8/9/21 Caucus

By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – There was a lengthy discussion amongst the council members whether the meetings should be continued on Zoom. Council President Bill Petrick was the one who requested that this be put on the agenda.

Councilman Joel Pabon was the first one to speak up regarding this matter. He was adamant about continuing Zoom meetings in light of the fact that Covid cases are continuing. “We are not out of the woods, yet. We are getting 20+ people calling in (from the public) via Zoom and a good number of people from the public are coming in person. It is a huge plus having Zoom participation. The Council is here, so it is a win-win and a plus having in-person and Zoom.”

Councilwoman Rose Morales spoke next stating that she agreed with Pabon. “I would love to see the faces of the people in person. It is a great tool having Zoom in place.”

Councilwoman Milady Tejeda said, “Zoom is the way of the future. It is a good way for people to participate from home.”

Councilman B.J. Torres also referenced the rise in Covid cases. “No one should fear going to public meetings. Zoom should continue.” 

Councilman Joel Pabon said, “Since we have money coming in, the administration should make this call (on continuing Zoom Meetings).”

Council President Bill Petrick brought up the fact, “The final decision will come down to us because we would have to add money to the budget. The Zoom Meetings cost extra money because we will have to have an IT person here to be able to operate the equipment (for the Zoom Meetings). This requires overtime for them.” Petrick questioned how many IT personnel there are.

IT Tech John Alleman indicated that there was only himself and one other person.

Councilwoman Tejeda then suggested the money be used to hire a third person to do the Zoom Meetings instead of paying the present technicians overtime.

Business Administrator Michael Green stated, “We have recovery funds and provide money for overtime and will continue to do so. You will see technology items on the agenda for our IT Technicians.”

Council President Petrick then stated that for Ordinance No. 1 (Public Hearing) regarding Amending Chapter 430 Zoning and Land Development to prohibit the operation of any class of cannabis business within the city. “There was a change to remove the medical restriction.”

There was a discussion involving the discrepancy between bids for certain work to be done such as repairs for the Jefferson Street Parking Garage. The high bid was $420,094 and the low bid was $117,860.

One council member asked, “Why is there such a big discrepancy.”

Purchasing Agent Maria Rivera came to the podium, “There are a lot of contractors who already have a lot of work and they may bid very high because they really don’t want to do the job.”

Councilman Pabon then questioned, “Of all the contractors who bid for this job, did they do any prior work for the city?”

Rivera responded, “I don’t know. I will get the answer for you.”

Jeannette Rios spoke up via Zoom, “One of the bidders did work for the city previously.”

Another voice came on via Zoom who happened to be the architect consultant on the job for the parking deck, “The contractor whom they recommended for the job did do previous work on the parking deck.”

Council President Petrick asked B.A. Green, “What is the city’s current rating?”

Green stated, “We have two ratings: A and A+ and this is due to the hard work of CFO Jill Goldy, the Tax Assessor Nancy Martin and the residents paying their tax bills.”

Councilman Joel Pabon had a question regarding Ordinance No. 3 (First Reading) – The donor agreement with Duke Realty donating property at 215 Riverview Drive which will contain the new amphitheater park and renovated lab building. “Is this ready to be handed over to us?”

Director of Human Services/Recreation Ken Ortiz spoke via Zoom, “The final walkthroughs were done a few months ago. There are discussions about having a small theater or ballpark and having a place for supplies and equipment at the amphitheater.”

The next topic for discussion involved Ordinance No. 4 (first reading) – General Development Plan Administration.

B.A. Mike Green explained, “There is a 2.5% assessed value on new developments that have a certain percentage of affordable housing units built. That money will remain in the city to add our trust fund.”

Tashi Vazquez Assistant Director of City’s Office of Economic & Community Development came up to speak to introduce two people in order to give more detailed information.

Ms. Leslie London came up to speak first. “The council needs to have an ordinance to collect fees to establish a trust fund and this will have to be submitted to the courts for approval for your city housing plans. This is for residential and nonresidential units. 100% of affordable housing will not be assessed. It is developer driven. The money collected is strictly for affordable housing uses and programs which can also include group homes and single-family homes, but there are certain income levels. There will be a whole slew of programs to help the city.”

The next person to speak was Elizabeth McManus, New Jersey Professional Planner from the New York Architect Firm of Perkins Eastman who talked about the spending plan. “Part of what has to be presented to the court would be your spending plan, the money the city collected, and how it is spent to benefit Perth Amboy.”

Ms. London spoke again, “This ordinance is mandatory. You can adopt it now or you can wait to present it to the court. That may be up until a year later.”

Council President Petrick asked if this ordinance would benefit developers and homeowners.

London stated, “It is to benefit the city’s residents. The developers have to set 20% of the units for affordable rentals. There are certain exemptions. There are also deed restrictions so that anyone who is accepted to buy an affordable unit cannot sell it for profit. The court will decide if on the time frame that unit can be resold. You (the council) will have to monitor to make sure that these units will go to another person who meets the income requirements.”

B.A. Michael Green said that Ordinance No. 6 (first reading) – Police Department. “References Public Safety Officers.”

Council President Bill Petrick discussed R-388-8/21- Authorizing an installment payment agreement with 199 Madison Avenue Laundromat due to a hardship.

He questioned, “Do we have Covid funds to help businesses and homeowners?”

B.A. Green responded, “Applications can be filled out for assistance.”

Councilman Joel Pabon had a question regarding R-391-8/21- A change order with Z Brothers Concrete Contractors increasing a contract for 2019 Capital Road Improvements in an amount not to exceed $11,350.08.

Pabon wanted to know, “Why are the same streets being worked on again and again? Especially the streets by the schools. We need a schedule of streets to be worked on before the cold weather comes in.”

Petrick spoke up. “Elizabethtown Gas seems to be digging up recently paved streets.”

Councilwoman Tejeda then added, “I thought they were supposed to do the streets by the schools earlier.”

City Engineer Ernest Feist spoke up via Zoom, “We have preconstruction meetings coming up to discuss the streets by the high school. In late May, we received money for street repairs. We had a short timeframe to work on this.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “There was work that was done by some of the crosswalks by the high school which looked to be unsafe.”

Feist responded stated that Middlesex County Engineers did some work that was questionable on specific crosswalks by the high school. “We wrote to them about this, and we are waiting for them to respond to us about the problem.”

Tashi Vazquez came to the podium to give a brief synopsis on R-396 thru R-403 all involving city agencies that will be receiving Community Block Grants. She explained some of the programs, “There is annual HUD (Housing Urban Development) money for Habitat for Humanity, and rental assistant programs, in-house and community-based organizations.”

Councilman Joel Pabon asked about the Jewish Renaissance Foundation request for funds since they relocated out of the Proprietary House.

Vazquez explained, “They still have the Medical Center on Hobart Street in Perth Amboy. The Foundation part (that was located in the Proprietary House) relocated to Edison, but they still have some of their operations in Perth Amboy at the Dunlap Homes Administration Building and online. It is a requirement that they have to serve our residents.”

Council President Bill Petrick had a question regarding R-407-8/21 – accepting the bid and awarding a contract for OEM Video Wall installation to AVS Installation, LLC. in an amount not to exceed $95,799.78.

He questioned, “Will they ever get this project done?”

IT Technician John Alleman answered, “We will just have to wait and see.”

Councilman Joel Pabon spoke regarding R-412-8/21- Extending the contract with CDM Smith for Professional Services Assistant with the NJDOT Route 35 (Convery Boulevard Bridge) over the Perth Amboy 440 Connector Project and Interference with the City 24-inch Force Main in an amount not to exceed $17,100.

He wanted to know, “Are they finally going to start the work on the bridge?”

Luis Perez Jimenez – Director of Operations at the USA-PA ((Utility Service Associates Perth Amboy) Middlesex Water Company) came up to explain, “This is for the consulting engineers to check on the vibrations. We tried to get the DOT to pay for this, but we are the ones who had the bridge designed.”

Council President Bill Petrick had a question regarding R-413 which also involved a contract with CDM Smith to analyze the report of the Alaimo Group for Woodbridge regarding the appropriate responsibility for repair and rehabilitation of the Woodbridge Trunk Sewer Interceptor not to exceed $5,000.

Petrick questioned, “Can we put our own line together with the money coming in to bypass Woodbridge and Carteret?”

Before Perez Jimenez could answer the question, Pabon said, “We need to have a parade when they start to work on that bridge.”

Perez responded to Petrick’s question about having our own line, “That would be nice and  something to look into.”

Petrick then suggested, “We should have a parade after they finish their work on the Rte. 35 Bridge.”

Perez Jimenez then spoke about R-414-8/21 – A contract for the painting of the Runyan Water Treatment Plant backwash tank and the Albert Street Standpipe Project to US Tank Painting Inc. in the amount of $1,071,000.

He stated, “This is for painting and repairs on the tank without taking it out of service. If it goes out of service, you will have to buy water from Middlesex Water company and that will cost us at least a half-million dollars depending on how long the tank would be out of service.”

Petrick asked if we have a rust problem at Runyon.

Perez Jimenez answered, “We do flushing of the hydrants every year, and there are no rust problems at Runyon.”

Council President Bill Petrick questioned R-419 thru R-423 which dealt with consenting appointments to members of the Rent Leveling Board. He asked if a lot of people left that board.

City Clerk Victoria Kupsch responded, “That board had a lot of vacancies.”

There was a question as to why on R-424-8/21 – A contract to Margret Newman for professional services relating to the Historic Preservation not to exceed $10,000. Currently for the anticipated total contract up to $20,000.

A council member asked, “Why was this a non-fair and open contract?”

Substitute Law Director William Opel answered, “There were two submissions.”

Deputy Chief and OEM Coordinator Larry Cattano came up to answer questions regarding R-427-8/21 – Authorizing 19 police officer recruits to attend the Basic Course for Police Officers at the Cape May Police Academy in an amount not to exceed $47,500.

Petrick asked, “Why Cape May?”

Cattano responded, “They are the only residential police academy. Union and Monmouth also have academies. Cape May has a relationship with Cape May County and they are universal and also have excursions with the senior citizens. There is more emersed training in Cape May County.”

Councilman Joel Pabon had a slight disagreement with Cattano’s assessment. “As someone who has been in the military.” Pabon pointed to Mike Green, “You know how strict the training is. If you are a good recruit, you will learn wherever you go. They should be sent to whichever academy is the closest.”

Councilman B.J. Torres spoke up and compared this to college students, “There are some commuting college students who do just as well or better than students who live on campus.”

Public Portion:

Resident Ken Balut spoke first. He asked if we ever received a check from Kushner for paving the part of Rector Street (where Kushner’s properties are on).

Substitute City Attorney William Opel answered, “There is one more step to go through. We should get the check next week.”

Balut continued, “Could we get a breakdown on what we will do with the federal money coming in?”

B.A. Mike Green responded, “$8 million was received in May and we are evaluating how that should be used and the results of that will be published soon.”

Balut continued, “Renters are being helped, but what about the people have to pay mortgages? We need to reevaluate the Kushner properties. We are fixing them up and making them better for Kushner. The house on Rector Street is disgusting, and it should have been taken care of years ago. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being lost.”

Council President Petrick spoke up, “Is there an open-ended date on Kushner’s properties? Can we put a for-sale sign on the properties? William Northgrave said they were waiting for a permit (to demolish the house on Rector Street).”

B.A. Green said, “The permits are ready to be picked up. Kushner owes us $49,000 (for the Rector Street Property). We will follow up on this.”

The next person to come up was Resident Stanley Sierakowski. He questioned if Northgrave is representing Kushner right now. 

Opel responded, “No.” 

Sierakowski then asked about Ordinance No. 5 (first reading) – A transfer of a to be subdivided block 95 known as 590 Smith Street.

“As we know, we are one of many cities that have been involved in corruption. How many acres are involved in this ordinance?”

B.A. Green responded, “It’s 11,670 sqft. We had an independent appraiser which appraised the land at $198,000 and the city will sell it for $258,000.”

Sierakowski then asked, “What is the proposal of the developer on that land?”

Green responded, “For commercial use.”

Sierakowski said, “Rental is where it is at (the most profitable).” He then questioned, “What is the zoning?”

Green responded, “There are plans in place.”

Resident Lisa Nanton came up next and questioned the marijuana ordinance regarding the medical use. 

Council President Petrick responded, “This will not disallow medical use.”

Nanton then questioned the donation of land from Duke Realty to the city. “As of now, there is no amphitheater in that park. I and some of the members of the HPC took a tour of that property. They also want to put wayside signs. What exactly is going on this property? Now they have a sign stating: “Copperworks Amphitheater Park.” That sign needs to be redone. There is a lot of overgrass on Water Street and the streets have been littered with advertising cards and whomever is doing this should be fined.”

Petrick then spoke up, “Annie Hindenlang is one of the people working on the project for the amphitheater on the donated property from Duke Realty.”

Reinaldo Aviles came up next. He wanted to thank the council for having candidates for the Zoning Board of Adjustments interviewed in person. “You should have had the Rent Leveling Board Candidates also be interviewed. I am also in favor of having Zoom meetings continue because of the large number of people participating. I also sent you letters regarding issues related to the library, but I see it is not on the agenda. Could you give me the proper format to have this done? Regarding the cannabis situation, Carteret did opposite of what you did. We have the same regulatory landscape as Carteret. You need to revisit the cannabis issue. It will increase funds needed to the city. I hope that Councilman B.J. Torres can bring some sanity to this issue. Carteret discussed the marijuana issue very seriously and Carteret’s mayor was very much behind approving marijuana be sold in his town. I even talked about this where I live in East Brunswick.”

Councilman B.J. Torres spoke up and smiled in appreciation of the remarks of the compliment given to him by Aviles. Torres explained, “We (Perth Amboy) are turning our backs on the industry that can help us with our water/wastewater issues (to pay for the cost).”

Code Enforcement Director Irving Lozada spoke up via Zoom. He asked if Ms. Nanton had some of the addresses of where flyers were left on Water Street. “I will look into this.”

No one from the public spoke via Zoom. 

The meeting adjourned at 7:44 p.m. All council members were present.