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Residents press council on fire department finances, audit and local projects; consent agenda passes
Summary
During the July 9 public comment period residents raised concerns about the Long Branch Fire Department raffle, the city audit, tax abatements and a newly created community outreach manager position. The council closed public participation and approved the consent agenda and resolutions by unanimous roll call.
Several residents used the July 9 public comment period to press the council on a range of concerns, including alleged problems with the Long Branch Fire Department’s raffle funds, the city audit and tax abatements. After public comment the council approved the consent agenda by unanimous roll call.
Vincent Lepore told the council he had attended neighboring municipal meetings and credited West Long Branch for tabling a resolution related to that town’s fire department. Lepore then raised multiple criticisms regarding Long Branch government. He alleged that a recent fire department raffle held June 23 had not paid out "a single cent" as of July 9 and said the fire department was "on its way again to review by the authorities." He urged council members to vote "no" on Resolution 149 (the audit), saying he found multiple issues despite the auditor reporting no findings. Lepore also cited tax abatement figures stated in the meeting record: "1,669,000 for Pure Village 3 alone. Total tax abatements in this city for developers, 3,545,000." He criticized a recently approved community outreach manager position, stating the job pays $87,500 annually and includes benefits; he described the hire as politically motivated and asked the council to reject budget and professional-service items he identified on the agenda.
Other public commenters included Tanya Garcia, who used her time to acknowledge the library award and promote library services and the renovated facility; Darnell Robinson raised traffic and infrastructure concerns on side streets and Broadway; Adam Kanefsky urged attention to improvements at Van Cort Park; and Scott Bieber thanked staff for addressing a local issue.
After public comment closed, the clerk reported no changes to the resolutions list. The council took the resolutions as a consent agenda and approved them by roll call; the meeting record shows affirmative votes from council members present and indicates the motion passed. Earlier in the meeting the council also voted to approve the minutes of 06/25/2020 by roll call.
