##VIDEO ID:gXEanUnXhoc## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good morning welcome to the special meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Friday September 27th 2024 four in accordance with New Jersey Law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to The Star Ledger the Jersey journal and the public at large establishing the date time and location of this meeting in addition the agenda for this meeting was disseminated on September 25th 2024 at the time of preparation and posted on the website of the city of North roll call please Council Gonzalez present Kelly pres Gana Ramos here Scott brry present Silva absent president Crump presid council president council president council members we are on page four of the agenda resolutions uh Madam clerk before we begin uh we I believe we're going to have an open statement or statement from the uh business administrator sure good morning council president council members Eric Pennington business administrator uh the administration is uh pleased to present to the council amendments to the uh budget and uh to seek obviously your approval to adopt the budget as amended you have a list of the Amendments and I believe the budget chair has additional information with respect to U information that you may have questions about it relevant to the budget the budget has amended is in the uh this is listed on the agenda is in the total amount of 968 M151 uh $1,492 94 cents uh which is obviously the largest budget we have had we're approaching A1 billion dollar budget there are some U some of the Amendments that the council asked for are included here one of which is an additional 1 million plus for the uh the library there are a few significant additions the police buildings are now online and uh so as reflected in this budget there are rents now that we're going to have to pay on those budgets we also got a $22 million uh interest free loan from the state to offset some unanticipated expenses with respect uh to monies that we have to pay to the county all that is reflected in this budget and uh we are hopeful that you see that it's appropriate and that you will adopt it today thank you Mr be any questions uh councilman Ramos uh thank you Mr President and and thank you um Mr ba for summarizing some of the major changes um just a few questions I know the state recently approved the city's budget and part of what what went to the state was um included some um significant increases in some Revenue projections was that accepted by the state in their monitoring of our proposal and um from from from from the administration standpoint like how do you justify those proposed increases in Revenue like what's the basis for that we already know uh based on the added adits that we have that there's a uh increase assuming that the council certifies the budget not the council I'm sorry the County Tax Board certifies the budget of about $200 million um that is largely due to the assessments of uh new properties that come online and properties that have been adjusted new warehouses and new buildings uh that are in the city so um we've done quite well in that regard so the increase in in Revenue projections are are attributed to you know the valuation or or or increases in property values and and the assessments that follow that increases in property values and new properties that are come online there about 53,000 lines uh properties now that we have yes you mentioned the the rents that are due for police are you referencing the the academy yes and what's that amount annualized amount that we have to pay for the development of the police academy and that that unique Arrangement the city has it's about10 million and that's over how many years is that oh my goodness 25 I think and we're also looking the the the ballistics lab is not included in in this year's budget right that's a new project that's going to come before the Council next year now that's included in this budget as well okay and what's that amount the about $3 million so it's 10 million for the Academy and3 million for the ballistics lab right and since you're on that path and evidence and storage is also in this budget that's about $3 million as well it's about 16 million a year that the city's paying in in lease payments for these um Public Safety facilities it's close to the $20 million because we've also completed the traffic facility as well which has the horses and the motorcycles uh as well so it to be totally uh complete it's about close to $20 million increase thank you you're welcome councilman uh Council Kell Gonzalez Gonzalez first and then councilman Kelly appreciate it good morning Mr R it's it's a good to hear that the library is getting an increase that they have been fighting for and that we supported ER here I believe everyone here supported the increase for the library and I wouldn't I would like to thank you for providing that increase that H May ER Al iate the problems that they have at the library I also want to comment comment that the increase the actual increas is 2.3% over last year's rate ER even though we would prefer not to have an increase two 2% increase is reasonable is something that move the city in the right direction and I would like to H to congratulate and H let's say the administration for for working close closely to provide a an increase that is not let's say User it's not it's not a rate that is going to break the people's back in the city of North thank you you're welcome with with respect to the uh uh couple of the items that you mentioned um the mayor obviously led the discussions with me and the budget director and others to make sure that we minimize the increases to the taxpayers to the greatest extent possible we tried to keep it at about uh you know certainly less than 3% we are closer to 2% than 3% overall increase and and that took some hard work with respect to the library um as you know I had my own concerns and so I had an opportunity to meet with uh their their interim Financial Officer I am confident that she uh has a better handle on the library than they had before they have done some audits they're not fully up to where they need to be they're about three years behind but the trend that they're heading in I'm satisfied with I met with the library director actually last uh last this week this week and uh we went over their plans um and so they have some fiscal austerity measures that I'm satisfied uh will be uh in place to oversee the library and so I believe that the additional well the state increase the amount by $3 million we put an additional 1 million I think $66,000 into that as well pursuant to the council's request so we're we're happy with that thank you Council Melly um yeah councilman Gonzalez kind of uh asked the questions that I wanted to ask about the library I I I'm definitely happy that we were able to find space for the library um I guess my question partially answered but I wanted to to kind of know where there any stipulations when it comes to spending that money um the with the library you know being that we have five Wards and and all mostly all of the wards has um you know its own branches I just kind of want you don't have to go in depth but um are there any stipulations on the city side that will prohibit them from spending the money any any type of way yeah councilman Kelly to you through Council chair quite frankly no the stipulations are that they have prudent fiscal oversight um we have asked for uh and received information that's going through I'm looking for Ben Ben uh who's our uh assistant Finance director he's had an opportunity to speak with them uh and the the shorter answer is there are no specific stipulations the longer answer is that we expect to evaluate what they do monitor their fiscal oversight make sure that our financial people uh under Ben Guzman's leadership and um their inim CFO uh trying to remember her name Shon little um will uh will be fiscally prudent and to the extent that they're not we will uh uh adjust the uh funds going forward thank you be you're welcome any any other questions comments let's say you mentioned the revenue ER that increased a some most of that Revenue has been realized already no yes because we are already in October well I don't want to say it's been realized fully no because the added omitted still have to go in we have we need a certifi tax rate so this next quarter's tax bills will will capture and into the first quarter of next year will capture a fair amount of that so it's in in in terms of applying the new rate to the new assess values or the the additions to the assess values of the properties yes councilman Council yeah thank you Mr chair uh Mr B first first want to uh you know thank the administration and this body uh uh of council folks for you know having some laser beam uh intention on on making sure that we put forward the the best budget is possible then going back um in the State uh also for um en ensuring that the information that was there for the Amendments and stuff that we put back was in place uh it is my hope um I know we have the 22 million you know interest free loan it's my hope that we can uh work to speed up this process of revaluation uh as well which plays a a large part in fundamentally what we're looking at next year and then um to ensure that the administration uh has its eyes on some other areas uh where we need to get better at in terms of you know uh collecting uh revenue and so I don't have to repeat those things you know the areas um you know very well but I just want to make sure that we do that and then also um commend the fact that we were able to find uh the a million dollars for the library um I know that um you know in some instances uh some things may be hard when it looks like we're about to pay you know 20 million in rent but when you look at the perspectives of the outdated age buildings and locations that they were in how they were falling apart and decrepit uh that we were still able to put under the opes of a public safety uh almost four brand new buildings traffic ballistics uh evidence uh and a brand new uh training facility for uh you know police and fire and uh that the community can be able to have usage to and so hopefully as we continue to move along and find uh you know other streams of Revenue that we can continue to build up on and build down these prizes will begin to draw down along with re-evaluation it will help us to you know continue to keep moving the city in the right direction yes to to your point about U the prior buildings being decrepit and falling down um that is true to to a large extent councilman counsel and what we have done is work diligently to uh get those older buildings off our books for example where the horses and the motorcycles were located that is now under agreement to be developed uh actually by the same company that built the uh police Academy training facility uh so that will be tax generating it's not going to be a city building it will be a building that will have development it uh we expect within the next year that'll be online as a as a rable that will be significant and that will help offset some of these costs some of the other buildings where we had precincts are also being uh developed uh and will bring ratables to the city as well and an amount that significant and so to your point you know we're working hard to improve the quality of uh buildings and uh uh locations where we house our people um as well as U make the other uh facilities Revenue generating anything else councilman coun councilwoman brre did I see your hand up I did but Council councel I do want to J all of the remarks of all of my Council colleagues um while we're commending all of this greatness and um your oversight and looking at the budget I'm just praying we'll do better with timing next year um in preparation for us not to be on the wire uh to go before the people because the people are calling us and asking questions and they're concerned about what's going to happen not just with the tax rate but with the reval so um God bless you for what you're doing but I just want us to try to do better with our timing for 202 Point well taken I don't want to have a tip to Tech but we gave the introduced budget at a at a sort of a significantly earlier time than we have in the past we expect to do even earlier uh next year to councilman Gonzalez's Point earlier our plan is to uh start the budget process for next year literally in October so U we'll do our best thank you councilman Ramos yeah I I just want to um uh reiterate that you know I do acknowledge that some of our facilities are are dated um my my point in bringing up the leases is that that's going to be a recurring cost for the next 20 plus years and if you calculate the amount of money that that's going to cost a city over a 25 year period it's close to half a billion dollars uh for a handful of um facilities which I'm again I'm not underestimating the value of these um Public Safety complexes but that is a significant cost and in addition to that we can anticipate having the um potential of the 20 plus million or whatever that amount is that that could be U you know the city may have to either tax or or borrow from the state if we don't get the equalization I agree with councilman Council that we I know we we're on a fast track to do this revaluation but it's not going to be done in time for 2025 so that's something that's facing you as well so you you definitely have some challenges ahead as you prepare for a new budget in a few months in 2025 that that that is true and the council president to to councilman Ramos uh with respect to the cost of the the buildings it is significant but I will say that they are some of the most specialized buildings all of them that we have in this city and because of that um they required uh you know more expense per square foot than just an average office building for example the uh uh the William mobile Ashby Community Training Center has bulletproof glass to protect uh uh the people who are in there um the community as well as the recruits and the police and that is significantly more expensive than I knew about quite frankly um I've learned something about that um and there are other security measures in place that I really can't discuss that are um expensive and I think we have a high quality building that is going to last for another 50 years or more perhaps a 100 years and um we expect to get the full value for all of the buildings that we have and I actually I encourage all the council members and everyone else to come look at all of the buildings the William as Ashby or will ashb training facilities open to the public people should go and look at it the uh traffic facility where the horses are housed and the motorcycles is really state-of-the-art it's really fantastic and uh you know hope you look at it the evidence and ballistics building as you can imagine is not open to the public we could certainly make it available for you to to look at out um when you want to see it so I encourage you to do so thank thank you Mr be let me just say a couple quick things um I want to definitely thank you for the uh you and the mayor and and all possible for providing the amendment for the library which is an important asset in our community uh and as councilman Gonzalez said we all agree on it that there um we were hoping there would be more in the budget for them um with that being said I I think uh and you you alluded to it that there'll be some additional oversight to make sure that the fiscally responsible that they are fiscally responsible um and with also hope that next year's process is is a different process in terms of dealing with the budget for the library um all stakeholders should be involved in that discussion prior to us meeting at the at the hearing U so hopefully and this is not necessarily directed towards you Mr ba but towards the library itself I also want to thank you for and your Administration and and the mayor for getting this budget together I know it wasn't easy there were you know we were going One Direction and somebody hit us with something so we wented to go another Direction but I believe what is happening today and hopefully uh passing today will be something that is um wasn't was first of all was a learning process of of dealing with uh obstacles and getting to to the point where we are today because quite frankly we all know up here particularly that it could have been a lot worse um or it could have been worse I shouldn't say a lot because I don't think it is really worse as is so I want to congratulate you and thank you for what youve put before us and the budget for us to uh decide to vote on today thank you council president anything else all right council president council members we are on page four of the agenda resolutions 7 R8 as through 7 R8 CS are all resolutions dealing with the 2024 Municipal budget a is acknowledging that the 2024 Municipal budget and its public hearing was held on September 5th 2024 and was advertised as required by state law B is amending the 2024 Municipal budget as introduced on June 25th 2024 and C is the final approval of the 2024 Municipal budget as amended on September 27th 2024 Council as a whole to adopt Madam clerk before we go to the roll call I just wanted to just confirm that we need six votes for the passing of these these uh resolutions that correct that's correct all right thank you roll call Council yes Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kinana yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Silva yes council president Crump yes council president council members that concludes the agenda ready public comment yes we are now in a 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak please state your name for the record when you address the council first speaker hello um my name is Carl Schwartz I am the vice president of askme local 2298 which is the Union at the public library um we're just here to say thank you for the increase um you know I know it was months ago we started meeting with all of you individually thank you for taking us seriously thank you for listening to us and thank you for working with us and realizing how important the library is to this community um we also want to thank budget director Mr Pennington thank you for um also working with our Administration and and listening to our concerns and beginning of September we bought over a hundred people outside who came to say how important the library is to them how much how meaningful this funding is so we're just really glad to see the city take this seriously and we hope in coming years you know we can see a growing library and that new workers can get the worldclass library system that uh we know they deserve on our part for our Union obviously we still need to negotiate a contract and we want to see some of that money go to member raises that's very important to us but we also want to see this system improve for the whole city whether that's new branches upgraded buildings upgraded technology better hours more staff uh things like that we think this is going to benefit the entire city this isn't just about our members only um although that is certainly very important to us so um I'm gonna turn it over to my president right behind us all right thank you for your comments next speaker hello um my name is Betha Cohen I'm president of the Union at the library I just want to Echo what Carl said you know we've we've met with all of you guys for a few months now I talked to Mr Pennington and just we really thank you for taking our concerns seriously and uh the library really benefits the community in a whole lot of ways immigrants ESL classes uh there's programming historic programming historic archives where I work in the archives which are unique to the entire country um so there's so many benefits to the whole community and um we appreciate that you put money to found money to put towards uh the library this year and uh there's a lot still to still to go a lot of work that needs to be done at the library but this is a great start to getting there and uh we thank you for um listening to our concerns and listening to the concerns of the community thank you thank you for your comments next speaker I have a question before you start my time last time I was here you was Monica directed The City attorney to look into the 0a accommodations for people when they come to these meetings so up my time because at the board meetings I get five minutes and I requested five minutes for here so when I came to the next one that was supposed to be addressed did y'all address it because it's still he started my time um the reason why I came before can we get your name please for the record oh my name is Denise Cole for the record I live in the south for Patrick C The Honorable Patrick council is my councilman and I want to say that I respect this whole board and I have the most highest esteem for the work that you do in this community and the people that you serve in this community but my concern here today is what I came last time I filed the complaint like I told you against your police department and I received a letter from the um AG's office that said dear um Mr Stevens to the prosecutor in close please find a complaint received by Attorney General's office from Denise Cole concerning allegations of misconduct this office is referring the matter to the essence County prosecutor's office for whatever action you deem appropriate by copy of this correspondence I am advising the complaintant that the matter has been referred to your office thank you for your assistance so I wanted to put it on record because I went to each court date that your police officer took a false complaint about a law by C citizen a captain of the United States Army veteran and I went to each court date that she never showed up it got dismissed and I dismiss my complaint against her because they wanted to submit a warrant for her arrest but I would not allow that because I would not do that to another citizen my issue is did you all address your officers to train be trained that when a complaint is made they must do the appropriate investigations because guess what what I had to get an expungement of my record because it was a 2C violation that's a serious for Citizens especially africanamerican citizens in this town and if they've done it to me how many other people have they done it to so I need you all to address that I need you to do what you're elected to do and I want to thank you thank you for your comment Miss Cole please stay after the meeting so someone can have talk to you okay thank you next speaker good morning LaToya Jackson um resident of the South Ward so I do have one concern I need to know if I have to address something in the central wood who do I address also um did y'all all get the flyer that I asked them to give to y'all right so um I've been coming down here with a lot of different issues but I have so much going on and I thank God that I'm still standing I'm thank God that I'm still not angry that I'm still able to articulate myself the right way but we have some elephants in the room that need to be addressed um there are a lot of resources out here but together we need to plan some things I am very frustrated but to tell Y how I really feel would uh really not do anything but cause more of what I feel like I don't want I'm trying to unify our community so like just I I went to Reverend round tree and this is no disrespect to your mental health and wellness because I need that um and I trust you and she knew more than the people from um dmj she had to stop them she could have gave the workshop so it's stuff like that that b BS me especially when I know that these people are responsible for the our mental health um if I choose to I probably fall under a lot of different spectrums but I don't choose to because I believe in God and I understand that there's nothing too hard for God so I live by to whom much is given much is required most of the things that I ask for I get so that's why I consistently try to love my people more than they love themselves but we keep bumping heads and something got to give because we like I we we are burying our future since two 1994 I've been putting t-shirts on balloons releases different things like that we still doing that in 2024 that's 30 years of trauma 30 years of me hugging people who have lost their children and now my child has got shot um I'm like in the in the middle not understanding if I'm supposed to to actually go outside and turn up with him or consistently come out here and ask people for help because now it's like I'm begging I'm begging for people to feel the experiences that not only I'm going through but most of my community I'm just able to speak about it without uh looking like what the data says we look like when we come into these rooms to address different things so I want y'all to take me serious because to whom much is given much is required and y'all have positions to give because y'all can so please do it diligently thank you thank you for your comments next speaker Lisa Parker good day criminal cultist running our government this budget is a sham we the people came to you asking questions about the deficit and the debt in the budget and all of the monies that's going out to developers contractors um your failed programs that you have nothing substantive for the people so let me just give a rundown of some of the things that was never um provided or accounted for the cash parking lots those revenue streams the festivals ovp Jackie KS um BC Brick Brick City peace Collective 24 hours of foolishness where the revenue streams from those vendors that you supposed to be collecting from alcohol sales and everything else uh the parking authority revenues is you tick in and towing everything uh you never reconcile the deficit from 2022 to 2023 and $680 million the tax collector never presented at any of the budget hearings twice at the budget hearings you never provided a hard copy of the budget for review for the public you held it during times that the the regular working folks can't attend you never held a meeting on the weekends and excuse me you falsely advertise this because I called on Wednesday to clerk's office and it wasn't confirmed that this bud hearing was going to be held until after 4:00 the water department y'all I got every single legis star from 2023 to 2024 that you appropriated $890 million from the water department that you allocated emergency funds that was never explained how it was reconciled on this budget salaries for incompetent unqualified persons you got a budget full of topheavy salaries and you didn't skim the budget none of those areas the mayor travel to foreign countries Qatar China Ghana don't talk about Eric Adams when the same thing is going on over here tax rate imposed on the property owners 3.9% revenues projections from the Cannabis y'all popping ribbons and ain't sell what what monies are coming back to the city from a cash business and the debt the money that you borrowed thank you for your comments next speaker God help me not to cuss this morning cuz I'm so sick of y'all sick of y'all y'all Liars DPW has not been paid you issue checks on that Friday they went to the bank they bounced nobody don't care what Martha Rodriguez and the lion Union got up here and said you got people owed money Rock m m comment stood up here and said they still holding checks from the summer youth program why call the phone number use the email y'all allow this staff y'all paying way more money than they qualify for on your hands you got the audacity to submit a 968 million budget for 2024 and you didn't even alert the homeowners in this city y'all are the worse these seniors are struggling y'all taking their property every day you decimating that South W calls all the time you got seniors over there sick because you over there letting these people antagonize them and all you ow taxes and you know they paid y'all are doing this the blood is on your hands y'all think it's a a a a mystery Eric Adams who met with Raz informant Baraka two weeks before all of this dumped down yeah when I'm in informant I buy my time so that mean I'm in trouble I tell on George and I ain't got to go nowhere I could keep doing my nonsense Mr black power and y'all just keep doing the bidding doing the bidding y'all ain't even hire 1500 children this summer disgraceful do y'all realize we got 18,000 teenage high school students in this city in a number probably more than that are you saying in doing anything to deal with the Immigrant population that we just welcome in Open Arms while the rest of us can't eat drink and sleep you allowing them to come and steal the plastic and and cans out of your own recycl and you do nothing nothing and this is okay what's the executive uh police budget why wasn't there a copy of the budget given to any Resident in this town y'all are worse this last two years before previous budget hearings you might not have had a good one but you had copies on the table y'all done none of this none of this 90 Pages it'll cost you 45 back in front and this ain't even a whole budget this is just an addenda of cuz the whole budget is over 300 Pages than you why didn't you alert the public comments Miss Jackson yeah next speaker check y'all pay too Mona El buman so a budget in September we never had a budget presented in a timely manner we have an email for you residents of the city of Noor the state com controller as I always say we need to get in touch with him and his email address is Kevin keev i n.w w a l at o c. nj.gov and we need to all email him homeowners taxpayers business owners all all Every individual in the city we need to email Kevin Walsh who is the state comproller to request the independent audit and a monitor over City budget it is our money it is your money and if you don't partake in doing something about this it is your fault consequences fall on you and that's why we got the fail leadership that we have here and gonna continue to have because we got somebody making almost $300,000 annually off the backs of N and don't even live here don't even live here and hav't presented a budget in a timely manner and you are not outraged newers it is our responsibility to demand accountability and provoke accountability it's falls on us this may have the audacity to fund block parties fun house festivals all over the city without adequately funding the library it is an Abomination this mayor have the audacity to fund all these things and having to even pay city employees it is a travesty it is abomination that we have to come before you about our budget to tell you what priorities that you need to take care of and then you wonder why we come up here and it comes out mad and we do all we can to provoke accountability unacceptable but it falls on us noras what are you going to do thank you for comments next speaker when I become mayor we become mayor I'm still the mayor 920 Broad Street um get your name for the here I I just told you when I become mayor we become mayor I'm I'm for I'mma change my that's for the record and for the record you're an Abomination Freeman you know my name get your name for the record I need you to say it for the record and um problematic as you all are and the way that you got into office by getting the old people to sign petitions a lot of them had dementia they didn't even know what they were signing and the little parties that you throw the budget is ridiculous and everybody needs to write to the governor and the comproller and the reason why you had this 10: a.m. meeting so that none of the people who work could be here for the meeting so that you could just Usher it through um a violation and that you didn't give adequate notice is another violation so just ask Eric Adams oh you can't because um he's got a gag order he has an indictment well then you can ask Mendes oh no you can't ask him because he's going to jail like everybody can go to jail you're sitting up there you think that you can um put it on mcgyver cuse she's gone no she's gonna go with y'all this is absolutely ridiculous and we ask that you do your jobs you work for us we don't work for you and then people talk about well the immigrants stealing the trash that's your fault that's not the immigrants fault you should hire them and then our our garbage men don't have adequate tools to to pick up the garbage and then they are um penalized U they're overwork they don't have um the right equipment your street sweet streer flies down the street Street just blowing everything all over the place you have money dangling on the Christmas lights it's September it's not no Christmas lights I don't know why she was stuck on Christmas because I guess it's Christmas for you every day because you have our money just run through it no more parties pay for your own parties the senior parties pay for your own senior parties you got money that you've taken your tree slushy fun there's no trees on the street there's a a urban heat island right out in front of your front door because there's no trees over there where it should be shaded in green um and then you want to build Sky Towers lofty Elite places for the elite to live where old people are struggling you're taking people's homes with these fake taxes you're doing all of this stuff and then you have the nerve to say build exiler units in the backyard so all the black and brown people live like dogs in the dogghouse in the backyard while the elite live in the ly Towers it's a no thank you for your comments not happening thank you for your comments still in there next speaker no next speaker see seeing none public comments closed Mr chair could a motion to a oh I'm sorry before I get that far comments from the or questions from the council yeah Mr chair again you know I just always want to say mean people people have the right to democracy and and to say what they want but you know I I just believe Miss Jackson to imply that the mayor is an informant is disingenuous uh you know to say stuff like that because um whatever is happening in in New York uh you know we we pray that whatever the situation is that it is handled in New York but to imply that the mayor is informant uh is disingenuous to imply that the congresswoman is going to jail is disingenuous uh it is the right for everyone to want to be able to stand up and have conversation and discourse about some of the things that you may disagree with this is the forum for that to be able to stand up and talk about some of the stuff that you disagree with uh but we want to be able to make sure that we are doing this in a respectful manner right I mean we we have to be more um you know sincere uh in our approach and and handling issues having discussion uh about those issues and how we outlay those things what whatever the issues that that may be happening in in DPW I'm sure Mr peniton will get up uh and speak about those things uh but to to send misinformation out like this when all around the nation right now uh we see that uh places and people are in uproar in in in Springfield Ohio people are dealing with the backlash of misinformation we have to be careful about this danger uh that that we're presenting when we say stuff up here uh because you know quite frankly it puts people lives in Jeopardy you know and and we have to be sincere about that doesn't matter uh you know about how we uh forecast and look at these things but we have to take this serious and I'm saying this to uh the people that are watching us at home not not the folks that are in here uh you know clapping providing misinformation and as I say again people have to write uh to be able to get up and give your discourse to say whatever it is but you you don't have the right to provide disingenuous misinformation um W which is which is critical uh to uh the colleagues that I I have up here uh as well and and some of the folks who are in this Administration and people around the city because every day people are fighting in this city uh to make sure that they're providing the best possible lives for their family so um you know that it's important that we stay focused on on on what what the intention is and moving government having people to share in discourse and then finding Solutions uh to these problems because that that's what it's about you know many people uh they they love to you know get paid for complaining uh but it's hard and difficult to find Solutions so we have to be in the business and stay in the business and stay focused about finding Solutions uh you know to situations and circumstances as we continue to build this city thank I that's enough no who who is that speaking officers if they keep speaking remove them from the chambers Miss Jackson Miss Jackson you had your opportunity to speak officers please remove Miss Jackson from the no no no Miss Jackson now please remove Miss Jackson right now everybody you call everybody inform for it miss bman miss bman miss bman remove Miss bman from the chambers right now miss buman needs to be removed from the chambers right now miss bman [Music] got to stop --------- ##VIDEO ID:-ntslW7Htyw## might feel the same way that you feel don't give up things that you are doing keep pushing keep pushing even when it feels like they're telling you no if you truly fight for our city don't stop fighting for our city a boxer cannot complain about getting punches thrown at him or or getting hit with a punch he's a boxer he's in the ring if you choose to push and fight for your city and love your city be a boxer thank you councilman Council I mean uh Kelly councilwoman round Tre thank you council president um to councilman council's remarks um you know we um are sitting in these seats to hear the concerns of the residents of our city um to help move the city forward with the information you bring with your research um we have to do our own research um we're are surely going to get the information pertaining to DPW and the youth program as to what's going on and know they come to the meetings and they stand at the microphone and they tell us and they give for the public and those who are watching information um regarding answers but the answers that we have to get we need to bring back to you our findings so that the audience and the public that's watching can be aware that this was either abated or resolved um to councilman council's Point uh regarding statements I thank each and everyone that comes to the mic because this platform was created I know that the mayor went to jail uh to get the right of course um for you to speak at this Podium this was not always something that was offered to the public he fought for this with a group of individuals to give you the right to speak and you might not agree with me and that's okay you can't erase history and and when you create new history which is what you all are doing here today um standing at the microphone making statements be careful of the bricks that you throw because the truth of the matter is we all have situations that we want to see better for our residents we all have situations that we want to see improved for our residents and our employees but I don't think Improvement comes from throwing people under the bus I do not believe that Improvement comes for leaders who are great leaders teering down other leaders if you are a great leader then either you're going to help us to become better leaders of those that are coming behind you or with you rather than tearing down the work that people are doing this city is has moved forward there's some things you might not agree with but to sit and to get to the mic when we have pressing pressing issues that you are addressing and we love the passion we we welcome the passion because it shows just how concerned those who are coming to the podium are I've grown up in a spiritual background we have Pastor counsil here and we deal with all types of issues toia Jackson L toia thank you for not giving up and thank you for being able to bring balance between the negative and the positive and finding that middle ground to be able to address the public when you come to the mic but my prayer is that as we come to this mic knowing that the person that we are talking of that is leading this city made it possible for standing up for people for you to have that right and now you take that right and instead of speaking to the issues of the city and how you want to see us improve those issues we use it to to to kick down or to tear down those who are in position everyone has a day everyone has a day and just like they have this little statement councilman counselor if you dig one ditch you better dig two because the one you dig just might be for you it's an old statement but it's a true statement so let's try to come together when you come to this m use your little three minutes to talk about things that we can do to help improve what's going on and not talk about a person's character and their personality because God made us all different none of us are the same I'm not you and I couldn't take 50 of me so I'm just stating let's let's be mindful of the time God gave us to stand at this Podium thank you brother president thank you very thank you for your comments much appreciated um any other comments questions from the council councilman um I just want to address uh couple things that were said one is um Mr ba I think we need to look at some of the equipment that's in DPW uh I think some of it I know we we here budgeted for some uh new garbage trucks uh and things like that but we need to look at the sweepers uh because they're breaking down on a regular basis and other equipment that DPW utilizes that uh like I said is probably older and needs and is used uh quite often so it's it's breaking down uh and then to get it fixed it usually takes a while the second thing I wanted to say was about the uh what Miss Jackson was saying about the uh immigrant population uh she makes a valid point uh my schools in the East Ward have 40 students per classroom uh I have people 20 per apartment sharing one bathroom uh my food lines I don't have enough Es at times um and there's a lot of other issues I can go down that uh is happening in the East Ward and probably in a lot of major cities across the United States uh but those people are here and we have a responsibility to help them we didn't create this I think blame lays elsewhere I think uh I don't have to mention where uh there's they hold some responsibility as well but at the end of the day they're here now and uh as the East W councilman uh I probably have the biggest immigrant population in the entire city by far and I have a responsibility to help those people like I said we did not create this um I think the intentions might have been good but I think they got a little bit out of control and now I got some very very serious issues in my award I mentioned a few but they go far beyond that uh but like I said they're here now and we need to help them uh get their lives together help them uh live amongst us um I always say I'm the son of immigrants um but I believe the way things were done uh not only in north New Jersey but across other parts of the United States may have been uh not done in the proper way so I just want to make sure that you know we understand uh council president that uh they're here and we have a responsibility to help them thank thank you councilman Silva anything else from the council from the administration Mr ba thank you Council president Eric Pennington business administrator I think um I'm going to start with what I think is the most positive takeaway from today and that is that uh uh under mayor baraka's leadership with the uh comments and uh advice from the city council that this year's budget has come in at an incredibly low 2. uh 3 2.4% increase over last year um I hope that that's not La lost by some of the uh inflammatory comments that are obviously put out here in a concertive way to detract from the good work of the administration and the council with respect to its efforts to make sure that our residents are treated with respect and dignity um as it relates to how we manage their money how we manage the uh the budget that they've entrusted us with um and how we manage the important uh work that we have to do here um I'll use that as a segue into some of the comments with respect to in questions with respect to uh DPW which is the Department of Public Works one of the most important departments in the city obviously the workers in DPW particularly the ones outside in sanitation uh who handle trash collection and Recycling and street sweeping they come in contact with our residents more frequently than anybody including police um they are Frontline people they're an integral part of the the makeup of the city they extraordinarily important um and they're a large group of individuals we have a group of pums and we have a group of what we call permanent employees uh because of that they they get paid on different Cycles because of there are so many of them there are errors that happen uh with paying any given period as I stand here today I'm not aware of any employee and either a pum or a u you know regular full-time employee who who has a bounce check or who has not been paid appropriately we work very hard to address those issues as they come up one of the uh uh I guess causes for um issues with pay is that we pay uh workers up to the day up to the day that they work essentially they're getting paid um and so it is a strain on the on the payroll staff but they do a great job in making sure that everyone gets paid Timely I also meet with I Administration and the DPW leadership um meet with the Union Representatives weekly and sometimes daily quite frankly uh to make sure that they're satisfied so when there is an issue they know how to file a grievance there are zero grievances on my desk right now at my level with respect to pay I'm not saying that there's no no uh lower level grievances but they're resolved at a lower level because uh they're not that sign significant uh but to the points from councilman Council and councilman Silva uh you have to make sure that we treat the employees with respect and dignity and provide them with the resources to do their job and we're working to do so with respect to swe street sweepers in particular we have two different kinds of street sweepers we have uh ravos which are not performing as well um as the other street sweepers that we have and we're not going to purchase them anymore uh we're going to use the bigger street sweepers and we're looking to find other smaller street sweepers that perform at a better uh level for us here in the city um so we're trying a few of those out because we do recognize how important it is uh to address the C the concerns throughout throughout the city um with respect to the uh immigrant population obviously councilman Silva knows that the administration mayor Baraka who is a former principal is certainly concerned about the the school system and how the students are treated because they are residents of the city as well but we have very little control over the school system it's an independent body um it's under the uh you know nor York public schools and the nor york Board of Education and they do as good a job as they can to address the concerns uh of the students as well but we'll support their efforts and we'll support the efforts of making sure that we integrate immigrants into our community um in as good a way as possible possible they're still welcome here we're going to do the best we can to make sure that they are productive citizens and that they have the opportunity to live also with respect and and dignity here there's some things that we have to do to make sure that everybody does uh live harmoniously and uh are in an environment um that is conducive to good living conditions uh the point you made about having 20 people in apartment one bathroom that's not acceptable to the extent we find that that is the case we'll have our code enforcement people look at that and address it because that is inappropriate and um and we'll make sure that that those kinds of things are taken care of uh there were some I think allegations that we have a $600 million deficit in unbalanced budgets it's not not the case you have the budget in front of you and that there is a userfriendly budget that is online uh and it reflects the most uh up-to-date information with respect to the budget and there is no no uh un balance budget or the deficit that is being uh talked about here I'll end like I started the fact that we have a budget increase that is less than 3% given the challenges that this city faces is remarkable and that's a testament to the mayor and the council ensuring that the residents are treated as fairly as possible and we'll continue to do so thank you any follow-up comments from the council councilman gonalez well first of all the budget cannot be submitted with the deficit it has to be balanced so it's a it shows ignorance in the part of the speaker to suggest that the city has submitted a budget with the with the deficit ER the other thing is this country is a country that is of immigrants they say this country has had immigrants from all over the world ER from let say the it Italians Irish Portuguese Puerto Ricans Cubans and you name it so I believe it's a matter of providing the the the necessary ER facilities to adjust this new arrivals to the conditions that we want them to be at I believe that criticizing them or H making examples of them is not the solution I believe we have to be more Humane with them thank you councilman Gonzalez anything else from the council for the administration no sir with that being said roll call to adjourn Council yes Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana absent Ramos absent Scott rry absent Silva yes council president Crump yes thank you everyone see you next week e e e