3/9/18 Caucus Meeting

BID Manager
Junel Hutchinson

PERTH AMBOY – At the 4/9/18 Caucus Meeting, Councilman Fernando Irizarry had two questions regarding the Facade PILOT Program and why there were requests for cell phones.

BID Manager Junel Hutchinson came forward to respond. “There’s a grant program for local business owners who may need signage.” Hutchinson explained that the need for City cell phones are for herself and Randy Convery (who is on the BID Office Staff) instead of having to give out their own personal cell phone numbers for information regarding BID business.

Councilman Fernando Gonzalez then asked a few questions, “I’ve come before the BID and we’ve spent a lot of money on policing the downtown. Smith Street lighting needs improvement to bring in more people and discourage crime. We’ve given the BID $232,000 over the past years without much improvement. $99,000 wasn’t used from last year.”

Councilman Joel Pabon had a few remarks, “The lighting and painting of crosswalks need to be improved. We’ve spent so much on special machines to paint the lines on the crosswalks, but it seems they’re not being used downtown. Lighting would enhance the downtown by 50%. I hope you (Hutchinson) as the Director makes this happen.”

City Engineer Jeffery Rauch came forward to address Pabon’s concerns. “When the County repaves the streets, they paint the crosswalk lines.”

Pabon then stated, “By the time this summer is over, trust me those lines will be gone.”

Resident Ken Balut had comments on the BID expenses. “Millions of dollars have been spent, but who is getting most of the money? Nobody knows why the $99,000 wasn’t spent.”

At the 4/11/18 Council Meeting, BID Member Jason Conway came forward to clear up some of the questions asked. “We budget items for upcoming events and programs. Sometimes there are a lack of applications for some of the programs. We have not received back all the applications requested from before. And more applications have been requested  since then. There was also a lawsuit and we had to update our by-laws. We spend money on facade grants, marketing projects, and other events. We intend to increase lighting in the BID District.”

Councilman Fernando Gonzalez then stated, “I met with businesspeople in the Business District who are getting taxed by not seeing the benefits.”

Conway responded, “People can come to the BID Meetings and voice their opinions. We intend to do all that we can to use all these unexpended funds.” Conway said the surplus monies are not from one year, but from accumulated funds over several years.”

Business Administrator Adam Cruz spoke up and told the Council that he would the Council a list of all the BID items and where the surplus monies came from.