9/25/19 Council Meeting

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – During the public comments on agenda items, resident Stanley Sierakowski questioned R-417-9/19 – A contract with Norris, McLaughlin, and Marcus, LLP for continued legal services in the matter of Perth Amboy vs. Catel Inc. in the amount not to exceed $100,000.

He asked, “What is the issue?”

Law Director King responded, “It’s a continuation of the library litigation.”

Sierakowski suggested, “Before doing a contract, there should be a binding contract negotiation.”

The next speaker to come up was lawyer Billy Delgado, whose position as chief prosecutor was defunded. He first told the Council that 5 minutes was not enough time for him to speak. 

Councilman Helmin Caba responded, “You were invited to our closed session meeting.”

Delgado spoke up, “I was not informed about that.” He then went on to explain how he was appointed as chief prosecutor. “I was appointed on July 17, 2017. We had one prosecutor for 5 court sessions. I said I would take the position only if I had a team. With this position being defunded, a lot of cases will be dismissed because of not having enough prosecutors. We also have bilingual personnel, and our revenue on Thursdays was $8,500. You (the Council) don’t understand what goes on in court when you are not there. The assignment judge runs the court. One prosecutor can’t cover the courts.”

Council President William Petrick then asked Delgado if he could come back at the next Caucus Meeting and do a presentation.

Businesswoman and resident Sharon Hubberman came up to speak next to discuss R-415 and R-416 which dealt with placing a lien on properties for charges incurred by the Department of Public Works. She found these liens to be very interesting. “Can these liens be done on any property owing $10 or more?” She also stated, “It says that there will be any default on any payments as of November 11th, but a property owner has until that day to make a payment. It’s illegal to put them on a tax sale list prior to that date. Suppose a property owner dies before then? I believe it’s illegal. I have serious issues and late notices should be sent prior to putting properties on a tax sale list.”

Law Director Peter King responded, “These two resolutions are for Code Enforcement cleanups of the properties and not water bills.”

Business Administrator Carr further explained, “It’s state statute, and it’s the law. The list you are talking about are accelerated tax sales. These resolutions are abandoned property tax sales.”

Councilman Joel Pabon then spoke up, “We had a person who came to a meeting who owed millions on their property.”

Carr explained, “This property (Anchor Marine) went into foreclosure. The Armory Restaurant has a lien.”

Resident Alan Silber came up next. He still had concerns about R-418 where there was a change to the name of Peter King’s law firm. Silber insisted, “This is a completely different law firm. Was there an RFP submitted?”

King responded, “There was a new RFP submitted under a new name.”

Silber also asked, “Why was Billy Delgado allowed to speak on something not on the agenda?”

King responded, “He was asked to come here to speak tonight.”

Council President Petrick confirmed that the Council had invited Delgado. 

Silber then questioned, “Then why didn’t you allow him to speak?”

King spoke up to clarify the prosecutor’s position, “The prosecutor comes under the Law Director. I’m getting something together to present to the Council numberwise. There used to be two prosecutors. One resigned, then we decided to go back to two prosecutors.”

Nancy Diaz came up to speak next. She said, “I am an activist and I live in Sayreville. This is not a good time for Latinos when we are demeaned every day. It’s not good when other Latinos support a man who likes or makes misogynist posts and support white supremacy and demeans countries that have large Latino populations. It’s disgraceful of anybody who supports such vile posts.”

Councilman Helmin Caba spoke up, “I never said those things. In 2016, those things (social media posts) were used for political gains. Petrick had posts from all political parties and views: Democrat and Republican. These posts were held for two years and Petrick was even elected Council President, so let’s knock this off.  Mayor Diaz is just using this to divide the community. In 2012, the Mayor accused Delgado of supporting someone who made misogynist comments. What is bad is the Mayor proposing a 5% tax increase.”

Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up and asked about the Anchor Marine property. “Who are the owners and the principles? $2.3 million over 20 years has not been collected. It didn’t go into foreclosure until 25 years. The assessment should have gone up on that property. Kushner did get the additional acres.” 

Carr responded, “I resent that you said I had no integrity. This happened 35 years ago.”

Councilman Fernando Irizarry addressed Sierakowski, “You said you’ve done so much research on this property and all that time you couldn’t find out who the owners were?”

Resident Debbie Foley came up next. She stated, “This is totally disgusting. I’m white, but I feel like I’ve been discriminated against. All I hear is Latino, Latino, Latino. This is a bunch of crap. We need to become a community again. All you do is call each other names and we are the laughingstock of the state. We need a 3% tax increase because of our sewer systems. We are not fixing the problem. We lost a prosecutor and Code Enforcement Officer whom we need. Forget this Facebook crap! Look at all the crime we have.”

Another resident  whose first name is Elizabeth came up to speak, “I am just as disgusted as the last speaker. We are supposed to teach our children to give back to the community. Mr. Petrick has a vendetta against these four women. You can’t run a business without raising taxes. Put those people back in those positions and defund Mr. Petrick. The internet is forever. You want to claim me as a deduction? We will protest as long as you (Petrick) are here. You (Petrick) don’t belong in our community and you never will!”

Jeanette Rios whose position as Mayor’s Aide was defunded came up next. She addressed Councilman Helmin Caba and told him, “You agree with Petrick. Why defund us to move us to another position? And now it’s okay to move us elsewhere? Mr. Petrick had a political position and we won’t forget it. Your binder for the budget has not been picked up yet.”

Councilman Caba responded, “We took into consideration the taxpayers as a whole.”

Councilwoman Milady Tejeda spoke up, “If you want respect, then you have to give us respect.”

Yvette Rios, whose position in Code Enforcement was defunded came up to speak, “Ms. Tejeda is correct. We have to show respect. It was Mr. Petrick who decided who was being defunded. I have the documents. There has never been a council in the state who has defunded positions. This is a first. As of September 30th, we don’t have a job. You are replacing police officers – not hiring more. We’re not taking care of them. We have an open position for a supervisor in Code Enforcement. I was told that a female could not fill this position. We are disappointed in you, Mr. Pabon. And Mr. Caba – you need to grow up. To Ms. Tejeda – he is using you to destroy Hispanics and women.”

Councilman Fernando Irizarry translated for the next speaker, Antonio Merino who spoke only in Spanish. He resides on First Street and stated he was a bishop. “I am happy to do this meeting because the Mayor is here. I heard a decision could not be made without the leader being here. The budget will be tripled. These women solve the problems of the City. With all of your work, you don’t know what they do. Consider the seniors at Olive Street. You want to divide us and diminish the Mayor’s position.”

Councilman Caba responded to Merino’s comments, “You are mixing religion and politics. You are going to use your position as a religious leader to diminish us (the council).”

Maria Peralta who lives on State Street came up next. She spoke only in Spanish and Councilman Irizarry translated. “I am here for the three women and thought it was good for our community to raise taxes. These women supported me, and it’s not good having this fighting. I work for the community. I think it’s against these women. Why did you only take Lissette who has worked for the city for 28 years?  She has been working for our seniors. I witnessed her work with them, and they are not happy with Lissette leaving. You all supported the Mayor before, except for Milady who is new. I believe changing their positions is not right if they will make the same money.”

28-year employee Lissette Martinez, whose position is being defunded came up to speak next. “Petrick called us useless and I wish that Milady had told Petrick to respect us.” Martinez then addressed Councilman Caba and told him, “In 2016, Helmin, you came to us.” 

Councilman Caba responded, “I never came to you.”

Martinez continued, “I supported you (Caba) because you came to me. I had supported you all. You all use these meetings to run for 2020. I didn’t say anything against you guys. I’m hurt because of what you’re doing to me after I and my family supported you all. I urge you all to try to run that senior center and have to write all those grants. You know that I do my work.”

Sharon Hubberman came up next, “I give you all (the council) credit for listening to all of this. America has no color. America is all of us. All we have here is vitriol. Where is the vitriol when we discuss the bad water? We are in debt. Who is in charge? The administration. It is up to her (the Mayor) to hire people. We are not seeing the money from the PILOTS. I propose that politics should not be involved in running the city. I was called a racist and a chauvinist by the Mayor at the NACCP Mayoral Debate (in 2016). I’ve been talking about the water situation since 2016 and we need to focus on the quality of life.”

As Hubberman spoke, some of the audience members were booing her. 

Noelia Colon who is presently the public information officer came up to speak, “The Council doesn’t have the power to defund us. We have the qualification and credentials for our positions. Civil Service does not recognize your power. Why don’t you forfeit your stipends to save money?”

Mayor Diaz came up to speak, “You accepted a 3.7% budget. You misled the facts.”

Petrick responded, “5.4% was presented to us in the beginning.”

Law Director Carr responded, “It went from 5.4% to 3.7%.”

Mayor Diaz continued, “You voted to accept 3.7%. No assessments were done for over 300 employees. You arbitrarily decided to defund these women. Some of them were here before I became Mayor. I did not know about these meetings or conversations that took place in 2016 (about who will become Council President). The posts (Petrick’s Facebook page) came to my attention in 2018. I am staying focused on building up businesses and the community.”

Resident Alan Silber came up to speak. He spoke about a police officer who made $100,000 a year. “He drove the mayor to an event in New York. Leslie Dominguez (Former P.A. Dem Chair) was a Puerto Rican woman who didn’t support the Mayor. What does Lissette Martinez do for her seniors at election time? She said she didn’t want to be political, but she was a challenger (during an election). Two Puerto Rican women left the city because they weren’t on the mayor’s team. They never went to a political function. President Lincoln was a Congressman from Illinois. He served only one term because he was against the American – Mexican War. Maybe people came here to try to get a city job. Sharon Hubberman was bullied while she was talking.”

After Silber made that comment, Hubberman shouted out, “Nobody bullies me!”

Billy Delgado came up to speak, “I was disrespected when invited to speak before the council and was not given additional time when the time was up. I haven’t been to a meeting for two years. It’s the same misinformation and everything falls apart. Issues are not being faced and departments are in disarray. What do you expect if you invite people to speak and they are not given enough time? No one called the assignment judge about my position being defunded. I know because I talked to him. I came here in good faith and I fail to see leadership.”

Councilman Caba responded, “This is embarrassing to the City of Perth Amboy that we are in this predicament because of the mismanagement of the administration. Can you imagine what would happen if we didn’t get state funding? The school funding is $300 million, and we pay $25 million of it. We don’t have multiple businesses. Little people can’t pay high taxes and that’s why we have illegal housing. We did the right thing by having a small tax increase. This has been political since 2012. Our prosecutor was a victim then. It shouldn’t be about race. Morale is down in all departments and I don’t want to say who they blame. We have barely 100 police officers. Is this going to continue every meeting? The 1% increase is better than the 2.5% increase and up. The important matters should be the sewers and crime.”

Councilman Irizarry spoke up, “What was gained today? People can express themselves. It didn’t work if you wanted to change anyone’s minds. I’m not saying you should not be angry or upset for losing jobs. It’s time for us to move on and take care of serious issues. The last 9 months have been difficult for the public and those involved. The council, our employees, and the city are demoralized. Fighting is not helping the situation. Put the axes and swords away everybody and move the city forward. This is a spectacle that people in other towns enjoy watching because it doesn’t happen in other towns. Do I agree with what everyone says? I do disagree about what was said about our water. There are contaminants in the water of all towns. State and Federal standards say the water can have certain contaminants.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “I’m 60 years old. My career is done and I’m moving forward. There are 476 city employees of which 334 are Latinos. The majority of people who voted in the last election put us back in here. I spoke for having money put back into the Mayor’s salary. I told the Mayor I needed one person from her side and one person from the Business Administrator’s side for layoff. I reached out to the prosecutor. You (the Mayor) did not defend those positions that were cut. I ask you to give me information on what those people did. You never presented anything to me.”

Mayor Diaz responded, “You voted every year for them.”

Pabon spoke up and stated, “Let’s look at those meeting minutes.”

The Mayor answered back, “You (the Council) are always blaming someone else.”

Councilwoman Tejeda spoke up, “Since I’ve been here, there hasn’t been any cooperation. You (the Mayor) are the leader, but you are talking over everyone. You think this is the way to get people to come here. Employees got a $20,000 raise. I really didn’t like to see anyone defunded. Bring me the data about these defunded positions which was never given to me.”

The Mayor shouted back, “You targeted them!”

Petrick concluded the meeting stating, “This is the image of our community. She (Mayor Diaz) promised to run for two terms. Now, she’s going for four terms. This is a disgrace what she is presenting to the public.”

For the consent the agenda R-410 thru R-425, it was moved by Councilman Irizarry and seconded by Councilman Caba. Ordinance first reading No. 1 An Ordinance amending an ordinance entitled Fixing and establishing a schedule of salaries and salary ranges and increments for officers and employees for the city of Perth Amboy re: Perth Amboy Uniformed Firefighters. 

Ordinance No. 1 was removed from the agenda.

Ordinance No. 2 first reading (no public discussion) re: parking prohibited on Andrews Drive and Wagner Avenue was moved by Councilman Irizarry and seconded by Councilman Caba. Councilman Joel Pabon abstained. Reason given he felt it would be opening up a can of worms, and residents in other areas of town where there are bars would want the same consideration.