Well, you're not on yet. There you go. I'm going to sign this shot. Okay. Council members, welcome to this special meeting for today, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. In accordance with New Jersey law, adequate notice of this meeting has been
provided to the Star Ledger, the Jersey Journal, and the public at large, establishing the time, date, and time of the location of this meeting. In addition, the agenda for this meeting will disseminate on May 9th, 2025 at the time of preparation and posted in the
city's website. Roll call. President, present. Here, present. Uh, before we begin, Mr. Clerk, I think we should stand and for a moment of silence
um for our mayor depart a departed mayor, Mayor Shark James did so much for our people in our city. Thank you. Okay, we on page four of the agenda 7R1
as a authorizing the use of competitive contracting to award a contract for one-stop career center operation under the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act. Any questions from the council? See, hearing none, roll call.
Council, yes. Gonzalez, yes. Kelly, yes. Montana, yes. Ramos, absent. Yes. Scott, yes. Silva, yes. President Trump,
yes. Seminar 2AS is to resend a resolution determining the project proposed by CL Enterprises LLC meets or will meet an assisting housing need in the South W. Can we get a quick explanation? I
understand it's due to a name change, but is that the only reason we're rescending this? Good morning. Brandy Daniel, legislative coordinator for economic and housing development. Yes, uh, council president, this is in regards to the resolution of
need that the council approved last week for the Shila Oliver project. This was the original resolution of need that the developer um, obtained, but due to the name change in the amendment in RDA, we had to redo the resolution of need to uh, show the new name for the entity.
So, we had to resend this one, so there weren't two on the books. Thank you. Any questions from the council? Roll call. Council, yes. Gonzalez, yes. Kelly, yes. Nana, yes.
Ramos, yes. Scott Roundtree, yes. Silva, yes. President Trump, yes. 7R8A is a cere ceremonial street dedication to Sergeant Joseph Anthony Asona sponsored by Anva Ramos Councilman
and Councilman Kintana second. Council, yes. Gonzalez, yes. Kelly, yes. Kintana, yes. Ramos, yes. Scott Roundtree, yes. Silva, yes. President Trump, yes. Communications 8 is an
ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to 449 Washington Street Urban Renewal CL LLC for a project to construct a five-story building with a total of 20 residential rental units in which 10 will be market rate and 10 will
be affordable housing rental units restricted at tenants at 60% of AMI in the central ward council as a whole to adopt. Let me just say I just just uh for the record, this is one of those was one of the project uh pro
projects that we discussed. There were five around the city. Um and this is one of them. This is the last one. We we have one more. All right. So, we've discussed this on on many occasions. So, just let's go unless
there's a question from the council. Roll call. Can we adopt first? I'm sorry. Say it again. Can we adopt advance and adopt and adopt? I don't see why not. Excuse me. Yes. Advancing and adopting this on
first reading. The public hearing would still be in June. That's fine. So, it's still June. Okay. So, we'll defer it at the next meeting. That's okay. Okay. This item now will be 6 FA. We haven't
we haven't voted yet. We got voting to advance and adopt. This item would be number 6 FA. Council, yes. Gonzalez, yes. Kelly, yes. Kintana, yes.
Ramos, yes. Scott Groundree, yes. Silva, yes. President Trump, yes. Ordinance adopted today on first reading will be advertised in accordance with the law and public hearing will be held at a regular meeting on June June
4th at the time of uh June 4th as soon thereafter as practical in the council chambers. Thank you. Uh before we before we adjourn, is there anything from the C councilman Ramos? Yeah, thank you, Mr.
President. Uh I know we have the um street dedication schedule for Saturday the 17th. So I would have just asked through your chair and the clerk um to ensure that you know the all the logistics are in place, you know, the sound system works properly. I know
we've had some issues in the past that we have an appropriate number of chairs. Um and also to see if we could send a note to um public works to see if they can clean up the area ahead of time. So I just want to make sure everything's in place. Absolutely. Council,
anything else from the council? Let me meet I got just a couple things I just wanted to address real fast. Number one was a previous uh uh motion regarding the property on 13 Hecker Street at 13
Hecker Street. Um just finding out what the update is. There was it was deplorable conditions abandoned and there were some issues with fires in there and squatters and the neighbors are very concerned about it. I I made this motion at the March 19th meeting and I just wanted to get a update or
followup um through through the uh clerk's office, please. And I think that's it. So, let's get a motion to adjourn. Council Gonzalez, yes. Kelly, yes. Mana, yes. Ramos, yes. Scott Roundtree, yes.
Silva, yes. President Trump. Yes. We are now in the public portion of the meeting in which each speaker has three minutes to speak. Please state your name for the record. Is there anyone wishing to address the council? No one
appeared. Council President, council members, we are now in the special conference section portion of the meeting and we have two top topics for this morning. The first one will be the status of resources, equipment and manpower by the department of public works and we have the director Tyreek
Ron this morning. Thank you. Good morning council president, council members. Uh director, good morning, director Roland DPW. Um before I start off, I would like to say I would like to recognize Miss Brenda Anderson who we passed away. She gave the city over
about 30 plus years. She was our recycling coordinator. So condolences to her, her family, and our community. Huge loss for us. Absolutely. So this morning, I'll take about 7 to 10 minutes to discuss um what we need as it pertains to our staffing, where we are,
where we want to be, um and how we get there. Before I dive into it, just to talk about how we got there. Uh, in 2019, I was serving as a systems analyst uh, in DPW under director Khalif Thomas. And that was, you know, a good time for us. I want to talk about like how COVID
impacted us. Uh, we had a lot of employees. We had equipment, uh, new trucks coming in, street sweepers. Uh, we didn't have recycling in-house. I think we had just got the South forward, uh, contract to, uh, collect refues. And then in 2020 during COVID uh that's when
we begin to become impacted. At the current time prior to that we had about 150 additional employees through our workforce program and re-entry who were able to work with us. Uh we also had a re-entry program uh who was coming through workforce as well. And when COVID happened, we lost it, right? And
we just never ever recovered for it uh or from it. Um and we'll begin to talk about that, you know, what it looks like uh during this presentation. So, first our overview. The Department of Public Works is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the city of North through high quality operational
and maintenance efforts. Our beautifification initiatives foster neighborhood pride and ownership by ensuring the upkeep of the city entryways, vacant lots, vacant buildings, and main affairs in a cost-effective manner. Our primary goal is to promote a healthy environment, improve public health, economic
development, and increase the quality of life for all residents. Our pillars are that is the same as the mayor. Make no safer, make no equitable, make it educated, empowered, and collaborative. Where we are as it pertains to our population. So, here you'll get to see, you know, some of the
things that we see every day. Obviously, we all know that in 2000 since 2018, we had about a 30,000 to 40,000 uh increase in population. Today, we have 304,000 plus residents. We have 113 household plus households that we're responsible for collecting their trash. Southward
households 15,000 plus. Westward ward households 15,000 plus. Centry ward households 6,000 plus. North northward households 12,000 plus. Eastwood 11,000 plus. We're responsible for about 60,000 households. These numbers may have
increased. This is data from 2021. Um the private lots that uh we're responsible for 3,000 plus our city- owned lots 2,000 and between our middle aisles and recreations and parks that's 67 properties that we are responsible
for. So where we are currently in our daily operations you'll see some pictures here so you can get a visual of these are like bulk days. So the bottom left picture is on Clinton Avenue. I think last month we had a bulk day and this is what one household put out. Uh we all know that bulk is supposed to be
10 items. Uh here's another property uh to where um they stop their uh contract and we're working with law department to enforce that. But we're now responsible for picking it up. I believe it's on 16th Avenue in Littleton. Um some data for us, right? The average sanitation
worker walks six miles per day um and is collecting 14 tons uh per ton. There's 2,000 2,000 uh pounds per ton. So, we're looking at about 28,000 pounds, right, of data. We're lifting illegal dumping since last year, I just read a KPI to the administration has increased by
111%. Um, and is one of the fastest growing cities uh in the country. As it pertains to equipment, we currently have 47 uh 32 yarders. The average age of our fleet is 13 years old. We have small five smaller refuge trucks that help us get through the
smaller areas. Um help helps us to become more effective effective. Those are roughly new. We have two front loaders. Uh we're working with the administration and and through our capital improvement plan because we have moved through uh many of our properties that have 10 units or more to front
loader dumpsters. We have two um we need about two more and I'll talk about that later on. Staffing, I broke it down so we can actually see where we have it. Uh so for refuge that is for just regular household garbage. We currently have 37 CDL drivers, 77 laborers. This does
include folks who possibly are on workers comp. Uh in recycling, we have 23 CDL drivers, 41 laborers, also including folks who are on workers comp. Our neighborhood services, that is our team who is responsible for the cleanness and beautifification of the city throughout all uh city properties
on parks and grounds. So, we have seven equipment operators, 52 laborers, and four CDL. Uh mechanics, we have 13. Um, one of the things about mechanics, and you'll see later on, is that we, uh, are working with the administration, uh, and we have some vacancies to fill those
spots, uh, we, so our mechanics spend about 75% of their time on, uh, police and fire vehicles, right? Which kind of forces us to, uh, have to outsource some of those things. So, four mechanics would be extremely helpful for us. Street sweeping, we have 10 drivers, seven CDL drivers, and three or nine
CDL. They drive the smaller ravos. Uh in our trees we have one CDL driver and five laborers. So where we want to be as it pertains to equipment and staffing. Um we we would like to add six CDL drivers and 15 laborers to our refuge
collection. That will give us a total of 43 um CDL drivers and 92 laborers. We believe that this will, you know, if we ever have a call out, folks are on vacation. Um this will allow us to, you know, be more effective in the community. Recycling. Uh we have we're asking for seven CDL drivers, 15
laborers, this would give us 30 CDL drivers and 56 laborers. When we first brought recycling inhouse uh April 1st in 2023, um just assess so just assessing what Basso um we modeled what Basso had. I believe that they had like 15 trucks um and 30 laborers. Uh
obviously the city has grown since then, a lot of development. We have reassessed that and realized now that we would need about, you know, 30 drivers and 56 laborers to combat some of the same issues that I talked about. Uh, in refugees, our neighborhood services, uh, we have one equipment op, we're asking
for one equipment operator or we need one equipment operator, 50 laborers, these laborers, because this department is kind of specialized. We really wouldn't have to have them year round. maybe just seasonal from March into September to be able to help us, you know, uh during the warmer uh months.
You know, we have to extend our services throughout the city. So, that'd be 50 laborers, uh two CDL drivers, and that will put us at a total of for this division, eight equipment operators, 102 laborers, six CDL drivers. Uh I spoke about having adding four mechanics. That
will give us a total of 17. Uh street sweeping, we're asking for uh eight additional CDL drivers. We currently have nine brooms. Through our capital improvement plan, we have uh eight, but we want to increase that number to 10. Uh when we first brought street sweeping in-house, we knew that we needed about
13. We currently have uh some machines down just due to the ravos. Uh we just want to be more effective. Our tree department, two CDL drivers, one tree climber, uh three laborers. Uh that will bring us to a total of having three CDL drivers in that division, one tree
climber, and seven laborers. So, here's how we get there. Through our capital improvement plan that we're working with, uh, uh, director Guzman, who's been extremely helpful, uh, director Dean, put this together to be able to allow us to get more equipment. Uh, we're trying to expedite that. Hopefully, we can see it uh, by the end
of the year. Uh, but we want to collaborate, you know, more with our partners in the city. Um, say like with the state what they're doing who are doing similar work. We're working with people's assembly to reach out citywide to all the organization and partners who are doing this work to kind of extend
our resources and work together. Uh just realizing going to a lot of community meetings, meeting a lot of organizations. I think that we are unintentionally working in silos. So we want to have that month that uh meeting next month to bridge that gap. And then innovation uh we partner with uh NJIT
and project elevate to build a resident app friendly to be able to some many of the calls that we receive from you all right um to be able to combat that resident can take a picture the app will schedule it streamline it notify them when it's picked up it will notify us it will notify code enforcement and project
elevator is also assisting us with GPSing our routing systems that way if I'm a new driver um and I get and I have to fill in I'm working on a Saturday I have to fill in somewhere I can just put that app in or put the GPS in the address it'll take me rather than having a supervisor drive me around throughout
the route and not knowing. Uh little demo of what this app would look like for residents. Can we click that? That concludes the presentation. If I miss anything, ask questions. Mr. President, thank thank you, director. First, before I go around the
questions, just um can you send this presentation to us so that to the council members? Yes. All right. Thank you. All right. questions. I I have a Councilman Gonzalez. It's It's more let's say comment than a question. Let's
say I I noticed that the say the recycling is being picked up almost at night. Yes. In some areas. Why is that? And has the community been informed of that change? Because I didn't know that
that was happening. Yes. So, the community had been informed. Um we we sent out flyers. We had community meetings. We're finding more more effective ways to communicate that. We're going to do another uh tour. But what happened was I know last fall when I first came on board, uh we had a
situation to where we were experiencing colder weather, a lot of winds, we begin to change it to 6:00 p.m. to 2 a.m. the day of. Um then we ran into a hiccup because what we realized was that although we were picking it up in a timely manner, the those recyclable materials were laying out much longer.
And what I mean by that is that if you were still following the ordinance and you placed if your trash or your recyclable is Tuesday and you placed it out Tuesday before you went to work, we weren't collecting until 6 p.m. the day of. That means if your street was the last street, we would probably pick it up at 1:00 in the morning. And if whe
whether it was tied up or not, that left room for materials to blow and spill, right? And we just wanted to get ahead of that. So we had to pivot immediately and kind of build it in flight at the same time and communicate. and we begin to go back to the day before collecting materials 6 pm to 2 am the day before to
2 am I'm sorry the day before I continue the flyers we can do community meetings uh we can talk about um any other things that that you would like to address but we are moving back from 6 p.m. or we have moved back rather from 6:00 p.m. to 2 a.m. the day before. What I mean by that, if your material day, if your
collection day is on Monday in zone A, we're asking you should place your items out between 6:00 p.m. and 1000 p.m. the day before that, Sunday night. And if it's Tuesday and Friday, you should post uh take your materials out Monday night between 6 p.m. and 10 between 6 p.m. and
10 p.m. Monday night and Thursday between 6:00 p.m. and 10 p.m. So when is that taking effect? Easy. So it took effect. So it took effect on March 17th, right? But here, so to answer your question a little bit more on why you're seeing it is because we didn't do our
best job in communicating, residents were accustomed to the schedule that we had to market and say that we're going to be collecting at night time. So now we're out there Sunday night, but for the residents who we failed to communicate to, um, and that's my fault, uh, who still are operating at the 600 p.m. to 2 a.m. schedule the day of, we
have to do double days. So, if you're in zone B on Tuesday and Friday, I know I talk a lot with uh Councilman Ramos, we're working there on Saturdays and Sundays to get the remaining and Councilman Dupri to get the Westward bottles and cans, but I believe that the next couple weeks uh you know, as we continue to communicate, I'm doing a
Facebook live uh you know, with the mayor on Wednesday and we'll continue doing a community meetings and and blast mailing to be able to let's say in my case that you picked up Tuesday mornings, let's say, and uh and Friday mornings So, I have to put it out on on
Monday evening and Thursday evening. Yes. Yes. So, the ordinance says that residents uh should place their items out between 6:00 p.m. and 10 p.m. the day before. Okay. So, yeah. Council uh uh
yeah, I'm sorry. And then council Kelly me or council. Oh, okay. Council Kelly. Yeah, I just wanted to first. Thank you for the presentation uh director. I really appreciate it. Um couple of things that I want to line
up. I'mma walk through it so that I can uh you know move forward. First, I just definitely have to acknowledge that we we're having some tough times in in in the city right now in terms of cleaning and making sure clean. During the presentation, you you never mentioned
the amount of CSS workers. How many CSS workers do we have? I don't have that number right here in my notes, but I can definitely get it to you. Yeah. Can you forward us the the number of CSS workers that are working in Sanitary? Yes. Then in terms of compensation, I know that,
you know, we had some um instances where there were some raises through um 617. I'm not sure what compensation plays in role in that but also when people are talking about compensation there has to be also some transference of
professionalism right in terms of training and development. So is there a list of individuals uh who have gone through any additional um prior to me coming on board and even now uh many of our assistant directors, superintendents and managers um are
taking certification programs. Uh at Ruckers we had a uh a leadership training with Angela Minfield where we all did the DISC assessment. We'll have another social emotional well-being training on leadership and professionalism in the upcoming weeks. I actually have a zoom I believe on Wednesday with the organization uh from
uh Ruckers to to be able to assist. All right. And if you can forward that information of all who have been involved in uh training and professional development and then also taking a look at title redundancy uh the the amount of of titles the
redundancy in the titles the roles and responsibilities that these individuals may have and then do we have a risk management system uh in place uh at DPW to lower uh the amount of accidents uh incidents that may be occurring ensuring
that the workers down there are uh dressed in the proper apparel that they supposed to have, be it vest, boots, rainy days, raincoats, all of these things that are probably down there in the in the in the building or shed. uh and making sure that the brooms and dust
pans uh are on back of the buses because I I bring that up because when we talk about philosophy versus practice, the uh presentation of what you showed us philosophically uh is an awesome idea. It's a great idea. Uh but the practice
right now is failing us all over the city. uh probably from every ward in the city, we're having major issues with pickup, delivery, going back, the recurrence of of picking up. How much would you say that we spend for tonnage per month?
I can get that to you. I don't have the top of my head, but I can get it. Yeah. So, if we can break down how much we are spending in tonnage as it relates to type 13 trash, as it relates to bulk pickup, if we can put a number to that and identify that number so that the taxpayers know what it is that they're
paying every time we have to pick up illegal dumping, every time we have to uh come out and pick something up, they would it's important that they understand what that cost variable is. uh especially as it relates to uh garbage uh uh collection. Um,
also, how are we working to combat uh these side job situations in terms of disciplinary issues where individuals are working on routes, they break off from their routes, they go pick up things that they should not be picking up, can't get back to their route, head
to waste waste management, and by the time they get back, there are several calls that are coming in about mis pickups. And so just to if you can provide us some information about um the the um the walk through a progressive discipline. Yes. How how is that
occurring? What is happening down there? Um and then one of my contentions and and we'll continue to talk about it as I even shared with the uh the business administrator. DPW must be a 24hour organization. Um cannot live Monday through Friday from 6:00 in the morning
to 3 in the afternoon. uh there were major accidents that are occurring. There's no one cleaning up, no street sweepers out there, issues and things that may be occurring through the evening. And so um I understand at one point we had this breakdown in terms of staffing for recycling pickup in the
evenings, garbage in the morning, but what does that look like in totality from a Monday through Sunday uh comparatives that you're putting in and giving to us or providing to us? Will that help to complete this kind of operation? Yes. So I so I'll answer the
first one. Uh we are currently working with the law department. Um we have a whole workers comp report that that that we're building out. Uh met with the business administrator and one of our plans um is to be able to ensure so we're going to look at all of our staffing, look at all the necessary equipment, whether that's glasses,
boots, vestes, right? We're going to draft up a letter. Each employee will have to sign it moving forward. They'll get their uniforms. They'll get their glasses. They'll get their boots. they'll get their vestes, any and everything that they need, they will get. So that way if a worker doesn't have glasses on um and something flies
off the back of the truck and hits him or her um they don't have the proper wear that you know we can at least defend that, right? Um when it comes to workers comp, I forgot everything in the middle, but I'll answer the last question. Um as it pertains to staffing. Absolutely. Yes. We currently uh the
administration had approved us to hire 55 uh new hires. That consisted of 20 laborers and 35 drivers. They're currently uh in the last phase going through Indigo to get their fingerprints. This will allow us to have the schedule that you talked about councilman uh where we can have a
Saturday to Wednesday uh uh team, a Sunday to Thursday, and also a Monday to Friday. What I didn't uh mention is that right you know so with to be able to get an additional 75 CDL drivers that or or 75
um or 26 I'm sorry drivers that will bring us up to 101 drivers right to get an additional 84 labors that will give us up to 259 laborers we that is sufficient staffing based upon the research that we've done in a city like ours right um for example I can give you
you know we'll clean the middle aisles right we'll go on Goldmith, we'll go to Hanssbury. We'll go to those areas and we'll come through. Sometimes it's Saturday on over leave. Folks are placing those items right back out there. Right. And I do just want to be mindful is that the
folks who are on my team, right, these are the same folks who are working every single day, rain, sle, hail, snow, and more staffing will allow us to be more flexible, reduce workers comp cases, I believe, and most importantly, serve the community better. Yeah. So, and to that
point, I'm I'm glad you said that because to that point, one of the things that we're talking about is what we need from the the the current workers and staff now. And so, what you presented to us is is ultimately where it is that you want to see the department going. This is where we are. This is where we we we
want to be. Uh but then ultimately when we look at uh intensively where we are now we have an issue with individuals coming to work rather whatever that issue is if they believe it's pay not being paid on time overtime issues whatever that is we still have a responsibility to be able to come to
work to do the job at hand right because no one ran after them to get the job they ran here to get the job and so they should be responsible for doing the job right that's very important because it helps to stop the narrative not just around this city but around this state
that Newark is a dirty place especially when you live here uh and you ride down your own block and as a DPW worker and you don't have a vested interest in making sure your own block is clean that's that's very intentional then completing the task right so task day
means when all of the trash in the entire city is picked up doesn't mean your district your specific area if I come in at 5 if I come in at six if I bust this route out by 7:00, then I'm on my way home. That the completion of task
is when someone gives the okay that every piece of trash from a household has been picked up in the city. We have to work to make sure that individuals are completing their task day. We have to work on picking up the garbage uh and
cleaning uh behind themselves. There's too much waste and foilage that that is on the ground outside. Even coming here, a lot of waste down Pennsylvania Avenue, all on the ground, the throwing of the cans. We have to be better in our
service. It's not a sprint. This is a marathon. We have to take our time to execute the performance that's happening, right? And so those are the things that we can do right now. garbage that's sitting up against somebody's wall or fence and we're riding by
because it's not on the curb. We have to take that garbage and make sure we're dumping it because the more you leave it, the more it piles up. You get the call, somebody has to come back and pick it up. That person that's coming back to pick it up could have been assigned to go somewhere else or complete some other
duty. Then the utilization of the equipment that we do have, right? Proper utilization. Street sweepers right should not be halfway out in the street. it should be hugged up on the curb and sidewalk. And so you get constant calls back from people saying that the street
sweeper obviously did not come or they didn't do a good job because if you follow behind them, which I've done many occasions, the vehicle is halfway out in the street instead of hugged up on the sidewalk with the apparatuses that we do have, it allows for that type of cleaning to make sure they clean it over
there as well as the catch basins. Right. We have to stop putting garbage and trash on the islands. We have to clean the islands. We have to cut them and mow them. They are atrocious right now. We have to do those things which we can do. And then um ultimately as I as I
mentioned a lot of times we talk we have to have community walks to discuss pickup and put out strategies. It's the only way that we can reach and reach out to people. I I don't mind doing that with you. I'm quite sure we grab a few people, design, pick some neighborhoods, go knock on some doors and talk to them
about this is the proper way to put the garbage out. This is the way that when we come, this is how we need to pick it up. All of those things are things that we can do now. Yes. Right. as as we begin to look at how we shape and design a DPW department as we move to the
future with the with the with the growth of the city uh as it continues to move as well as uh the amount of of of individuals uh that are coming uh into our city. We have to work on all of those things. But there are surely some
do now things that we can we can have. Yeah, I agree. And I do think that so it has to be collaborative, right? you know, while we're educating our laborers and drivers about the importance of clean communities, our community members need to be vested stakeholders in that. The question I would ask as a garbage
man is, you know, how many times can I go behind the gate or go to the property to constantly continue to to be able to do those things. So, we want to be able to work together and understand, you know, that that we just can't do it alone. Residents are responsible from cleaning 18 inches to the curb. There
are many times to where I know it. I'm out there in the field to where I see it to where a resident may call when the trash is overflowing but it's been four weeks. We get the heat for it. Right? So, we want to be able to communicate. We want to be able to work together while we're changing. We want our residents belief system and ideology to
change as well as about that because when we're cleaning up Clinton Avenue and soon as we leave the person is throwing something on the ground, right? We want to be able to make sure that everyone believes that and buys into it. It's not just a DPW thing. It's a NORC, you know, resident thing. All of us together. That that's for me and I
believe for us too. Yeah. Anything else? No, I'm done. All right. Thank you, Councilman Kelly. Thank you, Council President. How you doing, director? Good morning. Good morning. I just I want to say thank you for your presentation as well. Um, I also want to
thank you. I actually witnessed you, I believe, in your personal car with uh three other members of DPW. And when I stopped you, I asked you, "Where were you going?" And you said, "I'm riding around the West Ward to to notice the
trends of garbage being put out." I've never had a director say that or do that. Maybe they have. I just only known you to do it. But I say that to say, while you're riding around, what did you notice? Like, do
you notice any hot zones? Do you when it comes to DPW, do you have any hot zones for dumping in in the West Ward and throughout the city? Um, I know that public safety has hot zones for, you know, different crime trends. Since I seen you riding around,
it just, you know, it came into my mind to ask you, do you notice any hot zones? Do you have data for hot zones for dumping? Because it was a serious problem in certain areas in the West and and I'm sure throughout the entire city. Yes. So we actually have hot zones. I
can share them immediately after. But uh to your point, one of our hot zones that we work together is boiling at Abger, right? Hassan McBride is here and we constantly go there every week, right? You know uh what every Friday, every Thursday to abate that same area where we know what's going on. So we're trying to work and figure out funding for
cameras just more innovative ways to be effective. what what we are doing we you know I got uh the hotspots from MPD director Miranda also the hot spots of homelessness to be able to see what correlation all of them play together right so we're talking about crime homelessness and litter and then also
tie that into like educational levels and so economic status and to be able to see you know what each community or what or each neighborhood needs based upon the data that that we're receiving. But we got to do all that and still pick up the garbage, still pick up the recycling and still work together to be able to put those plans together. So, I thank
you and uh you know, we look forward to continue working with you. It's great to hear um that you talk about the cameras because um when you think about the hot zones for me, you know, the the garbage doesn't just cause rodents. You know, anytime there's filth or garbage, it it
causes some some uncleanliness even in public safety, right? It attracts uh uh some unclean, you know, people there as well. So, the cameras, that was my next question, too. Is there when we ask for
qu equipment or when we ask the council to vote on getting DPW equipment, is cameras included in that, is that um a high priority? I know certain trucks and certain machineries are, but in order to to halt or capture these these people
who are illegally dumping, is cameras high up on that equipment list or is it on the equipment list at all? Yes. So, um, the same folks who are developing the app, we're currently in conversations like, do we use drones? Do we use cameras? Do we, you know, connect with MPD system. We're trying to figure
out the most effective way not to just just do what to be doing and spend money. And you got to come back and pivot again, right? You know, can they be mobilized? We're trying to figure out more effective ways. And that is in the plan. And I can also send that to you as well. Please send it to entire council, please. Um, and another question. I know
we had a fire, I believe, on Norwood with a street sweeper, street cleaner, um during the dry season. I think we had two fires actually. Where are we with with getting that equipment repaired or getting new equipment for street sweepers? Because I know um I got a lot
of calls in the west when the when the weather drop below 32, the residents don't understand that it's a water vehicle, right? So, when it drops below 32, it freezes. It can't do the proper job. So, when Do we have the equipment
replaced, repaired, or do we have it back in the fleet? So, the first vehicle uh was a total loss. The second one we were able to save. However, what we are doing is working with the uh to see if our insurance claim will cover it. Maybe we can recoup some money. But again, in our capital improvement plan, I think we
have four street sweepers coming in maybe the third or fourth quarter. Um I can also give you an update as well. But we do but we would like to increase that number. Thank you very much. And um one of the last questions uh can you describe I I guess for for the residents
here what other responsibilities other than just garbage and street sweeping that DPW is responsible for because I know you used to I know when I first got in office I would call you guys to cut down a tree and the tree would get cut down. That's no longer. So can you
describe what what responsibilities other than just garbage and recycling that DP DPW covers? So we're responsible for snow, salting, plowing. Um we're also responsible for every city uh the upkeep and maintenance of every city building. Uh we are responsible for all
the parks and recreation centers even for the private properties, right? Uh we're not fully responsible, but if someone calls in, we have to notify code enforcement will notify that property. If the property doesn't do anything about it, then it's now on us to maintain and clean. Whether that's a
demolishing, baiting, detailing, going board ups, right, when fires come. Um, our job is to make sure that the city is actually working, functioning. Uh, we're responsible for all of the uh vehicles, tons of things. And and uh
before I let you go, speaking of being responsible for the city buildings, that includes uh the fire departments as well, right? Yes. So, with that being said, I know we spoke about um the Palm Street Fire Department that needed some
some issues resolved, and I and I do believe that you guys went up there. Have has those uh issues been resolved that or where we at with the Palm Street Fire Department. So, so they're in the process of being resolved. We had uh a second inspector come out and investigate some of the things that we
talked about. Uh the piece with the flooring, I can get back to you and give you information of that this afternoon. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate you. Thank you, uh, Councilman Ramos. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I just want to state for the record that I I do
appreciate the responsiveness of, uh, Director Rolan. You know, I've worked with a lot of DPW directors in my tenure here, and um I have to tell you, it's really easy for people to sit up here and give you all kinds of suggestions
on how to run your department, but when you're dealing with failing equipment, um additional responsibilities every year with things that used to be contracted out to private vendors, uh 20 25% of your staff, uh either on a leave
of absence or calling out sick on any given day, you know, it changes anyone's um ability to effectively get things done. Um but even with those challenges, I have to say that uh for the record, you know, you you do go above and beyond
to um respond. Most residents will interact with uh public works more than any other department and they judge the effectiveness of municipalities based on our ability to get what you are responsible for done. And um you know I
know it's a it's a tough task. um anytime we've had a community meeting, you know, you've been there with your team and um you know, I'm glad you had an opportunity today to really talk about what you need because over the years we've been um uh talked to about
things that the city can do that private vendors used to do from recycling, from pickups in certain wards, uh street sweeping, and the city has made investments in sweepers and other things. and and we know there are certain days where some of those
sweepers are offline. There are questions about whether the city bought the right equipment to to do the job that is responsible for and um we need to have some honest dialogue about how we can effectively get things done and
what you need um to get things done. You could only do so much with the equipment you have in place right now. you could only do so much uh with with the uh manpower that you have under your supervision. And it's important for us to hear what you need in order to
effectively do what you're responsible to do. And and you know, from my standpoint, you have my support. I think our colleagues here are in agreement and um you know, I always respect honest dialogue and and that's something that I feel I get from you and you know, we're
here to support you and your team. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Thank you. Um, Council President, Director Rol, and I do my um agree with all my colleagues regarding your responsiveness. We've had some conversations as well. Um, you're
responding to those circumstances that were sent to your department. I just want to thank you for I do want I heard about the leadership training. Flard about the leadership training. Those are for your leaders. Yes. And your managers. Yes. Is there anything in place back for your laborers? Yes. So,
so that's going to be the second phase. What we what we were So, what I wanted to do and what we wanted to do was, you know, make sure that the folks who were in position to lead had the skills and tools and the social and emotional well-being to be able to do so, right? Because in order to lead, you must first
be able to follow. So, once we are able to get, you know, our leaders on board with the vision and I think that they know, right? Obviously, you know, it's a tough department, right? just getting getting them skilled up and then we can focus on the laborers, but we're kind of doing both at the same time. It's just, you know, it's hard to do a training during the week when we're responsible
so many things. So, we want to focus with the employees in the next couple months on the third and fourth Wednesdays um after they collect all of the yard and leave uh debris to be able to do, you know, lunch in workshop training. But first, we want to talk about some of the things that that they need. A lot of times we make decisions for folks, right? Um without having a
conversation. So, what do they need to be supported in? Um and then that's when we'll, you know, uh find out which way we go and we'll notify the administration and council as well. Thank you. The reason I say that is because I remember in one of your um community meetings you were speaking of
the um mindset. Yes. Of some of the individuals that are getting opportunities to have jobs and some of them with the customer service piece is very very important. Um it's kind of hard because they're doing a job that some of us would never do, haven't done.
And so we have to commend those who decide to go and pick up our debris and pick up th those things. I just wanted to make sure that that they also are receiving some type of concern and care for how they respond. The second thing I
want to say is I'm glad um there's a lot of people that are very thankful that you went back to the other schedule. Is that what I think we talked about? because in their minds, you know how hard it is for people to change. Change is good though. It's really, really good. But with a city this large to just
all of a sudden try to switch and try to reach everybody to let them know this is what we're doing now. So, I've got a lot of phone calls pertaining to I wish they were still doing it the same way. Well, we don't want to always do certain things the same way, but that trash debris, these elders that put their
garbage out and scared that they're going to get cited. I want to thank you for doing that part. And that's pretty much it. You do want to stop hearing individuals talk about our city being dirty. That is one thing. And there's a
lot it's a lot to be done. So my prayer is that these 55 folks Yeah. will come on and get that done as soon as possible because you need them. Thank you. And what councilman councel said regarding the 24hour piece, I don't know how that works. That's not the scheduling is not
my area, but I really pray that we can catch up so that our city can be what it is meant to be and that is clean for sure. Thank you so much for everything that you do in your service. And thanks to those workers that work with you,
those that go out on those trucks that have to jump up and down and get cussed out themselves about certain things, but make sure they put the garbage cans back on the sidewalks at least. Thank you. We'll be working on that. We'll be working on that. Thank you, Councilman Can. Thank you so much. Saturday, you
know, Councilman Kelly alluded to you being out there visible. you were out there visible, but your your pickup truck was loaded with stuff and you had gone to pick up some stuff at different sites. Me that, you know, we have a lot
of employees with city government. They drive luxuries cars and whatever. I never seen their pickups with anything, you know, but other stuff or riding around. But you I've seen you and it was very impressive. Yes. uh to see someone
picking stuff and putting it in in their pickup and disposing it where you know where you were going to dispose it and that's that's a credit to you and and thank you every time we have called you my office you have always respond uh in terms of the street cleaning uh
equipment uh you know we have bought the wrong equipment in the city we got 10 uh u uh clean street cleaners that are sitting there from the 19 from the 90s that because the company went out of
business that was made in Harlem. So you can't it's not when you when we buy equipment that's foreign equipment they go out of business then we don't have the parts. So they they wind up uh being in a showcase at the uh down on Wilson Avenue and that has been an issue. The
mechanics with hydro because these are hydro equipment uh you know it's that's another task. So, there needs to be that kind of movement. Again, whatever equipment you're going to get within the next couple months, we need to know that
there's going to be enough uh equipment, I mean, parts for that equipment because in the past, um the the street scrapers we had, they were from Harlem and the company went out of business, so you couldn't get any. So, they would sit there. On the
other note, in the early in the early 80s, um there was a 13A that was 13A were issued. When people kept their garbage cans in front of the house, they were issued a 13A. Today, if you go around, council Ramos and I were at
procession and people just putting their garbage cans right in front of the business, in front of the house, and not putting it in the rear. There's an order that says you must put in rear the garbage on the side or on the rear and it makes the city look awful when people just continue and then what they do is
they see that content garbage can in front of somebody's house and what they'll do is they'll take that recycling of the the the soda bottle or can throw it right there and that becomes a problem to us. We we can be poor and it was Mary James used to say
well we we can be poor we can be clean. Yeah. and and it's reality. How are we going to allow people to decide that they're going to put their garbage cans in front of their house and not cite them? Let's site them with a 13A. Uh
that's we can do that. People back in the day, we would encourage people uh please clean up until the curbs and pick up in in front of your house. Listen, it's our city. That takes some pride. And again, I just want to say whatever I could do to help because you I've seen
and I witnessed what you have done. Even with the snow and whatever your plan was in terms of you have come, you have done a great job. Thank you. I just want to say to you, whatever we can do to help you, I'm here and I know my council colleagues too. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Council Ramos, if
you have something else. Yeah, I'm sorry. I I had a followup. I I didn't mean to u I don't want to monopolize time, but um we spoke a little bit about like illegal dumping. I think all of us know what our hot spots are in the ward. You know, for me is that area off of Chester Avenue on Riverside. It's north
uh Third Street above Brancher Park. It's Harvey Street. Um years ago, we authorized the administration through the capital uh budget to buy cameras. So, so I don't understand how these locations do not have permanent cameras
set up because this gentleman and his team, they have to spend God knows how much time each week and resources cleaning up the same areas in every ward. And then the second thing I'll point to is that when Director Ambrose
was at uh uh public uh safety years ago, we we had some pretty highprofile arrests. I don't know, it was a task force that we had around illegal dumping, but we were publicly shaming people who were dumping construction material and things like that. And um
hopefully they went through the court process and actually either got some heavy fines or jail time because they come in from I see them on Riverside. They come in from off of 21, they make the U-turn, they open up the trunk, and they're dumping everything from construction
material to furniture, and then your folks are there every weekend cleaning up the same areas. And there has to be some um consequences for that kind of behavior. So I I would urge through your chair and and the clerk that the administration again resources, tools,
you know, we need cameras in those sites where every week people are dumping illegally. And then the second thing I would ask through your chair is that um we reinstitute whatever we had in place previously, whether it was a task force, and that we start publicizing every time
we catch somebody dumping, and that they're prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Yes, I do want to add, thank you, Councilman. do want to add that the administration is fully in in full support of the cameras. We're in conversations right now. Had a conversation with the mayor last week about bringing back our illegal dumping
task force. Um we this time we want to hit right and what I mean by that I think that when we for example when it cames to street sweepers I I believe because I was there at the time based upon the data that we had we went with the ravos right because it was effective and sometimes we don't know what's a
problem until what's a problem. We really want to dive down into the data, you know, talk about the hot spots and when we make decisions, make decisions to where we'll see the change, right? Not just put a band-aid on a broken bone. The mayor administration is in full support of that. Um so, you know, by the summertime, you'll be sens some
of those things visually um that we're talking about cameras, illegal dumping task force, um and 24-hour service. Thank you, Councilman Silva. Uh good morning, director. Uh just for the record, I'm the one who called for this meeting. Uh
can't blame anybody else. It's me. Uh we butt heads sometimes, right? Uh but and one thing we can agree on is we love this city and we want it to be clean. uh why I brought you up here and I requested DPW was obviously you've answered a lot of the questions was to
make sure that you guys have the resources that you need because at the end of the day there's not anybody in this room that would want to take on a lot of those jobs that you guys do. Okay, the hard work that you guys put in. And I'll
give you an example and I think morale might be a problem. yesterday down my street. One driver, one guy in the back taking care of both sides of the streets. One man, one man to take care of blocks and
blocks and I don't even know how many blocks he had done before he arrived on on my street. But one person to try to pick up so much garbage, you're going to burn that person out. And I know you gave numbers of how much personnel you
need. And I hope with the help of the business administrator, we can get to that number because I think these guys working hard are burning themselves out and the morale then becomes an issue, right? When they have to do a huge
amount of work, the garbage that people put out and this is just again just my ward. The the the garbage that people put out in the East Ward is insane. Regular household garbage, recycling, Amazon's gone through the
roof now in the East Ward. The amount of boxes that are out there, you think people will be collecting boxes for six months, but this is weekly garbage. And to have one individual at times in the back and pick all that up, I don't think
it benefits anybody. I think we need to get these men and women help. I know you're working hard to get to that goal, but uh morale might be a problem. And I'm going to say something else before you respond. Accountability on your
supervisors. So, two weeks ago, I sent you Walnut Street specifically. I have the video on my phone. Your supervisor went back and told you that everything was picked up. fortunate today there's a lot of cameras
out people have cameras and it showed clearly that the garbage was there Sunday night put out Monday it was still there the recycling Tuesday it was still there and Wednesday it was finally picked up but if your supervisors aren't
held accountable and they're going back and telling you that the garbage was picked up when clearly it wasn't we need to start holding our supervisors is accountable because they're responding to you and then you're giving me the answer and the
homeowner's giving me video. So, there's a disconnect somewhere there. And I think we need to work together, all of us, including myself in the East Ward with you and my other council colleagues with you to make sure that we're all on the same page because uh frustration
starts to set in, right, to these, you know, I get all the messages I pay $12,000 in property tax. I can't even get my garbage picked up. And that's that's okay. Uh but we need to try and pick up garbage if you can't do it in
one night, but try to pick it up in a reasonable time frame, not three, four days later because it's sitting out there. You know, we need to try to uh if not pick it up on that day because we've already gone over that the east ward has the most garbage. Uh but at least in a
reasonable time frame, not three, four days later where cardboard boxes are now all over the street where it's just the perception is just a bad one. It really does look bad. And so I've even worked with you. I have one of my aids
specifically working to go out and give you the streets that haven't been abated to make it easier for you guys. And so I'm hoping that from here on, uh, that we start working towards just picking up
the morale, working closer together, doing what it takes to make sure that, you know, garbage gets picked up. I always say outside of public safety, you're the most important department. Outside of police and fire, DPW's it and
you're the you're one of those key departments to the success of this city. Thank you. So I do want to few things um you know thanks to the mayor administration uh who have been in full support of you know knowing the resources that we need. We're in constant meetings. I have bi-weekly
meetings with the BA every two weeks and we're talking about our plan our plan and we have finally gotten that together for the example and this is what why the app is so important right to be able to bridge the gap. I'm not sure if this is the same example, but uh we had a situation to where we got a call um in
East War, not sure what street it was about, you know, that we missed it and I sent the team out there and I asked the teams, you know, just open the bag and see what it was. And unfortunately, it was clothes inside a garbage can, right, which was supposed to be bulk. That's just one example, not to point the
finger or blame, but you know, what would it look like if we begin to work together? my supervisor our supervisors are writing you know the morale is built and these are the things that we plan to do and will do but you know just bridging that gap and disconnect um and thank you for pushing us on Saturdays on Sundays on Fridays right even when we
struggle and don't want to be pushing I appreciate everything that you do and speaking up for us too all right thank you uh thank you director I I do have a couple quick questions just to ask or comments first of all I I agree with my colleagues up here we I you have
a thankless job I will say. Uh although we do thank you and appreciate you. You you and your team and your department. You don't create the garbage. Um but it's your responsibility to pick it up. You know, we see every day people throwing bags out of their car and this
and that and it has unfortunately has nothing to do with you and your department particularly, but unfortunately and and somebody mentioned the mindset. We we have to work on the mindset of our community to make sure you when when you see whole I mean
shopping bags of of leftover chicken wings and all this other stuff which I've seen and my old neighbor short little lady used to go knock on their doors and throw it in their window. I was thank god nobody ever heard her. But I I I want to say as my colleagues say I
appreciate what you and your team do. Um because if it weren't for you and what you do, our city would be in um such a bad shape. Um I will I do have a couple questions. Number one, you mentioned in your presentation
it was the the difference between total households and DPW households was about 50,000 somewhere in that range. I don't Yes. So and just to so for the for the public that the the difference is because of why so so some are private properties
right u buildings that we don't pick up um that's the main difference private properties okay and people should understand residents that there are um businesses buildings that are uh picked up for privately right yes okay
additionally and I don't know if you said this but um you are you in terms of illegal dumping. Are you working with the the police department, public safety, and I think it's the vice squad regarding the hotspots? Yes, we're in current conversation. First, we had to
get the data to make sure to see how the data looked on our end. So, uh so we got uh MPD's hotspots from Director Miranda. We got Director Yario from homeless services. We got ours and now we plan to, you know, have a meeting in about a week or two um to be able to discuss what that plan would look like together.
Um and obviously creating the uh illegal dumping task force again. Yeah. And and a couple couple of personnel questions I had. One, you talked about um you have some folks out on workers comp. How many uh laborers or employees do you have out
on workers comp right now? I I didn't put the exact number in that report. I can give it to you immediately after this meeting. We have it. I just don't want to give you the wrong number. Okay. I'd appreciate that. And then you you mentioned how um you're in the process of hiring uh
the employees to meet the numbers that you mentioned. Yes. And some are already in queue waiting on certain if there are any that are anything that's open and you have something out to hire new employ new
employees. I'd appreciate you send it to the council so we can share it with our our different our respective communities, our respective emails, you know, threads and lists so that we can help and assist uh with regards to helping you find employees.
Um, so I just wanted to mention that and just to let you know that and I think I think everybody might have said it up here. We're here to support you too and support your department. So, however we can be of assistance, you know, uh we're here for that. I appreciate what you and
your your team do. Um you're also part of, you know, you get thrown in. I don't know if just me or other council members email, not email, uh text chains, check. Uh so, you know, it's it's always interesting. Now, I quite frankly, I can sit back and let them ask you the
questions instead of me in some cases. And you're very responsive. And that's what I appreciate you and your team. You know, I I think it's important that we rec that we note note uh that we uh acknowledge you and what you do, but it's also important that we acknowledge
your team because I I do think um they also provide a lot of support necessary. I've seen them and I like Councilman Cano was saying, I've seen them with the pickup trucks throwing things in the back of the pickup truck to carry on days that you know an address may have
been missed or something. Um, and so I just wanted to say appreciate your support. Appreciate what you're doing. And I believe and I don't say I believe. I know you have all of our support up here. So, thank you. Thank you. And I'll work with the business administrator and getting all the requested information to you as soon as possible. Yeah. We we
know none of this can be done without him. We know that. No, thank you very much. With that being said, I think that that's it. Appreciate it. Next one. Next. addressing the ATVs, dirt bikes,
and motor brigade enforcement. Members of the Department of Public Safety are here this morning. Director Emanuel Miranda, Deputy Director Leonardo Cardio, Police Chief Shironda Morris.
Good morning. Um, Chief Shir Morris. How are you guys doing this morning? I just want to um share the apology from public safety director. He's currently down at the police unity tour for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. So, he was unable to be here today, but um
we are here um to um give you our stats and information and answer any questions, of course. So, to start off, um I will go over a couple of the stats. So, with the ebikes and the scooters and the four-wheelers, we have been actively out
there enforcing. Um, year to date, we have summones of 425 um to 36, five arrests, 93 stop reports, and 52 drag racing
summones. We have also incorporated quality of life units within the precincts, and they deal a lot with these incidents. We actually had an incident um probably a few months ago. I know these guys just got an award where they were questioning a guy about his
bike of course and and what he hadn't done and there was a shooting around the corner and they were the first men on the scene for that shooting. Um they actually just got an award for that incident. So we are actually actively out there enforcing the laws with the scooters and the bikes and of that
nature. We also had an incident um back in November where um it was public publicized on the internet where they were doing the takeovers with the large meetups with the vehicles. We responded down to the scene and like we usually do
and often we give some and we tow and we do what we can you know during that day but we went a little further this time and they did some investigation. So, our intel unit through social media, surveillances, and other investigative methods actually went after the guys
that were not only at the event, but the person that put it on Instagram to get the people there was also charged in that incident. We also have some other in events that occurred that night and they were um summoned and they were also arrested. even this month. Well,
actually this may not in April we had two additional arrests from that same incident. So they were still, like I said, continuing to investigate to make sure that we called them up on what they had done during that incident back in November. So this is something we
continue to do. We also um monitor social media to see if there's any events and we kind of get ahead of it. A lot of times they go to cities next to us. they don't intend to come to NORC and if we are we know that it's happening we kind of block off so
they're not able to come into the city like we're already where we know they usually go I've actually personally myself have seen um post on social media where they're like stay out of New York they on that you know so because they know when we know they're coming we're out there and and we're trying to you
know address the situation be before it becomes too much but sometimes they do kind of sneak in when when it's not posted, but we still always have the manpower and on the weekends we still always run extra units for such things. So, we are out there um responding to
them and just looking at a kind of a breakdown of the stats on what we've done so far with the ebike scooters and the drag racing. I I'm looking at in the different precinct how it kind of fluctuates and that's based on the fact that they probably they see more of it.
They actually do where in the third precinct they have 242 summuses for ebikes and scooters because we're down in the downtown area where you see a lot of that going on. The fourth precinct as well shows a lot of that where in the fifth precinct they have a lot of drag
racing services. That's because that's the areas that they like to go when they come into town. So we've been addressing it where it's been happening and we continue to do this daily. We are in the process of, as you aware, bringing on
more officers and I have um director Carillo here who could probably speak on that um a little more on how we're kind of replenishing the force and how we're bringing more officers out and what we're allowed to bring because we are
still in um new with the academy. So, I'll let him speak on that and then I'll come back. Good morning, council president, council members, uh Leo Carrillo, deputy police director, New York PD. Um as the chief said, uh we're actively working uh to
bring our academy back to full status. We're currently under probationary status. We're granted permission to have two academy classes of 50 uh persons uh not all from Newark. Uh it's an academy for the state of New Jersey, not just for Newark. Uh so we have to uh although we prioritize Newark personnel, we also
have to have folks from outside. Um, we are currently, uh, graduated our first, we're currently in our second. I'm also currently applying for a third during our probationary period. Uh, we anticipate we will have approval for that class. Uh, that'll that class will start in September. In December will be
the point at which we testify before the commission to apply for our full-time uh, full academy status, which would again allow us to uh, receive more recruits. So again, we're actively working to uh keep up with attrition uh in the department uh and and to have a
way to hire personnel right here in Newark. Mr. President, Councilman Ramos, I I have to leave, but I I just want to express my um appreciation to the police division around the issue. I know one of our colleagues wanted to have this um on
the agenda. I've um personally worked on two pieces of legislation over the years. is the first one um some years ago dealt with giving the city the ability to confiscate and destroy, you know, these these vehicles that are illegally operating in our streets and
in some cases kind of terrorizing residents. The second one was on the agenda at the last meeting which really focuses more on these food delivery ebikes. Um, Director Carilla was part of um, our committee along with Councilman Silva and and you know, I personally
understand the complexity around this. You know, I talked to neighboring mayors around the county. One mayor communicated to me uh, two weeks ago that they have a a a multi-million dollar lawsuit stemming from their police division pursuing one of these
um, dirt bikes or four-wheelers and the vehicle got into an accident. So, you know, local departments are handcuffed in their ability to pursue and um I know NORC has been very creative in deploying the helicopter and other technology to
try to figure out where these folks kind of congregate and strategically um deploying resources to try to corral. I know in in one instance a few years ago on Broadway and Monontlair Avenue, the police division's actions in um kind of
corraling a group that that was uh congregating around a food truck that was illegally operating there resulted in um you know an arrest, a gun charge. So you know those are the positive examples of um the efforts of of the
North Police Division around this. It's it's something that's affecting every town in the state. It's not a New York issue anymore. Belleville's impacted. Bloomfield, West Caldwell, and um you know, I I I really do understand the complexity around it and if there's
anything else we could do from a legislative standpoint to support your efforts around, you know, getting a better handle on the ATVs, dirt bikes and and and the motorbikes, you know, please let us know. Yeah, we have been um confiscating what we can. the problem
sometime becomes with the um drag racing. A lot of these cars are in someone else's name. So, it's a little harder. So, we're still actually looking into the law behind, you know, the legality of whether we can confiscate and under what circumstances, but we are
looking into that as well. I would ask if you can, Mr. Chair, and the clerk, to um kind of recirculate the ordinance that we we passed two years ago. Can we modeled it after what New York City did? Um because I think if
you did a big public display where you have x number of these dirt bikes and four-wheelers and and the city just went to a junkyard and and destroyed, you know, this property and send a message out like, you know, we're not going to return this back to you. Especially if
you're riding up and down sidewalks, if you're doing wheelies on the street, endangering the lives of pedestrians, of residents, police officers, you know, it it would go a long way to deter that kind of behavior. But that's not really on the police division. That's on us. We
got to figure out what um authority we need to uh incorporate in order to make that possible. Thank you, Councilman. Yes. I want to kind of mention I'm sorry, um Councilwoman Roundree. I just didn't want it to get lost in the conversation
that um we are expanding our drone program. So, that's something that director um Pillo can speak to. I just wanted to make sure that you guys got some info on that. Great. Thank you, Councilwoman Scott Roundree. Thank you. Oh, well, I was going to let
um Thank you, Council President. So much being said, I first want to thank the Department of Public Safety um for your efforts in this situation with these cars and trucks and they have so many different names because when I'm riding down some
streets and I see they look like tank little mini tanks to me when they're up in the air with the big tires and the wheels and things that they do that do endanger the lives. Not just people walking down the street, but people that are actually driving. So everything that
you're doing with ATVs and all of these things, I just want to thank you and commend you and I really appreciate the update that you sent to all of us. I do have to leave council president, but I just wanted to say something to the department of public safety because you too have thankless jobs such as the
department of sanitation. A lot of times people don't understand what you have to go through um with your name being on your uniform, but you don't know my name when you walk up to me. So those guys have really been blessed with some of
the ways that you've encountered them and things that you could have done that would have not been unethical you did not do. So thank you for your service. Thank you Council Councilman Gonzalez. Yes. Good morning director and chief.
It's a matter of let's say perception more than anything else. Let's say I go to a place on Broadway and on Friday afternoon 6 o'clock 50 motorcycles go doing willies and and terrorizing
everybody on the street. The owners of the place that I am enjoying my cigar tell me that's it they say we pay taxes in the city of New York and this is what we get in the let's say in the city. So I don't know how to answer to
them is we have we make all the efforts where we cannot chase them. Uh we have ordinances that that prohibit selling gas to to th to the to those individuals. We have an ordinance that if they are caught they are the
motorcycle the motorcycle the for four-wheeler can be destroyed. So the thing that they see and they saw that I believe Sunday the motorcycles are going and the police car is behind them and
nothing is happening. So they see that the police car is immediately behind let's say 25 motorcycles and nothing is happening. So they say why isn't the police doing something and I the perception is that
we are not right. So sometimes in instance like that we we kind of monitor them and what they're doing and we try to push them out and and like you mentioned we can't pursue them. So when they see us coming forth then that kind
of persuade them to go other places. So where they're seeing them not doing something they actually are. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Silva. Yeah. Uh good morning, director and chief. Um uh director, first of all, I want to commend you on getting that
academy up and going. I know how much work you put into it uh at the end of the day without uh boots on the ground. Uh a lot of these requests and a lot of these uh issues uh cannot be uh solved and cannot be dealt with because it it
takes resources, right? And when you said the third class, uh, the BA kind of fell out of his chair over there a little bit, but you know, we'll get make sure that we get that third class in there. But going back to what a couple of my council colleagues said, it's
incumbent upon us to work with you guys to make sure now that I'm sitting on this end to make sure that we give you the tools that you need in your toolbox, right? Whether it's ordinances or other things. We we sit here a lot of times and we wait for another municipality to
do something and then we take it from them. Right, Councilman Ramos and I we just work on something with you because I ended up getting a copy from the Hoboken Police Department and the town and the city on ordinance regarding
enforcement of the three-wheelers and the quads. The summer's coming now. We know what happens when the weather starts getting a little warmer. I don't have to tell you. Uh but again, our hands are tied because of attorney general guidelines and other things that
don't allow us to pursue vehicles. Councilman Ramos just mentioned a multi-million dollar lawsuit and we definitely don't want to get into that. So again, whatever you may need from the eight people up here to make sure that you
guys have what you need, please come to us and we'll be happy to pass an ordinance to make sure that uh you guys again have what you need to be able to pull them over, confiscate them, and uh making sure we take those people off the
street. Thank you. I want to thank you again for your presentation. Um the one thing I will ask if you you mentioned a number of uh uh summones and and can you provide that
information to us and writing an email so we know what's going on. Um yes, absolutely. I try to recall everything and write it down, but it didn't work out. So I'd appreciate if you could forward that to all the council members. Uh is there anything else? And thank you. Uh I think
that's it. Thank you. Anything from the ad from the council want to talk mention anything from the administration? No. Thank you everyone. Have a great day. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We got to do something for us but not for you. M
uh uh chief and director, please don't leave. I got a question. Council President, council members, I'd like to read a letter into the record from Senator Ruiz on behalf of the legislators of the 29th
Legislative District. Councilman Murphy and the Payic Valley Sewage Commissioners, as elected representatives of New Jerseyy's 29th Legislative District, we write with an urgency and conviction to strongly urge you to vote no on the proposed gasfueled
power facility at 600 Wilson Avenue in Newark. The Ironbound neighborhood already designated an overburden community under New Jerseys environmental justice law is saturated with polluting infrastructure. It currently houses three fossil fuel power
plants, the state's largest garbage incinerator, and some of the worst air quality in the nation. One in four children in Newark suffers from asthma. Our residents live each day with the cumulative impacts of
diesel exhaust, industrial waste, and toxic emissions. Now they're being asked to bear the burden of a fourth power plant. A proposal that would never be entertained elsewhere. This is textbook example of
environmental racism where communities of color are disproportantly forced to carry the weight of pollution and industrial development. This is not progress. This is a step backwards. The rationale behind the project to prevent
sewage overflows during future storms is not lost on us, but viable cleaner alternatives exist. Your role as commissioners is not only to review technical specifications, but to weigh lifelong consequences to human health,
dignity, and equity. A full and transparent study of the alternatives must be conducted and shared with the public. Anything less would be a violation of the intent of New Jerseyy's environmental justice protections. You have heard, as we have,
the overwhelming opposition from New York residents, local officials, community leaders, and environmental advocates. The people of this city are united in one message. Let Newark breathe. History is watching. We are
asking you, the commissioners of the POIC Valley Sewage Commission, to choose long-term health over short-term fixes, envision over repetition. Vote no on the proposed gas fired power plant. Thank
you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Councilman. Yeah. Um I had the clerk read that letter uh today. I also would like for a letter from the city as well as supporting our 29th legis legislative district uh in support uh Pake Valleys
in the east ward. I've always sat up here for the last 30 months or whatever it's been uh that they do nothing for the city of Newark. Uh they're not good partners. uh and uh they want to bring a
fossil fuel plant to a city and a ward that's already inundated with uh toxins and pollutions. And I think that uh we need to support our partners at the state level in uh saying no to this plan
before the vote takes place on Thursday. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. So noted. Uh I guess that's it. Thank you everybody for being here today. We'll
see you in a couple weeks or next week. Next week