good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday December 19th 2023 council president council members we have some appointments starting on page 73 first appointment is to the Caribbean commission Miss FAA Robert Carr please step to the podium good morning Miss Carr how are you today good morning I'm well thank you good morning Council thank you so much for joining us today you are being recommended for appointment to the Caribbean commission from the office of the mayor do you have a statement or a comment to the council before questions yes first I want to say good morning and thank you to mayor R Baraka for my nomination as commissioner and I'm grateful to serve the community I am the founder of ignite one we are a holistic Healthcare company and I've been serving the City by providing services for Youth and adults for a number of years now my commitment is primarily in Health Equity and nutrition security I had the chance to serve in Africa and the Caribbean and now in our own backyard um and working in collaborating with you all in alleviating issues that have to do with food desert and health disparities thank you so much Miss Carr um any questions from the council or comments from Council Members councilman Crum thank you council president I just wanted to say uh congratulations I think this is a u very appropriate and very deserving uh appointment for uh Miss Robert Carr um I look forward to what you're going to do for the commission and and helping moving it forward and and as a personal I want to say thank you for getting me to cook a couple weeks ago I really enjoyed making some food in the kitchen and I hope the folks enjoyed it that I could thank you yes and by the way I'd like to sponsor toly noted councilman Crump Wishes the sponsor is there a second second second by councilman Quintana any other questions or comments from council members uh Madam chair yes councilman Council I also do want to uh send my congratulations to uh you for joining uh and continuing to work on this board and then also uh I know that you're going to bring the energy the same energy you brought running up those steps to get here you're going to bring that same energy to the board so I just want to you know commit you on the work that you've been doing thank you thank you any other questions or comments seeing none thank you Miss Carr and congratulations thank you next appointment is to the federally qualified Health Center board commission Miss Janine Crespo hi Miss creso good morning good morning thank you so much and welcome uh to the pre-meeting you are being recommended from the office of the mayor to be appointed to the federally qualified Health Center Board of commission do you have any comments or statements to the council before we have any questions I just want to say thank you um I feel honored to be able to serve my city I am from Newark and work in Newark and provide services to the families in Nork I worked with Katlin hsbr with the city of nework for four years in the Ryan White unit so I everyone is very familiar with me and I'm just very thankful and grateful to you all thank you so much Miss creso any questions or comments from the municipal Council seeing none thank you so much and congratulations thank you thank you next appointment needs to be deferred council president Council members uh Dr Bautista is unavailable today okay the final appointment is to the federally qualified Health Center board commissions Jamir Tuton good morning and thank you good morning so much thank good morning Mr tutan thank you so much for being here with us today um you are being recommended for appointment to the federally qualified Health Center Board of commission do you have any comments or questions of the council I would just like to say thank you to the mayor and to everyone who recommended me for this position I consider myself a public health expert I've been in the field for over 10 years I've done a lot of time in substance abuse I'm a community engagement expert I've done a lot of work through Ruckers um infectious diseases and I'm excited to be able to share my community engagement experience and all the things that I've learned along my career with the city of nor and this board thank you so much Mr tudan any questions from Council Members seeing none thank you so much and congratulations we are on page four of the agenda ordinances on first reading 6fa is an ordinance amending title 10 finance and Taxation chapter 23 5-year tax exemptions and abatements by amending multiple sections and reinstating the granting of 5-year tax exemptions and abatements for multiple dwellings commercial and Industrial structures thank you madam clerk um we're going to be deferring this item one more time uh we are confident on behalf of the tax abatement committee well the chair is here uh councilman uh Gonzalez but um we had a great uh meeting to talk about this item um and we do think that we have some conclusions but we do need to confer with our chair um with some of the find findings and some of the recommendations we have so we're Confident by next council meeting we'll be able to move this forward or make some adjustments and amendments to it and I want to thank councilman Silva um who has been adamant uh with this item um and also to helping us uh with making sure we have the language um and the uh piece the piece of the piece of this legislation right so uh one more time for defer and we'll make sure that we revisit this in the New Year any additional ads or questions from Council Members tax abatement committee no okay all right next item 6fb is an ordinance amending title two Administration chapter 10 Department of Economic and Housing Development section two city of Newark Municipal Employees housing assistance program to increase the grant amount from $10,000 to $20,000 sponsored by councilman Council any questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item councilman i' just like to say second it if there's no okay councilman Crum wishes to Second councilman Gonzalez just want to know how much money we can't hear you councilman how much money we have available ER for for this program because we are increasing the amount I don't want only five people or 10 people to get the benefit of the of this program so I I would love to see how much money we have deputy mayor uh good morning council president council members Allison lad director of economic and Housing Development um each year um the uh employee assistance program uh is budgeted through a separate line item in the budget and it's budgeted at $100,000 each year um we have um about uh up to about 10 people who use the program each year so thus far the amount has been sufficient um in closing I'd say I expect in 2024 that we would look to increase it slightly so that we could be able to cover those that have been applying and the numbers I gave you about 10 people utilizing the program each year has been for at least the last four years so if we were to have the same 10 people we would not have enough money uh um yes council president to council member Gonzalez's question um that's where we would look to increase it in the next year's 2024 budget okay thank you okay thank you Council MC Gonzalez any other questions regarding this item Cenna thank you thank you you next item public hearing second reading and final passage 6p SFA is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to Washington 303 urban renewal LLC for a project to renovate a five-story commercial building into a 10-story mixed use building consisting of 74 market rate residential rental units 18 affordable housing rental units of which four units shall be restricted to to tenants at 40% of the area medium income five units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% Ami and nine units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the central Ward thank you madam clerk any questions or comments regarding this item I will say that I'm still waiting on an update U Madam clerk if we can put a memo out to Workforce Development um the office of affirmative action regarding this item they had some follow-up information they was supposed to provide to my office um and it wasn't satisfied last time this was on the agenda so I'm still waiting for that information sure next item 6p sfb is an ordinance authorizing the mayor and or his design to enter into and execute a settlement agreement and First Amendment to the Redevelopment of property conveyance agreement between the city and 152 Rutherford Street urban renewal LLC in the East Ward any questions or comments from Council Members Sienna next item 6 psfc is an ordinance authorizing the mayor and or his design to enter into and execute the First Amendment agreement for the sale and Redevelopment of land by and between the city and Davidson Abrams and Associates LLC and Mount Hope housing company for the private sale of property located at 209-211 ENT Turner Boulevard in the central Ward any questions or comments from Council Members seea next item 6p sfd is an ordinance authorizing the transfer of certain city of Nork owned properties to invest Nork any questions or comments from Council Members CA next item 6p SF is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to Gateway Lofts urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a residential building consisting of 27 market rate residential rental units 31 affordable housing rental units of which six units shall be restricted to tenants at 30% of area median income and 25 units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% Ami in the East Ward questions or comments from council members Sienna next item 6p sff is an ordinance amending title 23 traffic chapter 15 stop intersections yield intersections and through streets section 23 colon 15-2 multi-way stop intersections by designating Springdale Avenue in North 12 Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in a North Ward questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item it's also being sponsored by councilman Ros Quintana counc Ros will be present tomorrow to sponsor his item next item 6B sfg is an orance amending Title 18 housing code amending subsections of chapter 14 questions or comments regarding this item councilman Council yeah m M chair thank you um you know we have some some conversation uh around uh the short-term rental component uh and and we knowed the urgency of of trying to make sure that uh people are held accountable and responsible for um what information that is needed uh and also there are some things that we we need to you know go back into the Weeds on uh as it relates to uh some of the items in the ordinance but I do understand the uh importance uh of us working and and moving the ordinance so that we can be able to have uh information that holds individuals accountable for not registering these uh short-term rentals um and making sure that that process works uh and just want to make sure that we're on record that we will do our due diligence to uh go back into uh the ordinance and begin to refine it uh that it will fit the best interest of of the residents uh in the city so I I would wouldn't mind sponsoring it toly noted councilman council is there second second second by councilman Kelly um Madam clerk through the um councilman council's comments um perhaps there would be um there seems to be interest around rentals a rental committee per se um on the council so I would ask through your leadership if you can help put together that committee um and um survey the council to see who may be interested which three members would like to uh lead that committee um because there is many things as councilman Council stated that needs to be looked at and revised as it relates to short-term rentals and even rentals in general um but definitely if we can put together that committee certainly any other comments or questions okay seea next item resolutions 7r1 a and 7 r1b are budget insertions A is for FEMA and B is New Jersey State Department of banking and insurance thank you madam clerk any questions regarding the budget insertions councilman Gonzalez next item 7r1 C and 7 r1d are temporary emergency Appropriations C is to provide funds for the operating expenses into the adoption of the 2024 operating budget and D is to provide funds for the City of New York all interest debt Redemption charges and Capital Improvements for 2024 questions or comments regarding these items CA 7 r1e is Community Development block grant program budget appropriation for sub grantees questions or comments regarding these items this item CN n 7r1 f is an external transfer of funds to transfer funds within various departments to provide sufficient sufficient funding until the year end thank you madam clerk do we have somebody here from budget to talk about this item now or never guess is you good morning good morning Corp Council we we had some um there was some questions or just in relates to looking at it from The public's view of explaining why it's Zer do um for the public I'm sure many of the council people who've been here for quite some time understand why but if you can shed some light for folks that are here so essentially what happens is uh we use the this item here to uh make sure we're able to replenish the money that's going to be spent throughout the rest of the year uh we ask the the council for zero dollars at this moment because we don't know what the actual amount is how however uh once the the folks involved in budget uh get that actual number they send all the information to update to the council members before we actually go through the process okay thank you so much anything to add councilman Gonzalez so we're voting blackly here say we don't know we don't know what the the financial effect is going to be a this is the first time that I hear that councilman Gonzalez unfortunately you might not remember but this has happened for a very long time no normally normally we get a list with the debits and credits accounts that are going to to be transferred from and accounts that are going to be transferred to ER this is the first time that I see a zero there I mean so what I'll do is I'll make sure you get the actual uh uh document that you need uh but I mean from my experience it's been this way I may be wrong uh you've been here longer than me so what I'll do is I'll make sure the folks from budget get the necessary documents to you see I would suggest that you do that because I don't I don't like voting without having information in front of me sure def totally noted U Miss counsman Gonzalez is Right Miss Tate usually does send a list of amounts um so if we can get somebody from her office to give that to us um and sometimes there's adjustments to those amounts but we she does let let us know in advance in regards to those funding but we we need that if we can get that okay I get and Madam clerk perhaps you can follow up with their Department too since no one's here absolutely 7 r1g is a cancellation of the 2023 Appropriations and other funds to close out the balances for fiscal year 2023 questions or comments from Council Members councilman Crump I I would say the same thing as as councilman gazala said for the last one should probably we can't hear councilman crom I I I I say the same thing as councilman gazala said for the last one we need to have some kind of dollar figure some some kind of information uh and as as you said council president there may be some adjustments but um whatever they provide us should be significantly or almost exactly thank you Council mccum I think someone from legal wanted to add some perspective to this item good morning council member Shantel Bor department so this one's a little bit different so this one's a close out there isn't anything to close out so that's why it's zero dollars okay but you have to do this as a budgetary um aspect totally noted counc MC did you have a followup I just just want to make sure confir that there's no money that's going to be cancelled at all it's it's just it's just for administrative purposes correct okay any other questions regarding this item councilman Gonzalez yes the other question that I have is this closes the balances that we might have do we have any invoices from this year that are not going to be paid this year that have to be included in let's say for the budget next year so that would be no this one's just for water it's not for the total budget so that's why the other one is a little bit different so this one is only for the water department current water and sewer funds correct yes okay so do we have one similar entry for for the city side that was the one prior to so it's a little bit different that's why I said there's different budgetary concerns so this one is to close out Appropriations the one prior to is the one that Corporation Council spoke of but the other one says to transfer funds not exactly not to close we're not closing exactly we're not closing out anything in that in that aspect for a total City budget for um current SE and water they're closing out so that's why it's separate in apart if that makes a little sense if I confused it no that's that's no that's fine any other questions or comments okay next item 7r1 H through 7r1 J or Co-op agreements State contracts and bid contracts questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item president yes councilman Gonzalez yeah I remember the last meeting that I was present that we approve like $600,000 for cars ER here we have $4.6 million again for cars can we get a detail of those ER automobiles that we're buying is someone here from the Department to speak on this item I'm sorry council members um the question was about the vehicle that's being purchased it's regarding 7 r1h on page 12 okay the last meeting we approved I believe it was $900,000 for to buy cars and now we are approving $4.6 million that's five and a half million dollars in in in in cars so I would I would love to see what kind of cars we're buying for what departments sure okay I I um I think the last one may have been in reference to the police department uh but what I'll do is I'll get a breakdown for both last last meetings list and this one yeah make it inclusive yes thank you thank you uh thank you Corp counsel we we do appreciate you coming up um on all of these items even though they're not like specifically underneath your purview but I'm just curious is there another meeting happening right now obviously um bright and early and um others are just not here uh this is another item we came up on and directors are supposed to be here in regards to talk about their items if not it's really simple for the council to defer um so it's not it's not come back later to spend more time to talk about their items it's more so be here uh to talk about their items because that's what people are supposed to do in the calendar set a year in advance so everyone knows we're going to be here so I know the ba did have a family emergency that he's inv besides the ba that's why he has a lot of directors to be here to answer questions surely I'm not looking for him um but others should be here so if we can find where people are that'll be helpful oh well I uh uh this young lady here is from Central purchases she can address oh great right on time hello good morning good morning um my name is ranella I'm from the central purchasing department I was actually on my way up here but he beat me to it um I'm coming in um absence of the director um so the notes that I have here state that um we're purchasing these Department um these vehic for multiple departments so that's DPW I believe WSU the admin Department we do have a breakdown so I find a way to send that to you as well um and the note that I have here is that um it's mostly due to supply chain issues so um with all those details we just need that for the 2024 calendar year to get that through and get those V okay what's your name for me again orella a okay thank you so much if you can send that list to us that'll be great and have the director follow up okay okay thank you thank you so much and uh I will add a little something more of course um as you all know Water and Sewer is involved in purchasing a number of the vehicles as well uh uh a number of the vehicles that we at least attempted to purchase during the co process and during the strike were unavailable and now this here will give us the opportunity to backfill many of those purchases that we made some time ago I will still provide the necessary list to the council though totally noted thank you C Council M president I'm not questioning the the purchase of the vehicles I just want to know what departments are buying the vehicles totally noted thank you councilman Gonzalez next item Madam clerk 7r1 K and 7r1 L are authorizing the city to enter into a memorandum of understanding regarding the food security planning Grant in the South Ward KS for Clinton Hill Community Action and L is for Nork Alliance questions or comments from council members uh councilman Council yeah Madam chair I would like to uh sponsor this item 7 r1k and also the uh abing item 7r1 I okay 7 R1 I and 7 r1k they should be married together okay do I have a second second on k i second second for councilwoman round tree for I and K for councilman CR I'm sorry um councilman council is like two pages above got to flip my page to get there all right going back to I any additional questions or comments regarding that item Cil president I think it was K and L that we were K and L Oh I thought he said I and K yeah which ones did you say councilman Council k andl k and what the the next one page 16 15 and 16 K and L I think we skipped J okay so back to one which we were on for the 7 r1i anything for that yep what one we need to go back to J so we can get to K and and L yeah that's why right that's why I say you like three pages above all right so you're not sponsoring 7r1 I right that's the one we're on no okay all right any questions regarding 7r1 I on page 13 before we move on I miss no is it for the procurement software no okay next page page 14 for 7r1 J right Madam clerk so we're back to Jay because council president council members what happened was I grouped all three and oh okay okay that's my fault I'm sorry it's okay forgive me I'm sorry so you grouped all of them okay I'm sorry Council M uh Kelly thank you council president a question for K&L um Can someone from the sustainability Department uh let me know I see that we we doing um these food we're uh approaching the to deal with the food desert in in the South Ward Central Ward when will we be addressing the food desert in the west W okay so we'll go to that hold your thought for one second I just want to make sure I got it right okay bear with me guys all right so 7 r1k is um councilman Council you're sponsoring that correct yes and second by councilman cromp that's for K and then L which is 7r1 L uh councilman Council you're going to sponsor that as well and that second by councilman Round Tree councilwoman excuse me Round Tree correct sounds good okay I'm sorry y'all okay all righty um I'm gonna have uh Jonathan or someone uh answer councilman Kelly's question my apologies good morning hi good morning chaj office of sustainability so we would love to be able to work directly in the South W doing some food and security work and be able to follow up directly with your office I was asking about the west ward with the west ward yes okay any other questions councilman Gonzalez yes I I see this let's say we're giv 124,000 and 111,000 what what are we going to do to improve the say the the food supply in the central W and the and the South W with that kind of money okay so this was a grant that was awarded through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and it's a planning Grant right so it's not actually issuing or implementing any specific programming but it's actually looking at distress assets having conversations doing some planning to see whether or not a food Hub would be best suited in these areas and what those particulars would be moving forward okay any other questions I just kind of I just kind of want to know I know they said they'll be addressing it with my office but I just kind of want to know what does that mean because I think we've had we've addressed it a couple of times you know I just want to know like okay because I have yeah okay got so councilman um I think it's probably best that we set up a meeting this week I've been trying to set up a meeting with you corporate counsel sorry I've been trying to set up a meeting with you I've text you me yes sir in reference to this a reference to a couple of things I'm just my point is that I've text you a couple of times I've even had my chief of staff reach out to you and no response so what we do is this I'll make myself available right after this and I'm sure these people with me will make themselves available as well that would be great okay thank you so much cor counsil thank you Jonathan and to you as well thank you okay next item Madam clerk I'm back on track we are now page 17 7 r1m is an extension SLG grandfathering of employee health benefits for the employees at the water treatment plan questions or comments from Council Members Council I I I do note as we emphasize this information about you know the long-term benefits we need to Circle back around I don't know if it' be the early part of 2024 about the discussion of benefits overall in the city yeah we definitely need to Circle back around let's invite our Personnel director and um the ba and others uh who should be a part of the conversation we should be getting an update anyway regarding the whole benefits and everything as we of course many know we transition from the state health benefits plan because they're too expensive um to uh our new plan so we should definitely be having a followup on that so if we can uh get some representatives from there that would be great Madam clerk certainly okay any other questions thank you councilman Council seeing none next item 7r1 in is an exception to public building I'm sorry exception to public bidding to provide Engineering Services questions or comments from Council Members Cenna next item 7 r2a is a private sale Redevelopment to build a two family residential home in the central Ward um um so I'm going to ask for this item to be deferred again second by councilman Quintana promise this will be the last time um if I don't get any conclusion by then I'll send it back to Administration any other questions regarding this item okay next item 7 r2b is a private sale Redevelopment to provide development of a five-story midrise multif family building with 64 units 13 afford housing units amenities and the community building in the central Ward I'm going to ask for this item to be deferred as well second by councilman Quintana same goes for this item 7 r2c is a private sale Redevelopment to build four luxury homes in the fair Mount and University Heights neighborhoods in the west W questions or comments from Council Members okay CN n next item so 7 r2d is a private sale Redevelopment to rehabilitate the property and open and ice cream poar and coffee shop free of genetically modified ingredients in the South Ward oh that sounds great okay got to come over to the South for that um any questions or comments from Council Members Council I'm I'm going to ask for this item to be deferred oh no councilman councel I cannot get my ice cream free of genetically modified ingredients yeah it's coming second okay uh second by who second by councilman Gonzalez to defer oh that's too bad for us guys mad president yes councilman Gonzalez this is the assess value on this property is $392,500 where the sale price is $105,000 so it's four to one so there is a transfer of wealth there say of 300 ,000 open purchase of this property I I don't I don't believe that the city should be in that kind of business B doly noted uh councilman Gonzalez and perhaps is something that the uh War councilman can definitely mention in his uh reason for deferment with the EHD Department regarding that I know it's something that you touch on all the time any other questions regarding this item that's being deferred Sienna next item 7r2 is a private sale revelop to to provide for new construction of two three family homes and one mixed use building in the South board questions or comments from Council Members councilman Council fine with moving in okay next item 7R 2f is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for the new construction of an owner occupied multif family home with affordable units in the central Ward questions or comments from council members next item yes before we yes I see that the lot size is 200 2,400 square feet ER if you are going to build a multif family I suppose it's more than two family ER that lot will not be let's say appropriate to build a three family up so I don't know let say if we're these people are merging that lot with some something else ER because 2400 square feet give you one or two family home not a multi family home with what they all say with the affordable unit so I I don't know can somebody explain to me how in 2400 square feet they're going to be able to build a multif family with a affordable units Good morning Deputy Mayor good morning council president um to the question asked I'll follow up and writing in prior to tomorrow's meeting okay okay sounds great I do know that these uh folks for this item they actually own and live on the Block too I think next door um but I would have to confirm that but I think that's the matter of this situation but definitely they are homeowners on this block um and I think this property is next door and vacant and just terrible in terms of dump and everything on this piece so but definitely if we can get some followup from EHD uh with concrete answers that'll be great next item 7 r2g is a private sale Redevelopment to rehabilitate the property which will be the new home of acpl LLC and its owner operator in the west ward questions or comments from Council Members okay next item 7r2 is a private sale Redevelopment provide for a building an estimated 3,000 ft two family home in the west ward questions or comments from Council Members Council McKelly we're on 7 r1h no good okay um any other Cenna next item 7r2 I is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for a functional Garden lot in the backyard driveway in the west W questions or comments councilman Kelly anyone else CNN 7r2 J is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for the construction of a two three-story multif family dwelling in the west ward questions comments CNN 7r2 K is a private sale Redevelopment to develop three residential multif Family Apartments in the west ward questions or comments next item 7r2 L is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for the expansion of existing Origins Restaurant and Lounge in the South Ward oh so many great things in the South Restaurant and Lounge okay questions or comments councilman Council fine with moving it lots going on over there any other questions okay next item 7r2 m is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for the development of two affordable two family dwellings for sale in the west W and South W questions or comments okay next item 7r2 in is a private sale we development to build a new three family home to sell at market rate in the west War questions or comments presid yes councilman Gonzalez again say 2500 square feet does not allow a construction of the thp family so I I don't know let's say how these individuals are buying these properties knowing that they cannot build what they are saying that they are going to build okay Billy noted I I just want to make for a note um at some point we used to get like a breakdown and list to us like you know you guys were kapow I'm talking I'm speaking out I know y'all looking at me like who she talking to I'm talking to the EHD Department just for some people who are looking like who is she talking to um we used to get like a breakdown Deputy Mayor remember I remember Keith um Mr Hamilton used to take so much pride in sending us all of this information the list and breaking everything down they kind of took care of some of the questions that we had along with pictures too which were helpful um and we don't get that anymore I know Keith is not any any longer in that department um but is it possible to go back to getting that information because that would be help ful to some of the questions today um it definitely helps you not have to go back to your office and have to send it to us um of some of the things we used to be that long laundry list of regarding each property uh yes council president um Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development we'll uh do that for all of the items on the agenda today and you'll have it before tomorrow's meeting sounds great um councilman Kelly um yeah I just wanted to say uh to some of these um contractors and developers I've been going to the location and the new way that they're building these these properties it is enough size so I think that having the pictures to show because maybe back in the day when when councilman Gonzalez was you know he's been here a while seeing those structures that he's right but now the new TR structures that they're building and that they're constructing it's it's amazing me myself that they're able to to fit these properties on these lot sizes um yes and council president and council member Gonzalez question again this is Allison lad director of Economic and housing development in the new zoning ordinance that was passed by the council and now has been ratified the uh three family um units are available to be built on a similar size lot as two family units are they are yes sir all right because councilman Gonzalez seem like you might have to dig in today I stand corrected this you look you you might have to dig into that to your real estate background see them new new requirements all righty any other questions regarding this item all right seeing none next item 7r2 is a private sale Redevelopment new construction of two three family dwellings with a common driveway to sell at market rate in the South Ward questions or comments motion to defer okay councilman Council wishes to defer do I have a second second second by councilwoman Scott rry all right next item 7r2 p is a private sale Redevelopment to rehabilitate the current existing building and the new construction of a on story Warehouse in the East Ward questions or comments from Council Members councilman Silva any others councilman Gonzalez I just want to the tax assessor to confirm that this assessment is correct 1.53 million doll I would love to see that whether that assessment is the right assessment for that building because we're selling it for onethird of the of the assessed value Frank pesio tax sessor nework uh I will check into that and get back to you with the assessment will you do that before the meeting tomorrow I will be at the meeting tomorrow well can you send us the information before the meeting tomorrow also let us know when was the last time it was assessed I I'll find out if was uh the L revaluation was in 2012 and it may have increased since that time but I'll find out when it was increase if it was okay sounds good thank you so much next item 7ar 2q is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for the new construction of a mixed use mixed income building in the central Ward okay questions or comments regarding this item actually we'll do something a little uh different regarding these uh items that are coming up if I can have Mr Hamilton or even Deputy Mayor L whomever um to come up and just talk about um this these projects not not in detail but just a little bit for the council I know there's been a lot of hard work and effort that has gone into this this is a part of our um you know our mission of of course the mayor's um driving this in terms of providing more affordable housing here in the city um and so maybe perhaps Deputy Mayor L you can just provide a little update um regarding that uh yes council president Alison lad director of Economic and Housing Development um this uh item along with the next item is part of our Equitable investments in Newark communities um this new initiative started this year um and Keith Hamilton is the manager of this effort um led by mayor Baraka um we were able to um over the last year uh work with many and talk with many uh developers local developers MBE wbe developers um across New York who are looking to invest in our um communities that have been underinvested or disinvested and we've seen in these communities um in especially our South and our West and some of our lower North Ward where we've seen high crime we have high poverty levels we also have um food deserts as well as areas where we have blight and so this new initiative is focused on um working with developers who are in collaboration with one another so these are meant to be joint ventures um so that we know together we can actually um uh achieve more as um as many people know uh with that acronym but we really want to in uh create collaboration um activities throughout the city and invest in these communities so um Allin um for this first round we had five sites that were released publicly um earlier this year we had 34 um applications that were submitted for the five sites um and it really came from 25 different entities um we did not prude people from applying from more than one um application site uh it was really an exciting process for us to go through again by um led by Mr Hamilton and we were were able to um see in this site in particular uh there were seven applications that came in that were then analyzed and uh found to be that this is really an exciting um use here of new construction mix use mixed income um and if there's more details about uh questions on the specific one I'm happy to have Keith provide more details on this one and then we can move to the second one thank you Deputy Mayor La councilman Gonzalez yes I just want to know if there is any affordable housing because it's mentioned 51 residential units but doesn't mention any affordable housing yes I'll um have uh Mr Hamilton come up um in this effort uh we did we work to have um affordable housing in every development um and especially if it was something that needed to comply with inclusion are zoning but our overall goal was for affordable housing as well so um thank you Deputy may I will say that it does have affordable units on it but U um Mr Hamilton can come up and give us um a accurate number if he has it okay so um we'll provide the actual specific amount I know it's in the legar file um but we'll actually provide that to you as well separately um in addition um to um any briefing I just provided to you totally not that I I will say that they both have affordability on there or I wouldn't be up here grinning ear to ear um they both have affordability just if we get the specifics that would be great do um any other follow-up questions or comments from Council Members I do want to say I want to congratulate um Keith and I want to definitely through your leadership Deputy Mayor lab because if anyone was following this whole entire process that's taken months um of work months of meetings they did so many um informational sessions both on zoom in person so many people were engaged and we really um did a great job you know engaging folks to come and be a part of this movement and involve them especially small and local developers even people who might have have interest in wanting to be a developer and really wanted to be a part of affordability create an affordability here in our city they had an opportunity to do that so you know many times we're up here talking about what's you know not happening or people are coming to the podium talking about what's not happening but this is a direct um you know example of engaging the community engaging the developers um and definitely providing more affordability here in the city so I just want to commend you guys and definitely toke and his team and the hard work that he did and of course underneath the fabulous leadership of our Deputy Mayor lad so thank you so much thank you yes next item 7r2 R is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for the new construction of six unit affordable housing buildings in the central Ward any additional questions or comments regarding this [Music] item okay next item 7r2 s is a private sale Redevelopment new construction of an affordable 24 apartment building 24 unit apartment building with 20 parking spaces in the central W questions or comments yes councilman Gonzalez says here 40 60 and 80% Ami I would like to see the distribution of those units yes um and this project is a part of the um program that they just talked about so keep definitely we can get the breakdowns of the units for each of those okay next item 7 r2t is an introduction of the 2023 annual budget for Bergen Lin's Clinton special improvement district questions or comments from Council Members councilman Council yeah Madam chair I I know we've been uh you know lagging lagging behind uh we doing some due diligence and some work over with the southw improvement district um I think we're you know turning the corner and and I'm respectful and grateful for uh that the leadership over there so now I want to you know sponsor this item toly noted councilman Council second by councilman Crump any other comments Sienna next item 7r2 U is an introduction of the 2023 annual budget for the west ward special improvement district known as partnership West Incorporated questions or comments from Council Members councilman yes I I just want to um thank um Caesar viso for his leadership in the west you know anytime that we're addressing something in the west W he's there uh answer his phone and and uh helps us kind of mitigate some of the issues that we run into so I just want to thank him for him and his team over there and um I like to sponsor this as well okay councilman Kelly wishes to sponsor second by councilman Gonzalez any other questions or comments Sienna next item 7r2 v is the application acceptance of Grant funds to develop public access on the pic River in nor Bay complex in the central Ward questions or comments from Council Members CN n next item 7r2 W is Professional Services contract the First Amendment to the agreement to provide planning Consulting Services questions or comments from Council Members CNN next item 7 r3a is to authorize the use of competitive Contracting for the procurement of dockless vehicles for use in the city's public right away okay here we are back to Norco is are there any questions from the council I know that there is many followups to be had especially after our last meeting in terms of you know we talked about how long vehicles are left and thus thus thus everything that kind of went forth I hate to rehash it for folks but are there any questions or comments what is the pleasure of the council would we like to defer another time till we could have some followup um in terms of the things that they have to bring back to us or folks would like to move it forward councilman Crum thank you so much for jumping in so I just council president I just wonder did we get any feedback from what we no I I didn't get any feedback no I didn't think so I didn't see anything no I know uh director wooden and I think the folks are here too um I I don't um we don't have any follow up yet Corp Council good to see you again good to be here so uh I will say that I know that the uh uh Office of the director has sent over from what I understand some information before the folks even came in uh there was some information I would Shar with you all uh the the thought process was that the folks I was going to come in to essentially supplement that with some of their comments uh from the administration side what we will say is this that this is this this company and this process has become an essential part of what we do in the city uh there's more than a million rides within the city recognizing that there are some challenges and that they're going to have to address they're not in their head because I had that talk with them in here out there and probably around the corner as well uh we would like the council to at least consider it we recognize that it isn't 100% um solid as we want it to be we also recognize that uh uh as you all have issues within your ward you're going to share them with us we're going to share it with them and I'm sure that either one of two things are going to happen they're going to address it or this contract will end very very soon uh we would like for them to take what they have now to improve their program and their process and their product yeah Madam chair yes councilman Council I I I did share some extensive you know conversation with them as I I did have you know some concerns about um not just some regulatory stuff but just issues around housekeeping um you know professional you know courtesy customer service um and and how to move things past you know certain stages and and recognizing the you know different uh demographics of of areas so it is my hope that they are are you know willing to adhere you know to to some of those things especially you know looking at placement of of some of these vehicles right especially around our Park spaces right there were some Park spaces uh that are active parks that don't need dockless Vehicles parked around active parks there were some parks that are passive Parks um that can probably utilize these services but all of those things uh were never taken into account and so it's my hope that they begin to to look at all of these you know different variables they have talked about creating mechanisms where uh they have devices that can be able to now uh know where the vehicles are when the motors or other uh parts of the vehicle is uh broke or um come apart which is which is important in terms of you know Finding picking up rescuing and recovering uh back to certain areas but we have to continue to still educate uh not just in this kind of Mor let's find an activity that's happening in the community way but engaging in in the community about process and practice and how to get this stuff better I think I actually think it probably be a good idea for them to also take an opportunity to go through the wards more often and I say the the people who are in charge so they can appreciate some of the day-to-day uh atmosphere that comes with these uh these actual scooters okay well I mean each council member can definitely you know vote their conscience tomorrow we'll leave it on I won't defer it um I I do truly believe we need to follow up with many things we talked about and specifically one of the biggest pieces that I think this Council harmonizes on is the fact that telling me that it's going to be 90 Plus hours or 72 hours that a school is going to stay on somebody's lawn if you don't call them I mean that just does not work um and I don't know if that's like a policy changing thing or if it needs to be added or amended in but that that is just like a nogo because I do not our owners our residents they do not deserve to come out looking at a scooter for three days because they did not call like they should not be responsible for even calling to be honest with you they didn't you know knock on our door and say give me the scooter program like they don't care like you know they they you not about to add more work to them to call people to say come pick up the scooter like that's why you have and councilman Council talked about this when the last time they came about having enough Workforce because you're supposed to be monitoring these GPS's and chips of where they're at and I mean everybody has Google you can Google at no matter where it's laying at go get it it doesn't matter if it's on the corner a lawn a part wherever like you you have a whole Workforce and get more people people looking for work get them to help you pick the scooters up because 90 72 hours just does not work and that is the number one issue that needs to be fixed right away not later not working up to it not going to come back and we going to have another meeting I don't want to have another meaning about it it's plain and simple get some more people to help you pick the scooters up that help that helps us that helps residents um that helps everyone so that that's the main thing the good news is that they have added that to the contract that they'll be picked up within 48 Hours okay that's a start yeah it really need to be 24 I'm clear about that but I want to be clear I come out my house I see that scooter sitting here by the time I get back from my eight hour shift I want to see the scooter up and out not me having a follow back up brother 48 is a nice maybe we can do 48 for like a little period and then we could go to 24 and less than that like that's what we should be doing they'll get better yeah Al righty any other additional comments all right see youa next item 7 r3b is to provide for change order for the Citywide Street Paving project okay any questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item seeing us next item 7r3 C and 7r3 D are applications acceptance of Grant funds from New Jersey trans New Jersey Department of Transportation C is for Raymond Boulevard and D is for Ferry Street questions or comments from Council Members okay seeing none next item 7 r3e is a bid contract for the local Freight impact fund 2022 for Avenue P Port N connect questions or comments from Council Members Cenna 7 r5a is application acceptance of Grant funds for the city of nework to serve as a New Jersey State navigator for the 2023 2024 Grant year questions or comments CNN next item oh well next item is civil civil litigation so we'll talk about that in executive session that's for am MB yes okay 7 r6c through 7 r6u are Professional Services contracts in the Law Department my Lord okay corporate council do you do you want to comment before we get started on all of your asks you do you want a word or two for all your requests before the council has any questions so uh good good morning again can St city of North Corporation Council so what I will say is this uh the the list as you see here are list of law firms that are already doing work with the city um you know we have cases pended and things of that nature one of these firms excuse me is actually on trial as we speak right now um what I will say is this um as the city is growing uh there's a lot going on uh as you all know uh through your Council meetings we have more things coming through the process to the council we've ever had uh quite frankly we have the double lawsuits then we've probably almost tripled the lawsuits um from what my calculation is the good part about it is we're having success so you don't see many of these big verdicts but many of these fights that are going back and forth with these cases uh are through our office and through our outside Council uh currently we have I want to say 300 plus Active cases uh we always make sure the higher number is handled inhouse um and we also have a number of course outside Council firms that are handled in the matters uh some of them are more complicated uh take some specialization and some of these law firms handle okay um any questions from Council Members councilman Gonzalez yeah do we have any new firms so there there are a few firms uh quite frankly there more than 30 firms that applied uh we didn't put the new firms forward yet because we wanted to continue to go through that process uh thank God that there are some nor firms as well uh local folks who are either here now or have moved within the last like six months or what have you some folks with a base here uh so we'll be able to put those folks forward hopefully the next agenda so this ones here are just renewal of the contracts yeah folks who are already in the process of working no one here is new at all quite frankly most of these people have been here before I even work walked in okay thank you so much councilman Gonzalez and um hopefully we can get people paid on time and the norc and small firms will stay so I I will say that we have added uh a new process at least uh and we've added some some folks who are can who can focus on getting folks paid so we're working in the right direction great sounds good all righty um Madam clerk do you want to go through a list of them certainly is provide Legal Services concerning Bond matters D is Bond counsel e is perdum employees f is legal services concerning environmental matters G is labor and employment matters H is labor and employment matters I is labor and employment matters J is labor and employment matters K is labor and employment matters L is litigation defense matters m is litigation defense matters n is litigation defense matters o is litigation defense matters p is litigation defense matters Q is litigation defense matters R is workers compensation matters s is special Tax Matters T is special Tax Matters Nu U is litigation Tax Matters woo all right I went into the wrong business Corp Council you in the right business brother Madam CH councilman councel another quick question for the Corporation Council how do how do how do we uh or do we have systems in place uh from your office to monitor the effectiveness of all of these individuals uh that that we may have that we solicit services from to ensure that they're providing the services uh that we want uh that they're not uh over billing uh or uh um prolonging matters for the sake of billing purposes and that we we we doing what we supposed to be doing to handle Our fiary concern as uh the municipal Council and administration so I will say yes and no the reason why I say that is because uh when it comes to especially litigation matters uh there's the actual um Discovery indate so that kind of helps everyone know that everything has to be done by that time uh unfortunately sometimes things aren't done in that time because of calendar scheduling because of uh the lack of witnesses and things that nature lack of information and things that nature so sometimes Discovery indates extend uh there are times when matters are scheduled for trial this week you go to you know trial calendar call and the court says come back next month so there are things like that that play A Part um I will also say that we have folks who monitor the bills that checks the bills and quite frankly I'll tell you that you know one of the people who used to do that and was probably harder than anyone I've known was Avon Benjamin we walking and say okay we ain't paying this and I'm like okay so you know uh we we have uh developed that now uh we have Gary who is who was starting to develop that that uh sense of intensity um so I like to think that we're doing a decent job and of course there's always need for improvement president excuse me councilman gonzale Gonzalez I'm sorry go ahead yeah going back to I believe we established a sue we part of a sue ER regarding the opioids has that been resolved you saying the opio lawsuits the op yeah that we joined oh firming Washington yeah so councilman gonzas uh I I I'm a little surprised that you missed this one uh we actually came in like once or twice uh with some money I I want to say I receive I get like checks like on a few month basis of like 200,000 every like month or two or so it goes directly to O um I know that between the office of homeless Services the office of health department and the police department they work together to make sure that the money is being used properly um I I want to say it's it was like one of them was like $20 million and then the other one was like $5 million and then there's still one pending that I do nothing about but they pulled the set in as well so my point is the money is coming in okay and I just want to make a note too on the last council meeting we had approved some of the funds to be used for homeless um Lewis Homeless Cesar was here asking from well using the money shall I say for some services that we had so yeah yeah we we've been it's been a long time so it was a long case I I will say this I will say that um you know like as the council president said uh the case started some time ago the money is starting to trickle in the right way and I will say that through the you know through the work of the business administrator and the mayor and of course the different people who are in those different departments the money is being used very very well um I know they have some great ideas they'll share with you all in the future that we should be excited about that we should be able to help address the opio issue thank you okay um next item 7 r7a is a contract with Ruckers University to provide a sa Sach Rea psych react take a CH it's okay my apologies psychiatric nurse practitioner and medical director for a newly formed Community mobile outreach program thank you so much Madam clerk any questions or comments regarding this item CNN oh well is it regarding this item okay hello Council council members uh this is actually being funded through the opioid uh settlement dollars this this is actually going to provide a medical clinical service on the ground for our residents uh that typically won't go into a and mortar facility we're going to go out to them in our neighborhoods Transit hubs and Parks so we're really excited about this partnership Lou I believe we need more than one yeah yeah we'll start we'll start here we'll explain the as the money will be coming in so perfect thank you thank you so much uh Louis We Appreciate You alrighty next item 7 r7b and 7R 7c are application and acceptance of Grant funds B is for Cooperative agreements and C is for theou and co- applicants subrecipients questions or comments CNN 7 r8a is recognizing and commending resolutions and 7R 8B is expressing profound sorrow and regret any questions or comments yes councilman Quintana yes if we can add the name of Tony an Tony an Corino the daughter of the former councilman passed yesterday toly noted next item 7 r9a is an application acceptance of Grant funds to Aid in efforts to increase and or maintain the number of trained Frontline firefighters available in the city of nework questions or comments regarding item yes councilman Silva yeah I just have a question um if somebody from um Public Safety can come up and just say uh to us how many uh this grant how many officers uh fire officers are we actually going to hire with this uh money toly noted councilman Silva okay something M president this is something that that we receive almost on a yearly basis and it's to hire like eight or 10 firefighters for and pay the salaries for three years duly noted councilman Gonzalez good morning deputy director good morning deputy director Shanda moris um with Public Safety I would have to give you the specific number I I know it's for just for the um to beef up the maning for the fire department so to get a specific number especially when we're de with the um medical and all of that I would have to give that but I'll have it for you before tomorrow problem sounds fair is that okay councilman Silva yes okay thank you so much and thank you councilman Gonzalez for the feedback and the information next item 7 r12a through 7 R12 a are 28 professional Engineering Services contracts on an as needed basis for the Department of Water and Soil utilities a is for Jacobs Engineering Group B is Boswell engineering C is HDR engineering D is Coro Engineers e is Agra Environmental Services f is GTS Consultants G is Colliers engineering and design H is KS Engineers I is professional Consulting Incorporated J is fast Tech in FastTech Consulting my apologies K is cha Consulting L is Remington and Vernick Engineers m is gz go environmental n is Johnson Maran and Thompson o is Coastal Engineering LLC p is tnm Associates Q is arcadis US R is CDM Smith s is h2m Associates T is Suburban Consulting Engineers U is dmbb engineers and Architects V is duberry Engineers W is inch engineering of New Jersey X is Mont McDonald Y is OCA architect Z is Grant Engineering and construction AA is a matrix New World engineering and ab is Cera Bernard and fox engineering woo all right I'm happy director de what that yellow jacket today come on up director I'm sure there's some questions Council mccum yes I thank you uh council president I it's really not a question but just an Ask um because my assumption is all 28 of these are not for the same exact Engineering Services so can we get a spreadsheet or breakdown I'm I'm assuming you probably have this already of what each firm is being uh hired for or what their expertise is and why you're hiring them good afternoon I mean good morning um council president council members yes you can get that Al although yes councilman I can provide that to you so we're not actually um giving them an assignment this is a as needed contract this is something we do every year we didn't do it last year but we do it every year last year it was a little conflict with some of the paperwork and somehow the regulations change but uh yes we can provide that okay but let me let me ask this question you you do you don't hire them all for blanket uh for doing all engineering some of them you hire for certain or you're hiring not necessarily for tasks you have right now but for certain expertise they may have right that's kind of what I'm looking for in terms of the breakdown I can give you the breakdown all of them do have expertise again this is as needed this is if we need them to do correct understood um okay okay Council MC Quintana yeah director in turns to uh for my concern as a commissioner and I know councilman Crump like to make sure that you when these come before us if they're also Contracting with the question to them are they doing work for Pake Valley or other authorities that we may know because you know what happens is sometimes these things come and they come before P Valley and if we would vote for here for these things here it would be conflict it for us so on on certain things i' like to in the future if you could just let us know what outside work they're doing are they working with another you know when they come before a bid do what other uh agency do you uh uh work for so we can have that as a backup or or could we just ask do they do any work for Pake Valley right do they do any work from sa Valley so because what happens is that commissioner I I have to be careful of voting on certain items that we could be a conflict and I don't want to be in a situation of conflict okay we should also have input from legal in regards to that let's get Kata if you can I'm sorry cor Council excuse me if you can follow up with that I I don't want to get into like the legal comp lingo here um but if we can get follow-ups if we can get that for our commissioners that sit on P Valley in regards to if any of these people are contracted with P Valley that would be good if that's something we can ask for first of all yeah yeah so so counc counc MC Quintana without do is uh I'll follow with you later on today okay thank you the reason why I say that is because it plays a part on how you end up on the board and we'll we'll talk about that if you're there as a result of being a council member you never have a conflict but we'll deal with it can can we get an actual written legal opinion too thanks yes okay I'm sorry councilman Gonzalez yes director can you provide us with the let's say the list that you have employed during this year the the list of the engineers that you have employed during this year and the amount that they have the contracts amounts the list of engine from this no the current your current list of Engineers that you have employ much have you spent this year oh sure yes yes engineering firms that you approve for us to use and how much they've been spent for each of them expend just up today yes councilman Council you had a question just just the same question that uh I uh asked as it relates to having someone in place uh to monitor the accountability uh and feasibility of the work when we have these uh folks in place are you armed with that how how has that been going to make sure that when we access these folks that there are not issues about overbilling uh or issues about uh running jobs uh extremely late that should have had abatement dates or uh dates of completion so councilman yes we're very rigorous in in our monitoring we've always been um reviewing the bills and having other engineering firms review bills from engineering firms that submit stuff to us that we may think that's not right um it's called valued engineering we do a little valued engineering too to ensure that again this is a pool of engineering firms if for some reason an emergency exists that in your in you know uh any Department that may be related where we're doing dual work with water insure prime example we did a lot of Paving over the last um three years we hired a professional engineering firm to monitor the paving contracts in conjunction with water and sewer and Engineering right so we'll have a company come out and help build help us build capacity with our employees learning how to inspect learning how to write reports and that engineering firm by them working closely with that engineering firm our young engineers in engineering and water and still build capacity where we don't have to um hire these firms or like the building that had the explosion we may need a civil engineer or or a structural engineer to come and look at that engineering may not have one we may have one one of these companies that we can call right away to go out uh councilman counsel you know you work and when you were the recreation director we're building the Sao Temple Park on uh front of we use one of our professional engineering firms to work with them to design storm water improvements so this is some of the projects that we give out right when we're doing work in the Parks or the doggy park or the autistic Park having an engineering firm come in and work with the firm you selected to design the park to make sure we're getting storm water or water and sewer needs that can go into the park to make sure we getting the right things for the city not just you're getting your Park built but making sure we maximizing anything we're doing before con constuction where we can store water or make sure water running off the right way or Regulatory Compliance this is just as needed any bigger projects will come before you totally noted um councilman Gonzalez yes director in the legal department we have let's say $175 per hour fee are this engineering firms charging us a standard fee or is it is based on their let's say h going out rate or whatever it is so it's the so councilman it's the going rate it's not a standard fee because you're a variety of different engineering tasks like you know not I'm not going to say all lawyers are the same because it may be different but in the engineering field there's a variety of different type of Engineers from surveyors to chemical Engineers to Structural Engineers electrical mechanical environmental uh civil um Arrow Aerospace so it's the going rate of the FI and again this is as needed it's not if we need something is that something that you say the contract establishes beforehand or is something that you say you have a contract of a 100,000 and whatever the fee is it is or you say you're going to charge me $350 an hour or $200 an hour or whatever so we kind of like you know this pool would allow us to go to an engineering firm and say hey here's the scope of work the two engineer we got 20 firms on on call right here we can give pick two of them give them a scope of work they'll submit us a proposal to do the work and we'll review that proposal right and select the best one we we know that these two are capable of doing it we'll give them the same scope have them submit a proposal to do that work and we'll select the same one the fees are already for each engineer for this firm is already in legistar when you look through there you'll see what they charge for different Engineering Services any other follow-up questions comments all right well thank you so much director thank you very informational I'm glad that we got all these questions me yes director with this we had parked another one in councilman Gonzalez with this rain that we had the let's say yesterday and the day before did we have any flooding that affected the they say the the C of nor of course we have flooding all over the city from the South Ward mainly the South and the East Ward um a lot of flooding in the South and East Water small area of the west but most of the flooding in the city during this rainstorm uh 60% of it was just the leaves washing on top of the catch basins although we did cleaning before the rain event but after the rain event all that debris just watched on top of the catch basins some of we was able to Abate you know within hours um and by six o'clock last night most of the flooding in the East Ward was uh abated so that's South Street and the South Street FL regular areas Street UE freeling hous freising we we Freeland heising between uh motor vehicle in 22 and again most of that was like a lot of debris on top of the catch basins as we started cleaning it MAA Avenue by the park so MAA Avenue is a little different because the lake uh sometime the lake crushes and when it crushes that water starts coming out on Tamika Avenue and right up under the bridge it's like a little low level so moving the leaves us pumping it to some of the manes and the syst was running full just want to make show that when the system running full a lot of water can't get in and this storm the height of the storm hit us doing high tide so Wilson Avenue and some of those areas the lowline areas when it's high tide water can't get out so as the tide recedes the water starts going starts going any yes Clon Avenue too huh Clifton Avenue I was stuck on traffic yesterday well the traffic on backup no but I mean Clifton Avenue was fairly it happens right there by the Colones and it it was leaves on the catch base just trash and leaves on the catch R thank you okay thank you so much director thank you Communications items 8 a through D were previously discussed we on page 74 item 8e is an ordinance creating title 21 chapter one Schoolboard elections sponsored by council president mcgyver questions or comments from Council Members yeah coun councilman Council yeah I would like to uh co-sponsor uh this item and just you know speak a little briefly uh as as you I'm assuming that you would about the importance of you know democracy um and and and this whole process and more importantly um when we're talking about trying to engage our youth uh and and in these processes of voting in elections um and looking at the age of 16 just for the Schoolboard elections um I think it's ideal uh when we are asking them to uh be engaged in a part of something that involves them which is the educational system right and being able to be impactful uh and insightful um in what it is that they can do to be change agents in their Community right they get jobs at 16 they go to McDonald's they pay tax for the first time and they should be able to you know at least have an opportunity to uh Excel and push change and thought um and and what it is uh that they need to do to make their school systems better right um especially uh around this whole notion about uh engagement so um you know as as it continues to move forward I know it's in the communication stage I look forward to the discussion and debate around this entire issue thank you thank you so much uh councilman Council uh councilman CR yeah thank you council president let me just uh first thank uh Institute for social justice Ryan Hagood and his team as well as council president for uh leading this charge um I'll be very Frank when I first heard about it I was like I don't know um but but my discussions numerous discussions with Ryan as well as his team as well as with uh my Council colleagues have have brought me to the idea that this is something that's important for us and particularly since we always talk about apathy um let's figure out ways to um to get our younger folks more engaged and what better way than to get them engaged in a process that that um benefits them or I shouldn't benefit me by the right dress words but but affects them tremendously um in School Board elections you know we talk about taxation without representation is not fair you know we talk about so so to allow 16 and 17 year olds into the the process and not just thrown out there to vote but also there's an educational component to this um for them to understand the what the right to vote means and and to uh for voter education I think is important and I think this is a step in the right direction to make sure that we stop that tide of of uh voter reg voter apath and and lower voter turnout so hopefully this will be something that's a positive effect on the community going forward thank you Council mccom councilman Quintana in turn in turns this is a great idea uh and this would give an opportunity but we we're going to have to deal with the parents of the of the youth too uh we have a in the city of Newark in terms of the population of youngsters or in the in that 16 17 their MO their parents parents are not US citizens but the the children are because of being born on on American soil so as the process does and I I I I I'm for it uh I would suggest that there be some communication with parents because the parents of these un do I mean these document the parents who are undocumented uh their kids are going to be eligible uh to to part ipate because you must be a US citizen to vote under the law so I would suggest that as this goes forward that there would be some Communication in both languages in Spanish Portuguese uh French you know telling parents that this is okay you know because some parents don't have the knowledge of of the process so as we move forward with this and I commend you for it uh uh I think we we need to do these things early and informing the parents and if we could do some PR and putting something the city clerk's office I'm putting something of this uh of your idea uh today and put it in those different languages so those parents would understand because some parents are hesitant you know they don't know understand the language they're going to say why is my kid doing this so again so there's no confusion I just want to put has a friendly uh recommendation so that we are prepared so when this takes place that those parents will know that their children will be participating in the process and be in their voices uh who are not heard because of their status thank you so much councilman Quintana uh any other comments councilwoman Scott rree no I just want to ditto of the comments of my colleagues council president thank you and brother Ryan hey good I too like Council Trump was very excited about um the idea and the um information that was provided to us and the education component is very important because our children um need to be civically engaged and understand the process and while they're understanding it be a part of the process so once again thank you council president thank you Ryan ha good and um looking for the best for our young people thank you thank you so much councilwoman Scott rree councilwoman Kelly um just want to uh I think it's a it's an amazing thing uh I just want to know like for the educational part of it would there be you know when I was coming up in nework public schools we had certain classes about Civic engagement and you know those type of things like will it be presented to nework Public Schools per se and since there since we they will be involved in the School Board election I think it's a it's a great idea but I think that when you're dealing with teenagers um that there should be some educational component I I I witnessed it being attached to some curriculum at uh Mount Vernon School in the west where they had a a portion of a a class that talked about the Civic leaders and Civic engagement in in the community I think that they should be educated if they're allowed to vote I think that they should be also educated of what the Civic engagement is around the city thank you councilman Kelly councilman Gonzalez yes I I totally support this ordinance it's we have a a city with 311,000 people 100 can't hear you they can't hear you we have a city with 311,000 uh people and we have probably 150,000 people that can vote and you got elected to the Board of Education with 2,000 votes I believe it's ridiculous that people are not participating in in in in that process and I believe that by having the opportunity to or giving the opportunity to 16 year olds and 17 year olds is a step in the right direction I would also as indicated by by my councilman of the West for ER would suggest to the to the Board of Education that they add some uh Civics lessons in in school so that they know how important it is H to vote and be part of the process ER and maybe we can have a an amendment to it that would allow someone that is not a US citizen but a US resident H to vote on those election that they I believe have in New York and New York allows people that are us residents and not US citizens to vote on local elections they cannot vote on on the federal elections but they can vote on local elections duly noted thank you so much councilman Gonzalez uh any other comments all right seeing none I just want to number one thank my colleagues I want to thank of course our Corp Council our cor Corporation Council our clerk I definitely want to give a huge shout out which you will hear from today um to Ryan ha good and his entire team from the New Jersey Institute of social justice uh for all the work that they've put in I think what everyone has said is yes yes yes yes yes um to to what everyone has said in terms of um education in terms of putting out information um I of course shared the piece of legislation with each one of my colleagues um and hopefully each of you had an opportunity to take a look at it but this is the beginning to a tremendous start um being a young person in politics I have been involved in the political process since age 10 um and just thankfully because God allowed me to cross paths to a young incredible teacher that was running for office at the time um and it engaged not just me but everybody from the community and what was going on what elections meant what the process was and we had no idea what um folks were talking about or what he was talking about the teacher per se um and so in this new era this new genre that we're in young people deserve to have a right regarding policies and procedures that directly impact them and I think each Council colleague touched on it a little bit in their own way but specifically what councilman gonzala said um people are very not engaged in School Board elections um parent parents are not engaged you know sometimes you'll have parents that are not engaged and their children are more engaged than they are in the election process and what's happening with them and young people at the school board level should have a say in representation for them um those directly impacted by polic policy should be upfront at the table regarding those policies that directly impact them and that includes our young people there are young people that are eager they are eager they are ready they are out here they are working each and every day um and you'll see them come out as we continue to move this process forward and continue to have these conversations continue to have the sessions continue to talk um with the Nork Board of Education and the school board and and we're grateful and thankful to have our school board president here with us today um Hassan Council who represents the nor public school um the nor School Board I got to get used to not saying nor Public Schools um 25 years of stay hold that's kind of hard but North Board of Education um who runs our nor board board of education and leads it um it's something that you know we will continue to have the conversations it's not the first it's not the last conversation and I look forward to everybody's input especially as we talk about you know uh migrants here coming to the city we talk about different language barriers here in the city each a council person is going to need uh act anyway you to play a huge part in delivering um this new um this to your ward and to your area and to the different organizations even organizations that we have to bring to help um assist with this but this is a conversation that's been sparked nationally um many states are having this conversation um including our state um and it's something that I 100% support so I thank the council I thank you for your initial support to pull this out of communications and definitely just once again shout out to Ryan ha good and his his entire team who of course is going to talk with us today um during this a public session but thank you for all of your work and all of your advocacy um and bringing this to life like yes councilman Gonzalez I suggest that we move it on first adopt on first you said it not me you know I want to be uh respectful and courtesy courteous to my council members that have time to digested um because I know how you guys like to chew on things for um some time you like to sprinkle some salt and pepper on it and then you know digest it enjoy and enjoy it but definitely you know if the council doesn't have any uh you know objections to that definitely I'm for that alrighty next item 8f is an ordinance amending title 23 traffic chapter 15 stop intersections yield intersections and through streets dealing with multi-way stop intersections by designating aington Avenue W and North 11th Street as multi-way stop sign intersections in the north Ward South is it south or north oh I'm on the wrong page okay uh questions or comments regarding this item okay um I'm going to ask that these traffic items be adopted um on first as well certainly okay next item 8G is an ordinance amending title 23 traffic chapter 15 stop intersections yield intersections and through streets dealing with multi-way stop intersections by designating 20 South 20th Street as a multi-weight stop sign my apologies Council by designating Avon Avenue in South 20th Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the South Ward thank you so much Madam clerk any questions Council I like to sponsor that councilman Council wishes to sponsor second by councilman Crump next item and the same for this one adop and on first got it 8h is an ordinance amending title 7 State uniform construction code enforcing agency chapter 5 enforcement violations penalties emergencies section four penalties to increase fines and penalties for those in violation of stop work orders sponsored by councilman Council all right councilman Council you wish to shed a little light on this item yeah uh Madam chair and uh to my Council colleagues uh and and to the folks who are here we have a a serious problem um in in in the city um internally and externally that we need to address uh we put a lot of pressure on developers to be able to do what is right and following process procedures uh permit uh being resilient in what it is that they do um and then there is the opposite uh where we have individuals who are just uh tiating through this city um creating problems for our residents uh who are living in these places of illegal conversions um and um not having systems in place to and finding out how do we receive you know certificate of occupancies and if individuals are being registered uh in these uh uh houses uh that they're building are they paying taxes uh we have an exorbitant amount of illegal conversions that are going on around the city with no uh real hard pressure uh upon them these two ordinances that we're putting in place uh these stock workor ordinances uh will hope to deter the amount of illegal conversions that is happening through the city that are putting residents in very dangerous situations as well as uh our uh Public Safety uh officers and our firefighters firefighters who are running in houses believing that there are two family houses that are now three and six family houses um you know the same with our Public Safety uh issues uh around the city we have individuals there was there was one block uh on U peshan Avenue as we currently speak with three houses 364 368 362 that are doing illegal conversions simultaneously as we speak uh won't stop we put stop work orders on the property they continue to send subcontractors in there to do the work and do these things I'm not sure if we have a video if we can um go to some of the the video I would just like to give some of the examples of what is happening throughout the city especially for some of our viewers uh this is 893 895 uh South 17th Street Illegal conversion and they uh illegally convert these places move people in and and then there is something traumatic that happens and then the pressure uh goes on the city uh the responsibility goes back on the city and there's no pressure or responsibility on the individual who owns this property there's no pressure or responsibility to find out if they even have adequate uh certificate of occupancies As you move forward and look through these reals these are all uh examples of illegal conversions that are going on individuals who have come into our city have gathered no perits no proper information uh and who has decided that they're going to fix up these properties build these properties and lay them out the way that they want with no regard uh for the city for the residents for uh the council uh people who control and work and help these areas for this Administration and we have to do something that is proactive that is going to stop these individuals that's what this ordinance is about saying that if we run up on illegal conversions and if there's no one living uh in those convergence that we have the right to board them up and to find you and to make sure that you go through the right process to get permits and then once you go through that process then we're going to charge you to take the boarding off we have the right to uh uh Sue subcontractors who continuously come back uh to do this work at the request of the owner who doesn't want to give up information who doesn't want to show up to these sites but at the same time is creating danger uh to the residents of our community and then ultimately turning around and charging our residents an exorbitant amount of money for rent and and we have no recourse uh because once again if we do our internal homework most of these places don't have certificate of occupancies because they can't because they were ilegally converted we don't know if they registered uh again to be back on the the the registry Road the 300 the 300 or $500 that was supposed to be registered because there are illegal conversion we don't even know if they're paying taxes on these properties because they are illegal conversion we have to send a resounding message as leaders in this community that we cannot tolerate this kind of behavior as our city begins and continues to grow um in a matter uh that is should be producing good outcomes for for our residents and not producing danger we had a situation last evening where individuals came in who were living uh in an illegal conversion uh in a polian apartment next to a boiler and the the apartment was flooded and it was a four family unit that they turned into a non-f family unit the amount of danger that they are putting our residents in uh is is absurd and it's egregious and as a body we need to do something about this at this time all right thank you councilman Council questions or comments from Council Members councilman Gonzalez I agree with the say that there is a lot of illegal conventions the thing with that is do we want to inspect the properties before they say the the the problem happens ER we say we are reacting I believe this ordinance reacts H to the to something that already happened I believe that we need more inspectors are going to go throughout the city and making sure that the illegal conversions are not happening before H somebody gets hurt ER I I believe that let's say that having a a hefty fine is is a step in the right direction but I believe that we have to have we have to be proactive and not reactive and I I believe this ordinance here is reacting to a problem and not going proactive against the problem yeah Madam chair so I think if you go into the the fullness of the the ordinance and begin to to read it uh you will see that is is not just uh reactive but it's very proactive uh because it talks about what happens when we stumble upon illegal conversions what happens when we uh begin to find out if there are illegal conversions and doing our due diligence to go around and inspect some of these properties and houses many of these uh properties that individuals have are are sales uh by uh residents in this community to uh these elicit individuals who are taking advantage of this who are not documenting the information of the sale or reporting this information uh to the city and when we come upon this kind of information be it that they are are just beginning the work in it which is a proactive step because if I can get you while you're beginning the work it stops someone from moving in I think the reactionary piece is once somebody gets in uh into uh some of these facilities and then we have a hard time getting them out and so for that that that's why if you look at the legislation it speaks upon the fact that if we find someone that is living in a a building or a home that has been illegally converted then the the opes of responsibility goes to the owner of that property to then take that individual out to pay and to put up uh that that Resident until they find adequate services and to help and assist that resident in finding a new place to be able to go to and pay for that for the egregious and and arous act that they've already performed by putting somebody in an illegal conversion without a certificate occupany putting them in a dangerous situation all of those things are are proactive not reative so is is a counter punch uh to both ends but we have to begin to do something right thank you uh councilman Council any other comments I will say that we are in um government and most of the things that happen in government no matter what level you are at they are reactionary sometimes uh there's no sprinkle magic dust that you know someone throws up in the air and you catch every piece of a problem um by creating legislation many things get revised and amended and changed and so forth as times change as you put things into play and you find little cracks in Nanny you know little cracks in things in in certain pieces of legislation but mostly what we do is reactionary and some of the things that we pass on on a daily basis stop signs different things why because there are problems in places and we're reacting to the problems that happen which is the job of this body and many other bodies so I I I do appreciate both of the fine gentlemen's uh points um but I I do believe that most of what we do here always is reactionary Mo most of the time because we have to address the problems of the people who vote for us and who expect us and and demand for us to be you know their spoken voice and doing things for them so I think it's a great piece of legislation and and I do agree with councilman Council there's been a problem we've talked about it multiple times here I mean for long for a long time some of y'all longer than others regarding um illegal uh you know conversions and just in general UCC and code enforcement and some of the challenges we have there so definitely thank than you for that uh councilman Council um would you like to go into any additional detail regarding Ai No I just think it it it is a partnership you know ordinance it talks about the violations and penalties attached to it uh which I believe will will be probably some of the most strenous uh in the state of New Jersey and I just look for my Council colleagues to to work with and the sponsor and it also uh you know helps to uh make people responsible and put put uh dollars and cents back in to the coffers of the city of New York so if we come up on your property and you are doing a legal conversion and there's no one living in there the city has the right to board it up until you get the proper permits and go through the proper steps to build or develop what it is that you want to do in this city and when you want to unboard it you'll have to pay the city as well if there were subcontractors that continuously come back to do the work outside of the owner getting F those subcontractors be it a corpor an electrician you will be fined as well because you have got the notice that you should not have been at the property during the work because there were no permits there was no certificate of occupancy and in many stages these individuals returned just as the example that I've given you on Pine Avenue the same workers have returned every single day now instead of coming in the daytime they come at 9 to 10 o'clock at night to do the work because they know that we're coming in the daytime and so we we have to be in the Forefront right and I definitely understand the you know proactive and reactive end uh but we have to be in the Forefront uh to let folks know that as our city grows our eyes are growing our ears are growing and we're going to be attentive and we're going to be visible and vigilent and present uh to make sure that these things are not going to happen uh and begin to put systems and structure in place from the municipal level as well as the administrative level to make sure that folks are being responsible for building and developing in this community thank you councilman councel any other last comments before we move on okay seeing none I will co-sponsor the item with you uh councilman councel okay all right that's the end oh my God I never thought we'll see the end Jesus it is 76 pages long of an agenda all righty I'm sure there no added starters right yeah pretty much all right any requests or uh motions from the council before we go into public um speaking all right seeing none Madam clerk will have public speaking now we are now in a 30 minute public comment section of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak please state your name for the record is there anyone present wishing to address the council hi hi good afternoon oh good afternoon it's good afternoon okay good afternoon my name is sequana Clark I am the vice president of the tenants Association at 130 Chancellor [Music] Avenue okay so we just received a letter the tenants have received a letter staying that our rent is going up we wanted to know how much does our rent supposed to go up by um it's so crazy that we are getting letters stating that we got to pay more rent but none of the issues that we have are being addressed on Saturday December the 15th we had two um of our cars being broken into shout out to the fifth Precinct um Captain Wilson thank you so much for bringing a unit to us very urgently so for me when we talking about um illegal conversions I just received a letter saying that I had to move by January um I don't have any a no job I just graduated from college and I'm really concerned about that I reached out to um Patrick Council I have not received any I like a voicemail too no nothing no call no anything I reached out to um Council Kelly his team reached back out to me they sent me um agencies about paying for my security deposit they have no funds so I'm I like I'm getting a runaround and I'm really I don't like that I need somewhere to go I have a 11y old son he will soon be 12 I'm about to start my career job I want to be stable and comfortable I don't want to be worrying about where I'm going to sleep at I don't want to go back to my mother house and yes thank you oh wait that's it that's all we had to say yes okay thank You' all so much thank you thank you so much if we can have someone from uh EHD um provide this young lady with um Miss Myers and the folks over at rent control and whatever other agencies about the rent increases in thus far if someone can assist uh them with that that'll be helpful um next [Music] speaker good afternoon uh my name is Henry Ross hi good afternoon I live at 130 Chancellor Avenue I have in my possession a letter that was sent to me for the increase of the rent uh the letter doesn't State who let me read from the letter dear resident the management hopes you enjoy living here and wish to continue living here this notice is required by law if you have any question please call the office there's no phone number for the office I don't know which office it is because the return address on the envelope is 653 mon Pleasant Pros new North New Jersey Fire batch office the letter addressing me is 130 Chancellor nor LLC P box 971 Clifton New Jersey 07014 uh it misstated when I started to live there I started to live there at the 1st of November 2014 they are saying that I started there at 6129 I guess this probably is the new management we have no recourse nobody to speak to you call they don't return your call the office as far as I understand I've never been to it which is uh the fire branch office uh they're open for one hour in the day I think it's between 4 and 5 I'm not sure this is just what I hear um I'm a little bit confused here because when I went there to live I was given a lease I signed a oneye lease when this new management take over I was never given a lease I was never contacted or anything so there says here and this is the part where I kind of concern about if you remain in possession of the apartment after February the 1st 2024 it will be considered considered as an election on your part to Rend the apart Department subject to all present rental lease terms I haven't seen the lease they never send me a copy of the lease so I don't know what the terms and conditions and I don't know how to address this so I will ask you all if you all could you know give me some kind of assistance in how to address this this stuff and secondly um is there a number or some Authority that we could report these people when they come to work in the night um because they did that in our building they come in the night and work they didn't come in the day and the illegal uh construction or reconstruction of apartments and so on I'll appreciate that very much thank you all thank you so much uh as mentioned already earlier before if we can have someone from um Legal Services come up and assist these folks councilman Council yeah also um I'm I'm councilman coun the young lady uh stood up and said who councilman counselor you called the office I'm councilman counselor I've been working uh with 130 and these are some of the things that we talked about you know in this legislation uh individuals doing uh illegal conversion uh working at night because we come in to day we've been Vigilant about uh 1:30 in terms of the letter and information I definitely agree uh we need to make sure that that information gets uh to our rent control agency uh because that is one of the buildings that has been tagged for doing illegal conversions inside of the building turning studio apartments into one-bedroom apartments turning two bedroom apartments into three-bedroom apartments and still uh we have flagged them and red and red tagged them for not fixing the elevators and making sure that that is right um and um working with this this uh these folks in this building uh to try to get a hold of them because they uh are not being um receptive to to what is happening so we have you know continued to be vigilant with them with our code enforcement folks our engineers and UCC uh having uh to uh desperately uh continue to uh deal with the the owners of these facilities so we're going to continue to stay on it if you would like to talk to uh my staff they're all around the the facility please reach out to them thank you thank you so much councilman Council uh next speaker good afternoon good afternoon Deborah Salter city of NK Warrior for the people I would like to first thank director Wooten for abating a very dangerous issue on West Market where there were no lines and we've been fussing for years I spoke with her at the last meeting on December 6th and it was mitigated so thank you for that because we will now be alive to wait for the paving of the road because we have lines so um shout out to my dad who uh made me the woman that I am today um for all that he taught me for uh making me more man than most men are or ever will be or that their daddies ever were and uh yet I'm all woman thanks to my mother hadie Walker who was a pillar in the community and my grandmother who was the knot in my rope and whose prayers kept me As I Grew Older um this message today goes out to all my sisters who uh felt like they had to do whatever they had to do to get the position and who are still doing things that they feel they need to do to keep the position um and to those who proclaimed and swore that they would never fall in line I see you too so this is a message that uh when Angela Basset was was receiving the the black girls rock she said you know she was asked over and over you know did she choose on purpose to to be or to take the roles that were for strong black women and you know uh strong positions and never to take down and and things like that and she said yes it was on purpose but never to the degree where she was ready to um uh compromise her integrity and that's what I want to say to all the black women all the women everywhere it's time to get off your knees and stand up don't worry about what's going to happen once you stand up the scripture says now Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen it is now time to stand up and we women together are more powerful than we are alone stop hating on your sister because she's trying to tell you the right thing to do stop hating on that sister because she's doing things the right way and she's trying to get you to realize you're worth you are worth more than what they are telling you you are worth when they tell you you are not worth it you need to stand up and understand that you are worth it see I had a father in my life and my a mother in my life that that installed self-esteem in me but the key word to that is self you have to look at yourself you have to be willing to live with yourself and the decisions that you make don't worry about what's next you will know what's next Once you make that decision to stand up and stop being someone's doormat give back the knee pads and get off your back thank you Miss Salters for your comments next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is Ryan he good I have the honor of working at the New Jersey Institute for social justice along with my colleagues H Patel and maurii Vargas who lead this work for us we're joined by our colleagues at the ACLU of New Jersey Alejandra Saro and uh Eliza Weissberg I just want to say how gratifying it is to be before this courageous body of lawmakers uh who starting a conversation a year ago looking at what was happening nationally around the attack on critical race Theory the attack on curriculum in school boards both here and across the country and Al also looking at What's Happening Here in the city of Newark with turnout and School Board elections at the last one at an abysmal 3% and asking a question how can we build a democracy in Newark that is the most inclusive not only in New Jersey but in this country and so I commend the leadership of this body in introducing title 21 to lower the age in Schoolboard elections to 16 and I want to say a word about the impact in the time I have lowering the voting age to 16 in Newark holds the potential to enfranchise more than 7,6 16 and 17 year olds 90% of whom are black and brown and as you all know these people need strong Advocates on their school boards which is why what you're doing is so important because it helps them to choose who they will be if ever we needed an influx of young voters to lift their voices at The Ballot Box in this moment for our democracy it's now this body the Newark city council has an historic opportunity before it to make this happen and importantly this body has the authority pursuant to New New Jersey Constitution and title 19 to make it so even as we welcome legislation pending in the state legislature with the same goal Newark need not wait for its passage you can pass this ordinance now in time for the 2024 School Board elections and become the first city in New Jersey to take this historic step we can follow places like Tacoma Park Mary land which allowed 16 and 17 year olds to vote in local elections in those elections the turnout of young people surpassed that of the general population and finally to councilman Kelly's Point following the passage of the ordinance we will work closely with Partners to bring young people together local Grassroots organizations together and other stakeholders to work with the superintendent and Educators to implement a Civic Civics curriculum in high schools here in nework to ensure maximum turnout not just in the historic April 2224 election but in future elections together we'll make this happen Together We Make History our democracy is only strengthened by more participation thank you for your leadership thank you so much Mr he good we appreciate your comments we thank you for coming today and once again just to Echo again thank you for you and your team's work next speaker hi Linda McDonald Carter I just want to add to what Ryan said about 16y olds just a quick story for people understand the reason why we or how we got the first black and Puerto Rican elected officials because in the segregated South the teachers were teaching uh the teachers were teaching Civics to five six seven eight year olds because the older students who were sharecroppers had to go in the fields in the springtime so those students really became the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement not only were they 5 six seven8 years old maybe 9 years old but they were also prepared to die for the Dignity of their parents they were dressed in their Sunday go to meeting Clos so they could just be put in the coffin in the event they died so that their parents would have the right to vote so when we look at how people became elected officials in the first place if it wasn't for those five six seven eight years olds eighty olds who understood death and were willing to die for the Dignity of their parents none of those people who reached the pacle I guess you could say of being elected officials would even be in that capacity so keep in mind everybody knows about Martin Luther King and Rosen Parks but there were the five six seven eight year olds who were proficient in Civics who really laid the foundation for all of us and we need to make sure we continue to remember that thank you thank you so much next speaker hello good afternoon hello good afternoon council president president and hi council members U my name is m Vargas I'm an associate council at the New Jersey Institute for social justice um and of course I'm in full support of introducing the school board election ordinance title 21 which would allow 16 and 17 year olds who reside in the city of New York to vote in New York Schoolboard elections um you know by lowering the voting age for Schoolboard elections in New York we would be empowering and enfranchising a noble 7,200 57 16 and 17 year olds as Ryan mentioned giving them a direct voice and shaping the future of our community research shows that 16 and 17 year olds are not only neurologically and socially mature enough to vote responsibly but are also well informed and engage in political issues um the age of 18 currently the voting threshold is an arbitrary barrier that restricts the political contribution of these young individuals um moreover many people under a also have adult responsibilities such as being the primary caregiver for an alien family member running a business or making substantial Financial contributions to their households it's time to recognize that those contributions reflect a level of maturity that argues in favor of giving these young people a voice in who determines issues that impact them directly such as Schoolboard policies affecting their entire School District um as Ryan mentioned this also can be easily done and quickly contrary to Common belief the New Jersey Constitution does not explicitly prohibit voting for those under 18 it merely grants an affirmative right to those who are 18 and older local governments have the authority to set the voting age for local races and there is precedent for this in municipalities in like like Freehold burrow for instance where residents as young as 14 have been allowed to vote in their participatory budgeting process already this opportunity in is in our hands nework can pass this ordinance now in time for young people to vote in the Newark Schoolboard elections thank you thank you so much for your comments next speaker hi good morning thank you so much good afternoon oh is it that time or yeah goes quick my name is Liza Weisberg I'm an attorney with the ACLU of New Jersey and I'm thrilled to be here speaking with you all today and to express our strong support for the nework Schoolboard election ordinance which will allow 16 and 17y olds to vote for the school board members whose decisions impact them every single day uh the ACLU is a private nonprofit organization based here in nework founded in 1960 to defend liberty and justice Guided by vision of an equitable New Jersey for all this ordinance empowers young people to engage with the decisions that sh their education and encourages them to begin building a lifelong habit of civic participation it also marks an investment in voter turnout that will pay dividends for decades to come and it compels politicians to devote greater attention to the Views and needs of younger constituents who will be living with the the outcome the in the consequences of those decisions for a lot longer than older voters so I'll try to keep this quick and just highlight three uh three brief reasons why 16 is a a sound and logical age to assume the right to vote so first setting the voting age at 18 was largely a historical accident um and so lowering the voting age to 16 in in in local elections and Schoolboard elections doesn't contravene any sort of sacred or important historical Norms so at the founding the voting age was 21 and that was a pass down from British common law and it it remained that way for 182 years until the 26th amendment was passed that was passed in response to the Vietnam War and suddenly 18-year-olds were being drafted to you know fight and die for their country this uh was the quickest ratification period in history it passed with near unanimous bipartisan support in 100 days and that's all to say that setting the voting age at 18 wasn't um based on some sort of evidence backed determination that 18-year-olds have some level of of competence that younger voters lack it was it was just in response to a historical exigency second 16 is a time of relative stability when a young person's circumstances make them more likely to turn out for an election and establish a durable voting practice uh voting is habit important forming so this phenomenon leads to long-term turnout gains which could shrink po uh persistent racial disparities in voting by contrast 18-year-olds are moving away they're entering the workforce they're enrolling in college and this is a tumultuous period that's an inopportune time to navigate the varied sort of administrative hurdles required to vote last thing I see I'm I'm out of time is is simply that 16-year-olds are as cognitively competent uh to vote thank you thank you so much thank you and it's good to see folks from the ACLU I know my other Council colleagues we hear the ACL the ACLU name all the time um so it's a pleasure to uh see you all here with us today all righty next speaker hi thank you my name is Hennel Patel I work at the New Jersey Institute for social justice I won't repeat things um that my our esteemed leader Ryan haod and my wonderful colleague mrii Vargas said I'll just uh emphasize a couple of other points that I want to highlight and thank you and that's mainly here I want to thank you for really considering this and really taking this seriously we've had lots of conversations with all of you wonderful conversations through the year um and you know at my core I'm the law and policy director it's my honor to um to have that role but at my core I see myself as a voting voting rights attorney um and you know I watch what's happening around this country and we're seeing state after State elected officials after elected official right in the halls of Cong up to the halls of Congress trying to suppress the vote and it's important for places like Newark for people like us to take a stand against that and it's not just to you know de cry what they're doing that's important it's not just to defend our own voting rights here which is also important but it's also to push it further to say to actually show that in New Jersey in the great city of Newark we are not afraid ative democracy we embrace it and this is how we do that we are watching all around the last few years look back 10 15 years we see young people civically engaged just have to turn on the news people care they are Marching for black lives matter they are care they care about gun violence they're facing they care about climate change they are vocal they are active they are civically engaged and we often look at them and like hey it'll be great when they have a seat at the table when they have a voice but we don't have to stop them we can do it right now we can give them that voice you have that power as so many of my colleagues mentioned and I think it's so critical here that we do that um a couple of folks here mentioned the history of expanding voting rights in this country and we know that often most often voting rights have been expanded after great Wars after blood has been shed after thousands and thousands have had to march on the street that is the reality of every expansion of voting rights in this country but we have the power here to not force the 16 and 17-year-olds to go through that we can say hey we do not need a civil war we do not need Decades of marches we do not need to risk dying in Vietnam to acknowledge that your voice matters and so I thank you for really taking that t s for understanding that and for really considering that so we're looking forward to tomorrow at for the introduction in the next few weeks while you consider this and uh vote this to passage thank you and uh I will Echo this we will work with you all to make sure that there's um Civics education and all the languages that are needed so that they know that they have this power thank you thank you so much for your comments next speaker good afternoon members of the council my name is Lawrence Sam good afternoon good afternoon I'm chairman of the people's Organization for progress and um I'm here to express support for the ordinance that would make it possible for 16 year olds to vote uh first of all I would like to commend the council for its support of this ordinance I've been here sitting in on the meeting and I see that all the council members who were present are in favor of the ordinance and are uh co-sponsoring it or supporting it I'd also like to commend the work on many issues not just this one of the New Jersey Institute uh for social justice which I consider a partner uh in our struggle for racial social and economic Justice let me just say as um many of you on the council know uh I was appointed to the nework board of education at the age of 7 and to my knowledge I think I still hold the record as the youngest School Board member in the history of the United States of America I was not a student representative I was one of the nine voting members of the Newark board of education but my being able to sit on the board of education was made possible not just through my personal and individual agency but was made possible because there was a student movement in this city at that time and that student movement was made up of freshmen and sophomores and juniors and seniors who were 16 17 18 years old and younger we used to come to nework Board of Education meetings when they were held on Green Street sometimes there would be so many young people at the school board meetings there they would move the school board meetings here to the city council chambers the whole Chambers would be filled one night we had so many young people at the board meeting they had to move the board meeting to Symphony Hall so young people have an interest in politics and I think giving them the opportunity to vote would be a way for them to exercise that interest and exercise their citizenship rights let me say some things very quickly when I was a freshman at Arts High School in 1967 Civics 1 and two were part of the curriculum to my knowledge Civics is no longer a requirement in our school curriculum and I would urge this city council to hold a joint conference with the New York school board and the state school board to in fact see how we can make Civics a requirement if we're going to give young people the right to vote we got to give them the information they need to make informed choices so I'm here also to ask that we thank you Mr ham I'm so sorry it this is like the hardest one of the hardest pieces of my job but your time has expired um and unfortunately we have to move on because public session is about to expire for us a 30 minute period but I I do want to thank you for coming out today um it's always a delight pleasure I don't think in my time being involved in politics I've ever had to tell you that your time is up um and speaking so definitely it's a first for me but I but I do appreciate your comments and we look forward to having you back yes invite me back so I can talk more about making that a requirement thank you thank you so much all righty Madame cler do we have time for another speaker one more one one more speaker okay Mr Jacobs good afternoon good afternoon Walter Jacobs one Court Street uh the president of Court Towers in Newark I'm speaking for the uh citizens uh the senior citizens all over New York When the Children get out of school it seems like there's a big tie up in the traffic and I asked you one time before could you help us with that you know the senors are frightened to come out 3:00 to 5 o'clock so the the kids get out at 3 so they wait till 5 o'clock to come out again but I find it's not only in my area the uh Central Ward I went to the South Ward and I see the same thing I was in the north Ward and I seen the same thing maybe you can talk to the uh bus company because when the seniors be on that bus and the sen and the children get on with those backpacks they take up all the room on the bus plus they can't get by if they're on a wheelchair you know that's extra hard they on a crutch they're extra hard maybe you could speak to public service that during the 3 o'clock to five o'clock they can put an extra bus on that line so that the children can ride and the citizens especially the seniors can ride comfortably you know I'm starting here but I have to go through a a New Jersey Transit also but I just want to let you know maybe you could do something before I get there and we won't have to go to New Jersey Transit but uh thank you for your time and happy holiday all righty thank you so much Mr Jacobs thank you all right Madam clerk that concludes our public comment portion on this meeting okay thank you uh unfortunately Mr tman we're out of time today we only have 30 minutes allotted for public speaking on pre-meeting days and we're way above we have more speakers than we intended to have today so our time is up for public speaking um at this time we're going to go into actually executive session I'm sorry to the council members um and those that have to stay with us I know it's been a long pre-meeting um but unfortunately we have to go into executive session can I get a roll call um Council as a whole to going to Executive Council yes Trump absent Gonzalez absent Kelly is here absent Gonzalez Not absent I'm sorry you I'm sorry I'm here yes Kelly yes presid excuse me can we're in we're in the middle of meeting can some can someone from the clerk's office sylvesta help Mr Tillman please I'm sorry in the middle of a roll call go ahead Ren I'm I'm sorry Mr Tillman absent Ramos absent Scott rry yes Silva yes president MC Iver yes thank you so much for joining us today uh tomorrow we'll see you back for the tomorrow's night meeting starting at 6:30 sharp um if you do not have anything to do with the legal matters that are on the agenda today for discussion we ask that you please exit the chambers as swiftly as you can so that we can go into our executive session