4/11/18 Perth Amboy Council Meeting
PERTH AMBOY – During the first public comments, Resident Jeremy Baratta came up to discuss Communication No. 8 – Jeremy Baratta, Zoning Board Member, asking the Chairman of the Zoning Board to provide an explanation on the RFQ process for the position of Zoning Board Attorney. (3/27/18)
Baratta stated, “There were two Communications sent: one was for a RFP and the process by which it was issued. There’s no need to paraphrase what I say because when you do that, things get lost in translation.”
Resident Ken Balut came up to speak referencing R-151-4/18 – A service agreement with the law firm of Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, and Zimet to provide legal services to the City and various collective bargaining negotiations in an amount not to exceed $25,000.
Balut mentioned the collective bargaining contract. “There have been sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits. Are all legal limitations going above the limit? All the lawsuits should be listed here and with what limit?” He then talked about how the New York Police Department had to assist our Police Department when the Police Boat got into the accident.
Balut questioned R-150-4/18 – Involving a performance bond to Bridge Development Partners. “Is Annie (Hindenlang) negotiating this? That was a bad contract.”
Resident David Caba spoke next in reference to Communication No. 13 regarding the paving of Smith Street. He asked if Smith Street is a County Road.
Councilman Petrick responded, “The County will be paving the road.”
Caba continued, “We wait until the election for the roads to get done. People are starting to wake up, especially the youth. Make sure what you promise – you deliver. Our youth can’t apply for jobs because they are already taken.”
Caba then spoke about R-158-4/18 – Directing the Planning Board to investigate, review, and report as to whether an Ordinance adopting amendments to the Focus 2000 Redevelopment Plan is consistent with the Master Plan. Caba then asked, “Who will benefit from this?”
Councilman Fernando Gonzalez responded, “The two plans are misunderstood. With the downtown zoning changes, Focus 2000 did a rush job. They weren’t sensitive to such matters as building heights. The new plan takes into consideration density.”
Caba’s final warning to the Council was, “We’re watching you and the youth are getting involved.”
Businesswoman Virginia Lugo came up and said, “I am dissatisfied with R-158. We don’t have all the details. Complicated things should be held over to the next meeting.”
During the second public portion, Jeremy Baratta came up to speak again, “I have brought up Code Enforcement issues before. Other towns laugh about our Code Enforcement Department. Nothing is enforced in our town. There are different answers for the same information requested. Papers are always being lost. You ask questions and don’t get information until you corner them. The lack of attention to detail is disheartening.”
Ken Balut came up to speak, “Half the BID budget was not used. All we do are studies. Who go these façade grants? Three BID Members got together to get another BID Member a house. Where did the grant money come from? I got called by the Federal Government on the property (that one of the BID Members received). Code Enforcement gave me a warning about the unkept hedges at my house and they gave me pictures. I have no hedges and the pictures they gave me is not even my house. A person got discriminated against. Look who signed off on that house. CDBG monies are supposed to help the poor.”
Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up to speak and requested to get a tape of the Meeting involving the St. Demetrios property. Sierakowski also asked if Mr. King had sent a letter DCA (Department of Communications Affair) regarding PARA appointments. Go through this to avoid a lawsuit. I spoke to three people at DCA that have been there for at least 20 years. Did any City Employees get BID money? There is a boarded-up property by the Victory Bridge that has been like that for 10 years and it should be knocked down.”
Law Director King responded to one of Sierakowski’s comments, “Letters were sent to the DCA and I also reviewed ordinances from other Cities (regarding PARA appointments). I spoke to people from the DCA who read through what they have on file. They do not write opinions.”
Resident Lois Lane came up next, “I oppose the redevelopment plans (at St. Demetrios Property) because it should be for single family homes and the area is not blighted. If you change the scope of the area, you will disregard the residents. They said it’s for the elderly and Greek only (what the proposed plans are). It’s discriminating and will change the whole area. We already have parking problems there. I don’t mind single family homes. There’s too much traffic already. I have 25 signatures of people in that area that are against this project.”
Resident Philip Clark came up next, “We are taking places away from the kids. The high school doesn’t have a weight room and they have to come to the Y. The Little League is shrinking. I hate to see any kid get into trouble because they have nothing to do. We took away Caledonia Park and McWilliam Stadium. Have a recreation center for winter activities. I used to supervise a basketball team. Everything now is about money and building housing.”
Council President Bill Petrick said, “The basketball leagues were sponsored by the Recreation Department.”
Resident Alan Silber came up next and stated, “When Perlee and Fehrenbach were B.A.’s, they use to pay attention (when people came up to speak). That is not done anymore. We have a fire boat that had an accident, and nobody knew about it. It was on blocks in Keyport. Did you guys know about it? Why was the Council not notified? Was this a coverup? You guys voted on Fire Department Items. It was a dereliction of duty not to report this. You don’t get the respect, but I do like this Council and this Attorney (King).”
King spoke up and responded to the Council’s concerns in reference to the nepotism policies. “I drafted this policy. The last paragraph which referenced waivers involving relatives of employees.”
Mayor Diaz came up next to respond to concerns about a lack of youth programs, “We have youth programs and a Teen Center. I just came back from an Arts Program with our youth. Our biggest Sports Program is now soccer. We are now hiring for the summer. We are changing with the technology and are doing a cyberbullying program. All our programs are different from 20 years ago because times have changed. Not everyone is staying at the High School. We are also getting our youth ready for Trade Schools. We are looking at enrichment programs to make them ready for jobs and trades. I want to thank our City Attorney for clarifying some issues. There are a lot of people who provide services to our youth.”
Stephanie Márquez-Villafañe then came up to speak, “I’m 19 years old, involved in this community and I’m also handicapped. The programs are very limiting. I can’t do sports. They might do trips that I can’t do. There’s not enough programs for our youth post-high school. What are you doing to keep people like me here? Why aren’t you investing in me? There are too many limitations in the gap ages 19 and up. How many people my age do you see here (at the meetings)?”
Acting Police Chief McKeon came up to speak and responded to a comment made by a resident earlier at the Meeting who said the Chief and the Mayor never went to a Little League game until they were elected. McKeon said, “I get offended when I hear that I don’t get involved in the community. We have expanded the Junior Police Academy.” McKeon then read a letter congratulating the Perth Amboy Police Department for their community involvement. McKeon continued, “I love this town and I am committed to it. Two officers: Zaleski and Rodgers were recognized by the State. We are working with the Brighton Avenue Community Center involving programs to empower women. We do a lot for the men, too.”
Council President William Petrick then spoke up, “My girls are involved in the T-ball and sailing programs.”
McKeon then continued, “Nine of our female Police Officers volunteer on their own time to help out with these programs.”
During the Council Comments, Helmin Caba spoke first, “We don’t have enough programs for at-risk kids. It’s the same people who get in trouble and we have a gang problem. We need to start at Kindergarten, especially with them being exposed to social media. We need more parks because our population is 60,000. Soccer is rising, but baseball is not shrinking. Kids are playing in Hopelawn. Woodbridge would not help them because the teams are not Woodbridge kids. We have a lot of excellent programs but need more for our young adults. Adults start softball leagues but play in other town’s facilities. We need to take care of people we presently have in town, now and not to build more to bring in more people. We need more people to volunteer to help youth on our teams. Kenny Ortiz’s (Director of Department of Recreation) hands are full. Focus on more parks so we can have more sports. Convert our parks to AstroTurf so multiple sports can be played on one field.”
Councilman Fernando Gonzalez spoke next about the municipal budget. “I want to make sure taxes do not rise. We need to use ratables for this. Let’s keep the budget within the limits.”
Pabon spoke next about the late Ed Scott who was a well-known Tennis Teacher and who was involved with the youth, “Even in the past we had issues of not having enough volunteers. We have to continue to come up with new projects. I don’t think the Recreation budget has ever been going down. We are facing a tax hike. We are running out of room. We should invite Mr. Ortiz to the next Meeting. I’ve coached the handicapped. We have more programs than we ever had before, but volunteers are hard to come by. We have never denied money to Recreation. We should talk to the Board of Education about a land swap. AstroTurf is not cheap. Ortiz keeps coming up with new projects that we’ve never had before. We’re working on building more basketball courts. There are lots of young adults working at the Recreation Department.”
Council President Bill Petrick spoke last and said the Y has a free program for teenagers.
YMCA CEO and President Steve Jobin came up to speak about this. “This program has 330 kids enrolled in grades 5-9 and is free of charge.” Jobin also mentioned that the Adult School lost a lot of the enrichment programs they used to have. “There are a lot of kids that use our gym.”
