the session will begin now follow by city council meeting of November 15 2026 we have approv minutes we have audience in second reading we have audience number one and a two amend supplement orinan of the city of Title Five licenses regulations chapter 59 p licing regulation for the second plan area in the city of we have ordinances from first reading we have an ordinance to and supplement General ordinances traff parking are add 20 6 to the we have resolutions 1 33u one approve Amendment two approve faal authoriz tax certificate appr approve 2024 City counc meeting schu appr contract Solutions seven approve payment to Joseph for arbitration fees eight approve amendment of resolution 022 333 with st ound LC n approve transfer tax taxi Li number 42 10 resolution authorizing budget transfer 2023 munal budget 11 approve chapter9 insertion for the homeless rtion aage TR 12 approve amendment of resolution 2 311 we stop elure 13 approve amendment of resolution are 1123 083 Insurance Agency 16 authorized application acception of r with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs 17 approve authorization to advertise for furnish and deliver to 2023 or new for explorers 18 authorized tax collector to transfer payments in several tax and accounts 19 approve resolution to establish Municipal B rates for municipal planning war and Zoning war of adjustment attorney for 202 license special LC 21 authorized renewal of agreement with county of M 22 relase ofite performance guarantee of 1,461 and 1,920 including any as verified by the to the state theater3 approve am of resolution 072 347 with us heal care 24 approve resolution authorizing the memor of understanding between the city of County for specialized equipment 2024 25 appr resolution are 11237 this is to Market to the C extra hours for Street 26 request for Street Clos C and use Square Market 27 approve amendment of resolution 118 this is with Mar 28 approve reation of the city and closure requ CR and 29 appr resolution 0523 resolution author assignment of one tax sales certificate for less than the red value of 28354 31 approve person to person and place to place transfer of legal license from somewhere else in to Rhythm and spice LC 32 property requested by fils and 33 close closure andity property requested by unation Anders then we have items for discussion by Council B to be members the agenda review the next one will be Wednesday December 8th December 6 and2 at 5:30 Follow by council meeting sign order council member Anderson here council member castan here council member Fleming is absent council member gasin council member sakur Ludwick Council Vice council member sakur Ludwick weor sorry I Council vice president Egan and council president esar here pleas must be advised the requirements of the public meeting has been complied with and satisfied in that the annual notice which gave sufficient notice of the time and place of all public meetings of the municipal Council of the city of has been filed with the city has been placed on an appropriate bu for City home and has been transmitted to the official newspaper for the city of the home to the flag of the United States of America and to theu stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all at this time um I just want to have a reflection this past Saturday we celebrated Veterans Day so I ask that tonight take a moment to reflect on the great sacrifices make our veterans and let be thankful for all who have served thank you council member Anderson yes council member C yes council member gin yes council member ller yes Council vice president Egan yes council president Escobar yes madame chair has a correspondence in director to the appropriate Department yes Madam president the correspondence received by the city court sess was forwarded to the department for further action thank you at this time we're going to um go ordinance ordinance for discuss the second read we have ordinance 01236 amended by resolution 0102 3061 is an ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the city of 5 business licenses and regulations chapter 5.09 canes licensing and regulations before going Mr sham you would like to give us information of this particular uh yes Madam president uh members of council members of the public this particular ordinance Amendment uh basically codifies the creation of a Canabis advisory committee uh made up of of various Specialties the purpose of the committee is to review applications for candidates licenses in the city of New Brunswick the ordinance further elaborates on the practice and procedure the review and approval of those licenses uh the ordinance also has some penalty Provisions for operations that uh establishments maybe I should say that decide to operate and sell cannabis without a license so that's in here as well thank you do any of my fellow council members have any questions or comments on this particular orance we are pring now to open the on this audience only for to five minutes per person one time up you may come up if you wish to address the Council on these specific audience any M of the public wishes to address the counc AI council member Anderson yes council member castan yes council member gin yes council member Sor leway yes Council vice president Ean yes council president es yes we have ordinance number two Orin 11231 and ordinance to adoped the development plan for the second area in the city Mr doming would you like to this particular one certainly um so this is a Redevelopment plan that would be an overlay for the block for most of the Block in which the Abundant Life Church sits uh the George Street moris Street Tabernacle way Neilson uh the would allow the church who's been seeking to redevelop the site uh they have a little over I want to say about an acre and a quarter of a of a site to uh redevelop that site into a productive use right now it's currently dirt and gravel that they Ed ad hoc as a parking lot uh and it would allow the church to stay there long term while also uh creating uh housing opportunities commercial opportunities and uh uh 10% set aside of affordable housing units uh for that development thank you do any of my federal council members have any questions or comments on this particular one understanding is it could go up Beyond 10% there other things that possible that there there's no limit beyond the the minimum threshold of 10% my understanding is that the developer is uh seeking different uh sources of funds that might uh allow them to uh get to the number that they need to to develop the project and as such uh they a lot of those funds do have conditions attached with even higher uh levels of affordable housing and so we encourage them to seek those out and they're looking at them to help them pencil out their project so it's certainly possible thank you at this time we are preparing to open the public hearing on this ordinance only if any member of the public wishes to speak to the councel with this ordinance only you have up to 5 minutes one time off hi yes Daniel Mo I will speak on the same situation as I was with the planing board Monday evening un enough with these luxury apartments New Bruns is overpopulated already due to where the planning board heard it directly from the attorney from Board of Education when he said our schools are jam-packed where we do not have enough room where they just had to expand the high school on the new high school on Route 27 now making 40 vanc Avenue of permanent Middle School due to where enough with all of this housing due to where what New Brunswick is overpopulated what just like I said you see Harlem Park Building you see East Brunswick building you see Edison building but wow are they overpopulated like New Brun what 30 people in a household due to where you can't even keep up with the traffic the same situation people complain about what with the Redevelopment with you trying to put a a luxury building with the eles over there enough why don't you think it's Beauty does Beauty make somebody that better W will will Beauty take take take take what all the harm out of all this crime going on New Brun please are you kidding me at the last month what I what I announced please stop thinking about dog on luxury apartments and wow think about making our community safe that we have six dead bodies last month over four murderers and how how many count to what I what I read what happened only in the month of October why is your mind focused only on what luxury luxury how many homeless people we have living out out here affordable housing would be decent but like I said wow I know how you council members just love to look out for your buddies on the side bringing cash into them but like I said start thinking about the real solution to make you run that better and surely not by Beauty due to with the crime the murdering the drugs the homelessness come on enough same thing I said at the C at other other meeting but one thing I'm still trying to understand is due to where with you putting this through where is it true that Abundant Life has to make an agreement with the other owners that own that property because all of that Land There is not Abundant Life so is that true Dominguez um the redevelop plan includes I think three Parcels one of which which compris like 95% of the site is the churches so there are two marginal Parcels on the edges that if the church can arrange to purchase from them it'll add a little bit of better shape to the site but so they're added in included if they can buy it just to make it easier for better shaping of the site I it's not anticipated that the church will end up acquiring any of those sites it it's just a massive portion that's just the church lot which is very irregularly shaped it's kind of very blob shaped um so so what about what about parking you already have an issue with parking there like I said with TR traffic due to where what are what are the situation going to be for parking the it's anticipated that there will be a about a six or seven story parking deck with some with two of the stories underground and it'll fully anticipated it will fully Park uh the requirement for the building so is that one one one car per apartment per per place or or what if you're married or what what you have two cars so I appreciate it thank you well like I said who said you want to kill the time go ahead that's all you were doing but like I said so okay for a couple is married you have two two cars for one place is this going to work out because like I said wow the same situation that I'm talking about you went through with Lon Avenue where it was recall back to the planning board not enough parking and while you just assigned with planning board over on my area oh saying only tenants can move in with no cars so like I said please do you think I'm really going to think that's true what what you were say saying what you're passing so please like I said is there is there a limit of one car what is the restriction on this the way that oh sorry the way that the cars end up getting divvied up will be between all the different uses and how the property owner will end up choosing to manage it uh it's at the discretion of of that the formula is the formula in the plan it encourages electric vehicles the the state has an EV credit for units highrises already don't require on toone parking at by state law um so it's it's largely following that same standard well like I like I said due to we're enough with these luxury apartments is not cleaning the area up making new grum look better where the mayor keeps saying crime is down and it's not thank you for the comment anybody else I have two questions about ordinance um in terms of the re development plan what is the density allance Mr doming I'm sorry the question what is the density allow for the site uh it's it's unregulated D we don't usually use uh density units like units per acre caps in the city of New Brunswick so whatever they can fit within the floor area ratio box of the permitted development is what they can fit the permitted uh f for that site would be 20 to1 it's anticipated will be 7 to 800 units on the site and in terms of Ami what is the affordability so what Ami the uh the regulation the way we framed out the Redevelopment plan is if the developer is to secure outside funding uh from another source that has requirements that they have to follow those requirements otherwise they have to follow whatever the uh Co-op percentage standards are that are typical and that and that's what how it'll be uh handled thank last question is there any mention in the Redevelopment plan of Supportive Housing or housing for the homeless it it's not specifically mentioned but if they want to dedicate the 70 or 80 units of affordable toward homeless housing they're free to do so oh at that right at that yes there's no mandate thank [Music] you it's okay I'll direct you from here Mr thank you uh Charlie crille Brunswick Brunswick today I wanted to First clarify this is the same exact ordinance that you voted against a month ago correct yes okay um I asked a question last time and I wasn't able to get the the answer if you don't approve this ordinance what is the maximum height that uh a developer could could propose for this land um I believe under the underlying zoning it's 300 ft okay and to clarify if you do pass this ordinance the developer would be able to build up to 450 ft if and only if they include 10% affordable units is that correct yes they that's true but I also would like to clarify that that only applies to a maximum of 20% of the parcel so they can't go 100% 450 they go 20% 450 the rest has a ceiling of 350 for the site and and both of those are contingent upon the the affordables otherwise they um if they were to not do the affordables but the Redevelopment if the Redevelopment plan is adopted they proceed without the affordables their maximum height would be 3 sight but if they choose to include 10% of the units affordable then a portion of the structure can Tower as is 450 ft over those of us here on the ground yes okay thank you and I did uh I guess want to express the same concern I expressed last time and and say that you know we're in a housing crisis we need affordable housing and if we're going to be greenlighting an out ofate developer to to build on a a piece piece of prime real estate um and give them permission to build as tall as anything that's ever been built in this City's history uh you should require them to do more than 10% affordable housing uh indeed you know there's projects I could see out the window that have 20% affordable housing um I don't know why the city would give away you know the the sort of um the tallest structure in new Bron the ability to build the tall structure in New Brunswick for just 10% when we're in a crisis and it's really the worst it's been uh in a long time so I wanted to ask Madam council president are you going to again vote down this ordinance or have you changed your position I changed my position I wrote it down the last time because I had some information I had some questions and information I was leing the information that I needed so I am comfortable and I'm confident about the so yes I will be Vo inor okay and uh yeah Mr CAD made a similar statement at the last meeting that he'd obtained additional information that changed his mind can you share with us what that information is my information yeah what what changed your mind just different different things that I wanted to know you know in terms of the project the height I was confused a little B about the height of of the building some other minor stuff that I wanted to make sure that I was making an important decisions so minor stuffff okay so um um do you share my concern about affordable housing and the lack of it in new Bruns there there is there there is a affordable houses there always a need but there's also if you look at it in most of the things that we have done there's affordable units in it that area where this building is going to be at there's going to be new affordable units spe specifically for we're trying to SEC for the homeless there's also there's going to be a brand new senior building that is going to be affordable also and there's other unit that area that I that hope man is there Riverside so there's affordable units in that area already and the city has as as far as I know when there's an opportunity we're going for them housing so and we encourage we want more so yes so this is done I take a little bit um personal the fact that people say you haven't done any affordable hous yes we have that we have you know that we need more yes like we need more of many other things but we have um ta I mean to be fair as I pointed out the city's Caper report notes that zero units of affordable housing were created in the past year I know you mentioned that there's a building on the way um but it's been on the way for five plus years now if you're talking about the Sterling side project if you're talking about the replacement of the hin Pavilion that's 10 years overdue now so the the affordable housing projects aren't moving fast and I would suggest if you agree we need more you should table this ordinance and put more of a requirement for affordable housing in it because um you know once you once you give it away you can't take it back so I I would encourage you to to to demand more thank you Mr I just want to make sure that um those affable units or affable bu have not been buil not at our fa the economy there's other factors that have been there it's not because we have said no we don't want them it's just other factors that have impacted as in other times so it's not that we are just taking that light but thingk anybody else see none second council member Anderson yes council member castan yes council member gin yes council member Sor lewick yes Council vice president Egan council president Escobar yes we have ordinance on first reading we have ordinance one22 isance to a suppl of the city of 10 vehicles and traffic chapter 10.20 handicap parties paring zon for handicap person we are adding 28 street2 and 143 Street council member Anderson yes council member C yes council member gaset council member Sor Le Council yes now we have resolutions 1 to 33 any of my phed council member have any questions and comments on these particular um resolutions um I do have some questions um on number seven Mr jul can you talk a little bit about number seven item seven item seven this is the approv payment of go thank you yes um item seven approved payment U this is related to the fnba filed an arbitration over a firefighter um being property paid for vacation and balances at retirement the arbitration hearing lasted at the better part of the day and involves sever Witnesses and Exhibits the city responsible 50% of any arbitration costs and this will cover that cost thank you then on number can you give an update I this is Mr chy on number 14 resolution 11275 uh yes Madam council president members of council this is a involves a lawsuit filed by Mr cral against the city of police directo um relative to his desire to disclose his home address um as uh Daniel as you're aware uh applies this matter was filed in Superior Court um the trial court matter was decided in favor of the city it's now in the appell division Mr cral has appealed and this particular additional $15,000 is going to go to additional Le in that thank you and then on resolution 112 355 that's number 24 this is in reference to the nor of understanding between the city of police department and county for specialized equipment can you just told about what is ined into this specialized equipment sure council president this uh pertains to County Emergency Management and they have certain equipment such as uh Communications Command Post in case of a uh in a matter of a large scale incident they have drones in the case of a missing person uh tracking blood hounds in the case of a missing like recently with a missing autistic child these require anou to uh to request those services from County Emergency Management thank resols at this time we are to open Mee to public comment comments again let me put it again comment resolutions only we have up to five minutes per person one time up any member of the public wishes to address the council and make any comments on the resolutions please approach the council yes Daniel I ask with uh with number 11 to I see homeless Outreach $70,000 can you pleas tell me information on that please this is a gr that we just acquired that uh was given to the City by um Peters University Hospital and with that uh BR we are I'm excited about this we are going to be uh doing Outreach to our homeless um population we're going to have three part-time um that we already have employes parttime training on how to do Outreach and to help connect our home individuals to services and other resources plus there going to be also with this we're going to have a fulltime a program manager who will be working also in the program so I'm excited this is new I believe to the best of my I don't see Mr Jones or Mr well okay now that you just said so I can understand this correctly due to where I know what the situation meaning we're helping leading people du to why help many others where they would like to turn their into a program where you I heard you say full time of the situation that I was going against before due to where for example someone say they want to turn theirself into a program to to where Captain badill was the only one available what if he's not working at the time so please tell me are you saying we will have someone 24 hours to to we on on on stand with this what I'm saying is that we going to have three part-time employees who already part of the team who be trained and how to do Outreach to the homeless individuals and with this also we're going to have a full-time person employee Poli employee what will be overseen and managing okay what do you what do you when you say full time du to where meaning what what how how many hours due to where time person wors 40 hours a week normally well like I I I like your program with due to where I spoke on better due to where w wow like I told you at this situation with the drugs going around New Brun but as many overdoses as we had due to where we need more people due to where wow like I said it takes a person courage due to where plenty of them say okay I'm ready to go I'm ready to need help but if nobody's doing if that's during night no one's available due to where wow how they just go on and changed their mind and I mentioned this du to you before due to where I work with a lot of the homeless and the ones due to where leading to program how I I I help them get better but like I said I'm glad to see this but like I said my point is I hope we can have somebody who's on standby because it takes a person a lot of courage to say o I'm ready to get help thank you you're absolutely right thank you consideration anybody is Council resolution only crille yes please Charlie crille new brwi BR today can I first get some details on the agreement with Franklin uh for water supply what's the uh rate that they'll pay for our water Mr W you say I don't want to make a mistake and the incorrect the agreement with Franklin is identical to the agreement with not town our other bulk board purchaser and it has a 9% increase for this year and 3.5% increases for the next uh years through 2027 and then what after that I notic the 25 year agreement we renegotiated after that it gives us the opportunity to assess our costs come up with a new uh cost schedule and then proceed from there thank [Music] you um uh it was already addressed partly that uh arbitration for the uh case involving Joseph M if I'm saying that right can you provide a little more about the nature of the case it was uh involving uh whether or not he had been paid enough or overpaid for vacation time is that what I heard Mr would you like to address that I think that you gave sufficient information but would you like to address that know thatly it had to do calculation of benefit time and uh historic calculation was it resolved in favor of the city or favor of the gentleman or somewhere in between somewhere in between is a good answer okay thanks for that uh move on to the Acure contract number 15 can you tell me how this uh firm was selected do they already work for the city and uh what is the cost of this uh deal president the um this is a current company that we've been using for the past year another RFP was put out this year we had two respondents and we decided to that we were very happy with their services from previous year thank you and uh the fee is 6% of the total of the premium paid by The Joint Insurance Fund thank interesting and and the other applicant did they give a percentage that they would want it's a standard grade both were 6% okay thank you I'll move on to uh well let's ask about the billing rates for the uh Planning and Zoning Board attorneys um what prompted this and uh what's what's it going to be going forward then you have the number um number 19 and in 350 19 um Mr doming yes um so the city hadn't previously uh put in for re with Professionals for board professionals the city is allowed to uh reimburse against the escrow of applicants that have land use applications uh we do so for planners Engineers Etc we're allowed to for attorneys as well it's not something we've done in the past but it's something we realized that would be a prudent action going forward uh and so we've taken this step to do so so we can offset the costs uh incurred uh with Mr Solomon salary who's our board attorney uh through the esos that the developers pay for um the rate is factoring in that it's the municipal land use law lets us charge 200% of what the his base rate would be uh comes to $311 an hour thank you yeah I'll uh ask about the liquor license right after that lucky 103 LLC do I I know the place where this might be what establishment is it council president currently they do not have a location it's in the pocket okay and the special ruling that's reference is that uh recent some long time ago okay I think the only other one I wanted to ask about is and it's in 361 this is a tax sale certificate says for less than the Redemptive value of 2.8 million dollar in change this is I believe the chemical plant chemical Factory that was at Jersey and Van djk if I'm not mistaken uh can anybody tell me what has led to this uh enormous amount of money and what that means for the City sell the tax certificate Mr uh yes Madam council president this is a uh resolution which authorizes us to put up this particular tax sales certificate which has been on the city's books for decades it involves a piece of property out a triangle road that um has uh a lot of contamination and has not had any interest in in new development uh for decades the city has got wind of a uh potential purchaser of the property um in order for that particular purchase to occur um obviously there's a Redemption of that tax sale certificate it's an opportunity for the city to get paid back um in order for uh the council to consider accepting whatever the the bid value is this resolution authorize this will be back before you probably last meeting in December with the results of the auction whatever they may be thank you thanks and I just want to ask is this going to be combined with all the other tax sales this year or is it a separate special tax special sale okay thank anybody else from the the council resolutions none second council member Anderson yes council member casan yes council member gin yes council member seor yes Council vice president Ean yes council president Escobar yes yes um I'm going to give an update and then after my update I'm going to ask one of my colleagues to the council is going to go into dra sessions but for now I just want to give the updates prior to that some updates and some acknowledgement as some notifications just know that this the advice are due to human error this past Saturday they go through L notification was late uh nonetheless we put out the alert um at 7:43 also um on November 8th there was a press release issu regarding the arrest of Theon Public Works employee the employee in question as stated in the presious has been charged with two counts of Criminal Trespass and two counts of F at this time the council will not make any additional comments on the arrest and or the investigation at the last council meeting there was a question regarding how many police officers are bilingual and what languages are spoken currently the NEOS Police Department employs 40 bilingual officers of which two of them speak more than one um two languages spoken languages include Spanish Bali anones C Hebrew and guati there was some questions and some a you know questions about you know the council supporting a resolution doing a resolution in support of b34 the council has not made a decision yet and we don't know if we going to make one and we are I am allowing more time for council members to receive more information the city recently we talked about it the grandon S Peters was going to be helping out for us to create a municipal homeless Outreach team which I'm excited and I'm looking forward to the work and I believe that the training started already with the Outreach team members I just want to acknowledge that this past Tuesday I believe that it happened at the department of human and Community Services health and res resource fair for the commun for the community in effort to provide residents with information and resources about the different departments and services that are under that specific requirement so I thank you for that that that was great at this time I would entertain a motion from one of my colleagues to go into those session motion council member Anderson yes council member castan yes council member gasin yes council member sakur lewick yes Council vice president Ean yes council president esar yes mad council president for the for the minutes the close session with regard reference to person matter regarding the council okay yes thank [Music] you [Music] council member Anderson yes council member C yes council member gasin yes council member Sor llick yes Council vice president Ean yes council president esar yes yes for purposes of the minutes M council presid members of council um the close session of executive session Council involve Personnel issues regarding um one of which Mr ean's recent election to the uh general assembly and the uh ultimate vacating of that particular seat also involveed the discussions regarding Personnel benefits and anties to the council as currently thank you at this time we are preparing to open the meeting for public comments comments for up to five minutes per person one time up any member of the to speak public comment portion of the meeting please approach the council anybody something that to council member I can't EXC me her I I didn't say you I just said do I said give it to to the city and she distribute whatever you need to be distrib thank you and who is this for uh this these are for uh Council G your time is you know we don't want to waste your time soad well I hope my time starts now as I'm talking ma' go yes my name is Daniel Mo I'm going to continue first thing I would like to say due to where I would like to thank you for the garbage workers from uh responding immediately to what I called the handy Street due to a big supply of needles and uh drug items on the ground Wow since you put that sign up there drug free school zone wow are people thinking W you're giving out drugs free over there due to where wow more problems over there God bless I thank you how they responded immediately when I called now I'm going to continue on what I was saying due to where this would be the last thing with with uh council member gasin calling me a racist due to where due to where like I said talking about if someone's not a US citizen due to I just gave her the paperwork due to where what like I said I've been sexually assulted wow and thank you like I said the Lord's been blessing me where I also showed you you can think of me whatever you want please ask a man next sitting next to you Mr Egan ask Mr andon what happens to people doe to we wow I'm not that I'm not what you said it said ask him what's happened when you get a chance do to because the Lord then proved to me I'm not the devil you are wow to send me your blessing what to see my last bill only $9.83 with PS and you can't tell I been been haven't been blessed what I'm showing you but for you that keep calling me a racist do to where wow yes my concern is due to where I feel whether you're a you United States citizen or not and I just showed you this began back in 2017 due to where the man what if this is all with mayor k Hill New Brun Police Department you City Council Members middlex County prosecutor and New Brun Court were while the man was in jail what ice Immigration Act to hold him you KN they released him and he murdered people in three days murdered three people in two days so this is nothing new with going on where you need you need to learn information with what's going on through here where you're a beginner because I'm not I've been here 46 years but I'm not going to have someone tell me oo I can't put no hand my hands on no one du to where what let a man come up and grab me did the police do anything what four women were me me and three other women sexually assaulted spit on what did new BR police say Sergeant bu oh marijuana's legal let him walk away let him walk away I just seen an article two weeks ago right at the meeting wow four women sexually assaulted due to her one was the rup student due to her wild what did they did the man get arrested yes he did like I said due to where you don't want to take responsibility in following the law due to where what if someone's you United States citizen or not but I'm seriously I'm getting tired of it now I have I got my last piece to my puzzle to prove my evidence I will be going to the news channel against and falling against New Brun filter wear with real racism that you should be speaking up to not me why young lady that was killed last year by what on sedan and re Avenue to to be by a man drinking and driving no license due to a hit and run he leave what they arrest him find out what he's not the US citizen let him go do you think what how like I said with the man that I'm in court with how in the world was he even released over three pages long to assault six people and like I said it be let go and now he's being held for immigration like I said the reason why New Brun police department does not do anything on French stre because like I said and for you to lie and say that we don't have no US citizens and non- US citizens here illegals here you say we don't wow 50% of New Brun but the whole jail house will be filled with New Brun residents and that's why you guys keep letting them do that what you just had two stabbings over there the other day on fren Street by the bars does anything ever happen to them get tickets over there arrest no they don't but like I said wow you can do anything and then you wonder why I say oh what is the law new oh you can do whatever you want long as you're not black because wow that's the main on that I keep see tick do I have the evidence yes I do even with the judges like I told you last time what two Latinos hit and run $200 fine Jud black man loud music $800 F Well while all you participate do you try to make it equal please I help anybody no matter what race Creator color we need each other everyone's going to need a helping handsome that day go to where what I help anyone but like I said let you learn your lesson I'm not a racist and you may you speak to your tenants hi my name is Jessica aino I'm actually a resident of North Brunswick I'm one of the 1700 nurses that have been on strike for over 100 days now I believe we're on 105 um I know that you guys touch Bas that you guys need more time to review the information regarding the resolution um supporting the bill of um s304 I just want you to understand that obviously we do have a sense of urgency stfe staing is not just limited to Robert Wood Johnson but it is literally a concern for the entire State as well as the nation um we would like to know what further information we can provide you obviously we are the experts um we do the work at the bedside what we want most is to be able to come back to serve our patients um you guys have the responsibility of obviously the resident here of New Brunswick and our labor dispute is happening here in New Brunswick we don't need you to fix our labor dispute but please um we urge you to speak to your um Representatives um Senators assemblymen to please support this bill um so please we ask um that you just give us whatever information you need in addition um so we can pass a resolution in reference to um our uh bill of s34 thank you [Applause] hi my name is Carol tamy I'm a nurse at robwood as well and I'm glad that um Mr Egan is here today because we haven't been able to actually talk to you about this but I was very encouraged at the um labor walk the day that we participated in the labor walk and um to hear that that unions are alive and well in New Brunswick and that they do want support each other um we're asking for that same support um because this is a is a a workplace issue that does as well affect the community so it's twofold and your support would be invaluable in this situation because you do have a voice on the inside um the legislation part of it um we I was a little disappointed to hear that you guys weren't ready to talk about that yet but what I'll offer is we have um all the information you need if I could speak to somebody about arranging a meeting to answer questions for any um things that aren't clear I'm I'm happy to do that so I don't know who I would speak to about that just so that everyone is on the same page about what we're actually asking for and what is actually required for this thank you so who would I speak to about the end of the meeting you will give your information to the city CLK okay afterwards okay thank you anybody else John from medicon um just want to State real quickly uh some of these other towns that have supported uh or supporting or pass or supporting a resolution um asking the calling on the state senators and the state senator and the State Assembly to co-sponsor that bill uh s34 and four and A45 36 uh for State Staffing and as we all know and it's always important to reiterate that nurses on strike uh is for State Staffing uh there are certain ratios that are um guidelines that um that are not met that are not kept and that really that affects the public health and Public Safety so that's why this bill is so important um that's why uh CL byal is the primary sponsor of the bill and knows it's so important and uh that's why it's in the health committee um and we really need to take that into consideration uh so other towns they they passed it um including Edison one thing about Edison is you know I think what really helped was uh someone really involved in labor spoke up at the council meeting and said yes um the council can definitely certainly take a position on legislation particular on legislation that that affects the public affects the uh Queen members of that town and so we know that this does affect the community quite great quite greatly and very importantly uh so and we also had a a really good um reception in sville uh the the mayor was very supportive and she gave a really heartfelt story about the um her experience at Rob with Johnson U her her child was was really badly and um had to bring her to the hospital this it was it was a dog bite and the child was only a year and a half so she brought her to the hospital and uh she remembered the name of the nurse that helped her that day um and it was amazing because I didn't know this was going to happen the nurse was actually in the crowd and they they talked about a little bit about what happened but um uh you know there was a lot of people you know kind of understood the import of Nursing and of of having enough staff um to care for patients um so they're very supportive that and also in Franklin U this past week they were very supportive us as well so we're looking forward to pass resolution Frankl well which is the same that's all I want to say and um let folks know get some context about what's going on here and uh looking for support thank you no please okay um Charlie CR new Bruns New Bruns today I I wanted to ask why wasn't the Clos session on your agenda doesn't have to be on the agenda need for at particular time council could ask for relate what what it involves the purpose of it and minutes will be with the uh with the cler um obviously close session minutes s to what I CED doesn't have to be on the agenda just seems like it's uh prudent to put the agenda together before the meeting and not change it in the middle of the meeting if this was not something urgent I don't know why it wasn't on the agenda uh that was distributed to everyone I also thought it was a little rude for the council to leave the public here people who took time out of their day to come and use their 5 minutes to speak to you and say hey we're going to go we're going to go somewhere else and talk to ourselves and and uh you know for an indeterminate period of time you've got to wait for us uh I think what most councils do is they hold the executive session for the end of the meeting so that uh they can uh uh you know serve the public and then uh do whatever needs to be done in close session I also would like to know uh is it true that the only Personnel discussed in closed session was was city council that's true so I don't see why that needed to be done in secret then why would the city council not have discussion about their pay their benefits their annuities in public uh you think that this needs to be secret yes I'm lawyer it's not what needs to be secret it involves attorney client Communications as well and that is a purpose close session involving procedures and policies um so it involved all of those things um as far as the procedure goes on filling a Council seat we could talk about that in public and about it probably should have been done in public iest I'll tell you about it Mr I mean you know that's I'm familiar with I just don't want to see things that are supposed to be done in public taken behind closed doors and I don't I still haven't heard a good reason why that discussion had to be brought uh behind closed doors can you tell me are there any changes uh being made to the the benefits or annuities for the city council are you you contemplating making changes with respect to those Communications you'll have to wait and see what the council does um I think that um anything that affects that has to be done in public by ordinance anyway so that would be public adoption of first and second meeting you see those things so obviously we're not doing in private when it comes to matters of that nature okay well for the record I do think it was wrong to discuss it in private uh if you're going to change your pay or change your benefits we all have a right to know about it and I don't think that uh the Privacy protections that might apply to a DPW worker should apply to the elected officials of the city but I'll move on I wanted to ask about JT Miller now that he is back on the city payroll being paid $80,000 to be a public information officer can anyone tell me who he reports to and is it a full-time position yes Mr Miller reports the office of Mayor public information fulltime position so now we have two full-time public information officers is that correct one full and uh is Mr Baron no longer full-time Mr bar is part time okay so we have two public information off yeah I just think this is uh very intriguing because as you know Mr Miller was paid over $200,000 a year to be in the administration of director Caputo at the police department and he retired just a few months ago so uh it's my understanding he's collecting a six figure pension and uh despite you know telling the press that he was going to focus on private sector work he's now back in the city government getting uh $8,000 job and dare I say he's not doing very good at it because I saw him at the event at the water utility and he was rude to me uh without any provocation he was uh you know refused to say what his position was and uh uh said that he he doesn't talk to me he never will that's a bad public information officer if a member of the public ask you a question you don't you don't really uh uh engage or or or you know put them down or you're rude to them um so I think he's got a lot to learn if he wants to succeed in that position um yeah I I don't think uh it makes a lot of sense why he was rehired uh Madam president were you consulted about rehiring him do you think he's a good good person to bring back after all that we've been through with him that's not my perview that's that's Administration they decide that he's somebody who competent he does over his job and they feel that he's the perfect fit why not so I'm confident that he will continue to do a good job okay Mr Julies council president I'm sorry to hear Mr P's feelings were hurt but I want to just be clear I'm not sure we this characterizing but Mr Miller had a appropriate retirement qualified retirement his rehiring um it's all the standards and once again when the city can find a talented person who can help the citizens and public we're glad to expand thank thank you we proud your time is thank you anybody else want the public address the council Council my name is Daniel Alexine I was born here in Robert Johnson Hospital in the drums in 1984 grew up inou Edison graduated from tou High School graduated County College I actually lived in New Bruns between 2006 2011 during and after recers um and then I moved to California to pursue affordable rural land and my Master's Degree settled in the G County California area Chico was able to get some land um lived very simply for almost eight months of the year I was living in T and just outed the open the tradition of many Native Americans and it it was glorious there's a Mediterranean climate there long story short However unfortunately I became a u a fire Refugee about 5 years ago in the paradise concal fire um I returned to New Jersey I was living with family long story short I'm a new Bruns resident now again live up on Avenue years ago I lived on down in the at the end of near Bishop anyhow I want to draw attention to the fact that it is a Native American heritage month it's November as we're all reminded often walking here in downtown new Bruns certainly walking into town hall here there is a la in a sign that I believe it's been up now for maybe 10 years or or some such um that starts with the line the original inhabitants of new Bruns were the Lenny L people and then it immediately goes in to talk about the um the building of the city hall and the architecture Etc and this is a magnificent building it serves the public well and it's beautiful in its own right but it's always rubbed Me Against the Grain to say well we're mentioning the Lenny L but then we're immediately going onto the glories of um this modern building and this modern government Etc history is what it is um but I want to uh draw your attention to something you may not know that exists said it's called the New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs it's a state commission through the Department of State uh the Secretary of State of New Jersey the ex official U chairman of the board but U the commission is made up of six members there's eight seats but there's currently six members two Governor appointed um seats of two members of each of the three state recognized Lenny laap tribe so there's currently six members there's a chairman a co-chair chairman of the ran L and the r l um I myself and a federal blood descendant member of the citizen poaty tribe patam me we come from the uh Great Lakes Region but originally we were from the Delaware people the Lenny Lop they're known as our grandfathers there was a prophecy some ago that said that we didn't migrate West we would be destroyed um many lape were some are still here and there is not ferally recognized they're fighting for federal recognition than are State recognizing anyhow the purpose of the commission is manyfold but it's to organize um state recognized Native Americans in New Jersey as well as what are known as intertribal persons and intertribal people are defined by Statute as any member of a ferally recognized Native American tribe residing in New Jersey not necessarily born but residing um so the the the work of the commission is to unite Native Americans it's also to to protect our culture to advance our culture um there's many ways we do that working with townships Etc to wrap up I'm hoping that in time and this is just to start a conversation but I'm hoping that in time we can see another plaque out front perhaps many plaques perhaps more than a plaque U Boyd Park is a beautiful resource right on the River where many many Lenape used to live in Council not in high rises but in tense and under the open air I think it's important that yes new brunick is a changing town but I think it's important that our youth know that it's at least possible to live very simply and close to Nature and that it was once done magnificently here in the city um and I think board park would be a magnificent place to have a monument or maybe even a museum of sorts or an exhibit to that lifestyle into the culture to the Lop people um and again this is just to open a conversation um there have been efforts recently and again the the commission will ultimately be a resource available to us as far as the historical knowledge the crafting of of any information that put out but um I'd very much like to be involved I attend the meetings I'm not an official member on the commission but I'm inter Tri person so I attend this it's open to the full public there's meetings every two months but um I just think that would be great uh right now the commission is working on um advancing curriculum Statewide with the Department of Education so there's many ways that we're getting the message out but it's up to the individuals to go to our cities and our towns and and ask for some things like this and so again just to start the conversation but thank you very much I just like to close with a I'm slowly learning the language at 39 years old but saying means Victory belongs the great spirit Spirit of us all God of us all and one love and MC means thank you so thank you very [Music] [Applause] much hi there um CL run so I do want to bring the conversation back to the issue of the nurses strike and the CF St legislation um just to lay out the the timeline as far as the council's interaction with this issue I believe it was October 4th was the first meeting where the nurses came out uh at that initial meeting uh council members casting data coming in gaspin uh voice their General support for uh the nurses and the issues that they're fighting for the following on October 18th um President esar also indicated that she had done her followup research on the safe staing legislation and was supportive of it and promised to discuss with colleagues about pursuing a resolution in support the State Staffing legislation um as the council has done for other pieces of State legislation last meeting uh the first of this month there was no further update on that uh and then again this meeting no further update on that so it's about a month and a half now has um passed since this issue was first brought into these Chambers and I'm a little perplexed why given the importance and the urgency of issue have safe Staffing in our hospitals why this is not a priority to address and we see that many of the nurses you some of spoke and many not but are here because they care and it's important um you know I'm sure everyone is wondering why the council has not taken action on this yet so I do want to ask you know what what is the reason what are the the ongoing concerns or the questions that council members feel have yet to be answered on pursuing a resolution in support of this legislation but I say which mentioned before personally individually that's something different that we I know I have done supporting and I said person I support whatever I do as a person is different from the council the council is a little bit different I I cannot speak for everybody this has to be so some people need more information so we are working I in order than than we expect but I cannot tell you that if it's going to be a yes at the end I canot tell you you say no right but I what I can tell you is that I know that members you know some members that support personally had done something about it so uh it has taken longer yes has taken a little bit longer but on the forish too so um we keep at it and see what happens but we recognize the importance of of the nurses we recognize the work that they do and they important value um work that they okay um well I I do want to note that uh the next council meeting is this number six that's three weeks away so three more weeks and you have you know issue area experts uh that can answer I'm sure any questions or almost any questions you can possibly ask uh who have in front of all of us offered uh to meet with you all I'm sure individually or as a group if you'd like um can you make a commitment to members of the public that one way or another you will make a decision on this issue in 3 weeks at the next I'm not going to make that commitment make a commment that we going to continue but I'm not going to make that and we already at the end of the meeting um information and if I have any other questions so by here have question I will reach out to her to ask us questions and get well I'm I'm sure that uh 3 weeks is is more than enough time to get a meeting with with these folks so it's really you know incumbent upon uh each of you to make the time thank take yes um a couple other issues that I also uh want to raise um I'm wondering if there's an update on when the public will be revie proposals for the future of George Street what the plan is for that area I think that that was discussed at the last meeting you asked that question if somebody because I saw the video and somebody asked that question and that's still that's City Market so as soon as City Market has an answer I'm pretty sure we'll see it and we have a presentation here so there's no no timeline for when that's a City Market that's City Market um issue um and then the point was made several times earlier about the affordable housing hous crisis that we're in right now um and you know the ongoing frustration that while there is housing that is being built in Brunswick it is consistently housing that is going to be at a higher price range than most of the residents who live here could ever possibly afford um it's also noted that uh you know New Brunswick as a city did have a plan or a goal set out last year to HUD to build 30 new affordable units and zero of those zero of those have come online um given that the latest sens of status means that over a third of our residents are living below the poverty line I feel like this isn't an issue that can just be gloss over of yes everyone agrees it's a problem but we're not going to address it on this matter if that's the conversation that we're having every time on every new housing project that comes up we're never going to get anywhere so I really would like for the council to take that matter more seriously and be more proactive appro [Applause] thank sorry ask specific questions from the council regarding safe legislation and I figured i' often moment of my time to explain more um you may have heard that at Beyond four patients every additional patient increases the risk of G on all of that by 7% now additionally um it also leads the declining quality when we have to move Beyond 100% it needs to come from something comes from our dignity when we skip lunch when we skip breaks when we when we skip bathroom breaks when we pick up extra to be away from our home but to be with people that we know really need our help it comes from patient dignity when they are lying in fil or have to wait in pain for their medication and then finally it comes from safety um and quality you have all probably experienced or heard a story of somebody that had to wait a long time for anything in hospital but I would just like to leave you with this thought that uh deceased people don't get to complain thank [Applause] hello my name is j and I would like to follow up on a comment you said about the regarding item number 11 you said that there's an average that's being hired or has it been hired already there is three already we have three part time employes on staff that have been part of these aage team have been trained coming home count on how to so we can start this new initiative and there's one person time who be I would just like to ask about what the requirements were to be hired I was recently reading research that was published by the E Institute and new BR tomorrow and the vast majority of people who are homeless or in poverty are Spanish speakers so is what their requirement to be a native Spanish speaker in order to be hired I think that would be very important I don't have the answer of that I think that it's a good you information that you call directly the department I get I don't know we could say that it's only for I don't think it's legal for just to say for Spanish speaking people so uh I'm pretty sure that the effort knowing our community has been that um bying lost Spanish speaking because I I know usually that's what we I always ask for so but um but I'm pretty sure there an effort but we can find out for you be the information we need and talk and ask that question excellent thank you very much and I would just like to add another thing in support of the the nurses Union and and their their strike that's happening right now I think one thing that hasn't been mentioned is it's also a matter of dollars and cents patients lives are being impacted but also I have personal experience and I have known friends and family members who have decided not to go to Robert Johnson not to spend their money on healthare in new Bruns in order to go to other places because nurses are stressed out they're overworked and they don't patients don't feel as though they're getting the quality healthare that they deserve so I would like to encourage you to make this decision but also keeping in mind that it's not just a decision for patient's lives but also for the bottom line as well thank you thank [Applause] [Music] you council member Anderson council member to come excuse me um we just you just just want to say want to know like you know there are people on the line that really need that the nurses to come back and they can't like we are suffering tremendously I know people B War you know fighting seeing say they have since we've been likeing them making sure they're all right but they're still stilling on the line 94 days no one has been ding them out I just want to know what's going on this [Applause] is council member Anderson yes council member castan yes council member gin yes council members the cor lewick yes Council vice president Egan yes council president esar