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Absecon City Council approves consent agenda, addresses crossing‑guard changes and road projects, then moves to closed session
Summary
The council enacted routine consent items and approved a bill list, heard staff explain elimination of a crossing‑guard post (to be shifted to a controlled light at Lisbon Avenue), received road‑project updates including Ohio Avenue repaving and a flashing crosswalk installation, and voted to enter closed session for negotiations, land and personnel matters.
The Absecon City Council on Sept. 4 approved its consent agenda and bill list, and discussed several public‑safety and infrastructure items before voting to move into closed session for contract, land and personnel discussions.
Clerk read the consent agenda, which included accepting the 2024 municipal audit and corrective action plan, participation in a cooperative purchasing contract for a 2025 Ford F550 crew cab, certification for volunteer fire department length‑of‑service awards and authorization to prorate or refund taxes for a property listed in the record. The council then moved the consent agenda as a single motion; roll call votes in the transcript record Clark, Evans, Light/White, Parker and Sykes as voting yes.
The bill list was presented in the meeting record with a numeric line shown as 2,787,98063 in the transcript; the council approved the bill list by roll call. The council also approved regular and special meeting minutes as listed in the record.
Public‑safety and school‑safety issues took up substantial discussion. The chief explained that the city eliminated a particular crossing‑guard post after officers had to cover that post "over 40 times" and after evaluating the intersection as unsafe for crossing even by police officers. To improve safety, the chief said the crossing location will be moved down to Lisbon Avenue, where a crossing guard exists and a controlled traffic light handles crossings, adding that the change would add about "one tenth of a mile" — "three or four minutes" of walking for most children. The chief urged parents to supervise children and said administration and police would staff key intersections during the first days of school.
Staff provided updates on road projects: county‑led repaving on Ohio Avenue (from Mil Road to the bridge) is set to begin soon; the city will begin work on the adjoining segment when the county project is complete. A new flashing crosswalk at New Jersey and Highland was reported to be ready within a month pending a county permit, and the city’s road program and additional crosswalk projects will be advertised once state DOT approvals are obtained.
Officials also described recent community outreach, including a homeless coalition event hosted at Church by the Bay that served more than 125 people, and promoted a movie‑in‑the‑park event planned for Sept. 27 at Field of Dreams.
Before adjourning to closed session, the council announced it would discuss contract negotiations and litigation involving a firehouse complaint, city‑owned lands and alley vacations, and a personnel matter under the Open Public Meetings Act (section 12B). The motion to enter closed session carried and the council moved into closed session.
No ordinances were introduced or adopted at the meeting; the items enacted were routine consent actions and scheduling/operational updates. Several transcript entries contain truncated or inconsistent spellings and numbers; officials’ comments provide the primary source for the crossing‑guard rationale and the project timeline.
