6/12/17 Caucus Meeting

Council President
Bill Petrick

PERTH AMBOY – Councilman Fernando Gonzalez questioned RFP’s (Request For Proposals). He wanted to know, “Are we looking for ways to spend our money? The City Engineer is supposed to be the planner, yet we are looking to hire a planner. I’m looking at some of the resumes of these candidates. They have good plans and ideas and we’re looking at a salary of $90,000 to hire them. In previous years, the City Engineer was listed as the Planner for RFP’s.”

After Gonzlaez made this statement, City Engineer Jeffrey Rauch came up to speak. He stated,”In previous years, Ernest Feist, who was the previous Engineer was the Planner. He had the credentials. I’m an Engineer.”

Gonzalez came back and stated, “In the past, the RFP’s said that you (Rauch) are 1 of 4 planners. I’m putting this before you guys to review.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke next, “I was hoping the Business Administrator would be here. Whether the amount is $95,000, $10,000 or whatever – How did this end up happening (Getting a Planner at a cost of $90,000).”

Gonzalez then added, “We don’t always have to get the lowest bidder. It has to do what in includes. One of the Planners listed as Topology had been here in the past and look where we are. Why bring them back?”

Council President Bill Petrick then suggested that they bring back Feist to answer questions because he is familiar with the town.

Rauch answered, “He’s (Feist) back and he can appear before the Council.”

The Council had a question regarding R-234-6/17 – Authorizing a contract with RJ Twitchell & Company, Inc. for extensive repairs to the Transfer Station Push Pit in an amount not to exceed $45,505.17.

DPW Director Frank Hoffman came up to answer this, “We needed to raise the bidding price. 4 bids went out and Twitchell is the only one who responded and he’s worked with us before. We will have to bid for hydraulics, too.”

The next topic for discussion was an IT update.

Council President Bill Petrick had questions about e-mail monitoring. City IT Technician John Alleman came up and stated, “I was asked about one specific suspicious e-mail. It was research in response to an OPRA request. I do not question what my superior asks of me.”

Councilman
Joel Pabon

Councilman Gonzalez wanted to know, “Who has the jurisdiction to ask you to look up an e-mail?”

Alleman responded, “The Administration.” He also reminded the Council that they signed a policy stating that e-mails could be OPRA’d under certain circumstances.”

Councilman Joel Pabon questioned Alleman, “How are you protected if a request comes in verbally if there’s no paperwork to back up a request.”

Alleman responded, “IT’s have access to many government databases.”

Councilman Gonzalez said, “I want to see the document that Alleman referenced that the Council Members have to sign stating that our e-mails can be looked at.”

Council President Petrick stated, “A simple OPRA request can blossom into something bigger. I’m concerned about unethical practices. There are ethical challenges when I’ve talked to other IT people. Maybe we need an outside auditor. I’ve talked to Woodbridge about their IT operations. Woodbridge has shared services with us. We just need an assessment of our IT services.”

Alleman answered, “I don’t have a problem with this, but we should have an outside auditor with no connection to the City. I’ve given you (the Council) information about updated services.”

Next was Code Enforcement Update. Director Jamie Rios came forward. He let the Council know that at the address at Colfax Place, “There’s no indication that there was a business there or illegal housing.”

Councilman Gonzalez had a question regarding River Drive when coming in from Grant Street. “I almost ran over a kid playing basketball in the street. There’s a net set up with a pole. We need to look at recreation for that area. If I recall, they are building a 400 unit apartment building there.”

City Clerk Elaine Jasko

Deputy Police Chief Larry Cattano came forward, “I’ve received complaints from Councilman Pabon about this problem. I’ve spoken to the children in that area and I’ve also sent our Community Services Police there to speak to them. I’ve also spoken to the Mayor’s Office about this problem.”

Councilman Pabon spoke, “I know that a park is part of the builder’s plan but recreation should be put in place first. I also want to congratulate Code Enforcement for quickly getting rid of garbage that was on a building’s rooftop.”

Johan Delgado, Perth Amboy Department of Public Works Supervisor came up to speak. “We are getting complaints and people are now cleaning up. The person that had the dumping on their roof had been in the hospital.”

Financial Disclosure Statements – Failure to file – City Clerk Elaine Jasko wanted to give the Council an update on why she needed to have this on the Agenda. She told the Council that they have a list of people who have not submitted their financial statements. “They’ve missed the deadline or are suspended. They have 30 days left and I told them I could help them in filing. If they still haven’t filed after the 30 days, I will ask them to come before the Council for you to remove them from the Board. I’ve have helped many people before in filling out their financial disclosure forms.”