as a newk municipal court judge Miss foso would you please step to the podium thank you good morning Miss boso thank you so much for joining us today you are being recommended for appointment as a norc municipal court judge it's so great to see a uh woman before us um any comments uh to the council before we ask any questions um well good morning to start off I'd like to thank everyone to serve the city of Newark um in this capacity would be one of the greatest honors of my life I intend to serve with fairness and integrity to all that appear before me just to keep it short I thank you all for your time and consideration thank you so much questions or comments from the council members councilman Silva yeah I'd like to be a sponsor of this hey councilman Silva wishes to sponsor do I have a second second by councilman Quintana any other questions or comments from council members seeing none congratulations thank you so much our next appointment is item 8 B Mr Valencia appointment to the Hispanic commission good morning Mr Valencia thank you so much for joining us you are being recommended for appointment to the Hispanic commission do you have a statement or comment to the council yes ma'am um is an hon for me to speak to you as on the crucial time as we seek to improve the ti between the Colombian community and the vibrant city of Newark as well of the state of New Jersey having been nominated as a candidate for member of the Hispanic commission my desire is to represent and support the belov Colombian Community as well as work tirelessly to promote the interest and needs for both Colombian community and the Hispanic community in general thank you so much thank you so much any questions or comments from Council Members seeing none thank you so much congratulations thank you so much item 8 C is Miss Cordo appointment to the Nork parking authority good morning Miss cero it's good to see you um thank you so much for being with us today you are being recommended for appointment to the nor parking authority do you have a comment to the council yes I do good morning everyone for those in know me my name is m Cordo I am the proud owner of Dino's kitchen and as a dedicated business owner and mother to a 19y all serving son to the Marines as an infantry man I have a deep rooted passion for both my community and and service through my work I have I have received numerous Awards to humanit humanitarian efforts and business accidents I am eager to bring my unique perspective and commitment to the parking authority to contribute positively to our community and its residents thank you so much any questions or comments from Council Members okay congratulations thank you for the opportunity I just did you bring any beef and banadas with you I got you okay just want to ask that you know that's my favorite thing over there but it's good to see you thank you so much council president council members we are on page three of the agenda item five is reports and recommendations of City officers boards and commissions any questions or comments from Council Members regarding reports cnna ordinances on first reading 6fa is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to 19 LV urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a multif family Residential Building consisting of 48 rental units comprised of 38 market rate residential rental units 10 affordable housing rental units of which one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of area median income Ami two units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% Ami and seven units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the central Ward questions or comments from Council Members cing none public hearing second reading final passage 6 psfa is being asked to be deferred 6 psfb is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to nma owners urban renewal LLC for a project to construct approximately 200 Market rate residential rental units 50 affordable housing residential units approximately 2598 square feet of ground floor retail space and approximately 4,216 square foot gallery that will be lease and operated by the New York museum of art in the central Ward questions or comments from Council Members CNN next item 6p sfc is an ordinance amending title 8 by creating chapter 39 smoke shops and establish rules and regulations sponsored by councilman Council second by councilwoman Scott rry questions or comments from Council Members seea 6p sfd is an ordinance amending title 8 to create chapter 40 commercial motor vehicle parking lot license and established rules and regulations sponsored by councilman Council second by councilman Chrome any questions or comments seeing none 6p SF is an ordinance to amend title 2 to add an additional fee if the property is vacant or abandoned sponsored by councilman Council second by councilman Kelly questions or comments regarding this item CA 6pf is an ordinance amending title 23 parking by removing kitel Street both sides from Park Street to sraon way sponsored by council president mcgyver second by councilman canana questions or comments regarding this item CA 6p sfg is an ordinance authorizing the acquisition by the city of Newark from International Youth Organization of certain real property for the purpose of developing and operating a training site dedicated to Union and non-union apprenticeships in skill and skill Building Trades sponsored by councilman Council second by councilman Crum questions or comments from council members CNN resolutions 7r1 a through 7 r1e are temporary temporary emergency Appropriations A is for the city hall Skylight Grant B is to provide funds for the operating expenses until the adoption of the 2024 operating budget C is to provide grant funding from the state of New Jersey D is to provide Ryan Wright HIV support services in ease to provide for childhood Le exposure prevention program well can't wait till we get the budget councilman Gonzalez yes that was my that was my exactly my question we have an agreement with the ba that the the the budget would be introduced ER in April and I see that we are providing funds for April here so Mr ba can we get an update absolutely council president council members Eric Pennington business administrator uh there have been um you know some issues that we're addressing it is still our hope to get this to the council as soon as possible we have you know our ratio has decreased from 80 some OD percent to 50 55 56% which is going to have an impact and so we're working to figure out how we can minimize the impact on the residents in addition to that I think the County's uh budget is just been introduced we know where that stands now and the school board so we have to make some adjustments I am still working assiduously to get this to you uh as soon as possible obviously since we're in April it it is uh you know coming upon me to get possible means May um I would rather not say may I want to try to stick with April if we can I had a I'll say you this I had a a meeting with our budget director dor and the mayor yesterday and so we're looking at scenarios to move it forward um I am hopeful that we're going to get it to you uh very soon I appreciate it thank you you're welcome thank you Mr ba any other questions or comments from Council Members Sienna 7 r1f and 7 r1g are use of State contracts f is to purchase furniture for the Department of Public Safety and G is to build a new playground at mild Helms Park questions or comments from Council Members CNN 7r1 H and 7 yes I'm sorry councilman Ramos yeah I see where G the the new playground for um Mildred Helms Park I would ask through your chair in the administration that that someone from Parks and grounds um take a look at the playground at Elwood Park which which is in desperate need of repair possible replacement duly noted councilman Ros and Madam clerk if we could follow up with the letter to um Recreation certainly 7 r1h and 7r1 I of both extensions of emergency contracts H is for temporary housing shelter services and I is to provide repairs at the Clinton Reservoir Dam questions or comments from Council Members yes councilman Gonzalez yeah we we're spending $9 million H in with Catholic Charities and uh and newly defined or whatever it is the providers of homeless Services would it be let's say possible that the city would build a place that houses this the the homeless population instead of paying $10 million a year ER in Services good morning council members Eric Penning to business administrator um certainly we're want to look at all options we can to address uh the increasing uh population of residents without addresses in the city of nework one of the issues that we face um is that the pot of money that's available on a monthly basis to uh lease spaces and to make uh places available is a different part of money than if we built it uh we can't just take that money unfortunately and move it over to Capital Construction uh so we would have to be able to budget through bonding uh to build a facility those options are on the table we are certainly looking at them and perhaps with your financial expertise you may be able to help us identify the best way to to to move forward with that we have had some success um in addressing the population in many places where the homeless population is increasing we have managed to stabilize and indeed decrease that at a cost it is without question at a cost uh much of those funds are Grant funds that we use uh to address this population and they cannot be transferred over to a capital project but but we're happy to look at that and see thank you Madame President councilman Ros yeah Eric just just for clarity uh this is an addition to folks who are staying at the Riviera Hotel is that a separate contract yes it is so how how much is a city um investing a year in providing shelter and I guess some of the support services that are associated uh with Sheltering and how many beds are we actually able to buy as a result of that great question I jumped in front of uh lisio hessar he's probably better equipped to answer that question than I and if You' like I'll have them come yeah yeah I'm just curious to see like what what's what's the average per night that we're we're actually paying when you look at the stay and all the supports uh council president council members lisio directors and mayor's office of Home Services um you know part of the success was you know the ability uh of course under the directive of the mayor to expand capacity to house more individuals especially those that are unsheltered um we you know approximately and the capacity about 30% so we have 30% more beds that we did last year uh like the ba said that came at a cost uh the average per night per bed uh varies depending on Services you know how large the building is um and and of course you know how uh how many beds or or you know the facility can can house at at any given night uh so is there a particular amount that you're looking for or just an average yeah I I I would just like to see um you you you pre-qualify X number of vendors under this resolution um obviously each vendor has a different capacity that they can serve and and maybe a Target population one of them may serve single males families so if we can get more details of what the population is and how many beds uh does the contract uh enable the city to have access to and then on top of that I know that the city's also utilizing the Riviera Hotel I'm not sure how many uh beds for for lack of a better term the city has access through that account and and is it a specialized population at Riviera or is it does it vary because it's it's a larger complex yeah well the total amount of beds we are managing right now is approximately 790 Beds which is significantly more than we had before in previous years which kind of led to the success uh that we've experienced at the Rivier Hotel um it's a unique uh kind of layout um which is Desir desired by a lot of the folks that especially are living on the streets because it's more private so you have two beds per room uh in a in a shared you know bathroom facility versus you know another uh shelter where you're sharing a room with a dozen folks and you know those same folks you're sharing a you know the bathroom facility so it's smaller more private and more desire it's more desirable for folks that um are coming off to streets as a matter of fact our street oper teams uses uh the Hotel Riviera often uh to to get convince folks to to come indoors thank you Lis councilman Gonzalez yes H in terms of let's say we the the more services that we provide the more individuals that we get so what what can we do to to avoid that yeah well again I mean you know we you know the city of nor carries the burden of of the state to be honest with you I mean we do serve a lot of folks coming into our city we are doing our best to divert them to surrounding municipalities uh we have a pretty strong diversion program so we we try to kind of work with the families or individuals to to have them return to their you know their original uh place of residence uh you know there's a lot of work around that but that's our main goal I mean one of the first things that we do is we make sure that they are denied by County Services right so that one of the first things and then second if they don't have a uh you know if they don't have residency in Newark then it's a conversation right how do we get you to your supports right um and aot they're here for a lot of reasons uh but you know we've made relationships with New York City uh through Penn Station uh you know we are making relationships of course with municipalities around this around the city uh so again it's really diverting making sure that they're you know eligible for other resources and and programs as well and we're the last resort really that's that's the goal thank you any other questions or comments from Council Members okay for the council members that just joined us we're on page 12 of the agenda next item 7r1 J is to provide St Lucy's church with a public Arts loan of the statute of Christopher Columbus sponsored by councilman canana a second who second it second by councilman Ros do I have any questions or comments regarding this item yeah Madame President yes councilman Ros in addition to the Columbus statue I would ask through your chair and the clerk um we did ask the administrator to look into and I I want to thank councilman Silva for all his assistance uh the transfer of the Mother Cabrini statue to the plaza that formerly house the uh Columbus statue we we have been working with our Improvement District to create a will hopefully be an immigrant Plaza across from St Francis Church and and we love Mother Cabrini who's the patron saint of of immigrants uh to be properly housed there as opposed to uh an abandoned lot uh right by North Pen Station that is um rarely upkept and has housed that statue for over a decade do know the councilman Ros um is there a second for this second second by councilman G gz alz councilman Ramos he sponsored it and then I heard councilman Gonzalez seconded talk to me in a mic I can hear I'm sorry when I cannot do good some days but I cannot read your lips right now M clerk I got it so are we cuz L's shaking her head okay okay so Council M Quintana you you sponsored did I seconded the Columbus and then I just did an aside on the mother cabin okay all right it's not a resolution it's just a motion under Cabrini for followup okay so what Quintana Ramos correct okay all right sorry councilman Gonzalez all right let's get back on track next item 7r1 K is a contract with subrecipient to provide housing assistance and supportive services to persons with HIV AIDS questions or comments from council members cn9 7r1 L is an application acceptance of the 2024 local recreational Improvement Grant questions or comments from Council Members Sienna 7r2 a through 7r2 I are all private sale Redevelopment agreements I will go through them individually but not repeat private sale and Redevelopment a is to by new I'm sorry a there is a motion to defer okay uh this is being deferred yes councilman Council for 7 r2a yes you would like to defer yes okay do I have a second second by councilman Kelly okay next one B is to provide new construction of 26 unit senior affordable housing building in the South board okay councilman Council I believe that the uh deputy director L wanted to make a Amendment from the floor 7 r2b okay uh good morning council president council members Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh this item um after further discussion with uh council member Council we would like to propose uh Amendment on the floor to modify the description to be three two family for sale units sorry houses not units three two family houses so it's no longer 26 unit correct okay three two family for sale for sale okay and the price and stuff changes so I mean is it the same anything else no everything else will say the same council president okay so the only thing that's changing is the purpose the description of this project yes and if the council concurs we will submit all paperwork today okay questions or comments from Council Members seeing none okay so this is amending councilman Council are you sponsoring this amendment yes okay and do I have a second I may before you do that do I have a second second by councilman crom okay councilman Gonzalez this was going to be a a senior affordable housing now is going to be a private sale and we are still selling at $6 a square foot I believe that the price of the of the lot should be increased because the purpose is totally different um so council president to the question by posed by council member Gonzalez uh this is uh one of the first round sales under the Equitable investments in Newark community all of the sales under that initiative have been set at $6 a square foot uh we do understand the question um but we did keep consistency with the other sales okay any other questions or comments CNN thank you Deputy Mayor thank you C is to provide new construction of seven single family town homes in the central Ward questions or comments from Council Members regarding this item CN D is to provide for the renovation of property and continue usage as a tire shop in the central Ward I'm going to ask for this item to be deferred do I have a second second by councilman Kelly next item e is to provide for new construction of a mixed use residential building with four affordable residential units in a retail space in the South board councilman Council yes I'm fine with it moving okay any other questions or comments CA councilman Gonzalez let me go back to C and D they are both C is 517 521 523 Bergen Street five the other one is 501 505 Bergen Street one is sell been sell for $6 a square foot the other one is been sold for $10 a square foot so we have to I believe there is this is comparable one to the other and we are going for the difference per per square foot does someone like to comment on the selling price for these same one of them is being deferred but would someone like to comment on the selling price for these properties that are on the same Block in the same area to the councilman's point good morning council president council members Alison lad director of Economic and Housing Development um the there is a difference between the two types of development I know uh I'm sure you saw that council member Gonzalez uh the First on Bergen is for residential and the second um on also on Bergen is for commercial use uh so that was the reason is one was a business and one was for residential purposes any other questions comments I I I strong believer that when we sell property we should have comparables and we have been asking for that and and seems in in congruent that we are selling in the same block for different prices toally noted thank you Deputy May lad next item e is to provide for new construction of a mixed use residential building with four affordable residential units and a retail space in the South board questions or comments from Council Members 7r2 e CA f is to provide for new construction of a two family home with a rear parking garage to be sold at market rate in the South board questions or comments from Council Members SI G is to provide for for the rehabilitation of property to become owner occupied in the north Ward questions or comments from Council Members Council Ramos Madam president I I did have an opportunity to meet with the proposed buyer through Economic Development this is um believe it or not a small condominium development um on Stick street right by Bloomfield Avenue so individuals lived there for quite some time and I believe this unit has been um available for for years and the city took over ownership of the properties okay any other questions comments CA H is the provide for new construction of a mixed use building with retail office on the first floor and three residential units to sell for market rate in the west ward questions or comments from Council Members Council M Kelly I met with the I met with the guys we okay any other questions or comments from Council Members Cenna I is the construction financing necessary for the Redevelopment of an affordable rental housing project in the South board questions or comments from Council Members CN 7r2 J is a First Amendment to the agreement for the sale and Redevelopment of land an agreement to subordinate the city's right or reverter by entering into an amendment to the agreement for sale and Redevelopment of land in order to permit financing necessary for the Redevelopment of affordable rental and for sale housing in the South board questions or comments from Council Members CNN 7r2 K through 7r2 M our introduction of the 2024 budget for various SIDS and bids K is for the greater n tourism improvement district Management Corporation doing business as the greater n convention and visitors bureau L is for the bloomfi Avenue Lower Broadway business improvement district and M is for the Mount Prospect Avenue neighborhood improvement district can we please make sure that everything that the budgets the list of employees everything that is required for these items are given to the council members um perhaps if we can get them email directly to us just in case folks can't navigate legistar um so can we get that to all of the council members in preparation councilman Ramos I'd like to be noted as a sponsor for l and m is in Mary okay do I have a second okay um I'm going to Second mine but um I I'll put you down for M how about that councilman Gonzalez I'm also going to sponsor 7 r2k do I have a second second by councilman Crump all righty any other questions or comments regarding these I know that there will be representatives from their from these P um representative bids and SS tomorrow okay Cena 7ar 2N is an agreement with government entity authorizing the execution of a third amendment to the Riverside Avenue site tolling agreement for the benefit of the United States Environmental Protection Agency questions or comments from Council Members I'd like to be the sponsored M president oh sure councilman Ramos wishes to sponsor 7r2 n second by councilman Quintana any other questions or comments okay see n 7r2 is an investigation for an area in need of Redevelopment authorized the newk central planning board to undertake a preliminary investigation to determine if the area is in need of Redevelopment in the East W questions or comments councilman Silva like to be a sponsor sure councilman Silva wishes a sponsor to have a second second by councilman Kelly next item seminar 2 p is to authorize the execution and approval of a modified affordable housing agreement with Southside view LLC to construct a new family residential and affordable housing development consisting of 40 affordable housing rental units in the South board questions or comments from Council Members CNN 7r2 Q is a resolution of support to provide Municipal Council support for the submission of an application for tax credits sought by the developer under the New Jersey Aspire tax credit program to New Jersey Economic Development Authority questions or comments from Council Members CA 7ar 3A is to provide an agreement and authorize the procurement of dockless vehicles for use in the city's public right away all right so I know that there's been a lot of conversation around this item a dep I'm sorry director you can approach all council members should have gotten a copy of this presentation via um email as well as you have a hard copy sitting in front of you it's a lot of pages so we're not going to go through each one um let's start with this any questions or comments from Council Members regarding um this contract with bird councilman Quintana M president um in terms of insurance a lot of young people are falling and and there's no insurance for them uh I don't know if there's a but I know in other in other around the country there's other there's fees Char charged on the vehic on these bikes when I I know two young men whose parents have no insurance and they fall off these bikes and have very serious injuries so I like to know if there's a possibility that they could be some institution of instituting some kind of insurance off for the these Riders because again uh the the insurance is not covering uh there is no insurance and I have a concern with that I mean some of these young kids are 15 and 16 and you know again is there a fee for insurance i' like to know because again safety of these young people to me is important uh when they get to the ride and when they get hurt uh those parents have to concur uh uh a bill and it's no there's no charity care for this this an accident that fell someone Falls and and it hurts himself okay councilman Gonzalez yes H I read the papers and it says something that they are going to restrict the use of these vehicles to people over 18 years old how do you control that because uh we have a lot of young people using these vehicles and I don't I don't see how you can control let's say that somebody that is under 18 cannot go and rent one of this with a credit card from a family member or whatever it is that they that they use any other questions or comments from Council Members yeah I know in in the presentation it talks about um you know all of the different um areas that they they want to work in but also I think what's important is we talk about racking stations in some of these areas because even with the prior provider that we have now and I hope they come back we have a racking issue there were still Vehicles all over uh the streets and people front Lawns uh and and it's becoming problematic and uh we keep getting assured by uh the prior and we had some assurity from the current who wants to come uh that they have this fast turnaround system that is not showing up in these communities and and the people are getting frustrated yeah that's the reason why most towns do dock stations because the dock list is just not successful I mean I literally just came back from a state and I mean they had the dock stations and you didn't see bikes all over the place or scooters and this is why towns do that and um this was something I was planning on asking the director because at the end of the day it's becoming it it's not becoming it is a problem and I know that supposed to have a 60-day followup with vo specifically because we already had approved their contract out of the pilot but it continues to be a problem it's not fast response time it's not happening look I don't know what the issue is or you know if you got to follow people around on scooters but at the end of the day it's just not being picked up I support 150% the um this program uh I I think when it first was you know introduced to us I mean I was riding around scooters around town Town doing all of the you know tryy outs and you know working from this from the get-go but at the end of the day the dockless program is probably just not for us it's not for our city we would benefit probably with a docking stations throughout the city and we need to look into that I'm look into what the pricing is I know that that's a change on pricing it's a change in installation and all of that and working with the different companies and you know a different you know with these different things are parked at um to try to get that appr but we really need to this Council will benefit from seeing the difference between pricing if there's a difference in pricing regarding docking stations and what that would look like for us I will turn it over to answer the questions that some of the council members already had good morning um Council uh president and council members um thank you for the opportunity so we have bird in front of you and to answer some of the questions um we have um bir prent and Chambers um I do want to just uh touch upon some of the items uh to uh the uh insurance it's something that we going to explore in the future because right now we're uh relying on writer accountability um they make a contract every time they open an account um and they're supposed to adhere to the rules and regulations um so it it's something again that we need to um explore because it's a little more complicated right now it's almost like a personal vehicle um that is just rented it's like a rental right so so we have to make sure that um there is a feasible uh solution to to to to the insurance um uh challenge that that you POS um Council M kintana um just to be clear though again um when it comes to writing in the nework go program for both companies you are required to be 18 years old you are required to be 18 years old um as uh moving from from that to coun M Gonzalez restrictions for under age again that's that's a requirement you cannot duck you cannot have an account if you're not um above 18 um and uh you know again it's it's something that we going to explore now that we're in the permanent B in in the permanent portion of of the program um but those are the rules and regulations um that under age under 18 uh should not be riding the scooters um as they are more motorized vehicles um for ducking station council president absolutely right now we just have areas that are delineated but we agree you know we're going to talk to ber to see and then also uh follow up with vo to see what will it take to actually have defined docking stations so that um writers can actually put them in a place not just leave them anywhere uh with that um we have I just want to interject a little bit yes ma'am one it's always been 18 even in the pilot right we get it your biggest consumer are children right and don't let it be summertime like I mean you must wck up on the rides for kids um and I don't know how you can I don't have the answer I mean that's the reason why you're here because I don't have the answer I don't work for bur or vo um but at the end of the day like the councilman said at some point there has to be some type of different addressing method in regards to how do you really enforce the rules because right now nothing but children are I mean I'm not seeing all kids are just joy riding I mean they're having a great time they're always around my house having a good time with them but specifically some of them are using a ticket to school they're going from you know one part of town to the next getting on a scooter some of them are really using it um to get you know to point A to point B but if the rules is 18 plus and even if you factor in the insurance issue like you know that councilman Quintana talking talked about how can you even have be ensure these vehicles or ensure people riding them when folks are riding them riding them that are not supposed to ride them so there there needs to be a serious look at and I know that you guys have I don't want to take away from I'm going to take away from bird because I only been working with vo since that was the only company we had for the past couple of weeks or months shall I say they have reached out to nor Public Schools they sent out the Flyers they've spoken to school board members they they've done all of that but still those folks are not policing without you know enforcing the rule of who can hop on a scooter or not um so you we have to come up with something comparable um for this Council in regards to how do we really enforce the rules of only 18 year olds and up can ride these things like how are you doing that I think I was reading somewhere um in an article that some companies have like a scanner like for example you have to scan like an ID I'm not even saying that this is going to help because you know young people if it was me back in the day young I get somebody ID and scan it and get on the and Rob myself I I I would they wouldn't even matter to me but you know how do how do you do stuff like that you know scan an ID to make sure they're 18 the rent you know only do one at a time like you know looking at other options of that way um to try to do it because right now we just have a bunch of kids riding the scooter I mean all over the city and we should have some you know information come back to us of how we can really combat that point taken council president okay any other questions or comments I know that the bird was going to have some comments uh councilman Kelly thank you council president um good morning director how you doing good morning sir um I think when this came up in one of the past uh Council meetings we talked about is there a way to do um a penalty for the Riders if they leave the dockless vehicle uh in a way you know that um is in front of someone's home is if it's on a lawn or the reason why I'm asking is because I was coming out of my mother's building um on Central Avenue and soon as I open the door I steep right onto the bike now if I was a senior that probably would have been an injury you know uh and then the other day I'm coming out of the barber shop I had to pry the door open because the bike was right in front of the the barber shop just laying on the ground I think when when the Riders get off they just drop the bike you know it I I think I asked that question before is there a way to know that the bike is upright to know how the where the bike is left to I think someone told me they take a picture of it um and send it in but they cannot be taking a picture with the bikes just laying in front of property or lay or they're not being fined for that is there a way to find you know who's riding it because of the credit card and the information that's attached to the ride is there a way that there's a penalty I'm not talking about just $5 because $5 might somebody might say I'll eat the $5 just to drive the drop the bike here is there a penalty that can be put on whoever the card information is attached to so that they don't do that they don't leave it in front of people homes businesses and parking spaces and things of that nature thank you g Melly um so the good news is the type of technology that these companies use yes we can hone in on areas and uh make it restricted um we could also look into if if Riders repeatedly do it to revoke um their uh their permit to to ride um that's something that I have to reach to the companies and and and make sure that we start implementing it yes please because this is the same question that I asked before when they appeared in front of us and also too I think it really boils down to the Staffing right um we spent a lot of time talking about that in some of these towns you see people just sitting outside all I think it really balls down to the Staffing right um we spent a lot of time talking about that and some of these towns you see people just sitting outside all day with a van um from these companies who are riding around 24/7 they're not coming out after 24 hours like they literally have multiple people working multiple Vans working especially a city like Nork um you know we should have tons of Vans out there tons of Staff who are going to collect if you had the adequate Staffing you would not have this problem like you would you you should even be having some folks even monitoring like rers and things like that that is the responsibility of the companies um not to be put on to our officers or we already got enough that we're dealing with like we don't like the companies that are coming here they have to take some responsibility too and I just think they're it's evident if these things have tracking devices on them and you know where they're at like you should be having people rolling over each other like to pick up these items doing monitoring they just have to put some effort into that like and hire people and that brings me to the point regarding this in front of us which is bird which many of us know there's no secret we know that bird fou bankruptcy and surely we don't want to bring those problems here um of you not being able to adequate staff which we already have a problem with Staffing in regards to what you can pour into this contract important to their company when they are having financial problems so I think that's something that this Council would love to hear about regarding that because we don't want to go into business with someone um who's struggling um you know out there in the front fing bankruptsy and they can't give us everything they need to give us to make this contract successful Madam president councilman Ramos yeah I think we've been talking for months about you know concerns I think you guys have a good understanding of where council members are and some of the quality of life issues and it's it's a benefit right for for residents but but it has a lot of drawbacks and agree with council president there's some measures that hopefully you all can consider that could better control this the process you know I know these companies typically use independent contractors to go around and pick up and repair and put these bikes back in circulation and I know the state of New Jersey is looking at of New Jersey is looking at regulating and requiring insurance and other things um for for these right share companies um even what all the concerns with with this industry my my biggest issue of late and and it's it's becoming very very dangerous in nor is um these these entities that use um I guess private uh individuals to deliver food around the city typically on these motorized bicycles they run through red lights um especially in the downtown area it's it's really becoming kind of a free-for-all a very dangerous environment for drivers and pedestrians and and there's a significant increase in the number of these delivery uh vehicles around the city of Newark and you know I'm not sure how we can get a handle on that through Uber Eats and these other platforms that allow um individuals to to participate in this kind of delivery uh process but but it is very dangerous in the city you know just yesterday going into the office you know they wear these kind of like they almost look like flippers of gloves and um they they run through red lights all over downtown newk with with no regard for for traffic safety laws and it's just very very dangerous councilman Quintana yeah M president in terms of the vehicles that are picking up these Scooters or what they need to first of all they have no advertisement they should do what the company is and also a message on on the on these vans that it's not rent you know the whole in ter ter terms of the age of 18 and so should be put and then there should be a phone number for the citizens to be able to call and say Hey listen this is in front of my house and somebody come and get it you you know it's marketing you know I don't understand that the the the whole marketing aspect but you have a van around the country they have these Vans to pick up these scooters but they have signage of who they are they come into a neighborhood nobody knows who they are uh on most of your vehicles are white Vans and there's no lettering on who are these individuals who are in our neighborhoods so there should be some lettering which is not expensive lettering them and putting signs and messages so that the public could know who are these individuals who is the entity of this company who is this company any other comments or questions uh counc in terms of insurance when you go and rent a car you have the option of taking the insurance that they provide or declining it because you have insurance I believe that VI and bird can buy a global policy and charge people as they use their vehicles for the insurance let's say if you rent one for an hour you get charged Char $2 $3 for that if you don't want you have to show that you have insurance okay any responses um no I mean we we have to this this uh industry and the program overall um it's evolving as we speak so a lot of these issues are coming up in other municipalities so I can assure you that in engineering we're going to look at other municipalities to see how they're dealing with these problems um you know these companies uh uh start as as as tech companies because of how they can provide a service in which you can give accurate data on what's happening so I think that it's one of those things that we have to piece together the data the the information that we're getting from the program and the usage um from uh uh the the utilization and pinch points and put it together to see how we can make it better um when it comes to um insurance I know that um again um at this point it it goes on it's similar like Council MC Gonzalez said you know it will go to your insurance or or to you as the writer uh but it's it's definitely something that has to be explored it's definitely something that has to be explored um at this point all we have is the accountability of the writers um but again it it's it's evolving with the program it's something that we have to work on what about the question which specifically relates to this contract in regards to the administration's um confidence shall I say in this particular company that has foued bankruptcy sure so um I'm going to allow bird to further um uh share with you their their their um you know their business decision um and and where that is and how does that relate to uh the city of New Yark what I could tell you is that um when it comes to the service and and you know the the program as they remain and a pilot um it hasn't been affected by um what they did as a business so if we can have bird um you yeah thank you we'll have bird and and and they will have um responses for you council president thank you director uh thank you Council for allowing me to participate uh this morning this afternoon uh my name is Chris Stockwell I'm the director of City Partnerships at bird uh I think generally uh we're excited to uh move into the permanent part of this program what that allows us to do is really invest in all of these challenges that that you are addressing uh here today in in a pilot form right we're sort of testing the market understanding what's out there uh doesn't always allow us to invest uh everything that we can just because of the longevity of the program two years allows us to do a whole lot of stuff and and all the uh concerns and challenges that you all have addressed uh we have solutions for uh the parking you don't even need Corrals anymore right we have virtual tools for that insurance we do have insurance it just is 418 and under and we do have tools tools to allow uh to prohibit people from riding it now uh we have different elevations of those tools uh and we also have to uh control we can control uh as as you mentioned uh president uh you know someone could find a parents ID and you know you know be a sort sort of a knucklehead but we have a we have tools to basically address you know 90 to 90 95% of the challenges and what we're excited to do moving forward to start to implement these things uh forced parking in locations where you do get fined uh if you park outside of those locations ultimately the the meter would keep ticking uh and you would you would keep being charged for it um to address just sort of the restructuring that bird went through uh in in December we we did decide to make the business decision to restructure that was ultimately a cause of uh you know three or four years of being a brand new industry and taking on a lot of debt to make this industry a a viable option for cities um by doing this it has allowed us to basically uh start from start fresh start from scratch with with h very little uh overhead right now so the benefit now as we get to move forward we actually are are no longer in uh restructuring we we have we uh exited out of that last week uh we are a brand new uh fresh company moving forward a fresh bird bird 2.0 if you will uh to better serve the the communities that we're in I think the interesting part is even during the the four months that we were uh going through the restructuring and it was four months that was our goal to be in and out which we which we were able to do we actually saw Rider no change in ridership here in North uh if anything we actually saw increase in ridership compared to last year uh no impact to the operations uh and no impact to the users and we continue to see almost 50% of the riders in New York use the service uh on a commuter level where they're where they're using it multiple times a day at the same time to get from point A to point B whether that's school or work or other location so the the purpose of the uh the service is is definitely being utilized in in nework and we're excited to continue ultimately the the uh approval of the permanent program allows us to do that and then continue invest in New York uh should you should you see fit thank you Al righty any other questions or comments from Council Members councilman Kelly thank you council president um you said that you have insurance for 18 years uh and under we we provide insurance for uh we have an insurance policy that covers uh general liability Auto and liability uh have some umbrella policies that covers it for uh the city and we empify all the cities that we operate in as well so 18 and under but under 18 doesn't they don't supposed to ride your bikes anyway your vehicles anyway though right correct yeah so the the the we have different tiers to um enforce the the age now again we we we can only control for what we can control right so we can we can ask people to put in a driver's license uh and that would uh limit the people that could use the service by mon by sort of analyzing the driver's license we have facial recognition tools that can remove the barrier of driver's license to make sure that the individual is is of of the right age uh but again there's there you we're gonna we're gonna always probably find someone to have a a workaround here or there we can control probably 90 to 95% of the challenges so even if that happens like um what councilman canana said he had a 15y old that rode the vehicle you guys if they get hurt you guys still take care of of those injuries well it's hard to speak I'm not going to speak to specific in uh insurance claims I just thought I'm not an insurance professional uh but we we will handle every Insurance claim on a case-by Case basis do you have the capability of putting cameras on the scooters we took a different approach on more of a uh sort of tech level the the cameras it has been tried uh the challenge with cameras just like if it was a personal camera right the minute a scooter gets tipped over or knocked into that camera doesn't necessarily uh have the same capability so we took more of a computer approach right all the technolog is inside the computer and we use GPS and and different um uh ge geographical location uh tools to to make sure we know where the scooters are both both on the street or on the sidewalk or parked or not parked uh the the camera was just a so basically you don't have any cameras on any of your vehicles throughout any these programs no we have zero we didn't we didn't take the approach of of cameras so how do you how do you detect how do you detect if there's an accident with a scooter if if the person's riding a scooter and they run into something they run into a car whatever the case might be how do you detect that we're able to detect the the scooter itself the scooter has 300 odd sensors on it so if one of those sensors gets bumped or dinged or or impacted it sends a signal to our fleet team here to come uh inspect that scooter uh and if it's if it is out of working order then to remove it off the street I mean I guess I'm not so concerned about it being out of work in order I'm more concerned of how do you dictate if a or detect if a someone's riding a scooter and they like run into someone's park car like you know I mean and they I mean they're going to keep on getting up on their scooter obviously but how do you detect that like you know how are you monitoring those types of incidents yeah our capabilities are are just as if someone was riding a bike you know the there's no there's no way to determine if someone's riding a bike and runs into a car uh I mean heck you barely know if a car runs into a car uh it's just very that's very difficult technology I would say like those are all the steps we're working for right this is an industry that's only five and a half years old and we have the most advanced GPS of any vehicle out out there you know most cars have OnStar what's that sir most cars have OnStar if you do have OnStar it does detect a crash into something yeah yeah yes sir you know as as I was saying we we are we're five and a half years in and we're we're working with all this brand new technology for scooters um I can I only hope that in in 25 years we're able to do the same thing that that OnStar is doing with cars uh but that is that is the the the level of capability that this industry is in right now okay councilman Kelly uh last question for me you said facial recognition yes sir the I guess what what council president was saying how do we know who's having an accident on the vehicle does your fa face you techn technology does it know who's riding it if if an accident's reported we're able to link it up with who the rider would be um if if we would need to address that concern both with the account or the or the facial recognition or the ID on file so the the city of New York has cameras that you are tapped into to Once someone starts to ride your vehicle or registers to ride your vehicle they know the face that is attached to the that information the facial recognition is is within our software uh that would verify the age of the individual writing and it doesn't it doesn't uh verify the individual itself it just it's able to it's an Amazon product that allows uh us to verify the person is uh 18 years old to ride the scooter nothing to do with sort of the per the identity of the person just the uh the technology to verify age and this only happens one time at registration not doing their rides not necessarily we have the ability to toggle it to to go on any sort of cadence we would like to so whether it's every ride every fifth ride um we like try to find a balance of like what impacts the rider experience to obviously the the Safety and Security of the individual and the vehicles I just councilman Council y i I just got two questions I'll finish how how many employers do you plan to hire for for the city of nework and how many of them will be nework residents so all of them will be nework resident we have the same uh fleet manager here uh that we have since 2002 uh and she has a team of I believe three or four underneath her right now all from nework three or four no wonder the school is laying out there what's three or four people that's not enough that's not enough well that I I'll also say with the benefit of the permanent program allows us to invest a lot more in yeah I hope so because you said 99 point something percent you need to come back here with like 99.8% of doing everything that we talked about today because and that's goes the same thing with vo I'm not just picking on them because Bird's here vo too you need to hire more people because four people is nothing councilman Council sorry yeah you're absolutely correct I mean in terms of 26 11 square miles to only hire three people is is really an insult to the residents of of the city um and it tends to lead to their frustration about having to come home and find the vehicles in their driveway their front lawn all along Street Scapes and Gates and we have to find a better way we can't continue to talk about quality of life narratives and how to produce it and on one end have entities and organizations that want to come in and provide a good service but you want to do it at uh a lesser cost for the resident but a higher profit for the company I think what we're trying to do is provide a sustainable program for the city uh and what we're what we're looking to do is use sort of Technology Solutions uh because this is a very Capital intensive program uh and very very small margin so what we're trying to do is use parking technology facial recognition technology to solve a lot of these uh because of how uh because of the the sustain ability of it what we want to do to provide this year for a long long term right we don't want we don't want to be here for a year we don't want micro Mobility to be around for just another year we want to be able to provide a service that gets people from point A to point B relatively cost- effectively and quick uh and in addition to or supplementing all the other great Transportation options in the city so what would you say your average profit margin is based off of the trial basis that you produced here in the city of nework before what was your profit March I'd have to go back and see check all the fin Financial numbers uh but it's all it's it's you know it's it's not much I I I if if you can provide us with that information it'll it it'll be relative in into in in terms of you know quality of life issues that we have with residents around this city especially in my in in in the ward that I sered yes sir what other towns are you guys in in New Jersey uh in New Jersey uh I believe I think New York and New Bruns are the only cities with micr Mobility programs stockless micr Mobility programs and how many staffers do you have in New Brunswick we are not in there I'm just I'm just saying we are only bird is only in in New York now we're in 300 other cities so my question was how many other towns is bird in in New Jersey we are only in we are only in New York I was just mentioning that that it's in very very few cities in uh in New Jersey period all righty thank you thank you we look for follow-ups of course I'm looking at our director not you but we look for follow-ups through you of these companies of Madam Clerk and I know you're working to get them back in front of us for a followup as we requested because this continues to be an ongoing issue but prior to that I would like to see the comparable numbers compared to dock list to Doc because if they're not going to hire more people uh we can't have this program because four people in the city of nework one person cannot cover a ward here like to pick up bikes so it's like a jokey joke up here even saying that in front of us and allowing the public to even say that to tell us that you got four people in the city of New York that's picking up scooter bikes like I mean we could joke about it and like you know I might be giggling but it's not funny like four people is just not enough that's why I send people driveways that's why people are tripping over room that's why all types of things are happening around them because that's just it's just not adequate like we can't serious like that's like us would say we have four people picking up trash or something and a war like it just it's a joke like and it's just not acceptable so we need to do better or go to a doc a doc program where that would change the level of responsibility for Riders to be able to go back and park those bikes in the right place or to another dog place if we can't get Staffing and I understand what you're saying everybody's in this to like you know you you're company you have to make money it has to make sense for you all so I get it and we don't want you to charge our Riders a lot of money we want it to continue to be cheap so I don't want you to come up here and balance between what we're asking versus should we charge newers more money because that's not what we're saying here we want them to continue to pay in cheap prices enjoying to ride but at the same time we have to have some accountability to how we're doing business here in the city and it just doesn't go any kind of way because we want to charge our residents a cheap riding fee um that's just not just and we shouldn't be um allowing that so we need to definitely see the numbers compared to the Doc and dock list if we can't get more people out of these companies next item 703b is the request an extension from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to allow the city of New York to award a contract for construction of the municipal aid program for Street resurfacing questions or comments from Council Members by the way director we're still waiting on the list all of the lists regarding Paving remember at our last meeting we talked about us getting a list of all we get we into Paving season obviously it's nice outside so I mean every I see other towns already Paving so can we we we asked during the last meeting I don't know didn't didn't we get a um we send that over to them didn't we a motion let's resend it because we asked for a list of all of the Motions I mean not motions Lord forgive me we asked for a list of all of the paving schedule for underneath us underneath contracts um from water and sewer we ask for full complete list we need we're still waiting on it we didn't get it okay Council any questions regarding this item seeing none next item 7 r4a through 7 R4 C are all stipulations of settlements of tax appeals Pages 32 through 49 our Department's been busy questions or comments from Council Members councilman Gonzalez any other questions or comments it's like 20 pages of tax appeals okay next item Madam clerk page 50 7 r5a through 7 r5r are all contracts with subrecipients to provide HIV AIDS related Services a is with Meals on Wheels B is St Michael's clinics C is Hassan AIDS Foundation D is proceed e is ahh marst toown Medical Center f is New Jersey AIDS Services G is St James Social Services H is Central Jersey Legal Services I is nor community health centers J is Catholic Family and Community Services k is Rucker University L is future Bridge Business Solutions m is Smith Center for infectious diseases in Urban Health and is United Way of Greater Union County o is North Jersey AIDS Alliance p is Rucker University Dental Clinic Q is nework AIDS Consortium and R is newk Start program Ruckers nor Start program thank you questions or comments from council members do we we paying for all of these um agencies through a grant they know how to get their little grant money over there at the health department I tell you that um any other questions or comments from Council Members yeah Madam chair before we move on uh if we go back to uh 701g I would like to uh sponsor 7 R1 G what page help me out page 11 11 yes give me a shortcut you know I got these glasses on Okay g you like to sponsor yes do I have a second second second by councilwoman Round Tree okay all righty back to the grants any questions comments I know that we're still working on getting some of the agencies before us or at least if we could get a report from the agencies regarding the work specifically that they're doing for the city that might be really helpful for Council Members especially those that are in their first term to understand what each of these agencies actually do um and how these grants are helping them or you know how we can send folks to them as well based off these grants that come through our office like something like that it's kind of like a directory of these um entities all right next item I know those are law we're going into executive session and talk about these are we on law or I'm on the wrong page on page 60 oh okay I'm sorry 7 r5f I'm I'm sorry 7 r5s and 7 r5t are both acceptance of Grant funds s is for the childhood Le exposure prevention program and T is for the Ryan White HIV health support services look at that another Grant right Health Department any questions or comments for regarding the grant acceptance CNN 7R 6A is a motion to defer this item 7 r6b through 7 r6e are all settlements of either civil litigation or workers comp matters okay we'll talk about those in executive 7 r6f through 7 R6 H are Professional Services contracts F is for litigation matters G is for labor and employment matters and H is for labor and employment matters questions or comments from Council Members regarding F through H seeing none 7 R6 I and 7 r6j is waving the 20-day period or a stopple period i is for chapter 40 commercial motor vehicle parking lot license and J is for chapter 3 smoke shops questions or comments regarding these items CA 7 r7a is application acceptance of Grant funds provide grant funding to purchase trees and shrubs questions or comments this was this a bid this wasn't a bid was it 7r2 7 r7a Grand funding to purchase trees and shrubs how do we come to the idea to use the nature conserv out of Chester New Jersey anybody here to talk about thaty huh they're giving us money oh I'm sorry okay help me understand that come on come on Louis I'm sorry yeah uh um louisia director homeless Services um the nature conserva is actually already working with uh sustainability they approached us about this grant um actually I met with them yesterday and we're going to use this grant to uh plant the dirty Evergreens and and the shrubs throughout that site there on Elizabeth Avenue got it okay that helps me thank you um it's just a weird too because we have a conserv here that does a lot of work so it's just strange to be using or for them to even to be working I don't want to say strange because we could work with whoever we want to work with but um the nature conserv versus using the greater North conserv but I kind kind of think I remember what happened there we didn't pay them for something so they said screw us that's what we do but thank you Louis next item 7R excuse me 7 r8a is a ceremonial Street designation for Augusto AI Domingos akabo sponsored by councilman Silva you have a second second by councilman Quintana next item 7 r8b and 7 r8c are declaring intent sponsored by councilman Crump B is declare Autism Awareness Day on April 2nd 2024 and World Autism Awareness Month in April 2024 and C is declaring the month of April 2024 is Donate Life month okay for 7 r8b do I have a second second second by councilman Council and 7 r8c second second by councilman Kelly next item 7 r8d is recognizing and Comm amending resolutions in 7R 8e is expressing profound sorrow and regret questions or comments next item 7 r9a and 7 r9b are both Professional Services contracts to provide psychological counseling services for public safety questions or comments from Council Members Cena 7ar 11a is application for Grant funds EX accepting Grant funds to redesign Broadway Park and develop the site into a new city park okay questions or comments from Council Members I'm quite sure councilman uh Ramos would like to uh sponsor it I'll second okay right for right now I'll put councilman Gonzalez as the second all right next item 7 r12a and 7r1 12b of both Professional Services contracts for the water Department a is to provide professional Engineering Services and B is to provide for legal representation and civil action for damages due to water contamination against defendants questions or comments from Council Members Sienna Communications items 8 a through C were already discussed we are on page 74 item 8D and 8e are amendments to title 23 D is for parking or standing prohibited in certain areas at certain times for street cleaning by adding Carmen Court to the list in the East Ward and E is by amending the street cleaning days on 14th Avenue between Jones Street and South 20th Street in the Central and West Wards who initiated these what department what department that I have to go back oh I'll check and legister uh councilman uh Silva did you initiate ad no no you don't know okay oh it's just a doesn't I don't need to know right now I just wanted to know who initiated these and with some reason why you know behind it would be helpful um okay any questions regarding ad and AE other than who put it in okay Cena we'll Circle back around so we can get some clarification let's go to AF certainly items 8f and 8G are both amending title 23 for the water department f is by amending the connection fee for rates for water and G is by amending the connection fee and rates for sewer Services okay miss the ba I'm Sorry Miss Bob we go to you questions from Council Members I I just hope that this is reducing the rates and not uh increasing the rates again okay um any other questions or comments before we turn it over to the ba okay ca Mr ba thank you council president council members Eric Pennington business administrator uh this this both of these are ordinances that came about in large measure because of developers and residents concerns that were brought to the council uh and to the administration and I believe the council and the administration are in the same Accord that we want to have development continue and uh not have as honorous an impact on the development particularly of midsize and Smalls siiz projects where the connection fees for water and sewer um had been increased pretty dramatically now these water connection fees and Sewer connection fees were permitted to be increased by the state and in fact the state legislation directed that the uh Department of Water and Sue utility adjust those rates uh we had initially adjusted them to the maximum amount available by state legislation but as a result of concerns that were raised again to the council and to the administration um I think many council members reached out uh to make sure that we weren't adversely impacting small developers uh and midsize developers it also helps the larger developers as well uh and presumably that will help them comply with the 20% IO uh requirement to have affordable housing on site as a result we have proposed reducing the water connection fees by 50% and the sewer connection fees by 20% uh and that is what is reflected in these ordinances and again we appreciate all of the council members who are supportive of uh this legislation and the continued development uh on behalf of the city uh I would further like to ask that these two be Advanced and adopted on first yes um if they're moving forward developers already getting a discount for affordable housing Wen they already getting 50% off for building affordable housing underneath the current ordinance on the water connection fees yes oh okay because you said it'll help them build affordable house and it was already getting 50% off so I don't well getting 50% off did not take into account the fairly extraordinary increase in the water connection fees so it's a little bit separate you know I've have combined the two perhaps inappropriately because there is a uh a provision that allows for some re reduction for those units just for those units but a project also has to be economically viable the entire uh project has to be economically viable Council M Council yeah Madam chair two things first first uh want to thank the ba for uh coming up and and and um really laying out the the groundwork and is of you know the the urgency and importance of of this matter not just for developers but residents as well because many residents are doing projects around their property where they would have to uh open up the ground and reestablish um water lines what's more important is if we can um this Council can have some information from from those developers who believe that because of these kind of holdups that their projects couldn't move forward and then based off of that if we move forward and approve this what is the immediacy of those projects getting done one because a lot of times we have developers who talk about the need of getting breaks and discounts to get projects done only to find out five or 10 years later that a project is still not completed or done and we want to make sure that we're prudent as well right from an administrative uh perspective as well as the legislative perspective to ensure that if we are doing our due diligence to grow development and move development that is moving in the manner in which the city wants to see and not the developer right we have to really work as a partner and a team and all of this so if we can have that information move forward um I I would you know uh happily you know like to sponsor both of these okay doly noted councilman council do I second by councilman Kelly I am happy to to at least anally answer some of that now if You' like I mean at the meeting we had with developers uh you know one of our native sons who uh has a small development midsize development company sari marus good up got up and spoke in support of this legislation because it allows him uh to move forward in a more economically viable fashion he's not the only one miles Berger who has a uh I think it's 100% affordable project yes uh also spoke in favor of this legislation that was on Park Place if I'm not mistaken um uh Wasim boray spoke up about uh the legislation as well he challenged the numbers a little bit but ultimately he was supportive of it but this is really more impactful for the small and midsize developers in order to make their projects more viable um and they spoke about it I don't think there were any council members in attendance at that meeting but the um uh the anecdotal discussions were were all positive uh and that is despite the fact that actually thing I left out that the offset for infrastructure changes is going to be removed um in connection with the decrease in the water connection fees they're not going to get a credit for infrastructure improvements on the water connection or sewer connection side as well councilman Gonzalez yes I have AAL evidence that some of the people were either abandoning the projects or trying to sell the projects because the fees were so outrageous and that in turn affected our residents because then the rents had to be higher to go to to cover those costs so I I I totally agree with this and I I believe that I had expressed my concern a couple of times before ER about the they say how high the rates were and how they were affecting the people that we want to H encourage to be developers in the city thank you okay any other comments or questions I will end on a note um to say that while I definitely will support this um I just want us to be able to find the same energy around our residents who pay their water bill too maybe we need to start looking into some uh discounts for them I know we have some things that are happening that we do do some around some discounts now but perhaps maybe we can look into things you know moving forward like if they're paying their bill on time you know they can get $10 off $20 off every dollar helps our residents who are paying their water bill even if it's not as much as these developers and these big buildings and you know the big um gals and guys in the game our regular residents and homeowners here I'm sure they'll like to find some discount as well so perhaps we can get creative as creative as we are here in the city um to find some way to give them a little discount too that' be helpful okay any other comments CNN there is also to a request for advance and adopt so the council members that are sponsoring are you okay with the advancing yes okay next item 8h is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to Broad Street Ventures urban renewal LLC for a project to rehabilitate and convert a vacant Hotel into a mixed use building consisting of 79 market rate residential rental units 20 affordable housing units housing rental units of which five units shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of the area median income Ami five units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% of Ami and 10 units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the East Ward okay questions or comments from Council Members councilman Silva any other questions or comments this is the ending yep and we had had had some questions we had a couple of questions so okay let's get into the questions that we have from this project one has the situation been settled with affirmative action there was a somebody got to come up to speak and I'm not talking about the developer I'm talking about somebody from the administrative side to verify oh is affirmative action I here yeah I'm afraid uh we'll have to get some information from action okay Deputy Mayor muhamad is not here today okay so we need a follow up regarding that regarding the settlement for affirmative action and the amount that was settled on and writing specifically I know there was a lot of back and forth conversation but there was so much I don't remember I don't know if the other members remember but that was one number two there was some concerns regarding airnb I mean what is it airb can't even talk today okay Airbnb there we go Airbnb there was some concerns regarding the Airbnb situation at this uh complex and if that changes the rate and all of that right councilman Gonzalez am I getting it correct um do we have any follow-ups regarding that have we stopped Airbnb there that's my understanding yes no Airbnb okay the developer the developer here oh okay come on up join them don't leave them by them now they're not the owner is Airbnb still going on at your location at at Indigo at A10 Broad Street Airbnb is still there but it will not be there when we get the residential Co oh that's not the answer we're looking for okay uh any other questions did I leave anything else out council members those were the two items that we have requested okay councilman council did I leave anything out that was it was okay so thank you so much for coming um so we're going to hold off for now until we can get some um some clarification regarding the settlement with affirmative action as well as we would we specifically were talking about the rate of this tax abatement due due to the whole idea of how you're doing Airbnb there um and you indicated that you're not doing it and residents and thus far was a little back and forth since we still have no Clarity on that it's hard for us to consider this today right now at this point so let's get some followups regarding that until then until then tomorrow this might be deferred can can I I I can provide some clarity may it may may help so I mean yeah I mean you can if it's gonna help this yeah I I hope so so with regards to uh A10 Broad Street uh we we we paused since we last meeting to see do we want to officially change the tax abatement to uh allow for Airbnb and change the terms we decided not to do that we decided we're not going to operate Airbnb uh and once it gets we get today we still have a hotel CEO so we're allowed to do it legally and we're doing it so that we can pay our our bills but the moment that we get this approved we immediately everybody's been notified they're on month-to-month agreements they're not on a 12-month lease so the moment we get this approved we are vacating every single Airbnb they have been notified and that's kind of where we're hoping like to advance it so that we can get that to happen no okay that's not helpful com comments or questions council members councilman Council yeah so I'm I'm not sure why why we were not proactively engaged in making sure that that happens right knowing all of the ramifications around it wanting to be a good partner uh you know in the city I think some of that is is good faith effort um and it should have been looked at in in terms of making sure that all of these things are happening so it's our hope that you can you know be able to go back and try to amend and deal with some of these situations uh because it would seem like a turnaround effect on uh the conversations that uh folks had where you wanted to move and go into a direction uh that would be um you know good for all parties involved but to now come back and say hey well because I didn't get this I didn't do this kind of thing right here it it seems like this whole kind of you know playground notion right we're in the playground I'm GNA take my ball back because you didn't bring the net right and and that doesn't work in terms of Partnerships right and so in order for us to create you know good private Partnerships and try to move things forward for the residents municipality as well as individuals that may be working in these facilities it's important that we do these kind of things and we will hope that you will be a good Steward in this right so I I I agree and I understand and so we took I think two months to decide do we want to officially change the Pilot terms and go back to zoning because it's not just the pilot you have to go back to planning board and we decided we're not going to do that while in the meantime we kept the airbnbs that are there because they're paying rent on a month-to-month basis and people are staying there but we can vacate them immediately and we will vacate them immediately if that's the only thing stopping it which which we knew we know if this gets approved there will be no Airbnb in A10 Broad Street but so nothing's changed in terms of our commitment to doing that it was our decision we had to make the decision do we make the change in the pilot terms do we make the change in the zoning and we decided to move forward without doing that so I we will vacate them immediately they don't have they can be out um uh we now April so it be about May 1st there will be no Airbnb in Indigo so um so let's let's do this first of all put your name on the record for me on the mic so you Alberto benamu partner and CEO of both equities thank you so much so first Alberto the key things that came out of councilman council's comments were two things I don't know if you got them um but let me help you okay okay one was good faith effort that was one that you guys have struggled with since you got here two was being a good Steward still you're struggling we had a long conversation about this multiple times um but specifically in the tax abatement committee and I I'll speak for our Administration while I'm here because we spend a lot of time with you and your group around a lot of different measures a lot of different issues and still today we continue to do the same thing um one like I said we need verification on the affirmative action piece two we need to be clear on the administration side about the rate that they're at based off them saying that they still do Airbnb there because we know we as in a city of Nork and this Administration knows that particularly your your company I'm not going to say you I'm GNA say your company you tell us one thing you sign on a doted line for one thing on one day and by Friday you're doing something different so we can't take your word for it that you're going to stop your Airbnb because when we were at 45 Branford it was a different story you told us something on Monday on a we get there on Friday and you guys are doing something different so I'm not going to take your word for here so I'm going to ask for this item to be deferred until we can get confirmation and the administration is 150% clear on them not doing Airbnb in the rate that we're approving on this tax abatement so thank you so much for coming out today and we're going to move forward do I have a second to defer second by councilman Kelly thank you thank you next item item 10 a is the raffle license questions or comments regarding the raffle license seeing none um council president council members that it's the conclusion of this agenda public comment are there any added starters no no oh my God so wonderful all right well I mean we sometimes we would had a 150 pages and there'll be some added starters and I don't want to give the administration any you know ideas but I just you know want to make sure we don't have any added starters any just just want to make sure but I want to give y'all y'all you know give you your flowers now for the no added starters thank you very much um any requests from Council Members before we go into public participation any requests or comments okay seeing none just reminded to council members we do need to transition upstairs for a few seconds to talk about the IL legal items on the agenda for executive session with that being said Madam clerk I'll turn it over to you for uh public comments thank you we are now in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak when you approach the podium please announce your name for the record is there anyone wishing to speak to the council good morning good morning uh council president my name is George Tillman um before I get started I'd like to give uh a copy of appointments to the Citywide Board of commission on the first page and on the back is page 18 and I'm submitting the whole um Board of commissions for the clerk's office um while she's giving you those pieces of paper um real quick I wanted to say something regarding those homeless shelters um the one thing that really should be considered when when we're talking about those shelters that um I've not heard the administration or them talk about um he he talked about an enormous amount of population there 7 190 beds of the one thing that they do and mostly all these shelters do is is create a very dangerous situation because they mix a population of mental illness they don't even screen so they put 16 to 20 people in a room whether they mentally ill they don't know um their their backgrounds they just put them in a in a very dangerous situation so um at some point I'm going come back and really give some sight on what's going on with these shelters um if you look at the page that I gave you the appointments to the Citywide Board of commissions this comes from the whole package there's 31 pages but you'll see on the first page it's the affirmative action review Council and there's an ordinance that's attached to it and there's an ordinance that's attached to it is 2 colon 2-28 I would ask for tomorrow meeting that we get a clear understanding to what ordinance that's attached to to know and understand exactly what the affirmative view Council um uh what exactly that body does if you turn it over you'll see the nework Employment Commission what we've been discussing under the ordinance 2 colon 4-2 21.4 6 ssf and D 1118 O2 and you go down you'll see that that commission is inactive and that is the commission under the ordinance that is supposed to do the monitoring and enforcement of our affirmative action and all these economic incentives so tomorrow when um we come back for the public hearing portion I would like to have a discussion on this particular item thank you thank you next speaker seeing n public speaking is now closed with that being said can I have a um roll call to go into executive session yes yes oh yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you all for coming out today we'll see you at tomorrow's regular meeting starting at 12:30 pm sharp uh those that are needing to be in executive session we will be transitioning upstairs to the conference Council conference room so please get there before us thank you e e