##VIDEO ID:KMy7l39rKS8## good morning everyone we are on the record today is Tuesday the 17th day of December 2024 this is a budget hearing for the public library with the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 10: a.m. start my watch shows 10:09 a.m. May we have a roll call for the commencement of this budget hearing council person Ridley council person priner councilman boano councilman SLE here councilman Solomon councilman Gilmore council person dejes council person Rivera and council president Waterman okay we have two Council people present at 10:09 a.m. in addition at the time of its preparation uh this meeting was notice of this meeting was disseminated on Monday December 9th 24 at 5:31 pm. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation councel and to the local newspapers so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law I understand the library is prepared to make a presentation I have submitted the council's review copies of the presentation that were submitted to me there in front of you I guess uh whoever wish your microphone is available there or if you wish to speak at the podium whatever is most uh advantageous to you here we go all right thank you good morning everyone my name is Terry Hill I am the director of the Jersey City free public library and I'll have my colleagues here with me introduce themselves I'm Charles Hatcher Director of Finance at the Jersey CP Public Library Shane Smith chief of staff for the Jersey City free public library okay so we can uh begin if you wouldn't mind turning to page two where you will see a collage of images uh so I wanted to share that just to give you a taste of the life of the Jersey City free public library and across Jersey City and uh I can confidently say that uh Jersey city has a library that it can be very proud of uh we have made uh so many uh gains and increases in our services our staffing and um the community is responding and of course asking for more and more of all the great things that we we give uh in this on this page I'm especially proud you see right in the center the gentleman playing keyboard that is uh awardwinning jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut that we hosted at the Miller Branch uh in October I believe it was and uh I was really thrilled to be able to host him here he's someone I've been following uh for for many years okay uh next page you will see a copy of our or chart uh and uh to the far left that represents all of our branches and branches that will be coming online in the next couple of years uh at the very bottom you'll see Holland Gardens uh we are a part of the Jersey City housing authorities project at Holland Gardens we'll have a a full functioning Branch there uh and then also the number of uh departments within the Priscilla Gardener main uh Library also uh in kind of the mustard color you will see um it's a kind of a new area for us except for the bookmobile we are establishing a an Outreach Department uh because we have a tremendous need for outreach to reach uh patrons who aren't able to get to our branches uh or just are in areas that you know there's not a lot of uh accessibility uh turning on over to page four so our library purpose we say that our purpose in the community is to put our community first and we do that by these four commitments to offer a welcoming spaces lifelong learning opportunities uh contribute to our community's well-being and to operate as an effective accountable organization uh next page uh uh kind of look back on our growth for 2024 uh we are at 145.5 FTE uh so we had some significant growth in staff again that's um bringing on some new branches this year as well as Staffing our Outreach department and we still have uh several vacancies that we're we're trying to fill uh as we enter 25 our collection use uh we've had a 49% increase in our ebook use uh in 20 all of 23 we had 162,000 checkouts and to date we are at 241,000 our print circulation continues to increase um uh to date we are we are approaching our preco numbers uh which are just over 400,000 for the maximum number of books that have been checked out from the library but one thing I do want to point out is we have got to get Jersey City reading uh for a city this size the number of library branches we have the size of collection we have we we are still far behind in our print circulation uh many libraries that are the size of us are are approaching a million plus checkouts per year uh I think the most I've ever seen on our stats going uh seven or eight years back is just under 500,000 so we've got some work to do there that's one reason that we are always con we are always promoting the library pushing people to sign up for library cards as well uh this year we brought on three new facilities we have our community I mean our Communipaw branch on Johnson Avenue and also I want to mention the Central Avenue space that we have where our Learning Center has a staff and they offer classes there as well we do offer classes that are specifically for the seniors in the senior center there at uh Central Avenue and the third space that we open is our uh cre a of Arts Center which is at the corner of Jersey Avenue and 10th Street uh by Hamilton Park so that space while it's not a full functioning Branch it is a program only space uh but it is quite popular now we are offering uh art classes there are guitar classes yoga classes there the Pavonia Branch also offers uh programming in that space as well uh Outreach and programs January of 23 we implemented uh an expectation of our branches to provide at least three programs a week in 24 we're averaging at least eight per week per location so there's been a lot of growth uh in that area uh our Learning Center which you may have heard of we are now at500 students uh we have waiting lists for people still wanting to enroll uh many of those students are in our ESL classes but we also offer classes on digital literacy and Workforce Development uh in October we also launched uh an early literacy program with ps24 and that program is uh specific to getting children reading on grade level by third grade we have uh one staff member who is dedicated to working with the school and we are offering uh after school tutoring and we will also be offering ESL classes to the caregivers of those students uh starting end of January or early February all right we can uh turn on over so 25 um some of our opportunities and priorities for 25 uh our salary benefits of course will be increasing uh with our increased number of Staff but also uh needing to increase our uh investment in professional development as we know our there is a lot of misinformation that uh is taking over our country and it has always been the library's responsibility to Prov provide good information to the public and we really need to double down on that and making sure our staff's up todate uh and and have the skills to to guide the public in that way also the role of artificial intelligence is another big one that we really need to uh be providing education to the community on uh anywhere from our phones to our TVs uh so you you probably all know that any topic you talk about and you pick up your phone you get ads for it on Facebook uh so we need to have an understanding of of why that's happening to us as well uh collections technology uh making sure we have a responsive electronic and print collection uh when we really first started looking at our ebooks back in 22 I believe it was we had an average weit time of about 130 days to get some of the popular titles on ebooks and now that is down to about 30 days which is just below the national average so we've had to heavily invest there many of our um new library users who are just engaging with us um are heavy digital users they really want access to the ebooks so we have to make sure that uh we are providing that access because the the access model is a little different uh for ebooks usually you buy one copy and only one person can check it out at a time once you check it out 10 times you have to buy the book again so it get becomes quite expensive uh there are some platforms that do allow simultaneous use but for the most part on overdrive if you're familiar with that uh the the use is very limited and and quite costly as well uh expanding availability of hotspots uh so uh people can have access to the internet that's another uh uh big one for us and we have been wanting to implement RFID technology for our collection for a couple of years and and we're we're keeping this on the list as a priority and hopefully we can make it happen but essentially this is tagging each of our items uh which helps us with uh inventory control but it also on the user end makes the checkout process a lot more simple because you can check out a stack of books at once instead of them having to be scanned individually as well uh maintenance uh and our facilities uh our library is a space and it is our um most in demand service because people need space to be to work uh to learn and uh which really defines the purpose of of a library in in a community we are also looking at expanding our service hours in 25 and that's specifically to our small neighborhood branches currently those branches operate Monday through Friday from 9 to 5: p.m. and we are looking to expand the hours of those branches uh to match the large branches so they would be open at least one evening per week and also on Saturdays as well uh new bookmobile uh should be here in Jersey City in March keeping our fingers crossed uh the manufacturer is way behind on uh on getting the vehicle ready um so the last update we received is that it should be here in March um so we're looking forward to getting that on the road on the road expanding our mobile services as well and as I mentioned before uh to get full Staffing for our Outreach Department uh will be increasing staff there um and learning center of course digital literacy Workforce Readiness uh we also offer dropin job search assistance that the public can take advantage of also so let's uh move on to uh page seven we've got a number of critical Capital needs uh we do have the ren ation coming up for the Priscilla Garder main library um which that will be funded um partially by uh a state Grant and uh matching funds from the city and I believe this dates back to 2020 is that right um one of our biggest challenges with the renovation from Priscilla Gardner main is the temporary space that we'll need while the building is closed uh and as you know Finding space for library downtown is is challenging but we do need to find some space where we can offer some temporary services uh at least access to a limited collection computer access and those kinds of things uh we were fortunate to be awarded uh a $600,000 grant from the New Jersey historic trust to work on the facade of the gardener main library so um while that's financially going to be a big help it's it's also quite an honor to be selected for that because that Grant is uh quite challenging to to uh to get uh we have construction starting on um uh redoing the computer lab at the Miller Branch of course we have a need for an elevator to service all three floors of that building and also there are some extensive exterior uh issues that need to be addressed on the building uh all of the windows need to be replaced uh there's facade work that needs to be done on three sides because we were able to take care of the front of the building last year I think it was um and also a new roof on that building the Lafayette Branch will be reopening um that is we're looking at probably a reopening late January uh we've done a complete renovation of that space uh so there'll be more information coming out about the opening of that uh Branch uh Heights uh we just installed a new boiler uh there's some uh exterior staircase uh uh repairs that need to be done hbac uh I also mentioned we have the three uh branches that we've taken on um communa the creative arts center and then the Learning Center satellite on uh Central Avenue and before I forget I do want to thank the the council for your support and the mayor also for the Communipaw Branch uh because that that branch is really setting the standard for what we want all of our libraries to be like in Jersey City and just in the two months has been opened uh it has been well received by the community um and actually there there's there's been uh disagreements about use in the space and that kind of thing because so many people want to get in there but it's it's offering access to uh technologies that we don't have available in other parts of the of the city uh also you know we have a number of structural and safety issues uh refer back to Miller Branch but some of those things are the safe the same at other branches we do want to make sure we have uh all of our facilities are Ada accessible and uh the other big thing is we are in really big need of furniture upgrades because again that goes hand inand with how people use buildings now so people really need uh Furniture that's conducive to how people work and learn today uh versus uh you know just a typical table and chairs where people sit quietly and and work alone okay let's uh get into the budget categories to kind of give you some uh idea so the annual comparison by category as you see our salary benefits we're projecting will go up um we will invest a little more in collections and technology and that's primarily due to just in inflation with the print books and also the rising cost of the digital access as well uh more facilities we'll have more maintenance um cost there as well the increased demand for our programs an additional bookmobile coming online will need to invest a little more there for programs and Outreach uh Learning Center I mentioned the extensive growth we've experienced there and also taking on uh early literacy initiatives and uh then just the overall administrative costs with insurances and things like that and supplies that we need for for operations so on page 10 you will see uh our projected revenue is $17.2 million with 97% of that coming from the municipal allocation um that is uh down just a little bit from the 24 uh allocation uh our state aid is a 158 uh and then we anticipate grant funding for the Learning Center that we get from the Department of Labor um also some other revenues uh on a much smaller scale is you know interest and we get some money for County elections when we hold uh elections at the branches as well page 11 is more of a breakdown of our salary and benefits uh our anticipated growth in 25 for Staffing would be up to uh 168.5 FTE and that accounts for uh all of our posted positions and any critical backfield positions that we will need also uh increasing branch hours at our small branches as I mentioned uh conference attendance and a and uh professional association memberships again that goes back to the continuing professional development that our staff needs to make sure they are on top of uh all the latest trends and providing uh you know information that the that the community needs uh page 12 Collections and Technology uh I mentioned the increase in Digital Collection use uh especially for ebooks uh we have a constant need for hotspots uh we usually have to replace those one or two times times each year uh unfortunately many times when those are checked out we at times don't see those devices come back uh we are able to cut the data off so people don't continue to to uh benefit from the data but we do have a loss of the device well so we do have to replace those on a regular basis um really improving our merchandising and getting people to check out books again we got to get Jersey City reading uh but uh you know even in this time to see our print circulation increasing is that is encouraging to see but uh we we've got some uh growth there that we can we can experience uh excuse me and we're also looking at how we can work with our vendors to help uh make the whole process of uh ordering especially print books to reduce the amount of time it takes from the order to it gets to the Patron's hand because there there are a lot of people who now have to touch an item to make it Shelf ready and there are some solutions that we can start taking advantage of with our vendors to cut down on that time to get the the uh especially best sellers New York Time Best uh seller items into people's hands a lot more quickly uh facilities and maintenance of course we'll have uh you know with three new facilities we'll have um you know increased costs there to take care of those uh buildings uh life safety and accessibility upgrades uh critical repairs that we need to make uh on those buildings uh Renovations I mentioned we are renovating the Lafayette branch that will be reopening uh early 25 uh the other thing that we really need to invest in is a security training um not only for our security staff but also for our staff in general we are seeing a rise in incidents uh in uh the public libraries and uh you know the staff for really having to take a lot of that on themselves dealing with that um you know people who are having mental health challenges or there may be addiction challenges and these things aren't unique to us these are things that every Urban library is dealing with uh every time I go to the urban Library Council Summit or have discussions with other directors across the country this is always top of the list is how do we keep our public safe and kill and still uh serve the public in a in a welcoming way but um those those challenges are becoming uh more prominent and it is something we need to address because so so far we've been lucky that we haven't had anything serious but uh it is one of those things that just any day that you know something can happen and we want to be as prepared as as possible uh page 14 uh you'll see again the growth in our programs we got a new bookmobile coming online uh full Staffing again for outreach because we we have uh you know three or four staff members will have to hire to run the new bookmobile uh also uh we want to continue participating in and supporting Jersey City events that we have um I'm sure all of you you've been to like the JC Pride or fourth of July and the library is is always there uh so we want to make sure we can maintain that presence and uh let the community know that we're here uh to support them this year we were able to participate in the riv Rie jazz festival and the Latin jazz festival and um uh for the Latin jazz festival we were uh especially able to highlight bibliotech of creia uh some of their programming was uh performed at that Festival as well so we were really excited about that and um also biota crol in case you didn't know is the largest Spanish language collection in the state of New Jersey uh so that's something that we're very proud of and it's it's not just a collection but it is a cultural center so you can take salsa dancing and children's stories anything you want uh there so they they do a great job serving the community there uh next page our Learning Center again 1,500 students we're at 30 locations across the city uh we've been able to establish a number of Partnerships to get Space all throughout the city um the literacy program we have at ps24 again that is a very specific specific program that we're looking at running for at least 3 years because we want to track the children who are in kindergarten now until they finish second grade to see uh if we can have some impact on the grade level reading by by third grade because we know there's a lot of research done about children who aren't reading on grade level at third grade uh and how you know things really start to go downhill from them at uh at that point uh and also the uh drop-in job search assistance uh which I'm I'm anticipating will probably need to expand because that's that's a need we have all across the the city as well and and then last lastly our administrative costs um we are always looking at ways to Monitor and improve our library operations uh whether that's uh through software or different tools to help us with efficiencies uh and Reporting also being able to really tell the library story and increase the engagement in the community but also on the fundraising side as well uh and then you know also accounting for the uh increases in supplies insurance and uh those kinds of things so that's uh the end of what I wanted to share with with you um we're certainly glad to answer any questions that you may have this time um clerk going to O say that councilman boano is here so he he came um does anyone have any questions unless you want me to kick it off all right I'll kick it off um Governor Murphy just signed uh the freedom to read act and as you see we have a lot of book bands happening across the country um have you received any feedback from constituents saying they want any Books banned or have you what what's the policy of the Jersey City Public Library if you could reiterate that for the public sure um well the Jersey City free public library is a book Sanctuary which means we don't bend books and also I want to extend our our thanks uh to the council for supporting that uh uh through resolution as well uh we have been very fortunate in Jersey City that we haven't had uh a lot of book challenges uh there's really only one that comes to mind and uh this situation wasn't so much about banning the book as it was wanting get moved to a different location so we have uh a documented process that the Patron goes through to make that request uh it can be appealed and ultimately that went to our library board uh we did uphold where we have the book placed uh and that's based on a number of factors uh with cataloging and and different criteria that we follow based on the American Library Association recommendations um so we've we've been lucky but even our neighbors just to the north at Hoboken they have been under attack primarily on social media um my previous Library back in North Carolina went through the same thing uh yeah libraries across the country uh have been dealing with this uh to the point where Library directors are being removed so they'll can put someone in who will take the books off the shelf so it's it's it's gotten pretty heated but we have been lucky here uh fortunately I I feel like we have a good process in place if we are um challenged on a book and of course now with the state law we you know but we want to give everyone their Fair hearing and uh go through that process because you know we're allowed to feel differently about things but our our perspective is uh people should have the right to choose what they want to read also um with that Safety and Security you did speak on that about how you want to train um the staff a little bit more has have has there been any collaboration in the past or do you anticipate collaborating with Public Safety in the future when it comes to you know training of Staff when it comes to Safety and Security uh we have had a couple of trainings uh and it's been at least a year ago we did an active shooter training uh with Jersey City uh Department uh but those kinds of train those are things that we we really need to get on the books to have on a regular basis but also just for more immediate uh skills we need um to provide like d escalation training for our staff because for many of the incidents they can be handled in that sense um but it's just giving the staff the the tools to to be able to address that because if you know if a staff member has a Patron coming at them kind of sideways you know you it's it's hard to to know exactly how to respond especially when you're at work and you're representing an organization versus how would you handle this as an individual so really giving them the tools to help deescalate and and actually that ends up being best for both the staff and the patron because you know sometimes the Patron's just having a bad day and it happens to be the library staff that they take it out on and uh you know the next day they're they're fine but um we we need to really equip them with those with those kind of skills and and to make sure the staff that we have uh hired for security uh that they stay on top of their training as well I also saw there's um let's see the Jersey Journal archives on the um what's it called the online database what's going to happen after Jersey Journal closes will those still be accessible in the for the foreseeable future or like forever because you know this is a part of Jersey City history right we want to make sure we're retaining that it's my understanding and and I yeah we we will own those in perpetuity so those would still be available and um was it 500,000 people signed up for library cards or was it 500,000 checkouts of books and typically you look for a city of our size to have about a millon checkouts checkouts yeah for print materials why doesn't the Board of Ed and the Jersey City Public Library why can't the kids get like an automatic library card when they like enroll in school well it's not automatic but we do have a lot of Staff who are getting kids signed up um so we have staff who are going into the schools every day and they're they're signing up entire classrooms uh the teachers are getting cards as well um it's part of the challenge is then once people are signed up to get them to use the the card too and and and some of that is on us to make sure we have the materials that people want to read and making it easy for them to do that but uh but outside of the school system just as a a city as a whole like we I don't know if we need to do like a read campaign or one Community one read uh program or something but we really need to get people uh engaged in reading and learning we used to do this program where it was like if you read I forgot how many books it was like a hundred books and then you get a free uh Pizza Hut pizza it's like I read a thousand books and you get a little and I mean that was a motivating factor for me as a kid yeah we do have um thousand books before kindergarten program that we have and we have a number of of kids who have um completed that one thing I would like to see with that because we promote it at all of our branches um but how how do we get the kids who who really need to be reading to participate in that because a lot of the kids who are completing that program are kids who are already reading right and it's just another fun thing for them to do and they get a get a prize but I'm I'm really interested in how do we get engag how do we engage people who aren't currently uh reading and and valuing what you know the skills they'll build from that what about the prek wase prek takes children ages to 3 to four right I think yes right so is there a way that we can partner with the prek for children who are three to four to start just reading story books to them which will start engaging children to want to read only reason because I got a granddaughter that's right yeah and I know this is what we did yeah and you know in our branches we do you all of them do story times but also our book mobile goes to a lot of the schools and um we do have an A concentrated effort on those preas students making sure they have library cards and and a lot of times in those cases because they're so young the teachers will get the card to check out books for them uh so we're and again we're going to get a new book mobile so that's going to expand our our capacity there uh but really focusing on those those young readers because that's where we're really going to make differences in stealing that love of reading um back to deescalation now we deal with Public Safety and we always paying for a deescalation is there any way that they can partner with the library to help train the staff I mean because we already paying and and they need not just not just the library but I think overall as a city because times has changed so is there any way that we can um requested maybe we need to write this down to the ba to see if it's possible that Staffing begin to get deescalation training because times have changed if you're dealing with this in a library people coming in I'm quite sure if we deal with Recreation sometime parents are upset games can get intense you know that type of thing that I hear when they're playing soccer and things like that um is there way to train the staff I'm just overall even when it comes to people walking in the door paying taxes sometime they're very upset um so I I think you know it has changed yes in in all our lives so I think uh we should put a note that we need to speak to the ba because we do pay for a deescalation could they not just um train um the police department but start training some of the staff because uh based on what they present to us every time they want us to renew the contract that they are the best so if they are the best then they should be thinking outside of the box to make sure people are just trained especially people who deal in public service yeah so um note that um somewhere Sierra you know finance and you know the library that maybe that's the next step we need to take when it come to deescalation of the staff because we are paying for it we we can Branch it out not just to the police department that would be that would be great and we'll we'll definitely follow up on that you know that would help us and then I also see that the majority of your uh revenue is 97% from um from the municipality which is us yes right so now there's that other 3% that you guys basically you know not just you guys but your department has to um fill in I'm just trying to figure out is there other ways that uh we can figure out Revenue because I heard with the Chromebooks they just steal them right they just walk away is there any way that when they um I'm for a Chromebook that do we take a credit card we we don't take a credit card but we we have a an agreement they have to sign and we put that fee onto their account and their account is blocked if they don't bring it back um and how much do we collect when they don't bring it back it would be the replacement cost of it but the the other challenge is if if we never see them again but that's that's my point so is there a way that we there's is there a way in the system that they have to present a credit card in order to check out because I guarantee you if you have their credit card and they don't bring the book back the Chrome book back you charge the card They will return that book I'm just saying that's another way we have to look at it um because there are certain things that we have to be secure in as a city because the word free gives people the idea that they have a right to it right I don't care what you say they feel like they have a right to it so maybe now we need to start attaching you know um more um responsibilities as we allow people to check out that we need your credit card and if it's not back in 30 days we're charging it how much is each Chromebook cost for you guys uh Chromebooks are what about about 900 and something and yeah and it's and it's probably more of the hotspot devices that that don't come back um those are 20 30 bucks a piece for just the device part it's the data that is the expensive part so fortunately we've been able to um manage those where we can cut off the dat so they can't use it anymore but again it is $ 20 $30 that out out the door the reason why I say that I think as a city I I don't care if it's $20 people have to know that um they don't have the right to take it right and I think if we don't put measures in place you'll always find people that just constantly do it because we saying well it's only $30 we'll just cut off the you know um just the access to it no but that's $30 and you keep adding up over a year I'm quite sure you could imagine the money that you do lose it can go for another small program how does the data program work again can you like go over that is they get the data um whatever the data box and the Hotpot Hotpot sorry and then essentially it lasts a month or how long are they taking it out for uh the hotspots I think are two we checkout two week checkouts okay and if they don't return it in two weeks then it get shut off I guess yeah we'll shut the data off okay director Hill uh I wanted to take a moment to thank you and your staff for the many programs and support that they provide the residents of Jersey City specifically I want to thank Shane Smith and his team at the Five Corners library for participating with panamerican concerned citizens Action League on a hous and information session they would like to do it again also I'd like to thank John beakman and the Jersey room the Jersey room team for consistently preserving and providing historic information on Jersey City Homes almost every other week Mr beakman is emailing me and my staff uh on important background information on people architect and history in Jersey City his time and efforts are invaluable thank you and have a happy holiday to you your staff and your family please beautiful Rich yeah so there's a state aid for 158,000 oh do you want to respond to to that I mean yeah they said thank you okay thank you yeah for the record uh State AIDS $158,000 has that remained static over the last few years or has that increased or I mean it seems like a very minuscule amount in the budget but just wondering uh what is going to take to get more from the state uh well the short answer would be it would take uh the state giving all libraries their full appropriation for state aid we currently don't get that I think it's at about 50% or so um but in the time I've been in Jersey City it's been about the same amount I also saw the uh increase in salaries and full-time staff is 16% are there discernable metrics that you're going to derive from this increased Staffing in terms of like what they're going to be doing like will they will they be signing more people up are they backfilling the positions like why is it 16% it seems like a large number I mean so it's a combination of uh backfilling positions uh it's also the new branches that we've taken on getting those fully staffed and also o uh Staffing the Outreach Department there there I can't think off the top of my head the number of positions uh for that but there's the bookmobile um we also are going to be hiring a uh diversity services coordinator as well um trying to think what else uh yeah we've got to uh uh fill our social worker position and yeah there's there's a number but uh majority of it is going to um uh help us have the capacity for our Outreach Services do we have anything for people that are like hard of hearing or the blind any chance in in the library like Braille if the Braille material or anything or if you could check on that just we have a school the blind in yeah in Jersey City we you said we have the here okay um we do have special keyboards that are available on request for folks who are using the computers if they have flow Vision um we don't I don't believe we have any Braille material specifically but we can request them um through the inter Library loan if needed uh we certainly also have plenty of audio materials uh for folks um I'm not sure if I'm not sure of anything else off the top of my head but we could certainly get you a list of things you have any more libraries planned like in terms of opening a library or are we done for now when we're just renovating the ones we have uh all the above um uh our next new Branch will be the Holland Garden Branch okay and that's that's probably about three years out right or so um you know we are looking across the city just to see where we have Gap and Service uh of course you know bringing on a new bookmobile will help to some extent but there there are some areas we do need an actual Branch uh we we could use another branch in the Greenville area uh also Newport uh you know that's that's like a small City in itself and uh you know Pavonia is probably the closest but that's it's not easy to get to from from there either but um course on the other side of 78 once uh Holland Garden opens that's going to be a big help because there there are a number of Jersey City residents on that side uh who again you know it would be quite difficult to walk to Bonia um we could use another Branch kind of on the uh I guess the northern side of heights uh we would really love to find a space for bibla creia in the Heights um I think the the the staff there would love to be be in that that neighborhood there and have its own space again uh I'm trying to think where else thought about R 440 I mean we have project over there that's coming up Bayfront Bayfront yeah is it close um because I I know there was one of our staff members who was in touch with someone at the mall on 440 and their space over there um but we haven't been able to go look at it yet yeah is a desert over there it really is I've been is a desert be an interesting place for um people to gather because there's a lot of Wast of space in that mall it really is and it seem like they need to do something to bring people in and maybe um a library such as the way you design commun Avenue might be a good location because parking is not an issue right yeah that's the number one problem in Jersey City sometime is parking so if we can find an area where parking is then parents will bring their children you know because you got chuckecheese over there too which pizza in the book put books at Chuck-E-Cheese you know you know from Chuck-E-Cheese to the library the parents love that CU it'll wind them down right that would be a good good good spot that's just my take now y fa youall have Facebook page we do we have Facebook Instagram LinkedIn X I was about to say Twitter but it's X it's X now yeah yes okay now um the fiscal officer I know we assigned the fiscal officer to every division is there anything you guys want to add uh the library um funding is pretty straightforward we have a uh statutory requirement to raise a certain amount every year and remit that to the library uh at least on a quarterly basis we do it monthly and they manage their budget um as they seem fit so um if there's ever a need for additional funding for the library we we would have to raise that in our budget but Library tax directly offsets the money we remit to them okay so this is not a problem council president um are autonomous agencies or right don't have fiscal officers is that something you want to discuss for this uping season or talk about coordination like fiscal iies make a conversation about revenue and projections and like the city has a grant division could we collaborate and coordinate happy to kind of sort of discuss that as like we're moving 2025 all right thank you all right do anyone else have anything to add with that I want to thank uh all of you for coming and discussing the library budget and anyone that's watching both in the crowd and online and I hope to see you in the library and um yeah with that I motion to adjourn wait wait one more question okay I'll I'll resend the motion just one more question I see you said you have after school programs right we're starting after school tutoring at ps24 just 24 school no place else right okay I just want the public to make sure they know that's why I just want to make sure okay all right motion to adjourn I have a motion to adjourn by council person CLE second the second by council president wman at 10:55 a.m. all council members present by acclamation please say I hi hi we are out of here at 10:55 a. thank you so much for everyone in present and everyone watching at home for our next budget hearing which will be the Law Department thank you thank you you okay everyone we're about to get started with our next budget hearing kindly silence your cell phones as I am doing make sure we're all good and the doors are all close so we're ready to go okay good morning everyone we are on the record today is Tuesday the 17th day of December in the year 20124 this is a budget hearing for the Law Department with the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 11:00 a.m. start the clock of my cell phone is showing 11:05 a.m. may have a roll call for commencement of of this budget hearing and I see we have council person Bano present council person CLE here and council president wman and I believe council person CLE will be chairing this meeting um if everyone can just identify themselves for the record as we go around the room we have with our director uh and acting Corporation Council good morning br Murray Kyle Greaves finance department Danny big not Finance Carmen gendel the Director of Finance thank you so much and I'm going to turn it over to our chairman council person SLE thank you uh for coming here uh Law Department and the administration going to start the Law Department uh budget hearings and uh Corporation acting Corporation Council Britney Murray if you can uh have the floor and go over your budget presentation and we'll ask questions afterwards thank you councilman thank you council president councilman Bano um so to start off the Law Department um now we are five different practice groups so we represent the city the mayor the council department directors and everybody in between uh city employees and any uh legal matters that arise out of the course of their employment with the city uh were broken down into labor and employment litigation transactional uh tax which is our newer Group which um we're staff fully staffed up this year and governance uh labor and employment does exactly what it uh says we defend we also um prosecute um employment related disciplines as well uh litigation group any litigation that pops up we handle right now um we're over 120 litigation cases at any time uh being handled with combination in-house thank you as well as outside Council um transactional practice um the council and the administration interact with quite a bit those are our contracts um agreements and and the like Oprah requests our department also assists the clerk's office as well as the different division with handling Oprah requests uh tax Practice Group is the one that uh recently we've brought in house uh we have three attorneys to full-time one part-time handling it uh Jersey City right now has 2800 pending tax appeals uh which is a significant amount for anybody in most recent years we had had outside Council handling a good chunk of the tax appeals uh we have not assigned any new tax Appeals to outside Council um we've been they've been handling the matters they've been assigned but then we've been bringing them inhouse um and then lastly the governance group again the council uh and the administration interact with them quite a bit ordinances resolutions anything that have to deal with the the city's governance and uh this year we uh in 2024 we had a total of um 27 full-time employees and three part-time uh we did lose um two attorneys this year both to becoming judges so um Peter Baker left uh obviously and then uh we also had our head of labor and employment leave as well to become a judge in Union County um so right now we are left with um myself as act incorporation Council and then we have um John mckin as the first assistant Corporation Council handling overseeing uh the transactional tax and governance divisions and then we brought Chanel Robinson back up um she had been down with the administration for a little bit uh we did need assistance with handling litigation matters uh Chanel is very um well-versed in handling labor and unemployment and litigation matters and so right now she is overseeing um those two practice groups we are without a supervisor for transactional and a supervisor for labor and employment so the first assistants are filling in uh in those roles to oversee the different practice groups right now um in transactional we have a total of uh including John overseeing it we have two employees so we have one full-time and one part-time employee we're hoping to get an additional employee there uh to assist with the Oprah requests and everything else we get um for tax as I said we have two full-time and one part-time tax it would be nice to also bring in uh addition help as we continue to get rid of outside Council um for governance right now we have um a a Wilson who is our supervisor and then we have two attorneys uh and a paralal that work with governance so uh we have one full-time and one part-time attorney uh we are also trying to actively hire uh another attorney for that Division and then uh labor and employment we're short on labor and employment as well um they do have a paralal have one full-time attorney hopefully we're going to have another full-time attorney um we have been trying to hire there has been some difficulty um getting people to to get on board um we found a way sometimes we hiring people that may have worked here previously um so uh hopefully we can get um some more help for labor and employment we do work closely with HR uh we also have an investigation group that is made of three people now headed by um Andrew diara who's been a law Department investigator for many years and has done a fantastic job and now we have two investigators under him to assist both the Law Department as well as HR for various investigations and then uh lastly since I skipped them a little bit litigation we do have a litigation supervisor trying to get a pargal for litigation because that is um uh definitely needed and then we have three attorneys three full-time attorneys hand handling litigation um so just a little bit about what we we do every year uh we try to provide as much legal guidance as possible to any City Department that requests it of us uh we do interact with everybody um I think you know everybody has asked us a question we try to help out as best as we can either giving legal opinions give giving guidance assisting with um the drafting of responses documents anything like that um like I said before the tax appeal Practice Group are very happy uh on how they've been interacting uh being able to save some money with outside Council as well as do reverse tax appeals we filed about a 100 again this year reverse tax appeals to try to catch anything the city might be missing so that's um uh a great practice that we've continued to have ongoing uh we have resolved several lawsuits we've done um also resolve several lawsuits without paying any money with having dismissals in recent weeks we've had at least three or four that we've resolved without paying any money um we defend them to the best of our ability and always try to get out out of cases we can um and then try to do the best we can with cases that we need to continue to defend we also had a case go to trial this year where we paid uh we had an outside Council handling it they did a fantastic job we did pay them to try the case but you know it saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars from demand to the the trial verdict as we got a no cause and didn't have to pay um so those are some some of the ways that litigation uh goes throughout the year um we have also filed a few more recovery actions meaning if there's property damage to city- Owned Vehicles we are seeking out to try to get uh recovery from people that um inflict that damage so we are recovering some for the city as well whereas sometimes those um aren't aable to be recovered um that and right now yeah just to expand upon it a little bit more like I said we're we're about at 120 um active litigation matters um we've calculated 20 matters dismissed without payment this year um we did have two trials that were conducted this year that I I would say both were favorable uh we do try to staff up our litigation group as much as we can because when we handle it in house we like to have two attorneys work it um the labor and employment group um closed out 43 cases this year uh the governance group has drafted multiple ordinances and resolutions including um to Chapters 84 160 254 255 276 just to name a few that they've worked on um and again in terms of transactional the significant um response we've um had to do with Oprah requests as well as reviewing police body warn camera footage that has been uh a significant time uh consuming process but we continue to do it um because I've mentioned the Tax Group before 2800 active matters um and then also investigations with the um assisting Human Resources um our goals for 2025 are continuing to provide as much legal assistance and guidance as we can uh we did get upgraded new legal software which is in our budget request um it is helpful in terms of drafting brief analyzing assisting us while we do have lower numbers of attorneys it does help us out particularly when we get some interesting random questions um it's a good starting point as well to use uh this updated legal software still leus NEX is still very um reputable uh company that we're using um continue to try try to deal with our retention issues um as you'll see our budget uh requests for salaries and wages is a majority of our budget we try to increase it um as much as we can to try to get people with you know law degrees who have spended a lot of money on their education to come work for us um The increased salaries that have been approved we we very much appreciate and has um allowed us to retain um some more individuals than previously because um apparently you either leave to become a judge or you leave for more money that's what it used to be when we used to lose attorneys uh a little shocked about the judges more lately but yeah it used to be that you know I couldn't keep up with the money but um you know we've we've kept up and we've um allowed ourselves to keep some some better Talent here and we like to keep people here for the long term because it's hard for people to work for year and a half two years and then have another person jump in it takes you a year to really understand the city and get used to everybody and form those relationships so we'd like to keep people here uh we also um deal extensively with risk management uh as part of HR um to deal with the managing our Insurance Fund commission we want to continue to work with them uh our judgments and settlements are paid through there um so we do work closely with them to try to keep those um that budget in check as much as we possibly can and um our operational needs for this year are still just backfilling our our vacant attorney position itions I believe we have four vacant right now and a paralal we'd like to get those filled um we did update our um legal software I'd like to update some of our case management software as well um I think our old case management software was deleted off my desktop because it was too old so we have to try to figure out um we've been using Microsoft try to figure out some other ways to management so we'll be looking into that see if there's any cost effective way for us to make sure we continue to keep up since as the clerk's office knows it's very important that we keep time and dates and and keep it in line to make sure we're not missing any deadlines um and then uh continue just upgrade any of our computer and um audio visual equipment we are still conducting Court appearances remotely via telephone um we've continued that on from covid through now uh particularly depositions um people continue to do them remotely instead of traveling and and trying to park here so um those are a majority of our needs and then um most of our budget request has remained the same um we've stayed under budget with our outside Council fees um our outside Council contracts and hopefully we can continue to do that we have resolved some cases and as we um bring more people in house uh a few of the cases that we had to send out when we were completely overburdened hopefully we can keep inhouse um but we will continue to need outside Council for any conflict cases any specialty cases and and so on so if anybody has any questions that's and to open the floor for my Council colleagues unless you all right I'll kick it off okay um when it comes to the tax uh reverse tax appeals um are we going after the biggest fish or the uh loow hanging fruit what's uh what's the method ology here and you know like the easier cases or the bigger cases that are well I think it would be a combination of both right we're trying to um make sure that we get uh recoup as much as we possibly can because you know everybody gets to file their tax appeals you know we're trying to make sure um we're recouping uh anything we might miss uh because of the number of properties we have so I think it's a mixture and really it's just how much we can handle um so between 75 and 100 right now is something you know we have to pay all the filing fees for that we have to handle it in house so uh we definitely look through and see um what we think are viable claims um and then move on from there side of the um outside of the fact that you know pay might be an issue when it comes to retention what is it issue that comes to actually acquiring new lawyers who want to come and work for the Law Department like do you have a top three list in terms of what are the what are the hanging Chads if you will for people what's the hangup sure I mean um it's always pay can somebody make more money elsewhere absolutely um but you know we have increased it I think um you know we are a public entity we are in person five days a week um you know there are still law firms there are still State um departments that are operating remotely um so for a while that was a concern because um we did have one attorney leave I think for just to have one remote day um and uh so I would say the pay and then you go to some of the flexibility that uh to be honest might not be possible here um but it is different in the legal field where you know we still sometimes when we call outside Council they're working from their house um but you know uh the F 5 days a week in person and then um I mean those are are the real too and then sometimes you know we get um fantastic experience here at the city but sometimes people might just see it as um a place to get experience until they figure out uh their long-term goals um you know litigation uh we get fantastic experience here but then a few people after a few years in litigation might not be for them and they might move on or they might find a specialty that they really like and then they seek out um making more money for that specialty elsewhere there any way the administration could look into uh possible Flex day for the law department just because the gaps in this org chart are a little concerning um and it concerns me that the first assistant Corporation Council is also you know managing all of these different teams and um you know his time could be better both of their time could be better used you know uh working the other cases instead of um managing the groups the way they are CU they don't have any supervisors right so um it seems like they're they're performing multiple supervisory tasks when yeah we have three supervisors for the five groups and so two of them are without supervisors Administration could look into that cuz that's a big concern and it's not something that is typical with law field not to have a flex day it's just you know it's really puts us at a strategic disadvantage so terms of Recruitment and just to talk about the multiple roles we do have people apping right now um I was still litigating cases I will still appear for orders to show cause I will still file briefs when they're needed uh John mckin will fill in still do transactional work still do all the governance work as well uh we do jump back and forth our litigation is jumping back and forth as well to help out with Labor unemployment when they have litigation cases so we do have multiple people that are dealing with multiple roles right now um everybody is capable it just is difficult and and can be taxing yeah I'm not saying five days a week work from home I'm saying one Flex day you know um what is the state standard the state allow the employees to work from home at least one day you said I believe um they still do have some sort of um work from home yeah is there is there a way that we can find out the information on what is the state guideline that they require that an employee can work from home sure provide that to you that would give us some guidance yep because normally if the state does it normally every other municipality does follow pursuit in some way or another go ahead need um Clarity on how you're defining a flex day because most of the the attorney are management employees and again I don't represent the Ba's office or but if you're asking me to report back into something to them we're going to take the notes um back to them but I definitely need to understand what you're defining as a flex day because management employees are understood at least from my understanding as long as they make the 40 50 plus 60 hours that we normally do you're not on a typical 9 to-5 type type workload so it is on the department to manage and adhere to those schedules when it comes to management employees so just I I need I guess Clarity in regards to when you say Flex day so is it Britney it's really yeah I don't want to use the term flex but it's really just people have remote options right yeah just so you can find out from the state what are their guidelines they have remote options sure so we just want a guideline on exactly um before we try to implement something like that we have a blueprint more so on how to go about it because um certain roles can be be perly honest Clarity remote remot on remote remote okay yeah we need to get into the 21st century sorry uh remote yeah and I'm not saying you know I I I get the concerns about it but they're grown you know adults they're lawyers they're they got to get their work done I have to call Britney up at like 6 7:00 or to call one of the lawyers like they're always there their management so I think um you know we can we can accommodate some of this because it's a recurring issue that I've seen the last few years I'm not I'm just going to put it bluntly here um something else I saw about finalizing the amendments to the Cannabis ordinance um can you for once and for all just say whether or not if we were to adopt the proposed ordinance that's tabled right now if that would add 70 or however many um cannabis establishments retail retail cannabis establishments to Jersey City it clear the air for everybody it would not add an additional 70 or over 100 or anything like that we do have a grand total of 69 applications two were for cultivator licenses so we have a grand total of 67 class five applications um so 67 is the absolute Max it could possibly be but we don't believe it would be um near there that is the absolute maximum thank you for putting that on the record let's see do you know do you know of Han how much the city had paid out based on cases and things like that that we had to pay out in terms of judgments and settlements yes um it is paid through the IFC but um we did have some large settlements that we paid out throughout the year last year um I can get you the final number um but I would say it would be between uh probably about5 million but that included the $3 million large settlement we had last year but I can get you the final number since it's paid out differently so basically you pretty much just trying to get employees yes yeah yeah getting employees but uh trying to get employees in that's and we have had you know like I said a few people reject offers um but uh hopefully we we get some more in um you know as soon as we can just to to help everybody out how often do you uh post I mean because I know one time we was having a challenge through the HR process how it was taking long so has that improved yes it it has improved um we are working on it I think um sometimes we do have in inquisitive um people who are applying for our jobs as well we do go back and forth they go through benefits things like that um you know because some people are leaving jobs where they might have a pension or retirement elsewhere they want to make sure they get all the benefits and get all the understanding here so sometimes it's on um the applicant sometimes it's still on us sometimes it's on myself when we're going through and and deal with which applicants um we do still have a good amount of people apply so for some jobs we'll have six or seven interviews um and then we'll we'll discuss them internally but it it has been better I I have one pending hopefully it's good to go on Thursday but um so yeah we've we've been working um with the administration to get it done so when I um speak to them and say you know we're having a gap right now we have we have a big gap because we had a few people leave um and then um yeah so it's been it's been getting better we're going to keep working on it and we post when it's a when it's available um so so we've been seeing a lot of drones issues around New Jersey um would it be possible to look into things the municipality can do in terms of like licensing for Ev talls those are like the Drone taxis the FAA is saying that they will Implement them um before the FIFA World Cup in 2026 so I would like uh for the Law Department if they could and I'll put it in email but it's gotten a lot of you know press but would like for us to do something on the local level yeah we can look into anything there's been a few other you know things that have popped up but with the World Cup coming um coming up we are dealing with issues related to that anyway just as we had the Super Bowl back in 2013 we had some ordinances and things we had to deal with to make sure um we were uh when we were working with the NFL now with FIFA we'll have to work with them as well and make sure we're covering all bases um and I know some of the Committees that meet are already dealing with that and any concerns uh about drones or or that we can deal with so are there plans to make uh Britney uh Murray from acting to full Corporation Council or not as of right now can we look into that or I don't know if that's what she wants but um we're financed so we we can ask the business administrator to his team to be here but these are our finance hearings okay yeah for the finance got it I just want to be clear Britney it's no longer the that we have in challenges to attract um Good employees is Mo is basically the remote option yeah we've worked with um HR the administration to get a good salary salar is there okay yeah so um it is better um yeah it's mostly remote flexibility yeah some flexibility just because that's in in our industry yeah you know it's still happening and you know we can't even uh we're we're conducting depositions things remotely the federal courts are saying well you know I can't drag somebody up for a deposition from from Georgia anymore because we have all the capabilities to do it remotely so when it comes to issues like uh Portside what are the proper protocols for not just the council but the city but also on their end when it comes to addressing some of the issues that are being raised at the council meeting sure so uh We've continued to have discussions with um the tenants attorneys as well as the landlords attorneys they are on a weekly basis they are on almost a daily basis um you know one of our attorneys deals with it John jumps in and I jump in as well uh when needed but through discussions with all Council what should happen uh if we're dealing more with the tenants they put in the request to their attorneys their attorneys send the request to us and we handle it um it has been handled uh recently it was put in a letter for us to go um conduct a certain inspection that was handled um you know they should not uh the council the members of the administration um nobody should be in direct contact um with the tenants particularly about the litigation we have talked about if they raise other concerns but we have spoken with their attorneys to have those concerns go through the attorneys and it is actually their attorney's request that that occur as well just to make it cleaner um and to make sure everybody is being represented as they should be um you know we we don't want anybody else dragged into litigation that doesn't have to be um so uh the attorneys should be handling it any request should go through them we're Distributing any request as needed to whatever division department needs to know I've talking to you know obviously the ad uh the ba is is involved in it as well um so they should be going through their legal counsel and then we're dealing with it um and if anybody gets any specific requests they can also forward it to my office and we'll deal with it with the attorneys as well and make sure it's handled so have we exercised the full range of capabilities when it comes to enforcement and whatever is legally permissible uh from a city standpoint when it comes to Portside um you know in terms of like okay it's in litigation at this point like you know and then when we enforce we have to do it in a way that enforces for the whole city uh and not just like targeting one uh area correct sure yep uh there are obviously always um ways we can enforce as we spoke about um you know my office does not issue violations uh we don't have that capability so we do rely upon the other um uh divisions to who have that capability to do so we work with them if there's any other thing um any other action that they can take um so as of right now there are some things pending and then um you know we'll continue to monitor it and see what else we could do um if it's necessary have we seen a decrease in legal claims uh this year after we've resolved you know a lot of the there's a lot of cases that were on the back burner in terms of um basically simmering slowly um now that those are are gone do you think that there's going to be decrease in the next year or um I I will never say there'll be a decrease uh because you know before we started this budget hearing I was getting a phone call that we needed to to hop on for an order to show cause that was filed yesterday so we're always going to continue to get um lawsuits uh no matter what and just so everyone is aware in terms of the notice of claim process since we are a public entity if you have any Tor claim we do have to get noticed of that we use a third party administrator and our investigators to help deal with those claims as they come in to see if we can uh if they need to be resolved before they become full-blown litigation uh we are included in a lot of notices of claim on uh Port Authority property Hudson County property so we deal with those on the early stages as well we will continue to get sued as long as we have roads and employees so I don't expect that to stop no not really you do a good job thank you what software did we switch to or are you allowed to say that on the right um so no we're using Lexus they just have um newer uh updates to it it does include um an AI program that is only within the Lexus database so it's not open data um so you can use a little bit of an AI assistant to help you search through um it is uh very protracted like it can ask five questions and if you're going off on the deep end it stops and won't ask you know but it's all within the database since there was an issue with some attorneys and other jurisdictions that Ed chat GPT to their their detriment where it made up a few cases that's not what we have we have um you know something internal to Lexus they also have uh some brief analyzers and some other drafting capabilities which are helpful just as um as a starting point as well and we do allow it's not just the attorneys that use our Lexus account we do allow some other members and some other departments and divisions that needed as well that we uh that we pay for do you have any ideas for promoting diversity and inclusion um because say that's one of the 2025 goals um when it comes to Department hiring and procurement yeah we've reach um the last time when we were trying to hire we do reach out to the different organizations obviously the Garden State Bar Association or the um Hispanic the HBA is also um you know they're good sources of finding diverse Talent uh we do get I will say we do get diverse applicants um sometimes it is an issue if somebody can come in five days a week and come in here um you know if they have a family or if they have other obligations and things like that so we definitely want people from all different walks of life to work here the perspectives um we get from from our diverse uh attorneys is fantastic and obviously always something we're going to promote on our outside Council list to now I believe we have at least um five minority owned businesses um and um continue to reach out uh to them as well that's also been helpful when we have different attorneys from different um cases we've handled we're introduced to to uh different attorneys as well and we've been able to make connections that way but we do try if we post jobs we send them out um to some organizations that can help us reach um a more diverse applicant pool any other questions well I want to thank you uh Corporation Council for coming today and uh sharing your time and your budget with the with us and the rest of the city and uh with I'd like to motion to adjourn I have a motion to adjourn by council person CLE second seconded by Council presentent Wardman and the motion to adjourn was made at 11:39 am all council members present by acclamation please say I I we are out of here at 11:39 a.m. thank you so much everyone present tuned we're going to be taking a short break for lunch and then we'll be back with the office of the tax assessor at 1M thank you so much have a great rest of the day thank you okay we're about to get started so if we can silence our cell phones all the doors are closed so we can get started good afternoon everyone we are on the record today is Tuesday the 17th day of December in the year 2024 this is a budget hearing for the office of the tax assessor with the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled excuse me 11:00 p.m. 100 p.m. start the clock of my cell phone is showing 1:12 p.m. may we have a roll call for the commencement of this budget hearing instead of calling everyone I'll just call the council members who are present council person bajano council person CLE here and council president wman he we have three council members in attendance at 1 12 p.m. in addition and its time of its preparation the notice of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Monday December 9th 2024 at 5:31 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrative Corporation Council local newspapers so I could certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law I am going to turn it over to our chairperson and that would be council person SLE thank you so much Shon and um with that if we could have uh our guests come and introduce themselves and if you could go over your presentation today yes so we would just like everybody to introduce themselves uh for the record for people at home who don't know all the faces we greatly appreciate it start with the our tax assessor you just got to turn it on up top you can take it off the stand can you hear me now okay good afternoon council president council member I'm Laura Taki from the tax assessor office I'm here to present the budget for my I'm sorry um I have with me Sandy Masia she's one of my assistant assessor she's actually coming and I have psia Gregory she's one of the physical officers Kyle Greaves finance and Danny bth Finance so I'm here to present my budget for 2025 I if I think you have a copy of the PowerPoint for my department if we go to the if we go to the first page I just want to give you an overview about my department my office is in charge of reassessing the properties in Jersey City which is um a real estate property so basically the office of assessor is in charge with the deputy of of assessing the real property both taxable and exempt for the purpose of General taxation we are currently the largest city and line items in the state of New Jersey right now we have like a 65,000 line items which means property accounts in the city so we are bigger than Newark Newar is bigger in population but we're bigger in properties and also aside of assessing we also in charge of the Sid we do have currently seven SIDS that the um we have Central Avenue joural Square Historic downtown Exchange Place Jackson Hill Mill square and Westside that's a seven SIDS that we currently have in the books so we in charge of creating the building after the budget is approved going to the third page um I just want to give you an overview of what the past four years budgets from 2022 to 2025 as you can see in my chart it has been a slight increase in my budget of course is due to the supervisors Union because they've been increasing the salaries in the past 24 and 25 so the difference in my budget from 2024 to 2025 is 1,24 1, 124,000 aot and increase and that one is due to the supervisor increases I do have seven supervisors under my department five of them are under the their accessors also I increase my overtime the overtime is increased due to the workload that we have in my office we have a three busy Seasons the first one is the appeals when we have in the county then the second is when we work in added assessments for October and then in December we work for the rable base which is this entire month of December with January so the overtime is very needed since we do have a lot of line items in the city as you can see everywhere in the city it is a lot of constructions happening everywhere Any Corner that you go it is a construction so for that I'm looking for overtime additional to what we ask in 2024 in 2024 we asked for 50,000 but we use almost 4,000 more than what we asked for so I'm shooting for 18,000 so to keep it safe and to be able to cover my three VC system in my department uh if we go down to the charge of the employee headcounts um as you can see has been a change in employees and especially in 2013 I have um two employees that retired and two employees that resigned so I'm trying to um fulfill those vacancies um so I'm in the process of hiring three assessing AIDS which is considering inspectors in my department and one assessor and one clerk so I want just to cover the vacancies and also an assessor to help me out with a work low in the office we move to page number four four it is the organizational chart if you notice um I I divided my department in two different areas commercial and residential I just want to be able to keep tracking what is happening in the commercial area and the residential area so I do have people in charge of the department and I put in the people who I know had the best um abilities and and are capable to um reassess those properties so I feel very confident dividing the department in two areas um that's basically the layout of my departments I do I'm I'm in the the head of the department um and then I'm proposing to to promote one of my assist assessor to Deputy so I'm I'm in the process to do that and then to the to the left side I do have my assistant land surveyor to the right it is my administrative Clerk and then we keep going down we be Ray matus which is a principal assistant assessor he actually carried a CTA license and an appraisal license as well going down is Pavel pil which is an assistant assessor saying he carried the CTA license and appraisal just to give you an idea how my department works to be able to perform this assessing job you need to be a certified by the state and for us to keep the license we need to keep taking courses every year to be um to move the credits to towards our license so the only way that we can perform this is with a certified tax assessor license and for us having those accessors with AAL license is a plus since they can help us uh have a better understanding about the market when it's related with commercial um real estate we keep going down I do have my assistant assistant assessor Sandy under her I have a three um assessing AIDS which are the inspectors one of them are the the is a vacancy so I'm trying to hire them for 2025 to the right side it is my my propos my my assistant assessor which I hope I can hire in 2025 so he can be in charge of my inspectors and the commercial area and moving to the right I do have my clerks so I have a supervisor Clerk and then for clerton n if you have any questions please let me know how much are the uh vacant ass assessing Aid um inspector positions starting the salar is of 411 okay is that compatible like other is that compatible 41 it is yeah I mean that's the basic and then of course based on the performance depending how what kind of license they have I we for them to have a real estate and then the salary can be based on the experience of the person that's just a starting that's a starting point yes yes I just looking for somebody with with um basic education and also with some kind of experience and driving license of course if they come with any type of license is the salary will be changed based on those certifications or licenses you said you assess based off of commercial and residential um a lot of properties are both now how do you resolve that when it's both when it's like commercial on the ground floor and well all my assessors are well educated to assess them those are considered mixed use properties commercial properties we assess them and based on income producing so the income producing is based on how much they collecting and rent and then we apply a formula you know expenses vacancy and cup rat to arrive with a market value so my assessors even in the commercial or residential area have a lot of knowledge about how they assess them but I divided for the purpose of me trying to make sure who is in top of certain area in the city so that's but all of them are very well qualified to assess all of them as far as person oh sorry were you gonna okay sorry ladies first my badad uh I was just going to ask if there's uh you know educational you spoke about how you have to have continuing education is there anything that's coming up in 2025 that you see as a growth opportunity for your office in terms of a conference or like something that you know you want to make sure that your staff is able to um go to yes we do have a lot of associations that we are part of it they offer courses every few months so anything that is related with my department especially when it's a tax abuse changing in no usable codes or anything regarding how to Value antennas Billboards whatever so anything that is related to my my department I would advise to take the courses so we do have a lot of courses that happens every two three months in the in the state so my staff usually goes to those courses we need to be able to come up with credits to keep up with our license so that's a requirement by state any questions from my colleagues qualify yes yes the administration give me the opportunity to hire people that have actually license with a real estate so that's a plus for me somebody with a background so we don't have to waste time training people so they already have the knowledge about real estate you can proceed thank you so if we move to the page number five it is a charger of the exempt properties I just want to show you a little bit how exent properties are in the city so we do a different type of exemptions all of them are classified with under class 15 uh as you can see like 15a is like a public schools 15b is other schools 15 C is a public properties and one of the biggest one I would say is that 15f which is other properties is pilot Properties or veterans exemptions so that's I just want to show you um a chart how the exemp properties are in the city so what is a percentage of them in the city can you wait you said 15a is 15f is like other exemptions such as a longterm properties it pilot agreements so usually like 2011 Marine Boulevard 88 Morgan any properties that have a pilot agreements they usually have a two accounts one for the lant and one for the Improvement so they are classified as 15f they do pay taxes but they pay under the pilot agreement well according to this it's almost $15 billion doar in taxes them properties in Jersey City that is correct if you added all of them it is actually a big chunk but it's everything there we're talking about cementar public schools churches chable properties and pilots and Veterans exemptions as well so it's everything in general wow we are a biggest city so that's why it's so many properties so is there labels for these like cuz I see I know 15f is the pilot 15E that's a cemeteries can change in that level so okay and then you can't fill with dead people I mean if you want to build in the top you can do the city apply we're not taxing dead people yet it's not that bad we never know we're J um 15D what is that 15D is like a church is and chable organization that's not profit okay and 15 C it's a public property public property city city Jersey City that's like the city and the board of Ved yes the libraries anything that is a public use okay hold on uh 15b B is other school properties school oh that's the school properties other school property other school proper and 15a is of public schools hold on and 15 f f is pilot other exemptions such as a Pilots or veterans exemptions usually veterans are 100% exempt and they classic say High has 15f that's 15f is the other Pilots other pilots and Veteran exemptions right okay anything that doesn't belong to those churches or public schools okay okay sorry I canot hear you what was 15a 15a is a public schools that gives us a little uh Clarity and insight into yeah yes it's so many classes outside of those you know that you can distinguish a property in Jersey City so it's it's good to know and this is updated for as of this year yes that's for 2025 okay like that three year changes it is prop the the the city cell or any nonprofit sell to the LLCs so we updated those properties as the D comes to my office so of course depending the timeing not the sell so the property sold between the year we become taxable the following year but we charge them back based on the D so we we have't updated database aome you can proceed okay and then we moving to page number six um again I just um my department is in charge of U Deeds as well so when you purchase a property that it is usually recorded in the Hudson County the Hudson County forward a copy to my office and we updated the database in my in the computer so based on information that we we enter to the system that's how the build are being sent to the property owners so I just want to show you um kind an overview and how the Deeds meaning people purchas properties has been changing the prior four years so what's a big increase after the pandemic as you can see in 2025 we have a 4,575 beats because in back then the the the market was very active and also the mortgage rates were very low so people start buying a lot that's why you can see that is a 5,475 Deeds that we received that year meaning five 4,575 new owners in Jersey City and then moving to 2023 24 it is went down of course it's very clear that because the market change um the inventory is down but the the mortgagees rates are up so that's why actually the prices are going down we kind of estimate that in 2025 it could go up based on the prior sales in Jersey City so we kind of projecting to go up to 4,110 and that's based on the data that we have so that's kind of an overview for you to know how the activity is in sales in Jersey City especially um based on my experience in the prior year so it is more about Market rent and also condos so condos has been happening in Journal Square um um The Heights Grim fette the the market is I don't think I can compare West Bergen with Bergen laa Greenville because it is it is almost the same Market it's not even a a differentiation like it used to be back then so when you go to the market they have a five different neighborhoods what they consider West Bergen One Market Bergen La another one and Greenville another one when you research it in the MLS Paragon but now if you compare the prices the market is there so it is not difference where are you buying a home that houses are bu an average home in those areas can be more than 500 so it is really expensive with without Renovations with Renovations we're talking about over 800 in those areas the heights is a different story condos are going for over a million dollar million and two depending where you buy a condo with the three bedrooms and two bathrooms so it is very expensive the height yes sorry down downtown I saw one condo at 2 million point4 so it is the market is insane everywhere that you see it and journalist square is very hard in the rental market so even buildings there new construction buildings are not even two or three months that they actually fool and in joural square the rentals so I'm talking about a class for SE which is a rental apartments and they that's why they building everywhere in jalis square because how big rental market is in that area so that's basically what is happening Jersey City do you have any questions colleagues so Journal Square is mostly the rental Point yes yes everything in PR is more condos people purchasing right is more condos for two families and they do condos and those condos are the toughest that I sells is like 1.2 the lowest would be 850 750 depending where you see of course the between teras and leonar is One Market when you go to Summit Central is a different Market Ogen is a different story is higher than other those areas because of the proximity of hoken and the abuse so it is a changing Market but it's way higher than 800 just a cond alone even with the interest rates as high as they are because buying yeah I saw a con in downtown in Fifth Avenue two units and the lot size 20 by 100 um was like a duplex each was selling for 2.4 course that finishes inside are totally different than other in the city and we had to Value those based on what is inside and the condition of the properties but how the market is changing is it's not comparison based on the past two three years it's not even I can even kind of say that I look like back in 2023 or four is even though the rates are up they still buying I'm sorry is this um throughout the whole country or this is just New Jersey because we're close to New York I think it's because we are close to New York because a lot of people that are coming are coming from Brooklyn from Manhattan how it's for them it's cheap a rent like an Studio can be for 28,800 and a two to bedro like 3,600 and they pay in in New York City like five $6,000 so for them it's like a savings because they have the pad in joural square right to R Street the same thing and the menes and everything that Jersey City is offering is 100% better than New York City of course let me ask you something as we build these buildings okay and I know assessment change as the um completion of them correct yes okay so I guess when they get fully completed then we are at our highest rate with assessment and we receive the taxes yes I mean we assess all of them based on income producing of course we have to based on the income producing right any uh income any commercial properties which is rentals okay or mixed use commercial plus apartments or industrial all of them are based on income so of course the income comes we have to consider what is the vacancy of the property and also the expenses that the building is spending in electrical whatever expenses they have and then we derive within a estimated market value come up with apply with ar ra then we arrive with assessment value so income produc properties are those class for C all of them in the Jal Square are income producing properties it's income producing properties yes so let me see if I understand this pretty much now let's say we got a big building and their income they only got three 34% income coming in in the building itself we are assessing the property value based on the three4 of income coming in well not the full has to do with timing so I assess them based on the TCO temporary certificate occupancy of certific occupany so we had to view how long they take you to fully occupy the place okay based on that because I had to do an add assessment based depending again it's based in the timing depending when you pull up the certificate occupancy or SE okay if you have the SE in July for example I cannot tax you right away because I already closed my books for that year my charges will be for 2025 however I had to go back five months based on the completion of the project and in that time I had to see how long they take you to be able to fully occupy I might give it some break because of course you don't occupy the building in three months it take you some time depending where the building is located and for 2025 is in a stable market assessment value has has completed ahead has to do with timing again because when we close the books it's already done it's not the books are already closed so we charge them back through the added assessment um so just to recap based off of this uh chart that you provided the market activity in Jersey City um doesn't seem to be slowing down with the rise in interest rates is that correct that's correct okay I just want to make sure um you could proceed okay any questions about this chart no I just move to my 2025 Department goals and in the 2024 um basically one of the the things that we trying to do was reduce the rateable and the appeals um our ratio was 8655 for 2025 it was increased to 9117 however um we trying to kind of is under repal in the state because five CI is f an appeal to trying to challenge the increase of the ratio so we don't know if it's going to be in the 91.7 or lower uh I just mention this because that could be an um change in the rateable base for 2025 because the percentage went down my goal number two it was to increase the rable Bas in 2022 to $1.3 billion in the rable actually we did 1.4 the second the goal U the third goal was to uh to kind of replace the prior tablets we did have our tablet we receive them in March are just trying to work with a software company to develop in a better inspection um software for me to be able to kind of better the quality and quantity of my inspectors uh I mean take time to do something like that so I know I've been talking for that for a while my prior assessor left so I'm trying to kind of move to the right direction and since everything has been in top appeals reassessments added so we didn't I didn't have time to kind of move forward with this but that's one of my goals for 2025 is push it to get a right software for the inspectors so I can get more people to do more inspections and basically the Quality quality and quantity that's what I'm after and and number five um number three I do have now three vehicles for my inspectors I'm hoping to hire to more uh inspectors I hope the administration can provide me at least two three more cars that they can help me out you know I'm getting money I hope they can give me some money for me to get two more cars um goal number five is actually same is to optimizing the inspections due to the search of fuel inspectors however I'm in the I'm I'm working hiring you so I would be hopefully achieve in 25 and my goal six is a goal that is moving every year because um it's the increase in inspections again due to the permit cosos and it is properties that they do works with no renovation so in that sense I'm trying to send my inspectors every every few weeks to a different areas where I know it is um activity happening because I don't need to have a permit for me to act on it if I can have enough proof that a property is under renovation with having a picture or having anything with my inspectors goes for a driveby that's enough data for me to increase the value so just a lot of people think that because they don't have a CE or dco or permits we don't have the right to assess them but for me change in use change in work for me that's a change in value so I'm after anything that has a change I I usually say even though if you put a fence or um pay blad I will go after too so it's minimal but it will be the only thing that I want to char charges if you put a plant that you can move but everything that isend to the L it will be reassessed and my goal for 2025 is basically um again charge to monitor my usable no usable sales to maintain an a ratio that's the main thing for for my department the second is like I mentioned before just trying to finalize the sofware for that for the inspectors and I'm hoping to be able to merge my subwo with Tyler science building department work with permits um that is like a dream of mine I hope I can do that possible because that would make my life so easy having everything in the in in the tablet so I'm trying to see it's possible to I think it's possible it's just kind of trying to find a way how can we do that H the third one is is actually together with inspections if I I do have the tablets I will be able to increase my inspections um go after my cosos um my site plan approvals of course I act on it since the S plan approvals are done approv everything is ready to be done my land values goes up so that's also something that we review um my goal number four it is defending the tax appeals um with this ratio it is it is um we estimate that we're going to have around 3,897 appeals in the county level with the tax court level so it is a lot of work that my department has I don't know many of you don't know how much work takes to actually challenge one property just to give you an idea when somebody fir an appeal for one property my assessor has to review the property three sales for the city to support the value and the three sales that the taxpayer provide so it is time consuming for only one property so when the hearing days and the accouny happen I usually have 65 to 70 cases per day so that's the reason why we use a lot of overtime because it is very challenging to review those sales especially when you had to inspect them when you had to check or we talking about highrise to review the income so for one property it take more than a half an hour or hour at least to review one and in cases like that we have 65 to 70 per day so that's a lot of work for us when the appeals come so in 2023 we had um 3,168 County appeals they went down to in 2024 1,606 so uh we expecting to probably have have between close to 2,000 this year in 2025 in the county level in the state level we pend we have pending cases of 2390 for multiple years um my goal number five is actually to trying to increase the rateable base in 2025 to 1.8 billion do um just to give you an idea how the rateable was in the prior years in 2023 our rateable base was 43 billion 959 in 2024 45 billion 392 I'm expecting to to get the 47 million 192 for 2025 so that's the goal now we are after properties that are under construction now for the rable of 2025 partially assessment properties anyone have any questions regarding slide seven let me ask you a question Laura um you said your department needs overtime in order to do the tax appeals yes that's correct so let me ask would it benefit your Department if we just hire somebody just to handle all your tax appeals you mean outside people individual person I mean from your office because it's your office that handle the tax appeals that you got to go to court and they got to stay you know a day so I'm saying because I know you have vacancies here too is it better is it beneficial that you just hire one person who handles nothing but your tax appeals it is impossible to do something because there's so much work to do that so it is half just one person to be in charge of of the PS because I'm talking about in the county level 2,000 appeals just for one property alone it's a time consuming so I have four assessors working in the calendars for an added assessment that I have 200 cases because how fast the time goes I only have two weeks for them to review the data and and all four of them and all four of them go to court at the same time yes so they have because we can you can try the case we can review the properties but it's a t consuming if we talking about a highrise of course it's going to take you more than half a day just to review the leases review um the the vacancies everything that is related with with the building so it is it in in this city how many line items we have to have only one is not even possible to do that I've been working in the city for a while so even when I was in um when I was in assistant assessor and we have six people and we couldn't even handle the job because it's so much work and it's like consuming again it's more research you need to read the documents when somebody's coming with a lease we need they give a lease for 2018 and then you need to be adding a percentage of increase every year so just for you to calculate the numbers for one lease if we talking about 10 or 12 leases is a time consuming and then when the county appeals come they start sending the N after April 1st they supposed to kind of they give us time to June July having 65 cases per day is is hard I did it myself and it's impossible to actually do the 65 so that's why sometimes we postpone because we need inspections we need additional data we need in and we need inspections we had to remember the the assessment values that we have in the books now is based on the market of 16 and 17 which is totally changing that we talking about six seven years now is it's not even compared with back then in 2016 so any appeal that they file now I'm requesting an inspection things can change in six years in a year or two so it is time consuming so perhaps some one person doing that no even a small City have one they have many accessors so my goal is to kind of try to hire at least one or two more accessors to kind of help us with our Lo any further questions go ahead I was going to ask um you know it really warmed my heart when you said that you wanted to get software that looped in with Tyler which is the system that HDC is using for construction permits they're using it for you know anything that happens in the city and it would be directly beneficial to your you know your um Department to have ACC not just access but different capabilities in that system um where are you in that because we're going to going to give a light grilling to HDC when they come as well because we need a Unity of uh these governmental departments like one hand needs to know what the other is doing especially in this case because without you we wouldn't be able to collect all the taxes the appropriate taxes for the city and that's the basic business model for government unfortunately so um where are you with the tax software uh Unity um with HDC and what can the council do to help push that dialogue forward the access to Tyler is technically just go to the website and have a username like everybody else it's that's the way that we access the file so we do have access to Tyler the idea of me um using the technology to my tablet is basically it's like I having a phone when you go to your phone I just want to be able to click in the button when they give me a red flag and say look it is a permit in this location Tyler works with my data because when I change a blacko l in my in my data datase they are the ones who get it from my system to their system so like you're right they cannot work without me so anything that's why I want to be able to work with them for me to be able to generate Revenue based on those permits that they issue every day so my idea is more about connecting Tyler to the software of the inspection so access I do have access but I just want to be able to merge together in a subboard that I can make easy when I when I put um let's say 10 Exchange Place by my me putting in my tablet I want to see if I can have a red flag that it is a stting that a permit has been issued so I know that I need to act on it because it is a permit that has been issued or C has been um applying so something like that because we are in a in in this era when the technology is everything so that's my idea just kind of adding to the software of my tablet access I do have it there's someone that's actively monitoring ing not just the permits but also planning board zoning board approvals just to assess properties after let's say an approval goes through at each of these different uh board hearings we do have access they they notify us when they have a permit but again that that's a good point because that would be something that I would like to also know when a planning board is approve a site plan they can be access directly to the property when I open the property so just is about linking the files uh synchronizing the files between when we if you if we use a property has one common identifier for everything we can have everything in one so that's the idea just to have everything in one um tablet so that's the that's what I'm looking for uh and lastly on this page uh the last reval we had was in 2018 do you have a stance on a rolling reval if the if the city was to enact an ordinance to do a rolling reval um like starting with award a b c d e f like after each year well that would be something that I mean right now the ratio is over 80% I don't think we be a Ral happening anytime soon since we are close to the 100% value as you know the prior revaluation before the 2018 was 198a then 2018 again the market is still in the 80% ratio um the lowest ratio that that Jersey city has was 23% so that's more about following the market I to do a rolling assessment uh we probably have to see what areas we need to explore to do something like that cu the market changed a lot since that last revaluation again the Ral of 18 was using a market of 16 and 17 which is nothing compared with today's market downtown and Journal Square you know are booming you know so that's everywhere it's I don't like I explained before it's not just those area everywhere Square Downtown is about more rent but you talking about Residential Properties is everywhere yeah there's a lot of condo conversions all that so that's why it was like the efficacy of doing me those are ass sets based on the last year Market no matter what so we up today in those new constructions the ones that we have in an issue will be properties that never have any changes in value since the revolution in 2018 everything else has been new improve and ren now that's what we've been reassessing them that's how you guys ended up with more money because we keep adding more Revenue because of those new constructions expanding the pie yep all right you could proceed well page number eight is um just just to overview how the permits andos has been issued in the past H since 2022 to 2023 I mean 2025 so just to give you an overview more or less how the permits has been issue any permit cosos that is issue I trying to inspect all of them um Jersey City is very um Jersey City usually pull permits for something basic but in reality sometimes they use a gut re have so that's why I'm very um up to the permits even though you pull electrical or fire and I see that you actually got in the property I had to request an inspection so I'm trying to review all the permits that are being issued no matter what it is especially when you have 10 permits in one building is because you know only Chang in the sink you be you had to do a gut we have to do something like that for them to be able to do the work they usually put a per in the window for me it's more about what is happening inside changing use rehab adding a floor addition basement done that's what I'm after so even though they pull electrical but I see that you are in a floor I will charge you the floor okay so then if we go to the next page it is uh page number nine is about the budget changes in my office um it not a big increase that actually the increase between 2020 2024 like I mentioned in my third page it is like 124,000 AO3 in my budget since 2024 um I think one of the changes is about the salaries because of the supervisors Union also because of my new hires um that's the salary is not much anyway it's only 124 for my department and and the other one is the overtime last year I asked for um they give me 50,000 I spent almost 50 54,000 now I'm asking for 18 additional to the 50 so I'm asking for 68,000 in overtime money and the other change is the um item number 304 which is the training classes um that one is done by HR but I that's the money for my assessors to keep up with the credits and the training so that's a 6,500 but that goes to the budget of HR for them to be able to keep up with the credits that's basically everything related to my budget if you have any questions any questions from my colleagues okay um seems like a very modest like budget increase you know you your office serves a critical function uh for our city um my question is are you planning on having any staff like aggressively collect the payroll tax um where are we with that do you have any like or would that go through like compliance like do you have any compliance Personnel to aggressively collect the payroll tax um unfortunately that's not my area that's the tax collector I'm more assessing properties that's my area so that would be more about tra GRE she's in the tax collector the permit okay well we'll ask her um any final thoughts no I just appreciate your time and everything's okay well thank you so much uh director and I appreciate you for coming here and uh presenting this budget uh with that I motion to adjourn motion to adjourn at 1:52 PM was made by council person SLE seconded by council president Wardman all in favor of the motion to adjourn at 1:52 p.m. all council members present by acclamation please say I I we are out of here at 1:52 p.m. thank care okay everyone we're about to get started if we can silence our cell phones and I see all the doors are closed thank you very much good afternoon everyone we are on the record today is Tuesday the 17th day of December in the year 2024 this is a budget hearing for the Department of recreation with and Youth Development with the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 2 pm start the clock on my cell phone is showing 206 PM instead of having a roll call I'm just going to call out the council members and have them say present council person bajano council person SLE here council person Solomon and council president wman okay we have four council members in attendance at 20:6 PM in addition in the time bit preparation the notice of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Monday December 9th 2024 at 5:31 m to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation Council and to the local newspapers so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law I'm going to turn it over to our chairperson of the meeting and that is council person SLE thank before I'm sorry before I do that um I would just need everyone to identify themselves for the record especially for the people who are watching at home they don't know the names and the faces like we do so we can start with the Department of Recreation and Youth Development got to turn the mic on you could take it off the uh stand if you like my name is uh Keith donf d o n a uh division director for enrichment Rose Maran unz division director James Jackson division director parks Donna Ward fiscal officer Iana P assistant fiscal officer Danny BN Finance Kyle Greaves Finance Army gandula Director of Finance I will now turn it over to you chairperson SLE thank you so much Clerk and thank you so much to the Department of recreation and Youth Development for coming here today to present their budget the department of recreation and Youth Development serves a critical function in our city um when it comes to just like the active and passive Recreation and also the opportunities we give our children um and today if you could go over your proposed 2025 budget I'll give you the floor thank you councilman I just want to say good afternoon um council president it's great to see you council members uh finance department thank you for allowing us our time here um we're here uh the um the budget is to be presented uh given to us by the director of the department lucenda mclin um who is not able to uh speak at this uh at this time um so I'm just going to go through everything Page by Page and um start um so the department roles and responsib ities the department mission is to empower Jersey City's youth to contribute in our diverse community and Beyond the Department's vision is that all Jersey City children youth and youth adults are thriving and productive creating diverse and successful uh communities irrespectful of race ethnicity income sexual orientation or ability the director's office is responsible for all the oversight of Staffing operations and budget including Grant Management uh the division enrichment is responsible for providing quality professional Recreation services and programs for athletic and active residents while encour encouraging that each and every resident stay fit relieve stress and become further acclimated to the uh with their surroundings Community by the way of recreational activities uh the division of recre uh Recreation is responsible for providing a u environment for swimming and Recreation at pools and skater ring including lessons and Aquatic um specific maintenance division of parks and uh division of Park maintenance is responsible for performing general maintenance operations at the city parks related facilities supporting all cultural Affair um events held in Parks coordinating and supporting the Jersey City Parks Coalition identifying performing improvements where feasible and interfere uh interfacing with the other City agencies regarding Parks projects onto page three our total Department of recreation Youth Development budget and staff totals um for this year our budget analysis 2025 we're looking at 8,551 7995 um and that is that is a uh couple dollars raise from from last year and then when we go to our head counts for this year we're looking at 69 full-time employees and then 62 um part-time employees jump in by the way they they might jump in a little bit just to kind of give me more information that's needed uh do you have anything you want to add what why is it decreased from 2023 to 2025 if you mind me asking so um in conversation with the director any specifics is unfortunately this was handed to us and we're kind of looking at this as well uh we address those questions with her no problem um I just wanted to rectify for for the record the full-time employees are 62 and the part-time are 69 it's just okay I do see there was a decrease in full-time um employees 2023 to now so and a increase in part-time so for The Aquatic side we did have an increase on the a decrease in the full-time because we did convert more into bt19 just because it's easier to staff the pools that way we have college students and high school students so it was easier instead of having a person work full day that just wasn't being wasn't working out for us okay now this is all a full-time and part-time status it you can proceed unless uh any other questions from Council colleagues okay guys have take my voice a little bit longer uh Department of recreation you development overview of Divisions uh director office uh director office provides support um supports the fiscal administrative Transportation needs of the entire department Grant Management uh overseen by the director's office division of enrichment responsible for the direct programming that grows uh youth social uh social ethical and emotional physical and cognitive compasses through engagement employment and professional development and cfic engagement uh projects assuring accessibility of all programs also responsible of the management permitting and coordination of the city's athletic fields uh including the Armory uh to promote responsible access to all community members uh Recreation uh division is responsible for providing quality uh professional recreational facilities including persing pool Pavonia Johnson pool persing community persing community center and the persan rink also responsibility for the management permitting and coordination of the the city's pool skating rank including swim skate classes leagues to promote responsibility and access to all community members our division of parks uh maintenance is responsible for the round uh round daily upkeep of all active and passive uh Park areas playgrounds courts splash pads utility grass athletic fields as well as those recreational facilities managed by the department in um like the Fieldhouse uh the pools in the rink uh also supporting all cultural Fair events uh in the park s coordinating supporting the parks Coalition identifying or permit uh performing improvements where feasible feasible so the next couple pages are organizational charts if you have any questions let me know but the first one is going to be your director's office G to say um is there any decision as to who the next director is potentially going to be the administration um you know I know it's another year but are there plans to appoint someone as d dor um I think that's F you the fisal guys they cannot answer that ba is not here can can we have that sent to the Ba's office I mean they're they're here standing in for them so just if you could find out that's not a question for me it's for them yeah okay it's the org chart has to do with the org chart that is true um so the org chart as it stands today um we have our uh our regular or chart from there we have our director office we have our divisions of Park maintenance the division of enrichment and of course our division of recreation which includes all the pools and the uh and the and the swim staff as well any questions on the or charts is there any way to get a a PDF copy or a PowerPoint copy of this just because some of the font is Tiny even for my eyes just uh thank you Keith if you can just email it to uh myself and I'll forward it to all the uh council members can we get that from all the Departments actually that's just you know good practice okay not a problem thank you we're going to go through a couple of our accomplishments this year um the team at the enrichment team it was a big year for those guys um great ke let me ask you a question let's go back to your um or chart yeah sure um is there any vacancies in any departments are a couple of vacancies and we're looking at you have for yours I have um for the division enrichment we have uh four possibly five um openings and in part-time and then for full-time you have has four for fulltime for parks and go ahead slow down yeah take a deep breath cuz you're going too fast there's no NE it you don't have to worry we really on your as side okay so just just take it easy and just let us know how many vacancies do you have en richment is a fulltime or part time and then we'll move on to the next go ahead and when you guys are speaking you can take the mic off the stand so it's easy to hand off to the next person with enrichment go ahead enrichment we have uh four part-time openings and for Parks we have four fulltime openings in Aquatics we're in the process of backfilling positions so you will a lot of docu signs have been coming through so we're tatic Aquatics yeah we're backfilling positions that we had open back fing what happened to those positions did people leave like okay why college students high school kids what are those positions a lifeguard I guess okay lifeguard supervisors labor can't get Keith to be a lifegard I will if you um just kidding we on the record okay so um back to the um back to the slideshow so our department of uh Youth Development the enrichment um division um we served over 15,000 youth participants uh engaged thousands of young participants across the diverse Recreation enrichment uh um programs so this year we started something called our mobile Recreation which is a incredibly successful program um we um basically it's a featured a van with uh stocked recreational Games sports equipment uh we rolled it out at four different Parks it's been a huge success um and not only do our staff um get involved but is a lot of parent involvement now as well we provide games and a whole bunch of other um fun stuff for them we also started our new Che leading program that we launched this year uh we have about 30 girls uh um interested in that primarily from the Southside practice are held the Bon Center uh and our team uh proudly cheers on our um our Jets football team uh We've collaborated with Partners partner with Community organizations to JC Library uh to enhance programming for youth uh also plans are underway to expand these offerings further creating more engaging uh activities for the community we start our youth uh Fitness empower program partnership with uh athletic um with ampt ammt it's Athletics making progress together we launched a new program at persing field combining uh mentorship and sports to promote uh personal growth and fitness uh we pioneered Esports for the first time this year introduce the pilot Esports programming uh Mario Kart Minecraft uh we also compete in a few um uh competitions uh summer fun uh Camp success we served over 200 kids daily at our summer camp located over at persing field uh PRI to the safe and engaging en Rich environment we operated uh three free uh buses daily from uh South and the West Side to ensure accessibility for all um we also expanded our volleyball program which has been an enormous success this year um we pioneered new recreational programs uh including uh what we got pickle ball rugby Cricket um Heering to the diverse population around here uh we set Trends with break dancing started a break dancing program but for its uh Olympic debut uh creating a trend and uh filling up classes uh before this Olympics came out which we're kind of proud of um also our Jets football team our Jets tackle football team we had um we were when when we wrote this up we were heading to the championship but the update is our Junior peee our peeee and our JV won the championship and that was actually held at Cav Point um track and field won gold silver and bronze medals at local Statewide events uh Ross New Jersey um our soccer has been uh our sea program um teams are achieving outstanding results including strong girls team representing the program with excellent our girls team is rocking it right now um Empower her this newly introduced initiative is designed to inspire young girls to embrace self-care explore entrepreneurship and Excel academically meeting three times a week it offers Hands-On activities mentorship and learning opportunities support the growth and empowerment um this year we also uh ran our um I'll get further into that but the girls uh basketball development league newly introduced program focus on the fundamentals of Bas uh basketball helping young girls decide that this is something that they want to do um develop uh basically they develop uh essential motor skills uh players will learn uh key skills is dribbling passing and shooting and a structured environment that ensures everyone has a chance to participate and grow For the Love of the sport um fun stuff though this year was our summer girls basketball tournament which we held at Dickinson High School um brought together nine high schools um highly successful tournament and I'm think uh Dickinson won I I might have to check that uh because it was a while ago um our 21st annual Hamilton Park summer league this year's uh um League was thrilling success culminating in a victory by a Jersey City team taking home the championship we had our JV uh basketball tournament over the summer held at Bayside Park um we also introducing our um or not introducing but keeping going our girl softball program continue our popular clinics uh help them uh uh develop proper throwing catching running hitting mechanics along with uh skill development our tennis and uh boxing program are still thriving um and inclusive youth opportunities in partnership with whole Spectrum we provide opportunities for youth with special needs enjoy bowling swimming and other fun activities for both parents and the Guardians I'm going to move this over to um Rosemary so she could read about the aquatics okay so Aquatics had an amazing uh 2024 just to touch in a few subjects we trained 2,624 children in swim lessons um not only did we cover swim lessons but we covered water safety aspects and skills in around the water we expanded our our offerings to 130 aquatic programs this is five more than last year in uh we did in an innovation program which is called the pop up swim lessons so parents were complaining that we didn't have enough spots for the swim lessons so we do pop-up swim lessons which are free for residents it provides a one onetime class to kind of get the the children out of the fear of being in the water so true success for us we have the piranha swim team we had 89 participants who got to compete against local teams uh throughout the county we had the Jersey City swim Championship which was a novice swim meet we had 90 children uh the championship inspired youth to sell and Foster in a competitive yet supportive environment lifeguarding we certified 22 new lifeguards this year all of which work for us this summer we enhanced lifeguard management for the supervisors so we made Seven of our supervisor of bath and pools get certified with the American Red Cross in lifeguard management which improves surveillance and emergency response techniques mental health and first aid certification 14 of our employees were equipped with the skills to identify and address Mental Health and substance use concerns fostering a compassionate and supportive work environment team bonding and building activities multiple bonding sessions fostered a collaborative work culture special guests discussed critical topics such as drugs alcohol vaping the added value to all of these events as our staff is um faced with all of these on multiple occasions uh we are represented in the state so uh we get to send uh one of our employees to the New Jersey state 2.0 we have been part we've particip participated in this now twice so I was there last week representing Jersey City uh it's an active representation Statewide uh where we are committed to upholding the high standards of the health and safety aquatic facilities uh we expand opportunities through Partnerships R ryd Aquatics collaborated with the jury City police in providing children from various organizations with a chance to learn and enjoy roller skating in a welcoming environment we worked with Autism Speaks special sessions were tailored for children with autism creating an inclusive and supportive space to promote physical activity and confidence the Boys and Girls Club partnering with this impactful organization we offered skating opportunities that encourage fun Community Connection and the development of new skills for youth participants does anyone have any questions regarding uh those two slides I was going to ask um regarding the swim lessons so you said 2,264 2,624 people participate in the swim lessons but I mean I've heard feedback from the community that there's not enough swim lessons but it sounds like you you gave a lot of swim lessons out so what is the market demand for swim lessons like does it need to be multiple classes like what age groups like can you give us a little more like um meat and potatoes as to like what could be done I know it might not be in the budget but like what is the nice to have that that's where I was going it requires more water safety instructors which cost right um we follow the American Red Cross curriculum which requires one instructor for six students that is why we limit our class sizes in addition to that in order for me to C count data for each one of those kids it's 4 hours of instruction before or they can actually Master a class they may not pass the class but we meet our requirements to qualify them as completion of a class so yes it's very difficult uh we do offer classes we're we're dropping classes every 3 to four weeks we're offering them weekdays Monday to Friday we're offering them Saturday and Sunday mornings so what we did to you know address this concern um was do the pop-up classes so that some parents were getting some of the basic things that they needed in regards to water safety and prevention um because I think that's where a lot of people were like you know my kid is just afraid he won't put his face in the water so that's why we have the pop-ups it's not going to address the issue right now we would need more employees more water safety instructors and more money okay you continue so as you know opening the rink a total success story after a year and a half of closure uh we reopen the ice skating ring transforming it into a space for the community this major accomplishment was made possible through teamwork strategic partnership and dedicated efforts across various sectors as well as the leadership of the business administrator's office key highlights uh for those of you who have not been able to attend the installation of the new boilers with the assistance of DPW um we did some awesome painting repairs in the process of getting a mural at the ice rink as well uh critical equipment repairs the chiller and compressor of the compressor as we know we have an external Chiller that is functioning and keeping us running at the rink uh through the partnership of Foley and rarly mechanical uh electrical connections to the triller uh with Partnerships with the trade unions uh enhan safety and functionality we got new netting and board replacement through Becker Arena which helped us keep the ring safe for not only the players but also parents and Spectators uh we actually uh put a vendor to do our board cleaning to help us ensure that the boards were polished and inviting to our constituents uh we also had to master a few things with the rink uh some things that the city had never actually taken on so uh Aquatics had to learn how to drive the Zamboni we had to send staff to get certified to actually do this as no one in the city was certified to do so uh we had to learn how to do triller operations we had to gain the on operating the chiller knowing when to turn it off how to do glycol samples and understanding compressor levels uh the next one gly glycol system we have to know what levels we have to be and when we have to put more glycol into the unit uh we talked about Zamboni operation ice making expertise so we had to partner with the vendor and learn how to lay the ice and ensure that it was proper and safe and when it was ready for it to be used uh we also had enhanced skating experiences we were able to provide a fully stocked uh inventory of skates so we have over 450 skates available to our residents and for the record on Saturday we rented every skate out at our holiday skate so there was not one left in inventory uh a well stocked inventory ensures the community members in all ages and skill levels that can enjoy the skaing experience um rd's equipment I'm sorry rd's Aquatics team willing willingness to embrace these technical challenges and build a foundation of knowledge highlights dedication providing a top tier skating experience experience for our community and our residents you going to have another uh free uh admission session I know the skates aren't free but are you g to have since it sounds like Saturday was super successful will you have another one so we we usually do the grand opening that has a free admission and we do the holiday skate but yes I'm in the works of doing maybe like a A Valentine Day skate you know our Winter Wonderland thing so yes I'm working on a few other things that we can do awesome any questions colleagues okay with those who are had to get training in the this equipment they salary increase just curious no my salary nor my supervisor salar increased Anna did say she wanted to drive those ambon full time now um so for the next page it's our um most of our um vertisements whole bunch of pictures taken by Jen Brown then I'm going to head over to um head over to the Department of recreation Youth Development field usage page I'll just tell you right now the our field bring the microphone closer sorry that our Fields get used and they get used a lot um the Jersey City Department of recreation uh successfully managed field use usage for an unprecedented volume of organizations and programs in 2024 uh coordinating 110 organizations 94 individual programs the department ensured Equitable access to athletic fields for a diverse array of sports and activities uh the extensive collaboration allowed the department to cater to a broad demographic of Youth adults and Community groups fostering inclusion and participation Citywide uh through meticulous scheduling and resource allocation the department effectively managed uh 25,28 7.73 total out field usage uh during this year the achievement highlights the Department's ability to balance high demand while maintaining the quality of fields and ensuring seamless operations Advanced planning data driven decisions and ongoing Communications with stakeholders uh minimize conflicts and maximized um efficiency benefiting all users and preserving the Integrity of Jersey City's recreational facilities uh this accomplishment not only underscores the Department's commitment to Community engagement but also reinforces its role as a leader in Recreation management by providing structured opportunities for sports Recreation the J City Department of recreation and Youth Development uh contribut to the physical social and emotional wellbe being of U thousands of residents the uh initiative stands as a testament to our Department's dedication to enriching uh community life through accessibility and well organized recreational opportunities so again there's 110 organizations and 94 individual ones and uh we uh last year was it last year or the year before we started our facilitron so people just go on log on pick the uh the times that they're looking for and then they get approved or not approved depending on how it's structured for them this uh next page kind of shows you actually what facilitron does what options we have for for our Fields then this is the 2020 uh 2025 2026 goals uh for enrichment so some of you might know but um 2025 is going to be a big year getting ready for uh the FIFA World Cup with FIFA World Cup coming to New York and New Jersey we're placing a major emphasis on This Global event our goal is to collaborate with the Community Partners to enhance local experiences and celebrate world's biggest sport Community um so you will see a lot of um a lot of World Cup soccer and a lot of players around here so we're hoping to take advantage of every moment of that um including um watch parties all the above does the department of recreation have like a mascot cuz even the libraries they have like Bigfoot as their mascot I was wondering in advance of this roll out like will the department of recreation have like a mascot or something uh you know yeah um off the Record no great idea in the works or can we think about that that would be super fun the promotional materials for people to remember um I haven't seen the what FIFA is mascot usually they come out with a mascot every four years so we'll kind of maybe play off of that one as well um but we do have a lot of great ideas going through also hold on councilman Solomon has a question you just say a little bit more about what um the goals are of your work with the FIFA World Cup and and if there are other departments at this stage that you're sort of working on yes uh that's actually a very good question uh councilman uh yeah we I've already started talking to um um cultural Affairs and a couple of the other Council people who were at the league of municipalities they had a uh they had a uh FIFA talk and everything what everybody's getting ready to do um some ideas were presented they have not really started to push that yet I think that's you know the next three or four months that might be a big thing to where they're coming in but on a side note yeah we're thinking about doing a a soccer tournament um New Jersey uh for all the Jersey City teams to kind of like kick it off from there um but any Department that wants to get involved with this we are happy to take them that would be great um especially especially you guys is there any meeting set up uh they haven't departments know I'm just you know because you said if they want to get involved how would the Departments know that they can get involved because um there's meetings now for um for FIFA is what yeah th those I think are more of Transportation kind of stuff and you know more details from there but the fun stuff and the stuff where we're going to engage the youth we haven't started talking about that with other department but again except for cultural Affairs and uh and a couple counsil people but yeah we can get that on the board right away then um just going back to the facilities and the field use what What fields are in the highest demand right now um what's you want to answer that jump in I mean in the mic please probably right now caveen persan Metro especially when the high school season start probably so and then and then for in each of those fields that's I assume the soccer and baseball fields um Caven soccer and baseball and football but Metro is baseball um Persian is baseball okay but we do use the fields for use soccer we um make the field in Outfield yep turfing we're hopefully turfing up the field and uh persing so fingers crossed but and to be back on that Barry Lane is is is used a lot and um they're always both are you continue with the 2025 goals we're also going to expand our mobile Recreation success um going to introduce mobile Recreation to all different Parks um increasing the access access to recreational games more sports equipment uh explore Partnerships to enhance uh programming add unique offerings to the Mob uh Recreation lineup which includes the library um grow youth uh programs cheerleading expand recruit uh efforts to involve more youth uh more areas of the city uh girls basketball development league we're going to keep on pushing that Empower her program increase enrollment also focus on entrepreneurship academic uh success um and achievement um girls softwall girls softball clinics um incorporate advanc training which we're starting this uh this winter and host a End season showcase uh game also uh enhance our um our tennis program add more sessions and secure an additional courts to meet the rise in demand uh host a summer tournament boxing program launch Advanced training workshops and identify standout youth for regional competitions also expand uh Community collaborations strengthen Partnerships with organizations like whole spectrum and the library to develop new inclusive educational activities expand Signature Events uh build on success of standout events like the Hamilton Park uh summerly increasing participation with the JV basketball tournament and our girls um basketball tournament as well also bringing on um a soccer tournament uh separate from the FIFA one we were talking about also our incl inclusive programming expand opportunities for youth with special needs by introducing proding additional activities such as art workshops sensory friendly events and accessible uh Sports programs work with Partners to develop year round offers including camps outings and leagues for all uh for all abilities our youth Fitness and empowerment we're going to increase enrollment uh in the youth uh Fitness empowerment program and add more locations to reach more underserved areas uh targeted zip codes introduce leadership training sessions and uh certification opportunities to further uh Youth Development I hand it over to um Rosemary hey Recreation aquatic schools increase the number of instructors to expand expand program offering and better serve residents strengthen the junior lifeguarding and lifeguarding program to develop a more skilled pooled of Summer candidates let me add that in this Summit I just came from everybody was short lifeguards I am proud to say we have no shortage in Jersey City we haven't had one and we're going to continue that process with this getting our Junior Lifeguards to become lifeguards trained here in jcy we want to expand pop-up program success and Leverage The pop-up initiatives to reach more children Citywide ensuring accessibility to Aquatic activities and water safety education we want to grow the youth program broaden and diversify the youth Focus offering to engage more participants and Foster Community involvement strengthen collaboration with the American Red Cross deepen Partnerships to elevate safety training standards and offerings expand Signature Events we want to enhance the piranha swim team and the Jersey City swim Championship to boost participation and visibility provide a shine to a spotlight on the figure skating program to attract Greater Community interest promote an inclusive programming develop T to develop tailored activities for individuals with diverse abilities focusing on water safety and enjoyable aquatic activities to reduce the water related fears introduce a Family Fitness opportunities launch an evening water fitness program that encourages families to exercise together promoting health and bonding upgrade infrastructure and accessibility improve facilities including Pavonia Pool replace filters at the lafay Aquatic Center to ensure optimal functionality and user satisfaction complete the known repairs and improvements that are needed at puring including replacing the Aging benches in the pool area additional filter acid washing the pool and the deck surfaces we like to replace the commercial refrigerator at the Lafayette pool to enhance the concession stand offerings James Jackson for um for maintenance um we're looking at some goals got a new product for patchwork for small breaks in the saf service also um got Thomas govern Virginia gallaga in the Edwards we getting that redone with the partnership infrastructure to replace um play equipment in um surface also got um a new pump at um Enis Jones that hasn't worked in years to um get the irrigation working for the season upcoming and um we're upgrading play Play services at first triangle Stevens Point Columbia Persian Field Lafayette Splash Pad B playground and we um making sure that um vendors at our um nine largest parks to continue their service they doing this year okay for uh our next page is our um our budget changes Donna would you like to uh yeah I'm gonna give this to you so as uh Keith had started you know I know Lucen spoke to some and we are going to address any additional questions that may come from this budget as she has um worked on this and fine-tuned it to the best operations for the 2025 year so I think we'll work on this together is this is we're looking at this and if there's anything that we need so for the division of recreation it looks like the change is 357,96 okay so for line item 101 we are requesting $831,000 50581 for line item 102 we're requesting 76,7 53.5050 for line item 103 requesting 44,000 sorry to interrupt is it possible and you may not have it in front of you is it possible to sort of highlight what the increases for so it's like in line item uh 1.01 for recreation it's an increase in you know 84k my assumption is that's a new salary but but if if you can highlight there if there's a way to have it to to highlight what it is that would be helpful on our end so I'm this is something that we can send to you with the highlighted the changes and the requests so it's a better understanding as to what is being asked for for each line item Danny do you did you guys help them out or the the numbers in the presentation don't match the budget workbook that we have so we'll have to Circle back with the Department on um specifics numers don't match so he has to give it back the numbers should match we'll provide a updated figures to everyone so we can have a better understanding and we're all on the same page Sean yes okay office supplies line item 2011 $3,000 line item 203 no change line item 206 $5,000 line item 210 no request line item 212 $85,000 line item 214 83,000 $5 line item 215 26,500 line item 301 zero request line item 304 zero request line item 305 $500 line item 306 $900 line item 307 $110,000 line item 308 zero request line item 309 2,100 00 line item 310 2 203,000 line item 312 20,100 line item 399 zero request Rosemary I'm I'm sorry to interrupt you I I don't think it's going to be helpful to go through each and every line item not to interrupt you or tell you what to do I'm I'm just I'm an Umpire when it comes to the council and and the directors but uh until you get that other sheet with showing what the changes are for I wouldn't want you to waste your time going through every each and light item if the council doesn't know where the increases are for fair enough council is there a reason for uh discrepancies between people of like similar positions over here like laborers in terms of you know they it seems like they started off the same in 2024 but then they didn't get the same bump in for the proposed 2025 budget if if if you could look into that for me after would it be a contract issue are you talking about part-time laborers or uh it looks like some of them started off at 41k and then uh they've been bumped up to like 58 or 47 and this but there's like discrepancies between them so I'm just wondering you know which division are you looking at um I'm looking at the is this Parks local 245 up there's some uh increases that will be a followup so that is a better understanding as to why those increases and bump ups were put for each position okay um I open the floor to the is your presentation done our presentation has concluded okay the council um if you want to the floor is yours we'll start with I guess yeah this is for the council members and the department of Parks and Recreation before I start with the list of ongoing problems I want to ask for support for ABC Incorporated kids after school program at Maran Gardens this 501c after school program was founded about 10 years ago by former Recreation employee Charles and Johnson the program is free and serves out our at at risk youth in this area they are asking to partner with the Jersey City Department of recreation and Youth Development and have submitted a proposal requesting $177,000 in fund this would allow them to occup occupy space at Maran Gardens we had a lot of problems in that neighborhood and the kids deserve better I would like to go on record and ask the city of Jersey City to Grant the funding needed to help the kids in the Maran neighborhood especially Maran Gardens please support ABC Incorporated kids thank you now as you all know this year has been a horrendous year for Ward SE and w d up in Persian field we had the pool we had the ice skating ring we've had problems with the bathrooms being broken into being destroyed we need security cameras up there CT TV cameras and we need more Security in that area there uh real we need a real running track not the track that is there now and also for I understand for almost two months now the heating unit at the veterans hall has been broken I don't know if it's been fixed in this last week or so but the a lot of people are complaining we got to get it done so and these issues up in Persian field got to stop there's got to be more attention spent on Persian field to correct a lot of these issues that are going on uh would you like to respond in any uh way to the councilman's concerns it's not my concerns it's concern I know well the ones you're erasing and people are complaining like crazy because they're afraid to go into the park there's the security is horrible we've had uh a lot of incidences up there in the last month or two a lot of not even being reported to the police because people feel it's a waste of time uh depart if you can for we uh we are in talks with um with ABC um so those are ongoing uh we're talking to see what they have um I've seen the I've seen the proposal and we're working with them right now to see where we can go with that yeah well keate these things got to move because you know things these problems have been going on uh the issue with especially with the bathroom they broke the toilet paper things they they it's a shame what's going on and the security has to be changed up there because if this is going on I don't know who's doing it the kids uh uh or whatever but things have to change can we just off of his concerns can we Institute swipe access to the bathrooms and it's given to people that are using the um the bath rooms like maybe the little leagues or people that are always there like you start to roll it out um on as needed basis I don't know if there there's a way to look into that um if we address the if we wipe access for all the parks would only be accessible to those who have a permit to use that field and it would restrict usage to the residents like the people walking the track or the parents in the playground it could be given to parents too I'm just saying saying that way you have a record of who's going into the bathrooms at a certain time because if you absent that it's you put a park attendant there there's only one way to track who's using it and who's not using it and it should be swipe access across the city I mean it's similar like a dorm or any facility that people use then you could probably do it through wck desk or something they could apply for it some way somehow just we got we we got to figure something out cuz the status quo you know uh director Jackson was cleaning stuff off the walls the other day with him and the staff it takes how many staff members to you pull them out from like servicing the parks to address a def con level one situation in in the park like they just trashed it punched holes in the wall graffiti put poop in the everywhere okay like we need we need a better like go forward basis and I I would humbly request you look at swipe access or a park attendant across the city and I know councilman Solomon has been patiently waiting um so we will we will look into all that and just just on the restrooms you know we got a number of uh emails around the restrooms at Enos Jones the of Clemente field so I know similar challenges right of of you know toilet paper get stolen bathroom doors get destroyed and you know just I I think kind of regular communication from your guys Department with us about how you're handling it what your plans are and you know we we recognize the challenges and also want to make sure we have a you know plans in place to uh ensure that the bathrooms are safe and clean and accessible um so that issue comes up a bunch um I didn't want to ask if on the swimming programs we have any programs for students with autism or if that is being planned just to give a little bit of um the Red Cross is not break down any of the program or program into like it's a special needs program it actually forces us to mainstream everybody and to ctail their programming so that they're not you know put separate so what we do is if we do have someone who has an IAP or something we put them into our program you know we can't just give them a one-in-one instruction but yes they are a part of our program so what we're looking now since I was a part of the state conference to see if there is a vendor that can come and actually train our instructors into something that is maybe off of the Red Cross model and help us you know train our staff to deal with this population a little better um it's just we are in a bind with the Red Cross we have an agreement that we will teacher programming so we're going to work it out this year and see what we can do in regards to um the special yeah I'd love to stay in touch with you as you're working through that process but I appreciate you explaining that and then um you know just to put in your radar but um we're doing the kind of repairs on 16 Street park right now uh but that should be reopening in the spring maybe ideally maybe the summer um but obviously once that's reopened we'll have kind of the maintenance needs of that so obviously you know if that requires additional staff or or efforts just great to kind of know that now so that once it reopens and we spent all this money to you know you know basically turn it into a great new open space for the city that we're able to then maintain it moving forward um so I just want to make sure that was on your radar and I want to thank you guys also for just to work on the ice r obviously it was a a lot you had to do to get it open and um it was really great to see it's great to hear that all the skates were rented and on the on the 14th and that you know the community is really back and using it and I've Heard lots of you know appreciations from different members of the community so convey that over to you guys as well just want to reckon how many parks we have in the city I can't hear you 799 um do each Park have a park attendant no is there a plan for each Park to have a park attended I'm just curious because it seem like this it has solved some of our issues with the bathrooms being destroyed because I know you guys come around and clean the parks every day I'm conscious of that but then soon you leave soon as you guys leave then it's it's you know the public is there but if there's a tend walking around sometime that deter trouble it does um is there any plan to make sure a park has a park attendant and this way here if there's a key fall that's the person who should have it this way you know who's going in the building because um it seemed like um we are building up the parks but then people are coming destroying it so that's double and triple work on you guys to be to be for real so is there a way that we can incorporate a park and attending at nine Parks you have nine people I mean you have vacancies I I'm just trying to say are we trying to rethink what we do that's all because you working double you are they you cleaning they tearing you cleaning they're tearing but if there's somebody there and they see somebody with a uniform and they you know Patrol the area pick up stuff as things come it it changes people Behavior if if it's okay can we talk about this sure after the uh I think this would be a great meeting with the council and Rec Department yeah okay that would be is there a app for the rec desk or is it all online is there a say one more time is there an app app like a app on iPhone for there is not yet they are talking about it uh with wesk and I actually think it's going to be pretty quick uh but this turnaround but they've just been bought out by a new company so I'm just trying to see where their Direction they're going in it's it's a decent they they do the job but they're working on an app I I do know that okay and uh the fields I know there was always a a challenge with us running a different fields in Jersey City one time we had people coming from the outside wanting to rent our Fields so are all our Fields assigned to Jersey City um you know sports or do we have outside organizations coming in trying to um you know rent our Fields whether it's baseball whatever yeah there there's an order of the way things go when it comes to recess so first is uh our schools then it's Recreation nonprofit uh and then out uh organizations that could be outside or inside but they they're up here so how many Outsiders we have renting and are are we are they paying that's where I want to get to let me let me find that out yeah find that out because um I think we got a lot of people here and to truth you know I don't know if we could afford to rent it out I don't know but if we could I want to make sure that we are charging the right fee because if we start charging the right fees for Outsiders maybe some of the fee cost can cover a park attendant disagree just got to start figuring this out because um our city is growing and there's such a great demand so we have to figure out how can we start least coming covering some of these salaries because we need the people there especially when it come to Recreation you need supervision I don't care you need supervision and we need to be trained and earlier I said um Recreation need to be trained too and deescalation because I'm quite sure you get a lot of people that's upset especially if they kid didn't win the soccer game unfortunately you are correct and I'd love to have these conversations after this that'll be that'll be F right because I think we have to move it forward in that way times has changed we have to figure out a way how we can cover our course especially when everybody wants to come to Jersey City you want to be cognizant of time uh we're at 3:00 and um you know respectful does anyone have any other questions before we adjourn just Keith just for the record I I believe I heard there's 79 Parks not just nine Parks is that correct 79 Parks 79 okay because I just for the record that's 80 employees all right with that I'm going to motion to adjourn SE gets first you want more okay we have a motion to adjourn at 3M made by council person Cay may I have a second second second by council president wman all council members in attendance by acclamation please say I I we are out of here at 3M thank you so much budget hearings will continue on Thursday at 10 a.m. have a great night e