1/11/21 Caucus

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – The Caucus began at 4:38 p.m. at the YMCA theater. 

There was a question regarding one of the bids for the installation of a fence at Washington Park. Councilman Joel Pabon questioned why National Fence Systems was recommended for this job when there was no description or details provided as were provided by the other contractors. 

Maria Rivera from the purchasing department said it was her mistake that she did not provide all the details from National Fence and she would make sure all the council members will have what they needed by Tuesday morning, January 12, 2021.

Council President Bill Petrick then asked that Ordinance No. 1 – RE: Public Entertainment limiting locations to Rudyk Park be withdrawn to look at more closely. 

There was a discussion on Ordinance No. 2 – To amend an ordinance entitled, “Administration of Government Re: changing the start time of the caucus meeting.”

Petrick said, “This will be to change the start time of the meeting to 5:30 p.m. because we are attempting to accommodate everyone, especially working people for a chance to attend the meeting.

Councilman Pabon said, “We had the caucus meetings start at 4:30 p.m. for a while now. I see no big difference to change them to 5:30 p.m.”

Petrick concluded, “If need be, we can always roll it back to 4:30 p.m. start times.”

DPW Director Frank Hoffman came up to provide information regarding R-5-1/21- A contract with Excel Environmental to assess the current status of Perth Amboy Department of Public Works former landfill site in an amount not to exceed $19,340.

Hoffman explained he had some involvement with this and had one meeting with former Business Administrator Frederick Carr. “The old public works grounds needed remediation. One of the former public works director showed me old photos of the contamination. Things fell through the cracks. The city needs to do something, or the DEP will step in. The first person who did the remediation retired and we need to find someone else to do the work.”

Councilman Pabon had a question regarding R-7-1/21 – Settlement of the workers compensation in the amount of $10,846 for Jamie Tavera vs. the City of Perth Amboy. 

“Was there any malfunction of equipment?”

PAFD Fire Chief Ed Mullen stated, “A father and son were found deceased in the building. Two firemen were injured fighting the fire.”

Pabon then questioned R-8-1/21 – A contract for professional services of an Interim Business Administrator and oversight services to government strategy group in an amount not to exceed $95,000 for a period of 6 months commencing on January 1, 2021 and expiring on June 30, 2021.

Pabon said, “It states on the paperwork that it is only for 25 hours a week. Are we only doing part-time? It states 6 months. I thought it is supposed to be only for 60 days.” 

Maria Rivera came up to speak again. “It is supposed to be 60 days and not 6 months.”

Interim B.A. Edward Remsen said, “It states 24 hours per week, but I’ll be working remotely and sometimes I will be in the office. On-site at city hall, it’s supposed to be Monday thru Wednesday, nights and weekends, but I’ll be on call at all times. I expect to be working 32 hours, and I expect to be in the office 4 days a week. You are only committing my service for 60 days.

Pabon then questioned R-9-1/21 – A professional service agreement with McManimon, Scotland, and Bauman for bond counsel services for a period from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.

Pabon asked, “Why isn’t there an amount attached to this resolution?”

Law Director William Northgrave answered, “An amount cannot be added until the bond counsel services are provided. The same could also be applied to R-10-1/21 (A professional service agreement with GB Associates for financial advisory services for the period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021). A soft cost would be provided, and the council will have to authorize the actions by this company.”

B.A. Remsen also wanted to make it clear, “I will be a city employee. I work for you. I will be subject to the rules of the municipality.”

Law Director Northgrave answered a question on R-14-1/21 – Authorizing collection of interest on delinquent taxes and assessments. “This will stay in effect until Governor Murphy changes the executive orders.”

Councilwoman Rose Morales questioned R-30-1/21 – A contract with ACCSES New Jersey Inc. – CMA Services under state contract 77110 for custodial services at the Jankowski Center, Department of Public Works, the Fire headquarters, City Hall, and the Municipal Court for a 1-year period from January 1, 2021 to commence on December 31, 2021 in an amount not to exceed $126,662.

She questioned if the city could hire 4 or 5 part-time city employees instead. 

DPW Director Frank Hoffman responded, “A full-time employee’s cost would far exceed what we pay for this service. Sometimes the city workers are not reliable. We had cleaners who retired 8 years ago. These people (ACCSES) have extensive cleaning experience. I can talk to the Buildings and Grounds personnel to see about having 4 or 5 parttime city employees do this work. You can hold off on voting on R-30.”

Council President Bill Petrick said, “We pay a flat fee with these contractors and they will always provide replacement workers.”

Fire Chief Ed Mullen came up to speak, “We have a private company that comes in. This way we don’t have to worry about workers compensation injuries, and it costs a lot less money when you hire a private company.”

Morales then stated, “We can wait until next year to review R-30.

DPW Director Frank Hoffman came up to explain, R-32-1/21 – A contract to Musco Sports Lighting for the purchase and installation of a Full Re-Lamp and Capacitor replacement for the athletic fields at Rudyk Park, Washington Park, and Veteran’s Youth Baseball Field under the Keystone Purchasing Network Purchasing Co-op contract in an amount not to exceed $46,000.

Hoffman stated, “We are keeping what lighting that is presently there.”

Petrick then stated, “The last contractor that did this work was not that good.”

Morales spoke up again, “I noticed there seems to be different companies that seem to be doing the same sort of services.”

Hoffman explained that if you look closely at the different resolutions, there are many different types of maintenance work going on. “Danny (Cleaver) one of our DPW Supervisors always goes out to get the most cost-effective and reliable contractors for the services required.”

Hoffman went on to explain R-33-1/21 – A contract with Z Brothers Concrete to increase the contract for the NJDOT Road Rehabilitation and Improvement, Hall Avenue and Rector Street in an amount not to exceed $48,803.02. 

“There is not one person in charge. We have to go after the performance bond to pay for this.”

Petrick spoke up, “Our engineer should have taken care of this.”

Hoffman explained that there was no project manager for this. 

Petrick continued, “This should have come back to the council about this problem.”

Northgrove then spoke up, “We are looking at the performance bond (connected to this work).

Pabon concluded, “Some of those buildings on Rector Street should be condemned and it’s hard to get Kushner to do anything. The last Business Administrator was looking to get this land reevaluated.”

Hoffman went on to explain R-37-1/21 – A contract with Signal Control Products for traffic signal parts, service, and technical assistance for a period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 in an amount not to exceed $30,000.

“LED lights were used, and the cost dropped a lot to maintain.”

Council President Petrick commented regarding R-38-1/21 – Authorizing payments to Thomas Calcagni, Esq. of the law firm of Calcagni & Kanefsky for legal services rendered to the Perth Amboy City Council in an amount not to exceed $7,447.50. 

“Hopefully, this will end the lawsuit between Mayor Diaz and the City Council.”

Pabon then had a problem with Resolutions R-40-1/21 – Appointing William A. Petrick to the Planning Board and R-41-1/21 – Reappointing Justin Ross to the Perth Amboy Board of Adjustments as Alternate #2 for a term to expire December 31, 2022.  & R-42-1/21 – Reappointing Christine Dispenziere to the Perth Amboy Board of Adjustments as a regular member for a term to expire December 31, 2024.

Pabon stated, “All of these appointments expired on December 31, 2020. I have nothing against any of these people, but we need these positions to be posted instead of just reappointing people.”

Petrick responded, “Regarding R-40, one of the members has to be from the council and if another council member wants to take over, they can. Regarding R-41 thru R-42, they were the council appointments and unless there is an issue with them, then we will get someone else to replace them.  With other boards, we always reappointed any existing members.”

Pabon disagreed, “With the Housing Authority, whenever terms expired, we posted the openings and the people who were already on that board had to reapply to be reappointed. Please give people an opportunity to apply for all boards.”

Petrick countered Pabon’s argument, “People who were reappointed had training and experience and have done a good job. To displace those who have been doing a job for several years would be a disservice to them. People can always apply to boards and don’t have to wait for vacancies to come up.”

Pabon then requested that City Clerk Kupsch find an ordinance on Board Appointments, especially when it comes to expired terms.

Public Portion:

Resident Ken Balut began by saying, “Law Director Northgrave overturned elections. Does he have a relationship with the Kushner case? – which would not be a good idea. I have asked all bills related to Kushner (properties). There was a captain and lieutenant suspended with pay. If you can suspend the higher-ups with pay, then you will have to pay those with lower ranks who are under investigation. What is going on with the contract with the Y? Besides Kushner, I also have concerns about what’s going on between the police department and the court system. A police officer who campaigned for Mayor Diaz got an $11,000 raise before he retired.” He then reiterated, “This new lawyer we have now overturned an election. We keep bleeding money with the items I just mentioned. One of our former Business Administrators, Fehrenbach did most of the work himself and we paid him $19,000 for some legal work he did. The Kushner bond should have been settled 6 months ago.”

Council President Petrick spoke up and questioned if the new law director would go after Kushner and asked what is going on with the police department.

Balut continued, “The Board of Education pays for the use of the Y’s facilities.”

Resident Alan Silber came up next, “Former Law Director Peter King was a good lawyer in the respect that he did everything that the former mayor asked of him. He wanted to pay former Business Administrator Adam Cruz when the city didn’t have to. And now the new law director Northgrave got paid $30,000 to overturn an election which caused the city to have a special election in 2014. The person who lost to Fernando Gonzalez in that special election had to pay $3,000. I love that the new Councilwoman (Morales) asks questions. I think Councilman Pabon was right to question reappointments to boards. I invite you all to see the property at 395 Rector St. There’s been a couch sitting on that property for months and that property has been boarded up. Kushner bought this property in 2006.”

Petrick then spoke up, “We can put a condemnation order on that property and the old municipal complex. We need to get an evaluation from the tax assessor and put it up for sale.”

Silber concluded, “You would never see this in Montclair.”

Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up next. He talked about a property that owed taxes for the last 25 years and the city lost $3 million. Who are the partners that own this property? I asked Nancy Martin from the tax department to give me information which she did. She shrugged her shoulders when I asked what could be done about this. She shouldn’t be here. Some properties should have been reassessed, especially the 5 acres owned by Rosengarten. Former Mayor Vas rezoned it for high density. Was it ever rezoned? Many people knew about the property owners but did nothing about reassessing the properties.”

Petrick replied, “I asked about the Duane Marine property, but got no answers.”

Resident Lisa Nanton came up next and asked about R-35-1/21 – A contract with Automated Building Controls for HVAC preventative maintenance, repairs and installation services of City Buildings for a period of January 1, 2021 thru December 31, 2021 in an amount not to exceed $67,000. & R-36-1/21 – A contract with RAMAS Climate Refrigeration for HVAC preventative maintenance for the Public Safety Complex for a period of January 31, 2021 thru December 31, 2021 in an amount not to exceed $26,000.

“Why are there two different companies?”

Petrick responded, “Because of better pricing.”

Nanton continued, “They need to replace some of the snow fence at some parts of the Waterfront. The bathroom trailer on Sadowski Parkway is blocking the view of a resident’s house. There is a mile between bathrooms down the Waterfront. Hasn’t the Y’s contract expired, yet? I thought it was 25 years.”

Resident Alan Silber shouted out, “I think it has 8 more years left.”

Resident Vince Mackiel came up next. He wished everyone a happy new year and congratulated the new mayor and council members. He was concerned because there are 39 ShopRite’s giving the vaccine, but not in Perth Amboy. “We have a high Covid count. I volunteered for a Hispanic Health Care event at the Y a few years ago. UNICEF can be used to vaccinate a large amount of people. I want to thank the council for putting me on the Rent Leveling Board.”

B.A. Remsen addressed Mackiel’s concern about the Covid vaccine. “I was surprised there was not a task force to deal with the Covid problem. A long-term task force is being formed with a lot of stakeholders.”

OEM Director Larry Cattano came up and stated, “ShopRite Perth Amboy does not have a pharmacy tech on duty like other pharmacies do. Walgreens and Right-Aid will do the Covid vaccine when it is available.”

CEO/President of the YMCA Steve Jobin came up next and said, “The Jewish Renaissance did testing over the summer. At some point, they will be giving out the vaccine. We’ve had Code Blue conditions for 20 days. Food and accommodations were provided. We are still doing weekly food distributions. We have distributed 300,000 lbs. of food a month.”

Council Comments:

Councilwoman Morales thanked everyone for putting her on the council. “I am humbled and honored to be here.”

Councilman Joel Pabon congratulated Helmin Caba, Rose Morales, and B.J. Torres on their victory. “I look forward to working with all of you. The Friday meeting that was done on 1/8/21 was not necessary and could have been done today. People who have Covid have to test negative before coming to meetings. Many towns do Zoom meetings. A person got a note from their doctor the same day they were positive that stated they were positive, but they were at the point where they could not contaminate anyone and could attend the meeting. Many department heads were here, and we have to be responsible. I told Council President Petrick that it was irresponsible to have a meeting on 1/8/21. The microphones are not being cleaned after each speaker. We need to do Zoom meetings and the meetings are going on forever. We are talking about lives here. We are the top brass and are being irresponsible.”

Councilwoman Milady Tejeda said, “We should have to check the CDC guidelines. In some cases, you can still go back to work if you are positive. It was too late to change to a Zoom meeting, and I take healthcare very seriously. We will have to come to these meetings for a long time and the microphone should be cleaned after each speaker. I welcome the two new council members and Mr. Caba. I hope to have good relations with the new members and all the employees.”

Councilman BJ Torres said, “I’m humbled and honored to be here. I have concerns about meetings being held in public. We should follow Governor Murphy’s order #163. Some people are not wearing masks. I would like to have all future meetings go to Zoom until the Covid numbers decrease.”

Council President Bill Petrick thanked all who attended the meetings. “I believe all should follow the CDC Guidelines. Wear your mask and wash your hands. Last weeks meetings (1/8/21) was too late to do a Zoom Meeting and you can’t do a reorganization at a caucus meeting. The next meeting will be a Zoom and in-person for those who would like to attend at City Hall. People have an opportunity to speak to us in public.”

The meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m. All council members were present.