1/8/21 Perth Amboy Reorganization Meeting
PERTH AMBOY – William Petrick was re-elected as Council President at the 1/8/21 Reorganization Meeting by votes 3-0. (Councilmen Pabon and Torres were not present). Photo: City Clerk Victoria Kupsch (R) swears in William Petrick (C) as Council President. (L)Wife, Stephanie holds the bible. *Photo by Katherine Massopust
By: Carolyn Maxwell
PERTH AMBOY – The 1/8/21 Reorganization meeting was held at the YMCA theater at 4:30 p.m. According to the agenda, the sole purpose of this meeting is to select a council president and to consider a resolution relative to the reorganization of the city council. Also, there was supposed to be an inauguration ceremony to swear in the two newly elected council members: Rose B. Morales and Bienvenido “B.J.” Torres. Both were to be sworn in by Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez. They were also supposed to make remarks after being sworn in. A benediction by Fr. Martin Vavrak from St. Michaels and St. Nicholas Church, then followed by a reorganization meeting.
Prior to being sworn in, there were supposed to be a presentation of colors and a pledge of allegiance by the PAFD Honor Guard and the national anthem sung by PAFD Firefighter Javier Cruz and an invocation by Fr. Vavrak. City Clerk Victoria Kupsch was supposed to read out the election results and the certificates of the election for both the general and special elections.
The only thing that happened on this program was the invocation by Fr. Vavrak. After that, the meeting began with only 3 council members present: Current Council President William Petrick, Councilwoman Milady Tejeda, and newly elected Councilwoman Rose Morales.
The first order of business was the nomination of Council President. Tejeda made a motion to elect William Petrick as President. It was seconded by Morales. When it came time to vote, both Tejeda and Morales voted, “yes” as did Petrick. City Clerk Kupsch swore him in with Petrick’s wife holding the bible.
Petrick remarked, “I thank the council for having faith in me. I will do the job to the best of my ability.”
The resolution R-1-1/21 – adopting council meeting dates, times, and locations and rescinding R-528-12/20. There was one amendment to R-1. It was decided that there would be a double meeting on Monday, January 25, 2021 where the caucus will be at 4:30 p.m. followed by the regular council meeting and removing January 27, 2021 for the council meeting. R-1 was moved by Tejeda and seconded by Morales. All present voted “yes”.
It was also decided that during Zoom meetings there will only be 3 minutes maximum for the public to speak instead of 5 minutes as in the past.
No one from the public spoke.
Council Comments:
Councilwoman Rose B. Morales had no comments.
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda congratulated the new mayor and the two new council members. “I know we will work together to move the city forward. Be safe and have a Happy New Year.”
Council President Petrick welcomed all who were present and wished everyone the best. He also told the newly elected council members to reach out to him anytime. “If I can’t answer your questions, I will direct you to anyone that can help you. I have an open-door policy. I hope to help the new mayor move the city in a positive direction. I also want to welcome our new Law Director, who is present, William Northgrave and our new Interim Business Administrator, Mr. Edward A. Remsen, who is not present.”
Petrick then asked the two council members present if they would like to meet in person or have Zoom meetings.
Tejeda and Morales both agreed that they would prefer to have Zoom meetings. City Clerk Kupsch spoke up and stated that the next meeting (the 1/11/21 Caucus) would be too late to have on Zoom because it would have to be advertised in a certain timeframe which had already passed.
Petrick then stated for the Monday Caucus Meeting, it would be held in person at the YMCA theater. For the 1/13/21 Regular Council Meeting, there would be an option of coming in person to the City Hall Council Chambers at 7 p.m. or through Zoom.
The meeting adjourned at 4:49 p.m. Councilmen Joel Pabon and Bienvenido Torres were not present.
