##VIDEO ID:gRbhcZaJHIg## question on your [Music] call we Haven to do TR city council meeting Thursday November the 7th 5:30 p.m. this meeting is officially called to order let us stand for the flag salute I United States of America stand [Music] indice for adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the open public meetings act pursuant to public Wells 1975 chapter 231 this agenda is complete to the extent known and was sent to the train times and tronan newspapers posted on the first floor of bulletin board in City Hall filed in the city clerk's office and posted on the city of Trenton website formal action will be taken Mr Garcia certainly roll call councilwoman Edwards president vice president fig kbur president councilwoman frisbee president councilwoman Gonzalez president councilman Harrison councilwoman Williams presid presented council president Feliciano presid myself Brandon Garcia municipal clerk present Mr Edward cogi legislative Council pres and City attorney West Bridges president thank you on your call Madam president please continue with the ination certainly 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 th greater glory amen amen and Madam president my understanding we have some presentations this evening um they are the First on our list is Joanne Kennedy before we begin excuse me pardon Interruption believe we had a walk- on resolution uh yes Madam President we have two walk-on resolutions let's begin with that certainly two walkon resolutions that we have our resolution and this is number 24475 and and this is a resolution of the city council of the city of Trenton County of Mercer state of New Jersey in support of women's space communities of light for the year 2024 and Madam president if you'd like I can read that into the record the title is fine understood you have a motion to approve so move second roll call councilwoman Evers yes vice president figuro kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman councilwoman Williams yes council president Felician yes motion Carri moving on to our second walk-on resolution resolution 24476 resolution consenting to appointment of Maria Richardson as business administrator for the city of Trenton I have a motion to approve so mov second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figurov kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman yes Council Williams yes council president feliciana yes motion [Applause] Carri we have um the mayor here tonight if you'd like to give a few words mayor before we continue with the business essay thank you m president you turn the mic on y sorry red beans go uh evening uh council president and members distinguished members of council and uh fellow residents of the city um thank you for uh voting for um uh uh Marie Richardson uh and confirming her as uh our business administrator um I did prepare something but I don't think I have to now um but you all know Maria she's been here go ahead go ahead sorry she's been here since 2018 in the capacity as our Recreation director uh then she took over um as our health uh director as well she was very instrumental not only in improving our Parks she's right now in in the process of refurbishing 26 uh Parks initiated that our current uh acting director is carrying that out uh but she also was instrumental in our Co response and once Adam Cruz our beloved uh business administrator uh retired and uh 90 days ago took the Rings and I think she's done an extraordinary job I will add that um 20 applicants uh applied for that position uh they were screened by DCA with the city of Trenton they're Whitted down to three choices and Maria prevailed on on all fronts [Applause] so we do thank uh Council for their input and and uh dca's uh cooperation and uh we're ecstatic that we have now a permanent business administrator of the city thanks so [Applause] much business administrator richson is there anything that you'd like to say briefly good evening council president and council members I just want to thank you for the trust that you continue to deposit in me I want to sincerely thank uh maor Reed goora for choosing me for this uh new position to serve the city in a different capacity I continue to to look forward to working together with you to enhance the operations of the city to offer the residents the best services that we are able to afford from the residents and to Foster um continuous and and sustainable growth so thank you all for your trust I continue to be committed to transparency accountability and Excellence so thank you for allowing me to serve in this new capacity the city that I have called home for 30 some years thank [Applause] you mad President we voted to walking on yes Mr Garcia you supped to check me on that go ahead Mr Garcia call for the [Music] vote okay may I have a motion to approve sove may I have it okay may have a motion to approve resolution 24476 so mov f g thank you roll call councilwoman evidence yes vice president fig so we're voting for the approval of it approval okay yes Council prefers we and yes Council Gonzalez yes councilwoman Williams [Music] sure everybody is a comedian tonight I defer to the president oh I'm sorry my mic was on yes council president fiano absolutely yes motion Carri resolution [Applause] y go ahead thank you I'm sorry I needed to say that I would like to continue to be a good Ro model for my granddaughter who is here and thank you to my husband who is here too so thank you so [Applause] much before we continue um in due form are there any council members that would like to say anything um brief before we move on to the next to about director richardon councilwoman so good evening um everyone I just want to say that um I'm so glad that this was an easy yes for me um with voting um director Brion was good to take that intrum off the uh off of there uh it was a no-brainer for me I'm so glad that the city knows the value knows the treasure that we have in you and that we did know that hiring from within and utilizing our own especially when we know that you have the knowledge you have the understanding you have the communications and all the tools that you need to help move our city forward I'm so glad to know that you're here and that you're staying and that you're being elevated as it is so appropriate um I've had the pleasure of working not not working knowing you in the work that you do um for over oh God my son is 21 years um so it is um a pleasure and I'm grateful and I commend you and congratulations coun thank [Music] you I just want to uh add that uh I just really happy that we can approve you tonight because I think you're doing an exceptional job job but also I want to thank you for your seamless transition into this uh and as Mr Cruz moved on uh that hasn't you have not lost a be this department is functioning just as well as it did before maybe even better but also making sure that your replacement Ander director Paul Harris was able to get up and running and keep the good works of your previous Department it's so important particularly with our park so thank you so much for what you're doing look forward to working with you further [Music] F senorita that's what I call her senorita um like uh councilwoman frisbee said this was an easy yes um we appreciate all of the work that you have done I want to say thank you for not only this for you elevating to this position but for the work that you did in the past wearing two hats and you made it look So Graceful and so seamless and I know it wasn't an easy task so I'm not I have no doubt that you will exceed in this position and I want to say congratulations [Applause] so Council vice president figuro kber uh VA Richardson I just want to say that um we are all proud of you because not only did you do this job well and you have sat into this seat seamlessly as my colleagues have said you know I don't like echoing what everybody has already said um but you lead with transparency good veterans and that's something that we need in this city and you do know the city inside and out you know what the city needs you exercise that um you're very accessible all the time you were readily resourceful and I just know that you were going to lead the city into the direction that we need and I know that um director Harris is doing the great job that he's doing because he was under your leadership for such a great long time so I do look forward to everything that you were going to provide for the city moving forward because we need greatness we need good leadership in the city in everybody so thank you congratulations councilwoman H thank you um Maria congratulations again I did get a chance to prec congratulate you when um I got word that you would be um walked on tonight um so I I'm just always in all of your work in the city more than expectations and every role that you're in and you're more than qualified so congratulations again thank you for your service be a Richardson we are excited tonight proud of you and your efforts you've done a tremendous job looking forward to seeing you do so much more your leadership your authenticity right your vision for how you'd like to see things moving forward working collaboratively with the mayor with the rest of the administration um I know that we're going up from here so I'm excited for the continued growth and transition for the city for this Administration and again shout out to Paul Harris who has been under your leadership as well as Dr Diego you transitioned from two positions right and now into one and so looking at the work that the both of them have been doing and is very encouraging and inspiring and I'm excited to see what else comes along the way I know that The Best Is Yet To Come congratulations [Applause] Mr Garcia certainly Madam president I believe that brings us back to the presentations this evening and the first presentation we have listed is Joanne canedy Brown Roos Roasters Ginger peaches regarding docket resolution 24- 447 and to the presenter I believe and I'll ask the president now be a lot of time 10 minutes for each present you'll have 10 minutes for each presentation good evening Madam president council members and members of the community uh thank you for having me first you're probably like what are you doing here so let me explain to you how I got here I'm the entrepreneur and The Culinary developer behind the ginger Beach which celebrates its 10year anniversary this December I am the head ice cream maker and the entrepreneur behind melbo ice Creamery in lawrencville and I recently became the new owner of R's Roastery which was once located in Lambertville New Jersey so how did I end up here I am no stranger to trying to bring my business into Trend and I'm going to tell you what made me want to do that back in 2016 when ginger peach hit its peak that that's the business that I am known for tons of units are produced out of that store on a daily basis and when I was trying to hire for our highest paid positions of lead Bakers I had tons of candidates coming from the city of Trenton to apply for these roles but they couldn't work with us because they couldn't get to my location at the time that the work needed to be done I realized back then that we had a barrier to entry for us to attract the talent who would be the future of culinary baking for me and one of the biggest things is a lot of these candidates looked like me and I tried to get into train I worked on a project where I tried to find the building that once housed the Hamilton Jewelers right next to Mercer County Community College and that fell through but that didn't stop my advocacy for the city or the people who live in it I continue to work very closely with task I speak at the high schools for culinary days or talking about careers and then time went by and a pandemic and then I was approached by the person that owns the building that the Starbucks once stood in do you know what this person came to me to do they wanted me to bake on behalf of a Starbucks franchise my answer was no do you know why because for too long the small businesses who are the backbone of the cities around here are overlooked for amazing opportunities and growth within our communities we are the ones that support the soccer program or go to the high school and you want me to bake for a major corporation's franchise absolutely not small world coffee who came before me R Roastery one up one down Cafe ohala these are all Roasters who live here who are roasting here and they weren't put in that space and whether or not they know that this is the fight we are fighting this is the fight that I am fighting so I politely declined but I said I've got a better idea for you back in March when Rojo's Rosary flooded back in 2021 from Hurricane Ida the owner who's in his 70s David Waldman could not carry the company into the future he asked me to take over I was overwhelmed gingered Peach is busting at the seams I now I'm opening a new ice cream shop I didn't have the timer's face but he gave me the company and asked me to shepher and into the Future Part of that requires building a Roastery so I said you need a tenant I need to build a Roastery and this beautifully aligns with what I've been trying to do for the last 8 years so today I am here in regards to the resolution to help us make the best space possible this facility will not only act as a manufacturing facility that will allow us to roast our coffee not just for my present Concepts but also the wholesale customers that we fulfill including The Graduate hotel that's in Princeton the W Hotel in Hoboken and many other small businesses in addition to that ginger peach will movees 60% of its production to this space to help us continue to grow in that and support our different levels of business whether it's wholesale Nationwide shipping Etc in addition the space will act as a teaching facility which was kind of my end goal for all of this um County Community College for years has expressed interest in working closely with us on this and I love the fact that now it's not just about teaching baking but teaching roasting teaching the proper way to make coffee teaching retail skills I am incredibly qualified for this with over 20 years of experience in this field I have a degree in economics and I took a $20,000 investment in ginger and Peach and turned it into one of the state's top bakeries so to today I am very pleased to be here I am here to answer any questions that you may have I'm very very excited it's feels like I'm finally checking something off of a list that has taken far too long but here we are is there any questions that I can answer for anyone so before my colleagues begin CU I'm sure they're ready to go um I just want to thank you for this presentation and for saying yes to the city of Trenton to want to come here glad that we're able to hear what it is that you're presenting cuz at first for me it was kind of like they they here why are we doing this I'm also an educator at Trenton Central High School I'm the teacher leader actually within the restaurant and business community at the high school and we have culinary which Falls within that small learning community so as you talk about educating and Partnerships and things of that nature my ears work up I'm also an Adent teacher at Mera County um as well Prof so um anything dealing with the the kids and everything definitely sparks my interest and my desire because um you know our kids take an interest in that as well so I'm excited for us to come I thank you for coming forward with us and again saying yes to tr Council thank you um first I just want to say um congratulations on your all of your success uh from I what I've heard ever since the rumors started that you coming a Trent uh everyone has had magnificent things to say and they can't wait to try uh your baked goods um so I do just have a couple uh questions uh one could you tell me like how you actually came up with the name cuz it's a very cool name Roos or the ginger ginger okay so I'm a child of food stamps my dad um my dad had Polio he had caught polio before the vaccine came out it debilitated his arm my mother was a high school teacher what we know about teachers they're definitely not paid what they need to be paid I'm one of five children and I grew up in a multi-generational household and things were always tough my grandmother is from Georgia she's a peach and my first exposure to baking was through my grandmother and you can imagine that when you grow up in a household where there's not a lot of money if any kids are told no a lot can I have that no can I have that no don't touch that don't sit there right you get it um my grandmother would have this beautiful just beautiful Southern soft approach and I when I used to bake with her she would let me pick whatever I could ever I wanted out of a cookbook and I would say can we make this and we never had the ingredients on hand to actually make those things nor could we buy them and she would say oh don't worry darling we'll just Ginger it up and that was her way of saying work with what you have to make what you want and the entire mission statement and ideology behind gingered peaches what the resources that we have now to turn the same flour sugar and cream into different things I could buy lii now if I wanted to but how does that support our local farmers working with what New Jersey provides and what is accessible to us is important and that's why it's called the ginger peach thank you a wonderful story um just a a couple more questions um of course so regarding needs for the location I'm sorry one more time just for the needs of the location of Transportation so I I used to be on zoning boards so that's where this come from um do you need any additional changes to maybe access for uh pickups deliveries and so forth for you know what the business is going to be getting into there I will say one of the really cool things is that we have strategic Partners in place that are willing to jump through ho to get us what we need um all the grits are perfectly sized for what we need to do and all of our deliveries arrive between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. in the morning which means you will never see them most people will never see them we do our work at night so what that allows is us to freely move product in and out of our locations without having to worry are we getting in the way of something are we blocking traffic as of right now we haven't identified any issues that would prevent us from being able to operate within the existing spaces that's great to hear thank you of course and then um my final question is and I love what you your whole everything you said just phenomenal but yeah you have so key identified the idea that we have many jobs here people can simply walk to and I just back to even you know the painting that's behind us the old robling factors and the steel people could just walk to their job and it's just something unfortunately uh we're not back to yet but hopefully we'll be soon with businesses such as yours you have a guesstimate of how many employees you might be able to hire 26 26 that that is opening staff if I do my job right 50 when all is said and done majority of them full-time positions if people want them we run a flex schedule we understand that people's lives are complicated they involve a lot of pieces and moving parts and we believe in scheduling our employees around their existing lives so why we may say we want to bring in 20 full-time six part-time we may meet 40 amazing part-time candidates and we're just like well that's what it's going to be but 26 is our projected opening team not counting the team of ginger peach who will be here for training and support oh and our goal is also to hire 80% of those people from the Trent zip codes hopefully I hope people want jobs please tell people to come get jobs on me thank you very much and you ma' appreciate it than thank you El woman Brown yes so I love your passion I love your positive energy that you talk your it comes through with joy I love that you want to make sure that it it moved me when you said I that so many of the individuals were coming from Trenton and they couldn't get there so I was it it's important to me that you were paying attention to that and that you knew that it was a good uh business decision to come and invest here in our city I am grateful um that weord that you're going to help with our economy CU Trenton is is absolutely in a an incredible position right now and we are moving so many things forward and our economy is definitely on the rise and you're going to be a major part of that and I know that because my husband's going to be a major part of your business um he knows that there's a certain hour of the day that if he does not get there at a certain time he is not going to get those nice soft little uh buns that you have you make and you only make them once during the day once they're gone they're gone and he knows it he tells me that so um uh Mayor Bob they didn't they don't have to go rushing he can come right here and invite him over here once you get this up and running um I love that the what you come with your experience the 20 years plus um that you're not starting from Scrat is something that you know and we so we know that all we done it will be done right and done in excellence um and I'm glad that you're saying that you want to make sure that um you're paying attention to Trenton zip code when it comes to hiring that is very important to me that our residents know that they are going to get priority that they are this is being done with them in mind that we're not putting inserting something and then all Outsiders benefit from it but actually our um city will um benefit from it so I just want to thank you I don't have any questions I just want to set and also I wanted to acknowledge what you did say about I'm getting back cuz a lot of times a lot of businesses the large businesses is difficult to get them to get back although I will say this Starbuck under the previous um management they were amazing God the young L Stephanie was here she did amazing in our community and it shifted once she um passed but I'm excited about what you're going to do but you absolutely were speaking truth of power that that most organizations you got to write a letter to them they've got to get information from get it to their corporate office and their corporate office has to see whether or not they're worthy and it's it's that crazy domino effect there a whole bunch of red tape so thank you for acknowledging that and I I know that you're going to get back to the community and I just look forward to having you here I appreciate that and in your response part of the reason why the giving back component is a core of our business is this this community literally made me I'm a James Beard fellow the odds of that are slim to none one 20 women in this country are chosen a year for this to happen and it's because my community pushed me into the spotlight you are not allowed to ride to the top floor without sending the elevator back [Music] [Applause] down thank you thank you I appreciate it thank you for your time thank you Mr Garcia certainly Madam President we have another presentation on our agenda this evening and that is I hope I say this correctly this is Archer Law Firm Julia fall and Gil Sean did I say that right yes and Archer public affairs not the law firm I'm sorry Archer public affairs not Archer public affairs thank you I'll correct that okay uh I'm my name is Julia fall I'm also here with Jeff bdone who's uh representing Gil seon who's joining us bya uh video conference he's in California and we appreciate you guys giving us a little bit of time um I'll give you some brief background on the uh project uh we began talking to council last December um on for the Rowan Towers uh Redevelopment project uh we were able to uh make get a $10 million G RRP award from the federal government through the Housing and Urban Development um that fund is necess we we only get that $10 million award upon financing so the Rowan Towers property is working through uh the hmfa process as well as the Aspire uh process and also seeking uh pilot extension and a new pilot uh upon completion upon completion of that other financing so um we came last December to talk to the council about this Redevelopment project we heard specifically about some other concerns so we redeveloped our project to to address Council needs um we then met with uh the coun Council subcommittee on housing as well as several times with the city's uh uh the city's housing team we also work directly with DCA to acquire a waiver to be allowed onto uh to be for this pilot to be considered and um we've been taking feedback sort of over the course of the last year uh to try and develop this into a project that was really worthwhile um so the goal for today would be to uh move the pilot approval process forward and then um at our next meeting uh we'll disc we'll also be looking to have a pilot extension um on the pilot that currently exists for that project um I'll have Jeff gone join us to talk a little bit about the details of the Redevelopment and Gil is here to answer any questions that you guys have and um obviously we're open to any comments good evening good evening council president members of council members of the community um we have a little bit of time uh tonight and mostly here to to answer your questions um familiar with the property uh it's going to be a rehabilitation it's going to include um revamp of the plumbing system uh different types of updating to Fire and Life Safety um uh emergency generator systems hbac all things that you would consider but uh really the most important thing in my mind is to address any questions that you might have about the project going forward and most importantly Gil Sean who's available here uh via uh via Zoom to answer any questions that you might have specifically about the project thank you any council members have any questions at this time any comments at this time anything councilwoman fris so yes one thank you for coming out this evening thank you for the presentation um and the update because you were here last year um as I do remember and I I'm I'm encouraged by this project because this community um they're in need of it um this is a lot of our um there are many seniors many seniors that um occupy the building and having um the rehabilitation be the specially a HB that's dealing with your health straight off um the elevators the lead all that um all that needs to be updated so thank you for that my question is how are you planning on doing the rehabilitation are you going to start from the top how are you going how the uh residents be impacted by it how have you figured out that portion sure and that and that's probably a a question that's best suited for Gil who uh is on the screen Gil are you there I'm here can you see me if uh maybe can't see you but we can definitely hear you okay so uh thank okay um thanks for your consideration today um the renovation be uh and it's a major major renovation of the property the plumbing system will be completely replac was um as a result the way that the renovation will proceed will be by Plumbing stack and so because the water will need to be turned off for for each Plumbing stack in the building while those pipes are tied into to the units and So the plan is uh we have a certain amount of natural vacancy and we're letting and rather than refilling units we're allowing that to build and then we will have uh Plumbing Stacks that are vacant you know by example if we had five Plumbing Stacks Plumbing stack number one would be vacant first uh and then we would renovate uh that stack entirely with no one in the unit and then once those were renovated we would take people and for example the second Plumbing stack move them to the first stack which is now renovated and now we would have the second stack vacant and we renovate that and we would move through the building uh like that so does that does that answer your question that does um thank you very much um Gil for that and I don't know um I was trying to look up the the actual fund because it was the other the the front of that building the uh the grounds of the front of it are we doing anything with the outside of that to do add more green space for that um to give the residents more um we have an uh allowance of to to upgrade the exterior space uh at this point uh with respect to this what I would call the softscape or the greencape uh we don't have a specific plantings picked out but we do have the intention of resurfacing the basketball court there as well as putting in new basketball on board and um rim and net as well as uh kind of upgrading the rest of the area that that exists there we're also adding a Transit stop uh because there's a bus stop running front of the property so with a bench and and uh a covered uh area so that uh residents have a covered place to sit and wait for or for Transit um so that that's the uh the ex the uh the intention there okay thank you I have no other um questions thank you madam president thank you any of the council members with any questions or comments thank you great thank you for your your time and attention Hospitality thank you Mr car certainly Madam president at this time I believe we reach public comment if we could have the public comment clipboard please and to the Public Public comment will uh Madam President we have eight individuals listed for public comment public comment will be five minutes 5 minutes and 5 minutes for each individual you may address any item that you wish please know the council is not obligated to respond the first person listed is Kuran green Mr Garcia did you mark councilman Harrison as presid I did I have the 605 thank you thank you good evening council members good evening even um so I just had a very please take your name and address for the record pleas okay yes my name Ison GRE and my address is 247 church right so I just had a quick clarification we're going to click a quick clarification on the resolution 224-444 which is designating the city of Trenton County of merer as in need of Rehabilitation so I just wanted to clarify to see if this is making the entire city a res a uh Redevelopment area um because I know a bunch of business owners that would love to open up businesses throughout the city um but because they're not in Redevelopment they're not able to um or it would be a lot more difficult so I just want a little bit more clarification to see if this resolution was that and if so then how long would it take to be approved thank you Elanor Lake good evening everybody evening my name is Elanor Lake I'm from the US Virgin Island and I've treated very badly in Trenton I work for the long I've been here I've been working and I think that as an elder woman I should treated in the way that I'm Trea so now I'm going to tell you about what it is I live on 221 Spring Street Trenton New Jersey my home is the roof is coming off Nanda I talk to um is about helping me and they told me they said to go and call um recreation in in City Hall I come and I told me to comeand there when I reached there The Man by the name of Moses he was very nice I thought he was a preacher I said to him here I am I brought I told me that I should come down here for help if I need help Moses return told me he said I got we got the money now you do as I tell you and we what can you he sent me to the back about three times three times for the same information in a blazing sun this time it's about 100° this is in the summer time with it's a blazing heart I have high blood pressure I can't drive so I come down here me and my husband and my grand baby catching cats with the money I don't have okay when I reach down here I give him the papers that he sent before I in turns now he tell me I want you to fill them out and then when you done bring them back come back down here and I brought the papers back to the man okay when I give give them to him I didn't hear nothing from him anymore nothing at all so I come down here and I'm up and I'm looking for him when I run into him I said why didn't you call me to let me know what's going on he said didn't you get a letter I say a letter from who and why I hope you all understand it clearly and if you don't please let me know and I'll say what I have to say again he said to me bring the um I fill out the papers and when I bring them to him he after that he said he get a letter from his boss and the the job that is needed it's not really a big deal just can be as hope if it's a small deal why would you wait till it come a big deal to do it he talking he turn off and he said I'll be back and he said just wait when I come back he tell me that it's not then he recommend me to a man by the name of barbet and he was supposed to take over his his part well he told me that he is in um Moses tell him what's going on and it was so long the whole thing is make a long story short no had been running up and down getting people to come and take see what's going on with the roof and how much it would cost okay I didn't get no word from them and got me up all and old Avenue all out in s TR looking for these people that fix TR and when I get them everyone told me that the RO is almost to fall in because one side of the roof the squirel was eatting it out and you could stay in the bed sometime it fright me I think somebody broke in the house they're having a party upstairs well nobody everybody that have recomend nobody has sh up because nobody's calling Moses wait until the all the time I was coming down here but I got sick can I I cut my told with RAC and it had me down so today I'm Hing Hing and I'm come out down here just to say because I had if you got a problem and it's not solv come on down here and I hope somebody is hearing me and will feel sorry for me I'm 80 years old I've paid my juns to work in Trenton New Jersy from the US Virgin Islands and I have rights to be in America just the same we have the same the same president and all the rules that is handed on here is handed over here we for that's all but if you can't understand me I can repat myself okay so because he ma'am I believe that is your [Applause] time excuse me excuse me Miss Lake this is your time huh that is your time your time is thank you security need your time thank you ma'am thank you that's enough that is your time all right you my husband tell me not to because marene dulitzki honorable council members and congratulations to those who live my name is marinsky I live in 215 East Front Street I have never been so nervous to speak publicly I came to training after a very good career and I lived a year in the mission I know a lot of people on the streets here that are homeless that are desperate that have VAR various circumstances and situations I used to go to Camden in 2015 and when I would come off the train they would offer me everything under the the son people were there no offense please don't take me wrong because I've worked 20 years as an addictions therapist 10 years as a psychiatric physician assistant and you would see people just out of it just out of it on on drugs and people selling drugs my birthday was Saturday I went Saturday I took the riverline and then I took the bus over to Philadelphia I did not see anything happening there it was quiet they moved the methanol Clinic I've heard council members say before that we learned from other cities I'm not a civil engineer I'm not an expert on anything we learn from other cities they moved the methanol clinic and they cleaned that whole area I would like to respectfully submit to you that they said they could not move the bus stop at broaden state by the Crown Chicken to tell who's loitering and who is not and they moved the bus stop there was a group a hate group downtown on Saturdays I contacted March Wallace at the time by text I called the police and I called the Anti-Defamation League in New York City I never saw them there again one citizen in one city can do something for this I would like to respectfully submit to you that if we move the methanone clinic on Perry you would see a lot of the downtown clean up with loitering I've noticed that Warren Street where the state workers go is going very well it's growing I know Joe Festa the barber there who owns the property a wonderful man but I would like to make a suggestion that we can build up our downtown again the the dollar store went out the um circuit the blue City Blue went out the Right Aid went out we could build up downtown again if we were able to clean up the problem and I'm not saying just throw the people out and just get rid of the clinic 1 23 we need to help people and I believe that and I know that we can but if we could move the clinic it feeds the downtown drug trade and the reason I know that is when I go to Dunkin Donuts every so often and I stand on the corner having a cigarette know the people who come down there and what they're doing I might get killed for saying this but I know the people I know what's going on and I respectfully suggest that we could please do something about cleaning up downtown and I think the first way to begin is to do something about the clinic because you see what's on Perry Street you see what's on Broad you see what's on State Street and I know the people I know them by name I know them by their nicknames I talk to them they talk to me we're friendly but I would want the help and I I myself have had issues and I do I am currently in a recovery process and I would like to see other people be able to do that because it will change their lives it turns your whole world around when you start to recover and you start to get a better way of life and it can happen for the people there but it can also be an opportunity for citizens to again enjoy the downtown because everything closes up on the weekends when the state workers are gone and it's not fair to the rest of the city 94,000 residents I hope I don't sound incorrect I hope I'm not being disrespectful I hope my heart's in the right place cuz I have empathy I don't want to see people get hurt I don't want to see people not get the help they need but I think the clinic and I was a prescriber I prescri was a prescriber a psychiatric prescriber Oklahoma Minnesota North Dakota and Pennsylvania I held medical licenses and the doctors there are prescribing to these people that are on the method on things that could give them an overdose I don't understand their prescribing method cuz I wouldn't have prescribed that way but that's what I want to propose to you I maybe I should have spoken first with the councilwoman of the ward but I wanted to come forward and say my heart's in the right place I want to see people get help I know people have died some had cancer one just told me tonight he has cancer and I know different people there if we could move the clinic like Camden moved the clinic they're about to build a beautiful new Walter rant I saw rendition on the news so I don't want to go on much further I hope I'm being respectful I'm frightened to death cuz I never get nervous public speaking and I want to thank all of you and it's wonderful to see all of you thank you thank [Applause] you Keon Jones how you doing K good evening I'm on here cuz I found that I was on the docket probably just need your name and address for the record sir I'm here uh representing tfd Keon Jones is my name um my and your address I don't live in TR we still need your address for rep1 game got personal bit so um I was on a docket for an involuntary uh retirement submitted by the fire director um I just learned that I was permanently disabled and I can't no longer do the job I found out in August and I got a a letter probably like uh the next month stating that I need to net the fire department know what uh I'm going to do the letter was sent to me but it didn't even tell me how to corespond to him shows in confidency just want to point that out um I got multiple dis herniated got a herniated dish in my bag and broken telone um this happened uh due to a fire truck not having shots we had a fire truck that's by ocean standard should have been off the road 20 years ago and it's a Frankenstein truck it's a 95 combined with a 93 then 1995 and a 1993 truck combined which is illegal to do and it shouldn't be in service I got injured on that truck um and uh now I'm forced to retire due to my injuries and there the fire director wants to push me for involuntary um retirement uh he was there was a meeting with the deputy chief um and the union stating that um they want to push for me to get a accidental um retirement he's want to push to get me 40% of my pension which is unfair they had a meeting about it it was supposed to be a uh meeting with the uh City lawyer it was a I was put on charges because I didn't respond to the letter I didn't know how to he didn't give me direction on how to correspond at all so now here we are um I'm here to tell you that I do not want to do the invol this it's not an involuntary retirement that I'm seeking um the unions told him what it was the deputy chief told him what it was and he impulsively still push this forward on the docket um you don't need this type of behavior here in the city this is a very incompetent leader he doesn't know what he's doing I'm sorry I just got to put that he doesn't know what he's doing you you need to check his background where he comes from he's only been a never been in leadership only been a fir Fighter for 6 years I've been on it for 12 years y'all K me in that space y put anybody in that space But he he needs to do um and that's that's all I really got to say tonight um I wasn't prepared to speak this is I was sitting down eating dinner with my family this is inconvenient you can't treat people like that that's a good evening C State B10 Gardener Avenue good evening council president and distinguished members I'm here uh to congratulate councilwoman Williams councilman Harris Council Frisbee and U and on their uh reelection and I want to say something to The Marvelous and amazing South board Council woman uh Jenna F kitten kitten I'm sorry keep your head up you you have done outstanding work in the South board your work has changed the lives of so many in that Community you addressed a lot of issues that went undone for a very very long time your Communications in the um in the South board with the residents through your Facebook and even your one-on-one conversations with residents it resonates it really does and although it looks like it's a very tight and tough battle you stay on that battle feel you have a lot of people that are supporting you stay encouraged sometimes you have to just encourage yourself but I'm encouraging you tonight to go on I love everything that you're doing you have exceeded my expectations you hang in there J you hear me all right the other thing I want to say is how about Maria I've known Maria since the '90s uh when um when Trenton first got his uh weeding seed award and she came in and it was just something about it that made her special uh she got right to work and so was so innovated with programs and I loved her transparency she's always been like that and then when she works with her husband to do Productions and provide entertainment for the city it's a win-win she really she's all that and I am so glad to see that she has moved up uh through the city and now she holds the position of business administrator she's second to none she really is and I just wanted to congratulate you as well the other thing I want to say was Paul Harris and the Halloween spectacular in Cal Park he did his thing yeah I don't know how many of yall were able to get out there to I went out there for a little while the entire park it was so Sensational Paul Harris if you're in the room I just want to say you did an excellent job and I know you work under uh Maria and you got a lot of your from there but I also know you and I know that Mr Harris is very Innovative and creative himself and is certainly showed on Halloween night it was a night for all ages all the residents had a wonderful time so I just wanted to thank him as well sometimes y'all don't always get the acknowledgements of the things that you do good but I like to come and tell you cuz you know I come on the other side as well so tonight tonight it's all good um there is one thing I do want to ask you about I am still waiting to hear about the senior Advisory board that was created uh and I'm hoping that those uh appointments will be coming soon so that we can get busy there's a lot of things that the seniors are looking for and there's a lot of seniors who want to be on it so please keep your word and get moving okay it's almost the end of the year so you know um post haste as they say okay all right I don't have anything else I'm on my way to uh you know I'm on the housing authority and there's a championship game today with the 13year olds so I'm going over there to re them all for a little bit so God bless you take care thank you o it looks like Jerry I don't know the last name thank you sir please do say so at the microphone uh excuse me me good evening panel um this is new to me this is my first time participating in a um a meeting like this meeting sorry I me to interrupt you if you could just state your name and address for the record that be great great okay that's all I do then my name is Jerry R thank you last thank you uh a little bit about me real quick this is my hometown I was born and raised in Trent New Jersey before it is what it came today Mr R I just need your address as well I'm sorry 6:30 West St street thank you 6:30 West St street thank you apartment 7113 you need anything else it's a senior citizen apartment and I got issues about that but it's so much that I like to get off my chest I can't do it all in 5 minutes so hopefully I can come back another time to get some other stuff of my chest um okay the first thing like I said I was born and raised in Trent New Jersey before it came today I kned on number nine r street before digested complex was B I moved out of there my father took us out and hel Township and Brew up I've been around a few places and I'm back here in Trenton and I'm ashamed of the word is today I'm ashamed of it George Washington in 1776 did the from the Constitution so we can have freedom from the other country France or whatever but anyway I'm proud of this city and the way it is today I'm not proud of it because just think of the tourism can come here to make our economy more that's one thing that's on me that's my thought okay let's end of that the next thing is is like our Hermitage and um West St Street it should be a bus shelter for us to shelter us from the rain and the snow I tried a lot sometimes I have to take bus transportation I'm saying well these people don't put a makeshift Bus Sit down to catch the bus in your s what's up with that what is the city trying to make it safe for us to move around they got them downtown here and there they got them but it's most to me is need to be used down here where the senior citizens have to come out and don't have transportation or whatever even if people live in the neighborhood come out and catch public transportation they got to stand out in the rain okay uh the other thing is I would like to speak the M it's West State Street this is the capital I got to go like this up and down West State Street the Mr do the bumps tear my car up and then the police see me driving oh he drunk okay that's the end of that safety for our children and the neighborhoods a few times I went to Cal Park saw a um our children in our neighborhoods playing baseball and then I see the other kids come out playing baseball they all got the same do for our children is like okay then we got to go around and stand out on the street and beg on the corner you got a lot of stores in tring to both Davis I have an old preses that they helpful but what had they given back to the neighborhood can I go to the this B says hey look we got a sponsor can you sponsor our baseball team and buy us uniforms so we can look just as professional as the other children are come in okay that's the end of that that just my opinion what happened to us when I was a kid we had companies there and we went to play baseball all of us had uniforms the same match we didn't stand on the cars for money which is my okay um anyway sir excuse Excuse excuse me sir that's your time thank you so much for coming thank you back again thank you thank you feed thank you sir thank you Pearson thank you is she present oh I'm sorry okay got you hello hello city council my name is Faith Anne Pearson I live at 83 clag Avenue I have three things to mention number one congratulations all you and I'm sorry the South Court has to have run second I am thrilled that the state is working with the city to get the rumble strips for Mulberry to help slow down the traffic and last but not least is the Trenton garbage men I don't have any gripes other than the fact that some this one gentleman came and took the garbage and he went and grabbed my recycle can I told him that's recycling he didn't know what recycling was he took the recycle can and threw it in with the garbage now are we supposed to be recycling okay my garbage can is not bright yellow it's green The Originals it has the seal on the side for Mercer County this needs should be addressed because you have so many that are putting garbage out some of them are putting their reul in the garbage plastic bags tining up and I'm trying to make the Earth that much better I'm a Native American my grandmother on my mother's side with a full blood Lota soup my mother was born in 1902 she had me in 58 when she was 56 years old I shouldn't be here today but I am and I made it to 66 and I turned 67 in Jack jary thank you very much for listening thank you is this Carmen Ramos yes thank you good even coun Bo my name is k Ros and a resident and owner of the house 1138 Genesis 3 I came here now this morning I came to Mr Anthony Santora's office uh I have um to follow about the prepare the sidewalk two years ago they C the dream but the side was getting worse and worse and worse and worse and in February August 28th 2023 I emailed to him and he responded to me this is on the list for repair AR some picture the contract the contractor is currently working in the East word and will be moving to the southw next AUST 28 2023 I came this morning I have a lot issue with my family take care of my family and um I want to see they told me this morning that it's no morning no morning to repair the sidewalk 11:38 Genesis street I'm here for 23 years and pay taxes 23 years pay taxes and I request only something that the city is supposed to fix it and they say that is no money to repair that D for the SE thank you madam president that is all the individuals I have for public comment this time if it's your wish we start with any member of council for cic comment thank you councilwoman Edwards good evening everyone um first I want to start by um congratulating my Council colleagues on your reelection um and and wishing our VP a good luck in her run for her re-election as well um I want to bring urgency to the fact that New Jersey is in a stage re alert that we are not supposed to be lighting fires uh for with wood or charcoal because the Embers can start little wildfires in our leaves and things like that so I want to also bring notice that uh I saw yesterday you cannot like fireworks right now either so there has been small wildfires throughout the state that our various fire departments have been putting out because of the lack of precipitation we have not been getting Rin in about about a month in in all over New Jersey and they've been battling fires so I just want everyone to consider this nice weather we're having you know we have a a habit of lighting fire pits and things and hanging out in the backyard I love a good backyard hang out with a fire pit and I found this out from my neighbor when I told her that I was going to have a little mother daughter thing at my house and like the fire pit and I was disappointed when I found out but I definitely understand so um I also want to say on that note as well for people who smoke um while I do not encourage you to litter but people do have a habit of throwing their buds on the ground when you're done smoking please make sure you put them out whether you're throwing on the ground or disposing it in the proper um receptacles be mindful that it's not lit and that you don't start a fire um I want to I don't really have a whole lot to comment on today but I did want to comment on um Mr Keon Jones's situation about the involuntary retirement I don't know a whole lot about the situation but I'm hoping that you know um this is something that the administration and and Mr Jones can discuss and negotiate and come to some kind of agreement on or settlement on um so I would be in favor of seeing that happen tonight um and maybe put a pause on moving forward with this uh resolution or I believe it's a resolution so um that's all that I have and I just want to thank everyone for coming out and exercising your Civic duties and thank you you know the first time is very intimidating so I appreciate you being involved in local government and expressing your opinions thank you have even thank you I'm sorry ba Richardson you have something you want to say just that turn the light that we need to be careful with the comments with litigations thank you thanks thank you thank you thank you okay councilwoman Williams we going to bounce back and forth tonight Council Wills oh she's not here okay Council Harrison it's going to be one of those evenings yeah I know it's going to be one of um first I would like to say I'm sorry I was not here Mara uh the vote for you you're you're you not you're one of the hardest working employees this City's ever had so um I know you you do a phenomenal job cuz you always do and you always have them um um secondly I would like to say we just had the mini pitch the upgrade at Unity Park thank Maria Richardson thank Paul Harris thank mayora vank Coy Cabrera and the team America he's got like 450 kids now he's doing an awesome job um like to thank team uh Trenton United Family Foundation they did a community clean up in mber section they did on ukl ioga uh walmut we're out there cleaning up it was awesome um let's see what else um then I want to talk about a little about the docket tonight uh three things on the docket um 24445 ran Choice voting um the voting system that we have now is allowed the best person to win it's been working for hundreds of years I don't think we need to change it three of us on the city council have actually wanted a runoff and and I don't think we would actually be on there if it wasn't for the Run um 24074 city council Retreat um I think it's a great idea it be even better idea if the DC was paying for it so that's my recommendation maybe we need the DCA to to pay for that because like you said um this minimum was $25,000 know 8 hours if we got more maybe the DC world to pick it up up uh 24- 075 going from the uh Tuesday and Thursday meetings um actually not really for this uh I think we you know going down to just Tuesday night meetings but I understand my colleagues points that um you know salting the meetings but my my my take on it was regarding the public I think the public given the public an extra day to speak uh to come up here uh would be great for them and uh have meet Thursdays but that's based upon my colleagues and how they choose the vote and I also like to thank all my colleagues up here who ran for re-election we worked hard like to thank the East cor residents uh for everyone who came out supporting me and um to all my my friends and and and people who help me get the place I am right now so thank everybody and let's keep moving forward thank you very much thank you councilman you're welcome councilwoman frisbee good evening VI Council um president so I wanted to say first want to start off with congratulating um councilman Harrison on his re-election Council Williams as well and um which the best to council Jennifer jennif Figo kber um on her uh race um the next thing I wanted to do let's talk about the rank Choice voting that's going to be coming up um I just wanted to say that is something something that I did bring to the table I felt that it was something that we uh would help us with money uh that City more every time we have a runoff it means we're going to incur more money we have to have the clerk's office we have to have our our our County um our city office we have to have the candidates spending more money so it is all about if you however the city the community decides that they want um to rank their preference for winners in whatever election it is so that we do not have to continuously have runoffs so um I actually just considered that it is really um a time saer it is a money saver and allows the city to come out and not have to keep one like we're going to me in holiday season coming again and we have they're going to come out and again as we sh showed two years ago the numbers go down down down the people get tired with um having to come out and vote again and again um next I wanted to just uh reiterate as I've been talking with director who is not over there right now but there was a free rabies clinic um we just had one on November 2nd the next one is going to be on November 16th this is for cats so if you have cats this is free F re e free it is going to be at the Trenton Animal Shelter 72 eer street from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. so please bring your cat out if they need to have their rabies um shot done also I wanted to say thank you to everyone um in the West for who did vote for me um and even those that didn't vote for me cuz I will still represent you to the best of my ability and we've gotten a lot done in the west W over the last Almost 2 years and there's still so much work to be done but I'm grateful for another opportunity to continue the work that I started I might also want to to pigy back on Council Edwards um yes we are in a uh state where they're asking everyone be very cautious we have not had rain in a very long time so fire um fire uh issues can flare up at any given time so we ask everybody to be very mindful of that especially with it's going to be getting late soon I mean um cold soon and folks are going to want to light their chin as should' be very cautious with that um and then I want to just say congratulations big shout out to Paul Harris on his first major event in the city of Trenton with the Halloween Trump retreat absolutely phenomenal phenomenal job we had at least three different states that I know um there Trenton we had New Jersey we had PA and we had Delaware all um present so that was absolutely major it was more like a festival than it was more trunk ret treat you did an absolutely commendable job you your team our amazing fire department and our uh police department did an outstanding job and kudos to our mayor I wanted to just say all that I thought just did a great job and of course um that wouldn't have happened without your amazing team so the recreation department I commend them as well and everyone for being out it was great to seeing all of the directors out there and and um just the the spirit of Trenton just resonated so beautifully with every um one just coming out that I was they didn't have any incidents at all just a fun time um with that I think I'm actually done so I'm going to read a portion of the city's mission statement which is recognizing that the people of Trenton have made his Guardians of the public Trust we are committed to govern with integrity and fiscal responsibility to seek excellence in the city's operations and to serve all the city's people with respect and compassion I thank you and I thank everybody for being out here on this evening and I wish you a well and safe evening thank you madam president thank you Council for Council woman Williams thank you very much council president uh just first I want to um I got several things to talk about about try to be as brief as possible I want to thank and congratulate uh city clerk Brandon Garcia and the clerk department for a job well done and administering and conducting this past election on Tuesday alongside the Mercer County uh clerk's office it's a great Endeavor um I know it's a lot of moving Parts but I just want to say Bravo thank you also uh November 20th 5:30 uh Wednesday night by the Galilee Baptist Church 4:40 Martin Luther King Boulevard we will be having next North W citizens police advisory council meeting uh we'd love to have as many residents uh business owners whomever come you can uh you don't necessarily have to be in the northward is that found out uh but for people who come to meet it's a great conversation with our Police Department particularly uh often we're blessed to have director Steve Wilson with us as well as our detective for the north Bo cor McNair um so please uh come and join us um I also want to make a request that uh know we have grow hours tonight for a pilot uh which uh I am supportive of but I wanted to ask that Brunswick Village come back I've asked about this previously because uh we also had a pilot uh discussion with them and offered that to them uh but we haven't had to come back to council for a presentation on the renovations since uh March of 2023 uh based on my uh emails I went through to make sure of that and we really need to make sure that that happens because a lot was promised uh as far as I can tell Renovations are not occurring if they have been very minimal so I would like to request that uh we have a presentation from the developers and owners of that property soon uh regarding the writing Choice voting i' appreciate my Council colleague Frisbee's interest and bringing this forth uh but I would not be able to support it myself as I do believe um as much as we need to save money elections are more than about money um we need to make sure the Trenton particularly that we no longer have may Municipal elections have a real real way to bet candidates figure out who's who uh who might represent them best who wants to do the work uh by being out there and making sure that they're part of the community and that's something whether we have a runoff especially uh when you have to work as a candidate a second time and I had to do that myself you really have a chance actually as a candidate to meet more voters and find out what they want not what you want to do but find out what they want and I really think it's important uh that we maintain the system we have but also one of the things that's really come to light uh in this past year is making sure we have more voter locations uh near the neighborhoods where our constituents live uh there's a been an effort Statewide uh and I believe in the county to consolidate regionalize voting locations which uh isn't fair to our residents particularly our seniors uh folks who do not have a car as was mentioned earlier about uh this great business coming to Trenton we need to have people be able to do things where they live and making uh folks such as kingsbery uh at one point was going all the folks at kingsburry we going to have to walk up to cure Arena which is a good walk a dangerous walk in some ways uh but because of the efforts of assembly woman valina Reynolds Jackson myself and others uh we were able to thankfully convince the county uh and also Mr Garcia he was very helpful with this to uh have a compromise and have the voting station located at Luther Arms Apartments which made it more fair for the residents nearly a thousand than kingsbery and that should never happen again Trenton should be consulted uh much better than it's been previously and where people will have an opportunity to vote uh finally uh just wanted to uh add a positive uh and that is the Trent High football team if you haven't heard they faged over 500 for the first time since 20177 and won a share of the West Jersey football league that's what it's called ballet division championship so uh great job by our football team uh hopefully uh you'll will see some of you at the basketball uh Team uh games this year uh they're very exciting both the boys and the girls and actually my last point is and I just want to um thank my colleagues councilman Edwards and councilman fris speaking Hest regarding the drought there's an article today nj.com that it's actually we broke a record uh we 38 days of Dome precipitation Beyond like a Mist they said so we do need help um if we can get as many tonans as possible to water the trees in front of their houses many of our trees are distressed and without water we're going to have bigger problems coming next year thank you God bless everybody thank [Music] you Council woman Gonzalez thank you council president I am short and sweet this evening um good evening everyone thank you for being present um thank you to those who presented um before us today um thank you to um the young Mrs Brown with bring bringing your business here to the city of Trenton it's always a blessing when we get more businesses coming into the city so I want to say thank you for choosing Trenton and for giving back to our youth in um your internship and allowing them and teaching them to do um me as a special uh needs educator I have a life skills class and I teach my kids a lot of culinary stuff too without the equipment so I know it's it's extremely difficult and so I just want to say thank you um for being a person like that in our community um to the city of Trenton the fire department the recreation department and the police department everyone spoke so highly of the Halloween event they were all uh the Fall Festival it was really really f for every just to be walking back to the car and hear so many positive comments from the residents as they were leaving and um leaving the event so I just want to say thank you for that um as far as uh the rank Choice building I am in between that that um I do not want to see anyone run off so any way that we can avoid that it takes a lot of effort and I think if it's people chose the first time I think it should be what it is um as far as uh the sidewalk I believe they spoke to miss brao so I'm hoping that that would be addressed for her um because it does bother me that someone will tell her that there's no money and I know for a fact that there was an employee who just said we had plenty of money to fix some sidewalks to another Resident so there's a lot of miscommunication going on within our uh residents in regards to actual sidewalks um what else I here as far as Mr Jones I really I uh would like to see um some type of resolution for that and would like to see that tabled until that is resolved also that's just one more comment I just want to shout out to Trenton Central High School cheerleading team who are competing and I want to wish them the best of luck as everyone knows they are my babies and um wishing them the best of luck this weekend other than that I think that is all I have for everyone thank you for your comments and being here this evening thank you thank you Council woman Council vice president figura kber good evening everybody um couple quick things I just wanted to discuss um Miss Ros I did go outside to speak to you briefly I didn't know about the situation in front of your home 11:38 Gennesse Street you did go through the proper Channel speaking to Mr sentur and the proper Department um I wish more residents actually knew the proper channels to go to so kudos to you for doing that um I do hope and employ you to reach out to your Council woman or any of the council people um in the future if you are getting that no response or that stagnated response because there are other steps that we can try to take or try to put you on the radar to get things done I am happy that there is a resolution on the table tonight that we will be discussing for money for sidewalk repairs um and I'm hoping that you know it goes over and we are able to pass it and we can add that to the list to get repaired as quickly as possible there's so many sidewalks in the in in Trenton in general um that have been torn up just by trees that were planted decades ago um slate sidewalks and other um and I do know that we haven't been able to get a lot of the sidewalks fixed but we have gotten you know just for instance in the southp 23 streets repaved and other things and other trees taken down and things like that so we are trying to work to get these things done and I do hope that we'll be able to get that done quickly I did report another um sidewalk in South board today at 504 lamerson Street same thing and it's added to the list another one on jese Street a little further down from where you're at same thing so I do hope that it will get done as quickly as possible and in the future um please reach out to me if you need to or other council members um Karan you mentioned the the rehabilitation of the entire city um I do um anticipate getting responses and answers from our Administration tonight about that CU I have questions as well um I am for that I think from what I know from what I've researched from the information that's been provided to me um because I have been um at Cross roads with you know getting people to be able to purchase lots and the lots that are stagnant that you know do nothing for the city and we're not collecting taxes or revenue on and people are being really are being faced with um it's it's very problematic for them to be able to get these properties and it should not be so I am for that I just want to make sure that it's fair across the board and that it um leads to the the further Redevelopment and Rehabilitation of the city needs so thank you for asking that question I do look forward to getting answers from our administ about that this evening um with with regard to rank Choice voting I did already voice my opinions about this when it was first um brought before the council um with me making phone calls on Election night and prior to election night but primarily on Election night and people who had already voted they already have issues with the concept of voting and what that means and how to do it and when I asked people had they voted already a lot of them said yeah I voted right down column A if they were Democrat or I voted right down column B and they didn't even understand the the partisan versus nonpartisan aspect and that the council race was at the bottom of the ballot and that that's nonpartisan and you know the first name the second name the third name had nothing to do with partisan politics whatsoever so that in and of itself is confusing so to be asking our people to now say rank who you want by choice by your favorite or who's going to do the job best or who's in your heart or who's your friend or whatever one that is not choosing the right person for the position in my mind and two it just makes things so much more confusing and I think that it is in light a a a form of giving a participation trophy or kind of just saying you know job well done or just it's it's it's way of not choosing the best person a position I really don't think that we're prepared for that here in the city of Trenton um so I do hope that the discussion goes well and I'm always open-minded I didn't want to talk about the election but I'm just enough people brought it up I do want to congratulate my colleagues congratulations to all you on um getting your seats back um and I do hope to continue to be able to work with all of you as we move forward um I want to thank Cordelia statement for her kind words and I also want to thank everybody who worked on my campaign and just say this race is not over I do hope that people continue to support me continue to fight um politics is not a game for me I get tired of hearing politics is a game it's not a game for me the more I hear that the more I cringe I take um all of my constituents very seriously all of their concerns and I speak up and I not only talk to talk but I walk to walk and I really do hope that constituents see that so moving forward um I hold Integrity important in all aspects of life and I just hope that you know we do the right thing moving forward into this election so I want you guys have a wonderful night and thank you very much thank you Council vice president give me one second good evening everyone thank you for being here tonight we appreciate you staying um and listening and we appreciate the comments um that were expressed tonight um I just want to say congratulations once again to Maria our permanent VA now also congratulations to my Council colleagues on their reelection Council woman frisbee councilman Harrison councilwoman Williams um looking forward to working with you all as we continue to move ahead Council vice president Figaroa kenberg looking forward to continue to work with you as we move ahead and wishing you all the very best um in your in your reelection efforts um and then as we push to the runoff that will take place on December the 3rd my birthday is December the 4th so you know leave again had me on the front page of the paper all right so what I want to say is we are going to discuss a little bit as we move forward um into the docket some of these items and everything but I do want to shout out councilman Harrison and I thank you sir for bringing forward your honest true and authentic thoughts as well as my other Council colleagues that did bring it up and that is what um this is this is what working together as a council is all about right we don't always have to agree on things but we respectfully talk with each other and work through what it is so that hopefully we can find a happy medium specifically when it comes to the retreat right I do agree DCA should have the funds and they should take care of us um considering that I had asked for this well before the summer um and we were working on it and at one point it was going to be funded by DCA but then because um because the person from DCA kind of drugged his feet a little bit a lot uh it went beyond that time and then by the time we sat down and revisit it again because of the timing it just didn't work out and then we had to move it to say well November but then we have the election that's coming up in November and then that wouldn't be right because now we're too close to that so now we look to move it to after the next municipal election either way when we look at the budget there's a lot of funding that rest for Council within the city clerk's budget so that I've I've worked it out where in the budget District we actually started pulling some of that money out to truly see what it is that the council uses versus what the city clerk's office uses right because while it is easy paperwork wise for the city clerk to write things under their account programmatically we need to show the difference under the council expenditures and so we've done that so there is money that is there that even if we had to move that money again from the city clerk's budget based on um projections and what has happened we can move that for the retreat over but I do agree that these iation meet us um where we are with that because it only strengthen strengthens us as a council in doing what it is that we need to do um to help this city to be better and and to get us to where we need to be I will speak on the other things um when we get into it um when we get into the discussion Point uh further on in the docket when it comes to the issue of um Keon Jones I'm I'm not sure what the Administration is looking to do with that um I will have to recuse myself from that but I do I do believe that listening to everything that was that was said I mean I'm I'm not sure if that's something that would be pulled left whatever but I'm looking forward to hearing what's going to happen with that as well that being said thank you everyone for coming out tonight um appreciate everybody Mr Barcia certainly M president moving on with the agenda at this time uh I believe we've reached the point we can ask for a motion to approve Communications petitions and reports have a motion to approve Communications petitions and reports so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president fig Kev yes councilwoman frisbe yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president fan yes motion Carri and that brings us to ordinances for second reading of public hearing ordinance 24-65 an ordinance amending the rates of compensation for Contracting the services of off-duty City police officers are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president fenberg yes councilwoman fby yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president fiana yes motion Carri ordinance 2467 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 14 of the code of the city of Trenton traffic bus stops as it applies to Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard Princeton Avenue in the city of Trenton are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president youone to ask for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve so move second roll call Council yes vice president Figo kber yes councilwoman F yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president fana yes motion carried ordinance 2468 ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 77 of the code city of Tron fees tax records are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordance at this time seeing none M president if you want to ask for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve sub motion second roll call councilwoman Edwards [Music] yes that a yes yes vice president fig cber yes councilwoman Frisby yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes counc president fan yes motion carry ordinance 2469 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 292 Vehicles abandoned of the city code of the city of Trenton are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve yes we have a motion to approve second it roll call councilwoman Edwards no noted vice president Figo gber yes councilman frisbee no noted excuse me councilman Gonzalez no councilman Harrison yes councilman Williams yes council president fiana yes uh I believe that motion that motion carries ordinance 2471 an ordinance amending and supplementing the placement and of excuse me the placement of advertising guide or identification signs Article 1 chapter 233 of the city of city code of the city of Transit are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this ordinance at this time seeing none Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve yes we have a motion to approve approv second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kber yes councilwoman Frisby yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Poli yes motion carried moving on to resolutions Madam president are there any items at this time that you wish to put up for discussion or for that matter extract from a potential consent agenda so I would like to begin to say that I like the following pooled for roll call vote please 24444 cuz I know people are going to want to discuss that and get into it 24 no actually I want to pull it for a discussion so we can talk about that not we can decide with that it if it can go on consent agenda or not but um 24445 24 [Music] 450 um and we have to do the one we have to take the one out for executive session right right [Music] 24474 so those are mine for discussion again I'm sorry 24444 24445 244 74 is roll call that's not discussion 24450 is for discussion are there any of the council members that have any other resolutions that you would like pull for discussion besides what I've [Music] noted council president yes um agree with you on 24 and also besides what I've noted councilwoman Williams thank you 24456 second 24456 okay and that would thank you Council sorry 24466 244 66 thank you Council M Harrison are are you going a roll call you said 24 uh 445 and 2474 right and 2475 one second those sound those are what one okay just but yes sir we okay thank you any other council members Council there was um just two grammatical errors that uh needed to be addressed on one on 44 445 and the other one 446 um you can make a notation 445 with uh in the second to the last paragraph where it says uh third line up transfer all the voters and it should be transferred to the voters okay good and then on 446 there's a t missing same thing I believe is the word two oh on the back of the front page it um has where there's a line say while BRS has the skills for the data Gathering part of the project they have no they have they have no they have not it should be not it that's all I have thank you Council vice president f um I had a question for um 24461 um and 24458 that's it thank you anyone else okay thank you so we'll begin with 24444 designating the city of Trenton County of merer as an area in need of Rehabilitation [Music] good evening good evening my name is Nick grer I am with mey Gibbons we are Redevelopment Council to the city we can help to answer some questions about this resolution can you tell put the mic up toward you little short thank you sir appreciate it thank you so with regard to this resolution um can you briefly explain to us what this means um with regard to designating the entire city as an area in need of Rehabilitation explains us briefly what it is and then what are the benefits to um the residents in the City by doing this and if there are any cons to doing this sure so under the Redevelopment law uh an area of Rehabilitation really allows for the city to um you know if certain conditions are met which the study that was done those those conditions are met so under the Redevelopment law um the city is is able to be designated for rehabilitation and it gives the city and Council broad powers to work with redevelopers on U city-owned properties abandoned properties uh it it removes the the need for public bidding as a council you can work directly with the redeveloper you can enter into a Redevelopment agreement with that redeveloper and it really gives the city broad powers to um to work with redevelopers to bring in those redevelopers who you want in the city uh with regards to abandoned property City own property and it it it's a tool right so you there are Redevelopment areas within the city of Trenton where you know when we talk about Pilots all of that's done within a Redevelopment area the rehabilitation designation just broadens that to um really really all of the properties if they meet the the criteria and it again it just gives you power over certain properties so you can again bring in the people the redevelopers who who need to get the work done who you're comfortable working with and you know it it really gives you more control so these properties don't end up in foreclosure uh and especially for City owned property it it gives the you know it gives the city a leg up in in regards to that any com what let me just address some more positive what what I see this doing from a practical standpoint it allows us to NE negotiate with a small developer this is the the home this is the person who wants to become a homeowner finds a property in the community and where we can uh restrict the conditions of the sale uh one of the problems we've had in the past is we have gone through an auction process where you have outside um groups who will come in and they will uh through auction process out bid local people for properties to turn them into rental properties what this allows us to do is put a restriction on the Redevelopment agreement uh with the rehab zone so we can restrict the sale of property for home ownership for a period of time what we're really looking to focus on is getting rid of the absente landlord process through the auctions and we are looking to uh encourage and work with firsttime home buyers home buyers uh people from the state people who already live here uh and the best part about it is if you know if you have uh you have a home and there's a house two hours down and your daughter or son wants to live in a community we can designate the the Son and the daughter is a redeveloper they can come in and re have a property they can live there there's three phases of this though to understand first of all if this passes this evening we have to get dcov which is we've already had major discussions with DCA we don't really see an issue with that the other thing that we will be coming in is with an ordinance to set up an abatement program uh which is allows which would be when someone does improvements on their house it would be a 20 40 60 80 100% tax process so they purchase a home uh they fix it up they get a co uh and what would happen is the first year you you pay full taxes on the land but improvements it would be a 20% first year third um 40 60 80 up at the end of 5 years um they pay full taxes this some Els again the first time home buy the young couple to get in there get a property get money to fix it up and be able to live there while they adjust their budget so they can uh benefit uh from from the tax payment uh that that's a very large part of this also for people who want to do home improvements to take take a single family home and they want add on to their house okay so day I am I going to add on my house or am I going to move I'm add on my house I'm going to move we all go see9 people go through that if they want to do say a $40,000 addition to the house they can designate them development for that process and then what they can do is get the a batement for the addition so they're not paying full taxes on that Improvement so it really helps to already for the home H buyer to exist and and who wants to improve their property same thing with businesses we can be working with businesses if they want to do improvements in their properties and it's not the Redevelopment Zone um it and the other thing it does is we're going to have models that are simple uh we're going to simplify the process down there would be a a short Redevelopment agreement that we can do with homeowners or with with people who want to rehab homes uh and we would then um be a Pro that we do an ordinance that we bring in front of council Council will still have to make all the approvals for the sales of property just like you do with other Reet projects we do under rehab and um we're trying to move that process along quicker for the for the residents of the AL the biggest difference that the have that I see in rehab compared to Redevelopment is there's no am domain in rehab I mean and you have to designate that Redevelopment but there there's no process for that uh and it also the biggest benefit to us is allows from the negotiated sale of the property uh which really benefits the process of of getting was done faster and eliminating the the proc the problem with the opposite uh as to negatives I I will say that I've seen this done in numerous communities um I I've I've seen it done uh in Gall Township which is somewhat of a middle class upper middle class Community I've seen it done in Hamilton Township ATL County again middle class we they're able to negotiate I've seen that done in M Hol which improved substantially by um doing rehab and Redevelopment so there's a benefit the city the whole city of New York is a weab uh Woodbridge which is which is a real workingclass bluecollar Community has been designated it is one of the tools in our toolbox to transition this community from a landlord based ownership to home ownership uh based community and bringing neighborhoods back to being neighborhoods and eliminating the fact that you you have that absente landlord who's just trying to profit grab his profits from the city um and and sometimes very predatory landlords that we have and elim we try to eliminate them out of the process thank you are there any other council members that have any questions or discussion to this President um just one quick question would this um still so for an how I so for an empty vacant property or an abandoned property that's been vacant for a long time and a city owned does the homeowners that are uh the neighboring homeowners do they get first bid on it or does that just eliminate that process too I think that if we write the a policy right that you know the adjoining homeowners would have um a first right refusal in a case uh you know and we we but it's negotiated we want to encourage that there are what they call side block programs for people have empty SS and one of the things we really want to do through this process is we designate them do negot St sale where they can buy the Seline and that's a big that that's good for people want to add on to a house but also want to have a side kids complaining so forth uh and I've seen that been very successful in other towns I've worked in uh where uh they do the side uh joining programs Works home thank you thank you any other Council people with any other questions comments council president yes Council I have a lot of questions um regarding us um so what I was actually hoping we might be able to to hear this out a later date and have a presentation because there's going to be a lot of transfaran homeowners they're going to have a lot of questions um if this is passed tonight um because they didn't have a real good chance to have the publicity come out about this particular the elction so uh I'll start with questions with uh does every property in the city do they become eligible for any real abilitation money or only abanded properties per se at the state level no every property in the community would be um allowed to with improvements be allowed to apply for the abatements and the abatements are not like some of the bigger projects that council's talking about these abatements are automatic so I think we bring in front of council automatic abatements let me say this we were very transparent in this process we had brought it to council Council was fully aware of it uh we took it the planning board at an open meeting uh and had a a public hearing with it uh but we were very open there with it uh and uh you know we brought it back in front of council and we have been open for questions the whole time people had requests we've been more happy to answer questions I've had other Council people call me and um you know there's nothing that that's been done to hide this process or or deceive anybody from this process okay well I what my point is I think the general public they're not as aware about this and also I did not call you because I'm not allowed to call you perly f correct so my that's why I have my questions I wanted to ask um but I was hoping that we would have a presentation but I'll just continue so um so I just want to clarify with the tax abatement that the same rate would be the same rate whether it's a new property being redeveloped or sorry develop full property or a Home Improvement correct officially okay uh also um with that sorry um so when our planning board was asked about the evance were they asked to approve as far as it was a good policy for planning or were they asked to approve this based on it legal and permittable under a municipal government under land use law the day were they asked for their opinion on whether this would be good for the city as far as the planning department they they were open they were asked it was they were open for questions uh councilman Harrison sits on planning board he can tell you that you know it was open discussion as much as they wanted to have it was nothing shut down their throat uh you know we wanted their input on it and that's the reason have the public hearing me so we can get your input on the process so uh and board was very very open to this seeing the benefits to the community okay thank you um and Report the tailor design created for housing Economic Development states that municipality will not be able to employ domain which I I think is great because that's something that is a great concern particular since the K case um so can you explain for those who might be watching in on soon um why they can have all their concerns at EAS regarding ENT domain just so they hear it from you well I'll tell you right up front is is when you do eminent domain you can only do eminent domain through a r development plan that designates that uh that you can Institute emminent domain and take property okay that is a Redevelopment Zone okay in rehab there is no authorization to have eminent domain used there's just none you can't be considered thank you and then um one thing as one drives around the city this is a great thing it's pretty obvious that there is some improving Economic Development occurring had pretty good pace around the city and each of the Ws um you doing the market forces and so that's been done without the area needed Rehabilitation designation so with these new homes and businesses as well as projects that will be forthcoming uh regarding the choice neighborhood program which I know we're trying to find the rest of the money for uh why should current Tron Home Trenton homeowners in all of our neighborhoods not be worried about the designation affecting their home values or their ability to get refinancing particularly if the entire city has a designation of reabilitation I can tell you right off the bat being an applicant for numerous mortgages in my in in my lifetime um no one has ever asked me or has it ever been brought up in a title source that I know of that in areas that we we have reabilitation um I cannot see and like I said the communities that I've worked in and personally know of Galloway Hamilton Mount Hall um that these have there's absolutely no impact in in property B actually if you look at the communities I'm talking about the real estate markets in those communities are thriving they they've been thriving for years and what it does is establishes the fact that you're getting abandoned properties quickly off the roles and having them redeveloped as as quickly as possible um to me again for shend is the small guy small guy who want who may want to do 10 Properties or five properties or or the single single person who wants to rehab a houseing own and improve improve their lifestyle and build generational wealth it's about building that too so and when you originally spoke um and I did take notes about galoway Hamilton Township in Atlanta County did you also mention Newark yes okay I done it to thank you um and regarding uh the timing of this Etc would it not be possible for this to be uh tabled or held till the December meeting so your department can make a presentation and then also in the next you know several weeks if members of the public have any questions questions that they can ask them particularly cuz I I know I will have constituents ask me about what is this going to do to my property values and that's a fair question yeah and and and like I stated I think in in from my experience and impa maybe you can address this too un unless you really know something about land use about nobody is even going know the difference between a rehabilitation area and Redevelopment understand something we have 40 43 Redevelopment zones in the city of TR 43 we're trying to clean those up first and what this helps is kind of an overlap what we clean those up we have this tool okay and and I like I said I don't know to delay it it I mean I mean it's one of these things that we've worked on this for at least 90 days I think that we we've had this working through through working through the planning board again we've got to send this after we're done tonight if it passes I've got to send get uh DCA to make an approval there we've got a delay there okay after that we're going to run try run a parallel process getting the ordinance done for the abatement which is going to take some time into January so we're what we're doing right now if if you don't pass it we're just delaying uh what we need to do and need to tool for the community um well very big prent home ownership particularly as it's going to help us break up the country of poverty we have in the city and create multigenerational wealth so this is a Paramount Imports that we get a city that has a 39% home ownership rate back to well over 50% which it was as recently as 2000 but we're also in a city where red lining has a history we're in a city where um even just before I would say the crash of 20 8 many of the banks closed their refinance mortgages spe1 second mortgages they got unlikely lines of credit closed to them um so we're a city that suffered a lot because of designation that we can't you we don't have property values like they have soon as you cross the border in the uing and Hamilton and Lawrence and so forth so that's a really big concern for me and I would imagine for other people that you know real might not be a big deal for them and I know your your opinion is it's not a big deal but I have a grave concern a lot of banks might and that's something I'd like to be able to learn more about and you kind of get more information on what that could be in some case studies I'm sure there's got to be at least a case study out of nework on how that handled because that's an environment of the city it's more like our city it's an urban city I think we have some would actually help financing bring get some of the the banking funding that they must dedicated to communities and if we show this a rehab rehabilitation area uh it may actually free more mortgage months to bring into the city um I think it's just uh and and they're going to look at the city if we've done a reh Happ here in the community has done something to generate more home ownership here the risk is less for the bank and for the mortgage company to rebuild and get the community built back up and then just I sh in uh you know most of these projects the the redevelopers will need to seek financing depending on what the project is so that you know that'll you know the the financing is available and a lot of banks have programs gear towards Redevelopment so um I think this is a tool for the the housing department to you know quickly not quickly but like it's going to allow them to redevelop properties and and work with these redevelopers a little more efficiently and that will in the long term work to increase property value so it's really you know thinking about it thinking about the long-term game once you get properties redeveloped and and Home Ownership you're going to increase your property values overall and then a such questions the next one's kind of the big one that we get a lot from many tonians which is uh would I be able to actually purchase a property versus an LLC versus someone who is outside Trenton who comes in uh some streets there are llc's different various night maybe the same own some of them with the same LLC that own 3 four S properties on the same block so how can individual Trentonian you know be ensured that they're going to have a fair chance to buy a house on their block or a house in another neighborhood and not um if we get rid of the auction process which I think is a good thing um not being muscled by a developer for an LLC we council's a body can set policy that um in in the U negotiated process that residence long-term resid of Trend will have can have first priority at negotiating the price of the house and we can take that into consideration we let me let me say this right off the bat I've I've been approached probably by 15 different LLC people who have wanted to come in in the last month and a half and buy buy up a bunch of problems and we have done everything to say that's not going to be the policy of of what the mayor wants to do the mayor wants to to promote uh home ownership and that we have to focus our body on home ownership we're not going in the best you guys have control is the buy cuz it's you're the Redevelopment inty if we walk in here and say we're going to sell xyc LZ 15 props you have the ability to say nope we're not going to do that we're going to focus on home ownership we want the priority to be the local people and you you have the ability to say they have to be owner occupied right so that keeps the llc's away if you're going to rehab then you're going to promote owner occupi residences you can do that and then we are the ability to make every single one of these properties we're talking about on occupied that's something Administration would also support absolutely the only I just wanted to get that out well I'm going that we have multif family um locations here that home ownership we we have some Empty Apartment ones that have four or five and we're going to have to work closely to control and and the model we're going to build is is going to be a followup model where we're just not going to sell property and walk away there's going to be timelines there going to be a process where we have what we're calling them um part we're going to have call I won't call them inspectors but I call them Partners to GRE Investment Partners where our people will track the properties first to make sure their home ownership um if if we have an LLC comes in and wants to flip a home you know we we can work with that flipper to do that but on the flip the house is going to have to be sold and and that's how we're going to have to enforce it um and and I think we can do that and we've already started that process by denying multiple LL seeds to come in and just snatch up properties and my final question this is a big one is and I'd like to hear from both of be Hest is regarding uh what will happen with the zoning process and how would this be affected and not affected and then I really appreciate council president ask about the pros and the cons because that's one of the things we have to do when I was on zoning board and also Bo the person applying for a variance apply for they have to present the positive criteria and the negative criteria to a decision so by virtue of this resolution nothing will happen with the existing zoning like if we what you can do is adopt you would adopt a Redevelopment plan but that Redevelopment in that Redevelopment plan you would just adopt the existing zoning if you if there's a particular project that you're interested in this also gives you leeway to adopt you know like a site specific Redevelopment plan that would change the zoning so it it it gives you flexibility but outright just by adopting this nothing thing with the zoning changes it's you have to go through another process adopt a Redevelopment plan you know work with the redeveloper if you have a project in mind but nothing changes just by virtue of this being adopted so both variances and use variances would always go back to zoning right so and it depends if you know if we adopt a Redevelopment plan based on a particular project we you can as a body you can create certain bulk standards for a particular project or a particular parcel but if that's not in place yes they would have to go back to the planning board and get all the appropriate approvals and you know variances from bulk relief and use thank you from St from the Practical standpoint if we run into a a home uh or property that that has a zoning issue then obviously see like we we will um expedite the process and work very closely with the resident if they want to become a residential home ownership that you know to expedite their process work with them on the Redevelopment uh plan and making sure they get in front a zoning Board in a timely manner and again once it clears zoning board I mean that's one things we're going have to work out legally go hous beat the so contingent on a zoning issue which would be part of the r development agreement so I mean there there's ways we can work with people to make sure that home home ownership is the focus thank you very much thank you councilwoman Williams councilwoman Edwards thank you madam president um I was want to start off by saying thank you to uh councilwoman Williams for all the questions that she asked um since this docet is released to the public you did notice uh on social media there were a lot of conversations and concerns based around this uh this resolution um and and what it means and what it could mean to our city and its homeowners uh you know that home ownership is very scarce in our city most of the city is owned by uh government entities that we don't collect taxes from um I I believe that one of the biggest issues with our tax roll in our Revenue issues and things like that the blight in our city is because we did not have this you know we had a lot of Redevelopment areas in the city a few I'm not going to say a lot we have a few and the stipulations based around um those were very uh stringent and it led a lot of properties go into auction and as you had said earlier a lot of non-re residents participate in that auction and the properties go into their hands and we have no control over who purchases the property what the property is going to be used for I mean within the zoning variances of that that area of course but we don't know what it's going to be used for in terms of home ownership or renters or what have you and I think that this designation would allow us to know more information about who's buying our properties we have control over who's going to uh do get it and what it's going to be used forward we would know that firsthand as the Redevelopment Authority we also have an economic development sub commmittee for Council which I'm a member of and we will be addressing these issues as they come along with the administration so um we are doing our due diligence as Council working with the administration to to come up with the best strategies that we can to return our, 1500 plus inventory of City owned properties back to the tax Ro we have not been collecting any revenue from for decades for some of these properties and they are falling apart and they've been present dangerous to our communities in some areas so I think that auctions can present and has presented many barriers for our residents in the city they are not able to afford to participate but if we came up with programs like the dollar program that Baltimore has done that the city of Trenton has done under mayor Jackson's um Administration we could help City residents and those that want to move into the city achieve homeownership at a more affordable rate and help them get access to Grants and Loans um lower interest loans and things like that we would have creative control with a rehabilitation designation so I wholeheartedly support this I supported this when the mayor was attempting to get this on a docket under the previous Council which Unfortunately they did not allow to happen so here we are again fast forward and a a few years later might add um still trying to do this and I can't wait until we talk about land baking again so um but hopefully this will achieve some of that too so um but I love that you're talking about a handholding process of maybe having project managers I don't know if that's the correct term for this but walking people through the very steps of purchasing the property and getting through the Redevelopment and making sure they're doing what they're saying they're going to do long time conversation and we will continue to delay progress for our city if we were to push this back to December so I'm prepared to vote on this tonight um and that's why I don't have any questions but I just wanted to commend you thank you council president thank you councilwoman um Council Council vice president first and then you councilman Harrison thank you sir Council vice president good evening um she kind of stated some of the questions that I may have wanted to ask um but one question that I do have is as it applies to Property Owners how will this affect them will they have first preference to these properties still or with somebody else will there be sealed bids like how does that process work no it's if the property is continuous it's non-conforming they have you have to offer to both sides first but if it's as a policy decision if it's going to be where you're you want to allow people en larg their Lots it's not going to interfere with other development neighborhood I mean that can be a policy decision that makes it the fact that the the joining homeowner would have first preference on negotiating the property sale and again that's something we we have to bring back to the body and we're going to say hey we got this house you know we want to be able to sell it uh to the Joint J property owner the price may be a little bit less you know3 or $4,000 less but the Jan home is going to combine the Lots wants to add on the house using tax pment program so it allows the fle this the best part about the media from governing ADV if you control you you you got control this process so it's not something we're running willingly doing you guys are going to be involved in it and being that the entire city would be a rehabilitation Zone um Redevelopment Zone would all of these matters come before Council for approval or it would okay and then just my final question just because I've come upon is and we've had has happened on Council um in this past few years when it comes to Alleyways let's say that they're being vacated because they didn't fall under the category of Redevelopment um do do they now fall into this category or how does that work once we would vacate then it could be it's negotiated um so it would fall under this once we vacate the property under the same standards same prenses okay thank you so much like you had said it's uh small local developers which is more than likely going to be hiring locally and it's home ownership right now in the city regarding rental properties we're talking what $2 $3,000 a month right between 2 to 3,000 for property for round properties which is crazy yeah we're talking two bedrooms in the area from 20 from 2 Grand to about 2400 if not if not more right and for that people can you can you know invest in the property take that extra money if you can live with your parents or a friend for for 6 months while you reh have the property and and the point of project manages but in in the plan that that we've drafted it will have a whole monitoring process of the 45 days the 60 days um actually I I think I borrowed the program from Detroit and looked at their program um why we about the wheel you uh and and we I looked at what they were doing and presented DCA today at a meeting we had uh and and I think it's going to help us we've got real estate managers right now who we will be able to utilize to do this process and make sure that it gets to the COO position and also works with them on the abatement at the end and make sure they get the abatement Pro program and say hey's the abatement for us out one page form for the abatement not a real big process and that's that's an automatic on they get to see thank you council president are there any more questions from Council so just so we're all clear on this because different people had different questions that they asked I'm going to ask each of you I guess those that asked the question are you satisfied with the answers that we can move this to the consent agenda before we decide if we're doing consent or hold call vote so councilwoman Williams are you satisfied to put this on consent agenda no I'd like to see stand as a roll call all right thank you councilman Harrison will you okay thank you councilwoman Edwards you were good right I just want to I know we're going to roll call it I just want them to say what they want okay thank you and thank you okay so we'll roll call 24444 thank you gentlemen appreciate you thank you all right thank you thank you so next we're on 24445 the um the resolution expressing support for the rank Choice voting we've heard some discussion earlier from Council Members is it any thing else that we want to discuss about this um rank Choice voting I do want to say one thing because I didn't say anything then but I do want to just take a moment uh um here now um while I understand the intent behind this um and listen to um the backstory about it and the information and everything on it um I think as it applies to the city of Trenton um I don't think that this is something that would be good um for us I think that after talking to the um superintendent of Elections as well as speaking to the Mercer County Clerk um about the process and how it would work while the intent is to save money by not having a runoff um just the educational piece to the public would be just a lot to try to not especially out seeing your citizens and things like that like they're used to you know you pick one person from mayor or the other not rank one 2 three um and then it could fall to someone's detriment if they don't rank them and then they just pick like the one and you know um I don't think that it vodes well for our overall process um like councilman Harrison said he and a couple others have went through the at large candidates we had to go through um the runoff as well it did give us an opportunity to get back out to re-engage with the people but also another point to this we don't have to support the rank Choice voting concept if we want to eliminate the runoff we can just have a referendum put on the ballot and just let the people decide what they want if they want to eliminate a runoff election we don't even have to entertain this and in that way it's not confusing it's not you know taking people out of sorts um and and it still accomplishes the same goal so I just wanted to say those points of if we ever decided that we wanted to get rid of the runoff um the referendum I think would be the way to go that way that people can actually speak on what they want um in that area I would like to say one last thing though about that to and I'm not being selfish I'm just being realistic as an at large council person I don't even know if anybody can really get 50 plus one as at large I mean we had nine people the last time it was a whole nightmare you know I don't even know if we can consider looking to reduce the percentage I don't know if that's like a state thing to say that if an at large candidate obtain like 36% or you know maybe even visiting something like that not that we're afraid of the runoff because you know we do our thing and pull through but just to make it more realistic in that regard but again to that I I thank you for bringing it Forward councilwoman frisbee understand the intent behind it but again we could just move this via referendum and just get rid of the runoff all together if that's if that's what the people chose that they wanted to do are there any other Council um they have anything else to say about this go ahead Council thank you um I've been doing my research as I stated before um with this and while I understand in theory that this could eliminate the runoff and things and save us a lot of money I I do a on the side of caution of Education we just finished an unprecedented historic election right and we saw how low our voter turnout was and we're on the system that we're on and I feel like we need to do more with the system that we have in educating people and getting them to vote in the first place but then to switch to system to already a a voter aathy environment I feel like would cause a little bit of a setback though we are resilient people and we can adapt to anything my concern is losing voters and Trenton can't afford that um but also I mean and I would in mind supporting this it it's not a bad idea but like I said because of our low voter turnout in education and where we lack now that's where my concern lies and I think for something like this even though this is only a resolution of support this isn't adopting the rank Choice voting I think that to adopt something or to even consider adopting something that would affect voters of this magnitude should be a valid referendum just as canus was just as changing our school board from appointed to elected I think that the public should wholeheartedly be involved and and let them decide on what they feel comfortable with so um that's where I am with things and I just wanted to be candid about that Council thank you um thank you uh my opinion is our biggest problem is motor access to poing stations and having more polling stations in the city near the neighborhoods they live in and I think we should tackle that first before anything else that I'd like to see this world Poli SE thank you m'am thank you councilwoman Gonzalez yes so I also did some um research and some questioning and to my understanding um first I want to say thank you first of all let me back up because I didn't congratulate my colleagues when I did my comment so congratulations to my colleagues and best wishes to council bigger Ro c word I've had that written down and never said it sorry um but back to this um thank you Council Frisbee for presenting this I do understand her intent also um but doing my research it was it was a bit confusing to me CU I was it was explained to me that even though you may rank someone um number one and then it's like a point system and therefore somebody who may have been in third place may eventually win if they had enough people rank them at the third or second second or third place um so that was a little bit confusing as far as a runoff yes I would love to see us do without one um only because I just feel like if the people choose they choose um so I too would agree that I would like to see this on a ballot so that the people can select if they would like to see this um in our city or not thanks and I also like anyone else okay you know I was I was going to roll call too so okay Council for his thank you counil okay so I want to just thank all of my colleagues for um their feedback on this uh issue that resolution for um rank Choice voting the intent is not to worry about whether or not friends are going to to they're going to do it based off a friendship or anything like that it is about um being most economically sound so that's why I brought it to the Forefront I um one of the one of the things that I got a lot an earful of um repeatedly um after the seven of us were finally finally finally elected was the amount of time that it consumed the city the residents with but going out and having to repeatedly go back out there and um vote and revote again and then and waiting for them and being in the middle of the holidays and then there was the rain then there was the snow and it was so in my mind it was to try and save us that this what we also what I don't think everyone is grasping is that this is not something that would go into law if we adopted it on this evening this is still something that the state has to um uh make a law so we there is time and then that goes with it you have to educate your community just like when all of us were using cash and then we went to cash and checks cash and checks we went to cash checks and credit cards okay I'm making my deposit by my hand now I can use it and put it on my phone all of it is about change and and giving yourself the option so it is about growing our city and we want to make sure that we are staying along with the the pace we don't want to be left behind so I as this and I will bring it back up again at some point but it is something that I want us to think about it is something that um is going to help us with moving things forward more expeditiously and yes it is a financial thing and I'm not just talking about for our city I'm talking about for our state as why cuz that's what it is is about something that we be doing together as a collective with our state um but we have the county clerk's office we have out clerk's office we have there there are just so many people who are um a part of this decision that we are making so it is not just about us and that's what I'm thinking about it's the long term who else is this affecting and how is it affecting them and so I don't want to Short change our residents and say that they are unable to learn anything new they can absolutely all of us can learn something um whether it is new there's something to be learned every single day and then if otherwise we're staying Stone Age so I say don't short change our residents give them the opportunity when it presents itself this right here is not saying what the next election um in June that we would be doing this the state has to first um do that and requires to the state putting in even adopting it then there becomes an educational piece that goes along with that so then we all get it together so we all have a better understanding and that's what I'm trying to make sure that we don't fall behind um The Gap Gap thank you council president yes thank you Council for yes thank you thank you um also I apologize I do want to congratulate councilwoman frisbee on her Victory councilman Harrison on his victory and I wish the best to councilwoman Jennifer kber her race um so I just wanted to not say correct the work record but um in the last election the reason that the runoff was run later than usual would have been the first uh Tuesday in December but it was moved because judge lugie decided to move it uh which actually created its own expense because I found this out on a Friday night at 7:00 after we purchased ,000 postcards and couldn't stop the order uh so that's something that was beyond our control when it went to a superior court judge but also I do want to share the concern that um I think this would unnecessarily disadvantage um candidates maybe who aren't as well financed aren't as well known um aren't as connected and I think having a system like this if someone an Insurgent candid per se or someone who doesn't have a lot of resources just goes out and PS the pay left the shoes and knocks all on the zilon doors get to know the people they should have that chance just as much as someone who isn't resourced whether you know that's this past election or future elections I don't think we want to take that away where the little guy little woman has a chance to win and to me um as admirable as this idea is I I think that would disadvantage so the the smaller candidate thank you man thank you roll call Mr Garcia noted we're also roll calling 24474 for the executive session right all right so now we're moving on to [Music] 24450 the Department of fire emergency with the um disability application I'm going to defer to director bridges on this please thank you council president um well I cannot um comment specifically on Mr Jones's matter because he does have separate litigation against the city separate apart from this um I can talk about the process and you may recall we discussed this process before in connection with workers compensation claims and review those when an employee is injured um such that he or she cannot perform these Central functions of their duties um they they have the ability to go out on disability and that disability um is on our hands for a year and after a year it goes over to the state's disability but when we get information be it from a doctor um that the employee is never going to be able to return to work there is a voluntary disability or that employee goes and on his or her own files for disability with the state disability fund or where that employee is refusing to do that but we know this employee is not going to return um to work again the involuntarily simply means we filed it because the employee did not so with respect to what Mr Jones was saying again that's subject to litigation um but I think one things he did did say that he get pretty significant injuries and this is not a Mr Jones or Mrs Jones or anybody specific this is a policy and process that's followed routinely systematically and even handly across every employe in the city of Trenton once we get information that they cannot perform their jobs because of an injury um they are offered the opportunity to file for disi on their own and if they don't do it we do it for them because we need those positions and we have to fill those positions we can't have somebody on disability forever thank you right keep it talk is Council allowed to ask anything or we done you you may you may I mean yes with respect to the process so basically y'all ain't pulling this table did nothing y we going to keep this thing going yes okay councel do we have any questions that we can legitimately ask I guess he going to tell us if it ain't legitimate so if got a question allow me to and again let me talk the proc they let let me talk the process not this case specific and with any employee that we're putting out an involuntary disability we have to go to City Council for that if city council were not to approve that that person would remain on our disability for a year and then after that any individual we're not talking Mr John specifically would then go over to the state's disability plan at a 75% voucher so um that that's really where we are just real quick when it came to the when it came to the [Music] percentage because of what you're looking to do based on what he is moving to do one said based upon how you're moving he he would only get 40% based rather than if it was accidental which and I don't know if I'm touching it because the the issue with the truck and all of that injured I guess at work I guess the would have been higher I'm done let me jump right go ahead if someone is hurt on the job in the line of duty that is accidental disability if they're hurt outside if they're playing basketball they get in an accident on the weekend and they get hurt that way they can work it's normal disability so there is a percentage for any individual again this is not Mr Jones specific if someone if if a police officer a firefighter some work Falls uh you know from a crane and they're hurt on job that's accidental disability if it's not from a work rated injury it's normal disability and the employees have the right and should always consult with an attorney when they're making those applications and if they believe it's accidental disability their attorneys will grew up working on their behalf can advocate for them but that's that's from a high elevated level that's the distinction between um voluntary involuntary accidental normal disability I do have another question but I think it's going to cross the [Music] line for basis for their injury and how they were injured that will make the determination at the state disability level whether or not that is a accidental disability or just a normal um a normal um application for disability so the devil's going to be in the details of what's actually submitted to make the distinction between accidental and normal disability okay so basically then for those of us that want to know it is involuntary at first when it goes in and whatever that percentage rate is once the paperwork is turned in on the other side saying what it was I guess if it pertain to what he said about it being accidental if they find that that is then things would change at that time regarding the percentage that they would receive and and I don't the state would determine it right I don't I don't know what that that but I'm just trying to I'm try to bring it home I'm going try to bring it home bring us home the employee gets gets notification of these filings the employee always has the right to make their own submission if they disagree with it being uh submitted as accidental versus normal the employee always has the ability to say no that's not correct I'm accidental or normal so this is not something that's taken out of the employees hands the employee always has the right to insert him or herself into the process and make the arguments for what type of disability they're applying for anybody else have any questions I do okay go ahead so we're going to go councilwoman frisbee councilwoman Williams councilwoman Gonzalez possibly so frisbee Williams possibly Gonzalez so I just have one question that you answer wait one second director Bridges all [Music] okay so I'm I'm going to so but I have my question is does the percentage change based on who file who file so the employee employer employee change does that change what the percentage of it it does not it does not so regardless whatever it's going to be whatever it is regardless of who files correct okay thank you are there any other questions from any Council people with respect to [Music] 24-50 yes yes counc president thank you U M's not necessarily about the clean and the involuntary status but uh when um Mr Jones spoke earlier he mentioned about piece of equipment that is outdated that's that's again that's Again part of of the litigation while we're kind of being very cautious here yes I understand that's over there with litigation that we have to defend this just relates to the process a employee who can no longer work any employee once the city has information they can no longer work the employee is given the opportunity he or she to file for voluntary disability because they can't work anymore they can't put out fires they can't run an arrest people they can't lift a garbage back they can't do they can't work anymore so they have a choice to do it on their own and if they don't do it on their own we do it for them it does not change the percentage the only reason the percentage would change is if it were accidental versus [Music] normal it's the process for every employee through throughout the city of trentton council may approach for a second yes council president um I did have one more question um I was just curious um if this a p Direct for direct oh yes for director Rich I'm sorry yes Council way Sor guys uh is this piece of equipment still in currently in use that my question I I don't know if the equipment is still in use um Can somebody answer that question we okay thank you very much I appreciate it thank you what yall want to do with this Madam president yes Council woman can we discuss this in executive session because there are some like delicate there's delicate details that we're like kind of dancing around because we can't talk about certain things in public sure we can we more than we we absolutely can discuss this in executive session Mr Garcia can announce it that to say us a lot of time right now certainly sir I think that moving forward that if we ever have any anything like this it should just be an executive session especially if it's already litigation done like you know what I mean no disrespect but we we could have saved a whole lot of time um with that by just throwing it in there love you like cook food but we could have just this this was a waste [Music] 24456 thank you very much uh counc call no we going to talk about that in an executive session so we ain't doing nothing with it okay I don't know what it means what are we doing with it we're talking about it in executive session tonight and then we'll decide what happens if we do formal action when we come out right tonight is that is that correct yes thank you so it's going to be talked about in executive session tonight pending litigation thank you okay 24456 councilwoman Williams has a question yes ma'am thank you so the Department of Finance someone someone which one 24456 under the Department of Finance the insertion of special item of Revenue in the budget opioid settlement sorry thank you thank you business manag so my question um regarding this I was very glad to see it uh regarding U money finally being dispersed uh for the settlement so uh two questions is this the first initial payment on the overall settlement no um we have received close to $4 million now uh and we are supposed to continue to receive payments for about 18 years 18 years okay correct and then um as far as this use um is this money going into General budget or is it used for um I know one at one point um the idea when we originally had the Cannabis ordinance last year with the 10 % of the Count's tax money going towards identify addressing Health disparities that hopefully some of the over settlement money would go to mental health addictions Outreach this one um this this money will go to different U direct services including mental health um programs that's correct so it doesn't go to the general fund but goes specifically for programs um so the Police director and the department of Health are working um with us to develop a a comprehensive plan to allocate the money to different programs including as I mentioned uh mental health um and addition addiction prevention and treatment okay would that potentially be able to include Outreach banss uh to get some more parts of the city yes yes correct excellent thank you very much thank you welome sorry consent please thank you so that one's going on consent thank you thank you 24458 Department of Health and Human Services hey good evening good evening Council vice president Hi C um I had raise this question um before um in Doc review just requesting that may be provided with a list of substantial services or resources or Etc that have been provided and support services from each of these agencies organizations so we're giving money you know we're giving so much money to pathic Charities for these homeless services and such and other organizations um so I wanted to see could we receive a list of what these services are that these organizations are providing with the money that they're getting so we're just not seeing okay such such such as receiving $50,000 and such reive 25 what are they doing with the money we can provide a report yes they provide a report to us in um a monthly or quarterly we can provide that yes okay cuz I did ask to receive that part I haven't gotten we actually submitted um the grant information each one of the subrecipients um they basically apply for and they uh they are very specific about the activities that they are going to perform or Implement with this fundings was the information was provided okay thank you yeah I didn't receive that I did request it Council vice president that was included with the uh packet that we gave you no there was only monies that were included only the amounts of money that each of them got not what the monies went to not what the monies were applied to and I I discussed that docket review no after docket review we submitted all the applications that the subr uh subr have they provide in terms of what activities they are going to be uh providing but it's usually direct service or um they provide um re-entry programs or um addiction treatment and that sort of things it's basically a program looking to uh prevent and and remediate homelessness and basically all the the santes activities are around that they provide uh shelter and and other uh uh drop around services for homeless individuals right yeah just in terms of transparency like I said I'm okay with it them receiving these monies we need these monies but I just want to see what did they specifically what did they get out of the money that was provided to them specifically yes we can presubmit that information tomorrow we have it uh Dr Diego it's a pile like this so we can uh send it again tomorrow thank you appreciate it sure I'm sorry I just want to jump in real quick so Mr Garcia yes they provided what she's asking for correct we did receive information and it was supplemental to uh resolutions we provided all that if we took all that information the copies that were received and we Lum that together for pack of pick up and and it was picked up the packet was picked up or do you still have no the packet remained and we put it in front of the days today so the package with the information was never picked up now it's here today I was that it was ready and it was on the day thank you very much it was just here tonight thank you they provided it before no that that's been here it's been here and it was in our office and it was not picked up right I just want to clear that up because I know she asked for I know that they had prepared it and I know okay thank yeah it wasn't thank you so we're going on consent yes thank you okay councilwoman frisbee has one question on that doctor I'm sorry come back come come around come back he was moving one I'm helping him get your St I'm sorry he was like I'm getting out of here mine is real simple I just wanted to know what these um funds are there is there room for other organizations like for instance I know that the merus street friends they do a lot like right now they're about to give the city they for merer County they give out over 9,000 turkeys during the month of November um at least 3,000 of those come to the city of Trenton is there room for us to get to organizations such as that when it comes to this funding that we have um being that they do so much and they're doing for various departments in the community be it health be it those who are unhoused be it um those who are dis um just at a disadvantage right now um it's my question we follow federal guidelines so they're very specific on the way that we choose these organizations so as long as they apply and they go through the system that's how we choose them but they have to go through those sty okay thank you see M was simple to step some more thank you thank you 20 so that's on consent agenda Mr Garcia 24458 24461 Council vice president has a question for for Mr [Music] aner [Music] okay oh we had to step out for a moment okay so we'll move to okay we'll move to 24466 as he makes his way back um oh this s too okay well M come on down you are the next contestant on the council is right okay so we have two for you um one is 24461 Council vice president yes hello D Terry good evening ter [Music] um I did ask this question or these questions ahead of time but I wanted them to just be answered publicly for the public um so questions being so with regards to this resolution I'm actually excited about it because it is um dealing with safety issues at the intersection one of the most dangerous intersections in the city um and I know that um this resolution is in support of What DOT is doing um to lower the speed limit narrow traffic line lines um safety improvements um remove the expressway feeli and make roadway safer for all users adding bicycle and pedestrian lines and things uh lanes and things of that nature um which is excellent to what we've been asking for my questions were that I just want answered for the public is um who will be funding this project solely um when will the improvements begin and how long will they take place how long will they take and will tractor trailer trucks be diverted from turning onto Pastry as I believe is already illegal but not readily policed okay the first question you asked who's responsible Eng doas the state of New Jersey they are funding this project and as far as the trailers the tractors is concerned they going to have to divert the traffic you know so that people will have um easy access through the the road the other thing you ask about the dates I don't have that with me right so I can always get that back to you okay now with regards to attractive trailers it is it is supposedly illegal for them to turn off of the highway onto cast stre onto layer Street as it stands onto Hamilton Avenue um that was pretty much a question I know that um State Police would normally police that or whatever I don't think the city of Trenton police do that policing um so it doesn't get policed as it should if if it's my understanding correct understanding it's illegal to turn onto our city public streets off of the highway so I'm wondering once this project takes so once it's finished or whatever will we be readily policing that so that these tracted trailers are not damaging our roads our cast Street or L street or Hamilton Avenue by turning off the highway yes I'm sure part of the the dition is to have that in plan with the states and working with the municipalities to make sure that happens so that they stop Turing illegal on the that asset okay and this far F you said deal and just for the record do and only do is funding this none of this funding is coming from the city of Trenton correct not from the city thank you very much thank you and then we have uh 24466 councilwoman Williams thank you very much this can go on consent right thank you all right Council M Williams I'm sorry Hi director um good to see you and I wanted to ask you specifically because this comes up every week from um constituents G and asphalt I know there's been problem with contract can you kind of go into not necess a detail but you know highlight what the situation is how we got here and when you expect hopefully for this contract situation to be resolved and then looking into next year U looking into next year obviously we'd have a backlog because of what didn't get done this year and what the approach will be um to prioritize the streets didn't get done this year council president yes I would like to answer the first part of that question okay um we are rejecting this bid basically because this was too close to be freaking um and I I know that we put the city in a really difficult situation not to be able to do the roads on time but this company basically submitted a bid it was the lowest beid then when they saw the two other beads they change their mind right so and I understand I put director on the in a very really difficult situation but the decision that we had to make was to reject the be uh because that is illegal and uh I am not ready to go to jail so that's the first part the other part he will be able to answer I thank you be that for that because that's a very important thing I wasn't happy about it but again she's the one with the money and the one that because when they come for me I say talk to my boss so the other part of the question that you ask I believe in 4 to 5 months we'll be able to start you know road construction in the city again because we're working on putting out the beid again to have a right type of beid that we look for and then 4 to 5 like I said we should be able to start road construction and there will be a lot of road construction in the city in the next four to 5 months but we have a lot of n do project going on at the same time with the series project so we would be frozen basically from doing any work probably December 1st to March 1st well we try not to work around that time because of the weather because you know you cannot do road construction when the weather is really cold it's it's not going to last so we don't do that that's why we said in four to 5 months okay and then for next year since you're going to kind of need to do what was scheduled for 25 and then catch up on what was supposed to happen in 24 do you we see a need for additional Personnel for next year a seasonal or contract yes we do we we are going to be putting out some contracts at the same time the city is doing something that's why I said you're going to see a lot of activities going going on in our roads all over the okay thank you very much sir thank you thank you ma'am consent please thank you that's going on consent Mr Mercy all right that being said may I have a motion and I'll move kind of slow as we go through this to add the following resolutions resolutions to the consent agenda 24446 24447 24448 24449 24451 24452 24 453 24454 [Music] 24455 24456 24 457 24458 24459 24 460 24 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 and the walk on for the women's space lights resolution 47 75 may I have a motion to put them on consent agend so mute second call counc Edwards yes sorry roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kinberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes Council woman Williams yes council president Lana yes motion Carri and Madam president if you want to ask for a motion to approve that consent agenda yes may have a motion to approve that consent agenda so Mo second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president fig yes councilwoman Frisby yes councilwoman Gonzalez oh yes sorry yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president B yes motion Carri on to ordinances for first reading no we need roll call oh I'm sorry roll call resolutions 24 we still have 24- 4454 excuse me mhm 444 yes M motion to approve so move second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president F kenberg yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman gonzale yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams abstain noted council president fana yes motion carried on to resolution 24- 445 resolution Express of support for S1 66622 a442 authorizing use of rank Choice voting Municipal and School Board elections mam president you for a motion to approve we have a motion to approve so mov second roll call councilwoman Edwards not it vice president Figo kber no councilwoman frisbee yes Council Gonzalez obain councilman Harrison no councilman Williams no council president felici no motion failed roll uh on to roll call resolution 24474 and that will be the executive session we move to uh next roll call resolution being that's it cuz we're doing 24450 we're discussing that in executive session we have to do some kind of motion to talk about that or to remove that until then or do we just take it in there I defer to solic we just take okay so that'll be moved and then we'll take action so Madam president then if you want to ask for motion well no excuse me then move on to ordinances at this time and we'll do executive session last y ordinances for first reading and introduction ordinance 24-72 ordinance authorizing the sale of city-owned property commonly known as 101 home and Avenue and identified on the city tax map block 33704 lot one pursuant njsa 40a 12-13 B5 to Major 682 Properties LLC for the sale price of $2,500 mam president if you want us for motion to approve have a motion to approve sove second I'm sorry who's the second I he thank you roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman monzz yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Feliciano yes motion carried ordinance 24- 074 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 Trent municipal election I have a motion to approve [Music] somee roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president f g councilwoman frisbey yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison no council Williams yes council president Fano yes motion Carri ordinance 24- 075 ordinance amending and supplementing Trent city code chter a316 rule 2A governing regular meetings of the Trenton city council may have a motion to approve so Mo second roll call Council Edwards yes vice president figro kber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison no councilwoman Williams no council president feliciana yes motion Carri ordinance 2476 an ordinance amending and supplementing Trenton city code section 30969 off unauthorized reconnection of services we have a motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president figro kber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes councilwoman Williams yes council president fisan yes motion carried counc president yes can I just um go back really quickly to I'm not changing my vote on 24074 however I did mention it to you I just want to put it on the record that we're going to amend the wording to not excuse me to not say mandate and say required okay have thank you coun thank you Council Mr per certainly am okay um second roll call councilwoman Edwards yes vice president Figo kber yes councilwoman frisbee yes councilwoman Gonzalez yes councilman Harrison yes Council Williams yes council president Feliciano yes Madam president prior to that I'll the further to solicit for clarification on the items that we're going into executive session for new executive session discuss ongoing litigation durac city of Trenton Personnel issues um corresponds to complaints involving HD and now also Mr Jones and uh his or the city's application for any voluntary disability that would let me Le me to believe that we we anticipate uh formal action to be taken after executive session yes with respect to uh 450 the volary disability application thank you just wanted to clarify thank you