##VIDEO ID:GtMbsnP6Ku0## this yes thank you almighty God who holds the fate of man and Nation we most humbly beseech thee to bless this our city these deliberations and these thy servants that they may act with wisdom and understanding for the good of our community and thy greater glory amen amen and Madam president I'll defer to you if you have any instructions for this meeting at this time thank you it will be a change to the agenda um just so that we all are aware when it comes to the presentation by mayor Reed Gora regarding the US Department of Justice uh police report and public comment regarding that the public will be allowed to speak first regarding that and then the mayor will follow after the public speaks so just so we're clear on that okay noted continue the presentation certainly Madam president moving forward next on our agenda we have a presentation uh I will have Mr Arch Liston director of housing Economic Development introduce uh the presentation to thank you can you hear me okay yes [Music] good many questions have come up over the last couple weeks um regarding the Eda Grant and the acquisition of the um Hotel downtown uh some press information has been put out but we wanted to do a little bit of a public presentation so people are aware of what's happening with it uh a little bit of history of it uh and how we plan to approach it so we don't impact the community and cost us so can we you ready yeah okay also everybody has been provided the RFP that has um it's actually posted on tomorrow morning on the UE website and we'll get it up on the city website uh soon as we can okay ready all right sir Mr Garcia please reflect that Council vice president fig cber is pres she's with thank you all right the location of the hotel um you can see you can see that all we're looking at the hotel 197 rooms uh and it involves and I'm not going to read this to you it's 18 almost 18,000 Square ft uh and it is basically uh the center uh in the downtown and within the uh District of um the Department of Community Affairs uh the um war memorial and not far from the capital uh when it was built in 1999 and uh started built 1999 and opened in 2002 it was a facility that really brought a lot of people into the community uh it was it was a place where uh lobbyist men it's a place where assemblymen state senators would go after meetings they would have uh before meetings there it was really a facility that that made the downtown Thrive this part of government uh through some problems with mismanagement and uh the way it was um I I guess LED over the a period of time obviously there was issues with the business uh the occupancy dropped substantially and it was no longer profitable so so basically uh with the closure in 2012 uh there had been two or three owners that had the property uh there was some interest in flipping the property uh but no one could ever come up with a plan that would bring it back to full action to really be a center of the downtown again the property itself has been negatively impact impacted over the last 10 years by uh vagrance by people uh taking Co out of the location and it's been substantially damaged so the property has has depreciated to the point where it it needs a major retrofit bringing it back into uh useful life uh what we plan on doing is we have rfps out we're going to present them to council as the Redevelopment entity and we're going to try to get um a developer private public partnership come in and present their Concepts and ideas for what they can do with the with the hotel so there as you as you know of being Longline residents of the city it it had a restaurant had meeting rooms and along with the 97 rooms and it was it was active and the need to get it back open it's going to need to maintain a liquor license and we're hoping that the the we can get a restaurant to work you know a substantially nice restaurants where people go downtown have lunch we can take people to lunch there and also uh for evening meetings so we're looking to get the whole facility back up every R use that but the other side of the coin is the economical um the economics of it are the fact that uh try trying to keep a hotel filled especially in in um an area like this sometimes runs about a 60% occupancy and won't make a profit uh so there are Concepts and ideas we're looking for and we've seen it in other places where uh there's been a mixed use and what I'm call it mixed jues there's private Apartments may be suggested along with maintaining at least 100 hotel rooms uh one of the ideas there may be um a condo type system I've seen that in different locations where they condo out a couple floors and what that allows that the the owner to do is have a steady Revenue stream coming in uh year round but uh also allows for the continued operation as a hotel is that is that the end game no we don't know that's just Concepts that people have come through with ideas the finals idea it's going to be Bri in from the market but the market thinks is going to be best from downtown question has come up with financing um one of the biggest issues over the uh and I know that U councilman Williams had a question uh in one of our meetings and I'm sure Council has the same question is what is the existing debt on this facility and we do have existing debts left over from the original project in '99 it was refinanced in 2013 and it's approximately $2.5 million which is is um left on the bonds that we would um be paying off over the next couple years the offset that though we would look at obviously um the tax revenue pilot Revenue uh along with a 2% hotel tax that the city would receive so there would be additional Revenue stream of the 2% that would bring that in there's also going to be the ability to borrow funds from Ed to help refurbish the the property uh and that offsets the cost too so it's going to be a mix of different financing for someone coming in we are looking for the private Finance um Avenue first if they someone can do it but if everybody need some type of State assistance we'll back them with Eda and that type of Assistance or U funds we don't look at any impact on tax funds we already had the impact of tax funds on the 2.5 million bonds so the focus would be making sure we we deas that debt and we we create revenues back into the city if anybody has a question it can pop into if they like the investment for the property for someone who really we have a property you know potentially is in the $50 million range so that's the type of investment we would see downtown once this does for the downtown it does become the Genesis of The Rebirth of downtown it brings people in on a regular basis it brings them in 247 we've got a tourism Market that we miss here uh I mean you're within you know few hundred feet of of of you know the Battle of Trenton and where the the Haitian soldiers were at uh and we look at the summertime traffic through the city be substantially uh and working with the tourism groups to have signage and so forth so people can come to the restaurant but they can also buy foot take a tour of the downtown take a tour of different areas they're close enough to Washington's Crossing to take a day trip up the Washington's Crossing take a look at that so it really creates a spot where it allow people to come in and would be a ripple effect for all the businesses downtown the other thing we look at for potential use is uh overflow housing if if many colleges sometimes on the over book uh there's a need for for student housing uh I've seen this at Stockton University uh which has moved into partially l City but if if there's a need I mean there there are contracts into tcj Rider uh and uh Princeton could utilize if they needed to uh the other thing it allows for State conferences state training uh the leue municipalities runs conferences all the time and we would kind of focus on getting them in to utilize our facilities to generate Revenue too so there's a lot of Outreach we would do to get the state and and local nonprofits and training back into the city uh to create that ongoing economic boost I think I've covered most of this I mean obviously the hotel uh ACC as the anchor at the downtown uh and we project on timing if we we get a developer by a late spring early uh early summer you know with working through the Redevelopment process uh you know potentially by this time next year we could have construction starting into the building uh to to refurbish it so that's the timelines that we're kind of pushing for it's just going take some time to get get things put together uh and make sure it's beneficial to the city first and uh in working with the development I'm excited about this project I may not look but I'm really really excited about this project because I really do think uh utilizing the private markets and getting them back into the downtown uh is is a substantial boost it's going to boost boost the restaurants downtown it's going to boost the little shops downtown the bakery that's going to be down there uh and I think that if anyone sees it's a Renaissance to me it's the beginning of the Renaissance bringing outside people in enjoying the city and understanding that Tren is a viable downtown and viable business Community that's going to work with and assist with uh anything we can do to get the businesses back in town get people back in town on a regular basis uh and if we get state workers back in town 5 days a week it would be a substantial boost too which we push for on a regular basis with the mayor I mean that adversely affects us after Co but um it's a push the mayor's pushing it I know Council was people I spoke to on Council was excited about and we are excited about it too so questions M president councilwoman Edwards thank you good evening Mr L uh director I just have a couple of questions um first of all I want to say thank you for doing this because this hotel has been a vein in our economy for upwards it's not more than a decade at this point and we have seen the economic decline of our downtown as soon as the doors closed we lost vaccines we lost a lot of businesses downtown most recently lost the nail shop and Starbucks and things Co did a number on us as well so that wasn't helpful but we were in Decline before Co and is is from what I'm hearing through the Great Vine This owner has not been responsible and the City built this hotel so I think that we have a responsibility to make sure that it does not just go like this you know I think that we are obligated and I think that having a hotel would be beneficial to the city so with that being said I wanted to know are we officially under contract right now with the owner we're not officially under cont contracts been drafted they're being reviewed by both parties right now uh I do communicate with our lawyer on a regular basis and I actually do communicate with their attorney on a regular basis who's a local attorney uh very well versed in um Economic Development so it's moving along very quickly and I hope to have at least a a contract to sale by the end of the year I mean I'd love to have it by the beginning of the 19th but if we can get it by the end of the year uh as you know we run into the Christmas problem when everybody starts shutting down but uh we I push it every day I'm on the phone every day trying to get this thing moved okay um and next given the previous attempts at purchasing ing the property from previous uh potential buyers there has there are rumors that there are an investigation in litigation happening with the hotel because of mishaps with some of the contracts uh purchase agreements contracts that had lapsed before so I'm concerned about the liability of us purchasing this if that is true will that liability remain with the owner and won't be transferred to the city well she Wonder West Side had this discussion numerous times already you want to update us on that yeah we um our first step was to pull the pull the the title basically and see what incumbrances there were on there we've also doing a search in the court system I mean it's it's an expansive search um really what we're concerned about now is any incumbrances that are on the title that we would have to clear up and once we clear that up we'll have much better indication as to whether or not we're getting this free clear of any liability with respect to litigation like for maybe something that happened there that would be a separate search by by way of looking at the court stock at fedal and mercy County court but as of right now see that being an issue more so than in conferences on the actual deed itself okay thank you we are doing a heavy heavy due diligence on this property because we understand that you know you have um you may have secondary judgments that sitting on this because it's been sitting for 12 years you don't know with the prior owners you know what has been uh leaned against the property uh so it's going to be one of the most intense searches that we're doing because we also have the parking authority issue with the the rental parking spaces you know that are attached to the hotel um so we we will we will make sure that we are clear when we go into closing for this property and the other thing just real quick maxines they are the the new owner is uh rebuilding that property I met with him last week on some code issues and getting us see he is invested substantial amounts of money into maxines right now too so hand inand I mean right there brings the downtown back mov awesome thank you in direct so we're excited about the um the opportunity of this moving forward and and hopeful that this will help to to respark movement in downtown what what happens just what happens if we don't get a developer so now we've bought the we've bought the hotel no we will not go to closing on the hotel until we have a developer who we designate I and in in the best case scenario what I'd like to do is what we call a same day flip we walk in we go to closing on on the property we go to another room and we sell the property the same thing it's it's a common practice in in real estate and uh we're not going to expose we can expose uh especially with deep DC oversight and our financial condition we cannot uh take take the hotel um and and manage it and rebuild it and uh we and the security would run us you know $20,000 a month just for security uh it's it's we we can't hold the property we we know that we're not yeah good councilwoman Williams thank you very much council president um for some reason my camera won't work but we'll forget that figure it out um thank you very much for the presentation um director director Liston um my only question is because you've answered all the questions and I'm really happy you spoke about the financing because that is along a lot of folks Minds uh can you talk about the status of the liquor license that was previously with the hotel and um is that still uh something that available or is it dormant or you know what the process would be to reestablish that um when it was with the restaurant Nam archives I believe that's a very good question uh I will what I will do is I'll research out but I don't think that lior license is active anymore it's not in Pocket anymore correct no okay so what would happen is whoever the new purchaser would be one of the things that they would look at is obviously the acquisition of a um liquor license for the establishment uh also there there wor special licenses for 100 bed hotels that um they they allow which is a special license uh there's also seasonal licenses now they really opened up the liquor license U potential so one of the things that we will work with with the redeveloper is there finding a liquor license or how we work through the process again Council being the ABC Board to make sure that they have an active license when they uh so they can serve as public okay thank you very much sir this is an exciting project appreciate that thank you councilwoman are there any other Council Council vice president good evening director how are you good um thank you for this I mean as you you know we are very excited at the possibility of this hotel coming to fruition and coming to life for the city of Trenton um I just want to assure that we have G through everything with a fine tooth comb in terms of what are we attracting in terms of developers to the city attrative for them to stay for this hotel to thrive I know we have um pending Entertainment District um conversations that we are trying to you know establish and cement for the city um because people coming to stay in the hotel obviously they're going to want amenities within the hotel but also amenities outside of the hotel and we want that to help establish for the businesses in downtown Trenton because they deserve that as well um we don't want a ghost town of a downtown Trenton the way that it is right now um so we want our hotel to win for the city and we want our downtown to win as well so what with all the past failed dispositions that we have had with the hotel um what conversations are being had about bringing about the entertainment district for downtown Trenton and making this a viable option so the developers do want to invest in our city and it and it survived this time I mean to me that's one of the selling points of the hotel is the Entertainment District and what it can do with the war oil and bringing activities into the war oil one of the things that's been discussed is working with the state to make sure that the U owner of the hotel has the ability to um either exercise options for the war memorial so it can be utilized to bring people in I mean small C are you bring people in I mean we're also looking at um the threat and thunder people you know when they're in town to utilize the hotel and the Shure Arena talk to the arena people so they're uh they have activities they're bringing in uh different groups that you know use the hotel we're going to push everybody possible you know if you're operating or doing something in the city trying or the region you know we want you downtown uh but we also want to make sure when we we talk to the developers and we vet the developers and when I'm talking about vetting theel developers I mean we're looking at their finances we're looking at you know do you have the capacity do you have the ability to finances do you have the ability what else have you done it's also going to be you know have you built someplace else you and how successful was that what did you do to they make that place right and this is all stuff you you guys uh will have an opportunity look as as the Redevelopment when we come in and meet with the developers which which we'll do that you'll be able to ask all them through questions you want you'll will be look at all the finances you want uh it's got to be a transparent transaction for the public to make sure that this is going to be successful we do not want to get involved to this and buy it and flip it or whatever unless we have a very very comfortable feeling that it's going to succeed because we we're not going to bring a you know something that is going to be just a detriment it can't happen we and if it does happen then not you know we should I shouldn't be here a lot of people shouldn't be here um but you know we'll really really work through it and West and I have regular meetings about making sure that whoever's coming in uh and actually I I when when we vet developers I actually send my people out and I'll send them to say okay they have properties in New York they have properties uh in different parts of city and I send them out and say go look at this property I want to see what this property looks like I want to make sure that they're maintaining the property let's see what the occupancy rate is same thing we're going to do with this if I've got to you know send people to Pittsburgh or um I don't want to say you Bermuda no if if we we're going to vet it very heavily uh and uh I've been through this process before and I look at everything across the board we're going to look at layers of their financing and make sure where the financing like with with the Lial license you we're going to look at the finances and we're going to look at okay where is this funding coming from and make sure that it works thank you director I mean that sounds like a win-win for the city which is what we need right now and thank you for I mean we want we want people coming in with uh as markting Visionaries that are going to utilize this property to the best you know of its ability to both um look at our history historical aspect of what Trent already has to offer but also to bring in um new nuances which is something that it's a rebirth that we need um so you talked about the 2% hotel tax which is great um we definitely want to see a return on our investment sooner rather than later because the city is in dire need of that but you also discussed um it's my last question um borrowing from the Eda should we need to we are not going to borrow from the Eda okay the developer will borrow from the Eda uh we we have and the mayor's been adamant about this that it has to be a private transaction we know what our our weaknesses are and we know that you know we cannot burden the the city with with with a failed project thank you thank you are there any other Council persons with questions all right thank you thank you want to make I'm sorry one more change to the agenda right ahead In fairness to our constituents right so what we're going to do is we'll do the communications petitions and reports we can go through the um the old business but then I want to move the regular public comment part up before we go ahead and vote um on the items that we have because we would be doing an injustice to the people if we went ahead and voted and didn't hear if anybody had anything that they wanted to say beforehand so we're moving the general public comment portion to between the old business and new business yes understood yes also for those in attendance tonight there is a sign up there's sign up sheets in the back for general public comment and for the public comment as it pertains to the doj report we are sticking tight to the agenda if you are looking to speak on the doj report as you speak to the recommendations you are to sign that sheet in the back there are 10 spaces I believe available allotting 4.5 minutes per person 10 people were to sign up coming to 45 minutes so if you want to speak on the doj report you will sign that public comment you will not go into general public comment about that this is going to be about items other than that Mr Garcia certainly Madam president at this time Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve the minutes for October 1st and October 3rd thank you may have a motion to approve the minutes from October 1 and October 3rd some second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman excuse me councilwoman Williams Council Williams council president bisano yes I'll come right back to council woman Williams she has her hand open she's she's saying that she needs to be unmuted but you can only ask I'm unmuted sorry I unmuted myself earlier then it regenerated okay got it so that's a yes yes sir thank you very much motion carried moving on to Communications petitions and reports Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve yes we have a motion to approve all Communications petitions and reports mo mo second thank you roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro kber yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams yes counc president Bano yes motion carried and Madame President as I understand oh wait we have all business M so we will move to ordinances for second reading and public hearing ordinance 24-72 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property City owned property commonly known as1 hman Avenue and identified on the city tax map block 33704 lot one pursuing to njsa 40a col 12-13 B5 to Major 682 Properties LLC for the sale price of $2,500 are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none mam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve may have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kber yes councilwoman Frisby yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams yes council president FIS yes motion carried ordinance 24- 074 an ordinance of the city council of the city of Trenton requiring the council to convene in a retreat within 60 days after the reorganization following each Trenton municipal election are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time Miss Cordelia stat thank you Cordia stat 310 Gardner Avenue good evening council president distinguished members of council stand in favor of this uh ordinance I think it would be of great benefit to the governing body to have a retreat after every uh reorganization it's always good to you know get together and um go over um Collective goals and things of that nature so I'm glad to see it it didn't happen during my time but I'm glad to see it happening there thank you thank you are there any other members of the public who wish to speak to this ordinance at this time see n Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve m a motion to approve so moov second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figaro edber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams yes council president lisano yes motion carried ordinance 24- 75 an ordinance amending and supplementing Trenton city code chapter 8316 rule 2A governing regular meeting of greetings of the Trenton city council are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time Miss cordel is there I'm the same person I hav't moved C 31 Gard Avenue for the record I am in strong opposition uh to ordinance 24075 and I take exception to propos changes to the city code that pertains to City Council meetings over the past 10 years this chapter which governs city council operations has been repeatedly altered by previous governing bodies to serve the interests of individuals rather than the community as a whole we've seen excessive power granted to the council president limitations on public speaking time and now a new reorganization structure just to name of the few changes as a former council person I sat in the same seat you now occupy and I can't fathom how the city's business can be adequately conducted with only two meetings per month there's an undeniable value in being able to review meeting materials as a group ask questions see clarification and gather additional information during the Tuesday conference session which allows for Swift action on Thursday with a consent agenda presentations and recognitions it is difficult to believe that you don't see the benefit in maintaining both the Tuesday and Thursday meetings yes I understand that two nightly meetings every two weeks can be time consuming but it is part of responsibilities you took on when you were elected while it is true that the chambers may not always be full of residents the presence of a audience should not be the determining factor in the effectiveness of your work many people are unable to attend meetings due to work schedules family obligations health conditions or Transportation issues that is why I was glad to see the evolution of the hybrid meetings during covid which now have become regular features of City Council meetings the ability to participate virtually is a significant Improvement and it speaks to the importance of transparency and accessibility in government I respectfully ask that you reconsider your position on this ordinance and give the people you serve the time and attention we deserve effective governance requires openness accessibility and the commitment to ensure that all Voices All voices of the residents are heard and considered more than twice a month thank you are there any other members of the public that wish to speak to this ORD at this time go right come right up man please St your name and address for the reford hi my name is Denise Turner I ran for County Commissioner for Merc County in Trenton New Jersey um I'm just having a lot of concerns right now as far as what's going on in our city um to my knowledge right now I have a building on sin stre and I've been trying to open it up ever since June um I have not been able to open it because there's no one here in the city hall to put the paperwork through Mr Turner forgive me because you just say your address for the record this morning yes 19 Bruce par Jersey I have a building on Center Street 653 Center Street I've spoken to many people here in City Hall they told me it would take two to 3 months so right now I'm just spending money on a building that I cannot open up I've been running at the city of Trenton for 17 years we have two other buildings that we run into Ma I don't mean to interrupt you but this is only to be pertaining to this particular ordinance is there something pertaining to this ordinance at this time that you wish to speak well I think I I thought that this was a part of the ordinance for me trying to get my building and taken care of which should be an ordinance for 6 653 um Center Street Mr Garcia I would make recommend that you'd make that comment during regular public comment versus as it relates to this ordinance I'll the further to solicit when the public comment comes you can come up and speak this statements right now respected this ordinance for the meetings ma'am no problem thank you it much I appr okay thank you are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordance set this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve so move second roll call councilwoman mward no vice president Figaro urg yes councilwoman Frisby yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams no council president fiana yes motion carried moving on to ordinance 2476 an ordinance amending and sub amending Trenton city code section 30969 unauthorized reconnection of services are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you was want to ask for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president F yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Felician yes motion carried and mam president as I understand it at this time you wish to move to public comment public comment M this is general public comment correct yes okay I can take the public comment clipboard thank [Music] you and Madam president at this time we have 17 individuals listed for public comment public comment will be 3 minutes 3 minutes and life and this is pertain and this is general public comment only this does not pertain to the doj report so this is general public comment only please ladies and gentlemen not the doj report uh Madam president just uh to be clean and clear here uh could you have asked for a motion to reduce public comment from original 5 minutes to three yes may have a motion to approve reducing public comment from 5 minutes to 3 due to 17 speakers this evening Some Mo second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion Carri public comment will be 3 minutes in length for each individual you may address any item that you wish at this time uh please understand the council is not obligated to respond first individual we have listed for public comment is Tammy Duffy hello Tammy Duffy 109 sweet Brier Avenue Trenton New Jersey 220,000 people were affected what level of unscrupulous behavior is the trigger for the Trenton leadership to step in and react and hold those accountable accountable the reent Revelations about Trenton Water Works failing to meet critical water monitoring obligations for over a year is deeply concerning and completely unacceptable the health and safety of our residents must never be compromised and this latest failure underscores the persistent inability of twww to uphold its responsibilities the cultures of one's organization is defined by The Worst Behavior you will tolerate these bad cultures have an enormous negative effect on businesses towns and organizations when bad behaviors are tolerated it sets the tone for the entire organization other employers figure out behavioral standards are subjective and they determine there's no point in reporting the behavior if nothing will be done to address it in addition the employees are too afraid to speak up in fear of losing their jobs pensions medical insurance Etc employees model the behavior they see in their leader ERS so the upper management must hold themselves accountable to the same standards they expect to see in their teams but what happens when there is no expectation when there is no accountability when everyone remains silent well until a doj report based on an 18-month investigation is released organizations struggling with theft of time issues doj investigations twww malens misuse of financial Revenue animal shelter issues at times cannot figure out what is wrong with their culture it turns out leadership is a big part of the problem management must Model Behavior which includes not tolerating bad behavior this will help show what will and will not be tolerated the doj report clearly demonstrates bad behavior I know they're going to talk about that later so I'm going to move on from that but if the city of Trenton does not rise to the level of their goals they will forever remain at the level of their broken system systems I want all of you to have rage in what's going on in Trenton I want you to have passion to say enough is enough it's time for the leadership to step up and step up and stop the hemorrhaging have accountability for those not performing in their roles it's time to put the bar on the holder and raise it up this lack of leadership affects 220,000 people daily that get water supply from twww you need to really care about this wake up every morning and make this your mission to fix it if you do not then you should make minutes thank you next person I have is Britney Jones good evening everybody my name is Britney Jones and I reside at 832 East St Street um where I live with my parents and my four children that it's not by choice but it's because I've been on the th housing waiting list since 2012 but we're not here for that um recently I can't even read this because it's too much and I got three minutes so over the last I would say since summer ending months there have been racons living in my ceiling I have again four kids and we're all um getting emotional all of us are in one room my kids have a bunk bed that they refuse to sleep on the top bump because they hear it running I can't sleep with all of them in my bed with me even though I to am scared I live in fight or flight constantly so I don't sleep because if it falls through my silly I have to put me in between them and get them to safety and worry about me last my youngest just turned two I cannot have myself being like so many other parents that are burying their children so young I refuse to do it the building next to my house 8:30 East Day Street has been abandoned for almost as long as I can remember at least the last 10 years and my oldest daughter is 10 and so I remember bringing her home very vividly we have complained about the yard because the grass over grows in the back which brings the wildlife in people have squatted in that building once before they didn't care to hide it it was raided and they pulled those people out with dogs and drugs it was also complained about and then there was nothing that happened there have been birds that have also lived in that same space and my roof from a building that is not where I'm living we had someone come and check our roof there's nothing wrong with our roof so how are they getting in well the roofer says that the building 8:30 East Day Street barely has a roof that is still stable I saw the inside when you guys sent people out to set the traps to catch said Roden and there are barely any walls inside of that building because copper and everything else have been ripped ripped out of that place and I saw some man drag out from the basement window a furnace or a water heater whatever that was from this exact building the rest of that doesn't matter my concern is the safety of my children something needs to be done about this because if I end up hurt or if any of them end up hurt nobody here is going to like the outcome of that and everybody will for real know me and know my name thank you [Applause] Camille Jones I'm in Chambersburg I got build my neighbor in Chambersburg just a bad Kathy Jones all right little disappointed that it's only 3 minutes but my name is Kathy Jones I reside at 8:32 East St Street um I want to say that my property has been negatively damaged by 8:30 East State Street uh we have sound recordings of the raccoons the birds um we have two relevant videos um so we have things that you can hear if you like uh let's see the property has been uh abanded for about two decades and we've been complaining about it ever since for years there have been squatters living one day it was raided apparently it was a drug house and the police were watching and that was a danger to us because we had no idea that this kind of activity was going on in a in a building that was directly attached to our house there have been raccoon problems for years and the structure is compromised and needs to come down every year we call the city and they send someone to put out traps but is that fixing the problem no it's like putting a Band-Aid on someone who's been stabbed in a cortic artery course the man from the city that that the city hired to said the Trap said he stood across the street and watched the raccoons go in and out of the roof of the house now my house has been invaded with raccoons cats and pigeons the third floor of the ver third floor of my house um there I feel like the the raccoons have made their way into the third floor and now they have gone into the second floor of the house we can't even take a shower without wondering if this is the day that they will break through the SE ceiling as a matter of fact almost broke my toe tried to run out of the shower because they started making so much noise jumping up and down and growling I thought that they were having I thought that they were going to break through the ceiling I took a picture of my swollen bloody toe the next day so if anybody wants to see it I'll happen my grandkids sleep on the third floor and I'm afraid every night that these Critters will break through and Maul them all of them and we were not able to endure our property inside or out because it 8:30 to East St Street I continually call and email every year because of an overgrown grass in the back it attracts all kinds of rodents nesting cats raccoons ground hws possums just to name a few animals that I have seen the city finally came out and cleaned the rear and replaced a section of fencing from a tree that had fallen from the 830s day Street into my yard there are two other trees that need to be cut down but of course that was never addressed it is not fair for us to have to live like this my daughter is traumatized she sleeps on the sofa almost every night because of the pounding and scratching going on in the ceiling is that fair um would it be um would you accept this if it was in your home if you would let's trade spaces I have as pleaded and beg for the property to be torn down but it has fallen on death ears so here's what I'm prepared to do I will retain representation and contact all media outlets and make them aware of the issue I believe that this is H if this was happened to a resident in y ham to the the house would have been torn down but can I finish can I finish please I'm sorry ma'am that is your 3 minutes we would not be fair to everyone if we cut that off I do apologize this is not right because I was told by the the clerk that it was going to be 5 minutes and now all of a sudden it's changed I have a about a paragraph left to read I'm asking please can I continue ma'am if so we have people that are here tonight that can listen clearly 8:30 East State Street is a problem so I'm asking our business administrator and the director of Public Works if you'll talk to Miss Jones about what the issue is so that we have her addressed here tonight and we're still fair to the other people um to let them speak so if you can go and speak with her now this is the business administrator and the director Public Works who can listen to what it is and hopefully get something done with 8:30 East station thank you thank you ma'am thank you madam president the and the Public Works director our next me uh uh next up for public comment is Charles Lewis how you doing my name is Charles Lewis and I live at 198 pton Avenue Trent New Jersey well here we go again I thought I would be standing before you again but here I go again uh I just want to be very clear cuz I am very irresolute about these two issues that need Clarity and need to be resolved as we know when 96 Pennington Avenue which I've been trying to cure from the city I don't understand why they're dragging their feet when I get him an offer of $4,000 for the property also I want to present this also because this is a defa judgment against the city just like Mr Liston from the housing and economic development was talking he's so excited about the hotel but we need to be more excited about the people people that got the issues in the city we got to solve those issues first before we go at a higher level uh like I said there is the Judgment against the city which I was told had to be presented between two housing I mean to to uh uh to you guys so that it can be paid I'm willing to wave that judgment because it's a little more than what I offered for the lot at 196 PNY Avenue I'm willing to wave that give me the lot and let's move on get resolved so we can get this settled this this has been drawn out and long out and it's it's getting ridiculous I mean how far do I have to go to to obtain what I deserve and and I I mean how long is it going to take I'm keeping getting run around with everybody about the same situation I've been a housing Economic Development Office this three times this month the end of last month and the beginning of this month I mean when am I going to get resolved about 196 V T now you got the offer you got whatever whatever you need I can I can I can offer I'm not waiting for the for the judgment to go through I got the the money and the finances to obtain that lot so I can move forward I'm I'm tired of fighting with the church because just like I said before they just there on Sunday I live there so we need we need to do something about the little issues that we have in the city before we can get this hotel like the same Mr Liston was talking about you know this he's excited well make me excited too about these little projects I know I'm running close and that's that's pretty much what I got to say and I I shouldn't have to keep coming down here how long it's been it's been 5 years 5 years dealing with this situation with the demolition of the house and all of this at 196 pton Avenue you know I mean what we going to do here and and that's all I got to say forgive me if I tear this name apart count pay dep how' I go thank you s thing is we own the businesses on East U Center Street 422 Center Street everyday morning evening afternoon people come and use drugs in there I'm sorry sir did you say your name my name is Shri pipali Shri okay and what's the address 422 Center Street we have a laundry M there and every day morning evening afternoon the people come and use drugs I send you pictures this this this afternoon about the people taking drugs there and then I call the police police comes and they don't do anything it's like criminal trespassing every day and one thing and then there are pan handlers everywhere in Trenton now they they collect money in the afternoon morning and they come and do drugs all over Trenton in the evenings after night there's so many pan handlers everywhere you go to William Trent place right here you see them everywhere it's like unbelievable how many people are asking for money people stop their cars and give them money and they they buy drugs every day those are the two issues like we need to do something with the drugs they're selling drugs like every day on Center Street too much I'll send you the pictures again if you guys get it thank you thank you Ivy Avery Ivy Avery one Prospect Street I'm just here this evening to bring attention to the fact that some of our intersections where children cross and where are their crossing guards are hazardous and dangerous this city has really become a traffic Hazard I mean people drive crazy personally where I live there's an intersection where five streets come together Prospect Hanover West State and spring there's one crossing guard there and it is considered a Red Zone there could be two but there are not enough I understand so I've asked for signs you know most uh Crossing places with where the schools are have the school crossing signs in the street so I did ask for that I I think I've been talking to the wrong people I talked to the person in charge of the crossing guards that was in his area I went to um the street Division I didn't get any satisfaction there um I sent an email but I think it got lost in the uh spam or trash but it was found I resent so I want to thank uh Crystal the president of council for forwarding it to the proper person I understand that they went out looked at the intersection and they're supposed to have the signs that are going to be placed there it really is dangerous after what happened on Stenson Avenue with the crossing guard that was hit I think that it's imperative that we give our cross crossing guards in the city and many of them are retired people who are older the things that they need to be safe not only for themselves but for the children and that's basically what I wanted to say again thank you Crystal for forwarding that I'm going to keep my eye on that corner but I'm speaking not only for my intersection Now by my house but any other intersection because there used to be a crossing guard on Rutherford and Prospect there's no longer a crossing guard there and I know that sometimes they don't have the people but we have to be mindful of where our children are crossing and make sure that they're safe and that's basically oh yeah I also made signs and I put them in the street myself not in the street but I had them on the uh on the grassy areas then it rained and it messed them up so I'm going to be looking for those signs I'll be back and I'll let you know if they're there but it's really important that we find the resources to get those signs thank you thank [Applause] you Cordelia statement [Music] she's good [Music] evening um this isn't bad at all I just want wanted to First congratulate Council Forman Gonzalez uh on resolution 2441 on your um appointment to the Electoral College for 2024 presidential election that's big stuff congratulations and the other thing I wanted was to congratulate the city for appointing a permanent CEO and CFO and ly Al is that correct um I know that she served the city well so hopefully she'll will continue to be an asset to this Administration thank you Monroe Lort my name is Manuel lore I live in 260 North Willow Street and as I say on the podcast this is the greatest city in the world as far as I'm concerned there's a lot of problems here and you need to meet with people find out what's the Del Del where the man can't get the property obviously he's saving his money get in touch with him find out what's going on and as far as the people using drugs find out why why are they using drugs I've said in the past people use drugs to bear with the world they they sell drugs to survive the world find out what people's needs are and take care of them when it comes to a hotel yes we need entertainment so you can have undercovered people that are inside the building like a running terminal so if there's trouble the security can keep tabs on it and take care of it as far as this red light business and people learning lights you need to my my grand need just was ran over by a car so what you need to do is make sure that you take down people's license number where running red lights I know it's legal in Pennsylvania it may not be legal here but we need to put a stop to things and we can check people at these red lights if they know that they going to get a letter in the mail for $100 or whatever the case might be thank you [Music] Jessica nidi good evening my name is Jessica Nitti 535 East Franklin Street I'm here to speak about campfire New Jersey we have had the phenomenal opportunity to partner with the Tron elementary schools for the past 15 years we have we do programs our programs run for eight weeks there are comprehensive programs which are age and developmentally appropriate they address the mental the mental health through social emotional learning utilizing the trauma informed lens and restorative practices we see on average about 2400 students a year we are in all 13 elementary schools currently in the first grades we are also in all of the six uh the intermediate the six schools in all of the fourth grade classes what we do at campfire is go into these classrooms not only to support our youth but to support our our teachers the administration we look at ways to weave a web to help the school community Community step forward we know that our children our families are facing trauma as we hear different levels of it tonight we look at ways to support them in the traumas that they're experiencing how to support families communities connection I've been at campfire for many years because I've seen what it does I've seen these kids I've seen their faces when we see them when our instructors are in these classrooms working with them listening to them we see them we hear them we really look at inclusivity because we know the importance of including all of our youth we have bilingual instructors that do our program in English and Spanish so the children are feel all included campfire is an organization that truly cares about the communities we service when we are in treatened elementary schools we look at the best ways to support the school systems that we're in and every school every 13 elementary schools all of them they're different the needs that they have so we look at how we can train our instructors through trauma through restorative through Mental Health that they can stand up there not only supporting the children but supporting those teachers as well thank you for giving me this moment to speak of uh campfire New Jersey I appreciate it thank you Victor izari uh good evening I'm glad to be here in front of you again um right through the issue I'm hearing tonight it goes back to the same thing I've been saying the last few maybe two or three times been here that uh this is something that has been directed since 1956 and uh to the black community of North America particularly the African-American community and uh the issue started there when the protest started in the uh civil rights movement and uh Black Liberation movement that uh the Puerto Ricans got involved uh what what was one a black issue then became a black brown issue and I say now black brown ethnic issue because it's aary one who's uh who now know understand what's going on the drug war is actually designed to destroy the black community that uh is to raise up for a community with the black Afric African-American community in search of the soal well not the so-called the black Messiah Black Jesus supposed to uh appear and save the planet Earth from Evil Okay so therefore that goes to law enforcement and that's his different issue so uh again um that is something that uh I noticed in politics uh for the presidency Trump and his group won but the Democrats were neglecting the lower class in the under class now had they considered the lower middle class a lower class in the under class which we in TR are treated like we don't we're not even uh cons middle class low lower middle class we considered lower class under class in other words I learned recently that once you get to low uh the under class you're not even considered as uh worthy of being address with whatever issues you may have politically or otherwise and I noticed that uh that was has been happening in Trenton for maybe uh 25 30 years uh I want to tell Trent was like a little New York I was one time offered to go to Puerto Rico I said for what why should I leave Trenton and that was true so what I went from here to New York to fill in the CLE cuz this was the spot this is not the spot any longer now to bring in attraction to uh people from the outside to the city of course uh the gang bang and all that that's part of La that's politics but that's bad polies from Washington DC to start in 1956 with J go continue with uh Nixon followed by Ronald rean we still going today again the war of uh uh not the war of drug war is actually designed to destroy the black community and those who sympathize with the black community I say again specifically the African-American community so now back to uh traffic that traffic down there W Street and Broad Street going into South Church that need to be opened up by the uh uh what you state state buildings open that up bring it all away from TR all way to North going to Canada 31 and from east west your time all right thank you hope Madonna Williamson hello my name is Hope Madonna Williamson and I reside on five Beach Avenue the reason why I'm here today is because I received a call similar to other parents a robo call stating that there is a lockdown at Joseph St Elementary unlike the previous Robo calls this one stated that there was a shooting across the street from the school the school is located at 910 Parkside Avenue it has entrances on both homean and Maple Avenue the shooting happened on Maple Avenue the reason why I'm addressing this is because I have in the past when trans into science R District I requested that schools have crossing guards this school has been open for approximately 3 years and there has been no crossing guard I have contacted the Trent Police Department I've requested an officer to sit out there because people feed there are no speeding cameras out there either there are no speed bumps on home in Avenue and it's ridiculous that you would have to request a petition in order to get a speed bu in a school zone that shouldn't even be a not only that I've requested our westw aison to be out there to assist with traffic and crossing the children who range from the ages of 5 to 8 years old that has not occurred either these are issues that we are presently having and I hope that Trenton will in take a proactive approach instead of a reactive for Coach along another thing is the dumping on 11:30 skon Avenue clarage Apartments they dump sofas along with mattresses these mattresses impede pedestrian traffic not only that but children have to walk past these pieces of garbage um it seems like each time that there's something that needs to be done in Trenton you have to hold an official's hand to get it done whether you're calling the Trenton Department of Sanitation whether you're calling to request information about something I'm requesting that these items be moved and that the fact that children attend these schools they also be taken into account not only that but Council woman test frisbe you work not too far from what is um Stokes and yet it doesn't seem like you're doing much for that area I hope that you will also take this in account and get a crossing guard out there or a sign of police officer thank you [Applause] yanise Turner Denise Denise that thank you you have my address and everything before or do you need drive better so you have anything uh yeah just want to state your name and address for the record Denise Turner PO Box 56 Trent New Jersey resided at 19 Bruce Park D thank you I'm here for a couple reasons as far as my business is concerned I've been coming to um City Hall since June I put in application paperwork for planning for me to open up the daycare I've been doing daycare for 20 some years so I'm they told me within two to 3 months so I I gave her extra Mone for mon still nothing they lost the paperwork couldn't find this they don't have anybody there to get the paperwork done it's just ridiculous I'm just appall at this whole city of Trenton right now I grew up in mville Township moved to Trenton from Jamesburg in mon Township I've been here for about 17 18 years um and I just seen a lot of stuff going on in the city of Trenton that needs to be addressed that is not being addressed uh right now I feel like I'm being discriminated upon because I know that there's people who haven't had their business paperwork in before me who has gotten their paperwork um I just don't know what's what's going on cuz my next move is calling the governor calling the newspaper calling TV going on Twitter Facebook and everything else because something needs to be done I put an application in here I say last year when I was running for County Commissioner and I did this just to see how things were going to go I have paperwork from this much that they asked me to bring in not only did I run from County Commissioner I'm also an officer in forensic and I run my own business and between my two and three kids we have two three businesses in the city of trenor and this has been far the worst I'm I've been waiting for almost 7 eight months to get some paperwork done I'm paying for a building and I have no residuals coming back I was making over 4,000 every two weeks to nothing right now I'm exhausting all my Pap all my funds into this building but no one can tell me nothing I spoke to so many people in here I don't even want to liberate any names right now and nothing has been done I'm just appalled and like it's just too much going on in the city that we're not even addressing where's the funds going where's the money going cuz I would love to know when I appli for the first time home buyers paperwor they wanted this they wanted that they even asked me for credit card statement they asked as me for vehicle uh insurance and ask me for ludicrous things me and my account was just a PO and so by the time I got done they going to tell me that I made too much money first of all you would had that criteria on that first paper to tell me I would have known I know how much money I made the year so I would have never applied if that was the case but going next that is yes that is your time but thank you Joe Mar chica did I get correct hi everybody uh my name Jo Mar I organize with the creator of Trenton Democratic socialists of America it's the local Trent area branch just political organization of the country and I'm here today to speak on behalf of our membership in and around Trenton I'm here to speak in support of the Working Class People uh black white brown otherwise in Tren just need your name that your address for the record surei thank you yeah and I want to speak a little bit about the Department of Justice report that came out about Trenton police thank you so right now this is just for general public comment only we have a separate public comment section and I had announc everyone would sign uh the paper to talk about that there was no paper available out here to sign when I went to sign it so I I or all the SPAC say were not allowing comment about that at this time we're doing that separately that's fine just tell me where to put my name down and I'll wa back right here sir is there space left Mr Garcia yes thank you you can sign there go ahead thank you thank you madam president those are all the individuals I have a public comment at this time the doj she is uh will leave out there we still have a couple of spaces um and that was Al that was collected along with the general public comment so we'll go ahead and put that back up thank you sir if you would please just back to the uh public if that would be okay moving on with the agenda Madam president on your call after this gentleman signs is that the last space for that let us clear this up um could you please put the sheet back at the table so if anyone else wants to speak to the doj report they have the opportunity to sign the paper so we can continue thank you it's fine thank you Mr Garcia certainly Madam president moving on to new business at this time we have resolutions and Madam president is are there any items that you or the council wish to extract forther questions or from a potential consent agenda at this time Council s council members have any questions about any resolutions that we need to ask at this moment before we move to consent agenda if so please uh let us know council president yes so I have a couple of uh resolutions first one is 24479 okay 24481 okay I'm sorry actually no we went through that already so okay 4 so starting again 24479 M 24482 thank you 24509 and 24510 thank you any of the council people have any questions about any resolutions counc president yes Council woman I have one for I have it in my docet but not on the actual listing but the 24- 077 this isin all right so that's a so we'll get to that thank you anything on resolution thank you any other council members about resolutions any questions uh Madam president yes councilwoman the question about 24-58 on 24 508 yes that's it okay any other the council members question question councilwoman J Williams did you have a question on something yes ma'am thank you uh 24477 24480 and then uh 24520 thank you thank you m before we start this because it's going to move at a at a you know at its own pace I just want to take a moment um to recognize councilwoman at large asinelli Gonzalez um for her appointment to the Electoral College for the 2024 presidential election uh we're recognizing her tonight with resolution 24481 and we also have special recognition that we'll present to her at a later time it's a historical moment for councilwoman Gonzalez it's a historical moment for Trenton so we just want to clap it up for her and say congratul we are proud of you thank you all right let's get down to business 24477 so councilwoman Williams um ba Richard is going to be answering the questions for the h so 24477 whenever you're ready councilwoman okay thank you very much man I appreciate that so my question had to do with uh and thank you uh B Richardson um I know we've been waiting for this for a long time U particularly some of these properties uh going on um 18 months two years almost in my case with one property so I was wondering um do you have an estimate or guesstimate you can share with the public and us on when some of these demolitions may be to occur um that was approved good evening uh Maria Richardson business administrator um well once this resolution is adopted um we need to issue a contract have the contractor sign the mayor sign Administration signs after that we are able to start uh the demolition process I anticipate that that will be most likely at the end of middle mid end of January once the process begins it takes several weeks but for now we need to do some Logistics uh process which is basically make sure that all utilities are disconnected and uh make those sites safe for the m so those are active projects as of this time but the demolition itself uh will begin most likely at the end of January okay and then because they're considered hazardous um do we still have any weight period with DCA for approval not in this case uh this is paid with ARP money so um no we we do not have to wait once the project the the contract is in place okay excellent thank you and then um 244 one second councilwoman can we put that on consent are you fine with that please yes ma'am thank you you're welcome and one second counc we're going in order here 24479 councilwoman frisbee head questions thank you council president thank you so I was just looking um on the 12th page I just want to go back to that it talks about about where they're going to be reaching out um and getting speaking with the um Brokers I wanted to make sure with this that they're not just um speaking with the Brokers but they also will be Consulting with the residents as well making sure that we getting feedback from the residents um this this um resolution pertains to U areas and it's for business attraction yes as part of the U project we need to um involved some of the residents that are uh exactly next to the businesses and those things but it would be if that is something that you are requiring most likely we could accommodate some of it um but for U purposes we need to contact the business owners in that area okay I just know that the um Community is always talking about they want to make sure they're involved I sure tww um they'll also be involved I'm assuming that they'll be involved with this as well but it's always if there are residents that are nearby that we can get um any feedback from them if necessary okay I will make sure that um the U coordinator and the director of Housing and economic development uh get your concerned thank you ma'am God bless you it's okay for consent yes ma'am thank you 24480 councilwoman Williams well thank you council president uh this mayting uh be almost mov at this point but uh is this resolution this would be the $1 million uh that we my question regarding 477 um this is the appropriation to pay for 477 that is correct we will utilize this 1 million uh plus some Capital funding to fund those demolitions okay thank you very much we can't wait to get these properties demolished yes they have my cons we very happy yes thank you so much consent agenda agenda yes please thank you 24482 councilwoman frisbe uh VA director uh VA you might will just park right there thank you so much I just um I'm in agreement with this resolution I just would for the sake of the public would love to have you expound upon it so they um are where as um also but this is uh detailing it's uh resolution 482 correct yes ma'am yes um this is um this resolution will allow the um our purchasing department the city itself to enter into um a contract with this edgm uh Edge Market Cooperative it's part of it's one of the provisions of the New Jersey procurement regulations municipalities are able to use alternative uh methods of procurement like using uh Cooperative or state contracts uh that basically allows the city to be part of a conglomerate of uh buyers right and purchase at lower prices without having to go to through the process of rfps or bits so that's basically it this is free for the city it's just um allows us to to purchase as part of a group of buyers than you I just want to make sure that the um public understood that as well that this is not at a cost to the city but it is good for the city thank you thanks consent agenda thank you before we continue I just want to let the public know since we have a a a a nice group Gathering here tonight um that when we when Council vice president and I run some docket review we send extensive list in questions over to the administration um ahead of time to get any questions that we have about everything that appears before us We Gather the answers and then we distribute to council so if Council still has any outstanding questions that they will have then they will ask the questions here tonight so I don't want anyone to think that some of us are talking and some of us are not we have the list of all the questions um that we ask ahead of time 24508 councilwoman Edward [Music] I had a question about this resolution um this is for purchase of ammunition for the city of TR police department and I just wanted some clarification on on why we we need to purchase more ammunition is there a reason is there expiration on the ammunition we currently have are we low in inventory thank you Steve Wilson Police director the ammunition that we purchase is for ongoing training it's duty ammunition and training ammunition for current personnel and for our potential hires that we have so they can train and then also be outfitted with duty ammunition so it's something that we do every year thank you thank you 24509 councilwoman frisbee and 24510 that's for director Douglas there we go k Douglas fire director thank you director um I just was wanted to ask a question that this talks about there are 11 sets of fire firefighter Personnel um pieces of equipment PPP that we are getting my question is is this all that is needed to have all of our firefighters covered in proper protective gear not all the firefighters this grant was awarded by the DCA ARP um we applied for it um the maximum amount was 75,000 we were given 70,000 we awarded 70,000 but it only covers a cost of 11 cents um because of the cost factor for from head to toe from helmet boots hat suspenders and so forth so what would be needed how many more of our firefighters are not in protect protected Gear Well they all have proper protective gear um but I must admit the fact that we are in the process of trying to um get some repl um um next year next year's budget so it is in abundance because it's been a lack of of um purchasing throughout some years that predat me okay we just want to make sure that uh all of our men and women are properly protected when they're running in to uh protect absolutely us okay thank you so much I appreciate you sir you're welcome consent please4 510 um 510 that's actually mar Just thank you ma'am so I really just want um I'm I'm so much for this I'm excited about it I wanted to just have you once again to expound upon this I think this is a fantastic uh move that we're going to have on um our on our part but if it would expound for the sake of the public absolutely this uh resolution refers to a shared service agreement between the city of Trenton and the county of perser for the provision of Hazmat um uh services for many many years our finest Department of fire and uh Emergency Services has been providing those services for the county but has not been compensated before so this year we enter in this agreement we will receive payment from uh the county of Mercer um they will be paying for some of our expenses to to uh like a training and some of our uh expenses Recovery Services and uh some of our uh maintenance and repair to our equipment so we are really excited about this this is only one of couple of share Services agreement that we are um entering into with the county of Mercer that will hopefully bring some savings to the city and will allow us to continue to improve with our services this is good news for our city thank you I appreciate it thank [Music] you 24520 councilwoman Williams thank you very much council president um is Dr and Capell in the room yes oh I'm sorry I can see you now thank you sorry uh so my question regarding 520 actually actually have a couple questions uh the first one being um I'm really happy to see uh the $1.1 million um resolution to apply for and accept the grant if we get it and I was wondering uh would the money be used for any different lead prevention programs than what we're already uh doing to try to reach families in our city regarding lead particularly in the north ward of course uh we have the greater percentage of pollution issues uh for our city good evening um Dr Diego map for the Department of Health and Human Services um the uh the purpose of this grant is to provide following service for the city of Trenton it is for um Public Health nursing case management assessment on household um and environmental lead haard home visits including education assessment of cultural and consumer products contributing to lead exposure and best practices to reduce lead exposure and ensure healthy homes um the purpose of this grant uh will allow us to pay for the nurses the uh staff to um bring all of these services to our community mainly okay um and that's great to hear is I know your staff has been working very very hard uh to try to get the word out and do testing Etc it's it's been difficult at times to get um testing completed particularly with the students over at mcnight and the other schools a grant so I was wondering are there any um are there any methods or any prevention uh ideas that you'd like to try that maybe we need additional funding for or maybe um some of the uh 10% for cannabis tax revenue could go towards since that's supposed to be for addressing and identifying Healthcare dispens Serv once we get that tax money um at the moment we're just enhancing the the services that we have and trying to um reach more of our um residents uh we can explore that um in the future but as of right now we just um um enhancing our services okay Rob thank you if there's anything more that we can do in the future please bring it to us with everyone would love to hear it thank you for your time Dr oh this can go to consent agenda ma'am thank you thank you you're [Applause] wel I believe there's uh the ba Richardson uh resolution 24535 we are pulling that resolution okay so Council 24535 has been pulled by the administration and we are pulling it because it's a duplicate it's a duplicate okay thank okay mam president on your call get all right may I have a motion to approve the following for consent agenda resolution 24477 24 478 24479 24480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 4 497 498 499 500 51 52 53 54 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 54 515 516 5117 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 536 537 5 38 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 that concludes the list we have a motion to approve for consent before we I'm sorry madam president before we um 481 did you put that in there as well was list as consent I add that oh yeah it's in there hold on it's in there in right thank you councilwoman frisbee so the councilwoman just brought to my attention that uh because of the magnitude of resolution 24481 that we should read it out loud into the record um even though it is being placed on consent agenda in the middle of me asking for this motion Mr Garcia certainly I need you to read it I need you to tell me can we read it now or do we go ahead and keep going with what I just asked for I would if you have a motion on the floor I asked for the motion nobody motion but nobody has been motioned yet then we can go ahead and read it now I would imagine a f solicitor for order that purpose thank you resolution 24481 a resolution honoring and commending Trenton city councilwoman yaselli Gonzalez upon her appointment to the Electoral College for the 2024 presidential election whereas the United States Constitution provides for the creation of the Electoral College which is mandated and power to cast Ballance for the election of the President and Vice President of the United States and whereas Trenton city councilwoman gas Manelli Gonzales was appointed as one of 14 Democratic electors for the 2024 presidential and vice presidential election and whereas on December the 5th 2024 councilwoman Gonzalez appeared at the State House in her capacity as an elector and cast her ballot for Democratic candidates kamla Harris and Tim Waltz as President and Vice President of the United States and whereas appointment as a member of the Electoral College is a tremendous honor with unparalleled historical significance and not only reflects highly upon councilwoman Yas Manelli Gonzalez but upon the city of Trenton and his residents and whereas it is proper and fitting that councilwoman Yas Manelli Gonzalez be recognized and congratulated upon this momentous achievement now therefore be resolved by the city council the City attorney that it does hereby extend its heartfelt congratulations to councilwoman yaselli Gonzalez for the honor recognition this appointment has brought to her the Trenton city council and the City of Trenton and is further resolved that this resolution shall take effect pursuing to law [Applause] thank you though thank you everyone that being said may I have a motion to approve all of the resolutions that I had formally named into consent agenda so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figuro gurg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman [Music] Williams her hand is up yes thank you sorry president Feliciano yes motion carry and Madam president moving on to our loan ordinance for first reading ordinance 24- 077 an ordinance providing for the implementation in this for the implementation in the city of Trenton a 5-year tax exemption and abatement pursuant to njsa 40a 21-1 at SEC and approving property tax abatement for Residential Properties in need of Rehabilitation Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve I have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president fig edberg yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Bano yes motion carry president at this time moving on with the agenda I believe we've reached the point of public comment regarding the doj Department of Justice police report okay thank you at this time um again I stated that we were moving the um the public comment remarks up first um along with that any council person at this time that wants to make a comment to the public um regarding this or your sentiments you now have that opportunity each will be given 2 minutes to say what it is that you would have to say and then at that time we will open it up to the public I mean to the to the public to come first and then the mayor to follow any council members have anything that they would like to say at this time to the public about the doj report that is where we are councilwoman Edwards thank you yes two minutes is the time for council person Mr Garcia thank you not made my anxiety left um I just want to say first and foremost uh thank you to the Department of Justice and to those who has uh a part in activating the investigation I think that it was long overdue and it was something that the city needed to shed light and provide transparency on the happenings in our Police Department many people have been victims to a lot of injustices out of our police police department including police officers I won't exclude them because our minority officers are suffering there is a blue wall in our police department and a lot of people are afraid to speak up a lot of people in our community have been afraid to speak up and this investigation provided an opportunity for people to do that in a safe Manner and even still a lot of people still have fears to speak up I have received countless messages and emails and phone calls over the last year since that doj uh investigation was announced and I sympathize with them because I too was a victim of this Police Department as a teenager my family members were I watched injustices happen excessive force beatings chasing shootings it's no secret that this police department has not lived up to the standards that our community needs we need safety and a lot of us have not been safe or have felt safe for a long time and I will not sugar cat that so I have spoken with our mayor and he is very open so I will say that I have personally requested us to form a Civilian Complaint review board as I have been a part of the demands I have been leading and a part of protest and rallies at our Police Department over the past decade and that's no secret either so I stand before you as your representative to let you know this this is not going to fall between the cracks and I will make sure along with my other Council colleagues that we will have Justice thank you thank you Council any other Council people Council vice president and then councilwoman Gonzalez good evening um I I concur with uh councilwoman Edward's sentiments with regard to this I'm glad that an investigation was done and I'm glad that um aspects of um Trenton policing have come out and come to light and have been highlighted in such a way where they're spelled out where it's not just accusatory it's not just pointing the finger it's not just saying well you see this video this is what happens this was an actual investigation into particular acts and not all acts as we understand have been investigated this has been going on um for much longer um than it then it needs to have gone on and we need to we we can understand and be clear that this is not just a local issue this is a national issue where we have cultural issues when it comes to policing and residents this is beyond training we're trained our police officers are trained in the academy but that training goes out the window half the time when they become when they come on the force and they have supervisors um and other superiors who are not working ethically who are not leading in the way that they need to be leading and and looking in other ways we have officers coming onto the force quite frankly some that should not be officers and and are doing things that they know are wrong but it's accepted it's an acceptance across the board that's where we really need to be paying attention when we're looking at this and when we're trying to make changes within our police force the relationships need to be built we have a an a blatant disrespect across the board between our citizens our residents and our police officers and arrogance and I'm really glad that this came out I'm glad it's being addressed we need to talk about accountability and I'm just I'm I'm elated to hear everybody's responses tonight thank you thank you council president um so in light of the investigation as we all know it is very troubling to find out all of the findings that were there but I want to take the time out to say thank you to the Department of Justice for um opening up this investigation and to all of those who actually participated I know there were a lot of community discussions and um a lot of community were allowed to have input as well as the investigations that were going on in the department um but I also just want to take a moment just to thank our Law Enforcement Officers because you do do a job that is is challenging and I want to say I know that every officer in there is not a bad cop so I want to put that that out there as well because we do have some great officers um who serve in our Police Department however all of the all of the things that we found out and not that any of it most of it was a surprise to me to know that some of the things that were happening um and so we need the accountability we need an apology we need someone to take the responsibility of what has occurred in this in this department as far as the trainings as I'm reading through the report it says it failed to provide crucial crucial trainings to our police officer now that right there in itself is like why are we not training our police officers and as we know this world is evolving things are changing and so we need our police officers to also be trained as well um it starts at the top you know the leadership we got to take responsibility we got to take accountability for what is going on make sure that this is addressed make sure that someone is is is held accountable um I'm finding out also just from different conversations that we have police officers who have blatantly and admitted and been found guilty on certain things and then get sent back into the police department but then they're in Internal Affairs it has a a layup job and it's not even put back out on patrol these things are not fair these things are it's just just unbelievable that I found this out the other day that someone would actually go into an internal affairs uh position and was found guilty of doing some harm harmful things to some of our people so again I do I'm committed um to working alongside my colleagues obviously our law enforcement our Administration the community to ensure that these changes that we have are enacted quickly we have to we all have to take accountability we have to make sure things are being done um correctly so I stand on um the side of our community and we got to definitely make sure that things are done better in the future as far as our Police Department our community deserves to feel safe um and so we want to make sure that happens soon thank you Mr Garcia is the clock bro let's clock okay councilwoman Williams thank you council president I really wish I could be there tonight um but I had away at a work conference that I could not for move but um I'm just going to be plain spoken as best I can I'm disgusted and embarrassed by what was reported what was reported was unconscionable it should never happen again in this city all transon should feel safe and respected and know that their constitutional rights will not be violated and in this day and age our police were under great scrutiny and S sadly that is as it should be there are bad officers but there are many many good officers too most the Trenton Police Department is it's full of good officers and they deserve our respect our hope and our prayers but the bad officers on our Force are destroying the image of our city to others and while they destroy the sense of Safety and Security for many Trentonian and that should never happen I too look for an apology I to look for reforms and we need this Trenton Police Department to start the reforms as soon as possible if they have already started we also need the Trent Police Department to begin walking beats again as they did long ago they must know our citizens who must know our residents before the residents have to call the non-emergency number or 911 most citizens do want to know their police officers who are serving them and walking beats is an investment in public safety used to be known as Community Police fruit to training as my colleague stated must happen but it has to be in person it can't just be something on a computer and additionally there's obviously a need for more cultural uh cultural competency train and it's necessary to cover many groups it's necessary to cover in community lgbtq people and other identified groups and I look forward to hearing what our 30 60 90day plan is and then go approve the city and approve our Police Department thank you councilwoman Council woman frisbe thank you council president so I'm appreciative of the the doj report um I was there when the AG came to town and they asked for our young folks and the people in the room to come up and speak about what's going on and I recall a list a line of individuals who came up um and as they took notes it surprised me how almost half of the room stood up with um a complaint I am in uh complete agreement with my colleagues we have a great deal of officers that I would I do trust with my life we have a great deal who are good officers and those officers we need to make sure that they don't feel like they're being beaten down or beat up upon but for those that are doing things that have come out in this report we are not going to pacify that they have to be held accountable and just like we would have to be held accountable so our community deserves to feel safe our community deserves to know that those who are uh held to the highest standard of upholding the law that the law has got to be upheld with them as well that there are no two sets of law that one that are for them and one that's for us so um I'm grateful for the report I'm really shocked at a lot of stuff that came out of it I am um disheartened and my uh thoughts as with everything um as we are in this technology age Ready or Not cameras are out so the truth is going to come out one way or the other so whether you want it to come out whether you're ready for it to come out whether you have a um a badge or Not Your Truth is going to be everybody else's truth especially when they can put it on Facebook when they can put on social media so I look for to what is going to come of this and our city moving forward and growing stronger because we have this thank you Council woman so I'd like to say thank you to DJ um for the report I want to say thank you to the May the administration for cooperating and doing what it is and answering questions and to those that came forward and spoke up thank you for that as well thank you to all the good men and women that serve on Trenton police um and doing your job every day to protect and serve we appreciate you page two the report says Trenton has paid out more than $7 million since 2021 to resolve lawsuits stemming from accusations of Officer misconduct some Trentonian have lost faith in their Police Department due to these continued failures it goes on to say while tpd's policies generally follow standards set by the New Jersey attorney general we found that officers do not adhere to these mandatory requirements reform will require ensuring that tpd has procedures to enforce these standards and measure compliance pay page 13 at the bottom tpd's unconstitutional practices deeply impact the Trenton Community it is time out for the nonsense here in the city of Trenton everyone needs to be held accountable again kudos to those that do the good things but to the bad if you want to steal time if you want to beat people for no reason if you want to disrespect and talk down to people then you need to go it is beyond the point of a slap on the wrist yes I do believe that training is important but if they're not listening to the training that is being put down and if the training is not being enforced then we are wasting everyone's time time in the process I do think that mental health needs to be addressed with these police officers they do need to have some kind of routine check-ins to make sure that they're okay they're out in the street all the time they're seeing some pretty graphic and bad things I don't know how I would feel seeing someone being shot stabbed or anything and then I have to get back up and go back out and continue to work again and again there is no excuse for disrespect there is no excuse for hurting an innocent person there is no excuse for excessive force I went through the police civilian Academy with with my colleagues up here we learned about excessive force taking advantage of your position is not right it's not fair and it's not going to continue to take place here in the city of Trenton there have to be consequences to these actions thank you at this time we will now hear from the public you have the sheet I do again to those that are going to come forward we are sticking to the recommendation that are here in the report and we had copies of the report out um on the table for those that didn't have it we're sticking to the recommendations um we are here to hear what it is that you have to say um as far as these go what we agree with what you disagree with what you would like to see um in place to help us to collectively figure out what it is that we can do to help put practices in place to help our City Mr Garcia certainly one moment Madame President we do have two spaces left okay every person that speaks gets 4.5 minutes to speak that totals 45 minutes we will hold to the time Mr Garcia and Mr osara we will hold to the time at 4.5 we're shutting the mics off so we can move and keep this timely and 4 minutes and 30 seconds we will mute thank you start on page 38 in the back of the report Mr Garcia Sor I'm sorry I was saying to the public that the recommended remedial measures start page 38 of the report thank you and Council all we all have copies up here as well thank you first person for public comment for doj justice report is howbert Clark thise to State man an address for the record sir good evening my name is Albert Clark I'm from Trenton Branch Hill boox 1355 Trenton New Jersey 08607 good evening members of Trenton city council my name is howbert Clark and I stand before you as the criminal justice co-chair of the Trent NAACP representing the voices of the countless residents who demand accountability and change in how our our police department operates we are all aware of the findings of the Department of Justice we with the Trenton NAACP speak to you today with two specific demands first Police director Steve Wilson must be removed the facts are clear director Wilson has overseen the department during much of the troubling five-year look back period his history is tied to troubling units like the proactive unit Alpha Squad and a jump out boys unit units Infamous for their aggressive and harmful tactics more concerning he elevated colleagues from those very units promoting them to leadership position including that of internal affairs this is the same Internal Affairs division implicated in recent lawsuits for both within and outside of the department covering up allegation of sexual harassment racial discrimination and creating barriers for Citizens attempting to file complaints this unit's Behavior mirrors that excuse me mirrors what we've seen with the New Jersey State Police and highlights of systematic failure under Wilson's leadership let's be clear this is Steve Wilson's police department and it is failing us he must step down or you as our city leaders must take action to ensure his removal second we need a community-led police review board some might argue that New Jersey courts have declared these boards unconstitutional but let's set the record straight the issue is in their existence it's about who hold subpoena power over the the police and here's the truth you the city council already have that subpoena power the 2020 new civil a civilian review board Court ruling itself acknowledges The subpoena power is tied to your legislative Authority and I quote from this case ruling itself the city council itself has subpoena power and that power is inherent in antire to the power of legislate city council retains its own power to issue subpoena and may be motivated to exercise that power you have the ability and the responsibility to create a community LE review board One ow to oversee the Police Issue subpoenas and hold the department accountable imagine a review board staff by your colleagues armed with your legislative Authority work along alongside you to ensure Justice and transparency this isn't just possible it's necessary Council our community is watching we're tired of broken trust systematic failures and leaders who fail to act now is the time for your courage for your accountability and for a Tred Police Department that serves and respects all his residents thank you Cordelia St good do you state gner as a former elected council person I deeply concerned about the current state of policing in our community particularly in light of the recent doj J report when I reflect on the history of our efforts to bring accountability and reform to the police department I am reminded of how much progress we made but also how much work remains to be done in 1999 as president of the Trenton Council of Civic associations I organized the yes we can residents Coalition in response to the police department's systemic failures poor response times overtime abuse disciplinary discriminatory I'm sorry promotion practices excessive force and a lack of Community Trust we demanded action and together we succeeded under the leadership of Mayor d s Palmer to restructure the city's Public Safety department creating civilian oversight and establishing the citizens police advisory councils better known as CPAC these groups meet the these groups are assigned to each board and they meet monthly to this day they were critical these were critical steps in ensuring that the police department was accountable to the people it was meant to serve now after all these years it is disheartening to see that many of the same issues persist our community deserves a police force that is transparent accountable well trained and responsive to its needs we can't afford to return to a time when the voices of residents were ignored and were silenced as a former council person I feel it is crucial for the current city leaders both legislative and administrative to take immediate and meaningful action to restore the public trust in our police force the findings in the doj report are a wakeup call and we must ask swiftly to address the issues at hand we need leadership that holds the police accountable and ures they operate with the integrity and respect this Trenton Community deserves if the current leadership is unable to bring about meaningful change then it is time to seek new leadership it is essential that the community remains engaged and continues to push for the reforms necessary to ensure that law enforcement serves all the people equitably and responsibly together we can make make real change and build a police force that reflects the values of fairness Justice and respect for all it is imperative that the police department is it is very it is imperative that the police department is well trained and prepared to serve people the police department their budget is almost 80% of the city's budget we spend a lot of money on the police department we really do and it's true not it's not everybody but there are some and they are so deeply rooted in this thing I'm talking from 1999 I don't know where you guys were at that time that's a long time ago we were in the streets um it was just crazy we had to have a special election it was just a mess in this town uh the neighborhoods that uh suffered uh poor response times and uh police uh would uh U showed no confidentiality when we were U when people would give them tips or whatnot on um you know cries and thinking just a it was just a complete mess I'm not even going to get into it cuz I don't want that thing to go off on me but I am telling you in all seriousness something needs to be done and by all means necessary if you need to step up and do you know make some hard decisions along with the you're going to have to do it because that's what we you know that's what it's all about right making tough decision doesn't have to always be popular but it definitely has to be right thank you [Applause] [Music] even Council thank you for allowing us to speak we're designated representatives of the transpor Officers Association SLA it's comprised of the supervisor ranks which consist of the sergeants lieutenants and captains of ATT Police Department my name is Jason Woodhead I'm the president of Association and I'm accompanied by uh the association vice presidents miguela CA and Bethesda Stokes members of Thea are dedicated to improving the TR Police Department through our commitment to support efforts for meum for reform and accountability while we respect the concerns raised by the doj it is essential that our approach to reform is fair balanced and guided by data we would like to schedule an open meeting open Forum to address any concerns or questions that you may have you stand here before the public and council members the challenges facing the Trent Police Department are serious but they're not insurmountable first we must address Staffing shortages to ensure the department can meet the demands of our community second we must hold external entities such as the DCA accountable for decisions that undermine departmental efficiency and supervision and third we must pursue reform through collabora collaborative Data triing Solutions that balance Public Safety Officer morale and fiscal responsibility Superior officer Association remains fully committed to working with the council Administration and the public to implement these reforms to achieve our shared goal of a safer and stronger TR thank you for your [Music] time um excuse meas shim hi my name is far shamim I live at 49 mtle lab and I'm here with the greatr uh DCA uh DSA I just want to start off off by saying working at St Francis Medical Center especially during the outbreak of covid-19 has instilled in me a shakable sense of duty duty to protect to serve to be versatile and think on your feet to be charitable and to not see one life as more valuable than another no guns involved no form of strangulation no need for violence on April 3rd just one month before George Floyd's murder that would shock the nation and create waves internationally I became a witness to the same exact crime carried out by Trenton Public Department to watch someone clearly having a mental health episode literally screaming for help not harming anyone and begging for his life as police officers tackle him is something that still haunts me now I could only manage to take a picture at the moment it did not even register to me that his immobilized body equaled death by homicide Steven dolamore should still be alive he was instead killed by Tren py on Hospital property no amount of sensitivity training can end the systemic Injustice that is caused by our police officers who run the streets with no accountability contributing to for-profit prisons that capitalize on modern day slavery there is no Rehabilitation no justice to be found here we do not want another George Floyd or Steven dolore many Trentonian are not strangers to trauma many are living paycheck to paycheck struggling impoverished battling addiction and mental health issues we must treat them with dignity and compassion we must replace armed police officers with mental health professionals who can actually tend to the sensitive needs of our community I have worked with my fellow healthcare workers to deescalate risky situations that create an immediate solution that would protect the welfare of all this is something that our armed police officers are simply not equipped to provide the nature of their presence alone creates distrust and extreme power imbalance I urge you all to consider social workers crisis response teams and caregivers and helping professions or emergency services to ensure our Public Safety the the city of Trenton would do greater Justice to its people by allocating funds not for the expansion of the Trenton police department or sensitivity trainings under the guise of improving the department but instead to creating better resources for our community in a way that actually improves Our daytoday Lives less work to end police brutality by reducing police funding in the first place and instead let's invest the in the needs of Trentonian keep them safe and content we can accomplish this by providing by prioritizing the right to affordable housing Affordable Health Care better funding for our community resources such as schools libraries museums and recre recreational facilities let us change the narrative to move away from violence and towards Collective liberation [Applause] Victor irizar Victor 19 waren Avenue Trenton New Jersey the first thing I'd like to say is uh before you have a police reform you need social reform uh officers can't have uh the with so much training and um I realize uh once you get with so much training you uh in other words look down upon as the enemy then you need to realize thattime when there it's actual report that uh some officers hat hate their jobs and I said some of them need to be more or less a truck drivers or you know piece of delivery persons the officers there's a study that I learned in mer County Community College in Social uh social uh criminal justice that some officers were in 3 years or after 3 years they start hating the same people of their own race and therefore to flex and uh uh chastise that people that take it out on everyone and then there U Gathering of those Congregation of those who feel that way like the so-called people to make the paper the Cowboys and so forth all right you know uh so again I say before this uh along with police reform social reform which means what if they need training then the people on the streets the drug dealers the gangsters the prostitutes The Pimps they need training too how to conduct themselves in public so therefore they will stand out so much in front of people's homes and uh making our communities look bad to the point where police doesn't have to respond there's another along with that study that says that uh there are two professions that have the most highest alcoholism rate and that's the priest Catholic priest and police police officers all right so F stay drunk doing God's work I say that that law enforcement you can't you can't separate law enforcement from religion law enforcement and religion go together to me and as I study in criminal justice also that that's the word good and evil between So-Cal God and Devil was actually between the tribe shabaz the So-Cal Africans now there Nam they were the Trap Shabbat tra Shabbat soal Afric Africans and Africa and then the other part that Lucifer is a group of people black Europeans that uh came on the planet Earth about about 9,000 years ago so it Clash so now you when you say law enforcement and you saying when you talking about law enforc talking about to go to NE okay that's over plan a while ago someone said that this problem that we have in Trenton is Nationwide so therefore it starts with politics from the attorney uh your attorney general and the president all the way down to to the governor I to the mayor and the chief of police so we can't do for so much un they they if they need he need to be replaced with who we from in America if this problem is from the East to the west north to the South well you going to get some qual someone qualified enough to not only give us 50% give us 100% not only 65% give us 75% all right first of all think about that all right and then they'll leave and on top of that then if that problem is from east to the west then it's coming from to down so how is anyone going get 100% uh satisfaction and uh everyone is content now I know notice that we are in a an area of percentages that if 99% of the people are satisfied that 1% if that 1% is not satisfied that doesn't matter then that thoughts as the under class the one cares about but they're humans too and they're the ones that you see at these areas sou lines and Social Services looking for help to get the help go back into the streets and do there for them because nothing has been upgraded so they can continue if they going to be criminals good criminals that don't get caught so therefore you don't need the police come around to handle pedal p p CLS and therefore those officers who are not happy with their jobs three Mar Mara K kers did I get that right thank you um my name is Mara Rashid I live at 32 J maio Drive um I want to speak on behalf of another Trenton resident named Taylor Davis she lives at 32 Elmer Avenue we're both members of Greater Trenton DSA um this is her statement as a Trenton resident for eight years I am frustrated and concerned with the threatened Police Department's negligence particularly in providing timely Court days my own unresolved court issues are a direct result of this lack of competence which raises serious questions about accountability and efficiency this issue leads to unknown warrants and arrests for people that are unknowingly a victim of their actions this issue is compounded by the fact that the division of justice has already acknowledge that the TR Police Department's history of discriminatory practices and the significant racial tensions Within the department these is these systemat systematic issues undermine trust and law enforcement and disproportionately affect residents of color further straining our community recently I learned that Tron plans to allocate more funds to hire new police officers even waving the requirement for a written test while Public Safety is critical ensuring the officers are properly trained qualified and free from bias should be top priority hiring unqualified officers without addressing the department Sy systemic issues will only peret existing problems rather than focusing solely on expanding the police force these funds could better be invested in addressing the root causes of crime and Community challenges expanding access to mental health advocacy hiring social workers and increasing support for other public servants could create lasting positive change and help rebuild trust between residents and the systems not to service thank you Joe Mar all right take two my name is Jo Mara again uh greater Dent DSA uh and I'll get straight to the point uh 10 the Department of Justice report uh confirmed what a lot of folks in around Tren already knew is that the trend Police Department um has a habit and a preponderance of brutal and violent Behavior towards the residents of Trenton and for folks towards folks who were coming from out of town and were in the area we can what comes to the poef front of my mind is Nas had mentioned was St goore as well as the police murder of Joseph R and the Ming and and paralyzation of Judge Juan Henderson he was sitting at a parked car in 2022 and shot by plain closed police officers otherwise we we know what they are they're J that voice right so what I want to pose to this council is is just talk a little bit about why this keeps happening and has kept happening not just in Trenton but around the entire country 2023 was the deadliest year on record for police killing since 2013 think about that we had George Floyd in 2020 right there's all these uprisings there's all this momentum to try to do better with Public Safety what what went wrong and in short all of that energy was snuffed out and diverted towards reform approach that was used as an excuse to funnel money to police departments that didn't fundamentally change how they interact with our communities because the core of policing as an institution is historically based in violence and violent white supremacy it started out as slave controls it started out as vial union busting and that core the culture at the core of it is still there so you can have good people who go into police department and try to do the right thing and improve things but it becomes an us against the world mentality and they're forced to cap for bastards excuse my French so I don't see how feasibly we can reform an institution like this where the purpose of the institution is not to provide real Public Safety and what this city needs what this community needs is real Public Safety that actually prioritizes its residents and their health and their wellbeing you guys already have the model for crisis response in the city it just needs to be scaled up you have Community Street teams these are non-violent responders that get funding to go and prevent violence from happening and be in the community to deescalate problematic situations this is a model built on a foundation that's been around since 1988 with the Cahoots model in Oregon in Eugene Oregon they have never had any of their personnel in this program hurt or killed over the entire existence that's over three decades and they they've saved the City of Eugene Oregon about $2.2 million a year this is with a small footprint this is with about 3 to 8% of their calls that they get going uh diverted to police there's another estimate I think is 20% of the calls that now go into their Public Safety uh call reception area I forget the the property but the model's there it's here in Trenton you guys have it just fund it expand funding for that we don't need a fifth Trent City budget going to police that don't make us safer the core of the institution does not make people safe we need to reduce the role of police in public safety because we are operating with a public safety toolbox that's full of hams that's it and you have a toolbox that's full of hammers every single Dr ton you looks like a damn nail we need to put a diverse set of tools in that toolbox and we need to use them for the appropriate situation you want Public Safety experts deployed for the situation that they are best suited for you want mental health professionals you want social workers you want the escalation experts we can't train any profession to do all of these things it's too many different things you would be in training all the time you you still wouldn't have all the expertise you still wouldn't have all the experience so we're putting an unfair burden on an institution that's not meant to do any of the things we're telling them they need to do the slogan is supposed to be protect and sered but I think the evidence is pretty clear at this point that this approach to Public Safety is bass Awards and has failed this approach to Public Safety and traton has failed we need a different approach that's evidence-based that's holistic and actually prioritizes the well-being of the people in the city and I I'll say it again you have the model you don't need to overthink this don't invest in training that is a deadend approach that is an excuse to suck away money because we'll be back here in a year we'll be back here in 2 years we'll be back here in 6 months I don't know when it'll be but it'll happen and things won't be better there will be another report there will be another incident there'll be another police killing and everyone will wonder why didn't TR SE do something about a new approach thank you [Applause] Mr yes I'm sorry we just want to remind everybody and thank you everyone for your comments thus far that when you come up um we want to know where you're from not just the name of the organization um that you represent so we need to know everybody's address when they come forward to speak prayer thank you steuart Alterman good evening council president Madam president members of council Mr Bridges how are you Mr May I'm Stewart alterman and I represent PBA local 11a the superior Officers Association I've had the privilege of representing the PBA here in Trenton since 1998 in various matters I've heard a lot of discussion today I've heard a lot of discussion tonight about the doj report Bo I read it uh I disagree with points I agree with certain points I'm disappointed in certain points it's an onsign [Music] unauthorised Affairs because we are all Hostage to the Division of Community Affairs who wields the purse who wields the purse strings in this city and cities like Tren and Trenton needs money money will fix a lot of the problems in the police department and money will fix a lot of the problems here in the city treton does not get its fair share of the dollars that are spent around the state very importantly is the fact that the police department in particular is underfunded under budgeted understaffed undertrained and under supervised we acknowledge that we acknowledge that our training has been abysmal for several years not because of a lack of talent not because of a lack of Interest or enthusiasm but because of a lack of money because Trenton we're in Trenton it makes me crazy to think that we're sitting here in the capital of the state and they can't figure out how to spend money in this city when they come here and they pass bills on nonsense and things that don't matter when things that matter here have yet to be funded now let's talk about training for a moment training teaches police officers how to act how to conduct themselves how to go about their jobs Madam council person I heard exactly what you said I think you're Miss Edwards no training is extremely important training will allow police officers to conduct themselves in a professional manner up to the legitimate standards of the citizenry of Council of the mayor and amongst the p very importantly without the money for proper training it doesn't happen Trenton Police Department also suffers from a lack of equipment from a lack of Technology from a lack of 2024 Cyber Technology why is that how does that happen it happens because the state of New Jersey the DCA underfunds and doesn't fund this city and the department in the city that's the problem so while we can all point the fingers of one another I can say the police are great you can say the police are not so great we all really do have to come together we have to come together and we have to find a pathway to convince those individuals down the street to start spending money here in order to Pro improve the situation particularly because we're all talking about the police department and the police Department Public Safety is the number one thing that government has to perform marbar versus Madison specifically States there's two things that government provides one Public Safety two Education Without Public Safety you can't have a country without education you can't have a country the two of them together adequately funded and supported makes a country and makes us all together and we come in as one not different people I think we all want the same thing here we want safety we want Integrity we want honesty we want transpar transparency and with that Madam council president I ask you to assist us in going to the get thank you I'm sorry what town are you from Marlton Marlon thank you right Mr I'm sorry so we have to have order in the room ma' I understand that we're passionate about this but we need order in the room thank you so much I appreciate you I appreciate you [Music] s uh Yen and Baker uh I'm uh representing Visionary philanthropy group in and I'm also representing the uh NAACP I'm the president I me the chairman of the TR prison branch of the NLP U first of all I want just have your address I'm sorry uh 47 clag Avenue thank you all right uh first of all I would like to thank the whole council members uh great evening to everyone and um also gentlemen here in front of me so today I would like to uh begin with um you know stating that I read the whole 45 page doj report um you know I used to be in the streets right I uh came into the streets 1993 and um you know there was a A system that the police had right and that was they would jump they would jump out you know on all the drug dealers you know unconstitutionally and um I endured you know a lot of um brutal meetings for example if I was selling drugs and I got caught I mean uh before I got caught I sometimes I would run and you know they would chase me down and beat me up right so this was an ongoing thing don't get me wrong if we sold drugs we were wrong however you know when we ran and we got caught no questions asked we were uh you know getting beat uh flash flashlights whatever it was so to get to my point you know uh we thought it was normal you know me and my comrades that were in the streets we thought it was normal to you know get beat by the police when um you know they would catch us right so fast forward now that I'm on the other side of the law and I'm a law-abiding citizen now you know I'm conscious I'm no longer no longer ignorant I'm like wow you know we were being bated yes we were wrong for selling drugs but you know there was no reason to beat us so to elaborate on the 45 page uh report um you know there was some things that stuck out with me in the streets let's say about 2003 2004 2005 2006 the uh Tron was uh flooded with the the gang movement right and being in the streets there was a lot of ignorance and violence killings going on so I used to you know go to a lot of the gangsters that was uh in control right and um you know talk to him about the the robberies the get the uh the violence and things like that that were going on under their control and a lot of them you know would uh say I would say you know can you control your you know your uh your gang members or whatever the case may be and a lot of them wouldn't want to hear what I said so to get to my point they would um you know cosign everything so that 45 page report it wasn't surprising to me first and foremost right it wasn't surprising to me but I'm what I'm saying is they co-signed a lot the gangsters in the streets right and in that one of the key factors in that 45 page report was that the the sergeants you know the lieutenants and the other hups they said in that report that they would read the report and just sign off on it and that was very you know touching to me because they didn't they they they didn't uh reprend the officers or anything like that for the wrongdoings that they did basically and that stood out to me and that was the same thing that was going on in the streets so yes the streets you know it was organized illegal crime but reading that report if the uh you know the officers the lieutenants and whoever uh you know uh Co I mean uh coside those those uh wrongdoings then you know that's wrong so overall to end my point you know um we need accountability you know people got killed so we need people to be accountable and uh you know leadership uh needs to be accountable and my point is you know uh last thing I want to say is um we need we need uh accountability just like everyone else myself was accountable for my wrongdoings Ralph hello my name is Ralph I live in Hamilton uh 265 Watson Avenue Hamilton to New Jersey it's a privilege to speak in front of you Council I am a proud native of Trenton I'll say it again I'm a proud native of the trend and I want to thank all the police officers that do put themselves on the line on a daily basis I have experienced police unj unjust I've been I have experienced unconstitutional practices in the past and I want to come to Trenton I want to come TR I want to feel safe um we already we're already hampered by a crime in Trenton I want to be able to trust the police in Trenton um the city of Trenton is hurting lawsuits hamper the city that money paid out could be used to better V Revitalize the city the uncons unconstitutional problems are an issue I'm not going to sit here and and and and tell you how many times I've been I've been wrong profiled um the police work for the community why is it that I often feel that they serve us while protecting themselves at times we definitely need a board to oversee these constitutional issues and problems that are arising continue to happen around the city thank you I am also a representative of DCA thank you that's all Madam president that's thank you thank you everyone for coming forward and speaking tonight um and giving us your feedback certainly we've taken it we will digest it and and meet about it now we'll hear from our mayor mayor Reed Gora with his response about the doj report thank you council president and I acknowledge our great uh former mayor uh Douglas Palmer uh the gentleman who spoke before as well as uh uh councilwoman stting um acknowledged this problem has been around it didn't didn't happen yesterday didn't happen under Steve Wilson's watch didn't happen under my Administration or anyone else's Administration so I got to uh acknowledge the US justice department report and the findings are indeed troubling it's important to acknowledge that the city has fully cooperated with the investigation I met with the US attorney from New Jersey on a number of occasions their team has come to City Hall I've gone to the US Justice Department's offices myself and I want to express our gratitude to their work and to their resources we invited them into this city I know they wanted to come but we opened the doors we we fully cooperated with the investigation the behavior in cited in the report is unacceptable and we must and we will do better anyone of the instances in the violation of public trust and constitutional rights we must do better as a city we are committed to holding our officers accountable ensuring that these issues are addressed and making Necessary changes to protect the rights and safety of all Trenton residents but I also want to say that during this last week I walked down the streets of chest Randall Jersey home and I talked with the residents and they would pull me out on the porch they would say look at this street and invariably they'd say where are the police they'd also say there's a drug dealer down the street when are you going to get rid of them my neighbor is throwing garbage over the porch they're speeding cars down our street when they going to put speed bumps where's the patrols so we have to balance that things there is a need for police in this this um in this city today there was a shooting on Maple Avenue and I said that's in a residential neighborhood usually quiet but there was a shooting today somebody got shot somebody's in the hospital in critical condition where are the police and again there's no excuse for violating person's constitutional rights but they are necessary entity in this city and let's talk about Steve Wilson again these problems didn't start under Steve Wilson but what Steve Wilson did was disband the two uh units that were mentioned in this report he also was the one who shephered the street teams and merged them with the police department he also initiated arrive together so that there is mental health counseling that will arrive with the police these are necessary reforms we have a lot of work to do with IIA but he was the one who also started with reconstituting the ID IIA making sure that they did the reports right make sure they keep the data and those changes will still continue but the two major one the three major recommendations one is IIA um is training right now police officers receive internet training and we all know what you look at a desk if you take a class you can leave and then come back and then sign out that you've watched the the video we need inperson training and to reinforce that and Steve Wilson is committed to making that happen it is right that we need the resources DCA gave Camden Police all the resources they need they gave Atlantic City all the resources they need they need to give resources to the capital city and supervision there you can't just have patrols just going out with not the sergeants coming out for field supervision you have to have the captains go out there you have to have the lieutenants go out there and we're committing to making these changes so again these problems didn't happen out overnight but we're the ones who are committed to making the changes we will be taking part with doj to have Community meetings we will have the discussion as councilwoman Edwards and I know councilwoman lisana I spoke about having a Citizens review board you just don't create one but you have to give that resources as well you need subpoena power you need Staffing you need interviews and Witnesses so that's going to take resources so we're going to have to work together for that but I will disagree that there has been no impact by um uh um director Wilson a couple of years ago he's only been here for a little almost 3 years couple years ago we had 40 homicides so far up to today we've had 18 so the homicides have declined down 55% since 2020 so we have to be doing something right and the public demands that the police go out there and and you know they say there's too many guns out on the street this year we confiscated 215 guns and if we didn't have the police to confiscate them we can only imagine what would have happened with those guns so when we go down the street we want to ensure that our streets are safe that there's things to do for their kids that seniors can feel safe to walk to the store that people can sit on their porch and not have to worry about their safety we have to take this realistically we are taking it seriously it is deeply troubling the instances that were cited in the report we have to do better but in order to do that we have to make sure that IIA the internal affairs unit is doing their job that there is in-person training for the police officers so that they protect the constitutional rights as well as enforce the laws and we need the supervision out in the streets so I'm going to turn this over if I may to director Wilson to address the council thank you thank you mayor good evening uh Council Steve Wilson Police director um first off I just want everybody to know I do take this doj report very seriously um that's first and foremost second I like everyone to knowe that when this doj investigation happened I immediately started making changes and I had been making changes since before the doj was even um came to the city of Tren U so I'd like to thank them for the report it was very eye openening um we had already enacted a number of the doj recommendations and we'll continue to do so just like the mayor said um they pointed out a lot of procedural and training deficiencies one of the first things I did was go from an internal affairs unit and I created the internal affairs Bureau consisting of Professional Standards human resources and training as well as the internal affairs function now the benefits of creating this Bureau was to better address citizen complaints more accountability for supervisors and officers also put more sergeants were transferred into the internal affairs Bureau so we wouldn't have the same rank investigating the officers rather we would have a supervisor investigating them it's my intention to uh completely put sergeants in there to get rid of all the detectives but it's a Manpower issue um our use of force policy has already been revised for consistency with the New Jersey General General's office uh use of force policy policies governing be WC which is our body warn camera and use of force will be further revised based on the doj report and suggestions these changes will make immediate supervisors more accountable for the actions of the officers under their command the internal affairs Bureau now reviews all use of force reports and body cameras this was a revision already instituted prior to the report the BWC policy will indicate Progressive disci iine for fail to comply and will indicate Progressive discipline for all for supervisors failing to supervise I want to especially highlight our citizen complaint process we are revising and updating the TBD website to make the complaint process more easily accessible and user friendly this is also something I did before um the doj report the complaint process is available in 11 different languages online on Trenton police.com we have and will continue to remind the public of the citiz complaint process at all Community meetings and if you've been there you know that I've done that and you can always I want to remind everybody submit complaints anonymously our training aspect arrest surgent seizure training was instituted with the Mercer County police officer uh police uh prosecutor's office and will continue we are presently considering potential resources to conduct additional training for deescalation coupled with use of force training more importantly we will put a greater emphasis on supervisor responsibility and accountability to stimulate greater oversight and guidance for our officers on the street as far as Community engagement I regularly engage with the public by attending Community meetings and establishing relationship with clergy and as many community members as I can Our Community Affairs unit is more highly engaged than it has been past years uh when I was here as an [Music] officer one of the U Community groups that the mayor forgot to mention was recovery Advocates yes that occurred under me as well as the Trent Community Street teams and arrive together because I realized the importance of these groups and I did that when I first got here and will continue to do so and continue to uh Lobby for the funding uh for our training Community Street teams um and it's very important that the police department establish those relationships and I recognize that a long time ago uh the people of Trent deserve to be safe but they also need to know that the police protecting them are doing that important and often dangerous work while respecting their constitutional rights I and the leadership of tpd are committed to making the department one that the capital city deserves working with the doj the New Jersey attal General other stakeholders including Community groups within the city we will strive to make the changes needed to strike the balance the mayor indicated some of my proposed measures to address the doj [Music] report Internal Affairs shall make every effort to interview the complaintant particularly using the contact provided if the complaintant fails to follow up Internal Affairs must document the reasons for non-c contct if available in addition to mail notifications Internal Affairs should attempt to contact a complainant through secondary if the complainant is unavailable or unwilling to cooperate Internal Affairs must proceed with the independent investigation using other Witnesses including those identified in report or accompanying officers to assess the validity of the complaint tpd shall ensure all complaints are received and reviewed any language that may have discouraged the complaint procedure will be removed internal Affair shall conduct a comprehens a comprehensive review of all complaints and classify those complaints in accordance with the most accurate and complete categorization CH Police Department shall provide annual in-person training particularly with Patrol officers or or others who primarily deal with the public make and make every effort with the city Administration utilizing budgetary or grant funding to conduct such training in person Trent Police Department shall update its Internal Affairs investigation policies to ensure full compliance with the attorney general guidelines the updated policy uh should include clear procedures for handling investigations and reporting of complaints annual performance evaluations uh for all Superior officers must must be conducted um for the officers and supervisors within their ranks the evaluation should include written or oral reviews fully documented outlining areas of performance including strengths and areas of improvement and any misconduct Superior officers of both the rank of Sergeant are will be required to conduct unseen supervision whenever possible and provide oversight of their field units on a regular bases this supervision must be documented field sergeants are expected to conduct daily field investigations and ensure compliance with departmental policies supervisor shall identify and address violations of the body War camera policy officers founding a violation will face a disciplinary action supervisors have failed to address known violations will also face disciplinary re action this is also something that has been going on internal affairs will continue to maintain records on all uses of force and take steps to identify and address instances of non-reporting all uses of force should be documented accurately and reviewed regularly to ensure compliance with department policies all officers on every level are expected to act in compliance with the laws of the state of New Jersey the con New Jersey Constitution the US Constitution and the directives and guidelines of the Attorney General in order to safeguard the rights of our residents Trenton police department and Internal Affairs shall provide regular updates on internal affairs investigations and outcomes included but not limited to hosting Community meetings to discuss police policies and practices this is to help Foster Public trust and provide opportunities for residents to voice concerns directly to police leadership to enhance training and supervision Trenton Police Department shall Institute a program to Mentor new officers or those struggling with performance issues such mentorship programs are designed to support ongoing professional development and improve officer performance on the street I want to comment on that I created a new field training officer program here um because I saw that the lack of uh training for new officers that was also done prior to DJ coming here I saw that deficiency and I addressed it TR Police Department must Implement regular audits or data analysis on misconduct complaints use of force traffic stops and other policing metrics by analyzing Trends and patterns the department can proactively address issues and ensure continuous Improvement in service and delivery that is something that's also U directed by the Attorney General thank you so at this time do any council members have any questions um for the mayor for the Police director before we close out Madam president yes Council memb I do have questions for the mayor okay forgive me my computer locked on me um first of all I want to say thank you for coming to council to address Us in the public um in regards to the doj report thank you for inviting me of course of course um as you know this was something pertinent to the community to hear from you so I respect you for that um I want to say uh or ask on behalf of several people that I had spoke with uh what What mechanisms are in place to hold the Police director accountable for this pattern of misconduct I hear and I do understand that a lot of these issues definitely existed long before he became director and yourself as mayor as well but there were a lot of things that happened under his leadership that have gone on how can I say uh without any accountability we have had several police murders and injuries Etc force and things like that but I don't see any type of accountability um it's we need more training and things like that and I do agree we need training I'm like one of the number one people that came in here from day one focused on training because we need it but it's not enough Echo the sentiments of councilwoman fig or cat it's not enough and we do need those other Partnerships with uh the mental health services and things like that especially given the guy that was murdered by police officers and that brings me to my point where those officers they did not they were not held accountable for this they were still here some of them are still here to this day and correct me if I'm wrong but I I don't think he's there anymore and we referred the matter to the attorney general New Jersey attorney general who's investigated that incident so that is with the Attorney General's office we can't interfere with their investigation and unfortunately investigations by the Attorney General office can take years but it has been referred uh to them and that was one of the reasons why we we brought on arrive together where where Mental Health Counselors are going to come when it's whether it's domestic violence or whether it's with a mental patient and you it's unexcusable what ultimately happened but at the time when the officer was confronted with uh someone who was in the crisis center and then left and went in the parking lot the the thought process and I'm not excusing his behavior but the thought process is that he was going to run into to the street and being in danger to himself or others but right now we have instituted under Steve Wilson's leadership arrive together where we're correcting that where when there is a mental health crisis the mental health counselor should arrive with the police and he's had discussions with Capitol Health to to have that um put in place Council would I can expand oning that response in terms of just the process not the specifics of specific acts whenever a use of force comes to the law Department's attention that is in question we review it that is sent with 100% accuracy to the prosecutor's office for them to do an investigation so anytime there is a complaint that's brought to my attention the law Department's attention about that it is referred to the prosecutor's office the case that you're talking about was referred to the prosecutor's office as well as other um matters that have come to the law Department's attention we wait for them to make their decision when it comes back the answer will be they're either going to pursue charges or to handle it administratively if it comes back with that type of handle it administratively it is then sent back to I that will initiate the disciplinary process whereby there's a hearing before hearing officer the administration police will put on their respective cases the officer will put on their defenses the hearing officer will make a rment independent Law Firm hearing officer not someone internal uh the attorney will make a recommendation of discipline that discipline is either accepted or revised by the administration 99% of the time is accepted in its totality at which point in time if any party is not happy with the recommendation and Adoption of that discipline they then have the ability to appeal that that to the office of administrative law where there's a aovo trial and an administrative law judge will make a determination uh with respect to the amount of displine if at all that's the process for investigating that with respect to um you know recourse for any director um including the Police director as you know there's the race provision you have the ability and you have the investigatory power to issue someone a race notice bring them before this body ask them questions that you would like to have answered make your own evaluation as to the the the accuracy and the sufficiency of that answer and that's part of this body's investigatory capacity so that's that's I think your answer for both questions I appreciate that there thank you and um as a council member I definitely want to do that I would love to rise the Police director and dive deeper into issues of the police department particularly with internal affairs department and the corruption that we have been experiencing there there's too much NE there's too much uh conflict of interest there's relationships that go deep with the Police director and I don't feel like they're giving adequate uh um how can I say recommendations of of just accountability for the things that are happening there has been indecent exposure and police officers are still employed um they have not been terminated they have not but they given slaps on the wrist but the people that that they are violating the people they work with they still have to work with this person these people um you're you're taking the right course and I think that you should have that lengthy discussion and and when uh the NP talked about you had the subpoena power you should have those executive sessions where you can look at the reports and for your and make that judgment for yourself absolutely I think this will department needs to be cleaned up and I think that there needs to be a firmer hand with from our director on our police officers on all the incidents that are happening internally as well as to our residents and um there's a lot going on that is going that is being swept under the rug and I'm not sure if you're aware of a lot of these things I know a lot of our police off I'm not going to say a lot but many of our police officers are scared of retaliation we're scared to report these things and the ones that have reported wrongdoings from other officers have been retaliated against they have been moved to other units they have been moved to other shifts that do not coincide with their livelihoods with their children with their spouses with themselves and that is unfair for issues to go unresolved to just move someone to another unit or to another ship does not resolve the problem the problem is still there and that's where my concern is because if morale is low in our Police Department then our people are not safe so I personally need answers from our Police Department our Police director um with all due respect mayor uh I feel like he needs to be stronger and he has not exemp exemplified strength I I also want to that that is also being addressed we are now the majority of the police force minority makeup and we elevated the first two African females to be lieutenants and I think when I first started the majority of the hierarchy was white that is no longer the case and that again is also uh due to uh director Wilson's involvement Council vice president good evening mayor um a couple of things I just wanted to address really quickly um one thank you for acknowledging you know walking the beat and seeing you know the conditions the plal conditions of our neighborhoods as we know that adds to the attitude uh the culture um of our residents and our police officers and and how we react to law enforcement how we react to um anything that is uh ordinance related a law abiding because we feel like our rights are being violated on a daily basis because we don't get the quality of life that we deserve here in the city of Trenton so you know when you know when we're faced with um police officers trying to correct actions we're also wondering well what about my rights over here as a taxpaying citizen or as a resident and things of that nature so we need to tighten that up so I I appreciate you acknowledging that and that is something me as a council woman is constantly trying to hold directors of departments accountable for their roles in in multiple departments throughout the city um I want to just shift gears though I don't want to steer clear from the police brutality and the deaths and things of that nature um as we know that's that's prevalent that's an issue that needs to be addressed again as a nationwide issue as well locally and it needs to be stopped um but I also want to kind of talk about practicality when we're talking about so many instances of police brutality of inappropriate um policing um throughout the city we can't ignore the cost to the city we need to start talking about what this is going to cost us in lawsuits what this is costing us in having um officers suspended with pay during investigations what it cost us in having officers suspended without pay during investigations um clearly we don't have the funds in the city of Trenton for that and we need to start tightening up our shift to know that these things just cannot continue because when we have an officer even if they're suspended without pay that is a spot that is not open for policing in the city of Trenton that is an officer not on the beat an officer not able to walk the beat because we are still paying for not paying that officer we're not filling that position we're about 50 officers down where we need to be so I don't disagree that if we take a police officer off the beat that's even more that that we're down we do have to follow Civil Service rules we do have to follow um union grievance procedure so it's more complicated than we can just make a a decision right at right off the bat but and and and I don't mean to interrupt you but this is part of the reason why it's critical that that we have in-person training so that it's reinforced to the officers to adhere to constitutional rights of the citizens but also fulfill there duty to Serve and Protect the the public yeah respectfully mayor that that that comment was not geared towards filling those positions right away with civil service it was more so this is taking away from our safety in our city and and and what we're here to do and that's why we have to nip these things in the bud so we don't have all these issues constantly where we have officers out for investigations and then as Council Edward said it's like a slap on the wrist and they're just back on the force as if nothing happened happened and now they they're almost in a more retaliatory mentality once they go back on the beat because now they've been slapped on a wrist for something and and they got away with it and now they're back on that beat so and really quick before you answer that and I just want to also address have we thought about what this is going to cost us this de um because of this Dej investigation and what what preparations are we taking for that well we're working with the law Department Department to see what um their statute limitations on on uh reopening cases and we'd have to look to see what what cases are involved but we're we're doing that as well um the cost of one homicide it's been estimated to cost the community between $9 and $17 million so the loss of life and the um loss of economic benefits and the um the degradation of the community the loss of property values the fact that it homeowners insurance goes up so we also have to balance not only do we have to protect constitutional rights but we have to protect the neighborhoods the gentleman that said or we don't have a a um a community unless we have Public Safety but we also have to have the Public's trust and cooperation because they're critical to helping us solve uh crimes thank you councilwoman Williams oh I'm sorry okay so after councilwoman Williamson councilwoman Gonzalez okay thank you very much council president um thank you mayor um also thank you director Wilson for uh speaking to us tonight I know you're both well aware of uh the concerns many many many folks have in the city uh regarding what's in their report and their own lifetime experiences so I have a few questions um first one's for the mayor and I realize uh that you may not be able to share information on hopeful that you can um can you share any information on discussions with the Department of Justice or DCA for additional funding for instituting the reforms that are recommended and modernizing our Trenton Police Department uh that's a yes or and no at the same time um yes we've we've put them we've put them on notice that we need the resources to implement uh many of the reforms that they've requested um we have expressed the willingness to enact those reforms but we need the resources including I know there's some desired modernization um purchases that would be need to be made Etc services do you have a rough idea of how much money we talking for that and the reforms um no but we're in the process of of calculating that so that we can have those fruitful discussions with both DCA and the doj okay thank you um regarding this is for you and the director c um one of the very frustrating things as being on Council and this was before the report is you learning actually how hard it is or it seems to fire a police officer uh for excessive force other violations or you know particularly in reading of violating constitutional rights so can you explain why that is so hard is it Union rules I mean I know you mentioned civil service but it just seems to a lot of us if you're going to violate someone's constitutional rights you have to place on the force council president if I may jump in on that for Council please um yeah it's it's really follows the statutory process for civil service um uh employment if there is an allegation of of misconduct uh police civil servant misconduct there's an investigation should be done again if there's a thought that it could potentially result in criminal charges it is sent to the prosecutor's office Attorney General's office an investigation is done and if there is enough evidence warranting dismissal of an employee or officer um a hearing is held to discipline now there is also not to go too granular but there's also a a a principle called Progressive discipline where for not egregious crimes you have to give warnings and serve a minor and a major but that's not this positive there are certain crimes there are certain actions that are egregious enough um that you can bypass uh Progressive dising or right determination so it's essentially giving someone the right to a notice of the charges against them are right to be heard and engaging in an administrative um hearing making a decision and then following the same process we discussed a short time ago where if the employee or the employee is not happy with the discipline it's had they have a right to they have a right to appeal that to the office of administrative law there's a denovo trial and the administrative law judge will make the decision with respect to if discipline is proper and if the amount of discipline given was also adequate thank you director um as far as a timeline plan um with goals uh I know this is not something that's it can't be done in just a few weeks as much as we all would like to hear a plan how soon do you think uh we might be able to uh have a presentation on what reforms are going to be achieved uh maybe within the next 90 days well I think the uh director outlined um I think there 13 points of measures that the police are taking but he also noted um much of that has been already implemented I understand the doj um was in town today and even acknowledged uh that Trenton police were um enacting some of the recommendations so that plan is already in process um but the director outlined those 13 issues we can send you a copy of them no I appreciate that and I I did intensively listen to what he had to say and I was pleaseed by much of what I heard and they followed the doj recommendations yes and if we can get a status on maybe uh where we land on that maybe in the next 30 to 60 days uh that would be good just so people feel that they're informed of how progress is being made absolutely councilwoman thank you for that question thank you mayor and my final question uh for the director and I I I get back to my comments about um if he's already considering uh bo leaderships considering how to get more officers out of their cars and walking beats and some of our neighborhoods um I'd like to hear if there's any uh thoughts on that um thank you for the question councilwoman so we all would like to have foot patrols we had them before in the past but we had 145 more police officers in the past when we had foot patrols we are currently down to 237 police officers here which is near the the layoff numbers of 2012 without having the extra officers here to um perform foot patrols or the the foot beat that everybody would like um response times if I were to do that now response times would go way down we already have complaints about the response times because we have to service the city based on priority calls which means uh they they're design is ones twos and threes which are violent violent calls first down to the criminal mischief which would be a lower priority call if we put foot posts out now it would not be strategic to our response times and would not allow officers to readily be able to move about the city um quicker to respond to our more violent crimes but um currently with our new recruiting efforts I hope to uh replace all the vacancies that we have we have 48 vacancies um currently um and that's just a number of 288 budgeted positions for the police department when that number used to be 375 so I'm tasked with doing more with less and um and we're doing as best we can uh the mayor U quoted some of the statistics that the the police department has produced under this um very much decreased Manpower but I'll elaborate a little bit more um working in conjunction with mer County Prosecutors office um our clearance rates for homicides are 89% currently our clearance rates for shootings are 71% currently and that's what this decreased Manpower so um I would love to uh be able to put foot post out but that's a man that is definitely a Manpower issue and director my final question just because the way explain it I I greatly appro because I think that's enlightening for a lot of folks it is for me um for us to be able to have foot post and have neighborhood beats would you need to get back to the 375 number or is there a number that's would be different than it used to be May 10 12 years ago we had layoffs 375 would be great but I don't know that the city's in a position to do that without help outside help from the state um I can I can give back a Traffic Unit I can give foot post I there's a whole lot I can do with a lot of Manpower and it's not it doesn't revolve around over policing but providing proper police coverage uh for the the U complaints one of our biggest complaints is traffic control speeding and so forth I would love to have a Traffic Unit to do that um but we're we're um increasingly uh restricted on what we can we can do I hope our partners at the stage are listening attentively themselves thank you very much sir and thank you mayor for your uh speak thank you Council woman Gonzalez thank you council president um I just had a couple questions some of them have already been addressed as far as the time frame of the goals and um some of the resources as we all know it is going to take resources to implement some of these um the plan that you did speak on but I wanted to ask one two a couple questions um as far as the plan that you have spoken about has that been shared with the department and the officers communicated to their supervisors or however it is that you all meet within the department um well currently I I do have a command staff meeting every morning at 10:00 um the uh the parts of this that I've instituted already everybody's well aware of those things um yeah and then I I think I heard you say that two or or maybe the mayor said it two of the the units that were highlighted in the report have been dismantled yes um so where did those officers go they were reabsorbed back into the patrol function um and are they going to well hopefully where the whole department is going to be trained but I just want to see if they would plac in other areas are they getting the proper training and you know that they need to be out on the streets again yes that's part of the training that we're receiving from mer County prosecutor's office for arrest sear of seizure thank you thank you [Music] direct Council thank you madam president um so one I want to thank you for the information I want to thank you and the mayor for coming out today I think this is uh needed the community needed to hear from you directly they need to hear from our mayor directly a lot of questions have been posed to us as Council um that we were not able uh to respond to um so I appreciate this one of the questions that I did um want to ask you um I did hearen um Sergeant wood had he um touched on this so that about having open forums open meetings when would we be looking at having those instituted um I believe the doj was talking to our law law office and they're going to start scheduling the community meeting soon that's correct okay so thank you and just um so that the public knows there are meetings that a lot of uh we have monthly um so and our police officers are there at all of those meting meetings so I know that I have one that's coming up this Tuesday um I know that other uh my other colleagues they do as well so we actually just check call in and reach out to us but our police officers are there you have questions you have more questions Beyond tonight that you get answered there are opportunities to get to them before we get to having the uh them starting their own open meetings and forums so I just want to say thank you for that and again I invite the public to come out to those thank you thank you council president so in listening to everything there was there was a lot of different commentary that was that was brought forward um but there was a part you know we all keep going back to DCA and the funding and DCA and the funding and we know that we need DCA to give us the money and I do along with the mayor advocate for Trenton to receive more [Music] money but it still goes even deeper than that because you still have to fix the problem even if you don't get the money and so we cannot we cannot blame DCA for everything while they do leave Trend short in some aspects I do believe that right and I feel like our hands are tied to be honest right one governmental unit requires us to do one thing and then DCA says we're not giving you the money to do it and so now we get these bad reports and people are looking at the city like we're crazy but DCA and and d and everybody else if they just get on the same page then we would kind of be all right it's almost like we just fighting a losing battle the the police officers that are doing the wrong things that have done the wrong things that needs to be addressed regardless of the funds that we do or do not get and that's internal that's internal that is having the hard conversations that is making those tough decisions that is saying what you have done is wrong we are not dealing with this um and it will not be tolerated you cannot just go out here and be sifted or put into another unit you're still out here but nothing has been done to change the actions of what we're done except we're just moving you from here to there things have to change and this is throughout the entire city this is throughout all of the departments in the city of Trenton people that work here have to be accountable to the people that live here we have to be all of us have to be accountable right everyone has to be accountable everyone has to do their fair share everyone has to show up and do the work that is required of them to do and if they don't want to do it then they don't need to be here I love the residents I love the people teach their kids we teach responsibility and accountability on a serious level it's not about friendship it's not about family it's about what's right for the people the officers that did wrong on any level no one should ever get a free pass on doing wrong to anyone they should not everyone should be should be dealt with and I think and I'm going to say I'm going to say this right because again I was asked to help out um to advocate for DCA to do more I need help to Advocate that the officers do right so don't come to me not you I'm just we talking now right don't come to me and tell me what I need to do to help a situation that somehow it has been manifested internally some things y'all got to fix it's that mentality it's that it's that elitist mentality that some do have that just because you're in a position of authority with a badge that you think that it's okay to express these these actions towards people just simply because you can you take a oath to protect the serve you need to do that all the time every time if you need time off cuz you stressed out you need to get that y'all need to negotiate that you sit in your union negotiations figure it out but on the other end of this right internal management matters on all levels everybody needs training everybody Management on down and I've said that from when I first sat up in here on this council is it starts at the top and it works its way down some of these officers they should be put out period see you start impacting people when you get in their pockets and you mess with their money that's where you start getting people's attention and letting them understand what we will and we will not tolerate and again for the good officers and the great officers thank you thank you for doing what it is you supposed to do right but for those that are not for those that violate for those that sit and do what it is they do simply because they can do it where I had a bad day or because you black or Latino or whatever right people say all the report say it wasn't racially motivated hell Tren is how many blacks and Latinos make up the town of course you ain't going to say that we here you got to do right and y'all got to Demand right cuz we're demanding that you Demand right because the citizens are TR deserve better and I want to feel safe as I RVE through the town and I don't want to feel safe just cuz I'm counsil woman council president Feliciano I want you to respect me because I am a woman and that I deserve to be treated fairly not because I'm sitting in the position respect all of us equally and if people cannot do that then they need to go they need to go director thank you for coming forward and for laying out 13 points tonight we appreciate everything and we look forward to seeing some things being implemented and we are going to look into whatever we need to look into um to to dive a little bit deeper mayor thank you so much for accepting my invitation to come to council um and speak right and to let the people hear and then to those that came and spoke thank you for coming out and and speaking but we felt that it was important to give the people the opportunity to come and say something because they need to be heard and that's just where we are I agree uh and councilwoman uh thank you for organizing this for inviting us and I especially want to thank the public for coming out they're they're passionate and this is very disconcerting to listen to some of the antidotes that we here and I know um councilwoman Edwards is very passionate about this issue and this is an opportunity to to resolve this once and for all I mean we they talked about things that started in 1993 1999 well this is 20124 and we have an opportunity to correct this and we are making that progress um and uh just I think there are good things to come out of this department and this director still we still have work to do thank you very much thank you mayor I have one more question before we close out tonight um try Water Works so um we we see everything and and the reports and the employee and the testing and everything that happened would you like to address the council the public about check water works yeah this is this is a horrible situation and that um should not be tolerated that person was in fact uh terminated what you should understand is that there were three testers so one of them was fraudulently uh reporting back there were two others at no time did DP determined that they also fraudulently prepared their reports there's also um hourly testing at the filtration plan that is being conducted no time did D demonstrate that that was fraudulent nonetheless they threw out the whole year as a punishment to the city of Trenton and made maybe we deserved it but at no time was it demonstrated that the water um did not meet Safe Drinking standards um it's unfortunate that that one individual out of 115 plus employees has really uh put a dark cloud over over the tread and Water Works we've made vast improvements over the last six six years have super pulsators that are not that are working now that were not working before that's the intake valve in the Delaware we're doing lead service line Replacements we're replacing the reservoir that was ordered by by D about 50 years ago to replace we're doing that we're putting in water tanks to disperse the water throughout this service municipalities we're putting in uh Smart Meters so that you don't have to get a knock on your door to read your meter they'll be read automatically so there are many impr improvements that are happening one employee though has really uh taken down this uh uh department and it's and it's awful we're working with d we're working with EPA uh DP has acknowledged that improvements have been made they want us to go further a lot of it is Staffing and a lot of it is resources the supplemental order that the uh commissioner just issued is giving us that middle and top management to fill those vacancy spots so we're working with de they're going to fo the bill and um and fill those gaps that we need it's really hard for the city of Trenton we're distressed city um for us to hire water Personnel that another town or another more affluent Community can hire it's tough to attract the talent and the expertise we need to keep running the water department so with the D we're going to be filling those spots there's an RFP that was issued by D it's returnable on January 15th and we're looking to fill those gaps um we've also implemented um safeguards with water testing we're putting GPS trackers in the water uh cars to make sure that they're going to the test sites we're also requiring them they take picks from their phone when they're taking takeing the tests and we have supervisors going out and spot checking to make sure that they're they're testing the water so again we're making reforms it is a completely unfortunate situation um but like police we're we're taking on the challenges head on um it may not be quick enough but we have we're working with the police we're working with doj and the Attorney General's office and the county prospect's office and with the water we're working with de and in some instances EPA and just real quick um was firing the only measure we could have done like that was theft of time and like money and all of that kind of stuff like is that City can the city we believe that that was criminal conduct we referred the matter to the County prosecutor's office yeah OB I made just for the body's benefit that was something that was discovered internally as a result of being investigation when when that was brought to the administration's attention that case was immediately referred to the prosecutors offic we got an acknowled acknowledgement email back saying they acknowledged that um they received it and we're looking into it nevertheless we started the administrative process for termination but that is another example of when we have an investigation and it's determined that there's a possibility of submit propri it's always it's forward as a matter of course every time and I might add that the reason this person was caught Was a Good Samaritan neighbor called us and said that water truck is parked too often in front of this person's house de not D but tww uh Tren Waterworks investigated and we found out that he was indeed not showing up for work parking his vehicle in front of his house we contacted the EP we contacted the County prosecutor's office it's when they then did the more larger investigation um that they somehow determined that he um was and whether they had direct evidence or not they put it as a year U period that he was fraudulently um filling out his uh the sheets rather than simply taking the sample and bringing it back to the lab um but again there were two other testers so there were other test sites there and the filtration tests on the hour hourly um but this was reported by the city and that that um employee was so for him to have done this for over a year like this we don't know set that period and said we are not recognizing a Year's worth of testing so then I wonder what the oversight mechanisms then were when it came to to management Mak people out and about right so how do you just sign off on stuff and people are there find time and not even knowing that this is not well motor testers go out they go to the sites they they take the sample and then they're required to then analyze it right and this person was just filling out the sheets and and putting uh arbitrary numbers um but there were two other water takers and two and different sites taking the water samples and the filtration itself um was testing so we've also enacted safeguards who would have thought that you know a water tester um decided not to show up for work um we're doing GPS tracking on their vehicles or having supervisors go out spot check and we're requiring that when the tester goes to the site they take a picture with their camera so that there's a recording that they've been indeed and hopefully while they're out at that site the stick the pool right tube in the water and and take this s properly oh they have to show up there thank you mayor any council members any questions Council yes since we're on that I just want to ask mayor thank you for council president um with regard to the water standards are the private water companies held to the same standard by D as uh trentinis they are and and you can Google other uh private companies and they they have uh environmental hiccups just like we do um I will tell you their rates are higher and by all means Google that as well um but uh for simply to just privatize this water uh company one when when it's a private company running there's a disinvestment well disincentive to make those costly improvements but if they are making all the improvements that we're doing um they're going to charge accordingly for those rates um so we are working with d we're working with our service communities we want to have a trust and reputation that we deliver water I know that uh uh pizza parlor like our water um bagel stores like our water and um uh I still drink the water as well thank you ma'am and again Trenton water is not for sale that's right and uh that's up to you that you would have to be the first stop on that tree any other Council people have anything for the mayor about training Water Works be good Council woman Williams good we can ignore her she's not here right I thought there's a requirement that you have to be here to actually win the prize right I'm still your favor council person questionary even if I'm out of state sir that's right uh so my my just two quick questions uh first one is uh d uh their reaction towards this um and have they expressed cuz I know particularly uh our our friends in Hamilton Township uh complain a lot I even had an interaction with mayor Martin at Ruckers uh back in October as far as um any need that they're saying for the state to take a stronger hand in Trent word take over well they're not taking over they're assisting us and they're recognizing that there's been a systematic neglect by the state of New Jersey there's a Harvard study that you could read about what the worth of a capital city is and they use Trenton as an example and they said that Trenton was the least favored capital city of all the 50 states um D recognizes that and they want to help us uh fulfill the ranks that we need to properly run the the water department we acknowledge that there are systematic failures but we're all working on that and for the upgrades that I mentioned they're taking place and we are making improvements but it also takes resources and um we're doing it thank you and um can you inform us where we stand on starting the process of uh building the water towers and closing down the uh Reservoir and how the time frame may lay out for that as we speak you could drive up to prospect where there was an old uh laundry mat uh facility and that was torn down we're building water tanks there um we did have um hiccups with Service uh municipalities some were willing participants to uh site a water tower there and others were not in my backyard um I won't mention names but we have uh worked out those uh site uh issues but that that delayed the process um some so some of the service uh municipalities uh were not fully Cooperative so that'll take probably a few more years then um I would defer to our director oh here he is uh he knows the timeline for the sighting of the water towers good evening director SEO trentworth good evening council president thank so we're hoping to start building the tents on Cross Street in the fall of next year if all goes well with the funding because these are huge very expensive projects this entire Reservoir project may go up to over $250 million once we get totally done so we're in that process so we're going to start sometime early next year with our process so yall will see these bids coming in front of you for approval so don't be alarmed by the figure thank you very much I might also add that the prior council did not uh approve we would have started four years ago that the prior Council um um allowed us to site the order Towers there but wouldn't approve the demolition funding uh the necessary demolition funding of that factory so we could so it was yes you could have water tanks uh but good luck uh building them there that was the prior wacky Council and I I I know that you guys are um are not always on the same page but I greatly respect each and every one of you including councilwoman Williams um that you are asking the tough questions you're doing your due diligence you're you're um delving into the um the issues and uh we make a better City for it so thank you very much and I will say that all four W Council people were reelected and that's a reaffirmation by the public that this council is serious about moving the city forward thank you mayor thank you thank you very much all right at this time can I have a motion to wave Civic comment can I have a motion to wave Civic comment some second council president I just have two quick announc it'ss one of the time [Music] s we have a motion on the flo unfortunately ccom William at this time I have to do a roll call roll call councilwoman Evers respectfully no vice president Figo curg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams no council president fana yes motion Carri call presid meeting a motion to adjourn the meeting so second roll call Council woman Edwards noce president vice president yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes Castle Williams theill holiday house forist Saturday 125 tickets are available artworks Council woman I'll take councilwoman Williams yes everyone have a good night at 9 I hear