okay everyone we're about to get started if we can find our seats silence our cell phones like I am doing greatly appreciate it all right good afternoon everyone we are on the record today is Monday the 20th day of May in the year 2024 this is a city council Caucus meeting of the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 4M start the clock on my cell phone is showing 4:01 p.m. May I have a roll call for the commencement of this caucus council person Ridley is not here yet council person priner council person Bano is not here yet yet council person Cay is not here yet council person Solomon is not here and council person Gilmore council person rera here and council president wman here we have three council members in attendance at 41 p.m. remember this is a caucus so I do not need a quorum no action is taken at the Caucus meeting on behalf of council president wman and members of the municipal Council in accordance with New Jersey public laws of 1975 chapter 231 the open public public meetings act also known as the Sunshine Law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the poting on the bulletin board the first floor City Hall the annual notice which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the municipal Council for the calendar year 2024 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Thursday November 30th 2023 in addition at its time its preparation the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday May 17 2024 at 7:44 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation Council and local newspapers and posted on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law council president I'm going to turn it over to you good afternoon our first director director Shay good evening council president council members the Department of Public Safety has one resolution for your consideration tonight and then I'm going to stand by with Greg while we talk about the deescalation center resolution and the first resolution tonight is resolution 24- 394 it's agenda item 10.31 it's a resolution authorizing the award of a contract to The Institute for forensic psychology PC for psychological evaluations of 100 police recruits for the Department of Public Safety Division of police we're not putting in a class of 100 this is a rolling contract that'll be available for the next 100 people being evaluated questions next dor KS director K good evening president wman members of the council um myself and director Shay we have an ordinance 2439 3.2 is the first reading this ordinance will establish fees associated with the use of the city's Public Safety Training deescalation Firearms range by outside law enforcement agencies city has received numer numerous inquiries from law enforcement agencies relative to the use of the firearms training range and classrooms in a deescalation center this ordinance will codify The Following fees for usage the sum of $600 per session for the use of the Firearms range and a sum of $200 per session for use of the classrooms also located at the facility and the second one is resolution 24388 10.25 resolution will authorize the execution of a Cooperative agreement between the city of Jersey City and the county of Hudson to authorize the use of the public City's public safety training deescalation facility for training purposes in exchange for training Jersey City police recruits at the Hudson County Police Academy I have uh two others onto the public work side uh resolution 24396 resolution will authorize a renewal of a contract with Sims municipal recy cycling of New York LLC for the disposition of and marketing of cingle recyclable materials for the DPW division of solid waste recycling total amount of this contract is $800,000 with a temporary incumbrance of $60,000 which is available in the recycling enforcement account that was item 10.33 and the last is resolution 24399 10.36 resolution will Author awarded a contract open-ended contract to Continental Hardware Incorporated to provide Lumber and assorted building materials for the DPW division of buildings and streets total amount of this contract is $139,700 with a temporary encumbrance of $30,000 before Christine speaks I just want to uh present yeah council person Solomon is present at 4:04 PM council person bajano and Gilmore are both present at 4:05 PM we now have six council members at 405m Christine good afternoon council president members of city council I have one item for your consideration um ordinance 3.11 that's ordinance 24-0 48 this is an ordinance authorizing a lease of a city-owned theater uh at 151 Bay Street to the Provost Performing Arts company a New Jersey nonprofit for the purpose of providing culturally enriching experiences to the Jersey City community Through the Arts I'd like to point out that this is an organization that was previously created and outlined in the original Powerhouse Arts District Redevelopment plan created in 2004 and has been referred to as the nonprofit through all of this um through the years and so this is clarifying that the lease will be with this organization questions thank you Laura good afternoon council members I'm here for resolution number 24 384 item number 1021 a resolution to cancel a portion of the 2021 and 2022 real estate taxes on the BL 2022 601 lat two alha the property located at 61 Kerney Avenue due to the consolidation black 22601 and lat one through five five LS were part of the combine consolidation into the new lat 1.01 for 2022 tax list the F was supposed to be deleted from the tax list but only one remain open so I'm requesting the municipal Council to cancel the taxes for the first and second quarter for 2021 and 2022 real estate taxes in the amount of $1,364 and6 you you said these Lots were they were Consolidated yes were five Lots combined into one is that the church um is that by duckin Donuts yeah that gotta so it's that it's that big lot the church and then the next slot it was part of yes it was five LS so one the l two was omitted from the delion so yes that was part of the F LS and they can solidated all of them I will confirm the address with you but U I think that's part of the church the fets I if anyone don't have no questions on that do have um addition tax related questions while we have you here um you're familiar with the 955 houses correct yes um so it's come to my attention that they're putting they're putting the homeowners in a regular tax bracket which mean they're going to charge them the regular rate correct it's kind of complex explanation I will be happy to follow with you if you give me the property address I have somebody for the Community Development de is here so I was working with Deja and those properties um I don't know de you want to come and talk to we can talk to that offline it's not on yes because I I was not prepared so I had to see which properties are you referring to because some of them are with the city program and some with the state so it would be something that if you provide me the address I would be happy to explain you if be part of it as well I would like for you to meet with all of them because all of them have the same issue yeah regardless of as a state program or state all have the um same issue so if you guys if we could just set up a meeting to explain to them exactly what's going on yes I mean just show me an email and we'll be happy to schedule an appointment I didn't hear from any of you related to the 955 before because I know I was working with a Community Development about this and again it's a state and a city program so it is yes we reassess some properties because a restriction expir so it's nothing in the Restriction stating about the city not to reassessing the property after the period expire so I can explain you more um when you when we set up an appointment okay thank you thank you Central Avenue Sid done uh good morning council president Wan and members of the city council uh on behalf of its 450 members Central Avenue's Sid trustees request your support for for the Cid's next uh fiscal year budget uh for July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 which will be on the city council agenda this Wednesday May 22nd and that' be resolutions 24 365 and 24366 this budget was vetted and approved unan unanimously by Central Avenue Sid members at its annual meeting of Corporations held on March 20th uh SIDS are a tool for local stakeholders to adjust to the changing Marketplace and business Landscapes among other things with your support Central Avenue Sid hopes to continue this tradition as the organization enters its 32nd year of operations thank you thank you Paul before Paul speaks I just want to Mark council person Ridley present at 4:11 PM so we now have seven council members present at 411 go ahead Paul thank you uh good evening uh council president council members I have two resolutions for your consideration this evening first is 10.13 this is a resolution uh authorizing the acceptance of a grant that funds uh staff at the city Clinic uh for hve STD services and I also have item number 10.24 this is a resolution for an MOA between New Jersey City University and uh and Health and Human Services to allow us to bring on uh nursing interns to assist with different divisions throughout the department question question next one good you only have one two were two that was 1013 and 10.24 I didn't mean to talk over you oh no that's okay sorry all right thanks good evening Madame council president council members I have two resolutions for proposal this evening the first one is agenda number 10.7 it is to authorize the city of Jersey City to accept a donation of cat carriers for the value of $1,840 from local pet store Hound about town and my second resolution is agenda number 10.29 resolution number 24- 392 it is authorizing the solicitation of either informal quotations or a request for proposal for a concession contract to advertise pet food products and distribute literature at City run shelter in exchange for Value that may include provisions of dog food this is a food vendor contract with hills Science Diet it sorry about that so I think I only have one left for you one or two um first is item number 4.4 second reading yeah it's on the Montgomery Gardens tax exemption believe all the I think the developers attorneys then we're here at the last meeting are there any additional questions on this one okay uh the other one is item 3.1 that is uh ordinance number 24-3 8 this is basically changing some language in our city code about security guards at multi-tenant uh buildings just to clarify some language that seem to be confusing to the public let me ask you a question could we um I'm getting a lot of complaints especially in the senior buildings concerning the security every place I've been going they have a cons security concern I know based on it says 75 units then they have to require uh physical security guard um could we lower it I think we probably can we'll look into that for it but we can probably do that all right because I'm getting a lot of complaints I I do want to ask if um just can you summarize sort of what the the amendment is going to do yeah sure one of it puts in a definition of a uniformed security guard so there's no longer any ambiguity about who's supposed to provide security services in a building um and the other sets forth a process for scheduling reinspection if you want to get an exemption from having a security guard in the building and which agency in our city is going to be responsible for granting the exemptions it's Public Safety okay because I think that's the issue that we've had in the past and but people see the ordinance or they see the part of the municipal code that requires a security guard they believe their building doesn't meet the code or meet the meet the what's required and then we ask if an exemptions been granted and and it's not like a clear list of you know what buildings have been granted exemptions when they've been granted exemptions and then who within Public Safety is responsible for telling us what exemptions have been granted yeah that part would be purely administrative so we could fix that easy enough yeah and I don't know if if while we're amending the ordinance if would makes sense but it' just be great to be like you know here is the list of buildings and here's the date the exemption was granted so we can all just be clear about when an exemption has or has not been granted that could be done okay thanks thank you afternoon council president council member um I'm presenting from uh the municipal court with a community Court program on resolution 24 uh- 397 item number 10.34 um this is actually a resolution to amend a prior resolution 24145 that was approved on March 6th um awarding uh Department of Justice Grant funds to NJIT to develop software for uh research purposes of the community Court um due to circumstances outside of our control the service agreement contract did not start as planned and so this is a resolution modifying the service dates it's a total of 32 dates uh 32 weeks in total so we just needed to push back the payment dates and that's what this outlines thank you good afternoon council president and council member i h on behalf of EDC I have two items 10 10.22 and 10.23 resolution 24 385 and resolution 386 the first one is authorizing the submission of the application to the Urban Enterprise Zone for our admin fiscal 25 budget just can you summarize the the main pieces of the budget proposal sure for the admin it's we have three staff members and as well as we're going to hire our office administrator web designer H security cost web management all of our operating expenses for EDC basically and and what percentage of the staff budget is covered by the uee versus other donations pretty much still with between admin and projects 100% is going to you easy the second one 10.23 uh submitting an application for the small business incubator year two and this will not exceed 500,000 and it's the line items to run the incubator we'll be moving in within the next month hoping to open it in July and these these will cover cost costs to operate the small incubator till we're fully op till fully operational I have something not about this so last two weeks ago asked director Shay and he he left quickly but uh just we know that there guys have been working together to try to get the off-duty program restarted I just want to ask if you had a quick update on where things stood on that front well we've um they signed the agreement and actually the agreement is going to have to come back to the council with the police that's going through now so that that I'll be back again to show that to you because that has to be Council approved uh I believe the voucher is on the meeting CL claims list for Wednesday so we have the money in place we're just and we're just waiting for that agreement to be signed and to go through all the officers they've already assigned to the SIDS got it so are we on track to have that agreement for for the next meeting in June yes okay yes and then once that's signed the program can start basically well sh's not here but from what I understand they never stopped okay they it's just what we could assign to uee councilman U specific post uh will uh be effectuated as soon as the Agreements are done uh and talking to director Shay there is some still post existing in the areas right but the ones that are particular to the uee funding uh will be launched uh by by June or within June okay great yeah thank you have a good night good afternoon council president council members I'm have one item for your consideration resolution 24- 398 item 10.35 and that's a resolution authorizing the award of contract to Quality electrical construction for the sports lighting and scoreboards maintenance at numerous ball fields for the Department of recreation and Youth Development Division of Park me uh Joe when are you going to get the lights fixed in the Persian field that's not part of this contract I know well you given out contracts for other things how about a contract for that I'm getting my back broken because the Persian field with all the problems going on up there and it's not right this has been going on for months Joe I'm not blaming you but something has to be done we can't hear you I would just say that um DC director thank you thank you councilman very quickly councilman if the question is about the overhead lights at the persing pool we are very close with the environmental review being fully complete through Division of Community Development and those those funds should be ready to roll as soon as that environmental review is done so we're hopeful on a quick turnaround there but lenda this has been going on for months and months and it's affecting the seniors and affecting a lot of people up in the area there and it should have been taken care of three months ago four months ago takes that long to get the federal funding lined up councilman been working on it almost there also um director with regards to to what is those lights on like different grids because every time I go by the only lights that's seen to work is the baseball lights and the soccer fail lights and I know when which Park are you talking about Frank Barry Lane what Barry Lane Park so there just to to let everybody know there is a problem underground with the skate park and once we get the contract back in place then we'll have them address that it is on on a timer but the thing I was the first person to work in Barry Lane par all of those lights were on the same grid so what they were rewired or something I used to cut the lights on sometimes when a time went click in right councilman you're listen I think we're a little bit beyond here on the the question is are there different Lighting systems in a park like barine you bet there's PSC and lights that they're responsible for there's city lights that our electricians are responsible for there's large stick lights that are on a different system with regards to sports lighting so there in every Park there's a lot of things going on sometimes we need the electricians from a company like Quality Electric whether it's on the sports lighting and that's something covered sometimes we need City electricians to help with things sometimes like the persing pool we have to find a different company to help because it's beyond the ability of our city electricians so we're doing everything we can at Recreation we don't have any electricians right so I don't know that we're the best people to answer your question but when we find out that lights are out somewhere we give it to the right entity to get it fixed well I think John you're the ba if if if Recreation is deficient in addressing lightting and public parks then I I think we need to have the conversation because I don't know this it just amazes me how lights I used to work in that Park all of the inner lights that for the interior of the park the sporting Fields were all on the same grid now the lights have been out people have been complaining since daylight savings and you get more uh sunlight or whatever that they haven't been able to um enjoy playing in the Parks namely Barry Lane utor Park and Bayside Park that I'm aware of in that Barry Lane specifically the sports lighting there is musco lights that are all under warranty so we actually find out from the um uh Redevelopment excuse me when the musco lights are out at Barry Lane so you guys don't know that through the company so no one is so y'all don't know the lights been out for the last couple months the only lights that we're aware of are the the uh skate park and oton is not under a sports lighting contract it's just the parks that have ball fields so this ordinance for your consideration the resolution is is basically for the sports lighting so that would be uh basketball courts baseball fields that's different from than than the other issues in other Parks all right so I'll take it as nobody didn't know you know now when can we expect lights to be at those three jurisdictions autom Park Berry Lane Park and Bayside Park the basketball courts Bayside Park is is under Sports lighting Autobon Park is not because there is no Sports lighting there that that no Fields so as soon as this resolution is passed then I will talk to the vendor and get them out there because the the previous vendor was very responsible I'm sure this one will be also and it's our job to be fiscally responsible and this this vendor I I got a good review on him from the county who uses him and what about Barry Lane again as soon as you guys this one is for B Lane too yes we'll reach out to Quality and have them check their system if there's any lighting issues with the bulbs from musco at The Big Field at Barry Lan say that again I can't hear you are you talking about The Big Field I'm talking about the overhead lights that illuminates the park where the basketball court is at I could take care of that with no problem once once this done then I can contact them but we can reach out to MUSC and find out if there's any kind of error signals that they're getting on their end sometimes times it's as simple as a breaker so if if somebody if a breaker trips they may not see that on their end as an outage so if somebody reports that to us and then something simple where they don't see an outage it's it's more than likely a breaker thank you thank you Deja good afternoon everyone I have a couple of resolutions for you today I'm going to start with 10.15 that's resolution number 24- 378 and it's a resolution for the municipal Council to authorize the business administrator to execute the discharge of a mortgage encumbering 67 Bidwell Avenue um in 2010 the homeowner borrowed $22,000 as a part of the H program to make Home Improvement repairs and pursuant to the mortgage this indebtedness is a deferred payment no interest mortgage and at the end of the fifth year after signing the mortgage it shall be forgiven within its iry and all conditions have been satisfied under the mortgage and the city is obligated to discharge the next one I have for you is 10.16 and that's resolution 24379 and it's a resolution of requesting Municipal Council to authorize the business administrator to discharge the mortgage encumbering 133 macadoo Avenue um in 20 2006 the home homeowner borrowed $111,000 to make repairs to their property and pursuant to the mortgage it is a deferred payment no interest mortgage and upon the fifth year after signing it it shall be forgiven within its entirety and all conditions under the mortgage have been satisfied and no repayment is due and the city is obligated to discharge um the next one I have for you is 10.17 and it is again uh providing authorization for the business administrator to execute the discharge of a mortgage encumbering 32 Yale Avenue and in 1999 the homeowner borrowed $40,000 um for a vacant building initiative firsttime home buyer program and purum it to the repayment schedule 0% of the loan is due to the city if any resale occurs after the 10th year and all conditions under this mortgage have been satisfied and the city is obligated to discharge this mortgage right the next item that I have for you is 10.18 and it is a resolution authorizing the business administrator to execute a subordination agreement for the mortgages that are encumbering 448 450 Westside Avenue in Jersey City um so the owner of the properties are chatholic Charities and in 20134 14 and 2016 they received funding from the city through its Community Development block grant for public facilities so we have encumbered a loan for about 65,000 132,000 and another one for 45,000 and on December 27th of 2022 the owner did acquire and finance the purchase of another property um and it is going to require us to subordinate these mortgages for the entity de um quick question with these um loan subordinations is it depending on what program you wi um whether um the city is first or second um no if we're providing funding for the construction and things in the beginning will usually always be in the first place um if this is is a building that already exists and they had a mortgage in place we usually always still try to put oursel back in first position this is where we're in that first or second position we're in first and second because we encumbered two mortgages on this particular property about getting the request for us to bump down because they're getting a new mortgage layered on top so that is the case for this so we're in first and second and we'll be bumping down to second and third to allow their new primary mortgage to have Premier position and that is typically a requirement of anyone seeking outside financing they do have to apply for a mortgage subordination and we review the reasons why it would be necessary and if it's not beneficial for the city DCd does not authorize okay and the last one that I have for you is 10.19 and that is a resolution authorizing the execution of um an amendment to a subrecipient agreement with the police activity league for a rehabilitation project at 163 o Bergen Road here in Jersey City for grant funding coming from our community development block grant for public facilities so um this is a project where um the building is in dire need of repairs and it needed a new roof on the facility um when we initially went out and awarded this contract the quote that we got and what we came to council for was for $94,000 um but after additional due diligence and seeing what was actually needed for us to get this done and following those Federal requirements of having Section 3 workers and Davis bacon requirements on site it did increase the project cost so we are coming back to you now um requesting authorization to increase this contract award to $159,800 have something CT director so not not about this but just uh wanted to ask you a couple months ago when we were before the affordable housing trust committee uh we were uh presenting in the committee authorized hiring someone to develop the spending plan and I just wanted to ask if you could provide us with an update on that yes so I have been able to reach out to the consultant her name is Beth mcmanis and she has responded back to me and provided me with preliminary details for the quote it's under um the bidding threshold so I will not have to go out and get other quotes so we are moving forward with Beth um I have a meeting with her this week to go over additional framework of what I'm looking to receive back in the spending plan great thank Youk you good afternoon Council I have two items uh the first being resolution 24422 item 10.59 that's just another resolution authorized in temporary Appropriations for the temporary budget bringing the total to 341 million which is approximately 47% of the budget we introduced last week okay and the second item is ordinance 2447 item 3.10 that is uh appropriating $60 million for Capital Improvements on and issuing bonds or notes in the amount of 57 million with a $3 million down payment in this year's budget which is already included in the introduced budget you received but I there is a a memo that's going to be going to the council from director gandulla with more of a specific breakdown on the larger purposes here um but if there's any general questions about the ordinance I could handle now part partly a legal question I understand why we don't um put the specific line items in the public because there has to be bids so we don't want folks to know what we're budgeting so we be able to have a closed session to discuss the allocations I don't know if that's we're allowed to do that could be is a legal question just because you know we'll have to check to see if it falls under the exemption to have the closed session because I just say you know obviously we we see the the very broad allocations here but not the specifics and it's hard to advance it without us being able to kind of understand what what being proposed why what why can't we just have a closed session I mean isn't that our our legal right okay there's a list of enumerated exceptions to the open public meetings act that authorize closed session meetings I'm not sure if budget is one of those so let me uh just I'm GNA pull it up right now try to get an answer the end of the meeting budet may be po Council hopefully we can have the Clos session but um just to um I hear the councilman's concerns um the way that we usually do this is um once the bond is uh well again we'll we'll have the memo with uh the projects Associated and some Associated costs um uh as we discussed numerous times the reason we don't put singular items with uh dollar amounts is because they're all mostly bided through professional contracts and we don't want vendors bidding to what they think is allocated to the project we want them to bid it to what's competitive um but what we can do and what we usually do is for each purpose we create a separate Ledic account within the budget system that shows each um project an Associated uh uh dollar amount and then we could provide reports to the counsil on dollars that were draw down or not drawn down or uh how far we are along with a project so that would be an alternative that I'd work with the council with but um if there's room for a close session we can add one of those as well thank you afternoon council president and council members three items this evening for your consideration first being item number 10.26 resolution 24- 389 it's the resolution authorize the issuance of a Redemption Amusement game license to RPM uh the basic need for the resolution is for the business to apply for the state license having City approval ahead next one okay next is agenda number 10.27 resolution 24-39 it's a resolution providing local support for Mimi dank world LLC to operate a classifi retail cannabis business at 172-174 Kennedy Boulevard it was approved by the CCB on May 8th 2023 the planning board on May 7th 2024 it does have an mou in place um she'll be given away 2% of their gross profit and we don't have any distance issues last is item number 10.28 it's resolution 24- 391 it's a resolution of the city council of Jersey City amending resolution 23- 853 to continue the imposition of the moratorium on accepting applications for class 5 cannabis retail businesses it's extending it through July 31st I mean I'm just wondering at what point are we gonna either we gonna go with it or just gonna keep postponing it I think uh the position of the council was to get a better feel on once some of these businesses are open and what the markets will bear that's why we don't want to continue to accept more applications but we still have quite a few in the pipeline oh it's still l in um as of right now we only have nine businesses that are open with over 30 that are pending at some point waiting for their state approvals thank welcome to pot city thank you evening council president council members I have one item on the agenda for you tonight um it's agenda 10.30 resolution 24393 uh it's a resolution rejecting the lowest bidder here construction um and authorizing an award of contract to the second lowest responsive responsible bidder spinello companies U for City Hall Foundation you go on to the SEC what happened with the first lowest sir I knew that question was coming up so after a combined review uh with the Consulting architect purchasing and the Law Department uh we it was determined that the lowest bidder was not responsive and responsible um you know this is an important project that we we need to try to move forward as quickly as possible based on the conditions of the foundation and so after further review by all the entities we decided it was in City's best interest to go with number two um also I think we should know that there's a few other items construction their paperwork was not 100% in order and um their financial report wasn't very well received when we reviewed it with the Consultants so combining all of that together U the second lowest bidder looked better um and finally um it should be noted that and I should have told you this first but the lowest bidder was more than half lower more than 50% less than the estimate from the architect so we're the second bidder is still lower than what the estimate was we just have a better feeling for getting the job done would it have made more sense to put it back out to rebid it you don't have to um you could end up just getting the same bids again from the second lowest bidder the the other bidder might change their quote they might not but if in the interest of expediency you just want to go with the second lowest bidder that's perfectly legal we have in our general bid Contracting language for this type of project that if you significantly under bid we can reject the contract so that's what's happening here just out of curios was is it was it a third bidder how far was the third bidder four biders actually uh the numbers were 800,000 1.1 1.4 1.6 and the architect's estimate was 1.9 we really got good numbers for bid project yes okay all right well um since we're talking about these type of projects um I'm still waiting on who was the project manager for the MLK Grant um I know Finance have answered their portion if Barker um if you have any update on because I just need to try to get some questions answered and I don't want to keep prolonging this every time they bring it up for vote I got to do my research over again I just really want simple questions answers as it relates to how the money was spent why the money was spent work was done outside of the scope of work how that happened just like simple questions like that and I haven't been able to get any answer so is those questions we answered previously but but is was there a new question information that you're waiting no on on the email thread Finance clearly articulated that they couldn't answer three five and six or whatever the reference reference numbers were that they couldn't answer it because it wasn't within their jurisdiction I guess they can only answer to the allocation of the funds not the actual execution of the grant okay so I mean I don't know if the person is still there I don't know if there's a paper betrayal I'm just trying to get answers okay I just want to make sure I'm understanding your question you're looking to you would like to know who um in the city managed the spending of the funds and is that right I need to know that project yes who was the project manager all right and if he or she can come or if he or she can answer the questions if that person is gone is there paper trail um because I'm just perplexed as to we're sending money back and there's things that could have been done within the perimeters of the actual Grant I.E the things that they've done they could have just did it across the whole Corridor of of MLK but for whatever reason they chose not to um there's several intersections that could have used traffic lights none was installed in fact two was installed outside of the designated area so I I just need those questions to be answered okay um ba would you like me to get into those things now or provide the answer separately why don't we take a look at the councilman's request again and make sure we thoroughly answer each point got it way it's in writing as well and also speaking of in writing um I came a little late excuse me but I do remember director Shay saying that they were going to send us the report from the what is that assessment that they did on Bishop Street do we have a copy of that right you're right councilman he did say that I'll get that absolutely before Wednesday okay any other questions on this resolution thank you okay thanks me good afternoon council president and council member we have um agenda item 10.38 resolution 2441 a resolution awarding a contract to Accurate DBA Career Builder Employment Services LLC they uh conduct our background checks for all of our employees does a background check take it could take upwards of two to three weeks uh two to three weeks depending on the volume that we present them so right now for example with the seasonal hires uh we have a lot of them coming up because of the summer programs so that will slow down the process just a bit so I anticipate about two to three weeks before we can get the final results from career building and typically how far are they gone back Michel in its entirety or the last seven years 10 years I generally it goes back the whole uh course of a person's life post juvenile uh record post ju okay so it really takes us about maybe two months to hire somebody I'm just trying to get how long it takes us to really hire someone it depends uh you know it depends on what the uh the situation is but it does take time to get a backline background clearance okay thanks Jimmy John Mercer good afternoon Council I have two items uh resolution 24383 item 10.20 and this is a resolution authorizing the city tax collector to prepare and mail estimated tax bills uh since we will be unable to issue tax bills in a timely matter essentially June 14th um we just use an estimated rate to send out third quarter tax bills and item 10.41 resolution 24-44 is renewal of a competitively bid contract with Donna Hugh geranda Doria and Tomkins for accounting and auditing Services where period of one year to perform our annual audit John is this the renewal of an existing uh yes it is and this is their final renewal thank you Anda good after afterno I'm here for two resolutions today uh the first one being resolution 24- 373 agenda 1010 this is the resolution reaffirming the commitment and objective of the Jersey City Green Team uh this green team uh the environmental commission serves as the Jersey City Green Team uh ever since September it was ever since September 10th 2014 and um this is required as per the sustainable Jersey certification process what is the Jersey City Green Team functionally it is the en Jersey City environmental commission the environmental commission serves as the Green Team and it's the environmental commission not the yes all right the next resolution is 24- 374 agenda number 1011 this is the resolution authorizing the application the BPU Community energy plan implementation grant program uh this grant uh Jersey City is seeking to apply to create a ebike incentive program okay thank you very much okay so I am here for items 3.4 and 3.5 uh the first one is a Redevelopment plan Amendment for the Jackson Hill Redevelopment plan so there are three categories of restaurants in the city category one two and three category three is a drive-thru this uh request really came from the Dunkin Donuts that's on MLK across from the annex it has a drive-thru attached to it the uh Redevelopment plan does not permit Category 3 restaurants driveth through so in order for um Mr DeMarco to actually expand his business he would need an a a variance that we call expansion of a non-conforming use which is a d variance which cannot be cognizable under the Redevelopment plan at the planning board so it requires a plan Amendment so uh just to cover all basis in case there are other drive-throughs which I believe that there are this allows for the expansion of the drive-thru buildings connected to them not necessarily the expansion or the increasing intensity of the drive-thru itself it also requires a traffic study um to go with it and we did do this um in collaboration with traffic planning so that is a 3 .4 3.5 also very simple uh Kesler uh who you may know does uh the rehabilitation they also have a long long-term care facility an overnight facility uh there are none in the area really I think the closest that they said was West Orange U so they approached us to be able to go into the building where uh the Whole Foods is on the higher floors that block is just one District within the entire Redevelopment plan so in order to allow that long-term care facility we just had to allow the use um they did ask us so we allow for long-term care facility and hospital and Kesler specifically requested that we allow for the hospital use for their licensing simply those are the only two things that I'm here for I believe the professionals and um the uh applicants people requesting the amendments are also here for both if you have questions for them okay hey T quick question with regards to the Jackson Hill Redevelopment plan um it says that uh five stories in zone one and zone three shall be dedicated 5% of all residential units um for affordable you hear me you can hear me I see you squinting I don't know if you can hear me um so so how does the io factor in if the if the the Redevelopment area designate of 5% so if I'm if I'm certain that 5% is more written in regards to a bonus you can have the fifth floor yes okay to have the fifth floor you need to do XYZ whereas you know the io is uh connected to variances or so the io could be triggered in Jackson Hill let's say if they had a rear yard setback and they wanted to encroach in that rear yard setback then it would trigger deal that way so they probably have a little bit of both is what I would assume I don't know how that would work out fici yeah and just again with regards to 3.4 um the owner have reached out he've he've done like two different Community meetings with regards to this and the community seems to be um on board with the they're making guess two driveways around yeah just yeah just the one in and out it goes in on I should know the street I see Carney Carney Carney MLK yep okay so Tanya with with 3.4 um so that driveway was that driveway established before this Redevelopment plan like how does it have a driveway now I I you know what I don't know history I kind of always remember the Dunkin Donuts being there I believe it was a JC site um and then I'm not sure I can look into it but I'm not 100% sure but um so we're just making this change for that one location right we're just making this uh Amendment for that one location we're not looking at the entire uh Redevelopment area correct in the sense that yes and no if there are other places where there are drive-throughs we're allowing for the same allowance so it's not but there has to be an existing is yeah a drive-thru attached to a commercial building and that commercial building wants to expand to build something that's permitted essentially all right but but the thing is there's I I think that's like the only type of establishment along the corridors kind of by the fault it's like the only one yeah yeah I'm just thinking that you know we've been doing a lot of work in that area right and trying to um add more um I guess more activity on that MLK Corridor with the annex being there and some other businesses that you know it might come up again or it might be good for us to kind of be flexible cuz know that particular Dunkin' Donuts everybody knows is like super busy and it cause causes a traffic jam so I think this is a good thing but um I just wanted to know what the opportunity was for more businesses that might be looking to move into the area so when we were first approached by Mr DeMarco we were very hesitant um my experience with that corner that intersection is sometimes really difficult um but he has worked with us he hired a a traffic U planning consultant we've looked at different ways to design the drive-thru so that we get people out of the street and more queuing onto the site um and hopefully that'll clear a lot of traffic there are also if you noticed um guards that are stationed yes um I I don't know if they're police officers or that's a good question I yeah basic basic they doing a good job whoever they is they drastically change um the flow of traffic right there because it was yeah and Dunkin Donuts has been helpful because they have a guy in the drivethru now in the morning similar to like Chick-fil-A but um okay so if there is another business that comes with a drive or would like to have a drive-thru in that area they would have to apply for variances or you know if there was a brand new drive-thru Category 3 restaurant they'd have to get an amendment okay um because this is again just very particular to the expansion of the fact that that drive-thru is existing thank you thank you T thank you Sean all right taking it from the top item three items 3.1 through2 what touched on early item 3.3 city ordinance 24- 040 is an ordinance of the city of Jersey City and the county of Hudson state of New Jersey authorizing the acceptance of real property identified on the tax map of the city of Jersey City as block 6004 lot 1.03 block 6005 lot 13.04 in a portion of the former 17th Street right of way also known as Cole Street Park items 3 point go ahead so um we're we're sort of the city we're accepting the park and we're going to take over maintenance for it is that right and we and are we're going to own the land or we just um yes yes okay yeah and um have our has has architecture kind of inspected the park um prior to the transfer to us um I'll find out com I know DPW had been on site but I'll I'll check if architecture has also been involved okay and um the last question is just what what does the for um the Clean cleaning of the park uh operations does um uh is that going to be 100% on us or the folks they are going to take uh some of that the you know real estate owners over there yeah so uh councilman the uh it appears that the uh the park re developers um responsible for um the soil maintenance and environmental and we'd be in charge of upkeep um so it's the priority of the administration to probably Outsource this to the third party that's been helping out with some of our Parks already um it's already under contract so we would add this to the list of of locations okay that'd be great okay items 3.4 and 3.5 were touched on earlier item 3.6 city ordinance 24- 043 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to renew the lease with Brunswick community garden also known as Jersey City Community gardening Inc for the use of block 9905 Lots 8 and9 more commonly known as 174-176 Brunswick Street for community garden item 3.7 city ordinance 24- 044 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to be renew the lease with greater neighborhood alliance for the use of block 30003 lot 45 more commonly known as 81 Garfield Avenue for community garden item 3 8 city ordinance 24- 045 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to renew the lease with Mandela Garden sponsored by the greater neighborhood alliance for the use of block 1 19503 Lot 36 more commonly known as 447 Mont Luther King Drive for a community garden item 3.9 city ordinance 24- 046 is an ordinance granting a temporary construction easement to New Jersey Department of Transportation for construction of Drainage Systems along Route 7 affecting real property owned by the city of Jersey City known as block 287 lot 5 as shown on the official tax map of the town of Carney items 3.10 and 11 were touched on earlier on to our second reading ordinances item 4.1 city ordinance 24031 is an ordinance granting an easement to Morris Carney Associates urban renewal LLC affecting real property owned by the city of Jersey City known as block 287 lot five shown on an official tax maps of the town of Carney item 4.2 city ordinance 24- 033 is and ordinance to exceed the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget appropriation limits to establish a cap Bank item 4.3 city ordinance 24-0 34s and refunding bond ordinance authorizing the issu issuance of not to exceed 8,720 th000 arrogate principal amount of refunding bonds Andor ref funding notes by the city of Jersey City and the county of Hudson state of New Jersey for the purpose of funding an emergency appropriation to pay tax appeal liabilities pursuant to njsa 48 col 446 and an emergency temporary appropriation to pay tax appay liabilities to njsa 4A col 4-20 I believe we're going to have to make a motion council members to carry this to the June 12th meeting based on the local Finance board meeting on the same day so we'll know whether we have the green light or not to move forward with this ordinance y Council uh goes before lfb prior to any action on a local level so um we'll let them administer their business and then we'll bring it forward with Council okay item 4.4 was touched on earlier and item 4.5 city ordinance 24 day 037 is an ordinance amending chapter chapters 17 5 food handling estab establishments and chapter 24 242 peace and good order of the code of ordinances of the city of Jersey City to establish regulations for third party delivery companies and food delivery drivers okay sorry can I have um two two quick things um wi for the administration um one of the first readings is with NJ doot about the Carney thing um totally separate but we're trying to get them to uh clean some graffiti uh on the um the turnpike and they they are like we they basically said uh we'll get to it when we get to it and so if we're advancing their uh you know thing to help them can we find who our contact point is that the administration's been working on and put in this graffiti cleaning request and see if they can prioritize it better then we'll get to it when we get to it absolutely councilman um I do have contact over there myself so I'll reach out but um we won't proceed with any the OT Min unless uh we're Coop fully Cooperative great thank you fully and then just on the public speaking council president we if it's okay with the administration to defer before um before the me okay with the council to defer before second readings um we have a group of kindergarten students who uh have signed up for public speaking but just in terms of timing and scheduling would like to defer their comments uh before uh the second reading ordinances so we have after that and we do the second reading ordinances we're also going to have a public hearing on the 2024 d225 Central Avenue special Improvement assessment role and budget and then we have our list of speakers which is now 51 petitions Communications will be added on the agenda any questions or comments or on the officer communication 7.1 through 7.6 our reported directors will be added on before Wednesday and we have claims and on to our resolutions item 10.1 city city resolution 24- 364 is a resolution introducing and approving the fiscal year 2025 budget of the Exchange Place Alliance special improvement district directing the city clerk to publicly advertise the budget and schedule a public hearing and directing the tax assessor to prepare to prepare an assessment role for properties within the district based upon the budget item 10 point items 10.2 and three were touched on earlier 10.4 resolution 24367 is a resolution appointing Megan L Mo Mory as a part-time judge of the Jersey City Municipal Court item 10.5 resolution 24- 368 is a resolution approving the reappointment of Jeff R Dublin to the Jersey City housing Board of Commissioners Authority sorry Housing Authority Board of Commissioners uh 10.6 resolution 24-3 369 is a resolution approving the appointment of Jennifer Moore to the Jersey City housing Board of Commissioners uh I did fail to mention we're going to have to invert the order um of the claims and resolutions we're going to approve the resolutions and make the claims the last thing that we do for the meeting and then adjourn there's a couple of uh resolutions that have to be approved before we can um approve the claims okay um 10.7 was touched St earlier 10.8 resolution 24- 371 is resolution Jersey City Medical Center celebrates 20 years item 10.9 resolution 24- 372 recognizing Brian Keith Coleman on his contributions to the city to the Jersey City Community items 10.10 and 11 were touched on earlier it's 10.12 resolution 24375 is a resolution expressing support for the healthcare workers to establish minimum staff to Patient Staffing standards item 10.13 was touched on earlier item 10.14 resolution 24377 it's a resolution to Grant veteran exemption on block 6808 Lot 12 qualifier c001 from local taxation pursuing to njaa 54 col 4-33 item 10 items 10.15 all the way through 10.31 with TCH darn earlier item 10.32 resolution 24- 395 is a resolution ratifying the award of a contract to York Telecom Corporation for the GV pilot annual account subscription under State contract for the Department of administration division of Information Technology sure got be uh just a quick typo and the title will correct for you uh okay thanks thank you next just get the camera ready um items 10.33 through 10.36 were touched on earlier item 10.37 resolution 24- 400 is a resolution of the city of Jersey City authorizing a license agreement with 577 ja JC LLC for the property adjoining the north side of the West District police precin block 17902 lot one so hold on um so we are we are acquiring that property um John the the empty lot uh no councilman this is uh to install a safety uh fence adjacent to it I believe oh so so block it okay yeah okay item 10.39 resolution 24-42 is a resolution authorizing the payment of claims submitted by Grant night gr right management for providing Federal grant compliance and reimbursement Services due to the delinquent and failure reporting by the Department of Public Safety item 10.40 resolution 24403 is a resolution authorizing the award of a contract to the Jersey City Medical Center an affiliate of RWJ Barnabas to provide basic life support BLS ambulance services can I can I for for for who's this 1040 so councilman um this is for ambulance services uh throughout the city the former contract has been expired for quite some time um there was one bid uh they're the sole respondent um we did go out twice for it um so we're basically just renewing the expired contract um the terms are Prett close you need an answer like uh can we speak about it we can talk about details offline absolutely okay and just for the record I just wanted to record council person Cay present at 510 PM so we have eight council members presid at 510 410 Shan is uh was 510 sorry nice try um item 10.41 was touched on earlier item 10 point 40 items 10.42 through 1058 oh she's already ready okay I'm going to turn it right over to Corporation Council thank you Sean um council president council members we have 1042 to 1058 U 1042 is um a resolution authorizing a settlement agreement we talked about this in closed session if anybody has any questions um this is the class action lawsuit it needs to be submitted to the class participants after we approve it um 1043 and 1044 um these are contracts ratifying and then renewing Professional Services with a law firm uh this matter is scheduled for trial in July uh 1045 is um another Professional Services award um in a litigation matter where we are conflicted out and need outside Council uh 1046 is uh resolution ratifying Professional Services for tax appeals any contract for um representation in tax appeals they are not getting any new cases this is just the law firms handling the cases that have been ongoing for several years and have not ma uh made it to resolution yet we've brought um every tax appeal we can inhouse uh besides these ones that are outstanding with the firms um 1047 is another litigation matter where we're required to outside Council because we are conflicted out uh 1048 um is a res another litigation matter where we need to get outside Council for one of the defendants 1049 that will be a final bill that case has been resolved um on to 1050 1050 and 1051 those are both um ratifying and renewing those will be to cover final bills that case was also resolved uh 1052 is an uh also a matter that's been resolved that will be a contract um to pay a final bill 1053 this is um a contract for outside Council to assist with the Sixth Street embankment that's been ongoing for several years we're hoping that um with this firm's help we can get close to a resolution um 1054 and uh 1055 are again uh Services agreements for outside Council where we're conflicted out for one of the parties and need to hire them councel and then uh 1056 and 1057 um Services agreement for tax appeals again that's just continuing appeals and paying um anything that hasn't been resolved yet and 1058 um is the contract for award to Mr Bernstein for the port side matters uh we've reviewed it this contract can go forward um and we're presenting it for the council to uh to ratify for him to represent us in that um federal and state matters no I just want to ask you a question 1053 The Sixth Street embankment this has been going on for 14 years how many millions and millions of dollars have we spent I mean this is a joke the taxpayers are really getting ripped off and the lawyers must be making up Fortune well Council we think we're we're getting close I know you've heard that before but uh I know you've heard it there's a different different avenue so I think we actually are getting close yeah but this should have been settled years and years ago right I know John what you GNA say uh but this should have been settled years ago someone quote that I would just say where there there's no um you know what's it don't don't count your chickens before they hatch type of things but I I think before the council in the near future will be some of the zoning items related to it with the hope that those are steps on the path towards settlement so it is ongoing and you know obviously it's gotten to the to the two yard line and failed a bunch of times before so you know we're just going to keep working it but I just it is like you we as a body will see things soon related to the emment hey um corporate counsil Brittney um for so there's so there's no conflict right with 56 5 7 and 58 no and we've updated I forgot to mention that there was um an issue on our end our outside Council agreement had not been updated to note that our local payto playay laws were repealed um in favor of the state's uh laws so no there's no conflict and no issue with it uh he responded to rfqs and it was a fair and open uh contract award Bry just a technical correction but important not local laws were not repealed in favor of the I was going to take it back we we had to because the the state uh eliminated ours correct corre right so wrong use of the word favor U Britney let me ask you a question you finish with um with correct with um the ones um that going out for bid how do you go out for bid when you're a reviewer attorney the only reason why I'm asking does It Go by the diversity and inclusion division like all the other departments or you just you know how do you do it I don't want to assume yes I don't know if you want yes the checklist does include it it's rfqs it goes out just like other rfqs and then we have a responsive list and it goes through all the the same steps oh okay because I know I got a concern this morning I got a call because um with different um minority U I guess law firms um they said they have not received anything too much from the city and I I don't know I don't know how you go out for bid and I just they would have to respond to the the RFQ or no he said no he said something to me that's okay go ahead but we if you have anybody specific please let me know but if they are a responsive they're put on the list for people that are available and to go back to 310 and whether or not we can go into a closed session we did look um for the exemptions where we can go into a closed session we don't see it fitting into any of them unless there's a specific statute for this one we wouldn't be able to go into a closed session so I know I believe Kyle said a memo would be forthcoming so if you have any questions about the specifics I would reach out to finance we could also work with the council president on subcommittees uh this way you know three at a time something like that so we don't violate any uh Sunshine laws right rich I got another question few minutes so you have another question go ahead Rich you got a question no no no a f a future resolution okay and last but not least item 10.60 resolution 24423 is a resolution ratifying the emergency contract awarded to CM mechanical for replacement of the recreational ice bring Chiller system and equipment at persing field ice bring for the Department of administration office of the business administrator so Council it's uh always been the initiative uh of the administration and the council obviously to uh procure uh some mechanism to get ice back in Persian field for September early October um been working with uh both the parents groups and council members to to achieve that um we've been working through Environmental Studies uh issues with the ice rink um so this resolution would accomplish uh uh procuring a uh external Chiller um which you know didn't make didn't mean much to me either a few weeks ago but now I live by it um so so basically it will bypass all the guts of the ice rink and be able to cool the ice um for the ice season um we did listen to the council uh and the public this is a shortterm um and then longterm would be part of that Capital plan that we discussed of build rehabbing and rebuilding the ice rink um we've heard numerous issues from the um uh issues with the roof um to um maybe a need for rehabbing or restructuring the way the uh locker rooms are facilitated and potentially uh a little stand there for snacks healthy snacks I I I would joh I just want to say something I'm not yelling at you John no John thank you you did a great job you and Peter and please get it done because uh people are driving me nuts yeah thank you John just just for the entire thank you councilman just for the entire council's knowledge uh uh if approved on Wednesday um we'd start immediately uh receiving uh this ice Chiller and what that basically means is they have to break it down from the location that it's at ship it to us rebuild it here upgrade the electrical systems uh sounds like a to work but as long as we get done uh as long as we start immediately uh we feel um we'll definitely have some time to first test it prior to and then um and then hopefully it's it's it's up and running for the season um I was just on to call with councilwoman prer last week about uh some additional funding opportunities for the gap of the capital projects that we're discussing so um thank the council for their efforts here and uh all the funding for this is already allocated purposed for this use thank you John thank John just FYI um 61 Carney is the public safety building I know they said something about the Consolidated Lots but 61 Cy looks like our building I don't know if they got the numbers um they probably got the address mixed up is this the easement councilman huh is this for the easement oh what they say something uh with the Consolidated Lots um for the tax which one was that oh 1021 okay councilman um I'll take a so she no just so they could take a look that was Laura I believe right Laura yes okay yeah yeah I'll take another look and um we'll amend it or pull it uh prior to Wednesday if there's an issue yeah that's item 10.20 run resolution 24- 384 to thank you for your diligence and partnership and councilman Solomon councilman boano um for tag teaming this it's so important and really appreciate you guys thank you okay may I have a motion to adjourn at 5:21 p.m second motion made by council person Rivera seconded by council person SLE all council members present by acclamation please say I we are out of here at 5:21 p.m. thank you so much everyone present and everyone watching at home remember Teamwork Makes the DreamWork have a great rest of the night and please stay safe yeah the schedule we gota we gota like start the season like eight and0 because oh yeah that's what I was about to say just Happ the end of the schedule a little rough