Public commenter Alex Hayes urges higher facility fees and better online transparency

Alex Hayes, a member of the public, used the district’s public-comment period to urge the Township of Ocean School District to raise facility-usage fees, itemize dates and times on facility permits and to start charging for lawn maintenance and electrical costs when outside groups use school fields.

“If you cared about public comment, you would have put the agenda online,” Alex Hayes said, criticizing the district for not publishing meeting materials in advance and saying he often must search for documents himself. Hayes asked the board to make usage permits more transparent (for example, listing exact dates and times for soccer and baseball field use) and to consider even a small increase — “even if it’s 1%” — to bring incremental revenue.

Hayes also questioned why facility requests list broad time windows and urged the board to display exact dates for Spartan camps, baseball and other users to improve transparency. The board’s presiding officer closed public comment after speakers finished and moved to the regular agenda; no response to Hayes’ requests was recorded during the public-comment period.

The public comment came ahead of votes on budgets and personnel. During later discussion, Mr. McCarthy framed district budget challenges as tied to state-level conditions in Trenton and noted the board was moving forward with a 6.5% budget that included staffing reductions; Hayes’ request for clearer, earlier document posting was offered in the context of that broader fiscal conversation.

The board did not take a formal vote on Hayes’ recommendations during the meeting; the consent agenda proceeded to roll-call votes.