Hey, good afternoon everyone. We are on the record. Today is Monday of May 2025. Happy Cinco de Mayo. This is a city council caucus meeting of the Jersey City Municipal Council. We had a scheduled 4pm start. The clock on
my cell phone is showing 4:03 p.m. May we have a roll call for the commencement of this caucus. Council person Ridley here. Council person Huings. Council person Bajiano is not here
yet. Council person is not here yet. Council person Solomon. Council person Gilmore is not here yet. Council person the here and I see council person walking in so he is
here. Council person Ria here and council president Waterman will be absent for the meeting. So, we have one, two, three. We have six council members present at 4:03
p.m. on behalf of Council President Waterman and the members of the municipal council in accordance with New Jersey Public Laws of 1975, Chapter 231, the Open Public Meetings Act, also known as the Sunshine Law. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the posting on the bulletin board of the
first floor of city hall. the annual notice which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the municipal council for the calendar year 2025 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Friday November 15th 2024. In addition, at its time of its preparation, the agenda of this meeting
was similarly disseminated on Friday, May 2nd, 2025 at 5:23 p.m. to the mayor, municipal council, business administrator, corporation council, and the local newspapers and posted on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the sunshine law. And I
see council person Bajiano present at 4:05 p.m. So we now have seven council members present. And since council president Waterman will not be at the caucus, I'm going to turn it over to council president promp Ridley.
Uh first up, director Kirst. Good evening, council members. I have uh four items before you today for consideration. First one is resolution 25314 item 1018. Resolution will authorize renew renewal of an open-end
contract to Lincoln Recycling Services LLC for the disposal of various waste types for the DPW Division of Sanitation. Total amount of this contract is $639,33251 for a one-year period effective May 2025. if an incumbrance in
the amount of $160,000 is available in a DPW sanitation operating account. Any questions? Next is item 1019 25315. Resolution will authorize the acceptance of a recycling tonnage grant from the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in the amount of $338,457.40 40 cents through the state's recycling enhancement act. No. Next is item 102025316. Resolution will authorize the
public sale of 33 motor vehicles for the public surplus.com online auction vehicles which are no longer suitable for public use. And the last item is 25318 10.22 22 resolution will authorize the payment of a claim submitted by
Appalonia Incorp Incorporated trading as air brake equipment incorporated for providing heavy duty parts and repair services needed for the city's fleet vehicles. The director of automotive services has reviewed and certified the services were provided and the claim in the amount of
$115,418.32 should be paid. Director, why is that uh coming in as a claim? It was an addition to the original contract, counselor. Okay. And I guess um is that a one time one claim onetime claim. Correct. Okay.
Director, do you have 1024 also? I have 1024 on my sheet. Is that yours or no? Uh no, there was a mistake on my Okay, so 1022. Okay. Thank you. Have a nice night, Director Baker. Good evening, council. Public safety has
one resolution this evening. It's uh item 10.15, resolution 25-311. It's a resolution ratifying the award of a contract to Verizon Business Network for police data services under New
Jersey state contract for the Department of Public Safety, Division of Communications and Technology. Uh this is actually for all of public safety, not just the um police data services, but this is our complete um networking
and backup. And if I may just do a little shout out. Effie, stand up. That woman back there working with me for years on this whole bit. I'm thinking of changing her title to like
an IT type bit because she's getting so good helping me with reducing this. This is hundreds of thousand dollars less than what it was last year. And we're still striving to pull this down even a lot more. And that happens with the help
of that lady standing behind me. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Uh Noble, good afternoon, council members. I'm presenting two items for your consideration today, both related to the
purchase of computers and monitors. As Microsoft plans to discontinue the support of Windows 10 operating system this fall, majority of the computers on our network are not compatible with Windows 11. These two orders will ensure that we have the necessary equipment to
transition smoothly to Windows 11 citywide. First resolution 25-312, agenda item 10.16, a resolution authorizing an award of a contract to CDW Government LLC for the purchase and
delivery of monitors and desktops through the Educational Service Commission of New Jersey for the Department of Administration Division of Information Technology. The total cost of the contract is $60,875. How many monitors and computers does that provide us with? 50 50 of each.
Yes. How many do we need to become fully 250? Um so the next resolution will cover the other 200. Got it. Okay. Next one. Second item. Resolution 25-313 agenda item
10.17. A resolution authorizing an award of a contract to Howard Technology Solution for the purchase and delivery of Lenovo monitors and desktops under the New Jersey state contract for the Department of Administration, Division of Information Technology for the total cost of $245,791. This is a total of 200
computers and monitors. And which capital account is this coming out of? Not just it, but which uh which year was it? uh believe last year's last year's capital funding. Okay, thanks. Why are there two separate resolutions?
Why are we doing 51 and 200 in the other um supply chain? Okay, any other questions? Thank you. Thank you, Joan. Good evening, council members. Um, I
have resolution item number 1014, resolution 25310. It's a resolution authorizing the execution of a memorandum of understanding with Hudson County Schools of Technology in the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of
Senior Affairs to assist seniors at their two senior centers. We've had events over the years where the students come in and visit with the seniors. They helped with a computer technology class and just do all sorts of may do living history and other projects. So, we just
want to do this to cover for the whole year. And one other thing I saw on the agenda, you have this, you're honoring the senior of the year. Would you like me to invite her to come on Wednesday? Um, do we want to give it to her before the council? You can that's been done that it's it's been done before. if you
want to do it since however you want to do it. Okay, that's okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, director Patel. Hello, council member. I have five items for you.
The first one is item 3.1, ordinance 25-055. It's a first reading ordinance authorizing the execution of a temporary construction easement. And this is for the Statco building located at 605 uh
Monmouth Street. This is a standard ordinance that's required by the New Jersey D to install a monitoring well in association with the building. Okay. Next item is um 10.23 23 resolution
25-319. This is a resolution authorizing the execution of a notice and also authorizing 18 Park Condominium Association uh to submit a soil remedial action permit with the New Jersey D. Um,
and we're doing this by resolution because a portion of the area in question is within a public rideway. Um, I'm going to ask Lindseay Scoffield from the Department of Transportation to present the next item. Good afternoon, members of
council. I'm here to present agenda 10.24, 24 resolution 25-320 a resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement with the county of Hudson and AR James and Company regarding the installation of bus shelters on county roads. This will
be an amendment to our existing triparty agreement in order to install bus shelters at priority locations. Um so these would be eight locations along JFK Boulevard. Uh we have prioritized bus shelters based on existing ridership
equity uh requests that have been received by the division and also the site suitability. Are we paying for these? Uh uh we actually do not pay for these. Um they are supported by advertising and then over a certain amount um AR James actually gives the
city back revenue from the advertising. Well, how come the countyy's not uh putting them up? Uh, you know, I don't know the history of um why the county versus the city has installed them on the county roads, but um Jersey City is
able to um you know, I guess for efficiency sake are able to streamline that process. But their commission once we sign this their Hudson County Commission then would um hear this and if they approve it, then the county
would sign off on it. Any other questions? Which one? It's all three parties, Councilman. So, it's the city, the county, and the installer. They all have to sign
on. Okay. Uh the next one is agenda item 10.25, resolution 25-321. This is a resolution authorizing the city to accept grant funds from the state of New Jersey DCA, the Department
of Community Affairs for Bayside Park. Um the total grant amount is $1 million which we'll receive in four uh payments of $250,000 each. Next, and the last one is agenda
item 10.28, 28 resolution number 25-324. This is the resolution accepting a grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority um through their film and digital media program for
renovations at 50 Day Street um which is essentially the Day Street entrance of MANA. And this is in the amount of $2.1 million for the city. Any questions?
Thank you. Thank you. Brian France. Good afternoon, council. I have two items for your consideration today. Uh the first is agenda item 10.7 resolution 25-303. It's a resolution of the municipal council awarding uh community
development block grant public facility program year 2022 funding and authorizing the execution of a subreient agreement with rising tide capital uh incorporated for a construction improvement project at their location 311 315 MLK. As you all probably know,
uh, Rising Tide Capital is a nonprofit that operates as a business development and technical assistance nonprofit for aspiring entrepreneurs in the community. Uh, they submitted a request for $339,340 uh to pursue um um an underground water
retention tank to deal with water resiliency and flooding on their property. Um, we reviewed their proposal. uh complies with federal law. So, we're asking permission um to award the money and then execute the subreient agreement. And the second item is agenda
10.8 resolution 25-304. It's a resolution authorizing the city of Jersey City to execute an indemnification and hold harmless agreement with Martin Luther King Drive urban renewal joint venture partnership, Jersey City Municipal LLC, Jersey City
Redevelopment Agency and Brand of Wine Real Estate Corporation and authorizing the risk manager to issue a certificate of insurance for the use of two spots in their parking lot which is by one Jackson Square so uh DCD can put on its annual community development community
block party. Uh the community block party is currently scheduled for May 17th, 2025. Um we need two spaces so uh food vendors can be there and they're requiring this document to be executed before we allow the food vendors to go there.
Thank you so much. Have a great night. Thank you, Don Merc. Good afternoon, council. I have one one item agenda number 1021 resolution 25-317 and this is to authorize the use
of competitive contracting to purchase collection and reporting software for payroll tax system we have right now doesn't really give us the tools we need to appropriately manage it. Have Have you seen a demo of it? Like
what? Um No, we'd be issuing an RFP. Oh, you're putting out an RFP. Sorry. Thank you. What would be the uh timeline, John? Um I mean hopefully before the end of the year. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. Okay. Thank you,
Danny. Danny. Good afternoon, council members. For your consideration, I have two resolutions. The first one is agenda number 10.1, resolution number 25-297. It's a resolution authorizing an
emergency temporary appropriation for calendar year 2025. And this request is needed for the continuence of city services without any disruptions. Any questions? Okay. Second resolution is
agenda number 10.2 resolution 25-298. It's a resolution ratifying an award of a contract to Software House International for Questica Software through the New Jersey Cooperative
Purchasing Alliance, Bergen County Co-op for the Department of Finance, Office of Management and Budget. Pretty much what the software does, it helps us with capital project planning, the operating budget, and our debt
books. Any questions? Is this a reapproval? Sorry. Yeah, this is the final renewal. Thank you. Thank you, Keith. Hey, council. Uh, this might be a little bit of deja vu. Um, but I'm going to
read um, uh, agenda number 10.9, resolution 25-305, uh, resolution authorizing an award of a contract to mainline commercial pools um, for the purchase and delivery of bulk chlorine supplies for city pools
pools uh, through the educational service commission uh, formerly Middle Sex Regional Educational Service Commission uh, for the Department of Recreation. questions. Any questions? Thank you. You
Stephanie Daniels. Good afternoon, city council. Thank you for hearing my resolution proposals today. Um, I have on agenda number 10.3, resolution 25299, a resolution that would author the city of Jersey City to accept a
donation from a company called Lotus Connects, which would allow them to give us a lot of soup cups, bags, flashlights that all have the Healthier JC logo on them that we use for the Partnership for
Healthier JC as giveaways. The second is agenda num item number 1012 resolution 25308 which would authorize us uh to have an affiliation agreement between Ruters University uh and the Blousein School of Planning
and Public Policy and the City of Jersey City Community Relations and Social Services Health uh HHS division. Uh this is for a summer intern. Thank you. Director
Jeffrey. Good afternoon. I'm here speaking on um a second reading ordinance. It's item 4.4. The ordinance itself is 25-053. This is to authorize the transfer of lot 14, um, which is also
known as 247 First Street to the JC. Lot 14, I brought a visual here for you, but you're pretty far away, so I don't know if you can see it. This is sort of a strange situation. So, about four years ago, um, planning created a
rehab area for the municipal parking lot on Newark Avenue that also backs up to First Street. They it was just for lots 14 and 13. 13 is the bulk the majority of the site. Lot 14 is just this row of
cars in the parking lot that are that are up against the wall where next to where a daycare center is. So lot 14 is a tiny sliver and somehow it it was mistakenly not not transferred to the JC when we accepted the transfer of lot 13.
So um what I'm here tonight to ask you to do is approve the transfer of lot 14. Um it's important for a number of reasons but in particular there is a daycare center that needs permission to use lot 14 as an e an emergency egress
by state law. and we have the license agreement prepared and that's when I real I noticed that we didn't it wasn't lot 14 is still owned by the parking authority. So I'm just here tonight to ask you to transfer that lot to us. We'll make it part of the larger
assemblage and then we'll give the daycare center their egress. Any questions? Thank you. Last but not least, Paul. Thank you, Councilwoman, for that not least. And uh good evening, council
members. I am here for 10.13, which is a resolution to accept the Hudson Regional Health Commission's 2025 assessment in the amount of $87,944. Uh the health commission provides uh
health services to us as well as other municipalities which we do not provide ourselves. Things like mosquito control, uh spotted lantern fly control, um air quality testing outdoors and a variety of other things which no individual
department does. The amount has not gone up for over a decade. It's fix set by ordinance at the county. Any questions? Thanks, Paul. Thank you very much and good evening.
Sean, you can take it from the top. All righty. All right. From the top, our first reading ordinances. Item 3.1 was touched on earlier. Item 3.2, 2. City Ordinance 25-056 is an ordinance of the municipal
council amending chapter 3, Administration of Government, Article 10, Department of Housing, Economic Development, and Commerce to amend required wage benefit and leave standards for building service workers on covered development projects. And uh
this ordinance is submitted by my office and uh we've passed a memo out, this one here, to explain the basics. Uh but basically we have an ordinance already on the books that requires a uh developer if they get a pilot to offer standard wages to the workers the
permanent workers in the building has not been updated since 2012. So what this ordinance does is it updates it significantly. Um some of the key pieces uh that it does is first it expands the scope. The prior ordinance only covered janitors and security
workers. Now this covers all building service workers, janitors, porters, security, concierge as buildings increase the number of staff. Um it changes the definition of the standard wage. So the 2012 ordinance was set to the federal minimum wage. The federal
minimum wage has not increased because Congress does not believe that's the right thing to do. But our state minimum wage has increased. So, this uh now sends it sets it at 125% of the state minimum wage and sets a number of other conditions around benefits, paid leave, and anti- retaliation as well as
reporting requirements. But the overall goal is to say, look, if you're getting a pilot from the city, we want you to commit to treating the permanent workers in your building, often times are Jersey City residents, and give them the best possible uh you know, kind of wages and benefits and anti- retaliation
policies. Any questions? Definitely after, you know, I'll do a deep dive and I'll send any questions to your office. Okay. And just to record, Council Person
Gilmore present at 4:27 p.m. We have eight council members present at 4:27. Next second, excuse me, next first reading ordinance. Item 3.3, city ordinance 25-057 is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 218 multiple
dwellings code of code of ordinances of the city of Jersey City by adding section 12 entitled preventing algorithmic rent fixing in the rental housing market. This is also our office. Um, so for everyone except Councilwoman
Heings, um, a little less than a year ago, we passed a resolution calling on Trenton to ban the use of algorithms in the setting of rent. And what the algorithms allow is they allow developers and landlords to trade proprietary data on the rents that they're setting. And then the algorithm
based on knowing what all of these buildings are setting can then recommend a higher rent uh, to maximize profit. Uh but ultimately that's sort of what we we that's not a competitive free market, right? The whole idea is you're competing. You don't know the proprietary information of your
competitors. And by enabling the sharing of this proprietary information, it's allowed rent to go up. And there's a couple of different studies that show that rent has increased um in different places where this is uh algorithm is adopted significantly. It has fallen
under the attention of antitrust law enforcement action. So, both federal and then just last week, state law enforcement took action. Our New Jersey attorney general sued, I believe, 10 different landlords and developers for using it. We had hoped Treton would pass a bill because obviously landlords own
properties across different cities. Uh, but they haven't yet. They may still, but we didn't want to wait any longer. So, this ordinance basically says in Jersey City, we are banning the use of similar algorithms uh that allow them to trade the the proprietary information. Um the enforcement would create a
mechanism where the office of landlord tenant would receive complaints from tenants and then uh the municipal prosecutor and the office of landlord tenant would be able to either pursue those in municipal court or make a referral to the state attorney general for further investigation. Councilwoman Ridley, can I just mention
one thing about it? Um this is being put forth by Councilman Solomon. We did look at it. um we are going to just complete our own memo just on the um preeemption argument that um we had gotten some information on. We just want to make sure that's clear and we'll provide that
to the council. And then secondly, when I was reviewing it again, there is a portion of it and I can provide it to the councilman and Sean where it says that the law department can prosecute. We cannot prosecute. We can bring lawsuits in the in the previous
paragraph. Uh but we cannot prosecute. Just want to make that clear. Okay, we'll amend. Thank you. And do you do this like when you're searching for a unit? Are you doing this if you're the victim of it? Like what is
the um scope of like who would be able to claim that they're like the victim of the rent setting algorithm? So for municipal ordinances, any member of the public is able to um allege a ordinance violation and go to either the office of
landlord tenant or the municipal prosecutor and then they would be able to both if they believe the landlord that they are using or maybe they've seen in reports that uh you know a national company is using it and they they own in Jersey City. Those would be the types of examples that people would
take uh to be able to uh submit a a possible claim. And are are real estate agents using this as well or is this just like landlords or um you know it it would just be landlords because they're they're in their rent setting um
mechanism. Got it. Okay. Right. On to our second reading ordinances. Item 4.1, city ordinance 25-050, is an ordinance to exceed the calendar year 2025 municipal budget
appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank pursuant to NJSA4A 4-45.15A. Item 4.2, 2. City Ordinance 25-051 is an ordinance authorizing an amendment to a dedication agreement
between Gran and Jersey LLC and the city of Jersey City for certain land and improvement improvements located on a portion of Regent Street between Liberty View Drive and Douglas and Arthur Skinner Memorial Drive in Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment Area. Item 4.3, city
ordinance 25-052, is an ordinance amending ordinance 25-010, updating the construction site safety manual with a 2024 addition to number one, include the installation requirements and maintenance for air
pressurized stand pipes for buildings under construction or demolition, and number two, delete references to the 2019 edition of the construction site safety manual. Item 4.4 was touched on earlier. Item
4.5, city resolution 25-054 is an ordinance amending chapter A 352 enabling ordinances of the Jersey City Municipal Code, renaming Courthouse Place from Baldwin Avenue to Oakland Avenue in the city of Jersey City to
Robert Burn Way. We have 13 speakers so far. Any questions or comments on petitions, communications items 6.1 through 6.16? There are no office communications or reported directors. We have our claims and I'm going to go right to the
resolutions. Items 10.1 and through 10.3 were touched on earlier. Item 10.4, Four, city resolution 25-300 is a resolution recognizing Donna Phillips as Jersey City's senior of the
year. Item 10.5 is a resolution to honor and congratulate Donna Phillips on being named 2025 Hudson County Senior of the Year. Item 10.6, Six. Resolution 25-302 is a resolution authorizing leans
against the properties listed herein for the cost of removing litter, debris, etc. in accordance with NJSA 4048-2.14 and the Jersey City Code section 287-4. Items 10.7 through 10.9 were
touched on earlier. Item 10.10, 2010. Resolution 25-306 is a resolution introducing and approving the 2025 2026 budget of the historic downtown Special Improvement District, directing the city clerk to publicly advertise the budget and
schedule a public hearing and directing the tax assessor to prepare an assessment role of properties within the district based upon the budget. Item 10.11, resolution 25-307, is a resolution authorizing the
award of a contract to HERK Rentals, Inc. or AC units rentals citywide use through the US Communities Government Purchasing Alliance known as the OM Omnia Partners for Department of Administration Division of Human
Resources. Items 10.12 through 10.25 25 we touched on earlier. Item 10.26 resolution 25-322 is a resolution of the municipal council in support of Jersey City
Theater Center proposed development at 575 Summit Avenue and its application to the NJA cafe program. Pause for a second this council council Bjano. This is uh the one on summit. The
the um uh potential developers are here. I don't know if they want to speak briefly on this Aspire application. Does the council have any questions for them? It's a Yeah, it's a letter of support
for the Aspire program that that we're voting on on the council. We're good. All right. And next item 10.27, resolution 25-323 is a resolution of the municipal
council authorizing support of the Jersey City Theater Centers regarding their application to Aspire Tax Credit Program regard to their proposed redevelopment for 575 Summit Avenue, block 7903, lot 26 within the Journal
Square 2060 redevelopment plan. and 1028 was touched on earlier. So I have nothing further. I I have a couple I have just wanted to I'm sorry. Go ahead. So I just I just want to you know discuss uh one thing and that's
basically for the law department but last week we had an ordinance 2532. Uh it was a second reading and that ordinance was I guess for the uh I guess it was intended for marathons I'm
assuming but I'd like to bring that ordinance back to the uh to to Wednesday's meeting so we could amend it so it could specifically say that this was uh this is for for uh for marathons
or half marathons to clarify what in to clarify what this whole and in part mean in the first clause of the ordinance. So I'd like that ordinance to come back uh Wednesday so we can discuss it unless we
could amend it because the reason why we're doing this we're getting phone calls from different festivals saying that we from from cultural affairs that we need to do proper documentation moving forward and I need that to be
explained on the record. Sure. Um, Councilman, yeah, it went through a second reading and we approved it at the April 9th meeting. So, if we wanted to bring it back, it would have to be a new ordinance uh in order to amend it. Uh, I did go back and look cuz I did speak to
your office about it. Um, I think there should be a conversation with cultural affairs just to make sure that they're also um applying it in the proper way. From the conversation we had, it was 10 or more uh 10 blocks and 5 hours. um and
or the more than 24 hours. And the reason why it didn't touch the parades was because the parades were rolling closures and not um full closures. And that's how it was explained um by Councilman Solomon and also uh I believe director Goodman's understanding of it.
But I hear that there were conversations that um it doesn't really comport with what um the idea was. I mean, if the if the department does not understand what the ordinance says, then yes, we should bring it back and create a new ordinance
so that it can be in simpler terms. Sure. If you want to, we'll work with you to draft it. Anything else? Um I I had one thing. Apologies. We um had the resolution in support of the
um Hudson County Open Space Trust Fund application uh that we withdrew at the last council meeting uh on Glenwood. And the folks who are in favor of that did reach out asking us to reconsider it. They said initially the deadline was in
April 25th. Uh so we didn't think it could come back on. They have confirmed with the county that uh uh their application would still be accepted so the council would have the ability to do it. I know the law department has some concerns. So I'll let them express those concerns and I
wrote a memo to us about them. You know on my end I didn't want to at least consider it because to me there I don't see the downside in at least trying. We're not going to this is a resolution simply in support of an application. So yes, the application can be rejected and
the uh land owner could um you know reject any purchase offer, but it feels like you know they've been trying to recreate that community garden, so why not at least give them the ability to try. Uh so they asked if we would consider putting it back on as a late
item. Um so that I wanted to have that conversation with folks if they would be willing to consider that as well. Will we run the chance of getting sued if we do something like that? I defer to the law department. My end is we're not compelling them. We're simply making an offer. But I apologize. What
was the question? This is on the Glenwood property. Will we get sued if if we would do something like that? Would the landlord sue us? Uh we could be sued. Yeah. The last communication I got from um the landlord's attorney, which he forwarded um to I believe Sean,
I believe he forwarded to the clerk um the association as well as the county. um was that they didn't understand the resolution and they would um you know reserve their rights if they wanted to move forward um with any legal action if we moved forward with it. Um just to
reiterate without going through all the points that were in the memo um there is a pending zoning board appeal um that was supposed to go before the superior court uh last week. Not sure uh what happened with it. I can check in on that. There is also another application
from the owner of 128 Glenwood uh before the zoning board. They are allowed to live independently. You can do them at the same time. Um we're still waiting for a decision on that as to whether or not the city is going to approve or deny the new zoning board application. Um
yeah, just to confirm James, one second, Riches. James, I met with the people for almost an hour and a half and the law department was involved. They were told to go to the mayor because he has to bring it back. But as far as the people that are selling the property, they have
no objection to the new uh new ordinance. Yeah. So, at the end of the day, grant awards are contractual agreements. At this particular phase, it doesn't rise to the level of a contractual commitment, but it's tied to
the same thing at the end of the day. So that's really why the administration should put them forward if it's going to be an authorization to apply for a grant. Have we have we done this for other um community gardens? Think of any offh hand. Okay. And the
city doesn't own this property. Correct. We do not own the property. Okay. I'm I'm just trying to you know I support community gardens. I'm just like it seems like very um like a morass of different issues.
So the issue we're dealing with here is um there's a couple tick boxes that you need to hit for the county to consider whether or not they're going to earmark the funds for you and award you something in an application round. When it comes for property acquisitions to be
open space, one of the things they generally want to see is that the property owner is open to selling the property for the green space purposes to to basically give it to another party and have the deed restriction go on it. In this instance, we had the complete
opposite happen. We had a letter that was sent around saying in no uncertain terms that they do not want to sell the property. So you'd end up potentially going through an application process where they're just going to shut it down anyways because the money could be spent on something that's definitely going to
happen versus one where it's not going to happen. None of that's really a legal issue at the end of the day. That's more of a policy call. But when it comes down to whether or not you're going to be in the good graces of an organization that's awarding grant funds, it's generally not looked highly upon if you
were an organization that got awarded money and then couldn't spend it because they could have given it to someone else. So that's just something to keep in mind. This is private property you're talking correct. Oh, okay. So John, wait, I'm confused a little here. So you're saying that the current owner's
position is that he don't want to sell? Rich is saying correct. And so but Rich, who you you spoke with the owner, Rich, or the attorney? The owner is willing to sell it. Uh there's a lot of thing a lot of issues here with this and it's all
been presented and it's trying to be solved. Uh I don't want to get into it too much. I was advised by the law department. The owner's got to come and say that though cuz you know I think that uh if we don't have anything in writing from the owners saying that they're looking
to sell and we have something basically saying they're not we go with what we have in writing. Yeah. Yeah, what they said. So what happens if I guess we move forward and then they get the grant and
then they find out the guy don't want to sell then you would just have to give the money back, right? Uh no, it's a matching grant if I'm not mistaken and they reimburse. The issue would just be that they would have the funding earmarked for a purpose
where it didn't get used and they could have spent it on something else. That's really it. And then we might go down in their scoring later if we apply for something in the future where we're not spending the funds. Mhm. If we ever had a issue with like a community garden on
private l I mean we had something recently, right? Or there was se a separate issue alley. Yes. This is totally different. There's an alley and the whole thing that were there for you. Okay. Okay. Motion. No. Nope.
Does anybody have anything else? Yes. I'm sorry. I was delayed on I compass with this, but there I wanted to put a symbolic resolution for Thomas Wise who recently passed away uh just to honor his life and his family can make this week's meeting and so we can if we can
add it on, we don't have to delay it. He was a you know member of our uh DPW and parks maintenance. Okay. Yep. All right. as well. Motion. That being said, may I have a motion to adjourn at 4:47 p.m.? I heard the motion made by
Council Person Clay and the seconded by Council Person Gilmore. On the motion to adjourn at 4:47 p.m., all council members present by acclamation, please say, "I." I. We are out of here at 4:47
p.m. Thank you so much, everyone present. Everyone watching at home, remember teamwork makes the dream work. Have a great night. Stay safe.