good evening this is the Caucus meeting uh for November 8th 2023 council chambers presiding officer of the council M lady Thea wishes to advise the audience that notice of this meeting has been filed with the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and po posted on the bulletin board in the city clerk's office and on the city's website indicating that today's meeting is being held in the council chambers City City Hall 260 High Street at 5:30 right now is 5:35 p.m. and the council meeting will follow right after the caucus and the close session council president tea as a courtesy of the governing body I will ask all individuals present including members of the audience to please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices should you need to make a telephone call please go out into the hallway and speak in a low voice so as not to disturb the ongoing meeting roll call please councilwoman pres councilwoman Morales pres councilman poio councilman Torres pres council president present right now uh our mayor Helman cavard has a presentation thank you council president thank you Council um good evening council members um ladies and gentlemen and uh I do want to recognize an individual who has given many years of service to our beautiful city and um now is going in a different direction right still going to be uh providing uh services to our beautiful community and still involved in our community and um that person is um judge Kenneth Gonzalez and I just want to present this mayor proclamation to you um to the honorable Judge kenid Gonzalez for your years of service whereas the city of perano deeply values and honors individuals who have devoted their time expertise and passion to the service of our community and whereas it is with respect and gratitude that we acknowledge the contributions of the esteemed honorable Judge Kenneth Gonzalez whose commitment to public public service has been an enduring ballmark of his tenure in the city of panoy and whereas honorable Judge kenes Gonzalez has served the city of panoy with distinction demonstrating leadership and integrity during his four years as councilman and nine years as a judge totaling 13 years of selfless dedication and whereas his efforts wise counsel and commitment to Justice have contributed to the advancement of our city en wrenching the L of our residents and enhancing the overall well-being of our community and whereas her danoy deeply thanks judge Kenneth Gonzalez for his significant and enduring contribution to our city and our residents now therefore I helmet J cabba mayor of the city of PR danoy extend our gratitude and recognition to judge Kenneth Gonzalez for his commitment to our community and his dedication to advancing the city of perano and once again his beautiful residence congratulations and wishing you all the best of luck your future endeavors thank you I appreciate the mayor's kind word on this Proclamation I I am very honored to have serve the city for I have um I love this city I've been here for about 50 years Ians on leaving anytime soon my office is still here practicing law um grateful to for the privilege to have been judge of for theast years I talk about myself I want a quick second to talk about the court steal the people who work and labor in the court for the are truly dedicated people the judges who are still there are wonderful jurist who do the best they can a regular basis for the city of the court itself doesn't function just with judges I had the privilege of working witht Court administrators who brought their own special talents skills for the position of court administrator we've had one of the Deputy Court administrators and a very dedicated staff work often until the evening hours session goes into evening hours and they do so because of their love city of and Court wouldn't function without the number of police code enforcement officers parking officers uh School attendence officers who work ply often certain amount of disrespect the people that are try to serve but they do so because it's the right thing to do for our community thank them it's been a pleasure working with them prosecutor the public defend the attorney truly the number of people who labor massive it's not a one person job five job it's a massive operation and the city is well served and finally last parents here Mom and Dad um as a person who was raised in foro by simple Sal of the earth folks you know my parents we have college degree but what they lack in formal education they made up a million times in their work to teach myself and my sister about the importance of community about the importance of faith my dad often worked two jobs to make sure that I could go to Ukraine suby School my mom often would sit with me and read to me and read with me and I'm blessed and any parent who wants to make their child successful here per hando there's no magic bullet more important than just spending time with your kids teach them to be better people sometimes it's frustrating and I see it when I deal with the par in front of me when I saw it in front the par in front of me for issues involving School treny issues but folks if you can just spend some quality time with your children even when they're drifting away from you it's worth it because it's going to guarantee they going to be wonderful kind productive members of society and I want to thank and recognize my par you guys wouldn't mind one last honor and round Applause congratulations to our Council woman congratulations and vide thank you mayor and I appreciate it right um we'll continue topics for discussion best practice Mr Green best practices uh as the best practices survey that division of local government services it's prated from the state the all municipalities must answer 564 and based upon your answers you're you give receive a corresponding amount of state aid for it um in this instance they go over ethics Personnel cyber security budget solid waste and transparency and government and it's 67 questions some of them are unscored but I the it's approximately 35 that are scored in order to get 100% of your funding your state Municipal Aid you have to receive 29 or greater and as usual um ber Amboy did well we have over the 29 so we receive 100% of our state aid and One requirement of the best practices surveys as well is that you have to report to the council what your score is and will you receive the maximum Aid and we will be receiving the maximum amount so that's in essence but also the whole survey wasn't including the packet but luckily thanks to the work of the directors nothing to do with me especially Jill Goldie um we were able we are able to receive 100% of our funding just let you know thank you Joe you want to add something no we're good okay thank you Mr Green Ordinance public hearing five minutes maximum per speaker per ordinance number one an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled an ordinance designating to restricted parking space for use by handicapped person's ordinance number three 380 d85 an amendment adopted July 2nd 1985 also known as chapter 20 25586 of the code of the city of pero and this is about delici number two an ordinance of the city an ordinance of the city of perthamboy county of middlex New Jersey amending an ordinance entitled ordinance fixing and establishing a schedule of salaries and salary ranges and in increments for officers and employees of the city of birthday Amboy ordinance number 21879 as amended adopted July 3rd 1979 to reflect the peran boy blue collar Union in International Brotherhood of Teamster Local Number 96 seven memorandum of agreement do I need to read that part of the b um I don't think right which about the following Bond or you don't have number three Bond ordinance providing for the city portion of the replacement of the existing Woodbridge trunk sewer line in and by the city of f Amboy in the county of middx New Jersey appro appropriating 9,500,000 there off therefore for and authorizing the issuance of 9,500,000 bonds or notes of the city to finance the cost thereof number four the bond ordinance providing for various improvements to the Water waste water utility in and by the city of P Amboy in the County of middle sex New Jersey appropriating 94 m376 487 they all therefore and authorizing the issuance of 94 m376 487 bonds or notes of the of the city to finance the cost thereof number five Bond ordinance providing for improvements to the runan treatment plan in and by the city of per Amboy and the the county of midx New Jersey appropriating 75,500 th000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 75,500 th000 bonds or notes of the city to finance the cost thereof number six Bond ordinance providing for various improvements to the Water waste water utility in in and by the city of per Amoy in the county of midex new Jersey appropriating 61 m520 520 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 61 m520 520 bonds or notes of the city to finance the the cost thereof agenda public comments Citizen May address the Council on any matter on the agenda which does not have its own scheduled public hearing C czen shall be permitted to speak once for a maximum of five minutes ordinance first reading no public discussion number one an ordinance to repal chapter 98 entitled public Contracting ordinance number 1427 D28 and Amendment adopted June 25th n 2008 also known as chapter 98 C of the code of the city per ambo number two an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled vehicles and traffic ordinance number 19478 as amended adopted September 19 1978 also known as chapter 414 of the code of the city of per Amboy and this is adding loadings in zone at 272 Maple Street Mr Green we going to amend that a little bit with the timing yes ma'am um thanks to your suggestions like you were saying at seat toown supermarkets everyone knows where that is it'll be Monday to Friday from 7 AM to 12: noon so restrict the time so space will be available for others after that time and 7 AM to 7 AM to 12: noon yes ma'am and then others will have to pay for and of course they're paying for this so it's not like we're giving out space away okay number three ordinance of the city council of the city of P in the county of midc state of New Jersey authorizing the acquisition of certain property located in the area of Route 35 and Riverview Drive and owned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation for public use number four ordinance authorizing a one-year lease agreement with two additional years optional with midx County Board of Social Services for office space in the Alex Ander Janowski Community Center commencing January 1st 2024 through December 31st 2024 with two additional one-year terms option number five number five an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled administration of government ordinance number 1-72 an amendment adopted July 28th 1972 also known as the chapter 4 of the code of the city of peroy and this is about the Harbor Side Marine number six ordinance of the city of perthamboy County of middlex New Jersey authorizing suspension of hary meter fees from November 24 2023 through January 1st 2024 on number seven an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled ordinance fixing and establishing a schedule of salaries and salary ranges and increments for New Jersey state fireman's Mutual benevolent Association local number 426 ordinance number 21879 as amended adopted July 3rd 1979 and this is about Public Safety telecommunicators January 1st 2023 through December 3 1st 2026 resolution r532 1123 approving transfer of calendar year 2023 budget appropriation in the amount of $268,100 r533 1123 authoriz and change order number one final to the contract of with Fisher Contracting Inc the decreasing the contract for the NJ doot Road rehabilitation and improvements Frankin Drive Rodier drive and Kelly Avenue project in the amount of 48,1 48,1 72 with 85 cents r534 1123 approving the issuance of a mural permit to f Cadena for artwork at 500 547 Kennedy Street r535 1123 ratifying the collective bargaining agreement between the city of P Amboy and New Jersey state firemen's Mutual benevolent Association local number 426 and appropriating a contract for the period of January 1st 2023 to December 31st 26 r536 1123 qualifying attorneys who submitted requests for qualification for various legal services for calendar year 2024 r537 1123 authorizing Professional Service agreements with qualified financial advisers who have submitted responses to requests for proposals for calendar year 2024 R 538 1123 authorizing Professional Services agreements with qualifying city planners who submitted responses to requests for qualified qualificat for calendar 2024 r539 1123 authorizing Professional Service agreements with qualified Engineers for City engineering special projects and planning Services who have submitted responsive to requests for qualifications for calendar year 2024 R 540 1123 authorizing Professional Service agreements with qualified appraisers who have submitted responses to requests for qualifications for calendar year 2024 r241 1123 authorizing refund of escro balance docket number 3038 in the amount of $260 with 96 cents to DJ Inc for property located at 875 Chamberlain Avenue R 542 1123 authorizing a refund of the escro balance balance docket number 3038 DB in the amount of 7 00 to DJ Inc for property located at 875 Chamberlain Avenue R 543 1123 authorizing a refund of the escrow balance docket number 3039 in the amount of $36 to Antonio AB for property located at 718 Hansen Avenue R 544 1123 authorizing a refund of the escrow balance DEET number 3029 in the amount of $52 to 226 new brunic Avenue LLC for property located at the at 226 new bronswick Avenue R 545 1123 authorizing a refund of the escro balance docket number 3128 in the amount of $2,291 to Tong young n NJ LLC for property located at 380 new brunic Avenue r546 1123 authorizing a refund of the escrow balance DEET number 3030 in the amount of $34 to Bido Marte for a property located at 165 palaski Avenue r547 1123 authorizing a refund of the escrow balance docket number 3036 in the amount of $687 to Wells Fargo Bank LLC for property located at 214 Smith Street R 548 1123 authorizing a refund of the escro balance docket number 3037 in the amount of $11 to 475 Smith Street LLC for property located at 475 Smith Street R 549 1123 authorizing a refund of the escrow balance balance docket number 3031 in the amount of $68 doll to Ali R for property located at 485 State Street r550 1123 authorizing a refund of the escro balance docket number 3043 in the amount of $83 with. 75 to Hasa Capri nb200 LLC for property located at 736 D 738 State Street r551 1123 authorizing a refund of the escro balance to docket number 3080 in the amount of $9 to Tower Corporation Co 2013 LLC and T-Mobile Northeast LLC for property located at 1160 State Street r552 1123 authorizing a refund of the escro violence docket number 3042 in the amount of 100 $162.50 to 1250 State Street Holdings LLC for property located at 1250 State Street R 553 1123 awarding a contract to pkf OK coners Davis for finance Financial Services with regard to the calendar year 2023 audit in the amount not to exceed 86 ,700 R 554 1123 authorizing a refund of bulk appointment fee in the amount of $30 to Dr Haim Morales r555 11123 authorizing sermon of the workers compensation litigation via an order of providing settlement in the matter and tile Andy montavo senior vers is city of panoy CP number 202296 28 for the amount of $1 16,440 with 38 r556 1123 resending in his entirety R 4723 authorizing the city to submit an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority in Urban Enterprise assistance fund for the F Park project in the amount of $300,000 for fiscal year 2022 I'm council president yes um can I get an explanation of why there's a $100,000 difference okay is Miss pass uh when you say 100,000 difference you mean between 550 557 why are we resending it oh why okay we're resending because um uez board says the money can't be used for acquisition it can be used for construction and so that's what we're utilizing for so you see what 557 we're utilizing $400,000 of U funding for when the council first uh voted on this the council was told that the funding could be used for the acquisition at first that's what the U board told us it would be allowed and I went down there myself with the U board and um unfortunately there were some things that needed to be they need to restructure some things and after they said hey these some projects they would allow and even though they said unfortunately that hey we're gonna move with this they changed their minds I can't say why and this was one of them they changed their minds or was that always their rules no their rules I'm going to tell you honestly they were in a state of flux their rules and I saw that firstand myself when I went down there with um our director of oecd and our assistant director there of so when this was brought up to the council to vote on and the council was told that was for the acquisition at that time it was possible for the acquisition but since then they have changed the rules unfortunately that is correct can I get some proof of this rule changing I'll try and see if I can find it should be at hand because it was within this year it should be within this year and then why is it costing $100,000 more and why wasn't this really presented to the Council of why there's an additional $100,000 this is for construction we still believe the acquisition is gonna be $25,000 and that's going to be and it's important for everyone to know this is all grant funding which is great so it's money that's not coming from us but it's coming from the state grants whether it's me from NPP um the preservation program from U funding it's all Grant yes yes I was looking over the list of the grants that you had provided me and I definitely want to address that later on this evening about the list of all the grants that we've been applying for and possibly some that we did not apply for but um so this is just for that and so um this would be the final number that $400,000 that's for con construction and the acquisition for the construction and the acquisition no that that's just for construction 400,000 acquisition I believe it's going to be a can I say the number it's 425 okay it's confirmed yeah so the acquisition is 425 yes and then with the additional so the whole project is going to cost over $8 million how the acquisition is 125 and then we're applying 400 I mean not 4 million 400 but 800 800,000 800 yeah I'm sorry 800 so we're applying for the other 4 the other 400 is just specifically for the construction for construction but I would like this money I don't want to it's going to be approximately about a million dollars and remember this was in this project was in works for a few years because remember they did it with together New Jersey that not for profit um group and they also had business Community interviews from those those businesses that surround the park and I think it's very important to say the also participate in what they want to see okay what they wanted to see within that Park they wanted to have a park in a downtown which others thank you that part that others can see um utilize and so it's not just the city it was also that non for-profit together New Jersey to decide what's going to be there okay so I I was a part of other planning groups that took over two years of specifically helping planning for that area this wasn't a part of that there have been other plans too like the Gateway plan specifically that area that doesn't include this but um okay so we're looking at close to a million dollars for this project yes sir okay R 557 1123 authorizing submission of an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprises Zone Authority for Urban Enterprise Zone assistance funds for the F Park project in the amount of 400,000 for the fiscal year 2023 r558 1123 authorizing submission of an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for Urban Enterprise Zone assistance funds for a uez vehicle in the amount not to exceed $4,000 for the fiscal year 2020 grrip what kind of vehicle is needed for the U because I know we just uh allocated about $300,000 for the trolley for the U so what additional vehicle is need the trolley is used to as you know so to move around um residents and tourists that might come to the city to different events the vehicle within well do do you want to address but the the vehicle will be for the Personnel within um that within whether it's in U UE or oecd to utilize to within like to taking them back and forth for different um agend not even agenda items but if they have different meetings whether it's in Trenton or meetings within the city that's what they'll utilizing for but if you want to go into further so this is to purchase a vehicle for for the you U for is it for the every employee of the U or is it just for specifically one employee of the U okay Mr good evening Council uh the vehicle that's on tonight's agenda is to support the uee um Mission uh to increase business participation and canvasing so staff are um required well the city is required to increase engagement and get businesses to register for the uee to take part in that tax program so so the uh staff will be driving the vehicle to get out and Recruit new businesses into the uee program to Canvas and educate our businesses with different programs that are happening within the city as you know the uee is Citywide and at this time our staff uh use their own vehicles or are using you know other department vehicles to do that work so our staff all of the oecd staff with which the U is in the oecd will be using that vehicle for that purpose and like any other department all staff will be insured license checks will happen like we do with all of our insured Vehicles here in the city thank you no problem how much additionally is this going to cost us to ensure and to do any background check and light driver's license checks for these employees the normal course of business that's not an additional cost but any cost would be covered by uas funding r559 1123 authoriz and submission of an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for Urban Enterprise Zone assistant funds for the success bound program in the amount of 35,000 for fiscal year 2023 r560 1123 authorizing commission submission of an application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs njdca convery Boulevard pedestrian safety Grant in the amount of $2 million is that um I'm sorry is that to submit an application or has to formally submit the application for the money that's allocated to for us yes sorry you have I was going to ask what I know we submitted before a $1 million for this um project how much is the total cost for this project total cost of the bridge I'm not you know what the total cost of the bridge if it is going to be a pedestrian bridge I'm not sure if it will end up being a pedestrian bridge that's one of the options but it will be an option who who gets the choice of these options because as the council we haven't heard of this again it's for the it's the safety passageway and they're trying to figure out through the engineers which would be the best way to to do that but I'm tou you Council the um the state has allocated the $2 million for pedestrian safety sorry I'll pick that up when we're done uh for pedestrian safety initiative so whether that be traffic calming measures a bridge um they it is yet to be determined our Engineers are currently working on a design design and are going to present that to us with a cost estimate the state already allocated the 2 million this is just technicality that we have to go in we do have to submit a full application cost estimate design purpose needs assessment Etc the first million that uh council member uh Tores mentioned was for local Freight Improvement which was also for pedestrian improvements on uh conre Boulevard which we initially did apply for a bridge uh but the state is open to changing that design once our Engineers uh present their new uh drawings to us which obviously we will share with you all okay thank you uh Madam president yes F don't go anywhere okay what's the time frame we we we are we are less than a year away from the school opening so what is the time frame so as you know DT moves very very slow um um but we are to submit this application within the next uh 15 days actually they only gave us to submit into Sage it takes on their end some time for the agreement to come back to us signed and then we have to submit renderings get permits Etc I do not foresee if I'm being 100% transparent and you could just look at Do's history a bridge to be or whatever the design is to be done before the school opening however I will um report I'm happy to report that a team of of our staff here and the administration including Chief katano folks from the um school board myself our Engineers um we all met with do to discuss additional traffic calming measures so they will be doing a road what they call a road diet they're going to be doing some new signage uh possibly turning two lanes into one to slow Vehicles down uh new turn signals possible one way in one way out on certain streets so that whole design was uh put together by njd submitted to the city the city and the school both agreed to that design I mean we could just say we support it or we don't but NJ dot ultimately makes the decision uh and those things will all happen within the coming months and will be done before the projected opening of the school in September of 2024 good thank you very good so when the mean time we had this school it's going to open we've already had several deaths on that block and several accidents in that area even during the daytime during school hours we had enough money with the $16 million in arpa funds to take care of this and we knew this was a problem and we knew when we put the school there that it was going to be a problem so yes you know dot does moov slowly but uh that school was in the works for years that we could have submitted this years ago go or we could have just paid for this outright to make sure that our children are safe but it seems that we're putting the safety of our children in the back to see if we could get some additional fundings probably somewhere down the line in the future and hopefully when this school opens within the first year we don't have a casualty or fatality of one of our students trying to cross during the daytime especially during these hours early in the morning uh when we do the time adjustment there's a lot of car Act accidents hopefully we are not in that situation hopefully we could have um been a little more proactive and done some really um critical planning R 561 1123 approving the introduction of 2024 panoy business Improvement Corporation Inc budget um I see them here you want to present anything for us about your budget council president council members um I did provide an advancy audit for U I'm sorry for this request of $247,000 of our annual budget the budget typically consists of administration expenses uh facade Grant programs at $30,000 the clean team program at 35,000 uh downtown beautification at 177,000 materials and supplies at 2500 the mini sleeper equipment repairs the the vacuum at 5,000 Professional Services at 30,000 uh insurance at 11 and marketing promotion at 12,000 operating expenses at 42 and special projects including EMP partnership funding at nearly $15,000 so we typically ask for the same amount of money every single year we to provide the same is on an annual basis and we're looking to provide those Services continue for the following year there's any questions I have a couple um sure I see for the beautification that was mostly for flowers and plantings was there anything for murals do you have anything in your budget allocated specifically for murals so we don't have anything specific allocated for for murals directly but we do partner with the neighborhood conservation program and there we're going to be going through a year four process with when it comes to our partnership and on an annual basis we do put in for murals we've had some trouble reaching um getting some uh Property Owners on Smith Street to say yes to allow us to do onal on property we're trying to diversify so I know we did the last two along with NPP the Tashi um on 86 mystery and then again near Alam we were trying to reach out to a couple of business on the other side of coming down sth street to diversify our locations so we still intend to do one for the following did allocate $5,000 to put that in addition to partnership funds with NP so that's mention yes because I think um we should have money just specifically because most um cities that are trying to revitalize their downtown um they're finding out that art is a great you know Catalyst for that and that um you know by funding art that you know it's a great way to get people to come into the downtown area and to kind of change the perception it's I fan of trying to get additional funding but if we had a specific funding set for that then anything extra is gravy at least we would know that we have something specifically for that project and also I was looking through it and I see that we we allocated $300,000 for the trolley but I didn't see anything for a plan for that trolley within the uh the fulltime was actually present we just separate an apart from B but the full plan was actually presented before the Council on expenses uh with regards to storage fuel hiring of seasonals seasonal employees the actual purchase of the trolley and the decal that would identify that it is you funding how about the planning or for like what what what Pro what programs plans this anything yeah so part of that presentation was actually the routes So the plan would be to it to institutionalize it into historical programs but we just receiv received funding from U um for that fact in the last six weeks so even though I know it's been a long process with the council to say yes we're going to Mo forward this and actually utilize those funds UI just got us the funding um in the last five or six weeks but once we actually um have a chance to put together our routes which was presented also in that in that presentation that we made a a few months back we're looking to um uh establish that in the springtime so the idea would be to have a functioning trolley pre rides through the city from the from the months of May to September from 10: a.m. to 6 p.m in about 20 stops throughout the city planning our routes we're getting our signage done we're working with um Mel Morales actually on our signage so we're setting oursel up to establish okay great thank you thank you thank you R 562 11:23 authorizing submission of an application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs njdca open space 2024 Grant in the amount of $1 million okay another one that I'm going to bring up he for years I've been hearing about why isn't per Amboy connected to the greenway I've heard not just from people from peroy but people from surrounding cities that why don't we connect and um I'm seeing within the last couple of years not even within two years um less than two years so far we've got $4,700 th000 dollars and grants for this complex um it's one point total of project is going to cost approximately 8.4 million so 1.5 million from the county open space one million open space from njdca 1.5 million from um HUD Community project um 1.25 million from city capital allocation and 1.2 million from Green Acres so it's mainly GR that's right so but so this has been sucking up all the grants for the last couple of years grants are specifically at you know we can't take a grant where the government says hey you have to use it for this as you know certain then use it for something different so these grants are specifically aark for certain projects could have been used for the greenway could have been used for any additional projects like that has has the public been involved in where this money should be allocated in these projects we're talking about over $8 million Dollar in Grants has the public been involved in any way on where the money should go to or should we have a Greenway or should all the money go to that Youth Complex specifically well again I have to fall back on the grants when they're written are written to say hey we're gonna use a specific project so we can't take and allocate money usually saying hey we're gonna allocate this for this project you can't then change what the government is specifically allocating the money for for some something else see what I'm saying so so this grant is only for the Youth Complex and it could be used for nothing else only for that complex is this the grant is created by the St by the state this one this $1 million was speically written just like the $2 million we went over earlier they was spe now they want us to write and have this Council approved pay that's earmark for this project can if we can that money be used for not this the way it's written but the money that the state has if we wanted to do a different Open Space Project could we apply for that money for a different project that is not this project if there are other projects as you know like the GRE way we can ask hey we have another project coming up is it funding no no no no no no when this project when we applied for the 1 million instead of coming up to the council and saying hey do we want to apply for this for this or do we want to apply for something else or what is available to apply for because we're not getting that we're just saying you know we only have one flavor and this is all we got to eat you know can could I would love to see the connection of the green weate like a lot of people in this city and across the county but there never been a discussion because these funds have never really been up to a discussion of where they should be allocated that's what I'm saying I can take that connection of the greenway as another project we'll make sure to see if there's funding available for that through other grants it seems that too that a lot of money is going to one specific Park that basically is the Lion Share of all of the usage is the high school and the high school kicking is not kicked in any money to this park they're going to be using it how many how much time is the high school going to use that facility there was an agreement um written C currently to say how long they would use it or not would they be a user of of course because there's kids there residents we want them to utilize the park I can't tell you there's an an agreement specifying the time frame Miss basus hold on one second um two things one about the greenway uh from my knowledge of the greenway the expansion of the greenway is is Conrail and CSX are are still uh staying strong with that the line runs through Florida Grove road all the way across route N9 in the Parkway and breaks off just prior to the end of the greenway and I I know this for two reasons one I use the greenway all the time it's my entry point on the greenway next to where that uh toe place is and that's what's holding up the green one right the second thing is and this and and you could help me with this one miss Basquez is there is a an agreement between the city and the Board of Ed with the use of the fields up there next to the new high school that you know uh the board of education is not going to use it for free they're actually chipping in and helping out I mean it's joint agreement joint agreement yes so um M uh councilman Council man hoio is correct in that the greenway is definitely like every other Park project that we go after funding in the recreation element in the master plan it is something that is a living document we try to tackle all of the recommendations that are in that plan um that the public was very much involved in creating um so when opportunities do come up we do try to fund those projects that are listed and recommended in those plans um you're right in that con um Conrail is the biggest um hurdle that we have at this time and for a couple of years and I will say that the recreation department along with uh Administration DPW everyone involved has made um significant efforts to tackle that hurdle including all the way up to getting Federal um elected officials involved with um advocating on our behalf and unfortunately we have not been successful does not mean that we're not trying we are definitely trying we've had local state and federal officials like I said involved in advocating for this project and from what I understand and being told is that Conrail insists that the line is active even though trees growing out of still feeding into casby there's a line that feeds into casby even though the tracks end about 50 yards from the entrance the back entrance to the firehouse and the police station the line and the tracks end there are no tracks from that same at same in the on the rudic park area which would also be part of the connecting Road or the greenway uh and then to address the uh agreement we currently have an agreement with the school board or the district regarding all use of fields and buildings as you know unfortunately the city does not have indoor Recreation space we rely heavily on the use of school buildings for all of our indoor Recreation needs and they on the other hand do not have fields and rely heav on the schools a true partnership and collaboration would mean that we work together to ensure that our students and families have all of their Recreation needs met uh in regards to the Youth Complex we will be meeting with the school district to discuss uh some changes to those agreements regarding parking and um parking and the use of the fields for the gym use uh there's also daon park across the street um so those conversations are still open and ongoing um why are we pumping money into the Youth Complex it is the most used field or park that our city has uh we operate soccer baseball softball and I'm not just talking for the school district we're talking through our recreation department and traveling leagues and if you know anything about our fields and when it rains or when there's bad weather uh we have to cancel and try to restructure and move people around and becomes a huge burden not only on our staff but on our families that have to rearrange their schedules to make things work so these improvements are going to C offer turf fields um an additional train um you know a bunch of amenities that are going to serve our families uh you know to the high standard and they're going to match that of the County Fields and other fields in the area uh so that we can address some of those major concerns again it is the highest used field that we have okay and because it's the highest used field and we're going to increase the usage and we still do not have a pedestrian walkway I don't know don't know why only really we haven't had any conversations about The Pedestrian walkway and why no one's really lobbied this in order to pursue this when we had the $16 million but it's a shame that we're increasing the usage that like you just stated it has the most use of any field in our right now it is still time where kids are probably playing there but it's probably very dangerous to cross Route 35 right now as dark as it is at this hour and it's a shame that we have not moved forward with The Pedestrian walkway and hopefully we'll have it before this school is open since we have so many people who are involved with the school board the school district along with the council since this is great Synergy right now that we could get this going and we could have this for the safety of the children I'm a father of two CH to two school age children I I have two school age children and um as a father I'm very concerned about the safety of children walking to school so council president I know that council members have been involved in this conversation we had liaison both council president and um council member pil attend meetings about these uh improvements we bring back report this is not really you know this is not really left for discussion this is kind of yes but understand giving that explanation I'm answering the question know you're reuting what I said I said the council really has had no conversations about this but you're going against what I said okay council president you have other questions for me no thank you but uh I also want to um mention everything that we have been um is is sad that the SDA forced the the building to be built in that in that property we had no saying on that because I was on the board of ed at that time that was the site that he was elected for that particular school and and I know everybody shared the the concern about the safety of that area we all do where I I think the we are doing a tremendous job trying to get together with the Board of Education something to protect our families and our young kids and we'll continue doing what we need to do to do that to bring that over I just want to add understanding how slow the process must take I just think as a solution having more updates regarding that with the public and then with all council members so that way we can be all on the same page knowing the reality of of The Pedestrian walkway or whatever um safety measures going to happen for them for the schools this is the first time I heard that they might not fund a walkway that they might want just traffic measures because we were told that there's going to be a pedestrian War I'm sorry that's not what it is it's not just uh traffic uh measure is it's not gonna be it doesn't have to necessarily be a bridge it has to be some type of safety measure for it for the people to cross to go across but it doesn't have to necessarily be a bridge we should have had three plans for this years ago because we knew that's where the school was going to be built and that we're creating plans now is a shame we should have had a b and c packages of what could have been rolled out to protect our children we've had enough time and enough resources to do this but we didn't okay um R 563 1123 authorizing an agreement with sa Brook veteran veterinary hospital for veterinary services for 2024 in the amount of$ 4,660 R 564 1123 authorizing a contract with Mo Motorola Solutions for the purchase of RA portable radios and a accessories under State contract New Jersey state contract number 8 3909 in the amount not to exceed 1,824 n92 with 75 cents r565 1123 resending in its entirety R 468 923 authorizing a contract with MRC for the purchase of of gain Time Fitness Equipment and installation of rubber safety surfacing at the park located on El Street under under State contract esnj 02-06 in the amount not to exceed 95,3 186 dollar with 43 cents of which 60 $ 7,876 with 43 was funded through a grant funds R 566 1123 authorizing a contract with MRC for the purchase of gain Time Fitness Equipment at the park located on Elm Street under State contract es cnj 20 slash I guess the one on top was 20 EC n j2020 d06 in the amount not to exceed 67876 with 43 which is being funded through Grant funds and why are we being asked to resend one and then approve another one it has to be separated right so to take advantage of the discount sir take advantage Discount R 567 1123 reauthorizing a contract with rubber recycle for rubber safety surfacing and installation at the park located on on Elm Street under NJ State contract 16 Fleet Das z131 in the amount of not to exceed $ 27,5 R 568 1123 authorizing refund of registration for travel wrestling program in the amount of $50 to Marisol Davis R56 I wanted to say one thing we just have four items in a row that were under Recreation yet I don't see the recreation director here and I knew that in the past we've always had the directors here for this meeting always especially if there was going to be something on the agenda that was under that department okay we took away Zoom at least if we had Zoom the director could call in and answer any question whatsoever but we moved to take that away going forward if there's going to be anything on the agenda from a department the director should be here at the meeting just in case if the council has any question or if the public might have a question I mean Dian recation not for Human Services I believe that they're separate when just just say know no they're not separate sir to your point she's the director of the department but with the division of recreation he has activities sometimes so he might may not be able to come as you know because those activities allow them go for kids at night and stuff but she would be able to answer if there was a question I couldn't answer I would have called by hand so is will they schedule activities all the time when we have a meeting because then we should not schedule activities when we have a meeting especially going forward we might have um presentations with the budget I know we didn't have it last year but I'm going to State it right now I would like a presentation from every department for this next budget going forward okay and I hope that's on public record I would like a presentation from each department for that I know we didn't have for last department for that department Diane Dian Roman would be the director of that department she would be the person that would give it okay that that's fine do you have any no no I just no I don't have a question now but sometimes I might have a question or I do actually have questions about certain programming or if there's going to be certain program if there's going to be music program like right now I have a question is there going to be guitar programming provided by the city in the next year for the year 2024 yes good give give you members of the council council president I just want to say that um the Department of Human Services the office of recreation is within the scope of the Department of Human Services ases bio statistics The Office on Aging the office of Housing and social services and obviously um Arts fall within the recreation department it is the goal of the city to always ensure that we provide activities including the Arts that includes also music programs that will be contingent on upon the availability of the instructors and upon you know because we can make a request you know there is actually the guitar program is one of our most popular programs and we've been very lucky to be able to secure instructors but we it is within the plans of our scope and goals but we want to also make sure that um the instructors will be available to run those programs okay okay okay good thank you RS 5691 23 authorizing withdraw of complaint for declaratory judgment um what what is this yeah I I think we we kind of waited for you to explain last year um the city voluntarily filed a complaint seeking declaratory judgment um to obtain immunity from the state for its affordable housing obligations so it was done voluntarily the city was under no obligation to do it um at this point that interest at this point just based on the way the negotiations have been going that it withdraw from the complaint and continue locally enforcing its affordable housing obligations the council recall last year I believe in August you adopted and of an inclusionary zoning ordinance which set forth certain requirements for affordable housing in the city that's not going to change those regulations will still be in place um but at this point um there's really you know the cities and urban a municipality there's really no need to go forward with the declaratory judgment action the the downside to not getting immunity would be that the city is susceptible to a builder remedy Builder's remedy is where um if the city is not in compliance that there's the option that the court could order um a developer to develop Residential Building despite um you know the city's um planning efforts and approvals and things like that the court could actually direct how that gets done uh that's not a problem the city the city is still committed to having affordable housing um there's really not much open area where such a project could be done but if such a project came along the city would be open to it so there's really no downside to not having the immunity which is really the only thing that the city will continue to get through the declaratory judgment action M yes all right I got closer closer I just have one question why did we start the process to begin um to get the immunity that was so why would we want and I wasn't here so I'm I'm you know I'm ask you know I see this here this seems a little more complicated than one line on years sure so why would we last year do this so to go through this process the city availed itself of um the development fee ordinance which was also adopted by the council last year the city that that was a part of this action that's it's not going to go anywhere um at this point you know there's really the the negotiations with a fair share and I can go into a little bit more detail in close session because some of the some of the stuff involves litigation strategy and contract negotiations so I that's something that I'd rather at least initially discuss in close session with the council so you're aware that I don't want to go into that in public session because it's not really um public information but um the result of adopting would be to withdraw that complaint the downside is that you know the city would not have that immunity that the court could offer but for a little bit more color i' I'd probably discuss it en closed and then you know there's probably some items that I could come back out after you've all heard them and probably go through that a little bit more publicly at the uh voting session also I believe that we adopted this because in the past right now we've acquired more than our fair share share or the percentage and we're way above that and it will take years for that so we adopted this to protect ourselves it was it was a voluntary action there was no impetus for the city to do this it was you know a proactive measure but thank you okay r five SE r70 1123 declaring an emergency and waving the stop period for an ordinance authorizing the suspension of parking meters fees for Friday November 24 2023 through January 1st 2024 R 571 1123 consenting to the appointment of James R Pastor Esquire as presiding judge of the Municipal Court of the city of perano and waving The Residency requirement president yes I just want to ask be question so how many sitting judges do we have right now um there would be the two as you see here um it would be currently judge pastor and also Judge Michelle Roman well I see judge Roman but uh like is this a new appointment no judge Pastor is the current judge he been there right we're just making him judge judge yes that's correct I'm good good R 572 1123 authorizing a contract with Herridge plea Services Inc for the purchase of two 20 2024 Chevrolet Taho for WD SUVs with Options under New Jersey state contract number 21 flea d04 83 T 2776 in the amount not to exceed 10,195 with 40 c um yes council president um Chief Mullen yes even um good evening I just have a couple questions I know just recently we've just recently approved several uh vehicles for the fire department is there any possibility that we can get um a list for the council members a list of vehicles you know listing all of themy battery yes absolutely yeah last last year we acquired two vehicles and we retired two vehicles that went to a police department to be use this like backup vehicles or something else same thing with this we'll be letting go a 2006 vehicle and also a 2012 um they'll be retired I don't think either of them will be able to be reused but that'll be up for traffic maintenance the next door to see if they can be used as a backup vehicle somewhere else and these vehicles probably won't be delivered until sometime in 2025 it's staying ahead of the curve but these will become Frontline support Vehicles right so we could if we could just get a list of vehicles um you know the make you know how old they are mileage and all that stuff to just be able to just table this until we can uh look at that AB list you don't mind thank you so to table it okay thank you yeah we just table it we just don't need to just take it off yeah we can take it off until the next until we get the information okay R 573 1123 consenting to the reappointment of Michelle Roman as judge of the Municipal Court of the city of perano yes I'm one thing I did want to say I don't know if there was some concern sorry if there was some concerns with taking that off that um sorry um resolution 572 because I believe the chief wanted on the agenda to take advantage of the possible savings is that correct Chief um we'll still get you the information of course the C but yeah last year there was no open ordering period for tahos you had to basically settle with the police patrol version version of it um there's going to be a one- day window opening up any day now to order the vehicles and then that Next Period won't be until 2026 or late 2025 to order again so that's why I tried to expedent to get it today for what for some type of savings no the state contract the state contract day the vendor that we have they're going to have the window opening for Chevy and that's the one day that is going to be opening to order those trucks so that that day could be uh within the next week so the the prices just came out last week so going be a but I could actually print out the list but we'll definitely provide the information you want print it out we'll put out during executive session okay thank you okay close session resolution R 531 1123 authorizing a close session at the November 8th 2023 meeting to discuss workers compensation litigation Andy montavo senior vers versus city of ber Amboy I need a motion move it second all in favor I I public portion um five minutes maximum per speakers I need a motion to open to the public second all in favor I I um he on Halloween see to send out the um some kind of pass or whatever there was no stabing in the high school turns out there might have been a stabing in a high school with no cooperation but there was a shooting after that and nobody talked about the shooting so what is happening here I just got the best practices where it's supposed to be transparency I heard one of the words right ethics another word you know and we had fast press this before when I was there about everybody punching a Time clock to come in not doing on your computer not having somebody else put in your paperwork or anything else like that so is that being filed right now is everybody punching in punching in and also just so we know punching out your computer is an acceptable practice because I have to put in my code like someone here doesn't know my code so I put my specific code and I punch in it's fact you would think it's more accurate because it's doing the time right there understand so we do punch in including me yes including me yes we punch in and I punch out at the end of the day everybody held accountable for coming in at different times is anybody checking to see if everybody's coming on top has it that the people punching in at after times or whatever or different times and I know the only time I ever lost any time least I was 10 minutes late so is that happening around here or what so let let's address that people do punching at different times because there's manager and stuff let me give you a perfect example today I punched it at 9:30 but even though I punched it at 9:30 I'm probably going to leave let's say I leave at 9:30 tonight at 12 there's people like that here as well that are managers or what I'm a manager and there's other managers here same and all Stu so it's ethics transparency Personnel cyber security we newspapers or anything about the shootings or saving or crime running nails like that you have a big list that say crimes down since 19 1985 at one point I looked at something said it was 285 employees I don't who the hell they were but um let crying well I don't see anything we have a local newspaper that should be printed every month because you send every month to the FBI statistics so it should be there should be in there and how many times that you save a life then you have to give the drug not to or whatever it is for somebody or how many ODS we have we wouldn't have an OD problem in this country if every mayor had a print every time that there was an OD and put in a newspaper and had a list we wouldn't have a problem but see now they hide their heads about deaths o and everything like that because they don't have to say anything no newspapers nobody nothing nobody has the same so what happens they put the stand I hear there was 3,000 in New Jersey so you know somewhere along the L line somebody has to do that you talking transparency transparency is a crime rate and things that happen and if you don't see that and you come out with things saying it crimes now I'm a police officer for 25 years sat on a council my neighbor told me the other day he didn't report it but there was 2 o00 there was somebody under his porch that had on candles with that hood on so people are not reporting them because we have that town is not reporting the prop so that's that's what's happening that's a false sense that people get you're not seeing the shooting you're not seeing the accident you're talking about accidents well people say hey there a bad accident maybe they would look and say oh I gotta watch when I go around that corner because it's an accident but no there's nothing nothing we have a local newspaper easily tell the chief to put it out our director he put out something about non-standing I heard there was something happened they went back and found T night the people just thought Cooperative which is something that goes up but it's not rocket science to put that in a newspaper once a month what the crime rate is and what's going on if you're going to brag about from 1985 now then you should have transparency and put the crime rate out and show the people that there was three shootings this week stay away from this area or maybe this area if you had somebody that's shooting at a house which happened on pen Street a couple times the area nobody knows about it public should know what's happening if you're talking about transparency you're talking about crime rates you're talking about everything then pry gr I'm sure of gladly put the crime rates in and we do have an indoor Recreation Department YCA thank you we don't use it thank you anybody else close to that say your name and your address please my name is Lisa vassel I'm here on behalf of my mother Nancy vassel who lives at 777 Mary Street um we had a handicap parking space in front of our house that was in my father's name and it was issued to him in 2015 he passed away in 2021 in uh September a police officer came to the house checking for handicap paring I told her my father had been diseased but my mother had the same qualification she had the pler she had the ID she had everything so I was told I needed to submit a new application for her which I did and I subed to the um clerk um we were issued a denial for the for the um for the handicap space because in front of the house there is a curb cut but the curb cut goes to Nowhere you can't park car you can't do anything but they're saying because there's a cur get now my father had it since 2015 my mother is in wor shape wheelchair bound she's Walker bound um and we can't get um this handicap space put back in and I have pictures I have pictures of the old handicap space um I'm just looking I send a letter for appeal to the clerk to the committee on handicap parking I'm getting a runaround they're saying there's no committee for handicap parking um codes the codes tell me what to do I've done it and yet they're saying they're not going to give us AL handic C okay space m can I see the picture Lopez front part with the minimal space car this is the curb cut um this is a step up in the yard that could whole entire um and here's part of the and that's looking the house there's front of get closer to the mic so it gets because it gets recorded the brick ranch house is my mother's house the house in front of it there's a white twostory house used to be my grandmother's house it was all her property and let me ask you a question so here's the curve type right yeah the C and then this white Final Fence is on the other right there right not wide enough to put any car or anything well let me just ask you this what's behind the white final a yard and there's never been a car that parked there I see and um there's yeah there's even a step up to get out of the yard and this is and this is the handicapper that your mother's using now well that we had to install your father no my father passed away my mother is using that now because she goes between a wheelchair and a walker no no I'm saying but was it your mother you live with this now yes yes okay um I saw Chief I mean I don't know what was [Music] the the whole reason for because somehow I read something can you let the chief yeah I do have that that but as long as there's a cut there you can't have the handicap parking he also you know stated that there are other um that you can only have so many onet but we had one in September for my father good evening uh I was not prepared for this appeal this evening I can give you some requisite knowledge that I have uh after reading the the paperwork uh that had originally gone out with respect to the owner having a driveway and on the other side of that fence being a concrete pad um that would constitute a driveway so that's what the officers when they responded there when they evaluated that's what they were uh in fact looking at and that's why they made their decision for that as far as the number on the street that I do not know but ma'am just understand that um prior to this ordinance that was changed I'm not sure how many years ago if there were let's say three on a street they would stay However if one of them did go away it's still a maximum of two so I don't know what I don't know what the numbers are so get in and out of yard parking area it's it and first of all if there is a fence and there is a there a so that out open to get in the yard once you get in the yard there's a step to get up you can't open the door because and it's never father as a matter of right that's the actual um handicap used to be that's that was was father okay they just want to transfer and I know the chief wasn't prepared for this because we were not prepared for this we got the letter yes I understand on our side of things we received the letter um so I gave it to the sergeant Sergeant went out um did another investigation I believe he also came out with another response to that I don't remember again I don't have here in front of me I don't know but he did respond to um the uh the situation that was explained in the in the letter I don't remember exactly what that was again if we were set for an actual appeal of this then I would have all of that information I would have the sergeant here and we could do that I just I didn't know process okay so I'm like you know the the okay okay we'll take a look at it and um and then we'll let you know more or less what we're going to do with it okay please let me know and I'll have the off have we'll have I'm not talk with the person that absolutely I'm not opposed to anyone that needs it by all means it's just the officers are responding to when they go there they measure and they do what the uh you know the ordinance says but clearly up to thank you okay all right thank you thank you we'll get back to you okay yes we yeah we do just thank you how you doing good evening uh Lupe Muno I live at 71 Columba Circle I have a couple of questions uh second page Bond ordinance for the improvements for the uh Ronan treatment plan over there uh does that include the fence around the perimeter no no it doesn't includ it I know that okay you're being involved with that okay so it's it's a concern a great concern to the residents of the city of pambo that we secure the area because there's two sections of chain link fence that is missing and I think it's very very important that we secure that as soon as possible I guess you know about it uh coun yes I do okay so I I do know about it Mr M all right so uh what are we doing anything going on with that assum I'm not the one to answer the question I'll have sitting right there and he can let us know because like the council was saying Council up to us a number of times talking about the security of our water and thank you sir and you can address he's talking about the fence around the res and what you were first we do that is that all your questions or you have more I I'd rather have you give all the questions hold them up so you can use your five minutes proper so uh the other question is going to be for um the paving of the streets I I saw something here of Franklin or something like that that's going to be paid or something is that going to include also uh Hunter because I know that last time they were doing it up there they didn't do it it's just a little stretch of street that we had the equipment up there we should have did it while it was up there now it's going to probably cost us more additional money because we have to bring the equipment up there and you know just to do a little stretch uh is that going to get done so that's the other question the other question is I've been working closely with PSC and G to illuminate the uh section of f for bull between Florida Grove and uh Green Street as most of us know that area is a really dangerous area we have maybe say five or six uh pedestrians that were killed trying to cross that street in that area also we had a lot of accidents uh within the last maybe say 20 years that I've been in the area up there so what I've been doing is Illuminating the area up there also uh what I would like to know is if we can maybe uh write a letter to psng and have the fixture of the light installed on the pole that's there already on F for Boulevard on the stretch in you know in that area out there if we could put at least maybe two or three more and also the uh Park Columbus uh Park if we could put more say light fixtures because the poles are there so this way you could illuminate the area the whole area up there is pretty much more or less illuminated I know there's some people that are here present that must seen or have seen the the difference so uh those are my questions okay good evening as far as the PS around the the rest of War especially the the section that is missing that is right next to his house uh uh we have a contractor that is supposed to be there this week I'm trying to um get the specific day that he's going to be there but he hasn't got back to me all I no is that he's going to be there this week May I mad well there's two sections Miss there's the one directly behind Mr mun hour and then there's one in the middle of the cemetery where the tree broke the fence several years ago and that that is about 30 feet of fence that's missing right so and you know all I could say is that you know I think it's important for us to safeguard our water supply and you know that fence has been down years you know I don't know about years but uh it's it's been yet it's been missing for a while a good two years at least a good two years Mr Perez and you know I understand it's in a in a precarious SP spot in the cemetery but at the end of the day that's our fence and it needs to be repaired it needs to be fixed yes I agree with you uh originally the Public Works was going to take care of the pening but they got busy and uh uh they couldn't do the work so that's when we started getting prices uh we have prices we got prices uh uh that it was decided that we were supposed to cut the trees along the fence on the uh Cemetery so that project was stopped because uh we were doing that the cutting of the trees uh now uh we ready to start and the contractor is going to start this week and I know that there's two locations uh the fence are right to to uh next to his house we're going to put a gate over there so that next time that we need access to that side of the reservo at least we have the gate where where's the gate going to go right where next to the sou you know that entrance that grass the grassy area between the cemetery or behind this house where the fence is what defense is yeah because we're not going to cut off the EAS right no no no no no what defense is what defense is missing that section right right there we're going to put a c okay so it will have two entrance then right the one on Florida grow and then that that one yeah and the reason why that section is missing is because we needed to get inside there to cut the trees and there was no gate so now we're going to have a gate okay and then we're going to work on the other side and well that's included on the price yeah okay the sections okay now he he also I guess Matthew's here talk about that's the other we got the water the the fence taken care of so now he had another question so let's thank you Matthew direct to public works so the three streets that he's talking about Kelly rard and and Franklin those were through a D2 uh A D dot project was a grant we only allowed to pick three streets those three streets were more dire need unfortunately than Hunter uh we do have a list um we do plan on pen more streets in that area in the future um but that Grant was only for three streets and we kept it specific to those three because they needed it more than con wait Mr NE why are you there so what what is how do we decide on which gets paved and which one doesn't good question so it's a collective thing so we have a rad division um that's out there on a day-to-day basis um a lot of it comes from our resident complaints um Council um Administration ourselves we have our engineering team that we go out to survey these streets and we come up with lists depending on you me how we feel is um I guess needs it in priority list and we do have lists that we try to follow um there are cases in where Street um just over a year or so can deteriorate and get worse than one that we may have on the list so if there is changes those are things that may happen um but overall we try to even mean stick to that list okay all right can you just have that conversation okay you had another question right that what was the other question that it was about lights and lighting lights and what we've seen is I'm sure SE Amboy Avenue P CGS went put LEDs there if there's specific areas I'll take those streets what they normally ask for just so the public knows if there's a street light in front of my house or Mar street whatever if there's a street light that's out usually ask for there's a number on that um post they would ask for that post number and then we report it to our Corin of contact with psng who's a Frank lugazi so I would definitely send that information so you can give me the list of streets and I'll give it to him just be advised everyone please in the public is that it's pscg I cannot dictate their schedule no can any municipality dictate their schedule but we will let them know and in time especially if it's a new light if it's an old light we say it's broken or it's out that's something different but if you want new lights in it's going to take a while put that picture that's I'm talking if one is out then they would put it that would be quicker service than saying hey this area needs more lighting if it needs more lighting you're gonna be waiting it's going to be a conundrum you're gonna be waiting a long time for pscg just to let you know I will still put it in but we're in their hands just so you know I called them uh three days ago and I got them changed in my development you know went from the old ones to the new led the new LEDs that's why I said I said if it's just changing the lighting let me make sure I'm clear if it's changing the lighting that's something they could do if you want a new installation a new pole that's something different no it's not a new pole it's a new fixure on an existing pole yeah that's something that they can do that's why I said I said a new lighting something they're asking from somebody from City Hall to write it and I just I could do that that's what yes I have the cont yes I'm Frank L Gaz is the content just give me public Give Me Your Light numbers and I'll make sure it's done I'll give it all right thank you anybody else seeing none thank you I need a motion to close public session second all in favor I I I need a motion to go to close session M second all in favor I okay we will be back we'll close this caucus after we come back and then we'll we'll start the council meeting and they have having ma good need a motion to adjourn the Caucus meeting second all in favor I um now let's move to the council meeting okay this is the council meeting for November 8th 2023 presiding officer of the council M lady teda wishes to advise the audience that the nurse of this meeting has been filed with the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and posted on the bulletin board in the city clerk's office and on the city's website indicating that today meeting is being held in the council's chamber City Hall 260 High Street right after the Caucus meeting right now is 802 coun coun presidenta as a courtesy of the governing body I will ask all individual present including members of the audience to please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices should you need to make a telephone call please go out into the hallway and speak in a low voice so as not to disturb the ongoing meeting roll call please councilwoman Cruz president councilwoman Morales present councilman poo here councilman Torres present council president present okay let's stand for the dear Lord please watch over our nation our residents of birthday Amboy and all our residents that need your help your guidance and give us the wisdom to do the right thing for our community I also want to pray for the veterans that we're going to observe their special day but we should all serve every single day for them and I want to pray for their family for their sacrifice and for everything that they have done to keep our freedom and our safety I want to um pray also for all our military wherever there are for their family and to bring them home safe for the countries that are in at War please protect their citizens and protect and please stop the world wherever is happening and with that I say Amen Al uned States okay we go to the ordinance public hearing five minutes maximum per speakers per ordinance number one an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitle an ordinance designating restricted parking spaces for use by handicapp person's ordinance number an amendment adopted July 2nd 1985 also known as chapter 255 A6 of the code of the city of for ambo and this is about deletion I need an a motion to open to the public second all in favor I anybody seeing none I need a motion to close second um all in favor I I I need a motion to adopt second BR please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman yes councilman yes councilman Torres yes council president yes number two an ordinance of the city of perthamboy countyy of middle sex New Jersey amending an ordinance entitled ordinance fixing and establishing a schedule of salaries and salary ranges and increments for officers and employee of the city of the of biran boy ordinance number 218 d79 as amended adopted July 3rd 1979 to reflect the per and boy blue collar Union International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Number 97 memorandum of agreement I need a motion to open to the public move second all in favor I is open to the public anybody want to speak on seeing none I need a motion to close second all in favor I I need a motion to adopt second Rollo please Council woman Cruz yes Council woman Morales yes councilman poo yes councilman Torres yes Council presidenta yes um number three Bond ordinance providing for the city's portion of the replacement of the existing Woodbridge trunk sewer line in and by the city of P Amboy and in the county of middlex New Jersey appropriating 9,500,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 9,500,000 bonds or notes of the city to finance the cost thereof I need a motion to open to the public second all in favor I I is open to the public we're just going to need um what was the wording for that we're just going to need to keep it open until yeah um so after everyone speaks you can vote to adjourn the hearing until September council meeting of September 13 okay see is anybody going to speak on this I don't see anybody so we just going to need a motion to extend the the public hearing until December 13 until the local Finance board gives us um all right moving second go ahead ahead no okay so second okay so we need um a roll call for extending it until December 13 councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman poo yes councilman Tores council president yes uh Bond ordinance providing for various Improvement to the Water waste water utility in and by the city of pambo in the county of midlex New Jersey appropriating 94 m376 487 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 94 m376 487 bonds or notes of the city to finance the cost there all I need a motion to open to the public I need a second second all in favor I I is open to the public I need a seeing nobody so I need a a motion to extend it to December 13 until we hear from local Finance board move second broco please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman P councilman Tores I just want to say something first um it bothers me a little bit that the last meeting that we were talk about these water rates and how we're going to pay for these bonds and when I questioned that if we were going to receive any grants that if the grants were going to offset the rate increases that I was told no that there were additional projects that were needed and that we were not going to offset the cost and reduce the rate and then also I was provided with a list of grants that we applied for the last several years and it seems that 2020 202 21 2022 we didn't apply for any water infrastructure grants it seems that the first time we applied for a water infrastructure Grant was in June 2023 but those years prior to it knowing that we were going to enter into this we didn't apply for any grants and then we increased the rates we were told that there's grants out there to be able to help out with this but recently I was told that even if we did receive the grants that the rates would not be reduced um V yes I'm sorry um I think we spoke about why we couldn't do it correct yes I can talk about I can't talk about whether the grants were appli for before 20 he talk about the grants prior to this Lou and I'll speak about this specifically other the grants that we've applied for what we were saying and before 2022 for Grants I I did apply for loan uh Brands no I don't there was no I'm looking at all the applications that we applied for and I'm seeing nothing for water infrastructure for those years that we didn't apply the first water infrastructure grant that we applied for was this past June I I don't deal with the grants I apply for loan okay okay so so the loans with the loan forgiveness is that what it is or just loan loans are the with the Forgiveness okay which is it's a different word for a grant because they're forgiving the money but okay we we we're talking apples and oranges I understand what a grant is or what a loan is a principal forgiveness is I understand that there's two separate there are infrastructure grants out there that we could have applied for I'm fairly sure but it seems that the years 2020 2021 in 2022 we did not apply for any of them and we just recently applied for one couple of months ago but knowing that we were going to end that we had this water infrastructure project looming over our heads but we didn't apply for any grants I find that very disturbing and I find it very disturbing that the leadership did not force Any Grant applications for those years I've been here for almost two years and again this is what we're doing now and these are whether it's semantics whe you're going to call it a grant or loan forgiveness is the part the the essence is is that we are saving money again with this you have to like I said before it's a convoluted process and again the D hasn't even responded back to my email which I read put on the record that you have to unfortunately every municipality has to apply for this money and get a bond and then they're going to give the principal forgiveness and what they really should do is just give Grant so let's just put this on record if we get the loan forgiveness the principle of forgiveness would we re-evaluate those rates and lower the water and sewage rates if we get a principal forgiveness I'm going to say no because just like any other machine it's like your car and everything else have other things you need to do for the rec infrastructure and so that money should be used for other projects so my so my council members and myself were told that we're going to apply for Grants to offset some of these cost and now we're told that no that the the the rates had been raised that they approved the raise rate increases and even if we did get loan forgiveness that we're going to continue with the rate increases continue to for other prod because it's an infrastructure things continually break down and get fixed we're just talking conversation about roads being fixed things still need to be fixed that you know that what was first presented to this Council was a GU that they were told that apply for this approve this now and we're going to be able to receive loan forgiveness later on and we'll be able to adjust that but now are completely different and the forward there will be no rate decrease going to be a decrease because there's other things it's just like your car fortunately unfortunately it's a mechanical device just like that fact those pipes that all the water goes through and transmitted through there's things that will continually need to be fixed fortunately unfortunately I wish it was just a one shot forget it and we're done it doesn't work like that but the car I go shopping for the best deal I made sure that it's maintained and doesn't fall apart there's a lot of things that go long we having a car that we could use as now and you know the a $300 million car that's a pretty big expensive car you tell me you have the long-term control plan when we start to work on which this money would be used for again there's a lot of projects unfortunately I wish there weren't what projects okay what are those projects I still need to give my vote here yes okay number five and number five Bond ordinance providing for improvements to the runion treatment plan in and by the city of P amo in the county of midx New Jersey appropriating 75,500 th000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 75,500 th000 bonds or notes of the city to finance the cost thereof I need a motion to open to the public second all in favor I being none I need a motion to extend the public hearing until December 13 when we hear from the local Finance board move second Roo please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman poo yes councilman Torres yes council president yes B ordinance providing for various Improvement ment of the Water waste water utility in and by the city of for Amoy in the county of middx New Jersey appropriating 61 m520 520 doll there and authorizing the issuance of 61 m520 520 bonds or notes of the city to finance the cost thereof I need a motion to open to the public move second roll call please oh well I'm sorry I need a motion to no it's open to the public so seeing none I need a motion to extend the public session to December 13 second Roco please councilwoman yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman P Council mes yes council president heav yes agenda public comment citizens May address the Council on any matter on the agenda which does not have its own scheduled public hearing citizens shall be permitted to speak once for a maximum of five minutes I need a motion to open to the public second all in favor I seeing none I need a motion to close public session second all in favor I I ordinance first reading no public discussion an ordinance to repeal chapter 98 entitled public Contracting ordinance number 1427 D28 and Amendment adopted June 25th 2008 also known as chapter 98 of the code of the city of bir Amboy I need a motion second all in [Music] favor broko I need need to we need to after we I lost track now it's the first reading so we need to approve it by adop adopt first reading I need a motion move second Roco please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman poo yes councilman Torres no Council presidenta yes number two an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled vehicles and traffic ordinance number 19478 as amended adopted September 19 1978 also known as chapter 414 of the coda of the city peroy and this is about the loadings zone at 272 Maple Street from Monday through Friday from 700 a.m. to 12:00 pm. again I need a motion second to adop yesc Cruz yes Council Morales yes councilman P yes councilman Torres yes council president yes ordinance of the city council on of the city of P Amboy and the authority of middlex state of New Jersey authorizing the acquisition of certain property located in the area of Route 35 and River viw Drive and own by the New Jersey Department of Transportation for public use I need a motion second I need a um roll call please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman P yes councilman Torres no council president DEA yes ordinance authorizing a one-year leasee agreement with two additional years optional with middx County Board of Social Services for office space in the Alexander F Janowski Community Center commencing January 1st 2024 through December 31st 2024 with two additional one-year terms optional I need a motion move second roll call please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman P yes councilman Torres yes council president yes an ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled administration of government ordinance number 1-72 an amendment adopted July 28th 1972 also known as chapter 4 SE of the code of the city of Perth Amboy and this is about the harbor side Marina I need a motion move second roll call please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman P yes councilman Torres yes council president yes ordinance of the city of for ambo County of midx New Jersey authorizing suspension of parking meters fees from November 24 2023 through January 1st 2024 any other motion second bro please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes councilman poo yes councilman Torres yes ccil president yes an ordinance to amend an ordinance and tile ordinance fixing and establishing a schedule of salaries and salary ranges and increments for the New Jersey State firan Mutual benevolent uh Association local number 426 ordinance number 21879 as amended adopted July 3rd 1979 this is about Public Safety telec communicators January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2026 I need a motion move second please Council Cruz yes counc Morales yes Council Council Tes yes council president yes okay look over the resolution and tell me what you need five five 7 and 558 and 562 hold on I haven't found 557 558 and the other 562 so um what do you that 572 you want okay number it's off but what you requested they provided for you now it's your decision what you want to do brother just to clar if you're talking about 572 I advised the cler that it wasn't off because there was some sub what discussion or 72 oh so it wasn't it wasn't off so if you want to take it off you have to vote for it okay okay so I'm sorry what was the last one 562 oh no no no no no I got that one I69 okay okay so you're gonna so she wants to table it um even though she got the information she wants to look at it you have to you have to consider it separately okay and then vote on it you'd have to make a motion to table it and then that would have to carry okay we have to vote on or she can just table it no you have to vote on the table now okay okay all right is everybody good now okay so the consent agenda is r 532 1123 through R5 56 1123 r559 1123 through R 561 1123 then R 563 1123 through R56 8 1123 r570 1123 through R 571 1123 and R 573 1123 that's the consent agenda need a motion second broko please Council Cruz yes Council Morales yes Council P yes Council mes yes council president yes r five five 7 1123 authorizing submission of an application to the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for Urban Enterprise Zone assistance funds for the F Park project in the amount of $400,000 for fiscal year 2023 I need a motion second bro please Council women crce yes councilwoman Morales yes Council P Council Tes no Council presidenta yes R 558123 authorizing submission of an application to the New Jersey irvan Enterprise Zone Authority for irvan Enterprise Zone assistance funds for a a UE vehicle in an amount not to exceed $40,000 for fiscal year 2023 I need a motion second bro please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes Council yes Council Tes no council president yes R 562123 authorizing submission of an application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs njdca open space 2024 Grant in the amount of $1 million I need a motion second Roco please councilwoman Cruz yes Council Morales yes councilman P councilman Tes no council president yes r569 11123 authorizing withdraw of complaint for declaratory judgment I need a motion second roll call please councilwoman Cruz yes councilwoman Morales yes counc counes no council president yes R 5721 1123 authorizing a contract with her flee Services Inc for the purchase of 224 Chevrolet tahoo for WD SUVs with option under New Jersey state contract number 21- f- 0483 T 2777 2776 in the amount not to exceed 10,195 with 40 cents mov um yeah I would like to request this to be table for we can vote on it so we can discuss a little bit further okay so it's a motion to Second there was oh for that she made the motion is there a second I second it councilwoman Cruz no councilwoman Morales yes councilman poio I'm just I know but why are we she wants to look over the that she was given today a little longer before she and discuss it with everybody yes councilman Torres no council president yes public portion five minutes maximum for speaker I need a motion to open to the public all in favor I None I need a motion to close second all in favor I Council comments councilwoman public no I Tred um Council woman Cruz good evening everyone thank you for participating and as Veterans Day is approaching we app appreciate all of the veterans and we hope that you are able to honor them this weekend have a great night and be safe thank you councilwoman Morales I just want to congratulate again and thank you to our judge Kenny Gonzales that was here earlier um for his service uh also I would like to congratulate again and best wishes to our newly wed here councilwoman um may you have a long happy life yes and um congrats also to the re-election of our uh middlex County candidates um the state senator Vitali assembly woman uh Ivon Lopez speaker Craig Coughlin uh the middlex County Commissioners the Board of Ed candidates and um uh Stacy Peralta uh Ron Anderson uh marisel Gonzalez and Megan Oella I'm very happy for them and most importantly I am happy and congratulate that the public question yes did pass I'm very happy with that and so now we can continue to move heran boy forward um also I just want to also thank the uh veterans who have Veterans Day as we celebrate this coming weekend thank you for your service and um happy Veterans Day and God bless them all thank you cman believe it or not I have nothing to say councilman Tores I was G to say something about this but I'm gonna say something really quick about the um the election and the referendum that took place and so yes it passed yes but wasn't a landslide it was actually you know fairly close so it shows how divided this community is on that subject but since it did pass in order for this community to protect itself what it really needs to do is start holding it politicians accountable you need to start really asking them the real questions and see where they're stand because for years I questioned if some people on my side were actually on my side or were they just playing the game well now people have to sides so now we need to ask if someone is running as one party to ask where do they stand when it comes to um to pro-life or pro-choice where do they stand when it comes to immigration where do they stand on these important issues that really haven't been addressed in this community so now it is up to the residents to hold the elected officials accountable and ask them where they stand before they vote for them know who you're voting for thank you thank you and I just want to say thank you for everyone who participated tonight I want to um I just want to congratulate all the elected officials that I got elected this yesterday in this past election and um we just continue having um you know working together as a community to make this community more move forward and I want to thank all the veterans and I know our councilman p is one of our veterans and I we thank you for your for your thank you council president for your and Mr Green and I want to thank all of you who one way or or another help this country move forward um keep is freedom which um it is so important um especially when you come from another country you know how important it is when you have the freedom of speech and the freedom of um electing somebody so um and also to protect our country thank you very much um have a good night and have a safe weekend all and please attend the celebration that we're having this weekend uh 11:00 I think it is okay thank you very much have a good night I need a motion to close second all in favor I we're done is 8:35