Meeting Between Point Beach Council and Boardwalk Business Owners Open to Public

Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Vincent Barrella told residents and the media on Tuesday night that they are invited to only part of next week's meeting with local boardwalk and business owners, but later said the entire meeting will be open.

At first, Barrella told the public at Tuesday night's council meeting that they would only be able to attend the first part of a meeting next Tuesday night to discuss rampant criminal mischief that has become the hallmark of Summer 2011 in Point Pleasant Beach.

He said residents would each have a few minutes to describe the recent problems to business owners.

"After the public discussions, residents and the press will be asked to leave," Barrella said, looking straight at a reporter. "I think we need some kind of privacy."

Privacy, he said, would be needed for elected and business officials to come up with solutions to the rampant weekend criminal mischief that has plagued the nights and mornings of some residents every weekend since Memorial Day weekend.

However, in a 2 a.m. telephone interview, which was only two hours after the meeting ended, Barrella said he had thought about it more and decided to have the entire meeting open to the public because, despite what he had wanted, the plan for the meeting had evolved into a council meeting. And that, he said he realized, requires it to be open to the public.

Barrella mailed out invitations on Tuesday to numerous local business owners, including Jenkinson's, Martell's, Chef's International, some hotels, motels and restaurants, and others to come to a meeting to find solutions to the problems that have spread far beyond the boardwalk into multiple residential neighborhoods.

Originally, he intended for only three members of the seven-member governing body to be present at this meeting, which is a practice that Point Beach and most towns carry out routinely.

Most local governing bodies, including Point Beach, have committees, consisting of fewer than a majority of the members, that have their own meetings to work on issues.

So, Barrella asked Councilmen Sean Hennessy and Michael Corbally to attend the meeting with business owners.

But Councilman Tim Lurie said he also wanted to be at the meeting.

Barrella said he thought that Lurie had a conflict and that's why he asked Hennessy instead.

Lurie, as an engineer with the firm of DW Smith Associates,had represented Jenkinson's during an early phase of its legal battle with its neighbor, the Harbor Head condominium development.

At the last council meeting a few weeks ago, a Harbor Head resident challenged Lurie, asking why he votes on Jenkinson's matters despite that he had represented them.

"But that was three years ago," he had said.

When Lurie said he wanted to be at the meeting with business owners, that meant a majority of the governing body would be there, which prompted Borough Attorney Thomas Gannon to say the meeting should be advertised, in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act.

That state law mandates that meetings with a majority of members of a local governing body be advertised and open to the public, with the exception of closed sessions to discuss such things as anticipated and pending litigation, contracts and personnel.

He said that since a majority of the members of the mayor and council would be there, discussing borough business, they should advertise the meeting.

"It's probably one of the most important things you'll talk about," Gannon told Barrella.

Later, when asked if Barrella could have only part of the meeting open to the public, Gannon said, "He doesn't have to have public comment. But he can't ask people to leave."

When asked about that immediately after the meeting, Barrella said that he had intended to only have two council members with him and business owners at the meeting, which would have precluded the need to advertise and open it to the public.

However, later, during the early morning phone call, he said he thought about it more and realizes that if he and three council members are present, it has to be held as a council meeting and be open to the public.

"Councilman Lurie caused this by insisting he be at the meeting," said Barrella. Lurie is running against Barrella in November.

Lurie could not be reached immediately due to the early morning hour.

Barrella said, "My goal was more to have a meeting where business owners would feel more free to talk, rather than excluding the press. You guys do have a chilling effect. A business owner may be less likely to say that there's a problem.

"I don't think we'll be able to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish," he said. "But the business owners will get to hear from residents. And that's important. They really need to understand what the problems are."

Barrella said that he also wants to hold a second meeting, after the Tuesday night meeting, with just him, Hennessy, Corbally and business owners.

"Next time, that's it, it's just us and the business owners," he said.

As for the criminal mischief problems, many residents at the meeting said there have drunks stumbling outside their homes, sometimes scantily clad, sometimes not clad at all, sometimes urinating in their yards, often cursing loudly and dumping soiled diapers and trash in the streets.

Patty Ascolese, who lives on Chicago Avenue, told the mayor and council she is afraid to walk on the boardwalk with her grandchildren.

But the boardwalk came to her.

"I saw a man peeing across the street from my house," she said. "He said it was too far to walk to the boardwalk. Something's not right and something has to be done."

In a prepared statement he read at the council meeting, Barrella said, "Point Pleasant Beach cannot devolve into Seaside Heights or Keansburg. We have a very small window to prevent this from happening."

He said he is working with council, business officials and police to try to find solutions.

During the council meeting, Lurie suggested passing an emergency appropriation to hire more special police officers. So the meeting next Tuesday was expanded to allow for more discussion of that.

The council members agreed to wait until Tuesday to give Police Lt. Robert Dikun time to prepare information about how many special officers could be hired and what the cost would be.

The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a possible emergency appropriation and then meet at 7 p.m. with business owners.