e e e e check check e e e e e e e good morning Council and good morning everyone here present welcome to this pre meeting for Wednesday April 24th 20 2024 council president council members we have some appointments to several commissions okay what page are we on G we on page 46 of the agenda first appointment reappointment would be uh for Brian Logan okay we don't have to do the reappointment so let's go to 8B 8B will be for the commission appointment to Commissioner of Housing Authority Vivian e Carter okay Miss Carter good morning Miss Carter you can come to the podium thank you so much it's always a pleasure to see you miss Carter every time I see you it's just like a breath of fresh air um we are we understand that you are being recommended from the mayor for appointment to the Housing Authority um of the city of Nork do you have a comment or statement to the council before we ask any questions yes I do first of all I am deeply humbled by the city of nork do you have a comment or statement to the council before we ask any questions yes I do first of all I am deeply humbled by even um having my name come up as a village recipient of the city of newk born and raised in this illustrious city which I love I consider it an honor um to even be considered as I look at the council uh many of you I know um my vast experience in the city I considered to be a that which the city made me educated for 40 years married to my high school sweetheart who's no longer here mother of wonderful children and grandchildren and an intrical part of the city especially the west ward of which I am very proud um this is indeed an honor and I've already been given the assignment and I take my assignments very seriously thank you thank you so much Miss Carter any questions from or comments from Council Members councilman Kelly uh I just wanted to say uh congratulations um you've known me since I've been 14 years old and uh I've always seen Excellence from you and you've always demanded Excellence I just want to thank thank you for just loving our city the way I love it too you know and uh congratulations thank you very much oh and and Council pres I would like to sponsor this too hey I heard Council second all right any other comments Council mccrum I just want to congratulate uh Carter to I think and echoing Council um M Kelly you know if you know Miss Carter you know she's nor you know she's serious about business you know she's have fun too because I I've been line dancing with her me too you know she's a serious person and I think that's important you know when you have someone uh on the board particularly with the Housing Authority that is you deal with a lot of information a lot of uh there's a lot of things that you need to do and I think you by far have the capacity and ability to do so so congratulations to you thank you very much I have a lot of homework um any other question uh comments Council woman Scott round yes Carter I'm not going to talk about how long you've known me but I surely want to congratulate you from one to another we know that you are the right woman for the job that have been chosen so once again congratulations and we know the newor Housing Authority with you being there is going to truly be an asset and not a liability God bless you and on this new Journey you're embarking upon we support I support and love you thank you very much any other comments yes councilman Gonzalez good morning thank you very much councilman Gonzalez thank you so much councilman Gonzalez councilman Quintana commissioner Carter I want to call you commissioner that's right I know you for a long time uh you know I've been in this city for 38 years in public service so I've seen other people of this city and it's good when we're appointing people to who have paav the way that's right because sometimes people just came in early you know they come to New York and they found somewhere and you did just didn't find somewhere you've been here and and I it takes Joy when we we recognize people and appoint people to commit where there's commitment and you have had commitment to the city of Newark so I thank you too and I think it's a great choice having you serving at Newk's Housing Authority in a in a time where it's needed and Leadership is needed thank you so much much from all of you I solicit your prayers as I walk this journey orchestrated by God yes and you will need them so be very clear what councilman Gonzalez said we thank you for your willingness to serve and volunteer um in this in this role and I I just want to say that you are definitely every time I look at you miss Carter it just displays the love that you really have for this City everything that you make of the city and that you do and you participate here you know you you truly love this city and it's okay to love the city and know that we're not perfect we have you know things to do and more work to be done but you still love it right it's just like our relatives we love some of them um but they have more work to do or they get on our nerves sometimes it's the same thing when it comes to the city of nework and you do it so well um and I'm just so thankful for for your opportunity to join councilman Council um over there and roll your sleeves up um and do the work so thank you Miss Carter councilman counsel did you have something to add before yeah I see you down the street thank you Miss Carter have a great day thank you be blessed okay okay uh your mic is off too clerk your your mic is off hold on one second it's off all right there we go thank you AC appointment to the cariban commission Tony NC good morning good morning Miss YY thank you so much for joining us today you are being recommended for appointment to the Caribbean commission do you have a statement or comment to the council well my name is Tony in I am first generation of Caribbean descent from Barbados my grand great grandparents grandparents and parents I want my son to understand that I am afro American Caribbean and I love my culture um I remember growing up eating flying fish and cuckoo from Barbados I can you hear me now okay I am engage in the culture the cropover and I want him to understand and everybody else in new Yark or in New Jersey to understand that we are a culture the Caribbean people are culture yes dly know there any comments from Council m or questions seeing Oh I just want to say congratulations and U I'm sure your son will be very proud thank you so much thank you thank you for your commitment and volunteering thank you so much I would like to sponsor oh yes councilman rry likes to sponsor do I have a second second by councilman Kelly Al righty thank you next item next item is AD appointment to the Hispanic commission Jose ER Santiago good morning good morning I mean honestly I didn't even know this was you cuz I'm I'm just like calling you Laos all the time I thought that was your first and last name good morning Mr Santiago thank you so much for joining us today you are being um recommended to the Hispanic commission do you have a statement or a comment for us I just want to say good morning everyone I want to say thank thank you to the administration for appointing me uh Deputy Mayor Leia and counil uh thank you for believing me and I'm here to work hard for my Hispanic Community but to serve everyone in our community thank you so much councilman Quintana I'm president I like to be the sponsor and uh Mr sanago had served prior uh years back and he contribute a lot to that the Hispanic commission and you know commissions are great but when they work when people work the commissions become uh they become successful and your ideas and your contribution is important with your group which your which is Callos where you're out there often with the community engaging with the community and that that's an important thing so to me I am very uh I want to congratulate the administration for taking that time to reappoint you because reappoint because you serve high and and to consider you again uh because of your work thank you thank you do I have a second I'll second oh R okay councilman Ramos okay any other comments councilman Crump thank you council president I just want to say congratulations to you um I was like it's you know anybody who knows you knows you're a community person knows that you're very involved and active in the community um you always have great Community meetings where you have a lot of folks come in um you provide them with great information and you make sure that um everyone is aware of the resource that are available to them as well as how you can help them whether individually or as organization or Point them in the right direction so I I think it is a no-brainer for you to be on this spanic commission um in fact probably other commissions too to be quite honest um so I just want to congratulate you about that thank you thank you councilman Gonzalez yes Jose continue doing what you have been doing for for years with within the Hispanic Comm Community it's good to now be recognize as a member of the commission be before you were doing it without having the title now you have the title yes to accompany what you do continue doing it thank you thank you any other comments congratulations seeing none I just want to thank you so much and um as councilman Gonzalez said just keep doing what you've been doing you you do amazing work um we all see it each and every day we're so thankful for for it and not just you know on one side of town you stretch to come over I've seen you on Bergen Street all the way close to lones Avenue um doing some of the work that you do and we could we could appreciate that and and that's the one thing that we you know love about you about your ability to stretch across the city and do the work that you do so thank you for everything and congratulations thank you thank you hey next item Madam clerk uh we are now on page four oh I'm sorry I'm calling you madam clerk forgive me Clerk I'm so used to that forgive me I had Ren looking at me like sorry thanks Ren page four reports and and recommendations for of the city officer boards and commissions okay any questions from Council Members regarding reports and commissions okay CNN 6fa ordinances an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to 19 LV urban renewal LC for a project to construct a multif family Residential Building consisting of 48 rental units at 30 uh residential B um Residential Building consisting of 48 rental units sorry compr comprised of 38 market rate residential units 10 units of which one of them would be restricted to tenants at 40% um Ami two units at 60% nmi and seven at 80% Ami in the central okay any questions from Council Members I know I do not have any objections to this today any other questions or comments seeing n next item 6fb and 6fc they both amending ordinances amending title 23 traffic chapter 5 parking stopping and standing B is to add Carmen Court to the list in the East Ward and C is to amend the street cleaning days on 14th Avenue between Jones Street and South Street so uh 20th Street in the central Ward and west ward okay any questions regarding 6fb and C CNN I just want to make note for the record that councilman Silva will not be present today as he's dealing uh with a personal matter so um just just in case folks are looking for councilman silver today he he'll be with us tomorrow um next item press um did you sponsor that no um I want to sponsor that sure councilman Kelly wishes to sponsor 6fc do I have a second second second by councilman Gonzalez okay next item public hearing and second reading and final passage C 6 psfa is an ordinance amending title 8 businesses and occupations U this item has been requested to be deferred okay duly noted to defer or this will be our final time deferring all right next Item 6pf B it's an ordinance amending title 33 water chapter 4 rates and charges by amending the connection fee rates okay that just had a sponsor didn't it have a sponsor this item no I did I believe it was councilman Council and who second it councilman Kelly Kelly okay 6 psfc is an ordinance amending title 32 by amending the connection feet rates okay this has the same sponsors correct okay questions or comments for Council Members regarding B andc okay councilman Gonzalez I have been complaining about the rates being too high and uh putting putting a stop more or less to development because the some some individuals have to pay close to half a million dollars to have water connected to their buildings so this is a give some relief to the to the people that we wanted to help H the small to medium developers in the city of New York it's a it's imperative that we do that because H those are the ones that do the 10 15 units projects instead of the the ones that can't afford it they say the ones doing a 100 200 units I believe this is a well deserved and something that the administration could have done much much E before we are doing it today okay Madam chair Madam president know that councilman Gonzalez councilman Council and then councilman Ramos yes real quick just to uh Branch off what uh councilman Gonzalez it is imperative but the second piece that is imperative is to uh for us to locate the number of developers that came with these issues about being able to develop these projects so that when this is passed to see the immediacy of these projects going up in our city so many times people and sometimes some developers and and I'm not against the work that they do uh but a lot of times they have uh suggestive ways to uh have concerns about why projects are not going up uh and ultimately uh when things begin to move or TR of work in their favor we're still stuck uh because some of these projects still don't go up and I know that there's a lot of projects uh because we have some Council colleagues who've been up here for a long time uh they're still waiting to see some of these projects happen and occur and so um it is our hope that after this comes through I know we asked prior with the administration uh some of the the the projects that were in the pipeline that were being held up because of this process if we can get uh the list and names of those projects so that we can see how expeditiously these projects will move uh because of their uh concern over these rates toly noted councilman Council councilman Ros uh thank you Madame President you know I I agree with councilman Gonzalez you know we've we've um raised a number of concerns regarding the uh kind of like sudden increases and and these connection fees um the feedback we got from some of the developers especially the small to medium Siz is that there wasn't a consistency in um how some of the rates um were applied so if someone was developing in a particular neighborhood and and their project um was first the amount that they could potentially pay in the connection fees would be a lot higher than subsequent developers in that neighborhood so so I'm glad to see that the Administration has uh re-evaluated this process you know I'm curious to see the the timing and and why uh now there is a reduction in these fees when for a number of years we've been hearing you know complaints and concerns especially from small and medium-sized developers and know councilman Silva has had a number of meetings with um you know uh many of these uh developers and and and small developers who who've raised these issues and concerns but but I'm glad to see that that there has been a re-evaluation of of the process and um at some point maybe the administration could provide us with a justification as to why they've decided now to reduce these fees toly noted um Mr ba if you can be kind provide that to us in writing okay notless you want to say it now I don't I don't know I don't want to give you extra work if you you know don't want to do it in writing and and can I ask a follow M president sure so the the the original justification behind the fees was that the infrastructure costs were what they were and they wanted the developers to contribute to toward those infrastructure costs so the reduction in the connection fees does that mean that the city now is going to pick up a part of the infrastructure cost or did the city overestimate uh how much this infrastructure work cost uh to begin with which which contributed to the high estimates that were given at the beginning you know how do you make up the difference now by reducing these costs sure Eric Pennington business administrator council president to council Ramos's question a couple of things one I have to reset the sort of the foundational premise of of your question as to what precipitated the the initial rise in these connection fees um it was our understanding that the connection fees increase was mandated by State Statute that the state statute uh we were interpreting incorrectly and was we were not capturing uh the appropriate amount of connection fees to offset the cost of infrastructure uh so that was the first thing because of the statutory uh obligations that we have from the state we had to change our W of connection fees one of the things in the legislation was that we were allowed to charge a connection fees up to a certain amount that was interpreted to mean that we had to charge that that amount and we made a determination that was incorrect part of that analysis came about because of uh you know the comments that were made by councilman Gonzalez and others about the impact on small and midsize developers and how it was impacting their ability uh to do development in the city it also impacts larger developers too but um I think implicit in in Council M Gonzalez's statement is that they could absorb those costs better better than uh smaller developers so we looked at it made an assessment of what should be done mayor Baraka uh is clear that we want development to go forward and to do so in a way that allows developers to uh survive make a reasonable profit and uh to continue with the is IO commitments and have 20% lower moderate income uh development you may recall that council president uh pointed out that with respect to low and moderate income development they already were receiving a credit but it still wasn't sufficient uh to make the developments worthwhile in terms of your I guess the the first part of your question uh as to who's picking up that cost uh it will still be passed off to some extent to developers but it'll be extended for a longer period of time developers down the road are going to get the benefit of the infrastructure upgrades that are taking place now uh but there will also be conection fees they're going to be ongoing it's not going to well I'm not going to say it'll never go go down again or makeing any adjustments again but these increased connection fees are going to continue u in perpetuity so it will extend the period of time that the infrastructure adjustments are going to take to be paid off but essentially the development will pay for it the city will have ultimate responsibility but Our intention is to have the the uh businesses who benefit from it most directly to pay for it uh as we go forward if I can Madam president Council you know I understand what what you're saying but but if you look at the ordinance the the maximum connection fees are reduced anywhere from 10% to 50% so you know what what makes up that difference because when you guys originally you know I understand that you were trying to you interpreted it as the the city's complying with State Statute so the costs were the costs 6 months ago now all of a sudden the Revis cost or the contribution on behalf of the developers go down anywhere from 10 to 55% so the infrastructure work is what it is so what who's going to make up that difference the one of the things that's being done is the costs are being spread out over a period of years so it's not it's not uh but it's a one shot deal the connection fee you don't pay that yearly you can there there are opportunity not a yearly fee but you can spread it out over a period of time uh the connection fees but even though it's a one shot fee uh there will be development that's going to happen over the course of years and years and years that will contribute to the uh infrastructure buildup that we're going to have in the city so even though it's a one shot fee per project on the connection fees there're going to be lots of lots of those connection fees we hope going forward over time that will help offset those costs uh the city has responsibility for our own infrastructure costs and we do some of them through the ibank and others and those costs are spread out so these connection fees and the fact that we can Finance the infrastructure upgrades over a period of time should offset each other so I guess what you're getting at is that the city's going to be on the hook for more of the cost not really we don't see did you overcharge the developer 6 months ago for these connection fees absolutely not we had the right to charge what we what we charged we looked at it we made a determination uh based on the mayor's assessment of what it is we want to do in terms of development to make sure that we ease the pain ease the burden as much as possible but no there's no over charging the statute allowed for those charges to be applied the way they were statutorily we were we were within our legal right to do so but there's a legal right to do something and there is a a u a philosophy that you want to have and the mayor wants to encourage development and made a determination that this is one of the best ways to uh to encourage development to have good developers in the city so no absolutely unequivocally we did not overcharge the developers councilman Gonzalez yes in terms of let's say I am the the first developer on the on the Block and then sub ly somebody comes they are going to have the same fee at this time yes but there will be adjustments as you go forward the connection fees will be adjusted based on the infrastructure that has to be done in the cost that are going to be done if if they do it in the same year before the adjustments are made as we go forward yeah they're gonna have to pay the same fee so if they do it after that first year they are going to pay more or less less less okay yes absolutely I mean the infrastructure cost won't be there it's already done right and the infrastructure cost of what Drive the connection fees okay and there's a water connection fee and a sewer connection Fe have the city Administration consider perhaps they say if you if I do it first and somebody comes after me that that somebody pays some of the cost to me as the they say that the first one that invested $500,000 for in infrastructure yeah that has been oh okay am I doing okay all right was working hard I mean I have my I know I have my backup right here back on me but since since they're here I'm GNA yield so good afternoon I mean good morning council president council member um Gonzalez just want to answer this question no if the city currently you know since this Administration has put over $360 million in the water and sewer upgrades and infrastructure the depth service and the depth service for the water side and the SE side are two different amounts the depth service and including the capital the annual Capital Improvement cost that we do in the city right determines the amount that we can charge it's right it's done by NW Financial our outside consultant works the numbers out how much we can charge for connection fee the maximum amount right we read the language the maximum amount of what we charge if you build a house today and you require to do it infastructure upgrade on your block the current infrastructure may be able to support the current people that's living in that location you're building a new a new 20 story building or a 20 unit building the infrastructure may not can carry that load right the city of North has spent maybe a good 120 million on the suicide that's why the sewer connection fees are a little lower to help us pay the depth service and continue to do other sewer projects in the city our water system go goes back before Abraham Lincoln was President right the the oldest part of our water system is 1909 the older part of I mean 1809 the oldest part of our sewer system is 1795 so as we've been focusing on really upgrading our sewer system that infrastructure cost to do sewer is a little lower however the water system comes from 40 miles outside of the city most of you know where the water sh that but we have two large twin aqueducts that was put in in 1896 and 188 86 they they're about to be about 300 I mean 200 years old so as we continue to make upgrades in the city we we incur depth service the city of nework gets a lot of grant funding and principal forgiveness from the New Jersey infrastructure Bank we're always applying for that which helps us bring the cost down however it's certain parts of the city that are not being developed 20 years ago that's being developed now that the city didn't choose to put upgrade that infrastructure 30 years ago so now when you're coming to build a new project there that new project can't support the old infrastructure currently we're okay with it but if you're going to build a 30 unit building right we have to tell you to be honest with you we do a flow test we come back fire fire purposes and infrastructure purposes we don't want you to build a building and you don't have water or the fire department can't go there and put out a fire because we're saying you need a new water man to supply adequate amount of water to that project right and then your cost when the next person cost come in um they'll pay the full they'll pay the full connection fee for us to help us do other improvements throughout the city and in conjunction with paying down the depth service on the stuff that we've already did that's what that's about so they pay the full the connection fee but they don't pay let's say they don't have to do the infrastructure because they may not have to it was already done the same the same right now when when when most of the the developer small small medium and large they don't have to do sewer infrastructure because we already did it you the city already so the residents that's currently paying their water bills the the rate pairs is currently paying their water and sewer bills now they're paying for the infrastructure that we did five or 10 years ago everybody forgets that so when a new person come in the build somewhere else and you need to do a upgrade the city don't have two or three million dollars to go put a new water man sure don't you mentioned something about $360 million in infrastructure the city at 1 Point time we'll have to do the combined the combined sewer and water and that's going to be much more expensive than that I suppose so where are we regarding that so maybe maybe you don't want to answer that now maybe we should have a special meeting where where that is a is discussed thank you I agree we should have a a special meeting just update around the counil yeah thank you so one of the things that that we talked about that I heard uh the ba bring up you bring up director de and some up here we talked about encouraging development right that that that's key because even when you talk about encouraging development that even after this process that the development has to happen right so that that's one piece and then after that the need for stronger infrastructure in which you were speaking of and for years many of the developers who have uh been running mind throughout the city have been using basic plumbers uh to make connections some of the connections correct some of them not correct tampering and bothering with this infrastructure so can you speak to the the the uh contractors that's going to be engaged in this because I know in in the legislation it talks about still being able to uh deal with a certain amount of contractors to make sure that the work is right and the need for stronger infrastructure as you talked about in some of these areas that have not been developed in a long time that are being developed so on one end I'm not against development I'm Pro development but on one end we cannot make it about trying to make everything uh persuasive and happy for developers to be able to give them opportunities when on the back end they are really not doing their role in developing these projects and making sure that they happen and in some of these areas are really not 100% affordable or market rate so council president councilman councel I just want to touch this issue um the city of nework has a robust Capital Improvement program and it may not be in the area where a developer may be developing today so if we're replacing 50,000 L feet of water mains it may not be in an area where you're currently doing your project and because we go through State funding or federal funding when we put in our application we're limited to do that work in those areas that we required to get that funding because a lot of times nor right because we meet all the criteria we get a lot of principal forgiveness on our loans that we do with the ibank or with FIA and when we put those projects in that's we're targeting a certain area that we know over years 10year Capital Improvement plan and we're going to start you know replacing or upgrading the infrastructure sometimes the developers are not building in that area when they are building in that area they don't do upgrades to the water or sewer system because we already did it or we're in the process of doing it we just coordinate with them to let them know we'll be putting a new main in we're doing cleaning and reigning things like that on the contractor side we don't allow anybody to come work in our system um during Co we had a contractor right on Mount Prospect I think a lot of us remember right he was out there doing work nobody knew he was doing work when we showed up he ran left the back hole and everything right and the people that advocated for him right said I just hired them I don't know nothing about it we couldn't get the information from them right we impounded the back hole the machine run everybody members but Mount Prospect was out of water so we had since then we tightened down on the procedures we had the guy even mess with Pake Valley suine right we tighten down on the procedures and every two years including probably next month it's under legal review we open up a criteria where we request qualifications to be a city approved contractor we don't want a mom and pop guy working on a 90 inch sewer man and causes to collapse and the whole North W or South W is backed up with SE we want to make sure these people are qualified to do the work not that you're paying them less that they're qualified and able to do the work correctly and efficiently and effectively so that list does open back up once it come out of legal review all right before we move on any additional questions or comments oh CNN I I just want to touch on one thing what you said about like you know developers that are building these new big huge projects um in areas that necessarily didn't have these huge projects um specifically like residents I'll take for one example like James Street um a lot of big projects coming around the area you know building these projects and I just want to make sure we're monitoring making sure they have the infrastructure for these new projects because what happens is they build and then like you know very well some of these areas they start having flooding their systems are not working properly I mean it could be a mixture of things of why it's not working properly anymore um but I just want to make sure we're monitoring that as well you know as we move forward because there's some large projects coming you know in the area and espe specifically my areas um coming and um they got to pay for infrastructure you know I I don't I don't I doubt that it's there um and and I support that like you know I support this too I think you know definitely we have to have some balance but people got to pay for big projects that's coming in here because we don't got it let me say we we don't got it like we don't have it to pay for them so I just want to be clear on record about that when it comes to those large big projects that look like we in Dubai um you know coming downtown newk they have to pay for their infrastructure just want to say that okay thank you yes C quick respond look most of the most of the major development that's coming up those big development is coming into the central Ward and in conjunction with EHD and Engineering we have a technical Review Committee that upfront we meet with these developers right to tell them what's what's the expectations but the water department we make sure you put in new infrastructure I can just tell you like we dealt with a project on mcarter street where where uh Don Pepe that building we had to put in new water and SE lines the residents were happy after we came back and tell it's not flooding in areas it used to flood uh the Halo project the Washington Street new water new sewer lines all that stuff is happening in real time although you may not see it but at night we make them do work a lot of work at night and not in the daytime so we want to down town area to clog up the traffic but they're putting the new water and sewer M at their expense not out at their expense yes REM monitoring close yes yes good good make sure you get every penny um that you can get I just want to be clear about that I do want to go to another thing which it doesn't NE necessarily impact you but since we're on like infrastructure and things the council is still waiting on the list regarding Paving uh for the city I I don't I didn't see it not you know I do wear glasses so maybe I missed it maybe another council person got it um but I have not seen um the paving list and the reason why I'm saying that why the director is here of water is because I want to see each list for Montana for psng and for the grants still waiting on the list it is Paving season other towns are Paving they out there working and I don't see us doing nothing oh we paving what block tell me the block give me a block now in the west oh I ain't seen that D in the westw I've seen some potholes I a see no pton andth start well I see the coun I see the councilman staff going like this so maybe they is but I would like to see a list of the pav in schedule once again for Montana psng and whatever we're paying for through the grants or whatever dollars we getting out of our budget for Paving it's Paving season I don't I don't want to be surprised you know or want residents to be surprised about Paving that's happening we want to see the list in advance so to to that point if I may as well since director de is standing up here as a director of water and sewer he now has taken our responsibility for pothole repair because he's the interim director of DPW as well uh for the next uh several months until we get a full-time full-term director so if you have issues with respector DPW please direct them to director redeem as well through me if you like but he can he so let me let me just say that a little louder cuz you was like Whispering that a little bit so basically director adem is the inm director of DPW that's correct okay council members any questions councilman Ramos yeah um I'm through you Madame President I'm glad you brought up the issue of Paving and and potholes um you know we see the the transportation department at the state they're proactively out there addressing potholes on City highways I drive through Belleville they have their DPW crew out there aggressively I don't see anyone driving through the city I remember when councilman canana was the mayor he had uh that little machine that was driving around town filling up potholes the pothole killer I believe the name of it was um you know when can we expect to see that because we're almost in the month of May and uh we you know potholes keep popping up and I do not see any Crews on our end out there actively addressing potholes yeah I'll just say briefly before director uh adem comes up the pole crew is out there every day uh right now they're in the north work and you take a picture and text it to me so I can see them absolutely will but let me uh have director adem address it further thank you good good good morning again council president council member um Ramos yes the pile crew is out seven I mean six days a week and the P crew is out I mean I'm shocked because councilman Sila and two other councilman on their Facebook page they got the pothole trucks they showing hey look at the truck on F Street got another truck they got to make their way up North a little bit hold up we got a truck on Ninth Street in Delan we got a truck on uh you know Broadway in this street so I'm I'm shocked because most of your staff be out there posting this stuff some of you staff be posting the Poole we want them to be villag and we making them stay a little late to get potholes done but hopefully you know hopefully you'll see the paving that would eliminate those Pooles I don't look how many poth hole things we have the trucks only one we have two we have two trucks got one that we're currently waiting on a quote the purchase my my next thing I just want to address this is you know hopefully as you see you may not or maybe you do over the last four years the city has done 210 miles of Paving curv to curve Paving in conjunction with PG water and sewer and Engineering the streets and I hear it because I'm at community means the residents are happy they just want to know when their street is coming they see us doing a lot of Paving and we tell them Paving normally starts in April right we should have that list to you and we have a website on the ward and Sewer website you type in your address it tells you when your street is scheduled to be paid or if it was already paid that's only for water and sewer no it's for the whole city oh so it includes whatever engineering has and PSG so that's what we're uploading now so when we give you that list oh so it's not update yet for this year it'll be updated probably by the end of the week okay and you said Al together you guys currently have two active pothole trucks out there and then one is coming too like a new one we wait we'll bring it in front of the counsil soon when can we expect the list by the end of the week they waiting on me I you want send me yours or everybody's by everybody's there theirs are ready everybody else's ready but mine okay all right because you know we on like three week three for the list just FYI all right um I do want to say that we do I do want to commend the P crew for us like they do go out a lot we report a lot of PES um and they go out Dexter and the entire crew they they definitely work hard and get out there um however my concern is it ain't nothing left to feel like I don't I don't know I'm not like an engineer but like how can you keep feeling on something that is just like can't be filled anymore it's done like the street is done like you could keep feeling it's like lumps of just all through and I'm talking about main corridors and I'm not going to you know be labored an hour to talk about it because I already spoke to the ba about ba about ba about the specific Street um that I was talking about that is just like a roller coaster it's better than a roller coaster at Great Adventures you know at this point of how you drive down the street and it's messed up so to me I think they go out they do fill but it's only so much you can do when the street just needs resurfacing and that's many streets here you know in the city so we definitely need to we need to make sure we're keeping that accurate list and I'm not saying that you're not but we really need to drive hard on all of those streets that people are everybody people just feel like could just pull up to and and work and Ain nobody them or watching we need to make sure we have a full list and can indicate how like these you know holes or patches in the street who did that like and who's responsible for going to fix the street other towns do it well very well I know they're smaller than nor and they can do it well but we have to be able to do that so we can hold these other people accountable for going out there doing the paving work that we cannot for to do and we need badly so we hopefully someone is doing that like making sure and even the ones that we know we're going to be doing work you know we're going to be doing work on coming in this season that we're not going out there Paving and we could you know swap out the streets and do another street instead that we can't afford to do all of those things are things that we really need to be looking at and I hope that we I I'm confident that we are looking at but I just want to say that that we we need to do that because the streets are bad and people are complaining left to right about the streets councilman Quintana yeah they're not potholes any longer they're craters I mean these I I'm serious these things are just what they do on other towns I don't know if we can look into it what they do is they before they put that black top they put underneath some concrete or something to hold that black top what happens is black top is being placed as it's placed it doesn't dry out cars pass through and it it comes back again it winds up in your car so again there needs to be some kind of way where there's a base of concrete maybe until it's resolved at a certain level and then some black top but what they're doing is they're filling up the whole thing with black uh with black top and that's not working because it's not sticking that well so again I I you we need to look at these Avenues in terms of of getting Pooles but it's bad I mean cars I mean often we our cars are just going in and then I had the previous car had issues because of potholes in the city I went out for two wheel on lineman three times on a previous car so again it's just bad and at night you don't see these potholes you're just driving you say wow just hit something so again the craters have to be resolved cuz they're craters any other comments um about P the street all right I will close on this note that there is a um this assumption that they're like you know we you got like you know 50 people on payroll that are just walking and driving the city you know to find pth holes you know every day and then you just you know go and fill them um I don't believe that happens does that happen no okay yeah I just want to be clear on that so because that does not happen and I don't think it probably happens it probably happened in smaller towns you know people are able to do that but we should put something out about how residents can report a PO hole um you know how they can call what number they can call I mean I ain't I you like I ain't never seen it but if that if that exists and I hope that it does we just need to publicize that you know if a resident is driving somewhere in the city or anybody because we we I get complaints from people literally just going up getting on 280 they they email me every day like look my car is getting beat up I'm coming to work every day in the city I don't live here but y'all need to fix 280 because you know it's me not 280 but specifically the street leading up to there so we need to put something out for residents on how they can call and report a pth hole because we're not going around just finding potholes all day every day through all of this entire city and so it might be one that we don't know about that they can be able to report and to perhaps remind council members how they can report potholes you know if a resident call calls us on how we can get that over to Dexter or whomever um to report that so we should definitely put that out and the same goes for you know street lights I know that the mayor recently had PS andg on to talk about that but the same thing because those are constant calls that we get and I don't think residents know that they can you know call those in themselves and not go through you know a third well we're like a third party but not really to to be able to get some of those things fixed through the council's office I mean okay thank you council president we'll take those uh you and the council remember some of those suggestions we do need to revisit How We Do potholes and how we communicate for people to get in contact with us about a poo yes work better with Communications work I'm sorry and work better with the county and the state because a lot of those roads don't belong to the city on the county or the state yeah to come out and do work that they say we coming but we're not a priority so maybe you know lot of that is working with our other ex's County delegation on the state side but the county don't doing I was SP a lot of time talking about that but we already at 11:00 and that whole County and state thing that's a whole you know a whole another is I don't know that's why I don't know why we spend our time saying oh and do said and that's regulations by them I don't even know why we do that because they don't do anything for us sometimes and I'm I'mma rest there and just continue on the agenda so I could be on my best behavior today resolutions we are now in page8 resolutions 7r1 a it's amending resolution 7r1 adopted in 2023 to purchase Pharmaceuticals vaccines medical and dental supplies equipment questions comments CNF 7 r1b is cooperative purchasing agreement to purchase 2 2024 o' newer for bronos sport 4x4 from the Education Services Commission of New Jersey questions comments CA 7r1 c and 7r1 d a contract with Grant sub recipient to provide Emergency Shelters Services homelessness prevention and or rapid rehousing assistance in the city um C is the Salvation Army and D is the new community Harmony House Corporation questions or comments from Council Members Cena 7 7r1 e through 7 r1f a contract with sub recipients to provide housing assistance and supported services to persons with HIV and AIDS E Town of Irvington F Positive Healthcare Inc G Catholic Family and Community Services Hope House H County of Essex I Newar Beth Israel Medical Center J Integrity Inc K city of Elizabeth and Al Catholic Charities of the AR dasis of Newark questions or comments um I'm sorry we have others what about M and N M will be amending contract with subse to amend resolution 7R for to provide emergency shelter service shelter Services homelessness prevention and Rapid rehousing uh the first M will be YMCA of Newark and vicinity n would be Catholic Charities of our our dasis of Newark o would be Bridges Outreach and P will be new community Harmony House Corporation any questions or comments from Council Members regarding these items yes Madam chair uh councilman councel at some point can we have a a special meeting to talk about all of these providers uh and uh the role and responsibilities they're playing uh in making sure that uh we have adequate housing for our homeless population uh programmatic uh uh activities that they are having uh at their facilities uh be it mental health or uh other long range program things so that we know uh how we are able to track what is happening so we're not just putting uh our residents in just to a situation where they're sleeping at night but they're getting the resources and programming that is needed to create you know long sustaining um activities for themselves yes we can definitely do that councilman Council we does the homeless committee meet with these folks or we do meet but what I what I do have is some some real concerns council president uh regarding the services that are being provided through these providers and whether they're wrapping around the services um as they should be so we do need to call a meeting immediately a special meeting are you saying in your committee meeting special meeting okay so you guys don't talk about this in your committee meeting the homeless committee meeting okay homeless commission we have a committee too though here in the council okay I will talk about it offline all right duly noted any other questions or comments councilman Kelly um yes I guess my question is all of these these uh are the the people who are doing the these services are they housing them are we housing them in nor or like I just see you know with the Salvation arm are we housing them in West nyak Salvation Army or is it here in newk okay um good morning director good morning uh lisis salario director of the mayor's office of homeless Services uh to your question uh Council McKelly their main office their headquarters are based at that address but their all of the services are dedicated to nework Residents in newk in new yes sir okay any other questions for the director yes I councilman Gonzalez yeah director what we pay is to house the the homeless for the night or do we pay for other services that they say the homeless may need yeah so I mean the these uh contracts are federal grants that uh prevent homelessness so there's a lot of you know prevention here uh there's also what what they call Rapid rehousing that moves a family or individual from homelessness into housing uh but to I I guess to respond to councilman council's concerns uh we actually released a a new request for proposal uh for new shelters to to apply uh that's going to be based more on services and not just housing them um to go beyond just providing a bed uh we're going to be designating housing Navigators we're going to be using data to track and evaluate their services we we can definitely protect that okay all right we look I'm sorry councilman councilwoman Scott BR tree so I did speak of the commission but you're absolutely correct council president so director I will be reaching out to you for the committee to meet with you so that I can report back to council president and my colleagues what the findings are and I'm gonna have my staff reach out to you immediately so that we can do that sounds good thank you any other questions for the director okay seeing none thank you we are now page 21 7r1 Q application acceptance of the 2024 nework homeless housing Grant okay questions or comments for this acceptance of this grant CNN next item 7r2 a through 7r2 G of Private Sales Redevelopment a to provide for renovation of property and continued usage as a tire shop in the central War B to provide for the re Rehabilitation and renovation of property to sell at market rate um Nar place in the South Ward and South N Street in the central Ward 7 r2c okay hold tight one second clerk um 7R 2B any questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item I see there's one property in the southb councilman Council I'm fine with that okay any other questions or comments okay okay next one um clerk 7 r2c to provide a new construction of three two family homes to sell at market rate in the South w d is to provide for new construction of mixed use 24 unit apartment buildings with a parking lot and commercial space units to be affordable housing ranging from 30% to 120% Ami in the west ward okay one second and clerk um we we usually break these up because there always some issues um not I don't want to say it like that like always is so just want to make sure I want to check with council members so 7 r2c in the South W any questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item I'm fine with okay any other questions or comments councilman Gonzalez no okay now to 7rd which is in the west W 603 sford any questions or comments from Council Members councilman Gonzalez yes you see there I don't know the assess value that we have here is correct but it's $877,000 and we're selling that property for $45,000 so I so somebody has to explain to me why we're selling a property that is assessed at almost a million dollars for 45,000 hey we'll have a deputy mayor come up for that one any additional questions or comments while the deputy mayor comes up councilman Kelly regarding this item yeah I I have a I have some of the same questions and I have a meeting with them today okay are you move pushing this forward or no are you gonna wait till tomorrow gonna wait till tomorrow okay um Deputy Mayor lad good morning council president council members Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development um I will have to look into the question about the assessed value it does jump out as well to me um in addition we will be providing to all council members the materials that we typically do um including photographs and uh comparables and so you'll receive that today uh and I will verify um the assess value okay oh so we'll get that information back to us councilman Kelly you said you had additional questions for Deputy Mayor lad or um no no I'll wait till okay um Council M cromp yeah thank you council president um I think we we talked about this before but I just want to ask again if we can get that information that you're referring to uh deputy mayor uh the backup information the pictures Etc like prior to quite frankly like on Friday when we're getting the agenda at least that we have an opportunity to review that um ahead of time um you know I like to read as much as I can and and some of those questions that we may have can be answered based upon the picture we may see of of the property if it's in a dilapidated condition or other information that's provided in terms of the comps so maybe we can get that on on the Friday before the meeting so that we can have an opportunity to review it over the weekend council president I'd be happy to provide that I will say unfortunately uh I do not receive it until Saturday and so I'm not able to provide you information until once I received the agenda and so that was one of the challenges so we work hard to get it done on Monday um so I can work to transmit it to you by before Tuesday at 10 o'clock unfortunately this morning it just didn't happen Madame President councilman Ramos yeah I just want to add that if you look at exhibit 8 The Proposal from the developer it does include existing photos of what the property that's on that site looks like so they they did submit a pretty com comprehensive proposal connected to this land deal yeah and and the same thing with the first one with um I think the individual as a property in the South and in the central Ward as well there some good attachments this time any councilman Gonzalez yeah it's a the final the financial report that we submit to the state ER indicates the assess values of the properties in the city north and that determines uh what the expenditure cap is and all all kind of computations so if we have some properties that are let's say assessed at this type of value and they are not ER worth that money we should have somebody go there and make a a a let's say an assessment that is current because otherwise I we are we might have violated the state statute by providing assess values that are not correct council president I doesn't pertain to you just going to say I'd yield to the tax assessor in the ba yes but it's something that I believe we should take a look at the assessed values of these properties because otherwise we might be reporting stuff that is not correct any other qu I'm sorry Deputy Mayor you had something I'm sorry council president I was uh just given some good information which may help on the item that we were talking about uh which is the 605 sford Avenue site uh this property did have a structure on it um and it's the structure was not um habitable so the city had to demolish the property So currently the sale is for um vacant land um and not for a land plus a structure so that could be the discrepancy between uh the assessed value and the um sale price thank you cor thank you any other questions see you n thank you thanks 7 r2e is to provide for new construction for two family homes with one home providing affordable rental units and the other home will be market rate rentals in the South WS any questions or comments regarding this item I'm fine okay any other questions or comments 7 r2e okay seeing then 7 r2f is to provide a new construction for a three family home to sell at market rate in the west ward okay any questions or comments regarding 7 r2f n 7 r2f okay next item 7 r2g is to provide a new construction of a three family home to sell at market rate market rate in the west ward okay 7 r2g any questions comments okay CNN next item 72 7r2 H is introducing the 2024 annual budget for the West W special Improvement District okay uh questions or comments regarding this item coun Gonzalez I just want to to give kuros to director lad because I I see that all the budgets this year have been brought to us early in the year and not in December yes woohooo director lad go Deputy Mayor all righty any additional questions or comments CN n next item 7r2 I is reading and adopting the 2024 iron Ironbound business Improvement District budget questions or comments I know that we had sponsors for these um we had sponsors last meeting 7r2 was sponsored think councilman kelly didn't you sponsor the West War budget and it was someone who seconded I don't remember okay councilman Gonzalez all right now to 7 r R to I Madam chair yes there's been uh some conversation I hope we uh can revisit it I know it's been some along the line around the ndd uh but there were some residential homes that are trapped uh inside of some of these bids and SIDS and and I think we should have some some further conversation uh about this uh and and more important removing some of those residential homes from some of these bids and SIDS yesly not the councilman Council before we get into explanation here because we like we at 11 o'clock hour I know that the administration is working on something in regards to Residential Properties that are within the bids and SIDS so whatever has been discovered already or whatever research you guys have come up with if you can provide that to the council in writing and then we'll look to have a full Council discussion regarding that of what you already have before we just like all give a dissertation about what we feel like should be um for the residentials because we all have the same issues across the board with all of the businesses and residential owners um you know who live there um and paying high you know taxes to pay into the businesses that's okay with everybody okay um Council rainow yeah it doesn't have any I I agree with my colleague by the way um years ago it was just commercial properties that were included in these bids so I don't know how the residential snuck in but I know at some point there was a an error in calculation made in the um determination on what some of these property owners were paying especially on the M Prospect and bro broad Lower Broadway in Bloomfield Avenue so I would just ask through your chair and the clerk from Deputy Mayor lad to give us a followup on how they made um those Corrections because a lot of these property owners were very upset that they got double assessed uh for for for one year and not sure how that correction was made and who was responsible for that error you know in the department okay um definitely if we can have that um requested of get through the clerk's office um a follow up regarding now I think we talked about that at the last meeting actually when this was introduced um 7r2 I was councilman Silva does somebody wants to Second it Quintana okay and now clerk to you back to you 7 r2j is Introduction of the 2024 annual budget for Bergen Lions Clinton special Improvement District okay I remember councilman Council has sponsored that you still want to sponsor councilman Council and councilman come second yes yes Council any questions okay all right next item 7 r2k is authorizing an agreement to subordinate the city's reverter rights in order to permit financing necessary to the construction of 162 family and three family homes for sale to low and moderate income house households okay I may want to have Deputy Mayor come up and explain this huge one good morning council president council members Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh this item is requesting uh your approval to subordinate our reverter Clause uh to A lender um as you may recall we have transferred land to invest Newark as our land bank administrator and now invest Newark has been success ful in generating funds from Victoria foundation so the request is that we would subordinate to Victoria foundation's funding um this is not unusual I know you've seen many subordination agreements for funding requests um so I hope that you'll look at this favorably um the number of properties um is bear with me uh 17 pieces of land um and the full list is included um in the in the legistar packet in closing these properties are for Section 8 homeowner ship program and so our real goal is to help more nework residents become home homeowners uh through the Section 8 uh Voucher Program okay thank you Deputy Mayor L questions and comments from Council Members councilman Council yes uh thank you madam chair you a while ago we turned over a numerous amount of properties to uh invest Nork and on the south for it was 27 that was turned over and if we can get a report uh on what is happening with those properties that we turned over to the landbank uh in terms of uh reconstruction or plan or proposals for them so that we can have some update on how these things are moving uh in our Wards duly noted councilman Council if we can get that per Ward that we release to them that would be great and if the clerk's office can follow up with the request other questions and comments Council Kelly type I know uh Deputy Mayor how you doing today I know you said 17 properties and um on the agenda we have 16 uh one is in a join lot okay any other questions councilman Kelly that's councilman Crum thank you council president just a question with regards to um the process uh with invest norc my assumption is invest nor is not going to be the ones who actually do the construction or be the construction manager of the pro maybe my assumption is incorrect they're not going to be the construction manager but or or the actually not doing the development let's say of the property what's the process in terms of and if I'm if I'm in if I'm correct or incorrect let me know what's the process then going forward in terms of from here to the actual construction of those properties okay I see um Mr Marcus Randolph is in the back of you Deputy Mayor lad oh wonderful I was going to defer to the president and CEO of invest nework um to explain the process I got you I was looking at him like come on come on up morning good morning Madam president good morning Council councilman yes on these yes invest nor will act as the uh developer and we will engage General Contractors ourselves on all these properties how will you determine who the uh con contractor will be they'll all go out to to bid uh we have a list of uh contractors that do submit information with us for qualifications then when we put them out we invite all them to come out and bid um when we select them we take those to our board for uh for approval ratification before we sign those contracts all right thank you and if you're looking for any of those bid opportunities they're on invest norc website that is correct anytime any any contractor can submit thank you any other questions or comments All Right Next item 7R 3A is designating a bus stop by adding a bus stop on Pennsylvania Avenue and Vanderpool Street in the South Ward okay it's been a request to return this item to Administration 7 r3a uh any questions or comments from Council Members regarding that request okay all righty next item 7 r48 and 7 r4b are stipulation of settlement for tax appeals okay any questions or comments regarding sr4a Council presid councilman Gonzalez no it's shows that that the assessments that we have are are too high and we have to reimburse people for or they say the taxes that we have collected or taxes that are assessed ER and I believe this is something that we have to act on because otherwise we'll continue getting a lot of U A lot of people challenging the assessments I suppose that will be corrected when the when the reassessment of the properties is done in the city okay toly noted councilman Gonzalez I knew you were going to say that how did I know um Council M Crump thank you council president um just you know and when going through these it usually isn't a large amount of money except for like I we see anheiser Bush Etc can we get a list not a list but the amount of tax appeal settlements within the last five years each year how much it's been that's a lot of info well not the breakdown just a total dollar I'm joking I'm joking just a dollar figure and and if there are some that are significant like anheiser Bush can you pull those out we can see that yes Frank loio taxor Nork uh councilman uh you w for the last five years anything that was significant well I want the full dollar figure for each tax for each not each for the each year tax appeal SLE and then if there are some that are significant like a lot of them like for instance the first one um 7R 4A um is a lot less than sr4b which is anheiser Bush which I think was four and a half million or something like that I guess they help the tech assessor out um help Frank out what do you deem significant what's Your Number 1 million million dollars and above million dollars above okay any other requests or questions of Frank councilman Ramos yeah thank you Madame President I I know some years ago the city engaged a I guess a private uh group uh blow and Blau to work on doing these you know I know the be doesn't like when I call them um spot assessments or whatever you want to call it um I'm I'm curious to see how many of those determinations have resulted in successful appeals um behalf of the property owners I don't know how difficult it is to gather that information but from what I hear quite a number of those reassessments were challenged on behalf of property owners and just out of curiosity I want to see how many of those challenges were in fact successful on behalf of the property owners and and how was this entity paid for the work that they did council president Eric Pennington business administrator uh I'll go to the last question first they haven't been paid yet um partly because of the issue that you raised with respect to whether or not they were retained appropriately we still think they have been retained appropriately but we're working on that with respect to the uh affirmative appeals that they filed the vast majority of those were settled so they were unchallengeable so I'm not exactly sure about which ones you're referring to where there was a successful appeal their uh rate was increased and then they challenged that that appeal are those the ones that you're you're talking about councilman so so this entity came in they they did a reassessment of What that particular property was valued at so did that assessment stand or did the property owners challenge uh the work that this particular company did and the determination that they made as far as the value of the property no there were two I'm not sure that that premise is is accurate the company blown Blau looked at properties that they believed were under a assed uh sought to file appeals to to have that assessment adjusted in favor of the city the vast majority of those were settled they didn't actually have to go to that's the that's the outcome that I'm looking for because for my understanding there were a number of those that that were dropped on on behalf of um Blau and Blau because you know the the property owners obviously contested um their determination or they successfully count their argument uh when they filed the the appeals so I'm just curious to see what kind of success rate did they have on behalf of the city we can look into that we'll take a look at that through Frank's office as well thank you Mr ba any other questions or comments from Council Members okay good you good Frank on your request you good okay make sure you're okay Frank next item we are now in page on page 39 7 R5 a through 7 r5c a contract with a recipient to provide HIV AIDS related health and support services to the newor eligible metropolitan area a is sou fall health center Inc B is Apostle house C AIDS Resource foundation for children questions or comments from Council Members seeing it 7 r6a this item is requested to be deferred I'm sorry which item 7 r6a okay any questions from Council Members regarding the request to defer CNA 7R 6B professional service contract to provide Legal Services concerning litigation defense matters questions or comments from Council Members CNN 7 r6c is a settlement of um civil litigation okay we'll talk about that in executive session next item um we had appointments we covered that earlyer so we are now at 7 r8e and 7 r8f recognizing and commending and expressing profound sorrow and regret I'm sorry I think we ski I'm sorry we skipped some I skip I'm sorry it's okay it's all it's all right we're on page 42 president yes oh count I'm sorry councilman Gonzalez I believe that we can do c the city is receiving money we are not paying money you for 7 r2c yes the this the City of Long Beach that that was a a class action and the that we the city of Newark is getting four $4.5 million yes toly noted but I mean just in case we want go into some details of it I'm just you know protecting this Council to talk about it like you know in Clos session versus in public but definitely $ 4,520 million we do want to acknowledge that we are getting for those that are here and watching um so definitely noted but if the council wants to discuss any of the details of the case we can in details regarding the civil litigation we can talk about that in exact we also going to have an update in exact regarding some Public Safety um items as well for the council just so just so you know about that too okay Madam clerk not Madam clerk clerk excuse me it's just a habit it's not I'm not doing it on purpose or anything it's just a habit seven P page 42 Page 42 are uh reappointment appointments which we covered earlier well one of them is not so on 7 R8 we have 7 r8a we on page 42 correct yep 42 okay 7 R AA appointment to the Community member um to the Greater Newark tourist improvement district Corporation Victor Victoria I'm sorry T Walker okay uh do we have Miss Walker here she's here oh Miss Walker come on up so everybody could see you Grand that I know I like that yes that's the uh Crump at me like that know you like that good morning Miss Walker Council Victoria Walker arts and education District thank you for joining us even though it's not like kind of an appointment comes from the mayor's office we do want to just give you an opportunity if you want to have a statement or a comment to the council regarding your appointment to the GNC VB board um on behalf of this Council um do you have any statement or comment um no I mean I can briefly say that the Arts and education district has been working very closely with um the division of Tourism and visitors uh we have been working with them on advertisement marketing events and just making sure that our local events are get the same exposure and promotion as our national ones so I'm just here to serve and to do what I if I can to make sure that we keep our presence um in place definitely thank you Miss Walker any questions or comments from the council members I'd just like to Second it oh thank you so much M um I about to say Madam okay I don't know what's with me in this word today I don't know Crum thank you thank you councilman Crump and thank you Miss Walker as well and thank you for all that you've been doing around the district and all of the you know events that we're having here in the city you've been phenomenal um and we just you know love to see your work continue here on this board thank you all thank you all right next item 7even r a ceremonial Street dedication designation I'm sorry for Veron seore this item is sponsored by councilwoman Scott rry do we have a second second second by councilman Crump I mean councilman Council it must be time for me to have a lunch all right next item 7 r8c is declaring intent to declare April 14 through April 20th National 911 operators and police and fire dispatchers work week this item is also sponsored by Lewis Miss Lewis councilwoman Lewis Scott rry okay any seconds to this second second to councilman Kelly Madam chair yes councilman Council while we on this item I want want to address with the uh ba uh some of the issues around uh fire as it relates to the uh ratio of firefighters I know I'm assuming that it's like one to two should be one to three and where are we uh in terms of hiring safety officers uh and trying to uh make sure that we try to front face this uh fire department that we have here okay doly noted um Miss PA please make your way any um questions or additional add-ons as the ba comes Council Ros yeah thank you madam president I think the I agree with the councilman Council I think the fire um discussion you know merits us spending some time perhaps at a special to go through Staffing you know yesterday we had a a really horrific fire on Broadway uh the north Ward started at a small barbecue shop and it quickly spread to the two adjacent um properties you know a few weeks ago I was with councilman canana walking A procession on Good Friday and we stopped at a firehouse on on Summer Avenue and the captain came out to to greet us and when we asked him you know how things were going and he basically told us that it was just him and two firefighters working uh you know that firehouse on Summer Avenue and then that's concerning uh when we do have uh report repts and again stuff just needs to be verified through the administration of firehouses that are consistently uh minimally staffed and you know I'm not an expert on the fire operation you know I would rely on Chief Jackson back in the day to give me some insight but you know I'm glad to see that we have a class that's in the academy that that should be hopefully graduating soon but uh we it's weird how we're getting a lot more fires these days and just got to make sure we're well prepared not only with with Personnel but equipment and everything else that the department needs to to to adequately do its job okay thank you councilman count councilman Ramos councilman Gonzalez yeah regarding that fire yesterday there was a firefighter from Patterson that was H with me at the time and he indicated to me that in partisan they have four and one so they have five in a truck when we have three in a truck and he said if we if you guys would had more firefighters there the fire may have not gone as bad as it was so I believe that this say we have to we have to address that I believe that ER having the right amount of people in those trucks is very important because that can save lives thank you councilman Quintana yesterday Beville had to come in to assist uh apparently Beville because I was coming through uh Verona Avenue i' seen the trucks from Beville two engines were coming from Belleville so again so if we're short-handed then we need to do something in terms of this matter because we're depending on Belleville uh the township of Belleville to come into the north Ward you know I mean it's it's kind of difficult to understand that okay any other comments before the ba has responses CNN Mr ba yeah Eric Pennington business administ I have a couple of uh couple of things to say before I was going to have assistant director Jackson come up and respond but I think given some of the comments that the Council made the the response would be better uh handled in executive session because you're talking about the strategy with respect to to the fire department and how those strategies can be used in litigation moving forward um we do have experts here in the city of nework who are not from Patterson and are not from Belleville or from everywhere else we're grateful that they comply with their requirement to provide Mutual Aid just as the city of New York does providing Mutual Aid to our uh sister cities uh and we certainly appreciate that um so I'm actually G to ask I was gonna have assistant director Jackson speak but I don't think I want him to speak right now we'll have him come to Executive session if you want to ask some of those questions and well respond would definitely be appropriate um but can we get some responses to councilman council's um uh comment in regards to some of the fire I I guess that you I forg you wanted to talk about the fire safety officers yes and I think what I'd like to do in in that regard as well let's have that discussion executive session come back out in public session after we talk about the strategies that we have in place and to answer those questions um I just don't think this is the appropriate Forum right now okay any additional comments or follow-ups from the council members all right we'll see you in executive thank you next item 7 r8d is whole harmless and identification agreement for Mother's Day and Father's Day senior brunch this item is sponsored by council member Ramos second by councilman Quintana next item 7ar 8 e and 7 r a f a e is recognizing and commending F is expressing profound and Sovereign regret next item 7 r9a is adopting um amending resolution 709 adopted back in 2023 to amend the period of performance of the US Department of Homeland Security okay questions or comments from council members um it's yeah it's really hard to hear you um Mr clerk um 7 r9a this is the one you just read right yes correct okay you got to speak you got to move that mic a little closer so we can be able to hear you because I know if we can't hear you they can't hear you down there all right we're on 7 r9a 45 any questions regarding that item counil Ramos Madam president no question I just want to through your chair and the clerk thank um John James who who reached out like last night this morning you know working with the families that were impacted by the fire and you know our office has been in contact with some of them already so you I appreciate that late last night he he did reach out give us a pretty thorough update on what was going on so okay thank you councilman Ros any other questions regarding this item okay CNN next item next item page 46 Communications I believe we went through this earlier today we pick up on AE an ordinance amending title 15 Solid Waste Management chapter 4 collection and Disposal by amending section c to declare mattresses must be covered in plastic questions or comments from Council Members I know this is sponsored by councilman Silva um but any questions like to Second it Madam president second okay councilman Ramos wishes to second any other questions councilman Council yeah more more uh like a statement in regards to uh this this article and especially to uh the residents who uh continue to put large mattresses and box springs uh out in the area that is not covered uh it is important to cover these with uh plastic uh and this is what the the ordinance is really speaking to that it makes it a lot easier for the DPW uh crew to be able to pick up uh without having to worry about uh any kind of contaminant that may be on the mattresses of box springs and so we want to do our job as residents throughout this entire city to make sure that we are we are doing what is right and not just throwing out mattresses and box springs in in different areas because when you do it and other people ride through your town and see it they bring their stuff in toally noted councilman councel any other comments or questions Madam president uh just a DPW question about the distribution of these um uh trash cans we we do have some sectors in the ward that they've never received um the cans specifically like North 9th 10th 11th 12th um off of Bloomfield Avenue down to like second and third Avenue I know some areas I've received two of them but there's some sectors that never got their first can so I'm not sure if DPW can give us a distribution update and and whether or not there are some areas that they've missed that they'll get to at some point so director Dean yeah don't stay down don't stay back there in that corner now come on here got a half award in the firing line now we'll give him a break uh Eric Pennington business administrator I'll take this one there are still about 15,000 cans that have to be distributed uh it is likely that 7,500 of them will be done this year another 7500 next year um I don't need any help from anybody on this I can handle all by myself okay well it's nice that you know he came up thank you Lou apprciate do you have like a map of what's missing or can you put put something together like what areas and when can they anticipate they're they're upset that some people got two cans and they still they're still waiting for their first one so yeah I said yes but I said that quickly I don't mean yes that we have a map but we have it there's yes that we know the areas that need additional cans we can put that information together and get it to you we have not made the det DET mination yet as to which of the areas are going to be allocated an equitable share of the cans this year and next year uh but we can work on that uh as we put together the list as well okay and it might be nice to put something out to update residents as well because they are like you know the council members members have said they they're calling multiple times about the garbage cans um I have already spoken about this but it's nice to hear that some Wards like they're just missing a couple of sectors of wards but the centry war specific speically I'm not sure if somebody just looked at the centralwood as all complexes and buildings and just chose to skip right over us um but there are multiple blocks um that are homeowner occupied um locations that did not get a trash can um at all and I know before we were told all is based off like how you know they collect how they put out their trash and all this other you know speculation or um points of how they distributed the trash cans but there are some blocks that are struggling with keeping clean how they put out trash they didn't get anything and these are blocks that have that I have personally requested on multiple times for the little bit of blocks we got with residential houses you would have thought that the central board have would have gotten more deliveries of trash cans to just those few blocks that they had to worry about but we didn't and so we definitely need to look at that um you know I wish somebody come back and get the trash can they gave me because my residents on my block still didn't get one and I mean I for for the sake of me I don't need to have the trash can if my residents on my blog cannot even get a trash can so you know at the end of the day we have to look at the equity around how we're Distributing trash cans because it's a real problem and we should put something out to Residents to let them know hey they're still coming we're still ordering even if you don't want to give a specific date at least say something so that it's just not out there and people are waiting like hey when I'm gonna get mine when I'm gonna get mine you know please put something out so that can help us absolutely and to to put put another point on U the track cash pickup in in garbage cans the garbage cans that we have out by and large are being used properly but they are still a large group of residents who are using these new cans without putting bags in them and that's a violation of the city ordinance it's making difficult for our collectors to pick up those cans excuse me so we need to put out more information to educate residents as well as to what needs to be done to let them know when the cans are going to happen the fact that they cannot put g plastic bags on the Street uh I see that that is still happening even in locations where the cans have been distributed we have to do a better job of making sure the residents understand that that cannot be done the new ordinance or the ordinance actually not the new anymore from over a year ago prohibits the use of plastic bags uh without the garbage being placed in a can with a tight fitting lid on it uh but we'll get you the information with respect to when the cans will be distributed uh and where and that information should go out and I'm sure that the DPW is taking note of that yeah Madam chair real quick I do concur with with uh the ba about the the usage of the cans we have you know you know multiple uh meetings through throughout our Ward most of our Wards still have not received garbage cans as well part of the problem also is that there were two family homes that are receiving three garbage cans and four garbage cans I sent information over to DPW telling them to go reclaim those cans that someone else may have them or even if you're moving around or think that a can has been misplaced because you've had one to get in contact with DPW but there has to be a resounding message that is sent out through out the entire Community I know I've sent out letters to everyone in the southw that garbage goes in the bag the bag goes in the can and then the the DPW will come and take the bag out the can and put it in the garbage truck that is the proper way to do it our own DPW folks for their own convenience cannot be telling residents to put garbage in the islands uh doesn't matter if it's in the North or the South garbage should not be placed in those islands which are considered Parks uh which is problematic they must be at your curb side in a garbage can inside of a bag inside of the can in order to make sure that we're helping to facilitate the work with DPW working with the administration and the legislature to keep the city clean across the board but we also have to have enforcement behind that uh so not only the owners would know but some of the residents that are living in these spaces they have to know that as well I have to say I couldn't say it better I think cilman Council needs to be a spokesperson for DPW you have hit the nail on the head everything you said is correct and uh I have nothing further to say on that you said it all yes he do have experience there so that's right um any other questions or comments councilman Kelly uh you know councilman counc has said it the best but uh you know when when I'm telling my residents in the west the same thing the enforcement is what I what I'm questioning you know when they leave the I believe some of the residents said they're not being picked up when the when it's just a plastic bag or when the when the garbage is just in the can when they don't put the bag like councilman Council said garbage in the bag and a bag in the can uh is DPW leaving the leaving these uh the garbage there no I can't speak to some individual one specific anecdotal incident but the instruction to DPW is even if the garbage is put out in a plastic bag uh in violation of the ordinance to pick it up they still need to pick it up and have that uh individual cited what we're working on now is having the supervisors go out and take pictures of it even if they're not the enforcers take pictures get it to the sanit sanitation enforcement crew and site the individuals for having it done but but the garbage should be picked up irrespective of whether it's placed properly or not and I'm glad you said that yeah uh we understand that it should be picked up but I think the enforcement part for the residents they're not doing it and then some in some cases the garbage is being left you know so we we need to have some type of enforcement that okay that'll show that the residents you know that they're not supposed to do that leave the garbage on the curb and supposed to leave it in the in the can because some of it's not getting picked up well through you through the council president to you and to DPW I'm telling them now and our new DPW director that they have to pick up that garbage they have to pick it up no matter what I'm fairly certain that that is the instruction from the DPW director and it's got to get down to his assistant directors superintendents managers supervisors and laborers and drivers and we'll we'll we'll get that done thank you thank you okay Mr adem I'm I'm just saying it to him because you said to the director yeah just want everybody to be clear all right any other questions or comments before we move on all right seeing n 9A it's an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to Broad Street Ventures Urban renew LC for a project to rehab rehabilitate and convert a vacant Hotel into a mixed use building consisting of 79 Market R residential rental units 20 affordable housing rental units on which five units should be restricted to tenants at 40% Ami five units at 60% Ami 10 units at 80% of Ami in the East Ward okay any questions or comments regarding this item I know that there was some information sent from our Deputy Mayor regarding some follow-ups and requests I don't have any other follow-ups but any questions from Council Members councilman Council Madam chair I was just going to say that there was a large amount of information sent around the letter in which we asked for around the airbnbs uh to cease and CIS uh April 30th uh and some other information about uh payments that that were made uh in L with that so I don't know if if everyone has the opportunity to look at that information or if you do and we be able to any other follow-ups or additional questions for Council Members councilman Gonzalez yes in in view of H the information that we reive ER and the the schedule of of meetings this would be finally approved after all those uh actions have been taken they say that the Airbnb has been terminated that they have paid the find assessed by the city so I believe that we should move it to First reading and uh and and take the process slow so that we get to ER to the final approval after they have done what they have promised to do okay do not councilman Gonzales any other follow-ups councilman Ramos no any other questions okay all right next itle council president council members this is the conclusion of this agenda any comments Al righty yes all right at this time we'll go to public comment we are now in the public portion of this meeting in which each speaker has three minutes to speak please state your name for the record in this is there anyone wishing to speak good morning good morning council president um George Tillman we quick I just want to bring us up to the speed on what we've done so far in uh communicating with um these ordinances so we can be clear on on this affirmative action and who's monitoring and who's implementing and who's doing what um I want to go to the last um information that I gave you regarding the affirmative action review Council also on that document was the establishment of the office of affirmative action and that ordinance is 6s fa 716 1986 there shall be within the office of the mayor and agencies of the office of affirmative action the head of which shall be the manager of the office of affirmative action 2 2- 27.2 the duties of the office of affirmative action a ensure that neither women and age the handicapped nor other minorities are denied equal opportunities by virtue of their status B assist and encourage affirmative action by the public and private sector and providing economic opportunities to small minority owned and women-owned businesses three I mean c recommend legislative and policy changes to the mayor and Municipal Council as it deems appropriate to promote and expand employment and economic opportunities for women minorities and small businesses D monitor the action of the municipal government and advise the mayor of any fail failure by the government to comply with the goals of equal opportunity affirmative action that is the duties of the office the mayor's office of affirmative action we have discussed the affirmative action review Council and their duties we have uh discussed the nor Employment Commission which is inactive which is supposed to be monitoring and enforcing the nework resident employment policy and now we are looking at the office of affirmative action which is ran by the mayor and it does not Monitor and enforce the N resident employment policy it should have been recommending to you that the administration is not compliance with the ordinance so as we go forth there should be a question asked of the administration by the council why does not this commission exist and what steps are the administration going to be doing to go for to ensure that new residents are being hired under this ordinance thank you thank you Mr Tillman next speaker good after good morning hi can I get my Ada accommodation a five minutes like I do at the school board no we don't do that here well you supposed to so who do I write look into it but I don't want to waste the minut restart my time I'm only asking rest Miss Cole's time please thank you I'll look into it administration because when the Ada accommodation is requested you're supposed to do it um I'm here today and y'all normally don't see me but I'm here today because I have an issue with our Nork Police Department I had a false complaint filed against me now when a when when any Resident go to the police department and and alleged harassment and you're going to use a 2C code which is a criminal code and that complaint goes to the police officer police officer to the um detective that complaint is supposed to be investigated on both sides by the person alleging to be the victim and then by the person that the victim alleged said did whatever they did the detective is supposed to determine the probable cause for the courts before it gets to the courts in protection of the community that did not happen Okay I had somebody allege a false harassment complaint and the only way I found out is I got a text on my phone that somebody filed a violation so I went to 31 Clinton Street 31 Clinton Street referred me to 22 22 sent me to City Hall City Hall sent me to 48 um one link Avenue when I got to one Lincoln Avenue the death sergeant and the officer refused me my right to file a counter complaint and that right should never be denied of a citizen we have a right to file counter complaints because you want to be lazy and don't do the work is not my problem my problem is that law enforcement is is there to enforce the promulgated laws of New Jersey in the city of North not they are not enforcement they're there to protect because they can be charged by the same lords we are charged by now I filed a internal affairs complaint now you have me filed a complaint with the um uh the Peter Harvey who is the Monitor and I filed an official Complaint with the AG's office Internal Affairs because when I filed the complaint and Pat Council tried to mediate that he did and he did an excellent job I'm tired of being spoken to in a condescended demeaning and harassing Way by law enforcement I'm tired of them come in our community thinking that we don't have a right to the same things that the Suburban communities have um asking you to listen to what I'm saying they are not following their own training they are Sid stepping the law and the training because had he investigated and spoke to me and got all of my witnesses that complaint would never have been a 2C complaint where I had to file counters because this person file false complaint thank you Miss Cole un need to do a better job un Miss Cole the Bell is ringing and time is over isn't it is is the Bell broke but why is the clock still with TW you yeah you pass the time yeah thank you thank you sorry watching the clock okay thank you and if also to just a note to um I don't know if the police could be able to speak with Miss Cole you can come over and talk to her in addition the clerk and to the staff here for the clerk's office can we look into that accommodation piece to make sure that we you know Grant or award the same thing to all residents and look into that if we're supposed to be doing that good morning good morning good to see everyone good to be out out of the hospital after a week and I'm G to be quick in these three minutes first counsilman Ramos while in the hospital I saw the last pre-council meeting and thank you for um looking into issues with the Riviera um but there are still more questions how much are the developers getting um how is that money being spent um who exactly in the city is running the re uh Riviera um and are they still running on an emergency um declaration in a hotel uh license councilman Council thank you so much your comments on development and developers I agree with so much of what you're saying and I appreciate you and I wish I had more time to dissect that but I do not thank you all for looking into or your willingness to look into the monies um that providers are getting and how that money is being and ensuring that it's being spent properly because I can tell you where Catholic Charities is concerned the ball is being dropped epically and even in the hospital for a week I'm getting calls now from Miller Street I will email all you guys as I typically do complaints video footage proof director lario who I like um I'm rapidly losing respect for um and so it's offensive for him to come before you guys who I love and support and give you miss information I have a problem with that all right there are not two people to a room in the Riviera there was a tap and two article there's pictures up there showing but I'm going to get that information to you but on top of that give these folks toilet papers they're tearing up cloth using that and they're flushing that in the toilet all right I'm going to prove it there was a fire Kabir Tucker you cannot put wall scones in on the Riviera knowing that they are massive leaks and then you have an electrician do it and not doing it prop properly so it caused the fly okay there are sex offenders a sex offender engaged a woman on the woman's floor that was unmanned unmanned all that's going to come to you security is on their phones instead of on the camera and the cameras are right at the elevator the mayor's office of homeless service three workers was escorted out the day of the earthquake after being sent there to check by property management and program management because they showed up unannounced and they thought that they was coming for um inspection they're mice crawling on people while they're sleeping I'm going to send all that stuff to you guys okay waking residents up five o'clock in the morning to clean up because inspectors are coming and then telling them they got to go to their room or go outside because they can't engage with people all of this is going on so respectfully to director allario all the other directors come here with the right information because they do the work he needs to do the work okay just like the other directors just like his what his title says and but the very people that are suppressing and hiding all the horror that's going on is the people that's giving him the information in the 11th Hour it is okay to say that you don't know and that you'll get back to everyone thank you for all your prayers when I was in the hospital God bless Miss mson good to see you feeling better yes ma'am next speaker Mona El buman so the hotel Rivier went from the frying pan to the oven no other way to describe it I spoke about no being the highest in rent Nationwide and boom you know there you have it so the ba came and said no we at nework ain't the highest in the nation so you got it in black and white I just want to say to newers if you don't get involved with the politics that's going on in your community these are the consequences dysfunctional leadership corruption fiscal mismanagement wasteful spending slum Lords crime fudge reports housing crisis still the same getting worse two things you need to put on the ballot and I said term limits on the ballot for mayor councel County exec Commissioners and the school board term limits on the ballot that council members must physically live here to sit on our city council on the referendum referendum on the ballot these are two ordinance that we need to have done is no getting any better newers we're in a state of confusion nework is in living in silence newers are living in denial and we are in a state of emergency we have a billion dollar construction bomb taking place in this city and nothing is in it for noras nothing in it for the local businesses here nothing's in it for noras we got tman that come up here every council meeting to enforce the affirmative action and all y'all sit up there in this crime every day with no real plan doj Department of Justice grants going to pad your pockets every council member up there double dipping triple dipping while a newers are in poverty high newk was a shame the May the mayor offic of Full Employment a sham the housing plan a sham all of it is a shame I want to ask a question where's the fiscal uh uh independent report for uh the mayor's uh uh Financial reports where's the budget reports why AR the feds coming in here and why that complacent with this Council and this mayor thank you miss bami your time is now expired thank you next speaker good morning evening Council good morning um my name is Walter Jacobs and I'm a district leader in New York I'm here today because of the uh bus shelters during the winter time uh the seniors that were handicapped couldn't get to the bus shelter to catch the bus because they had snow in front of it all people had throwing garbage in front of it I guess maybe no one knew really who was in charge of keeping that area uh sanitary but now I found out that it's the city who's in who's responsible not New Jersey Transit it's the city where the uh the shelter is located so I was listening earli where you were talking about what you're doing for the summer for the poth holes so this is a little early for next year's snow I guess there won't be any more snow this year but I'd like you to get into uh seeing what's happening for the uh bus shelters because the seniors want to catch the bus but they can't get over there they're standing in the street and in the slush because you can't throw snow in the street so there's a puddle at the curb so they're really uh inconvenience so I'm just asking for someone to look into it please uh council president thank you absolutely Mr Jacobs thank you so much um you got a lot of gear on too Mr Jacobs I need to go where you get show gear from look good Mr Jacobs we'll look into the Buel situation um director Wen if we can find out what's going on or DPW I I don't know which of Department it lies with but between the two regarding the cleanliness of the bus shelter all right next speaker good afternoon good afternoon and uh started off good morning um Miss president I have my glasses on today because I worked out a deal with one of my old supervisors he said sh you like going to those meetings you can have the night shift on days when they do the morning meeting because they thought that this always happened in the even in the afternoon but I have the glasses on the same way you have the glass in front of you because there's a barrier between the government and the people you can't have it both ways I've heard Quintana Ramos and Gonzalez speak about the square footage if you don't control the mayorship and if you don't control the majority of this Council you can't determine what the economic Department provides as an incentive so what if you think it's too low if they make it too high the people outside of Nork will buy it and Gobble it all up so if the mayor want to leave it low Gonzalez rainbow and Quintana that's out of the prorip of your Civic View you until y'all control the mayor seat if the mayor want to keep it low let them keep it low under this Biden economy we need all the help we can get I don't agree with the mayor all the time but if you're going to leave the square footage competitive with smaller and midsize uh people with a vision can get involved with it keep it like that Mr President and push back on them the second piece is this affirmative action piece is a problem not only in the city government it's a problem in the Board of Education we've had one vendor fair which was last fall when they received uh advice to get uh vendor fairs twice a year up to four times a year the other part and I've been real good trying to be on good behavior my councilman and some of your other colleagues were articulating around the National Fire Safety Week y'all should be ashamed of yourselves because it's sits on the board of education for them to have grad graduates that can pass that reading and writing test for the Civil Service the other part is and my family was involved with desegregating the Building Trades in in Jersey that ship that two of our firefighters lost their lives on was a law shman yard which very little people on the second floor have knowledge about our firefighters should have never been on that ship when we spoke to the Lawman the other day at the restaurant they said the Coast Guard was supposed to be there but we want to lend norc's human capital to problems that are of industrial scale Ramos we need you to speak and work with this president when it come to the Emergency Management plan because they don't know their right hand from their left hand we want you to get serious with them how you serious at the county I want the I want a better enable and I want a better Council and a better southw representative to speak strongly and let's look out for public SA thank you Mr Chay next speaker all right seeing none public speaking is now closed any responses from Council Members regarding public speaking councilwoman Scott rree I just want to um address thank you council president the affirmative action Mr Tillman has been coming for quite some time to address those issues I've met with um Deputy Mayor I've met with Corporation Council uh we have met the committee councilman Silva myself and Kelly who we have not met with other than bringing back information to you is you and I did speak to you regarding setting up a meeting so that we can discuss these things after I met with them just to um investigate what you were bringing to us as opposed to what's happening today so we're going to set that meeting up now um sometime I don't know when that's going to happen I'm G have my staff member reach out to you or you can see me after the meeting and go right upstairs and we'll schedule a meeting I'm going to have to in order to have them in the meeting make sure that that's schedule um works for them as well because I'm not going to meet with you by myself not having all of the knowledge I do want legal there and I do want the deputy mayor of Workforce Development to be there and someone from affirmative action so we're going to do that part we'll get that done I and then hopefully your questions will be answered and we can see where we can move from there is that good okay thank you that's all I have council president thank you so much thank you councilwoman scy Round Tree any other responses from council members Cena any responses from the administration just briefly if I make Eric Pennington business administrator just with respect to some of the claims regarding U what our office of homeless Services is doing there are lots and lots of complaints that people can make about the city some of which we reserve deserve some of which we don't and we're working to fix all that one of the things uh we can state with certainty is that data shows that lewiis ulario and his team under the mayor's instruction has done an amazing job with respect to the homeless population they have worked with the county are seeking to have more relationships with the county to eradicate the conditions that we have they have teams out on the street that engage with the residents uh homeless residents on a regular basis they have done a Yan's job in making sure that the residents out on the street trust them now and are able to get the help that they need they need some social support medical support uh uh mental health support um there is an incredible amount of work and dollars that are being spent to eradicate these issues with respect to the Riviera Hotel the city certainly uses the Riviera Hotel and it is owned by investors and they use Catholic Charities to provide the social services with the guidance and input from the city under the direction of L Lewis ulario um but I think U it should be noted that Miss mson had some relationship with r Riviera at some point it was not the city's relationship it was her own relationship she claims that she's owed $100,000 she sent a mayor a letter to the mayor I guess seeking his help in getting her this $100,000 that the city has absolutely nothing to do with I don't know if the $100,000 is true is not true we have no idea but uh to allege false information about the conditions of the Riviera for her own personal gain is inappropriate if she's owed the money she should get it but not by spreading misinformation about what the office of homeless Services is doing indeed based on some of the complaints that Miss mson raised our communications director and liserio had tap to go to the Rivier Hotel they did an investigation and found that much of the claims were largely overstated and that what is going on there is largely appropriate we'll continue under the direction of Lewis yio at the uh uh assistance of the mayor to make sure that we do as good a job as we can with the homeless population uh it makes my job more difficult because it's expensive and I have to come to the council um to have a budget which I hope to get I shouldn't raise this in front of councilman Gonzalez to try to get this budget to the council soon but it's going to have increased costs for homeless Services uh because we are taking it seriously doing an amazing job in addressing a situation that that nationally is almost impossible to deal with u but the city of yorc is taking it headon and is fighting it and I take issue with the uh assertion that Mr ulario is not doing a good job doing a good job he is and I think it's inappropriate for somebody to pursue their own personal agenda to get their $100,000 by using yio and the office of homeless Services okay any followup questions or comments regarding the Ba's comment okay seeing none thank you all right any requests from Council Members before we take a motion to go into executive session upstairs any request all right seeing none I'll have a motion to go into executive session Council Crump absent Gonzalez yes absent Kitana yes Ramos Scott brry yes Silva absent president mcber yes thank you all for coming out today we'll be heading up for executive session we look forward to seeing you all at tomorrow's meeting starting at 6:30 pm sharp have a great day everyone e e for