1 this agenda is complete to the extent known and was sent to the Trent times and Trentonian newspapers posted on the first floor bulletin board in City Hall filed in the city clerk's office and posted on the city of Trenton website formal action will be taken Mr Garcia yes madame president roll call councilwoman Edwards president vice president figuro kber councilwoman fby present councilwoman Gonzalez presente councilman Harrison nice councilwoman Williams present and presented and council president Feliciano I'm here well all right then and myself Brandon Garcia municipal clerk presente uh in legislative Council Mr Edward cogi is present and for West Bridges is Scott mikio assist attorney law direct to the law director pres thank you write that down here and Madame President your I will move to the invocation thank you almighty God who holds the fate of man and Nation we most humbly beseech thee to bless this our city these deliberations and these thy servants that they may act with wisdom and understanding for the good of our community and thy greater glory amen amen all right all right and Madame President at this time I do not believe we have any presentations if it's your will we can go right to public comment yes we can thank you all right thank you [Music] sir and so that the public knows public comment will be five minutes for each individual please state your name and address for the record we have one individual for public comment here Madame President it is leonio Vasquez thank [Music] you and please note you are able to address anything that you wish sir the council is not obligated to respond [Music] certainly testing good evening Madame President Madame vice president members of council and staff um tonight I just need to bring to your attention actually an SOS message we have a Trenton 250 plan that needs to be looked at again um we're having issues in the zoning department the planning department I'm sure you're aware of uh the zoning official had retired planning official had left his position uh there's in insufficient Staffing in the building construction Department creating a backflow in that department we have investors that have spent money coming into this town and can't get permits I have behind me Mr Jose tours and his wife Noelia I had 1552 South Clinton Avenue approved for an expansion it's a single building Deli I had it approved through zoning uh for an expansion to increase the foot the square footage of the deli making it a small Supermarket raising it up one level for two apartments a return for Sight plan has been a nightmare because uh the um city of Trenton does not have anyone to actually process these applications I also have eight projects these are development projects uh that are pending and nobody knows who to give it to or who to receive I had I brought him in three weeks now um and it's frustrating uh I also in the process of trying to get the YWCA closing however I think these guys are going to back out this is the YWCA on Academy and um well Academy and Hanover um and because they're aware that there's no planner they're not going to spend the time to go through the circles trying to get things approved um the one thing I did want to point out in my observation I've been doing this for 20 years I sat on the planning board I sat on the zoning board when I see what I see here because I'm here every day I'm not sure whether you you may not see me but I'm here every day you have some in how can I say there's not really an operational process in place there's no direction there's no leadership I submit plans for for a project and it takes six mon months I've got an ice cream store 620 Whitaker Street that I had to approve for an ice cream store in the front dress shop in the rear it's been over a year and we're still waiting for the electrical inspector to look at these plans and that's because um they're overworked and they're doing a good job don't get me wrong they're doing a good job it's just we don't have enough staff there um when I work with other municipalities there's a there's a construction official in charge of the whole department then what you have is subcode officials their responsibilities are to review plans and approve them or deny them it goes back to the architect the architect will revise the plans come back and get them approved then you have your construction officials those are the electricians the plumbers the builders that'll go out and inspect here we're relying on one individual to review the plans and do inspections that's counterproductive with a workload that we we have it's it's it's almost like how can I say the city of Trenton has more volume than any other surrounding Community but yet we don't have a sufficient staff to get things done as I indicated this family here they've been in the business for years and yet they have been anxiously waiting and it just keeps going back and forth we have to keep adjourning the meetings or adjourning and requesting the 17 of this month I'm here for two other cases and quite frankly I I do over 50% of zoning in the city of Trenton as I sell Trenton I love Trenton this is my town I like to see people come into town from out of town and I like to help people that live here that want to do things and and create and take these distressed properties and renovate them like on Styers Avenue I have a a friend of mine that's done plenty of work on Styers Avenue I'm not going to mention names um but we've been successful in getting these uh uh properties uh reintroduced into Community I asked so I I did want to see the new director but I'll deal with her uh tomorrow I wanted staff to also be aware of this because I think the legislative body and the administration should work together understand these deficiencies and put something in place I I yeah I I was assistant director of a hospital and that was one of the things I was responsible for was to [Music] thanks Madame President on your call uh that is all we have for public uh listed for public comment this evening if it's your wish you can start with anybody for civic comment thank you does any council member have any Civic comment that they would like to make tonight councilwoman Gonzalez yes thank you so I would um debating thank you everyone for being here um I was um debating on whether I was going to say something or not but I based on the number of phone calls that I received in the last two days from some of the comments that were made at the last council meeting I just want to just assure everyone elected me to be in this position I am here to do the work of the city I am not I I was unaware of some of the articles that were printed or social media posts that were made um within the last week or two and I am not here to have a rebuttal for all of those things nor am I um entertaining some of it um that will cause divisiveness between our colleagues and I um however I know some people were upset because they felt like I was ignoring on the deis and I just want to reassure you everyone that um I am here to support my colleagues whenever possible and I'm sure they will do the same and I want to shout out the Rosado family for continuing to do the coffee with a cop they've been doing it now for 10 years and it has been successful every single year and I just want to say that the article that was printed should have been more um based off of that and I want to say congratulations to them on a successful event and shout out to every organization that I do partner with and work with in the city of Trenton I continue to do the work I will always do the work as long as God will continue to cover and protect and guide my path um with that said also to Mr Leo thank you for bringing that to our attention um we are lacking resources we are trying to see we we're we're deficient in that area and we're trying to figure out how to address it it's not going unnoticed trust me we are all complaining about the same thing we're trying to fix it and I know it's not going to get fixed overnight so please give us some time as we are trying to work towards that um because it's a big issue in our city especially when we don't have people that are able to go out and inspect and do certain things and allow permits for developers to come in we're going to lose business and we don't want to lose business in the city so please know that it's not being ignored um and also just a couple of announcements I want to say that the Trenton area soup kitchen will host their street light art sale on Thursday April 11th um and that's from 10: to 2:30 p.m. at the College of New Jersey and most of the proceeds will go to that individual from the Trent area sou kitchen who has artwork that is being displayed so if you can go out and support also the Trenton southw neighborhood association will be having our next Community conversation meeting on April 24th and that will be at 6 pm thank you all for being present councilman Harrison oh wait did anybody else I was asking if anybody okay all right councilwoman Williams no you go nowe Council woman thank you thank you very much for uh everyone being here tonight I do have a a couple announcements and also uh a couple statements so I just want to announce first of all uh on Saturday night uh is going to be the Gaya for passage theater um it would be great if many of s tonians can attend I believe there's still tickets for it please get more information at passage theater uh t h a t. org uh it is this Saturday night and it's the biggest fundraiser of the year that they have uh for the organization also uh tomorrow morning uh from the hours of 9:00 am to 11: am uh we uh there will be another actually a coffee with uh Trenton Department of fire Emergency Services it'll be hosted by council president Crystal Fano councilwoman Jossie Edwards and myself in honor of the Trenton Department of fire and Emergency Services it's a great way to meet some of the the folks who uh protect us and keep us safe so please come on down to slamming Brew uh it's at 24 South War Street tomorrow morning I can assure you you'll have a great cup of coffee you'll even have a greater conversation and it is a lot of fun so please uh join us and bring others uh if you can make it um so one other thing I wanted to discuss tonight is uh it's been emerging as an issue this past week but I've had a number of constituents reach out regarding the safety of the parking garage at front and uh South bar which has been abandoned for a very very long time um I remember believe it in 2006 it was finally closed even to the incubator offices that were there it's something that has gone on too long in my opinion uh I think uh at this point the way it looks structurally and also what it's doing as far as not being in use to parking in Downtown Trenton the looks of it but really the safety of it is the most important issue we need to uh get a decision on this property we need to have this property torn down it does not seem that it can be saved it can be remediated uh in a way that would be safe for cars Etc concrete is buckling uh when the Trenton Film Festival had an office there and other uh nonprofit groups and incubator groups had uh organizations had offices there there was severe mold issues in that building so I collectively uh the arms of government I'd really like to see in the coming couple months let's get a decision on this let's get a way to move forward because it's also holding up a lot of real estate in downtown ton that we need to potentially provide more housing provide more jobs in our city and in our downtown area which would benefit everybody um the other thing I want to also want to thank um Mr leono Vasquez for coming tonight to bring to light again the issue of us not having enough inspectors I've known Mr Vas as I'm going to say probably 10 or 12 probably more years as he's brought many cases uh to help businesses uh navigate the zoning process and it's true uh this has been a systemic issue for many years but most recently uh I would say in the last five to seven years best I can tell it's a severe Financial issue and we can't take care of this ourselves we really need the help of the state I'll echo my comments from a few nights ago um and I also thank my colleague uh councilwoman Gonzalez for speaking about this tonight because as everyone up here has said in the past year or so we've been on Council we have to have more inspectors this isn't just about getting businesses up and running it's about the safety the health the cleanliness of our city but we can't Advance our city we can't help our city if we are hamstrung and handcuffed by not having enough inspectors it's one of the number one quality of life issues we have in our city it is the biggest impediment to business business is coming in to building new properties renovating properties getting properties that aren't on the tax roles to the tax roles and also I'm want to put this out there I think it's a big problem for us to not have to be able to not have to always take down a project take down a proc a building or a business because it's in a bad condition if we had inspectors maybe we had a business an organization would want to take over a slightly dilapidated building before became a terribly dilapidated building in need of an emergency demolition which is something we do need to get permission from the state to handle so please um I would really like to see our state Partners at DCA help us I'm not beating up on anybody but there's no other way out of this we really need to help with the state because I can assure you from garbage inspections to D legal dumping issues to housing inspections plumbing inspections gas inspections across the board we have had a request or we've had an issue since we've been on Council since last January and that's only a short amount of time it's only about 15 months so please help us help ourselves thank you madam president so good evening everyone um I did want to address Mr vas as I know everybody's probably going to do that but I just want to let you know that has been a concern of ours and something that we're all passionate about um DCM DCA is here so they're actually listening as well one of the things we did talk about was shared services so we are looking into that we are trying to move we do understand that time absolutely is money and we do not want anyone to lose out on their investment so just want to let you know we are paying attention to that and we're hopeful that we'll be able to get more inspectors um here in our city uh I did want to address an issue that came to my attention um I received a phone call from a loved one who was trying to bury their loved one and they have a family member who when the family member passed they had a loved one who was on the lease and the loved one was locked out of the apartment that should never have happened the family has been struggling to try and get in they just had to bury their loved one in the rain yesterday and they had to go out and get new items because of it we need to get a handle on how this is being taken care of it's disrespectful it is disrespectful and there's no need for uh things like that to be done they should have worked with the family um so these folks will be getting a phone call this is um at Kingsbury I'm just going to call them out um but it never should have happened um so that is something I did want to address um just disrespectful I there's no other word for me to put on that other than that um I did want to say that um April 8th is my next West W conversations that we'll be having at The Fighter um the police station on Hermitage I invite um anyone from the West W to please come out is at 5:30 um that's next Monday a week from actually not a week from it's in just a handful of days and then on April 27th I will be having hosting a pre-mother's Day celebration at Greater Mount Zion 42 Pennington Avenue if you know of any Mothers to be I invite you to have them come out we are going to celebrate them they will enjoy themselves they will go home with their arms and cars packed by the time we are done with them but we want we do a lot for our moms we don't do a whole lot at times for the moms to be so I invite everyone out April 27th um again that's at 42 Pennington Avenue Greater Mount Zion the time is from 11: to 2 um 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m and then um just a little uh commercial identification on Monday is the solar eclipse it's going to be coming through our uh Community um somewhere in the midday do not look directly into the sun do not look directly into that solar eclipse you will be damaging your cornea and your retina people say I can do it you can do it but you will regret it so there are solar eclipse glasses that you can get practically from anywhere so please order it go out get it go to uh the uh movie theater tell them that you want to go see a 3D movie come home with the solar eclipse glasses but do not look directly into the sun you will regret it if not in that very moment very soon there here after um and I believe that is about all that I have um with that I'm going to go with one I want to thank everyone for coming out I thank our legal department I thank our Clerk and his staff we thank all of you that come out DCA we always appreciate having you here your presence is always appreciated and everyone that is out here that just takes a part and is concerned about the community I thank my aid for being here um miss Ann I appreciate you and I am grateful for the work that um we as a council body that we do I am grateful um I want to reach our City's mission statement which is recognizing that the people of Trenton have made us Guardians of the public trust we are committed to govern with integrity and fiscal responsibility to seek excellence in the city's operations and to serve all of the city's people with respect and compassion I wish everyone a safe and a pleasant evening thank you councilwoman Edwards good evening everyone thank you for coming um I want to start off by saying I want to Echo the sentiments of councilwoman Gonzalez I feel like um a a lot of people in the public are intentionally divisive and I think it's important for all of us to realize that and I want to commend my colleagues for Rising above it and you know speaking up about it even though we don't need to all the time to address these these types of attacks on us and things but I do believe that the news media has a responsibility to be you know responsible in their reporting you know if you're going to talk about an event talk about the event don't spew negativity and then cause divisiveness amongst us and and I'm glad that we haven't allowed that to come between us so I just want to commend us all for that and say that you know we all support each other when and where we can and how we can and we do all work full-time jobs as our council president said last week so you know we show UPS where we can and it's no malicious intent you know when we can't make it somewhere so if you don't see us and you only see one of us that's who can make it there so respectfully um I will digress and I hope that everyone realizes the hard work that we've done and um continue to support us so moving along to the lack of inspectors this definitely is a hindrance on the city as we push for redevelopment zoning and planning and permits and things is a part of the process and for a business to be held up for six months could inadvertently cause them to lose their Investments and lose their business and then therefore we're losing out on tax revenue we're losing out on residents being able to be employed at a livable wage and so on and so forth and we definitely have been asking about this and I know that there is a new budget um that is being proposed or has been proposed to DCA so I'm interested in knowing whether new inspectors are included in that and we will do our due diligence to follow up to see if that is the case and I hope it is um and lastly the issue about recycling um it's an environmental issue so there was recent changes with Mercer County Recycling um where they no longer are accepting Recycling and in cans that are blue only yellow or green so therefore this past recycling day a lot of people's recycling were not picked up um there were no notices sent out that said that they won't be taking cardboard that is sitting on the ground that are not in bins there was no notice that said that they won't be taking recycling that's bagged often times people will bag their recycling because they only have one bin and recycling days one day every two weeks thus accumulates a lot of recycling that cannot even fit in the bins or the bin that they have therefore it has to be on the ground in a bag or exposed large pieces of cardboard so if if the county wanted to change things they should have notified us but on that note I'm definitely going to be reaching out because recycling day should be more often than one day every two weeks it should be more often than two days a month when you're recycling correctly and responsibly you have to realize that the trash that you're accumulating comes out of those recyclable materials and the first place so you're accumulating almost just as much recycling as you are regular trash and therefore I think they should be collecting recycling on a more consistent often basis so I definitely will be advocating for that and I'll incl include my colleagues on this correspondence and I hope to have their support as well um because this is an environmental issue when you have loads of trash that are still left on the curb and then they get blown around we had nasty winds the last couple of days so it's it's all over the place on my street at least um so I think that's a bad issue and it's also a health hazard too when you're trying to be responsible and it's recycling is accumulating on your property or in your house because you have to wait every two weeks it's it creates chaos within your house it creates health hazards it creates storage and and housing for freaking rodents and all kinds of stuff so we need to get ahead of this and I will be reaching out to the county and hopefully we can make some changes and that's all I have for this evening thank you thank you councilman Harrison uh good evening everyone um I wanted to let everybody know uh 24-15 was tabled um I reached back out to the administration again about setting up uh Zoom meeting we're looking for a date and a time with the health department uh trying to find out what the standards are going to be recommended from the health department also looking forward in writing what the health department uh recommendation is regarding that um if you uh I came ac across a couple interesting articles also that um if you're interested go on my Facebook page you'll see them there it's regards to this um we spoke about the Rosado family they've been here 10 years been doing a wonderful job uh coffee and the cop they're a wonderful family and they uh do all that they can to promote the tron's finest um it was brought up tonight about inspection staff we need inspections we need we need Staffing I think in most than every Department in this building so I'm glad to see you know the DCA is going to hopefully work with us my colleagues we want to see um Staffing because Staffing is a major part of this city we have like you said there's people who want to help move the city forward but we don't have the Staffing to help move the city forward uh also um would like to thank uh Triton uh police and um the mayor Maria Richardson last night on Kenton Division I happen to be going down the street and seeing a tree fell on a car um made calls and everybody came out and uh help clean up the tree it was blocking the street so thanks TR police thank the mayor thank Maria Richardson um also uh this weekend let me get on my phone here just had it uh it's punk rock festival at the arena it's from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 P PM uh there's going to be over a 100 vendors making of art from across the country dozens of food trucks live DJs celebrity guests uh side shows performers uh live tattooing so it's another wonderful event it's going to be at the Cure Arena this Saturday and Sunday between uh 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 pm. yeah and that's it uh want to thank everybody and have a blessed weekend thank you you're welcome Council vice president thank you madam president good evening everybody um so I just kind of I don't like to repeat what my colleagues have said but I'll just touch on a few things um starting off thank you councilwoman Gonzalez again for bringing that to our attention um as someone who was kind of the the subject of part of that article that recently went out um it is good to know that we have each other's backs and we understand that yeah we do have other things going on we cannot be at every event um all the time you know we have personal lives we have things going on at home and our jobs um and we do try to support one another as best we can um we don't need the press or anybody else um causing divisiveness within us because you know this job in itself is hard enough and we are all you know focusing on different parts of the city and the city as a whole and really just doing our best to move the city forward so we would just appreciate um you know questions being asked and you know um getting facts before printing um you know satirical type of um information um I wanted to also to Mr leonio thank you again you know I've known you since 2018 and you've always been very very diligent in your dealings with the city and trying to move the city forward I mean from the moment I met you you're always running around with a rolled up blueprint of some sort or some plan or whatever so you know really appreciate the work you're doing and bringing it to our attention something again that we are very much aware of and you know it's very fortunate the position that we're in and I remember asking questions earlier on when I first became a council I'm like can we borrow inspectors can we do this you know from other municipalities and it's not as easy as that because there is a deficit in other municipalities surrounding us as well but we also need to deal with home and get these positions filled and have people with jobs and you know move the city forward in that way um you know I myself is building a deck on my house and I'm at the mercy of the city because to get inspectors out for every step of the way I have to wait you know before I can move on with the project and it's just frustrating and there's way that's a small project and there's way bigger things going on in the city and we really we have developers coming you know before us and wanting to build and wanting to bring people in and you know it's kind of like stalemate sometimes so it is frustrating so thank you I am looking forward to um meeting with and speaking with our new HD director and seeing you know where we're going and how we're moving forward for the city but thank you again for bringing that to our attention and you know for helping the residents and just doing what you do you know thank you very everything you're doing for um Mr Jose and Noelia you know so great um keep doing what you're doing and we're here to listen um I want to applaud the sanitation department for the city of trenen um Friday was a holiday um and as much as you know the residents should be aware that if your trash pickup falls on a holiday you know the city's closed we're not picking up trash and a lot of people just don't get the memo or they don't pay attention and that's unfortunate um there was no trash pickup in some parts of Trenton um one being South Trenton um obviously I was dealing with that with my my residents um and you know come Tuesday our regular pickup there was trucks that were broken down so a lot of of the trash was not picked up I was sending emails out Tuesday night I was tagged all over Facebook I was phone calls text messages and I just want to applaud the city because whatever they were able to do on Tuesday they did and they came back out and they worked from 700 am. to 900 p.m. on um on Tu ones Wednesday yesterday to get the trash picked up and then even 7 o'clock in the morning when I was still texting certain folks with the city I want to give a big shout out to Hector away into um Tyrone G they're on it they were they were responsive and they got everything picked up um different Alleyways that they were missed they went back out and got it all picked up um not just in the South Ward but I know East Ward as well I'm not sure whoever else is on the Tuesday Friday schedule but so just kudos to the city of Trent and there was 15 call outs yesterday so they worked tirelessly from early morning to to late at night to get that picked up so I just wanted to give them a round of applause um for doing their due diligence um councilwoman Edwards talked about the recycling um something else that I wanted to address about that is that there are certain Alleyways in the city of Trenton specific to I'm speaking of South Ward obviously um where they have forward- facing houses in the Alleyways and those areas do not get the recycling trucks to go down those Alleyways and pick up recycling those people have to actually take their recy and move it to the closest corner um which is an unfair and that's something that I'd like to work on um with these new Transitions and these new rules um that our Marca County Recycling is imposing on the city of Tron um other than that I just wanted to say that um the event this Saturday um 1:30 to 3 o00 Let's Talk South Trenton with myself council president Feliciano and councilwoman Edwards so if you're not doing anything please come up to one up one down at 750 cast Street and just you know give us your input or you know anybody in the South Bo just wants to come out and see what we've been doing you know what how we're trying to move the city forward the the ward forward um I like to call South TR the Forgotten Ward and I'm I've been working my butt off to change that before I speak I just like to take a moment if Colin Cherry could um approach and please um he has some information about inspectors that he'd like us to hear so I'd like to Grant him an opportunity to go ahead and say that without taking from my time and he has a few minutes to go ahead and do that go ahead Mr Cherry thank you thank you madam president I I'll do my best to be quick um I'm getting timed as well so clock's ticking Mr Cherry um so uh we have a couple of of we've had a couple of challenges uh as you may or may not know our DCA monitor has changed and in that transition uh we haven't really had any Personnel waivers approved since early March and among those include some of the electrical subcode officials that have been uh proposed by the city and hopefully we'll address some of those problems one second of course thank you when did the monitor change uh our our new monitor officially started I believe this week this week yes this week so uh to my knowledge Council was not notified of that maybe there were a couple here that knew but I certainly had no clue that that had even happened um I'm not sure if any of my colleagues knew that that had happened well we have a we know they didn't tell I was certainly made aware this this week as well we've just had a transition period but we pass the new waivers we passed the submitted waivers to our new monitor uh who will be working on processing those so I hope that will bring some staff uh we're working with the new director to hire some additional staff as well um I had multiple meetings with her this week on Personnel related issues and uh we're also working on some out of the-box ideas like some shared service agreements with the surrounding municipalities that may allow us to um have additional backup staff for inspections that we could share with those other municipalities which would allow us to use them when we are in our our biggest need and I I made it under the two minutes so thank you can you tell us who the new person is the new monitor uh the new monitor's name is Robert simino uh CI m n o thank you and how many inspectors uh we have an electrical subcode official that we're looking to hire right now bring on board uh we are also looking to post for uh potentially one or two additional positions and we are are looking to um solve the vacancy in the construction code official or rather construction official as well okay thank you any other Council people have any questions for Mr Cherry about inspections I'll allow it at this time very quickly yes councilwoman Edwards just for clarity that last comment you made was you said you were looking to post for one or two electricians no inspectors in general insect uh we're we're still working with the new director to determine what uh the needs of the the office will be um and we're hoping that once we have a construction official on board that individual will also be able to provide some input and backfill some of those job responsibilities uh as well anybody council president uh will you also be posting to try to fill the position left by Mr bui's retirement uh yes so the zoning situation we had a part-timer who was helping us do some of the zoning situations uh or handle some of the zoning issues that individual has decided to to move on so we are looking to fill that position permanently it is in the pipeline I had that conversation with the new director Tuesday I think so that would be a full-time person permanently that's correct this part-timer was just there in the interim to begin with and we're now recognizing that now we have to we'll probably try to come up with another stop cap solution while we process the Hing but hiring for that position is important yes would there be any possibility of hiring an additional part-timer in addition to this full-tim because they were under man previously even with Ray that is certainly a conversation that can be had yes thank you thank you yes um Mr Cherry just a quick question um how many inspectors in your opinion do we need for this city in order to be comfortable in you know being able to um have these sites be looked at and um you know projects be to move on you know as they need to move forward um Madam vice president I don't feel comfortable giving you an answer to that question but I can have a conversation with the director and make sure that information is provided to you okay thank you thank you Council M Harrison yeah what is the breakdown right now of the inspectors that we have um I I honestly can't tell you off the top of my head uh I know that we are seeking we have paperwork to DCA to fill the electrical subcode official and we will be bringing to council an ordinance to change the salary range for the construction officials so so that we can fill that position as well um but uh I just don't know off the top of my head what the other vacancies we have may be okay but I can get that information to you all right thank you Mr Cherry appreciate it thank you all right good evening everyone thank you for being here and joining us tonight I'll make my comments um brief um come out Saturday to the Galla you heard it Pastor theater they're GNA be celebrating and having a good time um with that um tomorrow as was stated we're going to do the coffee with the cop at the slamming Brew come out but it's not with the cop it's with the Trent and fire department and the emergency management system so come out for that on Saturday one up one down we're going to be over there talking about South Trenton as you hear the council people saying um their various announcements and having their Community meetings and things like that I encourage everyone that can to come out and participate and take part take time to have the conversation directly with the council person again as we go back to the whole social media the media thing and how things get twisted the way that you find out the truth is by talking to us directly I'd also like to say this sometimes um we get emails and overabundance of emails from from certain people um looking for answers to certain things and some things we can answer and some things we cannot answer but the one thing that I would ask the public to please be remindful of is just that you would like us to to be respectful as we respond to you um when we speak to you please be respectful of us when you come to us as per the open public meetings act we cannot collectively respond to an email that has more than four of us on an email it is not appropriate to send or I'mma say maybe not appropriate I'm G say it's not respectful um for us to receive emails addressing all of us when people know that that is the fact but then to dictate who is to answer the email back for example good evening Council uh I have a problem with my dog that's running loose on the island councilwoman Feliciano you may respond that is offensive that is disrespectful and that is ignored anyone is welcome to come to city council and address us right here for public comment we are open to everything we are open to every email to every question to every problem the council is here to legislate there are certain obligations that the administration must adhere to and so for certain inquiries you would address them to the administration more times than not we have no problem stepping in on emergent matters or even matters that people have been ignored on over a period of time if you want us to step in and assist with that but again there is respect in how we discuss these matters and how we are addressed and how we address people in return so I would just like us to all be mindful of that as we move forward um in moving Trenton in the right direction to Leo's Point Mr Leo thank you for coming and talking about um the inspectors we know what it is they know what it is they need to fix it the administration needs to fix it they need to fix it I think that when it comes to certain positions and everything and I've said this in the past what is the return on investment and maybe that's the piece that's missing when we're addressing um DCA and the like if we talk about the inspectors in my mind and I don't know it might be too far of a reach but if we looked at the inspections department when they were fully staffed at whatever number that was and maybe did a trend analysis over a period of time and we had a full staff and it was this many this is the revenue that that came in from this being happening right and this is where we are because we not at full capacity we could show that number then that justifies the need for the position and maybe that's what needs to happen I'm not sure if it is or if it isn't but when it comes to various positions if DCA has taken the stance that it is you have to show us why you need what you need and the benefit of it then let us get ahead of it and show it let's get ahead and show it we have people here that are qualified to do it and if we don't have the people here that are qualified to do it then we need to get some that are we are at a point that the city needs help we need help financially um personally I feel like um we would be in a in a good space if the state would pay us the full value the tax value of the the P premises that they sit on that they don't pay the full tax value for I feel as though they should pay their fair share to us we are the capital city they benefit from our services they benefit from our people in the work and we should benefit from them as well additionally get off the Waterfront we could do so much if we had that space for us to be able to do it but that is a call for the administration to make prayerfully we'll work together with the council that one day we'll move in alignment and the state will understand that we need help and will give us what it is that we need to function at maximum capacity e [Music] certainly Madame President we can move on with the rest of the docket this evening yes council president okay uh I'd like to request that 24126 be moved from consent agenda uh know this is late in the game but I've received some information and some concerns from constituents of mine late this afternoon uh regarding that this is a property uh sale and the ultimate use of this property uh in the East Trenton neighborhood um and I have some number of concerns from con my constituents as I mentioned regard in uh their ultimate use and I'd like to be able to have a chance to discuss that uh and even um if so ask the city if they would uh consider pulling it from the agenda until uh next meeting so we can research some of the issues with these properties I have also communicate with Mr Mel properly I had that yeah she can she can pull that from the agenda it can be discussed separately from the consent agenda yes okay so we're going to pull that from the consent agenda agenda put it to roll call then yes or are we pulling this for the purpose of I'm asking well I'd like to I'd like to have it moved to roll call but also ultimately I pr first personally would like to have it be pulled from the agenda so we can find out more research on the sale so just to be clear are you appealing to the to the city itself to pull it or are you I'm appealing to council president and my Council uh to move it to R call and if ultimately from what's say after that step to a step of okay moving it to that's what I want to do it's right here col Cherry I I'll clarify so it'll be pulled from the consent agenda it'll be discussed separate and apart from the consent agenda and then a decision can be made whether it's pulled or whether it's voted on Via roll call fine we've pulled it from the consent agenda we'll be discussed a roll call yes thank [Music] you what's that so Mr you're pulling it you're going to pull it once we once we move to put it to roll call then you're going to then then you're going to pull it you know I can officially do it but any council person can ask to have any any measure removed from the consent agenda but so is that a motion to pull that is that what I'm asking for here I don't think we don't need a motion no motion needed that's what I want to clear yep thank you very much I apologize for any confusion e [Music] so my only concern is this thank you for all of that my only concern is this and it's fine that we're going to move it to the roll call and pull for discussion but because the appropriate directors are not here for the discussion I would respectfully ask that when conclusions or decisions like this are made in convers had that we just have the conversation before we even come here so that we know what's happening rather than he hearing it right now at this moment so because the directors are not here and Colin has been doing his very best as we've been hitting him off so far with some questions we'll move it we'll do the motion to Move It from the consent agenda to roll call and then we will table this until the next Tuesday meeting when the appropri directors are here in place that can answer whatever questions there are because what I don't want is for a bunch of questions to come that he can't answer then we have to do it again so we'll just wait until Tuesday right that's what I want to do yes yes [Music] yes thank you council president the information was motion to me until my leaving my home that's fine thank you go ahead Mr Garcia what are we doing okay so it appears that we need need a motion to pull uh that is 126 correct from the consent agenda correct all right may have a motion so moved second thank you I'll call the role councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried now may I have a motion to table uh resolution 126 so moved second but we're going to table it until Tuesday April 16th that's a motion that's the motion to table to table it until April 16th yes thank you so that motion is I'm Excuse me but that motion I'm sorry can we can I have a motion again second all right that was moved by Williams thank you and second by thank [Music] you roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes uh councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion Carri council president yes I too have had a question about the same one um in in in a past meeting we were told like we can't uh do the design of an Alleyway and do the purchase in one resolution this one is like designating the developer and it's also a purchase agreement for properties on a on separate streets should this be two separate resolutions or am I incorrect I could be [Music] wrong if Mr Cherry wants to first so I I can answer I can follow up what Mr Cherry has to say Madam president if I may uh the the distinction here is when we talk about those alleys the first ordinance vacates our rights to the alley then we allow the public to have their comment on that we have a 20-day stopple period and then we designate we transfer the property to a different property uh owner this resolution seeks to designate these individuals as redevelopers of property in a Redevelopment area so it's a it's a different process than the the process we take with the Alleyways so it can be combined with the designate and the purchase agreement as well yes okay thank [Music] you okay Mr G um M yes [Music] Brandon no problem I'm on the case Madam president if you wanted to ask for a motion to approve Communications petitions and reports may have a motion to approve Communications petitions and reports so moved second thank you councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Felician yes motion Carri moving on to ordinances for second reading and public hearing ordinance 24-13 Bond ordinance providing for phase four of lead service line replacement program in Trenton Waterworks service area by the city of Trenton in the county of Mercer state of New Jersey appropriating $10 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of $10 million bonds for or notes to fin the cost thereof are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time [Music] certainly please state your name and address for the record you will have five minutes to speak and the council is not obligated to respond understood good evening Council um you guys are awesome I'm so proud of you good evening councilwoman and councilman Harrison um my name is cherelle Snider I am a resident at 410 northen Avenue Trenta New Jersey I am also a community I organizer an advocate of around Le toxins so I am so happy this is coming up tonight and um I just wanted to speak to um having these lead service lines removed besides um our Trenton residents have to worry about contaminations of lead from lead service lines coming into our house and then you know our our children or mothers go to the faet to get the water that's coming from these lead service lines and because of these lead service lines is leeching particles into that water that our residents are drinking so so um we have to be diligent about getting these lines replaced they've been in the ground for too long they're very old over a 100 years old and we all know these lines are made of metal and as metal um gets old and starts corroding it leeches and mothers that can't afford going to buy bottled water all the time they're going to the foret and they're filling this water into their um baby's bottles for their formula so that's direct ingestion of this toxin to our children so we have to do everything possible to find the funding get the funding to get the lead service L lines out of all of our trening but I must have to tell you that we do have populations here in Trenton where poverty is real so we have poverty we have poor housing poor water infrastructure and racism and our children are facing all of this so our communities that need the most help that's where I think the most money needs to go to thank you thank you are there any other members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve may have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Felician yes motion carried ordinance 24-20 ordinance supplementing and amending chapter 309 Water and Sewer of the code of the city of Trent by adding article 9 mandatory replacement of lead Lin Serv of excuse me mandatory replacement of lead service lines in conformance with the New Jersey state law are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve I have a motion to approve so move second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes counc Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried ordinance 24-21 ordinance amending ordinance 2-8 entitled an ordinance continuing certain positions fixing salary ranges therefore and setting forth certain regulations for the implementation of these ranges for askme local 2286 senior radio dispatcher are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve I have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzales yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried ordinance 24-22 an ordinance of the city of Trenton in county of Mercer New Jersey amending ordinances to resend excuse me to resend special assessment in connection with lead service line replacement project are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried ordinance 24-23 an ordinance authorizing excuse me an or an ordinance authorizing the honorary Street naming of New Rose Street to Bishop Joseph and Mary Ravenel way Madam [Music] president are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time is this wait a minute [Music] wait hit the button my name is Van Brown I live at 27 South Eastfield Avenue Trenton New Jersey one uh 086 18 and I want to say with respect to the ordinance I'm glad to see a bishop or someone representing the church being honored in this blessed City New York uh excuse me Trenton is a blessed City and I'm [Music] exhilarated tonight from hearing from you all that I have heard from of all the energy of everybody coming together for the greater good of the city and for our lives here and it's just I'm just so excited there's things that has to be done that have to get done and resources and all that but here's the good news it's going to get done I am very confident and I want to encourage you all that it is going to get done because this is the capital city of New Jersey New Jersey Trenton houses the capital city of the entire State we gonna get what we need because it represents New Jersey this is the the the this is where the state meetings are hell this where the dignitaries come to Trenton so we're going to have everything we need I just want to encourage you I've been praying and just believing this and seeing all kinds of exciting things and and the beautiful thing is I'm seeing the manifestation of it play out with the the homes that are being these longstanding properties that that are dilapidated Beyond repair they have to be taken down that's happening sat for 30 years and more so so we're doing it it's just we're we're collectively have you know we're GNA have to do it collectively like we're doing doing and uh it'll get done it's don't it's it has to get done in fact I'll put it this way it's already done already we're just waiting for the manifestation of it so be encouraged thank you yeah and thank you God bless you all thank you so much for your service and your diligence and the stuff you do beyond what your Council duties require you I'm G mind the time and God bless you guys thank you so you are there any other members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing n man president if you want to ask for a motion to approve wait a minute councilwoman Edwards had a question I think I believe at the beginning of the meeting we said that this was supposed to be moved to First reading from the second reading because of the correction in the name has that changed since no they're gonna leave it still on second reading it's still second reading Mr K so it should be move to First [Music] reading I'm sorry this originally started out it wasn't done correctly it was submitted by one of the uh I believe department heads or division heads it was done as a resolution not as an ordinance it wasn't worded correctly so we picked up on it today this afternoon and we redid it so now it conforms with the ordinance on the temporary honorary names of streets Etc so it's fine to introduce tonight is it fine to stay on that second reading I understand what you're I understand what she's saying we are at second readings and public hearings so what she is saying is that this should be a wait we introduc did we hold it it can't be a second reading because we didn't right it needs to be introduced as an ordinance it wasn't introduced as an ordinance before it was introduced was it it was passed was it passed as a resolution or nothing was done on for I believe this had to be turned into an ordinance go ahead Scott yeah we have to introduce it tonight then for my recollection this issue was taken care of before the last meeting and it was introduced last meeting but I guess I would ask for you to confirm that but that's my recollection then and it would be on second reading tonight what I originally thought was that this was hold on a second what I originally thought I thought this was was this covered as an ordinance prior and then it was this the the Miss title was never an ordinance before tonight it came in as a resolution that's what it is then because it came in as a resolution prior it's supposed to be a resol it's supposed to be an ordinance and the councilwoman is correct this should be listed for first reading thank you councilwoman welcome it is first reading you're right thank you councilwoman we don't have enough loyers here to pick up on it glad you did it I'm glad I took business law thank you the clerk will take that one on the chin too hold on one second so with that being said Madame President we will move this to First reading I'm sorry huh so can provide a lot of clarity if you guys let me jump in so the first [Music] no okay all okay we're gonna introduce it tonight yes we will introduce this today thank you again uh councilwoman I appreciate it and we'll move on Madame President uh moving on with the consent agenda consistent does this have to go what's up does this have to go back to First re like what do we doing with this are we just by we will simply I'll simply read this resolution and introduce it for first by title this evening for first reading correct right okay thank you thank you uh Madam president we've reached the point of consent agenda consent agenda now consists of resolutions 24-8 1118 120 121 122 123 124 12 5 127 [Music] 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda item so named by Mr Garcia so moved second second thank you roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kber yes Council frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried moving on to roll call resolutions resolution 24- 1119 resolution authorizing settlement of a civil action in a matter of westner D morenzi versus city of Trenton in a total amount of $75,000 may have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes and council president Feliciano yes motion carried moving on to resolution 20 I'm sorry ordinates first reading I'll do ordinance first reading after that thank you res resolution 24-1 126 resolution amending resolution 24-23 designating Trenton development 1176 excuse me 11756 LLC as redeveloper of various properties 44 Brewing Avenue 317 319 321 323 St Joe's Avenue and 14 General green Avenue and further designating Trenton Development 11756 LLC as redeveloper of 28 Hart Avenue and to authorize the execution of a Redevelopment and purchase agreement for those properties located within North Clinton Avenue and Hermitage Avenue Redevelopment areas for the total purchase price of $63,000 Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve or no I'm sorry it's stable now I apologize right I didn't know where we were going okay yeah that's already been tabled for that that's right this is tabled now I'm sorry I didn't kill my last note I apologize that's why I just was waiting quietly hold on a second I'm like wait a minute I apologize for that in any of that so now we have an ordinance for first reading correct yes yes okay thank you so we have an ordinance for first reading ordinance 24-23 ordinance authorizing the honorary name of Joseph and Mary Ravenel way to New Rose excuse me the honorary Street naming of New Rose Street to Bishop Joseph and Mary Ravenel way this was recently [Music] corrected and Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve that ordinance motion to approve so mooved second thank you councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried thank you okay bless bless you bless you and Madam president I believe that is all the items we have on the agenda this evening may have motion to adjourn mov second all say I I any opposed thank you meeting ajour 641