3/22/21 Caucus

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – The meeting was held at the City Council Chambers and via Zoom. All Council Members were present except for Councilman B.J. Torres who was present via Zoom.

Councilman Joel Pabon started off the meeting by asking for an update regarding Ordinance No. 3 – Acquisition of the property located at the corner of Amboy Avenue and Inslee Street known as 984 Amboy Avenue by exercise of the power of eminent domain. 

William Opel who was substituting for Law Director William Northgrave said, “The other property on that street located at 990 Amboy Ave. will have a new closing on Friday. The property on 994 Amboy Ave. – we are putting in an initial offer.”

Fire Chief Ed Mullen then came up to add additional comments, “Currently, there is no need for an emergency demolition. Both properties will be fenced off. Right now, we are just working on the specifications that were needed for these buildings. The specs are being worked on.”

Pabon continued, “I can’t believe these buildings can’t be demolished now.”

Mullen responded, “Right now, it is not an emergency, but I will promise you that fencing will be available.”

Opel then added, “The other property in question has not any remediation done yet.”

Mullen then stated, “The property at 994 Amboy Ave. will have contaminants (due to what kind of business was operated there).”

Opel then concluded, “Remediation has to be done on those properties before any demolition can take place.”

Business Administrator Ed Remsen then explained why there was a big discrepancy on the contract for repairs on a cement dock at Harborside Marina Utility. “One company who applied had a cost of $26,647 with additional work of $2,836 (Bryco Inc.). The other company (J.E. Hannon Inc. t/a Bird Construction) that bid on this work numbers were $92,000 and an additional $174,900.”

Business Administrator William Remsen explained, “With the Bryco Company, they have everything (all the tools) needed to do for this work. With J.E. Hannon, which has a much higher cost for their work is because they would subcontract some of the work out to other companies.”

Councilwoman Rose Morales said, “I feel that I will not be able to make a decision on this because there is no backup material.” 

Remsen then promised he could get backup material for all the council members.

Joel Pabon then asked a question about this repair work, “Dock 4 and Replace walers at the Harborside Marina Utility. – For those who are unfamiliar what walers are. Can someone from the Marina explain what walers are.”

Frank Wilder from the Marina came on via Zoom, “With the Dock 4 repairs, we have to cut out the broken pieces of cement and put in hydraulic cement. Walers have to be removed, and parts placed on them before they are replaced. Work will take possibly up to 2 weeks to be completed.”

Walers are structural beams mounted flush to the deck of the unifloat concrete floating dock (source: Pilebuck Magazine 4/15/15).

Council President Petrick wanted to make sure that the work will be properly supervised.

Wilder responded, “I will check everything, and you should know that by now.”

Councilman Joel Pabon then had comments about Ordinance No. 1 – No public discussion – An ordinance to amend an ordinance entitled Zoning and Land Development re: Marijuana Regulations.

He stated, “We need to put something on paper. I don’t know where we are at (on this issue), but this is a start and people have a chance to look at it. Let the residents make the decision and notify us. I want to know where they stand on this very important item.”

Council President William Petrick said, “Before Law Director Peter King left, we started working on an ordinance. It was stated that the sales of marijuana should not be sold at all. I sent out an email asking City Engineer Ernest Feist regarding land use when it comes to marijuana.”

City Engineer Feist spoke up via Zoom, “I did not get an email.”

Deputy Police Chief and OEM Director Larry Cattano spoke up and said, “There are different zones in the city regarding drug free zones.”

Petrick responded, “We need a map of all the city zones, especially drug free zones and I am asking the City Engineer Feist if he could do this. Each zone should be in different colors.”

Cattano responded, “Besides the schools, city parks are also included in drug free zones.”

City Clerk Victoria Kupsch then added, “You will have to amend the ordinance regarding drug free zones.”

Council President William Petrick then had a question regarding R-168-3/21 – amending R-440-1/21/20 – An interlocal service contract with the County of Middlesex for Health Department Services beginning January 1, 2021 and terminating December 31, 2021 amending the source of funding.

Petrick asked, “Are we getting the level of service that we need?

B.A. Remsen responded, “We may need to look at this again. We should have a taskforce to see if this is worth renewing.”

Petrick then stated, “We were supposed to have a higher level of service.”

Councilman B.J. Torres responded, “We should have our own local health department. It may cost more, but it will be money well spent.”

Petrick then agreed with Remsen, “We need to look more closely at the contract.”

City Engineer Feist then told Councilman Petrick that Resolution R-169-3/21 – Release of a performance guarantee in the amount of $330,264.84 in a cash bond in an amount of $36,696.09 to DENJ for Chamberlain and State for the cul-de-sac off Chamberlain Avenue. 

Joel Pabon then questioned R-170-3/21- Rejecting bids for the NJDOT Road Rehabilitation and Improvement, State Street and Lewis Street and advertising for requests for bids. 

Pabon said, “We were supposed to have these paved last year.”

B.A. Remsen explained, “This was rejected because it exceeded the money that were advertised for this job and we are going to rebid this as quickly as possible.”

Remsen also explained R-172-3/21 – Authorizing a contract to Truegreen for vegetation control, fertilization, and seeding services of various city areas in an amount not to exceed $25,000.

Remsen said, “This company is recurring.”

Council President Petrick asked why the contract for R-174-3/21 – Appointment of and approving a contract with Ernest W. Feist and City State Engineering in an amount not to exceed $36,000.

Petrick asked, “Why is this more money this time?”

Feist spoke up via Zoom, “The city set the fees, and this is the same amount of money as the last couple of years.”

CFO Jill Goldy then spoke up via Zoom, “This contract will be paid from 2 different sources.”

There then was a lengthy discussion on R-183-3/21 – Accepting the bid and awarding a contract to In Line Services for the replacement of water meter sizes 5/8 inches thru 8 inches and the testing of existing meters in an amount not to exceed $289,125.

Luis Perez Jimenez Director of Operations at the USA-PA (Utility Service Associates Perth Amboy Middlesex Water Company) came up to speak, “We have to test over 3,000 meters that we took out and can’t be reused. We have to make sure they are accurate.

Councilman Petrick asked, “Would you be able to notify each owner of the meters to see if any were overcharged?”

Jimenez explained, “All those meters will be scrapped.”

Petrick then wondered, “If they are no good, then why test them?”

Jimenez explained, “To benefit the customers and we can get $15,000 for the old meters.”

Petrick then questioned, “How many guys are in the meter shop? And can they test the meters instead of hiring a company to do this for this amount of money?”

Jimenez explained, “The testing is free. The money in the resolution is for the new meters that we put in place.”

Petrick then moved on to the topic of bills of former Law Director Peter King resubmitted for payment. He asked if CFO Jill Goldy was on Zoom and if she was, did she get a chance to review King’s bill list to see if he was entitled to this pay. 

Goldy responded via Zoom, “The current law department and Mr. King would have to review this list. It’s hard for my office to do this on our own. We can try to go back, but typically those items – we can’t tell if they were billed previously.”

B.A. Remsen spoke up, “I will ask the current Law Director (William Northgrave) to review King’s bills. I don’t think any of these bills that King requested for payment have been paid. We will review them again.”

Public Portion:

Resident and former councilman Ken Balut was first to speak, “An employee from the Middlesex County Health Department has been charged with sexual harassment. Who picked up the garbage from 395 Rector Street? Was it the city or the owner of the property? Everybody knows about Governor Cuomo’s case involving sexual harassment charges, but in our city, a judge dismissed a case for sexual harassment without hearing from the accuser. That complaint should have been reviewed outside of the city and the woman never got her day in court. The prosecutor’s office doesn’t do anything about our sexual harassment cases, even with complaints filed. We still haven’t solved cases dealing with first time homebuyer programs, illegal occupancy of a house, Code Enforcement losing certifications. You should ask the Law Director, the Business Administrator, and the Mayor to meet about the problems I just discussed.”

Petrick then asked Balut, “Are you asking as the woman’s (the one who filed sexual harassment charges that was ignored) advocate?”

Balut responded, “I am asking as a concerned citizen.”

Resident Stanley Sierakowski came up next. He suggested the council contact the DCA (Department of Community Affairs) about the cases that Balut talked about. “Especially when it comes to sexual harassment. It’s all internal. This woman who lost her job in the court department got a large increase in pay before losing her job. Let the Attorney General handle this and investigate. If you (the council) don’t know what to do, then you should resign.” Sierakowski then turned his attention to the Middlesex County Department of Health. “Everything they do in the city should be documented. If it isn’t, then table the resolution (R-168) and get your money back. You can hire bilingual city employees to do the job that the Middlesex County Department of Health would have done and on Wednesday, I’ll give you documents on the back taxes that Anchor Marine owes you, and I’ll do any additional work that’s needed for $500 an hour.”

Resident and Board of Education Member Junior Iglesia came up next. “I come up to speak as a taxpayer and concerned parent. How many millions of dollars will be needed for the year 2022? There is going to be a change of 6.7% of the market value. There is going to be 242+ millions of dollars of property tax. How much for the average homeowner would the tax increase be?” He then turned his attention to the harmful effects of marijuana. “At the age of 25 is when full brain development is done. The biggest part of brain development is between the ages of 7 to 22. With marijuana use is the beginning of short-term memory loss and loss of IQ. Marijuana is a gateway drug. Speaking as a parent, there is nothing to compensate for the loss of a human being. There has been an increase of 300% of marijuana use in students in the twelfth grade.”

Petrick asked Iglesia, “What are you doing about this matter as a member of the BOE?”

Iglesia responded, “We are having discussions and are limited as to what we can do, but you have the power to put an ordinance in place. We can only put in policies.”

Petrick continued, “As a BOE Member, you can be an advocate for not having marijuana. Prior to me being on the council, marijuana law was not brought up.”

Pabon then joined the conversation, “The citizens have only 5 council members and the Board of Education has 9 members. Some of the members should be here when marijuana is on the agenda. Your representatives should be here to let us know what your discussions about marijuana are.”

Igelsia suggested, “We need to have a public meeting on this issue alone.”

Petrick stated, “We will.”

Resident Maria Peralta came up to speak next. She spoke in Spanish. Comments were translated by Council Members Pabon and Tejeda. “I want to first apologize to the council president for not addressing him at the last meeting. People are asking that marijuana be produced and distributed here. I want to hear everyone’s opinion and I am asking our mayor to address this issue. I’m asking the churches, the assembly, and the governor to address this. Reach out to the governor and ask him not to have a marijuana law here. I respect marijuana users, but we need to ask the community to get together to ask the council and the mayor to reject the marijuana law. I want the council to state their individual decision.”

Council President Petrick responded, “The police can arrest anyone misusing the drugs.”

Tashi Vazquez, who is Vice-President of the Board of Education came up to speak. “The council can ask us about our policies and procedures (regarding marijuana). We can coordinate meetings with the council. At a recent Board of Education Meeting, we had positive results (regarding marijuana discussions).”

Resident Vince Mackiel came up next and asked, “Was there any updates on the Market Street Bridge repair work?”

B.A. Edward Remsen responded, “I wrote to you. New Jersey Transit takes care of the infrastructure, and the county does the roadwork. Transit said they are in the design phase now. The county is stymied until Transit finishes their design phase.”

Mackiel finished and asked, “How will the $2 million be allocated involving the infrastructure? I would appreciate a follow-up.”

Former Councilman Fernando Irizarry came up next. He thanked the council for their service and their time here, “I am glad the marijuana issue is on an ordinance, but we need more items included. I understand the council had threats made to them regarding the marijuana issue. When threats were made to me, they did not intimidate me. It did just the opposite. Listen to all those who speak. That will be mostly a win-win for the majority of the people. Do it with respect and civility. Does the ordinance address all classes of marijuana?”

Petrick responded, “The ordinance said not to have marijuana anywhere in the city.”

Irizarry questioned, “Does it prohibit manufacturing and sales?”

Petrick responded, “It covers everything.”

Irizarry stated, “Thanks for listening to us. There are only 105 days to work this out. The floodgates will open if we don’t get this done (in that timeframe) and we don’t want to wait 5 years (to address this issue again). There will be no turning back.”

Petrick then stated, “You can’t prevent other towns who have a marijuana service to deliver to residents here.”

Irizarry concluded, “According to the marijuana law, the police can’t arrest a person using it, even if it is a minor.”

Petrick then asked if we can get an expert to talk about this. 

Deputy Police Chief Cattano came up, “An officer can be charged with a civil rights violation and the officer can’t notify the parents if a minor has possession. Liquor will have the same laws as the marijuana law. It prohibits the cops from doing their job of protecting minors.”

B.A. Remsen asked to speak in front of the council regarding the budget. “We were given a lot of money from the federal government, and now the budget is in the council’s hands. They can amend the budget based on the money we will be getting. We are giving our recommendations to the council.”

Petrick then stated, “There are stipulations on the federal money.”

Remsen then stated, “There is a time limit on how the money is to be spent. It is supposed to help replace some of our lost revenue.”

Mayor Helmin Caba came up to speak, “Some of the questions asked about this federal money should be addressed to the county.”

The meeting was opened up to Zoom participants.

The first person to speak via Zoom was Sharon Hubberman, “The marijuana ordinance only addresses zoning and does not address production and distribution. Time is running out on putting in place our thoughts regarding marijuana laws. We need a special meeting for this to be addressed.

The public portion was closed.

Petrick spoke up, “I want to see former Law Director Peter King’s bills that he resubmitted to be looked at again.”

Council Comments:

Councilwoman Rose Morales said, “We’re here to listen to the public’s comments. Be respectful and nonthreatening. Posing threats does not work. We want to work together.” She then addressed Councilman Pabon about some comments he made regarding the lights being out in the city. “It has been going on for a long time. PSEG is shorthanded. They said they are working on fixing the lights and hoping that it will be done by April.” She also wanted to than Meridian Hospital for giving vaccines to senior citizens. 

Deputy Police Chief and OEM Coordinator Larry Cattano gave out a vaccine hotline for seniors to call to setup appointments: 732-324-3521. “400 senior citizens are to be vaccinated this week.”

Morales then commended Cattano, Meridian, and the Department of Human Resources Director Ken Ortiz for getting this done. 

Cattano then said, “PRAHD and the Housing Authority also helped in getting the vaccines out.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “I want to correct some facts. I walk the city every day and only a third of the lights have been fixed. The lights by the parking authority were fixed and only a handful after that. After the last meeting, I mentioned how dark it was in the parking lot and the road leading to Riverview Drive. Did anybody go down there? I’ve been talking about the lights with the prior administration. I walk the city every single day. After 6 months, a resident on Amboy Avenue said the streetlight by his house were finally fixed. The lights are taken care of, but then the work falls behind. Prior to me, former Councilman Fernando Gonzalez complained about the lights. I did not decide to go after the new administration. I went to the hospital to see the people get vaccinated. The county opened up new places to get vaccines. When you go to places that have the vaccines, there is always a line. The day they were handing out shots in the Vocational School, I decided to register for a vaccine. I am still waiting for a callback. ShopRite, CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens are all offering vaccines, but you go online to register, and they are all booked up. Jersey City, which has a smaller city that we have, and less teachers, are not sure if they will be able to get their teachers shots. Get the shot to Perth Amboy residents. Woodbridge vaccines are only for their residents. We were told by the Jewish Renaissance, that they will be going to different senior citizen buildings to give out vaccines. Yes, I posted live videos and I stand by my statement regarding the lights being out and the (lack of) vaccines for our residents. I want to wish our City Clerk Victoria Kupsch a Happy Birthday! I see no one else has wished her a happy birthday. She has been here a long time.”

Kupsch responded that she has been a city employee for 37 years. 

People in attendance applauded her.

Pabon then turned his attention to the backstreet of some homes on Kearny Avenue, Harrison Street, and Patterson Street known as “Sunshine Alley”. “There are a lot of rocks there and have the City Engineer look to possibly have those streets asphalted on it. Those residents are taxpayers. There are a lot of trucks coming off of Rte. 440 going to Target and other warehouses. There are no signs to direct them to these warehouses and they are using Pulaski Avenue which is a very small street. Those residents are getting a petition together to stop truck traffic.”

Deputy Police Chief and OEM Director Larry Cattano came up to address Pabon’s concerns about the Covid vaccine. “We are trying to get more vaccines and people who work in the schools who are interested in getting shots, 488 are signed up to get vaccinated.”

Council President Petrick then asked Cattano, “Can they get signed up directing trucks how to get to the warehouses without going on Pulaski Avenue?”

Cattano said, “The State may have to get involved. This may have to be advertised.” He also addressed the concerns about these barriers that were put up on the boardwalk of Sadowski Parkway. “They were temporary storm barriers that I asked Public Works to put up. I wasn’t aware they were still in place and I will ask Public Works to remove them.”

Mayor Helmin Caba came up to speak, “I want to clarify something regarding the vaccinations given out at the Vo Tech School. That was not from the county – and it is complicated. I’m not sure if it was the county or the state that set up that site. We are working with the governor’s office to get vaccines for our residents. We will continue to advocate for Perth Amboy. This is a problem nationwide and the people are asking for vaccines.”

Pabon then spoke up and said he has a problem. “People come here from out of the city to get their vaccinations, and they are exposing our people to Covid. I wake up each morning and check my email from concerned residents and share them with all the council members. You (Mayor Caba) should sit here with us.”

Mayor Caba responded, “There is a language barrier which hinders registrations for the vaccine. We should have bilingual registration.”

Pabon then stated that he heard through the grapevine that the city received a stack of vaccines. “We should know about this.”

Councilwoman Tejeda said, “I am looking forward to working with the Board of Education to take care of our residents. I work with Our Lady of Fatima Church, and I registered 150 people to sign up for the vaccine. A lot of young people also want the vaccine even though they are in a low-risk group. We need to send the data to high authorities to get more vaccines sent to us. I only registered my mother with the county because the other sites are full.”

Councilman B.J. Torres said, “New Jersey has double the national average of Covid cases. We in Perth Amboy have the highest rate of Covid cases and the highest number of deaths. Having public meetings are spreaders and we need Zoom Meetings. Zoom Meetings are safer. Our council chambers are poorly ventilated, and it opens up risks to those in attendance.”

The meeting went into closed session at 7:39 p.m. All council members were present, but Councilman B.J. Torres participated via Zoom.