate the presence of
00:58
the city manager donna gayden
01:00
and corporation council simone freeman
01:02
we will now have a salute to the flag
01:05
uh oneida since you had a guest tonight
01:06
why don't you lead us in the pledge
01:08
awesome all right let's do it all right
01:11
yeah i will stand as best as i can
01:12
hopefully all right i pledge allegiance
01:15
to the flag
01:16
of the united states of america and to
01:18
the republic for which it stands
01:20
one nation under god indivisible with
01:23
liberty and justice for all
01:26
awesome
01:30
all right thank you uh
01:33
so i guess we can begin with the
01:36
city manager's report
01:44
um thank you thank you very much um we
01:47
have um some department heads
01:50
on and so let's start with corporation
01:53
council
01:54
ramon freeman
01:58
can you hear me yeah okay good
02:02
good evening so the corporation council
02:05
is the official advisor uh legal advisor
02:08
to the city of
02:09
long beach uh and all of its boards it's
02:11
city manager and city employees and all
02:13
of the officials
02:14
um just taking you through an overview i
02:16
thought it might be helpful to go over
02:18
kind of the things that we've been doing
02:19
in the past year um
02:22
in the past few months since i started
02:23
but just overall the office in the past
02:26
year so
02:27
in the last few months with kovid we
02:29
have been
02:30
very active in reviewing and analyzing
02:32
the governor's executive orders
02:34
um and the department of health
02:35
guidelines and regulations relating to
02:37
covid
02:38
we have worked very closely with city
02:40
officials
02:41
to prepare the city's executive orders
02:45
our site safety plans in order to reopen
02:48
city-wide including working you know
02:51
with city officials and
02:52
city department heads on the beach the
02:54
boardwalk and city halls reopening
02:57
we have also been uh diligently
02:59
reviewing
03:00
you know our existing leases and
03:03
auditing our existing leases
03:05
licenses grants and also contracts
03:08
we've been doing this to ensure that
03:10
they are compliant
03:12
from a legal perspective also to make
03:14
sure certain
03:15
that they contain the most favorable
03:17
terms to the city
03:19
in order to limit our liability we
03:22
have been advising and working with
03:25
the procurement and purchasing
03:27
departments in and also dpw
03:30
in uh letting of public bidding
03:32
documents
03:33
and recommending additional releases of
03:36
uh
03:36
requests for proposals in order to
03:39
bring some of our contracts that have
03:42
either
03:43
you know are coming up on expiration and
03:45
or that we've kind of audited and
03:47
figured out maybe
03:48
we'll need to put out uh new rfps in
03:51
order to get some more competitive
03:52
prices
03:54
so we've been we've been working on that
03:55
my office currently
03:57
has a rfp out for legal outside counsel
04:00
services uh once again to establish a
04:03
panel
04:04
of outside counsel and also to try to
04:06
get more competitive costs
04:08
and rates for outside counsel we've also
04:11
been working with
04:13
management and city officials on
04:15
updating and or developing
04:17
some of the city policies some of them
04:20
you've already
04:21
um adopted some of them we continue to
04:24
still work on
04:25
uh with the comptroller with the city
04:26
manager and also just with everyone else
04:28
that's
04:29
involved with the city we assist
04:32
the uh acting deputy clerk so we assist
04:37
miss gina with uh the review and
04:39
fulfillment of foil requests we've had
04:42
uh she's had several uh i i believe
04:45
according to her numbers we've been
04:47
involved in around 30 to 50 of them this
04:49
year alone
04:51
we have seen a large increase in the
04:54
number of foil requests uh during covid
04:57
and we are you know reviewing them in
04:59
accordance
05:00
with the foil law also redacting
05:03
anything that's necessary
05:05
uh working on providing fee assessments
05:08
um you know foil does provide for you to
05:11
charge a certain fee
05:12
based on page limits based on the hours
05:15
that
05:16
of work that are involved we've gotten
05:18
some requests that have been pretty
05:19
intense
05:20
uh for the foil officer as well as my
05:22
office so we've been working
05:24
together to try to come up with uh you
05:26
know better ways to handle it and also
05:28
letting people know about fees being
05:29
assessed uh
05:31
just as a more general scope you know we
05:33
appear on behalf of the city in
05:36
all civil and criminal actions in
05:38
various courts
05:39
across these states so you've got city
05:42
court which is in the actual city hall
05:43
building
05:44
state courts which is generally the
05:46
nassau county district court new york
05:48
state supreme court the second
05:50
department appellate division
05:51
and also the federal courts which is the
05:53
united states district courts for the
05:55
eastern and southern districts
05:57
uh our prosecution team so
06:00
rich barrios leads it up has a has
06:03
prosecuted approximately
06:05
a thousand building ends uh zoning
06:08
violations
06:09
property maintenance violations and or
06:10
vehicle and traffic law infractions in
06:12
city court
06:13
uh resulting in approximately 100
06:16
i'm sorry approximately a million
06:18
dollars in revenue for the city
06:20
and that's over the course of the last
06:22
year um
06:23
we also have approximately 100 actions
06:27
relating to
06:28
tort negligence uh property damage and
06:31
or no fault
06:32
this includes court appearances
06:34
depositions 58 hearings discovery
06:37
motions appeals and oral arguments and
06:39
trials which chuck
06:40
geiger in my office has is diligently
06:43
handled
06:44
uh as you were aware we represent the
06:47
council at meetings hearings and work
06:49
sessions and work on resolutions and
06:51
documents for your review
06:52
and answer any other questions that you
06:53
might have uh we also represent the
06:56
zoning board of appeals
06:58
uh also likewise at hearings work
06:59
sessions uh also in article 78s and
07:02
appeals
07:03
and reviewing public notices appearances
07:06
if we have to write findings of facts
07:07
for them
07:09
we also have handled several labor and
07:11
employment relations matters this year
07:13
including but not limited to grievances
07:15
mediations arbitrary
07:17
not arbitrary arbitrations disciplinary
07:20
hearings collective bargaining agreement
07:22
negotiations
07:23
counseling memos eoc complaints court
07:26
actions in both state and federal courts
07:29
uh
07:30
our office is also currently defending
07:32
and or has defended
07:34
um and has gotten favorable resolutions
07:36
and dismissals
07:37
in some federal 1983 actions that have
07:40
been
07:41
um you know against the city and or the
07:44
or its police department
07:46
uh we also have responded to subpoenas
07:48
for records relating to
07:50
you know general litigation and or
07:51
investigations
07:53
and we also uh do handle the insurance
07:57
aspect the city insurance so we solicit
07:59
insurance proposals
08:01
process applications for insurance uh
08:03
various types whether it's property
08:04
damage workers comp
08:06
uh commercial general liability and we
08:08
coordinate with outside insurance
08:10
carriers on all of our city
08:12
claims um so that's just the general
08:15
overview
08:15
of what the office has been working on
08:18
um
08:20
there is currently three of us uh we
08:23
will have another assistant corporation
08:25
council starting next week
08:26
and i think that's that's about it if
08:29
anyone has any questions i'm
08:31
happy to to answer or respond
08:36
um this is karen simone thank you for
08:38
that overview um
08:40
i know you have some great employees in
08:42
your department so thank you
08:44
for all your hard work um ms gayden
08:47
i would really like your assessment
08:50
along with simone if necessary
08:52
to chime in on the condition in which
08:54
you found the um
08:55
a lot of the paperwork in the uh
08:57
corporations council when you took over
08:59
at the end of february
09:03
so for myself and or ordano because i
09:05
wanted to take the lead on this
09:07
okay
09:18
donna you're on mute oh okay
09:22
um when i came in february um i
09:25
really wanted really got into it in
09:27
march
09:28
um the office was short staffed there's
09:31
a lot going on
09:33
um it's been a
09:36
challenge has been a challenge for
09:38
simone and her team
09:40
for us to just get to where we
09:42
understand what's going on
09:45
um a lot of stuff we had to do quickly
09:49
one of the reasons we simone and i
09:51
talked about going to outside council
09:53
is because we had outside counsel
09:56
working on several different
09:58
cases for us but what we thought was and
10:02
being
10:03
conscious that we were getting the best
10:05
rates
10:07
and we recognize that the office cannot
10:11
do
10:11
everything so we're i think
10:15
the best way to answer it is we're
10:16
moving forward
10:18
positively trying not to look back
10:21
to what we had um
10:24
cleaning it up and moving forward okay
10:27
this
10:28
this department is critical all roads
10:30
should be going through the corporation
10:32
council they're the right-hand person
10:35
to um to donna i was a little
10:38
disappointed in the condition in some of
10:40
the records and files in the department
10:42
and leases
10:43
and contracts and procedures and um
10:46
i know that we have the team in place to
10:49
improve it
10:50
and to continue to improve it so that we
10:52
are best practices in terms of
10:54
everything that goes through that office
10:55
so again thank you both for your work
10:58
thank you
11:00
um for you simone yes
11:03
thank you okay um we have greg scott
11:06
on the line and greg is going to talk
11:08
about uh
11:10
street maintenance his department and
11:11
what they do for the city
11:21
just asked him to unmute he's muted
11:24
right now
11:26
hello everyone can you hear me yes
11:32
hello everyone okay hi liz
11:36
um just to give you an overview of the
11:38
street maintenance department um
11:41
we're responsible for maintaining and
11:44
cleaning 57 miles of roadway within the
11:46
city of long beach
11:47
um we did we uh degreed the city's
11:51
residential area and also the
11:56
main arteries of the town uh with an
11:58
emphasis on the main arteries
12:00
and that's where you'll see a lot of our
12:03
workers
12:03
doing uh on park avenue long beach road
12:07
broadway
12:08
um because the main arteries are what
12:11
you see
12:12
when you ride around long beach the most
12:14
um we also clean a residential area
12:18
and we do that two to three times a year
12:21
depending on
12:22
what the weather and the season brings
12:24
um
12:25
we just had a storm that came out of
12:27
nowhere
12:28
that took us from cleaning um
12:31
residential screech for about two weeks
12:34
because we had to clean up behind the
12:35
storm
12:37
but um our guys are out there every day
12:39
and we work really hard
12:42
to keep the town looking good um
12:45
we also have our sweeper program uh our
12:48
sweeper program does our main arteries
12:50
we have alternate street parking
12:52
on the share road area um
12:55
long beach road to magnolia walnut
12:57
island beach and penn
12:58
and also in the north park area
13:02
and we also have another sweeper that
13:04
goes with our cleaning
13:06
program our residential guys so that
13:08
they don't have to
13:10
make piles and then go pick them up we
13:12
can just let the sweeper come by
13:14
and help them out we also do um potholes
13:18
throughout the town and calls that come
13:21
in
13:22
with from the residents that tell us
13:23
that there's potholes in areas
13:25
we respond and we also take care of that
13:29
we also are the first responders for
13:32
snow season
13:33
which we are preparing for now i am
13:37
steady taking
13:38
snow equipment vehicles payloaders to
13:40
the city garage
13:42
where they are being checked out for the
13:44
upcoming season
13:46
with the cleaning program one thing that
13:49
i would like to
13:50
uh reach out to the residents for
13:53
is that if they could help us out with
13:56
the cleaning program because
13:58
in the in section and in the city code
14:01
of warden
14:02
ordinance chapter 23
14:05
section 23-8 um
14:09
they are also responsible to keep
14:12
the gutter to 18 inches out into the
14:15
street cleaned in front of their houses
14:17
and if we can get some cooperation with
14:19
that that would help us out greatly
14:22
um i spoke to john mcnally about this
14:25
and i think it would be a good idea
14:27
if we can possibly put that section
14:31
on the city website and also on the
14:33
calendar
14:35
any help from the residents would be
14:38
greatly appreciated because what happens
14:39
is
14:40
we can only clean the area two to three
14:43
times
14:44
a year in any residential area so
14:47
once we clean an area it takes us like
14:49
two months to get back to that same
14:50
street
14:52
so as you know weeds grow every two
14:54
weeks
14:55
so if the residents can help us out with
14:57
that that would be greatly appreciated
15:00
um and basically uh we just keep the
15:04
place clean and we respond to
15:07
our calls you can reach us by calling a
15:09
highway department at
15:12
516-431-7174
15:14
or you can reach us on the public stuff
15:16
app and
15:17
i respond to those every day and
15:20
complaints
15:21
and that's basically an overview of what
15:24
we do
15:25
any questions this is liz can you repeat
15:28
that phone number one more time just a
15:29
little slower
15:31
yes uh 516-431-7174
15:36
and you can also reach us on the public
15:38
stuff at
15:40
thank you sir okay you're welcome
15:44
anything else from anybody
15:50
all right thank you mr scott
15:54
craig i just want to say um i had a lot
15:56
of positive
15:57
comments about the cleanup post
16:01
isaias so i just want to thank you for
16:04
all of that
16:05
hard work yes we worked very hard we
16:08
were ready to go as soon as the storm
16:10
hit
16:10
and the minute it stopped and we can get
16:12
out there on on the roadways
16:14
um that's what we did me and uh tommy we
16:17
went with our crews and
16:19
you know it came and shut us down for a
16:22
couple of hours
16:23
but then we went to get the residents
16:26
back in order to open up the streets for
16:27
emergency services
16:29
and to make sure we're all safe but
16:32
thank you for that
16:34
mike
16:36
all right thank you um we were going to
16:39
have uh chief gillespie
16:41
on talk about the beach but we'll have
16:43
him at on the next meeting
16:45
donna he he's on he's just an attendee
16:48
he called in so i'm gonna allow him to
16:49
okay
16:50
uh chief gillespie you wanna talk about
16:53
the beach
16:55
[Music]
17:00
he's on mute
17:15
yeah jamie can you unmute him
17:22
all it lets me do is ask him to unmute
17:24
yeah
17:26
there you go chief gillespie all right
17:29
there you go
17:31
hello everyone uh
17:34
i'm going to start with uh we're still
17:36
doing this stuff where the covert
17:38
uh you know we started the beach with
17:40
the covert
17:42
so we're still spraying the chairs now
17:43
because of the number of people in the
17:45
evening that go on the chairs
17:46
i think this has helped us we do the
17:49
surveys
17:50
we have not had a case of the virus on
17:52
the
17:53
on the patrol thank god uh
17:57
you know as i uh go on the boardwalk i
18:00
think the things we've done
18:01
on the boardwalk has really helped uh
18:05
the whole community uh the people are
18:08
walking on
18:08
either sides of the boardwalk the biking
18:11
is good
18:12
i don't think we had any major problems
18:14
up there
18:15
especially with the uh lifeguards uh
18:21
you know i always look for something
18:22
good and when we have something bad this
18:24
virus really uh
18:26
has put an impact on the lifeguards and
18:28
the
18:29
people that come to the beach uh
18:32
i think uh with everything that we have
18:36
i think the uh
18:37
the water got cleaner i think the
18:40
air is a lot better uh
18:44
i think there's more people which is
18:47
really uh
18:47
amazing how uh something like a virus
18:50
can make everybody exercise more
18:52
i saw people walking all over the
18:55
bushwalk all over the street so
18:57
uh i am uh uh
19:01
let me see here hold on
19:05
uh what we need
19:09
as far as uh to help the i think the
19:11
whole city
19:12
is uh uh more cameras on the on the
19:15
boardwalk and the beaches i think that
19:17
will help with the uh
19:19
help the police help the lifeguards help
19:21
the fire department
19:22
with the after hours swimming and as
19:25
well as the overall security now we did
19:28
have a little instruction on drones
19:31
this about a week ago
19:34
and uh it was very interesting i think
19:37
we're gonna have to look a little bit
19:39
more uh next season at these
19:43
uh it was uh pat gallagher
19:46
and uh michael gallory were the guys
19:48
that uh
19:49
really uh put this thing in in motion
19:52
when we uh looked at him and uh
19:54
it was very interesting so we're gonna
19:56
have to review that
19:57
probably again next year uh
20:01
we do need a new radio system
20:04
on the patrol because this this
20:06
eight-year-old radios are all starting
20:08
to die and the batteries are going so
20:10
that's something that we're gonna have
20:12
to uh uh
20:14
look into uh
20:18
i wanna thank the alumni association for
20:20
giving us
20:21
that opportunity to see how the drones
20:23
do work
20:24
uh and they also gave us which helps
20:27
with our budget
20:29
uh the alumni associate gave us six new
20:32
surfboards
20:33
which is uh going to help us with the
20:36
lifeguards
20:37
lifeguarding process
20:41
a thing that we have to review for next
20:43
year too
20:45
is the uh number one is the fishing on
20:48
the beach
20:49
because we are uh uh
20:52
getting more and more fishermen down
20:55
there in fact
20:56
when i went up and down the beach this
20:57
past sunday there were 28 people
21:00
fishing uh and uh you know what we
21:03
brought the conservation department in
21:05
to look at everything
21:06
and they recommended to us that we not
21:09
stop
21:10
fishing but make change the hours so we
21:12
don't have
21:13
swimming and and fishing together at the
21:16
same time because uh
21:18
it's only gonna be a matter of time
21:19
before we already have had kids step on
21:21
hooks
21:22
uh but you know we don't want anybody
21:25
getting tangled up
21:26
and uh uh i hope next year we can uh
21:30
again
21:31
make arrangements where we can have the
21:33
uh
21:34
fishing uh before nine and after six
21:39
i think that will help and most of most
21:41
of it i've also checked
21:43
with the other patrols that are on jones
21:46
beach and
21:47
and the town of hempstead which is
21:49
adjacent right to us
21:51
they do not allow fishing when there is
21:54
swimming
21:54
before and after they do so uh that's
21:58
that's one thing we have to look at
22:01
uh another thing is the uh volleyball
22:04
which people
22:05
are withdrawing because they have not
22:07
had enough volleyball this year
22:09
they are doing the right thing they're
22:11
playing before and they're playing after
22:13
what i've discussed with the city
22:15
manager donna
22:17
uh a bunch of us have down there on the
22:19
patrol is looking for spots
22:22
on the beach to put three different
22:24
areas
22:25
so the volleyball uh players can play
22:28
and we don't have them uh interrupting
22:31
with the people that pay to get on the
22:32
beach
22:33
so that's another thing we have to look
22:35
at in the future here
22:38
probably uh uh one of the things that uh
22:42
i'm
22:42
really uh really not happy with
22:46
with the way the army corps of engineers
22:48
fixed the jetties
22:50
uh if any of the uh corp council would
22:52
like a ride in the beach i've already
22:54
taken
22:54
a couple uh john bendo has seen it and
22:58
mike delorey uh our city manager has
23:01
been a
23:02
a big help this year down there but she
23:05
has
23:07
noticed it too we are losing beaches on
23:10
uh washington
23:12
and uh uh monroe boulevard
23:15
uh we have already moved the chairs
23:20
are you still there yeah we've moved the
23:22
chairs back
23:23
already so uh that's something we're
23:25
gonna have to uh
23:27
uh maybe bring the army corps back to
23:29
revisit what they did because they did
23:31
not
23:32
in my opinion as far as just the jetties
23:35
are concerned
23:36
uh did not do a good job on how could
23:38
you leave the beach and
23:41
uh the way it was beautiful sand i think
23:43
the beach does look beautiful but
23:45
just walk away from six jetties that is
23:49
they are the thing that keeps the beach
23:50
together and now we're starting to lose
23:53
a tremendous amount of sand on about
23:55
four of the beaches and i mentioned
23:56
two of them uh already so uh uh
24:03
that's something that we're gonna have
24:04
to uh revisit with the army corps
24:08
uh the next
24:11
and probably the last thing i have for
24:13
the uh
24:15
city is uh uh the postseason
24:19
we have had in the past uh a lot of
24:22
people coming down the beach right after
24:24
we close on labor day
24:26
uh i don't know what's gonna be done we
24:28
will have our emergency response team
24:31
but there will be a lot of people on the
24:34
beach if the weather stays warm
24:36
now we have to i think meet together i
24:38
will meet with the city manager
24:40
and uh john uh
24:44
with the other officers we have down
24:46
here to discuss the situation
24:48
uh what we're gonna do uh if we can
24:52
uh close down the beach in the main park
24:54
there i don't know
24:55
uh that's gonna have to be up to the
24:57
city council because there's a lot of
24:59
political things involved in it
25:01
if we do close everything down because
25:03
the people in long beach
25:04
love their beach uh so uh
25:08
with that uh it was a very good year in
25:11
spite of all the problems we've had down
25:14
there
25:14
and i thank the city council and i thank
25:17
uh
25:18
donna and john for really being there to
25:20
help us and come down there when we need
25:22
them
25:24
there any questions you'd like to ask me
25:27
about the beach
25:32
okay anyone having any questions
25:35
yeah i was just asking if anyone has any
25:37
questions uh so apparently
25:39
we lost some people uh to power going
25:42
out we lost our city manager and
25:44
scott i'm actually back i'm on the phone
25:48
okay i know i know we lost mike delaurie
25:51
for a short period of time
25:53
uh okay i'm just getting
25:57
all right scott's back on the phone
25:59
donna's trying to get in on the phone
26:03
so i'm still here can you hear me john
26:06
yeah i'm not sure how many people we
26:08
lost
26:08
uh because my my lights flickered here
26:11
too but i stayed on
26:13
the lights are flickering in my house i
26:15
don't know what happened
26:18
i was going to be next um so i guess we
26:22
want to see if there's any other
26:23
questions for chief
26:24
uh before moving on i had a i had a
26:27
question about the jetties
26:30
yeah yes i specifically recall that
26:33
the city had informed the army corps of
26:36
engineers
26:37
that we would not take over maintenance
26:39
of the jetties because of serious
26:41
concerns that we had
26:43
is that still true that they uh
26:46
you know what it is they never did them
26:48
that was the problem
26:49
they coming back there's nothing to fix
26:52
they got to do the jetties and redo them
26:54
in order for them to have any
26:56
effectiveness by keeping sand
26:58
you know that's the problem uh
27:02
if anybody would again would like to see
27:04
what i'm talking about because you
27:05
actually have
27:06
to see it and uh the beaches are
27:09
shrinking
27:10
some of them and uh you know this how
27:13
long has it been since we had the beach
27:14
done
27:15
you know not that long a few years at
27:18
the most
27:19
from correct about it uh so
27:22
that's that's my problem i got and they
27:25
i think they went with the model from
27:27
like 1985
27:28
they were using the uh plans for that
27:31
because
27:32
this is what i heard now uh i would you
27:35
would have to ask probably
27:37
that yeah liz i believe you are correct
27:40
they
27:40
were working off the an altar plan
27:44
because that's what was paid for oh god
27:48
that was terrible so so let me let me
27:51
also
27:52
just to answer karen's question i don't
27:55
see
27:56
um john um mr mirando here
28:00
but he could follow up it was that was
28:02
only for the new jetties
28:04
not the old not the beach replacements
28:08
yeah so let me let me jump in we
28:10
probably lost john with the power outage
28:12
so really this is his area but um
28:16
but karen answer your question yeah the
28:19
the city did not at least last word i
28:22
had gotten the city did not accept
28:24
the jetties as is um
28:28
and the army corps is supposed to come
28:30
back and inspect them
28:32
at some interval again john would be
28:34
better to
28:35
uh go into the detail but they're
28:37
supposed to come back and inspect them
28:38
at certain intervals
28:40
um over the next five years i believe it
28:42
was
28:43
and then make a determination if they
28:47
have to be redone or repaired
28:49
or whatever they they didn't use again
28:52
i'm going from memory here this is
28:53
really john's area but they didn't
28:55
put a gravel base under the under the
28:58
jetties
28:59
which would have been the normal
29:00
procedure they just kind of laid the
29:02
stones down
29:03
on the sand um and as what's happening
29:06
is they're
29:07
settling and separating and things
29:11
this is the new jetties you're talking
29:12
about correct correct
29:15
correct they they they didn't do i think
29:17
there was six
29:18
of the old jedi they never did
29:22
um and again that's because the
29:26
the plan that they base this office was
29:28
a plan like paul said that was done back
29:30
in the 80s i think it was
29:32
and for them to
29:36
and at that time i guess those jetties
29:38
those six they didn't do were considered
29:40
in good enough shape that they didn't
29:42
need to be redone
29:43
so of course that's changed since that
29:46
time but
29:47
because that was the plan that approved
29:49
if they wanted to add those in they were
29:51
going to have to go back and start from
29:52
scratch
29:54
which could mean we could be waiting 30
29:55
years again
29:58
you know what i can't i can't understand
30:00
after all the
30:02
uh they have supposedly the best
30:04
engineers around
30:05
how could they not do him i took john i
30:07
took you on there and i took
30:09
they're separating the jetties are
30:11
separating
30:12
with they're not holding the sand if
30:14
they wait
30:15
the time period they're talking about
30:17
we're not going to have any sand and the
30:19
beast of beaches will be back by the
30:20
by the doom well and that's the truth
30:23
well
30:24
that's fine but then it'll be the army
30:26
corps responsibility to fix it because
30:28
they still
30:29
they still own that so um so like i said
30:32
that's really a topic for john i guess
30:34
like i said we lost him he might have
30:36
lost power too
30:38
um i did take i
30:42
i did take john miranda on the beach and
30:44
showed him
30:45
last week i showed him everything that
30:47
was happening so he has a
30:50
a picture of it in his mind and uh maybe
30:52
he could do something
30:54
uh you know uh to get these guys back is
30:57
a hard task because they're probably all
30:59
over the country all the coasts you know
31:01
so
31:02
uh but there's also something on paul
31:04
and everybody
31:05
um i believe they need to come back from
31:10
not only for the jetties or the you know
31:13
the area within long beach they need to
31:16
dredge in my opinion the jones beach
31:18
inlet
31:19
because yeah that is shrinking
31:22
you remember there was a boating
31:24
accident it hasn't been determined
31:26
that i know of the cause of that but
31:29
we see the movement of the sand
31:33
there is a need for them to come back i
31:35
think we all agree
31:36
we all agree what in the short term that
31:39
concerns me a little bit
31:41
is the beaches and the jetties that
31:45
paul gillespie described when
31:48
you have a high tide at normal high tide
31:51
you don't see those jetties and
31:55
if you have any kind of decent surf
31:58
after today you'll ha after labor day
32:02
you'll have a lot of surfers down here
32:05
and my initial
32:08
um because i'm not knowledgeable in this
32:11
and i admit it
32:12
would be to post some kind of barrel
32:15
buoy marker
32:17
something in the water at the end of the
32:19
jetty if that can be done i don't know
32:21
but
32:22
there's a short and long term uh concern
32:25
thank you i guess yeah just just to wrap
32:28
it up i guess my my point really is
32:31
here we are we got a you know we have a
32:33
valuable assessment
32:35
from chief gillespie thank you very much
32:38
it's september 1st 2020
32:41
um memorial day weekend next year you
32:43
know i really
32:44
like to make sure that there's a there's
32:46
a new assessment and measures taken
32:48
by the city to engage the army corps so
32:51
that we can start working on this
32:52
problem so i guess i'm that's the
32:54
deliverable that
32:55
that i would love to see over the next
32:56
several months
32:58
you know unfortunately this might have
33:00
to be a a political thing because to get
33:03
these people
33:04
back you have to have somebody with
33:05
power and to help us do this
33:19
commissioner mirando's been been working
33:21
on this
33:22
so like i said that's the reason we
33:25
we're not responsible for the
33:26
maintenance of the jetties right now
33:28
because they
33:29
they um uh
33:32
they you know we're not satisfied with
33:35
the
33:35
with the work and uh so as a result
33:39
uh the army corps is still on the still
33:41
on the hook
33:43
okay okay this is donna can you hear me
33:46
now
33:47
yep welcome back okay so thank you
33:50
i can't get into the computer but i
33:52
can't um
33:54
talk on the phone looks like i had a
33:55
power surge with my computer
33:57
um i've been we've talked to john
34:00
mirando
34:00
and um mr fabrizio so we're reaching out
34:04
to the army corps to ask them to come
34:06
back out
34:07
so we are aware of that we're trying
34:09
we're working on getting them to come
34:11
back
34:11
out to take a look at the jetties that
34:13
need to be done
34:15
so i just want everybody to know that
34:17
we're trying to be
34:18
on top of it uh with an army
34:21
thank you donna thank you very much
34:24
donna
34:24
that's great and thank you thank you
34:28
uh thank you city council i appreciate
34:31
you
34:32
thank you all right um
34:35
we have commissioner ragona if he's
34:37
still on he was just going to give a
34:39
quick
34:39
update uh
34:43
i see him he's still there he's muted
34:45
[Music]
34:50
hi everybody um very briefly because
34:54
i don't want to take up too much time
34:55
but as you know
34:57
in an overview the police department
35:00
well what do we do we protect life and
35:02
property
35:03
but certainly in long beach we do our
35:04
best to ensure that we
35:06
uphold the quality of life that that our
35:09
residents have come to
35:10
know expect and and certainly deserve by
35:13
having their own police department
35:16
i'd be absolutely remiss
35:19
if i did not mention the assistance that
35:22
i've gotten since i've been here
35:24
and even during beach park days through
35:27
the department heads throughout the city
35:30
um chief gillespie who just finished
35:32
speaking
35:33
is absolutely instrumental
35:37
in assisting me in making sure that our
35:40
beachgoers
35:41
and those who are on the boardwalk stay
35:44
safe
35:45
tommy kaner unbelievable what he's done
35:49
between beach maintenance and beach
35:52
building maintenance and
35:53
every every other hat that he wears has
35:55
been a phone call away from helping me
35:58
daily and joe brand from the wreck
36:01
and beach park now uh certainly people
36:03
that i deal with every day and i deal
36:05
with
36:06
all department heads so i don't mean to
36:08
leave anybody else out but
36:10
they really it's a team effort in long
36:11
beach and it makes my job so much easier
36:15
uh this has probably been i'll use the
36:18
word
36:18
one of the most different seasons
36:22
uh since march that i have ever in my 35
36:25
years working for the city have dealt
36:26
with
36:28
uh walking to the police commissioner's
36:29
position and seeing what we had
36:32
uh took a lot of change and change never
36:35
comes easy as we all know
36:38
we we had to change the boardwalk hours
36:41
uh we had to change the beach hours it
36:42
went from you know from 11 to 8
36:45
9 o'clock on the boardwalk the bicycling
36:48
on the boardwalk
36:49
we did it all in the interest of saving
36:52
lives
36:53
simple as that to save lives and it's
36:56
been really really successful
36:58
um i have to say the collaboration i've
37:01
had with the city manager
37:04
and our city council is unbelievable
37:07
the assistance and the help that i've
37:09
gotten in making decisions
37:12
has made my job so much easier when i've
37:14
gone to the city manager
37:15
and the city council said i believe we
37:18
should do this
37:20
they queried me they questioned me but
37:22
ultimately
37:24
we came to a decision and they supported
37:26
me and what we've done
37:28
has really really worked and i think i
37:31
know
37:32
because i get a lot of feedback our
37:35
residents have been very happy
37:36
with the fact that we were able to stop
37:39
the
37:40
large groups and we've seen the news 800
37:43
to 1 000 people that have been on the
37:45
beach in boardwalk
37:46
not long beach residents not all not our
37:48
young adults
37:50
not us from out of town coming out there
37:53
throwing bottles
37:55
drinking smoking fighting
37:58
just not so safely socially distancing
38:01
um we had to do something we did it and
38:04
quite frankly it worked it's something
38:07
we've never done before
38:09
but as a team we've come together
38:12
again the city managers city council
38:14
department heads myself
38:16
and we made it work as we roll into
38:20
labor day and move forward we know that
38:24
september is a warm month and
38:28
with the whole coven 19 pandemic
38:32
people still looking for a place to go
38:33
so we can't we can't take our foot off
38:36
the gas and we won't
38:37
i won't we'll have our beach patrols out
38:41
there
38:41
straight through september there'll be
38:43
police officers seven nights a week out
38:45
on the beach
38:46
special offices seven nights a week to
38:48
make sure
38:49
that we're in front of it and not saying
38:52
okay
38:53
it's labor day and it's over well no
38:56
it's
38:56
labor day is just a date that's
38:58
september 7th
39:00
there's 80 degree days and plenty of
39:01
people come out here
39:03
we'll be out there and we'll be making
39:05
sure that our residents
39:06
can go on the boardwalk feel secure
39:10
feel safe and enjoy the city that they
39:13
live in
39:14
uh we're gonna move forward and just see
39:16
where we go with the
39:18
the re the rest of the year as we we
39:20
face
39:21
all the issues that we have but i can
39:24
say
39:24
it's been an honor and a pleasure to
39:26
work with all of you
39:28
getting this done thank you there's any
39:31
questions
39:32
i'm here
39:37
all right thank you very much um the
39:40
last department that will talk while
39:42
department he's in my department
39:44
is um mr mcnally
39:48
thank you manager i just wanted to do a
39:51
couple of
39:52
really quick hits on updates on
39:58
you're coming in very warply
40:02
sorry let me move a little bit closer is
40:04
that better
40:06
okay uh so number one i just wanted to
40:09
confirm we made the announcement on
40:10
both our website uh and our social media
40:14
but that the fireworks display that was
40:17
rescheduled
40:18
for this coming friday has been
40:19
cancelled it's just
40:21
by way of quick background on that uh
40:23
this administration
40:24
inherited a contract with the fireworks
40:28
vendor
40:29
that essentially gave the city zero
40:32
recourse or ability to make
40:36
any appeals or changes so case in point
40:39
cova 19 hit
40:40
we realized that there was going to be
40:42
no way that
40:43
a fireworks display would be safe or
40:45
allowed
40:47
in early july we had no ability
40:50
even due to an act of god or any given
40:53
circumstances we had no ability to
40:55
cancel the contract uh if we had
40:58
canceled it we just would have had to
40:59
pay out the amount as if we were having
41:01
the fireworks our only recourse
41:04
was to reschedule which was the one sort
41:06
of allowance that was put into the
41:08
contract
41:08
so fast forward to today
41:11
um essentially the county
41:15
has stated that they're not issuing any
41:17
permits
41:18
for fireworks at this stage of the game
41:20
so
41:21
it gave both our vendor and the city and
41:24
out from a higher authority
41:26
so it's cancelled to recover they're not
41:29
issuing any permits to allow for
41:30
fireworks on a county level
41:32
um and we are working with the vendor to
41:35
see what next year looks like whether we
41:37
carry over the existing contract or
41:39
whether the city ends up putting out a
41:40
new rfp
41:42
um that's ongoing discussions with the
41:44
vendor but
41:45
the fireworks that were previously
41:47
rescheduled for this friday
41:48
have been cancelled and we look forward
41:50
to i think
41:52
anybody with any ear shot looks forward
41:53
to 2021 being
41:55
something resembling a much more normal
41:58
year where we can enjoy things like
42:00
fireworks
42:01
uh number two and this is just backing
42:03
up with
42:04
acting commissioner ragona said is our
42:07
boardwalk
42:08
and beach hours they've gone from eleven
42:10
o'clock to
42:11
eight o'clock on the beach closing at
42:12
nine o'clock on the boardwalk closing
42:15
just because uh labor day passes does
42:18
not mean
42:18
the beach and the boardwalk are less
42:20
attractive places for parties for
42:22
out-of-counters to come to
42:23
and uh you know the other side of that
42:26
was
42:26
we had a really strong spot of drownings
42:29
take
42:30
place after hours which fed into making
42:33
these rules
42:35
we are not at this time uh uncomfortable
42:39
reverting back to normal hours we want
42:41
to see how the first few weekends in
42:43
september go
42:45
and see how it goes from there so the
42:48
entire team between the police
42:49
department
42:50
beach maintenance lifeguards uh
42:53
and i'm forgetting one department all of
42:56
us come together and make regularly on
42:58
the beach or analyzing the situation
43:00
uh making our best estimates uh uh on
43:03
how to do this most safely
43:06
and the current assessment is right now
43:08
we're not we're not comfortable as
43:09
as acting commissioner put up taking our
43:11
foot off the gas so
43:13
we want to assess how the next couple of
43:14
weekends will go and
43:16
you know we'll monitor the situation and
43:18
make adjustments accordingly from there
43:20
and
43:20
revisit this issue in a couple of weeks
43:23
um
43:23
because greg scott brought up our
43:26
response app
43:27
which i think in the app store is just
43:29
lbny at this stage of the game it was
43:31
originally rolled out as the response
43:33
after long beach
43:34
uh we came in i guess the beginning of
43:38
this year
43:39
started looking at it we did not even
43:41
have
43:43
access to the app on the administration
43:45
side
43:46
because it was all through one employee
43:48
who was no longer in the city
43:51
some departments have done a tremendous
43:53
tremendous job keeping
43:54
up on the app and making sure that the
43:56
correct people are
43:58
put in charge of receiving the emails on
44:00
this end and taking care of it and
44:01
making sure that residents
44:03
uh were aware that their complaints or
44:06
concerns or
44:08
you know job requests have been adhered
44:11
to and responded to
44:13
department of public works is fantastic
44:15
as were a number of others
44:17
but quite frankly some of the people
44:18
that were listed as the recipient
44:20
for an email on our side on the city
44:24
side
44:24
where employees that haven't worked here
44:26
for two or three years
44:27
so we've been kind of building back and
44:29
reassigning
44:31
the internal contacts to the appropriate
44:33
people it's been a little bit of a
44:34
process
44:35
we couldn't even speak to apple in order
44:38
to get
44:39
the app back on their store because it
44:41
went unsupported for the last couple of
44:43
years
44:45
because the city needed to enter into
44:47
agreement when when apple's policies
44:49
changed
44:50
so it's been a work in progress but i
44:52
would say we're 80
44:53
of the way there in terms of at the very
44:56
least making sure that
44:58
uh emails that emanate from the app work
45:01
orders
45:02
complaints what have you are getting to
45:03
the right people uh
45:05
we've made sure all of the information
45:06
that was up there for a very long time
45:09
that
45:09
was any longer applicable um
45:12
has been removed and we'll work to
45:15
rebuild the app back
45:16
up to make sure that is responsive to
45:19
the current concerns and demands and
45:20
needs of our residents
45:22
so um that was a quick one on that one
45:24
and
45:25
my last part is in case everyone didn't
45:28
already notice
45:29
welcome to zoom we made a transition
45:32
away from webex
45:34
that we've been using for the last
45:35
several months to zoom
45:37
and this allows us to have a much more
45:39
interactive experience with members of
45:41
the general public
45:42
so members of the public uh who are in
45:46
our
45:46
attendee portion of this uh this webcast
45:49
right now
45:50
will be able to ask questions on agenda
45:52
items and weigh in for good and welfare
45:55
questions
45:55
uh i would just keep in mind that you're
45:58
going to be limited to three minutes as
45:59
per
46:00
usual uh in order to ask a question on a
46:03
particular agenda item or during
46:05
good and welfare uh anyone that's in the
46:07
attendee panel can
46:09
use the raise your hands um and then
46:11
jamie when it comes time we'll announce
46:13
you on
46:14
you ask you to speak uh ornato will
46:17
give you your three minutes she's got
46:19
the stop clock on her end
46:21
uh and you know the question will get
46:23
asked and addressed
46:24
as appropriate i would just channel the
46:27
immortal
46:28
words of len torres and remind people to
46:30
please uh maintained
46:32
quorum um even though we're virtual the
46:34
same rules apply and we expect the same
46:36
as
46:37
what you would be willing to say in
46:38
person and make sure that well sometimes
46:40
people that speak in person still don't
46:42
maintain decorum so
46:44
we are going to do the best that we can
46:46
in order to ensure that we all
46:48
maintain decorum uh on this platform as
46:50
well
46:51
and i think that's all i have unless
46:52
anyone has questions
46:58
all right thank you miss mcnally and the
47:00
only thing that i have
47:02
is that i have begun interviewing for
47:04
boards and commissions
47:05
so thank you all that um sent in resumes
47:09
are inquired
47:11
if you have not gotten back um to mrs
47:13
guma
47:14
please give her a call to set up your
47:16
interview
47:17
i will be doing the interviews over the
47:19
next couple of weeks
47:20
and then going to the board we have some
47:23
we will
47:24
start filling the slots because they
47:27
uh people are appointed by either the
47:30
city
47:30
manager's office or city council and
47:33
then for
47:34
any uh empty slots we will then put out
47:37
additional advertisement for the empty
47:40
slot and for the empty
47:42
for the empty boards and commissions we
47:45
continue to work on the multi-year plan
47:48
um we hope to get through the first
47:51
draft by the end of next week
47:53
uh and for right now that's all that i
47:56
have
47:59
okay and uh i see we got commissioner
48:03
mirando back while you were gone
48:05
uh paul gillespie came up with about
48:07
three pages of punch list items for the
48:10
for the jetties for you so uh
48:13
we'll we'll tell them to email you the
48:15
list
48:17
but uh all right so
48:20
uh thanks everyone for those updates and
48:23
i guess on either we can move on to the
48:25
uh
48:26
to the agenda hey john i just have one
48:28
question
48:29
did anybody have difficulty hearing john
48:32
mcnally
48:33
or was it just me he's aware
48:36
oh okay yeah i think that was universal
48:39
i've
48:40
re-angled my computer i don't know if
48:42
this makes it any better or not
48:44
much better yeah thank you john
48:49
okay so let's move on to the uh to the
48:52
agenda
48:54
all right let's start with our public
48:56
hearings public hearing ordinance
48:58
authorizing financing for the cost of
48:59
fiscal year 2020
49:01
to 2021 separation payments to or for
49:04
the benefit of employees of the city
49:06
upon separation
49:07
from employment stating the estimated
49:09
total cost thereof
49:11
is two million seven hundred thousand
49:13
appropriating said amount therefore and
49:15
authorizing the issuance of not to
49:16
exceed
49:17
two million seven hundred thousand bonds
49:19
of said city to finance said
49:21
appropriation
49:23
okay and uh donna
49:26
president were you gonna call the other
49:29
item
49:30
first the other the two off streets
49:32
first
49:33
uh we can do that if we don't wanna
49:37
have them sit around and listen to our
49:40
stuff
49:41
boring stuff um yeah okay why don't we
49:44
do that then
49:45
okay all right so let's go back to then
49:48
to our
49:49
off street parking public hearing
49:51
resolution granting waiver of off street
49:53
parking requirements regarding premises
49:55
901 west b street
49:57
street floor long beach new york
49:59
regarding skin care and home goods
50:00
retail store
50:03
okay and i guess that's uh marissa right
50:06
yeah he's gonna speak hello um
50:10
so can you just uh tell us all a little
50:12
bit about uh what your business is gonna
50:14
be
50:14
sure so it's gonna be a natural
50:17
non-toxic
50:18
eco-friendly skincare line and
50:21
handmade home goods
50:25
okay good for good for the inside and
50:27
good for the earth
50:28
[Laughter]
50:31
all right now this is the uh the spot
50:34
next to the west end library branch
50:36
right that used to be the game room
50:38
exactly yes okay and
50:41
uh about uh what do you anticipate your
50:44
hours being
50:46
uh ten to seven seven days a week okay
50:50
and how many employees do you anticipate
50:52
having
50:53
uh probably one to two in the first year
50:56
all right and uh deliveries do you
51:00
expect to get
51:01
um deliveries made not a ton maybe uh
51:04
one to two per week but not
51:06
big shipments okay
51:10
uh all right does any of the council
51:12
members have questions
51:17
in following len torres as well
51:21
would you be um willing if i i know the
51:25
area so i don't know if there's room to
51:28
have a bike rack
51:29
i'm i'm exploring it
51:33
that's all we can ask thank you okay
51:35
yeah i think you're aware uh
51:37
parking is uh not a big commodity down
51:39
there so
51:40
yeah it gives customers a place an
51:43
easier way to get to you
51:44
yes um i'm definitely exploring it
51:48
okay and uh any questions from any other
51:51
council members
51:55
okay then i guess we can open up to
51:57
questions from the public and i'll
52:00
let our zoom experts figure out how they
52:02
doing that
52:05
yeah so if any of the attendees have a
52:07
question
52:08
use the raise your hand function
52:17
i'm not seeing any jamie yourself oh we
52:19
do have one
52:20
i just eileen uh hessian
52:22
[Music]
52:25
surprise surprise it's paul it's not
52:27
eileen okay
52:28
uh you ask about the enforcement of
52:30
staying to the right
52:32
uh on the boardwalk we have a number of
52:35
people
52:36
paul paul paul that's this is not the
52:38
time for that this is
52:40
this is this that would be a good and
52:42
welfare issue
52:44
okay i'm done okay come back for good
52:47
and welfare
52:57
all right looks like no one else no one
53:00
else
53:00
okay so that was uh
53:04
that was easy so uh let's move on i
53:07
don't know if you uh
53:08
mercy you're welcome to stick around uh
53:10
we'll be voting on it later on
53:12
you know after we go get to the voting
53:14
uh you could say if you'd like uh
53:16
or you know i'm sure you'll be informed
53:19
uh
53:20
tomorrow uh on the result all righty
53:22
thanks everyone
53:24
okay thanks for joining us thank you
53:26
best of luck
53:29
also just wanted to say um president
53:31
bendo if you'd like we can actually
53:33
go into the voting as of now for each
53:35
off street to just get it
53:37
out the way uh sure why don't you
53:40
sure why don't we do that uh well why
53:42
don't we uh do the other public hearing
53:44
for the other property as well and then
53:45
we'll do that those two
53:46
all right sounds good good all right so
53:51
just give me a second
53:56
all right and public hearing resolution
53:58
granting waiver of off street parking
53:59
requirements regarding
54:00
premises 240 west park avenue street for
54:04
long beach new york regarding personal
54:05
training studio
54:08
okay and is that daniel are you speaking
54:12
on that
54:12
yes i am great again could you just tell
54:15
us a little bit about the business
54:17
uh it's gonna be a personal training
54:18
studio um
54:20
it's basically one to one or upwards of
54:23
max three to one
54:24
uh it's you're always there with a coach
54:26
and it's all based around personal
54:27
training i've been doing personal
54:29
training about 18 19 years now
54:31
and uh looking forward to opening up a
54:33
space of my own
54:35
great okay and this is over next to the
54:37
edward jones office right
54:39
my neighbor right next to me yeah okay
54:42
um
54:42
same quest i mean do you anticipate the
54:45
num how many employees do you anticipate
54:46
having
54:47
just myself and one other person okay
54:49
and if you're doing small groups then i
54:51
expect you're not expecting a lot of
54:52
people and
54:53
uh even with covid right now with the
54:55
capacity at most is going to be six
54:57
people
54:58
uh so people at most will be and most
55:01
people walk there anyway
55:03
okay all right uh
55:06
do we have any questions from the
55:07
council members
55:10
just following up again
55:13
look into a bike rack in the area of
55:16
your business
55:17
yes actually i called called city hall
55:19
to see if i can leave one outside
55:21
uh to see if it's possible waiting to
55:22
hear back thank you so much
55:24
thank you great any other questions from
55:28
the
55:28
council all right anything from the
55:32
public
55:41
doesn't look like anyone's in there all
55:42
right going once
55:44
going twice and
55:48
okay so thank you daniel
55:51
and uh yeah our night a lot why don't we
55:53
uh move on to do the voting on these two
55:55
items
55:56
sounds good okay so who will introduce
55:58
and move the adoption
55:59
of item number two resolution granting
56:01
waiver of off street parking
56:03
requirements
56:03
regarding premises 901 west b street
56:06
street floor
56:07
long beach new york regarding skincare
56:09
and home goods retail store
56:11
i will i will i'll second scott
56:15
okay
56:20
council member delorey yes
56:23
councilmember mandel yes councilmember
56:26
treston
56:27
yes vice president mcinnes yes
56:30
president mendo yes and
56:33
welcome and good luck look forward to
56:36
seeing your business
56:38
thank you and now who will
56:42
introduce and move the adoption of item
56:43
number three resolution granting waiver
56:46
of off street parking requirements
56:47
regarding premises 240 west park avenue
56:49
street floor long beach new york
56:51
regarding personal training studio
56:55
i will okay so who will second
57:01
i will okay amanda
57:04
and council member delorey yes
57:07
councilmember mandel
57:09
yes councilmember treston yes
57:12
and best of luck to you sir
57:15
vice president mcinnis yes president
57:18
bendo
57:19
and yes and look forward to people
57:22
losing a lot of pounds
57:23
thank you so much all right and welcome
57:26
and good luck
57:27
thank you thank you everyone all right
57:31
you guys have a good night okay why
57:34
don't we go back to the uh
57:35
public hearing for the bond it's public
57:38
hearing
57:38
ordinance authorizing financing for the
57:40
cost of fiscal year 2020 to 2021
57:43
separation payments to and for the
57:44
benefit of employees of the city upon
57:46
separation from employment
57:48
stating the estimated total cost thereof
57:50
is two million
57:51
seven hundred thousand appropriating
57:53
said amount therefore
57:54
and authorizing the issuance of not to
57:57
exceed two million seven hundred
57:58
thousand
57:59
bonds of said city to finance said
58:01
appropriation
58:03
okay all right so ian is going to speak
58:06
to this
58:08
yeah okay he's going to take a budgeted
58:10
amount for the bond
58:12
all right you know you just got to
58:13
unmute yourself
58:18
i unmuted myself
58:21
yup we hear you yeah um
58:24
yes so um
58:27
good evening and i hope everyone is well
58:31
and uh oh
58:34
this is a public hearing for the
58:37
um authorization uh for the
58:40
city to borrow 2.7 million dollars
58:44
to pay for the separation payment
58:48
uh that was actually budgeted
58:52
in the city's budget for fiscal year
58:55
2021 when the budget was
58:57
issued i believe it's a page 42
59:01
that uh states that the city is planning
59:05
on on borrowing 2.7 million dollars
59:09
and um that's uh what the
59:13
that's what this authorization is for
59:17
and um i'll be happy to answer
59:20
any and all questions that
59:24
the council members or the residents of
59:28
the city
59:29
have um
59:36
helps if i unmute uh all right so do we
59:39
have any questions from the council
59:41
members
59:44
i have one i have one pretty pretty
59:45
straightforward question if that's all
59:47
right
59:48
um you know normally uh every may
59:52
we run through the fire drill of uh
59:55
we're gonna miss payroll if we don't
59:57
borrow money
59:58
yadda yadda so um is that going to
60:02
happen again next next may
60:04
or is this it so
60:07
this is actually i think with um
60:10
it didn't happen last may something else
60:14
happened corona right
60:16
so uh what what when if you have
60:19
structurally
60:21
uh balanced budgets it shouldn't really
60:24
happen
60:25
you shouldn't come to me which is
60:28
month 11 of the fiscal year and realized
60:32
oops we're running out of cash
60:36
and to not have the soups moment
60:39
i work on preparing cash flow statements
60:43
uh so we know uh where
60:47
we're gonna be now with corona and
60:50
the volatility of the revenue stream
60:52
right
60:53
i can say well we definitely would not
60:56
have to do anything in terms of
60:58
financing because we're
61:00
all good with operating revenues i can
61:03
tell you right now that
61:05
nobody that there is probably not a
61:07
single place
61:09
well there's some places but most i
61:11
think 99 percent of the governments
61:15
are in the same situation as we are
61:18
uh where the revenue streams are very
61:21
volatile
61:22
um we really um in the same
61:27
position as the other governments hoping
61:30
for either state or federal bailout
61:32
uh meaning that we hope that they're
61:35
going to
61:36
step up and recognize the fact
61:39
that our revenue streams had
61:42
significantly suffered
61:43
from all different uh sources of revenue
61:48
that being the state of a per capita
61:52
the state shorted us six over six
61:54
hundred thousand dollars
61:56
in 2020 um we don't know
62:00
what's going to happen with this uh 620
62:03
000 nor the faith of the whole three
62:06
million dollars of the state aid per
62:09
capita that we receive from
62:11
uh the state usually towards the end of
62:14
june
62:15
um of every fiscal year uh
62:18
we don't know the faith of that um
62:20
obviously sales tax took a huge hit
62:23
our recreation and beach revenue took a
62:26
huge hit
62:27
so um we were working with fema to get
62:31
reimbursed for the expenses they're
62:33
reimbursing us for 75
62:35
of the expenses in connection with uh
62:39
mitigating the facts of covet
62:42
that does not cover the loss of revenue
62:46
so um i i hope
62:49
that uh uh the best i think that this
62:52
uh that that we can do
62:56
um is to make sure that we have
62:59
enough um time and we we know where
63:03
we're going to be in may
63:05
in january okay and then i then i just
63:08
have a thank you for that i just have a
63:10
quick yes or no
63:11
um have you thoroughly vetted the
63:16
schedule of employee payment payouts
63:20
payments to make sure they are comply
63:22
with every
63:23
relevant contract and city policy
63:28
so they are not
63:32
okay good great question but uh
63:36
um as we all know the payouts they do
63:40
not necessarily
63:42
uh follow exactly what's written in the
63:44
contracts
63:45
so for um some of the
63:49
payouts the certain categories the
63:51
payouts the
63:53
hours that we're allowing to be paid out
63:56
are higher than what the contracts
63:58
allowed
63:59
and i cannot go one by one because i
64:02
don't have it
64:03
uh in front of me right now uh
64:06
but um i we we
64:09
um both city manager and i we
64:13
uh apply a much uh higher level of
64:16
scrutiny i think
64:18
that was ever applied uh to
64:21
to this payout uh however as you could
64:25
see
64:25
their amounts included in this 2.7
64:29
million dollars that were
64:30
authorized long before um
64:34
i started with the city so i just
64:37
followed the schedule
64:39
and and all of us started with the city
64:41
yes and all of us started with the city
64:44
so i i followed the schedule that's
64:46
something
64:47
that the city had committed at a certain
64:50
point of time when
64:52
those that are being paid out uh when
64:55
they retired
64:56
and uh that's the schedule that uh
64:59
we followed yes do you want to comment
65:01
on the schedule since you
65:03
since you've been with us for a little
65:04
over the over a year
65:06
on how you uh
65:10
um i think that uh to to really
65:13
uh streamline this and uh
65:16
this is a lot of money this is 2.7
65:19
million dollars that we just basically
65:21
of known retirement but there is some
65:25
cushion there but we know that more
65:27
people
65:28
are going to retire in the next 10
65:30
months
65:31
and it it's the retirement payouts that
65:35
the city incurs
65:36
each and every year are really uh
65:39
very high so high for the bud we we have
65:44
what about 80 million dollars in our
65:47
general fund budget of which about 50
65:50
percent a little bit more than that
65:52
is from the property taxes uh
65:55
so um that that's a very significant
66:00
portion of our budget
66:02
if not financed
66:05
through the bond uh would go towards
66:08
satisfying those liabilities uh
66:12
for me as the city controller um i think
66:15
that
66:16
it's important to start addressing it
66:18
operationally
66:20
and i work with the city manager
66:23
who has background in finance
66:26
and accounting and understands these
66:29
issues very well
66:30
and the the the the way to address it
66:34
is through implementing efficient time
66:38
management system so that we
66:41
know that people accrue
66:44
time not through manual time
66:47
sheets they use their time and it's not
66:51
getting reflected in the system by the
66:54
manual
66:55
time sheets the same time sheets in the
66:58
same
66:59
format that were used by the
67:01
municipalities
67:02
hundreds years ago 200 years ago 300
67:06
years ago
67:07
this is 2020 there is a product that
67:10
exists
67:10
and a lot of governments move to that
67:13
where we could say
67:14
when you ask me this question if i'm
67:16
comfortable with i want
67:18
every single line when i can say
67:21
yes because i know that
67:25
those are prepared based on the
67:27
information that's derived
67:29
from the system that's not manual
67:32
it's automated i can i can design
67:36
implement and test controls of that
67:38
system
67:39
and we're working uh
67:44
with frb uh to get funding
67:48
for for something like that but uh
67:51
there is a product that our uh gl
67:54
uh company offers it's called exactly
67:58
time
67:58
and uh hopefully in the next half a year
68:02
we'll be able to embark it's not going
68:05
to be an easy it's not a
68:07
product that's very easy that you turn
68:10
the switch and it's on
68:12
but i think it's going to be very
68:16
efficient and it's going to be very
68:19
um effective for managing
68:23
what's in yeah in managing
68:26
their cruel and payout of exceeding
68:28
employees time upon retirement
68:31
and the uh the new york state
68:32
comptroller's office actually
68:34
recommended that we implement a time
68:37
system correct
68:38
that's absolutely right yes so everyone
68:41
in the city
68:42
will be using a time management system
68:45
in the future i hope so yes
68:49
oh they will thanks to you and thank you
68:54
i'm i'm looking forward to that thank
68:55
you ina for this report
68:57
thank you okay this is donna one of the
69:00
things i want to say
69:01
is that what we're doing with the this
69:04
bond
69:05
2.7 million the these were obligations
69:08
like enos said that were made before
69:11
we arrived since we've been here we have
69:14
been trying to vet it as much as
69:15
possible
69:16
but without a good time keeping system
69:19
we can only go
69:20
by so much when we vet them so again the
69:23
time keeping system will be
69:26
will be a good system for us where we
69:27
would have better accountability
69:29
and we're starting to work with the
69:31
department heads because again
69:33
it's operational and finance so
69:36
operational means that the department
69:37
heads are keeping track
69:39
of time that people are taking or
69:42
they're accumulating to ensure
69:44
that we're where we are and exactly
69:47
where we
69:48
are um so that we don't we
69:51
it could eliminate some portion of the
69:53
high payout
69:59
all right mike did you have a question
70:01
mike i just uh
70:03
what i'd like to work with ina is the
70:05
long term
70:06
beyond this year payouts
70:09
obligations that are due and payable
70:13
and known and we'll incorporate that
70:16
into the five-year plan
70:20
yeah mike that will be incorporated into
70:23
our multi-year plan
70:24
that matter of fact that will be under a
70:26
requirement
70:28
that we have that in the multi-year plan
70:30
thank you
70:31
thank you right the longer term goal of
70:34
the multi-year plan
70:35
is to end this practice at some
70:38
of borrowing because this should be an
70:40
operational expense
70:42
that goes into the budget so uh but
70:45
that's
70:46
what the long range plan is going to
70:49
help do is that's we're no longer just
70:53
looking at a single year we're going to
70:54
be
70:55
looking at looking out a number of years
70:58
and do some long-range planning so
71:01
uh any more questions from the council
71:07
okay i guess uh we'll open it up to the
71:11
public
71:12
okay i have roy lester
71:17
go ahead roy shoot myself first
71:22
okay um first of all on the streets last
71:25
year you gave us
71:26
an amount of remaining uh payouts
71:30
uh there was a six million dollars total
71:32
payout amount
71:34
and well not the remaining just a total
71:36
payout amount
71:37
but this year it conspicuously is
71:39
missing how come
71:43
okay i don't want to take my time up
71:46
waiting
71:47
for that i just wanted to note that
71:50
but should i answer should i
71:57
okay i will try so uh
72:00
this column was not deliberately
72:04
omitted from the schedule i just want to
72:07
go a little bit over the process of how
72:09
this resolution is prepared the
72:12
resolution is actually prepared
72:15
in collaboration with the bond council
72:19
so what we're what what
72:23
was presented with uh the the
72:26
package that went out for the city
72:28
council
72:29
is basically the support that was
72:32
requested
72:32
by the bond council who helps us write
72:35
this
72:36
resolution and uh that
72:39
that's that's what's needed for the
72:41
resolution i cannot
72:42
answer why was that information that's
72:45
absolutely relevant
72:47
to the amount that's been barred was
72:49
included in prior years
72:51
however i can tell you that this
72:53
information is readily available
72:56
it can be posted on the city's website
72:58
for
72:59
um your or um anyone's um
73:04
inspection however the total payout
73:08
is relevant for the amount being that
73:10
that
73:11
we're bonding uh or asking we're not
73:14
actually bonding yet we're asking for
73:16
the city council
73:18
authorization to bond so
73:21
um there is a lot of other auxiliary
73:24
information i'm sure
73:26
that be interesting uh to see but
73:29
uh it's not included and uh
73:32
if that's that's something that's of
73:35
interest we'll
73:36
can definitely post it and make it
73:38
available for everyone to see
73:40
okay mr lester
73:44
this is donald speaking um we don't
73:47
we don't i don't know what has been done
73:50
in the past in the city
73:51
we don't deliberately delete any
73:54
financial information
73:56
we give whatever is needed and as inna
73:58
just
73:59
said this resolution is for the bond
74:02
document
74:03
it's so you don't think again purposely
74:07
miscarriage mr lester we don't purposely
74:10
delete any information
74:12
so that we could try to purposely just
74:15
uh mislead the public
74:17
i'm not saying that donna but i'm in a
74:20
saying it's not relevant
74:21
you don't think it's relevant how much
74:23
more of these particular people we have
74:26
to go
74:27
to pay them out because when we look at
74:30
it last year there was six
74:31
million dollars in payouts all we see
74:34
now is what we're paying this year which
74:37
is uh
74:38
the 2.7 how much more all right
74:43
do we have to pay out i'm not talking
74:45
about this retirees
74:47
i'm talking about these particular
74:49
people
74:50
okay so what you're asking i sir what
74:53
you're asking is a valid question
74:56
we can get you that information however
74:59
what we're asking the council to give us
75:01
approval for
75:03
is the 2.7 million dollars
75:06
for what we need to bond so it's
75:09
actually two different
75:10
items we can get you that information if
75:13
you like
75:13
we just right now we're asking for the
75:16
2.7 million dollars
75:17
for this particular payout and and donna
75:21
i think it's relevant to all of us
75:23
taxpayers
75:24
how much more we have to pay on this
75:26
particular debt
75:28
i i i didn't disagree with you mr lester
75:31
what i said was
75:32
that we can get you the information but
75:35
for this particular bond what we're
75:37
doing
75:38
is this language as ena exclaimed
75:41
is for the bond document we all know
75:44
that donna
75:45
we all know that okay but you know what
75:48
i'm a taxpayer and i listen and i i find
75:51
out that we still don't have that we're
75:53
still
75:53
using as enough said a time system that
75:56
they used two or three
75:58
hundred years ago writing it down and
76:01
you guys have been in power
76:02
now since january we've talked about
76:05
this for close to eight
76:06
years having a software that is
76:09
legitimate having software where we can
76:12
keep track of things
76:13
and it's still nothing's been done i
76:15
mean i know you guys are talking about
76:17
it
76:17
but it's costing us money every month
76:20
that we don't do it
76:21
and it's not as complicated as a system
76:25
i know that from the school district the
76:26
school district has
76:28
systems that work and they've had them
76:29
for many years
76:31
but you know what what we're trying to
76:33
do is we're trying to figure out
76:35
how not to have this and all of you guys
76:38
john
76:38
and don and uh karen and liz
76:41
and mike have all spoken about how we
76:44
can't continue to do this
76:45
yet we continue to do it now this year
76:48
we had a payroll reduction of 2.1
76:50
million
76:51
but that didn't help us it seems we also
76:53
had a bond
76:55
uh well we borrowed another 4.25 million
76:59
in april that didn't seem to help either
77:02
we still need the ball now i know we put
77:04
this in our budget a long time ago
77:06
but this year we went up over 600
77:09
000 in our debt service we're now at 13
77:13
million
77:14
13 million 13 and a half million a year
77:17
that we pay just to pay off our debts
77:19
and you look at
77:20
the history oh you know over the last
77:23
year
77:24
we did this back in january in july of
77:27
2019.
77:28
we borrowed 2.1 million for separation
77:32
then in september we authorized i didn't
77:34
say we borrowed
77:35
but we authorized issuance of 800 000
77:38
worth of bonds
77:39
900 million worth of bonds and 15
77:42
million worth of bonds now
77:44
granted we got some of that money back
77:46
we will be getting some of that money
77:48
back from the state
77:49
but it's once again boring then in
77:52
april we borrowed 4.2 million dollars
77:55
well we
77:55
put deficiency notes and that has to be
77:58
paid back within the two-year period
78:00
i don't know where we're going to get
78:01
that money from but
78:03
i i'm not seeing any systemic effort
78:07
to stem this particular time now i know
78:10
you have a five-year plan and i'm hoping
78:11
in that five-year plan
78:13
we're going to see something like that
78:15
but as a taxpayer
78:16
it very much concerns me i don't see
78:19
that we're going in a direction that's
78:22
going to stop this from happening
78:24
i've heard every one of the candidates
78:26
say that it's not a good thing to have
78:27
that
78:28
excuse me mr excuse me mr lester just
78:31
wanted to let you know that your three
78:32
minutes are up if you could please
78:33
summarize your remarks
78:34
in this last few seconds greatly
78:36
appreciate it thank you
78:37
okay okay yes i just would like to see
78:40
something
78:41
so that each year we're not going
78:43
through the exact same thing like some
78:45
sort of groundhog day movie
78:49
okay so uh thanks for your comments and
78:54
um uh where you were talking about the
78:58
time thing i'm not clear if you didn't
78:59
hear what ian has said that we were
79:01
implementing a time keeping system so
79:03
uh you're looking for the money right
79:07
now correct
79:08
because money you're not implementing
79:10
something you can't buy yet
79:12
um that that actually is not the case uh
79:15
roy um
79:16
donna donna and ina are working with the
79:20
new york state financial review board to
79:23
see if they
79:24
if maybe they can help us with uh uh
79:27
with paying for a time keeping system
79:30
right they were going to pay pay for it
79:33
but their money's all frozen
79:35
right now because of the state budget
79:37
issues
79:38
okay and i also want to say that i have
79:40
implemented at least three payroll
79:41
systems in my career
79:43
and it is not something that you just do
79:45
in two or three months
79:47
there's shifts and union and four
79:49
different unions and this is a
79:51
copy a huge project that's going to take
79:53
a lot of time and resources
79:55
especially on top of covid and
79:57
everything else
79:58
it cannot be done in two months or eight
80:01
months
80:01
um roy we have not forgotten that we
80:04
were residents
80:05
just a short time ago and it's not going
80:08
to be done overnight
80:12
okay thank you uh
80:15
any other raised hands
80:21
nope i'm not seeing anyone else
80:24
i don't see anyone else but uh we did
80:26
get because we
80:28
made the announcement of the transition
80:29
to zoom
80:31
over the weekend we got a few questions
80:33
before then
80:35
um that i'd like to read in and
80:39
get responses to or comments too if you
80:41
don't mind
80:42
uh marie brutus uh sent an email
80:46
and there's six questions here i don't
80:47
know how we would cap it at a
80:49
three minute mark because it goes beyond
80:51
that but i'll go
80:53
um i guess question by question or do
80:55
you want me to read all of them in the
80:56
entirety and then
80:58
uh i guess we can go question by
81:02
question and tonight
81:03
i guess you can time his reading and
81:07
and uh when we hit three minutes we'll
81:10
stop
81:11
we'll go from there i'm omitting a name
81:13
but a timekeeper
81:15
was mentioned on this separate previous
81:16
timekeeper was mentioned on the
81:18
separation payment of having received a
81:20
34 000 payout i believe this person was
81:24
terminated however
81:25
it's also marie brutus's understanding
81:28
that
81:29
this person was rehired after she was
81:31
fired and just transferred the money
81:33
from another budget line
81:34
at a council meeting last month to pay
81:36
her new salary please explain
81:38
how this is legal or different from
81:40
giving separation pay to current
81:42
employees
81:44
okay the answer to that question is and
81:46
i've answered it a few times
81:48
um when we had the layoff and the
81:52
employee in question was a csea employee
81:55
and was a timekeeper
81:56
the timekeeper's position was eliminated
81:59
which means that they can get their
82:00
payout
82:01
and move and move forward but they were
82:05
when we had positions available we
82:08
opened those positions up and we talked
82:10
to csea
82:11
and allowed the csva employees
82:14
to apply for the position if an employee
82:18
that was from csea
82:20
was hired in the new position
82:23
they came in at the new salary but they
82:26
do not carry
82:27
any of their benefits or anything that
82:29
they've received from the last position
82:32
uh forward the position that this
82:35
employee came
82:36
into was a position that was created
82:39
as secretary it was decided that the
82:42
police department needed the secretary
82:44
because the position that was
82:46
eliminated was a time keeper and so
82:49
money was
82:50
granted and moved from other departments
82:53
to fund that particular position
82:55
so when the employee came back at a less
82:59
rate than what they left at they also
83:02
came back starting as if they were a
83:04
brand new employee
83:09
right so that person's banks all went to
83:11
zero and they're starting all over again
83:16
absolutely and they are starting off at
83:18
a lower rate okay
83:20
so so the payment this person is getting
83:22
is the payout of their banks from their
83:24
old position and now they're being
83:26
treated like a new employee
83:30
correct okay okay next question
83:34
there are some individuals on this list
83:36
that i believe you have threatened to
83:37
file lawsuits against to recoup previous
83:40
separation payments why are you bonding
83:41
to pay people
83:43
who you are suing to claw back funds
83:46
from
83:48
that's a legal matter we don't discuss
83:51
and uh
83:52
that's a legal matter that we cannot
83:54
discuss
83:56
okay um number three i read online that
83:59
you deliberately excluded the aggregate
84:00
total
84:02
so this was sort of asked and answered
84:05
so i'll give marie some deference and
84:07
skip the question it was just about that
84:08
line that
84:09
roy lester had spoken to number four
84:13
john bendo and others repeatedly argue
84:15
that bonding for separation pay was not
84:16
something they could support
84:18
karen mcginnis was quoted last year
84:20
saying separation payment bonding is
84:22
being used by the city as a mechanism
84:25
to cop out of making long-term business
84:27
decisions you've already committed to
84:29
doing it with this particular bond but
84:30
can you please promise to never bond for
84:32
separation pay again
84:34
you'll have a one shot of cash from the
84:36
superb
84:37
super block pilot you've advocated for
84:40
so that's probably how you'll manage
84:42
right all right
84:45
so just to refresh everyone's memory
84:47
marie brutus is actually a former
84:50
male employee this is a fake name they
84:53
keep submitting things under um
84:57
uh so
85:00
uh as i said earlier
85:04
the goal is to stop bonding for
85:06
separation payments and that's what the
85:08
long-term
85:09
financial planning is is
85:12
all about um
85:16
this isn't flipping a switch i mean if
85:18
you wanted to i guess if you wanted to
85:20
stop
85:21
uh bonding for separation payments we
85:23
could have raised taxes i think let me
85:25
see here for 2.7 million that would have
85:27
been a
85:29
uh six uh
85:32
about a ten percent tax increase
85:35
so um what we're trying to do is do this
85:40
as looking as a whole
85:43
not just individual issues but looking
85:46
at the financial structure of the city
85:48
as a whole
85:50
and fixing the whole system as
85:53
much as possible rather than doing
85:56
one-offs
85:57
um regarding what was that about the
86:00
super block
86:02
payout uh it was
86:05
you'll have a you'll have a one shot of
86:08
cash from the superbox
86:10
super block pilot you advocated for so
86:13
that's probably how you'll manage
86:14
correct i don't know we're not getting
86:18
anything from the super block so i'm not
86:20
sure what that
86:21
comment even has to do with this we're
86:24
not getting anything from the soup the
86:25
ida's getting something from the super
86:27
block but we're not
86:28
and uh as far as advocating
86:32
for it uh all you got to do is go back
86:34
and
86:35
watch the video i spoke on this and
86:38
i certainly uh
86:41
what i said was not advocating for it so
86:46
whatever i mean marie's going to keep
86:49
trying though
86:51
i think the thing is that the um this
86:54
administration has made
86:56
several upon several business decisions
87:01
to lower costs for for the city
87:05
and increase revenue and yet we still
87:08
have to borrow
87:09
for these separation payments and we
87:12
will probably have to borrow in the
87:13
future
87:14
because the severe mismanagement for
87:17
decades
87:18
and decades is not going to be fixed
87:22
with a one shot so um i cannot do
87:25
none of us can undo decades of people
87:29
mismanagement mismanaging this city and
87:32
so
87:32
we even though we do not want to borrow
87:35
and miss gayden is making and ena are
87:38
making tremendous
87:39
business changes this is how bad it is
87:43
that we still have to borrow
87:46
yeah i mean karen and john i totally
87:48
agree with that
87:49
um when i looked at everything
87:51
financially
87:52
i i couldn't take a breath for at least
87:54
three to five years
87:56
looking out so if you think
87:59
we collectively think that this is going
88:01
to resolve
88:02
this year this month by a
88:05
a couple of buildings going up no
88:08
it's going to take a year and year long
88:12
that's why the multi-year financial plan
88:15
is very important
88:16
thank you
88:20
is that awesome yep number five the
88:23
resolution says not to exceed 2.7
88:26
million in bonds can you promise that
88:27
you will not
88:28
bond for any other additional separate
88:30
separation payments
88:32
during this fiscal year if you must pay
88:34
more please make the hard decision to
88:36
cut salaries and cut costs elsewhere in
88:38
the budget
88:39
that's what you and gayden are required
88:41
to do as karen said bonding is a cop-out
88:44
that our children and grandchildren will
88:45
have to deal with
88:48
so one of the things we can't make a
88:50
promise to anything
88:52
and you can't just go and cut salaries
88:55
across the board that's a union decision
88:57
and let's make sure that the union heard
89:00
that statement that
89:01
um gate and bindo should be going and
89:04
cutting salaries
89:06
that is something that has to be
89:07
negotiated that's why we have unions
89:10
um what i will say is that we would not
89:13
have to borrow
89:14
if we had a solid fund balance if we
89:18
actually had a savings account
89:20
where we could go and say we can
89:23
pull from this money to pay for
89:26
some of the debt but all of that money
89:29
is gone so we are working on replacing a
89:32
fund balance
89:33
and trying to balance out the operating
89:35
expenses based on the revenues
89:38
that we um that we are bringing in
89:41
and so that's why the 2.7 million was in
89:44
the budget
89:45
we are watching the budget as closely as
89:47
possible
89:49
when we make decisions about increasing
89:51
expenses
89:52
we look to see where we can decrease
89:55
expenses
89:56
so that the bottom line of the budget
89:59
remains the same
90:01
so we can't make a promise on anything
90:03
we don't know what the future holds
90:05
um but i can say that we are working as
90:08
as hard as we can by putting a
90:10
multi-year
90:11
um putting a multi-year plan together
90:14
so that we can be back on the right
90:16
footing
90:19
and it's worth noting that the reason we
90:21
don't have a fund balance
90:23
is because marie brutus and his
90:26
administration
90:28
wiped it out
90:31
maybe i can add a little bit to that
90:34
if uh you don't mind so
90:38
we have yeah uh we have
90:41
cities financial statements posted
90:44
online
90:44
uh you can see them and access them
90:48
through the
90:51
city's website and
90:55
you could see that the audited financial
90:58
statements
90:59
show the compensated absences are in
91:02
excess of 32 million dollars
91:04
basically 33 million dollars what that
91:07
means that if
91:08
citi had to pay out
91:12
all of those termination pays um
91:15
at june 30th 2019 because that's the
91:19
date of those financial statements
91:22
the city would be on the hoop for 33
91:24
million dollars
91:25
that's well in excess of everyone's
91:28
salaries
91:29
at the city so
91:32
this is something this issue
91:35
it's really not not something that's
91:38
very
91:39
um that that can be really soft
91:42
with one little you know uh hammer
91:46
um this uh it's 33 million dollars
91:51
um and we will have to work
91:54
very hard and make sure that
91:58
we oppose operationally and financially
92:01
address this and make sure that
92:06
we we build a payout
92:10
into our operating budgets but
92:13
uh on page uh just give me one second
92:19
um on page 54 of uh the city's financial
92:22
statements for
92:23
fiscal year under june 30th 2019
92:28
you could see in the disclosure the
92:30
amount that the city owes
92:32
for the compensated absences at that
92:35
time was in excess of 32 million dollars
92:41
okay uh thank you ina uh
92:45
is there more or less last question from
92:48
miss brutus is why can't this wait until
92:50
later this month when public meetings
92:52
resume
92:55
okay i guess a because we got to pay our
92:57
retirees and b
92:59
we're having a public comment session
93:02
public hearing right now
93:04
so it's a non it seems like a non quest
93:07
it's
93:08
i guess if you're just looking to try to
93:10
make some kind of point
93:12
i guess but all right anymore i have uh
93:16
i have a few more here so for mr robert
93:18
siminsky
93:19
uh he references the public hearing and
93:22
the language in the public hearing and
93:24
asks the following two questions
93:27
how is this going to affect our city of
93:28
long beach residents property taxes
93:31
and then the second part is in the city
93:33
of long beach's multi-year plan does the
93:35
city manager address these separation
93:37
payments
93:37
are they projected to be same lower or
93:40
higher in the next five years
93:43
so how does this suggest taxes it
93:45
doesn't affect this tax
93:47
it's because we budgeted for it and
93:49
we've already said what we were going to
93:51
raise taxes to in the current budget as
93:54
we go through the multi-year plan and
93:56
look at the payouts and
93:58
look at the potential future
94:02
retirement i can't at this point right
94:04
now say whether
94:05
it will be higher or lower
94:08
because we're reviewing the financial
94:10
plans right now the multi-year plan
94:12
right now
94:16
okay and then the last in writing is
94:18
from eileen hession
94:20
uh regarding separation payments please
94:23
explain columns
94:24
10 and 11 that was in the budget uh
94:26
packet
94:27
or the agenda packet why retirees
94:30
receive money for fica and medicare
94:35
um if i get medicare that's on that line
94:38
item is what we have to pay what the
94:40
city has to pay
94:41
and so when it says total that's the
94:43
total payout
94:44
what we have to pay to the employer or
94:47
employee i'm sorry and the employer
94:49
share of the taxes
94:52
okay um second part also some retirees
94:57
are being paid for
94:58
2000 hours over a 30-year career that
95:01
would be 66 hours per year how is that
95:04
possible
95:05
do they really have that many vacations
95:07
sick days per year have they never taken
95:09
a day off
95:11
wait 66 hours is a week and a half
95:15
right
95:18
um you have 40 hour weeks yes is she
95:21
confusing 66 days perhaps without
95:24
a week and a half a year is
95:28
i'm not i'm not sure on that one
95:32
okay uh bonding for two points
95:36
sorry was there something else i don't
95:38
know i don't know if donna has anything
95:39
that i'm just not
95:40
i'm not i'm not sure about that question
95:42
yeah i'm not clear on that 66 hours is a
95:44
week and a half a
95:45
year so if somebody didn't use a week
95:47
and a half of sick or vacation or they
95:48
had comp time
95:50
that's that's yeah
95:54
okay okay uh bonding for 2.7 million we
95:58
have to borrow
95:59
we have had to borrow in the past for
96:01
separation payments i understand many
96:03
police will be retiring this year and
96:05
next how will we pay for them how much
96:06
borrowing raising taxes can we do
96:09
are we sure these amounts are correct
96:13
i'll stop there just got a couple more
96:14
other sort of short reporting questions
96:20
i think the amounts are are we sure the
96:22
amounts are correct we answered that
96:24
question already
96:25
okay um because all of this you know
96:27
we're going back back on what history is
96:29
what we have to do let's go forward
96:30
we've checked
96:31
we we vet everything that we have now
96:34
that comes before us
96:35
what was the other question uh how will
96:38
we pay for this how much borrowing
96:40
raising taxes can we do um what we're
96:44
doing in the multi-year plan for the
96:46
future is that's what we're trying to
96:47
determine
96:48
that's not something we're ready to
96:50
determine right now
96:52
okay and then what is happening with the
96:54
lawsuit that was started about past
96:56
illegal payments
97:00
legal matter we can't discuss legal
97:03
matters
97:04
okay and then what is being done to
97:06
amend the system what is the city
97:07
council city manager union
97:09
arbitrator doing to remove this burden
97:11
from taxpayers
97:17
so so so i will start donna if you don't
97:20
mind
97:22
go ahead um i think that
97:25
um partially i address that question
97:28
by talking about implementing uh
97:32
timekeeping system uh that's on the
97:35
going forward basis
97:36
as i mentioned before cities liability
97:40
at june 30th 2019
97:44
that predated any one of our 10 years
97:47
here
97:48
was in excess of 32 million dollars
97:52
so we um we
97:55
we we will do our outmost and out
97:58
and the best to make sure that however
98:01
that
98:01
liability is paid out um is the most
98:05
advantageous to the city of residents
98:09
um and on a going forward basis
98:12
uh we just need to make sure that we
98:16
um operationally
98:22
affect how how time is
98:26
accrued and paid out in a system and
98:30
uh when we from the studies that we've
98:34
uh seen that that are published from the
98:38
government
98:38
that had implemented systems like that
98:42
uh there are significant savings
98:45
to be um to be found
98:48
by um implementing a time keeping system
98:52
uh the thing is that i don't want to
98:54
trivialize it
98:56
it's not it's not going to happen but
98:59
it's just
99:00
turning on a switch like um
99:03
vice president um karen mcginnis
99:07
mentioned that we have a lot of unions
99:10
we have four unions and it's gonna be a
99:12
process
99:13
and it's gonna be um not
99:17
not not not a week long implementation
99:21
process but it's a necessary thing for
99:23
the city
99:24
to take upon
99:29
so um i hope i addressed it
99:32
so that was it on this agenda item for
99:34
the public hearing
99:37
okay then i guess we can move on
99:41
uh to the actual agenda yes
99:45
all right so on to the calendar so item
99:48
number one approval of minutes of prior
99:50
meeting of august 11th 2020
99:54
all right uh i had
100:00
one minor on the fourth page just
100:04
it's a grammatical thing uh at the
100:08
second paragraph it said president bendo
100:10
miss treston for a brief update on how
100:12
the city was doing with the sentence it
100:14
should be president bendo asked
100:16
ms treston for a brief update
100:25
uh any of the other council members have
100:27
any comments or questions
100:30
on this all right
100:33
i don't know if the public has any
100:35
comments or questions
100:37
that we get uh public this isn't a this
100:39
is a procedural public does not okay
100:42
okay then uh we can move on
100:45
all right so um we're just gonna go into
100:48
the voting for this item
100:50
who will introduce and move the adoption
100:51
of item number one approval of minutes
100:53
of prior meeting of august 11 2020.
100:56
i will okay i'll say good night
100:59
all right and council member delorey
101:03
yes councilmember mandel yes
101:06
councilmember treston yes vice president
101:10
mikinus
101:11
yes president bendo yes
101:14
okay all right and the next was a public
101:17
hearing ordinance
101:18
authorizing financing for the cost of
101:20
the fiscal year 2020 to 2021 and
101:22
separation payments two and four
101:24
the benefit of employees of the city
101:25
upon separation from employment
101:27
stating the estimated total cost thereof
101:29
is 2.7 million
101:31
appropriating said the amount therefore
101:34
and authorizing the issuance of not
101:35
succeed 2.7 million bonds of said
101:37
city to finance said appropriation
101:40
voting will be held on tuesday september
101:42
15th
101:42
a hearing has been held on this item
101:44
already item number
101:46
two was the public hearing resolution
101:47
granting waiver wall street parking
101:49
requirements regarding premises 901 west
101:52
b street shreve floor
101:53
long beach new york regarding skincare
101:55
and home goods retail store a hearing
101:57
has been held on this item already
101:59
item number three public hearing regard
102:02
resolution granting waiver off street
102:04
parking requirements regarding premises
102:06
240 west park avenue street floor
102:08
long beach new york regarding personal
102:10
training studio studio a hearing has
102:12
been held on this item already item
102:14
number four
102:15
resolution authorizing the city manager
102:17
to enter into an agreement
102:18
for water sewer testing at the water
102:21
treatment plant with seoul responsible
102:23
bidder
102:25
okay i'm gonna bet that's a commissioner
102:27
mirando one
102:29
yes thank you this is for our regulatory
102:33
uh requirements for testing quality at
102:36
the sewer plant which is regulated by
102:38
the safe uh
102:39
by the clean water act and administered
102:41
and regulated by the new york state dec
102:44
uh that testing uh is twenty three
102:47
thousand six hundred and thirty dollars
102:49
in cost for next year
102:50
which is an increase of six hundred and
102:52
twenty four dollars over last year
102:54
it's also for testing water quality at
102:57
the water plant
102:58
and at the various wells uh that is
103:01
administered by through the safe
103:02
drinking water act and administered by
103:04
the nassau county health department
103:06
that had an increase of two thousand
103:08
four hundred and seventy dollars this
103:09
year
103:10
for a total increase in the contract of
103:12
three thousand ninety four over last
103:14
year
103:15
however in the water supply side there
103:17
are additional sampling requirements
103:19
this year
103:19
because of new regulations by new york
103:21
state health department
103:23
for pfoas and for 1-4 dioxane
103:27
which neither we have but we still need
103:28
to test for them so this will be the
103:30
water quality testing
103:32
pace labs has always had our contractors
103:35
very few
103:36
labs that can do all the testing because
103:38
they need to be certified in each
103:39
area that they're testing
103:43
if anybody has any questions
103:47
and pace is the company that is doing it
103:49
now for the city correct
103:50
that's correct yes okay any questions
103:54
from the council members
103:57
all right any questions from the public
104:04
roy lester hold on
104:11
okay am i unmuted yes yes
104:15
okay um john you had said that the
104:18
total that the cost was 23 000 and the
104:22
but uh on the resolution you're talking
104:25
about 65 000
104:27
pace uh 23 000 of that is for the
104:30
testing in the sewer
104:33
thousand plant hundred and five dollars
104:34
is for testing in the water plant
104:36
so both our requirements for the water
104:39
plant and the waste water
104:40
okay and i i guess the question is we
104:43
have a water purification
104:45
department and in that department we
104:48
we have a budget of 1.18 million dollars
104:53
and we have chemicals and laboratory
104:55
equipment and stuff like that
104:57
how come we can't do this testing
104:59
ourselves uh the equipment for this
105:01
would
105:02
be very very expensive uh this we're
105:04
testing for
105:05
synthetic organic chemicals probably
105:09
over 100 of them we're testing for
105:11
organics
105:12
we're testing for over 20 or 30
105:15
different metals we're testing for
105:16
suspended solids
105:17
the kind of testing that we do in the
105:20
lab
105:21
within the plant is to test our our iron
105:24
removal and our chlorine residuals
105:26
to make sure we're running the plants at
105:28
the right the right levels
105:30
those are things that are ongoing but
105:32
these are tests that are done on you
105:33
know
105:34
as an example the 10 bacteriological
105:36
tests every week
105:37
that have to be sent out to the lab we
105:39
don't have the equipment and
105:41
to equip a whole lab like this would not
105:42
make sense
105:45
and does the county have their own lab
105:47
nassau county health department has
105:49
their lab for testing for doing
105:51
follow-up testing and check samples for
105:53
all the water supplies in nassau county
105:55
but they don't test for they don't do
105:57
the normal testing for the water
105:58
suppliers
106:00
so i mean nassau county could not do the
106:03
testing they have to send their stuff
106:04
out too
106:06
uh certain parts of their they're not
106:08
qualified in certain areas to test so
106:10
those would also have to be sent out for
106:12
them but they do do
106:12
like follow-up samples to double check
106:15
on our samples particularly like
106:17
bacteriological samples
106:18
they do that for all the water suppliers
106:21
okay
106:21
all right okay thanks
106:24
okay any more questions from the public
106:31
all right going once going twice
106:34
and on to item five
106:38
okay item number five resolution
106:41
authorizing the city manager to enter
106:42
into an agreement for the demolition and
106:44
removal
106:45
of the 1.0 million gallon park place
106:48
standpipe
106:48
with the lowest responsible bidder okay
106:52
john i'm guessing that's you again yes
106:54
this is uh
106:55
a tank that was built in 1910 it's 110
106:58
years old it's certainly outlived its
107:00
useful life
107:01
in addition this is an old style
107:02
standpipe type
107:04
tank and as a result out of the million
107:07
gallons to maintain the right pressure
107:09
in the system we can only use about
107:11
a quarter of a million gallons of that
107:13
so removing this tank will now
107:14
open up space for us to next year build
107:17
a brand new
107:18
water storage tank that will be able to
107:20
use the entire storage in
107:22
which will be 1 million and 250 000
107:25
gallons worth of storage
107:26
and actually all of it usable so uh this
107:29
will certainly improve
107:30
prove uh supply for the system
107:34
and this is done by what's they section
107:36
it and then uh remove the
107:38
the pieces yes this is um
107:41
by the way we received seven bids and
107:42
they ranged from 498 000 to 2.6 million
107:46
dollars
107:47
uh the company that had the lowest bid
107:49
of 498 walgo enterprises has done
107:51
several tanks on the island
107:53
uh and we've had our engineers vet them
107:55
and they are qualified to do the work
107:58
uh they will there is lead on that tank
108:00
so as they make cuts they will clean up
108:02
the lead at
108:03
the areas where they make cuts inside
108:05
and exterior of the tank
108:07
and an east beach will be cut down and
108:08
lowered and uh mr mcnally and i've
108:11
already had a conversation about saving
108:13
the uh
108:13
the logo on the tank
108:18
all right um any questions from the
108:22
council
108:24
um commissioner how tall is the
108:25
standpipe i'm
108:27
i'm not knowledgeable in this area uh
108:29
the standpipe is approximately
108:32
145 feet in height so every foot
108:35
of height gives you um a half a pound of
108:38
pressure approximately
108:40
so as a result of the fact that that
108:42
tank really is filled with water from
108:43
zero elevation to 150
108:46
see we can really only use the first 25
108:48
or 30 feet of that tank before the
108:49
pressures drop
108:51
so um
108:54
thank you
108:58
jimmy hoff is not in there is he you've
109:01
not but
109:02
we just uh approved verizon to go in and
109:05
remove all their
109:06
old cell equipment off of the tower uh
109:09
and uh when they're done removing their
109:11
equipment there's also a storage
109:12
building to have that's temperature
109:13
controlled
109:14
they're going to donate that to the city
109:16
uh which will give us another building
109:18
we already have one of them which will
109:20
give us another building for record
109:21
storage that'll maintain
109:22
records in a in an air controlled
109:25
environment
109:27
good all right any more questions from
109:30
the council
109:32
all right any questions from the public
109:40
okay going once going twice
109:44
okay on to item six item number six
109:48
six resolution appointing a treasurer
109:50
for the city of long beach
109:54
okay uh anybody
109:58
donna you need to say anything on this
110:00
so uh it's pretty straightforward
110:03
well the reason the reason we are
110:05
looking at making me the treasurer
110:07
um and it's a no additional pace the
110:11
last two treasures the current treasures
110:13
you have in the treasure before that had
110:15
no
110:15
financial experience and if you look at
110:17
the charter
110:19
um you will see what the treasury's
110:21
responsibilities are
110:23
and we have started putting for example
110:25
we have started putting the financials
110:27
out we do have to get the
110:28
july financials out so
110:31
it is important that when you have a
110:33
treasurer that the treasurer understands
110:35
finances
110:36
and they understand the documents that
110:38
they read so
110:40
um for example the bond itself
110:44
our current treasurer will be signing
110:46
off on the bond but doesn't understand
110:48
the documents that they're signing
110:50
and so that's why not that i really want
110:52
to do anything else but
110:54
i do read the financial documents that
110:56
the treasurer signs off anyway
110:58
um to ensure that they are correct along
111:01
with the comptroller
111:02
so um i'll answer any questions
111:07
all right any questions from the council
111:12
all right any questions from the public
111:19
and again
111:20
going once so i'm not currently seeing
111:23
any
111:23
online but we did receive some questions
111:25
over the weekend
111:26
um from members of the public uh
111:29
online so from lisa santinos uh
111:34
president bendo are you familiar with
111:35
the section of the charter re the
111:37
treasure
111:38
and the duties of the position under
111:40
that section
111:43
yes that's why we're making the change
111:47
okay um and then lastly eileen hessian
111:51
three questions regarding item number
111:53
six appointing donna gayden as
111:55
treasurer will she receive a salary for
111:58
this job
111:58
on top of her city manager salary no
112:03
uh who is treasurer now uh dave frazier
112:09
oh and i guess there was not i may have
112:11
misread that so it was two questions
112:13
that's it okay all right then uh on to
112:17
item seven
112:20
okay so item number seven resolution
112:22
authorizing publication of a notice of
112:24
public hearing
112:25
of an application to waive the office
112:27
reparking requirements for premises
112:29
28 west park avenue 2nd floor long beach
112:31
new york regarding early learning
112:33
education center
112:34
this item is for public publication only
112:37
a hearing will be held on september 15th
112:39
at 7 pm
112:43
okay so i guess uh on to the voting
112:46
okay we will now move on to the voting
112:49
who will introduce and move the adoption
112:51
of item number four
112:52
resolution authorizing the city manager
112:54
to enter into an agreement
112:56
for water sewer testing at the water
112:58
treatment plant with the soul
112:59
responsible but
113:00
i will okay who will second
113:05
i will
113:08
council member delorey yes councilmember
113:12
mandel
113:13
yes council member treston yes
113:16
vice president mcinnis yes president ben
113:20
though
113:20
yes okay who will introduce and move the
113:24
adoption of item number five resolution
113:26
authorizing the city manager to enter
113:27
into an agreement for the demolition
113:29
and removal of the 1.0 million gallon
113:31
park place standpipe
113:32
with the lowest responsible bidder i
113:35
will
113:37
i'll second john okay
113:40
all right council member delorey uh yes
113:43
council member of mandel yes
113:46
councilmember treston
113:47
yeah vice president mcinnis yes
113:50
president bendo
113:51
yes all right who will introduce and
113:54
move the adoption
113:55
of item number six resolution appointing
113:57
a treasure for the city of long beach
114:01
who will second
114:04
i will council member delore
114:08
yes councilmember mendel yes
114:12
council member treston yes and thank you
114:14
very much
114:16
all right vice president mcginnis
114:19
gladly yes thank you president bindo
114:22
what's not to like she's going to do it
114:24
for free yes
114:26
all right and who will introduce and
114:30
move the adoption of item number seven
114:32
resolution authorizing publication of a
114:34
notice of public hearing
114:35
of an application to waive the
114:36
off-street parking requirements for
114:38
premises 28 west park avenue
114:40
second floor long beach new york
114:41
regarding early learning education
114:43
center
114:43
this item is for publication only a
114:45
hearing will be held on september 15th
114:47
at 7 pm
114:48
i will okay who will second
114:53
all right okay councilmember delorey
114:58
yes councilmember mandel
115:01
yeah yes council member trusting yes
115:06
vice president mcinnis yes president
115:09
bendo
115:10
yes all right we will now close the
115:13
meeting who will make a motion to close
115:15
the meeting
115:17
i will whole second
115:21
i will council member delorey
115:26
yes councilmember amanda
115:29
yes member treston yes
115:33
vice president mcinnes yes uh president
115:36
vendo
115:37
yes all right all right
115:40
i guess on to good and welfare so uh
115:45
uh is was this similar where that we got
115:47
some written
115:48
and uh and we'll do it live
115:52
did we get written uh we got written but
115:54
i was
115:55
only sent names so we'll treat these the
115:58
written ones as we have in the past i'll
115:59
read off the names uh
116:01
if you like so that people know that we
116:02
are in receipt of
116:04
their questions and then we'll uh
116:06
there's not too many of them so we'll
116:07
work to get them out well in advance of
116:09
the next meeting so it was
116:10
okay people that sent in questions were
116:12
david palpatine tony
116:15
chris leo yolanda cuomo sarah lai
116:19
and eileen hession okay and
116:22
i guess we'll post those like the uh
116:24
with the other answers
116:25
all right so uh i guess for the live
116:28
portion
116:28
um raise your hand if you want to
116:34
speak roy lester
116:38
come on up roy
116:41
okay um john
116:44
i i was at each of the ida hearings
116:49
and uh you know i i can't necessarily
116:53
agree with your position
116:55
that you weren't uh pro but i understand
116:58
your position because you're looking at
117:00
the money that the
117:01
city is going to get but a couple of
117:03
things bothers me
117:05
this the developer was very clear
117:08
that the condo portion
117:12
of the development is not a money maker
117:15
for them
117:16
a matter of fact they are losing so much
117:18
money on the condo
117:20
that they needed the tax uh pilot
117:24
on the rentals so they can make that
117:26
money up i mean we've heard that
117:28
how many times do you remember hearing
117:30
that
117:32
uh dad okay
117:36
so my question is what happens if they
117:39
decide
117:40
not to build the condos
117:44
then we get none of that tax money and
117:46
we're basically subsidizing them
117:49
for the next 11 years where it's coming
117:51
out of our pockets
117:53
uh well there's nothing there's nothing
117:55
in the
117:56
agreement that i saw that requires them
117:59
to build the condos
118:02
okay that's a pretty big leap
118:06
uh there on what they like
118:09
if they're losing millions of dollars
118:11
building these condos
118:13
why is it a big leap i'm not i'm not
118:15
sure where you got that from i didn't
118:16
hear that
118:17
so i don't know where you're getting
118:18
that were you at the meeting john of
118:20
course
118:21
i was sitting next to you yeah where
118:23
they said we can't
118:24
build this project we can't build it
118:28
it's too expensive
118:29
unless we get the money from the rentals
118:32
so that clearly meant that just the
118:34
condos they couldn't do it on just the
118:36
condos
118:38
they were clear about what they were
118:42
saying
118:44
what they were saying was because of the
118:47
size
118:48
of the project because it was uh you
118:50
might have brought it up about the
118:52
because they also did the aqua uh which
118:55
was a much smaller project they said
118:56
because of the
118:57
size of the project there was certain
119:01
financial targets they had a hit to get
119:03
financing and the only way they could
119:06
hit those
119:07
targets was with the pilot
119:11
so i'm not saying i agree or disagree
119:14
with that but they convinced
119:16
the ida at least oh i understand that
119:18
john but
119:19
is there any provision that the city has
119:22
that if they decide not to build the
119:24
condos that we have any
119:27
recourse well i i i mean i don't work
119:31
for the ida i don't know
119:33
my understanding is it's a package
119:36
and so if they decide suddenly not to do
119:39
that's the question for the ida we can
119:41
ask them
119:43
i don't know uh mr mcnally used to work
119:46
for an ida do you happen to know the
119:47
answer to that
119:49
well this this this is the only idea
119:52
project
119:54
that they had they clearly said that
119:56
where there was the condo
119:58
and the rental most ideas are strictly
120:01
one or the other
120:02
correct he did say that that this was
120:04
that was the first time they've done a
120:06
project like this
120:07
right yeah and you you astutely
120:10
brought that up roy i mean and i can't
120:12
speak to the specifics but
120:14
you know all of the ida
120:17
documents and agreements will become
120:19
part of the closing documents for the
120:21
project itself
120:22
and if they don't follow through with
120:25
the agreements that they have with the
120:26
ida
120:27
um as with any contract it becomes you
120:30
know
120:31
subject to default so if that's not part
120:34
of the contract
120:35
i don't know that any of us have
120:37
actually seen the contract roy um
120:40
they're being drawn up subsequent to
120:42
that meeting and you know i can tell you
120:43
what these bond books look like
120:46
um about yay thick
120:49
um and that if if they don't follow
120:52
through with what they
120:53
have agreed to follow through with with
120:55
the ida it's an issue of default and
120:57
basically the entire
120:59
subsidy or um abatement would get called
121:02
back
121:03
okay and one question why how come we
121:06
didn't have a public meeting
121:09
regarding this project the city council
121:12
when it came to the i star we had lots
121:15
of public meetings and we didn't have a
121:16
single public meeting where the people
121:18
could tell
121:20
the city council what they thought
121:21
because uh richard kessel was very clear
121:25
he you know johnny he actually put you
121:27
quite on the spot
121:28
saying what does the city council think
121:30
about it
121:31
the city council would have had to have
121:33
had feedback from the um
121:37
the public and we never had a meeting to
121:39
give any feedback
121:40
there was some there was lots of public
121:42
meetings you and i
121:44
both went to them they went no city
121:46
council
121:47
the city council the city council
121:50
members attended those meetings
121:53
so i'm not sure seriously john
121:56
seriously the city council did not have
121:59
a single meeting where they
122:01
asked the public what their opinion was
122:04
not one meeting you had one meeting
122:06
where this was addressed and that was a
122:08
work session where nobody knew what the
122:10
agenda was beforehand
122:12
and the public was not allowed to speak
122:15
right because that was the work sessions
122:18
are us getting information
122:20
from people it's that's information
122:23
yeah i understand what the work session
122:25
is i'm just asking how come there was
122:27
not
122:28
a single public meeting regarding this
122:30
so the public had the
122:32
ability to tell the city council what
122:34
they thought of the project
122:37
because it's not the city council who
122:38
decides this it's the ida
122:41
and the ida had two hearings
122:45
which you and i both participated in
122:47
both of them
122:48
plus the actual meeting which you and i
122:51
participated in
122:52
and that is where the public makes their
122:57
sentiments known is to the ida
123:01
they're the ones that vote on the pilot
123:04
then why do we have so many meetings for
123:06
ice star
123:07
john just be mindful you and your
123:10
minutes are up
123:11
wait wait wait well i've been keeping
123:12
track of it and my speaking hasn't been
123:15
three minutes
123:16
but go ahead i have been pausing you in
123:18
between while everyone is
123:20
responding i've been pausing it and when
123:22
you speak i've been playing it
123:24
okay is is the time up
123:27
oh okay so roy you can call me if you
123:30
want to discuss this but
123:32
because we got other people we have to
123:33
be fair to but
123:36
again it's the ida who makes this
123:38
decision
123:39
the idea it was the ida's hearings the
123:41
meetings you're talking about for i star
123:44
were not there was one city meeting i
123:46
believe that was the one that they were
123:47
required to do
123:49
um i think they put together they
123:52
brought that lawyer in that kind of
123:54
it wouldn't really answer questions and
123:56
that was so
123:58
uh something to do from a legal
124:01
perspective so they didn't get sued
124:02
but all those other meetings that we all
124:04
participated in
124:06
were meetings that were organized by
124:09
the residents or civic associations they
124:11
were not city meetings that's why we
124:13
held them in the library
124:15
and and other places they were not city
124:17
meetings they were they were
124:19
meetings organized by residents
124:22
so the only city meeting i recall the
124:25
city had
124:26
what i saw was that one that they had to
124:28
have because they
124:29
in their host agreement it said they
124:31
were required to support
124:33
the um the pilot and
124:36
that was what they did to try to meet
124:38
that obligation
124:40
but all those other meetings were
124:42
organized by the residents
124:46
so um but if you want to talk about this
124:48
give me a call
124:49
we can discuss this um okay
124:53
uh any other people raising their hands
124:56
eileen hessian okay hi eileen
125:02
hi eileen hi hi elaine's here but this
125:06
is paul speaking oh it's paul
125:08
stay to the right let's hear it okay you
125:10
got it
125:11
um i'm i was under the impression that
125:13
all of these meetings were conducted
125:15
under robert's rules of order
125:17
and under robert's rules of order the
125:19
president only casts
125:21
a vote if there is a tie
125:24
and i wondered how come this is the only
125:26
organization i know
125:27
where the president answers is part of
125:30
the roll call
125:32
okay uh so you're asking a question that
125:35
i asked when i got on the council and i
125:37
was informed i don't believe mr frazier
125:39
is on
125:40
oh yeah he is on uh so we don't we don't
125:42
follow robert rules of
125:44
order uh which i was a little surprised
125:46
to find out but dave maybe you can
125:47
explain it
125:48
yeah robert's rules of order is really
125:50
written for
125:52
large legislative bodies such as like
125:54
the state legislature
125:56
um you know things of that nature the
125:59
new york conference of mayors
126:01
in their training recommends that
126:03
smaller bodies do not
126:05
adopt roger's rules as order as a whole
126:08
but
126:09
take bits and pieces of it as needed
126:11
into their own rules
126:13
of order and with the way our charter is
126:17
um the president of the council he's a
126:19
member of the count full
126:20
voting member of the council and there's
126:23
his vote
126:24
uh counts as much as everybody else's
126:29
i appreciate that explanation the bits
126:31
and pieces chooses it fits you
126:33
okay yes i got it but i i very much
126:36
appreciate the efforts that are being
126:37
made on behalf of
126:39
this city council and the fiscal
126:42
responsibility which is being brought by
126:45
the city council which has somehow been
126:47
absent
126:48
in previous administrations thank you so
126:51
much
126:52
well thank you did you want to say
126:56
anything else that you
126:57
want to bring up about the boardwalk why
126:59
thank you so much
127:00
the vast majority of people out there 90
127:03
or better
127:04
adhere to the protocol of staying to the
127:08
right
127:08
so that people that are heading east are
127:11
on the
127:12
south side of the boardwalk people
127:13
heading west are on the north side of
127:15
the boardwalk
127:16
by doing that we definitely
127:19
keep from meeting people head on which
127:22
makes a number of people
127:24
uncomfortable um
127:27
we previously had signs that said keep
127:30
to the right
127:31
and those are no longer present i
127:34
certainly would like to see that
127:36
present once again hey we have things
127:39
about
127:40
all sorts of things about keeping your
127:42
masks on
127:43
about maintaining social distance those
127:45
signs are up there
127:47
but now the signs do not address
127:50
keeping to the right it's a simple thing
127:53
and i would very much like to see that
127:56
not only on signs but also enforced
128:00
by the folks out there that are the
128:03
seasonal employees or the seasonal
128:06
enforcers
128:07
i'd certainly invite the police up to
128:10
the boardwalk at seven o'clock in the
128:12
morning or at 6 30 in the morning
128:13
to watch people on motorized vehicles
128:17
or people walking near dogs
128:20
i'm a runner i've been running up there
128:21
for over 30 years and
128:23
these are the kind of things i see not
128:25
only as a safety
128:27
but as a comfort level and something
128:29
that definitely
128:30
is important um as recently as today
128:33
there were four
128:34
additional cases out here on the island
128:38
for the folks who are getting coveted we
128:41
probably are going to get up there to a
128:43
thousand people in a couple of days
128:45
so those are the kind of things we'd
128:47
like to avoid and
128:48
can be avoided if everybody on the same
128:51
side of the boardwalk is heading the
128:53
same direction you're not
128:54
meeting people face on
128:58
okay uh john is that something when the
129:01
the beach and boardwalk team meet that
129:03
they can
129:04
discuss certainly um and i will just say
129:08
that
129:11
somebody did not somebody or some bodies
129:14
did not appreciate
129:16
the signage and the rules as much as
129:18
paul did
129:19
and went on a rampage and
129:22
broke or stole all of the directional
129:25
signs that were once up there so
129:27
uh we've done a redesign so that they
129:30
could be
129:31
put back up in different locations that
129:33
they won't be subject to that quite so
129:35
easily
129:36
uh and we will be ordering them pretty
129:38
soon because our
129:40
supposition is that um
129:43
you know we will continue to even though
129:45
the numbers are pretty good right now
129:47
minus little bumps uh the supposition is
129:50
that as we get into fall
129:52
we're going to see a rebound and uh
129:54
until a vaccine comes out that is
129:57
widely accepted by the public uh
130:00
these regulations are going to be in
130:02
play for for a bit
130:03
so uh we're going to be reordering those
130:06
signs or different versions of those
130:08
signs
130:09
um to get up back on the boardwalk many
130:11
thanks john
130:12
you bet um president um i think on
130:16
the boardwalk i believe all the lights
130:19
have been done
130:20
or almost completed
130:23
the lighting woodwork fights that's a
130:26
commissioner mirando
130:27
question but all the likes are done now
130:31
i
130:31
i was walking tonight i checked them all
130:33
out thank you
130:35
thank you all right can we electrify
130:37
those new signs
130:41
um all right thanks paul um
130:44
anyone else any more raised hands
130:51
i'm not seeing any okay then uh
130:54
not seeing it there's a you know it's
130:57
not a raised hand
130:59
in that in there's a in the chat
131:02
um ms blanchett has asked that
131:06
uh we consider resurrecting the ad hoc
131:10
bike committee that uh commissioner
131:13
mirando started
131:15
and also note it's not a bike it's a
131:18
bike path
131:19
not a bike lane unaffordable
131:22
which committee did you say uh up
131:25
there's a
131:26
i don't think it's in the charter uh
131:28
it's an ad hoc committee
131:30
that was discussed with of the previous
131:34
uh acting city manager oh okay
131:39
all right uh so
131:42
with that seeing no other raised hands i
131:45
guess uh thanks for joining
131:46
wait yeah john you gotta look on your
131:48
face like you're waiting to say
131:49
something because then we gotta let liz
131:51
talk about the census well that's what i
131:53
was just gonna remind you that uh
131:54
councilwoman treston likely has a last
131:57
word on the subject
131:58
yep i was gonna let it get yeah she does
132:01
please fill it out i know that there's a
132:04
little bit about a rumor that
132:07
you've already filled it out and people
132:09
are knocking on your door
132:11
tell them to go away you filled it out
132:14
they're just doing their job
132:16
your job is to fill out the census and
132:18
if you filled it out
132:20
you can politely tell them that you've
132:21
already completed it
132:23
have a nice evening all right are we
132:25
still below are we still below the curve
132:27
we are still below the curve i'm going
132:29
to be meeting with
132:30
assemblywoman miller and legislative
132:34
ford
132:34
to discuss the barrier ride island in
132:37
total
132:38
because money that helps
132:42
atlantic beach lido and point lookout
132:45
certainly will help the city as well
132:47
well and just remember
132:49
it's it it determines how much we get in
132:52
federal and state aid so
132:55
more projects and so if we're under
132:58
counted
132:59
we get less aid and we don't that's
133:02
certainly something we do not need to
133:04
happen so
133:06
well before we go and just on a side
133:08
note
133:09
if people could just let us know if they
133:11
prefer the zoom
133:12
i personally found this much ease as
133:16
we're going through the glitches
133:18
to be able to once again talk to people
133:21
so for the future when the second wave
133:25
comes etc oh so liz this is a zoom
133:28
meeting and the prior ones were
133:31
okay so thank you very much
133:37
all right oh and
133:40
uh by the way we'll be having a
133:44
working meeting next thursday
133:48
we are going to try to do it live
133:51
to go back to doing a live meeting if we
133:54
can make
133:54
all the logistics work out between now
133:56
and then and the goal
133:58
also is to try to have the next city
134:00
council meeting be
134:02
a live meeting as well
134:05
so uh trying to get back to some more
134:07
normalcy
134:09
and uh so with that uh good night
134:12
everyone
134:13
thanks for staying with us and
134:16
uh we'll see you next thursday have a
134:19
good night
134:20
thank you everyone good night good night
134:23
good night everyone
134:24
hi folks thank you jamie thank you david
134:28
thank you good night good job okay good
134:30
job jamie
134:31
yep thanks good night thank you yeah
134:34
stop the stream and stop yeah