10/21/19 Caucus

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – Department of Public Works Director Frank Hoffman came up first. He told the council that the Capital Program will help with getting needed equipment and the operation of the department overall. “Two of the automated trucks are ending their life cycle. Two years ago, I did research of those two trucks and my study showed that their life cycle is 6-8 years and not the 10 years as the council was told. We tried to borrow trucks from Woodbridge Township, but the life cycle of their trucks are 6-8 years. The automated arms on these trucks have a lot more movement which causes more wear and tear. There’s also a lot of wear and tear on the bottom. Inner body work is needed on one of the trucks. One of the salter trucks had to be put out of service because of severe rusting. It was a 1990 truck. There are 4 salters that are from 1990 or older. We can do upgrades on the newer trucks to operate the best without them breaking down.” Hoffman also justified the cost of the new trucks because only one person is needed to operate them. “For instance, if you had another person working (on that truck) you are talking about an additional $60,000 in salary and benefits. Plus, you cut down on injuries. We have seven trucks and one backup truck. We have not had as many people that we did in previous years in our department. We need more people. We’re using army surplus vehicles from the 1980’s in the parks department. The bottom floor of our transport station has breakup of the asphalt. A concrete floor would be better, but it would be more expensive. We have a budget of $200,000. Recycling is charging more than the garbage. It’s $70 a ton to recycle and $66 a ton for garbage. Geri Barcheski who is in charge of recycling was looking at a long-term recycling contractor who is opening up in another city.” Hoffman also cautioned that plastic bags containing garbage should not be put in the recycling bins. “We made a $20,000 profit in the past with recyclables. There’s a shortfall and we have to transfer funds to pay for the recyclables. We don’t have much disposable cash. We held off on some of the park improvements or did some of the work ourselves and used part-time workers. We have been reducing overtime on weekends. Many sweepers are being used for the downtown parks and on State Street and Hall Avenue. Sweepers do the park cleaning 7 days a week. There has been an erosion of sand on the beach and since the beach is not active, we have to find funding ourselves (to replenish the sand).”

Council President William Petrick suggested there be alternative funding available to replenish the sand. 

Hoffman continued, “Automated pickup of garbage will be starting on Gordon and Patterson Streets. We are getting our snow removal equipment ready. 66% of the city has garbage pickup. When I first took over the department, there was a 3-year waiting list for trees to come down, and now it’s only 3 months. When we get calls (pertaining to potholes), it will take us anywhere for 2-3 days to fill those holes. I need to have a staff of about 20 people and new equipment, which would be best for the department of public works. Having a good transfer station is the most important aspect, because it affects all sections of town, especially those who dump a lot of the garbage.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke next, “I have a lot of friends who worked at public works who still have physical problems from the work they did in the department. Maybe we should go back to just once a week garbage pickup.”

Hoffman responded, “It’s up to the people’s needs. We do the recycling pickup once a week and the garbage pickup twice a week.” Hoffman then talked about the equipment for the upcoming winter. “All the equipment was checked and we’re getting a salt delivery soon. Everything is working, and we are getting a roll-off. The property owners and business owners have to maintain their property up to the curb.” He then went on to explain, “Whenever you have to spend $40,000 to repair a vehicle, it’s best to salvage it and see what you get for it.”

The next person who came up to speak was CFO/Comptroller Jill Goldy. She gave an extensive overview of the appropriations of various city departments. “This report was up until September of this year. 78% was collected of what was budgeted. There has been a low collection on licenses because most are done by the end of the year. The court fines were lower than anticipated, so there was a shortfall there. There was a 48% interest and cost on taxes. Tax sales should put us above that. There was miscellaneous revenue that had not been anticipated.” Goldy cited, “there was an extra $577,000 collected that we did not expect and there was miscellaneous unanticipated money such as the PILOT money from the Housing Authority. There were administration costs for off-duty police work. We also had revenue from the fire prevention fees and vacant property registration fees. When you don’t get revenue that you anticipated, it also hurts future budgets. In the Business Administrator’s department, they spent 97% of their appropriations. $250,000 in county health aid was encumbered. In the mayor’s budget, over 75% of their appropriations were spent because of cuts made and defunding of positions. In the Office of Economic Development, there are offsets from various resources. In regard to the CDBG funding, there was an offset because one person resigned. For workers compensation, there was a $2 million reimbursement and as Department of Public Works Director Frank Hoffman explained in his budget, solid waste needed money to cover that expense that DPW had to take from other items. In the Department of Recreation, the summer workers are no longer needed, and their budget becomes more stabilized after that. For the water/wastewater, they are trending well over 75% of their appropriations. Their debt service is higher in certain years. It is approximately more than 75% lower in salary and wages because there is one person who resigned. Emergency money had to be used such as when we had a cave-in (on Front and Gordon Streets), funds had to be transferred from one account to the other to cover that emergency. There was a Director position in the budget for the library.”

Council President Bill Petrick then spoke up, “The Historical Preservation Commission had money budgeted for $4,500 and nothing was spent.”

Goldy explained, “In the past, they (HPC) used the Office of Economic Development to help them. In the past, they also had specialists when needed.” Goldy then talked about the Parking Utility, “They used 75% of their appropriations and they replenished any of their surplus money. They maintain all of their parking lots.”

Councilman Fernando Irizarry spoke up, “Rite-Aid needs to clean up their parking lot.”

Goldy continued, “That department did not spend all the money that was budgeted for salaries.” She went on to speak about the Harborside Marina, “They trend high and anticipated budget. They are diligent in tracking their budget and how they use the money. They’ve made many enhancements to the marina.”

DPW Director Frank Hoffman came back up briefly and stated, “We are hiring someone to fix the brickwork by the Armory.”

Goldy spoke again about the general operating fund, “With our current population, the city’s tax base is $3.2 billion per year. The net value is taxable. The $50 million collected in rateables helped the budget move forward. Our state aid has not changed since 2011. Our total tax levy takes in account the library, the municipality, schools, county, and BID. Raising revenue, not raising taxes, and not depending on state aid will raise our credit rating and also it helps if we keep within our budget.”

Councilman Pabon had a question regarding Communication No. 17 – Alberto Rivas, Assignment Judge, Middlesex County Superior Court submitted statistics for September 2019 for all Municipal Courts in Middlesex County. Pabon said, “I see they are lacking in funds.”

Law Director Peter King responded, “There are a backup of traffic summons. Certain tickets should be cleared up immediately, such as those dealing with DWI’s. There are a lot of entities and agencies in town.”

Pabon spoke up again, “This report (submitted by Judge Rivas) is not a comparison.”

Council President Petrick responded, “It’s a snapshot of tickets given out and what they are for.”

King spoke up, “We can get detail of each ticket issued, and each department can provide which tickets they issued.”

Councilman Irizarry then commented, “There are 4,700 active cases on this report, and we are the third highest in volume after New Brunswick and Woodbridge Township.”

Pabon continued, “If we get more of a breakdown, we can see what is trending ticketwise.”

King ended the conversation, “They (Middlesex County) wants to see how fast you (the city) resolves DWI’s.”

Public Portion:

Resident Vince Mackiel came up first. He spoke about Communication No. 1 – Stantec Consulting Services, who submitted a copy of the NJDEP Treatment Works Application for the Kinder Morgan Liquid Terminals at 920 High Street. Mackiel said he did research on Kinder Morgan and Buckeye. “After a decade of stormwater, I see that the Kinder Morgan permit had expired. The city engineer should investigate this. Can it be acted on by the DEP? Last month, the DEP released a report about electric vehicles. The number of electrical cars has increased. Is there anything on the business level where the city has reached out to connect to this project? We have the interstate and many interconnecting roads. Reach out to some of the property owners to see if they’re interested. The state has a program that has plug-in stations (where people who have electric cars to charge their vehicles). They are placed on the Turnpike, Parkway, and major highways.”

Council President William Petrick spoke up and stated, “Wa-Wa in Woodbridge and Menlo Park Mall already have charging stations.”

Mackiel continued, “This (having electric cars) will cut down on fumes. Convery Boulevard should be utilized to place charging stations.”

Petrick then stated that the council should reach out to the city engineer to address Mackiel’s concerns about Kinder Morgan.”

Former resident (and PAHPC Chair) Reinaldo Aviles came up. He commented on Communication No. 6 – Joseph M. Wenzel (Planning Board Attorney) advised that the Planning Board believes that the HPC input is needed in helping in assisting in reaching factual and legal findings when applications involve renovation, rehabilitation, and demolition of structures which have been declared as historically significant by both the city and the federal government. Aviles said, “This is important. The HPC will need more money and they should contact the HPC Chair.” Aviles then questioned a comment made by Police Chief Roman McKeon made regarding a letter (written by Council President William Petrick). “I decided to OPRA that letter.” Aviles went on to say that McKeon stated that Petrick’s letter would cause morale to be lowered in the police department. “McKeon should not have talked about it at the meeting. I don’t think you (Petrick) were off character. You talked about people who were robbed on Lewis Street and were not happy with the police. Is it proper for him (McKeon) to divulge the letter?”

Petrick responded, “It was not professional.”

Aviles said, “I remember when Balut was still a police officer, and was reprimanded when he came to a meeting with a case of beer and place it by the mic and said to the council at the time: “This Bud’s for you!””

Petrick then questioned, “Can the police can be reprimanded for politicizing a private letter?”

Councilman Irizarry then warned the residents that people have been going to the neighborhood and telling people they have been red flagged for high carbon emission and they need to have access to your house. “They also will ask you who are your utility providers. They have a van with Pennsylvania license plates and the van says: “N-Power”.”

Petrick then said, “They are trying to take advantage of underprivileged communities and if you see them, call the police.”