Check. One, two. Okay, everyone. We're about to get started. So, if we can silence our cell phones like I'm doing and close the back doors, side doors, I greatly appreciate
it. I'll reiterate, please silence your cell phones. All right. Good afternoon everyone. We are on the record. Today is Monday the 21st day of April in the year 2025. This is a city council caucus meeting of the
Jersey City Municipal Council. We had a scheduled 4:00 start. The clock on my cell phone is showing 4:04 p.m. May we have a roll call for the commencement of this caucus. Council Person Ridley, Council Person Bajiano, here. Council
Person here. Council Person Solomon is not here. Council person Gilmore is not here. Oh, whoa. Coming in hot. He came in hot. Council person Deise here. Council person Rivera here. And council
president Waterman. We have seven council members in attendance at 4:04 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 a bulletin board of the first floor the of city hall. the annual notice which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses and municipal council for
the calendar year 2025 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Friday, November 15, 2024. In addition, at its time of its preparation, the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 7:03 p.m. to the mayor, municipal council,
business administrator, corporation council, and the newspapers and posted on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the sunshine law. And I will mark Council Person Solomon present at 4:05 p.m. So we now have eight council
members in attendance. Council President, I'm going to turn it over to you. Directed Director Pierce. Good afternoon, President Waterman, members of the council. I have uh five resolutions before you today. Resolution
2526910.9 resolution will authorize an award of a contract to Millennium Communications Group to perform the yearly services associated with the city's emergency operations center. Services includes the EOC video wall associated software and peripherals. Total amount of this contract is
$57,000 and the funds are available in the FY2023 UASI grant. Next is 1022 258 uh 25282 resolution will authorize an award of a contract to big top tent manufacturers for the purchase and
installation of ins in insulation and liners for the big top tents located at the office of emergency management and a division of sanitation. These tents provide storage for the city's street sweeper located at DPW. The emergency command vehicle, command buses, mass
care ambulance located at OEM. Total amount of the contract is $288,500 and the funds are available in a DPW capital account. Then 23 u uh 25283 resolution will authorize the award of a contract to
72-hour LLC trading as National Autofleet Group for the purchase and delivery of two 2025 Ford cargo vans for use by the DPW automotive division. Total amount of the contract is $97,6282 and the funds are available in
the DPW capital account. Next is 102425284. Resolution will authorize the award of a contract to 72 hours LLC trading as National Auto Fleet Group for the purchase and delivery of a 2024 Ford
F-150 for the DPW Automotive Division. Total amount of this contract is $52,655 and is available in a DPW capital account. Last item 1025, Reszo
25285. Resolution will authorize the award of a contract to 72-hour LLC trading as National Fleet for the purchase and delivery of seven 2025 Ford Maverick pickup trucks for DPW Automotive Services Division for use by various city departments replacing
vehicles which exceeded their usability and reliability. Total amount of this contract is $217,43953 and the funds are available in the DPW capital account. Thank you. Have a nice day. Good evening, council president.
Council members, I have one resolution. It is item uh 10.10 resolution 25-270. It's a resolution ratifying an award of a contract to Safeware Incorporated for the purchase of Huntress GDB 24 watch
endpoint detection and response for cyber protection software through the US Commodities Government Purchasing Alliance known as Omnia Partners for the Department of Public Safety. It's in the amount of $55,391. Um this particular software as you know
I can't say too much publicly on everything that but this is my uh this is one of the main um protection software that we use for the network. Good evening, Madame President and members of the city council. The
Department of Animal Care and Control has two items for this evening. Item number 110.11, resolution 25-271, a resolution authorizing a shared services agreement with the town
of Guttenberg pursuant to the uniformed shared services and consolidation act for the city of Jersey City to provide the town of Guttenberg with animal control and animal sheltering services. Sorry, director. Sorry, this applies to both of them. Could you just give us the
data on how many animals from from both Guttenberg and Hoboken we received last year? It was minimal. It was five animals from Hoboken and three from Guttenberg. We currently have two dogs in the facility right now from Hoboken
and one from Guttenberg and that's total for the whole year. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. They have not had a a great impact on our operation. My second item is agenda number 10.12, resolution 25-272, a resolution authorizing a
shared services agreement with the city of Hoboken pursuant to the uniform shared services and consolidation act for the city of Jersey City to provide the city of Hoboken with animal control and animal sheltering services. Thank you. Good afternoon, council president,
members of city council. Uh, HHS Division of Food and Nutrition has one item this evening for your consideration. Agenda, uh, item number 10.13, resolution 25273. This is a resolution accepting an
award from the NJ Department of Agriculture for this year's summer food service program in the amount of 36,191 07. Thanks. Good afternoon, council president and council members. I'm here to present
agenda number 10.1, resolution 25-261. It's a resolution to cancel tax sales certificate 2024-0729. It's a refund of the purchase funds for misapplied funds. The refund is approximately
$500. The next item is 10.2 resolution 25-262. This is a resolution to cancel a tax sale certificate 2024-641 due to a county board judgment. Thank you. Good afternoon, Council President.
Council members, I have two items before you today. First, first item, resolution 25-279, agenda item 10.19, a resolution ratifying an award of a contract to software house international for
architecture engineering instruction collection of softwares through the New Jersey Coop Cooperative Purchasing Alliance Bergen County Co-op for the Department of Administration Division of Technology. The total amount is $50,835.90. These these softwares allow us to
design, edit, and render drawings and projects. Second item, resolution 25-280, agenda item 10.20, 20 a resolution 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 the Department of Administration Division of Information Technology. The total amount is $59,250 and this is to upgrade PCs throughout the city.
Are they all like do we currently use Lenovo or Okay, so we're just That's the standard. Got it. Yep. Good afternoon, council president, council members. I have two items, two
budget related procedurals. The first is uh ordinance 2550 agenda number 3.1 and this is just to exceed the calendar year
appropriation limit from 2.5% to 3.5%. The other item is uh resolution 25263 agenda. Oh okay. Okay, sorry about that. Uh, agenda item
10.3. This is a resolution allowing us to use uh a three-year average to calculate the reserve for uncollected taxes. What's the uh reasoning behind that? If you could me. Some years we have higher collection rates, some years we have a
lower. Um if we average them together, we can maybe get a higher rate. Um like 203 uh was 97.01%, 2024 was
97.38. Uh and 2022 was 98.91. If we average them together, we can use the 97.77 instead of last year's 97.38. Okay,
great. Thank you. Uh, good evening, council members. I'm here for item 10.35, resolution item 25-295. I'm introducing the city's budget for this fiscal year um for this upcoming agenda council meeting. Um I
just want to highlight that there is a cash surplus for this year of 27.2 million this year and additional revenues of uh 15.1 million uh returning back to the general fund. And typically um as we had our budget hearings last
year, we have one more budget hearing on the status of the financial statement and this budget submission that is going to be coordinated and scheduled through the council president's office. So I just open up the questions for today's introduction. on. Did I hear you correctly? You said
there's a budget surplus. Yes. 27 million. 27.2 million and an additional revenues of 15.1. Now save the questions for the hearing. Yeah, that works. Yeah. Okay. Thank you,
council. Afternoon, council president, council members. I'm here before you today with item 10.15, resolution number 25275, which is a resolution authorizing the adoption of a spending plan for the
affordable housing trust fund. Uh, as you're aware, the city council adopted a development fee ordinance um, uh, for a dedicated revenue source for affordable housing back in June 14th of 2022. It was subsequently adopted uh, approved by
the superior court in January of 2024. The next step after that is to put a spending plan in front of the courts. Um so that in order for us to be able to spend any of this money um in the um item there is a copy of the spending plan. That's is a draft spending plan
for you all. Um I've worked on this with our um consultant Beth McManis who's here to answer questions. Um as you know I met with all of you um in in different groups or individually to go over what our options were in terms of the spending plan. Um, I worked uh with Beth
to incorporate um as much as what I heard from you all. There was a lot of similarities in um what your thoughts were and where your priorities lied. So, that wasn't actually quite wasn't that difficult because you were pretty aligned. Um the plan just to go over what's in the plan. Um the large mo
majority of the money um about 50% of it is spent on rehabilitation. The city of Jersey City has a 3,700 unit rehabilitation requirement. Um and so a majority will be spent on rehab to existing housing stock. We also will uh
prioritize the creation of new affordable housing units um through use of the trust fund. Um that those could be 100% um affordable projects that have 100% of the units or affordable housing or they could be mixed income projects that have market rate as well as
affordable housing within them. Where the big decisions really lied were in 30% of the amount. So 30 minimum of 30% had to be spent on what's called affordability assistance. That's what we all met to talk about the priorities. What we were able to incorporate in this
plan are the following priorities. So emergency rental assistance. Um that's something that um was pretty unified between all of you that you were interested in continuing. We now work with the county to do that. We have a cooperation agreement with them and we'd
be able to continue doing that. Just to as a reminder, all the items in the affordability assistance category have to go for people in existing deedrestricted affordable housing, but we'd be able to have an a dedicated stream of money available for uh the
emergency rental assistance for uh those residents. Um emergency health safety repairs, you mentioned um making sure we prioritized homeowners. Um so we're also doing that through the rehabilitation as well as this um safety repairs program. Um, we
can do a down payment assistance program. Um, and that can go to sub to help subsidize the the ability for people to buy um uh income uh deed restricted in low uh affordable housing units um for for sale. We can actually put money in to help with down payment
assistance. This would be in addition to the program that community um uh the community development already runs um with our HUD funds. And then also, this was popular among all of you, was the buy down program or the ability to convert um uh affordable housing units
that might come in say at like 80 or 50% of AMI to be able to buy them down to 30% of AMI. Um and so we'd be able to do that in this program. And then the last pot of money which is the maximum of 20% are the administrative funds and those
through the resolution or through the ordinance that you all passed um is going to be dedicated for right to council as well as supporting any of these programs. Um and that's what this plan lays out. Um, it also has uh some some details on how all of those programs would work and we're here to
answer any questions if you have them. Um, for the down payment assistance for the housing, I know CBDG runs the Golden Doors program. Is this going to be a separate ch trunch of money that people
can access? Will they be precluded from going for Golden Doors or is it going to be like in coordination with them? and it'll be in coordination, but they run a little bit differently. The program that DCD runs um is for buying any any
housing in the city. And that's why we had to increase the amount of money to use for down payment assistance because you could buy a market rate unit, for example, and we'd be helping an affordable family get into that unit. To use affordability assistance, we have to use it on in d-restricted affordable
housing. So th our this program uh with this money would would be for say um affordable housing developer that builds for sale affordable housing and that's why the number is a little lower. It provides up to $50,000. We go up to 150 with the other one because this is
already deed restricted affordable housing. So the number of what the for sale should be should be significantly lower but it still helps families bridge that gap to get into uh a deedrestricted unit. So that's how they're different. And for the rental assistance, I know
you said is going through the county is, and I I'm not opposed to that. I'm just wondering, is there any like accountability when it comes to them sending us a report or like who they're giving it to or is there going to be some sort of like not we're not just giving them the money and then No, they
have to use it for presidents. Um, and so there's money you already allocated or that you asked to be allocated and then the trust fund committee allocated that money. that money that was sent um was not part of the spending plan. So that could be used for any Jersey City
resident. This money that's being sent as part of this plan would be available for Jersey City residents, but Jersey City residents indeed restricted affordable housing. Um the county's a was able to do that. Actually, Beth had the conversation with them and I'm happy to have her speak to you if you'd like.
Um they're able to do that and report back. Um do you want Joe? Uh good evening council. Hello, my name is Beth Mcmanis. Yes, I did have a conversation with Hudson County about partnering with the city on this program. They seemed uh pleased to do
so. They indicated that uh what would be necessary is a shared services agreement between the city and the county for this program uh for which they provided a draft which the city can use for uh revising for this current program.
Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you. Afternoon, council president and council members. I have one resolution for your consideration today. It's item number
10.14, resolution 25-274. It's a resolution providing local support for Sarafen Suns LLC to operate a class 5 retail cannabis business at 3662 JFK Boulevard. It received CCB
approval on October 28th, 2024 and planning board approval on March 11th, 2025. And there's no distance issues. You Good afternoon, city council. Brian Rants, the Division of Community
Development. I have three items for your consideration. The first one is agenda item 1016, resolution 25-276. This is a resolution of the municipal council of the city of Jersey City authorizing the subordination of the city's mortgage encumbering 102
Cambridge Avenue unit 11. A constituent purchased an affordable unit at uh 102 Cambridge Avenue. It's got a 30-year restrictive period to 2044. Last week, this council or last council meeting, you all authorized the assumption of the
mortgage. The old owner is looking to sell to an income qualified buyer. Um the purchaser is going to acquire the property with financing that requires that their mortgage be higher in the chain than ours. Um and we reviewed the matter. Um we're sufficiently protected
due to the value of the home and we're asking your permission to authorize a subordination agreement to allow the buyer to purchase the property. The second item is agenda 1017, resolution 25-277, a resolution of the municipal council of the city of Jersey City
authorizing the acceptance and execution of the community service block grant non-discretionary grant agreement between the city of Jersey City and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Uh the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs receives from the federal health and human services
community service block grant money. Uh we applied for that funding and we were awarded 400 $497,214. Uh we're asking permission to accept this money and set up grant accounts. The final resolution is agenda item
1018, resolution 25-278, a resolution of the municipal council authorizing the business administrator to execute a partial discharge of an affordable housing trust fund mortgage and discharge the affordability restrictions encumbering
305 Whitten Street, unit G2. Um, in 2014, the city of Jersey City provided uh approximately, I believe, $225,000 to a developer to construct four affordable emerging uh emerging
home ownership housing units. Um, pursuant to that award, the developer signed a note and a mortgage. Thereafter, the property was acquired by the homeowner. Uh, the homeowner went through some hard times. Uh, it was foreclosed upon. Um, and now, um, a new
owner has acquired the property. Pursuant to the affordability agreement, upon a foreclosure, uh, we're required to discharge the affordability restrictions. Um, there's also still the mortgage from the developer. Um, and we're asking for a partial discharge
just pertaining to this unit. Uh so we're asking for a discharge of the affordability um restrictions for this unit and also a partial discharge for the mortgage that the developer signed originally. I believe it was 30 years
the and the and then the I guess the individual that currently has ownership has been on been in it how long? Um looks like so the note and mortgage from the homeowner was signed in 2017 in
so not that long. Okay. And then they So it's on foreclosure. You're saying foreclosure already enter foreclosure judgment already entered. It went to auction. It was sold to a nonaffordable homeowner and pursuant to the affordability
agreement that the old owner signed with us upon a foreclosure, the uh city is obligated to discharge the affordability restrictions. This is something that's not in our current agreements. Now, in the event that we give money for home ownership, we have a deed restriction that allows the units to survive
bankruptcy, foreclosure. Um, so this doesn't happen anymore, but in this agreement, um, there was a provision that said the affordability restriction was terminated. So, so in instance like do do we as a city intervene when these properties are
going up for foreclo because what we've essentially done by default is script the affordable unit and now we're voting to remove the limit. So it's almost like it's counterproductive. we've created this mechanism to
encourage affordable home ownership, but for whatever reason, it's almost no longer the case because of the foreclosure and all of that stuff. Um, so is there any instance where we we would come in and
um, yeah, it depends on each individual situation. The law department can't specify more but they they evaluate each foreclosure on individual basis. They contact our office. We go through the deed restriction the mortgage. If there is a defense to the foreclosure they can
file an adversarial answer which would create um a disputed mortgage foreclosure and then usually um what happens is the city and the lender enter into a settlement agreement that specify that the affordability will survive the
foreclosure. In this instance, the deed restriction said it was going to be terminated at the at the foreclosure judgment. They had no defense. So that's the reason why um it went to foreclosure without preserving the restrictions. Sheesh.
Thank you, council. Have a great day. It's crazy. Yeah. Hello, Council President, members of the council. We have four items today for the Department of Infrastructure. Start with agenda item 3.2, ordinance
25-051. This is an ordinance authorizing the amendment um to a dedication agreement between Grand and Jersey LLC and the city of Jersey City. This is for the portion of Regent Street that is being dedicated over to the city. There was an agreement done back in 2023 and
um we identified with the city's law department and the um and the owner's representatives that there was an error in some of the exhibits that were attached to that agreement. So, this ordinance is just um authorizing an amendment with the correct exhibits
showing the current correct uh land survey information for that portion of Regent Street in Liberty Harbor North. Okay. Uh moving on to resolutions. The next one is agenda item
10.27, resolution 25-287. This is a resolution rejecting the sole bid that we received on March 20, 2025 for reservoir 3 historic structures. Um, this is project number
2020-002. So, the sole bid that we received was in the amount of $9.6 million, which significantly exceeds both the budget that we have available of just around 4 million and the construction estimate that we have for the project.
Okay. The next item is 10.28 resolution 25-288. This is a resolution supplementing the manual of loading zone designations in the city. And this designates a loading zone at 305 Baldwin Avenue which has been requested um both
by council persons and um members in the community. Sorry, just going back to the reservoir. Are we planning on sending it out for bid again? Um, I don't know, Councilman. We've we've tried a couple of different things
with this one. We tried to do all of the historic structures under one bid spec, right? Um, and we kept getting bids that were way too high. Then we tried splitting it up and the same thing was happening. Um, so we have been applying for grants to increase the amount of
money that we have available for this project and trying to get get creative on advancing it, but each time we just keep having this issue of the bids coming in way too high. Got it. Okay, thanks. Are the biders are typical
characters that usually bid or the new biders like is this like a reasonable cost estimate is what I'm trying to get to. public is the number that we got this time around which was 9.6 million is significantly higher than what the construction estimate was by
professionals that we rely on in order to estimate what it's going to cost to do this work. Um I believe the sole bidder in this case is not someone we've worked with before. Thank you. Have to double check. Appreciate the clarification.
Quick, you said members of the community wanted this loading dock. the business um located at 305 Baldwinage Venue requested this and then we got the request similarly from council person
Bojano um as well as I believe I believe the BA's office I'm not it's just the businesses not the community correct got it okay the last item um is for transportation so I'll invite the transportation director to present that
one. Good afternoon, council, president, members of council. Mike Manzel, director of transportation planning. This is in relation to resolution number 25-289, agenda item number 10.29. It's a res resolution requesting uh 6 months
extension uh for the the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the Columbus Drive improvements project. Uh if you can recall there were actually two rounds of funding that we the city received uh for this project. So the first round the deadline was upcoming.
It was scheduled to be in June. Um seeing that there has been a lot of uh utility work that has really impacted uh Columbus Drive. there's more coordination that needs to be done between the MUA and the city to make sure that the the utilities are in line
to move forward with construction of this project. Um, so DOT has uh indicated a willingness because of those utility issues to grant another six-month extension for that first round of funding. So this will actually line it up with the second round of funding deadline which is in November of this
year. Can't hear you. Traffic lights. Oh, we got to hit the down. What do you have to do with the traffic lights? Right, Rich? Uh, it depends which traffic signals. State highway. The state highway. Uh, our department really doesn't have any jurisdiction over it.
Um, if you're talking about 139, we were made aware of an issue and we're trying to get with uh the appropriate folks at DOT to understand what changes, if any, were made. Yeah, I know. We've called them many times. They don't uh they don't respond. They don't give a damn. And I have somebody in the city driving
me crazy about a traffic light, you know, on the highway there. Can you maybe get a hold of them and tell them to put the timings correctly on Yeah, we we've reached out. We reached out numerous times. Go ahead. Yeah. We received a complaint this past
weekend over the holiday weekend about issues at a specific location on 139. Um Kevin actually made us aware of an issue that was happening. He also reached out to Senator McCery. He reached out to his contacts at the DOT to get it addressed
and we've done the same thing. That's pretty much all we could do on state signals. Yeah, I know. They don't they don't give a dawn and uh it's a shame. That's a damn shame. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Take it from the top. Okay. Right on to our first reading ordinances. Items 3.1 and 3.2 were touched on earlier. Item 3.3, city ordinance 25-052, is an ordinance amending ordinance
25-0, updating the construction site safety manual with the 2024 addition to include and excuse me, to include the installation requirements and maintenance for air pressurized st pipes for buildings under construction or
demolition. And number two, delete references to the 2019 edition of the construction site safety manual. Item 3.4, city ordinance 25-053, is an ordinance authorizing the
conveyance of block 11401, lot 14, more commonly known, by the street address of 247 First Street, to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. Oh, that's what 3.4 before. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I just um I just have a question
as it relates to I guess the process. So when JCR do we have um a list on any websites where it shows what properties to JC have recently sold and the amount associated with the property? Yeah, it would it' be on their uh site, Councilman, but um I could I can
definitely get at least a listing of it. And the way it works is when the city were to uh remmit a property over to them um there's a reverter clause that the city would reap the benefits from uh such transactions. This is I Are there any other questions on that
ordinance? Just send it to just send it to all of us. This way you'll have to Okay. The last first reading ordinance is near and dear to my heart. Item 3.5, city ordinance
25-054, is an ordinance amending chapter A352 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. All right, on to our second reading ordinances. I believe item 4.1 is also going to be carried one more time. We just needed to have clarification from the attorney that's representing the
client that's um actually doing this pedestrian mall. It's regarding the notices and I think we're going to carry this and corporation council can confirm this to the May 21st meeting. Is that correct? Correct. Yep. Okay. May 21st.
Yes. And by then we'll have all the notices sent out and be ready for a public hearing. Next item 4.2, city ordinance 25-026 is an ordinance amending chapter 131 entitled construction codes unifor
uniform construction codes, excuse me, requiring applicants for construction permits to demonstrate prior to prior approvals from certain city officials and agencies. Item 4.3, city ordinance
25-045, is an ordinance amending chapter 84, alcohol, alcoholic beverage and cannabis to amend regulations of cannabis establishments and cannabis distributors. Item 4.4, 4 city ordinance 25-046 is an ordinance of the city of
Jersey City designating the Jersey City municipal offices located at 394 Central Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey 07307 as the Michael Young Municipal Services Center. Just want to ask the administration like after this passes,
you know, if we could get the signage changed, the lettering on the outside and I'll send an email about that. But, you know, just so we could have it unveiled later this year. Council me do a mockup prior to anything going up. Yeah. Awesome. Same thing for
the uh the next item that you want to read 4.5, but we'll make sure that they're both um aesthetically what we're looking for. Want to have a bow tie in there somewhere like, you know, on brand with Michael Yun. So, standard governmental uh operations.
Yes, sir. Thank you. And just keep it in mind that you know the 20 days must elapse. So during that 20-day waiting period we can get everything in order. Item 4.5 city ordinance 25-047 is an ordinance
dedicating Judge James McCaffry's former courtroom number four in the Jersey City Municipal Court as the James J. McAffrey Memorial Courtroom. Item 4.6. City Ordinance 25-048 is an ordinance approving a
30-year tax exemption for 701 Newark Avenue LLC. Block 7902, lots 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 to be known as block 7902, lot 25.01, 01 more commonly known
by the street address of 693-701 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey 07306 pursuant to the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Act of 199 1983 and as amended and supplemented in
NJSA514K-1 Exec and the rules promulgated under NJAC 580-1 exec and our last second reading ordinance Item 4.7, city ordinance 25-049, is a franchise ordinance
granting permission to St. George and St. Senuda Coptic Orthodox Church to encroach onto the public right of way uh along the frontage of 395 SIP Avenue, block 11801.01, lot one and lot three.
There's any questions, we have the attorney here to answer. Hearing none, we have our public speakers, which is at 45. Any questions or comments on petitions and communication 6.1 through 630?
Yes. Okay. No money can. We never have questions about that. That's what I said. Uh, you know, you came in pot, so I don't know. Maybe you had a question about Councilman got me scrambling looking through pages. There are no officer communications, no reporter directors when we have our
claims. And on to our resolutions. Items 10.1 through point 10.3 were touched on earlier. We have item 10.4 listed on our agenda. Um there is a problem with the numbering and uh it's a resolution
authorizing the city of Jersey City to apply for and accept grant funding for from Hudson County Open Space Recreation Historic Preservation Trust Fund as a municipal partner with the Mcinley Square Community Board of Glenwood Community Gardens Land Acquisition
Application 128 Glenwood. I'm going to just double check when I get downstairs to make sure that this was part of the original agenda. I think it was only because I think um Renee of my staff had trouble um numbering it and
I text John Mercer so hopefully he'll get back to me too on that. Yeah, it was part of the original agenda. I did have to make um changes to it. I don't know if I screwed that up for you. Sorry. We got to blame it on the acting corporation council though. It's I guess
when you made a change to it that that created the problem that was originally there with the numbering, but we'll John Mercer is the guru, so we'll get it we'll get it fixed. Next 10.5 resolution 25-265 is a resolution honoring the
Katine Memorial Day of Remembrance. Didn't we do this last last year last year council year? I I think what we did last meeting is accept a gift from them. Okay. Yeah.
It looks very similar. Sorry. Deja vu almost. Thank you. Next item 10.6 Six resolution 25-266 is a resolution of the city of Jersey City municipal council authorizing the city to enter into a
memorandum understanding with local 246 for a successor collective negotiations agreement with a term of January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2026 council uh this item 10.5 uh excuse me
10.6 6 and 10.7 is uh the reason we're having our closed session on Wednesday. So I just ask to refrain any questions until we have our closed session. And if there's any questions about other collective bargaining units, we'll be able to address it at that meeting as well. Okay. Just as the BA had said,
10.7, resolution 25-267 is a resolution of the Jersey City Municipal Council authorizing the city to enter into a memorandum of agreement with local 246 to settle arbitration regarding double time pay for the COVID 19 state of
emergency. Item 10.8, 8. City resolution 25-268 is a resolution authorizing the city of Jersey City risk manager to issue a certificate of in insurance and of identification agreement for a community event hosted on 500 Manila on
May 7th, 2025 by the office of council person James Solomon. We pay insurance. What What event is this? We're doing a senior meeting because the senior manager uh doesn't uh this is like official meeting and the senior manager in the building won't let us do it in
the building. So, we're doing in the park. We're doing a meeting with 500 Manila, the seniors there. Okay. Senior manage the manager of that building is uh Yeah. So, we're we're you want to do that? We'll host a meeting in the park.
Is this open to the public? I mean, it's a meeting with the seniors, but Okay. Yeah. So, we love seniors. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, it'll be good times. But yeah, that' be cool. Okay. Items 10.9 through
1020 were touched on earlier. Item 10.21, resolution 25281 is a resolution authorizing the public sale of 25 motor vehicle through the public surplus.com public online auction. Items 10.22
22 through 25 was touched on earlier. Item 10.26, resolution 25-286 is a resolution authorizing the city of Jersey City to accept a gift from Charles and Company in celebration
of lesbian visibility day in the city of Jersey City. Items 10.27 through 10.29 were touched on earlier. Item 1030, resolution 25-290, is a resolution calling on the
Federal Aviation Administration and other relevant federal agencies as well as New Jersey state agencies to immediately review and prohibit low-flying helicopter traffic over residential areas of Jersey City and Hoboken and urge immediate passage of
bill A1371 in New Jersey General Assembly and urge corresponding legislation in the New Jersey State Senate. Yeah, it's out of control. Um the helicopters have
really not been operating safely throughout Jersey City Heights and Hoboken and all of Jersey City. And you know, we saw with the tragic death of six people um that they need to be reigned in. And the FAA, they're asleep
at the wheel. And this is drastic action that needs to be taken because they've gotten worse, believe it or not. And I don't believe in the death penalty, but this is an industry that I think needs
to be put on hold for a while um until everything is reviewed. They're flying 100 feet, sometimes 50 feet above an area that has a school for the blind, which requires their auditory senses to
cross the street. I get complaints from veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder regarding the frequency of these airplanes, the helicopters. and Karnney airport, you're on notice. And
state senate needs to ban all recreational tourist helicopters ASAP. And the FAA needs to get up off their butt and actually regulate this immediately. That's all. So, let me just
add to that. So, I'm actually uh glad that this is on the agenda. Um, I'll echo some of the words that the councilman said, but um, like I put on my social media, you know, this we have c I have council colleagues up here that
are running for mayor. Uh, we we as some of some of us here are running back as council colleagues. I think this is something that we need to put our differences to the side and bring this subject up every time we have an opportunity because seven six people
died and Carney New York could care less about what happened to those people. I actually stood went to the heights yesterday and the day before yesterday and it seems like the choppers are like
flying even lower and um you know it's something that we have to nip in the butt and like I said I think we need to come you know I know my council colleague who put the resolution is running for assembly so that's the first thing that should be on his agenda when he gets in there so we need to make sure
that this happens and you know rattle them up over We've been asking for the last 5 years for something to be done and nobody has paid attention to anybody in Ward Card D especially and it's a shame. And when the people were here the other day from
the FAA some of the questions that were asked where's the where's this where's that piece of the plane instead of talking about the issues. Yeah. Hey Sean. All righty.
Our next item 10.31 res resolution 25-291 is a resolution recognizing April 2025 as sexual assault awareness month. Item 10.32 resolution
25-292 is a resolution recognizing and designating April 2025 as native plant month. Item 10.33, resolution 25-293, recognizing the month of April
as seek Heritage Month. Next item 10.34, resolution 25-294 is a resolution appointing Morin Ulings as council member for Ward B to serve until the next general election,
November 4th, 2025. Hold on. Yeah, I got a lot of questions. I'm um trying to figure out a few things here. Um legal and John, if y'all can help me out just as it relates to the process because I know several people
reached out, sent their resumes. Um this person um she's here. She's here. Yes, she is here to answer any questions that you may or may Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean my my questions is
strictly centered around the actual process. Um is there a notice that has to go out? Is there um the opportunity to do meetings with all of the candidates who have requested? Um
because I briefly remember about probably about 60 days ago um when um I brought up the appointment at the uh the rec department. Um, many people
had concerns as it relates to um, other people reaching out, doing interviews, having a fair process. I just want to make sure that the process are fair across the board irregardless of who's appointing whom, what position is going
to be filled. Um, so if we could just talk about a little bit of the process. Sure. This is a little different than the appointment of a director, but here when there is a vacancy, um it is up to the council to vote on and appoint um well to vote on and um put forward the
new person to fill the vacancy up until the election. The um administration can take resumes and how we've done it in the past is that we put somebody up for council consideration and the council takes a vote. I I I know Moren for over 30 years. Rich, can I finish? Oh, I'm
sorry. I thought you were finished. No, I'm not. So, I mean, is there opport there's no opportunities to do interviews? There's no um like a notice for people to apply. There's no set process like that. No, there's no set
process. Councilman, the way it works is there's a 30-day vacancy law that it has to be filled within the 30 days. So, um the administration put up some a community advocate and uh you know, to fulfill the term for the remaining of this of the year. I think you could hold
your own interviews too because Solomon, Councilman Solomon interviewed me and interviewed a bunch of Ward D candidates when the late councilman Michael Yun passed away. So if you want to have an interview with her or interview Danielle, you know, um I mean I would
like we we should interview everyone who expressed interest in it, right? We have 30 days and I mean I'm not saying that she's the right candidate or the wrong candidate. What I'm saying is the process need to be fair and accessible
to everybody. Whatever the outcome is, the outcome is we're essentially just talking about what is the process. If we have 30 days to fill the vacancy or to vote on it, right? Um why don't we do our due diligence? It's only I think it's only four people that have
expressed interest. So at the very least if we can as a council maybe two at a time three at a time you just take the consideration of of all of the the people who's inquiring about it I think that's you know that's that's a fair way to go about it. It would have to be
completed within the next 30 days or it remains vacant. Okay. No I think that's something we should be able to do within um has to be the next council meeting at the latest. I know as I said each council person want to do it I
would like to interview everybody that submitted their resume. I mean if I got to do it by myself I'll do my due diligence. I'm not like it's it just has to be a fair process. Each council person interviewed me actually. I I had to interview with all of them when the
late council Michael Yun passed away. So, you got to win each vote, you know, and you have to secure. You can't take anybody for granted. Uh, I just want to say something. I know Moren for over 30 years, and I'm looking forward to us sitting right here next to me.
Every council member can make their own process, though, you know, so I feel the different questions. And I' I'd agree with the councilman that I'd like at least a chance to interview all the folks that send resumes out. So I I received three. Um so my preference would be to vote in May
and have us interview everybody. So I think we should uh you know see what the council wants to do if you want to vote on it today. I mean uh this upcoming meeting or if you feel comfortable or if you want to interview other candidates that's you know their
prerogative. I just want to uh council I just want to stress the urgency that through the process that if it weren't to happen this meeting at the following meeting if it weren't to happen then that we have a vacancy like uh the state law prohibits that continue on past 30 days. That's why uh the administration felt it was
important to put someone up. Uh, I know Moren's making herself available for anybody if there's any questions or concerns. She's here today if there's any uh public conversation that wants to be going. I know she reached out to several members uh throughout the week and uh um she's a community advocate and
as far as as I know she's not looking to seek office after. It's more of a caretaker for the uh for the seat. Got the 30 days. We might we got the 30 days. we might as well utilize the 30 days. I mean, I don't see no harm in if
we vote on it this Wednesday or two Wednesdays from now, what catastrophic is going to happen that we need a knife council person to consider their vote. The budget, all I'm saying is that if it if it doesn't happen in that second meeting, the budget hold on. Jeopardy.
Council members, hold on. We can't have multiple people talking all at the same time. Councilman, I respect what you're saying. And I was just saying that through the process that if there's not a consensus at that second meeting, then it's a vacancy and we go 44 potentially for the rest of the year and it could it could have lingering effects that we
want to put someone up, you know, initially and then default to a second meeting if there's a requirement for it. We'll put a vote. Carmen has mentioned something about the budget back there. speak to her.
The budget gonna be in jeopardy if we don't have nine people. We voted last year the first time and two people wasn't here. I mean, let's for God's sake, let's just just be just be fair. She may be the one that's earned all of the
votes or whatever. I'm saying at the very least, just afford the opportunity, right? Just afford someone to come in to give their pitch, right? I mean like I just don't understand like
it's it's not a hard thing. What I find out though when we go through this though it it always depend on who's up. The reason why I say that because I know when we went through this with the director um we didn't interview him at all but you presented him forward.
Okay. Your option to do it at that time. Now there's another option that they feel like they doing a time thing and so they put her forward. To me, it always depend on who's putting up what and that's what I see here to be perfectly honest because we didn't know with the recreation guy what you put on. But it
shouldn't matter who that's the problem that it it's it's you're considering who's nominating a person whether it being the same process. Remove people from the equation and just focus on what is the process. How do we go about
making sure it's a fair and equitable process? That's when the recreation came, you put them forth and we voted it down whether we met with him or not. That's my point. That was the process we did from the very beginning. But the thing
is the same way. Many people voiced concerns about abstaining because they didn't have the opportunity that I'm requesting. Right. So it's like we've done something making sure they do fair by you because they when you did the
thing. So that's why present her and if by any chance they don't want to vote then they don't have to vote because when you did your process they voted it down. I'm saying it's the same way that you did yours. That's what I'm saying. And all right. Just for clarification,
if there was uh a council person that had somebody else that they wanted to uh put forth, they would need to submit a resolution for that purpose. Correct. So, the person has to be on the agenda in order for us to vote them up. That's correct.
That's it. Can you send around the the names that you said there are four names? So, I only meant myself. I only have two like Moren and Danielle. So, someone Taylor. Okay. Right. I only received two additional resumes which I forwarded to
the entire municipal council when I received them besides Moren. And Sean, can we put the resumes with the uh resolution if there are any additional ones? I don't think this the resume is on this one, but any
additionals? Yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll take care of that. Uh uh counciloman we'll take care of that. We just wanted um to give Moren an opportunity to be heard before we did anything public with it. So does the council have any questions
for Moren while she's here? So we I'm confused. Are we going to So we're not going So we're not going to interview anybody else. We just either gonna vote on her or not. Going to put it for you want to bring somebody else. You have that right to
bring a resolution until Wednesday. Well, the thing is if if we vote on her tomorrow and it passed, you've essentially took away due process from the take process. That's what I'm saying. I'm following the same process you did when you brought the different
we voted on it. Yes or no? If we vote Wednesday and it pass, you can have another We can Can we vote against or appoint someone else as well? You're saying um John it's you can vote against it. No, listen to the question. I'm not saying for or
against. I'm specifically saying if we vote tomorrow for the young lady I mean Wednesday and it's improve and it's approved by default. There's no like there's no you can't appoint someone else after you appointed someone.
Correct. You can motion to carry the item. You could motion to introduce an item. there's things you can do parliamentary procedure wise if you find another candidate that you want to advocate for like we're here to deliberate right like that that doesn't
preclude or stop anyone that's I'm essentially saying if we have 30 days to make this decision John's saying it will have to be done by the next meeting to get into that 30-day threshold I just I just meant that if if it's not done and
there's not a consensus on who it's going to be, then it'll ultimately be vacant. That's that's my conver. So that's what I'm saying. So what's the what's the harm in carrying it to the to the next two weeks and you know I'll make myself available to it's only what
I think it's three people to interview all three people. Well, why don't we do that then? So if it's only three people, those three candidates are willing to interview because they're actually, you know, put in to be a a council person, then you have tomorrow to interview
them. You could interview them tomorrow and make your decision by Wednesday. Tomorrow? Well, I mean, you want to give people notice. You don't like you got I'm I'm confused, man. I mean, I guess everybody can vote how they want
to vote, man. At the end of the day is but the thing is you don't know what council people are going to be available on such short notice. That's what I'm saying. So full time to we're full time. Yeah.
Full time. Go ahead Sean. All righty. Um item 10.35 was touched on earlier. Item 10.36 which is listed as a late item and this is nobody's fault but my own. Um it's all on the clerk this time. It's a
resolution um 25-296 resolution authorizing the payment of a claim submitted by document reprocesses of New York for the provision of the document restoration services. So, this is the very last payment council members that
we need to make to document reprocessors to finalize their billing and cuz we got all of the approvals from the state of New Jersey to destroy the original records that were restored and we have all the original records digitally um
now and now it's going to be up to it to just give each department access to those records. So, this is the final payment. And again, I forgot to hit um export and I didn't before we published the agenda. So, you can blame the clerk
for the late item that's on there. Wait, you're saying we're destroying the original records or So, yes, we got permission from the state of New Jersey to destroy the original records because these records, these original records that we're referring to are records like
ordinances, resolutions, etc. that were in 4T of water that was mixed with sewage, river, you name it was on it fortunately. And um the this company restored all of these records and now we
have a digital copy of these records. Got it. According to state guidelines. Rich, do you have any objections? Second. So before before we um ask for an adjournment, I believe we have the director of recreation and youth
services here. Keith Keith just wanted to address the council quickly. Acting director and uh thank you everybody. Council President, I'm just walking something on. I was uh on the late side. It's a resolution for a
contract with mainline commercial pools for the purchase and delivery of bulk chlorine for our city pools. Persing Johnson pool and Pavonia pool. Any questions? I'm Keith. Do you need it um at this meeting? Do you need it for this meeting? I definitely need it for this
meeting. Why didn't it make the um Well, it was technically was for the next meeting, but as mentioned, uh Mainline Commercial Pools is the holder of the contract. Uh we finalized all the quotes mainline earlier this month and submitted the uh requisition to purchasing on April 11th. After
confirming their uh ESCJ number contract, uh purchasing department informed us that Mainline's current contract expires on the 25th of April, but we need to get this on right away. We want people to
swim. Okay. So, as long as the council agrees, we'll have two late items. We'll have mine and we'll have Director Donuts um pools late item. Motion. With that being said, motion to adjourn
at 510 p.m. was made by council person. May I have a second? I'm going to give the second to Council President Waterman because she was in the mic. On the motion to adjourn at 5:10 p.m. All council members present
by acclamation, please say I. We are out of here at 5:10 p.m. Thank you so much everyone present and everyone watching at home. Remember, teamwork makes the dreamwork. Have a great night. Stay safe.