Bicyclists outside City Hall at the 4/26/21 Caucus Meeting *Photo by Carolyn Maxwell

4/28/21 Council Meeting

By Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – Business Manager for the Parking Utility Jeanette Rios came up first. She stated that the budget was not prepared by her. “We have four employees in the office and a supervisor clerk. We are in charge of the residential, commuter, and monthly parking permits. We have eight municipal parking lots and between 500-600 meters. We are working on different regulations of the parking deck and will be starting renovations soon. We’ll be starting the renovations on the first level of the Jefferson Street Parking deck, but I don’t have all the details, yet. Our budget is $4000 less than last year. We would like to see some conversion of the single meters to double meters. Every year, we have to dip into the general fund. Our clerk handles any complaints. I oversee the employees and meet with the Business Administrator to move projects along. Any citizen of Perth Amboy who takes the train to work can park at the train station parking lot for free.”

Councilman Joel Pabon asked, “Who put the budget together?”

Business Administrator Remsen said that he did.

Pabon continued, “Looking at the 2020 budget, it was $648,690.00 and the proposed budget shows $534,781.22.”

Remsen explained, “The volume of use and other expenses were reduced. Our employees will oversee the renovations.”

Pabon then asked if there was an overestimate of the budget. 

Remsen replied, “There was a reduction of visitors due to the pandemic. We are still losing revenue, but not as much.”

Next up for review was the Municipal Court. Judge Kenneth Gonzalez came up and introduced the Court Administrator, Soleny Pena. Gonzalez stated he was there to support Ms. Pena who prepared the budget. 

Pena stated that all sessions are virtual. “People can come in to make payments. The budget is mostly the same except for a small increase for professional services which is for an interpreter which is needed for all the virtual sessions which takes longer. We also need a Deputy Court Administrator. We have over 12,000 active cases. We need a Title Clerk 1 because of a vacancy that is not filled. Our interpreter comes from a contractor who has an office in Perth Amboy. We have someone inhouse who is qualified for that position, but the Assignment Judge has to approve the person for the Deputy Court Administrator position.”

Judge Gonzalez then spoke up and stated, “That position has to be advertised and open to the public. Once the Deputy Court Administrator is picked, then we will need to get another Clerk 1. The prior administration did not fill the Clerk 1 position.”

B.A. Remsen spoke up. “We are in the process to get another public defender who can speak dual languages. The person who is the public defender now we may not renew the contract. We asked if anybody local would be interested in this position and we will also use our regular advertising.”

The next person who came up to speak was Fire Chief Ed Mullen. “In 2019, our department took over the fire prevention duties from Code Enforcement. The people who are working in Fire Prevention are working close to 60 hours a week. We are fully self-sufficient.” He then talked about the cause of most fires. “Discarding smoking materials improperly, overloading of power strips on outlets, plugging appliances into fire strips they should not be plugged into. Any air-conditioning units should be plugged into an outlet and not unto power strips. People cooking on a stove and forgetting about it. Marijuana smoking might cause you to be impaired while cooking. If you call the Fire Department, and you need smoke/carbon monoxide detectors let us know. We will install them for free. I am in charge of the Fire Prevention Bureau and by state law we are required to inspect some buildings annually.”

Mullen then introduced Kevin Metz who runs the Violations Bureau. “It is important that exit signs, emergency lighting, door exits, sprinklers, general lighting, and suppression systems are working properly. We also check for any violations and safety measures are in place (such as extension cords, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors.) It is important that we have basement access. Any fuel burning appliances has to be properly ventilated. Some buildings or businesses require lockboxes so we can access the inside. Prior to 1984, people had windowless basements. In 1984, there was a unified fire code requiring that basements have windows.”

Mullen then took over the presentation again. “4500 – 5000 inspections are to be done annually. Some things that were supposed to be enforced fell through the cracks. During one fire at an apartment building, there were 7 people on the second floor of that building who didn’t know there was a fire in the basement below them. Isias Rodriguez was able to safely get those 7 people out of the building. Windowless basement fires can only be fought from the inside. Some of the buildings going up today require a quicker response due the new construction materials. With the popularity of electric vehicles comes a problem because of the lithium batteries they use. It takes 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish those fires.”

B.A. Remsen stated, “Many people who have violations didn’t have the funds to make improvements. Income eligible landlords were given grants to offset some of those improvement costs.” Remsen gave credit to Tashi Vazquez from the Office of Economic Development who was able to help these landlords get grant money through the NPP (Neighborhood Preservation Program).”