By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – DPW Director Frank Hoffman gave a synopsis of his budget for the year of 2021. He stated, “There has been more trash due to the pandemic and people staying home more. We used to make money on recycling. Now, we owe money. We had to take money from other line items to pay for disposables. There was an increase in our line items for uniforms, especially for boots.” He then talked about the marina. “Frank Wilde and Judy who worked in the Marina Office did a good job with managing the money for their operating cost.” 

Wilde then came up to give more information in regards to how the marina operates. “We have 137 boat slips for rental and out of those only 9 spots are left open.”

Council President Petrick asked if they were able to expand the amount of slips for more boats. 

Wilde responded, “It will cost more money and we would love to have more slips because it would mean more money coming into the marina. We have 6 moorings, and we are adding 2 more. We also have spaces for jet skis. Repair work is being done at the marina. That should be done within 2 weeks after they start.”

Councilman Joel Pabon asked Hoffman, “Why is the line item for education and training increased?”

Hoffman explained that it had been put in the budget in the past. “It was always voted down. Calcium Chloride went up and we had to have more on hand for emergencies.”

Pabon continued, “Sometimes people will call up DPW and not have very good experiences when they talk to someone in that department. I hope more of your people get more training to be more courteous. By the way, the skateboard parks look awesome.”

Hoffman responded giving credit to the Buildings and Grounds who did that work. 

Councilwoman Milady Tejeda wanted to commend Hoffman and his department for all that they do which is beneficial to the town. 

Hoffman explained, “All the training that our department receives has been beneficial and I am glad you recognize that.”

Code Enforcement Director Irving Lozada came up and gave a report on what the department has been doing for the last 2 years since the beginning of 2019. “We have 15 employees which includes people in the construction, fire, plumbing, and the elevator divisions. There are currently 4 Code Enforcement Officers, and we need to add 2 more. We are asking it to be a Zoning Officer and an Assistant Zoning Officer. The operational budget is the same as last year. The council had approved our department getting 3 new cars which we have not received yet. The salaries in our department are low compared to other towns.”

Petrick responded, “We need to see the productivity of the existing employees instead of comparing your salaries to other towns.”

Lozada continued, “Our current Building Inspector is underpaid and under title for the license that he has.”

Business Administrator Remsen wanted to clarify Lozada’s statement. “The Building Inspector is doing work that is above his current title.”

Lozada then explained that he is not a city employee and he requesting to get paid what Building Inspectors normally would get. 

Petrick then asked Lozada, “All the money you generate in your department can only be spent for your department. Where is your balance sheet?”

Lozada responded, “I have it here, but I can make a copy for you.”

Lozada continued, “$1.7 million was collected for permit fees and the state gets part of that money. After paying the state, we made $1.5 million in 2019. That year, we spent a little over $800,000.”

Councilman Pabon spoke next, “You (Code Enforcement) are a lot like the Fire Department. You can only use the money for your department.”

Lozada continued, “The UCC (Uniform Construction Code) states we need to spend all the money in our budget.”

Petrick then stated, “If your department was using all of your money, it should not impact the city’s budget.”

Lozada continued, “We made money because of warehouses such as Home Depot coming in. We should have money saved to use to pay expenses for the next few years.”

Pabon asked, “What are your plans for the two additional employees you are requesting.”

Lozada stated, “We will need them in the fields. We had two fires in one week last week and one was a disaster.”

Pabon then suggested that they need a team just to do inspections. “We have too much illegal housing and it keeps happening over and over again. When you see a 2-family house with a lot of satellite dishes, it’s a giveaway (for illegal housing).”

Lozada answered, “That’s why we need more manpower. We do the best with what we have. It is going to take a while.”

Pabon continued, “On Thursday, I took a ride with some of the fire officials and the inspections are way behind.”

Lozada then stated, “We need to educate our businesses and homeowners. We also have to work with the community to address safety concerns and correct them. Certain council members will text me about problems (for illegal housing issues).”

Pabon then laughed light-heartedly, “Out of the 312 complaints forwarded to Code Enforcement, I probably made half of those complaints.”

Councilman B.J. Torres asked, “What is illegal housing?”

Lozada answered, “The Fire Department determines that. When we went to one of the fires that happened recently, there were a total of 12 beds in 2 bedrooms.”

Pabon stated he had received 96 complaints regarding illegal housing. 

Torres then asked, “What’s done to homeowners of illegal housing?”

Lozada responded, “They are issued fines, but because of Covid, the courts are backed up.”

Torres then stated, “In Jersey City, the city will seize any illegal housing.”

Lozada then stated, “We have to get a right of entry if the homeowner refuses to let us in. The Zoning Officers look at the fire reports. The 2 additional Code Enforcement Officers that we are requesting must have required licensing to do inspections. When it comes to training, they will send instructors to come to us.”

The next topic for discussion was the review of Chapter 158 – Bicycles. 

Councilman Torres thought that this ordinance was archaic, and licenses should be voluntary instead of mandatory. “We encourage outsiders to visit our beautiful city and waterfront.”

Petrick spoke up and said, “This (licenses) is focused on city residents and we should have our Law Director review it.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “I remember when I got my first bike. The first thing that was done was we went to the police department to get a license and registration for your bike. A lot of bikes were stolen back then, and that is why they did this. The person who was in charge at the time to register the bikes was a person of color. Everybody knew the police officers back then. It was all about safety. When I was growing up, we could not do what was done today (dangerous stunts that were performed by several bicyclists circulating on social media). I would rather have an officer pull me over for unsafe riding instead of a child be run over.”

Torres responded, “The ordinance doesn’t address safety. Some of this is motor vehicle regulations. Parents don’t know it is going to be a mark on their auto insurance.”

Pabon countered, “Safety is already addressed in this ordinance.”

Torres disagreed and said, “The state law supersedes the Department of Motor Vehicles in this ordinance.”

Assistant Housing Manager Tashi Vazquez referred to a report entitled: “Circulation Element” which addressed Chapter 158 eliminating some of the provisions in it. The address adding: “Bike paths” and other ways to make the city more conducive to being more walkable were added. 

Torres asked, “This report that you are talking about was done in 2016 and was it accepted by the council?”

Vazquez stated, “It was up to them to accept the report or not.”

Council President Petrick then asked Law Director Northgrave to look at Chapter 158 – Bicycles in detail.”

The next topic for discussion was the proposed Salary Ordinance/Management and Nonunion.

Petrick started the conversation, “Can some titles be combined into one?”  

Mayor Helmin Caba came up to talk about this. “We need a Director of Economic Development and a City Planner and we need a Grant Writer.”

B.A. Remsen said, “A Planner will need to have a master’s degree and 5 years of professional municipal planning credentials. We are looking to restructure that department.”

Councilman Pabon then suggested, “Our master plan has been stalled, so we need a grant writer and go to the state and county for the money because they have it.”

Mayor Caba continued, “We are getting $50,000 from PARA to update the Master Plan.”

Councilwoman Tejeda stated, “We need a flow chart regarding all these different titles.”

Remsen stated, “The Professional Planner executes the master plan.”

Petrick then asked about the position of Director of Public Safety.”

Caba explained, “You (the council) will appoint the Police Director.”

Petrick then stated, “A civil service title is not needed for the Police Director position.”

Mayor Caba proceeded, “I can appoint anyone as a Police Director.”

Petrick then said, “The title exists, but it is not funded. In the past, the Police Director was paid.”

Councilman Pabon then joined the conversation, “The Fire Department is doing a great job. The Police Director and the Police Chief duties can be combined with no additional money.”

Mayor Caba said, “There are a lot of departments that do not have backups for their directors.”

Petrick asked, “Are we looking to hire people from the outside to be backups for our Department Directors instead of having people who are already in those departments to be backups?”

Councilwoman Tejeda suggested, “We need to train existing personnel in each department to take over as directors of those departments.”

B.A. Remsen responded, “We need to have people that have the expertise now.”

Mayor Caba then suggested, “It is good to promote those from within.”

Remsen continued, “We need to look at existing employees for training to be moved up in their department, but right now we are just working on titles (to be added, changed, or deleted).

Petrick then remembered, “We have eliminated titles before.”

Remsen continued, “We have existing titles that are not filled, so they are not costing you anything right now.”

Mayor Caba continued, “Some of the titles I’m proposing will be while I am in office such as a Confidential Aide which I have now and a Confidential Assistant – no one is assigned to that position, yet. “

Sonia Neira from the Mayor’s Office came in on Zoom, “Both of these titles just mentioned are unclassified and they have no civil service rights.

Councilman Torres then asked, “When was the Mayor’s Aide title eliminated?”

Petrick then said, “I don’t think we had a Mayor’s Aide title.”

Pabon corrected Petrick and said, “The Mayor’s Aide title was eliminated.”

Tejeda then said, “The last person to hold that title was Jeanette Rios.”

Pabon joined the conversation and said, “I don’t want all these titles to create what the school system has now. They have assistants to assistants to assistants. I’d rather someone ask for more money in their department than train people who are in their existing departments to move up and possibly take over that department. Every single position should be on our website.”

Petrick then stated, “I want to see the new titles and any titles that are to be eliminated should be crossed out.”

Mayor Caba then said, “We are committed to not raise taxes and to be conservative.”

Bill Petrick then asked about a title called, “Student Assistant.”

Director of Human Resources and Recreation Ken Ortiz joined via Zoom, “I am the one who suggested that we have students who can work as interns in the city and maybe through their experiences we can retain them to work in future positions. The Student Assistant title has civil service as part of the title, but they have no rights or protection to retain the position where they were interning. A lot of these students come from low-income families. With the money they get while they are interning can supplement their household income. These positions are paid through grants and are not paid through the city budget.”

Councilman Pabon had a question on R-218-4/21 – Appointing the following members to the Perth Amboy Arts Council. “How did we pick these people?”

Petrick said, “Myself and you picked some of them. I like to see a tally of the applicants and if there was a close count how they were chosen.”

Public Portion (People present in the council chambers spoke first):

Resident and Former Councilman Ken Balut spoke first. He mentioned the House of Prostitution on Prospect Street and that someone died on Smith Street. “One of my neighbors told me there were a bunch of bike riders that came down her street.” He then mentioned the salaries of some of the people working in the mayor’s office. “Lissette Lebron is making $80,000 which is more than Rose Morales’s husband who has been on the police force for more than 20 years. We have clerks who have worked more hours and more time on their jobs, and they are always here. Why did 2 council members ask to have those clerk’s reappointments tabled? Joel Rosa who also has a position in the Mayor’s Office gets a salary of $80,000 and he worked in a restaurant. We are having problems with the bike riders. No one had any answers for the civil liberties when they called. We are a laughingstock over this bike issue. It was even on NJ 101.5. There was someone shot at McDonald’s. And what about when there was an armed robbery at the Dollar Tree store? What happened to transparency? There was nothing reported in the papers about the fires at the illegal housing apartments.”

Resident Vince Mackiel spoke next. He thought that the current council would be more active regarding the Market Street Bridge. “We have a lot of nonprofit organizations in town, and they should be here making comments about the train station, especially for their clients that have disabilities. There should be a meeting about these issues, and it should be advertised. Our former and current mayors should participate in these discussions. I am asking that the bridge be part of this discussion. What part of the bike ordinance will be changed? There should be spot registration when it comes to bikes and not police action for just having a bike.”

Resident Iris Rodriguez came up next. “I want to thank the council president for putting on the agenda to name the Second Street Park after the Borinqueneers. A group has been working 50 years to recognize them. I am part of the committee. I also know Councilman Pabon approves of naming the park after this group. We want to recognize those who gave so much to this country.”

Lawyer Daniel Gonzalez came up next. He talked about the new position and title proposed by Mayor Caba, “There is a new administration with new ideas to get things done. Having student interns is great and grant writers and city planners are important. These are intelligent decisions. Not making changes can impede progress. Chief Mullen has done a wonderful job with the Fire Department. Job descriptions are needed. Some people have been employed for a long time in the city but have not done much. Lissette Lebron is worth more than $80,000. Joel Rosa is not just a former restaurant worker. He is brilliant. Tashi Vazquez has been doing grants and is multi-talented. Perth Amboy is getting better and better.”

Fire Chief Ed Mullen came up. “In 2017, a Fire Chief took his life and morale was low. I just found out about the Public Safety Director title just now. Larry Cattano is very capable of being put in a higher position. I also want to invite the council to a program to honor the firemen who were killed in line of duty in 1921. I will send information to you and the Amboy Guardian.” Mullen then mentioned the recent fires in illegal housing units. Landlords are not always aware that their tenants are subletting their apartments. Apartment buildings should be registered and inspected. The Fire Division Inspection Unit is doing a great job. As an owner of the building, you want to sleep well at night. I put the safety of the city before my family.”

Deputy Police Chief and OEM Director Larry Cattano came up to speak. “Inspections have increased, and it is a credit to the Fire Department. We have very talented people and I want to see them move up. I don’t see how outsiders can help the city and we are always open to suggestions.”

Petrick spoke up and said, “People are calling to complain about motor vehicle noises.”

Cattano responded, “We haven’t had any uptake in those calls. Last year, we could only send 5 candidates in our auxiliary department to go for training last year instead of our normal amount which would have been 15.”

The meeting was open to people on Zoom.

Resident and Former Councilwoman Lisa Nanton spoke, “The sound system in the council chamber sucks (for those participating via Zoom). Is the $16 million that we are going to get going into our general fund? It’s refreshing to hear the debate between the council members and the administration.”

B.A. Remsen answered her question regarding the $16 million. “We are not sure how it can be spent at this time.”

CFO Jill Goldy joined the conversation via Zoom, “The payment will be coming in 2 installments. The first one by the end of May 2021 and the second by the end of 2022. All of it cannot be used in one year. It must be spread over a 5-year period. We don’t know how the money can be deposited until the federal government sets their rules and the states review them.”

Remsen spoke up again, “We cannot make assumptions. We can only use money we currently have.”

Petrick then added, “The current budget has a tax increase.”

Remsen then cautioned, “There are options since you have reserve funds.”

Petrick responded, “I and some of the other council members talked to the finance board.”

Lisa Nanton made the last comment of the evening, “The money that we get is taxpayer’s money and it should not be used for new hirees.”

After the public portion closed, the meeting ended at 8:58 p.m. All council members were present in person.