PARA Meeting 2/4/14
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City Clerk Elaine Jasko
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Geri Bolanowski
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- City Clerk Elaine Jasko
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- Geri Bolanowski
PERTH AMBOY – During the PARA Meeting, there was approval for 3 meetings minutes: 9/6/11, 11/12/13 and 12/3/13. There was concern why the meeting of September 2011 was on the agenda.
City Clerk Elaine Jasko who is also a PARA Member said there was an OPRA request because this meeting was not transcribed.
In September 2011 City Hall was broken into during the Pink Ribbon Run. A laptop was stolen from City Hall that day.
Although the laptop was retrieved, the Closed Session minutes of that September 6, 2011 Meeting were wiped out. There were 2 transcripts of that 9/6/11 Meeting that were different.
Because of this, the PARA Members tabled the approval for the 9/6/11 meeting.
PARA Member and former Councilwoman Geri Bolanowski wanted this investigated.
There was also an extended discussion about Resolution R:02:14:169 authorizing adoption of the Third Amended Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency Board of Commisioners By-Laws.
This resolution had to do with a time limit for the public to speak.
Attorney Joseph Maraziti Jr. said, “You have an option to allow individuals to talk longer. This is a policy – not a legal decision. Perhaps you should extend time by the topic and not by each speaker.”
Resident Alan Silber said, “This should not be an issue (limiting speakers). You should leave the limit as it is. But also allow the speaker an extension such as the City Council does.”
Allan Jacobs who was reelected as PARA Vice-Chair said, “This was not an issue before we had the resolution introduced.”
When the PARA members who were present voted, they all decided to adopt the resolution, except for Jacobs who voted: “No.”
Jillian C. Barrick, Assistant City Administrator and Executive Director of (PARA) gave an update on the Delaney Homes Project.
“The Planning Board was supposed to have a meeting tomorrow (2/5/14) to discuss this.” (The Planning Board Meeting was cancelled due to snow conditions.)
“The Housing Authority and a commercial realtor will be searching for a developer to look for a separate site for the Senior Housing.” (Which was in the original proposal.)
Barrick said, “The Landings will be discussed in a closed session.”
The consulting engineer for PARA Thomas Heritis said, “There was a punch list of item for the Landings Project. The Sea Wall work has started and the pipe work completed. The e-port work is being done on Sundays. This includes remediation of some of the surcharges and removing some of the buildings. Crushed concrete is reused. The anticipated completion date for this project is 2015.”
PARA Attorney Joseph Maraziti Jr. said, “The developer for the 500 High Street location is asking for a postponement because they are waiting for an environmental status report on the property first.”
When the public was allowed to speak again, resident Steve Nascimento who is also a member of the Planning Board asked the members if there is a licensed site re-mediation person overseeing the 500 High St. site.
Nascimento continued, “There is ground water concerns, especially with the school across the street. (Middlesex Co. Vocational School)
PARA Attorney Maraziti said, “We’ve contacted the developer about the site concerns and the engineer from the consulting firm said an LSRP (Licensed Site Re-mediation Person) is needed.”
Resident Alan Silber questioned the funds received by the Housing Authority for the development of part of the former Delaney Homes site.
Silber wanted to now if the Housing Authority was entitled to what he believed to be about $6 million designated for Sandy relief. He was especially interested in the one residential project.
Vice-Chair Jacobs recused himself from the closed session meeting because he owns property at the Landings. Commissioners Kenneth Gonzalez and Thomas Haborak were not present.
