accordance with the provisions of the open public meeting act and that notice was published in the city website. Copies provided the Bergen record also placed on the bulletin board in the lobby of city hall. Written objections, if any, shall be made to the city clerk.
>> I alianceice for all >> the role. Mr. >> Mr. Con >> here, >> Mr. Feone >> here. >> Miss Fiser >> here. Mrs. Imus >> here. >> Mrs. Le
>> here. >> Mr. Presidento >> present. >> Mr. Cano >> present. >> Mr. Russo >> present. >> President Ramos >> present. >> We have no items for second reading. >> Right.
>> So we are going to public portion comments on agenda items and resolutions. Rose Marco. >> They want to get out of here. >> I love you, bro. I love you. >> Sorry. All right. I want to start off by
saying how much I enjoy the caucus meetings. I learned an awful lot. Things that we don't find out here. And I'd like to thank the council members who actually had questions and concerns about spending money. Now, we'll move on to my concerns. under claims. We have two um receipts there for Shopright. I
mean $42, let's face it, that's not a party and the other one is a thousand. Can someone explain to me, you know, what we're buying there? >> Under payroll, there stipens for volunteer boards, ABC board, planning board, and shade tree commission. I'd really like to know why they get a
stipen if it's a volunteer position. CD1, how many more dispensaries are going to be be approved that we are hiring another lawyer? [clears throat] CS1 um city is paying $12,000 for this. Fees should be adjusted to the cost of
contracts. Registration is full and I cannot see exactly how much we are getting via the fees. Basing it off of 300 that have registered, um we may we may be paying more than $17,000. Why are we subsidizing everyone? I understand
free recreation for certain children. CS2 tennis instruction $82,000. We are collecting roughly $50,000 which accounts for 357 spaces leaving 35 open spaces for free totaling $7,350
what the sh city should be saying paying. But if you do the math, we're paying $32,900. Again, fees need to be adjusted to the contract awarded. Who makes who who does this? I would love to know who's in negotiating these contracts and fees. Is
it the administrations that don't live here and they just don't care how our tax money is spent? I6, I believe it's I. $17,000 to remove snow from the never-ending money pit known as the Resiliency Park Northwest. Did this company cause all the damage to the
walkways? I don't know if anyone's been down there. It's terrible to walk. If so, are you billing them to pay for repairs? I mean, we didn't get somebody to pay for the water sprinklers. We just said, "Oh, let's just pay it." And that was another million. I'm amazed that this is the only way to clear snow.
Again, who does all these who picks these contracts? I guess people who don't really don't care how we spend our money. I 9 3.9 million for garbage collection. Uh my question is, do the bars and businesses pay anything into this um to this charge? I live on the
block with a bar and he has like 40 50 garbage cans and to be honest with you, he doesn't even have to move them out. But the old lady does. I have to move mine to the curb. That's it for my gripes for tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Rose. Pat Waiters. [clears throat]
>> Oh, sorry. >> Pat Waiters, I'm here just to piggyback every word Roar just said. And my question is, are you going to do something about it and entertain it or are you going to take a known disregard because everybody banking on the six seats that's up and here we go again
with another crazy cruel election. Please don't make your decisions based on that. If you a good council person, you got confidence in the residents, we watching you. We watching you. So, I'm going to see who answer Ro Marle and every word she just said. So, I'm only
here to piggyback what Ro said. Thanks, Ro. >> Thank you, Manny Rivera. Uh, this is resolutions. Manuel Rivera. Okay.
Thank you, Manuel River. I'm a little disheveled because I was uh detained. So, just want everybody to know that uh the guys and gals on security are on it. Nobody gets through with our thorough check. I mean that as a compliment to them.
>> What are you carrying, Manny? >> I that's what I don't know. >> You got to check that cane. >> But, uh yeah. So uh again I I just stand to um ask a few questions. Again uh the um caucus meeting was very uh uh
genuinely uh informative but there were things missing. There were again like I mentioned last week. I won't repeat myself because I watch the meeting again and I see that I I ask almost the same question every single time because it's where is the information? Where can we find it? when council members ask
information to um uh the administration and to corporate counsel. Um CL2 was one that was asked uh did council members get the information? Can council members um afford the um the
citizens of Hoboken a little more information on that as well as CI5, CI6, CI8, which I couldn't uh print because I remembered that I love trees and it was a lot of pages. So, um Council President
Ken, members of the public, again, it it's it's important for as you all claim and you all say the administration, where's the transparency? you were supposed to have a close session meeting. Um, what happened to that closed session meeting? What happened to the questions that were on that um,
resolution? Can members of the public please please have information on that and why does that occur? We don't want to um, put our hospital in jeopardy, but we do need to know, are they paying their their bills or not? But again, that's off the the
agenda, but members of the public would still like to know. Council President, with the time I see I do have enough time. I would like to also say again, this goes to the petitions of appointments. Council President, I was reading um in the packet agenda, by the
way, 564 pages, one of the um smallest that I've seen in a while, and again, appreciative of keeping the the um agenda in a manageable form. not too many uh resolutions, but um I would like
to say that I noticed that when these things come up here now in in further um uh due diligence, I see that when the mayor sends you a memo, she says appointing, meaning this is here just for your information only and members of
the public again have no say or input on anything. We ask you to please if the administration is listening, if uh they could understand the frustration with some members of the public who are trying to get on a board or a commission, especially one that are near
and dear to them. So I also just would like to thank um and congratulate um the person who's being um appointed this evening to the Sha Tree Commission because again I hold no grudges because I have no grudge over this person. I just would like to know how to get into
one of these. So, um, Zachary Pacini, I believe, I hope I pronounced his name correctly. Congratulations. I'm sure I'll see you in the meetings, meaning that I am basically the one attendee uh of the meeting. And also, I want to take a moment to um bid a good a sad farewell
to the secretary of the Shade Commission, Angela Lesma. Uh she is she is um leaving as well as uh Jane Purgy. Again, I know that that's um uh exparte of the agenda, but it is under shaded commission. So, council president, uh
again, the prior uh members of the public had questions. I hope that some of us do get at least some clarification for anything. Thank you and I yield back the rest of my time. Thank you. No further speakers on public portion resolutions. >> Motion to close. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I had a questions on director Gonzalez. had a question on CL2 regarding the >> attendance program. I believe 392 students attend that program. Correct. I think it's a
expense of the city of 32,000. >> Yeah, I think uh CS2 >> CS I'm sorry. >> Spring and fall. >> Yep. >> And that's for the correct >> 16 and 16. Correct. That's for the spring and fall. Correct. >> Yeah, if you can hear me. Yeah. Um so 392 um in the spring and we're also assuming
the same number of registrants in the fall. Yep. >> Um the question aren't you? >> And then we have uh >> for the cannabis attorney that is just the cannabis board attorney. >> Yes. >> Uh I5, I6, and I7
is the rain gardens. I'm sure we'll talk about that. And same for I I six is a stone removal. So, members of the council, any items you want to pull off the agenda for discussion? >> Mr. President, um, >> A1, >> A1,
>> CL2, >> CL2, CL2, >> CL2. >> Mhm. >> F1, F3, >> F1. >> Some of these are just for a vote, too. >> F1, >> F3, I2, I4, >> I2, I4, >> I5, I6,
>> and I8. >> I6, and I8. >> Okay, that's A1. CL2, F1, F3, I2, I4, I5, I6, and I8. Correct. Correct. >> All right. Thank you. Council, any other council members? >> Yes. I petition. I don't How do I do on
petition communications? I have some questions. >> Just say you have questionations. >> Questions [laughter] on that one. >> Congratulations. >> Just did it, Paul. >> All right. Thank you. Uh CL2, >> uh >> CL2 is already pulled. >> Okay. Sorry, I missed that one. Um
uh Michael uh would you said I2 I4 I5 I6 I8 correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that I9 add that in >> I9. >> Okay. >> You sunk my battleship. Um >> oh I4 then >> C said I4. >> Okay. Yeah.
>> Uh I think an F1 and F3. You got >> that's already pulled. >> Okay. All right. I'm good for and there. Anyone else? >> There's nothing left. [laughter] >> I was gonna say >> anyone pull
left out. Who wants to pull a period? Okay. >> Council president. >> Yes. >> Do you want to at least respond to We're not We didn't have the closed session that he mentioned. I just got a couple text messages. >> Yep. Uh we didn't have a closed session because our city attorney representing us on those issues couldn't make it here
tonight and we pulled uh the council members whether we wanted to have uh three three member council sessions uh today and we chose to have all a committee of the whole for close session at our next council meeting April 8th. So that's why we're not taking any action tonight. Uh, close session should
be at seven. At >> 6:30, I'm sorry. >> Six or six? >> Six. >> Six. At six. No, six. And then we have the autism at seven. >> Autism awareness at 7. >> Yep. At six. We'll be having close session at six. >> Awareness. Thank you, Councilwoman. >> Yeah.
>> All right. So, uh, call the vote on the consent agenda. Remaining items. >> Mr. Con? >> I. >> Mr. Feststone. >> Yes. >> M. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. L. Uh, Mr. Leen, >> yes. >> Mr. Presidento, >> hi.
>> Mr. Canero, >> I >> Mr. Russo. >> Hi, >> President Ramos. >> Abstain on CD1 and I on the remaining items. >> CD1. >> CD1. >> Got it. >> Thank you. Uh, Councilman Russo A1. >> Yeah. And we spoke about this briefly at
the um at the caucus. Um, you know, I just have a problem with having a consultant come in when we have a board specifically when it comes to our insurance. Um, you know, we have our professionals in the city. Um, I just don't want to continue
to keep paying for consultants. Uh, and I know this is work that they've already done. Um, but I think it's important for us to point it out and I'm hoping that we don't pull in any other consultants next year or years following. So, um, I just wanted to make that statement and and then have a vote on it.
>> Fair chair. Uh, any other members? >> A1 call vote. >> Mr. Con. >> Hi. >> Stone. >> Yes. >> M. Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Le. >> Yes. >> President. >> No. >> Mr. Cano. >> Hi.
>> Russo. >> No. >> President Ramos. >> Hi. Thank you. Yes or no? >> I Okay. Council President, the petitions Yep. Petitions. Uh, Council President Zano. >> So, it's off topic, but because it's most of the time it's the communications
from the administration. Um, and am I speaking out of turn that email we got today on the executive order or is that is that public or is that not public? The executive order >> public >> in our email. It is overable. >> It's over. It's public. Okay. Executive
order is a public. >> Just want to just may not have been announced yet. >> So, I had a question on that. And again, all for it. Everything's fine in there. Uh, I would like a little bit more representation. Again, it's not my choice. It's the mayor's perview, but that's my input. >> Paul, speak the microphone. The microphone closer. Sorry.
>> Um, my question comes in at the end of the executive order. It talks about stop signs at 25 intersections, crosswalk restriping, safety improvements for 50 blocks. Um, and this group has to deliver a transition plan to the administration by 2027. My question here
is uh costs. Where are those associated with those 50 intersections, >> those 25 stop sign intersections? Because there has to be studies done. Some are county roads, some are our roads. We know that in our ward for stop signs, we get two two a year. We get to
throw something in there and that's not a small process for the transportation department. Um so while we face the 17 million uh budget deficit, uh I'm curious. we the mayor or the admin I'll say the mayor it's the mayor uh is
putting forth something where I don't see any costs that go with that and this goes along the same lines of when we had the restructuring of city hall with the different departments I didn't see any paperwork there for expenses either or savings so as we get into these more
difficult discussions of money uh before we start doing things we have to get our house in order before we start adding more expenses because anything with a street and we know from all the consultants that we've hired, this is not cheap for 50 blocks. This is not
cheap for 25 stop signs. So, I want to know where we're getting the money from that and maybe that's an offline discussion, but I just want to bring it up to my council members here instead of us having to go through Jerry and back and forth on conversations. So, I just want to bring that up. >> Thank you. It's all been discussed in transportation committee.
>> Yeah. Um, >> that's it. [laughter] >> Thank you. Uh, call it vote. We don't have to vote on petitions. >> Oh, we do have to vote, >> right? >> Call a vote. Petitions, communications. >> There's no vote on it. >> No vote on it, right? Yeah. Still vote
on it. They've been pulled before. So, all right. [snorts] Uh, Council Russo CL2. >> Yeah. Thank you, Council President. Um, you know, this one, look, let let's just call it what it is, right? It's it's pretty much theater at this point.
um if those unions don't come to the table and don't open their contracts, there's absolutely nothing we could do about it. So my question here is what's plan B, right? If the unions don't come to open contracts, what's the
next step? Where are we going from that point? And and I don't know if that's coming from the administration or the the sponsors of this, but I think I most [snorts] certainly want to know and I'm sure the public wants to know when they
don't want to come to the table or they refuse to come to the table. Like we by the way refused to go to the table when they requested to reopen their contracts last year with some of the unions, right? So everything comes around in life. So I just want to know what that
plan B looks like. So, if anybody could let me know, I would really appreciate that. I think it's important. >> I mean, I don't think this is political theater. I think this is political fact. We have a $17 million structural deficit.
Councilman, I I know you want to interrupt me, but but just let me let me >> I didn't interrupt you, Phil. >> So, you anticipated something. You might fool yourself. >> I did anticipate. Just go. I did. No one's going to interrupt you. Just go. Okay. Thanks. So, [laughter] we have a $17 million structural deficit. Uh, you
know, I think we all support collective bargaining. I think we all think it's important and we and most of us voted for it because we thought it was something that the mayor negotiated in good faith across the table. Uh but just to pick up on what council president
just said, I mean I think we should be looking at things with a a hard eye and I think that we should encourage them to come back to the table and have serious discussions rather than talk about a plan B. I think we should be encouraging that dialogue because just like we should be looking for all opportunities
to try and save money uh and save jobs, I think the unions have an incentive to do that as well. So, all this resolution does is encourage people to sit down, talk to each other, and see what they can work out. And, you know, I I trust that uh the administration is
[clears throat] going to do that in good faith. That that's the message I've gotten from city hall, but it was my idea uh that I presented and uh and I appreciated all the co-sponsor support. So it's just a good faith effort to try and see if one of the largest line items that we have in terms of personnel and
expenses and and costs uh that are not negotiable, right? I mean they are fixed in our budget whether there is some flexibility and I hope there is but ultimately it's not up to you. It's not up to me or any of us. It's just all this is is a resolution. It's not a
binding thing. It's it's it's it's nothing other than a good faith effort to try and see if we can move the process forward in a way that there can be constructive across the table negotiations in good faith. That's it. >> Yeah. And I I fully agree with you and I'm going to support it. I'm my concern
is when no one else comes to the table but us, the administration and the council, >> what do we do next? Right? Like so that's and it goes to the larger question of where we are on the budget and all those things, right? So I don't have a problem with the resolution. I
think it's absolutely in good faith and I support it, but I also want to be realistic about it that if none of those unions come back to the table to reopen their negotiations and reopen their contracts, what is our next move? Right?
So in some senses, it really is political theater, right? It's it's us expressing what we want, right? But it doesn't mean that's going to happen. So in our best interest, we should plan B. We should have that plan B and plan C,
I'm sure. Right. So that's all I'm asking and that's what I'd like to know. And if the administration has any ideas on what that looks like, I'd like to know it. >> Thank you, Councilman Canaro. >> Yeah. I don't think this is like a you know u plan B scenario but rather trying to make sure we have as many tools as we
can going into the you know budget process right so it's not like if everyone says no what are we going to do next it's okay what we know the levers that we have in front of us levy increase undesirable fee increases cost cutting right those are the three main
things that we have to look at [clears throat] so if we're expressing to the unions here that hey will you uh help out or consider adjusting some of these contracts in particular focusing on healthcare? Uh and if they agree then
is another [clears throat] level a lever on on the cost cutting side. If they say no whatever, you know, we don't want to talk to you then there's other cost cutting we'll have to look at with respect to that topic. But you know this is this is all about expanding the tools available to us for the budget season.
Uh this isn't about, you know, one avenue versus another versus another in a in a in a binary way. >> Council President, >> Council Fischer. [clears throat] >> Yeah, I I agree with Councilman Russo. I do think this is more uh grandstanding
than anything. I mean, and even some of the questions that Councilman Cano just mentioned, these are questions we could have asked last year, right? Like this relates almost very specifically to one main contract that last March after it was approved. Um, I was I had COVID. I
was homesick. And the business administrator called me. Business administrator aligned with the mayor, not aligned with me, called me and said, "How could I not have gotten my colleagues to vote no for this contract?" 3 days earlier, speaking with our most recent business administrator,
um, called me and said, "We want you to know that we are not supportive of this contract. It is too expensive. It locks us into healthcare. It locks us into costs for eight years. This is 100% the mayor not negotiating in good faith to give away um to give away some, you
know, good things to uh the PBA. So, we're here now. Um I I think it's amazing that people, you know, didn't spend the time last year. Paul and I spent all weekend and we we are the only two who did not vote yes on
this at the time. We spent all weekend looking at the math on this, asking questions. We didn't get any of our questions answered. We came to the meeting. I had co I called in. I said, "Please just wait. Let's get more information." And everyone else on this uh day just voted yes in an election year. And it's frustrating that we're
here now. I agree with the idea. It is something that, you know, when I ran and number of us ran, I said we had to do. And what is plan B? If if we can't get some sort of movement on here, at some point it may be layoffs. That was the comment that came from our prior last
two um administrators that said these contracts are too expensive and if we cannot get them to reconsider open the contract and revisit terms then we may have to go down a different path. I'm not putting the words in the mayor's mouth, but I know the mayor is
supportive of doing this and I applaud her for saying I'm now in a position where I'm going to have to do this and I'm willing to do this and I think that's fine. I'm in support of tonight, but anything else that is happening with this resolution is just pure theater. It's ridiculous. >> I just want [clears throat and cough]
I'll add one. Uh I've experienced myself personally as a union member in Patterson where uh there were layoffs projected. We had a budget shortfall in the past of education and the board of education asked us as a teachers union to open up uh our contracts specifically
with the healthcare portion of it. and with renegotiating our healthcare portion of it, we a were a we were able to save uh union membership jobs by making those adjustments and we saved a couple million dollars in that school year. So hopefully we'll be able to be successful here as well in doing that.
Council President Zano. >> Yeah, I again um I thank Councilman Cohen for reading my uh social media post. um he had reached out to me and said I'm putting up a resolution uh which was music to my ears because
many of you know me whether I was up here on this day or sitting in the seats with you guys. I've been screaming this for a while now. Leadership is not pointing out the fact that you were right. Leadership is actually fixing the problems. So now I have many I and
>> I was right. >> Yeah. Okay. [laughter] Whatever. Uh now uh many of my colleagues up here who ignored that are now suddenly turning and it's like the prodical son in my religion coming back and saying we spent all the money. I'm sorry, daddy. I'm
coming back home. Can you help me? Well, daddy's a mommy right now. Uh because our mayor's female. Um but different story. And so I'm sitting here going, you guys realized until the $17 million budget uh gap that now we have to come
in and do this. And so when I know what the resolution is not binding and I have spoken with the mayor and she has said that she wants to do certain things. I just it's just so frustrating to sit up here is that we might have different of different opinions but when it comes to the one
thing we need to do with taxes and spending money that we're not on the same page and we trust the mayor's budget every year and we don't listen that we don't have these problems. This has been telegraphed to us for a while now. If I just took and look at the
COVID funds, the 26 million we got, that could have helped us in different ways. And again, we didn't have control in really spending a lot of that. It was kind of a lot of wherever the mayor wanted to put it. So 45% went to revenue replacement, 18 went to public health. That makes sense. 18 to infrastructure,
5% to public safety, and 6% to the admin. I like we had money. We could have potentially taken all that money and helped our surplus by deferring some other things instead of doing some of this other stuff, but yet nothing
happened. I wasn't on the council at the time, so I really have nothing to say coming into this. You have to do your research and find out things, but this could have helped kept some of our surplus. We didn't have to potentially dip into our surplus. We could have had more revenue replacement. So I'm this is
a massive struggle for me because while we do say and listen it is good that council that Phil that you're putting this up because we do kind of sit on opposite sides of issues on certain things and it's positive because that means you've had discussion
with the mayor and you have some better [snorts] relationships than I do sometimes and it's it's a good sign to the community that you're putting it forward that means that we're not screwing around anymore like we've realized we had a But when we sit up here and we say things [clears throat and cough] and
maybe from this side of the table we always look like we always fight for everything and we're always being combative. It's not always the case. It's the case we're trying to say guys we've done some number crunching. We've had some ideas. It's not politics. It's the fact that the taxpayers are going to
be saddled with this bill. And while it might come out as political, I need you guys to change of like you've asked us to change that because I say the two of us because we're always the ones fighting everything >> to understand that we're not always
fighting it to fight it politically. We are trying to sound the alarms and I'm happy that you guys have heard it this year, but it shouldn't take us $17 million to figure that out. I'm just hoping going forward that when we raise our hands over here and say guys we
should look at this that everybody looks at it equally and not just say it's oh it's a two complainers again. >> We are trying to do this to be constructive and make sure the city's going in the right direction. >> Thank you Paul. Appreciate it. Call vote. >> Mr. Con. >> Hi.
>> Firestone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fiser. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Le. >> Yes. >> President. >> Hi. >> Mr. Cano. >> Hi. >> Mr. Russo. Hi, >> President Ramos. >> F I F1.
>> F1. >> So, I apologize, Council President. A couple things have Oh, did I jump in front of you? >> All right, go. >> No, >> I'm with you. >> Um, a couple things in the the uh caucus that I just completely forgot. Uh, and this was one of them uh in particular.
This appropriation is basically it just looks like to pay for the the snow. Is that correct? or no these appropriations or no this is >> these are reserve transfers from 2025 it's just reallocating amongst budget lines from 2025 or >> it's it's it's not a transfer between
yes >> for bills that have come in after um the close of the calendar year >> okay let me let me chew on that and I'll let you >> sure >> councilman re so to me right and this is always a gripe
of mine when we budget for the upcoming year, we always budget from what was budgeted last year. I just think it's a poor practice because we know as evident here
that we overcharge in some of those lines. If you look at what was overcharged in a certain number of line items here, that's $197,000. Now, we're taking that 197,000 that we overcharged in those line items to move
in other line items. My suggestion is take that $197,000 and apply an immediate reduction in those lines for this year. It's 200 grand.
Not a drop in the bucket. Most certainly doesn't cover $17 million, >> but it helps. And we get these line item transfers every year because we're not really digging in on certain line items. If
we're overbilling in line items and we're getting enough money to make these transfers and we're not this isn't on E to O and E. This is salary and wage. That's a number that we have a much better handle on. We know what we pay our people.
So all those salaries and wages is $197,000 that we are overcharging our taxpayers that we should not have done. That's a big gripe of mine. It will continue to be and I would hope that my
colleagues would make sure when the budget comes to us that we are not doing that and we are making those reductions. Instead of budgeting from budgeted to budgeted, we're budgeting from spent to budgeted this year because I think there'll be a significant dollar amount
in savings if we do that. >> Thank you, Council. >> Thank you. Finish joining Paul. [laughter] Um, yeah. I mean, now I I kind of look I mean, salary and wages to overtime expenses. That's that's an interesting one right away. But it definitely means we have to revisit then
now I I on some of these positions like I think corporation council I think some of that was we had midyear and things like that and they budgeted the beginning of the year. We're going to bring people on. I get that. >> Well, we'll budget accordingly this year hopefully. >> Yeah. I think that's the one thing we need to based on the last resolution we passed, right? These need to >> when the budget comes up, I hope that
you make those amendments. Vote >> Mr. Con. >> Hi. >> Firestone. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mr. Le. >> Yes. >> President. >> Hi. >> Mr. Cano. >> I. >> Mr. Russo. >> No.
>> President Ramos. >> I. >> Uh F3. >> Council Rouso. >> Uh this was for a vote. Council >> Quote. >> I I have a question. >> Uh Council Member Penzano. >> Uh Director Gonzalez. Is this absolutely
necessary that we need to do this like today? It's going to be absolutely we have to do it. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Call vote. >> Mr. Con? >> I stone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Mr.
>> Yes. >> Mr. L. >> Yes. >> Mr. President Xano. >> No. >> Mr. Cano. Hi. Russo. >> No. President Ramos. Hi. I too, Captain Russo. >> Yeah, we we discussed this one in the
caucus too. And uh this is >> Call vote. >> Yeah, we don't we don't need to read this at all again. >> Call the vote. >> Mr. Con, >> I stone. >> Hi. >> Miss Fiser. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. L. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> hi.
>> Mr. Cano, I >> Mr. Russo. >> No. President Ramos. >> I four. Councilman. Another vote. [clears throat] >> Call vote. >> Mr. Con? >> Hi. >> Firestone. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Yes.
>> Mrs. Ly. >> Yes. >> President. >> Can I Can I change my vote to no? >> Yeah. I I'm a no. But yeah, I'm no. >> No. >> Yeah. Just change our vote.
>> Cano. >> I. >> Mr. Russo. >> No. >> President Ramos. >> Hi. was council president was a no. >> All right, council fish was a no. >> All right, we got him. >> My no. >> I five. Councilman. >> Thank you, Council President. I've said
this in the past and I'll say it again. Um, you know, I looked at this and I just don't So, I've been told many times in the past that this is work that is very specific to the rain gardens and that
our employees don't have the expertise to complete it. And I kind of dug in a little bit and a lot of what's in this proposal is talking to the North Hudson Sewage Authority, which director, I know you
talk to them often. So, we don't most certainly don't need an outside contract to do that uh to replace net assemblies uh and oil soakers in those rain gardens. Our employees most certainly have that skill set.
Um, I just don't see how that holds any water any longer. >> Very specific things in this. You like that, right? Fun, wasn't it? >> That was good. >> Holding water. [laughter] >> There's eight things that are specified
in this >> contract. Five of them are talking to the North Hudson Sewage Authority or others. That to me is not a specialized skill set. The three that are actually on the ground doing the work again is not a
specialized skill set. We have an engineering department. We have that specialty. >> We have our laborers that could do the actual work. They have that specialty. The one and only thing that I agree with uh our business administrator was that
the cost of the goods are incorporated into this contract. But again, that's only about $5,000 worth >> of things. This contract is
$32,000. Again, 25 grand is not going to solve the $17 million budget deficit, but it helps. I can't in good conscious vote for this. I I will continue to vote no on these contracts. I would hope that my
colleagues would do the same. >> Thank you, Councilman. Uh I I asked uh Councilman Cohen to bring that up in infrastructure committee to see what that would look like bringing that in house. They could have the discussion there for next year or or or the summer actually. See what the cost would be,
see what the who would do it, who's trained in doing it or who need training in doing it. >> So hopefully that's fine. >> Call a vote. >> Can no vote. Just one just going forward. They the work was done. >> Council official, you have a question. You have no
>> Yeah. I got one quick question. >> Does the HBA supplement any of these cleanings of the pits at all or? No. >> No, not this. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Not this. No. >> Call vote. >> Mr. Con? >> Hi. >> Stone. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mrs.
>> Yes. >> Le. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> no. I >> Russo >> no >> president Ramos >> I six removal council
>> lose landscaping [laughter] >> Lou wherever you are Lou you're beautiful you're making a tongue >> he's in the he's in the Bahamas >> I look we're not going to revisit it all I mean we talked about it at nauseium in the caucus
>> um it's a lot of money a a lot of money and uh I have a lot of questions about it. I'll continue to have those questions. So, I'll leave it there and my colleagues could rip into it as they need to. >> Yep. Uh Council President, >> uh I'm going to I'm going to ask this question. Let's be constructive about
this. >> Not that I always look to New York City for answers. However, they have the we have a volunteer program. Well, if we're spending $117,000 to shovel Northwest Park or clean the streets, maybe we
should take that and look to see if there's any opportunities for people inside the community of Hoboken to maybe come out and get paid to work as part-time shovelers. for $17,000 for two snowstorms. I think we could
actually help some people in the community that are maybe struggling or looking for some extra cash and and that care about the community. I think somebody that comes from the community is going to shovel a little bit better than maybe a contract. Well, I'm not going to say that, but might take some
more pride in it because it's their backyard or it's their park or they live around the corner. So instead of us, we've all agreed that this is egregious, but let's just ask from the infrastructure committee if we could not only we have our volunteer program,
>> let's explore a paid program so that we can potentially save this money or put the money back into the community, >> but we have it or ready to go in case we get another snowstorm next year. >> Council President, Councilman Cohen. >> Yeah. Uh, Councilman President's honest,
so we all agree that it's egregious. And I I actually got a note from uh >> Lou. >> No, not from who? >> No, I got a note from someone who is a treasure of a condo building in the neighborhood who was out there during the blizzard. And and she gave a little
bit of context for the work that went into this. And I just wanted to share just a little bit of what I was told from the person who was an eyewitness who was there during the blizzard. Uh I was out several times in the midst of it and afterwards and observed snow and removal crew at several times during the
day and the following day. They started early on in the blizzard and kept working and their efforts enabled a ton of families to enjoy the snow in the park and it was a blast. They plowed and handshoveled all the concrete walkways within the park and the sidewalks around the park. Whether on purpose or
coincidentally, one of the large snow piles from plowing was on the north side of Lookout Hill. This has become a popular sledding hill and the snow pile served to stop sledders from sliding further than the bottom of the hill and enabled parents to stand around at the bottom. The walkway at the south side of
Lookout Hill was plowed, enabling sledders to walk along and then climb up the grass on the hill to get to the top. Certain areas had to be handshoveled either because of uneven concrete or the ability of the small plow to neatly get all of the snow. They plowed the plaza area several times and shoveled various
stairs. Most of the plaza could be plowed with a small plower, but the fountain mound had to be avoided. At some point, that area was handshoveled onto the flat plaza area. Several sets of stairs lead to the plaza at different points and had to be handshoveled. I walked down one of those stairs when the
snow was at 18 in deep before it was shoveled and it was a real slog. The guys had to spend a lot of time there just on that. So, I just want to say I I just want to say while while it's it's good and fair and for us to ask hard questions about things, sometimes there
are answers for why things cost so much. It's not to say that volunteers shouldn't be encouraged and it's not to say that we shouldn't see if there are alternative ways of getting work done for less. I'm always in favor of that. But I do think that that you say what you want about Lou. Uh his crew worked
hard in the middle of an 18inch blizzard and the people who live in that neighborhood were able to benefit from that work. That's all. Council President. >> Council President, I'd like to just add one thing. Council, my name is Pat. We can't hear. >> So, um I think we got gold level service
at Brazilian City Park and we're all kind of very attuned to it because this is following up on a $110,000 new net and the water sprinklers and so everyone's a little sensitive to the amount of money this one park is
requiring of all of our resources. Um, you know, I think it's great that people could run and play and enjoy the park. It's fantastic, but other parks definitely did not get gold level service. Um, I was in in uh uh over at
by the little league field and the whole center um walkway, which people use from getting the path to Midtown to go through that park wasn't shoveled for days. And so it wasn't just a slug. People are trying to get their dog to the dog park and we're all very attuned
to the dog poop, right? So, let's make it easy for people to get into these parks and let's spread the resources fairly among all the parks because some are treated, you know, very very well and others are like forgotten stepchildren. So, thank you,
>> Council Council Fischer. >> Yeah, I I would just add I mean, listen, I think we all recognize that we were a little bit of a price taker, right? I mean, we all we got blindsided. We had a huge storm. Um, what was communicated to us is that, you know, they put a bid out
and they had one response and and that was LSE who was already doing, I think, the work on u pure. So, they're here. They had resources. Um, but but I do I would agree with uh Councilwoman Imus. We just need to be more thoughtful about spending money. I mean, I think I don't
remember what they said about how how much did it cost for all of the streets citywide. It feels like a block. >> Yeah. It feels like a lot of money concentrated on one area and and I I you know walked around the waterfront by Maxwell Park over by Alleion and in in
many cases there was a small walkway and people were just walking in the snow. They were you know they made their own walkway with their own feet and everyone kind of followed. So um we you know thinking about fully clearing Northwest Park although some people appreciated it. we probably could have spent half
the money, gotten the same exact, you know, outcome. So, I just think we, you know, it it is what it is. Um, but hopefully there was a lot of lessons learned from this. And so, as we think about it next time, we we have more par and maybe less of, uh, you know, full
scale um, in that one park. >> No, agreed. Next year we have to do a little bit better. >> Hopefully there's no storms. Hopefully it's hopefully there's less storms and hopefully we've learned uh this year how to minimize our cost by still doing being efficient in shoveling our parks and roads. Uh call vote.
>> Mr. Con. >> Hi. >> Stone. >> Yes. >> M Fischer. >> Yes. >> Mrs. I >> Yes. >> Mr. Le. >> Yes. >> President. >> No. >> Mr. Cano. >> I. >> Mr. Russo. >> No.
>> President Ramos. I I eight. Anything else? Council president or councelor Mousel? >> I don't want me to start off or you want to start off. >> Yeah, ahead. Give me a break. >> So, this is a $3.9 million contract that
was placed before us. Well, we knew we were voting out on maybe the infrastructure committee or the DPW committee knew about this last week. However, when I read the paperwork on Friday, I was just asking
the question and so first question will be is I think we had a 2-year contract with Cali and this is the extension. First question I'm going to ask is did we put it out to bid for this this year? Um, and then once I grab that answer, I
got a couple other questions because I did do a little research on this and I just have some questions on the services we're getting. Uh, I did infer a lot from the sanitation study that you guys sent to us. I did pull some information out of there, but I'm just I have some
other questions beyond that. So, did we send us this out to RFP for this year or is this just we took the get the the clause that allowed us to extend this? So, we did not send this out to bid this year uh because on average across the
industry, we're seeing upwards of 30% increases in hauling contracts this year. Um that is largely due to increased costs that are beyond our control within the market. From what we understand um uh speaking to some uh
waste experts, the increases are largely related to lack of availability for qualified CDL drivers. Um increases in workers compensation, especially due to manual collection, um diesel fuel charges. In [clears throat]
fact, there are some municipalities that actually have a diesel fuel search charge in their hauling contract and are now getting hit with massive invoices because um of what's happening globally. Um and uh just simply, you know, it's
overnight collection, so you've got to have the the workforce to do that. So, um our understanding is if we were to to rebid it right now, we would not get nearly as um favorable pricing. And I understand that this does not appear to be favorable pricing. I'm I'm not going
to argue with you there. Um but I am saying that that it is very likely that the pricing would have gone up. Um it certainly wouldn't have gone down. >> Okay. So that'll lead me to my next thing. I again before the meeting I had a chance I opened up emails i.e. We
discussed the uh the co >> mic. >> So I got an email from a waste management company and I don't know how but they're asking us to obtain the solicitation. How do they do that? So I
don't know why I got it. >> I think everyone got that. >> Uh I don't know. It only has to me and >> I got one also. >> There's three people. I don't know. But I'm not going to say the name of the individual, but they're interested in this. So, I don't I feel like we should wait to at least listen to somebody
that's approached us or I mean I don't even know if this person's real, but it does look real. There's there's all kinds of stuff on here. I haven't checked into it. Not my specialty, but if somebody is interested in it, I think we should be in a time of $17 million budget gap. Maybe we should look at this
before we make a vote on this. But that's a side note. We can have an offline discussion with that and I'll I'll forward this email in a second. Um I have a question. Does Cali do our uh um recycling as well? >> Hauling for recycling. Yes.
>> They they do the same. >> Hauling. >> Hauling. >> Yeah. >> So when we dump, do we get the credit back from that when they dump the recycling? The cardboard? >> Hauling and disposal are completely separate contracts. >> But we get >> it has nothing to do with this contract.
>> Okay. And so this is literally just hauling. So when I hear their [clears throat] truck at night, that's just them. That's it. Yes. Did they pick up all the waste and bring it to uh the designated disposal facilities? Yeah. >> And I think Councilman Russo asked, we don't have a scale. Correct. >> No, we do not.
>> Okay. >> So, when these trucks and again, maybe I'm beating a dead weight to measure system. >> Okay. >> And I'm beating a dead horse. We're trusting our contractors that they're coming that that thing's empty. They didn't stop in Jersey City, pick up something, and then it comes to us and they dump it. So my understanding and
again I did a quick internet search that evidently when you dump stuff we have they give you tickets or uh it said something like dump tickets but you can do we have those things that we can look at so that let's say a 16 ton truck
picked up and I think you guys know from that report that says the average number of garbage that's picked up. So in other words, if every single time they're packed full, but yet we know on certain days it's light. I mean, can we infer that maybe the truck was full or not
full? My concern is 3.9 million and I don't know all the other stuff that goes with it that are these trucks empty when they come into Hoboken. >> Thank you, Council Musa. >> Yeah, thank you, Council President. >> So, let me start with the um report that
was sent to us. Um, I think the I think God bless I think the report kind of compares apples to oranges. The report specifically talks about creating a utility. Um, and there's some assumptions in here that I
think are just not correct. I mean, according to this report, it's saying that the city of Hoboken would spend $5 million in the first year for two main reasons. One is the cost of the
equipment, and two is the leasing of land andor building for a million dollars. Let me ask the question, director. How many How many garbage trucks does the city have? >> Believe it's five. Diana, can you
correct me? Yeah. >> Yeah, we have already five garbage trucks. >> Correct. However, yeah, sure. Continue. >> Okay. The assumption of a million dollars for a facility
is I don't think that we took into account that we have our DPW maintenance facility and all the surrounding land around it because that's where we could store additional
trucks if needed. The city has laborers. We have CDL drivers and again doesn't fulfill the entire need. I 100% understand that. But I think these these
estimates are are overestimating the costs and that million dollar difference itself between what we're contracting out to what this study is claiming it will cost us in year one is that
facility, that million-dollar facility. We have a facility. I don't think we need to create a utility. I don't think we need to hire more people in the forms of someone to run that utility. I don't think we need um massive amounts of new
equipment. It says we in the report that we're looking about 20 routes per week. Five trucks run by the city of Hoboken could most certainly run 20 routes per week. That's four routes per truck throughout
the entire week. That to me seems reasonable. According to the professionals that I've dealt with that have evaluated this with me, we could most certainly do this at a cheaper rate without creating a utility,
managing our garbage collection through the now director of infrastructure. Uh so we won't need an additional director. That director could actually do that that job of managing the collections. Um and we didn't even get into the cost
of tipping, right? The cost of tipping as Councilman President spoke about, we don't even have a method in place to measure what's being collected and then what's being dumped.
If we're doing that in house, we know exactly what's being collected and and exactly what's being dumped. There's no question there. But going on the assumption that the tipping fees are exactly what they're going to be, we still have the ability to save a lot of money to bring this in house. We could
hire part-time laborers. We could hire part-time CDL drivers to offset what we already have. And we could we could redo this study in a manner where we're saving money
yearover-year. Saving money in year one. And then once that additional equipment that we might have to buy is in place, year two is an even bigger savings. I would I would ask my colleagues to not vote on this to relook at this in a very
in-depth way and make those changes so that we could look at it from the perspective of bringing this all in house. >> Council Cano, [clears throat] um I have the opposite view. I'd encourage everybody to support this and vote yes uh so that we continue to pick up garbage because the garbage collects and
we need to pick it up. Um I think it's you know I've been holding my tongues. I think you know a lot of instances today and in the past you know the solution is why don't we bring all this stuff in house while we're also talking at the same time about layoffs and cutting. Uh
I don't know how we look I think we're we all I'm all for looking into this and seeing whether we can bring these things in house over time the right way with the right with the right level of service that we all want need to prevent things like more rat infestations. uh to the idea that we could just flip
the switch and have our army of city uh city employees who are presumably sitting around doing nothing uh or just having them work overtime so they go from 8 hour shifts to 16 hour shifts on a daily basis. We saw the strain that that put on them during the snow removal process. Thank you by the
way guys for doing that. Uh, I think it's just interesting and kind of not entirely based on reality, not for any malicious reasons, but I just think it's an oversimplification of the problem that really exists. So, yeah,
let's look into it, but let's look into it seriously. Um, we're going to probably have to hire a bunch of staff. We're going to have to thank you. >> Get more equipment that is probably modern. I've seen our trucks. They don't look exactly, you know, like they just came off the assembly line. Uh, and I
don't know where, you know, we have like [clears throat] large buildings that are empty right now to put all these things in. Um, so what we have in front of us is a contract extension. Uh, two years ago, this came before us. It was a 70%
increase and we all had heart attacks. We all recovered from those heart attacks. Uh luckily um but uh it was it was uh an incredible thing. Uh another interesting thing that we had back then was we only had one bidder, right? And
so there were some questions around that. Uh so much so that the business administrator at the time went out and did a survey of other towns in North Jersey and West Jersey and found out that in most instance, I think you look at that like seven to 10, I forget exactly what the numbers are. Uh in
almost all instances, nobody got more than two biders. Uh in almost all instances, they got similar increases that we did at the time. Uh some cities decided to forego garbage collection wholesale and made people go to private
haulers for themselves. I don't think we want to do that uh as a municipality. Other cities uh started charging um their uh residents. other cities uh cut back their garbage service dramatically. We maintained our service and we decided
to pay the extra price. Uh so part of that was a extension clause. [clears throat] You know, I I take the business administrator at her word because she's probably no offense to the last two the most capable business administrator we've had uh so far. Uh the market
forces are correct, right? Diesel is over $5 a gallon right now uh due to things not within our control and they are not going to come down anytime soon. Okay. Uh
people as much as we want everyone to get back into the trades and all those blueco collar jobs far fewer people are doing them now because we have a people problem. We don't have enough people to do the jobs in general in the United States let alone these jobs. Yes, it's true.
And so it was smart that we had this extension. Yes, it's a lot of money, but if we go out to bid right now, which we would have to. I don't think we can just say, "Hey, we got an email from some guy and let's talk to him." We would have to go out to bid and then roll the dice.
The smart money is saying that if we roll the dice, that's going to come back much higher, at least 30%. So, let's do the smart thing. Let's take advantage [snorts] of this extension. It's a lot of money, but it's what we have to do. So, please vote yes. >> Okay. >> Uh call vote.
>> Yeah. Just just to add one thing. I I just confirmed um our current uh our current contract expires April 3rd. So, to the point that Councilman Cano just made like we we can't not have a
contract in place. We can't not um uh collect our trash. Um I do just want to say one thing. I you know I do I think these are all great points. I think we um do need to spend more time on the report uh that Councilman Russo mentioned. I do think we should you know
maybe more actively meet with other um hauling companies over the next 12 months so that maybe we can have more people actually bid when we put an RFP out next year. Um and I'd like to just revisit some of the terms. You'll see that I'm going to vote no tonight. I'm going to vote no tonight um because
we've just had a ridiculous issue that some of you have been on um the emails for the last three years where we just have a unique situation on Shipyard Lane. Um, I appreciate all the effort that Director Ailles and and um and
Director Gonzalez have done to work with Shipyard to to reduce the amount of trash that is being picked up in one location at 2 3 4 in the morning, disrupting all of the residents on Shipyard Lane every night. So, it's
definitely gotten better, but I've asked repeatedly to amend the contract to have them start earlier, etc., and it just still hasn't happened. So for me, um, and I've probably asked 20 times in three years, so for me, I'm still a no, even though I understand the importance of it.
>> Council President, one last qu, and it's a question. >> Um, Director Gonzalez, can I request the administration to give us a list of any large contracts that are coming up in any amount of time? Because we knew this contract was coming
up for April 3. However, we could have whoever this person was, if we would have maybe talked about this earlier, we may have not been in the point where we have to vote on this because the contract's up April 3rd. So, can can I grab a list of any large
contracts that are coming up so that we can be prepared so at least we do our research and that we're not getting that we have to do this because something's going to go up 30%. Is is that something we could do? >> Uh, yes. And just uh for clarification, um solid waste hauling bids have to be
advertised for a very extended period of time. Um I actually believe we would have had to advertise it last year. So um just to to clarify that there was also a transition period here that is uh specific to this contract. But all that said, absolutely.
>> Thank you. Call vote. >> Mr. Con. >> I Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Oh, I'm a no. Sorry. I'm a no. I did it again. >> I was about to help you out. [laughter]
>> I'm an O. >> Council officials are no >> can change. >> All right, guys. Keep on going. >> Me. >> President. >> No. >> Mr. Cano. >> Hi. >> Mr. Russo. >> No. >> President Ramos.
>> Hi. Council Fisher is a no. Council >> Fisher was no. >> Yeah. >> I nine. Council President Zano. >> I just wanted to highlight what we spoke in and probably for a vote more or less, but the fact of all these extensions even though it's a grant that's paying for this just like all the extra
meetings and things like that as as we some of that grant money could go towards more things for the community instead of paying uh consultants or people to do certain things. my opinion, but another $100,000 for a new contract. Even though we are increasing the scope of things, we seem to increase the scope
for everything. I just want to bring it up for a vote because I I don't agree with some of this stuff when we we I just everything is is an increase. So, I just want to bring it up for a vote. Call vote. >> Mr. Con? I stone.
>> Yes. Mer. >> Yes. Sorry. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Le, >> yes. >> President Zano, >> no. >> Mr. Cano, >> I >> Mr. Russo,
>> hi. >> President Ramos, >> I ordinance [clears throat] for introduction. Ordinance amending chapter 192 entitled parking for persons with disabilities to amend reserve parking spaces on
Clinton Street and Garden Street. Vote, >> Mr. Con. >> Hi. >> Stone. >> Yes. >> M. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Zyus. >> Yes. >> Mr. Leon. >> Yes. >> Presentano. >> Hi. >> Mr. Canero. >> Hi. >> Mr. Russo. >> Hi. >> President Ramos. >> Hi.
>> Ordinance for introduction amending chapter 190-31 title closing school streets parking zone parking school zones to change school pickup and drop off hours on Garden Street between Third
Street and Fourth Street. Call vote >> Mr. Con. >> Hi. >> Firestone. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mr. Zyus. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> PresidentO. >> Irero. >> Hi. >> Mr. Russo. >> Hi. >> President Ramos. >> I.
>> Ordinance. Introduction amending chapter 190-6.1 entitled restricted parking for police vehicles by vehicles and official business to remove municipal parking spaces on North Street. >> Call the vote.
>> Mr. Con. >> Hi. >> Firestone. >> Yes. >> Fisher. >> Yes. >> Mr. Zyus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Le. >> Yes. >> President Xano. >> Hi. >> Mr. Canero. >> Hi. >> Mr. Russo. >> Hi. President motion I
>> public portion we have uh Tony Prices. >> Yep. Yep. About five minutes. I see a name for the record. >> Anthony Price uh resident southwest Hoboken. So I put in a proposal uh to the city council to ban gas powered leaf
blowers. Um you know it's interesting. It's an interesting proposal because there are many many New Jersey municipalities that have already moved away from gas powered leaf blowers for obvious reasons. Uh quality of life
issues, health issues, environmental issues. Monontlair, West Orange, Maplewood all have transitioned away from gas powered leaf blowers. New York City
January 2027, they will move away and ban it just like the New Jersey cities. And there's a there's an underlying reason why they did this. It's bad for the community. So, I put I put forth this proposal. Jerry circulated it. Uh
there it it includes Maplewood's plan. So, I would encourage you to read it. It's really interesting if nothing else. Mhm. >> Uh it has a coalition of 33 cities in New Jersey talking about this. Hope
Oaken's not on it. I don't know why. Maybe they can be this year. Um so that's all I really have to say. Uh we're across from Academy commercial property. Uh I have to say 8 a.m. that decibel
level is egregious. And the residents that I've spoken to all agree. Even the people across the street agree. As I walk the neighborhood and just tap people, hey, I noticed you walked out of that building. Remember the guys from Academy, the guys at Leaplow? Oh my god,
that's the expression I get. That's the response I get. So quality of life would be great. But the people using these devices, whether they know it or not, it's a health risk to them, too. It's kind of ironic. Um so again I want to point out the the
the interesting point that there's a coalition that exists already 33 cities. Uh New Jersey has move uh has multiple cities already moved away from gas power to better sustainable sources. New York City is banning in January next year. So
I think it makes sense. I think it's about time Hoboken kind of joins the bandwagon. And I know Hoboken has its unique challenges because no two cities are created equal. I get it. But that doesn't mean you can't use Montlair as a
blueprint or maybe lessons learned. Join the coalition and find out what could be done. Maybe a small pilot a southwest Hobbook in where I live. You know, just do that. Um so that's all I really have to say. I just want to bring it to the
attention. Like I said, Jerry provided a packet of information with my letter formally requesting this. I'm assert team members well here in Hoboken. So, if you want me to police and give any violations, I'll do it. But that's a stretch. Um, and that's all I have.
>> Dog poop, too. >> That's it. Thank you. Thanks for listening. >> Enrique Herrera. Thank you. [clears throat] >> How's it going, guys? uh this specific uh public portion is actually wanted to include uh certain technologies that uh
I've wanted a public inquiry into. uh these technologies involve neural links and uh anything that's connected through Starlink and the addition of Palunteer technology which relies on prediction scale where I actually developed a way to actually counter any prediction scale involving
monitoring which is not just a violation of the fourth amendment but um for this not to have been brought up by now with uh respect to people who don't really know the situation we're eventually going to have a sit where we have to talk about malicious use of
technology in the workforce or school environment. That would in other words be grounds for expulsion in terms of plagiarism or any type of inappropriate use of the technology at work which would be malicious prosecution or using any technology like that to abuse any workers. um as the advancements of these
technologies do take place, laser trip wires in any way, shape or form that are exact in terms of Starlink uh which is in a lot of the buildings here is a lot of it's a very common thing to determine 100% location and steps toward the bathroom as you get out of bed. any type
of palunteer technology that can predict uh a zero to 100% of what would be everything you do up until your Google calendar appointment which is finite. This type of breach of uh privacy should be looked at as a violation of the
fourth amendment. And if there ever was a a way to really reiterate what I said, a public inquiry into this type of malicious use of advanced technology uh should be something we should be looking into. Uh I also want to again accredit the Trump administration for the take it
down act and hopefully the defiance act by AOC would follow suit as any type of defake or AI non automated generated materials can get into maybe neural links and maybe you can airdrop it. Any type of advancement into that uh would
induce any type of psychosis. Uh like I said any malicious use of that technology should be looked at and I hope that we can take that seriously as we um move toward a future with this type of technology. real time uninterrupted communication whatever uh thank you thank you for your time thank you
pat waiters pat waiters this is for the public and all the ones that's watching me don't talk about my uh outfit on um I have one thing to say I wrote a letter to the city clerk um I don't know if you got it Jerry or Jimmy.
It broke my heart. Can I tell you why? Right before the election, I was friends with everybody. And it's hard to be my friend because you got to earn it. And to see us go back and forth at each other and disrespect each other, it's
not worth it. It breaks my heart. Especially us like old Toboken. When I say old Toboken, I'm talking about when we had the barrels in the back of the white boy project. That's how far I'm going back in the 60s. I don't want to fight Ruben. I don't need to fight Mike.
I don't need And it breaks my heart because the rest of you guys to me is still newcomers. Y'all the new reformers. I felt disrespected because I said to you and I and I said it respectfully, Ruben, because I joke sometime, I have a sense of humor. I felt disrespected
because I felt like you was trying to silence me and and I've been coming up here for years. I was here the day they dragged Perry Bella Fury out of here. and and friends of yours too. So, you know, when we on the good side of uh Ruben, we here. The thing that broke my
heart is I know we had a horrible election. It's not even four weeks, never alone four years, and I refuse to come to these meetings like I've been doing for 31 years with Mod Diro and Helen Hirs. I'm not going nowhere. So,
y'all better cough it up and get used to me. Don't disrespect me. I'm asking you nicely cuz I'm not going to keep writing letters to the city clerk and this city council, all nine of y'all is going to be liable. Even if it's only a $350 fine they hit you with, it ain't your money.
Bad enough we got to find that 17 million. And I'm on board with that. If one of y'all want to help me with that, I really want us to unite. I want you guys to be professional. I want it placed on the record. And I say that is because the last council meeting I was
disrespected by a very good friend of yours, Reuben. He and and then what make it so bad? He came in person. First he said to you, "Don't let me in the public portion." And mysteriously I got booted out of the public portion. So you see how serious this is? It's not right.
Okay. It says guests won't allow. I gave it to the city clerk. Then I seen this individual talking to the director, the deputy director of the parking utility saying, "Oh, a pat waiters don't deserve a handicap spot. A handicap spot ain't to deserve it.
I don't want to be handicapped. I don't want to be sick. You qualify for it." Maybe he said that cuz when he sat on the committee, certain council people sent people to me as a favor. I don't do that. I never did. So again, I just want
this for the public to see, especially all of the ones that's stopping me. And I told them how we can win. Don't vote for those six seats. Emily need those six seats. And she know that. So whatever deals she cutting with y'all or whatever if it includes using your
influence to hurt, harm, or put anybody that live here in danger. Y'all going to deal with Pat Waiters. I don't like what's going on. Treat everybody fair. And don't ever ever try to intimidate and bully me because a friend of yours say, "Let's get pat
waiters." Next time I'm going to the police department. And I'm serious. And it's shame that we had to come to this everybody. And the family that I got lived here since 1962. I'm not tolerating this new Hoboken.
Please. And I love you, Reuben, and always will. So tell your little friends to be nice and grow up. Elizabeth Adams. Good evening. Tonight I would like to speak regarding the approval
at the most recent city council meeting of March 4th, 2026 of CD3, which is the uh resolution approving a community host agreement with Karma Dispensary LLC
located at 300 Observer Highway, a so-called adult use cannabis. establishment. I've had the opportunity to review this agreement. The first paragraph entitled impact
brought home many of the potential problems that the existence of this establishment will invariably create over time. As for example, increased use of city services,
increased use of city infrastructure, the need for additional city infrastructure, employees and equipment, increased traffic and traffic congestion, increased air, noise, light and water
pollution, issues related to public safety and addictive behavior. loss of city revenue from displacement of current businesses, issues related to housing,
costs related to mitigating other impacts to the city and its residents, and last but by no means certainly not least, quality of life. For instance, I'm sure that I'm not
alone in walking along various streets in Hoboken, including Washington Street and the various parks right out in broad daylight, no less, and suddenly being
sub having to be subjected to the most distinctly unpleasant smell of marijuana wafting in the surrounding air. While this is nasty to experience in all four seasons,
it is particularly miserable as the weather warms up, particularly with for those people with respiratory issues. If regular smoking is banned in public places, why should this substance be any
different? Also, why are six dispensaries necessary in what is after all a mile square city? North Bergen, which is considerably larger than Hoboken, only has two
dispensaries located at the northern and southern ends of the town. The presence of these so-called adult use recreational dispensaries will also attract an unsavory element to Hoboken,
one that will inevitably become a problem over time. It is interesting to note that neither Union City nor Wehawen want these dispensaries in their cities. So they therefore simply do not. But
even beyond these issues, by tolerating the presence of these non-medical dispensaries, Hoboken is providing an extremely poor example for our children,
teens, and young people. Not only the ones who visit, but the ones who actually reside here. I believe that by continuing to tolerate the presence of these dispensaries, Hoboken is traveling down a very
slippery and negative slope. Today it's marijuana, which necessarily begs the question, what will it be down the line? It is well to remember that what you tolerate, you cannot change.
It is my sincere hope that sometime in the not too far distant future, these dispensaries will have become a thing of the unenlightened past. Thank you for your time. >> You [clears throat]
thank you once again, Council President. Good evening, uh members of the council, members of the public. Uh, Council President, as we gather here in this month of March, I would like to take a brief moment to recognize Women's History Month. It is a time to honor the
countless women who have shaped not only our county, our nation, but our great city of Hoboken. We celebrate the women who have broken barriers in public service. those who have served on this council, those who continue to lead
within our municipal government and the women in the mayor's administration, including our current mayor, Emily Jabor, who once served as a council member in this chamber and now continues to make history as only the second woman
elected mayor of Hoboken. As we recognize the women who serve our community every day, educators in our school, public servants, and our many professionals who keep our city moving forward. And
just as important, we honor the women in our personal lives. Our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunties, our sisters, our daughters, and our neighbors whose strength, compassion, and resilience inspire younger generations
daily. Let us not only celebrate them this month, but continue to support, uplift, and empower women in Hudson County, our nation, in our great city of Hoboken every single day. Congratulations to all the women,
especially in corporate council, uh, who are are now the majority. Also, Council President, now in so in more solemn um times as again the unofficial consoler of of our county, pardon me, of our
council, I'm getting uh a little static uh behind me, but um Council President, um uh March 6, we lost one of the great Hobokenites, one of the great uh in my opinion uh persons who served as mayor of our city, Patrick El Pasculi. um pass
on March 6th, a pardon me, a a little emotional, a district school teacher of Hoboken, a politician who served as the 43rd
mayor of Hoboken from 88 to 93. It was a great pleasure to know him. Uh when I was in school, I was like 12, 13. And as I grew up, I also helped him in his um political um campaign headquarters. And I also had the honor to do his
decorating and his inaugural. I believe you you were too young. So is council president. [laughter] Now council council president. Now even more solemn because I made a promise or I made a commitment last um meeting. The names of the fallen. Again, this is this
is if you would like to join, but I this is my public comment. So I would like to send my condolences to the following fallen. Again I get emotional. Again this was Sergeant Benjamin N.
Pennington. He was 26 years old. Also the six service uh members who died in the first attack in Iraq. You got to forgive me with the names.
Major John A. Kilner, Captain Ariana J. Savino, Technical Sergeant Ashley B. Puit, Captain Seth R. Kovville,
Captain Curtis J. Angs, Technical Sergeant Taylor H. Simmons, council president. Also, the other six count uh service members
who died, US Army Reserveist, Captain Cody A. Court. Court Sergeant First Class Noah L. Teen Sergeant First Class Nicole A. Amore,
Sergeant Declan J. Cody, Major Jeffrey R. O'Brien, Chief Warrant Officer Third, Robert M. Marsen. So, Council President, we put these names to be immortalized in the council record
and to also send our compassionate condolences to their families and to remember them as heroes and patriots to the United States of America. Even though some of us oppose the aggression,
>> but we [snorts] honor we honor the fallen. Thank you, Council President. And you know what? I'm going to say again, let's um let's try now to to um have the information that the people asked. And Council President, thank you.
Slava Ukraine, glory to Ukraine. Here I am Slava. Glory to the heroes. >> Thank you, Manny. >> And God bless you. >> Appreciate it. Thank you so much, Ariana Lopez. >> Lower it a little bit more. You can turn the mic down. >> Tilt it down.
>> Got it. >> Good evening, city council. My name is Ariana Lopez. I'm 11 years old and here to talk about something that is very concerning to me. Recently, I went with my mom to drop my little brother at Wallace School. He is four years old and has special needs. While I was there, I
noticed how crowded and chaotic the corner 11th and Clinton becomes during morning drop off. There is a bus stop right at that corner. And during school drop off, there's a very large crowd waiting for the bus. During this time, many parents are trying to walk their
children into the school. The sidewalk becomes so crowded that people are forced to squeeze through or step into the street just to get around the crowd. For small children, that can be really unsafe. If adults find it difficult to safely get through the sidewalk, imagine
how hard it is for small children with sensory issues and special needs. I understand that buses are important, but I hope that the city will look closely at the situation and consider possible solutions. For example, the bus stop could be moved further away from the drop off entrances. All kids, including
my brothers with special needs, like my brother, deserve a safe way to get into their school every morning. Thank you for listening me. Have a great night. >> Thank you, Ariana. Appreciate it. [applause] >> You're a great big sister. Appreciate it.
>> Uh motion to close public portion. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I new business items. >> Just a Fisher. >> Yeah, I I actually just want to respond to the member of the Oh, he left. Never mind. I got nothing. >> Thank you. Uh any other new business
items? Council Russo, >> if I may, um, director, um, we've been talking about these stipens now for a little bit, and I appreciate the report that you sent. Um, in that report, you talked about a few of those stipens that are going to remain, and I kind of have
some [clears throat] issues with them. Two two of them particularly. One is a $5,000 stipen or multiple $5,000 stipens for personal use of vehicles. uh I'm sorry, for personal vehicles being used for city business.
Uh and then the other one was a very large stipen of almost $30,000 for the CFO. Um could you without getting into the specifics of who those people are, >> the why,
>> can you define [clears throat] what that use is for those vehicles? And can you explain why we have a CFO by title, but we're also providing
uh almost $30,000 stipen to someone. And I think I navigated that without getting into anything specific. >> All good to answer all that as long as you don't get into specific. >> Sure. Uh so as I noted in the memo um regarding the the stipens for um use of
a personal vehicle for city business, this is only when um the use of the personal vehicle will be in lie of the city actually purchasing a fleet vehicle or leasing a fleet vehicle with the associated maintenance cost, fuel cost, etc. So, uh, if an employee takes on,
you know, their their own vehicle to conduct city business instead of us acquiring an entire vehicle with the associated cost, um, then we would provide a a stipen to that employee. Um, given that $5,000 is significantly less
than what it would cost the city to acquire a vehicle, maintain a vehicle, and fuel a vehicle. Um, second, um, and so there there are two of those. I believe at the current moment. Um second uh you had asked about the CFO.
So another um uh item that was indicated in the memo is um compensating for responsibilities associated with an additional title eliminating the need to hire a full-time employee and incur the associated salary and benefits costs. So
the person who is currently serving as the CFO is also serving in a second role. um as a comproller, right? And I believe that's the technical title. Um although I can confirm with civil service um
and by serving those two roles, the city did not take on another significantly, you know, highcost position. Um so it is effectively a significant cost savings to the city. We don't have another salary. We don't have another pension. We don't have another um we don't have
to pay more benefits. Um but that person is doing two jobs. >> So let me let me follow up here. One with the vehicles. What specifically are directors doing with a vehicle in
the city of Hoboken that they need to for for any reason get in a vehicle and and and do something? I mean, Hoboken's a mile square, right? Like a director needs to be on 14th Street, you know, 14th and
Wash. they walk down Washington Street or they or they get a ride from, you know, someone who's in a vehicle. I I don't understand the specific need in a time when we're trying to find every cost savings. So
that that's my bigger concern. So only one of those uh vehicles is a director and that specific um and so again I am not going to to get specific as to those job duties right because um
>> for the reasons you know but what I will say is um that person will have to respond to emergencies 24/7 that person would uh potentially have to go to meetings during the day that person and those could be out of town and we don't pay for any of that other than this
$5,000 stipend. [clears throat] >> The other option is we give them a fleet vehicle to to take home and we pay the cost of >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Well, give us >> Sorry, I don't want to interrupt. >> Okay. And then we pay the cost of that
vehicle and fuel and insurance and all the above. Let's go. >> Or an additional option would be that they take a fleet vehicle that doesn't go home with anyone and that's used for multiple employees across the city when when needed.
>> No, because this would be an emergency vehicle. So regardless of whether it goes home or not, that vehicle needs to be accessible >> in case of emergencies. >> And we have those vehicles. We currently have access. No, we don't have extra vehicles.
>> That's exactly my point. I don't think we need extra vehicles. I think we have vehicles on the fleet that could be utilized by whomever in the city when in fact there is an emergency. There are police vehicles out there. There are there are OEM vehicles out there. There
are fire vehicles out there. There's a number of vehicles out there that if someone has to respond to an emergency, those vehicles have the ability to respond to that emergency. If it is employee X who has to get there, they most certainly have the ability to get
there with a vehicle that's already maintained by our fleet. So, that that to me is a concern and in this year, I think it's something that we should consider removing um as stipens. >> Thank you, C. As far as as far as the
>> uh stipen for the CFO, >> you know, the city functioned a long time with just a CFO, without a controller, without a director, just the CFO and st and supporting staff.
I think if we're going to have our CFO perform those duties, I think we should include that as part of their duties. I think that should be all-encompassing in one position. And then the mayor has
the ability to set a salary within the range. >> Sure. >> So it may be six of one and a half a dozen of the other, but I think it sends a clear message that the city's not going to continue to add stipens to other employees. Set the salary. Let the
mayor set the salary at what she thinks that is appropriate for that position. But I don't think we should have a separate stipen for it. I think if there's room in that salary ordinance, we should then do that through salary. >> Okay. >> Uh and then
>> not have those sitins. >> Thank you, Councilman. Any other >> I got a quick one. >> Council. Thank you, Councilman. >> Director Gonzalez, did you send me the list of the uh employees non-union union salaries and all that stuff yet or am I Did I
miss that email? >> Nope. haven't sent it yet because as I have discussed previously that will be part of our our budget process. >> Thank how about existing can I have that now like what last year was then I mean this is like I asked on January 29th I I
just don't I mean if >> it's a little frustrating from my perspective is that I asked for something that I think I can Oprah and according to Oprah laws it's like within seven days I would have got that. I think as a city council person when we ask for things like that, there
shouldn't be, oh, we're waiting to a budget process. It should be given out to us because we're trying to look at things to make sure that we're prepared for these budget processes. And now we've got budget process next week and I'm going to look at this and I've got to start asking questions that I wasn't able to research or look up. So, a lot
of the question that's why I asked in January. Sure. >> So, thank you very much. >> Uh, any other members? Uh, two things. Uh, Foodie Fest is coming up. What's the date, Victor? >> April 25th. >> April 25th. FoodieFest supporting autism
awareness uh at Church Square Park. April 25th. And a moment of silence for uh Mayor Pasculie. Uh was a great mayor, good guy. Uh you saw him at St. An's feast every single year. Uh being an usher at the church,
just an an all-around gentleman and really represented Hoboken well. uh in the mayor's office and in the classroom. Uh Mr. Clerk, moment of silence. >> Thank you. Motion to close. >> Motion in favor. >> I had a tea.
>> Yep. >> Are you still hungry? I drove. You want to ride? >> I do. >> See you later. Wow.