Residents Reiterate Concerns

12/9/19 Caucus & Council Meetings

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – Court Administrator Soleny Pena, Judge Kenneth Gonzalez, and Assistant Prosecutor Billy Delgado were present to answer any questions the council may have regarding operations of the court.

Judge Kenneth Gonzalez spoke about some of the statistics that were requested by Councilman Joel Pabon, “Some of the statistics are not done in-house. We can only give out general information. Everything is coded. When it comes to doing the budget, the Deputy Court Administrator, the Court Administrator are the ones that normally would handle that. What we have now are general clerks who don’t have the needed credentials. When we advertise for a Deputy Court Administrator, it has to be advertised to the general public first.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up next. He thanked Pena for providing the reports of some of the court activity he requested, “The police department can give us more specifics as far as to what is on the tickets they issue since they do the actual work. They are the ground soldiers. The report Ms. Pena gave us is great, but she doesn’t deal with the day to day operations as the police department do. I just want to know what the biggest offenses are. Is it double parking or texting while driving? I don’t see the police chief here.”

Council President William Petrick spoke up, “Why didn’t the Deputy Prosecutor come back to the city, since we (the council) provided funding for that position?”

Prosecutor Billy Delgado came up to respond, “The Deputy Prosecutor decided to take another offer in another city because of the unbearable conditions here. I talked to the Business Administrator Frederick Carr about another candidate for that position. She’s bilingual, comes from Plainfield and is highly qualified. The court is in a unique position because the courts and the police department are separated. The prosecutor’s position is between the court and the police. There are a number of things that are happening in city departments, especially in Code Enforcement  because of their lack of personnel. The prosecutor doesn’t do budgets. Sometimes we can reach out to the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office instead of going to court to settle cases. Right now, so far, we’ve had 29,000 cases. This is a public/private enterprise with the prosecutor’s office. We have dual court sessions. I don’t have a job description.”

Law Director King responded to Delgado’s last statement about having no job description, “Delgado’s title will fall under the County Prosecutor’s office. They have more control over the municipal prosecutors. We need funds so we can wire our court room. We can get other towns to use our courts, and this will enable us to get more revenue to the city. We are unique by having 2 court rooms and it’s a shame that one is closed.”

Petrick responded, “In the courtroom that’s closed, the electronics and seating are not appropriate for a courtroom.”

King continued, “You have a great resource that is not being used.”

Petrick then stated, “We need to get a cost to see how much it would be to get that courtroom up to par.”

Pabon agreed, “We definitely need to look into this.”

Councilman Fernando Irizarry said, “I heard that people from other towns don’t want to come here to go to court.”

Gonzalez then responded, “I don’t agree with that assessment. If Perth Amboy entered into a partnership with other cities (for them to use our courtroom), then the litigates have no choice but to come here. When I first was appointed as a judge, we had talked about wiring the courts so maybe South Amboy can use them, but then nothing happened after that. When it comes to the DWI’s, the administrative courts keep very good records. Sometimes we have special sessions just for the DWI cases. You can do Code Enforcement trials.”

Councilman Irizarry then questioned, “Why are we third in the county when it comes to DWI’s?”

Gonzalez responded, “You want a high count because that means the DWI’s are being resolved. Not having a high count means there is a backlog of those cases which you don’t want to have.”

Delgado then spoke up, “We don’t have that much information about violations and what type of infractions were issued. When you receive the statistics from Code Enforcement when they were here, it really doesn’t tell you how it affects the budget.”

Irizarry then asked, “Is the court running as officially as it can?”

Delgado responded, “Yes. At one time, the court assignment judge thought about moving us, but changed his mind after seeing how we were functioning.”

After the court discussion was concluded, there were several discussions on resolutions which authorize contracts to different law firms where the council, especially Bill Petrick and Joel Pabon felt that the amount to be rewarded for their services were excessively high. 

For R-536-12/19 – The contract to Peter J. King, Esq. and the Law Firm of King, Moench, Hirniak, and Mehta, LLP was reduced from the amount not to exceed $100,000 to $30,000 as suggested by Bill Petrick. (Legal services beyond regular duties of the Director of Law)

For R-540-12/19 – A contract with Apruzzese, McDermott, Mastro & Murphy was suggested to be reduced in an amount not to exceed $100,000 to $30,000 as suggested by Joel Pabon. (Represent the City of Perth Amboy in Labor and Employment Matters)

For R-543-12/19 – A contract to Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Dukas was reduced in an amount not to exceed $85,000 to be reduced to $30,000 as requested by Joel Pabon. (Provide Defense of the City in Tax Appeals before the Middlesex County Board of Taxation)

There was also a discussion regarding R-548-12/19 – A service contract with Automated Logic – New York/New Jersey for Maintenance of the HVAC at the Municipal Court and Recreation Areas of the Public Safety Complex for a period of one year in the amount of $20,500.

Deputy Police Chief Larry Cattano said, “This would be for 2 separate buildings.”

Director of Public Works Frank Hoffman also commented about this resolution, “This contract would be to maintain all the controls in the complete Public Safety Complex.”

There was also a discussion regarding R-560-12/19 – Awarding a contract to IPS Group Inc. for an MSI Extended Warranty for 30 multi-space pay-stations solar power units in the amount of $8,850.

Councilman Joel Pabon questioned, “Are we getting free parking or not for the holiday season?”

Councilman Helmin Caba had the same concerns, “Because people are getting tickets.”

Council President William Petrick suggested that those computers need to be pre-programmed to show free parking. “It should say so on the LED screens. Someone dropped the ball.”

Councilman Caba continued, “There’s confusion on which streets the free parking is on. It’s not fair to the community. There’s supposed to have it on Smith Street and those side streets off of Smith Street.”

Petrick spoke up again, “We need to educate the Parking Utility Employees. The BID should put bags on the parking meters (and on the pay-stations) that indicates there is free parking.”

The next resolution which got a lot of attention was R-572-12/19 – Authorizing an agreement with the Raritan Bay YMCA to organize and operate Housing Services in connection with the Code Blue Warming Center Services commencing December 1, 2019 thru March 31, 2020.

Councilman Fernando Irizarry questioned, “What are housing services?”

Director of Human Services and Recreation Ken Ortiz came up to explain, “The YMCA will coordinate the Code Blue Centers at 1 Olive Street.”

Council President Petrick then commented, “This can allow the YMCA personnel and off-duty officers to be at Olive Street.”

Ortiz then continued, “Sometimes in the past, employees from Olive Street or a police officer had to be taken off of their regular duties to go help out at Olive Street during a Code Blue. Now, we can have the Y Staff employees as a backup.”

Councilman Irizarry asked, “How many people can the warming center hold during Code Blue?”

Law Director King answered, “It’s limited to 30 people, which is the amount of beds that were available.” 

Irizarry then asked, “Is there a law where we can take a person back to the city where they were dropped off in Perth Amboy?”

King responded, “You can take your complaint to the county.”

Ortiz also said, “On occasion, they have had about 35 people at the warming center. Sometimes it’s hard to turn people away.”

There were several resolutions dealing with maintenance services in city buildings and the Public Safety Complex. 

Petrick wanted to know, “Why are we having so many different companies doing HVAC maintenance?”

Frank Hoffman came forward, “If you use one company, their prices would be very high because they may have to hire subcontractors. We found that by hiring companies that are specific to each building are much cheaper.”

Public Portion:

The first person to speak was Resident Ken Balut. He told the council, “We had a deputy court clerk who left under suspicious activity. We also had an assignment judge who said on social media that suggestive photos of a city employee be sent to an adult magazine. Why are these scandals being swept under the rug? We have a judge who did 18 first-time home-buyer’s contracts. And how are our police able to do out-of-town accident reports? Kushner is now building the wall in Mexico. PARA is giving a contract to Kushner for new buildings. Investigate PARA. You did it with the Water Department. You should question PARA Members Jacobs and Executive Director Hindenlang. You have subpoena power. If you allow Kushner to build more garbage, then we are going downhill. Poor people have to suffer. Some Kushner units originally sold as high as $400,000 are now selling for only $100,000. When people who are higher up get involved in accidents, nothing happens and people that are bottom of the barrel employees get penalized.”

Councilman Joel Pabon agreed with Balut’s comments about PARA. “We should question some of the members. Things are too fishy.”

Petrick added comments regarding PARA, “I asked the courts for an injunction against PARA.”

Businessman Reinaldo Aviles came up to question some of the things that were said by the court personnel, “I can’t believe that courts don’t make a record of what is being said in the courtroom. There may be some things such as texting while driving that is probably downgraded to a lesser charge, but you can’t play with something when it comes to DWI’s and drug cases. Some funds collected by our courts have to be shared with the state. Courts are not here for revenue, but they should be compassionate. Money comes into the court, but not to be as a revenue source. Everything is recorded in court.”

Councilman Irizarry spoke up and said, “The representatives from the courts stated that they don’t have enough personnel available.”

Aviles continued, “When there is a ticket presented, it has to say what the offense is. When a ticket is paid at the window, it should be recorded in the computer. It’s inefficient if it’s not done.”

King responded and spoke about Title No. 39, “What’s on the ticket is typed into the computer and goes into the state’s database. It’s electronically put into the court system. Sometimes people will come in with 4 tickets and they are all tracked and put in the computer and coded. The state keeps all the information. The court gets audited by the state. The state courts are looking at all of the offenses.”

After the close of the public portion, the council went into closed session at 6:36 p.m. The Council Meeting started at 7:17 p.m.

During the first public portion, Resident Ken Balut came up and asked the council members if there would be any late-starter resolutions added tonight. 

Council President William Petrick stated, “No.”

Balut continued, “There’s no PBA (Police Benevolent Association) late-starter tonight. It should be put on the agenda so the police can get their money by Christmas.” Balut then continued the conversation from the caucus meeting where he repeated his concerns about a deputy court clerk who left under suspicious circumstances. “She even got a raise. We are still paying all the bills for the pool at the public safety complex. How can you negotiate the contract if you don’t send in bills? We are still maintaining the building without a contract. Someone has to settle this thing. You are right to cut all those attorney fees on those resolutions to only $30,000. You should get all of the cases (that they worked on) and how much was spent. No one is looking at the legal bills and what they are for. When Blunda (Former Law Director) was here, he used to send all the information pertaining to all the cases (that he or his law firm was working on) for the city.”

The next person to come up was Brian Ferry who is representing Local #13 of the PBA. “There was a signed agreement and why is not that on the agenda?”

Petrick responded, “We can’t discuss anything that was on the closed session resolution (1.) regarding R-531-12/198 – Closed session after the caucus meeting. ((No. 2.) Contract negotiations – PBA)).”

Ferry continued, “You guys are disgraceful.”

After Ferry spoke, a number of off-duty police that were in attendance all got up and left in disgust.

Resident Jeremy Baratta came up next and asked a question regarding R-572-12/19 – Regarding the Raritan Bay Area YMCA organizing the Code Blue warming station at Olive Street. “Is it necessary to have a police officer at Olive Street during that time?”

Council President Petrick and B.A. Carr both said, “Definitely.”

Baratta then suggested, “Maybe you should have an armed guard instead of the police there. There are restrictions on what you can bring to the shelter. Some homeless say they would rather be on the street. They resent being searched and can’t bring in any liquor, even in closed containers. It’s not right to be invasive in searching people.”

Petrick responded, “We have never had a discussion about searching people. Under a former administration, alcohol was not permitted in any city building and this has nothing to do with the homeless. In this day and age, you have to be careful.”

Carr then spoke up, “Belongings that the people bring in with them stays with them, and they are given a bed to sleep on with linens. We’re looking for a compromise between the YMCA and the city. The Y will be helping with providing meals and cleanup. It cost about $1,500 per night.”

The Council voted as follows: for R-532 thru R-572 and R-574 thru R-583 was moved by Irizarry and seconded by Pabon. All voted yes on the consent agenda. R-573 was removed.

Second public portion:

Balut came up to speak again, this time regarding the closed session. “I hope the minutes have what was said about the PBA. They think you (the council) stop them from getting their money.” Balut had an article which included Kushner’s mission statement regarding any new buildings or any buildings he has already been involved with. Before reading his statement, Balut handed copies of the article to the council. After he read this article where Kushner gave glowing reviews of all of his buildings, Balut then stated, “Kushner threw out rent control tenants in some of the buildings he acquired so he could raise rents. We need to investigate PARA, especially when it has anything to do with Kushner. You (the council) are going to take the heat. I saw the mold and other violations in Kushner buildings. The tenants are living in garbage. PARA is completely incompetent. You (the council) will also get blamed for the police not getting their money. Recently, I found a letter with files that I wrote in 2012 about the Y. I am resubmitting the information to the proper authorities. The Code Enforcement Director can’t testify in court (because of lack of credentials).”

Resident Jeremy Baratta came up next and spoke about a special meeting that PARA had on December 5, 2019. “They violated their own by-laws because they did not send out the notices in the proper time-frame and we never got the budget to look through. I continue to get emails about Mayor Diaz. You need to look at what’s going on. The UEZ has $1 million. The BID Meetings are not broadcast. They also came in late with their 2019 budget. You (the council) approved the BID Introduction Budget.”

Petrick spoke up, “There may have to be a special meeting to approve the new BID budget.” Petrick also questioned how Noelia Colon, who used to be the public relations director in the Mayor’s office got the BID job that was not publicly advertised. “It’s not a city agency. The BID hires whoever they want to.”

Baratta then suggested they call Noelia Colon and see if the BID is in compliance with their by-laws.”

Council Comments:

Councilman Helmin Caba wanted to get a clarification on what exactly is the BID District. “What parts of the city are BID?”

Petrick spoke up. He wanted to make sure that people know there was a difference between the BID and UEZ. “They are different agencies and their monies come in differently.”

B.A. Carr responded to Caba, “I will have to look to see what the BID map to see what streets the District includes.”

Petrick then asked, “What exactly did the Resolution say regarding what would be the free parking area during the holiday season?”

Caba then requested that there should be a designation to which meters have free parking.

Petrick continued, “People are still putting money in the meters. If you get a ticket, and it’s supposed to be free parking, then the ticket should be thrown out of court.”

Caba then wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Councilman Fernando Irizarry also wished the same for everyone. 

Councilman Joel Pabon wished everyone Season’s Greetings, Happy New Year, and May you have many blessings. 

Councilwoman Milady Tejeda said she missed a lot of activities because she had to be out of town. “There are a lot of nice things happening.” She wished everyone Happy Holidays and everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Council President William Petrick wished everyone a Happy Holiday, but cautioned everyone they may hear these greetings again because there may be a special meeting coming up.