and now we got two more is beauty of the corner actually good like in an election year they're good because they have all of the dates like have I went just like this don't over it never matters on anything you just look at like you feel strongly you just P out and hand it to someone else resolution has to have two names I'm not off and typically typically so who who would Phil would be best to do I think maybe it' be smart to not a lawyer but smart about it I looked at the like was one game I could have gone one G I could have gone is the 800 thing done like is that set final 80000 robot robot Monday Wednesday Friday Saturday are you I'm ready I would like to advise all those present that notice of this meeting has been provided to the public in accordance with the provisions of the open public meeting act notice was published Jersey Journal City website copies provided the record The norstar Ledger and also placed on a Bolton board in the lobby of City Hall objections if any shall be made to the city clerk please rise to salute the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God liy Justice for All roll call Mr con here Mr Doyle M fiser here Mrs jaor here Mr prano present Mr Cano present Mr Ramos pres Mr Russo present president gtino here first order of business we have a proclamation honoring assembly woman Anette chiro and thanking her for outstanding contributions to the 33rd District in the state of New Jersey shall we y started what so anyone who knows me knows I really love long speeches but I don't have to do one because hobok and Mary wrote a pro Proclamation for Annette to the one and only Annette chaparo who was the assembly woman representing the 33rd district from 2016 to 2024 who could ask for anything more you will start 2024 with a new lease on life after eight wonderful years of much joy and a little Strife yes Annette you deserve this recognition for giving Hudson County your undivided attention this we know is true and no one person deserves this more and Anette that is you may your coming days be filled with so much happiness that you deserve so welld deserved and may you be happy whatever you do no matter whom you serve with love kok and Mary I do I do want to say a few things about Annette when I think of Annette I think two words come to mind humble and fierce two words that you don't normally put together but two words or qualities that make an exemplary leader public servant all of which you are Hoboken is so grateful to have Annette served us for the past eight years um anyone who knows Annette who has had the privilege of being in the room with Annette knows how she lights up the room and it's really not just her fabulous smile it's it's it really is what it really is is her generosity of spirit and for that andette we thank you oh you okay so um I can't touch this right so I have a five hour presentation um is this working no let me stop so I I just first want to say um this this is a a real honor um it it is Bittersweet but I 8 years is a long time um serving is not easy being in public office is not easy you have a lot of people that love you one minute and hate you the next um so and I'm sure you all know that so um but there is a lot that goes comes with it um I've learned a lot I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for the people um I can get many awards I can get many Proclamation it's not to be disrespectful for what I'm receiving CU I am truly honored but the most important thing to me is when I hit the streets and I still have constituents that come to me and will always um are grateful for me spending time with them um asking me for my opinion um and how can I help and that will always stay with me I don't need a PIN for that I've said that before um I will continue to work um this is not an end this is a beginning and I am really looking forward to serving some more in whatever capacity I will continue to serve and serving does not mean office but you never know so um but yeah so I just I I am grateful again I'm really humble and grateful and I have 19 years also in this building so that says a lot and I also want to thank Public Safety because we've been together I think for a very very long time and I can't enough say um my gratitude to you because listening you know every time I was in public safety I'm a vice chair of that and I had a voice there but it was because I also had someone's cell number that I always call thank you chief for uh taking my calls um and you know it it's important so we really do need to work together policy is hard politics will always be the game right but it's very important for us to stay humble work together because people are watching us and we have to be examples um so you know what I can we can fight today I will kiss you tomorrow and dance with you uh well don't play so um thank you very much again grateful very grateful and till the next chapter thank you thank you grateful public thank you thank you thank you see the public than [Applause] you than you thank you very much kiss us huh come on come on Rob what are we doing here we messed up the whole microphone didn't we what happened to my big yeah man you got a look at that screen there's no shot without a fair on 800 800 oh Michel thank you Michael where was um I'm gonna let you guys find it out with whoever wants I didn't even know I had one of these didn't you see it last time Michael last time where was yours the first reading of the um ordinances yeah yeah just a um small bookkeeping ordinance amending Hoboken city council chapter 110-2 is being removed from the agenda but we had a subcommittee meeting this is about uh garbage being picked up early at schools with councilman Russo and there are some ideas to work on this moving forward for the locations that needed thank you for that thank you council president council president uh just one another Point um I wasn't sure if the new chairman of the administration committee was uh was okay with all the uh stuff on the agenda because I didn't have any meetings or anything so I just gave them the gym uh as the chairman as long as as long as he's okay with them I don't have a problem with them but thank you so yeah all right uh we have a public hearing on a discussion New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Urban Parks Grant application for 800 rro resiliency Park director Gonzalez am I allowed to touch okay sorry I'm new at this uh greetings president um thank you for the to present to you this evening we are here to present the um 800 Monroe resiliency Park final concept design um the public hearing tonight is actually serving two public hearing purposes first under the parks ordinance uh as adopted by the city council and second um in um uh in support of our application to the Green Acres Program for a grant in the amount of $500,000 to um put towards the cost of constructing 800 Monro resiliency Park so without further Ado I'd like to uh introd ruce our design team which um here tonight from aeom is Gonzalo Cruz and we would be happy to answer uh any questions that you have after thank you um I'm gal Bru uh a member of the a he needs a mic hang on St better better yes okay I'm this I'm Gonzalo Cruz representative of the design team uh from aom and I'll be walking you through the final design of uh 800 Monro resilien SE Park so um the presentation is going to be very brief which just going to give you an overview of of how we got to where we where we are um you know the community engagement process and basically a walk through the park a final design concept of the park so how did we get here so we we held a series of community engagement um uh meetings uh the first one back in January of 26 of 2023 where we showed up with a lot of questions to the Community about desires for the park desire for use desire for uses for the park we created a series of tools that allowed people to not only talk about what they wanted to see in the park but also visualize and U have uh an interactive uh design process along with members of the design team out of that meeting then in April we came up with three three Design Concepts very different directions things that we had heard from the community uh desires for passive and active Recreation there was a question about a a pool at the time you know the feasibility of such uh the desire for the introduction of some level of active Recreation as well as passive Recreation and so we kind of wrapped right all of those desires into three design outcomes then we uh received some feedback and we decided to create a blend of uh design ideas and basically created a hybrid concept looking at two different possible outcomes out of that meeting and so uh it was very um uh it was very clear during our meeting on August 9 of 2023 that the desired concept that they wanted us to the community wanted us to develop was the idea of the Meandering Park we park and so in November uh uh mid November uh just a few weeks ago we presented finally the the concept of the park and I'll be walking you through it right now so so here's an image that kind of depicts that first uh meeting with the community it's actually one of my favorite meetings because we don't really know what to expect or how to actually put together a design idea but you know it's an interactive uh uh process we also kind of wanted to make it like a board game so people have flexibility to to move things around uh one of the main objectives of the park this is something that we want to start with is these uh storm uh water infrastructure on site uh you know the park is trying to um ch Channel a lot of the runoff that's happening through storm events approximately 430,000 gallons of storm water and we are using the park as a storage facility that sits underneath all of the placem or the programming that we have in the park more on that as we move into the final design phase so here we are with the final design of the park the park is basically divided into two areas the active core which is the one where you see a lot of the uh um active Recreation the tennis courts and then a passive area where we have an open lawn surrounder and framed by a series of gardens Gathering spaces duck runs and what they what how the park comes together as one is basically through a series of buffer Gardens that walk all around the park one of the um desires for the community was that this park felt like a passive Park and we also as a design team push the idea of making it feel like a park so that it doesn't you know didn't feel like just a utility or or an active a series of active courts tennis courts if you look carefully at the plan the entire perimeter is surrounded by Gardens and so we wanted to have that sort of looking feel of a of a garden uh welcoming park for the community next I'll be walking you through the various sections of the park we basically have four areas of the park that are very distinctive and we would like to walk you through one by one just quickly um number one top of the drawing are it's what we call the northern buffing G Northern buffer Gardens moving into a flexible lawn and Plaza area with number two number three is the the various um active uh recreational uses that I'll tell you a little bit more about and then the southern Buffett Gardens which also become an entry uh portal to the park with a series of uh very discret passive uh places for people to hang out so let's start with the NN Gardens quickly here's a an image of what that environment would look like we have a series of very uh nested passive treatments with a lot of native ecology that would actually allow for people to see through the entire space while also feeling and feeling encased by a series of like beautiful planting spaces one of the major features for this Garden is this idea of a trellis we understand that ecology changes throughout the year and we wanted to create an environment that attracted people year round not only in the summer days or spring days but also in the winter days and so the trellis that serves as a as a form of shading device in the hot summer days becomes a sculptural treatment in the winter days and so that's kind of the notion or the idea behind this treatment and here's another view from a different side overlooking that sort of corridor which is what we call the the northern buffer Gardens uh again a lot of native ecology a lot of places for people to sit a lot of opportunities for different kinds of social seting you know whether intimate or in group you know we facilitated um a series of uh options for people to have flexibility in how they use this this area um move moving on to the next uh area of the park we're uh on the flexible lawn and Plaza area right at the center circular um in nature and basically what we have is a flexible pad for people to do a number of things on that lawn whether you have picnics or uh or small gathering for sports treatments lots of school children can have opportunities for outdoor education and stuff like that this is the one of the most flexible features of the park and on the right side of the page we have a series of amenities that kind of touch on various kinds of age activities uh toddlers can play in a splash pad there's uh some level of play equipment for those kids that are a little bit older than just a toddler we wanted a to provide opportunities for everyone but really like the what anchors this zone is this Gathering bench that has a lot of shade and presents opportunities for uh members of the community to uh members of the community to come and enjoy you know in afternoon or in morning in the park there's you know we are very we were very conscious about younger families strollers and so we've designed this major feature to allow for flexibility for those users as you come around the bend uh uh what another important thing to not is that we have circulation all around the lawn so that it feels like it's a if you if you pay attention to the way that you move throughout the park we designed it in such way that it feels like a much longer experience like a very big Park even though it's not necessarily that so the circulation allows for people to meander through and have different experiences throughout throughout the day moving a little bit over to the to the South now we're talking about the active courts they were our requirement everybody was really excited about the courts um there was a lot of acacy to put them into play uh we managed to put three uh universally accessible and also uh uh standards universally standard tennis courts with all of the amenities that a tennis court provides surrounded by a fence that is heavily planted not only to block uh or to diffuse a little bit of the activity that happens inside the courts but also so that the perimeter is a welcoming environment for people to sit around and be uh and enjoy the park um right around the courts we've also allocated for a couple of dog runs there was a there was a very big request which is kind of cool for us to design uh a run for puppies and a run for dogs that are adult dogs and stuff so that was kind of cool that we've never done that sort of thing before so we have two two scale dog runs it's pretty nice and finally moving to the South uh we have the buffer Gardens and this uh to US represents an opportunity for a welcoming Plaza there's a lot of um experience here for people to gather in different forms you know we imagine a lot of teenagers a lot of people from the neighborhood to gather and have informal uh uh Gathering settings in this bleacher bench that has a dual purpose not only it faces the Garden in front of you to the left of the image with a lot of seating and and sort of plenty of native ecology and and and foliage and shade not natural shade by the way of trees but also it serves as an amenity to view what is happening on the tennis courts in case you have a tournament or something like that so the flexibility for all of these programs is for all the programs is pretty diverse I mean that's kind of was the intention of the of the park and also entry markers every every time or everywhere we tried EV from every direction that you're entering the park we want wanted it to feel like a welcoming uh opportunity like here is an entry sequence or an entry portal into the park you know providing a lot of uh circulation amp circulation for uh for different kinds of groups activities to occur as you enter into the park and also announcing a little bit of the garden gardenesque passive qualities that the community wanted in addition to the active treatments so this is where we are uh we delivered the final design uh report this is what we're going to be doing to the city of hoken um and it will be available to the public we're in the process of putting together the package the then the city moves into a final engineering contract after the report is submitted and we're going to go through a series of Grant applications for funding and hopefully fingers crossed into construction there it I think that's all we got miss anything got it thank you guys thank you very much council members any question questions um I've had a couple people reach out to me and ask some questions and um being the new guy in the board these questions didn't come up until now some people have asked that if one of the courts and again I deferred everybody else but had asked if there's any way that can be some Nets that move so to accommodate pickle ball um a few people have reached out I know it's a either you're Pro pickle ball or you're not pro pickle ball I'm doing on half of the constituents that have asked me so is there any way possible that that could be worked into it or you know discussion about it um yeah yeah so the courts are U designed to accommodate pick both if need be but they're designed for tenis uses um yeah flexibility with the Nets and stuff like that that would be like you know uh a professional equipment that can be taken down to accommodate for other uses like pick aable yeah so so essentially the courts could be so lines on the courts are strictly tennis if they needed one more line is that doable uh again I'm I'm asking I'm not a pickle ball playerid yes if I can if I before you jump in a couple things about the the park itself one was I think the team was very um very forthcoming with what the needs of the community wanted uh pick a ball was in the original concept uh however a lot of the neighbors came came back and said we' rather not have pickle ball here one of my biggest things with this park was that we don't necessarily have to have everything in this park and I think it was very thoughtful to make sure that we don't have everything in this park we hit some key features that the community wanted um and we made sure that tennis was in the Forefront because it is a major need across the city of Hoboken we only have to other tennis courts in town so tennis became the Forefront pickle pickle ball got moved a little bit more toward the back burner because we know what the future holds at the multiservice center we now have the pickle ball courts underneath the viaduct we have pickle pickle ball courts in other places of the city so I thought it was very and personally I agree I think it's thoughtful that we don't Jam everything into this one park in the city of Hoboken um and I think we need to start doing that a little bit more because we tend to try to get everything into our projects I know we have a great need across the city for a lot of things but if we try to do that in all of our Parcels those parks are not going to be as functioning as as they should be so uh that's really what the pickle ball conversation was and I think it was smart for us to kind of remove that from this because the neighbors were not in favor of having pickle B at that poor or at least in a in a more permanent way thank you council president and just to add on to that you know it a pickle ball court could be easily added here in the future not that that's the you know two weeks out we'll do that but you know they they fit on a half court yes and you know painting a line or having removable lines or something is something that you know some years from now if the demand is there and the will is there than we haven't precluded it with this design I think so I actually thought pickle ball was there it was originally though right and one of the designs we we talked about it originally yeah also in the Church Square Park yeah it was I think you know on we uh I think one of the things that we're slowly realizing we don't we don't have like a recreation ma master plan for the city it's something we should have and we're just kind of responding to what's in front of us and we have a limited amount of space and so as we make these Parks um to the point that councilman Russo made um what' you say yeah no I the we still have more open space to kind of finalize the needs but it's trying to think about all of the needs across the city and having places for all of them and there was this moment in time where um and I know that there's 3,000 pickle ball you know players or more uh in Hoboken and I know we're trying to find more spaces I'm working with the city trying to find some indoor ones um but at one point it seemed like literally every one of our Open Spaces was only going to be pickle ball and we had to kind of pause and step back and remind ourselves as Council and Russo said that we have we we are building six pts I think down in Southwest Park the county built them you know already but we also have a million other people in the city that are that have different Recreation needs and we just have to strike a balance we have a little of everything so counc thank you council president uh I just want to thank Acom for the presentation I think the the design looks great uh particularly happy to see 450,000 gallons of storm waterer retention and just not that long ago uh this was a plan for 150 plus condominiums on a property that was contaminated so now we're looking at a property that going to be restored and it's going to be you know the people the vine are very excited about having this in the neighborhood I think it's going to make a huge impact in this neighborhood I've seen what the resiliency park has done in neighborhood uh and I know that this is going to be an exciting project so thanks for the presentation thank you very much much appreciated oh yes counc can I just add I think for especially for this part of town on the West Side there's um such a lack of space for dogs um so I appreciate the addition of the dog parks and the separation for the larger and smaller dogs um and just to underscore councilman Cohen's point the storm water detention is really important this neighborhood floods consistently so that will make a big difference as well so thank you right it'll be close to it'll be like over 900,000 gallons if you look at the Jackson Street Plaza and to the South which is which is almost as much as you know our resiliency Park it's and it's suitable because that's where it floods the most yeah council president if I could just add uh first a big thank you to Gonzalo and his team uh director Gonzalez RJ Casey Jessica I mean they work tirelessly on this and it really is a culmination of years of trying to build a a recreation Plaza in the side of town I mean when you really combine it with uh Jackson Street Plaza and the gym and the park space there um this park really starts to allow people to see that that's all one real big park right and and we we built it that way and we designed it that well not we you designed it that way so that we can have that feeling of really moving from one space to the other and it it feels like it's one continuous Park and we really hit the mark on on some of the big key points here of course the the the flood mitigation techniques in this park making sure that we had the dog runs both the large and small dogs uh accommodated uh making sure that we have active and passive Recreation here at this park and we really did get a lot of that into the design of this and we did that thoughtfully and we did that in a way where I think everyone's really going to enjoy this space so I think everybody for their their work on this and I thank the council for supporting it hopefully thank you councilman open the public hearing on uh 800 Monro yes any speakers are there any there are no speaker signed up motion to close public hearing oh you do but come on up council president I appreciate uh the Indulgence I did not sign up but uh I I will next time and and if you have to sign up also for the Church Square Park one please um if Mr kerk could be so kind um I just have a few questions I I've been to the meetings and I I think they picked the one that I um the Meandering one was the one that I uh kept putting uh votes for uh again I don't know how many people um were given the opportunity to be in the survey we didn't hear how many people um picked that Park uh that schematic also I would like to know just for reference um again I'm 100% favor of the park that's going to bring a lot of attention to that area that's necessary because it feels a little Transit uh Hub there but it feels a little cold and maybe it'll make it uh more inviting maybe people can stay and uh participate in these stores and the recreation that's going to be there but um my question again would be and I don't know if they want to answer it of you because you could probably answer it Madam president is the funding for this park is it going to be voted on this evening um in regards to the um resolutions that are are in the agenda this resolution for for a grant for half a million dollars app for yeah so we applied for a grant for half a million dollars okay that's it's a great uh thing I hope we get it uh secondly um is uh is the park going to be again have an area which I did not hear um which again I voted for and wrote uh in my suggestions that in the in one of the areas I think it was in one of the um uh North or South uh Garden buffers um for there and I didn't hear it this evening maybe it is maybe they just passed it over that there would be like a um we've asked in many other parts to be a a quiet area for um older uh residents and persons with disability uh for have access to a quieter area uh apart from the children the dogs the playing of the uh tennis uh I didn't hear it but I don't know if it's there or not and I believe one of the slides actually showed an area that just had quiet seating but that's I I missed it but and I was sitting right in front so anyway I just just want to say those were my questions um again uh this is a very important uh project again it's it'll revitalized that area I was at the meetings people were very um interested in in in in giving their opinions I know council member I'm just referring to him Madam president uh Russo um was very instrumental and the director Gonzalez and Mr RJ so I thank them for the presentation and for this um for this park I hope it uh gets done in on budget thank you very much you motion to close the public hearing motion second all in favor I have a public hearing to discuss New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Jake law Grant application for Church Square Park director Gonzalez uh Council may I present from over here that's okay as I'll be doing both okay um so thank you again for allowing us to present tonight uh this is the second project for which we will be applying for Green Acres funding um this funding is specific to um a funding program under the D La act which funds universally accessible and inclusive playgrounds so this uh application is specific to the toddler playground area ages 0 to 5 um this public hearing is specific to the grant we previously had the public hearing for the um Parks ordinance so um this is is specific to um an application that will be submitting in February and it's in the amount of $750,000 uh as you will recall from the last city council meeting this is the uh Vision plan phasing diagram uh the toddler playground is included in phase one of the implementation of the vision plan um and that is in the uh southwest corner of the park um as you know the current uh toddler playground is really in the center of the park so we'll be moving it to to the uh southwest corner this is a very highlevel conceptual diagram um as you know the design contract was just approved so there will be plenty more work and additional meetings on this um concept design as we move forward um but we are required to include a concept design as part of the Grant application and therefore our design team has advanced in the last uh just two weeks uh the the uh design a lot further so what you'll see on this design specifically uh is that we have a variety of uh play equipment um all of which is um inclusive and universally accessible so we have a central uh play structure actually if I can kind of point on the screen here a um accessible Central play structure that's kind of woven into the tree canopy um we will have a series of uh ground level um play and sensory Play Elements they're kind of um scattered around this area in the center um the idea being that we're protecting the mature trees and so that we're uh designing all of the safe zones for all of the playground equipment around the existing landscape we'll also have swings um those swings being basket type as well as universally accessible swings uh the entire playground will be fenced with a 4ft high barrier fencing there'll be two entry Gates um one along this pathway here uh you know to to the I I guess that's the the Northwest um and then the Northeast over here um and then there'll be some additional plantings installed uh around the southwest corner here as well as benches clearly uh throughout the play area um something that we've heard uh in a lot of our previous um you know engagement sessions has been the desire to um have shaded playground areas um and that's been a commment at other Parks as well so there'll be plenty of shade there'll be plenty of seating um good sight lines and uh of course good access as is a key to this particular Grant application um as is required by the application we did do a brief environmental impact analysis um and I I will summarize this by saying that um there are no adverse impacts there is no mitigation required um we are simply replacing the playground so there will be no short-term um impacts um other than the fact that uh you know we'll be doing construction in the park but the actual existing playground will be able to remain open until this new playground is opened um it will replace existing play equipment um to allow for children of all abilities to benefit from these enhanced Recreation features um and you know has no um impacts from uh you know sea level rise or resiliency um and uh and certainly is a is a benefit as it is protecting our mature tree canopy which um helps for storm water management um with that U that is the conclusion of our presentation be happy to uh take any questions that you may have can you go back to the entrance SL yeah um two questions one why two entrances access um why not because if you have a one-year-old and a three-year-old and a playground and you're trying to watch them and one goes out with someone like you you only have to watch one thing as opposed to two things so I do believe we're legally required to have two forms of eress but I will double check on that and get back to you and the other one is an entrance by the dog run on the dog runs side I don't know where you could put another one if you do really need to is probably not not a great idea oh meaning move this entrance to another side yeah we can consider that I will bring that that feedback back sure but I do think too for parents just make Liv more difficult okay I got a good idea I have a good idea have the ability but not oh not have it accessible yeah right um that is something we can look into I I honestly I have to look into the requirements for the gates to see if there was a both fire safety and also um uh guidelines related to universally accessible playgrounds that we had to follow to provide those two gates I believe they are required but I will certainly look into it and get back to you council president um how high is the fence around it and is it even on the even on the um Fourth Street side it's going to be four feet and what does it look like it's not so we are very in the very much uh conceptual phase there certainly will be a point at which we have renderings with uh you know visuals of the fence and we can talk about the type of fence that is going to be recommended um but it would look to maintain the historic character of Church Square Park for sure and so it could be when we get there it could be that the fence on that side is the current like low like low fence on one side with like shrubs next to it instead of some sort of whatever for foot that you're thinking around the rest of it I think that's possible again let me go back to the requirements of the of the funding whether that is I I highly doubt that you know that height is mandated but again we can work through that in the when we get into the details of the design and does it have to be 4 feet like does it have to be four feet high is that what we typically have around the little kids on usually yeah but I will I will look back and see if that's a requirement um there is plenty more Community engagement that we're going to need to do is we have a lot of the answers to these questions we go through the the full design process council president director what's a square footage of the of the entire space do you know bigger I don't believe I have it on here I unfortunately I don't have it on here the the question I have is in in the corner here with all the planting area yeah all the planting I mean we're Los we're losing a lot of square footage there I mean that Park is packed constantly right well what was the thought process there and why yeah yeah I mean that was part of the vision plan was that there was a lot of feedback that people wanted to see more planting areas more nature Incorporated even into play areas but it would have to be done so to the perimeter because of course it couldn't be in the in the center of play areas so um actually all of the uh quadrants of the Church Square Park Vision plan have additional planting kind of towards those ends and um towards those edges I should say as well as towards the gateways of The Pedestrian Pathways can it be on the edges without taking out that middle space as much space is that the the concern is is the total am why not maximize space for for child play you know what I mean I can take that Fe back back yep yeah I mean I could see my kids running in there and I gotta go crawl into the bushes to drag them out yeah there there is a a a short fence that that surrounds the planting area similar to what we have in southest know children what defines a quiet play area like for social there is no that is uh an oxymoron and exactly that is a requirement of the application that we create as quiet of a play area as possible for sensory issues but yes the only other thing I would say is not withstanding people would like to see more plantings I'm sorry Paul um it's if you ask the average individual person they may want that but if it really again this is when we as a city have to step back and say what makes sense if this is such a highly utiliz Park then we should be making the decision that we need to maximize the amount of play area and make it usable for the tons of people that use it so when we go to actually Design This and That green area is cut back dramatically the average person's not going to know it but we've made better decision for the park not because the average individual would like to see more bushes I'll I'll convey that to the design team coun pres thank you council president I'd like to make one suggestion is um I freak went at Church Square Park with my son we need more s whatever's in the plan there needs to be more swings there's a monopoly on the swings and you can't get on you gota wait a half hour because had the conversation with the design team today okay thank you president sorry um well I was two quick points with the green in the corner I mean if if there were an element of a tree might be able to have green you know more us space whatever you take that but that my real question was have and this kind of is Park wide I know we're not dealing with the Southwest or the Northwest but have there been detention retention Concepts explored as far as whether it's just when you're Excavating putting in a couple of feet of gravel rather than just putting in compacted clay or something like that uh so we've looked at porest pavement for the walkways in the park as our primary um detention feature um green infrastructure feature uh as well as um there will be green infrastructure at all you can see it kind of shaded out here but as um right of way curb extension um rain Gardens as well um but we have not specifically looked at Excavating you know substantially to create you know kind of a gravel storage bed um that is something that I can ask the design team about y that's an in yeah an interesting suggestion we were primarily looking at I would say higher level um meaning topographically like higher surface level green infrastructure measures but sure okay um and to answer your question there is a proposed shade tree right here um so it sounds like what I'm hearing is that you know perhaps even if we were to have another shade tree if we could kind of maximize more play area in this in this area um and maybe push this back a little bit so we'll we'll Reach Out to the design team and um and come back to you okay thank you councilwoman javor oh thank you council president um I just wanted to say I think one of the challenges we've had I know with the existing toddler Park is the aid equipment help know that feature in particular you and I probably email about it every couple of weeks because it routinely breaks and what's challenging is the older that equipment gets the harder it is to replace those mechanisms and anyone who remembers the six months of the slide replacement in the other portion of share Park knows the frustration of what is to actually replace these so I appreciate the effort to keep up to date with the equipment because this will really well serve the community in terms of being able to make those repairs on an ongoing basis uh and just to underscore Council councilman pres Zano's comment swings swings and more swings the kids just can't get enough of them and they're heavily utilized in this park in particular so thank you for including that feature yeah I've wondered you know why Church Square Park I mean you know there we it's already a really nice park a lot of people enjoy it I think that the fact that so many people enjoy it it great the plantings in particular are looking a little warn I think that you know when you look at you know with councilman Doyle's comments on the greenery and the other issues uh I think that there should be a concept in terms of making it more beautiful making it more inviting in terms of uh the green spaces uh not just surrounding the dog park all of the park uh and particularly in the pagota area just it look it needs it needs a sprucing and I and I think that that this in addition to the other ideas here is an important one so thank you I'll bring that back to the design team as well thank you councilman Cohen any other council members uh just council president quick uh director I know we spoke about it privately and pertain to support the but have dining M moving to the of the park and creating a larger lawn space across Willow I have and I would be happy to answer that that question but if I if I may yes can we close the public hearing portion so that you know transcription can be sent to state of related to the grant absolutely thank you we have actually one member of the public signed up to speak Manny oh sorry yeah here Jerry thank you once again uh council president Manuel Rivera Soler uh just want to ask a few questions again I've been to the meetings and I've heard most of the presentation the park is very uh near and dear to me I live across from it and I grew up in the park so anything that um occurs to the park um we will be myself and many members of the public and I'm sure council president who lives in the vicinity um are very important issues we want to know uh the timelines the timelines as the grant de evening that you're going to vote on the resolution what timeline does that take from February to whenever you receive it um what is the dispersement going to be like how quickly um the timeline as well as the public um information area for the next um iteration meaning the things that you're going to change here which I believe there there there's quite a bit to change um there there are issues again with uh all of that green there but I'm sure it's just a matter of of tweaking the the design uh more trees would be better um for shade for the children and uh their caregivers um again that's part of that timeline also um the question in regards to when you get that funding should we we get it I'm sure we will um how much will the city then be um uh a part of it how much is the dispersement of the city what do we have to put in or the city um the administration that's a question it could be answered today or whenever but um I just want you to hear the questions for it to be on the record and for you to have it council president and and director Gonzalez so that it could be placed when you go to the website and members of the public if they're not here they can get that information later but these are points that are are important again the idea is great but the park is a landmark the park is something special it's not just the park that we just found a piece of land and said let's throw everything in there so it has to be done delicately correctly um because that park has been abused before and shouldn't be abused now council president it needs to be done correctly and I'm sure that that that the um uh the director is well um well versed on it and and the people who plann the the the concept so I appreciate the time again I just wanted those to be on the record if you don't have to answer them now if there's no answer but those things should be answered meaning the the the funding both from the city and the grant should be known and any future again uh public input should be given um much time in advance so that people can express themselves again it's an important part of Hoboken so once again I thank you I thank them for the presentation uh Miss Gonzalez again uh and council president uh I'll be waiting for the vote again it is a very important Park uh mess it up and I'm coming after people no I'm just kidding I I will be writing I will be writing letters though but thank you very much thanks thank you Timothy rounds I'm from the Third Ward um in the meeting on December 20th there was a vocal opposition to the pro proposed changes to chur s Park but the city council voted to approve a contract by V of to2 why why was it approved it should have been rejected public comments and voting on a contract should have been in two separate meetings the city council voted on the contract only few hours after the public comments because of this there wasn't any time to evaluate those comments at the very least it could have been tabled or delayed these proposed changes changes are being made too quickly and recklessly tonight do not approve these proposed changes to chore Park Vote no this is a deeply flawed plan that will ruin the park more time is needed to evaluate what should be what should be done to the park the the proposed Construction in these Southwest area of the park could instead be constructed in the northeast corner of the park in the area that is currently the Synthetic Turf area or it could be built on the asphalt area that's next to the dolphin sprinklers the proposed new area would be next to a d run which has its own hygiene issues um which is one of the many reasons why this plan is badly designed no open Fe no currently in terms of current Fields no Open Fields with trees and grass should be modified they should be left alone there should be nothing built on top of any of the grass fields the city should be preserving the park not disrupting it I'm concerned about what will happen to the trees in the southwest area of the park what will happen to those trees they should not be cut down constructing equipment in that area might cause trees to be lost accidentally which is unacceptable Hoboken already has so few natural areas the city should not be destroying this these areas if the city proceeds with this plan to construct a synthetic area in the southwest area of the park a large Natural Area will be destroyed that is wrong and unacceptable the city should be preserving the few natural areas in this city not destroying them also the plan would probably destroy three chest tables in the southwest part of the park that people sometimes use everything about this Vision plan is wrong the proposed layout is bad the proposed gazebo changes would ruin the historic character and the other changes would significantly harm the park for decades for example the iconic dolphin springl would be disturbed historic preservation is not part of this plan this is not about Improvement it is about control despite claims of community input the community input sessions that have been made by arterial have been weak superficial and mostly for show it feels forced and not authentic it makes me think that the interests of the community are not the prim primary motivation behind this project a company should not be controlling and micromanaging every aspect of the park and acting as a gatekeeper chur Square Park belongs to the residence of Hoboken and the City of Hoboken not a private company Community input in this case Community input seems to be an illusion because everything is ultimately being controlled and conceptualized by arterial and is wrong the public is being forced to play by their rules not allowing any alternatives they want to manipulate the park for their own benefit leave churg Park alone stop trying to modify it stop ignoring people's objection objections to this plan no structures should be built on any of the current grass fields there are other options for the future of this park these changes will harm the park and not improve it a major plan to overhaul the park is not necessary and this particular plan is wrong approving this next contract for the Southwest area of the park will make the Domino start start falling so reject these changes before it becomes too late to change course please reject this contract do not uh do not approve it and vote no okay thank you and just for clarity we're not voting on this is just a hearing it's not on the contract it's a hearing for us to apply for a grant okay I'm just asking to vote no on that e E3 is the vote for theion okay I'm just asking to vote no for what you're vo on we have no other M of we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public motion second all in favor I yes Mr Pano yes Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos Mr Russo hi president gtino yes a hearing on amending the North End Redevelopment plan to the to the it's been carried it's Carri oh been carried to February Ser sorry about that uh next is we're up to public portion on agenda items Amy I was under the assumption that there's a proclamation I didn't it's a resolution oh it's a resolution um I didn't bring the copy of the resolution I thought that that was something that you had but I guess not so I can send that over after the fact I apologize but I do have some words prepared it's just a resolution designating next week as um National gun violence survivors week um and I just want to say thank you to Hoboken and by that I mean our mayor every single City Council person our Hoboken police chief agar the entire police force as well as our entire citizenry of Hoboken I thank you for your support of our organization Mom's demand action for gunsense in America um while we may have a low rate of gun violence here in Hoboken as well as the rest of New Jersey any gun violence is unacceptable and our goal is always to have zero incidents of gun violence so I thank you for your support of Common Sense measures and policies that will keep our residents and their families feeling safe in our community and I thank you for issuing the resolution to recognize National gun violence survivors week um next week we'll mark the sixth annual National gun violence survivors week and it's a time when we come together to honor and amplify the stories and voices of gun violence survivors who live with the impact of gun violence every day of the year guns are the leading cause of death for children teens and young adults in America and no person should ever have to live with the trauma of gun violence and yet far too many young people already have when homes neighborhoods schools concerts grocery stores and movie theaters are not safe entire generations of kids in America bear the lifelong consequences in the proc clation there are many statistics that demon again it's a care card making event um we invite all community members to attend we'll be creating beautiful cards that are sent each year to gun violence survivors to Mark the incidents of gun violence that profoundly change their life if you can't attend our event on Sunday I urge you to take some time next week to acknowledge National gun violence survivors week There's a virtual event through every town that will feature an amazing and diverse panel of gun violence survivors who are involved with various different organizations throughout the US and you can hear all of their work and if you can't commit to attending that and that's on Zoom it's a sign up they'll send you a link it's a webinar you don't have to participate none of that um you just have to watch and it's always very impactful and interesting um you could always check out there's a great website it's called moments thats survive. org where there are the stories of hundreds of gun violence survivors some of which which are from Hoboken um no story is the same but they're all tragic and they've changed families and communities forever and I thank you for allowing me to speak this evening on a topic that is so near and dear to my heart um this was the resolution do you want me to read it or no I could do that later okay that's yeah thank you very much thank [Applause] you Church waiters Patricia waiters I have a few agenda items am I right Madam president C3 okay I have a few just bear with me and I'm G try to do it in five minutes page first with respect to the last speaker I'm really emotional about gun violence too and I'm glad to see that Proclamation on here tonight also just me being that she spoke on that topic I want to talk about enough is enough that's another organiz enough is enough is another organization about gun violence based in north New Jersey I got the opportunity to meet with a lot of those people and we have the same feelings and emotions as Mom's demand in Justice it's like really hard to even talk about and we all witnessed it on a national level with the outrageous gun violence that's not even necessary but we all react to it in a different way but it's all the same pain just um you can look that up on the internet too it's called enough is enough all right page I got to beat up Michael Russo real quick before I forget you're page SE page seven you don't have to tell me now Mike because I don't want to get distracted there's two appointments on here so I don't I just want to know when you on on page seven that you said job description you never said the job description and order the amount is resolution the ordinance number four you see it ordinance number four Amendment supplement to ordinance establishing a schedule of classifications and allot allotments allions of titles for the hereby mentioned position right after that I'm looking at 13 and 14 that's not those two positions you relating to this is not relating to those two positions 13 and 14 M thank you cuz those 13 and 14 is appointments and I'm saying this to say this 13 and 14 is two appointed positions okay that me members of the public have no y'all finished members of the public have no said knowledge of 13 and 14 it's appointments but it also has your name under it Michael Russo but with an appointment all nine of y'all calls the vote am I right well none of y'all okay and with that being said too with all of the appointments to the uh legal council all of these uh I'm not going to go in detail with it it's a little disturbing for me to stand up here as a member of the public and other members of the public want to know right Manny it's true it's so mind bothering I'm giving him credit yes I am and it's nothing personal to Mr Iola I just shared this example with him earlier we have attorneys right here already on the payroll can't you work with them I'm feeling bad Mr finina Jerry law I could go on people that really control our city and I told you this Mike and handle our city and our City's business to overlook them is wrong I don't got no personal gang reward for saying this I have nothing against Miss AZ I have nothing against Miss Gonzalez but it is a smack in our face to bring somebody from out of town even in out I'm saying out of town because I'm talking about the people like them that worked here all their life even if they live here now and give them these huge salaries hundreds of thousands of dollars and they do not operate the town like the people that's been doing a wonderful job to live here I want to know is environmental service the same thing as you got on here Recreation or whatever you changing the titles to confuse us I know the director and the supervisor from Environmental Services before they knew it was going to be snow he knew where to put the ice I mean but ice he know where to put the salt he know which block to go down he know how many rats what rat got what color skin he been here forever do you understand how somebody will feel if you just bring a director in to go down there and say I'm the new director serious might come on put some zeros in our people's check people like Jerry and them that deserve it regardless to what union you in Mr finina the union plays into this I'm a union president I know I'm going through it it's you nine people that I'm up here upset with tonight all nine of y'all 1 2 3 4 five 6 seven eight nine all nine of y'all I'm really upset because y'all run for office and talk on another whole different campaign level y'all could do something about it you the one call of votes on these things we coming out in confidence hoping that y'all do what's right stop making Promises to the May or whoever else especially Ravi he on his way out he don't care how much money y'all use or spend I don't care either but spend it on the right people that's working this earning the money spend it on the people with the experience spend it on the people that work hard and this poor man coming in the ice I will feel bad to see 10 lawyers getting more money and he ain't got extra zeros in his check cough up some coins y'all come on I'm serious and start thinking about the people that already live here that's doing the job already Mike it's about dignity and integrity come on now counc thank you Miss waiters if I could just clarify uh Pat so I I don't know if I don't know if you heard it earlier um the chairperson of each committee is the person that gets put on as the sponsor of most of these things with the change in the council with the change in the Committees this was just a a hold over so I have the conversations with the administration about a lot of the things that are spon supposedly sponsored by me uh councilman Doyle is now the chairman of that committee he's the one who is okay all those and and we'll be voting on them and each council person has their individual vote so I just wanted to clarify it thank you thank you I appreciate it Manny Rivera Solair seven yeah thank you good evening council president Manu R soles uh I'm gonna speak on consent agenda I'm gonna speak quickly and I'm just going to say the numbers and I'll come back cuz uh there's just three that I'm going to come concentrate on yes um I would also like to join uh the prior speaker in regards to U the survivors um of gun violence um as a person who uh had a family member um crude crudely and and and heartlessly taken away at a young age um almost 20 years ago um it's not is not just the survivors of the actual violence of guns which is very important to acknowledge them it's also their family members and also the victims who did not survive their family members um should be also considered survivors because they have to go through this un imaginable um pain um so yes I I I hope that that Proclamation or resolution gets voted on and gets placed somewhere where everybody hears about it um I would like to now comment on um these appointments again for the planning board no nothing against the members that being uh reappointed but can the administration open it up for other members of the public who are very interested in um joining some board any board um they seem to be all closed I will come back on claims because there's something very interesting that I want members of the public to hear um an Administration um A2 A3 A4 um these um increases amounts can you please give members of the public more details um again ASI another prior speaker uh said um a13 and A14 nothing against the members um who are getting these um new promotions or titles but can members of the public can it be somewhere in the city's website council president that we could understand what this is really what does it Encompass what does the title Encompass is it just a title is it more money is it a different office so that members of the public understand and know that there is another resource out there for them to um uh take advantage of or at least try to um contact whenever they need something or to understand it so the these are very important because again nobody nobody could find it I could in anyway I should have um uh contact one of you to point out where is their where is the title coming from why is it uh um appearing now and again is it more of a raise what does it mean and anyway I will move on um in Community Development um cd2 CD3 CD4 and in uh Corporation Council again um I just don't like them to feel um alone over there um The increased amount of the special Council again um can members of the public know without having to go to an Opa request what without the inging any um privilege information what why are we continuing um with these amounts of special counsel um again I know that each each subject is different and needs a special um or a specialized uh attorney but it is important for members of the public to understand it Miss council president again I was going to say e E3 E4 E5 but again we know that uh if you can just maybe give a little bit more members of the public some members of the public seem to be um confused if you're you're voting for a concept or you're just voting for an application for a grant it would be great for members of the public to get that clarified a little bit better again E6 um the amount of this emergency um masonary work for our um the fire uh station or the fire tower uh it is important that members of the public also know um the safety uh of this building is it um is it are the people who are in this building um safe then in finance F2 F3 and I'm going to do so I could finish here we go now there is a section here that I made some notes and it's about cd5 in cd5 you um is it cd5 yeah cd5 yeah cd5 you're you're accepting uh or a grant of some sort here it says awarding a grant um for an amount of uh 105 $5,000 um it's for the affordable housing trust I understand what it's about but when I looked it up in in the packet page um package number page number 293 should you want to um uh see it it's about the portion where it's an estimate of the amount and this is just where the money why people need to know about the money there is a portion there that says in the summary of all fees it's where it says the the number of people that will be served um possibly throughout the year is number 10 and that's $75,000 do we assume that just 10 people will be applying again that's the estimate that's here in this proposal um what happens if there's more or what happens if there's less um is money returned or is money need to be added from this grant is it's just a question because it goes through many different aspects and I'm sure many members of the public are not understanding what I'm saying but I'm sure you are and uh it's in regards that Grant and why is it um just an estimate of 10 individuals when possibly there could be you know many more and the last thing if I have a second is just the claims nobody also looks at the claims and there's um many many things in there even even I'm not going to say it but it'll it'll crack a joke and you know but I'm trying to find out where it's $1,666 68 for an animal control service I would like to know a members of the public I'm sure um it's for the Liberty um and I you know if you can just let people know is are those amounts every month or are those amount for a year um I mean it is important but I don't understand the amounts and I looked at many of them I spend a good time because I'm it's just it's just important to know where the money is going to council president and uh thank you for your attention I know that it was a lot but it is important in regards to to and you and I truly mean this Manny I would be more than happy to spend like two hours with you and show you how to go through the agenda and when you're asking about Liberty how to look it up on the website it's actually very easy to do once you know how to do it and I would be more than willing to sit there and do that with you well I appreciate that I believe um former council member gave me a little tutorial I thought I got it covered but if I I I would enjoy learning more thank you you're welcome and uh all the attorneys you were talking about from Community Development their attorneys two of them are board attorneys one of them is special counsel this isn't actually adding an amount it is the amount we're giving them right now I sure you will see us adding to that amount later in the year but these are just the new attorneys and you wanted to give one yeah council president thank you and with regard to cd5 which you uh had a lot of questions on it's it's a resolution awarding a contract to community grants planning and housing that's the name of a company so there's no Grant in this other than in the name the title of the entity and it's essentially a consolidation of the housing rehab and affordable system which used to be broken the amount that we spent was broken into two categories one is the housing rehab an affordable system and then there was the General Administration for the um a grant agent that we use every year so this number is a little higher it you it's usually like 75,000 and and and 30,000 but if you add the two together it's the same amount that we spent last year we're just merging them into one contract with this entity so it's not a grant we it may result in some grants you know but um I but I understand that it can be confusing so we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion second all in favor I I council members agenda items council president cl2 CC1 CC1 CC1 mrina call the vote a a13 and E6 a13 and A6 A14 A3 oh 13 13 a13 A14 uh E3 E7 F12 and three f f yeah just tell her 83 cl2 E3 E6 E7 and F1 through three okay we're good council president yeah can we push the one a13 I think this G be the first one up can I get it we yes we can thank you call the vote on everything except for a13 A14 CL L 2 CC1 E3 6 and 7 and F1 through 3 I can write it down for you Jerry we're going to start with A14 you want to vote on the rest of the oh I'm sorry yes consent agenda on the rest of the consent agenda excuse me Mr Coen hi Mr do hi M fiser yes Mrs jaor yes Mr Fano hi Mr Cano I Mr Ramos no on A4 a11 and CD4 I on the remaining items Mr Russo I president Geno yes CD4 what do you got first A14 resolution authorizing the appointment of Jennifer Gonzalez's climate action and initiative and an innovation director for the city of Hoboken this you already spoke you went didn't that we did and you yes we did agenda item you spoke and you spoke on this no we didn't do that yet we still love you Pat Paul pulled A4 and a13 didn't he yeah he went to the men's room and he asked if we could oh he wanted A4 I think he wanted both yeah got you to be 14 can do but he pulled 14 as well didn't he get it's just pick another item yeah that's fine CC1 is another it resolution amending the professional service contract with soalan Canon LLP special counsel tenant advocate in the increased amount of $14,000 for a new Total contract amount of 999,000 councilman yeah I I guess my my I'm never opposed to spending more money I'm just it's so early that we have this is for last year oh it's for last year this is to finish out last year got it okay thanks you're welcome thank you I'm sorry it's just uh this is to finish out last year I was just surprised that we were doing 100,000 the first one so it's fin out last year any other council members I would just say he was really busy at the end of the year I mean yeah Mr finina call the vote CC1 Mr con I Mr Doyle I Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr perano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes a13 resolution authorizing the appointment of Diana avales as parks Recreation and public say it AES AES Recreation and Public Works director for the city of Hoboken I have a couple questions for um the VA on this so you can fill me in um in this selection I know it's the mayor's selection but does seniority and experience have any impact on how the individual is selected to become director can you clarify your question does seniority or experience have any impact upon the selection by the mayor for the position we review the candidates qualifications and yes I think that that does have bearing on the decision that's made okay have we I got a couple questions so um can I ask how many internal candidates were interviewed or on the short list we reviewed the available resources of the city and we looked at who had the institutional knowledge experience and aptitude to fill an open position okay um Department uh the newly created Department of Public Works Recreation and is kind of the backbone of like quality life issues which which I just ran on and since Co it's kind of gotten downhill and yesterday I asked um um director Freeman to send me some interesting things uh to give me some titles of what this might look like so he had pointed me to look at the um state job descriptions I know this isn't a civil servant position but it gave me a good idea so I looked under the director of Public Works and in the public director of Public Works experience to be six years of development Administration implementation of Public Works or similar construction maintenance programs including responsibility for budgeting supervising supervision four years of which shall have included management responsibilities I then went over and I looked at director of parks and and Recreation and in there it said five years of supervis their experience in planning promoting organizing or administering comprehensive Recreation program of community including maintenance Parks playgrounds or other recreational facilities now being the new guy up here and we don't get to vote on um directors that often uh I wanted to do my homework and that kind of gives me a good guideline so that means we have to have somebody in those places that have these qualifications so it's I'm asking the question here if the state requires stuff like this how is is it that a potential head of the department would not have any of this experience when employees below them would so I mean in the private sector while we are a government entity and our job is not to make money it's to provide services uh a job of this importance would have a detailed search for a candidate and I'd like to know why the administration kind of ignored a detailed process it seems here as you had said you went through the senority list uh seniority list and you look through the experience list and the individual that were looking for this position um does not have any of these qualifications um can you clarify a little bit there before that's clarified just so you understand it's my opinion that we can't discuss employees without Rising them these are current employees and having a closed session discussion however you're asking I believe about process not about the people correct so to the extent you're asking about the process we went through and we're not talking about one specific appointment because then they're easily identifiable or a candidate's qualifications we're talking about the process that they went through um if you can you can answer the question can can I say something real quick on the rice isn't that only during closed session not in public not in public it's 100% I mean I read up on the act before this because I thought that was going to be a question I know there's different opinions on that it's always my opinion that when you speak about an employee they should be R first and that conversation should happen in close unless they otherwise unless they compel it wave there it's the policy of the administration for us not to talk about uh employees in a public session the law says if we want to talk about employees in a closed session you have to notice them we can legally talk about any employee that we want at any time this Administration does not want us to that for clarity that's that's the rule I'm on process here so just I just wanted to clarify that I read the rice and understood but from the process perspective so we have we have a superintendent of Public Works that fits within the description that of some of the things that you reference and I think that he's one of the most competent employees that we have within our organization uh the director's position reviewed based on the basis of the candidate and um also our experience working with the candidate and um the director's position is again at the direction of the mayor with the review and consent of the council that position is to supervise the department okay um one of the things that I I'm sitting here I can't I don't have a clear conscience because I have nothing to look against to compare uh a uh qualifications or the process um that I can vote hiring I think a key employee especially for the First Ward and the only thing that I'm getting here is the Rhyme or Reason is that it's the Mayor's Choice and that's it um so for me I struggle with this th those are your words not ours correct correct those are mine uh but again I'm trying to see the process you just said we have a qualified candidate and that candidate wasn't selected so just asking the process you just said you had a qualified candidate that's not what I said we have a we have a candidate that meets some of the descriptions that you just laid out and he is the superintendent of correct but we're voting on a director here correct yes okay so what I'm saying is was that person potentially looked at I mean like the process for me is when we hire something that's very big we we have the mayor business administrator directors those are kind of the corporation kind of setup so these are very important roles and for me I take it seriously especially when the quality of life issues in Hoboken have gone downhill so I wanted to understand the process that was looked at here I mean I'll ask the question I'll ask another question do we look outside of the city not that I'm a fan of looking outside of the city but to look for a candidate that someone else City yeah someone else from another city I mean I'm like I said it's just a line item we do not consider another candidate okay thank you councilman Russo yeah I have a and this question actually is for 18 and A14 what is the salary range for the director I'd have to look it up but I think that the salary range for all of our current directors is between 130 and 180 130 and 180 yeah that goes to my point there is no salary range we have no legal mechanism to compensate either of these directors if we vote on them tonight they are absolutely not in our salary ordinance we cannot we cannot we don't have we don't have these directors in our salary ordinance I I disagree that that we can appoint the directors that both the directors were in the ordinance the reorganization ordinance from December it's clear the advice of the council director we established those departments but we as the city council did not establish the mechanism to pay those directors by state law and by case law the city council is solely responsible for the compensation of all directors we do that through our salary ordinance and we do that through our vote with an individual Employment contract with those directors we don't we don't have those in our I I disagree and I think that that Brian's going to look into it that's that's fine director you could disagree all you want and and your opinion is what your opinion is but the facts are still the same they're not in they're not in there we still have on the books a Director of Finance we still have on the books a Director of Human Services we still have on the books a director of Environmental Services what we're being told now is that we are reorganizing the city government in the city of Hoboken to change those departments which we have done by Council resolution and ordinance right we've done that that was the first step we need a mechanism to pay our directors that's all I'm saying if they're not if it's not there we can't do that so I think we need to make sure that we do that and we need to set that range whatever it may be if it's still 130 to 180,000 I'm not debating the numbers all I'm saying is we don't have that mechanism you want to say something else counc well I mean based on what councilman Russa just said should we make a motion to table this um I'm going to give Corporation counsel a few minutes to tr see what they can find out but I actually think I agree with councilman Oro if it's not in our salary ordinance the salary ORD we don't have a mechanis read the it's not in it I I actually reached out to uh director Freeman today about the salary ordinance for the one that we're voting on later in our agenda on first reading and they're not there I I was anticipating that they would be there so that we could actually pay the directors to do their job right no I mean I get first reading is one thing but council president not not first reading either yeah you're right well you you you are you have an opinion which seems logical the question is if if the if the individuals are acting in a capacity now and can they be appointed but not yet start being compensated at the rate until there's an ordinance that changes the classification table and allocates an amount I mean people act I act for my boss and he goes on vacation and I don't get a salary bump MH the question is can they continue in their current salary having been designated approved for when a salary change made in the ordinance absolutely Canen I think what I think the concern that I have is well but this if the council acts and says well we're going to pay our directors in the range of 130 to 150 and those directors are on the ass the assumption that the mayor has negotiated a different salary than that then that's you're putting them in a bad spot right like correct and even and even in the case if any of these individuals is voted down tonight they could still continue in an acting capacity and receive the compensation for the acting role or vice for their current Ro correct for the their current role for the current role not an acting role because it's not on the salary corre it's not on but they could still you could still be we created the position so you could still be acting in a role without there being a a salary attach related to it because no and they're not because they're not getting paid that anyway the none of none of these positions are civil service positions these are these are positions that are created by the administration to serve as the cabinet the the cabinet right at the end of the day if we as a council do not act to provide them with their compensation package that includes their vacation that includes their time off time due overtime compensation time whatever that is this Council needs to act to do that and if that's not currently on our salary ordinance we have no mechanism to do that we have no mechanism to pay them we have no mechanism to say you took a vacation they will pay you for that we don't know if that's the case but you just acknowledged a moment ago that they can act under the terms of their existing contract their current role right current Ro so so if if they have 10 vacation days left in the year it doesn't change if we if we vote tonight to approve them but they'll still be in the same salary and benefits until wait wa until the council acts the allocation one second Corporation Council thank you um so uh foremost councilman Doyle I think hit the nail the head is we don't in my opinion have to figure out the salary ordinance question tonight you can still make the approval if that's what you'd like to do however if you look on now this is online it's not always the most upto-date our code um that's the only thing I have access to right now according to section 63-51 during covid it says department heads directors salary shall be determined by the mayor but for 2020 calendar year shall not exceed as follows and then you put a cap on it for that year assuming this is still the the proper place and the code allows subject to your budget the mayor to decide the salaries of the directors um council president the mayor will will decide the salary of the directors based on the salary ordinance and the range the mayor cannot create an artificial range outside what this Council approves I'll give you you want you want the case law I'll give it to you it's crimmons V Hoboken well well I I'll tell you exactly what it is I'm I'm going to make a motion to table these two we'll get it straightened out and I'll second it a13 and A14 motion to table second M finina call the vote Mr Mr con this is table a13 and A14 just a table to solve it and we'll put it on the next agenda all right Mr Doyle no fiser yes yes yes Mr Jabor yes Mr PR pres Zano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president J no yes I was 13 and 14 all right c c L2 no I meant c as in yes oh good job J cl2 resolution to recognize January 22nd through January 26 20124 as National Gun Violence surveillance week councilwoman javor thank you so much I'm sorry um Amy F just left um she had wanted me uh I think just to add some of the context to this um and some of the STA statistics she cited I won't go into reading the whole thing I don't think it's necessary it's in everyone's packets um but just to highlight a couple of the data points um gun violence is now the leading cause of death for Children and Youth in this country um which is relatively new I think in the last year or so that that became the case um and what a stunning thing that that could possibly be the case um for something that is completely solvable uh 120 people die every day in the United States over 200 are injured or otherwise wounded by gun violence each day um so New Jersey is absolutely a model when it comes to uh state laws that ensure the safety of our communities but even a community like Hoboken is not immune um to the impacts of gun violence and I was just reading the other day um that it had been the anniversary of the incident that happened at the Newport mall and a family had posted about having been at the food court that evening and that's where um the incident had broke out and they ran for for cover and the fear that that created for them for their children and the impact of that and the trauma that lives with them every time they think back to that dig um Even in our community at Mama Johnson Field uh there was an incident that happened during a flag football game um and the number of parents who were shocked that that could possibly happen here in our backyard um frankly no one is immune and while we continue to support the fact that New Jersey leads the way when it comes to um laws that protect us until this country does something at the national level we are only as well off as our neighboring states uh and unfortunately because of the way that uh illegal guns are traded you know the proximity of Pennsylvania for example really puts us at risk even here in Hoboken so I appreciate all the work that Amy fos has done with Mom Dem action to bring this forward and to remind this community of the importance of supporting this issue and bringing awareness uh and to continue to support the people in this Community who have been touched um unfortunately by violence in their in their time thank you council president thank you councilwoman any other council members yeah if you don't mind to just add um and I thank councilman Jabor for all of uh her efforts with Mom's deand and Amy fos and everyone who's involved if if you ever get a chance um what's impactful about this week um you don't often think about the survivors we all think about the children that you know have been killed in the tra around that and I listened to a I think it was the daily um about 6 months ago and they had one of their uh reporters follow a little girl that was a survivor in the Texas shooting what was the name of the school in uh Uvalde yes Uvalde I mean she was I believe eight at the time and she they followed her around for 45 days uh she's lowincome um they you know she was afraid to go back to school she had survivors guilt she knew every single kid in her class that had been killed um she has tremendous anxiety and because she's low-income she actually um doesn't get the kind of mental health support uh and resources that maybe other people might have and when you think about they said something like there are 300,000 children in literally just since Coline that are um survivors there are people that were there they were in the classrooms I mean think about that 300,000 children that watch their friends die in the classroom so we often think about you know the much smaller number of children that have been killed but then you have to think about all of those kids all of their families and the mental health issues and just the challenges they'll have for the rest of their life so it's a real issue and I'm I actually uh I remember seeing this on here and thinking like this is something that we should all be spending some time helping with so thank you for raising it and uh and people should reach out if you go to the Mom's demand site I just went on it to do these cards these are the kind of things that are a great way to participate you can learn a lot more about it so y thanks that's it yeah just go real quick yes yeah uh thank you councilman Jabor uh Miss fore for their efforts here obviously uh Council jaor mentioned that incident in doing a flag football game here in Hoboken uh where we're not immune to such situations I work in a community in pison New Jersey that unfortunately uh we talk about students that my students are uh victims of this on a much more daily basis than we are here uh and I see the impact on them uh in my classroom throughout our school uh every day and that goes for children and adults and I think one one item that was I think councilman offish was just hitting upon this Council when Jor and I had a sidebar about it is the medical debt that the victims go through over a lifetime of this so the scar does not go away no one's paying for their medical care after this they have to uh assume this obviously un unfortunate burden themselves right for for a lifetime so those bills have to get paid and those and I think we saw it in Las Vegas a number of the incident there how many of those victims uh f for bankrupcy afterward so it's it's a it's a in this is An Occurrence that touches every facet of of everyone's lives uh throughout our country especially in the communities that I unfortunately Community I work in so thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention council president councilman qu and then counc yeah I just want to add a couple points I think and apologies if one of these was covered already but um you know I was sitting here trying to think of the last MTH gun shooting that we had and I couldn't think of it so I started looking it up and then I thought to myself it's striking that I can't even remember the name of it it's become so common place right and and I remember back when it happened a couple weeks ago it it wasn't even Front Page News anymore uh or front web page news whatever uh which is sad right and we become apathetic as a country and think that there's nothing that can be done um but that's not true I mean the through through the actions of of you know the Mom's demand Network and and and other organizations like that results are driven things do happen and forgive me if this was covered already but um New Jersey published their stats a couple weeks ago and we recorded our fewest shootings in 2023 since they started keeping records why because there's simply less access to guns there's less there's less instance instances where when a person is in that mental state where they want to commit violence they they they don't have access to the most deadly forms of violence they might still do something but it's less than something that will will take a life um or if they're thinking about you know doing something where they'll have the that cooling off period so the access is really what's driving you know the the the rates and and I applaud the work of of Amy and and and all the folks involved with that because because it really does work it really does make a difference and and just you know keep up the good work because there is a solution here we just got to work towards thank you councilman councilman cin yeah thank you council president uh when we talk about survivors of gun violence I just wanted to mention Chris Garcia 28-year-old young man murdered on a b basketball court in Hoboken born and raised here friends and family still live here in the city uh just year and a half ago November uh 22 uh so you can look at avaldi you can look at Buffalo you can look at all all these places around the country but we're not immune to it here and we have survivors right here in this city in this community so I think it's it's appropriate for us and I want to thank councilwoman Jabor for her leadership and Amy F and Mom's demand thank also John saki SE Columbus Park and that's right beloved teacher thank you thank you councilwoman Mr finina call the vote Mr con I Mr dorl I miss fiser yes Mr Jabor yes M prev Zano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president G Tino yes E3 resolution approving the design of Church Square Park Vision plan and authorizing action by the administrator to effectuate the project pursuant to chapter 56a of the Hoboken city code council president yes councilman uh director which one is this chch I asked the question before yep yeah I figured what you what you would ask uh so as we um discussed previously so uh after the public hearing we um made a few changes to the vision plan the first was uh you know we heard the concerns about the need for additional noise mitigation so we added a physical noise mitigation barrier uh within the vegetated noise barrier that will be on uh the Willow Avenue side of the dog run um so it will be an acoua block panel that will be surrounded by multiple layers of vegetation which will add uh additional noise mitigation um to the project um in addition we did explore you know additional locations uh I understand that councilman R suggested a location we looked into that location um that location was about half the size of the existing dog run um and it also was uh countered to the entire design philosophy that um the public had preferred of the oval um then we looked into the suggestion that that you had made to move uh the dog run to the turf area the the turf area to the northwest corner um and then establish lawn on the western side of Willow Avenue um that would result in the dog run being about 3/4 of the size of what it is currently so it would still shrink the run it would be uh adjacent to more residential uses um in addition it would um really the the northeast corner is the most wellestablished actually the best lawn that the park still has with several mature trees so from a landscape architecture perspective our design team was very concerned that um we would need to potentially in order to install Turf there we would need to potentially remove two M very healthy mature trees um and that the actual uses of the Turf um lawn area that happen right now you know um uh playing ball pickup Fitness uh pickup Sports um Fitness classes things like that would not really be conducive to the amount of mature tree canopy that is there um so they had a lot of concerns about the that quadrant specifically um and lastly you know we did a very high level cursory uh you know cost and found that um doing those changes would be about $275,000 more than what the vision plan is currently recommending and that would be an addition to the more than $200,000 that we spent um in 2020 upgrading the dog run um which was funded by a by a grant through Hudson County open space trust fund so for all of these reasons you know we we really worked our hardest to mitigate the the noise concern we heard the noise concern we we looked at other locations couldn't identify another location that was more Well Suited however tried to mitigate the the noise to the greatest extent possible and do we have any uh any data as to what that is going to look like as far as the no noise mitigation do we have any data showing what that blockage um the acoustic block would be we can provide product specifications to to show exactly what the benefits of the product are for sure um we also you know know that from an investigation conducted you know by the Hudson Regional Health commission previously um that there were no noise violations found by the barking dogs at the at the dog run um so you know we're we're certainly going as far as we can to mitigate the noise measures while keeping the dog run in the location that was uh that that was deemed most feasible after uh several rounds of analysis and a long Community planning effort you you made a uh interesting comment to me about the potential move that I suggested being in a more residential uh area of the park what what's the significance of that one of many factors that as I just mentioned there were several factors of why it doesn't seem like that Northeast quadrant would be the best location for the dog run specifically the reduction in size first and foremost right no no that's not what I'm asking I'm asking specifically about that being in a more residential area of the park right why would that be significant in the in the overall well analysis of of of a move again it's just one of many factors no I understand but what what does that have to do with the the the potential move it it's in a more residential area or it's in a less residential area what does that how did that help you to come to a conclusion that it shouldn't be there well I guess because at the current moment it's in a more commercial area right it's on a corner with a hospital it's on a corner with um religious institution of course with school um so it would just be moving to a residential area so it's just a and why would that statement of fact why would that be a negative impact for a move it's a factor I guess I'm not sure what you're well I'm just trying to I'm trying to get to the to the understanding of why moving it to a residential area of the park versus in your words a more commercial area of the park be a negative factor in that move and not a positive one I don't know that it's a negative factor it's a factor it's one of many factors as I just mentioned it's a factor there's there's a lot of factors I I understand that but that factor would have some impact on your decision not to move Mo it so what is that factor about is it because there are going to be more people who might own a dog right across the street from it is it a factor that it might be noisier is it a factor that you might have more traffic through it what was the impact of that specific variable in your equation that would lead to you to say that in the conversation of moving the dog park I think it was just a statement of it's a different land use than where it is now but again okay we we'll leave it there I think everybody understands where I was going with it and then finally as far as the uh restrooms in the park we had uh major concerns about the uh restrooms being in that very Corner have we looked at potentially moving them or changing them in the layout I did not recall the major concerns about restrooms in that corner but I think question I thought there was a lot of concerns about them I think there was a question about it and the response from the the designer was that it's easier to uh inspect or or Patrol right if it's on that corner that that's that's the answer that I took and satisfied sorry thank you um as far as it being in that particular corner or that being on in any Corner no so that corner that was specifically spoken about okay so we can go back and and consider the specific location but what I will say to you is that we've understood from a public safety concern that having the restrooms closer to the perimeter of the park is what is the the the goal whether it is that particular corner or another perimeter location of the park is something that I think we could potentially be flexible on but it really is a a public safety concern to be able to see who might be in the restroom at any time and actually that's you know that's something that in Southwest Park for example the restro is is near the perimeter in seventh and Jackson it's not and you know we found it more uh beneficial from a public safety perspective to be able to to to see the activity there would it be better to be in a more residential part of the park or more commercial part of the park I don't know okay just asking thank you I think just the part that has the highest use okay we will we will take that back to the yes not withstanding the public safety component of it it's I think our comments about the location of it was it's literally right across from a bar it's down the street from a bar it's you know the unintended consequence of how that fits into how we occupy our city and how you know we have a lot of 22 23 25 whatever year olds that in that area in particular that giving them easy access to a um bathroom is probably not the great thing so the best thing and so maybe just think about are there other ways from a public safety can we put cameras around the periphery of the to give you the public safety benefit but maybe not the ACC easy access to our late night bar crowd okay but yeah now that I understand more of the context thank you I appreciate that I will be able to take that back I I the bathrooms will be locked overnight correct so they are they are locked lock before 2:00 in the morning the people in the bar have a bathroom in the the bar so I don't understand I understand 3:00 in the morning and heading home and there's no place but if they're locked then there's still and there's no public safety issue so you can have them in the middle public the public safety has to do with during the day I'm sure they will say and I can like Church Square Park I've never let my children who are not children anymore use the bathroom there just because there's lots of bushes around it you you know unless I in with them but if it's on the perimeter and there's more eyes on it and there's more people using it I actually see a benefit to that that was the design intent yes um but I understand the concern about which particular uh Corner um as well but perimeter is the gooun uh one thing I did want to note that that's across the park from all the kids stuff I can tell you that if you're there with two children or three children and you've got the stroller packed up you now have to take the stroller across the park to go to the bathroom with one of of your kids and you got to Wrangle the two other ones and using an example so is there a chance maybe it could be closer to the children's area because the majority of the park is used by the children yeah I'll take that back for sure that that that I understand thank you thank you thank you director thank you where are we Mr Fina please call the vote on E3 Mr con I Mr Doyle I miss fiser yes Mrs Jabor yes Mr prano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos no Mr Russo no president gtino yes E6 resolution awarding a contract to Hall Construction Company Incorporated in the amount of $134,400 when you look at the bidding the line above it with the bids um and you look at the individual line items there's substantial differences you know that like membrane Roofing I mean I'm not trying to be nitpick I'm asking a question because I don't understand how membrane Roofing is 24 Grand with somebody 31 grand for the second person and six grand for the last person so I kind of got to look at this from a holistic standpoint if two people are kind of close on a price and one somebody's off by you know they're a fourth the price I got to ask a question so they're the lowest bidder I get it it's going to lead to my next question that is why if we award this to Hall construction what is the percentage of contracts that we've awarded have come back for change orders to ask for more money I don't know the percentage off the top of my head that I've ever asked I'm not trying to pick I I mean I I I don't know um but to answer your previous question about you know bidding and bid tabulation that is why we have professionals so this bid tabulation was prepared by the architect who reviewed all of the bid submissions and found uh all three of them to be reasonable um that said I I would not be able to explain to you why contractors price items the way they do that is uh you know that is absolutely Beyond um well I'm I'm concerned because I know inside the firehouse there um leaking is a big thing of course and this is the membrane Roofing so I'm hoping that while the hall construction has $6,000 for that and the other two which were the higher amounts had something three to four times that size and especially being it's a roof I you know again it's a little nitpicky but I'm trying to figure out will this come back with a potential change order when they realize that maybe they mispriced ITC noted and uh in the future if you can provide those comments in advance I can provide the professional absolutely I didn't mean to call you on the spot I just was a question that's okay I just I I will provide the information answer absolutely than thank you director Mr finina please call the vote Mr C hi excuse me Mr Doyle hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Pano I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president gtino yes E7 resolution approving the change order of the city's contract with venor electric in the amount of $7,650 from the original contract amount of the installation of an emergency backup generator at City Hall council president yes uh I just have a question what was the what was the change what happened getting in your exercise should have just stayed up here but uh as as noted in the in the resolution um the change order was required U from having to replace the existing splice service connction conectors and to be properly grounded as required by the construction code official um so there was when they were doing the final inspections they identified additional work that needed to be done uh to to meet code in which case that resulted in a in a change order why I mean we have a qualified electrician doing that work correct we do and that electrician actually identified that this was necessary and was not in the initial um you know in the initial scope why wasn't in the initial scope um more mainly because we've done significant amount of electrical work to improve the electrical room over the past several years um as a result a lot of things have have changed um specific locations of certain things have changed we moved entire like we created entire new panels Etc um so it was you know likely a a you know change that was not caught before in the in the design process so those those changes that you're referring to however many there were not specific to this they happened in between the awarding of the contract and then the finalization of the they happened they happened during the design process concurrent with the design process it's been a long time coming that we've been working on this generator project yes and changes have continued during that process um and you know it absolutely is something that that should have been caught through the through the design and um we've worked through that so so it was the city's fault it wasn't the contractor's fault that we needed to increase the the amount here it was and I don't want to say fault that's not not the right word but it wasn't a function of them doing something that they should have been responsible for it no I think it was a function of we you know there should have been one more component added to the design that wasn't added to the design it should have been in the initial bid it should have been in the initial scope it wasn't in the initial scope and therefore it was required as a change after the fact and then who created that initial scope uh it was an engineering firm who was the firm EI Associates what was it EI Associates EI Associates Corporation Council do we have anything in our contracts with our professionals where um we have these mitigated damages in in in situations like this where you had an engineering firm uh create something and they miss something and now it's going to cost the city another $7,600 Plus where they would then become responsible for those oversights sorry so you're saying do we have something in the contract that says that they don't do their job if they if they over if they're overseeing a process and they're creating these bid specs for in this case an electrician to come in and do the work but they didn't add something to that and now because of that it's going to cost us more money I don't I don't believe that there's anything specific in any contracts that say if you don't do what we're paying you to do um you know you're going to owe us money or whatever that would just be a claim but so I guess my point is if your question if the facts of the question are as you're saying they are the city could have a claim against the contractor but there's nothing in the contracts that say you know when we hire you to do a job if you don't do the job we're hiring you for you're going to be responsible like that's right I've been I've been asking for I've been asking for a clause like that for for years uh well before you were here um I think it's something that we should put all of our contracts because it gives us just a little bit of a a better leg to stand on in situations like this if we need to go after a different contractor for different reasons um we need to kind of cover ourselves so I understand what you're saying and I'll look into it the only reason right now as I sit here I might disagree a little bit is it it always comes down to the facts right sure regardless of whether it's in the contract or not they're going to argue we did our job we're going to be arguing you didn't do your job and so that's it's the claim is the same whether it's in the contract or not in the contract understood I appreciate it thank you thank you director thank you director Mr finina please call the vote Mr con I Mr Doyle hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr Pano I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo I president gtino yes F1 resolution pre-qualifying firms to Ser serve as financial advisor Council council president it's really all of them um just a question for um for our director what exactly are the firms going to be doing as far as uh their financial services to the city of hoken as an advisor um for F2 right F1 F1 well F1 pre-qualifies them pre so for F2 I I asked this question it came up in subcommittee um it's related to issuing notes Financial modeling and Financial advice including developing the budget um it's an on call service um that they're going to provide support the city we ask them it's not just they don't just have that scope of work to go from we have to ask for their financial consulting um and for F3 specifically is for Bond Council and bond capital and where where are we as far as budget's concerned do we have any preliminary numbers or um we are working on it and I think that we are going to try to deliver the budget during the same time frame that we did last year thank you are you good with us voting on all three yep thank you Mr finina please call the vote on F1 through three two and three Mr con hi Mr DL hi Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes trano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Gan dintino yes ordinances introduction the hok and city code chapter 155 rank control the change violations and penalties provision to be in accordance with the New Jersey state law please call the vote Mr Pina Mr con hi Mr Dole hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes fman Zano I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president gtino yes ordinance for ruction and ordinance chapter 19-9 entitled stop streets designated to add all Allway stop controls to the intersection of Fifth Street and Monroe Street please call the vote Mr Pina Mr cero I'm sorry Mr con Mr Mr M Fisher yes mror yes M Pano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes uction ordinance amending supplementing and ordinance establish establishing scheduled classifications and allocations of titles for the hearing mentioned positions positions in the city of hoken please call vote Mr col hi Mr DL hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr prev xano hi Mr Cana hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes for introduction amending chapter 192 d4a entitled enumeration of spaces to add and remove Reserve General parking spaces for persons with disabilities please call the vote Mr con I Mr d i Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President Zano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president J Tino yes or for introduction and ordinance amending North End redevelop Redevelopment plan for the Northend Rehabilitation area please call the vote Mr h i Mr Doyle hi Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr Fano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president tantino yes we have one resolution has a planning two no no no no we have a commun that's okay resolution of the city of Hoboken re referring ordinance amending the North End Redevelopment plan to the North End Rehabilitation area to the city of Hoboken planning board for review pursuant to local Redevelopment and Housing law Mr finina call vote Mr con hi Mr dle I M Fisher yes Mr jaor yes Mr Fano hi Mr Cano hi M uh Mr R hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes public portion uh what about the uh cc2 do you have after uh oh okay I mean at least on the agenda that's Outreach Tony sor should I make this uh Jerry you might have to just tilt it down tilt it just tilt it know thank you hi Tony Soros Hoboken nothing nothing major I just want to say I I noticed I have to say one of the things we do really well here is Park design like I love I think that Northwest the new resilien SE Park is really cool and there's a lot of critic ISM because people think they're going to the Park's going to open and there's going to be like a 30ft tree the day they move there but I will say this I was there I'm they had the opening and the dedication and the city workers were no sooner taking the chairs away that I saw someone letting their dog pee on the newly seated SED Hill and it was like you know and now there was there's there's not I don't think there's a dog run there um and I don't know if there needs to be but people won't even if they're going to ruin a lawn they're going to do it whether there's a dog run or not but I think it's it's really important but I want to go back to Church Square Park it's a very historic Park and I love the way it looks I think that there should be a rethinking of the of the Gazebo so that you know performance performers that need access to be on that stage should be able to get up there and I thought the design that they had showed where it was more open was still playing to the spirit of the park if you look at the way they redid Lincoln Center they changed the fountain but it's still you know looks like the Lincoln Center Fountain which leads me to the Highline and I was reading up on that I watched the documentary on I think it was on New York 21 or cheddar they had a whole documentary on on PBS on Diller scaffido and the design firm that did that that process on the Highline which by the way from like start to finish it took less than like it took us to do the Southwest um and that's not a criticism but it's just a matter of they had a world a global competition multiple firms designed it and then Dillers caido and one other firm were selected um I think it was Hadid g g j Hadad whatever Hadid anyway long story short it didn't come back to New York City Council to like start picking inart and I think it's really important that we honor like the pure designs of our Parks because that's when they really look great when we start to shove of everything into these Parks they they start to look like you know like McDonald's play lands that you see on like the highway or a rest area like we got to be very careful of what we're doing so I know there's a lot of pressure on Church Square Park to do a lot of different things and I and with respect I mean nobody is wrong on what they want to do but when I saw like that corner of the where it looks like a buffer what I feared was I was going to start seeing what I don't mind looking at in the resilient part is like a bunch of Rock Gardens that if they're not maintained well they look terrible because I have to say all our bump outs around town when the when it's not when it's not nice out it they look like they look like tumble weed you know Barren wastelands I mean the front of City Hall has no dignity anymore it it just looks like mush and I think we need to figure out I'm sure there's succulents and proper plants that stay green all year long that are real and I think we have to start doing that I also noticed a lot of the water retention systems on Washington Street the bump outs and even at F uh norc and Clinton Street there's a big turn and then there's another one where like they're all these pie shaped like gullies and and corner corner bump outs they're just filled with garbage because they're not they're not easy to clean out and then there's these little over by the Sky Club there's these little gullies that if you can't see or your vision impaired or you have like some type of obstructive Vision you don't see like a hole in the street and there's like if you go to New York where they have this they have metal grates that are flush that go over that and even in Jersey City where they redid norc Avenue you can't even see their sore plates their sore plates are underneath their sore lines are like these very slim modern like sore lines that go under the sidewalk and uh I think there's another there's it's it's much more expensive than what we're doing but I think we have to start thinking about incorporating some of these water retentions to look a little better especially with Church Square Park I mean that's all that blue stone those sidewalks and those blue stones are in movies like on the waterfront and think places like that we need to really save that stuff we can't I don't want to see it I don't want to see Church Square Park looking like Southwest or Northwest they're beautiful in their own but they set the timeline of the 2020s whereas Church Square is whatever 18 whatever so I think it's important that we not over manage the design process either we need to like I would think it was um if we all remember Paul Somerville who's a legend at Hoboken and our historic preservation Guru and he still has a lot of good input from time to time like from from afar he told me this quote that a camel was just was supposed to be a horse but it was designed by a committee so joke if you see a camel it's like doing million different things and you know but so I think we have to make sure that our Parks not that ug okay you can you can just wrap it I just have to say we have to like you know trust our professionals we're spending a lot of money with because like I mean in p i mean Mr Doyle knows that and Ruben you guys were here at the time and Mr Cohen P like still looks great today it's a very simple design the best trees in and you know by one of the world famous Tree Experts so I think we have to think about let the professionals be professionals and let us you know just vote on it if it if it works thank you thank you very much Patricia waiters don't touch it no I was putting it back up like this then she raised it up Mike don't tell me what to do give me give um just real quick Paul you know what every time they say your name my heart beats and with Hope and Faith that you sitting up there I'm glad you spoke on resolution E6 uh E6 I'm saying this because anything with the fire department and on the other side with the public safety department that's a no-brainer these I mean I'm not saying you're not supposed to ask questions I'm glad you asked questions to show that you're awake and well aware like that other young men spoke about the park at least we know what's going on in our city to see that and you question about the bids anything with respect to making that fire department and that Police Department up and running for our safety and well-being in this town please don't it's a no-brainer try to work with them on getting resolutions like this passed and voted on I trust their judgment both of them ESP es the 911 thing with the communications cuz I was shocked when I call the police department and they got to ask you press what department you need versus the oldfashioned way but if I wasn't involved in meetings and stuff I would have had no set knowledge of it so thank you for that now on the um attack part CL cl3 I didn't see none of you guys at the Martin Luther King dinner at um at the high at the breakfast I'm sorry what I'm saying this for is thank you for recognizing it Miss council president Jin gentino Jerry thank you Excuse Me Miss J gentino I want to thank you for recognizing I don't know the difference between recognizing or in support of but I really it's not a resolution right it's just say in support of Dr mtin Luther King to let you know right after his birthday two weeks later kicks off Black History Month which is February the 1st any and all involvement like I told you again I'm willing to educate you on the facts and my experiences cuz if you know better you do better so I'm here I'm available guys let's get together and do something for Black History Month I'm willing to work with you I want to see some resolutions and proclamations even if y'all don't honor me cuz I'mma Be Pat waiters and do what I do you know that I'm asking for all nine of your help with this one please let my people in the Housing Authority start feeling that inclusion that you keep talking about when you run for office about diversity inclusion no I'm not talking about a party and setting up a tent giving out hot dogs the oldfashioned way let them know that change is going to come please I'm asking again please work with me Hanukkah I set my table right up in front of the city hall me thank you Manny thank you hovie Foreman thank you Paul was out there with Paul you beat me there thank you with with bells on this is what I like to see in the community and I want everybody watching this this texting me I'm running into Hall answering your calls keep in mind again guys 12 months we'll be picking up politicians for mayor that's a very big serious responsibility and all the complaints that y'all calling telling Pat Wade is about this time I hope no internet no postcards no literature nothing else distract you from getting a good mayor so while y'all sitting up there we got 12 months this is for each and every one of you that's even considering being mayor I'm going to be there I'm going to be holding y'all accountable and I'm going to be helping members of the public get get us a good mayor for our city that we lost along the way thank you guys have a good night thank you Patria Manny Rivera Solair once again good evening council president Council uh members of the public thank you for your attention this evening again I would just like to say council president to you and to the council thank you very much this evening for answering uh the Public's questions um especially mine uh it is very appreciative and council president I thank you again for offering uh me the extra I I may have looked like I was befuddled but I I understood what you were saying and I thank you for helping members of the public understand understand uh the agenda because again I look at the agenda I don't just uh flirt with it I read it and I do uh do diligence just for myself and for members of the public to help my neighbors out and understand and when I I know that I went into the weeds with the details of the numbers but um again is very important um for us to know where um the money goes to like I asks and the claims the $111,000 um for the uh animal control um now I would like to say with the rest of my minutes that I have here um again I want to just um touch on some issues uh one is there are many signs throughout the city um that are a skew that are you know are almost unreadable that are in wrong areas um that people cannot see them um I wish there would be some type of Public Works um survey as to some of the signs there's some signs that are even bent that you can't even see uh anymore down by um uh Ninth Street uh by Jefferson um also an issue that I would like to bring attention to is the that was brought up here by the way I think it was either a friend of yours um council president at the time you were in council president the overhead H um hanging wires that someone had brought up uh they even gave you maps and details um can members of the public know if if any attention has been given to that um that's very important they they're right in the park as well Church Square Park there are some that are just like you know about to to fall over um again um I would like to thank um uh again council member um Ramos through you council president um as well as the county leaders um for the Observer Highway um the little improvements that are going to be happening there are very important because people do cross that Avenue and that street uh on a constant basis um those people who are coming from Jersey City to to uh visit our city and um partake of our restaurants and businesses so if we could have more of that if uh the council and the administration could promote that in in conjunction with the county um believe me I will let them know that we are grateful um again council president I thank you and uh I would like to also always keep in mind my last words that since we were speaking or you were um conveying a resolution against violence and gun violence the gun violence and the violence of being portrayed or or being um set upon the people of um uh Israel and the people of um Gaza and the Palestine should be condemned at all turns the humanitarian crisis is too too much um for us to Bear we cannot be the United States cannot be participant in that we need to find a solution no one is guilty other than the terrorists and we should bring back the uh hostages as soon as possible but it's getting very late and impossible for the people to continue to have hope so we want to unite we hope that you unite um with uh these causes as well as the Ukraine that is being continuously um brutally and unconsciously um uh uh attacked by its neighbor we have to continue to raise our voices against that hate and council president I would also like to ask if council president can let members of the public either know this evening before you close the meeting or in the top of the next meeting um the procedures of the meeting being that we are in a New Year meaning if a member the public wants to speak so they could know how long they have time to in different portions of the meeting whether it's public whether it's agenda or whether it's ordinance um so that that way when we speak on an ordinance it's five minutes each which they're going to be uh seven this coming uh next meeting that people don't feel frustrated because of yeah I understand I know it but I'm asking Council to say it um to members of the public as well as that they have the right to if they cannot be present to um submit in writing by email to the clerk and it'll write to you um their um opinions um on the agenda and it will also be in the record uh uh I believe that this would behoove members of the public to understand that and hear it from from you um with that council president with that have been said U I would like to say God bless you God bless you all God bless Hoboken and please let's be safe out there the streets and the sidewalks by the way are a little uh icy so um we also need to look into that to make sure we are all safe when we're walking our streets thank you for your attention have a good evening James T Caro yes good evening can you hear me all right James tro 124 Madison Street um before your constituents or yourself get disgusted Maybe by my t-shirt uh you know Jamie Diamond is out on a public relations tour explaining that we should really have uh you know patience and and dignity for all the voters of the country because 75 million people um are have the same point of view at the very least and it's a very normalized thing all over the country including New Jersey um locally in Hoboken uh the election happened here you know the right people won but I think it's important to listen collectively to the votes so I'm just going to read through this quickly getino 941 the winning amount Cohen 937 Ramos my council person 840 Russo th 296 crushed it fiser 954 prano uh freshman council person 720 so what does that mean well it means that 833 people voted it means that in our in our city census with 6,000 people 133% of the of the city voted it means that according to the Hudson County website and the County Register clerk clerk Mal they count 4,739 registered voters in Hoboken so that means 20% of the population voted so what does that mean what do you have a mandate for with 20% do you have a mandate to take us into debt collectively talk about that talk to your constituents about that ask them ask yourself what is what what is the purposeful purpose of debt okay going into debt for a a a huge Park design going to debt for art not no spending is fine for art and for a park but to go into debt I don't know people that borrow money to put art on their wall I don't know if you have you could speak up if you have so you said terms earlier 450,000 gallons that's great you said $750,000 Grant how does anybody know what that means how do you know what that means what's how many gallons do we need great 450,000 but do we need 40 million to make a difference to make to move the needle you know you're going to you're going to you're going to collect all this water where's our pond how about one pond so moving on to a different subject the most important question that we have collectively is what are we going to do are we going to support Ravi Bala or Congress and you know finally finally there is a candidate that's my age you know Robie Bal is just about my age I think he's a little bit younger and you know that's kind of cool because that means you're voting for somebody who's an equal you're not voting for someone oh they're an elder oh they've been there the whole time that's pretty cool so maybe that's just personal but you know what we know he's a a you know we know he's a a son of New Jersey right we know he's a graduate of Tain law school people don't talk about that enough it's a big feat it's a phenomenal you you know institution he came back to New Jersey he he had a vision younger to to go ahead go into politics wanting to be a congressman it's pretty cool I kind of like that I kind of like all of that but there's this issue from 2017 with this quote unquote racist flyer and it makes a big difference to me as a voter now they were saying oh this is this horrible thing Robbie's going to get in sympathy but I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and said well you know what it was his campaign that put out the flyer and not some other random group that was just a hateful you know situation or an old-fashioned campaign trick or something like that and there was all this promises and I'll just ask you for this will you find out who did it because it makes a difference to me because I want I'm wrapping up I would love to support him but I really want to know the answer to that because you know there's just a certain level where you can you can go and I I don't know if I don't know if the public would really I I think everybody would really want to know that and for the people that talk to me and they say they know stuff come forward not to me but come forward and write your oped or or bring your evidence to somebody uh so let's let's make decisions with real information thank you have a good night thank you James no I thought you said something sorry thank you um Mr fin I would like to do I have to make a motion to reopen a vote uh yes motion to reopen ordinance can we reopen an ordinance why not right yeah of course um or an ordinance to amend suppl uh it's ordinance number four ordinance to amend supplement an ordinance establishing a schedule of classifications and allocations of the title of the herein mentioned positions of the city of hoken second I I'll second that for you to for a revote yes yeah Amendment well I would well first I have to reopen the vote don't I before I can amend it yes yeah Mo okay thank you yeah to reopen the vote on ordinance number four um number ordinance four for first reading I don't know what the actual number is because it's no this is to reopen thank you to reopen I Mr Doyle hi M fiser Mr Jabor yes Mr President xano hi Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes and the Amendments I would like to make Corporation Council is under directors changing Human Service director to climate action and Innovation director and changing environmental service director parks recreation and Public Work Director council president one sec what did I is there any issue you see with that no you're changing the titles correct that's all you're doing yes council president I'd also like to uh remove the title uh Finance director we don't have one we don't have we don't have a Director of Finance why why do we have it on the books if we had one we haven't had one for how many years now yeah no and then if I I am actually fine with that if we get a finance director we find one we bring it back and removing Finance director Mr Good Mr finina call the vote Mr con as amended as amended Mr con hi Mr Doyle hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Rano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Pros hi Mr if that's readable for you yes and then we have uh I have a resolution here if I can find it uh cc2 but first we have my did I lose it Jerry here it is uh there actually yeah I know there wasn't a resolution of the city of Council of Hoboken authorizing an urgent item to be included in the agenda after the deadline set forth in the city council rules of procedure Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi M Mr Doyle I M Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes pres Mr preso hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes yeah and then a resolution awarding a non-fair and open contract to shernan that's it you got it Edwards buac and Nolan LLC for not to exceed amount of $110,000 for special counsel M finina call vote Mr con hi Mr D hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes new business yeah sorry um uh just one quick um update in the second ward we have a lot of progress on 14th in Hudson which I know everyone has been dying for updates uh I got a call from the county um on earlier this week who who said that the traffic light equipment is finally or not in today but it will be in by the end of the month and they should uh they will will start installing that inip equipment these are new traffic lights for 14th and Hudson that I think we're in year two at this point um that we've been waiting but they should be installed and then they'll do the rest of they'll fix the rest of the sidewalks and all the Landscaping so it's just a big achievement that's it council president yes Council thank you council president uh director I just want to uh first say thank you for the administration and uh and all those involved getting that information from the rec department over although it was 6 months later uh I do appreciate that we got all of it uh but there were a couple things that were missing from it um the the needs assessment for space I was hoping to get what our needs were F field and gym space and what staff is actually uh what staff has allocated to those spaces for that for those needs uh and then finally the funding sources for all of the outsourced programs in the city of Hoboken where that funding is coming from is it just a general budget is it in the instance of the little league is it people who uh sponsor teams what how's the breakdown of each of those uh different programs that we run uh and then finally election's over I get it you know we don't want to talk about rats anymore but the reality is they're still around um you know it was disappointing for me that uh this Council chose not to uh remove parklets in the city so that we could clean under them and I just did a a quick uh run through Hoboken one evening and I checked every parklet in the city of Hoboken and there was not one Diner in the parklets across the entire city not one I think we missed an opportunity we could have had those removed we could have clean under them we could have figured out a new way to uh re-erect them in in the city and have our citizen reuse them um but we missed the boat there so I don't want to miss the boat on something else that I think we should be doing and that's garbage pickup um I think we as a city should make sure that our garbage is being picked up properly I think we as a city should make sure that it's being picked up uh as much as it's needed uh and we should continue to have those conversations I would love to increase the amount of pickups in the city uh I think that's a conversation that we should start to have now because I know our contract is coming up as far as our uh garbage collection so I just want to put it on everybody's radar I think we need to continue to talk about our rodent problem in the city of hobok and and not forget it because November and in the first W's case December has now passed I think it's imperative that we continue to have that conversation so that's all I had council president thank you thank you I'm sure I just wanted to make a couple of um updates uh regarding the recent um registration for recreation programs for the spring and I know it's something counc on Ramos and I were speaking about earlier um there was some definite frustration about some of the capped programs um I'm sure not just us for not just us that we heard from parents who are frustrated about the lack of opportunity to sign their children up for some of those programs um had a really good conversation with the recreation department um following that process about some changes that could be made including reopening the weight lists to be unlimited um they had initially capped them and I think the problem with that was that we weren't going to get a clear picture then of what the demand truly looked like um and in terms of being able to guide our future facility Investments how are we going to do that if we don't know what the demand actually looks like um and so the recreation department is actually going to reopen that they will announce it as a um one time timeline so that everybody knows and is on the same page about when that will reopen um there will be additional slots made available um there are some changes that were made in terms of the allocation of field space to accommodate additional slots um to pull some of the people off the existing weight lists that had been capped um to add to an open weight list um and also to look at some additional field space options um you know we were just talking about for some of the littlest players you know they don't need a full diamond to necessarily learn how to play baseball there are other opportunities for smaller fields that maybe we need to look at in order to expand the ability to reach um those programs to the families who are looking for them um in addition I know that there has been um the expressed concern for people to have this conversation in a public forum um not just necessarily for the sake of what we vote on here for contracts but to talk about more holistically the state of recreation programming for the city um and I think we're moving in the direction of having um a town hall style of event that will be focused specifically on that topic which I think will be to the benefit of of how the city goes forward in terms of planning future programming for recreation so just wanted to provide that update thank you council president any other council members I do Council you can go mine will be really quick thank you uh yeah I just want to thank uh Hudson County Executive Craig guy director fany Chief agar Sheriff scary taking the time to meet me over the holidays uh something initi we've been talking about for a long time here every two weeks at Public Safety Committee meetings about having police presence on Observer highway to help direct traffic uh they created a new detail Wednesday through Fridays and the reason why it's only Wednesday through Friday is because the lack of Manpower within both departments right now at this time uh we're down our our saale of organization is is down a little bit as well as as well as the sheriff's office that organization is down a little bit as well table so but but uh the feedback has been nothing but positive it's only Wednesday through Fridays right now we love to expand it uh five days a week but the feedback overall has been tremendous through the community they said the noise is down in the area traffic is Flowing uh much better so adding that human element which we've been requesting for a number of years now and every two weeks of Public Safety meetings uh proved to be the right move at this time so hopefully move it along other areas as well but it was definitely a a step in the right direction there uh secondly uh received a number of emails today I sure you uh everyone else as well regarding the the car jacking incidents uh in Hoboken as well so I think we need to take a more proactive stand not so much us but from the public safety department division to what act what means they're taking what we could support to try and prevent those measures from happening in our city one is too many two is too much and then we also have number of break-ins along First Street as well that uh what are we doing to address those those issues as well I think I've received a number of calls when those incidents uh were made public in the news this past week so hopefully we could address that but obviously want to hear our leadership first they create the policy from it we try to implement with them but work together to try and make our residents feel safer and uh that's about it for me and then also what counc Russo is saying also for a number of years we collected uh garbage on Tuesday nights and our residents also reached out in the fall winter and leading into the spring uh what the amount of what financing would take to try and bring uh Tuesday garbage collection back I know we do collect in our commercial districts consistently on Tuesday nights but if we have to do an Eastern portion of our city approach one Tuesday night Western portion of our city uh another Tuesday night if it's too expensive to the entire city number of residents reached out with that kind of idea for us to try and collect garbage more often throughout the city maybe that's something we should explore in our budget season as we as that progresses up thank you council president thank you councilman I actually uh was driving in from Jersey City this evening and said I can't believe there's a police officer here directing traffic I have never seen this before it was it was actually great traffic moved much better my OCD benefited everyone um director Stratton I I think it was like six months ago we passed a resolution about the overhead lead lines and I never heard anything back do they exist did anyone check into it actually uh I had response from Engineering in PSG on that issue specifically with an update and I'm happy to forward them to you great thank you very much did an investigation engineering did um perfect that would be excellent thank you motion to close council president oh yes I'm sorry before you close um I did find an answer with regard to the salary ordinance that we were talking about earlier and actually when we did the reorganization of the positions the salary ordin the ordinance that you provide that you passed at that point in time actually specifically addressed the issue and said the salary ordinance shall be updated to reflect the new titles as established herein titles and Department names changed herein shall be deemed changed throughout the city code so gave the ability to make the change based upon the reorganization because you weren't changing never changed internally we voted on it but it wasn't changed internally I mean the actual the code hasn't been updated yet but you you passed an ordinance updating it correct double voted on it so now you've double so you want to reconsider those resolutions tonight you you're free to do so because the salaries are I do think we should wait because I know question motion to thank you thank you motion to close I thank you Jerry