8/11/21 Council Meeting

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – The first order of business was a presentation and public hearing for Comcast of New Jersey which was asking for a renewal of their contract with the city. 

Leslie London from the Law Firm of McManimon, Scotland & Baumann came up to speak first. “We have reached out to Comcast and they provided materials to you, what they can provide, and the terms and the duration of the contract. She then introduced Charles Smith (Top Executive of Comcast). He told the council that they are in the final stages of renewal and have to follow federal, state, and local guidelines. There are 4 aspects to the contract:

1.) Compliance to federal, state, and local guidelines.

2.) Quality of the service we provide to the community.

3.) Our financial obligation and are technological abilities.

4.) To serve the future needs of the community.

“Our rates are governed by the state and federal government and are covered by the BPU. We are a nonexclusive franchise and provide basic service.”

Council President Bill Petrick asked the question as to whether the boxes can be upgraded.

Smith answered, “There is a cost to do that.” He also said, “Maybe some of the senior citizen buildings (owned by the city) can probably be eligible for basic courtesy services. We operate over 300 communities.”

Councilman Joel Pabon then spoke up, telling Smith that the number one issue is with the audio. “Do you provide equipment to help with this?”

Smith replied, “We require equipment for the signal for the transmitter. The production equipment cost will be the city’s responsibility. We have upgraded our technology. We provide grants to cities for upgrades to their signals.”

Leslie London came up to speak again, “You have a list of all the equipment from Comcast that is provided to the buildings they serve. You to make sure that everything that on that list was provided to you.”

Smith then addressed Pabon’s concerns about the audio, “I was not aware of audio problems until you brought it to my attention. I should be the first point of contact. I’ve been with Comcast for over 20 years.”

Petrick then suggested, “Maybe the amps on the poles have not been upgraded which is causing audio problems in the Budapest section of town. We used to have Channel 36 which was given to another municipality. Can we activate it?”

Smith replied, “It is available to the city, and we can put equipment in place, but it will be a cost to Comcast, and we have a budget. Ask for it and we will make it happen.”

Petrick then talked about the items on the list that we were supposed to check to make sure everything was received. “It was old analog equipment which we can’t use because everything is digital. Would you send service personnel to install the new equipment and take out the old equipment?”

Smith replied, “Yes, we will.  We just need a location to install the equipment for Channel 36. Your access channel is fiber.”

The meeting was then opened up to the public to ask questions only about the Comcast renewal. 

Resident Lisa Nanton came up. “The problem is getting customer service to show up. I had trouble with Xfinity not working. I found out that whole street was having trouble with their cable. The access cable and a bunch of cable lines were all over my house on the outside.”

Councilwoman Rose Morales then asked, “Does anyone go around checking the cable wires to make sure that they are not in disarray?”

Smith replied, “Our technicians are very observant and will report any problems if it is our cables. We are not allowed to touch any equipment belonging to any other cable providers.” Smith also addressed Mrs. Nanton and said he would send someone out at her address to see the problems with excessive cable wires outside of her house. 

Councilman B.J. Torres then asked if Comcast had any internship programs.

Smith replied, “We are not a production company and we do not have any internship programs.”

The meeting was then opened up to the public to speak on ordinances that have a public hearing.

The first person to speak regarding Ordinance No. 1 – Zoning and Landing Development to prohibit the operation of any class of cannabis business in the city.

Lisa Nanton came forward, “It would be cruel not to provide this for people with pain and suffering. No one speaks about the addictions to food and liquor. If you abuse them, you may develop pain and may need medical marijuana (to relieve that pain). Do you hear anyone ask for over the counter medications and give a reason for why they are needed? (They just buy it off the shelf.) To be an American, and to have freedom of choice. We need to plan properly to sell marijuana to reduce pain and suffering.”

The ordinance was opened up for people on Zoom to speak.

Resident from Eatontown, New Jersey Jeffrey King said that the last speaker spoke very eloquently. “I agree with everything she said, but it should be for adult use. The marijuana business is an asset. I use it when I need a better quality of speak and it also has helped people with M.S. and cancer. I appreciate your compassion for medical use of marijuana. Many veteran organizations and other organizations endorse marijuana. Our voting rights matter. Cannabis is healthy and safer than alcohol. It is a positive thing for the community, and it will help people of color. I’m asking that you table this and work more on the zoning of the ordinance.”

The next speaker was Mr. Giordano who is a representative from the UFC (United Food and Commercial Workers). “We approve of the ordinance as is, especially for adults and medical use. It is an opportunity for young people to have jobs in the cannabis industry. There are good labor laws in place with good trade and labor jobs available. It is a long-term economic opportunity. We are working with the AFLCIO. There are a lot of aspects involved in the cannabis business including applications, renewal fees, and licenses to protect working class people. There are environmental standards in place and local ownership. A lot of retired police officers work as security guards for some of the cannabis businesses. Look at the way Bayonne, Montclair, and Highland Park (have embraced marijuana).”

Council President Petrick said, “We are in favor of all of our pharmacies to carry marijuana products.”

Giordano responded, “State laws say you must choose what type of licenses you want. Right now, it is not set up for pharmacies to dispense all marijuana products, but I am not opposed to it.”

Public Comments on agenda items only.

Resident Ken Balut came up. He asked about R-389-8/21 – Appointing Fund Commissioner and an Alternate Fund Commissioner for the Public Entity Joint Insurance Fund. 

“Who will be the Commissioners?”

Patrick responded, “It will be our Business Administrator Michael Green, and the Alternate will be Maria Rivera from the Purchasing Department.”

Ordinance No. 1 – Zoning and Land Development for Cannabis. Was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. 

Ordinance No. 2 – Parking Spaces for Handicapped regarding additions was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.

Ordinance No. 3 – entitled Arts Council regarding meetings was moved by Tejeda and seconded by Pabon. Ordinance No. 1 (first reading) entitled Storm Water Management was moved by Tejeda and seconded by Torres. Ordinance No. 2 (first reading) – entitled Handicapped Parking Additions was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. Ordinance No. 3 (first reading) – Donated property from Duke Realty. Was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. 

Council President Bill Petrick made a comment about Ordinance No. 3 (Donated Property). “We need a change in the language. I don’t anything resembling an amphitheater on that land.”

Ordinance No. 4 (first reading) – General Development Plan Administration was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. 

Ordinance No. 5 (first reading) – Transfer of land known as 590 Smith Street. Was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. Councilman B.J. Torres abstained because he did not have enough information to vote on it. 

Ordinance No. 6 (first reading) – Police Department – moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. 

The consent agenda was voted upon next. Councilman B.J. Torres asked if R-403 – (A Contract with the Jewish Renaissance Foundation for an Alternative Education Entity in the amount of $15,616.00 under a CDBG Grant from the Department of HUD) be voted on separately. 

R-386 thru R-402 and R-404 thru R-428 was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. R-403 was moved by Pabon; seconded by Tejeda. All voted “Yes” except B.J. Torres who abstained.

Public Portion:

Resident Ken Balut spoke first. “Has anyone seen the report from the Government Strategy Group?”

The whole council responded, “No.”

Business Administrator Michael Green said, “I have not seen the final report – only a draft of it.  As soon as Government Strategy gives the final results, you all will be given a copy.”

Balut spoke again, “You have to vet consultants. I filed ethnic violations against former Mayor Joe Vas. Government officials subpoenaed all my records that I gathered. Two police officers are suing the city. They were suspended with pay even though there were no charges filed against them. Years ago, we had a law director (Capece) who the city sued for over $500,000 for not doing his job. We won that lawsuit.”

Resident Vince Mackiel came up next. He asked for a list of community agencies who have received federal grant money to help residents with relief such as to pay their rent. Notices should have been sent out (to make people aware of this money). We also need demographic information on this. I see they are taking baby steps on the Market Street Bridge. New Jersey Transit designated someone to look at the bridges. New Jersey Transit is not taking care of their own infrastructures such as the sidewalk. I appreciate the councilman who talked about our other bridges in disrepair.”

Resident Lisa Nanton came up next. “I talked to a representative from Duke Realty, and they told me that the amphitheater could not be built because it was too expensive. Did they tell PARA this? You should remove the word amphitheater from the ordinance.”

Council President Petrick then questioned, “Are we agreeing in this ordinance to accept what we thought we were getting but we are not getting? We need an official design.”

B.A. Green replied, “Everyone seems to have a different connotation (what the amphitheater should look like). We have to see what was in the original design.”

Petrick continued, “They were adamant (Duke Realty) about dollar figures. They told us about that when we had a discussion. It has to do with if there was enough money and dollar figures.”

Councilwoman Rose Morales said, “It is just a matter of what is in it in black and white.”

Petrick then remarked, “Before accept this project, we need to do check and balances to make sure we get what we agreed upon.”

Pabon then added, “It’s been sitting like that for a couple of months.”

Nanton then asked, “This was the first time this was presented.”

Green then spoke up, “The key to all of this is what was in the artist’s rendering that was presented to the council.”

Petrick said, “It is different from what we thought.”

Nanton said, “What is there right now is useless.”

Resident Alan Silber then jumped up, came to the podium, and said, “The speaker’s time is up, and you wouldn’t let the last speaker go over their allotted time. The first speaker asked one of the councilmen why they abstained on one of the resolutions. “You would not give an extra second for that speaker to wait for an answer. I believe in transparency and if someone abstains, they should give a reason why. Why did Councilman Torres abstain on R-403? He should have given an explanation. In December, the Code Enforcement Director said they were on top of the situation of the property at 395 Rector Street which had a lot of violations. Did the property owner pay fines?”

Green responded, “The permits are ready for the owner to pick up.”

Councilman Pabon spoke up. “I was driving by, and I saw the city shut down services at that property.”

Green said, “I will see if the owner of that building picked up the permits (to demolish that structure).”

Silber concluded, “I wish the mayor would come to the meeting to give an update on the Rector Street property.”

Councilman B.J. Torres then responded to Silber as to why he abstained on R-403, “It is because the Jewish Renaissance said they moved out of town to Edison. I am not sure they are serving the citizens of Perth Amboy. No one spoke on their (JRF) behalf. I don’t know if they are benefiting our residents and I couldn’t vote on that because of that reason.”

No one spoke via Zoom.

Council Comments:

Councilwoman Rose Morales was glad meetings will continue to be broadcast via Zoom. “A lot of people can be involved. There are a lot of positive things happening in the city such as movie nights, vaccinations, National Night Out. I would like to congratulate all involved for a job well done for National Night Out. Concerts by the Bay were great. I want to congratulate Acting Chief Cattano and the Acting DPW Director and to our two retired police officers who were recognized today (Officers Henry Rogers and Richard Zaleski).

Councilman Joel Pabon said, “I would like to see a number of people who received rent assistance. “If rents are not paid, the owners of those building cannot pay their mortgages. I’m glad there is work starting on the Second Street Park. There is also a park adjacent to it and I’m hoping they are starting repairs on that adjacent park before school starts in September. Can we get a report on the appraisal on all the old city buildings on High Street?” He also asked, “Are we still paying the company (The Strategy Group) even though their contract expired?”

Green responded, “No, we are not paying them.”

Pabon then asked if Kenny Ortiz can give an update on the proposed amphitheater.

Ortiz came forward and said, “There were several design models. I can look at the agreement and emails between former Law Director Frederick Carr and City Engineer Jeffery Rauch.”

Council President Bill Petrick said, “There is no seating in what is supposed to be an amphitheater. And what about the lab building and the facilities they were supposed to have inside that building? The renderings are different from what we accepted.”

Ortiz responded, “I can look at the conceptional plans. I know there was a change by the previous administration.”

Pabon then asked, “Were there any monies given to the city?”

Ortiz replied, “I know the city was offered $900,000 to refurbish a building, but they turned it down.”

Councilwoman Milady Tejeda spoke next. “I take all the comments made by the public very seriously, but changes take time. Congratulations to Chief Cattano and the new DPW Director. I have missed some very good events because of work obligations.”

Councilman B.J. Torres said, “We are going in the right direction regarding cannabis, but not far enough. We didn’t take federal money which would pay for some of the cost to repair our sewers. We will be forced to raise taxes. We’ve heard from other cities and labor unions who have talked about the benefits from marijuana sales. I hope we can open up for adult use. Please get vaccinated.”

Council President Petrick thanked all who came here in person and all those who participated via Zoom. He then asked the lawyer, “When can we expect to get the payment from Kushner for paving the part of Rector Street that his property is on?”

Substitute Law Director William Opel replied, “I can’t speculate when the payment will come to the city.”

Petrick went on, “How many summonses have been issued on 395 Rector Street? Kushner has been getting away with this for 12 years and with prior administrations. Can we advertise Kushner properties for sale? We need an assessment on them. There was supposed to be improvements for the city clerk’s office. There were photos of fire chiefs that were in the hallways who were elected officials. Where are they? An Archbishop was here tonight at St. Demetrios Church. There were several orthodox priests in attendance who recognized St. Demetrios Church and Greek community’s contributions the city.” Petrick then encouraged the public to report any audio problems with Comcast to the city clerk or the Business Administrator’s office. They can forward those complaints to us.”

The meeting adjourned at 9:09 p.m. All council members were present in person.