11/13/19 Caucus & Council Meetings
By Carolyn Maxwell
PERTH AMBOY – The first topic for discussion at the 4:30 p.m. Caucus Meeting was the adoption of Free Qualification Regulations for Perspective Bidders for Historic Preservation Work at the Clock Tower at Simpson United Methodist Church located at 331 High St.
Michael Calafati, who is a Historic Preservationist, came forward to speak regarding this item. “What needs to be done is work on the timber, plotting, structure, and enclosure repairs. Scaffolding will be needed to do this.” Calafati also mentioned that Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Danny Cleaver said that exterior repairs were done to the tower around 10 years ago.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up and explained, “Let’s restore it the correct way.”
Calafati concluded his remarks by stating that the quality of wood is important and the work will be reviewed by the Historic Preservation of Trenton.”
Business Administrator Frederick Carr then commented, “State guidelines have to be followed and Mr. Calafati is working with Gary Muska to look for perspective bidders for this work.”
The next person to come up was Police Chief Roman McKeon. He gave an overview of the manpower and breakdown of how each division is understaffed. “We currently have 115 officers on the roster. 104 of them are on the street. The reason for the discrepancy between the two numbers are because there are officers on military leave, injured officers, some on light duty, and some who are about to retire. We had 2 squads with 3 units in each squad. The squad would be 11, 11, and 10. Now it’s 9, 9, and 8, which is 2 officers down on each tour. We expect there will be minimal manpower all winter. All departments have been reduced. The detective bureau was cut in half. Special Investigations such drug enforcement is down a lot. Some departments had to be combined because of the lack of manpower. In our operations division in 2018, we had between 10 to 11 officers. That’s down to between 8 to 9. We have minimal staffing almost everyday of the week. We had $40,000 left in our overtime account budget. There has been a lack of traffic enforcement and parking violations because we have to respond to more emergency situations. We have 3 people to do special traffic situations such as a hit and run, and officers also have to do escort services and court duty. There has been a 7% decrease in assault cases and burglaries are also down. Motor vehicle violations are down. Loud music and parking violations are up. In regards to DWI’s and careless driving, in 2017, more tickets were issued for those violations then there are now. This reflects the lack of manpower today. That translates to revenue for the city being down. In 2017, we had 135 officers; in 2018 it went down to 122. Now, presently there are 115. In the same time-frame in 2018, the detective bureau had 761 cases on file. This year, so far there have been 550 cases. We have to dedicate manpower to crimes that have a higher level of being solved due to more evidence. Home break-ins will be given more attention than car break-ins. Captain Simone from the Detective Bureau determines which cases are closed. With the holiday season coming up, they’ll be a lot of packages being stolen from people’s property. In the past, we were able to have decoy packages, which would have detectors on them. We can no longer do this. Our closure rate on cases is 37% compared to the county closures which are only 25%.A large quantity of Fentanyl by a Mexican cartel was stopped. Our guys got the job done through a confidential informant. $361,000 of drugs were taken off the streets last year. Less drugs were taken off the street this year because of lack of staffing. There are more narcotics on the street now. The Middlesex County Drug Task Force helps us when we call them. When you lose 20% of the workforce in a department, then there’s a 20% decrease in what you can do. When it comes to our youth, and crimes committed by them, you can fix a problem with our youth by talking to them instead of arresting their way out of it. They need treatment and counseling. We’ve never had a child abducted in Perth Amboy. The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program is now called LEAD (Law Enforcement Against Drugs). We no longer have that program at the high school because it is believed that the youth’s behavior is already set at that age at home.”
McKeon then talked about the department’s professional standards. “56 complaints were lodged. 9 of those were internal investigations. Half of the 56 complaints were cleared by body cameras. Officers can’t register a complaint. Unfounded complaints mean they never happened. Unsustained complaints mean you can’t prove it happened. There were 12 sustained complaints and 2 officers were disciplined. Off-duty and on-duty officers are held to the same standards. Our marine units went from 2 to 1 and right now they can’t do regular patrols. The dive-team training has been diminished. We have special officers who are trained to work on the boat as well as some firemen. You can’t do a boat rescue by yourself. We have 5 boat vessels. Sometimes quality of life issues such as loud music complaints have to go on the back-burner to take care of more serious situations such as domestic violence cases, car accidents, assaults, etc. We would appreciate everything that you can do to get us more officers. A lot of prisoners who get arrested say they are sick because they don’t want to go to the county jail. Our officers then have to escort those prisoners to the hospital. They may be there for hours tied up in that situation. The sheriff’s department also has manpower problems. We have potential problems with Hell’s Angels members.”
After McKeon finished, Deputy Police Chief Larry Cattano came up to give a brief overview of the OEM operations. “Our mission is to reduce loss of life and property through preventative actions. Auxiliary police are used to augment our regular officers.” He then talked about the CERF (Central Emergency Response Fund) Program. “Currently there are 30 individuals going through the class now. Over 200 individuals have already graduated. The Police Chaplain Corps were also involved. Individuals who go through the CERF training are in class for about 4 ½ months which entails 64 hours of training. We have multiple agencies from the county and state that are part of our response teams. The CERF Program is reviewed every 4 years by the state and county. So far, this fall we’ve had 3 Code Blue situations. We have Nixle and Reverse 911 set up. We’ve had $75 million in reimbursements through FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). We’ve been involved in 25 disaster situations since I’ve been in the department. We’re still getting reimbursed for Sandy. The Federal Department was in Perth Amboy for a couple of months to look at how the FEMA money was spent regarding Sandy. We were the only municipality where they found no fault. Other municipalities and counties come to see our emergency operations. We help special needs residents during disasters. We work with the Port Authority. We have an inter-local agreement with Woodbridge (for some needed services).”
The last person who came up to speak under Topics for Discussion was Attorney Michael D. Mirne. He was there on behalf of his client, who owns a building located at 263-265 New Brunswick Ave. The owner of that property had a request for a hearing on an application for hardship rent increase for that property. Mirne stated, “Since the Rent Leveling Board doesn’t exist, there is no method of addressing the ordinance that’s on the books. There are 6 units in the building. Currently the tenants are paying $300 a month for a studio, and he would like to have that raised to $800 a month. That unit is 500 square feet. The larger units have 2 bedrooms and are 1,000 square feet. They currently go for $688 through $1,050. He wants the increase to be $1,400.”
Then the owner came up to speak and stated, “The previous owner of the building did not increase the tenants for 20 years and I want to bring to the current market value.”
Law Director Peter King spoke up and stated that the tenants have to have a letter sent to them letting them know their lease is up and what the new rents would be.”
Mirne said, “There is no state rent control ordinance. They may rely on the judge’s opinion. We may get close to what we want in a period of time.”
Law Director King spoke up, “A judge should decide this case.”
Council President Bill Petrick then suggested, “Maybe the public doesn’t understand that the duties of the Rent Control Board. They can’t lower rents.”
The owner of the building continued, “I thought there was going to be a Rent Control Board I can go through to get the rents increased. I’m only asking for the current market rate.”
Mirne then stated, “The courts will decide if the increase was plausible.”
The building owner continued, “I pay the water bill and the hallway lights. The tenants pay their own utility bills (PSE&G and Elizabethtown Gas).”
Petrick spoke again, “The going rate is a 5% increase per year for a rent increase.”
Councilman Fernando Irizarry then questioned, “What is expected from us?”
King suggested, “You should abolish the Rent Leveling Board by rescinding the ordinance first.”
Petrick then requested that this be put on the next agenda, “To abolish or reestablish the Rent Leveling Board. When I sat on the Zoning Board, an applicant could go to the court to appeal a decision that we made.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up and thought, “They should just go to court. What was the condition of the apartments? What about the people living there? I would buy an empty building.”
King spoke up again and said, “The court would probably say to abolish or reinstate the Rent Leveling Board.”
Mirne then stated, “If the Rent Leveling Board is not abolished, then we may still have to go to court because of the rents not being increased in years.”
The building owner spoke up again, “The condition of the units is not bad because the tenants are still living there and have maintained them.”
Petrick then told Mirne and the owner, “It may not be necessary for you to be present at the next meeting.”
Law Director King then told the council, “It’s not an ordinance for you to appeal, abolish, or rescind the Rent Leveling Board. The tenants and the owner will have to go to court.”
Petrick then stated again that the owner will have to send notices to all of the tenants.”
Irizarry then asked if the tenants were Spanish, and maybe they didn’t understand if notices were sent in English only.
The owner said, “I’ve met with all the tenants in that building and they all speak English.”
Pabon spoke up, “I heard in the past when the Rent Leveling Board was active, that they did not have a lawyer and they did not have that many cases come before them.”
City Clerk Victoria Kupsch spoke, “I advertised for applicants for the Rent Leveling Board and have never got any responses.”
No one spoke at the public portion during the caucus.
The regular council meeting started at 7:33 p.m.
Resident Stanley Sierakowski was the first to speak during pubic comments on agenda items only. He talked about the repairs for the Town Clock Tower on the Simpson Methodist Church on High Street. He asked the council members if they saw the documentary (by John K. Dyke) about the clock. “Which is correct? Does the town own the clock or does the parish?”
Council President Petrick answered, “John Dyke would know.”
Sierakowski said, “The city owns the clock and the church owns the tower.”
Business Administrator Frederick Carr said, “What is on the agenda is that the clock tower is being repaired.”
Stanley Sierakowski then addressed Petrick’s remarks about asking John Dyke, “Don’t refer me to Dyke. I want to see the original contract. The tower is a mess. The parish is responsible to repair the tower if they own it. Just fix the clock and not the tower if it belongs to the parish.”
Sierakowski then referred to R-474-11/19 – Rescinding R-403-9/19 – To accept a resolution to amend the grant for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for the Neighborhood Preservation Program in the Amount of $125,000.
He questioned, “Is this for historic houses in historic neighborhoods? You should see where this money is going. It’s giving it to rich neighborhoods. Are there income qualifications and certain criteria that have to be met?”
King said, “It’s to rescind a previous resolution.”
B.A. Carr then spoke up, “The speaker is talking about CDBG grants. This ordinance has nothing to do with the CDBG grants.”
Sierakowski persisted, “You still need to look at the criteria for this resolution.”
Council President Bill Petrick then echoed the comments made by speaker Carr and told Sierakowski, “What you are talking about (regarding CDBG grants) has nothing to do with this resolution.”
When it came to vote on the resolutions R-469 thru R-482 and R-484 thru R-499 and R-501 thru R-504 was moved by Councilman Fernando Irizarry and seconded by Councilman Joel Pabon.
R-500 was asked to be pulled by Fernando Irizarry.
R-500-11/19 – Authorizing an agreement with Middlesex County to provide funds in the amount of $25,000 to the City of Perth Amboy to be used for Code Blue Warming Center Services.
Everybody voted “Yes” except for Councilman Irizarry. He stated he’s not against helping the homeless, but the city is being taken advantage of. Pabon agreed, but he still voted “Yes”.
Carr stated, “The $25,000 will go a long way to help Kenny Ortiz. The Y can’t provide the needed services.”
Petrick then added, “We are still are required to have a warming center.”
Carr also mentioned that when he was employed by the City of South River. “They didn’t have a facility for a warming center.”
R-483-11/19 was pulled off the agenda at the caucus meeting by Carr.
R-505-11/19 was pulled to be voted on separately because of a presentation by the BID. R-505-11/19- Approving the introduction of the CY:2020 Perth Amboy Business Improvement District budget.
R-505 was moved by Irizarry and seconded by Pabon. Pabon stated, “I just want more time to look at the BID budget. I have a lot of respect for Barry Rosengarten.”
Councilman Irizarry asked, “What is the international event on the BID budget?”
Newly appointed BID Executive Director Noelia Colon came up to speak, “The BID budget is $248,500. The funds were approved by the Council and there will be a special meeting on December 5th to discuss the funds that have not been unexpended. The international event will replace the Cinco De Mayo date which hasn’t taken place in a couple of years. It’s still being discussed as an International Day. Lighting in the business district and seating in the downtown BID district has had no money allocated in the BID budget. Some of those unexpended funds may be used in helping with the lighting and seating in the BID district. That will be part of our discussions at the December 5th BID meeting.”
BID Chair Barry Rosengarten came up to speak, “PSE&G owns the lightbulbs and lights. We are looking to set up a meeting with PSE&G and Public Works to discuss the lighting and what our needs are.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez was instrumental in getting the lights working at the train station.”
Rosengarten continued, “We’re working at getting the lights up for the holiday season.”
Carr wanted to go back and address a comment that a speaker had referred to earlier at the meeting, “We get audited to see how the funds are spent.”
Noelia Colon continued, “The BID has a public relations consultant (who reaches out to the media and other social outlets).”
Councilman Irizarry mentioned, “Other towns periodically put out magazines (to highlight their business district).”
Rosengarten responded, “We have done that in the past, but they are expensive to produce. Sometimes a business won’t exist when the magazine goes to print. We are working with the state to get digital signs at the corner of Convery Boulevard and Smith Street. They offered to sell us some of the property.”
Carr spoke up and said, “We’re looking to see if the easement by Convery Boulevard is available for the City to buy.”
Rosengarten then addressed the lack of benches or seating in the downtown area. “We’re looking to reinstate the benches downtown. We’re also looking at the banners to be placed, but they have not been put in the budget.”
Irizarry spoke up, “The banners are beat up and should be taken down.”
Rosengarten ended the discussion by saying, “We are fortunate to have Noelia Colon on the BID. The BID board is active, and I want to see that we meet all of our objectives.”
There was a very tense discussion involving Ordinance No. 1 entitled: An Ordinance designated restricted parking spaces for use by handicapped persons regarding review of applications.
Councilman Fernando Irizarry who is on the Handicapped Parking Committee was very upset that this was placed on the agenda. He had no idea that this was going to be placed to dissolve the Handicapped Parking Committee. He felt to do so would increase the amount of handicapped parking permits that were given out.
Councilman Petrick explained that at a recent meeting, a resident was upset because he had handed out his application 6 months ago and have not heard anything in regards to the status of his application. “Now there is a backlog of applications to be reviewed.”
Irizarry said, “No one told me about this.” During discussions at the Caucus meeting, he asked if the city and administration, the council and the police if they were not happy with handicapped committee. He commented that if it was dissolved, there would be more handicapped parking and the committee should have been notified of it being abolished. “What message are we sending to the volunteers? It’s wrong how this is being done.”
Petrick stated, “The applications were stacked up: renewals and new applications.”
Irizarry stated, “No one told me. Even after abolishing the committee, you’re still going to have a problem.”
Pabon assured Irizarry, “I’m going to vote based on what you have said.”
City Clerk Victoria Kupsch stated, “I have reached out to the police department about the piles of applications for handicapped parking. There have been no committee meetings lately.”
When it came to vote for the first reading of Ordinance No. 1, everyone voted “No” except for Petrick who voted “Yes”.
During the last public portion, Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up first. “The Mayor filed a lawsuit against the County Clerk – and who’s paying for it? Did PARA violate the law when they held a special meeting? Can the Council void that meeting? It was to approve Kushner’s new units. Kushner just wants a tax write-off. Put an escrow in for remediation of his property. The clock tower (Simpson Methodist Church) is being fixed. The carpentry and electric work are rotting away. What is the cost to fix the tower? You are being hoodwinked. Go to the parish and see how much they need to fix their tower. Maybe you can help them get a grant.”
Barry Rosengarten came up to speak, “I wanted to share the good news that the fireworks are scheduled for July 2, 2020 with a rain date of July 3rd and we again will be partnering with South Amboy.”
During the Council Comments, Councilman Helmin Caba had no comments.
Councilman Irizarry thanked all the entities who helped with the community dinners. “I especially want to thank Pastor Paul from Renovation House and what he has done has made an impact.” Irizarry also asked if they can change the polling place at the Lutheran Church. “The new Rose Lopez School would be a better option because there will be parking available on the school property and near the school.”
King responded, “The county determines the polling places.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke next, “A lot of people know about the community meals.” He also thanked all the volunteers who worked during the Code Blue situations. He stated that a lot of times they work through the night and have to start up again the next morning. “We need to take the $25,000 from the county. People also volunteer a lot of their time. I also want to thank the city for their Veteran’s Day ceremony. The American Legion provided the food and maybe the city should have a day during one of our meetings to thank the volunteers for all that they do.” He suggested that the last meeting in December would be a great time to acknowledge them.
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda wanted to thank the Rose Lopez School administrators whom she had coffee and tea with and had a tour of the school. “I’m proud of it and I was at the beginning of that project. Thanks to the Veterans, and I appreciate the sacrifice they make to keep us safe and to fight for our freedom.”
Council President Bill Petrick said, “The Veteran’s Ceremony at the Waterfront was lovely. It was a beautiful day, but the crowd was small. Only a handful of people attended, and it was very disappointing. We have to remember the sacrifice that the Veterans and their families made to keep our country free.”
