4/27/22 Council Meeting
By: Carolyn Maxwell
PERTH AMBOY – Acting Police Chief/OEM Coordinator Larry Cattano spoke about the Parking Utility Budget. “The Parking Utility has merged with the Police Department.” He stated. “Additional lighting has been added in some of the municipal parking lots which include the one on Hobart Street. They hope to add more lights in the parking lot next to the Public Library. We need additional funding for the Jefferson Street Parking Deck. They need to replace the Water Intrusion on the ramp because of water leaking into the Parking Utility Office. We need to add additional ADA Ramps on some of the sidewalk curbs. We’re looking to automate the gate leading to the parking deck by using swipe cards for cars that enter at later hours. Cars can leave the deck, but right now can not go back into the deck after hours. All parking permits are currently done by hand. We hope to do these services online. People have parking permits that use decals. We are looking to change that, so the permits are done by plate. We are cross training the Parking Utility Officers so they can issue (certain) additional tickets that in the past only Police Officers can issue. They will be trained in CPR and how to administer Narcan. Our revenue is on a track to increase, and we issue more tickets and get more revenue by compliance. Not many summonses bring in revenue. Warnings will be issued first.” He then compared the amount of money spent to 2021 which was $148,116 to the same timeframe in 2022 (January 1st to current) – $151,555. Over 1,000 parking permits were issued free to qualified residents. When we have these services online, all the data will be encrypted. For the doors leading up to the parking deck, we will be able to tell if people leave the doors ajar.” Cattano stated that once the swipe card system is in place, that will not be necessary. He continued, “We have cameras in the stairwell. We have special officers looking at any blind spots. We had damage in the parking deck after Superstorm Sandy and there were immediate concerns such as having cracks. We have been using a certain kind of cement to fix those cracks. In the Parking Utility Office, we changed some of the flooring, added new carpet, and the walls are painted. Currently we have seven Parking Utility Officers. After they all become Special I Officers, there will be a salary increase and they all have to go to the academy. The academy that they will be attending will be for traffic enforcement and a civil service test is not needed for that position. The academy classes that they will be attending only happen once a year and it is a 40-hour class. The Auxiliary Officer Class is 200 hours.”
The next person to make a presentation was City Clerk Victoria Kupsch to go over the budget of the City Clerk’s Office. She stated, “A lot of people don’t realize all that we have to do. We have to issue 25 different types of licenses. Now, we have two new ones that we have to issue: flag raisings and people who want to have outside seating for their restaurants. Some of the licenses include bingo, raffle, rabies clinics, elections and everything that goes with having elections such as petitions and making sure all the results are certified and shipped to the County Clerk on time. Other duties include foreclosures, notice of claims, prepping of the agenda for the council meetings. We also have a lot of people coming in with different walk-in requests. Currently we are doing a clean out of our office and everything has to go though the auditor before any records are destroyed. We are asking for an increase of our budget of $58,805 for an Administrative Clerk and I am asking for a particular person to be put in that position. My people are working a lot of overtime and they informed me that they would only work mandatory overtime and not any further.”
No one spoke about any of the ordinances that had their own public hearing on the agenda.
Public Comments on Agenda Items Only (in-person first):
The first person to speak was Fermin DeJesus who is a member of the United Dominicans of Perth Amboy Festival Committee. He read a statement from a law firm who was hired by the committee who was prepared to file a lawsuit against the city if they denied having the permit for the Dominican Festival. The statement referenced two events that have been approved by the council. One was the National Night Out that was held last summer and the Christmas Parade that was held in early December 2021. The letter also stated that if the Dominican Festival is not held, then they must also cancel the July 4th Celebration of which Council President Petrick is part of that committee and therefore has a conflict of interest.
Petrick spoke up and stated that he is Co-Chair of the July 4th Celebration, and that event is only 4 hours long. Petrick then asked DeJesus, “Is this a lawsuit?”
Fermin DeJesus responded, “Not yet, and I made some corrections to the statement.”
The next person to come up to speak was Resident Ken Balut, who talked about R-194-4/22 – The extension of the Interim Appointment of Matthew Nieves to Acting Director of the Department of Public Works for a time period no longer than 60 days retroactive from April 1, 2022.
“Has he been reappointed, yet? I heard that someone ran a boat into a pier and that may have possibly been a police boat. The person driving that boat wasn’t licensed and someone requested a tape of that incident. This should be looked at first before voting on this resolution. People who are politically connected can get away with murder. There are longtime employees who do good work for years and don’t get recognized while higher ups get away with too much. Don’t promote people or give them higher salaries when they don’t deserve it.”
Acting Police Chief Larry Cattano came up to address some of these concerns, “That boat is not under us. It belongs to the person who runs the Boat Safety Program.”
Council President Petrick then spoke up, “I heard it was an aluminum row boat and it kept bopping up and down in the water.”
Cattano continued, “It’s not a police boat, and I don’t know if they need a boat license for that particular type of boat. All of our vessels have a boat log.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “If it is a boat for police use, it should have a log.”
Business Administrator Michael Green spoke up, “I’ll get an answer about that boat.”
Petrick then asked, “Do we have camera coverage?”
Cattano answered, “We used to.”
Victoria Kupsch spoke up, “We had an OPRA Request of that incident that was filled.”
The meeting was opened up to people on Zoom:
Resident Sharon Hubberman spoke first, “Regarding the Dominican Festival, the Council voted “No” for having a 3-day festival. The reason it was not passed was because of residents concerns about Covid cases. There have been 24 new cases and 2 people have died and one from Perth Amboy. Other towns have had masked events. There were not thousands of people at the Christmas event. It is discriminatory not to be concerned about other residents. At this time, we shouldn’t have large gatherings, and this is a litigious threat referring to the possible lawsuit letter earlier. The reality is we are still in a pandemic and people are still recovering from the aftereffects of having Covid.”
Resident Maria Garcia spoke next, “I agree with Sharon and what she said about the Covid cases. A person threatened a lawsuit (against the city) and at a previous meeting, they said they cared about the community. You can’t compare the Fourth of July which is only a couple of hours to the Dominican Festival. To be fair, we should just change the Dominican Festival to one day and have it for 3-4 hours. Let’s be truthful because we keep playing with the numbers (Covid).”
Resident Paul Ortiz spoke next, “I agree with the last two callers. People’s health and lives are at risk. You are talking about 3 days of noise compared to 3 hours for one day.”
For the Ordinances, Ordinance No. 1 – Restrictive Parking Spaces for the Handicapped Regarding Additions was moved by Tejeda and seconded by Morales.
Ordinance No. 2 – Vehicles and Traffic regarding a stop sign at Market & High Street was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 3 – A Lease Agreement between the city of Perth Amboy and New Cingular Wireless (AT&T) with respect to 800 Albert Street was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 4 – Fixing and Establishing a schedule of salaries and salary ranges regarding the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 1 (First Reading) – “Streets & Sidewalks” was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 2 (First Reading) – Designating Restricted Parking Spaces for use by Handicapped Persons regarding additions was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 3 (First Reading) – Approving the Easement for Open Space Purposes at Block 427 Lot 3 was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 4 (First Reading) – Amending Section 430, Zoning and Land Development to create Section 430-126 affordable housing. Council President Petrick made a motion for this to be tabled. It was seconded by Councilman Pabon. The only Council Member to vote “No,” was Councilwoman Milady Tejeda.
Ordinance No. 5 (First Reading) – Creating Chapter – (Inclusionary Zoning) of the Municipal Code requiring all applicable development to include a mandatory on site affordable housing set-aside. Council President Petrick also made a motion for this to be tabled. It was seconded by Councilman Pabon. Councilwoman Tejeda was the only Council Member to vote “No.”
When it came time to vote on the consent agenda, R-192 thru R-194, R-196 thru R-206, R-208 thru R-215 was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda. For R-195 – Consenting to the appointment of Dianne Roman as Director of the Department of Human Services was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda. Pabon wanted to congratulate Roman “Who does an awesome job which she has done for many years.”
For R-217 – Approving a Special Permit for Public Entertainment to the United Dominicans of Perth Amboy for the Dominican Festival to be held on August 12, 13, & 14, 2022 at the Robert Wilentz Athletic Field on First Street and Sadowski Parkway. It was moved by Tejeda, seconded by Morales.
Rose Morales voted, “Yes.”
Before Pabon voted, he wanted to make a statement, “We still have issues, and it is not right for so many people to congregate together right now. I have records on the last 10 years on the Dominican Festival and I and Councilman Petrick has always said, “Yes,” to have that festival. In 2015 there was a hearing about that Festival and a lot of problems were resolved. I always went to their festivals in the past and enjoyed them. I stand by my original position. We’ve had over 260 deaths due to Covid. The other surrounding towns have not had the number of cases that we’ve had. Someone had come to a meeting and complained we don’t have any activities for adults. There are a lot of adult activities. I just asked for you to sit out one year (having the festival). You came here at the other meeting to ask us to help you, then you do this (threaten with a possible lawsuit)? We need to sit down and talk so we could move forward. No one can prove that I am a racist.” Pabon voted, “No.”
Milady Tejeda then made a remark, “They (The United Dominicans of Perth Amboy) only wanted approval for tonight to give them the option to be able to cancel the Festival themselves, even with a last minute notice. People should have a choice whether they want to attend the Festival or not. I attended an event at the State Theater in New Brunswick that was packed. They gave you an option to wear a mask, and I wore a mask.” Tejeda voted, “Yes”
Council President Petrick then spoke up, “I was elected to be responsible to everyone and it is important that we do the right thing for everyone. My vote is “No.”
2 “Yes” votes; 2 “No” votes. Motion does not pass. Councilman B.J. Torres was absent and therefore could not vote.
Petrick remarked, “Even China shut down a whole town.”
Public Portion (In-Person First):
Resident Ken Balut spoke first, “Have any of the city employees receive a letter from the city’s insurance company to see of they got hacked? I just received a letter telling me that certain employees had their account hacked.”
Business Administrator Mike Green responded, “It was retirees that received the letters and they notified the employees and provided them with free security programs.”
Balut then asked, “Did it happen through a broker? Because I don’t trust them.”
Petrick then responded, “Even Former Business Administrator had his account hacked.”
Balut said, “I finally got the Certificate of Occupancy (requested on a certain address through OPRA). How do you lose paperwork? This address had a lot of work done without a permit. I heard the Code Enforcement Director had a baby a couple of months ago and he should have been here to speak personally on the budget.”
Petrick then stated, “If Code Enforcement records are online, then a Certificate of Occupancy should be there.”
Green stated that he would check on that.
Fermin DeJesus from the United Dominicans of Perth Amboy came up next to speak. He wished to clarify that the Fourth of July Event is more than the 3 hours than otherwise stated in the statement he read on Monday (4/25/22). He asked Petrick if he would like to make a comment regarding this.
Petrick said, “On the advice of the city attorney, I can’t comment since it appears to be a notice of a possible lawsuit.”
DeJesus then concluded, “We’ll have our lawyer contact your lawyer.”
The next person to speak was Businessman Mr. Wilson. “You are overexaggerating the event (the Dominican Festival). Will you be supporting other events taking place this year?”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke up, “I sat with the President of the Puerto Rican Festival, and I told her that I will not support having the Puerto Rican Festival this year”
Wilson spoke up again, “I have been to many large festivals, and I don’t trust anything the Chinese Government says. I almost died from Covid, and I’ve had family members who have died from Covid. We have been wearing masks and we’ve been kept in the house, and we still got Covid. We just have to keep moving. That’s why we have all these venues opening up.”
The next person to come up to speak was Police Captain Miguel Pellot. He thanked the council for voting on the FOP Contract tonight. “This thank you is on behalf of all of our members.”
The meeting was opened up to Zoom Participants:
Resident Paul Ortiz was the first to speak. He asked about the registering online system for parking permits. “Would there be any fee?”
Council President Petrick responded, “There are no fees for residential parking permits.”
Ortiz continued, “I live on High Street, and we have parking permits, but there should be a limit on how many permits can be issued per household. Maybe the hours should be restricted. And were some of the meters removed that used to be on Fayette Street? Resident Parking Signs need to be erected.”
Resident Maria Vera spoke next. She opened up by thanking the Councilmen for thinking about the community. “Talking about the festival, I don’t want to hear music (and having all those other problems) and being locked up for 3 days. They can take that festival to Sayreville where they have a large park.” She also wanted to thank Deputy Police Chief Cattano for the police patrols on Market Street.
Resident Maria Garcia spoke next. She was concerned about illegal housing and wanted to know if people can rent basement rooms. “The zoning code says “No,” unless you are classified as having a rooming house. Some people are thinking that these codes are just made up (banning rooms in basements and attics). Code Enforcement should hold classes to make landlords aware that they can be fined for illegal units. If there are any fires for any type of illegal housing, the owners of these are liable and their insurance can be cancelled. Landlords are not being taxed on these illegal units and it is a burden on our services and increases our taxes, schools, and there is too much traffic and not enough parking.”
Council President Petrick suggested, “When tax bills go out, put in notices about illegal units. Code Enforcement should also make a video (regarding these problems). We also have a third public access channel which needs to be activated.”
Sharon Hubberman spoke next, “I called Animal Control because of some feral cats that I saw. They told me I would have to catch them and bring them in to be neutered. Why can’t they come out to where I saw them?” Hubberman continued, “A couple meetings ago, I talked about air pollution in the city. I have not heard back about the report that I submitted.”
B.A. Green responded, “The DEP would handle this because they are the regulatory agency.”
Acting Police Chief Cattano came up to talk about feral cats, “If people feed them, then more cats will come, and then they become your responsibility. We will trap ones that are alone and sometimes rescue groups can help out.”
Petrick then commented, “We (the council) should talk to Animal Control to be more tolerable with dealing with our older seniors.”
Cattano said he would talk to Animal Control about this problem.
Resident Philip Clark, who lives near Walgreens said, “There is a problem when streetsweepers come because no one moves their cars, and the garbage cannot be fully picked up. I agree with everything the previous caller said in regard to illegal housing units.” He continued, “Festivals should be held on solid ground and not grass. The Meadowlands would be a perfect place for large festivals.”
Council Comments:
Councilwoman Rose Morales had no comments.
Councilman Joel Pabon said, “I will investigate the missing meters that the resident talked about earlier today. He is also happy about the good turnout that they had for the Men’s, Women’s, and Little League Baseball Teams. There is a lot of participation on the programs that the Recreation Department have on the schedule. A lot of spots have already been filled up, and that is why they had to close some of the sign up on some of those programs.” He also asked for a report on the Second Street fire and asked if hazardous materials were involved. He also asked for an update on the plans for the Second Street Park. Lastly, he asked if one of the officers can come and talk about the various youth programs (run by the Police Department).
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda wanted to thank all who participated tonight. “This week was we also celebrated all Medical Technicians and next week we will be recognizing the Professional Municipal Clerks (May 1st thru May 7th).”
Council President Bill Petrick said, “I want to thank all who participated in person and on Zoom. Covid is not over, and some of my family members caught it – not the ones who are living with me. Thanks, be safe, and have a good night.”
The meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m. Councilman B.J. Torres was out sick and did not participate at all in the meeting in-person or on Zoom.
