bless you. I thought so. >> Good afternoon. Good afternoon. We are on the record. Today is Monday, the 22nd day of June, 2026.
This is a regularly scheduled caucus meeting of the Jersey City Municipal Council. We had a planned 4pm start and my watch is showing 4:03 p.m. May we have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting. Council person Brooks >> present.
>> Council person Zupa >> here. >> Council person Ephro >> present. >> Council person Little. Council person Gilmore. Council person Griffin. Council Person Lavaro >> here, >> Council Person Singh >> here,
>> and Council President Ridley >> here. >> We have six council members present at 403 p.m. On behalf of Council President Ridley, in accordance with chapter 231 of the New Jersey Public Laws of 1975, officially known as the Senator Byron M.
Bear Open Public Meetings Act and more commonly known as the Sunshine Law. Adequate notice of this caucus meeting has been provided by posting the annual notice listing the schedule of caucus and council meetings of the municipal council for the calendar year 2026 on the bulletin board on the first floor of
city hall. The annual notice was also filed in the office of city clerk on Tuesday, November 25th, 2025. In addition, at the time of its preparation, the agenda of this meeting was disseminated to the municipal council, mayor, business administrator, corporation council, and local
newspapers on Friday, June 19th, 2026 at 8:42 p.m. The agenda was concurrently posted on the city's website. Consequently, I can certify as for total compliance with the Sunshine Law. Council President,
>> good evening everyone. Well, good afternoon. We are going to jump right in. We have a few presentations and we're going to start with our first presentation will be our mayor, James Solomon.
>> Good afternoon, Council President. Thank you for having me. All council members, it's good to be back in the chambers for a caucus. Um, and I appreciate everybody who's here. So, um, what I'm going to do is present to the council the resolution, uh, that is before you on Wednesday regarding the third quarter
tax bill and how we're setting that. And, um, this is for me to be able to obviously give you all core important and public information. Uh, we have obviously city staff here that this affects, uh, very very, um, deeply. So, this is for obviously all of our city staff, but it's also for members of the
public. um correctly and and understandably members of the public have a number of questions about where we're going with our budget, what we're doing. Then I think it's important as a leader of the city for me to present directly to all of you uh where things stand and then to be able to answer your questions directly. Uh and then I'll be
back here on Wednesday during our city council meeting as well uh to to do a similar thing then because I think it's important uh to again know as leader of the city to be able to answer people questions directly and honestly and look them uh in the eyes as we're uh moving forward through some difficult times. Uh
so folks, as everyone knows, uh we face, you know, basically the biggest fiscal crisis, certainly in Jersey City's modern history, uh the largest one in the state of New Jersey since Atlantic City in 2015. Uh one that unfortunately forces us to have an incredibly set of difficult choices. So we'll move forward. Um you guys should see the
presentation in front of you. Uh the presentation is obviously up above for members of the public here. You guys have it on the screens? Oh, you don't? >> Okay. Give us a minute and we will we will try to get this on the screen for our council members. >> Bear with us. I think uh
do I have a >> pardon me. I thought was being done by >> should able to see it now? >> No. >> The only issue is it's now not up there. Is there a way to get it up there as well? Well, >> did it go off the
>> Yes, went off the top projector. Yeah, it's now on the top projector. You guys got see it. Great. We are set. I appreciate the work. Thank you. So, um when we are have been faced with this incredible series of incredibly difficult choices, we've wanted to look
towards um a couple of guiding values when considering the the like I said the difficult choices before us. So the first uh we've done everything in our power to avoid uh what we're calling the worst case scenario. And obviously the scenarios in front of us are extraordinarily difficult. Uh and we
know how awful uh each choice before us is. Uh but uh if the state um does not support us in the way that we need to be, we've had to consider uh tax increases up to 31% and we've also had to consider, you know, massive cuts to
city services. Neither of those are acceptable for our city. uh both would be extraordinarily devastating and so we've been working extraordinarily hard knowing that that was before us without the support that we've needed from the state. Um second is extraordinarily important for us to keep Jersey City safe. Um I think the first job of any
public servant all of us as the governing bodies of our city is to keep the residents of our city safe. Uh and that involves obviously our police and our fire departments. Uh that obviously the the crime that can come uh the ability to respond quickly to respon to to disasters. you know, when someone
calls 911, it's the worst moment of their life. And we need to make sure that we are keeping the residents safe. And then we need to make sure we keep our city services functional. Uh, simply put, I hear from residents all the time that our city services aren't where they need to be to begin with, whether that's trash pickup, pothole filling, uh, snow
clearance, and we must keep our city services functional. Uh, so those have been a couple of the guiding principles that we have been thinking about and addressing as we go forward. So, where are we? um want to kind of give you guys the clear sense of where we are. First is we have what we
inherited, right? The $255 million budget gap. And it's important to just take a note to just make sure the public is fully aware of just just how big and unprecedented this gap is. So this is 13 times the size of the budget deficit that Mayor Mani announced in New York City based on the size of our budgets.
Right? Obviously his budget is $125 billion and ultimately he had a $5 billion gap that he had to close. Our budget is around 800 million and we had a $255 million budget gap to close. That's 28% 29% of our operating budget.
That is unprecedented. That that is, you know, like I said, the last time a New Jersey city faced something like this was 2015 in Atlantic City. And I know you all I know every member of the public is livid. We all should be. This should never happen. Um the ability for
this to happen requires failures on multiple levels. Um, it's something that as a council member, many of you know when I voted against the budgets, you know, I called out the practices that were leading here. But much of what was done was also hidden. $52 million in unpaid health bills, right? Never
disclosed. Uh, bills, capital bills, uh, paid people paid things paid out of our capital accounts, just things that were truly genuinely um, wrong that were basically being hidden uh, by the former mayor who wanted everything to look good in his run for governor. So, what have
we done with that? First, we've gotten to work in partnership with many of you uh to be able to deliver $55 million. That is again based on the size of the budgets. That's twice what Mayor Mandani has done in New York. Uh and it's really important for us to uh talk through some
of those big big initiatives. And they'll we'll have more details on them in a little bit, but many of you know the change in healthcare, uh the Pompadoo, uh the Liberty Science High School. Unfortunately, despite that improvement, that still leaves us with a $200 million remaining gap, nearly 25%
of our budget. So, how do we try to close that? First thing is we look to state aid and support. And we're asking for $120 million of state aid. As you folks, you know, and I want to just make this clear for the public, that is the most that any city has would have ever
gotten in the history of New Jersey, right? Nearly double what any city has ever gotten in aid. Again, that speaks to the unprecedented nature of the financial crisis that we all inherited. Um, $120 million mix of aid and loans.
Incredibly crucial to getting us back on our feet. And then before you for the third quarter tax bill, and important to understand this is just the third quarter tax bill, not fourth quarter. Um, that would be a 20% increase, which on an annualized basis would get us $80 million in new revenue. that would close
the $200 million budget gap for this year. Now, the state expects us to do our part, right? The state is putting in $120 million. They need to see that Jersey City is also taking action to be able to address this deficit.
All righty. So, a couple of things that that we just I I've covered this, but I it's important to just keep in mind the size and scope and just put numbers around what we're dealing with here. We are dealing with is like I said a deficit 13 times the size of New York cities based on the size of our budgets. It is larger than the size of our
combined police and fire departments at 220 million compared to 225 255. In the last 3 years we received five credit downgrades all from the three major rating agencies. And all of this was built during good times during a
time of economic prosperity which makes the anger greater for me, greater for you, and greater for members of the public. Every member of the public's anger is justified and correct. Uh because this should have never happened. Um and now we it is on us to fix it and to and to
take the tough choices to get ourselves back to where we need to be. All right. Again, I think it's important to understand how we got to that $255 minute $255 uh million dollars. So, between six years, over six years, a
former mayor used almost $700 million in onetime revenue. The definition of onetime revenue is it disappears after you use it. Once you use it, it is gone. And that is what happened. All 700 million nearly 700 million gone. So, what was that? It was draining our rainy
day fund during a period of sunny of sunny weather um to the tune of over hund00 million. It was selling over a thousand city properties and using the money to pluck the budget gap. But the next year not having any money left and just this year we're missing $33 million because of that. Hiding the health care
costs, the $52 million in unpaid bills. Borrowing for operations. Literally putting money on the city's credit card. Nearly $200 million issued in our credit card bills. and we continue to pay interest on all of that. Spending all of
our COVID relief um on a onetime tax cut and then letting our union contracts lapse so that the men and women who work extraordinarily hard in our city are without nearly all of them without a signed contract. So you put all those things together and that's how you create the greatest fiscal crisis in our
city's modern history and the largest one in New Jersey since Atlantic City in 2015. Okay, I mentioned earlier, what have we done? $55 million in savings, cuts, and efficiencies. Um, that is uh something that we continue to work on. We
obviously switched our health administrator, as you all know, from Horizon Tetna, generating this year conservatively 25 million in support. We have tried to go after any project that no matter how valuable can't afford. So, we stopped the Pompadoo, which was a no-brainer, but we
also stopped the Liberty Science High School, which was a wonderful idea. Could have been beneficial to all of us, but simply put, we don't have another $2 million in our budget to fund it year after year after year in addition to the county taxes that would come from us to fund it. We've tightened staffing, put
strict controls on overtime, eliminated vacant positions, um reduced all hiring to essential employees, and that has saved us at least 3.5 million. And we have better collection and controls. Uh we're looking at at overturning every rock and every stone. For example, we found a million dollars nearly a million
dollars in bills from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority that they owed us. So we are looking everywhere to find money and revenue. And that's how we get to $55 million in savings. And in a normal budget year, $55 million would put us back to real stability. But unfortunately, we are facing a historic
crisis. So that crisis, and I'm going to dwell on this point for a little bit because I think it's really important. That that crisis is is two big financial issues rolled up into one. The first is the credit card bills. $110 million in credit card bills that are on this
year's budget. Over time, those credit bills credit card bills will expire. Uh they won't all go away this year. We'll have more next year. Uh but they will reduce to eventually being gone as long as we make the responsible decisions not to add to our credit card bill and our credit card burden. Um, but then we have
$90 million in missing revenue that needs to be annual. That is the structural budget gap that we face. The one where those one-time gimmicks all disappeared. And so we are missing $90 million in that structural revenue that each and every year we used need to use
to run city services. Again, this is simply paying for city services that exist. Uh it is not anything new or expanded. So again, just looking at these numbers one more time so everyone see them. 55 million in ongoing savings. And I say ongoing because we will continue to look
at every single option. We will partner with each of you. We will partner with members of the public to find those options. The second is the historic aid that we're asking for. Again, those $120 million in aid and loans from the state. Uh that would help us get through this crisis the most than any city in the
state of New Jersey would have ever received. And then finally added on to that would be the property tax increase to close the budget gap that we have this year. And the property tax comes only after we've exhausted the other options. After we've had 55 million in
savings, after we've gone to Treatton for the largest aid package in the history of the state. That only comes after those two things. And again, I think for for folks, the the size and scope of the crisis is what we're all struggling with because no other city is
having to deal with something like this. New York City is not. Other cities in the state of New Jersey are not. And people rightly ask, I see development all over the city. Shouldn't our finances be in better shape? And that's what makes what happened to us, the intentional decision to hide our fiscal
crisis, uh, so rageinducing? Um, but I want to just keep hitting on that and keep making sure that that points are heard. Yes. All righty. Um, just quickly just noting our aid and ask and support for the state uh is in the state's interest, not just ours.
Uh, we produce 1.3 billion in tax revenue for the state every year. We've given them an extra 400 million annually through economic growth and we are the housing production engine of the state. Uh, so we have made it very clear to Trenton that aid for us isn't just support for Jersey City. It's not a bailout. It is an investment in an
economic engine for the entire state. Thank you. All righty. So, we have this $80 million gap, this $80 million that we have before us. Uh that is again after $55 million in cuts and efficiencies have been found. And so, some folks have very
reasonably asked, well, can we cut our way through this $80 million? Can we can we find our way forward? And and again, I just need to give people a sense of size and scope of the problem. First is this. If we eliminated the entire public works department, I'm not talking about part of it, the entire public works department, all pothole filling, all
snow removal, all sanitation, all trash pickup, the whole nine yards. And we eliminated the entire law department, so we wouldn't be defending ourselves from any cases. And we eliminated the entire health and humuses department, which would mean we'd have no public health infrastructure. And we eliminated the entire recreation department, which
means we would have no city services for our young people. and we eliminated the entire infrastructure department. So we would have no engineering firm and no safe streets vision zero initiatives. All of that doesn't get you to $80 million. So if you were to eliminate basically
nearly the entire civilian government of the city that wouldn't get us to the $80 million that we need. That's the gap not for anything new simply for what we have. Now I think the next slide is public safety. That is the biggest bulk
of our budget. If you were to try to eliminate that gap through public safety, that would end up looking like half of our police and fire departments removed half to try to eliminate that $80 million gap. That would mean basically a non-functional city. Either
avenue that you pick, you pick the public safety route, we can't keep people safe. You pick the civilian route, we can't deliver any city services, not just city services poorly. Again, that is the size and scope and scale of the problem that has been placed before us. All righty. So as part
of this, every member of the public deserves the right to know that this will never happen again. And it is my firm commitment that it will never happen again. And I know each of you because you have all articulated clearly that it will never happen again. So what are the steps we've done that? We've have new finance leadership in our city
uh to make sure that we have the right people in place. We brought in independent experts from CUNI to advise us on how to move forward. We have for the first time in the city's real history, a true financial plan, a five-year model that we continue to work off of to make sure we get ourselves to fiscal stability. And we are putting in
place real financial controls, line by line review of our budgets, restoring our cash surplus and reserves, and ending our budget gimmicks. Each of these, all four are important to the credit rating agencies that have downgraded us five times in three years. Those credit rating agencies have made
it clear to Jersey City that we have to take these steps to restore our city to where it needs to be to be able to prevent future downgrades, let alone get us back to a place of financial uh stability where we are getting credit upgrades, not downgrades
right now. Why now? Uh I really want to emphasize this point too. So right now we have to set our third quarter tax bill. um we cannot delay um because the third quarter tax bill residents need at least 30 days notice to pay for it. In
2022, we did not set our third quarter tax rate uh and then a huge tax increase fell on residents for the fourth quarter. It was extraordinarily devastating. Now, what we are contemplating and doing here is going to be extraordinarily difficult for
everyone. Uh we we make no bones about it. We will not lie or sugarcoat anything. it is extraordinarily difficult to place the entire burden on residents fourth quarter bills uh is not something that any of us should ever be willing to consider. Um now a lot of
residents don't know that uh so we have to set the bill down so that the third and fourth quarter bills uh any any the difficulty is spread through both of those orders and then this gets to our budget timeline. Residents have been understandably asking all of you have been asking is is when can I see the
full budget? As everyone knows, because $120 million is dependent on the state, we can't introduce the budget until the state aid process is complete. That will be complete on June 30th. So, we'll be introducing it to both the council and the public as soon as the state process
ends. Your first meeting after that is July 15th. It will be on the July 15th agenda. It will be released to the public uh the week before, so everyone will have a chance to go through it. Uh and the taline this is really for for members of the public is obviously a vote on Wednesday on the third quarter
bill. The full detailed budget on July 15th is introduced. That's a formal mechanism by which the council uh begins its process of review. Then there are two weeks of council budget hearings July 15th through the 24th. All those are open to members of the public and then the budget should be adopted in
August. Um what is really important for all of us and is is setting the third quarter rate does not then guarantee that the fourth quarter rate remains the same. Um as this council reviews the budget, it will make and may make changes to it. Um and
we that is something that we are eager to partner with all of you in and that can then move us forward into that fourth quarter. Um but given that the state aid is not yet certain and not yet set, um we moved forward with 20%. Uh because we thought that was the responsible choice, the tough decision
to move ourselves as a city forward to address this historic fiscal crisis to demonstrate our seriousness to the state as they consider our historic aid requests and to ensure that we don't go up in the fourth quarter and that our only options are in the right and
positive direction. Um, last but not least, I really want to just cover something that's so important for all of us that is going to be a real partnership between the administration and the council, which is doing everything in our power to help our seniors. Right. Right now, our seniors on fixed incomes are the most vulnerable
uh to a tax increase. So, it is my commitment to build upon a initiative I had as a council member uh to vastly expand our outreach on the senior property tax freeze that is tied into the state NJ program. Those are two state programs applied for on the same
application that provide seniors with thousands of dollars to mitigate a property tax increase. We are committed to doing everything in our power to keep seniors on fixed incomes in their homes. So the eligibility for this program has vastly expanded in the last 3 to four
years. So there are seniors who applied five years ago and didn't think they were eligible who are now eligible for full benefits. We need to make sure every single senior is signed up on this program. Um, so what is our commitment? Our commitment is to go doortodoor, working with each of you in your wards
and working with the atlarge councilmen across the city and council women across the city to sign every single person up to translate key information into multiple languages to hold events where we sit with seniors with bringing over laptops and sign them up physically
present which is a thing that we have done in the past and help keep seniors in their home. and we will ensure that every single senior who is eligible hears about the program and we give them every tool they need to apply up to and including sitting with them through the application process. A couple of key pieces of information just for members
of the public to know how the program works. The state reimbures the increase in your property taxes from the year that you have filed or the year before. So if you file this year, it would count the increase from 2025 to 2026. You get a reimbursement check for the full value of that increase. You have to be 65 or
over and own your home and have your home be your primary residence. Your household income has to be less than about 175K. Um and the deadline is November 2nd. So our program will launch this summer, ramping up through the fall to ensure that every senior is signed up.
Any um this is the last slide. It goes through the budget process timeline again. I think I kind of just went through it once before. Uh so don't need to do it uh again. Um and I think this should be it, right? Yep. So, let me just kind of close with this and then I'm happy uh to answer every question
that every member of the council has as well as bring up our finance director, Bill Vicera, to join me in answering the questions. I appreciate all your time. I appreciate your diligence in working through this and I appreciate that when you receive the budget in July, you guys are going to go line by line and find
efficiencies and find cuts as you have been doing through the council meetings already. And I appreciate that for all of us this is an inherited crisis that defies kind of scope and imagination that no one raises their hand and says
you know we want to tackle the greatest fiscal crisis in the city's modern history um the largest one in our state in over a decade uh and I believe that we can do it and we can get through it. It will be painful. It will be tough.
And I've been committed to transparency and honesty. And every part of this process has been how do we never repeat the mistakes of the past that got us into this mess? How do we do everything we can to support residents through the toughest time? How do we ensure our city
remains functioning and delivers services? And ultimately, how what is our path out of this? And this is the year uh uh that we are going to tackle it. Um, my commitment to residents has always been that we're not going to be in this place next year. We're not going to be in this
place in 2028 or 2029. We are in this extraordinarily difficult moment and crisis and we are going to do everything we can to get out of it. Uh, so with that, I'll just pause. I'll invite our finance director to join me and we welcome your questions. >> Um, yes. Uh so thank you for joining us
um director and mayor um this weekend I I didn't my father's day consisted of meetings, constituent calls, emails all regarding this particular item. Um just so I'm clear on everything that's going
on here. Um there's 200 million that were placed on credit cards. Now, in this 200 million, um Stu, if you could pull the slide back up that speaks to um the 200 million that were paid uh on a
credit card, I believe from 219 to 225. Um, so if we can talk a little bit about that 200 million as it relates to how long that particular amount have been outstanding
>> um into what particular um entities? >> Sure. Absolutely. So this is if it's there. Is that the one you're referring to? Councilman, >> it's not on. Can you put it on the screen? Oh, >> sorry.
We have this presentation emailed to us as well. >> Yes, of course. >> We can see it. Yeah. >> See it? >> Yeah. So, the the the two the the the I guess the credit card payments is that
what it was like it's it's a continuum from 19 to 20 and the 200 is due I guess this year. >> It's a it's a great question. So I'll I'll go through it. Yeah, just leave it there if that works. So I'll go through it and then I'll uh I'll director can go into a little bit more detail on some of
these things. So right now our gap this year between what we have to spend and what revenue is coming in is $200 million. So the gap is $200 million this year. Now, we've talked about and and this is where there were a bunch of of one-time revenue sources and credit card
bills from prior years uh that were big mistakes, but ultimately they're they're we're not dealing with them right now. So, I'm just focusing right now on this $200 million gap between what's coming in and what uh revenue what's coming in and what has to go out. So, of that $200 million, $ 110 million are the credit
card bills. So, think about it. $110 million in credit card bills. Those are things that we services we already paid for but no one's thought about how we're going to pay for them until now. So, what are some examples and I I'll let Bill go in. Uh, but uh police
retirements or or fire retirements, we owe these people the money. They've already retired. They've already collected it, but we never had a plan for how to pay them. So, that's an example of that. Um, the health care is a is the big biggest one, right? $52 million in unpaid health care bills. Um,
that is just we have to pay those bills. They were they healthcare that people received in 2024 and 2025. You have to pay those bills, right? So that's money that was put on the credit card. Um and this was something and I think important for folks to know this is something that was flagged in the Moody's reports. So
Moody's is one of the credit agencies. So occasionally we've gotten the question of well how do how can I know that these numbers are accurate? We have sent these to the state to the governor's team to DCA. They've reviewed every number that we've provided. Uh so that we are in full alignment on each
one of these bills. But this was also confirmed by Moody's an independent rating agency that basically said the city is financing its operations through debt through credit cards. So I think that's important. So we have the 110 million in credit card bills. Then we have the 90 million in missing revenue.
So the best example of that is land sales and rainy day fund. So last year uh former mayor sold $33 million in land, put that into the city's budget to use as as a basically a onetime revenue source. But once you use all the money, it's gone. So that that money is simply
gone. Then the mayor, the former mayor's all at that point most all of our rainy day fund. We've been able to replenish it somewhat. Uh but all that money was then spent. So now this year we got to figure out how do you look at the how do you find that money again a second time uh because it was all one-time gimmicks
that were gone. I keep saying that but I want to mention that the whole definition of a one-time gimmick is the moment you use the gimmick it's done. Uh and those are the two things that add up to the 200 million. But I don't know, Bill, if you want to add on where more some of these bills are. >> Thank you, mayor. Good evening, council.
Just to add to the mayor's comments with respect to the budget gap, the 200 million. The way I think about this and the way we've tried to explain it through town halls and in meetings with you, just there's two components to it. The first is the credit card bills, as the mayor was talking about it. These
are expenses that in some cases go back as far as 2021, 2022 and have been deferred that need to be paid. Now, I'll give you a very specific example because health benefits is the largest single one of these expenses that where the
bill is due now. In 2025, the city adopted a budget that underbudgeted health benefits by $50 million. The end of the year, the city issues notes, bonds to pay for those. essentially using bonds, using the credit card to pay for operating
expenses. Not only a poor practice, technically we are not allowed to bond to pay for operating expenses, right? That is not the way you operate a city, but because it was under budgeted at the end of the year, it's declared an emergency.
Emergency notes are issued to pay for those. And there are also notes issued for other severance payments. Those are bills that are due now. So, go ahead. Councilman, you have a question? No, no. I'm I'm following I think I I I think um I think I got my answer.
>> So, I want to just go into the the other side, the $91 million because I give you a really specific example that I think highlights >> I I do have a question about that. >> Sure. >> So, so notes are issued for healthcare um bills. Um and you said it's a bad
practice. Um but was it a legal practice? was illegally allowable to issue notes for those um healthc care expenses that were under budgeted that were declared an emergency note. So the it is legal to
issue uh special emergency notes and emergency notes under special circumstances. If it happened one year and it's an emergency, that's one issue. In the case of Jersey City, unfortunately that practice happened multiple years and has accumulated over time. So it's not just
a 25 issue, right? We're we have 24 health benefits that were also underbudgeted. There was a recurring pattern particularly with respect to health benefits of underbudgeting and and did did those notes that were issued were they vetted by the state
division of local government services or whoever oversees this or is there an authority that oversees that? >> Uh yes, they would have been. Uh they're also you know bond council would have reviewed them and certainly would have gone through a process
>> at at every checkpoint there during that period. Um nobody did anything to correct that or to to say this is a bad practice to to someone during that period. To my knowledge, no. I do know I can cite a specific example of another
practice that the city used where they accelerated fees from the MUA to the municipal budget in effect bonding to accelerate revenue to the city and that was used to cover operating expenses. And I can tell you,
Councilman, if you go back and review the notes from the local um finance board, you will see very clearly very critical comments about that practice. It was also reported on widely in the Jersey City Press that it was in effect
using bonds to pay for operating expense, but in that instance, DGS did not have the authority to stop it. They could come in and criticize, but it went forward. said one one thing here because I was on the council and that was before us. We
had not not have folk but they had the administration say on the record the division of local government services recommends against us moving forward but you know it it it was voted forward anyway. >> Yeah. So can I ask a question just with the special emergency notes year after
year do those come for come before city council for approval? >> Yes they would. So those are approved by >> if they were new issuances they would be approved. >> Okay. And those were uh being used in this bad practice from what 2019 through
2025 essentially? >> Yes. With the bulk of that being the last couple years 25 in particular. >> 25. >> Can we get an itemization on that like specific? >> Sure. Because I don't remember voting for that in when I was there for 2019 to 2021 but that for for for health care
costs. Yeah. If I could turn to the 91 million, the second category, the second prong of this $200 million gap is I think the example to me that most clearly identifies the problem was in 2025.
Jersey City adopted a budget that included $34 million in property sales. $34 million in property sales went through last year, paid for $34 million of operating expenses. But as we are here today, there is no $34 million in
2026 to fill that revenue gap. The expenses remain. In fact, generally expenses go up by at least some inflationary amount. So that $33 million needs to be replaced. That alone in terms of a tax increase equates to a
roughly 8% tax increase to give you an order of magnitude of just that one practice. And as the mayor alluded to earlier, the property sales was not just in 2025. It was a practice that had been used repeatedly in years prior. And each
year another one was found to fill the hole until now. So, um there's there's 200 million on these cards, these one-time deals. Um
and initially we were 254 in the red. We've saved the 54 or the 55 by making them adjustments to those cuts, which is a whole another conversation because they got public land and developed privately and we supposed to have a
public school and now they got private condos. that that's a whole another conversation. Um, so it brings us to this 200. There's guess there's this hope that the state is going to do 120 and there's 80 left
which the proposal of the 20% of tax hikes. That's how we get to that number. >> That's correct. The 20% increase is the $80 million. >> Okay. Now, so I guess in light of all of that, my math is correct. My question to the administration
um what if anything would happened if we were to cut each department by let's say 12 13% and have a 13% tax increase. Is that
feasible? How does that look? Did we prefigure that? How does how does those numbers pan out? Thank you, Councilman, uh, for the question and and it's a good one. Um, and as you as a council receive the budget and have the chance to go through it, um, you know, department by
retirement, line by line, you may make the decision to say, hey, we as a council think that we should be spending less in certain areas. Uh, and then ultimately that's passed back to us as an administration to then implement going forward. And and so I do want to emphasize again that that the third
quarter does not guarantee what the fourth quarter will be, but obviously there are a lot of unknowns. We don't know what the state will give us in the $120 million fully. The challenge with any specific cuts that departments are really twofold. First, I would say that we have already started the process of
cuts. So I want to be clear that the budget that you will see uh the budget that we've been working on includes cuts. It includes we have looked at every option uh whether contracts are not necessary, whether we can reduce some of the size of those contracts, whether we can reduce uh vacant
positions, uh whether we have to look uh at things like layoffs. All of those have been in in in our uh repertoire and things, tools, if you will, that we're looking at and all that will be presented to all of you. That is part of how we get to the $55 million in savings. The $55 million in savings
already includes reductions in overtime, reductions in vacancies, and some of those savings. But the council may choose to say that there is more to do in in that scenario. The challenge that we have is that uh most if not all would fall upon civil service employees. Uh
civil service employees uh obviously have protections. Uh and there's a process by which uh the city would have to follow. Uh as a as a council or as a administration, we would have to follow that process. The savings cannot be just generated immediately and difficult. The second thing which I
think is important is we have to deliver our core city services. And what we will present to you is our belief of a budget that is narrowly focused on the core city services we have to deliver. And we did and many of you were part of that our budget meetings throughout the
community in February and in March uh as we did those and a couple things that that resonated very deeply with me. One was we provide too little for our young young people in Jersey City. We can't have recreation bear the burden of these cuts. And and I believe that deeply in
my core that I have an obligation to make sure that our young people receive what they deserve. We have people saying, "My 911 call was not answered. Most dangerous moment of my life. I couldn't get through to someone. I believe I have an obligation to have a functioning 911 system, which looks like personnel, looks like technology, it
looks like management and supervision." All of those things that I believe we are on track to deliver. Uh and and you'll see that in our budget proposal of how we get our 911 system back to being a functioning 911 system. Talking about police, right? We had 950 officers
uh 6 years ago. We are down to under 800 now. A reduction of around depending on how you count the retirements of of 160 170 officers in our force. And you hear it when you call people say, "I called and it took 30 minutes for an officer to arrive." Our fire department is able to
respond to fires in 2 to 3 minutes. uh that saves lives. It saved the lives of the people that lived down the street from me. We had a massive fire down my block. I know the names of the children who lived on either sides of the home that was on fire. Their lives were saved because of our fire department's rapid response. So, I have made the choice to
put forward and and put before all of you a budget that I believe protects those core city services that are essential. Now, you all are going to take a look at it when it's before you and and you will, you know, uh be able to to say here's where we can change it. here's where we can move it and then we will implement whatever changes come
back to us for that fourth quarter. But I do want to be clear about I think why we have taken this path. Why are we asking you for the 20% which is devastating? We don't make any bones about it. There's no uh at all attempt to to underell what is happening before us. We are faced with awful choices. Um,
and we are trying to put forward a budget that we think protects core services, keeps the people of our city safe, provides opportunity for young people, and ultimately gets us to fiscal stability, uh, so that we are never in this situation again, and cuts out and removes all of the core practices, uh,
that got us into this mess. >> Okay, actually, uh, this is my last question here. Um, so as it relates to future endeavors, have the administration pondered on ways to generate revenue? Um, because I'm going
to be brutally honest. Um, for for the taxpayer to be constantly asked to save the day, save the day, save the day. and they a lot of people are retired and
even for the people that's working there's no 20% increase coming in salaries for those people right I vividly recall talking to someone just today who's on a fixed income and they was like we like what are we going to do
so h have have the administration looked into other sources or other streams of revenue Um because I mean it's it's a lot >> 100%. You're you're absolutely right and and the person you spoke to has every
right to be to be livid. There there's no reason we should be in this situation. Um and there's no reason why uh you know had better management been in place for years, we wouldn't be. Uh and that is the fundamental reality that that is so infuriating for all of us to have to live with and go through. Now in
terms of the revenue sources, you're right. we have to generate new revenue. So, I'll go through what we've done, what we're going to continue to do, and then I'll explain because people deserve to know the truth, why it's difficult to funnel this all into this year's budget, uh, but going forward for for future
years. So, first thing is we believe we can significantly increase enforcement throughout the city. Enforcement will make the city cleaner and safer. Um, and we will get more revenue from it. Uh, now we're not looking to just just, you know, write tickets to meet a quota. That's illegal and we would we won't do that. What we are looking to do is
target enforcement to where it can make our city, like I said, cleaner and safer. So, we started with the traffic enforcement division. They were created uh May 1st. They've been issuing 2 to 300% more tickets on a weekly basis um than we were a year ago, and we will see
significant revenue from that. Uh we are advancing increases in parking enforcement uh both through automation or camera assisted parking enforcement as well through additional parking enforcement officers that will deliver more revenue. We are working on a longer process to reform the courts. Uh the
courts have a massive backlog of housing inspection cases. Uh we are working through all of that to then ensure that revenue comes from housing inspection to us. Um we are looking at the pilot audit. We are auditing every single pilot uh in the city to ensure that it brings back the revenue uh that
developers should owe. We increase the fees working with the MUA that developers pay for water and sewer connection fees. Uh that adds uh we are obviously not for us but for the schools we are significantly increasing our payroll tax enforcement so corporations are paying what they owe. All of those
are in motion and we will consider continue to consider everything. Uh we're working with Senator Mukerji in the state uh to see if we can free up funds from a parking fund that the city has. We're working with him to see if we can free up funds from a commuter tax. All of those are in motion. Uh we need state legislation to get that done. And
and we have put out um but we're we're happy to to do a full list so everyone knows each of those revenue sources and where where we're going with them. The challenge that we have for this year's budget is those revenue sources are in motion and we can't count on them because they're all coming, right? take
traffic enforcement. We started that on day one. That was day one. But it takes correctly three months to create your traffic division because you've got to get the right officers. You've got to train them. You've got to bring up all the policies and procedures. That's the way government should work. We don't want to just put them out uh the next day. Uh they started May 1st. That
revenue is going to come in and it's going to grow. But we are in a calendar year budget. Our budget ends December 2026. The state doesn't says you can't consider that revenue because you just started May and June. It has to those cases and tickets have to go through the court system, right? You're not actually realizing the money uh for months into
the future. So that that's the challenge where we start the enforcement process. The enforcement process is going to deliver revenue. It is built into our 2027 budget projections. However, um it simply isn't going to be enough uh in this year and members of the public have a right to know that that is a huge
focus of ours going forward and we've been trying to push on it. Uh but again, it isn't going to show up in this year's budget because it takes time to create the systems and then have the enforcement go through the courts. >> I have a question. Thank you, mayor, for
coming and explaining. So, this year is the worst year for this because there is a gas price hike and county has increased 14%, board of ed 16, 17%, you have a good relationship with county.
Is it possible to reach out to them to see if they cannot if they don't increase 17 uh 14%. Um is it possible? >> So absolutely and also for members of the public. So we have made it clear to
um the county government that this tax increase is is awful for Jersey City. Um what I will say is that the county executive has been extraordinarily helpful in our $120 million aid request. uh that that requires all of us in Hudson County speaking with a unified
voice and trend and that $120 million, you know, is the lifeline uh for our city again in the worst fiscal crisis in our city's modern history. So, um I I have been grateful for their partnership, but we have made clear how painful this increase is. We have asked both the commissioners to look the
county commissioners to look into what they can do in this year's budget, how they can lower it. Um, and we have made it clear that like going forward, it is unconscionable for this to continue to happen. Just like everything I'm saying is focused on this will not happen again, we need that same attitude from the board of ed and from the county. And
if I can just add um on the board of ed piece, you know, without really any state cuts, the tax increase last year was 16%, this year it's 15% when you look at the the tax levy. So that that that is significantly greater than what we have before you uh here. And and I
think that the question that every government should be asked is, you know, how are you what are you doing to make sure this never happens again and that's questions we're going to ask of both the board of ed and the county. >> So um and >> one second councilman I think ma are you done? >> Oh
>> it's not an intelligent question but I'm going to ask because people have this question. What if we don't change anything? What if we continue the way previous administration was working last year last to last year? Just want to
know what would be that scenario where we are not changing anything continuing what they have done in the past. >> So continuing what they have done in the past would include things like looking for ways to bond for current expenses.
We we could not we would not get our budget passed through the state if we went in at the beginning of the budget year and said we would like to bond pay per operating expenses. The way the city did it in the past is they declared an emergency after the budget had been
approved and then bonded to pay for expenses that really should have been known in advance. We know the expenses. We've discussed them. We've made them public. If we went to the state now and said we would like to bond to cover operating expenses, that doesn't that
would not work. If we chose to not increase the taxes, we would have a very very significant budget hole. Even if we chose to just leave them as they are now for the third quarter, I estimate in the third quarter alone
for the municipality, we would lose somewhere between 20 and $25 million until we got to November 1st, which is when the the next date for taxes to be paid in that period of time between now and November 1st. Depending on how much
state aid we get, what the form of that is, what the timing of that is, I would foresee that we would have to do things like borrow from our capital accounts to pay for operating. That has to be paid back, right? Capital account funds are
raised from bond offerings. They're not permitted. Permitted use is not operating. So, we can do that temporarily. It is not a good practice. It's also one that the city has been cited for in their audits multiple times. I could see having to do things like
slowing down payments to vendors. Typically, that gets you in a position where you're going to incur penalties and fees for not paying vendors on time. It's also would makes us a bad business partner for the business community. So, also I would say unadvisable as a
general business practice to not pay vendors in order to manage cash flow. I would add to that I think there would be a risk of being downgraded by the rating agencies were we not to continue to show that we are serious about tackling the problems. As you know we're in the
process of rolling over notes coming up this July. Uh I did meet with the rating agencies in uh advance of that and they held our short-term rating steady and absolutely a reason they did that is because they think this administration
is tackling the fiscal problems in a serious way. It is very different from what they said last December when they downgraded the city. >> Yes. Griffin. >> So yeah. So um >> sorry council I just had one point here. Everything Bill said is 100% right. to
just sum it up in one maximum. It's just the bill always comes due. The bill always comes due. We have to pay the bill because of those practices. And if we continue those practices, the bill will come due. You can push it off, but it does come due. And and that's just
the the fundamental uh you know core core reality that we're dealing with. >> Um so, uh Councilwoman M uh Ma Sanga mentioned the county. And so, you know, my my my question is, um,
you know, the county owns $44 million worth of land here in Jersey City, and we are the county's hub. And so my question is, you know, what conversation can we have with the county um if if not
already um to you know reduce or wave uh taxes uh taxes in lie of the $9 million in in taxes that they don't pay in Jersey City. >> Yeah, absolutely. So what we are going
to ask for for is first um we will happy to continue those conversations with the county executive and with the commissioners. You know we have five commissioners here that represent uh Jersey City on the board and we want all five of them to be fighting for us uh for exactly like for exactly what you said. So we are happy to continue those
conversations. The other thing that we need to change and what we are looking to change is the way that the state uh distributes the county taxes. It it is a backwards formula and it's one that harms Jersey City and it harms us for growing. So basically there's two issues. One is the county formula should
incorporate the fact that all of this county land is not taxable in Jersey City. Uh so we should make sure that that's clear that that's basically sort of taken off our roles. Uh and so that should be incorporated because we have way more valuable county property in Jersey City than any of the other municipalities based on the size of
their municipality. And the second piece is the city shouldn't be punished for growing and developing. So this year um the county tax increase countywide is about 10%. Jersey City is experiencing a 14% increase. Hoboken is experiencing a
4% increase. That is it's not to be fair. It's not the county executive. It's not politics, right? It's none of that. It is a formula that is backwards. In essence, Hoboken is being rewarded because they haven't grown and developed. and we are being punished because we have grown and developed.
That is a backwards system. That's not how it should work and the pain falls on the homeowners of Jersey City. So, I'm committed to working with our state partners to change that system. That is going to require legislation and unfortunately it it's going to affect every county in the state. So, you can imagine it's going to be a, you know, political nightmare in Trenton, but we
have to fight the fight. Uh, so I will be down there trying to make both of those changes. Incorporate the county land in the formula and change the way in which you punish cities for growing in the way that county taxes are distributed. >> Okay. And then also Port Authority, they have $1.1 billion
worth of land here in in Jersey City, which if it was uh taxed conventionally would be roughly $24 million. Um, so what I don't know if if if Pete if you can answer this, but do you know what
they're paying annually, if anything, in taxes? I know that we got a onetime $300 million um payment from them in 2018 because we had to sue them. But are they paying anything annually? >> So, Bill, correct me if I'm wrong
because I know you've dealt with this a little bit as well, but they don't necessarily pay taxes. They're a taxexempt entity. However, there were payment negotiations that the city uh received based on a settlement that we had with them based on certain property and other deals that we had for lease agreements. So, we do receive I'm not
exactly sure how much um I can get those numbers for you, but we did and maybe still do receive some income from, but it's not taxable income. >> Right. Right. Okay. But we are receiving something. Is it is it from that 300 million? Is that broken down or was that
a one-time payment and a continual? >> It was based on a settlement with them for certain properties. Um, I'll get the exact figures for you, but I don't believe we're still receiving it, but I have to double check that. >> Thank you, Bill. Uh, what amount of money correlates spending or reductions
correlates to each percentage of a tax reduction or increase? >> Sorry, could you repeat that? >> Yeah. So, uh, for example, there's a 20% proposed tax increase. How much money is it? A million dollars. Is it two million? Correlates to each percentage point if we wanted to cut spending.
>> 1% is just about $4 million. >> I should Mayor, thank you for your presentation. Uh uh can can you speak to the administration's discussions with the board of education prior to their budgetary decision-making? I know you mentioned the board of ed earlier. I >> mean, extremely limited. Um I believe
the superintendent called me I think the day before their budget was public and said we will be you know introducing our budget and and here are the challenges they have and she walked me through the challenges with shifting to charter schools and their healthcare costs and all of those conversations. Uh this would have been I think in about March.
Uh but beyond that phone call there was no uh communication and I think you know this I I know but just for the members of the public you know the board of ed is a fully separate entity. It sets its own budget. They are all elected officials. their nine member boarders or separate board of elected officials and we as a city have no direct authority
over their budget. >> Council and then we'll come back and uh Afro >> gentlemen, mayor, Mr. Viceroa, thank you for your time and I appreciate the time this morning mayor. Um we had opportunity to meet and discuss um some
of the budget models. Um, so, so I'm saying this, we've already talked about this, but want to put it on the record and for the public. Um, the models that you shared this evening, um, as it pertains to that rainy day fund, uh,
they they include a $6 million allocation, um, towards that that budget model that in that will lead to ultimately a 20% potentially tax increase. Um and and so it's my understanding and correct me if
I'm wrong on the record that the rainy day fund uh that cash balance is around $30 million. Um that was a number that you cited at the recent community town hall at our ladies of victim and I'm not sure if that's all uh liquid
and able to use use in that regard. Um I think I heard Bill say at some other previous meetings that maybe closer to 21 million. I'm not sure if that's uh what the case is. Uh the decision to use 6 million um as opposed to say uh 18 million um as you said 4 million is
about 1%. Another 12 million on top of the 6 million would be about 3%. Um and so that would be one of the bigger nuts I would want to crack in that if uh um if we were able to do that as we go through this budget process. if you can speak to that and to um I understand
that the previous administration raided the rainy day fund and that did not make um much sense. um it made sense because they didn't have the money, but we never planned in subsequent years after raiding the rainy day fund to be able to and I say we the city I wasn't actually
I'm not sure if I was that was happening when I was on the city council but um it's my understanding it was happening in the last several years particularly um but um but never planned to replenish the rainy day fund. So like if if a person thinks about their household budget and they have an emergency fund
and they have and they have an emergency, they're going to spend the money, right? And we're going to spend the money. Uh we would think to spend that emergency fund um in that regard. And but then you would look to replenish it after you've taken care of the emergency. Uh so uh can if you could
explain your your rationale um for for me and I would argue for to the council that um this is the rainiest of days and that we would want to be able to spend um as much of that as we could uh to be able to spare taxpayers uh the pain and
the harm um with the huge tax increase that we're staring down the barrel of at this point. Um so if you could speak to that would appreciate that. Thank you. Well, thank you, Councilman. It's it's a very good question. So, just to give everyone
the full context, right? You know, every city is supposed to have a rainy day fund and your rainy day fund should be, you know, I think what the rating agencies look for is, you know, 12% of your operating budget. So, operating budget roughly 800 million. It's more this year because we're paying off the
credit card bills, but roughly 800 million. Um, our rainy day fund should be about hundred million. You know, as of today, it sits at 30. Um, credit agencies specifically look at their rainy day fund when they determine our credit ratings. And this is the wonky stuff and I and I get that, but we just
honesty and transparency is always our guiding value. And we just tell people exactly what they need to know. Uh, that if we allow our credit to be downgraded in the future, that ultimately is cost. Those are more bills that we ultimately come due. Uh so we are very working very very hard to make sure that given that
our rainy day fund is 70% below what it should be at that we are not rating it again. Now with that said we are looking at it and like every option where the bulk of the rainy day funds are used for in this budget is to address our snow
expenditures. Uh obviously that was a a a snowy day as opposed to a rainy day but it was the core idea of those were two historic storms once in a decade storms. those were not your everyday uh you know uh snowstorm. Those were those were two storms neither of which we have seen in a decade. Uh so that will cover
some of those costs. I think the kind of core definition of a rainy day. Um but obviously um again I think I come back to this is is we're asking to vote on just setting the third quarter rate. Um as you are presented with the budget uh that will be before you and you'll have that option. Um, obviously from my
perspective, I don't think we can get to a place where we spend it down because we spend it down, we're at zero. And if we're at zero and we have global recession, we have another war in the Middle East, we have um, you know, another pandemic, we we need a rainy day fund to be able to address those issues
and having the cash on hand. just to add a little bit to that. So we we generated in 2025 some surplus than ready day fund that came about through higher tax collections than the previous
year and higher in ancillary fees than had been budgeted. That those two things combined resulted in the surplus we have today. Our conversations around how we would like to use that in the short term have generally been let's try to limit that to things that
are one-time emergencies like the snow. So we'll match one-time funds with a one-time expense to maximize the use of the surplus. I would go back to the analogy of say using property taxes to try to fill the hole. If we do that this
year, that surplus next year doesn't exist, right? And that's money next year that we will have to generate in the 2027 budget. We'll be having the same discussion in 2027 about what's the appropriate increase in tax rates to
generate that. And then lastly, I would add to that from a rating agency perspective, we're not even half of where we probably should be in terms of surplus. that it could impact us negatively. That would impact the rates we receive when we do issue bonds. So,
you know, my advice to the mayor and my advice to the council would be to be very judicious and how we use surplus and not to follow the kinds of practices that we have been, I think, rightfully critical of from the past administration. >> Good.
Sure. So about rainy day fund. So let's say it's $30 million and we believe it is a rainy day and we should be using that and if there is an emergency we can have we can use the credit card. Is that
how things work or we are that's not possible? So w with respect to the surplus, if we were to use it in the budget, we would allocate some amount in the budget when it's introduced or when it's adopted. And that would offset
expenses. When we get to the 27 budget, that surplus is no longer there as revenue. Go back to the property sale analogy. The expenses don't go away, right? They generally grow by some inflationary amount. So we would have to
identify revenue for the 27 budget to cover those expenses. >> Yeah, I just want to stay with what great point the emergency notes that were talked about about that were used to pay for um unfunded healthcare mandates. Uh but if
we know that there's a snow crisis like this, um would the state view uh when we had our most the greatest snowstorm in fifth greatest in Jersey City's history, would they would they review view that as
qualifying for emergency notes um to be issued to pay for that sort of expense >> at the end at the end of the fiscal year? You're asking? >> Yeah. Yeah, I don't know the answer specifically to that, Councilman. Honestly,
>> could you speculate on that or Yeah. Um I I want to just change to another subject, which is um the uh retirement costs, and it was on the the slides and the presentations. Um mayor and I talked about it this morning. Um and and in
past practices, um and guilty is charged. Uh I did vote for those uh retirement buyouts and for bonding for that. Um and and part of the reason I was asking about the the legal allowability of all that because it's legal and it's allowable and the state allows municipalities to bond to pay
these large boat payments and retirement payouts that maybe were were un unbudgeted man uh expense expenditures or didn't that municipalities couldn't handle. Um in 2012,
uh then Councilman Fulip um railed against the practice of using those bonds um to pay for those payouts when Mayor Hilly uh introduced them. Uh it was explained to me at that time that our budget didn't that we needed to to
bond um because fiscally we weren't uh as in as solid a position as we'd like to be to be able to pay for those um and and so the state allowed it and municipalities throughout the state of New Jersey were dealing with these uh payouts and continue to deal with them.
Um, and so that was bonded then and then Councilman Fulip voted against Mayor Hilly and uh when he introduced it and his administration um I supported it back then. Um and then when Mayor Fulip became uh mayor, I mean Councilman Fulip became mayor, he turned around and did
the same practice that he railed against um when he was a councilman. Um, and uh, I voted for it then too, not because it was council mayor Fulip, but because I thought it was a prudent decision at the time given kind of where our budget situation was as well. And so that
practice continued. Um, to your credit, mayor, you you said as a councilman that you were um, opposed and that we should uh, budget those uh, liabilities um, and and it's a better practice to pay for them. Um, and so two parts to my
question here, which is, um, does this include all of the your your assumptions inside of this budgeting model. Does it include all of the liabilities because those are all five-year bonds, right? Um, do they include the past five years of all of those retirement payouts, and you're paying them all in one shot in
2026. Um, as well as whatever retirements that we're going to see in 2026 and the payouts for that. Um, and if we can get the detail on that, assuming that that's the case and it's budgeted there, um, and and again, given
given the the the magnitude of our fiscal crisis, um, it seems to me that yes, it's using the credit card, but it's a credit card that we're allowed to use, and I assume I'm not sure what the interest rates are on that sort of thing, but, uh, why not utilize that because, um, whatever that dollar amount
is um, again, $4 million, 1% % >> 6%. >> What's that? >> We'll save 6%. So instead of 2020, it will be 14% raise. >> We use three $30 million. >> I'm not sure if you're referring to what's $30 million. >> The rainy fund. Uh if we
>> No, I'm not talking about the rainy day fund. I'm talking about uh um retirement payouts. >> Yeah. So I appreciate the the question and just so for everyone uh on the same page, you know, when city employees retire, they're entitled to a payout uh that the city provides. the city
actually structures those payouts over a couple of years so it doesn't happen all at one bulk rate. Uh the first answer to your question is is we're not paying it all off in one year. When the prior administration chose to bond for those that sets a five-year schedule and so we're paying them off on the annualized
schedule. So we're paying 1/5if of each of those this year. Um the reason that I I am so against uh doing this is that ultimately we have to pay a significant interest rate on those uh interest rate
could be you know upwards of 5% or more and and that um adds to significant costs ultimately in the long run to the city. uh I would much rather consider any option that doesn't involve an interest rate uh because ultimately that means we are we are passing costs
forward uh to our residents in future years that it's just going to be extraordinarily difficult ultimately for us to get out of our hold. Uh it is something that the rating agencies will look at um it could lead to rating rates as well from us. Uh so ultimately I think uh accurately budgeting those
those things is one of our top priorities uh because we cannot put those interest rate costs onto our residents over the coming years. This year just you know I'm I'm this is a back of the envelope calculation. But this year I would imagine that we're paying at least 4 million in interest
from those retirement and uh tax appeal bonds. So just interest. So we could if we had never done that you know the principal and the interest could reduce our tax rate by probably 5% and just the interest alone could reduce it by 1%. Uh so that that's again you know we think about it the difficult situation we're
in. Those are the practices that got there and other options that don't involve interest rates. They don't involve going out to market and and every one of those options should come before we look at uh one that requires us to bond and pay interest rates. >> What's the 2026 payout?
may have to get back to you on the exact number off the top of my head. I I just wanted to comment though one thing about what you're describing compared to what we were talking about past practice is there are certain expenses where it is permissible to bond. Tax appeals is one
severance another mayor has described though it is a more expensive way to go about paying for those expenses. I also I wanted to note that right our conversations with the state do involve potentially receiving a significant
amount of our aid in the form of some type of loan. Amount is to be determined duration interest rate to be determined. That loan if it's a loan or whether it's a grant will go towards paying these past expenses. If it's in the form of a loan, that is yet another way where we
will be deferring that $und9 million over future years. And in all likelihood with some interest rate, again, you know, details are still being worked out, but I would also keep in mind in all likelihood based on the conversations we're having, if we receive a loan, we are in effect
deferring the paying back of the 109 million. that still leaves the structural deficit that needs to be solved for the >> it's like debt consolidation is that by taking the state loan. >> Yeah, >> Councilman Efos.
>> Thank you. Um yeah, thank you mayor. Thank you director for being here presenting this. Um I I want to talk about uh deferring costs a little bit more. Um because
yeah, the the public is obviously uh livid um as we all know and really scared of what's going to happen and in trying to explain um that this proposal is an attempt to avoid a collapse of
city services. Um you know, people often say, "What what city services?" I think we're all on the same page there. Um, and that there's a there's a a framing that people have that um there's a it's an attempt to save the city but not the people. That there's an attempt to
really solve the financial crisis of city government um but imposing a kind of financial crisis on households. And I I want us to um just like really get into how this proposal or if we need to
rework it, like what what a proposal would look like that can um satisfy as as much of the the middle ground there as possible um without cutting uh city services. And so I just on the deferring these costs, I I hear the point that eventually the bill is going to come
due, but if you would just help break down, I think we've started to get there, but break down into what I see as a four different kind of categories of the the necessity of the bill coming due that would be helpful. Um, one just what are the statutory like what are we
legally required to pay by the end of this year? um what would be unlawful for us not to take care of in our payments? Um then just kind of politically like what is in terms of Trenton looking at us to see that we are getting our house in order. What is the kind of like
political and optics at least uh getting our house in order that we need to accomplish? Um then just budgetarily, fiscally, um what is most prudent in terms of uh setting ourselves up for, you know, what I commend as being a
five-year plan to really look ahead. Um and then lastly, I think related, but its own category of creditwise in terms of these rating agencies um and the kind of threat that that we have of um yeah,
expenses occurring in the future if we get downgraded. So, if those make sense, those are the four categories I'm I'm trying to wrap my head around in terms of the the demands uh on having the bill come due. And I want to be able to assess how serious each one of those
categories is. >> Sure. Let me let me uh take take the one about uh demonstrating our seriousness commitment because I think that's the most important one. Again, it just goes back to the scope and size of the crisis and one that again I don't blame members of the public for, you know, saying,
"Well, wait a second. It it is really this bad." So, right now we after finding $55 million in savings, cuts, efficiencies, that $200 million number is 25% of our budget. That again, there's no other city in the state
that's dealing with anything similar. Again, 13 times what New York City is dealing with. um that is historic uh and it's just important to keep emphasizing just just how historic that is. The only way through that is then the historic aid from the state. And to the
point that uh our director was making with Councilman Lavaro was that ultimately, you know, a portion of the state aid. Our ass just said this before, but let me make it clear as the state is $120 million split 60 million in a loan, 60 million in direct aid. Uh and the loan would be spread out over a
long period of time at low interest. Uh which would make it significantly better. So to the extent we're talking about deferral and and easing the burden on our taxpayers, that is incorporated into the loan request from the state. So as the state views what we're doing, the state says you haveund, you know, we're
considering giving you the most aid we've ever given any city in New Jerseys history, are you taking the steps you need to take to reform your practices so that we're not in the same position ever in the future? Because it's understandable. you you wouldn't loan
money to anyone who asked for it if you know that they're going to be b asking for the same or more the next year or years after. So I think it is extraordinarily important for us that we demonstrate to the state that we are taking those steps. Uh so that to me is the most important piece of this and and
obviously for you know the members of the public to just convey that this ask from the state is historic. Uh and we're asking for the state to deliver something they've never done for another city uh in in our in our state. So then the second one I think you mentioned was, you know, risks to to city services
and and impacts on on residents and and all of those items which I think are crucial. Um residents say all the time, you know, what what am I getting for the services? Uh but let me sort of talk through a couple of things that I think are crucial and get us to where we need to to be going forward. So you know,
first we'll talk about as as we all know intimately well was our snowstorms, right? The response for the first snowstorm didn't meet the standard. uh residents were left unable to cross in in crosswalks, unable to get around the city, streets that were left. We got to work and and in a month got us to a
place where our response was massively better. Still not where it needs to be, still not an A uh but much much better. And that was done through the hard work of doing government, right? Of figuring out what was broken, building in new systems, fixing those things, right? Um,
if you cut 20% from your public works force, you simply have 20% fewer people to drive your plows to go around. We will feel that. We will feel that in the maintenance of our parks. We will feel that in uh our sanitation pickup. Uh we
will feel those things. Um similar of course to our public safety, our our police and our fire. Uh we've again I've mentioned earlier our police force is down about 160 members in the last six years. um we feel the lack of quickness and response. Uh so those things I think are real and I think what we would say
to to residents all across the city and sorry I just want to make one more is is commitment to safer streets. Uh we are operating with a very lean infrastructure and transportation department. But we do need at least one traffic engineer, two traffic engineers to be able to make the designs to make our streets safer. And we all know what
the consequences are if we don't do that. Uh we you know we lost six lives on our streets last year. So, so those are the the core things of what we're doing and I think we've demonstrated as both a council and a administration that we are making significant improvements on city services even if it's not at the
rate that we would want. Our snow response got much better. Our traffic enforcement is real and people are being pulled over when they've run through red lights and stop signs. Uh we are advancing vision zero projects across the city to make our road safer. uh you know those are the the course that we're you know staffing our 911 center and now
have real metrics to determine that we're answering people's calls. You know those are the things that we are committed to advancing and moving forward on. Um and ultimately you know what what can be just as devastating is if the city services broke if if the
city government is just broken. Uh and you can get a city government that breaks. It has happened across our country when austerity measures uh get to that level. So, I am committed to not doing that and to ensuring that we can still deliver a city that works for everybody. Um, you mentioned the two
other risks. Um, I think that bill is probably better equipped to answer those. >> I would say first of all, I think it's important that we recognize we are by by law required to introduce a balanced budget. So, when we talk about deferring expenses, the expenses in our budget are
due. Like, let's not I want to be clear about that. They're due. Aside from the few relatively small in the schema we're talking about uh exceptions that Councilman Lavaro was talking about severance payments, tax appeals, we cannot introduce a budget
that says we're going to rely on new debt to spread our expenses out over the next 5 or 10 years. That's just not permissible. Contrast that to let me put it this way. We know in in 2026 our health benefit
expenses probably somewhere around $170 million. If we introduced a budget in July that said they're $140 million, $30 million less and then at the end of the year said, "Oh, we overspent our health benefits by
30 million. We need to do a special emergency notes." Well, now that we've been transparent and we've disclosed and talked to everyone about as we should, these are our health benefit expenses, there is no getting to the end of this year and saying we're going to issue special emergency notes to do that. It
would frankly be totally inappropriate to do it that way. That is how 2025 and 2024 budgets I often refer to them as apparently bud uh balanced budgets because on paper they were balanced. But
when you look at the reality particularly with health benefits of being underbudgeted by tens of millions of dollars they were not in fact balanced budgets. That's what allowed the special emergency notes which were now paying off.
So, I appreciate that. I guess I'm just trying to figure out is there really no path to ease into this where we can avoid the the most intense pain um that taxpayers in Jersey City will have felt
for a long long time um and and still make a very clear path in the next years to getting ourselves on stable financial footing. there there are unfortunately not that many levers. We right need to either
raise revenue or cut expenses and we have spent a lot of time trying to do both and figure out ways to do both. The mayor talked about how long it would take to generate revenue through say enforcement mechanisms other things we've talked about which we intend to do but really don't help us in 26 in any
material way. On the expense side we've done a lot to try to control expenses. We will continue to do that. And as you know, again, the mayor's heard me say many times, I I also I don't want us to lose sight of when we talk about cutting expenses for the municipality. We're
talking about cutting people's people's jobs, many of whom live in Jersey City. So, I don't necessarily I don't think I I take that particularly lightly or as being any better or worse than when we have to raise revenue in other ways. So, I would just kind of, you know, re
reinforce that. So the mechanisms to lighten the tax increase in 26 could be things such as what Councilman Lavaro has talked about where I would caution the council going down that path is that's kind of how we
got here and creates a problem for 27. >> I appreciate that. And Council President, I just have a couple more questions if that's all right. >> Okay. Um uh just a request um if we could get uh reports for um variance
reports to show the budget amount versus the amount spent in each department so far this year um because we've been operating under emergency temporary appropriations um since we took office. Um then also um results of the pilot
audit so far if there are any uh results from the ongoing audit this point. Um and then just lastly pilots are you know for the public pilots um are separate from the ratable base right um so pilots
developers who are in these agreements are not going to face a 20% tax hike um just what even if we can't do anything retroactively um if we are considering tax abayments in the future even if it is not the same as having them be
subject to future tax hikes. Is there any kind of mechanism where some version of increases can be built into these abatement contracts so that we spread the the increase a little bit more than
we are now where we have all of these abated developers not not going to be contributing to this increase? >> Sure. Let me address the first one uh on the budget actual to variance report. Several months ago, I spoke to Councilman Brooks who had asked me for
that report. Three months ago, I can tell you we did not have that report. The city never had that report. Wasn't monitoring spending versus budget. We are doing that. I can tell you we're pretty close to the where uh we had uh authority to spend to slightly under,
but we can provide your report uh by department uh and certainly we'll do that. >> Thank you. >> The mayor, you want to take that? >> Yeah. And I and I thank uh the finance director and his team for get getting our city to a place where we can produce that report. Obviously that that report is a basic document that every city
should be able to do. We we didn't have it and he's done the work to be able to to get us uh that report. So on the abatement um I believe there is a mechanism in in abatements where um they they have to pay a percentage of regular taxation. So we can make sure that that
that version is included. I don't know all the details and specifics, but we'll make sure that that mechanism for future ones. Obviously, we can't change contracts that exist, but for future ones is there. And then just a quick thing on on pilots that I think is just important for me to hit. You know, from our administration, um we will not
negotiate and put forward pilots before you that don't u increase the amount that the city is getting because of the budget crisis that we're under. Uh we know that that that there are baitments. I'll just one example. Journal Square, the the White Towers in Journal Square, you know, they Bayon was so generous. They provide significantly less than
they would have in regular taxations to the city. Uh we will never strike a deal like that. We will make sure that we are giving uh you guys uh and the city and the taxpayers more city revenue uh than we otherwise would have gotten in regular property taxation. It's just a
core principle given the crisis that we're in. >> Thank you. And then on the audit, just is there any um report so far? or is it still just >> I think it is uh it is ongoing but we will get you an update on where exactly where it's you and the council an update on exactly where it stands. >> Okay. Thank you
>> council members it is uh 5:30 so and we still have a lot of agenda to get through and a lot of directors waiting. So I am going to ask that if we have any additional questions we put those in writing to the administration and I'm going to ask the administration to please uh include the entire council in
those responses. I didn't get to ask a question. So, I do have two questions from the um public that they would like answered. Councilman Griffin's trying to cut my mic off, but uh they would like to know if there is um
an itemized breakdown of the 109 million of unpaid bills. >> Absolutely. >> Shared. >> Yes, we're happy to release that both to the council and to the public. >> Okay. And then second quick question which might not be very popular and I
don't want to alarm any of those communities but um there are questions around the open space tax and the arts tax and if those could be used this year towards the budget. >> Yeah absolutely. So uh start with the
arts culture trust fund. Um there is a clause written into the arts and culture trust fund that would allow it to be diverted from arts and culture to uh you know the general revenue uh with Britain permission from from DLGS. Um that is not included in the city's budget right
now. Um I view arts as essential and the amount that we're spending on them uh would is not even 1% uh of what we're talking about in the tax increase, but that is a decision the council also gets to make. So when we provide that to the council, that's something on your end. For the open space trust fund, that is
not that language that allows us to do that for the arts and culture trust fund is not included in that. We are going to work with the state legislature to try to see if we can get that changed. Um I would like to include that in our general budget this year and I love our parks advocates and and open space uh things. That is obviously a capital fund
uh where as an operating fund like the arts and culture trust fund or people are relying on that who run their organizations uh that is obviously a capital fund. It's incredibly important for our open space needs, but I think that we this year could use that money to help solve this this crisis. So, we
are working on getting the law changed in Trenton. Uh, and we will keep you guys updated on our progress on that front. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> So, I'll just close by saying it was obviously a long session. We very much appreciate it. Um, we know and I know I
you know I know how angry residents are. I I know how difficult this has been and will be no matter what we end up doing because there are simply no good choices through this crisis and you know my commitment
from day one has been honesty and transparency around our budget. Um and I think that we continue to tell people the truth. Uh that had not happened for the last 12 years and and we are going to keep telling people this is the choices we face. These are the difficult
positions and we understand that that residents may disagree with some of the choices because every choice represents you know really really tough outcomes for our residents. Um I am going to continue to do everything in my power uh to help people. We are going to go
doortodoor and make sure every single senior in our city is signed up for both stay and the senior property tax freeze. We will have as much information to make sure every person has signed up for the anchor program both renters and homeowners. Um, we will continue to look to find cuts. And it was important when
we said, "Yes, we found $55 million in cuts, savings, and efficiencies." That is ongoing. Um, we will continue to do lists. Um, I I'll put this this email address out for everybody. Uh, jc ideas jcnj.org. We want any city employee or member of
the public to send us their ideas for where we can find cuts, for where we can uh continue to save money. and what we put before you guys in July um does not is not the final uh you know budget. You guys are going to go line by line through it then ultimately our fourth
quarter may look different than the third quarter. But given that we do not know what the state aid looks like yet that that is not set certain that we have to take action now to avoid the entire increase and not just our increase it would be the county and the schools falling on the fourth quarter tax bill. You know I think it is the right decision for us to move forward
with this third quarter bill. continue the work uh over the budget process into the fourth quarter and then my commitment to everybody both you and and the members of the public is we're not in the same place next year that we we continue to do the work to prevent us from ever being in this type of situation again. So, thank you all for
your time and I will see you again on Wednesday. >> Madam, I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. Madam President, I just have two quick questions that are yes or no that >> Okay. Yes. >> I don't have a I don't have a big windup. >> All right. Keep it yes and no. Administration. >> Thank you. with respect to all my
colleagues who had big windups. Um so my first question is um we have passed um 90day emergency temporary authorizations um once or we passed two of them and um
have those included the 109 million in deferred expenses. So essentially yes in in parts. >> Thank you. >> To the extent we have bills due, they're in the ETAs. >> Okay. I just want that to be clear to the public that this council has been
authorizing a temporary tentative budget which has incorporated that those deferred expenses. And then my second question is have we paid any of that credit card bill this year to date? >> Yes. Um so I think excellent point. So
health benefits again being the primary uh example. Yes uh we have been paying horizon the bills that are uh due from 2025. We are almost at the end of uh what we are required to be to pay horizon. I think there are some claims
on this Wednesday that should be about the last uh not quite the last but pretty close to the last. >> Thank you. force may make one final point which is just we asked about the revenue earlier for the council people. You know, another thing I I didn't mention, we've we've said it publicly,
but just again, we are auditing every claim that we sent to Horizon. Um, and that was, you know, roughly, it was obviously 170 million. Many of those are obviously valid, but we believe that there may be millions to tens of millions that really weren't valid and that we are going to audit and try to
claw back. But that also gets to the revenue question of, you know, that's a long complex legal process, may involve settlement, may involve trial. uh you know so that revenue just doesn't come back to us you know as quickly as as all of us would like. So thank you everyone.
>> Thank you Director Kierce William. >> Good evening President Ridley. Members of the council, I have uh three items before you tonight uh related to claims
submitted for the snowstorm that we two snowstorms we had. First one is resolution 26402 item 1040. Resolution will authorize payment of a claim submitted by J. Fletcher Kramer and Company Incorporated for providing 11 tandem triacle dump
trucks to pick up and deliver road salt to the DPW main salt depot at 1315 Lynon Avenue East during Winter Storm Fern on January 26, 2026. Total amount of this claim is $17,600
which is available in account 6126 291314. >> Questions? director, good to see you over here. Uh you can let me know if you're not prepared to answer this, but can I ask you a question about speaking of snow
removal, uh the status of our claim with Morton Salt, uh about recapping, recouping any of our money for their failure to provide services as contracted at the beginning of this the year? >> I believe the law department is still looking into that. There's two uh one was Morton Salt and Atlantic Salt.
Atlantic Salt was the one that they had the issue with. >> I'm sorry. I I don't want to impugn Morton salt improperly. Atlantic salt. Thank you for the correction. Um yes, we can get an update from the law department whether we have a viable claim. Uh because what we were told at the beginning of the year was that uh we
put in the request timely and they did not meet the salt requests of the city and and and there's a financial detriment to and damages for the city because of that. >> I'm happy to provide a more thorough briefing over email or in person. The bottom line is there are amounts that
have not yet been paid because they are still in dispute. >> I I have a question for the administration. Um so we just had the conversation about emergency notes um and the purposes. So and I spoke specifically about the idea of snowstorm
as an emergency. Um this account um that's paying for this I assume it's an operating general general funds. Yep. and and so if we were to put in an emergency note um year end I don't know
how that process works but is there is it well if you could speak to what the process is and then and I'll take it from there so I don't know exactly the process I don't want to give you false information so if you're okay with let me see if I
can talk with the finance department law department to see how that could be feasibly done generally speaking um in the past how it's been and they have to show like a direct emergency that you know you were unable to know about and forecast and everything else which is similar to this situation. However, I
don't want to hold up bills because of that just because a lot of these vendors haven't been paid in a while. So, I'll explore you know to your point councilman if there's a way that we could do an emergency note to recoup that money in the operating budget at the end of the year. I just don't know what that process would look like and it probably be a somewhat lengthier process.
if you could explain that process, how it how long it takes and then also if it can be if if the books can be um I forget what they call it in accounting but >> balanced >> balanced if we can balance the books the the money that we spend with the
reimburse the uh the emergency notes. >> No, but like so so it's right now coming out of general operating dollars. If at the year end we get emergency notes issued, um can we shift it even though it's been paid on the balance sheet to make sure that it's reflected in emergency notes as opposed to um
>> yeah, we we can see if you can reclass it assuming that we are allowed to actually use emergency notes to to generate the finance the money for it. >> Say it again. >> There we go. We've explored reclassifying that in order to recoup any of the money assuming that the
emergency notes would be authorized for it. I just have to make we just make that determination. I'm not sure if we can actually do that or not. >> Yeah. If we can get clarity to you if that's reclassifying at the end of the >> Yep. >> um fiscal year is is possible. Um and if
it's not then um what are if we think we can get this paid for through emergency notes? Is it I guess the other question is is this just a year-end process or is that something that we can apply for
um earlier to pay for something like this as a claim um as opposed to uh waiting till the fiscal year ends? I would have to double check that. In my experience or practical experience, it's always been a year-end process. So, I
would assume that has to be come after the budget's introduced and you have to show that you couldn't pay for it because of the extraordinary circumstances. But again, I'll justify I'll get the actual written legality of that before I uh get back to you. You guys vote on >> before Wednesday because obviously if we approve this and it's it can't be
requested, then it's on the taxpayers's bill, right? >> Mr. Y. >> Okay. The next item is 10412643. Resolution will authorize the payment of a claim submitted by MyWay Towing. We're
providing emergency towing services associated with winter storm snow removal operations. Total amount of this claim is $32,400 which is available in account 6126292314. >> Questions?
>> Excellent. >> Last item is 1055 26417 resolution. We authorize a payment of a claim submitted by Truchin Towing and Recovery Incorporated for providing emergency towing services associated with the winter storm removal snow
operations. Total amount of the claim is $40,500 which is available in account 6126 292 314. >> Questions? Yeah, I have a I have a question because um I I did um have some interaction with
them and and a resident um during the snowstorm. So, I just want to get this here. So, the city is is paying them for towing and the resident is paying
for their car. The cars that were removed were removed for the parking spaces and about 90% of the occasions were returned. The only ones that were >> Okay, so we're talking about the ones that were removed from the authorized.
>> Correct. >> And Okay, gotcha. Thank you. >> Thank you, director. >> Thank you, >> Director Woodson. Commerce. Evening, council president and council members. I have four items this evening
for your consideration. First is agenda number 4.5, ordinance number 26-037. It's a second reading ordinance. It's an ordinance amending chapter 84 alcoholic
beverages and cannabis article one plenary retail consumption and distribution licenses temporarily enlarging permissible hours of operation during FIFA 2026 >> questions. >> Next one.
>> Next is agenda number 4.15. It's ordinance 26-047. It's uh an enabling ordinance amending chapter 296 streets, sidewalks, and public rideaways. Article 7, sidewalk
cafes, and sidewalk sales, temporarily enlarging permissible hours of operation during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. >> Questions? Next one. Uh, next is being agenda number 10.12,
resolution 26-374. It's a resolution authorizing the waiver of the 20-day waving period pursuant to NJSA 4069A-181B for for ordinance 26-037. >> Questions?
Next one, director. And last, it's uh item number 10.13, resolution 26-375. It's a resolution authorized the waiver of the 20-day waiting period pursuant to NJSA 4069A1
181B for ordinance 26-047. >> Thank you, director. >> Thank you. Director Dublin recycling. Good evening, council president and council members. I have two resolutions to present in front of you for consideration. First one is 104.42
resolution 26406. It's a resolution accepting the funds for the calendar year of 2026 for clean communities grant from the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections. >> Questions? >> Hi, director.
>> Um, we spoke earlier if could you get a breakdown of how the funds are being expended for this? >> Sure. So once the um resolution is accepted, I send the um account set up to the grants department, but this grant will be to um hire part-time seasonal
litter patrol. We will be replacing and buying new litter receptacles that are needed throughout the city, liners and receptacles, as well as education or any supplies that are needed like dust pans, brooms, litter pickers to enhance um the litter efforts that we need throughout
the city. and we can offset some of like the laborers positions that are currently working in those um specific roles. >> Okay, you just provide me itemize. >> Absolutely. Will the moment it's set up, I will send it to all council members. >> Thank you. >> So, director, is this um grant anything
like the um is that clean communities stop the drop? >> I'm sorry. Say it again. >> Is this grant anything like the clean communities like when we used to >> No, it's not. It's it's similar to it because it is litter patrol which is the green team that goes out and cleans um certain areas like commercial corridors
or secondary streets that are highly littered but the stop to drop was a specific line item that was given to DPW that we no longer have and was moved at one point to recreation which I unfortunately phased out. So I mean in
light of so would these I guess the people that will be working with funds from this would they would they be part of cleaning MLK? >> Yes, they will be and so will the litter receptacles that are being installed in MLK Ocean Avenue and throughout other commercial corridors.
So, if I mean I love the cleanlin the the intent to keep it clean, but um if if the SID is tasked with cleaning it, um I'm of the opinion that we should focus on up and down. >> We are we're going into we're dipping into secondary streets.
>> Okay. >> Off MLK, off ocean, like highly littered locations. Yes, we're dipping into >> All right. Thank you. >> Director, are you just focusing on Southside or it's is it >> No, it's citywide. >> Citywide. >> Yep. Do do you have a um a map or a list? >> Yes, we do.
>> Okay. Can Can that be share that the um council? >> Absolutely. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Next one. The next resolution is resolution 10.43, resolution 26405.
It's a resolution awarding a negotiational contract for community compost company. I referred the business administrator because I believe we're going to remove it. >> This contract is going to be pulled. Uh we'll potentially reinduce it. We just have to evaluate some of the legal uh
circumstances around this contract and the uh existing contract. >> Sorry, what? >> 43 >> 410 43 with >> Oh, okay. >> All right. Thank you, director.
>> Contract for composting. announcement >> and it's being withdrawn. Correct. >> All right. >> Have a good evening. Good evening. >> Thank you. >> Can I ask a question real quick? Um to um uh Sarah. So with resolutions and
ordinances, right? Um when it comes to typos, right? Like what is the process of meaning for this? like should we be voting on resolutions and and ordinances if there are typos
because it's technically not reading what we're supposed to be voting on. >> So with respect to resolutions, if there are typos that aren't substantive, that won't change what the resolution affects. There's no need to amend those.
You are welcome to amend them on the fly. So there's a onetime vote. So you could certainly amend them if you wanted to make administrative edits and then vote to pass them. With respect to first reading ordinances, same process. You can amend them before the vote on the first reading. Once you have voted and
passed an ordinance on a first reading, the standard becomes is the change that you are seeking to make substantial. Things that are purely administrative like correcting typos would not be substantial. So you could amend those before the vote on the second reading without having to send it back to a first reading.
Thank you, Sarah. >> Director Goodman, cultural affairs. >> Good evening, council president, members of city council. I have eight items before you today. Uh these are all licensing agreements and authorizations
for certificates of insurance. So, um, the first item is resolution 26-381, um, item 1019. This is a license agreement, uh, allowing us to use the property of 101
Hudson for July 4th. >> Questions? Hey um director as states um because I guess you know in this deficit we got to scrutinize all the money that's being spit um as it relates to the this is for the 4th of July
festivities correct >> correct >> um so as it relates to this um what if any um financial burden to the sea um does this event incurs? So the fireworks have been fundraised
for privately and so the city services for July 4th are city services um that will be costs incurred by the city as they are every year. >> Hey Ka, can you just speak director more more broadly as to what the plan is for
this particular July 4th and then they'll answer the council's questions. I I have similar questions too. Could you just go tell us what the by an overview what the plan is and then we can ask we can we can assess what's going to it's going to cost everybody. >> Sure. So, um the July 4th festival will
be a street festival that will be held from 12:00 p.m. in the afternoon until 10:00 p.m. at night on Montgomery Street. and that will have vendors that will have um a few entertainment stages
and the World Cup games will be screened and it will have family activities. At the end of the night will be the fireworks on the Hudson River. >> So the I guess the the bulk of the
financial burden will be the the cleanup of the after everything is over. >> Exactly. So, um, this also coincides with America's 250th and sale 250 on the
Hudson River. And so, that is something that's actually, it impacts Jersey City, but it is not our event. It happens in the Hudson River. And so, that will be taking place throughout the course of that entire July 4th day on the river.
>> Okay. Now, director, I don't know if you may know know this, but I'm going to ask um it because of uh it's it's it's uh our 250th anniversary. Are there any uh grants for that for states and
municipalities to celebrate 250 years of of independence? So, uh there are there have been grants um that we have applied for for programming, but in terms of covering
public safety expenses, that's a little outside of cultural health and perhaps >> answer that. >> Yeah, Councilman, currently there's no existing federal grant. It really is a federal uh program that's being
promoted. Um, we are working with our partners in Hashi County to get that changed and see if money can be provided, but when it was in the inception and developed by the federal government, they didn't provide any such funding. So, we're trying to claw something out of what doesn't exist currently. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Just to sorry, >> the items we're voting on today for or sorry, Wednesday for July 4th, the items we're discussing today for Wednesday vote for July 4th. Um, do any of these have a cost to the city though? Thank you.
>> That's what I was s about to say that are getting sponsorship from private organizations, right? >> Yes. Yes, we are actively securing private sponsorships to offset the cost of >> Hold on. So, director, I just want to
make sure we're clear because going to these events um for some years now. So there's the DBW cleanup. Subsequently, there's security guards. Uh I know we use security guards one year. And then
there's PD. My major concern is um the amount of overtime for employees. Um, so if I don't know necessarily if you will be privy to that information as you're just responsible for the festival
part, but if anyone from the administration can give the council um a breakdown of the financial burden associated with it, because you know there's cleanups, there's security guards, there's police. Um just just so
we can be privy to um all of the spending that's going on. Um that that'll be great. >> Yep. We can get to that breakdown, Councilman. Um and just to be clear, the resolutions tonight are just license agreements. So they themselves do not directly cost for anything, but
obviously to your point, there's an associated cost with anything we do for the event. >> Thank you. >> Is there any is there any sorry estimate of what it's going to cost? I mean, we're three weeks away. We have to have some idea how much it's going to cost, right? >> We do. I just don't have them on me right now. Council,
>> thank you. Who is the um who is the project manager for the whole is the city the sponsor? >> Yes. >> Okay. And and who's who's in the lead in coordinating this? Is it your office? >> I'm working on the events component and
so it's between cultural affairs, the mayor's office and administration, public safety, department of public works. >> So, so to Councilman Gilmore's point, so all of the DPW workers, public safety, etc. um who who's coordinating all of that?
Who's the project manager? >> Um I Crystal Mahia Aski has been the point person and she does have a budget. So we'll we'll supply that to you. >> Based on the budget from the different and then you say it's all and you said you're actively pursuing I caught that
on the uh the funding. So have we secured the funding for all of this number one and then how much we're talking about. Um, yeah, that's kind of just where want to make sure dot the eyes, cross the tees that we're not putting taxpayers on the hook.
>> Yeah. For the event portion, I'll allow the director to cover whether or not the fun been fully secured for the funding for the security, DPW, etc. That is a city cost I would like to come out of the city budget. >> It's on the what?
The o the cost of the actual services police security DPW would come from the city >> will come from the city. So the city is spending. Sorry I'm missing >> yes the city would be obligated to pay for security for police would obviously
pay for the DBW cleanup those items. >> It's not priv it's not entirely privately funded. >> The entire thing is not privately funded. No. See, it would be great if we could get the the dollar amount in terms of >> the impact for for Jersey City residents
on this. >> Next one. >> So, this is another licensing agreement 10.20. It's resolution 26-382. This is a licensing agreement for 70 Hudson
>> and director. I think most of them are licenses agreement. >> So just give us the number and who the licensing agreement is with or for >> 10.21 just to save you a little time. >> Yeah, sure. No problem. So resolution
10.21 that's McGomery Green Owner LLC and then 10.22 is with CEBG 310 JB and that is um those four cover July 4th. And to clarify, each of these is the
same structure where there's no cost for the event itself to the city, but there is a cost of what we would be spending on JCPD salaries and DPW salary staff time. Is that right? >> Correct. >> Okay. Yeah. Estimated costs for that would be very helpful. >> These are to use properties in
association with the event. >> Thank you. >> So, um item 10.23 and 10.24 24 are um for licensing agreements and COIs for MANA 888 Cultural Center and TOPS holdings which are for our Jersey City
youth mural program part of the summer jobs program or again use of property. And then we have um item 10.25 and 10.26 26 again, licensing agreement,
certificate of insurance for a table at 3 acres and for 400 Claremont, which is for our uh World Cup event for um July 19th use of property >> and there are no costs associated with any of these license agreements?
>> No cost. >> Other questions for director Goodman? I if I can just follow up on on the July 4th with the administration. Um yeah, we could definitely for for all the FIFA events, it's all
privately sponsored. Are we talking also privately sponsored for the is my understanding for the police and public safety as well as DPW costs associated with that? Is that accurate or is that um >> for the FIFA events you're speaking
about? Correct. >> Yeah. >> Yes. So for the FIFA events, we've offset that through grants for those events regarding city services, security, DPW, etc. for Fourth of July separately. Those have not been offset. We are of course pursuing them, but
we're 3 weeks away as you said, and you know, we have to be mindful that it will have a cost. >> Can we get a breakdown in the flag cities? I'm sorry. I know Flag City's paid for the Christopher Columbus Drive event and then for the remaining
events including the one that just passed. We can get budgets for that and how that's all being offset for all of that in terms of what grants. >> Yep. We'll give you a full breakdown of the budgets, how it's being offset, what grants we received, etc. >> Thank you, Director
Cohen, Director of Food and Nutrition, HHS. Good afternoon, council president, members of city council. One item for your consideration this evening, resolution 26394, agenda number 10.32.
This is a resolution authorizing the exercise of the first of two renewal options allowed by our meals on wheels home delivered meals RFP with Witson's food service for a contract period
beginning July 1st 2026 and ending June 30th 2027. I also want to note on the record that there is an error on um the maximum amount. Uh the correct amount is actually on the bottom. The contract
shall not exceed 950,000. Uh I have already contacted our office to uh amend this error immediately. >> Questions? >> Is there a match associated with this?
>> Uh this this is associated with the senior nutrition grant which is a separate entity. There is a match with that that's already that's already in motion. That contract begins on in January and this one for reasons begins July 1st. Not my doing on that one. I
would not have I would not I would have put them all together. But that's the timeline we're working with. >> But offer I'm not clear. Is that is there a match fun? >> There is a match. Yes. >> How much is the match? >> The match is 25%.
>> 25%. Okay. And this is budgeted for in our >> This is budgeted for and I'm also going to create I'm actually going to start working on a budget for all our food programs so it's completely transparent about exactly the costs for any program that's not completely grant funded. >> Yeah,
>> like this. >> I think I did ask for this before and you may have provided it for me so I apologize administration but we can get for the for the grant match account I believe um she talked about that before. Yeah, we'll make sure you have it. I think we did provide it, but we'll
double >> balances and detail of expenditures at this. Yep. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Morgan Span, deputy director of food and nutrition.
>> Good evening, council president and members of the council. I have one resolution for your consideration. It is item number 10.30, resolution 26-392, a resolution authorizing the renewal of a contract with Witson's Food Service
LLC to provide the 2026 summer food service program for the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Food and Nutrition. So, back in 2024, Witson's was the only food service vendor to actually bid on our program, and we had a really good summer with them. Um the children like the food, the
meals were delivered at reasonable times, well the right times and at the proper temperatures. Um 2025 last year we saw that they were once again on the approved vendors list. So we exercised our first of four renewals and we are
hoping to do it again this time. Um they did not exceed in meal prices for this year. So for breakfast it will be 224 a unit and for lunch it'll be 446 a unit.
The total contract amount is $423,49 um of which $362,123.52 is currently available. In addition to that we also have $41,32767 available. >> Questions? Same question. The match any match
involved here? >> No. So this will be fully funded through the state. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Lauren Hart, acting deputy director of public safety.
Good evening, council president, council members, acting deputy director of public safety, division of fire, Lauren Hart here to speak on two items for your consideration. Agenda item 10.35, resolution 26- 397. resolution will authorize the
awarding of a contract to fire and safety services for a highwater vehicle purchase. In January 28th, 2026, the council passed resolution 26-019 to authorize use of community development block grant funding for the
purchase. This project was put out to bid last month and fire and safety services was the sole bidder. The entire cost of the build will be covered by unallocated 2023 CDBG funding with no match required from
the city. It takes approximately 2 years to build it. Once the city accepts the vehicle, it will be based out of a firehouse on Carney Avenue near Westside Avenue and will be deployed in citywide flooding emergencies. >> Director, this is I'm sorry. This is the vehicle that uh we saw pictures of in
January. It's essentially for transporting people in times of flood or other emergencies like we saw with the Belleville fire. >> That's correct. High water uh flooding issues and any other transports. Has accommodations for handicapped people as well. >> Right. And so everyone's clear that there's no cost whatsoever to the city.
Correct. >> Zero. >> And when the council's asked to authorize this grant is because that money can only be used for something like app like an apparatus purchase such as this one. >> That's my understanding. Correct. as so half a million dollars cannot be reappropriated to for budget deficit or
public safety funding. Correct. >> At this point for that money had to be used by this period of time. So >> okay, I'm looking at you Andy. >> Um I just have one question. Um the grant was it originally for
the um drug? >> So this preceded my tenure but with the CDBG funding. I guess there's certain pots of money that can be used for different things in the low to moderate income areas. So, this is a project that working with HEDC, they targeted fire
department requests for a few different types of vehicles, and this is one that was selected. >> Next. Oh, go ahead, Council Mear to the administration to the BA's office. Um, so so the the source of funding, CDBG, we we have we voted on this previously.
Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. Um and and I know I raised questions back then about kind of the use of the dollars. There was like a deadline I think on this um at that time. >> Um so if you could just speak to the idea
because I I I've raised this question about source of funds um as opposed to just last meeting or or is it this meeting? It's this meeting. we're uh second reading on uh some capital funds um and and why why we wouldn't just
include this or what's the process by which we determine whether because I I would assume this would qualify for capital dollars, right? So um why why would we not include it in the same uh capital allocation?
>> Yeah. So CDBG funding is money we receive from the state I think offset through federal funding as well. Um there's separate trances as the councilman touched upon and I think the director touched upon where they can be used for specific items you know whether
it be apparatus equipment buildings housing etc. Um the reason why we wouldn't use capital funds for it is that the CDG can't be used to offset operating costs. there's certain things they uh can pay for that have some kind of budgetary carryover, but it can't pay
for wages, salaries, things of those items. So, we have to essentially use the money or we lose it. And in this case, you know, it was one of those things where this trance was available for an apparatus. The fire department indicated that they needed one in case there's flooding or anything that has become a a real risk for major cities,
especially ones as ours along the Hudson and the Hackinstack. Um, so the determination was made before we lose the money to spend it on this item. >> Next one. >> Second item, agenda 10.36, resolution 26-398.
This is a resolution that authorizes city to apply for and accept funding from the Department of Homeland Security 2025 assistance to firefighter grant program. This is a competitive grant. The Division of Fire will be applying for approximately $2,870,400
for fire apparatus and firefighting equipment. This is broken down into 2.5 million in federal funding with a 10% match by the city totaling approximately $287,000. Specifically, we're looking for funding
to replace a 30-year-old ladder truck as well as various firefighting equipment totaling over $800,000. As a department, we've been fairly successful in the past few years with our AFG grant awards. In 2024, we requested approximately 2 million and we were awarded just under
$900,000 for training and equipment, which is um a resolution I brought to you all a few months ago with regards to the SCBA purchases and some additional training. So, just because we're applying for this 2.8 million doesn't mean we're going to get it. Um, obviously there is a 10% uh match, which
is an issue. Um, but again, these are capital items that the federal government does allow us to purchase apparatus and equipment. So, >> thank thank you, director. If we do get the full amount, um, where would the money for the match come from? A little over a quarter.
>> In most of the grants, the the the grant office will establish an account. I'm not quite sure if that's funding. and and Peter, you can help me out on that one. Where you usually tab money from for that. >> So, we have an established grant match account that we have money in. I forget the exact number. Um, I know we sent the council Laura, we'll send you the number
as well. Um, that's the first place we generally look if that was not anticipated or capital wasn't raised in it. Depending on the item, we can also look at capital funding for it because it's an apparatus and it has a a lifespan of more than 5 years. Likely, we could use capital fund assuming we had, you know, excess funding or a
funding setup for that. Sorry if I if I missed this and it was already discussed, but is for each of these grant matches matching funds, does there need to be a specific matching fund for each separate grant or do we have a general fund for grant match in the
city? For most grants, we have a general grant match account that has all the money for those funds that, you know, obviously it's tracked. So, we make sure that every grant is allocated separately and that way we can follow through with it. Um, however, that doesn't mean like in this case if it were qualify for capital that we couldn't offset that
with a a capital account assuming it's a qualifying purchase. >> Okay. And if we were to use choose to use capital funds, are there more options for how we get that capital like bond for that capital or does that not apply to cases match? >> So we, you know, we in generally sense
we can bond from our capital. We do have current capital that we could potentially use for it. Um, so we wouldn't necessarily have to bond in this case for that. Um, as I mentioned the last meeting, the intent was to bring another capital ordinance in front of the council tonight. We're still waiting for bond council to give some feedback on it. So, likely be next
meeting we'd bring that to the the council. Um, but the intent of that is to show you every capital account that has already expired, meaning the projects have been completed or otherwise finished and the money is just sitting there and we generally reallocate that to different projects to make sure the money, you know, is is put
to better use. So that will likely be at the next meeting assuming we get you know our feedback from bond council. Um but that will show you that we can put it into a kind of general account saying buildings or streets or vehicles whatever it might be that we could access for projects like this so they
arise >> and um I'm sorry finish uh J. >> Thank you. >> Okay. U how are these uh grant match funds raised? >> You mean how's the money for the matching raised? Yes, >> it's put into the operating budget
>> is what? >> Put into the operating budget. >> Okay. >> So, the specific account that we allocate money towards from operating to cover the cost >> and generally speaking, they're identified in the department's budget. So, let's say the department, you know, public safety knows that, hey, we want
to apply for a grant. It's going to cost us x amount of money for matching funds. That would be allocated in their budget. >> And it's everyone's everyone is allocating. >> Yeah. Yeah. So every department would have a list of grants and you know uh contracts they'd be pursuing and then the money physically might be in a
general account but you know the the demand for the request for it comes out of those departments. >> Now now is it a dollar amount that they allocate or is it allocated percentage- wise based on budget or grants applied for? >> It's generally based on the request from
the departments. So sometimes they, you know, anticipate applying for a grant, but again, you're not always guaranteed to receive it. We usually say, "Hey, you know, x amount of dollars for grants we anticipate applying for." Assuming we're awarded them, we can then use that money to to offset that, you know, the match.
>> Okay. Um, on this on this on this agenda is ordinance 26-041. That's the reallocation of capital fund dollars for the capital fund balance.
Um, correct me if I'm wrong because I'm just reading there is 400,000 allocated for the Monttoello Avenue design. And if if my recollection is correct, I'm going to make the connection here to
to this particular item which is this was the match which and right below this one we've got the uh grant for the Monteello Avenue project and municipal aid grant program. Are those two things
aligned? >> They are. So why are we not aligning the match for this with this this capital fund allocation? >> So so this capital fund is not a reallocation. This is surplus that we
could potentially have. Same end goal but you know distinction there I'll identify in a minute. Um the Monaceel has already been awarded to my understanding or is being awarded is identified to the DOT that the money is
there and the project is there for us. So, we have to have the money in place to fulfill our obligation. In this one, they're applying for the grant, but nothing's been awarded yet. >> I mean, the resolution I'm looking at for the municipal aid grant program says um resolution authorizing the city of
Jersey to apply for and accept funding from New Jersey DOT FY27 municipal aid grant program. >> So, I can have infrastructure speak to it a little bit more in depth. My understanding is that this is a multi-step process and we have to show that we have certain things completed in
order to complete that application and receive the final award for everything. So they've already had discussions with the DOT or sorry with um the DOT about Monaceel Avenue and one of the steps in order to apply for and get that is to have the actual money there for it.
>> Yeah. So I would encourage the administration to when we have these grants this is it's not a small match, right? How much was it? 287,000 thereabouts, right? >> Um to to budget appropriately for that. And I mean, you're doing it here with
the Monttoello Avenue design, Pacific Avenue, Morris Canal Greenway. Um all of these matches, significant matches. We could do the same for our Jersey City Fire Department and ensure that the the money is is set aside. Um, I'm not
looking to revise this uh um this particular capital uh capital ordinance, but um I would encourage the administration to to include that when you when you present these ordinances, these resolutions
rather for require a grant match. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, council. Stephanie Daniels, director of community relations and social services, HHS.
>> Good evening, council president and city council. I am here to present item number 1029, resolution 26-391. This is a resolution of the municipal council of the city of Jersey City to authorize the award of programming
contracts to various nonprofit awardees for the year of 2026. So this was an opioid grant that was directed in 2025 for steam and STEM programming with a
focus on mental health. It is for children aged 8 through 24. It's aligned with the state schedule B which is very specific. It it it delineates very specific ways that you can um define a
grant. Um and it has a list of approved programmings that can be funded. This is a three-year this is a grant that has three tiers. Full year, school year, and summer. It was geared towards children who would
not ordinarily have access to this type of programming. >> Questions? >> This um this is the this is the one that we had to do over to logistically get everything right. Sarah,
is this that looks like? Yes, that's corre. Okay. And you're in um so it's in three tiers is after school, a summer, and can you say the tiers again, Stephanie? >> Full year >> starting January 1st to December 31st of
2026. school year, which is that entire time minus the summer months, and then only the summer months. So, there were three different types of grants, levels of grant uh funding that could have been applied for.
>> Now, are these grants um we foresee this grant being um available next year as well? >> That is up to the administration to decide. So when you say up to the administration, are you talking about us? Yeah.
>> So I'll answer that really quickly. This grant is based on opioid funding. >> Sorry. Uh this grant is based on opioid funding which we receive from settlements from national, you know, and class action opioid. So >> okay, >> you know, potentially, but we have to
make sure there'd be sufficient money in the account to cover that. I do not believe that this entire amount would be available as of right now for next year, but that could change depending on what money we receive from any future settlements. >> So, it could be like it could be more, it could be less. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And and um I'm not too familiar
with this program. Are you are you guys in the schools? Because I I also see it says nonprofits. So, you >> No, we are not. This is not inschool programming. This is specific to nonprofits that serve the children of
Jersey City and they do it outside of school. >> So this funding and correct me wrong, Stephanie, there's very tight controls about how it can be utilized that comes from the state. So it can only be utilized through nonprofits for certain things like education, education sense
that opioid, drug use, all that kind of stuff. >> Yes, I can I can share the schedule B with you. It's about a 16page document. The city doesn't do much of what the schedule B funds and and but you know
it's up to each administration to decide exactly how those funds are spent. So I can share that with you all if you'd like. >> Yeah. Share that with Mike Michael's new stuff. And and also and also can you um
share the the nonprofits that you're working with on this as well? >> Oh, 100%. It's on the ordinance. >> Okay. Wonderful. Okay, great. >> Yeah. Everything that was received uh the the amounts, the percentage of the grant of of the of what they asked for. It's all it's all
there. Yeah. It's all it's it's included in in the actual resolution. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah, it's not it's it's fine. Before I proceed, um Sarah, if I could just get um St. Peters University is one of the
grantees. I actually wrote the grant that uh they they were awarded when I was last year before I was a councilman. So, um I want to proceed with some questions, but tell me if uh I have a conflict here or not. I'm no longer I no
longer work at St. Peters University. So, as we have discussed before, there are no hard and fast legal rules on what constitutes a conflict of interest and the law department has no authority to say at the outset what is or is not a
conflict of interest. We can only opine and encourage you to use your best judgment given the ethical framework that exists. Ultimately, the ethical standards board is the only entity in the city that is legally empowered to make those judgment calls. Um, generally
the framework for you to think about is would you either in fact or in appearance incur some personal benefit by casting your vote that no member of the general public would also incur. So is there some financial or other benefit
that you or a friend or a family member would experience by voting on this? Essentially, do you have a disproportionate interest in the outcome of this vote compared to a member of the general public? So that's the general framework for you to reckon with given what you know about your role in drafting that grant.
>> Okay. >> I I have no disproportionate interest in it. So um and in fact St. Peters may not want me to say what I have to say but um that being said um you talked about the next and Stephanie thank you. You already
answered many of our questions. I just want to confirm on the record for uh this exhaust all of the settlement money for us um for this round of funding. Is that >> I believe there is a small amount that would be left over around 200 some
thousand. I can send you the exact numbers >> that much. Okay. I thought it was only 5,000 or so, but >> small in the context of the you know amount we're spending right now. >> I'd love to see the balance and and so towards that end if it's 200,000 or more or something to that effect. Um, love to
see what the regulations say with regard to what's an allowable expense. And again, um, I'm always looking for budget relief in any of these sources of funds. >> So, Councilman, I sent you the schedule B this morning. You can you can check
that. And as I said to you also, I only have knowledge of the specifics of this grant and that other amounts of money may exist or may not. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Nicole Dupri, HR. Good evening, Council President Ridley and Council members. Um, I am here to present two items this evening. Item first being item 10.17
resolution 26379. This is to renew a contract with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to provide life insurance for eligible city employees and retirees um that are not
management >> questions. This has no c cost to us, right? Uh the total contract amount for the year would be $298,300 which is actually the same price we're paying for this year.
Okay, next one. The next one would be item 10.18 resolution 26-380. also a one-year contract renewal with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to provide life insurance for management
employees in the amount of $29,000 400 $29,467. >> Questions? >> Okay, >> so no RFP went out for this is we're just renewing the contract. It did two years ago for one year and we um put in
for two additional one-year terms. >> Okay. >> This is the first of two. >> This is the first of two. >> Yes. For the um previous one as well. >> So then the RFPA will go out the year after next. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah, that video. Director Richardson, housing preservation. Good evening, council president and council members. I've come before you with just one uh item uh 10.57
resolution 26-419. This is a resolution ratifying the first oneyear optional extension of the short-term rental compliance contract with Nemo Group LLC, formerly known as uh Avenue of Insights and Analytics uh and authorizing an additional extension
that of that contract for 3 months pending the release of a new RFP for those services. >> Um is this for the uh they call them things Airbnb uh compliance? Yes.
>> Now just um so I understand correctly these their primary function is to do what? So the number one thing that they do so they receive um applications uh for initial um permits I'm sorry and renewals. But the biggest thing that
they do is that they help with compliance because they have a process called scraping where they go through all of the websites that are uh people that are using for short-term rentals and they provide us with information where we could issue summones for those that are non-compliant. We don't have that potential to do the scraping
ourselves, but they go through all the websites to to find compliance. I'm sorry. And just so I understand correctly, there's no Airbnbs permitted unless the individual
who's hosting it is their primary residence. >> And it has to be owner occupied as well. >> And it has to be owner occupied. Okay. So, who do um who do we reach out um to
if there's a issue of a potential illegal Airbnb? >> Well, once that comes to us, of course, you know, once we receive the complaint, it comes to our office and normally uh supervisor Jessica Berto, she leads that charge. Uh, one of the things she'll do is she'll send out we'll check to see if
they have an active permit first of all and then we'll actually send out an inspector to the property just to to get any more discovery to find out if it's actually legal or not. >> Thank you. >> Real quick. >> Absolutely. >> Director, just real quick, it's owner
occupied is allowed to operate, you know, exclus, but I think there's also an exception for a small >> There's a 60-day window. Um, and I believe that was brought in for like educators who would normally take the summer off so that property can be used for 60 days without being ownoccupied
in a calendar of the year. So 60 days per calendar of the year. >> Oh, but I mean technically so but it's still their primary res. >> Still their primary residence, right? They're just normally they're away during that season. >> Shoot your point. Majority of them owner occupied. There's a small exception for
that period of time where you know if you want to rent out your apartment whatever else you can do that for that period of time >> right they can they can rent out the whole property for that period of time. >> So so when you say 60-day window is that 60 days per year >> per year. >> Okay. Per calendar year. Correct.
>> Just a just a question. Um do we not have other ways of of scraping these websites? I mean I >> not not for the city. No. That's why we had to get a vendor. The city doesn't have the apparatus to do that scraping ourselves. >> Right. Yeah. I'm just curious because
150 plus over over years that could be a couple salaries of of more staff. >> Absolutely. Now, I will say that we have uh received revenue from these uh from the application process and so I do have some of those numbers for you just so that you can understand that there's a
revenue driven side of this as well. Um, in 20 25 we received uh 1,1007,900. And then I actually reached out to the >> Say that number one more time, please. >> $117,900. >> 117900.
That was from last year. >> That's last year, >> right? And and as of this year, I reached out to the vendor today and as of this year, they've collected $99,000 >> for short-term rental. short-term rent. These are for permits. So I have the numbers >> and permits. Okay.
>> Correct. And that's not including some assist. So we >> Yeah. So and so as of this year because because of the FIFA World Games, of course, the permits went up a lot. Last year they went up a lot because we partnered with Airbnb. And what Airbnb
did is they said that they will no longer allow any illegal people to operate on their platform. So they would have to have a city permit or else their advertisement will be brought down. So that brought our numbers up tremendously. All right. This year the numbers they gave me was that we
received 240 24 new applications and 207 renewed applications. That's where that 900 that $99,900 comes from. Terms of summones. Last year we issued 69 summones. This year we already issued 20 and we we have 30
pending. So we're already going to be at about 50 semises that we've issued so far for illegal operating Airbnbs. >> So the 69 semises that were issued last year. Um so we issue we issue and I
guess they have found or deemed to be not in compliance because they don't live there or whatever the reason is. um what if any is the followup to see if they're still continuing these behaviors after the infractions and >> well if we get another complaint we'll
go back send another inspection issue another summit. >> Okay. Well, we don't have like a nothing that triggers I guess a due diligence follow through or something like that. >> No. Well, the what the vendor does is in their scraping, a part of what they're supposed to do is if they see any
violations, they send out notifications at least four times a year to any person who's operating. >> Okay. So, quarterly. >> Quarterly. Correct. >> Director. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> So, this vendor is supposed to be revenue generating for the city. Correct. >> Correct.
>> And also, it's supposed to help your your office, >> right? because it alleviates positions that we don't have because as of right now we basically have two people who are servicing the whole city. And so by them doing that it also alleviates the fact that we don't have to hire more people to do that cuz we right now we don't
have the capacity to do it nor do the scraping >> and and not just then doesn't just help us with uh potential violations but also assesses applications for people that are doing the Airbnb program legally. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Do you know how much money the city made last year using this service? Right.
That was the first number I gave you. >> Yeah. What was the number? >> Uh $117,900. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh that's actually less than the contract though. Um >> right. So the contract go right. The contract goes from July to July.
>> Okay. So it's July and July for 151,524 annually. >> Yes sir. >> And last year we brought in 117. >> Correct. >> Okay. or ask the administration whether there's a costbenefit analysis >> and we and I just want to say we also we're looking to issue out RFP because we do believe that there could be a
vendor that can do it better and cheaper. >> Yeah. Can we do do you think in your um say your experience your expert opinion here that we can get by the next three months without this service? >> It would be very very challenging. Um,
so I would prefer to keep the service, especially while we're still in the middle of the FIFA Cup, but we actually are working to look at any other apparatuses or components that we can do should that happen. >> Thank you. >> So, I I have a a question. So,
are they going through all of the platforms like Verbbo? Absolutely. Booking.com and Okay. Absolutely. You know, we keep saying Airbnb, right? Because that's the one that comes out. They go through all of the platforms. Correct. Thank you. Thank you.
>> So the the fees that they collect are are registration fees. Is that >> permit fees? Correct. >> Permit fees. >> Yes, sir. For renewals and original uh permits. >> Um are there any other revenues?
Uh I I recall at one time that there was some sort of tax. I don't know if that still exists anymore. >> Right. The hotel occupancy tax. unofficially we collect that but about two years ago it's unofficially under us we were collecting it prior but now I
believe it goes through tax abatement but we do collect and I have that number for the hotel occup occupancy tax it's a long date so you guys forgive me for uh stumbling a little bit so last year the hotel occupancy tax that's connected to
Airbnbs also that was 8 million752,796 $66. Can >> Can we get um kind of a five-year breakdown of the numbers of this uh how much been generated with hotel occupancy as well as the the permit fees or whatever?
>> Absolutely. We I do an annual report every year and I will be glad to uh pass that on to all and that has all the breakdowns of those numbers. Great. >> Thank you, director. >> Thank you guys so much. Danny Finance.
>> Council President, before Danny starts to the administration, there was a question I forgot to ask Miss Dupri about the met life insurance. Um, are the employees uh contributing to that uh life insurance um policy or
is this a free life insurance policy that we offer employees? >> I think there may be a contribution through the union contracts. So, I have to double check that and I can get your response tomorrow. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Good evening, council president, council
members. >> For consideration, I have one item. It is resolution number 26-413, agenda number 10.51. And the title of the resolution is a resolution authorizing an emergency
temporary appropriation. This request is necessary to provide sufficient funding for essential municipal operations until the 2026 annual budget is adopted. These funds will will be used to support employee
salaries, health benefits, pension obligations, contractual services, utilities, public safety operation, public work services, and other critical operating expense. As
the mayor and director Vicaria um discussed earlier, the timeline of the budget is the introduction. We looking at July 15th and the adoption August 20th. Any questions? >> Questions?
>> Yeah, I have a question. Um Ruby or or or or Pete or maybe you can answer this. Um how much um did the salary increases impact the uh
upcoming budget? like do we have a number of what the total um overall is on that? >> What's salary increases? Councilman >> I mean we voted on just salary
increases. So uh like >> are you referring like the >> asking about the salary ordinance? We had a salary ordinance >> administration gave any any salary increases and whether it's reflected on this. >> So they're all accounted for and the the larger budget again the ETAs are based
on a projection for you know x amount of the percentage of the budget for the next 3 months. So yes those are included in it as well as salary increases for union raises and all the other kind of items that might be applicable or we're obligated to to pay as part of any increases. So they would all be
reflected in it. I don't know exact percentage they would be um but I can try to get that information for you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Wonderful. >> Now, so every time we do a temporary appropriations because we don't have a budget yet, right? >> So, but if I'm if I'm reading this from
the resident's perspective, I look at these numbers, well, every time I see a budget appropriation, there's an increase. That doesn't mean that uh there's more spending going on, right? >> That is correct. >> Okay. Can you tell us though? Are you able to differentiate in this um
ordinance this resolution uh where if any there was a a a cut in spending from last year? So for example um it's at the top. So do cultural affairs salary and wages. I'm not I'm not picking out cultural affairs is just
one of the first ones on the list. So it goes from 508 to 774 this time last year. Is that 77 74 774,000 more less or the same than was spent by
cultural affairs in June of 2025? >> So I will have to get those numbers to you. So I have to go back to 2025 and do analysis the same time period. >> Okay. Yeah, I think Councilman Afro asked earlier for a breakdown and Bill
and I are meeting tomorrow just so everyone knows too. Um, council efos asked for a breakdown of what each department was spending. I think I asked several months ago for the same thing. Uh, I I know Stu reached out to the administration about getting you that information, but the ear thanks to
the earlier we get it obviously the better uh before before Wednesday. >> Councilman, uh, I mentioned earlier, we'll be able to get you that report of spending versus the budget that's been adopted to date. This ETA I can tell you um is consistent
with the budget that we have been working with and presented to the state. So I mean we can identify for you. I don't have off the top of my head where we think we've reduced the budget but it is consistent with the previous ETAs as well as the budget that we've been
working on and presented to the state earlier in the year. >> Thanks Bill. So, my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that notwithstanding our credit card expenses, for lack of a better term, and the bills that we incurred from the
prior administration, that to date, we've spent less or the same as this time last year. That is that correct? In terms of salaries and and uh events, etc. The comparison to 2025
spending is complicated because of the gimmickry in 2025. So our best analysis trying to do apples to apples to 2025 is that this budget is less than 2025's budget if if properly accounted for.
>> Okay. >> Thank you. And that's important for the public to know too. couple a couple additional questions just to get clarity that the number in the from column for instance the very first line mayor's office um 670,000 that's what has been
appropriated so far for all of 2026 up to this point is that correct >> to June 30 >> to June 30th um so that's about 6 months of of temporary appropriation uh comes out for this one line item to
670,000 and it's jumping by almost 50% for appropriation for another two months till mid August when we have our budget uh voted on. >> So th this request that we're doing is
for 3 months to last until September 30th. Now if the budget >> until September 30th, >> right? Correct. So if the budget were to get adopted at the August 20th meeting, the adopted budget supersede this ETA resolution.
>> Okay. >> So the reason why we kind of stretched it out because we wanted to be consistent from day one, 25%, 50%, 75% just in case if there's any delays within the budget process. >> Okay. So this is really just the exact
consistent rate which we've been funding all of these different line items. >> That is correct. Okay, thank you. >> Um I have a couple of questions. Um so in theory it's it's adding three more months. Um, and so for for salaries and
wages, I know it's not hard and fast here, but um, it shouldn't it should reflect like a one-third increase essentially or thereabouts um, increase in their salaries because the first six months we approved, right? And so if there was a kind of a
hold on hiring or or kind of stable hiring, then the salaries without going line by line and trying to figure out who's um who's been hired and not been hired and what their salaries are um it should come out to about a third. So I I'm just looking at um kind of the
salaries and wages and um and seeing I don't know in some cases 80% increases um from where it is where we approved it at the end for through the second quarter um to um where it is today. So
for example um the engineering department has increased by 85%. According to my uh for salaries and wages um the recreation department uh salaries and wages 112%.
Um the uh director's department for HHS has increased by 68%. um we just get some uh clarification as to what's what's driving these these
changes and some of these numbers. Um I don't know if you're looking at the same numbers I'm at at this point, but um for example, Department of Infrastructure, I'm just I'm not picking on anybody here. Um just from 287,000
to 530,393, that's a 243,393 increase. That's an 85% increase in the engineering salaries and wages. Council, what we do, like I said across the board, we did it the 25% from June
30th December to September 30th. So that's that's our calculation based on whatever budget has been posed. So, we're using the proposed amount based on the 75%. So, that's how we got to those
numbers. Some of the drivers obviously are are overtime um that has been incurred to some of these departments um such as you can see as public safety um public works and some we just had a presentation that said we've curtailed
and and we're reigning in overtime. So, um I mean I would ask you to take a second look at these numbers in terms of it is a temporary appropriation and I know that when we pass the budget, adopt a budget. Um but in in essence, we're kind of giving license to the idea that
uh to continue spending um at the same rate or pace or some some implicitly giving permission to spend at a certain rate and pace um by approving these numbers. Um and and
what what I'd also ask is what's the spend at this point? Um and I can give you a specific list of items. I don't necessarily want to do everything at this point, but um of looking at salaries and wages. I assume operating
expenses and and maybe it's maybe I shouldn't assume anything but um that some of the operating expenses that there are seasonal operating expenses that get incurred that um need to happen but but salaries and wages should generally be the same except for maybe recreation where they hire a lot more
kind of seasonal workers. Um and I could be correct incorrect about that for public uh for DPW as well. Maybe there's a lot of seasonal workers there too. Um but for the rest of the city, um the salaries and wages should be fairly stable and should be looking across the
board at like a 33% increase um from the from the from column to the two column. That's right. If I'm wrong about my assumptions, feel free to correct me. Yeah, I would definitely look at these numbers, but whatever numbers you we are
seeing here going from until right, >> it does not exceed 75% until September 30th >> doesn't exceed the 75% you're saying >> correct. >> 75% of 2025 >> No, no, 75% of the 2026 requested
amount. >> Okay. And because the idea is it's done is done in 25% increments. >> Right. So what what I'm saying is that in in January when we first um approved the temporary budget was 25%. Yes.
>> Right. Then we came back at the end of March to request another 25%. Yes. >> So that 25% is going to last until June 30th. So in essence that's where the second ETA expires. Make sense? So this request that we're doing is for the 3
months up from July 1st to September 30th. So if the budget were to get adopted at the August 20th meeting, like I said before, the adopted budget will supersede this ETA.
>> The two column is assuming 75% of what >> of the 2026 requested amount >> 2026. >> That is correct. like so so some budget assumption that you have for 2026 as opposed to the 2025 actual spend,
>> right? But we we b we based it upon the 2026 draft that was sent to DCA. >> That was sent to where? >> DCA, Division of Community Affairs. >> Yeah. But not sent to the city council. You're operating from assumptions that
we're not aware of. So, um, and we didn't authorize a 2026 spend at this point. So, um, that's why these numbers are are and look, I I just did a I tried to crunch these numbers over the
weekend because we got this Friday night at 8 8:30 p.m. or thereabouts. And, um, I'm kind of just starting to analyze this. I'm looking at the numbers on on salaries and wages. It's it's pretty much across the board like a um a
40% to 50% or more increase from from the end of second quarter what we've approved for second quarter um to to the current quarter now. So um so I guess >> we're almost tacitly approving the 2026 budget without us having had the
opportunity to look at it. Right. Right. >> And I guess the bigger question as it relates to like like how do how did you how did you get to those figures? Are they I would be more inclined to look at 25
figures being that it's the it's the year before. How how do how did you get to that proposed 2026 number? So the underlying numbers in the ETAs all tie back to our best estimate for
2026 expected appropriations. You're correct. We have not yet submitted a budget a budget for adoption this year. It's not to say we haven't been working on developing expected expenses for 26. We have. That's what
has been approved in the previous ETAs. This one extends that by another quarter. There are refinements that you'll see when we do introduce a budget in July. Like you mentioned, overtime, you will see a significant reduction in
the fullear budget for overtime that hasn't necessarily been incorporated in the ETA. Stanny said the budget when it's adopted in August hopefully will supersede this but this the numbers that have been the budgets that have been
approved in the ETAs so far to date reflect our expected spending in 2026 not 2025. And then right the request was also made for us to to share with you actual spend
versus the budget mentioned earlier that report has never existed in Jersey City. There was never tracking of expenses to budget. We started doing that. We started developing that budget. We will share that with you and I could tell you that we are running slightly below the
spending that you've approved to date to and you've approved spending to June 30. >> Okay. be be that as it may, um is there any way like how do how do DCA get a financial statement of projections for
the council who author who have the ultimate authority to authorize um so I'm I'm just concerned a little bit about the process. >> So what they have is was submitted as part of the transitional aid application
which the council has. So the when we refer to the numbers that DCA is looking at or has seen, they are the numbers that are in the transitional aid application. >> Oh, so that's that's what triggers it
going to the DCA because of that situation. >> Correct. And then we were we were required at that time to submit in the application estimate for 2026. That's where that's what showed the $255 million gap, the request for 150 million
aid. All of that is in the transitional aid application and the ETAs are generally consistent with that the information that was submitted. >> I I see what you're saying.
>> I I want to correct myself because I'm I again I'm doing this on the fly a little bit here. Um, >> so so should see again if if salaries are staying stable in terms of hires like a
50% increase because so for example department of administration communications the budget through June 30th was approved at 343,000 I don't know what the actual spend is um
and then the change was $274,54 increase to 16 617,154. Um if it was on the same pace and expenditure or budget um of the first two quarters, it
would it should be $171,500 increase into the third quarter, but we have a 274,154 increase. Um so and I should just correct myself because it's it's really probably amounts to about uh less than
10 10 departments with salaries and wages. Um so I don't want to misrepresent that. So most of the rest of them are in line kind of where that that should be in that regard. So want to be clear about that. Um, so I'm just going to send this to you and ask you to like clarify what the what these
salaries and wages in particular um why we're seeing these sort of increases across the board there and if there's reasonable explanations. I'm willing to listen um around that. Um but I'm also prepared and for the administration and and
see seek guidance from corporate counsel um to amend the the the resolution if necessary to change some of these numbers. And I'll share that with the city council members as well. I I'll say this by by just even changing it down to if we adopt the budget in August, it's only two months. So, you should still
have sufficient funds budgeted. Um even if I amended these numbers. Um but I don't want to do it willy-nilly again kind of just looking at this after receiving this Friday night. So, um I will share this with you and go from there. Okay. Thank you, council. Thank you.
>> Bill, are you going to be sticking around to the conclusion of this meeting? if you would like me to. >> Yeah, I think we're going to need you, Bill. We have some more questions. Stressing. You're going to have more gray hair um by the end of this meeting.
>> What if any hair left? >> I was going to make a similar comment. >> Matt Ward, planning. Good evening, Council President. Council, I'm here on one item for your consideration.
Uh, agenda item 3.1, ordinance 26-049, an ordinance adopting amendments to the Jackson Hill redevelopment plan regarding the expansion of transit proximity bonus. Uh, this is a Jack the Jackson Hill redevelopment plan which
stretches along Monaceel and MLK Drive. Um and it's looking at a specific uh a specific clause or standard in that plan that is called the transit proximity bonus. There is on I think the
uh one of the first attachments of the uh the ordinance there's both the text that shows uh yellow highlight increasing the the bonus boundary from 1,000 ft to 1,750 ft. And then on the
next page there are uh two circles that um uh expand out from the the station which is identified on the map uh near near or adjacent to the hub and the the second
ring is this new uh expanded uh buffer from that transit station. So properties along the drive um within that that circle are allowed
additional heights or or taller buildings um pursuant to the redevelopment plan and amendments. uh herein uh any projects that are now within this buffer that weren't weren't once before that have 15 or more units
will also have to provide um affordable housing on site. Um this project or this these amendments uh were presented by the petitioner to the the SID. Um I believe that they've reached out uh to
the councilman in the area um and received a favorable favorable recommendation at planning board. >> Questions? >> Yes. So um they did reach out um we did have extensive uh communication with the
community as well as the SID um about this applicant here. Any other questions? Is this >> in response to a particular applicant or I thought SID noticed
>> there was a petitioner for this these amendments. It's a Terry Developments LLC. >> Um not sure. >> So basically he want >> there is a representative here regarding that from that petitioner. >> Okay. >> If you wish to ask many questions. So,
>> can we have them come up? >> Where where is Good evening. Where's the development located? >> Good evening. Um, just for the purpose of the record, Rebecca Marielo from Connell Foley. Um, the petitioner, her
her family has owned a property located at 539 MLK Drive. Um, right now there's an existing commercial building there. It's like a dilapitated commercial building and she's inherited this building. Um, and the cost to demo it
and construct five or six story building there. Um, well, right now the zoning only permits four at this specific location. Um, it's not probitative to activate this property um, with the existing zoning, which is why um, we met
with councilman's office, we met with the community group, and ultimately we're before the planning board to request an expansion of this bonus um, to build housing here and activate this property. Currently the the lot size of the property is under 300 3,999
square feet. So because it's an undersized lot, it's currently not eligible to build five or six stories. But it is it's close enough within the transit bonus that if we were to expand the transit bonus from 1,000 ft to 1,750,
we would be able to tap into that transit area bonus. So, so Matt, with the additional height on this building, uh because there's brownstones over there, they're like lower, you know, uh are we looking at a setback?
Oh, this only applies to properties that are in the neighborhood mixeduse uh zone of the redevelopment plan. Um there's another district called the historic neighborhood mixeduse district. It wouldn't apply to those properties. Um,
so there wasn't a a there wasn't a step back. Um, there isn't a a step back. There is a setback for buildings of a certain size. Um, at they have to create a a larger sidewalk, but that's only at like the
eighth story uh tall building. >> So, we can I can get more information. I don't have all of the text of the plan in front of me, but if more specific question, I can I can try to relay that >> like, you know, it could get >> I mean, >> you don't want it to look crazy.
>> No, the Hey, Matt, if I'm correct me if I'm wrong, the adjacent property to the right, this property will essentially be congruent to that property right there. >> Forget the name of >> this amendment doesn't just impact one property.
>> Yes. But the petition representing one property owner uh or is one property owner and right next door there is a sixstory building. >> Oh the building. >> Yeah. >> The old mogul. >> Um if I can just ask and Matt um the so
the applies right? It it applies to these properties that are now in this expanded um proximity and if they have 15 or more units >> or more units. >> So if there are four stories permitted
>> as of right right currently and then they go up to six stories. Is it 15% of the two stories or is it 15% of the six stories? >> The entire development. >> Yeah. and and and uh the petitioner I know the
>> I I know the petitioner and I was having a conversation with her uh several months back and she's actually looking forward to building affordable housing. So >> great. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Good evening. Thanks,
Jeru. Deputy Director Infrastructure. Good evening, council president, council members. Drew Banghart, deputy director of the department of infrastructure. Here on behalf of the traffic engineering division, I have one item
tonight. It is agenda number 3.8, 8 ordinance 26-056. Um, I want to say thank you to council members involved in the review committee, my colleagues for getting the reserve parking committee set up, and uh
some staff that worked hard today to get a couple additions made before the meeting. Um, this is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332, article 9, the parking for the disabled. So these are spaces that went through the review process and have been approved
for adoption. >> Questions? >> Just what's the timetable to not it's more about the general process for uh from someone from application to final review and approvals.
How long is that whole process? >> So it's we do have a backlog that we're working through. So, right now it's a little cumbersome. Um, I' I'd like to think that once we get into a standard pace of events, it would be like a 2 to
3 month process before >> review approval and then we work with DPW to get the signs installed. >> Yeah. I I heard a resident uh complain to me that they were told, I'm not saying who they talked to. I don't know who they spoke to, but it's a 10-month
process. Um, that seems inordinately long to me. If that's the case, >> it's moving right along now. The committee under Chair Brooks has been going along and just just for your benefit, the committee hadn't met since before the November election. That's why
there was a backlog. >> Yeah. And they, you know, to your credit, Councilman, you've been meeting like once a week and already have another meeting set up next. >> Okay. >> All right. Councilman Gilmore and Brooks and I serve on the committee.
>> Yes. Thank you. Yeah. And thank you uh Drew. Thank you to the infrastructure staff, members of the committee and our staff who have been, you know, working on this. Um I have one quick question. Um one of the later additions um
unfortunately passed away. Um Miss Dorothy Johnson um but her husband is still uh with us, thank God. Um, do we need to amend this? >> I don't know if uh corporation council
can answer that. The the space was a shared space with the husband and wife. So, both names are in the ordinance. >> Yes, both both names were on the what's the name? So, a >> after the committee met the uh Miss Johnson passed away. Go ahead. Why don't we talk about this more offline, but it
probably depend on the application, what information was the application and how that determination was made. Um, but if it's made for both people, there probably a possibility there. But let's take it offline. We can flush that out. >> Appreciate that. And just want to recognize, you know, Miss Johnson, her actually her going home services
tomorrow. She was a long-term uh JCBOE employee at PS39. And uh may she rest in peace. >> Thank you all. you know, we'll work on that offline and condolences to the family.
>> Andy, um V, if you if is is there an update on um I guess the uh reconfiguration uh for for the for the the senior home on McGomery
Street. Um, I know we briefly spoke about this a few months ago. I was just wondering if there was a update because the seniors have been reaching out to me. >> Absolutely. May I ask you just give me one minute to pull that update up? Okay, we can continue and then I'll address
that. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions for Drew? >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Director Kaplan, you're next. >> So, Councilman uh Griffin,
your uh your update um from Lindsay is that we did get a design. Um we're looking at ways to narrow the bike lane and um I believe rumble strips uh in order to kind of slow the bikes coming down the hill in front of the senior centers. Say that one more again, Andy. >> I'm sorry.
>> Say that again. I didn't hear. >> Yeah, of course. Uh, so we did get a design from our traffic engineering consultant. So, uh, that would narrow the bike lane approaching that bus stop and add rumble strips as a way to slow down the bikes. >> Oh, it's comparable to what New York City has been doing when they have
conflicts with bikes and bus stops or seniors in other areas. >> Thank you. So, um, just to be clear, the design is wrapping up, but we're then going to have to work with our contractor to get it installed. >> That is moving forward. >> Thank you. >> Of course. >> All right, director, you're on.
>> And will that be done through a grant? >> Uh, no. That is done through our on call statewide uh contract. So, we have an on call pavement market. >> Oh, we have an on call contract. Okay. >> Correct. Correct. Um, so well I'll just introduce
Director Diamond. I think you we we have a number of things before you tonight. So if you want to start with sustainability, Amanda. >> Hi, good evening council members, council president, director Diamond, sustainability. Uh, I have four
resolutions and one ordinance for you today. Uh starting with resolution 26-46, agenda number 1044, a resolution authorizing the city to apply and accept incentive funding from the New Jersey
Board of Public Utilities uh through their New Jersey clean energy program under the clean fleet EV incentive program. So, this would be a grant for purchasing equipment for updating our EV
charging uh fleet infrastructure. And it also has an oper option to apply for EV vehicles to um uh see if we need to replace or purchase um uh new EV vehicles for the city. I will say that
this does have um some element of a match. It pays up to at least for the EV vehicles part or the uh charging stations up to 90% of the charging station cost and um I am aware that it is uh critical infrastructure and
something I take very seriously under this division. Uh there are a number of charging stations both for the public uh for public use and then also for the fleet uh our city fleet services that um
are not meeting our standards and need to be replaced immediately. Uh the new contract that hopefully will be executed very shortly with Jolt is going to hopefully be um ex uh uh exercised by uh
uh very shortly and my intention is to immediately replace some of the outdated charging stations that the city has um for charge point. And then moving on um that contract does not have any fleet capabilities for us. The BIS grant would
offer us the option to update the necessary fleet charging infrastructure for the city. >> Questions? >> Um uh thank you for that. So um can you describe a light
um EV or light battery EV? Light battery EV would be um uh personal use, sedans, four-doors. Um and then heavy EV is uh trucks, garbage trucks, um uh that sort of nature. So they they fall into those
kind of two categories. >> Okay. Thank you. >> How many vehicles are we if I'm misunderstanding? Yes, >> we're we're applying for a grant that um will pay that we will buy a vehicle
electric EV. >> So, we have the option to purchase um I think up to five vehicles and we can also purchase up to 20 EV charging stations. Um I'm evaluating those options right now. I don't have the exact number that we would want, but
we're going to be working with um the automotive division to come up with a number. It wouldn't be purchasing new vehicles for the sake of purchasing new vehicles. I believe that um uh this conversation that I'm going to have this week with them is going to be focused more on is there any critical infrastructure or any critical vehicles
that need to be replaced. Um so that is going to be uh able to service our uh fleet needs for uh our city employees. >> When is the grant application deadline? >> Uh the end of this month, the 30th or
excuse me, maybe July 1st. Sorry, one of the two. And so the intention is to apply in possibly two to two to five vehicles in how many EV stations? >> Uh right now I believe that we have
18 municipal ports. Um which then turns into basically like nine uh charging stations um if they have two ports per charging station. Um, my goal would be to at least apply for enough to to replace our current infrastructure being
that I know that we have um fleet charging stations on uh in the Marin lot right behind here that need to be updated and um repaired as well as charging stations that are near the annex. Um and then uh any out of and
review any out of service charging stations um that would be at the DPW facility as well. So, those are the three locations for our fleet charging um that offer fleet charging at this moment. >> I I thought didn't didn't we approve a and correct me if I'm wrong because uh
some some agreement or contract with somebody who's building EV stations for us? >> Yes. And that would be for public um it was almost exclusively public. And so then this would give us our uh fleet charging stations. I also am going to be exercising um uh if we apply this is
just the grant to apply for it to see if we can get the funding for it. I'm going to be putting in uh elements into our next RFP which will hopefully be out shortly. I'm going through the approvals process for our um uh to expand the public charging infrastructure uh as was
a part of you know some discussions that I had all the way back in March. Um my hope is that uh there will be um a part of the next RFP elements for for elite service charging infrastructure, but I
won't have that information until we see what comes back for the the RFP. At that time, we can maybe expand our uh charging infrastructure, but in the meantime, this is going to be a way that we can hopefully um uh continue to service at least the
charging need for our fleet vehicles. >> Can you provide us with um uh an inven, and somebody maybe asked this already, inventory of our EV vehicles and EV charging stations? Um >> city, >> I have charging station information. Um,
again, I think the best way to put it is that we have nine chargers for fleet vehicles um spread out in three different locations, but if you uh want more information when it comes to our electric fleet, that would be um from automotive, but I could uh request that information.
>> You request that as well as what the what the cost is for these vehicles as well as the charging stations themselves that we would purchase for ourselves. >> It would be up to uh 90% of the costs. So >> what is the cost? >> Right.
>> So um a charging station generally you can say is anywhere between or for level two which is um uh charges around like a regular car would take around 6 hours to charge. Um that can range from I would
say like 4 to $6,000. Um and then EVs are generally I don't want to speak out of turn but they could be around like 30,000. So I can >> which >> 30,000 >> 30,000 per for per vehicle. Yeah, >> generally speaking, but I don't know the
procurement process for our automotive. So I can definitely find out more information there. >> And we would buy our own charging stations. Is that correct? >> Yes. This would be us um purchasing the charging stations. and we would do the installation
ourselves or we would hire somebody to >> the uh we would be paying for the the the labor and the equipment. So they would install um the chargers and again this is just so that we are able to maintain our electric fleet. Um it may
uh uh after talking with automotive uh need be determined that we won't uh per put in an application for purchasing electric vehicles but that's something that I can um uh move forward with discussing with automotive. >> You can provide me those numbers that'd
be great. The dollar amounts to >> and councilman we'll get you the number of the uh current electric vehicles we have. I believe they're Chevy Bolts is what we currently use. Um, I think they were 2023s when they were purchased. So, I'll get you the information for that, too.
>> Teslas, I think the uh council has enough controversy on their hands. >> All right, next one. >> Um, very similar. Uh, so this is resolution 26-47,
agenda number 1045. This is the resolution authorizing the city to apply and accept funds from the NJ Transportation Planning Authority subregional electric vehicle charging infrastructure program uh for the replacement of outdated fleet charging
infrastructure for Jersey City. So very similar. >> Okay. The purpose of applying for both of these opportunities is so that if one works out and the other doesn't work out, we still have ability to replace our electric vehicle charge infrastructure knowing that if we don't
have any charging for fleet vehicles for the city, um we will uh inevitably face a a crisis where we don't have vehicles for our city employees to use. So, my intent is not to apply for and accept
both of these grants. I think that we're going to apply and see which one comes back first or um what is the best opportunity, but this is something that we are also exploring so that we're not leaving anything on the table. >> Um
so, um who will be installing uh these these um charging stations? It would be the the the manufacturer vendor. Um we wouldn't be doing the installation ourselves. >> Okay.
And so they're getting paid by the grant obviously. >> Yes. And so um while the other uh grant offered up to 90% the cost of um the the infrastructure, uh this is up to 80% of
the cost of infrastructure. Okay. But in the event that we don't get the first grant and um we still need to replace outdated infrastructure, this is an opportunity for us. >> Okay, next one. Uh resolution 26-408,
agenda number 1046, uh resolution authorizing the city to apply and accept grant funds from New Jersey Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program for the NJUCF Green Communities Grant. Uh this would be an application uh for the amount up
to $15,000 to conduct a partial tree inventory of our municipal trees in natural areas. Back in 2023, we completed uh the uh we conducted and completed the street tree inventory uh for the city. But this would be a way that we um would be able to expand that
inventory and we would inventory not only the street trees but also all of the parks and natural areas across Jersey City. >> Questions? Okay, next one. uh resolution. >> Sorry, I'm sorry. Sure. Um could you
just explain what um the definition of natural areas is in terms of the inventory of trees? >> Uh it could be forested areas or it could be parks. So the purpose is that it's not um kind of like an ground uh
area. We have natural areas like Reservoir Park um and other uh larger parks across Jersey City that would benefit from this if uh the we were able to apply for and accept the funds and we
move forward with um the uh complete uh inventorying of all of the the the parks in Jersey City. >> Now, these are just city parks, correct? We're not going into county park, state park. >> It is just city parks. Okay,
>> next one. >> And to clarify, um, wait, we got one more. >> Sorry. Um, to clarify for for both this and the electric vehicles, um, the Can you um reiterate the the plan for the
match? Um, in the event that we do uh receive these grants, um, it would be added into our city budget, which would be uh uh
the the operating budget. So, okay. Uh, so are we talking about the money coming from a the grant match fund or is this coming from somewhere else?
There we go. So ultimately the money is allocated through department level allocations meaning like you know for this instance if department of infrastructure wants to have money for these type of grants they would put that in their budget but the money would be housed in that grant matching fund meaning that we account for it through
your department because different departments have different requests and levels of request but all that money is contained in one account that can be accessed to pay for all the matches >> and so this is so it's budgeted for already technically. Yes, >> the matching grants. Okay,
>> for this one particular, I can't speak for every single one, but this one particular is budgeted forward. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, next one. >> All right, thank you. Uh, resolution 26-366,
agenda number 10.4, a resolution recognizing and designating June 22nd through June 26 as Pollinator Week in uh for 2026 in Jersey City. questions. Okay, next one.
Uh, and then I have uh my one ordinance is 26-050. Um, agenda number 3.2. It is its first reading. Uh, an ordinance amending chapter 31, the environmental commission chapter. uh and establishing article 2
environmental justice task force to enable the municipality to take further actions towards environmental justice. >> Questions? >> Yes, director. Hi. Um so would um who's sponsoring this besides
the department? >> Any council members? >> 3.2. >> 3.2. No. Okay. Um, would you be open to guaranteeing representation from
residents of Jersey City's overburdened communities? >> Yes. A part of this ordinance um and a part of uh the creation of an environmental justice task force would be recognizing Jersey City as a at large as an overbrit community, but also there
are um uh specific census blocks that are also have that like further designation. So yes, um I think that there is still uh there's it's a little bit malleable into how many residents we
will be um uh including on the task force. Uh so I can't speak to very uh to two specifics, but I think there's an element of um wanting um uh council representation or a designate um uh
members of the public from uh different specific neighborhoods or maybe from uh like specific wards or all the wards. So I think that there's still uh an opportunity there. I would just echo that because as we saw with the Vancouin waste transfer issue,
that term is a term of art that the D uses and that the applicant is trying to use to get the transportation in a neighborhood doesn't belong. So, I would just echo Brooks's comments. >> Thank you, Councilman. Yeah, I mean, these are all great um organizations
uh especially the ones that are part of Jersey City. They're they're the greatest. But um Councilman um but yeah just in terms of you know letter letter N representative oh okay it says representatives apostrophe s from the general public so
that part is um there's potential for more than one >> okay thank you >> um I I have um I need to go back what was the last item that you Uh uh the one before the ordinance.
Yeah. Um yeah 10.4 uh >> 10.4 >> pollinator week. >> 10.4 itself. >> Yes. Agenda number 10.4 resolution 26-366. >> Okay. No, I don't have any questions on
that. Um so going back to the ordinance then um I I just have to ask uh any any budget impacts with the creation of a environmental justice task force. What I mean by that is ta staff who who's going to staff this task force. How will that
be handled? still um underway of understanding who exactly would be a part of the task force. But no, there would be no additional um uh obviously they would have uh uh staff
members join from uh to represent different important uh departments and divisions of the city. But this is not going to be um uh going to uh deliver any additional uh cost burden to the city.
>> And and I I would just like to say um you know in the community I grew up in and and Councilman Gilmore, we do have an organization there who actually sued and and and got hundreds of millions of dollars of cleanup done on Garfield Avenue. I'm talking about Greco. and and
I think it's important to reach out um to them as an organization to have someone represent as well. >> Which organization was that? >> Greer. >> Uh that would be uh >> Garfield Randolph. >> Garfield Randolph.
>> What is it again? >> Caught a red Orient. >> If you would be so kind as to put me into contact with them, I think that that's Yeah. Thank you, Junior. >> You're welcome. >> Any other just looking at this there was
a lot on the agenda. So, um the Jersey City together is been the most instrumental organization in addressing environmental justice in Jersey City with Bayfront and Canal Crossing and they're not doesn't look like they're on the list. Uh I
would encourage you to reach out to them and see if they want to be a part of this. um lot to offer. >> Yeah. Um that is a great suggestion. Thank you so much. Again, if you I I
will do my best to get into contact with them. >> Any other questions on 3.2? Okay. You have more or that's the end of your list? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Director Diamond. Um, I'm
just gonna plug in. It's been a late night for all of us, including my laptop. Um, Director Scoffield, you want to go through the transportation item? >> Good evening, Council President, members
of council. Lindseay Scoffield, director of transportation planning. Uh, I'll start with the ordinance. We are proposing a first reading ordinance uh 26-55 which is agenda item number 3.7. Uh this would be an ordinance supple
supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 2 traffic regulations amending uh section 332-9 stop intersections to designate various intersections into multi-way stop intersections. Uh so our on call traffic
engineering consultant uh completed the traffic studies for um actually it was a list of 18 locations and of those 18, eight were uh did meet the warrants for allway stop control. And so uh we seek
to uh have these adopted into the municipal code and then uh and then installed later this uh construction season. questions. Okay, next one. Great. Uh the next one I
will do uh I will pair these um they are related. Uh so first is agenda number 10.38 resolution 26-400. So, this is a resolution of the municipal council authorizing the
acceptance and execution of a grant agreement amendment between the city of Jersey City and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for additional funding to support ferry transportation services at the Port Liberte Ferry Terminal. Uh this would be
an additional additional $500,000 of grant funding uh to support the Port Liberte Ferry service for a total award of $4.5 million. Um previously uh the
Department of Community Affairs had uh awarded us the $4 million to support the ferry. Uh it is through a COVID relief funding source. The funding source does have to be spent by the end of 2026 and
it uh has to be spent on programs that have already been authorized to uh receive the funding. And uh where this funding came from is that some programs throughout the state that had received this grant funding actually didn't spend
their allocation. And so now um they're looking for needs and programs that that uh that could spend that money by the end of the year. Um without this grant funding, the ferry service is scheduled to be discontinued on July 2nd of this
year. Um so it was a lastm minute uh ability of the DCA to actually uh provide this additional grant funding. Um the ferry service has grown uh since its um support over the past couple of
years. Uh so ridership is um actually been increasing um each season. There's been a 33% increase in ridership. Uh but the service is not self-sufficient. So that's why this funding would be used.
>> Okay. So couple of questions. One, um $4.5 million. How long will that sustain them? >> So the 4.5 million uh it was first authorized in 2023. Um so the ferry
service um has been operating uh for the past 3 years and so this will just extend it another the 500,000 will extend it another uh 6 months essentially. Um the the $4 million was
also um allocated to access improvements to the terminal. So that actually funded the southside expansion of the city bike stations as well as uh some via trips to and from the ferry terminal uh to try to
expand the market of people using the ferry. >> Okay. And and I um well my last question because you already answered I was going to ask about like repairs and stuff like that. >> Um what do you know what their annual
expenses are? >> So the ferry we went into an RFP and it's essentially around 80,000 per month that they're uh that we're paying for the ferry. Um, and there's also a uh a
fair that the customer pays. Um, I believe it's something like $8 per trip. I can't remember the exact off the top of my head. Um, so combination of the fairs and the um the around 80,000 give or take how many days of the month there
are for commuting days. So the 80,000 that that a month that is part of the grant, >> correct? Yes. This would 100% cover the cost of the ferry service.
>> What's going to happen when the funding expires? What's the plan? So, uh, we're hoping that, you know, continuing to, uh, give the ferry a chance to rebuild its ridership to the preandemic levels will allow it to be self- sustaining
again. Uh, prior to receiving this grant funding, the ferry was operating on its own um, just private privately. Um, at the current level, New York Waterway did share that they would not be able to it's not self- sustaining. So essentially they would discontinue
service. Um there's a possibility that um there could be a smaller operator. There could be um another private smaller operator that's able to uh potentially serve this market, but otherwise um it would uh at least at its
current level of wrership would cease to exist as a transportation service. has has did have have we reached out to the port authority to see if they were interested. >> Uh I don't believe we reached out to the port authority. Um I'm not sure if I
don't believe they have funding for that but >> yeah I I can note my understanding and is that the port authority doesn't provide operational subsidy but they do provide you know capital subsidy and you know for example they own Brookfield
Place in Manhattan where the fairies will will utilize. So um we haven't reached out um but you know this will give us an opportunity to get through the end of the calendar year using the co funds which will give us an opportunity um to to find other options.
It's also possible you know we are hoping although it's not confirmed that if the bayon ferry service comes online it may be able to be linked to this to create a commercially viable route. Um that's there's a lot of unknowns like that. So um come December when you know
the one thing that is clear is that the city is not going to be able to provide additional funds from the city for this service >> right >> and that the co dollars will not be available to provide the subsidy either >> so um it's possible another funding source can be found but you know I think as of now our expectation is that New
York waterway would either find a new route a new operator um and we can talk to the port authority as well >> director um sorry >> oh I was just going to say maybe even city bike. They might want to venture in a city boat.
>> Director, um, interestingly, there are more buildings there in Port Liberte and, um, people have to work from office. Is there any specific reason why the the ridership has not increased just 33%.
It's I can speak at least to some of the work from home trends that are still persisting. Um that's something that we looked at in the master plan update and there is a sizable percentage of the population that is still uh working from
home if not every day of the week at least partially and so we believe that that's still impacting um particularly the fairies. The fairies are also a more expensive uh option in some cases. Um, so depending on where the commutes are,
um, if people have other options, the I believe there's also a shuttle that's operated that brings folks to the path train. Um, so I I think a mixture of of um factors. Can >> ask you, is it a possibility that
we can connect with the developers there because they are developing the area pretty pretty fast. So, do you feel that there is an opportunity to connect with them and to ask them if they'll be interested in
investing something there? >> Yeah, I I think that is definitely an option. I believe in the past the homeowners association wasn't willing to come to the table to fund the ferry service. So um you know there there are
certainly more opportunities with the additional development but at this time um I think it would be ultimately be be more of like a private private kind of um arrangement. I guess it would be it would no longer be a city service. It
would be uh a privately served operator um similar to before the pandemic. >> Yeah, it's $16 a ride. It's $16 both sides. So, of course, people don't want to pay that. Thank you so much. >> So,
the ferry, does it just go to New York or does it make stops in Jersey City? >> Right now, it's just going between Port Liberte and um Pier 11. >> Pier 11. The reason why I'm asking that is because um Baltimore, Maryland,
um their ferry service stops at like key locations like like for instance if if we can like if they're open to like going to like Exchange Place. Um who else has uh
Liberty State Park? like >> go down the our our coast. >> Yep. >> Um where people can get around and and you know it's scenic. It's it would be cheaper than Uber. >> Yeah. Um so the New York Waterway has been evaluating different options and
trying to understand if there's if that's a market that could help them continue to serve this community. Um they've been comm you know serving this community for I think 20 or 30 years. So they it's hard for them to say that, you know, to turn away this um this route as
well. They were looking at Liberty Harbor, I think, as a stop. They were considering if people would make a transfer at Paul Hook, things like that. And just based on their experience, um the extra time it takes to then complete
a trip or uh there's a people are very sensitive to transfers and kind of working out the schedule. Um, so what they found is that it would uh not not help reduce their costs or or get it to a point where they could sustain the
service even with those additional stops. Um but this will again give them you know more opportunity if if any of these locations grows if like uh director Kaplan was saying if the Bayon service um you know becomes an option
there might be some some additional avenues but right now those haven't um haven't been things that they've looked at as being viable at this moment. Just to clarify, there are shuttle services from Port Liberty to to Exchange Place
or Polus or Grove Point. So, there are Okay. >> Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Um, you mean shuttle buses? >> Shuttle buses, right? >> There are shuttle buses from Port Liberte. I don't know all the stops. Yeah, just the Grove Street path. I think
>> those are operated by either the Oliver building or by the condominium association. >> Yes. Yes, that's what I'm saying. So instead of >> paying $8, they are using shuttle services. >> That's also very possible. I I mean it's an unfortunate reality of our
transportation network, but fairies are really the only mode that doesn't receive public subsidy directly at kind of a regional level unlike the trains, the path, the even vehicles, cars. We we kind of the government pays for for roads. So, um, fairies have a tough
market and, you know, they don't really have a clear person to write the check for their subsidy. >> Yeah. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you. Direct. >> Anybody else? >> Sorry, just one quick question. The money from the Rescue Plan Act, was this money that was allocated to Jersey City
or the state had it and weren't applying directly to the state? >> Uh, we're applying directly to the state. >> Thank you. Just to clarify, Councilman, the state had extra money that was unallocated statewide. So, they're giving an
additional $500,000 that was not previously awarded to Jersey City to Jersey City to expand an existing grant. So, unfortunately, it's limited to existing grants. Um, but it's an additional income that we wouldn't have otherwise had, and it's not an application. It's it's guaranteed if we accept.
>> Thank you. >> Next one. >> All right. Uh, and so this is related. It's agenda item 10.60, resolution 26-422. So this would be a resolution authorizing an amendment to an agreement with Port Imperial Ferry Corporation
doing business as New York Waterway regarding the operation of the Port Liberte Ferry Services. So uh we have a contract uh with New York Waterway. Um it has uh received one amendment in the past and this would amend it to uh to go
through the end of the year December 31st 2026 and it would be increased by a not to exceed amount of $500,000. >> Questions? >> Okay, next one.
Uh next are uh a a number of grants uh that we are seeking to apply for and accept the funding if we are awarded them. The first is 10.37 resolution 26-399. Uh this would be a resolution
authorizing the city of Jersey City to apply for and accept funding from the New Jersey Department of Transportation FY27 municipal aid grant program for Monttoello Avenue. Uh we have previously uh been awarded grant funding for
Monttoello Avenue. This would be another phase of funding because we weren't awarded the full amount that we applied for previously. So this would allow us to uh construct the entire uh corridor. It would include paving. It would
include concrete um hardening of the curb extensions and the pedestrian refuge islands uh that are um right now in a quick build fashion on the on the corridor as well as some streetscape improvements like um like trees and
green infrastructure uh and things like that. >> Give me that agenda number again. That would be agenda 10.37. >> Thank you. Now, um I have a couple of questions with that with Mandel. So,
with like the um the painting of the streets, what I noticed um if it was hardened, people would be crashing into the island. A bus wouldn't be able to come around because it it's I mean, hopefully when when things are done, like people
will understand they can't park there. But right now the way people are parking um it's I mean it's it would be unavoidable. >> Sure. So one thing that we would do with
this grant is um well separately we would outside of what we would get from the grant we will have to do a design um that would be a real engineering design for this sort of thing where we can um do things like a truck turning or a bus
turning template. And what that is, it will show you um what a bus or a truck needs in order to turn um to make the turn with the curb, the concrete curb extensions. So um part of it will be doing that level of design that would um
provide the space that's needed. And if there are uh turns that might be difficult for say a firetruck or a bus to make um you there's a design to make them mountable. So, uh, the curb would be designed so that the truck tires or
the bus tires could actually mount, um, a portion of the curb, um, if needed. Um, for example, like if there's someone blocking the travel lane and and they needed to make that turn. Um, the other thing is with quick build, um, because it can be run over, it does give us,
like you're pointing out, we can see where those turns have been difficult and, uh, modify the design for where the concrete would go to be able to kind of accommodate that. >> Okay. >> Any other questions?
>> Yeah. Um, so this is the entire length of Monteello. >> This would be for the entire length from uh, Commun orchard. And um can can you provide a an
itemization of what the improvements are and and just to get on and overdue um Andy to reschedule our meeting to talk about all these improvements so I have better sense of like >> sure we can uh we can certainly send um
you know some bullet lists of of what we're including in those applications. Um but generally speaking it is uh things like paving and or repaving. Um and then the concrete curb extensions, the street trees, things like that. >> I'm assuming that the two ward council
minutes spans W F and W B. They've been included. Can you speak to the community engagement on this SID and residents in the area? >> Sure. So, Monaceel Avenue actually originated um during the traffic calming
toolkit that the city was uh undertaking uh in 2024. There was a demonstration project. Uh so that involved the SID and community members, council members, and that was actually, you know, some of the crossing guards came out uh there were
kids and business owners and actually helped to paint the temporary uh designs on the street for the curb extensions. And then because it was so uh successful um there were some before after um measurements taken for traffic speeds
before and after during that demonstration project and um the community really wanted us to uh use our on call striping to implement what's there today. Um, so then that's been in place and now what we're doing is the next iteration is to harden that
infrastructure, make it more permanent. And one thing that the SID and the community has really been asking for is, you know, more of that, the streetscaping, the trees and benches and bus shelters, things like that. Um, that will go along with this project. And
then uh during the design phase, we also plan to have additional community outreach and community meetings uh if we are to be awarded the well actually I will say even if we aren't awarded this, we'll have those community meetings for the grant that we've already been uh
awarded. But we're hoping that together if we get both of these grants, it could be a larger, more impactful project. >> Great. And I know you said you'll send a bulleted list. Will that include um dollar amounts with how you're being proposed in the budget or or
>> uh we may be able to share that level of detail. I will say for these the construction estimates break things down into significant detail like um I'm trying to think some our engineering department um puts together the estimates but it will be uh like you
know some like mobilization costs or uh very very detailed um line items but I think we can provide that if we need to. Yeah. And Councilman, it's a little bit challenging because what we're trying to do is get complete the capital stack for
construction in order to advance make sure that we're advancing the design towards something that we can afford to build. Um, and the design itself will define, you know, exactly how much concrete we need depends on how big we make those concrete islands and how many we put in. Um, and that design process
will be informed by community engagement. So there's a number of variables that get like exact numbers. So when we do these estimates, we kind of do very high level orders of magnitude costs based on what we're in general trying to create and the length of roadway and number of intersections, things like that. So we can share with
you what we have, but just to level said it's it's pretty high level. >> Okay. >> Um sorry, any other questions? >> No, you have another one. All right, our next one is uh 10.56.
That's resolution 26-418. Uh this would be authorizing us to apply for and accept funding from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for uh safe routes to transit program
for Congress Street. Um this would be Congress Street uh from Ogden to Webster. Uh we would like to eventually get all the way to Central Avenue, but based on the amount that we can apply for each time, we expect that we would only be able to do that. So this first
phase would only be between Ogden and Webster. Uh this would be to make improvements to Congress Street, which is served by uh New Jersey route one uh New Jersey Transit Route 119. Um it's also used by the 87. Uh both are very
high um ridership bus routes. Um it also provides access to the 9inth Street light rail station, an elevator to Hopoken. Um some of the improvements that we're looking to fund with this grant would be concrete bus islands,
curb extensions, um updating the ADA compliant curb ramps, and some other safety improvements. And I'll just mention that we um didn't include the intersection of Patterson Plank Road, which is uh with an intersection with the county road, and the county does
have a grant for that intersection, and we would be applying for uh about $1 million for this award. Questions? >> Uh yes, I'm curious about the coordination with the county. Should we be awarded this? What kind of
partnership could we have in building out this to be like kind of contiguous improvement? >> Great question. Um, we do have I believe it's a now a monthly meeting with the county um with the engineering um division in the county where we go over
each projects that each entity is advancing through design and construction. So, we would have that opportunity to directly um coordinate on some of our projects. Um, and that's something that we've been doing uh even with the local safety program. So, a lot
of times they'll have a a project that runs north south next to one of our north south uh projects and we'll share data and share traffic impacts and projections and things like that. Um, so we would plan to coordinate closely with them >> and they've already been awarded this
grant. Is that correct? uh the county was awarded their grant, but we have um we're going to be applying for this grant and then um it is competitive, so we're not guaranteed to get it. Um but hopefully we're hoping that we would be. >> Is there a timeline for when we should
expect to if we pass this should expect to hear back about the stages of the application process? >> Sure. Um the expected so the applications are due on July 1st. uh we would expect to hear back in like
November, December of this year about whether we are awarded any of these grants and then each of them then has a 2-year deadline to award the construction contract um for that project
>> and this is also uh not requiring any match. Um >> it it does not require a match but the city would incur costs associated with the design and also the construction inspection of the grant. Um which we
usually design is in the 5 to 10% range of the cost and uh construction inspection I think in the 10 to 15% of the cost. Um, so we would use our professional services contracts um to cover those expenses that would go along
with um being able to use the capital dollars. >> Five to I'm sorry, can I jump in? 5 to 10% is that uh what does that come to and then 10 to 15? So in this case it would be uh about 250,000
in total con considering both the design and the construction inspection. Our current estimate is around 250,000. I >> think just one thing to clarify that the matching funds for a specific improvement project like this are eligible for capital. So these generally
would be part of future capital bonds or conversations we put the request in. um you know, we have this grant. Can we get the additional money for construction inspection out of capital because it is a capital improvement item it's supporting? >> But the the the 1 million can't
I mean just legally by the by the application can't go toward that design or that construction inspection. >> The this grant program would allow if we wanted to um we could spend I believe 5%
of the funds towards design and 15% towards construction inspection, but it just comes out of the amount that we can then actually construct. Um, so that was the the thought there was to maximize on the construction capital costs and then
cover the soft cost um through city resources. >> Okay. And how much would you expect we would need if we were to try and extend this all the way to Central Avenue? Um, we believe it would be another million dollars uh in capital funding to get to
Central Avenue. >> Okay. Uh, yes, certainly would want to work closely together and get community meetings off the ground and build support for the safe streets project, >> especially with the county um because we got a lot of complaints about Patterson
plank and right outside the light rail stop. >> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we've been certainly receiving uh a number of complaints over the years about Congress Street um and you know some opportunities potentially for safer crossings and I know Ogden has come up. So yeah, there's there's definitely a
need that we see for improvements on this corridor. >> Thank you. >> And I just add the the county's project has been awarded and is already moving through design. So it's it's going to be well ahead of of our project. So encourage you or anyone interested in their project um I can share offline the
they have a project website and are looking for community input. >> Yeah. Would you please uh share that information with my office director? Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> What's the grant application deadline? >> Uh it would be July 1st of this year.
>> You have more items. >> I do. Um the next one is 10.58 resolution 26-420. This would be to apply for and accept funding from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the Bikeways grant
program for Philip Street and Burma Road. Uh we were also already awarded uh about a million dollars through this program uh for this same corridor. Um again it was not enough money to uh to
do the full design that we're looking to do. Um this would provide uh on right now it's planned to be an on street shared use bicycle and pedestrian pathway. Um and that would be a connection between the protected bike
lanes on Cuban Point Avenue and it would connect to Jersey Avenue. This would be the interim route for the Morris Canal Greenway, which uh would probably not be um extended and completed for quite a
lot more time. Um so uh it would connect ultimately to Lynen Avenue where the Morris Canal Greenway uh is going to be brought to in um in an upcoming project. question because you you said a shared
bike and pedestrian pathway. So, we're not actually building out sidewalks. >> I don't believe this amount of funding will allow us to build out sidewalks. There are some sidewalks being built out along with the new development closer to
Jersey City Boulevard. Um the uh the shared use path would be um created at a width that's wide enough that you could have shared space and it's at least for for now the the volumes of people that
we anticipate using it um would be appropriate for the shared use path. and the match. >> Uh, this one is similar where there's no match required, but we would need um to spend our own city dollars for the
design and construction inspection. >> Million. >> Um, it would be 400,000 something. That's our estimate right now. Um, I should also mention part of the design has been uh completed by New
Jersey D. uh they had a consultant that was actually looking at access improvements to the park and created a longer term plan that would have the sidewalks. It would have new um actually it was proposing roundabouts at some of the intersections and reconfiguring of
the roundabout at Burma Road and uh Bay View. Um so they they have done some of the design work. Um so we may actually be able to take some of that and and have a lower design cost for this project. Can you send whatever uh designs you
have for this application circulate it to the council? >> Yes, I can circulate um for all of these uh grants. I can put that together and send that around. >> Thank you. And you have another >> one more. Um so the final one is 10.47
resolution 26-49. Uh so this is to apply for and accept funding from the New Jersey Department of Transportation Transit Village program for Newark Avenue. Uh this would be Newark Avenue between Oakland and
Palisade. Um projects need to be selected within our designated transit village which is Journal Square. Um so that is um what where we um were looking at for projects in this category. Um, this would involve also concrete bus
islands and curb extensions. Um, high visibility crosswalk improvements. We believe this corridor would be suitable for the RFBs, those flashing pedestrian lights, and some other streetscape improvements. Uh, to improve safe pedestrian access between the Journal
Square Transportation Center, Dickinson High School, the courthouse, and various shops. Um, we would be applying for 650,000 for those improvements. And uh again, this is um a project where we
could extend those improvements uh further in the future if we were to identify additional funding. >> Questions? >> Match? >> Uh no match for this, but um we estimate
um something like 160,000 for design and construction inspection. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, >> Madame Council President. I have uh just two more items for Department of Infrastructure on behalf of Director
Weller. Um the first is uh resolution 26414 item 10.52. Um and that is a contract to retain an engineer for uh repair of the River View retaining wall. Um this retaining wall
has had deteriorating conditions um over a number of years and we're uh looking to award the contract after a bid to Boswell Engineering uh for professional services uh to do structural inspection and historic preservation that will evaluate the design, develop
construction documents um in accordance with the historic requirements and uh allow us to advance the public bidding, permitting and construction of the work needed to ensure uh the structural integrity, safety and aesthetic renovations of the retaining wall. Capital funding has previously been
allocated for this project and is available uh for construction once this design is completed. So, this is already kind of budgeted. This is just to award the contract. >> Director, you got a busy two weeks. I know you're short staffed or understaffed. So, thank you for all the
grants and work you've been doing in your department, all the directors. the question on this. Really glad to see this make it uh to our council agenda. It's been a long time coming for Riverview, so appreciate it. Um my
understanding is that sidewalk repairs of the walkway um that the retaining wall that they can't be completed or even started until uh the retaining wall itself is is completed. Is that the case? Um because I you know I'm curious
the timeline for also getting those that walkway repaired. >> I'd have to get back to you. Um Director Weller has been more hands-on with this project, but I would suspect that if the retaining wall is not sturdy, it would not be appropriate to do kind of the surface work. So I'd have to confirm
that. Um and I could also confirm if that repair of the sidewalk is part of the scope of this project or would be a follow-up. >> Yeah, that would be great. Please. Thank you. Okay. Totally. Is um you said this is capital dollars
>> correct? This was a previous capital allocation. >> I don't know if there are multiple capital accounts to the to the BA. Are there that the case or is this is all just one big capital? >> There are multiple accounts. So when we
bond for capital, we have to identify generally what project we're using it for or a list of projects whether it be like a buildings or a specific building or something to that effect and then the money gets put into account with that ordinance and with those details.
>> Can I get the balances on this account and how it's budget what else it's budgeted for? Um ultimately I want for all the capital accounts but as we go into the budget cycle. >> Yep. We have your request from last uh council meeting. We're trying to get all the numbers together and all the ordinance associated with them. So once
it's compiled, I'll have everything for you for this one. We can definitely get it to you before Wednesday. >> Thanks. >> Okay. >> Right. Director, you have another one. >> All right. Last one. I promise. We've been busy this these last couple weeks. Um the last contract is resolution
26410. Uh our agenda item 10.48. Um this is to award a professional services contract to FC3 uh for Bayside Park. Um the professional services uh this contract would advance a prior
grant that was received by the city that needs to be completely spent by the end of the calendar year within Bayside Park. Uh it was a Jersey City community recreation center project. It was initiated under the prior administration using DCA funds uh to advance a
long-term vision for uh recreational, educational, wellness, and community programming opportunities within the city's underserved southern neighborhood, specifically in Bayside Park. Uh the grant is being utilized for initial project efforts focused really on the development of a master plan
concept um and community engagement uh really for the future uh community recreation center facility. Um, it would also be responding to immediate concerns and requests for shorter term improvements at Bayside Park. Um, as we noted, we have uh the money from this
prior grant, but it needs to be fully spent by the end of the calendar year. Um, so the specific activities that FC3 would be asked to complete um this was started previously using different funds. Um they would be asked to complete the master plan and community meetings, public engagement um and
advance the pending design uh a concept through design development. Um FC3 uh told us that they believe they're confident they can accomplish the design development by the end of the calendar year which is what the grant requires. Again, this would be just for issuing a
contract. The grant was previously awarded. >> Questions? any any match involved? >> Um, so this grant was previously awarded. I don't know if it required a match, but I know right now um the
concern is that if we don't spend the funds by the end of the calendar years, these are CO dollars, I believe. So then it would be returned or lost. >> Yeah. I'm just wondering if there's if there's a match if we could just confirm that. >> I'd have to get back to you on on that one. Director Weller is uh is not here
tonight, but um I don't believe CO dollars require a match, but I have >> I don't believe there's a match. I don't want to speak out of term, but can we just confirm that information for the councilman? >> We can confirm that. >> Okay, >> Peter, do you know if there's a match?
>> They they will get you that information offline. Any more, Director Kaplan? We have a few more presentations. Council, >> that's all we have. Thank you, council members. >> Thank you. All right, I am uh that is all I have for directors this evening, but I'm
going to defer to 10.28 and uh EA Peter uh if you would do a brief overview of 10.28. I think we have um some representation here for 1028 if
the council has any in-depth questions. >> Sure. So this is not my area of expertise. So I might need the law department to jump in if I get anything wrong. But generally this is a letter of support. Um they do this for certain loans and applications from the state where in order to apply for funding for
uh HMFA or other kind of funding sources in the state for affordable housing. They have to get a letter of support from the council. um it doesn't necessarily bind us to anything specific, but they get that that allows them to apply for the state aid would eventually factor into their financing,
which will allow them to have the uh the application and everything build afterwards. But I'll defer to the attorney who can probably give more specifics than I can. >> Evening, city council, city council president. I am not the attorney. Uh but >> pick the microphone up to your >> pick the microphone up a little.
>> It's better. >> Yes. >> Ready? Uh good evening, city council, city council president. Uh my name is Max Ridgie. I am a project manager at LMXD. We are the developer for a project in on South Cove in the Liberty Harbor
North area. And what I'd like to discuss for your consideration tonight is resolution 26 26-390. Uh and so this resolution of need is for uh a signoff for uh NJHMFA and NJA
applications. Uh so these applications are due by July 1st and our development that we're proposing is 23 stories approximately 230 units 20% of which will be affordable. So that is excl uh exceeding the ICO requirements as per uh
Jersey City code. Um so 20% of units will be affordable uh studios, onebedrooms, two bedrooms, three bedrooms uh leaning very heavily towards family style units for them. Um and so the resolution of need that we are
requesting here um simply states that without the subsidies uh from the state level uh we would not be able to progress with this project and it meets exceeds advances uh whatever the local municipalities uh affordable housing
goals are. So the draft resolution that we have uh sent to city council president's office um lays all that out um and there is no further commitment on behalf of the city from there. >> Okay. >> Questions? >> So I mean I I met with the um developers
um my only concern was just the fact of the timing. Um, I typically don't oblige to anything that, you know, I feel like is rush, but in light of this just being somewhat of a due diligence, um, just
stating that, um, the project wouldn't be able to be constructed without the subsidies from the state and things like that. Um, I have agreed to, uh, give my support to this. Um so may ask Mike
>> what what um so uh good evening what what are the um the AMIs for the affordable housing >> we have programmed 18 units at 60% AMI and 28 units at 50% AMI currently
and if I may speak to sorry >> 60 and 50 you say correct >> correct >> 60 and the AMI. What's the What's the actual amount you >> That's That's kind of high. >> 18 at 60% and 28 at 50%. You said,
>> right? >> Um would you plan on uh returning to the city to request any tax payment from the city uh upon getting an Aspire? >> It's something c uh certainly something that we would consider. Um, and we're
happy to have those conversations. Um, and if I may address Councilman uh Gilmore's uh point about uh you know feeling rushed through this process, we we certainly do apologize. We have uh tried to book this meeting as as soon as we received guidance from NJHMFA and NJA
of this July 1 deadline. Certainly not how we like to work. Uh and we appreciate, you know, your consideration through this process. uh want to be more forthright and and certainly go through the proper panels with adequate time to review everything that we propose.
So um a point of uh clarification I think um in order for projects to receive Aspire funding they are required to have a tax abatement right they are required to have a tax abatement in place to receive Aspire funding. So so
the answer would be yes you would be coming back >> what >> yeah potentially >> Aspire funding is requires a tax man >> I believe so. >> Okay. Oh, the attorney want to say something. You see he have his hand raised.
>> Thank you for recognizing me. Um, this is my name is Jean Powellino from Gova Burns. Uh, this is a resolution of need. Uh, it doesn't require you to to do anything except uh indicate to the state
that Jersey City is a city that requires affordable housing. That's the need that's requested, right? You're not required to commit any funds. You're not required to do anything. It is an eligibility requirement to obtain the the uh for the application. And
incidentally, the application is for both LITC, the lowincome housing uh and JMFHA uh program and the Aspire program. Both of those programs should be part of this resolution. Um and that's that's that's it. Uh it's it's really a you
know a check the box uh obtain the uh municipality support. Does the municipality support affordable housing? And I'm I I know this council well enough to think that you do. Um and that's the that's the only request
that's made. The the the the urgency was that we were notified relatively late. I think um at least I was notified relatively late that the date the target date is July 1. If you don't make that July one date, they're into 27
and that puts us everybody back about 6 months. >> Yes. And um just as it relates to the council woman's concern, um I believe expire does trigger uh well comes with the abatement, but ultimately that that
decision will reside with the council. Um I don't think necessarily one has to do with the other. They can essentially get the um I guess the go-ahhead to go to the state to start the process and then from um a
legislator perspective on the council, we can look at you know whatever the further request is as it relates to the pilot, the terms and things like that. >> That's correct. >> Thank you for that explanation. So, um,
if you were to come to us later for a tax abatement, passing this resolution would not necessarily require that we approve it. Absolutely. We could still review the entire project. Um, corporation council, is that also your understanding? >> That's correct.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> For for for a pilot, we would need to file a complete application. You know, the the normal go through the normal procedure. We can't just simply ask for a resolution. >> Yeah. I would add to the council and just for your consideration, all the things we discussed like the AMI, all
the agreements, they're all subject to the discussion going forward. So, this is the kind of first step to make sure the project moves forward, but all those finer details that I'm sure the council is going to be very concerned about are always subject to negotiation and tweaking as the project goes forward.
>> Are you um designated redeveloper? >> Uh we are not at that stage yet where this is really embionic. This is really right at the very beginning getting the funding in place and one of the issues that is there is whether you had Aspire
funding and LITC funding. >> Thank you. >> Okay, let me go back to the top of my Can I ask one more? Do you have site control? Do you own own the property? Okay. So, uh I'm sorry, not Sean. Sean, take
it from the top. Very well. And on 3.4 and 3.5, I believe Councilwoman Singh uh would like her staff to represent her. >> Thank you, Council President. And I have Isaiah. >> One second, Councilwoman. Let's just do
3.3 so we can knock it out the way and then we'll do 4.5. >> I'll make the introduction again. >> Okay. Very well. So, as far as our first reading ordinances, item 3.1 and 3.2 were already discussed. Item 3.3,
Ordinance 26-051, an ordinance of the Municipal Council of the City of Jersey City, amending chapter 160, fees and charges with any associated chapters for fees. >> Questions?
>> Yes. Um, you know, the mayor, appreciate him and the finance director coming in making the presentation. Uh, one thing just to reflect what I'm hearing from constituents is um
a feeling of unfairness with the tax increase. Um, and I wanted to ask in this ordinance, are there fee increases that apply specifically to real estate developers um or other corporate entities?
>> So, kind of lay the groundwork here. Fees in general to the city are not a revenue source in the sense that we don't use them to generate revenue, right? They do generate revenue because they're there to cover the cost of administering the service associated with the fee. You know, whether it be
licensing, permanent inspections, whatever it might be. Um there are fees that provide to developers and development in the city, you know, big, small, etc. They're in our construction code, um which is part of this. So those will be tweaked as part of this. Um, and
again, it's done to make sure, as you know, in Jerry City with a lot of demand for construction, we want to make sure that our fees are comparable to cities around us and that they reflected the cost of the administration to manage those programs and manage the requests, you know, from everything for the
construction projects. >> So, thank you, Peter. Would it be accurate to say that the fees that are on the books now are not comparable to other municipalities? uh generally speaking immediately to us comparing us to like Newark I think was
one of the ones we looked at Patterson. Um no they are currently non-comparable. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Then I I sounded like I was done but I wasn't. Um just wanted to flag the marriage license birth and death certificate. Um the
increases those are those are doubling. >> Yeah. So to add to it, a lot of these fees um have not been reviewed in a decade or more. Um some have, you know, we we've periodically reviewed the fees from around 2013 to present, but a lot
of these I would say most of these have not been revisited, you know, since like 2007 or before. So this is really an effort just to say you know basing the administrative cost of providing these the the time it takes employees materials involved in it are we losing money on them or are we at least you
know breaking even on them um so in this case with the marriage certificates and death fees we're still below I believe the state which I think is $28 so you know not significantly low but we are lower um and the intent there is to just make sure that we're not incurring additional cost to city and putting more
on the taxpayers. Are there any potential exemptions or exceptions for low-income residents? >> I believe there may be based on the clerk. I think it's at their discretion. I don't know if there's anything built in the code specifically, but I believe
the clerk does have some to do discretion for those things. >> Okay. Thank you. If you're interested in knowing, we do often wave fees when people um in homeless shelters, the state statute authorizes us to wave fees when they apply for birth certificates. They have
to make an application through a case manager. >> Thank you, John. understanding that these are not intended or not designed to be revenue raisers and it's is that right
that legally we cannot structure fees to primarily be revenue raisers. >> That's correct. The only lawful uh revenue generation for the city is through taxes which need to be expressly authorized by the state. Otherwise, any fees are just designed to cover the
costs of administering any programs or services that the city provides. Thank you. And then just on page 45 of um the the document uh explaining all the fee increases. Um I think it's
DD uh regarding code 260 around rent control. Um I'm glad to see some increased fees around registration for filings of um housing spaces for landlords with dwellings five or more units. um those rent controlled units
under 260. I think this is good. I'm just wondering, we've we've heard really explicitly from landlord tenant office that um there are incredible administrative hurdles and they are uh you know, woefully underresourced. I'm wondering if um we can even push these
fees higher um than the $20 per housing space um or the uh $250 for housing space for capital improvement filing. There's a number of these and I'm just wondering if um they can be uh stretched
even further to make sure that we actually have the administrative strength to be able to enforce our rent and control us. >> Yeah, I can confer with the department director of ATDC for this. Um, a lot of these fees have come either through a our own reviews or through coordination with the department of directors based on their recommendations. Um, so I'll
confer with uh her specifically. Um, I believe this is comparable what New York is currently charging. So it's not that we can't go above that. Um, but we just want to make sure that, you know, we're using those fees to support the staff and everyone else that we use to administer this. Um, so if we're intending to hire more staff, it may be
warranted, but I want her to do that analysis before I uh, you know, respond specifically. >> Okay. Yeah, I would love to see any analysis if we can get that especially before Wednesday before vote. >> And this doesn't preclude us from potentially reevaluating in the future, too. So, you know, obviously we try to get your answer by Wednesday. If there's
any issue or we find out we could go, you know, higher at a later time, we're always to bring those back to the uh the council for any adjustments. >> Thank you. >> What about parking permit fees? So, uh, I know it's for processing the information or the documents, but $25
per car seems a little low given the dirt of parking on our streets. That one was raised just recently, uh, last year, I believe. We're currently evaluating that with the infrastructure department, but given how recently we've raised it, we just want to make sure
that it's fully being utilized, you know, to the administrative levels that we have. Um, it is, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Councilman, but I think $25 for the first car and then gradually increases depending how many vehicles you would have in the household. >> Yeah, I was gonna say maybe even up that because, uh, Jersey City many years ago,
one car per household or two is not what we see anymore. >> Yep, understood. >> Uh, Peter, while you're standing, uh, there are youth in Asia fees for the shelter. I believe we're a no kill shelter. You could probably excise those fees from the ordinance. >> Yeah, I'm not sure exactly why they're in there. Maybe because you know we are
a no kill shelter but there are certain charges with that the animal is you know beyond assistance they have to do unfortunately some euthanas in those regards. Um that's probably what it's applicable to but I can get that confirmation for you. >> Yeah I can confirm when when we went to
the animal shelter I think it was like it has a very very low euthanasia rate but yeah like like Mr. Horton said in some cases when the animal arrives in very bad condition. >> Yes. Yeah. I just want to make sure that that were uh >> it's very sad, but yeah.
>> Is there a summary document of fees that were changed rather than having to scroll through? >> Yeah, I can provide it to you. I have a memo I can share with the council about kind of our approach for evaluating the fees. Um and I can give you a summary of, you know, it's a pretty long spreadsheet, but it'll flush out exactly what we're doing.
>> He shared it with me, too. >> Any other questions? Okay, next one. >> Item 3.4, ordinance 26-052, an ordinance amending chapter 122,
section 4 regarding the required bonds for special event permits. >> And let me tell you, Isabel Ventimeia has worked on this. So, please feel free to ask questions. 3.4. Any questions?
>> Can you explain what what's going on here? >> Yes. All right. Just one second. Yeah. Chapter 122. So the purpose of this change is to ensure
accountability for event organizers, protect public property, encourage community engagement, and ensure that city resources are being used responsibly while continuing to to support events that contribute positively to our city. Um, our office
has enacted a progressive bond schedule which aims to make sure that compliance with permit requirements and that we protect public infrastructure. While we recognize that most event organizers follow the rules and leave event spaces
clean and undamaged, we must also hold event organizers that repeatedly fail to clean up after events or cause damage to city property. These costs are ultimately borne by our taxpayers. And so the progressive bond schedule rewards responsible organizers
while also creating consequences for repeat violations and we believe our constituents deserve responsible event organizers. >> So aren't event organizers required to carry insurance for any event they have?
So any event I've been doing event for 15 years I can write a book at this point. Um so any organizer in Jersey City what happens they uh ask event organizer to work with nonprofit.
So nonprofit generally have insurance that's when you can hold the event at the public parks. Now we want to encourage more events in the city but we also want to make sure that event organizers who are not cleaning up after the event that they are supposed to in
the uh the application they are they are writing that they'll be cleaning after the event but then some don't because majority of the of the time there are no consequences. So yes liability insurance is mandatory.
So, so Councilwoman, you're very generous with this first violation warning, >> right? >> But given the lack of our resources and our departments, I wouldn't give any warning. Uh the fact for our our this is a great ordinance. I'm not I'm not knocking. I'm just saying suggesting that refer our city employees to track
how many times an event organizer has has damaged city property seems a little a bit ownorous. I'll say first violate any violation they're required pursuant to their own insurance to to remedy the issue and pay our city workers for their time. >> Thank you councilman. I think absolutely
we can consider this. So maybe no warning and >> bond will be taken. >> No, did I finish? I'm sorry. >> Yes. Sorry, councilman. No, I was I was going to say, you know, um organizers when when you have block
parties and things like that, um the city wants you to hire um offduty cops, right? >> Not not all the all the events are required to hire offduty, >> right? But it's it's it's a requirement for for the larger ones and and many um
and you know maybe that should be something um put in as far as hiring DPW, right? Um the same way they hire cops like for the larger events you hire DPW and
you know it's it's um it's already there. That's built in accountability. >> Thank you. We can definitely uh think about the next one. This one also DBW cost a lot. So I think this is a good
starting point. Eventually we'll think about other things too. But thank you for the suggestion. >> Who's in in in charge of ensuring compliance with the permit? Um, as it works right now, it's a mixture of cultural affairs and
neighborhood associations, including park associations, um, SADs, community members that report to the Office of Cultural Affairs. The Office of Cultural Affairs then reports to the Office of Commerce that collects the $1,000 cash
bond. >> Who who determines there's a violation? >> Oh, uh, city staff. So generally uh after the event is done if they don't clean up or they damage the property city will get to know because city
employees generally go and check >> that a DPW employee is at a cultural affairs employee. >> Yeah. So, DPW employees and employees of cultural, >> they both work together to determine whether or not they have violated any rules or regulations and then they let
the office of commerce, Department of Commerce know because they're the ones that hold the fee. >> So, so the Department of Commerce would issue a violation. >> Department of Commerce, the bond money, $1,000 is to commerce. It goes to
Department of Commerce. So if there is a violation, the commerce department would not be refunding the bond money that is $1,000. >> Just wondering who who issues the ticket to tell somebody you're in violation of the >> So there's permit.
>> There's no ticket, Councilman. So the Department of Cultural Affairs is responsible when they receive reports of something going wrong. They decide whether or not something has gone wrong. If something has gone wrong, they tell the Department of Commerce to hold the bond. So every event has a $1,000 cash
bond that resides with commerce for the duration of the event. >> Cultural Affair makes this determination if they have not done what they were supposed to do. >> Okay. Cultural Affairs is aware of Mike and they're going to
>> Yes, we Isabelle has worked closely with culture affairs. My my thing is just a theme tonight for me which is who's are we hiring more people to do this to uh ensure this uh this happens or not or is that the um we already have the infrastructure or or
>> this is a valid concern but culture affairs anyways take care of this. So they are not hiring someone extra or extra hours and we can again we can recheck with them and we can get back to you. Yeah, to my understanding there's already a mechanism in place to ensure
that if any rules or regulations were violated, the office of cultural affairs would be made aware because a lot of the times when events do happen um in our parks for example, the um park association will also go through the event and let the office of cultural
affair cultural affairs know >> and neighborhood associations >> and neighborhood associations. Yes. They they let culture affair know that you know the organizer did not clean after the event. >> Yeah. Or violated any rules.
>> Yeah. Violated any rules. >> Sorry. Thank you for your work on it's a great presentation. Could you do me a favor and find out for me what the mechanism is in place already to do that and what the enforcement is and if there and if someone's challenging the fact that cultural affairs is frankly Council Gilmore,
>> you're not getting any credit. Councilman Gilmore, >> we you can tell me offline. Just I'm curious as to the enforcement mechanism. >> Yeah, >> sounds good. >> And then can we also confirm because I think the bond is only done when you're closing like a street, correct? I don't
for >> you, you have to uh every single event you do, you have to deposit $1,000 to commerce. Okay. >> Even if this event is happening in the park, you're not closing the street. uh but you give $1,000.
>> Okay, let's let's confirm that. >> Okay. >> And then also if the $1,000 is there um and there is damage then we should be keeping that money or keeping the portion of the money for the repairs. So wouldn't that
constitute kind of the first violation would be us uh using some of that money and then um yeah so the first violation is still as it is written now if somebody has
violated um any rules or regulations and requires cleanup that's taken out from the $1,000 bond because the $1,000 bond is meant to be refundable as well as the subsequent um funds that we have for second strike, third strike, they're all
meant to be refundable only kept um in accordance to any damage that is made. So, as it is right now with the first violation we have, it would constitute a first strike in addition to the collection of the bond because right now the collection of the bond already
exists. The idea is to enforce that you have to do what you are supposed to do. Cleaning up after the event that has not been happening by few organizers >> and and so what happens if um because if I mean if it's large and it's some you
know if if damage if if damage is done to property right um and it's more than $1,000. That's interesting. Actually, we ma major concern was not cleaning up and
violating a few things. Damage as of now, culture affair is just taking $1,000 from commerce is taking $1,000. You have to run through permit and all of that. And the liability insurance city is required obviously to do the
event. But violation as per they are not as per say violation they are not strict about this as of now. Is that true? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. All right. Good.
>> Next one. >> Item 3.5. Ordinance 26-053. An ordinance amending chapter 160 section I regarding reduced license fees for nonprofit organizations.
>> Want to explain this one? >> Yes. So as it currently stands right now nonprofit organizations that have events in the city receive a reduced permit fee because of their charitable and community serving mission.
Theformational table requirement helps ensure that organizations receiving this benefit engage directly with the community, letting them know about their mission, services, programs, volunteer opportunities, and community impact. We
want to make sure that these nonprofit organizations are exposed to the community as they are the ones that are hosting the event in the community. So, the point um I'm sorry, the point of this uh change to have anformational
table is just to make sure that the nonprofit has the exposure to Jersey City residents and that Jersey City residents can learn a little bit more about the nonprofit partner questions.
Just to clarify the idea is nonprofit who are sponsoring the event for any event organizer they are also getting the exposure. So they can participate at the event they can have table at the event to connect with the community. So
as it is they are the sponsors of the event but we want to make sure that they are also getting exposure but also we want to make sure that they are located in Jersey City. It's all about prioritizing uh Jersey City based nonprofits, right
Isabelle? >> Yeah. And we also want to make sure that the nonprofit that is hosting in the city is connected to the community and we make sure that you know the events that they have, any future events that they're willing to have that they get community input and support from the
community as a point of these um events and also the reduced fee is to ultimately help the greater community. How do you enforce that? >> So it would >> so if there's an event and and uh and we we say hey you got this reduced fee but
you don't have a table here highlighting yourself what's what's the next step? >> So what do you want to answer that? >> Yes. Um it would be similar to how um we currently have the structure for nonprofits that um you know leave debris
behind or anything like that. The current structure we have is relying on our neighborhood associations, our park associations, um the office of community affairs, and other community members to let the office of community affairs know what is going on. Um when talking to other
community partners, when drafting um this ordinance change, they were very eager to work alongside the office of community affairs. So the structure that we would have to ensure that they have thisformational table
would heavily rely on community support such as individual community members and neighborhood associations, park associations, and um the office of cultural affairs. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you, Isabelle. You did a good job.
>> Agenda item 3.6, ordinance 26-054, an ordinance repealing chapter 304, taxation, article 10, medical cannabis transfer tax, in its entirety. >> Questions?
>> I chime in here and offer a little context because I think that the ordinance title is insufficiently explanatory. So, in a council meeting, I want to say a month and a half ago, council person Lavaro asked the question whether it would be possible for the
city to take any cannabis taxes that it's currently exacting and putting in funds for dedicated purposes and transfer those taxes into the general fund. We looked into it and we determined not only can the city do it, but it really should because as a
general rule, any revenue that comes into the city should go into the general operating fund and be appropriated through the normal budget process. The only exception is where there's a specific state statute that says you can use this type of money for this limited specific purpose. So, we took a look at
the state statutes that authorized the two forms of cannabis taxes that the city currently collects, the recreational tax and the medical tax. And nowhere in that state statute was using those funds for a specific dedicated purpose, separate and apart from the operating fund authorized. So
what this ordinance does is it consolidates the two portions of the city code that used to separately assess recreational and medical cannabis taxes and it makes them one nice holistic streamlined portion of the code. It operationalizes what should be the
baseline rule that these taxes go into the operating fund and should be appropriated through the normal budget process. And it also makes some small slight tweaks both to comply with the statutory framework and to increase the city's enforcement capacity. So under
the statutory framework, the city is permitted to assess not only taxes that have not been paid to date, but also specific interest. And so we're now incorporating into our code the ability to go after interest when it's owed to the city for unpaid taxes. So those are the major changes here. Happy to answer
any questions. And thanks to council person Lavaro for bringing this to our attention and working with us on these amendments. >> Questions? >> If I can just add one more thing, there are $1.3 million in cannabis tax revenues that are um sitting in our
account. They said 4 million is 1%. So it's a quarter percent. Back into our bud to our budget. So >> okay, next one, John. >> Okay. Items 3.7 and 3.8 were already
discussed. Moving on to our second reading ordinances. Agenda item 4.1, ordinance 26-033, an ordinance to exceed the calendar year 2026 municipal budget appropriation
limits and to establish a cap bank pursuant to NJSA4A 4-45.14. Agenda item 4.2, Ordinance 26-034, an ordinance amending Chapter 3, Administration of Government, Article
10, Department of Housing, Economic Development, and Commerce. Section 3-82.3, Community Service Block Grant Board, Increasing Board Membership and Revising Powers.
Agenda item 4.3, Ordinance 26-035, an ordinance amending chapter 23, Municipal Court, Section 23-7, judges salaries, vacation leave, and other benefits. >> Sorry, if I could just um if you just
say for the record, I've had inquiries with new interest in our our budget with with all of the interest in our budget. People are asking me whether judges salaries are being increased and >> no not at all. This is purely a compliance measure. um for quite some
time as determined by uh the assignment judge. Municipal judges should receive a $300 stipend whenever they do additional work above and beyond their uh I won't say 9 to5 because it's more than a 9 to5 job, but beyond their general responsibilities um in order to cover
for another judge who is absent or just to increase the court's capacity. By state statute, municipal judges compensation is supposed to be fixed by ordinance. Those stipens were never incorporated into our municipal code. So, we are doing that now, but that's just reflecting long-standing
uh process. It's not increasing anyone's compensation. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Okay. Agenda item 4.4, Four, Ordinance 26-036, an ordinance of the Municipal Council of
the City of Jersey City, amending chapter 73, Women's Advisory Board of the City of Jersey City. And >> I'm just going to be consistent here, which is with these amendments are how are we staffing um and is there any
additional staffing that comes with women's advisory board? >> No, those are appointments. No, >> those are appointments. >> I mean, in terms of staffing the board itself or >> No, the increasing amount of appointments. There's no cost to the
city for doing any of this. Um, outside of, you know, employees of the city who provide information and feedback to the board. Um, but it's part of their regular duty, so there's no additional cost. >> Thanks, John. Uh, agenda item 4.5 was already
discussed. Agenda item 4.6, ordinance 26-038, an ordinance of the Jersey City Municipal Council supplementing chapter 90, animals. Article 3, dogs, and other animals establishing a ban on breeding
and sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits. That's what we already discussed this, but for the record, as I said, given our budget situation, our minds want to know if there's going to be an additional staffing requirements with this, this ordinance should pass.
>> No additional staffing requirements will be needed. Um, either the animal control officer or the police officer responding to the call would be able to issue issue a summon um in the case of a violation. Um, and we
already employ animal control officers and police officers. Um, I don't anticipate any additional staffing needs as a result of this. Thank you. >> Thank you. Agenda item 4.7, ordinance 26-039,
an ordinance of the municipal council of the city of Jersey City, amending chapter A350, rules of order of the Jersey City code to establish the 12th day prior to caucus meetings as the deadline for the distribution of the municipal council meeting agenda.
>> So for the record, no additional staffing is required. >> Anyone have questions? Is there a match? Councilman, >> I was going to ask it. So, >> any questions? Anyone? Still >> is there. No, no match.
>> The only matches is our integrity. No. >> Agenda item 4.8 ordinance 26. >> I'm sorry. I do have a question. So I guess this would be for you council president and the administration. So when this is
passed will we be get when will we receive our next agenda? Will we see it next week? >> No this will go in effect in September. >> Yes. >> September. >> Yeah. >> Correct. >> Two meetings. One in July, one in August
>> and then September >> new process. Just a quick FYI to the council though I'm pretty sure you know for as the councilman said July we only have one meeting. Same thing for August. That's kind of our reset period to kind of make sure we can comport to the new you know deadlines for everything. Um
and then as a councilman indicated September we're back to normal and that's we have the agenda according to the schedule. >> If you wanted to test run it and get the agenda out six days in advance before uh for July and August that'd be great. >> Yeah. To see how it work. Let's see how
it work. Next one, Josh. >> All right. Agenda item 4.8, 8. Ordinance 26-040, an ordinance of the Jersey of the city of Jersey City in the county of Hudson, New Jersey, approving the contribution
of a portion of annual service charges paid to the city of Jersey City pursuant to financial agreements entered into by the city of Jersey City into the city's education infrastructure capital account.
Agenda item 4.9, ordinance 26-041, an ordinance authorizing the making of various public improvements and acquisition in, by, and for the city, appropriating therefore the sum of 9,598,590
and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the capital fund balance of the city. So, the record, still waiting on an answer, how much money is in our capital fund balance for the city? Anyone can give me that response. I'd appreciate
it. >> Agenda item. John, before I I mistook the previous ordinance, um I just want to say for the record for ordinance uh 26-040, um I think uh 10% is um after doing some
preliminary research, but you really haven't done enough research on this at uh at this point, but I don't think it's an adequate dollar amount um to dedicate to the Jersey City public schools. Um, since this is retroactive for 5 years,
um, I think this is getting this passed and moving it forward makes sense. Um, but it's my commitment to um to revisiting this and to work with the members of the city council um and bring bring some information to light and share some some of my research on this
to be able to establish what I or propose what I think might be a higher rate um in order to make sure that the schools are are better funded. Agenda item 410, ordinance 26-042 and ordinance of the municipal council
of the city of Jersey City establishing chapter 346 youth liaison council of the Jersey City Municipal Code creating the Jersey City Youth Liaison Council. >> Any new staff?
>> No, sir. >> They're a match. >> Not at this time. Okay, John. >> Okay. Agenda item 4.11, ordinance 26-043, an ordinance of the municipal council of the city of Jersey City in the county of
Hudson in the state of New Jersey, amending and supplementing chapter 3 of administration of government. Article 14, Department of Law of the Jersey City Municipal Code to establish the position of legislative council to the municipal
council and clarify the respective roles of the corporation council and legislative council. >> John, we're still uh working some stuff out on this one. So, I'm going to uh move to carry to the next meeting.
>> You'll make a motion at the uh >> Okay. Agenda item 412, ordinance 26-044, an ordinance establishing local standards and public transparency requirements for Jersey City's municipal ward redistricting process, including
requirements related to compactness, communities of interest, public hearings, alternate map review, and written explanations supporting adopted ward maps. >> I'm sorry. Could you please reforward me the email? Um the memo you did.
Thank you. >> Council members to sponsor this. Uh same question. Any any um additional staffing required for the enforcement of these regulations? >> No.
>> There's a match. >> What is the enforcement? Actually, that's a good question. The match might be that might be in Sarah's memo. What is the enforcement? because the the ward um map committee for lack of a better I don't remember the title of it uh is
independent of the council. What what what enforcement mechanism is there for the ordinance? >> The law department's position is that there is no enforcement mechanism for the same reason why this ordinance is almost certainly in excess of the council's authority, which is that this
is an entity created by and exclusively controlled by the state. I mean, I I think I just think that um we there has to be some level of
control. I mean, during the litigation, like we were responsible for funding for the for the lawsuit and things like that. Um I honestly wholeheartedly believe that um the commission
will strongly consider the views of of the council. Um I honestly do. Uh, and I I also think um the attorney did a great job at
explaining um you know why this why this is important, why it's needed. Uh and yeah, I just think in the grand scheme of things, even if the administration or corporations council
position is this the ordinance really does nothing, um so if it really does nothing, then this this I'm of the opinion that, you know, we we
should pass it. Um, I just know that having clear communication, having a set of guidelines that a governing body agrees on, I think it set precedents for things to be done in a responsive,
conductive manner. >> Okay, next one, John. >> Okay. Agenda item 4.13, Ordinance 26-045, an ordinance of the city of Jersey City in the county of Hudson, state of New Jersey, granting a tax exemption with
respect to certain property identified as block 21501.01, 01 lot 1, also known as 850-870 Garfield Avenue, and authorizing the execution of a financial agreement with
Garfield Phase 1A Urban Renewal LLC. >> Done. So, uh, council for both 413 and 414, um, wanted to say a quick thing that really before you this week are two separate issues that address crisis in
the city. Um, one is how do we solve the fiscal crisis that you are well aware of and two, how we're addressing the affordable housing crisis in the city. Um, 413 and 414 really speak to that. And while both issues are critical uh to the administration, we're asking that
the housing items be carried to the July meeting to allow for space and time to address some resident questions on those two items. So we're going to be asking a carry 413 and 414 to the July meeting. >> Appreciate that, Peter. And you know,
I'd like to hear from um Councilman Gilmore since this uh project is in in his ward. Uh but my feeling is we need to carry this until the budget is settled. But I'd like to hear from
>> I mean I think um in light of so first there's a few things going on with this um there may potentially be a conflict of interest um for me. We are still like looking through that to see if that's um
essentially the case. Um, but I will say this. Um, Jersey City have entertained several pilots that doesn't give back nearly the amount of
affordability in the PLA agreement. Um, I do understand the sentiment of residents having concerns as it relates to the financial stability of the municipal budget. That is a real concern. I also understand the concerns
that residents have as it relates to local workforce. Um, so I would if if the administration position is they they're going to carry this to the next meeting and the council's position is
let's get the budget through to really see where we at from a financial perspective. Um, I would just uh see if cuz I mean I don't know the financial elements. I don't know if
if um longterms um are coming up or any from a logistical standpoint as it relates to funding. I don't know any of that. Um but if it is the opinion of this council that one,
you need more time to to comb through it. There's been it's been a lot of misinformation going on. Some people's like, "Well, it's only 13 units." And I was like, "Well, I don't think you guys are reading the the totality of of the pilot. I I don't see it only 13 units. I
see 13 units that are really low at low low rates, but I don't see 13 in totality." But I say all that to say that, you know, the concerns that were brought up, some of them are real concerns. Um, and
if like I said, if if if it's of the opinion of this council that we want to see what the budget looks like, how is it really going to impact um impact the residents of Jersey City? Because I get the n I mean, I get what people are
saying. It's like, how can you ask us to give more and then you want to give a tax break? Um, I think some of that narrative is a little off, but at the very least, I do think uh conversation is is noteworthy in this matter.
>> Yeah, I I appreciate those comments. Thank you. Um, Council Member Gilmore, I also just for the record, I just want to add that this site when currently vacant is generating far less tax revenue than it would be generating even with a tax
abatement. and that even and and that there is no scenario in which this project gets built without a tax abatement. So um you know people were saying oh well without a tax abatement it would generate 3.8 million um but there is no scenario in which that project gets built. So we're either
talking about I think it's 1.9 million or whatever the small um far under a million amount of tax revenue that is generating right now. So, um, certainly pilots often don't make sense,
but in some cases they do. And I think this might be one of the cases where it does make sense given the current status of the site and the fact that that nothing will get built without an abatement and the site when vacant does not generate substantial tax revenue. It sounds like
our my council colleague also spent her weekend explaining generally what a pilot is. And that was that was my request that the administration two weeks ago which was to put out proper uh public education because many people including some of us up here and I'm sure I've done it myself has spent time
over the se last several years um dumping on pilots and tax abatements when they don't work. and and the public has noticed that and they've picked up on that narrative and many people are using it very well to make this project something that's not going to happen
potentially. Uh a very quick fact sheet with numbers would be much appreciated and there are experts in the administration, our deputy mayor being one of them who can explain what a pilot is well better than I can and certainly better than I can on Facebook. So I with
this additional time I really would implore the administration if you want that project to to do some uh social media work and education of the public. I appreciate that there were there were public meetings held but something as simple as a fact sheet for Facebook or in social media would be fantastic
because the numbers do make more sense for the Jersey City homeowner that than the social media pundits are are making known. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And if at the next meeting whenever that is if the developer or someone from that team can come to
directly speaks to the the the the facts of the project and why because I know someone said well in Bayfront they doing 35%. Why can't they go to 35? Um, and people
don't like Bayfront is a drastic different financial situation. Like these guys, as I understood, like they're paying for the land. It's not a subsidized purchase. Um, so if we can have them come and speak to the actual
number of affordable units, what units will be at the I think it's what is it 30% AMI? um and what the actual rent is in set establishment. That will be great. >> Yeah.
>> Um I think that would be um much appreciated. Um but but I would like to say for the record that you know when we do talk about projects like this and and and pilots that you know we don't say that a project like this can't be built
without a pilot, right? I'm not saying that a pilot isn't needed for this project, but it's not needed for every project. >> And and just a a question, uh this project is uh benefiting from Aspire credits as well or application. Thank
you, No, for and our last presentation noted there are deadlines. I I know the state is taking a look at Aspire differently or looking at Aspire differently. Uh so what is the timeline to make this project if it were to go forward with a pilot actually work? because time would would certainly be of
the essence as well. >> So for those reasons, you know, that you just mentioned why we're asking to push it back to July. Um I did confirm though that there are deadlines for this, but the if we push it back to the July meeting, we can still meet those deadlines and we shouldn't have any issue with them. >> Thank you.
>> Yes. Matter of fact, I think uh if I'm correct, I think July meeting is July 13th. And I think the the application I mean I think the yeah the applications
that have to go into the state I think that last because there's no benefit of having another meeting in July. Yes. >> No, we're not going to do another meeting just for this. >> Well, that's what I'm saying. There's no other meeting. >> No, there's no other meeting. So, so
council members, you have some time to chew through this and get your information. They are carrying it. It won't be on this agenda. Um, so we have weeks to discuss it. >> Yes. >> Let's move on. >> I think I still have to read the title
into the record because it's not carried until it's carried. So, I will briefly run through that. 4.14 ordinance 26-046 an ordinance of the city of Jersey City County of Hudson and the state of New Jersey granting a tax exemption with respect to certain property identified
as block 21501.02 lot 1.01 01 874-902 Garfield Avenue and authorizing the execution of a financial agreement with Garfield Phase 1B Urban Renewal LLC.
Item 4.15 we already discussed. Item 4.16, ordinance 26-048, an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to renew the lease for the Brunswick Community Garden, sponsored by Jersey City Community Gardening, Inc.
for the use of block 9905, lots 8 and 9, more commonly known as 174-176 Brunswick Street. Are there any questions uh regarding petitions and communications?
Hearing none. Moving on to offic. There are no officer or director uh reports. Uh there is a claims list. Are there any questions on the claims? Hearing none. Moving on to the resolutions. Agenda item 10.1 was
already discussed. Agenda item 10.2 2. Resolution 26-364, a resolution honoring OEN King. My French is not that great. Uh, Puot on
being crowned Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2025. >> That French, John, >> I I believe it is. >> Okay. >> Don't quote me on that. >> Well, it's on the record. You said it. >> Okay. Well, when Miss New Jersey shows up, she can
confirm. Resolution 10.3, sorry, agenda item 10.3, resolution 26-365, a resolution of the city council of the city of Jersey City, honoring and celebrating the outstanding academic and engineering achievements of team Jersey
City Scholars. Agenda item 10.4 was already discussed. Agenda item 10.5, resolution 26-367, a resolution honoring Daria Jones for her outstanding contributions to music, education, and community empowerment in
recognition of Black Music Month. Agenda item 10.6, 6 resolution 26-368, a resolution honoring PM Dawn during Black Music Month for their groundbreaking contributions to
music and their lasting legacy as Jersey City pioneers. Agenda item 10.7, resolution 26-369, a resolution recognizing Renee Walker for her extraordinary contributions to music, faith-based theater, and
community service during Black Music Month 2026. Agenda item 10.8, 8 resolution 26-370, a resolution recognizing Charlene Totty Cox Sharif for her music journalism,
preservation of black music history, community service, and education during Black Music Month. Agenda item 10.9, resolution 26-371, a resolution of the municipal council of the city of Jersey City, urging the New
Jersey office of the state controller to conduct an audit, performance review, contract review, and any other lawful investigation or examination of the fiscal operations of the Fulip administration from 2020 through 2025
that contributed to the city's current structural budget deficit. I just briefly speak to that and if anyone has questions feel free to ask myself and Councilman Zupa I'm co-sponsoring this resolution. Um, as you know, all of us have received um um
inquiries and and demands that uh um after learning about the $255 million budget deficit that we investigate these matters and hold some um hold people accountable for the fiscal crisis that
we are in currently. um rather than establish a council investigative committee um with I say respectfully to the members of the public um that the the depth and and the the what would be required to be able to
do that kind of work um is extensive um and obviously we have our hands full um but um we do feel that um an investigation should be conducted and myself and Councilman Zupa have been talking about this for months frankly and I know some people have suggested that we put this on just because um of
the third quarter tax levy. Um and that's absolutely not the case. It's kind of just fell that way and put it on before I we even knew that uh there was going to be a third quarter tax levy on the agenda. Um and so we think that the state comproller can make investigations
into this um this matter may want to amend it after today's presentation because it says from 2020 through 2025 and uh I think the presentation said 2019 through 2025. Um and so um we will refer that with this resolution that
investigation to the state controller and hopefully any referrals of any criminal activities or anything else would go to the state attorney general as a result. Council Zupo, would you like to say something? >> No, I think uh Councilman covered everything. I I think serving on the
rank uh invest rank control investigations committee uh taught taught a humbling lesson that this this council through no fault of our own just doesn't have the resources to do the kind of investigation that this requires. If the if the deficit is was caused by the amount of let's go with negligence amount of negligence that is
being alleged by the administration and what we've seen then we we we need an outside an outside independent agency that has the ability and resources to do an investigations. Can you talk more about it? You said outside agency will be doing it.
>> Yeah, the state controller is has no is independent of the of city of Jersey City. Obviously, it's independent of of the council and sitting on that on that same committee and and of course talking to our corporation council, we're limited
in what we can do to ask questions of current city employees and certainly of former city employees. So, uh if there is going to be an investigation, it should be by an outside agency. Okay. Agenda item 10.10, resolution 26-372,
a resolution accepting the 2026 2027 assessment role of the historic downtown Special Improvement District of the City of Jersey City. Agenda item 10.11, resolution 26-373,
a resolution adopting and ratifying the 2026 2027 budget of the historic downtown Special Improvement District of the City of Jersey City. Items 10.12 and 10.13 were already discussed. It is my understanding that the administration
wishes to withdraw items 10.14, 10.15, and 10.16. Is that correct? That is correct. >> Okay. Agenda items 10.17 through 10.26 were already discussed.
Agenda item 10.27, 27. Resolution 26-389, a resolution authorizing the business administrator to execute a discharge of mortgage encumbering 424 Liberty Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey, aka block
2601, lot 56. Agenda items 10.28 through 1030 were already discussed. Agenda item 10.31, resolution 26-393, a resolution authorizing the city of
Jersey City to apply for and accept a grant from the New Jersey Department of Health, Division of Local Public Health for the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, 2026 2027. Agenda item 10.32 was already discussed.
Agenda item 10.33, resolution 26-395, a resolution authorizing the award of an open-end contract to Clark Moahan Landscaping and Construction LLC for the general maintenance of various parks, seven parks with the Department of
Recreation and Youth Development Division of Park Maintenance. >> Yes. Um I Lord Jesus. Um two things with this one. Um, I just think
these is this is this looks like what I perceive is I mean these park maintenance is essentially cutting the grass and um packing the grass up. Um, two things. one, I would like to see um
if we can not group these parks together and allow smaller Jersey City contractors to to bid on the parks. And then two, outside of that,
um, just from a financial standpoint, did we do any analysts as it relates to strictly just buying weed whackers and lawnmowers to maintenance the parks for the summer? When I was in recreation, I
was the coordinator of Bry Lane Park. We had a whole We had like a whole division that was dedicated to just cutting grass. We had the lawnmowers over there. We had weed whackers over there. And outside of
the health hazard of workers going inside of that building, um it it seems pretty cost effective. Uh so I I just this is almost a million dollars. Again, that's 0.25 25 of the percentage with
which the administration spoke of earlier. I I just I just I can't overemphasize enough of bringing things in house to to get things done. Um I get it. It's
a new administration. Time is moving quick. But as a council, whenever things are coming up with these big money budget items, we just have to be creative. We just have to be creative. So my
question is, have have anyone in the administration and the department of recreation looked to see from a financial standpoint, how much would it cost? >> Yes, Councilman. believe acting director
Donath when he was here sent a breakdown to Erica. I have to double check that. Um but I believe that was done in March or April. >> Yeah, I don't think the breakdown was of how much the things would cost. >> So So the breakdown went over different
the staffing that would be needed, the cost of that staffing, equipment, fuel, um all those items. Again, I'll have to revisit. I'm not sure which way was sent out or if it got crossed anywhere, but we did do an analysis of that. Um it once you factor in fringe benefits
and the capital required to purchase a lot of the equipment that would be needed, it would be more costly than the current contract. Um however, I know the council has been adamant that we want to try to bring some of these services in house, which I think in the long run we're committed to doing. It's just in the current situation with the current budget, we wouldn't be able to bring
those in house and save the city money doing that. Um, so I think at this point the contract really kind of just gets us buy us some time to do it properly and bring those services inhouse over the long run to make it cost effective. >> Pete, I'm going to say this, Peter.
>> Um, you don't need a college degree to cut grass. >> No, but you need medical insurance, liability insurance, and >> No, the this the city already have the insurance is nothing more than if you're if you're at work and something happens
to you. There's already there's people for the city that have been cutting grass that still works for the city. These people still work there. They just do other things. It it's I mean it
listen weed whackers and lawnmowers does not cost that much. It doesn't take that much to cut grass. Like it's this this stuff is not rocket science. We need to have a real conversation from a structural standpoint to see if we can
do this. And if we can't do this, give the council a financial memo to show from a financial standpoint why we can't do it. I know that there are people from DPW or I don't know if they're still in DPW or recreation, but I know that there
were people assigned to this detail cutting grass. They were groundsmen working for the parks. I I actually uh bumped into someone when I was going to one of the senior events um who works for the city. He was driving a truck and had a a lawn mower
hitched to the back of it. And I asked him where he where you know where's he going? He said he was going to cut grass. So I don't understand. People are actually doing it today. This was two weeks ago and he's doing that. And then, you know, when you're reading this and
it says open-ended contract, like what? Why, right? How come there's no I don't get it. These these open in I mean, we shouldn't have open-ended contracts with anybody, right? Um, but
so with this open-ended contract, if we if if we do bring somebody in, I mean, how how easy or if we're not satisfied with the services, how easy is it for us to just stop services
on an open-ended contract? >> I would have to actually review the contract language of the law department. I couldn't answer that right now. For your awareness, councilman, open-ended typically means that you only pay for services that are actually rendered as you go. So, if you tell them
stop providing services or they do less work than you expect them to, you only pay for what was actually performed. Open-ended doesn't mean authorized forever without an end date. It just means, you know, pay as you go effectively. >> No, no. I I I see that. I see it's up to $811,000.
It's It's a one-year contract. >> No, it's one year. >> Yep. So you got one year $800,000 for >> seven am I reading this right? >> Se seven parks parks. So that's about
>> 110 >> $110,000 to maintenance the park. >> Um I don't know y'all. I'm I'm I just know what I've seen. I just know what I've seen. I know the capabilities. I
know the work that individuals in DPW do. In fact, we have property that we have to maintenance that we have to cut the grass. Hence, the property on Garfield directly across from Berry Lane Park.
Whenever it get too high, the neighbor always call, we call DBW, they come cut it and clean it. They do the cleaning lanes >> like we we already do this. The equipment is there.
>> Just just a question. So the council voted on two temporary contracts with clerk Moyahan and uh is when director Donath was here. Thank you. was here and he said, "Well, these are temporary because we're going to get a a more permanent RFQ. Is this contract the
result of that RFQ process? And if so, how come the rest of the parks aren't included in this? Like Persian Field is is obviously not included. >> I think it was an RFP for this, not an RFQ. Not big deal, but you know, distinguishing in case anyone is watching at home. Um it's because
there's two separate contracts we have. One of them, you know, does the three large parks, you know, Persian Field included, and the other does the seven remaining parks as well as other properties around the city like the small pocket parks. So that's why there's two here. There's one contract that's a different cycle that was already approved by council. This
current one, this current one was an effort for us to go out to RFP. I believe even in RFP we did kind of frame the cost where you know if you could provide it you know union etc. break it down more whatever the circumstances might be they had a chance to reply to it but I don't think anyone applied that
they could do the entire city. You know the only person that replied with that was the current one Clark Monahan. We can anticipate another contract most likely from Clark Moyahan for Persing Field and the other parks that weren't covered. >> I think that was already approved by council to see when the expiration date is for that.
>> I think it's the end of the year. Yeah. >> So I think that's the exact date, but eventually you anticipate it, you know, unless we can decise how to bring some of the services inhouse at a a more cost beneficial rate to the city. Um I understand the council's frustration,
but again, these are very large parks throughout the entire city. We do have some equipment but we do not have the sufficient equipment to do all these parks. >> Peter Peter order park is not a large I may have more grass in my house than order park. That is not a large park.
>> That is not a large park. >> Again these contracts are for all the parks in the city council's reference. >> It's it's eight parks and I mean it's been a long day but it's 800,000 for seven parks which equates to 110,000 a
park. Odborn Park, if you're lucky, is the size of this room right here. And they do a horrible job. I'm not even gonna get on the performance. I just think that I I don't know, man. I I just think that if we're really in the business of having this conversation
about being financially respon, I think we could do it. and and and and and and also when you think about it, right, if if the contract is open-ended and it's it's okay, we're going to call them when we need them, then we should be able to,
you know, when we need it done, put people together, give them a few days notice from DPW or let them know on a Monday, can you go out Thursday um with your team and and and you know, mow these lawns because again, they do
the cleaning leans They're out here and and I've seen them with some equipment like heavy equipment like this lawn mower. You can sit on it >> or hire seasonal workers. >> I you know I >> I know the administration is looking at shared services. Did anyone contact the county and and ask, hey, do you have
anyone we can we can hire retain to to do seven parks? >> I mean a million dollars for eight months of grass cutting is a little high when we're talking about 20% tax increase. Well, let's I want to be a little specific though. It's not just grass cutting. They have to do trimming,
maintenance, they do shoveling of the sidewalks. There's a lot, you know, to be fair to the the applicant for the RFP. There's a lot more required. I can share the RFP with everyone if the council would like to review it. Um, but there is specific work, specific time frames they have to complete this work in. Again, not speaking directly to the
level of service they provide. I'll let the director kind of provide a memo to everyone so you see that. But, you know, there there's specific requirements to how they have to comply with it. So, Peter, can you send the uh the RFP and any financial information that you have over to the council? >> Yes, we'll do.
>> I'm interested in >> May I suggest that we get three council members to sit with the administration and >> yeah, >> work this out. Let's get it to work out. Um I just want to put on the record, you got my questions. Um please please
provide that information. Thank you. So, um, just quickly, given that we weren't able to hear from anyone from this from, um, recreation this resolution, would the administration consider, um, withdrawing it for this council meeting and allowing us time to review the
materials and discuss with Director Vincent at next caucus? >> I would, however, the contract is expiring soon. So, if we do that, we would be out of contract until the next council meeting. So, I know the council was very critical of that. So, we've been mindful of trying to get things
done prior to it going out of contract, but I defer to council. If you're willing to give us that leeway, you know, I'm happy to bring it back in July. >> Would there would we just have an interruption in service or would we continue services and paying for them out of
contract? >> Yeah, I wouldn't recommend interrupting the services in the heart of summer with all the activities we have going on. So, we'd have to pay them out of contract. >> So, when does the contract end? June 30th, >> believe July 1st. I checked that. >> So then potentially we between July 1st
and July 15th, we could see if DPW could handle the maintenance of the parks for those weeks. >> There's there's no way they can handle that maintenance. They're short staff as it is. >> Can can um you you email us the the the number or the amount of um employees
that Park and Forestry have? Yes, I can do that. >> Well, if you know now, >> I don't know the exact top and and and you said that there's no one in DPW um or or recreation that could handle
>> that maintenance, but but I would like to hear that from Director Vincent. So, I think we should uh take this offline and meet with uh the administration loopin director Vincent um and maybe DPW so we can get
some of these answers. >> Thank you. >> Councilman Gilmore volunteers to go and cut the grass. >> June July 1st to July 15th, Councilman Gilmore will take. >> Next one. side.
>> Okay. Agenda item 10.34, resolution 26-396, a resolution honoring Hyram Winard Harper for his outstanding contributions to jazz and community enrichment in recognition of Black Music Month. Agenda
items 1035 through 10:38 were already discussed. Agenda item 10.39, resolution 26-41, a resolution authorizing the public sale of 137 motor vehicles through public
surplus.com public online auction. Agenda items 10.40 through 10.42 were already discussed. Uh it is my understanding the administration wishes to withdraw agenda item 10.43. Is that correct?
Yes, that's correct. >> Okay. Agenda items 10.44 through 10.48 were already discussed. Agenda item 10.49, resolution 26-411, a resolution ratifying the award of a
professional service agreement with the law firm of Florio Kenny Raval LLP to provide legal professional service advice and counsel on various litigation matters. permission to get ahead of this one, John?
>> Granted. >> So, this is a contract ratification, which I understand the council is rightfully loathed to award. There are two that are on the agenda from the law department tonight. As you know, we are involved in a laborintensive process of
reviewing all of our contracts and all outstanding invoices from prior years. I will submit for your consideration without reference to any particular agenda item that sometimes the cudil of council approval of a contract award is
useful in negotiations over things like the scope of work revision of outstanding invoices and changing practices moving forward to comport with the new administration's um approach to contract awards. So with the understanding that this council
frowns upon these ratifications and any future ones that come before it, we do respectfully request you consider these contract awards. Sarah, >> can you speak to why for some of the law firms the hourly late rate was 175? I know they responded to the proposal with
that that rate, but uh 175 for Florio Kenny. I think it was one or 200 for Pem Law. Um I I don't know some of these firms but I'm confident we can get them at 180 175 an hour w with the recognition that you know they'll build
a municipality more you know more abundantly but it'll be a cheaper rate overall for the city. >> Sure. So for firms that provide litigation services for the city which include Florio Kenny and Kieran and Tbach which are both on tonight we have a standard process. So 175 is the
standard rate. The only firms we have ever offered an elevated rate to do special kinds of litigation, namely federal litigation in complex cases. The highest rate we have ever awarded is 225 an hour in cases where we really struggled to obtain counsel either in
very challenging cases or frankly in high-profile or controversial cases. Um, so firms that we're awarding $200 to, that is the rate we have been able to negotiate for federal cases. For PEM law, that's a little bit different from our litigation firms. that is the firm
that is providing outside council labor services for the city. Um, so this is a firm that has been performing services for the city under a contract that we originally awarded that was under the bid threshold. So it did not previously come before council. She has done the
attorney from the firm, her name is Jen Rosselle, really excellent labor and employment work for the city thus far. And so the administration has made the decision that it would like her to take over negotiations in the six out of contract union matters. Um so we are now
awarding her a contract or additional money for her existing contract. Um that will be approaching but less than what the city has paid in previous years for labor services for a year's worth of many unions worth of negotiations. Um Jen Roselle wanted to be here tonight
but due to some scheduling and logistic challenges she could not be. But she wanted me to express to all of you that she is happy to make herself available one-on-one to answer any questions that you have or just to tell you a bit about her philosophy in labor negotiations.
Miss Roselle got it's $200 an hour for her services. >> Give me just a moment to confirm. So, let John, let's move on to the uh next one and give Corporation Council a second to look that up if she doesn't have it. >> Very well. Agenda item 1050, resolution
26-412, a resolution authorizing a closed session of the municipal council on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. to discuss issues related to pending litigation. >> Sorry, Sarah, you can I could bother you
offline. You don't have to give me a public response. My request so we can keep the agenda moving. >> Okay. Uh, agenda item 10.51 was already discussed as was agenda item 10.52. 10.53 resolution 26-415,
a resolution ratifying the award of a professional service agreement with the law firm of Kieran Tribach LLP to provide legal professional service advice and counsel on various litigation matters.
Agenda item 10.54, resolution 26-416, a resolution amending a professional services agreement with the law firm of PM Law LLP to serve as outside council to the city of Jersey City on various labor matters. Agenda items 10.55
through the balance of business, sorry, sorry, 10.58 were already discussed. Agenda item 10.59, resolution 26-421, a resolution recognizing child care as essential public infrastructure and calling for the full funding, reopening,
and expansion of the New Jersey Child Care Assistance Program. >> Motion. >> Hold on one second. Uh, agenda item 1060, we already discussed. >> Yeah, I would just like to speak very briefly on 10.59. So, this is um calling
on the council to support state legislation to expand um the child care subsidies from 200% of federal poverty to 300%. Um that would help a lot of people. Jersey City um child care is
extremely expensive. um the legislature has the chance to do something transformative um at the same time that they help our municipality here. So that's the purpose of this resolution. Would like to defer to this and I will keep my
group to a tight seven minutes. Madame President, I'll time it. Seven minutes. Yeah, >> seven minutes. >> This is quick quick quick speeches, quick picture. Three three minutes >> because there are a lot of resolutions.
>> No no meaning I will not speak. I'm not going to speak for seven minutes. >> Okay. But Councilman Gilmore has about three or four presentations. I made all his people do three minutes. We got to stick to the three minutes. >> I I was meaning in total the whole show.
But three minutes. Okay. Put a timer. Put a timer. >> We'll keep it to three minutes. We'll talk off the line. >> Okay, sounds good. >> I have two ceremonial. >> Yeah, we we're gonna and then we still have the whole agenda after all of the ceremonial stuff. So,
>> and speaking on 4.6 who has to leave by 7:15. So, >> motion. >> Sorry. Quick. Okay. So, >> Wednesday questions, but nobody has energy now. >> All right. So, there was a >> for you. There's a motion by Councilman
Gilmore to to adjourn at 9:38. Seconded by Griffin, I believe. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion passes. 90. We'll see everyone on Wednesday at 6:00
p.m. right here in the council chambers. Until then, be well. Okay. Oh.