2/24/20 Caucus

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – Ordinance No. 2 regarding dissolving the Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency and designating the City Council as a redevelopment entity for the City of Perth Amboy and enjoining those previously approved redevelopment projects identified in this ordinance pending review and further action by the city council.

Councilman Fernando Irizarry wanted to know what will be the consequences if the council takes over the responsibility of PARA.

Law Director Peter King cautioned the council that they would probably face litigations due to changing the orders of an active agency. “Companies already approved for projects may have objections. You are stopping projects until you review them. I think there is possible litigation.”

Irizarry then questioned Ordinance No. 3 – An ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled Library Board of Trustees Membership. Irizarry questioned, “Is this only a membership change?”

Council President William Petrick said, “It is to make the ordinance in accordance to the state statute.”

There was a discussion among Irizarry, King, and Petrick going back and forth to determine if the Library Board of Trustees is an advisory board or are they autonomous? Irizarry stated that since he has been on the council, the members of the Library Board of Trustees always thought they were an advisory board, not an autonomous board. “Will they or the council make decisions regarding appointments? When were the Library Board of Trustees told they were autonomous, and when will they make their own decisions?”

Law Director King tried to clarify the trustee’s duties by stating they would discuss day to day operations of the library. 

Council President William Petrick then questioned, “Should they be hiring or dismissing a library director (and any renovations to the library)?”

King answered, “Yes, they should have.”

Petrick then stated, “The administration hired the contractor (to make library renovations) and now with the litigation with the contractor, the administration should not have been involved.” Petrick then questioned, “Should the administration never been involved and are the library employees under the city?”

King answered, “Library employees are under civil service.”

Petrick then asked, “Who picks the library director?”

King responded, “In other towns, they hire and fire employees (who work in the library). The CFO has the state statute.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “The library board of trustees have no clue what their duties are and they do not want to come here because they are nervous.”

King said, “They have their own attorney.”

Petrick questioned if they even advertise when they have their meeting.

Irizarry said, “They have been told different ways to do things and we have to sit down with them and give them training.”

King said, “They get training.”

Business Administrator Frederick Carr joined the discussion, “The board of trustees is not a stand-a-lone and we need to ease them into their responsibilities. We have a library director expected to be here on Tuesday. We need to teach the board of trustees how to operate autonomously.”

Pabon then spoke up, “We (the council) need to go to a library board of trustee meeting, but you might get a mass exodus (of the members) leaving.”

King then explained, “It’s a 5-year position and I’m sure the mayor has talked to them.”

Carr said, “The members were all appointed by the mayor with the advise/consent of the council.”

King spoke up and made a clarification, “The Superintendent of Schools and the mayor are automatically appointed by state statute. The mayor can appoint someone to take her place if she cannot attend. All their meetings are held at the library.”

Petrick thought that the Library Board of Trustee’s should have a secretary to record the minutes. “The meeting should also be recorded to be put on public TV.”

King asked, “Do you have that in your ordinance?”

Petrick responded, “I don’t know, but those meetings should be recorded and taped – just as our meetings are.”

There then was a discussion regarding Resolutions R-90 and R-91 regarding equipment purchased by the police department. 

Councilman Joel Pabon was surprised that these two items were on this agenda, “Thos e two resolutions were turned back at the last meeting. The equipment involved (purchase of a diesel regular cab and a rollback loader). Budget wise, the money used for these two resolutions should be used for more than purchasing a flatbed.”

Deputy Police Chief Larry Cattano came up to respond to Pabon, “The money for this equipment can’t be used towards salaries. These purchases were already approved in the Capital Improvement Budget. The front loader will last 7-10 years and the trucks will have a longer lifespan.”

Pabon then asked, “Are we scheduled to buy more police vehicles next year?”

Cattano responded, “We had a meeting, and we’ll need more police cars.”

Pabon then questioned, “Will the money always be there, and do we need to spend this money right now?”

Petrick reminded Pabon that this money was already allocated for this equipment.”

Cattano also said, “This equipment can be used by other departments.”

Councilman Helmin Caba wanted to know if having this front loader equipment will affect our local towing companies.

Cattano explained the towers will be doing the same work they are doing now. A lot of our vehicles are under warranty and some of our warranties are about to expire. “We will be training some of our own employees to operate the vehicles.”

There was a question involving the first reading – no public discussion in Ordinance No. 2 entitled Garbage, Rubbish, and Refuse. Bulk waste for rental properties was deleted.

DPW Director Frank Hoffman came up to explain that there are problems with private owners of multiple properties. “Someone will make six appointments at once. Multiple property owners will send multiple people to make appointments. When we go to the address, there will be a lot more bulk than what was stated on the request.”

Geri Barcheski, who also works in the DPW in the recycling department stated, “We even have people coming from Staten Island or from out of town asking if they were bulk pick-ups being made.”

Law Director King suggested that the City have two bulk pickups a year, then it’s done.”

The council decided to table this ordinance to a future meeting.

Councilman Joel Pabon was concerned about all the workmen’s compensation cases that have been on the agenda. He requested to know how much the city has spent on compensation cases in the last three years.

Business Administrator Frederick Carr stated, “There are regular safety meetings to talk about these cases (and if any additional training is needed).”

Council President William Petrick stated, “In the fire department, we do a run after a settlement is made to see what we did right or wrong.”

The next discussion involved Resolution R-83 which is establishing guidelines for the engraving of names on the War Veteran’s Memorial. Councilman Pabon stated that he and B.A. Carr sat down to go over the guidelines as to whose names should be on that wall. “The application speaks for itself.” Pabon stated that even though he is a Veteran, he did not want his name to be put on the wall. 

Petrick put people’s minds at ease, “Whoever has their names on the wall right now, will remain there.”

During the public portion, Resident Ken Balut came up to speak. He talked about the PBA contract. “In a 30-year period, the starting salary for police only went up $13,000, yet the mayor gives huge raises in a 1-year period. Who changed the starting rate of pay in the police contract? I still need to get the cost for pending cases: Batista and Burgos. I still need to get the costs (for 2 cases I OPRA’d). The mayor and judge have been asking for a protective order, so they don’t have to testify in certain cases. We have a judge who has been suspended, and a judge who is hearing cases on handicapped parking violations which he has abused. I also complained about tickets being fixed.”

Former Perth Amboy Resident Reinaldo Aviles came up to speak about the library issue. “About a year ago, the former library director who was pushed out of her position came here to speak before the council. She mentioned that the proper procedures were not in place. She was right to speak out. If the Library Board of Trustees are autonomous, then the library employees are no longer city employees. In that case, regular city employees should not be transferred to the library. If the library is independent, then the employees of the library can’t be under the city’s personnel. Interviews for a new library director were not conducted by the governing bodies (Library Board of Trustees). When will they become a governing entity?”

Law Director King responded, “The Board of Trustees were acting as an advisory and the Library employees will be city employees. There had to be a 30-day notice (to the Library Director) when they were being removed.”

Council Comments:

Helmin Caba wanted to apologize for some of the comments made at the last council meeting, “I misspoke.” 

Fernando Irizarry had a question about some of the lots of some of the business owners in the city and questioned if they have to clean those lots. 

Law Director King responded, “Yes.”

Irizarry then mentioned, “A lot of residents on Sayre Avenue complained about the Popeye’s parking lot.”

King responded, “That is a complaint to be taken to the Board of Health.”

Irizarry continued, “When the 7-11 was there, they left because the owner of the property didn’t clean it. Both Ms. Tejeda and I complained about the conditions of the Walgreens property and no changes have been made.”

King responded, “Code Enforcement will have to be contacted.”

Council President William Petrick suggested, “If we send bills to Popeye’s and Walgreens, they will have to clean their lots.”

Irizarry then complained that some of the streetcleaners just go down the middle of the streets to clean.

Joel Pabon spoke up next, “When you see violations, it’s the same people and same addresses doing the same things all the time. Popeye’s should be checked on a regular basis.” Pabon also stated that two streets: Francis and Cortlandt. “Those streets look very bad.”

DPW Director said, “Cortlandt is being done.”

Pabon said, “I’m happy some of the lights on Amboy Avenue have been fixed and I have seen a lot more PSEG trucks, but there are 9-10 lights on Amboy Avenue that stay on all day.”

Milady Tejeda thanked everyone for attending the meeting. 

Petrick concluded the meeting, “The council saw the reports and suggestions from the handicapped parking committee, and I thank everyone for being here tonight.”