[0:00] All right. Thank you. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Please rise for

[0:04] the pledge to the flag

[0:08] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it

[0:13] stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:18] for all. >> Thank you. Roll call, please.

[0:22] » Mayor, >> present.

[0:24] » Councilman Maria, >> here. Councilman Cox

[0:29] » here. >> Council,

[0:33] Council Member Graves >> here.

[0:35] » Council member Gri member

[0:39] » here. >> Right. Um, please read the open public

[0:42] meetings act statement. >> This is a regular scheduled meeting of

[0:46] the mayor and council Winona being held in accordance with the open public

[0:50] meetings act also known as the front title. And the schedule was adopted by

[0:55] resolution 2026-3 and published in New Jersey Advanced

[0:59] Media and on our website. >> Thank you. And can I have a motion,

[1:04] please, to adopt our agenda? >> So moved.

[1:06] » Second. >> Uh, all in favor?

[1:08] » Opposed? >> Right. Can I have a motion, please, for

[1:13] approval of our April 23rd and May 11th uh council meeting minutes from April

[1:18] 23rd and special council minutes from May 11th? Motion to approve April 23rd,

[1:22] 2026 council meetings. >> Second.

[1:25] » We got to separate everything, right? >> Okay. Um, can I have a roll call,

[1:29] please, for April 23rd?

[1:33] » Yes. >> H,

[1:34] » yes. >> Graves,

[1:36] » yes. >> Yes.

[1:39] » Uh, can I have a motion, please, for May 11th?

[1:42] » So moved. >> Second.

[1:43] » Okay. Roll call, please. >> Barbados,

[1:48] » here. C.

[1:50] » Yes. >> Great.

[1:54] » Yes. >> Thank you.

[1:57] » All right. U moving on to our business. Um Dan, would you please go ahead and

[2:03] give us our Oh, we have to do privilege of the floor first.

[2:06] » Uh can I get a motion to open to the floor for agenda items only?

[2:10] » Second. >> Okay. Um all in favor? I

[2:13] » I >> All right. So, we are open to the public

[2:17] for agenda items only. Motion to close for the public.

[2:21] » Second. >> Okay. All in favor?

[2:23] » I I motion to approve resolution 202663

[2:28] authorizing the governing body certification of the 2025 annual audit.

[2:32] » Second. >> Okay. Uh roll call, please.

[2:36] » Barba, >> yes.

[2:38] » Cox, >> yes.

[2:40] » Yes.

[2:47] » I'm sorry. Sir,

[2:52] » we good? >> Yes.

[2:53] » Motion to approve resolution 202664 in support of approving the sustainable

[2:58] community grant with Atlantic City Electric.

[3:00] » Second. >> Okay. Uh, roll call.

[3:03] » Barbara, >> yes.

[3:05] » Cox, >> yes.

[3:07] » Yes. >> Yes. Motion to approve resolution 202665

[3:12] approving sub submission of grant application with NJ do for roadway

[3:18] improvements to South Princeton. >> Second roll call.

[3:23] » Yes. >> Cox,

[3:24] » yes. >> Yes.

[3:27] » Yes. Motion to approve resolution 202666 approving special uh special item

[3:33] chapter 159 clean communities in the amount of $7,28727

[3:40] inserted into the budget. Roll call.

[3:43] » Barbados, >> yes.

[3:46] » Cox, >> yes.

[3:47] » Graves, >> yes.

[3:48] » Yes. Motion to approve ordinance 202611, first read amending section 3A 21

[3:56] subsection 3 of the burough code entitled residential development fees.

[4:00] » Second. >> Roll call.

[4:05] » Yes. >> Hot.

[4:06] » Yes. >> Graves.

[4:07] » Yes. >> Yes. Motion to approve ordinance 202612.

[4:11] First read, authorizing capital ordinance appropriation appropriating

[4:15] $250,000 from the HUD grant.

[4:21] » Uh roll call >> Barbad.

[4:25] » Yes. >> Yes.

[4:26] » Graves. >> Yes.

[4:29] » Yes. >> All right. Thank you. And the public

[4:31] hearing for both of those two ordinances will be on our next meeting, July 23rd.

[4:36] Um Jonathan

[4:40] Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Uh, all right. We're going to move on to

[4:44] other business. Jonathan, we'll have you stay on for these as well, please.

[4:47] » Okay. >> Um,

[4:50] » motion approving the Winona Lake Association waving the admission fee for

[4:55] 1 hour for anything that floats on 74th July at 3 p.m.

[5:01] » Okay. Um, roll call.

[5:07] Yes. >> Cox.

[5:08] » Yes. >> Yes.

[5:11] » Yes. >> Motion approving the Winona Lake

[5:14] Association winding of song and dance event September 19th, 2026 between 5 and

[5:18] 11:00 p.m. >> Um, all in favor?

[5:22] » I >> opposed. I

[5:26] » motion approving the Winona Lake Association haunted trail event at

[5:29] Winona Lake on October 24th, 2026 between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.

[5:34] » Second. >> All in favor? I

[5:37] » I >> opposed. All right. Very good. Thank

[5:41] you. >> Motion approving street closures on

[5:43] Friday, November 27th, 2026 for women's club for the turkey truck. The time for

[5:49] that to happen. >> Uh the time would be it's usually uh

[5:53] about 8:30 a.m. >> It starts at 9:30.

[5:56] » Yeah. >> Just for continuity.

[5:58] » Yeah, they close they Yeah, it starts at 9:00 a.m. So about 8

[6:01] » probably 8:30 to like 11:30. Yes, >> I guess

[6:05] » we can we can confirm that time with them, but let's go with 8:30 to 11:30.

[6:10] » Time will second. >> Okay. Uh all in favor?

[6:15] » I >> I

[6:16] » opposed. Motion approving street closures on

[6:21] Saturday, December 5th, 2026 for Holiday Market on Southeast Avenue between 10:00

[6:26] a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Rain date will be Sunday, December 6th at 2026.

[6:30] » Second. All in favor? >> I I

[6:35] » All right. Very good. >> All right, Jonathan, thank you for

[6:39] calling in. >> Thank you for accommodating.

[6:42] » All right, safe travels. >> All right, take care. Thank you.

[6:45] » Bye.

[6:48] » Hang on. >> All right, moving on. Uh committee

[6:52] reports. We Jean is not here. We did receive a report from our lake managers.

[7:00] um that is has been submitted. I don't Oh, you're here. I didn't see you come

[7:04] in. I apologize. Would you like to make your report?

[7:07] » Uh yes. Um so for those that don't know me, my

[7:12] name is Elena Thump. I'm co-manager of the lake with Colleen Johnson. Um this

[7:17] year we have four assistant managers, six feet guards, and 14 lifeguards. So

[7:22] we're looking very good um staffing wise. Um, this year, Colleen and I are

[7:29] going to start doing employee of the week. Um, we think it'll help like

[7:33] keeping everyone motivated throughout the season. Um, so like someone needs to

[7:38] save for example. Um,

[7:44] on weekends we're doing some staffing increasing. So, especially for the life

[7:49] bars, we're going to do four life bars on from 10:30 to 3:30. And then for life

[7:55] bars from 3:30 to 8. Um, and we're going to be in 20 minute rotations. Um, I

[8:01] think this will help because we tend to get a lot on the weekends and we're

[8:05] starting that this weekend. So, hopefully everything goes well. Um, we

[8:11] did have five teams so far this season, one actually today. So,

[8:18] That's why we're implementing this new coverage to hopefully

[8:23] get around that, >> keep everybody safe. Yeah.

[8:26] » Yeah. Um we also have an overlapping manager shift on the weekends which has

[8:31] been very helpful. Um a lot of times like we get very crowded at the shack.

[8:38] So, it's helping to get two people out at a time and make um people signing in

[8:42] more quickly or if someone wants to do day pass, guest passes, they will use

[8:47] moves a lot more smoothly. Um I just update uh lake association

[8:53] bought us like Coyote decoys and they have been helping. They've started to

[8:58] kind of figure out that they're fake, but some days they come, some days they

[9:03] don't. And now that we're open full time, they haven't really been around as

[9:06] much. So, that was great. Um, we're planning on doing a midsummer staff

[9:12] meeting and we're just going to rego over our emergency action plan

[9:16] considering we've had a few saves so far this year. So, it's back in everyone's

[9:20] mind and kind of do like a like simulation of doing a save and what

[9:26] we're supposed to do. Um, and that's everything we have today.

[9:35] » Great. Thank you. Thank you for the report. Um, all right, moving on to

[9:40] public works. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, like to say we're

[9:44] getting busy. Um, and we would like to thank Deford for helping us out with

[9:50] our bridge. Um, it was a tremendous help and the

[9:55] » collegiality between the towns is is it's a good fix. It's not perfect, but

[10:00] it's it's a lot better than it was. I'm happy with how it came out.

[10:05] So on top, do you have anything else to add? So did they notice today that

[10:10] should be mobilizing next week? Start drilling. They might start drilling in

[10:16] the middle of the week. What it looks like for well

[10:22] » just in time for the holiday charge charge a double. Uhhuh. I'm going to

[10:26] have a a meeting with him early next week and we'll decide whether push

[10:30] should maybe after the holiday start

[10:36] at least want to do a little announcement or

[10:40] something. Um, I'll also add, maybe this would have

[10:45] been part of the personnel report, but it's also public works. We hired a new

[10:50] » We hired a new employee. We starting Monday.

[10:54] We have him running with only one labor.

[10:59] » I'll tell you, he's doing a great job and he always smiles and waves. So, I

[11:03] won't complain. >> You got a good labor right now. doing a

[11:08] perfect job to say somebody else to help.

[11:16] » That's it. >> Thank you. All right. Public safety.

[11:19] » Thank you. Uh committee met um to discuss uh safety

[11:25] measures for the 4th of July. Um so uh given that this is both for the leadup

[11:33] to the fourth uh specifically the softball meeting before as well as the

[11:39] day of the events um as the Lions Club just hayes and I think we have a uh good

[11:49] plan in effect it's helpful that Hayes grew up here knows culture knows what to

[11:54] prioritize uh and to ensure that we don't have any uh which is

[12:02] a large part that will be the focus to short no

[12:10] um >> can I ask are they planning to use both

[12:12] fields again the flyer only listed one field

[12:15] » my understanding is that they still use both fields um and I discussed with them

[12:20] the logistics of that um in terms of driving and that there is going to be a

[12:27] a Uh

[12:29] while there will be people driving um there'll be absolutely no tolerance for

[12:34] any alcohol consumption and long drive into the fields and there'll be a

[12:40] presence uh and uh posted signage which reminds people that

[12:48] absolutely no tolerance for such a

[12:53] um shout out to uh our police force for um

[13:01] what I recognized that the farmers market uh people we had posted have uh

[13:06] on multiple occasions I there have gone beyond call duty help people and uh

[13:16] that were setting up and just overseeing everything. Uh it it's helpful that

[13:23] our force is uh takes upon themselves to integrate themselves into our community

[13:30] and create that atmosphere where there's trust built on a personal level. Um they

[13:37] continue to uh oversee avenue and I'll give some stats on

[13:47] the speed summaries for posted speed signs. Uh eastbound uh 22 mph average.

[13:56] Um for the month we had 135,000 vehicles. Westbound 120,000 and a speed

[14:04] limit or rather a average speed of 24 miles hour. And then on Jefferson we had

[14:12] about 31 miles per hour average speed 64,000

[14:19] volume

[14:23] that is again we continue to monitor lab it's always been an issue um we have uh

[14:31] extra officers in there in that area daily myself included um we also had um

[14:38] missed persons that we found pretty relatively quickly. Uh it had medical

[14:42] issues. We had one motor vehicle that was stolen. RPD found it and was

[14:46] returned to the owner within 24 hours. Um residents reported a couple of uh

[14:52] attempted uh burglaries to the vehicles. So we beefed up patrols for that area.

[14:57] Uh obviously the farmers market will continue to have officers there for

[15:00] that. Fourth of July, we'll have besides the six guys that we have working, we'll

[15:05] have eight people working that day full to assist in every manner that necessary

[15:11] and we also try to keep it when we feel and we're not overbearing at all. We're

[15:16] just there just in case anyone needs. Um and uh we're going through accreditation

[15:22] again. So we just start back back up again. Uh and uh Lieutenant Hos will be

[15:29] in charge of that. And it's pretty much and we just got paid training. So all

[15:34] our guys updated. So not that you guys care, but

[15:39] still easily, but you never know. Um so uh and that's pretty much it.

[15:44] » Thank you. >> And I see the chief here. He submitted a

[15:49] report. Uh Jack, I don't know.

[15:56] » Oh, we had um we celebrated two of our members graduated from high school from

[16:00] Gateway this week. That was very exciting.

[16:03] » Very nice. >> And we'll put out and the fire company

[16:06] always does jointly and I think the police do as well, reminders about

[16:09] fireworks as we do every year. >> Um also just for the sake of our our

[16:15] furry friends that you know and of course public safety. uh in general. Um

[16:22] great. Thank you very much. Uh finance and budget.

[16:25] » Yes. So uh thank you, mayor. Um two things for this month. Um we have the

[16:30] results of our audit. Seems like that went pretty well. Um those are in the

[16:34] minutes um for review. Um and then uh just an update on the swim season

[16:39] membership sales. Uh as of June 23rd, um sold a total of 750 tags. Um

[16:48] 317 of those were purchased by residents which is 42% and 43 uh 433 which is 58%

[16:55] were purchased by non-residents. Um we have approximately

[17:00] 811 households in the burough. Uh we have 11% so far that have purchased

[17:05] memberships. Um through the end of May uh we were down a

[17:11] little bit from last year on membership sales but sales but I think we saw a

[17:14] huge uptick in June. So, I'm hoping that that will um free out when we get the

[17:18] end of month numbers for this month. So, um that's

[17:24] » Thank you. Okay. Um public buildings and grounds is not here. Um and human

[17:30] services is not here. So, we'll move on to the engineers report.

[17:34] » Thank you, mayor. Um couple of items. I guess kind of a followup. We had a

[17:38] public works meeting last month where we talked about a number of roadways

[17:41] throughout the town that are kind of problematic. Parker Road being one,

[17:44] Lynon Avenue being another, uh the intersections at Manua Avenue of our

[17:49] various uh local roadways and then uh Lyndon Street. So, uh we decided um and

[17:56] uh the municipal aid applications for DOT are due on July 1st. So, what ended

[18:01] up happening was we are going for a municipal a application for South

[18:05] Avenue. I saw the resolution on the agenda tonight. I actually send in the

[18:08] application today uh following with the state uh Lynen Avenue and Barkbridge

[18:13] Road. We had a meeting with Deford Township over those two roadways and

[18:16] Deford uh as Dan mentioned earlier stepped up to the plate and actually

[18:20] repaired the worst parts of Barkidge Road for us. So that was a a nice little

[18:24] benefit. Uh we were actually looking to mill and overlay that. But I think with

[18:27] the repairs they finished, we might get another couple of years out of that road

[18:30] before we have to take action on some kind of mill and overlay. Uh we talked

[18:35] about Lynen Street with Deeper Township and Lynden is uh it's a complicated one

[18:39] and that may take a couple of years to to bring into fruition. Uh there's some

[18:43] utility uh implications with water and sewer and different residents and

[18:47] different MUA. Uh those issues kind of have to be ironed out before we really

[18:51] think about painting the roadway and what we're going to do with the roadway.

[18:54] And the roadway once again is shared by Deer with Deer Township. So uh what we

[18:58] discussed is is possible future joint application to NJT local aid

[19:02] infrastructure fund uh to cover the roadway improvements but that

[19:07] application is far from being uh submitted or even worked on because I

[19:11] think we need to work out the utility details with the NUA first and find out

[19:15] uh what we're doing uh more specifically about the different township residents

[19:18] on the opposite side of the street because they don't have public warrants

[19:20] so they're not well and septic and we have public warrants so we're in Lincoln

[19:25] Avenue so there will need to be like in the local agreement with the NUA to

[19:29] bring those people on on board to uh the Moni utility system. So that's a

[19:34] long-term thing. It involves an interlocal agreement that I'm sure

[19:37] you'll be involved in that time. >> So uh that that's a long-term project

[19:41] Lynon unfortunately. But fortunately for Lynon is Dford Township once again

[19:44] stepped up and they did some repairs of some of the worst parts of the Lynon

[19:47] Avenue roadway. So that was very nice of effort uh to cooperate like that. Uh the

[19:53] other one that I wanted to talk about the Manual Avenue intersections,

[19:57] the Manual Avenue intersections, we've decided to go for a local a

[20:00] infrastructure grant for those. So I'll be working on that now that just

[20:02] submitted for Princeton. So we'll uh we'll try to attack that next year. And

[20:08] uh no other updates really anything else. I'm still waiting for the

[20:11] contractor to finish the punch list. There's a couple items on street that I

[20:13] wanted to take care of before I submit for final payment. So I'm hoping to get

[20:16] that done next month. I know hasn't been for a couple of weeks now. I think the

[20:21] problem with them is I think they just uh they got they got too busy.

[20:24] Contractor got too busy. He's still taking over a lot of projects and now

[20:28] it's kind of like pulling teams trying to get them back out here to finish up

[20:30] the small amount of work that they have to do. So I'm holding my final payment

[20:33] till it's all done. Uh other than that, there's a number of other things report

[20:36] if anybody has any questions. But those are really the forefront of what's going

[20:40] on right now. You want to address the night?

[20:44] » Oh, okay. >> All right. Yeah. Um, as we all are well

[20:49] aware, we had a major rainstorm on Monday. Uh, probably some of the hardest

[20:54] rain I've ever seen in my life to be frankly honest with you. Uh, we had a

[20:58] lot of flooding problems. To no one's surprise, that rain was so hard that

[21:02] there's no storm system that would be able to handle that amount of runoff.

[21:05] So, we had flooding all over town. Uh, some of the worst of it was really the

[21:10] genesis of was the railroad right away. Uh, a lot of our storm sewers discharge

[21:16] into that ditch that adjacent to the railroad. And when that ditch backs up,

[21:20] our storm sers back up and we had major flooding on Southeast Avenue all the way

[21:26] from I would say Manswood down to Cedar Street into Cedar Field. Uh I mean it

[21:32] was a at least a foot deep I would say if not more. So I think Brian, if I'm

[21:37] not mistaken, saw someone from Conrail out there and mentioned what was going

[21:40] on and they were actually surprised because the water came so high up. I

[21:43] don't know how many of you are familiar with Willow Street. They have an

[21:45] electrical box there. Uh controller box. The the controller box was actually

[21:50] partially submerged under the water. Uh apparently the alarm never went off.

[21:54] Conrad was never notified of it, but we did find someone and let them know. And

[21:59] we're hoping that uh with that initiation of a discussion that we can

[22:04] kind of grab Conra, get them out here to maintain that ditch. Cuz as it stands

[22:08] right now, uh there's a lot of debris in the ditch. A lot of debris is blocking

[22:11] the pipes at Willow Street. And if we get hit with another rain, we're going

[22:15] to get more flooding. And if we as a burrow cannot legally go into ground

[22:19] right away and clear that ditch, we uh would expose ourselves to a tremendous

[22:23] amount of liability. And uh we we can't do it. I think we would end up getting

[22:26] fined if I'm not mistaken, and we've never done it. So, this is a Conrail

[22:30] issue. I know Jeff's mayor is uh is um ready to take this to to the mayor's

[22:36] meeting and discuss with the with the mayors of of adjacent municipalities who

[22:40] may be dealing with the same thing. And hopefully after that meeting and

[22:44] subsequent there too, uh we'll get some more action from Condrail. This is

[22:48] something we chase for years. I've been here for 20 years. This is probably the

[22:51] fifth goound with Conrail to have them come out and clean this ditch. They

[22:55] don't do it without someone asking. They don't just come out and just, you know,

[22:58] we'll find them out there cleaning it. It's really we've got to notify them

[23:01] and, you know, it'd be nice if they got on a program like you know, once every

[23:05] two years or whatever, but they don't as far as I know. Maybe that's something we

[23:08] can try to get them on because you know this is becoming you know a frequent

[23:11] problem with this and and these storms are becoming more frequent which means

[23:14] the flooding is becoming more frequent which means the maintenance has to

[23:17] become more frequent and uh you know I think they just need to be alerted of

[23:20] the fact because I don't think they just have people out here every day like we

[23:23] are uh seeing what's going on >> and my understanding is you know we are

[23:27] required to do a certain amount of testing and maintenance of all of ours.

[23:31] They are exempt from those requirements. Correct. So it

[23:34] » Yeah. I see. Okay. That that that's our municipal stormware permit. We as a

[23:38] burrow and every municipality and also public agencies uh are required to make

[23:44] sure these drain systems are clear. Conrail is not subject to that

[23:47] additional storm water permit. So they're not subject to those

[23:50] requirements. They're kind of exempt more or less. I actually talked to the D

[23:53] about this months ago and uh they made it clear to me that you know we have

[23:57] outfalls that go into the contrail uh right away and those alpha falls are

[24:00] supposed to be maintained and I told you know I basically mentioned to them that

[24:04] we don't have right to go in there and maintain those outalls and I asked that

[24:08] they Conrail is is responsible for doing that. They flat out told me that they

[24:12] don't they're not subject to the MS4 permit. So really it's up to them and

[24:16] that's you know I guess their own maintenance policies to uh that.

[24:21] » Yeah. Well like you said the mayor's association meets on Tuesday and I am

[24:25] going to bring this up because I'm sure there are other municipalities that are

[24:28] also dealing with it and there's power in numbers I think. So

[24:31] » especially after this last storm sure we're not the only ones that experience

[24:34] flooding problems in the railroad tracks.

[24:38] » Thank you. >> Um I don't see Gary. He's probably

[24:43] somewhere exotic, so we'll He always is. Uh, can we move on to approve the

[24:49] dispersements, please? >> So, move.

[24:51] » Second. >> Roll call, please.

[24:53] » Cox, >> yes.

[24:55] » Yes. >> Yes.

[24:59] » Motion open to the floor uh for any and all items.

[25:02] » Second. >> Um, all in favor?

[25:05] » Right. We are now open to the public. Yes. Please state your name.

[25:09] » 107. Um, I just want to make a mention we the

[25:13] the good Historical Society is having an open house on June 30th from 7 to 9.

[25:19] It's going to be Fourth of July exhibit. Anybody's welcome to come in. We're

[25:23] going to have light refreshments, lemonade, water, and appetizers and

[25:27] dessert and um just get a pre fourth of July celebration going. Um Jack and I

[25:33] went out to our uh son grandson's baseball tournament in Portland and then

[25:38] we went over to the bigger and I send a picture to Alex. They have their porch

[25:43] fest in Geneva and New York and u they it's really cool. They do a fundraiser

[25:48] of the shirts from the merchandise. But I just thought that was so neat because

[25:53] I was also somewhere else um local reading about porch. Oh, it was in the

[25:58] AP magazine. But it's really neat because it's starting to become a really

[26:02] big thing around the whole country and is theirs is the end of I think it's

[26:07] this weekend. Um, the last thing is just a safety thing. I know we all know that

[26:12] North Clinton is a great street. It's nice and smooth, but the bicyclist, the

[26:17] motorbikes, the um scooters, motorized scooters, and the motorized skateboard.

[26:23] Last week, I was totally blown away. There's a kid with no helmet on. I did

[26:27] respond to someone on Facebook, blind kid, young, probably like 11 or 12. He's

[26:33] on no helmet on the skateboard. was motorized racing with the bikes and it I

[26:38] couldn't even say anything to him about it they blew blew by so fast and my

[26:42] concern is there so loud the car did cross street I mean I I don't know what

[26:47] else we can do other than the law comes back

[26:55] » but it doesn't apply to scooters >> or skateboards

[26:59] » or skateboards >> correct so uh yeah I mean and The law is

[27:05] tricky. It's going to be tricky to enforce, but there are certain things

[27:08] that are that are not part of that and and the motorized scooters and

[27:10] skateboards are not part of it. So, you know, I I say I feel like I say this

[27:14] every year uh 12 times a year is is we have to um I think get messaging out to

[27:22] our parents around town and our grandparents around town to make sure

[27:25] they are aware that it is the law in the state of New Jersey that people ages 17

[27:30] and under are required to wear helmets. >> Um I mean, I

[27:35] There's fatals constantly. >> Yeah. And I personally think everyone

[27:38] I'm I'm personally really upset every time I see an adult riding around town

[27:42] without a helmet on because your brain will also get hurt if you fall. Um our

[27:46] brains don't become immune after we turn 17. Um and and regardless of how fast or

[27:52] slow you're going, you can fall and get hurt. So I I would love it to be a law

[27:56] for everyone to have to wear a helmet, but it certainly is for 17 and under. We

[28:00] do put out messaging uh multiple times a year on our social media. Um you know, I

[28:06] try to encourage the school to do the same. And I think the best thing we can

[28:09] do is is just continue to remind people and educate them and then hope that the

[28:14] caregivers and the neighbors can help uh reinforce that.

[28:18] » It's just sad because I mean I feel bad for the motorists because those kids are

[28:22] not stopping at the stop signs. They may glance, but they're just flying and they

[28:26] are flying the street. It's a great street. I be smooth and be easy. And I I

[28:32] feel for the kids because I'm sure they enjoy that, but they're also naive about

[28:42] if I may from a public safety standpoint. I was going I've heard this

[28:45] from multiple people especially recently seen Facebook posts

[28:51] and to discuss it in terms of books

[29:01] is I see the kids I would definitely say >> I think it takes a community

[29:08] » well you can start wearing helmets when you ride your bike would be a great

[29:11] example for the

[29:14] It would I think if they see adults wearing helmets, they would not maybe

[29:18] feel so bad about it. I I encourage all the adults and the parents to wear

[29:22] helmets, too. We used to have a uh an agreement with Dippies and Dippy would

[29:26] give us a stack police officers a stack of of certificates

[29:33] » and we give to kids with helmets that they want how much they get free

[29:37] » and that's that's something that we can maybe I can reach out to them see if

[29:41] they want to start that back up for the for the motor scooters too as well even

[29:45] the even the uh scoot regular scooters escape rooms.

[29:48] » Yeah, I I think that's great. I mean, rewarding good behavior is helpful.

[29:52] » Okay. Also make a suggestion. School year's out and it's starting soon. Maybe

[29:56] we could work out with, you know, again, that's not our partake at the school,

[30:00] but maybe police department could work out something. They have an educational

[30:04] day >> or something. I mean, I would like to do

[30:07] it at the school because then the kids kind of be involved. Maybe just a sixth

[30:11] graders. >> We've done that a couple of years. Um I

[30:14] didn't do it this past year, but the two years prior we did. Um, we did a bike

[30:18] safety and we did a little ride around and we gave away some helmets. Um,

[30:21] Rebecca Kre was great in getting us some donations and we gave away equipment.

[30:25] So, I mean, we can definitely try to to put it together again. Um, you know, and

[30:30] it's great, but but I will say that the the kids and the parents that show up to

[30:33] that are the ones that are already wearing the helmets.

[30:36] » So, you know, it's hard to get to the ones who aren't. Um, so, but it does

[30:41] take an effort. Alex is absolutely right. It takes a community and um

[30:44] hopefully we can all just keep chiming in and and encouraging it. And I would

[30:49] hate to think, you know, that it's going to take something bad happening for

[30:52] people to realize um but things do happen all the time in in other

[30:56] communities. Um and it's scary. >> We just lost a 16-year-old

[31:02] state.

[31:08] » Yeah. >> Just last week.

[31:10] » It's a shame. Thank you.

[31:13] » Yes. Sorry. >> Okay.

[31:17] » Yes. Go ahead. >> Okay. Sarah from 301 South Pand actually

[31:21] um came up in half of the lake and myself. Um, I just wanted to kind of

[31:27] give a little report uh that this year the lake association contributed to new

[31:32] fencing through whole park uh where there were holes and damage and the

[31:40] entrance way going in has been refenced. So, we should slow down on any kind of

[31:45] people sneaking in or going in and out going out.

[31:50] Um, so that's complete. We also uh purchased 20 new chairs

[31:55] and four Chase lounges. And I wanted to reiterate that if anything was broken um

[32:02] to let us know so we could get a refund um we found one Chase Lounge in the

[32:07] trash today and we just bought them. It's only a week old. So anyway, uh that

[32:13] and um we have some distribution of the

[32:18] postcards but not all. Uh also, um we had an issue last week where um we

[32:26] received complaints of people who had purchased tags

[32:33] but weren't able to come into the park because there was the only record that

[32:38] was there was what you know their bank statement. Um I don't know if that's

[32:44] been resolved. I certainly hope so. I know one of our residents is here, but

[32:48] there were other people that were involved with this and publicly wrote it

[32:53] on the site. So, um our site and you know that falls on us even though that's

[32:59] not part of uh so hopefully I don't know it has resolved for the weekend or any

[33:06] kind of holidays. Um and that makes it a smoother transition for people to be

[33:13] able to enter even though they especially residents that's was my kind

[33:18] of big I didn't understand that. So what kind of

[33:25] things >> I'm happy to respond but I'll let you

[33:27] finish your state first. Um, and then on my own personal level, I just kind of

[33:32] wanted to know, is there a kid curfew in town or No,

[33:37] » no, we have a noise ordinance at 11. >> Better. That's it. Okay. I just was

[33:41] wondering because you know, school's out and I know kids are hurting around and

[33:46] um I've been down this road before and just was wondering if they actually had

[33:51] something. Obviously, it's not enforced. Um, so it's interesting to hear all the

[33:57] numbers. Hopefully it increases, but we'll see. Um, as far as membership goes

[34:03] because it's been high. Um, anyway, so has there been any kind of resolve for

[34:09] people who have? >> Yeah. Are you finished your statement?

[34:12] Cuz I'm answering. So yes. So here to give some information.

[34:18] » This policy changed this year. We it there was a meeting at the end of the

[34:22] season last season with the personnel who managed the lake and the office

[34:28] personnel. Um we had some legal issues last year and some of which are not

[34:33] resolved. So I cannot go into any detail. Um, but as we've discussed at

[34:39] length, we have had to put a lot of new practices in place this year to better

[34:45] protect the burrow's liability for running this program because all of us

[34:49] do not want this program to be shut down and certain actions and behaviors can

[34:54] lead to real issues that would threaten the life and health of this program. So,

[35:00] one of the uh new policies that was decided on is that entry to the lake for

[35:07] a member would not be permitted without showing your member tag at and signing

[35:12] in with your member tag because we had a lot of instances last year and in prior

[35:18] years, but last year was the big year where it led to other problems of people

[35:22] refusing to do that or saying they were a member and then having people come in

[35:27] with them who are not part of their party, but sneaking them in and not

[35:31] paying the guest fee and everything else. So, long story short, we put this

[35:35] in place. The language is on the application form on the

[35:42] website that says tags will not be available to be picked up until the next

[35:46] business day. So, what we did not anticipate is that that language would

[35:52] not be clear to people who on a Saturday morning went online to purchase their

[35:57] tags and then show up that same day to try to enter the leak. What we have

[36:02] since done is put large old language at the very top of the form when you go

[36:09] online that says online registration is not available on weekends and federal

[36:14] holidays. The option to purchase a membership on weekends is still

[36:19] possible. You may come to the lake in person with cash or check. You may fill

[36:23] out all of the forms and you may be given your tags and you may enter. But

[36:28] we cannot admit anyone to the property without knowing that their registration

[36:34] forms have been properly and completely filled out, that they have confirmed

[36:38] that they've read the rules, that we have their accurate contact

[36:43] information, and it is for legal reasons. And again, I can't discuss

[36:47] anything further other than to say it is for the protection of the the program.

[36:52] We do feel badly that it wasn't a smooth process for the first for this past

[36:58] weekend. We have done what we can to address that so moving forward it will

[37:03] be clear to people and we will not continue to have that problem.

[37:06] So if they want to come in and they purchase it down the lake,

[37:13] what if for an example you well I have my whole family here. Do I have do I get

[37:19] a reimbursement or refund because it would be double if they paid for it

[37:24] there and they had or also paid for it >> from this point forward they should not

[37:30] do an online purchase on a weekend or holiday because the message went

[37:34] forward. >> So I mean if we had anyone that's

[37:38] contacting us who double paid I'm sure we can address that but I I'm not aware

[37:42] of anyone that has contacted us. I just wonder if that happens, you know, if

[37:45] something should happen and and there's still not clarity. Is that

[37:49] » I I'm sure that we could address it on a case by case basis, but they would still

[37:53] need to complete the information and and have it on file accurately on the

[37:58] property before they were enter. >> No, the other part of this is we don't

[38:04] have secure internet at the lake. So we are a government entity and we are

[38:09] required to do certain things with very secure internet. We can't. So so we

[38:16] can't do that. That's why it's cash or check on the day of. Hopefully if

[38:20] someone is able to plan in advance, they will and they want to do it online, they

[38:24] can do that. You know, I I gave the example to a few people earlier this

[38:28] week. It's like the DMV, right? If your license expires and you need a new

[38:32] license, you're not going to be able to go online that day, renew your license,

[38:35] and pick it up and get it on a weekend if that's when that happens. We're a

[38:38] government agency, so we unfortunately have some restrictions um that we're

[38:43] trying our best to accommodate service for people, but we we do have some

[38:47] restrictions. And one of those is that we don't have internet access at the

[38:51] lake. >> Is there any way that we can get that

[38:55] down for three months? It it's it's going to create what the mayor is

[39:00] saying. It creates both security issues and audit issues and it and it costs to

[39:06] implement that and monitor it outweighs the benefit that you're trying

[39:11] to propose and that it it you know as the mayor said from as a government

[39:15] agency a government function we deal with these limitations all the time. I

[39:20] mean really what we need to do is to drive the online registration towards

[39:23] the week and be able to handle the the inperson as you said.

[39:28] » Yeah. >> So we understand that there are

[39:31] limitations but these aren't created by our policy. are created by the

[39:36] constraints we operate under. Okay. You have a special site where you

[39:43] » taxes and as mayor said the it may sound somewhat

[39:50] uh really uh specific and almost burdensome, but it does have a long

[39:56] range impact potentially. And unfortunately we are dealing with the

[40:00] after effects of that and our responsibilities of oversight and

[40:07] implementation will be questioned and that's why we

[40:11] have to have this diligence. It's it's the world playing blame the lawyers

[40:15] quite frankly. Um well it's unfortunate that you know like you said you know I

[40:20] felt bad that I wasn't okay for the day

[40:25] » and I think that people did do that and and you know

[40:29] » also have goodwill and >> and I appreciate that very much. Um and

[40:34] and it is good for people to to be able to do that, but it it it the burrow

[40:39] can't our staff can't be in put in a position where they're violating a

[40:42] policy that's going to >> somebody has to be down.

[40:48] » I get it. >> Well, um thanks for your time.

[40:51] » Okay. Thank you, Sarah. >> In so far that we have um a concern not

[40:55] having read the um the terms, which I think is a fair

[41:01] point. Um but we have has people fill out the terms. Is it possible for

[41:08] members to uh purch and fill out a form there? Uh so they're agreed to. So if

[41:16] they haven't my concern ultimately at this point, you know, is that we're

[41:20] going to lose out on revenue um for people that don't have cash in their

[41:25] check and ready to sign up as a member on the weekends. um and uh if they get

[41:33] proof that or they get um a confirmation that they paid. But I

[41:38] understand that uh >> so when someone purchases a membership

[41:43] online, one of our staff members looks at the information that they have filled

[41:47] out to make sure that it is complete, to make sure that it's accurate, to make

[41:52] sure that the amount they've paid actually matches what they were supposed

[41:55] to pay because, you know, it's a manual entry and people autocalculate, but

[41:59] maybe they filled in the wrong amount or maybe they left off, you know, two of

[42:03] their. So it's it's there are step to verify that it's correct. So that's part

[42:08] of the process that our staff time is spent doing. And if someone says, "Well,

[42:13] I did it." We don't our the admin system is not set up to provide a receipt that

[42:18] shows even how much you paid. All it says is that you paid, but it doesn't

[42:23] also give the information of what you filled out to make sure that it's

[42:26] correct. So, if someone has purchased online, our staff in the office who has

[42:31] the secure internet access needs the time to process it. If if if they don't

[42:36] have cash or a check, they should they should plan ahead and purchase online on

[42:40] Thursday night and they can get their tags. But if they decide on Saturday,

[42:45] the only option to them is cash or chat because that's that is what is

[42:49] available. >> I think that you have them fill out uh

[42:55] the terms and to agree to the terms just as day

[42:58] pass would have something fill it out. Um I think that is a workound.

[43:03] » Well, we've also converted pass >> we've also converted day pass buyers to

[43:09] full uh memberships. So they can come for the day and do a day pass. They're

[43:14] going to do the same thing, pay for their day pass, and then they are

[43:19] on the property under all of the terms and conditions, and then they can say,

[43:22] I'm going to convert that to a membership, and they can pay the

[43:25] difference for the membership on Monday or Tuesday when we're open,

[43:29] » and they get credit >> and they get credited for the day pass.

[43:32] So, there are there are options that don't put us in a position of violating.

[43:38] We've that's a process we've been doing since last year as well and I think the

[43:42] year before. >> Okay. My understanding of that was that

[43:45] they had to pay the day. So they pay within

[43:49] » I think if they came the next day and said I wanted to do a full membership

[43:52] but I didn't have cash the office could accommodate them. I

[43:57] think these are case by cases that you're bringing up but we'd have to

[44:00] accommodate a case by case. I don't think we can jeopardize the security.

[44:05] » I don't question jeopardizing the security. I was just bringing up that

[44:09] like in terms of >> um how many instances were there?

[44:15] » I have no idea that uh I'm not able to help this that people um mispay

[44:24] last year online. >> Many

[44:28] » there were many >> and that

[44:31] » we also had a bounce check believe it or not

[44:34] » this year. >> Yeah. So, we're being flexible even

[44:36] allowing people to give us a check that may or may not under cash.

[44:41] » My suspicion is that it will result in less memberships. Take away all my

[44:48] knowledge online

[44:57] » in a matter of laid out. It's not instantaneous.

[45:01] » Yeah. you talk about a really narrow window

[45:05] and the mayor just laid out there's a credit there's a credit back if that

[45:08] person or group cannot pay the full price that day they come in Monday or

[45:14] Tuesday and say I was I was dead guest on Saturday I want to apply that fee to

[45:19] my membership it's economy I mean we're really again we have competing interest

[45:25] here which is our required oversight and convenience and and service to the

[45:32] and our living. So, we're balancing all these things with the same.

[45:36] » Yeah, there's there's quite a few options that that have been put in place

[45:40] » to to accommodate people and also to allow our staff because we whenever we

[45:46] manage something an endeavor like this, we put policies and rules in place and

[45:50] if we don't have our staff adhere to them, they become meaningless, you know,

[45:55] and and then you get questioned when there's a negative result.

[46:01] for the entire family.

[46:05] » All right. Any other comments or questions from the public?

[46:12] » 47. Uh my family unfortunately was one of

[46:16] the uh one of the families

[46:21] as we go. Um, so I was I was coming to see what um, you know, what action we

[46:28] may take was just to try to move ahead for other families or other members in

[46:34] the future. Um

[46:39] but um yeah, unfortunately that was uh something we went through

[46:45] in my bought membership

[46:49] water online to be very similar to most other subs we put on lake bags was fine.

[46:56] It wasn't unfortunately. And uh just my my my other half's uh emotions

[47:06] got the best of her. Um and yeah, she you know, understandably she she was

[47:12] trying to figure out why that we were being denied access to the plate that we

[47:17] members.

[47:21] Um so unfortunately you know fortunately

[47:24] there was an incident and um you know after about an hour uh she she did call

[47:30] and apologize staff because obviously not not something that that's imposed by

[47:37] them obviously there um but uh we were I think I was

[47:44] surprised to get an email or letter with a with a formal warning for our family

[47:50] membership based on that based

[47:58] code of conduct members. I guess I was just trying to

[48:02] see what which specific uh code we were in violation.

[48:08] » Um there is a lang well my understanding of of the incident that occurred as

[48:12] reported by the manager was about language that was used towards our

[48:16] staff. Um, and there's a line in that code of conduct that specifically talks

[48:20] about um, mistreatment of staff. Um, it's it's on the website if you want to

[48:25] review it. U, I think it was also linked in the in the email that you received.

[48:29] And, and I'll be honest, you're not your your family's not the only one that

[48:32] received that email. Um, I understand people being upset when something is not

[48:37] going the way they want, but we again based on incidents that occurred in

[48:43] prior summers and really came to a head last summer,

[48:47] we have to have we have had to put a lot stricter policies in place for the

[48:54] protection of the burrow and this program. Um, and part of that also is

[48:58] documenting incidents when they occur. Um, I'm not saying that you or your

[49:03] family or your wife are bad people, but there are other families who um there is

[49:10] another patron, I'll give you an example, who last year uh was a big

[49:15] problem and caused a big problem. And we learned after the very big problem that

[49:20] occurred that oh that lady's been a problem all year and there's been 17

[49:24] other times when this happened, that happened and there was no record of it.

[49:27] There was no documentation. There was also nothing on our part that indicated

[49:31] that we told them, hey, you can't do this. So the problem there happens when

[49:37] something goes wrong and the burrow hasn't done its part in making sure that

[49:41] the patrons are aware of what the rules are. So this is just part of the new

[49:47] policy that we are implementing to really make sure that this program is

[49:51] protected. So that's the explanation I'll give regarding the email, but you I

[49:55] mean you're welcome to review the code of conduct. It's on the website and it's

[49:58] posted at the link. >> Sure. Um

[50:02] I guess um

[50:10] what's what's I mean what what else is being on the on the other side? That's a

[50:14] lot. Seems like it's quite a few quite a few people quite a few incidents and it

[50:18] calls it calls a cause.

[50:24] Well, no. I think we're getting we're getting a form of a

[50:28] warning. >> Yep.

[50:29] » That's not I mean, you know, our our own actions and behaviors are our problems.

[50:35] What's the reciprocating action on on here?

[50:39] » So, >> well, our our burden, we have a burden

[50:41] to our and a responsibility to our employees. It's a very difficult

[50:45] facility to run as our all recreation particularly swimbased activities. It's

[50:50] very difficult to hire, train, and maintain a staff down here. One of the

[50:54] issues we learned about when when there's really difficult situations

[50:59] » is again as the mayor stated repetitive behavior. We have an affirmative duty to

[51:03] show that we are taking action even if it is simple notification. Failure to do

[51:08] so is is really really a failure on our part to maintain our duty to the to the

[51:15] to the staff. We have a date a duty to that staff. Um, you know, you're asking

[51:20] what's what's the reciprocal duty here regarding regarding the borrower. I

[51:25] mean, the borrower spends other than other than Brian's

[51:29] department, I think the borrower from my vantage point, the brow spends more

[51:33] time, effort, and money to to try to solve these problems on a 12-month basis

[51:39] than any other program in the bureau. Anything, including, you know, trash

[51:43] removal, snow removal, police, everything. It's it's an ongoing It's a

[51:48] difficult undertaking and it's it's part of the community that that that and

[51:54] there aren't many left. That's why it's not a coincidence that that that

[51:58] publicly run municipally managed swim facilities have disappeared left and

[52:04] right. It it is not a coincidence. It has to do with liability and cost and

[52:09] and the ability to supervise. Um, but are you asking and you're asking maybe

[52:14] what are So, I don't know if you heard the beginning, but we have,

[52:18] » you know, there was already language in the form that said that passes would not

[52:21] be available for pickup until the next business day. We have put new messaging

[52:27] right at the top when you first log on that makes that very clear and bold. Um

[52:33] so that you know we feel it is a communication uh issue and we are we're

[52:37] going to try better to communicate what the restrictions are around online

[52:41] purchases versus inerson purchases so that we don't have this happen again.

[52:45] That's the the best we can try to do this summer to you know continue to

[52:50] encourage membership but also make it stay within the uh you know the

[52:54] constraints that we have to operate under you know.

[52:59] » Yeah. I mean trust it's not it's not a position that

[53:04] the police is not very fair to put them in that predicament. Um,

[53:11] I probably better than some people, but um, it could be like that. Um, but

[53:18] that's not it's not everybody to have to defend some of that. And

[53:25] I'm just I guess I'll rub you the wrong way about I understand this formality.

[53:29] That's fine. Um, but outside of a personal communication, never got any

[53:34] communication like, "Hey, this was an issue. You're one of the people the

[53:37] family is affected. This is being addressed.

[53:42] No communication in Africa. Just the just the formal warning

[53:47] rubbed the wrong way, I guess. Um,

[53:54] I don't I I'm just uh I guess I'm just trying to I don't I guess because the

[53:59] burrow is closed, there's no verification of who purchased the

[54:03] membership online and then so you can't issue the tax. I I mean our our thing

[54:08] was we purchased the membership, here's our here's purchased it. We just came

[54:13] down with the tax and refuse.

[54:17] » Yeah. They don't I think what people bother me is that

[54:20] » so we so we talked about this there's no there is no internet at the link so they

[54:24] they don't have the ability to confirm who has purchased online the day of the

[54:28] processing of that happens here in this office um and so that is why it can only

[54:33] happen during the regular business hours of this office.

[54:35] » Sure. Sure. I think I think what probably wrong about it was getting the

[54:40] getting the formal warning. Uh, and you knew you knew who we were to issue that,

[54:46] but we we didn't know who know we were under it in order to issue to issue the

[54:50] late. >> Well, the two things aren't I mean the

[54:56] we've issued the warning because there was an incident report filed by the

[54:59] manager about the incident that occurred. So, that is connected to that.

[55:04] members. >> No, whoever an incident is with, the

[55:08] manager fills out the incident report with all of the information. We have

[55:11] incident reports for members. We have instant reports for day pass purchasers,

[55:15] for guests, it it person. So, um, like I said, you weren't the only email that

[55:21] went out and, uh, you know, the the issues this weekend were around the

[55:26] people who purchased a membership Saturday morning and came down to look

[55:29] to their tags and their tags were not there. But we have had plenty of other

[55:33] people who have been contacted for incidents at the lake for any number of

[55:39] reasons. And we that contact comes from an incident report that is filed by the

[55:44] staff. >> Sorry.

[55:51] » Anyone? >> Anyone else from the public?

[55:54] » Motion to close the public. >> Second.

[55:56] » All in favor? >> I. All right.

[55:59] » Motion to adjurnn. Second. >> All in favor?

[56:02] » I thank you.

June 2026 Council Meeting

Transcript