I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. I'm going to put it in the oven. shoot quite oh, it's for a few minutes. Good evening. April 9, 2025 Council meeting of the Long Branch City Council will now come toward a road call. Mr. Dangler. Here. Mr. Rassus. Here. Mrs. Woodis is absent. Dr. Vogue. Here. Mr. Vera. I'm here. Please stand for pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. It's due to republic for which it stands, one nation under God, invisible, and liberty, and justice for all. I will now read the mission statement of the City Council, the Long Branch Mayor and the City Council, the Long Branch Mayor and the City Council, and administration are committed to cultivating an environmental of mutual trust and respect our values and diversity of our community. We will strive to enhance the quality of life for all who live here by making a long branch a desirable place in which to live and prosper. We will treat all members of the public with respect and expect the same in return. Certification, please. I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act and posted as required by law. Thank you. Reading and approval of previous minutes, I need a motion to approve the minutes of March 26, 2025. To move. Second. Roll call. Mr. Dangler. Yes. Mr. Rasses. Yes. Mrs. Woodis-Hazapsen. Dr. Vote. I'm staying. Mr. Vera. Yes. motion passed. Ordinance of consideration of ordinance, public caring, and final consent. Mr. Vera motion passed. Ordnance of consideration of ordinance public caring and final considerations. Ordnance 00525. In order to authorize an amendment and restate me at the deed of the dedication and the retotional storm damage reduction eas for block 298, lots 4.03 and 1.02. This ordinance was introduced on March 26, 2025, and the beach at Long Branch is subject to contact, constant erosion and irrigation. The City of Long Branch with the State of New Jersey and the United States Army Corps of Engineers are working together to construct and maintain the Beach erosion control project. As part of the project, the city of Long Branch needs to grant an easement to the state of New Jersey. I need a motion to open the public portion hearing on this ordinance only. So Mo, second. All in favor? Aye. If any member of the public has any comments to make on this ordinance only, please come to the podium, stay your name and address clearly for the record. You'll have five minutes and may only speak once on ordinance 05-25. Seeing there's none, I need a motion to close. Some moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. This is the second reading of ordinance 05-25. I need a motion to adopt on a second and a final reading and advertise according to law. Some moved. Second. Roll call. Mr. Dangler. Yes. Mr. Rasses. Yes. Mrs. Woodis-Azapsin. Dr. Vogue. Yes. Mr. Vera. Yes. Motion passed. Ordnance for introduction is none. Public participation for the resolutions and general comments. I need a motion to open the public portion for the meeting for all comments. Someone move. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? If there is anyone in the audience that has a comment to make, please step to the podium and stay your name and address clearly for the record. You'll have five minutes and they only speak once. Good evening. I'm Phil Falkon, 27 Coral Place. I appreciate the chance to join you in honoring the Arab Americans in our community tonight. Now tonight is a green team member. I want to express my gratitude to mayor and council for your efforts with Article one on 1 to reduce single use plastic in the city. Thank you also for facilitating so many kinds of recycling in Long Ranch. And I can report that the Environmental Commission and Green Team are looking forward to working with the city to identify priority locations to install state of the art refillable water bottle stations at the BH, Promenade, and Parks. On a different and personal topic, I want to ask the council about the situation of six Israeli flags being flown at the center of Long Ranch BH at Pier Village. The flags are apparently on private land, but are prominently visible throughout the public space of pure village. I've heard people express concerns that the flag display is unnecessarily provocative. Why should we risk a flashpoint when so many people come to Long Branch Beach to enjoy a good time? I would note that the latest report from the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness indicates that their top security threat is homegrown violence and white, racially motivated extremism. On a technical side of this issue, I want to call attention to New Jersey statutes, Section 52, 3-4, which says that there must be a co-located American flag that is at least equal to the dimensions of a flag, a foreign flag that is flown. Clearly, the six Israeli flags together have a much larger area. Now, I would say personally as a Jew, I'm content to see the Israeli flag in my temple sanctuary where we pray. Now if I can shift to another topic coming this Saturday, many towns will be hosting beach sweeps on April 12th. And I was wondering if the particular organizer of this event is required to get insurance for the event. So some of us, quite frankly, are a little underwhelmed by the semi-annual beach sweeps because we're picking up debris while walking on the beach 12 months a year. So the beach sweeps was created 40 years ago to fight rampant ocean dumping, which then was successfully ended, leaving our beaches now cleaner than ever. So the beach sweeps, promotional fundraising images of garbage-stuned beaches are outdated and simply wrong. Long branch and all short towns should object and insist on celebrating the pristine and inviting beaches that all towns work so hard to maintain. Last topic. Finally, we just experienced many millions of people demonstrating across America on April 5th. I want to ask the city to consider revising the city code, particularly 247-4, to better conform with civil rights protections in trying to the US Constitution and New Jersey statutes. Brief briefly, the term user impact on public safety or city services, public and quasi-public areas. These terms are rather vague and not defined in the city code. I also believe that the permit process, time frames, fees, and insurance requirement are oners. Thank you for your time and happy holidays, to all. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you Phil. Good evening everyone. My name is Susan Mokitis. I live at 63 Pape Drive in Atlanta, Kylands. I'm here on behalf of Food and Water Watch. As you may recall at the last meeting I was requesting support from the City of Long Branch for the Superfund Act, which is legislation to support our environment and make polluters pay for the damage they cause to our environment. I understand it's not on the agenda for this evening, but I wanted to just ask if there's anything further that I need to be doing to support long branch cities. Request. Okay, something? Yeah, I'm happy to do that. Good evening, I'm the city attorney. After your comments, I did brief the council on it. So I think the anticipation is that we're going to put a resolution on for the next meeting. Fantastic. I'm very familiar with it. While I haven't heard your presentation, I certainly have heard food and water watches presentation in a number of towns that I represent. Okay. And I'm familiar with the legislation generally. So I'll draft. I think there's a form resolution. Did you provide a copy of that? I did. I put a sample resolution that you can modify as you see fit. writing right on my desk and I'm going to prepare for the next council meeting. Fantastic. Thank you very much for your support. I have a happy holiday. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Vincent LePore, 33 Ocean Towers,rors Long Branch requesting one minute notification. A little workshop session with the Fire Museum presentation was a bit sanitized. I didn't hear anything about the building that the museum has housed in, that a former firet of the city opposed buying that building for the fire museum for very good reasons. Also in here that the sale of that building to the city is under active investigation by the authorities. Notwithstanding an officer of that fire company that had the building that sold it to this city was charged by the Moment County prosecutors' office with falsifying and destroying public records. Also, with the museum building, Council cut a check for a year worth of rent to the fire company while the city owned the building. And the fire company wasn't occupying it. Bad old, long branch corruption. Council President Villera's, I brought to the attention of Council at the last council meeting. As far as the long branch fireman's relief association governed under the New Jersey State Firemen's Relief Association, concerning the individual who was still involved in a official position, distributing relief money to firemen, after being arrested for forging fire department documents. Essentially, that individual, after being barred from government positions by a criminal court order dated December 4, 2024, was still allowed by this council to continue in an official capacity. Council President Villera, why did you and council allow this to happen? I'm more than happy to answer that. Council President Villarro will answer the question. No, let me get you. They voted. Are we going to do this after you've meeting? You know I'm not answering any of your questions. Well why don't you go to grammar school and learn how to answer questions, Villarro? I want answer questions as to respect this needed here. And you don't have it. You have no respect because you have no knowledge or ignorant of the public. You want our city of council president fierras since the last council meeting. Has that individual been separated from the city and his official capacity yes or no the answer is that that oh Council president fiera do you have an answer yes or no not answer any of your questions all right fine council president Viera is it true That this same individual criminally charged with falsifying records push for the ordinance change when he was fire cheap that required fire officer one class yes or no if you don't know the council president Viera has that just said maneuver by the criminally charged individual, the former fire chief, been a barrier for people moving into the chief rank in the fire department? Yes or no? Happy to answer your question. Councilman, if you're there. Yes or no Vieira? You want the answer? Vieira doesn't know. Council President Vieira has purchased criminally charged individual, weren't the certificates that were forged, aka falsified, used to get around the order and instead he pushed. Yes or no, Council President Vieira. I learned the same by name real well. Council President Vieira, why don't you go back to grammar school and learn the American language. Council President Villera on tonight's bill payout are 63. They're appearing in approximately $3,700 payout for the purchase of a religious symbol. Council President Villera why are you in council? one minute, three thousand seven hundred for a religious symbol and where is it being put? You're cutting a check for thirty seven hundred for a religious symbol. You have no idea what you're doing. Do you, Villera? You even look at the bill pay out list. Is that what you think? And you have no idea. Your answer is none. No answer whatsoever. States, you don't know what you're doing. Where's it going, Mr. Vieira? Where's the religious symbol going, Mr. Vieira? You don't know. So then you shouldn't vote. Mr. Martin, why are we paying $3,700 for a religious symbol? where is it going since council's completely ignorant dumb to the question? To be more specific as to what the religious symbol is. A menorah purchased by the Lubavjitch. The menorah is a very high. Where's it going? Just to the right hand. You know where it's going? $3,700. Five minutes. We have a crypt outside a city hall, a humble crypt. Thank you. Now what? Maybe a couple of hundred? I'm public property. And you're purchasing a $3,700 monora. And nobody knows where it's being located. Hey, what it is. Thank you. Junk government. Council President of the area, you are a junk council. I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Mr. Lapor. Mr. Lapor, you should have come to the Coda at the beginning, but I see you walk out. But maybe for those here. Yeah, I'm happy. I just want the record that Mr. LaPore apparently doesn't want the answer to any of these questions because he's already left the building. Couple of things he keeps speaking about an employee, a former, actually a former employee of the city and its involvement in the volunteer fire department. That employee has been separated from the fire department for more than a year. I understand he's been separated from the relief association which by the way is not a city function. It is a function of the not for profit corporation that runs the volunteer fire company. So it's got nothing to do with the city. The city doesn't make appointments to it. It's run in accordance with the state law. So we keep hearing the same story random around again, but as I just want the public to understand that Mr. LePort just basically kind of makes up facts and then tries to chewhole a conspiracy theory into it. Usually not very successful. I don't know. Councillor Presidents, there's any of those others that you would like me. The city purchased a manure because we typically have a Christmas tree in a manure symbol on city property at the holiday season. I pretty much has been going on for a very long time. I'm not really quite sure. I'm not sure Mr. LaPore is objecting to the price or to the fact that it's a religious symbol but it's in keeping with our holiday traditions. So that's the second one. Councillor Presna is there any others that you want me to comment on? I would, good. It's mayor. No, I mean the bottom line is I have no idea why he says what he says. It doesn't clearly, it doesn't want to hear the answers. And the reality is he, you know, he cherry picks what he wants to talk about. you notice we have a new senior center we have a new community pool there were Christmas decorations that were put throughout the city that cost several thousand dollars. And as was indicated, we respect all religions and all holidays and all traditions at Christmas time. But just to the poor clearly wants to, I'm not quite sure what he wants because he doesn't want to hear any of the answers on anything that he asks. Okay, anyone else? I need a motion to close the public participation portion of this meeting. To move. Second. All in favor? All right. Opposed? I'll now ask Madame Clark if there are any changes to the list of resolutions. No changes have been made. Thank you. We can take the list of resolutions to consider agenda. Some move. Second. Valkorn. Mr. Angler. Yes. Mr. Rosses. Yes. Mrs. Woodace is absent. Dr. Vogue. Yes. Mr. Vera. Yes. Motion passed. Application is none. Miss Alayna for the Business of the Good of the Order. Councilman Dangler. Only thing I have is, I say, hopefully everyone will have a happy and joyful Easter holiday Sunday and weekend and good Friday and however you celebrate this particular time of the year. Thank you and God bless you. Thank you. Councilman Rases. Thank you, Council President DeVierre. I'd like to thank everyone for coming out this evening. I'd also like to wish everyone a nice holiday and please stay safe. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Voe. Thank you, Council President. Just in keeping with the previous comments, however you choose to celebrate these holidays. May you all have a very happy and blessed holiday. And thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you, Councilwoman Voe. May I pull on? Thank you, Council President. Just a couple of things that are coming up. So the city is for the last three or four years we've had a youth internship program for Long Branch residents. This is a paid internship and we're now accepting applications. Like I said, we've been doing this for three or four years where we would give students between the age of 15 and 18, or even college students, for long-branch residents, the opportunity to work for the police department, the fire department, arts and cultural center, senior center, right here in our administration, so that they can get some real life training for their future, for those who are interested. So that's please go to our website at longbranch.org to apply to find out more information. Our disability resource fair is set for May 3rd from 12 to 2pm. I think that's our third resource fair. Also longbranch.org to apply or to find out more, get more information. But it's going to, it's going to be a nice evening, a nice day, it grows every year. At the Arts and Cultural Center, we have the Burlot project and this exhibit takes Burlap bags donated from a local business work coffee that are then transformed into art by many different local artists in the community. Again, go to our website and this is in celebration of Earth Month and Earth Day in April. That's going on until I think May 6th, from that mistaken, very interesting and exciting exhibit. And finally, a classical evening of opera songs and piano will be happening at the Long Brand Senior Center on the evening of April 22nd at 6pm. This also a free event and all are welcome to attend. Thank you all for being here this evening. Thank you, Mayor Palon. And I also want to thank everybody who came out tonight. Phil, we're looking at some of those issues. Some of those concerns that you have. We go here as Mr. LaPour comes up and wants all these answers and these questions. And he's got no respect for anybody up here. And I keep telling him that this is a public portion of the American government state that comment. And he just wants to make a name for himself. I don't know what he wants to do up there. I just let him give him his five minutes. I don't have to answer these questions. He's got no respect for anybody so. the case anybody hasn't really been here, I don't answer his questions at all. Because, and if he has really important questions that he wants to ask us, first Wednesday of every month, we have a council meeting with the public. Anybody who is welcome to call us, reach out to us, and we'll address all any concerns, any questions that you have, we'll have the professionals that answer your questions. So that's the first Wednesday of every month we have that. And he knows that. He doesn't have to come out here and do his little thing, like he owns the business, he owns the room over here, he doesn't. So with that, I'd like to close in a happy holidays and thanks for coming out tonight. I need a motion. I need a motion to close. Don't move. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Good night.