##VIDEO ID:48uTMxPBuU8## good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the nework municipal Council on Tuesday February 4th 2025 council president council members I'd like to start on pending business on page 35 we have an appointment to the nor parking authority Miss Stephanie Matthews are you in the audience please to the podium thank you good morning Miss Matthews good morning good morning everyone good morning do you have an opening statement you'd like to make uh yes briefly I um I'm Stephanie Matthews I'm a lifelong resident of norc I'm a mother of two who grew up in the norc system um today I want to thank everybody for considering my nomination for the North Park Authority um I'm particularly interested in it nor the development of nor uh infrastructure and economic development and I think that my analytical and problem arm skills will bring A New Perspective to the nor parking authority and I just wanted to again say thank you to everybody for considering my nomination thank you any comments questions councilman Council yeah Mr chair I'd like to uh congratulate uh Miss Matthews and and also like to uh sponsor second sponsored by councilman Council second by councilwoman Scott brre anybody else have any thank you congratulations thank you congratulations M thank you congratulations we are on page three of the agenda item five reports and recommendations of City officers boards and commissions any questions seeing none next item public hearing second reading and final Passage 6p SFA is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to 40 Austin Street urban renewal company LLC for a project to construct a new five-story building with a total of 43 market rate residential rental units in the East Ward any questions saying none next Item B through e are all ordinances amending multi-way stop intersections in the central Ward B is between 15th Avenue in South 13th Street c is 16th Avenue and South 11th Street D is 15th Avenue in Lon Avenue and E is 15th Avenue and South 11th Street any questions from the council seeing none next item second reading and final passage only a an ordinance amending and supplementing registration of convenient stores registration of all new and pre-existing exting convenience stores to create a subsection prohibited distance from existing convenience stores and to further include the increasing of fines and penalties set forth therein under violations and penalty sponsored by councilman Council second by councilwoman Scott rre Mr chair councilman Council I know there was some uh discussion earlier or some other uh concerns about uh definition and makeup uh when clearly the the ordinance has a clear uh intentional and specific definition of what a convenience store is and I'm just looking for guidance from my Council colleagues that if they want to change that definition uh to provide some uh information on what they believe the definition of a convenience store is or should be uh to provide it uh but if not really to uh support this ordinance uh for the growth and development of this city uh as the city continues to grow as we continue to grow in population and people uh in need diversity uh amongst our corridors and areas uh for stores and for residents to be able to have access to good Commerce and different and diverse Commerce I think the uh ordinance in of itself is not difficult it doesn't talk about um penalizing any stores that are already in place it really just simply says any new or newly constructed uh businesses so any other business that is currently out there uh would be grandfathered in had an uh opportunity to speak with the licensing folks hopefully uh if they come in today or tomorrow can be able to clear up that there is no issue uh around ensuring uh spattle distance uh in these places but uh as colleagues and and people of this city I really want us to begin to think about the longitudinal direction that we go in in terms of growth and development uh and adding uh residents in the city living along our corridors uh being interested in coming out uh in sharing and commerce and um participating uh in free marketing Enterprise in a different way and so you know really we have to begin to think do we want to provide our residents that live along these corridors in these areas with different opportunities to shop with different stores that may come in uh and also begin to uh provide some sple difference uh to make that possible and so uh again uh I'm just rendering this and I'm going continue to uh wrap my arm around this uh for thought for speculation uh and more importantly for growth and development of the city thank you councilman Council anything from other council members seeing none next item resolutions 7r1 a is authorizing the use of competitive Contracting to award contract for code enforcement third party Inspection Services any comments questions from the council seeing none next Item 7r1 B through K or temporary emergency Appropriations B is for the home investment partnership program C is for homelessness housing Grant D is for Brick City peace Collective Grant e is for fire trucks and Equipment program F is for Ryan White HIV AIDS related health and support services G is for Safe Streets and roads for all H is New Jersey victim of crime act Grant I is to improve New Jersey air quality J is to assistance to Firefighters Grant and K is assistance to Firefighters Grant Mr chair any questions Council M councel I'm not sure if someone is here from uh engineering uh around the Safe Streets component uh but if they can come up and and just give a little background about what it is I know I've set on some some phone calls about it um and would just you know love for the the public to be able to understand what it is great because believe we have the director of engineering coming forward good morning Dolores Martinez wam Department of engineer ing director um council president council members um this is for 7 r1g correct um so uh the Safe Streets for all is a um opportunity for us to apply uh for grant funding for many pedestrians and vehicular safety measures um we were unsuccessful last year uh for the Safe Streets Grant but we were awarded um the opport Unity to utilize funds for a plan um similar to uh Newark 360 to have like a 10-year plan for the city in this case it will be a plan for the next application for the Safe Streets for all um it's um you're going to see in the 73r uh items the uh supplementary um item that goes to it this is the portion that um the city is asked to provide as part of the project the grant overall it was a $1 million Grant um $800,000 are coming in to the city and we have to put $200,000 thank thank you director any any followup questions seeing none thank you anything else council members 7r1 a through 7 R1 k k seeing none next item 7r1 l through R are State contracts or big contracts for the office of purchasing L is equipment and supplies m is cloud Solutions n is protective clothing and Footwear o is per DM Staffing p is tree planting and maintenance Q is tree procurement and R is maintenance and repair trucks any questions concerns from the council seeing none next item 7r1 s through U are applications Andor acceptance of Grant funds s is for the homeless housing Grant T is the Brick City peace Collective Grant and U is grant funding to Aid reduction and Emissions any questions from the council yeah Mr President councilman Ramos yeah I want to go back to the uh contract for the tree uh Services can can we get something from the administration in terms of um you know the scope of service for the two vendors that are on the agenda today and um more importantly is there a list that they're working off of for um you know requests for trimming um removal of stumps I know we've been getting a lot of calls over the years about stump removals and you know I'm not sure where where that is within the U City's purchasing uh area but we definitely need to get an update from the administration in terms of where we are and if we can get like a breakdown by Ward as far as um uh inspections or or trimming that that are in the queue like requests that are in the queue that would be helpful Julie noted thank you Council remamos anything else um Council M Kelly thank you council president I want to that same request um that councilman Ramos is asking for we have a lot of different tree situations in in the west W um I think um Mr Cole has been doing a great job but I also you know we have a lot of requests for stump removal in the west ward so um yeah I would like that information as well do we noted and particularly so the council council members have asked for the scope of services as well as the breakdown of if there is a breakdown of how the trees how the maintenance is spread across the wards got it is that correct Council I don't want to just miss that's good okay you covered it you're good all right next item 7r1 v is execution of a labor agreement regarding the school traffic guards any question Mr President yep councilman Ramos these are crossing guards right yes yes can can we get from the administration a a a summary of how many vacancies we have and what posts around the city are are not covered at this point you know occasionally we get calls from principles from various schools about um you know posts that are on that are not covered and and hopefully the contract before us is going to help the city strengthen its position to recruit uh more and more school crossing guards Eric do you know how many vacancies right now no okay just get that to us when you can all right dly noted any other questions concerns next item seminar 2 a through C are private sale Redevelopment agreements a is provide new construction of a two family dwelling to sell at market rate in the South Ward I'm going to ask that this item be deferred I think coun councilman Council before we go to anything do you have something yeah I just wonder Mr if I could Eric Pennington uh business and SM administrative council president just want to take the opportunity to follow up a little bit with councilman Ramos's question regarding the crossing guards this agreement actually increased their salaries uh uh pretty extensively uh they are one of the lowest paid groups in the city and if it was an it was at a full-time rate they would have been less than the city's minimum of $440,000 per year so as effective as of November of last year they're going up to $19.3 an hour and beginning this year it's been increased about 10% over that in one year to $21.36 that is because during negotiations we received information about what the payment was for surrounding communities and the fact that it essentially was not really a living wage we still have the it's still part-time but it's like a split shift uh so it makes it difficult for those workers to have other employment um and that's why this increase was as much as it as it was in terms of the vacancies of posts and how many are out there I don't know that but I I'll get that information to you but uh you know I think the increase should be celebrated that Union did a very good job in bringing information to the administration's attention that made it uh meaningful and and it made it uh sort of obligatory on our part to try to match the appropriate salaries thank you Eric you're welcome thank you Mr ba all right uh 7 r2a I believe councilman Council had a comment or question yeah just asking for a deferral okay deferred by councilman Council a second second by councilman Kelly B is an agreement to subordinate the city right a reverter by entering to the First Amendment to the agreement for sale redel velopment of land and a subordination agreement in order to permit the redeveloper to obtain financing necessary for the rehabilitation of property to create an East W affordable housing program any questions from the council seeing n next item C is new construction of three two family homes to sell at market rate in the west W any questions from the council no we go forward all right see none next item D is to authorize the execution of a deed restrictive Home Affordable housing agreement with 449 Washington Street urban renewal company LLC for the construction of a new residential affordable housing building that will consist of 10 affordable rental units in the central Ward any questions from the council can we get the deputy mayor just to come up and give a brief explanation on this matter good morning council president council members Alison lad director of Economic and Housing Development um this is one of several projects that was competitively selected uh through the solicitation for home funds um I know that at a previous meeting uh council member Ramos asked for a list of the projects and the status that have been provided home funds over the years we were able to provide that um some weeks back and we're happy to resend that if that helps the council as they make this decision um this item here um is actually exciting for us because we're going to be able to um build new residential affordable housing it'll be 10 affordable housing units and um the funding is home funds thank you is this Lincoln Park uh no sir this is uh no it's a it's a different developer it's actually bear with me one second I I believe this one is uh Jamila Muhammad but I will I will triple check that and she's um been a a woman Le minority own company that's been doing a lot of development in our city but I will verify that for you all right thank thank you president if I may councilman Gonzalez how how do we determine the amount per unit that we are let's say going to award in this case 10 units and they get a million dollars suppose that I come with a project for a 100 units affordable can I get 10 million uh uh sure council president uh council members uh great question um so when we release the solicitation for home funds or other funding sources we actually have the parameters that have to be met um so for instance one it can't be more than 80% of the area median income uh two it'll say the percentage that we're willing to fund often the percentage that we're willing to fund for a project is 50% or less of a unit um and I will get you that number also um through uh through followup and happy to explain it um tomorrow as well and then finally um it's based upon the funds that are available uh for that round um and then if we're able we try to fund as many units as possible um but it has done competitively and we do select um based upon uh scoring yes that's not a a theoretical case is somebody ask me how much money the city can contribute if I build a 100 units affordable ER and I suppose it depends on how much money you have and how that money is distributed towards all the projects that would qualify um yes council president uh yes to that question we do have um often more applications than funds available and so we do go through this competitive scoring process to ensure that we're able to select the projects that best meet the needs for the city we also look at the diversity of projects um and try to have projects also throughout the city so on all Wards um and what I will do is um I'm sorry I don't have it for you right now but we I can give you the actual solicitation that we released that will delineate everything that I just explained thank you Mr President I think that would be great to have yes sir I'd be happy toos yeah um one one quick question do do you have um any money that's repaid back to the city that's available for through the home program like if a developer were to sell a particular project that we invested home funds in like I know I the County we we typically get repayment money back in the pool and then we're able to um include that with our allocation uh sure um council president to council member Ramos's question um I do not know the answer but I can get that for you be happy to something you should look at if you don't have it yeah it's a great question um I do know in previous work that I've done in other jurisdictions we had similar practice uh whereby funds could be returned to the jurisdiction and then we could reallocate them with the current entitlement amount so um I'll look into that and be happy to provide that to you thank you director you're welcome thank you Council M Kelly you wanted I think we're finished with that yeah we're finished actually let's do one thing and then go before before Deputy Meritt I know we have the next item 7 r2e I was going to ask for an explanation on that one too sure um at this time council president yeah oh I'm sorry I jumped the gun over to clerk speak sorry 7r2 is authorizing local board application in connection with the issuance of Redevelopment area bonds that involves the construction of 81 residential units which shall be comprised of 65 market rate residential rental units and 16 affordable housing rental units in the central Ward um council president council members Alice lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh this item um that we're speaking about authorizing the application to the local Finance board um is a companion piece to item under Communications page 32 um which is an ordinance that's securing RAB bonds as well as a tax abatement and so they're companion pieces um the project itself is located at 20 bramford uh the developer is uh par assets um the project described by Madam clerk is correct and we're glad that we're able to bring um an IO compliant project to the council it will have onsite affordable uh that meets the io requirements um and uh the and second the RAB bond that um we're asking for you to consider um is $500,000 and that amount will be used to pay for infrastructure um specifically Water and Sewer improvements that need to be provided the total amount of water and sewer expense is about 1.8 million um this will cover about 500,000 thank you councilman Gonzalez is this the project where an entity is going to use the first floor free of charge for 30 years uh yes councils that the developer is providing to the project is to provide an organization no cost um uh rental space and what what's it the rate that the city is going to be collecting on this project for the for the for 30 years uh yes sir the um I believe if I understood correctly council president uh your question council member Gonzalez was about the taxes that we would generate uh thank you for the question um so the current taxes that are collected are about $1 15,22 the amount that we expect to receive at stabilization is $3,844 45 and the tax pment rate is 5% I understand on that one yes sir thank you any other questions seeing none thank you Deputy Mayor thank you council president councilman Kelly had something yeah I want to go back um to 7 r2v um to7 R2 r1v and sponsor that please 7 r1b as in boy v v as in oh as in Ben all V as in Victor the labor agreement okay say v v v as a Victor Victor all right councilman Kelly wants to sponsor a second I second it second by councilman Gonzalez all right all right I would like to sponsor the one that is selling the land to Benfica uh I think that was 7r2 C yes sponsored by councilman Gonzalez is there a second second second second by councilman Kelly I heard first all right not anybody else want to sponsor something yes let's move right along there 7 r3a is application acceptance of Grant funds for the safe streets and roads for all any questions seeing none next item 7 r4a is professional service contract to provide Financial advisory Services any questions seeing none next item s r5a is exception to public bidding for electronic medical record system questions next Item B is application acceptance of Grant funds for the Health Center Program any questions next item 7 r6a is professional service contract the First Amendment to the agreement to provide Legal Services concerning litigation matters any questions next item 7 r8a is a resolution of support for the placement of Juan Pablo dwarte statute and Thomas silk Park sponsored by councilman gandana second by councilman Kelly councilman councilman um mam clerk historic approved right it was they they don't have no problems just going to put it on a record they hisor commission had no problem with this corre uh the Administration has no problem with it uh to the Statue of D is a long time coming and that Community has been waiting was supp have been put at the uh Washington Park at the time now it's harri tutman Park and uh Mr piawa who's in the audience has worked on this uh with councilman Kelly staff and our staff we have worked together with him um this is not just we we met because it's a westw park and we decided that we would work on this together uh to making sure that uh the Dominican Community would get uh their day you know that kind of respect so of that statute that is already built off with no taxpayers money just put that on record right and um uh just want to say B I want thank you for what your advocacy working towards this I want to thank the clerk staff who yes was very instrumental and the council my Council colleagues this is something that will help this area too and it would helps the city uh and promise made promise kept thank you councilman Council Kelly then Council MC Gonzalez I just want to um say uh thank you to panaga for um really fighting for this this is this has been before mon Tenya um thank you to uh councilman canana for making himself and his staff available to really make sure that we cleared the path and and got everything that we needed to make this happen um and more importantly I want to thank um all of the Dominican people around that area in the city of nor and our Latinos and Latinas um in that area it's def definitely an honor to be a part of something that um you know Juan paao was a writer and the activist you know um and became a politician and I think I mirrored him you know being a writer being an activist and being a politician so I'm thankful and um just salute to all our Latinos and Latinas especially those from Dominican Republic thank you councilman Gonzalez yes finally Dominic has a house in the city of New York I believe it's a it's imperative that we do that panaga has been working on that for like 20 years finally we can say that we have a home for Juan Pablo Duarte congratulations to panaga and to all the Dominican residents of the city of nor yes thank you anything else councilwoman Scott round Tre I just want to say congratulations and to God be the glory for panagra who is a god- freeing man who did not give up as councilman Gonzalez State he has been on this path for a very very long time and we honor you for making sure that not just the Dominican Community is aware of such um an outstanding figure Juan but that we ourselves can learn something from you for standing up for our legacy and our activism and individuals who have made a stand in our community and that means something to our individual communities collectively so God bless you and once again congratulations thank you anything anybody councilman Ramos yeah I I too want to add my congratulations and special thanks to Santiago I remember when then mayor kintana had the press conference at the um back then it was Military Park which was the original site for the uh I'm sorry Washington Park uh was the original site for the Statue and um just want to thank councilman Kelly I like the idea of uh the park there on First Street being a site for this um statue so I have a small Juan Pablo D statue at home that Santiago gave me years ago so now I get to see the real thing all right next item 7 r8b is the whole harmless ididentification agreement for the annual day of Love senior brunch sponsored by councilman Ramos second by councilman canana any any questions concerns nothing all right next item C is recognizing and commending resolutions and D is expressing profound sorrow and regret any questions comments saying none next item 7r9 A and B are both professional service contract to provide clinical and forensic psychological Consulting Services A is for Keystone Psychological Services LLC and B is for Nicole J rafanello PhD any questions comments seeing none next item C is application acceptance of Grant funds for the firefighter rapid intervention training any questions next item 7 r12a is a change order for solids floatables control measures and netting facilities question seeing none next item Communications item 8A is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to 20 Branford urban renewal LLC for a project to construct 81 residential units which shall be comprised of 65 Market residential rental units and 16 affordable housing rental units of which two units shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of area medium income Ami three units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% Ami and 11 units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the central Ward any questions seeing none next Item B is an ordinance granting a 20year tax abatement to PGH and Associates urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a new five-story mixed use building with 20 residential rental units consisting of 16 market rate residential rental units four affordable housing rental units of which one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of area medium income one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 60% of Ami and two units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the South board any questions concerns seeing none next item C is an ordinance authorizing the Third Amendment to the agreement for the sale of land any questions seeing none next item D is an ordinance authorizing the execution of an amended and restated Financial agreement in connection with the construction of 18 market rate residential units any questions seeing none next item e is an ordinance assigning the rights and obligations under a 25-year tax abatement authorizing the execution of a new Financial agreement between the city and rise Rio urban renewal LLC in connection with the Redevelopment project consisting of 42 market rate residential units any questions next item f is an ordinance providing for a special emergency appropriation of $6 million for the preparation and execution of a complete program of revaluation of real property any questions uh there was a request to advance and adopt this matter Mr chair if if the uh ba can and provide us with information on on where we are with reevaluation I know we started but just so that those folks that may be listening can uh sure great good morning Eric Pennington business administrator council president to councilman council's question uh the reevaluation inspections have begun the first community meeting after the mayor gave a general community meeting was held in the South Ward um there was a relatively good attendance I think there were really great questions about what happened I think what came out of the meeting was uh to clarify that revaluation is not a tax increase process an it's an equalization process and by Equalization it means that over the last 13 years was when we had the last reval there have been uh property values in certain areas have gone up and relatively in other parts property values have gone down so if there's an increase in property value of $1 somewhere there's going to be a decrease of a dollar somewhere else and we need to make that clear you won't know what the tax implications of that are going to be until after the reval is completed which will take place at the end of 2026 more likely into the first quarter of 2027 and we have determination of what the new budget will be new budget will be applied to the new assessed valuation of the properties which should be 100% at that point and that will be the determination as to whether or not there's an actual increase or decrease in your property I think the uh ASI which is the company that is doing the revaluation process they explained that uh historically they're about onethird of the properties where there's no real change even after the budget is adopted about a third of the properties will have some increase and it'll depend on the the amount of that increase will depend on what the budget is and about a third of the properties may have some corresponding decrease to what the increase is again based on what the budget is but it's an equalization process not a tax increase process thank you any any questions followup seeing done thank thank you Mr ba you're welcome Mr President I may Council M Gonzalez go back to e this is amending something that happened in 2020 is that project completed or is that project in Pro say uh Deputy Mayor Deputy Mayor Deputy Mayor a e on page 35 Council pres council president council members counc I don't know if you heard the question councilman Gonzalez I apologize it's all right gonzale this is amending an approved in 2020 I just want to know if the project was constructed or we are in the process of constructing it oh yes uh council president to council member Gonzalez's question um this is a multiphase project that's being done um and so the first phase is completed and has been leased up um the units are actually part of the iso first dibs um in 2024 and so we were excited about that the reason reason for the Amendments is is that the following two phases had to be split um due to funding sources and so we needed to amend the ordinances such that they have um been assigned properly there are no changes to the terms of the tax abatement thank you thank you any any other followup thank you Deputy Mayor thank you we are now in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have have three minutes to speak if you're interested in addressing the council please state your name for the record is there anyone wishing to address the council Good morning George Tillman Jr good morning good morning um I was invited to the affirmative action review council meeting um last week and I must say that that body is not functioning there was only three members present at this meeting and no information was available no no paperwork from no construction site no discussion about the compliancy um no discussion at all related to what that board was enacted to do only three members of 11 so again when we talking about the compliancy of the government that is one one one very important aspect of the enforcement and monitoring phase that board was given that and there's only three members at a meeting Not only was there only three me Members there it was moved off from City Hall by the chairman by her direction we were told that the city is not giving that Council a conference room in this facility so the meeting was moved offsite so that's something that needs to be dealt with but first and foremost that commission needs to be uh um um needs appointments to it immediately because they're not attending she said they have been meeting there for the last five months um can we have some meeting minutes to know what was disc discuss in those last five minute five meetings and what members were there Mr Baptist came there he gave a report a verbal report no paperwork to substantiate any information regarding compliancy I'm going to leave at that this last minute I want to discuss um there's the city has in court this week on February the 6 uh in front of Judge Grace Spencer they have a petition before the court to have a special election um for the council vacant Council seat in April at the uh School Board election I believe that that we should have been informed I am a candidate we should have been informed in this process um taxpayer money was spent on this application this Council I don't know if you're aware of this um this court hearing this week for this special election to be done at the school board election but this is not doing us any service in the central Ward to move this election eight weeks out thank you thank you Mr tman additional speakers stay focused mon Elman I just want to say to the people of newk ask yourself a question how can elected officials adequately address the crime in your city when they violate city state and federal laws themselves just sit back and ponder that ask yourself that question noas to the city C to Baraka Administration the blood in these streets is on your hands the lawlessness the Lawless individuals are out of control because they see you out of control they see a govern they see a government of elected officials who support IL legal activities when it's to their advantage we had an Administration that hired active gang members and Drug traffickers running our rec centers you seen an Administration that covered up crime the police or uh uh traffic guy you know they covered up that no press conference you see individuals who come into this meeting they sit there and they allow them to violate our first amendment rights when it's to their advantage you see the mayor go on all politics is local and basically make a death threat to take out one of our uh Community act activists chairman in Africa just sit back and Ponder and ask yourself how can these folks adequately address crime when they commit crimes you see the election campaign they go out and terrorize they go to the election polls they force people they terrorize Ians just sit back noras and ask yourself then now you got a governor who just literally said on the news that he's harboring a illegal immigrant in this house just ask yourself a question to the individuals over Doge the department of governmental uh efficiency I just want to say this stay on them these political conmen have stole mismanaged and money laundered enough of our public dollars stay on them thank you for your comments next speaker seeing none uh anything uh I'm sorry uh first of all let's anything from the council councilman Ramos yeah thank you Mr President I I just want to state that um you know I I I agree with um one thing that uh Mr Tillman mentioned and you know this Council was not aware that the city was in litigation uh regarding a proposed uh special election you know in the past I believe those matters came to the council in the form of a resolution that was um voted on um no details as far as the costs you know who's going to pay for these costs associated with a special election um the timing right it's a April's a few months away and we if we do have candidates that are interested is it enough time for them to submit uh the petitions necessary to be candidates and you know one thing I have to comment I read the article and tap into yesterday and it gives the impression based on what they reported that this ccil is locked and nothing is getting done you know that's supposedly what the city's arguing in court and and I would ask the clerk to go back for the last few months and bet you that 90% of the items that appeared before us on this agenda get approved and if you look at prior to us having a vacancy on the council I would I would venture to say that a similar percentage of items that came before the council were approved as well so I don't want the public to have the perception that we We can't agree on stuff you know we we don't agree on everything we've never agreed on everything so you know I just want to put that on the record thank you Council Ramos Council M yeah you know I I'm one of those persons that understands process because I was in councilwoman uh M Crump and I uh at the time um the city council at the time passed a resolution that our election will go into May when the late Biv bani uh resigned and um at the time we were told that any election taking place place has to have a resolution uh the city clerk has to give a resolution to the city go the governing body this is not an administrative responsibility this is a responsibility of city clerk uh and no disrespect to her but knowing the process because I in 1994 in 1993 uh it wasn't about top uh who was a runner up councilwoman Miller Kump and I were told by the council at the time that there would be no special and that the election would go go into the May election when when I had won the election by lost by 7ap T allet we both said look we'll wait till then but again there was a resolution at the time the council said that we're not going to place any resolution that a will concur taxes to the taxpayers at the time late Donald Tucker talked about listen we're going through a reval how we're going to have who's going to pay the election so again to read these things and and it's I think we should have had a meeting prior to this to discuss this matter because I think this matter should have been discussed with the governing body we have the responsibility to appropriate this election a the clerk will have to do petition the petitions will have to be certified it will incur a lot of work advertisement etc etc I like to know who's going to concur this this this cost but is it the taxpayers of the central Ward is it the taxpayers of the city of New York because I was apposed to this because hearing it I received the document last week and I was like really this this was a decision made we the governing party should have been brought to an executive session explain this is what's going on and as councilman uh rainow indicates we have listen we have voted on not whether this Council divided we have voted for the people's concerns and we have done so CU we didn't get elected just for our our own agendas and then we're not going to do that because the people in the city need our services whether it's one war we're not going to put the five ws of the city one against another we're five ws and four at larges and we want to make sure that we work in that in that way so again I just want to put that on on a record that taxpayers cannot absorb um more taxes uh on things that will be taxed so that's my concern so I want to put that in place I think we should have an executive session to talk about this matter after this meeting to talk so we can hatch out what is it that we're doing because we don't I don't know what's going on thank thank you councilman canana any any other council member I I do concur with you councilman canana that if we do have any further discussion it must be an executive session uh except for what the Corporation Council is about to say that's right go obviously no details of of the lawsuit but I appreciate it councilman uh good morning uh city of North Corporation Council kyata Stewart so uh there are two comments essentially I want to respond to um the first in reference to the election so as as was commented a few moments ago there is a active matter pending that's scheduled to go to court tomorrow I will say that it's probably a best idea that we go into the details of it uh in executive session but I will say that uh for the benefit of the of the audience here um the city's uh two main priorities is is is focus the first part is to try to do the best we can to make sure the central War has representation I do know that uh there staff is still working the the former councilwoman's staff is still actively working doing the best they can I do know that some of the council members here have been trying to help out in the Cal War because you recognize that folks have concerns and have questions and things of that nature but uh the representation of the Cal W is also important to us and whoever it is we don't really have a a sense of who we want it to be right but we know that they need representation we know they need a voice someone to be sitting at that seat the second thing is that we recognize that it would be cheaper for the city if we do it during another election right we have two essentially two options the first one is November which will essentially almost give it about a year that the seat would be uh vacant or we can use the time and opportunity to make it cheaper on the residents because there's already a school board election going on um any other details I would like to go into executive session if you all want to kind of get into the think of it though uh the second uh response I have I know there was some comments in reference to um an officer who was uh who's charged as a result of causing a death um I I need you all to kind of appreciate the fact that there's a process uh based on uh the independent prosecutors um um legislation that came out about two or three years ago um the city is not allowed to prosecute someone when the officer is involved with causing someone's death as a result of that the independent prosecutor in this situation here is the ESS County prosecutor's office who takes over the investigation the city has to step aside and let the essis County Prosecutors Office do what they have to do meanwhile we also have to be mindful of the fact that we have to be of the fact that this person is an employee and that person has a process as well if we violate that process then that person may be entitled to their job or entitled to a fund of money if we jump over that process so those are kind of two things that are happening at the same time um after the essence County prosecutor's office conducted their investigation they then um arrested the person or charged the person and then we then suspended the person so you know there's no way us to get involved I know folks said there was a a cover up that's the last thing that could ever happened in this situation because more importantly the law says that the essence County prosecutor's office or there has to be an independent uh prosecutor that's involved with that process again I don't want to go into too many details about the sub and substance of the person's status and things of that nature but I do think it's important for us to recognize and appreciate that there's essentially like a a two-prong process that's happening at the same time and we let the Prosecutors Office do their part and then after that we did our part on the administration side thank you Mr President if I thank you councilman Gonzalez yes H regarding let's say a reappointment or reelection of some a failing a vacancy and you state what the law says so there's I can go I go into executive session it's going to exective session on it that you can you can state the law that I I'm asking you what the law the reason why I said that is because there's actually two points of the law that's going to be a part of the argument tomorrow and I don't want to tip my hand to the public and more importantly to the adversary in reference to what's going on there's I I don't I don't see the need to to discuss that in executive section because you are citing the law I can I can cite the law the law says that you either have it a appointed by the council H within 90 days or you have to have an election let's say a general election so it can be an election in April has to be an election either in May that we are elected or in November when the governor gets elected that's what the law says council is actually other parts of the law that we're using um that I can address later on thank you all right councilman uh Council oh no I thought you had something all right uh so no no well we'll talk about executive session for but uh I Believe Miss Gaylord had something to add thank you council president and council members Karen Gaylord executive director nework Workforce Development board I really just wanted to address the uh invitation that was extended by the workforce board and nework works to host the affirmative action Review Committee at 375 mcarter Highway the New York onetop um we found ourselves in a position because of extended hours of service to be able to do evening sessions uh offer a community center um to accommodate those meetings um we were also in a position to bring some logistical and administrative support to the committee as well as some Technology support as a result of that we were able um not only did that in my observation because I did attend the last meeting um we minutes were taken uh and we were able to record the session and provide the recorded session to the members who uh participated in that meeting and hopefully now that we have a new space with that kind of Technology available they'll be able to do that going forward um to provide an accurate record for everyone um I do want to also add that um while I was there and I was there from the beginning to the end of the meeting I believe that there were 10 people uh in attendance I can't speak to which ones were uh board members but I do believe that some uh uh members of that advisory committee uh came perhaps after Mr Tillman you can check the record I know you had to depart because you had a second meeting but there were some other people there um and I do know that the part of the conversation uh the agenda was an administrative agenda for actions going forward to build uh the agenda for meetings going forward and that that certainly included uh addressing new uh members to that board and uh uh other supports that could be made available so I thought it was a pretty robust agenda that went on for two hours uh and the record is available to Mr Tillman and others thank you so I think at this point we unless there's anything else we probably need to go on uh executive session get a motion for executive session Council Gonzalez yes Kelly yes Pana yes Ramos yes Scott brry yes Silva yes president Trump yes thank you go e e e