##VIDEO ID:4l_L6wsIE_0## good morning good morning welcome to let's start this President is ready good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the nor Municipal Council on Tuesday October 1st 2024 council president council members we are on page two of the agenda item five reports and recommendations of City officers boards and commissions any questions from the council seeing none excuse me officer can you close never mind all right ordinances on first reading 6fa is an ordinance amending permit parking by adding Adam Street between Oliver Street and Walnut Street on the west side of Adam Street daily from 6:00 pm. to 6:00 a.m. in the East Ward sponsored by councilman Silva second by councilman Gonzalez any questions seeing none public hearing second reading and final passage 6p SFA a is an ordinance amending a lease agreement with lsid Properties LLC for the purpose of updating an amending recital any questions from the council see none resolutions 7r2 a through C are private sale Redevelopment agreement a is to create a side yard for the adjacent owned property in the South Ward uh Mr chair I want to know if we can send this back to uh Administration return to Administration sponsored by councilman councel is there a [Music] second councilwoman Scott rry B is to use existing lot to provide parking to adjacent property in the South Ward councilman councel this is another one I would like to send back to Administration all right sponsored by councilman Council second second councilman Scott rry and C is to provide for new construction of a two family home and rehabilitation of a three- family home in the South for like to defer this item again all right motion to defer by councilman counsel I I'll second it 7 r2d is to authorize the execution of a community benefits agreement for property in the central Ward and a public hearing will be held on Wednesday October 2nd 2024 in City Hall Council chamber at 12:30 p.m. is the Deputy Mayor here I think I saw her yeah can we get an explanation on the uh the agreement what what are the benefits for this agreement I yes uh good morning council president council members Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh this item um is new uh for us because it's speaking about the state Aspire program and through that state legislation it requires developers who receive Aspire tax credits from the New Jersey Eda to execute a community benefits agreement with the local um jurisdiction so this is the first of many that you'll see um coming to council for the item before you this is for the project at 81-93 Orange Street um the community benefit here is um going to do several things uh first it will have a permanent art installation um on the Project's facade utilizing local nework artists second it will also coordinate with um an anchor institution here audible to identify and engage um minority and women owned businesses to utilize the retail space available in the project and uh three it'll provide for um a free uh city of Newark sign uh that will be focused um looking towards uh uh I280 and the Broad Street Station um and that will be there for the life of the project as well as um be able to do advertising uh for various programs and so we were excited to bring this to you because um really we able to help some locer local businesses have access to lower cost retail and that's new um in our city where we're trying to keep our small businesses here uh and also having more art in our city especially in the Newark Arts and educ ation District where this project is located is exciting to us um and then in closing of course the additional sign that will also uh showcase the city um and provide a gateway to our city as well as people are coming off the highway so um again this is the first of about 12 that you'll see um you'll see the next three I would expect um before the end of the year thank you Deputy Mayor any questions councilman Gonzalez is this is the building where the police and fire were oh um council president to council member Gonzalez's question uh no that site is uh n uh 91 orange so very close um and that site uh is being redeveloped by Brandy Wine um what you might be noticing on that site right now is that they're goingon to they're preparing for demolition uh so they can start the Redevelopment of that site but um this is a site um adjacent is pres before yes sir by the gas station there yes yes okay any other questions uh well Deputy Mayor I have a question not specifically to this but just in general for Aspire uh tax credits does the state require a community meeting yes uh council president um great question yes the Aspire legislation requires um both a community meeting and a public hearing and so the reason why we're requesting the council to hold the public hearing is that you are an official um naturally channel to host public hearings and we're able to have the record that's necessary to prove to the state that the public hearing was held and the community hearing for this one was was occurred already yes the community uh meeting was held in the summer um in August uh and it was held by our developers and um EHD was present as well thank you Deputy Mayor you're welcome council president I think that's it thank you very much thank you next 7r2 is a private sale Redevelopment to rehabilitate a two family home and to sell to Nork residents whose income is at 60 to 80% area medium income in the west ward any questions seeing none 7r2 f is individual training account Training Services to authorize payment of state approved list of eligible training Prof provider list any questions from the council seeing none 7 r2g is a need for housing project it's the First Amendment to the proposed project to determine if it will meet an existing housing need any questions from the council no well I have a quick question with regards to this matter um Deputy Mayor why was the amount of housing lowered from I think it was 231 to 196 uh yes uh council member uh Allison lad uh director of Economic and Housing Development uh council president to your question uh this is a project that's been under discussion um with uh the burger uh organization um the property uh change is really due to their um desire to change the project description and so they're looking at it to be able to go for um uh sorry bonds and tax credits at the New Jersey housing Mortgage and Finance Association um as well as be 100% affordable thank you Deputy Mayor Mr President uh councilman Ramos yeah uh deputy mayor what what approvals has this project received already locally is this like the first step in the process where they're applying for hfma credits and then they come back to the city uh yes uh council president to council member Ramos's question this is in one of the first steps um that the project has taken um we know that they have been submitting to um Planning and Zoning for site plan approval and we are aware that the project is going to come to us uh for some type of um Financial incentive given the affordable housing component of the project um at this time no application has been submitted though have they have they been um in receipt of aspire credits for this also um on this one sir I do not believe so they do have two other projects and I do know they have received it for uh the project on 22 Fulton any any um and I know it's probably too early to ask any uh requirements on behalf of the developer when it comes to like pla or or Union involvement in the construction because they're getting you know a potentially state tax credits and local support do you want to defer that to to a later point to comment on that thank you very much uh council member and council president to council member Ramos's question um that part is an unknown as they have not submitted a formal application to us I do know that they are submitting their application to hmfa which is why they needed the resolution of need updated thank you councilman uh Gonzalez I'm going back to a to e where we're selling before we move on move back we finish with the this matter any questions okay let's go back to ER they said here that they are going to sell the property to Residents whose income is at 60% of the Ami who who is going to determine whether those individuals qualify as a 60% Ami council president council member Gonzalez that's a great question um so in this uh in this case and with every sale of property um that the city um provides to the um purchaser um once the project is built and there's um a purchaser for the property there has to be um uh forgive me a completion um notice certificate of completion um so let me back up because my words got tangled um when the project is completed the purchaser has to submit a request for a certificate of completion whereby they submit about 10 documents to our department for review to ensure that they complied with not only the Redevelopment agreement but also the site plan approval and any restrictions that we have related to the affordability so um it's at that moment where the city will release the completion um certificate to the developer so they're no longer bound by our agreement um did that make sense but at that point in time they haven't sold the property they completed construction of the property so after that they are going to sell the property supposedly to someone that makes 60% of the area M income so how are we going to to make sure that that happens uh yes they would have to demonstrate that in their certificate of completion application to us to let us know um through some type of income verification that the um homeowner purchaser was within the guidelines um as I know you know and council president and others know this that about a year ago um the council passed um an ordinance that requires about 30 no sorry 50% of our properties to be sold for affordable housing purposes so we're actually tracking that now where before it was sold for any purpose that someone was interested in now we sell 50% of the properties for affordable housing so we have to track it uh differently and have the compliance held to a higher standard thank you all right right any other questions all right seeing none next item 7r2 is referral of proposed 7th Amendment to the Newar River Public Access and Redevelopment plan to the central planning board requesting that the nor Central planning board consider a Seventh Amendment to the nor River Public Access and Redevelopment plan any questions from the council oh yeah Council Silva just to say that I'm okay with this but there has to be a community meeting held about this I will not let it go through Communications but I will not Advance it any forward without a community uh a community meeting with my residents regarding this because it involves uh a building several buildings yeah uh specifically one down by uh Hawkin Street okay so it's okay to go through Communications but I will not resolution it's a resolution coun a community meeting so this is since this is a resolution on today it moves forward so are you saying so when it comes back yep El you won't vote on okay I think the deputy mayor mayor yeah uh good morning again council president uh council members Alison lad director of Economic and Housing Development um yes we agree that a count a community meeting um that council member Silva mentioned is required and important um we need to have one uh I will state though that as a positive um the reason for us even considering uh this amendment is because it's modifying where the parking access will be for the Valentine project and we're expecting a grosser to actually tenant the building and so it's one of the things that we would need to modify is how the access and egress comes to the um building um so that's that's the change um but we do agree that there needs to be a community meeting so that um it's known to the residents what the reason is for this amendment um we know how important the riverfront area is and we're not trying to negatively impact um our Riverfront uh but we are excited about this grocer coming to nework all right so Deputy Mayor please coordinate with uh councilman Silva uh for that community meeting and then let us all know when it's going to occur yes we'll do council president thank you next item 7r2 I is settlement agreement for executive session 7r2 J is a stopple certificate issuance of a stopple certificate certifying the status of the financial agreement any questions seeing none next item 7r3 a is a professional service contract to provide construction management and inspection services for Ferry Street intersection safety Improvement project any questions Council councilman Silva no all right saying none 7 r4a is stipulation of settlements for tax appeals any questions saying none 7 R5 A and B are amending application acceptance of Grant funds A is to accept additional Grant funds for the Health Center Program and B is to extend the grant period through June 30th 2025 any questions saying none 7R 6A settlement of civil litigation for executive session 7 R8 A and B are waving special event permit application fees A is for the Mountain of Fire and miracles Ministries ribbon cutting service sponsored by councilman canana can we get a second Council councilwoman Scott rry pleas is for the 11th annual Mount Prospect partnership hot rods and Classic Car Show sponsored by councilman canana second second by councilman Ramos 7 r8c is to provide legal services to the office of the city clerk and connection with election matters any questions saying none d is recognizing and commending resolutions and E is expressing profound sorrow and regret resolutions next 7 r9a is to fund police initiatives to address violent crime through the purchase of surveillance cameras and 7r9 B is to provide grant funding to address traffic concerns any questions seeing none 7 R12 A and B or bid contracts a is to provide for roof replacement at the Panic water pre-treatment building the metal lands storm water pumping station and the Wayne pumping stations and B is to provide for chronic Water Treatment Plant HVAC upgrades any questions saying none 7 R12 C and D are change orders in the water department C is the repair of water mains service leaks and disconnection of water service services and D is to change order for valve inspection testing exercising and assessment of large valves any questions president uh councilman Gonzalez yes on well C we have an increase here of almost a million dollars someone should explain to us what conditions make this change necessary I see director 12C 12 12C yes good morning council president council members um 12C is in uh this is work that's being performed we have water main breaks so we had if you know last year we had a last year and earlier this year during the winter we had a large variety of large water main breaks that that were repaired during an emergency so this increases to pay for those jobs so this the scope of work was increased is what you're saying I'm I'm saying that the contract overran because of some of the work there's a new contract that's out the bid now but the contract over ran during those emergencies during one month so one month we had a high volume of emergency large diameter water main brakes and those bills came in exceeded so when we submit the bid that bid doesn't have a maximum amount or when weit the contract so when we submit the bid inside the bid is different diameter there a different quantities for different diameters of pipes that we replace so right we had a big main break on Bloomfield Avenue in Fifth Street I don't know if you're aware that by kandas we had two in Branchburg Park we had a 60 inch main breake stuff that normally doesn't work that exceeded the contract amount as we starting to do the main breaks bills coming should should this increases be approved before they incur we incur the expense so again councilman we we we're given an emergency in in a three four or five day period it didn't exceed then as the bills start coming in and we going back and forth to review the bills we're saying that we're overrunning or about about to overrun the contract thank you all right thank you Council malez any other questions seeing none thank you director thank you Communications 8A is an ordinance amending public safety personnel to add definition to the basic training course when hiring entry-level Law Enforcement Officers without an examination Mr President yes councilman Ramos um yeah can someone from the police division explain what what the ask is here it based on my my reading are we saying that in U one of these I don't know how alternate route or non- Civil Service um officers has up to nine months to complete the academy after they get hired is that is that what you're asking us to authorize here okay uh good morning deputy director shironda Morris so what it is the original um ordinance that we did didn't specify the amount of time that they had to go from temporary to a permanent position when they don't go through the Civil Service route and they do the non- test taking route they are temporary until they graduate the academy we didn't specify that time frame so we're just adding in the nine months that they have to become permanent so they have up to nine months to complete the academy is that what you're saying correct and and is that true of an officer that we hire through the Civil Service process or do they have to complete the academy proc prior to becoming um as be before they're they're they're an officer do they have that same 9month period no when you come through Civil Service you're permanent from day one okay that's the difference between so you could technically be an officer without going through the Academy of your non- civil service is that what you're saying like you could be assigned okay so you you can't be assigned until you complete the academy correct they just wanted Civil Service just wanted us to specify the nine months okay understood I just have a question councilman director just a question so if I'm civil service if I'm going through Nork police without civil service is everything else still the same the background everything The Residency we have to follow everything accordingly like we were a Civil Service employee nothing changes abely no nothing changes the only difference is you don't take the exam the civil service exam the background check is completely the same okay so another question cuz it says 9 months here so as of day one the academy you're already starting to get benefits you're starting to get all that stuff right you're now a city employee so these people will not get anything until nine months or they get it right away no they get it right away we're just specifying the time frame they have we we don't have bring them on until the first day Academy so it's only five months they're actually temporary but Civil Service just wanted us to specify we don't do it any other way and they get all the benefits the only difference is civil service you get your senor from day one because you're a permanent employee when you don't um do the civil service test and you come in through the portal then your um seniority starts when you graduate the academy and Civil Service picks you up when you graduate so you'll be civil service at that point good thank you Mr President um deputy director not for today but when you get an opportunity can you give us some data in terms of how many officers uh NPD has hired through this non- Civil Service route um since we were authorized and also like have any what's been the success rate of those officers that we've bought on through the non- Civil Service have have we had a good retention rate have a number of them been terminated um you know I know over the last week we saw like a highly publicized unfortunate video of two officers who were fighting and it's all over social media and the rumors are and again there's a lot of rumors in North police that those two officers may have been hired through this non- Civil Service program like can can you give us just data how many people have we hired how many of those officers are still with us um is it a better success rate than when we follow civil service or is it a lesser success rate Absolutely I'll get that data for you um and those officers that unfortunately were involved in that incident they were not through that um what happened with those do they get suspended they they were suspended immediately okay thank you any other questions thank you deputy director 10A is approval of the raffle license next item public comment we are now in the 30 minute I'm sorry uh councilman uh Kelly thank you uh Mr President can I go back to um 7r2 e uh I just want to sponsor that make sure that I'm a sponsor for that Council McKelly sponsor 7 r2e is there second second by councilwoman Scott [Music] rry all right public comment we are now in a 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak please state your name for the record first Speaker good morning George Tillman Jr good morning I'm sorry um the um the ordinances that we've been discussing now for quite some time the last um update that was given is that the council was working towards putting together some amendments to these ordinances so that the government would be in compliance however um no no date has been given to when this anticipated uh amendments are going to come forth for a public hearing or um a community meeting because there's no way that we we're doing amendments to an ordinance that has to do with the hiring of nework residents that has not been done for 22 years almost 24 years sorry and that it's going to take more than just changing legislation there's a process of implementation of certain departments that do certain things towards the ordinance so when I look at the budget and I also put in an Oprah request for the anticipated revenue for all the tax abatements and the uh actual money that's been re received in by the the government for 2021 22 and 23 unfortunately um the clerk's office was not able to give me that information at this time um that department is not supposed to be doing those sort of things because this information um I spoke to Mr Guzman the information that I'm requesting is information the public is supposed to be um privy to without an Oprah request that commission is supposed to give us this information regarding um the revenue of all the developers that ow the city money each year and those who are paying and those who are not paying this information this data that we're not receiving like I'm having to go request this information Mr guzar that's a very difficult task for that that that that department because it's not slated to do that it has to go and look at every individual tax abatement every developer that received the tax abatement for those years and see if they paid and if their delinquent there is no no uh oversight right now that we can say confidently that nework residents are working thank you thank you Mr tman next speaker good morning council members good morning I am here to report the same thing that happened I'm sorry can you please state your name for the record please Susie McGee I am here to report the the same thing has happened at 129 that happened at 130 Chancellor Avenue they are cutting the apartments up rooms up turning three and a half room Apartments into four room Apartments uh and I have spoken with someone from the code enforcement I've spoken to someone from my southwalk councilman's office but things remain the same I'm just wondering what can youall do about it because I I did not see any permits CA Department over me and apartment under me they did it I didn't see permit in the building thank you thank you Miss McGee I'm sure someone will speak with you in the back I got uh yeah Denise Cole I just want to say to city council I did call the Ada um I did speak to the clerk so they're in the process of looking up the ADA requirements and the law because they gave me it and I am entitled because I made the request um I also want to say for the police information that was just given could you also ask through that non Civil Service certification how many africanamerican males and females how many lgbtq are being recruited through that process the reason why we have the disparity in our community that we have is because our police force are not representative of everyone in the community so I do want you to look at that too okay um second of all I want to give the honorable counsil in Accolade for the great job that you do but we have so much more to do as a team and I am one of those citizens captain of the United States Army who is a veteran who understand and I'm not put on any of these boards like your citizen complaint board like yeah um I want to thank councilman ano raino for always inviting me to the education committee because that is one area I do know and know well I want to thank you thank my councilman Patrick Council because whenever I call him with a concern I would like this city council to also look at how our landlords can raise our rent 2 percent 3 percent 5 perent every year and do nothing in our apartments no work orders no nothing especially in my building that Albert and Alber development run where for a year and a half I've been asking for my work orders to get done that I had to call my councilman Council Patrick he sent code enforcement then he had the re code enforcement been there four times why do I have to fight with a landlord that raised my rent every year 5% and did no work or Capital Improvements in my apartment and I've been there 2 four years I pay him every increase he asked me yet my apartment work orders are not getting done you all have to ask that question you should not be allowed to raise our rent if you're not doing the Capital Improvements that your abatements say that they must be doing especially when a tenant move out that whole apartment is supposed to be rehabed from bottom to top so that's all I wanted to say thank you thank you Miss Cole and thank you for your service too thank you next speaker good morning LaToya Jackson Tucker Central W residents um last week I gave y'all Flyers was y'all able to look at them did anybody Google or try to understand what drill rapping was I'm looking for a head not I know y'all can't Okay so I just bumped into Roger Leon outside I sent uh the email to every last board member and also to every council person to people on ovp I've been sending it everywhere he doesn't know he's our superintendent no disrespect to him but he told me that he doesn't know about it and I he meets Tom we don't have time our children are dying they're on social media exploit and they self we don't have time and I have a lot on my plate this morning I had to go to a doctor's appointment with my mother drag her down here she constantly tell me I vote but I'm not into that but she still came and supported me so the same support that my 74 year old mother can give I need it from y'all now I'm stuck in the middle of grisela blancco and Michelle Obama that's where I'm stuck at because I how everything works I'm stuck in between the hill the hood and the hill you know I want to make it to the hill but there's a lot going on I've been everywhere in every Department to basically ask for people to start having these conversations because it's necessary I have to right now without my mother supporting me I feel alone although we have all these resources we have all these people and I'm not trying to take anything away from work that is being done because I understand but I'm frustrated because I'm a mother going through this with a bunch of other mothers that's scared to step up and talk about this elephant in the room we have our children who can be doing so much more and our one thing that we always say within this work is if we can save one let that one be my son I come down here I support y'all let that one be my son if it's only one that we can save let that one be my son because like I said I'm stuck in between grzela and Michelle Obama I'm stuck in between a hood and a hill and what I'm experiencing right now what I feel I do not like it but I won't come down here disrespecting anybody I won't come down here saying what is not being done I'm asking y'all to seriously have this conversation at every w in every neighborhood because education jails money all of this stuff is going together and we should understand that our people are the product that's being sold I don't I don't want to understand that part please help me in had this conversation thank you Miss Jackson next speaker good morning everyone good morning my name is Lisa best I'm representing our my sister's lighthouse in New York thank you for allowing me to approach your platform sure um on behalf of my director Miss Jacqueline Limehouse which couldn't be here today I just wanted to um remind you all that on a previous meeting pre- meeting I did bring Flyers about our walk rally and Fest against domestic violence this Saturday um thank you so much councilwoman Scott rree for everything that you're doing thus far um this is like I we said so many times before a quieted plight um a young lady was just killed on last week shot in the store by her um by her partner he ran she ran to a store for help and he ran in right behind her and shot her in front of everybody this this is DV it happens to it's affected all of us in so many ways shapes and form um and we are an organization for those who don't know that deal with and support those who are domestic violence um victims and survivors we offer resources and support um our event is at 10:00 a.m. I did email every single Council person's assistant um I'm just waiting for confirmation but since I'm here formally I would like to reinvite you all to walk with us in support of um all the victims and survivors and let them know just like Miss jacn Lim house right now um as of October or later this this month she'll be receiving surgery on her knee um she doesn't mind me sharing this because she is a DV victim um and Survivor and the reason why she's getting surgeries because this is the post results of her um being abused um she deals with daily pain this is the result of being abused and she deals with mental things just like so many others it's trauma overall those who witness it those who are involved with it directly so I would love I would appreciate seeing every single one of you if you can to just even walk with us in support of all of these um individuals I brought more flyers to distribute out there for those who are here um I'll leave one just in case but I did send that out to um to everyone so thank you so much and thank you so much councilman Council for everything that you're doing also I appreciate that I hear the conversation so so God bless you all and I hope to see you all soon oh and Monifa is our Grand Marshall she also happens to be a Survivor okay thank you thank you Miss best NE next speaker any other speakers you want to speak step to the microphone please how the council doing today thanks for letting me speak Mrs dpri Miss Round Tree I gotta get familiar with Mr Crum can we get your name for the record please Rashid Co I was at the last Mee on September 18th um I spoke about a couple of things um lowincome Housing Development Redevelopment and homelessness I wanted to probably start a uh nonprofit for that um also I heard someone speak about landlords raising the rent I wouldn't have a problem with even starting something myself with overseeing those landlords in the community like I will go out personally review records and make sure everybody's in compliance even putting lowincome people in these new developments as we all know there a lot of Redevelopment going on and a lot of people from n have no part of it I want to be a part of it um domestic violence prevention which she just touched on um I was kind of a part of that but not a part of it went to the prosecutor office and filled out for the I guess the um what they give you pay you because you was in domestic violence whatever I think that needs more oversight um last thing well not the last thing real quick last meeting on September 18th we had a Theo Reich here from Lake TriCity they do solar power from the Lakes I believe y you guys took the information I took he he gave me information the same information he gave you guys on the 18th he wants to rent the Lakes I don't know if it's Essence County or just know it but he was showing me these lakes and the numbers that he make and is for lowincome electricity to charge people less than what psng is charging and all he needs the mayor or the councilman to sign off on it and they actually pay the city so it's not like he's looking for funding they pay the city to rent these lakes and they create solar power I believe Mr Crump had got something about this but I told him I would come down here and try to speak to you guys and speak to Mr RZ about this because they he said all he needs them to sign off on it of course it would be a little beneficial to me because I'm trying to do the lowincome you know housing and homelessness so we could combine the two um last but not least Black Wall Street Mr dpri I'm still waiting for that meeting with Mr muhamad and so we in the New Jersey films so I could do this CGI I created a new company CGI animation films I want to give New Jersey films I really want to talk to Shaq because that's where I'm trying to get the other funding from besides the njeda where I could use the Aspire program to get 68 million I still need like 190 so I want to try to set something up with Shaq that's the last thing I'm always in contact with Mr uh Kelly and Miss rry over here so you know I want to talk sit down and talk the rise with all you you know people I need to talk to thanks for your time thank you next speaker seeing none we need to go in executive session oh I'm sorry public speaking is closed we have to go on Executive session right motion to go into executive session yeah for a couple of items can I get a motion to go into executive session and Council Crump I'm sorry Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Silva yes president Trump yes so we go upstairs to the viewing public and everyone in the audience this meeting is now closed we're going to Executive session thank you see you tomorrow e e