Plus Other Resident’s Concerns
5/9/18 Council Meeting
PERTH AMBOY – Several Residents came up at the Council Meeting to discuss Ordinance No. 1 Amending an Ordinance entitled “Sewers” (Ordinance No. 373-85) adopted May 28, 1985. And Ordinance entitled “Water” (Ordinance No. 270-81) re: rates.
The first person to speak was Resident Ken Balut. Balut stated, “We’re paying for polluted water and we’re not getting clean water that I’m paying for.”
Council President Bill Petrick responded, “The water is coming from the Runyan Reservoir.”
Balut shot back, “We’re getting blended water.”
Petrick then stated, “This is the first we heard of blended water.”
Balut continued, “You need to put a filter on the water.”
Petrick then stated, “This (impurities) have been encroaching on our wells since the Otlowski Administration.”
Councilman Fernando Irizarry spoke up next stating, “DEP changed the standards. That’s why it has been remediated and reported. Stop trying to sensationalize this.”
Balut continued, “Newark is getting sued for the toxins in their water.”
Mr. Robert Mesy came up to speak next. He said he agreed with the previous speaker (Balut). “My water bill went up, even though I cut down on usage.”
Resident Alan Silber came up next and stated: “Don’t gloss over this problem. Remember Flint, Michigan.”
Irizarry responded, “It’s not as bad as Flint, Michigan.”
Silber than stated, “I didn’t say it was that bad. If we are drinking blended water now, what did we drink before?”
Petrick responded, “No one knew about the blended water until this was mentioned this past Monday (May 7, 2018).”
Silber’s last comment was, “We should get a discount on the water.”
Resident Jeremy Baratta came up to speak next. He asked, “Has anybody on the Council been drinking the tap water?”
They nodded “yes.”
Baratta then asked, “Do you feel it’s safe to drink?”
Petrick responded, “Yes, I do.”
Balut then came back up to speak on the agenda items, “The public should know what’s in the water and you didn’t know for years until you were told on Monday? An environmental attorney never was hired to investigate this problem. Did the County care?”
Law Director Peter King responded, “BASF is the owner of the site. Equipment is being installed to remove the contaminants.”
Balut concluded, “Tell the public that the water quality is not safe.”
Resident Alan Silber came up to talk about resolutions R-190 –5/18 – Seasonal Fixed Location Peddler lease at the Marina Parking Lot for a food concession truck with Perusa Deli for the sum of $2,250 from May 23, 2018 to November 30, 2018. And R-191 – 5/18 – Two Seasonal Fixed Location Peddler Licenses with Perusa Deli for the leasing of a space in the train station parking lot for the sum of $100 per space from May 1, 2018 thru October 31, 2018.”
Silber questioned, “Is this $100 per space for the whole six months? How much are people paying for parking spaces?”
Business Administrator Adam Cruz clarified, “It’s $100 per month per space.”
Councilman Fernando Gonzalez then spoke up, “Why are we putting peddlers downtown?”
Silber continued asking questions about the peddler at the train station, “Who negotiated this? They’re paying more for the lot with no meters than they are at the train station. Are taxes being paid to use those spaces in the train station? Hope they’re not selling tap water.”
Cruz responded, “They’re selling Italian Ices. They have to pay a license fee of $500 besides $100 a month per space. They also have a $1 million Insurance Policy for having that space at the Train Station.”
Law Director King then added, “You (the Council) can change the Ordinance. These spots were advertised.”
Councilman Helmin Caba then spoke up and voiced the following concerns, “Do we have in writing what they can sell? If not, we need to have it in writing. I have concerns it will hurt the businesses downtown.”
Resident Jermy Baratta came up next, “It makes sense to have food trucks at the Marina because the other restaurants are sit-down. You should table the resolution. There should be competition with the same kind of businesses, but not with food trucks.” Baratta then had a question regarding R-184-5/18 – Authorizing termination of the City’s contract with Todd Harris Company for pool maintenance and service at the Public Safety Complex Community Center. Baratta asked “Why does the City have to pay for this service?”
Petrick responded, “It’s City property and the City’s responsibility.”
Councilman Irizarry commented about R-190 & R-191 involving the peddlers at the Marian and Train Station. “If we have an ordinance on the books, and the peddler followed the rules, can they do something if we reverse the ordinance now?”
King responded, “They can file a complaint.”
Irizarry then stated, “Should we punish that person because he is the only one who applied (for the spaces)?”
Gonzalez then questioned, “Did we have an amount as to how much a person had to pay for the spaces?”
King replied, “Gary Muska (Purchasing Agent) sent out the specs and he’s one of the best purchasing agents.”
City Clerk Elaine Jasko told the Council information they requested on Monday (5/7/18) regarding the amount of Handicapped Spaces. “There are 620 and the total actually went up. Many were deleted, but there were applications that were already on file (that took those spots) plus some additional ones.”
Councilman Joel Pabon spoke about R-190 & R-191. “We messed up. We may be taking businesses away from the downtown businesses. We can change the ordinance next year. This is the same thing that happened last year with the festivals. We talk about it (the problems) after the fact. The vendor should not be punished for something that’s our fault.”
Irizarry then said, “I don’t agree with R-191, but the person who bid (on those spots) did the correct thing and shouldn’t be punished.”
Petrick then said, “We can vote “yes” or “no” now and change the ordinance for 2019″.
When it came time to vote on the Resolutions, R-177 thru R-190, and R-192 thru R-195 was moved by Councilman Irizarry and Seconded Helmin Caba. R-191 was asked to be pulled by Councilman Gonzalez to be voted on separately. When it came time for the vote it was moved by Councilman Joel Pabon and seconded by Councilman Fernando Irizarry. Councilman Gonzalez was the only one to vote “no.”
City Clerk Elaine Jasko then spoke up and told the Council, “There has to be a public hearing on R-176-5/18,” Adopting the amended CY2018 Budget. “And it has to be voted on separately by the Council.”
When this Resolution was open to the public, Balut was the only person who spoke. He complimented the Council telling them: “You did the proper thing by not raising the taxes which was the right thing for the taxpayers. You should keep the budget the same as last year. The Mayor was hiring more people who worked on the campaigns. Thank you for stabilizing the taxes.”
The Resolution was moved by Irizarry and seconded by Caba.
During the last public portion, Resident Roisin Dowling came up to speak. She stated she is a member of the Zoning Board and a member of the DVRT Team. She told the Council, “I admire you, but you let me down.” She then stated that the Council put someone on a Board with a current record of breaking the law. She indicated we’ve all done things in the past done things that we regret. She stated that nothing personally has been done to herself but this person had criminal activity in the recent past. This person had felony charges as a stalker and peeping tom. I have proof of this. She stated that police know him, and that she has a hard time sleeping because of this. You put that person on the Board even though you knew of the background and some of you are fraternizing with this individual. She asked the B.A. if he knew about the criminal activity of this person. You all were given information.
Law Director King asked, “Please provide us with documents.”
Dowling then proceeded to give copies of more documents to the Council Members and Administrators who were sitting up front.
Resident Stephanie Márquez-Villafañe came up to speak and said she was addressing the Council as a Member of the UMoP. “I’m inviting you to our walk on 5/19/18. The City is supporting the walk. I want to thank Bryan Walensky, Parking Utility Supervisor and Business Administrator Adam Cruz for the free parking at the train station (For those participating in the walk). I’m excited that the elevator in City Hall is fixed and that we’ll be going back (For future meetings).
Businessman Danny Gonzalez came up next. He told the Council, “The streets are looking good and there are a lot of positive things happening (such as with the parks). At Lucey Center, there used to be a boxing gym. There are a lot of gangs here and the neighboring towns. We have a golden glove boxer and also a nephew of a well-known boxer in town. I reached out to the police and Kenny Ortiz for a need to have a boxing program. We need to utilize vacant spaces for boxing and we need the City to participate. The YMCA is a good place. All you need is a ring, a good coach and a punching bag.”
Resident Ken Balut came up to speak. He still had questions about Bryan Walensky. “His name appeared in an article where he talked about Wilda Diaz being one of his top clients. He only had an 8-hour course to run the Parking Utility. I’m probably more qualified to run the Parking Utility since I probably have given out more tickets in my career. Investigate how and why he was hired.” He then talked about how the County paid for the park in East Brunswick that was many more acres and less money than what the County paid for the proposed park in Perth Amboy. “We lost the fire house. The City recently has sexual harassment classes. You put in the same class the accuser and the accused. You guys don’t get to ask questions because things are dropped in your lap (in the last minute).”
Irizarry responded, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, but you act like you do.”
Petrick also responded, “We want to hear the facts.”
Resident Jeremy Baratta came up to speak, “I see a lot of postings on Facebook. Balut sat on the Council for 4 years. People who come up to speak do their research. You get paid and spend a lot more time than 4 meetings a month. You sit on different committees and Boards. Board volunteers work a lot with no pay. There are a lot of boards with volunteers and they still have vacancies. There are a lot of rumors and gossip. There are things that happened 10 – 20 years ago.” He then said as a speaker said before, people have done things that they regret. “With Board volunteers, it’s always a thankless job. Laws have changed, and people bring up prior things that have happened. If you want to complain, this is the place to do it.”
Resident David Caba came up to speak, “I was challenged to go to a Freeholders Meeting. We were supposed to get a park on High and Washington Streets. The owner of that property got $4 million from the County for that land.” Caba then read an article from 1996, “We have no school or park. I agree with Mr. (Danny) Gonzalez that we are losing our youth. People are saying we have no problem. You can attract some of these youth by providing activities. Have you asked the Freeholders why the park hasn’t been built? It will probably be finished in 2020, the election year.”
Resident Alan Silber came up, “The Mayor went to a Freeholders Meeting with a City Employee to say we needed Rosengarten’s property for a park. That was 4 years ago. We could have gotten close to $1 million (including interest) for this property. We are not getting our tax money. Did we receive the Freeholders? Did the Freeholders bond for the money to pay $4 million for the park? We shouldn’t have to look out for the vendors. Look at Walensky’s resume. Where did he work? The article doesn’t say he worked for the City, but that Wilda was his client. He worked in Hoboken for that Mayor’s campaign. Fairview Insurance gave money through PACS. Rosengarten couldn’t get rid of that property for 20 years.”
Department of Recreation Director Kenny Ortiz came up to speak about some of the playgrounds and activities for City’s youth. He stated, “I talked to the Director of Parks. They’re waiting for the Department of Engineers to issue the permits. The Vocational School will have first preference for using the park facilities once it’s built. We trade off with the school’s facilities. We’re exploring more ways to work with the Y, especially with the boxing program.”
Councilman Helmin Caba spoke up commenting about the peddler’s ordinance, “We need to remove the part where we have peddlers at the Train Station.” He then asked if the Board of Education needs to come here to talk about the safety issues regarding the new High School and Elementary School. “We need to have the Rutgers Professor come here to talk about our water problems.”
Councilman Joel Pabon then stated: “I remember when representatives from Middlesex Water would come here (to give us an update) about our water/wastewater issues. They were very knowledgeable and we should have them come back.”
Council President Bill Petrick then stated, “The DEP is influenced by a lot of politicians.”
Law Director King then remarked, “The water utility has annual reports of what’s in the water.”
B.A. Cruz then made a couple of remarks, “The underground water has affected our wells. We follow California’s (higher) standards, even though the DEP didn’t want us to use those standards. We would shut down the wells if the water (dioxide levels) weren’t acceptable. The reports are in the system.”
Councilman Fernando Gonzalez talked and said, “You can give us a short synopsis of the water. I am embarrassed that we didn’t know about the problems with the water. You (Cruz) knew about this a year ago.”
Cruz responded, “No one is hiding anything.”
Gonzalez replied, “We’re buying water from Middlesex. Just keep us informed.”
Councilman Helmin Caba wanted to thank Danny Gonzalez about bringing attention about the possibility of boxing programs. “The PAL (Police Athletic League) are interested and excited about bringing boxing into town. We have gangs and at-risk kids. We need this program to attract these kids. It will have the kids and police working together and the police will become their mentors. The Superintendent of Schools is open to the idea of collaborating with the City for a boxing program.”
Deputy Police Chief Cattano came up to speak, “We have much younger officers on the force that embrace these programs. The people who were mentioned at the Meeting have a 501c boxing program, and they have their own building in New Brunswick.”
Councilman Caba spoke up and said, “The biggest challenge is financing. If you have all these entities come together (Y, schools, police department, recreation department) you will not need financing.”
Councilman Fernando Gonzalez said, “More lighting is needed downtown to help decrease crime. There are 30 lights out at night from Maple Street to High Street. On my block 10 lights were out. We have a large paid staff to see what lights are out at night. Someone is not watching the store.” On Huntington Street, he mentioned, “There’s a mattress and a tree about to fall. Have Transit fix the bridge.”
Fernando Irizarry spoke next, “I’m not saying the situation with the water is not serious. We became aware of the water problems the same time that the public knew. It’s serious, but until we know what is going on, let’s not sensationalize this. We need a dedication by a Rider to show where the PILOT money will go to next year. There is also property on Buckingham Avenue that has concrete dumped and asphalt on it.”
Petrick responded, “It’s Harbortown property.”
Irizarry then questioned, “There were mounds of asphalt and is it proper for them to have it there?”
Joel Pabon spoke up next, “BID is having good programs coming up.” He voiced concerns about people crossing against traffic lights.”
Cattano came up to address Pabon’s last statement, “We are going to have Police stationed at those hotspots (where people cross against the lights a lot).
Councilman Gonzalez had a problem because he said, “When street paving was taking place, people said the signs were confusing when you can park. Cars were being towed.”
Cattano responded, “We gave residents whose streets were being paved warnings to move their cars.”
Gonzalez then said, “I saw none of those actions taken.
Cattano concluded his remarks to let the Council know that May 15, 2018 is National Law Enforcement Day.
