##VIDEO ID:_bEr9u2EBBk## e e e e e e e good morning everyone morning Happy New Year good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday January 7th 2025 council president council members I just want to bring to your attention that the television studio is down and cannot record this proceedings this meeting will be uploaded afterwards and will be for the public yeah so we just just just to be clear we're not doing it's not going to be televised live but it will be recorded and played on our Channel 78 yes sir uh council president council members we are on page three of the agenda item five reports and recommendations of City officers boards and commissions any questions next time ordinances public hearing second reading and final Passage 6p SFA is an ordinance amending the division of central purchasing by adding a new section dealing with policies and procedures governing the use of procurement cards any questions next item 6 psfb is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to 56657 Springfield urban renewal LLC for a project to construct 22 market rate residential rental units in the central Ward any questions next item C is an ordinance amending special Improvement districts by amending the properties included in the special improvement district to remove all the class two Residential Properties and authorizing the tax collector to withhold from each quarterly payment 1% as an administrative fee any questions from the council seeing none next item D is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to Rising ples urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a new four-story residential building in the west War any questions C council president I just have a question regard going back to see if Frank is here Frank uh have all everything been removed from the business Improvement districts regarding the uh because I was still getting complaints regarding people still getting like with condos 111 mberry they were still getting charged on their taxes for the for the fourth quarter are are they still going to get charged for the first and second quarter is that what I understand or it's being removed totally it's Frank gassio tax uh good morning councilman uh yes you're gonna be on for the first and second quarter as I understand it anything else councilman is there a reason that's happening that that that we're going into the the second quarter first quarter of two when when we voted on this uh we spoke about this a few months ago why are people still being charged let me get back to you on that okay all right e is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to Broadway star urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a new 7 story multif family rental building in the north Ward any questions on on this matter saying none f is an ordinance authorizing the vacation of existing utility easement questions next item G is an ordinance authorizing use to acquire a permanent easement in order for the city of nk's water Department of Water and SE utilities to clean repair replace inspect operate and otherwise maintain in an unobstructed condition a system of water storm water and sanitary sewer drainage pipelines any questions from the Council next item H is an ordinance amending special Improvement districts by clarifying reporting requirements and designating a district Management Corporation striking the hiring practices in tral review and adding establishing a Board of Trustees and establishing an effective date any questions counil saying none next item I is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to 74-78 Webster urban renewal LLC for a project to demolish the existing structures and construct a new five-story multif family building in the Cent Central Ward any questions from the Council next item J is an ordinance amending and supplementing businesses and occupations regulation of convenience stores registration of all new and pre-existing convenience stores to create a subsection prohibited distance from existing convenience stores and to further include the increasing of fines and penalties set forth and violations and penalties sponsored by councilman Council second by councilwoman Scott rry any questions next item resolutions 7r1 a is a use of State contract for computer equipment any questions saying none next Item B is CB cdbg budget appropriation any questions from the council seeing none next item I'm sorry councilman Gonzalez we go back that's this is a huge sum of money 10 million can't hear you sir a this is a huge sum of money 10, $185,000 I would like to see what we're buying with that kind of money one from the administration I see the ba just walked in I know probably didn't hear the question I know coun councilman Gonzalez can you repeat the question ba just came Mr ba it's a Happy New Year to you it's a I just wanted to know what we're buying with the 10 million 185 for computers that that is proposed on 1A we have one other okay all right good morning council president good morning uh Council deputy director Leo cillo Department of Public Safety newk PD uh looks like this is a resolution adopted in April of 2022 regarding uh vehicles uh hybrids uh plug-in vehicles uh police cars um and again this is just an extension uh through April 27 2024 uh for the same that was adopted what why why does it say naspo computer equipment contract I'll look into exactly finding out exactly why it's called why it's under that NASPA you have some assistance behind you good morning Council good morning morning uh NASPA is a national contract he ational just get your name for the record just my W re director of purchasing and qpa of the city of newk NASPA is a national Cooperative contract that the police has been using for years to purchase the public safety equipment including that was that was previously including cars and computers and all that yes sir okay lot of Public Safety Equipment okay all right thank you thank you next item we're going back to what are we on 7 R1 C or D we're on page 10 item C Okay C is a Cooperative purchasing agreement to provide fencing purchase installation and repair services any questions from the council councilman Ramos yeah thank you Mr President I I want to go back to 7 r1b um City's uh appropriation for cdbg funds um I I know some years ago the city made the decision to basically utilize um cdb G funds for in-house functions you know Paving roads um funding positions out of the health department Economic Development and and some years back you know these resources were made available to various nonprofit organizations and community- based groups uh who were doing brick and mortar projects to fund Public Services uh so so my question through your chair and the clerk U for the ba is at what point is the city going to consider or reconsider uh allowing non-for-profit groups and community- based organizations to apply for assistance under the cdbg program I know there is a cap on how much money the city could spend on public services I think it's a 15% cap but I think in this environment it would be helpful uh for non-for-profit organizations throughout the city to have the opportunity to partner with us under the cdbg program I I do uh councilman uh canana I concur with Council Ramos because if director of Economic Development and ba would look into the procedure I was one of those who F cdbg grants when it was defunding uh from Congress with the national cities what council R was talking about is what other cities around the country are doing whether it be infrastructure whether it be roads uh not on the economic development aspect but on the service that's what councilman Ramos has been talking about and again um if we can look at the pattern what other cities within the national league of cities are doing with cdbg grants so that we are not going we should follow the model of where is what is going on with the recommendation of national cities in behalf of cgbd Grants because we were the organization at the time time that for for cdbg Grants because of what council R was talking about infrastructure roads uh Bridges these things have to come back and I I concur with councilman Ramos's recommendation that be looked at but we need to look at the pattern of what National League of cities and I would ask the director of Economic Development uh to go into the website of national league of cities and look what other cities around the country are doing and what initiatives are taking place within the five Wards of the city uh not just one Ward not two Wards all five thank you you councilman yeah I do yes I do recall in the past being on a committee which we voted where we I'm sorry reviewed applications for different non for-profits provide funding I believe not just programmatically but also for their structure building structure that was I think that worked well at some point yeah and and through Mr President you know understanding that the city has needs and and it will um utilize a percentage of these funds for you know much needed uh in-house services and and infrastructure but you know we do have organizations in each Ward uh that are doing amazing work out in the community that could benefit from the opportunity to compete it's not a guarantee uh the city and the past has had an RP process and allowed these groups to come up with um programs some some of brick and mortar projects right it's very hard to get funding uh to build handicap ramps to do other kinds of improvements and and these funds will be uh could be eligible uh for for those kind of uses So yeah thank you councilman Ramos through uh Madam clerk follow with the business administrator absolutely thank you D is the use of a state contract for firefighter protective clothing and equipment and their authorized distributors any questions next item e is a bid contract for dental equipment questions next item f is to provide a resolution of support for herbarium dispensary LLC to operate a class one cannabis cultivation micro business any questions so I have on question or or just a request if we can get uh a list of all the approved uh licenses that that this the council has approved for the administration with the administration and then also like where they are in their process Mr President councilman Gonzalez where they are located I would like to know all right let's add that to the list the location what's that form yeah okay yeah Mr President yes councilman Ramos and and you know I appreciate the fact that I'm on the committee with uh councilman councel and councilman Silva but I I don't understand like the secrecy involved and like information that's shared with the council about this this this is a public uh authorization that they're getting from the council from the state and everything is redacted like it's top secret information and these places are going to open up in the neighborhood and the community there's there's no secrecy involved so I don't I don't understand why the resolutions don't have any kind of detail uh when they come before us because we forget right we we we meet with these folks we we vet them out through the committee and then by the time it reaches the council you know you got to refer back to something I I I I agree with you I don't know if you remember councilman Ramos in the beginning I there was one that I was able to it was redacted in our in our documentation but I just Googled it and found all the information right there so we may want to take a look at that again C uh any other from the council coration Council sure good morning uh kinat city of North Corporation Council so I did hear the request from you councilman Crump couldn't hear your request councilman Gonzalez where are they located okay and then uh coun Ramos what I will do is follow up with I will have Jocelyn follow up with the folks on the state to see if it's appropriate to add the information at one point or another they told us not to it's not us it's the state right there so so what I'll do is I'll have a followup to see if they have changed the process and then you know we can do what we will appreciate thank thank you Mr President uh councilman Gonzalez yes how how people let's say that might be opposed to the location of this would know that that they have the opportunity to to go and protest because they don't want that kind of business in their neighborhood it's a if if they don't have the address they they cannot ER they cannot let's say do it it effectively because they don't know where to where to do it I believe we have someone coming up hi good morning uh Phil uh cannabis Affairs so I think there's um a bit of confusion about what should be redacted and what should not be redacted so uh the actual location of the proposed dispensaries it's it's something that could be shared with the public as well as uh the council in terms of the public knowing uh what what type of facility uh will be coming into their neighborhood um often times when we have applicants that U submit their application we make it a point to have them speak to their respective uh Council um councilmen um so that the councilman is aware of that uh this applicant is potential will potentially open up a dispensary or a uh cannabis facility within their neighborhood and we encourage them to have uh Community meetings so that the public is uh fully aware of what's Happening Mr President don't they have to go before zoning too like isn't that a requirement in this process that is a requirement in this process but um they don't go before uh zoning until typically until um they meet with the um subcomittee and their app but if zoning rejects their application they can't open their their business right correct Okay so so that would be the point of notification to I guess the community but at that point they would have to detail everything which is why I don't understand why the stuff we get is so heavily guarded you know like when they apply to zoning they have to detail the address the kind of establishment so the state kind of requires that we keep some of this information confidential specifically about um I'm not going to say the applicants in general but perhaps some of their uh their donors or specific um information in terms of uh funding for the project however I could uh reconvene with the state um and uh I'll reconvene with you all just to see um what we can make visible to uh the public moving forward president yeah Council you said that you urged them to have a community meeting is a when in the in the tax ayment committee we've required people to have a a community meeting I believe that you should require them to have a community meeting so that in fact they are informing the community of what's happening around them so again yeah we encourage the applicant to meet with the respect respective uh councilmen so that um they can set up a community meeting so that people are aware of what's coming um to the city I don't like the encouragement I like required required that's that's what I I like say I I believe that before when they submit the application to you there should be a requirement that they meet with the community understandable any other questions thank you thank you g is an application in agreements with HUD for the one-year action plan any questions next H is application acceptance of Grant funds for the Corona virus State fiscal Recovery Fund monies for the New York literacy Initiative Program any questions from the Council next item 7r2 a I'm sorry councilman you're like one behind us Council a little bit be do we have more money than let's say from this legislation available question on the floor Mr ba do we have more money available and uh what how are we going to dispose of it good morning Eric Pennington business administrator more money with respect to councilman I'm not clear ARA money yeah there's a a million dollar Grant that we're giving to New Jersey Department of Community Affairs or we're getting that from them we're getting it from the Department of Community Affairs to Grants from them with respect to literacy program and the purchase fire equipment so this the city doesn't have any more funds regarding that that less than on Tenth of 1% of the allocated Opa funds are available um and uh have already all been obligated thank you you're welcome and so I got a question a general question so the this I at least I think municipally we had to spend the money from arpa by a certain date is that if for the state is it an extended date is past the end of the year I two things I I think with respect to your question it had to be obligated by December 31st certain of the funds had to be obligated by December 31st it just passed spending can go through 2026 in certain circumstances for the most part it has to be spent by the end of 2025 uh the state has similar restrictions but depending upon the specific purposes for the funds so that's one of the reasons why we had to uh obligate the funds for the fire apparatus we wanted to get that in I've all those documents have been signed and sent back to DCA to satisfy the obligation requirements so there are similar rules but it is uh uh allocation specific though all right thank thank you you're welcome anything else all right thank you Mr B you're welcome next item seminar 2 a through f are Private Sales and Redevelopment agreement A is for the new construction of a two family home and provide two market rate rental units in the South w m chair I'm going ask the item be deferred is there a second for the deferment B is new construction of two two family homes to sell at market rate in the west W um councilman I asked that item be deferred as well second second second by counil C is rehabilitate a three family home to provide affordable rental units in the South W I like to the idol I'm start again yeah I would like to move the idem all right next item D is to renovate the property to use as a community Outreach Center in the west ward I like to put that item to be deferred as well please yeah is there a second for deferment second ease new construction of a three family home wherein one unit will be owner occupied and the other two units will be be affordable in the South Ward M CH like to move the item all right next item f is construction of two buildings consisting of 16 affordable housing units through Rehabilitation and new construction and construction of a 42 market rate residential units located on the portion of property known on South 17th Street and three is construction of 18 market rate residential units all in the South Ward any questions next item 7 r2g through K are Professional Services contracts for on call G is for on Call environmental Consulting H is for planning Consulting Services I is for on Call environmental Consulting and J is for real estate appraisal services K is for planning Consulting Services as well any questions on that seeing none next item Mr President sorry uh was that counc Ramos yeah I mean going back to the the property sales I'd like to make a suggestion through your chair and the clerk um when we get these would it be possible for the Department to to give us a summary of all the Lois that they receive for these individual properties let's say within a fiveyear period and then the criteria that they used to evaluate and recommend those entities that they're putting before us I think that would make me feel a little more comfortable in um voting for some of these you know I'm sure they got multiple letters of intent for some of these properties and and they selected someone right so so what was the process that they looked at in order to come up with that group or individual that they're recommending and asking us to consider all right so right now we get information on the property itself now we we want to get some more information on the back yeah this is moving forward yeah if they you know I'm sure there's a five-year period where they can say all right we got seven letters of intent for this particular property and we reviewed those proposals we're recommending this one because of this reason similar to what the department when they recommend uh a when they recommend a vendor or something like that yes that something okay yeah because we're only getting the recommendation I can't tell you how many people submitted letters of intent for a particular property it could have been 20 uh individuals or entities that submitted for this property why are you selecting this one who else you know expressed interest great and Madam clerk just to follow up if you can follow up with the councilman just to make sure we got everything he's do seminar 2 l and m are investigations for area in need of Redevelopment L is property in the north Ward and M is property in the central Ward any questions from the council seeing n next item 7r2 n and O are agreements with government entity n is for Riverside Avenue site tolling agreement and O is settlement agreement with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the former white chemical site any questions from the council seeing none next item 7R 3A is designating a bus stop on Bergen Street in West Rion in the South Ward any questions next item 7 r4a is cancellation of special emergency appropriation to cancel previously adopted ordinance which author authoriz a special emergency appropriation and the issuance of special emergency notes any questions from the council seeing none next item 7 R5 a through C are amending Andor application acceptance of Grant funds A is amending resolution to accept additional Grant funds for the Sean Hall University School of Nursing nurse-led mobile Health training program training project Grant B is to extend the grant period and increase the award amount to continue conducting lead remediation and C is to provide Ryan White H Ryan White HIV AIDS related health and support services any questions from the council seeing none next item 7 r6a is professional service contract with First Amendment to the agreement to provide Legal Services concerning special Tax Matters any questions next item 7 r7a is the First Amendment to the agreement with State entity First Amendment to the contract with the state entity to provide psychiatric nurse practitioners peer Recovery Specialists and medical director for a newly formed Community mobile outreach program that will provide field-based services to homeless New York residents with substance use disorders any questions seeing none 7 R7 B through e are subrecipient agreements to respond to the public health impact of homelessness B is with Bridges Outreach Incorporated C is collaborative support programs of New Jersey D is North Jersey community research initiative and E is nework Emergency Services for Families pres councilman Gonzalez I see that these grants are for 20,000 how effective Ive can they be with $20,000 is that what they requested or is that something that we determined morning uh lisis Ario director office of homeless Services uh these uh four Partnerships are actually uh with existing drop in centers who some are here today uh to support the mayor strategy to create more accessible entry points for people uh to access Emergency Services uh currently folks have to travel from all across the city to on10 William Street we know that not everyone can make that trip uh so what we decided to do is to partner with existing droping centers who actually are located close to transit in in our in our communities where folks can enter receive not just emergency housing services but also a long list of other services they will provide um this is a actually a partnership uh you know with the director osbrook and and the office of homeless Services uh we came together to really look at what the current space looks like right now we knew that it wasn't adequate um so that's when we decided to kind of reach out to our existing drop incenters who are already doing this work uh so to to answer your question councilman Gonzalez um this is really just to supplement their existing Personnel uh they are going to designate someone on their staff uh and this will contribute to their salary uh and that person will then serve as uh the new point of contact for individuals who are coming in we have developed this system now through quickbase actually where this person is going to be able to access all the available beds that the city has contracted um so they they are not going to provide this say the services themselves they are going to send people to the different shelters correct yeah so right now the way it works at everyone comes to one location right so now we're going to decentralize it we're going to put it out in Community make it easier for folks our seniors people disabilities to access these points um and now we're going to empower them now to make these referrals directly to our shelters okay thank you yeah all right thank you any other questions seeing done thank you director uh and councilman president I just want to say that some of the uh organizations are here today uh if you have also any questions for them anybody have any questions for thank you all right now thank you though next item 7ar 8A is ceremonial Street designation for Minnie Allen sponsored by council president Crump I'll second second by councilman Council 7 r8b is recognizing and commending resolutions and 7 r8c is expressing profound sorrow and regret any questions additions seeing none 7r2 a through F our professional service contract for Engineering Services on an as needed basis A is for CDM Smith B is for Michael Baker International C is for morouse engineering D is for Mt McDonald e is for professional Consulting F is for Remington andv varic Engineers any questions so let me just say I just want to follow up on my request I think it was last meeting or two meetings ago regarding all of 2024 the list of the uh contracts with each vendor and how much was spent in that year in 2024 thank you yes sir 7r1 12g is application acceptance of Grant Funds New Jersey Public Utilities clean Fleet program any questions next item 8A is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to ks 486 Market Street urban renewal LLC for a project to construct 17 market rate residential rental units and two affordable housing rental units restricted to tenants at 60% of area median income in the East W any questions Mr President understand Council M Gonzalez there's a request to move this approve it on first there's a i understand that there is a request to approve it on first advance and adopt yeah advance and adopt it all right as a whole advance and adopt next item 8B is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to Mount Pleasant apartment urban renewal LLC for a project to construct a new five-story multif family Residential Building consist of 24 residential rental units consisting of 19 market rate residential rental units five affordable housing rental units of which one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of area median income two units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% Ami and two units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the central Ward any questions counc Ramos yeah I'd like to make the same request as Council M Gonzalez to advance and adopt same thing I'm good advance and adopt as a whole got it HC is an ordinance amending traffic by designating 15th Avenue and South 13th Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the central Ward any questions from the council seeing none public comment we are now in a 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak when please approach to the podium and direct your comments to the council is there anyone wishing to speak yes good morning George Tillman Jun um I gave all of you a flyer you should have it um before you that was generated by the city of newk um somewhere there's a definition of insanity which says that if you continue to do things the same way thinking you're going to get a different result it's insanity this event um when we left hold on we left the meeting um with the administration discussing these tax abatements and how n residents were going to be a part of these economic incentives my my opposition wasn't the tax abatements it was the strategies on how we going to get no residents to work right now and this is an indication of exactly why nor residents aren't working right now no one is aware of this event this event is only upon Facebook I don't even know if you the council was given this flyer to inform your residents that there's going to be a hiring event here tomorrow so you can contact the residents in your in your ward the nonprofits in your ward and all the organizations your award so they can be here tomorrow so that we can have qualified nework residents as a part of these economic incentives doing things the same way the deputy mayor has been doing these things the same way and talking about there is no Workforce available out there available doing this the same way tomorrow you'll be here you'll see maybe n resid going to show up out of over 300,000 because these events aren't brought into the community the same way you come into the community when you do a campaign when I gave you I submitted to you when the ba asked me for a proposal for a way we get n residents to work over the next 24 months I gave him a a plan for to recruit residents at about 10,000 over the next 24 months this this strategy is not going to work I asked council president that you have nework Works come up here and the deputy mayor give a strategy on how they going to get nework residents to work right now this is not the strategy there's no way we're going to accept newk residents going to accept you giving out tax abatement when this is the strategy that you're using to get us to work this is not a city-wide campaign that strategy I gave you was a very aggressive strategy that we go into the community involve all the nonprofit organizations and all the the the the stakeholders in each board to make sure that we get our community involved in in in this process this is not it Council woman round tree and I'm I'm I'm not only continue to request that you bring him up here and give a give a a plan of action how we gonna get new residents to work thank you thank you for your comments next speaker ah happy 2025 so first of all thank you councilman Ramos for bringing up o de Salter city of New York uh for bringing up the question about the CBD funds because the last CBD funds that we gave away was the five million that we gave to Ka Towers right in addition to a 25e tax abatement in addition to um the developer would have walked away with that uh project having walked away with $3 million having put up no funds and the same quiat towers that we're in litigation for right but we gave them our $5 million CBG funds even though we we asked you all not to do it um you initially said no but then you were bullied to say yes later by that by at that time the council president so thank you for that because where are all of these community-based funds going not to the community and that is the point again we gave away 5 million where is that money and we're in litigation for these same quet Towers where did that five million go did we recoup that like what is up with that um when it comes to the homeless like I'm looking at these grants for people's salary um because simply if they're just directing people to the shelters well I do that on a daily basis I make phone calls the people in this community do that on a daily basis no uh shade to the individuals who are being contracted but when we are doing this already you all don't partner with the community that's the issue right we're here in these streets on the streets making the phone calls taking people to places making sure that they can get off the streets what's up with cold blue but you don't want to work with the community and you go outside and source these other companies when wear boots on the ground and have been long before many of you have or few of you are even sitting up there so where our community dollars what happened to that what are we doing with this money here it does not benefit the community and a mural and flowers is not a community benefit we need actual low to moderate income housing that is not happening in this City we need jobs that pay our people to live in what you all call Affordable but you're not doing that because you clearly don't care and we will keep saying that because what you care for you provide for you make provision for your family and friends and people that you care about those who need jobs that are your friends and family and on your role you make it happen when the regular citizen of this city cannot afford to live in what you called affordable because you won't pay them thank you for your comments next speaker seeing none public speaking is closed anything from the council yeah Mr uh chair the council just just for a public notification there was a a re-evaluation meeting that we were going to host on uh January 9th but due to the request of the uh Administration we're going to can the reevaluation meeting uh and um we just want to make sure that everyone you know knows that information and we'll you know try to provide information um as we move forward so just wanted to uh you know let that be known while we on telecast that the meeting that is was going to be held January 9th at uh George Washington Carver uh is going to uh be cancelled thank thank you councilman Council anything else from the council anything from the administration uh councilman I'm home sick why keep doing that Corporation Council the wrong Council it's council with the E uh good morning uh kyat s city of North Corporation Council so one of the things that I will say is that um first thing is that we have one potential added starter um from the engineering department um I will say that it is important um it is in to having third party inspectors third party inspectors get involved I know the director will come down in a few seconds I do know that there was uh some comments about c e the towers I know that matter has been resolved some time ago um I can get back to the counil with the details of the resolution but that matter has been resolved maybe two years ago so I just so so clarify there's no litigation with with okay and the other thing you said was about item for engineering start engineering we have a legar number for that I do say good morning council president council members Dolores Martinez wooden director of the department of engineering I'm here to present um Lear item 24-1 1688 uh this line item will enable the purchasing and engineering department to be able to go out to bid for third party inspections to supplement the inspecting unit of the UCC this will be to follow guidelines by the DCA and to be under the oversight of the building official of the UCC here in the city of nework so this this is the authorization for you to go out yes okay Mr chair councilman councel speaking to that matter I I really do think that we need to you know dive a little deeper into this whole third party uh issue the the pros and cons of it with with this you know being an added starter uh and looking at some of the stuff that we've already been going through with UCC this year we've asked continuously for the amount of dollars that has been brought in through penalties or fines that has been assessed they haven't gotten that information and then just the polarity of looking at how this thing would work out the third-party vendor would would probably make more money than the city and we're not hiring anyone else to bring in you know uh revenue or in come to to this city I think this matter should be flushed down and vetted instead of being rushed out there uh you know as a third party and me having to vote no on it I would rather for us to have some conversation about it councilman if if you may um I just want to make a clarification um there's this is a separate item versus utilizing third party um inspections by um people outside of the City by um developers and such so this is strictly to supplement our inspecting unit here in the city um we are having challenges across the state when it comes to finding inspectors um we are working uh with the ba the administration and the mayor um to uh allocate and and and find um you know gaps that we have in uh our salaries and so on and so forth so in the meantime um this is a solution that we can U Iz as a city to have more inspectors um to uh avoid a backlog um and also to further as you said before um uh investigate what it will it will mean for the city to allow um outside um Builders and uh developers to utilize third party as well so this is internal at the UCC bringing in more inspectors um a company the successful company will be providing those inspector um under our oversight uh councilwoman Scott rre I I agree with councilman Council on this issue that um for this to be an added starter with what's going on with our engineering department on many levels UCC is just one of them and it's a trickling effect of what's going on with the revenue and some time ago councilman councel um address what's going on with uccc and I don't think we've ever even got to the bottom of that so since we have not even gotten the answers and the issue isues that we need it resolved with UCC that he requested months ago um I am in agreement with my colleague regarding to rather than this being an added starter for us to De a little dive a little deeper into um what you're requesting uh for this third party thank you council president thank you anything else from the council councilman uh yeah good morning director I just want to reiterate what councilman Council said you know we never got a response back on how many fines how much money uh that the city is doesn't have because we weren't doing our jobs um I think the key is here uh director is why you can't find inspectors is we don't offer a competitive salary we don't offer a competitive salary how are you going to get qualified people people to do the job if we don't order a competitive salary if we don't have it and I think having a third party is actually only going to cost a city more money uh it's going to affect a lot of people uh in your office that aren't going to be too happy and I think we uh have to get a little more information on this before we uh bring this to a vote tomorrow and uh and move this forward but again I think the problem with the city is we don't get qualified people because we don't offer them a qualified and competitive salary and to bring in a third party is only going to cost a city more money yes it's going to bring you more inspectors but at the end of the day it's going to cost the city more money I don't see any benefit in that but uh I agree before I I vote on this I'm going to need a little more information um councilman Sila again um as I mentioned before I just want to clarify that this is a temporary solution and I want to clarify that we are working um the last quarter of last year we put together a um a proposal for the administration to re view uh to upgrade and update the salaries of um our inspecting and subcode unit at the UCC um as you can understand you know we we need to evaluate it financially uh with uh budget procedures and everything that needs to be done so that we can move forward to increasing the salaries but we are working with the administration on that this is something that we're putting in place so that we with the the the amount of development out there we need to put something in place right away while we don't have those enticing salaries so we are working on that um with the administration I'm sorry I didn't see Ramos okay yeah um you know I think this is a catch 202o right because I understand and we hear it on the other side you know from the development Community about how difficult it is to conduct business in the city of nework the delays um you know the amount of time that it takes to get approvals um we also recognize like you said that and and this has to be part of your justification when you submit this in writing is you know how many positions do you have that are unfilled uh in your unit uh what efforts have you undertaken to fill those positions what kind of backlog do you have right now that that is um urging your department to seek this temporary fix and and the other thing I would caution again is uh against is that you know sometimes these these kind of contracts are relied upon Beyond a temporary period you know we've seen it with the health department for example uh years ago that they started using a staffing a company and and it's been years that that company has kind of supplanted uh positions that were within the health department so so I'm hopeful that once you submit your justification and if this Council approves this uh that this is in fact a temporary fix and and to point norc isn't the only area that's struggling with inspectors right now this is Statewide you know elevator inspectors uh the individuals who held these positions have in in many instances reached retirement age and we're not able to generate enough candidates to fill many of these specialized positions that require all these certifications so you know it is a tough situation you got to meet the demand as far as inspections but then at the same time ie age with our colleagues we have to make sure that we're not going to over rely on these contracts and not try to do our best to recruit people um to fill these uh important positions thank you Council councilman canana first then Council got around you know we can't put Band-Aids on things you know that's what happens and we have had a lot of inspectors to wind up in pic who have left us who are great inspectors yes and we did not keep them so we did a bad job in terms of so people who have left who knew the city the people you're bringing don't know where where Adam Street is I mean the other folks they knew so we need to be training some folks to get their license in appropriate way to so they could be our inspectors the vehicles these gentleman's ve these people's Vehicles it was this pre previous Council who appropriated vehicles for for the for the inspectors their cars are out of date they got to go through all kinds of parts of the city so we need to look at the conditions where they work or what they are but instead putting bandaids and bring people in here that don't know where anything is by the time they find uh um Avon Avenue it'll be a year so I'm I'm being honest you know and we have to not put Band-Aids we have to we have a lot of we have an engineering school at NJIT that we should be talking to them or to the students uh if they're interested in and getting a license uh and being certified to be an inspector I mean you're not asking somebody to be an engineer you're asking someone to be an inspector of code of UCC elevators inspections in this town you got to wait a year to get an inspection and it's atrocious so we all got to not put Band-Aids and bring people in and I concur with councilman Council we need to find out and you need we need to help you uh and let us drive this together not just drive it through your side let's all drive it together as a team thank you Council woman SC round Tre um again to councilman counsel and my colleagues and their request I am asking I'm going to say now for the record I will not support this with a vote until we've gotten all the information we requested from you regarding the uccc department um I myself have had meetings uh with some of the individuals that report to UCC and there's a lot of issues and so before we bring in once again an outside source for the city to have to pay for people that we should have here being able to do their job being in the mindset to be positive to get the job done from the top down being encouraged the moral of the department morale of the department so yes we are short but but we also have to encourage those that are there to want to do the job and not show favoritism and not have issues with the leadership so I'm I'm just saying for now I don't know what my colleagues plan to do but I will not support this added starter until councilman councel has gotten what he requested and until counselman Ramos has gotten the documents they requested there's no reason for us to have to spend additional money once again for outside sources to do a job that we should be doing in-house and making sure that we prepare inhouse to get the job done whatever that takes thank you so very much council president thank you and and so let me just let me just wrap this up based upon what what I've heard here today uh this this is should not be an added starter for for the meeting we do have a meeting next week in the meantime uh director and ba and whoever is necessary please provide those necessary uh information that was requested by the council uh this will be on the agenda properly next week without an added starter and then we can move forward and and the council can make that decision to vote certainly appreciate it council president thank you all right thank you any anything else from the council from the administration thank you everybody we'll see we'll see you tomorrow e e for