good evening on behalf of the governing body of the city of Pake we welcome you to the June 6 2024 city council meeting in accordance with chapter 231 public laws of 1975 adequate notice of this meeting was provided by resolution of the municipal Council adopted on June 13 2023 setting forth the schedule of meetings for the year 2023 2024 said notice was published and posted on the city hall bulletin board by the office of the city clerk please please be further advised this meeting is this meeting will be conducted in person the zoom stream provided is for viewing only and is offered to the public as a convenience on May 22nd 2024 public notice and zoom instructions for this meeting were published in the Herold news and posted on the city of Pake website at www.city of.com Council agendas instructions are also available on the last page of this agenda please be guided accordingly roll call please man councilman monk councilman present councilwoman Melo present councilman Schwarz present councilman Garcia councilwoman col monz pres and council president Sher President should we all please rise Heavenly Father we want to thank you Lord for allowing us to meet this evening Lord we ask you to please guide us in the decisions that will take place this evening in your beloved name we pray amen I pledge Alle to the flag of the United States of America theice council president if I may uh gentleman who has worked on initiatives with the city in the past recently lost his mother Mr Howard hgot and he had reached out just to let us know can we have a moment of silence for his family and all those that have had losses this month thank you man moment of thank you thank for those of you who are joining at home thank you for being here for those of you here presently uh as much if not even more so if you do not have a copy of our agenda they're available to you online at the city's website you'll find all the materials necessary to understand the uh going on the procedures for this evening because you'll be receiving the same material that the council has in fact received by the administration in terms of making its best judgments on behalf of the uh people and citizens and residents of of the great city of Bic at this time we're up to Roman numeral four in our agenda mayor's update mayor it's going to be a long evening for you I think so and hope hopefully a pleasant one hopefully hopefully uh council president members of the city coun department heads and all residents I want to share and with great joy on behalf of my Administration the entire city council and our city as we congratulate the DAV American Legion and BFW on their grand opening that occurred on May 25th having centralized services for all veterans which is going to make it a lot more effective to connect individuals to Benefits Resources and opportunities again in one centralized location also I want to thank everyone who participated in our Memorial Day Parade ceremony which occurred on Monday May 27th and that went extremely successful thank your council members and representatives from the county and our entire community that came out though some municipalities cancelled we forg forward understanding the potential weather conditions but we are very excited to have uh continued this ceremony in our city uh council president members of City Council on Friday May 31st we had our 85th annual youth in government day we thank the council members that spent the day with the youth over 85 students came and participated on our 85th annual uh Youth and Council so that was appropriate they shouted our attorneys our Engineers different department heads our police chief our fire chief they got exposed to government to career opportunities and we were happy to have them participate as always it's one of the uh best initiatives in the city and then they write sometimes to the council members and to those who participated after they do their reports back in school their appreciation so thank you to all that participated this Saturday June 1st we began our zero tolerance for Street vendors without permits and that has been successful our police officers our health officers have been going around uh we have gotten a number of calls on behalf uh this initiative from business uh owners Thanking us for it our city clerk wether Le FAS reported that within the first week we had over 60 businesses come off the streets and ask how do I get a permit and about 10 that actually applied so we continue to encourage individuals it has not resolved it 100% but it has gone a long way again our goal is not to impede individuals from going out there and selling merchandise or products but to do it correctly again for a public health concern food that may be tainted or is not inspected could cause issues for seniors children those who have autoimmune conditions or have their immune system compromised and just the general public and if we can't hold you accountable obviously that makes it very difficult for the city to back any of the products sold we had some instances where individuals were selling Seafood in the street and not refrigerated meaning we didn't know how long they were out and you know they're strict guidelines when it comes to Seafood so obviously this approach will be beneficial but we encourage everyone to apply we have different locations and we will facilitate the process I want to thank our police chief our police department and our health officers who have been going out aw through a grant of our uee Urban Enterprise Zone we were able to purchase Vermin free garbage pins Vermin free we say Vermin because often times when individuals sto their garbage out in the city Only in bags raccoons aosom rats Ferro cats so many animals can come and open up the garbage this attracts other animals we got concern for our commercial district and we decided to put our heads together and come up with an Innovative idea we researched and found specific containers that are more conducive for keeping the garbage in and much harder for Vermin or for the lids to open up we asked the state if we would be approved to utilize some of the funds for our Urban Enterprise Zone which covers our commercial districts in order to try to implement and provide these bins and they approved it so we were able to purchase these bins at no cost to the taxpayer and we will continue to give them out to our businesses in these districts on Monday July 8th through the 26th we begin our junior Police Academy run by our Police Department where fifth graders could sign up and they go through a week of Police Academy training it's one of the more popular summer initiatives we're extremely excited to remind parents that are watching or those who will see later on online to have your children registered beforehand because those spots get filled up very quickly also on June 11th we invite the public our elected officials and everyone who chooses to be part of our bicycle master plan virtual public meeting please go to our website to see the link where we'll present all of the potential routes for new bik routes there can be comments regarding the existing bike routes whether we should expand the initiative reduce the initiative and then you may be able to receive some education as I would in terms of what are the requirements and how do we determine what streets are conducive for bike routes wider streets that still allow for traffic as well as an additional Lane for the bikes obviously but we do invite the public as we always have done whenever pushing forward with an initiative that will impact our city as a whole we want to hear from the public so we invite all of the community members to join us June 15th will be our juneth festival and again fireworks I always boast the city of Pake under this Administration was the first city in the state of New Jersey to uh provideed as a Citywide holiday the state followed up on it and then became a national holiday we also are among the only ones that do actual fireworks for juneth this year we'll be partnering up again with aacp the Pake africanamerican celebration and parade committee to celebrate juneth I remind it is a holiday for City Hall in the city of Pake and this was on the news we were the first city to establish it so we were proud to do so on this holiday Monday July 8th through July 19th our city planning Institute program begins for students from 6th grade through high school to learn about planning look one of the careers that we continue to present to our youth is urban planning which is an actual career where you get to determine or work on initiatives and projects to decide how the city will be designed whether there will be Parks passive Recreation bike Lanes where commercial areas can be designated this is all a wonderful opportunity for the Youth it's LED through our business administrator who is a remarkable planner and just one of the most Brilliant Minds in this area and these youth get exposed to every aspect of potential uh careers in planning urban planning and being part of Designing being an architect engineer and otherwise so we get extremely excited about that we've received some recent grants I want to be cognizant because today will be a long meeting but we recently received New Jersey Department of Community Affairs local Recreation Improvement Grant $70,000 to do the rubbery surface on Colonel Johnson Park by palaski Park this is great news because we were prepared to to pay for it but we applied for a grant as has been the initiative announced over five years ago that the goal is to have all of the surfaces in all the parks go rubberized in order to reduce incidents of injury and obviously make them more conducive for inclusive Recreation meaning children with special needs joining with uh what we often refer to as nor typical children so everyone can enjoy the park together so we're extremely excited about that we received the New Jersey clean communities Council Grant $114,000 in order to purchase recycling bins as we've been giving them out for free for the community we seen an increase in recycling and tunnage which is beneficial to the city and obviously to the environment as a whole so this additional 100,000 is of great benefit we have received the confirmation of the $2.5 million from the state to create the very first ever all water park on Harrison at downtown we're extremely excited on Harrison Street um at Colonel Johnson Park for the children especially in proximity to our elementary schools School number 10 obviously School number nine the Dayton Avenue complex for some children it isn't a reality that they're going to travel for the summer it may not make it a Disney World it may not even leave the state but being able to get millions of dollars in grant funding that would have gone to other cities but they recognized the city and gave it to us to provide these ideal opportunities for recreation and enhanced amenities will give our children the opportunity that when they go back to school in September and get asked what you do for the summer they can draw pictures of enjoying the festivals the new parks and all of the editions that come at no cost to our taxpayers in the city so we're extremely excited about that sir yes um as I was stating uh coun president members of the public residents and all those watching just over the last month we received $6 million doar in order to mitigate flooding conditions at Vanowen Avenue and the Bon Court we also received additional funding for the uniting at palasi Park and dunde Island moving steps closer to turning our downtown park into one of the most beautiful Parks not just in Pay County but in Bergen County so we continue to receive historic funds we receive njdot Local transportation project funds to create more ADA Compliant additions to our sidewalks to our Parks Ada Americans with disability acts it's basically creating access for those in wheelchairs and those who are often have to navigate um coming into some of our facilities and need a little bit more assistance I want to congratulate our new appointed judges for the city of Pake we have a returning judge judge autista and our brand new judge judge I'm so excited will be Clark Michelle Kia Clark Michelle will be our new judge she's replacing our former judge Ronda catronio who was promoted to Superior Court after having her very first opportunity to be a judge here so uh we shared to judge Kia Clark Michelle that this is her first opportunity becoming a judge good things happen in P when you begin here we look forward to her rise just not anytime soon and then we look forward to a judge Randazzo who many of you have been uh familiar with he has one of the uh the longest serving um times as a judge an extremely experienced uh judge throughout the state of New Jersey and we're excited because we feel our courts are moving in the right direction over the last few years and we're extremely proud to bring them on thank you council president members of the city council and and the community for uh giving us opportunity for this update I also wanted to share that all of our Recreation opportunities are available to the public please visit the website because the summer programs are signing up right now thank you mayor you mentioned that in the past while in the past two weeks since our last meeting you reported on $10 million coming into the city's coffers if you need more time to speak mayor it seems to be enduring to the city's benefit we are we are grateful for the relationships that we enjoy and for the work of this city council and the government the state has recognized so much of the efforts to ensure that we are uh working in the most pragmatic manner with the resources available to be Equitable and see enhancements in all of our Parks investments in all of our schools infrastructure repairs and of course anything additional in the ameni for our children and our families considering all of the demographics from Seniors to some of our youngest residents I think that we are going through a time where we have a lot to be grateful for and I want to commend this Council for their responsible approach in terms of legislation and ordinances I want to thank our council president his role as an assemblyman and again in general uh to our business administrator all of our professionals but collectively we've been able to maintain good relationships with our Governors with County officials with our federal representatives and it has paid specific using dividends in this case we have been able to capitalize on those great relationships and good government to bring quality policies programs initiatives and progress to the residents of this great city thank you thank you mayor questions for the mayor Sirah thank you thank you very much um I believe next we have the M's presentation on the 2024 preliminary budget presentation we have our head of Finance Omar garciaa and our business administrator has a presentation do I need to this by resolution Mr Fernandez this is not this is not the hearing this is just the presentation correct this is the transmittal of the budget um this is for the council to see what it is the intent is that uh we will introduce the budget at the next council meeting the council members always have the opportunity to send any of the questions they'd like and we present it at the next meeting so this is the preliminary and transferring transmitting of the budget to formally to the city council for so is the council formally accepting the receipt yes and then the intr is not tonight we are accepting receipt receipt and then introduction would be next meeting and if everything goes well it' be introduced and go move on so forth so for clarity sake if if I have concerns and I want to increase this or reduce that that's part of the process that's correct okay very good all right good evening members of the council and residents um in the in the agenda and the packet you have the 2024 budget workbook which uh has the details of the line items of the 2024 proposed budget um we worked on a presentation to summarize and give the specific changes for this year's budget so and I now would like to go through the presentation for the mayor's 2024 budget transmittal so what is a budget the the budget is a outline of how the city intends to spend its funds during the calendar year in order to provide the necessary services for its resident the budget is pretty much primarily made up of two items it has the Appropriations or the spending side and it has the revenue or the funds income side of the of the budget so Appropriations or expenses are broken down by departmental salaries and other expenses deferred charges and statutory expenses Capital Improvements and Debt Service revenue or income are broken down by fund balance Surplus miscellaneous revenues receipts from delinquent taxes and the amount to be raised by taxes so how is the budget prepared and uh as the business administrator always comments the budget is not a one day item and in fact it's a continuous conversation every day um multi-year conversation but if you were to pick a starting point for any given year um it starts with the requests made by the department ments or division to to make a formal request on what they need for the following calendar year the administrator once those uh departmental requests are received the administrator and CFO review those requests with the mayor then the administrator and CFO meet with the department heads to convey the mayor's approval or denial of said request once all the requests are formulated and compiled that budget is then proposed and transmitted to the council that's what we're doing here tonight at this council meeting then after this meeting the council reviews the proposed budget and as stated by the business administrator at at a future meeting future council meeting the budget is then introduced then no no earlier than 20 days from intro 28 days from introduction the city has a public hearing where the residents speak on any concerns or comments on the budget and the budget is then then the budget is placed before the council for final adoption at usually at that same meeting so now let's get into uh more specifics on this proposed 20124 budget so I stated previously Appropriations are what the city anticipates spending for its day-to-day operations the total proposed Appropriations for 2024 is 116 m51148 and then you may ask what are the significant changes in appropriation from last year to this year so we highlighted some of the key increases we have salaries increased 1,657 400 and that's due to contractual obligations to employees that is 3.38% increase from 2023 liability in Workers Compensation Insurance increased 1,678 th000 due to an increase in premiums set by The Joint Insurance Fund and i' just like to add this is uh increases that are being seen all across New Jersey pension contributions which are set by the state of New Jersey increased $676,000 2.73 increase for the public employees retirement system and a 6.01 increase for the police and fire retirement system health benefits increased 1,994 th000 due to an increase in health premiums set by the state of New Jersey and I'll go into health benefits in on the next slide as well all increases above were set by either contracts or other governmental agencies all also like to note Capital Improvements increase 2, 350,000 for sewer and drainage improvements and that increas is offset by American Rescue plan Revenue which I will speak about in a future slide so going back to health benefits the state the State Health Benefit commission approved a nearly 23% rate increase in 2023 for the 2023 health benefit Pro program year that represented approximately $2,192 th000 in increased cost for 2023 the approved rate increase for 2024 for health benefit premiums was 7.4% that is approximately 30% increase over the last two years for health benefit premiums the city will be utilizing 1,500,000 from our reserves to help offset the 2024 increase the net increase for health benefit in TW in the 2024 budget is 1,994 th000 and like to make a note if health benefit costs do not decrease significantly in the next year years future budgets will have to bear this substantial increase now another note that we'd also like to make is the city's Insurance Brokers we we have consulted with our insurance brokers and we've actually gone out to determine if there could be any cost savings that could be made by the city let's say if we go out and privatize health benefits through another carrier and the the the broker prepared their analysis and got the different rates with our plans and at this point it's actually more expensive if we were to go out rather than stay with the state health now again like I stated the the 2024 proposed budget appropriation was 1116 m51148 and how that breaks out the following you have uh salary and wages at 50,7 33,000 or roughly 44% of the budget you have other expenses at 42 milon 267,000 or 36% of budget and that includes items such as the health benefits that we spoke about liability workers comp insurance that we spoke about and other departmental expenses and contracts such as garbage and uh recycling we have deferred charges of 15, 565,000 or 133% of the total budget and items included in there are the P the state pensions and um Social Security expenses Debt Service is equal to about 2% of the budget 2, 98,000 and I will I have I'll go on about Debt Service on a on a future slide Capital Improvements 3% of the budget 4,50 and then reserve for uncollected taxes which is a uh statutory expense that must be included in the budget is 1,800,000 or 2% of the budget so and I touched on debt service and just for uh demonstrations the the city of Pake now has um this is The Debt Service looking forward for 2024 throughout the maturity of all our current bonds um and as you can see our the the next Bond to be paid off is actually a bond that we have issued from 2017 that the final payment will be in 2029 we also like to make a note that as of December 31st 2023 the city has outstanding debt of 16,475 th000 and still has a remaining borrowing power of $153 million now those are the Appropriations and the spending side of the budget now I'll move on to the budgetary revenue or income for the city so revenues are how the city funds its Appropriations and as stated before the revenue is broken down into categories of fund balance miscellaneous Revenue grants receipt of the delinquent taxes from previous year's taxes and then the amount to be raised by taxes for the current year now some of some of the changes from last year's revenues to this year's revenues so the city is utilizing six 6,114 61 in fund balance or Surplus that's an increase of $793,000 also experienced an increase in interest income of $821,000 from the previous year we also experienced an increase of $654,000 in Municipal relief funds that's uh AIDS provided by the state of New Jersey we also have a new Revenue coming onto our our budget and it's related to Pilots or payment and Le of taxes of $16,000 for 26 Jefferson Street you we're also utilizing 8,135 th000 in federal American Rescue plan or ARP funds that's an increase of 2,85 th000 from the previous year and again I'll touch a little bit more on AR funds in a future slide as well and then finally it we have an increase in the amount to be raised by taxes of 3,649 th000 $655 which is a 5% of the prior year tax Lev and now same idea our revenues just because of course in state of New Jersey you have to have a balanced budget our revenues are a total of 1116 m51148 and they break out as follows we have miscellaneous revenue of 2,582 th000 or roughly 202 22% of the budget items included in that are such as state aid fines and costs like court fines code enforcement permits and fees we also have the American Rescue plan funding of 8,135 th000 or roughly 7% of the budget we have receipts from delinquent taxes of 40% we have amount we have Surplus anticipated of 6,114 th000 or roughly 5% of the budget budget and finally we have the amount to be raised by taxation for the current year of 76 m642 763 or 66% of the budget now again speaking staying on the on the taxes uh topic we have an the estimated impact of this Budget on taxes so the estimated impact of the proposed tax levy increase is 5% now based on an average home assessed of 275,000 which it comes from our tax assessor uh Records pretty much taking the residential the total value of Residential Properties divided by the number of those said properties we get an average home assessed at $275,000 so for this budget that would produce a 2024 average Municipal tax bill of $7,150 when compared to last year's average Municipal tax bill of $6,795 that equates to an increase of $345 for the year uh or an increase of $28.75 per month also would like to note that the assess valuation added in 2023 of approximately $ 11.7 million allowed us to limit the impact um that reduction such as tax appeals had on the tax rate and also like to note that based on the school the library and the estimated County taxes the city estimates that the total tax rate increase would be around 3.45% now I know I I mentioned it a couple times in the previous slides but the American Rescue plan act or ar funding so back in 2021 one Municipal governments received funds through the ARP act to offset the negative economic impacts of the co9 pandemic the total allotment for the city of Pake was 31,1 31,6 one key note of those funds were that all funds must had to be encumbered by the end of December 31st 2024 or this current year and with this Po's budget the um the city will be expending all of its art funds that it currently has now the breakdown on those art funds that 31 million the city proposes to use 25 million of the total allotment for Revenue laws that's money added in the budget overtime and salaries due to the covid-19 pandemic ranging from the years 2021 through 24 the remaining allotment has been used for various covid-19 mitigation efforts and Sewer infrastructure projects and as stated before the proposed utilization of AR funds in this 2024 budget is 8,135 th000 which again would exhaust our balance of the AR funds and have a spending every cent that we receive from the federal government and again that that is a summary of the budget workbook I thank the council and the mayor for letting me present this and being able to share uh you know this summary and I don't know if anyone has any questions but I'll just a few a few a few questions Mr director um what exactly will be the uh I'm looking for the word uh the funds that the reserve funds for lack of another term so so as uh stated in there the city's actually using 6, 114,000 in uh fund balance or Surplus the other term for it for in this budget to help balance this budget so net net after this budget is adopted it whatever well assuming that this budget is adopted in in the way in which it was presented reserves would go from what to what so at the end of calendar year 2023 from our un audited financial statement the city ended the year with uh 26 million in in fund balance and we would be using six million to in this budget to help um balance this budget yeah council president the total number would be without without any Revenue at the end of the year that would go into Surplus just all usage we would have 20 m3558 and we're anticipating we're hoping that we can regenerate 9 million is our goal based on previous years but right now with the Six Million being removed from Surplus it would be 20,35 518 and and what's the administration's rationale and U wanting to maintain a $20 million surface when it could be 15 million we could reduce taxes by 5 million or build more swimming pools or more programs for our kids after school so so not not inconsequential programs right yes so so that's actually a great question and that's something that the mayor the CFO and I are constantly talking about and in fact I believe in um many of the meetings budgetary meetings that we have this similar question uh comes out and one of the big things is smok and mirrors and just working for today and one of the mayor's Direction has always been we want to make sure that we settle the future of the city of Pake and not do one shot deals that would give you a great program tomorrow and then lay off half of the services uh the day after so what we want to do is we want to maintain Surplus uh as high as possible because of these unforeseen circumstances if it was not for art money okay $33 million of art money that Surplus that you're looking at right right now we'd be lucky if it was at $3 million and we would not have been able to complete the budget at the percentage that we currently have to be clear that art money has run out we're not getting anymore than thank you may that was the next line that was perfect that's exactly the point those are the conversations that the mayor wanted us to be keenly aware as we're preparing the budgets for today and the future that the reason we were able to accumulate that kind of surplus was because of the art money I also like to note just to expand a little bit what Omar said on the our projects what we did in the past is we did it as a project but to use all this money right we creatively put it in as Revenue loss and that's why you see like the Capital Improvements be a little higher if you saw that one of the first slides and then said offset by ARP it was so that we can finish those projects that have been approved but also be able to use up all of the art money by the December 31st 2024 date and I I'm happy to report that would be zero we we would have used all of the $33 million that was given to the city and in addition if I may council president because I think the question is so important for the residents that are watching is why not utilize surplus of this fund and in the presentation if you go back a number of slides you'll see that there are certain contractual obligations meaning the city doesn't get to say we're not going to do these there's certain cost that comes with health benefits from the state pension cost we don't get the luxury or Liberty to say we're not going to meet those obligations as the uh Chief Financial director has stated expecting with a reasonable expectation that they may continue to increase in the future having appropriate funds in reserve equates or we consider these obligations those are the ones that are foreseen and then the ones that we don't foresee like going into a pandemic or an economic crisis or anything that make come up we have a responsibility to continue Services me we're going to have to continue to pay police salaries fire salaries we're going need to continue to have DPW out there Recreation for children Senior Services a health department these programs all depend on them so we try to balance out how much and what the projected Revenue will be in the future and what's the best number there's no specific number that's perfect we'll get nine individuals and nine will have different opinions but fortunately we take the opinion of our Auditors our accountants professionals that have done this for years and obviously government officials through the ups and the Downs of government over these many years and if I may just add to that because I I don't want to escape the slide on the health benefits 23% was an unprecedented number that no town in the state of New Jersey even fathomed we had used some of the um account trust account to offset it last year which we're using it again this year because the discussions or the thought was that this 23% what we got down from the state was there to balance off some M some um you know fill their their accounts to balance everything off and that this year we'd have some reprieve and instead of getting a reprieve it went up the 7% making it a total of 30% in two years that's why we put that comment that if that's the norm not only us but all around the state there will be significant issues with health benefits what you know Mr Fernandez through discussions with your colleagues and other municipalities what do they look like we're looking at a 3.45% up what do they what are you hearing so we've did a a quick from places that look like us you took the words right about in fact that was the mayor's direction to us when we were preparing this budget and um our sister cities are some of them have gone up double digits are pushing the double digits number even our sister city of Clifton uh is going up uh higher and and T neck by the way which for the last three or four years have zeros that's why we always got to be careful about the zeros was pushing 10% this year the one number that is most disturbing to me and it is not a reflection of this Administration or this Council or this government but is 275,000 which is now the average cost of a house in and that is frightening in terms of people who have just finished school just got out of wherever trade school college whatever it is um and how much money it's going to cost for them just to do anything questions from uh members of the council I have a question I just wanted to ask I speak a little bit louder if you first of all great presentation well explained but um you think we can get a email not a copy because I don't want to use the paper I'm a email of your presentation because I think it explains more to us and we can see it how it's broken down Absolutely I'll can share with the clerk can share with the administration feel comfortable um and I'm not so sure you should feel comfortable but would you feel comfortable if any parts of this uh discussion were uh have been recorded would be available to the public I'm fine with the presentation obviously those who are joining us publicly got to see it it was on the screen so we're fine good thank you m why don't we say goodby tomorrow if uh if that's your decision that's great if it's I can well understand where where I God forbid in your shoes I I don't think I'd be so generous I understand we try to be proactive and transparent and sometimes we prefer to air on the side of being more transparent to ensure that the public is understanding of the work that goes into this process which I'll take this opportunity just to share you know it's a difficult response for the business administrator to say what municipalities are raising where no one wants to point the finger at another municipality but oh I have no problem I know from the state level it's a little different the perspective but I will state this many of our cities around us that had historically been known for low percentage of increase while this Council in this Administration said we we would do our best to reduce but never play smoking mirrow or the can down the road and I'm not saying that's what they've done many of them now are going 10% and double digits on the residents we've all set it for years our goal is to not get to that place where we would have to do a 10% or a 12% we've been working hard to go 5% and less and our goal is to be steady we don't pretend with the public that there aren't going to be taxes there are Services there are programs but that we would always work together and to try to to be as upfront as possible so yes we would we would love to be able to get through this process without all the bumps but we welcome the public we want the information available to them because we want them to know that the responsible and pragmatic approach of this Council and our Administration over the years have positions us to receive historic funding and at the same time allow us to come together and say how how low can we go here for our residents knowing the challenges they face so thank you thank you mayor comments questions for Mr Fern councilman mon thank how does the um the Surplus fund work where do where do the funds come from every year uh so the same Revenue sources that uh Omar stated so in the state of New Jersey we're not allowed to anticipate more than we received the year before so let's say this year we anticipated $6 million but we something happens some new things come on the books and now we receive $9 million so that additional $3 million gets added to the Surplus because it was above and beyond what we anticipated for revenues that year uh things of that nature um areas that maybe were under spent on certain issues Maybe estim that came in lower than anticipated then all that gets rolled in it's uh on our annual financial statement that's why sometimes we have to wait till the last minute so they can balance our books and we know exactly how much is going to be able to go back into the Surplus account at the end of the year so that's how it's pretty much it's a balancing of the books of what expenditures we actually made versus the revenue that we actually brought in and then the offset of that becomes the Surplus that we put in our coffers for uh balancing the budget in future years okay so let's think for last year 2023 uh the budget was 108 million and actual came in at 100 million so where does that extra $8 million go into the surus account so last year the Surplus account went up $8 million right but you're not counting the amount that we spent right so if we spend the so if we put in for the for the last year's budget 5, 321,000 right and we don't use it then that's that's part of that eight million right it's not like it's new money it could be just money that we didn't spend so it's not an additional 8 million it's just we didn't spend some of the stuff we didn't use the year before right so I just want to make sure just for clarity I don't want you to think oh it's $8 million no it's $8 million total but if I put in four million right it's not 8 million new it's four million new I hope that explained that correctly okay another question do do you had a slide up there that showed where these funds went um our um fun the 30 million that came in for Co right the AR funds yes so what the the large percentage of that that went for salaries for overtime and so on so forth right actually in that slide and if you want I could pull it up again the 25 25 million allocated for that isn't it yes sir but most of that money was actually put into the budget as Revenue loss so the slide did say just bear with me just to bring it up I can go backward now here you're talking about bullet point uh here bullet point where I said 25 million of the total allotment was for Revenue loss overtime and salaries due to covid-19 pandemic th that 25 million was actually put into the budget as Revenue law so it actually helped offset what we would have normally had to raise in either other revenue or taxes to help balance the budget so back to the point that the business administrator and the mayor were making before that had AR not ever arrived that's $25 million that would not have been in our $26 million surplus account that we ended the year with right so the overtime and salary was a the minimist component of that most of it was put in for Revenue loss but as the council remember and the mayor's programs um with the food giveaways and you know the the vaccine coordination that you know Personnel power that was needed for all of that that was actually the purpose of some of that funding and the salaries again overtime we need to make sure that there's appropriate perspective and context remember during the pandemic there was a mandatory separation of employees that were positive or reported being in contact with those who were positive at the time at certain points people were by obligation out for four weeks and we as government have to have coverage police fire there are certain jobs that we cannot shut down so throughout the pandemic especially the first two years those were obligatory there was there was absolutely no leway on that and obviously there was a revenue to cover in those cases so that's a but the city of Pake and I I I also think it's important for the residents to know is one of the only municipalities that did not utilize the funds for what was later referred to as Hazard pay or additional pay or some referred to as bonus pay we did not we we definitely supported all of our employees and their families to separations and we moved things around but we were one of the only municipalities to refuse to use those funds and we directed those funds with the council and the ministration to services for the residents additional food giveaways Access to Health Care um for those who found themselves without work and food insecurities programs that provided them more than three to four different distributions a week every week throughout the pandemic you wanted to point those out right so the salaries so the salaries so the the additional let's say overtime right let's say was Police Department whatever it might have been right any Department those salaries up in the line item in the budget under salaries for police or is there a separate line item for those funds from the AR program so so specifically the salaries that were built into the 25 million were salaries of at the time they were calling them redeployed so for example those were salaries that were already in our budget they were existing employees who were now assigned to new functions related to covid-19 activ activities so that 25 million was assisting us to pay for the existing salary of existing employees who were now again the term was redeployed to covid-19 activities the and then the overtime which was additional cost above and beyond what we were experiencing before were in the second bullet point or the remaining six million of uh where we said various other mitigation efforts so that's why I say pretty much uh 100% of the 25 million was used to offset the budget itself because even in the case of the overtime and salaries that were built into 25 million those were already existing salaries so so the salaries in the budget were not increased at all because of the covid require needs within the city it the budget was a budget so there's nothing in the line item of let's see let's take this please as an example there was nothing in the police salary budget that was increased because of the co needs had there not been any Co say Co never happened the salaries and the budget would have been exactly the same for the police department that's that's my question right right but again the offset was like the mayor said right remember when Co first started somebody sat next to you and sneezed you were out for two weeks right and you had to be quarantined weeks two weeks the test you have to wait and then you come back right so then that those were massive amount of people during that time that had to be allocated of overtime so that had to come out of additional overtime budget but instead of it coming from the taxes it came out of the ARP monies okay now look going forward looking forward you know we have this these AR funds right which in this year's budget you're using the last funds that are available the $8 million what does next year look like when we don't have those $8 million now I understand there's the Surplus money right right but how does this how what is our what is our financial perform will look like going out in the next two three years but all a so 30 million in said we use a lot of the money for good things but we also use it to help call it get the budget where we want to get the budget right yes so what happens so and that's exactly actually in a perfect response to council president's question on on the Surplus and why not more Surplus and the mayor and the Ba's response right now there's $8 million in the budget to help balance the budget and again two million of it is dedicated towards capital projects but then to your point the other 6 million is helped to offset current expenses that we're going to have going forward word because it's for current existing employees and other expenses so now next year we'll experience a shortfall in our revenue of that $6 million that's no longer there and the idea is exactly to that point now we'll start and we potentially will end up using more of our Surplus going forward so that's why this year rough back of the napkin math rough back of the napkin math you can anticipate if everything stayed flat from one year to the other it's using instead of six million of surplus roughly 13 million of surplus because best case worst case scenario on that Mr what do you mean Cas scenario we run out of surplus beste scenario we bring in enough Revenue to utilize surus responsibly for the next decade to not realistically right so so so realistically if everything stayed the same I mean we're looking past 2728 if nothing change with Revenue now I want to make another Point going back to the things that we're doing right that $ 11 million that uh was stated in the line item when we were talking about the budget percentages we brought in an added assessments over $ million and the the the loss from like uh tax appeal tax appeals was 14 million okay I believe the year before that or the year prior to that we came in what we were up 14 million we were up over the loss right so this is a very you know it's a fluid thing so to answer you you know you say realistic it's difficult because who can predict right who can predict if we're going to end up with more assessed value in terms of Revenue compared to what we have to pay out if there's a tax bill or any other issue but for the most part I think that um as the ba said through 2728 if all things remain the same which we can't say will right there is a lot to just on one property we brought in almost $200,000 there is many properties that are going to start coming online next year the following year all the way through 2027 and we're not talking about we're talking about double this right I mean just the a street project alone is three times the size of 26 Jefferson right so those have not come online yet and there's a lot of developments that are not even on Pilots that were part of that $1 million right that are still being constructed that'll come in off of that number the following year so again because you never know when when they're going to get a SE of all you never know when the construction is going to finish you know we could have feast or famine right one year we can have five of these projects and we're really generating Surplus and then another year nothing's come online and now we have to take a little bit more which leads into why we're conservative with the Surplus right so I'd like to point out that out of all the budgets we've done the fact that we had a year where we added assessed more than what we lost was I mean decades and decades I don't remember that happening I mean I'll defer to some of the council members that have been here longer than I have but I don't remember in any recent history that that's ever happened and it happened into this Administration comes monk your Li still on yeah um terms of like this the average 275 per how does the commercial properties fall in with that you just how do you strip out you come up with that number do you take all the assess values of just the homes like use the same class yes so that's exactly what we do for the for the purposes of the slide on the impact on Residential Properties that's exactly what we do we only take the residential class so the total value of the total value of the residential class divided by the total number of residential Parcels to get you to the average value of the residential Parcels so it's it excludes anything related to any other class other than residential for the purposes of this life right right so just so you know our right now our ratio is 55% which means that 275 translates to a market value of about 500 just so the council knows a residential say for INT purposes we talking about a million dollars right uh F Well the average home would be 500,000 and in market value not City assessed value this is right this this is assess value meaning the assess value on the Tax Assessor's Records based on the last time we did a revaluation right because you know some people will look at this and be like what do you mean I don't ever see a house at 275 in the city of Pake no you don't because our ratio is applied to that which is an actuality of an average home price of a half a million dollars just so basically sess value is around 50 let you said 55% of True Value right that's our ratio roughly the um I guess you know this is something the last 30 years has always been the topic right right um you know it seems like the magic number here is 5% as long but why five why not seven why not three I understand it can't be zero right but and and you know when you have a number in mind you work get to that number no matter what it takes you know so in this scenario we got the AR you know funds we have the Surplus number we can just get our itting there 5% but why not three and a half that's a great question just like why is that the magic number allow me to answer so one of the directions that I gave to our our chief financial director in RBA is what what will our budget look like for the next five years for the next six years bring me back those numbers and how it impacts four years from now eight years from now after we did a projection and we stated it before you're right there is no perfect number we try to come up with a number that we feel would would be the most responsible when we jux suppose our increases to other municipalities that look like us we came up with a number of three would be that average number every single year that would be around Fair ideally zero not ideally negative you get something back right it' be wonderful in order to get that average number we realized that these difficult years and we had said this about four years ago to the public we announced it beforehand three years ago that we were going to go through some years of five four five and then in the projection we were able to see in the long term where that would position us to be at three four three threes depending if the numbers work out again we're not profits we don't know what extending circumstances we're going to face we don't know what direction the state will go with certain obligations that we can't say no but these were based on a projection considering some of the changes and increases we've had in the past looking to the Future for a long-term budget not just today and maybe next year but what eight years from now would look like that brought us to the number that we have often shared collectively we would be more comfortable with we would love ones but to do a one come back to have to do a nine well yeah so we saw gu you the question I'm going with is is that you know we know what the city's made up right there people and always been we know that as like the city's always pushing you know affordable housing and so on and so forth because we do have a large percentage of people that struggle unfortunately and um when people you know get their paycheck and they come home right and everything goes up cost of food goes up electricity goes up gasoline goes up right taxes go go goes up they have to make a decision at the end of the day at the end of each month what they can afford what they can't afford right so someone who's eating having meat twice a week now they went down to once a week right and they filled in with chicken right someone was buying you know whatever certain fruits they went down now to watermelon whatever it might be that's how we all live right we have a budget we have to cut so on so forth and government obviously it's a little bit more difficult to do it right there's stary contracts in place there's insurance cost and so on and so forth but let's say we approached a budget saying you know what there's a federal law that you cannot increase taxes more than 3% you could just stand at your head yeah you know what will we do you have no choice so we would have to make some tough decisions yes so obviously you always have to wait those decisions you know what's what can we do what we can't do right but we don't have that law that's sits over us that you could only raise at 3% right we've had before we've had caps that fored us and then there were certain circumstances with logical cap but here's what I would say I think we have an agreed and I think Collective Vision that we want to provide services to the residents at the most minimal cost but there's also an expectation that we're going to provide safety emergency response and in making these commitments this council is aware that we have had to face some of our bravest and seen them laid off it's difficult on when you mention difficult decisions very few governing bodies have had to do those things or face individuals during tough times and go if any one of us could do this just based on our preference we would not do this but collectively we make tough decisions for the betterment the city we made a commitment to always budgeting a way where we can meet those obligations to the community and never have to be in that situation again it remains in the Forefront of our minds we can't prevent emergencies or things that are going to happen nationally globally or Statewide but in terms of the numbers that we have before us and past president we try to ensure that there's always something in reserve for those unforeseen moments and that we can continue to pay the salaries and obligations of police fire and then consider our public service that has to respond to infrastructure issues or trees down and then programs for our seniors obviously these Services we have to pay for if we were a faed with a law that required us to cut beyond what we believe we could then the only other option would be to cut services and I think this Council and this Administration past present and hopefully those in the future try to make the decision and have tried to make the decision to keep the most essential of services and then try to offset with grants and we're that's why we're always highlighting the grants that all the extras aren't coming from the budget that the budget covers the Necessities the extras we go out for Grants successful to get them but councilman it would it would not be genuine of me to say 5% is the perfect number it's not it's a number that when we looked at the projections for the future would keep us within that range of five and below just remember that when we looked at other municipalities and saw some going eight and 10 and we going we never want to go there we saw the county one year that went 4% and we thought that was good it was acceptable and then they went zeros for a number of years only to have to hit in the future so we said this would be a number that would work long term if we uh if we continue to govern in the responsible way we've had right if I can just end off with one one last comment um difference and I again I I respect I appreciate all the time and effort that goes into putting this budget together right and if you look down the list here uh and you compare from last year to this year you can see that a lot of effort has gone into keeping most of the line items of different departments really pretty much flat from the year before and most of the increases are really have to do with contractual garbage and insurance which we this has been just history of of everybody right personal people the governments and so on and so forth right all our budg right that was something was well foreen right right so years we see that but just that we keep in mind okay if taxes go up 5% a year our taxes will double every 14 years every 14 years our taxes will double just at just at 5% the difference between 5% and three and a half% is that three and a half% taxes will not double for 21 years which goes to my point of the longterm trying to get us to that three that when I asked the numbers how do we eventually get to the 333 to 28 and they would be doing the four the five the four and then the three and trying to stick there so I just make that point is that the difference between three and a half and five is that one and a half per difference is taxes double every 14 years or every 21 years that's the impact that one and a half perc can mean to our residents and I love that point because that's obviously you went a little higher me I I came to the number of three so when I asked him how do we get to three every year these were the numbers that they gave me to go from fives to Fours to eventually get to threes but I agree with you our idea would be around that number not even 3.5 I would wish we can go three and under every single year considering the difficult years that we face now we feel that five is an acceptable number to get us to that place where we could be stay by at 3% T your taxes taxes will double every 24 years at at a 3% so and that's based on IR calculation where you know if it goes up 5% if I go for $100 this year to 105 now my 5% next year is on 105 not on the 100 original so now IR calculation that's a difference of 14 years or 21 years or to 24 years basic whether it's 53 and F3 I've shared this all share publicly I've asked that we could get to 2026 and 2027 at three that's my goal so I want you to be aware of that that when we did this it was going what happens in 2026 what happens in 2027 can we get to three and can we expect to stay out of three and these were the numbers well I'm sorry I said one last count I do and I do reserve the right then we get to 333 to say why don't we go to one one and councilman Love Yes um so historically is there funding like AR that comes our way we have never received funding like AR course yeah obvious that's probably the largest but I'm talking about anything that when there are circumstances like FEMA obviously when there's a major disaster and then FEMA allocates specific funds to the president or the Congress and Senate in their wisdom put money aside it goes to the state and then we can draw from that specific to what just occurred but it's hard for us to budget hoping that something occurs or expecting something to occur we have additional funds that come through grants that's a an additional Revenue we apply for we compete with other municipalities we have grants that we expect every year and every now and then a new funding source will open up like the historic legislation for the state for affordable housing and then they'll create a fund for affordable housing that maybe wasn't available two years ago but rarely I don't even recall the last time anything of this magnitude because this was a global pandemic so the response was at that magnitud that that that question was calculated yes Scott no just to go back that it's never been for this is the first grant of this magnitude that was specifically for Revenue loss that is injected directly into a budget versus a program that no he knows he's making no I know but I figured he no I'm trying to give no but but I wanted that that I wanted to highlight that and have that come out because um these are not funds that we can really expect all often and and and and individuals need to know that I mean I'm learning as a councilman um that you know you just don't get that type of money you know um all the time or even periodically this it's a one lifetime thing all right so I just wanted to point that out and also um one of the things is Mayor both you and your Administration you guys are in Peculiar situations because um you have to prepare this so you're going to be either the heral or the villain and one one of the things that I saw and uh my colleagues that was around for that can speak to it we got presented those tough decisions when we had the layoff they they were presented to us and it was a list of this is the scenarios these are where we could save money um and and I'm just suggesting that we go back to that so that when we get the budget and we're looking at it you're getting more eyes and ears and more accountability and um for the budget even before it's presented um because those we can Pro Council as as well as the uh Administration to collectively we can kind of make those decisions on on those tough decisions you may not as a mayor want to make right and all due respect I mean you you know you you have to live with every decision whether we vote on or not you you have to so I my suggestion is that somehow if there is a some cost saves then they can speak to councilman Monk's position if there's a opportunity for cost savings don't make that decision in the vacuum or in a bubble by yourself um present something um or those things that that can potentially you know cut services or hold back and and so we can put our heads together and see how we can thank you very generous of you councilman are there any other questions for the administration at this point just want to make a comment to please to the mayor and his administration um just want to commend you the way you use the art money because um a lot of our city um sister cities did not use plas and right now they're being face with raising taxes to double digits so I just want to say thank you because you guys really and really taught us how a a budget could be balanced not affecting the residents um and just to be stable so we just want to commend you and the administration for doing that especially dealing with a global pandemic that we were not ready for and this um money did get injected into a um into the cities but you guys used to wisely and help us get through it and we're in a better space than you yeah I just want to add a add a thought or to and that is the number one my compliments to the budget I haven't looked at it in detail but my compliments to to mayor to you of course and Mr Fernandez to our director um I'm looking at a existential question and that is 15 years from now 20 years from now even today right now the average cost of a house is 20 75,000 which is not 275,000 it's double that so we're talking about5 50,000 equivalent for someone who graduated high school maybe he's got a maybe he maybe she a kid or two where are they going in pic to live where they going anywhere to live yeah but everywhere is not where I live got all right with the council's permission why don't we take about a five minute break and then come back you serious oh yeah rude as hell we got wait yes thank you we're up to we're up to R numeral six on our agendas tonight presentation Community Development cdbg consultant good evening Council Community mayor ba um I have been asked to come in today to give you a if you could speak a bit louder please I've been asked to come in today to to explain a little bit more about our home program and the application process as it pertains to development and the um affordability units uh first of all we advertise every year we get funding for home and cdbg um we advertise and let the community know it is now time for them to you know plan on what they would like to see done within the city we have a major meeting uh currently it's been in Zoom since we've had the pandemic and they're invited to the table to tell us what they would like to do we explain to them what the programs entail what the funding is for home as you all know is for affordable housing we can use it as well for first-time home buyer and we've used it in the past for Rehab uh currently we have several years of Home money that we are trying to expend getting developers to come in has been a bit slow previously because some of them have somewhat of an issue with the rules and regulations governing the funding um they must complete an application the process is completing the application um we have to be provided with site control um permits environmental assessments the mediation of any hazardous materials and all the financial commitment we review that in house to make sure all of that is available at that point we take the application and we submit it to our underwriter um underwriting is a specialized skill as you know um but primarily each project is reviewed on a caseby casee basis it's no Direct procedure for all of the projects it's contingent upon quite a few things um shovel ready is one of the issues which is pretty much very key in that we only have five years to spend the money we have two to commit and five to spend so when we get a um project that's shovel ready it is beneficial to the city and getting those out the door because if we do not spend them in the appropriate amount of time HUD can come in and we capture those funds um with regard to the underwriting itself it every year we get a maximum per subsidy unit that is the maximum we can offer any developer for units based on unit size bid one two three four bedrooms they give us that information we determine how much they get based on all of the paperwork they submit to us and that would be the performer the analysis of their past projects um market analysis construction costs um primarily we like to keep the internal rate of revenue between 15 and 20% 20 being the industry's standard um the performa statement is key in that this document allows us to see a summary of the anticipated ongoing project expenses and with that it's critical in establishing the feasibility of the application itself um on we just received our new subsid rate for 2024 and for a one bedroom it's $ 28,42 bedroom it's $252,900 for three bedroom $327 and for a Ford bedroom it's $359,990 so historically we normally get between two to five affordable units in a project and that's great but the city is in dire need of quite a few affordable units and most particularly two and three bedroom we're now starting to get the two-bedroom but hopefully in the future we will be getting three bedroom units um so we I know that you all have a copy of the reso for 199 and the backup I just want to explain to you some of the backup you'll see right after the resolution it's a checklist that checklist is for us inh housee if everything is marked yes on that checklist we are then allowed to put this information into Hud's reporting system We cannot put it in until we have a yes on all these items so at the moment when this was done there was one or two knows that we had to get information back from the developer or there's something we had to do in house behind the checklist is the directly behind the checklist is the underwriter's review he gives a detailed review on every project we submit to him again there are various andary things that come into play with regard to him giving us uh determination as to you know how much each project will receive and not the least of which is the performer uh shovel ready availability of funds because if we have no funds there's no point in going through this exercise location even comes into play and the number of Home units is key to determine the overall uh package so that pretty much in a nutshell is how we process our home applications I know there may be some questions councilman love yes uh thank you for the presentation how was a the process advertised how much what I'm advertised in terms of um well every every year like I said we go out and let the community know that our new funding is getting ready to come through the city we solicit them with a notice in the paper and they come to the meeting those who don't have an understanding of either program we explain to them both cdbg and home um they can come into the office they're told um there is the website we put everything on the website so that's how pretty much year round developers can come year round home is different from cdbg in that way uh cdbg they have to put in their RFP for the year's funding and after the year it's a new round they have to spend cdbg money within the year home is different like I said you have five years to expend on a development two years to commit it okay and how often um is like projects come from home is it year annually or it's when the funding obviously it's we always we I shouldn't say always have the funding but we have funding we don't I can't tell you we get developers in every month every three months it's very sporadic and as I said they look at the rules and regulations governing um these funds because it has to be made affordable new home units 20 years they have to you know abide by homes regulations um it has to be for affordable um load to mod income individuals so that's 20 years and a lot of them are like well I could be getting market rate so that may be why that is you know kind of a turnoff rehabs are 15 years they have to maintain Loom mod for 15 years for rehabs okay and if if a person um Wanted technical support and assistance um how would they go about that if they wanted technical support meaning specifically the developer with the underwriting yes that would be our underwriter okay thank you you're welcome if I make through the council president I also wanted to share that we've we've had Town Hall meetings as well we've held Town Hall meetings at the boys and girls club downtown we've held Town Hall meetings at different fairs throughout the city where the department has been present with information we've also sent information home to parents through students in the school to let them know about the first-time home buyers program cdbg funding and then not for-profit organizations that often uh apply for some of the Community Development block grants we have uh meetings where we invite non for-profit organizations on a monthly basis sometimes uh twice a year and we bring them all together and we share the information so the department under Joyce has been very proactive in getting the information out to the community thank you those uh presentations May they're bilingual are they yes we often do them with translators we either get someone from the community or a staff member in the department in Community Development they can speak knowledgeably about the grants will come and present and speak in both languages thank you any other questions I want to thank you for I'm sorry councilman monk thank you um thank you for the presentation you extremely informative and um so seems like you really uh have this program figured out well um approximately I'm sure the number changes every year how many dollars you know you typically get spent through this expended through this program on a yearly basis on a yearly basis under home specifically 200 700,000 some some years we had 700,000 for the VFW so that was for our 2023 fiscal year and that was four units three two-bedroom one one bedroomroom and that was condo homeowner so that was for that particular year as I said it slow councilman it's um a situation whereas I'm glad that you guys were kind enough to approve the ordinance that just went through for the developers who come in here and have to it's mandatory I believe what 15% um which is wonderful and that hopefully will get us more developers in to create more affordable homes because it's needed right so it seems that I guess you's saying a 700,000 800,000 whatever on a yearly basis right so I guess what C are I was this last application which was $2.3 Million to to one site right one which I understand that the money had to be spent we would have lost those excuse me but please please please understand I was so thrilled 12 units all 12 are affordable they have parking they have a laundromat right I was just gonna chime in because what happens is Joyce's Department gets these applications as the developments are going through and we have conversations through the administration and get the developers through there and that was the main point the reason you saw that number is because it was for 12 units as she mentioned the VFW was only four units before that we did a couple of a handful of units that is why um yeah 750,000 that is why you see in every Redevelopment plan a push for not only affordable housing but Workforce housing which is a new Gap that's been created through the pandemic and now the mayor's proposal uh which was passed by the council for the mandatory set aside and the accessory dwelling units which is directly at point to uh try to address missing middle housing in a lot of the areas of the municipality just by that alone it opens up the ability for more funding sources I mean more funding possibilities through cdbg and home and finally I'd like to add that we very rarely go to the maximum of those numbers that she just read off why because one of the mayor's directives has always been that you want to help as many people as possible so when we can we do the projects like this but when not you'll usually see maybe 125,000 a unit 150,000 unit so we could spread it to multiple projects and more multiple vicinities so that it spread throughout the municipality everybody has the ability to have affordable place to make those numbers clear consider home funds if we end up getting let's say $120,000 for first-time home buyer and the max you can get is 40,000 and that only provides for three individuals what we try to do is average it out at 20,000 each and then maximize or get more individuals involved but I really want to express and and I don't want it to be lost the enthusiasm that Joyce expressed um about the 12 units with parking all affordable housing the ba had touched upon it because of projects like this then we get seen more favorably in the next round when they're giving out funds which make more funding available for first-time home repair first-time home buyers because some municipalities receive the funds they don't use them they end up sending them back so when we get an appealing application if we maximize in certain funds like instead of having to return 2 million we go this is a project 12 affordable parking uh certain amenities still affordable when we present that to the federal government because those restrictions come from the federal government so when we present that again it makes the city look better and then we get more funds to give out to more residents that was why she responded that way if I may was that correct Joyce that is correct when these programs were many of them when they were initially instituted um part of the idea was that a house be bought on this street which is not the greatest street but people coming in buying the property versus versus renting taking ownership that block by block that things would begin improving exactly exactly and there this particular developer is interested in more property here in the city um I told him that moving forward we have to do mixed units but um he's interested in giving us more affordable uh units so yeah and to answer your question directly council president the answer to your question is yes uh on many of these going along the same direction that we received with our affordable housing home funds our first time home by our rehab program and our Redevelopment process we could do swats of land but we don't right we pick specific Parcels that uh after multiple discussions we feel is going I call it the reverse Broken Window Theory right where you see a broken window everything gets destroyed well I believe if you fix the window then more people are going to start fixing their Windows because nobody wants to be that house on the Block um and I could tell you that on many occasions when you look at it you see little by little the uplifting of the area and that neighborhood by infusing those dollars and one thing that Joyce noted that I know the mayor and myself have said on many occasions we're also looking at mixed incomes to provide greater opportunities for everyone uh in the Muna we seen blighted areas transformed council president we've seen Partnerships obviously to our community development and even with Habitat for Humanity to buy a home that was in complete disarray and added to issues of concern with Vermin and all types of stuff just blight it and being able to provide These funds see that home purchase from residents in the city to receive those funds and we've seen two houses next to it and then two houses next to it and little by little it's not as fast as we would all like but there have been a few neighborhoods where we have seen a transformation over the past five to 10 years because of these programs we're moving in that direction definitely I think that it's uh the state has certainly recognized if not the state of the entire country and that is that the transference of wealth from generation to generation is dependent upon Equity ownership of property true and if we are going to change things around and do it for real and not simply throw money here or throw money there corre by concentrated that represents the real change that we're looking for in terms of people taking ownership transference of wealth from one generation to another yes yes any other questions yes Council yeah how is it determined how much Equity a developer has to put in is there a percentage is there how is it determined how much Equity a developer needs to put in of his own money is it a percentage 25% 25% is yes okay and and is there a is there a Max that a developer can charge for his developer fee I'm sorry with the r is there a Max that the developer can charge for the development fee I'm not I'd have to check with my to be honest with you I'd have to check with the consultant who does the override um underwriting I asked that question because at the particular um resolution which we had which were right which we were discussing earlier so over there 25% of the acquired Equity is around $800,000 and then the developer fee is $400,000 so it's really at the end of the day net net developer only had to put in 12 and a half% not 25% so can a developer say you know what instead of my developer being $400,000 which in this case is a 12% developer fee I could make my development fee $600,000 and only have to put $200,000 in my own money into the deal net net if I may we do have the underwriter for that specific question that's on the line U for this particular deal we all know deals change depending on it Stephen if you could be yes I'm here did you hear the question regarding the maximum amount of uh developer fee that is in any given project that yes the maximum amount is 10% for developer fee so the maximum permitted is a 10% developer fee so this this application we have in front of us is 12% no um the developers fee if you look at the budget councilman is $190,000 which is under the 10% maximum okay what I have here is a develop of $400,000 in front of us okay if I don't you just move on to the next question how does it work with Surplus so in this case developer spends $800,000 and the city home program gave the 2 point whatever two point I say called two and a half million dollars if end of the day the let's say architectural fees come in half site workk is less um there's an extra $200,000 who gets the $200,000 that go back to the home program does that go to the developer pocket so it's a reimbursement project councilman so what'll happen is each of those fees are run through Community Development and the underwriter and they have to balance that off with the amount they put into their budget so so it's everything's a reimbursement nothing's given up front so as they do the work and they come in they have to provide the invoices from those specific uh professionals or items like the framing or the plumbing or the electrical so if there any if anything comes in less then the home those funds stay in the home funds stay should yes councilman councilman that is correct I apologize if I was confusing I I wanted to make it clear that it's a reimbursement project right all federal funds under this program are reimbursement they have to submit invoices but if by some strange happen that there's money left over it stays in the PT yeah okay and councilman if there's a cost overrun the developer has a a completion guarantee that includes him covering any cost overruns right that's so I read read yes thank you thank you um what the what I think I have one last question I think does the city have the municipalities have the right to establish their own I'm not use the word Housing Authority because we have housing authorities right their own um call it affordable Authority right affordable housing author Authority where we could the city itself well we could use these funds to build these affordable housing projects you can then even at a certain point at a certain point refinance them ourselves right through local banks who will want to give benefit affordable housing residents right in the city give good rates and then take that money roll that money over into building more affordable housing if we're funding it ourselves Council yes so other words take this money and you can come and get home money the city can get home money to to buy buy and build yes yes but we were just talking about the budget and services we'd have to open up a completely new department and we would become in essence landlords of those buildings um but it is viable that a city would take on a project and do it you know there are uh Municipal 100% affordable projects out there throughout the state that do happen but they usually have another entity that runs it so right for example in the VFW case you have Habitat for Humanity housing authorities do it all the time Community Housing Development organization chos usually run them and maintain them um you know as part of their assets versus a municipalities so what happens a lot of times just for the liability and the management of it the municipalities may get the ball rolling and start the process and then at some point transfer that ownership and management to another entity okay thank you you're welcome thank you for real I can keep going want but I just uh there any other questions for the L no thank you very much for being with us welcome thank you yeah so I just want to thank Joyce and Stephen who's on the line for thank you Stephen thank you thanks guys have a good night have a good night thank you we up to R numeral seven on our agendas hearing of citizens in accordance with the open public meetings act njsa 104-1 SEC the council opens every public meeting for comments of the public however in accordance with njsa 104-112 nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public B to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation at any meeting therefore please be advised that the council will not entertain any comments from persons who communicate obs material make statements which are considered bias intimidation in which a person intends to intimidate any individual or group because of race color religion gender handicap sexual orientation or ethnicity or makes comments intending to harass or speak any offensive language the person who makes these statements will relinquish their lettered five minutes for public discussion uh when you uh come before the mic we ask you pleasee to share with us your name please be advised that everyone has up to five minutes and five minutes only to speak at the end of four minutes the clerk has a bell where she will ring signifying that you have one minute with which to conclude your remarks yes ma'am hello good evening my name is shant assat I think it's very rude that you guys put presentations and things before the community members like you know the community members should be able to speak because we do have amilies to go home to the council meeting is for you guys to do everything you got to do as far as like figuring out the city business we can go and watch the tapes later but to have us wait this long I've never come to a council meeting had to wait over an hour to speak to you guys I think it's silly tactics that you guys should not engage in being that you are council members and you're overseeing the city anyway in 169 a Dutch fate landed at Jamestown Virginia 20 Africans the first Africans to be bought and sold this marks the sale of the first human beings in this country in colonial America we come now to 2024 and we are just products of a holocaust say as you guys well some of you literally in 1600s they passed laws that made black people and only black people to be serving as slaves for the rest of their lives 2024 I still feel like we still living under that same regime you guys are in the council but I feel like your methods are outdated Council um community members come here and we express our opinions we tell you that something's wrong and you overshadow it you dismiss us but as a council and as a mayor it should be fair and just for all community members it's been two years and we have been sitting here fighting I've been fighting for two years for a farm a farm R and led by people of color in your city yet you don't see that as something that would be beneficial to the children which is already proven to be beneficial to the children we were bought here 1619 to farm for you guys now in 2024 2024 we want to farm for free and you want to tell us we can't we still can't live we still have no rights police officers are going around the city and targeting black people yet it's just a livelihood thing or I come here and I'm speaking sply my comments are spous this is my life you're talking about these are my friends my brothers sisters cousin Grandma whatever you want to call it these are my people sir culturally you guys have to be specific in a town if a community members are telling you specifically we need this culturally you have to oblige we don't have to wait for processes or procedures in order for something to be deemed beneficial to a community we've been waiting to farm the same people that you're going around the town and arresting these are grown men that you're arresting in the town are the same people who go and they develop that farm space that you guys placed a white security van at why I don't know I and I have a video and witnesses that literally say mayor mayor some Spanish man Hispanic male standing at the farm led by people of color still struggling you guys are not going to help us build it which you haven't for a whole entire years it's been over a year and we're developing it ourselves using recyclables from the city because we care about Waste Management we care about climate Justice we care about ourselves we care about racial Equity we care about being a part of this community and we are active community community members we are active community members yet you want to keep saying that we're not we fight we fight all the time for our rights peaceful protests Council meetings petitions still we got to fight for a park Carney brag Park is a Historic Landmark I don't know what you guys think you're going to do with that however to honor him he been here for years serving this community and other communities here in the county of p and you're going to sit here and you're going to put a concession stand in his Park are you serious that's how you honor him because his people are using his part that you dedicated to come on bro you don't gotta like it but you guys haven't been there for an entire year you haven't did anything to that Park but let it degrade we like to use the park we like to use the park for chess the children love to learn about chess can you guys beautify the park I believe your time is up right you need to step down from right you have anything to say sir when you step down from the podium man' when you Ste down stood here Community M I am asking you please to step down I am asking you please to step down response whether the council has a response is up to each and every member of the council each member of the council may or may not wish to comment one way or the other no one is going to comment with you standing there this woman just stood here you this woman was not part of this process right now she was part she was asked she was asked to attend this meeting specifically and share with the council the state of a program I don't know ma'am I'm saying that you are coming as a citizen or as a resident of the city she was not here in that position I will not go back and forth with you please step down from the podium anyone else like to address the council yes sir AR ma uh 187 Howard um can you guys hear me I'm sorry can you hear me well barely but yes we can all right I'll try to speak a little louder by the way for those of you here boats will be provided to get you home yes um good evening city council good evening everyone um there's a few G there's a few things on my agenda that I would like to speak about number one uh 287 High Street uh there is a No Parking sign down um it's been down for about two weeks I believe uh PNG was doing some um work and then the sign was the poll was put there instead of the sign now not sure what exactly is been um happened to the Sun but I see it on the lawn of 287 High Street next on my thought of agendas um uh recently I've been going on Benson Avenue um and there's multiple cars parked double parked and on the sidewalk all over the place we have 50 new spots thank you to the mayor um and the cars are literally parked all over the place um there's zero signage of no parking on sidewalks or um on Benson Avenue my question is is there a No Parking Zone on Benson Avenue because of this uh parking lot um and then um oh um recently I've been noticing there's been um another one uh parking by 171 High Street um no not High Street Howard Avenue um by the pump uh there's been a lot of uh cars parking by the pump um I'm thinking that we get um more yellow yellow painting over there um same for the corner of Van hon and High Street there should be more um paint of the yellow um because the yellow paint has been uh R out if possible that's my uh that's what I got my agenda tonight thank you very much thank you sir um we would ask I don't know if you've had the pleasure but we would ask certainly in the future if you could make sure to call DPW or whatever agency's involved um as a first Resort we appreciate your coming and sharing with us your concerns um but if it's been 10 days or two weeks since last the council met potentially that's 10 days two weeks when whatever authorities needed to be notified to be notified so we thank you very much for being here and sharing with us um and just asked that uh please contact the the city Administration by phone also okay thank you anyone else like to address the council please yes ma'am good evening my name is Renee BRS and I live at 23 as Place Apartment 6C my concern tonight is um concerns of a lot of young men in my community a lot of young africanamerican men that don't feel that they are safe in the city I kind of gotta agree with them because I'm living with one a 16-year-old grandson on February the 22nd of this year on his way home from school was jumped by a Carlo of Hispanic boys because he was an enna from the a they don't call ASL a no more they call it the a he ran for safety ironically he ran in the direction of school 20 because he was a student at one time in school 20 calling me on his phone I just happened to be at the Garden Vista making arrangements for my church to host an affair there me and the young lady that governs um the day-to-day operation of the garden vistor and book the hall just happened to see all of this disturbance outside the window never realizing that my grandson was the target of the confusion we immediately got on the phone she opened the doors and allowed him to come in when the police officers showed up they were more concerned about my hysteria of him bleeding from his head and have been beaten with a metal bat and other object that they didn't even really do any concern he was attacked on the corner of a sake in Main Avenue where his two Banks were cameras Merchants with cameras but they were so concerned about my reaction to seeing my grandson bleeding from his head no one ever went and looked at any cameras try to get any footage he told me on the way to the trauma center at St Joseph he said Grandma they're not gonna do anything to help me that's where it broke my heart literally broke my heart that my grandson would think in the city that I gave so much of my time and energy to that he knows he's not going to be protected by the local police or know that any positive resolution is going to happen to him so therefore these kids are now resorted to vigilante justice him and his friends yes my grandson Shar and his friends started to go to look out for some of those boys that was identified in his attack and they had been attacking him because they felt that the police department didn't do anything and they didn't because they told me they couldn't find no footage but nobody went out that day when it was reported to retrieve anything to benefit support or to help Shere so now I'm left with a community and two teenage African-American boys that on the onset of a summer don't feel to be safe in the community in which they live in a young man was already shot in B daylight and Asing Place Building 23 was shot up nine times rid by bullets kids are just coming down there I don't know what the problem is but I thought it should be identified And1 which is Alpha Village is the money maker of the P couns Authority a whole lot of money a half a million dollars is give and shed services for police protection but my young man there and my grandson don't feel protected I do want to say this and speaking to deputy chief gentel his concern was more or less my hysteria than not having a resolution for my grandson or identifying the car or anybody that had anything to do with it but I want to say this recently I called Chief Gman and we are starting a conversation with the young men at spere Village I want to thank him for that he's personally taken on that responsibility to come down and speak with the kids and give their perspective no I do not play in the public parks no I didn't walk up and down the street playing I personally feel safe because most people not checking or messing with Miss Renee anyway but I also want to say thank you to Joyce in the Department of Community Development with me and Mr thank you Miss Griggs to start a team minutes Miss Griggs I'm like shant tell you it got it a black it's five minutes Chief could you help us with this one please I mean not taking this case specifically although perhaps we should but can you give us an idea of of there's an assault there's an assault on the street so when there are cameras all around yes when the original incident occurred uh in February I was away but uh Renee called me and uh I director directed her to the investigating officer or detective at the time uh in conversation I had with them the cameras in that area weren't working so we weren't able to get the footage needed to uh positively prosecute there's other avenues that could be taken uh and at that time arrests weren't made and last of my knowledge no arrest have been made but uh she called me this week she she wanted to have a meeting just me and her she wanted to come to my office I couldn't at the moment that she called and we haven't since that time since I think it was Tuesday Renee um haven't been able to get together uh to have a conversation she is very concerned I take her uh concerns very very seriously the stake Police Department takes it very very serious um and we're just GNA have to follow up council president Chief forgive me I a young man was beaten with a metal bat yeah I I don't I don't know the circumstances as to why an arrest hasn't been made in the incident um I I'm G to have to follow that up sir could you share with us the cameras that we're speaking about are those City cameras or those County cameras or there store cameras yeah they're probably store cameras and we circulated to all the stores and ask them if their equipment was working yeah as a canvasing uh operation we they the the uh detectives go around and and check for cameras you still might get something but it's not enough to uh identify somebody council president if if I may Chief um is there an ongoing investigation absolutely Chief do you have the date of the incident or estimate of the date the original incident I believe it was February 23rd February 23rd 20 22 so so this occurred in February correct okay and the investigation continues Chief have there been incidents similar assaults or crimes that have been solved a year later in your experience have there been incidents of assault investigations where the crimes have been solved or rather information guer individuals arrested a year later how about two years later three years later the reason why I share this council president because I understand understand the concern I join with you however I think it's important for the public to have context that there are there are incidents where individuals aren't arrested in the same week month maybe even not the same year that does not mean the police don't continue to investigate investigations become obviously the duty of our local police charging becomes something that is partnered with the county where resources are made available however for the city to receive additional resources sometimes even the appropriate paperwork for searches they have to have enough evidence to do so I only share this because perhaps the chief's response of there having been an arrest if the public may hear it and they're not privy to this information they may misinterpret that to be the police isn't act or they're not acting there's an ongoing investigation meaning there's continued calls for the community any information bring it to the police there have been times where crimes occurred in January and then the next year the next march not three months later we'll get a lot of information and individuals get arrested so I just want to be clear Chief is there any atttention by you or the police to to Forfeit the investigation to give up the investigation or when when will the operations and the efforts of the police be concluded in this situation so we continue until there's arrest we cannot always predict when the arrest will come but to the council to Mrs Griggs and her family to the community I want to stress that our police will continue until they hold these individuals accountable sometimes when there is a lack of uh surveillance or equipment from a commercial business we sometimes extend that investigation we'll say can we find anything that resembles the vehicle 10 blocks down 20 blocks down unfortunately the further away and I don't want to get too much into criminology but the further away from the incident the more challenging it becomes for the police to make a compelling argument to the prosecutor to provide the resources necessary to charge but I assure you that Chief Guzman and our police department will remain on it and council president I want to make sure that our council members understand that perhaps we don't get the resolution 24 hours from now sometimes not even months from now but we do not give up when we have something on the books will continue every single effort until we hold these people accountable thank you chief thank you mayor um it is a difficult situation I have no doubt but I'm concerned that we're not sending perhaps a message uh you know to specific communities that this is fair and open most of most everyone gets treated the same right so I appreciate appreciate what the chief had said and certainly know what you had said and I have a bit of a relationship on a personal level to the police department as everyone knows and these are difficult things and I recognize that um and it's too early to until we get the results of that investigation it's too early to determine really anything right um but I think that we need to find ways especially as we approach the summer months um to relate to our various and many many many communities throughout the uh throughout the city um that everyone gets treated the same right everyone gets treated the same fast in terms of M BRS of you being concerned that you were getting more attention from from a police officer than was your grandson um I can't respond to that you are certainly a well-known figure in the city um why he or whatever officer would have reacted the way that he or she did I don't know um but certainly I would um in in some way look upon it as a comp ment to you because of the relationship and the knowledge of you whether or not some of that affection should have been shared in terms of your grandson is of course another story but we look forward uh to resolution of this case and we certainly want to rest assure every community that every Community gets and every individual gets treated the same right um so let's hope to a careful resolution of this of this issue council president perhaps through the council if you would consider since I know the incident didn't occur in housing it occurred on MAV and in Pake Street away from housing but there was a concern that was raised about the money put aside for police presence in housing perhaps through the council we can set up a meeting for housing and the State Police Department to do a presentation and give an explanation of how the police presence is being uh implemented in housing and how those funds are uh are funding those presence a report for the council and for housing and for the residents at at the council's direction mayor certainly if if we would want to ask the security group at the servicing group of the city as well as the The Authority I think it would probably be a propo um to have of course our chairperson uh and members of of Housing Authority committee and if that can be arranged I think that would be extremely helpful okay if offic we set a meeting I know that there's monies aside for specific police presence just a presentation for the council and for house sure thank you um any other comments is there anyone else like to just the counc yes good evening Joe conen 170 Broadway council president on um Spruce Street up on top there on the other side would be the 100 steps um the park is named after Griffin and Lona at one time there was a Min in there the minent was taken out because there was a lot of activities in the park so as of today that minent is in delawana on Main Main Avenue in the Monument of company over there they're holding it so the question here is it needs some uh cleaning it needs the footing um it needs to be funded to have it be put back to the park that's my first question my second one is I would like to know about North plaski Park 2 e-14 e Monroe Street that's block 101 uh d06 sl12 that lot that park has been abandoned I would say for quite a while um at one time they had all new lighting they had a nice playground everything is destroyed um today I'd like to know what's going on with the park is going to get uh put back as a park maybe it' be nice to make a splash park there since you're making one on Harrison Street just a thought my next question is van hton and bake Avenue I know this money is being spent they just put a new fencing on the train station I know they gonna be working on the uh flooding area there but you look at if you look at that area because I know you take that area every day just about most of you if you look at that area it's all deterioration you got the uh clay the clay tennis court with all those overgrown trees that's just a waste of time over there that could be all dressed up with bushes or or some kind of plants in that area and the train trestor is a disaster I don't know if you can get uh in Wild with the transit and the city work something out to uh bring that up to date because that's all deteriorating you look at the roofs you look at the the walls the the lighting is no lighting there the only Lighting in that area is not is in the center but that doesn't count for that area is the one that's on right there outside of the tennis court there's only one light on that block that controls that whole underpass underpass doesn't have no lighting at all uh my last question we just we just had a 100 Years of the sener path I don't know if any of you know that uh dedicated in May 30th 1924 to May 30th 2024 um I have the picture to show you like to see the sen if you don't know what it is the par um yeah we had a nice service there it was it was pretty decent there only a handful of people showed up but anyway um I'm going to my next question we got the fountain it's been a bandit quite a while now I think last time it was working I think the the firemen had the funds for that or something there um is there any way get some kind of funding get this Fountain back to work again um you could probably use a uh they have these pumps you just you recycle water I don't think it would be a problem um these are my questions tonight okay Mr f you want to take a step at some of these uh issues um I'll try uh I remember most of them moving monuments so one of them one of them is actually in a very excit the monument he has I'll do that very quickly um thank you for speaking on behalf of the family the Tony Griffith I've been speaking directly to the family so we're coordinating the date of the monument going back the monument was actually removed by the fire chief and since we redid the steps thank you for the support through the council and put a brand new park there they had a move the monument so that was fire chief Patrick trena who chose to remove it I'm talking to the family together because we're going to do a dedication with the city and the family uh Mr keni may have not been privy to that but the family is aware of it North palowski Park abandoned um it is definitely not abandoned actually that's a very exciting point to council may recall that's part of a negotiations with the county where we're putting in approximately $14 million of federal and state Monies to redo the train tracks and they're putting in approximately another1 million of their money to do our first River uh rail Bridge rail Bridge Riverfront walk and complete North palaski so if 26 million is not taking care of a problem can you please visit me more and and it's a it's a very exciting project we did have Community meetings and renderings I'm sure you can even go to the B's Facebook page right now we had Town Hall meetings people came we presented that we were going to take care of the park we applied for money for the park then we had Community involvement for the park and now we've been awarded and we're moving forward on the park so the clay courts overgrown trees so you know I don't it's always in the eye of the beholder and sub subjectivity so there's a reason why some of those areas may appear overgrown those are actually buffers from the residential area because that is a staging area that we use that DPW uses for clay for the fields for removal of the leaves for anything that is required uh by the DPW and if you recall it used to be right on to sake Street sake Avenue and it was out in the open and people would complain how unsightly it was to such a beautiful Park so we moved it in a more secluded location we left some of the overgrowth on purpose to provide some buffering from the neighboring but DPW is constantly there they're constantly weed whacking but we want some of that overgrowth to separate from the the residences the fountain not working so we have so the fountain has been working and not working for several years the original Plumbing obviously is you can't use um at one point we made it into a flower garden we kind of like put flowers and gardens around it but just like a temporary pump uh that you would has it is uh not Vandal Proof how's that those little pumps especially right there they're very very accessible but Council we'll explore funding if the request is simply to explore if there's any funding we'll be glad to tell our gr writers if there's any funding for Fountain preservation and stuff will request the funding it would be a lovely idea although certainly I could imagine hundreds of other priorities that the administration is actively looking at um the train trestle liting um so I'm glad Mr Kendy was kind enough to see the work that has been done in The Trestle we've been working there significantly $5 million of the funding that we received is specifically for that area for the pump and for uh you know protecting the Waterway you know the flooding the flooding down there since there were tragedies that happened in that location uh so there's constantly funding that we've been using to repair that area once that work is done we can look at what the other is but I I could tell you that some of the items are New Jersey Transit items that are on The Trestle like the actual train track itself versus the city and there's limited um Authority if any on some of these sections the Federal Railroad rights are very stringent the thank you the gentleman had mentioned the 100y year anniversary of the copath if there if there was a ceremony we we were not informed of the ceremony communication correspondents didn't come to us we would have obviously shared with the council we'll be more than happy to uh to your your Administration for me mar you had a huge celebration of Memorial Day yes I me we have parades two three times a year right yes 150th anniversary we always put out the information but there are times where there are residents and they come together to uh honor historic sites monuments or individuals if we're more than happy to participate include our Council our city if we receive invitations we will come and join thank you sir thank you very much anyone else to address the council please second there's a motion there's a second to close public hearing roll call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman col yes and council president sh yes thank you we're up to ran numeral eight on our agenda ordinances for second and final reading hearing is required number one proposed ordinance 2451 d24 an ordinance amending chapter 258 of the code of the city of Bic entitled storm sewer is there a motion to up public water Some Mo motion and second loc please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman col monz yes and council president sh yes thank you at this time ladies and gentlemen the council will be contemplating proposed ordinance 2451 is there anyone who would like to address the Council on this matter and this matter only seeing no hands is there motion to close public second motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes counc Garcia yes councilwoman col monz yes and council president Sher yes thank you on the ordinance please is there a maker moving Motion in second thank you roll call councilman mon yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council MZ yes and council president Sher yes thank you we're up to Communications R numeral numeral nine on our agenda items two through four two three and four are there any questions please on two three four if not is there a motion please to accept two three and four council president you wouldn't have to do a separate on two oh I can't imagine why but you're probably right councilman on with the council's permission on I wonder if I can even be sitting here at the moment Council if you wouldn't mind as I step down from the podium because God knows can we have um a separate call for item number two move it second councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes and councilman monz yes and the maker and and councilman share okay councilman share yes no why did you even leave why did you even leave point of order can I can I please have an explanation as to why the council president had to recuse himself can I I want a detail explanation what what was the issue with the ordinance um he he's he has a close relationship with the individual but what exactly is happening I'm interested for those who may be watching and don't know why he had to recuse himself it reads something if you can help me understand what's going on from our yes our assembly man our council president um who serves in two roles is having a County Fair in his assembly role he's having a a a resource fair for the community yes sir June 14th by himself is he bringing people here no he's gonna have he's gonna bring people not he's bringing County and state officials and different resources for the sorry I just wanted before I leave because it is my wife's birthday and I have to recuse myself the rest of the meeting but I wanted to know what is this great resource so long with no but I do want to thank you council president because I was going to say that report I don't want interfere but it is a very very important resource fair from the assembly men's office bringing in County Services we have done resource fairs with the state but he's bringing in County Services and state services to the city and we're hoping that we can get the word out so if we can please spread it especially in the community those watching it's going to be a a real wonderful initiative to connect people to help and programs not everyone can make it to the county and very few can make it to the state so the fact that our assembly men in his office have been bringing fairs right here to City Hall where people come in whether in the morning at lunch or afternoon and get access to these resources we're seeing record of numbers of people getting help or otherwise they would not have so thank you thank you very much good even May thank you and on behalf of the council if you'll allow me happy birthday to you wife absolutely yes on items three and four are there any questions please under Communications s is there a motion please to accept three and four motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia councilwoman col monz yes and council president sh yes thank you on items five through eight all matters here under to be considered routine in nature are there any questions on five six seven or eight sing is a motion please to accept 5 through eight motion second and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilman yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman yes counc president sh yes thank you we're up to resolutions remember numeral 10 on our agenda and number nine resolution off the resing closed executive session ma'am do we need close thank you Mr no council president members of the council very good if we could put that to aide on items 10 through 26 so there any questions please on 10 through 26 seeing no lights there is a l councilman monk thank you council president item 16 item 16 sir yeah resolution Waring contract for cdbg home and consultant um looking at the city's proposing to award this contract to the same vendor as last year um looking at last year's contract it seems like the hourly range hourly rate the low end went up over 50% at the same time there is another bid by another consultant which we actually using at other resolutions here this evening is actually cheaper just wondering why we six 16 [Music] it was last year there was there 80 right so so so sustainable is cheaper I don't know if they have more of the low range more the high range I don't know what most of the buildings are low range I'm just pointing out yes right no sustainable is a is a vendor in fact a resolution 15 is sustainable right right right on the mic uh give me one second I do a quick math here um so number one they're Professional Services so you don't have to go with the lowest bidder you go there's a multitude of factors that go within it um let me just do something really quick here than um okay because of the intricacy of this matter Mr Fernandez would it be best if we help this mean you're looking at an average in the range between 150 to 155 and I don't know if sustainable is going to use the $200 an hour person more than right so it's the minimist change the important thing is that the not to exceed amount is going to be $35,000 right coun I'm fine with proceeding with this I just want to point out that the the low range increased over 50% this is again I don't know if a significant amount councilman right and I don't know if again I don't know if the low if most of the Billings are done in the low r or on the high range um so if it's not a low range it is a significant increase of 50% and even though it's not 50 50% from $80 to 125 Oh you mean his rate went up about 50% oh the rate went up yeah Oh I thought you were comparing the two I was doing two things I was just first oh no you confused me I'm sorry I thought you meant why this over sustainable well I mean it's a negligible difference between the two and and so that's why I was like wait a minute now if you're saying that their rate went up the rate went up from last year's range was 80 to 200 now it's 125 to 185 for the same vendor now I do understand it's not to exceed but if if most of the rate most of the Billings were done on the high end they would actually be saving but most of the bildings done on the low end it's a 50% increase and granted it's not to exceed but it also means that we're getting a lot less hours of work so whatever I just uh all right um I'm fine with it we're just pointing it out can I ask what was called the Minimus would one of your gentlemen be so kind is to tell me what to Min means if you take the average of the new bid from the from the current vendor and you take the average of the other bidder sustainable that is a dimin it's like five or less but we don't know if they do more on the low end more buildings on the high end so right okay you have no interested in asking to hold the resolution councilman I'm fine I'm fine very good are there any other questions on items through 20 I'm sorry it 26 I question 26 what is this what is this one story building for on Jefferson oh so um this has come before the council a couple times uh we were waiting for the appropriate funding this is actually art funding but art funding from cdbg are funding um and we needed to there was uh a gap in there so we were waiting for the award of um Colonel Johnson so that we can make sure we had the complete amount for Jefferson so now this is being fully funded with cdbg uh funding and the bulk of it is cdbg ARP money which has a very specific purpose of use which is the covid-19 right so okay CV is what again cdbg cares money cares money it I'm sorry I I call it right I get what you're saying so they broke it up into different pots of money one is the cares funding for but it's still for covid-19 pandemic purposes because the reason they called it cares money is because there's another pot of money they gave that is cdbg Art money which is again for covid-19 but for specific housing types so this is for the service type so it's it's it's cares money during the covid-19 pandemic that they gave for uh the development of this project so it's going to be for housing um services medical services uh you know clinics things like that thank you thank you are there any other questions please on 10 through 26 sing at this time is there a motion please to accept 10 through 2 motion second please second second motion and second roll call please councilman Mo yes love yes councilwoman melow yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman colom monz yes and council president Shar yes thank you and on behalf of the council I'd like to extend our congratulations to judge rendazo for joining the Municipal Court of the city B and commend the mayor on his choice we are up to ran numeral 9 on our agenda I'm sorry 11 on our agenda payment of bills are there any questions on the bills no seeing none is there a motion please to accept the bills more motion second motion and second thank you rock call councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman go monz yes and council president share thank you administ thank you yes administrator's report Mr Fernandez none of the time uh mayor's report I know the mayor ran home to be with his wife who should have been all day and I'm glad I'm about him right [Laughter] now members of the council is there any any uh words or is there a motion to Mo coun motion is there a second please to adur motion second to adjourn roll call to adjourn please councilman monk councilman love yes councilwoman melow yes councilman schw yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman col monz yes and council president sh yes thank you this meeting is adjourned