10/27/21 Council Meeting
By: Carolyn Maxwell
PERTH AMBOY – The meeting was opened up to public for ordinances that have a public hearing. The only person who spoke up was Resident Ken Balut who spoke about Ordinance No. 6 – Administration of Government to establish a policy against nepotism.
He asked, “Is this part of the Best Practices procedures. Every year when they drop an item from the list, we tend to drop the same item. If we adopt this ordinance now (Nepotism), will this be here if it is dropped from the Best Practices list? Sometimes we don’t follow suggestive procedures like installing a timeclock.”
After the meeting was closed to the public on ordinances, the public was invited to speak again on items on the agenda.
The first person up again was Ken Balut who referenced-540-10/21 – A contract for the purchase of office furniture to AIS not to exceed $19,922.70. R-541-10/21 – Authorizing a contract to Global Furniture Group not to exceed $16,732.93.
“Who is running this town? $35,000 for office furniture? I remember when a former Police Director ordered a table that couldn’t even fit in the door of his office. But, do we need a bigger conference table for a king and a queen?” Balut then turned his attention to the BID and the presentation they had at the 10/25/21 Caucus Meeting. “In Newark, they have planters with beautiful flowers in them. We get new ones instead of trying to fix the problem. It shouldn’t be hard to fix the problems on Smith Street. We still have some streetlights out there. Millions have been taken from the businesses. I talked to a former resident (Reinaldo Aviles) who was also employed by one of the businesses in the Business District. He can tell you that in the past, businesses did not have to put up any matching funds to get new façades. You should hold the BID’s feet to the fire. A third of their expenses is going to the executive director’s salary. It is a waste of money. BID takes a tax from the businesses. Last year should have been a tax-free year for those businesses.” He concluded by saying, “It took $25 million to build the new county park (Thomas Mundy Peterson Park).”
After the public comments were closed, the council voted on the Ordinances. For Ordinances No. 1 thru No. 4 and No. 6 & No. 7 the council all voted, “Yes”. For Ordinance No. 5 (Parking Meter Zones), the only “No” vote was B.J. Torres. For the Ordinances (First Reading) Ordinances No. 1 thru No. 3 Councilman B.J. Torres is the only one to vote “No”. For Ordinances No. 4 & No. 5 the council all voted “Yes”.
For the consent agenda, R-529 thru R-536; R-538 thru R-539; and R-542 thru R-546 was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda. All voted “Yes”. R-537 – Appointing Carmelo Menendez and Guadalupe Munoz as Class 2 Special Officers was moved by Pabon and seconded by Tejeda. Before voting on R-537, it was noted that Officer Munoz declined the appointment and only Officer Menendez was appointed to that position.
For R-540 & R-541 which pertained to furniture being purchased was moved by Pabon, seconded by Tejeda. Council President Bill Petrick was the only one to vote “No.”
Public Portion:
Resident Ken Balut came up. He asked for photos of old furniture going out and the new replacement furniture. He then mentioned Mayor Caba’s salary and how much he makes a day. “Does Caba put in for vacation days? We created a slush fund. Look at these long-term mayors? When they leave office, will they be able to claim vacation pay? The poor people are paying. What is going on with the Kushner properties and the illegal housing and rental properties? You spent $95,000 of taxpayer’s money on this report (Quality of Life Report). The Code Enforcement head has no credentials for that job. You can listen to the recommendations of this whole study, or you are nitpicking just certain items. People blow passed stop signs because they are being blocked by cars parked illegally. Sometimes I don’t have my garbage picked up, because when I have my garbage can out for collection day, people move my garbage can so they can park their cars there.”
The next person to speak was Police Officer Captain Belik, who asked the council if they knew that one of the Fraternal Order of Police Contract has not been settled since 2019. “Has any of the business administrators brought this to you to be put on the agenda?”
Council President William Petrick responded, “The administration has to do this. We will put it on the agenda, but have you been before a judge regarding this matter?”
The officer replied, “We have, but then it was halted.”
The next person to speak was Resident Alan Silber who questioned, “Are there any city employees that are exempt from punching in a timeclock?”
Business Administrator Green answered, “Mangers or supervisors have to sign off on a sheet (with hours worked).”
Silber insisted, “There should be a timeclock.”
Green then mentioned, “When Mayor Caba takes time off, he will send correspondence to the necessary personnel saying when he will be out of office and who will be in charge in his absence.”
Silber then insisted, “All employees should account for their time. There are firefighters in Elizabeth that got paid for time when they actually did not work for the time put in.”
Green then explained, “There are people who work from home, and the GPS can track their time.”
Silber then finished off with, “I see with the new nepotism ordinance, that some people will be exempt (because they are grandfathered in). A person that is in an influential position should not be a supervisor over a relative.”
Green responded, “The Mayor and Council cannot have their relatives be hired by the city.”
Petrick then commented, “Some of the scanners on the timeclocks were damaged.”
Green said that he would check on that.
Petrick then said he remembered when Mayor Diaz got the backpay. “Mayor Caba said he would not do that. We need to get that codified.”
Legal Counsel William Opel said, “We can do an amendment to do that.”
Council Comments:
Councilwoman Rose Morales thanked all for attending tonight’s meeting. She congratulated Lisa Nanton for the work she and the executive board did at the Proprietary House (and the architect being recognized by the NJHPC). She also asked if the old furniture can be sold through auction.
B.A. Green replied, “We can reuse the old furniture in other departments, but because of legalities, the Charter Schools cannot accept any donated furniture.”
Morales continued, “With illegal housing, it’s very difficult to address this matter, but we are open to any suggestion.”
Green responded, “We are working on rental registration. We are hiring two more Code Enforcement employees.”
Councilman Joel Pabon said, “There was a report sent to the council.”
Green said, “The report (Quality of Life by the Government Strategy Group) is on the city website and addresses the quality-of-life issues, IT issues, city planning, and a water and rate study.”
Pabon continued, “We still have a long way to go. I am hoping that we create a team just to address illegal housing. You need to have Code Enforcement, the Police Department, and the Fire Department to be on this team. The report has very interesting information.” He then said, “As far as the cost of the new furniture. Years ago, when I was working at Safe Haven (a city afterschool recreation program located at the old Department of Recreation Building on Brighton Avenue which was destroyed in a fire in 2009). I went to different retail stores to get a good price to purchase portable basketball courts, I received very good pricing at a retail store. When I brought that price to the purchasing department in city hall, I was told I could not purchase it because purchasing can only go through the state co-op system. Unfortunately, the state prices are much higher than the prices at the retail stores. The furniture has to be purchased through a state contractor.”
Morales spoke up again and said, “Unfortunately, we have to do the purchasing through the state.”
Councilwoman Milady Tejeda thanked all who participated at the meeting tonight.
Councilman B.J. Torres urged all residents to read the report, especially when it comes to Code Enforcement, our health issues and quality of life. “We need to have our own health department. Rental registration will help out when it comes to illegal housing.”
Council President Bill Petrick remembered, “In the 1990’s when I was Volunteer Fire Chief, we had to fill out forms when it came to illegal housing and these reports had to be sent to the appropriate departments. Do they still report streetlights that are out? Are these things (forms) still being used? We are closing our eyes. Garbage and water usage are up. Neighbors report illegal housing, but nothing happens. This is causing the value of our houses to go down. By working together, our police, fire, and code enforcement can put a dent into the illegal housing problem. All the previous three administrations are at fault because some of the violators were their supporters.”
B.A. Green responded, “We will be using the money that we will be receiving to combat these issues and all the departments will be connected through the database.”
Petrick continued, “The Kushner property on Front Street needs to be cleaned up.” He then asked if the El Patio Bar is still operating, “I hear the State Police raided them.”
Legal Counsel William Opel answered, “I am not aware of any infractions against this bar.”
Petrick asked if there was any notice from the state regarding this bar.
City Clerk Victoria Kupsch stated, “Nothing came through. As far as I know, they are still in operation.”
Petrick then said there was also a murder that took place at that bar.
Kupsch responded, “Once the state presses charges, they will notify us. Nothing has come through as of yet.”
Petrick ended the meeting asking to get a report of all past issues and violations against this establishment. “I want to thank all in TV Land, Zoom, and all who came in person.”
The meeting adjourned at 8 p.m. All council members were present in person. No one participated via Zoom during the public portions.
