##VIDEO ID:BKec9cg3mEc## good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday October 22nd 2024 council president council members we have a few appointments this morning if we can just start on page page 29 of the agenda all right thank you madam clerk under Communications we can start with item 8 G items 8G through 8 L are appointments to the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and questioning advisory commission G is audri B Torres hearing M torus do you have a brief statement before we begin good morning yes I do good morning and thank you esteemed colleagues and city leaders and community members my name is alris B Torres my pronouns are she and her I'm deeply honored and grateful uh to accept this appointment as lgbtq commissioner for the city of nework as a first generation afro Latina and small business owner I bring not only my entrepreneurial spirit but also my commitment to strengthen our community for the past decade I've had the privilege of playing key roles in the city of new's growth from fostering economic and Workforce Development initiatives through Community programming and advancing environmental resilience that have positively impacted thousands of nework residents with my background in strategic planning Community engagement as well as my studies at Kan University I contributed through leadership roles such as vice president of the IBO neighbor Association president of the new Global Shapers chair of the chair of communications for the newk Green Team and I also proudly serve as the first openly queer elected District leader for the 35th District of the West for additionally my experience as lead producer for the Nork lgbtqia Pride week uh this past summer has been a true highlight deepening my commitment to ensuring our lgbtqi community thrives I'm also a graduate of list Nork res resident Leadership Academy as well as leadership norc go simso green and I'm dedicated to using my experience to build upon the commission's work focusing on enhanced and quality of life for all nework residents together we will continue to move forward move Nork forward with pride vision and resilience thank you any any questions I would like to sponsor her oh you got be y'all beat me to it all right thank you for your service yeah absolutely thank you for all that you do and continue to do for our city and our residents so that's uh motion by uh sponsored by count counc Gonzalez second by councilman canana thank you very much thank you H is Tiana Marie Santos good morning good morning all right you have a brief statement No I just wanted to say good morning and thank you for the opportunity oh great great you have any questions uh councilwoman I would like to spons miss Santos second her and I just want to make a state too a statement this young lady uh I've known this young lady all my life as she was since she was a little baby and seeing her grow stay in the city of Newark sometimes people get on commissions and you wonder you know are they that they stay in New York and here's someone who's an example of someone who stayed in New York who lives in New York her mom who's an activist that whether it be the Puerto Rican parade whatever whatever event she's out there and these are the people that should be in commission that have no exent and I and I congratulate you for what you do young lady thank you for your leadership thank you appreciate it councilwoman Scott I like to finish my statement thank you uh council president and ditto to what our beloved um councilman canana is saying we've known you watch you grow into the beautiful woman that you are you have been active um before for the commission you've been active assisting your mom and doing things throughout the city and we are proud of you just as we know that you're proud to be from North and you're proud of it we know that you're going to be a great asset to this commission so once again congratulations thank you thank you congratulations thank you for your service thank you have a good day I is Joy black good morning Miss Black good morning all right good to see you yes any opening statement or any brief statement um my name is Joy black I'm a westw resident a proud westw resident um as you know I have advocated for many causes including housing um lately supporting fairstead in the housing I also do domestic violence parenting courses along with many other things that I advocate for I'm truly proud to be a norker today and every day as we continue to move nor forward thank you councilwoman Scott rry I would like to sponsor Miss black as well I know the work that she does in the community and she again is going to be an asset to the commission so I would like to sponsor Miss fantastic I know joey yes someone that is involved in everything in the city and I congratulate you on your appointment committed thank you so much that get here you know uh so we've had three very uh I like to co-sponsor that too yeah add councilman uh Kelly from the west ward in there thank you so much thank you for your willingness to serve okay Jay is Jason Bunkley good morning good morning you have a brief statement okay no brief statement uh just want to just say thank you for the opportunity to represent the community and to actively be a part of uh whatever changes we can actually progressions that we can make to the community for any question I want to sponsor a second great work sponsored by councilman Kelly second by coun Scott Round Tree any questions anything else want to say I just want to um thank Mr monley for all that he does I'm being a part of the homeless commission and working with the um I've had an opportunity by working with the office of homeless services to see your work and your commitment to the residents of the city of nework not just the homeless population of I should say the residents without addresses but just to see the commitment that you have you pick up your pH phone you answer and I believe that you going to be a great answer to this commission that you are now being appointed to so congratulations and we look forward to doing more work with you thank you thank you with that thank you for your willingness to serve K is Alexander Padilla Jr no do not see him okay L is Bernard mallister just for the record we're we're going to defer that one Mr McAllister is there mallister here seeing none to defer that one also okay 8m is an appointment to the African commission Ibrahim HMA ibraim Hamza good morning good morning sir good everyone have a brief statement before we again yeah okay good morning my name is ibraim Hamza I need you to speak more into the mic please yeah good morning everyone my name is Ibrahim Hamza the CEO of ab sport LLC and uh I plan to serve and give back to my community which I've been doing for a very long time the record is there I've been feeding over 500 people in my community and I'm planning to do more and I very glad if this opportunity is given and I appreciate that thank you thank you any questions from the council no see seeing none thank you for your willingness to serve yeah all right I would like to sponsor okay sponsored by Scott round Tre second by Kelly councilman Kelly God bless you congratulations all right Madam cler council president council members good morning we are on page four of the agenda item five reports and recommendations of City officers boards and commissions any questions from the council seeing none next item ordinances on first reading 6fa 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 questions any questions from the Council on this matter all right seeing none next uh next item public hearing second reading and final passage 6 psfa is an ordinance amending parking by permit only in designated residential areas by adding Adams Street between Oliver Street and Walnut Street on the west side of Adam Street daily from 6: pm to 6:00 am in the East Ward sponsored by councilman Silva second by councilman Gonzalez any questions saying none next item resolutions 7r1 A and B are budget insertions A is for the workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act data reporting analysis and B is to to fund the enhancement of the national preparedness capabilities any questions from the council question Council m canana i mean I see that amount but uh I'm looking at other cities around the country they have gotten more than this I'd like to know I mean really like to look at this um and have someone in in in that Department of Homeland Security because I I've seen uh from the National leue City's perspective other cities have gotten more money in terms of this topic so I don't know what is the issue here but this is not a a big amount uh for when we discussed we discussing Homeland Security issues uh and since the airport the port and all the other things that that surround the city of nework so I would you know whoever is dealing with grants I like to make sure that they're looking at this because this other cities got more that don't have what we have as As Cities councilman yes this amount has been the same amount for the last 18 years that have been here I believe that with the exposure that we have in the city I believe we as mentioned by councilman we should be getting more money to protect the city for any kind of terroristic threat so any other questions yeah Mr President councilman Ramos yeah thank you Mr President um also to to add to my colleagues comments if if we can get um kind of a activity report from that office I know it's under Public Safety as to um you know what kind of initiatives are they undertaking are they training uh City staff um what kind of equipment have they purchased over the years you know it's kind of like a forgotten office right until something really bad happens and every body focuses on the importance of Homeland Security but in between those um those times um we don't we don't hear much from them so I think it's important for us to get some information as far as what kind of activities are they undertaking and how many personnel do we have assigned to that office yeah so with with that being with all the council members being any other questions any comments with that being said maybe we can have the uh Homeland Security Homeland Security Office of uh Emergency Management as well well as the public uh safety director come in um probably have to do an executive session some of that information but come in at the next um uh uh what's our meeting called special conference that's what I'm thinking would that be acceptable all right so let's council president just a quick thing there's a breakdown here um on certain items and really the amounts of each items aren't even that much money that if we had one bad incident for example if we had a bad Hazmat incident that we'd blow through the money in in one one event so again bringing to the attention that councilman Gonzalez was saying that it's been the same number for all these years especially when the airport's growing and the port is growing and the city's growing in general I think these we have to review a lot of these numbers and make sure that there is enough money allocated to to protect our residents and protect the city thank you councilman at our next special conference let's have an executive session with the uh public safety director office of emergency management and their teams absolutely 7r1 C through e are the use of State contracts C is for traffic signal controllers D is to purchase tires tubes and services and E is to purchase microscopes and additional Services any questions from the council saying none next item seminar 2A is a private sale Redevelopment to provide for new construction of a two family home and rehabilitation of a three- family home to sell at market rate to City of Newark employees in the South W any questions on this matter councilman Council I'm good good seminar 2B is an acceptance of Grant funds to provide for the acceptance of WEA data reporting and Analysis funds any questions thing done 7r3 a is professional service contract a change order for Delany Street drainage traffic and roadway improvements councilman yeah I just have a question on this um a change orders will this delay this project any further is anybody here from engineer I could answer that director is in the back just uh good morning council president council members dores Martinez wooden director department of engineering um this is um a May slightly push uh the design the design professionals request a little more time um but we could always make up the time in the construction phase so this is just for the design to be finalized so in your expert opinion when do you think that they'll they'll start this project yeah the extension um for the design portion is for the end of January but we don't have you know because it's it granted we need to extend it to accommodate the funds to cover for the uh design portion so the design will be pushed to January of 2025 thank you no problem any other questions seeing none next item 7R 3B and C are both requests for extensions from New Jersey Department of Transportation regarding the street resurfacing program B is for the year 2022 and C is for the year 2023 any questions yes I have a question uh councilman Silva uh director one more question uh will we see any Street Paving the rest of this uh 2024 year in the city of Newark I'm sorry U Council council member SAA can you will we see any more streets paved before the end of 2024 yes yes I mean the weather is it's it's it's I'm sorry the weather is uh you know it's it's favorable so as long as we still have good weather we can continue Paving um typically you know by I would say mid November when it gets really cold because of the temperature um the material doesn't allow for the operation once we get there we'll stop will stop uh Paving um whatever projects that we had towards the end of the year would definitely be stting at the beginning of the season in 2025 latest uh mid-march can you send me a list of any streets in the East that possibly have a chance of getting paved before the end uh before November comes can you send us make sure that the Traffic Division makes that available to you thank you director if you could send us a list of all the streets throughout all the the the wards that may be paid before the the year okay so an update list of the progress of this year and the remaining streets for the year yes thank you no problem that will be paved that that will be paved well yes I'm gonna I'm GNA give you the anticipated again this is weather permitting um you know I could tell you that it's it's going to be seven but then the weather May just permit five so what I can do like I said is an update of pave to date and anticipated pave to the end of the year good thank you problem councilman Ramos Mr President C Ramos first then thank you Mr President and and this isn't just for for engineering it's really a request from the ba um we we didn't see a lot of Paving in the north ward in in 20 uh 24 um maybe the paving trucks um lost their sense of direction but maybe through your through your chair and the clerk can can we get a list of any streets that were paved in the north wart this year whether they were funded by engineering water sewer emergency work from psng you there needs to be someone that can put you know that report together and just let us know what streets of any uh were paved I know other words I saw you know had a Paving activity you know I'm happy about that um but I want to make sure that um our Ward is not forgotten when it comes to um resources for for Street pavement so let's send that to the ba sure councel marus will we'll follow up on that um just wanted to clarify that we do see um Awards with Equity yeah I don't think it's just your work though a lot there there's there's there Paving projects that are connected to water sewer uh psng work you know you name it there there's a there's Paving activity going on the the stuff through your shop is limited to whatever grants we get on an annual basis and you know subsequent years when you can pave but there is a lot of work that goes on that's not tied to department so I just want to see if the Ba's office can piece that together for me thank you councilman Gonzales yes my question is we are already almost in November say how many streets are being paved today that would be finished by November because November is next week sure we we'll provide you the update um councilman Gonzalez that will be um including of of the response to your question um I can can tell you that once we start a a a a project we have to finish it all the way to stripe that's from the department of engineering I cannot vouch as councilman um Rus alluded to like there's other agencies and other utility companies doing work so what I could tell you is from the engineering stands we plan them we execute them and we make sure they get done and strip before we leave but how many do we have that are going on let's say this week are we paving any streets this week I I can assure you we are I can send you the uh twoe look ahead because we do coordinate with the other agencies um and that will have the information of all the weeks coming up so I can make that available to you and the council members thank you any other questions thank you next item thank you council president 7 R5 A and B are contracts with subrecipients for the Ryan White HIV Health Services A is for the city of East Orange Health Services and B is for positive Health Care Incorporated any questions next item 7 R5 C through f are application or acceptance of Grant funds C is for the supplemental nutrition program D is for sustaining Public Health infrastructure e is to enhance the emergency response system and F is additional funding for covid-19 any questions on next item 7R 6A is pre-litigation settlement for executive session 7R 6B is professional service contract to provide Legal Services on matters of special counsel as well as 7R 6C is also Professional Services contracts to provide Legal Services on matters at special counsel any questions next titem 7 r7a is professional service contract for visiting judges to Pride over Court sessions questions next item 7 r8a and B are both ceremonial Street designations A is for James and Mary Rome sponsored by councilman canana and B is for Reverend Joe D mlan sponsored by councilwoman Scott round Tre I'll second uh the second one I'll second the first one all right so Gonzales seconds the first and I second the second duly noted semar 8 C is the whole harmless agreement for the pumpkin picking event sponsored by councilman Kelly yeah I want to cancel that um or harmless um we have decided to cancel the pumpkin picking for tomorrow um that was going to duck Camp because um of the the two tragedies of the the young children that we lost in the fire we had about 20 students coming from Mount Vernon School which the the kindergarten went to and it affected her entire family um from her brother to her father being in critical condition in the hospital still and the school is just you know they they really are taking it hard and we just decided to cancel because then Speedway wanted to pull out all just in honor of the two children that we lost so we're not going to take the trip to to pumpkin picking and we will make it up for the children later but um just in honor of our children we're going to uh postpone this event noted 7R 8D is waving special event permanent application fees for the trunk at treat Harvest celebration sponsored by council president Crum can I get a second second 7 r8e is recognizing and commending resolutions and 7 r8f is expressing profound sorrow and regret any questions any concerns next item 7 r9a is application acceptance of Grant funds to enhance the city of Newark and the urban area security initiative uasi Region's ability to build maintain and sustain National preparedness capabilities I think this will go towards our special conference okay 7 r1a is a memorandum of understanding with Ruckers University to provide computer training program for City Senior Citizens any questions next item yeah sponsor that Mr CH second all right for 7R 11a Council Scott rry toly noted Communications items 8 a through d a reappointment to the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and questioning advisory commission A is for Jennifer Moore B is for suzu Stewart D is for taquan a Williams and D is for Dela Walker item 8e is a reappointment to the Newark parking authority Tara e Prindle items 8 e and f are reappointments to the parking authority yes f is Andre Hollis and G I'm sorry no yeah I think you e and f e and f my apologies E and F are reappointment to the parking authority yes 8 G through l and m were discussed earlier we are on page 31 item 8N which is an ordinance amending honorary and ceremonial Street designations by providing additional requirements for eligibility sponsored by council president Crump and I'm co-sponsoring that with council president Crum thank you so just just for the record just to and all the council members received a copy of this but just for The public's information too we um this ordinance will lower the uh age for a street dedication to 70 it was currently at 80 it will also uh allow or put into place uh putting or organizations giving Street dedication to organizations that have been in city of nework for 25 years or longer and there is an attached uh ceremonial Street dedication application that will start moving forward this was also shared with the ba and uh Corporation Council so everyone was aware of it any questions all right next item council president council members that concludes the agenda however there was communication yesterday from the water department that they have an item that they like to discuss in executive session an added starter item and then this morning I got an email about an added starter and the Law Department we don't have any um added starter letters but perhaps the Law Department may want to discuss it with the council so there's one for water department that want they want to discuss in executive session yes sir okay and then there's another from the Law Department from the law department is anyone here that wants to speak on this matter good morning Council Michelle Nelson first assistant Law Department the added starter that we have before you is for one of our special councils for litigation it is amendment to the contract we're increasing it um due to budget issues we weren't able to put it before you until now so that's why we're placing Amendment could could we get a little more detail on it in terms of of who it's for how much sure is Michael Armstrong I will get you Michel Armstrong okay I will get you the amount to you shortly I don't have that is it through is it through ler star the additional contract amount is for 125,000 Michael Armstrong has been dealing with litigation defense matters and this is for an additional you might have 125,000 okay all right and where is this in the L start process that I cannot tell you either right done email on that that would be good I will all right thank you Mr President councilman say 125 is at what is the total contract amount 250,000 so was an additional 125,000 on what the original contract was correct okay any other questions all right seeing none oh can we get the leg start number sure the ler star number is 24-1 1384 1384 all right great thank you thank you all right all right Madam clerk public comment yes we are now in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak please address your comments to the council is there anyone wishing to be heard good morning Deborah Salters Warrior for the people city of NK um I wasn't here for the second reading public hearing on the parking um that was here and this is for councilman Silva I see that um basically my question would be when is my ordinance going to be put on here for the parking in the area where we live right um before the councilwoman left she took away all of the event parking down by um the entire area down on uh by Symphony Hall that area over there where those new buildings are um and we still have no resolve um I want to address something I know that the mayor is trying to get his pick for this Central Ward seat we have four at large so three I don't know what y'all do one I know because I'm in the streets and I can make the call and say this person need help and that at large shows up we don't need to fill that seat right now I mean until we do have a special election there are three of you that can take over the roles of that c w seat because what else are you doing you're getting a paycheck you are at larges which means that you are the mayors of this city so the three of you can handle that Central Ward seat until we fill it okay so there's no excuse the people need stuff done get it done and not sitting in meetings with developers as the former Central War councilwoman did with uh Paramount assets and voted yes on their project but to give what the people need that's what we that's what you're getting paid for so fill that seat and handle the responsibilities of the people that we have here um also uh Mr Crump I you know this thing has been on my mind about even as far as you being in again the president's seat which I have an issue with um because I need a report card um for what has been done for the people in this city I understand that in your parking authority seat you're making 175 the Council seat you get 120 as being the president Watershed you get 110 and if my numbers are off please correct me so that is a total of about what $455,000 but I don't see a report card for the things that you have done to benefit we the people of this city so I need a refund right and I believe also your wife works for the city in some Department that's about another 100,000 so for a half a million dollars a year what do we get for our money I don't see anyone fighting for We the People to have a better quality of life these rents are again through the roof and it can be abated by you all but you don't again our senior women in their 60s and 70s are in the streets because they had to walk away from apartments that they could not afford what is being done about thank you for your comments next speaker Monera El buman uh I know the ba probably come up here and Gaslight us but folks you need to wake up now like I said before we got a ba in in here who came into this city was a municipal judge went from a municipal judge to a uh administrator of orange and then bounced into City Hall and come here and go behind us and talk about the lies that he's saying we saying but boom it comes on national TV you know corruption after corruption so it behooves you all city of newk residents to stop listening to this person calling us a fraud when he's the fraud make it make sense and come up here and talk to us while you resign from your position and then we'll be all right now the city of newor receive almost $7 million on container homes Millions on shelters 10 million on one hotel and another proposed 11 million for housing grant that they already reive 4 million now council members I'm coming to you asking you there's a $4 million and another proposal for another uh 11 million 7 million coming in from a grant okay and the grant calls for identifying and removing bar barers to affordable housing production preservation and lowering the housing cost for newers and here you have the housing department Allison lad who we sat in uh her public hearing that only a few people attended she's trying to allocate $1 million to kada Towers okay use funding for organizations that ain't even into housing and other stuff and I'm just asking y'all are y'all looking at what these proposals for these grants are because it ain't no way possible that if the grant calls for affordable housing production which we definitely need low housing low income housing Pres ation of Housing and lowering the housing cost which we are rent buring and you got somebody proposing something different you need to start looking into these grants and doing something about it thank you for your comments next speaker good morning uh Mr President George stman Jr um you should have be in front of you I gave to the clerk um an ordinance um an amendment is 6 PS f-c June 17 2015 and this is the amendment to um 6s and FD 1118 2002 to newk Employment Commission um if you go real quick the reason why I gave it to you today because I'm GNA discuss it tomorrow um I went and I did some due diligence to find out that um what I've been asking you for over a year now I was able to find out that this commission um has been repelled and the duties of this commission has been given to the affirmative action review Council not only that um in this ordinance you will also see that um in the new section uh the implementation was given to new Works in section two you also see the job opportunities also um the First Source registered that was responsibility of newk works it also talks about how all the construction developments and all the jobs that we've been discussing are supposed to be posted on the city's website since uh 2015 it also states that on page six as you go on in the ordinance that enforcement and monitoring was given to the affirmative action review Council um and the same duties of the nework Employment Commission um Mr President um and you can confirm this um I discussed with one of the members of the affirmative action review Council I also confirmed with the clerk's office and um councilman defa you can confirm it um the affirmative action review Council has not met this year at all I put in an open request for the minutes for the affirmative action review Council also put in request from n works for the First Source register um I also put in a request to communication as to why these these jobs as per this ordinance from 2015 have not been posted on the city's website as per this ordinance so so councilwoman Round Tree I don't know who you're going to meet with I would like to be a part of that meeting here is the amendment to the ordinance and I think that we should seriously have a conversation and these tax abatements need to be stopped no residents aren't working and these offices are not doing their jobs thank you thank you for your comments next speaker good afternoon uh afterno president council members um for those of you who don't know me my name is John Crystal I'm a captain with the nework police department and president of our Superior Officers Association but I'd like to bring to your attention um we have a sergeant Kenneth Brown call him Kenny um January 21st of this year he succumbed to 911 related cancer he had lung cancer and he passed away he was also a decorated Marine who served his country in Desert Storm well upon his death according to his Time Records he had 87 acred vacation days but when he he went to get PA's estate his wife the Office of Management and budget that Darlene Tate and Walter Melvin took off reduced his vacation to 52 days he was owed an additional 35 days now understate statute under njsa 4A 14137 point1 it authorizes the governing body of any municipality having a PL paid Police Department to pay upon the death of a me member in good standing all acrw vacation time so we filed a grievance and we're trying to get this matter resolved for his wife he has a wife and a teenage daughter and he's entitled to AC crude vacation time he served 27 years on the police department and he served this country and he's entitled to this money and we're asking you for your assistance to get his widow and his daughter paid now as you know the city diverted over $20 million from the police budget to the office of violent uh violent uh protection and trial so in one of these organizations they diver they allocate funding to certain groups well one group was the office of New Direction right and the person in charge of that is khil Tut also known as Omar tindel he gave this organization over over $100,000 and this guy om um khil Tut he was a convicted murderer of a North Police Officer Dwayne Reed Reaves so you can give the city can allocate over $100,000 to a cop killer organization but the 35 vacation days it comes out to roughly $1,347 can't give his widow that money and that's why we're asking you the city council to assist us in getting Kenny Brown's Widow paid I thank you very much for your time and I'll entertain any questions that you may have thank you councilman canana uh this person was a sergeant this person was also 911 at Ground Zero yes we sent we sent a group of New York police officer at the time I was on the city council mayor sharp James Mayors around the the state of New Jersey we were our country was at an attack and we needed n 11 we we sent our police officers to New York to Ground Zero um I'm appla of what you're saying because this is someone who deserves this is no question this is someone who deserves this kind of of of respect Ground Zero I remember most of them who went to Ground Zero they were there for weeks trying to find bodies and Etc when we question uh the whole thing that you're bringing up about 18,000 when we just approved the law department for a law firm you know it's it's it's it's we got to set priorities where they are and I don't see the priorities being set so to the administration's respect please I want to see if we can resolve this in some way because I remember those officers that went to Ground Zero I don't know any anyone in here's family who went to ground Z zero to do anything but it was about our country at a time a b our country was so vulnerable because we didn't know our police officers were there putting their lives at risk too they did so for us to talk about back pay I think this is a personal matter which needs to be resolved and it needs to be resolved as soon as possible and i' like they had the count he was assigned to the emergency service unit at the time they were all detailed over there they spent weeks on the pile and it's all documented so just and I appreciate you um speaking but when we in this portion is it's not a back and forth um I I understanding what you're saying I just want to make sure that we do it across the board with everybody I don't want to be unfair to other speakers who spoke previously so I do have two more comments I believe two more from over here first councilman Kelly and then councilman Gonzalez you know I I just want to say that I I'm in agreeance with you that I I think that this should be looked at and I do agree that it might be a Personnel matter but um when you talk about $118,000 you know for somebody that fought for our city you know um and fought for our country being at Ground Zero you know I I think you know I support that that we figure this out and get our Law Department to help us solve this so and I know Council MZ wants to speak but I think before we get into too much of the detail we should probably have it in executive session have a discussion on this matter um and if unless you have something that brief I just want to to ask whether we have let's say a computation of why the 18 days or whatever days were discounted if we have record of why that that was done let's say was were the records not properly kept or or what what trigger the reduction in the let's say in those days because normally let's say whatever time is accumulated by a retiring officer or someone that dies is paid based on the record that the police department keeps so I I don't know how the they say the records that the police depart perment keeping in this case were reduced by 18 days so let's let's have uh Mr waldrup from the administration speak where is he briefly on that M I'm sorry coun council rre did you want to say no I I I just agree with my colleagues regarding someone we're talking about Ground Zero but he gave 27 years of his life to the city of Newark and an Unexpected death it wasn't like you know there was a plan for this to happen so I just agree with my colleagues sir so so I think before we go into too much that detail and we continue to go that way we really need to think about going not think about we need to go and ex session to have a full discussion on this matter investig yeah that's real real quick Mr yeah no no that's correct uh councilman my understanding is that this uh matter is in the grievance process and all of those uh issues will be worked out and my commitment is to getting this resolved as soon as possible all right thank you thank you any other speaker another okay uh good morning morning council members council president my name is Sergio Pereira I'm a captain with the New York Police Department first vice president of the superior Officers Association uh I'm here to Echo with John Crystal uh my counterpart president of the uh SOA what he just spoke about our Union's uh Duty and obligation is to represent the best interests of our members and so we're not here to argue city of New York policies but we'd like to shed light on how these policies are put into practice city of Newark has allocated funds to the office of prevention and Trauma program as highlighted in mayor barac's state of the city address in turn OBP has granted $100,000 of New Direction an organization founded and operated by its president khil Tut convicted cop killer who served prison time for killing nework special Police Officer Dwayne Reeves at the beginning of this year on January 21st Sergeant Kenneth Brown passed away due to complications from a 911 illness as we stated before after serving 27 years with the Newark police department Sergeant Brown was a first responder at 911 arguably one of the worst events and tragedies that have taken place on American soil we are outraged that the city of Newark OMB would nickel and dime the Widow of deceased Sergeant Kenny Brown over 35 acrude vacation days which roughly translates to 18,000 more or less currently Sergeant Brown's Widow has been refused the city can provide money and funds to whatever organization it sees fit it can give money to known felons who it believes deserve a second chance but it can't pay our legitimate acrude vacation days to a veteran police officer who died from helping in recovery efforts at 911 please help us understand how this makes sense Sergeant Brown's family is currently represented by the barish and McGary Law Firm they represent victims of 911 who have contracted illnesses from ground zero and the surrounding areas we would be more than happy to invite them to a city council meeting to explain further how the exposure at 911 Ground Zero contributed to his death in conclusion on behalf of uh Sergeant Brown's family I am pleading to your common sense to your honor and to your integrity as public servants to resolve this matter with urgency in favor of a selfless hero who dedicated his life to saving others thank you thank you for your comments next speaker good morning uh council president Crump and members of the uh city council uh my name is oen dard I'm a lieutenant with the uh New York police dep department and second vice president of the superior officer Association just to summarize what my colleagues are talking about uh Sergeant Kenny brown or KB like we used to call them died in January this year of 9911 related cancer his widow was Ed the remaining vacation time which according to the city's records is 35 days the S SOA has tried unsuccessfully to get this resolve for Kenny Brown's Widow uh we later learned that this Council approved monies and increased funding to the office of violence prevention and Trauma recovery also known as ovp uh ovp uh advocate ated more than $100,000 for a group called New Direction new Direction reportedly is a high-risk intervention and conflict resolution Group whatever that means uh new D New Direction is also part of the Brick City peace Collective and uh other groups like uh new community street team which has also received City money through an uh internet search we learned that new directions president and co-founder is khil Tut also Al known as Omar tendel uh I was personally involved in the arrest of khil Tut in July 2005 he was arrested for killing special Police Officer Dwayne Reeves and wounding his partner by gunfire in August of7 a superior court judge sentenced Tut to prison for the murder of Officer Reeves and other weapons offenses for the death of a nor police officer what we in the SOA cannot understand is how can the city give money to someone who served prison time for the death of a police officer but cannot pay money that is owed to the Widow of another police officer not only did we give khil Tut money but we also gave him an award an award to someone who killed a police officer guardian of the city of nework this would not happen in any other city so the nework police officers that uh that are still here um this guy khil Tut he's like he's a Derek schin to us we've been told that people deserve Second Chances so does a person like Derek schin deserve a second chance to create a uh group like this and receive money from the city this wouldn't happen anywhere else so we're asking you as our uh Council to use your uh your power and authority to help us resolve this matter for uh Kenny Brown's wife and to look into this khil ovp Brick City police C uh uh Collective Circle uh thank you for your time Mr thank you for your comments Mr chair I think we have one can we councilman you have anything to say before yes I do uh first and foremost um you know to the to the family of of Sergeant Brown we give our continued condolences uh you know in this city and I think it's important that we not up here to try to conflate issues or politicize a situation in a family that has gone through suffering um I don't know if this matter was about khil Tut or if it was about Sergeant Brown because if it was about Sergeant Brown and the conflict that is happening which is a Personnel matter there is another professional way to handle this the office of violence prevention and Trauma recovery uh is housed with the city of New New Direction is a subrecipient or a contractor uh that w a grant through the office of violence prevention crime recovery for the work that they are doing out in the community but I think it's important to make those dis distinctions uh because of some of what the speakers have said to identify a a a specific person good bad indifferent and not laying out the Precision and which needs to happen and understanding the fight for sergeant Brown I just want to be clear uh about that and I'm not defending uh any situation or circumstance but we have to understand a parameters uh and how all the list uh is is laid out and so you know showing the the the pictures of the the the mayor with with an individual or doing all of those other things take takes away the concern and focus on what is supposed to be happening to try to execute a right from someone who has given their life for this city uh for even this country uh and handling matters as it relates to 911 and it removes the focus uh to give other people an opportunity to provide a narrative that takes away from what we should be focused on with this family so I I just really you know needed to say that and I thought it was important um that we we differentiate that because one of the speakers said I don't know what what the office of violence prevention and Trauma recovery does which which I I find that hard to believe and think that that conversation should not even be happening because it begins to cause this kind of divisiveness uh you know between the branches of government and things that are trying to get done uh in these communities so I I think that's important thank you all right thank than you councilman councel uh thank you Michelle Nelson for assistant Law Department um I'll just Echo a little bit of what councilman Council said and that's just that these are two brioc matters um we honor and respect the service that was given this is a grievance matter and because it's a grievance matter is going through the process and for us to talk about it it would be inappropriate so while we don't you know why we can't comment we don't want to dismiss all the service and respect that was given thank you next speaker council president I just have a question before she sits down did please how did it come to this how did we get to this point where these men have to come here well it's going through the grievance matter so I can't discuss with an open Forum what's going on I understand I understand this but grievances usually would go to Executive session they're already settled how does a case like this where we have all the circumstances in front of us come to this point and we have to be here in public where everybody sees it it just so happens to be Kenny brown right where he has a voice PE could it be any City employee that don't have a voice and we're treating people like this 27 years of service let me finish let me finish 27 years of service and this is the way we at the end of the day treat people treat our employees it shouldn't have to come to this where these men have to come here in public and and and say this to us councilman I respect your opinion but there's protocol and policies that we have to follow in the law department and I'm unable to discuss this matter in this open Forum at this time my apologies yeah so let's just have the the rest of this conversation and an executive session okay moving forward next speaker hello city council my name is qu Porter and I'm the founder and executive director of Brothers building of better nation and I wanted to come with a community report so just this past week we brought over 40 youth to five HBCU on our one nation pilgrimage tour here at the city thank you so much to the office of violence prevention to HBCU scholarship um fund and HBCU scholarship ride and also to M to nor who assisted us and all the uh the chaperons that was there as well also um Brothers building a better nation has begun to execute on this contract with the partnership for children of Essex right now I am the um Soul work on that contract so we're looking at fundraise to actually hire more staff there but we need we saw that was necessary to begin to bring some Revenue in to start to build on our community center and up there in the community center we've been able to successfully raise since the last time we came here over $77,000 um from the uh for the community set of fund uh and we're looking to appropriate $50,000 of it right now for the build and then the other 20,000 27,000 for uh Staffing um because we're beginning to knock on doors we've been able to over 190 signatures for the community center as well showing that the community's involvement and our investment to ensure that the community's voices is also being heard during this time and lastly one of the things that I was told when we was first doing this project is that this project might seem risky and one of the things that I uh always heard from a old wise man is that one of the riskiest things you could do is better against an alpha when a when he's on a project so I would love to say that and say how much I love everybody who's invested in giving time um to this project and I hope to show how much involved that we are uh I love a challenge and I love being pushed and I love that I've given an opportunity to uh assist my community because I'm obsessed with my community's healing and we're looking to scale the healing as much as we can so once again thank each and every one of you for pouring into me thanks so much for uh mentoring nor uh Hassan um from HBCU scholarship ride all the individuals that continuously see that all I want to do is have my community healed and I know that to do that you have to go through a process and that process is what I'm undergoing right now so thank you everybody and I can't wait to give you more Community updates thank you for your comments next speaker seeing none any any comments from the from the council I I will say one thing um just on on my behalf uh I don't I don't work for the uh Watershed and I do not make $110,000 if I don't work there I don't make money first of all so I'm not sure where that came from and why that came up but that is completely false and incorrect anything from the administration uh just like to take a moment to have the uh Mr Al to state your name s uh uh president my name is Melvin waldrup I'm the chief of staff for the business administrator and I would just like to take uh you know this time to have our uh deputy mayor uh Deputy Mayor lad to come forward and give you an update on the P housing uh Grant application we made some revisions to it based on public input uh you know that we got so I think it's important for you to understand the public uh to understand that their input was incorporated so uh Deputy Mayor l good morning council president council members um thank you assistant ba waldrip uh for that introduction um yes uh Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh think I wanted to just clarify and share um an update on our application for pro housing round two uh that we submitted um last week oh sorry two weeks ago we had a public uh comment and public hearing here in City Hall and we did have uh attendance um from many people uh that also come to Council meetings and I thought we had a really robust conversation um as well as I think we were able to share some good information so at the time we had published our application in draft form and that draft form actually was revised based upon the comments we received during that public meeting so I just wanted to sh what we actually are applying for um we're applying for $7 million and it's going to be in five categories the first is affordable home ownership and housing production so that will be affordable housing production for both rental and Home Ownership the second is going to be to support rapid supportive and transitional housing Rehabilitation to really uh support our path home uh plan through our office of homeless services um the third is the inclusionary zoning preparedness program um this will support as you know the work we've been doing through IO and the 90day first right that our residents have to access the units the fourth item is around down payment assistance for residents that make 80% to 100% of Ami we have seen some of our residents um who are above 80% of Ami seeking down payment assistance and because this program will allow us to reach 100% of Ami we thought this would be a good addition and then finally rental and security deposit assistance um we found that through our office attendant legal services that some residents are also having challenges finding security deposits um and paying first or last month's rent and so we want to help more residents get into housing uh so this was something that we wanted to propose so we did um work to make sure that these five items are actually part of the application again we're going after 7 million doll which is the maximum amount we're able to uh apply for through HUD and we were um really working to take in some of the comments that were made during the hearing last uh two weeks ago um so we hope we're successful um in closing I'll say that for round one um we were as you may remember one of 20 uh jurisdictions across the country that were selected there were over a 100 applications and the City of nework received 4 million uh we actually received more than New York DC and a few other places across the country so we're really proud that we were able to be successful in round one and we're hopeful we'll be successful in round two so I'm happy to take any questions um but thank you for the opportunity thank you councilman Gonzalez how are the $7 million distributed in the five categories that you have oh sure I'm happy to share that um council president to council member Gonzalez's question the affordable housing um home ownership and production is 2.6 million the rapid supportive and transitional housing is 2.5 million the inclusionary zoning resident preparedness program is 300,000 the expand live nework down payment assistance program is a million and the rental and security deposit was 600,000 and that would total um 7 million thank you can we get this in writing to to the council please absolutely council president we have the full application we do plan to publish it online if it's not already available um and we'll be be happy to share it with the council great thank you any other questions seeing none uh anything else from the administration thank you I do have one more thing to add I will said you know um recognizing that there's no there isn't a central ward council person at the time at larges have already discussed being more actively involved in the central Ward um we we we've been um issues that are coming up in the central board we've been addressing at at larges have been addressing uh meetings that are coming up um addressing U being in more involved so the the thought that just because we're at large is an a central Ward and the central Ward is going to be neglected or false and incorrect we are going to be there um and be involved all of us we've had this conversation and we will continue to do for I mean some of us not some of us all of us have already been involved throughout the city and and so this is just a I want say an amendment but this is just us doing even more than we've already been doing so with that being said get a roll call for executive session Council yes Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana Ramos yes Scott rry yes Silva yes president Crump yes so we need water department and and uh law I couldn't think of what law was for e e